Issue 086
March 2012
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. [email protected]
A FEW GOOD MEN
I have to reply to Jeff Fasano’s letter in the last issue talking about how there’s nothing wrong with trash talk fast-tracking a title shot, and how a fight between two guys with mutual respect for each other means the pre-fight is going to be banal. While I appreciate what trash talking has done for the sport’s popularity, I still like to think when I watch MMA I’m watching a sport, not a spectacle. Having a loud-mouth talk his way to a title fight is one step off being a freak show fight. I like knowing the two guys, or girls, I’m watching give it their all for a title belt are the best around. That gives me a buzz. Call me crazy, but that’s what keeps me tuning in. And, after all, isn’t that what this all started with? Trying to find the best? When we stop doing that I think we lose a little bit of why this sport is so important.
Alan Talmage, via email
FOX ‘FORCE FIVE
I’m very glad to hear that Strikeforce is sticking around after there was speculation UFC parent company Zuffa might elect to absorb it all into the world’s number-one promotion. Aside from enjoying Strikeforce matchups I actually just like getting some top-notch MMA in a different flavor. There’s no doubt the UFC’s presentation is the most consistent and most impressive, but it’s refreshing to watch guys throw down in a different cage, with an alternative commentary team over the top and wrapped in production that runs at a contrasting tempo. Not only does it mean I get to keep enjoying my MMA fix just the way I like it but it keeps the world’s greatest sport on another high-profile channel. With Showtime keeping Strikeforce on, Spike picking up Bellator and the almighty Fox well and truly behind the UFC it’s hard to see how in the next couple of years mixed martial arts can fail to explode into the US mainstream. It’s damn exciting and I’m glad I get to see it.
Jake Dobson, via email
The seven-fight fitch
It’s such a shame that Jon Fitch never got a second title shot before his 12-second knockout to Johny Hendricks at UFC 141. The guy was on a six-fight win streak with a draw against BJ Penn in his rear-view mirror. All that work basically came to nothing.
Some people say it’s not fair to hold a guy back from something he’s devoted his life to just because he doesn’t win fights in a particular way. I suppose you could argue that grinding out a decision takes more skill, discipline and courage than getting a couple of stoppages.
I don’t blame anyone for not giving him a shot, I understand the reasoning, but what that guy must feel like knowing the mountain he has to climb again in order to reach his goal. Imagine having years of effort wiped away in 12 seconds you don’t even remember. It’s tough. I don’t blame the UFC at all, but I guess maybe I’m just too sympathetic.
Alejandro Paez, California
FIGHTERS’ TWEETS
FORREST GRIFFIN (@FORRESTGRIFFIN)
Damn it, @DustinPoirier better get a fight, I had to see him tweet about training for four months.
DUANE LUDWIG (@DUANEBANGCOM)
@ufc just emailed me saying Speedo shorts are prohibited! Haha, thanks Dennis Hallman.
JOE LAUZON (@JOELAUZON)
@young_assassin We need to get as many fighters as we can... and have an all out Nerf war.
DANA WHITE (@DANAWHITE)
Do you guys remember that line from that Men At Work song From a Land Down Under “vegemite sandwich” it’s so NASTY!!! Don’t do it!! #puke
PHIL BARONI (@PHILBARONI)
Remember, one step at a time is good walking.
The posts that caught our eye this month in the online world of Fighters Only
@msmariahv: Story time tonight by mother Hendo. She read, out loud, from the good book of @fightersonly. Had me laughing the whole time.
@PaulieboyIHOW: Reading about @ShaneCarwin in @FightersOnly multi talented an engineer and a fighter, great read.
Thomas Young: Zuffa should treat Strikeforce as a feeder league! Any UFC fighters that are cut should then fight in Strikeforce so they can build themselves back up again!
Chris Black: Wanderlei Silva versus Vitor Belfort could be over quickly. Bet it’s exciting while it lasts though.
@915Eddie: @DUANEBANGCOM Just read your piece in @FightersOnly mag and loved it. We have something in common: mexican wives.
