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Is Bob Meyrowitz returning to MMA?

By Zach Arnold | July 27, 2006

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By Zach Arnold

An unnoticed article in Multichannel News (use this link if the direct link doesn’t load for you) caught my attention. R. Thomas Umstead reported on Monday that Bob Meyrowitz, the founder of UFC, is pitching to several cable networks a new MMA reality show series.

Before you get too excited, there’s one distressing item reported in the article:

The reality series, scheduled to be filmed in the U.S. and Russia, will pit two teams, each including a female fighter, with distinct styles against each other.

“We’re not building up anger between two men, but rather matching two totally different fighting styles,” he said.

As much credit as Meyrowitz should be given for what he did in the early days of MMA, the concept of style vs. style is an idea that is stuck in the mid-90s. In 2006, all the successful elite MMA fighters cross-train and practice multiple disciplines (boxing, wrestling, sambo, muay thai, etc.) because you have to be multi-dimensional to be a top competitor.

Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

10 Responses to “Is Bob Meyrowitz returning to MMA?”

  1. MonkeyMatt says:

    People still have discernable styles, particularly if they are from different continents.

    See Big Nog’s BJJ versus Fedor’s slippery sombo and judo combination. Or the Team Quest guys as opposed to BTT.

    Could be interesting.

  2. Zach Arnold says:

    Matt – in the case of Nogueira, he not only presents a great ground-game but also improved boxing/striking skills. Barnett is both great at wrestling and submissions.

    I do agree that Meyrowitz returning to MMA is interesting, for sure, but marketing style vs. style seems outdated as a concept.

  3. Dave says:

    Bob Meyrowitz was recently on an episode of No Holds Barred with Eddie Goldman, discussing exactly what is in this article. This is a link.

    Itunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441

    Mp3:
    http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/enclosure/2006-07-19T16_26_55-07_00.mp3

  4. FredEttish says:

    I listened to the “No Holds Barred” show last week and Bob indicated that there would be an announcement this past Monday. I really respect Bob and Eddie but their conversation went completely off base at moments during the interview. Bob doesn’t seem to reckognize that today’s fighters use a style that is a RESULT of what happened in the early UFC. It’s almost as though he wants to digress to UFC 1 when he was still at the helm by the time some modern fighters had begun to develop actual MMA skills. Bob also seems to believe that Matt Hughes’ dominance over Royce Gracie was more due to age than to ability. Anyone with intermediate MMA knowledge knows how far from the truth that is. Today’s Matt Hughes would have dominated the early UFC tournaments based on the fact that we know what works in a real combat situation. This is because of Royce not despite him.

  5. Ivan Trembow says:

    If Meyrowitz’s concept really is “style vs. style,” it is stuck in 1993 and is doomed to fail in 2006. Hopefully, they have something else up their sleeves other than re-purposing the concept of UFC 1.

  6. Chuck says:

    Bob was involved with UFC back then? I thought it was owned by Rorion Gracie. I thought SEG didn’t get involved with UFC until about 1995.

  7. Zach Arnold says:

    [Bob was involved with UFC back then? I thought it was owned by Rorion Gracie. I thought SEG didn’t get involved with UFC until about 1995.]

    I know for sure Rorion was involved in the beginning, and he made that clear on a Fox Sports Net special program a while back that discussed how the UFC was born in the first place.

  8. Chuck says:

    I have a full-glossy book about the Gracies. It’s called “The Gracie Way”.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931229287/sr=1-1/qid=1154150636/ref=sr_1_1/104-4611056-7695968?ie=UTF8&s=books

    And for Rorion’s entry, they also mention about Rorion helping to start up the UFC. And yeah, I saw that on the episode of Quite Frankly with Steven A. Smith. Good episode, also had Dana White, Chuck Liddell, a smoking hot ring card girl for UFC, and a son of Rorion.

  9. Joe G. Trenton NJ says:

    Let’s give a true MMA pioneer some credit.
    Has anyone ever heard of Grandmaster Aaron Banks of New York?
    GM Banks promoted the ORIENTAL WORLD OF SELF DEFENSE where boxers, wrestlers, and Martial Artists from various disciplines fouht each other.
    He held shows at MSG and Sunnyside Gardens and would have celebrity special guests in waht were outstanding promotions back in the 70’s.
    Some of today’s MMA promoters and fighters should be thanking GM Banks.
    Long before Meyorwitz, White, the Ferttidas, and Gary Shaw, Banks was doing it and at times better than some of today’s events.

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