brashleyholland

Another solid and entertaining offering from Bellator last night, thoroughly enjoyed it, apart from seeing my old neighbour (well, she lived two streets away) Rosi Sexton get knocked out, which I seriously wasn't expecting. Look like she'll be suspended for 60 days and wont make the tournament...although having her in and not Frausto would be harsh. That said, I doubt Frausto could make 115; she looked huge last night at 121 or whatever it was. Was pleasantly surprised by Shlemenko. The guy just looks incredibly beatable, but he's a real scrapper. I think Lombard will knock his head off. I was very surprised at Pitbull gassing after he mauled Warren in the 1st. Can't take anything away from Warren, he pulled it out of the bag after all; but he looked tired and beaten up after that first round (and was supposedly sick) and Freire should have finished it. Hopefully it will act as a wakeup call for the Brazilian, because I really want to see more of him. A fully fit Warren with all this experience he's racking up is going to be a dangerous prospect. Would love to see him fight Faber down the line. Hopefully age doesn't catch up with him. As for the result, well it really comes down to whether you scored the first round 10-8 or not. I didn't...Warren was able to get some offence in and for me, a round has to be 100% one-sided to qualify for a 10-8. That said, it was about as close to being a 10-8 as can be, and I can absolutely understand why anyone would score it as such. I might rewatch it and see what I think. Strikeforce next...the only fight that isn't a huge mismatch on that card is the Le-Smith fight, but I'm looking forward to it.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Daffanka" data-cite="Daffanka" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> </p><p> I am somewhat thankful that MMA journalism by and large is so utterly dreadful. If it wasn't I wouldn't get gems like this.</p><p> </p><p> e: hahahaha self proclaimed MMA encyclopedia Jonathan Snowden is actually arguing in the "interviewer"'s favor</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><p> The link above is a textbook example of what happens when people pretending to be 'journalists' get someone's email addy. News flash: I can get any pro fighter's email (or their manager's email) off the web and send them a bunch of poor questions. I was on the press call for UFC 116 this Tuesday and some of the questions that were asked embarrassed me. If you want to interview someone correctly, and make something of if, you need to speak to them in person. I have every UFC fighter of note's personal phone number in front of me, and those I don't have I can get with one phone call. People who are lazy get interviews like that from Chael Sonnen's manager. <<< And that is no word of a lie <img alt=";)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="The Celt" data-cite="The Celt" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Circa. 2006</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Awesome, thanks.</p>

<p>I posted this in the MMA thread, but I guess it's relevant here too...sombody just told me that Dave Batista legit took a kicking from Booker T. Anybody know if there is any truth to this, especially any documented quotes?</p><p> </p><p> Ta <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

Someone just told me that Batista took a legit kicking from Booker T...anybody know anything about that?

<p>So....Wanderlei out, Leben in against Akiyama in two weeks time. That guy has some stones, I'll give him that. Is Leben one win (over Vitor Belfort?) away from a title shot if he knocks out Akiyama? </p><p> </p><p> My take on the Batista thing...is it good for the sport? Well, that depends on what you class as 'good for the sport'...</p><p> </p><p> Good: Well, it'll get a ton of viewers on CBS if CBS get behind it and promote it properly. If they do, it should get a fair bit of attention and any legitimate fighters who put in a good performance on the undercard might benefit from the extra eyeballs. In that sense, it's good for the sport. </p><p> </p><p> Bad: It adds weight to the notion that MMA isn't a sport and that 'anyone' can do it. "Look, even those old WWF guys can do this cage fighin' stuff". You don't see Vanilla Ice fighting Kelly Pavlik, or Danny Bonaduce vs. Barry Williams on the undercard of a Super 6 Boxing card. These fights happen on Celebrity Boxing shows, and are treated like the joke that they are. But the likes of Kimbo, Batista etc can jump right in to the biggest MMA shows in America. People tuning in for these fights don't realise that Greg Nagy is a 1-2 bum, or that Huston Alexander is a punchbag with heavy hands. Fights like this diminish the hard work put in by professional fighters in the eyes of the public, and make it harder for big business/politicians to take it seriously. In that sense, it's bad for the sport. </p><p> </p><p> I doubt it will matter. If SF put this on PPV (and I have reason to believe that they will, if everything works out with Batista), nobody will buy it. People historically haven't pay for non-UFC MMA; K-1 tried it with Lesnar and Morton, didn't work. Affliction tried it with some of the best fighters in the world, didn't work. There is no documented evidence of people buying MMA in significant numbers outside of the UFC, ever. </p><p> </p><p> From what I understand, he has trained 'martial arts' for years, he's not been doing any kind of MMA training regimen until very recently. He's big and strong and can't fight for toffee, and has bad knees and ankles, to the point that people who grapple with him are told not to even touch them. I'd prefer to see him fight Walker over Lashley, as it'd be less of a miss-match. Actually, I'd prefer it if he didn't fight at all.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Daffanka" data-cite="Daffanka" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Did.... did Strikeforce just sign Batista?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Drunk Batista tells TMZ yes, irritated Strikeforce exec says no, but that 'talks are ongoing'. Wow. </p><p> </p><p> There is chatter about a PPV in October/November, and that SF would have something PPV worthy other than a potential Fedor/Overeem fight. I guess Batista vs Hershal Walker would fit the bill, for all the wrong reasons or maybe even Batista vs Lashley. </p><p> </p><p> Is this *really* what it's taking to get people interested in paying for non-UFC MMA?</p>

More people will watch things on Sky Sports than Bravo because for the most part Bravo's shows are garbage. Old 'Dog the Bounty Hunter', sports bloopers, 'Cops' style shows etc. It's the place where 3rd rate TV goes to die. Sky Sports is an expensive hobby for most, and has the UK's most popular sports on it, so of course more people will be watching it in total....they're paying a premium for the privilege. Bravo is one step up from free TV. If people wanted to watch TNA they'd be hammering WWE in the ratings. Even if both shows were getting the exact same number of viewers every week, you cant spin that as a positive for TNA.

Bravo is a channel that is part of most low-to-mid-level digital TV packages. Sky Sports is a separate premium package that you have to order on top of your regular TV package, so by default a lot less people will have it. Plus, Raw is live at about 1am on a Monday night, whereas TNA is on Saturday evenings. If WWE is *still* beating TNA in the UK ratings, that's pretty bad for TNA.

You've got to give it to Brock, he's doing everything right as far as training/learning goes. He's certainly putting the effort in. Can you imagine if the guy had started training to fight straight out of his NCAA career? I reckon he'd be at the point of fighting two guys at once by now

Bellator just flashed a graphic saying they have signed Ash 'The Bash' Daley for their women's division. 'Bash' is a lovely girl, sound as a pound with a fiver wrapped around, as we say over here. She also fights like a rabid dog...can't wait to see her in Bellator.

Thats an awesome venue Bellator are running. Almost as good as the Amsterdam Airport venue

He's not a great boxer by any stretch. He's ranked something silly like 180th in the world in a garbage division (middleweight). 5 knock outs in 12 wins or something like that...couple of losses too. *consults Box Rec* 11-2-0 (5KOs). If you're nearly 28 and thats your record, you're not going to win a boxing title of any significance. I'm sure he could bag some unheard of alphabet soup title if he had the right promoter. I don't see him beating Melendez or Diaz before they jump ship to the UFC either.

That was a funky little trip down memory lane...and now I'm going to intersperse my World Cup Weekend with KOTC DVD box sets It's a cool comparison; the only difference I see is that KOTC were running shows like that because they wanted to...they had a good relationship with the UFC at the time, they were keeping their heads down enough not to attract any serious negative attention...they were purposefully running a cross between a feeder league and a sideshow. And it was great. (They're a bit more professional now, but they're still putting on some cracking shows.) Strikeforce's problem is that many of their big cards are mish-mash because they don't have any other options. If they'd can their meaningless titles until they have divisions that can support them and treat their cards for what they are - local shows with a few big names - then fine. As it is though, they're stuck with Showtime and CBS schilling them as the next big thing, with 'World Champions' etc. I try not to compare them to the UFC, it's an entirely different animal...but if I had to, I'd say it'd be like Superman fighting a guy in a Superman fancy dress costume he made at home: Sure, they kinda look the same from a distance, but if you actually stop and look at them side-by-side...the differences are pretty clear to see, and there's only ever going to be one winner... Plus...Strikeforce didn't have an openly homosexual ex-convict fighting in cargo shorts and a sweet pair of Converse. Shad Smith FTW!

I think that if Heun had the gas to work a bit more in the clinch and really chase some takedown, then absolutely he'd have been able to get the nod. At the same time, there would have been a ton more opportunities for Noons to catch him with that uppercut coming in, so who knows? When you're coming in without a proper camp, sometimes just going for it (like Heun did last night) can serve you better than doggedly sticking to your strengths against someone who is, at the end of the day, a better fighter. Like Daffanka said, Zaromskis needs to get down to 155 where he belongs.

Who does everyone have for Bellator tonight out of interest? I'm playing it safe with Hornbuckle.

It's more Showtime than Strikeforce that are pushing in that direction. Showtime aren't interested in Strikeforce, they just want MMA programming. They're paying for the fights, so they have the say in who fights who etc. They don't care for SF's long term future, because it's just a label to them at the moment. If you're a fan of good fights, Strikeforce has put on plenty of them. I can't see for the life of me how it benefits anyone if they fold. I just means you'll be watching the exact same fighters and fights on Showtime, only it'll be called Bellator, ShoMMA, ProElite or whatever other organisation they pick up. During the press conference for this event last week, Babalu's manager said explicitly that they didn't want that fight, and that he was pursuing bouts with Hendo and Mousasi....BUT...if the King Mo fight was on the table, they would take it. Babalu/Hendo makes sense...but I have no idea who they'd put Lawal up against in August if they go though with that. I'm on the conference call for Fedor vs Werdum in a couple of hours; I intend to ask what the plans are for the 185 and 205 belts coming out of last nights show if we get the opportunity to talk to Scott. EA asked them to put on a Strikeforce Fan Expo to promote the game. Someone obviously pointed out that this isn't the UFC, where everyone has a promotional contact as well so that the company can say "Hey, you're going to a convention this week". Fedor wouldn't have gone, Randy can't and as sad as I am to say it, Strikeforce doesn't have more than one or two other recognisable faces that people at E3 are going to know. Second option was some fights. I think it was supposed to be Mayhem in the main event at 185 before all that stuff with the suspensions...Babalu stepped up but couldn't make 185. I thought it was a decent fight.

Isn't there a really easy way to solve this...someone get his agent on the phone and try to book him for whatever dates TNA films on (after his 90 days)? If he's availible on those days, it'd be safe to say that he has no interest in going to TNA, therefor he's most likely still affiliated with WWE, in that he's not been released, or has been "released" as part of a work?

In other news.... There wasn't a whole lot interesting on the TUF Finale press call tonight. Court McGee talked quite candidly about his herion addiction, Keith Jardine moaned that he didn't enjoy talking to the press....oh, and one of the fighters had someone keep blowing a vuvuzela in the background (seriously). One thing nobody had considered was that it was Matt Hamill's first time doing a conference call...the logistics of having a telephone conversation with a deaf guy are about as awkward as you can imagine. Total nightmare. Matt was a class act as always though, said he doesn't rank himself in the top 20, said the Jones fight was a wake-up call and doesn't want the DQ win on his record. I'm on the Strikeforce presser with Fedor and Werdum tomorrow if anyone has any interesting questions to throw out there?

...but you said "People in Japan do buy PPV (wowow)"...PPV and Pay-TV are two very different formats. Unless you can find some indication that their subscriber base increased significantly when they started airing UFC (I'll save you the time, they didn't and the UFC have had horrible ratings in Japan over the past few years), then it's irrelevent, as there is nothing to suggest that people in Japan are paying for UFC fights in any significant number. Also, UFC events are an absolute minority of the content on Wowow. It's like saying..."People are subscribing to HBO. There is a fishing show on tape delay on HBO, therefor people in America are paying for fishing shows." Is he in the US forces? Shouldn't they be getting if free on AFN, or whatever the forces network is called nowadays? So that's one then, when he was caught out at an airport waiting for his flight. Hardly indicative of someone going out of their way to promote fights (which was my point), is it? Are those straws you're clutching at? Yes. Most hyped episode in TUF history, tons of advertising Kimbo all over TV and the internet, Nelson giving his best bad guy impression...so yeah, I'd say the massive media push by the UFC prior to the season, and specifically that episode, went some way to bumping the ratings. What else are you suggesting caused it, coincidence? There's the audio of our interview with Kimbo that week. I don't have a link to the audio of the Nelson one to hand and can't be bothered to look for it. Google it if your that fussed. Keep in mind that when this interview was done, we weren't even the biggest MMA site in the UK, yet we still got an interview...they couldn't have hyped this fight anymore if they tried. I'm not even sure what you're getting at anymore. Your saying what, that you think Lesnar vs Cro Cop would sell better than Lesnar vs Nelson, based on the fact that Kimbo vs Roy Nelson did great ratings without being hyped by either fight (despite the fact that it was, quite clearly, hyped by both fighters)....is that really your point? If you can't see that a fight between two fighters with a large amount of public visibility, who are very good at hyping fights, would sell better in the UFC's key markets than a fight with only one guy who is interesting in selling it (especially when the other guy is a burned-out shell of his former self that hasn't beaten a ranked fighter since 2006), then I don't know what to tell you. In fact, I'm so convinced that Cro Cop is done that if he gets a UFC Heavyweight title shot in the next two years, I will personally buy you a ticket to the event. Promise

LOL Do you know...(and mark this moment for posterity, because it doesn't happen often)...I. Have. No. Idea. The way the Sapp thing has been explained to me is that he's as much of a joke in Japan as he is here...it's just a different kind of joke in Japan (presumably one that is actually funny). He's a cartoon character to them, so it's almost like "WHAT WILL HE DO NEXT??!!??!!" I was having this exact conversation with someone the other week about Musashi's WGP gifts...We were watching the 2004 WGP finals, where Musashi was soundly beaten by Bonjasky in the final bout, only for the judges to call it a draw. Then Musashi gets tooled in the extra round, and the judges call a majority draw. I think one judge even scored the second overtime round a draw. Incredible, as you say, for a county where honour and shame is such an integral part of society. Maybe its a case of them willing to overlook it out of blind patriotism? I've certainly been guilty of that on occasion, although maybe not to that extent...

Daffanka, I apologise for being the bearer of bad news.... http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/6/16/1520599/chael-sonnen-drops-out-of-oregon? Looks looks like we'll have to wait a while before we can support a 'Sonnen For President' campaign At least he'll be able to focus on Silva more now.

WOWOW is Pay TV, not Pay Per View. The UFC is not on PPV in China. No, it's not an interview...it's a transcript of the press call. I should know, I was on it. Note the bold tex below from the link you posted. "[barry] is a good fighter, very fast, and I saw the way he destroyed (Antoni) Hardonk," Filipovic told MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com) on Friday's media call promoting the event. "It was amazing. It will be a good fight, and I'm looking forward to it." And this wasn't an interview with Fighters Only. It was a translation by a poster on Sherdog of some comments he gave to a Croatian website when they ambushed him at the airport before 110. If you're going to be sarcastic, at least make sure you're right. ...you realise that this fight was on TUF, yes? That Nelson and Kimbo were contractually forbidden from talking about it until the show aired? And that once it was announced (a week in advance, if memory serves), both Nelson and Kimbo were put on press tours? Again, I should know, because we interviewed both of them the week before that episode aired, as did numerous other outlets. ...which is exactly the same way boxing matches are promoted. The idea that all (or even the majority) of MMA PPV buying fans are familiar with all 10 main card fighters is A) False and B) Irrelevant to the point. Of the 10 fighters on a card, only four (occasionally six) are featured in the countdown show, press call, press conference, promotional material etc. Example: The Strikeforce press call I did last week featured only Robbie and Babalu. The WEC one on Monday featured Varner and Kamal Shalorus. The TUF Finale one I'm doing tonight is McCray, McGee, Jardine and Hamill. The Strikeforce one I'm doing tomorrow is just Fedor and Werdum. 116 is just Lesnar and Carwin....and so on. So? He isn't confident in his English, so he speaks through a translator. What's the difference?

So? Ahead in what? UFC fans in Croatia/Japan don't buy PPVs or fill staduims, so they're irrelevant. I could name 20 fighters that are more well known internationally than Nelson, none of whom people are paying to watch. The markets that actually matter (US, Canada, UK (not PPV), Australia He has Ed Soares do it for him. He doesn't hide in Europe and have an additional clause in his contract absolving him of press duties. All UFC fighters are contractually obligated to do press interviews to promote the fight. All except Cro Cop, who had it removed as a condition of his resigning. All he had to do for 115 was the press call/conference. Besides, you can't compare Anderson to Mirko. Anderson is one of the top three fighters in the world, who's had what, three bad fights in the past five years? Now you're just assuming things. And are you seriously suggesting that fighters hyping a fight in the press has no effect on people buying it? Look at the top selling PPV's in UFC/boxing history, all of them have one thing in common...talkative fighters.

Seriously, stop reading Wiki and watch the fights. If you watch the fights, you'd know that their first fight ended on a shoulder injury, their second went to a decision, the third saw Josh tap out after an eye injury. None of those have anything to do with Barnett being better or worse than Mirko on the ground, as you stated in your original post...the first one particularly was an absolute fluke. Cro Cop submitted Barry and Kevin Randleman.