Showing posts with label mma blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mma blog. Show all posts

Friday, November 30, 2007

First M-1 Global Pay Per View Possibly Fedor vs Barnett


Sam Caplan has reported that M-1 Global could hold their first Pay Per View in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The report below.

ProElite.com (SamCaplan.ProElite.com) has learned through multiple sources that M-1 Global is leaning towards holding their first pay-per-view event in the U.S. in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center, the same venue that hosted UFC 78 earlier this month.

Officials from M-1 recently visited the Prudential Center and were impressed with the venue and are looking at booking a possible date in February or March.

Chicago had been receiving serious consideration for the event but logistical issues are likely to prevent it from being the first host city for M-1.

However, logistical issues could be a factor in Newark as well because it is believed there are no available dates on Saturday in February in March. If the Prudential Center is booked, M-1 Global may have to consider holding an event on a Friday.

Matchups for the first show are already being discussed. A main event between Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett is under consideration but Barnett is currently not contracted to the promotion.
- Original Source Sam Caplan Blog

This is something that any real MMA fan would pay their hard-earned money to see. A Fedor vs Barnett matchup has long been a fight that fans have begged for. If M-1 Global can pull this off, along with some decent fights on the rest of the card then they may prove to be a real contender in the business of Mixed Martial Arts.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Why MMA Will Overtake Boxing


Hey guys here's an article I wrote awile back about why I think Mixed Martial Arts will overtake boxing. Below is the article in its entirety.

Boxing has long been the king of the pay-per-view airways, and that still holds true, just barely. Although the recent superfight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. grossed a record breaking $120 million, this was not the fight to save boxing. This was not even a great fight. The fight sold well on massive hype and the fighters names, but a fight you tell your grandkids about it was absolutely not.

"This puts to bed this theory of boxing being in trouble, or being dead or dying," said Ross Greenburg, head of HBO Sports. "This fight would have never materialized if boxing was dying." Sorry Ross, but he knows whats going on and he knows exactly why his sport is struggling so much. It has become tradition for HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley to say something derogatory about Mixed Martial Arts, saying after the De La Hoya vs Mayweather fight that "Mixed Martial Arts is entertaining. The kind of skill level you saw in the ring tonight - there's nothing in mixed martial arts which is within light years of what Mayweather and De La Hoya are able to do with their hands."

Cheap shots aside, Lampley knows MMA is winning some battles in the war. Colorful UFC president Dana White knows it too, saying in his 60 minutes interview "When you start watching the UFC, boxing sucks, boxing is boring". He may be right on the money with that statement. Why watch 2 guys use one form of fighting discipline on each other, when you can watch 2 guys not only use boxing, but Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, submissions and many forms of wrestling. If Lampley wants to talk about skill level why don't you ask a boxer to take 4 or 5 leg kicks without crying, protect against a shoot and takedown or avoid getting arm-barred, choked out or leg-locked. Boxer's only have to worry about getting punched and throwing a punch. So don't bring skill level into the discussion.

Lets take a look at the main reason boxing was popular in its hey days. The most often overlooked aspect of boxing's popularity is the presence of one true champion, usually heavyweight. These days we have no clue has to who that is in part because nobody's good enough to completley dominate. Its the allure of being labeled "unbeatable" that draws people to that kind of champion. Where would golf be without Tiger Woods and what happened to basketball when Michael Jordan retired the first time. In MMA there is this "unbeatable" champion, Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor is a mild-mannered stone cold fighter who is versed in every aspect of the MMA game. He is considered unbeatable by most, which makes it all the more appealing to watch his fights. If he ever loses it will be a major shock to anybody watching, which is why people tune-in. This affects all the fights because you watch an up and comer and think "could he be the one to take down Fedor"

UFC owners Zuffa {owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta} recently bought their biggest competitor, Japanese promotion Pride Fighting Championship. From the perspective of die-hard fans Pride was considered to have the best fighters in the world. It was extremely popular in Japan, until Fuji TV terminated their contract. Pride couldn't handle the loss and had to sell. With Pride on board many superfights that was thought never to be possible are. Popular fighters such as Fedor, Wanderlai Silva, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and before the purchase Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson are now able to go up against the UFC's elite such as Randy Couture, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn and Matt Serra. Being able to promote these kind of superfights will further cement MMA as a true young contender to an old champion, boxing.

One more aspect overlooked by skeptics is the fact that MMA has less serious injuries than boxing. Its not like in boxing where you may take over 100 punches to your head and midsection. Furthermore if you get knocked out in boxing you can get back up and take more punishment, in MMA if the ref thinks your knocked out for a second the fights over. So Lampley and other skeptics can moan all they want, but the facts are the facts and pay-per-view has a new shining prince waiting to be crowned king.

quotes provided by foxsports.com


Original Source

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Top 5 MMA Submissions of the Last Year


There is nothing I love more than a good submission to end a fight. Its one of the most exciting moments in MMA, you see a fighter caught in a submission and you wonder can he escape it, is he gonna tap, will he go unconscious or will his arm/leg be broken. These are my top 5 submissions of the last year in MMA.

5. Frank Shamrock Rear Naked Chokes Phil Baroni Unconscious with Baroni's eyes still open- First time I've ever seen someone choked out with their eyes open. These 2 guys hated each other and after the fight Shamrock even admitted to holding the choke a little longer to punish Baroni for talking so much trash. If you watch the video it looks like Baroni is a corpse, its great! WATCH HERE

4. BJ Penn Rear Naked Chockes Jens Pulver at the TUF 5 Finale- The transitions that set up this choke were amazing. Pulver puts his arm up while BJ has his back for a split second, then in an instant secures that arm with his leg while grabbing his neck. Penn admitted later on to holding the choke longer to punish Pulver. WATCH HERE

3. Renato Babalu Sobral Anaconda Chokes David Heath Unconscious at UFC 74, Then Gets Fired from the UFC- Before this fight David Heath was wearing a shirt with Babalu's mugshot on it all weekend in Vegas. Apparently Babalu was pretty pissed off at the guy. Before the infamous choke Babalu had bloodied Heath to the point where it looked like both men were standing next to Stephan King's Carrie at the prom. Then he slaps the anaconda on tight, Heath starts tapping but Babalu keeps it in deep until Heath goes to sleep. Babalu would say that he couldn't feel Heath tapping, but was still fired from the UFC. WATCH HERE

2. Forrest Griffin Rear Naked Chokes Mauricio Shogun Rua at UFC 76- Probably the most shocking outcome to a fight in a long time. Coming into the fight Shogun was considered the second best fighter in any weight class in the world. To the suprise of many Forrest shows better ground skills and even better standup than Rua. Middle of the second round Shogun gasses, by the third he is totally gassed, Forrest gets his back and sinks the choke in to make sure the fight didn't go to a decision(which he would of won anyway) and shock many MMA fans. WATCH HERE

1. Nick Diaz Submits Takanori Gomi with a Gogoplata at Pride 33- This is one my favorite fights ever and a fight that everyone should see. These are 2 of the most entertaining fighters you will ever see and when they got in the ring together chaos ensued. Diaz is known for never letting you breath, he will keep on throwing lighter punches while his opponents throw powerful punches every now and then. Gomi landed a haymaker that dropped Diaz early on but Diaz has the ability to relax in the ring and weathered that one shot with ease. Late in the first round Gomi started to gas and Diaz took advantage with pitter patter punches, landing a ridiculous amount on Gomi's chin. In the second round Gomi gets a takedown, but in the process gets caught in the Gogoplata, amazing ending to an amazing fight. WATCH HERE

There were alot of great submissions the past year, but these are the ones I enjoyed the most.