UFC 128: Random Thoughts and Future Suggestions

My personality conflicts with that of Jon Jones.

He is a bible humper who finds a way to squeeze his love for Jesus into every interview.

I’m an atheist who finds that shit incredibly annoying.

Jon Jones stopped a lady from being mugged in a park only a few hours before the biggest fight of his life. He ran down the mugger and took him out with a leg kick from behind before putting him into a leg lock until the police arrived.

I would have just laughed about seeing a lady mugged and went on with my day.

He bragged about narcing out people smoking weed in college.

Almost every friend I have is high as giraffe pussy at this very moment and I could care less.

His interviews are somewhat boring and lined consistently with cliched cookie cutter answers that are about as entertaining as checking my dog’s shit for worms.

Everything I say is completely awesome and highly entertaining because I could give a shit about what anyone thinks about me.

He comes off extremely cocky while giving you the feeling that he thinks his shit smells like daisies and his piss could solve world hunger.

Ok, I guess we have that in common.

All of the above would suggest that I would absolutely despise Jones but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I want to hate this man but his ability in the octagon makes those ill feelings seemingly impossible.

Jones may be the best fighter on the planet right now. He made one of the greatest fighters of all time look like he’d be lucky to make it past the first round in a Bellator tournament. Shogun was supposed to be able to outclass Jones on their feet. Jones landed at will and didn’t take a significant shot from Shogun the whole fight. When the fight was on the ground, Jones landed serious shots from inside Shogun’s guard while completely stifling Shogun’s highly regarded BJJ.

I believe Jon Jones will dominate the light heavyweight division for at least the next year or so. The only people I could see giving him problems in the future are Lyoto Machida and Phil Davis. You never know who Machida’s style may confuse and frustrate. His ability to stay on the outside and dart in with punches may be a good stylistic matchup to deal with the freakish reach advantage Jon Jones has in almost any fight. Phil Davis may be able to put Jones on his back and hold him there after a few more years of development. I would still pick Jones in both of those fights as of right now.

Urijah Faber came to the UFC with high expectations and the full support of the UFC hype machine. Faber was the true star of the WEC and even garnered some mainstream attention by landing a commercial deal with Kenny Powers despite fighting in a lesser known organization. He recently dropped down to 135 pounds after the realization that he doesn’t stand a chance against Jose Aldo at 145 pounds. The UFC’s bantamweight division could really use a popular star to make the casual fan give a shit about the little guys. Urijah Faber is being counted on to be that star.

Eddie Wineland didn’t give a shit about any of that and spent the first round proving that he belongs in the UFC. Urijah Faber turned the fight around in the second by catching a kick and taking Wineland down. Eddie was treated to an all expense paid beat down for the next three and a half minutes. The third round saw Faber use his speed to land solid punches before landing a takedown later in the round to seal the decision victory. It may have not been the exciting debut that Faber was looking for but it probably set him up for title shot against Dominick Cruz.

Jim Miller absolutely dominated Kamal Shalorus. Shalorus apparently has forgotten that he is a world class wrestler and instead decides to pretend like he is Lennox Lewis every time he steps in the cage. Miller’s only two losses have come at the hands of Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. I don’t know if I would take Miller to beat either of those guys if they were to fight again but I do think he is the number 3 lightweight fighter in the UFC.

Nate Marquardt won his fight over Dan Miller but didn’t look as impressive as he should have in the process. It was widely thought that Nate was going to be on another level than Dan Miller and dominate the fight rather handily. That didn’t happen as the always gritty Miller put up a decent fight but still lost a unanimous decision on the scorecards.

Mirko Crocop fought and lost what will probably be his last fight. The UFC has cut him a day after his loss to rising prospect, Brendan Schaub. Crocop hurt his legacy by sticking around past his prime to get knocked out by mid level fighters. Legacy doesn’t pay the bills so I guess I can’t blame him. Schaub will move up in competition but I don’t like his chances against the top level of the heavyweight division.

Fights that I would make:

• Anderson Silva/Jon Jones - The recent comments made my GSP leads me to think that he really doesn’t want to move up to fight Anderson Silva. He seems to think that the size advantage may be to much to overcome. I think GSP stands a solid chance at beating Anderson Silva but I can’t blame the guy for not wanting to take a chance at ruining a dominate run by fighting in a weight class that he is too small for. Silva’s frame is much better suited to move up in weight and fight the best in the lhw division if he gets bored of beating up people in his middle weight division. From a business stand point, it makes more sense to have Silva fight Jon Jones. GSP is a proven ppv draw and fan favorite. If he was to lose to Silva it may hurt his popularity while at the same time not helping Silva out because he would have just beaten a fighter much smaller than him. Jon Jones has a chance to be the Michael Jordan of MMA and a win against Silva would allow the UFC to successfully market him as the greatest fighter in the world. They promote Silva as being that man at the moment but Anderson has never really became a fan favorite largely due to the fact that he doesn’t speak english. I think Jones wins a fight against Anderson Silva by exploiting his lack of wrestling. Sonnen showed us the blue print to beating Anderson Silva but didn’t have the ability to finish Silva. Jon Jones doesn’t have a problem with finishing people. Silva may present problems from his back with a very active guard in which he is pretty damn good at slapping on triangle chokes with his long legs. Jon Jones has long arms that he tends to extend quite often while throwing punches which may allow Anderson to grab wrist control and slap on the triangle but Jones also may be strong enough to power out of anything that Silva has to offer. I would give Silva the edge in almost any standup fight but Jones only has to stand with Silva if he wants to. As soon as Jon Jones wants a fight on the ground, it will be there.

• Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz - This fight is already set up and it makes sense. Dominic is the current champion and his only loss comes at the hands of Urijah Faber. I would expect these two to be the next coaches of The Ultimate Fighter reality series to build up the hype for a rematch. Faber will probably be the favorite based off of his previous win over Cruz but that was four years ago. Cruz has improved immensely since that fight and I think the rematch will be very intriguing.

• Jim Miller vs. Gilbert Melendez - After the purchase of Strikeforce, Dana White mentioned that some fighters from the UFC could end up fighting in Strikeforce to fill out their divisions. With previous losses coming to the top fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division and with little competition for Melendez in Strikeforce’s lw roster, moving Jim Miller to Strikeforce would make perfect sense. This would be a great test for both fighters.

• Nate Marquardt vs. Michael Bisping - Dana White has recently ruled out a fight between Bisping and Sonnen because of Chael’s current legal situation. This leaves Bisping without an upcoming fight and Marquardt would seem to make perfect sense. It would be a step up to top ten competition for Bisping who seeks an eventual title shot. Nate has recently made it known that he dislikes Bisping so it would give the fight an angle to work with when it comes time to market the fight. I think Nate would win this fight and there are few things more enjoyable to me than watching Michael Bisping lose a fight.

• Brendan Schaub vs. the winner of Mir/Nelson - I think Schaub deserves a step up in competition but I also think that he loses to either one of these fighters.

• Shogun vs. Forrest Griffin - A lot of people said that Shogun would have won his fight against Griffin if he would have came into the fight healthy. A rematch would make sense for both of them at the moment. I expect to see Rampage get the next title shot after the Jon Jones/Rashad Evans fight if he can beat Matt Hamill in the meantime. Shogun took a hell of a beating and is going to have to impress people in his next few fights if he expects to ever get a second shot at Jones. Another option for Shogun is to move down to middleweight if it’s a possibility and challenge Silva for the belt.

Zuffa LLC: The Expansion of an Empire.

History was made yesterday when Zuffa LLC, the parent company to the UFC, bought out their biggest competitor in Strikeforce. This buyout puts practically all the world’s greatest fighters in the same organization. MMA is the world’s fastest growing sport and the UFC is now unquestionably the NFL of mixed martial arts.

Dana White, the president of the UFC and owner of 9% of the Zuffa empire, has went on record to say that the two organizations will continue to operate as two separate entities for the time being. Zuffa has past experience running two different MMA leagues at once when they bought out WEC a few years back. Eventually Zuffa folded the WEC and brought their fighters into the UFC and I would expect the same future outcome for Strikeforce once their current contracts run out. There is simply no point in continuing on with two organizations when Zuffa could bring in greater profits by holding all events under the popular UFC banner.

Many hardcore fans and Dana White haters are belly aching over this whole ordeal and arguing that this will be bad for MMA in the long run. Others, such as myself, see this as a good thing because it will lead to all the sharks being in the same tank. The truth probably lie in the middle somewhere in that there are definably pros and cons to this deal.

Competition breeds better pay days for many fighters. Look at Dan Henderson for example. Hendo is one of the greatest fighters of all time and was on a winning streak in the UFC when his contract ran out. The UFC and Henderson didn’t agree on what he should be paid so he left the UFC and signed a better contract with Strikeforce. His Strikeforce contract is up after his next fight though. This means that Henderson will be forced to either take what Zuffa wants to pay him or move on to another MMA league in which the options are very slim if he is looking to get paid. Henderson may have earned himself a little negotiating room with his recent win for the Strikefore light heavyweight belt but he also ruffled Dana White’s ass hairs when deciding to leave the UFC.

Dana White said in an interview yesterday that business will go on as usual with both organizations and that Strikeforce would still be ran by Scott Coker. I imagine this may be true when it comes to certain things but Scott Coker is now working with Zuffa’s money when it comes to renegotiating contracts so I have a hard time seeing Dana having to no say when the contracts are on the table.

Dan Henderson is such a well known commodity to the MMA world that it would be hard to imagine Dana not coming to an agreement to keep him around. Fighters such as Paul Daley and Josh Barnett will probably not reap the same rewards though. Fighters who have ongoing feuds with Dana White will probably not get their contracts renewed once their current contracts come to an end. I understand both sides of the argument but as a fan, I wish that personal conflicts wouldn’t influence professional decisions and that we could see the best fight the best regardless of their personalities outside the cage.

Most fans could care less what fighters are making and are more worried about seeing quality fight cards. The purchase of Strikeforce could lead way to seeing the fights that hardcore fans have clamored to be put on for awhile now. Diaz vs GSP anyone? How about Cain vs Overreem? Jacare vs Maia? Melendez vs Edgar? The possibilities are mind blowing for a true MMA fan.

As of right now, Dana White says those fights are off the table and that the organizations will continue to run as separate entities. Again, I don’t think this edict will last for too long. Dana White has always said that boxing failed because it didn’t give the fans the fights that they want to see. How can Dana keep a straight face as he claims that he basically plans on doing the same thing that he has deemed disastrous for boxing? Zuffa has become who they are by doing what is best for their own pockets and nothing will line their pockets quite like super fights between the two organization’s champions. There is too much money being left on the table for them to continue sticking to this initial flawed way of thinking. As soon as the Showtime contract ends we will get to see the dream fights that we are waiting for. In the mean time, I’d expect Zuffa to use their superior promotional power to build up the Strikeforce champions and challengers so by the time they make it to the UFC every fan will be sitting knee deep in their own slobber and anticipation waiting for the unification bouts to take place.

The purchase of Strikeforce also has a big impact on the amount of fight cards one could expect to see put on in the future. It is not inconceivable to imagine a fight card happening every week in the future. Zuffa has always had goals of making MMA the biggest worldwide sport and expanding into other markets is more realistic now that the UFC has increased the amount of fighters on its payroll. A major television network will eventually give Zuffa the contract and control over their own product that they are seeking thus putting the best MMA organization on network television on a regular basis.

Not many fans can afford 3 or 4 pay per views per month and Zuffa isn’t stupid enough to even float that idea. They know that they will eventually need the help of a major network to make this sport completely mainstream but they seem to be in no rush to do so at the moment. They are smartly holding out to receive an offer that will give them the complete control of their product. The last thing Dana White and company want is CBS forcing such atrocities as Gus Johnson on their broadcasts. Spike TV and Versus are a good start but they don’t reach the same number of household as NBC, CBS, Fox, or ABC so in my opinion its only a matter of time before the UFC calls one of those stations home.

This is an exciting time for fight fans so instead of dwelling on the things that could go wrong with this deal, let’s stay optimistic about what this means to our favorite sport. Zuffa has been responsible for making MMA what it is today and will hopefully continue to pave the road for success for MMA as a whole. No other organization has invested the time and money into making this sport as mainstream as possible as Zuffa has. Its time to stop worrying about the politics and business of MMA and concentrate on what is the most important aspect of MMA which is the fights themselves. Let’s get it on!