DZMMA

5 Biggest Problems in Mixed Martial Arts Today Part one: Fighter Pay and Performance Enhancing Drugs

2013-11-26T21:11:00.002+00:00

The Sport of Mixed Martial Arts is often praised by its fans for being the fastest growing, most exciting and complex sport in the world. However, if asked, many fans will admit that the sport is far from perfect. It is a very young sport and it has multiple organisational and infrastructural flaws which we will look into today.

Problem number 1: Fighter Pay

Low fighter pay is perhaps the biggest problem in the sport today. An undercard fighter who earns 10 grand a fight before tax and fights three times a year (if he/she is lucky) can hardly make a living.

Participating in one of the hardest sports in the world and taking risks in training every day for so little money in hope that everything will go extremely well and perhaps one day 10,000 dollars a fight will turn into 100 grand does not seem like the most clever career option for a young person. There are examples of fighters who realised that the risk is not worth it and have retired very early into their MMA careers. Last year an undefeated Bellator Heavyweight champion Cole Konrad retired at the age of 28. The fighter decided to take up a job with the North Central Trading where he started working as a financial trader specialising in milk products.

It is hard to imagine a successful athlete in any other mainstream sport throwing his athletic career away in a similar fashion. The reality is that MMA fighters do not feel secure. They do not get paid enough and everybody knows it. These athletes cannot expect that fight bonuses will pay their bills; it is money you are not sure you will get.

Advertisement money will not get you sorted either if you are an undercard fighter because nobody will see your fight therefore a sticker on your shorts will not buy you a house.

How to fix it: Establish a fighter union

The biggest argument against the rise of the lower tier fighter pay is the fact that these athletes do not raise any attention and do not sell any pay per views. While that may be true, it is unfair when the salaries of the MMA fighters are compared to the salaries of the lower tier athletes of other sports.

What MMA and UFC fighters in particular really need is a fighter union. An organisation which would be able to make the fighter needs and opinions heard and understood. The 7 year deal between the UFC and FOX is approximately worth $750 million. If, instead of landing in the Fertitta’s pockets, 30% of that money went to the fighters union and then was split up amongst the fighters, the pay situation would be completely different. It is obvious that UFC does not want that to happen, they want to control their own money, they are a private company after all. However, current situation is unfair to the fighters and everybody knows it. Movement to establish a fighters union has to begin sooner or later.

Problem number 2: Substance Abuse

A variety of different substances has been abused by many MMA fighters for as long as since the very beginning of the sport. It has been alleged that today, up to 80% of MMA fighters are on various illegal performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).

Marijuana abuse has been another on-going issue in MMA. Whilst it does not provide its users with any clear advantages in the fights, the main problem with marijuana use is the damage it does to the image of the fighters, promotions and the sport itself.

Performance enhancing drugs are a completely different story. The fact how dangerous, unethical and wide the use of PEDs in Mixed Martial Arts is, has been discussed for many years. Everybody agrees – the use of PEDs must be stopped.

The fighters usually know when they will get tested for drugs. That makes the whole testing pointless, because if the use of a drug is stopped at the correct time, the illegal substances will not show on the test results. It is quite simple. The one time that Alistair Overeem did not know he will get tested for PEDs, he got caught.

However, perhaps the biggest and the most irritating problem in Mixed Martial Arts today is the legal performance enhancing drugs – Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). Fighters are allowed to use the substances by their doctors. TRT lets the fighters train harder and recover faster. That obviously puts the clean fighters under a considerable disadvantage. If not fixed, this problem may ruin the whole sport. What is the point to train clean if you know your opponent is juiced to his teeth.

How to fix it: make rules

Marijuana does not enhance the performance of the fighters. Many athletes do not want to be role models for kids. The governments of the world are losing the war against marijuana. UFC should give up too.

PED use in MMA should be stopped immediately. Athlete testing should be given to the hands of private companies. This is slowly starting to be done. Johny Hendrix and Georges St. Pierre have gone through the VADA/WADA testing. The fighters cannot be informed about the upcoming tests and must be checked randomly.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy must be banned. If it isn't forbidden soon, UFC will be full of fighters in their early 30s on legal performance enhancing drugs. TRT seriously harms the athletes because if done once it must be done for a long time, sometimes for the rest of the person's life. Having TRT still legal is absurd.

Next week: 5 Biggest Problems in Mixed Martial Arts Today Part Two: Judging, Referees and Lack of Competition for UFC.

One of the Greatest Champions of All Times and a New Superstar

2013-09-26T16:51:00.000+01:00

For the first time in his career Jon Jones, in his match up against Alexander Gustafsson has been put in a fight which did not provide him with a comfortable control of the distance.

Staying in the pocket often complemented sweede’s style and staying outside just proved what an important factor the size of Gustafsson was in this fight. Alex’s constant target reaching jabs, wonderful footwork and unbelievable wrestling defence in his fight for the Light-heavyweight title of the world has shocked the community of Mixed Martial Arts. Behold, a new superstar has emerged.

It would be complicated to find another fighter who looked that good losing a decision. Neither Stephan Bonnar nor Mark Hominick can compare to what Gustafsson has done, mainly because of the previous domination of Jon Jones and the very low expectations for Alex. In many ways the story of this fight reflected the scenario of Rocky. Arena, full of Gustafsson fans went wild after every take-down stuffed by the underdog.

On the other hand, Jones has once again proven to be one of the greatest UFC champions of all times. Jon and the referee Big John McCarthy had to beg the doctor not to stop the fight after the fourth round when the cut over the champion’s eye started looking pretty hideous. Overcoming yet another horrible situation reminded us of his previous inspiring performances, be it defending Belfort’s arm-bar attempt or finishing Chael Sonnen with a horribly broken toe. The Light-heavyweight champion of the world has shown to be a living legend, a proud future Hall of Famer. And whilst once again he was booed out of the arena by some UFC fans, everybody knew that a living legend was leaving the building.

A concerning point that has emerged during Jon’s fight against Gustafsson was the amount of adversity the champion has faced when, for the first time in his career fighting an opponent almost his size. One could wonder what would happen if Jones had to meet one of the UFC’s super-human heavyweights. At the moment, probably, an idea of fighting a heavyweight does not sound too appealing to our Light-heavyweight champion of the world.

Chris Weidman and His Dubious Train of Hype

2013-06-30T23:59:00.000+01:00

With UFC 162 fast approaching the organisation is trying to sell Chris Weidman as an unbeaten phenom, a perfect storm to blow away the most dominant champion in the history of the sport. While it sounds very exciting, the reality is quite different. Numerous fans have expressed negative opinions on Weidman as a contender to the Middleweight title. Today we will examine the legitimacy of Chris Weidman as a number one contender.

Chris Weidman is being advertised as a young talent with a whole glorified career ahead of him. With only 9 professional fights on his record it may appear to be true, however in reality he is already 29 years old. In the MMA of today, a fighter in his late twenties is usually only a couple of years away of reaching the hay day of his career. Compared to a 23 year old welterweight Rory MacDonald who at the moment arguably does not get half of the hype Weidman is getting, he should be a seasoned veteran in the fast evolving environment of today’s mixed martial arts. However, Chris is not a veteran, he has a decent 9-0 record with 5 UFC victories, but at the moment his career leaves an impression that the contender has not been tested at the highest levels of the competition.

The UFC Middleweight division has been damaged by an unprecedented domination of its champion. Anderson Silva has beaten Vitor Belfort (current #2 middleweight), Yushin Okami (#3) and Chael Sonnen (#9). The #4 contender Michael Bisping seems to lose every time he gets close to a title shot. Both Ronaldo Souza (#5) and Constantinos Philippou (#6) are a couple of big wins away from a title shot. #7 Luke Rockhold had a lot of hype coming out of Strikeforce as a Middleweight champion but blew most of it away with a spinning heel hook loss to Vitor Belfort. #8 Mark Munoz seems like old news at this point. Talking about current #9 contender Chael Sonnen getting another crack at the middleweight title sounds like science fiction. Having given the current Middleweight rankings a quick look, it is obvious that the division is not going through its best days. It has not been for a while now. That is one of the main reasons why a fighter like Chris Weidman is getting a title shot.

It appears that most of the respect to Chris Weidman comes from his training partners. Former UFC Welterweight champion and Weidman’s training partner Matt Serra has been very vocal when expressing his opinion on Chris: ‘’I believe this guy is a future UFC Middleweight champion. Chris is very good and I believe that sky is the limit for this kid. He has so much potential, it’s scary’’.

But is praise of the respected training partners enough to get you a title fight? Shouldn’t the value of a fighter be proved in a cage, not in a gym? The main problem is that Weidman has not proved himself enough in the cage just yet. His undefeated 9-0 record is fine but by no means impressive. The main issue with Weidman’s record is that it lacks big names and big wins. The decision victory against Damian Maia just proved that the Brazilian should drop down to Welterweight division. In a popular opinion a fight against Mark Munoz did not verify anything. Munoz was sloppy, got tired quickly and probably was and perhaps still is overrated.

We may ask ourselves why with a lack of big fights and experience Chris Weidman is fighting for a title in arguably the biggest fight of the summer. The answer is very simple: at the moment Anderson Silva does not have any noteworthy opponents in the Middleweight division. With all the rumours about a possible super fight match up against George St-Pierre or Jon Jones having not materialised we ended up with a very uninspiring middleweight division. However, the situation would dramatically change if Weidman managed to defeat Silva. All of a sudden we would have a bunch of interesting match ups to make.

The Ethics of Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Mixed Martial Arts

2012-11-03T23:06:00.001+00:00

It is natural that a human body slows down in its mid-thirties. It is also as natural that some elite athletes will not be excited to accept the fact that they will not be able to practice and perform at the same pace and level as before. That is where the question whether something about it could be done arises. When natural methods seem to be inefficient, and steroids are unhealthy, risky, unethical and flatline stupid, an athlete may realise that retirement may be the best solution to his/her issue. However, it can be a hard decision to make to some athletes, especially in a sport like Mixed Martial Arts where fighter’s financial security is more of an exception than a rule.

Fortunately to some, a magical way to slow down the aging process has been found. Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) has proven to be a go to move for the fighters who have either made a decision to prolong their careers, have normal lives or even stay alive. Fighters such as Chael Sonnen, Frank Mir, Dan Henderson and Forrest Griffin have gotten exemptions that allow them to use testosterone therapy and have formed an infamous TRT club of mixed martial arts.

The reasons for the use of the testosterone replacement therapy are often hidden behind various issues. However, it is quite obvious that it is mainly used to slow down the aging process. Amongst many advantages TRT users have reported increased alertness, concomitant decrease in body fat and increase in lean muscle mass. These often are the gains that commonly represent the advantages of multiple illegal substances used by cheating athletes wanting to perform at higher level. One could ask how it is fair to the fighters who do not use TRT. Is natural aging a good enough reason to get a use exemption for something that could classify as a steroid? If that means that every fighter, older than 33 years of age will be legally juiced up, it will be an unprecedented situation in the whole community of sports. In no way possible it is good for the sport. We can only suggest one thing – if an athlete needs TRT – he needs to retire.

An involuntary face of TRT use in MMA, Chael Sonnen, has gone as far as to state that he would die without Testosterone replacement therapy, and that is fine. However, many will agree that fighters who do not need TRT are being put in an unfair disadvantage. It would only make sense if the MMA commissions have agreed to force the fighters in need of TRT to retire. But what stops them from doing that?

The only real reason why the use of TRT is still allowed in MMA is that retirement of such fighters as Chael Sonnen or Dan Henderson does not make sense to UFC as the vast majority of the members of the TRT club are still main event material. UFC is business and business often rises above ethics – as long as the organisation makes money with TRT – it will not oppose it. It is a closed circuit that could only be broken by constant pressure and minor scandals here and there – a tendency that could be noticed today. Therefore, stay positive – a future of MMA without TRT is quite a possibility.

That brings us to marijuana use in MMA. Next to the infamous TRT club there proudly stands another as controversial club: the MMA club of Weed with such prolific members as Diaz Brothers and Matt Riddle. MMA commissions maintain a strong negative stance against the use of marijuana amongst the fighters; therefore multiple athletes have faced suspensions and have lost their victories because marijuana metabolites have been found in their blood. It did not even matter that many of them had a legal right to consume marijuana.

The views of the MMA commissions are quite obvious and acceptable. Elite MMA athletes set example for society and the future generations, therefore it does not matter whether marijuana improves or diminishes the performance of the smoking fighters. It is an illegal substance – therefore it should be eliminated from the mixed martial arts. Fair enough. But how about the testosterone replacement therapy? Isn’t TRT exemption generally the same thing as a medical marijuana card? And aren’t both, testosterone therapy and marijuana equally illegal without exemptions or medical cards? Why be so irregular with the rules? Why accept some flaws but deny others? Again, it is quite simple – fighters who smoke – can fight without marijuana; fighters under TRT would either lose their main event worthy skills or could not fight without it. It is business. Business as usual, Mr White.

A Different Look at Jon Jones’ Defensive Strategy: Can Mixed Martial Arts be Compared to Basketball?

2012-08-24T22:29:00.001+01:00

The shenanigans that have surrounded the cancellation of UFC 151 event in Las Vegas have not been seen in the world of MMA in a very long time. A wave of criticism has been launched at Jon Jones and his coach Greg Jackson for not accepting the short notice fight against Chael Sonnen. While it is very easy to attack the hesitant champion who has probably wasted months of training and thousands of dollars of fellow fighters, dozens of dozens of their training partners and coaches and ruined the weekend of thousands of fans, the following article will suggest taking a look at the situation from a different angle. The question is whether Jones should care about the other fighters and the fans. The proud Christian is in this sport for money after all.

It is very unusual to see one of the elite representatives of a sport to be so controversial and unpopular, be it for his so called ‘’fakeness’’, boring Christianity, arrogance or out of the cage accidents. A few similarities could be noticed between Jones and Miami Heat’s LeBron James who has been heavily critiqued after he chose to leave Cleveland Cavaliers for Miami. Both Jones and James are at the top of their sports; however their previous career decisions have made them quite unpopular amongst a considerable portion of fans. The main question here is – does it really matter to them, as they still dominate the sport and make the same money. Of course, a team sport and a combat sport can hardly be compared; however some correlations are visible and can teach us a thing or two.

We should ask whether Jones does or does not care what people think about him. After all, the champion stated just a few days ago: ‘I fight to make money, quite frankly’. The only way to guarantee a constant flow of money in this sport is by constantly winning fights. It is the mind-set of currently very controversial Greg Jackson’s training camp. Even Dana White has finally stated that Jackson is a ‘’sport killer’’. While many fans agree, Jackson would probably go back to the starting point of the argument: his main concern is not to entertain the audience; his main objective is to provide his fighters with training and a strategy that will reduce the chance of a loss to a minimum. At this aspect, if compared to basketball, MMA is quite different as a majority of basketball coaches firstly focus on defence and make sure that the opponent team finds it as hard as possible to score. A defensive basketball coach does not get critiqued for the lack of use of alley-ups. The defence of his team is a problem of the opposing team – if they are not capable of eliminating the defence – it is their problem. When it happens in MMA – the coach and his strategy are often attacked first.

Maybe basketball fans can appreciate defensive strategies more than MMA fans, or perhaps it is because Mixed Martial Arts as a sport is much younger than a century old basketball. Or maybe this article is only playing devil’s advocate; defensive basketball is much more interesting than careful MMA and Greg Jackson and his point-orientated strategies should be kicked out of MMA as soon as possible before they kill our sport.

What is Next for the Winner of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament?

2012-05-21T14:12:00.000+01:00

The Strikeforce heavyweight tournament has finally ended and we have got a winner. It is safe to say that the victory in the Grand Prix puts Daniel Cormier in the top five of the heavyweight rankings, which could mean that it is about time for him to fight for the UFC title. However, that will not happen yet as Strikeforce (SF) and its host – Showtime have signed the winner of the tournament to have one last fight in Strikeforce. That means that the number one contender for the UFC heavyweight title could very possibly be determined in the Cormier's last fight in SF. ZUFFA have decided to shut Strikeforce's heavyweight division down and send their best heavyweight talent to the UFC. The main question now is who will be Daniel's opponent as at the moment he is the only heavyweight on the Strikeforce roster. It appears that ZUFFA has only two options – they can either bring one of UFC's elite heavyweights, or get a serious free agent to face Daniel Cormier.

The most obvious choice for ZUFFA is to bring a viable heavyweight from the UFC to face Cormier in one of the Strikeforce's main events. However, a fighter with a UFC contract has never fought in Strikeforce. B.J. Penn has been offered to face Gilbert Melendez for the SF lightweight title but turned the offer down, stating that he considers trying to get a title in another organization after failing to regain his title in UFC to be bad for his reputation. It could be a different story for a UFC fighter who would be sent to Strikeforce to face Daniel Cormier. It is not a mere opportunity to prove that he is still a viable fighter, it is a chance to establish himself as a true contender for the most prestigious MMA title in the world. It is an opportunity to get a chance to prove that he is the best in the world. One does not turn down such an offer.

Shane Carwin – Chances to Face Cormier - Quite Likely

Carwin has lost his last two fights, however those two defeats were very memorable battles and the fans seem to be very excited to see the engineer back in action again. Shane Carwin has undergone a back surgery and is expected to be back in the Summer. It seems as a perfect time to face Cormier in a Strikeforce main event. The reputation of Carwin and the Grand Prix title of Cormier may be good enough reasons to decide the number one contender.

Shane Carwin has only got two losses on his record, both of the losses being very memorable and exciting fights. The American has lost his first fight after dominating Brock Lesnar in the first round and gassing out in the second. His second loss was against JDS where Shane proved that he was able to compete for three rounds. Now, it may seem that we do not want to see Carwin face Dos Santos or Mir again, and that may be true, but if Cormier defeated Carwin, then he could easily be considered a number one contender. In conclusion, Shane Carwin could be an ultimate test for Cormier, therefore ZUFFA's decision to organise this fight would not be a surprise.

Cain Velasquez – Likely

Velasquez has lost his fight against Dos Santos very quickly and many fans of the sport believe that a rematch has potential to be very interesting if Cain finds an opportunity to apply his wrestling once the fight reaches later rounds.However, it is hard to say if UFC is ready to send one of their biggest names down to Strikeforce as they could keep him in UFC and build him from there whilst making more money. Another argument against Velasquez is the fact that the majority of the fans are not very keen on seeing Dos Santos face another high-level wrestler. In his last three fights, the Brazilian has established his take-down defence against such elite grapplers as Roy Nelson, Shane Carwin and the same Velasquez. However, if Frank Mir manages to defeat JDS, we could finally see the fight that many fans have been looking forward to - Mir vs Velasquez. A classic battle between an elite jujitsu practitioner and a celebrated wrestler, a face off between two elite heavyweights, a match where one mistake could make a big difference.

Cain Velasquez seems as the most worthy of a title shot if he wins against Bigfoot Silva. Beating the Brazilian giant does not seem as an easy task and that is the biggest argument against Velasquez's fight with Cormier.

Winner of Stefan Struve – Lavar Johnson – Possible

ZUFFA may decide that Daniel Cormier is not close to facing the UFC heavyweight champion just yet. In that case, a fight against the winner of Struve – Johnson would make a lot of sense. It could be an ultimate test for the winner of the Grand Prix – an exam against a very succesful UFC heavyweight.

Strikeforce may decide to sign a free agent – a fighter without a contract to face Daniel Cormier for his last fight in their organisation. The main issue here is the fact that the vast majority of the elite MMA heavyweights have already signed with UFC, leaving only a few possible options to consider here.

Fedor Emelianenko – Quite Unlikely

If the Last Emperor finally decides to prove that he still can stand with the best in the world – that is his chance. Even though we saw him get submitted by Werdum, falling in the tournament and being crushed by Henderson, the Russian still has a huge fan-base that will be very interested to see him fight the best in the business.

The main issue here is Fedor's or his management's unwillingness to realise that they cannot control the situation any more and that they will have to adapt to the needs of UFC. It is hard to determine whether Emelianenko's statements about retirement are serious, but we have heard fighters say they are done fighting and then fighting again, for many years.

Sergei Kharitonov – Very Unlikely

When Kharitonov lost his last fight in Strikeforce heavyweight tournament many have expected to see him fight in the UFC very soon. However, the dynamic striker did not, instead fighting only one kickboxing match in the last seven moths. The Russian needs to get a fight, perhaps in the UFC, however it seems that he does not deserve to face Daniel Cormier. At least not at this point of his career.

Tim Silvia – Very, Very Unlikely

Lately Silvia has been very active stating that he wants to get back to the UFC. A fight against Daniel Cormier could be a great chance to prove his abilities. The fight would also interest the long time fans of the former UFC champion.

However, it is quite obvious that Tim's time has passed. The training video that he has posted on Youtube was nothing but embarrassing. If Strikeforce signed Silvia to fight Cormier, it could be considered as a sign of organisational weakness, a mark of being inferior to UFC. That is something that Strikeforce will avoid doing, therefore they will probably avoid signing Tim Silvia.

While the fact that the winner of the tournament will need to stay in Strikeforce for one more fight has been critiqued by many, it still has its pros. It will be an important moment for both, UFC and Strikeforce. The day of transition, Daniel Cormier, the fighter who grew up in Strikeforce will leave it to do great things in the world of elites.

The Ups and Downs of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament

2012-05-16T23:24:00.000+01:00

When Strikeforce announced that they will be organizing a heavyweight tournament - we nodded, there has not been a renowned MMA tournament in a very long time. When the president of Strikeforce, Scott Coker, stated that it may go down as the best MMA tournament of all times - people smirked. Next to UFC, Strikeforce was small and powerless. However, they managed to get a bunch of elite heavyweights to perform and deliver in every fight. Those who smirked in the past - do not any more.

Today, right before the final fight of the tournament between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier, we can look back at the Grand Prix and evaluate it. As mentioned above, Strikeforce succeeded at the most important aspect of organization - they have gathered a group of heavyweights who have brought a broad arsenal of skills and heavy power. One could argue that today, every single fighter (with an exception of Andrei Arlovski) in the tournament could at least co-main event a big UFC pay per view card. Another major reason for the tournament's success has been the fashion of the fights. With an obvious exception of Werdum vs. Overeem, the fights were entertaining and hardly predictable. These are the reasons why heavyweight fights are favorite among the fans of the sport.

While the tournament was successful, it was not perfect. First of all, the whole tournament has been built around the hype that Fedor Emelianenko carried around with him. Strikeforce was shaken and the fans were shocked when Emelianenko was defeated by Bigfoot Silva. It seemed that without its biggest draw, Grand Prix was going to lose its legitimacy. But it did not. Mostly because Fedor had left the tournament to get knocked out by Dan Henderson. It was a sign that the times have changed and that some cannot adapt to the changes. The fans turned their eyes to the tournament again.

The loss of Alistair Overeem was another major strike for the tournament. Once Fedor was gone, the fans were expecting Alistair to easily walk through every other opponent in the tournament. However, the Dutchman's management team gets into a conflict with ZUFFA, Alistair dubiously injures his toe and gets his leaving papers from Strikeforce. Today, it is almost safe to say that ZUFFA was doing everything it could to remove Overeem from the tournament and bring him to the UFC to fight Brock Lesnar. As usually - ZUFFA was successful. Again, it seemed that the tournament is going down the drain, but then Daniel Cormier enters the tournament as a substitute for Overeem and delivers the best performance of his life knocking Bigfoot Silva out in the first round. At that point, a match-up between Cormier and Barnett who has successfully defeated all of his opponents in the tournament, sounded great. And it still does.

Another considerable issue for the tournament was the fact that it took too long to finish. With the first fight taking place on the February 12, 2011 and the last one on the May 19, 2012, the Grand Prix took at least 6 months longer than it should have. With multiple postponed events, the tournament has lost some of its momentum.

In conclusion, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix was a breath of fresh air in the world of MMA as the tournament style reminded the fans of the legendary days of PRIDE. The tournament was not only a reminder of Pride, it was as entertaining and unpredictable as the most of the Pride tournaments. Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix will be put on the same shelf of the MMA's hall of fame as the best of the Pride tournaments.

The next edition of DZMMA will discuss the future of the winner of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament.

Nick Diaz Strikes Again

2011-09-10T21:45:00.005+01:00

Earlier this week Nick Diaz had failed to show up in a press conference for his fight with Georges St-Pierre. UFC's reaction was quite simple – they removed Diaz from the main event and offered the title fight to Carlos Condit. At that point it seemed as one of the biggest disappointments in the history of the mixed martial arts. Luckily for the fans of the sport and Nick Diaz himself, UFC has given him another chance. Diaz will fight B.J. Penn on the co-main event on the same UFC 137 card. UFC has once again showed that they feel very strong at the moment and that they will not let be intimidated by fighters and will not hesitate to take tough decisions. Where does Nick Diaz stand after the tough week and what do other fighters think about this straightforward UFC strategy?

Nick and his brother Nate were always wild cats. A fight in a hospital, a post- fight brawl in a cage, failing a drug test – Nick Diaz is well known to be trouble. UFC were very well aware of that, they knew another thing though – Nick Diaz is a hell of a fighter. ''He just has to play the game, just a little bit'' – Dana White explained that he wants Nick to join UFC, but he will require him to follow the rules. Dana signed Diaz for possibly one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport. UFC were about to sell the fight as ''Champion VS. Champion''.

When Diaz was gone missing, his manager and a long time coach Cesar Gracie said: ''I have stuck up for him many times before, but I really cannot this time''. He mentioned that Nick has social anxiety and hates to go to conferences and do the interviews. But that is a no excuse as half of a fighter's job, especially on such high level, is to sell the fight – talk to the media and do the interviews. The next day Diaz released a video on Youtube stating that he missed the conference but he would have never missed a fight. The day after the video was released, UFC announced that Nick Diaz will be fighting B.J. Penn. What seemed to be one of the biggest disappointments in the history of the Mixed Martial Arts, has turned out to be not that bad after all – we will still see Nick fight on the same card and if he wins and proves that he can be trusted, he might get that title shot after all. The championship belt is still very close, Nick simply has to play the game, at least a little bit.

UFC has proved again that they will not hesitate to take drastic decisions when they are needed. They have fired the former middleweight title contender Nate Marquardt just a couple of months ago. UFC's rough decisions were not unnoticed by the MMA community. That's what Srikeforce light heavyweight Muhammed Lawal had to say about UFC's decisions: "I don't give a [expletive]," he said. "I'm going to speak my mind. What are they going to do, say 'Respect the organization or you're going to be out forever?' Get the [expletive] out of here with that [expletive]. I'm just keeping it real. Make sure you put that in there."

UFC Rio and The Best Fighter in the World

2011-09-03T22:44:00.002+01:00

UFC Rio event was a big success as a knock out packed pay per view did not disappoint any fan. It was a different experience with Brazilian fans creating an atmosphere we have not experienced before. It was a great night for every fan. The happiest man in the end of the night though, probably was Anderson Silva.

Songs and chants were spread throughout the building before, during and after the fights. Most of the chants had nothing to do with the mixed martial arts or fighting itself, majority of songs were about football. While some fans around the world liked it, others stated that it should not be a part of the MMA event experience.

Fifteen victories in a row, nine title defences. These are Anderson The Spider Silva's records in the UFC. These records will not be beaten soon. If some fans still argued and said that The Spider is not the best fighter in the world, they had to change their minds after the Rio event. Once again Silva crushed yet another number one contender. It was an overwhelming victory. In the middle of the second round in the stand up The Spider put his hands down – a dangerous sign for any of his opponents. Yushin Okami fell for the trap, the rest of the fight was similar to the Silva – Griffin fight, that took place in 2009, one of the most one sided fights in the history of the UFC.

It is hard to say what awaits Silva in the future. He is the best pound for pound fighter in the world today, no doubt about it. There are two possible opponents that Silva might be interested to fight. The first one is Chael Sonnen, the man who almost defeated Silva in a five round battle back in August of 2010. After the fight The Spider stated that he was fighting injured so he might want to redeem himself and prove that the fight could be very different if it would take place again. However, for the fight to happen Sonnen has to win against Brian Stann who looks very strong at the moment.

Another very interesting fight to consider is the super fight against Georges St-Pierre. If the fight happened it would without any doubt be the biggest fight in the history of the sport. Dana White said: 'I am not sure if there is a stadium in the world big enough to hold this fight'. However, GSP has to fight Nick Diaz next. Most of the experts agree that Diaz might be St-Pierre's toughest opponent in a very long time.

Silva versus GSP is a fight that every fan would like to see and the UFC has to do everything they can to make the fight happen as soon as possible while both of the fighters are in their prime.

UFC On FOX

2011-08-27T23:33:00.002+01:00

UFC has signed a seven year contract with FOX television network. That means that by the end of this year, there will be no Ultimate Fighter or any other UFC show on Spyke TV. What does the move to FOX give to UFC and the fans of MMA? Could other MMA promotions profit from this deal?

First of all, FOX can be reached by way more people than Spyke, secondly the deal states that UFC material will be shown not only on FOX but also on other two channels controled by FOX. That provides UFC with many more viewers than Spyke could provide. A lot of people will see MMA for the first time when it starts airing on FOX, therefore it is the next step towards making MMA a mainstream sport.

Financial details of the deal haven't been released, but there have been talks of the deal being around 90 million US dollars a year. That means that FOX might be paying around 600 million dollars to have UFC on their network for the next seven years. UFC president Dana White stated that moving to a national network has been their aim for a very long time. He also said that there will be many changes in the way their shows are presented: ''We want to make it a new start''. Utmost changes will take place in their reality show Ultimate Fighter. From now on all the fights will be shown live, every week. The presentation of UFC pay per views will be changed as well – the gladiator intro is going.

These are big changes for the UFC. Could other MMA promotions use it as a push? Possibly. With UFC leaving, there will be a spot for a Mixed Martial Arts show on Spyke which has a lot of MMA fans amongst its viewers. Biggest, non ZUFFA MMA promotion in the world today is Bellator Fighting Championships. They could and should look into possibility to move to Spyke. It might be complicated as both MTV2 (channel Bellator is on today) and Spyke are ran by the same company. When the time comes to move, somebody else but not Bellator management might make the last decision.

The move to FOX is one of the biggest changes in the UFC history. The deal is not only positive for the UFC, it is great for the sport of MMA itself.

Hyping a Mixed Martial Arts Fight

2011-08-22T21:41:00.005+01:00

The more people watch a fight, the more money the promotion makes therefore the fighters get paid better. In order to attract people to watch a fight, the fight itself has to be interesting. Many fighters choose to make the battle more entertaining before they step into the cage. They talk. They may say insolent comments about their opponents, they may express their respect. The desired outcome of these pre-fight debates is to make things more interesting. More spectators will be attracted if the fight is personal for the fighter.

There is no solid opinion on the pre-fight hype amongst the fans of MMA. Some people like it when the fighters start hyping the fight, while other fans believe it looks silly and makes MMA look like professional wrestling. When it comes to hyping a fight in the UFC, one name comes to mind faster than any other – Chael Sonnen. His banter before the title fight against Anderson Silva was funny, entertaining and most importantly it made the fight more interesting. ''I'm going to through him on his back and make a hole in his face. Anderson Silva has a black belt under the Nogueira brothers. I think it is like saying that I've got a free toy in my Happy Meal'' With all those bold comments have been made before the fight, everybody expected Chael Sonnen to be great against Silva. And he was.

However, Sonnen did not run his mouth like that through out his career. It started in UFC 104. He was to fight Japan's Yushin Okami. There wasn't a lot of hype for that fight, Yushin is known to be a man of few words, many fans were not looking forward to this fight. Sonnen was very disappointed when he found that the fight will be on the preliminary card and will not even be shown on the television. Sonnen realised that if his opponent does not try to sell the fight, Chael has to.

Chael Sonnen has his own view on hyping a fight. He believes that everything that is said before a fight, has to be true. Sonnen expressed his discontent with Josh Koscheck for his behaviour after the title fight with Georges St Pierre. Koscheck had started a campaign of taunts and sneers before the fight. However, after the fight, Koscheck admitted that all the bold statements were made to only hype and promote the fight. Chael Sonnen found it to be very dishonest and stated that he stands behind every thing he has said before a fight.

Having an interesting personality in MMA is very important. It is not an easy skill to master but being loud before a fight has saved and created careers in this sport.

What is Next for the Demolition Man

2011-08-20T22:31:00.000+01:00

I spoke about the Golden Glory camp fighters having been fired by Zuffa in my last post. Amongst the fighters who have lost their jobs, there was The Demolition Man Alistair Overeem. The situation with Overeem is pretty clear, today he is a top 5 heavyweight fighter in the world therefore for him fighting anywhere else but in UFC would be unfair. Alistair knows it, Dana White knows it and most importantly MMA fans know it. The questions are: when is he coming to UFC and who will he fight?

Getting the Demolition Man into the UFC as soon as possible should be a task number one for Dana White. The upcoming fight between Junior Dos Santos and Cain Valasquez will determine the owner of the UFC Heavyweight championship belt. Joe Silva (UFC matchmaker) definitely has to think about the future (and he does). A question arises: who will be the next heavyweight contender? There is no such defined and ready to fight for the title fighter as there is one in the light heavyweight division. Rashad Evans has been ready to fight for the title for the last two years. Heavyweight division needs that man too. Alistair is not ready to be that man yet.

Now, if we bring Alistair to the UFC, everything would immediately become very interesting. I have heard people saying that Overeem should get an instant title shot and I do not agree with it. He is relatively new in the heavyweight class and still has to prove himself. In his last fight, he won against a man who was lying on the mat by himself for the half of the fight and Alistair wasn’t impressive in his victory. So who should The Demolition Man fight in his first UFC fight? Well, Frank Mir has built some momentum by winning two in a row. By winning this fight Overeem would definitely open the gates of UFC loudly. It has been said that Brock Lesnar is feeling better, we saw him hunt again. Now that would be a fight that could headline any Event.

Today it is still not clear when Lesnar will come back and Frank Mir still does not have an opponent for his next fight. For these reasons alone I believe that a fight against Frank Mir could be a perfect first fight in the UFC for the Demolition Man.

Zuffa and Strikeforce – Business as Usual

2011-08-20T22:28:00.000+01:00

It seems that Zuffa is doing everything they can to close down the Strikeforce as soon as they think it is time to. They are doing what they have done before with Pride and ECW. Even though keeping Strikeforce as lower league of UFC, where they could build up younger fighters and then bring them to UFC might seem like a great idea to many fans of the sport, Dana White and Fertitta brothers are good businessmen, it seems that somewhere behind the closed doors of Zuffa decision has been made to close down the Strikeforce. When? By the time Strikeforce’s contract with Showtime runs out, and it will happen soon, might be a good guess.

To understand what Zuffa (owner of UFC) has been doing, one should look at the list of the fighters who have left Strikeforce to join UFC. Strikeforce Welterweight champion at the time Jake Shields, their number one contender Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller and finally, possibly best fighter under the contact with Strikeforce – Nick Diaz who will face number one pound for pound fighter in the world Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight title in UFC 137 this October.

What is more, they have fired every fighter who was managed by the Golden Glory management team. Dana White said that he is not happy with the way Golden Glory requires the fighter money to be paid to the management team first. Amongst the fired fighters there was Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. This conflict not only messed the whole heavyweight class up, but possibly ruined their heavyweight tounament, the only thing that lately seemed to go right for Strikeforce. One of the fighters was Marloes Coenen, she has just lost her title to Miesha Tate, it brings a lot of problems to the female competition in Strikeforce as Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Champion cannot find a worthy opponent for more than a yearnow. But what does UFC or Dana White care, they have many times stated that they are not interested in Women’s fights.

With Fedor Emelianenko being almost not relative any more after his three fight loss streak, does Strikeforce still have world class fighters, fans would like to see fight? The answer is a weak yes. There aren’t a lot of interesting fighters left. The fighter on the top of the list is of course Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez, but looking at the way Zuffa has treated Strikeforce after the big deal, it is only a question now when Melendez moves to UFC. Dan Henderson’s contract has just ended and Hendo has made it clear that he is interested inrenewing his contract with Strikeforce. Paul Daley as everybody probably knows will never come back to UFC after what happened after his fight with Josh Koscheck. Tyron Woodley might be the last very interesting fighter under the Strikeforce wing.

So yes, what seemed to be an amazing promotion one year ago, is now turning in to an almost dead show. And we shouldn’t be surprised, it did happen before. Dana White said, and I quote: ”Business as usual”.