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Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

Saturday surprise: K-1 interested in Asashoryu?

By Zach Arnold | August 31, 2007

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The headline that has everyone’s attention in Japan is a report in Tokyo Sports that K-1 made an offer of one billion yen to Asashoryu for an 8-fight MMA contract. K-1 denied the report.

One of the more intriguing stories coming out of Japan is the future of DEEP. DEEP is ran by Shigeru Saeki, who used to work with PRIDE on their Bushido shows. When the initial rumors started floating in late July about ex-PRIDE staffers getting together and essentially declaring turf wars against UFC in Japan, I was interested to see which ex-PRIDE members would work with each other on a new project. We’re starting to get some of those answers right now. Saeki said in a Japanese interview that he is aiming to hold a DEEP event outside of Japan and that the goal is to get the show aired on a good TV network. Gryphon adds more details to the story, relaying a rumor that Daisuke Sato will work with Saeki on the project. Sato was the man in charge of all the tremendous video packages that you saw at PRIDE events. He was also a coordinator in terms of production of events. The idea of Saeki and Sato teaming together is to try to recreate an event series similar to the PRIDE Bushido events, involving some of the bigger-name Japanese talent that UFC has not hired. The rumored list of talent would include Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Shin’ya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Masakazu Imanari, and other non-heavyweight Japanese stars.

US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) on the UFC 74 event:

“I’ve been a friend of the boxing industry for 35 years — I’ve been to hundreds of boxing matches — and this is better than I thought it would be.”

“This is a fair street fight,” he said. “When I was a kid, we had street fights, but this reminds me of a street fight that’s fair.”

The New York Times article on MMA claims that the 29 US states that regulate MMA have the same drug testing policies as boxing.

Here are two paragraphs sure to stir up some reaction:

Flying to Las Vegas from the East Coast a few days before the fights on the U.F.C’s brown Gulfstream IV, Dana White, the league’s muscular, articulate 38-year-old president, was reclining in his customary black T-shirt, explaining an earlier fight on DVD, when he said there had never been a death or serious injury in his league.

“Do you know why people die in boxing all the time?” he said. “Neurological damage. In boxing my goal is to hit you in the head and knock you out, or hit you in the head more times than you hit me in the head. That’s basically all there is. And with the boxing glove they have actually created a weapon for repeated brain trauma.”

AOL Fanhouse thinks the NY Times article is a good piece.

Black Mamba is injured and won’t be fighting in K-1 in the near future.

Do not make Fightlinker your enemy with bad reporting.

Sam Caplan reports that the negotiations between UFC & Fedor are not that close.

Revenge of the readers: I criticize some of Dana White’s comments, and in return I get this reaction:

What Zach Arnold says holds no water with me. When Pride was red hot, he spent the majority of his time ripping Pride. Now its the UFC and Dana White. Fact is, Zach is the type of guy who isn’t brilliant enough to run is own MMA/Pro Wrestling Organization, so he spends his time ACTING like he could do a better job then the men in charge. I respect the fact he owns a BLOG and he BLOGS HIS OPINION, however, on numerous occasions he considers what he is doing as REAL JOURNALISM…which its not. He’s a BLOGGER with an OPINION, not a legit JOURNALIST.

I would give him far less crap if he would simply stop calling himself a legit journalist.

The reader made the same critique of me on this very site and I asked him to use the nifty search engine features on the right sidebar of the main page to search for the word ‘journalist.’ Didn’t get back a response.

For the record, I was speculating about PRIDE being in trouble in the Fall of 2005 – which was during a time the company was red-hot and when they signed the biggest money match ever in MMA history between Hidehiko Yoshida and Naoya Ogawa. So, I’d like to think that my radar wasn’t entirely off-kilter when I was predicting the demise of PRIDE.

Shu Hirata is quite the world traveler. He’s in the Chicago area, ready to watch the FCC (Freestyle Combat Challenge) 30 event with the theme of “USA vs. The World – Part III.”

The news of WWE’s latest drug scandal has hit Japan.

The latest CSAC news and notes

MMA

Virgil Zwicker, who last competed for Galaxy Productions on August 24, 2007 in Imperial Beach, has been suspended for testing positive for marijuana. He has been fined $500. His suspension period runs from the conclusion of the bout on August 24, 2007 through November 22, 2007.

Ty Montgomery, who last competed for Galaxy Productions on August 24, 2007 in Imperial Beach, has had his license as a professional athlete revoked. He has been fined $2,500.00.

Mr. Montgomery has had three disciplinary actions within the last eleven months that have led to his license revocation.

September 2006 – Positive test for marijuana
March 2007 – Physical altercation at a weigh-in with the promotion’s Matchmaker
August 2007 – Positive test for marijuana

He is eligible to apply for reinstatement on August 31, 2008 and must appear in front of the California State Athletic Commission.

Boxing

Patrick Bruny, who last competed for Thompson Boxing on August 24, 2007 in Corona, has been suspended for testing positive for marijuana. He has been fined $500. His suspension period runs from the conclusion of the bout on August 24, 2007 through November 22, 2007.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. Kyodo News: Shukan Gendai defends sumo match-fixing claims in court
  2. The Fight Network: Babalu to face formal disciplinary hearing
  3. Sherdog: Radio interview with Randy Couture
  4. Bloody Elbow: Misreading your opponent
  5. MMA on Tap: Art of War 3 weigh-in results
  6. Fight Report: Serious KO artist in action this weekend
  7. CBS Sportsline: Randy Couture’s greatest hits
  8. Grapple Monkey: 8-year old MMA prodigy
  9. Jordan Breen: Ring-girl mania in Japan
  10. The Winnipeg Sun: Tapout crew out to make stars out of scrappers
  11. The Lockport Union Sun & Journal (NY): Boxing returns to Niagara Falls
  12. The Allston-Brighton TAB (MA): Fighting builds community at MMA gym
  13. The Orange County Register (CA): UFC 75 is PPV quality for free on Spike TV
  14. Yourhub: Sven Bean puts some fight back in Denver
  15. The Washington Post: Taking sacrifice to a whole new level
  16. The Tracy Press (CA): The master – Charles Gracie
  17. AOL Fanhouse: Sugar Ray Leonard likes Rampage Jackson
  18. The Pueblo Chieftain (CO): Fight night pleases warriors, crowd at the Pueblo Convention Center
  19. MMA on Tap: WEC 9/5 Las Vegas card line-up

Topics: Boxing, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

20 Responses to “Saturday surprise: K-1 interested in Asashoryu?”

  1. Fuck yeah! Go DEEP.

  2. Ivan Trembow says:

    Looks like there’s a new Zuffa Myth: Every UFC fighter is drug tested every time. Like the previous Zuffa Myth, this one is not based in reality. Apparently, the lies about drug testing in the UFC apply whether it’s the New York Times talking to you or not. From the NY Times article:

    “In his bombastic style, Mr. White is fond of pointing out that all participants in state-sanctioned bouts are tested for steroids before every event, unlike members of most major sports leagues. Fighters who test positive (and some have) are generally banned for a year.”

    In reality, there has been one UFC event in the past five years where every fighter was tested (7/7/07). There were two events at which no fighters at all were tested (UFC 69 and UFC 70). Every other event has fallen somewhere in between, usually with four to eight fighters being tested.

    In the case of last weekend’s UFC event, it was ten out of eighteen fighters. An improvement, but a far cry from “everyone, every time.”

    Also, if by “generally banned for a year” that is supposed to mean “one state in the entire country has that policy,” then it’s not a lie. In reality, California is the only state where a fighter is banned for a year. In the other top two commission states, Nevada generally suspends a steroid-positive fighter for nine months, and in New Jersey it’s three months and it’s also confidential.

  3. […] FightOpinion: The headline that has everyone’s attention in Japan is a report in Tokyo Sports that K-1 made an […]

  4. Jordan Breen says:

    Ring girl mania doesn’t end there. CAGE FORCE picked their’s, but there was little ability to turn it into a blurb, since it would’ve been tacky to just list their measurements.

    As for DEEP, it’s funny they’re going for a big TV deal after existing merely on Samurai TV for so long. Saeki truly, truly is a hell of a promoter. People forget when DEEP burst onto the scene six years ago, they were supposed to be a major league competitor, and Saeki blew all his money on the first couple events. To have been able to find a niche and gradually build on it the way he has is sensational.

  5. oOkami says:

    I don’t want DEEP getting big. Their referees stand-ups during their events these days are quicker than any promotions I watch that doesn’t have some kind of rule for time on the ground. Very irritating to watch, even though they have fun fighters.

  6. Stu says:

    Haven’t we learned by now that sumo wrestlers and MMA isn’t a good match-up.

  7. Jordan Breen says:

    “I don’t want DEEP getting big. Their referees stand-ups during their events these days are quicker than any promotions I watch that doesn’t have some kind of rule for time on the ground”

    Are you sure you’re not thinking of ZST?

  8. oOkami says:

    “Are you sure you’re not thinking of ZST?”

    Nope, I remember the event when they had 3 title fights with Obiya, Chonan and Nakao defending their belts. It was a great event but the referees didn’t let them work on the ground much at all, if they didn’t move for 10 seconds they stood them up directly.

    Shooto is the place where they are best with stand-ups right now IMO.

  9. oOkami says:

    They are going to show UFC 75 on the new Swedish channel TV4 Sport that started today, it replaced Eurosport for many people. Former Boxer Paolo Roberto is going to be a commentator. They are also showing The Ultimate Fighter and IFL Fight Night on that channel.

  10. Jordan Breen says:

    “Nope, I remember the event when they had 3 title fights with Obiya, Chonan and Nakao defending their belts. It was a great event but the referees didn’t let them work on the ground much at all, if they didn’t move for 10 seconds they stood them up directly.”

    I’d really have to go back and watch, I didn’t remember any real issues. Hell, I remember Hasegawa stalling most of the time from top position and still being able to stay on top of Nakao. There are problems with DEEP’s rulesets, mostly in regard to female MMA, but even before rewatching I’d have to say that the event in question would be an isolated incident. I really can’t recall too many BS stand-ups, though I think there was one in Vieira-Obiya that I found objectionable.

    And, yay Sweden. If only your government would stop ballerblocking MMA.

  11. groda says:

    If only your government would stop ballerblocking MMA.

    Actually, MMA has been approved for a one-year probationary period (from May). Basically unified rules without elbows. So it’s looking pretty good. The effort to ban MMA seems to have totally backfired on the fascists and has led to regulation rather than than a ban.

    The report from the committee read almost like it had been written by the MMA supporters themselves.

    On a side note. If you had told me a week ago that TV4 was going to show UFC 75 I would have smacked you in the face.

  12. typewriter says:

    Check out today’s New York Times article – front page nytimes.com

  13. Zach Arnold says:

    Check out today’s New York Times article – front page nytimes.com

    How’s things going in New York for you?

  14. Kev says:

    If I knew Sen. Reid was in attendance and I was in charge of the UFC, not only would I’d fire Babalu, I’d ban him from the UFC for life.

  15. nicklovesmma says:

    I am confused. I think I remember Nick Diaz getting a long suspension for smoking weed but these guys are only getting punished from August to November. What gives?

  16. JThue says:

    nick: Diaz was in Nevada.

  17. grafdog says:

    A new myth seems to be developing with this description…
    “Dana White, the league’s muscular, articulate 38-year-old president,”

    I’d phrase it like this…

    Dana White, the ufc’s paunchy and bald, prone to profanity 38-year-old snake oil salesman and frequent buffet patron,

  18. 45 Huddle says:

    I think a bigger myth then the “Zuffa Myth”…. Is the “Fedor is the greatest ever myth”… From The Wrestling Observer:

    “According to those who have spoken with Emelianenko and his management, as shocking as this sounds and no doubt will be heavily denied once it’s printers, the guy they wanted to avoid was Tim Syvlia, who Fedor himself said presented a bad style match-up. When Emelianenko was Pride champion in 2003, he turned down a title defense against Bob Sapp, even though most feel he’d have handled him easily.”

    Keep in mind that Bodog was also trying to get him to fight Antonio Silva and he turned that fight down as well. He is most certaintly not a Matt Hughes (who fights anybody he if offered).

  19. 45 Huddle says:

    And to further point out the Fedor Situation….

    1. He has ducked 4 fighters now. Antonio Silva, Tim Sylvia, Bob Sapp, & reportedly Jeff Monson.

    2. He has not fought a top contender since August 2005, against Mirko Filipovic.

    3. He wants to basically hand pick his opponents from now on, and this is one of the major sticking points with the UFC.

    As talented as he is…. And let me say, he is ultra talented…. He is starting to turn into a fraud. He would rather dominate these BS Sambo competitions. He would rather fight Mark Coleman a second time.

    After this information is getting out…. He shouldn’t be #1 on anybodies Pound 4 Pound list. How can he be when he is constantly ducking Heavyweights? How can he be considered #1 even at Heavyweight when he continues to duck opponents.

    This to me is the biggest news story going right now. Not the “steroid scandal”. Not “Dana White’s Big Mouth” (Which he does have)…. It is this supposed #1 Fighter In The World who has a history of avoiding tough fights that he doesn’t think he can win.

  20. white ninja says:

    Saeki is a poor excuse of a promoter and will take DEEP nowhere

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