bigg jay

Really? LOL Good grief Gracie maybe? Lets be real here. Say what you want about him, but Lesnar was a legit star for them. He already had name brand recognition and he fought some of the best in the world with next to no experience. He fought current or former world champions in 4 of his 8 pro fights (while winning the belt for himself & defending it twice). He was a huge ratings draw for them (he headlined or co-headlined 3 of the top 5 selling PPV's the UFC ever had). Gracie was never a huge selling point for the UFC (comparatively speaking). Other than the fight against Hughes, his days as the main star were so long ago (and way before they started doing huge ppv numbers), he is pretty irrelevant to the current product. Dude.... Its not a story. Its not about creating a fake story line to get ratings. Gracie wasent a huge selling point because thats not what its about. Your all about ratings ..... These guys in the UFC are about fighting. Let the UFC promote the fights.. its their job. The fighters should fight. Where did I say anything about a fake story line? Gracie wasn't a draw because there was no audience, not because of his ability. It's also a business and that often takes priority over the sports side of things. The UFC is all about the ratings (if they weren't, we wouldn't be having this discussion and CM Punk would not have a UFC contract). They promote the fights and fighters that will make them the most money, not necessarily the best fights possible. The fighter should (and do) fight but they also need to sell the fight if they want to be a star and make money. Some fighters (Chael Sonnen, for example) truly understand that & can make it happen, while other guys (like the Diaz brothers) don't, but get pissed off when the UFC gives them **** for not doing enough.

Really? LOL Good grief Gracie maybe? Lets be real here. Say what you want about him, but Lesnar was a legit star for them. He already had name brand recognition and he fought some of the best in the world with next to no experience. He fought current or former world champions in 4 of his 8 pro fights (while winning the belt for himself & defending it twice). He was a huge ratings draw for them (he headlined or co-headlined 3 of the top 5 selling PPV's the UFC ever had). Gracie was never a huge selling point for the UFC (comparatively speaking). Other than the fight against Hughes, his days as the main star were so long ago (and way before they started doing huge ppv numbers), he is pretty irrelevant to the current product.

The UFC is trending downwards since many of their biggest stars (GSP, Lesnar, Anderson Silva for example) have either retired, taken a "hiatus" or are at the end of their career. The PPV & TV numbers reflect that so they do need a guy like Punk who will get people talking again (this thread is a good example of that). There's a high likelihood that he does get his ass beat, but that's all up to the UFC and whether or not they feed him a can or feed him to the lions. Either way, people will tune in and that's more money for them.

I wonder what the reaction would be if it was a more high profile movie? Would they be so quick to pull the plug on the Star Wars movie next year?

Originally I figured this was a movie I'd download one day but now I can't wait to see it, if for no other reason than I dislike being told I can't watch something. I hope they do put it out online if theatres are not willing to show it.

There are literally zero rules for how often a fighter can/cannot fight. The only exception is if a fighter is suspended by a commission but even then those only apply to that commission's jurisdiction (a commission will generally honor the suspensions given by other commissions though).

Don't confuse UFC fighters (who fight maybe 2-4 times a year) with a regular mma fighter. There are guys who fight much more often than that (for an extreme example ook-up Travis Fulton - 300 fights since 1996 for an average of nearly 17 fights a year.). Most UFC fighters want to fight more (that's the only time they make money for the most part), but they have no control over that. Also don't forget to account for the travel schedule of a WWE wrestler. Although it's not as bad as it was in the past, there's still not a lot of time for them to recouperate before they're hopping on another plane or jumping in a car to head to their next show. UFC fighters have nothing that would compare to that.

Like TUP said, wrestlers get punched in the face a lot. It won't be new for him. Also, How'd you decide on Nate Diaz for your example? LOL I was thinking the same thing. The Stockton Slap or a straight left from Johny Hendricks are completely different animals. Neither Diaz brother would have come to mind if I was thinking about who I would not want to be hit by.

Differnet mcduffie. Mind.. Blown. Ticats is Quincy McDuffie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_McDuffie Ours is Sam McDuffie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_McGuffie Ours is actually Sam McGuffie.

He got dropped by a couple big punches he didn't see coming so it's quite possible he's got a concussion (or is at least showing symptoms so they want to be cautious.)

O'Shea also said the new DC will not have free reign on player personnel going forward. I wonder if he's talking about Etch not playing certain guys (like Sears) or him not wanting to bring guys in (like Ted Laurent). Maybe both?

League agrees - 3 game suspension for him.

There's absolutely no redeeming quality to those jersey's at all .. You could put sleeves on them and wear them to an ugly sweater party?

That's actually about as fair of a fight you can give him, if you're going by current UFC fighters. He was on a previous season of TUF so a lot of UFC fans (not so much the casual viewers maybe) will know who he is. Has a nice record but isn't much of a threat (submissions, wrestling or striking). Most of his wins are by decision (8 of 15) and most of his fights are against low level guys.

For those wanting Hall... is he better than Etch? Maybe but when they got rid of him for this reason: I have to wonder why you would want to exchange one coach who likes confusing philosophies for another? I prefer Chamblins thinking myself.

I legit would not pay more than $10 This. And that's only to add it to the collection... not to actually wear or look at it.

The management is just worried about the massive 3 person online backlash that's waiting when it's the day after the season ends and they haven't fired him yet. They are just getting a jump on things to avoid that.

And that's why they say never say never in wrestling right? Vince probably sees this as free advertising for the WWE and knows there's still money to be made with Punk.

Until he actually gets in there and shows some skill, then you can't really say that he can beat anyone. The low level UFC guys are still at a much higher level than 95% of the guys we'd see fighting at a CFC show. He can't rely just on his athleticism because at those weight classes, everyone is a pretty good athlete. That's why Dana is talking about having him fight someone else just starting out rather than a guy with experience. It's an awkward situation for the UFC. Bringing in a nobody doesn't add any credibilty to Punk & people will ask why they are paying to watch a such a low level fight. Have him beat up a Bonner-type guy and people will say anyone could have done that. Put him against someone legit and he gets killed. Other than ratings, there's not a lot to gain for the UFC. As far as the Kimbo comparison goes....It's not like Punk is fighting at heavyweight where you can get by with just one punch KO power like Kimbo did (even saying he "got by" is an overstatement though). Kimbo's only UFC win was by decision a blown up light heavyweight who ran the whole time because he was scared to get hit. His other 3 "wins" are outside the UFC & are against Bo Cantrell (a lot of people believe Cantrell took a dive), a 43 year old Tank Abbott, and a weak ref stoppage against James Thomson who's cauliflower ear exploded. So it's not really comparable to Punk (IMO) because at least people knew what they were getting from Kimbo between those fights & his time on TUF.

On Saturday he said he was going to try making a cut to 170. If that goes well, that's the weight he'll fight at.

Kane has never been suspended before this so there isn't much history there.

They should have gone the Kimbo route with Punk. Put him on TUF, let non-WWE UFC fans (there are a lot of them) get to know him. It gives him more time to get some high level training in & see where he's at skill wise compared to other entry level UFC guys. I'm guessing the money they are paying him puts him out of prelim territory. They need to get him exposure to make it worth their while so I got to think it's main card all the way for him. A win against a can also doesn't do much for him. For what it's worth, Chael believes he knows who the 1st opponent will be and thinks it will be a well known fighter and Punk will be the underdog (as he should be against basically any opponent).

Ralek Gracie might disagree. Since the signing became public, Ralek said this: "CM has a huge fan base but I'm not aware of any top level grappling creds that he has." Even Renner has said that Punk is still new to BJJ but he could be very good (could being the key word). They may have started training together a couple years ago but it would be 2 weeks straight, then nothing for 6 months so I don't know how solid that base would be given that kind of schedule.

Terminator is scheduled to be released in July where Star Wars isn't until December so I would expect a more in-depth trailer (teaser or not) for that one. I don't feel like 6-7 months is early though. I'm looking forward to Exodus: Gods & Kings this week & I remember seeing previews for that months ago.

This reeks of James Toney (except that, even though the result was predictable, Toney at least had a background in fighting and had at least a puncher's chance). Other than publicity, why sign him? At 36 years old, it's not like he's a young guy with a long future a head of him. He isn't even far enough a long to have picked a camp to fight out of yet. If they wanted to sign a "real" wrestler, they should have squashed their beef with Ben Askren & signed him.