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Tuesday headlines: The NFL vs. MMA
By Zach Arnold | September 3, 2007
Tomorrow (yes, Wednesday) is the next WEC event from Las Vegas and I’m looking forward to it. We will recap the event on the next edition of Fight Opinion Radio.
Here is some more background information about Mark Cuban’s interest in MMA. Cuban and Fishman working together would be a hell of a deal.
Kevin Iole says that UFC shows it isn’t greedy with fight offerings.
ESPN has an article about NFL players interested in MMA.
Hidehiko Yoshida is going to be a free agent.
Quinton Jackson talks about how UFC has promoted him so far and why he likes fighting outside of the States.
Michael Bisping did a Q & A session with the staff at MMA Madness.
Shu Hirata has a couple of photos from this past weekend’s FCC event in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
In addition to UFC Junkie material, I noticed that Yahoo Sports is also aggregating content from The Fight Network on their site.
Boxing has taken a beating mainly from UFC writers (who’s agenda is to make the UFC bigger than it really is) who say Sports such as the UFC are taking over Boxing. That’s nonsense, especially when each and every year Boxing has kicked the living crap out of the popularity of the UFC. I like the UFC personally, not nearly as much as Boxing of course, but I got to call it as it is… Each and every year the biggest Pay-per-views in popularity and gross revenue are Boxing related, not UFC.
Mayweather Jr. who not only strongly criticized the UFC in recent times, has with his fight against Oscar De La Hoya proven that not only is Boxing here to stay…. it will remain dominant. And Mayweather Jr. is doing his part too ensure it. Fighting Hatton in December of this year and being featured on the highly rated “Dancing with Stars,” Mayweather Jr. is on fire these days and he is certainly not holding back.
This is a big MMA week for activity and there are a lot of shows to watch and analyze. If you haven’t signed up yet for an account at MMA Predictions, go do it. I have an account over there and try to make predictions for as many fights as possible. Plus, MMA Predictions has some advice on how to make your girlfriend like MMA. Good luck on that.
Onto today’s headlines.
- UFC Junkie: Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell fight promoted to UFN 11 main card
- Bloody Elbow: 40 fighters who should be in the UFC
- Fighters Only Mag: Paul Kelly out, Ross Mason in at Cage Rage 23
- MMA Weekly: Imanari out, Brennan in at Cage Rage 23
- UFC HP: The Rampage Way
- 411 Mania: Interview with Mike Ciesnolevicz
- WEC HP: Brian Stann, All American
- The Newark Star-Ledger (NJ): Stann to show off improved skills against Billington
- Yourguide (Lithgow, Australia): Brad Morris wins his toughest bout in MMA
- The Saipan Tribune: Slade Adelbai TKOs Mike Castro at ‘Rites of Passage’ event
- MMA Analyst: The Fedor Negotiation should be a feature film!
- Blogger News: Where is Las Vegas going?
- Radio (Eddie Goldman): Interview with Team Takedown’s Jake Rosholt
- The Orlando Sentinel (FL): Dan Henderson seeks to unify MMA 205-pound championships
- Sportsnet (Canada): Jonathan Goulet gets new opponent
- The Daily Star (UK): Count on Warrior Michael Bisping
- 24 Hours Vancouver (Canada): Ahead of his time – BJJ’er Dave Feser is now training MMA fighters
- The Newark Star-Ledger (NJ): Rob McCullough taking WEC title defense personally
- Tim Leidecker: Polish MMA significantly growing
Topics: Boxing, Canada, IFL, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Iole must be on the UFC pay roll…
Damn, lol, Zurich beat me to it. I was about to say the same thing…
“These NFL players think they are going to come in and fight against real mixed martial artists? It’s going to be ugly,” White said. “I got two words for you: Johnnie Morton.”
L-O-L. This comment made my morning.
Like to see some Rugby players in MMA.
The WEC event lost some it’s luster to me when Pulver got injured. I was really looking forward to Pulver/Swanson. While there is a co-main event, I have never been able to get into Bantamweight fighters. They just look too small. Featherweight is about as low as I go. So really there is one fight I am looking forward to, and that is the main event.
As for boxing… It has the most popular PPV this year with Mayweather/ODLH. But in 2006, the UFC had the biggest PPV and the most revenues from PPV compared to HBO. So that article isn’t 100% correct.
45 – You should look at the article on Rampage.
Then find the pic of Silva when he fought in Las Vegas and please point out to me how he looks any different from when he fought in the past and where all of this newly gained “body fat” of his is…your evidence of his obvious “juicing” *rolls eyes*
“Like to see some Rugby players in MMA.”
I’m dying for the MMA version of Anthony Mundine.
I never said Silva specifically. I said the Pride fighters as a whole had a different body appearance. Not all of them looked completely different.
Besides, if you roid up for 5+ years and get off the juice for one fight, some fighters will show more then others.
And just like the WWE’s Funaki…. Body appearance alone doesn’t prove somebody is on steroids or HGH.
Also keep in mind a fighters quickness…. That is a combination of the roids and what the roids do for the fighter… Like recoup time….
Also don’t forget most fighters are cycling off for their fights … pretty much everyone using steroids has an on/off cycle to prevent their testicles from imploding and their organs from failing. ‘Smart’ fighters cycle off as close to the fight as possible to retain mass and power, using steroids that have short half lives to test clean the night of the fight.
So don’t think just because fighters are in the UFC passing drug tests that it means they’re clean.
This has been a public message from Fightlinker, who apparently is the resident steroid expert now. What a shitty job I’ve got.
I’ll go back and look at your posts – but you specifically named Silva as a fighter whose physical appearance was very different and showed that he was a juicer who had gone off the roids. You know you said it and I know you said it, I just thought I’d point out that you were making bullshit up once again.
He looks EXACTLY the same as he’s looked in every other fight he’s been in in the last 6 years, but that was supposedly your “bulletproof” evidence of the obvious steroid usage. I’m not saying he did or he didn’t use steroids, just saying your so called “proof” doesn’t even exist either.
FL: Like it’s been said many times, these pre-fight/post-fight tests are IQ tests…
“…the proof is there on the Pride fighters. Their first event in the US they had 3 guys busted for a banned substance. The guys who weren’t had a major difference in appearance. The guys now in the UFC & WEC are having a major change in appearance. Of course they passed their drug tests. They either aren’t on roids or they have cycled off them so far in advance so they couldn’t get caught.”
– 45 Huddle August 22, 2007.
Here’s one I found – sorry, you’re right you didn’t specifically name Silva in this comment. But he’s clearly covered by your statement of “…the guys who weren’t had a major difference i appearance.” Care to change your thoughts on that one?
Nandrolone can be cycled from 12ng/mL to around 5-6ng/mL in a matter of 2 days according to some of the charts online. If a fighter cycles off of it a week ahead of time, they would most likely test negative.
Iole is definetly on a ufc pay roll of sorts.. he was groomed by them to cover mma when he was doing boxing for LVRJ and UFC was influential (im sure) in him get his yahoo gig.. its all part of that Las Vegas club.
Kevin Iole at this point has no credibility. Would it be out of line to hypothesize that Dana White is over his shoulder as he compiles his article? I guess being UFC’s unofficial press officer has its perks.
I don’t see working with Fishman being a major deal. Fishman oversaw the two Pride shows, neither of which did very well. I will give him credit for getting hotels to buy thousands of tickets.
If not for that, there would have been a lot less people in the stands.
But the events were poorly managed, with problems right up to air time.
If Cuban wants to be successful, I would suggest he get somebody that actually has some experience.
Criticize Shaw all you want (and I do have issues with him) but he has made sure each card has run smoothly.
They should stick to deer antler. 100% legal and very much the same a steroids. No side effects and is good for you. It really works, I do a twenty day cycle twice a year. Deer antler and ginseng. Very popular with russian athletes, i bet fedor uses it
LR wrote: “Nandrolone can be cycled from 12ng/mL to around 5-6ng/mL in a matter of 2 days according to some of the charts online. If a fighter cycles off of it a week ahead of time, they would most likely test negative.”
LR is absolutely correct. Because of this, and the fact that the same is true for the vast majority of other banned substances, the drug test results don’t mean a whole lot when the fighters know the date of the test ahead of time… which they always do in MMA because there is zero out-of-competition drug testing (unlike the NFL and every other major sports league).
A few numbers from the newest Wrestling Observer… Sept 5… Second one of the week. I added in some of my own comments (which are not of Meltzer’s).
1. ShoXC got a .5 with 121,000 viewers. Not too shabby since going against UFC 74.
2. UFC 74 Countdown did .58 with 676,000 viewers. And All Access with Couture did .30 with 368,000 viewers. Neither are very good compared to past numbers.
3. IFL on 8/20 did .50 with 667,000 viewers. IFL on 8/13 did .47 with 669,000 viewers. The IFL continues to do worse in the ratings.
4. UFC 75 in England has sold 12,000 tickets for $2.3 Million. Less then 1,000 tickets on sale, but more will likely be released before bell time once the configuration is complete.
5. UFC 76 in Anaheim has only sold 8,000 tickets for $1.3 Million. That has to be a slightly disappointment.
6. UFC 77 in Ohio has sold 11,000 tickets for $2.0 Million. That has to be considered a success already.
7. Denis Kang is being offered $100,000 a fight by K-1, which is higher then what the UFC offered him. On my own side note, Kang fighting in Japan allows him to compete without pissing in a cup. Not that I’m insinuating anything…..
Hey, not that I have any proof that Wanderlei roided, or even necessarily believe that he did but…
Check out the pic of Wandy from Pride 33 (USA) in Quintons insidefighting.com interview (scroll down). That pic DOES make it look like he slimmed down considerably. That being said, I was at this fight live, and I didnt notice any difference, so it might just be the pic:
http://www.insidefighting.com/betweenRoundsDisp.aspx?uid=3905
“5. UFC 76 in Anaheim has only sold 8,000 tickets for $1.3 Million. That has to be a slightly disappointment.
6. UFC 77 in Ohio has sold 11,000 tickets for $2.0 Million. That has to be considered a success alread”
Will the UFC ever learn their lesson? The east is a freaking goldmine right now. They can get huge gates and great, enthusiastic crowds, but they still avoid us like we are diseased.
Yes the east coast is thirsty for some UFC especially in the Conneticut, New York, and New Jersey area. The only “semi major” promotion we have is the IFL and thats pretty sad.
Also are we supposed to believe that Wanderlei was roided up because Rampage said so. He got absolutly annihilated by Wand and Shogun. Might be looking for a way to down play those losses in Japan in case he has to fight one of them in the future.
“Will the UFC ever learn their lesson? The east is a freaking goldmine right now. They can get huge gates and great, enthusiastic crowds, but they still avoid us like we are diseased.”
The problems are that:
(1) Most of the key eastern markets either have no established regulatory structure for legal MMA or just established it. (Philly, DC, Detroit just legalized it; NYC and Toronto has it banned; Boston has it unregulated on the state level)
(2) Running in NJ or CT has been less successful than most other non-LV markets. Part of that is most of those events took place before the UFC boom. Part is that secondary arenas 30-90 miles outside the target metro area are less desirable than center-city locations.
For better or worse, that has put the eastern US/Canada behind at landing events. In a short time, the market opportunities will bring UFC to DC, NY, Montreal, and Philly.
Only hardcore fans in New York city will venture to Mohegan Sun & AC. You have to take a least a half day off if not a full day off to make it there by the opening bell. Also AC is an abomination and Mohegan Sun you can’t find anything decent to eat post fight so they’re sucky locations.
I’m very interested to see what the November show at Continental Airlines Arena draws. That’s a 25-30 min bus ride from Midtown Manhattan. Just enough time to down a couple of brews. New Yorkers are trained for that commute by going to see Giants & Jets games and major concerts in that sports complex.
I agree about the Mohegan Sun being a little out of the way. But it is still a good building if they just use the bottom tier for a UFC Fight Night. That is a solid 5,000+ arena if used that way.
NJ should be packed. Even without a huge headliner…. The fact that this area has been dry for so long should equal a big gate.
Think about this… The last time the people in this part of the country got a UFC, it was UFC 55…. And I was there… And it was a bad event… And I’m being nice….
Detroit isn’t legal Kenny. Still waiting for the MSC Senate to ok it. Even then, it’ll be a long time before we do see an event in Michigan.
“Check out the pic of Wandy from Pride 33 (USA) in Quintons insidefighting.com interview (scroll down). That pic DOES make it look like he slimmed down considerably. That being said, I was at this fight live, and I didnt notice any difference, so it might just be the pic”
Yeah, he was slimmed down from his last two fights where he weighed in at 217 and 226 respectively. He weighed in at 205 just like every other fight of his prior to.
“Running in NJ or CT has been less successful than most other non-LV markets. Part of that is most of those events took place before the UFC boom.”
They got UFC 53 & 55 after the boom, but those were less than stellar events.
“Running in NJ or CT has been less successful than most other non-LV markets. Part of that is most of those events took place before the UFC boom.”
They got UFC 53 & 55 after the boom, but those were less than stellar events.”
Less than stellar how? Compare them to events on the west coast in the smae time period.
Newark and the Meadowlands are NOT out of the way for NYers or Philadelphians. They are practically part of NYC.
I am hearing rumors of that Spencer Fisher will be fighting at 78. This gives some credence to the Edgar v Fisher rumors. That is just the fight I wanted for Frankie.
Winner of Fisher vs Thomas was a likely candidate for #1 contender status … I dunno what Fisher will get out of beating Edgar. It should really be Fisher vs Griffin.
Why Fisher v Griffin? That makes no sense. Edgar beat Griffin. Dominated him most of the fight.
Actually, I was hearing that if Stevenson beat Pellegrino, he would get the shot. If not, then if Thomas won he would get the shot. I was told that neither Fisher/Florian nor Pellegrino would get the shot if they won.
“Less than stellar how? Compare them to events on the west coast in the smae time period.”
UFC 53 and 55 were the first of the unstacked Zuffa cards. One was headlined by Arlovski/Eilers and one was headlined by Arlovski/Buentello. Compare those cards to the UFCs that surrounded them. UFC 52 was the last legitimately GREAT, stacked Zuffa card:
Chuck vs Randy 2
Trigg vs Hughes 2
Babalu (still on the comeback trail, undefeated since his last fight to Chuck) vs Wiuff (on like a 20 fight win streak)
Lindland vs Lutter
GSP vs Mayhem
Salavery vs Riggs
My point is that the East Coast shouldn’t be judged on the poor turnouts for 53 & 55 since those weren’t good cards. UFC 54 was sick too:
Chuck vs Horn (lots of people, myself included thought Horn would win)
Sylvia vs Telligman
Couture vs Van Arsdale
GSP vs Trigg (I lost money on this fight too, DOH!)