Nick Diaz: I’m disappointed fighting in a cage, cages only exist because of Hollywood, I’m the best pound-for-pound fighter, and my losses in UFC would have been wins under Japanese rules
By Zach Arnold | May 28, 2010
An awesomely awesome interview from Nick Diaz, who manages to say so many controversial statements in such compact quotes that I could only imagine what he would be like for an hour-long radio show. Please make this happen.
I’m going to make you go to full-page mode to read all the quotes. This will be worth your while, trust me.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is Andrew McManus the money man behind ImpactFC in Australia?
By Zach Arnold | May 27, 2010
To give you background on ImpactFC and what is going on there (this is the promotion that has booked Ken Shamrock and Josh Barnett), I urge you to read Robert Joyner’s two articles on this topic.
If you don’t read the articles, the rest of this post won’t make enough contextual sense.
For those who don’t know the history of Andrew McManus in his extracurricular activities outside the music industry, his name is most recognizable for his failed attempts at running big pro-wrestling shows in Australia under the World Wrestling All-Stars banner.
The idea behind WWA was that the promotion would try to fill the void when WCW went out of business and essentially book “name” only workers and try to draw via a tour-style set-up. As Robert pointed out in his articles, that’s exactly what ImpactFC is planning on doing. I still can’t believe that those fight cards by ImpactFC featuring guys fighting twice in two or three weeks is going to pan out.
If Robert’s reporting pans out (and I have no reason to believe it doesn’t) that Mr. McManus is behind ImpactFC, then expect the promotion to try to make a big splash in Australia and perhaps end up trying to get into a turf war there with UFC or at least play #2 to the organization.
A lot of money could be thrown around very shortly and it will be interesting to see which fighters will take the cheese. It could be a headache for other non-UFC MMA promotions.
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ESPN’s headline about John Calipari hating Rampage Jackson…
By Zach Arnold | May 27, 2010
When I saw the title of this article on ESPN as “John Calipari talks about his true dislike for Rampage Jackson, I thought – holy $^%! – these guys really have gotten the public excited about the fight. Then, of course, I realized they messed up. But what a funny headline.
USA Today cover story on UFC 114 highlights that this is UFC’s first huge marquee fight featuring two Black athletes. Any fight where the tag line is “this is the first time I’m actually going to enjoy beating the hell out somebody” is a fight with great hype. On the undercard, Cyrille Diabete is looking to finally prove himself in MMA on the biggest stage.
Is the semi-main event of UFC’s 8/7 Oakland event going to be Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida?
Time for a prediction — UFC will have less success opening and maintaining an office in China than they will in Canada.
So, the toothless Tennessee Athletic Commission has suspended five fighters for “9 month suspensions” but those will be reduced to 3-month terms if the fighters don’t protest… and Nick Diaz is still in the main event of DREAM this weekend at Saitama Super Arena. Scott Coker’s remarks about Diaz fighting in DREAM made me chuckle.
Speaking of DREAM, here’s Ralek Gracie talking about Kazushi Sakuraba.
Given that the Bobby Lashley experiment in MMA has worked out so well, how about a Dave Batista MMA experiment.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Will fans tire of “Rampage being Rampage” if he loses at UFC 114?
By Zach Arnold | May 27, 2010
Probable answer: Never?
(Long article time.)
With all the turmoil that has happened between Quinton Jackson and UFC, the anticipation of his upcoming fight against Rashad Evans is enormous and it’s fair to say that between this fight and all the A-Team movie publicity on a bunch of cable channels that the spotlight will never be as bright on Rampage as it is now. Turn on ESPN or TNT during the NBA Playoffs and you are barraged with A-Team movie commercials and promotional videos all the time.
As long as Rampage is viewed as a winner, casual fight fans and even hardcore fight fans will unconditionally love him — even if he screws up in life. He will get the celebrity treatment to a certain degree.
However, this is America. Americans love to build people up, tear them down, and repeat the cycle over and over. If Rampage Jackson loses to Rashad Evans at UFC 114, he’s going to get the Manny Ramirez treatment?
What’s the Manny Ramirez treatment?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Talk Radio: Time to get rid of the Strikeforce Challenger series and complete restructure the company’s schedule of events
By Zach Arnold | May 27, 2010
Larry Pepe of Pro MMA radio had a very good deconstruction of Strikeforce on his radio show this week, talking about all of the problems that are currently ailing the promotion and what kind of wholesale changes the company needs to make.
As of when I am writing this, ratings haven’t been released for the last SF Challengers show that took place last Friday night at The Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. (Read the comments section for more on ratings.)
When it comes to debating the idea of Strikeforce having an A-show and a B-show, I am reminded of the old saying in the NFL that if your team is using two quarterbacks instead of one great one, you really have no quarterbacks. In the case of Strikeforce, they are struggling to make their A-show work, so a B-show is naturally going to be an anchor that weighs on them as opposed to helps make new stars. After all, if you can’t draw eyeballs for the A-show, the B-show won’t do numbers either.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Talk Radio: Why are online Fedor and Joe Rogan fans so annoying and obnoxious?
By Zach Arnold | May 27, 2010
Maestro Breen on his Tuesday radio show was asked about why Fedor fans are so defensive and verbally attack people online like Africanized killer bees. This is put in context to fighters like Mauricio Shogun who have passionate, but respectful fan bases online.
“It certainly seems that Shogun fans are some of the most impassioned fans in Mixed Martial Arts, which is interesting because despite being impassioned… like there’s a hierarchy of MMA fighters who have horrible fans. Fedor fans are always the worst. And I find it interesting that Shogun fans seem to be like really passionate but yet they never, like, I would never think of them making my annoyance list which is interesting and so kudos to you guys.”
Which leads to the obvious question — is the obnoxiousness of Fedor’s online fans a reason why so many people want to see him lose?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bruce Buffer’s lesson of the day: MMA fighters should not fight angry pit bulls
By Zach Arnold | May 27, 2010
From his radio show on Tuesday, I know this story is ‘old news’ and I’ll give more background links at the end of the passage, but the way Bruce told the story at the beginning of his show was simply amusing to listen to.
“Did you hear about TUF’s I hope to say his name right, I haven’t announced him yet, Kyasey Uscola being attacked by pit bulls?
“OK, well, get ready for this. This is freaky. .. and this goes to show how tough MMA fighters on the level that these guys fight are. He was actually walking on the side of the TUF house on the road when these Pits ran up to him, they sort of ran up to him and they cornered him. Now like he claims like an idiot he didn’t run when he should have run, so he squared off with them, he sliced his hand punching one in the teeth, he got chunks bitten out of his shoulder, his hip, his hamstring. Now you want to know where the money shot was? He got bit right through the urethra on his penis. Yep. Yep. Bit a hole right through the urethra. Unbelievable. So, he’s supposedly he’s fine now but you want to talk about freaking out? That’s a freak out.
“Well, you know, shock sets in afterwards but if he’s listening I hope you’re OK because wow, I mean that literally he could have had a career-ending injury if not died being attacked by pit bulls and one last thing, I’m an animal lover and everybody gives pit bulls a bad rap. The bad rap goes with the people that own the pit bulls, that over breed them and idiots like you know football players that we know of that have you know had dog fights with them and whether they serve their time or not it’s just a horrific situation. Pit bulls are actually a wonderful animal. Raised properly, they’re a fantastic dog. Great dog. Beautiful dog, too.”
The picture they used (from Flickr) of the sink with blood in it is gross and Cage Potato asked the obvious question about where the security was given how many camera crews are in the fighters’ faces all the time.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The end of Tito Ortiz in UFC?
By Zach Arnold | May 26, 2010
So it was revealed that he needs neck surgery for disc issues. I thought the surgery from NuVasive was supposed to fix a lot of his problems? It would seem like a real injury as opposed to the “skull” issues he claimed he had going into the Forrest Griffin fight (and Forrest went in with a broken foot). Truthfully, Tito is physically shot and it’s time for either UFC or a major athletic commission to step in and end his career — you can’t come back from all those surgeries and expect to even compete against middle-of-the-road Light Heavyweights at this point. Meanwhile, Chuck Liddell is pissed that Tito “didn’t ever want to fight him”, but Chuck should thank Tito because this season’s TUF has been a very positive development for keeping Chuck’s career alive.
Kotaku has a report on UFC’s online use-code mishaps. At least you can be Shaq in the UFC game if you want.
Mike Russow, police officer. A surge in MMA fighters donning the badge?
Nick Diaz says Hayato Sakurai is better than Takanori Gomi and Shinya Aoki. I guess he has to try to justify that main event for DREAM’s show coming up at Saitama Super Arena. In terms of drawing power, it’s as ridiculous of a main event for a major building in Japan as I’ve seen for a long time (excluding anything Sengoku has done).
Showdown Joe Ferraro described today’s UFC press conference as an awkward atmosphere. You think? The media bandwagon of picking Rashad Evans to beat Rampage Jackson continues to grow. Rampage was all business at the presser. A serious Rampage is a winning Rampage.
I noted in an interview that Reed Harris did on Tapout radio that Reed called the Leonard Garcia/Korean Zombie fight the best fight he’s ever seen in MMA. Leonard might agree with him and also thinks he hasn’t reached the prime of his career, yet.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
These things I really know to be true…
By Zach Arnold | May 26, 2010
Reading your minds
That after all these years, I still don’t know entirely what moves the needle with MMA fans online. I once thought that the narrow list included:
- Dana White
- Fedor
- Steroids
- Gina Carano
- PRIDE vs. UFC
- Ring card girls
However, not even that list seems as consistent these days. I would be interested in hearing your opinions on what you think are “sure fire, can’t miss” topics that will draw an automatic discussion from readers.
Our readership, it should be noted, is exponentially growing these days, though the comments section has stayed about the same. The silent majority continues to grow. I need to figure out how to agitate you into action.
Soap in your mouth
That the reaction to Dave Meltzer’s comments on why we don’t see judges giving out 10-10 scores for rounds drew some ire from readers who left me notes saying how disappointed they were in the language that he used and the tenor in which he did so.
I will say this about the language issue — Dave has always used salty or rough language. He’s been calling bad fights or bad matches “abortions” for two decades now and still currently does. So, yeah, I’m not a huge fan of him calling critics of MMA judging “retarded,” but the best thing to say about this is “it is what it is.”
As for the defense of MMA judges and the attack on the judging system, I am much more interested in that. It’s funny that he delivered essentially a 2010 version of “don’t hate the playa, hate the game” when in fact he’s been vocal in his criticisms of some high-profile MMA judges for a while now. Chalk it up to a temporary mood swing?
But, yeah, I loved the PRIDE scoring system better. None of us are perfect.
UFC’s expansion into Canada is bigger than you think it might be
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White: Fedor hasn’t “fought anybody since the late 90s” and isn’t a top Heavyweight. Plus, “nobody cares about Tim Sylvia.”
By Zach Arnold | May 26, 2010
Dana White appeared on The Daily Line on Monday night, right after the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens. The show airs on Versus every night.
It was a round-table discussion format. I wasn’t expecting much to come out of it, but much like Manny Ramirez does “Manny being Manny” Dana White sometimes does “Dana being Dana” and it results in some statements that always get a rise out of people.
You will notice the money quotes as you read the transcript. And I expect you to comment on them. Do work, people.
UFC Undisputed 2010 seems like a totally different game from last year’s version.
“I’m blown away by it, by how many changes they’ve made in a year. The head movement, you know, you can slip side to side, you can roll under punches, you can lean back from kicks and punches and counterpunch. They didn’t have southpaw last year, now the guys who are southpaw are southpaw which is a good thing. And you can actually switch to southpaw. They got career mode and game mode and all different types of mode. They got more fighters. They’ve done a lot of work in one year and you know people love the game when it first came out. They’re going to really like it now.
“They got the ring card girls. Absolutely. The real ones. Yeah, very important that the ring card girls are in there.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WEC frontman Reed Harris: Leonard Garcia vs. The Korean Zombie was the best MMA fight I’ve ever watched
By Zach Arnold | May 26, 2010
Any time Reed appears on a radio show or does a TV interview, I always listen to what he has to say. He’s a cool customer, he knows how to promote, and more importantly he talks to the fans and gets his points across without looking down upon anyone. I wish this business had more guys like him. So, when he did this 20-minute interview on Tapout radio on Monday, it was a no-brainer to take a listen and see what he had to say about the upcoming WEC show in Edmonton and April’s event at Arco Arena in Sacramento.
Excited for the upcoming WEC 49 event in Edmonton, Albert, Canada?
“Yeah, we’re at this point just doing a little promoting and getting ready to do some media stuff this weekend at you the UFC (weekend) because that’s a pretty big card, Evans vs. Jackson, you know, and then following that we go to Vancouver and then to Edmonton, so a lot of travel you know this next couple of weeks but looking forward to it.”
The main event for that card is Jamie Varner vs. Kamal Shalorus. Jamie manages to piss off a lot of fans. Do you think he’s really a heel or is he misunderstood sometimes?
“Yeah, he really is (misunderstood). And I’ll just tell you in my dealings with him he’s always been a perfect gentleman, you know. He’s you know commented on things that he’s said that maybe people didn’t take the way he meant it and you know I was up with him in Edmonton a few weeks ago and we did a media tour and I mean he did a great job, you know he was on the radio… a lot of questions were kind of centered around you know what had happened at the Strikeforce show and then what had happened at UFC with Anderson Silva and he was very diplomatic about all that stuff and you know I told him when we got done and we’re getting on the plane that I thought he did a great job. He knows that this fight is critical, you know, to his career. He’s got to win this fight.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Good old-fashioned yakuza scandal hits Sumo business
By Zach Arnold | May 25, 2010
Remember Enson Inoue’s interview with Jordan Breen last week where he said that the next big stars in MMA would come from yakuza fighters fighting in outlaw promotions? What he didn’t note is that being associated with the yakuza in Japan is still a no-no in terms of public image. Ask the people who worked for PRIDE about how Shukan Gendai’s negative campaign against them went.
Mainichi Daily News has a report that two sumo coaches got busted for selling ring side seats to members of Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest crime family. Their power base is in Osaka & Nagoya, but the turf wars over the last several years has caused major fighting between Yamaguchi-gumi and Inagawa-kai, the big boys in the Kanto area.
Every year, there is a Sumo tournament at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya (9,000 seat building) and the Mainichi report claims that members of Kodo-kai, Yamaguchi-gumi’s clan in Nagoya, was the beneficiary of the ring side tickets being sold to them.
Take note of this paragraph in the Mainichi report:
Investigators believe the gang members sought to show themselves on live broadcasts of the tournament and give their compatriots watching in prison courage as they serve out their terms.
I point this out because this is a major reason why the Tokyo Metropolitian Police, who don’t have the same kind of criminal powers to go after the bad guys like American authorities do with racketeering laws, get furious when they see big shots in yakuza gangs mugging it up at sporting events on TV. It’s a recruiting tool and a powerful one at that.
It’s something that has also been commonplace in the Japanese fight game for a long, long time. It was a critical part to the storyline about the yakuza scandal that destroyed PRIDE. Seiya Kawamata, who was the yakuza fixer that took care of gangsters at MMA events, claimed that he was ordered to take gangsters from front row seating and put them backstage into VIP rooms. This activity, according to Kawamata, allegedly occurred during the days when PRIDE & K-1 were co-promoting with each other.
Remember when former gangster Hiromichi Momose used to be at ringside for all the PRIDE events and after every fight the winner would go to him at ringside and shake his hand? (He was the one in a black ball cap and black glasses).
The idea of “yakuza special seating” at fighting events is nothing new. It’s why when you saw ticket prices for ring side seats go for 30,000Y and “royal ringside seats” go for 100,000Y a pop that there was always some snickering about the VIP seating.
The more things change, the more they stay the same in the Japanese fight game.
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Discussing the future of women’s MMA and whether or not UFC or Strikeforce has the desire or responsibility to help grow it
By Zach Arnold | May 25, 2010
This originally was going to be one of our ‘talk radio’ segments on the site, but there are so many questions and so many issues raised here when you bring up this subject that I think we’ll take some time to go over some quotes from a recent radio discussion on the topic and break down the bigger points on a case-by-case basis.
To paint a picture here for those of you who don’t follow women’s MMA, right now the perception is largely that it’s a division with two notable names, Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg, and everyone else is beneath them. Dana White as UFC President had a chance to bring in Gina Carano either to the UFC or even the WEC (as Zuffa owns WEC) and he didn’t do it. He’s not a fan of women’s MMA and I don’t think he will be a fan of women’s MMA even if he does see women’s MMA draw some big-money fights. In many respects, I think he views women’s MMA the same way Vince McMahon views women’s wrestling. WWE had a chance to build a legitimate women’s division and instead McMahon promotes his vision of what women’s wrestling is, which is that most of the girls look like barbie dolls and are more or less toys for the boys. No matter what women like Trish Stratus did, Vince has always had this mindset on what women’s wrestling should be versus what it could be. I think Dana White respects the fact that women want to fight in MMA, but he doesn’t particularly care to watch it nor does he feel the need to promote it or help build it up.
The last point is a major question to focus on — does UFC have a responsibility to build up women’s Mixed Martial Arts? Depending on how you answer that question, let’s re-phrase it: Is UFC the only vehicle in Mixed Martial Arts that can make women’s MMA “legitimate” in the eyes of casual MMA fans around the world?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |