Fight Game Blog

Our friend Dewey Hammond from Hard For The Yard drove down to San Jose to allow Frank Shamrock to choke him out. The dude is crazy.

(There is a curse word uttered so if you are offended by that, please don’t play the video.)

Photo by cotton_man

When I first saw that the main event for CBS’ next Saturday Night Fights card was going to be Kimbo Slice versus Ken Shamrock, I knew that “die hard” fight fans would be up in arms. They think that EXC is protecting Kimbo Slice. They think that EXC is trying to be pro wrestling. They think that Ken Shamrock shouldn’t be in the main event of any fighting show in the year 2008.

Let’s just be thankful that these die hard fight fans aren’t running any MMA companies.

The name of the game for EXC is drawing ratings. They have to draw a good rating for their next show or else possibly risk being off national television. And the way to do that is to book the best possible fight for the largest possible audience. The goal isn’t necessarily to make fight fans happy. The goal should be to make “the most” fans happy.

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News and notes from around the MMA world …

Two sad notes before we get to the rest of the news.

- Young Canadian fighter Rene Ayangma died after a light sparring session Tuesday evening.

- Ryan Gracie’s toxicology report reads that he died because of a lethal mixing of drugs according to Sherdog.

And to the rest of the news …

- Mike Coughlin writes about Bob Sapp and Strikeforce, who run live tomorrow in Seattle at the Tacoma Dome.

- Dave Meltzer has more on Sapp.

- The UFC and Yahoo! are working together now that Yahoo! is their online PPV distributor.

- Chuck Liddell’s autobiography is on the New York Times Best Seller’s list for the second week in a row.

- Mirko Cro Cop says he will return to the UFC after he has 3 fights with Dream.

- Fabricio Werdum won’t get the next title shot and will instead face Brandon Vera at UFC 85.

- IGN interviews IFL Middleweight Champ, Matt Horwich.

Talking Points

After last week’s slobberknocker of a fight between Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott, Strikeforce comes back this week with Bob Sapp’s first fight in the US. Sapp is a huge star in Japan I’ve read that he even had his own merchandise store at one point. You’re talking Michael Jordan level status. While I don’t think Strikeforce is depending on Bob Sapp in the same ways that EXC depends on Kimbo Slice, with their business model, they don’t need to. Their big market is in San Jose, California with local headliners Frank Shamrock and Cung Le. Seattle has been a good market for minor league MMA and Strikeforce is using Sapp and his local ties to the area to try to sell tickets. The fight is on HDNet, which very few people receive (something like 6 million people in all), but for those who do get it, it should be an interesting spectacle. There aren’t many big name fighters, though former UFC fighter Joe Riggs and former UFC champion, Maurice Smith are on the card. Interestingly, Smith beat Tank Abbot in a fight over 10 years ago. We’ll see if he can do better against kickboxer Rick Roufus than Abbott did against Slice.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Dave Meltzer charts former Pride fighters and how they’ve done in the UFC and also says that neither company came out the winner.

- Now Tim Sylvia is teasing that he might be unhappy.

- While we’re talking about Tim, did he use lotion to make his skin slippery against Big Nog?

- Diego Sanchez says he wants Josh Koscheck in a rematch.

- Referee Steve Mazzagatti says that he warned Lesnar, but Lesnar might not have heard him before docking him a point for hitting Frank Mir in the back of the head.

- Frankie Edgar thinks his fight with Gray Maynard at the next UFC Fight Night could end up at every position.

- Strikeforce At The Dome will be broadcast on HDNet.

- Don Frye to fight Oleg Taktarov at YAMMA’s first PPV?

Talking Points

Tim Sylvia doesn’t have the same kind of drawing power that Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz do. When a fighter talks about leaving the UFC because of money reasons, the idea that they can go to another company and increase their worth to the MMA buying audience is preposterous. Randy Couture could make a lot of money for one or two fights, but in no way are those fights going to reach the same kind of PPV audience that a UFC show could. Tito Ortiz has one possible fight with Frank Shamrock that could do decent business outside of the UFC. But Tim Sylvia? He’s not a draw like both of those men are. Even if he were to go to M-1 to fight Fedor Emelianenko, that fight doesn’t draw to a non-hardcore audience. He’s upset that Brock Lesnar made more money than he did, but he has to understand that Lesnar and Mir drew the PPV buyrate and the house. Sylvia is a decent fighter when it comes to a semi-main event spot, like the last PPV (even though they fought last, Lesnar/Mir drew the house), but he’s not going to command the kind of money Couture or Ortiz would because of his history as someone who doesn’t sell fights.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- If you didn’t watch it this weekend, you can read our play by play of UFC 80.

- B.J. Penn makes history.

- Mike Swick talks about his move to welterweight and why he fought at middleweight for so long.

- Harley-Davidson is the UFC’s newest sponsor.

- CBS Sportsline previews UFC Fight Night 12 and everyone made weight.

- Tito Ortiz agrees to a fight with Lyoto Machida and rips the UFC.

- Here’s another look at Randy Couture vs. Zuffa.

- Dave Meltzer writes about Brock Lesnar and how his being a former WWE superstar helps in the promotion of his fight with Frank Mir at UFC 81.

- Frank Shamrock says he’s promoting his fight against his brother Ken.

- Antonio Silva’s opponent for February’s EXC event is Ricco Rodriguez.

- Where has Keith Jardine been?

- Bob Sapp fights Jan Nortje for Strikeforce’s Tacoma Dome show.

Talking Points

If you ever get a chance to watch UFC in HD, do it. Don’t even worry about the extra $10. It’s worth every penny. I was having issues with my cable company on Saturday morning while I was trying to order the UFC 80 show and the technical service representative basically told me that I was out of luck. I immediately called my ex-wife and told her I was going to order it at her house and she said she wasn’t home anyway so it was fine. I live only a couple minutes away so I was at the house at a minute before the 12:00PM start time and immediately turned everything on and looked at the PPV menu on Direct TV. I noticed that they offered the show in HD (my cable company doesn’t) and bought the HD version. I then turned on the surround sound and sat for the next three hours in what felt like a mini theater.

There really is no comparison between watching sports in high definition and the regular broadcast television signal. Everything is so crisp and you don’t miss anything. There have been times when I’ve watched UFC and had to rewind the DVR because I didn’t see what the announcers saw. That isn’t an issue with HD. You see everything so clearly. In the main event, I was able to see the exact moment when B.J. Penn split Joe Stevenson’s head open because I saw the small splatters of blood immediately. And I know this is a bit morbid, but seeing Joe Daddy’s crimson mask was eye opening to say the least. Even though I won’t be able to watch every UFC show in HD, I don’t know how I’ll cope without it. It was a beautiful three hours.

Yes, there’s another UFC show tomorrow night. Fight Night 12 will be the second of three shows in two weeks and I have a feeling that not too many people will be watching. However, we never sleep and we’ll have a blog post with the results and a longer show review on the site later in the week.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Frank Shamrock and Cung Le are ready to do battle on March 29th in a Strikeforce/EXC joint show.

- Thiago Silva could be facing Rashad Evans in a light heavyweight battle in the near future.

- Gary Shaw takes some shots at Dana White and the UFC.

- And White fires back.

- Joe Daddy answers some questions.

- The IFL starts up again on Leap Day.

- Might the UFC be talking with Budweiser?

- Dave Meltzer looks at The UFC’s “money” division.

- Spike TV is using the UFC to reach possible new voters.

- Here’s one book review on the new Matt Hughes book and it’s not a positive one.

- Sean Sherk will face the winner of the interim lightweight title match between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson in May.

Talking Points

At the last Strikeforce show in November, Frank Shamrock interviewed Cung Le, who had just beaten Sammy Morgan in a one sided fight. Shamrock was laying the foundation for a possible match-up between he and Le, two of San Jose’s most popular fighters. At the time, I figured that Shamrock and Le each had at least one more fight before they’d get in the cage together. For one, Le hasn’t necessarily fought enough competition, in my opinion, to be ready for someone as savvy as Shamrock. And it seemed that Shamrock wanted a rematch with Renzo Gracie before he would go after Le. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. It looks like they want to build off the mini confrontation that they had in November. It’s the best drawing main event that Strikeforce could put together today, unless Ken Shamrock were agree to fight Frank.

It will also be the second joint card between Strikeforce and EXC. The first was the fantastic summer card in San Jose where Shamrock beat Phil Baroni, the winner of our first match of the year award. According to Dave Meltzer’s blog, the show will have at least two Strikeforce title fights and two EXC title fights, along with a fight in which one Strikeforce fighter will battle with an EXC fighter. It will also be broadcast live on Showtime.

Rather than do the regular news updates, I’m going to give out some awards. This will encompass all of MMA, but really, my focus will be on the American companies since I didn’t see much of Pride or K-1 this year.

Fighter Of The Year

There are some great candidates for this one, including guys that will get overlooked like Urijah Faber. But I think the year belonged to three men. Randy Couture had the comeback that all comebacks will be measured by, but near the end of the year, he was done with the UFC and any proposed big year end match was out the door. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had a banner year by beating Marvin Eastman, Chuck Liddell, and Dan Henderson. Anderson Silva held the middleweight title all year long, beating Travis Lutter, Nate Marquardt, and Rich Franklin for the second time. If you look at someone who dominated their division, the choice is Silva. But if you’re looking for who won the toughest and biggest fights, the answer is Jackson.

Winner: Rampage Jackson

Fight Of The Year

In the early summer, Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni had a war that ended when Shamrock called his own shot. Early on, he mocked Baroni, by putting his hands together on his cheek, insinuating that he was going to put Baroni to sleep. And after two rounds of fighting that left both guys completely exhausted, Shamrock caught Baroni in a choke and rather than tapping out, he went to sleep, just like Shamrock predicted. Tyson Griffin seemed to be on fire all year long, having great matches in wins against Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares. But his best fight was one in which he lost, against Frankie Edgar at UFC 67. It was a wrestling war and ended with Griffin pulling on Edgar’s knee at the bell after putting him in a knee bar. Edgar would take the decision. Right before year’s end, Roger Huerta shook off two losing rounds against Clay Guida at the season finale to The Ultimate Fighter Season 6. He would go on to finish him in the third round in a very exciting comeback victory. While the two UFC fights were great, I have to go with the fight I saw in person.

Winner: Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni at Strikeforce Judgment Day

Fight Card Of The Year

Strikeforce Judgment Day was an exciting card with a fantastic main event. UFC 68 had the most emotional MMA match that I’ve ever seen. UFC 76 had five matches that went the distance and had two of the biggest upsets of the year. And I was never able to see a good copy of the Pride show in February. But if I had to choose the card of the year, I’d have to go with The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale. It had two fight of the year candidates with an exciting finish to end the night when Huerta came back to stop Guida. The War Machine vs. J-Rock was a great brawl as well.

Winner: The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale

Upset Of The Year

Oh, there were many. How about Randy Couture coming out of retirement to chop down Tim Sylvia? What about Forrest Griffin beating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who was in his first UFC fight, after coming over from Pride. Keith Jardine outpointing Chuck Liddell? Or what about both Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo beating Mirko Cro Cop? Well, I guess that since he lost twice, maybe they weren’t such huge upsets. But the winner has to be Matt Serra beating Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69 in Houston. When that fight ended, my jaw hit the floor. St. Pierre came into the fight looking unstoppable and Serra took the fight right to him, knocking him out and shocking St. Pierre himself.

Winner: Matt Serra knocking out Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69.

Promotion Of The Year

When the UFC is the biggest game in town, how can they not be the best promotion? They are making money and drawing huge crowds and good PPV buyrates. Who are their competitors? Well, Zuffa, the same company that owns the UFC also owns the WEC, which put on some very fun and exciting cards, focusing on the smaller fighters. The San Jose based Strikeforce understands their fan base and sets up fights that the locals want to see. With local fighters like Cung Le and Frank Shamrock, they should have a pretty good 2008 as well.

Winner: UFC

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- There is a fantastic piece on The Smashing Machine Mark Kerr, who was the focal point of an excellent documentary several years ago. Written by Kenny Rice for NBCsports.com, Kerr talks a lot about the drug issues in sports today.

- Last week, Dana White was interviewed by ESPN.com and talked about Frank Shamrock (with a reply by Shamrock), PPV in 2008, HBO, and the possibility of heavyweight star Fedor Emelianenko coming into UFC, among many other things.

- Todd Martin writes about the number two MMA company in the US (a very distant second place), Elite XC.

- Sam Kaplan has a Q&A with free agent and former UFC Heavyweight champ, Josh Barnett.

- After talks with Wanderlei Silva broke down for a fight with Chuck Liddell, Dana White and Joe Silva scrambled to put a fight together with the “Ice Man” and Keith Jardine according to UFCmania.com.

- Sherdog reports that UFC 75 will be televised on Spike TV rather than on PPV.

Talking Points

Rather than go with a more proven box office draw in Forrest Griffin, UFC decided to put Keith Jardine in the match with Chuck Liddell. I haven’t really heard why they avoided Griffin, but it would be the bigger match. Griffin can talk and he’s very well liked and better known based on his contract winning fight after the first Ultimate Fighter with Stephan Bonner and even more recently in losing a match against Tito Ortiz that many people thought he won. But the fight goes to Jardine, who beat Griffin last December decisively, but also lost to little known Houston Alexander in his last fight. Matching Jardine with Liddell seems like more of a best case scenario than a well booked fight. But it stems from losing out on the possible juggernaut fight that they were trying to put together between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell. Silva’s camp wanted a later date than the proposed September date, but UFC didn’t want to postpone the fight. They could still do that fight at a later date.

You’d expect Liddell to be a heavy favorite and maybe it’s not the right time for Griffin to be in there with Chuck. There might be other reasons to not do the fight. But a fight with Griffin would be at least twice as marketable as this one with Jardine. In any case, Liddell is still the star of the promotion, and the fight will be big enough, just based on him being involved.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- In an argument that we’re going to see probably until the end of time, ESPN.com goes 12 rounds with writers Tim Struby and Ryan Hockensmith. Someone please send Tim Struby a tape of Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar I or even the fight last weekend between Tyson Griffin and Clay Guida.

- Two days ago, The Fight Network’s Brian Knapp reported through Loretta Hunt that Ken Shamrock could possibly come out of retirement to face new young star Michael Bisping on the undercard of UFC 75. The scheduled main event for that card is a showdown between UFC Light Heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Pride Middleweight and Welterweight champ Dan Henderson. However, just yesterday, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that while the match between Shamrock and Bisping has been discussed, the scheduled match at this time is still between Matt Hamill and Michael Bisping.

- Sports Illustrated’s Todd Martin has quotes from both Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz about their match-up Saturday night in the finals of the latest The Ultimate Fighter.

- Manny Gamburyan also chatted with Sam Caplan from CBS Sportsline about his experience on The Ultimate Fighter including what Gabe Ruediger was really like on the show.

Talking Points

There’s a lot of fan discussion about who really won the fight between Tyson Griffin and Clay Guida at last Saturday’s UFC show from Belfast, Ireland. I scored it for Griffin simply because I thought he scored more from being on the bottom than Guida did from being on the top in the third and deciding round. However, it seems that the majority of fans (including those in Belfast) thought Guida won, which is entirely possible. Those in the Guida camp believe that he not only won the second round (which I also had him winning), but that by being on top, he dominated the third round. I’m not sure it was robbery, though both Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez from Figure 4 Online thought Guida won definitively. I’m fine with the fight going either way, but I may have to watch it again to see how I’d score it a second time. It’s not like watching that great fight again would be a chore.

I will be attending Strike Force’s first Pay Per View event on Friday night in San Jose, CA. The fight between Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni has been built up for many months and is sure to be a big ticket seller in the Bay Area. I will have a live report and hopefully some photos from the event. I’ll also have more on the fight and the event itself in the next couple of days.