Fezzik vs. Fedor --- CornellVerse vs. The World

[majesty95]

August 9, 2009 --- In a shocking announcement following the fallout from UFC 101, including fixing allegations and complaints of a lack of competition for its stars, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White and GAMMA President Matt Tripp announced a co-collaboration of the two promotions to pit their top fighters against each other.

Not much is known as far as the details of the cross-promotion go. White and Tripp both comfirmed the two promotions will combine and that they are in talks with Strikeforce and ALPHA-1 to secure a truly global fighting league to definitively determine the best fighter at each weight class.

White said his plan would have the top 20-25 fighters at each weight class battle it out on a regular basis in a super promotion while all of the other promotions served as a sort of minor league system. Of course, a deal with ALPHA-1 and Strikeforce will be needed to accomplish that. However, with the resources of Zuffa, UFC's parent company, and Mark Wallace, the millionaire oil tycoon who backs GAMMA, that cannot be ruled out.

White said more details will come in the next few days.

I got this idea from Lindsey, who just brought the UFC into CornellVerse but none of the fighters. I figured why not take it a step further? I also figured this would be interesting to the masses and would get a following unlike my last dynasty attempt. :)

[barkflex]

I think the problem is gonna be that the Cornellverse guys are rated much higher on average than the UFC guys.

[majesty95]

Hmm, gonna have to look into that. Maybe that means the ToS database should be more in line with the default database...

At least the fictional simmers will get a kick out of it then :p

[majesty95]

August 15, 2009

Las Vegas, NV --- UFC President Dana White and GAMMA President Matt Tripp announced the formation of UFC Global, the new major league in mixed martial arts. The two promotions have joined forces and will combine their rosters to form the largest group of high profile fighters in the world.

As part of the reorganization, Tripp will relinquish his duties as president as White will lead the new co-promotion. Former GAMMA owner Mark Wallace bought out Frank Ferttita's share of Zuffa, LLC for an undisclosed amount and will be a co-owner. White and Tripp will both have ownership stakes but it is unclear as to what percentage. Tripp's new role within the new organization has not been disclosed.

The first event for UFC Global has not been announced but it is expected to take place in September. UFC 102, scheduled for August 29 in Portland, Oregon and featuring a main event of Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, has been cancelled. White would not say if the UFC numbering system for events would continue or whether Couture and Nogueira would fight on the first UFC Global event.

White also confirmed talks were continuing with Strikeforce owner Scott Coker and ALPHA 1 owner Ietsuna Hisamatsu to create a truly global league with all of the best fighters to determine a truly undisputed champion in each weight class. White could not clarify whether the first UFC Global event would take place before or after the combining of the four promotions should they reach an agreement. When asked how likely it was that all four organizations would combine White simply said, "I wouldn't rule it out."

[majesty95]

August 25, 2009

Las Vegas, NV --- UFC Global President Dana White, former GAMMA President Matt Tripp and Strikeforce President Scott Coker held a joint press conference today to announce a major co-collaboration of most of the major mixed martial arts organizations to form a premier MMA league.

The deal includes Zuffa, LLC, UFC Global's parent company, purchasing ALPHA-1 from Ietsuna Hisamatsu which gives Zuffa complete control over all ALPHA-1 properties, including its roster. There was also an agreement made between Zuffa and Strikeforce in which Strikeforce would become part of the UFC-G. The controlling interest in Strikeforce was purchased by Zuffa with Coker ramaining a limited partner.

Previously, Zuffa had purchased the controlling interest in GAMMA and merged the protion with the UFC to create UFC Global. The group announced that Strikeforce and ALPHA-1 will also be merged to create a new brand called Strikeforce-1. Coker, while remaining a limited partner in the ownership of Strikeforce-1, will take over as the CEO and handle the business end of the promotion. Tripp will take over as the president of the merged promotion after having previously served as the president of GAMMA prior to its merger with the UFC. Zuffa will continue to be the parent company for both organizations.

Upon hearing of the pending deal between Strikeforce, ALPHA-1 and UFC Global, several smaller promotions, realizing that competing with the super-promotion would be next to impossible, either folded or sold off their interests to Zuffa. Among those were Bellator Fighting Championships, Maximum Fighting Championship, Signature Martial Arts, British Cage Fighting and Women's Extreme Fighting Federation.

White said the plan was to have UFC Global to act as the "Major Leagues" of MMA. Strikeforce-1 will serve as a minor league of sorts for the major weight classes as well as hosting bantamweights and the female division. White said UFC Global will promote the four shows per year that will air on CBS, previously negotiated by Strikeforce when it purchased the assets of the now defunct EliteXC. Strikeforce-1 will continue to air its events on Showtime as Strikeforce previously had.

UFC Global will continue to air free "Fight Night" events on SpikeTV periodically thoughout the year. However, Spike's "The Ultimate Fighter", the UFC's reality show featuring up-and-coming fighters, is left in limbo. With Strikeforce-1 acting as the feeder league for UFC Global and a tremendously stacked and talented roster, there is little need any longer for what was essentially a feeder show. When asked if TUF could be reorganized as part of Strikeforce-1, White said only that they were looking at all of their options.

White said that an announcement will me made in the near future in regards to the weight classes and rosters for each promotion. There was still no timetable for the mega-promotion's first show, leaving MMA fans craving action but having no timetable as to when they will be able to satiate those cravings.

In the meantime, all of the major Japanese promotions remain intact apart from ALPHA-1, including Sengoku, DREAM, Shooto, Pancrase and K-1, leaving fans at least something they can follow while the United States newest sports conglomoration structures itself. With all of the talent and resources available to that conglomoration, it will likely be well worth the wait.

[maudlin career]

I'm liking it.

[majesty95]

August 28, 2009

Las Vegas, NV --- Zuffa, LLC announced the weight classes for their recently restructured organization today. UFC Global will feature a fairly standard division structure with the addition of featherweight while Strikeforce one will relace the light heavyweight and welterweight division with a cruiserweight division as well as adding a bantamweight divison and a female only division.

UFC Global will continue with the common heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. However, they will add the featherweight division from the now defunct WEC to the promotion. Strikeforce-1 will carry the standard heavyweight, middleweight and lightweight divisions, however they will also feature a super heavyweight, cruiserweight, bantamweight and female only divison as well. The Strikeforce divisions will have a slightly different weight structure than normal also.

The bantamweight divison will feature a 140 lb. weight limit as opposed to the normal 135. The lightweight division span from 141 lbs. to 160 (155 normally). The middleweight division will absorb some of what is usally a welterweight division and will stretch from 161 lbs to 180 (normally 185). The newly added cruiserweight division will span from 181 lbs. to 200 and the heavyweight divison will start at 201 instead of the normal 206 and feature a 235 lb. weight limit. The final division will be super heavyweight which will span from 236 lbs. up to 285 lbs.

UFC Global President Dana White said a breakdown of fighters by weight class and promotion should be available within the next few days after the last few contracts are finalized.

[majesty95]

September 1, 2009

Las Vegas, NV --- Having completed contracts with at least 40 fighters, UFC Global finally announced rosters for two weight classes in the restructured organization. The rosters released were for the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions.

The heavyweight division will feature 19 fighters including UFC veterans Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. Former PRIDE superstar Fedor Emilianenko, considered by some as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, has finally made his way to the UFC as has Turkish sensation Hassan Fezzik.

Japanese superstar heavyweight Kunimichi Kikuchi will get to test his skills against the best in the world as will Raul Hughes, James Foster and former UFC veteran Josh Barnett. The remainder of the heavyweight division includes Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers, Terron Cabal, Armen Sarkisian, Gregorz Boniek, Rav Kapur and Hiro Arai.

Fezzik's friend and training partner Lefter Oktay will join him in the heavyweight division bringing three talented sambo fighters to the UFC including Emilianenko. UFC newcomers Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos round out the heavyweight division.

Twenty fighters will make up the light heavyweight division. UFC superstars Lyoto Machida, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua headline the weight class as will returning UFC poster boy and former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. Japanese champion Tadamasa Yamada and undefeated Japanese sensation Jin Katou will join them along with Zvonomir Asanovic, Roberto Aldez, Mike Watson, John Rivero, Anthony LeToussier, and Aleksei Chekhov.

The light heavyweight division will also feature several up-and-coming fighters. Among them are undefeated Americans Alex Cole and Jerry Bogdonovich as well as Iranian phenom Gegard Mousasi. UFC youngsters Thiago Silva and Jon Jones fill out the division.

Several notable fighters left off of the UFC Global roster include heavyweights Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Gabriel Gonzaga, Gunnar Nilsson and Jeff Carlton. Notable light heavyweights not making the cut included Keith Jardine, Renato "Bablu" Sobral, Mark Cohen and Curt Kitson. UFC Global president Dana White said fans most likely would be able to catch most, if not all, of them in Strikeforce-1, which will serve as a sort of major minor-league for UFC Global.

White said that the Strike-1, as it will be abbreviated, will feature veterans and former champions who are still trying to fight their way back into contention as well as a few up-and-coming prospects who aren't quite ready for the UFC. According to White, it will not be simple for fighters to just jump levels from Strikeforce-1 to UFC Global. Instead, veteran fighters will need to win the Strikeforce belt at their weight class to be considered for promotion to the larger UFC promotion.

Younger fighters will not necessarily need to win a belt to be promoted but will need to put together a winning streak against formidable opponents and have themselves position for a title shot, according to White. White said that the new UFC will be the "ultimate proving ground" for MMA fighters and that winning a couple of fights or getting a lucky win will not be enough to earn a shot against the best.

White also went into pay structures for the restructured promotions, explaining that UFC Global will, on average, feature higher pay rates than the old UFC with some being "much higher" due to expected increases in pay-per-view revenue and merchandise sales. Strikeforce-1 will feature pay scales similar to what the old Strikeforce had but, in some cases, will feature contracts similar to what we may have seen in the UFC, according to White.

White also indicated that Strikeforce-1 will utilize the previous television agreement between World Extreme Cagefighting, which has likely been folded, although not confirmed, and the Versus network. White said the bigger fights in Strikeforce will air live on Showtime but that they will use Versus to highlight up-and-coming fighters much like the UFC did with Ultimate Fight Night on SpikeTV.

Ultimate Fight Night will continue, indicated White, but he said that it will not be exclusive to UFC Global. White said he is exploring the idea of using the show to have up-and-coming Strikeforce fighters fight for a shot to move up to UFC Global, either against each other or against a current Global fighter. White indicated the cross-promotion idea could include a winner moves/stays up scenario in which a current Global fighter would be "sent down" and the Strikeforce fighter would get promoted should he win.

Rosters for the rest of the UFC Global divisions as well as for Strikeforce-1 are expected to be released within the next week. An announcement for each of the promotions first events post-merger are expected within that time period as well. White said the first events would likely take place around the first of October with a mega event for several of the new titles taking place around New Year's.

[majesty95]

September 3, 2009

Las Vegas, NV --- UFC Global released the remainder of its roster today including its middleweight, welterweight, lightweight and featherwight divisions. Each of the four divisions has 20 fighters and brings the promotions total to 119 fighters over its six divisions.

Notable movements include former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion Sean Sherk agreeing to drop down to featherweight, Brazilian lightweight Caca de Andrade making the move up to welterweight for the first time and Canadian J.J. Reid returing to welterweight for the first time since 2004.

Notable exclusions consist of world kickboxing and current Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, Ultimate Fighter 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero, Ultimate Fighter 7 middleweight winner Amir Sadollah, UFC veterans Josh Koscheck and Spencer Fisher, Dutch star Maarten De Vries, former WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone, and Japanese stars Go Yamamoto and Fumiaki Hayashi.

The entire roster by weight class is listed below:

Heavyweight
Fedor Emelianenko
Josh Barnett
Randy Couture
Brock Lesnar
Frank Mir
Alistair Overeem
Brett Rogers
Cain Velasquez
Junior dos Santos
Hassan Fezzik
James Foster
Kunimichi Kikuchi
Raul Hughes
Terron Cabal
Armen Sarkisian
Grzegorz Boniek
Lefter Oktay
Rav Kapur
Hiro Arai

Light Heavyweight
Lyoto Machida
Quinton Jackson
Forrest Griffin
Mauricia Rua
Rashad Evans
Rich Franklin
Thiago Silva
Jon Jones
Tito Ortiz
Gegard Mousasi
Tadamasa Yamada
Zvonomir Asanovic
Jin Katou
Roberto Aldez
Mike Watson
John Rivero
Anthony LeToussier
Aleksei Chekhov
Alex Cole
Jerry Bogdonovich

Middleweight
Anderson Silva
Yushin Okami
Nate Marquardt
Jorge Santiago
Demian Maia
Dan Henderson
Vitor Belfort
Kazuo Misaki
Paulo Filho
Michael Bisping
Neil Napier
Matthew Dean
Mac Fuller
Heiji Endo
Petey Mack
Leonardo da Costa
Stuart Strange
Fernando Amaro
Ashley Ballard
Buddy Garner

Welterweight
Georges St. Pieere
Thiago Alves
Jon Fitch
Jake Shields
Martin Kampman
Carlos Condit
Mike Swick
Matt Hughes
Carlos da Guia
Jack Humphreys
Julio Regueiro
Gabriel Gallego
Ricardo Fernandes
Alan Kendall
Jim Carpenter
Darin Blood
Charles Stiles
Xie Ming
Caca de Andrade
JJ Reid

Lightweight
BJ Penn
Shinya Aoki
Eddie Alvarez
Kenny Florian
Joachim Hansen
Gray Maynard
Frankie Edgar
Gesias Cavalcante
Diego Sanchez
Roger Huerta
Jamie Varner
Sean Morrison
Bruce Steven
Luis Basora
Fiyero Lermontov
Helio
Giovani Silva
Lubos Plasil
Datuk Ong Ka Ting
Atep of Indonesia

Featherweight
Mike Brown
Urijah Faber
Wagnney Fabiano
Leonard Garcia
Hatsu Hioki
Jose Aldo
Takeshi Inoue
Rafael Assuncao
Marlon Sandro
Sean Sherk
Lars Bohlin
Tomohiro Takeuchi
Philip Ziskie
Li-Kong ho
Sammy Gaffigan
Manish Khan
Azor Portela Nunes
Rafael Tavares
Colm Dee
Luiz Machado

[maudlin career]

Did you change the stats of the real world fighters? I'm not lying to you when I say they get maimed by the CornellVerse guys.