« The latest update on PRIDE | Home | Sunday media review: All UFC, all the time »
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 |
What an unimaginable disaster.
I did not purchase it. However, from the reaction it is getting on The Underground Forum, it sounds like it is a complete joke. I heard Dennis Rodman made an appearance….
In a way, this is kind of sad news for MMA. It really means we have Zuffa has the only company who can get it right.
The Japanese company’s have no clue about American Culture.
Dave Meltzer also discussed in his recent Observer Newsletter, that K-1 paid about $1 Million to Showtime & Pro Elite for this show, and when everything is said and done, it is going to cost them $2 Million just in expenses alone. I don’t think that even included fighter purses.
The fact that they have less then 10,000 fans, and they gave tickets away, along with many $10 seats, is pathetic in every sense of the word.
I’ll watch the Gracie/Sakuraba and Lesnar fights on Daily Motion later today. Then if Lesnar wins, I will enjoy watching him compete for a real company in the UFC.
And according to The Observer, they have gone at least 50 minutes between fights. I would be pissed if I was there live….
I’m watching this live and I must say that this has been horrible so far. We’re 27 minutes into the PPV and the first guy is finally just walking into the ring. The showtime fights weren’t all that great either.
Sorry for another post, but I just saw this, and I thought it was worth posting:
http://mma.tv/tuf/index.cfm?ac=ListMessages&PID=1&TID=1054247&FID=1&pc=69
The thread is from a few weeks ago about how bad the Gracie Fighting Championship PPV was. If you look at the 4th page of the post, one of the guys from GFC posted today. He is using the K-1 Show as a comparison. Nothing like aiming high. Here is what he said:
“Yea, So GFC was an ebarrasment huh. Well, I just tried to watch K1 Dynamite, and let me tell you something, We have got a huge future if thats the worst we have to compete with. Yes UFC is a Monolith, but GFC was a hell of a lot better than k1.”
If I am a fighter like Jake Shields, and I watch the telecast of K-1 and then Bodog…. I fighting out my contract and praying that the UFC signs me to a contract.
Oh god, Johnnie Morton looks wrecked; hopefully he’s ok.
Morton is talking apparently, so he’s ok, i’m guessing he left on a stretcher cos of overcautiousness (and they need to clear the ring for Mighty Mo). Still, he had no business in the ring, that was one ugly slopfight.
Bernard Ackah is a legitimate puncher. When I saw his first match in HEROs against a jobber (this was March 12th in Nagoya), he was relentless and strong. This was a horrible match-up for Morton in his debut fight. Now the headlines on the media wires about the K-1 Dynamite show will be about Morton being stretchered out.
This K1 show really is poor such awful production values…
still fights make the night so who knows…..
Lookin forward to Saku subbing Roy…..
Did Armando Garcia get interviewed on camera? Why is an athletic commissioner getting face time?
Goldberg is an awful commentator.
I heard there was less then one minute of fighting for the first hour of the PPV Telecast.
I complain about the UFC putting infomercials on their PPV’s… But that is much worse.
They could honestly run out of time. The PPV is only scheduled for 3 hours. They have 5 fights to do in 2 hours. That is near impossible unless each is really short and they take no time between fights. Something tells me the main event is going to get cut off at the end.
How did something like Dong Sik Yoon vs Melvin Manhoef even get sanctioned?
What a night of mismatches.
Video – Jake Shields vs. Ido Pariente
Video – Nam Phan vs. JZ Calvan
It’s amazing how fast MMA fights go on the video sites now. It actually makes UFC’s high PPV buyrates even more remarkable than they already are.
Garcia wasn’t spoken to or shown on-air, but Glazer was apparently next to him when he explained why the Manhoef-Yoon fight was delayed.
My Dish Network has it blocked out from 7 to 11, four hours. But, Good God the fighter entrances are boring.
Much appreciated Zach….
Anyone else see Ed Fishman come over and shake Nicholas Cage’s hand?
I just saw my first tv ad for this show during the Cavs game, midway through the ppv. This is so bad that I don’t even have words to describe it, other than “abortion.”
I have Comcast, and they only have it blocked off on the East Coast from 10pm to 1am. Not sure why the difference.
The fact that non-K-1 personalities in the fight game are attracting more attention than people on the card itself should say it all – Rampage, Fishman, etc.
That was much more competitive than I thought.
Yoon gave Rampage a lot of defensive trouble in their PRIDE fight, so I’m not shocked that he has improved dramatically in terms of coming back in a fight.
Agreed, Yoon-Manhoef was a good match, levels above the slop from before.
Stop namedropping Rampage and Nick Cage already…
…and they answer with Rosie Perez!
Are they using a cart to take the fighters to the ring?
And Yoon paid off +250. I’m very happy right now.
grumble grumble
I’m totally blocked. If DISH is blocking form 7-11. Why is it totally blocked here in MI?
Now I’m stuck watching SNME.
Blech!
capnhulk= “How did something like Dong Sik Yoon vs Melvin Manhoef even get sanctioned?
What a night of mismatches.”
I guess you didn’t see Yoon vs busta or vs rampage in which Yoon held his own quite well.
45huddle= “It really means we have Zuffa has the only company who can get it right.”
Seg had it right well before zuffa and their casino $$ bought them good favor amongst the previously put off(not paid off) politicians. So i don’t give zuffa any credit for simply continuing where SEG left off.
This dynamite has blown up in k-1 faces.
It’s hard to believe that any org could totally half ass a large show like this.
Yoon kicks ass!
I really want to listen to Beatdown After The Bell…. First, TJ was so big on this event, and it should be interesting to hear him now. Secondly, an more important, I want to hear the fans phone calls…. Should be great.
As for SEG… They could have never done what Zuffa is doing. Even with more exposure, they didn’t have enough smart people in that company to get it to any reasonable level.
Right now Dynamite has more award-winning celebrities than UFC.
Dynamite = Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage and Emmy-winner Tracy Ulman
UFC = Non-award winners Mandy Moore, Kevin James, Adam Sandler.
You’re right, grafdog. I had overestimated Manhoef’s experience and it wasn’t until after the fight that I took a closer look at Yoon’s record.
Too bad Saku and Gracie won’t be unlimited 15-minute rounds.
This show is total $h!t
I love these lazer and bone crunching sound effects.
PEW PEW.
And I am not even watching it!
I’m at the show live its actually not that bad. fights have all been short. I say there are probably 10k here. time between fights was actually short. yoon manhoef was amazing. and yes they got carts like wm 3 priceless.
As shown above, it is not clear if this is scheduled for 3 or 4 hours. If it is scheduled for 3 hours…. And Gracie and Lesnar fights go the distance…. We might not see the last part of the last fight. Not good.
Wrestling Observer and Sherdog both make it sound like the first 2 rounds of Gracie/Sakuraba is really boring.
Someone let Yamasaki officate a high profile match?
The last time I criticized Yamasaki as a referee, I got hate mail and angry responses from readers.
The third round was pretty bad.
EVery ref…even Big John, have been criticized at some point in their career. I think that Herb Dean is a good ref, but alot of people do not think so. With the exception of Big John, it is a thankless job.
They can send hate mail to me all they want.
Just make them look all the more foolish.
yeah the saku gracie fight was not good at all. two sad thingvs 1 lots of people are leaving before the main event. 2 rampage is here and he is getting a lot more cheer than anyone else.
This event could end K-1
This doesn’t bode well for a future Rickson vs Saku fight.
I dun care about who “won” that fight. There was no winner. Except Rampage from what I hear..
Grafdog – 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.
Oh no, they just announced among Lesnar’s credentials as being a WWF champion…
Sak-Gracie was the worst fight ever, Yamasaki should never be allowed to ref a match again..