Enson Inoue: 50/50 chance I’ll fight again in MMA. Right now, yakuza MMA is very hot.
By Zach Arnold | May 22, 2010
In a pretty remarkable radio interview last Thursday, Jordan Breen interviewed Enson Inoue. Any time Enson speaks, he is always bound to say something that catches your attention and makes you think. If you’re a veteran fan of Mixed Martial Arts, you know what the history of Enson Inoue’s career is and you respect what he has accomplished. He’s an old-school name with old-school ways.
It’s been a tough couple of years for Enson. After he got arrested for possession of marijuana, he found himself in big trouble. In Japan, marijuana is a no-no. While their laws aren’t as draconian as Singapore (execution), Japan is a place where the average citizen is likely to get a few years probation and some jail time.
Able to avoid a long prison sentence, Enson ended up taking a fight booking from J-ROCK for Hidehiko Yoshida’s retirement show on April 25th at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. He won his fight and ever since that point, there’s been a curious interest in Japan as to whether or not he will return full-time to active MMA competition.
With that background information in place, here are some notes from Jordan’s interview with Enson.
What is Enson up to these days?
“My whole life is about the people around me which I call family. To show an example for them to go on with their lives whether it’s their work lives or raising their families to make a right example and in the process of that I’m in the process of making a documentary and writing a book.”
“I’ve actually started about a year-and-a-half ago so it’s been in the works for a while but I’m just really picky about getting what I want, you know, I want to really get a good product out so it’s been taking a while.”
“It’s going to be self-written, it’s going to be all written in my words. The documentary as well will be produced by me, it’s the same thing… you know to have everyone understand that Yamato Damashii way that I’ve learned in Japan and the Yamato Damashii way of taking care of your family, living your life, holding your values, and keeping your honor.”
How did the fight against Antz Nansen come about?
“Well, there’s a lot of reasons for that. One was when I had legal problems here, of course you know I’m an American so I had a green card and they actually canceled my green card and almost deported me out of the country. The only thing that stopped me from being deported was I had over 9,000 petitions sent in from fans all over Japan saying they don’t want to leave Japan so I felt it was a good way to tell the fans ‘thank you.’ I’ve heard a lot of fans saying, Enson Inoue we want to see you fight in the ring after so many years, but you know I didn’t feel like that was justified for me to go risk everything I have and put everything on the line to get in the ring but you know Japan is my home and I love Japan and I don’t want to live anywhere else so when the fans gave me enough power to stay here in Japan I felt it was justified for me to go in the ring and put everything on the line for them again just so they could see the Yamato Damashii in the ring.”
What happened when you got busted for marijuana in your car and got thrown in jail?
“Well, I was very careless, I’m being honest, I really liked the effects of marijuana, not only the high, not only the good feeling you get, the fact that you sleep, I slept really good, I calmed down a lot, I relaxed a lot so I really liked it but I ignored the fact that it was against the law and I got no complaints, you know, I screwed up, I got arrested and did what they did to put me inside, you know I deserved it all because I did take that chance but you know the whole jail experience was overall a good experience for me. I mean, it made me a better person, it gave me a better outlook on life and I think it made me twice the better people that I’ve ever would have been if I didn’t get put in jail.”
“One, I started reading the Bible. Two is I’ve realized how much I need my freedom, how much I cherish my freedom and how [many] things I would sacrifice to keep my freedom. The third thing that I’ve learned was how to appreciate a lot of simple things, you know, there’s a lot of things in life that I overlooked but when you put inside all of a sudden with no notice or no warning, then you know the simplest things like feeling rain on your face, looking outside realizing what the weather is like, being able to decide where you go, what you’re going to do today, even if it’s just sitting in traffic you got the choice to sit in traffic, you got the choice to drive back home, you know you got the choice to do everything you know, I appreciate so many things. My life has been 100% more happy since I’ve been in [prison].” (He’s trying to say that his life is happier after the prison stay.)
There were 9,000 fans who signed a petition and had it sent to immigration. What did you know about it?
“It wasn’t something that I asked for, that’s what really got me excited was I never got on my blog or went to you know MySpace and said, ‘please write into immigration, I want to stay in Japan, write in and help me out’ — it just happened and I didn’t realize it was happening until one day I went in for an interview with the immigration one of the guys that interviewed me was a fan and he looked at me and said, ‘Enson, hey, check this out’ and he flipped through like a whole like maybe 3 inches of papers and I was like, ‘whoa, what is that’ he goes ‘that’s people that want to see you stay in Japan, they’re writing into immigration, this is unbelievable, it’s really going to benefit your investigation’ and I kind of freaked out and I didn’t know how it started, I don’t know who started it, I don’t know what they were writing, I couldn’t even see the papers so I don’t even know what they writing, but the petitions the guy told me that it’s no [expletive] because these guys got to write their names, addresses, phone numbers, everything, so it’s not just where you sign a name.”
How long was your prison stay and how long did the investigation go?
“Well, the prison term that I served was only 28 days, I mean people laugh at it and say, ’28 days? What a [expletive],’ you know, I know some people that have been in for six years. But you know what? Whether you are in one days or two days it’s just a fact that I lost everything. Whether it’s even if it’s for one day, you lose everything. I mean, zero, you got all your appointments, all the things you’re planning to do, I mean I always thought I was too busy to do stuff but when I went to prison I realize, ‘whoa, when you want to make the time you can actually make the time,’ because everything was canceled, you know so that was only 28 days. The investigation took about 10 months, almost a year, and that was long. That was a trying process that was really stressful because I didn’t know whether I was going to be staying here in Japan or I had a house, a car, I had an ichizoku, a family a following that I created in the last 19 years, I didn’t know if I had to go pick up and start all over somewhere else. It was stressful that 10 months.”
Was your fight on Hidehiko Yoshida’s retirement show a one-off match or are you planning a comeback?
“Yeah, the fight, I took the fight because one it was a good financial offer. Two, I wanted to say thank you to my fans and three I was also to let everyone know that Enson Inoue is back on track, he’s not a druggie, he’s not a pothead, he’s learned from his experiences and he’s back, you know, that’s the basic reasons why I wanted to fight and I was thinking, one fight that’s it, I’m 43, six years out, I don’t know if I want to go through this again, but I felt really good, I felt the most relaxed I’ve ever felt in a fight. I didn’t do exactly what I wanted to do but basically I felt really relaxed and I moved really well for an old man so everyone was asking me if there was any chance of another chance, oh hell yeah there’s a chance at another fight. I’m not looking for another fight, I’m not planning to fight again but I’m still in shape, I only gained 1 kg since the fight, I’m still been running, I’m training, I’m training out with my fighters, I’m being more active with the training, more [involved] to the sparring, so if I get the right offer and I feel like it’s the type of opponent that I want to fight, I’ll even be back. It’s not a no, but I’m not telling you that I’m going to fight for sure again.”
You said you would fight for the right offer. What is the right offer?
“OK, the right offer would be a fair offer and how much is a fair offer? There wouldn’t be a number value on it. For example if it’s like the people from DREAM the people that I know just use fighters and take advantage of fighters, they’re going to have to pay me well-over six figures. On the other hand, if it’s a place that shows me loyalty, five-figures, you know it doesn’t really determine the figure itself… determine whether it’s a good offer or not. The opponent would have to be someone that would be willing to go and stand toe-to-toe and try to come and finish me, you know, not try to survive, not just try to win the fight but try to win convincingly, try to knock me out, try to hurt me, that’s the type of people that I want to fight. I don’t want to fight another fight like I fought with Mark Kerr. I don’t want to fight another fight I wrestled Mario Sperry in Abu Dhabi, I want to fight another Antz Nansen, I want to fight another Igor (Vovchanchyn), I want to fight another Frank Shamrock.”
You have a very successful network of Purebred gyms. What is your schedule like?
“The Purebred Gyms, I think a lot of the reasons for the success of Purebred Gyms is because when I meet people and I make ties with people it’s always about true loyalty, you know loyalty that will never die and these people that are running the gyms, I got guys in Guam, Saipan, Thailand, that’s running the gyms are people that understand what true loyalty is and they are holding the fort and keeping it real and alive, but I used to leave Japan twice a month, I used to travel over 150,000 miles a year, going to Guam, Hawaii, going to my other brother gyms in San Diego, the Undisputed San Diego, the Fisticuffs in Washington, go to Thailand a lot, Saipan you know I used to travel all over my gyms and I used to actually visit my gyms once every two, three months, but right now because of my legal problems up until May 2012 I cannot leave the country so until then my boys got to hold it up and hold the fort but as soon as I can travel I’ll be at every gym that I’m affiliated with at least once every two or three months.”
“I really looked at it like, you know, I’m an island boy I’m from Hawaii. Whether it’s Guam, Saipan, or Hawaii I’m an island boy all together and I believe island boys, you know they have a hot blood in them that they like to fight, they have that fighting spirit. When I went to Guam I almost felt like I was in Hawaii because the Guam boys are almost like Hawaii boys and when they asked me to help them with their training you know I didn’t talk any money, I went to their gym or they were training in their garage actually and I went there for free, just worked with them and you know it was the best thing I ever did in my life because I’ve got a lot of brothers now in Guam that you know would die for each other.”
How would you describe the state of Japanese MMA?
“I’d say when PRIDE was up and arriving it was at 100%. With the problems with UFC buying PRIDE and the fighters all going to UFC, I think it actually got knocked off for a while and I think right now it’s back in the comeback so I don’t think it’s near 100% yet but I think right now the fighting in Japan is probably at 40%. It’s making a comeback definitely and it probably will be back, Japan is on a comeback on the fighting and it the home of the Samurai spirit and it will be back. It’s still in the comeback though, I think it’s really hurting right now yet.”
Japan seems to have a lot of boom-bust cycles. How can this be fixed or repaired?
“Well, right now the most popular of events here is now the gangster events that they have here, they have over a dozen gangster events that’s happening all over Japan and this is an event, I say gangster event because they let the yakuza, they let the gangsters, they let anyone fight. They actually have guys on that day calling out people out into the ring who wants to try, like a Toughman competition but it’s an organized Toughman competition and a lot of fighters who get into that they really train but there’s a lot of gangsters that just think they’re tough on the street, they get in the ring and they get worked really bad but I think in the next two years the stars that’s going to help Mixed Martial Arts in Japan is going to be from there because these guys, I mean if you walk in there thinking you are going to see a K-1 type of kick or a perfect punch, you’re going to walk out very disappointed. But if you walk in there trying to see the deeper part of the MMA fight the fact that these guys are fighting for peanuts, they’re not coming out there because they’re going to be put on TV or PPV, they’re not coming out there because they’re going to get a six-figure pay day, they’re coming out there to fight for their pride, their family, their honor. And it’s a whole different level — I mean, when you walk in there and you see these guys fight and you guys see looking at each other across the ring you know these guys aren’t looking at how much they’re going to get paid after the fight, they’re not looking at how much attention they’re going to get if they win, they’re just in there doing it for their honor to be in a ring, man to man, one man against one man, and see who’s going to come on top. It’s a really different feeling in there, and I think we’re going to get the biggest stars from there because these guys are hot, exciting, go out for the kill from the beginning bell to the end bell.”
Yakuza MMA — like The Outsider?
“Yeah, you know it’s a good thing both ways because not only you are helping the MMA world but you are helping these gangsters realize that you can be proper, you can have values and you know you don’t need to react on your feeling all the time. When we first started these gangster fights there were riots like three or four riots at one event, it was like ridiculous because these guys were still gangsters on the street and that’s all they had is that mentality so when their guy lost they’re running in the ring trying to beat up the other guy, they had no idea what a sport was about, but you know I go to the gangster events, I have to go to one next week, I have to go one the following week, I go to one every two weeks to be a guest and I haven’t seen a riot in the past year about and you know these guys are learning how to control their behavior, they’re learning to understand how the world isn’t about the gangster life and you know if you don’t like something you go get it, if you don’t like something you go put it away, if you really like something you just go get it no matter what if you got to steal it, you know these guys are learning values and you know understanding a lot of things so I think it’s working really, really good both ways because gangsters have a lot of good things to offer to people because you know they’re in the news for stealing or beating up people or doing stuff but what is not shown is the honor that they have for each other, the loyalty they feel for their families, those kinds of things are kind of put in the back so these guys can start learning values and start learning to abide by rules that society has man these guys are going to have a lot to offer for the people.”
What is in store for your future?
“Well, I’m definitely going to be more in the fighting scene, train my fighters, the book and the documentary, I’m back you know I’m going to be back in the spotlight, I mean if there’s a fight, there’s a good chance, I say 50/50 I’ll be back in the ring again but the big thing for me now is I hope you have understood that you know I’m not just talking out of my ass or it’s not a thing trying to play a theme about dying in the ring, it’s something that I really feel and I believe that if you ever get a chance to come to Japan, you look me up and we hang out. If you hang out with me and see the people around me and see the way I hold myself and value the things that I do and get to talk to me more on a personal basis, I think you will understand it.”
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
It’s time for Strikeforce to get rid of their ban on elbow strikes on the ground
By Zach Arnold | May 22, 2010
Imagine watching top UFC fighters such as Kenny Florian and Jon “Bones” Jones not being able to use elbow strikes in their arsenal of tools that they bring into each exciting fight they are involved in. While Strikeforce doesn’t have Florian and Jones on their roster, they do have plenty of talented fighters like Gilbert Melendez and Matt Lindland. Both men are accomplished at what they do, but in a sense they are (almost literally) having one arm tied behind their back by Strikeforce’s rule that prohibits elbow strikes on the ground.
After last night’s event in Portland, one thing was made very clear — prohibiting accomplished Mixed Martial Arts fighters from using elbow strikes on the ground prohibits quicker endings to fights. Matt Lindland, who predicted on Eddie Goldman’s radio show that it would take him a round to get Kevin Casey gassed out before he could dispose of him, ended up having to finish the fight in the third round instead of the second round perhaps because he couldn’t use elbows on Casey. If he had been able to do so, Matt may have gotten the job done quicker. No one was surprised that Lindland won.
Shu Hirata, manager for several Japanese fighters who fight in the States, recently noted that Shinya Aoki was extremely lucky that there was an elbow striking ban for his fight against Gilbert Melendez on April 17th in Nashville. Instead of the five excruciatingly tedious one-sided rounds that we had to endure, the fight could have very well ended with an appropriate finish had Melendez been allowed to dispose of Aoki with strikes.
Aoki wasn’t fighting under the same scoring system as everyone else here in the States. Not only the scoring system but he had never even fought in the cage. I mean, my god, Strikeforce doesn’t even allow elbow shots to the head. If this was in the UFC, he may have ended up being very bloody. It’s obvious fighters here in the States know that if the opponent pulls guard, then take him to the cage, close the distance and drop punches and elbows. Aoki never had to deal with that when he was fighting in a ring.
The Unified rules allow for elbow strikes on the ground and don’t allow for knee strikes to the head. There has been great debate about whether or not knee strikes to the head should be allowed in the States. What there hasn’t been a debate about is whether or not elbows on the ground should be allowed. They should and there’s almost universal agreement about it. In the case of Strikeforce, being different for the sake of being different doesn’t earn you any brownie points — it just earns you fights that go longer or go the distance.
The Unified rules allow for elbow strikes but don’t allow for 12-to-6 elbows, despite protesting from individuals such as Joe Rogan. It’s time for Strikeforce to allow the professionals to fight and not burden them with an unpopular rule that everyone else can use in other leagues under the Unified rules. It would make the fans, fighters, and television executives at Showtime happy.
Other news & Notes
If you didn’t already see the headline, take note that UFC has reportedly placed a date hold for the Sky Dome in March of 2011. Sure, they can cancel that booking any time, and it’s a good PR move to generate buzz that they’re coming. By the same token, you don’t simply book a facility like that on a whim.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC establishing an office in Toronto is good news for MMA; Update — UFC books Rogers Centre (Sky Dome) date for March 2011
By Zach Arnold | May 21, 2010
Update (5/22): The inimitable “Showdown” Joe Ferraro reports that UFC has put a hold for a date of March 26, 2011 to run the Sky Dome for an event.
With media reports noting that UFC will announce the opening of a new business office in Toronto next week, I am very optimistic that the long-term prospects of MMA in Canada will be extremely good.
I know that there has been some talk about former WWE executive Carl DeMarco talking with UFC brass — and he has denied reports that he will work for UFC. Nevertheless, Carl has an excellent business track record and I think if something could be worked out between him and Zuffa, he could really help them out in the area.
As far as UFC support in Toronto, having Rogers backing them is so critical. Rogers Sportsnet is already an excellent media outlet for them in Ontario and as I’ve stated before, UFC wants to run The Sky Dome and I really believe that it will happen. Dave Meltzer reported yesterday that UFC wants to book Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck for The Skydome if MMA is allowed in Ontario, but that seems unlikely in time before that Welterweight fight takes place. Ken Hayashi and Ontario politicians are still stating in the media that “the UFC is not a priority” for them.
Money talks and BS walks, so I fully expect progress to be made in rapid fashion.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce 5/21 Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon
By Zach Arnold | May 21, 2010
- Lightweights: Pat Healy vs. Bryan Travers
- Middleweights: Nate Moore vs. Tarec Saffiedine
- Welterweights: Roger Bowling vs. Bobby Voelker
- Welterweights: Tyron Woodley vs. Nathan Coy
- Middleweights: Matt Lindland vs. Kevin Casey
Kevin Casey hangs out with reality TV show personalities Spencer Pratt & Heidi Montag. I’m not sure that justifies someone of his record and level to be competing against Matt Lindland, but maybe it will sell tickets and draw ratings for Showtime.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kevin Iole: Don King almost signed Tito Ortiz for MMA. What if he signed Fedor in the future?
By Zach Arnold | May 21, 2010
Kevin Iole & Steve Cofield of Yahoo Sports talked about the fallout from last week’s canceled Shine Fights PPV event from Fayetteville, North Carolina. The focus is on why Don King went for an injunction to stop Ricardo Mayorga from fighting Din Thomas and if King has any long-term interest in getting involved in the MMA business.
STEVE COFIELD: “So why do you think (Don) King did this? Why was this so important for him?”
KEVIN IOLE: “I think plain and simple several hundred thousand dollars he claims that (Ricardo) Mayorga owes him. I asked Mayorga that, Mayorga doesn’t speak English so it’s all translated and I got a bunch of curses in return, so it’s hard to know the real answers but King says he owes him several hundred thousand dollars and King’s actions would back that up, Steve, I mean King’s actions would indicate to you because what does he care about a Shine fights card? Really what does he care about Mayorga because you know let’s face it I mean Mayorga’s lost two of his three, he’s a whackjob, you know I think in my story I called him the Nicaraguan Wildman and I think you know is very true. This guy, who knows what he’s liable to say, what he’s liable to do and you know given that he’s lost so frequently in boxing I don’t think he has that much value but King has worked really hard to try to get him a title fight because that’s where the most money’s going to be so King can get his money back. I think plain and simple that was it.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Earlier I said that Shines fight kind of freaked out on this. I know that North Carolina canceled the card but Shine Fights did back down on the Mayorga thing and there was a real fear here, right, that I mean you could levied major fines and guys could have been thrown in jail.”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I mean… when I first heard it you know I was working on the story Friday and then Saturday when I first heard that Shine was going to go forward, I thought ‘well, the Florida court you know has no jurisdiction,’ because I was under the impression that Shine was incorporated elsewhere but I come to find out that they were incorporated in Florida so they very well did have jurisdiction and that was a big problem for them so yeah they could not have gone forward with that fight without facing some severe penalties including contempt of court. So, you know, I don’t think anybody wanted to spend a night in jail or more over Ricardo Mayorga. He’s definitely not worth spending a night in jail over. I’m not sure he was worth $24.95 to buy the PPV, I was going to buy it but he’s definitely not worth going to jail over.”
STEVE COFIELD: “He turned out to be worth about five stories between yourself and me up on Yahoo. You know I put in one little nugget and I know you had told me about this a while back and I don’t know if anyone picked up on it but I was talking about Don King and MMA and you know if he has interest in it. He actually in the past did meet at once with Dana White, is that right?”
KEVIN IOLE: “Uhuh, yeah. And he’s interested in promoting in MMA. He was very close to signing Tito Ortiz. The first time Tito and the UFC had a split, Don King was in Vegas and made Tito an offer, he was going to work with Ross Goodman’s organization the WFL and he was looking in doing a thing there and he was going to try to sign Tito to a personal services contract and put him in that and Don in fact when I talked to him the other day, 78 years old, he said ‘when I get into MMA,’ not if I get into MMA, when I get into MMA I’m going to do it right. You know, so, we’ll see if he does but he’s certainly interesting and it makes sense only from this standpoint: you know King is a huckster and he’s got the name and he really you know I think he always has to have that hustle going and he wants something to keep him active and he really doesn’t have a deep roster of boxers any more, he has very few marketable boxers at this point. You know it’s amazing 10 years to now the difference in where King is you know he was at the top of the world in 2000 and you know right now you know he doesn’t really have much to offer so you know that’s how I think where his interest in MMA is.”
STEVE COFIELD: “All right, we just had a lot of viewers on Yahoo probably have their heads explode with the combination of Don King and MMA. So, when you weren’t in the room, but from what you gather on both sides, when he met with Dana White what was discussed, what would even be the possibilities there?”
KEVIN IOLE: “Well I think he was just trying to kind of get an idea of the MMA landscape from the UFC you know, Don knows Lorenzo Fertitta very well and so I think that was really you know kind of what it was doing and I think you know he wanted to say to the UFC, hey look I’m not stepping on your toes here, you know I think Don understands you know the order of things in MMA and I think you know the first thing he wanted to do is go out there and (not) create this big rift with the UFC. I think if anything Don’s the kind of guy that would try you know to push very hard to work with the UFC, get his own small organization, get a fight with the UFC, get one big name fighter, then push for that fight, push for that fight. You know as an example, wouldn’t this be crazy and this is just total, I’m making this up but I’m saying this as an example — if Don King gets Fedor, signs Fedor to a promotional contract, now all of a sudden he goes back to the UFC you know where M-1 wanted part of it all, Don King is going to want his five things – m o n e y, want those five letters and he’s happy so that’s what I think Don talked to Dana about, you know kind of how would the possibilities be, if I did this would you be open to it, if I did that would you be open to it?”
STEVE COFIELD: “All right, you sure you want to throw that out there? Again, that just was a possibility, not a real possibility, it was just kind of…”
KEVIN IOLE: “An example!”
STEVE COFIELD: “A hypothetical. Don’t scare people. Next headline, Fedor signing with Don King!”
KEVIN IOLE: “It’ll be out there somewhere, you know it.”
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Talk Radio: Discussing a strategy that Alistair Overeem could use to defeat Fedor Emelianenko
By Zach Arnold | May 21, 2010
From Jordan Breen’s radio show last Tuesday:
“If I’m going to sort of script a way for Alistair Overeem to beat Fedor Emelianenko, I think it would, I don’t want to say it has to be on the feet but it’s most likely it’s going to be on the feet. Alistair Overeem, you know I spent a lot of time pre-Brett Rogers bringing up like hey, you’re forgetting about this guy’s ground game, but I don’t see him on the ground extended period of time with Fedor having a ton of success. Fedor’s guard is surprisingly good, very very active, great fleet swift hips. I don’t see Overeem really wanting to play that game too long. If there’s a chance at a scramble where he can get on top, throw some hammer fists, get back up, probably in his best interest but Fedor has a great sweep game, a great great flexible guard that he can submit guys with, it doesn’t seem like the area you want to play around in. I mean, again, with Fedor Emelianenko you kind of have to choose your poison since he’s an extremely well-rounded fighter but I do think on the feet with the reach advantage, considerable power, that the potential to cut Fedor up, which you know Fedor fans always seem angry when you bring it up like, “Oh, try to beat him like a man!” but you know, you got to take what you can get.
“I think on the feet’s probably the best way. A lot of people have just asked how I handicap the fight. I do think Fedor Emelianenko would be able to beat Alistair Overeem. I think his head movement is extremely underrated. I think his ability to react to strikes in general is underrated. You know, a couple of people asked in e-mail why don’t people ever try to leg kick Fedor? You know he’s got that flat stance you talk about, can’t people leg kick him? His reflexes are stupidly good for a heavyweight. If you watch the Mirko Cro Cop fight, Mirko Cro Cop tries to leg kick him and Fedor’s able to check them expertly so quickly without even remotely getting off balance, it’s actually staggering. So I think it’s a tough match-up for Alistair Overeem because I think Fedor will be able to avoid and dodge a lot of the strikes that we normally see Overeem connect with against lesser opposition and I do think that just, bam, one right overhand or something like that could be you know Overeem on the ground, a little flurry, and that’s it because once a guy hits Overeem hard, it’s still hard to believe that he’s going to be able to recover since it’s never been part of his repertoire. And the last time, as I mentioned he got hit substantially in any combat sports field was by Badr Hari at the K-1 World GP and he got up, got hit again, and went down and that was it. So yeah, I would favor Fedor Emelianenko in the fight. I do think he’ll land something on the feet and be able to get Overeem on the deck and finish him off that way but if you’re looking for a way for Overeem to have success, certainly just pressuring Fedor Emelianenko and trying to avoid the right hand while putting strikes on him is probably the most effective way at least because going to the ground with him just seems like a more worrisome proposition.”
As for how Strikeforce and Showtime could do a better job promoting a fight between Overeem and Fedor and heat things up…
I think it would be in [Strikeforce’s] best interest, I mean I have something here about sort of the ratings that came in (for the St. Louis show on Showtime), they weren’t super-duper impressive, but if they can get that in July, if they can get July fight, I really do think it would be in their best interest if they could get him up against, even if it’s not Antonio Silva, just some decent heavyweight to get Overeem on the air because I think he’s an easy character to buy into between the scar on his face, his physique, the way that he fights, the charming accent and the way he has conversations with people, I definitely think people… like it’s easy to see why Overeem’s become so popular since his move up to heavyweight and it’s not something germane to MMA fans. I think casual audience, if they were able to see that would kind of pick it up quickly so I do think if they want to build Overeem/Emelianenko into something really big, it is in their best interest to try to get that July spot on CBS and cook something nice up for Overeem because I do think that if a more general public saw him in action and in full effect the way that everyone else has, they would get on board as well.”
And right on cue, DREAM announced Alistair Overeem for their July event in Japan. All the talk that Overeem and his camp had about wanting to fight in America and for Strikeforce in the Summer sure went by the wayside quickly when K-1 offered money, didn’t it? That was too easy of a call for me to make. I still fully believe that any of the matches involving Fedor, Overeem, or Josh Barnett in the triangle will happen in Japan. Strikeforce could air the fights on tape delay or live on Showtime and it would allow the promotion to have DREAM/K-1 pick up the fighter salaries.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney: I want to talk to Scott Coker and make a fight happen between Eddie Alvarez & Gilbert Melendez, and the money split should not be “disproportionate”
By Zach Arnold | May 20, 2010
During an interview on Wednesday afternoon on Sherdog radio, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney made it very clear that he wants to talk to Scott Coker and get an interpromotional Lightweight fight booked between Bellator FC Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Strikeforce Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez. Talk came to a head when Melendez, on Inside MMA, called out Eddie Alvarez and said he wanted to see the fight happen.
“Well you know I mean, as a fan I responded to it immediately,” exclaimed Mr. Rebney after watching the Inside MMA show. “I watched the same show that you guys did and Eddie did and we saw Gilbert call out Eddie Alvarez because he’s got you know the heart of a champion, he wants to fight the best of the best, they’re two guys ranked probably in the Top 5 world at 155 and I think it’s a great fight. I would love to make this fight happen. I said it immediately, Eddie and I talked about it probably six minutes after Gilbert made the call out. It’s a great fight, it would be a heck of a fun fight to watch and there really shouldn’t be any reason that it can’t be made. We should be able to make that fight.”
Rebney believes that both Bellator and Strikeforce would be on equal footing during negotiations to make the fight happen.
“Yeah, I mean, here’s the reality — this situation is easier than most. You got from a Q score perspective in terms of recognition with our endemic market, Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez are very comparable. If you’d ask the normal MMA fan on the street, do you know Gilbert Melendez, they’d say yes. Do you know Eddie Alvarez, they’d say yes. And if you asked them next who’s the bigger superstar, there wouldn’t be a big dichotomy, they’d go “I don’t know, Gilbert’s pretty big, I’ve seen him on TV, Eddie’s pretty big, I’ve seen him on TV, they’ve beaten really good guys, you know Gilbert coming off the (Shinya) Aoki demolition and Eddie coming off of his Josh (Neer) win in great fashion, so you’re not in one of those situations where you got an established Q score superstar here in the US and some phenom out of Brazil, you got two guys who are on equal footing, you got two guys who are equally well-known. It should be a situation where two heads of two companies can come together and make the fight. There shouldn’t be a disproportionate grab for economic benefit on any either side, it should be an equal deal, we should be able to go into it share revenues, share the opportunity and put on a great fight for the fans.”
When asked how likely he thinks a fight between Alvarez and Melendez could be booked, Mr. Rebney thinks the chances of it getting booked are very good — as long as the lines of communication are open.
“Yeah, you know, I’m not just from a PR perspective interested in talking about it. I’m actually very interested in making the fight happen. We’ve been trying to get a hold of Scott literally since Gilbert made the call-out and we put the press release out immediately. You know, we haven’t yet been able to make that connection and I know Scott’s running a business and he’s crazy busy and I surely respect that. I would love to talk to him about it. I have not yet had the chance to speak to him about it, my office has trying to get a hold of him and he hasn’t yet gotten back to us, but I have seen some comments he made and he seemed to be receptive to the concept and the idea of making it work and again I don’t think it’s a particularly different fight to make and you know my hope is we can get it done, but obviously I got to get on the phone with him or sit down and have lunch with him before I got any kind of a idea if it can be really made to happen.”
In a UFC-dominated MMA world, co-promotion is rarely done because UFC has such a huge roster of fighters that they can immediately book 11-fight cards on big shows. Mr. Rebney was asked on Sherdog radio if UFC was to blame for a lack of co-promotional deals in the industry.
“I mean I don’t know if it’s really a matter of saying that the UFC is to blame, I mean the UFC has you know a wide collection of hugely talented fighters that fight underneath that banner and they’ve been able to keep that confined and do what they do. You know I just, there’s as we’ve discussed many times, there’s room for a #2 and a #3 in the space and you know when there’s an opportunity like this to make a great fight like this it should be made, there shouldn’t be a promoter or a network executive that stands in the way of something like this. I should be able to sit down, have a burger and a Diet Coke with Scott Coker, spend you know an hour and a half talking through the dynamics and make the fight work. It’s a great fight and it should happen, two guys in their prime, so… you know I don’t know why it hasn’t happened in the past, but it can be made to happen and I can’t really for the life of me figure out a reason why it shouldn’t be made.”
Mr. Rebney admitted that it wouldn’t make much business sense (at the moment) for UFC to work with other promoters to book fights since they have so much top talent on their roster.
“Yeah, I mean you know you guys are on radio so I mean there’s an old axiom in radio and it’s at the top of the list of the radio axioms and that is when you’re #1 you never talk about #2 or #3. When you’re #2 and you’re #3 you always bark about #1, so the reality is is that the UFC doesn’t have a strong motivation or a strong driving force behind needing to do it. Their numbers are strong, their ratings are great, their PPV buy rates are significant, they pack arenas everywhere they go. So it’s not at the top of their list of things needed to do, but the reality is I happen to believe and there may be a lot of people who agree with me, maybe they don’t, but I happen to agree that Eddie Alvarez if not the best is one of the Top 2 Lightweights in the world today, that’s my feeling and those who share it can join in. I think Gilbert’s way up there as well and so I mean the reality is we should be doing these kind of things. We should give this kind of a show to fans to ultimately determine who is the best and then maybe you know BJ (Penn) and Frankie (Edgar) fight again and whoever wins that fight you know then you can have the good faith argument, you have can an objective argument and go ‘wow, Eddie beat Gilbert or Gilbert beat Eddie, that puts them as #2 and the winner of the BJ fight versus Frankie, that’s going to determine #1″ or maybe it isn’t but that should be put into play.”
When asked if he would be saying the same things about co-promotional fights if he was in the same shoes as UFC, Mr. Rebney hedged his bets.
“It’s a very interesting dynamic and it’s a great question, I mean you know the UFC is the 800-pound gorilla in the space and have become synonymous with amongst general market consumers the sport in of itself. A lot of people call MMA “ultimate fighting” so it’s an interesting question. I’d like to think that I could maintain the position of having my fan hat more often than I have my CEO hat on and if I were in a position if I had the #1 guy in the world, which a position that BJ has held for a long period of time up until his most recent fight, that I would look at it very seriously and say, ‘hey, you know, if Eddie Alvarez or Gilbert Melendez or whoever that fighter might be at the time is a really viable test, let’s see if we can make it work.’ But again, it’s always difficult to make those calls until you actually sit in that position, it’s always neat to talk about being King until you’re King and then you got a different perspective on things, so my gut’s reaction is that I’d like to think that I have the same perception that I do now and that is, it’s a great fight, it should be made, it shouldn’t be impossible to get made, and if I can just get Scott Coker on the phone we should able to make it work and I’d hope I’d have the same perception of it if I were in a different spot or if our organization were in a different spot some time in the future.”
Mr. Rebney believes that his professional sports-style business model allows Bellator to be able to do co-promotional fights better than the pro-wrestling style business model used by UFC.
“It’s a sport business model that cognizant of the fact that our demographic is young, that there needs to be big music and big lighting and great feature pieces and you know super slow-mo shots in terms of what you’re seeing on screen promotionally but ours is a real sport model, it’s objectivity, it’s fighters controlling their own destiny, it’s a tournament format that’s very analogous to what you see in other sports, so we have shied away to date from some of the more kind of marquee names that maybe haven’t established that marquee Vis-à-vis what they’ve done in the cage but more so what they’ve done with their mouth or Youtube or other places, so it doesn’t mean that that’s wrong, it doesn’t that I mean begrudge, I mean watch you know I watched every single of the heavyweights in The Ultimate Fighter and part-in-parcel it was because of Kimbo (Slice), but it’s not our model, it’s not what we do. We’re much more kind of focused on that competition that would take places purely in the cage and you know shying away from those elements of it just because we don’t have the time, the staff, or the ability to do it and it’s just doesn’t, it doesn’t fit into what we’re about but so you know I would say we’re more of a sports business model and less of a kind of a WWE/WWF modeling in terms of ratings and those kinds of issues.”
Would Kimbo Slice be invited to participate in Bellator’s upcoming heavyweight title tournament?
“Not a very high likelihood, no.”
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Women – Independent World MMA Rankings (May 18, 2010)
By Zach Arnold | May 20, 2010
From the office of the Independent World MMA Rankings
May 18, 2010: The May 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).
Note: Erin Toughill is temporarily ineligible to be ranked, due to the fact that she has not fought in over 12 full months, and she will regain her eligibility the next time she fights.
May 2010 Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on May 18, 2010
Featherweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (9-1)
2. Marloes Coenen (17-4)
3. Gina Carano (7-1)
4. Yuko “Hiroko” Yamanaka (8-1-1)
5. Cindy Dandois (3-0)
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. Tara LaRosa (18-1)
3. Roxanne Modafferi (14-5)
4. Hitomi Akano (15-7)
5. Takayo Hashi (12-2)
6. Shayna Baszler (11-6)
7. Miesha Tate (9-2)
8. Vanessa Porto (10-4)
9. Jennifer Tate (6-1)
10. Julie Kedzie (13-8)
Flyweight Rankings (116 to 125 lbs.)
1. Rosi Sexton (10-1)
2. Tara LaRosa (18-1)
3. Aisling Daly (9-0)
4. Rin Nakai (6-0)
5. Sally Krumdiack (7-3)
6. Lena Ovchynnikova (6-0)
7. Monica Lovato (4-1)
8. Jeri Sitzes (3-1)
9. Mutsumi Kasai (4-1)
10. Anita Rodriguez (3-1)
Junior Flyweight Rankings (106 to 115 lbs.)
1. Megumi Fujii (19-0)
2. Yuka Tsuji (22-2)
3. Lisa Ward (12-5)
4. Mei “V Hajime” Yamaguchi (6-2)
5. Jessica Pene (7-0)
6. Kyoko Takabayashi (11-4)
7. Jessica Aguilar (7-3)
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 | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sherdog: MMA commentators really do suck right now. Is Strikeforce too much pro-wrestling-ish?
By Zach Arnold | May 20, 2010
This discussion on Sherdog radio started when a caller complained about Strikeforce’s event last week on Showtime from St. Louis coming off as “too pro-wrestling-ish.” The focus was on the commentating team used for the event.
And it led to this five-minute exchange that was just great.
“Yeah, Frank Shamrock’s bias really needs to stop because it’s really clouding up the perception that he’s a bad commentator because I mean everyone says he’s a bad commentator and when he’s biased, yeah he is. But Frank does know technical analysis, he’s well-spoken, he’s good at articulating his point, it just gets muddied up in the fact that he goes, ‘I DON’T LIKE THIS GUY. I HOPE THIS GUY WINS.’ Who cares? Just say this is what’s happening here, this is what I think should happen, and this is what’s actually going to happen. Don’t… “JOSH THOMSON, HE’S DUMB!”
“Yeah, it really takes away from the broadcasting but really overall on commentary, TJ, we could nitpick at everything from all three of the big teams out there right now and obviously we have from the UFC, we have from Strikeforce and Bellator has its own problems as well.”
“I don’t think you and I could do any better.”
“Absolutely not.”
“However, I just don’t think that MMA has someone that can really capture a moment and make you feel just overwhelmed with that moment like boxing has. I’m not a big boxing fan and I’m not a big Jim Lampley fan, but when Jim Lampley sets the stage for something, you know what you’re watching is a big deal.”
“Oh, Jim Lampley with boxing is infinitely better than anybody else we have in MMA right now. And I mean that’s just is what it is, I’m not necessarily discrediting anybody on MMA commentary right now, it’s just the situation that we’re dealt.”
“Sure, but the saddest part of me, Lotfi, I thought Gus Johnson was going to be that guy.”
“See, it’s early, though. It’s early.”
“No! No! It’s too late, it’s too late, Lotfi. he’s comfortable and that’s something that I’ve talked about for a long time, once you’re comfortable, once you’re not afraid that your job is in jeopardy and not that Gus Johnson’s job was ever in jeopardy but the perception of him being good or bad was in jeopardy at one time in Mixed Martial Arts. Once you’re comfortable and you don’t fear anything, you get lazy.”
“That’s true.”
“Mauro Ranallo I don’t think has gotten lazy, but he has no filter any more. He just says what comes to the top of his mind. I really think that he sits there with a notepad and goes, ‘All right, I’m going to have to say this a little bit later’ like if Gracie beats Randleman or if Randleman, no matter what, if Roger Gracie got knocked out or defeated Kevin Randleman, he was going to say, “GOODNIGHT GRACIE!” And he did.”
*laughs* “Regardless either way, he was getting that line in.”
“He’s going to make sure he got that in, he’s going to make sure he did at least three references to Ric Flair.”
“Yes, and he did. He did, I believe it was six by the time we were all said and done, I think. I may have lost count, though.”
“All I know is when he comes out in that EA Sports video game and the first time he goes BOOM BABY! it’s over, that television is going on mute.”
“(*laughs*) That’s it and listen, that’s the major point that I take away from commentary, though. I think everybody’s going to have their qualms with every commentary team and that’s fine and I understand that you don’t like it and you don’t like specific things about specific guys, that happens across the board. But if that’s the case then just mute it. I mean, it’s just is what it is because you’re not going to be able to switch teams for the foreseeable future.”
“Yeah, it’s just… I don’t think asking for a decent just straight play-by-play guy is that hard.”
Later on…
“I’m in the belief though, Lotfi, that broadcasting talent isn’t acquired. You have it from basically from the time that you start speaking and it’s whether or not you can refine it and make you good. There are certain people that have it. Believe it or not, Mike Goldberg has it. Mike Goldberg is fantastic from a broadcasting standpoint. He doesn’t mumble, he doesn’t really ever make a mistake, he’s just so canned and campy and contrived that literally Mike Goldberg, you don’t need him cage side any more, you don’t. All you need him to do is to come up with the liners, do the live reads to the liners, put that on a soundboard and the rest of it is done, just like Jim said from Connecticut, the fight’s over, press the fight is over button. THE… FIGHT… IS… OVER!”
“Then just let (Joe) Rogan worry about doing everything else.”
“Main event time, OK, here we go. AND… HERE… WE… GO! I mean, literally, you can put everything that Mike Goldberg does on the soundboard. It’s not that he’s bad, it’s just he doesn’t change anything up ever.”
“Yeah, and that’s an issue and like you said that goes back to what you were saying before, I mean you go with what you’re comfortable with, you go with what works until it doesn’t work anymore and unfortunately I mean no one’s really there to say, ‘hey, this doesn’t work anymore, we need you to change.’ ”
“I mean Zuffa could just pay THQ to program the UFC video game and just pipe all that audio into the PPV and they’re good.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kevin Iole & Steve Cofield: Hey, maybe we overrated both Brett Rogers & Fedor
By Zach Arnold | May 20, 2010
The writers from Yahoo Sports debate.
Is Brett Rogers really a Top 10 heavyweight?
STEVE COFIELD: “Speaking of struggling, Brett Rogers on Saturday got a little lesson in terms of going against a top-notch heavyweight but we thought he was going to get a lesson the last time around. How did he compete with Fedor, lump him up, break his nose, and get physically and I think mentally destroyed by (Alistair) Overeem?”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I question the training that he did. I know that he was in Vegas a little bit. He went to LA to train with Mighty Mo, you know, of course got his legs kicked you know like tremendously by Mighty Mo. There wasn’t a lot of good training here in Vegas when he was here. I’m not sure really that he prepared all that well for the fight. You know I thought based on Brett’s performance against Fedor and the heavy hands he showed in the win over Andrei Arlovski, I really kind of liked Brett in the fight. I thought it was going to be a fight, but I looked at Brett as a guy that you know was going to be able to come forward, wasn’t going to be intimidated by Overeem, would match him and I thought he was going to be the more powerful guy. Man, that was wrong and before anything ever happened, I knew seconds into the fight Brett was in trouble because he was backing up and he was moving side-to-side, that is not his game I mean he’s not Floyd Mayweather, he’s not a guy that’s going to give you angles and move and do all that stuff. He’s going to be a guy that moves forward and gets in your face and when I saw him doing that I was thinking, ‘boy you are in trouble’ and you know all credit to Overeem, I mean we can talk about what Brett Rogers did incorrectly but I think you know it’s fair and you have to say Overeem looked very good in that fight.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Absolutely. I agree with you, I thought Rogers looked intimidated at the weigh-in. I thought once they got in the cage he looked like the smaller guy and then he didn’t fight like Brett Rogers. Overeem’s an intimidating guy, he’s a confident guy. Now, are we all going, I wrote like three pieces on Overeem, I compared him a little bit to Manny Pacquiao in terms of feeling more comfortable.”
KEVIN IOLE: *laughs*
STEVE COFIELD: “At a bigger weight, not having to cut and drain himself to 205, I mean he’s much bigger now but are we going a little crazy, do we not have to kind of factor in the fact that he is 33-11?”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I mean, he’s lost to some guys that make you go hmmm but even more than that, I mean, I just think you know we need to see him consistently against top guys and you know I thought Brett was going to be one of those top guys, I thought Brett was a least Top 10 heavyweight but you know now I’m starting to question that. You know not the fact that he lost, not the fact that he got knocked out in the first round, you know I could say there are guys who get knocked out in the first round of a fight and they’re still Top 10 in there division. But in Brett’s case, you know, maybe we were overrating him off the Fedor fight, you know, and this is kind of playing revisionist history and it’s not fair but let’s go back, you know, he caught Arlovski cold, you know Arlovski doesn’t know a lot about him so you know anybody gets hit with one big punch you know it’s over so and then he comes into Fedor and how seriously did Fedor take him? We don’t know, that’s the big question, you know, did Fedor really bring his A-game? You know if he did, then maybe that fight says more about Fedor at this stage in his career than Rogers but you know maybe it’s just as likely that Fedor you know didn’t really think much of Rogers, didn’t you know train the way he normally trains and mentally wasn’t in the same kind of condition for his top challenges.”
Is Fedor still the #1 Heavyweight in MMA?
STEVE COFIELD: “All right, well good segue on Fedor because as you know I think I’m one of four guys out of about 27 in our poll at Yahoo who is still voting Fedor #1 and for the first time I’m starting to re-think that choice. I can buy Fedor maybe looking ahead of Brett Rogers but the problem is he’s had a couple of fights now where he got lumped up and he wasn’t great striking against Arlovski and Rogers back-to-back and we’ve seen what’s happened with Rogers in this last fight and Andrei’s getting out-boxed by guys like Antonio Silva, who’s good but maybe this is really starting to say a lot about Fedor.”
KEVIN IOLE: “I mean until somebody beats him, you know have to give him that respect and you know he’s beaten a lot of good guys and it’s been a long time and you know how difficult I was talking with Todd Duffee about that and in this sport to go you know with as many fights as Fedor has done without a fluke happening you know that you know the first Frank Mir fight over Brock Lesnar, Lesnar’s dominating the fight and Frank catches his knee. You know if you looked at the two walking out of the cage in no way would you say Frank Mir won the fight. You know so it’s kind of a fluke ending, I don’t want to take anything away from Frank’s win because I mean that’s the kind of fighter he is but the point I’m making is you know Brock had most of that fight but Fedor’s never let that happen to him so I think we’ve still got to give him the respect because he hasn’t lost that fight, it’s been a long time but you know maybe there are signs and maybe you know it’s not his decline but everybody else is catching up, he set such a high standard.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Now you sound like the guy who’s voting for Fedor and I sound like the guy who’s anti-Fedor and I still have him #1, I didn’t say I’m moving him, but for the first time I have a little doubt and I wonder… if there’s a little doubt from the promotion with M-1 in terms of matching him up, you know I wrote a story a couple days ago saying ‘hey, Overeem’s backed this guy into a corner now,’ Fedor’s got to get by (Fabricio) Werdum next month but hey, you know what Fedor, there’s no avoiding this one.”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I don’t see how he can, I mean if he does not fight Overeem then he’s got big problems because #1, who does he fight? I mean who does Strikeforce/CBS sell him with if he does not fight the heavyweight champion? I mean it’s ridiculous. So he really has to, I think it’s going to be a hard sell for them you know on the fight in June because you know fighting you know Werdum…. you know, I mean, Werdum you know did cover himself in glory during his stint in the UFC, you know no great shame getting knocked out by Junior Dos Santos but I didn’t think he looked good in his fight with Arlovski, you know, so you know he certainly was not a big thing in the UFC certainly you know I don’t think anybody had him as a Top 5 Heavyweight in the UFC. Now, you know, he’s going in there, he’s getting a title shot over a guy that you know not a title shot I guess, I keep thinking of Fedor as the champion but he’s you know getting the gold standard match over a guy you know has the belt and who has a really impressive victory, so you know I think they’re going to have a hard time selling the next fight and if they certainly if Fedor beats Werdum it’s really going to be hard for them to sell anything but Alistair Overeem.”
How much trouble is Strikeforce in with Showtime & CBS?
STEVE COFIELD: “So, is all of this speculation looking ahead with Strikeforce and Showtime and CBS, is it pointless? Because when you start to look at numbers, I mean for replay fights you know a set of fights on Spike with UFC to do almost 900,000 viewers and the Showtime, a solid card, doing 300,000 viewers and now you got Fedor again on Showtime coming up in June, what’s the future? I mean how much can you pay guys and only draw audiences of 300,000, 400,000, 500,000 people?”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I mean, you know there’s a lot of questions now. Fedor did 5 million when he fought on CBS so you know he had a great showing in November on CBS but you know they have to be worried about that, Steve, there’s no doubt about it. You know, yeah the UFC put on a really good fight they showed The Korean Zombie and Leonard Garcia among others on Saturday night against the show, but you know what that’s something you would think people you know they’ve already seen it, they’ll DVR it and they’re going to watch the Showtime card but it looks like they didn’t. The one thing we have to point out that’s fair here is that Spike is basic cable so that has a lot bigger universe than does Showtime which is a premium cable, but you know the bottom line is it doesn’t matter when the numbers come in because they need to get people watching their show and I would say this — if the UFC was on Showtime, I think they’d be doing more than 300,000 viewers, so that’s you know the onus is on Scott Coker and Strikeforce as well as the folks at Showtime and CBS to really start promoting this better and getting the word out there, they use an outside agency that does a good job but they need to get their own marketing and their own PR working on this and doing a better and more professional job of getting the word out because they do have some good fights and good things going on, they have to let the public know that.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
KJ Noons vs. Krazy Horse Bennett in Strikeforce: Why?
By Zach Arnold | May 19, 2010
On June 26th at San Jose Arena (HP Pavilion), no less.
- KJ Noons vs. Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett
- #1 contender’s bout for Strikeforce Heavyweight title: Fedor vs. Fabricio Werdum
- Women’s 145-pound title match: Cris Cyborg vs. Jan Finney
I understand that Bennett beat Noons in the past, but what does Noons gain from beating Bennett in Strikeforce? It’s one of those situations where Noons benefits little from the fight and could lose a lot if he gets beat. Yes, Noons needs to build up his name to the American public, but look at what’s happened with his career trajectory — clowning Nick Diaz in their Texas fight to fighting Andre Dida in DREAM (in a fight that turned cautious) to now getting booked against Krazy Horse Bennett? Who the hell cares about seeing Noons get “revenge” for, what, a loss in Elite XC he had over three years ago that nobody even remembers or cares about? I understand that Noons had a layoff of two years due to inactivity, but he got some of the ring rust off in the Dida fight.
This reminds me of when Scott Coker discussed the possibility of Feijao facing King Mo for the Light Heavyweight title and Coker told Ariel Helwani that Feijao “has a thorn in his side” in Mike Kyle because Feijao lost to Kyle in the past. Seriously, who do you know that is a hardcore MMA fan that is clamoring to see Feijao vs. Mike Kyle in a re-match? No one. The same Mike Kyle, BTW, who didn’t get punished nearly enough in my opinion for the stunt he pulled in the WEC cage on Brian Olsen in 2006 where Olsen ended up getting taken to the hospital. Even if you forget that incident took place, who exactly wants to watch Feijao vs. Kyle in a re-match? Nobody.
As Jordan Breen recently pointed out, it seems as if Strikeforce has cornered themselves with their matchmaking and has a tendency to go backwards and not forwards in thinking.
That, in general, is the kiss of death for a fight promotion long-term — especially when you are in a situation where you are trying to keep things moving forward on Showtime after the deal on CBS turned sour.
Last week’s St. Louis show drew 308,000 viewers on Showtime, which falls in line with MMA shows on Showtime that don’t have a lot of star power. To put that number into perspective, the 308,000 viewers Strikeforce drew on Showtime last weekend is less than the estimated final buyrate for UFC 113 in Montreal where MMA fans paid $50 or more to watch Mauricio Shogun vs. Lyoto Machida in a re-match and a marginal semi-main event featuring Josh Koscheck dominating Paul Daley.
Topics: DREAM, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Late night notebook: The media can’t stop talking about Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans
By Zach Arnold | May 19, 2010
- The London Telegraph: Rampage Jackson says he’s fighting for respect, but says Rashad Evans can’t take him down and has terrible cardio
- The London Telegraph: Rampage Jackson says Michael Bisping and Wolfslair crew push him to the limit
- Steve Cofield (Yahoo Sports): Rashad Evans scolds Rampage Jackson for promoting negative black stereotypes
- Crain’s Manchester Business: Meet the UK law firm giving business advice to Michael Bisping and Rampage Jackson
- Fight Hype: Paul Daley says Quebec commission hasn’t contacted him for punishment
- ESPN UK: Paul Daley calls for crackdown on Josh Koscheck’s acting
- The Canadian Press: Josh Koscheck reslishes role of UFC bad boy as he prepares for Georges St. Pierre
- TSN (Canada): Georges st. Pierre and Georges Laraque booked to square off in a grappling match
- The West Linn Tidings (Oregon): Meet Chael Sonnen’s political opponent
- Heavy: Vitor Belfort expects to be ready for title shot by November
- Kotaku: Code required for UFC Undisputed online play
- Bloody Elbow: Weekend primer — Moosin God of Martial Arts PPV preview
- MMA Fighting: Kenny Florian weighs in on Massachusetts MMA regulations
- MMA Junkie: Grappling ace Robert Drysdale set for pro MMA debut in July
- MMA Fighting: Many big years ahead for undefeated UFC Heavyweight Todd Duffee
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WWE legend Steve Austin: If MMA existed a generation ago, a lot of guys in pro-wrestling would have done MMA instead.
By Zach Arnold | May 19, 2010
Bruce Buffer had a great interview with Steve Austin on Tuesday, talking about Hollywood and pro-wrestling and MMA. During the course of the interview, Bruce mentioned the stories about Steve Austin ‘breaking’ Sylvester Stallone’s neck during filming of the movie The Expendables. While filming scenes for a movie in Brazil, Austin mentioned that he and Stallone hung out with several MMA fighters:
“He’s a big pro-wrestling fan, he’s a huge MMA fan and you know we filmed part of the movie in Brazil and we got to meet the Nogueira Brothers, I met Vitor Belfort, of course you know between takes a lot of times we were filming into the wee hours of the night and I sit there one time and asked Randy Couture questions about fighting and everything else that went on in his career for three hours straight. Finally I looked at Randy and said, ‘all right, Randy, one more question,’ and he looked at me and goes, ‘I know you’re going to ask me more than one more question.'”
While discussing professional wrestling on the Sherdog interview, the topic of The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) came up, which led to Austin pontificating that a lot of the big stars over the last generation in professional wrestling would have considered doing MMA had MMA existed on such a high-level like it is now:
“There’s a lot of guys in the business that could go. You know back in the day you know as MMA has evolved and has turned into what it is now, so many of the guys I think would have been tremendous in that sport if they had started sooner. I remember growing up in South Texas that if it had been around a long time ago you know it’d be something that I would have been really interested in because I always liked individual competition. I’m not sitting here talking to you saying I would have been a UFC World Champion, I’m just saying that I have the mentality and the mindset that I would have liked to go down that road had I been exposed to it sooner in my life and that’s why I’m such a huge fan of the UFC and MMA in general. But going back to those Steiner Brothers, they were double-tough but don’t mistake them for being mean, they were just cantankerous and funny guys and probably some of the best guys you’d ever want to meet on the road and if you did ever want to get in a fight you damn sure want The Steiner Brothers on your side.”
It’s also not just pro-wrestlers but also pro-wrestling announcers who are very big into MMA. Steve Austin discussed the prospects of Jim Ross as a future MMA announcer:
“Yeah, I really do because I know Jim is an MMA fan, I know he watches as much as he can and you know he’s one of my best friends and you know that’s what he does and I think he knows a lot of transitions of psychology and at the end of the day you know you’re telling a story about what’s happening to you right there in front of your eyes and you know the story’s true is because it’s happening, it doesn’t matter whether it’s professional wrestling or MMA, the story’s the same, you have this guy and that guy and they’re fighting each other and so you call it as see it, so in that regard as far as maybe a few terminology pickups and stuff like that he would maybe learn, I think the guy would be outstanding.”
The Austin interview was a big score in what has turned out to be a very good month for Bruce Buffer. This weekend, he will be celebrating his birthday (it’s on 5/21) in Las Vegas when The Luxor Hotel & Casino will open The Bruce Buffer Poker Room.
On the weekend of UFC 114 on 5/29 in Las Vegas with Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans, there will be a UFC Fan Expo in Vegas and part of the festivities will be a “Buffer 180” contest hosted by Silver Star. When Silver Star got their first shipment in of Buffer shirts, they sold them out. As for the “Buffer 180” contest, there will be tryouts on the Friday of the UFC 114 weekend and then the finalists will compete on Saturday for Silver Star prize packages.
Here’s how Buffermania describes the contest:
“There’s going to be some foolishness. I hope they have them sign disclaimers before they go up on stage. I guarantee you that there’s going to be one or two people in the bunch that are going to try to pull off a 360. God bless you. Be careful, that’s all I can tell you.”
And here is Bruce describing what goes through his mind before he goes the “Buffer 180” and the “Buffer 360” moves:
“I’m getting my head into the game, I’m getting my blood flowing, I’m getting in there to announce the greatest warriors in the world but at the same time I’m limbering up my body because I just don’t stand stiff and announce like most every other announcer does with all respect, so I recommend that if you’re going to enter the 180 contest which starts on Friday the PR’s at UFCFanExpo.com and you can go there and you can see what’s involved, you’ll be signing up at the Silver Star Booth you’ll have to try a 180, show how you announce in the Silver Star Booth, and I think the way it works is the the Top 30 people, they’re expecting a lot of people, the Top 30 people will come back on Saturday and compete for prize packages put together by Silver Star which will not be cheap prize packages, trust me, there’ll be a lot of gear in there.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |