(Sadly there were no magical phone booths involved. And Socrates wasn't there either...)

Before I get going I'd like to say that UFC 116 was easily the most entertaining of the four live UFC events I've had the privilege to attend (UFC 84, 100, and 102, being the other ones), and for anyone that hasn't had an opportunity to go to a live UFC event, you need to find a way to do so. The big-fight atmosphere in Las Vegas is something that should be experienced by every MMA fan at least once in your life. No matter where it's held, attending a UFC event live should absolutely be near the top of your 'Bucket List.' 

Disclaimer to those with short-attention spans: This is a long read.

Pre-fight Press Conference

When I heard that the UFC would allow some fans into the pre-fight press conference, I thought, "That would cool to go to." Then when I found out that they'd only let in the first 250 fans, I thought, "Well, I'm not gonna wait in line for hours just to get into this thing." After spending the majority of the morning at the pool, I looked at my watch and saw that it was 11:45am. Since I knew that the press conference was going to start at 1pm and my wife was going to need some time to get ready for the day, I decided I'd show up and see if I could get in.

After quickly showering, I made it down to the Hollywood Theater (which is right off the main casino floor) around 12:30 and noticed only about 70 or so people standing around waiting to get in. I was given a wristband by some guy in a tux and engaged in some small talk with the guys around me who were also waiting to get in. When they opened the doors a little after 1pm, we headed to the upper seating area and grabbed an open table. Before I arrived I thought that my chances of grabbing one of the 250 spots were slim to none, but I'd say that there were only about 100 or so people in attendance. 

The press asked the typical questions, the fighters gave the usual answers, and all in all it wasn't very exciting or informative. It was still cool to be there though. Brock was in a surprisingly good mood, but towards the end he gave short answers and kept saying that he "just wanted to fight." Akiyama looked bored stiff and Carwin didn't have much to offer either. Only Leben really looked as if he was enjoying himself. 

Fight Club Q&A, Weigh-in, Live Event, and Miscellaneous Thoughts after the jump

SBN coverage of UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin 

Continue reading this post »

James Toney staked out UFC 108 in order to issue a challenge to UFC president Dana White: Toney wants to fight in the UFC.

These videos have been making the rounds but I figured I would pass them along.

Videos via Cage Writer and MMA Fighting

On one level it is kind of sad to see an over forty boxer (and former steroid user) go through with such an obvious stunt. But on another level it is pretty freaking hilarious to see White and Toney trade verbal jabs. Apparently, this isn't the first time that Toney has been trying to get a booking in the UFC.

Update: Please tell me this isn't true but I guess Dana White is actually going to meet with Toney.

Update #2: Toney spoke to FightHype.com and the results are laughable.

"They talking about ground game? That don't mean nothing to me dog. Number one, I ain't going to allow none of them boys to lay on top of me like a lil' fag, you know what I'm saying? I ain't going to the ground; that ain't happening, you know what I'm saying?

...I know a lot of them thinking they would fuck me up and they gonna shoot in on me and all of that, but I ain't going to the ground; that ain't happening. I got one of the best mixed martial arts trainers in the world, which is my daddy. You know what I'm saying? He is one of the original death fighters. They fought to the death like in them movies, but it's a matter of time. I will be ready to go."

SBN coverage of UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva

Bernard Hopkins is weighing in on MMA and the consensus is, he's not down with those pantie wearing homoerotic wrestlers.

"Everybody is different but I don't want to watch two grown men wrestling with panties on. I'm from the hood, we don't play that. To me, I'm not buying a ticket to watch two grown men with panties on, sweating, with nuts in their face. That's not me. To compare that to boxing is ludicrous. It's a porno - it's an entertainment porno. I'm not wrestling a guy with panties on and his nuts in my face."

Hopkins is from the hood yo!

He doesn't want to see sweaty men hugging each other with pillows on their hands. Wait that's boxing.

That's whack yo.

HT: MMA Fanhouse

For all the talk of how much different MMA and boxing are, the head-to-head pay-per view match-up between Mayweather vs. Marquez and UFC 103 had many partisans licking their chops for the chance to cut down the rival sport.

So who won this latest skirmish in the boxing vs. mixed martial arts debate?

As of this moment PPV estimates for UFC 103 are around the 400,000-600,000 375,000 buy range. A solid showing for a card that featured no title fights and none of the UFC's big pay-per view draws. However, there is the potential that UFC 103  may have achieved only 25% of what Mayweather vs. Marquez did on pay-per view last Saturday night.

Kevin Iole reported that Mayeather vs. Marquez will definitely reach 1 million buys and as of this moment there is the possibility that the total number will reach 1.6 million buys. That puts Mayweather vs. Marquez a hundred thousand buys short of the UFC's most successful PPV card, UFC 100.

Of course there is a degree of gamesmanship with the initial reports. Promoters tend leak higher numbers than what ends up being the final count (the UFC does this too) in order to shape media coverage in their favor. Nothing is official yet but you can be sure of one thing, Dana White has been mute on UFC 103 vs. Mayweather-Marquez since Saturday night. If 103 had beaten, tied or  narrowly lost to Mayweather-Marquez, you could be damn sure Dana White would be running his mouth. Then again, White has bigger things to worry about now. Like making fun of Herschel Walker.

UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort coverage

Mayweather vs. Marquez goes head-to-head with UFC 103 this Saturday night and that means the boxing vs. MMA talk will begin anew, if it hasn't already.

The two metrics that observers will use to compare the two events will be live gate and pay-per view numbers. As of this moment it looks like Mayweather-Marquez may be facing a Waterloo when it comes to ticket sales,

I just did a quick search at Ticketmaster and discovered that I could still get eight seats (eight seats!) together for the Mayweather/Marquez fight on Saturday night at every price level except for the cheapest seats in the house.


Tickets are priced at $1000, $750, $600, $300 and $150. For all but the $150 jammies, you can get yourself eight in a row right now. Call up the cousins, in other words, and rev up the minivan. Only the nosebleeds are a sellout for this thing. Money and Marquez are bringing out the low-rollers in spades.

So the MGM Grand is far from sold out. What's a fighter to do? I know! It's time to make some controversial comments!

Enter Floyd Mayweather who made some hey, look at me interesting remarks yesterday about his status, or lack there of, within the mainstream consciousness,

If you're rich, you're a rich [n-word]," he said. "If you're poor, you're a poor [n-word]. If you're smart, you're a smart [n-word]. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a [n-word]."

Race is always a touchy subject but it doesn't take a cynic to see these comments as an effort to raise awareness about Mayweather's fight with Marquez with Floyd playing the heel.

The Sporting Blog's new MMA/Boxing site, The Rumble, has some interesting numbers regarding ticket prices for boxing two big events this year.

A ringside seat for May/Marquez is going for $4,590. The same seat for Pac/Cotto will cost you $10,943. I'm not that good at math, but that's like, a lot more.

Don't worry I am pretty good at math and that's a difference of $6,535. Wow.

WKR thought it would be smart to compare ringside ticket prices for UFC 103. We found ringside seats available on Ticket Stub for $3,090.

Continue reading this post »

Many of you may have seen this video over at Bloody Elbow but there is more to the story than the horrible decision.

Paul Malignaggi laid in to the judges and then boxing as a whole,

Boxing has no f*cking integrity left. It's been happening for years. That's why this sport has no popularity left. That's why nobody watches this sh*t because every year there are decision like this and probably even worse than this. I don't really know how close this fight was. People get f*cked constantly. Nobody watches boxing anymore because of sh*t like this.

Ouch, those are pretty harsh words but there is a ring of truth to it. The problem with boxing is that a fighter needs 25 wins before he can begin to contend in one of the multitude of divisions and organizations. While some will state that it takes time to properly train someone in the sweet science, which it definitely does, that doesn't change the fact that most of a fighter's opponents are cans. Those that are actual competition are so hamstrung by favorable arrangements for the home town fighter that it is nearly impossible for them to win.

How does this system produce the next generation of star boxers?

Cage Writer passed along an interesting article from the Philly Daily News regarding Joe Hand, a closed-circuit television promoter a.k.a. guy who sells pay-per views to bars and restaraunts. 

"People ask, 'Do you think UFC will kill boxing?' " Hand said. "It already has. Boxing's dead. "Look, the next [Floyd] Mayweather fight is the same night as UFC 103. Does that make any sense?    

To Hand's last point, Floyd's Uncle was arrested so this will probably be used as an excuse (def a legitimate one) to postpone the fight. 

The real interesting point in this article is the comparison of the UFC as a PPV product versus boxing as a PPV product.

A boxing PPV is all about the main event. The under card fights are usually all jokes and are always too short. I know I hate watching a four round boxing match that is a glorified sparring session not a prize-fight. Compare that to five competitive fights on an UFC PPV some of which end early allowing the audience to see a preliminary fight and it is easy to see why the UFC PPV product is better than the boxing PPV alternative. 

Remember the business of sports is the business of entertainment and making a competitive and concise product is one of the reasons why people tune in to watch a UFC event. This is something MMA fans should always think about when they start clamoring for five round non-title fights, which in my opinion would drastically change the PPV product for the worse.