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Tuesday reading material (2/12/08)
By Zach Arnold | February 12, 2008
Popular Japanese MMA writer Hiroshi Nielsen caught this screen capture of Yahoo Japan’s main page today. Kazuyuki Fujita’s signing with World Victory Road was a main story on the site. Hiroshi thinks that it’s not so much a sign that MMA is hugely popular in Japan right now, but rather a testament to the power of Japanese professional wrestling.
Pro Fight Store has a report claiming that while it is not 100% official that Mirko Cro Cop is done with UFC, there are rumors that Mirko will likely return to Japan to fight in the near future (for the new K-1/DSE organization).
- Rich Bergeron: Xyience co-CEOs Adam Frank and Kirk Sanford are done with the company (Bergeron makes more claims about The Fertitta Brothers)
- Sherdog: Xyience bankruptcy proceeding continues (Fightlinker summarizes the Sherdog article)
- MMA Payout: Report that UFC 80 drew 225,000 PPV buys
- Charles Jay: Operation Clean-up — They knew… don’t let UFC’s lawsuit against DSE fool you
- The Fightworks Podcast: Episode #103 - BJJ and women
- Nightmare of Battle: Phil Baroni’s 3/5 WVR match is canceled
- The Observer Online: ‘Natural born killer’ Carlos Condit seeks revenge
- Dave Meltzer (Yahoo Sports): Rob McCullough’s long journey to stardom
- Kevin Iole: Stephan Bonnar suffers torn LCL in his knee, out six months
- Bloody Elbow: WEC 32 betting odds
- Steve Sievert: WEC 32 selling intrigue; Condit, Prater aren’t buying (Steve claims WEC could draw over 6,000 paid for the event in Albuquerque)
- MMA HQ: WEC - Condit vs. Prater event preview
- MMA Madness: Is Carlos Condit ready for the UFC?
- TKO Xtreme: Is MMA legalization moving forward in Ontario province?
- Grapple Monkey: New BJJ & MMA blogs
- The Albuquerque Tribune: Cibola High graduate Carlos Condit will defend fighting title in home town
- Midland Daily News (Michigan): Passions run deep about MMA
- Inside the Octagon: Dissecting another inaccurate article about MMA
- Iowa City Press-Citizen: Extreme midget wrestling lands Union Bar in court
Topics: Japan, K-1, MMA, Media, PRIDE, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
This kind of thing is getting increasingly ridiculous, as Dana White recently used the word “gay” as a derogatory term to refer to Randy Couture.
In this clip, White is on a radio show and they play a tape of him getting prank-called, and then when they go back to the studio with White and the radio hosts, White says, “And it turns out you were right— Randy Couture IS gay!” (that’s at the 7:06 mark of this clip)
The comment wasn’t made in a, “No, seriously, Randy Couture legitimately is homosexual” kind of way, it was made in a, “I’m going to use the word ‘gay’ as an insult/punchline.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_jZs38PdNE
In the same clip at the 1:52 mark, White refers to Fedor Emelianenko as “a Russian who sucks” and says that Fedor made “the biggest pussy move I’ve ever seen” (apparently referring to the move to sign with M-1 Global instead of the UFC).
Again, this kind of rhetoric is getting increasingly ridiculous.
No wonder Dana hates Sherdog. All the forum people there are just like him.
Zack - the profight store link isn’t working.. any ideas?
No idea why the link isn’t working (it was an hour ago)…
Zach, there’s an interview on the M-1 site with Igor Vovchanchyn. Looks like he is retired. It’s a good read.
http://www.m1mixfight.com/info/interviews/2008/2/10/Igor-Vovchanchyn-exclusive-interview/
Profightstore is currently down cause of minor server problems,
Here’s the translated article, courtesy of VitoCorleone from Sherdog:
We have already informed you about a new Japanese mma event which tomorrow it will be announced officially.
It will be called DREAMS.
It is rumoured that Mirko CroCop filipovic will continue his career in this new event.
Our web site has received the information that Mirko will not stay in the ufc and continue his career in the land of the rising sun.
Mirko has talked, in many occasions about Japan and the ring, since hi is not a big fan of the fight in the cage.
What our source couldn’t tell us was if the UFC is willing to let Mirko go and under what circumstances, will Mirko fight a few more fights in the UFC, but one thing is sure Mirkos adventure in USA is coming to an end.
Another Croatian fighter that signed for Dreams is Zelg Galesic.
A press conference will be held in the hotel Edmont, Tokio, and we expect to find out more.
The rest of the interview is about the organization of dreams.
Hope you understood more or less.
With DREAMS arriving, does that mean the end of HERO’s?
Also, what if Mirko wins his next fight in the UFC? What will happen then?
“With DREAMS arriving, does that mean the end of HERO’s?”
I think DREAMS is gonna be run by the former DSE people, so no it won’t be the end of K-1 HERO’S. No way, because K-1 is the top dog in Japan now. They might become affiliated with K-1, because there are some rumblings that K-1 and DSE might join up (obviously on K-1/FEG’s terms).
According to sukimma.blogspot.com, the FEG/DSE will be announcing a new org tomorrow.
Earlier, she had translated an interview with Tanikawa where she asked whether this new org would be different from HERO’s and he gave a very odd answer that didn’t address the question:
http://sukimma.blogspot.com/2008/01/tanikawafeg-talks-about-new-event.html
You did notice that I posted something on this item (K-1/DSE) yesterday, right?
(On a side note, I don’t understand why the site you linked to doesn’t link directly to the source of Japanese material she paraphases about.)
Nope. Sorry, must have missed it.
Try the post two items down below Tuesday’s update. Here.
Yeah, I see it now. I didn’t before.
“I’m off to Tokyo!
A big announcement will come straight from Japan tomorrow (February 13).
When the official part is done I’ll be able to provide more information about everything,
and believe me, I have many things to say.
What you could easily guess by now is that I won’t be retiring.
I’ll keep on fighting, it’s my life, it’s what I do.”
http://www.mma-id.com/CROCOP/?mod=blog&uid=35&blid=163
zach you got any info on monte cox trying to buy out the russian ownership of M-1
Anyone want to start taking bets on how long it is before there’s an interview with Dana to the effect of:
“Cro Cop’s such a pussy primadonna. He didn’t want to stay in the UFC with the best fighters, he’s not a real f*ckin fighter [b/c he refused to take a huge paycut, even though he's under contract and we've been constantly calling out Randy and Tito for trying to renegotiate while under contract]. He just ran away with his tail between his legs - this isn’t Japan man.”
Anyone?
Mirko is fleeing to Japan where the competition is weaker. Maybe they Sentoryu lined up for him.
If he’s getting lowballed, while under contract mind you - and then cut loose for not accepting less money - where else would he go?
And as for the competition being weaker, with the state of the HW division at present and in the near future, I don’t really think that’s true at all.
Mirko vs. Sentoryu is about as credible as the Mirko vs. Lesnar fight that just “had to happen”. Meaning both are garbage…
Stop being stubborn Gaijin. The competition is weaker in Japan, just as Chris Leben said. Just accept it.
That basically sums up the intelligence level of your posts right there.
I wonder if we might see a Fedor-Mirko or Mirko-Hunt rematch in the near future, if he’s done with the UFC.
Unfortunately Fedor-Mirko sounds too competitive for Fedor at this point.
Or perhaps your inability to pick up on obvious sarcasm in posts (I mean, a Chris Leben reference? BIG clue there) is a sign of you taking things too seriously around here.
LOL - my bad.
Apologies for being Capt. Serious.
Any word on what Mirko’s big announcement was today?
I’ve seen pics of him shaking hands and sitting at a microphone for the K-1 Dreamers/Yarenokka crew…I assume he’s bolted?
Oooh nevermind - just looked along the feeds on the left. There’s your answer fishbulb!