Category: mma

mma

The Ultimate Fighter Live, Episode 3: Three! Three silly pranks … ah ah ah ah …

Posted on by Beau Dure

A look inside the locker room of Justin Lawrence, who was unknown until he destroyed WEC veteran James Krause in the prelims. Now he’s being touted as a huge favorite.

Then a long recap of last week’s fight action, where Cruickshank got “too comfortable” (in Dana White’s words) and got KO’d.

And … it’s a new theme song! A famous one, too — the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ cover of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground. Also the walkout music of TUF 1 constestant/TUF 12 coach Josh Koscheck, a friend of the band’s.

Continue reading →

0
mma

The Ultimate Fighter Live, Episode 2: Bad news, surprising fight

Posted on by Beau Dure

The opening is unfamiliar. As with the season opener last week, we have Jon Anik’s voice introducing us live, even though we’re going to have 45 minutes of reality TV first. Then it’s a ponderous intro explaining the new format in vivid detail. Dana White nearly falls out of a chair.

The usual theme music is gone. The graphics have changed. It barely looks like TUF.

We see the fighters going to the house late at night, probably just after the live broadcast last week, and immediately racing to choose beds.

Michael Chiesa is excited to have a place to live rent-free. Jeremy Larsen thinks it’s like a first date — everybody’s on their best behavior. Still drinking a bit, of course, but no house shenanigans. We go straight back to the gym for the draft.

Since the UFC was kind enough to send a press release with records and hometowns, I’ll include that in the draft roundup along with a couple of reminders of who’s who:

  1. Cruz: Justin Lawrence (4-0), Villa Ridge, Mo.; destroyed WEC vet James Krause in prelim.
  2. Faber: Al Iaquinta (6-1-1), Wantagh, N.Y.; Serra-Longo product won tough prelim bout most remembered for opponent Jon Tuck’s nasty broken toe.
  3. Cruz: Sam Sicilia (11-0), Spokane Valley, Wash.; won prelim in eight seconds.
  4. Faber: Cristiano Marcello (13-3), Curitiba, Brazil; Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert.
  5. Cruz: Myles Jury (10-0), San Diego, Calif.; first repeat contestant in TUF history.
  6. Faber: Daron Cruickshank (10-2); Wayne, Mich.; impressive in decision win in prelims.
  7. Cruz: Mike Rio (9-1), Miami, Fla.; sole loss was to Efrain Escudero.
  8. Faber: Joe Proctor (8-1), Pembroke, Mass.; “recommendation from Joe Lauzon,” won good prelim bout over Jordan Rinaldi.
  9. Cruz: James Vick (5-0); Fort Worth, Texas; split-decision winner over Dakota Cochrane.
  10. Faber: Michael Chiesa (8-0), Spokane Valley, Wash.; obliterated prelim opponent.
  11. Cruz: Vinc Pichel (8-0), Sherman Oaks, Calif.; KO specialist won prelim with nasty elbow on the ground, finished with rear naked choke.
  12. Faber: John Cofer (8-1), Hull, Ga.; scrapped out win over experienced Mark Glover.
  13. Cruz: Chris Tickle (8-4), Bloomington, Ill.; those losses were early in his career, and his prelim was a demolition.
  14. Faber: Andy Ogle (9-1), Tynemouth, England; barely won prelim.
  15. Cruz: Jeremy Larsen (9-2), Phoenix, Ariz.; tough prelim win against a game Jeff Smith.
  16. Faber: Chris Saunders (10-2), Long Beach, Calif.; “The SoCal kid” won the worst prelim fight.

Faber practices first, and everyone loves him and each other. Cruz’s session gets a timestamp for Saturday — early TUF episodes would say “Day 13” and so forth, but that was phased out. This is new.

Tickle is an interesting situation. He’s apparently a buddy of Faber’s who figured he’d be on Faber’s team. Cruz knew that. But after 12 picks, Cruz was sick of waiting. Faber looked stunned. Tickle was irritated that he didn’t go earlier.

And then Cruz decides to test Tickle right away, throwing him in a grappling session with top pick Lawrence. He takes it well and manages to bond a bit with his team.

Off to fight selection. Faber won the coin toss and chose the first fight instead of the first pick. That’s not a bad idea. Setting the matchups can lead to a long run of wins. But I’ve already seen the result here, so I know Faber botched the pick.

And first, Faber says his dad called and said Cruz is a bold-faced liar. “There’s some UFC magazine saying my parents gave me a gym.” Faber denies such a thing and is pissed that Cruz brought up “family.” Cruz says he won’t bring up family and apologizes to Faber’s parents. It’s one of the least interesting debates in TUF coaching history.

Fight pick: Vick vs. Cruickshank. Faber thinks Vick lost his prelim fight, so it’ll be an easy win for Cruickshank.

Then comes the shocker.

Chiesa, the easygoing guy with the tangled hair and beard, says he was at practice getting warmed up when Faber told him he had to call his mom. He surely knows it’s not good news. He retreats to a dressing room and learns that his father has passed away.

He struggles through a confessional, saying his dad has been fighting AML, a form of cancer.

Chiesa says he had promised his dad he would stay on the show. But he tells his mom he’ll see what his options are. Faber goes in to comfort him and says in confessional he hopes he’ll stay.

Back at the house, Chiesa calls Sam Sicilia over. They’re training partners. They barely get in the house before Chiesa breaks down and chokes out the words that his father passed away. Sicilia is emotional in his own confessional.

Sicilia stresses the positive — his dad got to see him fight and win on national TV.

After an ad break, we get another Anik voiceover reminding us about the fight coming up. It’s a little jarring given what’s going on in the episode.

Timestamp: Monday. Chiesa goes in to meet with Dana White. They agree that he’ll go home to see his family and attend the funeral, then return. Maybe it’s cliche, but it’s what his dad wanted.

We meet Vick. He grew up poor and takes fighting very seriously. Strategically, Cruz wants him to stay busy so he doesn’t fall prey to Cruickshank’s takedowns. But Cruz also gives him a grappling crash course with the help of Lloyd Irvin, whose team and supporters typically deafen fans at DC-area MMA cards. Enthusiastic folks.

Cruickshank: “Some people are born fighters and some are raised fighters. I’d say I’m both.” His parents have martial arts backgrounds. Faber is training him to defend specific submissions that Vick might try. A little strange considering that Cruickshank says Vick considers himself a boxer.

Cruickshank seems overconfident. But we know the producers aren’t telegraphing anything because the fight is live.

Chiesa returns. He found out that his dad hung on to see him fight last week, then rapidly declined a few hours later.

Weigh-in: Thursday 4 p.m. That’s Pacific time, so we know the editors have had a little more than 24 hours to put this together. Ogle says Cruickshank has been kickboxing since he was born and will be going for KO of the season.

Again — we have to remind ourselves that the producers are not telegraphing things. We have no idea if the overconfident fighter is getting come-uppance.

“And we welcome you live,” Jon Anik says. Backstage with Cruz and Vick, then Faber and Cruickshank.

Vick is the tallest fighter in the competition at 6-3, Anik tells us. They offer up “keys to victory,” and Vick’s are to use his reach and keep his back off the fence. Cruickshank needs to control the center of the cage and push the pace.

Cruickshank charges in with uppercut. Vick high kick. Cruickshank spins. Vick charges. Curickshank leg kick, then spinning back kick, then charges for a takedown.

And Vick knocks him out cleanly with a knee.

Vick and team celebrate. Then the camera gets close into the huddle around Cruickshank, where referee Herb Dean is telling him to relax. He got caught. Fight’s over.

The official word: knockout, 2:16 into the round. Anik comes in to do a postfight interview. Vick says his knee was supposed to be a kick, but it worked out pretty well.

Anik also talks with Cruickshank. “What happened at the end of the fight?” “I don’t remember too much,” he says with a smile. The smile fades when Anik asks if it’ll be tough to stay focused for the next 12 weeks. Yes, 12 weeks in the house and the gym, with no chance of fighting again unless someone gets hurt. Reality has set in.

Back from the break, Anik talks with Dana, who says Faber underestimated Vick. Then Dana walks across the gym, like Stephen Colbert going for an interview, to do the fight picks.

Cruz throws everyone a curve. He calls up No. 1 pick Justin Lawrence, then says Faber can pick whichever guy he wants. Dana says he’s never seen that before. Faber jokes, “Shall we do the finals now?” Then he tentatively asks his team who’s ready to scrap. No one is. Faber asks Lawrence to make a pick, and he takes Marcello.

So things are off to a pretty bad start for Faber. But Chiesa’s week puts that in perspective.

2
mma

Rousey’s armbar parade and the state of women’s MMA

Posted on by Beau Dure

As I’ve bragged repeatedly, perhaps because I’m so rarely ahead of the curve on such on things, I was touting Ronda Rousey as a future MMA star even before the 2008 Olympics. She was a badass, she was quotable, and she won a lot of her judo bouts by armbar — a good way of winning MMA fights.

So why am I a little concerned upon waking up this morning (no, I didn’t get a chance to see the fight — glad to see full highlights available) to see that Rousey has taken the Strikeforce title — again by armbar, again in the first round?

Perhaps it’s because I was impressed with Miesha Tate when I interviewed her for espnW. She’s a terrific spokeswoman for her sport. But honestly, I had a few misgivings before chatting with Tate.

Maybe because I don’t like bullies and brash attitudes. I’ll stand by my distaste for Chael Sonnen’s entire approach to the sport. I frankly don’t want to see Sonnen fight Anderson Silva again.

But beyond that, it’s a concern about the state of women’s MMA, a young sport within a young sport.

Think back to boxer James Toney fighting Randy Couture. Toney seemed to think his boxing skills, along with a brief introduction to the other aspects of the sport, would be sufficient for competing in the Octagon. A few boxing scribes turned up in Boston eager to heap dirt upon mixed martial arts, and the “no cheering on press row” ideal went out the window. When Couture wisely used a mix of mixed martial arts skills — a wrestling takedown, a jiu-jitsu finish and the MMA-specific skill of ground-and-pound — to subdue Toney, the crowd released a roar that was equal parts excitement, validation and relief.

To be fair, Rousey isn’t James Toney. Her MMA career has been brief, but she has still worked her way up a ladder. A judo base is also a lot better preparation for MMA than a boxing base — once she gets in a clinch or takes the fight to the ground, she’s in her element.

A better comparison might be Brock Lesnar, who fought for the UFC heavyweight title with a 2-1 record, beating no one of consequence. Like Rousey, Lesnar was a tough, powerful athlete with a grappling base. Even in his loss to Frank Mir, he showed a good set of MMA skills, adding ground-and-pound to his wrestling before showing his inexperience and falling into a submission.

Yet Lesnar’s rapid rise also pointed to a weak division of UFC heavyweights. The heavyweight class isn’t the deepest in MMA, and the UFC at the time was lacking a lot of the world’s best.

So what does Rousey’s rapid rise tell us about the state of women’s MMA?

Michael David Smith takes the half-full view. And he’s right that Rousey’s next fight could be a more compelling test than Tate was. Tate tried swarming Rousey with punches and kicks early, but she’s not a standout striker, and Compustrike only counted eight strikes that landed in 4:27 of fight time. By comparison, Sarah Kaufman landed 141 standing arm strikes — not just leg kicks and ground strikes that are easier to accumulate — in her win over Alexis Davis, even though Davis put her on the ground most of round 3 and wound up outstriking her in the total numbers. (Yes, I really wish I had seen that fight, and it’s a pity Strikeforce/Showtime didn’t put it on the main card.)

Maybe Kaufman will fill the Cain Velasquez role, beating the new champion in a standup battle, or at least the Shane Carwin role, taking it to the champion and forcing a comeback win. Then again, if Kaufman couldn’t keep Davis from taking her down even after punishing her for two rounds, can she keep Rousey at bay?

Like Lesnar (and unlike Toney), Rousey has built nicely on her grappling base, and she finally got a chance to show more of her skills against Tate. Rousey’s previous bouts hadn’t lasted more than a minute, and she was never put in any danger. Rousey had to work for this one. Tate at least got in a few punches and even got on her back at one point. She also got out of Rousey’s first armbar attempt. Rousey even showed off some ground-and-pound skills. Tate held on until her arm reached this gruesome point. (Warning: Not kidding about “gruesome.”)

So we can’t complain too much about her worthiness as a champion, even if she talked her way into the title shot. She’s a terrific fighter. And she’s exciting — fellow fighters lit up Twitter last night to gush about what they had seen.

Perhaps she’ll be the first of a new wave. Already, fellow Olympic-bred badass Sara McMann is blazing a trail through MMA. Men’s MMA evolved when elite wrestlers like Couture and Dan Henderson embraced the new sport. Maybe Rousey, McMann and company can do the same thing.

But just as MMA fans fondly recall the men’s trailblazers, even those who wouldn’t be competitive in the modern era, we should remember the people who fought before fighting was cool. And perhaps a few old-school fans will be rooting for Kaufman to win one for the old guard and teach these new folks some humility.

15
mma

The UFC’s curious response to ESPN’s piece

Posted on by Beau Dure

(Editing a little after listening to the Josh Gross podcast with Outside the Lines reporter John Barr.)

I have to start with a disclaimer, of course. If there’s a dispute between the UFC and ESPN, then I’m in the bad situation of being beholden to both sides. I’ve done some freelance work for ESPN, though none for Outside the Lines and very little (one story) relating to MMA. I also have reasons for keeping up good ties with the UFC.

So in writing about the dispute over the Outside the Lines story on UFC fighter pay, I’m either being incredibly stupid or simply trusting that all involved will be kind enough not to hold anything against me.

But frankly, no one should be horribly offended by anything I’m writing here. This is really more of a summary for those who didn’t get a chance to see the full broadcast Sunday morning or the rebuttal the UFC has released. And it gives some insight into the steps the UFC is taking as it continues to move into the mainstream.

The first thing you may notice if you’ve watched both pieces is that the UFC isn’t really refuting many of the points offered in the piece. That’s because the piece wasn’t particularly damning. SB Nation’s Luke Thomas called it “a tepid piece on fighter pay.”

But many UFC fans didn’t watch the ESPN piece. They’re only going to see what Dana White releases in response.

So many fans may think that the clips of Lorenzo Fertitta in the UFC rebuttal didn’t air in the ESPN piece. Most of them actually did. The consensus among most sources I’ve read is that Fertitta came across quite well.

One major exception, released earlier, is a clip of Fertitta turning the tables on his interviewer to point out how little some fighters on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights are paid. Judging by the Twitter reaction, people think Fertitta “pwned” ESPN with that bit. But the more knowledgeable MMA fans or media watchers know that ESPN isn’t the promoter of Friday Night Fights. It’s not ESPN’s job to determine how much the undercard fighters are paid.

Nor are the undercard fighters on those shows in any way comparable to UFC fighters. In MMA terms, Friday Night Fights is the rough equivalent of Shark Fights or a decent regional promotion. And the ratings reflect it. UFC draws more viewers for undercard fights than Friday Night Fights draws for its main events.

The rest of the UFC’s video consists of fighters Chuck Liddell (retired, now in UFC front office), Forrest Griffin (active) and Matt Serra (somewhat active) talking about the UFC’s generosity. Their testimony would be an effective counter to the ESPN piece … if ESPN’s Josh Gross hadn’t made exactly the same point on the program. Gross even brought up the UFC’s generosity toward fighter Dan Miller when his son needed surgery, which says a lot more about White and Fertitta’s kindness than the testimonies of established stars ever could.

The most effective rebuttal in the UFC video is a clip of Ken Shamrock telling Tito Ortiz that they made good money. That’s a subtle shot at Shamrock, who got a fair amount of screen time in the ESPN piece claiming the UFC has near-monopoly power in the MMA marketplace. OTL host Bob Ley noted on air that Shamrock also had recently lost to the UFC in court — a Nevada Supreme Court appeal over the interpretation of his contract and whether the UFC owed him another fight.

Let’s go back to the word “monopoly.” Aside from Shamrock’s comments and an awkward exchange between Ley and Ricco Rodriguez, a fighter who would have no claim to make it back to the UFC on merit at this stage, ESPN went into little detail about the monopoly issue. I don’t recall a mention of Bellator and certainly didn’t hear anything about its purchase by Viacom.** A few months ago, White said the Viacom purchase makes the UFC “the Mom and Pop” brand by comparison. Hyperbole, perhaps, but the legitimate question the UFC could raise is why fighters choose their entry-level contracts instead of a Bellator deal. Or a deal with Shark Fights or any number of well-intentioned regional promoters.

Outside the Lines did mention that ESPN UFC* bought Strikeforce. It didn’t mention the other once-viable competitors — EliteXC, Affliction or any number of Japanese promotions. Most of those imploded on their own. Can’t really blame the UFC if Affliction overpaid all its fighters or if EliteXC pinned its hopes on a former backyard brawler who was hyped as something huge but was never really a top-20 fighter.

But that’s not the point the UFC made. And it’s because the UFC knows it isn’t arguing in front of a judge or jury (at least, not here — in a case that reached the august pages of The Economist, the Federal Trade Commission is having a look-see). Fertitta and White know they’re arguing in front of fans, many of whom are enamored of the UFC’s pugnacious approach to things. So they’re arguing to their audience, many of whom flocked to applaud White on Twitter and on blogs.

In all likelihood, there’s no harm done. Fertitta says fighter pay has been going steadily upward in recent years, and that’s likely to continue. (A sadder story that might be worth some investigation: When will fighters outside the UFC earn decent money?) Entry-level fighters certainly shouldn’t be any worse off after ESPN’s scrutiny.

As for the rest of us, we can only hope that whatever battle the UFC may fight with ESPN doesn’t cause any collateral damage that makes it more difficult for us to enjoy watching and reading about this impressive sport.

* – In the initial post, I got my abbreviations confused and said ESPN bought Strikeforce. It did not. That would’ve been interesting.

** – The Gross/Barr podcast describes problems they had getting Bellator to participate. And Gross noted skepticism over Bellator in the MMA community, saying their contracts can be restrictive. 

0
mma

Anonymous Genius: The crying Dutch are ruining MMA?

Posted on by Beau Dure

I may have a few thoughts on ESPN’s Outside the Lines piece on UFC pay a bit later. Dana White has promised a rebuttal, and I’d like to critique them both at the same time.

But one response to Michael David Smith’s thoughtful take on it prompted me to start a feature I’ve been considering for a while.

Welcome to Anonymous Genius, a compendium of the most curious comments found on sports sites. We open with this one from “Catchabrick”:

Maybe someday even our pathetic piece of a crying smallminded dutch sheit goverment will except it for the brilljant sport it is, but i doubt it. To many old people.

via Outside the Lines Investigates UFC Pay, But Questions Remain.

0
mma

MMA, pro wrestling and proper arenas

Posted on by Beau Dure

It started with an innocent joke. With my eyes straining, I misread the name “CM Punk” as “chipmunk.” When my eyes refocused, I realized it was another reference to a pro wrestling champion whose name I just learned because he’ll be accompanying Chael Sonnen to his next fight. I thought it would be amusing to Tweet that Sonnen will be walking to the cage with a chipmunk.

An MMA media colleague who really likes pro wrestling was not amused. And pretty soon, we were down the same road of “pro wrestling vs. MMA” that will one day be settled in a Texas cage match with me and Luke Thomas taking on Sergio Non and Matt Roth.

Luke and I may sometimes come across as rather pious about separating scripted fighting from unscripted. To be fair, pro wrestling has a lot to offer pop culture. Chris Jericho has been on several VH1 I Love the (whatever) shows and is usually wittier than the alleged comedians. The Rock/Dwayne Johnson has been great in recurring appearances on Saturday Night Live. Mick Foley’s thoughtful writing and TV appearances have boosted Tori Amos’ career. So it’s not fair to say pro wrestling should stay in its own arena.

In yesterday’s Twitscrap, I defended myself with the weaker point first, saying I preferred my fictional sports to be about Texas high school football or Carolina League baseball. When pressed, I said the real problem here was the encroachment of pro wrestling into another arena. It’d be idiotic to seek out a Friday Night Lights message board to tell people the show’s lame, but if Tim Riggins (in character) walked with someone to the cage, MMA fans would have every right to say that’s silly.

Yet that exchange still doesn’t get to the heart of the problem. Some wrestling/MMA mingling is harmless — Tom Lawlor’s Hulk Hogan impression sailed over my head but was hardly distracting from the fight that followed.

Japan also mixes pro wrestling and MMA with some fluidity. For the big annual New Year’s Eve fighting show, Dream mixed a tournament of legit bantamweight fighters and a couple of championship bouts with a few exhibitions of MMA fighters in pro wrestling bouts. That mix isn’t for everyone, though I’ll admit I’d rather see Josh Barnett in a pro wrestling bout than Chris Jericho shouting a bunch of obnoxious scripted boasts in a WWE show.

The problem is when the line between fiction and reality blurs. And that leads us back to Sonnen.

Start with trash-talking, most of which is harmless. No one was hurt when Nate Diaz flipped Donald Cerrone’s hat off (flipping off Cerrone during the fight was a little more difficult to defend), and these were just two willing participants trying to get fans (and themselves) ramped up for a fight. For the most part, it’s an act, designed to get fighters excited over the otherwise-abnormal act of punching someone else in the face. The “feud” is over when the fight is over.

Sonnen’s “act” has gone far beyond those bounds. The one-time political candidate is happy to bring politics into the arena. (So is Jacob Volkmann, who managed to get 15 minutes of fame by threatening Barack Obama and then casting himself as a martyr whose chiropractor job is threatened directly by the president, who apparently designed the whole health-care thing not to insure the uninsured by to oppress his business.) He gleefully insults Canada and Brazil. He has denied saying Lance Armstrong gave himself cancer, though he hasn’t exactly convinced the blogosphere of his innocence. He even takes that bluster into a serious career-threatening legal process over his testosterone therapy, blaming the media and saying he was found guilty of taking a “legal substance.”

So now we have a guy who sounds like Ric Flair yelling at Dusty Rhodes (hey, I’m old) when he’s talking about serious stuff. And when he decides to walk to a legitimate fight with a wrestler in his corner, it just seems like it should be the other way around.

Why should we care about this blurred line between wrestling and MMA? First, MMA fans have a right to know that what they’re watching is legit. Drug-testing is part of it.

Second, MMA fans have a right to say, “Look, leave Lance Armstrong and Canada’s government out of it.” Some may disagree, but the fans who prefer to watch fights without all that nonsense shouldn’t be dissuaded from speaking up.

Third, MMA — like all sports — has to watch its image. The challenges in MMA are unique in the sense that we still have grumpy old sports editors and corporate sponsors who don’t want to deal with the sport. But they’re not unique in the sense that any sport can be stereotyped. Browse any sports site and read the comments about people who think the NBA is populated by “thugs.” Look at the damage control baseball has had to do in the wake of its drug scandals and labor strife.

MMA has unique ties to pro wrestling, particularly in Japan but also in the USA with crossovers such as Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. But MMA and wrestling are a volatile mix. Handle with care.

1
mma

The only MMA conference call transcript you’ll ever need

Posted on by Beau Dure

(Classical music fades in and out as if on a distant radio station. It abruptly stops at times, raising hopes that call is about to begin. Then it restarts, dashing those hopes. … 10-15 minutes after the scheduled start time, the music stops.)

MUFFLED VOICE: … then he threw the soup.

(Others laugh)

OPERATOR: This is the UXC 132 conference call. Please hit Star-1 if you want to ask a question, but not yet. If you’re on a speakerphone, please mute it so your signal can reach our equipment. Turning it over to your host now, Mr. Jim Payar.

JIM: Thanks, this is Jim … Pierre … welcoming you to today’s call. On the line, we have UXC welterweight champion Delbert “Wild Man” Grumptalker, UXC heavyweight Pete Oneliner and Grumptalker’s challenger, Silva Silva. Silva will be speaking in Klingon, but we have Ed Worf translating for him. We’re still trying to reach Droopy Napmaster, who’ll be fighting against Oneliner — we’ll let you know when he’s on the line. Operator, we’re ready to take questions now.

OPERATOR: Once again, that’s Star-1 if you want to ask a question. We’ll pause now to assemble the queue.

(20 seconds later)

OPERATOR: Your first question is from Warren Whyzefirst from ChokeMeOut.com

WHYZEFIRST: Yeah, my question is for Droopy. Droopy, you won your last fight using a modified guillotine. Do you …

JIM: Hey … Warren? Warren? Yeah, Droopy isn’t on the line yet.

WHYZEFIRST: Oh. Um, OK then, I’ll ask Pete. Pete, Droopy tends to win his fights using various types of guillotine chokes. What do you plan to do to avoid his guillotine.

ONELINER: Knock him out. Maybe before he gets to the cage.

WHYZEFIRST: OK, great. Um, I’ll come back if Droopy gets on the line.

Continue reading →

3
mma

The case for Mayhem Miller

Posted on by Beau Dure

Jason “Mayhem” Miller won the coaching battle with Michael Bisping, hands down. And his attitude during the show compared with Bisping’s made it easy for fans to pick sides going into last night’s fight.

But Miller really didn’t have much of a chance. He hadn’t fought in 16 months, and his last fight was a largely ceremonial dispatching of aging legend Sakuraba. He had only one prior fight in the UFC, in 2005 against Georges St. Pierre. Dana White says he didn’t look too good in that one, but who looks good against GSP? White and some of the media sang Dan Hardy’s praises for the mere act of not being submitted in a five-round whitewash. (Hardy lost his next three fights.)

Miller’s much better on the ground than he is on his feet. Last night, he was fighting a kickboxing monster in Bisping who’s also a bit bigger — Bisping’s a former light heavyweight, Miller sometimes fights at welterweight.

So Miller, rather predictably, came out and had a strong first round (FightMetric stats clearly favor him) but used up all his energy in doing so. Bisping pounded him for another round and a half before the fight was stopped.

White didn’t seem bullish on Miller’s future after last night’s loss. He Tweeted that the fight was one of the most lopsided in UFC history, though it clearly wasn’t the most lopsided of the night. (That would be Johnny Bedford’s gruesome beatdown of Louis Gaudinot in another substantial size mismatch.) Even after getting called out on Twitter by people pointing to Miller’s first-round performance and countless lopsided fights in UFC history (Quarry-Starnes, Silva-Griffin), he stuck by it in his postfight interview with Ariel Helwani. He was even less enthusiastic about Miller in his interview with Heavy MMA.

Four reasons to keep Mayhem in the Octagon:

1. He deserves a shot to be something other than the big underdog. His two UFC fights are against the greatest welterweight of all time and a top contender who’s a bad matchup for him even if he hasn’t been inactive for 16 months. If Hardy gets to stick around after dropping four straight, why cut Miller?

2. Grappling doesn’t suck. Variety is a good thing on a UFC card. The organization has plenty of “stand-and-bang” guys who stick around forever even though they’ll never crack the top 20. How about keeping a guy who can bring it on the ground?

3. He’s a good personality. He could easily join Stephan Bonnar and Amir Sadollah in the rotation of analyst/panelist/interviewers. (And let him do a real entrance next time.)

4. Promotional credibility. Fans tend to notice if you hype somebody up and then dump on them after one mistake.

Mayhem brought a lot to this season of The Ultimate Fighter, and that’s nothing to take lightly. We need to quit pretending that the best fighters are necessarily the best or most compelling TUF coaches. (See Lesnar, Brock. Or Hughes, Matt.) Maybe he has a long way back before he can coach there again, but people would probably tune in.

If Strikeforce continues as the flashy, techno-infused sibling to the rock-and-rap UFC, maybe Mayhem would be a better fit there in the long run. But surely he deserves at least one more shot in the UFC first. He did the UFC a great service by helping them reinvigorate The Ultimate Fighter before it moves to a new network. Seems like he should get some capital out of that valuable service.

0
mma

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 14, Episode 10: A punchy farewell to Spike

Posted on by Beau Dure

And we bid a fond farewell to The Ultimate Fighter on Spike. This is the final episode (not counting the finale, which is basically a “Fight Night” card) that will air before the UFC takes its programming over to the Fox networks. Spike and the UFC have had seven years of remarkable brand-building together.

This one probably won’t have a lot of the shenanigans we’ve seen through TUF history. We have two fights, and the Bisping-Mayhem feud has fizzled.

We still have a feud between John Dodson and Johnny Bedford. Or at least a one-way hatred between Bedford, who has decided to judge lest he be judged. Or something like that. I’m not sure what they covered in their Bible study.

Continue reading →

0