Five Points: A Plan to Create Stars in the UFC: The Medium (Part 2 of 5)
By Michael Ford Everyone knows that the UFC needs to make stars in 2012. Here are five mechanisms that are essential in the star-making process. What...
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Five Points: With no Lesnar and no GSP, A Plan to Create Stars in the UFC (Part 1 of 5)
By Michael Ford With Brock Lesnar retired, and GSP gone for most, if not all, of 2012, the UFC goes into its bona fide network TV...
Heavyweight Heartbreak: In the Wake of Brock Lesnar's Retirement, MMA Fans Shouldn't Hold on to Hopes of a Return
By Michael Ford Brock Lesnar is gone, and he isn’t coming back. We should let him go, and not cling to hopes that he’ll hang around...
TUF is Dead, Long Live TUF: Reimagining and Reinventing The Ultimate Fighter for its FX Debut
By Michael Ford With a new season on a new network on the horizon, The Ultimate Fighter is expected to undergo an overhaul. But will the...
Big Money or Funny Money: Why The Idea Of A Rousey-Tate "Mega-Fight" Is A Joke
By Michael Ford Don’t believe the hype: Rousey-Tate isn’t the “money fight” that commentators claim it to be, just because attractive fighters would be involved. Here’s...
TUF Break: Why I Let Go of The Ultimate Fighter, and Why You Should Too
By Michael Ford The Spike TV franchise has served its purpose, and as an MMA fan, I’m letting go. Feel free to do so too.I’ve never...
Strikeforce Main Event Breakdown: Diaz-Daley vs. Melendez-Kawajiri
By Michael Ford The upcoming Strikeforce: Business As Usual* card is an important one for the history of the promotion, as well as the sport. Yet...
MMA Ratings Team UFC Prediction Challenge 2011
by Michael Ford The MMA Ratings team will put their reputations and egos on the line in 2011, as they pick the results of every UFC...
MMA Hangover: Talking Points for UFC 123
By Michael Ford Rampage Jackson was a winner in more ways than one. BJ Penn is still a beast. Gerald Harris is no Phil Davis. These...
Chael Sonnen: Cheaters Never Win
Chael Sonnen has been a lot of things to hardcore MMA fans over the last year. His outspokenness and willingness to talk trash about the sport’s...
MMA Hangover: Talking Points for the Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber PPV
By Michael Ford Zuffa’s latest PPV effort featured a Urijah Faber Championship effort, as well as a whole supporting cast of Featherweights, Lightweights, and Bantamweights looking...
MMA Hangover: Talking Points for Strikeforce: Nashville
By Michael Ford Strikeforce and CBS put together their second MMA telecast this past Saturday night, and it featured three title fights, and six of the...
MMA Hangover: Talking Points for UFC 111
By Michael Ford UFC 111 emanated from Newark, NJ, in the shadow of New York City, and might be the last card where the “New York...
MMA Hangover: Talking Points for WEC 47
By Michael Ford Zuffa unleashed its brand of lightweight violence on the MMA world with its latest WEC offering from Columbus, Ohio. In the aftermath, we’re...
MMA Hangover: Talking Points for UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez
By Michael Ford UFC 110, emanating from Sydney, Australia, set the stage for the sport’s future, while reminding us about its past, and answering a few...
Heel Hook: Ranking MMA’s Biggest Villains
By Michael Ford Sports for a lot of folks is about Rooting Interest — we cheer for our favorites to succeed against opposition and adversity. But...
MMA Hangover: 9 Talking Points for UFC 109: Relentless
By Michael Ford UFC 109, Zuffa’s latest PPV offering is behind us, and while the card was short on sizzle going in, it still yields quite...
MMA Hangover: 9 Talking Points for Strikeforce: Miami
By Michael Ford After the latest offering by Strikeforce and Showtime this past Saturday night, there are quite a few things that should be talked about.1....
This Sport Needs a Scoreboard: The Case for Open Scoring in MMA
By Michael Ford Judges’ scorecards shouldn’t be rendered in secret. By publishing round winners as rounds are scored, we can pinpoint EXACTLY when and where judges...
Hugging it Out, or MMA’s Mainstream Conundrum
By Michael Ford (MichaelFord@mmaratings.net) Last week, fellow writer Spencer Kyte discussed his Jorge Gurgel Theory, which he suggested was an impediment to the mixed martial arts...
