Rankings are a central part of the MMA community. 

We all know that, but we don't know who the MMA community really thinks is the best.  What if the whole community could collaborate and create rankings, in real-time?

That's what I'm presenting to the MMA community with http://www.rankedmma.com.  A community-based, real-time, living, rankings system. 

To elaborate, every user manages their own rankings.  These rankings can be shared out via a personal URL (http://www.rankedmma.com/rankings_by/ghettoiam/) or embedded in a website.   Then in real-time, the rankings of each user are combined to calculate the overall "Official Rankings" for the site.

Rankedmma.com has other features as well (i.e. groups, archives, date ranges) but this the crux of the site - community-driven MMA rankings.  I want to know who 10,000 people think is #1 P4P fighter in the world, not who WAMMA thinks. :)

The site is still in beta but could use some users. :) If you find bugs please let me know.

And just so you know, there is no advertising on the site.  No fees.  I built because I wanted to learn something and wanted to contribute to MMA online.

According to the September 11th edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer says that the big Affliction announcement is an affiliation with Golden Boy Promotions.  They exact nature of affliation is uncertain, but at present Golden Boy's role will most likely entail the production aspect of the Affliction's events.  

Dave Meltzer went on to say that he understands that it will be Affliction's responsiblity to make the cards, sign the contracts and pay the fighters.

Of course the big problem for Affliction that this doesn't seem to address is how do they pay the fighters and find a way to become profitable.  It is possible that this deal could involve an additional partnership with HBO that could help address these issues in one of two ways. 

A) An HBO television deal, maybe involving a 24/7 type program 

B) An HBO stake in the promotion involve some financial underwriting

Dave Meltzer also mentioned that Arlovski stands to make a significant amount more for his second fight with Affliction than his first.  As it stood before the "rescheduling" of the show, the payroll for the main event of the Affliction show was 75% of the total payroll of the first show.  That number is unbelievable.

Fronted by Luke Thomas.

From today's Wrestling Observer update Bryan Alvarez reports the following:

We will have more tomorrow as this has not yet been made official, but it appears the December 5th UFC will be taking place at the Bell Center in Montreal with George St. Pierre headlining.

It's quite an interesting development.   GSP seemed hesistant to take the fight wanting instead to rest up.  B.J. Penn wants nothing more than this fight with GSP to show everyone that he's not only the best lightweight, but also the best welteweight in the world.

Their first match was close decisions and I'm excited to see the fight, but with such a long list of challengers at 170 and Penn's two defeats while at welterweight, I'm hard pressed to see any rationale in making this a title fight.

That said, there are no two people I'd rather see fight for 5 rounds than Penn and GSP.

Update from Michael Rome:  December 5 is a Friday, which makes this even more interesting.  They were unable to do it on a Saturday because the Canadiens were playing every weekend, and it looked like they gave up on Montreal as a result.  It's also worth wondering whether or not this will take the place of the November PPV, which they had no real main event for and were having no luck putting one together.

The Wrestling Observer website has deleted the story from its daily update, as well as from the headline.  It's very od d that they did this instead of printing a retraction.  

Update II:  I contacted Dave, and it turns out there was a report in Montreal about a show that day, but he has not been able to confirm it, so they took it down.

We all know Justin Levens tested positive for ridiculous amount Oxymorphone (1041 ng/ml) and banned from 6 months by the CSAC.  Ironically, he didn't even get to fight on the Affliction show - his match was bumped.

Bill Douglas from the CSAC was on the July 29 edition of the Figure Four Daily radio show and not only spoke about the Justin Levens failure but alluded to another.

In speaking about testing for anabolic agents (steroids) on the Affliction show, Bill Douglas said:

If I give out names, people will be able to go down a list and pick and be able to look at the bout sheet and know exactly who is clean and who has something pending. And there is absolutely something that is going for confirmation. So at this point I cannot clear anyone on the Affliction show anabolic agents.

Basically, not everyone has come back clean and he can't say who passed because then we can deduce who failed.

Also, the reason why the Levens and Irvin failures have come back already is because oxymorphone is consider a "drug of abuse" (painkillers, marijuiana. et cetera) and not an anabolic agent.  Testing for anabolics require a few more days.

Bill Doulgas also said that excluding the EliteXC and Affliction show, they're expecting to issue at least 5 notices of failures in the coming week.  Ouch.

Stay clean!

Straight from Mirko Cro Cop's blog on MMA-ID:

unfortunately I have some bad news– I won't be fighting at DREAM 5 at all. I was about to face Jerome LeBanner but he decided to fight in K1 against Schilt. Mighty Mo was the alternative and I accepted this challenge, but unfortunately Mighty Mo pulled off from the fight. I was ready to face Mo, but maybe this scenario wasn't that bad for me at all and I'll tell you why.

 He goes on to describe an ailing elbow and knee injury, and indicates that he's undergoing arthroscopic surgery tomorrow.  Mirko says he's still hopeful to make his return to DREAM for their show in September.

The big write up is at Yahoo! from Iole.

 And the quick hit is from Meltzer on F4W :

That Lorenzo Fertitta is resigning from his post at the president of Station Casinos to work full-time in expanding UFC.

Fertitta is leaving a post where he was the second highest paid casion executive in Las Vegas in 2007, earning a total of $113.8 million.

Frank Fertitta III will become the man in charge of Station Casinos at CEO and retain 45% ownership in UFC, while Lorenzo Fertitta will work alongside Dana White as the co-heads of UFC.

It is big - potentially industry shaping - news, but it is certianly not the news that was speculated on.

He has to - it's the only way to explain his bizarre take on reality and counter-programming.

On July 19th we have Affliction: Banned -  a star studded event full of top level MMA talent with no proven drawing power in North America, available exclusively on PPV.  The backers of the show have very deep pockets and can stomach I financial loss.  Whether they're willing to or not , the point is that they can.  They have no TV, no mainstream exposure - at this point it's essentially a fight card for hardcore MMA fans.

On July 26th with have EliteXC on CBS.  Their last event was watched by millions of people and broke ground in a way no MMA promotion ever has before.  They have viable mainstream stars (Kimbo Slive & Carano) and mainstream exposure that in its moment may surpass any signular thing the UFC has achieved.  And unlike Affliction, the EliteXC shows are in a much more tenuous position.  If they draw poor ratings, it could signal the end of the EliteXC on network TV and in doing so could damage their most significant competitor.

So again, why is Dana White putting so much effort into counter-programming Affliction instead of EliteXC?

It's equivalent to Vince McMahon running a network special WWE show on NBC to counter-program and Ring of Honor PPV.

Dana White has bought into the hype and I think more than anything does not want to see Sylvia, Arlovski or Fedor succeed outside of the UFC.

Confirmed by Dave Meltzer, there will be a July 19th UFC at the Palms in Las Vegas featuring:

Anderson Silva (debut as a light heavyweight) vs. James Irvin

Hermes Franca vs. Frankie Edgar

Might as well have Silva fight at 205 because he hasn't proven to be a draw at 185.  His fights at middleweight have continually underperformed similar marquee stars the other weight class and has yet to have broken through as true draw.

Perhaps exposing him to the public against high-level 205 competition could accomplish a lot good - including improving his drawing power at 185.

Source: Figure4Weekly