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Complete SBNation Coverage of UFC 143

2012-02-05T02:25:47Z

MMA Nation is no more but you can still follow all the UFC 143 action at SBNation's family of MMA sites:

All three sites have complete live coverage.

UFC On Fox 3 Fight Card: Tony Ferguson Vs. Dennis Hallman Tapped For May

2012-01-31T23:00:24Z

A lightweight tilt between emerging striker Tony Ferguson and revitalized grappler Dennis Hallman has been added to the fight card of UFC on Fox 3. Promotion officials confirmed the bout on Monday.

At 27 years old, Ferguson (13-2) appears to have acclimated well since riding a string of knockouts to The Ultimate Fighter 13's welterweight crown. Driven by a formidable standup game, "El Cucuy" has rolled to six straight victories, including a TKO stoppage of Aaron Riley and decision win over Yves Edwards in late-2011.

Hallman (51-14-2, 1 NC), meanwhile, simply hopes to stay in the UFC's good graces after following the ill-advised speedo incident by badly missing weight at UFC 140. A veteran of over 16 years, with 40 submission finishes to his name, "Superman" has blazed through a 8-2 record during his recent career resurgence, punctuated by a first-round victory over John Makdessi that likely saved his job.

UFC on Fox 3 takes place May 5th, 2012 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A headliner has yet to be announced.

UFC on Fox 3 fight card:

Lightweight: Jim Miller vs. Nate Diaz
Flyweight: John Dodson vs. Darren Uyenoyama
Lightweight: Anthony Ferguson vs. Dennis Hallman

Alistair Overeem Reportedly Charged With Misdemeanor Battery

2012-01-31T21:56:06Z

UFC heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem has been charged with one count of misdemeanor battery stemming from a New Year's weekend disturbance in Las Vegas, according to reports from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

At 3:00 a.m. on January 2nd, Overeem allegedly "pushed or shoved a woman in the face, causing her to stagger back," inside the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel. The fighter was not arrested by Las Vegas police, but did receive a citation.

According to reports from the District Attorney's office, Overeem's court appearance has been scheduled for 8:00 a.m. on February 21st. Should he be convicted, the 31-year-old Dutchman would face a maximum of six months in a Clark County Detention Center and a fine upwards of $1,000.

Overeem has tapped the services of renown Las Vegas defense attorney David Chesnoff.

"Alistair was not arrested, but was summoned to court," Chesnoff explained. "There are two sides to this story and we intend on vigorously defending this. Alistair maintains his innocence."

The incident took place just days after Overeem knocked out former UFC champion Brock Lesnar in two-and-a-half minutes in the main event of UFC 141 to earn the next shot at Junior dos Santos' heavyweight title.

Fedor Tosses The Korean Zombie, Georges St. Pierre Returns On The Round-Up

2012-01-31T12:00:24Z

MMA Nation Round-Up provides you with daily coverage of the latest in news, multimedia, and analysis throughout the world of combat sports.

Today we'll take one final look back at UFC on Fox 2, before marching forward towards Saturday's UFC 143 offering. Plus, Georges St. Pierre returns to action, Fedor duels the Korean Zombie, and an interview with the pre-teen that nearly caused a UFC public relations disaster.

- Chael Sonnen's razor-thin victory didn't quite mesh with the grandiose post-fight speech that followed, but then again, that's just Chael being Chael... right? The stark exchange led David Castillo to ask: Is Sonnen's bark beginning to hide his lack of bite?

- Catch a recap of all the action of Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis from UFC on Fox 2's main event.

- Next up for Rashad: a long awaited title shot against Jon Jones. Though, to steal a line from GSP, Jones was not impressed by his performance, "I feel like he's coming down the other side of the hill. Even his body looked softer."

- Ouch. Regardless, the oddsmakers appear to be on Bones' side, as the young champion opened as a ridiculously high 6-to-1 favorite.

- Cower in fear of Nick Diaz in the latest piece of UFC 143-related viral marketing.

- We must all take a moment of silence as we mourn the tragedy that occurred on Monday. After 100+ pay-per-views, the Gladiator has finally fallen in battle.

- Somehow, this feels strangely appropriate.

- Less than a week away from the UFC crowning a new welterweight champion for the first time since mid-2008, Georges St. Pierre is back in the gym, albiet in a "limited" fashion.

- Meanwhile, the Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit camps appear to have a differing of opinions when it comes to the fate of the interim strap.

- As if a listless loss to Chris Weidman wasn't enough, Demian Maia also earned this unfortunate distinction at UFC on Fox 2.

@MMADecisions
MMADecisions.com With his decision loss on Saturday, Demian Maia now solely has the longest active streak of UFC fights going to a decision (7).
Jan 30 via web Favorite Retweet Reply

- Unless your name is Brock Lesnar or Chael Sonnen, it's hard for an up-and-coming MMA fighter to keep their face in the papers. That's why Johny Hendricks doesn't want you to forget, he just blasted the No. 2 welterweight in the world.

- B.J. Penn recently hosted a party for the latest group of at-risk youth to join the Penn Hawaii Youth Foundation in Hilo, Hawaii.

- Matt Hughes isn't ready to hang up his gloves (or his fondness for first-person dialogue) just yet. Said the Hall of Famer, "My wife's a great lady, but she's not going to tell me when Matt Hughes retires."

- Remember that hacker who breached UFC.com and UFC.tv on a live feed and posted the video for the entire internet to see? Yeah, apparently he's a 13-year-old Australian boy.

- Jimmy Hettes may be the UFC's newest 145-pound sensation, but this Living Colour-esque photo probably isn't doing him any favors in the street-cred department. (via @Scramble)

- Want to see the 225-pound Fedor Emelianenko toss the 145-pound Korean Zombie around like a ragdoll? My gift to you. (HT: Bloody Elbow)

NCAA Champ Bubba Jenkins Scheduled To Fight Chris Gomez At TPF 12 In March

2012-01-30T21:07:40Z

Bubba Jenkins has a date set for his sophomore showing.

Announced Monday, the former NCAA Division I wrestling champion has agreed to fight lightweight grappler Chris Gomez at Tachi Palace Fights 12: Second Coming on March 9, 2012, at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California. Sherdog.com first reported the bout.

Jenkins (1-0) returns to the cage for the first time since his December debut, in which he needed just two minutes to stop fellow rookie Josh Williams via strikes. The 23-year-old wrestled for three years at Penn State before transferring to Arizona State and earning NCAA gold in the 157-pound division. Jenkins now plies his trade at American Top Team alongside UFC standouts Thiago Alves, Cole Miller and Brian Bowles.

Gomez (2-3), meanwhile, laces his gloves back up after a 29-month layoff from competition. The Millennia MMA product last fought to a two-fight losing streak against Adam Watts and Ruben Salazar, with both finishes arriving within 67 seconds.

Also announced for TPF 12, heavyweight knockout-artist Dave Huckaba (16-4) will look for his sixth straight win as he takes on Bellator veteran Liron Wilson (9-5).

‘TPF 12: Second Coming' fight card:

Featherweight championship: Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Micah Miller
Lightweight: Bubba Jenkins vs. Chris Gomez
Heavyweight: Dave Huckaba vs. Liron Wilson

Is The UFC Making All The Right Moves?

2012-01-30T20:25:55Z

Nate Wilcox and Luke Thomas debate whether or not the UFC is at an inflection point in their business in this video chat with transcript.

Looking at three seemingly random events that happened in the world of the UFC last week, I made the argument that the UFC was at an inflection point and was making key changes to their business model in response. Luke Thomas challenges my assertions in the following video discussion. Video and transcriptions of excerpts follow (sorry for the sound and video being out of sync):

Nate Wilcox: This decision to cancel that pay-per-view, that's' what tells me they know they're at an inflection point and they're looking back at the results of the last two years of their business and that they've made some changes which is good. That's the sign of a winning fighter, winning team, winning organization is to make adjustments mid-game and what you saw in 2010-2011 was a steady erosion in their pay-per-view numbers. Going back to 2007-2008, you had a period where they had a floor of 360,000 buys for the crappiest, weakest foreign pay-per-view they put up there. I mean, Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99 got 360,000 buys.

Luke Thomas: It would never do that today.

Nate Wilcox: No, two years later they'd be happy to get 360,000 buys for a title fight card, maybe a multi-title fight card. Now you look at Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard getting 225,000 maybe less?
---
Nate Wilcox: The pay-per-view is where they get 75 percent of their revenue so that's very big, especially for a company that's got a lot of debt overhung. They've got a lot of payments to make and they've pushed their revolving credit almost to the limit so their cash flow has always been tight. This is a company that lost 43 million dollars before they were a hit on Spike TV and they've never really gotten out of that financial hole. I mean, the Fertitta brothers and Dana White have apparently cashed out a lot of money for themselves, but they chose not to put that money back in the business and that leaves the business with that overhang of debt.

Luke Thomas: Explain the debt thing for people that may not know. They'll say, "Well they did put stuff back in the business. The shows are better than ever in terms of the live event production. Fighters make more than ever, that's gotta count. The UFC product itself in terms of the online digital quality and the infrastructure, just on the PR side, I know for a fact, they've built out the infrastructure in an enormous way," so when you mean, "they still have that debt," what is that floating debt that you're talking about?

Nate Wilcox: Well they took out a 500 million dollar loan a few years back and they have not paid down the principal of that. They've been making interest payments and they've got a 50 million dollar line of revolving credit and according to the Standard and Poor's report or whatever, they've drawn that out almost to the limit, like to within the last five million dollars of it and that's very important for a business because that's how businesses pay their bills is with revolving credit. Businesses aren't like your household accounts.

You don't just sit there and go, "Well I've got this much in my bank account. I'm gonna just spend that and not any more," businesses have payrolls, investments and expenses. It's very common for businesses to have revolving debt to use to pay their payrolls and any ongoing expenses and they've been very good in investing in the business. I'm not saying they haven't invested in the business. They spent a fortune on lobbying New York, trying to get it regulated in New York State. They spent a fortune trying to expand into Europe. They expanded into Australia. They've expanded into South America. They dabbled into the Middle East with Dubai.

Luke Thomas: And of course North America, Canada as well as Mexico.

Nate Wilcox: They haven't done an event in Mexico, but they're pushing the product in Mexico. They're laying the groundwork. If Mexico were safer, It hink they would have already gone to Mexico but the situation is such that they've invested into the cost of growing the business but they could have taken the money that they paid themselves with, and by that I mean I'm talking Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White and put that back into service the debt and they possibly, no one knows because it's a private company, could have substantially cut down the debt overhang but they haven't done that.

They've been cashing out as they go according to reports I've read from MMAPayout and other places so what that means is there's significant pressure on them to remain at a high profitability. That's all I'm saying. They need to keep the pay-per-views at a nice profitable level and the reality is, they could drop down to 100,000 pay-per-views and be profitable for all but the biggest pay-per-views. As long as they don't have a Brock Lesnar or a GSP on the card, they can do quite well for themselves at a much lower level of pay-per-view. The problem is that the fighters have come to expect ever increasing returns and higher pay-offs on the pay-per-views and you get a better caliber of athletes when there's more money to it so they're kind of on a treadmill where they need to keep growing to do what they do. The growth has been built into their business plan so it's not like they're a mature business like the WWE that is in a position to deal with declining pay-per-views.
--
Nate Wilcox: The decision to start testing athletes when they sign the contract shows that they're sending a signal to their athletes like, "Look, we're not gonna play cute. If you're roided balls out, we're gonna crack down. It's not just the incompetent, underfunded athletic commissions you have to worry about. We too are going to be watching you guys and trying to crack down on the steroid use."

Luke Thomas: I'm a little all over the place on this one. First of all, the test, I really only believe that randomized drug testing works although what's funny about it is I'm kind of conflicted. I also feel like this test is like the ultimate dummy test. You're gonna catch the absolute tards on this one because it's essentially no different than a drug test for your employer you may have should you work for the government or somewhere that's sensitive to those issues and it's easy to skate around.
--
Nate Wilcox: The decision to run the op-ed in the Las Vegas Review Journal after SOPA and PIPA had already been pulled and the bills are not moving forward and the response to that, the reason I bring it up in this context is the fan response to that, if you remember our last instance where we talked about UFC versus ESPN and the way Dana White is so successful at getting his fans to rally around him whether he's going against ESPN or going against a rogue fighter like Ken Shamrock or Tito Ortiz, almost inevitably, Dana White and the UFC get the support of the fans overwhelmingly.

However, the SOPA instance, not only was their website hacked, but this was one of the only instances where you see the MMA media and the fans not taking the UFC's side on this and to me this shows you've got two good steps where they're adjusting their game, they're recognizing a new environment where they need to make adjustments but this third one, they walked into a hornet's nest, they stepped on their dick. However you want to put it and it didn't go well and they got their website shut down and it got a negative response and for somebody that's done public affairs at the corporate level for a decade and a half, I know something like an op-ed in a major newspaper is something way in advance.

I guarantee they scheduled that op-ed to appear long before the SOPA blackout happened on the 18th but they didn't adjust it after it was pulled. I've never seen a company come out in favor of unpopular legislation that's already been defeated. I'm mean, what the fuck? There's no point in doing that. That gets you nothing. The only possible benefit I can see from running that op-ed in the paper is saying, "Hey, Harry Reid, we appreciate what you did on behalf of us and the content industry but there are ways to do that without endorsing legislation that Harry Reid himself has already pulled. There's no point. It's one thing to be the first man over the line and get shot down, but there's no point in being the last man to die for a mistake. It was just stupid. It was bad public affairs practice all the way around.

Luke Thomas: One, I read the op-ed by Lawrence Epstein. Dana's not mentioning SOPA, not even on twitter. Dana realizes this fucking issue is toxic and they don't want him or Lorenzo Ferttita, two important faces of the company, Dana moreso than Lorenzo obviously, even addressing these issues and they'll address any other issue like fighter pay but they don't want them touching this one and I don't blame them at all. That would be my first recommendation, do not mention SOPA publically at all, even when asked and Lawrence Epstein is a super important figure in Zuffa but as far as fans are concerned, he's a faceless name basically so there's that. Let me tell you, the op-ed, Lawrence Epstein is a really bright guy but it's a bad op-ed. It's basically an entire defense saying piracy is bad and therefore because piracy is bad, therefore we support SOPA and SOPA is the mechanism to solving the bad things that piracy causes namely killing innovation and joblessness.

First of all, the idea that piracy does that is facetious to begin with but even if it did, SOPA is not the answer. Darrel, representative Issa's OPEN act is much better in that regard and we saw this with the Megaupload situation that in conjunction with New Zealand authorities, we can go over to that country, seize that fucker's assets and try him on American law. The idea that we now need SOPA, think of the power you can add in doing that and now you have more power. SOPA has nothing to do with stopping piracy. It's about, as [Clay] Shirky pointed out, raising the cost of moderating amateur usage in communities, making it so onerous that they get out of the business altogether. That's what it's about. Basically it's about these Hollywood and recording industries stopping you, the amateur, from producing and basically just becoming a consumer.
--
Nate Wilcox: Dana White did err on the side of responding to this indirectly when he tweeted about the website being hacked and was very dismissive. He was like, "I'm not in the website business. Who gives a shit?" Dude, you're in the website business. You sell pay-per-views via your website. Your website has credit card information stored on it. Now the attack was just a redirection, when you typed in UFC.com it sent you somewhere else.

Nothing else happened to their website, it just told DNS routers, "Hey, look at this server if you want to find UFC.com," and it wasn't UFC.com. Their website information, there's no reason to believe that was ever threatened however if you're a customer of the UFC, and you see the website's down, you tend to be a little concerned and when the response of the company President is, "I'm not in the website business. Who gives a fuck?" Dude, you're in the website business. You're doing business in the 21st century, you're in the website business and that was bad public relations on Dana White's part and that got him into, because the hacking was in response to the SOPA editorial, that drew Dana White into the issue and this is something where Dana White for the first time found himself against his fans who are on the side of someone they have an even closer relationship with and that's Google.

UFC 144 Fight Card: Leonard Garcia Scratched With Injury

2012-01-30T19:23:43Z

The trickling of injuries has drained UFC 144 once again.

High-motor crowd favorite Leonard Garcia (15-8-1) has been scratched from the late-February fight card due to an injury sustained in training camp, according to reports from MMA Weekly.

UFC officials have yet to confirm the withdrawal or announce a new opponent for Chinese veteran Zhang Tiequan (15-2).

A perennial headliner of Zuffa's 'Fight Night' bonuses, Garcia hoped to rebound after dropping three of his previous four contests, including a pair of frenetic rematches with Nam Phan and Chan Sung Jung last year. Despite his reckless style, the 32-year-old owns four 'Fight of the Night' awards to his credit, and his 2010 battle with Jung was widely considered to be a leading candidate for 'Fight of the Year.'

Tiequan, meanwhile, will likely remain on the Japan card, albeit with a new adversary. Ominously known as "The Mongolian Wolf," the 33-year-old has thus far split his two UFC appearances, submitting Jason Reinhardt in 48 seconds before dropping a decision to Darren Elkins at UFC 136.

UFC 144 takes place February 26th, 2012 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Former WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson challenges UFC lightweight king Frankie Edgar in the night's main event.

UFC 144 fight card:

Main card:
Lightweight Championship: Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
Heavyweight: Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo
Welterweight: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Lightweight: Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon

Preliminary card:
Middleweight: Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
Lightweight: Takanori Gomi vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
Featherweight: Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
Bantamweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
Middleweight: Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
Bantamweight: Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
Featherweight: Tiequan Zhang vs. TBA

Early Estimates Indicate High Ratings For UFC On Fox 2

2012-01-30T18:43:32Z

Saturday night's UFC on Fox 2 broadcast drew a 2.7/5 household overnight rating, according to figures collected by MMA Nation.

The weekend rating was 42-perecent greater than Fox's Saturday night primetime average over the prior four weeks (a 1.9/4 clip). Early estimates have the figures easily claiming the Adults 18-49 demographic, and "may beat ABC, CBS and NBC combined in the Adults 18-34 demographic when national figures are issued tomorrow."

Somewhat surprisingly, ratings flourished as the telecast ventured into deeper waters, despite the generally unappealing nature of the fights. The night's opening bout, Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman, drew a 2.3/4 household overnight rating, which grew to a 2.9/5 for the co-main event, Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping.

Ratings peaked for the night's main event, posting a 3.4/6 mark as Rashad Evans dominated Phil Davis for 25 minutes to earn the next shot at UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Notably, the broadcast drew a 4.1/8 in Las Vegas, 4.1/7 in Louisville, 3.9/7 in Indianapolis, and 3.9/6 in Greenville, Tulsa and Knoxville.

In addition, the two-hour event collected an estimated overnight rating of 4.37 million viewers, according to reports from TVBytheNumbers.com. Though, it should be noted that those numbers are expected to grow as reports are finalized.

The UFC's debut on Fox, November's UFC on Fox: Velaquez vs. Dos Santos, initially averaged an overnight rating of 4.64 million viewers, but ultimately reports shot the final number closer to 5.7 million.

MMA Nation will continue to update these figures as information is made available.