WWE Hall of Famer Greg “The Hammer” Valentine no-showing Great North Wrestling’s Randy Savage tribute show on Sept. 3 in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada has been turned into an angle.
Lanny Poffo, the brother of the late superstar wrestler, posted a video on YouTube challenged the 60-year-old to a mixed martial arts match on December 30 in Gatineau. The wrestler formerly known as The Genius says he will throw cash he received from his recent inheritance to bait Valentine into the fight. He also taunts Valentine by calling him a “mangina” and …
Source: http://www.ifight365.com/2011/09/lanny-poffo-wants-greg-valentine-in-an-mma-fight/
Shane The Engineer Carwin Maurice Mo Smith Rey Phillip Santos Brock Lesnar Spencer Fisher Paul McVeigh Luke Stewart
Bob “The Beast” Sapp vs Soa “The Hulk” Palelei Fight Video CFC 21. The bout was held at the Sydney Olympic Park in Sports Centre Friday May 18th, 2012.
Source: http://www.mmatko.com/bob-sapp-vs-soa-palelei-fight-video-cfc-21/
Ao Hailin Luke Cummo Krzysztof Soszynski Zhang Chuanlong Mauricio Rua Gesias JZ Calvancante Kazushi Gracie Hunter Sakuraba
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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
Dana White released a video rant on his blog about the negative reporting by the MMA media concerning the low ratings for UFC On FOX 3. He brings up some valid points, and it’s about what I’d expect from a promoter defending his product. On the surface it sounds great, it’s a nice spin job on Dana’s part. I’m not a big fan of the cattiness of going after Dave Meltzer, as it detracts from Dana’s argument. Anytime you start naming names you run the risk of taking away from the point you’re trying to make. The offended party can then smokescreen your argument by playing the victim card and making the issue less about your points and more about your supposed personal attack on them. This is a tactic that Fox News and the Republicans that appear on that network use all the time.
That aside, the video was what any promoter would do. I hope, though, that the UFC and FOX are taking this seriously internally. The low ratings for UFC On FOX 3 is a very real issue, and one that has to be addressed. Dana’s video brings up how 10 million fewer viewers were watching television that night. Very true, but that doesn’t change the fact that viewership was down, even going by percentages.
The important thing for the UFC and FOX relationship is to meet internal goals. Obviously, we don’t know what those goals are, but it’s safe to assume that they want to see some traction in the ratings. And they definitely don’t want to lose viewers as the show goes on. As long as a UFC event doesn’t do that, there’s always something positive to look at.
There’s a large numbers of articles out there about ways the UFC should handle these FOX events moving forward, especially with regard to trying to draw more viewers. My personal opinion is that they need to leverage the past and present to better the future. The UFC should look at potential match-ups that are big match-ups, but aren’t going to sell pay-per-views. The first fight I think of when it comes to that is Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin at UFC 148. That fight’s not going to sell many PPV’s, but it could provide a big boost to a free card on FOX. They could even market it as Tito’s retirement fight, the “final chance” to see Tito fight.
There’s another fight on that same UFC 148 card that would fit the bill of “big names, small PPV footprint,” Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le. Either of these fights would have provided a much-needed boost to viewership of UFC On FOX 3. They could play with the placement of the fights, but even if you put either of these fights in the main event, hardcore fans would know that these wouldn’t be the real main event because there’s nothing of consequence at stake. Ortiz vs. Griffin and Franklin vs. Le are like special attraction fights, the guys involved aren’t in the title picture, but you use their names to help pull in viewers. Pulling one of these fights away from UFC 148 wouldn’t leave a large hole to fill because the UFC isn’t relying on them to sell the event.
How many people would pay money to see either of these fights at this point in time? There’s probably not many people who would. However, interest would be much higher if the fight were free. People might say they want to see Tito’s final fight, or that they know that Forrest brings an entertaining style. If you were to use Franklin vs. Le, you have a long history of highlights and championships to tout. You could also frame it as the UFC giving away a PPV-quality fight for free.
There’s another name that comes to mind when discussing a guy with star power who’s near the end, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. I’m torn on Rampage because I’ve always liked him, but lately he’s just become more sideshow than real fighter. There’s two schools of thought on this, on how to deal with someone leaving acrimoniously. One, you take the old-school wrestling approach where you just bury the guy and don’t even put him on television. I prefer the second way, you use whatever star power he has left to bolster a free card. I can’t imagine many people, if any, who would be willing to pay to see Rampage fight. Again, though, he is a known fighter and you could use that to your advantage.
There’s many other fights and fighters who fit this bill, guys who are known, but aren’t close to a title shot. The UFC should use these guys to bring eyeballs to the free events, thus increasing the exposure of the other guys on the card. They don’t even have to sacrifice PPV buys to do this. MMA is a star-driven sport. A lot of casual fans don’t know a lot of fighters so you have to introduce them. However, you can’t expect casual fans to tune in to watch guys they don’t know. Give casual fans a point of reference, someone that they might have heard of, and they’ll be more likely to watch. Most hardcore fans will tune in regardless of name value, as long as it’s a good card.
Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/hydenstake/article_13306.shtml
Josh Barnett Ishkhan Zakharian Igor Zinoviev Viacheslav Datsik Ryan Gracie Fabricio Werdum Leonardo Lucio Nascimento
The Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation has released the salary information for all of the fighters who competed on the UFC on Fuel TV 3: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier fight card, which took place at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. Donald Cerrone and Amir Sadollah were revealed to have been sent home with the biggest paychecks from that night, earning $60,000 and $48,000, respectively.
Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/28584/ufc-on-fuel-tv-3-fighter-salaries-cerrone-and-sadollah-top-earners/
Dean Amasinger Kevin Randleman Ivan Titenkov Joe Lauzon Pete Sell Jesse Forbes Shane The Engineer Carwin
The official website of the Air Canada Centre is advertising WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart and multi-time WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus for this Tuesday’s SmackDown! taping at the venue.
Both Canadian stars are advertised for “special guest appearances.”
WWE announced Friday on SmackDown! that former world champion Edge would appear on this week’s show, which emanates from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. According to the Air Canada Centre website, WWE will be paying tribute to the “Rated-R Superstar” with “Edge Appreciation Night.”
Also advertised for the event is a World Heavyweight …
Source: http://www.ifight365.com/2011/09/edge-bret-hart-trish-stratus-set-for-smackdown/
Chris The Pitbull Myra Achmed Labasanov Mike Van Arsdale Thiago Silva Roy Nelson Ryan Bader Matt Hamill
Following his exciting victory over Dustin Poirier Tuesday day night, Chan Sung Jung will face off with the winner of the featherweight title fight between champion Jose Aldo and Erik Koch at UFC 149. It is unclear when the bout will take place with Koch and Aldo set to face off July 21 but it will likely occur sometime this fall.
Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/28569/chan-sung-jung-will-face-aldo-koch-winner-for-title/
Naoya Ogawa Alexandru Lungu Alberto Crane Ron Waterman Wagnney Fabiano Mark Weir Hidehiko Yoshida
Despite last minute changes for the second straight week, Bellator 69 provided plenty of entertainment Friday night. The event took place live from L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Wilson Gouveia Stephan Bonnar Jason MacDonald Sean Sherk B J Penn Valentijn Overeem Ryan Schultz