SB Nation User Blog: Brett Jones

Mark Hunt v. Alistair Overeem at DREAM 5

Brett Jones — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:55:30 -0000

Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem (27-11-0) has been confirmed as the opponent for Mark Hunt (5-3-0) at Dream 5 from Osaka, Japan this Monday. Overeem confirmed the heavyweight bout with The Fight Network on Friday.

Overeem, a veteran Dutch kickboxer, was victorious over Tae Hyun Lee (1-2-0) at Dream 4 in June. He holds notable wins over Vitor Belfort (16-8-0) and Paul Buentello (25-10-0), both of whom will be competing at Affliction: Banned this Saturday. The seasoned Pride Fighting Championships star looks to extend his winning streak to three in a row against another fighter who is no stranger to the defunct Japanese promotion.
While Hunt may only have eight fights under his belt, he holds wins over some of the most established names in the sport, including Wanderlei Silva (32-8-1) and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (23-6-2). Since then, however, Hunt has been on a two-fight losing streak, last suffering defeat at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko (27-1-0, 1 NC) and Josh Barnett (25-5-0), two top-five ranked heavyweight fighters. In his first appearance for the Dream promotion, Hunt looks to rebound when he takes on "Demolition Man" at Osaka Castle Hall.

Quite the match up to put together at the last moment. While Hunt has done well for himself in his still young MMA career, Overeem seems to be fighting as well as he ever has.

This is a tough one for both guys on short notice. On the one hand, Hunt had been preparing for a fight, despite not knowing who his opponent would be, on the DREAM 5 show, so he may be in better fighting shape that Overeem. On the other hand, this is Hunt's first fight since losing to Fedor on New Year's Eve 2006. Overeem is not a top heavyweight, which Hunt had become accustomed to facing in PRIDE, but he is a dangerous striker, which will likely make this an exciting fight for as long as it lasts.

Big Announcement Next Tuesday, Not Tomorrow

Brett Jones — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:51:25 -0000

It looks like we'll have to wait a few extra days to learn what Dana White has in store. Dave Meltzer breaks the news:

The announcement today of the UFC action figures deal with Jakks is not the big announcement that has been teased all week. According to the UFC, that announcement will be made a week from today, and not on Thursday.

It seems we'll have to wait a bit longer for that mind-blowing announcement. On the plus side, now I have more time to finalize the brackets for my UFC action figure tournament.

Photo courtesy of Ralph Fountain.

Kimbo Slice vs. Brett Rogers in October

Brett Jones — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:36:29 -0000

This Fan Post was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

So much for the notion that Rogers wouldn't get a shot at Kimbo. Michael David Smith of AOL Fanhouse has the news:

If that was Rogers' attempt to hype himself up as the next opponent for Kimbo, it worked. Slice appeared on Dan Le Batard's radio show today and said he'll fight Rogers next, "probably in October."

"They called me out, and now they got the fight," Slice said of Rogers and his camp.

One rumor suggested that Kimbo would take on current IFL Heavyweight champion Roy Nelson his next fight. By comparison, Kimbo v. Rogers is absolutely the better booking as I'm concerned. If Kimbo loses to Roy Nelson, sure, it was his toughest test in his young career and losing to a champion is no indictment on one's abilities. However, Nelson then goes back to IFL, and where is Kimbo left? In EliteXC, battling low level competition for his next handful of fights as Shaw and co. try to rebuild the aura of Kimbo.

With Rogers as Kimbo's opponent, it's a win-win-win for Kimbo, Rogers, and most importantly, EliteXC. Regardless of who wins, Kimbo or Rogers would come out as a significantly bigger star than they entered the match as, and would be the face of the organization going forward. Rogers could even become the "new Kimbo," while Kimbo would have beaten not only his toughest opponent to date, but an undefeated fighter with more than twice as many matches as Kimbo to his credit. From EliteXC's perspective, this will be a grudge match, which has historically been the biggest drawing matches in MMA. While this won't appeal to audiences in the same way as Ortiz v. Shamrock, adding this level on intriguing to Kimbo's already massive, albeit subdued, aura could make this event even more successful for EliteXC than last Saturday's.

All that having been said, I think it's clear that Kimbo will come in as the underdog for the first time in his career. At the very least, Rogers has as much power in his hands as Kimbo. Unlike Kimbo, Rogers was able to stop James Thompson inside of one round. While Rogers isn't known for his ground game, he was able to prevent James Thompson from taking their fight to the ground, something Kimbo struggled with mightily. Questions arise when comparing the chins of each fighter. We have yet to really see Roger's chin tested, while it's understood that Kimbo has a very durable chin. It's a safe bet that Rogers will test it nonetheless in October.

Photo credit: Combatlifestyle.com

Jenna Jameson uses pantomime to motivate boyfriend Tito Ortiz at UFC 84. HT: MMA Fight Girls

Brett Jones — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:35:22 -0000

Jenna Jameson uses pantomime to motivate boyfriend Tito Ortiz at UFC 84.

HT: MMA Fight Girls

Andre Gusmao (Finally) Signs with UFC

Brett Jones — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:35:39 -0000

Some folks may remember several months back when rumors had Andre Gusmao signing with UFC to face David Heath. The rumors ultimately wound up being false, but it appears that Gusmao signing with UFC was only a matter of time. MMA Weekly is repoting that Gusmao, a former IFL fighter on Renzo Gracie's New York Pitbulls, will debut at UFC 87 on August 9.

After almost signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship earlier this year, it now appears capoeira and jiu-jitsu expert Andre Gusmao will finally make his debut for the promotion in August at UFC 87, as confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources inside Gusmao’s camp.

...

At this time no opponent has been named for Gusmao in his debut, but more fights for the Minnesota card are expected soon.

Gusmao brings an undefeated 5-0-0 record into the UFC, with all but one victories coming by TKO or submission. His addition to the UFC's roster brings yet another talented Light Heavyweight to an already stacked division.

Akiyama to Return at DREAM 5

Brett Jones — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:25:50 -0000

According to Sportnavi.yahoo.co.jp, Yoshihiro Akiyama will return to competition at DREAM 5 on July 21. Akiyama will be competing for the first time since facing Kazuo Misaki at the Yarrenoka event on new year's eve. The match. initially declared a KO victory for Misaki, was later changed to a no contest, as it was determined that the kick Misaki used to end the fight was illegal.

No opponent for Akiyama has been announced.

The return of Akiyama in addition to the return of KID Yamamoto add to an already intriguing card, featuring a welterweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai and the conclusion of DREAM's Lightweight tournament.

The full card, which looks to be one of the strongest of the year, below:

Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1-0) v. TBD

Lightweight Tournament Finale - Participants:

Shinya Aoki (15-2-0) -or- Katsuhiko Nagata (4-2-0)

Eddie Alvarez (14-1-0)

Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2)

Caol Uno (25-10-4)

Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto (17-1-0) v. Joseph Benavidez (7-0-0)

Nick Diaz (16-7-0) v. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (32-8-2) - Welterweight Title Match

Japan MMA

Donald Trump Joins the MMA Fray

Brett Jones — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:21:08 -0000

According to a press release from Affliction, Donald Trump will be partnering with the clothing company turned MMA promoter in a capacity to be revealed at a press conference tomorrow. The full press releases comes courtesy of Five Ounces of Pain:

WHAT: "Affliction Banned" Press Conference

WHO: DONALD J. TRUMP
Chairman and CEO of the Trump Organization

WHEN: Thursday, June 5 – 12 PM/ET

WHERE: Trump Tower, 25th Floor, 725 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10022

WHY: To announce a partnership between Affliction and Donald J. Trump, who will outline his involvement with Affliction and "Affliction Banned," the star studded mixed-martial-arts show July 19th 2008 on pay-per-view television, featuring the return of Russian combat fighting icon Fedor Emelianenko at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

"Affliction Banned" will be distributed on Pay-Per-View and air live (9 PM/ET, 6 PM/PT) on cable and satellite viewing in the USA and Canada via iN DEMAND, TVN, Shaw Communications, Viewer’s Choice Canada, DirecTV, DISH Network, Bell ExpressVue and Star Choice for a suggested retail price of $39.95. The telecast will be available in both standard and high definition television.

Tickets for "Affliction Banned," ranging between $50.00 and $1,000.00, are on sale at the Honda Center box office and also online at Ticketmaster.com.

That would explain why the previous Affliction press conference was held at Trump Towers.

Trumps involvement in MMA is not surprising, as his interest in sports is well chronicled. Trump was the one-time owner of the New Jersey Generals of the USFL, and is an avid fan of golf, owning seven golf courses worldwide. However, Trump's most prominent forray into sports, or in this case sports entertainment, was "The Battle of the Billionaires" at Wrestlemania 23, where he chose recent AFL signee Bobbly Lashley to represent him with Trump's hair at stake. Trump had previously hosted Wrestlemanias IV and V at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, NJ.

A footnote to this story is that Trump is following in the footsteps of fellow billionaire Mark Cuban, who entered into the MMA business when Cuban's television network, HDNet, began broadcasting MMA programming and events in 2007. Trump and Cuban are somewhat of rivals, stemming from Cuban's reality show, The Benefactor, which some (including Trump) bore too close a resemblance to Trump's hit reality show, The Apprentice. Trump had this to say about Cuban, his show, and the Dallas Mavericks, which Cuban also owns:

“Mark Cuban was extremely embarrassed when he copied ‘The Apprentice’ and failed,” Trump raged. “They threw him off television like a dog.

“I wrote him a note and I said, ‘Mark, you have absolutely no television persona. I wish you would have spoken to me previously or before you did this. I could have told you it was gonna fail.’ And he failed.

“Same thing with the Mavericks. The Mavericks have a great team. They’ll never win with Mark Cuban as the owner because he is not a winner.”

Ironic, as Affliction was at one time rumored to be broadcast on HDNet.

MMA's Biggest Stars

Brett Jones — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:54:03 -0000

Adam Swift of MMA Payout has posted a list of the five most watched fights in MMA history:

Kimbo Slice v. James Thompson - 6.51 million

Quinton Jackson v. Dan Henderson - 5.93 million

Tito Ortiz v. Ken Shamrock III - 5.89 million

Robbie Lawler v. Scott Smith - 5.53 million

Gina Carano v. Kaitlin Young - 4.68 million

These results aren't particularly surprising. We all recognize at this point that regardless of how we feel about the event, EliteXC on CBS was a success in the ratings.

To nobody's surprise, Kimbo carried the night, proving that, at least on a short enough time line that a compelling story is more important to the casual viewer than outstanding talent. Many observers, including the Miami Herald's Dan Le Batard have suggested that Kimbo's appeal may diminish in light of his match with James Thompson. While that's certainly a possibility, I can say that anecdotally I have spoken to several casual MMA fans who were not only fine with the stoppage in Kimbo's fight, but they came away wowed by Kimbo. His drawing power will be put to the test in an upcoming EliteXC event on CBS, even if his abilities as a fighter are not.

Perhaps the most intriguing of the fighters included in the list is Gina Carano. On the one hand, her fight was viewed by nearly one million fewer viewers than the following match on the card, Robbie Lawler v. Scott Smith. On the other hand, the inclusion of Carano began the ratings spike leading up to Kimbo's match. Judging by the ratings breakdown for each half-hour of the show, Carano appears to be a bona fide star, sure due in no small part to her involvement in American Gladiators. The half hour in which Carano fought Kaitlin Young saw the largest gain in viewers from the preceding half-hour (1.02 million viewers) on the entire show. The next closest half-hour spike was for the Middleweight title match (0.85 million viewers), which immediately followed Carano v. Young.

It will be interesting to see what these numbers mean for Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith, who had an interesting fight in that it started out slow, ended up becoming a slugfest, and was ultimately stopped prematurely in most folks eyes. With so many eyes on their contest, will neither, one, or both fighters begin to make inroads towards mainstream popularity? If nothing else, it seems plausible that their rematch could headline the next EliteXC event on CBS.

As for the two UFC fights included in this list, three of the four fighters involved are among the biggest stars in the history of the organization. It seems a bit premature to consider Quinton Jackson one of the biggest stars in the UFC, but as far as his fights go, the numbers don't lie. Not only did Jackson v. Henderson earn what at the time was the highest rating for an MMA fight in history, but Jackson v. Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 earned 675,000 buys. The figure stands as the third highest buyrate in UFC history behind UFC 66 at 1.05 million and UFC 61 at 775k , and one of only ~~five~~ six UFC pay-per-views to top 600k buys. The other two are UFC 79 (600-675k) and UFC 81 (650k) [EDIT: UFC 60 earned 620k buys]. It should be pointed out that UFC 81 is actually the third highest grossing PPV in UFC history, as the cost to purchase the show was $44.95, up from $39.95.

It's no surprise that Tito Ortiz is on this list. In addition to earning what was at the time the highest rated MMA match in history, Ortiz also earned the top two buyrates in UFC history; UFC 66 against Liddell and UFC 61 also against Ken Shamrock, respectively. Ortiz's value as a draw is not limited to main events, as helped to earn a 425k buy rate , the highest in company history at the time, at UFC 59 when he faced Forrest Griffin. As part of UFC 73's "Stacked" card, Ortiz again helped the event earn 425k buys when he went to a draw with Rashad Evans. The best indication of what Tito Ortiz means to the UFC and to MMA as a sport will likely come along with the buy rate for UFC 84, where Ortiz faced Lyoto Machida, who has the least mainstream recognition of any of Ortiz's opponents during the UFC boom period.

Absent from the list is UFC poster boy and former Light Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. This is hardly an indictment on Liddell, as he has yet to fight on a live broadcast outside of pay-per-view. His appeal is well noted, as he has earned three of the five highest buyrates in UFC history (UFC 66, UFC 71, and UFC 79), and Liddell's involvement, along with Randy Couture, in the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter helped to establish the series as a staple of Spike's lineup. While Kimbo and co. were earning strong ratings on CBS this past Saturday, Chuck Liddell was featured on Spike, as both "The Ultimate Iceman: Chuck Liddell," and Chuck's fight against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79 played opposite EliteXC's event. According to MMAPayout.com , the Iceman acquitted himself fairly well:

MMAPayout.com has learned that Spike's broadcast of The Ultimate Iceman: Chuck Liddell drew a 0.9 rating (1.2 million viewers), while UFC Unleashed featuring Liddell v. Wanderlei Silva drew a 1.2 rating (1.6 million viewers). The programs aired Saturday night on Spike from 9-11PM EST in competition with EliteXC on CBS.

Of course, when comparing "Chuck Night," and even the two UFC matches on the list to EliteXC on CBS, some context is required. As a network station, CBS is available in 96.98% of all American households, reaching 103,421,270 homes in the United States as of 2003. Spike, on the other hand, is available in 93.6 million homes as of September 11, 2007. Additionally, while EliteXC was offering live, first run content, Chuck Night on Spike consisted entirely of pre-recorded programming.

By my calculations, these are the percentage of total possible viewers each match/show earned of its possible viewing audience.

6.3% Kimbo v. Thompson
6.3% Rampage v. Henderson
6.3% Ortiz v. Shamrock
5.3% Middleweight title match
4.5% Carano v. Young
1.5% Chuck Night (average of both shows)

When taking into consideration the 10 million viewer disparity along with the aforementioned factors, Chuck Night did a strong number. Somewhat surprising is the equality between the percentage of possible viewers who saw the top three most viewed matches, which speaks equally to the drawing power of a neophyte in the sport as it does to two of the biggest stars in the UFC.

While Kimbo's drawing power has been built largely on hype thus far, both Ortiz and Jackson have been the best in the Light Heavyweight division throughout their careers. Of course, they are also known for their antics and their pre-fight promotion, which absolutely plays a strong role in their ability to draw.

Carano's cross-over appeal seems legitimate. As the face of women's MMA, she is not only an undefeated fighter, but she is stunningly beautiful. As the old addage goes, women want to be her, and men want to be with her. In some ways, she is more important to EliteXC than Kimbo, as she can potentially draw women towards the sport, whereas Kimbo seems unlikely to do so.

Chuck Liddell has also tasted his share of cross over stardom, appearing in an episode on Entourage. The interesting thing about Liddell's drawing power is that is almost entirely based on his performance in the Ocatagon. Liddell doesn't have the charisma of Ortiz or Jackson, the back story of Kimbo, and while Liddell certainly has a unique look, he doesn't appeal to viewers in the same way as Gina Carano. On some level, that could lead one to conclude that Liddell is MMA's biggest star, as it speaks to the importance of sporting aspect and proves that story lines and gimmicks, while important and effective, are not the be all, end all of fight promotion.

These are the biggest stars in MMA today, for better or worst. While Kimbo and Carano have a lot of time left to define themselves in the sport (as does Jackson, though to a lesser extent), top stars such as Ortiz and Liddell appear to have a limited number of matches left in their careers. Will fighters like Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith, who put on a fine show in front of one of the largest audiences in MMA history be able to transition from "heavily viewed" to "stars?" Will young guns such as Georges St. Pierre, Forrest Griffin, and Brock Lesnar lead the UFC to new levels of popularity? While we do not know for sure what will happen, we can safely assume that it will be a lot of fun watching and finding out the answers to these questions.

Two Matches Added to Sengoku III

Brett Jones — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:22:24 -0000

Jorge Masvidal v. Ryan Healy (picture courtesy of Sherdog)

The plethora of MMA action in June is not limited to the US, as DREAM and World Victory Road will be presenting shows on back-to-back Sundays. The first, Sengoku III, takes place next Sunday. Yesterday, two additional matches were added to the card according to Japan MMA.

Sengoku have announced 2 more fights for the event next week. This is a very special event for Sengoku, as it will be their first attempt at filling Saitama Superarena.
Today they have announced the opponent for Rodrigo Damm and also Sanae Kikuta will participate in this event. Their opponents will be Jorge Masvidal and Chris Rice, both very good fighters and these fights will be interesting. It also looks like Sengoku will go above the 8 fight barrier that both DREAM and Sengoku have been struggling with (I really think these events should have close to 10 fights, like DREAM 1 had)...

Rodrigo Damm v. Jorge Masvidal should be an exciting fight. I would point out that Damm is best known for his victory over Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill on the first episode of BODOGFight on ION, but come on, no one actually saw that. Masvidal, who once made his way as a street fighter, currently trains with American Top Team and is a contender in the Strikeforce lightweight division, with wins over Yves Edwards and Joe Lauzon.

Here is the updated card for Sengoku III:

Fights announced
Rodrigo Damm 7-1-0 vs. 13-2-0 Jorge Masvidal
Sanae Kikuta 26-6-3 vs. 12-5-0 Chris Rice

Previously announced
Hidehiko Yoshida 7-6-1 vs. 12-12-0 Maurice Smith
Kazuo Misaki 19-8-2 vs. 11-1-0 Logan Clark
Fabio Silva 9-4-0 vs. Kazuo Takahashi
Choi Mu Bae 7-2-0 vs. 3-2-0 Marcio Cruz
Kazuyuki Fujita 15-6-0 vs. 53-11-0 Travis Wiuff
Nick Thompson 35-9-1 vs. 9-3-0 Michael Costa

Participating
Duane Ludwig 16-8-0

Damm v. Masvidal certainly adds some excitement to a card that offers little to get excited about. Yoshida v. Smith offers a nostalgic flavor to the event, but it hardly matters in the grand scheme of things. Fujita v. Wiuff could be interesting with Wiuff coming off of his victory in the inaugural YAMMA tournament, but again, the stakes in this match seem limited. Kazuo Misaki's match against Logan Clark is somewhat intriguing, as Clark, a one-time UFC competitor, is coming off of a victory in the WEC over Scott Harper.

Two Matches Added to DREAM 4

Brett Jones — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:53:47 -0000

Now this is what we're talking about! Kid Nate

Lee vs Ricardo Morais via www.cdn.sherdog.com

The next round of DREAM's middleweight tournament is just under two weeks away, and Japan MMA is reporting that two new matches have been added to the event, including former PRIDE fighter and current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.

DREAM have added 2 more fights to their event June 15. Added to the card is Dutch fighter Alistair Overeem, it will be good to see him back in Japan.
Also added it the very exciting Alavutdin Gaddzhiyev, who as been outstanding in his Pancrase fights, he has 7 wins in a row and most finished within the first minute of the fight. He is facing BTT's Alexandre Cacareco who is on a 5 fight winning streak. This will be a Lightheavyweight fight and I think Cacareco is slightly heavier than Alavutdin.

Overeem will face Tae Hyun Lee , whose 1-1-0 record makes him a curious opponent for the veteran of 37 fights. Still, this is standard operating procedure for Japanese MMA organizations, which tend to emphasize the entertainment value of their events more so than the competitive aspects. On an event featuring several of the top middleweights in the world against each other, a matchups like Overeem v. Lee and the previously announced grappling affair between Mirko Cro Cop and Ralek Gracie become more palatable to the hardcore audience.

Here is the updated DREAM 4 card:

Added
Alistair Overeem 26-11-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tae Hyun Lee
Alavutdin Gadzhiyev 7-1-0 vs. 16-5-0 Alexandre "Cacareco" Ferreira

Previously Announced
Grappling Fight: Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic vs. Ralek Gracie
Hideo Tokoro 19-13-1 vs. 4-1-0 Darren Uyenoyama

Middleweight Tournament
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-10-1 vs. 21-4-1 Melvin Manhoef
Gegard Mousasi 21-2-1 vs. 4-4-0 Dong Sik Yoon
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza 8-1-0 vs. 21-5-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller
Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 8-3-0 vs. 3-2-0 Taiei Kin