UFC 100: A Time for Celebration

As the UFC 100 weekend approaches, many writers and sites have talked about all the great and crazy fights of the past. They’ve gone over the ones that helped the sport, and the ones that hurt it, a lot of great stuff that actually signifies the importance of this weekend.

As the fan expo gets underway on Friday and the event unfolds on Saturday night, fans from all over the world will be romping through the streets of Vegas and many more will be tuned in to the TV watching each fight with unabated attention.

When we consider the state of the sport just ten years ago, it makes this weekend an occasion to truly celebrate. Just take a look at those early events, remember the days when the sport was hanging on by a thread, and then take in the festivities offered up this weekend.

The UFC has done a tremendous job in turning an extreme sport into something that is now on the verge of being wholeheartedly accepted. I’ll be in Vegas by Friday and I can’t wait to take it all in. I can’t wait to see the diversity of the fans and their excitement. I look forward to seeing the fighters and UFC personalities interact with the fans, and I hope that everybody realizes that no matter how the event plays out, it should be seen as a celebration of a new sport.

The UFC and Sponsorship Fees

We all now know that under the direction of Dana White, Joe Silva dropped the hammer on the sponsors, informing them that they’d have to pay a $100,000 fee in order to sponsor UFC fighters.

We also all know that this damages the lower tier sponsors and up and coming fighters much more severely than it does the big dogs. So many sponsors can’t pay the fee and this cuts a lot of sponsorship money from a number of fighters, money that they depend on since they are not getting paid much to fight on the under card.

Now I’m not chastising Zuffa for making this decision. I think $100,000 might be a tad steep, but it makes sense in that they are going after only the top-tier sponsors. It is tough for the others, and some might say unfair, but it’s also business.

The problem I, and many others, have is that this destroys a source of income for so many fighters. Often they get paid $7,000 to show and $7,000 to win, and the rest of their money comes from piecing together a handful of sponsors that can shell out a thousand bucks here or two thousand there. Now all the sudden this option is kaput!

The simple fix is this, with the increased revenue thanks to the big time sponsors paying the fee, the UFC needs to up the pay scale for the under card guys. This makes it where they don’t have to hustle to earn a few extra dollars and it also makes the promotion look as if this was their intention all along, whether it was or not.

How about making the minimum for any fighter $20,000! Ten fighters on a typical under card makes for $200,000, and that expense is resolved by the $100,000 sponsorship fee doled out for the main event guys.
If the UFC opts to take this route it would salvage a situation that adds grease to the fire for those who claim the promotion is akin to the evil empire.

This Day in MMA History: Two Titles, Two Positives

77 It was on (7/7) of 2007 when the UFC invaded the ARCO Arena in Sacramento for a second time in as many years. The card was appropriately named Stacked as it was filled with champions.

The main card began with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira getting rocked by Heath Herring, but as usual Big Nog came back for the victory.

Next, it was Sean Sherk who dominated Hermes Franca to retain his lightweight belt. The fight was of course overshadowed as it was soon reported that both men tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Sean Sherk contested and thus began a near year long drama that saw Sherk stripped of the belt, BJ Penn winning the belt at UFC 80 in Newcastle, England. Sherk was in the building and the two exchanged words. It all ended at UFC 84 with Penn stopping Sherk.

Picture of Sean Sherk (left) and Hermes Franca

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Back to UFC 73 on this day two years ago, the third main card fight saw former champ Tito Ortiz fight future champ Rashad Evans. Ortiz won two rounds, but the fight was scored a draw because he was deducted a point for grabbing the fence. This led to a little drama as well as Evans gave Ortiz the what-for in the post fight press conference.

Next up it was Anderson Silva defending his middleweight belt for the first time. He was to defend it against Travis Lutter at UFC 67, but Lutter didn’t make weight. Silva’s opponent, a game Nate Marquardt, couldn’t handle the Spider and was TKO’d late in the first.

Picture of Anderson Silva (right) and Nate Marquardt

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The evening ended with Kenny Florian stopping Alvin Robinson. This fight was pushed back to after the main event.

Chris Lytle earned submission of the night, Diego Saraiva and Jorge Gurgel landed fight of the night, and there was no KO of the night there were no KO’s!

It was an entertaining show that turned sour for Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca, introduced former PRIDE star Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to the UFC, and announced the true beginning of the Anderson Silva reign. And it happened two years ago today.

Round 5 to Debut Limited Edition 'Shogun' Rua and Dan Henderson Figurines at UFC Fan Expo this Weekend

Attendees Have First Chance at Numbered Series with Personalized Features, Packaging; Couture, 'Shogun,' Wanderlei Silva To Appear Live at Round 5 Booth

MARKHAM, Ontario, Canada, July 6, 2009 – Mixed martial arts fans and other collectors attending UFC Fan Expo on Friday and Saturday at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas will be first in line as Round 5 unveils its premiere “Limited Edition,” individually numbered figurines, featuring MMA stars Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson. Available for the first time at the Round 5 booth (#427), the Rua collectible includes his signature Bad Boy Walk Out t-shirt while Henderson's comes with an American Flag, and both come in packaging that is distinct from the standard Series 4 issue, also debuting at Fan Expo.

Rua will also join Randy Couture and Wanderlei Silva at the booth as they meet fans and sign autographs during the two days. On Friday, "Shogun" will sign from 3 - 5 p.m., while Couture will be there from 6 - 7 p.m. On Saturday, Silva will be available from 2 - 3:30pm and "Shogun" from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Only 2,548 of the Limited Edition 'Shogun' and Henderson collectibles will ever be made, and just 252 – in numerical order beginning at Fan Expo opening at 10 a.m. on Friday – will be available each day at Expo.

“The UFC Fan Expo is a unique opportunity for us to connect with fans who have enjoyed the first three Series, and we're pleased to reward them with the advance availability of the Limited Edition and Series 4 as well as the meet-and-greets with three of our stars,” said Damon Lau, Round 5 president.

The first shipments of Series 4, which includes “Shogun,” Henderson, Gina Carano, Cung Le and Matt Serra, are going to Las Vegas. They are expected to be available at retail locations across North America and online at www.Round5MMA.com later this month or in early August.

Round 5 plans to release collectibles of two additional series of athletes later in 2009, one during each quarter. Athletes to be represented in those series are yet to be announced.

Round 5 collectible figures may be purchased at leading retailers such as Walmart (Canada), Toys ‘R’ Us, FYE, Century Martial Arts, Sunrise Records, The Treadmill Factory and Hatashita International. Other retailers can be found at www.round5mma.com/wheretobuy.php.

About Round 5
Round 5 (www.Round5MMA.com), headquartered in Markham, Ontario, Canada, is the MMA industry’s fastest growing worldwide collectible figure company. Committed to developing intricately detailed figures, Round 5 strives to remain true to the sport of MMA and its personalities.

MMA Numbers in the News: Returns, Title Fights, Bones, and Bullets

2 After about a (2) year layoff, it looks like Ricardo Arona will be back in action in September when he takes on UFC veteran Marvin Eastman.

3 The August Strikeforce card just got another title fight as Alistair Overeem will put his heavyweight belt on the line against Fabricio Werdum. This makes (3) title fights on the card as Gina Carano and Christiane Santos will battle for the promotion’s inaugural 145 pound belt and Josh Thomson will meet up with friend Gilbert Melendez.

2 On the above-mentioned Strikeforce card, (2) of the three championship bouts will be rematches. Werdum submitted Overeem in PRIDE in May of 2006 and Thomson whipped Melendez to take the Strikeforce belt back in June of 2008.

34 At (34) minutes after midnight on July 5th, Strikeforce heavyweight, Lavar Johnson was shot while attending a family reunion party. The shooter is still at large. Let’s hope Johnson has a full recovery.

4 It seemed like Jon Jones came out of nowhere because he kind of did. After only (4) months as a professional and six wins, he debuted in the UFC and is now 2-0 with the promotion. At UFC 100 he’ll take on Jake O’Brien who is currently 11-2.

13 To add to the Jon “Bones” Jones lore, it took him only (13) days to win his first three fights.

Picture of Jon Jones

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Monumental Next Few Months in MMA

It is all too frequent that we get worked up over this event or that fight and speculate about it being history making. But as Josh Gross at CNN SI points out, the next few months will surely provide some bouts that will in fact go down in the books.

Gross lists 25 fights and provides some detail on ten of them. It is a great article and if you can’t get excited about the upcoming months, starting with UFC 100 later this week, you’ve got some serious problems.

Fertitta Visits Cro Cop

Thanks to Robert K from Big Odds Mike for translating this story about Lorenzo Fertitta visiting Mirko Filipovic:

Exclusive: UFC owner visiting Cro Cop in Croatia

Index understands that Lorenzo Fertitta, the head honcho and part owner of the UFC flew to Zagreb with his own private jet earlier this morning. He was driven to Mirko's residents shortly after, where he stayed for two hours talking with the Croatian fighter. He returned to the airport afterwards, smiling, where his private jet flew off in to an unknown destination.

Filipovic receives an offer he cant refuse

There is no doubt that Fertitta came to Zagreb to persuade the Croatian fighter to change his mind and to sign with the worlds strongest fight sport organization. We understand that Cro Cop has been offered an incredible deal that should see him fight with the UFC once again. Although Filipovic was unavailable for comment, its clear that this is a major development in the ongoing negotiations. We will almost certainly, see CroCop in the world's strongest organization once again despite the Cro Cop close ties with Dream.

Fertitta visits only with the great ones

Cro Cop refused to extended his UFC contract at UFC 99 due to the organizations long breaks in between fights. Filipovic has stated that the UFC heavyweight title is a lifelong dream, though he didn’t want to wait another six months for his next bout. Clearly the two parties have come to some sort of an agreement. Cro Cop’s value to the UFC has become even more evident with Fertitta himself flying to Croatia. Such a move is almost unprecedented with most deals being handled by UFC president Dana White.

Story originally from Index.hr

Top 50 MMA Fights in History

Kid Nate at Bloody Elbow and Beau Dure and Sergio Non at USA Today are putting together an outstanding piece about the significant fights of yesteryear and today. As they state:

"Some of the 50 fights we'll list aren't necessarily the best MMA bouts, but all of them are milestones for one reason or another, for better or for worse. The idea is to show how the sport has evolved. These are the fights that made the sport what it is today."

As someone who remembers getting the black box from the cable company and talking friends into coming over for the early UFC’s, this article is very enjoyable. The sport is so new that it doesn’t make sense for there to be a great deal of history, but it is also so fast that time is skewed when it comes to MMA. History is made at a breakneck pace and it is fun to remember or learn about some of the bouts that helped shape the sport.

Nice work guys and keep 'em coming!

The UFC: Walking a Fine Line between Business and Sport

It would seem that Zuffa, owner of the UFC, is in the middle of operation clampdown. I’m referring to the banning of numerous apparel companies (or charging them a fee of $100,000) and now the alleged threat regarding the Electronic Arts (EA) MMA game.

In most cases I’m a supporter of the UFC when it comes to business decisions. Even if I think they are harsh or delivered in a not so couth manner, they still seem to work and whether we like it or not, the running of a promotion is a business. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the UFC has done a great deal for the sport and continues to do so.

Every now and then however, an issue arises that I just can’t comprehend. The threat of banning fighters from the UFC for life if they sign on with EA’s MMA game (a game that would compete against THQ’s UFC Undisputed), even if they don’t currently fight for the promotion, is simply outrageous and bordering on tyrannical. This is why I’m not completely convinced that we’ve heard both sides of the story, but just in case we have, here are my thoughts on how such a ban could actually damage the integrity of the sport, that is as long as the UFC continues with one of its other policies.

By following through with this alleged threat regarding EA, the UFC in effect decreases its talent pool. We all know there are so many fighters training hard each and every day, so many getting better and better with each fight. Some may not be stars now, but will be in the future. If EA comes knocking on their door, who could blame them for welcoming them with open arms? They sign with EA, dominate fight after fight until they are a star, and yet they can never fight the UFC’s best! There is something wrong with this picture.

The UFC walks a fine line between business and sport. It has to. With the relative newness of MMA and its huge and growing popularity, the promotion must protect what it has. It also has to ensure that the fights feature the best fighters they can get and often the best in the world.

Of course this wouldn’t be such a big issue if the UFC allowed for cross-promotion. Many fans champion this idea, but it makes no sense for the UFC. Why give other promotions the opportunity to piggy back on what you have built? So this isn’t an option and it probably won’t be for a long time.

We are left with a situation where some of the soon to be best fighters in the world may have to decide: a deal with EA, or screw it because they might one day fight in the UFC. This is unfair and if the best fighters can’t square off in the Octagon because of a deal with a competing video game, then it does absolutely damage the integrity of the sport.

Let’s hope this is nothing more than something to get us worked up about that never comes to fruition. Because if it does EA Sports, and the fans, is gonna be pissed!