And the MMA World Continues to Turn…

Let’s start this post off on a positive note. UFC 90 had some big surprises. Sean Sherk has a real stand-up game now and he managed to utilize it to secure a point victory of Tyson Griffin. No one expected Fabricio Werdum to get KO-ed (especially not that fast) and we were all surprised by Cote’s ACL explosion. I think Cote’s knee blowing out has to take first place for the most anti-climactic moment this year. Cote was off to a good start (and Silva a slow one). Cote ate some fearsome looking shots and managed to stay (for the most part) on his feet. Silva didn’t appear to want any of Cote’s ground game, which I thought was unusual. He even allowed Cote to stand back up and in a moment that came off a bit awkward, Silva offered Cote a hand to help him back up- which Cote refused (I see his train of thought, but there’s no way Silva was going to trick him). Hopefully there will be a rematch for Cote. He was doing better than most of the prior contenders.

In other MMA news, the UFC management must be getting a good laugh at the fold-up of EliteXC. The collapse of the company follows a major bust in the defeat of Kimbo Slice by Seth Petrucelli who later made comments suggesting that he was paid to “stand and trade” with Kimbo. This leaves us wondering who will fill the gap…or, who will stop the gap from happening. It seems the Showtime network has made a bid to buyout the company. This would help prevent a good deal of MMA fallout and keep some exciting free agents in business and in the spotlight (Arlovski for sure). Plus, we’d still get to see Gina Carrano fight Cyborg… and isn’t that what we all want?

Still, I think it would be more competitive if there were to be another Ring-based MMA promotion, like Affliction- but with network backing. I think the ring appeals to most of the free agents out there and a lot of the pride vets who can’t seem to get used to the cage. If Showtime buys out EXC, my concern is whether or not they will shell out the big bucks to get fighters like Barnett and Kang and a few others. Looks like right now only time will tell.

~ by collarchoke on October 28, 2008.