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Sunday news review (1/20/08)

By Zach Arnold | January 20, 2008

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Yeo Jong-Hoon reports that Choi Hong-Man made his national TV debut as a singer in South Korea. His first single is “Beast and Beauty,” which you can see here.

Oscar De La Hoya will have a retirement tour in 2008. Check out more stories on this topic on the boxing page.

Total MMA’s Iain Liddle was on Ringside Live to recap the UFC 80 event.

Brandt DeLorenzo of MMA Opinion has the following help-wanted ad:

I am offering two paid writing spots for at least two months of MMA writing. Writers must be able to cover both domestic and international MMA topics. I am expecting writers to be able to draw readers and comments on their articles while providing some interesting viewpoints. Writers will also be asked to publicize their newest works on public forums or mailing lists to help bring more readers to the site. Writers are paid with the advertising revenue so any assistance with gaining more advertisers on the site will be rewarded with more paid work!

The contact page is here.

Headlines

  1. Bloody Elbow: Flurry of announced MMA match-ups for 2008
  2. MMA Predictions: Dean Lister video interview
  3. MMA Mania: UFC Fight Night 13 set for Broomfield, Colorado
  4. Fightlinker: Sean Sherk continues to be a total douche
  5. Kevin Iole: UFC 80 notes
  6. Kevin Iole: B.J. Penn not taking new role lightly
  7. Steve Sievert: B.J. Penn claims elusive lightweight title at UFC 80
  8. MMA HQ: UFC 80: Rapid Fire recap
  9. MMA Opinion: I’m calling Dana White’s bluff, again
  10. AOL Fanhouse: With undercards, UFC beats boxing
  11. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Reactions to UFC 80 event
  12. Fox Sports: Bob Sapp wants a shot at Fedor, too (sounds like a Kazuyoshi Ishii idea)
  13. The Houston Chronicle: UFC signs major sponsorship deal with Harley Davidson
  14. The New York Daily News: Don King says blame MSG for setting out-of-this-ring prices
  15. The Las Vegas Sun: Drugs and claims about drinking split UFC fighters
  16. The Monterey County Herald (CA): Carmel’s Chris Cope set for combat as MMA fighter

Topics: Boxing, Japan, Media, MMA, South Korea, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 68 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

68 Responses to “Sunday news review (1/20/08)”

  1. D.Capitated says:

    Arena League football’s average salary is $85,000, which is actually more than most undercard fighters make in a year, as an FYI.

  2. Dave2 says:

    Of course I don’t really think that any UFC fighter who trains part-time is a bum. But that is the impression that the mainstream gets. Hence the negative press Zuffa has got about their payscale. Are they going to take a “major league” seriously when a good chunk of the roster consists of plumbers, carpenters, construction workers, etc. who do MMA on the side?

    Ivan Trembow, a well-respected MMA writer, has said it before that the low pay does make the UFC look “bush league” to the mainstream. But I suppose that you guys think that he’s “anti-UFC” and thus his nor my opinion on this issue matters right?

  3. cyphron says:

    I thought the thread was about Arlovski and how the UFC is screwing him by not paying him what he wants.

    But I give up. You’re right about everything, Dave2. Dana White has always spoke the truth and has never lied about anything, including the guarantee of an HBO deal. He’s never boastful or pompous. The UFC does have all the best fighters in the world so they be paying everyone 100k to show and 100k to win. The UFC, after all is the 5th national sport in America are not really a fringe sport with a limited audience. The UFC is making money hands over fist and are making a killing in Europe as well. As Dana White said, MMA is the #1 sport in the world.

  4. Dave2 says:

    I brought up pay because the Arlovski situation is about pay. Mike says that Zuffa can’t afford this, this and that. I counter that by showing how the NHL’s minimum wage is way more than 10x bigger than the UFC despite the NHL only being 10x bigger than the UFC revenue wise (maybe even smaller because interest in the NHL died down with the lockout). So it is not true that Zuffa is strapped for cash. They made an estimated pre-tax profit of 20% in 2007, which is very impressive for a corporation. That’s more than $40 million. In 2006, the figures were 40% pre-tax profit, which came out to $76 million. And yet they have a case to bitch about paying Arlovski and being overall cheap skates in general?

  5. D. Capitated says:

    Cyphon, can you explain exactly what your position is here? Like, do you just argue for the sake of arguing, or is there a point to it? Because it seems like you get as far as understanding that the UFC is not nor should be expected to be altruistic and that they have a right to make a profit before short circuiting and having issues with people’s criticisms of their business practice and its effect on the sport.

  6. Unfortunately, the heavyweight division still hasn’t recovered from Mir/Christison at UFC 61, the worst fight in the history of the universe. Those two pigs slobbering on one another for 15 minutes. The closest I’ve ever came to puking because of a fight.

  7. cyphron says:

    D. Capitated,

    I thought it was obvious. There’s no point in arguing my point. You and others will just twist the topic to something else and start arguing from there. This thread will go on ad nauseum. Just go back to the beginning of this thread and see where we started and where we’re headed now.

    You just don’t want to leave it alone, do you? The one with the last word isn’t always the “winner.”

  8. The Gaijin says:

    “There’s no point in arguing my point. You and others will just twist the topic to something else and start arguing from there.”

    Kind of like how you try to discredit me for saying there was no substance to 45’s claim that Arlovski turned down 2 fights he was offered (vs. being “iced out”) by providing a link to an article claiming that it was *rumoured* Arlovski was offered two fights where the other fighter just happened to pull out?

    All of this going back to the original point of how retarded it is for the UFC to try to depress Arlovski’s value as a free agent by icing him out for the last 11 months of his contract in order to low-ball him with an offer and/or ruin his negotiating leverage with other companies. All the while their HW picture is looking more and more anemic given the results (re: fights & hardball negotiating tactics) over the past year and they’ve got a former champ & valuable asset sitting by picking his nose.

    Did I miss anything?

  9. D.Capitated says:

    There’s no point in arguing my point. You and others will just twist the topic to something else and start arguing from there. This thread will go on ad nauseum. Just go back to the beginning of this thread and see where we started and where we’re headed now.

    Which would be great if you would establish what your point is and what the purpose is of your opinion. Going, “WELL GUYS, WHY SHOULD YOU EXPECT THE UFC TO DO ANYTHING YOU WANT THEY ARE A PART OF A CORPORATION THEY CAN MAKE MONEY TOO,” isn’t a point. It doesn’t invalidate any criticism levied to it in terms of its business practice. It establishes what everyone already knows and simply thumbs its nose at the concept of MMA becoming, you know, a respectable sport instead of fringe spectacle. If your point is to show that the UFC isn’t as big as the NBA, well, wow man, what a revelation. You mean a single promotional entity in the sport of MMA isn’t as big as the established major league of a team sport? That’s just mind blowing.

  10. cyphron says:

    Kind of like how you try to discredit me for saying there was no substance to 45’s claim that Arlovski turned down 2 fights he was offered (vs. being “iced out”) by providing a link to an article claiming that it was *rumoured* Arlovski was offered two fights where the other fighter just happened to pull out?

    You called him a liar. I showed a link where he may have got that information from. The rumor shows that Arlovski was not “iced” by the UFC. Nowhere did I try to discredit you. But hey, let’s twist it around so you’re the victim.

  11. 45 Huddle says:

    I’m use to the insults by now. It won’t change my views. And if you notice, a lot of times people won’t actually go after my points… They go after me personally. Anyways, to more important things…. Like MMA….

    Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of Heavyweight Boxing or MMA. It is too slow and typically boring…..

    Now, it is fiscally irresponsible for any MMA organization at this time to go out and get all of the top Heavyweights. Most of the Heavyweights have priced themselves out of being affordable, and it has hurt the sport as a whole. This is just not a UFC issue. This is a MMA issue. One organization with all the Top Heavyweights would be bankrupt in a few years.

    First, give me an organization other then the UFC that constantly puts together top rated Heavyweights against each other. There really are none. We might get a Werdum/Aleksander fight here. Or a Rothwell/Ricco fight there. But no organization can afford to constantly put on Heavyweight fights that cost $100,000 to $500,000+ per fight. Not to mention that Heavyweight fights, even amongst top tier guys, are typically slow and boring.

    Even K-1 has stayed away from legit Heavyweights for the most part. They couldn’t afford Fedor. They have concentrated, just like the UFC, on the fights that make the fans come to watch the events… And those are Light Heavyweights and below.

    Not to mention that MMA Heavyweights have no appeal like Boxing Heavyweights. In boxing, this is the big division that is always under a microscope. Not so in MMA. The Light Heavyweight & Welterweight Divisions have always been the money makers. They have always been the big draws. The stigma of having the best big man has never really been a huge thing in MMA.

    So before people bash the UFC for screwing up the division… Keep in mind that K-1 has also stayed away from it. So has any smaller MMA organization in Japan. Strikeforce has Alistair Overeem as their champion, and we all know he isn’t close to being the best in the world. EliteXC has Antonio Silva and that is it. And he might have a glass jaw. The IFL lost Rothwell, and their champion isn’t a big contender right now. So really, no MMA organization is able to promote the Heavyweight division.

    This fact alone really should make all fans take a step back and realize that when a guy like Andrei Arlovski wants a huge pay increase…. That even if he gets it with another organization… It might mean 1 big fight, and then a bunch of no namers for years to come…. So much for the UFC messing things up… More like the Heavyweights themselves messing things up.

  12. D. Capitated says:

    K-1 has stayed away from it because all the naturalized draws they have aren’t heavyweights. That’s a bad comparison, man. Besides, the ultimate focus of K-1 is still heavyweight kickboxing.

  13. Dave2 says:

    “Not to mention that MMA Heavyweights have no appeal like Boxing Heavyweights. In boxing, this is the big division that is always under a microscope. Not so in MMA. The Light Heavyweight & Welterweight Divisions have always been the money makers. They have always been the big draws. The stigma of having the best big man has never really been a huge thing in MMA.”

    Dude the heavyweight division in boxing isn’t pushed like it was in the past. In boxing, they’re marketing the hell out of all these smaller fighters now. The four biggest PPV drawing fights in 2007 consisted of guys in relatively small weight classes. De La Hoya/Mayweather 154, Mayweather/Hatton 147, Cotto/Mosley 147 and Manny Pacman’s fight at 130. They have world heavyweight title fights on regular HBO.

  14. 45 Huddle says:

    Yes, but there is still a mystique concerning Heavyweight Boxing. There has never been a mystique with the general crowd in MMA. That is the point.

  15. The Gaijin says:

    “EliteXC has Antonio Silva and that is it. And he might have a glass jaw.”

    He got clipped with bomb of a punch by a 300lb super heavyweight with history of having extremely heavy hands. He immediately pulled guard and was defending – it was an absolutely HORRENDOUS stoppage. To say that’s evidence of a glass chin is pretty silly.

    Granted his resume is not the strongest out there, but just from seeing how he puts it all together and moves so amazingly for a big man, I honestly don’t think there’s a HW currently in the UFC (other than maybe Sylvia with his reach and MO) that could take him now that he’s dropped down to the 265lb limit.

  16. The Gaijin says:

    “You called him a liar. I showed a link where he may have got that information from. The rumor shows that Arlovski was not “iced” by the UFC.”

    Still searching that article where it backed up his claims of “hearing from sources that Arlovski was offered 2 fights and turned them down”.

    The situation rumoured to have happened in the article and the one he claims to be circulating are pretty damned far apart.
    *One is him turning down fights on his own volition, which would be directly opposite of what he and pretty much every other credible source have been saying and paints him as the sole person at fault for sitting on the sidelines for the last 11 months of his contract.

    *The other is a preliminary offer of a fight that could just as easily be “ass covering” on the part of the UFC to say that they offered fights to him and didn’t merely sit him on the sidelines.

    Pretty big difference in my opinion.

  17. D. Capitated says:

    Granted his resume is not the strongest out there, but just from seeing how he puts it all together and moves so amazingly for a big man, I honestly don’t think there’s a HW currently in the UFC (other than maybe Sylvia with his reach and MO) that could take him now that he’s dropped down to the 265lb limit.

    If you’re gonna be stuck with one heavyweight and the few independents out there, well, Antonio Silva vs. Mighty Mo/Sergei Kharitonov/Josh Barnett/Alistar Overeem/Ben Rothwell/Jeff Monson/Pedro Rizzo/Alexander Emelianenko/that Fedor guy aren’t necessarily bad matchups for fans or hardly unwinable for Antonio.

  18. The Gaijin says:

    As for Bob Sapp calling out Fedor b/c he “struggled” against Choi Man:

    (a) Even Sapp was dwarfed by HCM;

    (b) Did he suddenly grow a set and decide he’s not deathly afraid of taking a punch? If not, he’d be lucky to last as long as Zuluzinho in the ring with Fedor.

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