That was fast. Mir got KTFO by Fedor in just 48 seconds.

edit: Chael Sonnen is going to fight Fedor in Bellator's freakshow semifinals. F'ing LOL

Sounds like the UFC is close to working something out with Nate Diaz.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">UFC, Nate Diaz in serious talks for August return — <a href="https://t.co/GbJP3rZmer">https://t.co/GbJP3rZmer</a></p>&mdash; Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) <a href="https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/991379631562461184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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No UFC this weekend.

Friday

5pm - (Fightpass) - TKO 43

Canadian promotion, and judging by tapology rankings, this is a pretty good card by B-level promotion standards.

7pm - (Fightpass) - Invicta FC 29, Kaufman vs. Lehner

This is a very good card by Invicta's standards. The last 5 fights on the card have a lot of decent prospects that may be close to the UFC.

Saturday and Sunday

nothing, unless you count Rizin which is having a $20 internet PPV in the middle of the night Saturday night/Sunday morning

The UFC has signed a 5-year TV deal with ESPN, at $150MM per year. Beginning in 2019, ESPN will stream 15 events per year on ESPN+ ($5/month subscription), and they will also air an undisclosed number of cards on their TV networks. They will also air 30-minute specials previewing each PPV.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/mixed...orm-1.18448424

I suppose tis gives me a reason to watch ESPN again.

The article makes it sound like it's streaming only.

So essentially the FS1 cards are moving to a paid model?

So we have to pay for ppv, pay for the fight night cards, and pay for the big fox shows assuming they move the half dozen big fox shows a year to ESPN


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The UFC is expected to sign a deal with FOX soon. This isn't going to have much of an impact on FOX or FS1. The UFC does about 40 cards per year, so 15 isn't even half of it.

Regarding ESPN+, Jeremy Botter is reporting that people who subscribe to ESPN+ in 2019 will get the option to add Fightpass for only $5 instead of $10. So, the price won't increase for current Fightpass subscribers.

The good news is that we have televised MMA this weekend after a couple week break. A PPV even, seriously! This one kind of snuck up on us since the UFC decided to save on their marketing budget and didn't really try to promote this one.

The bad news is.... well...

Saturday

noon - (Fightpass) - Glory 53

Its kickboxing. I don't know if this card is good or not, but its something to watch Saturday afternoon.

8pm - (Paramount) - Bellator 199, Bader vs. King Mo

This is a below-average Bellator card and they have made the very questionable decision to compete head to head with a UFC PPV. Bader is usually a fun fighter to watch, but his opponent is one of the most dull, uninspiring wrestlers on their roster so the main event for their heavyweight freakshow tournament could suck.

7pm TV - (5:15pm Fightpass/7pm FX/9pm PPV) - UFC 224, Nunes vs. Pennington

This would have been a decent little card if it was free. As a PPV though, its below average, though probably not the worst of the year. (UFC 221 and 222 are both probably worse than this) Belfort vs. Machida would have been great and compelling 6 years ago. Jacare vs Gastelum is also going to be a good fight. If this holds together, then I'll go ahead and watch it because it just barely clears the bar for me on a PPV, but if any of the 3 more interesting fights fall out this week, then I'm probably out.

edit: This will apparently be Vitor Belfort's retirement fight, win lose or draw. So, there's that.

The UFC cut Yair Rodriguez (12-2, #11 FW) after he turned down two fights.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FakeNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FakeNews</a></p>&mdash; Yair Rodriguez (@panteraufc) <a href="https://twitter.com/panteraufc/status/994291725471367168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Real News</p>&mdash; Dana White (@danawhite) <a href="https://twitter.com/danawhite/status/994819605314064386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Wow, I wonder why he turned down Lamas? Kid has to know how cut throat the UFC is.

LOL, wow. One of the strawweights missed weight by 7.4 pounds, which is an enormous miss at 115. The fight would be called off in many states, but Brazil's AC just shrugged and let the fight go on.

edit: According to MMAFighting.com, Brazil's AC was just going to give 10% of Dern's purse to Cooper, but the UFC then stepped in and basically said "no, **** that. If she agrees to the fight, then Cooper's getting 30%"

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not shocked <a href="https://twitter.com/MackenzieDern?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MackenzieDern</a> missed weight but 7.4lbs over is a disgrace to all professionals. She’s not getting out of this fight that easy. Fight is still on. ABCNation get ready. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ufc224?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ufc224</a> strawweight vs flyweight tomorrow night in Brazil</p>&mdash; Amanda Bobby Cooper (@ABCnation115) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCnation115/status/994951184099303426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
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For someone with so much hype, she's been nothing short of a disaster.

What a joke that is...

They needed to start doing this. I can see turning down fights with short notice but they had a lot of people turning down fights for no good reason and with plenty of time to train and they needed to put a stop to that.

No doubt, how about less Instagram, a little more weight cut...