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Sunday news review: Half-full or half-empty?
By Zach Arnold | September 16, 2007
Dayton Morinaga of The Honolulu Advertiser reported that the crowd size for the Elite XC show in Hawaii on Saturday was around 5,000 at Blaisdell Arena, or around half-full.
The mystery MMA show that took place at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Saturday night had a shooting incident take place in the building. More details here. Before the show took place, Scott LeDoux commented on MMA regulation in Minnesota. Roger Huerta was in attendance at the Minneapolis show on Saturday and announced that he would be fighting at the UFC’s 12/29 Las Vegas event.
Tito Ortiz and UFC — no divorce proceedings in the near future.
The parent company for Art of War has secured $1 million USD in financing.
Don King talks to the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“None whatsoever,” he said. “From a state of barbarism, this is why the Marquis of Queensberry brought in boxing’s rules and regulations. Boxing is in one of the best states it could ever be in, except it doesn’t have heroes.”
One can question how boxing could be so advantageously placed without fighters of appeal.
“Boxing is truly a democracy now,” King said. “Anybody can. Only in America.”
Ray Mercer resurfaces.
Onto today’s headlines.
- The Greeley Tribune (Colorado): West Spartan graduate “Monster” Shane Carwin takes to ring and wins in 49 seconds
- The Saipan Tribune: Tetsuji Kato takes on undefeated champion Gilbert Melendez at Playboy Mansion
- The Independent (UK): MMA – He sold his sole against Tyson, now Julius Francis gets his kicks Cage Raging
- Radio (Eddie Goldman): Discussion on Mark Cuban’s new HDNet Fights promotion
- The Oklahoman: MMA gives wrestlers another career option
- Sam Caplan: Thoughts on Elite XC Hawaii card
- The Belfast Telegraph (UK): Hotel hosts MMA fighting show (an update on Belfast’s attempt to shut down an MMA tournament event)
Topics: Boxing, HDNet, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I don’t agree with everything Sam Caplan says in his article, but one thing he does say is true. That a lot of the fighters on tonights card basically have no other challengers. Who is Shields going to fight? Or Diaz? Or Lawler?
And as much as the people complain about the UFC putting the “UFC Brand” over the fighters… I have yet to see any other company make more stars then the UFC. The UFC makes stars all the time. EliteXC has just created a bunch of squash matches that have no significance on the landscape of MMA.
For those that are interested, apparently there was a bunch of blood towards the top of the lower deck where the shooting took place, and some people saw a guy sliding/falling down the stairs in the arena, either the shooter or the victim.
Now the great thing is I had no idea there was a gunshot right away, I heard the bang/pop but thought it was someone stomping in the cage in frustration of a reversed decision. If course I then later look over and there are cops everywhere with guns pulled on a guy. That was something else.
MMA in Minnesota – we take it serious.
Elite XC has has barely had 5 events, lets not compare such things as ‘star-making’ until a significant amount of time has passed. 45, we know you love the UFC, but please give the fighters some credit for their own performances.
“Who is Shields going to fight? Or Diaz? Or Lawler?”
– One would think they have given thought to booking Shields vs. Diaz down the line. As for Lawler, who knows. I know I was drawing blanks on who they would book against Ninja, but they sorted that out. They could always hold off and wait for Shamrock, or they might sign someone. Baroni would be great of course, but no luck there. Crowning a champion before establishing a division is risky business. Lawler’s first defense probably won’t be until 2008 anyway.
Good article by Caplan. I took note of Goldberg too. He’s had been getting gradually better during the year, but this was an absolute vast improvement. As for Mauro’s comment, I laughed, but it was not something you want to hear from the play-by-play announcer on a serious sports show. I know the words probably just slipped out of his mouth, but it was still way too reminiscent of Jerry Lawler and WWE Diva matches.
Go-Go dancers and silly prizes have to go. With everyone trying to pick up all the little special things from PRIDE, how come no one sees the light and do their own version of the PRIDE GIRLS? Classy, beautiful, simple and to the point. EXC are awful at this, even worse than Bodog.
JTHue: Shields vs Diaz ain’t gonna happen, they’re both Cesar Gracie boys. It’ll be interesting to see who they bring in or try to build up for these guys. Maybe there’s some kinda K1-EliteXC relationship that goes beyond the Dynamite show that will let EliteXC use some of their fighters.
Sure, maybe Goldberg improved slightly, but the bottom line is that he should not be there in the first place. He is not a fighter, an expert, or a play by play commentator. He adds nothing to the broadcast and only takes away from what could be if a an actual experienced fighter could add their expertise.
Fightlinker beat me to it. Shields & Diaz will likely never fight.
As for K-1 & EliteXC…. I doubt there was much of a relationship after the LA Coliseum show….
EliteXC was entertaining, but nothing compared to UFC at this time. They have a limited number of fighters and thus a limited amount of match-ups. Goldberg takes away from the broadcast; he just blurts stuff out that is ridiculous..they need a fighter in that spot. WEC uses Mir to excellent results.