Posts Tagged ‘ufc’

In 2014, Ronda Rousey is a Great Fighter & Women’s #MMA is a Joke

Posted: July 7, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
7/7/2014

One great athlete does not make a sport or a division.

I don’t believe Ronda Rousey is a great fighter BUT I will be happy to concede that point a thousand times over if her biggest fans/supporters will concede this; that there is no such thing as a credible women’s mixed martial arts sport or division. Ronda Rousey may be a great fighter. I certainly won’t deny her skills in the Judo discipline. I certainly won’t pretend like she doesn’t know submissions like the back of her hand.

But whether one considers her great or not, she is a one woman sport.

Royce Gracie to this day is considered one of if not the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. The UFC was launched on his back. But when Gracie was a one man sport, the UFC was not taken seriously. When he was dominating his competition quickly and submitting them all easily, the vast majority of the public considered him great and the sport a joke. So why is it different for Rousey? Because she’s a woman? Because she’s a very attractive woman?

PS: Gracie was a one man wrecking crew in open weight, one night tournaments, not fighting twice a year between film and photo shoots.

Anderson Silva dominated his weight class for almost a decade. And he was forced to sporadically move up to the light heavyweight class to test himself and to keep the fans from getting complacent watching him dispose of both worth and unworthy challengers. There literally is no other women’s weight class in the UFC.

Again, make no mistake, regardless of Rousey’s skills and abilities as a fighter, she was given the first women’s UFC title belt at a press conference because Dana White saw potential to make money with her. To exploit her sexuality and box office appeal, not to grow the sport of women’s mixed martial arts. No one else from Strikeforce (where she was Bantamweight champion before the company folded) was handed a belt at a press conference.

Watching UFC 175 where Rousey disposed of her “opponent” and “challenger” in 16 seconds showed the UFC’s non stop corporate spin; from the second the joke of a fight ended, throughout all post show activities. Showing the replay, hyping Rousey’s greatness, showing the contender list, and of course everyone with a UFC microphone trying to convince their viewers and themselves, that the women’s bantamweight division is stacked with good fighters; not a bunch of scrubs OR women that Rousey has already beat.

I have no doubt that if three to five years of investment of resources from the UFC that women’s mixed martial arts can have multiple, legitimate weight classes filled with world class female fighters; none of which are true presently. But now there is a very talented, very attractive champion with nothing resembling a challenger near her. Rousey’s only challenge is how many movies can she film before her next training camp. Anyone who thinks her next fight will be an actual threat to her title reign then you’re a mark or you’re a UFC employee with very strict marching orders from the top brass.

Rousey is not a protected paper champion (except for the not fighting Cyborg thing), she is a paper champion because she is light years ahead of her time. When a person has no equal to test their greatness against, are they great?

Rousey does not exist in a vacuum. She is not a scientist with an advanced theory that no one in the world is smart enough to produce. She can choose to test her skills and her greatness outside of the women’s bantamweight division. If her and/or the UFC are only willing to feed her undersized, unqualified women’s bantamweight “competitors” to draw ppv buys from a public willing to buy into their propaganda, that’s fine. But unless her and Dana White are willing to actually test her skills against either women’s featherweight fighters or you know…the other kind of mixed martial artists…then, well, hey who cares about credibility when you’re cashing checks like the checks her and Zuffa Entertainment are cashing???

#BellatorMMA is officially the new #Strikeforce, is the same fate inevitable?

Posted: June 24, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
6/23/2014

Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. True in life, movies, and mixed martial arts.

PRIDE also comes before the fall, that is doubly true in mixed martial arts.

Bellator MMA was founded by Bjorn Rebney in 2008. The majority stake in the company was sold to Viacom in 2011 as part of a deal to get the promotion onto MTV2 and later Spike TV. Bellator crafted a niche in the mixed martial arts world by running tournaments. Initially tournaments to crown their champions, then tournaments to crown number one contenders to fight their champions. Title fights, attraction fights, and “super” fights are used to round out the cards.

Bjorn Rebney, Bellator MMA founder

Bellator’s unique format as well as PRIDE and Strikeforce going out of business allowed them to both survive and thrive by upstart, distant number two standards. Compared to the Goliath that is the UFC, Bellator is not a competitor, merely an alternative. In the rest of the mixed martial arts world however, Bellator has been the clear-cut number two company since the second the lights went out for Strikeforce last year.

Bellator has evolved incrementally to show they are growing. Going from ESPN Deportes to MTV2 to Spike TV to air their fights. Bellator had their version of UFC’s reality tv show darling “The Ultimate Fighter” called “Fight Master” that aired last year. It was unique to TUF and much like everything Bellator does, got decent ratings, enough to keep them afloat and viewed as legitimate.

Bellator recently made it’s PPV debut, a show that drew 100,000 buys. With all of this growth and progression, it was surprising to hear that Bjorn Rebney, the founder and CEO of Bellator MMA, and for all intents and purposes the Dana White of Bellator, was forced out of the company he founded by Viacom. Word is that Viacom wants to move away from the tournament format, while Rebney falls under the if it ain’t broke don’t fix it paradigm. Rebney has already been replaced by Scott Coker, who was the founder and Dana White of Strikeforce.

Scott Coker, founder of Strikeforce and new CEO of Bellator MMA

Coker is a good promoter and a good guy. Most people seem to like him. He doesn’t have a reputation for anything remotely shady. He helped build Strikeforce from a regional kickboxing promotion to the number two mixed martial arts promotion in the world. Even as a distant number two, Strikeforce put together some great super fights that rivaled anything the UFC was putting up against them at the time (Fedor vs Hendo anyone?). Viacom and Coker have already said they will scale back the tournament format of Bellator to a more traditional style of MMA booking, much like Strikeforce had.

Strikeforce and Bellator now have two things in common, Scott Coker, and a corporate owner directly involved in their business. Showtime’s incompetence led to Strikeforce going out of business. Dana White even voiced how sorry he felt for the organization over how things went down. Well, to me, this seems to be a case of history repeating itself. There is nothing wrong with tinkering with something to make it better, but this is an over haul of something that already is making money. Maybe not a lot of money, but there has been zero whiff of Bellator being at risk of going out of business. They have been consistently running shows for six years, why is this time to make whole sale changes?

Word has it Rebney was/is very difficult to work with, which is the opposite reputation Coker has. Coker was and is willing to work with anyone as long as it makes money. He has said the tournaments will have their place, which is a good thing. But if Bellator runs shows in the same way the UFC, WSOF, and OneFC all run shows, won’t they be exposing themselves as a cheap alternative to the dominant number one?

That’s what Strikeforce was after all. I loved Strikeforce but the only thing that made them different from the UFC was the hexagon cage and the colored gloves. Oh and one more thing, the UFC was consistently a far superior product because they had more money and better fighters.

The tournaments mask Bellator’s weaknesses. Those weaknesses being everything other than the fact they run tournaments. Bellator is not competition, they’re an alternative. If you’re going to be an alternative, then you have to be different than what is normal. Tournaments, and the round cage, do that. Running smaller venues does that. Having a different presentation style does that.

Scott Coker is a good promoter, it’s not actually his fault that Strikeforce went out of business, but Strikeforce went out of business, it’s a failed brand. If Strikeforce was still around and announced a merger with Bellator, that’s one thing. But when a man founds a company, makes it a success, then gets fired and replaced for a captain that is fresh off a sinking ship he was at the helm of, something about that seems off to me.

Coker has earned the benefit of the doubt that he can steer Bellator in the right direction based on his past history of success, but then again, so did Bjorn Rebney.

I’m a Mark & FanBoy for #UFCFightNight: Shogun vs Henderson 2

Posted: March 23, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
3/22/2014

If you have been a mixed martial arts and/or UFC fan for more than three years, then UFC Fight Night 39 on Sunday has been circled on your calendar for a while. Two of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport will meet in the octagon in a rematch of what can be argued as the greatest fight of all time from UFC 139 in 2011.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will be looking for revenge against Dan “Hendo” Henderson in the most professional, polite, and brutal way possible. Both of these icons have immense respect for each other dating back a decade when both ran rough shot over the PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan. Both are in my personal top five fighter list of all time. Their first fight is my personal favorite fight of all time. The list for now is as follow:

  1. Shogun vs. Hendo I
  2. Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell
  3. Frank Mir vs. Big Nog I
  4. Hendo vs. Big Nog II
  5. Cro Cop vs. Wanderlei Silva

Just my personal list, nothing I’ll get into a shouting match argument about. I could literally make a list of 25 fights off the top of my head that are so good that would make me rethink that top five list a few times over. But not the top one. Hendo vs. Shogun could have been a shitty fight and I still would have really liked it. The fact that it was five rounds of some of the most intense fighting in the history of the sport is just icing on the cake.

Just writing this article I have gotten goose bumps four times and counting thinking about their first fight and what may happen in their second fight. Why? It’s not just that I personally like both fighters, it’s the fact that their places in history as all time greats can’t be denied.

Both men will be hall of famers who will be remembered as pioneers and kings. Both dominated the 205 lb division at a time in the history of the sport where the 205 lb division was the deepest in all of mma regardless of promotion. Both did so in spectacular fashion. Both have fought in multiple open weight fights against opponents with distinct size advantages. Both men have held championships in Japan and America. Both men have won mma tournaments. They just don’t make ’em like these two anymore.

Both are the last of a dying breed, PRIDE alumni. If you have never seen PRIDE, do yourself a favor and look up some fights on YouTube and/or on the UFC website. It was the wild wild west of mixed martial arts and professional sports. Along with Fedor, Cro Cop, and Wanderlei Silva; Hendo and Shogun are on the PRIDE FC Mt. Rushmore.

I could write ten pages about these two guys, I hope my enthusiasm comes across in this writing. If you are a newer fan of the UFC look these two up. It’s not just that they are legends, they almost always have exciting fights. They are both two of the greatest closers, finishers, and knockout artists of all time. They both finish fights and didn’t just make good careers out of finishing fights, they became bonafide legends.

It is rare to have genuine living legends face off in a sporting event. UFC Fight Night 39 in Brazil will see just that. Knowing that both men are closer to the end of their careers than the beginning I encourage all of you to watch because fights and fighters of this caliber only come along a few times in each generation. I’m picking Shogun to win, only because that will ensure a trilogy, which gives me restless leg syndrome just thinking about.

Justice Comes for #JohnyHendricks

Posted: March 17, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
3/16/2014

Johny Hendricks finally got the title belt that he won four months ago. At UFC 167 in November Johny Hendricks literally beat GSP into retirement. Hendricks got shafted by the judges that night when they somehow awarded a the win to to GSP by decision. Hendricks left GSP a beaten bloody mess with cuts all over his face and not a scratch on Hendricks.  GSP decided he would rather quit the sport than give Hendricks a rematch. This past Saturday at UFC 171 the now vacant title was decided in a match between the top two contenders in the division; Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler.  The fight when the full five rounds and Hendricks won by decision. There is no controversy this time around. Although Hendricks beat up Lawler less than he beat up GSP, he was awarded the UFC Welterweight Championship.

Much like Shogun Rua before him, Hendricks had to wait for karma to get involved in the fight after he got screwed out of winning a world title.

Hendricks is a great fighter who is also actually entertaining to watch. Unlike Lyoto Machida who is the UFC version of watching paint dry. Though his recent move to 185 has seen Machida be a little more spry and slightly more aggressive, likely because he sees the end of his career is much closer than the beginning. Hendricks however is just getting started. Whether he’s got that belt or not, “Bigg Rigg” has five more years of fighting left in the gas tank. He’s a young guy, with great wrestling, concrete hands, who likes to finish. This was only his second fight going to the judges in his last six.

There have been a number of horrendous decisions in mixed martial arts in the last few years. Dana White, the UFC President has been as outspoken about them as anyone. But what the judges do is completely out of his hands as they are appointed by state athletic commissions. What White can control is encouraging his fighters to not let fights reach decisions. He flat-out says that, and gives bonuses for finishing fights that are equal to or greater than the standard paycheck a fighter receives simply for fighting.

Hendricks has already picked up a few KO of the night checks and will likely be getting more fight of the night honors before his career is over. One has to wonder if GSP will come out of hiding for a rematch with Hendricks. The money is there, but that is a given for GSP who is the highest grossing box office fighter in UFC history. But there interest with the hardcore fans will be ravenous. Hendricks has the belt and everyone knows he got screwed by the judges in their first fight, but who doesn’t want to see Hendricks get another crack at GSP?

That answer is simple, GSP and all of his future spouses. Hendricks left him a beaten, bloody mess in their first encounter. It isn’t often a fighter literally gets beaten into retirement as Hendricks did to GSP at UFC 167. Or maybe GSP retired in disgrace because the fans wouldn’t stop booing him after the BS decision win, whichever…whatever.  Johnny Hendricks knows he won that fight, and after winning his most recent fight he’s got the belt, the recognition, the cheddar, and everything he’s had coming to him since he started destroying his competition in the UFC four years ago. Justice came for Johny Hendricks on Saturday at UFC 171, for those who saw the GSP fight, it felt as good for us as it does for Bigg Rigg.

Ronda Rousey; Both #MMA Pioneer & Fraud

Posted: February 26, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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potatoshooterlogosportsrollby @anarchyroll
2/22/2014

The UFC creating a women’s division to exploit the sex appeal of Ronda Rousey, which make no mistake about it is what they’re doing, is the equivalent of NASCAR creating an all women’s driving circuit for Danica Patrick.

If you were surprised that the main event of UFC 170 was a disappointment, you haven’t been paying attention to the career of Ronda Rousey. Which is the norm, most mma fans (men) pay attention to her body as opposed to her body of work. The only entertaining fight Rousey has had was her rematch with Meisha Tate, and that fight came at after the first co-ed season of The Ultimate Fighter, cough cough.

I’m not trolling Rousey, she’s an Olympic medalist. She pays her taxes, she earns her money by putting her body through a rigorous training schedule, followed by putting in on the line in hand to hand combat. She is also a fraud, she is nothing more than Gina Carano with the ability to lock on an arm bar, against a field of competitors who don’t know how to defend it.

Just like how Royce Gracie was great in an era where fighters had no clue how to defend or attack ju jitzu. The difference of course is Royce had the balls or in the case of Rousey, courage to fight anyone in ANY weight class. Rousey, as you may or may not know, is ducking the real best female mixed martial artist in the world Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino.

If Rousey is such a great, legendary, pioneer, why won’t she put on the ten pounds and fight Cyborg? Because Rousey is the champ? Sorry, both were Strikeforce champions and Dana White made the choice to hand Rousey a UFC Title at a press conference, as opposed to, oh I don’t know, a tournament or at least a fight to determine the champion.

If the UFC was serious about women’s MMA they would have either awarded both Rousey and Cyborg or made Rousey move up weight since Cyborg has been fighting longer and has a better professional record than Rousey. What does Rousey have going for her that Cyborg doesn’t? See picture below.

Ronda Rousey is a good person and is a women’s MMA pioneer because she has gotten over in the mainstream. But she was handed her title at a press conference and fights in a division of feeders, because there is no women’s MMA yet. Don’t believe me? Go ask Invicta FC what their average live attendance figures are.

Three, five, ten years from now women’s MMA will be vibrant and thriving. But not now. Now it is just a two woman sport. They are separated by ten pounds. One is hot, the other is not. And if you think for one second that Rousey isn’t being exploited and promoted for her sex appeal more so than her athletic ability…then I have a bridge and a time share I’d like to sell you.  Think I’m just a sexist? Well, then why does Rousey repeatedly talk about in interviews how having more sex before fights helps her get into better shape? The only male equivalent to that, is GSP talking about how his coaches make him stay abstinent during training.

Stop posing naked, stop talking about how fucking a lot makes you a better fighter, and fight the more established, better, less attractive fighter who is your equal or better, and people like me will have nothing but respect for Rousey. Until then, she’s just Danica Patrick with her own race track of amateur competition at best.

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