Issue 052

July 2009

What is it with the UFC still not being welcome in New York? Or that certain politicians claim that Marina Lathan (appointed chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission last year) is a ‘UFC shill’, simply because she has stated that there “is a place for boxing and UFC to live side by side”?  

Perhaps even more worrying is that the New York politicians can’t grasp the concept of the sport, the new rules brought in eight years ago, or that there has never been a death or a serious injury in the UFC. How can the citizens of New York State trust these people to govern the state if the rules of one sport are too complex for them, and they are too myopic to see beyond the now-familiar line trotted out that the sport is ‘barbaric’ or resembles a ‘bar room brawl’?  

MMA events have been banned in the state since 1998, after former Governor George E Pataki labeled the sport as “barbaric”. Marc Ratner, the UFC’s vice president of regulatory affairs, has stated that the most severe injury that has come out of nearly 800 UFC championship fights in the US since 2001 is a broken arm (by contrast, boxing has seen 61 deaths in the ring since 2000).  

The irony is that MMA is already sanctioned seven miles away in New Jersey, along with all but eight of the 45 US states that have Athletic Commissions. MMA gaining access into America’s main media hub and the first-ever UFC event at Madison Square Garden would be a huge step forward for mainstream acceptance.  

Staging events there is costly (around the $1,000,000 mark just to get off the ground with hiring and staffing costs). At least, that is what boxing events generally level out at there, but getting the New York legislators to legalize the sport in the state continues to be a thorn in Zuffa’s side.  

But it’s time the legislators changed their minds.  I don’t think we’ll see MMA in NY this year, unless it’s a Christmas show. The breakthrough should come in 2010. The UFC and Dana White could do worse than getting Chuck Liddell involved in this one. A new role for ‘The Iceman’: getting the melt on New York.  

Anderson Silva no longer number one; GSP is the man

Anderson Silva may have set the longest winning streak in UFC history, with nine consecutive victories, but can anyone lay claim to him now being the top pound-for-pound fighter out there? I suggest (strongly) that they cannot, based on his last two performances.  

And, yes, I know the old adage that ‘you can only beat who is put in front of you’, but a different Silva has appeared in his last two contests (Leites and Patrick Cote). Silva was slated, booed and heckled by a bad-natured crowd in Montreal. I fear he would have been given a similar reception in the UK. Fans expect more of him, simply for what he delivered for seven fights in a row: spectacular finishes.  

May I venture to suggest that Georges St Pierre [GSP] could rightfully be installed as the current pound-for-pound king? Moreover, I’d like to see him fight Anderson Silva. GSP has the wrestling ability to take Silva down. He’d also keep him there. After seven great KOs, Silva has had two very strange fights.  

And still on slippery Silva, did we see ‘Grease-gate’ all over again with Silva at UFC 97? What was the official ‘blue-coat’ doing? He had his full attention span on Silva, and if he is worth his salt will have filed a report on it. Silva clearly took grease from his face and repeatedly wiped it on his chest and arms quite blatantly. Clearly poor officiating. Good thing the ref wiped him down.  

Silva even made a conscious decision to turn away from the official in the ring while doing it (watched by millions around the world and 18 cameras). Silva should be punished or fined for it by the athletic commission overseeing the event in Montreal, or his employers, Zuffa.  

Chuck’s punch resistance gone

Finally, and it gives me no pleasure to write this, Chuck Liddell’s retirement should be set in concrete after another KO loss, this time to Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. I have advocated this for some time, having mentioned it in this column some months ago.  

One has to be careful mentioning anything that appears to denigrate the sport’s great hero, but the truth was there, even though many fans refused to see it. The fighters are always the last to know, yet it was obvious that his punch resistance had waned.  

Chuck has been a star since 2001 when he knocked out former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman in 78 seconds, but Father Time is unforgiving, and the old ticking time-bomb has caught up with ‘The Iceman’. Liddell’s three-year spell, from 2004 to 2007, firmly established him as the sport’s major superstar and as the most devastating light heavyweight striker in the world. Credit to Dana White for publicly stating what we all (and most importantly Chuck, now 39) needed to hear. It’s time to call it a day. White proved just how ‘real’ his friendship is with the big man for saying so.  

And, while on the subject, the same looks true of Wanderlei Silva.  

 Gareth A Davies is MMA and Boxing correspondent for The Daily Telegraph