Slow down for a minute. They have some diamonds in the rough over there just like all organizations do. For one I think the EliteXC Heavyweight champion Antonio “Big Foot” Silva is a monster who could beat many top UFC Heavyweights. They have Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, they had ninja (I think he left for cage rage). Its clearly not the UFC, but not bad for being on showtime…

I like all mma organizations. I think the better other organizations get, the better Dana will have to treat us. When other organizations start putting out better cards, Dana will be forced to make the cards better, he may have to stop increasing pay per view prices. Competition in business always benefits the consumer, in this case US!

I hope that M-1 can take off and challenge the UFC. It wont happen overnight, the 1st year or 2 are critical, if they can survive the start up period, then they will be OK. Fedor isn’t a bad cornerstone at all for starters. Then Mark Cuban, and Japanease organizations are willing to collaborate with M-1, it could be the start of a great thing. By 2009 they could potentially have:

Fedor
lil brother Aleksander
Andre Arlovski
Josh Barnett
all in the Heavyweight division..as well as being a part of the biggest match in mma history Fedor vs. Randy. That definetly would give the UFC Heavyweight division a run for its money.

M-1:
Fedor vs. Arlovski
Fedor vs. Barnett
Fedor vs. Randy

or the UFC:
Sylvia vs. Noguerra
Sylvia vs. Werdum
Noguerra vs. Gozaga

M-1 has a shot at making it, a little shot, but still a shot none the less. They got deep pockets and its being run by a long time mma guy Monte Cox who has managed most of all the best UFC fighters and knows the game.

Look for future disgruntled UFC fighters to jump ship to M-1.

In m y oppinion, the more prominent mma organizations out there the better. I especially like how all the other organizations except the UFC are co promoting events together. It wont restrict fighters to their own organizations and display the best fighters in the world matched up against each other, regardless of what company they represent.

Alvarez has some talent but has a long way to go to break the top ten of any division. I would have liked to see him come to the UFC or WEC to test himself, but he chose the minor league route. I wish someone would have asked him why he quit Bodog and moved to Shaw’s promotion.[/quote]

Yo I am from Philly and I will admit mma isn’t that big here, but in Philadelphia mma circles Eddie’s name rings out.
But No he isn’t a philly rock star, and people do not know him on the streets, maybe in his hood but thats about it. However, he is the closest thing to an mma star that Philly has ever had, not saying much since the only other fighter I can think of from around here is Carmello Marrero lol.

Alvarez has some talent but has a long way to go to break the top ten of any division. I would have liked to see him come to the UFC or WEC to test himself, but he chose the minor league route. I wish someone would have asked him why he quit Bodog and moved to Shaw’s promotion.

* The UFC will hold an event at London’s 02 Arena in June.

* Germany will also host an event this year, as could Croatia, Ireland and Scotland.

* White confirmed that the UFC will never strip Randy Couture of the heavyweight title: “He’s got a half million of my money. He can fight. He can fight if he wants to. We’ll keep it (an interim title) forever. Believe me, we’ll hold on forever.”……..Dana is being a real A-hole…All this so Randy doesn’t fight Fedor….It will still happen, Dana cant stop it forever!

* Marcus Davis, who defeated Jess Liaudin for his 11th straight win (including his sixth straight in the UFC), again said he wants to fight former PRIDE lightweight champ Takanori Gomi in his next fight.

So Marcus Davis vs. Takanori Gomi…..WOW!!! I would love to see that. All UFC fighters are talking about Gomi like he already is in the UFC. I hope my source was right.

Also Kim Couture, Randy’s new money hungry wife is looking to make her MMA debut in Febuary! No opponent has yet been scheduled, but hears hoping that Kim gets her head kicked off!

I know he went to North Catholic, who was a rival of my alma matter Roman Cathoplic High school. I didn’t wrestle in high school because I chose to play basketball for Roman, which was one of the best teams in the country that featured NBA players Rasul Butler and the late Eddie Griffin (RIP Hommie), also featured Alumni like Marvin Harrison (best Athlete to ever come out of philly) , so I was never familiar with wrestlers like Alverez, but I do know that there is a lot of hype sourounding him in Philly!

Beside Royce gracie, who was big in Philadelhia when the UFC began back at the UFC 1 days, Ediie is probably the only other renowned mma name ever to grace Philly. I know Royce isnt exactly a Philadelphian, but at the beginning of the UFC, Royce started training people in Philly, he soon hooked up with Phil magliorese and his family. I know Carmelo Marrero was from PA and did some training in Philly, but Alverez has created the most mma buzz in Philly since Royce did it 15 years ago!