Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen UFC rematch happening in a few months
By Zach Arnold | August 23, 2010
Lance Pugmire of The LA Times says…:
UFC will stage Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen rematch on New Year’s Eve or Super Bowl card, depending on Silva’s hurt ribs.
Fertitta saying Silva’s ribs bruised not broken, but still may require layoff until early Feb.
I’m not surprised by this news, as I expected the rematch (if it was going to happen) to happen for the Super Bowl weekend show. Makes the most sense.
I wouldn’t have had a problem with Sonnen vs. Vitor Belfort in a #1 contender’s match, but I also don’t have a problem with this immediate re-match given how the first bout turned out. Unlike other promotions, UFC is booking a re-match that has real importance and people actually care about seeing.
Meanwhile, let’s see Belfort get another win under his belt and if he can do that, then he gets the winner of the title match.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Line-up of UFC 118 at the TD Garden in Boston
By Zach Arnold | August 23, 2010
Dark matches
- Welterweights: Mike Pierce vs. Amilcar Alves
- Welterweights: Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto
- Middleweights: Dan Miller vs. John Salter
- Lightweights: Andre Winner vs. Nik Lentz
- Lightweights: Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Ruediger
Main card
- Lightweights: Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis
- Middleweights: Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda
- Lightweights (#1 contender’s match): Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard
- Boxing vs. UFC: James Toney vs. Randy Couture
- UFC Lightweight Title match: Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WWE talent boss shows up at M-1 Russian event
By Zach Arnold | August 22, 2010
Stas Kharlamov at MixFight.ru reports that Ty Bailey, who is a top boss for WWE in their talent relations department, showed up for M-1’s “Battle on the Neva” tournament show last Thursday.
Here’s a summary of what was reportedly discussed:
“I’m looking at the M-1 tournament, we want to make sure that we have a connection. WWE represents the same sphere, it’s sports entertainment. We’re a global company, so Russia is obviously in our plans. Could we organize WWE shows in Moscow? I can say, it’s very possible.”
About the possible signing of Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev to WWE:
“Nothing to my knowledge has happened, yet. If we had plans, everybody would know. We would definitely promote it (though Valuev appeared as a guest on the tournament).
“But I think if he was in WWE, he would be loved by everybody, he’s got a name recognition, he’s talented, and he has potential to do something.”
Also Ty said that maybe some of the young M-1 fighters can be interesting for WWE. And after the show, he spoke through a translator with Red Devil team member and participant of M-1 reality show “M-1 Fighter” Viktor Nemkov (9-2).
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, WWE, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Scott Coker on Bobby Lashley: “Some soul-searching to do” and “the true test happened tonight”
By Zach Arnold | August 22, 2010
There’s a lot said non-verbally during this interview that makes it worth watching. Plus, what Scott Coker actually does say… some of it is cringe-worthy. Wait until you see what he says about KJ Noons and what’s next for Noons. (Hint: Bad behavior gets rewarded.) What he says plays off of the announcement of Nick Diaz defending his 170 pound Welterweight title in October at HP Pavilion. If you hate the way Strikeforce doesn’t enforce the integrity of their weight classes, then Mr. Coker’s comments will make you rip your hair out.
Strikeforce’s one-sided marketing backfires again
The biggest dodge, by far, during the interview is when Ariel Helwani puts him right on the spot (and accurately so) about Chad Griggs, not promoting the guy, and the reasons behind it.
Transcript available in full-page mode.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce’s weekend in Houston at the Toyota center
By Zach Arnold | August 21, 2010
Going into Saturday night’s event on Showtime, Dave Meltzer aptly described the problem with the show as “horrible promotion.” That was quite an understatement. After the results from tonight’s event, it might actually benefit the promotion if some fans didn’t see this show.
Outside of the Middleweight title fight between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Tim Kennedy, everything that could have gone wrong ended up going wrong. Bobby Lashley, who told ESPN2 viewers on MMA Live last Thursday that he had never seen footage of opponent Chad Griggs, ended up losing to Griggs after the fight was stopped (doctor stoppage). Ariel Helwani soon reported after the fight that Lashley was stretchered out of the building. As Steve Cofield astutely stated after the fight, “Can’t wait for Griggs-Batista on PPV.” Paul Heyman actually made the argument on Twitter that Lashley losing will give the promotion an easier out in booking Lashley/Batista on a few levels (expectations-wise plus with athletic commissions.)The worst offender on this night, besides the Texas athletic commission and boxing referee Jon Schorle, was KJ Noons. Noons made quite the wave on Thursday’s Strikeforce conference call with the media. This item courtesy of Ivan Trembow:
In the “conference call highlights” from the Strikeforce conference call that featured Tim Kennedy, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Jorge Gurgel, and KJ Noons, there was a bit of homophobia that you wouldn’t know about from the transcript, but you can hear it clearly in the actual playback of the conference call.
It relates to the following part. Here’s how it appears in the conference call highlights:
NOONS: “Jorge comes out and puts on great shows, but if you want to watch Jiu-Jitsu, go to a tournament. This is fighting. If you want to see some lame fighting go watch the UFC, go watch something boring as hell. If you want to see something exciting, come Aug. 21 and see a guy who’s been boxing his whole life, and someone who has a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu.. This is what people want to see.”
Noons did not just say “some lame fighting.” He said the phrase “lay and gay” (which he must think is a clever twist on the phrase “lay and pray”), and he used this “lay and gay” phrase more than once. The second time that he said it, one of the other participants in the call (there’s no way of knowing which one) loudly said, “OK, OK, OK” as if to shush Noons.
(Also, for what it’s worth, Noons didn’t just say, “Go watch the UFC” in the passage above. He said, “Go watch Jake Shields or GSP in the UFC.” He was not saying that the UFC in general is boring.)
Having just listened to the actual conference call using the playback information listed below, I just wanted to point out this bit of homophobia from Noons.
Rather than focus on “lay and gay,” the media focused on what they thought Noons was saying about the UFC — so much so that Noons did an interview with Ariel Helwani to ‘clarify’ that remark:
Which leads us to Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel. After Noons took apart Gurgel during their fight, he ended up landing a knee to Gurgel’s head. The fans got pissed and got even angrier when Noons was award the win. Steve Cofield remarked, “Classic Gus (Johnson). The story is the illegal strikes. Not one question about them.” Noons said, after the fight, that he wants to continue boxing (paging Gary Shaw — just like I noted earlier) and that he wanted to box Floyd Mayweather.
After that mess, we had Strikeforce try to bury Jake Shields as running away from the promotion by not wanting to fight Jacare Souza. Jacare ended up being the one bright spot on this night, as his gas tank and boxing have improved and he won the Middleweight title. He’s the company’s best Middleweight, but the process of him getting the title sure has taken a weird route the last few months.
Which led us to the main event featuring King “f*** the fans” Mo versus Rafael Feijao. This fight almost didn’t happen because Scott Coker last May stated that he was considering Feijao vs. Mike Kyle. Yes, *that* Mike Kyle. Well, in the end we’re going to get that match because Feijao beat Mo and took the Middleweight belt. About as disastrous of an outcome for Strikeforce promotionally-speaking as you could possibly get. About as bad as the inimitable Gus Johnson clumsily describing King Mo as “the darker skinned fighter” when trying to tell the viewers at home which fighter was what on their television screens.
This leaves us with likely seeing Mo vs. Mousasi in a “revenge road” fight and Feijao vs. Mike Kyle for Strikeforce’s Light Heavyweight division. Dan Henderson teased on MMA Live that he was going to announce a big fight at 205, but things fell through.
All in a weekend’s amount of work!
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce 8/21 Toyota Center in Houston
By Zach Arnold | August 21, 2010
Dark matches
- Chad Cook vs. Artenus Young
- Chad Robichaux vs. Humberton Deleon
- Jose Santibanez vs. Reynaldo Trujillo
- Adam Schindler vs. Kier Gooch
- Vinicius Magalhaes vs. Rocky Long
- Andre Galvao vs. Jorge “Macao” Patino
- Daniel Cormier vs. Jason Riley
Main card
- Heavyweights: Bobby Lashley vs. Chad Griggs
- Lightweights: KJ Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel
- Strikeforce Middleweight Title match: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Tim Kennedy
- Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Title match: King Mo vs. Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante
Random note: Why is Marloes Coenen fighting someone not named Sarah Kaufman? And, why is Scott Coker allowing this? Coenen and Kaufman should be fighting in October in San Jose for the belt. Get it booked, already.
Update: Well, the match will now happen in San Jose in October. The right move and call.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
News & notes leading up to tonight’s Strikeforce event in Houston
By Zach Arnold | August 21, 2010
On MMA Live this week, Bobby Lashley said he knew nothing about his upcoming opponent Chad Griggs. He couldn’t get video tape on the man. (Guess Strikeforce didn’t have video on him. In UFC, it’s standard protocol for their office to send fighters DVDs of footage if you are a fighter and make the request.) Well, here’s a profile article of Chad Griggs in the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.
San Antonio Express-News fight writer John Whisler has a long profile article on Tim Kennedy and how he got his bronze star in Iraq.
Brent Brookhouse has written a guide for casual fans who watch tonight’s Strikeforce show on Showtime.
The one ‘big’ news item coming out of Strikeforce before their Houston show comes from Jay Hieron himself:
I finally got my release from SF… Y’all know what I’m about to do!!!!!!!
I have been threw alot of [expletive] this past year but I have trained the whole time. So all WWs take notice I’m coming for somebodys head…
The most intriguing part of this story is that Jay is linked to Ken Pavia, who just got sued by UFC. Dana said in a recent interview at the UFC Oakland show (one that I saved and transcribed) that Ken Pavia is not a good guy. Wonder how that will effect negotiations? Or is Hieron going to end up in Bellator, another promotion that has dealt with fighters publicly grumbling about not getting booked for fights? (Think: Dave Herman.)
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Political war over MMA continues in New York
By Zach Arnold | August 19, 2010
Bob Reilly to Harry Reid — this is our ring (Albany Times-Union)
US Senate Major Leader Harry Reid called MMA “a legalized street fight” — in favor — of MMA after he watched a recent UFC event in Las Vegas. He further said he would help UFC get MMA legislation passed in New York. Now, Bob Reilly, MMA’s biggest critic in New York, is going after Reid for his support of MMA. The Times Union claims that Reid is trying to get the help of New York Senator Chuck Schumer to give a local push for legislation to be passed.
Up north of New York, in Ottawa, the city’s mayor is interested in MMA events at Scotiabank Place.
Saw this item on FB a couple of days ago:
Shannon Knapp – Took King Mo, Tim Kennedy, Bobby Lashley, KJ Noons and Mayhem Miller to Fisher House today here in Houston. We visited the spinal cord injury wing of the hospital. Everybody seemed to enjoy visiting with the guys. I have so much respect for those that serve in the military and the personal sacrifices they make protecting our country. God bless them all!
King Mo: Booker T, Jerry Lawler, and Harley Race influenced my persona
UFC UK boss Marshall Zelaznik — Penn and Florian could give UFC a dilemma. No kidding. Notice how Kenny Florian’s fight against Gray Maynard has gotten zero promotional push for the UFC 118 show?
Antonio Margarito’s next move
A full recap here of what happened yesterday with the California State Athletic Commission rejecting Antonio Margarito’s license request. The move forced Margarito to apply for a boxing license in Texas. If he can get it, his fight against Manny Pacquiao will happen on 11/13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. If he can’t get a license in Texas, then he’ll have to fight in Mexico or Abu Dhabi. Michael Koncz says that Top Rank is confident Margarito will get licensed in Texas.
Manny Pacquiao’s conditioning coach says if the Margarito bout falls through, book Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez.
Speaking of Cowboys Stadium, Strikeforce actually considered running a show there. What?
Feedback
Feel free to leave a comment here. If you are so inclined, we are on Twitter and we are on Facebook. Follow us or ‘like’ our page.
Topics: Boxing, Canada, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bellator 25 at the Chicago Theatre
By Zach Arnold | August 19, 2010
The card line-up for tonight’s event on FSN/Comcast Sportsnet:
Dark matches
- Welterweights: Shonie Carter (176 lbs)* vs Torrance Taylor (171 lbs.) (Carter failed to make weight)
- Welterweights: Kevin Knabjian (170 lbs.) vs Brian Gassaway (171 lbs.)
- Welterweights: John Kolosci (170 lbs.) vs Kenny Robertson (170 lbs.)
- Lightweights: Keoki Cypriano (155.2 lbs.) vs Eric Kriegermeier (155.5 lbs.)
Main card
- Welterweights: Dan Hornbuckle (170.5 lbs.) vs. Brad “Bad” Blackburn (169 lbs.)
- Heavyweight Tournament: Damian Grabowski (240 lbs.) vs. Scott Barrett (263 lbs.)
- 115-pound women’s tournament: Jessica Pene (114 lbs.) vs. Zoila Frausto (115 lbs.)
- Heavyweight Tournament: Cole Konrad (265 lbs.) vs. Rogent Lloret (250 lbs.)
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WEC 50 thoughts and analysis
By Zach Arnold | August 18, 2010
I scored the main event 48-47 in favor of Dominick Cruz retaining his WEC Bantamweight title over Joseph Benavidez. After the first two rounds, I had it split even. The third and fourth rounds could go either way. I thought Benavidez closed the fight out strong. His confidence never wavered and his stand-up technique was excellent, balanced, poised. Cruz showed glaring weaknesses in terms of taking advantage of his tools — he let Benavidez close the gap in space and he never utilized a good jab. For someone listed as having a background in boxing, Cruz did not show great fundamentals (in my opinion). He gave Benavidez too many openings.
Miguel Torres on Versus scored the fight 50-45 and said he was shocked that the judges’ scoring was as close as it was and Ariel Helwani didn’t disagree with him. I agreed with the judges who had the fight scored 48-47 for either man, as that was perfectly acceptable. Jorden Breen scored the fight 48-48 a draw, which is fine with me given how tough that third round was score. The 49-46 score I thought was… not right. A 50-45 score, however, would have been absolutely criminal.
Which leads me to the biggest takeaway from tonight’s show and it was a huge negative, which was the announcing and bias on the telecast. It seemed like Todd Harris and Stephan Bonnar had talking points for every fight and by hook or by crook, by golly they were going to force it down the throats of people. 20 seconds into the Brad Pickett/Scott Jorgensen fight and we had them immediately saying the whole round how it was Fight of the Night and so on and so forth. No respectable sports broadcaster in any real sport would get away with this. The bias reeked and forced me to mute a lot.
As far as the bias on commentary went, the cheer-leading for Dominick Cruz by Stephan Bonnar was atrocious. An absolutely toxic combination with Todd Harris working the show. The difference between Bonnar and Kenny Florian is absolutely night-and-day. Florian did such a great job in June and really called the fights down the middle and appropriately described the right technique. What we got on the WEC 50 telecast was commentary that swayed the audience at home into favoring one fighter or another when the evidence on the screen contradicted what was being said.
To be clear, there is a big difference between bias through commentary and a ‘promotional narrative’ when promoting a fight BEFORE it happens.
Other observations
Dana White showing up for the goofy Amp promotional deal on the WEC show sure made WEC out to be the little junior brother of UFC (as if we didn’t already know that). I was cracking up with the way the sports bar in Phoenix was ‘classed up’ with a bunch of blonde Amp Up hooter-style girls trying to make the crowd, ahem, less ugly. All I can say about WEC coming to Glendale is that if you thought you had heartburn from bad judging and referee work in MMA, wait until you see what Arizona cooks up here.
Anthony Pettis made Shane Roller look completely ordinary. When Pettis and Ben Henderson fight (likely in Arizona), I still think Henderson will get the job done and retain his title. That said… Pettis working with Ben Askren is big.
Scott Jorgensen showed more flaws than strengths in his fight with Brad Pickett. He made that fight way harder than it had any right to be. Pickett was literally there for the pickings any time Jorgensen needed a takedown and instead he insisted on a stand-up war and got drilled repeatedly for it. Pickett really showed Jorgensen’s holes in stand-up, but as we saw with Dominick Cruz tonight… I don’t think Cruz will do what Pickett did to Jorgensen when they meet up in their Bantamweight title fight coming up soon.
WEC 50 did not feel like a special show at all. All the talk for months and months going into the event was how it would have a special feeling, feel like it was a celebration of past WEC moments, and nope, just another Versus telecast.
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dan Goossen says only way to call Toney/Couture ‘boxing vs. MMA’ is if Randy boxes Toney in second match
By Zach Arnold | August 18, 2010
I’ve got the interview transcript in full-page mode, along with Sam Spira’s response to Dan Goossen’s open challenge. (Sam is involved in Xtreme Couture Management.)
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Manhunt for British kickboxer Lee Aldhouse in Thailand
By Zach Arnold | August 17, 2010
Phuket police are looking for Lee Aldhouse, a British kickboxer who is accused of killing ex-US Marine Dashawn Longfellow in Thailand. There is a man hunt right now as you can see in the first article linked, police say Aldhouse has allegedly stole knives.
Longfellow received a Purple Heart for his military service after tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Phuket Wan article quotes Longfellow’s mother as saying that he recently moved to Thailand to become a kickboxer.
Birmingham Mail (UK) — Lee Aldhouse thought to be from Birmingham, has ties to Spain and Thailand
The Oklahoman — Classmates remember ex-Marine from Norman, Oklahoma killed in Thailand
This CNN report contains quotes from police in Phuket who labeled both Longfellow and Aldhouse as two bad-tempered young men, which is a bit different than the description of Mr. Longfellow in The Oklahoman article.
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Shane Carwin’s public response on steroid scandal involves remarks to Roy Nelson
By Zach Arnold | August 17, 2010
Just woke up and was reading the mma news websites and only one had real news ufc champ shane carwin steroids court case.
I am surprised that athletes in mma do steroids ;( that explains body types.
Let see if real news sources investigate the steroid claims, mmajunkie, mmaweekly, sherdog, espn, etc I like good news.
Article is cagepotato.com.
Jason Genet, the manager of Shane Carwin who said that his client would release a statement on the matter pertaining to him being named in a steroid investigation in Mobile, Alabama, said the following on his Twitter account:
I love Roy Nelson trying to elevate his status by talking smacks. Hopefully he is doing so on a treadmil. Some have rolls he has a bakery.
How does going after Roy Nelson on Twitter address the matter of being named in a Federal investigation for steroids?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |