Review of last night’s WEC show on Versus

Overall, I thought it was a slightly above average show. I liked the first show much better simply because the fights turned out better. The outcome of fights isn’t something a promotion can control so I’m not blaming the WEC. It’s just the way things went down.

Maybe some blame can be assessed to the WEC for not finding a better opponent for Paulo Filho, but if you want to find his equal then you’re going to have to bring in Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, Rich Franklin, or Anderson Silva. That’s not going to happen and I think Joe Doerksen was a handpicked opponent to allow Filho to look dominant and help build up his name recognition in the States. 

If that was the goal, then mission accomplished. If you had never seen Filho fight before then I don’t know how you couldn’t have been impressed with him after last night’s performance.

I do think some people are getting carried away though as I’ve read some message forum posts proclaiming Filho a good striker now. While his punches looked pretty powerful, his technique was not refined. He works hard on his striking but he still has a long way to go before he can be labeled a good, technical striker. 

I was also disappointed by the quick outcome of the Larson vs. Condit match. I expected a war. But you can’t blame anyone because looking at it from a matchmaker’s perspective, there isn’t a bigger challenge to Condit currently on the roster than Larson. It was a great matchup that just didn’t go according to plan. 

I am thoroughly impressed by Condit each time I see him fight. He’s going to be big time and will definitely be fighting in the UFC within the next two years. The WEC will need to bolster their welterweight division though if they want to make things interesting until then. If he can get past Larson that quickly then there’s no one who will pose much of a threat. 

Jeff Curran vs. Stephen Ledbetter wasn’t anything special in my book but it was just good to see Curran in a televised match. It looks like there is a build towards a WEC featherweight title match between Urijah Faber and Curran. While I think Faber would win that match, it would still be pretty exciting. 

Jamie Varner looked great in a dominant performance over Sherron Leggett. Varner is now 13-2 and should get to fight the winner of WEC lightweight title match next month between Razor Rob and Rich Crunkilton. That’s not anything I’ve heard, just my opinion. 

Random Rants: 

• I’m usually a big fan of Frank Mir’s work as a commentator. I thought he did great during the first live show several months back but I thought his game was off a little last night. It seemed like he couldn’t get his timing down.

• To piggyback on a point made by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer several months back, having Frank Mir do the post-fight interviews is just a bad idea. Mir towers over everyone and makes them look like midgets. Why not just pay some local Vegas sports reporter $2,000 per show to come in and do the interviews?

• Because of quick results to a lot of the fights they were able to show a lot of fighters in attendance. It makes the WEC seem a lot bigger. I also liked the interviews with Jens Pulver and Rob McCullough and how they promoted the next show. They did a much better job of future promotion this time than last but that’s likely because when they did the first Versus live show, there weren’t a lot of definitive details about the second show.

• Speaking of Pulver, if Mir is ever in a position where he can’t do a show because he’s training for a fight, Pulver would be an excellent substitute. He’s already done some broadcast work for the UFC and the IFL. If ESPN ever hired their own analysts for their coverage of MMA on ESPNews, Pulver would be a perfect for such a role.

• They should do an even better job with future promotion. Why is it that Joe Riggs is telling The Fight Network he’s fighting Jason Miller in October? Why do so many promotions get scooped on their own news? Maybe there wasn’t enough time, but it would have been cool if the report was addressed in some fashion.

• I am real curious to know the duration of the WEC’s contract with Versus. I just feel the product deserves a better distribution outlet. They have a lot of potential superstars in Condit, Filho, Larson, Urijah Faber, Jason Miller, Carlos Condit, “Razor” Rob McCullough, and Rich Crunkilton but I just don’t think Versus gives them enough exposure. I know a lot of people who still don’t get Versus and on systems that do carry it, it’s usually buried. I have DirecTV and it’s in between a tier of premium sports channels on channel 608. The non-premium sports channels (ESPN, ESPNews, NFL Network, etc.) are all in the 200’s. You can run all the promos of the fighters you want on Versus but what good is it if the only time people watch Versus is for the WEC? People really don’t even watch the NHL on Versus. Hell, there are already rumblings that the NHL could be going back to ESPN once their Versus deal is up.

• Prime channel positioning is important. My in-laws don’t even like MMA yet they knew exactly what the IFL was when they found out I was going to cover the show this past Thursday. They know what the IFL is because they watch it every Monday in spite of the fact they don’t like MMA. Why do they watch it? Probably because there is nothing but reruns of sitcoms or first run versions of scrub reality shows on network TV right now and the IFL is on channel 17 here in the Philly area. If you’re a channel flipper, you’re going to be passing the IFL. If you’re a channel flipper, odds are you aren’t going to find the WEC.

• If they aren’t looking into it already, Zuffa should be exploring other future television options for the WEC. I know it’s easier said than done, but I think the USA network would be great. The clearance is strong and the channel has prominent positioning on most cable systems. And of course, ESPN would be even better. You would think ESPN would have room for the WEC on ESPN II with WrekCage every Tuesday or Wednesday night along with a live monthly show.

• They should also do some kind of deal with YouTube that would put all the WrekCage shows on the Internet for free. They have a product that is very appealing to hardcores and it’s time to let everyone see it and get them all talking.

• The WEC champions are as follows: Chase Beebe at bantamweight (135 lbs.); Urijah Faber at featherweight (145 lbs.); “Razor” Rob McCullough at lightweight (155 lbs.); Carlos Condit at welterweight (170 lbs.); Paulo Filho at middleweight (185 lbs.); and Doug Marshall at light heavyweight (205 lbs.). That’s a pretty impressive lineup of champions. It could be a long time until McCullough, Faber, Condit, and Filho lose (if they ever lose in the WEC).

• Right now the only fighter currently on the WEC roster who poses even a small threat to Filho is Jason “Mayhem” Miller. If Filho gets past Miller, he’ll have smooth sailing until an inevitable debut in the UFC.

• There’s still a lot of talk that more additions will be made to the WEC roster consisting of a lot of the Japanese fighters from Pride. I still haven’t heard any names though. A non-Japanese fighter from Pride that I’d love to see is Zelg Galesic. Pride signed Galesic from Cage Rage and he debuted at Pride 34 and lost. However, the guy has a ton of potential and has earned the nickname of “Mini-Cro Cop.” He’s a prospect and would fit perfectly on the WEC roster.

• The WEC should have shown highlights of fights that took place on the preliminary portion of the card. Antonio Banuelos fought earlier on the show and has increased name recognition after being featured on TapouT. He could be a future title contender at 135 lbs. but there’s no promotion behind him coming from the WEC.

WEC announces more matches for next Sunday

The WEC will air their second live telecast on the Versus network next Sunday, August 5, at 9 p.m. ET. The card will be headlined by Carlos Condit vs. Brock Larson for the WEC welterweight title and Joe Doerksen vs. Paulo Filho for the vacant WEC middleweight title.

Through its official web site, the fight promotion has announced additional matches for the cad.  Bouts between Jeff Curran vs. Stephen Ledbetter (featherweights), Jamie Varner vs. Sherron Legget (lightweights), Hiromitsu Miura vs. Fernando Gonzalez (welterweights), and Antonio Banuelos vs. Justin Robbins (bantamweights) have all been officially added.

The main televised portion of the card will include Larson vs. Condit, Filho vs. Doerksen, Curran vs. Ledbetter, and Varner vs. Legget.

That’s a pretty sweet double main event and I expect the WEC’s rating to be much stronger next Sunday than it was for their first live telecast. During their first live show, they were competing against a lot of programs that appealed to the male 18-34 demographic. But with a lot of shows in reruns, I think the only real competition for them in their time slot next weekend will be ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

My thoughts on Kurt Angle

As I alluded to earlier there really isn’t much in the way of actual news taking place in MMA right now so I thought I would give a public response to a question that was e-mailed to me over the weekend. In response to my unedited interview with Gareb Shamus that’s now available on the site, I was asked about whether I thought Kurt Angle is serious about getting into MMA.

I might be in the minority, but I honestly believe that Angle is serious about competing in mixed martial arts. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s talking MMA in order to get his name in the news but my prediction is that we will see Angle compete in an MMA bout within the next 12 months.

Angle recently fought Brock Lesnar in Japan in a pro wrestling match for Antonio Inoki’s new promotion. Angle ended up beating Lesnar in a match where the outcome was predetermined. He walked away with Lesnar’s IWGP title, which Lesnar had kept after he claimed New Japan pro wrestling failed to pay him all of the money they owed him. After the match, Angle said that he was willing to give Lesnar a rematch, but only if it’s MMA rules.

Angle’s post-fight interview was no doubt a wrestling angle and isn’t solely good enough of a reason to believe that we’ll see the two fight each other anytime soon. However, going out and testing the public’s desire for a match is something that I consider to be a first step.

Those who believe Angle is bluffing cite his age and injury history as being the big factors as to why he won’t actually try his hand at MMA. However, Angle is an extremely competitive person and like most star athletes has an ego. I don’t mean ego in a bad sense, I mean ego in the sense that there’s a drive in him to be the best at whatever he does. I think he sees MMA and how big it’s gotten and also sees former contemporaries of his from amateur wrestling having success. Guys like Kevin Randleman and Randy Couture were great amateur wrestlers, but they weren’t as good as Angle. I believe he’s sincere when he says he feels he can go out at his age and compete with the best. I’m not saying he’s right, simply that I believe he’s not lying when he believes he can compete with Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture.

I also think that Angle might be regretting his decision to go into pro wrestling instead of MMA. If Angle had gotten involved with MMA right out of the Olympics, I think we’d be talking about him right now as the best pound-for-pound fighter to ever compete. Angle takes wrestling seriously but I think the opportunity to become a huge star in a legitimate sport as opposed to a staged sport has more appeal. The issue was that when Angle came out of the Olympics, MMA was on life support and couldn’t come anywhere close to the money that Angle was being offered by WWE and WCW.

There’s also the potential to make a ton of money. Angle would probably get a nice payday just for fighting a mid-grade opponent. And if he’s willing to step in with someone like Brock Lesnar, he could easily make $2 million for one match ($1 million guaranteed with the rest coming in the way of PPV bonuses). There’s also the potential that if promoted right, Angle vs. Lesnar could be one of the biggest PPVs in MMA history. The potential of such a huge reward for doing MMA might easily outweigh the risks involved for Angle.

According to the Wrestling Observer, Angle had canceled face-to-face negotiations with Bodog that could have resulted in a finalized agreement several weeks back. The Observer later reported that Angle and his agent, Dave Hawk had re-scheduled meetings with the Calvin Ayre-owned fight promotion. There’s been no update as to whether Angle has actually sat down with Bodog representatives but I would have to think that the leading candidates to land Angle would be Bodog, EliteXC, and K-1.

Bodog only was able to draw 15,000 buys for its Lindland vs. Fedor PPV  that took place this past April. Based on the poor sales totals, Bodog decided that they will tape their July 14 event in Trenton, NJ for their Ion television show as opposed to offering in on PPV. In spite of the decision, Bodog has not given up on PPV. The belief is that the Fedor/Lindland fight didn’t do big PPV numbers in spite of a huge marketing campaign is because the U.S. public isn’t overly familiar with them. I think they understand that in order to do big numbers on PPV in the U.S., you need plenty of star power. While Lesnar and Angle have just one MMA match between them, their histories in pro wrestling qualify them as big potential box office draws in MMA.

Another idea that has been considered is a match between Angle and Daniel Puder, who won the WWE’s “Tough Enough” challenge several years back and was involved in an incident with Angle where the two had an impromptu shoot wrestling exhibition where Puder reportedly nearly tapped Angle with a basic keylock. The WWE was embarased by the incident and never followed up on the real-life drama even though Puder ended up being out seven other finalists for a guaranteed six-figure contract. Puder’s one-year deal eventually elapsed and the WWE offered him a longer-term contract at a reduced right. He declined and returned to MMA.

It’s been several years now since Angle and Puder had their little run-in on Smackdown and it remains to be seen how much marketing potential still exists in a real fight between the two. The fact that the WWE owns the footage of Puder nearly tapping Angle out makes it real difficult to market the match to people who weren’t already familiar with the legitimate heat between the two.

In the end, Angle vs. Puder may not make much sense for Bodog even though Puder is already under contract to the promotion (he’ll be fighting on this week’s episode on Ion, by the way). But the allure of a special attraction match between Lesnar and Angle not only makes sense for Bodog but for EliteXC and K-1 as well.

EliteXC might be better served taking a pass on the potential bout since they are trying to build for the long-term. With the money needed to spend on putting together a match between Angle vs. Lesnar, they could probably go out and sign 4-5 high profile Pride fighters to multi-fight contracts.

As for K-1, even though they fell flat during their U.S. debut on June 2 at the LA Coliseum they still are trumpeting the event as a success to their Japanese audience and they apparently are serious about doing another event in the States. Lesnar vs. Min Soo-kim failed to captivate the U.S. audience, but Lesnar vs. Angle not only has marquee value in the U.S. but in Japan as well. FEG isn’t afraid to lose money so they might be the most willing fight promotion out there willing to spend in order to make the fight happen.

Whether Angle truly believes he can be successful in MMA may be irrelevant in light of the fact that he possibly could be leaving a small fortune on the table by not trying his hand at it.

Doerksen rumored to be fighting Filho

The rumors section of MMAWeekly.com is reporting that former UFC middleweight Joe Doerksen is rumored to be fighting former Pride middleweight Paulo Filho at WEC 29 on August 5 in Las Vegas. The card will be telecast on the Versus Network, starting at 9 p.m. ET.

Also rumored is a welterweight title defense by Carlos Condit against Brock Larson and matches between Jeff Curran vs. Stephen Ledbetter and Eric Schambari vs. Logan Clark.

Two rumored bouts for next WEC

Two rumored matches now appear on MMAWeekly.com’s rumors page for the WEC’s next live card on Versus, set to take place on August 5 in Las Vegas.

According to MMAWeekly, Carlos Condit will defend his WEC welterweight title against Brock Larson (which was actually supposed to happen at the last WEC event) and Eric Schambari vs. Logan Clark.

Jeff Curran and Paulo Filho are also listed on the page in separate fights against unnamed opponents.

I would love to be able to get to see Filho against but seeing Larson vs. Condit would be even better.