“I’ve never changed my tune on him, I’ve never changed my mind,” was Dana White’s straight answer to the question.

But.

Listen to the rest of the interview and you’ll see the difference in melody now that he’s “climbing in bed with him.”

It was just last year when Dana White led the pack of those who were so critical of Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Fergusson. He called Kimbo a “joke,” a “bum,” “he sucks,” and all sorts of unimaginable demeaning description of the YouTube street-brawling sensation. We also remember White saying Kimbo Slice “will be murdered if he fought in the UFC.”

Now that Kimbo Slice is going to fight to join the UFC via season ten of the Ultimate Fighter, listen to the interview…

“I know he’s a fighter. I know Kimbo is a fighter. The guy fights… he fights. You know, we see him fight in the streets. He’s had professional mixed martial arts fights.” This sounds like someone pitching for Kimbo. Perhaps as a measure, White adds, “Is he a mixed martial artist? We’re gonna find out.”

Here’s more…

“I respect him for coming in and doing the Ultimate Fighter. I respect him, you know. And I did talk a lot of sh@t about him, and he’s here to prove himself.”

“That’s one of the things I respect about him is that he’s honestly…legitimately trying to get into mixed martial arts and trying to get into the big show.” Now, that’s a lot of “respect” as a word coming out of Dana’s mouth talking about Kimbo. How time flies! He even talked about the guy getting some offers in boxing and, not unlike a concerned friend, he said there’s no money in boxing unless you fight a Mayweather or a Pacquiao. Then he proceeded in praising Kimbo Slice’s manager for really taking good care of him.

All in all, we sense a sweeter tune…a love song, in fact, coming from Dana White as regards to Kimbo Slice. In fairness to the guy who made UFC MMA’s biggest outfit, he can easily say he didn’t change his tune. In fact, he reminded us of what he said before, “The only way this guy will ever get to the UFC is through the Ultimate Fighter.”

Interestingly, Dana White and the Fertitta brothers have been griping about the lackluster treatment the so-called “real media” (White’s terminology) gives to mixed martial arts. This gives us the feeling that the UFC triumvirate is revving up their efforts at marketing the sport to a wider audience base. What better way to do this than to have the name that earned the highest rating in the history of MMA television – Kimbo Slice.

The fact that The Ultimate Fighter’s format was changed– from requiring wannabe TUF fighter to win a qualifying fight – to simply handpicking the 16 contestants, speaks so much about what Dana White and company want.

This also makes it difficult for us not to think that Kimbo would linger longer in the show by not having him fight early on. Why risk eliminating Kimbo Slice so soon? Just having this hulk do his reality drama without the fight, would be enough to keep the ratings sky high – this will not be a very bad idea.

However, what if Kimbo proves to still possess his crowd-drawing powers, would TUF or UFC fake a Kimbo Slice win so he could join the ranks of UFC gladiators to further boost UFC’s popularity?

How would the fans react to a Kimbo Slice win? Would they cry “fake”? Would it backfire? We see a lot of questions arising from this change of tune. The more reason for us to watch TUF 10.

Dana White, I see what you did there!

By simply telling us folks how wonderful Pepsi tastes, or how great the products that he endorses are, Fortune and MSN Money individually listed Shaquille O'Neal as number 7 in their list of top ten endorsement superstars at $15 M a year. Never mind if you like him or not, he sure does stir awareness and influences positive response to the products or brands he endorses.

Like it or not, the UFC – or mixed martial arts in general – is still in its infancy stages when compared to NBA, NFL, or even boxing. How else would you explain the pay differences between an Arlovski or an Ortiz to a Mayweather or a Pacquiao? In case you don’t know, $1.5 million is the rumoured highest paycheck to an MMA gladiator. Compare this to Manny Pacquiao’s guaranteed purse of $11 Million for his fight against Oscar De la Hoya.

Now comes the Dr. Shaq, or Shaq Fu, or Superman (however you want to name this media magnet) practically telling everyone he intends to fight inside the octagon (perhaps a career change?) after he retires from NBA. Now, that’s directing the entire world’s attention to the world of mixed martial arts that’s still in the Mesozoic Era.

Never mind if you like him or not, but the guys sure knows how to stir a hornet’s nest. Whether he stars in Kazaam (voted by “Rotten Tomatoes” as “The Worst Movie of All Time”) or weave flop poetry through his rhymes, or by thrashing Kobe Bryant, Shaq sure knows how to create buzz.

When Shaquille O’Neal called out on Hong Man Choi, and kissed Chuck Liddell’s lips after he topples him – ok, it’s not Chuck, it’s his standee poster – the guys from UFC and everyone else in the world of mixed martial arts should consider saving $3 Million dollars on promotions (PepsiCo pays Shaq this amount annually).

Never mind if you like Shaq or not, but the 7’1” tall, 340 lbs “Shaqovic” (who have trained in MMA for several years already) clashing out with the 7’2” tall, 340 lbs MMA warrior from Korea is something we don’t wanna miss.

Heck, this could even be better than a stale Kobe-Shaq verbal tussle.

Hardcore Anderson Silva fans are quick to justify their hero’s lackluster performance during the main event of the UFC 97 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.   Oh yes, Silva is the octagon’s finest artist (this is supposed to be grander that simply being a “martial artist”?)  He’s a champion.  He knows how to win.  How? By making sure he doesn’t lose?

You see, you can do it by avoiding a collision course against your opponent.  And that’s precisely what he did last April 18.  Oh yes, Silva was just showing his “technical skills” and a “smart fighter” doesn’t just attack and put himself in danger.  C’mon.  This is UFC, not some freakin’ chess tournament.  People go to watch action.  Why else would they be offered knockout bonuses?  To encourage the fighters to be more aggressive and show more action.

Yes, technical skills count, but this trait is supposed to make the fight more interesting – not boring.  If you want technical skill, running away is the best technical skill.

While Leites’ performance sucks, Silva’s was quite a letdown.  Silva’s defenders say, the pressure should be on the challenger to force the fight.  Normally, yes.  However, when things become obvious that Leites does not pose any danger, and that he was not even showing an aggressive campaign at snatching the champion’s belt, Silva should have stepped up his game plan.  While he intends to win, he should also not forget that fans would always want a spectacular win.  Why else would they pay to watch?

What he did was, “Oh, Leites doesn’t know how to snatch the championship belt on me.  Good.  I’ll just let the rounds pass by without breaking a sweat – without endangering myself – and i’m still sure of retaining my belt. And I’ll be UFC’s record-holder of the most number of consecutive wins.”  Well, that sucks.  That smacks of avoidance.  As I’ve said, this fight seems to say that you can keep your belt by avoiding contact.  No points earned by both dancers – er, fighters, the championship title doesn’t change names.

We expected more from Silva.  He IS Anderson Silva in the first place.  He even went back to Rio de Janiero to sharpen his BJJ skills, right?  When obviously, he wanted a stand-up fight and Leites proves to be less inclined, he should have changed his game plan.  But no, he wanted to play it “technical” and safe.  You call that a good showing?

Silva’s defenders say casual MMA fans do not understand the technicality of a fight.  They insist that Silva did a good showing.  Yes of course, and so does a chess player.  We seem to forget here that fans (especially the “ignorant” casual fans) didn’t come to see thinking, “technical” competitors;  the fans came to see gladiators – in a fight.  Again, being highly “technical” is a good trait of a fighter, but it should not get in the way of a good fight.  If you want “technical,” run around inside the octagon and avoid contact – that’s what happened to Silva’s kind of “technical” that night in Canada.

If you say it was a good fight “technically,” you’re missing the forest for the trees.  MMA thrives on its popularity, and its popularity depends on its being spectacular – it being a spectator sport.  As I keep on saying, mixed martial arts is still show business – minus the staged or theatrical nature of fights and further spiced up by antics and dramatics of the players in the world of professional wresting.

And the “casual fans” booed because they’re ignorant?  Think again.  These new, casual, ignorant fans are the future of MMA.  They are the ones we need. We need to get more new, albeit still uninitiated, fans to sustain the growth of this, still young, sport.

We have almost forgotten about that frustrating letdown on Silva’s performance during UFC 90 last year but the first 3 minutes of the main event of UFC 97 at the Bell Center in Canada just gave us an idea of how horribly boring and irritating things are going to be. It was all dancing and tentative strikes all the way till the end. Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites was horribly frustrating we felt we waz wobbed.

Leites was like someone in heat that at the slightest chance, he flops on his back to the ground, legs raised to expose his bottom. It would have been okay if Silva would oblige, but no. He just stands there, hands akimbo, feasting his eyes on Leites’ exposed derriere. A lot of instances, Silva would bend over gingerly trying to touch his opponent’s splayed legs. It was such a bizarre sight.

And we thought it was the only time we’ll see Anderson Silva in a “ bizarro world” with that dismal performance against Cote in UFC 90 last October.

Now comes UFC 97…what? “Redemption”? Nothing was redeemed here. Silva just sank deeper into his “bizzaro world.” We felt robbed.

When someone whose reputation is being peddled as one of the world’s best MMA fighters; one who is not only a martial artist but maybe the finest artist inside the octagon; one with eight consecutive wins (the highest record in the history of MMA); one who is hitting accuracy rate is touted at an astounding 80% while the rest of MMA gladiators only have an average 35% hitting accuracy, you would always expect nothing less than an explosive display of skill and power. But no, we waz wobbed.

A couple of months back, we remember him through a translator saying, “What’s important to me is to step into the octagon and give the public and the world a good performance.” What good performance was he talking about?

After the fight, when asked by Joe Rogan how he felt about the crowd’s boos, he said, “unless you’re here inside the octagon, you wouldn’t know what’s happening,” or something to that effect. He also said, sometimes even though you want a good fight, things just don’t go your way – or something to that effect. But Silva, YOU are one of the world’s finest fighters. You are supposed to have a lot of techniques in your mojo to force an attack against Leites.

We understand you want to keep a standup fight but when Leites have repeatedly flopped his back to invite you on the mat repeatedly, and it was obvious that he would not do it with you otherwise than by rubbing body parts on the ground, you should have obliged. You trained specifically for this in Rio, right?

But you didn’t. We, the spectators who paid a total of $ 4.9 million on tickets, and the several other millions of fans around the world who watched this game on TV felt we waz wobbed.

Anderson Silva now has the impressive top record of 9 consecutive undefeated matches. This does not mean anything to the fans. Mixed martial arts is a spectator sports. The fans wouldn’t mind if a fighter wins or losses as much as they would mind a lousy performance. They watch to see a fight. Mixed martial arts is about the fight, the skills, the action, the drama. Who wins or losses is just the anti-climax of the event.

The days seem to roll slowly. Barely three weeks on the countdown and we’ll see how Anderson Silva’s trip to the Carnival paradise Rio de Janeiro turns out during the April 18 UFC 97 “Redemption” at the Bell Center in Montreal. Besides perhaps learning a couple of samba steps or looking for that Girl from Ipanema, or lounging at the Copacabana, “The Spider” actually hied off to Rio for an octane-fed top-level jiu-jitsu training with BJJ legends Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Andre Galvao.

Galvao studied and tries to imitate Leites’ fight style and uses this during Silva’s fight trainings.

While Silva (23-4-0) is known for his primary skills of Muay Thai and Brazilial Jiu-jitsu, his top-level jiu-jitsu training in Brazil speaks a lot about what he thinks about his BJJ skilled opponent in Thales Leites (14-1-0). “Thales is a new kids who’s just starting out, but he’s already proven that he deserves this opportunity,” Silva declared. “He’s a dangerous opponent, just like all the others I’ve faced. He has this opportunity to fight for the title because he impressed the promoters enough to get this chance.”

The 27-year-old Leites (14-1) has never been finished in 15 career fights and has enjoyed a relatively stealth rise up the middleweight ladder.

Other fighters that makes us want to time-travel to April 18 are Cheick Kongo (13-4-1) who will clash against Dutch kickboxing hero Antoni Hardonk. Former World Extreme Cagefighting light heavyweight champion Steve Cantwell (7-1) also highlights this card with a showdown with world-ranked Luis Arthur Cane.

Here are more reasons for the excitement:

Chuck Liddel vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Brian Stann vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk
Luis Arthur Cane vs. Steve Cantwell
Denis Kang vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Jason MacDonald vs. Nate Quarry
Ed Herman vs. David Loiseau
Eliot Marshall vs. Mike Ciesnolevicz
Mark Bocek vs. David Bielkheden
T.J. Grant vs. Ryo Chonan
Sam Stout vs. Matt Wiman

On a side note, we just can’t help but wonder how the so-called previously unrecognized regulations of Regie des Alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ), the government agency that oversees combat sports in Quebec, would affect the over-all outcome of the fights. This so-called previously unrecognized regulations for the sport is the prohibition of elbow and knee strikes. The RACJ regulations, which were actually intended for “mixed boxing” in the 1990’s also asked referees to intervene whenever a fighter is knocked down. We hope this will not result to a watered-down scuffle at the octagon.

More reason for us to shiver in anticipation.

Thanks to his latest brush with the law, we at MMA Weekly News (and most of UFC and mixed martial arts fans) are awaiting with bated breath whether UFC will allow “The Dentist” to compete against Mac Danzig on February 7 this year at UFC Fight Night 17 in Tampa Florida.

Josh Neer was arrested and was placed behind bars for drunk driving, hit-and-run, and eluding arrest, among other traffic violations January 1 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Neer’s management company CEO Mickey Dubberly asked “everyone to reserve their judgement until all the facts are known in the court of law.” Saying that there are still a lot of unclear details on the incident, Dubberly said that they are backing Neer 100% in having the issue resolved the soonest, “and putting this matter behind us and moving forward.”

They have all the reason to get this issue done and over with ASAP because if we base it on what happened to other mixed martial arts warriors, Josh Neer would be pulled from the UFC Fight Night 17 card. MMA fighters who were arrested (except for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) were not allowed to compete.

In an interview with the WHO-TV News (see video clip below), Neer apologized, "I just want to apologize to my friends, my family, and fans. I made some bad choices and I basically want to move on and put this behind me."

MMA Tap-out Josh Neer DUI Arrest

Whether UFC will pull him out of the February 7 card or totally end his mixed martial arts career with UFC remains an uncertainty. The UFC or Dana White has not commented about the case yet but the video clip below says UFC will determine Neer’s case within the week.

When asked about his fate, Neer said, “It’s all up to the UFC at this point. There's nothing I can really do so I just got to sit back and hopefully they'll let me fight and I'm gonna move on from this and no more troubles."

Dubberly, on the other hand, was quick to appease UFC by saying, “In no way do we ever want to bring any negativity towards the UFC as they have been nothing but great to Josh."

Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best comes February 7, 2009.

 

It seems like it was only yesterday when MMA Weekly first witnessed Gina Carano slugging it out with Julie Kedzie.  If it were your first time to watch a mixed martial arts fight, and one of the first fighters you’d see inside the octagon was Kimbo Slice, you’d surely have a very different idea (humungously different from the real deal) of what real mixed martial arts is all about.

Conversely, it was my first time to watch women mixed martial artists to actually fight, and Gina Carano was the first woman I saw slugging it out inside the octagon.  The result was a very positive impression of what women mixed martial arts is all about.  The two women, Gina and Julie were simply dynamite!  I would even say that they fought better than some of the male MMA gladiators I’ve watched all these years!

With the folding up of Elite XC, Gina Carano’s fate as a fighter hangs in uncertainty.  This should have been a great opportunity for her to hop on to a bigger, more respected MMA organization: the UFC.  Unfortunately, Dana White have expressed reservations about female MMA warriors.  He must share what most of us guys think about women in MMA.

The first time I heard about female mixed martial artists, I thought, “Phooey! If I want to see a catfight, I’d go to some underground sleazy joints that feature mud wrestling.”  Truth is, I am somewhat against the idea of seeing women’s faces getting beaten, bruised, and bloodied.  Hey, they’re supposed to be supple and soft, right?  Besides, Americans, and the world in general may not want to see women (warriors or not) beaten down the mat.  

Seeing that fight between two women a couple of years back made me change my opinion.  The women–real women, not the hulky muscled type with masculine faces only their mothers would love—fought like real fighters that they are.  Watching them fight would make you change your old-fashioned perception of women as the weak, lesser specie of the humankind.  No, no, no.  Gina and Julie were real fighters.  Women MMA fighters have to thank Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie for giving the female version of the sport a very good first impression to the world.

It’s a shame that the possibility of seeing Gina Carano fight again remains an uncertainty.  Unlike in her case, Kimbo Slice seem to have a better chance of getting on the UFC bandwagon.  Dana White just made a turn-around about his stand about how to deal with the internet sensation.  While White previously said Kimbo is not an MMA artist, he said Kimbo can fight in the UFC.  “The offer’s out there if he wants to take it, (but) he won’t win it.”

If ever, there’s still the issue about Kimbo’s and Gina Carano’s contract with Elite XC to deal with before they could consider a UFC fight.  With Gina Carano’s popularity now, a trip to Hollywood tinseltown may be a lot easier.

 

 

We were a bit saddened by Kimbo Slice’s demise.  OK, the guy just got his 15 minutes of fame, and like a shooting star, Kevin Ferguson shone so bright everyone wanted a piece of his ass—for different reasons.

Some wanted to fry him and expose who he really is: “a punk-who-beats-lame-punks-in-alleyways who thinks anyone, even a punk like him, can be a mixed martial artist.”   What were they thinking?  Everyone knows who he is!

On the other hand, some just love the appeal of his story—a Cinderella story.  And these people were not rooting for him for his skills (or the lack of it) in mixed martial arts.  They were rooting for the person—the underdog.  Everyone loves an underdog (or at least a lot of people do).  You will be surprised to know that even hardcore MMA fans (there were a large number of ‘em!) rooted for this internet sensation.

Kimbo Slice was a spice to the otherwise almost faceless warriors from these MMA stables.  Oh yes, we have the MMA big names but you will be totally dishonest with yourself if you’d deny that not a single one of the lot have grown as big as Kimbo’s in terms of popularity.

Kimbo Slice did to MMA what MMA warriors failed to do.

Kimbo Slice have increased the number of MMA fans in a matter of months when true-blue royal-blood warriors failed to do it in so many years.  Heck, MMA has just even barely risen from the underground image it has as a blood-sport of…well, blood-thirsty spectators.

The Fertitta brothers and Dana White may have done so much in the improvement of MMA as an industry but it took a cash-strapped Elite XC (with their poster boy Kimbo) to bring the sport to a broader fan base.

White has done a lot to bring where MMA is right now.  However, we suggest that he should reconsider his position about identifying MMA as more of a sport of ground games, and driving away those who prefer standup fighting to kick-boxing events.   Let’s face it, outside of those true-blue MMA fans, not many spectators  would relish the prospect of naked men hugging each other on the mat.

Now you have MMA in prime time TV (at least for three shows).

Kimbo Slice was a TV producer’s dream.

Kimbo Slice was a marketing gold find.  He was a marketer’s dream, offered in a silver platter, with all of his YouTube fans in tow.

Kimbo Slice was a marketing masterpiece that Elite XC, and CBS mishandled.

We’re not fooling anyone here.  Kimbo Slice  is a not a mixed martial arts fighter.  Anyone who thinks he was, we pity them.  Kimbo Slice was a marketing gimmick that brought that much-needed ingredient to a young and thriving MMA industry.

Even a marketing bit-player could tell you that an exciting sport such as mixed martial arts could not make it to the big time if it lacks an attraction.  Call it the “freak show” element, call it the Gina Carano appeal, you would need a package that anyone could visualize.  Heck, this is what World Wrestling Federation personalities used to succeed.  You have the Mr. T magic, you have the Undertaker, you have the most obnoxious personalities.  These “actors” became popular (as much as the body-slamming WWF was) not because of their wrestling skills but more because of their colourful (dark, ugly, or nice) personalities.

It’s all about the drama.

Hardcore MMA fans should continue talking about skills.  But we should not neglect talking about marketing the sport too.  We need it—even the gimmickry.

For anything to prosper, including MMA (which is still in its infancy) it should not be afraid of change.  That’s how entities turned out to be in their superior forms now—by evolving.

Those who refused have joined the dinosaurs.

The main event of UFC Fight Night 15 that took place at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska had Josh Neer walking out to the tune of Stone Sour’s “Bother” (which we find a bit melancholic, by the way) while a visibly pumped up Nate Diaz walks alongside his brother Nick.

Both fighters are coming strong with their winning streak where Nate Diaz boasts of 10-2 for MMA and 5-0 for UFC, and Josh Neer coming in confident with his three-fight win streak.  It was indeed a fight in a tight enclosure.

The first round found Neer getting the initiative on the first half, starting with a leg kick and an attempt for a ground play but Diaz was able to escape and get back on his feet.  It was Diaz who was mostly on the offensive towards the end of the first round where he was pounding Neer from halfguard.

Neer tried to intensify his attempts at suppressing Diaz on the second round but Diaz proves to be slick he always gets away.  On the third round Diaz tried to come out with a combination of punches and takedowns.  It was obvious the two are evenly matched it took the judges to decide (on a split decision 29-28, 28-29, 29-28) that Diaz wins.

Diaz, as what he usually does, praised his opponent and warned all future challengers.

Here are more highlights:

• Eric Schafer (12-3-2) def. Houston Alexander (8-4, 1 nc) Alexander, having lived in Omaha since 1980 was obviously the crowd’s favourite but was not match to Schafer’s 6’3” height and a 4” reach advantage.  Alexander did a good start with a knee that obviously hurt Schafer badly.  It was Alexander’s lack of sufficient ground game that did him in.  This could be his last for the UFC.
• Jason Brilz (16-1-1) def. Brad Morris (10-4) by TKO (strikes) at the second round.  Brilz, all fired up in front of his own townfolks dominated the game from the time the bell rang.  It was obviously a one-sided bout that the referee decided to put a stop to it and raised Brilz’s hand which have been busy hammering away at the hapless Australian.
• Clay Guida (24-6) def. Mac Danzig (19-5-1) via unanimous decision.  Guida has been known for his high-energy fighting style and this is what he exactly used in this bout.  He was a bit overwhelmed by Danzig at the beginning of the first round but he was able to eventually turn the game around.
• Alan Belcher (12-4) def. Ed Herman (16-6) by split decision
• Alessio Sakara (17-7, 1 nc) def Joe Vedepo (9-2)
• Wilson Gouveia (11-5) def. Ryan Jensen (13-5)
• Joe Lauzon (16-4) def. Kyle Bradley (13-6, 1 nc)
• Mike massenzio (11-2) def. Drew McFedries (7-4)
• Dan Miller (9-1, 1 nc) def. Rob Kimmons (21-4)