***spoilers*** UFC News and Discussion Thread

[naiwf]

IIRC, his contract with Pride is up after the next event. The word is either Pride won't resign him or he'll take a pay cut. Apparently one reason Quinton isn't too keen on signing a UFC contract, besides the lower salary, is that they want to throw him in with Chuck right away while Quinton says he needs a warm up fight first. I seriously think it's worth the risk, they need to fatten up that 205 division since it is their big marque division. If Quinton gets a few warm up fights and wins them, they have another a much needed big name. It's much MUCH better then having Belfort come back out nowhere or Ken Shamrock fighting for the title. And if Quinton does bomb in the UFC, the clause in the contracts allow the company to let a fighter go if he loses one or two fights (not sure, I can't remember)... At least that's what Frank Trigg said. Frank, IIRC, signed a new 3 fight deal either before his loss to Hughes or GSP and they let him go right after UFC 54.

Edited February 7, 2006 by naiwf27

[Guest Takayamanofear]

2 shows and you think it's been horrible? 2 shows doesn't mean MMA is having a bad year in the ring.

[LL!]

2 shows and you think it's been horrible? 2 shows doesn't mean MMA is having a bad year in the ring.

Actually it is more like 5 shows 55 56 and 3 Ultimate Fight nights.

Fair enough. I still don't see how that means it was a bad year for MMA.

[Guest Takayamanofear]

Fair enough. I still don't see how that means it was a bad year for MMA.

[ACCBiggz]

I still think it was a strong year with the fights. Let's recap:

Super Saturday:

Nick Diaz/Drew Fickett

Karo Parisyan/Chris Lytle

David Loiseau/Gideon Ray

Evan Tanner/David Terrell

Andrei Arlovski/Tim Sylvia

Pete Sell/Phil Baroni

Tito Ortiz/Vitor Belfort

Very solid card, some good matches.

Ultimate Fighter Finale:

Mike Swick/Alex Schoenauer

Chris Leben/Jason Thacker

Sam Hoger/Bobby Southworth

Diego Sanchez/Kenny Florian

Forrest Griffin/Stephan Bonnar

Rich Franklin/Ken Shamrock

Without this show and finale UFC and MMA do not prosper as much. This night made Franklin, Griffin, Bonnar, and Diego.

Couture/Liddell 2:

Joe Doerksen/Patrick Cote

Ivan Salaverry/Joe Riggs

Georges St. Pierre/Jason Miller

Matt Hughes/Frank Trigg

Chuck Liddell/Randy Couture

Good card.

Heavy Hitters:

David Loiseau/Charles McCarthy

Forrest Griffin/Bill Mahood

Rich Franklin/Evan Tanner

Karo Parisyan/Matt Serra

Andrei Arlovski/Justin Eilers

One of the weaker, but still solid bouts.

Ultimate Fight Night:

Drew Fickett/Josh Neer

Mike Swick/Gideon Ray

Nathan Quarry/Pete Sell

Stephan Bonnar/Sam Hoger

Chris Leben/Patrick Cote

Some good KO's, Bonnar's fight, and the Leben/Cote battle all on free tv.

Boiling Point:

James Irvin/Terry Martin

Georges St. Pierre/Frank Trigg

Diego Sanchez/Brian Gassaway

Randy Couture/Mike Van Arsdale

Tim Sylvia/Tra Telligman

Chuck Liddell/Jeremy Horn

Two of the best knockouts in 05, a good match with Couture/VA, and building up GSP.

Ultimate Fight Night 2:

Drew Fickett/Josh Koscheck

Chris Leben/Edwin Dewees

David Loiseau/Evan Tanner

A weaker UFN, but Leben and Losieau again showing they are good fighters on free tv setting up potential, and in DL's case, an eventual title shot. Fickett and LaynPrey was just a personal favorite.

Fury:

Marcio Cruz/Keigo Kunihara

Jorge Rivera/Dennis Hallman

Renato Sobral/Chael Sonnen

Forrest Griffin/Elvis Sinosic

Andrei Arlovski/Paul Buentello

Injuries prior to the card hurt it, and the lack of a heavyweight division. Still a good knockout by Andre, and some solid matches with lesser known fighters.

Ultimate Fighter Finale 2:

Kenny Florian/Kit Cope

Joe Stevenson/Luke Cummo

Rashad Evans/Brad Imes

Diego Sanchez/Nick Diaz

Again not a stellar card, but solid. Diego/Diaz war was nice.

Full Force:

Nick Thompson/Keith Wisniewski

Sam Hoger/Jeff Newton

Jeremy Horn/Trevor Prangley

Georges St. Pierre/Sean Sherk

Matt Hughes/Joe Riggs

Gabriel Gonzaga/Kevin Jordan

Rich Franklin/Nathan Quarry

GSP, Hughes, Franklin all showed superior fighting ability. Some decent undercard bouts, and setting up hopefully a GSP/Hughes fight.

Now with Penn, Ortiz, Shamrock, Gracie all coming back for at least one to two fights 2006 should have at least one "Superfight" for every card set-up. The heavyweight division is weak, but with all division at least UFC is trying to build their own stars so they don't have to sign huge names for a lot of money. Eventually if they start making a dent in Pride's progress they'll have the top fighters without having to go in to a bidding war.

A good year for UFC in the ring too...

[Guest Takayamanofear]

Now with Penn, Ortiz, Shamrock, Gracie all coming back for at least one to two fights 2006 should have at least one "Superfight" for every card set-up. The heavyweight division is weak, but with all division at least UFC is trying to build their own stars so they don't have to sign huge names for a lot of money. Eventually if they start making a dent in Pride's progress they'll have the top fighters without having to go in to a bidding war.

A good year for UFC in the ring too...

[Enter Blue Guy]

Many wondered if the UFC would ever make it mainstream in the sports world, and while sports shows like ESPN or Fox Sports Network may not have UFC 57 on Sportscenter, stations like ESPN NEWS have traditionally done a good job of getting the main event guys on their show, especially when Brian Kenny is hosting. As far as the numbers for UFC 57 goes, it may have been the most successful UFC as far as pure numbers go in the history of the company.

According to the early numbers from this weekend, you can expect HUGE pay per view buys from this show. Even though it’s very, very early, the early numbers from my insiders from Direct TV and Dish Network estimate the pay per view should be on course to do somewhere in the ball park of 350,000 pay per view buys. It may even be more than that, but the numbers are way ahead of where they normally are for a typical UFC pay per view weekend according to many inside the pay per view business. Remember it wasn’t long ago when we were all excited about 150,000 buys at UFC 40 between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. Now if the early numbers are correct and if this show does 350,000, we are on our way to see the UFC becoming more and more of a major player against boxing and wrestling pay per views.

More numbers to think about. UFC 57 sold out in just five short weeks. Remember people were spending anywhere from $100 to $700 dollars for tickets this super bowl weekend. There were scalped tickets selling for thousands and thousands of dollars at Mandalay Bay. Translation: this will be the biggest gate in the history of the UFC. Zuffa will no doubt bank a ton more cash with the return of Royce Gracie facing Matt Hughes in May, but even as great of a match-up as that will be for the live gate, nothing will sell as fast as what happened last week for the future April 15th show- UFC 59.

Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin headlines the big event in California at the Arrowhead Pond and the bottom line is the fans in California have spoken- UFC 59 in Anaheim has already sold out!! Remember the fastest selling UFC ever was UFC 57 this past weekend which sold out in five weeks. UFC 59 sold out in less than five days. That’s right if you are keeping track at home the single tickets you may or may not be able to buy as of this column, actually sold out in THREE DAYS. From five weeks to three days is mind boggling. The numbers don’t end there.

This weekend the internet search engines were buzzing. Searches on the UFC soared 127% from normal on the internet with search engines like Google and Yahoo being hammered with queries featuring “UFC 57" as well as “Liddell” and “Couture.” An article today stated that there was a an increase of “1,747% in searches on UFC 57 results." Remember the only numbers that were more searched were of course the Super Bowl and believe it or not the Lingerie Bowl....(hard to believe guys find chicks in lingerie playing football exciting, I know.)

The UFC has never been hotter and Zuffa continues to pound the pavement trying to figure out how to get ever more mainstream. Say what you want about UFC President Dana White, but the bottom line is the fact that he has taken this sport to a new level and delivered on his promise when he took over years ago.... saying that he would take the sport to heights it’s never seen in the next five years. Now in year six of White’s reign, he was absolutely correct. It may have taken a year more than he originally thought it would, but White has made the UFC more mainstream that it ever has been in it's ten year history. White continues to log a ton of frequent flyer miles as he is already on a plane to Canada to start a media blitz for the UFC 58 show featuring the “USA vs Canada” theme in March. White will be meeting the Canadian press all week long promoting the show. There is no denying he does work harder than anyone period to promote his product by flying coast to coast to unlocking barriers in California or the world for that matter.

MMAWeekly.com

[ACCBiggz]

Now with Penn, Ortiz, Shamrock, Gracie all coming back for at least one to two fights 2006 should have at least one "Superfight" for every card set-up. The heavyweight division is weak, but with all division at least UFC is trying to build their own stars so they don't have to sign huge names for a lot of money. Eventually if they start making a dent in Pride's progress they'll have the top fighters without having to go in to a bidding war.

A good year for UFC in the ring too...

It was a good half year I agree with the theory that after UFC 54 things dropped off. You kind of pointed it out your self. UFC by no means had a bad year but up until now they only thing I wanted beyond 54 was the Andrei fights. Matt Hughes will never excite me as a fighter, Franklin is good but he will never be a superstar. I just feel if they would have had 54 at 55 it would have seemed like a better year. In the end what started off has a marquee year ended up mediocre.

[Guest Afroduck]

I didn't get to see the last card.I really wanted to.I heard it was good but I will be getting the US Vs Canada March 4th can't wait.I will also be getting the Tito Forrest Fight.I really don't think it is the right time for the fight to happen but I can't wait for it

[ACCBiggz]

Matches were added along with another bit of news...

Card as of now, barring any injuries...

Diego Sanchez v. John Alessio

Kristof Midoux v. Tom Murphy

Rob MacDonald v. Jason Lambert

Steve Vigneault v. Mike Swick

Nathan Marquardt v. Joe Doerksen

B.J. Penn v. Georges St. Pierre

Rich Franklin v. David Loiseau

Also announced, the return of the Lightweight division (155)

Yves Edwards v. Mark Hominick

Sam Stout v. Kenny Florian

Those two lightweight bouts were added. Stout v. Florian could be a decent battle.

Looks to be a good card

[ACCBiggz]

USA v. Canada is the title, although not really a USA/Canada thing.

- Credit Sherdog.com

The entire card breaks down as follows:

Last minute replacement for French grappler Kristof Midoux, Icho Larenas faces wrestler Tom Murphy.

Team Tompkins wrestler Rob MacDonald battles kickboxer Jason Lambert from the North County Fight Club.

TKO Management grappler Steve Vigneault goes toe-to-toe with American Kickboxing Academy fighter Mike Swick.

Striker Sam Stout from Team Tompkins faces Miletich Fighting System’s Spencer Fisher.

Kickboxer Mark Hominick of Team Tompkins and Thug-jitsu striker Yves Edwards square off.

Team Extreme jiu-jitsu stylist Joe Doerksen confronts High Altitude submission fighter Nathan Marquardt.

In the co-main event, top welterweight contender Georges St. Pierre, from the Triumph Fight Team, meets former UFC 170-pound champion B.J. Penn.

And in the main event, striker David Loiseau, representing the Triumph Fight Team, takes on reigning UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin.

Edited March 5, 2006 by ACCBiggz

[Blehschmidt]

I'm relatively new to the MMA game, and I don't feel comfortable making predictions on most of these fights.

But, I have seen nearly all of Franklin and Loiseau's UFC work, and I really think "The Crow" is going to pull this one off.

I knew I should have bought this show!!!

[ACCBiggz]

Penn/GSP is on now.... Thought they'd save it till after Swick.

[Blehschmidt]

Interesting.....

Could they be thinking in EWR terms when it comes to the main event??

Frankling/Loiseau seen as a let down, due to the crowd still being pumped from Penn/GSP, so they toss Swick in the middle?

[ACCBiggz]

GSP d. Penn by Decision (split).

GSP is now #1 contender for Matt Hughes' Welterweight title. All scores I saw leaned toward Penn in Round 1 with GSP being bloody, and then GSP won both rounds 2 and 3.

As for the main event, I love DL and Franklin. I pick Franklin solely on him being from Ohio.

Mike Swick d. Steve Vigneault by Submission (Guillotine) in Round 1 at 2:09.

Edited March 5, 2006 by ACCBiggz

[ACCBiggz]

Said to be very one sided with DL running a lot. Franklin was in control the entire time and dominating DL. Third round DL dropped Rich with a hook, but Rich got up quickly and began to dominate again. Round 4 nearly has DL's eyes swollen shut, but he continues on showing heart even though he ran in the first couple rounds. Franklin takes another round...

Round 5 upcoming... DL needs to KO or Submit Franklin.

Which won't happen... Franklin dominates Round5 as well. DL gave Franklin his back a few times in this fight from what I have heard, and Franklin just pounded him instead. Apprently Franklin broke his hand somewhere in the 2nd/3rd rounds as well, hence not ending it there.

Rich Franklin d. David Loiseau by Decision (Unaminous).

Official Score: 50-42 50-42 50-43 for Franklin

Edited March 5, 2006 by ACCBiggz

[Docpepper]

I decided to hold off on buying this event but man I wish I had sounds like it was a good event. Glad Franklin won

[Enter Blue Guy]

Jesus Christ. Franklin worked Loiseau. Loiseau had spots were he looked like he could pull off the miracle, like a solid shot that put Franklin on his ass and a flurry that Franklin eventually weathered. Loiseau looked like he had a tennis ball growing above his right eye. I thought for sure it would be stopped after the 4th because Loiseau's face was a swollen, bloody mess... and that right eye was fucked. Loiseau showed a shitload of heart and never gave up, he recovered well in some close spots (though I wasn't a fan of turning away and side-steping out of the action), but all that means nothing when your opponent is dominating you. Rich Franklin is a beast right now. Tanner, dominated. Quarry, didn't even get a chance to show any offense. Loiseau, complete domination.

I watched the event basically for the GSP vs. Penn fight. I'll admit, Penn looked good with the jab in the first round, but I think BJ got a little too much credit in the first round from those scream "THE FIGHT SHOULD'VE BEEN A DRAW BECAUSE OF THE DAMAGE!". Like I said, Penn was laying those jab nicely and GSP wasn't doing much for himself, but please, the most notable damage from Penn came in the form of an eye poke and an uppercut that that grazed (but broke) GSP's nose. The2nd and 3rd rounds GSP owned and had a few really nice looking slaming takedowns, including one Matt Hughes-like one that was pure beauty. I can't believe a handful of people think it should have been a draw... No way.

[ACCBiggz]

I know you predicted this card EBG, how did you do. I only missed the Spencer Fischer fight, which I picked him from being from MSF, and I was about to pick Stout. Overall a good card, on to 59.

I did see some reports that UFC60 will be at Staples as well, and someone said Rampage mentioned he would be fighting at Staples in the month that this event will be. Totally unreliable hear-say, but worthy of a mention just incase something of a Liddell/Jackson fight would come to pass. And Silva has been interviewed saying he wants a peice of Liddel, but don't expect that to happen.

[Toe]

Was this event at the Staples Center?