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Friday fresh notes
By Zach Arnold | December 14, 2006
- Los Angeles Times (article by Dave Meltzer): UFC is looking at a bright future (use this link if you get the firewall)
- Los Angeles Times: MMA groups to fight for fighters (article about Elite — Brandon Vera says he has one fight with UFC, is considering a deal with Elite, use this link if you get the firewall)
- Business Wire (PR): Pro-Elite launches EXC on Showtime
- Mike Swick: I’m not fighting Rich Franklin in March
- K-1: Musashi vs. Randy Kim announced for 12/31 Osaka Dome show
- Rocky Mountain News: IFL big winner in 60 Minutes segment (plus Alex Marvez points out the Zuffa Myth)
- Times & Star (UK): Alan Murdoch and Dave Legeno aim for rubber match in Cage Rage
- Long Beach Press-Telegram: Showtime network enters the MMA fighting ranks (Elite signs Gina Carano – good move)
- Jake Rossen: New Year’s Wishes
- UFC Junkie: Liddell and Ortiz get publicity on M-TV
- The MMA Observer: 2006 MMA round-up
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Man Vera leaving for Showtime? That would suck if it happens, I really like him and see alot of potential in him. Plus Im sick of Ogre Slyvia as champ…I want someone taking his belt!
Funny quote from Dana about the Showtime people “they dont know the difference between MMA and thumb wrestling.” LOL golden stuff.
I doubt Vera would do that; I think he just wants more negotiating leverage, and more power to him because he deserves to be paid a fair salary.
Also, lol at that line from Meltzer’s column because was somehow a heretic according to many people who e-mailed me when I said the same thing when TUF 3 was airing with its worked pull-aparts:
“There is also a dangerous cycle of long-time fans of WWE moving to UFC this year because it has done a better job at what makes pro wrestling click, the creation of new stars and building of artificial grudges and storylines.”
I just find it pathetic that everytime Dana White speaks about other organizations he does so in a very cocky and patronizing way.
Dana has been doing a good job – in hiw own way – bringing the UFC to a high state, but if there was no Zuffa money to begin with where would all his expertise take him? Not very far, I believe. Oh, maybe he would have his own aerobics gym… (-;
No need to disrespect others imo.
Agreed on Dana. Dude has a ton to be proud of…no need to belittle everyone else. When you’re the champ, and you’re recognized as the champ, it makes you cheap to come off so rash & petty.
Bill Goldberg and Mario Lopez as commentators?! That’s as horrible you can get. Neither has credible experience with MMA. I can only imagine the quality of the commentating now.
As for Dana, yeah he always comes across as an arrogant prick in interviews. What else is new.
Maybe Vera is just hinting at moving as a tactic to allow him to renegotiate for more money or to move down to LH. The guy can’t be confident in his chances if UFC does bring in Crocop at heavyweight, no matter how much I like the guy.
Zeppelin:
Hey, it could be worse. They could’ve gotten Screech instead of AC Slater! Just think of the incredible banters he could have with Goldberg:
“Oooh, what a beautiful Guilloutine!”
“That’s a rear naked choke, Screech.”
“Don’t call me Screech! I’ll fuckin’ kill you, arrrrrrgh!”
Bye the bye, Dana Whites ‘dickishness’ is not that unusual for a promoter. I am not saying its justified, but his subject (Gary Shaw) is just as bad if not worst.
Better hope EliteXC isn’t offering Vera enough money to seriously consider jumping ship. While Vera is a promising fighter he hasn’t been seriously tested yet and it’d be foolish to offer him big $$ based on the fact that they’d be stealing away UFC’s #1 contender at the moment.
Note that Swick has only said he doesn’t know who he’s fighting yet, not that he definately isn’t fighting Franklin. I’d be happy to bet a hunner that March will see Swick vs Franklin.
To be fair, what qualifications does Mike Goldberg have to talk about MMA? Bill did a good job on the WFA show. Lopez trains jiu jitsu. No reason to think he can’t explain things in a similar fashion to Joe Rogan.
Lot of people are drinking the Hatorade around here.
Granted it may be a quick jump to conclusion but even though u may dabble in the arts, how does that make u credible with the general audience when people remmeber u as the guy who was trying to bang the chick who ended up stripping in Showgirls? BTW the guy who plays Al Bundy also does MMA and jiu jitsu at the local gym (he’s not too bad either) here BUT Im sure people will have a hard time taking him seriously if he was offered a announcing job for a MMA show.
Andy Peretti knew as much about MMA as anyone and was a horrible announcer.
oops *John* Peretti rather
Joe Rogan is the host of Fear Factor. Or was. Did the show get canceled?
Yes it did, but the Fear Factor spirit lives on in an attraction at the Hollywood Universal Studios where contestant can win cash by doing crazy things.
Roadblock,
I don’t follow fear factor, but I believe it is a mid-season (summer) show, and I don’t think it’s been canceled.
Or maybe it has, lol.
NICE!
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3118&zoneid=13
Fear Factor was cancelled during the 2005-2006 TV season, though several of its unaired episodes were burned off in the summer of 2006. Still, the series produced enough episodes (146) to make it into syndication, so Joe Rogan will be getting royalty checks for years to come.
Eh im not going crazy for Barnett/NOg II…i think the rematch will be boring becuase a game Nog will keep the game to the ground and with a very fresh Barnett it will be just a lay and pray a thon. BUT I feel if Barnett can win again he should get a crack at Fedor next naturally.
On http://www.ifl.tv there is an intresting interview with Ken Shamrock about his team and how he was potrayed on the TUF as a coach.
Sidenote: IMO I dont think itsa good thing when ur lead member of the team is Vernon tiger White….that guy hasnt been good or competitive in a LONG time.
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6366
Intresting tidbits includign Louiseu’s contract supposidly being 3 fights for close to 170k..good for the crow, now lets see if he can earn that. Also the cross promotion aspect thsat EXC wants to do with champions fighting champions…might be more of a pipe dream than anything else.
Loiseau – That is so beyond overpaid it isn’t even funny. He isn’t worth half of that.
Barnett vs. Nogueira 2 – Right now most fans have the Top 4 in the Heavyweight Division as: 1.Fedor 2. Cro Cop 3.Barnett 4.Nogueira. The reason for this is because Barnett beat Nogueira and then lost to Cro Cop.
If Nogueira beats Barnett, does he leap frog to #2 in the world? He has wins over Cro Cop & Barnett. For my rankings, I think Nogueira leap frogs Mirko. What do you think?
I think the fight adds needed heavyweight leverage to the card, but Barnett having another fight this year is proposterous. They openly admit that he’s not fit enough to fight Fedor, but he CAN go another 3R war with Minotauro? I hope to GOD they don’t book him for February ON TOP of this.
Oh, and I’d rather watch Fujimoto win another weak-ass GP than sitting through this Dynamite show for five hours. Blesseth be TBS editing. I can not believe how it is even possible to have such poor match-making skills for their biggest show of the year. It’s not just the worst NYE card ever anymore – this has drifted into the mind-boggling-category.
Loiseau is a very exciting and marketable fighter. I realize he’s overpaid but so what, the market is there and maybe that will help push salaries up past some of the slave labour waves we’ve seen. Now that PRIDE is going out of business – who’s going to make some competition to keep the salaries honest?
I would hope that groups like Cage Rage, Cage Warriors, and other European organizations (and perhaps some groups in Australia) would pick up some of the slack. Hopefully.
IF Nog can beat Barnett he could leapfrog over Mirko to be #2 in any and all fictional rankings BUT the true number 1 contender is still Mirko. Sorry regardless NOBODY wants to see Nog/Fedor IV…NOBODY.
And yea the K-1 dynamite show is horrendous
Lets just go with Zuffa lie in regards to their claim of instituting new rules and pursuing state athletic approval. “Zuffa myth” is too kind, a myth can be considered by many as a story which cannot be proven to be either true or false.
White’s recent comment about never losing star fighters during his stay could however turn out to be accurate if he can secure Bustamante for a show. He can then claim that the fighters (Penn, Pulver, Busta and Ortiz) were just misplaced for a while… but not lost.
White to the best of my knowledge is unable to travel back in time. So there is no way for him to prevent seg from seeking sanctioning, implementing rules or time limits, like in the terminator movies.
White’s constant denigration of everyone else but him is typical psychotic behavior of a control freak. He’s like a lowly Mc Donalds manager who after work lurks in front of supermarkets telling people they’re not good enough to make their own sandwich with phrases like… “so you want to make a sandwich…” “you’ll make a mess of it” or “do you even know what a condiment is?” then hands them a dime off coupon for their next big mac.