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Saturday news round-up
By Zach Arnold | February 10, 2007
Top story of the day (outside of Elite XC’s debut show) is that Sven Bean’s Ring of Fire promotion has signed a deal with HDNet to air all of its MMA shows.
Onto today’s headlines.
- Multichannel News: Ultimate Fighter – Dana White took on boxing and pro-wrestling
- KG: At the balance of a very lousy set of scales (this is an article talking about the fallout in Michigan with MMA in relation to Toughman promoter Art Dore)
- All American Patriots: State of Michigan serves cease & desist order against Adoreable Promotions
- The Bay City Times: State orders halt to Toughman Extreme Caged Combat, other similar fighting
- The Peterborough Today: Cage fighters put on a brutal display
- The Honolulu Advertiser: Robbie Lawler misses main event, Icon draws 2,500 at Blaisdell Center
- UFC Mania: Jon Fitch says ‘I have been demoted’
- The Memphis Commercial Appeal: MMA staking place on scene
- MMA on Tap: TKO 28 event results (Hatsu Hioki, Jonathan Goulet, and Sam Stout win their fights)
- The Canadian Press (via CBC Sports): Sam Stout retains lightweight title at TKO 28
- The Canadian Press (via CBC Sports): Hatsu Hioki wins unpopular decision over Mark Hominick at TKO 28
- MMA Insider: Elite XC Feb. 10 event preview
Topics: All Topics, Canada, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
If yo can’t win a close decision in your own country….
Sounds like Hominick & Hioki showed that they are both world class at Featherweight.
Germany’s biggest magazine, “Der Spiegel” ran an article on MMA in their newest issue (06/2007), which they also have on their website:
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,464361,00.html
I took the time to translate it for you guys. It sounds a bit blocky at times, but that’s because i tried to keep it as accurate as possible. There’s no Zuffa myth in it, but still a bunch of misconceptions. I’ve already written to them, trying to clear up some things (i.e. rules and Douglas Dedge), if anyone else wants to give them some feedback, click on “Leserbrief” (in the same line as the date). Seeing that they’re one of europes leading magazines they should have no problem to read english 😉
Okay, here’s the article:
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Values for life
by Daniel Pontzen
Free Fight is said to be the worlds hardest discipline. Almost everything is allowed, it’s brutality fascinates an ever increasing audience. Now it’s fighters are striving to clear up its image.
It’s cold in the barren boxing-gym in Bergneustadt. Waldemar, a buff Kazakh, 210 lbs, stretches his thighs and calves. He’s one of 38 participants of a free fight seminar, the hardest martial art in the world.
Boxers from Erfurt, Jiu-Jitsu practicioners from Aachen and Kickboxers from Marienheide have all enrolled in this course. One of them is an industrial engineer, one teaches marketing and another one is a nurse.
It’s an important weekend for Waldemar, age 20. He’s planning to have his first pro-fight this summer. His look is sinister, with a silver tooth shining in his mouth. He used to start brawls in the street as a teen, and got arrested at 15 for robbing a gas-station. Now he’s learning to fight following rules, as shallow as they may be.
Free Fight, also called Ultimate Fighting or Mixed Martial Arts, has been in existence since the early 90s as an underground spectacle in the US, the blockbuster “Fight Club” starring Brad Pitt brought the free style brawling
to the public’s eye.
The combatants usually fight in eight-sided, wire meshed cages. Once inside, almost everything is legal, the rules only varying by promotion: sometimes you’re not allowed to poke your opponent in the eye, another time you’re not allowed to fishhook him. The goal of the fighters is to either k.o. the opponent, or to make him submit, severe injuries are just approved agenda. There was even a casualty in 1998. The former world champion Douglas Dedge died in Kiew after a fight.
There’s a huge professional fight scene in eastern Europe, Asia and the USA. Up to 60,000 spectators are watching the fights in Japan, and the top stars are earning up to 150,000$ per fight.
And Free Fight is also increasing it’s popularity in Germany. More and more martial artists look at Freefight as the supreme discipline, for them it is martial arts in perfection. The biggest german organisation, the Free Fight Association, runs 33 dojos throughout the country, opposed to just 5 in 2003. They hold seminars on a weekly basis, and the number of participants has tripled over the last year. Almost 300 german athletes
are fighting on a regular basis, about ten time than number are fighting sporadically.
And at the same time the fandom’s growing. TV-station Eurosport has been showing Free Fights for a few years now and gets good ratings, with viewership in the six figures. DSF also managed to get some passable ratings by broadcasting the fights. Contrary to Pro-Wrestling, an orchestrated pseudo-sport with actors looking like characters straight from a comic book, Free Fight looks like it’s tailor made for Reality-TV: The gladiators offer real brutality.
And that’s exactly why there’s an opposition forming. “The brutality is unthinkable!”, says Peter Danckert (SPD), chairman of the Sports Board of the Bundestag (Lower House of german parliament). Teenagers would be getting encouraged to emulate what they’re seeing, and he’s demanding that the tv-stations stop broadcasting straight out of the battle cage. Otherwise they’d “have to think about banning it”.
And a rather shady audience clearly wanting knockout endings doesn’t necessarily help the sports image. The promoters are trying to play it safe, stressing the fighters to sign a waiver to medical service, making injuries a “private matter”. But it’s questionable if such arrangements save them from claims for damages.
But many fighters urge to get out of these shady surroundings. “We want to distance ourselves from this environment”, says André Balschmieter, 24, a german middleweight champion. The Hessian, who had many pro-fights abroad, stresses that he only gets in the cage for reputable promoters.
Andreas Stockman, one of the sports figureheads, strives for the sports good reputation too. Stockmann, 44, a former member of the NVA (the army of the former GDR), trained in hand-to-hand combat, used
to be a multiple free fight champion in Germany during the 90’s. Today he’s working as a trainer, a matchmaker and referee. “Discipline and respect for the opponent” are the main commandments for the sport, he says. The athletes were able to “learn values for life”.
Stockmann runs the seminar in Bergneustadt. To him Free Fight is a question of self control first and foremost, the participants get penalized with push-ups for even the smallest misconduct.
There’d be much to do for a better representation, says Stockmann, for the sport had philandered too long with the image of brutality. But in between all the attempting to correct its image, there are still some misunderstandings. Stockmann advertised his seminar as a “Dirty Weekend” on the internet. But that, he says, was all just “meant in an ironic way”.
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And here’s a translation for the video you’ll find in the article:
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Free fight is being seen as the hardest martial art in the world. Kicks to the head, elbows to the face, chokeholds on the ground, almost everything goes.
Just like here in Dresden, the fight cards are filling the arenas. There are no wins by judges decision, the fight is only over if one of the fighters gets ko’ed or submits.
Trainer: “Hammerfist, Basti, Hammerfist, Again!”
In a small room behind the stage the fighters are preparing themselves. The adrenaline boost seems to eliminate the fear of injury.
Fighter 1: “You fight, you just fight. And the fighting, the fighting alone and everything that’s associated with it, the adrenaline, the fear,
the people are just… uh… just animals, i say.”
Fighter 2: “Well, if you’re thinking about everything that could happen you should better let it be. It’s not chess, and you’re not getting thrown at with wads of cotton.”
The bravery of the man from Dresden doesn’t pay off tonight. He has to quit after a barrage of blows broke his jaw. Another fighter lies motionless in the ring after getting knocked down, severe inuries are business as usual, and the audience is delighted.
Female spectator: “Just awesome!”
Reporter: “What’s so awesome about it?”
Female spectator: “The atmosphere, the feeling, just everything.”
Male spectator: “World class, without a doubt. I’m here for the second time.”
Reporter: “They’re getting their faces pummeled in, isn’t that a bit uncomfortable?”
Female spectator 2: “No, no, it’s funny.”
The promoters are anxious to rid the sport of its bad image, but there are very often incidents in the audience.
Promoter: “Well, wherever there’s martial arts, umm, there’s bound to be a certain clientele attracted by it, it’s just the same in football (soccer). Well, you see, there’s so many guys here, and everything’s peaceful.”
The brutality of the fights fascinates a growing fanbase, even if the winners and losers are friendly with each other backstage, nurturing their injuries.
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Certainly a lot worse than the actual article….