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By Anthony De Franco  March 17, 2010, at 12:58 am  Sponsorship is a huge part of Mixed Martial arts. Let’s be honest, your favorite fighter could not sustain himself without help from the brands we know and love in the MMA community. Hell, certain websites even devote whole stores to MMA Brands.
UFC 2009: Undisputed did a decent job of representing this, but a lot of the cooler brands (Silver Star, Dethrone Royalty) were missing, and the menu was buried deep in the Create-a-Fighter. So deep, in fact, that I know people who just completely ignored this facet of the game. THQ has promised to rectify this in the sequel, and has taken the first step by re-launching their website and adding a “partner” list.
Here’s the full list, transcribed by yours truly. I’m sure someone will steal this, so if you do and don’t give us credit…Fuck you, sir.
- UFC
- Affliction
- American Fighter
- And 1
- Bad Boy
- BSN
- Cage Fighter
- Clinch Gear
- Death Clutch
- Dethrone Royalty
- Ecko MMA
- Fairtex
- The Fight! Network
- Fighters Only Magazine
- FYT
- Hayabusa
- Headblade
- Hitman Fight Gear
- Hostility
- Lugz
- Metabolic Adaptation
- MMA Connected
- MMA Elite
- MMA Warehouse
- MMA Fighting
- MusclePharm
- MicroTech
- Nogi
- NuVasive
- One More Round
- OTM Fight Shop
- Pain Inc.
- Punishment Athletics
- Premier Fighter
- RVCA
- Silver Star
- Sinister
- SPIKE TV
- SPRAWL
- Suckerpunch
- Take A Nap
- TapouT
- Throwdown
- Toe 2 Toe
- Tokyo Five
- Venum
- Warrior International
- Xyience
- Yard Barker
- Yuke’s
Wow…that is a list, people. Anything in Bold is new for 2010.
Here’s some interesting things. First off, we share two sponsors with the game, MMA Warehouse and Yard Barker. Speaking of Yard Barker, isn’t it interesting that there are Media sources in there as well. How about MMA Fighting? Any chance we get to see a virtual Ariel Helwani? I sent him a tweet. Waiting to hear back.
Also, Clinch Gear is still in the game, huh? That is interesting because it is owned by Dan Henderson. As everyone knows, Henderson has left the UFC for the “greener” pastures of Strikeforce.
Most importantly, all the awesome MMA brands are there. That means lots of cool logos, T-Shirts, Fight Shorts, and other cool stuff in UFC 2010: Undisputed, and that means a more authentic experience.
By Anthony De Franco March 10, 2010, at 10:35 pm With Dominick Cruz winning the Bantamweight title, I beleive that the 135 pound division in the WEC has officially entered the transitional period that the light heavyweight division did when Forrest Griffin defeated Rampage Jackson. There are a few guys who are capable of holding the belt, and I’m not sure that any of them can hold it.
However, if there was a gun to my head, I would say that Joseph Benavidez would be the guy to do it.
Let’s take a look at the two fights from last Saturday that contained the four best fighters in the division.
When Dominick Cruz won his belt, he did so by TKO because of Injury. It wasn’t an injury that Cruz cause by doing an immense about of damage in the cage. Hell, it wasn’t even a freak injury like Patrick Cote suffered against Anderson Silva. It was a pre-existing injury that snuck up on Brian Bowles and bit him in the proverbial ass. He broke his hand knocking out Miguel Torres, and took seven months to heal up. Then, he throws and lands one punch on Cruz and breaks it again. So, are we really going to pretend that Cruz’s victory isn’t somewhat tainted? Yes, he was winning the first two rounds, but he was doing so with a jumpy, twitchy style that just screamed “Punch me in face!” Bowles continued to rush Cruz, and just seemed a second late at all times. If Bowles had connected, you might not be reading this right now.
Now, look at Joseph Benavidez’s fight against Miguel Torres. Look at the way that he snuffed out almost all offense from a guy who was at one time considered the best fighters on the planet. He continually moved forward, landed his offense and put Torres is tough positions. Most importantly, he finished the fight. He pushed Torres up against the cage, pounded him, and opened up a cut that I’m pretty sure that he used a samurai sword to create. Once the cut was open and Torres was off-kilter, Benavidez finished the job with a guillotine. Done. Fight over, all doubts alleviated.
Can you say that about Cruz?
Yes, Cruz does have a victory over Benavidez. However, as everyone always says, fighters change from fight to fight. I beleive that Benavidez is a better fighter than he was WEC 42, and with him training at Team Alpha Male with WEC godfather Urijah Faber, There is no doubt that he is. As for Cruz, he showed us jab-leg kick-escape over and over again. The best thing he did was gameplan for a fighter who wasn’t as athletic as he was.
This is a prediction and like all predictions has a chance of going terribly awry. However, if you told me that Cruz and Benavidez’s rematch was tomorrow, I’d take Benavidez every single time.
By Anthony De Franco March 9, 2010, at 6:42 pm Everyone wondered what was next for Paulo Thiago. After going 2-1 against the American Kickboxing Academy’s welterweight Triumverate, Thiago is considered an elite prospect and someone capable of making a run at Georges St. Pierre’s title. Up next for him will be Danish striker Martin Kampmann, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
“According to sources close to the negotiations, both sides have verbally agreed to the bout and should sign official agreements as early as next week.”
Thiago is coming off a victory over Mike Swick in which he showed good, powerful striking and the ability to finish via submission with a textbook d’arce choke. I’m not quite sold on him yet as a contender for a belt, but I am a beleiver that he can make some noise at the top of the welterweight rankings.
As for Kampmann, I’ve never been quite as high on him. At UFC 103, Paul Daley outstruck a guy who is supposed to be one of the most dangerous welterweight standup fighters in the world. Since then, He guillotined Jacob Volkmann at UFC 108, which proved exactly nothing to me.
Expect Thaigo to continue his assault on the summit of the Welterweight division.
By Anthony De Franco March 8, 2010, at 4:05 pm I’ll save everyone the normal speech about how the WEC fighters are treated like second class citizens because they weigh less than 155 pounds. I’ll skip right to the interesting notes.
- Joseph Benavidez wins the night by making 29,000 in his victory. I was surprised when I saw this, but more power the Joe for getting that money. In a preview of a future article, it’s only a matter of time before Joe is the man at 135.
- Miguel Torres made 26,000 in a loss. This makes me wonder he had a symmetrical win bonus. If he made 52,000 in a victory, that is UFC money right there. This is a good sign.
- Of course, this is the last card before the first WEC PPV, and you all should be ordering it. Remember, PPV revenue means more money for the fighters. Think of them.
Here is the full list:
Televised Card:
Dominick Cruz ($9,000+$9,000=$18,000) def. Brian Bowles ($12,000)
Joseph Benavidez ($14,500+$14,500=$29,000) def. Miguel Torres ($26,000)
Javier Vazquez ($6,000+$6,000=$12,000) def. Jens Pulver ($14,000)
LC Davis ($9,000+$9,000=$18,000) def. Deividas Taurosevicius ($9,000)
Bart Palaszewski ($6,000+$6,000=$12,000) def. Karen Darabedyan ($4,000)
Preliminary Card:
Scott Jorgensen ($8,000+$8,000=$16,000) def. Chad George ($3,000)
Chad Mendes ($4,000+$4,000=$8,000) def. Erik Koch ($3,000)
Anthony Pettis ($3,000+$3,000=$6,000) def. Danny Castillo ($9,500)
Leonard Garcia ($14,000) fought George Roop ($3,000) to a split draw
Fredson Paixao ($2,000+$2,000=$4,000) def. Courtney Buck ($3,000)
Ricardo Lamas ($5,000+$5,000=$10,000) def. Bendy Casimir ($3,000)
By Anthony De Franco March 4, 2010, at 3:43 pm Ladies and Gentlemen, start the unstoppable hype train. James Toney’s MMA trainer Juanito Ibarra said in an interview with Bleacher report that Toney’s managment wants to fight Kimbo.
“James Toney will fight anybody. It’s up to us to help him figure things out. What I would like to see and what his manager would like to see…Kimbo Slice.
“It makes sense. The weight factor makes sense. Maybe a 220 [lbs.] fight somewhere in there. Two guys who have great names. I would love to see that fight …I think that’s a great opponent …hopefully the UFC would consider something like that.”
Jason brings up a really interesting point on our twitter account. At what point to non-MMA fans stop wanting to see a fighter like either of them fight? If Kimbo loses to James Toney, he couldn’t ever defeat a guy who has a less rounded game than him. However, Toney remains a world class boxer and there is some merit to that. If Toney loses to Slice, than the world champion Boxer just lost to a street fighter known for his stand up.
Even worse, what if they go to a sloppy three round decision and everyone is worse for wear? I pray that doesn’t happen.
The fight may be a drawing monster, but I just don’t see it going very well.
By Anthony De Franco February 28, 2010, at 5:57 am One of Brock Lesnar’s training partners, Cole Konrad, has been dubbed a hot prospect by just about everyone in the MMA world. Last night, he fought at Matrix Fights 1 in Philadelphia, defeating Joel Wyatt by TKO. Shortly after, both Cole and Bellator proudly announced his signing with the up and coming MMA promotion.
Konrad was proud to moving up the ranks so quickly:
“I’m excited to sign with Bellator. It’s a great opportunity to fight for a great company and I’m just really excited for what the future holds with this company.”
While Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney was excited to sign the huge heavyweight for his upcoming season:
“Cole Konrad brings some great characteristics to the table that could make him a force at heavyweight. Brock Lesner’s dominance in the UFC has shown the impact that an elite, world-class wrestler can have in the heavyweight division. As a two-time NCAA heavyweight champion who is aggressively rounding out his MMA arsenal, Cole’s potential is unlimited. We are happy to be teaming up with him and, as a company, we are excited with what the future may hold.”
“We are happy not only to announce our long-term deal with him but to reveal that fans will be able to see his next fight on one of our nationally televised May events on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo.”
We here at the 3SS have been watching Bellator put together the best young talent in the country and wondering what the hell Strikeforce is doing. As a matter of fact, there hasn’t been a day that’s gone by in the last few months that Jason and I haven’t discussed Bellator quickly coming up in Strikeforce’s mirror. Now, they steal another amazing prospect from them in the form of Konrad.
The scary part about Konrad is that he could be everything that people think that Brock Lesnar is. While Lesnar is the UFC champ, there are still those, including us, that have been unimpressed with his wrestling game. What will happen when he goes up against a guy who is his size? We aren’t so sure that it’s going to be as easy as his last three fights have been.
Konrad possesses the wrestling skills, but has not really shown that he can adapt them to MMA. While training with Lesnar, Sean Sherk, and all the other pro fighters at Minnesota Martial Arts, I’m sure that he’ll develop quickly. It’s yet another steal for the Bellator organization.
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