AFeldmanMMA
@afeldMMA • 8,198 subscribers
The Fight Business From All Angles 👊🏼 Where combat sports meets finance, data, athlete storytelling, and the forgotten moments of MMA.
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One of the most bizarre mistakes in UFC history, and one that has always stuck with me. The first flyweight fight in UFC history. Demetrious “ Mighty Mouse” Johnson vs. Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall. The semifinal of the tournament that would crown the inaugural UFC flyweight champion. One hell of a fight that should have gone to a sudden-death 4th round under this tournament’s rules, a format the UFC has never used exactly like this before or since. The Sydney crowd would’ve erupted for a sudden-death round. It had every ingredient of an unforgettable UFC moment, and a simple math mistake erased it. Also delaying the entire tournament for months. But here’s why this clip has always stuck with me. After receiving the corrected scorecards backstage, Dana White personally went to speak with both fighters to deliver the news. He made sure DJ and McCall knew how much he appreciated the fight they’d just put on, and told each of them they’d earned Fight of the Night. Furious at the mistake. Respectful to the fighters. Understanding of how frustrating the situation was for DJ and bizarre for Ian. To me, it’s one of the best examples of Dana at his absolute best. Will always be one of the wildest mistakes in UFC history, and forever a massive “what if” moment.
AFeldmanMMA231,198 views • 9 days ago
Still wild to think Conor and Khabib’s initial faceoff basically had Dana White and a prayer between them. Police were on stage, but stayed back. Today’s Khamzat vs Strickland faceoff had what felt like 10 security guards or police officers essentially holding them during the staredown.
AFeldmanMMA640,059 views • 1 month ago
Fascinating to hear Ali Abdelaziz, one of MMA’s most powerful managers, give an inside look at his negotiations with the UFC and Hunter Campbell 👀 “I always deal with Hunter…and we always figure it out. It’s not science. It’s just: you want 10, they wanna give you 8, maybe you’re going to agree to it at 9…it’s always a negotiation. You know, it’s always making deals. Better than not making deals… My job is to make sure everybody is happy and everybody’s getting paid, and I think I do my job, I think, okay, and I never have complaints.”
AFeldmanMMA179,988 views • 14 days ago
And that is what Ronda still seems to miss. Fans did not turn on her because she lost to Holly Holm. They reacted to how she handled it afterward. She essentially disappeared, acted like no one deserved to hear from her, then came back to fight Amanda Nunes only under the condition that she would do zero media. She lost, disappeared again, and did not do an interview for years. How are fans supposed to stay attached to someone who shuts everyone out and leaves her diehard supporters wondering what just happened? And if we are talking about examples, Chuck Liddell and Rampage Jackson are about the last names she should bring up. Those guys lost plenty of fights throughout all stages of their career and fans still loved them. They were stars because of their personalities, their heart, and how they handled wins and losses. Ronda was not ‘rejected’ because she lost. She was ‘rejected’ because she refused to let fans in when she did. 🎥: bert kreischer BertCast Ep. 700
AFeldmanMMA3,362,753 views • 7 months ago
Daniel Cormier and the UFC Weigh-In Show have officially gone off the rails ‼️ “Laura is the idea of what the young high school guy doesn’t get. If I could have gone back… my first wife, very voluptuous as a 17-year-old…that turns into fat. You get the girl that’s kinda skinny, and then she turns into Laura. Guys just don’t understand.”
AFeldmanMMA1,063,349 views • 3 months ago
Still crazy that Conor McGregor got the blackout treatment for his entrance in his first fight with Holloway…in the middle of the card. This was just his second fight in the UFC, and he got the full blackout walkout as the 8th fight on the card…with 7 fights still left that night. Wasn’t headlining the prelims or anything. Unprecedented. Rogan: “This is something unusual, this kids got something.” I don’t think we’ve seen anything close to this happen again, and I don’t think we ever will. Conor McGregor
AFeldmanMMA194,236 views • 20 days ago
November 12th, 2016: Conor McGregor put on one of the greatest performances in MMA history when he dismantled Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to become the UFC’s first simultaneous double champ. After the fight, McGregor was livid that the UFC didn’t have a 2nd belt for him, that led to one of the greatest post fight interviews of all time. Conor McGregor (🎥 UFC YT)
AFeldmanMMA11,312,994 views • 2 years ago
Nick Khan: “If you want that exposure… trading card deals…merchandise deals… video game deals—all of which the fighters would participate financially. If you want all of that, plus more, come this way.” Sean O’Malley: “Reebok made over a million dollars on all my merch, and I got like $3,000.” 🧐 (🎥: Food Truck Diaries - June 2020)
AFeldmanMMA406,196 views • 1 month ago
This might be the best video on the internet today, maybe ever. Jack Doherty whose whole shtick is walking around with a bodyguard provoking people until the bodyguard steps in…thought he could try that with a 46 year old MMA legend. That legend was Andrei Arlovski. Even the bodyguard looked petrified 😂
AFeldmanMMA1,470,378 views • 5 months ago
Interestingly, if you go back and rewatch Conor’s post fight interview after losing to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, a lot of the comments point out the contrast between how he handled the loss and how Ronda handled hers at UFC 193 just months earlier, nothing about the loss itself. Love him or hate him, Conor faced the media, owned it, and moved forward, and that happening so close to Ronda disappearing after the Holm loss definitely did not help her case at the time. Everyone is allowed to handle defeat differently, but Ronda blaming the pushback on the idea that, “The second you are not on top, you are not sh*t, you never were sh*t,” does not match what actually played out. Not all fans turned on her because she lost. They turned away because she shut everyone out. 👊🏼: Conor McGregor 🎙️: Ariel Helwani
AFeldmanMMA1,897,805 views • 7 months ago
Derrick Lewis found Tallison Teixeira’s corner, pretended to be a dog marking his territory, wiped his feet, and waved goodbye at them 👀 In his post-fight interview, he explained: “I don’t speak Portuguese but I know they’ve been talking sh*t all week.” Derrick Lewis is a savage—that’s one hell of a way to say you’re not done yet
AFeldmanMMA2,569,959 views • 11 months ago
Truly selfless stuff from Ronda Rousey‼️ Ronda said she agreed to fight Gina Carano after seeing Gina do an interview where “she didn’t look good. She gained an unhealthy amount of weight and my first thought was ‘OMG, what can I do to help?’” She also said Gina “is the one girl in MMA that doesn’t owe me a damn thing, and that I owe immensely.’” Ronda added that, based on her own experience, when she was “depressed and gave up on the world and gave up on myself, what I needed was a goal to reignite my passion again”…and she believes Gina needs that same kind of goal now and believes the fight is that.
AFeldmanMMA784,277 views • 3 months ago
You were at the presser, as was I. I imagine you felt the intensity and division in that crowd. Do you think the Muslim fans Sean pointed at while calling them “heathens,” “goat f*ckers,” and “dogs,” and saying they “shouldn’t be allowed in this country,” watched the handshake and 15-second apology Saturday night and thought: “Wow. What a beautiful lesson for humanity.” Probably not. How are months of two men saying some of the most heinous things imaginable to each other about religion, nationality, family, and childhood trauma, in front of millions of people, followed by a 15-second apology that, as of now, is backed by nothing beyond post-fight emotion, somehow “emblematic of what is happening in the world today” and “something we should learn from”? What exactly is the lesson supposed to be? Say horrible things to each other for months, do far more to divide people than bring them together, build one of the most toxic promotional lead-ups in MMA history, then touch gloves before the fight, shake hands after, and suddenly it becomes a symbol of peace, integrity, and virtue? Not sure that’s a lesson in unity.
AFeldmanMMA171,273 views • 28 days ago
Merab is wild 👀 “Somebody close to Merab told me that ‘regular people probably would have had their leg amputated if they had to deal with the staph infection that he had on his leg. And he was just taping it up and going to practice’…And perhaps that is why he wanted a little bit more time.” There is no question that Merab is a Machine 🤖 🎥: Uncrowned Post Fight Show Ariel Helwani Uncrowned
AFeldmanMMA2,079,021 views • 1 year ago
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No disrespect to President Trump, but I’ve been in the crowd for multiple Trump walkouts and multiple Conor McGregor walkouts, and there’s a clear number one. We’ll see if tonight’s walkout by President Trump, fresh off the election, can surpass a McGregor walkout—but I’d say it’s very unlikely. Conor McGregor
AFeldmanMMA2,207,376 views • 1 year ago
Anderson Silva. UFC 90. DMX “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Red Adidas tracksuit. The stutter steps. The pause to Harlem Shake. The shadow boxing. Aura of invincibility at an all time high. Even with the video quality, it’s the one I go back to the most. It’s gotta be number 1 for me. Another one that’ll always be up there is Mark Hominick at UFC 129. So many good options. Too many to pick from. That said, if we’re talking live in the arena, nothing matches a Conor McGregor walkout. A different level of energy than anything I’ve ever witnessed or felt.
AFeldmanMMA150,896 views • 1 month ago