Sorry to pull back the curtain, BigAl, but there have been solid rules in place for about (pretending to look at my watch) 12 years or so, and that’s the official Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.

It’s sport, not senseless brutality, and just as you don’t want athletes using PEDs in other sports, the same applies to MMA. In fact, I would argue that it’s more important to keep PEDs out of MMA than it is something like basketball, where steroids are going to make you shoot a ball better.

Like all sports, there are going to be those who cheat and try to skirt the rules, but the UFC, like everyone else, tries to keep that to a minimum. Well, the athletic commissions do.

Thanks for the comment.

Gray certainly is closer to a title shot if Frankie doesn’t have the belt, but I think the UFC wants to get a couple of the other contenders in there before rolling out the guy who fought for the title twice last year.

I can see both Nathan Diaz and Anthony Pettis get a shot before Gray gets another crack, though I think Pettis will need to win another fight first since he’s only won two-in-a-row and will have been off since February once he returns from surgery, which should be sometime this fall/winter.

I think the winner of the Munoz-Weidman fight moves into title contention or at least a title eliminator bout with the Boetsch-Lombard winner after Silva-Sonnen II. Those four (to me) are further ahead in the chase than both Bisping and Franklin, which is why pairing them together to produce one potential challenger makes sense to me, though I can see them being kept apart as both are quality names who can draw (within reason), unlike the other four mentioned earlier.

AIS: I don’t think Dana was being too harsh here at all. He can be at times, but I don’t mind what he said about Guida following this fight; he fought contrary to the way that made him popular and successful, and Dana voiced his opinion on it. No objections from me.

Straight from FightMetric, who I think does the best statistical work in MMA (these are striking stats):

Round 3: Maynard 9/58, Guida 4/63
Round 4: Maynard 14/36, Guida 14/60
Round 5: Maynard 17/43, Guida 11/58

Maynard also had a close submission attempt in Round 4, and the only completed takedown of the night in Round 5.

Stats don’t tell the whole story either, but there is no way that you can win a round landing 4 strikes, and not engaging. Not that 9 is a great number, but if I land twice as many punches as you, and you’re constantly going backwards, the judges aren’t scoring the fight in your favour.

The hair thing is irrelevant too; Clay could have braided his hair however he wanted, so it’s not like this was part of some strategic plan of Gray’s to get him to have a ponytail he could grab. And, according to the rules, he has every right to make the request he did, and Clay could have argued against it. Instead, he acquiesced. Not a big issue to me.

As for Dana, he offered his opinion of the performance, no differently from the way you or I have here. Is he harsh at times? Absolutely, and I can understand how that frustrates people.

I too know that Clay will be back better than ever.

Thanks for the comment.

AIS,

The people that want to liken Guida’s performance to that of Carlos Condit against Diaz amaze me; they were very, very different. Condit did a great job of circling out of danger, but still managed to come forward, and out-strike Diaz, landing, as you said, the more damaging blows of the bout.

Guida, on the other hand, was backing out into space, feinting, switching stances, and then throwing a jab or two, with the odd cross mixed in here and there. I too refuse to score a fight in favour of a guy who is unwilling to come forward. I’m not saying you have to stand-and-bang in the center of the cage, but you have to make a genuine effort to land strikes, and try to inflict damage. You’re not doing either by throwing a couple punches here and there, and dancing away when your opponent comes forward.

I actually want to go back and put a stop watch on how long Guida simply moved around without purpose: feinting, switching stances, circling out, etc. Over a 25 minute fight, my guess would be somewhere in the 15-18 minute range. If more than half of a round goes by without you offering any offense, you better be lighting the other guy up in the other half if you think you’re going to win the decision.

Thanks for the thoughts… feel free to leave more!

Gray definitely hit a lot of air throughout the fight, but it’s not about how many times you make the opponent miss: fights are scored on what you do offensively, and refusing to engage is not an offensive tactic that is going to win you many rounds.

For me — and there is a column explaining this is greater detail — Guida was trying to use a Frankie Edgar/Dominick Cruz-like game plan – stick and move, avoiding any real damage. The problem, however, was that he didn’t land nearly enough to counteract his backpedaling, and save for a couple good shots (one in the first, and the fifth round headkick), he didn’t land with anything too serious.

Conversely, Maynard had a couple solid flurries, primary from the Thai clinch, and he was the aggressor throughout. I also thought he did an admirable job adapting to Guida’s game plan as best he could; he started cutting the cage off much better after the first two rounds, which is where the fight swung in his favour for me.

Gray wasn’t pleased with his display in the cage, I can tell you that, but he was frustrated. Nick Diaz does it and legions of fans adore him for it. That doesn’t make it right, but it certainly doesn’t make Maynard look like an amateur, at least not in my books.

Thanks for the comment… keep’em coming!

Getting back to the old format should help, and FX being in more homes next year will too, but I think between airing the show on Fridays, and the lack of talent out there to populate the show, it’s an uphill battle.

They can always switch days of the week if this coming season once again fails to meet Dana White’s expectations as far as ratings are concerned, but you can’t make people are about mediocre prospects who probably won’t develop into more than solid journeyman once the show is done.

Thanks for the comment… and great name!

Clay is such an easy guy to root for, and as a journalist, a terrific guy to talk to both about fighting in general, and anything else you’d like to discuss. His fight with Griffin is in the upper portion of my list of all-time favorite fights too, and I’m genuinely excited to see him back in the cage this weekend.

He’s the perfect example of a guy who may never reach that championship level, but is a star based on his approach inside and outside of the Octagon; a guy who just “gets” all the elements of being a professional fighter.

I hope you’re right about UFC 148, Sam, but I have doubts.

Maybe it’s just because of all the grumbling going on around the web these days about the innumerable changes taking place, but I don’t know if this event has a chance to match the 600,000 buys from Silva-Sonnen II or challenge the 700,000 buys from UFC 145, the high for 2012 thus far. The event isn’t as loaded as it was before, and the buzz around the main event is nowhere near as great as it was for the first encounter when Sonnen was talking a blue streak about Silva, the Nogueiras, and everyone else he felt like verbally attacking.

I do think 149 will suffer do to a combination of factors, though, including “fight fatigue” as you call it; good name BTW… I’ll probably “borrow” that moving forward. I’ve never been a big fan of having two PPV shows in one month, and might have to look into the numbers to see if the weaker of the two ever has much success.

I hear what you’re saying about Gil, but I respect his loyalty to Strikeforce, and it’s not like they were feeding him cans back then either – they had brought in Aoki and Kawajiri, a pair of top 10 opponents for him, and still looked like they were potential competitors in the free agent market against the UFC.

Additionally, when the other three big stars of the company get to jump ship, and you’re stuck where you are with few options in terms of opponents, that sucks, no matter if you chose to sign there a couple years ago or not.

I too would love to see Eddie sign with Strikeforce, but why would he? Just as there is nothing of value there for Melendez, Ed doesn’t do himself any favors by going there, even if he gets a title fight right away. Win or lose, there are limited possibilities after that, and I doubt Glenn Robinson (his agent) would even entertain the notion of signing an extended deal with Strikeforce.

The idea of using SF as a developmental league is the one I have always thought made the most sense if they’re going to keep it around. With so many inexperienced and “not quite ready for prime time” guys on the UFC roster right now, you could easily replenish the SF ranks with those guys, give them time to develop (and build their names) and go from there… but that too won’t happen I’m afraid.

As for Jordan, hes a great kid, and a tremendous talent, and eventually, he’ll get his chance; I’m sure of it.

That last bit is the part that confounds me too, Sam — there are only a handful of fighters capable of headlining shows for Strikeforce right now, and none of them are major draws, especially not to Showtime, which is a premium cable channel.

My thinking has always been that Zuffa doesn’t want to vacate the position on Showtime, and allow Bellator the chance to move into the void, even though I don’t see Bellator being close to truly competing with the UFC at this point, and probably not any time soon either. We know that Showtime wants to be in the MMA business, and my guess is that they would pursue something with Bellator if Strikeforce were to disappear. While that shouldn’t worry the UFC, why give “the competition” a potential opening that you don’t need to, right?

Unfortunately, that means guys like Melendez and the other quality competitors on the Strikeforce roster are stuck in the MMA equivalent of purgatory; nowhere to go, and few options as far as opponents are concerned. If Luke Rockhold and Tyron Woodley win next month, they have no immediate challengers for their belts, at least none who have done enough to really earn a shot the way we normally think of it.

To me, keeping Strikeforce afloat is throwing good money at a bad investment, and wasting some quality talent in a time when it could be really helpful to the UFC.

But like a couple columns earlier, this can be another change we make when we’re running the UFC, right?

Both brands are owned by the same people, with the Fertittas and Dana White having purchased Strikeforce last March. Technically, they are owned by Forza LLC, while the UFC is owned by Zuffa LLC (with Flash Entertainment holding a 10% interest), but it’s all the same principals.

The contracts with Showtime are the obvious stumbling block in all this, as I’m not sure whether a buyout is an option or something that would be entertained at this time. That said, considering how fighters were pillaged from the Strikeforce roster earlier – including those who were still under contract with Strikeforce – I imagine there is some kind of way out; it’s just a matter of how much and whether or not it is something that would be considered.

Personally, I can’t see the value in maintaining Strikeforce at this time to run an event every couple of months. The quality talent that remains there is under-utilized and suffering from both a lack of exposure and opportunity, all while the UFC is being ravaged by injuries, and fight cards are becoming increasingly watered down.

The addition of some of Strikeforce’s top talent could help lessen the blow of the numerous injuries to quality UFC names, and strengthen some of these weaker events, all while giving guys like Gilbert Melendez, Luke Rockhold, and others the chance to prove themselves against the quote-unquote best in the business on the biggest stage in the sport.

I don’t think MMA has jumped the shark, not by any means, and I don’t think the saturated market is an attempt to cash in while before things go boom either.

That said, the overall quality of the events has been down in recent years due to a combination of injuries, suspensions, and there simply being too many events to make loading up an event with four or five significant bouts possible and/or practical.

If I may ask, what is it has you not as entertained? What’s missing? Is it the lack of stars or the quality of the fights? I ask because while the number of marquee names and big-time events has certainly diminished in recent years, the quality of the fights has remained, in my opinion, pretty entertaining for the most part.

Thanks for the comment… and great name!

Thanks for the comment, Rewi.

I don’t mind the televised events being a little watered down — as yesterday’s event demonstrated, even middle of the pack contenders can combine to deliver an entertaining event. My problem is that the preliminary portion of events used to be where up-and-comers started making a name for themselves, but now it’s usually lower tier talent who are trying to hold onto their position in the organization or a pair of guys coming off their first UFC wins.

Additionally, I think your point about PPV’s being somewhat weak is correct. Most events have a strong main, but can drop off significantly from there. For every event like UFC 146 or 148 where the whole main card looks compelling (even if they’re not all meaningful fights), we get two UFC 147-type events that are clunkers.

Thanks again for the comment – keep them coming!

I think “Trekko” is a prime example of how being a good – even very good – regional talent in a still-developing area can be misleading, but shouldn’t be viewed as a “this doesn’t bode well for The Smashes” scenario.

He’s skilled enough that he’s going to beat inexperienced fighters competing in the CFC, but not really good enough to hang with the best of the best, and there is nothing wrong with that. As Ash has said, he’s just beyond the point where developing new skills is probably something we’re not going to see from him, no matter where he goes or who he brings in.

That said, it’s entirely possible that there are some quality well-rounded youngsters out there who just haven’t had the same opportunities domestically as “Trekko” to this point. We may not get any world champions, but we’ve not gotten that out of the US version of TUF in ages either, so I think “The Smashes” should still be interesting, and produce some OK talents.

You’re right that it has more to do with his lack of wrestling, and overall skill set, but a move down would give him a better chance in my opinion.

You see a lot of non-North American fighters who don’t cut a lot of weight end up moving down a division once they move Stateside, and part of that is because everyone else is cutting a bunch of weight. I don’t think he’s going to be championship material, but he’d be more competitive, as there are (1) more jiu-jitsu players who might engage him on the ground a little more readily, and (2) fewer guys who will have a significant size/strength advantage on him.

Ultimately, “Trekko” is a lower third competitor no matter what division he fights in for the UFC, but his best chance to get a win and stick around a while longer is at featherweight.

Shooshy – our definition of “clobbered” are very different.

At no point in that fight did Nick Diaz do anything that vaguely resembles “clobbering” Carlos Condit. He stalked him, landed a few shots here and there, gave him the “c’mon man!” gesture, etc. but didn’t “clobber” anything.

Additionally, I’m not sure what that has to do with this post specifically, but I look forward to continued Nick Diaz discussions with you in the future.

I love it, Sam!

While I don’t necessarily blame Condit — I’d sit out for nine months to make the biggest pay day of my career too — I agree with the sentiment 100%. No point bringing out that belt if it’s not being defended. He’s the #1 contender, nothing more.

I understand what you’re saying about the lightweights, and, as we’ve discussed in comment threads in the past, love the idea of a tournament as well, though I don’t think they’re as afflicted with sameness as you think. Benson Henderson is a very different fighter than Frankie Edgar, and both are very different from Nathan Diaz. I think the UFC just hasn’t figured out how to drive interest in anyone in the division since BJ Penn, and right when they were starting to get the whole Rocky/Comeback Kid thing down with Frankie, “Smooth” went and beat him for the belt.

As for how to publicize, thinking out of the box would be nice. Instead of trying to force “bad blood” into every main event sales pitch, push guys on their merit. JDS shouldn’t have been sold as “avenging his master’s losses” heading into the fight with Mir – it should have been about an 8-0 UFC heavyweight who could be the first dominant champion the division has had in some time IMO.

We’ll keep brainstorming ideas, and I’ll pass them along to the UFC later. 😉

Martinez is a much more compact fighter than Means, but he’s also dropping back down to lightweight after an impressive showing against Matthew Riddle in a losing effort earlier this year. While he’s not a great wrestler and doesn’t work for a ton of takedowns, Riddle struggled to get Martinez to the floor, which doesn’t bode well for Trekko here.

Magalhaes’ struggle – as is often the case for jiu-jitsu players – is there isn’t any real set-up to his takedowns; he just tries to close the distance, grab on to his opponent, and drag it to the ground. In today’s UFC where guys work takedown defense like mad, that’s not going to work too often.

Should be an interesting scrap.

Nice work, Sam.

I think you’re right about “Trekko” being better suited for featherweight in the future, I just hope he gets the chance to relocate before getting handed a pink slip.

This is another tough match-up, with one of the disadvantages for Magalhaes being that Henry Martinez trains every day with the man who beat him in his debut, Tim Means. Not only is the blueprint for beating the Brazilian-born Aussie out there already, it was crafted by Martinez’s coaches.

This is one of the preliminary card fights that I’m really looking forward to though; should be a good one.

I still love tournaments too, and was so happy that’s how the introduced the flyweights. While they could have just picked two of the four, it was better to let four men fight it out, than have to exclude a guy like Ian McCall off the bat.

Last year when there was the logjam in the lightweight division, just about every media scrum after an event included someone suggesting a four-man or eight-man tournament — people love them. They’re risky, and you need a lot of luck to pull them off in a timely fashion, but as you said, great way to showcase a collection of talent, and have them fighting towards something.

I think you’re right Sam — it was a useful Trojan Horse and developing ground for talent in the early years, but now it’s just a collection of average regional talent who end up saddled with higher expectations because people have connected with them through 13 weeks to television.

Do you think there is a need for some alternate form of proving ground/introduction tool for developing fighters – perhaps something like the Strikeforce Challengers series – or is it just time to bury TUF and focus on the events themselves?

I agree with you in spirit, but I think the bigger problem is that too much of the focus is directed to the coaches.

It’s not as much about finding emerging stars and getting the audience to connect with certain athletes as it used to be. Now, it’s about building the drama for the coaches fight on PPV whenever that comes around, except in recent years, those fights have fallen apart or been delayed more often than naught.

I think instead of showing generic training video, each fighter can be profiled in advance of their fight. Give each guy 20 minutes of “introduction time” so that we know something about them, and then you have some interest in the winner moving forward beyond the fact that he won his fight.

What would you recommend?

Asked and answered in eight words, two letters, and one punctuation mark. Nicely done.

Thanks for the comment, DJ.

I actually think the international seasons of TUF like “The Smashes” are the way to go right now. Markets like Australia have barely been explored, and this gives them a great platform to gain some exposure, and get the UFC’s attention, even if it’s on a “we’ll keep an eye on you” level for some.