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« | Home | »

Thursday trash talk: Rampage likes PRIDE rules best

By Zach Arnold | August 22, 2007

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Mauro Ranallo interviewed Stephen Quadros on Wednesday (audio here). Plus, an MMA Madness interview with Georges St. Pierre.

Dave Doyle on what to look for at UFC 74.

A very interesting appearance for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday. He made no bones about the fact that he would like to see the PRIDE rules come to America because he believes fights would finish quicker. Jackson said he supported knees to the head on the ground and also soccer-ball kicks.

The paid attendance for the IFL show in NJ on 8/2 was 5,800, meaning most of the 7,077 in New Jersey was paid.

More details about Kevin Randleman’s arrest in Nevada.

Kid Nate asks us to compare and contrast what Dana White has to say about fighters versus what Dan Henderson recently said in the press.

The evil Nick Lembo has been publicly exposed.

There’s a lot to say about the announcement that UFCJunkie.com is partnering up with Yahoo Sports. The one predominant thought that comes to mind is that Yahoo is really lending their credibility here to UFC Junkie. A major PR coup for them. I’m not sure what is in it for Yahoo Sports — and that’s not a knock on UFC Junkie, either. I just find the ‘big media’ MMA coverage strategy (from Yahoo to ESPN) to be weird.

I was curious as to why the next ShoXC event was taking place in Vicksburg, MS. Now we have our answer. Pro Elite is working with the promoter of the Rage on the River event series.

The latest from the California SAC

Anthony Bivins, who last competed for Cage Combat on August 18, 2007 in Yuba City, has been suspended for testing positive for marijuana. He has been fined $500. His suspension period runs from the conclusion of the bout on August 18, 2007 through November 16, 2007.

Cesar De La Torre, who last competed for the Total Fighting Alliance on August 11, 2007 in Santa Monica, has been suspended for testing positive for marijuana. He has been fined $500. His suspension period runs from the conclusion of the bout on August 11, 2007 through November 9, 2007.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. The Fight Network: ShoXC card line-up for Saturday in Vicksburg, MS
  2. MMA Weekly: Spirit MC searching for challenger to Denis Kang
  3. UFC Junkie: Spike TV, UFC continue contract negotiations
  4. UFC Mania: Brockhead – disjointed Lesnar interview shames MMA heavyweights
  5. MMA Analyst: Brock Lesnar – shut the hell up
  6. Sprawl ‘n Brawl: MMA as a business
  7. The Houston Chronicle: Alberto Crane takes aim
  8. 411 Mania: The road to the title begins – again
  9. MMA Madness: A look back at K-1’s Las Vegas GP
  10. Komikazee: MMA Smackdown #37 w/ Ben Rothwell
  11. Yahoo Sports: Charles Bennett called “Krazy” for a reason
  12. The West Liberty Index (IA): Hundreds fill local club for MMA event
  13. The Santa Fe Reporter (NM): Alberto Crane – going for broke
  14. The Honolulu Advertiser: Kendall Grove patiently biding time for title opportunity
  15. Sports Net (Canada): Looking to tame Roger “The Hulk” Hollett
  16. KLTV (Tyler, TX): East Texan Jacob Hart to fight for MMA state belt
  17. NBC Sports: Title seeker Gabriel Gonzaga faces icon in Randy Couture
  18. The Parsons Sun (KS): Nick “The Punisher” Phillips to debut in MMA at age of 44
  19. The Clarke Times-Courier (VA): Fighters pack the Sportsplex in Winchester
  20. WTSP (Tampa, FL): Former Buc Marcus Jones finds top level competition in a… cage?
  21. The Journal Gazette-Times Courier (IL): Now a fighter, wrestling secures Mike French’s Hall spot
  22. Yahoo Sports: Josh Koscheck willing to be the bad guy
  23. RJ Broadhead: Tired of hearing about GSP being mentally weak
  24. The Orange County Register: Can GSP bounce back?
  25. UFC HP: Alberto Crane – back in MMA to stay
  26. Irish Whip Fighting: Does Michael Bisping deserve better?
  27. The Chronicle Herald (Nova Scotia, Canada): Big test for Roger Hollett – Friday fight in Alberta is for MFC Light Heavyweight belt
  28. The Province (Canada): UFC is carving out piece of the action
  29. The Tampa Tribune: Chris Hovan – ultimate fighting defender
  30. The Tyler Paper (TX): Jacob Hart competes for MMA championship
  31. The Republican (MA): Hippodrome hosting ‘Beatdown’ MMA
  32. My West Texas: West Texas MMA to compete in BJJ Mundials
  33. The Grand Junction Sentinel (CO): Track man Jason Brenton takes to MMA
  34. The East London Advertiser (UK): Cage Rage – fine win for Plucky Pickett
  35. The Edmonton Sun: Victor Valimaki and Roger Hollett putting friendship aside

Topics: Canada, IFL, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, Pro-Wrestling, South Korea, UFC, Zach Arnold | 33 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

33 Responses to “Thursday trash talk: Rampage likes PRIDE rules best”

  1. Bruce says:

    I wouldn’t exactly call Junkie and Yahoo a partnership…as far as I can tell it’s just an RSS feed…

  2. Ernest Helwig says:

    The Only Time I Really Remember Rampage Finishing A Fight Via Stomps or Soccer Kicks was Against Hirotaka Yokoi.. Im Actually Surprised He’s In Favor of these Type of Rules.

  3. Rollo the Cat says:

    I’d have to count the IFL show at the Meadowlands a success. 5,000 paid attendance for a minor league is outstanding. Of course it came in the middle of a huge metro area and it was the playoffs, but it is still a good sign.

  4. Rollo the Cat says:

    Oh, and finally Rampage says something intelligent.

    It was obvious from listening to Keith Kizer on TAGG this week, that neither the NSAC or the UFC really have their hearts in reforming the current rules. It will take a serious grass roots effort from fans and fighters as well, to get some sense written into our Unified Rules.

  5. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    I think that Dana or UFC has made noises in the past that they would like knees to be worked into the unified rules and that they were working on that in New Jersey, and expected that if it was adopted there, then it would quickly be adopted by everyone else.

    I tend to think that stomps and kicks to the head are maybe too damaging and dangerous to be accepted here. Someone will surely disagree with me vehemently though.

    Maybe you could rein them in somewhat and have a foul in place, but whenever I think about that, I think about Rampage’s fight with Daijiro. You can’t undo damage that’s done by fouls, you can only punish them retroactively, and encouraging certain types of attacks only within certain limits is sure to be a problem.

  6. DarthMolen says:

    I’d have to agree with Rollo. It was a success. Although I don’t know if you can play the “playoff” card as one of the reasons why.

    For the playoff card to work, your fans have to be congizant of the team system and care what happens to their futures….

    Anyways, I think it was successful because people are caring more about the IFL in general.

    IFL Battlegrounds is getting good, people are tuning in to watch, and then going to the Live venue to see what the hubbub is about.

  7. DarthMolen says:

    Soccer kicks to the head should never, ever, ever be allowed here in America.

    Then the dog fighting comparison people-ers would have a field day and I might have to give them credence…

  8. Ben Sanders says:

    I wouldn’t exactly call Junkie and Yahoo a partnership…as far as I can tell it’s just an RSS feed…

    It’s not a partnership at all it’s totally exagerrated. It’s not even a live RSS feed it’s a select feed. Major sites use them all the time. I’m surprised the folks at Yahoo arent shuddering at the fact that he’s labeled it a partnership.

  9. LR says:

    The TAGG radio interview was unbelievably informative. Especially the part about what kind of defense does Sherk even have coming into the appeal. Kizer basically hinted that Sherk is going to have a unbelievably hard time convincing the board. He said their doctors have stated that it’s impossible to go over 2ng/mL without some type of help. And the best quote he had was he stated that if it was possible through physical activity to up it to 6 or 7 ng/mL, then we’d see a lot more cases of it, which is very true. Keith Kizer, very good interview at TAGG.

  10. schz says:

    The one predominant thought that comes to mind is that Yahoo is really lending their credibility here to UFC Junkie. A major PR coup for them. I’m not sure what is in it for Yahoo Sports — and that’s not a knock on UFC Junkie, either. I just find the ‘big media’ MMA coverage strategy (from Yahoo to ESPN) to be weird.

    ———————

    hahaha – i knew that was going to sting. good for ufc junkie, they do a great job. its no surprise to me that when an mma blog focuses on honest mma reporting; rather than talking about 80’s japanese pro wrestling and negatively spinning any mma story they can get their hands on (cough cough) good things happen!

    congrats to the junkie!

  11. LR says:

    I think Yahoo! sees this as a chance to not have to spend money on a force of MMA reporters. They have Junkie, with his resources, to report the news. They have crappy Kevin Iole articles (my opinion, don’t flip out).

  12. Grape Knee High says:

    I love the PRIDE rules in Japan as they were, but I agree that they should never be implemented in the US (especially in a cage where a fighter’s head could be trapped against the cage).

    I think MMA has it bad enough with regards to mainstream acceptance that the cage implies “violence” rather than “sport”, I can only imagine the media uproar with kicks/stomps to the head of a downed fighter. Allowing knees would be plenty enough for me.

  13. Zach Arnold says:

    hahaha – i knew that was going to sting. good for ufc junkie, they do a great job. its no surprise to me that when an mma blog focuses on honest mma reporting; rather than talking about 80’s japanese pro wrestling and negatively spinning any mma story they can get their hands on (cough cough) good things happen!

    congrats to the junkie!

    Considering that I happen to be very friendly with the guys over at that web site, you’re blowing smoke here.

    I’m sorry if, after all this time, you still can’t understand how pro-wrestling played such a huge role in the growth of MMA. It’s not something I bring up every day. Pretty cheesy stereotyping there, but thanks for playing.

    With that stated, I’m not sure what the media strategy is for MMA coverage at the major web sites (ESPN with Sherdog, Yahoo Sports with UFC Junkie, etc.) In the case of Yahoo Sports, it’s interesting to watch what is unfolding because they paid good money to bring in two guys (Kevin Iole and Dave Doyle) and now they’re taking a low-risk approach to supplement their coverage. ESPN basically is dealing with Crave Online as their conduit for Sherdog. In other words, there seems to be some tentativeness from the major sports media outlets about a) how to cover MMA and b) how much coverage there should be.

  14. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    There’s no question that in Japan, the organizations and individuals who started the promotions and styles that evolved into Japanese MMA were rooted primarily in professional wrestling.

    In the US, the roots are more in Vale-Tudo (and, later, organizationally in boxing thanks to the commissions) but even then, you can’t tell the story of the UFC without talking about the pro wrestlers who came into MMA in those early days and helped to define the UFC style that dominates now. What would the UFC look like today if not for Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock?

    Grappling beyond guards and sweeps is now one of the cornerstones of MMA, along with BJJ, Judo, Boxing, etc etc etc. At the start, I think there was a lot of skepticism about whether these guys with pro wrestling backgrounds would be able to mix it up and finish fights. That’s no longer a question.

  15. LR says:

    What pro-wrestler has been dominant in today’s MMA? I mean, legitimately someone who fought in a fake wrestling promotion? I know there are some, I just can’t think of any right now off the top of my head. I know in Japan, it’s dominant.

  16. Zach Arnold says:

    Sakuraba was the most prominent Japanese star during his prime. There’s always Josh Barnett to consider.

  17. Dru Down says:

    The most heartbreaking part of the Dana/Henderson comparison is where Dan’s wife says she wishes she could be spending more time helping Dan prepare.

    Not trying to rip into the UFC- I understand that very few organizations would reschedule based on a fighter’s personal needs, but that is just sad to read.

  18. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Could you imagine if … say Dwayne Johnson showed up in the UFC?

    If he was any good, it would be insane. If he wasn’t, it would be a media circus anyway.

    Dana, make it so.

  19. The Gaijin says:

    As much as I loved the PRIDE rules I have to agree that it would be hard to get them implemented in NA.

    Look at the flack they are taking already, just imagine the ammo you’d be giving the neo-cons if we had Silva putting that vicious stomping on Kondo or any of the brutal Shogun victories by soccer kick/stomp. They’d just be getting eaten alive in the media.

    I think we’ll be lucky to see knees on the ground and that will likely need to be phased in as mma gains wider acceptance with the public.

  20. The Gaijin says:

    P.S. when did this site’s posters decide we were ok with bashing fighters, making ridiculous (and unfounded) slurs/accusations and flaming the site’s administrator??

    Super cool.

  21. The Gaijin says:

    “6. Roger Huerta vs. someone you never heard of, take six: We get it, Dana. You think Roger Huerta is the future of the lightweight division. His heritage will bring in the Latino fans and his looks will bring in the girls. Now, will you let us see if he can handle himself against top competition? Huerta faces UFC newcomer Alberto Crane on Saturday. This is coming on the heels of his win over UFC newcomer Doug Evans. Which followed his win over UFC newcomer Leonard Garcia. Which followed his win over UFC newcomer John Halverson. Which followed his win over UFC newcomer Jason Dent. White has often criticized boxing promoters for building up fighters against tomato cans, but in Huerta’s case, he’s been handed enough to make tomato sauce for everyone at Mandalay Bay.”

    My sentiments exactly. I’ve expressed this point on several occassions – and was of course chastised for being “anti-UFC”. Let’s have him fight someone of stature and see where he actually stands rather than showcase him again.

    But as for another of Doyle’s comments: I really don’t think that Couture was convinced to come back to mma b/c he was able to fight to a 0-0 draw with Jacare. Isn’t Jacare like 170lbs? I highly doubt that was the catalyst for coming back to HW of all things…I could be wrong tho.

  22. Wasn’t it Vale Tudo that influenced the more realistic style of shoot pro-wrestling in Japan to begin with? By that logic, you should talk about how MMA influenced pro-wrestling.

    Shamrock and Severn were never promoted as pro-wrestlers in the early days. And let’s not forget the presence of Royce Gracie with his over-sized gi. If you read Shamrocks autobiography, he was equal parts male-stripper, tough man boxer and pro-wrestler before coming to the UFC.

    MMA was clearly marketed as an “real” pro-wrestling in Japan, but let’s get carried away and make overly broad statements about how pro-wrestling made MMA what it is today. Afterall, UFC still looks nothing like Pride and UFC is the dominant face of MMA today.

  23. Rollo the Cat says:

    I think Ken was the only non-Japanese fighter I would classify as a pro wrestler. Severn wasn’t any more of a pro wrestler than Chris Taylor was in the 70s. At least he wasn’t very good at it, didn’t have huge success.

    I don’t think Vale Tudo influenced the puroresu/MMA scene in Japan until Rickson beat on a certain Japanese performer at his school in California.

  24. Tomer Chen says:

    Wasn’t it Vale Tudo that influenced the more realistic style of shoot pro-wrestling in Japan to begin with? By that logic, you should talk about how MMA influenced pro-wrestling.

    The UWF shoot-style Pro Wrestling was actually an outgrowth of Antonio Inoki’s “Pro Wrestling is strongest” angle in the late 70s and early 80s where he had inter-style matches with guys in Judo, Karate, etc. Akira Maeda followed in the angle and he developed the UWF organization with Sayama, Fujiwara & Takada in the mid 80s.

    I don’t think Vale Tudo influenced the puroresu/MMA scene in Japan until Rickson beat on a certain Japanese performer at his school in California.

    Yoji Anjo, Nobuhiko Takada’s pupil.

  25. schz says:

    Considering that I happen to be very friendly with the guys over at that web site, you’re blowing smoke here.

    I’m sorry if, after all this time, you still can’t understand how pro-wrestling played such a huge role in the growth of MMA. It’s not something I bring up every day. Pretty cheesy stereotyping there, but thanks for playing.

    With that stated, I’m not sure what the media strategy is for MMA coverage at the major web sites (ESPN with Sherdog, Yahoo Sports with UFC Junkie, etc.) In the case of Yahoo Sports, it’s interesting to watch what is unfolding because they paid good money to bring in two guys (Kevin Iole and Dave Doyle) and now they’re taking a low-risk approach to supplement their coverage. ESPN basically is dealing with Crave Online as their conduit for Sherdog. In other words, there seems to be some tentativeness from the major sports media outlets about a) how to cover MMA and b) how much coverage there should be.

    ——

    i see nothing strange about yahoo using ufcjunkie feeds on their site. i suppose you mean low-risk as in cheap, because as far as reputation goes including live feeds on your website is always a risk. yet im sure they have more than done their homework and have concluded like many others that ufcjunkies content while in fact cheap/free is of excellent quality.

    i would be hard pressed to find a better source to “supplement” mma content – regardless of budget. as you may know the real gain here is the exposure ufc junkie and their writers will get out of this which could very well end up representing dollars in their wallet.

    i was obviously just teasing, as you should expect when you post comments like the ones you did, the first thing that popped into my mind and im sure the mind of others is : would he refer to yahoo and espn as “weird” if they were using his content? – answer is obvious.

    i learned this in the third or fourth grade, ill share it with you now : you cant always disguise an insult with a “and thats not a knock on you” without expecting at the very least to be accused of jealousy.

  26. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Dan Severn was the NWA Heavyweight Champion in between UFC 4 and UFC 5. UFC traded more heavily on his more legitimate amateur experience though.

    Both Severn and Shamrock had obviously fought in Pro Wrestling of various forms in Japan before UFC though.

  27. Luke says:

    “But as for another of Doyle’s comments: I really don’t think that Couture was convinced to come back to mma b/c he was able to fight to a 0-0 draw with Jacare. Isn’t Jacare like 170lbs? I highly doubt that was the catalyst for coming back to HW of all things…I could be wrong tho.”

    You are wrong. Jacare is more like 185 and Couture told me himself on the new edition of WhoopAss radio the sub-wrasslin’ match with Souza was, in fact, the event that proved to him he needed to fight again.

    The UFC accepted his offer by offering a return at heavyweight. Couture accepted.

    Rest = history.

  28. 45 Huddle says:

    What are you people talking about? Roger Huerta is being tested against the greatest set of opponents in the history of this sport. Bravo to Dana White for making this guy prove himself before getting a title shot…. End Sarcasm….

    K-1 Hero’s is booking Kid Yamamoto vs. Bibiano Fernandes. Fernandes is 1-1 according to Sherdog.com, and his loss is to Faber and doesn’t have a win since 2004. Nice to see that K-1 is feeding Yamamoto some tough competition.

  29. Rollo the Cat says:

    “Dan Severn was the NWA Heavyweight Champion in between UFC 4 and UFC 5. UFC traded more heavily on his more legitimate amateur experience though.”

    I couldn’t believe that the old UFC brass let Severn walk into the Octagon (TM) with that NWA belt and they even announced him as NWA champion.

  30. Grape Knee High says:

    The realist in me says that Couture really only came back for the paycheck. And I don’t blame him one bit. He should milk as much as can out of it while he’s still physically capable.

  31. LR says:

    I didn’t understand the whole Bibiano Fernandes deal. Sherdog made it sound like it was amazing, but then I see Bibiano at 1-1? Breen, any insight?

  32. Jordan Breen says:

    “K-1 Hero’s is booking Kid Yamamoto vs. Bibiano Fernandes. Fernandes is 1-1 according to Sherdog.com, and his loss is to Faber and doesn’t have a win since 2004. Nice to see that K-1 is feeding Yamamoto some tough competition.”

    To be fair, have you seen Bibiano fight? He’s obviously going to lose to KID, but his performance against Faber was outstanding.

    “I really don’t think that Couture was convinced to come back to mma b/c he was able to fight to a 0-0 draw with Jacare. Isn’t Jacare like 170lbs? I highly doubt that was the catalyst for coming back to HW of all things…I could be wrong tho.”

    Jacare is a bit over 185, and fights at 185 in MMA.

  33. The Gaijin says:

    1.) Thanks for clearing that up Luke and Breen. I still believe my point somewhat stands, in that what does it really prove that Couture was able to go to a 0-0 draw with a guy he outweighs by around 40lbs?? Granted Jacare is a wicked awesome grappler, but Couture is an Olympic level wrestler with a huge size advantage. Isn’t that like Tito Ortiz being happy he beat Genki Sudo (to a lesser degree obviously).

    2.) As much as it kills me to do so, I gotta agree with 45. I was thinking the exact same thing – why the F don’t they find some competition for KID. His last tough opponent was Sudo like 18 months ago, start cranking up the level of competition boys. The guys a legit top 3 FW/LW and yet they don’t even bother to give him someone challenging…this looks like a win for sure.

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