So in case you didn’t hear yet, the UFC announced a deal that will allow you, the wonderous public, to buy action figures of their fighters. God knows how much the fighters will get for having their image on carved into plastic, but then again what the fighters want has never really been a concern of the internet, has it?

Well, there’s a lot of folks still holding their breath for Thursday in the hopes some sort of super announcement that will change the world will occur. The rampant speculation has been bordering on retarded; Floyd Mayweather Jr. signing with the UFC, a WWE buyout, Fox TV deals, and more. Of course, what’s on the UFC’s own website?

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=12696

Why, its a (likely) giant spoiler for Thursday! On their own website, they’re telling you that its a bunch of merchandising deals for JCPenneys and Visa. In other words, the dreams of many were just that. Dreams. And really absurd ones, to boot. What is so disheartening about this ultimately is the way one “journalist” (and I use the term as loosely as possible) after another after another has bullrushed into repeating such insane claims.  Ultimately, this activity has given them a significant amount of validity within the hardcore fan community by merely repeating them ad nausem. It happens whilst those who supposedly tow the line of high end reporting don’t even think to question the value of the sources from which such enormous news is being emitted. For instance, here is MMAOpinion.com’s terrific look at the story:

Apparently a “realiable source” has stated Vince McMahon and Dana White are buying the UFC from the Fertitta brothers through the remaining shares of the company. McMahon will not have much input, but instead, he will assist with financing the deal and making this happen. Of course this is just one variant of the rumors being spewed out left and round on the internet.

Who cares about checking sources? Publish it, guys! And then make sure to report about the buzz you just created by posting a story with no legs later on. What better way to justify your own existence? And then there’s MMAPayout.com:

Last night a poster on the Underground Forums added the following rumor “from a reliable source” to the mix: “a group of investors led by Dana White have agreed in principle to purchase the UFC from Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta for an undisclosed amount. Included in this investment group is WWE’s Vince McMahon who will now own a minority stake in the company. They also have plans on taking the company public by years end.”

Wow. Nothing demands being mentioned on the website of a claimed leader in MMA coverage more than a fairly anonymous post on a message board that’s been filled with complete non-truths in the past. This was merely just a small taste of the fine coverage provided. Going back just a day or so:

Inside the industry, the guessing game has advanced past *whether* the UFC’s sale is Dana’s big announcement and onto *who* such a sale might involve. Odds on favorites include FOX, Golden Boy, and WWE (NOTE: For the conspiracy theorist in all of us, WWE has an ambiguous press conference of its own scheduled for Thursday).

A change in ownership is one of the few things imaginable that would warrant White’s hype and circumstance. Of course this wouldn’t be the first time the UFC over promised and under delivered on an major announcement. And there’s always the possibility, perhaps even likelihood, that whatever White has in store, no matter how grand it truly is, will be overshadowed by the speculation that has proceeded it. But this feels different.

Note the way this was written. There isn’t just possiblity, but actually a sense of certainty that this time, the unmentioned voices of the MMA shadows are really positively sure that the UFC is to be sold, and voila, off to the races! This is not journalism, folks. This is not reporting facts. This is thinly veiled bullshit intended to draw in readers and bring increased numbers of new IP addresses for the purpose of selling ad space. Who are these inside industry people? How often have they been correct before? ”But this feels different”? On what basis? Because ESPN The Magazine printed it?  Maybe the UFC is going to get a weekly fight show, or run Japan, bring in another organization’s ace, or any of the other wide array of things they’ve announced or openly discussed in the past that never, ever happened. Maybe its not going to be any of those things, and it will be another situation like so many others prior in which they just announce that which we already know (in this case, merchandising). Given that the latter happens much more often than the former, I’m gonna bet that.

What the MMA media has done here is spit a lot of e-wrestling fed idiocy while passing it off as intelligent commentary, and using the spikes in interest such outrageous claims generate as the justification behind it.

EDIT 6/11/08: Well, if you believe Sam Caplan, the big announcement was to announce that MMA was approved in the state of NY, which, surprise surprise, would have been something that you, me, and everyone else would have heard about had it occurred two days in advance. And it didn’t end up happening at all. Will anyone have learned a lesson? Hell no they didn’t, because they probably saw their viewership fly through the roof over the last two days.

With Zuffa’s latest ill-titled PPV offering fast approaching, it’s time for a thorough analysis of the bouts on offer this weekend.  The card is one I expect to have, at best, limited appeal to the casual viewer.  Neither Penn nor Sherk, the putative headliners, is renown as a draw.  The only man on the card who has any drawing history, Tito Ortiz, is third from the top and fighting someone who appeals only to hardcore fans.  Make that “a few hardcore fans”.  There are a pile of guys even most hardcore fans haven’t heard of.  That said, there are some intriguing matchups in store. 

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It is somewhat reluctantly that I turn away from my download of the most recent Shooto show — which, about halfway through, anyway, is awesome — having just remembered my TUF commitments here at Total MMA. A man has only so many hours in a day to devote to this kind of thing, and so difficult decisions sometimes need be made. I am not complaining; I have more time for such things than can reasonably be expected. But know that while I speak to you now of TUF, my heart belongs to Shooto. I guess that’s always true to some extent.

Last week, as I’m sure you’ll recall, Dante Rivera took a close and controversial decision win over Brandon Sene in a match which asked of its judges (and of the viewing audience as a whole, of course), what’s more important in a mixed martial arts contest: modest but ultimately pointless positional control, or pretty much completely negligible damage from a somewhat disadvantageous position? Pointless positional control won the day! The fight itself wasn’t much, really, as Dana White observed, but at least it made you think, and that’s really more than you can ask of a show that begins with this kind of theme music. And it goes BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Oh right! Also last week, Jeremy May lime-juiced Matt Brown’s dip! Grudge match! Citrus tobacco grudge match! This should be great. This is the best season in forever. Who needs Shooto?

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ZUFFA’s most recent PPV outing has met with, at best, lukewarm support.  I believe the word “crap” has popped up more than once.  In keeping with the Total-MMA commitment to balanced journalism (a commitment which I, in fact, just made up), it falls to me to present a slightly different view.  St. Pierre-Serra 2 was not a complete waste of your time and money.  No fewer than ten quality things came from that broadcast.  To wit:

10.  Rich Franklin’s sweet armbar escape.

For a guy who isn’t supposed to have much in the way of ground skills, that was a sweet little move.  I, for one, missed the Joe Rogan Experience and had to exclaim “That’s high level jujitsu!” to myself.  But it had nothing on…

9.  GSP’s Superman punch/leg kick combo.

As has already been said on our forums, that’s some wacky video game shit right there.  You might be forgiven for missing it in light of the complete beatdown being administered, but, seriously, damn.  This is why I stopped watching pro wrestling entirely - MMA has progressed to the point that I can see borderline impossible techniques performed under competitve circumstances.

8.  Someone besides me is talking about getting Nate Quarry out of fighting and into announcing.

Granted, that person is Nate Quarry.  Still, dudes with severe spinal injuries should probably not be involved in combat sports.  Quarry seems like a good guy, and I’d rather not see him paralyzed.  Can’t he do a Fight Night or something?  Please?

7. We should never see Kalib Starnes on PPV again.

Seriously, what was that all about?  Starnes has never impressed in previous outings, and this should be the final nail in his coffin as a PPV performer.

6.  Or Travis Lutter.

Don’t make weight once, shame on you.  Don’t get in shape twice, see ya later.

5.  Michael Bisping is that much closer to a middleweight title shot.

Wherein Anderson Silva will kill him dead.  But with two-time Silva victim Franklin and boring non-English speaking Okami the closest things to top middleweights available on the ZUFFA roster, you take what you can get.  The fight could be a decent semi-main, or main event in London and draw a decent house.

4.  I don’t really have a #4.

Maybe just nine good things happened.  Oops.

3.  The 170lb title has now been defended in five countries, more than any other major title.

Pat Miletich defended the then-lightweight belt in Brazil (vs. Mikey Burnett) and Japan (vs Kenichi Yamamoto), in addition to his US title defenses.  Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton added Great Britain to the list.  No other major MMA belt has as great a claim to being a true “world” title.

2.  Matt Serra’s presumptive return to the 155lb ranks where he belongs.

I don’t have strong feelings about Serra as a person one way or the other, but I like him as a fighter.  As a lightweight fighter.  Hey, if you’re a professional fighter and you get a shot at a world title, you take it.  Serra hit the fadeaway grandslam hail mary Rocky mixed sports metaphor jackpot in the first GSP fight and got to hold the belt for a few months, and good on him.  Now let him go fight Frankie Edgar, Kenny Florian, Roger Huerta, and other guys his own size. 

1.  The best man finally holds the welterweight title.   

This is a biggie.  Anyone committed to MMA’s credibility wants the best fighter in a division recognized as “world champion” by the sport’s premier company.  No one doubts GSP is that man.  Without meaning to denigrate Matt Serra as a fighter, he was a fluke champion and we all knew it.  Let’s start lining up challengers for the real champ now. 

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