The Greatest MMA News Column 10.06.09: Robbery
Posted by Dan Plunkett on 10.06.2009
411's Dan Plunkett discusses why the WEC should merge with the UFC, why you haven't heard that WEC 43 is this weekend, goes round by round to see if Mike Easton's victory over Chase Beebe was really a robbery, and why Minotauro vs. Gonzaga doesn't make any sense. Plus, Dana's blogs are back, Gina Carano in ESPN the Mag, and much more!
You Probably Haven't Heard, But WEC 43 is This Saturday
On June 1, 2008, the WEC put together their biggest event ever. Not only were there two title fights on the card, but the main event pitted the company's two biggest stars against each other. Urijah Faber came in the champion; a likeable guy that fights like he has ADHD, "The California Kid" had won 12 consecutive fights. In the blue corner stood former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver, who was just a year removed from a coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter.
The fight was easily the most anticipated in the company's history. In the weeks leading up to the contest, Faber vs. Pulver was promoted heavily on UFC events, which opened up the WEC to a massive audience.
On television, the event doubled the rating of the previous highest viewed WEC event. The event drew a 1.4 rating and averaged 1.54 million viewers. Not only was the event the highest rated in WEC history, it also featured two "Fight of the Year" candidates in Faber vs. Pulver and Torres vs. Maeda.
That event was supposed to be a new beginning for the WEC that would take them to new heights in the MMA world. However, in the 8 events following WEC 34, they have only come close to matching that number once. This June, Urijah Faber set out to regain the featherweight crown from Mike Brown, who had defeated him for the strap in November. The event pulled in 1.1 million viewers, a good amount, but had it been promoted the way Faber vs. Pulver was it may have been able to come closer to the record.
In fact, Brown vs. Faber 2 was the only event which pulled in more than half the viewers that WEC 34 did. So why hasn't the WEC been able to come close to matching the success of WEC 34? Firstly, they lack a good amount of legitimate top draws. Urijah Faber is the biggest draw the WEC has right now, but he's not the champion, which is going to hurt viewership for his fights a bit until he gets another title shot. Other top draws include Mike Brown, Miguel Torres, and possibly Brian Bowles. Brown and Bowles are champions at their weight class, but we have yet to see Bowles headline a card by himself, so it's unclear where he rates as a drawing card.
Another problem is the lack of appropriate promotion for their events. While they haven't done terrible in that area, I would have liked to see more of Urijah Faber and Mike Brown on UFC programming leading up to their big showdown. It would also have been nice to see any promotion at all for WEC 43. Seriously, I haven't seen a commercial, billboard, or anything like that for this show.
Those issues can be fixed, but in order to do so ZUFFA is going to have to blur the line between the WEC and UFC. This is why I think they should just merge the WEC with the UFC. The UFC has so much of the MMA market that their name is synonymous with the sport, so it's going to be harder to convince someone to watch the WEC than the UFC. The UFC does better ratings, better attendance, and most importantly for the fighters, they get bigger paydays.
A common complain of top WEC fighters like Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres is that they get paid considerably less than their UFC counterparts. Urijah Faber was paid just $25,790 for his title fight loss to Mike Brown. Brown was paid slightly less than Faber, with his disclosed salary coming in at $25,256. While I'm sure both fighters were compensated further by ZUFFA, they still aren't making what top UFC fighters do. At UFC 98, Lyoto Machida won the light heavyweight championship and was paid $140,000. The man he beat, Rashad Evans, was paid $200,000.
The biggest reasons for these pay discrepancies is that the WEC isn't on PPV, but even if they were, their numbers wouldn't be very high. This is because the UFC brand has such a strong influence on consumers that they'll buy a PPV or buy their event ticket based solely off seeing those three letters.
Should the WEC merge with the UFC, Faber and Brown could become stars and get that salary they believe they have earned. It works out on the business side as well. The UFC has expressed desire to put on more and more fight cards every year, but they don't have enough fighters yet to pull off the amount of shows they want to do. With the WEC fighters to fill out the cards, they can run those extra shows each year. Also, every once in a while the UFC runs out of title fights for PPV's. You may know these as "the Rich Franklin events." Usually, fans complain about these events. But what if Brown vs. Aldo had been the main event of UFC 103? It would probably have drawn just as well, and it would have highlighted a stacked show.
Speaking of stacked shows, WEC 43 isn't one of them, in terms of drawing power at least. Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone aren't well known to the casual fans, the event is going up against multiple college football games, and there hasn't much advertising for the event. That is a recipe for a ratings disaster. Just wait and see.
Faber and Varner Expected Back in 2009
Assuming the WEC doesn't go ahead and merge with the UFC, they better hope for these two back as soon as possible.
Faber is the biggest draw they have. He probably won't headline a card, but he'd make for a very solid co-main event fighter. The last time Faber was in the co-main event, at WEC 38, the event did 700,000 viewers, which is one of the best totals the WEC has done. Plus, the sooner you get him back, the sooner he fights for a title again and brings in big ratings.
While I don't think Varner is a big draw by himself, he certainly has a nice feud going with Donald Cerrone. Should Donald win on Saturday, a Varner vs. Cerrone rematch could do very well on television if done right. I would love to see a countdown show featuring the two of them.
You can thank me later….
Robbery?
There is some major controversy coming out of the main event of UWC 7 on Saturday night. Former WEC Bantamweight Champion Chase Beebe took on the promising Mike Easton in the main event for the UWC Bantamweight Title. Easton took home a split decision victory, but everybody says Beebe was robbed. So let's take a look at the fight to see if he was. Round 1: Big John McCarthy is the referee. Easton backs up Beebe early with good punches. Stand-up is being controlled by Easton until Beebe grabs a hold of his back and eventually drags him to the floor. We're halfway through the ground as Beebe attempts to sink in his second hook. BJM keeps walking in front of the camera. Easton stands up; Beebe still has a hold of his back. Beebe punches to try and work his way in for the rear naked choke, Easton reverses and is on top. Mike works from the top with punches when the round ends.
Tough round to call. Beebe had his back for most of it, but couldn't sink in the second hook and didn't do any damage. Easton wasn't in control much of the round, but he did land the harder shots. Right before Easton reversed positions, Beebe was throwing hard shots at Easton, that along with his dominant position earn him the round. 10-9 Beebe.
Round 2: Fighters are exchanging strikes with Easton having the advantage. Easton backs Beebe up against the cage, Beebe circles away. Nice combo landed by Beebe. Fighters exchange leg kicks and we are halfway through the round. Some brief clinch work with both exchanging knees. Easton pushes Beebe up against the cage again and lands some shots before Beebe fights out of it. Some more exchanges as the round comes to a close.
Easton backed Beebe up with his strikes and won the round. 19-19.
Round 3: Round three starts with both fighters landing some shots. Beebe continues to move straight back as Easton lands. Chase takes Easton down and has his back with no hooks in. One minute into the round and Beebe has one hook in so far. Beebe finally gets that second hook in but Easton gets it out again quickly. Beebe lands some shots and gets the second hook in again. Halfway through the round and both fighters are up against the cage with Beebe looking to punch his way into a rear naked choke. A minute and a half left in the round and Beebe is still fighting for the RNC with Easton defending well. The round closes with Beebe still on Easton's back.
Easy round to score. Beebe had his back for more than four minutes that round and was more active from that position than he was in the first round. 29-28 Beebe.
Round 4: We enter the championship rounds with much of the same. Beebe is still moving straight back away from Easton's combinations. Easton was getting the better of the stand-up, so Beebe shoots in for a takedown. After a brief scramble, Beebe gets Easton's back AGAIN. Before Beebe can sink in any hooks, Easton is back to his feet, but not for long. Beebe drags him to the floor again; can you guess what position he's in? Beebe has both hooks in with 3:30 left in the round. Halfway through the round and Beebe still has Easton's back, he really needs to teach Frank Trigg a thing or two about rear naked choke defense. We have a scramble and Easton finally gets to his feet after threatening a Sakuraba-like kimura. Fighters exchange on their feet to close the round. Easton got the better of it but it wasn't nearly enough to steal the round.
Beebe had his back for a ridiculous amount of time again this round. Once again an easy round to score. 39-37 Beebe.
Round 5: Easton backing Beebe up standing again before Beebe shoots in, doesn't get the takedown but gets Easton's back standing. Pressed against the cage, Beebe lifts Easton up, slams him, and sinks in both hooks once again with 3:30 remaining in the final round. Much of the same until Easton stands up with Beebe attached to his back with less than two minutes to go. It doesn't take long for Easton to fall back to the ground with Beebe still on his back. With 45 seconds to go Easton staggers to his feet with Beebe finally off his back, but Chase still has a hold of him. They separate and Easton immediately tries to close the distance and land some knees before falling after the second one. Beebe is on top in Easton's guard but Easton gets back to his feet quickly. The fighters exchange against the fence and Beebe lands a nice shot that backs up Easton at the end of the round. The fight has gone the distance.
This was another very easy round to score for Chase Beebe. Every time Easton scrambled, Beebe got his back again. 49-46 Beebe.
I have no idea what the judges were thinking here. What I do know is they had no idea what they were watching. Having your opponents back with both hooks in is an extremely dominant position and should be recognized as such. Beebe had Easton's back for at least 65% of the fight. It's possible you could argue the first round in being in favor of Easton, but there is no way he won rounds 3, 4, and 5.
This decision hurts Chase Beebe very badly. Now he has lost four fights in a row, and if he loses his fight in DREAM later this month he might not get another chance in the big leagues. This fight result is just another reason why judges, especially those in Virginia after this decision, need to be better educated.
This is my favorite picture from Fedor's wedding:
I have no idea how they kept a straight face wearing these crowns.
Minotauro vs. Gonzaga?
Not long after the news broke that Minotauro Nogueira would get the next heavyweight title shot, news breaks of a possible bout against Gabriel Gonzaga. I doubt this fight takes place, mostly because I don't think the UFC is stupid enough to put it together.
Minotauro is the most interesting heavyweight title contender after Brock Lesnar takes on Shane Carwin at UFC 106. He looked better than he has in a long time against Randy Couture at UFC 102, and in a bout against Lesnar it's just another test of Lesnar's submission defense. Should Minotauro come into that fight at his best, it's the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object.
You have a guy in Minotauro that has never been finished when he isn't completely drained by staph. Then you have Lesnar who looked unstoppable against Frank Mir and many casual fans think he'll simply run through anyone put against him. While the UFC will have to educate people on Minotauro's ability to take punishment first, I think this fight will be a big seller.
There's no way the UFC will risk that fight by putting together Minotuaro vs. Gonzaga. It just doesn't make sense at this point.
Random News
- Dana White Video Blogs will return for UFC 104. I am very happy with this news. Dana's vlogs are very interesting and it's cool to follow the boss around and see how he prepares for a UFC event.
- Speaking of Dana, he says Herschel Walker is too old to fight. If Herschel was trying to start a career at 47, I would agree with Dana, but he doesn't. Walker just wants to try it out, it just so happens that he has a name that draws attention, and Strikeforce took advantage of that.
- Depending on the time you are reading this, the DREAM event may or may not have taken place. I hope Sakuraba makes this fight his last; it pains me to see him lose as bad as he has in recent years. He should have called it a career after losing to Wanderlei for the third time.
- The Ultimate Fighter pulled in 6.1 million viewers for Kimbo's fight. That doesn't surprise me and it goes to show that people are still interested in him.
- Carlos Condit joined Greg Jackson's camp. I like that move for him. He really needs to improve his wrestling to be an elite level welterweight. While his former camp, Arizona Combat Sports, has very good wrestlers, I like the idea of him training with Georges St. Pierre and Rashad Evans a little better.
- Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout should be a very good fight for a stacked UFC 108. I hope it makes it to the main card.
That is it for this week. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave a comment, or email me here. Until next week…
