Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has clearly rewarded its fighters with large purses. This past Saturday, UFC 109's main event fighters -- Randy Couture and Mark Coleman -- both received payouts that doubled that of the Strikeforce main event fighters. Figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and reported by mmajunkie.com had Couture making $250,000 (no bonus included) and Coleman receiving $60,000.

One week earlier in Miami, Strikeforce fighters Nick Diaz received $100,000 (no bonus included) and his opponent Marius Zaromskis got $30,000 in their main event fight, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Business and Regulation.

Continue reading "UFC's fighters paid a cut above" »

Saturday night at UFC 109 Randy Couture once again showed why he is one of the greatest ever in the sport of mixed marital arts. He defeated MMA veteran Mark Coleman in the second round with a rear-naked choke.

Ringside analyst Joe Rogan said before the fight, "Mark Coleman is the grandfather of ground and pound". I think Coleman looked more like a grandfather than a ground-and-pound expert. This wasn’t the Coleman we saw in Pride (or earlier in the UFC) -- he looked old and slow. Couture beat him to the punch throughout the night and Coleman landed only one clean punch in the first round.

Both UFC announcers agreed that we haven't seen the last of Coleman. I think we have seen the last UFC fight for "The Hammer," but maybe not his last MMA fight.

Coleman had an exchange of words with fellow fighter, Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz, who was ringside. Ortiz loves to talk trash and challenge other fighters after a fight.

I would like to see who the UFC matches Couture up with next. Who do you think?

In the co-main event, Nate Marquardt battled Chael Sonnen for three rounds, but Sonnen won every round on the judges' cards. Before the fight, Sonnen said, "I'm going to be on him from bell to bell."

On two different occasions, Marquardt had guillotine chokes on Sonnen, which should have ended the fight. But, Sonnen was able to remain calm and Marquardt eventually relinquished the holds. Sonnen stuffed Marquardt's takedowns and he ground-and-pounded him for the win.

Sonnen told Sherdog.com, "I hope Anderson [Silva] wins" his next fight against Vitor Belfort.

Do you think Sonnen is ready for Silva or should Demian Maia get a shot a Silva?

After Couture’s win over Coleman, the UFC announcers were giving the “Submission of the Night” honor to Randy Couture. But clearly that honor had to go to Brazilian Paulo Thiago for his D'arce choke on American Mike Swick. Thiago landed a right behind the ear of Swick and followed with a left to the jaw that put him down. Thiago applied the choke and Swick was out cold.

Continue reading "UFC 109 wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either" »

After a very successful first fight card in October, Baltimore is taking another swing at mixed martial arts March 27 at 1st Mariner Arena. Some familiar fighters from the first MMA event will be on the card. The event is once again being promoted by Shogun Fights, which is based here in Baltimore. They are calling this card Shogun Fights 2; I guess they're carrying on the UFC tradition of numbering each MMA card.

One of the main battles of the evening with be Baltimore native and MMA veteran James "Binky" Jones taking on undefeated Pennsylvania fighter Jim Hettes in the 145 pound featherweight division. Hettes last fought in the first Baltimore event in October and is part of the main event this time.

When you look at the fighting records of Jones (8-8) and Hettes (3-0), it looks like a mismatch. But as some of you know, the amount of bouts a fighter has been through doesn't always give them an advantage in the cage. An example of this was UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar, who had only fought three times (two wins, one loss) when he defeated then-champion Randy Couture (16 wins, seven losses).

Also on the card is super heavyweight Ryan McGowan, who is making his MMA debut and going against Mike Williams. Fans always enjoy the big guys in the cage for the first three minutes. If the fight goes beyond that, it's usually a hugfest.

Continue reading "Shogun Fights ready for Round 2" »

The only relevant female mixed martial arts fighter that’s currently active, Cris “Cyborg” Santos, fights this weekend. Did you know that? I did, only because it’s my job to know. If I was a casual fan though, I wouldn’t have noticed. I would’ve seen all the news about Herschel Walker and I would’ve realized Nick Diaz and Bobby Lashley are also on the card, but Cyborg? It would’ve been a coin flip at best.

Obviously, they can’t promote her fight as heavily as they did when she was facing Gina Carano. At the same time, Strikeforce is the biggest promotion showcasing women’s MMA. And while it’s not there yet, a decision on the future of women's MMA is likely coming soon. Is women’s MMA going to be the next women’s tennis or the next WNBA?

People care about women’s tennis, and sometimes not just because the competitors are hot, while the WNBA plods along in oblivion. Now, without its biggest star, what’s going to happen to women's MMA?

I’m still on the fence, I don’t know if women’s MMA can be as entertaining as the real version. But, maybe there is a future beyond Carano. Perhaps it can go the route of the LPGA. There could be mild interest and basic recognition of extraordinary talent (Annika Sorenstam) and the occasional intriguing freak show (Michelle Wie).

In fact, that may be the best hope for women’s MMA. Not quite women’s tennis, but not as awful as the WNBA either.

An interesting feature from MMAjunkie.com on Chuck Liddell as he gets ready for his upcoming coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter.

Liddell claims he has one more run at the title left. He compared his situation to when Randy Couture came back to win the heavyweight title.

"He came back, and he's still fighting. He won the heavyweight title. I just needed some time off,” Liddell told MMAjunkie.com.

So, does anyone buy that Liddell can recapture the light heavyweight championship? I love the guy and hope he wins a few fights, but a title is out of his reach.

The big difference with Couture’s return and championship win is that it came at a time when the UFC’s heavyweight division was at its weakest. The UFC’s light heavyweight division is stacked, which would make things much, much harder on Liddell.

I definitely don’t agree with Dana White that he’s too old to fight effectively. If White is going to let a guy like Mark Coleman fight, then Liddell should be able to fight until he’s done.

But, at the same time, let’s not kid ourselves. While it would make for a great story, Liddell’s days of being a UFC champ are behind him.

(Photo courtesy of Zuffa, Inc.)

We’re still a week away from Herschel Walker’s MMA debut but I can’t escape the biggest question that surrounds that card: Is Walker good for MMA?

His debut is certainly getting plenty of exposure, which is always good for the sport. He’s been in front of just about every camera and talking with anyone holding a notebook, whether they are a reporter or not. It seems like he's appeared on every show ESPN has and, just as important, he’s been saying the right things all along.

He’s not treating this as a joke, he’s bringing new eyes to the sport and he’s been a good spokesman for the sport. Common sports fans respect Walker and when he says this new thing (MMA) is legit, people will believe him. And he’s not another Kimbo Slice, as Slice was a circus act even before his MMA debut. Walker is a world-class athlete.

At the same time, it is still sort of a circus act. Age 47 is not when you make your debut in something as serious as MMA. If you want to pick up a set of golf clubs at 47, fine. But to start fighting at age 47 and fight in one of the top organizations in the U.S.? Not a great idea.
I’m not entirely sure what needs to happen in that fight for the sport to look good. If Walker wins, the casual fan will see this as a sport that any athlete well past his prime can pick up and have success right off the bat. If he loses (a likely possibility, if he follows the pattern set by other past players trying to break into the sport), it keeps MMA relegated as a sideshow.

I don’t think the sport needs fights like this, not anymore. I think it’s starting to gain acceptance among sports fans and there are a small handful of fighters who are making names for themselves for the right reasons. I can tolerate a Brock Lesnar, who is a big name from another profession but who is also young enough to compete at the highest level in the sport. Walker isn’t exactly going to be gearing up for a title run anytime soon.

I’m clearly going into this card as a skeptic. Plenty of athletes excel late in their 40s, but most don’t do it picking up a completely new sport. That being said, I’m willing to give Walker a shot.

 I just hope it doesn’t set a precedent. I don’t want to see Strikeforce promoting a fight with Shaquille O’Neal in three years or trying to ride the coattails of another athlete past his prime. Walker sounds serious about his fight and he better be, because if he isn’t, all the extra eyeballs he brings to the sport will just make it look foolish.

Brock Lesnar announced his return on ESPN this morning, confirming he's healthy and will be fighting this summer against the winner of the Frank Mir v. Shane Carwin fight this March. Say what you will about Lesnar, I don't think any fight fan wanted to see his career ended. UFC 100 (and his antics) are not how we wanted to remember Lesnar.

While I always thought the career-ending rumors were overblown, it's nice to have this behind us now so we can go back to prognosticating about Lesnar's ceiling as a mixed martial artist and we can see him actually fight again.

 

The three most dominant fighters the UFC has (I’m leaving Brock Lesnar out of this due to his injury, but he’s going to be tough to beat whenever he’s healthy) are Penn, St. Pierre and Silva. They have dominated the lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions for awhile now and seem to be on a completely different level than all their challengers.

So, my question for you is, which one of the three loses first? Now that it’s confirmed Frank Edgar has the next title shot against B.J. Penn (Dana White said Maynard didn’t do enough Monday to earn it) and Dan Hardy is next in line for St. Pierre, is it crazy to think Anderson Silva will lose first?

For the past two years, Silva has been the most dominant UFC champ, handling every opponent thrown his way with ease. Even when questions began to arise with Silva, he silenced his critics by manhandling Forrest Griffin. And of the three divisions, the middleweight division is the weakest. If you asked me this a year ago, I would’ve thought Thiago Alves had a good chance to take down GSP and that either Kenny Florian or Diego Sanchez could have a shot with Penn. Penn and St. Pierre utterly destroyed the trio.

Still, St. Pierre and Penn have upcoming opponents that they will be expected to win. Silva has a bit of an unknown in Vitor Belfort. Belfort handled Rich Franklin, which is something only Silva has done.

Even if he survives Belfort (which he probably will), with the way he’s been flirting with the light heavyweight division, he might get another big-time fight right away. And with Silva’s contract winding down, I don’t know that we’ll get anymore Thales Leites-level fights for Silva.

Now, if a B.J. Penn-GSP rematch is made, perhaps it could be Penn that loses first. Otherwise, I think Silva will be the next elite champion to fall in the UFC.

(Photo courtesy of Zuffa, Inc.)

The UFC sold a minority stake in the company to Flash Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of the government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. It “will permit the UFC to do things unimaginable even five years ago,” according to Yahoo Sports.

This is a big deal, even if it won’t make a splash for the common fan. Dana White has always said the UFC wouldn’t rule out adding partners, but that they wouldn’t sell just for a cash grab. This certainly lives up that, as Abu Dhabi can be a very valuable ally when it  comes to expanding the UFC brand and opening up new markets to the UFC. Even if you aren’t a UFC fan, you have to admit that a move like this is good for MMA. This news is definitely impressive, to say the least.

Another solid Fight Night by the UFC and although Gray Maynard (pictured) prevailed over Nate Diaz, I’m not entirely sure it was enough to earn a shot at B.J. Penn. Diaz is tough, no question, but is a split-decision win over Diaz enough to earn a title shot? It wasn’t for Joe Stevenson, the last guy to defeat Diaz, but Maynard is a different beast because he’s undefeated.

Either way, does it really matter? B.J. Penn is at the absolute top of his game in the lightweight division and I haven’t seen anything from Gray Maynard that makes me think he can hang in there with Penn.

This is two straight split-decision wins in a row for Maynard and while he certainly will be a player in the lightweight division for a long time, he’s not ready for Penn. I’d like to see him fight Kenny Florian or Diego Sanchez next. However, with Penn needing an opponent in the spring, Maynard has a good chance at earning the shot.

The rumor has been that Frankie Edgar may get it, but the undefeated thing for Maynard makes him an easier sell, in my opinion, and Maynard has a decisive win over Edgar as well. Neither guy has much of a chance taking down Penn though.

As far as the other fights go, I was also impressed with Amir Sadollah. It was cool watching him fight in front of the hometown fans, and he handled Brad Blackburn. I was on the Blackburn bandwagon too, but Sadollah made me a believer tonight.

Aaron Simpson and Tom Lawlor got Fight of the Night honors and they put on a great show. It was disappointing that it went to the judges because that fight was so close.

In other news, it sounds like Brock Lesnar is out of the woods. His wrestling coach and Randy Couture both seem to think he will be back this spring/summer. That’s probably too early, but I hope we get to see a healthy Brock sometime in the next 8-10 months.

Here’s the story from MMAweekly.com.

(Photo courtesy of Zuffa, Inc.)