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Satoshi Ishii reportedly to fight on X-1 card in Hawaii
By Zach Arnold | March 19, 2010
Various Japanese wire reports (we’ll link to this one here) note that he will fight on the X-1 “Champions II” event in an “exhibition match.” The event takes place at Blaisdell Center in Honolulu on Saturday.
The Associated Press…
Dana White is doing a fine job as a promoter here, but reading this press release (I mean article) by the Associated Press on the upcoming Versus show is just unbelievable. The Denver Post didn’t fare much better, either.
Other news and notes
Unbelievable — Strikeforce put Jake Shields in the main event slot of their April 17th event in Nashville knowing that he will become a free agent after the fight. No wonder this will become the main media storyline going into the fight and after the fight. With a rival like this, no wonder the UFC won’t bother running a live show in Nashville and will instead counter-program on Spike TV.
An update on where Tim Hague goes after recently getting cut by UFC.
Has the public cooled to the idea of seeing Rampage vs. Rashad Evans or will it be as in demand as it was during the airing of last season’s Ultimate Fighter?
The estimated PPV buy rate for Manny Pacquiao vs. Josh Clottey last weekend in Dallas as Cowboys Stadium — 650,000-700,000 PPV buys. Perhaps I am in the minority, but my initial reaction was — that many?
The Minnesota Star-Tribune has an article about MMA training mats and who makes them (along with how profitable it is).
MTV will reportedly launch a new MMA show based on a local New Mexico MMA radio show.
The Arizona state senate has a new amendment to state Senate bill #1076, which changes the name of the athletic commission to the Arizona State Boxing & MMA athletic commission. The new legislation (read the PDF file here) will also give the commission powers to enter into agreements with various Native American tribes to regulate MMA events on reservations/casinos.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Boxing is dead! The public will revolt! After Mayweather/Pacquiao there’s nothing! Uhhhhh…or not. I’m not shocked at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Miguel Cotto’s fight at Yankee Stadium pull off a bigger than usual number too.
Rampage is half of most of the 205lb weight classes best fights. I think the public will still buy. Its an interesting fight even if there are no titles on the line.
I’d like to imagine that the UFC will drive the bidding on Jake Shields way up…but I don’t expect much these days.
A lot of “cheap” entertainment is going through the roof right now. PPV buys are really high. Some movies are doing way beyond expectations at the box office. UFC 111 is going to do huge numbers as well.
Jake Shields needs to avoid getting KO’d. That’s it. Even if he loses a close decision, he can still have a good value on the open market. It would just take a few wins in the UFC to get him into a title shot instead of perhaps 1 fight and then straight to GSP.
The fact that Strikeforce had to put Shields in there as a main event speaks to how disorganized they are and how few options they really have for main events.
I think Dan Henderson wins this fight, but it isn’t a given. And how bad does it look to have a guy winning on the CBS main event and then showing up in the UFC for his next fight? You can’t get momentum as a promotion when that stuff happens.
The fact that Strikeforce had to put Shields in there as a main event speaks to how disorganized they are and how few options they really have for main events.
LOL, should they have moved him to the unaired prelim portion? I’m sure we wouldn’t have heard anything critical about that.
Great opportunity for Shields even though I don’t think he wins. A lot of mutants will be rooting for him out of hopes that it would hurt Strikeforce. Personally, I don’t care who wins, but it would be really cool to see Shields catapult into the middleweight stratosphere and start earning some serious cheddah.
Doesn’t have to be an unaired prelim. It shouldn’t be the main event. Look at what the UFC did with Huerta and Ortiz. They were featured fights but not the main events.
That’s exactly where Shields should be on a Strikeforce card with his current contract situation.
You don’t go promoting other organizations fighters. And that is what Strikeforce could be doing here.
Is a 3 hour show that cost $50 really “cheap entertainment”? Most people expected the PPV market to be decimated with the recession, actually. If a bad economy really benefited the UFC, then the Spike shows should be through the roof ratings wise.
Not if you watch it alone..
If you have people over and they bring beer/food that is a very cheap night compared to going out to dinner and a club. Or to a ballgame or a movie.
Yeah sorry, didn’t think about that as none of my friends like MMA beyond being semi-interested in Brock Lesnar so I am forced to pay for the entire shows. Oh well, at least I’ll always have a friend in Comcast.
It’s cheap compared to taking a vacation. People are doing much less of that and more local alternatives. Movies and PPV are still very cheap on the spectrum.
I’m in the same boat for friends who like MMA. Which is basically none. They couldn’t care less. I would have no problem filling a car of friends to a baseball game. No chance for getting them in the room for a MMA event.
45 and Mark:
You guys gotta some new friends man. I’ve watched pretty much the last years worth of events at houses and there is always at least 3 or 4 people there. If everyone chips in, and everyone brings something(food/beer) then things get drastically cheaper.
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma.cfm?go=news.detail&gid=225127
Erin Toughill is gone from Strikeforce. Something is up…
“I’m getting zero return for what I’m putting in” sounds like she wishes she was making more money. Too bad she’s not in a position to negotiate.
Toughill has a long, long history of burning bridges and creating conflict. This has gone on forever with her. I wish her well, but she is turmoil personified.
Well I’m sure she’ll be a solid addition to the UFC’s womens division! Oh wait…
Jake and his father/manager are sharks, or at least they’d like to think they are. They want to test his value on the free agent market, which is smart. But the fanboys like 45 shouldn’t get too whipped up over this. The likely scenario is that he hits the free agent market, UFC makes him a modest offer that doesn’t quite meet his expectations, and he ends up back in Strikeforce with a decent bump in pay. It isn’t the UFC’s policy to overpay for fighters just to mess with their competition. And Shields is probably aware that his value will only go up the longer his streak of dominance outside the UFC continues.
No way Sheilds gets anything but the most modest of offers from UFC. He’s the type of fighter Dana despises: the kind who gets boos for not scrapping enough and who runs the risk of being a permanent fixture at #1 contender status while being hated in the bad kind of way by fans (y’know, Tim Sylvia Heat.) And if he comes in to fight Anderson Silva or GSP in a Strikeforce vs UFC superfight it won’t be the least bit exciting to much of anyone but UFC fans happy to see the outsider get owned by their heroes. I think Dana would rather take the risk that he catch on as a star in Strikeforce (which won’t happen) then pay him big buck to be Unexciting Wrestler #941 in the UFC.
But people who believe Strikeforce should stick it to him until he re-signs are nuts. They’re not in the position of leverage on much of anything but the Women’s division right now. So they need to treat Shields as nicely as possible if they expect him to stay.
In your lulz for the day: Bavarian authorities put the final touches on the UFC’s not-well-planned-out expansion on Germany. After airing at 10PM (illegal for them), it gave Bavarian authorities the out to kill the programming. They better hope RTL is interested.
1) It’s funny, first Strikeforce is irrelevant to the global population. Now it’s dumb of them to promote Jake Shields for the UFC on the CBS show (that remember nobody is going to watch, right?) if he happens to take their offer. The Danaites change opinions more than regular people change their undies. Sorry they’re not holding him hostage for a year because he won’t re-sign early, guys.
2) I love how lots of boxing haters are calling the buyrate disappointing because Pacman has to get a million buys every time out. Wonder how they’ll feel if GSP and Mir don’t draw as well as expected?
3) Rampage-Evans is out of the public eye but that interest can quickly be renewed by having one or both of them appear on UFC programming to talk it up. The rumors Evans is going to have the real Mr. T in his corner are already good enough to make people care again.
4) Despite whomever Crisco Kid is having a giant head about a show that hasn’t even been picked up yet for whatever reason, anything involving Keith Jardine having a regular segment is doomed for failure. Sorry.
“Boxing is dead! The public will revolt! After Mayweather/Pacquiao there’s nothing! Uhhhhh…or not. I’m not shocked at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Miguel Cotto’s fight at Yankee Stadium pull off a bigger than usual number too.”
That fight’s on HBO now. Not PPV.
This was about what I expected from the fight. You have 1 of the 2 top draws in boxing fighting against a b level(by casual fan estimation). The only reason Mayweather got over a mill against Marquez was because Marquez is a legendary type fighter with a strong fanbase.
I think St. Pierre vs Hardy will be very similar, but I will be surprised if it is drastically more or less.
“The fact that Strikeforce had to put Shields in there as a main event speaks to how disorganized they are and how few options they really have for main events.”
No matter what the elitists say this is true. You have Fedor, Gilbert, Cyborg, and Diaz as other champs you could have put in there in the main event. You guys can argue it however you want, but there is no way this was Strikeforce’s 1st option for a main event. The fight should be better than Jake’s fight with Mayhem. I don’t see him beating Dan though. Can you guys think of a fight in Dan’s career when he lost to a “pure grappler”, as opposed to a striker with decent wrestling(I know big and little Nog both beat him with armbars but they are naturally bigger)….
Wish I could open the Toughill article. Damn work web blocker.
Of course, the PPV numbers are still coming in, but they’re now saying that the Clottey vs. Pacquiao show will have a number exceeding 700,000.
Small PS – I worked this event. That stadium is amazing. It really is. I always read how awesome it is and figured it wouldn’t be that big of a deal for me when I saw it in person, but when I walked in (at 3:45 in the afternoon — there from 3:45 till midnight!) I was overwhelmed.
Arum said y’day that 650k was the “lowest” it could be. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this tops a million. And good for them if it does. Manny took on an incredibly dangerous opponent that you could easily argue is #3 at 147lbs. If you really wanted to get into it Clottey has fought much tougher competition than Floyd recently.
I would have loved to see that fight in person. Lucky you, Fluyid. There’s nothing like the crowd for a big fight. I can’t even imagine seeing a fight with that kind of crowd.
I wish it were Floyd or Mosley or one of the Marquez or Barrera fights. That place would have been shaking.
It was a unique experience for sure. It was crazy to look around that behemoth and see nothing but filled seats. Insane. What a great crowd.
I also worked the Top Rank show in town the day before, and it was one of the best fight cards of any type that I’ve seen in years. Too bad that they didn’t have the main event (Hernan Marquez vs. Richie Mepranum) from the Friday night show on the Pacquiao undercard. It was a great fight.
So if UFC 111 gets less than 650,000 buys (which everyone is stating as the low figure, and that it’s entirely possible we are looking at 1 million plus on an event that pro MMA/anti-boxing numbers scoffed at as being an event that nobody cares about as opposed to Pacquiao-Mayweather), are we going to proclaim that boxing has killed MMA? Or does that argument only work when it’s convenient?
Seriously, though, I really hope this puts to rest over-analysis of PPV buys/bizbizbiz vs. actual in-depth assessment of fight quality. I’d rather discuss armchair fight strategy/reviews over armchair business acumen any day of the week.
This site and comments section has always had a focus on the business side of the sport. There are numerous other places to go if all you want to discuss are fight strategies and analysis. Those topics always get touched upon here, but focus number one is the business as a business. You’ve been here long enough to realize that.
I like the analysis of the business aspect on this site. You can get fight strategies and reviews anywhere. Hell, I hear enough of it at my gyms myself on a daily basis. I thinks it’s cool to hear the other side of it.
If you think those articles/press releases are funny, you should see the previews for this new Mike Straka show on HDNet. His first guest was Dana White, and in the promo Straka tells him “you are the epitome of The American Dream!”
Well, he is. How could you argue that he isn’t.
American Dream usually means working hard, overcoming adversity on your own and then enjoying the fruits of your labor. Not buddying up with a couple of rich guys, begging them to buy a company you want and then having them install you as President of it even though you have zero experience in much of anything beyond failing to promote boxing, managing Chuck Liddell briefly and teaching Jazzercise to old people.
Or being the son of a plumber. Which to my knowledge he isn’t either.
He’s 40 and he’s the head of the most successful mixed martial arts organization on the planet. He gets 10% of the net income.
He legitimately helped build UFC from something that was two steps removed from a freak show into something that will be legitimately discussed on sports talk shows.
I think he’s living the dream.
The American Dream is Dusty Rhodes.
Are you trying to say that HDnet would do a “press release” type event for Dana and the UFC?
Frank & Lorenzo live the American dream. Dana is just a guy who got lucky of whose butts he kissed to be taken along for the ride.
Mark, you couldn’t look like more of a petty crybaby if you tried. Dana might not be a nice guy, but he’s living the American Dream. I think you may not realize what is typically referred to as the American Dream.
Dana went from having no money and not much education to running a massive company and creating a fad and potentially a big time sport in America.
Also Frank and Lorenzo brothers grew up rich so you also made yourself look like an ignoramus there.
I love it when fanboys get confronted with facts they can’t defend and have to resort to “UR JUST JEALOUS~!” as a defense. What’s next, you’re going to inform me he’s better than me because he has more money, right?
I’ll gladly take rich kids who at least expanded on what their father did taking it to bigger levels than some guy who wouldn’t have even been hired for any MMA leadership position and if he did would have been fired by 2003 if not for friendship as the more respectable.
FIrst off, you’re the one who is name calling. Except you’re doing it about someone who isn’t here and I’m calling you, Mark, a whiny crybaby.
Second why don’t you do a google search on the term American Dream. What is commonly referred to as the American Dream is going from rags to riches. Going from being a valet and boxercise instructor to a multi-millionaire who is known and respected throughout the world is exactly what the American Dream is.
He rubs some people the wrong way. He uses naughty language. He pisses off a lot of boring fighters. That doesn’t mean he isn’t living the American Dream. When you’re educating yourself today why not do a search on the term Robber Barons or Captains of Industry. Read about the guys who the term originally described and see if you don’t think Dana is nicer than them.
Is Dana’s skin that thin that you must defend him against the opinions of someone he doesn’t know on a site he doesn’t read?
Okay: “The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931. He states: “The American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.””
So ‘according to ability or achievement’ now means accepting handouts and not achieving much of anything until the company was damn near bankrupted by your bad ideas now, does it? Sad. What happened to pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps that is usually included in speeches where Republicans decry welfare and such?
Mark:
“I love it when fanboys get confronted with facts they can’t defend and have to resort to “UR JUST JEALOUS~!”
-You didn’t present any facts. You took a situation wrote it how you wanted it to be, and spouted it as a fact in the process. It makes you like a crybaby that is a fact. Your posts don’t make any since. You’ll take rich kids expanding on what their father did?…they took some money and let Dana white go crazy with the UFC. It worked, but thats more on Dana’s end than the Fertita’s. We can see that you hate Dana White, but how bout try and make some since next time while trying to argue. You’re only argument is “fanboy this and that”, but this isn’t 2007. You aren’t smarter than anyone else for puting down the UFC. You’re just sad.
And all of this came from a comment stating HDnet would do a press release type event for the UFC. That is insanely inaccurate because the UFC is the competition.
It is factual that he was hired because he was friends with them (he admits as much.) It is factual that he had little experience in fighting management (he admits he was a failure promoting boxing on his own) and therefore wouldn’t have even been hired by King of the Cage on his own merits in 2001 (that’s common sense.) It is factual that after 3 years of total failure most companies would probably terminate his employment (also common sense.)
I assume you’re a post-Ultimate Fighter fan, because the un-rewritten truth is Dana hated the idea of a reality show based on unknown (to the general public) fighters and Frank & Lorenzo had to veto his veto. So that is why I give more credit to them than him because ultimately TUF was the gamble that single handedly made the MMA boom. Dana’s big idea was wanting a show based around he and Frank & Lorenzo called American Promoter as a spin off of their casino reality show instead of any of the fighters. So ask yourself how many PPVs would Dana’s vlog have sold in 2005?
… and it’s factual that he became one of the most famous promoters in the fight business, boxing or mma, after he was given a shot at running things. Apparently it’s just because he got lucky though, right Mark.
And no I’m not a post TUF fan. I watched UFC’s on and off from watching UFC 1 with my dad on his black box to becoming a “hardcore” fight fan after watching UFC 43 with Liddell vs. Couture 1.
I wouldn’t even waste time arguing with them. All fans who came in after 2005 believe the Dana myth that MMA wouldn’t have been popular without him. And it’s not their faults, once something gets repeated enough no matter how unbelievable it gets believed. Especially if you don’t know any better.
I wonder how fast UFC would have grown if they got a real sports executive in his position.
I’m not gonna lie its really cool that the type of fan that seems to populate this site more than others is a dying breed(The type that has a since of entitlement to mma knowledge because “they” were there before the big mma boom).
“I wonder how fast UFC would have grown if they got a real sports executive in his position.”
The UFC is a billion dollar company roughly 8 years after Zuffa took over. It could be in a lot worse shape than it is now.
I shouldn’t waste time arguing with Mark either, but there are so many inconsistencies in what he says it is laughable.
Let me get this right. The two guys you really like Frank and Lorenzo the two guys you prefer to Dana are the guys who screwed Bob Meyrowitz (who is a piece of shit in his own right) into cheap selling UFC. That’s your American Dream. A guy who uses dirty government to screw someone in the private sector.
As to the assertion of pre-2005 fans, let’s get real. I’d already been to five UFC’s live before TUF hit the air.
You guys don’t like Dana and the UFC because he and the organization are successful. In fact there was none of this UFC sucks talk before TUF hit the air. I’d bet that if Scott Coker pulled his head out of his ass and started making money you guys would turn on him too. It’s sick really.
I’m pretty sure I remember a lot of “UFC sucks” talk back 7-8 years ago. Most of it was unwarranted, but its not as if people then didn’t know that PRIDE had better heavyweights and regularly criticized the UFC for losing talent to PRIDE.
Hey I thought the Danaites always denied that Zuffa intentionally drove down the price of the UFC so SEG would have to sell for cheap, what gives?
If you were an MMA fan you’d remember Dana hated the idea that made them a success. Spike wanted a reality show, Dana wanted an Unleashed-style show with live specials. They wouldn’t back down from wanting a reality show so he wanted to do one on the UFC office but Frank & Lorenzo vetoed that and worked up what would become TUF. So therefore combined with the willingness to bleed all of that money saying “it was Dana more than Frank & Lorenzo” is ludicrous. I get that they’re all in agreement on the controversial business decisions and they use Dana as the “bad cop” on everything, blah blah blah. But facts are facts.
Like I’ve said to 45Huddle 8 million times: if I hate the UFC so much why do I buy every PPV and every DVD (with the exception of 109 which I boycotted for being so crappy)? If I hate the UFC I’d stream them so they don’t get my money. I have a problem with Dana and his fawners, so what. Why do people like you always act like we’re insulting one of your relatives when people like me say we don’t like him? Who cares. Dana won’t lose one wink of sleep over it. If anything he seems to be motivated by his critics.
I want MMA to be as successful as possible and that includes UFC. I have never ever wished for them to go out of business like some others have, I just want fighters to have other organizations to go to if they get cut or so they can have negotiation leverage. Plus with competition they’ll be forced to put out the best shows possible. Sorry if I’m not as big of a fan of a promoter as I am of the actual fighters.