MMA's 3R’s 10.20.09: Rampage, Hendo, King Mo, Strikeforce Promoting November 7th, More

Posted by Larry Csonka on 10.20.2009

From Rampage saying that the UFC edited to make him look bad and Strikeforce finally starting to promote to Dan Henderson’s contract status and King Mo signing with Strikeforce, 411’s Larry Csonka breaks it down in the latest edition of the 3R’s of MMA!



* The Column Concept *
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the column, here it is. The column will look at events and or happenings in the world of MMA. They will be broken down into the three categories, the Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right will be the good and great fights or positive news items of the week. Perhaps even big fight announcements. The wRong will be bad fights, bad booking decisions and the like. Finally, the Ridiculous are the things that were just the worst of the world of MMA. They get grouped in their categories, and for a show, they will get a score from 1-10, based on the 411 ratings scale.


* And now, the 3R's of…MMA~!*

THE RIGHT:

STRIKEFORCE Finally Gets On The Ball With November 7th…: For weeks I have called out Strikeforce for their poor planning and promotion of the November 7th card. Not to over hype, but the show is their most important in the company's history. Up to this point the only one concerned with hyping the show has been Brett Rogers, because he gets it, and unfortunately the company didn't. But over the last 10-days, the company finally got on the ball with the promotion of the event. They started running short Fedor videos during the weekend football games on CBS, which I feel they could have done better, but that is the right audience to attack. Secondly, they finally confirmed the TV card, which is something that should have been done weeks ago, but hey, I am being positive here, so that is a good thing. This may be an unfortunate case of too little, too late, but at least they are finally trying. They need this show to deliver so that they can get more specials, and so that they can also eventually move to occasional PPVs, because that's where the money is.

STRIKEFORCE Signs King Mo: Strikeforce has been continuing to grow their roster, and last week they made a big addition to the roster as they picked up the charismatic King Mo. It has already announced that he will compete in the light heavyweight division, which I think is the right call. Mo has been dominant fighting at Heavyweight thus far, but I think as he faces tougher competition, the size factor will come into play. The man is always in shape, and has good wrestling, but as we have seen in the UFC heavyweight division, the size catches up to the best fighters. Mo will debut as soon as December according to reports, and brings with him a 5-0 record. Some have wondered if he is as good as his record, and we will eventually fight out. If he can grow as a fighter, I would be very interested in seeing him vs. Mousasi down the line. The one thing for sure is this, King Mo is fun as hell to watch hype things, and he will bring the fun with him.

UFC to Australia, SEXYAMA vs. WANDY Main Event: While I am one of he people that thinks that Dana is way ahead of himself I saying that the UFC will become bigger than the world cup (it's a great goal, but also a big one) they are trying hard with the global expansion. Last year it was UFC 99 in Germany, they run many UK events, and now they are going to Australia. I for one think that this is a great thing for the sport, and the I like the idea of a Wandy vs. Sexyama bout. The only unfortunate thing here is that the UFC will have to face some of the same negativity that they faced in Germany. This is not a slam to the country of Australia, but like I said with Germany, it is a shame that the media in some countries seem stuck in 1993. Some of these guys write like the sport has not evolved, they bring out the cliché lines like "human cock fighting and that there are no rules" and pass it off as fact. The sport has evolved and is growing, it is safer than most think, yet we as fans have to sit back and listen to this trash. I hope that the UFC goes in there and has a great showing, and also educates the people that need it.

THE WRONG:

HENDO SAYS NO!: Dana White announced that negotiations with Dan Henderson were at a stand still and that as of now, Hendo would not be returning to the UFC. I said this before and I will say this again, the UFC made a mistake by not signing Henderson to a new deal before UFC 100. They had all of the negotiating power there, and a deal needed to be made, but it wasn't. They allowed him before that to coach TUF and build momentum without a new deal. I cannot understand why they did not work harder to get a deal done, but they didn't, Hendo won, and now HE has the real negotiating power. Henderson reportedly wanted a seven figure-signing bonus, which may have been the biggest issue with getting him signed. Dana has pulled the power play by announcing that they are done negotiating. One thing to think about is the fact that the UFC is running roughly 20-shows next year. Can the UFC as a company really afford to drop a main event caliber fighter knowing this? I don't think so. Also, I feel that this hurts the middleweight division. Hendo vs. Nate the great was a good co-main even match, and if Hendo were to win, you have a great story of him getting back to the title shot, one more chance to prove that he is the man. For now, that is gone. Finally, can you afford to let a main event guy go that may go to Strikeforce? A possible Hendo vs. Mousasi match is quite interesting, and would be pretty big for the UFC's main competition. Overall this is very disappointing news.

Scott Coker Says Alistair Overeem Is Defending The Title In 2010…: Now, Coker has said that Overeem will defend the title in 2010. Overeem claims that he will fight in the US in 2010, but I am sorry, call me a skeptic, but I do not believe it. It has nearly been two years since Overeem won that title, and he has fought MMA and K1 since, but never for Strikeforce and never defending that title. I have called for the title to be stripped, I think that Fedor and Rogers should be fighting for the title and while the Strikeforce heavyweight ranks are thin, I think that they should move on from Overeem. He has never done anything positive for the company, he always has an excuse, and personally, I think he is on the juice and that is why he has stayed away from the US. Strikeforce doesn't need the potential drama, so I am sorry Scott Coker, I am not buying what you are selling.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Rampage Being Rampage: This week was more of Rampage being Rampage, and some weeks that is a good thing, and some weeks, it isn't. Now, I am a Rampage fan, the guy is entertaining as hell, but there are some things that are obvious. The first is that he IS a bad coach. Now I understand that he "is a fighter" and that "he brought trainers" with him, but damn, the guy is about as worthless as a coach as I would be. "Get up, get out of there, don't let him hit you". Well, no shit Quinton, I bet the guy that got hit, went to the ground and was being pounded on or submitted NEVER thought of that! Come on man, I mean, you HAVE to do better than that. Now, Rampage has come onto his website and claimed that the UFC has edited him to look bad on the show. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure that there is some truth to this. First of all, it is a "reality TV show", and that shit happens all the time. Secondly, he left the company and pissed them off, they could have easily re-cut some shit to make him look very bad. Let's look at some of his comments and discuss them:

"I just wanted to blog about the T.U.F. show so people can get an understanding of where I'm coming from. They edited the show to make me look like I didn't care about my team, but as you can clearly see I was coaching against a T.U.F. show champion (Rashad) and he came from the Ultimate Fighter so he knows how to play the camera and be fake."

First of all, he makes no sense in the fact that HE was also on the show, as a coach. I call that an even playing field right there. Secondly, as far as being "fake" and "playing to the camera", wow, just wow. All right, Rampage was brought onto the show, again, because his "personality" and "character" were a proven ratings draw. So, Quinton is playing to the camera and being just as fake, and maybe more than anyone else. That was THE reason he was picked again, he is good at it, and there is nothing wrong with that because they were hoping to use his personality and relationship with Rashad to build to that fight.

"Rashad acts so fake and cocky and he wants to act like he cares more about my fighter than I do and brag about how he's a better coach than I am. But I tried to explain to him that I'm not a coach and I won't be coaching after my fighting career, like he might. So as the fights go on and I end up losing a couple fights in a row, I grew more pissed and I let it get to me. So, the whole time Rashad was being a dick and cocky, I just talked to them back in the locker room, in private. Rashad thought the show was about him, about how good of a coach he could be and how fake he could be. But I knew what it was all about."

Well, that's Rashad's job dude, you guys were brought there to antagonize each other, build a fight, and then maybe find some decent fighters for the company to sign. You may not want to be a coach, but you were picked to for the show, so maybe most people watching feel some effort should be put into it. And they may be editing shit, but it does look bad when Rashad is the first guy to check on YOUR fighter. We may not be seeing it all, but we do know this.

"The behind the scenes stuff from season 7 left a real bad taste in my mouth. I was already salty about it and that was the main reason I did not want to do season 10."

But you DID choose to coach, you did choose to be on the show again. While postproduction is shady, yet expected, you knew EXACTLY what you were getting into. Basically, stop crying.

Too Many People Missed Out On WEC 43: WEC 43 drew approximately 419,000 viewers. This is down 37% from WEC 42 in August. Versus has been having issues, as they were dropped from Direct TV when the two sides began arguing over carrier fees. Versus did manage to sign a deal with DISH Network, but DISH has roughly 5-million less subscribers than Direct TV. So they are down viewers due to the dish junk, which is never a good thing, and the show ended p being down overall. Internally, the ratings are not seen as a hit. The company looks at it this way, the card did not have any of the company's past draws, such as Jens Pulver, Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres or Mike Brown. And that is a positive outlook to have for the show. If the Brown title defense does these numbers, then there should be a concern. But this isn't here because of the rating itself. It is about something I have read and even thought about myself. It is the fact that the WEC isn't promoted well, and that they continue to deliver great cards and MOTY fights, and so many people are missing out on it. I have no ill will towards Kimbo and Roy Nelson, and I pushed for Kimbo on TUF for the simple fact that he would bring ratings and he has. But it is pretty damn sad that their fight did like 6-million viewers, and Henderson vs. Cerrone, which was amazing, did such a small fraction of that. It just doesn't seem fair, but it is what it is.


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KYRA says goodbye…