Category: MMA

Floyd Mayweather Has To Make At Least A Half-Hearted Attempt on Conor’s McGregor’s Life, Right?

By on • ( Leave a comment )
Image result for mcgregor cj watson

So over the weekend you might have seen Conor McGregor achieving cuckold-ception while Floyd Mayweather got cuckhold-cepted. I don’t mean this in one of the infinite loose ways the term cuckold now gets thrown around, I mean literally.

You see, that isn’t any old NBA jersey the fashion maven McGregor thought looked good with the day’s color scheme. That’s C.J Watson’s jersey. C.J Watson is a current/former NBA player (he didn’t make a roster last year) who banged out one of Mayweather’s baby mamas right in his goddam face. This is all the more inflammatory as Floyd’s discovery of this fact is what triggered his infamous domestic violence case. Now 7 years later The Notorious is just struttin around, as he is wont to do, openly mocking the most embarrassing chapter of Floyd’s life. Brutal.

For me however, the worst part of this whole thing is that it brings back to light who exactly it was that this woman slept with to enrage Floyd. Wasn’t Kobe. Wasn’t known cuckold enthusiast Derek Fisher. Shit this was 2010 and it wasn’t even a guy like Rashard Lewis. Nope, The greatest boxer of his generation was replaced with C.J Watson, a backup PG that averaged 8 and 3 for his career playing for 5 different teams. Floyd was basically getting subbed out for a D (G?) Leaguer. Just embarrassing. Now you have Conor wearing the guy’s jersey. It might be the only merch C.J Watson ever sold.

So again I ask, doesn’t Floyd Mayweather at least have to like, mail McGregor some anthrax or something? Maybe pull out a letter opener at the next presser and run at him before getting purposely tackled by a security guard? Beating Conor McGregor up in an organized boxing match really isn’t going to remedy this, not publicly at least and probably not personally for Floyd. He’s gotta go some sort of medieval.

The 300s UFC on Fox: Weidman vs. Gastelum (UFC Fight Night 25, UFC: Long Island) Preview

By on • ( Leave a comment )
Image result for weidman gastelum square off

There will be even more testosterone than usual on the last train back to the city Saturday night as the UFC descends on Long Island. It needs to be mentioned that this is a really cool moment for both the UFC and the local scene, as Long Island has long been a sneaky hotbed of MMA – particularly the fighters – beginning with TUF 4 winner and the UFC’s Rocky, former welterweight champ Matt Serra. As expected, a number of native sons line the card, headlining middleweight and Serra protege Chris Weidman and light-heavyweight contender Gian Villante included. All in all, this is an excellent card top to bottom, so let’s dig in.

The Main Event

Our main even pits two fighters with similar skill sets but at different points of their careers against each other.

In one corner you have Gastelum, a “finally arrived” contender who after just seeming to sort of not get it for awhile (missed weight, testing positive for the devil’s lettuce), now appears serious about making a run. I can really can only describe the Yuma, AZ native as a gorilla. Although short and somewhat undersized for the division (he flubbed multiple cuts to 170 and was forced to move up), The stocky 25 year old is incredibly strong and agile and uses both the threat of and actual takedowns to set up his heavy power punches, moving fleetly across the cage, somewhat rushed, to engage his opponents. I could go on and on about the raw, primal aspects of Gastelum’s game, but don’t let his lack of accolades fool you. He may not have the pedigree of his adversary, but he is one of the better functional wrestlers in the division and has extremely quick, crisp hands. There are a few knocks on Gastelum, one of which I’ll get to at the end. The main thing he has trouble with is his defense. The way he rushes in and the frenetic nature of his attacks leave him exposed. The fact that he is a smaller, shorter fighter, especially at this weight class, only compounds his susceptibility. All in all however, what seems to be a finally focused, properly motivated Kelvin Gastelum is making quite the charge at the 185lb belt.

In the other corner we have hometown hero and former middleweight champion Chris Weidman. What is there to say about Weidman? Where do we begin? This is the guy who cut 35 lbs in 2 weeks to take a short notice fight to to get into the UFC, only to beat the invincible Anderson Silva for the belt a short two years later. Weidman then polished off Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort before entering a sudden and bizarre downward spiral. He has lost 3 in a row, all by KO/TKO, and has simply looked like a  fish out of water in all three, unsure of the divine natural skill and immaculate technique that shot him to the top. There is no greater example of this than his last fight against Gegard Mousasi, where Weidman seemed cautious and timid on the feet, getting boxed up by “The Dreamcatcher” while looking and waiting for a take-down.

I’m going to jump into what I think may be a cause of Chris Weidman’s decline. It’s a bit of read so feel free to skip the next paragraph

****************************

Now let me say loud and clear. Chris Weidman is a clean athlete. He is a not a juicer, however his last win and first loss straddle when the stringent USADA testing protocol went into effect. So what does this mean? Well, USADA doesn’t only prohibit the use of and test for performing enhancing and illicit drugs, it does the same for IV use, due to the use of IVs in blood doping. IVs were ubiquitous in MMA training camps, particularly with guys/girls who made use of large water cuts (literally sweating to lose weight) to make weight and then would need to rehydrate quickly in order to walk into the cage not completely drained. Weidman was one of those guys. He is a good sized middleweight who I’m guessing likes to regularly train well nourished, slim down as camp progresses, and then make a big cut – the wrestler’s life. Now, because IVs are gone and thus such huge water cuts would leave him vulnerable in the cage, he has to train smaller/lighter and probably weaker and in general not like he is used to. In my mind he’s even looked smaller than he used to in terms of pure body size. At such an advanced age for such a physical sport it can’t be easy.

*****************************

When he gets in the cage, Weidman will bring a very similar skill-set as Gastelum’s, although he deploys it differently. Weidman likes to use his footwork and movement, as well as his opponent’s own offense, to set up his Ray Longo-trained hands and D1 All-American take-downs. Considering Gastelum likes to lunge in with strikes and Weidman is capable of defending the takedown, which creates scrambles and breaks, The Hofstra alum should have some openings for his patented counter punches and nasty elbows.

One last thing since I haven’t dropped any hanging paragraphs yet, both combatants have ok but not great gas tanks – this is the lingering chink in Gastelum’s armor I mentioned – so if there is an active first round, expect them both to be look eager for a finish by the mid-2nd

Summary: My feelings for each fighter have been completely inverted. As Weidman’s losing streak began I kept saying not to count him out, he’ll be back. At this point however, it’s hard not to wonder if the lack of IVs, the shots he has taken, and father time have finally come to collect from Strong Island’s own. With Gastelum on the other hand, I’ve been skeptical of how he would do with each rung of the ladder he’s climbed. I guess the last selected contestant of TUF 17 just isn’t meant to be the favorite. That isn’t the case for me Saturday night though, as I believe his youth and power ends Weidman’s night early. Gastelum by KO/TKO in the 2nd/3rd round.

Fan/MMA Nerd Fight of the Night

In a battle of two bantamweights that are both max-two fights away from a title shot, Jersey boy Jimmie Rivera takes on Brazil’s Thomas Almeida. Two fights ago, the interloper “Thominhas” fought Cody Garbrandt in what I can remember as only the 2nd ever “whoever wins this is the next big thing in this division” fight after Jones-Bader at ligh-heavyweight in 2011. Although Almeida was knocked out, Garbrandt now holds the 135lb belt so there’s really no shame in such a loss. The Brazilian buzzsaw has since rebounded with a TKO over fellow prospect Albert Morales and looks to inch closer to either a rematch with “No Love” or a bout with whoever holds the belt when he is given a shot. In terms of how he fights, Almeida is pure violence, to put it mildly. He boasts a remarkable 77% TKO/KO rate over his 22 wins and has finished all but his debut win in the UFC. While a well rounded Muay Thai kickboxer with some great kicks and excellent knees, he primarily uses both to set up his leaden hands, particularly the straight or overhand right.

Across the cage stands Rivera, who has looked beyond impressive and yet with only 1 loss on his resume is still a bit underappreciated in my opinion. While not the soul-crushing finisher that Almeida is, Rivera is about as well-rounded as it gets. Across 3 rounds, Rivera is equivalently dominant, as shown in his unanimous decision win his last time out in September, where he spent 15 minutes convincing Urijah Faber to maybe take one last fight and then retire (long live the California Kid). A Team Tiger Schulman product, Rivera likes to put the pressure on his opponent while also looking for counter punches, although he seems to lack the same power, or possibly hunger, as his opponent to get the finish. It’s also notable that Rivera likes to work the body as a means to soften up and slow down whoever is standing across from him, and in this case it could make Almeida begin thinking twice about his next onslaught.

Summary:  This one is honestly a goddam toss up so I’m just going to go for broke. Although the Garbrandt fight showed Almeida does not like to be backed up the way Rivera backs his opponents up, I don’t see that ever happening as the bigger man from Sao Paulo will use his length and aggression to bring the fight to the regional favorite. It could go the distance but that’s a boring prediction. Almeida by TKO/KO in the 1st round.

 

Intriguing Fighter to Watch

This one has to go to Chris Weidman as so many questions abound. What does he have left? Can he get the win? Will he even look comfortable? With a guy with a similar bag of tricks across from him, where will he look to bring the fight? I guess we’ll see.

Another Fighter to Watch

This could be a big, and long delayed, coming out party for Jimmie Rivera. Make no mistake about it, this fight is not just about whether he wins or loses, but how he looks against a fellow agile, young, hungry striker such as Thomas Almeida. Depending on whether he can get the win, and if so how dominantly, we may have a very good idea of who Jimmie Rivera is coming out of this fight.


Notes

– The full list of local fighters on the card, non-Long Island noted: Chris Weidman, Gian Villante, Jimmie Rivera (Ramsay, NJ), Lyman Good (Manhattan, NY, NY), Ryan LaFlare, Shane Burgos (Bronx, NY, NY), and Chris Wade.

-Additionally, Rafael Natal trains with Renzo Gracie in NYC.

-Gian Villante will be cornered in part by UFC Heavyweight Champ Stipe Miocic. I know they train together a bit although I don’t know the connection. They’re both big, hilarious guys so if you catch a preview with them interacting it’s worth watching.

-Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira is criminally underrated with only 3 career losses, one of them to fellow “Cowboy” Cerrone on short notice. Since then he’s won 3 of 4 with 1 no contest.

-It’s hard not to like Darren Elkins but after his last fight he got a chest tattoo of his nickname “The Damage” and it’s awful. No more chest tattoos please.

-The main event was originally supposed to Ricard Lamas vs. “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung but the Zombie destroyed his knee and will be out awhile. Lamas now fights Jason “Hick Diaz” Knight at UFC 214.

Bellator’s Latest Pay-Per-View Attempt Tanks

By on • ( Leave a comment )
Image result for mitrione knocks out fedor

As expected by most, Bellator NYC/Bellator 180/whatever what have you did not do great PPV numbers, to say the least. For all the bluster and bravado that came from the fighters and Scott Coker himself it seems that this premium outing will do similar numbers to their initial attempt in 2014, with estimates in the 90,000 – 125,000 range. For reference, UFC 213, which lost two headlining fights (one the day of) and a top-10 Welterweight war, Is expected to come in around the top end of those numbers, AT LEAST. No bueno. To make matters a little worse, there was not a ton else going on that weekend. I myself was having a quiet Saturday and decided against purchasing it. Notably, the UFC did not offer up any competition, which in hindsight seems regrettable as they perhaps could have BURIED the Bellator PPV, albeit at the expense of their own event. Bellator’s parent company Viacom is putting on a public smile, saying they’re happy with the number, the “record gate” etc. however I doubt that’s all true.

Getting into the “why” and “what”, in terms of Bellator needs to do in order to improve upon this attempt, is actually pretty simple. Their 2014 PPV was just the best of their b-level talent plus the name brand of Quintin “Rampage” Jackson. That was never going to work. This time they relied upon their new strategy of having a good portion of the draw of their cards be either veteran and/or purely intriguing names, from Matt Mitrione and Fedor Emelianenko to the billed “best MMA prospect ever” wrestling maven Aaron Pico who was soundly defeated in his MMA debut. This strategy, although a solid one for garnering Spike TV numbers, is not going to work as a growth enabler or PPV seller. Intrigue only goes so far. I’ll change the channel to watch intrigue, not drop 50 bucks. What Bellator needs to do is what they finally have been doing: signing top-tier fighters. The only way to compete with UFC is to do just that – truly, straight up, compete. However I don’t expect they will ever go with that strategy alone and that’s why I don’t ever see them winning the battle.

BOSTON MMA STAND UP! – Calvin Kattar Gets Called Up To The Big Time

By on • ( 1 Comment )

So this is awesome, As reported by mmmad.com local guy Calvin Kattar has stepped in for Doo Ho Choi to face Andre Fili in a couple weeks at UFC 214. He has not lost in 7 years, although he took off 3 years beginning in 2013 before returning last fall to win twice in 2 months.

Kattar is 29 and splits his time between Carlos Neto’s BJJ school and the revered Team Sityodtong, both in Somerville. Full story below.

Calvin Kattar replaces Doo Ho Choi, fights Andre Fili at UFC 214

This Week In MMA and UFC

By on • ( Leave a comment )

UFC 214 is next week and is a STACKED card so instead of just putting out something next Friday or peppering in periodic updates, starting Monday I am going to use the entire week to cover it, save a quick peek you’ll find below. That leads to a pretty non-eventful few days over here on the MMA blog, but there are a few items of note to mention.

Brock Lesnar Returning?

This JUST broke yesterday evening. Twitter provocateur and MMA scoop ninja “Dizz” came out of America’s heartland to state that Brock Lesnar met with the UFC during International Fight Week, entered USADA’s testing pool, and will be returning to the Octagon. The UFC would obviously be all for a Lesnar return as he is an enormous draw, but it is a head-scratcher as to why Lesnar would do it, as he makes plenty of money on limited WWE appearances and has never seemed to really love professional fighting. I suppose his relationship with WWE could have soured again or something. Either way somehow Dizz is usually if not always fucking right so keep an eye on this.

https://twitter.com/TalkMMA/status/887612744060612608

Conor McGregor KO’d In Sparring?

Honestly either way this is much ado about nothing either way. Sometimes you just get caught, as many fighters have attested.

That said, the story went that two high-level pro boxers, Brandon Rios and Jessie Vargas, had come out and said they knew for a fact Conor had been KO’d in sparring, or something. Then Vargas came out and said he knew nothing and never said he did, or something. Then the picture below surfaced which clearly shows…something. Again, no matter which way you slice it it shouldn’t change anyone’s opinion of the fight. When highly trained grown men are swinging on each other, once in awhile someone is going to go down.

The Jon Jones/DC Social Media Beef Continues

I once threw down $10 on roulette in a small Indian casino in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire in hopes it would grow to $50 to buy the PPV and watch DC-Jones I. I pulled it off and watched the fight, the disappointment cascading down my spine as Jones lackadaisically toyed with a mentally burnt-the-fuck-out DC. I am trying to stay hype for DC-Jones II as on paper it could be one of the best ever, but shit like you see below makes me not want to even watch as it is not only annoying, but evidence we’re probably going to see a repeat of the first fight.

Dana White’s “Tuesday Night Contender Series” Seems Pretty Cool, I’m Still Not Buying Fight Pass

So every Tuesday this summer, Dana White will put together five or so fights made up of contenders from regional promotions around the country with the possibility that one or more of the more impressive combatants will be signed to the UFC. This is a really cool idea and the fights have seemed to be really entertaining, especially considering the commentary is provided by Urijah Faber and Snoop Dogg. However, and I’ll admit I don’t know how TV deals work, I’m skeptical that there is really something so important going on that FS1 can’t air “DWTNCS” rather than it. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to finally get me to order UFC Fight Pass, but this isn’t it.

Anderson Silva Calls Out Nick Diaz Because Sure, Why Not

I’m not a psychologist, but it would seem Anderson Silva, who I regard as the GOAT for what it’s worth, is having just as much trouble letting go of the spotlight and prestige of being a prizefighter as he is the actual act of getting in the cage and competing. This week, he is trying to bait Nick Diaz to come out of unofficial retirement and rematch him, as he knows this is a run-back Diaz himself has even pined for in the past. The problems number two, one being that this fight lacks any of the intrigue or relevance the original did and two, even more importantly, Diaz has not only shown an apathy for the fight game but is kind of in a bit of shit with USADA for not telling them where he is….4 times. After a life of not exactly loving being punched in the face, Nick Diaz has figured out a way to support himself by showing up places as Nick Diaz, and I don’t know if anything would make him give that up to train for and participate in a fight. However, if anyone could lure him back, it would be Anderson

Cain Velasquez Is Returning To Fight Stipe Miocic In October?

Back in March Cain Velasquez’s coach said the oft-injured former Heavyweight champ was rarely training and didn’t seem to be in a rush to resume his MMA career. Dana White has said himself in the past that when you stop giving a fuck to that extent maybe it’s time to pack it in. At 35 with more injuries than I care to even add up all over his Goddam body on his resume, maybe Velasquez is done.

OR MAYBE, as reported a couple days ago on bjpenn.com, which shoots about 50% from the line, Cain Velasquez is returning to face Stipe Miocic for the title at UFC 216 In October. Although I know I JUST speculated Cardio Cain could be finished with his career, making this bout would not be as unlikely as it seems. Velasquez was last expected to fight for belt last February, beat Travis Browne (before we realized he was spent) in July, and was supposed to fight Werdum in December before the NSAC was like, “bro, you are wayyyy too fucked up to fight“. Basically if he has healed enough legally he could be good to go. And you know what the crazy part is? He could pull it off.

 

Weekend MMA and UFC Fight Night Recap

By on • ( Leave a comment )

What was supposed to be a relatively slow weekend in MMA ended up being the weekend they shoot off all the fireworks left over from the 4th of July. While I am going to spend the most time, obviously, breaking down the highlights of the UFC’s trip to Glasgow, there are a couple of things from Bellator to address as well.

Bellator

-Gegard Mousasi, a unanimous top-ten Middleweight the UFC barely made an attempt to resign, had his first Bellator bout announced during the #2 organizations Friday broadcast. His opponent will be former champion Alexander Shlemenko. Ignoring Shlemenko’s positive steroid test that secured him a 2 year suspension (he fought twice abroad during that time), the undersized Russian is one of the most prolific top-tier Middleweights out there, having 66 fights under his belt to this point. He is primarily a striker, and a powerful, accurate one at that, registering 31 knockouts in his career. Considering one of Mousasi’s problems has always been getting hyped for fights that don’t mean a whole lot to him, this could be a a trap bout for the favorite.

-Girtz Vs. Campos Friday night was a WAR. Both guys left it all in the cage for two rounds until the gigantic gash in Girtz’s forehead, cause by a Campos knee, forced the cage-side doctor to call the fight before the 3rd. Legit looked like a Greyjoy had tried to start flaying Brandon Girtz’s head just before the fight. Good stuff from these guys.

 

UFC Fight 113 aka UFC Glasgow Aka UFC Fight Night: Nelson vs. Pozninibbio

-First and foremost, on my pre-event blog I missed discussing Paul Felder’s motivations going into this fight, so my sincerest apologies. “The Irish Dragon” actually lost his father to pancreatic cancer just before he began training camp for his battle with Stevie Ray, and dedicated his performance to his late Dad. Well, he did not disappoint. The Muay Thai practitioner crushed Ray in the clinch with a knee to the dome and then finished him on the ground with some of the most hellacious elbows you’ll ever see. Huge win for Felder and good to see him succeed at such an emotional time

-On the other hand it sucks to see Steve Ray lose so emphatically going into contract negotiations. He has significantly less leverage than if he had won and it would seem his two options are to accept what they offer and try and get his payday with his performances next time around or take his 4 oz gloves elsewhere. Here’s to hoping he sticks around.

-In maybe the oddest thing I’ve ever seen happen in the Octagon, Charlie Ward got thrown on his face into unconsciousness. Really all I have to say on that. YouTube it.

-As I said in my preview blog, sometimes Joanne Calderwood just isn’t fervid enough to get over the hump and that likely cost her the fight against Cynthia Calvillo. That isn’t to take anything away from Calvillo, but it looked like the front kicks and combinations JoJo was trying to work would have if she threw them with just a little more conviction. Here’s to greener pastures at 125 for the Scotswoman.

– So this Ponizinibbio guy is pretty good huh? My prediction was that “Gente Boa” would throw bombs at Nelson, move forward a little too much and get taken down and submitted. So I was right really except instead of being taken down Ponzinibbio took Nelson’s head off with an overhand right, then used a stiff left jab of all things to put an end to Nelson’s night.

-Shout out Podrick Payne sitting cage-side.

With all that said, here are a couple of fights I think make sense to put together with some of our Glasgow combatants.

 

Matches to make

Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Neil Magny
-Who knows if Magny will ever make the jump to true contender, but a win over him will give Ponzinibbio a push in the direction of the belt he now publicly craves.

Cynthia Calvillo vs. Michelle Waterson
-It is already time to give Calvillo a top ten 115er, and who better to welcome her to the dance than the ever popular “Karate Hottie”.

Paul Felder vs Rashid Magomedov
-Magomedov is an ultra-talented striker who is unfortunately known for the tepid way he fights. I’m thinking a whirling dervish like Felder will bring out the best in him.

 

Mayweather Promotions Is Already Missing The Point

By on • ( Leave a comment )

I honestly believe one of the the aspects that makes MMA more appealing to my generation than boxing, to generalize greatly but truthfully, is the certain degree of chaos that permeates the sports. From the promotion of a fight, to the press conferences, to the weigh-ins, there is a certain degree of frenzied uncertainty that makes all that pageantry that much more fun. I mean, we’re talking about a sport where grown men and woman, barely clothed, beat the bag out of each other with limited rules and still some of the more memorable moments happen during routine pre-fight business.

That’s not to say boxing has never had it’s moments, shame on me if I ignored the masterful rhetoric of Ali or blatantly insane musings of Tyson, but in hindsight, compared to MMA, it seemed a bit rehearsed, a bit staged. Sure, Ali put on a show for the ages, seeming almost boastfully annoyed his opponent would ever meet him in the ring. Buttttt then you have Jake Shields firing a macchiato at Artem Lobov or some other SBG team member while the Diaz brothers flipped the bird and Connor McGregor returned fire with an energy drink. The headliners of that fight were making millions of dollars on a card that would rake in millions more. MMA is now a legit business and a legit sport, but the uncertainty remained and remains, it can’t be quelled.

Which brings us to McGregor’s upcoming boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. On Monday they held the first presser of a 3 country, 4 city press tour to promote a fight that is more spectacle than competition, regardless of predicted or eventual winners.  The fight itself is itself a debate probably every fan of combat sports has had over the past 20 years or so: what happens when you put the best MMA fighter and the best boxer against each other. Whether the former (McGregor now) or latter (Mayweather anymore) is true, you have a dynamite enough cross-section of the two sports in name and reputation to warrant the hullaballoo the fight itself has caused.

However, I don’t think I’m along when I say I was just as interested to see class of styles in promotion: the semi-scripted, reality tv-esque machismo of boxing vs. the “Um Jones and Cormier just put Sholler through a temporary wall” tornado of MMA. Conor McGregor did his part. He showed up in his flashy pink tie and blue suit, the pin stripes of which were actually the tiny words “Fuck You” printed over and over again. He swaggered, he jawed, he got the crowd going. He smiled that “4 years ago I was on welfare and now I have all you motherfuckers eating out of my hand” smile. It was awesome to have him back.

Mayweather….started ok. He was the silent, stoic Floyd he’s been for his last couple of fights; a bored, bothered character his promotional company has used as a foil to throw opponent after opponent at to see if anyone could topple the apathetic king. The whole production has worked of course, raking in billions, and I suppose it could work on this tour as well, matched up against Connor’s bluster and self-confidence (he honestly, to the bone believes he is winning this fight, within four rounds at that). However, he has to play the high-stakes jenga game that is an MMA promotional endeavor at least a little bit. And right here is where he made a colossal mistake.

McGregor and Mayweather sat on stage answering questions. Connor was the Connor we all know and love, laughing, taunting, soaking it all in, looking at the crowd and nodding “isn’t this great” – and interrupting. This is where Connor excels and really gets in his opponents head/ear (Please watch this to give credit and honor to the one true king of Interruptsmanship). He once called Nate Diaz a cholo. He once asked New York City who the fuck venerable, two weight UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens was. He doesn’t let you dictate inside the cage and doesn’t let you speak outside of it. It is why he, the UFC, and all his opponents and other fighters on his cards have benefited financially from his time at the top.

And Mayweather Promotions cut his mic off.

Although Floyd has never been the most articulate, loquacious guy in the world and quite frankly doesn’t seem to care to speak a whole lot anymore (to be clear, he is a master with the press, I just don’t think he gives a shit), his team’s insistence on their guy being “the A-side” and having more than his time to shine took priority over the whole reason this fight was ever made: Conor being Conor. That is the undeniable truth. There is a reason Floyd never fought BJ Penn or any of the other MMA fighters of his approximate weight and time. Floyd is only one half of the puzzle and before Conor no one else could complete it. What finally is going to give combat sports fans their answer to the questions of what boxer vs. MMA fighter would look like, and give Floyd a massive payday that he actually might need , is not just a fighter of multiple disciplines who has the skill to make fans demand and pay for it, but has the charisma. And the mouth. That was and is only Conor.

And Mayweather Promotions cut his mic off.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if this trend of making sure Floyd gets his close up continues. McGregor getting muted was noticed and confirmed by the man himself so they may rethink censoring him moving forward, although then again, Floyd doesn’t really give a shit. Regardless, as it stands now Mayweather Promotions has so far refused to cede any of the promotional creativity to the magnetic tight rope walk that is MMA’s. Floyd Mayweather may have a flawless record in the ring but when it comes to truly letting this dream live to be a reality he has some work to do.

His record there is now 0-1.

I Have A Mild Clue What Is Going On In The UFC

By on • ( 1 Comment )

Editor’s Note: Introducing Danny Coughlin, who will be our resident MMA guy covering everything from the UFC to the upcoming mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.

So, a year in it doesn’t take a genius to see things in the largest, and yes, most talent laden MMA organization are just different. It’s a straight up Wizard of Oz situation in terms of exactly why or who is causing it to be this way. Maybe it was like this during the Zuffa era (The Fertittas as owners, Dana White ostensibly had more direct power/say) but I feel like we got to know that regime enough to kind of be able to deduce why they made certain decisions. Not the case with the new owners.

At a high level, or maybe more accurately at a fundamentally business level, there are two separate strategies that are most likely to be causing these changes. One would be if WME-IMG were looking at their new property as a straight up M&A situation. Here they would cut costs by making such moves as reducing non-essential staff (they have) while trying to jack up revenue, which nets out a ballooned profit, which would allow them to flip the company for a higher price than they bought it for. This would also explain letting some non-headliner/PPV buy-driving but subjectively expensive fighters walk to places like Bellator without a fight while putting on more, but (probably, I aint into research) cheaper  (or “watered down” as some bitter fans like to call them) shows. Again, less costs, more revenue.

The other business strategy is just to put together a long term earner of a business, which I think would seemingly be (see below) the more plausible scenario here. Let’s face it – it would take God-fucking-knows-what to make the UFC that much more valuable than $4 billion dollars in order to flip it for a profit when you take into consideration things like interest. On the flip side, putting on a larger amount of cheap, entertaining-enough-to-make-a-solid-nut shows to keep the cash flowing in? Throwing a few top-heavy/pomp-heavy Conor/Jon Jones/Diaz ragers  every year to churn some serious cheddah? Could work….

RECORD SCRATCH. What throws a wrench into strategy/idea two is the fact that if WME-IMG just wanted a profitable ATM of a business then why the fuck would they change what they inherited – A business and entertainment model/example that grew in value from $2 million to $4 BILLION in a fairly short amount of time – in the first place?

The answer to that question is most likely the answer to the overall question of “what the fuck in general is going on?” And the answer is our old friend ego. The same ego that made Bernie Madoff think he could endlessly swindle people out of 31231 kajillion dollars. The same ego that made good ol’ Eldrick Woods think he could piss on every hooker whose named ended in “i” within a 100 mile radius of Jupiter, FL. The same ego that made Det. The Rock and Samuel L think they could survive a quick 20 story leap off a building to expedite chasing down a perp. WME-IMG brass might not have the public swagger of Dana and Lorenzo, (and Frank, Joe Silva, etc.) but remember figurehead Ari Emanuel is the guy they based ARI FUCKING GOLD on. This is more than dollars and sense to him too, just like the Zuffa boys. But different men mean different egos. And WME-IMG want to succeed in their own way.

The best, and most entertaining IMNSHO, way to explain it would be to compare the egos of Moe Green and Michael Corleone. Moe Green wanted to prove to everyone he had the biggest dick and the most cash. He was flamboyant (Mayweather-McGregor), he was stubborn (Letting multiple top-10 guys walk). He cared less about his reputation (fighterpayfighterpayfighterpay) among his peers and the public than he did his bottom line. He rubbed the list of those bottom line accomplishments in everyone’s faces. WME-IMG and Ari might be plotting to do just that.

Michael Corleone was serious, surly even. He was a bit petty, sure (Dana), but in the end he not only wanted to be rich, which he sure as fuck did, but he wanted to be seen as legit (Zuffa) and build the biggest and baddest organization of it’s kind the world had seen. Kind of like how Zuffa stared across the pacific at Pride, tugged on it’s balls and put the UFC on it’s back. Pride fell. Strikeforce fell a few years later. The UFC were the undisputed kings of the realm.

In the end, only time will tell what WME-IMG’s end game really is. This is all just blogger speculation. It’s worth noting that should it happen, it wouldn’t be the first time the Fertitta’s had sold a business only to buy it back once the buyer realized they couldn’t run it as well. The question is by the time WME-IMG sets its strategy in place, will the UFC, or Bellator, or someone new, be the family in charge?