The worm has turned

[LAllan]

Is this a sign that it's gone the way many predicted and MMA, well the UFC at least, is now the most recognised, biggest dollar generating combat sport:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5894810180

A champion (although whether its in any sort of well regarded organisation I'm not sure) boxer trying to mouth off and get the UFC's attention to beg for a fight to promote himself - 5 years ago it would have been the other way round.

Funnily enough, I'm becoming less and less interested in the UFC as it gets bigger and bigger and all the other bollocks outweighs the actual fighting. Will be as bad as boxing with all the pre fight, self promoting, buy my t shirts and sports drink crap soon.

This fight wont ever happen for a number of reasons, however, and I suspect Green, or at least his management, know that.

[Adam]

Funnily enough, I'm becoming less and less interested in the UFC as it gets bigger and bigger and all the other bollocks outweighs the actual fighting. Will be as bad as boxing with all the pre fight, self promoting, buy my t shirts and sports drink crap soon.

It's already past that. For a long time now, UFC has been one part MMA and six parts WWE, and that is disappointing.

Be right back, I have to have my TapouT protein shake, put on my fully sick TapouT t-shirt and Affliction jeans and walk around pushing people because I can give them a flying armbar if they try something.

[LAllan]

It's already past that. For a long time now, UFC has been one part MMA and six parts WWE, and that is disappointing.

I'm not sure it's quite at the point of Vince McMahon mugging for the camera and the rock smelling what's cooking yet, but yeah, as I posted before I agree the marketing is getting annoying. But, if I was Dana White I'd make a few million several times over while I could, too. He is still a bit of a tool, though, regardless of being a good businessman.

The outcome of the Green/Briggs fight says a lot about the current state of boxing, and why the UFC has got such a stranglehold on combat sports at the moment.

Luckily, the mad japanese and euro and, recently, aussie shows are still more about good fighters than selling merchanise, so MMA is looking healthy.

Now we just need to get a show like impact fc with Karo Parisyan and Jeff Monson in Adelaide. I might even buy a t shirt then.

[Adam]

Yep, sport is great for a business, but business is not great for a sport. Good sportsmanship and contest becomes clouded by the bottom line and the Green/Briggs fight is the perfect example. Briggs clearly shouldn't have been fighting, didn't make the agreed weight and had been in retirement for 3-4 years. How he was able to get a "world" title shot is ridiculous in the first place.

For the "six parts WWE", I'm referring to stuff like the big entrances, fireworks and theme music, all the trash talking leading up to the fight (maybe that's just American), etc. Perhaps that's the business plan, to unite pro-"wrestling" fans and fans of proper combat (boxing, kickboxing, martial arts).

While I enjoy and appreciate the sport of boxing, the UFC has been made to be much more easily followable with the consistent scheduling of fairly high-quality matchups and without bullshit-politics messing things up.

Oh... and I've always felt boxing is like carrying a loaded gun around but only pistol-whipping people...

[Zorbasan]

the worst items of clothing they were are those stupid trucker hats. like a baseball cap with a richie richardson hat brim.

and they were them slightly crooked and with a banner.

someone needs to tell them that they are not african american rap artists.

[Shawn]

This was without a doubt one of the worst fight throws I've ever seen. The punch barely even combed his hair. I'm not sure what the penalty is for something like that... but I hope there's some legal questions being asked, that's fraud!

The UFC was created for two purposes in my opinion. 1) to prove which art was the best (with of course a hidden agenda by it's creators, the Gracies to promote their art) and 2) to make money through television.

I think at first the primary focus was point 1 and it's certainly moved towards point 2. It's no longer about the fighters, but about the spectators. That in itself doesn't worry me too much, although the macho hype does get on my nerves. What does worry me is that whatever other stuff they add, be it spectators, advertising, fireworks or whatever, alters the quality/outcome of the fight. This is a perfect example of where someone is willing to lay themselves on the line in the name of money.

[flyfire]

Pointless complaining I think. Combat sports and money go hand in hand, and have done so for milllennia. Part of human nature is engaging in risk taking, and well, if you don't take the risks in the ring/pit/cage or whatever god forsaken arena (I've witnessed illegal underground matches in Thailand...eeeesh), then you do so by spectating and gambling on the outcome. And where there's gambling, there's corruption; where the money is BIG, well...need i say. I don't know where the pay packet goes in Western boxing, but I do know in Muay Thai, only a small fraction finds its way into the fighters own pocket. The rest goes to promoters and their gym manager etc. Hence you see them after walking the crowd with money in the mouth asking the spectators for more. HEck, spekaing of the crowd, tis unfortunate but 90% of the punters at Lumpionee stadium arent interested in the art. Just another 'day at the races' for them.

I agree with Shawn that its sad when figters throw fights in the name of money, but when your life is and that of your family is threatened, I know what i would do. That Bushido code will be going out the window for those few minutes. I know of a Khmer fighter who steadfastly refused to throw a fight. His headless and bullet-ridden body was found in a forlorn rice field some days later (he won the fight by KO and lost his life). While not applicable to this degree in our culture (perhaps),just an example to illustrate the potential complexities and goings ons in the world of competitive fighting, especially when big money is involved.

As for the Briggs/Green fiasco, I am totally with Adam on this one: Briggs shouldn't have been in there. And why isnt Green fighting someone of more RECENT calibre. Again who knows the machinations. BTW, I wouldn't be writing off that one as a throw...if you havent been taking hits for what 4 years ex-champ or not and you eat a stiff left jab from Danny Green to the top of the forehead, possibly something tweaked in his lower brainstem/spine. Another hate I have but have to accept: the mindless spectators and armchair critics. And f**k the argument that they paid good money: ACCEPT that thats the nature of fighting you morons. It could end in a few seconds. And respect the fact fighters, NOT the spectators, are the ones spilling blood, sweat and tears for the fight (well, maybe not poor ol Paul Briggs, and look what happens).

[Katana]

I want to see Danny Green fight Brock Lesnar, as he suggested he would. Green said it would be strikes only, hands only, no grappling.

Lesnar is over 20cm taller, with a reach advantage of about a mile, and weighs nearly 40 kilos more. He is also significantly younger.

Does Green really think he would stand a chance? Plainly Lesnar wouldn't be interested; after all, he doesn't train as a boxer. But come on.....

I used to enjoy the UFC much more before it became about entertainment, but really that was inevitable. I loathe trash talking of any kind in any sport, and sadly the UFC is on track to lose what credibility it has if the sort of rubbish that goes on is permitted to continue.

[LAllan]

Now we just need to get a show like impact fc with Karo Parisyan and Jeff Monson in Adelaide. I might even buy a t shirt then.

Right then, even this 'fire-trucked up. I hate to be negative about professional MMA in Oz, as I'd love to see it takeoff, but it really doesn't seem to be going all that brilliantly. This promotion could have really kickstarted it.

"Impact FC Stiffs Fighters, Promoters Blaming One Another
by Kid Nate on Jul 29, 2010 1:02 PM EDT in News 73 comments


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Ken Shamrock preparing to fight for free at Impact FC Sydney. Photo by Chris Dela Cruz via Sherdog.com

View full size photo »
Cage Potato does some excellent reporting:

We learned of the situation Wednesday from one of the affected fighters who wished to remain anonymous, but have since been able to confirm the story with more than a dozen others, including Karo Parisyan, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Jesse Taylor and Brian Ebersole, that none of the cards' participants have received their complete fight purses .

Although most commissions require that fighters be paid before the promoter leaves the arena the night of the show (some even hold onto and distribute the money themselves) none of the men who fought on either show received checks before flying home from Australia. A handful of them have since received partial payment - the most being 75% of what was owed, however most of the fighters we spoke to have yet to receive a dime, despite multiple phone calls they have made and emails they have sent to promoters Tom Huggins and Andrew McManus asking that they be paid.

They get quotes from both partners, first Andrew McManus, the "money mark" blames Tom Huggins, the "MMA veteran" claims that McManus was always the sole responsible party for paying the fighters. Huggins is in Brazil and McManus asserts that he hasn't been able to get a response from him. Huggins, for his part, insists that he has a contract that clearly indicates that McManus agreed to pay all the costs of the events. McManus asserts that he never signed that contract.

There's also an interesting "it's the UFC's fault conspiracy" angle in the full entry, plus Jordan Breen's comments:



A source close to the situation indicated that the UFC purportedly contacted any sponsors of the event who also sponsored UFC or WEC shows and told them in no uncertain terms that if they backed Impact, they would no longer be welcomed as a ZUFFA sponsor. As such, several sponsors pulled out last-minute, adding to the promotion's financial issues.

This strikes me as extremely unlikely. The UFC, sadly, does have a track record of behavior bordering on tortuous interference against major rivals such as M-1 Global, but Impact FC's two cards featuring nothing but UFC castoffs in a minor market does not appear to fit the profile of a promotion that Dana White feels threatened by.

Jordan Breen, who traveled to Australia to cover both Impact FC events for Sherdog tweeted on the topic today:

re: Impact FC not paying fighters, Tom Huggins indicated to me from the outset that AMP was on the hook for production and payroll costs.

After a weak gate in Brisbane (gate was AMP responsibility to promote), McManus complained. He clearly thought all MMA works like UFC.

For reference, whole Impact model is supposed to be franchising, i.e. Huggins works with different Impact promoters in different countries.

McManus was supposed to be the cashcow in Australia, but clearly didn't understand at all and freaked out when Impact didn't do UFC numbers.

AMP is McManus' company.

Sadly, this debacle fits an all too common pattern in MMA. Impact FC had all the signs of being a disaster in the making going in:

•Overly ambitious new promotion aiming to score big on Pay Per View right out of the gate;
•Money mark financing
•Card stocked with (relatively) high dollar veterans who are nonetheless unlikely to draw;
•Weak or absent regulators that fail to protect the fighters by collecting the fight purses up front;
I really feel sorry for two of the fighters in particular: Ken Shamrock who is openly desperate for money and fighting well past the age where he's competitive; and Karo Parisyan who hasn't fought in over 18 months due to mental health and drug abuse issues. But all of the fighters did their best and don't deserve this kind of treatment.


There's no place in the sport for promoters who don't live up to their contractual obligations to the fighters, regardless of how poorly their business venture fares. The promoters are the ones assuming the financial risk, the fighters are risking their lives and deserve to be paid."

I give up. I'm with CamelToh and watching crazy Thai's fight from now on.