Where things stand right now for MMA legislation in New York and how to advance the cause
By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2010
Josh Gross had an excellent interview with Eddie Goldman this week on his SI radio show. Unfortunately for those using iTunes, the tech side on their web site for the last month has been screwing around and not posting links to Josh’s new radio shows. They are at least a week behind now (for the last month) in creating a link to a new show. Josh is getting the same treatment that Ariel Helwani has been getting from AOL for The MMA Hour in how the iTunes feed isn’t getting updated or isn’t being updated correctly.
Nevertheless, I provided an audio link here to go get the show. Great show by Josh this week, including discussion about why Fedor doesn’t belong in a pound-for-pound best fighter list any more.
As for his interview with Eddie, I thought it was really interesting. (Lasts about 20 minutes.) I’ve included a transcription of a 7-minute passage from the interview about what’s going on in New York state and what it will take to get MMA regulation passed by both the state Senate and Assembly. The larger question raised during the interview is how will proponents of MMA regulation be able to made the argument to critics who are changing the goalposts in their arguments as to what the standards and conditions should be before any regulation is considered.
EDDIE GOLDMAN: “You know, some New Yorkers are very narrow-minded, including some of these politicians we’ve got here in New York that still are just talking about this… A friend of mine that, there are, what’s the number now, 44 states now, have regulated MMA in the United States and there are only one or two states that actually have that athletic commissions that have not regulated Mixed Martial Arts. New York is one of them and there’s a very backwards bureaucratic stupid culture that exists particularly in places like New York City that just does not get MMA. Not only just doesn’t get it, but has a very authoritarian view that if they don’t like it, we ought to outlaw it and it’s reflected in a certain type of parasitic individual that’s often against sports in general and really hates the combat sports. I think a lot of the people that, the politicians that are against Mixed Martial Arts would get rid of boxing if they could because all the usual arguments, it’s safer than boxing, you know which has become a little more debatable today, but even if you say it’s safer than boxing, that doesn’t fly well with these kind of people because they would, boxing is too entrenched to get rid of in New York but they would just assume get rid of all that stuff and it’s largely a cultural battle at this point. So to say the arguments that have been raised are very weak arguments in defense of the sport. Well it’ll bring in so many millions of dollars and their response is, well, so will if you had beheadings in Times Square it might bring in some money and the defense of the image of the sport culturally is something that has not been successfully done because there’s still, I’ll tell you, a lot of people in New York City that think it is a barbaric sport.”
JOSH GROSS: “So, Eddie, let me ask you, how would you frame it? If you were trying to sell Mixed Martial Arts to a politician in Albany and saying, this is why you need to regulate it, how would you frame the issue?”
EDDIE GOLDMAN: “I think it’s very difficult when it’s UFC framing the issue because UFC hired a very powerful lobbying firm that did next to nothing to educate the legislators. The legislators are asking questions like, well are there referees in this sport? When the bill that was put forward and passed the NY Senate and never really made it again to the Assembly and is supported by the current Governor (David) Paterson clearly says that it would follow the Unified Rules with the commission allowed to make some modifications in those rules, so obviously the sport in New York state would look virtually the same as it does just about everywhere else in the United States. But you’d have to present the sport as martial arts, as something that promotes respect, as something that’s honorable, and I think all the people that are against it and that don’t understand it and are ignorant about it have to just look at any episode of The Ultimate Fighter and see whether it presents itself that way and I think that type of thing, the opponents of it like this Assemblyman Reilly from upstate have started talking about a lot of the statements and behavior and activities of (Dana) White, the President of the UFC, and people like that and using that against the sport. They’re talking about the death that recently took place of Michael “Tree” Kirkham in a show in South Carolina in his pro-debut. They’re talking about a lot of the mistakes in the sport to condemn the whole sport and it’s going to require more of a sophisticated defense of this sport and people, a lot of the people involved in the sport haven’t really stepped up to do that, so I don’t… it’s very possible that next year it could get in because we’re going to have a new Governor, Paterson is not running for re-election and perhaps a new Governor and a new legislature will finally get this thing through but there’s still a lot of opposition to it. Again, as I said, mostly based on ignorance and prejudice but also taking advantage of a lot of mistakes that a lot of the promoters have done.”
JOSH GROSS: “Well, that doesn’t sound so different, even though we’re in a totally different time period and so much has changed, that doesn’t sound much difference from what your experience may have been in ’93, ’94, ’95, and ’96 where you had these politicians, you had regulatory bodies, you had police, maybe there was a huge perception, a misperception issue. I mean, why do you think this continues to follow MMA despite it’s growth, despite it’s coverage in places like Sports Illustrated, on ESPN, on all the mainstream outlets. Why do you think this continues to exist?”
EDDIE GOLDMAN: “I think it’s different in New York than it was, I’m not sure [about] the situation in Ontario, but it’s different because in the mid-90s when this was going on, I remember covering the sport and going to a lot of the UFC live events and I did an interview with Bob Meyrowitz, the head of SEG which is the parent company in those days of the UFC, and he said he had been interviewed by numerous mainstream news outlets and I was the first person who interviewed him who had actually seen the event. The people didn’t even watch it in those days, they said oh we know what it is, we’re against it without even doing it. Now you can’t say that with these opponents. I’m not saying that they’ve all seen it, but a number of them have seen these events. Maybe not live but they’ve seen it on television and video and I think that certain problems in this sport have caught up with it. I don’t think it’s just simply ignorance any more because it’s a more supplicated argument that’s being used by these politicians against it and it’s up against an ingrained culture that has no respect for the combat sports and the martial arts anyway. They don’t like it. They don’t want to train people to defend themselves. They don’t want the youth to learn these things. They’re not going to like wrestling, either, if you say well [MMA] uses Olympic wrestling and judo and taekwondo and all that, they don’t like those things either. So, you’re going up against a very entrenched parasitic culture by a certain section of the pseudo-intellectual and educational and Governmental elite and that’s existed for a quite a long period of time. It’s very detrimental to the overall culture of the city in New York and the state of New York, so if you’re going to convince people you’re going to have to present something much more honorable and compelling than they’re doing and it’s sort of, you know, half-assed attempt of hiring some fancy lobbying outfit to do it is not going to work.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Pacquiao vs. Mayweather unlikely to happen; both camps moving on
By Zach Arnold | July 17, 2010
With no Mayweather-Pacquiao in 2010, it’s time to stop picking sides
The natural inclination here is for those who believe in the UFC business model to praise it because, hey, after all they are able to produce the match-ups that people want to see and boxing’s biggest available match keeps getting postponed.
I will give Floyd Mayweather credit for one thing this year, which is that he more than any other athlete has advanced the anti-doping discussion on the table in the fight game.
Jake Donovan at Boxing Scene has a report about Bob Arum’s conference call at Midnight with the media. The long and the short of it is that we will either see Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto or Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito in Mexico or Abu Dhabi. Arum’s heart has been set on doing a big show in Abu Dhabi for over a year now. Mexico would make the most sense if it’s Margarito, since he’s having trouble getting licensed in the States.
As for whom Mayweather will fight next, he may not fight and just wait things out…
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1/FEG find financial backers for attempted Asian expansion
By Zach Arnold | July 16, 2010
Watch the wacky Kamipro writers comment as they see the press conference
They held a press conference in Tokyo today with Michael Chen, who represents PUJI Group (PUJI Capital). This means an in-road for money support to try to get into Shanghai and Beijing, something that Godfather Ishii has been trying to do for years.
Tanigawa denied that FEG was sold. However, he did say that the money will help DREAM and K-1 compete against the likes of UFC because Dana White was able to offer fighters more fight money than the Japanese promotions. He noted that the entire environment of the Japanese fight scene has changed and now the focus is to run all over Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, China) and focus there while maintaining the network TV support they have with Tokyo Broadcasting and Fuji TV.
(This really isn’t a new philosophy, as Ishii has always been about keeping the rights fees from the TV broadcasts but allowing others to promote shows elsewhere if they wanted to use him as a pipeline.)
“I want to establish (us as) the world’s largest fighting company again.” That was essentially the theme of today’s press conference.
As with most Japanese press conferences and statements, I’m sure there is a bit of exaggeration at play here so don’t take things at 100% face value.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Newer focus on the issue of steroids and PED usage
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2010
Since Floyd Mayweather’s fight against Shane Mosley, we’ve seen the debate in the media about steroid usage take some interesting turns.
With a growing sense of ‘libertarian’ thought about the War of Drugs and decriminalization of marijuana and other drugs, you can sense that those who support the usage of steroids and PEDs are starting to speak up on the matter because they feel the public is on their side. Certainly, there’s a lot of push-back against people who are anti-doping in nature. This, in turn, has led to some second-guessing both personally and from a distance.
Take for instance MLB (Major League Baseball). The All-Star Game drew terrible ratings on Tuesday night for Fox. There are plenty of issues as to why the concept of a baseball all-star game is not as attractive as it once used to be. (Fans are able to watch 162 games all season long plus playoffs and interspersed in between that schedule is Interleague play, along with the fact that you can watch all the highlights from every game on ESPN each night during the season.) However, quietly being discussed, is the issue of steroids in relation to fan interest in baseball. Skip Bayless of ESPN brought this up last night:
All-Star baseball ratings all-time low. Do some fans miss Steroid Era? No HRs last 2 All-Star gms. MLB attendance, runs down last 2 yrs.
What Skip touched upon is something that Ken Shamrock tried to claim when he was on Mike Straka’s HDNet show a few weeks ago. That was the show where Ken made his admission of steroid usage. (Read transcript here.) Shamrock said that the fans want to be entertained and that there are hypocrites in the media who know athletes using steroids but won’t discuss it until there’s a positive test or someone else touches the story first.
Continue reading this article here…
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Women – Independent World MMA Rankings (July 16, 2010)
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2010
From the office of the Independent World MMA Rankings
The July 2010 Women’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.
The members of the voting panel for the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings are, in alphabetical order: Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter and MMA Journalist Blog); Yael Grauer (MMA HQ); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); and Ivan Trembow (Freelance).
July 2010 Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on July 13, 2010
Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (10-1)
2. Marloes Coenen (17-4)
3. Gina Carano (7-1)
4. Yuko “Hiroko” Yamanaka (9-1-1)
5. Cindy Dandois (4-0)
6. Shana Olsen (4-0)
7. Amanda Nunes (5-1)
8. Jamie Seaton (2-1)
9. Emily Thompson (3-2)
10. Hitomi Akano (15-7)
Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Sarah Kaufman (11-0)
2. Roxanne Modafferi (15-5)
3. Tara LaRosa (18-2)
4. Hitomi Akano (15-7)
5. Shayna Baszler (12-6)
6. Takayo Hashi (12-2)
7. Miesha Tate (9-2)
8. Julie Kedzie (14-8)
9. Jennifer Tate (6-1)
10. Vanessa Porto (10-4)
Flyweight Rankings (116 to 125 lbs.)
1. Tara LaRosa (18-2)
2. Aisling Daly (9-0)
3. Zoila Frausto (7-1)
4. Rosi Sexton (10-2)
5. Rin Nakai (7-0)
6. Sally Krumdiack (8-3)
7. Lena Ovchynnikova (6-0)
8. Megumi Fujii (20-0)
9. Monica Lovato (5-1)
10. Jeri Sitzes (3-1)
Junior Flyweight Rankings (106 to 115 lbs.)
1. Megumi Fujii (20-0)
2. Yuka Tsuji (22-2)
3. Lisa Ward (13-5)
4. Mei “V Hajime” Yamaguchi (6-2)
5. Jessica Pene (7-0)
6. Jessica Aguilar (8-3)
7. Kyoko Takabayashi (11-4)
8. Angela Magana (8-4)
9. Saori Ishioka (8-4)
10. Emi Fujino (8-4)
The Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings are tabulated and published on a monthly basis, 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 she 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 her 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, Joshua Stein, and Yael Grauer for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Former UFC matchmaker John Perretti sounds off on death of Michael Kirkham in South Carolina
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2010
A.J. Perez at MMA Fighting talks about Death in the Cage: The Michael Kirkham story. It’s a must-read article with plenty of background information. It does not paint a pretty picture of anyone. There’s one theme throughout this article that I kept shaking my head at, which is that he was “a good fighter.” It sure didn’t look like it in that fight that was on YouTube against D’Juan Owens before it got removed. There’s an incredible danger of letting amateurs who aren’t skilled or experienced enough get licensing to become a professional fighter.
Related: Improving the quality of commission regulation at MMA events
July 5th
The Augusta Chronicle on Saturday published three articles on Michael Kirkham and his death. Each one provides background information on what led up to the fight that ended up taking his life. Other news articles linked as well.
- Fatal MMA fight in Aiken, South Carolina almost did not happen (Kirkham was literally a last-minute fill-in on a card. He fought at 6’9″ and was 150 pounds.)
- MMA proponents know death could hurt sport (article includes quotes from Dr. Johnny Benjamin)
- Fighter killed in Aiken towered in stature, ambition (Michael Kirkham’s brother speaks out)
- Michael Kirkham’s father speaks out
- Eyewitnesses speak on fighter’s death; commission launches investigation
The Charleston Post and Courier published an op-ed stating that they want MMA banned in South Carolina and compared MMA to cockfighting. They promptly turned off comments to the op-ed on their web site.
Maggie Hendricks at Yahoo Sports wrote an article about the story and stated the following:
So soon after Kirkham’s death, MMA fans and opponents alike should not use this as a reason to question the sport, the South Carolina officials or MMA’s place in society. Until we find out anything concrete, the only suitable course of action is to keep Michael Kirkham’s friends and family in our thoughts.
This did not sit well with former UFC matchmaker John Perretti (audio linked here), who had a lot to say about the fact that health & safety standards throughout various athletic commissions are declining as opposed to increasing in quality.
Continue reading this article here…
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Strikeforce should have a GP-style Middleweight tournament
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2010
Update: They’re going ahead with a tournament in October & December, but they are going to do a one-night tournament deal in December — sounds like San Jose to me since California allows it. They’re trying to split the baby here.
—
That’s the argument presented by Sherdog radio (from last Monday). A caller suggested the idea of a one-night tournament but that’s not going to happen, so he said why not do a PRIDE-style GP since Middleweight is the promotion’s strong division?
This topic is touched upon in a broader context of how Strikeforce and Showtime are not creating any momentum for shows. Every time I bring this point up, there are a few of you out there who start to mock the media for ‘narratives’ or ‘focus’ or whatever you want to poke at. The truth is, however, every major sports league has narratives and themes. Will the Evil Empire buy their way to another championship? Will Phil Jackson be able to achieve a fourth Three-Peat as coach? Will a small-market underdog team like New Orleans be able to repeat as Super Bowl champions? There are always narratives and themes going into every season and every major series in big sports, so why can’t that be expected by fans of MMA promotions? UFC does a good job of creating stars and giving fans what they want. After all, UFC set the expectation level of what fans demand to see in terms of undercard fights and new stars. So, if UFC does, it should raise the stakes for other promotions to meet or exceed those standards.
In thinking about the idea of Strikeforce not having a prolonged Middleweight tournament, it would be a really big blunder on their part… and this is coming from someone who hated the yearly tournament format in Japan. Middleweight is the one division that Strikeforce can actually look at people and say that they have guys who could be competitive with UFC’s roster. They have the talent there to pull off a GP-style tournament, so why not do it? It would give the fans a decisive winner, some great matches, and would earn the respect of a lot of fans. Give the fans what they want and make it happen.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ranking the top MMA fights of the first half of 2010
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2010
MMA MATCH RATINGS FOR FIRST HALF OF 2010
This is a lot tougher than it looks. As I laid out in the article, there was a list of 4-star rated fights that readers voted on and from there trying to pick the Top 5 was really tough. I won’t say here which fight I picked #1, so you’ll have to read the article to find out who I voted for and why.
I do think it’s interesting how people view fights in terms of rankings. Some people vote based on what kind of style of fight they like, while importance seems to be the primary qualification for a lot of people. Uniquely interesting is how high of a rating the Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin fight got. A lot of casual fans and semi-hardcore fans thought it was a great fight, but the hardcore fans absolutely detested it and called it Toughman-level.
I do wonder where you rank a fight like the Bibiano Fernandes/Joachim Hansen fight from DREAM on the list. It’s not a fight that enough voters have seen but it is readily available to watch online.
I thought the most curious fight ranking above four stars was the Jamie Varner/Kamal Shalorus fight. Since I scored that fight 30-26 in favor of Varner, I wasn’t sure what was so attractive about that match. Lots of low blows, injuries, and hard kicking. Yes, it was a war, but I don’t even think it was the best fight on that Edmonton card.
If you had to make your own Top 5 list of best bouts for the first half of 2010, what would they be, how would you rank them in order, and why would you rank them in that particular order?
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A very interesting reminder of the pro-wrestling connection in the MMA media
By Zach Arnold | July 14, 2010
I recently saw the archive for the May 3, 1993 Observer and as if I needed a reminder of just how many people from the pro-wrestling world came over into MMA over the last two decades, I got it in the form of two reader letters Dave Meltzer received and published.
We should have known. Continuing the tradition of the infamous Nassau Coliseum shows, Dusty and company managed to completely discredit themselves in front of a large crowd of wrestling-hungry fans. Nobody believed or accepted the reason for Flair’s absence. The major crowd chants were “We Want Flair” and “Refund.” Needless to say, no signs were posted and no refunds were offered. Flair should have been here in town the last few days doing promotional work. Instead, the WCW marketing geniuses omitted any mention of the card on the previous Saturday’s World Wide show, and instead played scatter-shot ads on TV and radio tennis shows. What they did overall was a disaster. The match with the most heat, Chris Benoit vs. Ron Simmons, was cut short by a stupid ruling. This gave us plenty of time for Vinnie Vegas and Van Hammer. Do the bookers really hate the fans that much or are they just completely insane? The fans popped for Too Cold Scorpio but he did almost no flying, including not doing his finishing move which was voted the best move in wrestling in 1992. There were the usual assortment of Dusty DQ finishes along with a couple of clean pins and one submission. Most matches sucked, with only four of the nine matches two stars or better and nothing better than three stars.
Eddie Goldman
New York, New YorkI went from Boston to New York to see WCW’s debacle at the Paramount. Needless to say, I’m fairly disappointed. Is any thought at all being put into the booking? Whose brainstorm was it to use Chris Benoit in a 45 second match and follow it up with Vinnie Vegas vs. Van Hammer for what seemed like an eternity? The sad thing is WCW will look at the decent gate and call the night a success, probably not realizing that they’ve killed themselves in yet another market. Ted Turner, if you’re listening, please let WCW die.
David Doyle
Braintree, Massachusetts
Yes, that is our Eddie Goldman, the one that we all know. Eddie was a fan for many years of wrestling but was turned off by it in the mid-90s and he was really one of the true pioneers of MMA writing. In a sense, he was ahead of his time. A lot of people crack on him for saying “the fake professional wrestling” but in hindsight, the conclusion he came to back then is one that we’re seeing a lot of people come to now.
As for Dave Doyle, that Dave Doyle turned out to be a sports editor for Fox Sports (the dot com) and then became the boxing/MMA editor for Yahoo Sports… where Dave (Meltzer) works now. It’s a small world.
Ariel Helwani also was a lifelong fan of wrestling, but he admitted that he soured on the business when he was backstage at a TNA show a couple of years ago (due to being with Spike) and watched grown men in costumes live out their gimmicks and watched someone like Kurt Angle struggle with all the injuries he’s been through.
Oliver Copp, who has done work for the UFC in Germany, is of course a huge wrestling supporter.
The truth is that for a lot of people covering MMA, they admit that they are/were wrestling fans or are closet fans. What does ‘a lot’ constitute? I’d have to say at least half. At least.
The big question I wonder is if the supporters that pro-wrestling has lost over the years will ever support the industry again.
As for my experience and background, most people know my story. I had the unique opportunity to watch the rise of the UWF and then Pancrase as a teenager while at the same time watching what was happening with UFC and then the Monday Night Wars, but my wrestling knowledge was never limited to just those time frames. I grew up as a kid watching a lot of the territories and still have a lot of that footage. It’s amazing to look at the climate 30 years ago in both Japan & America and see what the transformation has looked like.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Aoki vs. Crusher Kawajiri
By Zach Arnold | July 14, 2010
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce August card in Houston shapes up
By Zach Arnold | July 14, 2010
A look at what the main card is based on Tuesday’s press conference:
- SF Light Heavyweight title match: King Mo vs. Feijao
- SF Middleweight Title match: Jacare vs. Tim Kennedy
- KJ Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel
- Bobby Lashley vs. TBA
- Fifth match TBA
That fifth match should be Erin Toughill vs. Shana Olsen to determine a #1 contender for Cris Cyborg’s 145-pound title. If it isn’t, it will indicate a couple of things:
- a) The promotion has zero confidence in Toughill or least lacks confidence in giving her PR
- b) They don’t think a non-Cyborg women’s fight deserves a main card slot on Showtime/CBS. They did the same thing last Fall in Chicago when they had Marloes Coenen face Roxy Modafferi in a non-televised match to determine a #1 contender for Cyborg three months later in Miami.
The promotion’s 8/13 event at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix has one match announced — Joe Riggs vs. Louis Taylor in a catch-weight bout of 182 pounds. (Ugh.) The show will also feature a one-night four-woman 135-pound tournament to determine a #1 contender for the winner of the Sarah Kaufman/Roxy Modafferi 7/23 Everett title fight. The 7/23 show is headlined by Shane Del Rosario vs. Lolohea Mahe and unfortunately also has Mike Kyle on the televised portion of the card
Jeremy Botter at Heavy.com reports that Strikeforce wants to book Bobby Lashley vs. Dave Batista (ex-WWE wrestler) on PPV.
That’s the report from Matt Erickson at MMA Fighting who said that the tournament would have featured Robbie Lawler, Matt Lindland, Tim Kennedy, and Jacare. There’s a few fascinating things about this. As Mr. Coker stated on Sherdog radio two weeks ago, he wanted to do an 8-man Middleweight tournament. He considered breaking it up into two separate 4-man tournaments in order to get suspended guys like Nick Diaz into the mix. He also said he would consider both a title match and a tournament. Then, a week later the promotion announces a title match between Tim Kennedy & Jacare with no tournament. If Matt’s report is true that Strikeforce considered a 4-man tournament, then they were essentially trying to compromise with what they had talked about as opposed to what has ended up getting booked.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Steve Austin says The Ultimate Fighter made him a hardcore MMA fan
By Zach Arnold | July 13, 2010
If you have not checked out Larry Pepe’s extensive interview with Steve Austin, go out of your way to do so. Download that show and listen to it in the car, on your computer, or on the MP3 player. The interview starts at the beginning of the show. It’s a really fascinating interview with Austin about a pro-wrestling’s mentality towards MMA and about the similarities and differences between the two sectors of the fight industry.
Here’s a passage from that interview as to how Austin became a hardcore MMA fan and why MMA has been able to take away many wrestling fans:
LARRY PEPE: “When did you get into [MMA]?”
STEVE AUSTIN: “Well, you know, shoot, for years and years and years, you know really lately probably the last two years. I mean, I probably get every single PPV that the UFC does, even if it’s not such a stacked or loaded card. I’m just a big fan and you know I watched the sport evolve… either a striker or a ground guy. Now, everything is a hybrid, everything is all combined and guys have diverse backgrounds so the sport has become what it’s become and that’s probably why I’m such a big fan just because you know the action is so intense in the ring with all the different varieties of fighting styles and that’s why I continue to be a fan.”
LARRY PEPE: “Steve, you said about two years is when you started not missing a PPV. What kind of like got you into it at a higher level at that point? Where there was any particular fight or what made you so intense about it starting two years ago?”
STEVE AUSTIN: “Actually, I was down at my ranch in South Texas and it was raining cats and dogs and I’ve never watched The Ultimate Fighter and they had one of The Ultimate Fighter marathons and I started watching episode after episode, all day long and I just got totally hooked and you know because at first my take on it was, OK, here’s just kind of another reality show. But that was just me kind of judging a book by its cover and I just fell in love with that show and from there on just a huge fan and to go back to your question about Brock, I mean, as big of a fan as I am, I live in Los Angeles right now, but going down to Las Vegas to see Brock fight Shane Carwin, that was about Brock. I wanted to go see an old friend of mine and see him make a comeback from you know a serious illness and to see two top fighters fight because Shane Carwin’s one of my favorite fighters as well but Brock’s my guy and that’s why I went down to see that fight.”
LARRY PEPE: “Fair enough. So, the UFC, for everything we hear and a lot of the statistical stuff, it seems to be making a big dent in Vince’s market share in that 18-34 demo and I hear opinions but nobody better than you to get one from. Why do you think that’s happening and what is wrestling doing wrong and what is the UFC doing right that’s starting to kind of shift a little bit of that demo towards MMA?”
STEVE AUSTIN: “You know, I don’t know what wrestling is doing wrong. I mean, you know, I come from a pro-wrestling background and I absolutely loved the WWE just because it was a big part of my life and we did so much for each other but if anything if I could say anything, Larry, I would say it’s probably just the realistic nature of the shoot nature of the UFC storylines and you know WWE right now is really geared more towards kids and you know while their product remains strong, that would be the only thing that I could guess. I’m really intrigued by the match-ups that the UFC has been able to put together… and you know when you see the backgrounds and stories of some of these fighters, the odds they overcome and how they get started in the sport and just the bio and history of each fighter, you know, that’s what pro-wrestling really used to be based on. Although in a worked fashion, so I just think it’s a serious, straight-forward aggressive nature of their programming which is kind of allowed the shift, sort of speak.”
LARRY PEPE: “Yeah, and you know Steve, to your point, I think that’s exactly what MMA needs to do to even grow more because covering the sport every day, there are some amazing stories out there about these guys that don’t always get highlighted and I think that’s what makes people identify with the fighter much like when you guys did your scripts for WWE, you were trying to make somebody identify with that particular wrestler, no?”
STEVE AUSTIN: “You know, a lot of these guys have such interesting backgrounds. The same with pro-wrestling. I think that although you know pro-wrestling is simulated, I mean you know it’s in a worked fashion, but the guys are by in large the same kind of breed of person. They come from interesting backgrounds. I mean, I’ve met some great pro-wrestlers and I’ve met some great fighters and they can be great people but people in those two forms of business are different kinds of cats, I find that interesting for everything that I’ve done, if people in pro-wrestling or people who fight they can be as normal as everybody else but they’re just different kind of people. It takes a rare breed to step inside that ring or inside that Octagon.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Where the American fight industry stands right now
By Zach Arnold | July 13, 2010
This radio passage from the Sunday Observer is an interesting discussion. The setup for this is the fact that TNA, the pro-wrestling promotion that Spike TV has heavily backed for several years now, is reportedly in very bad shape. Spike TV has put a ton of resources in pushing TNA and UFC at the same time. One property (UFC) turned out to be a giant success and learned how to monetize their base. Their base in terms of ratings for Spike TV shows is roughly the same as TNA. The difference? UFC is able to generate 400,000 or more PPV buys for a lot of events lately. TNA is struggling to get 5% of the amount of buyers that UFC is able to at this point.
The discussion at UFC 116 revolved around whether or not TNA would give Paul Heyman what he wanted in order to save the company. The answer appears to be no. In the radio passage, the ‘he’ being referred to is Eric Bischoff, former WCW boss who was brought in with Hulk Hogan to try to turn TNA around and has failed at doing it.
DAVE MELTZER: “You know, he doesn’t know how to do wrestling that works today. I mean, granted, that may not be so easy because I’m not sure anyone truly does as the #2 group. I mean, that’s one of the big problems right now is that you’ve got WWE and you’ve got UFC and they really are both, they’re different but they’re, it’s like it makes it much harder for a #2 group because in a sense the #2 group isn’t really #2, it’s a distant, distant, distant, distant #3. And TNA isn’t even #3, they’re probably #4 if you really look at it. So it’s… you know… IT’S HARD. I mean, the fourth biggest baseball league? What the hell is that? Some AAA league somewhere that no one knows about except for the people in the cities where it is? And baseball a million’s time more popular than pro-wrestling or MMA. I mean, they got a tough road to hoe and that’s maybe one of the reasons why, you know, (Paul) Heyman… You know, I don’t know that Heyman’s going to jump. I don’t think he wants to go in and be a failure. He’s had plenty of opportunities over the years to go plenty of places, between IFL, he was what was it, YAMMA, I mean they all wanted him and he turned them down because he didn’t think they were going to make it and…”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “And he was right!”
DAVE MELTZER: “What?”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “And he was right!”
DAVE MELTZER: “Yeah, they were both major failures. IFL was a money pit.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “If he turns down TNA, everyone, that’s not a good sign.”
DAVE MELTZER: “Um… yeah.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Not a good sign.”
A few years ago when UFC started rising up and growing, the question was this: Would MMA become a substitute or a replacement product for disgruntled wrestling fans? Early on, the answer was substitute. In order for it to become a replacement, the wrestling product being produced in America needed to changed significantly to stop the fan base from eroding in popularity. In 2010, we are seeing a real contraction of financial support from pro-wrestling fans and a real boom in growth for UFC. WWE PPVs domestically are reportedly struggling in the 100,000-200,000 range and TNA would love to draw 20,000 buys a show. What will the end result be for a company like WWE? A look at what’s happened in Japan tells us some key clues.
When MMA started to cannibalize the wrestling industry in Japan, the wrestling industry saw a collapse in television support. Without the television support, it became significantly harder to produce the kinds of shows that were needed to generate new fans or maintain the fan base they had. The end result (through scandals and deaths of key players) is that there are severe money shortages in Japanese wrestling right now, right at a time when we are seeing some good matches being produced by the companies still in business over there. The problem is that the fans largely don’t care about these good matches now. The mentality of giving up has already set in. It’s probably too late for a revival without major corporate support.
The same thing is happening in America now.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, TNA, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |