MMA & UFC News

Compiling pound-for-pound MMA fighter rankings can be quite an endeavor. There’s a lot factors to take into account, like fighter activity, strength of opponents and more. But here’s Sports Untapped’s pound for pound list for February.

Jon Jones – Jones is the most dominant fighter on the planet right now. Anderson Silva is right there, but Jones has beaten three former UFC champions in a row, so he gets the top spot on our list.

Anderson Silva – The most dominant fighter of all-time, but comes in second on our list. Jones fought 4 times in 2011. Silva has fought four times since April of 2010.

Jose Aldo – 11-0 combined in WEC/UFC fights with 5 consecutive title defenses. ‘Nuff said.

Georges St. Pierre – On  the shelf with the knee injury, GSP doesn’t win a lot of style points with blood thirsty fans, but he just keeps winning and holding on to his belt.

Frankie Edgar – Took the belt from the greatest lightweight champion in UFC history, BJ Penn, then beat him again to keep it. Then beat Gray Maybard soundly after they fought to a draw. Edgar is the real deal, and perhaps still underrated.

Dominick Cruz – Hasn’t lost since 2007 and has defended his title 4 consecutive times. Urijah Faber better have a new wrinkle to his game plan when he fights Cruz again later this year.

Junior Dos Santos – Took the belt from previously unbeaten Cain Velasquez after running through the best of the UFC heavyweight division. Sky is the limit.

Ben Henderson – Don’t forget — Henderson was the WEC lightweight champion. His domination of Jim Miller and Clay Guida make the Pettis fight look like a fluke. Has a legit shot at beating Frankie Edgar for the title.

Cain Velasquez – Had a bad night and lost the title to JDS, but he’s still worthy of a spot on the P4P list. No one doubts that he will fight for the belt sooner rather than later.

Rashad Evans – Can you count the former champions that Evans has beaten? Liddell, Rampage, Tito, Forrest… Evans has just one loss in his career, to Lyoto Machida. He gets his shot to reclaim the title in April against Jones.

The MFC – Maximum Fighting Championships – is a Canadian-based MMA promotion that has gained a decent following in the last few years. UFC vets like Sokoudjou and Pete Spratt are part of the MFC, and they put on some good shows.

But it seems they fall short when it comes to proper PR. The following is a real press release sent out by the MFC.

Fighter quits, blows big opportunity at MFC 24
By MFC Staff

Chris Price has blown has his shot at making a name for himself in the MFC, and at the same time, likely torpedoed his entire career in mixed martial arts.

The light heavyweight was supposed to make his organizational debut at MFC 24: Heat XC but after several issues regarding his passport arose, he has now backed out of his fight against Nick Penner completely. In fact Price told one half of his management via text message that he was finished with fighting all together, apparently stating “I’m done. I was never that good in the first place.”

Price had initially run into passport problems in reference to substantial amounts of child support he owed to his wife. The pair had split up with his wife filing for child support, but then got back together thus erasing the need for support. Though that issue seemed bypassed for the time being, Price continued to waffle on getting his passport right up until allegedly contacting his agent and flushing his fight career.

“It’s embarrassing,” offered one source close to Price. “The kid hung everyone out to dry and then didn’t have the balls to call – he sent a text.”

That’s not exactly diplomatic, nor is it going to win you many prospects. Can you think of any other company that would do something like that? Maybe Donald Trump? Not cool.

h/t: Fightlinker

The Ultimate Fighting Championship presents its 7th UFC Fan Expo event on Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. UFC President Dana White made the announcement today during a press conference to promote UFC 143, which takes place Saturday from the Mandalay Bay Events Center. It is an amazing event for fans of MMA.

“We love giving UFC fans ultimate access to our sport and athletes,” UFC President Dana White said. “This July, we’re putting together our best UFC Fan Expo yet. We’re going to have dozens of our fighters in attendance to sign autographs and meet fans, and we’re going to have some of the world’s top vendors and exhibitors. This is an absolute can’t-miss event for UFC fans around the world!”

Tickets for the UFC Fan Expo are on sale NOW at www.ufcfanexpo.com. Tickets for Friday, July 6 are priced at $40, while tickets for Saturday, July 7 are priced at $45. A two-day pass is also available and is priced at $60. Fans are encouraged to buy their tickets now and save, as ticket pricing will increase at the door.

The UFC Fan Expo in July will feature more than 300,000 gross square feet of activities for UFC fans, including meet and greets and autograph sessions with top UFC and STRIKEFORCE fighters, Q&A sessions with top UFC personalities, as well as grappling tournaments and other special events. More than 150 exhibitors will also be on hand, giving fans the opportunity to purchase and experience some of the best sports and lifestyle products on the market today. This marks the third UFC Fan Expo held in Las Vegas since its inception in 2009, with additional UFC Fan Expos being held in Boston, London, Toronto and Houston.

On top of all the great fan activities, the UFC Fan Expo will be held in conjunction with a major UFC Pay-Per-View event scheduled for July 7 in Las Vegas. Information on the venue and fight card will be announced in the weeks to come.

Looks like the UFC is not a monopoly after all, or the US government decided they have bigger fish to fry.

ESPN recently did a piece that brought to light the FTC’s investigation into the UFC’s purchase of Strikeforce, and whether or not the UFC was a monopoly. The FTC decided there was nothing of substance there. Here is the letter sent to the UFC:

January 25, 2012
Office of the Secretary
Stephen Axinn, Esq.
Axinn Veltrop, and Harkrider LLP
1330 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036

Re: Acquisition of Explosion Entertainment, LLC (Strikeforce) by Zuffa, LLC (UFC) FTC File No. 111 0136

Dear Mr. Axinn:

The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition has been conducting a nonpublic investigation to determine whether Zuffa, LLC’s acquisition of Explosion Entertainment, LLC may violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act or Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no further action is warranted by the Commission at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed. This action is not to be construed as a determination that a violation may not have occurred, just as the pendency of an investigation should not be construed as a determination that a violation has occurred. The Commission reserves the right to take such further action as the public interest may require.

By direction of the Commission.

Donald S. Clark Secretary

So the UFC no longer has to worry about this claim, and they have debunked the myth that they don’t pay their fighters enough. What else you got, people?

The UFC isn’t going anywhere. Some hardcore fans have this awful notion that Dana White has somehow ruined the sport. It’s quite the contrary.

h/t: ftc.gov