Blackzilians: By The Numbers

The Blackzilians team has had an extremely tough time of late in MMA, especially when it comes to win/loss records. The goal of this piece is to give MMA fans and media alike some real numbers on how well this Florida team has faired since its birth in early 2011.

Now, before we get into the numbers, we need to learn a little more about the Blackzilians. The Blackzilians was the brain child of four former ATT (American Top Team) members: Jorge Santiago, Gesias Cavalcante, Danilo Villefort and Yuri Villefort and MMA manager Glenn Robinson of ASM (Authentic Sports Management.)

Basically, when all four guys decided to leave ATT, Glenn Robinson found a home for the four wanderers in Boca Raton, Florida at a struggling MMA gym in a strip mall. This small gym only had a handful of MMA fighters under its umbrella (at the time) and the gym owners were hemorrhaging money. Robinson quickly worked out a deal to pay rent to the owners and get his guys training again.

During this transition, Robinson also met Rashad Evans. They met through his mutual friend John Rubenstien, who was helping Rashad and his manager (at the time) Jervis Cole, with some non-MMA related dealings. From that initial meeting, it literally only took Robinson a weekend to bring Rashad under the win of his management. This was also at a time where Rashad was battling a knee injury, so all the timing just seemed to fit. It wasn’t too long after Rashad landed back in Florida and joined Jorge Santiago, Gesias Cavalcante, Danillo Villefort and Yuri Villefort to become the fifth member of the team at the now Jaco Hybrid Training Center. With Rashad now on the team, it become clear what Glenn wanted to do and he stated those intentions to Steph Daniels at Bloody Elbow.

“When Rashad came out, it became full force management. When I take on any new ventures, I don’t do it half way. I go into everything with the intention of succeeding. I want my guys to succeed, so I’m dedicated to providing them with the best training facilities and partners I can,” stated Glenn Robinson via Bloody Elbow.

Make no mistake about it though, the Blackzilian camp has gone through all sorts of diversity, some of which include the immediate removal of Antonio Silva (when Alistair was brought in), the departure of head coach Mike Van Arsdale in July of 2012, and the struggles of an evolving striking coach Henri Hooft (difficulty adapting to larger heavyweights like Alistair Overeem’s style).

Maybe not all of these ring a bell to you, and to a point each can be argued in different directions, but one thing that cannot be argued is the mojo impact it can have on a team. For example, think about what happens in other professional sports when a head coach leaves during the midway point of a season. Something tells me if one of the Harbaugh brothers left their gigs during last years NFL Super Bowl run, it would have been a real morale killer in each of the respective team’s locker rooms. Better yet, look at what happened to the Celtics a few years back when they traded Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson. Sure, the Celtics still probably wouldn’t have won the NBA Championship, but moves like that can impact an entire team.

“With Mike Van Arsdale, some of the guys loved him, and some didn’t. There was some tension that grew during the Rashad camp, because he and Rashad were very close, and he was spending a lot of his time with Rashad, so some of the guys felt neglected. At the same time, that’s not why he left. One day, he came in my office and said he needed to spend more time with his family in Arizona. It wasn’t about any fighters saying they didn’t like him. The reason he left is because he wanted to be with his kids and be a good father,” stated Glenn Robinson via Bloody Elbow.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that ASM has grown well beyond just being an MMA management team. They have since taken over the struggling golf apparel company, Jaco Clothing and turned it into a hybrid fitness clothing company, purchased a supplement brand, F3 Nutrition and has since created an a MMA gear company, Booster Fight Gear. It is safe to say, Glenn is building an empire one company at a time.

“The guys help out with Jaco sponsorships. Jaco gets to grow that way. Even if we only break even on the management side, we still make money on the Jaco side. It’s growing very nicely. We have a lot of really great things coming out. We’ve got new headphones coming out, some of the best stuff on the market. There will be wireless ones, over the ear ones and wired ones, so we have a good assortment. Hopefully, they’ll be in a major retailer soon,” stated Glenn Robinson via Bloody Elbow.

How exactly did the Blackzilian name come about? Funny story, founding member Danillo Villefort, was cruising through Glenn’s new management site and noticed every fighter under agreement was either Black or Brazilian, hence the term Blackzilian.

Anyway, enough of the history it is time to get to some numbers!
I have taken the entire Blackzilians camp, (every pro fighter currently on the roster) and broken down their win/loss records since joining the Blackzilians. I should point out, that a few of these fighters were indirectly with the Blackzilians at some points in their career, so the error rate for the charts is at roughly 2% (2 fights or so). Also, on the primary chart below, the members in bold are founding members of the camp.

Blackzilians: By The Numbers:

Cumulative Blackzilian UFC wins in 2013 – 1 (Vitor Belfort)
Current Blackzilian’s with title belts – 2 (Luiz Firmino, CFA LW + Sean Soriano, CFA Interim FW)
Current Blackzilian’s with winning (>.500) UFC records (since joining) – 1 (Abel Trujillo)
Most MMA wins (since joining) Blackzilians camp – 5 (Anthony Johnson)
Most MMA defeats (since joining) Blackzilians camp – 3 (Melvin Guillard)
Current MMA Win Percentage of the entire Blackzilian camp since inception – 57.14% (2% error rate +/-)
Current UFC Win Percentage of the entire Blackzilian camp since inception – 36.67% (2% error rate +/-)

Additional notes to take into consideration:

Head Coach Mike Van Arsdale left the Blackzilians around July of 2012.
Antonio Silva never officially fought under the Blackzilian umbrella and later beat Alistair Overeem.
During Overeem’s training camp for Silva, Overeem had to bring in his own training partners and dividers so he could keep away any Silva alies still within the camp.
Anthony Johnson has had nothing but weight issues, which was most notable during his loss to Belfort.
Rashad Evans has gone through several injuries and a divorce since moving to the Blackzilians
Melvin Guillard could actually be 1-4 under the Blackzilian umbrella as he split time between Jackson MMA and the Blackzilians during this fight preparation for his matchup against Joe Lauzon.
Vinny Magalhaes has been discussed as the newest Blackzilian but that is no longer confirmed.
Several fighters on the list below no longer fight professionally in MMA so I am unsure of their status with the Blackzilians.
I did not include any boxing or kickboxing information in the charts below, only MMA and UFC records.

As you can see above, not exactly pretty on some of these numbers. Anyway, here are some charts and numbers to have some fun with. Again, assume a 2% error rate here as some guys have split some time and not been 100% affiliated at certain points with the Blackzilians which can in-turn fluctuate the totals and percentages.

Blackzilian MMA + UFC Win/Loss records (since joining)
(Click image to enlarge)