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Friday media coverage
By Zach Arnold | February 8, 2007
Red meat week here at Fight Opinion. Here’s some red meat for site readers. Bugly Blog: F.O. Radio panel not as entertaining as Sherdog’s radio team. Tasty. He clearly must not be talking about me.
An update to something I mentioned on the radio show about Bruce Buffer’s continuous blunders as UFC ring announcer. Yes, there is in fact a town called Milford, Iowa w/ a population of 2,500 people. So I guess we can safely say that Jorge Rivera and Tim Sylvia managed to take all of their friends from Boston and Maine and moved them out there, right Bruce?
An interesting interview done by Manabu Takashima of the Fight & Life publication with UFC President Dana White. Click the link to read it in full if you understand Japanese.
Go to full-page view to see some of the quick notes from the interview (and also today’s story links).
Takashima interview with White
Start of interview… There was discussion that PRIDE was purchased for 7 billion yen.
Dana: Whoa! I don’t have that much money. *laugh* The answer is no, it is not true. If they want to sell, I am interested. However, we have not purchased PRIDE.
When asked about buying PRIDE, the fighter contracts, and its brand name, Dana said that the PRIDE brand name is not well-known in America but that it is well-known in Japan.
He stated that UFC is undoubtedly the number-one MMA organization in the world.
If UFC could get a free TV deal in Japan, naturally you would think it could be with Nippon TV (because of UFC shows airing on a delay on G+, N-TV’s cable channel). However, the damage to Nippon TV and MMA by the Inoki Bom-ba-ye 2003 show fiasco has the TV network very tentative to get involved in the fight game.
Takashima addressed his concerns about UFC being able to get over in the Japanese market (specifically pointing out that Japanese viewers aren’t accustomed to The Ultimate Fighter and Ultimate Fight Night series of shows, which is the UFC farm system for developing talent), and Dana mentioned the WOWOW deal (with a reach of 100,000 viewers) and that the audience will likely continue to grow. (Later on, Takashima talks about how Diego Sanchez’s image in Japan with the hardcore fans is a mixed one because they only saw his boring fight against John Alessio, but didn’t see his fights against Karo Parisyan or Joe Riggs because those were on Spike TV & not on PPV).
Dana reiterated that his next foreign target markets are Britain, Canada, and Mexico. Dana repeated throughout the interview that Japan is a very difficult market to operate in, but that both K-1 and PRIDE are very popular and he is considering his options in Japan (which could include buying contracts or a promotion, similar to what was done with WEC & WFA).
Dana stated that he wanted to run shows throughout the world using the same kinds of fight rules (re: UFC rules, not PRIDE rules), and brought up an example of soccer (where he says that you play by the same rules in soccer games in Britain, Japan, and Brazil – doesn’t matter what country you are in, the game rules are the same).
He noted that it has taken 6 years to build UFC up to where it is at, as opposed to the 100-years of history boxing has had. Also noted was the difficulty of the Japanese market because of MMA’s roots being tied to professional wrestling.
When asked about his thoughts on the IFL & BodogFight, he said that they are small shows.
Today’s media links
- The Memphis Commercial Appeal: Brazilian fighter Adriano Pereira right at home
- Kakutougi-gumi: I’m not sold on Elite XC
- CBS Sportsline: Mean Gina Carano takes center stage in Elite XC
- Gambling 911: BodogFight Season 3 begins filming February 10th
- Observer (via Sam Caplan): Joe Riggs considering WEC offer
- MMA HQ: Elite XC Preview
- UFC Junkie: Get ready to hate Sam Hoger (even more)
- Broadcast Newsroom (PR): Imperia Entertainment signs Josh Koscheck for MMA movie ‘Never Submit’
- The Sequoyah County Times: County fighters to step back into the cage
- NBC Sports: Travis Lutter post-UFC 67 interview
- The Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Former boxer Jeremy Williams comes back from KO to try new sport
- Kyodo News: Japanese gangs fail to reach an agreement, more violence expected (not a lot of happy Japanese fight groups right now)
- MMA Critic: The vision of PRIDE supporters (this harkens back to The Echo Chamber article)
- The Black Hills Pioneer (South Dakota): 22-year old Lacy Jenson is a real scrapper
- Wave Magazine: Cung Le’s ultimate 30-minute workout
- Canadian Press (via CBC Sports): Mark Hominick looks to regain TKO title Friday night
Topics: All Topics, BoDog, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Bugly Blog has a Kent Jones-ish vibe to it.
The UFC rules are garbage. Hopeuflly Dana is unsuccessful in his quest to saturate the world with MMA under an inferior rule set. Though as a UFC fan I hope the promotion continues to thrive, and at some point adopt knees and kicks to the head of a downed opponent.
Hey,
Come on now. I like your site, I like your podcast. You didn’t post my other comments which included:
“they do produce a pretty good show” and “Great show”
Further more, this was the first time I had heard you guys (and girl). I am now a subscriber after one episode if that tells you anything.
My apologies to the panel if my comments offended you in any shape, form, or fashion. That was not their intention.
Now, a question to Mr. Roadblock. I am a new fan (around two years I think) and have been limited to seeing only the UFC on Spike and the occasional Pride replay on Fox Sports South. The one thing I don’t understand is the whole no kicks to the head rule when your opponent is on his back. I was watching the Arlovski-Cruz fight and I think the “Pit Bull” kicked Cruz in the noggin when they were both on their back. From what I can recollect, Arlovski got warned for doing so. Would that kick be allowed under Pride rules? It seems like a lame rule for kicks to the head to be illegal when both fighters are grabbing some canvas.
Word to the Third….
vM
I’m somewhat concerned over the risks that come with soccer kicks and stomps to the head, but something needs to be done to make it riskier for a downed fighter to stand on all fours (or laying flag against the canvas) facing his opponent, such as after a failed shoot. Currently in the UFC et al, this position can almost be used as a defense, while in Pride you’d be in deep trouble due to knees coming to the head.
Does anyone know if there’s any research on neck injuries due to knees to the top of the head? The knee is so blunt that skull trauma seems very unlikely, so the neck aspect is pretty much my only concern regarding knees to the head on the ground. What’s the UFC/**AC argument for banning them?
I could even agree to a compromise where, as with elbows, a trajectory perpendicular to the floor is forbidden, in order to avoid some sort of Mark Hunt-esque knee drop to the head.
laying flat, I mean. Not laying flag.
Did you guys watch Inside the UFC on Spike last night? They showed Dana getting interviewed buy a Japanese fight mag (I thing it was called Gong-Zach would know) and at one point he holds up a copy with Kid Yamamoto on the cover points at it and says “I want him”. I thought it was interesting and starting thinking maybe a 145lb. division is on the way. If so, UFC would have to bring in some Japanese guys to help fill the roster with quality.
KID in WEC? 😀
Roadblock:
Im sure the UFC would allow PRIDE rules if they were allowed – but now that their rules are so entrenched…they’ve gone a long way into making their bed in Nevada and that’s the rules that Nevada wants – the uniform rules of mma (created by Zuffa or New Jersey’s AC, depending on who you chose to believe!).
There was an article a few weeks/months ago about PRIDE lobbying to have the CSAC allow “PRIDE rules”, but the UFC and others lobbied very rigourously to not allow them. I’m sure there’s a litany of reasons, but a large one would likely have been the fact that UFC didn’t want to have their homebase state with one set of rules and the set of rules they’d like to have being allowed in a neighbouring state for their competitors (Pride, IFL etc.). I’m pretty sure the NSAC doesn’t act too kindly to org’s who operate under non-uniform rule sets simply because they’re running some shows in states that allow them.
The fact that White wants to use the same Goddam American ruleset all over the world and make it the “norm” makes me feel really sad. It kind of took the wind out of me like I got punched in the stomach, mostly because he’s promoting watered down competition where the fighters know if they drop a knee to the ground they are safe from a whole slew of attacks. This guy should be working to get the rules changed. I also have a question. For the people who feel the UFC is more exciting than Pride, I’d like to know why. Why do you so heavily endorse a product that most of the time has less talented fighters and a rule set that for me (after seeing a Pride show) just plain sucks. Look at the last UFC PPV. It was two guys who got to the top of the Pride latter and lost when everything was on the line, and a guy in Silva who lost to Ryo Chonan at Shockwave a couple years ago. There is a arguement out there that easily says the new wave of UFC stars are all Pride rejects, and don’t tell me Fedor didn’t completely dominate CroCop when they fought. I love this website because it favors mature discussion over name calling (most of the time), and thats why I can’t understand why you UFC enthusiasts support mediocrity with such ferocity.
Bob Sapp just signed with Cage Rage.
http://www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=3211
Hurting for money?
I cannot imagine that Cage Rage is able to pay Sapp more money than Elite XC, UFC, or PRIDE.
Maybe fighting in the UK helps avoid any legal battles with K-1 in the US?
Gaijin, you are incorrect. Zuffa went out of their way to make sure that California did not allow knees and kicks to the head of a downed opponent during the hearings in California to design a rule set when the state regulated MMA. If Zuffa really wanted knees and kicks to the head all they have to do is tell California to go for it. Then the Nevada commission all future UFC events will be in CA unless the rules are changed. The original unified rules were so sweeping because the old MMA was so wide open that when rules were instated they were very heavy handed. I think the sport is controlled and safe enough now that the knees and kicks should be brought back in.
” Zuffa went out of their way to make sure that California did not allow knees and kicks to the head of a downed opponent during the hearings in California to design a rule set when the state regulated MMA.”
That is correct. However, Dana White did state in a recent interview that he thinks knees to the head on the ground should be allowed, which makes no sense given the previous fight to keep them illegal.
One thing that isn’t discussed re: UFC is the tax situation. Whenever UFC runs in California, they have to pay 9.3% (or 10%) in nonresidential taxes based on profits they make per show – and that’s after the CA’s 5% commission cut is already taken out. This is known as the jock tax.
Whereas in Nevada (and states like Florida and Texas where there is no state income tax), only a 5% fee to the commission is paid out w/ no nonresidential jock taxes. This is why I believe that if UFC runs in the PNW, it’ll be in Washington (which has no state income tax) instead of Oregon (which has California’s awful tax structure but about 1/10th of the population).
Big John & Ken Shamrock lobbyed on the UFC’s behalf against kicks/knees to a downed opponant & the use of the ring. Ironically, only months later, Shamrock would take another fight in Pride vs Sakuraba.