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Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

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Saturday squash: Newspaper calls for Iowa MMA ban

By Zach Arnold | April 28, 2007

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By Zach Arnold

A typical, boilerplate article on MMA in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune called Ultimate fighting: bloody but popular. The one interesting aspect to the article is that it was Toughman-style promoters using MMA as their gimmick is what has led to the heavy criticism of MMA in the state. This is what we are seeing in Michigan as well (the home of Toughman).

The Mason City Globe Gazette is calling on the Iowa Senate to ban MMA in the state.

The toll free telephone number to reach the newspaper’s switchboard is 1-800-421-0546. Their FAX number is 641-421-0516. The phone number for editor Joe Buttweiler is 641-421-0542 and the phone number for opinion editor Tom Thoma is 641-421-0566. If you contact the newspaper, stay on your best behavior (please).

A challenge to MMA critics

Yesterday on this site, we linked to a Time Magazine article about the De La Hoya-Mayweather boxing match for May 5th. In the article, there was this paragraph:

This morass has fueled the stunning ascension of mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Though derided as “human cockfighting,” the UFC feeds the video-game bloodlust of young fans and has ripped market share from the sweet science. “If boxing were a stock,” says veteran boxing historian and television commentator Bert Sugar, “I’d sell it short.”

Naturally, this paragraph drew major heat online from MMA fans. The only contact information for the writer is [email protected] – that’s it. No direct way to contact the author.

The Mason City Globe Gazette editorial we linked to up above has no author signature on it, either.

So I have a challenge for the MMA critics.

First, start signing your MMA-critical articles with your name. Second, add direct e-mail contact information. Third, be prepared to answer or respond to challenges to your statements. I have an open forum here at Fight Opinion (either on the web site or on the radio show) in which I will fairly give you an opportunity to state your case, but expect a response to the case you are making.

These kinds of drive-by media attacks on MMA (and I use that term as an apolitical one) will only stop if the authors of such pieces are directly confronted — in a fair manner.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. The Times-Record (Maine): Simian Martial Arts takes direct line to training ultimate fighting champions
  2. UFC Mania: The 10 greatest UFC upsets
  3. Buddy TV: Interview with Andy Wang
  4. Doghouse Boxing: UFC gives itself a black eye (about the drug testing issue)
  5. UFC Junkie: Rashad Evans – I think Tito Ortiz is “Frontin’ About Being Mexican”
  6. Fight Report: De La Hoya-Mayweather – the Mainstream Media just doesn’t get it
  7. The Ventura County Star (California): Caged aggression – for many like Willert, MMA has the right stuff
  8. The Hilton Head Island Packet: Corbbrey bobs and weaves his way through fight game
  9. The Saipan Tribune: Hard work pays off for Frank ‘The Crank’ Camacho
  10. The Rochester Post-Bulletin (Minnesota): Elgin’s Tom Speer to fight for WEC in Las Vegas
  11. The Concord Monitor (New Hampshire): Shawn Pacheco knows when to pick his fights
  12. The Newark Advocate (Ohio): Newark fighters live in the moment
  13. The Honolulu Advertiser: Wai’anae fighter Kala Kolohe Hose earns shot for Robbie Lawler’s ICON title
  14. The Saginaw News (Michigan): No ‘brawl’ at Birch Run event
  15. WOOD-TV 8 (Michigan): Cage fight in legal gray area
  16. Gambling 911: Bodog vs. UFC and PRIDE – Ayre happy to number two for now
  17. The Boston Herald: Joe Lauzon – Week Four, Choosing to win or choosing to lose
  18. MMA California: Recent CSAC suspensions (even more marijuana-related suspensions)
  19. MMA Insider: Binky Jones is the Ring of Combat lightweight champion

Topics: BoDog, Boxing, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 43 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

43 Responses to “Saturday squash: Newspaper calls for Iowa MMA ban”

  1. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    It is apparent that there will always be the old school boxing critics that will have a negative view on MMA, the MMA promotors could learn from lessons past on how keep the MMA fighter happy. The method that Dana White takes in establishing contenders has to change or like I have professed before, the fighters themselves will soon command the fights and purses that working within a single promotion seem to prohibit at this point in the game.

    It seems that Zach Arnold has been taking quite a few personal attacks on this site lately. Although some points may carry some validity, ease up on the guy overall his intergrity seems to be in the right place and although I may have stated in the past that the site carried more links to other MMA stories than one would think, I have found these links to be useful and quite interesting. Keep your chin up Zach. If the readers are criticizing, atleast you know that they are paying attention to your story.

    Finally, what credentials does Jordan Breen bring to the table. I went to Sherdog to read his blog and I was not surprised to see content that was truly unoriginal.

  2. Erik says:

    Props for this.

  3. Mike says:

    I think the most revelvant passage in the Time article is at the bottom, where it says “Subscribe to Time for just $1.99.” If people actually still read Time magazine, I’d be far more bothered by the paragraph Zack quoted than I am.

  4. Mike says:

    Zach, any way to set up comments so that readers can edit them? Like, say, if a reader wrote “revelvant” and misspelled your name.

  5. Jordan Breen says:

    “Finally, what credentials does Jordan Breen bring to the table. I went to Sherdog to read his blog.”

    I have a blog?

  6. 45 Huddle says:

    The numbers are from Dave Meltzer for UFC 70 payouts

    TOTAL PAYOUT: $933,000

    Gabriel Gonzaga – $60,000 (Win) – Did not mention if this includes KO of the night or not.
    Mirko Filipovic – $350,000 (Loss)

    Andrei Arlovski – $160,000 (Win)
    Fabricio Werdum – $80,000 (Loss)

    Michael Bisping – $54,000 (Win) – $24,000 for win and $30,000 for best match bonus.
    Elvis Sinosic – $38,000 (Loss) – $38,000 for win and $30,000 for best match bonus.

    Lyoto Machida – $40,000 (Win)
    David Heath – $6,000 (Loss)

    Cheick Kongo – $40,000 (Win)
    Assuerio Silva – $8,000 (Loss)

    Terry Etin – $42,000 (win) – $12,000 for win and $30,000 for sub of the night bonus..
    Matt Grice – $3,000

    Junior Assuncao – $6,000 (Win)
    David Lee – $2,000 (Loss)

    Alessio Sakara – $20,000 (Win)
    Victor Valimaki – $3,000 (Loss)

    Jesse Liaudin – $6,000 (Win)
    Dennis Siver – $3,000 (Loss)

    Paul Taylor – $8,000 (Win)
    Edilberto Crocota – $4,000 (Loss)

  7. Tobin says:

    How about Ratner saying they have no authority no discipline the fighters. That is a big statement on how the UFC feels about drug (ab)use in their organization. I also find this statement fitting since they basically swept the whole Diego testing positive for marijuana under the rug.

  8. 45 Huddle says:

    And Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitarnov is signed for the Hero’s PPV show.

    Antonio Silva vs, Bob Sapp is being worked on for the Showtime portion. Sapp was offered $100,000, but asked for $500,000.

  9. Tomer Chen says:

    How about Ratner saying they have no authority no discipline the fighters. That is a big statement on how the UFC feels about drug (ab)use in their organization. I also find this statement fitting since they basically swept the whole Diego testing positive for marijuana under the rug.

    To be fair, though, Marc Ratner is correct considering that the UFC does not license the fighters and can pull their licenses and/or fine them like the NSAC, NJSACB, etc. can. The worst they can do is refuse to put them onto a card for a period of time, but there may be restrictions such as time frames of the contract, etc. that can’t be adjusted by the organization itself (IE: the contract is 5 fights in 3 years and if they suspend the guy for 9 months, they will still have to complete the contract within 3 years whereas the NSAC or NJSACB can suspend the license which would be a legal (since the commissions have state police power) circumvention of the time frame constraint) so even that may be futile.

  10. Matt Boone says:

    Tito Ortiz full interview is up now (parts one and two) at http://www.mmanews.com/page.php?page=titoortiz1

    RSS feed link is http://www.mmanews.com/rss.xml

  11. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Jordan Breen Says:

    April 28th, 2007 at 11:08 am
    “Finally, what credentials does Jordan Breen bring to the table. I went to Sherdog to read his blog.”

    I have a blog?

    Jordan, do not dodge the issue, what original information do you bring?
    I am just stating what is apparent, most of your writing is unoriginal or in simple terms, other peoples work from what I read.

  12. Jordan Breen says:

    “Jordan, do not dodge the issue, what original information do you bring?
    I am just stating what is apparent, most of your writing is unoriginal or in simple terms, other peoples work from what I read.”

    First of all, the Koubousen Companion articles are not necessarily intended to be super-duper-cutting edge material which no one has read before. Rather, it’s a culling of the week’s news in Japan, be it fight announcements, in-gym drama, whatever.

    Second of all, my work is “other peoples work”? Yeah? Let’s just look at this last week’s article I reported Osawa/Louro and Yamamoto/Okazaki on the Shooto card before Shooto promoters even announced it. I had some previewing and contextualization of the Pancrase and Smackgirl cards this weekend. Who exactly was I ripping this off of? Is there someone else out there writing about Yuka Tsuji at length that I’m unaware of?

    I’m not going to dog you totally, cause you’re by far my favorite FightOpinion troll, and you’ve got a snappy handle to boot. But you’re gonna have to try a lot harder than “You’re unoriginal” to get me, because last time I checked, there wasn’t anyone else on the planet dropping tomes on the Shooto rookie tournaments.

  13. Zach Arnold says:

    Mike – unless I had set up account registration for site commenters (which I should have done in the first place when I started this, but looking back at the site creation there are various things I wish I would have done that I didn’t), it’s unlikely that I can figure out a way for readers to edit their comments.

    If it’s a critical edit, just e-mail me and ask me to edit and I will do so.

  14. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Jordan Breen Says;

    Is there someone else out there writing about Yuka Tsuji at length that I’m unaware of?

    That is my point; I feel you are totally aware of the others
    that are writing on several points that you have made on sherdog. But, as far as you not dogging me? I am just suggesting that you credit those who you have borrowed from. Integrity is the best way of keeping readers interested.
    I am pliant to any impudence that you may toss my way. I am here to gain new information and to keep wannabe scribes like yourself honest.

  15. Jordan Breen says:

    “That is my point; I feel you are totally aware of the others
    that are writing on several points that you have made on sherdog. ”

    Who are these people? Seriously. Where are all these people writing complex breakdowns of rookie tournaments, and talking at length about the career prospect of random females in Smackgirl? Surely you must have a boatload of examples of all this analysis that I’ve aped.

  16. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    I must have totally mistaken your spectator awarness Mr. Breen. I did not realize that Sherdog had the financial means to send you to such important events such as Shooto rokkie tournaments. I must have underestimated the drawing power that these events hold to the loyal Sherdog reader. I am amazed of your own financial resources to hop on a aircraft mid week and view these events live. A quick question, how much are the tickets to such a prestigious event?
    I normally read this type of event using a Japanese newspaper and a translation type software. When I speak to my friends about some of the exciting bouts that I READ about, I do not try to imply that I flew out Wednesday night for the event and yet am at work for 7am the next day! I explain that I read about it and that I hope to see these up and comers on a PPV some day.
    Breen, the only person you are fooling is yourself. If you use the Japanese papers just credit the source,

  17. 45 Huddle says:

    I’m not going to get in the middle of this war, but I will add my 2 cents….

    Sherdog.com claims to be the ESPN of MMA….

    Quick Question… Would ESPN publish an article on an event that they didn’t send a reporter to? Absolutely not. Sherdog.com does this all the time. They write articles on events that nobody ever attended. This isn’t true journalism.

    Now, go back to your wars….

  18. Jordan Breen says:

    “I must have totally mistaken your spectator awarness Mr. Breen. I did not realize that Sherdog had the financial means to send you to such important events such as Shooto rokkie tournaments. I must have underestimated the drawing power that these events hold to the loyal Sherdog reader. I am amazed of your own financial resources to hop on a aircraft mid week and view these events live. A quick question, how much are the tickets to such a prestigious event?
    I normally read this type of event using a Japanese newspaper and a translation type software. When I speak to my friends about some of the exciting bouts that I READ about, I do not try to imply that I flew out Wednesday night for the event and yet am at work for 7am the next day! I explain that I read about it and that I hope to see these up and comers on a PPV some day.
    Breen, the only person you are fooling is yourself. If you use the Japanese papers just credit the source.”

    Dude. One word: video.

    I don’t fool anyone. I don’t make it a secret that I live in an igloo in Canada, nor does anyone at sherdog.com. What would be disingenuous is if I did event reports or something of that nature without having gone to the events, like some other sites do. This is not the case; that’s what we have people like Stephen Martinez, Tony Loiseleur, Jason Nowe and Masa Fukui for.

    However, I go through painstaking efforts to ensure I see as much MMA as possible. For instance, with the exceptions of a couple of events, including last week’s Osaka card, I’ve seen every Shooto card in the last 7 years or so. J-Sports and Samurai TV are the goods. I also go above and beyond to acquire footage of amateur Shooto competitions. I’m active in tape trading with Europeans to make sure I get, at the very least, handicam rips of events in Finland, Germany and so forth.

    As for bouts that I READ about, I typically drop Shooto previews before major events that are 8000+ words, many of which contain fighters who haven’t even fought professionally yet. You think there is some magical newspaper giving me information on these guys? You think major Japanese newspapers give a rat’s ass about Shooto’s Back To Our Roots tour? That’ll do me, man.

  19. Jordan Breen says:

    “Absolutely not. Sherdog.com does this all the time. They write articles on events that nobody ever attended. This isn’t true journalism.”

    When has this happened? Often times the site runs press releases via the promoters which have event recaps, but they’re in the Press Releases section for a reason.

  20. Honestly, Jordan Breen is pretty much the only good regional reporter for Sherdog that they have. If you’re going to criticize someone, how about shitting on the guy covering Canada?

  21. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Jordan Breen Says:

    April 28th, 2007 at 2:50 pm

    I don’t fool anyone.

    Breen, this is exactly it you don’t fool anyone. I am not professing to be a journalist nor do I aspire too. I do though have friends in the industry and converse on the goings on throughout the MMA world. I do take the time to read the Japanese happenings. I am suggesting that if your coverage is legit (?), it is on par in some cases to what I have read in the Japanese papers.

    Fightlinker.com Says:

    April 28th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
    Honestly, Jordan Breen is pretty much the only good regional reporter for Sherdog that they have. If you’re going to criticize someone, how about shitting on the guy covering Canada?

    I am not shitting on Breen per se, I am just asking what his credentials are. By Breen claiming that he is the only guy outside of the people at an obscure event that has any knowledge of the show to place it in print is ludacris. It would be equivelant to any hockey writer covering the OHL playoffs in Sudbury Ontario getting plagerized by a Texan reporter calling the story his own as no one in Laredo Texas knows any better.
    I do agree that Sherdog should better coverage in Canada, but we all know that Jordan Breen could not cover it as the real writers of the MMA Canadian stories could be found thus ending his writing career.

  22. Jordan Breen says:

    “I do take the time to read the Japanese happenings. I am suggesting that if your coverage is legit (?), it is on par in some cases to what I have read in the Japanese papers.”

    What coverage is this? You speak in these sweeping generalizations. Surely you’re not referring to my Shooto/Pancrase/Smack/MARS/whatever coverage, which don’t get newspaper traction. So what are you referring to?

    “It would be equivelant to any hockey writer covering the OHL playoffs in Sudbury Ontario getting plagerized by a Texan reporter calling the story his own as no one in Laredo Texas knows any better.”

    Again, what coverage are you even talking about? Sweeping ,meaningless generalizations again. And considering I did an article a few weeks ago all about what Japanese media outlets were saying, speaking at length about what specific newspapers were saying about PRIDE’s sale, it’s not like I’m trying to trick people into thinking there’s no sports newspaper culture in Japan.

    “I do agree that Sherdog should better coverage in Canada, but we all know that Jordan Breen could not cover it as the real writers of the MMA Canadian stories could be found thus ending his writing career.”

    For sure. Sherdog.com handicaps it’s Canadian MMA coverage so I am not exposed.

    Wait, what?

  23. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Jordan Breen Says:

    April 28th, 2007 at 6:22 pm

    “And considering I did an article a few weeks ago all about what Japanese media outlets were saying, speaking at length about what specific newspapers were saying about PRIDE’s sale, it’s not like I’m trying to trick people into thinking there’s no sports newspaper culture in Japan.”

    If this is not admitting to plagerism what is! Jordan, you are not tricking anyone…you have been exposed. If you want to reference other newspapers, atleast acknowledge the source when doing so. I like many others see this. Your attempts to dodge the real question just vindicate my original point.
    If you want to write like an authority on the Japenese scene, what credentials do you bring to the table?
    Using the excuse of trading cell phone video does not cut it.

  24. Jordan Breen says:

    “If this is not admitting to plagerism what is!”

    An article which provides analysis of how a story has been covered in a variety of newspapers is plagiarism? Riiiight.

    “Your attempts to dodge the real question just vindicate my original point.”

    There is no real question. There’s just you, and some fantasy you have about me stealing articles about Shooto from some magical Japanese newspapers or something.

    “If you want to write like an authority on the Japenese scene, what credentials do you bring to the table?”

    Among other things, part of it may include an intimate knowledge of the fighters and fights which occur within. Crazy stuff, huh?

    “Using the excuse of trading cell phone video does not cut it.”

    What?

    As for skirting questions… for the hundredth time, what is it that you think I stole from all these mythical news sources? Considering my articles are read by people such as Zach Arnold, who obviously knows a bit about the same topic, and a contingent of Japanese MMA fans as well, you’d think if I was secretly siphoning news from these sources, that somebody might catch me. Thank God for your sleuthing skills.

  25. Tomer Chen says:

    Diamond Dave Williams,

    Do you have actual evidence of plagarism or are you merely making libelous remarks for the hell of it? If you make a pretty serious claim like plagarism, bring the comparative original evidence or you shouldn’t cry if you’re called out as a troll.

  26. Jordan Breen says:

    Tomer, what didn’t you understand? I’m stealing from the much-ballyhooed magical Japanese newspapers, who offer up in-depth daily content on DEEP’s future plans. Shigeru Saeki is pretty much as big a sports celeb as Dice-K, y’know.

  27. Mike says:

    Jordan: Acknowledging your source material doesn’t sound unreasonable.

  28. Tomer Chen says:

    Jordan: Acknowledging your source material doesn’t sound unreasonable.

    Jordan said above that his ‘source’ was video footage. He doesn’t have to cite fight footage to discuss said fights.

  29. Jordan Breen says:

    “Jordan: Acknowledging your source material doesn’t sound unreasonable.”

    In case you didn’t notice, I do acknowledge my source material. And what I find most amazing is that our homeboy DDW accused me of not doing such a thing in an article in which I pretty much advertised a bunch of newspapers.

  30. Tomer Chen says:

    In case you didn’t notice, I do acknowledge my source material. And what I find most amazing is that our homeboy DDW accused me of not doing such a thing in an article in which I pretty much advertised a bunch of newspapers.

    The very act of discussing that “Newspaper #1 said A, #2 said B, etc.” is citation. I think it’s funny that it’s the closest to ‘proof’ Mr. DDW has offered that you’ve done plagarism. I seriously wonder if he even knows what the word means…

  31. Jordan Breen says:

    I think my man Diamond Dave was just trying to get me some pub. He’s a sweetheart like that.

  32. Jordan Breen says:

    Hey, Zach, wherever you is, can we get an open thread for the K-1 Hawaii GP? The ssireum spinkicker is about to get busy against Mighty Mo, and I’m excited to say the least.

  33. Mike says:

    that’s fair enough, Jordan.

  34. […] Mason City Globe Gazette, which called for a ban of MMA in the state of Iowa on Saturday, is reporting that an MMA deregulation measure in the state has […]

  35. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Tomer, any real jounalist does not have any concerns about providing credentials. Regurgitating other peoples work regardless in which language it is written is not journalism. I am just stating that Breen should provide his sources when referencing an event that he clearly did not see.

  36. Jordan Breen says:

    “I am just stating that Breen should provide his sources when referencing an event that he clearly did not see.”

    Again, what events did I clearly not see? What the hell are you even talking about? Give me ONE event you think I’ve not seen that I’ve written about in some descriptive fashion.

  37. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    ‘Breen, if you require one example here it is. I saw the show and although the results were correct, the translation is very suspicious with a Japanese translation that I read last fall. I say it suspicious as the the Jananese writer also made the same glowing errors on the matches.

    by Jordan Breen ([email protected])

    Pancrase’s sixth stop on their 2006 BLOW tour was certainly one to remember.

    The summer blockbuster card from Pancrase was its biggest in quite sometime. Boasting a blend of homegrown and international talent, familiar faces and new blood, and a whopping four title fights, the crowd at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium played witness to what proved to be an exigent evening for one of MMA’s longest running promotions.

    Undoubtedly the most surprising of the four title bouts was the first of the evening, as Lithuania’s Kestutis Arbocius (Pictures) and Hawaii’s Poai Suganuma (Pictures) fought in the finals of the heavyweight King of Pancrase tournament to determine the second 220-pound champion of Pancrase.

    While many thought that the young and dynamic Suganuma would be able to take “Tiger” Arbocius to the mat at will, the stand-up specialist showed poise and skill in defending the takedown attempts of Suganuma in the first round. Arbocius was able to keep the fight standing, and lure Suganuma into slugging exchanges, putting together crisp combos and hurting the 24-year-old Hilo native.

    Suganuma was able to get a takedown late in the first round, but was able to do little with it as time ran out on him. In the second round however, Suganuma was able to work his game more effectively, tackling Arbocius to the mat and getting the mount. Arbocius was forced to roll to his stomach, where the Hawaiian attacked, looking for a rear-naked choke. Yet again, “Tiger” showed unexpected poise in regaining his guard and avoiding danger.

    The third round would provide the bout’s abrupt end. Just under a minute into the round, Suganuma looked to regain his advantage on the ground, and shot in to tackle Arbocius to the mat. Arbocius timed a perfect knee that crashed across Suganuma’s face, opening up a cut that prompted a doctor’s check. The ringside physician stopped the bout, pronouncing Kestutis Arbocius (Pictures) to be the second heavyweight King of Pancrase in a mild upset.

    Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) comes from a wrestling background, and Daizo Ishige (Pictures) trains out of SK Absolute, dubbed Japan’s “Sambo Top Team.” However, neither man’s grappling credentials made much of a difference when the two knuckled up over the welterweight King of Pancrase championship.

    The orthodox challenger Ishige was able to pressure the southpaw champion Inoue, and put him on the ropes in the first round, but neither man was able to gain a definitive advantage over the other by landing more frequently or effectively with their hands.

    Ishige’s relentless pressuring would eventually pay dividends.

    In the second round, Ishige was able to score the better combinations against the champion, and was able to slip and parry Inoue’s counterpunching. While Ishige’s fatigue was visible through the latter portion of the second round, he scored with hooks to the body after putting Inoue on the ropes with a stiff straight right.

    In the third round, with Ishige tiring out, the champion sought to make his move, scoring with a few left hands, and trying to plow through Ishige’s defense. Ishige fought back with punches of his own, but neither man was able to land substantially in the dying moments of the third round. In the end, Ishige’s aggression in the middle of the bout may have been the key factor in the judge’s eyes, as Ishige became the second welterweight King of Pancrase, taking three scorecards of 30-29.

    Perhaps the evening’s most hotly anticipated bout was the rematch between would-be Pancrase poster boy Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures) and the consummate underdog and anti-hero, Daiki Hata (Pictures). The two met in March at the second installment of the BLOW tour, and in one of the most shocking upsets in a year full of unexpected outcomes, the eccentric Taiki knocked out Maeda in front of Maeda’s hometown Osaka crowd.

    The road to their rematch was paved in June, as both Hata and Maeda scored victories in the semifinals of Pancrase’s featherweight King of Pancrase tournament, with Hata knocking out Miki Shida (Pictures), and doing likewise to KILLER BEE’s Atsushi Yamamoto (Pictures). The rematch would give the once highly touted Maeda the opportunity to redeem himself, while for Hata it was the chance to prove to all those who said his win over Maeda was a fluke that he was a bonafide star in Pancrase’s 141-pound class. And as if either man needed any more incentive, the winner would be crowned the first 141-pound King of Pancrase.

    Hata was able to use his long limbs effectively through the first half of the bout to score against Maeda. After both men felt each other out with punches, Hata was able to make good use of his right kick to the body, repeatedly scoring with kicks to the ribs. Hata was able to work off of his kicks to throw crisp punch combinations, and even surprised Maeda with a jumping knee.

    Just as Hata was able to work his game through the first half of the fight, Maeda began to work his through the second half. Maeda was able to scoot from his back to his feet, and immediately tackle Hata to the mat again, where he worked his ground-and-pound tactics. Maeda was able to put punches on Hata from his guard, from turtle position, and from mount, as well as attempt both a standing guillotine choke in the second round and a straight foot lock in the final round.

    As the clock ticked down to the final bell, a desperate Maeda sat in Hata’s guard, dropping punches and hammerfists before standing up and unleashing a soccer kick that just missed. After a bout split into two dominant halves for the two combatants, the judges returned with a verdict of a unanimous draw, each scoring the bout 29-29.

    A tournament final to decide an inaugural champion, the nature of the bout demanded a decision. The judges were then called upon for a decisive judging on dominance, in which the judges pick whichever fighter they felt dominated and won the bout as a whole. In a split decision, the judges voted two to one that Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures) was the winner, crowning the 24-year-old Osaka native as the first 141-pound King of Pancrase, the role envisioned for Maeda when he stormed into Pancrase in 2003 before a streak of hard luck through 2005 and 2006.

    In the main event, longtime Pancrase hero Yuki Kondo (Pictures) returned to the Pancrase ring for the first time since last October, where he defeated Hiromitsu Kanehara (Pictures). Defending against longtime PRIDE veteran Daijiro Matsui (Pictures), Kondo had little trouble using his striking skills to control the bout.

    In a sense, the bout reflected what MMA fans have come to expect from both men.

    Kondo was light on his feet and crisp with his strikes, picking Matsui apart with a variety of offense. Matsui struggled to generate offense, but was game until the final bell, absorbing whatever punishment Kondo had in store.

    Through the first 10 minutes, Kondo was able to use a blend of six-point striking from the southpaw stance to batter Matsui, attacking with low kicks, body kicks, high kicks, push kicks, punches to the head, punches to the body and flying knees. Matsui attempted to get the bout to the floor, but Kondo defended his takedowns ably.

    When the bout did touch the floor, it was Kondo on top, raining down punches on Matsui, before standing up and beckoning Matsui back to his feet.

    In the final frame, Kondo aggressively pursued the knockout, attacking Matsui with a full out assault from his lower body. Kondo put Matsui onto the ropes with a series of kicks and knees, before attempting a jumping left kick to the body.

    While Matsui got a hold of the Kondo’s leg and sought the takedown, it was Kondo who ended up on top again, as he controlled the bout on the floor, pounding away on former Takada Dojo member until the final bell. After 15 minutes the Pancrase star walked away with an easy decision from the judges, taking two scorecards of 30-27, and one of 30-28.

    In Other Action

    Sambo-savvy Pancrase vet Izuru Takeuchi (Pictures) used his ground control to best the eccentric Hikaru Sato (Pictures) by unanimous decision (30-28, 30-29, 30-29).

    Satoru Kitaoka (Pictures) got back into the 165-pound welterweight title hunt, choking out dynamic British striker Paul Daley (Pictures).

    Brash Team Oyama fighter Robert Emerson (Pictures) got more comfortable in the Pancrase ring with his second win in the organization this year, notching a unanimous decision (30-28, 30-29, 30-29) over resident bad boy and PRIDE Bushido vet Kenji Arai (Pictures).

    In their super heavyweight tilt, PRIDE veteran Henry Miller (Pictures) submitted Seiji Ogura (Pictures) with a rear-naked choke in only 97 seconds in the battle of former sumo competitors.

  38. Jordan Breen says:

    Not really tricking anyone there. There was a mishap with Jason Nowe’s report, and I later did a show recap using the TV telecast to go along with Stephen Martinez’s photography. That’s why the report doesn’t start with:

    TOKYO, Aug. 27 (or whatever the date was) —

    The absence of that header signifies it’s NOT a live/direct report. It’s really that simple. Furthermore, I saw the fights before filing the write up.

    So, what other fights haven’t I seen?

  39. Jordan Breen says:

    Sorry, correction, camcord footage on the Pancrase show.

  40. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Breen, I am not having a sematic debate with you. You asked what I read I pasted a blatent example. Your denial validates what I stated. I would never write something where I felt I had to rebut myself if I was reporting what I was writing about.

  41. Jordan Breen says:

    Oh, I’m not offering response because I’m insecure or anything. And I acknowledge your example, of course. Most of my earlier debate was centered on why you thought I was some thieving bastard; I had no idea what the hell you were talking about. If this is it, well, we’re at the root.

    It’s an imperfect world. There was a mishap with a report being filed, and I was fortunate enough to have some resources to offer up a recap to compliment Martinez’s photography. Is it the best solution, nah? But it’s got no live header, it was intended only as a recap and not to create the illusion that I was sitting right in Korakuen Hall or anything like that. After all, there is a reason why we have correspondents in Japan, and THEY are the ones who handle live event reports. If I was using Shimauo’s Shooto PBP’s to publish reports for Sherdog.com, then we’d have a problem, but that’s not the case.

    The Pancrase recap was a unique circumstance and one which doesn’t really fall under the canon of my typical work. I was initially charged by your comments because you seemed to imply that there was some magical Japanese dirtsheet that I was ripping news from to create the Koubousen Companion articles. If not, it’s all good.

  42. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Breen, that simply was my original point. Lets move on.

  43. […] an editorial today repeating their stance on MMA — which is to ban it. They published a similar editorial last April. Since the time the newspaper published that first editorial, MMA has been (or will soon be) […]

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