Bag O' MMA News

The two biggest stories in the MMA world lately have been that of Fedor Emelianenko’s contract expiring, and Mirko Crocop’s migration to the UFC.

Firstly, Fedor’s contract as PRIDE Heavyweight champion has seen him fight some of the best in the world; Crocop, Nogueira, Herring, Coleman and now Hunt.

However, he has now been signed to fight for the upstart MMA organization Bodog, run by the casino giants. He is scheduled to fight in the spring next year, against (most likely) Jeff “the Snowman” Monson. This is scheduled to take place in Russia, where Fedor is allowed to fight whilst still remaining within his PRIDE contract.

This may be put back, as Fedor’s broken toe is a concern to his team, but he will still be taking on exciting Oceanic fighter Mark Hunt on New Year’s Eve. Hunt is a former K-1 World Grand Prix Champion with the best chin in MMA.

If Fedor was to leave, what would happen? There are a variety of ways you could view this. It could be viewed as a minor setback in PRIDE’s phoenix-like return from the ashes, or like the captain of the Titanic taking one of the few lifeboats left to safety.

PRIDE’s financial situation is only getting worse; the promised TV deal that was meant to emerge in November never came, and now it looks like the first Shockwave without a Japanese TV deal will go to air on New Years Eve.

There is still no word on the commentator for that event, so I would assume that it would be Craig Minervini, the same guy who called the USA event. Mauro Ranallo’s departure, I predict, will be a definite sore spot.

Mirko Crocop is expected to be fight for the UFC, after being unveiled on tomorrow night’s huge show. His first fight will be against Eddie Sanchez, although the date has not been confirmed. This will be a groundbreaking event, and will certainly add legitimacy to the weak UFC Heavyweight division. Not only will it give Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera and Andrei Arlovski competition, but it is also a major coup for the UFC to gain PRIDE’s reigning absolute champion.

The only problem that Crocop may encounter will be the ban of Soccer kicks, but a Mirko Crocop with Elbows allowed may be even more of a threat. Although he is definitely ready for Tim Sylvia, the fact that 90% of the American market has not even heard of PRIDE will mean that they must first spend time advertising the Croatian sensation to UFC’s core audience.

Liddell vs Ortiz is being hailed as one of the most exciting events that they have ever been put on. The undercard does not look completely thrilling, but the past few UFC events have been worth watching. This show is expected to do an astronomical number of buys, with estimates being anywhere from 750,000 to 1,500,000. These are numbers that Vince McMahon can only wish he was getting, as recent WWE PPVs have been reported to have done little more than break even.

Infact, recent statistics have shown that in terms of buy-rates among the top 10 combat sport PPV’s this year, WWE only had one that made the cut. WrestleMania 22. The UFC had 4, and Boxing took the remaining 5.

Liddell vs Ortiz 2 is a fight which is interesting with many ramifications. If Tito wins, former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture is reportedly interested in having a rematch against him. Last time around, Tito was humbled with a good old fashioned spanking, and the Huntington Beach Bad Boy would certainly not want such a humiliation to occur again – especially if he was champion.

Frank Shamrock is reported to be fighting in the new Showtime promotion against Renzo Gracie in the spring, after pulling out of his match with the New York Bad Ass, Phil Baroni.

The K-1 New Year’s eve MMA show is looking horrific, with one of the main attractions being Akebono vs Giant Silva. To be honest, that match does not equal buy-rates. It equals major boredom, unless either fighter has been training with a new gym.

To conclude this week’s rant, I hope that you had a great holiday, a great Christmas and an even happier new year.

As always,

Luke.

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