The Takedown MMA News Report 2.19.10: Going Down Under

Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 02.19.2010

The Takedown has a quick look at the UFC's first visit to Australia featuring Velasquez vs. Nogueira and Bisping vs. Silva, discussion of how fighters get paid, the latest Bellator Fighting Championships announcements, regulation of MMA in Ontario and more!



In My Opinion…
Heath Herring made some comments recently about the pay structure of the UFC that Dana White and the rest of the brass at Zuffa didn't quite take a liking to. Among his comments were his opinions on how he got paid so little, how some fighters get so much bigger paydays than others, and how Zuffa mismanages their talent in regards to fight schedules.



The truth is though he has a point. Although it is common knowledge that the fighters are often more-than compensated by their various sponsors, the UFC is their ‘primary' source of pay if they are a full-time fighter and as such need to have a pay grade that reflects that need.

The payment of sponsors was the topic of choice a few weeks back after Nate Quarry went to a war of words with a sponsor of his – the Fight Mafia. In short, they agreed to pay him a chunk of money for every shirt of his they sold after his Fight Night 20 bout with Tim Credeur. After the ‘larger' orders finished, this amounted to a pretty hefty sum of around $7,750. Yes kids, that much.

See kids, they get paid well enough from sponsors. That was from just one sponsor.

But the fact is that the UFC should be the ones paying them the big bucks. Sure there are fighters like GSP, Tito, Randy, and Brock Lesnar that throw wrenches into the averages due to their paydays, but the average debut fighter is only making about $5,000 or so a fight if they win, and they are lucky if they can keep half of it after insurance, camp fees, medical needs, living quarters, and anything else that may come up. This is why half the time they do the crazy finishes so they can get that extra coin from the Fight Night bonuses.

We know that the UFC is raking in some money right now. Fact. Even with a weak-ass card like UFC 108 was on paper they did better than some companies would like to admit. If they can't afford to pay these fighters better money than they are making right now they need to take a look at their books and see where they can fix that. Granted I know that not every fighter can make $25,000 right off the bat (unless your name is Kevin Ferguson) but the majority fighters should make enough to cover expenses as well as have some left over for fun and breathing room until next paycheck.

While fighters like Heath Herring may be the only ones complaining, every lower to midcard fighter is feeling the hole in their wallets with every event they don't fight on and get paid in full for.

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#2 Contender?


Dana White has said that the winner of the UFC 110 bout between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would definitely be in the mix for a UFC Heavyweight Championship title shot and, if the winner of the UFC 111 Interim Heavyweight Championship bout between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin was injured or otherwise incapable of fighting, then the winner of Nogueira/Velasquez would get the first shot at Brock Lesnar, possibly on UFC 116.

This is essentially turning the main event of UFC 110 into a #2 Contender's bout. A back-up opponent, if you will much how the Rampage/Jardine fight was to help establish a #2 Contender to fight Rashad Evans. These are certainly helpful when you already have a #1 contender lined up and need to make sure you have another fighter on standby should something go wrong as opposed to the ever-popular cancellation of a title fight. In this instance, Chael Sonnen should now be considered the #2 contender after Demian Maia and should – in a perfect world – fight the winner of Silva/Maia. However, with the injury to Belfort, there arises the opportunity to have another #1 contender's fight between Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfor – something I honestly wish does not happen. The last thing we need is for Ed Soares and Anderson Silva to have another reason to not want to fight.

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Ontario: Behind the Times


Recently Dalton McGuinty - the Premier of Ontario – issued a statement regarding the legalization and regulation of MMA in the province:

"We have higher priorities when it comes to developing those jobs and strengthening the economy. We have other things on the go right now, and we'll stay focused on those, whether that's our tax reforms, stimulating the economy through investments in infrastructure, getting our children better opportunities at the outset."

Essentially, he said that while it is a definite possibility in the future, it is not the current focus of the government and it will have to happen after they take care of the ‘other things on the go right now.' In response, Marc Ratner – the VP of Regulatory Affairs for the UFC - issued his own statement:

"We are working very closely with the various levels of Canadian government, including the Province of Ontario, to ensure the highest levels of safety for all of (MMA) participants. We respect the fact that the Premier has indicated that MMA regulation is not a top priority; however, we are confident that our efforts in educating Canadian officials, including members of the provincial cabinet, will eventually result in regulation of the sport in Ontario."

He respects that the Premier is focusing on other things but will continue his efforts in favor of regulating the sport in Ontario.

One thing that I can't fathom right now is how the Premier doesn't see regulating MMA as a boon to the economy, even if it's a short-lived one. Back when the UFC visited Montreal for the first time, tickets for UFC 83 sold out in less than a day. Sold out. If they could get the sport legalized or even just sanctioned in the province of Ontario it would undoubtedly bring some kind of revenue. It's been noted that every time the UFC makes their official debut in a new region tickets for that show happen to sell out rather quickly. For instance, UFC 110 tickets sold out in record time, only being surpassed by the aforementioned UFC 83.

The only reason I say Ontario is behind the times is because they haven't taken all possible roads to help strengthen their economy, and if they need proof just look at the fact that the UFC is still surviving, despite having shows knee-deep in recession times.

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UFC 110: Going Down (Under)


The UFC has a pretty well made card for their first trip to the land of kangaroos, the Sydney Opera House and Crocodile Dundee. Main eventing is a heavyweight bout between top-flight contenders in Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, a co-main event featuring the Middleweight debut of Wanderlei Silva against Michael Bisping and a possibly hugely entertaining lightweight battle between Joe "Daddy" Stevenson and the most famous hometown hero on the main card George Sotiropoulos.

I'm not going into an in-depth preview of UFC 110, that's what the Roundtable is for (go read it!) but I will give a short preview of the main card fights.

Cain Velasquez vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Cain's going to wrestle Rodrigo down to the mat after being unable to shake him on the feet where I think he'll be able to survive just enough to not get submitted. Antonio has the skills to beat him wherever the fight goes only of Cain lets him. AKA is famous for taking great wrestlers and turning them into great fighters, and I think Cain is following that blueprint beautifully. He should win this big step up in competition.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping
Wanderlei looked absolutely drained in his UFC 99 bout against Rich Franklin, and that was with 10 more pounds to his name. If he managed to do the cut properly then he could win but I think he's too old and too ingrained in fighting at 205 to make the cut safely and he's going to get tired in the first so Bisping can ride the ‘don't knock me out' train all the way to the win.

Joe Stevenson vs. George Sotiropoulos
In another big step up in competition, George Sotiropoulos should be able to win. Joe is a great wrestler with a renowned guillotine choke but I think that George should be able to avoid the takedowns enough to land one of his own and stop Joe from the top. Joe has looked great but I just have the feeling that George is better right now.

Keith Jardine vs. Ryan Bader
Jardine has had a bizarre career. He seems to only do well against TOP competition. If Ryan is as good as he says then that means we should get the Keith that beat Chuck and Forrest instead of the Keith that faced Wanderlei and Thiago Silva. However, I think Ryan is going to outwrestle him en route to winning.

Mirko Crop Cop vs Anthony Perosh
A late substitution to the card bodes no good. Left leg hospital, right leg cemetery.

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Bellator News


Slot #7 in the Bellator Season 2 Featherweight tournament has officially been given to Shad Lierley. Lierly, a veteran of the IFL, is 5-2 in his career (competing as both a featherweight and a lightweight) and 5-0 as a featherweight. His presence joins Bellator's season 1 semifinalist Wilson Reis, Bao Quach, Patricio "Pitbull" Freire , Georgi "Insane" Karakhanyan, William Romero and DREAM semifinalist Joe Warren. Lierley's only losses have been to top-ranked featherweight Wagnney Fabiano and current WEC lightweight Chris Horodecki.



In more Bellator news, current Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez has agreed to fight UFC veteran Josh Neer in a ‘non-title, non-tournament' catchweight bout of 160 pounds. This fight is scheduled for a Bellator event in May, during the promotion's 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th event of the season.

Joining the company's Season 2 Welterweight tournament will be 9-4 Sean Pierson.

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In the Lands of the Rising Sun


Sengoku 12: Initialized!!
One more fight has been announced for this event. Maximxo Blanco, long confirmed to be on this card, has finally had an opponent announced in Chang Hyun Kim.

So far the fights made official for the event are:

· Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov (for the SRC Middleweight Championship)
· Wilson Reis vs. Yuji Hoshino
· Shigeki Osawa vs Kyung Ho Kang
· Akihiro Gono vs. Diego Gonzalez
· Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Henry "Sentoryu" Miller
· Leonardo Santos vs. Kiuma Kunioku
· Maximo Blanco vs Chang Hyun Kim

Ryo Chonan is the only fighter confirmed for the event with no opponent.

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Behind the scenes at Wand Fight Club.

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Future Fights
A small recap of potential fights in the future announced over the week
· Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs Anthony Perosh, UFC 110 (Perosh replacing a sick Ben Rothwell)
· Kendall Grove vs Mark Munoz, UFC 112
· Nick Osipczak vs Rick Story, UFC 112
· Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia, UFC 112 (for the UFC Middleweight Championship)
· Josh Neer vs Eddie Alvarez, Bellator (non-title bout; 160 lbs)
· Phil Davis vs Alexander Gustaffson, UC 112
· Daniel Roberts vs John Howard, UFC LIVE (Roberts replacing an injured Anthony Johnson)
· Melvin Guillard vs Thiago Tavares, UFC 114
· Brad Blackburn vs Damarques Johnson, UFC 112
· Cyrille Diabate vs Luiz Cane, UFC 114

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Quick Jabs
· Dennis Hallman, longtime welterweight, has announced a return to the 155 pound division but said he is willing to make a move back to 170 if a ‘certain former champion' (Matt Hughes) is willing to fight him. Hey, if he could submit Hughes twice in under a minute then I'd want to see it.
· The injury bug bites again as Elvis Sinosic, Ben Rothwell, and Diego Nunes are out of their fights against Chris Haseman, Mirko Cro Cop, and Leonard Garcia respectively. Please stay healthy the rest of you guys.
· After I wrote this last week it was reported that Phillipe Nover and Justin Buccholz have also been cut from the UFC following their UFC 109 losses. Happy?
· Yoshihiro Akiyama has been MIA since his UFC 100 win over Alan Belcher but looks like he will be fighting the winner of the Michael Bisping/Wanderlei Silva bout this weekend at UFC 115.

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Thanks for reading again, hope to see you all sometime in the future!!

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