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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."

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Tuesday news & notes: UFC has more money than you

By Zach Arnold | October 8, 2007

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If you haven’t listened to the latest edition of Fight Opinion Radio yet, go listen.

Meeting Takanori Gomi:

Regarding the unified rules, a thoughtful Gomi continues, “America is a very rich country, so it seems to me as if their standards are very high. I think the rules in American MMA and the UFC focus more on fighter safety and feel very natural to me. In this way, maybe American MMA is more sports-like, since most of Japanese MMA comes from professional wrestling.”

“It’s necessary, so it’s not really a bad thing,” Gomi says. “You can’t have title fight after title fight after title fight, because most people will not be able to follow it and get involved. You need to have entertainment for those who don’t watch too often or may be watching for the first time to say, ‘Ah, those fights were entertaining. Let’s watch this show again, next time they put on one.’ Besides, doesn’t your country enjoy fighters like Charles Bennett (Pictures)?”

A couple of weeks after Dave Meltzer publicly stated that he was going to spend more time on his writing activities (he had been increasing his writing workload for Fox Sports), Meltzer has now been hired by Yahoo Sports. On the F4W message board, CBS Sports writer Todd Martin stated the following:

He’s leaving Fox for Yahoo. He’s been debating it since at least UFC 75. Yahoo’s really aggressive in stepping up coverage of the sport, but Fox has Alex Marvez who brought Dave on there in the first place.

Dave Doyle told me last weekend he thought Dave might give up the Observer to do regular mainstream stuff.

That would be very bad.

Adam Swift has an article detailing Zuffa LLC’s new capital structure.

Quote of the day:

“I don’t think world-wide it even compares as far as the top-level professional boxers,” Flores said. “I think it would take MMA another 50 or 100 years to be as deep. You look at the history of boxing and the fighters who have grown up with (the sport).

“The MMA has only been around for the last five, six, seven, eight years. It’s kind of new. I think it will take hold, but right now there are a lot more professional boxers than MMA fighters.”

Melvin Guillard looks to return to action after his cocaine suspension from earlier in the year.

An interview with Din Thomas.

Bonecrunch Fighting has added an Orlando MMA team, the Iron Monkeys. Seth Petruzelli of ATT Orlando is coaching the team.

Brandon Vera thinks that a win over Tim Sylvia makes a statement to everybody. I’m not sure what that statement is now.

Kevin Kay is now President of Spike TV. One of the reasons?

“Kevin has demonstrated incredible leadership, vision, and creativity in the evolution of Spike TV into the vibrant entertainment destination for men it is today,” said Herzog. “His numerous successes thus far, including igniting the UFC-phenomenon by launching ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ are a testament to his foresight in creating brand-defining hit programming for guys.”

An attempt to defend the way UFC handled the PRIDE situation in Japan.

Kurt Otto wants to increase the amount of live IFL shows on TV.

Joachim Hansen’s career is stuck in limbo.

Michael Bisping in his own words:

“Well, of course I did – this is the kind of fight I have been working towards. Rashad is a great guy and a great fighter and someone had to meet him, seeing as Tito Ortiz didn’t have the balls to fight him again.”

The heat-up for Palaszewski vs. Horodecki.

Close to 10,000 tickets sold for the Mayweather vs. Hatton closed circuit feed.

There’s room for both boxing and MMA. Bob Arum hasn’t gotten that message, however.

Hatsu Hioki lost again.

The MMA scene is growing on the Cayman Islands.

Setting odds for fights is not easy.

Making the case for MMA being the oldest sport on Earth.

Topics: Boxing, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 32 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

32 Responses to “Tuesday news & notes: UFC has more money than you”

  1. Zack says:

    Bisping is turning into a great heel.

  2. Ivan Trembow says:

    You don’t think beating Tim Sylvia would mean something?

  3. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Is it a bad sign that I don’t know who Charles Bennett is?

  4. Ultimo Santa says:

    I agree with Gomi. UFC is not that entertaining.

    And BTW, a Vera win – especially a decisive one – would mean everything. Randy couldn’t KO him, so if Vera did it would be a good case for a title shot.

  5. LR says:

    Not completely positive about Randy being unable to KO Vera. Considering Randy’s clinch is very hard to squirm from and he is a master at dirty boxing opponents limp in the clinch, it’d be an interesting battle in the fence.

  6. Luke Thomas says:

    Fucking Hioki. What a disappointment.

  7. Luke Thomas says:

    “Not completely positive about Randy being unable to KO Vera. Considering Randy’s clinch is very hard to squirm from and he is a master at dirty boxing opponents limp in the clinch, it’d be an interesting battle in the fence.”

    Interesting, yes. Would Randy KO Vera? That is extremely unlikely since a) Couture hasn’t KO’ed anyone and b) Vera’s got WAAAAY better stand-up.

  8. LR says:

    KO, but he could technically get a stoppage just like Gonzaga. Sure, Vera has better standup, but that’s what everyone was saying Gonzaga had, plus the ground game. Randy just pummeled him into the fence, and it was over. I could see it potentially going the same exact way if Vera stepped in with Couture. Fact is, there isn’t many fighters that would be able to avoid that type of fight.

  9. D.Capitated says:

    Yeah, Gomi is right. What was I thinking, enjoying those Frankie Edgar, Tyson Griffin, and Clay Guida bouts on UFC undercards. What MMA really needs right now to gain the respect of mass media is Tank/Kimbo headlining UFC 78.

  10. LR says:

    What’s funny about this whole Tank vs. Kimbo debate now is that there are still numerous people asking about the fight on Sherdog radio shows, other podcasts, etc. and then there are the hardcore fans who don’t really care about it, or do care but don’t see it as a venture that a big promotion should take.

    Fact is, entertainment sells. It seems that a lot of fans are out there want to see that fight. You can make arguments saying that many don’t, but the interest is there. I think it comes down to casual fans vs. hardcore fans as far as who wants to see that battle. There is probably many fans who want to see that fight who have no idea who anyone else is on the card.

  11. Pontus says:

    People who listen to sherdog radio shows and other podcasts = Hardcores in most cases.

  12. LR says:

    That’s kind of odd considering some of them actually wanted to see the fight on a bigger promotion.

  13. D.Capitated says:

    If Tank/Kimbo happens, so be it. Its just that everyone knows the deal with Tank Abbott by now. He’s not a major drawing fighter anymore and if you need proof of it, look at how much he’s done for the status of the organizations that have used him. The UFC saw no bump in attendance or buys using him at UFC 41 or 43. He did nothing for PRIDE’s status in the US. He didn’t elevate Strikeforce or ROTR to being national promotions. People barely remember the fight with Gary “Smiler” Turner he just had.

    There’s no real reason for anyone to do it outside of smaller promotions because the money spent on hyping the bout will never be recouped. I mean, if Kimbo was gonna be a big draw, the promoters in NJ that ran his exhibition with Mercer probably would have been able to find funding for this afterwards, right?

  14. Rollo the Cat says:

    Vera trained with Randy at the Olympic Training center didn’t he? He has some experience with Greco at a high level. If anyone can deal with Randy’s clinch, I would guess Vera can especially considering the age difference. Vera is the one guy who could stop Randy at this point.

    Many poeple do want to see Kimbo v Tank, but many people aren’t actually going to pay to see it. They are counting on Youtube.

  15. D.Capitated says:

    BTW, I’m interested: How does BJ Flores saying an obvious truth garner him the quote of the day? There’s more boxers than MMA fighters is the biggest “duh” of all time.

  16. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Rollo, isn’t that the classic Kimbo fanbase tactic though?

    If he rolls up a couple more wins, I’d be happy to see him in UFC though. No reason to spit on a good fighter because he started as a bare knuckle brawler with a youtube fanbase.

  17. robnashville says:

    “including igniting the UFC-phenomenon by launching ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ ”

    by igniting I’m guessing they mean making Zuffa bankroll the initial TUF to the tune of somewhere in the neighborhood of $8 to $10 million bucks. I wouldn’t say this Kay fella has keen foresight into bubbling up trends, he saw a no risk, high reward scenario and rolled the dice.

  18. Rollo the Cat says:

    “f he rolls up a couple more wins, I’d be happy to see him in UFC though. No reason to spit on a good fighter because he started as a bare knuckle brawler with a youtube fanbase.”

    Wins against who? He needs at least 3 legit wins. That doesn’t include Mercer or Tank. It also wouldn’t include Panza or Roufus, not that he could beat them anyway. Anyway, most of the people who will tune in to see him won’t be paying anyway, so I doubt it would make Zuffa much more money and certainly not enough to offset the image hit they will take.

  19. LR says:

    I think his next step will be some legitimate C-level fighters and work from there.

  20. IceMuncher says:

    I doubt Kimbo will ever make it to the UFC. There’s just too much of a risk that he will damage their image. The UFC is fine with letting him mess around in the minors. If he dominates the top non-UFC fighters they may give him a look, but I don’t think he’s good enough to do that. His street-fighting days are going to keep him out of the UFC.

  21. Ultimo Santa says:

    Plenty of guys from TUF claimed to be huge street-fighters (“I’ve had over 500 bar fights!”), so I don’t see how signing Kimbo would be a bad move for UFC, image-wise.

    If Kimbo Slice puts asses in the seats, Dana will put him in the cage. Period.

  22. Ivan Trembow says:

    If he knew that all it took to get Dave Meltzer to consider abandoning his decades-old newsletter (and all of its subscribers) was access and tickets to UFC events, I’d think Vince McMahon would have provided him with those things a long time ago.

  23. Ivan Trembow says:

    “I doubt Kimbo will ever make it to the UFC. There’s just too much of a risk that he will damage their image.”

    I suppose that is why the UFC signed Sean Gannon based on his Internet notoriety and hyped the fact that he beat Kimbo. Who knows if the UFC WILL sign Kimbo, but if the question is WOULD they, as in, “Would they ever consider doing such a thing?” then past actions indicate that the answer is yes.

  24. grafdog says:

    Streetfighters don’t need no venue but the street!!

    If Kimbo and Tank are for real, they’ll fight in back of the 7-11 for tips.

    If you think about it, it would be huge. They can run their own promotion…KimboTank fighting championships is born. KTFC

  25. Body_Shots says:

    If he knew that all it took to get Dave Meltzer to consider abandoning his decades-old newsletter (and all of its subscribers) was access and tickets to UFC events, I’d think Vince McMahon would have provided him with those things a long time ago.

    You have to be the most bitter, negative contributor to this blog, especially when it relates to anything UFC.

    You might as well abandon your “articles” if Dave does decide to discontinue his newsletter, unless you can find someone else to jack 90% of your “news” from. You take away information from the public record and you’d have no articles at all, which would be good, then I wouldn’t have to read your ‘self-important’ rants.

  26. Ivan Trembow says:

    Body_Shots: I was attempting to get the point across that Dave Meltzer has been covering MMA for many years. His lessened focus on the Observer Newsletter, and potential consideration of no longer having an Observer Newsletter, isn’t a result of not covering MMA before and now he is covering MMA. The difference now is that he gets flown to the UFC events to cover them in person, and he gets freelancer MMA journalist money. I would think that those two things would not be enough to get him to consider shutting down his decades-old newsletter, and that is the point that I was trying to make.

  27. Jamie says:

    Meltzer giving up his newsletter would be sad. A further indication of how far MMA has come though and the importance of the web as a form of media.

  28. Rollo the Cat says:

    Looks like Rothwell and Whitehead are out of the IFL Grand Prix over contractual issues. Bad news for the IFL. The Kurt Angle talk makes them look like a joke and now two of their best fighters may be leaving.

  29. Zack says:

    If Meltzer quit, 45 Huddle would suicide himself.

  30. Steve says:

    If I were Meltzer and I had to watch WWE and TNA T.V. every week …
    I would of tapped out along time ago.

  31. Sergio says:

    “If I were Meltzer and I had to watch WWE and TNA T.V. every week …
    I would of tapped out along time ago.”

    QTF

  32. Rohan says:

    If Meltzer stops the Observer it will be a real shame. Obviously I love the history of pro-wrestling stuff but it also gives him an outlet to print the stuff given to him by Zuffa (and others) on the QT that they wouldn’t feed him if it was going into a mainstream publication or website.

    Also Meltzer earns a lot from the Observer and to abandon that subscriber base for being a freelancer would be a big risk.

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