The Sunday Junkie: May 12 edition

The UFC, Bellator, XFC, Cage Warriors, MFC, boxing …

The Sunday Junkie, MMAjunkie.com’s weekly reader-feedback feature, got submissions spanning a big spectrum this week.

This week’s winner, Garrick “Vamlor” Leith of Grand Forks, S.D., believes Bellator MMA is positioning itself to go “all in” against the UFC for promotional supremacy.

For his winning entry, Robbins wins the new book from UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, “It’s Time: My 360-Degree View of the UFC,” as well as a free one-year subscription to “Fighters Only” magazine, the world’s leading MMA and lifestyle magazine.

Want to submit to next week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie? Scroll to the bottom of the page for instructions.

Also, as a reminder, please be sure to include your hometown and stick within the 150-word limit (and include your submission in the body of an email, not in an attachment). Many quality submissions this week didn’t meet those minimum guidelines and couldn’t be considered for publication.

(Pictured: Bellator)

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BJORN REBNEY IS BETTING IT ALL ON FINAL PHASE

Bjorn Rebney took center stage this past week to seemingly “set the record straight.” First, responding to Eddie Alvarez‘s Twitter comments, suggesting a certain “someone” is whispering dirty thoughts into his ear, and then to deny interest in Leonard Garcia. This has prompted many to suggest he should pull back from the spotlight, as he’s only making Bellator look ingenuous and greedy. Guys like White and Rebney don’t get where they are simply hoping favor falls their way. Rebney is sending a clear message to the fight community – fans, fighters and the UFC alike. He’s tired of being No. 2 and is phasing Bellator for direct competition with the UFC. That all of this attention also happens to ride the heels of a move to Spike, and a brand-new reality show starring an ex-UFC superstar, is no coincidence. He’s playing all the chips and hoping for the payoff.

Garrick “Vamlor” Leith
Grand Forks, N.D.

HOLOBAUGH AND FODOR GOT DEALT THE DIRTY

Caros Fodor and Kurt Holobaugh have a few things in common. 1) They both made a name for themselves in Strikeforce. 2) They both have losses to surging Pat Healy. 3) They both had impressive debut decision losses in the UFC. 4) They are both out of a job. 5) Neither can go back to their original job because it no longer exists. What I find terrible about their situation is the fact that they both showed tons of promise as young athletes. No shame in losing to Siler or Stout, but both, in my opinion, deserved a call back especially after only one fight. With Strikeforce/WEC all bought out, there really aren’t many big shows left for these guys to make decent money. There is no doubt that Strikeforce would have kept these fighters. I’m no legal expert, but what the UFC did to these guys ought to be illegal.

“Armbar”
Toronto

XFC SENDS POWERFUL MESSAGE – UFC SHOULD TAKE NOTES

Nick Newell is a true Cinderella story. Despite being born without half of his left forearm or hand, he’s risen through the ranks of the XFC’s lightweight division. Compiling a perfect 9-0 record and culminating in capturing the lightweight gold, he has taken the MMA world by surprise and inspired us all. Despite these accolades, when he refused to accept a fight against Scott Holtzman, XFC responded by stripping him of his title. The UFC should follow suit and prevent its champions from feeling that they are able to pick and choose their opponents. 

Ryan Scott
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada

BT SPORT DEAL A GOOD THING FOR THE U.K. AND IRELAND

Since 2009, the UFC’s U.K. and Irish coverage has been broadcast by ESPN, and I for one am glad to see the back of this. All too often, I’ve watched ESPN butcher live events by littering the show with poorly timed ads and “unforeseen” technical difficulties. It is obvious that ESPN has not made MMA a priority and through the years has only put minimum finances into its broadcast of events. Hopefully in six months, I won’t be saying the same thing about BT Sport. I expect BT Sport to make the UFC a pillar of its channel’s sports coverage. Provided this is the case, it will be nice to watch UFC programming in primetime slots, as well as polished pay-per-view events worth staying up until 2 a.m. for.

Brian Sweeney
Clare, Ireland

MMA NEEDS INSTANT REPLAY – AND A FIGHTER CHALLENGE OPTION

We’ve all seen fighters protest at a referee’s stoppage, but what if they could actually do something about it? If a fighter is fully conscious and is defending himself properly, why not give him a chance to challenge the referee’s stoppage? If an instant replay option is added to MMA, fighters could challenge early stoppages and the footage can be reviewed by several referees, as well as the cageside doctor. If all who are reviewing the footage are in agreement that the fight could have went on longer, the two fighters could restart where they left off. This would lead to less excuses from fighters and fans and possibly better fights.

Kevin Boyd
Rialto, Calif.

MMA FANS’ LOYALTY VS. BOXING FANS’ CASUAL ATTITUDE

There is an unwavering loyalty MMA fans have versus boxing fans. I’m not suggesting one group is more hardcore over the other. However, I am saying that the majority of boxing fans are definitely casual in their approach to fights that are not main event status. The proof is in the pudding whenever you watch either sport at home with a group of friends. Boxing fans will have music blaring as they socialize and even watch a basketball game as they await the main event. MMA fans are a totally different breed. MMA fans will watch every fight on the card, from the first prelim to the featured bout. This will include weigh-ins for every fight. I know boxing as a sport isn’t going anywhere, but unless the casual attitude by its fans doesn’t change, the loyalty of MMA fans will continue to help its sport grow and prosper.

Sam “All Jam” Perez

UFC WILL HAVE A HARD TIME KEEPING ATHLETES

Back when I started watching the UFC, it was very simple. If you won the majority of your fights, you kept your job. Even if you lost just about as much as you won, as long as you were exciting you kept your job. With vets Jon Fitch and Cheick Kongo (combined UFC record of 25-9-2) and exciting young prospects like Sicilia, Carvalho and Holobaugh all getting the axe, it shows that there really is no consistency in what constitutes career longevity in MMA. It makes you wonder just how many athletes are willing to pursue MMA knowing other sports pay better, have more time off and are unionized. Who will be willing to quit their day job and move cities in hopes of entering the UFC knowing nothing is stopping them from getting rid of you? When fighters do enter the UFC, can you blame them for fighting safe/boring?    

“Armbar”
Toronto

MFC 37'S BIRCHAK AND BENOIT LIVED UP TO HYPE

When the MFC decided it was time to start a bantamweight division, they wasted no time signing two of the scrappiest non-UFC fighters available. As soon as the fight was set, both fighters wasted no time going to Twitter to express how they felt about one another. The Twitter wars were epic as both fighters would one-up the other in a back-and-forth verbal war. When the fight was moved to the main event just days before the card, the two would go at it even more excessively. When it was time to stop talking and start fighting, both guys entered the ring and delivered one of the best fights I had ever seen. Birchak used everything in his arsenal to dispose of Benoit, but he just kept coming. He got out of some scary submission attempts, including a triangle choke that almost ended the fight in the second round. The fight was amazing and you can bet that when Birchak or Benoit fights again, that fans of MMA will be tuning in.

Ben McPhee
Prescott Valley, Ariz.

TYSON FURY SHOULD NOT FIGHT Cain Velasquez

This past week, we got to hear even more about Tyson Fury campaigning for a large payday by fighting Cain Velasquez. While I support the notion of athletes crossing over to compete in MMA, getting a match with the champion for your first fight is not the appropriate course of action. In the past year, we have seen the light heavyweight belt defended against competition outside of the division twice, a featherweight title fight scheduled with a non-featherweight fighter, and rematches creating a logjam in the lightweight division. With JDS, Hunt, Nelson and even Cormier making cases for a possible shot at the heavyweight belt, tying up Cain with an athlete from a different sport only adds another delay in UFC champions actually fighting contenders from their own divisions, not to mention their own sport.

Ross “cbusmmafan” Miller
Columbus, Ohio

BELLATOR STARTING TO LOOK LIKE “SKELLATOR”

The case involving Eddie Alvarez and Bellator parent company Viacom is heating up to be an all-out, no-holds-barred brawl. Eddie is pulling out all the stops and is starting to share with the media how Bellator is not just cheating him, but other talented fighters, as well. Meanwhile, Bellator featherweight champ Pat Curran swoops in and publicly defends Bellator while questioning what might be running through Alvarez’s head. No matter how this plays out, Bellator will be THE loser here. The smart move for Bellator would be to just concede and send Alvarez on his way. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be for them to attract more Alvarez-like talent. Sometimes it’s just better to concede the UFC as the industry leader and focus on being the clear runnerup. Ain’t gonna happen, though!

“Jmmccaul”
Easley, S.C.

WHY A SILVA-JONES SUPERFIGHT SHOULD HAPPEN

In Anderson Silva‘s past five fights, he not only knocked out his opponent or submitted them, he earned two “Knockout of the Nights,” one “Fight of the Night” and one “Submission of the Night.” If you follow Anderson Silva’s career from beginning to end, you will find a plethora of spectacular finishes and just dominating performances. In Jon Jones‘ past five fights, he had two “Fight of the Nights” and a “Submission of the night,” not to mention about 15 minutes of just plain MMA ridiculous awesomeness. What happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? A fight between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones would be historic. This fight will determine not only the best, but the best to ever step in the octagon. Period.

Otis Edgecomb
Fort Fairfield, Maine

UFC’S FIGHTER CUTS ARE GOOD FOR THE MARKET AS A WHOLE

The UFC cutting a large amount of high-quality fighters is actually extremely beneficial for the sport of mixed martial arts. In a macroeconomic sense, the UFC is flooding the market with better fighters, which in turn drives up demand for smaller promotion events. This higher demand will drive up prices for tickets/PPV buys, giving the promotion more buying power in terms of signing new quality fighters.  From there, the UFC signs the new quality fighters until they are unable to sustain large rosters, prompting cuts. This mechanism is identical to the Fed’s Open Market Operations (flooding market with cash/selling securities) to control interest rates. Yes, I am a finance major.  

Ben Hyman
College Park, Md.

WHY DOES BELLATOR SEEM SO SHADY?

Over the last few months, news coming out of dealings with Bellator, from Alvarez, to this newest thing with Garcia and we know there has been countless more fighters involved in between. Then to things like copying ufc contracts, phantom reps contacting fighters, and claiming they “matched” a UFC type deal. I am in the music biz a promoter and all I see is shady deals and under the table deals and contact wording no one can understand. All one can think is if you are a ligit fighter STAY AWAY FROM BELLATOR! Because they are starting to look like a black hole for MMA.

Pete
Minnesota

BOXING, HEART AND TOUGHNESS

When Floyd Mayweather retires, boxing fans will focus on MMA fighters like Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo and GSP because they are skilled fighters. Most hardcore boxing fans are already fans of these guys. Boxing fans appreciate skill like Jones and Silva display because boxing is all skill. Most MMA fans appreciate “heart and toughness.” Fighters are considered tough when they can take a beating well, heart is his ability to take a beating when he’s tired. MMA will take off when MMA fans learn to to appreciate skilled fighters and lose their street-fighting attitude. Boxing has long lost its street-fighting, bare-knuckle roots and its fans learned to appreciate skilled fighters. MMA has a long way to go to replace boxing if it ever does. In closing, women’s MMA is a joke.

Shannon
Oklahoma City

CAGE WARRIORS OBVIOUSLY DOING SOMETHING RIGHT

So, Cage Warriors is just full of no-name fighters. Do the names Bisping, Hardy, Bigfoot Silva and Conor McGregor sound familiar? They all fought in CW and who knows who could come through next. Not sure if it’s because it’s a European promotion or what, but they are obviously doing something right to get the attention they are receiving. There are plenty of regional shows Stateside that get no attention, but is that CW’s fault? I’m sure the other promotions have so called “no name” fighters, but if it worries “madisonman” so much he should just stick to the UFC.

“Tummidge”
Aberdeen, Scotland

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