Commentary on the structure of both Bellator and Strikeforce events
By Zach Arnold | August 17, 2010
From Larry Pepe’s radio show on Monday night.
Bellator — tournaments, champions, and television deals
“Bellator got started with their third season last week and I can’t help but feel that they’re losing some momentum. I think there’s a couple of problems. I think they put out a good product, I really do, and I really started following them in season two and that’s when I saw some of the problems. I was stoked for the beginning of the season, I think they did a lot of things right. I like the tournament format BUT there are definitely some flaws.
“The first thing, call me crazy, the TV deal sucks. The TV deal is horrendous. When I was following it in season two my guide would show that it was going to be on at 8 o’clock one week, 10 o’clock another week, 11 o’clock another week, and half the time it didn’t even come on at the time that was listed because it got pre-empted by the end of a baseball game or a basketball game or there was post-game programming. Sometimes there was programming that wasn’t even related to a live event that pre-empted it. One time I think it went on at 12 or 12:30 AM when it listed for 10 o’clock and I don’t know how you can get any momentum. I don’t know how you can get fans really following this thing if they don’t even know when it’s going to be on and there’s no consistency. I think that’s a big problem.
“I think another problem that I noticed was that once you got about midway through the season, half or more of the fights each week had nothing to do with the tournament and that was very distracting. I think it takes away the momentum. The 12-week format, I think it should be pared down. I think every fight you see should be tournament-relevant. I mean, imagine if you had March Madness and in the second week, the third week, half-way through the tournament, you started watching basketball games or you were getting basketball games that had nothing to do with the teams in the tournament, they were two teams that maybe you’d never even seen before, maybe really not followed, never even heard of and somehow they’re slammed in the middle of March Madness. It would be ridiculous and in some respects that’s what happens with these Bellator fights as you get deeper in the tournament and I think a way to solve that and I know maybe it’s not as friendly in terms of sponsors and in terms of lengthening the season but make the tournaments shorter or put more fighters in the tournaments so that when you’re watching every week because when you are watching and you know that this guy beats this guy, then he’s going to go on to the next round. It definitely adds something to it. When you know you’re watching a fight that has zero relevance, it really is distracting and to be quite honest, I think it causes you to lose interest. And then the other aspects is the champions. I think champions just for the season, like TUF for example, NOT for the promotion. There shouldn’t be a Bellator Middleweight champion. There should be a Bellator Season One Middleweight champion and a Season Two Middleweight champion because look at what happens. You have guys like Hector Lombard who have fought twice now in ‘non-tournament affairs.’ You now have Pat Curran getting hurt and being replaced by Roger Huerta. This idea that these champions are carrying over from a year ago… Eddie Alvarez took on a very tough Josh Neer, had a very dominant fight, looked great. What if he loses that fight and now Eddie Alvarez, who you just saw lose a couple of months ago in the Bellator cage fighting for the promotion is now defending his title against Pat Curran? It just doesn’t make sense. I don’t think it makes sense for the fluidity of it and it makes things very confusing. I mean, there’s a lot of risk because at some point one of those champions is going to lose in a non-title fight and it’s going to make the belt look a bit silly. So, I don’t know. I just think they need to restructure things a bit. They need to tighten it up a bit. They need to get a better television deal with some consistency and if you want to do champion vs. champion, then when the season two winners make it, then do an event where the season two winners fight the season one winners but not for some mythical overall Bellator belt that doesn’t get defended when you’re seeing those same guys fight half the time. It just, I don’t know, to me it’s messy, it doesn’t flow, and I think it has potential but I think if it’s going to realize its potential there needs to be some restructuring and there definitely needs to be a better TV deal.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Make your predictions — WEC 50: 8/18 Las Vegas
By Zach Arnold | August 17, 2010
Dark matches
- Lightweights: Danny Castillo vs. Dustin Poirier
- Featherweights: Fredson Paixao vs. Bryan Caraway
- Lightweights: Ricardo Lamas vs. Dave Jansen
- Featherweights: Javier Vazquez vs. Mackens Semerzier
- Lightweights: Anthony Njokuani vs. Maciej Jewtuszko
Main card
- Lightweights: Bart Palaszewski vs. Zach Micklewright
- Bantamweights: Scott Jorgensen vs. Brad Pickett
- Featherweights: Cub Swanson vs. Chad Mendes
- Lightweights: Shane Roller vs. Anthony Pettis
- WEC Bantamweight Title match: Dominick Cruz vs. Joseph Benavidez
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Another fighter accuses DREAM of being a deadbeat on paying out fight money
By Zach Arnold | August 17, 2010
It’s Bibiano Fernandes, the man who beat Joachim Hansen. He says he won’t fight until he gets paid. Whether his claims are valid or invalid, a lesson to anyone who fights for a Japanese promotion is that you need an agent on the ground in Japan who is politically or legally connected so that if you do have a dispute with a promoter there, you can take care of the problem first-hand.
Odds & Ends
I’ve written a timely preview of five big MMA fights coming up for the rest of 2010 that I think will outperform expectations.
Despite the fact that both Anthony Johnson and Shane Carwin find themselves on the courtroom/legal blotter, I still think Tim Sylvia ended up having the worst weekend out of all fighters despite getting paid for beating Paul Buentello.
WEC 50 and why certain fights got preference for title shots
Larry Pepe interviewed Reed Harris on Monday and asked him why Joseph Benavidez got the title shot against Dominick Cruz (as opposed to Scott Jorgensen) and where Scott stands in the WEC fighter hierarchy right now with the powers-that-be.
LARRY PEPE: “So, let’s talk a little bit about the title shot. Before we get to the actual fight, the word out there a couple of months ago was that Joseph (Benavidez) and Scotty Jorgensen, who has won four straight, were the guys really under consideration for the title shot. Was that true? And if so, what tipped it in Joseph’s favor?”
REED HARRIS: “Well, yeah, it was true. I mean, you know, certainly Scotty Jorgensen has really improved a lot and has done, he’s won quite a few fights. But I think what we looked at more was Benavidez is, who he beat and how he beat them, you know, and the fact that he knocked Rani Yahya out, who I think has never been knocked out, and then with his win over (Miguel) Torres, you know, Torres was 37-2 at the time. You know, Joseph beat him and also submitted him and that has never been done I think in 40 fights Torres has had. So because of the way he won and how impressive he looked, how much better he looked… We thought he deserved a shot at the title.”
LARRY PEPE: “And look, style makes a difference, I don’t care what anybody says.”
REED HARRIS: “That’s right.”
LARRY PEPE: “I’m not saying this about Scotty, but we hear it with Jon Fitch all the time with decisions and stuff, you know how you win also matters when it comes to making the determinations for title shots.”
REED HARRIS: “To make your point, it was something we discussed and it was a decision we had to make. Both of those guys we could have put either one of those guys in there and felt comfortable about it.”
(snip)
LARRY PEPE: “We talked about Scotty Jorgensen. He takes on a very tough Brad Pickett. Scott came on last week and he said he thought it would be impossible for him not to get the title shot if he beats Pickett. That would give him five straight wins. Do you see it that way? Do you think he gets the title shot with a win over Pickett?”
REED HARRIS: “Yeah. I mean, as soon as we see the fight, we want to see how he looks, to make sure there are factors like injuries, etc. that we look at, but if he goes through Brad Pickett, who I think is on a nine-fight win streak and is certainly he shouldn’t overlook and I know he’s not, then I think that would put him in that position where he gets a title shot, yeah.”
LARRY PEPE: “And to your point, for people who aren’t familiar with Pickett because he’s only fought twice in the WEC, this is a guy, Reed, who’s 19-4 overall with 15 stoppages. He had that slick Peruvian neck tie in his debut against Kyle Dietz. This guy is no slouch. If people that think is a walkthrough for Scotty, I think they better be very surprised.”
REED HARRIS: “No, I’ve heard Pickett, you know, as far as a chin has probably got one of the best chins in WEC. And like I said, I think he’s had a nine-fight win streak and this guy’s very, very tough. He trains with Mike Brown down at ATT (American Top Team) in Florida, which is probably one of the best camps in the world, similar to I mean Jorgensen’s got a great camp as well but this is going to be a very tough fight for both of those guys. And by the way, it should be very entertaining for the fans. I got a feeling this is going to be a very, very exciting fight.”
Other notes from the Reed Harris interview… Chael Sonnen will be at the WEC 50 show. Plus, the winner of the Anthony Pettis vs. Shane Roller fight will become #1 contender to Ben Henderson’s Lightweight title.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Transcript: Tito Ortiz’s version of the 2002 bar brawl with Lee Murray
By Zach Arnold | August 16, 2010
MICHAEL SCHIAVELLO: “I want to talk about something that’s become part of MMA folklore, MMA urban myth which I want to get you to clarify. 2002… London… Tony Fryklund, Matt Hughes, Pat Miletich, Tito Ortiz, and a man named Lee Murray got into a street fight where apparently Tito Ortiz got knocked out by Lee Murray.”
TITO ORTIZ: “Not true. At all. One of my buddies got beat up, was getting stomped in the concrete outside and I came to his rescue. Me, Chuck Liddell, and Damien started to fight… One of the guys sucker punched our friend Damien, I mean my friend Bo, dropped him on the door, the cab ran over his arm, and Lee Murray was in there. Lee Murray took a swing at me, missed, I took a swing at him, I clinched him, I knee’d him… he broke away, he started running away, I started chasing into him, and he turns around and stops and plants his feet, I go to stop and I slide right into him, he clipped me, dropped me, and I popped right back up. Cops came, broke everybody apart. One of the cops said he was squirt me in the face with mace, I said go ahead because by then I was already snapped, I didn’t give a [expletive], I was surviving, survival skills. I was never unconscious at the time, in my whole life I’ve never been unconscious and I never will go unconscious and… but I think those stories are fabricated a lot to try to build, uh, Lee Murray up but God looks over all of us and now he’s doing a 10-year prison sentence, so karma’s a bitch, huh?”
MICHAEL SCHIAVELLO: “Hello, Lee Murray!”
TITO ORTIZ: “Nah, hey, I think the story doesn’t go any further than that. It was an altercation. I was defending my friend and it was no more than that.”
And then, of course, there’s Matt Hughes’ version of what happened.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Urijah Faber getting ready to fight at Bantamweight and really wants Dominic Cruz to lose
By Zach Arnold | August 16, 2010
I was listening to Larry Pepe’s interview with Urijah Faber from last week and there were quite a few interesting news items to come out of the interview.
(I didn’t transcribe the portion about his new business deal with K-Swiss.)
Here’s the portion of the interview talking about when he will return to action:
LARRY PEPE: “So, what’s the timetable do you think for a return to action? If you’re getting back to regular training next week, when do you think you’ll be ready to go?”
URIJAH FABER: “Well, I wanted to fight September 30th (Colorado) but I figured a month because I don’t really ever get out of shape. I don’t remember being out of shape as a kid or anything, so… as long as I’m able-bodied, I wanted to fight but I don’t think they were able to put me on that card just because they already had it drawn out and the budget probably changes and everything else so I think November is what they’re looking at for me.”
LARRY PEPE: “OK, and it was supposed to be (Takeya) Mizugaki and when you had to pull out, he did not get re-booked. Do you think it’s going to be him? Do you think he’s waiting for the fight with you?”
URIJAH FABER: “Well, when I told them that I was going to fight in September, I wanted to fight in September, I think that was the plan is you know to ask him if he wanted to wait and I think he wanted to wait for September but I don’t know about November so I mean it’s going to be up to him and up to the WEC folks but either way for me it doesn’t matter.”
That’s the item that will get the most attention. What I thought was most interesting from the interview was the discussion regarding his knee injury/health and why he hates Dominic Cruz, who Joseph Benavidez fights this Wednesday night at WEC 50 (live on Versus).
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Joseph Benavidez heads into Dominick Cruz fight with new mindset; won’t fight Urijah Faber
By Zach Arnold | August 15, 2010
Video interviews with top fighters can be found at http://www.mmafighting.com
ARIEL HELWANI: “A huge fight for you. You are on a roll right now. You’re coming off of the big win over Miguel Torres. For a while there we thought that either Joseph or Scott Jorgensen was going up for the title. Why do you think the WEC made the right choice?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “I think I just, um, proved myself by finishing, you know, two really good guys and I beat a former champion in Miguel Torres. I was the first person to ever guillotine him and submit him and I think they saw that I’m a different fighter since I last fought Dominick Cruz and Jorgensen’s a great fighter, there’s tons of great fighters, but I just think the people that I beat were a little better and I did it a little more impressively.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “This is your first WEC title shot. You obviously need to beat Dominick Cruz, but how do you not just focus on the title itself? I mean, because that is a very big bonus after you beat him that you will receive. How do you just focus on the fight and not the title?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “Um… well, yeah, the title’s huge but… I don’t think it’s too bad focusing on it, you know, that inspires me, that’s what I want, that’s something I’ve um… I’ve wanted since I got in the sport, that’s my main goal so I’m focusing on that more than the fact that I have to avenge this only loss, too, because the title’s first. All that other stuff is a bonus but, yeah, you know, I’m just… it’s easy for me to concentrate on the fight. I’ve already fought him which really helps me out because this is kind of my second go-round, I’ve studied him twice now, and really the first time I didn’t really get to study him that much. I just had a different philosophy about fighting back then totally so it’s just, it’s easy, man, just to be motivated for that.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What was that philosophy?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “The philosophy was that was really just like, I always thought that I was just going to be a little more athletic and have better instincts than people so I wouldn’t necessarily train for a certain style, I just said you know I’m going to train and be in shape and no one’s going to be able to handle me, I’m going to go out there and give them all I can so… when I went in against Dominick he was, you know, a little more athletic. He was also bigger, which caused I think a little strength advantage, too, and he also had a game plan that he executed and I know he studied some of my moves, his coaches did a great job where I went in there and freestyled like I usually did and wasn’t the best prepared. Now my last two fights I’ve changed my philosophy in doing that. I’ve also added some strength which I thought some of the guys in the division were bigger than me and like you can see that I’m a totally different and when I feel like I’m prepared and confident, I feel unstoppable.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “More to that point, Dominick told me recently that he thought you underestimated him when you fought last August. Is that true?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “Um, yeah, you could say that, like… I was at the point where I was winning and… I wouldn’t say I underestimated him because I knew he was tough the first time I saw him fight in the 135 pound division when he got back in the WEC. It’s like, man, this guy’s going to be a handful for anyone, you know, look at the way he moves. He’s tall and I was like, wow, that guy’s going to be great. I didn’t underestimate him but I didn’t train as hard for him as I should and that just went back to the philosophy. I didn’t take it as serious as I should back then. It wasn’t just him but my whole outlook on everything and maybe not thinking that I was better than I was but just the things that I had done had been working, sometimes you need that loss to change things and now I got to peak even to more of my potential than I already was and I was doing great, like even that last fight it was close. I think he won with takedowns. Now I’m a different fighter and I think it’s going to be a different outcome.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “So with that mind, safe to say the loss was a very good happen to you?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “Yeah, it was great, man. You hear it, it’s cliché and people are saying, oh you learn so much from a loss. You know, sometimes they’re making just an excuse, oh you need it, but it can be, it’s the real deal, man. I’ve never felt better than I did after my loss, you know, as you can see my last two fights in the sport you need some kind of inspiration and motivation all the time, you can’t just get through it. It’s a hard sport, you’re training every day, it gets monotonous so you need that little inspiration. When I lost I have a championship mentality, I didn’t want to feel that again so I went in the gym and did all I could to change myself and be the best fighter I can be so… I look at the only negative being that one on my record but now the way it’s all going down where I get to avenge my only loss against for the belt, you know… it’s awesome, I couldn’t have written it better and I think it’s destiny and fate. I’m pumped for this fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “As far as the fight itself, what do you need to do differently this time around?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “Really, I think I did great on the feet last time. I think Dominick Cruz goes in there and beats everyone with his kickboxing and confuses them and stuff but I’ve watched the fight and in the first and third rounds, which that would have me winning the fight if I won those and I was landing more strikes on the feet than him in both rounds and he beat me with takedowns. Like I said back then I just thought I could go in there and impose my will on people which of course I still want to do but that was my main thing is just keeping a pace and being athletic but sometimes that caused me to get out of position and that’s kind of when he got the advantage when I got out of position and might have slipped as you’ve seen my last few fights I think I’m a little more controlled and notice I can beat people with my skill, too, and my athleticism so I can go out there and pick people apart like I did on (Rani) Yahya and Miguel Torres so there’s that part and then just the wrestling, you know, that’s what he beat me with. I think I was great on the feet last time and I’ve improved there so I’m going to even give him more hell on the feet and then as far as the wrestling goes, that’s where he beat me and even back then I thought people could take me down but I would get right back up so it doesn’t matter. If I need to take them down, I can do that, too. And I did get right back up every time he took me down but that was still the different in the fight so I have a totally different outlook on that. I realize I’m a wrestler and that’s what I going to beat fights and I’m not going to let people beat me there so like I said I feel it was a great fight last time. I’ve improved, so, those are a few things I have to do but mentally, I feel also just way better.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Finally, just have to ask you, your good friend Urijah Faber. He’s moving down to 135. He was supposed to fight on this card but he got injured. His debut has now been delayed. What happens now? Obviously we don’t want to look into the future, but it’s the question everyone loves to ask teammates — he wins a couple, you’re the champ, would you guys fight?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “No. I mean, the only place you’re going to see us fight is in the gym, you know, in Ultimate Fitness down in Sacramento but I have no desire to fight Urijah. He’s a mentor and a friend and I can never see myself really trying to beat him. I think it’s great that he’s going down to 135.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You have no problem with that?”
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ: “No, that’s his natural weight class. I think we can find ways around not fighting you know. I mean, everyone’s going to always want to see Urijah fight, he can compete at 145 pound class and there’s fights no matter who he fights people are going to want to see it so I hope I can go in there and hold the belt for a long time and he can do something but… either way, you know, it’s just going to be great for both of us and that’s where he needs to be right now.”
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Sarah Kaufman open to possibility of fighting Cris Cyborg
By Zach Arnold | August 15, 2010
INTERVIEWER: “So, um, you know, the big slam. What do you think it’s done for you and your career in terms of like how the press received it?”
SARAH KAUFMAN: “You know, I think the slam was obviously a huge step for myself personally in my career and just, um, you know getting those finishes back and getting off the decision wins and it was really exciting for me, for my whole team at Zuma, my coach Adam Zugec, and then to be on ESPN is huge just for anyone in Mixed Martial Arts, not even females in the sport. You know the fact that we made it that far, you know it’s just amazing and it’s I think really going to open some doors for both myself and just for everyone else in the sport as well.”
(snip)
INTERVIEWER: “How do you feel about a potential match in the future with this lady right here (Cyborg), Cris Cyborg (laughing)?”
SARAH KAUFMAN: “You know, a match with Cyborg is definitely, you know, it’s something that could happen in the future, you know, if I chose to go up in weight. I think it would be a really exciting fight and a really good match-up and it’s just something that we’ll have to look at down the road to see if maybe we could do a catch weight or if I would have to go up fully 10 pounds.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Miesha Tate hopes that Sarah Kaufman beats Marloes Coenen
By Zach Arnold | August 15, 2010
MIESHA TATE: “This is like the best day of my life by far. I’m so excited, you know, I’m just like… ready to cry out there, you know.”
INTERVIEWER: “So, um, tell us about the first fight with Maiju (Kujala). Did you feel tired afterwards?”
MIESHA TATE: “No, I mean, I felt really good. You know, like Ryan (Couture) was saying, you look like you were getting tired. I think I didn’t get a really good warm-up because like I was told the whole time we were going to be the second fight and then like five minutes before they switched it and they’re like, no, you’re the first fight, I’m like… well, I’m not exactly ready, but I guess I’ll go, you know. So I felt a little bit of muscle pump up there and my lungs were ready.
“Yeah, I felt like the first fight was my warm-up because I mean I usually get really hard like blow my lungs warm-up just before I go out and then I just get enough time to lower my heart rate so I’m rested but I’m completely warm and I wasn’t quite like that my first fight but I felt great in the second one.”
INTERVIEWER: “It looked like Hitomi (Akano) had a knee bar on you in the first round, you know, were you at trouble at any time?”
MIESHA TATE: “She had a toe hold and there was definitely pressure, you know, but I mean there’s no way I was going to tap from it, you know, and I felt like I knew how to defend it well enough and that’s what I did and I’m just going to let her kind of expend her energy on it because I knew she wasn’t going to get it, so… I think it was the fact that I had her back the whole time. Every time we went to the ground she never had a good position on me, really, I mean she turned in a little bit but I was going straight for an arm bar and I think at the end of the first or second, so you know pretty much I established position and I felt like I was getting clean exchanges on the feet and being aggressive, so… Fair enough to say that maybe we’re equal on the feet and I felt like I was stronger on the ground.”
INTERVIEWER: “What are your thoughts on the guaranteed title shot at this point?”
MIESHA TATE: “Just… I, you know, that’s what I came here for and now, you know, all the hard work paid off and I’m just… I can’t wait. I’m ready. I mean, I’m just going to train even harder and be more ready. I learned a lot from this tournament, too, every time I fight you know I learned something else and I, uh… I’m looking forward to getting belt and looking forward to hopefully fighting Sarah Kaufman, hopefully she wins…”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
With Ontario allowing MMA to come into the Canadian province…
By Zach Arnold | August 14, 2010
… the big question is what will UFC book for the main event of their first show? (Story on Ontario allowing MMA to come into the province.)
- April 20th – Miserable crowds at Rogers Centre for Toronto Blue Jay games gives UFC unique chance to make their case
- May 21st – UFC establishing an office in Toronto is good news for MMA and UFC books Rogers Centre date for March 2011
Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck was scheduled for December and the most talked about location was Las Vegas. Now with the news that Ontario is open for business, will UFC postpone this fight until the March date at the Sky Dome? Given the recent success UFC had in promoting the (delayed) fight between Rashad Evasn and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, I think they certainly will take a second look now at delaying the fight from happening.
There would be risks in delaying the fight. If you delay the fight until March, it will be St. Pierre’s first fight in a year and Koscheck’s first fight in 10 months. As far as concerns about delaying the progress of the Welterweight division, I actually think that what Jon Fitch did in Oakland is a blessing in disguise because now the promotion can consider booking him against the winner of Kampmann/Shields. This would eliminate inactivity amongst the Welterweight division contenders.
- MMA finally in Ontario — a twelve year struggle ends in victory
- Vancouver Sun — Ontario lifts ban, moves to allow MMA bouts
- Toronto Sun — MMA fans punch-drunk with joy
- Morgan Campbell in The Toronto Sun — Ontario gingerly hops aboard MMA bandwagon
Realistically, UFC’s first shot in Ontario needs to have St. Pierre as the headliner, there’s really no other way around it. Yes, Brock Lesnar is the biggest star in the company. Yes, UFC has plenty of bullets in their promotional gun to fire to draw well. But if you’re running the Sky Dome, you want St. Pierre headlining that card.
Jordan Breen says that despite the great news regarding Ontario back-tracking, watch out for Ken Hayashi:
My only issue with MMA regulation in Ontario: boxing is regulated and Ken Hayashi already ruined it there. MMA will still need help there.
Jordan points out an article by The Fight Network called The Farce of Boxing in Ontario.
UFC’s official statement on the announcement of Ontario allowing MMA events in their province
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tim Sylvia and Cecil Peoples, two peas in a pod of ridiculousness
By Zach Arnold | August 14, 2010
If you have not heard the news from Friday, Tim Sylvia showed up for his “PWP Heavyweight Champion” fight against Paul Buentello (252 pounds) at… 274 pounds? (According to the press release… I hope the PR person meant 264…) The weight limit is 265 pounds. This fight is on the War on the Mainland show at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California.
‘War on the Mainland’ press conference round up
Former UFC champion Tim Sylvia talks Brock Lesnar, why fans dislike him, and leaving Zuffa
As if that wasn’t bad enough, here’s Josh Gross aptly describing the infamous Cecil Peoples working a King of the Cage fight last night:
Daniel Cormier about to fight Tony Johnson on HDNet. Not sure about the choice by Cormier, AKA to take this fight on such short notice.
OMG this Cecil Peoples!!! “You’re fighting for the most prestigious belt in the world, King of the Cage heavyweight championship. … ”
Cormier wins the most prestigious belt in MMA by RNC. History folks. History
In a battle of KOTC vs. UFC heavyweight belts, Cecil Peoples scores it 50-44 KOTC.
Other questions and notes
I had conflicting reports on the movie The Expendables last night within five minutes of each other. One person said Steve Austin was great and Randy Couture was OK. The other person flipped the descriptions. Both made note that Nogueira was in the movie. So, I’m looking for reviews out there from any of you who see the movie. Let’s hear it.
I know this isn’t a normal question, but is there some sort of magical list out there in which you can find out which fighters are represented by which agents? The reason I ask this question is because I don’t deal with agents as standard protocol for news or anything else and yet I know that if I have to interview a fighter that dealing with the agents is usually the only method of success. And yet… there are many agents who, in principle, I simply refuse to deal with no matter what the circumstances are. So, if you can help me out in this process, I would greatly appreciate a playbook on this matter.
What is this, Fight Opinion on Twitter and Fight Opinion on Facebook? Outrageous. BTW, if you have any ideas on how to somehow make my list of 5,000+ friends on the ghetto known as MySpace useful, please let me know if there’s some way to revitalize that account. It’s so slow and clunky to use and I’m struggling to figure out ways how to reconnect with people there or at least tie it in with every other platform I’m on.
There’s an MMA event in the St. Louis area at Family Arena on Saturday called Fight Me MMA and Jesse Finney is getting lots of local publicity. The Post-Dispatch claims that the arena has already sold at around 10,000 — 20% comps (2,000) and 30% paid at $5 tickets (3,000) with the rest being paid at higher ticket prices. MMA Mania has some notes about the bonus structure for fighters at the show.
Speaking of super-sized, there is a 27-fight card today in Brockton, MA. (Jack Encarnacao territory) with 11 pro-fights and 16 amateur fights at Campanelli Stadium (where the Brockton Rox play independent league baseball).
The Montreal Gazette published an article from the Vancouver Province talking about medical doctors in British Columbia passing a resolution to get MMA banned throughout Canada. Pay attention to this story.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A mixed bag coming out of this weekend’s events for both Bellator and Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | August 13, 2010
Having watched both the Bellator (Thursday from Hollywood, Florida) and Strikeforce (Friday from Phoenix, Arizona) events, I came away feeling entertained by one product and pessimistic about another one.
Before I get to my thoughts on the show, Josh Thomson announced yesterday on CSN Bay Area that he will be in the semi-main event slot of Strikeforce’s San Jose event in October at the HP Pavilion.
In regards to Thursday’s Bellator event, their business stats look awful and yet the in-cage product is entertaining. The crowd was smallish at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and they are running so many shows that it’s almost impossible to make money on a big scale with their current schedule. On top of that, their TV support from Fox Sports Net/Comcast Sportsnet is awful, just awful. The Thursday shows are often pre-empted and there is no advertising of the shows ahead of time on the networks. For example, the Bellator show did not air until 1 AM PST on CSN Bay Area (a huge market for MMA) and there was no warning ahead of schedule. The Bellator program is so far down the food chain for CSNBA that they aired a replay of a day Giants game with the Cubs, aired Sportsnet Central, aired a replay of a BBQ festival for Chronicle Live, aired another run of Sportsnet Central, and then got around to Bellator. The pre-emptions are destructive.
And yet, with all of these problems, the in-cage product for Bellator is excellent. I dig the production values. I like the announcers a lot. I think the matchmaking is good for what it is. I don’t have major-league expectations going in and as long as you don’t expect to see a UFC-level product, it’s a really fun show to watch. The way they have set up the 115-pound women’s tournament is excellent. I thought Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar did well last night and I’m really glad to see a tournament set up the right way. As far as what the promotion does with the 115-pound division after the tournament ends, your guess is as good as mine.
But here’s what I can say about Bellator — they have their act together on matchmaking unlike Strikeforce. These one-night tournaments are an absolute abomination and I hate the promotion for booking them. 3-minute rounds? Ugh. Two rounds for a semi-final fight? The whole 135-pound one-night women’s tournament was a mess from start to finish. Not announcing match-ups until the day before the show? On top of that, horrible officiating that screwed over Maiju Kujala (who is talented). At the end of the one-night tournament, it became clear to me that Miesha Tate is unlikely going to beat Sarah Kaufman in their re-match.
Miesha Tate vs. Sarah Kaufman should happen next
The worst aspect, however, of the Phoenix show was putting Joe Riggs in the main event slot. I say that more as a criticism of Strikeforce than Riggs himself. After all, anyone who read this MMA Fighting.com article about what Riggs said Strikeforce allegedly did to him contractually in order to work the show is appalling. He claims the promotion made him sign an amendment to his contract so that the Challengers fight against Louis Taylor wouldn’t count as a fight on his deal? Then, on top of that, his win bonus would be determined by local attendance? Everyone knows that SF doesn’t have the infrastructure to run all these shows across the country and draw big gates. So, naturally, it’s like saying to the guy that his bonus will be small. It’s almost as bad as having undercard fighters sell tickets in order to possibly earn a chance to get booked on the show (indy-riffic). These are, in my opinion, such low-rent moves by a promotion that is getting paid by Showtime.
After his January loss to Jay Hieron, Riggs only had one more fight left on his Strikeforce contract. But, as he explains it, due to the fact that this fight is on a Challengers card, the 27-year-old had to sign an amendment to extend his contract one more fight because he wasn’t get paid his contractual money.
“My pay got chopped down by 55%, so that sucks. And my bonus is attendance based, so it’s pretty sh**ty. I gotta look out and think, ‘Oh my God, how many people are there,’ just to get my bonus. So that sucks.”
Both promotions have some big problems ahead of them and yet you get the feeling that the promotion putting out the better product right now will be the first one to fade away…
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Frankie Edgar talks about preparations for upcoming UFC 118 match
By Zach Arnold | August 13, 2010
JOE RIZZO: “How’s all the training and all that good stuff going?”
FRANKIE EDGAR: “Yeah, training’s been going great, you know, man. … Just sort of, you know, focusing in on the attack plan.”
JOE RIZZO: “Bringing in a secret weapon here. We pop in, you know, usual Tuesday at (Ricardo) Almeida and all of a sudden, you have Ross Pearson to play with today.”
FRANKIE EDGAR: “Yeah, you know, Ricardo invited him down here, you know they hooked up about a month ago in Vegas and invited him to come train so, you know, he’s going. .. So it’s just great, man, you know to get the high-caliber athletes to train with. The timing’s perfect.”
JOE RIZZO: “What was it like to circle in with a partner like that and you know did he give you anything a little bit different than you’ve seen before today?”
FRANKIE EDGAR: “Yeah, you know, it’s always good to get a different body, a different outlook, you know. So, you know, he competes in the UFC, so it’s good to you know go against guys that are fighting the same guys you are, so we have a lot of good guys around us. It’s good to have another one.”
JOE RIZZO: “You’re being underestimated again. Everybody thinks that BJ’s the favorite, even though that you are the champ now. Does that enter into your mindset or I know you’re pretty even-keeled guy. Does that ever come up, use it as motivation?”
FRANKIE EDGAR: “Um, you know, desire to win is motivation enough for me. So, whether it’s a title fight, whether it’s BJ Penn or not, it’s just forcing me to bring out the best in myself. BJ is one of the best guys in the world at this weight class, whether our last fight or not. So, I have to really make sure that I come at the top of my game.”
JOE RIZZO: “Last time you fought, completely around the world, literally in Abu Dhabi. This time you’re going to fight in Boston and you’re going to be inside and the situation is going to be somewhat different. I’m sure that you have a lot of home support that maybe you didn’t necessarily have going across the ocean for you. Do you feel a little bit pressure from that and from having to defend the belt now?”
FRANKIE EDGAR: “Uh, nah, man. Pressure’s as usual. There’s always that pressure to win, the pressure of your family and fans there so for me it’s nothing new. It’s nice that I don’t have to do a 15-hour flight. It’s probably just an hour long flight from Jersey, from that. No time change, I’ll be with the East Coast people so I’ll feel at home.”
JOE RIZZO: “How much is the game plan going to evolve for this fight? … Are you working on a lot of new, different things?”
FRANKIE EDGAR: “I’m working to improve, that’s my biggest thing. I always try to improve from fight to fight, try to be a different fighter. Of course game plan’s a little bit different. I’m sure he’s going to adjust, so I got to make the adjustments based upon on that so… it’s pretty much going to be like a fight-time adjustment.”
JOE RIZZO: “Tell us a little bit about these few months that you’ve gotten adjusted to being back home and being the champion. A lot more demands on your time for things like this interview and radio shows and appearances, endorsements. How are you adjusting to that part of it outside of the cage?”
FRANKIE EDGAR: “Uh, you know, I’m really lucky that I have good management. Shari Spencer’s my manager for almost a year now, so I really don’t have to handle that too much. She hands it, tells me what to do, and I do it. Obviously there are more demands, interviews and whatnot, but I’m welcoming it, so that’s part of being a champ. It’s something you have to do and hopefully I get used to it, hopefully I have to do this for a while.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Independent World MMA Rankings – August 12, 2010
By Zach Arnold | August 12, 2010
From the office of the Independent World MMA Rankings
August 12, 2010 – The August 2010 Men’s Independent World MMA Rankings have been released. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple MMA web sites, as well as www.IndependentWorldMMARankings.com.
Some of the best and most knowledgeable MMA writers from across the MMA media landscape have come together to form an independent voting panel. These voting panel members are, in alphabetical order: Zach Arnold (Fight Opinion); Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jared Barnes (Freelance); Jordan Breen (Sherdog); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter and MMA Journalist Blog); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Todd Martin (Los Angeles Times and Sherdog); Jim Murphy (The Savage Science); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); Ivan Trembow (Freelance); and Dave Walsh (Head Kick Legend).
Note: Paul Daley, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and Jason Miller are all temporarily ineligible to be ranked due to the fact that they are all currently serving disciplinary suspensions. Daley is serving a disciplinary suspension for punching Josh Koscheck after their fight was over, and all of the other fighters are serving disciplinary suspensions for their roles in the post-fight brawl at the Strikeforce event in Nashville.
Note: Due to the fact that Anderson Silva has said in numerous recent interviews that he plans to stay in the middleweight division for the rest of his career and has no plans to fight in the light heavyweight division anymore, along with the fact that Silva’s most recent fights have been at middleweight, Silva has lost his eligibility to be ranked in the light heavyweight division. Unless Silva returns to light heavyweight in the future, he will be eligible to be ranked exclusively in the middleweight division.
August 2010 Men’s Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on August 10, 2010
Heavyweight Rankings (206 to 265 lbs.)
1. Brock Lesnar (5-1)
2. Fedor Emelianenko (31-2, 1 No Contest)
3. Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1)
4. Cain Velasquez (8-0)
5. Junior dos Santos (12-1)
6. Shane Carwin (12-1)
7. Alistair Overeem (33-11, 1 No Contest)
8. Frank Mir (13-5)
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 No Contest)
10. Antonio Silva (14-2)
Light Heavyweight Rankings (186 to 205 lbs.)
1. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4)
2. Lyoto Machida (16-1)
3. Rashad Evans (15-1-1)
4. Quinton Jackson (30-8)
5. Forrest Griffin (17-6)
6. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (7-0)
7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-3)
8. Jon Jones (11-1)
9. Gegard Mousasi (29-3-1)
10. Thiago Silva (14-2)
Middleweight Rankings (171 to 185 lbs.)
1. Anderson Silva (27-4)
2. Chael Sonnen (25-11-1)
3. Nathan Marquardt (29-9-2)
4. Dan Henderson (25-8)
5. Vitor Belfort (19-8)
6. Demian Maia (12-2)
7. Yushin Okami (25-5)
8. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (12-2, 1 No Contest)
9. Jorge Santiago (22-8)
10. Robbie Lawler (17-6, 1 No Contest)
Welterweight Rankings (156 to 170 lbs.)
1. Georges St. Pierre (20-2)
2. Jon Fitch (23-3, 1 No Contest)
3. Josh Koscheck (15-4)
4. Thiago Alves (17-7)
5. Dan Hardy (23-7, 1 No Contest)
6. Martin Kampmann (17-3)
7. Matt Hughes (45-7)
8. Paulo Thiago (13-2)
9. Matt Serra (11-6)
10. Mike Swick (14-4)
Lightweight Rankings (146 to 155 lbs.)
1. Frankie Edgar (12-1)
2. B.J. Penn (15-6-1)
3. Kenny Florian (13-4)
4. Shinya Aoki (24-5, 1 No Contest)
5. Eddie Alvarez (20-2)
6. Gray Maynard (9-0, 1 No Contest)
7. Tatsuya Kawajiri (26-6-2)
8. George Sotiropoulos (13-2)
9. Evan Dunham (11-0)
10. Ben Henderson (12-1)
Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Jose Aldo (17-1)
2. Manny Gamburyan (11-4)
3. Urijah Faber (23-4)
4. Mike Brown (23-6)
5. Hatsu Hioki (21-4-2)
6. Marlon Sandro (17-1)
7. Bibiano Fernandes (8-2)
8. Josh Grispi (14-1)
9. Michihiro Omigawa (11-8-1)
10. “Lion” Takeshi Inoue (18-4)
Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Dominick Cruz (15-1)
2. Brian Bowles (8-1)
3. Joseph Benavidez (12-1)
4. Miguel Torres (37-3)
5. Scott Jorgensen (10-3)
6. Takeya Mizugaki (13-4-2)
7. Damacio Page (15-4)
8. Wagnney Fabiano (14-2)
9. Masakatsu Ueda (11-1-2)
10. Rani Yahya (15-6)
The Men’s Independent World MMA Rankings are tabulated on a monthly basis in each of the top seven weight classes of MMA, from heavyweight to bantamweight, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.
The rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody’s vote counting more than anybody else’s vote, and no computerized voting.
The voters are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters’ actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they’ve actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win hypothetical match-ups.
Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.
Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked.
Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that he is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until his first fight in the new weight class has taken place.
Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.
Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Zach Arnold, and Joshua Stein for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |