I’m on a trip so I won’t be able to catch UFC 83 live tonight. That said, I wanted to put down my thoughts on the event before it happens. This isn’t a full blown preview or prediction. If you want one of those check out BloodyElbow’s UFC 83 Staff Predictions or see what Dr. J has cooked up with his UFC 83 Preview.
First off, I think its great that the UFC is finally doing shows in Canada. I think that the expansion into Canada will be much easier than the expansion into the UK. It’s clear that the Canadians are big fans of not only their Canadian fighters but of the sport in general. Now, on to the fights.
Matt Serra Vs. Georges St. Pierre
I’m looking forward to seeing this match because well, in all honesty the last one got cut short by the heavy hands of Mr. Matt Serra. Serra is a tough guy and very hard to put away but, if anyone could do it it would be GSP. Although I wouldn’t be as shocked as the first time around to see Serra win this match, I think it would be difficult for anyone to predict that GSP will lose this fight. That said, if Serra does somehow win this fight, I don’t want to hear any more bullshit about him not being the real champ. Beating GSP twice is no joke and no mistake either.
Rich Franklin Vs Travis Lutter
This should be a good fight between two good fighters. Franklin hasn’t seemed the same after being humbled by Spider Silva but he’s still one of the most dangerous guys around at 185. Lutter is no joke but the only threat he presents to Franklin are on the ground. Could Franklin mess up on the ground and fall into a submission by Lutter? Definitely. Is it likely to happen? I don’t think so. I think Franklin wins this matchup. Note to Joe Silva: We have no interest in a Franklin vs Silva 3 card for at least another two years.
The rest of the card is nothing to get super-excited about, although it is a solid one. I think Starnes is under-rated because of his seemingly soft attitude on TUF. He has been pretty sharp in the last couple fights we’ve seen him in and he has a good chance of beating up perennial UFC favorite Nate ‘The Rock’ Quarry. By the way, when Dana White was asked who has the worst nickname on TSN’s Off The Record, he should have mentioned Nate. A rock quarry? Really?
I’m interested to see how Bisping performs after cutting to 185. If the cut doesn’t affect him I expect he’ll beat self-proclaimed BJJ grandmaster Charles McCarthy. I didn’t like Danzig’s attitude on TUF but he’s a good fighter and I enjoy watching him pick his opponents apart methodically. I’m not that crazy about the rest of the fights on paper but it’s definitely possible a couple good ones could come out of the bunch. I guess we’ll all have to watch to find out if that’s the case or not.
I don’t know Iain and I haven’t visited his site before this last week so there’s nothing personal here. Zach over at FightOpinion chose to cross-post one of his articles discussing the recent termination of Jack O’brien’s UFC contract and its implications on the UFC in general.
The article’s not short so I’m going to summarize his points here before I tell you why I think they’re totally wrong…
- Jake O’Brien was widely considered a top heavyweight prospect in MMA and has all the potential you can ask for in a fighter.
- The aim of a sport is to determine who has the most legitimate claim of being the best in the world in their specific field / division.
- The UFC isn’t a sporting league or a sport in general.
His points are way off-base. First off, O’Brien is not one of the top heavyweights in the world. As a reference, I point you to last month’s Heavyweight Meta-Rankings over at Bloody Elbow. Jake’s a nice guy and a good fighter but he’s not on that list yet and for good reason.
The third point above follows from the premise in the second bullet: that the aim of a sport is to determine the best in something. While this is mostly true, the means to that end vary and like everything else in this world sports are a business. Specifically, sports are just another form of entertainment for everyone except those who are competing.
How is the UFC any different from the “sport” of boxing or, even better, college football? College football is one of the biggest “sports” in the U.S. but many people would argue that at the end of the bowl season, we don’t have a clear understanding of which was the best team in the country.
The bottom line is that the UFC is a business like any sports league and its goal is to be profitable. In the past when games have gotten boring or ratings have significantly dropped in other major sports, those same sports leagues have taken counter-measures, going as far as changing the rules of the game itself. Clearly those rule changes might favor some athletes more than others so, do we disqualify these leagues from the category of “sports” as well?
Of course not. And fighters like Jake O’Brien, or even Randy Couture for that matter, getting fired doesn’t disqualify the UFC or MMA as a sport, even though we may disagree with the decisions taken from time to time.
So I know it’s been a whole three days since I last posted but… wait, what? Not exactly you say? Oh, it’s been one year and three days. Right… well… I am a good bullshitter but I have no excuse for that one!
Just think of this like you do about Matt Serra: I came out of nowhere to take the top MMA blog championship belt, then spent the next year M.I.A. and claiming injury.
Okay my cheek hurts from keeping my tongue in it so long. Suffice to say I have some renewed interest in writing about MMA, and this is the place it will happen. Must be something about April…
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