Just like Moses did when he descended from the mountain, I as well come carrying two large rocks of MMA opinion. It’s three rounds of holy wisdom.
Round One: Canadian MMA Scene
I’d like to say that the sport of mixed martial arts is flourishing in Canada, but I’d be lying. In Ontario there seems to be some major issues with how their athletic commission is being run. To the west in British Columbia, there were promises of a provincial body to govern Pro MMA, but trying to get any real information on progress is futile. Don’t get me started on the Quebec athletic commission. In Canada there are issues pretty much across the board, and it’s killing the sport. We need more well run quality pro shows. The MFC has been pretty much ruling the Canadian roost and nobody else has emerged. The Score Fighting Series started to have a good thing going but they were unceremoniously scrapped once Sportsnet bought out the Score Network. Sure there is the Aggression Fighting Championships and Battlefield Fight League and they have a good local following, but no real television deals. There is a market for good quality professionally run MMA in Canada, the problem is besides Alberta, the provincial commissions across Canada are either non-existent or doing their best to make it impossible for the sport to grow.
Round Two: World Series of Fighting
WSOF 2 went down last Saturday in Atlantic City. Did any of you watch it? Or were you like me, where you didn’t have time, so you just checked out the highlights on MMASucka.com? Don’t lie.
When it comes to the WSOF, I feel I have seen this movie before. No disrespect to Ray Sefo and the people at World Series of Fighting but I hope I’m wrong when I say that I get the feeling that the organization is going to be buried next to Affliction, WEC, IFL, Strikeforce etc… you get what I mean? They are spending a lot of money on former UFC guys that I’m curious if they are making any real profit. High dollar athletes and low ticket prices might seem like a good idea, but my basic understanding of business economics tells me that type of strategy leads to a short life expectancy. I don’t want to see the WSOF go away, but I just get the sense that it is not going to end pretty for them. Maybe NBC will do their best to push their MMA product, but you can’t find it on TV in Canada, which should be a market you would think they would want to tap into. Here is a question: when has spending a ton of cash upfront ever really worked when trying to become the #2 promotion behind the UFC?
Round Three: Anthony Johnson
AJ was able to beat a tough Andrei Arlovski via unanimous decision at WSOF 2 last Saturday night. It was Johnson’s first fight at Heavyweight and he looked, umm… heavy’ish? After the fight Anthony admitted that maybe fighting heavyweights wasn’t a good idea as they were a lot bigger than they appeared on TV. It will probably be Johnson’s last fight in that division, but it was his fifth straight victory and maybe that will garner another look by the UFC. It appears that AJ feels comfortable at light heavyweight, and although you never know what you’re going to get with Johnson, the UFC should give the man another shot once his contract is up. If “Rumble” is feeling good and doesn’t go into fights looking like he just came back from a Vegas weekend bender, he is a scary opponent for anyone in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. Although the heavyweights might be a tad bigger than AJ, it must have been a nice change for him mentally and physically to go into a fight without having to cut any weight. Good things come to an end, as it will be back to dieting, saunas and continuing to climb up the ladder. For now his home is in the WSOF, but it’s good to see a great comeback story.
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You can listen to Trevor on MMASucka Radio heard weekly on MMASucka.com and Sportsnet.ca. Follow him on Twitter @tdueckMMA
