THQ: UFC Undisputed Ships 2 Million Copies

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23902

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I discovered this photo blog by accident and was pretty impressed.

Mark J. Rebilas a photographer working for ESPN has his first experience shooting a UFC event.  I found it interesting to read his comments, especially coming from a sports photographer and someone who's never experienced or seen MMA, live or otherwise.

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Recently Haye talked about getting into MMA

His recent opponent Maccarinelli in passing mentioned he'd "fancy knocking out" Britain’s top UFC fighter Michael Bisping if they were to face off against each other.

Haye responds: "Believing you can be a star in the UFC just because you’re good with your fists is like a cricketer expecting to win Wimbledon just because he’s good at hitting a ball with a bat….Full story here

via nowboxing.com

regarding Dana White's comments at ESPN :

 

There's something no one else has heard. You have no idea some of the stuff that we have planned. I'm going to make an announcement next week that is going to blow people's minds. That deal is done, but my employees don't even know yet. I'm renting out a place next Thursday and I'm going to tell them. Then we'll make the announcement later that day. It's an indicator of where this business is going over the next five years."

 

My picks:
#1 - announcement of MMA legalization in New York, White has stated that he was in New York leading up to 85 and has to fly back after the show in England to New York
#2 - TV deal with major player, perhaps Fox
#3 - Announcement of fight promotion overseas, perhaps Phillipines

It will not be:
- grand prix of any kind, they won't likely ever do grand prixs
- womens' division of UFC, most of the decent female fighters are locked up and White has stated that there simply aren't enough Female fighters to make a competitive division.
- cross promotion, I would expect White to quit the UFC before he ever cross promotes with any other organization

I wish every weekend was like this one, yeah some shows and fights were a lot better than others but being able to expect 2 high-profile MMA events on free TV was a real treat.  Free, consistent MMA makes the pill to the Monday morning blues much easier to swallow.

 

EliteXC : Saturday Night Fights:

Pros:

• Production value was very good, graphics, transitions gave a very polished appearance
• 'tutorial' at the start was a good introduction to MMA, while I'm not a big fan of the idea (part of the reason why MMA 'touched' me was learning for myself what meant what and how the fights ebbed and flowed) but I understand why they wanted a tutorial section and what was presented was fairly well done.
• Fighter introduction was decent, some of it was corny but a lot of me is tired of the endless mist boxing of the UFC so to see someone do something else was refreshing
• A few fights were entertaining, Carano Young and Lawler Smith were as I expected
• Commentating was pretty good, Johnson did very well for his first MMA event.  He had a few awkward moments but gave the show a much more professional feel.  Shamrock was okay and did a decent job of explaining the situation and what it meant for the fighters
  

Cons:

• too much controversy, I realize that a lot of it is out of EliteXC's hands.  Perhaps CBS had the doctors err on the side of safety but way too many fights ended prematurely and left a sour taste in the mouth. 
  
• Mauro's commentating.  But it was as I expected.  I just don't like his commentating.  I think he gets too much respect probably because the Pride fanboys give him a lot of nostalgia leeway.  These are the same people who like the screaming lady (Hardt) introductions as well so their opinion is already tainted in my opinion.
• Kimbo Slice as a main event.  What a trainwreck.  I'm a Rutten mark so I'm willing to give 'the Ferg' some credit (when he did nothing to deserve it) but his performance was horrible.  The fight should have been stopped when Thompson had Slice trapped in my opinion.

I'm pretty sure I've watched all of the EliteXC events since they started showing and I'd say from a content point of view this was the worst one.  Too much controversy, too many unanswered questions, not enough interesting fights.

The EliteXC show was sort of disappointing because I've seen them put on better shows.  Carano really disappointed me with her lack of dedication but she did put on a great show so I can't be too negative.  I hate that EliteXC is pinning too much on Slice. I am more excited about Noons vs Edwards than any EliteXC fight to date.  Shaw drives me crazy and I'd be happier if they didn't show him at all.

 

WEC 34 : Faber vs Pulver

Pros:

• co-main and main event were excellent fights, the co-main event to me was one of the most exciting fights I've seen
• commentating was excellent, Mir was perfect this time, I liked his description of the action, his information on how the fighters should defend and how fighters could improve their position.  The post fight interviews were quick, not uncomfortable and having someone else do them seemed to work well
• production of the show, segues, graphics, etc all were top notch in my book, I like the WEC production the best of all the big players

Cons:

• Show started our poor, Razor Rob didn't look the same.  The WEC doesn't have control over this but I was worried the rest of the show would turn out the same.  Thankfully I was mistaken
• Versus, I wish it was more prevalent in Canada

WEC 34 was a great event, I'm glad I caught it.  The Torres/Maeda fight ranks up there as one of my all time favorite most memorable fights.  You can hate Zuffa for having such a stranglehold on MMA but the WEC shows why, they know what works, they have the best fighters and they know what people want to see.  Mir seemed to get caught 'in the moment' and in doing so had his best performance.  Most of my thoughts about WEC34 are about the fights and the content which is what people are supposed to be talking about right?  Not controversy.

I had a great time in Montreal (barring the bizarre food poisoning).  It was my first time at a UFC show and it didn't disappoint.  

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The new M1 org foray in MMA is interesting...and sort of surprising, not because they were able to sign Fedor but because the whole notion of getting into the MMA biz seems difficult these days.

As I mentioned previously brand name recognition plays so highly in casual fans minds these days.  I'm confident the hardest of the hardcore, the UFC/Dana White haters will flock to being fans of this new fight company but will that be enough to keep them afloat?  

A lot of their success in my mind hinges on a television deal.  If they can get a number of events on mainstream TV then they will have a good chance at being successful in North America but if their business model depends entirely on PPV I really don't expect them to survive.  (Look to Pride33 for advice).

Lets say they get a TV deal with decent North American exposure, I fully expect the UFC to wage a war of events against M1, to steal their thunder.  I would not be surprised to see UFC put on competing events at the same date/time to put the kybosh on any momentum the M1 org seems to get.  Similar to how UFC70 was held on the same day as the Cage Rage event in the UK.  

The battlefield will be North America.
The weapons will be the events.
The casualties will be the companies financials (both of them).
The winner will likely be the fans. (two orgs fighting over mindshare trying to outdo one another for people's attention).

I only hope they both don't go under in the process.

I regularly lament that it sometimes sucks to live in Canada.  Yeah, I know we have health care (which is overrated BTW) and good beer (which is not overrated) but when it comes to sports and entertainment events (concerts and whatnot) we regularly get the shaft.  Even worse when the city I live in is not Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal and thus considered "igloo land" by the majority of non-Canadian companies.
Finally this weekend a 'decent' MMA show will finally occur in my city and while I'd like to go I have a difficult time convincing any of my more casual MMA fans to join me.  The biggest reason is the storylines.  While a number of friends would like to go see the event it becomes a difficult sell  when

1. a number of the fighters are unknown
   
2. the result of the fights are irrelevant since no storyline exists.
   

It's a difficult sell to a more casual fan when you say fighter X is fighting Y when they don't really know who X or Y.  This is compounded by if X wins over Y, what does it matter?
Yeah you can say "you're supposed to go to see a good match" but that's a much more difficult sell to a casual fan who

1. wants to see their favorite win
   
2. wants to imagine how their favorite has improved their standing by winning.

I may still go, but I'll be solo.. which is disappointing.

the fights:
http://www.cfseries.com
Emelianenko vs Bobish