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Early Friday media notes
By Zach Arnold | December 28, 2006
MSNBC aired the first in their Warrior Nation series of MMA documentary shows, with the focus being on Enoch Wilson vs. Urijah Faber. They showed footage of their fight that happened at the Malice at the Cow Palace event on 9/9 in San Francisco. The finish involved Wilson losing due to a doctor stoppage from a cut caused by an elbow strike. Intriguingly, the show closed on a person from the inimitable California State Athletic Commission medically suspending Wilson for 60 days due to the cut. Wilson’s trainer is shown puzzled beyond words on camera, as he says that he has never heard of any other state in America suspending a fighter that long for a cut.
Onto Friday’s media links and the busiest day of the year for English-based media coverage…
- MMA California: New message board opened
- The Baltimore Sun: Tito Ortiz overcame rough beginning
- New York Times: Controversial sport and its stars kick their way towards the mainstream (as Ivan Trembow pointed out, factual errors in the piece)
- Canadian Press via CBC Sports: UFC 4/7 Montreal event postponed
- Superhero Flix (PR): Warner Bros. and Chuck Liddell join forces
- The St. Petersburg Times: It’s not all fun and games
- The Pasadena Star-News: Differing definitions of success (about Jake Shannon)
- Canadian Press via CBC Sports: Liddell, Ortiz trade stares but not insults as they meet the media
- Gambling 911: UFC 66 – Is the world ready for UFC betting?
- Los Angeles Times: Biggest weekend in MMA history is here
- Fox Sports MMA Blog: Chuck vs. Tito – the readers speak out
- TMZ: Chuck Liddell partying on Thursday night at TABU night club
- Fight Report: Massive amounts of MMA this weekend
- Doghouse Boxing: UFC – Chuck Liddell disses Tito Ortiz
- Miami Herald: Ortiz & Liddell set for re-match on Saturday at UFC 66
- The Baltimore Sun: UFC 66 preview and guest predictions
- Las Vegas Sun: Jeff Haney on why one handicapper backs Liddell
- NBC Sports: UFC 66 preview
- Las Vegas Sun: Take five: UFC Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz
- The New York Post: UFC Hitting Hard
- The Norwich Bulletin: Mohegan Sun Arena hosts IFL
- The Boston Herald: Clash of contrasting styles at UFC 66
- The Boston Herald: Ultimate Growth Factor
- The Oregonian: Portland, Iowa to battle for team, best gym titles
- The Oregonian: MMA noteboxing – IFL meets, then exceeds expectations in first year
- Los Angeles Daily News: UFC finds ultimate success (long article)
- The Houston Chronicle: UFC 66 to make MMA history
- WOAI (Texas): Interview with UFC fighter Roger Huerta
- Dave Doyle: Eight reasons to watch Liddell-Ortiz 2
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Time Warner owns both Warner Brothers and HBO. Keep that in mind.
I don’t think the HBO connection has anything to do with it.
Chuck has a role in the upcoming Death & Life of Bobby Z, which is being distributed by WB. My guess that is how this came about.
My guess is that it came about because Chuck is the biggest name in MMA, a sport which caters to males aged 18-34 which happens to be the exact demographic for that movie.
Quality fact checking from the New York Times:
“Dismissed as too brutal by critics, and banned in some states including New York, the sport has been striving for respect after enacting rules in 2001 that forbid tactics like eye gouging and biting.”
Also, good Lord: “He [Ortiz] also said he was considering making a television reality series with Ms. Jameson, who is also his business adviser.”
Just read the St. Petersburg Times article. Here is some more quality fact checking:
““We thought, God, if we owned this thing, it would be so cool if we did this or that. We had a lot of ideas,’’ said White, a former boxer and driving force behind the growth of the sport.
White’s plan? Invade the country’s major markets. Instead of running from regulation, run toward it.â€
They always leave out the sentences after “running from regulation run toward it” .. that would read something like this: “Dana White ran toward regulation after colluding with his partners the Fertita brothers who are members of the commission that denied the original owner of UFC the ability to be regulated in Nevada, thus forcing him to sell his company to Mr. White and the Fertita brothers below market value. Once White and the Fertitas controlled UFC, Nevada gave the sport a rubber stamp. UFC had already been regulated in New Jersey by its previous owner and with the two biggets State Athletic Commissions on board UFC was back on Pay Per View.”
Shame the UFC canada card got cancelled but Im assuming without the Hughes/GSP match…not much to see for the canucks.
UFC needs to stop announcing things before they are set in stone. They have a terrible habit of doing that and ending up with egg on their face. Running a show in Montreal is no big deal, but making a big deal about announcing it then cancelling it makes UFC look like an indy wrestling fed. Obviously it isn’t, it’s an incredibly successful promotion. But how about waiting until the ink dries on contracts before announcing things.
Meltzer says Mirco is confirmed to be on his way to Las Vegas, and reaffirms on Cro Cop vs. O’Brien for 2/3.
“Meltzer says Mirco is confirmed to be on his way to Las Vegas, and reaffirms on Cro Cop vs. O’Brien for 2/3.”
it’s Cro Cop vs. Eddie Sanchez. Jake O’Brien’s opponent is Heath Herring and that fight is 1/25
Yeah, I’ve mixed up the two jobbers a million times today :S
Mr. Roadblock Says:
December 29th, 2006 at 8:42 am
UFC needs to stop announcing things before they are set in stone. They have a terrible habit of doing that and ending up with egg on their face. Running a show in Montreal is no big deal, but making a big deal about announcing it then cancelling it makes UFC look like an indy wrestling fed. Obviously it isn’t, it’s an incredibly successful promotion. But how about waiting until the ink dries on contracts before announcing things.
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No doubt if PRIDE or any other organization did this we could be graced with a great “article” from Zach mocking and chastizing them, however…
Dana has a history of saying things and them not turning out into reality. Listen to our radio shows during the time when he announced Silva vs. Liddell on the UFC PPV with Shamrock/Tito II. I have always and will continue to blast him for the stupidity of announcing a fight that he did not have signed, sealed, and delivered.
Anyone have a link? Youtube or whatever…