It feels strange to say that 2012 was a bad year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) since they made more money than I’ll ever see in a lifetime but matching their success at the box office in years prior it’s unmistakable. 2013 is set to be an interesting year – Four title-challengers are slated that are coming off losses, we break down gender barriers and approximately 7432 fights will fall to pieces due to injury.
Before this year gets off and running, let me throw down five bold predictions for the forthcoming 12 months that you can all use as a source of mockery when none of them come true next year.
Bigger in Texas: UFC President Dana White has been daydreaming about packing Cowboy Stadium since he watched Filipino sweet science savant Manny Pacquiao beat Antonio Margarito there in 2010. Filling the 100-seat venue won’t be an easy task, they will have to present the biggest pay-per-view extravaganza since the star-studded UFC 100 and at the top pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva needs to meet either George St. Pierre or Anderson Silva in one of the biggest and most important fights in combat sports history.
The Diaz curse strikes twice: Johny Hendricks fans were in an uproar about whether or not former Strikeforce welterweight kingpin Nick Diaz earned a shot at promotional cash cow George St. Pierre coming off a defeat and a drug suspension. Well, those of you who love that big-bearded former OSU Cowboy you might be in luck, I predict that for some reason or another Diaz will lose his opportunity to fight for the championship and Hendricks will be there to step up to the plate.
Where the big boys play: Jon Jones has taken the UFC light-heavyweight crown, defeated every former champion that still actively competes and re-defined single years success over the past few years and now his dominance is beginning to hurt him since there are only a handful of interesting and viable challengers left. I predict that the Greg Jackson-trained fighter will remain as the ruler of 205-pounds while going to play in the land of the behemoths as well, defeating a current or former contender at heavyweight.
It’s Showtime, folks: Showtime is literally days away from losing Strikeforce as their lone MMA-related entity on their subscription-based service. If they choose to remain in the MMA business they will be on the lookout for a viable replacement for the San Jose-based promotion they have been in bed with since 2008. Either recent upstart World Series of Fighting, all-female organization Invicta Fighting Championships or escaping the middle man and promoting MMA on their own like Canadian-based network The Score have done.
Overestimated rowdy movement: Ronda Rousey joins the UFC officially on February 23 when she meets top-ranked female Liz Carmouche. The unbeaten armbar machine will remain champion through the year but she won’t move the needle as is expected. Whether placed on FOX or pay-per-view, even with Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos as her nemesis with months of mainstream publicity the general American sports fan won’t grab hold of female sports and do above-average numbers.
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