Over the past few weeks the tide of internet opinion has been turning against Roger Huerta.  As with most things in life it all comes down to money.  Roger wants more of it and has said so publicly which has in turn upset Dana White.  There is a lot of talk in the MMA community that Huerta is a "protected fighter" who has not beaten anyone that puts him in line for the kind of raise he is rumored to be asking for (word is that he wants a bigger deal than BJ Penn has).

While the idea of more money than Penn is a stretch I've got to believe that the UFC is in a place where they almost have to bend to his desires.

The UFC was fine with losing Tito Ortiz to Affliction, if for no other reason than his demands could be financially crippling for the upstart promotion.  I do get the feeling that the UFC brass probably wish they would have re-signed Andrei Arlovski after seeing the reaction he received at the inaugural Affliction show.  Arlovski has remained a strong fan favorite even despite some lackluster showings toward the end of his UFC run and he remains one of the fighters I most get asked about by casual fans.  Arlovski would have even provided a boost to UFC 90 in Chicago as he remains a popular figure in the area.

Huerta has broad appeal, he is handsome, young and is an all-action fighter.  Win, lose or draw this Saturday he can demand a nice sum that should be within reason for any of the major promotions.  The amount he asks for will likely be above what he has "earned" in terms of major wins but it isn't going to be at Ortiz levels of being potentially promotion crippling.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Roger Huerta though is his heritage.  Being of Latino descent he has what is still a relatively unique appeal for the upper levels of mixed martial arts.  Having covered boxing for several years it is considered a general fact of life that the Latino market is huge for fight PPV sales.  As the sport grows having marketable Latino stars is going to be something of increasing importance for MMA promotions.  Roger is exactly the kind of star that has been money for the Latino market in boxing with his brash but not overly cocky attitude and gutsy hard-charging style.  In today's economy the UFC would do well to continue to attempt to expand its appeal to as many demographics as possible and letting Huerta go would go strongly against that philosophy.

Is Roger Huerta being unreasonable by wanting more money?  Perhaps.  But the real question is, can the UFC afford to let his marketability be taken elsewhere?  I think not.

Andy Cotterill has a nice piece on Chris Horodecki up over at Sherdog.  It sounds like there are several promotions sending offers his way.  Read on:

Among the suitors for the baby-faced Horodecki (12-1) -- who piled up seven victories in the promotion before meeting a brick wall named Ryan Shultz in their rematch at the World Grand Prix finals in December 2007 -- the WEC, Affliction and the Kentucky-based American Fight League have all thrown proverbial hats in the ring.

“The AFL has come in with a very generous offer,” says Clark, “but Affliction has said they will match it or beat it.”

According to Clark, Affliction would like to book Horodecki in a lightweight bout for its Oct. 11 sophomore event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, while the AFL’s next event will likely take place in November. An opponent has not been discussed for either event.

Horodecki is the perfect fit for the WEC where a fight against 155 lbs. champion Jamie Varner would be dynamite on the feet and could even be money if they built Chris up the right way.  When I hear that AFL and Affliction are courting him I just have to wonder who they're going to match him up against and what the long term plans would be for him in a promotion like Affliction.

While we've seen Zuffa sign the Miller brothers we've also seen Vladamir Matyushenko and Ryan Schultz take their act elsewhere.  Horodecki, Roy Nelson and Jay Hieron are the three big names that remain on the market after the fall of the IFL.  Zuffa needs to make a move as Horodecki and Hieron could really strengthen the WEC's strong, but not incredibly deep roster.

Update:  As pointed out in the comments I did a big disservice to Wagnney Fabiano by leaving him off the list of big names left on the market after the IFL death.  Also it is rumored that Roy Nelson is signed to Affliction and will be facing Jay White (2-5) in a "what does it prove" contest but this has not yet been confirmed by Nelson, his camp or Affliction that I have seen.  White claimed in an interview that he was signed to fight Nelson, but I'll wait for confirmation before advancing this past the rumor stage and declaring Nelson off the free agent table.

EliteXC's second CBS show featured a lot of excitement and really delivered the honest to goodness MMA goods despite a lack of big names and strong promotion.  But after last weekend's Ultimate Fight Night/Affliction double feature EXC still felt a little flat.  There was a definite minor league feeling to things and the crowd hurt the feel of the show badly at times with booing of exciting fights.

Sure, EXC crowned champions but after last weekend are names like Jake Shields, Antonio Silva and Robbie Lawler carrying the same kind of weight of an Anderson Silva or Fedor?  There was so much of an inescapable feeling of "this is not the best that mixed martial arts has to offer" to the show that despite its successes the show couldn't boost the promotion.

And now to top it off Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito put on an absolute boxing classic.  The fight was so good that I will not talk about who won in hopes that you'll make sure you see it.  It was stand up and yell at your TV good.

So once again EliteXC is overshadowed in the fight world.  It now sits as the fourth best combat sports event of the past 7 days.  We'll see where the ratings come in, but at this point the only thing that could really make them feel good are better than expected numbers for a show that they never seemed to put their promotional muscle behind.

I guess now it's just "Go get 'em in October boys."  But they're going to need a hell of a show in such a loaded month to gain any traction in a landscape that got a whole lot rougher with the emergence of Affliction.

Before Elite XC's debut show on CBS I was legitimately nervous.  I woke up on May 31 thinking about how extremely important the coming evening was for the sport that I love.  Unfortunately I went to bed nervous that night as well, worried about how harmful the Kimbo Slice/James Thompson fight would be.

Regardless of the main event though, the show had to be considered a success.  Viewership was great and bottom line...that is all that really matters in network TV.  Obviously Elite XC was ready to push its next show through the roof.  The decision was made to come back with a July show knowing it meant no Gina Carano and no Kimbo Slice.

Due to the war between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith ending in a no contest and both men being willing to make the fairly quick turnaround for a rematch EXC had a ready-made main event.  The big problem though is that Lawler/Smith, while a very entertaining scrap, was probably the third most memorable fight of the first CBS show behind Carano/Young and Slice/Thompson.  Also, Lawler and Smith don't have the explosive personality of Slice or the mainstream appeal of Carano.

The plan seemed to be to throw Nick Diaz on the show to represent a bit more of the personality side of things.  But, where has the marketing push been with him?  Why haven't I seen more from EXC pushing the "bad boy of MMA" image?  American sports fans love to follow the bad boy, and seeing him against a guy who is able to trade verbal jabs with him in the pre-fight interviews should have made for great commercial appeal.  Jake Shields and Nick Thompson isn't exactly a casual fan dream fight and if it turns into Shields working positional control for 5 rounds it could kill the broadcast.  And say what you will about Shayna Baszler vs. Cristiane Cyborg and how good of a fight it could be, but a women's fight can't carry the marketing of a show.

Now it seems like the Shaws can't be bothered to be at the press conference...you know...the final chance for a real marketing push.

So tonight we get to see how MMA does on network TV with no "mainstream stars" and a very weak marketing push.  Is MMA a strong enough draw as a sport alone that it can pull meaningful ratings without the UFC banner or a Kimbo slice level attraction for the curious?

That is what is important about EXC on CBS tonight.  We're getting a glimpse at where the sport of MMA sits in the minds of the American public.  And if this show fails, we could easily be seeing the beginning of the EXC's fall from a level that they managed to climb to a mere 57 days earlier.

Some guys can't help but self-destruct.  It's a bit unfortunate, but it seems like Jesse Taylor is one of those guys:

Taylor spoke with the media last Thursday and had some choice words for Quinton Jackson and his psychotic episode last week, "What goes around, comes around, I guess." Taylor wasn't happy with the fact that Jackson told UFC President Dana White that he didn't want someone like Taylor representing the company.

Those comments filtered back to UFC management and it was clear that they weren't happy with Taylor as a high ranking official spoke with Yahoo! Sports during The Ultimate Fight Night 14 card at the Palms.

Adding to Taylor's problem are the rumors swirling that he didn't exactly clean up his conduct during his 4+ month hiatus.

So, Taylor decided that the best course of action to get back on the UFC's good side was to badmouth Jackson (who has "friends" in high places for the organization), and enroll in AA without committing to the changes that the enrollment is supposed to mean?

How long until he decides that he belongs somewhere less civilized?

I am disgusted.  Seriously...stomach churning, bile in the back of my throat, veins bulging in my forehead furiously disgusted.

Last night a boxer named Oscar Diaz was hospitalized and is in critical condition.  Emergency surgery was required to try to relieve the swelling and bleeding on his brain.  There is still a very real chance that 25 year old Oscar Diaz could die from last nights tragic events.

Yet, this is not what has me so upset.  Obviously it is a horrible situation and I had trouble sleeping after witnessing it.  But no, what has me upset is that it seems like the majority of the MMA community treating this like some sort of victory for our sport.  Are we hoping that boxers die now?  Is it "good for the cause?"

I've seen a flood of "See!  MMA is so much less dangerous than boxing!" type comments on message boards, blogs and even this very site.  Despite whatever truth there may be to the safety debate it needs to be realized that this is a human life.  A man with friends and a family.  There is no win here for boxing or MMA.  There is no good that can come out of this other than hopefully a focus on the responsibilities of cornermen in regards to their fighter's safety.  Oh yeah, and hopefully Oscar Diaz can recover and enjoy a full life with the people he loves...that would be pretty good too.

And is anyone really ignorant enough to think that a tragedy in boxing is going to suddenly make those focused on the dangers of MMA while lauding the history of boxing see the light?  I'm sure these people are also thrilled when Sam Vasquez is used as an example of "See!  What brutality in this sport!"  We were lucky that regardless of the actual circumstances of that case that it wasn't thrust into the bright lights of the mainstream media and held there every time MMA was brought up by major news sources.

At some point it is our responsibility to treat combat sports as combat sports.  A tragedy in boxing is a tragedy in MMA.  People are used to boxing, this is why they think MMA is more brutal.  A death in boxing does not make MMA safer in the eyes of anyone who has already made up their mind.  If anything it will only make them see MMA as more dangerous.  After all, if people are ending up in the hospital because of the timeless sport of boxing what is going to happen in this brutal sport of cage fighting (THEY KICK EACH OTHER IN THE HEAD!)?

And just one more dose of the reality of this situation from Dan Rafael's latest update piece:

"They had to remove the left side of his cranium in order to help the swelling go down, which apparently was very bad," Katz said. "He had a subdural hematoma [bleeding on the brain], which was taken care of. During surgery, he apparently showed movement in his arms and his brain pressure was very good, according to the doctor."

Tragedy is tragedy.  What happened to Oscar Diaz was not a win for the sport of MMA, and it very well may end up being a loss for all of combat sports.

Hydra Head Records was nice enough to send me an audio book copy of FIGHT: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ass-Kicking But Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked For Asking by Eugene Robinson.  Robinson has spent time as a fighter, rock musician, bouncer and journalist (for Playboy no less...I should know because I only like to read the articles).  This eclectic background allows for the 2 CD audio book to drift from thoughts on everything from professional MMA training to lessons on prison fighting styles.  MMA fans will likely get a kick out of stories involving gyms you know, fighters you love...hell, even Cung Le makes an appearance kicking Robinson's leg so many times during training sessions that serious muscle damage is done.

There is something quite admirable about the way that Robinson writes so openly about fighting simply because he likes to fight and embracing that part of the male brain which is constantly asking "can I take him?"  I think that too often we as MMA fans are put on the defensive and have to play up the sporting aspects of our game that we aren't able to fully embrace the purely primal element of wanting to see two men fight as men have since the stone age.  I have always thought it a little unnatural to deny this and am always glad to hear people admit it.

There is no doubt that FIGHT drifts a bit into an odd territory from time to time where you think that it is meant to be digested by those who will likely never get their polo shirts with popped collars messed in a true fight but still want to hear stories so they feel like a badass who could succeed in the same situations should they arise.  But for the most part there is an almost beat poet-ish rhythm that Robinson establishes which makes the listen easy and interesting and his ability to speak with emotion takes it a step above all of the other monotone book recordings I have listened to in my life.

Continue reading this post »

Combat sports are combat sports so I just wanted to give this a brief mention on our site.

Oscar Diaz collapsed before the start of the 11th round on ESPN's Wednesday Night Fights last night.  I'll let Scott from BadLeftHook explain what it was like to watch things unfold:

I can't get over watching the final moments of the fight, as the referee warned Diaz's corner that they could be putting their man at risk, followed by that pained shriek that came from Diaz before his legs betrayed him as he attempted to continue on.

Diaz has had emergency surgery to relieve some of the swelling from the bleeding on his brain and remains in critical condition and as of the last updates I have seen is still on a ventilator.

I am on vacation and as such this is one of the first times in a while that I've had a chance to sit down and enjoy watching some live boxing in a while.  The evening got off to a bad enough start after a poor end to Fox Sport's broadcast of James Toney vs. Hasim Rahman II (cut stoppage following a headbutt...ruled a TKO because Rahman complained of blood in his eye) and as I switched over to the better fight of the evening but things were getting increasingly brutal prior to the very scary end as Diaz collapsed.  I will say however that Diaz's corner disgusted me by trying to prop up a very visibly hurt fighter who was having trouble answering questions from the ref before the start of the round.  That kind of display is just shameful.

However, now is not a time to talk about the relative dangers and merits of one sport versus another.  Now is the time to let your thoughts and prayers be with a combat sports competitor.

Get well Oscar...

Mr. Maysey has decided to respond to my earlier article addressing his desire for the Muhammad Ali act to be applied to MMA.  He spends a significant amount of his newest article blasting me for "obviously not having read the act."  He does so while misspelling my name no less than 23 times.  I'll pause for a second to let the irony of his claiming I'm the one who "obviously doesn't read things" sink in...

...

Anyway, rather than turning this into a continual long winded addressing of each of the other guy's points I'll keep this short and only address a only a few things.

Mr. Brookfield then concludes that in any event, promoters won’t devalue their titles by employing less than worthy opponents.  In response, I say only, has Mr. Brookfield been watching the latest offerings of mixed martial arts to make such an argument with a straight face?

In addition to feeling more than slightly disrespected...Yes, Mr. BrookHOUSE can say this with a straight face as he has been watching the latest offerings of mixed martial arts. EliteXC is the only real culprit I can find at the moment based off of Antonio Silva vs. Justin Eilers being for the heavyweight title.  But honestly of all EXC's problems I'd say bringing in a former UFC title challenger to get smashed by their best heavyweight is pretty low on the list.  Other than that upcoming mismatch we've recently seen Dan Henderson vs. Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson vs. Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin vs. Rampage Jackson (in a fight where people questioned Griffin's legitimacy as a title challenger...oops), BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk, Sylvia vs. Nogueira was a legit title fight at that time, Melendez vs. Thomson was a great matchup, Smith vs. Lawler made fine sense, Serra vs. GSP, Edwards vs. Noons...it's a long list.  We are now going to see GSP vs. Fitch in what is universally regarded as a #1 vs. #2 bout.  Where are these horribly unjust title fights?  Oh, that's right...they're happening in the only title fight being sponsored by an independent ranking body and not simply by a promotion.

But the main failure of this response is that Mr. Maysey does not bother to address the main points my article was trying to make:

1) Why should the application of an act created for boxing be applied to mixed martial arts?  MMA is a totally different sport with different organizational structure.  I should note that he does attempt to dismiss this by basically saying that the structure isn't different and these leagues are just functioning as promoters, which is as false as the day is long.  You can't simply say that because a "league" manages fighters they have under contract that they are the same as a promoter in boxing.  The fact that these leagues all provide their own titles is alone a massive difference, especially when Maysey goes on to talk about how important fair independent rankings are in determining title contenders.  There simply aren't boxers fighting for the Bob Arum Featherweight Championship.  I have stated several times that I feel that more regulation and protection for fighters is a good thing.  But that you have to actually have such an act written specifically for the sport in question.  You can't squeeze a size 18 woman into a size 8 dress and call her pretty.

2) What justification is there to even use the Ali Act in boxing at this point?  Yes, there have been small improvements made to the sport of boxing.  However, the sport remains corrupt.  Fighters are still being abused by promoters and sanctioning bodies are still ruling the sport through underhanded and unjust rankings and decisions.  Has the Ali Act succeeded in some massive way that makes it the flashing beacon guiding another sport to safety?  Being honest I can't find any way to see it as anything more than just a well intentioned act that has failed to live up to all of its lofty aspirations.

Tatame had up an interview with Anderson Silva which Fightline.com took the time to translate.  The meat of the interview points out that regardless of all the talking Dana White has been doing, Anderson doesn't seem to have any current plans to stay at 205 and attempt to hold both titles at the same time.

Read on:

Silva On Moving Up To 205:

When I fought on Pride, a 185 weight class didnt existed, only a 205 weight class and I always fought on it. But I didn't had the same physical quality and technique I have now. It's an experience we are doing it for many reasons. One of them is as a personal favor for Dana White that I could do this fight and I, alongside all my friends that help me, concluded that it is possible. We will see. I will try to do my job as I always have been dong, independent of the result, and I'm going to test myself to put me to the test and see if I can do it. If the result is positive, then it means all our new experimental training methods worked. Whoever has a mouth, speaks whatever they want. Irvin is right and that's why everyone has its own weight. I don't have intention to fight on this category and Im only doing this because they (UFC) asked me and I think I can do it. I don't intend to fight for this belt, this belt belongs to Lyoto (Machida) and he already proved that. I'm going to fight because I like to fight and because I like challenges.

 This is, of course, in pretty much direct conflict with the following words from Dana White back in mid-June:

Anderson Silva is, uh, is-- you know, when I always talk about "real fighters," this guy is, is definitely a real fighter. He wants to fight all the time. Most mixed martial artists will fight three times a year; this guy wants to fight six times a year. He's basically cleaned out the 185 pound division, and he's always looking to challenge himself, so he wanted to move up to 205 and test the waters there. You know, I'm not gonna tell him "no." I mean, right now-- it's never been a better time to be a mixed martial arts fan than it is right now. I mean, we've got the pound-for-pound... You can turn on SpikeTV on July 19th and, for free, see the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, you know, make his first move up to 205 pounds. It's a great time for fans right now.

It just strikes me as odd whenever we see a fighter and promotional head in public contradicting each other.  I'm certainly not implying any sort of conspiracy, I just don't understand why Dana couldn't sell the fight as "We knew exactly the guy we wanted to fight to show that the UFC is the home of the world's best fighters.  We went to Anderson and said 'hey, we've got an idea' and he didn't even hesitate in accepting." rather than flipping things around and then looking kind of clueless less than a month later.