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Tuesday news turnover: UFC dominates headlines
By Zach Arnold | April 2, 2007
Dana White, quote machine: “Or, even better, I’ll put up a million dollars of my own money if Floyd Mayweather can sell more than 10 tickets without Oscar De La Hoya.”
Jake Shannon has set up a new web site called UWF Bushido that will have all 75 episodes of the UWF-International documentary “Bushido: Way of the Warrior” online. Check it out.
For those of you who watched the IFL Battleground show on My Network TV last night, what were your thoughts on the show overall? The IFL has two big house shows coming up (4/7 Moline, Illinois & 4/13 Mohegan Sun Arena) and I’ve heard very little buzz for either event.
Shin’ya Aoki has a message to send.
Former PRIDE USA President Ed Fishman invited Josh Barnett to a party at the Playboy Mansion. We cover the hard-hitting news issues around here.
Results from our last site poll: Your first reaction to the story of UFC buying PRIDE is…
- Happy and excited – 48%
- Shocked and horrified – 25%
- Muted and reflective – 24%
- No reaction – 3%
Kakutolog notes that in the Yukan Fuji publication, Tadashi Tanaka claims that Nobuyuki Sakakibara started talking with Lorenzo Fertitta about selling the assets of PRIDE last Summer. He (Tanaka) said that Sakakibara also approached WWE and Showtime about selling PRIDE. Tanaka claimed that the initial rumor was a price tag of 7.5 billion yen, but that after losing money on the two Las Vegas shows, the price tag went down significantly. Tanaka said that the attitude expected with UFC was to wait until PRIDE collapsed and then simply pick up fighters, but that a sudden change occurred because the selling price of the PRIDE assets dropped precipitously. He claims that a major motivation in the speed-up of the sale was due to K-1 announcing plans to go global with their MMA product.
Onto today’s media headlines.
- NBC Sports: Long Island long shot – Matt Serra revels in the underdog role
- Prophet Fighting: PRIDE + UFC – 8 personnel moves they should make now
- Pramit Mohapatra: Why isn’t MMA sanctioned in Maryland?
- The Fightworks Podcast: Pedro Sauer & Andy Wang interviews
- Mad Squabbles: Eric Schafer – No Longer Fighting for Beer Money
- ADCC News: Absolute Fighting Championships finished
- Lay and Pray: BET show could raise ‘best style’ qustions (or just bring back MMA’s wild days)
- Fox Sports: Dana White at UFC 69 teleconference
- Fox Sports: Breakout star Ben Rothwell keeps on winning
- The Honolulu Advertiser: BJ Penn wants to pulverize rival
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I caught last night’s IFL show. I think they’re getting better each for sure.
On the plus side of things, there was a lot of good action and a lot of good fights. I also liked the warnings by Bas Rutten
And while some of the old problems still linger, my main problem with it is its “American Gladiators” style of production. The show is more about the spectacle than the sport. The UFC is very good at finding a nice balance between human interest and action. They bring you into the fighters world, the sport itself, and with The Ultimate Fighter, you always felt there was a real mystique and grandiosity with the UFC. But the IFL delves very superficially into the lives of fighters. How about showing backstage tears? Or backstage celebration? Whatever. The point is you can’t build any stars without really going deeper and giving people something to remember.
And the whole “did Stark tap?” fans’ poll thing was asinine.
It was a repeat of the second show so yea…no comment…
If only it was actually American Gladiators (which just started reruns on ESPN Classic!). Why no network has rented out a soundstage at Universal Studios in Orlando and put together a new version of American Gladiators I will NEVER understand.
10pm Tuesday nights. SPIKE, VERSUS, hell HGTV — I don’t care. Book it. Use the old soundstage that Global GUTS was filmed on (oh…too late, that’s the IMPACT! Zone now).
MMA-related comment: Do we have any idea when Silva would get clearance from the NSAC? I imagine they have to wait for him to be inspected by a doctor in Japan (since he should be there by now for a fight coming up so soon), then meet to make the decision. I’m expecting that, if he’s approved, they’ll be matching him up against Minowa as a tune-up fight/opportunity for him to kick someone in the face.
Nothing’s a more appropriate send-off for PRIDE than Wanderlei Silva kicking Japanese dudes in the face. Godspeed, DSE.
American Gladiators was actually filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood. I learned that fact watching season 1 episodes this weekend. (I could go on and on about the differences in Assault and the Eliminator between Season 1 and the rest of the series…)
But bear in mind 2 things about AG:
(1) Around 2000, there was a syndicated show called BattleDome. Which was pretty much an updated AG. Just not as good — and with far more emphasis on the over-the-top sterotypes who portrayed the warriors (including Everybody Hates Chris star Terry Crews as T-Money, a Deion Sanders/Keyshawn Johnson clone)
(2) Much of AG’s success coincided with the decline in pro wrestling business in the early 1990s. Some have linked pro wrestling’s decline then to the steroid trials and drug testing pushing “enhanced” performers like the Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Kerry Von Erich, Lex Luger, Sid Vicious, and Davey Boy Smith out of the business for a while (until the heat died down). With remaining pro wrestlers displaying more “regular” physiques, interest in the bodybuilder-type athletes showcased on AG increased.
So pro wrestling gave birth to interest in American Gladiators? Is this a ruse so everyone can make fun of roller derby and Dave Meltzer?
The quote on Mayweather should read (per Dave Doyle), “I’ll give him a million dollars of my own money if he boxes anyone other than Oscar (De La Hoya) and more than 10 people buy tickets.” Caplan took all the cutting out of his remark.
Euthyphro,
The NSAC has already said that they would evaluate the findings of Japaneese doctors and make a decision to clear or deny Wandy his request to fight, but as of a few days ago they hadn’t received any requests of that nature. Makes me wonder if he was ever really scheduled or just a poster boy.
KennyP — yup, I know AG was filmed in Hollywood, but their soundstages are much, much more expensive to rent than the ones in Orlando. That’s why I think they should go film down there. I was saying they could use the old Nick soundstages, or the other ones available at Universal, but the biggest one, which was used for Global GUTS, is now used by TNA for its IMPACT! and PPV tapings.
Not to derail the conversation any further, but I had a huge problem with BattleDome – it was far too reliant on a pro-wrestling type set of storylines. I believe they even set a champion from week to week among their gladiators.
AG started off with an element of pro-wrestling style showmanship (the gladiator making disqualifications and personalities like Malibu) but evolved into more of a straight sporting event as time went on. Don’t get me wrong, I love pro wrestling, but American Gladiators and BattleDome weren’t staged contests, so it detracted from the show as a whole. What I really want to see is a straight competition in the mold of American Gladiators with scarily strong people matching up against athletic-but-average contestants in ridiculous events like Hang Tough, Joust, The Wall, and of course The Eliminator.
As for the correlation between WWF’s fall and AG’s rise, at least in NY on WNYW (Fox) TV, AG was on immediately after WWF Superstars on Saturday afternoons. They depended heavily on the WWF audience to build the show, much as SPIKE depended on RAW to build The Ultimate Fighter. I really think the opportunity is there for SPIKE to relaunch American Gladiators, using a strong season of TUF as a lead-in. It’s a shame that AG reruns will be buried on ESPN Classic, because I think it’s still a money-making franchise for a network if it’s marketed correctly.
The IFL is screwed, they wil never be able to sell a team concept as a main draw to the product. They will be a victim of any success they have, the best fighters will leave the team. They could survive if they cut out the team scoring and just let people know that the 5 fights have guys from two different teams.
People going to fights are fight fans first. Nobody gives shit if the LA WINS. They want to know what fighter won and who lost.
ps
I love those American Gladitors! Go Nitro, in powerball.
Kev —
After seeing your comment about how that Dana White quote “should” have read, I went back and listened to my recording of the conference call to make sure I had properly transcribed the quote.
My version is 100 percent verbatim, except for one minor omission. Right before Dana White said “I’ll put up a million dollars,” he said “I’ll give, uh…” and then went with “I’ll put up” instead of “I’ll give.” I felt it was safe to edit that out without damaging the context.
Just wanted to clear that up. Perhaps the other reporter got a slightly different quote before or after the conference call. But during the call, my quote is exact.
Enjoy the site, and Zach, thanks for posting all these media links every day. It’s a great resource for all the coverage out there.
Wow. A reporter admitting he deliberately altered someone else’s words in his quotes.
Shinya Aoki looks like a miniature — and much less green — version of the Incredible Hulk (Lou Ferrigno style).
Aplogies to Sam Caplan and Denny, didn’t realize CBS had more than one guy on the MMA beat. And Mike, that’s harsh. Writers routinely have to clean up quotes since most people tend to not talk good much. Editing is clarifying, not manipulating, at least good editing is not.
That said, I still prefer Dave Doyle’s (like #8 up there) more interpreted reading, that White was alluding to PBF’s pickiness makes more sense with the 10-tickets sold remark, even if Denny you gave the verbatim account.
TG: Actualy the team concept CAN work because if u’ve ever been to a show ull see the fans are really rooting for the teams (consideirng we were at the LA shows PLENTY of go Anacondas!) IMO I think some of the fans cared more about the team winning hen the indiivudal fighters (considering also the fact that some teams are just revoving doors with their fighters). Give it time and I guarantee u the team concept wil work.
Maybe that is harsh, but to me, if a reporter admits they make what they call “minor” changes, how do we know they’re not making other changes that they might consider minor, but others might consider big changes, or changes that alter the meaning of a quote?
Read this about Shogun being looked at to take on the winner of Rampage/Liddell . Definitly excited abot the prospect of that match.
http://ufcjunkie.com/2007/04/03/quick-hits-ufc-69-media-update-here-comes-the-shogun-maybe-and-an-interview-with-mr-international/#comments
Fantastic Article at MMAWeekly.com about all the failed drug tests in California.
Most of them are for Weed, but Bas Rutten was actually suspended for 6 months for pain killers (multiple forms of them). I like Bas, but I hope he doesn’t have a problem. That is a completely different ball of wax then steroids…..
The problem isn’t so much the team concept as it is getting teams rivalries that mean something. I think the IFL needs to take a regional approach, promoting regional rivalries, independent of othe rregions at first.
For instance, in Philly we hate New York. We also have rivalries with Boston from our other team sports. Promoting minor league, local shows with fighters who are actually from those cities, would have a lot of appeal. Native Philly fighters v Bostonians or New Yorkers would generate interest. Other regions have similar rivalries and could be set up the same way.
Once this concept had consistent success, they could expand and link up the regional leagues.
Not to blindly come to the defence of a fighter without knowing all the facts, but:
IIRC Bas was fighting with an injured ACL, groin tear and separated rib. He basically gutted it out and fought for WFA b/c they’d already lost Kimo and were really hurting for name guys. It’s probably more likely that he took those in order to fulfill his obligations and not back out so that the entire show wasn’t a total mess.
This site is great, yet what makes this great is honestly is the people. This is the “great white hope” of all of MMA. My homepage is espn.com but I swear to god, this has been the first site that I’ve gone to for about 1 year now.
That said, I wanted to post, but funny, last 2 topics had no comments allowed.
The headline will be tomorrow – MMAWeely story of NUMEROUS MMA DRUG TEST FAILURES IN CALIFORNIA. I can’t post that, yet few people will read my post — sher/mmaweekly is late and they just leech from Meltzer when he is right. ufcjunkie/ufcmania are great when it comes to the UFC. But this site covers it all, or it used to. We as fans need to provide more links/coverage. 2 more fights have been added to Pride, do you know who they are?
From comments — Zach loves the UFC and hates pride. That still goes on, but who cares, Zach is up there with Meltzer in my eyes for breaking news. Give him credit.
Next, is the radio show, and the comments should be off for a reason. The savage dog and the beatdown don’t hold a candle to you guys. Just keep it low on guests and just talk MMA, opinions is where it’s at and that will keep people posted. I can listen to ESPN radio all day and listen to cliche this and cliche that.
But like 243892943 others will say, my god, Erin is a nice girl and all, and we know that she loves andre and hates the tank. But wow, you need to listen to the show, she should be a correspondent to the local CA scene only. I don’t have to say much, but 90% of the population agrees with me, get her off the show.
The show is 10x better than it was 6 months ago. Erin is great for commentary and the grab bag, I just can’t listen to her talk about anything history related or business stuff. They’ve really toned her down to the point where I enjoy hearing her now.
Thaler is probably the best interviewer in the business right now when it comes to internet MMA radio.
Zach is the authority on Japanese news even if some nerds think he has a hidden agenda. He may have an ego because he was the first to really run with the whole Pride sinking ship/yakuza stuff, but he deserves that. He took shit for a long time and was right in the end.
By the way…IGOR VS WANDERLEI!!!!!