Brendan Schaub is back and gets to fight in front of his hometown fans in the Denver area. But could it be a short stay in the UFC if he loses again? You never know what the UFC is thinking when it comes to roster moves. Schaub is hungry for a win after getting knocked out by Roy Nelson in the finale of "The Ultimate Fighter" back in December. In the past, reaching the final usually meant a longer leash when it came to UFC prospects. Not anymore. Philippe Nover, once called the a lightweight Anderson Silva, is gone. Jake Rosholt, a three-time NCAA wrestling champ, has already been jettisoned. And now that more heavyweights are taking mixed martial arts seriously, the division doesn't allow for guys who can't compete at a high level.

Schaub does appear to have the goods to be a possible contender. In this day of behemoths cutting to 265 pounds, Schaub has a nice combination of size, power and athleticsm at 6-foot-4 and 246 lbs. The Aurora-native and former Colorado fullback will face another monster in Chase Gormley. Will be cutting down from around 277 for Sunday's fight on Versus. 

White and his buddy UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta road tripped to Dallas to take in the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight. White, like everyone else in the crowd of 50,994, came away wowed with the experience of Cowboys Stadium. 

"I would love to do a fight there. Yep, and I'm Mr. Anti-Stadium," White told Carlos Arias from the Orange Couty Register. "Now that I experienced that [expletive] place, let me tell you what, it's incredible. It's incredible. The nicest stadium I have seen in my entire life."

White said there was also a different energy in the stadium. It wasn't like a lot boxing matches where you can hear a pin drop during the break in between rounds. 

"Not only was it a legit crowd, it was a different crowd other than boxing. It was [expletive] ... when I walked in that place, I got [expletive] mobbed," said White. "It was all young people and people that like UFC and it was a good crowd."

Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole backed that up saying that White got one of the loudest roars when celebrities in attendance were put on the big screen at the stadium. White's new attitude is probably reserved just for an event at Cowboys Stadium. Boxing is going to try Yankee Stadium during the summer. I can't imagine a fight card working in any other stadium without Cowboys Stadium's best feature, the 60-yard high definition big screen. 

White also confirms there is no UFC show on Apr. 17 in Nashville. So no counterprogramming effort against Strikeforce's CBS card. But he was tight lipped on details of Tito Ortiz's health and what happens during Season 11 of "The Ultimate Fighter." Rumors emerged last week that indicated Ortiz exited the show in the middle of the season and that Rich Franklin would step in against Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 in June. 

Time isn't on the side of Paul Buentello. You don't recognize the name? Buentello, 36, was around during the day when the UFC heavyweight roster was a bit thin. Andrei Arlovski was the champ and the promotion had a tough time finding opponents before UFC 55.

Buentello (27-11, 3-1 UFC) stepped up to the plate but he wasn't ready and fought recklessly. He treated his career the same way when he walked away from the promotion in the middle of 2006. Buentello's schedule got real sketchy and he made little money so when he had the chance to get back into the UFC, he jumped at it. But it's a different world now in the UFC heavyweight division. It's brimming with solid prospects and every fight could  be your last.

Buentello lost a close decision war against Stefan Struve at UFC 107 and now he has Cheick Kongo. What does a loss mean? Buentello can't even think about it.

He badly needs the win so he made a radical move from Northern California to the Denver area. Buentello, respecting the altitude change in Broomfield, Co. has been in the area for the last six weeks. He thinks it'll make a huge difference in his fight on Sunday.  

STRIKEFORCE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
ALISTAIR OVEREEM WILL FACE BRETT ROGERS, ANDREI ARLOVSKI TO MEET “BIG FOOT” SILVA

 

MAY 15 AT SCOTTRADE CENTER IN ST. LOUIS

 

Tickets for STRIKEFORCE St. Louis: Heavy Artillery
Go On Sale Friday, March 26; Pre-Sale Begins
Tuesday, March 23, via “STRIKEFORCE Insider”

 

ST. LOUIS (March 19, 2009) -World Heavyweight Champion Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem (32-11) will make his highly anticipated return to action against heavy-handed knockout artist Brett “The Grim” Rogers (10-1) in the main event of a STRIKEFORCE mixed martial arts (MMA) extravaganza at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday, May 15.

 

In another heavyweight confrontation, Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski (15-7) will clash with Antonio “Big Foot” Silva (13-2).

 

An exclusive special pre-sale ticket purchase opportunity for STRIKEFORCE St. Louis: Heavy Artillery will take place for “STRIKEFORCE Insider” e-newsletter subscribers (http://strikeforce.com/insider.html ) from 10 a.m. CT on Tuesday, March 23, until 10 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 25. STRIKEFORCE Insiders will receive a special e-newsletter on Monday with the pre-sale code.

 

All fans that purchase tickets to the event during the pre-sale will receive a limited edition, 17″ x 23″ high gloss STRIKEFORCE collectible poster.

 

…

 

Shamrock Promotions will assist STRIKEFORCE with local marketing for the event on May 15.

 

Doors at Scottrade Center will open for STRIKEFORCE St. Louis: Heavy Artillery at 6:15 p.m. CT on Saturday, May 15. The first non-televised preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m.

 

The event will be televised live on SHOWTIME® at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

Payout Perspective:

The release doesn’t explicitly state that Overeem will defend his belt against Rogers, but that has been the subject of much debate over the last few weeks and it appears as though the bout will be for the Strikeforce HW title.

This is a good follow-up to the CBS card. The two heavyweight matches have a fair amount of appeal to hardcore fans, and hopefully Strikeforce can do enough convincing on April 17th that it grabs the sustained attention of some of that casual base, as well.

Expect more in the coming weeks.

Payout Perspective:

The debut episode of the GSP vs. Hardy series scored big, but this follow-up has to be a little bit of a disappointment as it drops 50%. GSP vs. Penn only lost about 10% between its debut and follow up. Below is a summary of the ratings history of the entire UFC Primetime series:

January 14th, 2009 – Primetime: GSP vs. Penn E1 (880,000)
January 21st, 2009 – Primetime: GSP vs. Penn E2 (825,000)
January 28th, 2009 – Primetime: GSP vs. Penn E3 (662,000)
March 10th, 2010 – Primetime: GSP vs. Hardy E1 (1,000,000)
March 17th, 2010 – Primetime: GSP vs. Hardy E2 (506,000)

The show has done a good job of making Hardy look like a credible opponent – playing up his heavy hands and muay thai prowess –  but I’m not convinced that was or should have been the main objective for the series. Primetime is an effective promotional tool when it develops a story that can evoke emotion in the viewer. One of the best ways to evoke emotion and charge the situation would have been to better exploit Hardy’s trash-talking skills.

I also think Spike has missed the mark on promoting episodes. Not only have they aired advertisements for GSP vs. Penn on more than one occasion (the astute observation of MMAPayout.com’s Adam Swift), but the manner in which they preview the next episode really doesn’t leave the viewer anticipating the next episode. Normally, this is something they do very well; especially with the TUF series where they had people believing for 3 months that Kimbo would fight again.

Nonetheless, the production of these shows is still very high. While the cost is quite high (estimated to be $1.7 million by Dana White last year), the ROI the UFC receives is quite substantial. If they could find a way to get this on ESPN, it would sell like gangbusters.

Note: The drop in ratings isn’t totally a reflection of the difference between GSP-Hardy and GSP-Penn, either. Scheduling the show late on St. Patrick’s day, when many of MMA’s target M18-34 year-old demographic was having a drink at the pub, didn’t help!

Payout Perspective:

Liddell joins Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, and Dana White as cover men for the 9 month-old magazine.

The news on the UFC’s magazine front has been quiet since August, when MMAPayout.com learned the UFC planned to increase distribution of the magazine from 300,000 to 325,000 to meet anticipated demand growth. We should get an update pretty soon as to how it’s faring.

IWMMAR is proud to announce the launch of the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites, as well as www.IndependentWorldMMARankings.com.

Much like the Men’s Independent World MMA Rankings, which were launched last June, the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody’s vote counting more than anybody else’s vote, and no computerized voting.

The rankings will be tabulated and published on a monthly basis, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.

According to the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, the official names of the weight classes in women’s MMA are Middleweight for the 145-pound division, Welterweight for the 135-pound division, Lightweight for the 125-pound division, and Featherweight for the 115-pound division.

The members of our voting panel are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters’ actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they’ve actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win hypothetical match-ups.

Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.

Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked.

Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that she is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until she has her first fight in the new weight class.

Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.

The members of the voting panel for the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings are, in alphabetical order: Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Yael Grauer (MMA HQ); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); and Ivan Trembow (Freelance).

Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Joshua Stein, and Yael Grauer for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.

March 2010 Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on March 16, 2010

Middleweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (9-1)
2. Erin Toughill (10-2-1)
3. Marloes Coenen (17-4)
4. Gina Carano (7-1)
5. Yuko “Hiroko” Yamanaka (7-1-1)
6. Shana Olsen (3-0)
7. Cindy Dandois (2-0)
8. Malissa Sherwood (3-1)
9. Amanda Nunes (5-1)
10. Jamie Seaton (2-1)

Welterweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Sarah Kaufman (11-0)
2. Tara LaRosa (18-1)
3. Roxanne Modafferi (14-5)
4. Takayo Hashi (12-2)
5. Hitomi Akano (15-6)
6. Shayna Baszler (10-6)
7. Miesha Tate (8-2)
8. Adrienna “AJ” Jenkins (17-2)
9. Vanessa Porto (10-4)
10. Jennifer Tate (6-1)

Lightweight Rankings (116 to 125 lbs.)
1. Rosi Sexton (10-1)
2. Aisling Daly (9-0)
3. Tara LaRosa (18-1)
4. Emi Fujino (8-3)
5. Sally Krumdiack (7-3)
6. Lynn Alvarez (5-1)
7. Rin Nakai (6-0)
8. Lena Ovchynnikova (6-0)
9. Monica Lovato (4-1)
10. Matsumi Kasai (4-0)

Featherweight Rankings (106 to 115 lbs.)
1. Megumi Fujii (19-0)
2. Yuka Tsuji (22-2)
3. Lisa Ward (12-5)
4. Mei “V Hajime” Yamaguchi (6-2)
5. Jessica Pene (7-0)
6. Jessica Aguilar (7-3)
7. Kyoko Takabayashi (10-4)
8. Angela Magana (8-4)
9. Elena Reid (4-0)
10. Saori Ishioka (8-4)

Rampage

In middle school and even high school, even the rumor of a fight was all the rage. We’d eagerly find a way to get to the meeting point, and if we couldn’t get there we’d sit and wait by the phone for the post-fight recap. At the risk of sounding old, I should point out that our school fights were relatively harmless back in the day. Sure, there was a clear winner and loser, but there weren’t guns or knives involved. Just fists. But if one of the likely participants didn’t show up to school that day–which was often the case–they’d probably be teased mercilessly for years to come. Woe be it to the poor kid who would stand in the way of our cheap entertainment.

The process of prolonging and rescheduling fights, while often understandable, brings about the same frustration. Rampage vs. Rashad? That was supposed to happen in December, not May. Blame it on our short attention spans if you wish, but the fair bit of interest that was stirred up about that fight has long since fizzled and died. Although Dana White said “this rivalry has gotten more intense in the last few months” it’s hard for anyone but the most

Erin Toughill

diehard MMA fans (and MMA HQ readers) to maintain the same level of interest with such a prolonged delay.

Although many don’t know who MMA pioneer Erin Toughill is yet, she was the powerhouse cited by many as the top contender facing Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. Toughill announced on Facebook that she is planning on leaving Strikeforce. Toughill wrote:

U R hearing it first: I will no longer b fighting 4 Strikeforce. Its a personal decision tht I mde & one tht was NOT made in haste, trust me. Ill b doin interviews in cming days tht explain “WHY” I have made this hard decision. Cant subject myself 2 wht has bn going on (any longer) Retiring? Dunno, but am on verge due to basic issues like: NOT being able FIGHT!!! I am getting zero return for all I have put in…DONE.

Kind of disappointing for a fight that was first supposed to happen last May, though Toughill stepped out of that bout due to health reasons. But for a fighter who had her first MMA match in 1999 who now won’t be able to prove herself against the best in the cage… this goes beyond our disappointment at someone not showing up to the fight after school at the bus stop. It’s absolutely devastating.

Not only does this mean the long-awaited Toughill vs. Cyborg bout will not happen, it pretty much puts the 145-lb. division up in the air. Gina Carano is filming a movie. Marloes Coenen wants to fight in a lower weight class. While there are other fighters in the mix (like Cindy Dandois), I’m afraid that the talent pool in the 145-lb. weight class has just gotten even more restrictive in its limitations than it already was.

Reader Jeff Pelton suggested this lookalike pair: Kansas City Chiefs' wide receiver Amani Toomer and UFC middleweight champ -- and sometimes ninja -- Anderson Silva. Silva will face Demian Maia on April 10 while Toomer won't have to take the field for a real game until the end of August. 

Do you have a suggestion for fighter lookalikes? Send it here.