UFC?s version of pumping out more product will result in more shows like UFC 122

Whenever the issue of over-saturation comes up, hardcore fight fans — particularly boxing fans — roll their eyes at the notion. Of course, there is a heavy cross-over audience from professional wrestling for MMA and overexposure has always been a critical issue in the wrestling business. The more product there is and the more it [...]

Source: http://www.mmamemories.com/2010/11/16/ufcs-version-of-pumping-out-more-product-will-result-in-more-shows-like-ufc-122.html

Todd Duffee  Marvin Eastman  Stav Crazy Bear Economou  Yves Edwards 

Despite UFC/WEC merger, Versus still committed to MMA

With the UFC and WEC merging, Versus, the television home for the WEC, seemed to be the odd man out. However, it's stepped up its commitment to MMA, and on Thursday, will try out a pre-show and post-show hosted by MMA reporter Ariel Helwani and Molly Qerim, who was formerly on ESPN's "MMA Live."

Marc Fein, the executive vice president of programming, production and business operations for Versus, told Cagewriter that Versus is just as committed to MMA as ever.

"With our relationship with the UFC and WEC, we already started with integration on 'The Daily Line.' With this show, we stepped up with the opportunity on doing a pre-show and a post-show, just like all other major sporting events do, and do a full-on 30-minute show."

"The Daily Line," a nightly show covering all sports, was canceled because the show never really gained traction with viewers. The hope is that the pre- and post-show will entice MMA viewers with a mix of interviews, highlights and fight discussions. UFC president Dana White and heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez are scheduled to appear on Thursday's pre-show. The success of Thursday's show will determine the future of the show.

"We want to get this one under our belt, see what the ratings are, see what the fan and viewer reactions are. Obviously, we need to see when the shows are scheduled to see what we can accommodate, but we're going to step back, evaluate it, and see where," Fein said. "We want to give the UFC/WEC fans a place to come where they come in and get a great, 30-minute show, then after the fight, take a look back and break down the fights."

The network will continue its relationship with Zuffa, the company which owns both the UFC and WEC, despite the merger of the two promotions. Earlier this year, it aired two different UFC events, and next year will expand to four cards.

"Having four UFC fights is absolutely a great thing. We still have rights to run our WEC library going back to 2007 of all the great WEC fights and 'WrekCages,' and things we're doing now like a pre-show and post-show. For us, we think it's great for the brand. It's a natural evolution of expanding our relationship with them."

It always wants to keep the conversation growing, but it is focused on its last two WEC events. 

"We love the sport. We love the UFC. We love the WEC and we're always looking to expand. When the time comes, we'll cross that bridge. Right now, our focus is the two fights the rest of this year which is going to have major implications for these fighters going into the UFC, and also the four UFC fights next year, and I'm sure we'll have more conversations."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Despite-UFC-WEC-merger-Versus-still-committed-t?urn=mma-284095

Dave Gomez Keith Hackney Matt Hamill Volk Han

What's Next for the Winners and Losers of UFC 122: "Marquardt vs. Okami"?

The UFC?s return to Germany is now in the history books, and UFC 122: ?Marquardt vs. Okami? gave us several interesting bouts before completing its run. In the main event, top Middleweight stars Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami battled it out to determine the next UFC Middleweight Championship  contender, with Okami winning what some consider [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/11/14/whats-next-for-the-winners-and-losers-of-ufc-122-marquardt-vs-okami

Tony Fryklund Kazuyuki Fujita Masakatsu Funaki Zelg Benkei Galesić

ROUNDTABLE (pt. 1 of 2): Between Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami, which fighter would have a better chance at becoming the UFC Middleweight Champion? Hansen, Lee, Hyden, Hobaugh and Perez

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The winner of Saturday's UFC 122 main event between Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami will receive the next shot at the Middleweight Championship.  Which of the two would have a better chance at capturing the title?

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

On our Tuesday night Livecast, Matt Pelkey stated with zero hesitation that Anthony Pettis will be the UFC Lightweight Champion after his next two fights.  While this won't be as bold, I will state without any equivocation that two fights from now, Nate Marquardt will be the UFC Middleweight Champion.

ERIC LEE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Nate Marquardt is definitely the real contender in this match up. Anderson Silva has said that he thinks Nate could be the next champ. He is a more well-rounded fighter than Okami and definitely posses the size advantage against pretty much anyone in the middleweight division. Okami's style is too passive and would probably lead to another boring five round fight that Anderson would win via decision. If Nate can get past Okami's wrestling then he absolutely has a real chance against Silva.

FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I think Marquardt would have a slightly better chance of winning the title. I think Marquardt's game is just a bit more sound. I think he'd match up better against either Anderson Silva or Vitor Belfort. Okami is a really good fighter, but I think Marquardt has a small edge here.

ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

I'm going with Okami, but only because he has not had the opportunity to fight Anderson yet in the UFC.  Marquardt was out struck, out grappled and overpowered by Silva.  If I am being honest neither of these fighters have better than a puncher's chance against the reigning champ.  Chael Sonnen proved Anderson is human, but only against a world class wrestler who brought the fight to him.  Neither Okami or Marquadt have the skills to bring the same kind of fight to Silva. Silva wins against either fighter easily.

ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I would have to say that Nate Marquardt has the best chance between himself and Yushin Okami in being successful against Anderson Silva.  Marquardt had the most recent fight against Silva, and knows from a template that Chael Sonnen set up against Silva in August, what kind of fight to bring to the champ.  The difference being that Marquardt, more so than Okami - or Sonnen before him - has the tools to finish Silva off, something that Sonnen couldn't do and paid the price for not doing.  

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_7472.shtml

Hirotaka Yokoi Hidehiko Yoshida Yoshiyuki Yoshida Yoon Dong Sik

ROUNDTABLE: Was UFC 122 the worst UFC event of 2010? Hansen, Lee, Hyden, Hobaugh, Perez, Marsh, Williams, Shelby and Penick

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Was UFC 122 the worst UFC event of the year?

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

UFC Fight Night: Maynard vs. Diaz might have been as bad as UFC 122, but the bar is set lower for a UFN than for a numbered event.  UFC 122 featured the least spectacular card going into the event, and was also the least entertaining event of the year.  Any way you look at it, yes, UFC 122 blew chunks.

ERIC LEE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I would say UFC 120 was the worst event of the year. The fights were somewhat exciting. Condit had a surprising and spectacular knockout. But at the end of the event all that fighting really didn't make anything happen. There was no title fight nor was there even a title contention fight. Condit was not promised a title shot nor was Bisping for his win over Akiyama. It was especially lackluster because the main card only featured one finish from Condit. Every other fight was to decision. Not an event I'll remember.

FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

No, I think UFC 119 was the worst UFC event of the year. The supposed "main event" of Frank Mir vs. Cro-Cop was one of the worst main events in the history of fighting. UFC 119 was one of the worst UFC events of all-time, and anyone who bought that show deserves a refund.

ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

UFC 119 in Indianapolis was the worst UFC event of this year.  UFC 122 was close.  The difference was that 119 was a pay-per-view event.  The fact that 122 was not a pay-per-view makes it NOT AS BAD.  The fights were horrible in both, but not paying for terrible fights is always better than paying for them!

ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

It's possible that UFC 122 was the worst event of the year, but going in, with the fights that were on the card, you had to know it was going to be a dud waiting to happen.  I would actually say that UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi was the worst.  That had a stacked fight card, yet was headlined by one of the worst fights in UFC history with Anderson Silva dancing around Damian Maia, and a sloppy host of other fights. I would say that was the worst with the expectations it had surrounding it.

GRIFFIN MARSH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I'm still waiting on Dana to repay me for 112 and I seriously hope this wasn't his idea of compensation.  It was without a doubt the worst card of the year, even worse than 119.  Every bout with the exception of one or two were capable of inducing an insomniac into a deep, deep sleep. I was very disapointed with the event but hey, it's free!  Hopefully Dana will keep his word as far as the repayment for 112, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

No.  The fights were not riveting, and more importantly, most were not significant (i.e., most of the wins and losses didn't impact the title scene).  Thin cards are what happen when the UFC insists on running so many events per year.  Still, one key reason I greatly preferred UFC 122 to, say, UFC 119 (Frank Mir vs Mirko Cro Cop): the UFC didn't ask me to pay $55 to watch a card that had no business being on pay-per-view.

TOBEN SHELBY, MMATORCH AUDIO CO-HOST

I'm not 100% sure that UFC 122 was the "worst" UFC event this year, but since I fell asleep twice while watching it and several other bad events this year didn't look quite as bad in retrospect, I'll give it the nod. There were some decent fights, but no standouts and a less-than-thrilling main event didn't help. It's weird to say a card that saw a number one contender for the middleweight title emerge was the worst card of the year, but it just didn't leave a great taste in my mouth. 

JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I'd have to lean to UFC 119, because while UFC 122 was certainly a lackluster event, capped off by a disappointing main event, it didn't cost fans to see it, and the expectations were lower. The Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham fight at 119 was the only one that boosted it, but with many disagreeing with the decision it brought that fight down a notch as well. The rest of the fights on the main card of that event were disappointing at best, and really bad at worst. 122, while not a good card, still showcased a few entertaining prelims and wasn't nearly as disappointing as 119.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_7543.shtml

Chael Sonnen Krzysztof Soszynski George Sotiropoulos Haik Soukiasian

Alessio Sakara Out of UFC 122 With Illness

by Michael David SmithAbout an hour after UFC 122 started on Saturday in Oberhausen, Germany, fans got some bad news: Alessio Sakara is out of his co-main event fight against Jorge Rivera because of an illness.

MMAjunkie.com first reported and the UFC confirmed that the bout has been scrapped, and Duane Ludwig vs. Nick Osipczak has been moved up from the non-televised undercard to the main card. Sakara has what the UFC is describing as "flu like symptoms."

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/11/13/alessio-sakara-out-of-ufc-122-with-illness/

Josh Burkman  Mikey Burnett  Murilo Bustamante  Grant Campbell 

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Alistair Overeem says he'll return to Strikeforce no earlier than April 2011

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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The Strikeforce heavyweight division continues to sit in limbo, with most of the main players at the top of the division sitting out of action into 2011. Outside of Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva's bout with Valentijn Overeem on December 4, none of the other heavyweights are currently scheduled to fight.

Fabricio Werdum told Sherdog.com that Strikeforce wants him in a fight in March, but he's looking to fight in Abu Dhabi or Japan in February. Now, Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem tells MMAFighting.com that he won't be returning to the organization until even later.

"I will be ready for Strikeforce as soon as I would say April, May, June," Overeem said.

Overeem is competing in K-1's Heavyweight Grand Prix in 2010, and although there was some jockeying back and forth between Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko and M-1 Global, Overeem says he had made his decision to compete in K-1 because they wouldn't agree to face him.

"I decided halfway August that I was going to compete in K-1, because they didn't want to fight me," he said.

With being in action in December, and possibly looking to fight on the New Year's Eve Dynamite!!!! card from DREAM's parent company FEG, Overeem said he'd need time to prepare to defend his title, but did say he'd prefer to face Werdum when he returns.

"You want to win the fight, you want to kill the guy," Overeem said. "You're not going to take a title defense fight -- which is five times five minutes -- you need to build your conditioning. If I'm going to fight Werdum, if I'm going to fight Fedor, I want to destroy them.

"Personally, I think Werdum. Yep, Werdum, cause that makes sense. I already fought Brett [Rogers] coming out of a loss to Fedor. People gave me a lot of [expletive] for that. 'Yeah, you're a fighting a guy who lost, this and that.' I'm not interested in doing that anymore. Let's stick to some sort of ranking and that rankings tell me Werdum beat Fedor. Now, in my opinion, Werdum is No. 2 and Fedor is No. 3, I would say [Antonio "Bigfoot"] Silva is No. 4."

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: We'll likely wind up seeing Overeem-Werdum still, because if Werdum takes a fight in February, he'd likely be able to return by April or May himself, barring injury. That still leaves a Fedor-Josh Barnett fight on the dockett as well. At this point, while Strikeforce has some good heavyweights on the roster, until they get them fighting one another they've got nothing.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_7537.shtml

Kerry Schall Nino Schembri Fabiano Scherner Semmy Schilt

Former Champ Rashad Evans Clears the Air Regarding Controversial ESPN Interview

Former ufc Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans is no stranger to controversy. We?re talking about a man that heinously knocked out Chuck Liddell, was heinously knocked out by Lyoto Machida, had an incredibly bitter rivalry with Quinton Jackson, and has been criticized recently for a return to his former ?lay and pray? style. Rashad Evans [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/11/09/former-champ-rashad-evans-clears-the-air-regarding-controversial-espn-interview

Jon Jones Nathan Jones  Kevin Jordan Jeff Joslin