Posted by Alan Conceicao on 28th September 2008
One of the running themes among MMA journalists in recent months is to claim that MMA’s boom is merely a boom for the UFC. Its an interesting thought, and there’s some basis to that fact given the financial woes of organizations such as EliteXC and Affliction, along with the lingering death of others such as the IFL. The argument, as it is best said, is that their failings (along with similar failings on the parts of YAMMA, the WFA, etc) establish that MMA success can thus only be posited to the folks making the biggest sums of money: Zuffa.
While such postulation is cute, this viewpoint shows an awfully small worldview for the sport. Gary Shaw himself admitted that he entered the sport because he saw that it was becoming incredibly successful on the lower and mid levels. The explosion of the UFC demands that far expanded numbers of new talent be developed, and that realistically can only be done long before they reach the “Super Bowl of Mixed Martial Arts”. To that end, we arrive to discuss that very sort of thing.
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Posted by Andrew Rosebrock on 26th September 2008
And B-shows, and mid-tier promotions. The WECs, Strikeforces, and Cage Forces of the world. Basically any set of fights that is high profile enough to filter out tomato cans (for the most part, at least), but far enough away from the big time that great fights can still be made and fighters will be at their most motivated. IFL was my favorite promotion before it’s untimely death for exactly that reason; the matchmakers booked action fights with up-and-comers who understood that they were in striving distance of the promised land of sold out arenas and big live TV audiences in PRIDE (later DREAM) or the UFC.
Also there’s the issue of jumping at the chance to say “I told you so.” MMA is great on its own, but being able to claim that you saw big things in the future of a successful fighter before anyone else is icing on the cake. What can I say? I like to act like I know things other people don’t. And UFC prelims? The last place to jump on a fighter’s bandwagon before they break through. It’s perfect.
So, explanations out of the way, let’s talk about fighting. The last Ultimate Fight Night pretty much what I look for in a night of fights, full stop, but more eloquent men than I have (probably) already commented on the televised portion, so I’ll take the rest. It’s good stuff. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Andrew Rosebrock, Reviews, UFC | No Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Snowden on 25th September 2008
We talk with the sport’s brightest star about sex, talking trash, and even her period. Oh yeah, and fighting.
Posted in Elite XC, Gina Carano, Interviews | No Comments »
Posted by Kendall Shields on 25th September 2008
Eight more lightweights! Eight more light heavyweights! Eight more fights! Words of motivation and inspiration from a Nobel laureate! As quoted by some dude from Bristol! Is there anything this week’s Ultimate Fighter didn’t have? The answer, of course, is a resounding no. Click HERE to find out more.
Posted in Kendall Shields, TUF, UFC | No Comments »
Posted by Alan Conceicao on 25th September 2008
(Perhaps the most feared man in boxing pound for pound, Paul Williams headlines the return of boxing on Versus tonight)
Tonight on Versus at 8PM EST, the somewhat surprising relaunch of their boxing programming kicks off for the fall season. It is surprising in that it seemed likely at the onset of 2008 to not even happen. Versus’ boxing budget per show was 5 times that of what ESPN paid per event for their boxing programming, and yet they saw cards that were below par even for that network. Heavyweight fraud Tye Fields benefited most from the Versus exclusivity contract with Bob Arum, as well as the over the hill Hasim Rahman and potentially exposed Kid Diamond. Fans recieved piteously little. By all rights, Versus had every right to give up the ghost, particularly with WEC providing higher rated programming.
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Posted by Alan Conceicao on 24th September 2008
In a move that has to be considered stunning at the least, its been announced that Affliction is loaning out Roy Nelson and Andrei Arlovski to EliteXC for the October 4th event roughly two weeks away. Its a move that pleases Arlovski by giving him a fight and a lot of money, it gives EXC a fight for hardcore fans, it provides CBS one of the top heavyweights in the world and a recognizable name for UFC fans, and so, so much more. How much more? Well, depends how much speculation you want to put in to all this.
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Posted in Affliction, Alan Conceicao, CBS, Elite XC | No Comments »
Posted by Dave Walsh on 24th September 2008
Of late I almost feel like a disciple of Scott Coker’s Strikeforce promotion. While this year, you could argue, has had a few throwaway Strikeforce shows (ie: Sapp vs. Nortje), Strikeforce still tosses together shows that make sense. I’ve seen a lot of negative talk on the net about this past weekend’s Playboy Mansion show, due to the matches not being competitive enough or that the company didn’t draw too much. These are actually somewhat valid concerns, but I think miss the point of this show.
Posted in Dave Walsh, Strikeforce | No Comments »
Posted by Dave Walsh on 23rd September 2008
Here at Total MMA we have sent one Andrew Wallace to Strikeforce twice now to report live on what usually are some of the more fun MMA events in the United States. He has gotten to hang out with Dave Meltzer, some girl who started a site about MMA afterparties, talked about his abs and professed his love for Judo. Upon given the task of watching UFC 2 to review, this is what happened.
Hi again! On my first article here, Jonathan characterized me as a neophyte: Some damn scrub who got into MMA when it became popular who lacks a real understanding of the sport, it’s history, etc. Hateful and cruel epithets to be sure but not entirely without merit. But it got me thinking: Am I the only one? I can’t be, I am basically a damn pimp when it comes to knowing about stuff and I’m pretty on the ball a lot of the time with my opinions and interests. So for my benefit, and the benefit of others who lack a root in the olden days of MMA, when fat men in black gis would bite each others groins off, I thought we could take a look back to UFC 2. I’ve never seen UFC 2 before, I don’t even know if I was alive when this first aired. So join me on a thrilling quest as I experience for the first time, some of you may also, and some of you will relive, UFC 2: NO HOLDS BARRED.
Posted in Andrew Wallace, Reviews, UFC | 1 Comment »
Posted by Alan Conceicao on 23rd September 2008
(Your new DREAM Middleweight Champion, Gegard Mousasi)
Okay, another Dream card has come and gone. We were gonna do a preview, honest. We just got sidetracked. But whatever. The event is over and things happened. So why not read about them? Andrew Rosebrock is on to help.
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Posted in Alan Conceicao, Andrew Rosebrock, Cro Cop, DREAM | 4 Comments »
Posted by Tommy Hackett on 23rd September 2008
Anyone reading Total-MMA.com will know at least some of the Randy Couture story, but his recently published memoir, Becoming the Natural, which landed on the NY Times best seller list last month, may offer a surprise. Always lauded as an inspirational figure, Couture’s book, co-authored by longtime MMA journalist Loretta Hunt, ends up surprisingly downbeat.
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Posted in Book Reviews, Randy Couture, Tommy Hackett | 1 Comment »
