MMASucka

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.

Strength and Conditioning coach Eric Wong of EricWongMMA has done it again. The first time he broke down Anderson Silva’s fantastic front kick knockout over Vitor Belfort and this time he breaks down Junior Dos Santos’ overhand right that KO’s Cain Velasquez. Below is a step by step breakdown of the overhand right. If you would like to read the entire article head over to Eric’s site.

BIOMECH BREAKDOWN: The Overhand Right

STEP #1 – Lead with a Step Jab

This does a few things.

It gives you forward momentum for more power behind the punch.

It gets your opponent to either a) block or b) counter with the lead hand.

Most guys don’t have the speed to slip a good jab (other than Anderson Silva).

It’s also difficult to counter a jab with a right hand because it’ll either be too slow or get blocked by the jabbing arm/shoulder, if thrown with the shoulder high and chin tucked of course.

So you know your opponent is either going to block/parry or counter with their lead hand, which will keep you relatively safe vs. simply leading with the overhand right.

STEP #2 – Plant Your Front Foot

This comes naturally after a step-jab, but I want to communicate the importance of this for power.

There’s a misconception among beginners that a jumping right hand is a powerful punch.

Well it’s not, because you’re missing 2 critical components:

1) Without being planted on your front foot, you cannot generate any rotational power through your core.

Try it right now – get in your fight stance, stand on your back foot, and throw a right with good rotation. Now compare that with standing on your left and doing the same. See what I mean?

2) When you plant your foot after forward momentum, you create the whip effect in the sagittal plane of motion (the plane of motion where you march your arms like a soldier).

It’s like the olden days when seat belts in the backseat of your car were only around your lap – if your Dad braked suddenly, you’d get whipped forward. Same thing happens when you plant the foot then throw the punch – you create that whip.

STEP #2b – “Wind Up” Your Right

As your front foot is landing, your right hand should be winding up.

The term winding up is perfect, because it’s a rotational wind up: down, around, then BANG.

It’s the circular motion of the wind up that allows you to generate max power in your punch.

Just like throwing a fastball – if you started with arm up and tried to throw, you’d get no velocity. You’ve got to go through a big circular motion to get the speed on your pitch.

STEP #3 – Core Rotation and Drop

Finally, to get the most power possible, you rotate and drop through your core, with your head ending up lower and to the side of where it started.

To get more speed for the rotation, you use the lead jab and pull it back as fast as you threw it out – another reason why it’s great to set the overhand right up with the jab.

Last night was amazing for the UFC, as it was the first time the UFC made their network TV debut. UFC on Fox:Velasquez vs. Dos Santos had a giant build up for a one minute and four second fight where Junior Dos Santos knocked out Cain Velasquez to win the UFC heavyweight championship. Not televised were the preliminary fights, however they were aired on Facebook.com and there were some dandys including Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida. Thanks to our friends at many media outlets (MMAFighting.com, MMAHeat.com, MMAWeekly.com) for the great post-fight interviews with some of the nights stars.

Photo by Esther Lin of MMAFighting.com

Tonight is the night folks. The UFC is set to make their live television debut with UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos. In the main event which is featured on FOX TV is the heavyweight championship between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. The prelims are to air on the UFC’s Facebook page starting at 1:45pm PT/4:45pm ET with the main event to be featured on FOX TV at 6pm PT/9pm ET LIVE Results below…

Feature Bout on FOX

Junior Dos Santos def. Cain Velasquez by KO at 1:04 of Round 1

Preliminary Card (Facebook and FoxSports.com)

Ben Henderson def. Clay Guida by Unanimous Decision (29-28,30-27,30-27)
Dustin Poirier def. Pablo Garza by Submission (D’arce choke) at 1:32 of Round 2
Ricardo Lamas def. Cub Swanson via submission (arm triangle choke) at 2:16 of Round 2
DaMarques Johnson def. Clay Harvison by TKO at 1:34 of Round 1
Darren Uyenoyama def. Norifumi Yamamoto by Unanimous Decision (30-27,30-26,30-27)
Robert Peralta def. Mackens Semerzier by TKO at 1:54 of Round 3
Alex Caceres def. Cole Escovedo by Unanimous Decision (30-27,30-27,30-27)
Mike Pierce def. Paul Bradley by Split Decision (28-29,30-27,29-28)
Aaron Rosa def. Matt Lucas by Majority Decision (28-28,30-26,30-26)

Bonuses $65,000 Each

Fight of the Night: Benson Henderson and Clay Guida

Knockout of the Night: Junior dos Santos

Submission of the Night: Ricardo Lamas

My beer of choice for this edition of Half-Cut UFC picks is the Granville Island Lions Winter Ale. Click on that link and check it out for yourself. For my International friends, I highly recommend getting your hands on this brew. It comes to this part of Canada  (British Columbia) around this time of year. It’s a tasty seasonal beer. It was a silver medalist at the 2011 World Beer Championships. If there is any brew you recommend please comment below and I will give it a try, and possibly make it the feature next time around.

At UFC 137 we didn’t do too badly. I had 3 wins 2 losses. I’d say that is pretty respectable. I skipped UFC 138. It was too quick of a turn around and I wanted to save my liver for UFC’s first foray on FOX. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos for the UFC Heavyweight Title on free television! Doesn’t get any better than that. Maybe if they showed the entire main card on TV that would be better. Not sure what the UFC was thinking.

Personally, I think the UFC completely missed the boat on this one and under estimated their audience. I love Manny Pacquiao and I will watch that too, but the UFC could of figured out a way to show the fights with out conflicting with boxing. Now we are going to have to sit and watch Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida on our computers. I guess there could be worst things. Like having to continually see Kim Kardashian’s ugly mug on magazine racks everywhere.  She is a fake, undeserving, famous nothing. Oh gosh, gee, darn heck, her marriage didn’t work. That was as fake as her ass and boobs. Thanks I feel better now.

On to my partially buzzed picks. Not half cut yet, saving myself for later. Remember if you’re going to gamble, do it responsibly; give me a percentage of your winnings.

UFC Heavyweight Title - Cain Velasquez (9-0) vs. Junior Dos Santos (13-1)

Here we go! Let’s start with the Main Event. Who is going to win? Your guess is as good as mine. So I’m going to close my eyes, turn in circles and pin the tale on the fighter (makes for a great party game by the way.)

I was playing UFC undisputed 2010 and for the most part Dos Santos won more times than not, so I’m going to go with my beer gut on this one. Besides the video game, I think the deciding factor in this fight will be Dos Santos being able to stop the take down and work his crisper more technical striking. Let’s not forget, Velasquez came into the UFC with hardly any striking capabilities. Remember the Kongo fight? Over the years Cain has become a well-rounded fighter but Dos Santos has the advantage on the feet. People underestimate Dos Santos’s ground game too. Cain is an explosive wrestler, and if this fight does go to the ground, Dos Santos can work some BJJ submissions from his back or get back to his feet. Remember this is MMA not wrestling. Although I would not be surprised to see Cain win this fight, I just think it will come down to Junior’s stand up. Expect this fight to be a war, but my beer gut is saying Dos Santos will take it via TKO in the second round. This will not be the first time these two warriors will face each other. Bring on Overeem vs. Lesnar. Winner: And new UFC Heavyweight Champion – Junior Dos Santos

Lightweight Division - Benson Henderson (14-2) vs.  Clay Guida (29-11)

The man they call the Carpenter, not Jesus, Clay Guida has his hands full. Guida is explosive; he has solid wrestling and is the energizer bunny when it comes to cardio. The man doesn’t have quite in his body. He is a fan favorite and someone who has put some exciting fights together through out his career. But guess what? You can say the same thing about Ben Henderson. Although this fight will be exciting and should be aired on one of the Fox channels, (trust me if Velasquez vs. Dos Santos ends in the first round or two, it is possible this fight replay will be aired.) I personally think that Henderson will have the edge in every department. If the fight goes to the ground, I believe Henderson can give Guida fits, if it stays standing, I strongly believe Henderson has the advantage on the feet. The biggest factor in this fight is that Henderson is extremely tough to finish. I don’t see a stoppage to this fight, just a hard three rounds of action with Henderson getting the edge via decision. Winner: Number one contender for the UFC lightweight title? Ben Henderson.

Featherweight Division - Dustin Poirier (10-1) vs. Pablo Garza (11-1)

This is another bout I wish the world could see. However, I will have the laptop connected to my television and find great pleasure in watching these two featherweights get it on. As much as that last sentence sounded like porn, this fight will be interesting. Poirier has some sick stand up and is a very well rounded MMA fighter. Garza is no slouch either and can definitely end this fight standing up too, but his strength lies in BJJ. Look for Garza to try and bait Poirier to the ground and work for an exciting submission to finish the fight and keep his UFC undefeated record intact. Trust me, “The Diamond” wants nothing to do with Garza’s guard. I see Poirier having the advantage standing and with his crew of Louisiana “Trailor Trash Ninjas” like Tim Credeur at his back, expect a solid game plan. I predict Poirier winning most of the stand up exchanges to take the victory in the third round via TKO. Winner: Dustin Poirier

Bantamweight Division – Norifumi Yamamoto (18-4) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (6-3)

I don’t have much to say about this fight. Yamamoto was a star in Japan and had solid wrestling and explosive stand up…but that was Japan. “Kid,” as he is called, lost his UFC debut against Demetrious Johnson at UFC 126. We didn’t see what “Kid” was made of in that fight. But…we may get to see flashes of it against Darren Uyenoyama. I will be honest, I don’t know much about Uyenoyama. He is making his UFC debut and he has fought a few great battles in Japan too. I fully expect Yamamoto to win this fight easily and I strongly believe that this is a tune up fight for Yamamoto before he fights at the UFC in Japan card on February 26^th. I’m taking “Kid” via KO in the first round. Winner: Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto

Welterweight Division – Mike Pierce (12-4) vs. Paul Bradley (18-3)

This is the tale of two wrestlers. This is a pretty easy fight for me to predict. I think Pierce can negate the wrestling and be able to pick Bradly apart in the stand up department. As much as Bradly is bigger and will probably try to take the fight down and try to control Pierce, I don’t see it happening. I just looked both these guys up and it’s funny they fought each other before on a smaller show in Philadelphia back in 2009. Pierce won that fight via decision. I expect the same outcome in this fight. I believe Pierece has fought tougher competition since their 2009 match up and Bradley will have his hands full. I’m taking Pierce via decision. Winner: Mike Pierce

That is it for the Main Card. Make sure to try and watch most of these fights along with the under card on UFC’s Facebook page or at Foxsports.com. Get yourself a video and audio cable and hook up a computer to your big screen and BAM! You got yourself a party. Make sure to throw in some beers or other party favors. If you can get girls to geek out with you, all the better. Until next time, keep your beers on ice. CHEERS!

Make sure to join me on Twitter @tdueckmania

-Corner Man-

Current Half-Cut Record (3-2)

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica California – All 20 fighters of the historic UFC on FOX card have made weight.  The 9 fight preliminary card will start at 2pm PT/5pm ET on Facebook or FOX.com.  Then at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET, for the first time ever the UFC will be broadcasted on FOX with the spectacular Heavyweight tittle fight of Junior Dos Santos versus the champion Cain Velasquez.

Weigh in show starts at 09:15 of the video.

Full Weigh-In Results

Main Card (FOX)

265 lbs.: Champ Cain Velasquez (249) vs. Junior Dos Santos (239)

Preliminary Card (Facebook and/or FOX.com)

155 lbs.: Clay Guida (156) vs. Ben Henderson (156)
145 lbs.: Pablo Garza (145) vs. Dustin Poirier (146)
145 lbs.: Ricardo Lamas (145) vs. Cub Swanson (145)
170 lbs.: Clay Harvsion (169) vs. DaMarques Johnson (171)
135 lbs.: Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (135) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (135)
145 lbs.: Robert Peralta (145) vs. Mackens Semerzier (146)
135 lbs.: Alex Caceres (136) vs. Cole Escovedo (134)
170 lbs.: Paul Bradley (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171)
205 lbs.: Matt Lucas (203) vs. Aaron Rosa (204)

The UFC will treat us to two specials today. First up is the UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem “On Sale” Press Conference. The press conference will take place at the Santa Monica Pier beginning at approximately 2pm PT/5pm ET in Santa Monica, California. The UFC will announce the upcoming heavyweight headliner which is slated for the Dec. 30 pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Nevada. Expected to attend are both headliners, Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem, as well as UFC President Dana White.

The press conference is free and open to the public. Stick around, because following the press conference, the UFC on FOX weigh ins for “Velasquez vs. Dos Santos,” which begins at 4pm PT/7pm ET at the same location.