brashleyholland

Alistair's problem is this...somehow, he's gone from a struggling light heavyweight (he lost his last four bouts at 205) to a heavyweight who is being talked about as the only legitimate threat to Fedor outside of the UFC, without beating a ranked heavyweight along the way. Belfort was a blown up heavyweight, Hunt was a kickboxer who never took MMA seriously (despite notching up a couple of decent wins) and Fujita, Buentello and Goodridge are journeymen. So here's his quandry...he doesn't have a contract with Strikeforce, despite being their champion. He want's the big money Fedor fight, either on CBS, PPV or one of K-1's Dream events in Japan. If he takes a fight with Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers, Jeff Monson or someone else of that ilk, it's not a big money fight anywhere in the world. If one of those guys beats him, he loses out on the big money Fedor fight. Money is scarce in MMA in Japan right now, so even there he needs his momentum. So he's stuck crushing cans to keep active. It's ok for him to lose in K-1, because despite his background and the fact that he trains out of one of the best kickboxing gyms in the world, he's still seen as an 'MMA guy' fighting the kickboxing elite. The fact that he's winning fights in K-1 doesn't hurt either.

Random news bits: Couture has said he is open to a Lesnar rematch. The ONLY way that should happen is if Brock loses badly in his next fight. As in, gets tapped or knocked out in short order. If Lesnar beats Mir/Carwin or Nog/Velasquez - then he has the other winner, Dos Santos, heck, even Gonzaga if he keeps winning before he needs to fight Couture again. Alistair Overeem is fighting in April. In eastern Europe. Against someone without a pro record. Some people are assuming that it's a kickboxing bout, but nobody is sure. Makes it even less likely that he will fight for Strikeforce in May/June. Bobby Lashley doesn't want anything to do with Brett Rogers. Lashley has basically said - Give me Fedor or Overeem. Rogers would be a huge risk so early in his career and he'd potentially losing to a guy who just got pole-axed. At least he has the excuse of losing to the champ or best heavyweight in the world if he fights Fedor or Alistair. Doesn't say much to me in terms of how seriously he's taking MMA as a long-term career. He wants to fight the top shelf guys or bargain basement scrubs who wont pose a threat. Building is fine, as long as he's taking steps up in competition. By all accounts Lashley isn't right now. Overeem is in a similar boat. He's gone from struggling light heavyweight to a potential opponant for Fedor without beating anyone of note in MMA. Thats a big money fight. He's not going to risk his momentum by fighting a Rogers or Werdum, where a loss would take the shine off the Fedor fight.

I thought they would have made a bigger deal of Morgan and Hernandez being in the tourney. It seemed very thrown together. You'd have thought TNA would have made something of announcing that they would face off with each other in the first round, and maybe had them on opposite side of that tag match to create a bit of tension. I thought Hogan's promo at the start was rubbish...just really bland. "You fans are great, you make TNA great"...he might as well stand there and say "I'm the good guy, cheer for me, crack-a-lack-a-jack BROTHER!!". There was just no substance to it, and it's the same thing every week. The ending was...meh. I didn't for one second think that Hogan was with Hall and Co (I'm sure I'm not on my own there), so it just didn't work for me. Not sure where they are going with Easy E reffing the main event. Would be nice if aligns Eric with Flair and AJ and he was revealed to be the mastermind behind the screwing of Angle. Could lead to a reluctant partnership between Angle and Joe vs AJ, Flair, Bischoff and the Band. Just specualating too far ahead now though. Really like the Pope. Am hoping that he gets a bigger role moving forward. Same with Wolf. Same with Williams and Magnus. Even that graphic of the Nastys for their PPV match this Sunday was too much of the Nastys for me. Hoping they're gone soon. That said, I don't see what else they have for Team 3D now that they are the good guys again. All in all I thought it was a decent show - not the best I've seen since Jan, but not the worst either.

That's a really good analogy.

Thanks mate.

It's certainly a different dynamic. We know that Vitor crumbles after a round or two of pressure (the majority or his losses come when he's taken deep, most of his wins are in the first round/half of the fight). There are still many questions about Maia. Was the Nate KO a one off? Can he be effective in later rounds? Will he pull guard or look to get top possition? Certainly more intriguing than 'Can Vitor score a KO in the first 5 minutes?' I don't like Maia's chances, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Look's like they are going to find a doctor who'll clear Maia (or worry about any possible repercussions later) as the UFC have just announced Maia vs Silva for the 185lb championship at 112! Hopefully this isn't another Silva-Leites stalemate...I'm thinking Maia goes for broke and gets stopped early.

I think, not 100% though, that it was a 12-month, three fight deal. So assuming he fights Lawal in April it'll be a countdown to negotiations after that. It depends on the wording of the contract exactly how long they can keep him. The story last time was that M-1 told Mousasi that the UFC had made a low offer (40k to fight, 40k to win), so he should sign with Strikeforce (for reportedly less than half the guarenteed purse he was getting from the Affliction contract, but more than 40k). Mousasi trusted Apy Echtheld (his manager and a partner in M-1 global), so he signed the deal. Gegard became suspicious after talking to some of the other Affliction fighters who'd had offers from the UFC to match their Affliction deals (FYI Mousasi was on $125,000 plus win bonus with his Affliction deal). He actually called Joe Silva to voice his concerns, and was told: A) That the UFC had not made any cash offer to M-1 for Mousasi's services. B) That the UFC was going to make an offer and intended to honour Mousasi's Affliction deal. Assuming that the above is true then not only did M-1 make up the 40k offer to put Mousasi off the UFC, they halted negotiations with the UFC before they could make him an offer. The subtext being that they wanted Fedor in Strikeforce because it was more financially benneficial to them and would have had a hard time explaining why Mousasi could fight in the UFC while Fedor couldn't. Echtheld was also caught lying to the press when he told an interviewer that Mousasi was on the conference call with the UFC when the offer was made...obviously this was not the case or he wouldn't have had to call Joe Silva about the 40k/40k offer. Vadim Finkelchtein (head of M-1) was asked on another occasion about this disparity and he refused to answer, directing people to "Ask Apy". It's shady as anything, but as anyone who knows anything about Echtheld and his history in the fight business will tell you, it's not at all a shock. Common sense says that Mousasi gets a great offer from the UFC and his management (if he keeps winning) and ends up in the UFc by the end of the year, assuming he is not tied into Dreams light-heavyweight GP.

Hopefully this thread will evolve into somewhere people can ask questions as well...there are a few people on here, Biggz, Wade, Ringofhonourguard, off the top of my head that really know their stuff. Share the wealth and all that jazz

http://www.mmabay.co.uk/Story%20A%2000692.html That was my take on it last Sunday. In short - WEC's 'stars' have been complaining about their level of pay compared to their UFC counterparts. Putting them on PPV is letting them sink or swim...if it pays off, great. If not, the UFC has the numbers to go back to the table and say "This is what a WEC PPV makes, so this is what we can pay you". Another consideration is that Zuffa has some fairly lengthy TV contracts connected to the WEC brand. If a WEC show does appalling numbers, they again have the figures to take to a TV network live Versus and say "This brand is failing, we want to take it off the air - here's some UFC programming to replace it". That would make the eventual folding of the WEC into the UFC (which Zuffa have repeatedly said is their endgame) alot smoother. Finally, despite being owned by Zuffa LLC, the WEC is it's own company with it's own staff and HAS to make a profit. The Fertita brothers are in some serious financial quagmires at the moment with Station Casino's (their main business) so they are not running a money pit with the WEC. They have scheduled this card in April - Between the end of March and the 8th of May there are already three big UFC PPV's and the Mayweather fight which is expected to do 900K+ buys. Even without the boxing, MMA fans are already expeted to shell out $140 in the space of about 6 weeks. There is also 'UFC on Versus', UFC Fight Night and Strikeforce on CBS (featuring Fedor and Dan Henderson) all airing for 'free', so it's not like people will be starved for MMA around the time that WEC's PPV is taking place. My point: While they are not setting WEC up to sink...they aren't giving it the best possible chance to swim on PPV.

There's one for WWE and TNA, so I thought I'd start up an official MMA/UFC/Strikeforce thread! As an update on the story that broke yesterday, Chael Sonnen has said that he wont be stepping in against Anderson Silva at UFC 112, citing his medical suspension preventing him from sparring until the 9th of March as the reason. Dana White has said that Anderson *will* remain on the card, hopefully defending his title. There's a finite number of guys comming off wins that could step in...Maia is the obvious choice, but his medical suspension runs through to August unless he's cleared. Akiyama isn't booked, but the UFC are reportedly holding him back for the winner of Bisping/Silva. Wonder if that fight ends quickly, if the winner would step up if asked/healthy? I doubt Bisping would, but Wanderlei might.

I understand what you're saying in terms of going with what makes money. It's not a charity and at the end of the day if having Beefcake and Savage vs The Nasty boys for the full two hours every week makes money and gets ratings - go with the old men. My point is; Hogan has a history of getting his buddies on board; thats the only reason the Nasty Boys have been on my TV screen the past few weeks. Cards need substance other than the main draws and personally, I'd rather watch X-Division guys filling up the midcard than Brian Knobs and co. wobbling through painfull chunks of TV time. My fear was that a low rated X-Division PPV could lead to Nasty Boys vs Morley and Beefcake opening my Impact as opposed to MCMG vs Generation ME.

I loved his rap album

My worry with an all X-Division PPV is that if it does a lower than average number of PPV's it will be used as an excuse by you know who to say "The X-Division doesn't make us money - now someone get me Brutus Beefcake and Randy Savage on the phone!" March through May is a very busy time for PPV. You have Wrestlemania, Backlash and whatever the May WWE PPV is called. UFC 111-115 and WEC's first PPV. Floyd Mayweather's fight. Three TNA PPV's. Manny Pacquiao's fight. Thats a big shuffle for an X-Division show to get lost in.

I'm not specifically refering to Kong. Chyna back in the day wanted bigger paydays. I also misunderstood what she way complaining about, RE: equal pay with men/equal pay with women from outside the organisation. The site where I read it didn't make that clear. It's not sexist at all...it has nothing to do with them being women and everything to do with 99% of them not being as popular as other members of the roster, who happen to be male. How are you quantifing Kong's 'ligitimate drawing power' by the way, is there some sort of graph for that, or are you just making an assumption based on the internet fans getting up in arms because she was going to leave?

There is a huge, huge difference between what people will tune in for on a free TV show and what they will pay for. As I said before, who here can honestly say that they have paid for a PPV on the strength of seeing Kong, ODB etc. As the poster above me mentioned, the all female special tanked. Besides, do you really think that there are a significant number of wrestling fans who tune in *just* for the 15 mins that the women are in the ring?

I honestly can't see why female wrestlers think they deserve to be paid at the same rate as the men. I realise that comes off as a little sexist and backward...everyone should be equal etc, but in wrestling it is what it is. In terms of WWE, WCW, TNA and ECW, 99% of the women I've seen are nothing but eye candy, filler or a combination of the two. I see no reason why they should be paid anymore than a male who is 'filler' talent. At the end of the day, you're only worth what interest/revenue you can generate, right? Can anyone honestly say that they tuned into Impact or bought a TNA PPV based on Awesome Kong? Don't get me wrong, of all the female wrestlers I've seen, she's by far my favourite...but I'm not excited to see her anymore than **INSERT GENERIC MIDCARD WRESTER HERE**. I'm sure alot of people will think differently, but I relate it to the MMA fans who get up in arms because because winning fighters like Yushin Okami don't get the money/oppertunities of a 1-5 in his last 6 Wanderlei Silva...nobody is paying to see Okami, much in the same way that male wrestlers will always be the draws/earners in wrestling.

He's still in the opening montage, at least in the UK anyway. I'm assuming it's the same intro they use.

My take on this, in terms of TNA taking stick for what they do, is that they have to cater to the lowest common denominator. People who post here talking about wrestling are for the most part hugley passionate wrestling fans, some of whom have followed the industry since before TNA's target audience were born. People here know what they like and have a very specific idea of what makes good wrestling. Be in an intellegent angle or an incredibly athletic match. WWE is the survivor in this industry - they provide a watered down, entertainment based product with a wide market appeal. They can't cater to the specific wishes of the hardcore fanbase. TNA are (quite rightly) following their lead - they haven't had the same success thus far, so they are trying to emulate what WWE does by having a watered down product that appeals to the broadest range of wrestling fan - mostly kids, teenagers and young adults who will watch the shows and buy the merchendise. People shouldn't expect a great 'pure' wrestling product or intensely ceribral angles and storytelling because it doesn't sell to the masses. There are countless failed promotions and struggling indy's that are living proof of that. There will always be negativity towards TNA and WWE in a place like this, because they aren't catering to you with their product.

Surely they only gave away unsold tickets on the day or two before the show? Thats a question not a statement by the way, I haven't a clue :-p I guess if they were papering *EVERY* Nitro, people got wise to it and just hung around waiting for spare tickets. I've a similar thing happen with my local football team. They moved to a bigger ground and just couldn't fill it. 10 mins after kick-off they would just open the gates or charge a small, nominal fee - figuring that money spent at the concessions would at least make them something back. In the end they had to can it because the walk-ups just waited until 10-15 mins in listening to the game on the radio outside, waiting for their inevitable free ticket :-p

Dog years?

Just...no. It's not a lack of advertising that's the problem, it's a lack of 10,000 people willing to attend a TNA show.

Three quarters full is not nearly sold out. 4800 would be nearly sold out. But a 5000 seat arena (pretty small) having 1200 empty seats is awful.

Because even if a wrestling company like TNA is profitable (which considering some of the numbers that are flying around, I have a hard time believing), at the end of the day it's a *wrestling* company. It's playing serious second fiddle in a highly cyclical business. Panda energy is an institution; an energy company that has opperated successfully for 30 years. Which would you rather have a guarentee from? If Spike cans TNA, they wont see 2011. I can't see Panda energy going anywhere soon.

Not just knocked out, but knocked out for several minutes while a room full of guys have a conversation. Hogan made some strongly worded comments about Lashley's commitment to TNA recently, which I'm guessing is the catalyst for all this. Bobby is getting paid a decent amount of money for a small amount of work right now, so you can't blame Hogan for wanting Bobby to commit fully, or not at all. The nature of Hogan's comments on Lashley were that he wasn't taking TNA seriously and needed to get his priorities right. The only problem with that is the following: If Hogan is reluctant for Bobby to take the spot of one of TNA's up and comming stars, how is he justifying giving the Nasty Boys, Bubba, Waltman and Hall even a second of TV time? None of them have added anything to the show so far and all will likely be gone from the company in short order. Lashley is only going to get bigger in the MMA world for the time being. He's building his record against hand-picked opponants that will make him look good. Fair enough, he won't be doing house shows and will need more time off in the future as his camps get longer, but why can't TNA use his status as a supposedly high-level MMA fighter to their benefit? Bobby will have to quit wrestling for good in a year or so if he is going to take MMA seriously, so I don't see why TNA isn't having him choking people out left right and center before going out on a big loss to one of their up and commers.