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Sunday papers: Fernando Vargas promoting MMA
By Zach Arnold | May 13, 2007
Dan Le Batard mentions Kimbo Slice in his NFL football column today for the Miami Herald newspaper:
Have you seen the Internet fury of a Liberty City man known as Kimbo? He is a huge bare-knuckle fighter, bearded and bald and shirtless, who has been knocking fools out in street fights on shaky video cameras and developing a mythical following with his quiet rage. A lot of rabid football players have some Kimbo in them. And we cheer that part of them when we aren’t disgusted by it.
The Ventura County Star reports that Fernando Vargas is getting into the MMA business:
As he works toward his farewell bout the meeting with Ricardo Mayorga tentatively set for Sept. 8 at a Los Angeles venue to be determined the 29-year-old from La Colonia is increasingly a diversified one-man corporation.
He won’t just be the headliner on the September fight card. He’ll also be the promoter.
He won’t just be a boxing promoter, but will also handle Ultimate Fighting Championship events.
His boxing and UFC cards won’t just feature fights, but also musical acts from rappers to ranchero singers under the umbrella of Vargas Entertainment Promotions.
Regarding any updates on the PRIDE asset sale situation… I’ve talked to many people in the business and no one has any idea what is going on. One prominent fighter was supposedly told that a deal between UFC & DSE would be in place by next week, but other than that story nothing else is known. This Miruhon report (in Japanese) claims that if a deal takes place that it will take two weeks to register with the legal affair bureau. Kakutolog notes the complete lack of information in Japan regarding the PRIDE asset sale.
Onto today’s headlines.
- The Washington Post: At the Armory, family-friendly fisticuffs (D.C. MMA debut draws 2,100 paid, and the author likes the word ‘cleavage’)
- The Washington Post: Fabiano Capoani makes quick work of Homer Moore at D.C. Armory
- NBC Sports: Captain America to the rescue
- The Houston Chronicle: GSP-Koscheck to square off at UFC 74
- Sprawl ‘n Brawl: Will Fertittas end up backing out of PRIDE deal?
- Yahoo Sports: WEC 5/12 Las Vegas event results
- The Chicago Sun Times: Taking responsibility – Bonnar owns up to steroid mistake, looks forward to UFC return
- The Fightworks Podcast: Show #67 – Canadian grappling scene, Royce Gracie, and Carlos Valente
- Fight Report: UFC 4 Remembered
- The Houston Chronicle: Jon Fitch ‘irritated’ division’s elite keep ducking him (w/ audio interview)
- The Waterloo Courier (Iowa): Sunday scrum: Is UFC overtaking boxing in popularity? Yes
- The Waterloo Courier (Iowa): Sunday scrum: Is UFC overtaking boxing in popularity? No
- UFC Junkie: A trip to Team Jorge Gurgel
- Yahoo Sports: Mayhem Miller – Worth the price of admission
- Lay and Pray: Kimbo Slice/Ray Mercer press conference
- MMA California: Cage Combat FC event results
Topics: Boxing, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I will continue to say that the WEC is exactly what the IFL should have been. It should have concentrated on smaller and younger fighters. It should have been a one arena show to cut costs. And it should have been on the Versus Network. This latest WEC card wasn’t exactly stellar on paper, especially since McCullough/Crunkilton was removed. However, it is a great showcase for younger fighters. By the end of this year, it should be really in full swing.
Personally with all of these WEC / IFL / GFC / UFC / etc. etc they reall need to get together and form something together or have fights between the groups. That is what I would love to see.
I think, and would not mind seeing, that the WEC might become something more akin to Pride Bushido? I reall loved the Bushido shows, and if the WEC fills this nitch, then all the better.
Never though of the Bushido comparison, but it is a good one. The WEC offered Hatsu Hioki (the guy who beat Homick) a contract but he turned it down. Money wasn’t the issue I guess. I would have loved to see him against Faber.
As for the companies working together…..
Pro Elite tried to do this, and there is already issues with the different companies. Besides, looking purely at the American market, Zuffa would be stupid to help their competition out. Not one compamy has had more then 50,000 PPV Buys. None have had huge gates. The IFL & GFC are losing money. Pro Elite hasn’t turned a profit yet. Bodog’s TV show is getting .2 ratings, and their PPV’s are tanking. In 2 years, the number of big time organizations are going to be basically limited to Pro Elite & Zuffa. And Pro Elite doesn’t have enough TV or money backing them to do big numbers.
Zuffa’s vulnerable, but that weakness will never be exploited by the current crop of players. It will take a new player with an entirely different business plan than what has been demonstrated to even be competitive.
“Zuffa’s vulnerable, but that weakness will never be exploited by the current crop of players. It will take a new player with an entirely different business plan than what has been demonstrated to even be competitive.”
Apparently, that is on its way.
I disagree that Zuffa is vulnerable. If they get HBO… And then get the backing of ESPN in a semi-strong way, then it will be near impossible for any company to wreck their market share. People refer to MMA as Ultimate Fighting.
Everyone…every company is vulnerable. And remember, Zuffa only has less than 50 employees…do not make them out to be a huge indomitable giant eh?
Don King had less than 50 employees in his promotional company and he dominated the Heavyweight scene in Boxing for nearly 30 years…
I suppose that is true Tomer. But from what I gather, even Don King fell down after a while..though 30 years is a long time on top.
And I was amazed to find that Pancrase has all of 10 people working for it.
“Everyone…every company is vulnerable. And remember, Zuffa only has less than 50 employees…do not make them out to be a huge indomitable giant eh?”
That is exactly the reason why Zuffa wants — or is it now wanted? — to buy PRIDE. The more organizations they own, the greater market share they have on MMA and they have a greater ability to keep more fighters under contract. The more fighters they have under contract, the fewer good fighters are available for their competition to sign. This is all assuming that each organization they buy is economically sustainable as an independent organization (or dependent on how willing Zuffa is to pay a premium to keep fighters not in the UFC). PRIDE in its current form will not be, without a network TV deal, and we’ll see whether the WEC needs subsidies from Zuffa or not in the long run.
Yeah, but regardless of the viability of PRIDE, this sale (or lack of) still gets the desired effect of locking up the other big roster of talent. I think Zuffa realized that this is the point where the market can really splinter and other companies are really pushing. If they get through the next 3-4 years without another pride-sized company appearing, they should hold a virtual monopoly until … oh 2026 when the Great Fighter Uprising occurs.