(Saffiedine! Lim! Eleven fighters we’re so confident you won’t know that we aren’t even going to bother showing you their faces! Props to Michael Sempervive for the image.)

By Seth Falvo

With all of the coverage that UFC Fight Pass has been receiving, it’s hard to believe that it has only been two weeks since the launch of the network. So far, opinions have ranged from “pathetic cash grab” to “everything a fight fan could possibly want.” In an effort to evaluate Fight Pass up to this point, here are ten ways of looking at the network, arranged in no particular order.

1.) Should You Buy Fight Pass? Well, Should You Buy Netflix?

“Netflix for Fight Fans” is how Lorenzo Fertitta summed up the service, and honestly, that sounds about right. Fight Pass offers exclusive content in the form of international events and preliminary fights – just like how Netflix offers Orange is the New Black – but its selling point is its archives. If you already own all of your favorite fight cards on DVD and are only interested in watching the UFC’s pay-per-views, then Fight Pass has nothing to offer you. For the rest of us, it’s a matter of whether archives and international cards are worth $9.99 per month.

2.) It Isn’t Nearly the Bargain that Supporters Claim It Is.

The Netflix analogy doesn’t quite hold up though. I use my Netflix account every day, and regardless of who I’m watching it with, I can find something on there that everyone will enjoy. I’m not about to sit down and watch old fights on a daily basis, and unless the original documentaries that the UFC is promising us are downright spectacular, I doubt that my non-fight fan friends are going to want to watch Fight Pass with me. This doesn’t mean that Fight Pass is a waste of money, but let’s not pretend that paying $119.88 per year to watch old fights and Facebook preliminaries is the best thing to ever happen to MMA fans, either.

3.) It Isn’t Nearly the Insult That Detractors Claim It Is.

(That awkward moment when you realize you jumped ship way, way too soon.)

I imagine that after receiving the ratings numbers for Fight Night 26: Shogun vs. Sonnen this morning, Dana White calmly asked everyone to get the fuck out of his office, closed the door, threw on some Rage and did the following…

It would be hard to blame him if he did, because early figures for the UFC’s debut on the FOX Sports 1 network are nothing short of astounding. According to a press release sent out this morning, Saturday’s main card at the TD Garden averaged over 1.7 million viewers, shattering the UFC’s previous FUEL ratings like they were Corey Hill’s leg:

FOX Sports 1, driven by UFC FIGHT NIGHT: SHOGUN VS. SONNEN, posted an average audience of 1.71 million viewers in prime time (8:00-11:00 PM ET), a more than 10-fold increase compared to that which SPEED, FOX Soccer and FUEL TV combined to deliver on the comparable night a year ago (141,000). Among younger demographics the comparisons are even more significant. FOX Sports 1 viewership was over 25 times greater than SPEED/FOX Soccer/FUEL TV among both Adults 18-49 and Men 18-49, and 40 times greater among Adults 18-34 and M18-34. 

(Photo courtesy of Josh Hedges via Getty Images.)

By George Shunick

On paper, UFC Fight Night 26 – or UFC on Fox Sports 1 1, or UFC Fight Night: Sonnen vs. Shogun, or whatever else people were calling this card – looked to be one of the strongest of the year. Usually those cards tend to be solid, but still fall a little short of the hype. This wasn’t one of those cards. All but one or two fights delivered in some form, often with jarring, violent finishes. It was all the UFC could have hoped for to cap off its run on Fox Sports’ new network.

Let’s start at the top; Chael Sonnen managed to control Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the majority of the first round before shocking everyone by finishing Shogun with a guillotine choke. For Sonnen, this was a big win; it legitimizes his jump to 205, and he managed to submit an opponent with very high level submission grappling ability. It also netted him an extra $50,000 for one of the UFC’s Submission of the Night bonuses. Now everyone from Lyoto Machida to Vitor Belfort is chomping at the bit to get a shot at him. He’ll probably move on to fight either one of them, or Wanderlei Silva in a gimme matchup. As for Shogun, he was eulogized elsewhere before the fight. The hard truth is he hasn’t been the fighter he was since his third knee surgery after the second Machida fight, and getting hammered by Jon Jones and Dan Henderson probably didn’t help matters. Getting finished by Sonnen in the first round is evidence of that. It’s not quite time to hang up the gloves, but that day is drawing ever nearer for the 31 year-old.

On a slightly more enjoyable note was the shocking ending to the Travis Browne-Alistair Overeem co-main event. Overeem held the edge in power and technique, and it showed from the beginning. Overeem hammered Browne with shots from all angles, but particularly knees to the midsection. Browne was dropped a number of times but was never out of it, always maintaining an intelligent, if not necessarily effective, defense. But Overeem, as he is wont to do, began to tire. As he plodded forward, Browne unleashed a front kick that, while lacking the snap found in Anderson Silva’s or Lyoto Machida’s, was still sufficient to drop Ubereem. Browne followed with hammerfists and Mario Yamasaki stepped in. It was slightly premature, though Overeem had no complaints.

(Personally, I’d stay away from any mortgage service that advertises on Chael Sonnen’s butt-cheeks, but hey, that’s just me. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

The UFC is going all-in for their big debut on FOX Sports 1. Tonight’s UFC Fight Night 26 main card broadcast features a former UFC light-heavyweight champion (Mauricio “Shogun” Rua), a three-time UFC title challenger (Chael Sonnen), a former Strikeforce/DREAM/K-1 champion (Alistair Overeem), a former WEC champ (Urijah Faber), one of the two most bonus-decorated fighters in UFC history (Joe Lauzon), the man responsible for ending the Griggs Era (Travis Browne), an American hero who pre-emptively shattered a terrorist’s nose (John Howard), the owner of the greatest knockout in TUF history (Uriah Hall), and that gritty son of a bitch Matt Brown. If only all UFC card were this stacked and this free.

Handling the main card play-by-play for the UFC’s return to Boston is our man Oliver Chan (aka “O Chan”), who will be hand-delivering “UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen” live results after the jump beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and keep the conversation poppin’ in the comments section. Thanks for being here.

(Daht royt dere iz wun fookin’ eksaited yong mahn. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

Irish up-and-comer Conor McGregor may be the poster-boy for tonight’s undercard, but the UFC Fight Night 26 prelims will also feature a sure-to-entertain bantamweight brawl between Michael McDonald and Brad Pickett, as well as separate fights featuring former WEC 145-pound champ Mike Brown and TUF‘s first featherweight trophy-winner Diego Brandao. It’ll be a fast ‘n’ furious appetizer to tonight’s main card, so DON’T BLINK. (SERIOUSLY, BLINKING IS FOR PUSSIES.)

Handling the play-by-play for the FOX Sports 1 prelim broadcast is Aaron Mandel, who will be stackin’ up live results after the jump beginning at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please voice your opinions in the super easy-to-use Facebook commenting system at the end of the post.

(“I’m tha muthaflippin’ Chaelnocerous, my insults are bottomless, poppin off tha top-of-this esophagus. Yes, sometimes I am know to be quite sexist, but you lovely bitches n’ hoes should know I’m trying to correct this.” Photo via UFC.com) 

Another Culinary Union powerplay denied, Potato Nation! Let’s go to the scoreboards:

MMA: 438 and counting             CU: 1 (but it’s a big one)

Earlier today, we reported that Chael Sonnen was having a little trouble getting licensed for his fight with Mauricio Rua at Fight Night 26 (or as some of the CP old guard call it, UFC on FOX Sports 1) based on his poor “moral turpitude.” Being that Chael couldn’t fall back on his classic counterpoint, “I don’t speak ghetto,” it seemed as if The American Gangster would be facing some legitimate opposition less than two weeks out from what is primed to be a major event for both the UFC and the FOX Sports network.

Well fret not, Bostonians, because according to Sonnen’s manager — who we are going to assume is just Sonnen wearing a top hat and monocle — the panel that gathered at this afternoon’s closed-door meeting ultimately voted in Sonnen’s favor. He spoke with MMAJunkie:

They had a panel, we had a meeting with them, and as far as we know, they’re going to license him. As far as we know, it will be just like everybody else’s license. 

Maybe it’s just us, but there’s something about Chael P.nut Sonnen’s emphasis on “as far as we know” that makes us uneasy here. You know, kind of like how Chael used to say “As far as we know, your house needs $70,000 in plumbing repairs.”

-J. Jones

(Remember that moment in the middle of round 3 when Glover and Rampage just started petting each other for like 30 seconds? Man, what a crazy fight. / Photo via Getty)

As first reported on Portal do Vale Tudo and confirmed by MMAJunkie, the UFC’s third “UFC on FOX Sports 1” event will take place on September 4th in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and will feature two of Brazil’s most dangerous contenders.

First up, light-heavyweights Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader have been re-scheduled to fight at the event, after originally being booked for UFC 160. When Bader withdrew from the fight due to injury, Teixeira faced James Te-Huna instead, and walked away with his fourth straight UFC victory and a Submission of the Night bonus for choking out Te-Huna in the first round. Teixeira currently holds one of the most impressive win streaks in all of MMA, with 19 victories in a row (17 by stoppage), dating back to May 2006.

As for Bader, the former TUF champ hasn’t competed since his quick guillotine-choke win over Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC on FOX 6 back in January. You can expect “Darth” to be a sizable underdog (once again) in this fight. Anybody think he can deflate Glover’s hype?

In other UFC on FOX Sports 1:3 booking news…

(Stacked enough to mandate a *formal* paisley vest.)

If you somehow still aren’t excited about the UFC on Fox Sports 1 cards, then perhaps this new batch of fight booking announcements will be enough to change your mind. Let’s start off with what is reportedly the co-main event of UFC on Fox Sports 1: Condit vs. Kampmann (aka UFC on Fox Sports 1:2). It appears that top lightweights Donald Cerrone and Rafael dos Anjos have been booked for that honor.

After a rough start to his UFC career, dos Anjos will be riding a four fight win streak into this bout. His last fight was just over two weeks ago, where he edged out Evan Dunham in a very close fight at UFC on FX 8. Likewise, Cerrone last competed almost two weeks ago at UFC 160, where he absolutely dominated KJ Noons on his way to a unanimous decision victory.

This looks like a great fight that will have a direct impact on the UFC lightweight division. If you disagree, well, just realize that not every fight can be Fitch vs. Askren. Sometimes, people like to watch fights because they’ll be fun and entertaining.

Speaking of UFC on Fox Sports 1 booking updates…

(“Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, sleepies. We must go, yeeees, we must go at once.” Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)

As I so eloquently predicted, the unstoppable lightweight force that is T.J. Grant was able to successfully upset the heavily-favored Gray Maynard via a hellstorm of punches and knees at UFC 160 last weekend (conversely, I would like to apologize to George Roop, who shed his “puffed up crow’s cock” moniker with an impressive TKO of Brian Bowles earlier in the evening). It was so impressive a performance that Dana White actually made good on his promise to grant T.J. the next lightweight title shot, despite the fact that next to no one — including Ben Henderson himself — really knows who Grant is.

During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, “Smooth” admitted that, prior to Grant’s victory over Maynard, he had no idea who the Canadian was and in fact was already preparing for a future fight with Maynard:

I am a little bit surprised. I think most people had Gray winning. Most people picked Gray to win and not only did T.J. prove everyone wrong, but in the manner and in the fashion that he did it, pretty impressive performance for him. I did (think Maynard was going to win). I thought Gray was going to be the next guy I faced. I was already kind of preparing for that and now I got a new guy to prepare for. I don’t know a whole lot about T.J. to be honest.

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(Props: @UFCFighterArt)

The last time we saw Joe Lauzon, the UFC lightweight veteran lost a bloody, gutsy decision against Jim Miller at UFC 155, fighting gamely to the last bell after spending the entire first round being hit with every strike ever invented in the history of martial arts. The resulting Fight of the Night award gave Lauzon his twelfth UFC performance bonus — and his tenth in his last ten fights (!) — placing him back into a tie with Anderson Silva as the most bonus-worthy fighter in UFC history. But the loss also dropped Lauzon’s 2012 record to 1-2, which means it’s rebound-time once again.

Multiple sources are reporting that Lauzon will return to the Octagon in a hometown appearance at UFC on FOX Sports 1 1 (August 17th, Boston), where he’ll face TUF 12 finalist Michael Johnson. Johnson could use a victory here even more than Lauzon; with losses to Reza Madadi and Myles Jury in his last two fights, Johnson’s back is squarely against the wall.

Fun fact: Lauzon has never lost two consecutive fights in his entire career. Fun opinion: He’s probably going to keep that streak alive in Boston. The question is, which end-of-night bonus is he most likely to earn here?

Previously: Matt Brown vs. Thiago Alves Planned for UFC on Fox Sports 1 1