Post on Territories/Commissions/Fighters/Title and Real Life examples to game.

[Ramaeno]

I know there is a very productive forum regarding the use of Athletic Commissions, their structure and so on and some of this post here may belong as just commentary in that slot and perhaps not. Rather than the structure of the Athletic Commissions I was thinking about, let's say, specifically, the United States and their policy. In boxing, each state has it's own athletic commission, this is one of the longest issues that many boxing insiders have had to deal with. Everybody wants a national committee and a few don't. There have been documentaries, books and so on but the fact is, each state can operate in its own manner. I'm sure for Mixed Martial Arts the policies must be very similar. I would like to relate a few real life stories to my forum-mates here to see what they think about ways to possibly apply it to the game. Something of note is rivalries... I mean rivalries between television stations is important, not critical but I think it deserves attention. I understand that often times the networks are overshadowed by the product but their is certainly a strong element of competition. In the USA we have UFC on Spike TV and (atleast in NYC) on Fox Sports Net out here you can catch IFL and PRIDE. Remember to those boxing fans when Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson fought? Well Lennox had an exclusive deal with HBO and Tyson with Showtime (resulting from a dispute with Tyson and HBO shortly before Tyson went to jail and briefly after he lost the title to Riddick Bowe). The two networks are boxing rivals but they did what was better for the sport and cooperated to bring a co-broadcast...Michael Buffer and Jimmy Lennon Jr. both did ring amp ups and it was pretty significant...Maybe that can be taken into account as well some how? Another important factor, this is more along the lines of the athletic commissions stuff, is, as I was saying before how each state has its own commission, well hopefully that won't be overlooked because that can play an important role. For example, again with the Tyson/Lewis clash. Tyson was barred from fighting in boxing's prizeland of Las Vegas after the incident with Holyfields ear getting bitten. Instead the Tyson/Lewis bout was staged in Memphis where top level boxing is seldom ever seen. Another example would be the case of Tommy Morrison. In 1996 he tested positive for HIV and had his boxing liscence suspended indefinitely. He went to Japan and fought in a non-sanctioned fight, 2 minute rounds, won by first round KO. Maybe it can be figured into the game? Certain fighters may develop illnesses, not necessarily HIV/AIDS or stuff but perhaps as they get older or should they have suffered some kind of severe beating...they may be banned from fighting in certain places...like Joe Mesi, he's not old and was once the number 3 fighter in the USA. In 2004 I believe it was, he won a fight but in the last round suffered 3 knockdowns. He won by unanimous decision and afterwards it was found out that he suffered multiple concussions and had some kind of brain damage. He hadn't fought in 2 years and had major legal cases with the Nevada Athletic commission. He has since begun a campagn of come back fights, having won them all and sure a victory is impressive but there is something ominous about the fact that they were all fought in weird environments, in unconventional venues... He's still not fought in the more prestigious places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and New York City, not even his hometown of Buffalo. Which brings me to another point, something that may be considered is the venues themselves and their level of prestige. A fight in Vegas is huge. A fight in Madison Square Garden may get super coverage regardless of the fighters. Then again you could have a top attraction at some place out of the way and the oddity of it may spawn off poor press. Perhaps somehow that can be considered? I know in MMA it is very similar to pro wrestling. There is an organization, hands out contracts to fighters and you compete under the umbrella of the promotion. UFC signs guys to fight for UFC Titles and so on... Well to TEW fans, you know how in the new TEW 2K7 we have the occassional regional indy shows? Maybe something to that affect can be considered for the game...but regional championships. Example would be how the New York State Athletic Commission has it's own heavyweight championship. In New York, for die-hard fans it is held in pretty good esteem. Most future champs hold a regional belt... So maybe there can be regional titles can be put into affect here? Not every city has to have one, maybe the more prestigious ones? I know in Europe, for boxing anyway, fighters often fight for the national championship. Paolo Vidoz a bronze medalist boxer from Italy (2000 Sydney Games) became the Italian Heavyweight Championship so perhaps if the world abroad is implemented in the game, in Europe we can have the European nations having titles.....germany, austria, spain, france, italy, russia, greece, netherlands etc. etc. How about amateur competitions for promoters to keep their eyes on the best talent? Also other ways would be for really prestigious companies to hold televised scouting shows or theme shows? like a UFC sized promotion could have a reality show ala Ultimate Fighter with some off the wall write ups? Or maybe just an open tryout forum where there can be a trainer type guy contracted...maybe he's a veteran fighter or the company presidents head booker equivelant and side by side you spectate over tryouts to see who has fire who has flair, maybe one guy is a wild puncher, makes for an exciting fight but his wild skill makes him exceptionally vulnerable and less likely to win (and who wants to keep tuning in to a wild swinger who undoubtedly loses all the time) Maybe there can be ways to drag mainstream celebrities in...mainstream martial arts celebrities...i remember not too long ago there was negotiations rumoured about Joe Rogan taking on Wesley Snipes in the octagon...Now it's been confirmed UFC president Dana White will have an exhibition fight with Tito Ortiz. That's another idea, differentiating between exhibition fights, tryout fights, sanctioned fights. Exhibitions dont need to have necessarily a winner, pads can be on and etc. I dont think there has been an exhibition fight to receive nearly as much hype as when Mike Tyson fought Corey Sanders...one guy had on headgear and a t-shirt. Maybe high profile exhibitons can be a way to train up youngsters or keep old guys with popularity active...bring in viewers/money. How about the importance of gloves/gear in fights? Like maybe there can be a small sub-category dedicated to the number of ounces the gloves are for the fighters to wear. Different promotions require different kind of gloves. There are the grappling gloves of UFC and ten the more kickboxing styled gloves of K1. The heavier the glove the more sluggish it may make a fighter and the more injury may be at risk. Promotion types too....hopefully there will be a way to have something like IFL where it is team based combat...versus the one on one method. IFL I guess is seasonal like football or basketball, teams earning points and so on, although it hasn't caught on very strongly as far as I can say in the USA atleast it adds diversity to the spectrum. Then what about weight limits and those fighters who blow their weight? Weigh ins should be considered as a good way to have some fun and do press/publicity or run "angles" plus if a fighter doesn't make weight then what happens? if i were a title fight and a guy comes in overweight they need to find a 24 hour sub or make it non-title openweight or perhaps the one fighter is suspended or something? Another thing about commissions is perhaps somewhere in the world there can be a national commission. I know England has a fairly strong commission...the BBBofC is pretty strong wouldnt you say? A throwback to when the NBA in the USA was the National Boxing Association and there was just the WORLD Champion not the WBA/WBC/WBF/WBO/IBF/IBC/NABA/NABF/USBA/Etc. Also what about developmental territories? Like how the WBA/WBC have their "developmental" stuff like the USBA/NABF which is like diet WBA or diet WBC just some thoughts throwing out there...get the board talking up..

[NickC13573]

[QUOTE=Ramaeno;215307]Maybe there can be ways to drag mainstream celebrities in...mainstream martial arts celebrities...i remember not too long ago there was negotiations rumoured about Joe Rogan taking on Wesley Snipes in the octagon...Now it's been confirmed UFC president Dana White will have an exhibition fight with Tito Ortiz. [/QUOTE] Finally, Ken Shamrock vs. Celebrity BAMF Chuck Norris

[ACCBiggz]

It was not an exhibition fight with Tito, it was an exhibition boxing bout, 3 rounds only. Dana was an amatuer boxer in the past, and from people that have been around since he was Tito's manager said he normally got the best of Tito. It was scheduled for yesterday, but Tito no showed the weigh-ins. And there have been no celebrities to actually step inside the Octagon, Wesley Snipes' managers and such were supposedly behind him wanting to fight Rogan and they never signed anything, Wesley in fact denies he ever recieved contact from Rogan. [QUOTE]In the USA we have UFC on Spike TV and (atleast in NYC) on Fox Sports Net out here you can catch IFL and PRIDE. Remember to those boxing fans when Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson fought? Well Lennox had an exclusive deal with HBO and Tyson with Showtime (resulting from a dispute with Tyson and HBO shortly before Tyson went to jail and briefly after he lost the title to Riddick Bowe). The two networks are boxing rivals but they did what was better for the sport and cooperated to bring a co-broadcast...Michael Buffer and Jimmy Lennon Jr. both did ring amp ups and it was pretty significant...Maybe that can be taken into account as well some how?[/QUOTE] Spike, FSN, MyNetworkTV (this is new), Ion, etc. are not "rivals" in the same sense that HBO/Showtime are. HBO and Showtime are not really rivals in that same sense either. [QUOTE]Another example would be the case of Tommy Morrison. In 1996 he tested positive for HIV and had his boxing liscence suspended indefinitely. He went to Japan and fought in a non-sanctioned fight, 2 minute rounds, won by first round KO. Maybe it can be figured into the game? Certain fighters may develop illnesses, not necessarily HIV/AIDS or stuff but perhaps as they get older or should they have suffered some kind of severe beating...they may be banned from fighting in certain places...[/QUOTE] Side Note: I believe Tommy has recently made his return because it turns out he never had HIV. That's a heck of a thing to get wrong for all those years. However I like the idea, maybe have a stat or something underlying for how dirty a fighter is as well that would have him suspended from that state. Or as you said medical reasons. [QUOTE]How about the importance of gloves/gear in fights? Like maybe there can be a small sub-category dedicated to the number of ounces the gloves are for the fighters to wear. Different promotions require different kind of gloves. There are the grappling gloves of UFC and ten the more kickboxing styled gloves of K1. The heavier the glove the more sluggish it may make a fighter and the more injury may be at risk.[/QUOTE] I think as Adam said he will try to emulate each MMA Promotion that this will just go along with what kind of organization you create. As with MMA, not K-1, the pending PRIDE purchase by the Fertitta's will probably results in the same rules in hopes to have standard MMA rules across the board. [QUOTE]Then what about weight limits and those fighters who blow their weight? Weigh ins should be considered as a good way to have some fun and do press/publicity or run "angles" plus if a fighter doesn't make weight then what happens? if i were a title fight and a guy comes in overweight they need to find a 24 hour sub or make it non-title openweight or perhaps the one fighter is suspended or something?[/QUOTE] Well after the first weigh-in they normally have 2 hours to lose however many pounds. And if he fails again for promotions like the UFC it is way to shot notice to find a replacement, so it would be openweight fight only if the other fighter agrees. In the case of Lutter he was fined by the UFC.

[TakayamaNOFEAR]

Celebrity's are probably not a good idea, the only celebrity I can think of actually getting into MMA is Bobby Ologun. One thing that is becoming more common though is other sports stars (outside of MMA) coming to MMA.

[toddthebod]

I don't want anything to do with angles or storylines in this game. Maybe a marketing campaign would take the place of the storylines. If you have big names on the card that would mean you wouldn't have to promote as much but with one big name on the card then you would have to run a heavy marketing campaign and maybe an Ultimate Fight Night or some sort of show before hand.

[TakayamaNOFEAR]

No story lines would be a terrible idea, UFC has very simple story lines usually Tito hates Ken, Ken hates Tito buy the PPV watch the press conferences. A lot of time they will also build the fight up as two guys not liking each other when in actuality they are probably going to go out and have a beer after the fight. More advanced story lines are used in Japan, Bob Sapp used to have his beast promos. Rampage was known as the homeless fighter when he first started. I think a good idea would be to have a general layout for the story line. Then depending of the fighters charisma and promos you could give them more freedom. There should also be a risk factor involved because of some of the characters of MMA. While Diego Sanchez is a pretty charismatic person, you might not want to put him on TV representing the sport because you don't know what he will say. To add to the guys idea of exhibition fights, amateur fights are sanctioned in a lot of states. Even when professional MMA is not. You could have a option to put local amateur fighters on the card. Obviously these are cheap but make you show look kind of second rate.

[hrdcoresidebrns]

Storylines I think would have to have some small part in the game at least, kind of similar to the UFC Fight Night cards, where some random chuds fight between promos for the PPV fights. It should be scaled down heavily, yes, but I think it needs to still be considered for the game.