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K-1 Dynamite at LA Coliseum
By Zach Arnold | June 2, 2007
Results: Observer | Sherdog | F4W Online | The Fight Network | MMA on Tap
Sherdog is reporting that Armando Garcia has indefinitely suspended Johnnie Morton after refusing to take a doping test after his fight. Josh Gross is reporting (as a rumor) on Sherdog radio that if you tried to buy two tickets on Ticketmaster for the show, you could get 10 for free. He also claimed that a friend who does guerilla marketing only received 250 posters and no more from K-1 to promote the event.
Dave Doyle of Fox Sports has a devastating article about the K-1 Dynamite show, including the LAPD claiming that the paid attendance was 1,000 going into the day of the show. Michael David Smith says that Johnnie Morton leaving out on a stretcher in his first MMA fight is a black eye for the business. If anyone knows how to contact Michael, please let me know.
Your image of the day — Dennis Rodman and YOSHIKI (former X JAPAN member). How the Japanese media is portraying the event: Sports Navigator portrayed the 54,000 fans who showed up as a positive despite the LA Coliseum being able to host 100,000 spectators. The outlet also praised K-1’s production values (fireworks, lighting, confetti, etc.) and coming out of the event, there was positive momentum.
Post-event media coverage: K-1 Press Release | The Sweet Science | The Orange County Register | The LA Times | The Long Beach Press-Telegram | CBS Sportsline | Yahoo Sports | ProphetFighting
FreeVideoCoding.com — Brock Lesnar post-fight interview on Sherdog
Topics: HERO's, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 92 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
David – How is it Yamasaki’s fault for that fight?
Well, as it stands right now, if the Brock Larson fight goes the distance, it will be cut off, at least on my cable system. Heck, if it goes more then 5 minutes, it might be cut off, since typically a PPV cuts off a few minutes prior to the hour anyways.
Jonathan–They were clinched for literally the entire last round. He broke them apart with 40 seconds left after allowing them to be in the standing assrape position for 4/5th of the round.
Actually, Severn vs. Kimo was the worst fight ever. Sak-Royce was as good as anyone could expect.
I think someone just farted in my general direction…. I mean K-1 just ripped one.
Kikuta/Renzo is the worst fight ever, and that says a lot, being as though Renzo actually finished him.
Johnny Morton was just indefinitely suspended by CSAC for refusing to take his post-fight drug test.
I’m just seeing the Mighty Mo vs. Villareal intros…..man….this show is done so fucking poorly. It’s sad….And……Warcraft fans? WTF?
Wow. I loved the trumpet/dancer intro. What was that? Goldberg (the wrestler) and Jay Glazer must go. Mauro acutally said “Dynamite UFC” at once point — I lost my shit. C- rating here. Book more fights on the card and cut down the damn ring entrances! Somehow, I dont think K-1 gives a crap. Their mma show was always second rate and just there because they can do it. Their kickboxing is better. Anyway, we all got hosed — but that is what happens when you are an addict. You take the drugs, good, mediocre, or in this case — bad.
According to Sherdog, Morton will not be paid his $100,000.00 purse either
FEG is saying there were 54 thousand in attendance.
Armando Garcia is one spiteful little man. Really, was there a need to run to a Sherdog reporter and wave his mighty state-sanctioned hammer one half hour after the event ended?
Body_Shots…
Are you kidding me? Where are saying this? They must be high on some horrible stuff.
Not kidding.
Yeah, I caught the “Dynamite UFC” slip (among) others, but I think Mauro caught himself before actually saying it.
And what was up with the Lesner fight. Either that was a work, IMO, or his opponent was very weak. I don’t think I have ever seen a fighter tap out in that position while holding on to his opponent. I don’t know, something just seemed very fishy about that fight.
HAHA FEG is a joke, they are reporting there was 54K in attendance, reported on Sherdog Radio.
What were the odds outta Vegas that someone would claim one of the fights was a work?
What’s with the Japanese drums before the Saku vs. Gracie fight? URGH You do that durihng opening ceremonies! JEEZ!!!!!!!!!! Dammit….the DJ is a fucking pain. Not Even Hendrix Music can help this show.
I got on the Sherdog show twice.
Watched the Lesnar fight and Kim Min-soo was a typical jobber. Lesnar winning proves nothing.
I not even gonna watch the Saku – Gracie fight. thats really bad when I am Saku’s biggest fan. What a disaster for K-1 this show has been!
Kind of takes you back to PRIDE.33. Sorry Zach but I have to mention this. I remember you saying how PRIDE.33 was a disaster for PRIDE (to me it wasn’t.) But dear God, this card was a disaster, and I only saw a fraction of it. IT made PRIDE.33 look world-class even with Jerry Millen’s f—–try (it’s why I don’t consider PRIDE.33 world class. Blame Millen.)
PRIDE 33 was a disaster in a lot of ways, but primarily because the matchmaking going into it was so poorly-thought out that every single loss was all-the-more damaging.
K-1 couldn’t even get a finalized card straight going into the week of the show.
K-1 will never run an event ever again in California, maybe in Nevada also after tonight.
The Citizen summarized this night well! 🙂
Pride 33 was a disaster. It did less then 30,000 PPV Buys in America.
Attendance looked surprisingly big – thought it would be darker and more taped off. Lots of Japanese folks though, so maybe they brought lots of fans over with them.
Commentary was awful – crowd was legitimately shitting on the lack of action and Mauro and the other idiot said they were wrong and disrespectful, before later going on to agree with them later in the fight.
If the fight is boring, they shouldn’t bring too much attention to it, and keep the show interesting with insightful information etc. Also the boos would be louder in the arena then on tv anyway.
Goldberg was the best of a poor bunch, but Mauro kept bringing up pro wrestling moves to try and embarrass him.
They should never have repeatedly brought up how old and banged up Saku and Royce are, especially after the trouble getting fighters cleared – they should just refer to them as legends.
Brock didn’t show anything against such an outmatched opponent.
Can’t have been a work though, as they are supposed to be short and exciting with good finishes.
K1, like PRIDE doesn’t appear to have learned why UFC is getting all these PPV dollars and just put on a big money mark show.
I know some of the hardcore fans enjoy Mauro, but the guy is bad. His Canadian Accent alone is not what a typical company would want for an American Audience. His commentary at times is so overbearing that it is hard to listen to.
Did anyone else notice Lesnar’s veiled call to Dana White and the UFC? At the end of the bout, when being interviewed by Glazed Doughnut, he says something to the effect of “Let’s see which promoters will step up with some money and talk about the Heavyweight title”.
Now, Heros, PrideFC, Bodog, EliteXC – none of these orgs have a prestigious HW title (Yes, Fedor, but PrideFC is in question now). There is only one direction that comment was directed at, and that was Dana and the UFC.
There were a shit load of Koreans in the place and from what I understand they pretty much all got in free.
Did anyone happen to catch the DJ’s name?
I didn’t catch the DJ’s name, even though he anounced it about 50 times during the show. During entrances. During fights. Made me miss the one WCW used in 2000, DJ Ran?
There was a good crowd there, and it didn’t rain. Crowd was surprisingly noisy considering a lot of them probably were forced off the street into the arena. The entrance carts brought back awful memories, but in the end they worked out pretty well. The GOLF CARTS for the seconds though…
Shut up everyone who makes uninformed comments without even having watched the show. “this was awful because I read so on a forum”. Sheesh.
Interesting someone from GFC took a shot at this, because as I was watching I several times thought this was bad but at least nowhere near GFC-bad.
A couple of good fights, only one bad. Too many short ones, but we knew that coming in. Fantastic to see Yoon finally get the win he’s worked so hard for. Sakuraba has never looked worse. No controversy, which was nice. Lesnar looked good. He could have been a useless can, but now we know he’s not a useless can, and this will be one interesting bidding war coming up. Shaw was in attendance and surely got a word or two in Brock’s ear. By actually manoevering from half- to full guard, Brock has already displayed more MMA-smartness/humility than Mark Coleman ever has.
Commentary was okay – nothing more, nothing less. Ranallo sounds so much better with these two than he did with fellow-yapper Trigg, but he just isn’t a very good announcer when all is said and done. Decent but not great.
AWFUL moments: Torch ceremony, DJ needing three tries at saying “Warpath Fans”, DJ during R1 of Royce-Saku(thank GOD he shut up after that, or there might have been a riot), Goldberg calling the fan next to Ullman a “thing”(someone please tell me it was a character from Tracy’s show that he was SUPPOSED to make fun of…?) and the pacing of the whole show(why add Tokoro – Pickett when you’re already running long with nothing but R1 finishes).
For a US Debut MMA show I’d rate this below PRIDE.33 and EliteXC, and about on par with Lappen’s WFA. I really thought it could have been a lot… lot worse. This had bottomless potential but turned out okay.
Now for the test results and paid gate please 😀
I think he said is name was DJ Hopper which is appropriate because he along with basically the first hour of this show was hopping all over the place. Lesnar aint worthy of any title shot whatsoever. Goldberg sayin that Lesnar is a “standup guy” is laughable. Lesnar told NJPW to go fuck themselves because he didnt want to fake lose their heavyweight title. See you in the UFL, Lesnar.
DJ Hapa, baby.
http://www.myspace.com/djhapa
Why am I not surprised this guy is a Bruin.
Zach Arnold= “if anything, I think it bodes even better for Rickson/Sakuraba because of the poor showing tonight. Easier fight for Rickson plus big money in Japan = good chance.”
Why would Rickson, who is regarded as the best Gracie according to the Gracie family, fight the guy that a lesser Gracie beat/stole a decision?
We all know when you step in to challenge a school you need to defeat the students b4 the master will fight you.
Even when saku beat the other four gracies Rickson would not fight him to defend the Gracie honor.
Had Saku beat Royce again, proving his first win to be no fluke, there would be pressure to fight him.
But after Royce reclaimed the Gracie honor at last nights K1, why would Rickson bother?
The saku vs Rickson who would win debate is now null and void, at least in the mind of Rickson. And Rickson is the one who decides who to fight.
On the Japanese side, the gracie hunter legend threatens to be tarnished even more with that fight.
It’ll never happen IMO.
Unless they offer Rickson $6,000,000
By the way if Morton already provided a blood sample before the fight, why the need for a sample after the fight?
I hope Lesner gets fcuked up ASAP just cos what he did to New Japan. The NJPW president was backstage last night. Wonder if he spoke to Brock about the IWGP Title Brock stole.
They ask for a sample after the fight just to make sure they didn’t use anything right before the fight.
So why not ask for only one sample after the fight?
Standard operating procedure, I assume. It is very interesting though that the CSAC is witholding his payment … I thought they were around to protect the fighters from getting ripped off by the promoter, not to rip the fighter off themselves.
“Standard operating procedure, I assume. It is very interesting though that the CSAC is witholding his payment … I thought they were around to protect the fighters from getting ripped off by the promoter, not to rip the fighter off themselves.”
Dude, this is standard procedure when it comes to fighters that get caught with a drug in their system, refuse to take a drug test, ot COMPLETELY not fight back against their opponent, or if there is a brawl during or after the fight, among other reasons. Not a new procedure at all. Remember the Ray Sefo vs. Marvin Eastman fight from Battle At Bellagio 2005? The brawl after the fight? I believe both fightetrs had their fight purses witheld. I do know the NSAC suspended Sefo for I think three months.
Fucking annoying DJ obviously knew nothing about MMA. His intro speech was ridiculous. “You’re going to see some crazy stuff. It will be crazy. These guys are champions”
Also he couldn’t pronounce Royce.
“Also he couldn’t pronounce Royce.”
I wanted to kill him after that.