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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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MMA Link Club: Nick Diaz talk 24/7… is he the industry’s most interesting man?

By Zach Arnold | September 17, 2011

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He believes in what he’s saying… right?

Dana White & Big John McCarthy talk about the growth of UFC under Zuffa…

Member sites of the MMA Link Club

This week’s MMA Link Club featured stories

Five Ounces of Pain: On UFC’s Ultimate Fighter 14 conference call, both Mayhem Miller & Michael Bisping agree that the other person is annoying & irritating

MMA Fighting (Michael David Smith): BJ Penn, UFC spar over how to hype Nick Diaz fight

“They forced me to say, at the end of the whole thing, they forced me,” Penn said of the way the UFC wanted him to directly address Diaz. “‘You gotta say Nick Diaz’s name now, you gotta say his name.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ They were like, ‘Say you’re gonna beat Nick Diaz. Say you’re going to beat Nick Diaz.’ And I said, ‘I’m going to beat Nick Diaz.'”

NBC Sports (Mike Chiappetta): Primer for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event on Spike TV from New Orleans

Cage Potato: Video fact check — did the UFC really ‘force’ BJ Penn to say he’d beat Nick Diaz?

MMA Mania (Brian Hemminger): The key for Jake Ellenberger to win is to strike, strike, strike

The key for Ellenberger will be to land a strike with power without trying too hard and leaving a huge opening for an easy takedown. Perhaps what would work best would be if “The Juggernaut” can really work his jab. If he can find a home for a short, snappy punch then he can build confidence to throw that nasty power strike and hurt the former Strikeforce middleweight champion.

5th Round: Nick Diaz lost at least $1 million from UFC 137 demotion

Bleacher Report: Paul Daley says America is no longer the center of the MMA training universe

I don’t see the benefit of training in the US. There are a bunch of fighters I’ve beaten that have lived and trained permanently in the US, and conversely, there are a bunch of guys I’ve lost to that have never trained in the US. I don’t think the US is the hub it used to be back in the day when I went over to American Top Team.

Middle Easy: BJ Penn talks about his match-up with Nick Diaz in this raw, uncut interview

Low Kick: Leandro Issa talks about Shinya Aoki being a great teammate and someone he learned a lot from

The Fight Nerd: 20-minute interview with ‘Joe Palooka’ comic creator, Joe Antonacci

MMA Convert (Jim Genia): That awkward feeling for both Spike TV & UFC on Saturday night

You know what’s awkward? When you and your long-term girlfriend make plans months in advance for a grand cruise to the Virgin Islands, but you end up breaking up a week before the vacation and start dating someone else. Unfortunately, the trip has already been paid for and the tickets are non-refundable and non-transferrable. What do you do? Do you cancel and absorb the fiscal loss with a grimace? Or do you put on your game face and go with your clearly bitter ex-girlfriend anyway?

MMA Payout: Interview with ‘Warrior’ star Joel Edgerton

“I thought it was a good script and an ambitious project.” Edgerton’s participation in the movie was due in part because of director Gavin O’Connor. He was a fan of his work on Miracle and Pride and Glory. “If you are going to do a movie on MMA, you had to do it right and breathe life into it.” Edgerton added, “He’s (O’Connor) the right person to do it as you see it (Warrior) now.”

O’Connor, produced the raw, HBO documentary, “The Smashing Machine,” which featured MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Edgerton recalls watching it when it came out and saw it again in preparation to work with O’Connor, “I saw it again. I think it was an interesting template for what Warrior is about.”

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

17 Responses to “MMA Link Club: Nick Diaz talk 24/7… is he the industry’s most interesting man?”

    • 45 Huddle says:

      It’s a very interesting read, but I don’t see this as a positive for boxing. It’s one of the reasons why they have so many problems currently. And why they are stuck on channels like HBO and Showtime, while an upstart like the UFC is now on FOX and FX.

      The inmates cannot run the asylum and money needs to be put back into the sport in order for it to continue to grow in the right direction. These acts do not do either.

      Hey, it’s great for Floyd Mayweaher Jr. Good for him if he can make that much money. But it’s not good for boxing.

    • edub says:

      He’s gettin pa-per…

      The thing is, everybody is spending all the money to see him (with some for Ortiz whose rumored to be making 5 mil). There’s no organization that’s bringing in viewers like the UFC is in MMA.

      PBF could team with Top Rank or GBP right now, and create a super promotion.

      • Fluyid says:

        Man, I don’t know. I sense that nothing is going to change boxing. I don’t know what could. I think it seems old and outdated for the younger generations. If I’m right about that, I don’t know what’s going to change it.

        And yes, the hispanic and other populations will ensure that it endures. I am just thinking in terms of boxing being cool and popular like MMA is and will continue to be.

        That probably doesn’t directly discuss your point. Plus, I’m sick with a stomach virus right now.

        By the way, I’ve read that this PPV is supposedly tracking for 1.75 to 2 million buys. Could that be possible? If so, I’m really surprised.

        Fun fact for you guys: I literally sharted today. For real. Tip: Don’t try to ease one out when you have a stomach virus.

        Good day, gentlemen.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Big PPV Buys in Boxing don’t surprise me really. Imagine if the UFC only did 2 major PPV’s a year with GSP or Lesnar only. They would be doing huge numbers because there is an increased demand.

          That is what happens with boxing. With the fanbase that is left, there is such a demand for big events that they are basically salavating over watching them.

          The problem for boxing is that that for the rest of the year, there isn’t enough interest in the sport.

          And as you pointed out, as the older generation goes away, so does a big fanbase for boxing.

        • Fluyid says:

          I haven’t been keeping up too much, but hasn’t the average PPV buy-rate for the last few UFC shows been in the 350K range? They need maybe 6 of those to make one of these Mayweather shows, if this one did indeed sell that many.

          Just saying.

          Oh, and I’m much better today.

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    1) The US is not the center of the MMA universe for training? Paul Daley is not very bright. They do teach how to cut weight properly in the US. Perhaps he needs to come to the US to learn that simple skill.

    2) I like Jim Genia’s example of the relationship between SpikeTV & the UFC. Personally, I would compare it more to the last 6 months of a 2 term President…. It feels like we are just waiting for this chapter to close until the new one opens.

    3) And sort of going even further on point #2…. The entire 2011 has felt like a transition year. The year started off with the addition of the WEC fighters, which inluded 2 new weight classes. Then there was the purchase of Strikeforce. The horrible ratings on Versus. And then the eventual change from SpikeTV to FOX being announced. Combine that with that huge injury streak they had in the middle of the year, and this has been one strange year for the UFC. I expect 2012 to be a lot more stable and have a much better flow to it.

    By March, all of the Strikeforce fighters will be in the UFC. Fans will be used to how the UFC is on the FOX channels…. From Fight Nights to TUF to even the content on FUEL TV.

  2. edub says:

    Saturday parlay: Alvarez, Mayweather, Sheilds, and Dunham.

    Boom.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Should have gone with Ellenberger like I said.

      It was an easy pick.

      • edub says:

        I am a little bit upset about that pick. Not because I think that was the likely result, but because there was enough intelligent discussion (everywhere online) for it that i would rarely use a fight like that in a parlay.

        Meh, still up from last week. Cormier, Barnett, and Rockhold netted me some cheese.

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    Strikeforce World Champion who dominated in that organization is now 1-2 in the UFC, and could have been 0-3 if Kampmann wasn’t clueless on how to create a proper MMA gameplan.

    It’s going to look shockingly easy for BJ Penn to pick apart Nick Diaz in October.

    It’s going to look shockingly easy when Brock Lesnar takes down Alistair Overeem and KO’s him much like he did to Frank Mir.

    These are easy picks. Not even close….

    Strikeforce only has one real legit fighters who would ever be World Champions someday. That’s Gilbert Melendez.

    The rest have been and are still highly overrated.

    Guys like Jake Shields are just proving what type of talent differences there is….

    I’m saddened that my fellow FO commenters were going with Jake Shields on this one. This was about as easy to predict as a fight can get…. Or in my exact words from a few days ago: “I see this as a rather one-sided victory for Jake Ellenberger. I’m about as sure of this one as I was of picking Cormier to beat Silva. Easy pickings.”

    • EJ says:

      Yeah I was shocked that so many so called experts didn’t give Ellenberger a shot when the guy has been a beast in his UFC career. Shields horrible striking was a huge hole in his game but he made up for it with his wrestling but Ellenberger was a better wrestler. This was the perfect example of a horrible style match up and while it happened faster than I thought it would it wasn’t a shock at all to see him get KTFO.

      I hope Nick Diaz was watching tonight because this isn’t SF in the UFC you have to face top guys all the time. Ellenberger just put himself one fight away from a title shot, him against either BJ or Fitch would be great fights.

      Now as far as the Bellator show goes i’m really curious to see if Baker comes in with a smarter gameplan against “Storm” when they eventually rematch. Because i’ve said for awhile that Baker is the only guy at Bellator that has a shot against Lombard but he has to use his wrestling and not fall in love with his strikes.

    • edub says:

      You guys are out of your mind if you think that was an easy pick. If they fought 10 more times Shields would probably win more.

      Are your really posting I told you so’s on here? Do you really want people to start tracking your prediction record?

      • Dave says:

        The I told you so’s and the gloating are just hilarious in every little way.

        We all know that styles make fights and to pretend like it is otherwise is crass.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        I would have no problem tracking main event or co-main event predictions. My track record in fantastic. I didn’t get a main event in the UFC or Strikeforce wrong in 2010 until Sonnen lost to Silva in the 5th.

        Some people have an eye for this stuff (45 Huddle)…. Some people don’t….

  4. spacedog says:

    Just saw the Ortiz money fight. Unreal. I can’t believe a ref that poor is even allowed to work. I hope someone has the balls to challenge this in court, that “victory” should be overturned. Money is a total POS and deserves the fate that awaits him. Jail, bankruptcy, and shame.

    • edub says:

      “Keep your hands up at all times” is pretty easy to remember in the cage. Especially, after you try to butt somebody in the face.

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