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Media heat-up for Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture at UFC 91
By Zach Arnold | November 14, 2008
Beau Dure (USA Today): UFC champion Randy Couture has been MMA’s elder statesman
Jared Barnes (Houston Chronicle): Survival of fittest lands a punch on MMA
“Zuffa is the gold standard, the NFL of MMA,” said Bill Bergofin, senior vice president of marketing for Versus. “They understand what they have as entertainment and recognize the value of the whole experience from top to bottom, from the time they come on the air till they go off.”
The Glasgow Daily Record (UK): Brock Lesnar ready to throw his weight around against veteran champion Randy Couture
“It makes for an interesting fight. I think it’s the other areas of the fight and who has their way in those areas that’s going to tell the tale.
“But I don’t think anybody’s walking into this fight saying Brock Lesnar is the number one contender in the heavyweight division.”
Adam Hill (LVRJ): Couture, Lesnar set for ‘big’ fight
Couture’s head trainer, Shawn Tompkins, thinks his fighter’s experience will carry him to victory. “He’s big. He’s athletic. He’s young. He’s powerful,” Tompkins said of Lesnar. “But he’s not Randy Couture, and he never will be.”
The Orange County Register: Kim Couture wins round in court against Huntington Beach ex-con Todd Beard
Dan Wetzel (Yahoo Sports): Brock Lesnar ready for reality check
Ignorant or not, pro wrestling is considered acting. There may not be stunt men, extra takes and special effects, but choosing to go that route forever alters people’s opinion of you.
“In some ways, amateur wrestlers look at that as selling out,” said Couture, himself a three-time All-America wrestler at Oklahoma State. “I think because it is predetermined and choreographed, none of those things sit well with real wrestling, amateur wrestling.”
“Most amateur wrestlers hate that someone would go pro,” Morgan said. “So for Brock to go pro, most amateur wrestlers were bitter about it. [They said] ‘How can you do that?’ “
Brock Lesnar appears on ESPN2’s “First Take”
Standard interview session between Brock Lesnar and host Mike Hill to do a media heat-up session to hype tomorrow’s UFC 91 fight in Las Vegas. Lesnar did the interview with a headset on while the lighting grid was being constructed by production workers at the MGM Grand Arena facility.
Gareth Davies in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper reports that the MGM Grand Arena had to shut down their lobby due to fan interest for Couture-Lesnar:
White noted: “When the MGM Grand will shut down their lobby like this, you know this is a huge event. We used to do press conferences in broom cupboards with three media there. Now we shut down one of the biggest hotels on the planet.”
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, Jack Nicholson, 50 Cent, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Mandy Moore are the rumored celebrities to be in attendance at the UFC 91 event.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
“There may not be stunt men,”
Other than the people performing the stunts? Like Brock and his addiction to painkillers from all those stunts?
Big Randy fan, btw. That just didn’t make any sense.
Go Kim! Wow, that’s quite a story. I noticed how the article connects that lady’s misscarriage with Rampage’s driving incident though. After the prosecutor said there was no connection, that should have been the end of that.
I hadn’t heard of Todd Beard until just a little while ago, but everything I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks makes the guy look like a complete scumbag.
Wow, did they just admit on the “Countdown to UFC 91” special that Brock Lesnar put on approximately 40 pounds of muscle shortly after he started college wrestling?
IVAN TREMBOW. since it seems you like to blog about conspricies so much, how about commenting on fabrico werdum’s status. did the website you write for, MMAWEEKLY, really just go by the ufc’s hp taking down werdum’s bio as a real source of him be let go by the ufc? this is what alot of websites are claiming and werdum is stating that he is still under contract with the ufc, has 4 fights left and is planning on moving to the states soon. has anyone from MMAWEEKLY actully got confirmation from anyone at the ufc or from werdum himself in person or his management about this subject. care to elaborate?
“Wow, did they just admit on the “Countdown to UFC 91? special that Brock Lesnar put on approximately 40 pounds of muscle shortly after he started college wrestling?”
I noticed that too. However he tested clean all through 4 years of NCAA and in his NFL combine and tryouts. Not saying that they’re the most rigourous testing – but that’s a long time to go not getting caught and he’s never gotten smaller either.
Entering college at 17 or 18 and actually doing proper training with world class trainers can probably make a huge difference. Just realized his genetic potential – I mean look at the size of his hands and frame, that’s a good indication that he had the natural size make-up.
BDW- I like to blog about conspiracies? As for the Werdum story, I didn’t write that article so I don’t know the specifics, but if it said “according to sources” and not “his name was taken off of the UFC web site,” then I would imagine that’s the case. The UFC telling fighters to take pay cuts or they’ll be released is certainly not something that is new or something that they wouldn’t do.
Gaijin— Did they test for growth hormone in the NCAA? Not saying he did or didn’t take it, but it’s a bit deceptive for Lesnar to say he never failed a drug test when the #1 most popular drug among dopers is something that isn’t tested for.
From most of the lit I have read, HGH is nowhere near as effective as people believe unless you’re using in conjunction with steroids.
Brock is Fat and Couture is old… Makes for a boring brawl
He also grew 3 inches in college so 40 lbs isn’t out of the realm of possibility when he’s wrestling and lifting weights.
The countdown show also acknowledged Couture’s legal issues with the UFC, and Fedor was mentioned too.
college wrestlers not liking pro wrestlers need to get off their soap box. Were those guys taking up a collection to free to pay brock’s bills if he stays out of wwe? Of course not. Bottom line is most college wrestlers are deformed looking midgets who vince would never hire so “selling out” isn’t even an option. Bunch of haters. Also randy should acknowledge that until just recently the pious college wrestling crowd looked down on MMA too.
It’s interesting to see the press coverage. As hardcore fans, we are less then impressed with the undercard. Some people have eluded to Zuffa having more undercards like this in the future if this PPV does well… I tend to disagree with that. The next PPV after this has 3 awesome fights. It seems like a Zuffa business plan to give stacked cards in May & December, with a few semi-stacked cards in-between. Some of the others tend to lack.
Either way, to a casual fan, especially one use to a boxing PPV, this is still a good PPV purchase. A World Heavyweight Title Fight. A Lightweight #1 Contender Fight. A former Heavyweight Title Contender. Two evenly matched fights besides that. Really, the casual fans will likely not take issues with this card.
World title in name only. Is Joe vs Flo really #1 contender? Neither of those guys need another crack anytime soon.
The last HBO PPV featured an all time great against the middleweight champion of the world, preceeded by a featherweight world title bout, a #1 contender fight in the middleweight division, and opening with an undefeated prospect in a regional title fight. It was more “stacked” on paper than this.
Is Joe vs Flo really #1 contender?
If BJ decides to never come back following a win, I would assume the winner faces Sherk for a vacant belt. If he doesn’t and goes back to lightweight, I would hate to see the buyrate for a Stevenson/BJ rematch. The first time it did awful.
Unfortunately for the Lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight divisions, the champs and the contenders are so far apart that the UFC will have to book champions VS champions for there to be interest.
Wait, so you’re saying no one would care about Alves/GSP?
LOL @ BDW. Dana himself confirmed that Fabricio is no longer with the UFC on ‘Inside MMA.’ So much for that.
You saying that the last HBO Boxing PPV is better then this card? That is insane. While BoxRec isn’t perfect, it will show how bad the card is… Rankings in ()
1. Joe Calzaghe (#1) vs. (#6)
2. Zab Judah (#9) vs. Ernest Johnson (#141)
3. Dominick Guinn (#31) vs. Gabe Brown (#217)
4. Dmitriy Salita (#68) vs. Derrick Campos (#236)
5. Francisco Figueroa (#18) vs. Emanuel Augustus (#54)
It might be easier to justify Sarah Palin for President, then to justify a boxing undercard.
To add to the “great boxing card” comment the Augustus Figueroa out come was a total joke. Emanuel was robbed big time. Just goes to show why boxing has been in the crapper latley, one of the many problems with boxing. I’m glad I finally gave up carring about boxing a while ago.
I already forgot about Calzaghe/Roy Jones being on last weekend. Oh well. In any case, want to post the consensus rankings for UFC tomorrow night? I’d like to see how Gonzaga/Hendricks matches up to Judah/Johnson.
BTW, Fedor/Arlovski is gonna be on Showtime. So much for them running away from MMA forever, LOL
bdw: the Werdum story is legit as confirmed by Dana White himself on ESPN’s MMA Live. He’s outta the company.
Speaking of boxing… And according to some, this could have an impact on Lesnar/Couture…
Pavlik vs. Hopkins – 190,000 PPV Buys
Calzaghe vs. RJJ – 225,000 PPV Buys
When the UFC gets over 500,000 for this PPV, we can stop blaming the economy on PPV sales.
I still stand by my statement that the UFC won’t be hit by the economy. However, somebody made a point on another forum that Affliction will likely be out of business, which I agree with. People aren’t going to risk money on an unfamiliar product during these conditions.
So, just to review 45: If this PPV does, say, 650,00 buys (or roughly half of what Dana White claims it will), that is a success?
Has anyone seen the ESPN coverage of this event? Could this be where all the marketing dollars from the UFC went? I just watched some clip with a guy who said Royce with a hard R. Is anyone else skipping this card?
Here is how I would rank it. And you can save it to make fun of me later:
1. Complete Failure: Under 300,000
2. Moderate Disappointment: 300,000 to 500,000
3. Success: 500,000 to 750,000
4. Beyond Success: 750,000 to 1 Million
5. Not Going To Happen: Over 1 Million
Dana White’s job is to talk up the fight. By saying it will “break records” will get the media more interested in covering in. It’s almost a self fulfilling prophecy.
But to me, if it gets over 500,000, it did what it needs to.
November 14, 2008
SEAL BEACH, Calif., Nov 14, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The board of directors of Affliction Inc. announced today that it received and accepted the resignation of Todd Beard as an employee of the company. Mr. Beard is one of the original founders of the clothing company based in Seal Beach, California. The resignation coincides with a public apology for comments made by Mr. Beard and directed toward Randy Couture and his wife Kim Couture regarding their business relationship.
Mr. Beard also disclosed that he will be seeking treatment for anger management and alcohol abuse.
According to Mr. Beard, “I would like to apologize for my comments that may have offended Kim and Randy Couture and Mr. Spira. I had a long-standing relationship with the Coutures and I was deeply and emotionally hurt by some of their recent business decisions. I have only the best of intentions for the success of the Affliction and Xtreme Couture clothing brands and understand that there are personal issues I must address.”
According to the board of directors, “We are delighted Todd has decided to address these issues and wish Randy Couture well.”
The Board of directors of Affliction Inc. also wanted to clarify that Affliction Entertainment Group LLC. (the promotion company) is not controlled by Affliction Inc. Mr. Beard to its knowledge, is nether an officer, director, or a shareholder of Affliction Entertainment Group LLC. as stated in several periodicals.
Anything below 675 (Rampage-Chuck) number has to be considered a disappointment, even if it is still successful financially. The gate looks to be 5 million.
I am feeling heightened interest in this show among casuals. I just got a text from a friend who barely even knows ufc, but watched wrestling, asking if I’m going to see the “brock fight.” I think it will do well.
“Here is how I would rank it. And you can save it to make fun of me later:
1. Complete Failure: Under 300,000
2. Moderate Disappointment: 300,000 to 500,000
3. Success: 500,000 to 750,000
4. Beyond Success: 750,000 to 1 Million
5. Not Going To Happen: Over 1 Million
Dana White’s job is to talk up the fight. By saying it will “break records” will get the media more interested in covering in. It’s almost a self fulfilling prophecy.
But to me, if it gets over 500,000, it did what it needs to.”
The best UFC PPV cards have gotten over 1 million buys. This is featuring proven box office draws in Couture and Brock – getting 500-700k when they predicted 1.2M is far from a “success” in terms of the fact that they just blew up BY FAR the biggest HW fight they have from here on out and is a pretty likely indication that the economy has effected the UFC’s ability to draw ppvs. Let’s not forget that it’s probably costing them a pretty penny in main event salaries – which is why we are getting this UFN undercard.
And I’m sorry but getting 300-500k buys would be an absolute and total failure. If you’re calling getting your unshakeable base plus a few other buyers “moderate disappointment” you’re out of your mind.
The 300-400 mark is pretty much the same as the 25% of people comprising the “Republican base”. They’d vote Republican no matter if a corpse was up for election – so that many people buying UFC ppvs gives no indication whatsoever.
I think this ppv will still score “strong” buys – probably 600-700k. But considering who’s involved, the aura of the fight and the fact that UFC has been established in the mainstream – I would think that’s “disappointing” and affected by the economic climate. I mean, people were on here saying that bad economy = more buys…I’m just not seeing it.
The media has really picked up for this. ESPN has been doing a hell of a lot. This is the most ESPN coverage that any UFC event has gotten.
Under 500k would be a failure. 500-700 would be a modest success. 700+ is good and 1,000,000 would be great.
Wow, the ESPN Media coverage is great. Main front page article to air the weigh-ins.
Okay, based on this coverage, I will have to agree with the above posts. Under 500,000 is considered a failure.
VERY IMPRESSED by this ESPN coverage…very. I hope this helps to spike interest!! Im so psyched for this fight.
the UFC put a full page ad in the Metro, a free newspaper in Toronto that everyone reads. pretty surprised to see them advertise in more mainstream media.
there is a 500,000 plus change audience for all recent UFC events involving randy. The thought is that Brock benga in 200-300,000 wwe fans. Anything under 850,000 or so will be a huge dissappointment and will suggest that UFC has hit it’s plateau fir now and is a tinge sport with a loyal following a la hockey.
Businesses need to show growth to be considers growing and siccesful. Anything below a mill or so is lack of success and anything below 850k is a failure.
From an MMAPayout article:
“Jim Ross was also of director talent relations during his span with the WWE, so he is used to dealing with the business side of things in the PPV-driven sports/entertainment busines. He is joining the chorus of opinion that thinks the one million buy goal for UFC 91 may be a mirage:
UFC officials are predicting north of 1M PPV buys but I don’t see it. The American economy is deplorable, the event isn’t sold out, and with PPV buys being discretionary purchases I would suggest that if UFC 91 gets 500,000-750,000 buys it should be considered a major success. Any one who argues that the economy won’t affect the number of buys is fooling one’s self. “