If you watched Liddell vs. Ortiz 3, what did you think of the overall production by Golden Boy Promotions?
Frank Hyden, Columnist – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
I didn’t watch, but I assume they followed the normal template of MMA production. When it comes to sports and the way they’re presented, the innovations are small enough that you only notice when they’re not there so I assume the same is true here. The only way you would even think about the production of that show was if something was horribly wrong. It’s like a referee or official, you only notice them when they do something wrong. I haven’t heard anything bad about the actual show production so I’m sure it was fine.
Christian Moore, MMATorch Contributor
The production was astonishing. It is high quality, because of course it is. This was De La Hoya putting it on, and he spends a lot of money, as he promotes a ton of HUGE boxing fights. However, for the company to succeed they need a big star or group of stars, as putting on fights like Chuck/Tito isn’t really a pay-per-view draw. If someone wants a freak show fight, they can find it for free on a Bellator show.
Cole Henry, Live Events Reporter
The production overall was not bad. The commentators were well informed (Rashad Evans and Frank Mir so no surprise there), the cage setup was easy on the eyes, and the card actually had some decent action on it though it will likely be over shadowed by the main event. The production wasn’t the issue here, but De La Hoya is a pro and that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. If somebody would have taken the time to explain the downsides of a Liddell/Ortiz fight in 2018 to De La Hoya, perhaps this show would have been considered a success (And it still may be once the numbers come out), but the reaction certainly has not been positive.
Dylan Bowker, Canadian Events Reporter
I thought the pacing of the show was quite strong. For what the card largely lacked in name value, certain moments were able to elicit solid reactions such as the Palacios knockout. Deron Winn emerged as an interesting prospect via dominating tenured veteran “Filthy” Tom Lawlor. There was also some level of morbid entertainment value with the main event bout. Though Chuck’s knockout loss was fairly sad, there was something to be said for the obvious catharsis of The Huntington Beach Bad Boy. Tito doing his grave digger celebration after finally securing a win over his arch-nemesis The Iceman who had bested him twice beforehand by knockout. I think a lot of the metrics associated with the event (inferences on PPV buys, live gate figure, overall attendance, etc) will encourage Oscar and Co. to journey back into MMA promotion again.
Sean Covington, Columnist – Covington’s Corner
Golden Boy Productions looked professional, I don’t think that anyone could tell that they just got into the MMA business. Its going to be hard for Golden Boy to get any fighters people care about because Bellator and One can barely do that. As far as the production goes, I would hire some ex WWE creative and production crew guys and put together some awesome video packages. WWE can sell me on any match being a big deal with their video packages, they are second to none. In order to stand out Golden Boy would have to be pretty innovative and MMA hasn’t shown that it has the fan base to facilitate growth during such a risky venture. I mean, look at what MMA fans say about pro wrestling.
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Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch Managing Editor
I thought the production of Liddell vs. Ortiz 3 was largely good. These days, there are only so many ways you can present MMA. You can either emulate UFC’s slick but minimalist presentation, or you can go over the top and aim for what Pride used to do. Bellator manages to find a happy medium. All the basics of Golden Boy’s production were on point. The commentary sounded good, the cage was well lit and the on screen graphics were accurate and professional looking. I’m not crazy about six-sided cages, but that might just be me having bad TNA memories. The pacing was still a little slow for my liking. The pay-per-view was still three and a half hours for six fights. Five fights inside three hours should be the target for any MMA broadcast, whether it be pay-per-view, or television. At the least the show started at 9 eastern, so it was easier to get through.
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