Gessner's Ground and Pound: UFC prepares for their debut on Fox on Saturday, the UFC Welterweight Championship title picture, Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen meeting, and more
Nov 11, 2011 - 11:00 AM
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By Mark Gessner
Dominant Position
- UFC makes their debut on Fox this Saturday night at 9:00 EST with Cain Velasquez defending the UFC Heavyweight Championship versus Junior Dos Santos. This is one of the most important shows the company will ever have. This is a fight that could have drawn anywhere from 800,000 pay-per-view buys to well over one million but will instead be broadcasted on network television on one of the top four stations in Fox.
Despite initial rumors, Velasquez versus Dos Santos will be the only fight that will air on Fox, regardless of whether the fight goes "twenty-five minutes or twenty-five seconds" according to UFC President Dana White. The rest of the card will be airing of Facebook and Fox.com, including Ben Henderson versus Clay Guida which post likely will have UFC Lightweight Championship ramifications.
Prior to the event airing on Fox, FUEL TV will be airing a two hour preview show, beginning at 7:00 EST leading up to the fight with Jay Glazer, Stephan Bonnar, and Kenny Florian. Glazer, Bonnar, and Florian will also be doing a post-fight show on FUEL TV after Velasquez versus JDS.
On the Fox broadcast, UFC is bringing in former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar to breakdown the fight, along with White and Curt Menefee of Fox NFL Sundays. Following breakdown and preview of the fight, Velasquez and JDS will be called by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan.
Prior to this Saturday's fight, the first Ultimate Fighter season finale featuring Forrest Griffin versus Stephan Bonnar was the most important show in the company's history. The UFC gained major mainstream attention at the time and has since continued to build on the fan base that show garnered. Saturday's show is just as, if not more important for the future of the company going forward. Aside from the debacle that was Elite XC airing on CBS a few years, this is the first major exposure to MMA that people without cable have had.
UFC is sacrificing a huge payday by headlining this show with the UFC Heavyweight Championship fight. UFC is heading into the show realizing that this is a loss-leader. While giving up potentially mid-eight figure PPV sales, this will hopefully lead to more fights being purchased in the future assuming viewers getting their first exposure seeing an exciting championship fight and most likely an exciting finish.
As for the fight itself, I'm prediction Cain winning via TKO in the second round.
- After the catastrophe that was UFC 137 with the changing of the main event twice and the co-main event, the UFC's 170 pound division seems to have more clarity coming out of the show a couple weekends ago. After destroying B.J. Penn in the main event, Nick Diaz is getting his UFC Welterweight Championship fight that he was originally supposed to have going into UFC 137. Following his fight, Diaz called at champion George St-Pierre, which led to the normally mild-manner GSP to "flip out" and demand the fight. GSP will be fighting Diaz at the Superbowl weekend show.
Carlos Condit was originally slated to fight B.J. Penn at 137. After Diaz was bumped from the main event due to no-showing two press conferences, he was given a title shot versus GSP. However, he was pulled from the card when GSP suffered his knee injury and was told he would get a title shot when GSP recovered from his injury. Josh Koscheck, who was coming off of a first round TKO victory over UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes in September, offered to step in and fight Condit on a weeks notice, and main event the show. UFC elected to still keep Condit off the show so he was fresh for a healthy GSP. Condit however stepped aside at the request of Dana White and the UFC (more on that later) so the Diaz could fight GSP.
So now, with GSP fighting Diaz for the title in February, Josh Koscheck vs. Carlos Condit will be the co-main event on that show. Most likely, the winner of that fight will face the winner of GSP vs. Diaz.
Jon Fitch is making his UFC return from injury this December at UFC 141. Fitch fought Penn to a majority draw at UFC 127 and has been on the shelf since with a shoulder injury. Assuming he beats Johny Hendricks in his return fight, Fitch will most likely find himself one win away from being the next number one contender after Koscheck vs. Condit. As for potential opponents after Hendricks, Jake Ellenberger has to be at the top of the list. Ellenberger is currently in the top 5 for welterweight rankings following his destruction of former Strikeforce and Elite XC Champion Jake Shields this past Fall.
So, barring any injuries, which based on this past year has been a huge issue and the words "card subject to change" never being more prevalent, the UFC Welterweight Championship has almost been setup for the next year with challengers and how the fighters earn their title shots. The winner of Koscheck vs. Condit in February, faces the winner of GSP vs. Diaz in June-July. Jon Fitch faces Ellenberger in the Spring, and the winner fights for the title at the end of next year.
Striking Flurry
- Both Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen are in San Jose, CA for the UFC on Fox debut show this weekend and they are both set to meet with one another and UFC executives to discuss their fight for the UFC Middleweight Championship. This is a fight that has been in the making for over a year ever since their first fight which saw Sonnen dominate Silva for four and a half rounds before Silva got a submission victory out of nowhere. This is without a doubt personal, not business for both fighters, and could be one of the highest selling PPVs in UFC history for whatever card this fight headlines.
- With the UFC transitioning from Spike to Fox, UFC has brought in ESPN's Jon Anik to provide play-by-play for all shows on FX including the live fights every Friday night during The Ultimate Fighter. Anik has anchored MMA Live on ESPN and ESPN 2 for the past few years and also provided commentary for the first season of Bellator. While it is not yet known who will be his color commentator, the front-runners for the spot are TUF Season 1 alums Stephan Bonnar and Kenny Florian.
- Starting this past weekend at UFC 138: Leben vs. Munoz, UFC started its new policy of every card having a five round main event. Mark Munoz defeated Chris Leben via corner stoppage after two rounds in the first non-title fight five round fight in UFC history. The next non-title five rounder will be Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua at UFC 139 on November 19, followed by Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Michael Bisping on The Ultimate Fighter Finale on December 3, and then former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar vs. the last Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem at UFC 141. For the first four slated non-title five round fights, the chances of any of them going the full twenty-fives in all but guaranteed to not happen.
Knockout Blow
"Who the hell steps aside!??!!?!?!!?!?!? WTF!?!!?!? "here, just take my title shot!". What the hell is wrong with dudes!!??" - @CMPunk in reference to Carlos Condit stepping aside for Nick Diaz to fight Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship
