Week in MMA & Boxing - 1/27/17
Tito Ortiz Retires with a Win
In his final fight, Tito Ortiz beat Chael Sonnen in 2:03 in the main event of Bellator's event on the 1/21 at the Forum in Los Angeles. There wasn’t much to the fight. Sonnen, fighting under heavy drug testing in his first fight in more than three years, which included a two-year drug suspension and his own first retirement, looked like a man beaten before the fight started.
Ortiz noted that it was obvious Sonnen was soft and not in shape. Sonnen usually fights at 185 and Ortiz has always been a very large 205 pound fighter. Sonnen gave up his back, and Ortiz went for what was actually a neck crank, as he didn’t have the arm under the chin for an actual choke, and Sonnen tapped out at 2:02. Ortiz held the choke after the tap because he was mad at all the things Sonnen said while promoting the fight.
Ortiz noted that it was obvious Sonnen was soft and not in shape. Sonnen usually fights at 185 and Ortiz has always been a very large 205 pound fighter. Sonnen gave up his back, and Ortiz went for what was actually a neck crank, as he didn’t have the arm under the chin for an actual choke, and Sonnen tapped out at 2:02. Ortiz held the choke after the tap because he was mad at all the things Sonnen said while promoting the fight.
Tito Ortiz was one of the most important historical figures in the growth of the sport. Ortiz was promoted as UFC’s top star when the company was purchased by the Fertitta brothers. The current 205-pound weight division was largely a number picked by Ortiz, who struggled to make the previous 199.9 pound limit, so they raised it for him and changed the name of the division to light heavyweight.
With no television, UFC struggled badly for a few years. Lorenzo Fertitta at one point told White that he wanted to sell the company. PPV numbers were overall poor, with shows doing around 30,000 buys and losses were in the millions. But Ortiz’s 2002 title defense against Ken Shamrock, and his 2004 fight with Chuck Liddell both topped 100,000 buys, which showed that there was potential for the sport.
With no television, UFC struggled badly for a few years. Lorenzo Fertitta at one point told White that he wanted to sell the company. PPV numbers were overall poor, with shows doing around 30,000 buys and losses were in the millions. But Ortiz’s 2002 title defense against Ken Shamrock, and his 2004 fight with Chuck Liddell both topped 100,000 buys, which showed that there was potential for the sport.
Bellator Does Great Ratings
The show from the business side was considered a success. While no crowd number was announced, the Forum was packed and it was said to be the biggest in company history. The show did 1,374,000 viewers on average for the three hour plus show. It was the third biggest in company history, trailing the 1,946,000 for the February 19, 2016 show (Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000 and Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie) and 1,580,000 for the June 19, 2015 show (Slice vs. Shamrock). Spike was second in prime time on cable in the 18-49 demo and first in males 18-49.
Ortiz vs. Sonnen averaged 1,850,000 viewers, making it the fourth most-watched fight in Bellator history, trailing the main bouts on the aforementioned two shows with Slice vs. Dada at 2.5 million being the company record. UFC had only five events in 2016 that beat those numbers.
Ortiz vs. Sonnen averaged 1,850,000 viewers, making it the fourth most-watched fight in Bellator history, trailing the main bouts on the aforementioned two shows with Slice vs. Dada at 2.5 million being the company record. UFC had only five events in 2016 that beat those numbers.
Mike Goldberg Finally Speaks
Mike Goldberg on the MMA Hour said that he was very disappointed as he never heard from Dana White once about his exit or afterwards. “No conversations. No contact. Nothing really. Nothing. Which was surprising. Disappointing, certainly. And I’ve got to live with that.” He said he was disappointed, at least at first that the company wouldn’t allow him to say goodbye on the air. “It was a shock,” he said about finding out he was being let go. “I was speechless. I didn’t know what type of emotion to have, because I was just in a state of shock and disbelief.”
He said his being let go was no different from the people in the merchandise department of the long-time Vice Presidents or the entire Canadian office, just that his story got more publicity. “It took 15 years to build this wonderful family and it felt like it was taking 15 minutes to destroy it.
He said his being let go was no different from the people in the merchandise department of the long-time Vice Presidents or the entire Canadian office, just that his story got more publicity. “It took 15 years to build this wonderful family and it felt like it was taking 15 minutes to destroy it.
Cormier vs. Rumble 2 at UFC 210
Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Rumble Johnson for the light heavyweight title combined with Chris Weidman vs. Gegard Mousasi will be the headline fights on the UFC 210 PPV show, on 4/8 PPV in Buffalo. The former fight had been expected, but wasn’t made official until 1/25. The latter was announced earlier.
The Cormier-Johnson winner is likely to defend against Jon Jones. But he’s still the biggest draw in the division and there’s really no other contenders for either guy. If Cormier wins, I suppose he could face Ryan Bader, Jimi Manuwa or Glover Teixeira, but neither will draw and Bader is a free agent right now. But Johnson destroyed all three of those guys and if he beats Cormier, the only guy he could face would be Jones.
The Cormier-Johnson winner is likely to defend against Jon Jones. But he’s still the biggest draw in the division and there’s really no other contenders for either guy. If Cormier wins, I suppose he could face Ryan Bader, Jimi Manuwa or Glover Teixeira, but neither will draw and Bader is a free agent right now. But Johnson destroyed all three of those guys and if he beats Cormier, the only guy he could face would be Jones.
Other Headlines
- The May PPV show will be on 5/13 from Dallas and the American Airlines Center. That announcement also notes that UFC has dropped its traditional Memorial Day weekend PPV in Las Vegas that dates back that dated back to 2007. New owners and all. Not sure I’d have made that call because historically they’ve done some very good PPV business on that traditional date.
- Travis Browne vs. Derrick Lewis, originally the No. 3 fight on the 2/11 PPV show from Brooklyn, was moved to the main event position on 2/19 in Halifax. The Halifax main was Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve, but Struve pulled out. Added to that show is Sara McMann vs. Liz Carmouche, Ryan Janes vs. Gerald Meerschaert, Sam Sicilia vs. Gavin Tucker and Paul Felder vs. Alessandro Ricci.
This Weekends Show
The first FOX show of the new year is 1/28 in Denver. The last few shows headlined by women have done big business including the July and December FOX shows.
The show starts at 4 pm. Eastern with Fight Pass bouts with J.C. Cottrell (17-4) vs. Jason Gonzalez (10-3) and Eric Shelton (10-2) vs. Alexander Pantoja (10-2) and J.C. Cottrell (17-4) vs. Jason Gonzalez (10-3).
FS 1 fights at 5 p.m. Eastern have The rest of the show has Marcos Rogerio de Lima (14-4-1) vs. Jeremy Kimball (14-5, Kimball is a last week replacement for John Phillips, Alessio DiChirico (10-1) vs. Eric Spicely (9-1), Luis Henrique da Silva (12-1) vs. Jordan Johnson (6-0), Li Jingliang (11-4) vs. Bobby Nash (8-1), Raphael Assuncao (23-5) vs. Aljamain Sterling (12-1) which is a big bantamweight fight, and , Sam Alvey (29-8) vs. Nate Marquardt (35-16-2).
On FOX at 8 p.m. it’s Alex Caceres (12-9) vs. Jason Knight (15-2), then Andrei Arlovski (25-13) faces rising star Francis Ngannou (9-1), Donald Cerrone (32-7) vs. Jorge Masvidal (31-11) and the main event has Julianna Pena (8-2) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (13-2). Shevchenko is coming off a win over Holly Holm in the main event on a show that did very well in the ratings and the winner should get a title shot at Amanda Nunes, so the fight has a purpose. Cerrone will be closing in on a title shot with a win, but Masvidal is a better fighter than his record and also has the ability to take exciting fighters and make their fights boring.
The show starts at 4 pm. Eastern with Fight Pass bouts with J.C. Cottrell (17-4) vs. Jason Gonzalez (10-3) and Eric Shelton (10-2) vs. Alexander Pantoja (10-2) and J.C. Cottrell (17-4) vs. Jason Gonzalez (10-3).
FS 1 fights at 5 p.m. Eastern have The rest of the show has Marcos Rogerio de Lima (14-4-1) vs. Jeremy Kimball (14-5, Kimball is a last week replacement for John Phillips, Alessio DiChirico (10-1) vs. Eric Spicely (9-1), Luis Henrique da Silva (12-1) vs. Jordan Johnson (6-0), Li Jingliang (11-4) vs. Bobby Nash (8-1), Raphael Assuncao (23-5) vs. Aljamain Sterling (12-1) which is a big bantamweight fight, and , Sam Alvey (29-8) vs. Nate Marquardt (35-16-2).
On FOX at 8 p.m. it’s Alex Caceres (12-9) vs. Jason Knight (15-2), then Andrei Arlovski (25-13) faces rising star Francis Ngannou (9-1), Donald Cerrone (32-7) vs. Jorge Masvidal (31-11) and the main event has Julianna Pena (8-2) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (13-2). Shevchenko is coming off a win over Holly Holm in the main event on a show that did very well in the ratings and the winner should get a title shot at Amanda Nunes, so the fight has a purpose. Cerrone will be closing in on a title shot with a win, but Masvidal is a better fighter than his record and also has the ability to take exciting fighters and make their fights boring.