Month: April 2013

TUF Brazil’s rapid ratings decline has cancellation rumors buzzing

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

Folha de S.Paulo reports that the Ultimate Fighter Brazil has been cancelled following it’s second season. We are working to confirm this story and will have more details as it unfolds.

Alarm bells are ringing. I know we’ve all disparaged the Ultimate Fighter (TUF) setup before, and as its ratings sagged many hoped that it would be brought to a speedy conclusion. But the UFC has long maintained that TUF is core to their business model, especially in their plans toward global expansion. And after a wildly successful first season in Brazil, it appeared that they had a point.

If they could prop up a show in the US, it would provide them with a baseline comparison for fans around the world watching similar versions of the Ultimate Fighter in their home country. When season 1 of the TUF Brazil aired it drew a massive 8 million viewers and while it may not have maintained those numbers across the entire season, it was roundly hailed a great success. The decline, however, has been steep. It portends to a reality that the TUF model goes stale quickly as fans realize that the show’s fighters have a very limited ceiling, and that a format that promises excitement often fails to deliver.

Just last month Folha de S.Paulo talked to UFC Brazil CEO Grace Tourinho about the expansion plans for the UFC in Brazil. She had this to say:

What is the goal for Brazil?

Make it our main market. There is a lot of potential and we will work together more of our partners. Our audience is constantly increasing, see social media. The number of pay-per-view will grow, especially with more editions of [reality show] ‘The Ultimate Fighter Brazil’. There are initiatives to give more visibility. We want to bring more events to cities. (translation via google)

Unfortunately, TUF Brazil 2: Team Nogueira vs. Team Werdum has reportedly averaged only 1 million viewers per episode, and for a major network like Rede Globo, that’s probably not good enough. Ataque Total reports that the network has decided to pull the plug on the show following the conclusion of it’s second season. There is no information as to whether the Zuffa will seek out another network partner for the program in Brazil, or whether Globo may look to move the program to a lower market channel.

Whatever the result, hopefully this news has done what TUF: Live couldn’t and awakened the UFC brass to the idea that the future of the UFC is not, and should not be, bound up with the future of the Ultimate Fighter.

MMAJunkie has since released a statement from the UFC.

“The information is inaccurate,” officials said in a statement sent to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Globo are happy with this successful partnership, which includes broadcasts of a few of the UFC’s main events and exclusivity for the reality show in Brazil.”

It’s not much more than a band-aid, as it fails to address what parts, or in what ways, the information is inaccurate and doesn’t go as far as to say a third season is in the works. More details will no doubt be available soon, and hopefully they will paint a clearer picture of what awaits the Ultimate Fighter Brazil.

Ed Herman facing Trevor Smith at UFC on Fox 8, Norman Parke vs. Kazuki Tokudome set for UFC 162

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC News

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the UFC 159 buildup, two fight announcements got left out in the cold. UFC officials announced Friday that Ed Herman would be facing Trevor Smith at UFC on Fox 8. Also announced, Norman Parke and Kazuki Tokudome for UFC 162.

Herman returns after a one-off fight under the Strikeforce banner where he lost to Ronaldo Souza by first round kimura. His last fight in the UFC saw him drop a unanimous decision to Jake Shields, which was later overturned after Shields failed his post fight drug test.

Trevor Smith has been a staple on the Strikeforce Challengers series, but was most recently seen on the undercard of Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, losing by third round submission to Tim Kennedy. Smith is the latest of the Strikeforce transfers, and to be honest it’s a bit surprising that he made the jump. He brings with him a 10–3 record with losses to Gian Villante and Devin Cole.

This has all the makings of a win or get cut fight for both men. Herman has had a long tenure with the company, but he’s had back to back poor performances, and while I’m sure the UFC feels grateful to him for stepping up and taking the fight with “Jacare,” I doubt that generosity would last through a third loss.

Ultimate Fighter winner Norman Parke (17–2) will make his return to the octagon for the first time since his victory on the TUF Smashes finale (UFC on FX 6: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson) over Colin Fletcher. Unfortunately for Parke, much of the wind has been taken out of his TUF sails, as Fletcher has already been released from the promotion following his second loss.

Kazuki Tokudome was a somewhat surprising acquisition by the UFC from Pancrase. He’s 12–3–1 which means he’s avoided much of the draw heavy decisions endemic to Japanese MMA. His only recent loss is to young Pancrase champion Isao Kobayashi. He won a well earned unanimous decision over Cristiano Marcello at UFC on Fuel TV 8: Silva vs. Stann, and looks to have some promise if he can work on his striking defense.

All told this is probably a better build-up fight for Parke than it is for Tokudome, but its a good opportunity for both fighters to start separating themselves from the bottom end of the Lightweight division.


UFC 159 results recap: Bryan Caraway vs. Johnny Bedford

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC Results

Bryan Caraway (18–6), did a lot on Saturday night to separate himself from his less than tactful past and get away from being known primarily as Miesha Tate’s boyfriend. Stepping up on only six days notice, few (myself included) gave him any shot of beating Johnny Bedford, who entered the fight on a three fight win streak, but now sits with a record of 19–10–1.

Bedford came out swinging hard, and plugged Caraway in a few early exchanges. And maybe that was the key, because from there on out Caraway went into full grapple mode and spent much of the rest of the fight taking Bedford down and riding positional dominance, looking for strikes and submissions. While Bedford has looked good lately, he’s always had a weakness against grapplers and given time, the truth will out. After two and a half rounds in hit or miss striking and grappling Caraway took control and sunk in the fight ending choke. The result: Bryan Caraway via 3rd round submission (rear naked choke).

High point:

This is a big success story for Caraway. He came in as a last minute replacement, and despite obvious fatigue, implemented his game, stayed with the fight and got the finish. You can’t ask for a better performance from him given the situation, and despite a recent split decision loss to Takeya Mizugaki, it suggests that he may have a fairly bright future in the bantamweight division.

Low point:

This fight contained the first of the nights many eye-pokes, and while it didn’t end the fight, it’s hard to say how much it impacted Bedford’s performance. If nothing else it served as an omen for a card that was continually marred by unexpected injury.

What’s next?

For Bedford, it’s the same old problems, and he’s had enough fights now that the holes in his game are probably permanent. He’s 2–1 in the UFC, so he’s not likely to get cut, but a step down is probably a good idea. A fight against Hugo Viana would be a great test and a surefire slobberknocker.

Caraway deserves a little time off, if he wants it, and if he doesn’t, a fight against T.J. Dillashaw would be a good stepping stone for either fighter on their way toward the top of the division.

Watch it now, later, or never?

Watch it later. Caraway’s storyline is nice, but this wasn’t a barn-burner of a fight. Neither he nor Bedford did much on the feet, and the grappling was decidedly one-sided. This was really a very poor showing for Bedford, which isn’t to take away from Caraway, but detracts from the fight as entertainment.

UFC 159 results recap: Cody McKenzie vs. Leonard Garcia

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC Results

Cody McKenzie vs. Leonard Garcia was penciled in by many fans as the third fight on the Facebook card, until Nick Catone vs. James Head got cancelled, then it was the second. It was a fight to mock the senses of fight fans, two of the UFC’s lowest caliber fighters facing off in a battle to save their jobs with the promotion. To the surprise of many McKenzie came out and showed that while he may not be a great fighter, he’s head and shoulders above Leonard Garcia.

McKenzie dominated this fight in all aspects. His striking was awkward and stork like in it’s overly jointed delivery, but he danced in and out of range, pushing out the occasional straight jab, and it was enough to fluster Garcia on the feet. But the two fighters spent a reasonable amount of time on the ground as well, and it was there that McKenzie showed that he’s really been working hard to round out his game.

McKenzie took Garcia down at will throughout the fight, and stayed latched onto him through transitions and scrambles, frustrating and exhausting Garcia on his way to a decision victory. Cody McKenzie defeated Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (29–28, 30–27, 30–27).

High point:

Cody McKenzie’s grappling. He’s not ready for the Worlds, but he showed some serious development from a single submission fighter into someone who can chain together attacks and maintain dominant position throughout rounds. Garcia may not be great, but he’s not terrible on the ground, and McKenzie made him look like a raw amateur.

Low point:

Much like the Siler vs. Holobaugh fight before it, the striking, all of it. This was really one of the most unimaginably poor displays of striking that you’re ever likely to see on a UFC card. I’ve often thought that Garcia gets a little too much heat for his air-targeted fury, but no more. Using the bare minimum in distance changes and body movement McKenzie was able to utterly flummox Garcia while standing. McKenzie himself didn’t look much more polished striking than he did against Chad Mendes. All told not a good showing for either fighter.

Cody McKenzie’s swimming trunks deserve a special mention here as well.

What’s next?

For Garcia, this has to be the end of the line. I’m sure there’s a Legacy FC or KOTC card that would love to have another former UFC fighter to build talent off of and sell tickets, and that’s where he belongs. If the UFC doesn’t cut him after this loss, then they’ve made a clear mockery of their announced roster trimming plans. Expect to see Garcia on AXS TV in the near future.

For McKenzie this was a promising, if still limited, development. He won, he kept his job, and he looks to be turning himself into a more skilled single dimensional fighter that could hang around for another two or three fights. I’d say give him Nam Phan even off a loss, or the winner of Mizuto Hirota vs. Rodrigo Damm if he has to face a winning fighter next.

Watch it now, later, or never?

Never. Unless you have a serious thing for bad MMA, there is no good reason to watch this fight. Sure it’s a chance to see McKenzie go from worst UFC fighter to better than worst, but there aren’t many ways to sugarcoat it.

UFC 159 results recap: Steven Siler vs. Kurt Holobaugh

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC Results

For a night that ended on something of a low point, it certainly started on the right note. Featherweights Steven Siler (22–10) and Kurt Holobaugh (9–2) fought a spirited three rounds. The fight involved a lot of decent, if a bit wild, exchanges on the feet and a lot of good grappling scrambles.

Holobaugh probably took a slight edge on the feet, if for nothing else than landing the more damaging strikes, but he got dominated in the grappling exchanges. Siler was able to get a number of punishing takedowns and follow them up with long spells of top control and damaging strikes. Eventually Siler’s grappling dominance won out, Steven Siler by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

High point:

Really this was a fight of positional dominance and heart. Both fighters took a lot of damage and, Siler especially, showed that he’s got decent skills in all areas of MMA.

Low point:

Mostly the striking. Siler looked polished with his punches, but his lack of defensive movement and extremely formulaic combinations put him at an extreme defensive liability. As for Holobaugh, he appears to have taken a page out of the TUF brawler playbook, and spent much of his time on the feet winging innacurate hooks when a few straight punches probably would have given him a much larger advantage.

What’s next?

For Siler, he’s proven that he’s a cut above the bottom of the featherweight division. Unfortunately he didn’t show anything new in this fight, and considering that he lost rather decidedly to mid division gatekeeper Darren Elkins, he’s carving out a nice little niche as a first test for UFC newcomers. If he can string together a few more wins that may change, but he needs to polish his skills if he wants to get past the middle of the division. I’d suggest Eddie Yagin, when he recovers from his injury, or maybe Andy Ogle.

Holobaugh, as well, showed a troubling lack of progression. The gameplan that we saw fail to get past Pat Healy, was the same one that he used against Siler and it failed for the exact same reasons. He’s got a lot of guts and a lot of power, but if he can’t develop takedown defence and accuracy he’ll be looking at a pink slip soon. If he’s still in the UFC after this loss I’d give him Yaotzin Meza and see if one of them can turn themselves into a prospect.

Watch it now, later, or never?

Watch it now-ish. It wasn’t a bad fight at all, but it wasn’t a particularly skilled fight either. Siler had a lot of dominant position, but failed repeatedly on submission attempts, and the striking was pretty poor. Watch it for its fun action value, but I wouldn’t consider it a must see fight.

UFC 159 post-fight interviews with Jon Jones, Michael Bisping, Roy Nelson, UFC 159 winners

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC Interview, Videos

UFC 159 is over, the fights have been fought, but for the combatants there is still a lot left to say. Watch all the post fight interviews, and the post fight press conference including a brief appearance by Jon Jones before he made his way to the hospital.

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To watch, just hit play on the video above and all the videos listed will play, one at a time. Use the FF button to skip ahead. You can also click the playlist button at the bottom of the video to bring up all the videos contained inside.

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UFC 159 results: Roy Nelson wants Hunt or JDS, may get Cormier

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event

It’s well known that ‘Big Country’ has had his eye on the winner of the upcoming fight between Junior dos Santos and Mark Hunt at UFC 160 next month. But a new name has been thrown into the air, and it appears that it may be fight to get made quickly. When questioned on the idea of Roy Nelson facing Daniel Cormier next, everyone seemed a little caught off guard, and a lot intrigued.

The question came shortly after Dana and Nelson had both fielded questions about the dos Santos vs. Hunt winner, so that’s obviously been their primary track. But shortly after Cormier was suggested, someone in the crowd announced that Cormier had tweeted his desire for the fight in response to Dana’s and Nelson’s interest.

Here’s Nelson speaking about the possibility of facing Hunt or dos Santos:

“I’m definitely watching UFC 160 in Las Vegas to see who wins.”

And:

“I’m there, whatever. I want to fight the best in the world. If Mark Hunt gets past JDS I’ll fight him, if he doesn’t I’ll fight him, because I know that’d make people happy.”

Here’s Dana on the potential matchups:

We like Roy Neslon vs Cormier. And Roy Nelson vs. Mark Hunt if Hunt wins.

The very real unspoken sentences there are, that the UFC has very little interest in promoting a JDS vs. Nelson rematch, and very little interest in giving Hunt a title shot with a victory at UFC 160. However the idea of Cormier may throw things a little off kilter and provides a lot more options for creating new contenders to Cain Velasquez’s title.

UFC 159 results: Chael Sonnen has harsh words for himself following loss

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event

FC 159 is over and the press conference has yielded a few interesting tidbits. Chael Sonnen spoke to the media at length following his loss to Jon Jones. While much of it was focused on his love for the sport, and desire to stay connected to it through a variety of avenues, he also had a few choice words concerning his performance and why it was probably the last of his career.

Here’s is response when asked what’s next for him:

“What am I going to do? I’m terrible. What are you going to do? Put me against Wanderlei Silva? There’s nothing for me to do around here.”

He also spoke about Jones’ performance in the fight:

“I don’t think I’ve been taken down three times in my career. He took me down three times in one round.”

More on Jones’ performance and how it stacks up to Anderson Silva:

“He’s a lot better than I thought he was. To beat a guy is one thing, to beat him at his own game is something else. He is the best fighter I’ve ever fought. I don’t want to disparage Anderson. I whipped him for 30 minutes he whipped me for less than 30 seconds. I whipped Jon for zero seconds. He’s the better fighter.”

And finally about the potential of getting a rematch:

“I think I answered my questions out there tonight.”

I’d say it’s surprising, but honestly this is the kind of post fight candor I’ve come to expect from Sonnen, and it’s a welcome diversion from his promo antics. He spoke about his interest in sticking with the commentary side of things, and he’s been a great media guy in the pre/post fight UFC shows on Fuel. He also had great things to say bout coaching on the Ultimate Fighter, calling it his “best experience in the sport.”

As many expected it appears this was the swan song of Sonnen’s career. Maybe the itch to fight will be too strong and he’ll get back out there in a year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was his last fight.


UFC 159 results: Jon Jones wants to fight Alexander Gustafsson next

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event

Jon Jones had an interesting quote at tonight’s post fight press conference. He spoke to the media, telling them that he wants to fight Alexander Gustafsson. Not because he’s necessarily the best challenger for the belt, but because it will finally end the talk about his size advantage. Tired of hearing about his size as the key component to his victory he spoke about his preference in facing Gustafsson over Machida, because Gustafsson’s size and length would finally allow him to be recognized for his skills first.

He also spoke about the injury somewhat to say that it shouldn’t affect his plans going forward, but with an indefinite suspension on the table it will probably keep him out a lot longer than he might have otherwise hoped. Apparently Machida also spoke to someone backstage, suggesting that he’d like to fight Gustafsson, with Jones out for a while this might be the most logical no. 1 contender fight to keep the division moving.

Here’s what Dana had to say about the potential of Gustafsson getting a title shot in his next fight:

Alexander should have fought that night (UFC on Fuel TV 9). And he didn’t fight. Jon Jones isn’t gonna be fighting any time soon.

So it sounds like they’re looking to keep Gustafsson busy and not leave him on the shelf as well, just to wait for a shot at Jones.


Spang & De Fries removed from active roster, scythe swings on TUF 17 cast

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, TUF 17 Finale, UFC News

Slowly, but surely, the UFC continues to peck away at it’s 385 man roster (I don’t know where Dana gets 470). Today that 100 fighter manifesto appears to have moved a little further along with the suspected release of an additional 7 fighters.

Today’s Cut List:

Philip De Fries
Chris Spang
Jimmy Quinlan
Collin Hart
Kevin Casey
Gilbert Smith Jr.
Adam Cella

First things first, this is entirely based upon the fighter’s removal from the active roster list at UFC.com. I have not spoken to, or heard from, these fighters in question pertaining to their release. However I’ve been following the UFC rosters for a while now. And I can speak from experience when I say that all of these fighters have almost certainly been released from their contracts.

Phil De Fries is no surprise, coming off a two fight losing streak to Todd Duffee and Matt Mitrione, both by knockout. Add to that that he has never really impressed in his UFC tenure, and it’s little surprise that his last loss brought on the pink slip.

For Chris Spang this is a little surprising. He’s young, has a recent TKO victory over Nah-Shon Burrell, and his loss to Amagov, while one sided, wasn’t particularly bad. But as Caros Fodor found out, for Strikeforce crossovers, excitement is key. Any losing effort that fails to impress will most likely result in being shown the door.

As expected the losers from the recent TUF 17 finale all appear to have been given the boot as well. The only surprises in that swath are Collin Hart, who lost a razor close decision to Luke Barnatt (a fight I felt he won) and Bristol Marunde, who appears to have avoided the cut altogether. Perhaps that’s in payment for his willingness to step up on short notice, or for his impressive impromptu dancing skills. Either way, I wouldn’t be that surprised if his name comes off the board sometime in the next month.

For a complete, up to date list, of all the recent UFC cuts and acquisitions check out my nifty list.

UPDATE: Thanks to BE reader Chromium for pointing out that Besam Yousef appears to have been released as well.