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Monday media meltdown: More angry media mavens
By Zach Arnold | May 6, 2007

Jim Lampley’s verbal attack on MMA was noted in USA Today on Monday. Will’s Lampley verbal blunder be the biggest headline coming out of this weekend’s events?
Tokyo Sports claims that Josh Barnett will participate on the first IGF (Inoki Genome Federation) show on June 29th in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan. The Kakutolog link also has a comment from Kami no Puroresu, which claims that UFC doesn’t know what the IGF is.
It appears the Tokyo Sports story is confirmed. The IGF office issued a press release with comments from Josh Barnett. This isn’t word-for-word what he said, but here is the general vibe: Barnett said that he is excited to participate on the first IGF show. Both professional wrestling and professional wrestlers are the strongest. The IGF will be number one and he will be number one. He wants Inoki to revive the first IWGP belt and become the champion of the IGF. He issued challenges to both Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, using his “Omae wa mo Shinde iru (you are already dead)” catchphrase.
The California State Athletic Commission lists UFC having a show on June 30th in Anaheim, the week before UFC 73 on July 7th in Sacramento. Will June 30th be the first shinsei (newborn) PRIDE show?
Orlando Sentinel writer David Whitley on MMA as a show (e-mail):
MMA does have many advantages over boxing, not the least of which is it’s run by savvy people who didn’t learn business ethics in prison. But the whole thing just feels like a Vince McMahon production minus the pre-determined winners and fake breasts.
I guess Mr. Whitley should meet Kazuyoshi Ishii right now.
Southern California columnist Paul Oberjuerge on De La Hoya vs. Mayweather and MMA (e-mail):
Nobody went down in a heap. Nobody spurted fountains of blood. But that was what made it a sterling exhibition of a real sport. As opposed to the clumsy back-alley-brawl mayhem of the various and sundry “ultimate fighting” organizations cutting into boxing’s popularity.
Onto today’s headlines.
- The Philadelphia Inquirer (Stephen A. Smith): Bout to renew boxing fails to deliver
- Reuters: HBO chief Chris Albrecht arrested in Las Vegas after dispute (more details in the LA Times)
- UFC Mania: Jim Lampley bashes MMA during Mayweather-De La Hoya super fight
- The Fightworks Podcast: Quick results from ADCC Day Two
- The Fightworks Podcast: Show #66 – Interviews from the 2007 ADCCs
- The Houston Chronicle: UFC building up to July extravaganza
- The Washington Times: Scoring takes punch after the final bell
- Sporting Life (UK): De La Hoya/Mayweather re-match not ruled out
- Yahoo Sports: IFL fighter Jeremy Williams confirmed dead
- Mad Squabbles: A word about Jeremy Williams
- MMA HQ: Cake > Godzilla
- The Orange County Register: MMA report for May 7th
- USA Today: De La Hoya should be leaving the ring, not Mayweather
- The Cleveland Plain Dealer: UFC 68 show revenue accounts for an estimated 68% of Ohio Athletic Commission’s total 2007 revenues so far
- Sports Illustrated: Five high-profile fights sure to save the sweet science of boxing
- The Las Vegas Sun (Jeff Haney): Bittersweet science – casual fan may be underwhelmed by Mayweather’s win
Topics: Boxing, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What is IGF? Wrestling or MMA?
It sounds like it will be wrestling, but I have no idea what Inoki is planning on doing for that show.
I aint surprised Josh will be in the IGF. Inoki needs workers and Barnett fits the bill. Just how much money does Inoki have behind the promotion?
The challenge to Brock doesnt surprise me considering Lesner stole the IWGP Belt!!!
I can see why boxing fans and commentators are playing up the “back alley brawl” aspect of MMA in comparison with boxing.
For one, it’s smart business. MMA is hot and the more you connect MMA and boxing in the public eye, the more likely fans are to cross over. I think that simply due to White and Sherk verbally sparring with Mayweather and seeing Sanchez training with DLH, the awareness of boxing has been raised especially with newer, younger MMA fans who never exposed to boxing on network TV. I don’t remember a time when I saw so many play-by-plays of a boxing match on MMA forums before.
Two, most of the MMA boxing fans and sports writers have seen is on Spike: UFC Unleashed and The Ultimate Fighter TV show. Many of the fights are just second-rate kickboxing matches, or two gassed fighters in what even I would consider a back-alley brawl (Griffin/Bonnar 1).
Three, I think the UFC does not do a very good job of cultivating grappling knowledge among newer fans, whether this is by design or not, I don’t know. Let’s face it, anytime it hits the ground and you’re not familiar with what’s going on, it basically looks like two sweaty guys humping each other on the ground. Sometimes it looks like that even if you are familiar with submission grappling.
I just wish the UFC would have the occasional intro to grappling show on UFC Unleashed where they show how common submissions like armbars and triangles are set up and finished; what the difference is between an air chokes and blood chokes; why full guard, half guard, full mount and back mount matter, etc etc. Even a simple primer on wrestling, BJJ and Judo and how they are integrated into MMA would go a long way towards legitimizing the fighters’ skill as more than just second-rate kickboxing.
Either, I can’t say that I’m all that upset over mainstream sports writers and boxing fans dismissing MMA as a low-brow, street fighting sport. In my opinion, the UFC hasn’t really done much to convince these people otherwise.
Didn’t they used to do ‘On the Mat with Marc Laimon’ which explained key submissions and their set-ups/escapes? I wonder why they dropped it from the shows…
Paul Oberjuerge also said:
“Ultimately, both fighters suggested they “put on a show,” and that they did. The biggest boxing match in years drew a noisy capacity crowd studded with stars and drew a pay-per-view audience likely to surpass $500 million in revenue.”
That has to be a typo. It was $55, correct? He expects over 9 million pay-per-view buys?
Why don’t all the big Japanese Pro Wrestling promations just join together because I do see on Zahs other site that it still can pull in some decent crowds.
Oh… My… God… GFC have FINALLY removed Wes Sims from their card:
“Jeff Monson vs. TBA
Thomas Denny vs. Fredson Piaxao
Alex Fierra ‘Cacareco’ vs. Brandon Lee Hinkle
Ronaldo de Souza vs. Bill Vucick
Chris Brennan vs. Adam Disabato
Vinicius Magalhaes vs. George Bush
Daniel Moraes vs. Matt Brown
Rafeal Dias vs. Phil Cardella
Nissen Osterneck vs. Chris Meyers
Leopoldo Serao vs. Robert Wince
Damian Maia vs. Ryan Stout
Michael O’Donnell vs. Adriano Nasal”
http://gfcfighter.com/news/
http://www.myspace.com/gfcfighter
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3903&zoneid=2
– Kampmann out of the worst UFC card ever.
JThue,
I have been watching the GFC promotion with much amusement. They never had Sims signed anyway, yet they went ahead and promoted the fight. They promoted Marcelo even though he was never signed. They still owe Frank Trigg money from the last cancelled event.
Any idea how tickets are selling?
OUCH! Kampmann is out of UFC Ireland.
My suggestion is replace Martin with Hendo in another UFC v Pride theme match. Probably it will be Okami though.
I would hate to see Okami get pounded by Franklin BUT he looked really good against Swick, so maybe he could suprise me. Im thinking the UFC wouldnt risk Franklin;s title shot though (probably why they had him fight Kampmann) but Okami/Franklin would be good fight IMO.
UFC 72 really does stink. Good thing UFC 73 is fantastic.
Dave Meltzer has a fantastic article is his latest newsletter. He talks about some major issues with the K-1 card going on at the beginning of June. This event is falling apart fast. Not to mention that they were supposed to have a 4 part special on Showtime (like DLH/PBF 24/7) but it got delayed. Keep in mind that this event is a month out and not one ticket has been sold…..
45: Tickets went on sale this past weekend. Interesting though that the CSAC’s event listings does not list an arena location for the show. As for the preview-shows, Dave reported himself this past weekend(as in after the latest newsletter would have been wrapped up) that a new premiere date has now been set. Elsewhere, the EliteXC website has full promotion of the 6/22 Strikeforce show but still only a flash-slideshow for the K-1-event 20 days earlier… GFC may be the clowns of ’07 so far, but perhaps not for much longer :S
Aaaand…
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=19476
“–FEG has changed its 6/2 show again for the Los Angeles Coliseum. The complete 12-match card is expected to be finalized tomorrow. Antonio Silva, who was on, and then 100% off, is back on the Showtime live version of the show.”
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=19476
“–Showtime started running ads for EXC, but only promoted their one-hour TV show and not the PPV, and only pushed that Gina Carano, Antonio Silva and Jake Shields were fighting live on Saturday at 9 p.m. (Eastern) There was no mention of the PPV, Lesnar, Gracie, or the Los Angeles Coliseum (thanks to Kevin Marshall)”
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=19476
” Keep in mind that this event is a month out and not one ticket has been sold…..”
Tickets went on sale a few days ago and rumor is that one ticket was actually sold. I think it was a $10. ticket.
Sorry, as of when it was printed, they were not sold yet. I was not aware that they recently went on sale.
I would be shocked if many tickets sold. According to Meltzer:
CSAC is asking for a full physical of Sakuraba (rightfully so), and he has not been flown in for it yet.
Uno vs. Thomson is off the card, as Uno saw a tape of Thomson and decided not to take the fight.
Tank vs. Butterbean is probably a no-go.
Barnett/Kharitarnov has a 50% chance of happening, but as Zach has reported, probably won’t happen.
JZ is on the card, but with no opponent.
My thoughts are: Basically, this card has no great fights that are official yet. It has no promotion because somebody dropped the ball on the production. And it has an arena that is in a place that historically sells no tickets. Plus, this event is going to take away a few PPV buys from the Shamrock/Baroni card, as people aren’t going to pay for Liddel/Jackson, UFC 73 (Stacked), and 2 EliteXC shows in the same month.
And a theory that the radio show guys here have about the UFC oversaturating the market to hurt their competitors… Well, Dave thinks the same thing.
45 Huddle, JZ is fighting Nam Pham & Antonio Silva is fighting Jonathan Wiezorek.
“UFC 72 really does stink. Good thing UFC 73 is fantastic.”
72 is actually a decent card for a UFN. As a UFC it seems to lack a real main event. The undercard is looking great to me. Guida v Griffin and Davis v Taylor look amazing on paper. Most people didn’t see Taylor v Crocota, but trust me, this guy can throw some strikes.
Yeah, Taylor was one of the biggest positives at UFC 70. Looking forward to seeing him again.
The quicker they come up with a seperate name for the overseas B-shows, the easier it’ll be to deal with them being B-shows. B, as in between the UFC XX-A and Fight Night -C.
Overseas shows could soon be called UFC on HBO….
Basically that create:
UFC PPV = A Show (Title & Big Fights)
UFC HBO = B Show (Big Fights with legit stars)
Fight Night = C Show (Up & Comers)
TUF = Equivalent to a Pancrase Neo Blood Tournament
I’d laugh if Silva pounds on Wiezorek until he gasses out and Wiezorek wins by TKO, ala the horrible Wade Shipp fight.
UFC 72 is very weak considering it will be PPV in the UK.