Category: News

By Dave Meltzer

We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s TripleMania show, as well as today’s G-1 show from Tokyo and yesterday’s G-1 show from Nagoya, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

We’re also looking for reports on the WWE shows yesterday in Sydney, Australia and Victoria, BC, today’s show in Vancouver, and the NXT shows in Starke, FL on Thursday ad Orlando on Friday.

AAA TripleMania 25 from Arena Ciudad in Mexico City on regular PPV at 7 p.m. Eastern

Drago & Goya Kong & Dinastia & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Daga & Sexy Star & Mini Psycho Clown & Mamba

Cibernetico & Chessman & Averno defend the trios titles against Jack Evans & Fenix & Angelico and El Hijo del Fantasma & El Texano Jr. & Pentagon Jr.

Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs. Mesias & Electroshock

Los Villanos III & IV & V vs. The Psycho Circus

Alberto El Patron vs. Brian Cage hair vs.. hair

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Myzteziz

There will also be a Hall of Fame induction ceremony for both Perro Aguayo Jr. and Hector Garza.

Raw will be Monday night in Everett, WA. Stephen Amell of the TV show Arrow will be a guest doing an angle with Stardust.  No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman advertised this week, nor John Cena.

G-1 Climax on Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern from Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Jay White & Mascara Dorada vs. Cody Hall & Yujiro Takahashi

Kushida & Captain New Japan vs. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga

Hirooki Goto & Yohei Komatsu vs. Michael Elgin & David Finlay

Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata & Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi

Tetsuya Naito vs. Doc Gallows

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Kota Ibushi vs. Toru Yano

A.J. Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Togi Makabe

Smackdown will be Tuesday night in Portland, OR.

The life and times of Roddy Piper is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We also have coverage of WWE financials and why the stock is going through the roof, the rise of Ronda Rousey and UFC 190 numbers, the G-1 Climax tournament update and the full story behind the 2002 pitch made to WWE about a gay asskicking wrestler.  

The latest Wrestling Observer: August 10, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Roddy Piper passes away, WWE Q2 results & analysis

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

Our lead story is an extensive look at the career of Roddy Piper.  We start by looking at the cause of death, and Piper’s role in the national expansion of WWF and the first WrestleMania.  We look at how Piper differed from almost every wrestler in WWF when he came in, why Piper didn’t work certain shows, Piper working outside WWF while under contract, how he flopped in his first WWF run, his runs in California, Oregon, Georgia and the Carolinas before WWF, the feud with Jimmy Snuka, the Hogan-Piper program, The War to Settle the Score, the original WrestleMania and how it changed the history of wrestling, his period in WCW, his relationship with Mad Dog Vachon, his issues with Kevin Nash, how he got started in pro wrestling, the story behind his babyface turns and the loss at WrestleMania to Bret Hart.

We also look at WWE business, why stock is up, what aspect of business looked deceptively good, a look in depth at the network numbers, how many people dropped and picked up subscriptions this past quarter as well as how all the other aspects of WWE business are doing.

We look at UFC 190 and the storyline that led to Ronda Rousey setting her highest PPV mark.  We look at how things have changed for Rousey since February, the interest level of her fight,  Rousey vs. Cyborg, ratings in Brazil and the U.S. and match-by-match coverage.

We also go in-depth on the G-1 Climax tournament with the updated schedule, standings and match-by-match coverage.

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today.  With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today. 

New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.

Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

• Bryan and I will be back tonight covering G-1 and the TripleMania PPV as well as taking your e-mail questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
• From last night’s show in talking about the women’s match on Smackdown, the commentary was done live.  Bryan watched and thought it may have been done after the fact, but that wasn’t the case.
• Sheamus was off the weekend house shows due to either a diagnosed or fear of a concussion from the Raw main event on Monday.  
• Great Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii main event on today’s G-1 show from Korakuen Hall.
• Twitter numbers for today were Glover Teixeira at 11,400, and Roman Reigns at 40,600 stemming from the fan throwing a briefcase at last night’s show in Victoria, BC and nailing him in the back of the head.
• Apparently the fan who threw the briefcase at Reigns was getting the wrestlers on the undercard to sign it first.
• Regarding the controversial second round judging of the Michael Johnson vs. Beneil Dariush fight, apparently every media member on MMA Decisions gave the round to Johnson, which ended up as the swing round of the fight.  Two judges gave it to Dariush.  Johnson out landed Dariush 35-22 during the round and his punches were also harder and more impactful.  He also stopped every takedown attempt.  There have been worse decisions, but this was pretty bad. 
• Michael Hayes and Kevin Von Erich are teasing one last match.  Kevin asked for a six-man tag where he would team with his sons against Hayes and two partners of his choosing.  Hayes claimed that before he came to Texas, nobody had ever heard of the Sportatorium or the Von Erichs.
• John Cena is scheduled for Tough Enough on Tuesday.  He was not advertised for Raw on Monday, but it would be weird for him to be on Tough Enough if he’s not on Raw.
• I will be appearing tomorrow at 1 p.m. on the MMA hour with Ariel Helwani at www.mmafighting.com
• There is an NXT taping on Thursday night this week. The first hour taped will be the go-home show for Takeover.  The next three hours will be airing after Takeover.
• UFC Chief Legal Officer Kirk Hendricks sent a letter to the fighters regarding the attempts by The Teamsters and the Culinary Workers Union to unionize UFC fighters.  As you can imagine, they weren’t encouraging them to join.  FrontRowBrian on his twitter has a copy of the letter. 
• The UFC took out a huge ad in the Los Angeles Times promoting Ronda Rousey for her success, calling her the company’s biggest PPV draw as well as listing social media numbers.  A copy of the ad is on twitter
• An article on Rey Mysterio promoting tonight’s AAA PPV
• The Boston Globe has an editorial piece on Ronda Rousey
• Regarding the story of Babe Ruth as a wrestling referee, in the movie, The Babe Ruth Story, starring William Bendix, there was a brief scene of Ruth as a referee of a women’s wrestling match (thanks to Irv Muchnick)
• Preston City Wrestling from Friday in Preston, England:  El Ligero won over Ashton Smith, Dean Allmark, Charlie Garrett, Luther Ward and Ophidian, T-Bone & Rampage Brown b Josh Bodom & Ryan Hendricks, Iestyn Rees b Dave Rayne, Noam Dar b Drew Galloway, Dave Mastiff won over Bubblegum and Chris Masters to keep the PCW title, Lionheart b Rockstar Spud, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish b Joey Hayes & Martin Kirby, Sha Samuels b Kris Travis, Dave Mastiff DDQ Samoa Joe.  Masters said farewell, being fired by General Manager Joanna Rose and turning face on the way out.  O’Reilly & Fish are set to face T-Bone & Rampage at the Supershow of Honor 2 card in November.  Travis had his first match back after cancer.  Next show is 8/29 which is the Bank Holiday Bash which is a free outdoor show in  Blackpool, England with Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Ken Anderson, Brian Christopher, Scotty 2 Hotty, Nick Aldis and Mickie James.  On 9/25 they have Tommaso Ciampa vs. El Ligero.  On 10/31 they have two shows with Ricky Steamboat and Jeff Jarrett.  Supershow of Honor 2 is 11/27 to 11/29 with Roderick Strong, Silas Young, Dalton Castle, Cedric Alexander, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Adam Cole, Michael Elgin, Delirious, Hanson, Ray Rowe and Doug Williams (thanks to Jan Buxton)
• Acclaim Pro Wrestling on 9/12 in Ottawa at 379 Waverly Street
• Pro Wrestling from Cleveland on Friday night that has no name:  Bobby Beverly b Andrew Palace, N8 Mattson b Joey Vengeance, Bryan Bowers b Nikki Valentino, Rickey Shane Page b Matt Cross, Dylan Bostic & Derek Direction b Idris Abraham & Aiden Prince, Jimmy Nutts b Jock Samson, Johnny Gargano b Tyson Dux (thanks to Jeff Gorman)
• Jim Crockett’s granddaughter has just launched a non-profit organization helping veterans.  They have already donated $180,000 in 2015.  They are also posting tons of exclusive photos from Jim Crockett’s days as a wrestling promoter that have never been seen before at www.crockettfoundation.com
• Dynamo Pro Wrestling from last night in Fenton, MO:  Keon Option b The Snitch, Rocket Mapache & Jackal b Brandon Aarons & Evan Morris, Brandon Espinosa b Paco Gonzalez, Justin D-Air b Jayden Fenix, Jack Gamble & Jon Webb b Michael Magnuson & Dave DeLorean-DQ, Mike Outlaw b Elvis Aliaga, Jake Dirden b Shorty Biggs (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
• Combat Zone Wrestling iPPV last night in Voorhees, NJ:  Sozio b Ryan Galleone, Sozio b Trooper Audubon, JT Dunn b Joey Janela, Penelope Ford & Takumi Iroha b Sumie Sakai & Brittany Blake, Greg Excellent NC Dick Justice, Chigusa Nagayo (the biggest woman’s pro wrestling star ever in Japan) & Takaaki Watanabe b Nate Carter & Dave McCall, Tim Donst b Frankie Pickard to keep CZW Wired title, Jake Crist b Danny Havoc in a barbed wire match, Dave Crust b Conor Claxton, Matt Tremont b Pepper Parks in a street fight, Matt  Tremont b BLK Jeez to win the CZW title.  Next show is 9/12 with AR Fox vs. Mike Bailey in a Chris Cash Memorial Ladder match (thanks to Bob Magee)
• Destiny World Wrestling on 10/2 in Mississauaga, ONT at the Don Kolov Arena features Rey Mysterio Jr. and PJ Black and the show will be a TV taping.
• Chris Dickinson vs. Ethan Page headlines 8/22 in Toronto at The Great Hall.
• Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno:  Jesse Poole b Mike Strong, Brandon Pinion b Johnny Plinko, Brian Tannen b Mike Rayne (thanks to Jon Southerland)
• Terry Crews, the actor, sent a positive message to Apollo Crews, the former Uhaa Nation, who took his name from him saying “Love the new name.  Represent it well.”
• The WWE Network will be adding the April 6, 1998 and September 26, 1997 episodes of Nitro on Thursday.  
• During a Northeast Wrestling show last night in Bethany, CT, a fan brought a coconut to the ring and asked Donovan Dijak to hit Matt Taven with it.  But it wasn’t a whole coconut, but a shredded coconut that you would buy for baking.  After the match, a Texas death match that Taven won, Taven poured it all over Dijak’s face when Dijak was on the ground selling the loss.  Dalton Castle also hit the deadlift German suplex on Warbeard Hanson at the show.  (thanks to Troy Cummings)
• Robbie E this weekend appeared at Geekfest, a comic con in Newport, South Wales.
• Ring Warriors has two shows on 8/15, with a 1 p.m. and a 7 p.m. show at the Tampa Letter Carriers Hall, both TV tapings.  Announced for the tapings are Bruce Santee, Monster Tarver, Sonjay Dutt, Wes Brisco, Lince Dorado, Santana Garrett, Chase Stevens, The Almighty Sheik, Mister Saint Laurent, Jessy Sorensen, Mr. 450, Maxwell Chicago and more.
• On the ESPN.com web site, if you click on the “Mike and Mike” Big Mess video, there is a commercial for Werner ladders featuring Rey Mysterio and Alicia Fox. (thanks to Neal Hager)
• ACE Wrestling from last night in Wallington, NJ:  EC Negro b CK Cross, Sonny Kiss b Azrieal and Lou Torres, Chris Raze b Astro Morales, Mike Donovan & Ricky Richards b Absolute Alvin & Mike Orlando, Maya & Black Zemis b William Wyeth & Tiny Johnson, Stockade b Chris Romano, Vince Steele b TJ Marconi-DQ, Ethan Carter III b Ricky Reyes.  Next show is 8/29 at the Morgan Jr. Arena.

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

1969 – Michiaki Yoshimura & Antonio Inoki beat The Crusher & Art Mahalik in Nagoya to win the All-Asia tag titles

1978 – The Queen Angels (Lucy Kayama & Tomi Aoyami) beat Nancy Kumi & Victoria Fujimi to win the WWWA tag titles and Maki Ueda beat Chabela Romero to win the All-Pacific title.  

1991 – Akira Nogami beat Jushin Liger in Tokyo to win the IWGP jr. title

By Brian Hoops

1936 – In Waterloo, Iowa; for the Iowa Heavyweight title, Earl Wampler (champion) wrestled Alphonse Bisignano to a no contest, 
Bull Martin beat Frank (Bull) Topas and Hal Rumberg drew with Albert Mills. 

1969 – In Chicago, Illinois;  AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Jack Dillinger, 
Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon beat Flying Redheads Red Bastien & Billy Red Lyons, Wilbur Snyder beat Frank Dillinger, 
Dr X beat Moose Cholak and Bill Watts beat Big K

1972 -In Miami, Florida; NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr beat Bob Orton, Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Jack Brisco & Ron Fuller,
Buddy Colt beat Louie Tillet and Mike Graham beat Taurus

1973 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Man Mountain Mike & Hillbilly Vic & Jim Brunzell vs. Jay French & Togo the Great & Percy Pringle,
Bob Orton vs. Mike George, Ricky Romero vs. Jim Dalton, Danny Little Bear vs. Tokyo Joe, Roger Kirby vs. Rufus R. Jones and Bob Brown vs. Harley Race

1980 – WWF held their “Showdown at Shea” event at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, drawing 36, 295 fans. Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan; Tony Atlas defeated Intercontinental Champion Ken Patera via countout;  Bob Backlund & Pedro
Morales defeated The Samoans (Afa & Sika) to win the WWF World Tag Team Title.  However, because Backlund was already the WWF World Heavyweight Champion, he and Morales were forced to vacate the belts. In the main event, Bruno Sammartino defeated Larry Zbyszko in a steel cage match.

1981 – In Minneapolis, Minnesota; Sheik Adnan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq, In a non title match, Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell, Jerry Blackwell wrestled to a no contest with Brad Rheingans, 
Billy Robinson beat Ed Boulder (Brutus Beefcake) and Hulk Hogan beat Terry Scholes & Nacho Berrera & Chuck Greenlee

1985 – In Salt Lake City, Utah; In a Boot Camp Match; Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko & Nick Bockwinkel,
AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke, Boris Zhukov beat Steve O, Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens dq and Steve O drew Billy Robinson. Attendance was 7,753.

1986 – Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight
Wrestling Title in St. Louis, Missouri .

1997 – Hulk Hogan defeated Lex Luger to win the WCW World Heavyweight
Title at the Road Wild PPV in Sturgis, SD.  Also on the show, Rick & Scott Steiner defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions Scott Hall & Kevin Nash via DQ and WCW Cruiserweight Champion Alex Wright defeated Chris Jericho

1999 – Kane & X-Pac defeated The Acolytes for the WWF World Tag Team
Title during an edition of Monday Night Raw. Chris Benoit defeat David
Flair for the WCW United States Title during an episode of Monday Nitro.

2001 – At the Brian Pillman Memorial Show in Ohio;  Chad Collyer defeated Pepper Parks, Shark Boy, and Matt Stryker in a Four Corners match to win the HWA Cruiserweight Title, Nick Dinsmore defeated Race Steele to win the HWA Title and Matt & Jeff Hardy defeated Edge & Christian and Chris Kanyon & Diamond Dallas Page in a three way match.

2010 – Angelina Love defeated Madison Rayne to win the TNA Knockouts Title.

A Look At Different Scoring Options – UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux

By: Dan Velten

approvedathletics@gmail.com

Before tonight’s column, which is part two on different scoring options, I’d like to mention a new weekly column I will be writing called, Reclaiming the Lapsed UFC Fan. Over the past five years, I have been noticing a trend. There seems to be a declining interest in Mixed Martial Arts, specifically the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A lot of fight fans are no longer interested in MMA, and I would like to examine why. As I am sure many of you have also experienced, fewer friends come over for Pay Per View events, even less bother to turn on Fox every weekend, and far fewer buy tickets. In 2010, my living room was filled every PPV Saturday with sometimes 20-25 friends.   Now, it is a struggle to get more than one single buddy to come over. Certainly there are many factors, the primary one being that lives change, but I think there is much more to it than that, because theoretically, I should see or hear about younger fans emerging to take their place, and I just do not.

Over the course of this column, I will investigate different reasons that the fans from five to ten years ago are waning, and why it does not seem like UFC is making many new ones.   Maybe I will discover I am incorrect.  

In a parallel universe back in 2001, the then World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) bought out their main competition World Championship Wrestling. One thing that really interested me after the buy-out was how WWE would capture the WCW audience. Seemingly, WW(F)E could double their audience over night. However, as history has shown us, WW(F)E did not do a very good job of capitalizing on this, and a huge chunk of the professional wrestling audience instead vanished. The same thing seems to be happening in the UFC (although they largely bought out their competition a long time ago). UFC is losing the older fans. Sure, most business markers show an increase in profitability, but I am not convinced that this means there are more fans now than in 2010, and I am not certain that their business can continue to grow unless some changes can be implemented.

My new weekly column, Reclaiming the Lapsed UFC Fan, will examine all of the aspects that have led to the UFC losing fans. Part of the reason I am looking at the different scoring options is because an improved scoring system would make for a better sport, and thus a better environment to keep current fans, and possibly bring back the lapsed ones. So, on with tonight’s column…

My quest to expose the current judging system as timeworn and in need of an overhaul continues tonight in Nashville at UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux. I would like to continue writing these columns for at least 10 shows to really get a grasp of whether or not changing the scoring would make a difference.   This is only show two of 10, and last week’s show did not have any robberies due to judging, though some would argue that Little Nog beat Shogun. I do not think Little Nog’s ribs would agree.

Studies like this have been done before, looking back at old fights, but this will be real time scoring.   I will use the same three options as I did at UFC 190 which were my version of the current “10-Point Must” I call “10-Point Open,” “Weighted Rounds,” and “Pride.”

I will only score the main card bouts and only note the scores that go to a decision.

10-Point Must (currently used in MMA) – The round winner receives 10 points and the round loser receives 9 or fewer, supposedly based on the differential of the damage and other advantages.

10-Point Open– This is the same as above, but more of the points will be used, including each fighter potentially receiving 10 points in an even round. It could be determined as follows:

10-10 – No clear round winner

10-9 – Winner barely eked out the round

10-8 – Winner clearly won the round

10-7 – Winner significantly won the round

10-6 – Winner did tremendous damage and dominated the round

10-5 – Winner dominated entire round and nearly finished the fight

Weighted Round Scoring – The first round would be worth 1 point, the second would be worth 2, and the third would be worth 3 points. At the end of the round, the judge simply needs to pick the winner and not worry about the damage differential.

“Pride” Scoring – This would simply be picking the fight as a whole. At the end of the fight, the judge decides who won.

Tonight I’ll give a little bit more explanation of my scorecard.

FLYWEIGHT:   Geane Herrera vs. Ray Borg

OFFICIAL RESULT: 30-27 by unanimous decision, Ray Borg

Open Scoring:

Round 1) 10-8 Borg, he dominated with a lot of submission attempts but did not do enough damage to warrant the 10-7

Round 2) 10-8 Borg, by my own description, if a fighter clearly won the round, he gets the 2-point differential

Round 3) 10-8 Borg, because he clearly won the round

RESULT: 30-24 Borg

Weighted:

Rd 1) Borg, 1 point Rd 2) Borg, 2 points Rd 3) Borg, 3 points

RESULT: 6 – 0 Borg

Pride: Borg (This is by far the best method)

Analysis: This match showcased one of the primary flaws with the “10-Point Must” system. Ray Borg solidly owned every round, with only a small blip in the third, and not a single judge gave Borg a single 10-8 round.   If being on top, throwing punches, going for submissions, taking no damage, and defending excellently only yields you a one-point edge, why bother with the numbers at all? The sport could simply use a round winner system, and use monetary fines instead of taking penalty points. If it cost a fighter five thousand bucks per eye gouge, or low blow, there would without a doubt be fewer. Yes, in the end the right guy won the decision, but it seems obvious that judges are only using punching and kicking damage to levy a round differential.   If the full criteria including aggression, takedowns, and Octagon control were considered fully, the scores would be different and the points would matter.

HEAVYWEIGHT: Jared Rosholt vs. Tim Johnson

OFFICIAL RESULT: All three judges score it 29-28 for Jared Rosholt

Open Scoring:

Round 1) 10-9 Rosholt for the take down and ground and pound but not a lot of damage.

Round 2) 10-8 Rosholt for the near submission finish. Johnson must have some flexible shoulders, or no longer have a rotator cuff.

Round 3) 10-9 Johnson for the barrage at the end, but it didn’t look like Rosholt was close to going down

RESULT: 29-27 Rosholt

Weighted:

Rd 1) Rosholt, 1 point Rd 2) Rosholt, 2 points Rd 3) Johnson

RESULT: 3 – 3 Draw

Pride: Draw

Analysis: As surprising as it was that this fight went the distance; the official score was not.   The only real significant damage came at the end of the third, which is why the “Weighted” rounds seem to make sense.   At the end of the fight, who would you have rather been? Sure, Rosholt controlled more of the action, but there was little that amounted to much, and he got his head dinged pretty hard in the final thirty seconds. One could make a case for either. Draws would not be so frowned upon if they were more frequent.

LIGHTWEIGHT: Beneil Dariush vs. Michael Johnson

OFFICIAL RESULT: 29-28 Dariush, 29-28 Johnson, and 29-28 Dariush

Open Scoring:

Round 1) 10-9 Johnson because he connected a few times, but not much

Round 2) 10-10 Both guys super fast just getting out of the way of any significant damage and too close to call, but I’ll bet the judges give that round to Johnson

Round 3) 10-10 again too close to call

RESULT: 30-29 Johnson

Weighted:

Rd 1) Johnson, 1 point Rd 2) Dariush, 2 points Rd 3) Johnson, 3 points

RESULT: 4-2 Johnson

Pride: Johnson or Draw

Analysis:

This fight should be a draw. Why did we have to pick a winner here? These too were clearly evenly matched, and neither man gained any significant dominance over the other. I was impressed by the speed of Dariush and I guess the judges scored his jabs because he was landing it a lot. The crowd is booing the decision, but again, this highlights the imperfections of the system. All three rounds could have gone either way, so why not just make those “either way” rounds even?

FINAL THOUGHTS: One of the shortcomings I am already realizing with my experiment, is that because the fighters do not know they are being scored in these different methods, it is not impacting how they fight.   I also need to clarify some of the wording of my “Open” scoring criteria.   For example, I gave Borg 3 rounds of 10-8, and really, the last round should have been a 10-9 because the differential was not the same as the first two rounds, but given my wording, it had to be a 10-8. The purpose of the “Open” method was to use more of the 10 points, but even in me, the traditional “10-Point Must” system is so engrained I find it difficult to dip to the lower numbers. Before the next column, I will work on the phrasing of my “Open” point criteria.

Other Show Notes:

Matt Brown was interviewed backstage and he said he is looking forward to fighting Kelvin Gastelum and understands why Carlos Condit got the nod ahead of him for the title shot, but looks forward to getting a chance to fight the winner. He believes he should be next in line after he beats Gastelum, which I believe will be the case.

Matt Hughes was also at the show and looked to be a lot lighter than his competition weight.

Robbie Lawler was supposedly here but I never saw him.

Clint Hester was in the front row.

Ray Borg’s face was pretty messed up and Geane Herrera’s was not. There needs to be more points scored for damage from the bottom.

The upper bowl was completely empty. The Bridgestone Arena was at maybe 60% capacity.

All the Tennessee guys were way over, especially Scott Holtzman who is from Knoxville, the new home of Kane. I assume that is the reason he got such a big pop.

Smilin’ Sam had a smiley face cut into the hair on the back of his head. I think the stoppage was a little early, but I don’t think the result would have changed.

The Reebok uniforms look like pajamas, but at least I do not have to see guys wearing those ridiculous Bony Acai hats holding a can of Monster anymore. The new uniforms are seriously awful. My guess is Reebok did not focus group test the new look because I have not heard one person say they like them. I am a big fan of getting rid of the NASCAR style shorts, and banners as I thought it was distracting, but then let us also get rid of the ads along the cage side and the mat. I also think we should limit the sponsorship of god as he seems to only sponsor the winners, which makes the sport feel fixed.

If you have any comments about the article or anything in general, please feel free to contact me at approvedathletics@gmail.com