All Purpose UFC/MMA/That Kind Of Thing Thread

In my mind Cro-Cop is still the third best heavyweight in the world. I say third and not second because I never really thought he usurped Nogueira's position behind Fedor. Cro Cop had a great 2006 but, that said, I don't really think that Nogueira lost a step in terms of ability.

Put it this way, Cro Cop has a great resume. You don't beat Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett in the same night in October, win the Pride “Open Weight Grand Prix” and then suck six months later. Not that anyone is arguing that Cro Cop sucks.

Cro Cop was the victim of a bad KO. It was a truly frightening moment. That kick would have Koed any MMA fighter not named Mark Hunt. That said, Cro Cop's been Koed before. He rebounded from the Kevin Randleman fight well enough and I expect him to do the same here.

I got the sense that when Mirko came to the UFC he just assumed that he'd steam roll through the division and then go off and fight Fedor again. He basically said as much. I can see this loss refocusing him. I think that this time next year Cro Cop will either be the UFC heavyweight champion or be occupying the same position that he did in Pride. The presence of Nogueira and the spectre of Fedor on the horizon are the only reason why I won't say that he will be the UFC champion.

Gonzaga was somewhat of an unknown quantity when he entered this fight. Joe Rogan touched on this in commentary, he had never really been in with a top guy. He had the tools but was untested. He passed the test. I favour him against Couture because Couture had always had trouble with big grapplers such as Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett. That said I would still pick Cro Cop in a rematch. Cro Cop looked bad in this loss, but if this loss serves as a wake up call then the UFC heavyweight division is in for something frightening: a focused Cro Cop.

I would think that in his next fight the Cro Cop who won the OWGP turns up. That Cro Cop destroyed Wanderlei Silva. Then that Cro Cop made beating Josh Barnett, who lest we forget is a former UFC heavyweight champion, the best currently active American heavyweight and the commonly accepted number four heavyweight in the world, look easy.

 

The ratings are in, and UFC 70, in the 18-34 demos, beat Red Sox-Yankees and NASCAR on Fox and the NBA playoffs on ESPN.

I don't buy the idea that these upsets are ruining things for UFC. I see Gonzaga's win more as making another star than ruining a potential match. People will pay to see Randy Couture against anyone to begin with, and they'll definitely pay to see Couture fight the guy who knocked out Cro Cop with a Cro Cop kick. And the Cro Cop-Gonzaga rematch will be big too.

Same thing with Serra. Fans know Serra and Hughes legitimately don't like each other. That will draw, and so will the winner of that match, going up against GSP.

 

Wow, that's impressive. Better than I thought it would do.

 

Gonzaga's knockout was one of the baddest I've ever seen.

 

What channel is this on?

 

It was on Spike. It aired on Saturday, and the encore was on Monday. And yeah it beat up on the other sports pretty good on Saturday. It said close to 4 million watched the Gonzaga vs. Cro-Cop fight.
They got a treat, too. Gonzaga is a bad, bad man.
That's a great point Bruce, by the way. The upsets simply create more depth. If you can't market Couture vs. Gonzaga (two upset wins for both, a highlight-reel leg kick), you've got problems.
If Cro-Cop and GSP come back strong - which I fully expect - it only makes for more compelling matchups. It's a win-win in my eyes.

 

Here's the KO:

 

That's not entirely true. The UFC is bragging about the 18-34 male demo, but it didn't have the most total eyeballs.

And to put that 4 million viewers in perspective, according to Nielson an episode of SpongeBob on a Saturday morning got more than 4 million viewers.

 

I was referring to the 18-34 demo. It beat the other sports pretty good.
I don't know if that puts it in perspective. Kids watch SongeBob like crazy; so that's a good comparison to me.
I think the UFC will take 4 million for that fight as it continues to grow.

 

And kids tuning into the country's leading kids show at a time kids watch TV has something to do with UFC beating the NBA playoffs, NASCAR, and the most storied rivalry in baseball how, exactly?

 

It has about as much relevance as the UFC bragging about beating the ratings for the Yankees/Red Sox game that was played hours earlier. Saturday afternoon games never do big numbers. I haven't seen the total ratings for NASCAR, but I doubt if UFC beat it in total viewers.

I've casually followed UFC since the old 60-minute Gracie bouts. But I'm not going to swallow every press release from Zuffa as being the God's honest truth.

 

Ah, yes. The old days, with Gracie in the gi. He was good