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Monday medical notes: Several fighters at UFC 74 injured

By Zach Arnold | August 27, 2007

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Quote of the day on ESPN TV: Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon stating that he wants to see Randy Couture take on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, nothing more or nothing less. In other words, Wilbon doesn’t want to see Randy fight anyone else. In a strange and funny way, he may have stumbled onto an interesting concept. Rather than have Couture fight on 12/29, book him versus the winner of Jackson/Henderson in a non-title fight for the Super Bowl weekend show. It would annoy the hardcores due to the title ramifications (making it non-title), but it would draw a monster box-office. Everyone else is trying to figure out who Randy Couture’s next opponent will be.

If anyone is an ESPN Radio insider, please send me an e-mail (as I have a question about accessing This is ESPN Radio segments). Thanks.

Nobuhiko Takada is the king of flatulence.

The participants announced for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Here are the NSAC medical suspensions coming out of the UFC 74 event. Gonzaga with the broken nose, Crane with the broken right orbital bone, and Hardonk with a right shoulder injury. Too bad they forgot about Randy Couture’s broken arm and Joe Stevenson’s broken jaw. What is happening over at the NSAC? Here are the UFC 74 fighter salaries.

Oh yeah, there were other events taking place besides UFC this past weekend. Ken Shamrock’s son, Ryan, won in his MMA debut. Plus, Krazy Horse Bennett lost at the ShoXC event in Vicksburg, MS. Also, Matt Serra took a trip to Baltimore.

An interview with Sokoudjou. Plus, knocking down the MMA/dogfighting comparisons.

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

24 Responses to “Monday medical notes: Several fighters at UFC 74 injured”

  1. UFC Fanboy (45 Huddle) says:

    Joachim Hansen was offered a contract by Zuffa which he turned down. Here are the terms according to Dave Meltzer:

    1st Fight: $35,000 to show, $35,000 to win.
    3rd Fight: $45,000 to show, $45,000 to win.

    I wonder why he turned it down. That sounds like good money for a guy with absolutely no drawing power. Zuffa also made a “good” offer to Hatsu Hioki a while back, and he turned that down in order to compete in Shooto (which he then lost his next fight). So it’s not like the UFC isn’t putting good money in the faces of some of these high level fighters…..

  2. Zurich says:

    Nog vs. Arlovski, CroCop (if he beats Kongo in spectacular fashion) vs. Randy! Seriously, I think Nog vs. Randy would be a very boring, ploding fight. That, and it would be hard to hype up Nog to the casual fan when his first showing was absolutely terrible.

  3. Zach Arnold says:

    The way PRIDE paid and the tax structure are probably the two major influences. It speaks volumes about the people involved in Japan as far as how business was done, but that’s another story for another time.

    You fight in America, you pay taxes to Uncle Sam and then you have to pay taxes back home. So, it’s double taxation fighting in America.

    Second, I’ve talked to people who used to work with PRIDE and they claimed that they had to go to a hotel after a show to get their fight money, and the money was cold cash in an envelope. Somehow, I don’t see UFC doing things under-the-table like our friends apparently at PRIDE did.

  4. UFC Fanboy (45 Huddle) says:

    Arlovski isn’t fighting again until he signs a long term deal with the UFC. He is on his last fight and is demanding a big pay increase. I really don’t think he is worth it, as he is already making around $140,000 a win….

    Who knows… Perhaps Fedor will want to fight Couture so badly that he gives up his Sambo and Red Devil fighter requests…. He can’t have both….

  5. Zach Arnold says:

    Rarely do I make assurances or guarantees, but I can assure you that Fedor is not going to give up on the RD provision at all. There will be someone who pays him what he wants. I give the chances of him being in UFC at 5-10% maximum.

  6. […] out that Couture had a broken arm during the fight, as well. Bloody Elbow has some of the details. Fight Opinion also has a link to the list of injury suspensions . . […]

  7. UFC Fanboy (45 Huddle) says:

    At the 75.ufc.com website, once you go to the main page, there is this cool link that highlights the UFC Light Heavyweight Division. They have 16 fighters in a circle that you can toggle through. It is pretty cool just looking at that page to see all of the top talent they have…. Pretty cool….

  8. UFCDaily.com says:

    Stevenson is suspended until September 25th. I am still surprised that Couture wasn’t on the list though.

  9. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Zach, what you stated about foreign fighters having to pay income taxes here AND at home is not correct.

    Under the Convention between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Japan for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income (November 2003), which replaced the 1971 convention, citizens and residents of the US and Japan are permitted to offset taxes paid to one jurisdiction against those due in another jurisdiction (aka the Foreign Tax Credit). This is the standard operating procedure internationally, BTW.

    Ultimately you end up paying the higher of the two tax rates. Zuffa is organized enough with their legal guys that they might not even require the standard 30% withholding.

    The thing that isn’t accounted for in that though is the event/athlete tax (aka the Michael Jordan tax) that many larger cities in the US apply. I don’t know if that would typically apply to UFC fighters though, since typically it’s more aimed at visiting sports teams.

  10. Hey Jeremy … can you do my taxes?

  11. klown says:

    Just saw Matt Serra. Seems like a decent guy. I hope he crushes Matt Hughes.

    Arlovski vs Nogueira makes sense, both are coming off unconvincing decision victories and need a solid win to get into contention.

    I think Couture will get a vacation while the outcomes of Sylvia vs Vera and CroCop vs Kongo awaited.

    Any one of the 6 guys above who scores a decisive win will likely be the next challenger.

  12. Ivan Trembow says:

    Response to “UFC Fanboy” regarding the supposed contract offer to Joachim Hansen— That is just what Dave Meltzer was told by Zuffa’s management. If past history is any indication, that certainly doesn’t mean it’s true. Probably just another example of trying to negotiate through the media by getting the word out that “Hansen turned down a great offer” (not unlike the shenanigans with Wanderlei Silva a while back or numerous other examples).

  13. UFCDaily.com says:

    Yeah I don’t know about the validity of the Hansen report. I went to Wrestling Observer to try to find the news directly but theres was no news on the site at all.

    Certain countries require you to pay them at least part of any income you make (specifically European countries with universal health care, etc.) but I don’t know all of the specifics like Jeremy, just what foreign students have told me.

  14. Jordan Breen says:

    I was told by people close to Hansen that he hadn’t received any major offers. I don’t know any specifics on what he was offered (other than that they were obviously not meeting their demands, and that may even include a Zuffa offer), but just that they were still waiting for offers and if they didn’t get the offer they wanted, Hansen would resume amateur boxing in September.

  15. Zach Arnold says:

    Jeremy – I know all too well about the ‘jock tax.’ As far as guys like Hansen go, are they not subject to double taxation since they are not living in America? My point wasn’t about American fighters fighting overseas…

  16. Zack says:

    “Yeah I don’t know about the validity of the Hansen report. I went to Wrestling Observer to try to find the news directly but theres was no news on the site at all.”

    It was in the newsletter, not on the website.

  17. Ivan Trembow says:

    “Yeah I don’t know about the validity of the Hansen report. I went to Wrestling Observer to try to find the news directly but theres was no news on the site at all.”

    It was in their newsletter. I wasn’t questioning the fact that it was reported in their newsletter. I was questioning whether it was an accurate news item or whether the fact that it came from UFC management means that it was just another attempt by Zuffa to negotiate through the media by putting the word out that “Fighter X turned down a great offer.” Based on what I know about the situation and based on what Jordan Breen has said here, I am more convinced than ever that it was the latter in this case.

  18. JThue says:

    RE: Hansen’s pay. Seems a bit high, but at the same time it’s what you would expect them to offer him when you see what Aurelio is getting.

  19. Body_Shots says:

    If they’re trying to “negotiate through the media”, why wouldn’t they go through the many larger outlets they have access to? I don’t buy it.

  20. Tomer Chen says:

    If they’re trying to “negotiate through the media”, why wouldn’t they go through the many larger outlets they have access to? I don’t buy it.

    How many people in the mainstream know who Hansen is? If your target is a hardcore fan-type pick, you’re not going to do such negotiations with the major sites since their casual fans won’t give a damn.

  21. Body_Shots says:

    How many people in the mainstream know who Hansen is? If your target is a hardcore fan-type pick, you’re not going to do such negotiations with the major sites since their casual fans won’t give a damn.

    Even if that’s the case, there are a lot better choices than a newsletter (not even his site) from Meltzer. You’d have to depend on someone being a subscriber, for that someone to be a MMA fan, for that someone to have username at popular MMA site and for them disclose what they read. Is that a channel you’d use when you’re trying to “negotiate through the media”? They can easily release a statement through the Fight Network or MMAWeekly.

  22. Actually, MMA news is generally viral … x article gets written and then 50 other websites pick the news up and roll with it.

  23. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Fightlinker.com, I could but my firm pimps me out at about $150 per hour, so it may not be worth the investment required.

    ===

    Zach, the agreement works both ways. If you’re from Japan, and you work in the US, then you will pay US taxes on your income earned in the US on your US tax return, then you’ll show that income on your Japanese tax return, but you’ll have a 100% credit against your taxes due to Japan on that foreign earned income in the amount of the taxes that you paid to the US.

    So if your US tax rate was 20%, and your Japanese tax rate was 25%, and you earned 50/50 and won your fight, then your US taxes would be $20,000, and your Japanese tax would be $25,000, but you would end up paying $20,000 to the US and $5,000 to Japan because the tax you paid to the US would be a credit against the tax that you owed to Japan.

    In reverse, if you were a US fighter working in Japan, and everything else was true, you would pay $25,000 to Japan and owe nothing to the US.

    ===

    Of course, it’s always possible that Pride was paying fighters amounts that accounted for the tax due. So if they wanted to pay the fighter $100k, then maybe they would pay them $125k so that in the end they ended up with $100k in their pocket instead of $80k. Heck, maybe UFC does that, maybe it’s part of how they “take care of their fighters.”

  24. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    UFCDaily.com,

    Correct, but those are basically payroll taxes not income taxes.

    In the United States, non-resident aliens are not subject to payroll taxes. If they are withheld by your employer you can get them back from the federal government by filing form 843.

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