New York, NY– With all four major U.S. based Mixed Martial Arts promotions taking a break of sorts this month, what a better time to look back on the first half of the year and see how each promotion fared. So far, 2010 has been a memorable year in MMA with some highs and definitely some lows as well.
125,000 AT UFC FAN EXPO MAKE STATEMENT BOXING CAN’T!
Not wasting anytime, the Ultimate Fighting Championships started things off the second day of 2010 with UFC 108, which featured Rashad Evans defeating Thiago Silva on points. This win of course opened the door for Evans to settle his grudge match against Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson at UFC 114 during the Memorial Day weekend, which also featured their second fan expo. While the fight itself did not live up to the hype, the expo was even bigger and better than the initial event and drew 125,000+ fans over two days. Boxing’s big day, a weekend in June at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in upstate New York, it is lucky to draw a few thousand period!
EDGAR LUCKY OR JUST BETTER THAN BJ?
We witnessed a major upset in April when Frankie Edgar won a decision against longtime lightweight (155 lbs) kingpin B.J. Penn and won the title. Still, that wasn’t even the biggest upset in 2010, as we’ll find out a little later. Edgar vs. Penn was of course the co-main event of UFC 112, the promotion’s first foray into Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
SILVA HAS A LOT OF CRITICS…INCLUDING DANA!
The main event on that card was the debacle between middleweight (185) champ Anderson Silva and Demian Maia. So bad was the fight that UFC President Dana White was in total disgust with the champion over his performance or lack there of. However, from that low point we went to UFC 116 and the return of heavyweight (over 205 & under 265) champion Brock Lesnar earlier this month, where Dana White went from total disgust back in April to saying, “This was the greatest night of fights I’ve ever seen.”
TIME TO STICK A FORK IN…
Finally and hopefully, we saw the last of two UFC Hall of Famers, Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell, who both went out with lopsided losses as they were fighting well past their prime. The UFC’s attempt to give them one last push before retirement backfired on them and these once proud champions.
”SLAMMIN’ SAMMY’S” UFC REPORT CARD
Taking this into consideration, along with other factors such as the UFC providing free cards on both the Spike and Versus networks, my grade for the first half is a B-.
STRIKEFORCE HIT SPEED BUMPS, BUT FUTURE IS BRIGHT!
The UFC’s chief rival meanwhile, Strikeforce, did not fare so well. Even though there were some positive moments throughout, the negatives thoroughly outweighed the bad. The positives, include the emergence of future stars such as light heavyweight champion Muhammad ‘King Mo’ Lawal, lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, one of the best in the world and female champ Cristiana ‘Cyborg’ Santos, the definitive best in the world.
POST-FIGHT BRAWL COOL FOR VIEWERS, NOT NETWORK!
Another positive is their TV contract with both cable’s Showtime and network television’s CBS. However, that was also part of the negative. With a major opportunity to put a big foot forward with a network telecast in April featuring three championship bouts, Strikeforce bombed with three sub par fights that all went to decision then finished the CBS telecast on a down note with an unexpected melee inside the cage.
STRIKEFORCE SUFFERING FROM INEPTITUDE OR BAD LUCK?
That notwithstanding, they followed up that fiasco with another. Finally seeing the return of their heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, instead of matching him up against their #1 commodity and drawing card Fedor Emelianenko, they chose Brett Rogers as the challenger who ironically enough was coming off a loss to none other than Emelianenko. To no one’s surprise, Overeem destroyed Rogers.
YES…THAT WAS THE UNBEATABLE FEDOR TAPPING OUT!
If that wasn’t bad enough, the icing on the cake was the next month in June when they paired Emelianenko against Fabricio Werdum and in the biggest upset so far this year he lost. So much for the mega heavyweight fight they were hoping for; or is it? At this point they’re not even sure which way to go.
REPORT CARD ON STRIKEFORCE NOT SO GOOD
Combine all this together along with the indecisiveness on what broadcast team to use including a two-man versus three-man team or using Frank Shamrock versus Pat Miletich as an analyst and it was not a good first half. My grade for Strikeforce at the halfway point is a D.
PART II COMES LATE THURSDAY, EARLY FRIDAY
In part II of my mid-year report card, I will discuss the two promotions that really did well in the first half of the year and scored the two highest grades so far, World Extreme Cagefighting and the Bellator Fighting Championships.
“Slammin’ Sammy” Perez