Monday, December 6, 2010

How Bad Did Strikeforce Crush the UFC on Saturday Night?

Yeah, so, there were two events on TV on Saturday night – a UFC on SpikeTV and a Strikeforce on Showtime.  One of these offerings featured a slew of not-ready-for-primetime players who provided decision after decision, and the other gave us enough thrilling knockouts to send a significant percentage of viewers in seizures.  Can you guess which major MMA organization gave us which?  If you guessed that it was the UFC’s TUF 12 live finale that was the stinker, you guessed correctly!  Within the Octagon we got to witness Nam Phan have a pretty decent scrap against Leonard Garcia before getting robbed by the judges, and then we got crap that was best watched on fast forward.  Strikeforce, meanwhile, gave us Robbie Lawler decapitating Matt Lindland, Paul Daley removing about three years from Scott Smith’s life, and Dan Henderson utterly smashing Renato Sobral.  Ratings disparities aside (SpikeTV is premium cable channel offered in more homes; Showtime is a subscription-based channel), it’s clear that the House of Coker won the battle Saturday night.  But how bad did Strikeforce crush the UFC?

  • At the UFC event, the fighters and their respective camps watched the Strikeforce show on monitors in their locker rooms.  And they wept.
  • After the press conference for the TUF 12 Finale was over, Dana White reportedly went backstage and punched Joe Silva in the stomach.
  • After the punch, Joe Silva said, “Thank you.  I deserve that.”
  • Scott Coker instructed Lawler, Daley and Henderson to invoice the UFC for “knockout of the night” bonuses.  And the UFC is considering paying.
  • Upon watching both events on their TIVOs/DVRs, a large number of fans burned their official UFC gear and merchandise.  Also, those who’ve been claiming to train in the “UFC-style” of fighting announced they’ve switched over to “Strikeforce-style”.  “Bro, it’s so much better.”
  • Dana White thanked God, Allah, Zeus, Neptune and Odin.  Why?  Because if Saturday night’s Strikeforce had aired on CBS instead of Showtime…  Well, let’s just say his world would be a lot more complicated today.

Another Happy Customer

From the mailbag:

"Love your 'Mitch the Intern' TUF spoofs!

And so GODDAMN MANY of them!

No captions! No descriptions. They are worthless and they SUCK!

Okay, we get it it, you're all underground, you go to fights that know one else knows about, so you're the martial arts equivalent of foodie eclecticist Alton Brown.

You're special because you know about them, and I'm not.

But I'm not *learning* about them, either, because there's no context to those pics.

Who are they? What's the story? Are they not important enough to find any more about them?

The pics are nothing to admire in the first place. If there's nothing more to be gleaned from them than "oh, look, I was at a fight and it was a secret", then...kinda pointless, Jimmy boy.

Posting a pic with no caption or context isn't journalism."

Evolution "Holiday Havoc" Postscript

Nothing finer than traveling a half hour from your house to see a sanctioned MMA show.  Nothing finer.  As for the fights, Abdul Beyah definitely had a plan (sprawl and brawl) and he executed it well, Greg Quarantello's got some decent hands on him, and if Rob Fabrizi can nail down that cardio he's going to be a force.  The "stud of the night" award, though, definitely goes to Jimbo Hoffman.  Expect big things from him when he turns pro.