Apparently when he got the call from the UFC, he assumed they were calling to hire him for photography work at one of their events. No, turns out they wanted him to fight CM Punk. [Reply]
The UFC is on FOX this week with a pretty good card.
Friday
8pm - (Paramount) - Bellator 197, Chandler vs. Girtz
Judging by tapology rankings, this is about average for Bellator.
9pm - (Fightpass) - Friday Night Fights
This is apparently a Muay Thai promotion.
Saturday
5pm TV - (2:30pm Fightpass/5pm FOX) - UFC on FOX, Poirier vs. Gaethje
This is a great card by free TV standards. 5 out of the 8 fights on FOX are interesting, and for those who have fightpass, there's a whopping 6 fights on the early prelims. I don't remember ever seeing 14 fights scheduled before, its a long day for those who bought tickets to this thing in Glendale, Arizona.
9pm - (Fightpass) - VFC 60
This is a pretty good card by local promotion standards, and it will get started roughly when the UFC on FOX is almost over.
1am Sunday - (Fightpass) - Pancrase 295
The card is probably awful, I didn't even look at it. If you are awake for some reason, then this is something you could watch, I suppose. [Reply]
Looks like the PFL (Professional Fighters League) is finally getting off the ground soon, with a schedule and venues reserved, athletic commissions on board, etc. This used to be the WSOF, and they rebranded with a league concept with a "regular season" followed by playoffs and a $1MM prize for each of 6 winners. Featured bouts will be aired on NBCSN during 2 hour shows, with the other bouts that dont make it onto TV streamed on Facebook. The plan is to try to make Thursday Night MMA a thing by holding all their regular season events on Thursdays.
They signed 72 fighters, 12 each in 6 weight classes at FW, LW, WW, MW, LHW, and HW. During the "regular season" in June, July, and August, each of the 72 fighters will be scheduled for 2 fights. A win is worth 3 points and a draw is worth 1 point. Bonus points for finishing in the first round (3), 2nd round (2), or 3rd round (1). After the regular season they cut each weight class down to an 8-man playoff (48 fighters), with tiebreakers used where needed for the cut to 8 and for seeding. Playoffs in October, and the 6 championship fights on New Year's Eve.
The pay in the regular season is traditional show/win contracts. Quarterfinal losers get 50k, Semifinal losers get 100k, the runner up in each division gets 200k, and the champions each get $1MM. (so if you do the math, the total purse for the playoffs is $8.1MM) [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
Looks like the PFL (Professional Fighters League) is finally getting off the ground soon, with a schedule and venues reserved, athletic commissions on board, etc. This used to be the WSOF, and they rebranded with a league concept with a "regular season" followed by playoffs and a $1MM prize for each of 6 winners. Featured bouts will be aired on NBCSN during 2 hour shows, with the other bouts that dont make it onto TV streamed on Facebook. The plan is to try to make Thursday Night MMA a thing by holding all their regular season events on Thursdays.
They signed 72 fighters, 12 each in 6 weight classes at FW, LW, WW, MW, LHW, and HW. During the "regular season" in June, July, and August, each of the 72 fighters will be scheduled for 2 fights. A win is worth 3 points and a draw is worth 1 point. Bonus points for finishing in the first round (3), 2nd round (2), or 3rd round (1). After the regular season they cut each weight class down to an 8-man playoff (48 fighters), with tiebreakers used where needed for the cut to 8 and for seeding. Playoffs in October, and the 6 championship fights on New Year's Eve.
The pay in the regular season is traditional show/win contracts. Quarterfinal losers get 50k, Semifinal losers get 100k, the runner up in each division gets 200k, and the champions each get $1MM. (so if you do the math, the total purse for the playoffs is $8.1MM)
That kind of dough will attract some good fighters who are getting 75-80k 3 times a year from the UFC. Especially since the UFC pinched them out of their sponsorship money. [Reply]
Quick reminder that the new season of the Ultimate Fighter starts tomorrow with 8 Featherweights and 8 Lightweights, and the coaches are Cormier and Miocic. The gimmick this season is "undefeated", all competitors have undefeated records. [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
Quick reminder that the new season of the Ultimate Fighter starts tomorrow with 8 Featherweights and 8 Lightweights, and the coaches are Cormier and Miocic. The gimmick this season is "undefeated", all competitors have undefeated records.
So, how do you see the DC/Stipe fight playing out? [Reply]
Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat:
One of them gets injured and the fight gets canceled. That's how most of them go these days isn't it?
This is a little bit less likely than usual this time, unless the injury is bad enough that they can't tough it out, for two reason. 1) DC's title is not on the line, and Miocic has been pretty successful in training smart and making the walk. 2) The winner probably gets the Brock Lesnar payday fight, and if they blow this chance the UFC probably moves on and they don't get another shot at winning that lottery. [Reply]
Originally Posted by alnorth:
Quick reminder that the new season of the Ultimate Fighter starts tomorrow with 8 Featherweights and 8 Lightweights, and the coaches are Cormier and Miocic. The gimmick this season is "undefeated", all competitors have undefeated records.
Thanks for the reminder. It's been years since I tuned in, but the preview for this one caught my eye during the fights this last weekend. I'll check it out. [Reply]