The Takedown MMA News Report 3.12.10: Double Trouble
Posted by Daniel Bonnizzio on 03.12.2010
Primetime's record setting ratings, Bellator news, fight announcements, a discussion about new regulations over double weigh-ins, heavy promotion done by the UFC, Roger Gracie will finally be debuting and much more!
Double Trouble
No opinions this week as there is great news!
In something I feel is worth giving over my opinion, the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission has announced an emergency protocol that any mixed martial arts events in their area will be required to undergo a double weigh-in.
What this means is that the day after the initial weigh-in, the fighters will be weighed again and if they weigh too much more than a specified amount, they will be disqualified and be subject to further penalties including fines and suspensions.
For deciding the allotted weight on the second weigh-in the MSAC has decided to allow no more than 1.0625 times the fighter's initial weight. For example, a fighter who comes in at 170 pounds will be allowed to weigh no more than 180.63 pounds on the second weigh-in. Obviously, when a person fights in a higher weight class, he is allotted more weight for the second weigh-in.
This is tremendous news for the sport. Too long have people been complaining about fighters extremely dehydrating themselves (or other unsafe practices) to make their desired weight limit. Thiago Alves, for instance, would most likely not be able to fight under those conditions as, although he fights in the 170 pounds division, he more often than not walks around at about 200 pounds.
I love this because it means fighters will have to fight closer to their natural weight. These regulations will expire in 90 days because of their emergency status, but the MSAC should have more permanent regulations long before then.
Will this be the norm? Who knows? Frankly, I wish it was because then we would see more people making weight, they would show up in shape, and they would be overall healthier. It is much easier to survive a punch to the head when the brain has some cushion as opposed to cold, hard bone.
UFC 111: Heavy Promotion
Although the sport is not yet regulated in the great state of New York, Zuffa has announced several events to take place the weekend of UFC 111 inside the state.
The first of these is the announcement that UFC 111 will be broadcast for a special viewing party inside the world-famous Radio City Music Hall. The Hall features a massive 70' by 35' screen, which will be the largest screen to ever feature a UFC event.
For those who arrive at the special viewing early, the first 200 fans to arrive will be presented with an autographing opportunity with Chuck Liddell, as well as be privy to a special Q&A session with Liddell, Matt Serra, and Stephan Bonnar. Tickets for the event will cost $25 and are available at most ticket outlets.
In addition to the special viewing, the UFC will be hosting its traditional pre-fight conference inside the Radio City Music Hall's main theatre and will feature the four fighters in the night's two main events – Georges St-Pierre, Dan Hardy, Frank Mir, and Shane Carwin – as well as Dana White.
This is the kind of stuff that Strikeforce and the WEC need to do for their ill promoted fight cards. As high quality the fights themselves may be, it means nothing if the fans have no idea what's going on. This is one reason the UFC is so successful and how they make their product so good.
Primetime Scores Big
UFC's second showing at Primetime has gone strong. While the original Primetime series featuring the rematch between GSP and BJ Penn did amazing numbers, the ratings for Primetime: St-Pierre vs. Hardy have been immense. The original episode averaged 880,000 viewers; the first episode in the three-part GSP/Hardy series has managed to garner over 1,000,000 viewers.
This is an amazing accomplishment. Whether it's people who want to see GSP destroy Hardy or people who want to see Hardy beat the maple syrup out of GSP is irrelevant: the fact is people want to see GSP/Hardy. By managing to pull in these numbers, the UFC has solidified their claim to being a great promotion even more than I could have thought possible. When they decided to give Dan Hardy, a virtual unknown in the world of the UFC, a shot against arguably the pound for pound king, there was uproar. The UFC needed to be able to convince the people that he had a shot and that he wasn't just a meal to keep the lions from eating the guards.
I can only hope to imagine that the numbers for the second episode in this three-parter will do even higher numbers, what with the Serra-twist thrown into the end.
Bellator News
Plenty of season 1 runners-up are joining the season 2 tournaments for a chance to right that huge wrong. The season 1 middleweight runner-up, Jared Hess, has recently been announced to fill the fifth slot in the season 2 middleweight tournament for a chance to rematch the season 1 champion Hector Lombard. Joining Hess will also be recently-announced Sean Loeffler, who has posted an impressive 18-4 professional record. The two middleweights will join Matt Major, Eric Schambari, and Bryan Baker for the season 2 tournament.
Recently it was announced that, while the first two seasons will feature tournaments in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight divisions, the third season will feature tournaments in the bantamweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight, and women's divisions.
As for the open tryout mentioned a while ago, Bellator has announced the ‘winner' of the tryout. Tyler Stinson – a professional with a record of 16-5 – has beaten out 72 other tryees to earn a guaranteed spot on Bellator XVI. The man he barely beat - Leonardo Pecanha (11-6) – has also been hinted to have earned a spot on a future Bellator card.
In the Lands of the Rising Sun
Sengoku 12
On Monday, Sengoku 12 went down and while I was unable to watch it (I didn't feel like staying up all night) I have quick results.
· Jorge Santiago def Mamed Khalidov by unanimous decision to retain the SRC Middleweight Championship
· Akihiro Gono def Diego Gonzalez by unanimous decision
· Maximo Blanco def Chang Hyun Kim by KO in the first round
· Marlon Sandro def Tomonari Kanomata by KO in the first round
· Yoshihiro Makao def Henry Armstrong Miller by TKO in the second round
· Yuji Hoshino def Nick Denis by submission from a guillotine choke in the second round
· Leonardo Santos def Kiuma Kunioku by submission from a rear naked choke in the first round
· Shigeki Osawa def Kyung Ho Kang by unanimous decision
I personally expected these results (from the three or so fighters I really knew) and was betting on Santiago, Gono, and Sandro.
During this event the current SRC Lightweight Champion, Mizuto Hirota, announced that he was vacating his championship due to the injury he suffered at the hands of Shinya Aoki at Dynamite!! 2009. For those who forgot…
DREAM.13
No further fights were announced this past week. Rumored, however, for the event is a title defense from current Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis against Kiyoshi Tamura. However, nothing is finalized.
· Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen (for the DREAM Featherweight Championship)
· KJ Noons vs. Andre Amade
· Katsunori Kikuno vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
· Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Jimmy Ambriz
· Ryo Chonan vs. Andrews Nakahara
Don't forget, DREAM.13 will air live on HDNet the morning of March 22.
BJ, eat your heart out.
Future Fights
A small recap of potential fights in the future announced over the week
· DaMarques Johnson vs. Brad Blackburn, UFC 112
· Joey Beltran vs. Chad Corvin, UFC 113
· Chris Horodecki vs. Ed Ratcliff, WEC 49
· Eduardo Pamplona vs. Nick Thompson, Shine Fights III
· Ben Holscher vs. Alex Trevino, Strikeforce Challengers VII
· Bryan Baker vs. Sean Loeffler, Bellator XVI
· Rudy Bears vs. Zak Cummings, Bellator XVI
· Brian Davidson vs. Danny Tims, Bellator XVI
· Matt Wiman vs. Mac Danzig, UFC 115
· Rob Emerson vs. Nik Lentz, UFC Fight Night 21
· James McSweeney vs. Travis Browne, Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale
· Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin, UFC Fight Night 21
Quick Jabs
· Finally making his Strikeforce debut, Roger Gracie – a multi-time ADCC and Mundials champion – is expected to fight on the as-of-yet unannounced May 15 Strikeforce card. A possible opponent has been named in Kevin Randleman.
· WEC 47 managed to score only 373,000 viewers this past Saturday, a far cry from the comfortable 640,000 managed by WEC 46. This does not bode too well for WEC 48, but as Reed Harris has said, he would be happy if they would manage a mere 60,000 buys.
· Brendan Schaub and Marcus Jones have both been announced as bonus characters for UFC Undisputed: 2010. Since I'm fairly sure that they are looking at the TUF10 cast as bonus characters, let's see some TITTIES.
· In lieu of any non-title fights on the main card, Strikeforce has announced that they will be possibly airing a preliminary bout during the televised card in case one of the three title fights on the card happen to end quicker than anticipated. From this I can infer that the three title fights will be the only fight guaranteed to make it to TV.
· TUF 12 open tryouts will be taking place on April 1 for all lightweight and light heavyweight fighters. This tryout will take place Omni Hotel in Charlotte the day after UFC Fight Night 21. Fighters will need to bring their own gear and proof of at least 3 professional fights, as well as proof of age of 21 or older. Potential fighters will be expected to perform a quick grappling session and some pad-hitting.
Thanks for reading again, hope to see you all sometime in the future!!
I'm all for the double weigh in... I'm just curious how close to the fight it will take place and if it becomes the norm, what it will do to many of the top guys.
People are quick to point out Thiago Alves because he's the most apparent (and probably cuts/ gains the most), but GSP or Anderson Silva wouldn't be able to make their limits the second day either.
It's a good rule that protects the fighters, but it's also one that could significantly shake up the sport.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on March 12, 2010 at 12:06 AM
Yeah we better protect the fighters since soooo many are getting sick and injured from cutting weight. I cut 12 lbs for 155 and have no problem with it. All this means is that I won't rehydrate as quickly and do more after the second weigh-in.
Posted By: Guest#2128 (Guest) on March 12, 2010 at 09:07 AM
How can anyone actualy be happy with what mASSachusettes has done? This is the worst idea ever. I have cut weight many times, and all this is going to do is have fighters having to work some stupid math.. (1.0635?! WTF is this?) trying to make weight again the second day. Ridiculous. You want fighters to fight at there natuaral weight? You have them weigh in just before they step into the cage.
Posted By: E-Van (Guest) on March 12, 2010 at 10:43 AM
The 1.0625 number makes sense... it gives the smaller guys (roughly) 10 pounds that they can add back on, and just over 16.5 for the HWs.
It's hard to tell how many ARE getting sick and injured from it since going into a fight dehydrated (or after quickly rehydrating) can easily cause many problems- ranging from them getting KO'ed much easier or them injuring themselves (blowing out a knee or shoulder easier), to them simply not being 100 % on their game, slower response, and getting tagged when they otherwise wouldn't have.
12 lbs for 155 isn't the guys they're going after (since they have no issue with someone gaining 9.6 or so)... it's the guys who cut 20+ lbs (Sherk comes to mind at that weight class) that wouldn't be able to do it anymore.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on March 12, 2010 at 11:58 AM
12 lbs is what I cut in the last 24 hrs. I cut 20 lbs in the 4-6 weeks leading to the weigh-in.
Posted By: Guest#7304 (Guest) on March 12, 2010 at 04:02 PM
This new rule is pointless. Fighters who don't want to deal with two weigh-ins just won't fight in Massachusettes.
Posted By: Kuch7 (Registered) on March 12, 2010 at 04:04 PM
This new rule is pointless. Fighters who don't want to deal with two weigh-ins just won't fight in Massachusettes.
Posted By: Kuch7 (Registered) on March 12, 2010 at 04:04 PM
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Until other states realize it's a good safety precaution and follow suit.
Posted By: Guest#0876 (Guest) on March 12, 2010 at 11:24 PM
One problem with cutting weight is obviously dehydration. Dehydration causes your brain to have less fluid for cushion. If you make weight right before the fight, with no time for rehydration, you are at higher risk for brain damage. For this reason alone, this is a terrible rule and terrible idea.
Posted By: papageorgio (Guest) on March 13, 2010 at 09:05 PM
One problem with cutting weight is obviously dehydration. Dehydration causes your brain to have less fluid for cushion. If you make weight right before the fight, with no time for rehydration, you are at higher risk for brain damage. For this reason alone, this is a terrible rule and terrible idea.
Posted By: papageorgio (Guest) on March 13, 2010 at 09:05 PM
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LOL.
If a fighter cuts significant weight right before the fight, with no time for rehydration, chances are, they'll barely be able to stand or function... 15 minutes in the cage would be impossible.
While they can't weigh in just before they step into the cage - the last thing they'd need is for a fighter to miss weight in the middle of a live PPV, they could have it just a few hours before the event.... just in case someone does miss, they have ample time to either renegotiate the contracts to a new catch-weight or find a suitable replacement.
If someone chooses to save rehydrating until the few hours before their fight, they will be putting themselves at a serious disadvantage against the fighter who came in at weight and was able to properly rest and warm up before the match.
Many fighters fall within (or close enough to make) the second weigh in amounts. Those who don't will have to either drop significant weight or change weight classes.
A fighter might be able to slow down their rehydration and add a pound or two in the few hours between the 2nd weigh-in and the fight... but there's no way they could even attempt to put 10-15 lbs back on and still function.
Posted By: cyks (Guest) on March 14, 2010 at 04:21 AM
to cyks
Don't lol at me! Fighters do manage to stand and function right after cutting weight. Have you ever seen a weigh-in? The fighters stand in the scales, and function for a stare down for pictures, and are sometimes interviewed. Did you think they were wheeled in wheelchairs to the scales? How about a chariot? Not to be rude, I just don't like being laughed at!
By the way, your last paragraph only validates my first comment.
I am not saying the current system is perfect, I just think this double weigh-in is only going to hurt, not help the fighters.
Posted By: papageorgio (Guest) on March 14, 2010 at 01:34 PM
I've seen many weigh-ins... and I've also seen many fighters sitting in a wheelchair taking an IV to replenish themselves right after the pose down/interview...
Posted By: Guest#1059 (Guest) on March 15, 2010 at 03:53 AM
Where did you see that? And don't just say "vegas"! Sorry if I have a hard time swallowing that you saw that. Even if it were true, they have never , and would never show that on air as it would seriously give fighter's weakness away to their opponent. Not to mention giving the promotion a black eye. The athletic commission would not allow fighters to fight the next day if they were aware of such things. So you must have been in on a huge secret with a star fighter in private behind closed doors with a doctor willing to also keep secrets. That, my friend, is impressive! Can I hang out with you?
Posted By: guessed #1060 (Guest) on March 15, 2010 at 10:50 PM
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