Rachelle Leah to Return to Octagon @ UFC 111
For one night only!!! Rachelle Leah will return to her Octagon duties at UFC 111: St. Pierre vs Hardy as announced by UFC.com.
Lookoutawhale Hat Thieves Video
Stephan Bonnar Loses UFC 110 Appeal
The fight between Stephan Bonnar and Krzystztof Soszynski had made it into the third round when an accidental clash of heads resulted in a viscous cut on Bonnar’s forehead. Even with the conclusive evidence that the cut was caused with an accidental illegal blow the New South Wales Combat Sports Authority decided that the decision was appropriate as rendered by the referee:
“A review was held … and the Combat Sports Authority of NSW did not seek to interfere with the referee’s decision,” wrote Craig Waller, Executive Director of the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales, in an email sent to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) late Tuesday night.
Bonnar will be getting a rematch at the Ultimate Fighter season 11 finale which is scheduled to take place June 19 in Las Vegas. While the rematch wont get rid of the ‘L’ in Bonnar’s record it will give him a chance to redeem himself.
Dan Hardy Gives his Harsh Opinion on AKA Fighters
Hardy is just under four weeks away from challenging Canadian Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title and he is making sure his critics know how he feels. Through his blog on ThisIsNottingham.com Hardy lashes out at those who have criticized him in the past.
“I’ve beaten everyone the UFC has put in front of me; I’ve never turned down a fight and I am not about to now. I would have been happy having a couple more fights before getting my shot, but I was offered a spot as a late replacement against Mike Swick in a final eliminator in November, accepted, and beat him up. It’s funny Swick is now moaning that I didn’t deserve this shot. Swick should have kept his mind off me and on his last opponent, Paulo Thiago, and maybe he wouldn’t have been beaten again…. I’ve won four UFC bouts to get here, not-so-great Nate had three, none of which were against world-beaters. I am very amused Josh Koscheck is still bitching his lungs out that he deserves a title shot, not me. British fans will know Koscheck as the Fraggle-haired guy who got sparked out in one round in London a year ago, only to take his loss out on an innocent chair backstage, scoring a split decision points win over the unsuspecting piece of furniture. If you’ve forgotten that fight (and if you blinked, you’d have missed it) you’ll see something very similar in May when Paul Daley knocks him out. Koscheck says I have beaten nobodies but my latest win was over his supposed friend and teammate in Swick. How loyal. That’s why Jon Fitch isn’t improving, why Koscheck has so many one-sided losses on his record and why Swick will never fight for a title. They aren’t really a team, they don’t have each others’ best interests at heart and clearly there’s a lack of respect in that gym.”
My opinion on the three fighters is kind of similar to Hardy’s. Then again I am a Dan Hardy fan so I guess it kind of would be:
Josh Koscheck - I think that Koscheck will get beat at UFC 113 when he faces Paul Daley. Koscheck just seems to be too focused on what will happen after Daley and looking past a fighter can never be good.
Mike Swick – I really thought he would beat Thiago but it turns out that Swick isn’t really as good as once believed. Like Hardy says, “Swick will never fight for a title.”
Jon Fitch – Fitch’s lack of finishing ability is astounding. I think he will probably end up with another title shot at some point but I don’t feel he deserves it like he constantly claims he does.
In Depth UFC 111 Preview – St. Pierre vs Hardy
UFC Tops 2009 PPV Numbers
Dave Meltzer of Yahoo Sports today released the estimated figures for UFC PPV buys during the year of 2009. He also compared the buys to those of boxing and the WWE and it turns out that the UFC holds six of the top ten spots.
1. UFC 100: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, July 11 – 1.6 million
2. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, Nov. 14 – 1.25 million
3. Boxing: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, Sept. 19 – 1.05 million
4. UFC 94: Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn, Jan. 31 – 920,000
5. UFC 101: B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian/Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin, Aug. 8 – 850,000
6. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton, May 2 – 825,000
7. UFC 107: B.J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, Dec. 12 – 650,000
7. UFC 97: Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites/Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua, April 18 – 650,000
9. UFC 98: Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans/Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, May 23 – 635,000
10. Wrestling: WWE WrestleMania 25, April 5 – 582,000
Also in the article Meltzer mentions that the UFC did over eight million buys total which is amazing. At $45, which is the lowest price, the UFC made over $350,000,000. Of course the UFC is a private company so we can never know how much they actually made. If I was to make a decent guess though I would go with PPV revenue being somewhere around $450,000,000 total due to bar purchases and HD buys. Once again though I have no idea how much a bar pays so the figure is probably no where near what the UFC actually made from sales.
Also it is worth noting that PPV buys are not the sole source of the UFC’s revenue stream. The UFC also makes money on merchandising including clothing, training gear, video games and even its own gyms in California. Then there is also the sponsorship money the UFC takes in from all of those ads placed in and around the cage. I figure if you take all this into account it isn’t extreme to think that the UFC pulled in over $750,000,000 last year.
This one is Going to be Good! – UFC 110 Bisping vs Silva
UFC 112: Demain Maia vs Anderson Silva Poster
Martin Kampmann is out of UFC 111 with Nasty Cut
This is without a doubt the worst cut I have ever seen and it is no wonder why he pulled out of his fight against Ben Saunders. Kampmann sent out the pic via twitpic earlier today.