Now that I’ve taken over FoF duties at 411Mania, I’ve decided that every Wednesday I’m going to answer the FoF questions that I propose to my fellow writers. So this week we tackle Liddell/Couture 4, Lesnar’s chances against Nog or Mir, the impressiveness of Florian, and more.
UFC 91 was the best MMA show of the year?
FACT. For the first time that I can recall, every UFC fight was shown on PPV. And all nine fights were awesome. We saw two guys slug it out, a highlight uppercut KO, some impressive submissions, and an epic main event. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall another show this year where no fight was boring. This show had a lot of hype behind it, many people purchased the event, and they got their moneys worth. If this was your first MMA event, you’ll probably be buying more. Plus 50 Cent was there and if 50 Cent attends your event, you know it’s a big event.
Of all the impressive performances at UFC 91, Kenny Florian turned in the most impressive?
FACT. There were a lot of impressive performances at UFC 91 but taking everything into considering, Florian was the most impressive. Maia beat a guy on the ground who had limited ground skills, Hazelett beat an average fighter, Gonzaga beat a guy he was expected to beat, and Lesnar beat Couture but nothing in that fight was going to shock me. I expected Joe Stevenson to give Florian a run for his money and Florian beat him on the feet, took him down with a strong body lock, easily passed to mount, and choked him out. Florian made Stevenson look leagues below him and in reality, they’re about equal.
A partnership with Showtime/CBS would be the saving grace for Affliction?
FICTION. With the way their salary structure is set up, network TV is not going to save Affliction. The only way they can make money is if they turn a profit on PPV. When you’re paying 1 million dollars to the two fighters in the main event, network TV isn’t going to make you the money you need to survive. That’s why UFC will never put Chuck Liddell or Brock Lesnar on free TV. Not only because they know both fighters are worth a minimum 400,000 PPV buys but because the PPV money is worth more than the TV money. I think MMA companies need television but they need television to build PPVs, not to run events on television.
Dana White and Zuffa should give women’s fighting a chance, if not in UFC then in WEC?
FACT. WEC runs 6-8 shows a year. If they put one women’s fight on each show, they can have a legit division. Dana White’s concern is that there aren’t enough women to support a division but when you’re only running 6-8, you don’t need that many women fighters. They could survive for at least 2 years with 10 women fighters and after 2 years, more women fighters are going to make their name. It’s a low risk, high reward for Zuffa. Gina Carano is a marketing gold mine. She’s beautiful, she’s media friendly, and she’s a good fighter. She can do nothing but increase the exposure of Zuffa and WEC.
If Randy Couture has one more fight left in him, it should be against Chuck Liddell?
FACT. And I seem to be the only person who wants to see this. The thing that makes this a fact for me is the “one more fight” part. If Randy Couture only has one more fight left him in, it should be against Chuck Liddell. Fedor vs. Couture isn’t happening, fans just need to accept that. I wouldn’t mind Anderson Silva vs. Couture but I don’t think it would do the business of Couture/Liddell. The only other suitable fight is Couture vs. Forrest Griffin and if Griffin is still the champion, I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. Couture should face Liddell one more time, do a huge number, and retire. If he wins, leave the series at 2-2 because no one ever does that and someone should.
Based on his MMA career and taking into consideration the training time between now and the fight, Brock Lesnar will defeat Frank Mir or Antonio Nogueira?
FACT. I think if they fought tomorrow, Lesnar would defeat Mir. He made a rookie mistake in his first fight and if they fight again, Lesnar wins it. With Nogueira, I think the extra training time will be a factor. Lesnar doesn’t have to learn submissions, he has to learn submission defense. That’s a lot easier to learn because you just have to avoid what’s coming, not set up different things. I think Lesnar would learn enough submission defense to survive on the ground but I also think that he would be smart and just try to knock out Nogueira.
