MMASucka

The UFC is set to take stage in Japan for the first time in nearly a decade. The organization will be heading over seas on February 25, 2012 and in the main event will be a lightweight showdown between Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.

Edgar spoke with  Heavy MMA  about his upcoming match against Henderson and how it will be a “guessing game”.

I’m excited to go over there just because the Japanese fan base is going to be pretty cool. Pride was huge over there, MMA’s huge – it’s the birthplace of martial arts. So what better place to defend your title than there?… I think they really appreciate the fighting spirit. I bring it every time I fight, so I think they’ll appreciate that…. It’s really tough to predict how he’s going to approach it and what he’s thinking. I think Clay kind of drew him into that fast pace, anyway. Maybe he’ll come in and be more technical, or maybe he’ll be the one who wants to push the pace. That’s the kind of guessing game we’ll be thinking about these next couple of months.

Edgar is coming off of another huge come from behind victory over Gray Maynard at UFC 136 to retain his lightweight title. Henderson won “Fight of the Night” honours in his last fight, which was a unanimous decision victory over Clay Guida at UFC on Fox.

Kimbo who?

The numbers are in for UFC on Fox, and Junior dos Santos not only walked away with the UFC heavyweight championship, but the title of most watched fight in the history of the sport.

UFC’s debut event attracted 5.7 million viewers, peaking at 8.8 million pairs of eyeballs zoned in on the Velasquez-dos Santos fight. Those numbers smash the previous records for MMA on TV, both set by youtube brawler and ESPN magazine cover boy Kimbo Slice.

Kimbo’s previous records included headlining the most-watched MMA event for 2008′s “EliteXC: Primetime”, which had 4.3 million viewers and most-watched fight, which was his main event bout on that show against James Thompson. Kimbo also held the most-watched UFC fight record for the episode of “The Ultimate Fighter” where he squared off against Roy Nelson, that fight being viewed by 5.3 million people.

Dana White made a point of putting his best foot forward on the promotion’s network television debut, headlining the show with what could have been a legitimate pay-per-view moneymaker. The strategy has proven to be a resounding success, and one has to assume that there’s a lot of smiles amongst the Zuffa leadership today. There were some that questioned both airing a heavyweight title fight on free TV and the decision to only air only one fight on a one hour debut, but as they say – numbers don’t lie.

The decision was made to spend the first half of the broadcast on “UFC Primetime” or “HBO 24/7” like features on the backgrounds of the two fighters to familiarize new fans with just who Velasquez and dos Santos were and how they got to where they are. They also brought out Brock Lesnar, who is as big a name as any to those with only a passing interest in the sport, to give his opinion on the fight. Everything was being done to appeal to individuals who hadn’t seen UFC before to bring them up to speed and make them feel comfortable. The bloodstains on the canvas from the previous fights were even painted over before the main event began so as not to offend the more squeamish of these new viewers.

When looking at the numbers, the gambit has obviously paid off. Saturday night, UFC was up against two college football games on network TV and another on ESPN. Despite this, UFC came out well ahead in the key demographics of adults 18-34 and 18-49; as well as men 18-34 and 18-49. The Fox press release even noted that the UFC event drew more viewers in the men 18-34 demographic than any college football telecast this season except one, the #1 ranked LSU vs. #2 ranked Alabama game.

Dana White insists the Fox debut was just a “teaser” for what will come to the network when the deal begins in January 2012. While no one can question the success of the debut event, there can be lessons learned to bring the level of success even higher for round 2 on Fox. Firstly, while the video packages on the two fighters were well done, they did seem to go on too long. Almost forty minutes of the one-hour broadcast had gone by before we finally got to action inside the cage. Even for a new viewer trying to get caught up, that’s an awful lot of pre-amble for a broadcast that contains only one fight.

Secondly, the numbers show that people were more interested in the fight than anything else. A common solution to both of these issues would have been to show the Clay Guida-Ben Henderson fight which took place before Velasquez-dos Santos. The new audience may have loved to see the hyperkinetic lightweights do battle before giving way for the heavyweights. But like with any new venture, these things will likely be sorted out along the way as UFC and Fox develop their rhythm together.

I wrote in a previous column that Saturday night would be a good gauge of just where UFC is at in the mainstream. With PPV buyrates down, some had began to wonder if UFC/MMA was nothing more than a fad. Instead, the network television debut showed that the appetite for MMA is as high as it’s ever been, and those that blame the PPV slump on economic factors may indeed have more truth to what they’re saying then was previously thought. With a strong debut and more network specials to come, we as MMA fans may look back to Saturday as the day the game changed.

Photo by Esther Lin of MMAFighting.com

After several months of anticipation, the UFC made its network debut on FOX TV last Saturday, November 12, 2011.  The historic event brought a star studded red carpet, an amazing under card with the strength to carry on its own pay per view, and a main event that will echo for years to come.  Much kudos to the UFC to have brought back prize fighting to free TV, to a larger main stream audience, and for helping the sport we love grow into what it is today.  Since the event took place so close to Hollywood, it was only fitting that several fighters took advantage of their opportunity to make this the evening for their breakout performance.  Although only one of the performances were show on national TV, each fighter proved that they deserved to be.

Junior Dos Santos

Junior did what he said he was going to do during the  pre-fight press conference.  He defeated Cain Velasquez by KO quickly at 1:04 of Round 1.  To have the confidence to walk in to a fight against a dominating, undefeated heavyweight champion like Velasquez is an amazing feat in itself, never mind defeating him in such quick fashion. On top of all that, it was later revealed in the post-fight interviews that he did all this with a tear in his meniscus in his knee, which was filled up with a shot of cortisone to numb the pain.  It will be amazing to see what Junior will do at 100% capacity, with the swagger of the belt around his waist.

Up next for Junior will be the winner of Brock Lesnar versus Alistair Overeem.  For Junior, he specifically stated he would prefer Lesnar because it would make the biggest show as Lesnar is considered one of the UFC’s biggest pay per view draws.  Junior has also fought a similar fighter in Shane Carwin, a skilled wrestler with lots of power in his punches.  The match up with Overeem brings a different set of challenges that Junior has never faced.  Overeem brings a more diverse striking arsenal any one else in the heavyweight division with a true heavyweight size at a weight of 274lbs.  The next fight for Junior will be a true test for a champion as it is always harder to keep the belt than it is to win it (just ask Cain).

Ben Henderson

During the lead up to this event, many believed that the Ben Henderson and Clay Guida fight should have been broadcasted on television along side the heavyweight championship.  This fight would have been a perfect example for a person new to MMA to see how each facet of the game can come into play.  The whole canvas was used to paint a perfect picture of MMA from striking, wrestling, and submissions during this fast paced affair. Henderson won by decision against Guida by just being a little better in all aspects.  Bendo had the better striking, better wrestling and even the better hair (as admitted by Guida).

Up next for Henderson is a light weight title shot against Frankie Edgar in Japan, February 2012.  Since both fighters have been unstoppable as Frankie has never been KO’d or submitted and Henderson has had only one submission loss on his record early in his career (back in 2007), it will be easy to say that this fight will go all five rounds.  However, within those 25 minutes, it is easy to say that it will be a most exhausting and exciting to watch fight as both fighters have a full throttle pace with a variety of attacks to launch at each other.

Alex Caceres

Alex Caceres defeated Cole Escovedo by Unanimous Decision in the best performance of Caceres’ UFC career.  Caceres had been on the UFC’s proverbial Chopping blcok as he had lost his previous two fights, and he was pitted against the former WEC featherweight champion in Escovedo.  Caceres channeled his inner Bruce Lee-roy and put on a dynamic striking clinic including flying switch kicks and side kicks that would have made the father of Jeet Kune Do proud.  On the ground where Escovedo was the strongest, Caceres pushed the action by threatening multiple submissions including Escovedo’s bread and butter triangle chokes.

Caceres can be rest assured that he will be fighting again in the UFC.  A fight against another excellent striker like Brad Pickett would be a great show.  Although Pickett had lost his last fight against Renan Barao,  a fight against Caceres would be a showcase of fan favorites pitting power versus techniques.

Dustin Poirier

Dustin Poirier defeated Pablo Garza by a sneaky D’arce choke at 1:32 of Round 2.  The match up was to see which top prospect would be moving on to fight the next higher tier of UFC featherweights and up until the choke, the fight was fairly even.  The choke came about as Garza was applying an under hook to regain position on the ground, and Poirier exploited his decision for the submission. Well done.

Up next for Poirier will likely be a tough match of against an established featherweight to further test the young prospect’s development.  Erik Koch would be a great fight as he is currently on a 4-0 streak, most notably defeating Ultimate fighter winner Jonathan Brookins.  Poirier also had shown interest in this fight during his post fight interview with Ariel Helwani.

DaMarques Johnson

DaMarques Johnson had defeated Clay Harvison by a vicious TKO at 1:34 of Round 1.  As Joe Rogan pointed out at the beginning of the fight, Johnson’s stance looked like he was not looking to throw any kicks or go for any take downs, but only go in for the punching KO.  That is exactly what Johnson did when he connected with a solid left uppercut to Harvison’s chin.  The KO would have been worthy of the KO of the night but Junior Dos Santos had to make his statement on the ending to a historic night.

Johnson has had mixed results in the UFC so far with a 4-3 record.  Now after a quick KO win, a fight against another quick KO winner like Che Mills from UFC 138 would be an exciting matchup.

Ricardo Lamas

Ricardo Lamas had come into this fight inspired to dedicate his performance to his grandmother whom he recently lost due to breast cancer.  Sporting a breast cancer ribbon shaved into the side of his head, Lamas defeated Cub Swanson via arm triangle choke at 2:16 of Round 2.  Lamas had set the choke up pefectly as Swanson had attempted several guilotine chokes prior.  Lamas had taken advantage of one of the attempts to reverse the submission into his favor earning himself the submission of the night honors.

Up next for Lamas should be a top ten featherweight as he had defeated a former title contender in Swanson.  George Roop is coming off a loss but would give a great test for Lamas to see if he would belong with the featherweight elite.

If you are like many fans you really wish the UFC would have shown at least one more fight on the debut of UFC on Fox this Saturday evening. I myself, would have loved to see Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson live in HD on my big screen TV. Earlier this week Clay Guida sat down with the beautiful Karyn Bryant of MMAHeat to discuss his upcoming fight. During the interview he speaks about the strengths that Henderson possesses, however he does admit to feeling much more confident for this fight than his last fight against Anthony Pettis, as well as his UFC debut.

I feel great. I’m more confident about this fight than I was for my last and than I was for my UFC debut five-years ago. All signs are pointing towards a win. With every camp you become more confident in your skillset, your coaching, your teammates and things like that. … Ben brings a very high pace, his clinch is very good. We’ve been working on a lot of clinch defense and our own offense from there too. His ground and pound is second to none, you see he’ll stand over a guy and just rain down punches and elbows. Look what he did to Jim Miller. He defended a half dozen submissions too. His pace is – second to me, I guess you could say. And just a very well-spoken young-man, very respectful for the sport. – transcription thanks to Lowkick.com

Miami, Fla. -  Rising MMA stars Ben “Smooth” Henderson  and “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit have agreed to new multi-fight contracts with the UFC, First Round Management President and CEO Malki Kawa announced. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

“These fight contract extensions show the MMA world that the UFC values Ben Henderson and Carlos Condit as two of its top, young stars,” Kawa said. “Both are only 27 years old and have proven that they are contenders for titles in their weight divisions and also have strong fan bases. Fans will now be able to see them continue to grow in the octagon.”

Henderson holds a 14-2 professional record, and is 2-0 in the UFC after previously holding the WEC Lightweight championship. In his last fight at UFC Live on Versus 5, Henderson dominated Jim Miller.  He currently trains at the MMA Lab in Glendale, Ariz.

Fans can follow Henderson through his Twitter handle @SmoothOne155.

“I am excited that I will have the opportunity to continue to compete in the UFC, and I want to thank the UFC for believing in me and my abilities,” Henderson stated.

Condit, who trains at Jackson’s Submission Fighting in Albuquerque, N.M., holds a 27-5 professional record and has won his last four fights and 12 of his last 13 bouts overall. His last three wins have ended via KO/TKO.  He will next face BJ Penn in a Welterweight showdown at UFC 137 on Oct. 29.

“I am honored to receive an extension before my next fight, as it shows the level of confidence the UFC has in me.  I can’t wait to show the fans how much my training for this next fight has paid off,” Condit said.

Fans can follow Condit through his web site at www.CampCondit.com or through his Twitter handle @CarlosCondit.