Notes On A New Year In MMA
Posted by RB, 04 Jan 2007
2007 is underway and there have been many rumblings of new things to come in the world of mixed martial arts. The UFC 'announced' Quinton Jackson and Mirko Filipovic last weekend as two massive additions to their roster -- and by 'announced' I mean 'ran a thirty second preview of UFC 67 during UFC 66 which happened to mention their names'. Presumably they are relying on the fact that, as with Anderson Silva's introduction, their first performances in the Octagon will do the announcing.
Pride also recently confirmed their plans to run four shows in the US this year, while stressing they would be aggressively pursuing a new TV deal in Japan. They also made mention of a possible Super Heavyweight division leading to a 'Monster Grand Prix' during the year, and announced more firmly a Lightweight Grand Prix scheduled to start in May (the former was in part inspired by a James Thompson fight just days before the announcement, so it's unclear exactly how planned this 'plan' really is).
The IFL meanwhile revealed the lineup for their first event of the year, taking place on January 19th, which will feature Ken and Frank Shamrock's teams facing off against each other in what could turn into a sibling coaching rivalry within the organisation. They also recently announced a handful of new fight teams to debut in the 2008 season -- based in Brazil, France, South Korea, San Diego, and (announced a few months prior) England. These teams will apparently be training together this year before their 2008 debut in the IFL.
Then there are the things we already knew to look forward to -- seasons five and six of The Ultimate Fighter, the intended expansion of the UFC into international territories including England and possibly South America, upcoming Elite XC cards on the Showtime network, and the continued rise of promotions such as Strikeforce, Bodog, and the IFL.
In all, Pride have 10 pay-per-views planned for 2007, with the UFC intending to hold a massive 26 shows including pay-per-views (5 of which are planned to happen in England) and TV specials. It goes without saying for the fastest growing sport in the world that this year will not be a quiet one.
Over the last month the UFC has made sudden and massive strides towards positioning itself as the unquestioned top dog amongst promotions, and the formal announcement of Cro Cop's signing -- probably the biggest announcement the Zuffa-led UFC has made to date -- could play a crucial step in cementing such a status.
Not only will Cro Cop's presence generate a massive renewal of interest in the UFC's formerly lacklustre heavyweight division, thus increasing pay-per-view numbers and possibly bringing further world class fighters to the division, but Cro Cop's defection to the UFC deals a great blow to Pride, who spent the good part of 2006 finding the top contender for Fedor with the Open Weight Grand Prix. Of course it was Mirko who won the Grand Prix in extremely decisive fashion.
The rematch between Cro Cop and Fedor for the Pride heavyweight title would have been a huge draw -- almost as big as a heavyweight title match can be in the sport just now. When the UFC signed Mirko they not only took one of Pride's top tier competitors: they took what would have been their biggest pay-per-view of 2007 (with the possible exception of the Shockwave 2007 card). This comes at a time when Pride desperately needs to increase revenues.
Further damaging Pride's short-term heavyweight title picture is the fact that Josh Barnett, OWGP runner up and hence next in line for the title shot after Cro Cop, just lost his rematch with Nogueira at Shockwave 2006. If they match Fedor up with Barnett regardless, the fight will not be close to the draw potential the matchup would have had before Barnett's loss. On the other hand, if they match him up with Nogueira few fans will be interested, as Fedor has already fought and beat 'Minotauro' three times.
Heavyweight prospects further down the ladder, such as Fabricio Werdum and Roman Zentzov, are nowhere near ready for Fedor, and giving them a title shot in which they are dominated would only weaken interest in their future fights, damaging their potential in the future for big-money matchups.
While Pride's heavyweight division still has great depth, finding suitable opponents for Fedor this year could well present a challenge for the promotion, and his one-off fight in Bodog this March may be a sign that after only fighting twice last year The Russian Experiment is looking for more regular competition. With Crop Cop gone, keeping their numero uno heavyweight should be extremely high on Pride's priorities this year.
Speaking of Pride's heavyweight division, last weekend's Fedor vs Hunt title bout turned into an extremely competitive affair, against the expectations of many -- not only did Hunt get the side mount on Fedor on multiple occasions, but he looked to have an extremely viable chance at getting the submission when he cranked on a keylock twice midway through the first round. Hunt also made escapes from an early full mount and armbar attempt, proving that he's not half as bad as he was made out to be on the ground beforehand.
The Samoan Monster was eventually caught in a Kimura at the end of the ten minute period, but up until that point he looked to be winning the fight (which had commentator Frank Trigg highly disturbed at points). Overall it was a very impressive performance from Hunt, and showed his potential for greatness if he can progress his submission defence further still. A matchup with Alexander Emelianenko would be awesome for his next fight before his ground game gets another serious test.
Coming back to the UFC, the talent pool in that promotion is improving astronomically at the moment with fighters like Anderson Silva, Crop Cop and Rampage being brought in and instantly finding themselves near or at the top of their divisions. The influx of new and up-and-coming talent can also be seen in how many titles changed hands during 2006 -- Andrei Arlovski, Rich Franklin, and Matt Hughes lost their titles during the year, making Chuck Liddell the only champ to see through the whole year with his belt around his waist.
With the signing of Quinton Jackson beckoning a rematch of his 2003 encounter between Liddell, and Cro Cop now among the heavyweights, we are likely to see more UFC belts change possession in 2007. This could especially be the case if Matt Lindland is re-introduced to the middleweight division, or if BJ Penn drops down to lightweight for a run at the title after his Ultimate Fighter season five finale matchup against Pulver. Whether either of these scenarios is likely is hard to say, however: Lindland has good motivation to sign to an upstart UFC competitor, such as Elite XC, after the way the UFC has previously cut him, and Penn has already said he lacks the motivation to make the cut to 155 pounds on a regular basis. In any case, it will be extremely interesting to watch how the UFC divisions progress this year.
A last note looks backwards rather than forward, as one of the sport's most spectacular fighters, Genki Sudo, announced his retirement at the K1 Dynamite! show after winning his fight against Damacio Page by triangle choke in the first round. At only 28 years of age Sudo's retirement comes as a big surprise, and the root cause seems to be a neck injury he sustained earlier in the year. After rethinking his future, he now intends to travel the world and write.
Sudo was one of the most gifted fighters in the sport, with a fighting style (and ring entrance, I hasten to add) that was often as brilliant as it was massively unorthodox. He has also been one of the sport's best ambassadors, bringing a message of goodwill into the ring with him every time ('We are all one', as his flag read). Let's hope, health permitting, we do get to see him in the ring again some time in the future.
After all, who else is going to make their way to the ring dancing the robot in samurai costume, or wearing a flamethrower back-pack that shoots three feet of flames into the air from their hat?
