The Official MMA Discussion

[jamrockjay]

I have just found this piece of info for all those in the uk wondering whats happening with the tv rights for ufc.....

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) are closing in on a new home, as UK President Marshall Zelaznik assures fans that UFC 100 will be televised live in Britain and that a deal could be tied up as early as Monday.

UFC fans had been concerned about the prospect of missing out on UFC 100 in light of Setanta Sports’ recent financial collapse. Setanta had, of course, played host to live UFC action since UFC 80 in January 2007.

However, the ever-increasing appeal of The Ultimate Fighting Championship has caused a flood of interest in the up-for-grabs organisation.

As it stands, no less than six major UK television networks have enquired about giving the UFC a home and UK President Zelaznik admits that he’s in a position to complete two of the deals today.
“We have two offers on the table that we could close on today, if we wanted to,” said Zelaznik.
“These offers are from top networks and both would be great homes for the UFC. We also have great interest from three other major networks and we expect offers to be made later this week.

“The UFC proved itself to be a huge hit with British sports fans during our time on Setanta, and everyone was delighted with how The Ultimate Fighter performed on Virgin 1. We are in a great position, and we will have everything decided in the coming days.”

With interest high in the UFC right now, and with a television announcement expected next week, Zelaznik is bracing himself for an influx of late interest.

The added coup of UFC 100 (Saturday, July 11) – the biggest mixed martial arts event to date – only increases the demand for UFC on British screens. Despite the current situation, Zelaznik has assured British UFC fans that they’ll definitely be able to catch the world’s premier MMA event live in the UK on July 11.

Zelaznik said earlier this week: “I’d like to guarantee our loyal British and Irish fans that UFC 100 will be live on television over here. “You won’t have to wait to see the biggest event in UFC history. UFC 100 will be live in the UK.”

UFC 100 features the UFC heavyweight title clash between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, as well as the UFC welterweight clash between Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves. Perhaps most intriguing for UK fans, however, is the eagerly anticipated middleweight clash between England’s Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping and Dan Henderson.

So it looks like we might have a naswer monday...At least they have promised ufc100 will go out live over here

 

[daddy fingaz]

Apparantly Channel 5 are one of the channels interested, now that would be good although i cant really see it happening!!

 

[bens lab]

Channel 5 wow, that would be something, that would bring alot more viewers.

 

[Mrs.Babba]

UFC's Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights is on!! some bad ass knockouts!

 

[Nordle]

come on ufc ffs.

sat here refreshing the ufc site every 30 mins for info on who gettin the uk rights for this weekend.

any1 on here in the know yet?

 

[jamrockjay]

come on ufc ffs.

sat here refreshing the ufc site every 30 mins for info on who gettin the uk rights for this weekend.

any1 on here in the know yet?

Tell me about it m8, im doing the same thing lol

From what i have read here there n everywhere, it looks like either virgin 1 or bravo are gonna have a short term deal with the ufc for the rest of the yrs shows. There is also talk of a new n improved ultimate talk type show which hopefully will be a hr long instead of the 30mins, fingers crossed for everythin

 

[Nordle]

im gettin worried now.

no word from the UFC and ive seen nothin advertised on the possible tv channels that might be gettin it.

THIS FUCKIN SUCKS

im sure its not just jamrock and me from the uk that are thinkin this aint lookin to good.

looks like another day of refreshin that stupid ufc website again

 

[daddy fingaz]

I thought about 6 channels were in the mix for this, it must be aired on one even if its just a one off for UFC 100, surely its better for UFC to have it shown and get some money from it than not have it aired here and get nothing!????!!

 

[jamrockjay]

I have just seen this on gareth a davies blog.....

It looks like we will have to wait until Weds or Thurs this week for an official announcement, and crystal clear confirmation firstly, as regards to where UFC 100 will be screened this weekend, and secondly, which channel(s) will host UFC events going forward.

Setanta’s demise has left us all in a pickle.

There has been an assurance from the UFC that its centennial event (UFC 100), which takes place at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, this weekend - where Octagon-side tickets have been like gold dust and have changed hands for as much as $45,000 US dollars - will be live in the UK.

UFC are leaving it very late for us brits, my money is either on bravo or virgin1.

 

[Nordle]

think virgin will get it then, bravo never done it live, and i think thats what the uk fans want now after setanta and prob what the ufc want as well, gotta be more cash for live aint it.

lookin like virgin imo then-seein they just aired the ultimate fighter as well, must put the ball in their court

 

[jamrockjay]

Having just scanned through the tv listings for sunday morning and sunday night, on sunday night on Bravo reads no listings available from 2100hrs to 2359hrs which suggests to me that UFC100 is going to be aired!!!!!! So much for it being live if thats the case....Come on UFC get ur fookin act together

 

[jamrockjay]

The news many fans have been waiting for.

It’s official. Right here.

I can reveal that UFC 100, from the Mandalay Bay Resort, will be live and free on UK television - it will show free to air on satellite channel 433 and ALSO will be streamed free onto UFC.com on Saturday night for 9 hours, a marathon stint, between 9pm and 6am. It will show a programme of the 100 greatest fights in UFC history, followed by the Countdown show, followed by the live event.

Channel 433 on Sky is a dead channel which is becoming a UFC channel for 9 hours only.

To clarify - if you are a Virgin Media or Freeview customer, it is a case of watching it at a friend’s place who has Sky, or watching it completely free on UFC.com online. UFC have been streaming events for years, so it will be good quality.

 

[jamrockjay]

The above quote was taken off Gareth A Davies blog, he sure is a man in the know

 

[Nordle]

fuckin hell.

just read this over at the ufc site, just came here quick to find out what channel 433 was on virgin.

great-looks like its pop up night for me then, this fuckin sucks, get to watch a shitty blocky piece of shit instead of on my TV.

 

[BudGood]

Was looking for the x-rays of Faber-Brown fight....Faber broke 2 bones in his hand and lost the light but didn't give up..it went to a decision with Brown winning.

Gotta admit..Fighting with one hand is hard.

I have also broke my hand just like that but just the last bone instead of two..Just like it!! (flashback!)...Don't hit guys in the forehead! but at least the dude walked away after I hit him..Decided it wasn't worth it to keep fighting..(he started it too!)

What really hurt was the shots they give into the hand to numb it up...Wasn't a straight injection but they move that needle all around the hand for about 45seconds..Ouch!!

I must say, I respect Faber for continuing the fight. I've had numerous boxer fractures, minor and major. VERY hard to use that arm period, for blocking or anything, too damn painful. It all comes down to punching correctly. Your two small knuckles, and the bones behind them, shouldn't bear the brunt of the punch. A proper punch utilizes the two nearest the thumb as the main impact area. But, as we all know, in the heat of the moment, proper form can be hard to maintain. That Brown is one tough SOB, kinda crazy to think he was bustin' tires just a few months prior!

Oh yeah, in respect to those shots, they hurt, but not as bad as getting my nose reset, TWICE, by my sensei, after it was broken in-class (Free-form sparring was fun and good practice, yet dangerous, even with pads, gloves, etc...). "Bite your belt, this is gonna hurt.." "SNAP!" "Not quite right, bite down again.." "SNAP!!!" MOTHER*^^T##!!!!!!!!!! I'll admit, he knew what he was doing. You can hardly even tell it was broken, save for a really small ridge...

 

[BudGood]

Looks like Bobby Lashley is taking MMA seriously. He disposed of Bob Sapp In under 2 minutes. Sapp tapped out due to ground and pound.

After the bout, ""To all the heavyweights out there, if you're not looking at me, you better, because I'm coming. I'll take on all challengers," Lashley said."

He is truly an impressive individual. I'm looking forward to seeing him fighting some bigger names.

 

[Moldy Dreads]

How about Lyoto Machida? Anyone know when he's fighting next. Being a shotokan and jiu jitsu fan and fighter myself, I really like him, and I've seen him get stronger with each fight. I didn't realize he was also a sumo, thai boxing, kickboxing champion etc..The guy is so tough and well rounded...

 

[NateDizz]

How about Lyoto Machida? Anyone know when he's fighting next. Being a shotokan and jiu jitsu fan and fighter myself, I really like him, and I've seen him get stronger with each fight. I didn't realize he was also a sumo, thai boxing, kickboxing champion etc..The guy is so tough and well rounded...

He'll be fighting next at 104 against Shogun.

Obviously I'm pulling for Mauricio seeing as how he's my favourite 205'er but let's be honest - anyone who has to fight Lyoto right now is in for a world of hurt.

Shogun was a fuckin' beast in Pride and was at one time the best lightheavy in the world but it's clear that since his surgeries he hasn't been the same. For the first time ever he used a great striking stance in his last fight against Chuck but it's still too early to say whether he's back to what he used to be or not. And without the allowance of soccer kicks and stomps (Rua's most brutal and effective weapons in Pride) it may not even matter. Fuck, even if he could use those techniques and was 100%, it'd still probably fall too short to succeed against Lyoto. I personally think he's untouchable right now.

He's like the modern day Royce Gracie in that he's using a new style and techniques that most people know nothing about and don't know how to approach, only he's also very fluent in most of the traditional MMA styles as well, making for an extremely tough nut to crack. You can train his karate style and bring in all the professionals you want to train that style, but he's been doing it for his entire life and a few months prep. will never be enough for anyone.

People thought that bullrushing him and putting the pressure on him would be the trick, then look what happened to Thiago. Then they said that if you were gonna stand with him and bang you had to feint alot, cause him to throw first, and counter his counter and look what happened to Rashad. Lyoto didn't even flinch at Rashad's feinting. What he should have done was use his wrestling to try and get him to the ground and control him there. It makes we wonder whether Rashad followed the gameplan or not because Greg Jackson is arguably the best in the game at coming up with strategies and Rashad got tooled. It's clear that nobody should try to stand with this guy.

More than anything I'd love to see Shogun knock out Machida but his best chance is to probably get him to the ground and work his ju-jitsu because his style of striking is that he's willing to take one to give one and that won't work with Machida.

Best of luck to anyone who has to fight him but I think he's gonna hold that strap for awhile.

 

[Weedman Herb]

Rua has a good reach and has the best shot to at least be able to touch Machida IMHO ... something that hasn't really been done yet ... and he is more than proficient with his jitz. I think we might finally find out whether Machida can take a good punch, elbow, knee or kick ... I'm a Huge Shogun fan as well as digging on Machidas style and I'm not calling a winner ... This has the makings to be the best fight at 205 EVER. I was hoping the UFC would fight Rua at least 1 more time before sending him in for a belt. Even if it is a tad early to give Shogun the shot I can't think of a more worthy opponent that is signed and healthy enough to go against Machida ...

 

[NateDizz]

For those interested, the weigh-ins will begin shortly after 7 o'clock (ET) tonight. Check 'em out!