When the buzz started over Bellator Fighting Championships it all seemed sort of like a bad joke. A promotion run by businessman Bjorn Rebney and Hollywood producer Brad Epstein being broadcast on ESPN Deportes in Spanish that was buying up younger talent, notably Hispanic and relatively fresh fighters into exclusive contracts it seemed doomed from the start. First of all, the concept of a fight company running in Spanish on a premium cable Hispanic leg of ESPN seemed strange. The demographics that the UFC pulls in tends to be the 18 - 34 white male demographic, not the 18 - 34 Hispanic demographic. Building a new promotion from the start with no name value, no major hype and no major players seemed like something we’d be joking about right now after a few failed shows; we aren’t actually laughing right now, though.
Bellator just finished up their first successful season, crowning champions and running some extremely fun cards in front of some extremely energetic crowds and apparently drawing above 1.2 ratings on the obscure ESPN Deportes. Crowning Joe Soto at 145lbs, Eddie Alvarez at 155lbs, Lyman Good at 170lbs and Hector Lombard at 185lbs Bellator as quickly established that they have quality fighters and are already creating stars. The big winners in the initial season of Bellator were easily Eddie Alvarez and Hector Lombard, whose domination through their respective divisions have made them the posterboys for Bellator over the course of the first season. On top of that, they have made some decent money. Tournament wins were $25,000, winning the tournament netted $125,000. While this isn’t Rampage or Chuck money, for young fighters whose name value isn’t that of your average UFC fighter, this money is incredible in a world where your average TUF contestant signs a contract for $8,000 to show and an additional $8,000 to win.
Posted in Bellator, Dave Walsh | 2 Comments »
Posted by Tommy Hackett on 20th June 2009
What do you ask for from a regional MMA show?
Do you come to see a few good local prospects get a chance to step up in class? Are you hoping to see a few veterans hungry to get back to the big stage? Maybe… just a good, competive fight or three?
The last Strikeforce show in the Seattle area failed to deliver on these hopes more often than not, as I reported for Total-MMA last year. That night, the co-main events fizzled out quickly, and a undercard heavy on local talent mostly underwhelmed the Tacoma crowd and HDTV audience.
But last night at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Strikeforce washed away any memories of that night as this edition of their new “Strikeforce: Challengers” Showtime series provided solid bell to bell action all night long. Inspired performances from Joey Villasenor and Tim Kennedy led the way, both of whom marked their return from recent inactivity with solid wins.
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Posted in Strikeforce, Tommy Hackett, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by Dave Walsh on 19th June 2009
June 19, 2009: We are proud to announce the launch of the Independent World MMA Rankings. Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form one independent voting panel.
These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (FightOpinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Houston Chronicle); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (MMA Payout); Todd Martin (CBS Sportsline); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA; Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Jonathan Snowden (Author of “Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting”); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion), Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Total MMA).
These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites.
The rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.
The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody’s vote counting more than anybody else’s vote, and no computerized voting.
The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters’ actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they’ve actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win fantasy match-ups.
Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Zach Arnold, and Joshua Stein for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.
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Posted in Dave Walsh, Jonathan Snowden, MMA | No Comments »
Posted by Dave Walsh on 15th June 2009
Wrestling is fucked. Excuse the language, but it is true. Also excuse me making a post on this, a blog about MMA and everything legitimate in the fighting world, but this goes unsaid. Mitsuharu Misawa, one of Japan’s living legends in the pro wrestling world is dead and it raises a lot of questions. A lot of legitimate questions. What it also provides for combat sports fans, is a clear line between safety and dangerous when it comes to competing.
What Misawa did for a living was fake fight, essentially. He went out and put on a show that was based loosely on the world of combat. Part showman, part athlete, part fighter and part idiot is how you can explain most people who choose to do what Misawa did for a living. Misawa helped pioneer, along with his peers in All Japan and later Pro Wrestling NOAH a dangerous, high-risk, blurred-reality version of pro wrestling. While still staged, the name of the game was one-up-man-ship and “fighting spirit.” This wasn’t new to Japan, but the way that they went about it was different. Instead of using legitimate strikes and submission holds like wrestlers like Inoki, Maeda and Takada, they opted to toss each other on their head and necks repeatedly to get the crowd excited. Instead of the occasional high risk move where one of the wrestlers lands on their head, matches broke down to what at times felt like an endless cycle of being planted directly on their heads.
It came about during a time when this “real fighting” stuff (the stuff this site is about) was starting to gain steam across the world and leave wrestling behind like the fad that it was. To keep the fans’ fickle interest, wrestlers had to prove how tough they are. What needs to be said and why this is important is that Mitsuharu Misawa was not only the posterboy for this style, but one of the innovators of this style, and this style essentially murdered him while performing. Think about that. Thousands of wrestlers have been inspired by Misawa and his style and adopted it as their own, fighting through the pain and injuries because that was what the fans wanted. The rude awakening is this; it is incredibly dangerous.
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Posted in Dave Walsh, MMA, Wrestling | 8 Comments »
Posted by Dave Walsh on 11th June 2009
I won’t lie and I’ll come out and say it; Andrei Arlovski has been one of my absolute favorite fighters for years now. Part of what made him special was his showmanship on top of his raw power and ability. Not only was there a guy with an incredibly solid build who is fast on his feet in a world of Paul Buentello’s and Ricco Rodriguez’s knocking people out with his heavy and fast hands, but he had crazy hair, a beard and fangs. His interviews were awesome, stuff like “I have a strong arm, can smash” and so on. Andrei Arlovski was a rabid wolf among wild boar and made a name for himself as Heavyweight Champion in the United States when there were no heavyweights to look up to.
It is 2009 now and things have changed. Andrei seems to be done with his mighty Affliction deal involving upwards of 7 figures for him to step into the ring (if you think most guys were locked into three fights, he had two Affliction bouts and an EliteXC paid-for-by-Affliction fight) and seems to be testing the waters with Strikeforce. The only problem is, after an impressive post-Tim Sylvia win streak, he has two losses in a row. One to easily the best Heavyweight in the history of the sport after a great effort, Fedor, the other to, well, Brett Rogers.
I am not attempting to take anything away from Rogers, because Rogers did as he probably planned to and he won. The thing is, Rogers has never shown anything other than his ability to smash somebody in the face with his fists, which is exactly what he did to Andrei. It is hard to say if Rogers is actually a good fighter or not because we don’t know what he looks like in later rounds and we don’t know what he looks like against a top fighter who is ready to fight. Andrei was not ready to fight.
Andrei not being ready to fight is not Rogers fault, it is clearly Andrei’s, and it has cost him a lot. His boxing debut which was weeks away has been postponed due to his medical suspension for being knocked out, and it isn’t clear what or who he could fight in MMA at this point. The heavyweight scene outside of the UFC right now is very grim, while UFC’s is rather bright. Outside of the UFC he did everything he could possibly do, which was fight 3 emerging challengers in Rothwell, Nelson and Rogers, and fighting the best in the world. The only fights he really has left are a rematch with Rogers and a match with Barnett.
I want to see the Pitbull of old, I want to see Andrei have another run at the top, but I’m just not sure he has it in him anymore.
Posted in Andrei Arlovski, Dave Walsh, Strikeforce | 4 Comments »
Posted by Alan Conceicao on 11th June 2009
We return on just a couple days notice to bring more analysis and thoughts on last weekend’s bouts in K-1, Strikeforce, and WEC events, plus a look forward at UFC 99. Is Wanderlei done? What is the deal with the Ben Saunders love? Has anyone watched Caol Uno fights in the last 5 years? We discuss this and much, much more.
http://www.angrymarks.com/news/View.php?ArticleID=7372
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by Tommy Hackett on 11th June 2009
In what is seen in some circles as an ongoing battle between MMA & boxing, this Saturday fans will get their choice between offerings from the sports’ two biggest players.
HBO Boxing offers what many are hailing as a possible fight of the year candidate, as Ring Magazine’s #2 & #4 rated welterweights square off at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) dons the gloves only a day before NYC’s Puerto Rico Day Parade (!) to fight a risky bout against Joshua Clottey of Ghana (35-2, 20 KOs). Clottey is a skilled inside technician who will bring a size advantage and a high work rate similar to Cotto’s. Cotto brings a better jab, but both have excellent left hooks to the head and body. It’s a tough fight to call, but it’s looking like a memorable action bout in front of a raucous and partisan (not to mention, last I checked, a near-sellout) crowd.
The same night, ZUFFA counters with an offering of… well, I don’t even know what this UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany offers. (OK, I’ll admit Caol Uno vs Spencer Fisher sounds fun, but is it really worth a PPV?) This show’s problems have been chronicled here and elsewhere, including poor sales and possible loss of its carrier on British TV. Maybe Wanderlei Silva will surprise me and have a great fight vs. Franklin after having lost four of his last five (three by brutal KO, if you’re keeping track)… maybe Kongo vs Valasquez will be something to remember besides a slew of groin shots that Kongo now admits he throws intentionally (surprise!)… maybe the German crowd will sing “Danke Schoen” and make it all worthwhile.
Maybe, but I’m not banking on it. Score one for the Marquis of Queensbury. The noble art of pugilism wins this round. Here’s my breakdown of the fight you should be watching this weekend: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Boxing, Tommy Hackett | 1 Comment »
