Keller's Take
KELLER: Monday Notebook - Should Dana White be so blunt? Would Hendo-Rua have been bad on Fox? Will Diaz get under GSP's skin? Who can beat Jon Jones?
Nov 28, 2011 - 3:37:24 PM KELLER: Monday Notebook - Should Dana White be so blunt? Would Hendo-Rua have been bad on Fox? Will Diaz get under GSP's skin? Who can beat Jon Jones?

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BY WADE KELLER, MMATORCH SUPERVISING EDITOR

-Dana White wouldn't be Dana White if he didn't speak his mind and tell the hardcore fans he doesn't care what they think when it comes to the fallout from such a short fight on Fox compared to the impact Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua would have had if it had aired on Fox. I've read a lot of comments on MMATorch about this from our writers and on our Facebook page. I have to admit I side with Dana White on this one. Those of us who "get" MMA and understand the relatively superficial nature of blood, cuts, and exhausted fighters being allowed to continue fighting, to the uninitiated, the Hendo-Rua fight might have seemed barbaric.

I think once UFC has a track record on Fox, a Rua-Hendo type of fight would be great for ratings and for the sport. But as a first-ever exposure, it could have led to a backlash by some powerful people in the sports media, non-sports media, and network corner offices. UFC needs Fox to be able to get sponsors for their live shows to make this deal work for everyone. Junior dos Santos knocking out Cain Velasequez so quickly wasn't ideal, but it didn't set back UFC's efforts to integrate the sport of MMA into a higher level of mainstream acceptance. Rua-Shogun would have been fantastic for 50-90 percent of viewers compared to the short Cain-Junior fight, but those 10-50 pecent of viewers who were shocked or even appalled by what they witnessed in the five-round grueling bloody "classic" could have made for some big headaches for Dana.

The question, though, is whether Dana should be so blunt, as he was at the UFC 139 press conference, about not caring what the hardcore fans think. He says it with that trademark Dana grin, but it could rub some of his faithful the wrong way. With PPV buyrate numbers not exactly at all-time highs lately, maybe he should consider being a little more diplomatic and just explain himself. It seems he's talking to a few message board people when he reacts like that, rather than taking into consideration the large number of MMA fans who consider themselves part of that "hardcore" fan base Dana says he's speaking to, but who are more open to hearing his side of the story and aren't the ones writing blogs blasting him for his previous stance.

-MMATorch readers, by a nearly two-to-one margin (65 to 35 percent), want to see UFC pursue signing Fedor Emelianenko now that M-1 has (sort of) softened it's negotiationing position on needing to co-promote the event. However, where there isn't agreement is whether Fedor should be matched against Cain Velasquez, which is the fight Fedor's camp requested. While 41 percent like that fight, 24 percent think it should be against someone else. Obviously, Fedor's mystique is great diminished after losing three in a row, including to Dan Henderson.

My question would be what would Cain have to gain from a win over Fedor? Most people see Cain as an elite-level heavyweight. If he were to lose to Fedor, it would create a wave of "Fedor is back!" talk, but also a wave of "How good really is/was Cain, after all?" So Fedor has more to gain. Cain, meanwhile, if he beat Fedor, would be just one of four fighters who beat Fedor in the past few years. It'd just cement that Fedor has seen his best days. I think Cain has better fights to take, and Fedor vs. Brock Lesnar (if Lesnar loses on Dec. 30) or Fedor vs. Frank Mir is more intriguing, as both Brock and Mir would have more to gain, plus they're big enough names to be worth the trouble to bring in Fedor to fight.

-Who has the best shot to beat Jon Jones? There's no concensus among MMATorch readers, but 41 percent pick Dan Henderson as having the best shot among four top contenders listed. Rashad Evans (29%) and Lyoto Machida (27%) came in a strong second and third place. Shogun Rua, despite beating Dan Henderson in the second half of their fight two weeks ago in one of the greatest fights ever, didn't win over many people responding to our poll. Only 3 percent picked him as the most likely to beat Jones (in a rematch, in this case). Being 0-1, and losing in decisive fashion, will certainly damage people's confidence in you. I'm not sold on any of those four having a shot against Jones, but I wonder if Rua - having been in the Octagon with Jones already - wouldn't have a better chance a second time around than, say, Henderson in his first match against him? It's not like Henderson is THAT much better than Rua, after all.

-What MMATorch readers are quite sure of is that Rampage Jackson can beat Ryan Bader. I suppose losing to Tito Ortiz can do that to a fighter, along with a massive big fight experience gap. Over three-fourths of MMATorch poll respondents picked Rampage, with 20 percent picking Bader, and only 2 percent saying it's "too close to call." I don't disagree with picking Rampage, but in part because it's in Japan and I expect Rampage to be especially motivated. If it were a Fight Night main event or third-from-the-top UFC PPV fight, I could see Rampage lacking motivation against Bader and leaving himself open to a loss.

-At ESPN.com's MMA page today, Chad Dundas writes about what is at stake for Ryan Bader at UFC 144. Excerpt: "Simply put, if Bader can beat Jackson -- who is fresh off his own title shot and still ranked No. 6 in the world on ESPN.com’s power rankings -- it’ll prove he can still have a place among the upper echelon of the division. If he can’t, he might find himself relegated to a sort of B-list purgatory. He'll be a fighter who can run through the likes of Brilz, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Keith Jardine, but can’t hang with the top dogs... A victory over Rampage would mean those two previous losses likely won’t leave a longterm stain on Bader's career. After all, it’s easy enough to shrug off the loss to Ortiz as something of a fluke and at this point there is no real shame in losing to Jones. All the cool kids are doing that." STORY LINK: Bader faces career-defining test in Rampage.

-Dave Meltzer has a good story over at Yahoo! Sports's MMA page about the ambitious travel plans for UFC in 2012. Excerpt: "When it comes to running live events in various countries, there is still far more of a demand then a supply. With the exception of one event in 2010 in Germany, a market the company had lost television in, every overseas show they have run of late has done either sellout or near-sellout business. The strategy to combat this in 2102 is not to increase the number of pay-per-view shows, and actually slightly decrease them, but run more often by adding free TV and basic cable shows on Fox, FX and Fuel." STORY LINK: UFC launches most ambitious travel plans yet.

-Speaking of Dave Meltzer, if you want to hear Meltzer and me talk about pro wrestling, he was on my KFAN radio show 20 years ago and I posted it as a special Thanksgiving edition of the PWTorch Livecast. Check it out here: MELTZER & KELLER TALK PRO WRESTLING IN 1991. If you're also a pro wrestling fan, the PWTorch Livecast airs five days a week, and I host it on Tuesdays and Fridays. You can subscribe in iTunes - just search "PWTorch." While you're there, be sure to subscribe to our MMATorch Livecast which airs live every Tuesday night. Just search "MMATorch.")

-Recommended Link... Bellator's website features a video of highlights from Saturday night's Bellator 59 event that aired on MTV2. If you didn't have to watch the whole event or forgot about it, it's a good three minute highlight package worth watching: www.Bellator.com

-Today at UFC.com, they're mainly promoting Saturday's Ultimate Fighter Finale, of course, which is headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller, with a dose of UFC 140 hype, as that's right around the corner, too. We'll have preview articles for The Ultimate Fighter Finale posted this week, so visit MMATorch every day for the altest.

-Our new poll today asks whether GSP will be affected negatively, positively, or not at all by the trash talking by Nick Diaz headed into their fight. So far most thlink it'll help GSP fight better, but all three choices are getting a lot of votes. VOTE HERE.

-Be sure to check out our Flashback Article today from four years ago featuring Shawn Ennis's look at how UFC decided to give Matt Hughes a Welterweight Title fight against Matt Serra, after Serra beat GSP, and the complications that resulted. It's a good companion to Jason Amadi's "Ask the Torch" feature over the weekend explaning how UFC decides who gets title shots today. Jason's doing a great job with our amped up "Ask the Torch" feature, so keep your questions coming. If you have a question about MMA, send it to mmatorch@gmail.com and Jason Amadi may address it in a future "Ask the Torch" feature!

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Wade Keller is supervising editor of MMATorch. He has covered MMA since before UFC 1 for the Torch Newsletter, and is among the longest tenured reporters covering the sport. He is a double-black-stripe belt in tae kwon do and has practiced judo and jiu jitsu at the North Star Martial Arts Academy under Michelle Holtze and Tom Crone. He founded MMATorch.com as a dedicated MMA website in 2006 and launched the MMATorch App in 2008. MMATorch is among the top five most read MMA-dedicated brands in the world.