The Tap-Out 06.10.06
Posted by Caleb Newby on 06.10.2006
Do you think if I just mention the UFC ring girls I can get a picture of them for the column?
Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me...
Hey there. So this is the latest I have been with this thing. Sorry to Yayo and Ashish. I originally wanted to wait a little bit to do this to see how the PRIDE television contract situation would end up. I didn't want to post this and then a couple hours later PRIDE announces that it was going to close down or something like that. Fortunately that didn't happen. Let's get this party started!
Why did I say that?
News
Fuji TV drops PRIDE
The situation best I understand it is this. Fuji TV a few days ago completely dropped PRIDE from their television programming, going as far as to "blacklist" anyone associated with PRIDE from appearing on any other show on a Fuji TV. Reason for this is thought to stem from suspected yakuza involvement from the PRIDE ownership. Fuji doesn't want that association to be connected to them and cut out on the deal that was set to expire later this year anyhow.
This is obviously huge for a company to lose out on their television revenue. There are strong rumors that this will cause PRIDE to fold completely as a company, as it is unlikely another station will pick them up to make up for the revenue. If this happens, current wisdom is that many of the fighters will end up joining K-1 as they have the pockets to afford many of the (former) PRIDE fighters. What about the organizations here in the states? UFC, WFA, IFL? I would find it hard to believe that they wouldn't come down with some of the talent in the event that PRIDE does go under. The WFA has shown it is ready to spend money on big names. The IFL is hard for me to say since they have the team concept and are building people from the ground up. And what of the big dog over here, the UFC? The UFC is somewhat inconsistent in my opinion. They will pay Royce Gracie big bucks for a fight, but not get serious about signing Rampage. I'd have to think that the UFC would make a push for a select few fighters that they would target, hopefully at the heavier weight classes.
But who knows what will happen. It is a good time for speculation though.
Open Weight Grand Prix: Round 2 matches
Mirki Cro Cop vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Wanderlei Silva (replacing Fedor) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Antonio Nogueira vs. Fabricio Werdum
Josh Barnett vs. Mark Hunt
Good times.
TUF 3 brings in viewers
MMAweekly reported that last week's episode of TUF (Matt vs. Mike) drew more male viewers in the 18-34 age range then any other show on TV, network or cable. MMA is continuing to grow it seems and gain popularity, no matter what Jim Lampley has to say about it. Speaking of Lampley, I nearly called into his show when I heard him talking about boxing to bring up MMA. I guess someone else already did though, huh?
Your first ever IFL Team Championship goes to…
The Silverbacks, led by Pat Miletich. I don't have more to say because I haven't watched it yet. Its on my buddy's TiVo.
Other stuff
I'm waiting on the predictions I previously tallied to be emailed to me. But speaking of predictions, our very own Huckaby has started to run something on the forums for each event I believe. I might try to pawn my predictions in this column off onto his and just combine it as to not be redundant. If that's the case, register for the forums and get in on that for the next event.
That being said, I would like to point out the top 3 places from the Bushido 11 forum prediction thread:
#3) Jennette with 21 points! My newfound prediction arch rival had a good showing here. What else can I say? He has skill, but I am going to squash him regardless.
#2) ME! With 23 points. That's right. I got lucky. But I'm still happy.
#1) Huckaby with 30 points. And he was only one fight away from picking a perfect card. Will his dreams of ever getting them all right come true? Stay tuned.
Mike's question of the week
Since I didn't have a question of the week last time, Mike decided to give me a taste of my own medicine: Since you didn't have any questions to answer in your column this week, here goes:
Is the return of all of the former stars of MMA goin to be an issue with the new up and comers in the fight game?
For instance, Royce is given an automatic shot at Hughes (although it was non-title) while others have to sit and wait. There is also the return of Bas Rutten against Kimo in July. Pat Miletich is slated to return as well as Grandpa Shamrock versus Tito at UFC 61. As interested as I am in these older fighters, I don't think that they deserve automatic shots because of who they used to be. Granted, they rake in the revenue and give UFC tons of press, but come on. This reeks of the WWE bringing in older veterans who are obviously not where they used to be.
Your opinion on this?
I see where you are coming from. I guess if I were a fighter it would depend on the situation. If I was GSP and Royce delayed my title shot I might be a little miffed, but if I end up then beating Hughes it makes my win all that much higher profile. Legends getting title shots right away is a little much, but if you are a younger guy and trying to make a name for yourself in the post TUF world of MMA, you would be shortsighted to not see what fighting a legend could do for your career. Maybe grumble publicly about fighting a "washed up old-timer" to sell some tickets, but laugh on the way to the bank.
And that will do it. My link buddy Andrew Mellick has another one of his great music columns up. Check it out! I agree with one of his readers that his columns are getting better and better.
And if you live in Pittsburgh I almost found my way onto your airwaves last weekend to talk some UFC. It still might happen (lookin at you Stacy!) so stay tuned.
