brashleyholland

Cindy is no mug, one of the better prospects in WMMA. The one loss she had was an appalling stoppage. Still can't quite figure out how she beat Coenen in her pro debut mind, although she has a lot of fight experience outside of MMA.

They've ALWAYS been having financial trouble. And they were never really talked about as a local threat to the UFC...at least not in the conventional sense. Firstly, BAMMA can't sell tickets. They book massive arenas, curtain most of them off (which doesn't make them any cheaper to hire), give away stacks and stacks of tickets and *still* end up with huge blocks of empty seats. Secondly, their TV deal's have got progressively worse, both in terms of what they pay and the exposure they get. Their last show was aired on a week's delay on some obscure extreme sport channel that shows skating shows, bull riding (which is about as popular in the UK as croquet is in the US) etc. The issue with BAMMA being competition for the UFC was all their own fault. They positioned themselves as such. Before the Chris Lytle fight, for example, they spoke to Dan Hardy's manager (off the record, of course) about signing him if he lost...while he was still under contract with the UFC. Dan's manager told the UFC - which is why Dan was not cut after his fourth straight loss. BAMMA wanted Hardy for an event in Nottingham and the UFC took offence to the move, which was naughty. There was also the issue that the UK economy has been pretty poor of late. With the UFC putting on smaller cards only once a year and BAMMA bringing over international names, the UFC didn't want to risk UK punters dropping their MMA money on a cheaper alternative (BAMMA) a few weeks before/after a UFC show.

The official word is that they are not shutting down. A lot of their staff left in recent weeks, and the company line is that they will be back with a new structure either in time for NYE or early 2013. If they're not dead, then this is the longest death rattle ever. This has been on the cards for a while - the UFC games sold less and less despite getting progressively better reviews (first one sold 4 million, second one sold over 2 million, third one sold around 1 million). THQ have have been looking to get rid of a lot of their licences in order to survive, so it was only a matter of time before the UFC one was gotten rid off. A while ago (late last year/early this year, can't exactly remember) I was told by someone 'in the know' that EA was working on a kickboxing variant of it's Fight Night/MMA games. They were already looking at licencing the world's top kickboxers and the game was definitely more than just an idea. Same guy told me today that the UFC/EA deal has effectively put paid to any kickboxing game. The thinking was that if EA MMA had done well enough, the kickboxing engine could have been worked into EA MMA 2, much like the old K-1 game that had K-1/MMA modes. With EA MMA selling so abysmally, there was talk of a stand-alone kickboxing game.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="moon_lit_tears" data-cite="moon_lit_tears" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="27610" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Remi...how do I put this nicely. I have nothing against you, we have actually had a few conversations and I think you're an okay person, but....you are the answer to this threads question sometimes for me.<p> </p><p> I read a lot of the threads here and you are the constant. You're like the male Oprah. You do it all, have it all, and know it all. </p><p> </p><p> Seriously you're like a superbeing or something. With all the games, women, and traveling in your life how do you have time to post on here?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Well you know what they say about things that sound too good to be true... :-p</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Wrestling Century" data-cite="Wrestling Century" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="27610" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>IMO the worst kind of hipsters are video game hipsters, aka the people who hate on games like Call of Duty (or in some cases, all FPS games) just because it is the most popular game in the world right now. You don't like FPS games? That's fine. You don't like Call of Duty? Fine. But when people start insulting people who play a popular game, then you know that they are just hating it because it is popular. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> I bet that if the internet was around/as huge as it is today back when Mario came out, people would be freaking out about how platforming games are all repetitive and are ruining the industry. <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Hipsters only play 8-bit games.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Makhai" data-cite="Makhai" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I haven't heard they were making that much off the T.V. deal. I assumed the deal was similar small money as the old CBS-Showtime deal they inherited from Elite XC. Which would't save them from losing ~5-6M a year on event costs like this.<p> </p><p> Even if that is true, the UFC gross something like 6-8M for a 250k buy PPV and another 2M on gate. Jones-Evans and JDS-Mir combined probably cleared them 55M. So Strikeforce is 1000x more valuable to them as parts.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> It's swings and roundabouts I guess - There isn't as much scope for selling advertising on Strikeforce events as the brand is nowhere near as strong as the UFC brand. They make an absolute mint from sponsorships/ad sales on UFC events. There's also the international distribution - Strikeforce has little, UFC is on all over the world. Even little things like merch sales can get into the six figures at UFC live events. </p><p> </p><p> Either way it's still really cheap TV for Showtime. Even if they were paying them $5m per three hour show - compare that to what it costs to make a 22 minute long episode of something like Friends and it's bargain basement. If it wasn't beneficial for both parties, it wouldn't be happening, contracts or no contracts.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Makhai" data-cite="Makhai" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>It is, but the events themselves are losing them about 500k a piece. And that's just going by reported salaries info that we know are bullshit. (see: Gegard's epic 2k) At the end of the year, Strikeforce is probably in the red.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's just the differential between ticket sales and salaries. The per event fee they get from Showtime (between $900,000 and $1,300,000) covers everything and ensures that the shows aren't loss-makers. </p><p> </p><p> That's partly why ticket sales have been so poor of late - there is little need to waste money on advertising/promoting live event ticket sales any more.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="ampulator" data-cite="ampulator" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Why the heck did he need to give back the signing bonus? It's not HIS fault that they couldn't get him any fights. Isn't that what a signing bonus for? To show you are going to use him in good faith?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Blackman" data-cite="Blackman" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Yes but his party breached the contract. There's probably a clausule in there for that. Sucks for him.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Nobody breached a contract - it was a mutual termination. "We'll void your contract so you can take fights in Strikeforce/UFC where you would have to be exclusive, in return, you give back some/all of the signing bonus we gave you. Fair deal. </p><p> </p><p> What happens with most signing bonuses is that they're not all paid out at once. You get a sum up front, or nothing up front, and the sighing bonus is paid out over a number of fights. Can't remember what it was off the top of my head, but Overeem got a HUGE bonus for signing with the UFC, to be paid out in instalments over his next three bouts. If you don't complete the required number of fights for whatever reason (they cut you, you quit/retire) you don't get the remaining instalments. If you don't fight at all, you get nothing. </p><p> </p><p> In the Nate's, I'm told he had to give 'a significant amount' of the signing bonus back - I'm sure he kept a fair wedge for his troubles though, otherwise he'd have gained nothing for all his time on the shelf.</p>

Nate had a deal with BAMMA whereby they paid him a hefty signing bonus. He was on somewere in the region of $20,000 to fight, $20,000 to win. BAMMA couldn't afford it. They wanted him on the December card, and advertised him for it. At the 11th hour they announced he had been pulled as they couldn't find an opponent. At the same time they announced him for a card in Feb against Yoshiyuki Yoshida. The Feb card never happened, BAMMA lost their TV deal with SyFy and there were lots of internal issues. At that point Nate's management (Lex McMahon) made the call to terminate their partnership. I'm told, but have not been able to verify, that as part of this Nate had to pay back a significant amount of his signing bonus. Nate was basically kept on the shelf for 3/4 of a year by BAMMA's inability to get him fights. Felt sorry for him, he's a good guy.

RE: Mayhem - The 'incident' reported by MiddleEasy at the post fight screenings has been debunked by two actual MMA journos (as opposed to a couple of perma-stoned Nick Diaz fans who somehow managed to blag press creds). Mayhem demanded a beer off a female member of staff and flipped out on her when she refused. Dana doesn't like him anyway - it was all the excuse he needed to let him go.

Which is why I'm going to be following Jose Aldo around, dropping banana skins in his path wherever he goes. KZ vs Hioki interim title bout, here we come.

That fight was a sick, sick brawl. Really enjoyed it. Both guys showed great heart, and some solid skills. Dunno if Jung has it in him to beat Aldo, but it'll be a hell of a fight. My dream scenario would be for Aldo to beat Koch, then take a long lay off so we could have KZ vs Hioki as a #1 contender bout.

So I thought I'd update you guys on what's going on with my matchmaking career, as I can't be bothered to do another vid right now, lol. Our venue for the Cambridge show pulled out - they apparently couldn't understand the difference between MMA, unlicensed boxing and white collar. Anyway, we moved the show - Now we're in Romford, Essex, City Limits on July 14th. Same main event, Valentino Petrescu vs Deniston Sutherland for the MW title, and I have 8 weeks to put together a great Pro-Am undercard. Anyone in the UK within an hour's distance of it has no excuse not to come and bring lots of mates. Seriously, if anyone wants to come, DM me and I'll do you a deal on tickets, friend prices. I'll be doing another video soon - bit of a hectic time at the moment as I've just quit MMABay and will be starting two new MMA jobs (in addition to the match making) over the next few weeks!

As far as I'm aware, the only Australian MMA fighters are Elvis Sinosic, Tony Bonello, Chris Haseman, George Sotiropoulos, Kyle Noke and that dude with the hair, so I don't know what kind of team they're expecting to put together

I saw the Brock match...it seemed to work because Brock is what, 270lbs and an absolute physical monster. With Mo though, especially when he's in fighting shape, most of the roster is going to be a lot bigger than him, right?

I hate this. I think MMA and pro wrestling should be kept as far apart as possible. I was on the press call yesterday. The TNA woman was saying that when Mo is training for a fight in Bellator, it'll be part of his storyline in TNA. Now, I'm only a very occasional watcher of wrestling these days so maybe my finger isn't on the pulse...but isn't that going to really annoy wrestling fans? No matter how old you are, surely suspending disbelieve is still a major part of enjoying pro wrestling? Now you're gonna have a pro wrestling company running storylines where a guy is training for a 'real' fight...doesn't that take some of the sheen off it? It'll be great for Mo - it'll build his brand and if/when the UFC do come a' knocking in a couple of years time, he'll be able to cash in. The evil side of me does with he'd just go out there and legitimately smash Kurt Angle to bits, if only to end his paranoid delusions of being able to hang with any MMA fighter in a real fight.

Not followed it for a good few years now - but I still enjoy watching a game when I get the chance. Used to play a bit when I was about 13. Went to see Manchester Storm nearly every week. Dale Jago was my hero.

That's a matter of opinion though. Many would argue that an activity where choking and joint manipulation is allowed would be considered fighting. So says his idiot Dad, who also got a telling-off I believe. You are right though - some sections of the media went to within a whisker of implying that the kids were engaged in some kind of bare-knuckle fist fight. Not that I expect anything less from the UK press. Sometimes I wonder why people here are so eager for mainstream media to cover the sport.

I'm a big fan of Ice Puck-Hitting myself, and I do enjoy the odd game of Grass Ball-Kicking

The mainstream media had a field day with the 'kids cage fight' label, but when you get down to the brass tacks of it - they had a point. Those kids should never have been in a cage, in a working men's club, while booze was being sold. If a kid is doing anything other than a solo demo, or hitting pads with his coach, he should be doing so at an inter-club in a gym. Peeps in the MMA industry leapt to the defence of the sport when all that went off...but I know for a fact that the guy who put that show on got...shall we say...a very stern talking to.

I know what you mean - discovered this show a couple of months ago and just finished the fourth season this week. Incredible show. The season four finale was amazing, can't wait to see where they go with the final season.

No, at least not live. When I say small, I mean *really* small. There may only be 5 pro MMA/K-1 bouts on the card, with the rest being semi-pro/ammy. It's being put on (paid for) by a local promoter, CSMMA are essentially lending the brand/staff to get it done at short notice. The next one will be a bit grander. It is being filmed though, and I'll be doing commentary.

Ok, I've got to say it. I have NEVER heard a ref tell fighters to "Go back to your corner pad" before. Ironic that I'd hear it for the first time at an all-female MMA event. And now WMMA fighter Danielle West and I are singing the BodyForm jingle to each other over Twitter. Lolz.

Cheers gents Like I said, have a peek at the first vid and let me know what you want to hear about in future ones and I'll try and make them as interesting as possible. Lol, don't think we'll be heading over the Atlantic just yet. Low Level Regional WMMA fans, Low Level Regional.

http://youtu.be/LmSgprKhhpE Right then, part one of my matchmaking vlog. Just a basic intro really as nothing much has happened yet - but they'll get more interesting as things progress I'm sure :-p I'm not gonna be posting the link in many places at all (if any, for a while) so let me know what you guys want me to talk about, or if I should just stop talking altogether, lol!