UFC acknowledges “Big” John’s retirement

UFC.com has an article written by Thomas Gerbasi which pays tribute to the career of long time UFC referee, “Big” John McCarthy.

After the UFC didn’t make a mention of his retirement during his last bout as a referee at the Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale, many fans were upset and felt the UFC were disrespecting the many years of service McCarthy had provided them. The UFC.com article however seems to suggest that is how McCarthy wanted it:

John McCarthy – who retired as an active referee following last weekend’s main event – was noticeable by being barely noticeable, making all the right moves and all the right calls, a fitting end to a 13 year journey that saw McCarthy become as much a part of the UFC as the great fighters who have graced its Octagon.

The article goes on to outline the role he has played in the organisation since his appointment as referee at UFC 2 and also has a few parting words from McCarthy at the end of the article.

Sure it may only be an article on the UFC’s website and the services he’s lent to the UFC over the year’s should be honoured more in the future (induction into the Hall of Fame perhaps?) but at least the UFC isn’t just sweeping him and his legacy under the carpet because he has decided to part ways for non Zuffa related MMA programming.

Cooler heads prevail as Sherk gets stripped of title

As two of the most promising prospects in the lightweight division battled it out yesterday at the Ultimate Fighter Finale, the champion of the division, Sean Sherk was suffering the consequences of losing his own battle. The battle to keep his Lightweight belt.

The UFC management decided to strip Sherk of his title after the California State Athletic Commission found him guilty after his UFC 73 title defense against Hermes Franca when he tested positive for a banned substance. This decision means now that the UFC 80 main event between Joe Stevenson and B.J. Penn will be upgraded from an Interim Title Fight to a fight for the vacant Lightweight belt.

This decision made by the UFC in my opinion was a tough call but the right call. Whether or not you believe Sherk when he says he is innocent, the bottom line is he was found guilty by the CSAC and the UFC had to act accordingly.

If the UFC did not strip Sherk then people from outside the sport looking in, such as the mainstream media would have only seen a fighter who is the champion of his weight class get convicted for steroids by an athletic commission but not punished by the organisation he belongs to. Being weak on steroids is not a tag the UFC wants when they are on the cusp of mainstream acceptance.

The UFC is also right now attempting to get MMA sanctioned in every state in the US. How would it look to the various athletic commissions who have not sanctioned MMA when the premiere organisation is seen to have ignored a ruling by a fellow commission?

The fight between Penn and Stevenson which was set to headline the UFC 80 card in in England would also have been greatly devalued if Sherk kept his title. Having the main event being for an interim title would have been redundant considering the champin was able to return prior to the event taking place. Therefore, stripping Sherk greatly benefits the card as now its for the actual championship. The UFC is putting a lot of effort into expanding into England, and to do that they need appealing cards. A pointless interim title match up would not suffice.

This must be devastating for Sherk who strongly denies any steroid usage. It also doesn’t help his cause, even if he does manage to clear his name, as the impression is left in the minds of the people who do not know the full story that he is a “drug cheat”.

Considering Dana White’s friendship with Sherk, this decision can not have been an easy one. But the damage that could have been caused if the decision was not made means it was a necessary one.

The UFC’s “Big” Problem 2

 I wrote an article for FiveOuncesOfPain a couple of months back when Randy Couture announced his “resignation” that covered future predictions of what would happen with the UFC’s above 205lb. division. Consider this an updated sequel.

It has now become highly likely according to MMAweekly.com that we won’t be seeing UFC Heavyweight champ Randy Couture defending his title.

In the article it states how “The Natural” turned down an offer to fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and in doing so effectively vacates the title he won against Tim Sylvia back at UFC 68. This is very bad news all around.

The reason this is bad for everyone is because firstly, we probably won’t ever see the Couture fight again. Something that is to be expected considering he is 44, but none the less extremely dissapointing, as we all were looking forward to one to two more fights from him. Unless of course we are being hilariously mislead and Randy turned down the Nogueira fight to accept a fight with Quinton Jackson at 205lbs. it appears UFC 74 was Randy’s last ever performance.

Thankfully, Randy has decided to still remain affiliated with the UFC in some capacities, which are unknown at this point. It would of been a travesty for Randy’s legacy to have been swept under the carpet like other other UFC fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Royce Gracie and the rest of the UFC hall of famers.

Randy’s retirement also greatly impacts the UFC as they now have a heavyweight title which is most likely going to be decided by a fight between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. It is kind of a big step down in Champion calbire no? Not in terms of fighting skill but rather in terms of fan appeal and marketability.

It is pretty clear to anyone watching a UFC event featuring Tim Sylvia, that he is not the fan’s favourite human. And not in a good way like, Tito Ortiz, where they love to hate him but rather they’ve seen him over the years, and have come to the conclusion that they just don’t like him. No offense to the Maine-iac but, he made this bed, and now he has to sleep in it.

I mean come on, ever since the third Andrei Arlovski fight (which I believe he lost, but we’ll leave that to another post) he has fought “not to lose” which has equated in boring arse matchups that has got him labelled as a “boring fighter”. This tag could have been avoided if he was marketed properly, but it is hard to market someone to the fans who charges them $20 a pop for an autograph.

The other half of the probable future heavyweight title fight is ”Minotauro“. The former Pride Heavyweight champion is a BJJ expert with decent striking. However, to the average fan he’s that guy who got kicked in the head at UFC 73. I’m speaking of course to his fight with Heath Herring back in July. He had already fought the ”Texas Crazy Horse” two times before, so he could be forgiven for not really having any motivation for the fight. But still it was hardly a good impression to the UFC audience who had not seen him before.

To the fans that actually know of him, they know that wasn’t his best showing and how good he actually is. But they will also know that if he becomes champ, the UFC will have a champ who has had his arse pounded by Fedor Emelianenko two and a half times (1 of there 3 fights was ruled a no contest when an accidental headbutt opened up a nasty cut on Fedor’s head). I’m guessing if Minotauro does become Champ, everyone will be tightlipped about that because I don’t think having your champ thoroughly dominated by a guy your President doesn’t claim is in the top 5 in the world, three times does great things for your division’s image.

As long as there is an up and coming heavyweight who can step up and dethrone one of these guys, I fear there may be a loss of interest by the fans in 205+ weight class.

Brandon Vera looked to be the answer to the UFC’s prayers, but he was over powered by a true heavyweight in Sylvia at UFC 77 which proved he was a much better suit for light heavyweight. New UFC signee Brock Lesnar is a while off of a title shot and I doubt he will even get past Frank Mir at UFC 81.

The guy to fill the significant void “The Natural” will leave in the heavyweight division is of course a guy UFC fans loved as champ, and a fighter who on his day could be considered the best in the world. I speak of course of Andrei Arlovski.

The Belarussian has currently been “put on the shelf” according to UFC President, Dana White which is most likely because of the fact he has one fight left on his contract and the UFC wants to re-negotiate before he fights again while Arlovski wants to fight and then renegotiate.

Sure his last performance was fairly dull (not as dull though as everyone seems to make out) but he was fighting to a game plan that made sure he didn’t get lured into Fabricio Werdum’s excellent ground game. No one got up Forrest Griffin when he fought a controlled fight against Hector Ramirez which I believe speaks greatly to the ”Pitbull’s” popularity and reputation in that all fans were dissapointed they didn’t get the traditional exciting Arlovski performance. 

The UFC needs to throw as much money as they can at Arlovski so that he resigns as soon as possible and get’s back into the Octagon. Otherwise, the UFC may be forced into featuring another division’s title fight to serve as the main draw everytime the Heavyweight belt goes on the line.