MMAPayout will be taking a look at the storylines heading into UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida, which was held at The Palace at Auburn Hills just outside Detroit, Michigan on Saturday, November 20th.
‘Rampage’ ready to ‘put on a great show’ at UFC 123
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Metro Detroit Saturday for the first time since 1996 and intends to put on a show for fans hungry for professional mixed martial arts bouts.
Organizers and fighters claimed Wednesday that Saturday’s “UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida,” will be an event fans won’t want to miss…
“I love bringing fights back to old fight towns,” UFC president Dana White said in a press conference at Detroit’s MGM Grand Casino. (The Detroit News)
Dana White eager to bring UFC back to metro Detroit
“To all the fans who have lived in Detroit or watched on TV or pay-per-view, watching it live is nothing like watching TV; it’ll be the most exciting event you’ll ever see live,” White said at a news conference this afternoon alongside six main-card fighters at Detroit’s MGM Grand casino.
“Detroit is one these cities I love going to, it’s a big fight city, and I love bringing big fights back to fight towns who haven’t had them in awhile.” (Detroit Free Press)
Mixed martial arts draws crowd to Detroit Athletic Club
Penn, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Joe Lauzon, George Sotiropoulous, and several others sparred with trainers for about 10 minutes on the squash court turned makeshift combat zone.
The practice attracted more than 50 spectators, including media members from as far away as Australia.
“Before a guy had a ball in his hand, or a bat, he was fighting, and people were watching,” said Adam Thompson, a 27-year-old TV reporter from Australia. “The growth of UFC is amazing, it’s exploding, the sport is bigger than boxing.” (The Detroit News)
Large crowd at Palace sees ‘Rampage’ win UFC match by decision
Based on the reaction from a sold-out crowd of over 16,000 at The Palace, professional mixed martial arts throwdowns inside an octagon-shape cage appear to fit perfectly in Michigan’s broad sports landscape.
“It was a good night,” UFC president Dana White said of the atmosphere. “We put on a lot of good fights with a lot of good guys. And you get some great moments when you have a stacked card.
“The Detroit crowd was awesome, this place was rockin’ like we knew it would.” (The Detroit News)
EVENT NOTES:
– UFC 123 draws 16,404 attendance and $2.1 million live gate. (MMAJunkie)
– Dana White: Scored the fight 2 rounds to 1 for Rampage, no immediate rematch between Rampage and Machida. (Press Conference)
– Dana White: George Sotiropoulos vs Dennis Siver, BJ Penn vs John Fitch will take place in Sydney for UFC 127. (Press Conference)
– “Rampage” Jackson: Disappointed in performance, almost had to pull out of fight due to illness and a fever. (Press Conference)
– Josh Gross: Lyoto Machida vs. Rampage Jackson was Jeremy Lappen’s dream fight. When he ran WFA, these were the two guys he aimed to build into a bout. (Josh Gross)
– Dana White: The UFC will do around 30-31 fights in 2011, working on 2 deals right now that will put them in over a billion homes (Press Conference)…
Payout Perspective: We previously discussed how the WEC merger impacts the UFC, mentioning that it would need to compensate for losing 8 WEC shows in 2011. In 2010, the UFC ran 24 events along with 8 events from the WEC, which gave Zuffa a total of 32 events to work with last year. White announced they will try to match the same event output next year, targeting about 30-31 events. He also mentioned that he is finalizing a TV deal which would put the UFC in over a billion homes, which one would think deals with landing a TV deal in China since they claim they are in 500 million homes right now.
– UFC 123 was the main story on ESPN, even on ESPN Mobile. Lyoto Machida, Rampage, and UFC 123 were trends on Twitter throughout the day.
– Karo Parisyan was released from the UFC after his loss and bad showing at UFC 123. On the other hand, Tyson Griffin will not be released, despite losing 3 fights in a row, since Dana White did not agree with the judges decision which awarded Nick Lentz as the winner. (MMAWeekly)
– UFC 123 Bonuses: KO of the Night: BJ Penn, Submission of the Night: Phil Davis, Fight of the Night: George Sotiropoulos vs Joe Lauzon $80,000 each (Press Conference).
Good riddance, Karo.
Karo was a good, pressure fighter when in his prime, who could give anyone 15 minutes of hell, but he hasn’t looked good in a long while. Only he know what he has left in the tank, but I hope he takes a page out of Jonathan Goulet’s book and calls it done. If he can’t get past Hallman, he’ll never make another run at the title.
Or a possible drop to lightweight… he looked very soft out there in his past two fights. I doubt he has the mental toughness to go through a rigorous weight cut, though. He’s always been unstable.