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Saturday headlines: UFC 75 previews galore
By Zach Arnold | September 7, 2007
Zab Judah defeated Edwin Vazquez in a rather uninspiring fight at the Hard Rock Biloxi on Friday night. Lamont Peterson defeated Frankie Santos in the main event (telecasted on ESPN2 TV).
The 4th CAGE FORCE event took place today in Tokyo at Differ Ariake. Main results: In a Lightweight tournament match Kotetsu Boku defeated Eiji Mitsuoka by a 2-1 judges’ decision, in Welterweight tournament matches Dan Hardy defeated Hidetaka Monma in R3 0′28 by TKO when the towel was thrown in and Yoshiyuki Yoshida defeated Akira Kikuchi in R1 in 4′33 by TKO (referee stoppage). Also, Hiroyuki Takaya defeated Jarrod Card in R1 in 3′02 by KO, Takeya Mizugaki defeated Kentaro Imaizumi by a 3-0 judges’ decision, Masahiro Oishi defeated Taiyo Nakahara in R1 3′55 by TKO from doctor stoppage, ISE (Toshikazu Iseno) defeated Satoshi Nishino by a 3-0 judges’ decision after two rounds, So Do Won defeated Tetsuo Sano in R1 1′28 by TKO from a cut. The next CAGE FORCE show takes place on 11/11 at Differ Ariake.
Mark Pavelich is shopping around sponsorship opportunities to anyone interested in sponsoring Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald. What are the price tags being shopped by Pavelich in Canadian dollars? $15,000 CD per event or $50,000 CD per year for a ‘platinum sponsor’ package including a 5 x 8″ logo on front thigh of shorts, 14 x 4″ backside shorts logo, 4 x 4″ logo on t-shirt or hoodie to Octagon, three TV or radio or print ads, and three guest company appearances (if you pay for the yearly deal). Plus, there are ‘gold sponsor’, ’silver sponsor’, ‘bronze sponsor’, and ‘emerald sponsor’ packages available.
The NYPD is going after gyms selling steroids and PEDs. The probe has started and includes a wannabe porn star.
Latest Steve Cofield audio: Frank Trigg Pt. 1 | Frank Trigg Pt. 2 | Frank Trigg Pt. 3 | Mike Swick | Dave Doyle
Josh Barnett, Naoya Ogawa, Kiyoshi Tamura, Erik Paulson, and Mark Coleman all winners at today’s IGF event in Nagoya.
Dana White on Dan Henderson and Dan Henderson on Dan Henderson:
White said he thought fans didn’t know Henderson because Henderson fought so long in Pride. He noted that the Pride pay-per-view on which Henderson defeated Wanderlei Silva to win the light heavyweight title did incredibly poorly. “I’m not exactly sure, but I heard something like 16,000 to 20,000, in that range,” White said. “The people don’t know Dan now, but that’s my job.” Henderson laughed at the notion. “They know me,” Henderson said. “That’s just Dana talking. Don’t buy that. They know who I am.”
Blogger Rich Bergeron is being sued by Xyience for $25 million USD. Let this be a lesson to various MMA bloggers. If you want to protect yourself, there are a few ways of doing so:
- Incorporate your site and run it as a legitimate business. You can form an actual Inc. or form a single-member LLC.
- Get a membership with the Media Bloggers Association and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The MBA has done some excellent work in the past in helping defend bloggers against legal claims.
While I don’t support either side in the Xyience vs. Rich Bergeron situation, I will say that suing a blogger does come with some risks. There was one prominent lawsuit case involving the firm JL Kirk suing a Nashville blogger. The story picked up steam when it got picked up by several big name Tennessee bloggers (including Instapundit — more here, here, here, and here), resulting in an avalanche of negative online news & search engine press for JL Kirk (an example here). Here’s another story of a lawsuit threat against a blogger backfiring.
Onto today’s headlines.
- MMA on Tap: UFC 75 weigh-in results
- UFC HP: Rampage breaks up the crowd, hopes to do the same to Hendo Saturday
- The Fightworks Podcast: Brandon Vera looking for training partner
- Sam Caplan: Breaking down the UFC’s Middleweight division (and building it back up)
- Komikazee: Eric Pele signs with Steele Cage for 9/21 Las Vegas show
- The Baltimore Sun: WEC 30 thoughts - did Brian Stann fight a can?
- Sprawl ‘n Brawl: UFC 75 preview with Gregg and Mo
- UFC Mania: UFC 78 - Spencer Fisher vs. Frank Edgar
- Yahoo Sports (Kevin Iole): Henderson isn’t Hollywood, but it doesn’t matter
- Yahoo Sports (Kevin Iole): Fight breakdown - Jackson vs. Henderson
- The Canadian Press: Champion vs. champion as Jackson tackles Henderson at UFC 75 in England
- The Washington Post: UFC takes PRIDE in its process of unification
- Fox Sports: Jackson-Henderson match highlights UFC 75
- Fox Sports (Dave Meltzer): Michael Bisping will be a big draw
- The Houston Chronicle: Title doesn’t mean much to Rampage Jackson
- Boxing Scene: Where is boxing’s Rampage vs. Henderson?
- Sports Illustrated: On a Rampage - religion and a new trainer take Jackson to the top
- The Dayton Daily News (OH): Champs from UFC, PRIDE fight in UFC 75
- The Orange County Register: Dan Henderson - family man and fighter
- The Sun (UK): Michael Bisping lays into Matt Hamill
- The Sun (UK): Michael Bisping slams UFC critics
- The Sun (UK): The Octagon girls shape up
- Crave Online: Pound for pound - UFC 75 preview
- The Winnipeg Sun: PRIDE is on the line for one last time
- The Long Beach Press-Telegram: Jackson, Henderson eye undisputed title
- The Victorville Daily Press (CA): Henderson to fight across the Atlantic
Topics: Boxing, Japan, MMA, Media, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
A few results from last nights Pro 7 Fight Night: WBA Women’s Flyweight Champion Susianna Kentikian knocked out challenger Shanee Martin in Rd. 2 , and WBA Super Middleweight Champion Dimitri Sartison got the decision win over Gusmyl Perdomo. Kentikian surely delivers, and this was her 4th title defense this year…
Henderson is in denial if he thinks the majority of fans know who he is.
I love the Frank Edgar vs. Spencer Fisher fight. It has excitement written all over it. Typically I would be against rushing a guys career like Edgar, but I think his wrestling experience gives him a maturity that is uncommon for fighters with such few fights. I would actually pick Edgar to win this fight and then be one of a handful of fighters in line for a title shot.
And Sam Caplan’s article on the UFC Middleweight Division is very good. There really are no other immediate challengers right away. They have a lot of fighters they are building up, but nobody who sticks out. The best scenario for Zuffa would to see Dan Henderson lose to Quinton Jackson in a 3 to 5 round war, basically putting himself on the map to the casual fans as a Top Level Fighter. From there, give Henderson one fight at Middleweight to get him a win…. And then give him the winner of Franklin/Silva. That would give the division time to build another challenger like Terry Martin, Martin Kampmann, or others.
Judah sucked against Vazquez.
I’m very excited to see the CAGE FORCE card. Yoshiyuki Yoshida’s rapid improvement is truly something special, sounded like he put an elbow holocaust on Kikuchi.
Bang the Champ?!
I have to agree with Breen, the Judah fight was definatley not a world Caliber fight.
Jordan, how do you think MMA fighters Careers would evolve if they promoted their own fights rather than being handcuffed within an organization?
[...] Zach Arnold found it. Let’s get Sam Caplan to fight in it. I’ll take the reward. ‘Bangthechamp.com’ features a very unique format: two guys fight MMA-style, the winner gets to fuck the ring girl. Of course the site’s a total piece of shit … no good preview vids, no good pics … nothing to get yer nut off for free at all! [...]
“Jordan, how do you think MMA fighters Careers would evolve if they promoted their own fights rather than being handcuffed within an organization?”
I dunno about guys themselves promoting their own fights, but assuming you mean anti-organizational pro-promoter i.e. how boxing is, I think for every pro, you have the flipside con. For example, boxers don’t have the pressure of ‘making it to the UFC’. I think too many MMA fighters will start a promising career like 6-0, then they’re all too eager to jump into the Octagon. You end up with guys in the UFC who have incredible potential, but they just aren’t experienced enough to fight in the UFC against Top 20 opponents. Therefore, I think guys would be brought along better.
At the same time, and you already have some guys like this in MMA, if you don’t have a ‘big show’, it opens up avenues for dudes to be frauds, and just shamelessly promote themselves, fight mediocre opposition and act like superstars. Granted, the onus is on fans to know what’s shit and what’s sugar, but it’s still a downside.
Another downside is that if there was a boxing-esque system in MMA, there is still no sanctioning bodies. That may sound good, but the idea of mandatories and eliminators is important. If there were no organizations, just promoters with stables putting guys together, you’d have international talent locked out. Right now, if the UFC brings in a Japanese fighter, and Polish fighter, they’re floating in the same waters and that could create a great, or important fight between the two.
Without a mandatory system or something like that, you could have a lot of guys fighting in smaller nations without big bankrollin’ backers unable to secure meaningful fights, which sucks. That’s one advantage big organizations give MMA, is that if a fighter from Country X can get to the UFC, a whole world of opportunities for opened, and in a sense, he doesn’t need to fend for himself anymore.
It’s totally give and take with any system you put in place. With stick with organizations, we’ll miss shit like silva-Liddell at their peaks. With just promoters, international talent may get locked out in some cases. Add sanctioning bodies, you’re inviting corruption. I’m not sure there’s one solid answer.
Breen, granted there is no solid answer right now, but I feel that if promotors like Gary Shaw are as real as he seems in interviews, a fighter like Fedor could be fighting the number one contender a few times a year for big bucks similar to what boxing is doing right now. In fact if Golden Boy Productions were to hold a MMA show with a decent card, I would suggest the promotion would surpass the Pro Wrestling type promo that The UFC seems to be pushing. If Dana White is interested in growing the sport, he shoud look to promote talent that does not have the name Couture or Liddell more.
The best system in my opinion…. Would be one major league organization with all of the Top 20 fighters in the world competing in it. To make sure fighters are treated properly, there would need to be a fighters union.
So the organizational system is on the right track… It just needs some fine tuning. I think the promoter/sanctioning body system allows for too much corruption, which is has in boxing.
I was reading the entire press conference with Gary Shaw on Wrestling Observer. his ideas sound good, but when you get down to it, it reeks of horribleness.
For example, in boxing, both Showtime and HBO almost never co-promote an event. They did for a Tyson event here or there, but that is extremely out of the norm. Now, let’s say the UFC goes to HBO. Why would HBO want to publicize a Showtime fighter by letting him fight for a UFC belt? They never would. Neither would the UFC. Neither would SpikeTV want that either. You don’t promote a rival company. That is just smart business.
Huddle, as you said, why would one organization want another fighter fighting for their belt? The cross promotion on PPV could be huge. People want to see and will pay for the best vs the best.
Huddle, as you said, why would one organization want another fighter fighting for their belt? The cross promotion on PPV could be huge. People want to see and will pay for the best vs the best.
No they wouldn’t, because nobody knows what EliteXC even is.
WAR Dan Hardy….
Look for an interview / feature with him in FO Mag very soon.