SB Nation User Blog: szucconi

"Grass Eaters" on the Rise, MMA on the Decline in Japan

szucconi — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:11:54 -0000

A relatively new trend in Japan could lead to an even greater decline in interest in combat sports. I found an article on slate.com about "Grass-eating men" in Japan who shun consumption and seek quieter less competitive lives. It’s a growing subculture in Japan and the lack of macho under thirty types may drive out combat sports all together. As many of us know, Japan is a hard place to gauge. But according to a survey cited in the slate article, 75% of men ages 20-30 describe themselves as grass eating men. That is a huge chunk of the key age demographic for MMA. A large portion of the audience may be lost for the time being. The attitude shift is a shift away from MMA.

Perhaps this means a rise in interest from women. Maybe, like so many other things is Japan, it is just a fad and fighting will come back stronger then ever. Maybe an earthquake will open the earth and swallow Japan rendering this article pointless. Something to consider, something to talk about. I don’t know a lot about Japan, but I am interested in hearing other reasons then Yakuza on why Japan MMA is down. I love Dream shows as much as the next guy, but they are not Pride and not as stable. What say you?

image via slate.com

Matt Brown has shoulder surgery, will be out for a few months. (Sorry, I couldn't help it. Luke is...

szucconi — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:24:53 -0000

Matt Brown has shoulder surgery, will be out for a few months. (Sorry, I couldn't help it. Luke is an easy target. And for WAMMA, THIS IS A JOKE)

WEC May Invade Mexico and Your Wallet.

szucconi — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:41:05 -0000

Ariel Helwani reporting a jump to PPV for the WEC and a hop across the boarder into Mexico City. I think they could sell out, but how good will a PPV sell.

"I think we could be (ready for pay-per-view in 2009)," Harris said. "I think you'll agree that the key to pay-per-view is having fights that people are willing to pay to watch. That's what pay-per-view is all about. I think that we've produced shows that have had fights like that, but I also believe that it takes time to build your brand, which we're doing. So, I think towards the end of '09 we could be ready and certainly 2010."

The make an interesting case for going to Mexico. It makes sense to me. A lot of there stars are Hispanic and they have done shows in New Mexico and Cali.

"...I know the UFC has interest in doing shows in Mexico, and I believe that if they went to Mexico, they would be very, very successful, as they have been pretty much everywhere they've gone. We do have some of the top Mexican/Hispanic fighters in the world in WEC. You know, we've taken Miguel down to Mexico for press tours, and the reaction has been huge. A lot of people know who Miguel is down there, so based on that, I think we can do well doing a show down there."

I guess it's a race to see who gets to Mexico first; WEC of UFC. My guess is Zuffa wins either way. I never understood why they didn't go to Mexico and Canada before places like England and the upcoming German show.

Image via www.everyjoe.com

Laying the Ground Work for SoS Stats and Building a House

szucconi — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:02:42 -0000

JCS from fightmatrix.com and Leland Roling formerly with MMA-Analyst.com now doing great work on BE in the fan posts have been posting on Strength of schedule, the fight matrix post and Leland's post. They really got my brain going about this useful stat. SoS is used in the calculation of BCS rankings and talked about in college basketball rankings and seeding for the torney, but it can be applied to other sports. I think it will be useful to judge a persons body of work at a glance in MMA. It is by no means a be all end all determining factor in a fight, but an indicator of how a person has faired over a career. A fighters record falls short in doing this for obvious reasons. Take a look at the record of Randy Couture and Jason Reinhardt to make this point clear.

The approaches taken by JCS and Leland are similar to those taken by other sports. Leland is close to the BCS calculation and JCS is a more standard approach, but MMA poses some unique issues. Namely, careers span ten or fifteen years and we don't have a nice tight season in which to analyze. JCS uses the sliding window of three years around a given fight to gain this "point in time" perspective. Another issue is the schedules lack uniformity. A fighter can be more or less active. A football team may play an easy schedule, but they all play about the same number of games. So there is a margin for error when fighters are less active. JCS uses a min of 100 opponent fights to gauge a schedule.

The BCS approach that Leland takes is good. It is very close to the real BCS calculation. He has done some filtering to address the issues I have stated that make MMA <> to college football, but it is a great start. There are, however, a few rules that the BCS uses that Leland didn't apply. Well, one really that stuck out at me. How D-II schools factor into the records of D-I schools. A win is dropped, but a loss counts. How can this be translated to MMA? What is the D-I and D-II of MMA? What I propose is that wins count if the loser has fought in a major organization and losses always count. What is a major organization is open for debate. And should a time window be applied to that question, I am not sure. It has everything to do with how an opponent's record is calculated.

The things I like about the method JCS uses is the sliding window put in place for a uniform schedule, but I don't think is solves anything. It makes the stat more timely, but it also trims the sample drastically. You can't know how big a win was for a fighter for 18 months. Logically that is true, but that's a long time. I think the proper way to do it is to look at all fights in the past three years. This will take some tweaking and I am sure JCS and Leland will make some changes and play with the numbers a bit, but a lot can happen in three years.

As in keeping with the BCS calculations, head to head match ups should be taken out when calculating an opponent's record. To see a sample of the BCS calculation. I will be running the numbers as soon as I can gather the data and get geeky with some sql. But I want to discuss some of the issues and mitigate the unique issue and complexities that MMA poses. Any ideas? Questions?

Waiting for Bellator? Avoid Sherdog

szucconi — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:42:56 -0000

With no live feed anywhere for the new Bellator fight first show last night, people all over the MMA community are trying to avoid spoilers. Sherdog.com not only has spoilers, but has results in the title of articles on the front page. This is simply irresponsible. By all means have a spoiler for those spoiler hawks, but NOT in the title on the front page. I think they will ruin a lot of peoples days. They need to change the title of there article promtly. Its not like this event went out live in any way. It is bad form to have the results in the title.

UWC Weigh Ins Friday Night

szucconi — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:10:17 -0000

As everyone here at BE knows by now, UCW will be this Saturday, Feb. 21st. Now I ask you, who is hardcore enough to go to the weigh ins? They will be Friday the 20th. Last I heard, they start at 4:00PM and will be in the ballroom of the Hyatt Fair Lakes Hotel in Fairfax, VA. They are open to the public as far as I know so I am going to be there baring a traffic nightmare on my way from MD. I expect the turnout to be slightly larger then for the Affliction weight in because I will be there and they other person coming with me to the show wil be there, so thats two. I don't know when they will be done, but I am sure they will be done in time to see the MFC show on HDNet that starts at 10. So, who will join me?

via www.uwcmma.com

UPDATE [from Luke Thomas]:

***MEDIA ALERT***

UWC MAN “O” WAR INVADES DC AREA PUBLIC WEIGH-IN THIS FRIDAY AT 4PM

All fighters preparing to battle in the highly-anticipated, ultimate cage fighting event – UWC - MAN “O” WAR (Saturday, Feb. 21- Patriot Center) -- will step on the scales for their official weigh-in this Friday, Feb. 20 at 4:00 pm at the Hyatt Fair Lakes Hotel. The event is open to media and the general public. Among the special guests expected to attend are nine-time UFC champion Matt Hughes and former Elite XC champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler. For event details, log on to www.uwcmma.com or text UWC to 30644.

WHAT:    Official Weigh-In for UWC - MAN “O” WAR
WHEN:    Friday, February 20, 2009 – 4:00 pm
WHERE:    Hyatt Fair Lakes Hotel
                  12777 Fair Lakes Circle
                   Fairfax, Virginia
WHO:    All fighters and teams on Saturday’s UWC MAN “O” WAR card

Fight Card
1. Manny Okorie vs. Kris "Savage" McCray - 185 lbs
2. Levon "The Main Man" Maynard vs. Kyle "The Alleycat" Baker - 170 lbs
3. Iman "Mannie" Achhal vs. Felice "Little Bulldog" Herrig - 120 lbs
4. John Doyle vs. Cody "Donnybrook" Donovan - 205 lbs
5. Whisper "Gorilla" Goodman vs. Ron "The Choir Boy" Stallings - 185lbs
6. Richie "The Dirty Samuarai" Hightower vs. Marcus Foran - 185 lbs
7. Jose "The Pistol" Villarisco vs. John "The Magician" Dodson - 125 lbs
Co - Main Event
8. Jamal “The Suit” Patterson vs. Antwain "The Juggernaut" Britt - 205 lbs
Main Event – UWC Championship Bantamweight Title Fight
9. Chase "The Rage" Beebe vs. Mike "The Hulk" Easton - 135 lbs.
*** NOTE: Brendan Schaub suffered a hand injury hand during training and his scheduled fight against David Brytus has been cancelled

Media Contact:
Mike Schaffer – 202-468-1150
Brian Bishop - 202-468-8400
Marc Abanto - 203-895-7614

About UWC:
The Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) is the greater Washington, DC area's leader in providing fans with the best, most competitive and highest quality professional mixed martial arts (MMA) events. In addition to featuring elite fighters from the top MMA teams across the country, UWC also showcases and builds the careers of the many top pro fighters from the leading Virginia, DC and Maryland teams and gyms by giving them an opportunity and platform to challenge the very best in their highly competitive hometown area. UWC's fighters and events will serve as the catalyst for turning the Washington region into a powerful and highly-regarded MMA east coast destination. Visit www.uwcmma.com for more details.

Penn vs. St. Pierre Rematch On?

szucconi — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:07:28 -0000

For the past several days I have been reading statements made by St. Pierre and Greg Jackson about our fight on January 31. St. Pierre claims that he is “not a cheater” and that he and Greg Jackson will have “no problem with a rematch in the summer of 2009.” To the untrained eye the grease might not look like much, but every grappler knows the effect that it has. Being able to apply your submissions and sweeps or just being able to hold on to your opponent to defend yourself from being hit is absolutely critical! There is a reason why you are not allowed to put grease anywhere on your body except for the area around your eyes. Because of the grease applied to St.Pierre’s Body the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s executive director, Keith Kizer has stated that the Penn-St. Pierre fight “definitely wasn’t fair”. I hereby accept George St. Pierre and Greg Jackson’s challenge for a fight in the summer 2009. Lets call Dana now and set it up.

- BJ Penn

BJ Penn posted this note on his facebook. I would post a link, but it may be broken to all that are not his friend.

Rematch On?

Hermes Franca Tears ACL, Pulls Out Vs. Joe Lauzon

szucconi — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:17:51 -0000

From the Underground

To all My Fans, unfortunely i am not gonna be able to fight UFC 17 in Tampa Florida, i just tore my ACL on my right knee last saturday....

I think you guys deserve to hear that from me.

I just want to take care of that , and Joe lauzon you're lucky mother fucker lololol.(J/K)

Thank you UFC,my fans, friends for the support, i was training hard and i was so excited ,but there's nothing i can do, (could be worse), so Hermes franca will take a break for some recovery,and come back stronger than ever like i always do!!!!

God Bless you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermes "The unreal"Franca

Would have been a good fight. Franca goes on to have a pretty funny exchange with Lauzon. After the jump I picked out that thread to make it easy to read.

Very sorry to hear. I was looking forward to it.

Joe "The Luckiest Guy on Earth" Lauzon

Me too brother,but it is or it is!!!!

HF

Good luck with the recovery. I was hoping we could beat each other up... ideally me beating you up a little bit more... but a fight either way.

Best of luck.

JL

lol Joe, u have no idea how excited i was to fight against you, especially when i saw your brother fighting,man he sucks uhauahuahauha!!!!!!!

Next time for sure, maybe we can fight like kimbo, in the back yard just to see what is up!!!!!

Hey dan L. no offense!!!!

HF

Hey Hermes, make sure you make it to your AA meetings. Go fuck yourself. Had a lot of respect for you before this.

No offense. JL

lol i will joe to the AA meetings with your mom,

no offense!!!!!

HF

And last but not least HF adds.

p.s. Blow me

This was a joke, but fun none the less. One of the reasons I love MMA. People that are going to punch eachother in the face can joke like this.

Skala, Drunk and Dressed Up Like a Girl.

szucconi — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:52:19 -0000

Skala, Drunk and Dressed Up Like a Girl.

John Alessio is fighting Dec 5th MFC ... against Paul Daley!!!!!!

szucconi — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:48:06 -0000

John Alessio is fighting Dec 5th MFC ... against Paul Daley!!!!!!

John Alessio's Facebook Status