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« | Home | »

Thursday evening news update (8/9)

By Zach Arnold | August 9, 2007

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If you aren’t a subscriber to our radio show, go subscribe now. Friendly links: iTunes feed or RSS feed. Josh Barnett was the guest on our last show. We’ll have a new radio show coming out shortly. So, go subscribe.

The latest IFL filing with the SEC.

Adam “Pacman” Jones had quite the appearance on ESPN2 Thursday morning. This was supposed to be a TV segment helping to promote his debut in TNA wrestling, but instead it turned into a total PR nightmare debacle. And Jeff Jarrett sat right next to him, with a TNA ring in the background the entire time. Audio here.

There is quite an article at MSNBC about Dan Henderson, as he trains and prepares to face Quinton Jackson on 9/8 in London. I’m surprised more people didn’t spot a glaring error in the article, but Fightlinker caught it. Ryan is on a roll.

Jordan Breen lays a good Southern-style whippin’ on Sam Caplan. Audio here. Sam, of course, disagrees. I, of course, am stirring up more heat.

Onto tonight’s headlines.

  1. The Fight Network: September 5th Pancrase card at Korakuen Hall
  2. MMA Weekly: Fabricio Werdum officially joins Chute Boxe
  3. Sherdog: Vadim Finkelstein floats K-1/Fedor rumor… by denying it
  4. UFC Junkie: Jorge Gurgel vs. Doug Evans at UFC 77
  5. Sam Caplan: Why Josh Koscheck will beat GSP
  6. The Fightworks Podcast: Art of War 3 conference call notes
  7. The White County News (Cleveland, GA): Scott Barrett brings home heavyweight belt
  8. The Half Moon Bay Review: Coastside’s Raul Castillo wins second MMA bout
  9. The Edwardsville Journal (MO): A fighting chance – local resident Darryl Cobb turns to MMA to change his path in life
  10. The Orlando Sentinel: Showcase to take fight to extreme in Kissimmee this Friday
  11. The Billings Gazette (MT): Club Boxing plans to feature MMA
  12. MMA on Tap: Stephane Vigneault vs. Justin Tavernini added to TKO 30 event
  13. MMA Ring Report: MFC celebrity poker tournament returns
  14. The Shreveport Times: MMA star Razor Rob McCullough in town for seminar, show
  15. New York Newsday: Police seeking teens highlighted in “fight flicks” (hat tip: Mikeinformer)

Topics: Canada, IFL, Media, MMA, Pancrase, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, TNA, UFC | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

25 Responses to “Thursday evening news update (8/9)”

  1. Sam Caplan says:

    Good southern-style whippin’? I think that’s a little bit of an exagerration. We both made our points. I thought it was pretty back and forth. I’d be curious to know what other people think.

  2. charlie says:

    Sam Caplan made some valid points, Jordan Breen came off as a complete dick. I heard no “Southern-style whippin”.

  3. UFC Fanboy (45 Huddle) says:

    The next document for the IFL I am looking forward to is their quarterly financials for the 2nd quarter. By law, they have to have them released 90 days after the end of the quarter, or around the end of September. It will likely be released sooner.

    The more I hear about Fedor’s manager, the more I think the guy is horrible. He can’t get along with Bodog or the UFC. Calvin basically called the guy a liar (in nicer words) and the UFC called him a Crazy Russian. His demands for Fedor are so unreasonable it isn;t even funny. I can’t think of one legit sporting event in America that would bow to an agents wishes like he is requesting.

  4. Sam Scaff says:

    Not to mention this OTHER huge mistake in the MSNBC article, in one of the first sentences of the article:

    “Henderson’s first fight on a UFC card takes place Sept. 8…”

    HELLO! He won the UFC 17 tournament!!.

  5. Jordan Breen says:

    Caplan doesn’t want none of my Northern touch.

  6. Torgo says:

    Southern style whuppin?

    Nay.

    TEJAS style, bold and spicy.

    Oh PS

    The reasoning behind putting Evan Tanner on the list was the most hilarious exercise in circular logic in MMA ever

    How could he be an underacheiver if he acheived so much with so little natural gifts?

    “Well… if he achieved so much he MUST have talent, mustn’t he? So he should have achieved even more”

    Uhh… what?

  7. The Gaijin says:

    Yeah who could ever be on the side of a guy that doesn’t get along with DANA WHITE and CALVIN AYRE?!!?!?

    AYRE: notoriously long list of shady business dealings, including some very sketchy history of stock fraud and the like on the Vancouver stock exchange and not to mention the disposition and self image of a communist dictator; and

    WHITE: a certified megalomaniac who’s ego and self aggrandizing personality are second to none with the exception of a guy like Vince MacMahon and possibly the above mentiond Ayre.

    You sir Finkelstein have been called a “liar” and “crazy russian” by these two bastions of business and social virtue – nice words you could not have been called.

  8. Zack says:

    It’s cool Sam…just challenge him to a rematch in a coal miners glove match.

  9. white ninja says:

    Finkelstein is a dodgy character as many Russian businessmen of his generation are – he thrived and prospered during the cowboy days in Russia where there was no rule of law, only that of money and the gun. his business practices reflect this

    i think dana is being smart about pushing back on him – finklestein hasnt got exactly a golden record when it comes to promoting

    ayre did a (loss making) show with him in russia and theyre not working together any more

    finklestein owns m1 which promotes in russia and has tried to launch the failed euphoria promotion on the US east coast

    i get the feeling that fedor is the one who may miss the opportunity here because finklestein cant get enough juice out of the ufc deal for himself

  10. DROC says:

    In the same article about Henderson there’s this beauty

    “The Thai style fighter’s victory by arm bar startled the crowd. It appeared that Larson was about to end the fight with a pile driver. ”

    DROC

  11. Luke says:

    I enjoyed Jordan’s interview/debate with Sam Caplan. I think it added a lot to his show.

  12. Michaelthebox says:

    The Gaijin: Whatever you may think about Dana’s attitude, the guy is well estabilished to be a hard but fair businessman; he’ll make a deal with anybody if he thinks it is a good business deal. He obviously hates Tito, but that didn’t stop him making Tito a coach. If Dana won’t deal with Finklestein – and its becoming clear that the two of them are far apart on a deal for Fedor – its probably because Finklestein is asking for Dana’s first, second, thirdborn, an arm, a leg, and a testicle.

  13. Ivan Trembow says:

    Tito Ortiz in an interview with UFC Mania (among many other quotes): “Now fighters are talking about a union. Hey, you never know.”

    This is the first I’ve heard of that. If this was Vince McMahon, he would have phone calls made threatening anyone who ever supports a union or collective bargaining. That has worked for him because the top guys have to be on-board.

  14. Preach says:

    There’s only one way to settle Breen/Caplan II: Viagra on a Pole! Someone get me Vince Russo!

  15. Anyone wanna give me the time in the file of the Sam Caplan vs Jordan Breen bout?

  16. Captain says:

    What exactly is a “Southern-style whippin'”?

    I didn’t catch the part where Larson almost finished Condit with a pile driver but I will have to go back and watch the tape. I must’ve been too busy putting my new Undertaker poster up.

    I find the funniest part of the Fightlinker article to be that he takes a jab at TUF noobs on Sherdog when he’s ranting just like one of them. No offense, dude. I understand your anger, but it was just kind of funny.

  17. We like to think our site has a soft chewy center comprised mainly of irony.

  18. Ivan Trembow says:

    News from the Wrestling Observer: Zuffa has no plans to offer Ricardo Arona a contract in either the UFC or WEC.

    This is a lot of things, but surprising is not one of them. If you’re perceived by management to be “boring,” you’re SOL… see Matt Lindland… Jeremy Horn… Jens Pulver in 2002 when he wanted to be paid as much as BJ Penn… Ivan Salaverry in 2005… David Loiseau in 2006… Mike Swick not getting his publicly promised title shot becuase his win over Loiseau in 2006 was perceived to be “boring” (which sucked for him because then he lost his next fight, a non-title fight, to Yushin Okami)… Andrei Arlovski not getting his promised title shot because his win over Fabricio Werdum in 2007 was perceived to be “boring” … Paulo Filho not immediately being snatched up by the UFC (as opposed to the WEC) when he became available in 2007… Jon Fitch being put in non-televised prelims in four of his first five UFC fights (all wins)… or countless other examples that one could point to.

    Ricardo Arona is not the first person that this has applied to and he certainly won’t be the last. Whether this is for the better or worse is for each individual MMA fan to decide.

  19. Zack says:

    Ivan, I think its a good opportunity for another organization to snatch up a top ten lightweight. It’s unfortunately however that we have to watch Liddell/Jardine when most hardcore fans would rather see him tested against top ten dudes, and there are some out there available. Let’s see how Chuck would do against Arona or Lil Nog.

    A Chuck fight will sell regardless.

  20. Sam did all the talking and Jordan just talked really loud. Jordan was just trolling on minor details. The list, like all list, is not pefect, but his rationale makes plenty of sense to me. I think Tanner is an overachiever myself, but I can see where Sam is coming from. Many on the list sit in a gray area and its silly for Jordan to get all worked up over it. Jordan, I’d like to see you locked in cage with Freeman or Tanner and I wonder how limited you’ll think their skills are then. 😉

  21. On the boring fighter/Arona issue…

    I attended my first live show (IFL is NJ) and the biggest thing I walked away with is how obvious it is when fighters aren’t engaging. When you’re watching live and 100% focused on the fight, the non-activity gets amplified many times over and it blantly obvious that fighters should do more. From watching on TV, I use to think that “boring” fights were a part of the game, but now I think its unacceptable for a fighter to dance, cruise or lay n’ pray for any extended period of time when audiences pay a lot of money to see a fight. So I’m all for boring fighters getting the boot. Good riddance.

  22. Tomer Chen says:

    Jordan, I’d like to see you locked in cage with Freeman or Tanner and I wonder how limited you’ll think their skills are then.

    This Ad Hominem attack (with an appeal to authority basis) on Jordan because he doesn’t fight is as stupid as when Pro Wrestlers criticized Dave Meltzer for “Not doing Wrestling, so he has no room to argue”. One can say food tastes bad without being a chef. It’s a logical fallacy, simply put.

  23. Rollo the Cat says:

    I agree with GameCritics. We have the chance to define what MMA is going to be while it is still new. We can make it about out-pointing your opponent or we can make it about finishing your opponent. It is based on fighting arts and should be about finishing.

    Until the rules and the judging criteria change, we will have to tolerate the boring fights.

    I approve of rejecting Arona. He can go to ADCC or some other tournament and show his skills there.

  24. Jordan Breen says:

    “Jordan, I’d like to see you locked in cage with Freeman or Tanner and I wonder how limited you’ll think their skills are then. ;-)”

    I’m about the same size as Freeman and he’d beat my ass. But at the same time, Fedor would probably beat my ass worse. Why? Greater skill set on a far superior fighter. Which of course, is my point.

    Also, me yelling like a maniac was just to make good radio.

    And it certainly doesn’t change the fact I got robbed, baby. Caplan, I dunno if you’re a boxing head, but do you know what happened to Antofuermo the second time around? Look into it, sucka.

  25. nem0 says:

    I hope Montana’s Club Boxing handles their MMA fights better than their “boxing” matches. The last Thursday Night Fight I attended was sloppy, and the “boxers” were barely more than a bunch of guys pulled off the street to fight for beer money. Most of the people in the audience were there because the alcohol was cheap and the ring girls were all but naked.

    But then again, what can we expect from the people who bring us Evel Kinevel Days?

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