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« | Home | »

Friday headlines: Mainstream blowback against MMA

By Zach Arnold | September 21, 2007

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Vancouver has officially banned MMA. More details in The Vancouver Province and CBC News.

Rex Richards is fighting in the semi-main event slot of the next Art of War show in Tunica, MS. If you want to sponsor him, contact Brad Barnes at [email protected].

A mundane article on MMA in Reason Magazine, featuring this doozy of a paragraph:

As the UFC’s profile grew, it popularized a genre of combat whose incarnations and spin-offs included “cage fighting,” “extreme fighting,” “submission grappling,” and “vale tudo.” (That’s Portuguese for “anything goes.”)

Contact the author at [email protected].

Coverage of the IFL event from Florida: Quad Cities Online | South Florida Sun-Sentinel (claiming 3,470 fans at the show) | Fox Sports | The NHB Show

The latest Fox News Fight Game, previewing the upcoming UFC 76 event.

Chuck Liddell and his women.

Kurt Angle is talking to the IFL.

Vanessa Porto is issuing a public challenge to Gina Carano.

An update on Din Thomas and his knee.

The Canadian Press is reporting that UFC is attempting to book a show in Montreal this January.

Matt Hughes is appearing in Cape Girardeau this weekend.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. The LA Times: Two guys on the rebound
  2. The Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA): Shogun set to rock UFC’s world
  3. Yahoo Sports (Dave Doyle): Keith Jardine not upset by lack of respect
  4. The Press Enterprise (CA): Plenty to fight for – it’s not a title bout, but Liddell and Jardine are still trying to get back to the top
  5. The Orange County Register (CA): Shogun set for UFC debut
  6. The Hockey News: MMA fighter Jeremy Yablonski among Ottawa Senators’ cuts
  7. The Boston Herald: Wilmington puts up fight with World Championship Fighting
  8. The Republican (MA): Jiu-jitsu champion Paulo Filho to visit Marco Alvan’s Team Link schools
  9. The Salt Lake Tribune: UCE says finale will pack a punch at the E Center
  10. UFC Mania: UFC Fight Night 11 paydays and salaries
  11. UFC HP: Diego Sanchez a hungry lion again
  12. Sam Caplan: Changes coming for Matt Lindland’s Portland Wolfpack IFL team
  13. MMA HQ: UFC 76 – Liddell vs. Jardine preview
  14. MMA Analyst: Elite XC’s potential match-ups
  15. The Delmarva Daily Times (MD): Ocean City to host martial arts event at Roland E. Powell Convention Center

Topics: Canada, IFL, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

23 Responses to “Friday headlines: Mainstream blowback against MMA”

  1. Jeff Comstock says:

    That really crushes plans being made by the Hardcore Fighting Championship guys. I read that Lazenby spoke in defense of the sport at some meeting in support of mma. Hope this gets resolved at the provincial level as city politics has no business in this debate.

  2. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Well, the paragraph isn’t wrong. UFC did raise the awareness of those other forms for a lot of people.

    It does scan badly though, since it gives the impression that UFC preceded the other forms listed. Editing is necessary.

  3. Exactly, where do HCF go from here? I thought that their next show was going to be in Vancouver?

  4. Zach Arnold says:

    Hywel – did you get the e-mail from me several days ago?

  5. Don says:

    The only thing technically wrong with the quoted sentence is implying that cage fighting, extreme fighting, and vale tudo are mutually exclusive. Jeremy is right about editing

  6. PizzaChef says:

    More on UFC in Montreal.

    It’s too bad they didn’t post a video clip of their interview with Dana White. My Canadian contact called me up and put the phone to his TV speaker.

    Things I remember: Dana White saying “I would be a total moron to not be booking shows in Canada.” He highly praises the Canadian MMA fanbase, saying that at their shows at least a quarter of the fans are from Canada, stuff like that. Also he mentions a possible plan for the first Canadian UFC card NOT to have GSP on it, then the second one does. Some stuff like that.

  7. UFC in montreal without GSP is like me and sex without viagra. It just doesn’t make me hard.

  8. klown says:

    Fightlinker, I’m with you. The moment they announce UFC in Montreal, I’m buying my tickets (I live in Toronto) but I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t GSP. I want to see some live Matt-kicking.

  9. Well, we gotta hook up for pre and post beers. I’m in Montreal and planning on causing as much of a ruckus as possible 😉

  10. Ultimo Santa says:

    Vancouver banning MMA is anti-Canadian.

    We allow gay marriage, give women the right to choose, have boobies and 4-letter words on TV, allow freedom of speech, let the media tell the truth, and best of all: full contact, fully nude lap dancing…but when it comes to MMA, all of a sudden we pussy out.

    Usually Canada is ahead of the curve on shit like this, so this is very disappointing.

  11. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    If there’s a show in Montreal, I’ll be doing my best to make that trip.

    You can do the show without GSP. There are a lot of Canadian fighters who are now or have been in UFC. A USA vs Canada card would be appropriate and certainly possible.

    Not having GSP at the top is kind of annoying, but it’s not a catastrophe.

  12. Thomas says:

    Disappointed in my northern neighbors.

    U.S. is the house that has the really strict parents that give you curfew and make you live in a plastic bubble so you wont hurt yourself. Canada is your cool friends house with the parents that are never there and you go and do whatever you want.

  13. Don’t forget that Vancouver City spearheaded efforts for free needles and methadone. I’m not against that program, mind you. But to have that but ban MMA is kinda laaaaaaaaaame.

  14. The Gaijin says:

    I’m totally in if there’s a UFC in Montreal!! It’s only a 5 hr trip from TO, well worth it. They HAVE to put GSP on this card – it would be silly not too!

    As for Van City – that makes absolutely no sense! BC has long been considered the most progressive/hippy province in Canada. They freakin legalized dope and have needle programs, but MMA is too much for them?!??
    Weird

  15. Diamond Dave Williams says:

    Zach, has there been any published salaries from EliteXC?

  16. The Gaijin says:

    LOL @ MMA Analyst suggesting Diaz vs. KID…that size difference would be enormous!

    IIRC Diaz has fought at 185 and KID is a tiny 155’er, I think he’s actually a 145 fighter in reality. I’d love to see the old school david vs. goliath styles tho – KID packs a wallop.

  17. LR says:

    MMA Analyst here…

    My piece on the potential matchups was more of a conversation starter. I haven’t heard a lot of potential names thrown around for Nick Diaz that aren’t UFC affiliated. Yamamoto is a long shot, but it’s interesting. I mean, Nick can get down to 155, and with the huge rush to do catchweight fights, who knows. I doubt it’ll ever happen, but I threw it in there for the hell of it. It’d be a pretty crazy fight.

  18. The Gaijin says:

    Hey like I said – I’m in! I just don’t know if K-1 would let their hometown “hero” fight someone that much larger than him.

    Nice piece btw.

  19. 45 Huddle says:

    I might hit up Montreal as well. It’s like a 6.5 hour drive, but totally worth it. I went to a UCC Card back in the day in Montreal, and the crowd was unreal.

    That win by Ben Rothwell over Ricco Rodriguez was a big win. It doesn’t make him Top 10, but it starts his rise up to see if he is the real deal or not.

    A few brief tidbits from the weigh-ins (I missed the first 3 fights):

    1. Clementi vs. Johnson – Being fought at a catch weight of 177 lbs. As I said with EliteXC, I hate to see Catch Weight Fights, but I can at least see the reasoning for this one because both are on less then a weeks notice. Both looked to be in solid shape.

    2. Jon Fitch weighed in at 172 lbs, so he had an hour to lose a pound. He looked very skinny. Not sure if he had to cut too much weight or just mis-timed it.

    3. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua got a big applause from the audience. Bigger then I thought. He also looked very comfortable. Not like Mirko who looked out of place for UFC 67.

    4. Keith Jardine didn’t get much of a response.

  20. 45 Huddle says:

    I almost forgot about Kazuhiro Nakamura….

    He came to the weigh-ins with a surgical mask on. He never removed it. He had these oversize boxers that he weigh-ed in with. He had them jacked up to his nipples. Then he was striking funny poses. The crowd was laughing and seemed into it. Not too bad for a guy who really is unknown to most of those fans.

  21. Zack says:

    Shit…I forgot to watch the weigh in.

  22. Rollo the Cat says:

    So little IFL talk among the fans on the internet. Oh well.

    (Watch out for Taurosivicius who juts beat bartimus last night. The guy is still learning and is going to be a top contender in 18-24 months).

  23. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Gaijin, I’m in Toronto this weekend.

    Is there a good place to watch the fights?

    So far I was just planning to go over to Boston Pizza and watch it.

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