« NSAC releases PRIDE Gate Figures. | Home | Fight Opinion Radio: Episode 29 (PRIDE in Las Vegas) »
Thursday and Friday multipurpose thread
By Zach Arnold | October 26, 2006
This will be updated throughout the next two days.
If you click full-post mode, you’ll read comments made by Dave Meltzer in an interview on Thursday in regards to how UFC is reacting to PRIDE’s first Las Vegas event.
Plus (updated Friday), Tito Ortiz finds new ways to create controversy.
Thursday Headlines
- Fox Sports: Mark Kerr’s IFL comeback (plus here’s some extra quotes)
- MMA Weekly: Vitor Belfort & Pawel Nastula test positive for performance-enhancing drugs
- Sherdog: Belfort, Nastula fail post-fight drug test
- NHB News (Japan): Belfort & Nastula fail drug tests (the news is already spreading in Japanese)
- Fight Report: MMA fighter salaries
- Houston Chronicle: Fedor strengthens hold as world’s best
- South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Absolute Fighting Championships in Boca
- The Cincinnati Post: Rebel finds home in fight league (IFL)
- Yahoo PR: Spike TV December 2006 schedule (UFN event on 12/13 in San Diego)
- UFC HP: Stevenson faces Mishima at UFC 65
In a Thursday interview on the F4W Online web site, Dave Meltzer was asked various questions in regards to the PRIDE Las Vegas show. Here’s a breakdown of some of the answers given:
UFC’s reaction to PRIDE’s first Las Vegas event: UFC staff thought that the PRIDE show overall (specifically the presentation of it) sucked. UFC believes in getting over their core business (MMA) as a sport and not like professional wrestling (even with the crossover of pro-wrestling fans they have). UFC thinks that for the press and mainstream media, shows have to be presented as a sporting event and that the presentation PRIDE used made their event look like a sideshow attraction (like pro-wrestling). UFC believes that this is the wrong method to use for production and that in American culture, it will not go over well (specifically with sportswriters who will look at it as just an entertainment show).
On UFC & PRIDE drawing hardcore fans: There is internal expectation from promoters that hardcore fans will spend so much money, that the tickets are priced very high. Casual fans are willing to spend $35, $40, maybe $50 USD for a ticket, but they will not spend $200 to see an event. PRIDE & UFC are turning off casual fans from being potential customers, just like boxing has done with past live events.
WWE’s thoughts on the PRIDE event: Bryan Alvarez noted that WWE internally had a negative viewpoint on PRIDE’s production values for the Las Vegas show. “They were down on the production.”
Friday Headlines
- The Press Enterprise: Justin McCully beats Rubin Villareal at San Manuel Casino (Valor Fighting show)
- Winnipeg Sun: Bas Rutten to make an appearance the Winnipeg Convention Centre this weekend
- Marine Times: Miramar ball guest Tito Ortiz cancels after he is asked not to bring porn star girlfriend Jenna Jameson
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is it me or is anyone else tired of Fight Night being the lead in for every tom and bull show Spike trys to hard sell?
Well, IMO, it’s not so much of Fight Night being a “tom and bull show”, as much as Spike TV knows that Ultimate Fight Night gets a better TV rating. Hence, the fact that Ultimate Fight Night gets the primetime TV spot. And IMO, the award show is just some throw away programming that Spike TV uses to waste time. Think about it, there’s only so many hours in the day that Spike TV can fill with episodes of MXC :D.
Soooo, Nastula and Belfort tested positive at “The Real Deal”. I hope that there’s a statement coming from the NSAC on who they tested apart from those two and Barnett. My guess would be Fedor and Coleman, since they were in the main event (and it would be surprising that Coleman passed the test).
Surprising if Coleman passed? The man looked DEAD. If he was on ANYTHING he should sue the manufacturers.
UFC 65 is the first card this year to match the regular quality of their pre-1.3 shows per month-era. Good for them. And 66 is coming together as a bit of a supershow. Good again 🙂
Well, Vitor didn’t look too good either, but still he was busted.
Could be because he’s off the juice, or because he’s 41, but Coleman has been looking much leaner lately. Compare him last saturday to him when he fought Mo Smith, or even Nog. I met him just before he was supposed to fight Couture, and he looked like a monster. At Real Deal, as JThue said, he looked dead.
Vitor just looked less bulked, not bad. Possibly related to him fighting a smaller guy.
“The eight Pride fighters who were drug tested and passed their tests are Fedor Emelianenko, Mark Coleman, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Kevin Randleman, Josh Barnett, Dan Henderson, Phil Baroni, and Yosuke Nishijima. The other six fighters on the Pride card were not drug tested.”
From MMAweekly.com.
The same article mentions that 7 fighters were tested at UFC 64.
WTF…Baroni and Coleman passed? Is that a typo?
“UFC believes in getting over their core business (MMA) as a sport and not like professional wrestling (even with the crossover of pro-wrestling fans they have). UFC thinks that for the press and mainstream media, shows have to be presented as a sporting event and that the presentation PRIDE used made their event look like a sideshow attraction (like pro-wrestling). ”
Can you say Ortiz / Shamrock? How about Reality TV? Hypocrites!
Until they give me my three hours back from 61, UFC has no room to talk.
I think it’s unintentionally funny if Zuffa thinks that the Pride product is too “pro wrestling-like.” This from a company whose biggest PPV of the year and biggest ratings of the year came from a pro wrestling storyline in every sense of the word except that it ended in a shoot fight instead of a pro wrestling match (Ortiz-Shamrock).
I guess the whole angle taken by UFC was to present this event as a sporting event to the mainstream (even though there wasn’t much sporting about it). UFC knows that “Joe fan” has no idea what kind of talent and dedication it takes to become a world class wrestler like Ortiz, or that Shamrock WAS a great fighter at one time. These fans actually thought prior to the fight that it was sporting to pit the two of them against one another in a fight. So in perspective, they are still presenting their show as a sport and not an entertainment spectacle.
Worked pull-aparts and pro wrestling storylines (complete with Tito Ortiz admittedly modeling his on-screen character after Steve Austin’s character in WWE) is not un-pro-wrestling-like. It is pro wrestling, just with a different payoff at the end. Instead of a worked pro wrestling match, it ends with a shoot fight.