Nogueira-Velasquez Intrigues, But Doesn’t Match Past New Year’s Bouts
Jake Rossen Nov 11, 2009
Since using “The Ultimate Fighter” to disguise a pretty swell sport
as an idiot reality show in 2005, the UFC has largely avoided the
economic crunch that’s been sending businesses into survival mode.
(Or, in many cases, into bankruptcy proceedings.) Blood is
apparently recession-proof.
This might change over the winter months, as the promotion is facing a draught: four of its five champions have been shelved due to injury or illness. (B.J. Penn, who probably gets enough Vitamin D in Hawaii’s sun, is healthy and fights December 12.) Chuck Liddell is still only appearing on toy shelves; Randy Couture is being given away on free television Saturday.
That leaves Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez to headline UFC 108 on January 2, a contender’s bout that may have some serious trouble selling every single $600 ringside seat being offered. Particularly when scalpers will use a 300% mark-up as a handling fee.
Nogueira/Velasquez is plenty intriguing -- Nogueira looked fresher against Randy Couture than in the beating sustained against Frank Mir, while Velasquez has yet to be tied up in the knots Nogueira can create -- but it’s far from the kind of New Year’s spectacle the promotion has provided in the past. The downside to conditioning fans to expect a fireworks display during certain times of the year is that they’re going to get grumpy when you can’t light the fuse.
The first quarter of 2010 should see the DL list dry up, leading to a run of programs with proven draws and title opportunities. This card leads with the UFC’s brand. It’s exactly the kind of show they’ve spent nine years preparing for: not only recession-proof, but fighter-proof. White vs. Russia, Round VII Dana White has a better understanding of media relations than virtually any sports personality alive. Beat writers want inflammatory quotes; White gives it to them. It’s the reason he’s such a pervasive presence, and it’s helped make his brand synonymous with combat sports. Geniality is boring. Meltdowns create hits and move copy. Saturday’s Strikeforce telecast is an open invitation to solicit White, because everyone involved knows what they’re going to get. It’s approaching performance art. “CBS made its biggest mistake partnering with a tiny, small show with a roster no one cares about,” White told Yahoo Sports Wednesday. (Wind him up and watch him go.) “Just because you read on MMA.TV that someone is a superstar doesn’t make it true. This should prove that no one out there gives a [expletive] about Fedor.” White is referring to the roughly 5.5 million viewers who tuned in for the Fedor Emelianenko/Brett Rogers bout, a number that bests the 4.7 million who tuned in to see Anderson Silva embarrass James Irvin in the summer of 2008. And if you believe White went on to proclaim that “no one gives a [expletive] about Anderson Silva,” you are an interesting person. Thankfully, Yahoo’s contributor left the recorder on. “If I hear any of you guys [sportswriters] calling Fedor the best pound-for-pound, I’m going to go postal,” White raved. “Do you think Brett Rogers would have lasted two minutes with Brock [Lesnar]? What do you think Cain Velasquez would do to him?” What Velasquez would do to him is speculation, but we know what Emelianenko would do to the guy about to fight Velasquez for the UFC’s number-one contender’s slot: Emelianenko punched a hole in Antonio Nogueira’s head on three separate occasions. So either he’s really a pretty good fighter, or White concedes he’s granting title opportunities to washouts. This could go on for days. Some purists are going to seize up at the mention of these comments, but a sizable number of fans with a more recreational interest take White at his word. Strikeforce really didn’t need an Emelianenko. They needed a Dana White.
This might change over the winter months, as the promotion is facing a draught: four of its five champions have been shelved due to injury or illness. (B.J. Penn, who probably gets enough Vitamin D in Hawaii’s sun, is healthy and fights December 12.) Chuck Liddell is still only appearing on toy shelves; Randy Couture is being given away on free television Saturday.
That leaves Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez to headline UFC 108 on January 2, a contender’s bout that may have some serious trouble selling every single $600 ringside seat being offered. Particularly when scalpers will use a 300% mark-up as a handling fee.
Nogueira/Velasquez is plenty intriguing -- Nogueira looked fresher against Randy Couture than in the beating sustained against Frank Mir, while Velasquez has yet to be tied up in the knots Nogueira can create -- but it’s far from the kind of New Year’s spectacle the promotion has provided in the past. The downside to conditioning fans to expect a fireworks display during certain times of the year is that they’re going to get grumpy when you can’t light the fuse.
The first quarter of 2010 should see the DL list dry up, leading to a run of programs with proven draws and title opportunities. This card leads with the UFC’s brand. It’s exactly the kind of show they’ve spent nine years preparing for: not only recession-proof, but fighter-proof. White vs. Russia, Round VII Dana White has a better understanding of media relations than virtually any sports personality alive. Beat writers want inflammatory quotes; White gives it to them. It’s the reason he’s such a pervasive presence, and it’s helped make his brand synonymous with combat sports. Geniality is boring. Meltdowns create hits and move copy. Saturday’s Strikeforce telecast is an open invitation to solicit White, because everyone involved knows what they’re going to get. It’s approaching performance art. “CBS made its biggest mistake partnering with a tiny, small show with a roster no one cares about,” White told Yahoo Sports Wednesday. (Wind him up and watch him go.) “Just because you read on MMA.TV that someone is a superstar doesn’t make it true. This should prove that no one out there gives a [expletive] about Fedor.” White is referring to the roughly 5.5 million viewers who tuned in for the Fedor Emelianenko/Brett Rogers bout, a number that bests the 4.7 million who tuned in to see Anderson Silva embarrass James Irvin in the summer of 2008. And if you believe White went on to proclaim that “no one gives a [expletive] about Anderson Silva,” you are an interesting person. Thankfully, Yahoo’s contributor left the recorder on. “If I hear any of you guys [sportswriters] calling Fedor the best pound-for-pound, I’m going to go postal,” White raved. “Do you think Brett Rogers would have lasted two minutes with Brock [Lesnar]? What do you think Cain Velasquez would do to him?” What Velasquez would do to him is speculation, but we know what Emelianenko would do to the guy about to fight Velasquez for the UFC’s number-one contender’s slot: Emelianenko punched a hole in Antonio Nogueira’s head on three separate occasions. So either he’s really a pretty good fighter, or White concedes he’s granting title opportunities to washouts. This could go on for days. Some purists are going to seize up at the mention of these comments, but a sizable number of fans with a more recreational interest take White at his word. Strikeforce really didn’t need an Emelianenko. They needed a Dana White.
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