Fighters Only

Issue 108

December 2013

This is your page to tell us what you think of all things Fighters Only and MMA. Get your feelings off your chest where it really matters – in print! Send us your best pictures with your favorite fighters, or copies of FO, and we’ll print them too.

YOU TALKING TO ME?

I think you could argue it’s possible the UFC might never be as big in the US as boxing was at its height. And it’s for a reason that’s no one’s fault, and absolutely no one can do anything about: language.

Think of all the biggest boxing matchups you remember from back in the day. What was the native tongue of those two fighters? By a very long way your winner is English.

Now consider the UFC’s champions and contenders. Two Brazilian champs mean one half of your title bout promotion will need a Portuguese translator. And while English still dominates overall, there are plenty of Brazilian challengers, and they’re backed up by Korean and Japanese fighters. On certain occasions your marquee UFC bouts will have two men who don’t speak English at all. That’s another barrier to media appearances and mainstream interviews. How many times was Anderson Silva, perhaps the greatest fighter in history, a guest on a significant US TV show?

David Long, via email

THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL

I love Bellator and everything, and realize why it’s totally necessary, but I think I’ve cracked the problem with it.

It always seems like the champions are the ones with the names and they just wait around for contenders who don’t have big profiles and sometimes aren’t particularly good. And that’s because the organization’s defaulted to kill off prospects.

Unlike in the UFC where they can bring up two or three challengers at a time per title, Bellator’s tournament format (where typically you need to have won a tournament to get a title shot) kills the momentum of all its prospects but one – the tournament winner. And it can only do two tournaments or so a year per weight class.

It’s such a difficult way to build up contenders, who need to look like winners capable of taking the title, because if you put four of them in a tournament, three of them will come out looking like losers.

Matthew Rodriguez, via email

READER TWEETS

@Nick_Otwell: @Showtimepettis Congrats on the belt!! I’m only two hours away from roufusprort, so how’s about a training session sometime? :-D

@madmadisonfight: School, wrestling, karate, youth group, then home to watch #TUF18 I love Wednesdays!!!

@daej81: Did I just read that @FrankieEdgar and @bjpenndotcom will be the next coaches for #TUF19? Awww snap! Who to root for? Love em’ both!

@jnsanchez: I do think Ronda Rousey will beat Tate again, but Miesha is a great person. She was incredibly friendly the times I have met her

@seanminogue: Didn’t know Anthony @Bourdain is married to a woman (@OttaviaBourdain) who competes in BJJ. Coolest couple ever.

FIGHT TWEETS

@mayhemmiller

So, I quit all social media now. Digital detox. Good luck on your journey.

@BurtWatson4real

@FightersOnly Great Reading Great Articles Good reading early Saturday Morning flipping through old copies Lets me know how far MMA has come.

@JRsBBQ

Congrats to @JoshLBarnett on a great, powerful performance Saturday night. Anxious to follow your journey in @ufc.

@DUANEBANGCOM

I teach UFC.

@joerogan

Dear apple, get your s**t together. No one gives a f**k about fingerprint recognition. Give us a big screen, b***h!

GALLERY

@LucasW37: @FightersOnly Mr. White will be all smiles #UFC #MeltedCrayon Art

@KrisHardu: Shoutout to my future sponsor @FightersOnly !!!

@Boonie515: New copy of @FightersOnly, fresh juice & #UFC164 weigh-ins. Good Friday indeed!!!

My 16-month-old can’t walk by the UFC heavy bag without hitting it. Now he has to put the gloves on every time! (Note: the shiner under the left eye is from a fall he took chasing one of our cats! Not from training!)

Gionni LaFex by Michael LaFex, via email

My beautiful wife, Jana, carrying our son Hoyce with myself and my idol Royce Gracie. Above my little samurai is wearing his first gi ready to begin his martial arts journey.

Matthew Glover, Kerrville TX, via email