The Weekly Wrap: May 29 - June 5
Top Story
Jack Encarnacao Jun 6, 2010
The Weekly Wrap walks readers through the last seven days in
MMA, recapping and putting into context the week's top story,
important news and notable quotes.
What was trumpeted as the most intense feud in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship saw the victory go to the more careful and clinical fighter. Rashad Evans used well-timed and powerful double-leg takedowns to disrupt Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s rhythm in an intense UFC 114 main event on May 29, stealing the spotlight after a classic hype campaign and putting himself on course to challenge Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
The Memorial Day weekend clash at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las
Vegas, 14 months in the making, looks to have sparked the UFC’s
biggest business of the year. The Wrestling Observer reported the
earliest cable estimates put the show at 925,000 buys, which would
be the fourth-highest buy mark in UFC history behind UFC 100, UFC
66 and UFC 92. The number is likely to change, up or down, as data
is culled over the next several weeks. UFC President Dana White
predicted the show would do 850,000 buys.
The three-part “Primetime” documentary series on Spike TV building the fight drew an average of 1.05 million viewers, a number well above the marks for the past two Primetime series featuring Georges St. Pierre, which were in the 800,000 range on average. The number also eclipsed the record set for “Countdown to UFC 100” as the highest-rated hype special in UFC history. A one-hour Spike TV preliminary special, featuring Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon and Amir Sadollah vs. Dong Hyun Kim, attracted an average audience of 1.6 million, the second-highest rating a UFC pre-show special has done. In an especially encouraging sign, the audience for the pre-show grew gradually over the course of the hour, from 137,000 viewers to 178,000, MMAPayout.com reported. The May 28 weigh-ins drew the largest crowd several in the company could recall, with estimates ranging from 4,500 to 9,000.
With celebrities including Snoop Dogg and Mike Tyson looking on, the main event produced an electric atmosphere. Evans landed an early overhand right that sent Jackson stumbling. Evans, who turned the crowd slightly in his favor after being booed all weekend, mixed up his hands with powerful, improved double-leg takedowns that soundly put down Jackson, who historically has been difficult for top wrestlers to take down.
Evans dictated most of the action from there, competently tying up Jackson against the cage and fatiguing him. Jackson hit a short right hook in the third that stunned Evans and nearly led to his being finished; several heavy follow-up punches from Jackson barely missed. Evans recovered, got out of Dodge and went back to takedowns, sealing the win with two 30-27 scorecards and one 29-28 card.
With the win, Evans secured the next title shot against Rua and collected a disclosed event-high $410,000 payday. Jackson took home a $250,000 disclosed purse. Both also collected a cut of pay-per-view revenue, which in Jackson’s case likely put his gross pay around $2 million, the Wrestling Observer reported. Jackson, who last fought in March 2009, was humble in his post-fight remarks and conceded ring rust was a factor. He also said filming “The A-Team” movie last year took him out of his training rhythm and proved more burdensome than he expected. The movie caused the second postponement of the Evans fight. Despite his misgivings about “The A-Team,” which looks to be one of the summer’s big blockbusters, Jackson will hit the media circuit hard to promote it, including an appearance as a special guest host for Monday night’s episode of World Wrestling Entertainment’s “Monday Night RAW.”
While the main event was clearly the nucleus of UFC 114, the card at large featured memorable action. Michael Bisping used solid striking fundamentals and battered Dan Miller to notch a unanimous decision. Miller kept the action vertical for nearly all the fight despite having a perceived jiu-jitsu edge. Elsewhere, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira picked up a decision win over Jason Brilz, though the outcome touched off raucous boos from the crowd and conflicted with a majority of spectator scorecards, including White’s.
The unheralded Brilz used his wrestling to avoid Nogueira’s hands and keep him on the defensive. Brilz, a late replacement for an injured Forrest Griffin, squeezed a tight guillotine in the second but lost the third frame in most eyes. Brilz did not fret post-fight, telling Sherdog Radio the fight was valuable to his confidence in being able to be so competitive with a vaunted fighter. Brilz and Nogueira both collected $65,000 bonuses for producing the night’s best fight. Besides the main eventers, Nogueira ($120,000) and Bisping ($190,000) were the only fighters to collect six-figure disclosed paydays at UFC 114. The loss tempered expectations in the UFC for Nogueira, who was promoted on a “Countdown” show as one win away from title contention.
The night’s best knockout bonus was more than deserved, as Mike Russow took two and a half rounds of facial trauma at the end of Todd Duffee’s punches until he uncorked a winning right to Duffee’s temple. The punch landed as Duffee ducked and notched one of the wildest come-from-behind wins in UFC history. It was the ninth straight victory for Russow, who suffered a broken left forearm in the fight.
In the other main card bout, Diego Sanchez raised questions in his return to welterweight, as he emphatically dropped three rounds -- including one 10-8 score -- to John Hathaway, who improved to 13-0 in his first main-card fight. Hathaway, 22, found consistent success with the jab and sprawl and nearly stopped Sanchez early with a knee off a shot attempt. White said post-fight that Sanchez should stay at 155.
Also picking up wins at UFC 114 were Efrain Escudero (unanimous decision over Dan Lauzon), Dong Hyun Kim (unanimous decision over Amir Sadollah), Melvin Guillard (first-round body knee TKO over Waylon Lowe), Cyrille Diabate (first-round KO over Luis Arthur Cane), Aaron Riley (unanimous decision over Joe Brammer) and Ryan Jensen (first-round guillotine submission over Jesse Forbes). Jensen, who notched the event’s only submission, secured the $65,000 submission bonus with the win.
What was trumpeted as the most intense feud in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship saw the victory go to the more careful and clinical fighter. Rashad Evans used well-timed and powerful double-leg takedowns to disrupt Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s rhythm in an intense UFC 114 main event on May 29, stealing the spotlight after a classic hype campaign and putting himself on course to challenge Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
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The three-part “Primetime” documentary series on Spike TV building the fight drew an average of 1.05 million viewers, a number well above the marks for the past two Primetime series featuring Georges St. Pierre, which were in the 800,000 range on average. The number also eclipsed the record set for “Countdown to UFC 100” as the highest-rated hype special in UFC history. A one-hour Spike TV preliminary special, featuring Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon and Amir Sadollah vs. Dong Hyun Kim, attracted an average audience of 1.6 million, the second-highest rating a UFC pre-show special has done. In an especially encouraging sign, the audience for the pre-show grew gradually over the course of the hour, from 137,000 viewers to 178,000, MMAPayout.com reported. The May 28 weigh-ins drew the largest crowd several in the company could recall, with estimates ranging from 4,500 to 9,000.
The show took place on the tail end of the UFC’s second Fan Expo at
Mandalay Bay, which White said attracted north of 100,000 people.
White announced UFC 114 drew 15,081 fans to the MGM Grand for a
$3.9 million live gate. The attendance, if verified, would be the
highest the UFC has ever drawn at the MGM Grand, and the gate would
be the fifth-highest. Twitter was alive with UFC 114-related
trending topics throughout the event, not just for Evans and
Jackson. The show received extensive ESPN pre- and post-fight
coverage, including an on-location “MMA Live” wrap-up show on
ESPN2.
With celebrities including Snoop Dogg and Mike Tyson looking on, the main event produced an electric atmosphere. Evans landed an early overhand right that sent Jackson stumbling. Evans, who turned the crowd slightly in his favor after being booed all weekend, mixed up his hands with powerful, improved double-leg takedowns that soundly put down Jackson, who historically has been difficult for top wrestlers to take down.
Evans dictated most of the action from there, competently tying up Jackson against the cage and fatiguing him. Jackson hit a short right hook in the third that stunned Evans and nearly led to his being finished; several heavy follow-up punches from Jackson barely missed. Evans recovered, got out of Dodge and went back to takedowns, sealing the win with two 30-27 scorecards and one 29-28 card.
With the win, Evans secured the next title shot against Rua and collected a disclosed event-high $410,000 payday. Jackson took home a $250,000 disclosed purse. Both also collected a cut of pay-per-view revenue, which in Jackson’s case likely put his gross pay around $2 million, the Wrestling Observer reported. Jackson, who last fought in March 2009, was humble in his post-fight remarks and conceded ring rust was a factor. He also said filming “The A-Team” movie last year took him out of his training rhythm and proved more burdensome than he expected. The movie caused the second postponement of the Evans fight. Despite his misgivings about “The A-Team,” which looks to be one of the summer’s big blockbusters, Jackson will hit the media circuit hard to promote it, including an appearance as a special guest host for Monday night’s episode of World Wrestling Entertainment’s “Monday Night RAW.”
While the main event was clearly the nucleus of UFC 114, the card at large featured memorable action. Michael Bisping used solid striking fundamentals and battered Dan Miller to notch a unanimous decision. Miller kept the action vertical for nearly all the fight despite having a perceived jiu-jitsu edge. Elsewhere, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira picked up a decision win over Jason Brilz, though the outcome touched off raucous boos from the crowd and conflicted with a majority of spectator scorecards, including White’s.
The unheralded Brilz used his wrestling to avoid Nogueira’s hands and keep him on the defensive. Brilz, a late replacement for an injured Forrest Griffin, squeezed a tight guillotine in the second but lost the third frame in most eyes. Brilz did not fret post-fight, telling Sherdog Radio the fight was valuable to his confidence in being able to be so competitive with a vaunted fighter. Brilz and Nogueira both collected $65,000 bonuses for producing the night’s best fight. Besides the main eventers, Nogueira ($120,000) and Bisping ($190,000) were the only fighters to collect six-figure disclosed paydays at UFC 114. The loss tempered expectations in the UFC for Nogueira, who was promoted on a “Countdown” show as one win away from title contention.
The night’s best knockout bonus was more than deserved, as Mike Russow took two and a half rounds of facial trauma at the end of Todd Duffee’s punches until he uncorked a winning right to Duffee’s temple. The punch landed as Duffee ducked and notched one of the wildest come-from-behind wins in UFC history. It was the ninth straight victory for Russow, who suffered a broken left forearm in the fight.
In the other main card bout, Diego Sanchez raised questions in his return to welterweight, as he emphatically dropped three rounds -- including one 10-8 score -- to John Hathaway, who improved to 13-0 in his first main-card fight. Hathaway, 22, found consistent success with the jab and sprawl and nearly stopped Sanchez early with a knee off a shot attempt. White said post-fight that Sanchez should stay at 155.
Also picking up wins at UFC 114 were Efrain Escudero (unanimous decision over Dan Lauzon), Dong Hyun Kim (unanimous decision over Amir Sadollah), Melvin Guillard (first-round body knee TKO over Waylon Lowe), Cyrille Diabate (first-round KO over Luis Arthur Cane), Aaron Riley (unanimous decision over Joe Brammer) and Ryan Jensen (first-round guillotine submission over Jesse Forbes). Jensen, who notched the event’s only submission, secured the $65,000 submission bonus with the win.
