Can there be 2 MMA video games?

The UFC came out with their video game "UFC 2009: Undisputed," two months ago under the publisher THQ. The thing has sold an absolute ton of copies, over 1 million in the first month. Can there be 2 MMA games? Dana White said that he went to EA Sports with the idea of a kick ass UFC game, and the EA people said not a chance, and told Dana that MMA was not a sport. Well with the huge success of Undisputed the same naysayers from EA wanted to cash in on MMA.

You don't see another company trying to challenge Madden anymore. That's a lost cause. The NBA has Live and 2k, NHL also has two. Is MMA popular enough to sell 2 games? It comes down to game play, rosters, and year-to-year changes.

The UFC and THQ signed a multi-year contract, therefore if EA comes out with a game of their own, you won't see any of the UFC stars. Not exactly sure how the likes of Tito Ortiz, Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, and Fabricio Werdum shake out, considering they are no longer in the UFC but are all in the current game, making up 4 of the 80+ fighters.

I have come up with the roster EA would need to be able to compete with the UFC game. Some of these guys may fight in the UFC, but were not in the last game for whatever the reason.

If you're an MMA fan tell me you wouldn't buy this game... (fighter by weight class)

1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Alistair Overeem
3. Brett Rogers
4. Josh Barnett
5. Alek Emelianenko
6. Paul Buentello
7. Gilbert Yvel
8. Pedro Rizzo
9. Jeff Monson
10. Kimbo Slice
11. Roy Nelson
12. Ben Rothwell
13. Randy Couture*
14. Babalu Sobral
15. Antonio Rogerio Noguiera
16. Vladimir Matyushenko
17. Ricardo Arona
18. Murilio Bustamante
19. Gegard Mousasi
20. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
21. Vitor Belfort
22. Robbie Lawler
23. Jorge Santiago
24. Melvin Manhoef
25. Ronaldo Souza
26. Matt Lindland
27. Cung Le
28. Paulo Fiho
29. Kazuo Misaki
30. Denis Kang*
31. Chael Sonnen*
32. Frank Shamrock
33. Nick Diaz
34. Jake Shields
35. Jay Hieron
36. Brock Larson
37. Marius Zaromskis
38. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai
39. Jason High
40. Frank Trigg*
41. Nick Thompson
42. Carlos Condit*
43. Joe Riggs
44. Shinya Aoki
45. Joachim Hansen
46. Eddie Alverez
47. Tatsuya Kawajiri
48. Josh Thomson
49. JZ Calvancante
50. Gilbert Melendez
51. Jaime Varner
52. Vitor Ribeiro
53. Mitsuhiro Ishida
54. Takanori Gomi
55. Satoru Kitaoka
56. Donald Cerrone
57. Mike Brown
58. Urijah Faber
59. Jose Aldo
60. Leonard Garcia

*in UFC now, not in game

There's 60 guys right there without any filler, those are top of the line fighters, minus Kimbo but he gives you name recognition.

Gina Carano and Cyborg Santos? Put them in as a woman match? I wouldn't go any further past the two of them.

Also what could help them generate sales and compete/surpass the UFC/THQ model is have unlockable legends... a la the WWF games.

Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Frank if he's not already in, Tank Abbott, Dan Severn, Kevin Randleman, Sakuraba, Mark Hunt, Kimo (He is alive.), Phil Baroni (a legend in his own mind), Bas Rutten, a young Ricco Rodriguez, and whoever else.

In the end, it might be tough without the UFC name, but if they market it right and the game play is a step better, I think they can compete.

-Keefe

Dream 10: Zaromskis KTFOs High for title

As you saw in our latest MMA rankings this morning, Marius Zaromskis entered the top 10 for the welterweight division after his destruction (and upset) of Hayato "Mach" Sakurai followed by the manslaughter of Jason High. The win over High was absolutely spectacular. Check it out below:



Out on his feet, but Zaromskis added a little more damage at the end just to be sure. While we see guys knocked out on their feet from time to time (ala Michael Bisping at UFC 100 just over a week ago), very rarely do we see it a) by the foot and b) with such fluid movement transitioning from a combination with his hands to a devastating leg kick followed by another transition to his hands. It was beautiful and a terrific display of striking by the 10th ranked welterweight in the world.

-Bess

The Sports Brief's MMA Rankings (7-20-09)

Not going to hit you with a lot of fluff on this addition of the MMA Rankings. August is going to be a big month with many of our top fighters in action against each other, starting Aug. 1st with Affliction's latest card. Sengoku, Strikeforce, WEC, and two count em 2 UFC events all take place next month. Since our last rankings we've had a few cards highlighted by UFC 100 and last night's Dream 10. Let's get to the rankings.

Heavyweight

1. Fedor Emelianeko
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Josh Barnett
4. Frank Mir
5. Antonia Rodrigo Nogueira
6. Randy Couture
7. Alistair Overeem
8. Shane Carwin
9. Cain Velasquez
10. Brett Rogers

Honorable Mention: Andrei Arlovski, Gabriel Gonzaga, Cheick Kongo, Ben Rothwell, Fabricio Werdum, Heath Herring, Aleksander Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, Junior Dos Santos, Roy Nelson

Light Heavyweight

1. Lyoto Machida
2. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
3. Rashad Evans
4. Forrest Griffin
5. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
6. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
7. Luis Arthur Cane
8. Rich Franklin
9. Keith Jardine
10. Thiago Silva

Honorable Mentions: Gegard Mousasi, Chuck Liddell, Brandon Vera, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tito Ortiz, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Vladimir Matyushenko, Jon Jones

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva
2. Dan Henderson
3. Gegard Mousasi
4. Yushin Okami
5. Vitor Belfort
6. Robbie Lawler
7. Nate Marquardt
8. Demian Maia

9. Jorge Santiago
10. Yoshihiro Akiyama

Honorable Mention: Michael Bisping, Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Wanderlei Silva, Matt Lindland, Denis Kang, Chael Sonnen, Paulo Filho, Frank Trigg, Patrick Cote, Frank Shamrock, Kazuo Misaki, Chris Leben, Ricardo Almeida, Ronaldo Souza

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jake Shields
3. Jon Fitch
4. Thiago Alves
5. Martin Kampmann
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Mike Swick

8. Matt Hughes

9. Paulo Thiago
10. Marius Zaromskis*

Honorable Mention: Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Dan Hardy, Marcus Davis, Matt Serra, Nick Thompson, Jay Hieron, Karo Parysian, Frank Trigg

*Winner of the Dream Welterweight Grand Prix

Lightweight

1. BJ Penn
2. Shinya Aoki
3. Eddie Alvarez
4. Kenny Florian
5. Joachim Hansen
6. Satoru Kitaoka
7. Tatsuya Kawijiri
8. Gray Maynard
9. Frankie Edgar
10. Diego Sanchez

Honorable Mention: JZ Cavalcante, Gilbert Melendez, Sean Sherk, Josh Thomson, Clay Guida, Nick Diaz, Joe Stevenson, Roger Huerta, KJ Noons

-The Sports Brief

Just Bleed

For those of you that watched UFC 100, or have been following the post event coverage, you've probably heard or seen about "Filthy" Tom Lawlor's win over C.B. Dolloway. It was an impressive performance, locking in a guillotine choke that at first glance, did not seem tight enough to finish the fight. But Lawlor calmly transitioned himself into better position to tighten the hold and dim the lights on Dolloway for a quick submission win.

But what you may not have seen, or if you did, not understood, was Lawlor's showmanship at the weigh-in. He showed up with "Just Bleed" painted on his chest in white, and "UFC" in green on his forehead. Check out the picture below...

I'll be honest, I had no clue what the hell this was all about when I first saw it. I thought he was just being an idiot and trying too hard to be funny. But I did a simple Google search, and I gotta tell ya, I'm a HUGE Tom Lawlor fan now. Watch the video below from UFC 15 to find out why exactly Tom Lawlor did this...

How can you not love that guy??? And not love Tom Lawlor for a) knowing about that - I mean it happened at UFC 15...Lawlor was 14 like I was. I had never even heard of UFC at that point. Great stuff, and well played by "Filthy". For the record, he also came out to "Who Let the Dogs Out" with Seth Petruzelli - the man who beat Kimbo Slice - at the end of a dog leash. Solid, solid stuff.

-Bess

Obama's first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game

Alright, normally this wouldn't be a hot topic with me. But I made a few observations during Obama's first pitch at the All-Star game last night.

First and foremost, it wasn't a freakin strike. He left it in front of the plate and let's be honest, the thing looked like a middle school breaking ball. Slow, flat and a lot of depth to it but zero firm break. Thankfully Pujols had the mental acuity to leap out of his pseudo squat and pick the ball before it scraped the dirt. Needless to say, as bad as GW may have been as President, the guy knew how to throw a baseball. Did we make the right decision as voters?

Well, in comparison to Obama's adversary, I'd say there's no question we did. Take a second and picture John Mccain throwing out the first pitch with arms like this...

I know it's wrong to poke fun at a guy that served our country and ended up looking like a T-rex because of it, but seriously, do you think HE could reach the friggin plate? They wouldn't even send him to the mound. MLB would leave the batting practice mound 15 feet in front of the rubber and have him roll it in from there with the catcher squatting down 5 feet in front of home plate. He's lucky he can wipe his own ass (can he?), nevermind throw a baseball like a man.

But my most astute observation came when Obama went to greet Stan Musial. Watch the interaction again and tell me that Musial's driver is not a friggin Republican. Have you ever seem someone so disinterested in the fact that the President of the United States is standing 2 feet away? He looked like he truly could not care. For all I know, he's been there, done that. If that's the case, excuse me Billy Big League, no need to show us all up like that. But let's be honest, that's the first time he's ever come within a zip code of the President. By his reaction, or lack thereof, he clearly didn't vote for Obama. In fact, I started to wonder if the guy might have a baretta taped down underneath his seat. Obama almost had to hit the guy to get his attention and shake his hand. Check it out for yourself around the :20 second mark...

And here's GW at Opening Day in Arlington, TX this season...

He threw a dart and filled up the zone. Gotta love the quick windmill stretch before the pitch. Solid stuff. But perhaps his best, and most significant work came on October 30, 2001 at Yankee Stadium. Bush tossed the first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series against Arizona. And not only did he toss a pea in there, but the crowd chanting "USA! USA! USA!" at the end was pretty cool stuff. Regardless of how he was as President, you almost had to love the guy. He's a man's man.

-Bess

Buffer 360

Thanks to Joe Rogan's Twitter page, check out this hilarious video building up the Buffer 360 and taking us through the drama and suspense leading up to Buffer's mediocre execution of the never done before maneuver...



-Bess

Hendo KO of Bisping - Video

For those of you losers that haven't actually seen it, or for those of you sickos who want to see it again, check it out below. God I love this man.



-Bess