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Friday headlines: The heat-up for UFC 71
By Zach Arnold | May 24, 2007
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On Friday, DSE announced that the PRIDE Lightweight GP tournament show for July in Nagoya was officially canceled and that ticket refunds would be available. The notice also asks fans to remain patient for new management coming into the organization.
Today’s Edmonton Sun newspaper says MMA just a flash in the pan.
New Japan announced that their kakutougi training camp, New Japan Factory, will tie-up with AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) of San Jose. NJF will be led by Masayuki Kono (formerly of All Japan).
Mauro Ranallo interviewed Canadian Press writer Neil Davidson on Thursday, discussing the upcoming UFC 71 event. Joey Karate gives his picks.
Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa will celebrate his 10th anniversary in the fight game on July 23rd at the CMA Festival 2 event in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall. DEEP is the event promoter. When asked about the situation with PRIDE, Minowa stated that he could do nothing but wait now.
The Sacramento Bee writes that James Toney was ‘unimpressive’ in his split-decision win over Danny Batchelder in San Jose. Finding media coverage of the Toney fight outside of the boxing web sites was difficult.
On Google News, I saw an actual subsection for UFC coverage in the Sports section — something I had never seen before on that news aggregator. It starts with this piece in the New York Times. Notwithstanding Sherdog’s report yesterday about the PRIDE asset sale deal being possibly finalized, I complained several days ago about a new ‘Zuffa myth’ being perpetuated in the media in which the PRIDE asset sale has been a done deal since March 27th (the infamous Roppongi Hills Arena press conference). This myth is evident in both NYT & Canadian Press articles today, plus numerous other articles in the past two months. The MMA blogs & sites are ahead of the curve on this story.
Bob Arum discussed UFC on Thursday in a conference call:
All I know is the UFC has done a great job presenting their product, but their product is not good. The athletic competition is horrible. It is horrible to watch, and the fighters are not nearly as efficient as professional boxers.
Onto today’s headlines.
- The Boston Herald: Ultimate exposure – as boxing dims, spotlight shines on UFC
- The Winnipeg Free Press: Joe Doerksen sees MMA Winnipeg bout as end of an era
- The Detroit News: Johnny Morton tests out second career
- USA Today: UFC superstar Chuck Liddell looks to avenge loss to Quinton Jackson
- Yahoo Sports: Larry Merchant and HBO working a deal
- Yahoo Sports: Opportunity knocks for Houston Alexander
- The Canadian Press: Dana White questions GSP’s mental game in wake of Serra loss
- F4W Online: Countdown to UFC 71 – Liddell vs. Rampage report
- Royal Burnell: A new dawn fades
- The St. Petersburg Times: Rampage – ‘I am the outside’
- The Maryland Coast Dispatch: Ultimate fighting leads to assault arrest
- Fox Sports: Can the Iceman stop a Rampaging Jackson?
- The Canadian Press: UFC boss says Diego Sanchez almost retired on eve of UFC 69 in Houston
- Boxing Scene: Mike Tyson gets permission to leave Arizona
- MSNBC: MMA notebook – Iceman, Rampage ready for long-awaited bout
- The Sweet Science: UFC nabs covers; can Chuck beat jinx?
- The Star-Ledger (New Jersey): Chuck Liddell faces ultimate test
- The Philadelphia Daily News: Chuck Liddell’s score to settle, wants revenge for one of his losses vs. Jackson
- Maxboxing: Really Mixed Martial Arts
- The Oregonian: MMA notebook – UFC cover boys prepare for biggest event
- The UNLV Rebel Yell: Setting the record straight – boxing and MMA can co-exist
- The Long Beach Press-Telegram: Dana White – a big surprise set for Saturday
- Yahoo Sports: Bar room to brawling
- The Shreveport Times: UFC eyes return to Big Easy
- USA Today: UFC title bouts go mainstream
- The Boston Herald (Joe Lauzon): TUF Week 8 -Fighting inside and outside the Octagon
- The Bonner County Daily Bee (Idaho): Three-time NCAA champion wrestler Jake Rosholt looks to conquer new challenge – UFC
- UFC HP: Rampage and the Iceman – big fight breakdown
Topics: Boxing, Canada, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
New Japan having a MMA division is a good idea. If they can keep the puroresu and MMA seperate then this should work fine.
Another surprise OTHER than Shogun? Anyone wants to take a bet? Some how I want to say Fred Ettish.
Bring on the fight!!!!!!
Why even quote the boxing pundits? It’s the same drivel they always get.MMA Not as clean. Not as athletic. No Skills. Blah Blah Blah. Gets old after awhile.
Maybe MMA ppl should publish their canned riposte to boxing.
Boxing is boring. Jab, Cross, Hook, ad nauseum. Any monkey can count to 3. Blah Blah Blah. Muhammed Ali is a vegetable. etc. etc.
See? I can have a canned opinion 2.
Didn’t they already do this under “NJPW Ultimate Crush”? I don’t think it was a very successful project, either…
The NJPW Ultimate crush was intertwined with the pro-wrestling and did nothing but hurt the pro-wrestlers.
This will be different in the sense that it will not effect the pro-wrestling at all. Its just a stable of MMA guys who can fight on other promotions cards and New Japan get paid for it. At the moment they have Katsuhiko Nagata so why not grow the stable?
Anyone watch Bodog this week? One of the commentators said someone “moved like Jushin Liger.” SICK!
Re: New Zuffa Myth
How is the PRIDE acquisition (or lack thereof) a “Zuffa Myth” if Zuffa are not the ones responsible for perpetuating it? Dana has been more than forthright that the PRIDE acquisition has not been fully completed. It’s a complete 180 of the way they talk about athletic commission sanctioning; now THAT is a true Zuffa Myth.
If Rampage beats Chuck, then Mauricio “Shogun” Rua because the new #1 Light Heavyweight in the world. Would everybody agree on that. I already have Liddell & Rua tied for being #1 right now, and the fact that Rua beat Rampage would cement that fact.
“moved like Jushin Liger.†We dont get Bodog over here in the UK, who’s that commentator?
Paul Lazenby.
No. Not the Welsh Bond. The former Pancrase fighter.
Did he mean the Jushin Liger who got wrecked by Suzuki in under a minute?
Don’t listen to Paul Lazenby. You can’t trust anyone who once pantsed Bryan Alvarez in a battle royal.
The chick fight on Bodog was awesome. The Steibling one was ok too.
That’s the one 45.