PR: Fight Advertising Network looking for advertisers to hook up with sites
By Zach Arnold | May 12, 2010
MMA advertisers can now affordably expand their online presence while MMA publishers can monetize their website traffic with a new online advertising network that is geared toward the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and the male 18-35 year old demographic.
MMA business owners, once forced to seek out their own publishers for online ads, can now use Fight Advertising Network to display a range of static or dynamic web banners on MMA-related web sites. MMA web site owners now have to choice to display advertisements geared towards the male demographic with MMA advertisements and other sports-related products and services.
“As a publisher, I was constantly seeing advertisements for national banks, tires, and other products and services that would be of little interest to the viewers on the site. I knew that my viewers would be more likely to click the ads of MMA-related products and services.” – Brandt DeLorenzo, Owner of Fight Advertising Network
Unlike other generic sports advertising networks, Fight Advertising Network is focused primarily on one demographic and a single sport. Businesses that advertise through the network are not required to sign yearly contracts or spend a minimum dollar amount. Publishers can start getting paid just one month after joining and statistics are available 24/7 through a user-friendly web interface.
For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release contact Brandt DeLorenzo or visit www.fightadnet.com.
About Fight Advertising Network:
Fight Advertising Network is a part of Backfist Media LLC, a company focused on MMA publishing, photography, and advertising.
Contact:
Brandt DeLorenzo, Owner
Fight Advertising Network
Backfist Media LLC
[email protected]
http://www.fightadnet.com
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Preview of Strikeforce in St. Louis: Is Alistair Overeem getting the Barry Bonds treatment?
By Zach Arnold | May 12, 2010
Here’s how the card line-up for Saturday’s event looks:
- SF Heavyweight Title match: Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers
- Heavyweights: Andrei Arlovski vs. Antonio “Big Foot” Silva
- Middleweights: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Joey Villasenor
- Light Heavyweights: Roger Gracie vs. Kevin Randleman
- Light Heavyweights: Antwain Britt vs. Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante
- Lightweights: Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro vs. Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm
Something interesting about the show is that listed on the promotional flyers for the show, the event has “Shamrock Promotions” as a partner on the card.
Josh Gross, on his Sports Illustrated radio show this week, made some interesting comments about the Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers fight.
“I hoped to have Alistair on today but he declined. Well, he didn’t decline, he didn’t want to talk about steroids, so I declined I guess. I don’t really agree to stipulations and that’s the story of this fight, I mean you’re talking about a guy who has had tons of speculation, he’s ballooned up in size, has not fought in the US in many years. Will he pass a steroid test? I mean we’ll figure it out, I’m not sure how stringent Missouri is going to be. But it’s an interesting storyline heading into a fight against Brett Rogers, who’s dangerous, we saw that against Fedor last November. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Rogers can hang in there with the fighter the caliber of Overeem, he can land a punch and put Overeem down, we’ve seen Overeem knocked out in K-1, but I just think Overeem is at a different level, is at a different level than Rogers both standing and on the floor, he’s been doing it much longer than Brett Rogers. I’m curious, I’m really curious to see if Rogers can make an extended fight out of it, I don’t think so. I doubt this guy gets out of the first round to be honest, but I expect it to be fireworks while they’re in there. If I’m going to pick one way, I think that Overeem sort of toys with him, kicks the legs, goes to the body, hurts Rogers to the body maybe, goes to the head, I think he can definitely kickbox anyway which way he wants with him and if it goes to the ground, unless Rogers is inside Overeem’s guard and even then there’s dangers of being submitted with the guillotine and a kimura. I just don’t see it.”
It should be well-noted that Jonathan Snowden published a report yesterday questioning whether or not Overeem would get tested in the state of Missouri. The head of the Missouri state commission is Tim Lueckenhoff. Tim is also a head honcho for the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), which happens to be an entity that UFC regulatory czar Marc Ratner is interested in seeing play an active role in recruiting MMA judges and referees.
I made the comparison between Overeem and Barry Bonds because I find it fascinating that Overeem, in a sport with a lot of drug cheaters (ranging from growth hormone to steroids to EPO), has sort of become the “poster boy” of steroids questions from the MMA media unlike many other fighters in the business. We already know about Antonio Silva’s history of failing a drug test.
Yes, Overeem does find himself as a face of Strikeforce given that he’s their Heavyweight champion, but the amount of heat he’s been drawing reminds me a lot of the Bonds situation because both men were largely viewed as heels and “bad guys” in general.
Here are some quotes from a recent interview I did with Bas Boon, who takes care of business affairs for Alistair Overeem.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 39 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Full interview transcript: Scott Coker talks about Strikeforce matchmaking, this Saturday’s St. Louis event, the problems with M-1, booking UFC castoffs, re-signing Jake Shields, and Kimbo Slice
By Zach Arnold | May 11, 2010
Editor’s note: I would highly advise any rational person against transcribing a 24 minute radio interview unless you are getting paid a lot of money. However, this is my job and this interview that Scott Coker did with Sherdog radio was very newsworthy in a lot of respects. I hope you find some informational value in this transcript. If you really love what we’re doing, give us a donation for the web site. Thank you.
Comparing the Paul Daley situation in Montreal to what happened at the Strikeforce show in Nashville.
“Well here’s the situation is that you know and this is probably the first call that I received about it and you referenced back to Nashville, I think that people have kind of already moved on. So that’s been the overall consensus and unfortunately, you know, the situation that happened, I had heard about it, someone had texted me about it, but I was on a flight so I missed the show and I didn’t see exactly what happened but I heard that there was like a sucker punch, you know, way way after the bell and you know that’s not good for the sport and you know we got to get past that with these athletes because it’s just unsuccessful.”
Was UFC cutting Paul Daley the right move? Why didn’t that happen in Strikeforce? Was Daley getting the axe due to what happened on CBS?
“You know, that’s a good question and you know, I mean, you know, who really knows. I think that there’s probably some influence, but you know, I’m not the UFC and you know they run their business the way they run it and you know I have no idea what thought process went into it but I’m sure it had some influence on what happened you know the week before or two weeks before.”
Isn’t there a double standard in UFC in that they fired Daley but they are pro-actively wanting to sign Jake Shields, someone who was involved in the Nashville brawl?
“Nate (Diaz) was over there doing his thing too and there’s no penalty for Nate. But you know I’m sure when cooler heads prevail you know they’ll be able to work something out with Paul but I’m sure if Paul will be on some type of heavy suspension from the commission up in Canada. I don’t’ imagine Paul being able to fight any time soon.”
Would Strikeforce be interested in bringing in Paul Daley?
“You know I tell you, you know, I’m sure we’ll get a call and you know but let’s see what happens, I mean I think you who knows, he’s going to be on suspension for I bet you 4 to 6 months, he’s going to be, he’s not going to be able to fight. I just think that, and again I didn’t see the tape guys, so I really don’t know, but everything that I’m hearing and what my friends are telling me that it was a you know, a blatant serious offense and I don’t think the temperature for that action, for that type of you know reaction from a fighter or that kind of behavior from a fighter is going to be accepted, it’s just not acceptable.”
Is there an update on what the Tennessee athletic commission will do for fighter punishment after the Nashville brawl?
“You know what, they have had you know they sent out the letters to all the people that they’re basically going to have issues with and you know they’re going to have a hearing, I think it’s this week coming up and they’re going to decide some suspensions and some fines and they’re going to go out and they’re going to go levy them and the fighters will have an opportunity to appeal it and try to go before a commission hearing so they’re going to have you know their opportunity to say or you know to be heard, but from what I hear it’s still going to be another 30-to-45 day process.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Would you be willing to watch Herschel Walker vs. Kimbo Slice? Would you watch if you had to pay to see it?
By Zach Arnold | May 11, 2010
It’s interesting that the most talk about Strikeforce right now is whether or not they will book Herschel Walker vs. Kimbo Slice, rather than the focus being on their St. Louis show this Saturday…
Which brings us to a discussion that Steve Cofield of Cagewriter.com and Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports had about Kimbo Slice being cut from UFC and whether or not Matt Mitrione will become a legitimate Heavyweight contender in UFC.
START TRANSCRIPT
STEVE COFIELD: “So, we’re checking in and we have so much to talk about from UFC 113 with Kevin Iole. We got to talk about Kimbo. Kimbo is now gone, at least that’s what they’re saying, that’s what Dana White said after the fight. He loses to Matt Mitrione. The argument started immediately on Twitter, online, with some media guys saying ‘Thank God he’s gone, no one wants to pay for this guy,’ and you know I kind of fired back and I said, ‘I don’t think you know the casual fan, I actually do think the casual fan would pay for another Kimbo fight.’ ”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I mean… I don’t have a problem with the decision to cut him because you know who’s he going to beat? I have respect for Kimbo and I go back to his Elite XC days. I was not among the Kimbo bashers. In the Elite XC days, my take was, ‘Hey, the guy can’t fight, but he’s trying to learn now,’ I don’t think he was in the kind of camp that was benefiting him in his Elite XC days and I think he had you know a year and a half, two years whatever that was, basically that were wasted because he wasn’t getting the kind of instruction in overall MMA coaching that he needed, but then when he went on TUF and came into the UFC, he got hooked up with ATT and clearly they were working very hard with him and you could see that he made progress, but he was starting from such a low point. He was a zero that you know I mean can he get there? You know maybe he could if they would give him a longer period of time, although you know I think that there’s a couple of points that you have to bring up. You know, his reputation is as a puncher, as a banger. He does not have a big punch. I said that, you know, in your infamous radio interview with $kala, Jared Shaw, where he said that there’s nobody in MMA that can stand with Kimbo and I thought that was one of the most ridiculous comments I’ve ever heard, you know, Kimbo is not a hard puncher and if he was a hard puncher I think he would have been more willing to stand with Matt Mitrione but he didn’t even have confidence in his own punching power except he wanted to take Mitrione to the ground. So from the standpoint of competitiveness, I don’t think there’s a lot of guys in the UFC that he can beat and really even be competitive with, so that’s one thing. I do think that the fans, you know, there’s an intrigue about him, the luster is going to wear off as he successive performance is bad. We didn’t see the Kimbo power against Houston Alexander, we didn’t see it in TUF against Roy Nelson, and certainly we saw no evidence of it against Mitrione, so the next fight I don’t think that Kimbomania would have been as big as it was before this fight, but I still think some fans would have been interested. Maybe one more loss and that would have been it, so the UFC got ahead of the curve and said, ‘You know what Kimbo? You know you’re not ready to compete in the top organization right now,’ so you know, good luck and maybe we’ll see you later.”
STEVE COFIELD: “With that said, we rarely see guys cut after two fights after going just one-and-one, so was there an extra money element to this where you know it wasn’t just worth their while in terms of the money?”
KEVIN IOLE: “Well, guys are cut after one fight, I mean let’s look at the Rolles Gracie, I mean you know and I think if Rolles Gracie had shown anything he’d be around with the last name that he has, I mean there’s a guy that Kimbo can compete you know Rolles Gracie, but you know Kimbo is making a lot of money and he wasn’t performing at a high very level which you know I think UFC rightly realized that, hey, you know going forward, you know you’re going to lose whatever hardcore fan interest you had, you’re going to lose them. The casual fan I think you’re going to lose some of them because you know the mystique is being wiped away with each success fight. You know, let’s be honest, Matt Mitrione is 1-0 going into the fight, I mean it’s not like you know he was fighting Cain Velasquez, I mean he was fighting a guy that I think is a talented guy that has some raw potential that could be developed but Matt Mitrione is certainly no threat today to win the Heavyweight title and Kimbo was not at all competitive with him.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Yeah. The checking of leg kicks was amateurish, it was pretty bad. So, going from here, if you’re Strikeforce, do you take a chance on Kimbo? Do you match him up, why not just put him in there with a guy like Herschel Walker? Would that be a mismatch? That would be a fight that you could sell. Or is he so down now it’s not worth any money, any amount of money for a US promotion to bring him in?”
KEVIN IOLE: “I personally don’t think that’s a good move for Strikeforce. You know, I just think it opens them up to more criticism. I think Kimbo, you know, goes to Japan if he continues to fight and I think that’s where he would be the best and I think you know the Japanese tend to like fighters with that kind of look, you know, it’s a different look and they like that. I think that you know Kimbo would have some success, can make some money over there. You know if you put him in Strikeforce they got some real fighters in Strikeforce and you know while Herschel Walker is a newcomer to the sport and maybe Kimbo beats Herschel Walker… I’d have to think about it, but you know beyond that where do you go with the guy? So I think you know hey, let him go to Japan and see what he does. You know, Kimbo also has to decide, ‘Do I want to do this going forward?’ ”
STEVE COFIELD: “We should give Matt Mitrione a little love, Meathead did a good job and you know he showed some versatility. Obviously he was drilled very well by Pat Berry and came up with a nice game plan and he’s a good athlete.”
KEVIN IOLE: “He is. Obviously he played in the NFL, he was a four-year starter at Purdue so you know you have to be a fairly good athlete. You know, Steve, I think Mitrione has a lot of ability. Now, you know, he’s kind of coming again from ground zero and you know he’s fighting in the UFC that had he not gotten on TUF and gotten a break you know he wouldn’t be anywhere close to the UFC, so you know whether there are guys out there in other organizations that are better than he is? Right now, sure there are. But I think that he’s a guy that can develop and you know he may have to go out of the UFC to really you know speed up his development, get where he wants to be because I think as he moves up the latter he’s not going to get these kind of you know soft touches that he’s gotten. You know it turns out Marcus Jones, you know, a great guy and a guy that you wish would succeed just because of the kind of human being Marcus is, you know, Marcus just didn’t have a chin to compete in MMA especially against anybody of any note and then Kimbo, you know, is very limited but so Mitrione when he starts to face some legitimate people, you know there’s a big question there with him.”
END TRANSCRIPT
Other news & notes
Remember the transcript I did of a Dana White interview before UFC 113 in Montreal? He said at that time that the winner of Rampage/Rashad wouldn’t necessarily be the #1 contender for the winner of Machida/Shogun. Well, a few days later, you can throw that out of the window. Josh Gross asks what’s next for Shogun.
Interested in seeing Roy Nelson vs. Junior dos Santos in the UFC?
Dana White told CNBC on Monday that UFC’s video game last year sold four million copies. He seems happy with the way business is going.
A promotion called Honour Combat Championships will run an MMA event in Vancouver on 5/21.
I’m still trying to figure out why Hector Lombard vs. Paulo Filho is happening in Monroe, Louisiana this Thursday, but it sure is for Bellator.
Here’s a story about a woman named Tracy Tate who has a women’s MMA clothing line called Cage Candy that she hopes can draw a demographic that a lot of MMA t-shirt makers have tried to conquer. Wild woman. Her Twitter account is here and her MySpace is here.
- Franklin McNeil (ESPN): Dana White sends message to fans, fighters
- Head Kick Legend: The over/under on Strikeforce partnering with Simon Rutz and It’s Showtime
- Sherdog: Don King files for injunction against Ricardo Mayorga, Shine Fights
- The National Post (Canada): A look inside the UFC’s traveling circus
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Open hearing on May 18th for public in Massachusetts for MMA legislation
By Zach Arnold | May 10, 2010
From—MASSACHUSETTS STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
We are writing to advise you that the State Athletic Commission will be conducting a public hearing relative to the adoption of its regulations. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, May 18 at 10 a.m. at One Ashburton Place, 2nd floor hearing room. All members of the public are welcome to attend and participate.
Every provision of the regulations will be open to comment. Despite reports to the contrary, the Commission has not yet voted to formally adopt any. provisions of the regulations. The purpose of the public hearing is to provide all members of the public an opportunity to offer insight and comment on any section of the regulations that is of interest to them. Also, people may choose to submit. written comments to the Commission. Written comments should be forwarded to either Guy Licciardi ([email protected]) or Ronnie Drimer ([email protected]). Once the Commission has had an opportunity to consider all comments, both written and oral, it will vote on the final version of the regulations.
Thank you for taking the time to read this notice. Please feel free to forward. this along to any interested parties and help spread the word.
Very truly yours,
State Athletic Commission
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Eddie Goldman corners Scott Coker on drug-testing issue in Mixed Martial Arts
By Zach Arnold | May 10, 2010
Last Wednesday, Eddie Goldman did a great interview with Scott Coker of Strikeforce. It was one of the more news-worthy interviews that I’ve heard so far this year and there were some very revealing answers from Mr. Coker on a significant amount of issues regarding his company and his thoughts on the sport in general.
You can listen to the entire interview here.
I did a transcript of many of the major quotes, so let’s go over some of what Scott said.
The upcoming main event of Brett Rogers vs. Alistair Overeem in St. Louis this Saturday was brought up and you can tell that Scott is very excited about having Overeem fighting for him again.
“I tell you this guy is an amazing athlete, talented MMA fighter. MMA is, you know, his passion and then he started fighting in K-1, in the stand-up league, which you know and I know the best stand-up fighters in the world fight in K-1 and so he goes in there and he did very well. I mean, he beat Badr Hari one time, he lost to Badr Hari one time. … So, for him to be able to compete on that level just standing up it says a lot about how much he’s worked on his stand-up. Alistair’s going to be a dangerous fighter both in submissions and the stand-up.”
Eddie asked Scott if the MMA media had blown the Fedor “will he or won’t he fight for Strikeforce?” story out of proportion.
“No, the way I look at it is you know we have a relationship with M-1 Global and you know they wanted to change some things so you know it took time to work it out and you know like any other relationship that has to be tweaked from time to time, we worked it out and now we’re moving forward, so to me this is just a hiccup in the overall picture, the overall landscape and you know really Fedor wants to fight and M-1 wants Fedor to fight so we’re happy to have them here, especially in our hometown where we’ve had so many great match-ups at the HP Pavilion. We’re happy to have them here and we’re happy to bring him to the fans who have been loyal to us for such a long time.”
The a big note I took away from the interview was when Eddie asked Scott about whether or not he planned on booking the winner of the Fedor/Werdum fight against the winner of the Overeem/Rogers fight. (Besides asking the question, it’s curious that Fedor is being positioned as a challenger while Overeem is the champion.) Coker’s answer is very revealing here.
“You know, I talked to M-1 about that and their position was look, let Alistair fight, let Fedor fight, and then after their fight let’s sit down and let’s discuss the next steps but they didn’t want to have a premature conversation and I don’t blame them because a lot could happen. I mean, a lot of people think you know Brett Rogers is just a walk-through opponent but this guy’s got some heavy hands as we’ve seen in the past and you know in MMA with those little gloves you’re never going to know what’s going to happen.”
When asked if he was going to recruit more heavyweights into Strikeforce, Mr. Coker said that he would bring in a couple of new faces but that recruitment is happening in all their different weight classes on three different levels.
“You know, we talked about bringing in a couple of Europeans, a couple of Americans in the league and I would say that what you’re seeing on May 15th with those two heavyweight fights and the Fedor fight against Fabricio Werdum, I mean I think that’s a very impressive line-up of heavyweights and you know the beauty of all of this is we get to watch it for free on Showtime. So, you know that’s the beauty of it is you can sit back and watch it on TV and not have to pay a PPV fee and see you know some of the best heavyweight fighters in the world. But you know not just the heavyweight division, Eddie, but I think all of the divisions and the weight classes we have we’re going to be looking to improve our fighter base and you know our roster and we’re going to do 3 ways – we’re going to either borrow them, what I mean by borrow them is you know the deal we have with DREAM or maybe we’ll borrow some of their fighters or share some of the fighters is probably a better word. We’re going to build them which is what we’re doing in the challenger series, which I think you know Tyrone Woodley and Luke Rockhold and some of the guys coming out of there are And Tim Kennedy who’s coming out of our Challenger Series and you know they’re doing fatalistic over there and you’ll see them in the big show pretty soon. And you know from there you’ll see those guys move up. And then last when there’s a free agent out there that’s available we’ll be talking to them.”
It was mentioned during the interview that a lot of Strikeforce’s shows will be airing on Showtime and not on PPV. Take a listen to this sales pitch.
“And then you got a hot MMA brand out there on Showtime and you know so it’s a great value. Yeah, it is, for the dollar it’s an amazing value.”
Maybe Strikeforce is a hot brand on Showtime, but it sure isn’t a hot brand on CBS — especially after the Nashville event this past April.
“I can start off by saying, Eddie, it’s unfortunate what happened and I don’t want to give excuses for you know how it went down or this or that. I’ve been in the fight business for 25 years, it’s the first time anything like this has ever happened to me on one of my shows and you know it’s something that we’ve taken measures to fix and it’s not going to happen again. And with saying that, you know I feel bad for the fighters that fought that night because you know this thing overshadowed their efforts and their talent and you know technical ability because I think you saw three real technical fights that night. We didn’t have that barn-burner fight like Gilbert (Melendez) vs. Josh (Thomson) or Fedor/Rogers, but it was three amazing and great fights and you know the situation at the end just took away from that so I feel bad for the fighters who fought that night and really right now we should be talking about that, the fighters instead of the situation after. So you know I feel bad for the fighters. Am I happy about it? Of course not. I do understand that this happens in all sports. I mean, you know, whether it’s football, basketball, boxing, I mean it’s just you know it’s just a situation that will occur from time to time.”
When Mr. Coker mentioned boxing, this gave Eddie a wide opening to ask the question about whether or not Strikeforce would support more stringent drug testing of fighters. Eddie brought up the question in regards to the recent Floyd Mayweather/Shane Mosley bout and how Mayweather demanded USADA-level drug testing with Mosley and both fighters did it going in and out of their fight. Instead of answering the drug question directly (initially), Coker focused on Mayweather. Eddie had asked him if he would support stricter drug testing (including random blood drug testing) for both MMA and kickboxing.
“Well, here’s what I feel. Mayweather, go fight Pacquiao, just go do it. You know, stop the excuses. I sound like a promoter. But you know to me, that’s the fight that I would love to see. and you know to me you’re not the athletic commission. Let the athletic commission do what they do and you know the fighter, go fight and if you feel like you can go beat this guy, go beat him. I mean, you know pound for pound, he’s supposed to be the greatest fighter in the world, so go do it. To me, leave the sanctioning, leave the testing, leave all the administrative stuff to the athletic commissions and that’s what they’re there for. Athletic commissions, Eddie, were created to protect the consumer, the fighter, and the promoter from each other basically, right? So, you know, if there’s an issue with the testing in California, California and Nevada adopt a new program, well you know what? Then that’s what Strikeforce will use. And if they have a national testing procedure that’s implemented in the states we’re promoting in, then that’s what will do. But until that happens, I mean you go to Nevada, I mean you know they run every test in the book and you know maybe the Olympic testing or the cycling testing might be a little bit more stringent but you know that’s not really my expertise and we’ve always been governed by the state athletic commissions and you know when that changes, Eddie, we’ll do it. But right now we’re governed by the commissions.”
Reading the text of this quote does not do justice to the way Mr. Coker sounded while giving this answer. In my opinion, he sounded like he wanted to anywhere else in the world at that time when the question was this. Even though the answer was corporate and milquetoast, it sounded like Scott wanted to run away from answering this as fast as he possibly could.
Eddie asked again in a different manner, this time bringing up how Mayweather asked for Mosley to be tested due to Mosley’s role with BALCO and the issue of EPO. He pointed out that Nevada does urine test but not advanced, significant drug testing to catch up with drug cheats who are 8-10 years ahead of where the state athletic commissions are currently at.
“Well I can say this, Eddie. Do I want top fighters to be on performance-enhancing stimulants and drugs? Of course not. No one wants that. We want the playing field to be fair. You know, that’s our goal as well. But you know when you have different restrictions in different territories and every commission is different, you know it’s sometimes exactly what are they testing for and then what do we test, I mean you know right now I think that maybe there should be a national testing procedure for boxing and MMA across the country and not just regulated by each state and that would I think you know make all the fears and all the you know on a national level go away for each fighter to worry about, ‘Is this guy is on this or is this guy on that?’ And you know Eddie, I’m sure in not just you know in boxing but in all sports I’m sure that you know people are always trying to get that edge to compete at the higher level. It’s been throughout history. Look at Ben Johnson and look at you know some of the great Olympians who have had to return their medals. So, it’s everywhere, even the Tour de France, I mean they’re always accusing Lance (Armstrong) of doing it. But I mean, to me, how do you really know unless they prove through his testing that he’s guilty, how do you really know? I’m not a doctor, I’m not a scientist, I have no idea.”
“I think that’s an issue that the state commissions or a national commission have to take care of and that’s what they’re there for.”
It was a lackluster answer to two direct questions on a very important issue in the sport right now. Eddie deserves praise for asking it in the manner in which he did.
Eddie asked Scott if he was satisfied with the current direction of Strikeforce and where the company stands nationally. Also, Mr. Coker was asked if he is happy the way the MMA media has covered Strikeforce so far?
“We’ve been really a national product for what, a year now? And we’ve put on some amazing fights and done some I think big, big events and I think that you know the media has been fair. I think they have been giving us a lot of coverage and writing a lot of fair statements. Sometimes the statements are you know like in any fight you know like after the big fights we’ve had with Fedor or Gina and you know we’ve had great stories and then after Nashville people are focused on the situations and you know sometimes it’s not always going to be great, right Eddie, in the media. We do the best we can. And let me just tell you from my position how I look at it is. We’re just going to keep doing great fights and just keep moving forward and you know judge us by the fights in the cage that night and you know we’ll just move forward.”
When asked about the Nashville fights that aired on CBS, Mr. Coker dropped this amazing line.
“I think that you know they were definitely technical fights and sometimes, you know, that’s the fight that you have and you know sometimes they’re going to be KOs, sometimes they’re going to be submissions, it just ended up being, I would have never thought that we had three 5-rounders go the distance if you were to ask me before the fight.”
Finally, Eddie asked Scott about the prospects of keeping Jake Shields under the Strikeforce banner. Shields totally disrespected Strikeforce by appearing a week after his fight at the Zuffa PPV on 4/24 in Sacramento with Dana White at cage side.
“I think that we’re going to reach out again maybe in the next couple of days but you know we’re in our negotiation period and we’re going to negotiate, so, we’ll see what happens.”
Trying to put on a happy face, Mr. Coker closed out the interview this way.
“You know what Eddie? Things always work out the way they’re supposed to.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Randy Couture says fight with James Toney will bring in new followers from the boxing world
By Zach Arnold | May 10, 2010
Quotes from an interview he did with MMAFighting.com on Saturday night in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at UFC 113:
Couture: “It’s not official yet, but we’re getting real close to signing it. James Toney, UFC 118 in Boston.”
Question: “What do you think of that match-up? Because I know when James Toney, when they first announced him coming to the UFC, you were on Twitter and you were asking for it.”
Couture: “Yeah, absolutely. He’s been running his mouth saying he’s going to knock everybody out. I’d be happy to welcome him to MMA. I think it’s a great crossover fight. You know, since I’ve been in this sport for 13 years, everybody’s been comparing us to boxers so to have a world-class boxer to finally step up and sign on the dotted line is a big deal.”
Question: “Do you think a guy like him deserves to be fighting in the Octagon?”
Couture: “Deserves? I mean, who says? He’s a four-time world champion in boxing, he wants to try his hand in MMA, he thinks he can knock everybody out. Why not?”
Question: “But, let me explain. There are guys who work years and years to get here and has never fought in an MMA match. You know, does he just get the right to go in?”
Couture: “I worked years and years in wrestling and walked right into Mixed Martial Arts. My very first fight was a UFC.”
Question: “But that was a different time, though.”
Couture: “Like I say, it doesn’t matter. Combative sports are combative sports. He’s going to be a formidable opponent because he’s a very good striker. They don’t call him Lights Out for nothing. I obviously have a wrestling background. How does that match-up? That’s an interesting match-up in my opinion. It crosses over and we’re going to draw a bunch of boxers in to watch our sport for the first time ever. It’s good.”
Question: “A lot of people say that if you think to stand with him for one second, you’d be making a big mistake just based on your wrestling skills. Will you try to stand and bang with him?”
Couture: “I’m not going to stand and bang with him, that would be stupid. But one second? C’mon, give me a break. I can stand with him as long as I need to stand with him to put him where I need to put him, to beat him up, to beat his ass.”
Question: “When you go in there, will you feel as though you are representing this sport?”
Couture: “Absolutely, that’s the whole point of the fight. It’s a cross-over fight, boxing versus MMA, and I will gladly represent Mixed Martial Arts.”
Question: “And is the point of this fight maybe to never have him fight in the UFC again, to say you know what, you should stick to your sport?”
Couture: “No, I don’t think that’s true. I think he wants to transition into Mixed Martial Arts. Unfortunately he’s jumping right in. I think in a matter of time with his background he could be a very, very good Mixed Martial Artist. How much is he going to learn between now and the end of August, that’s the question.”
Question: “And finally, a victory over James Toney, does that still put you in line for a future Light Heavyweight title shot? Do you think that’s you know does what you need to do?”
Couture: “I don’t think it has anything to do with that. I don’t think that puts me into title contention. I don’t think it’s a title contending fight. … I think I’m already made my statement in the Light Heavyweight division as one of the #1 contenders. There’s a lot of tough guys in the Light Heavyweight division. I hope to get the nod and fight the winner of [the main event at UFC 113 — which was Shogun], but James Toney doesn’t help me get there. It’s just an interesting crossover fight.”
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Alan Belcher: There’s harder guys for me to beat than Anderson Silva
By Zach Arnold | May 10, 2010
Some interesting quotes from this interview he did right after his win over Patrick Cote with MMAFighting.com on Saturday night.
“I’m tickled to death. I felt like I still haven’t really hit my potential, but that’s what peaking’s all about, you know. Whenever I’m in the driver’s seat for that title shot, that’s when you’re going to see my best performance.”
Later on in the interview…
“You feel as thought you’re getting a lot more respect now?”
“Yeah, man, that’s what I want, more respect, and you know I’m going to get respect after tonight, after winning 6 out of 7 fights you know besides the Akiyama fight which was close, you know, what can I do man? I don’t know, I can’t look any different, you know, I wear the best shorts and I think I got the flashiest style and the most slickest style and I’m a very well-rounded fighter. So I mean, what else can I do man? Just keep trying and you know I’m a lifer in this man. I’ve been doing MMA since I was a kid, starting martial arts when I was 8 years old, Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu when I was 14, so I mean I’ve been doing this a lot longer than everybody even though I’m young and you know, dude, I’m in it for the long haul, I’m going to make a statement in this. This is my life quest so, you know, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, bro.”
“You called out Anderson Silva after the fight. Are you ready to face top competition in the Middleweight division?”
“Absolutely, man. He’s just a human like anybody else. I mean, what would you do if you were me? What’s Anderson going to do to me… that like if I fight a wrestler or something, they’re going to try to take me down. I mean, he’s going to try to box me and stuff and all I got to do is, you know, watch his punches, don’t get punched, land bigger, heavier shots, I can kick harder than him, and I think there’s harder guys to beat for me than Anderson. He’s an awesome fighter, you know I’m not trying to put him, I’m just saying I’m ready for the big fights whenever they may be.”
“That said, he has a date against Chael Sonnen coming up in August. So who would you like to fight?”
“I’d like to fight Anderson Silva next.”
“So you’re just hoping for Chael to get injured or something?”
“No, I mean, I don’t care, whoever, the top guys all lost, I don’t think I have to fight a loser at this point, I will if they ask me to you know rankings-wise I don’t think I have to fight a Nate Marquardt or somebody coming off of a loss to prove myself right there. Let me fight somebody that’s top, on a winning streak, you know. You know, yeah, if Chael gets hurt, I’m going to step in there. If Anderson don’t fight, I’m going to step in there, you know, whatever the UFC wants.”
In other UFC news, Paul Daley is apologizing and TJ Grant is headed to Cuba.
And the “new” Google News sucks in terms of how much the news engine is getting spammed with Bleacher Report, Examiner.com, MNDC, and God knows whatever other spam blogs there are out there. It’s ridiculous and it’s become harder and harder to filter for mainstream news items on UFC and MMA in general. Guess I’ll have to start figuring out a way to configure a good Google News RSS feed, filter out the crap, and post a link on the site for everyone to use. Count me out as a fan of the “new” Google News layout.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Advice to people who want to become MMA writers
By Zach Arnold | May 10, 2010
From his latest radio show on Sports Illustrated, Josh Gross in his own words:
1. Understand what your role is. If you’re going to do this as a reporter and a journalist, be a journalist and a reporter. Ask real questions, find real angles, look for real stories. You’re not just there to regurgitate press releases, OK? You’re not just there to disseminate news. Dig a little bit, find out what’s happening. Even if it’s not like deep investigating reporting, who are the people that you are covering? What are their lives about? What is it about them that is compelling them to do this? There are all sorts of interesting of angles you can take.
2. Also, don’t expect to be paid a lot. It’s not a business that you’re going to become rich in. Very few people do. So if that’s your goal, yeah, you may fall short on that one.
3. Work hard. Just work hard. Good things come when you work hard, they really do.
Journalism is not like being a doctor or a lawyer, you don’t need a degree, you don’t need to pass some sort of exam to show that you’re competent in any kindway. Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing, it just is and I think if you are dedicated to the profession you can be a good journalist no matter if you drop out of college, if you go to college, don’t go to college, whatever it is. There are certain attributes that you need to have as a professional. You need to understand and pay respect to the profession and I think you’ll do just fine.
The best education I got in college was writing for my school newspaper. If you’re in college and you want to learn about journalism, write for your school paper and you will learn a ton. You really, really will. It’s a great education.
I’ll throw a few lessons that I’ve learned on top of what he said and perhaps it will serve you well should you want to get into this field.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Chael Sonnen reveals how he almost became a professional wrestler and what Paulo Filho said to him during their second fight in WEC
By Zach Arnold | May 9, 2010
I had put this on the backburner due to everything that went down at UFC 113 in Montreal, but there was a really great interview that Chael Sonnen did with Bryan Alvarez & Dave Meltzer last Wednesday that I think everyone should go out of there to listen to.
Down below, I’ve quoted parts of the interview that I thought were intriguing or newsworthy, but I didn’t quote everything he said during the interview. You can listen to that interview by clicking here.
There was talk about a press release from Anderson Silva in which he stated seven reasons as to why he should/shouldn’t have to face you. Has he acknowledged you as an opponent?
“Yeah, that’s true, I’ve put my finger in this guy’s chest for four years challenging him, he’s fought everybody in the world that isn’t named Chael Sonnen and you know the only and one time he even acknowledges the challenge is to state seven reasons why he [didn’t want] to do it. All the while he doesn’t mind fighting one-legged Canadians from Canada and other guys who can’t even hold their spot within the company. But the only time he ever acknowledged my presence was to say why he didn’t have to fight me.”
What did you take away from his UFC 112 Abu Dhabi fight against Demian Maia?
“Well, I learned that he’s really good. He went out there and did some mannerisms and behaviors that were new and odd to me and he was never once in trouble against one of the top guys out there.”
Mentally, do you think something is going on with Anderson when he fights? Any funny business?
“No, sure not. You know again I don’t know. If he likes to fight in a weird style, you know go ahead, that’s up to the guys who put him on TV if they decide if they want to continue to do that. If it’s not pleasing to watch, they won’t do that. But it is effective, you can’t deny that it works. He’s acted a fool in other matches, he acted a fool in the Forrest Griffin match and scored a really quick knockout and looked like a big hero when it was done. So, this time he didn’t land those shots, it didn’t end well, so the antics carried on for 25 minutes and so a lot of people are disappointed with him but you know as a guy that’s getting ready to compete with him you know I’m just looking at the stuff that he did right and how to try to defend myself for that.”
Are there any weaknesses that he has that you can take advantage of or anything you can expose if you take him down?
“Well, you know a fight is like the most unsophisticated thing on the face of the planet. People try to break down all the different ways like what you’re going to do and you got these guys sitting around with their 8th grade education and their gold teeth trying to act as though if they’re some sort of fight expert. Who cares. Walk out there, put your hands up, and get in a fight. And if you hit him more times than he hits you, they’ll raise your hand at the end of 25 minutes.”
Anderson Silva has tremendous speed and elusiveness. Is there any other fighter that you can compare him to?
“I think he’s a different cat. You know I think it’s one of the problems, let’s use Machida as an example. I think it’s one of the problems that the guys have with Machida, you never get a feel that style because he’s so unique until you get into the ring with him. You know so you’re out there, you did your best to prepare, but it’s kind of a crap shoot, it’s a whole new world and I feel like Anderson’s the same way. You know his strikes are pretty good, I don’t know if he’s a great striker, they’re pretty good but he’s a great set-up guy, he’s a great fake-you-out guy, so his strikes land so effectively because his fakes and juking and jiving before hand gets your guard down. So, that’s new, I mean I don’t have anybody in the gym like that, I don’t know if I’ve ever even come across anybody as athletic as him that can quite move and flow and have the rhythm as him anywhere in my life. So, yeah, it’ll be new, there’s not like somebody that I can call on to bring in. He’s kind of a one-of-a-kind.”
Do you know if Anderson has signed the fight contract to face you in August?
“I’ve haven’t heard that he has sent his in yet. He has to though, it’s not as though he has options, it’s not as though he’s a hot commodity that people want. He’s got one avenue, it’s the UFC and even they’re growing a little cold on him, so he’s definitely be there on August 7th.”
Did you consider becoming a professional wrestler?
“Yeah, when I was in college, I didn’t graduate college until 2001, I became an All-American in 1998 and right after that I went out to the WCW, what they had at that time was called a Power Plant and there was a try out, it was an extremely difficult tryout, it was three days and boy it was hard, only two of us made it, me and a gentleman from Jamaica. And we got invited to comeback and I said, “Well, look, I’m going to go finish college,” and they said, “Well, you only have to do tryout, once you get invited the invite’s good for life essentially.’ So, I was going to return after I graduated in 2001, well by then they had shut down, the WCW had folded up and no longer was in existence.”
After that failed, did you consider WWE or was MMA the thing you focused on?
“Well, you know, I always wanted to do MMA. I was going to do MMA, you know even if I was going to a wrestling route, I was going to do MMA.”
“I was 20 years old and wrestling seemed like a fun thing to do but I didn’t get any more serious about wrestling than just going to a 3-day tryout. That’s where my career started and stopped.”
Is your conversational style during interviews influenced at all by watching pro-wrestling?
“Yeah, I did watch pro-wrestling growing up, I’ve heard that about myself but I don’t think that I have a pro-wrestling style. You know, pro wrestling, you don’t have to touch on realms of reality. You can just say whatever you want. I’ve never done an interview where I didn’t just answer questions in an honest fashion, I’ve never created anything. So, every now and then I hear that about myself, ‘Ah, you sound like a pro-wrestler,’ and I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult, I never know how to take it.”
What was it like to be in that strange fight against Paulo Filho?
“Yeah, you know it was a different deal, for sure. I mean I got it. As soon as he started doing it, I understood what was going on. I understood, ‘oh, okay, he’s checking out and this is his way of doing it.’ He had asked me at one point in the fight to go to the ground with him and I said ‘No, I can’t do that’ and he said, “no, no submission attempts, just rest, come to the ground, let’s rest’ and I just said again, ‘I can’t’ and just went back to fighting.”
“The company, Zuffa, was very unpleased with it. And I got it, I’m like, yeah that was a weird match but man I did my part, I don’t know what to do, it takes two to tango, there’s only one of us out there.”
When you were told that your weight class in WEC was being folded up and you were heading to UFC, what did you think of it?
“MMA isn’t popular. A lot of people like to say it is, it’s not. If you go to an MMA show, it’s a ghost town in there unless it’s a UFC. That is now extending to the WEC (with Zuffa giving the organization a push). At that time, that was right in the growing phase. The UFC was selling out arenas and the WEC was still struggling to get their name out there, so ego-wise it was neat to be part of the UFC, I was glad to get picked up that’s for sure, they didn’t have to take me over so I was happy that they did.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Five takeaways from UFC 113
By Zach Arnold | May 8, 2010
1. Despite many Canadian fighters losing at UFC 113, UFC’s power in Canada is growing and growing.
The Montreal crowd was hotter than I expected. Montreal has turned into a great market for UFC. “But it’s not Toronto.” Soon enough, UFC will be in Toronto and Ottawa and Canada will become as big of a market for UFC as it used to be for WWE in the 1980s and 1990s. WWE’s power in Canada has diminished significantly and UFC’s power is growing in the country. Canada is a wonderful country for sports fans and their passion is simply unrivaled.
I understand that there were many concerns in the past about the Canadian Dollar/US Dollar exchange rate, but now the exchange rate is basically even and given the amount of debt that America is in I think it’s going to be a while before the Loonie goes back to being the US Dollar’s little brother. Because the exchange rate is what it is, it makes running Canada much more attractive if you’re an American entertainment or sports operation. UFC must be absolutely thrilled.
2. The end of the Kimbo Slice experiment.
Did UFC get the most bang for their buck with him? He popped them great ratings on The Ultimate Fighter, then he had a horrible fight against Houston Alexander (not totally his fault), and the end of his run likely … is to elevate a 1-0 now 2-0 fighter named Matt Mitrione. If Mitrione turns out to be a legitimate heavyweight in UFC, it’s a great deal. But as we’ve seen with UFC booking time in and time out, it’s going to be hard to see how the matchmakers will have patience with Mitrione and how succeptible they probably will be in throwing him to the wolves sooner rather than later.
All in all, I think the verdict on the Kimbo/UFC experiment is that it was good, but not great, and maybe they didn’t maximize the value they could have with him, but they were cautious and had every reason to be.
And after the event, Kimbo was cut.
3. What did UFC expect out of Paul Daley?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 103 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 5/8 Montreal (Bell Centre)
By Zach Arnold | May 8, 2010
Dark matches
- Middleweights: Jason MacDonald vs. John Salter
- Welterweights: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Mike Guymon
- Heavyweights: Tim Hague vs. Joey Beltran
- Welterweights: TJ Grant vs. Johny Hendricks
- Welterweights: Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet
- Middleweights: Joe Doerksen vs. Tom Lawlor
Main card
- Middleweights: Patrick Cote vs. Alan Belcher
- Heavyweights: Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
- Lightweights: Sam Stout vs. Jeremy Stephens
- #1 contender’s match (Welterweights): Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley
- UFC Light Heavyweight Title match: Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Shogun
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dan Hardy says he’s developing new skills to come back and fight Georges St. Pierre again in the future
By Zach Arnold | May 8, 2010
You had a couple of close moments in your fight against GSP. What did you learn from that fight?
“I learned that my wrestling sucks and that I’m too stubborn for my own good. You know, it was a tough fight, it was a frustrating fight. I went in there with a game plan and it wasn’t the right one, you know, GSP’s a great wrestler and my wrestling is not up to standards to beat him right now, so I’ve got work to do.”
Bas Rutten: “It’s a European problem. It’s a Dutch problem. It’s a European problem in general. It was my problem, too.”
Dan Hardy: “You know, I’m out in the US now, I’m working on my wrestling hard and you know I’ll be ready when the time comes again. But you know, looking back on it now, I can see what I need to work on, I can see you know what I need to improve on in order to get back to a title shot and win it. And you know, having been in there with GSP and I’ve seen what he’s got to offer, I’ve seen you know what he wants to do in a fight and what he wants to avoid and I’m confident you know in the future I can beat. I’ve got work to do but I’ll get there and I’ll do it.”
“That’s the best thing about MMA, that’s the difference between MMA and boxing, you know, nobody’s protected in MMA.”
“I’ve just taken a loss and I’ll be back on track and that’s just the way it goes in this sport, you’re up and down, but it’s the dedication that is the difference.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |