THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
"I was there in the room when we decided whether to let The Ultimate Fighter come on after Monday Night Raw. They had the right to approve or decline any programming that followed them... I told [the WWE], they better not let [the UFC] on... Yeah, I'm the a--hole that almost turned it down... [I told Vince McMahon] you should be afraid of anything that will take away from your pay-per-view dollar. They are going to reach into your pocket, rip it open, and all those dollars are going to flow right there."
-Paul Heyman talks to Ariel Helwani on MMAFighting's The MMA Hour on how he almost sent the UFC on a different path by trying to get the WWE to not allow the airing of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter after Monday Night Raw.
Penick's Analysis: Well, if Vince had listened to Heyman, things might be very different for both companies here in 2010. The first season of TUF was the first in a number of things that turned the UFC around and turned them into the pay-per-view juggernaut they are today. And now, while the UFC is breaking pay-per-view records year after year, the WWE's pay-per-view business continues to decline. MMA fans everywhere can thank Vince McMahon if this anecdote is truthful, but in hindsight it may not have been the best move for the WWE.
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP