Oh My God! It happened again! Only a few short weeks after Mousasi kneed Weidman into a baffling and controversial TKO win by apparently legal knees, after the bout was stopped because the referee thought the knees were illegal (what?), and after Miragliotta took all the heat for his apparent mistake, and all the discussion surrounding the use of instant replays and referee polling, it happened again.  This time with the consensus one of the best referees in the business, Herb Dean. There was nothing different between the two incidents. Nothing. Except that this time it was worse. Much much worse.

Let’s take it from the top. First of all, we should remember that the new unified rules of MMA have not been adopted everywhere, which is a big part of the reason this confusion is taking place. In New York, where Weidman and Mousasi fought, the new rules had been adopted, which means that a fighter is only considered ‘downed opponent’ when both his hands (and feet) are on the ground.  In Texas, where Alvarez and Poirier have just fought, the new rules had not been adopted, which means that one hand on the ground is enough to consider a fighter “downed”, and therefore illegal for his head to kneed at.

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In a recent post, I was rather dismissive of Vitor Belfort’s League of Legends: a special league that he proposed the UFC to create, where older Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters past their physical prime can face each other under a modified rule set. While Belfort’s idea is not likely to ever come to fruition, the fact remains that as long as there are aging fighters who are still willing to step in the cage and fans who still want to see them compete, these fighters will continue to fight – despite the fact that accumulating additional traumatic brain injury is very detrimental to their future health.

When the UFC was owned by Zuffa and Dana White wielded much greater power in the company than he does under the current WME-IMG ownership, there were a few select fighters who were offered an executive position with the UFC, essentially as a way to force them to retire from active competition while at the same time preventing them from lending their name value to a rival promotion. To my knowledge, only four fighters have been offered this deal: former UFC champions Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Forrest Griffin, and Antonio ‘Big Nog’ Nogueira. When the UFC was sold, Hughes and Liddell were soon released from their jobs in a cost-cutting measure. Griffin and Nogueira remained on board (rumor has it that these two actually took their new jobs seriously, whereas Liddell and Hughes did not do much to earn their paycheck besides an occassional promotional appearance). It’s clear that WME-IMG has no intentions of paying former fighters a lucrative salary to prevent them from fighting. Just a few months after Matt Hughes’ UFC executive job has been terminated, he is already talking about potentially returning to MMA competition. There are talks of a Hughes vs Royce Gracie rematch taking place in Bellator, while another UFC veteran Mike Swick is campaigning to be the one to welcome Matt back to the combat arena.

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We’ve recently published an article related to the weight cutting issues in MMA, which have become a lot common since the introduction of the early weigh-in and the ban on intravenous (IV) re-hydration. I don’t want to continue beating a dead horse (where’s the referee to stop this beating?), but this issue deserves additional discussion in the light of the current MMA climate.  Fighters missing weight (or suffering health issues during the weight cut process which are severe enough to cancel the fight altogether) happens so often these days, that fans should be able to use the price per head sportsbook for placing bets on which fights will be cancelled in the 24 hours before the event. The regulatory bodies involved with the sport are well aware of these issues, and Andy Foster – executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) – recently proposed a set of changes to address extreme weight cutting in MMA.

Foster’s proposal includes 10 key points, and I am not going to go over each one individually – you can read them all here, under “Agenda Item #15”. Most of the proposed points make sense, are feasible to implement without undue burden on promoters or fighters, and might actually make the sport safer for its participants, as well as reduce the number of disappointing last-minute fight cancellations. Whether these rules will actually be implemented is anybody’s guess, and the fact that some fighters will still find a way to bend or break the rules in attempt to gain a competitive advantage (even at the risk of their own health) is pretty much a given. Overall this seems like a very solid plan, which is unusual for something produced by a state athletic commission. However there are two points that I do want to address specifically, as they seem to be the biggest gaps in the otherwise well-thought out design:

• Additional weight classes. 165, 175, 195, 225 with the removal of 170. This places each weight class below 205 at 10 pound increments. Along with licensing by weight class and ringside physician certification, the new weight classes· are essential so that each individual athlete has more options to choose a class that is suitable for them. (Authority-Association of Boxing Commissions) – Please see attached letter from the ABC Rules Committee and letter to the ABC Medical Committee

The proposal states nothing about 155 or below, heavyweights, or women’s weight divisions – so I am assuming these will be left intact. If the leading MMA promotions as well as state and international commissions all decide to adopt the new weight classes, this will lead to a major redistribution of talent. Lightweight, welterweight, and even middleweight as of late, are some of the deepest divisions in the sport, and have the talent pool to support the redistribution of fighters who currently perform between 155 and 185 lbs into five viable divisions spanning from 155 to 195. For light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, however, this doesn’t look promising.

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As internet users, we’re all familiar with the abbreviation “LOL”. It may be one of the most ubiquitous terms we encounter daily during informal, text-based communication: internet forums & message boards, social media, SMS and various other real-time text messaging apps. LOL stands for “laughing out loud”; of course people rarely actually laugh out loud while typing away at their computer or a phone. At most, they might crack a grin. Nonetheless, LOL has become the most common way of expressing amusement in a text chat. It can also be used sarcastically – to shoot down a blog post, comment, statement, or dismiss an opinion that one finds so ludicrous that it doesn’t deserve a proper response or counter-argument. When you see a simple “lol” in response to something you’ve stated that wasn’t meant to be funny, the other person is laughing at you, not with you. A three-letter retort which indicates that you’re worthy of ridicule, no more and no less.

Now, the abbreviation LOL could come to mean something very different in the context of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA): League of Legends. If you haven’t heard, Vitor Belfort is making a pitch to the UFC brass to create some type of a “masters” division in the UFC, where aging legends of the sport can face each other under a modified rule set. At first, the idea appeared so absurd to me that the abbreviation LOL seemed very fitting. However, I’ll try to be a bit more open-minded and list a few reasons why I think this is a terrible idea.

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Most promotions are just dying for name fighters and especially like it when they can make fights between two fighters with recognizable names, even if these fights are not warranted based on the fighters current rankings, or the fighters are not in the same weight division (like Rampage’s, King Mo’s and countless others fights at Heavyweight), or the fighters are long past their prime (like Ken Shamrock’s last few fights).

The UFC is obviously in no such need for name fighters and fights as other promotions, as its roster is full of name fighters. Still, it seems baffling sometimes how they go out of their way not to book name fighters against one another, opting instead to put the over-the-hill name fighter against some up-and-coming prospect, or sometimes not even that.

One glaring example is Anderson Silva who was put against Derek Brunson not long ago. Another is BJ Penn’s fight against Yair Rodriguez. And I think now we have seen an especially good example of that: Last week Rashad Evans made his middleweight debut against Daniel Kelly. Rashad Evans didn’t fight for 2 years and then didn’t look good in his fights since his return. If his transition to middleweight wasn’t a successful one, this would probably be the end for Evans’ career.

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Once again a big fight fell through due to weight cutting issues. This time it was Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson, a fight that everybody have been looking forward to for a long time.

And once again the issue of weight-cutting comes up. There is enough criticism as it is against weight-cutting being very unhealthy for fighters, diminishing their fighting abilities come fight night and pitting different sized opponents against one another depending on how willing different fighters are to submit themselves to this dangerous process.  On top of that, from time to time there is the even worse outcome of fighters going to hospitals because of bad weight-cuts and big fights getting canceled at the last moment (not to mention a few deaths that resulted from weight-cutting related complications).

Clearly the method of making sure fighters fight at the same weight these days is not ideal, and there have been a lot of clamoring for its revision. To try and decide how to change it, two important things need to be considered: why are fighters cutting weight, and what is the theoretically ideal solution.

The main reason that fighters cut weight is to be as big as they can on fight night. Meaning, of course, that they want to fight at a weight that is as close as possible to the weight they usually walk around at, but they want to weigh-in at the lowest weight possible – much lower than the weight they walk around at – planning to gain all that weight back after the weight-in so that there would be the biggest margin possible between their fight weight and official weight.  This is of course the source of the danger – this discrepancy between the two weights.

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Who doesn’t love MMA fights? There are few things that compare with the raw thrill of pushing your body to the limit against an opponent who is doing the same. But, if you can’t try this pastime out for yourself, the next best thing is to engage in MMA fight games online on your mobile device.

The games that we play on our tablets and smartphones are usually more fun because we can play them anywhere and at any time. For instance, let’s say that you are hanging out with friends before going out for a night on the town. What’s stopping you from playing a fun MMA fight game while they’re getting ready? You could even check out one of the games on https://www.royalvegascasino.com/ and win a couple of dollars for your trouble.

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The new year forces to establish new goals, and we hope that 2017 will be overflowing with brilliant fights, unexpected decisions, and enthralling performances. It is well-known to the dedicated fans that Aldo, Nurmagomedov, and Woodley all hunger for a fight with Conor McGregor. But McGregor’s next opponent will not be the only one surprise of the year.

What About the Last Emperor’s Destiny?

The uncertainty in Fedor Emelianenko’s career ended after signing the contract with Bellator. Presumably, Scott Coker has decided to offer the legendary Russian fighter the favorable contract terms that will allow Emelianenko to finish the remainder of his career with the company; this is expected, considering that Emelianenko will soon be forty-one. His first adversary in Bellator, Matt Mitrione, is a very worthy opponent, and the online betting fans are sure to bet here on him. He is well-rounded and a UFC veteran with an overall record of 9-5 in the promotion. While his UFC stint ended on two consecutive losses, he definitely did not look like a whipping boy. Moreover, Mitrione has started quite well in the Bellator, gaining two stoppage victories. We can only guess what Fedor Emelianenko’s physical and psychological form will be like. Is it possible that he will again abandon any semblance of strategy and only rely on his power? This battle will definitely be a big ratings draw for Bellator.

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