James Toney: UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting C***suckers
By Zach Arnold | January 4, 2010
I had just written an article, ironically, about Dana White’s past treatment of the media and some of the language he has used (including the language that got him in PR trouble with GLAAD).
James Toney, unsurprisingly, is opening his mouth loud and clear now that he crashed the UFC 108 post-fight press conference session and made his demands for a UFC booking clear.
PC: I know what it stands for, but I’m sure you have something clever.
JT: Ultimate Fucking Chumps or Ultimate Fighting C***suckers, whatever you want to call it. It is what it is and now I have put the ball in Dana’s court and if he doesn’t do it, everybody will know he’s scared.
It’s clear in the Fight Hype interview that Toney wants Kimbo and sees that as the biggest-possible money fight. He’s probably thinking that he can beat Kimbo the same way Ray Mercer beat Tim Sylvia.
As far as ground fighting? Toney’s not worried. He also says MMA would be a part-time gig for him.
JT: You’ll see. I know a lot of them thinking they would fuck me up and they gonna shoot in on me and all of that, but I ain’t going to the ground; that ain’t happening. I got one of the best mixed martial arts trainers in the world, which is my daddy. You know what I’m saying? He is one of the original death fighters. They fought to the death, like in them movies, but it’s a matter of time. I will be ready to go.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 43 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 108 (1/2 Las Vegas)
By Zach Arnold | January 2, 2010
Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena
Dark matches
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Rafaello Oliveira vs. John Gunderson
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Mike Pyle vs. Jake Ellenberger
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Mark Munoz vs. Ryan Jensen
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann
Main card
- Heavyweights: Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Jim Miller vs. Duane Ludwig
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley*
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
* Daley failed to make the weight limit and the bout will happen at a catch weight.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dynamite finishes second in TV ratings war for NYE 2009
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2010
The final numbers: NHK’s Kohaku music show – 40.8% (37.1% and 40.8% for the two parts), Dynamite!! with Masato’s last match drew a 16.7%, and Nippon TV’s Downtown comedy special (hotelman 24 hours) did a 16.4%. Fuji TV did a 9.2% rating for it’s program.
Detailed numbers: Part 1 for Dynamite, 11.8%. Part 2, 16.7% (main fights). Part 3, 10.6% (over-run). Those numbers in terms of pattern fall in line with past NYE MMA events for ratings as far as the low-up-down.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ground and Pound Awards – 2009
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2010
It is time for the Fifth Annual Ground & Pound Awards, the longest-running internet award ceremony that lets you, the fans, make the decision.
Contrary to many other websites and magazines which often have promotional and or political interests in advancing certain fighters, we are not deciding the winners ourselves, but we are giving you, the fans, the opportunity to select the best fighters, fights and events of the year.
Who will be Rashad Evans’ heir as Fighter of the Year? Which is the strongest fight team in the world? And which promotion consistently put on the best shows? You decide!
Last year we have recorded votes from all over the world including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, Brazil, USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, France, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Thailand, Belgium, Croatia, Italy and Japan and we are looking to repeat that this year.
The ballot will be open for fourteen days and once again reflect the views of fans, fighters, coaches and promoters around the world. If you want to smack down your vote as well, you can do so here:
http://www.gnp1.de/limesurvey/index.php?sid=92148&lang=en
Voting runs until January 14 and the results will be published January 15, right here on Fight Opinion! Thanks for voting!
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC President Dana White’s crusade against the media this week
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2010
We all read the transcript or saw the video of White’s rant (again) about Sherdog and Jake Rossen, but I honestly didn’t believe that he would continue feeding oxygen into this for the rest of the week. I was wrong. White is now doubling-down on it and there were a couple of interviews that highlighted this.
The first interview was a nine-minute interview with Steve Cofield. Cofield, an ESPN radio host who talks about most sports on his local Las Vegas show (and writes for Yahoo Sports), was poking holes into what White was saying about what the media’s job should be in terms of covering MMA. White tried to claim that what Rossen wrote wasn’t necessarily what set him off but rather the fact that Sherdog didn’t give UFC 108 a lot of press coverage. White vocally discussed how he doesn’t have to give out credentials to the media.
The second interview with MMA Fighting gave us a better idea of what his motives are. He said that he doesn’t like the mainstream media that gives UFC coverage to start reading and taking their leads from “the Internet” when it comes to writing negative stories. A recent LA Times story (December 22nd by Lance Pugmire) talking about UFC’s momentum stalling has driven White crazy and he absolutely cannot hide his contempt for the article. He is making claims that the media is not reporting facts and is reporting both lies and negativity.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quick news and notes from fallout of Dynamite 2009 event
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2009
Ever since there was pressure for Kid Yamamoto to “gain size” (and he tried that one time), things have fallen off a cliff. But things have really taken a tumble since Shukan Gendai went after him on the marijuana party story.
I remember years ago a very famous person in Japanese MMA telling me that New Year’s Eve is all about marketing to the Grandma Tanakas of the world and the women who want to see the cute guys. In that case, Masato’s retirement match was about as fail-proof as you could get. Delivered in spades. He dominated all the media coverage coming out of the show and there was a “happy end” as one newspaper put it. DREAM vs. SRC as a standalone would have been lucky to draw 20,000 — so to draw a claimed 45,606 is a testamant to just what a draw Masato turned out to be. Good for him.
The reaction on Satoshi Ishii’s debut fight has been more or less a lot of headscratching. Hidehiko Yoshida’s all but finished and had to be swayed into doing the fight, since he has been considering retirement for a long time due to various ailments his body has had. (Remember the mystery ailment from a couple of years ago that was revealed about Yoshida being lethargic and always needing water?)
The public stance by K-1 management on Shin’ya Aoki is to not touch the subject of what happened as far as his post-fight antics. K-1 management and TBS had to be pissed. Aoki’s not a big media favorite, he’s not a big ratings draw on television, and what he did to Mizuto Hirota is the kind of thing that brings scandal onto NYE in the advertising world. New Year’s Eve always seems to have some sort of controversy, but having an arm broken the way it was and then the antics afterwards is the kind of thing that turns off the Grandma Tanakas of the world. I know DREAM would like to have Aoki vs. Melendez happen in Japan (as soon as March), but Strikeforce might end up with that fight in the States after all. They would be kidding themselves if they think it would draw a big number on CBS, however. Here are the photos (here and here) of Aoki’s antics after the fight.
Take note that in post-fight press interviews afterwards, Aoki claimed that he apologized for his attitude and that he did what he did because he was “excited.”
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dynamite 12/31 Saitama card line-up
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2009
Today’s presser in Tokyo at Shinjuku Station Square drew close to 9,000 fans. It was a typical K-1 press conference with all the fighters. The most attention was paid to Masato and Andy Souwer.
- K-1 KOSHIEN 2009 Reserve match: Ryuya Kusakabe vs. Tsukasa Fuji
- K-1 KOSHIEN 2009 Semi-Finals: HIROYA vs. Masaaki Hori
- K-1 KOSHIEN 2009 Semi-Finals: Katsuki Ishida vs. Shota Shimada
- Super Hulk Tournament finals: Minowaman vs. Sokoudjou
- K-1 (Heavyweights): Yosuke Nishijima vs. Ray Sefo
- K-1 KOSHIEN 2009 Finals
- DREAM vs. SRC (Light Heavyweights): Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Izumi
- DREAM vs. SRC (Featherweights): Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Michihiro Omigawa
- DREAM vs. SRC (Welterweights): Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Akihiro Gono
- DREAM vs. SRC (Lightweights): Melvin Manhoef vs. Kazuo Misaki
- DREAM vs. SRC (Featherweights): Hideo Tokoro vs. Jong-Man Kim
- DREAM vs. SRC (Lightweights): Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazunori Yokota
- DREAM vs. SRC (Featherweights): Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Masanori Kanehara
- SRC (Heavyweights): Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Satoshi Ishii
- DREAM vs. SRC (Heavyweights): Alistair Overeem vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
- DREAM vs. SRC (Lightweights): Shin’ya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota
- DREAM (Heavyweights): Gegard Mousasi vs. Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge
- Masato’s Last Match: Andy Souwer vs. Masato
Related: Dave Walsh — Dynamite!! 2009 and the future of the fight game in Japan
Event reports: Fanhouse | Pro MMA | Dave Walsh | Bloody Elbow | Japan MMA
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Sengoku, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Las Vegas media picks up on Xyience Trustee lawsuit against Fertittas
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2009
John G. Edwards, who has been a solid writer on business affairs for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has a new article online about the lawsuit filing that we discussed here on the site last night.
Edwards has quotes from both parties in the lawsuit, including the accused.
The key component for this story to grow more legs is oxygen and a paper trail. With this case developing aggressively in court, more sunlight will be exposed. Combine this with the court battle against Nobuyuki Sakakibara scheduled for 2010 and things could get very interesting for the Fertitta family and UFC in the legal system.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The MMA media and “agendas”
By Zach Arnold | December 30, 2009
Luke Thomas at Bloody Elbow has a good article today answering charges from critics of Sherdog about their “anti-UFC” bias. The truth about Sherdog is that they are in the business of making money. They make money. Everyone else in the MMA media circles wants to make money, so they’re going to be bottom-line first before anything else.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 32 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Comments on Dana White’s tirade (again) on Sherdog
By Zach Arnold | December 30, 2009
Repackaged from an MMA writer that wanted to remain anonymous — and we know how much Dana loves anonymous writers
By Anonymous
Recording and posting that tirade is a pretty blatant attempt by White to publicly embarrass and punk out an MMA writer… again, and yet it’s White who ends up coming off in an embarrassing fashion… again.
What did Jake Rossen write to bring on that onslaught? He said that he doesn’t think MMA is going to be the number one sport in the world in ten years. The ironies are all over the place. White’s entire point of contention is that MMA will be the number one sport in the world in ten years, and yet in the video he demonstrates one of the reasons that it won’t be the number one sport in ten years (his own lack of self-control).
White says right at the beginning that he doesn’t care at all about what Jake Rossen writes, then he goes on and on about what Jake Rossen writes, which is strange for someone who doesn’t give a damn what Jake Rossen writes. His constant passion and obsession of Sherdog is hilarious, but even more hilarious is his Vince Russo-esque INTERNET BUZZ~! fixation. When in doubt, Dana tries to stir up Internet writers to talk about him in hopes that they’ll talk about UFC 108 which they weren’t before. I wonder when he will call MMA writers “Bitches in a Beauty Salon” like he did fighters during the labor dispute with Randy Couture?
He says that Sherdog doesn’t have anything on its site right now “promoting” this weekend’s UFC event, apparently unaware that it’s his job to promote the UFC and it’s the media’s job to cover the sport. Of course, when you think UFC is the whole sport and nothing but the sport, the world revolves around you and not events like the Dynamite!! show that has substantially more meaning for the MMA landscape long-term.
He mocks Jake Rossen for writing that Dubai is having financial troubles, as if it’s an outrageously false statement for Rossen to have made. You would think that someone who is promoting a live event in Dubai on April 10th would have learned by now that the country is going through a lot of well-documented and well-publicized financial problems but apparently not. White says on his video blog that UAE (United Arab Emirates) is worth a trillion dollars, yet doesn’t mention that Dubai leveraged itself into massive debt. He should have called Lorenzo and asked him how leveraging went for Station Casinos.
At one point in the video, the viewer finds out who White is talking to, and thus the point of the whole phone call in the first place. White asks the person on the other end of the line why they employ Rossen, so that means he’s either talking to Jeff Sherwood of Sherdog or he’s talking to the supervisor of ESPN.com’s MMA section. Either way, the message is very clear: Anything that is deemed to be anti-UFC could very well result in a profanity-laced phone call, discouraging you from continuing to post anything anti-UFC or allowing any of your writers to post anything anti-UFC.
I love how the same old publicity stunt got the same old round of publicity after Dana White recently said to the Las Vegas Sun that the UFC will be the biggest sport in the world in ten years. He has found that it gets mainstream media attention whenever he says that, so he says it often. In this magical world of the UFC being the number one sport on the planet, is it going to be number one in 2020? Is he still going to be saying “We’ll be number one in ten years” and getting headlines for saying it in 2013? 2016? The truth is that White doesn’t want or need major-league writers to cover him because if legitimate investigative writers covered him, he wouldn’t have the skin to handle it. He can barely manage the mild media now.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 43 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Question of “Relevance”: UFC 108
By Zach Arnold | December 30, 2009
By Alan Conceicao
The key story being repeated by news outlets entering UFC 108 is a bit of an unexpected one for a show originally billed as UFC’s New Year’s Extravaganza. Rather than discussion of the main event, co-main event, or any fight on the card for that matter, the big story has been how many pullouts the card has seen. And by “big story”, I should indicate that its the only one being told. There are no other narratives coming into this event worthy of discussion, and that’s led fans and prognosticators alike to wonder aloud as to what UFC 108 “means”, if they bother to think of it at all. Is it indicative of a harsh new trend of fighter pullouts and bout cancellations? Will a good number inspire the UFC to put on more bad PPVs in the future? It has reached the point where Dana White is shooting videoblogs of himself yelling at journos over their apparent refusal to care.
Flashback: Transcript of Dana White’s rant against Loretta Hunt
Before getting into those questions and takes, I would be remiss not to look at the card and actually analyze it:
- Light Heavyweight bout: Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
- Welterweight bout: Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley
- Lightweight bout: Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout
- Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Duane Ludwig
- Heavyweight bout: Junior dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel
- Welterweight bout: Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann
- Lightweight bout: Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon
- Middleweight bout: Mark Munoz vs. Ryan Jensen
- Welterweight bout: Mike Pyle vs. Jake Ellenberger
- Lightweight bout: Rafaello Oliveira vs. John Gunderson
It is not unfair to point out the obvious: There are three top ten fighters on this card, using either the Independent MMA Rankings FO.com participates in or Bloodyelbow’s composite ratings. Bloodyelbow’s system ranks all the way to #25, and as such, there are a total of 7 top 25 fighters participating in the program. For those who feel that numbers are what makes an event relevant, its worth noting that the free WEC event viewed by 330,000 households had just as many top 10 fighters on it.
However, sheer rankings have never told the whole story in the fight game. UFC cards are, typically, rather competitive, even when lacking any sort of star power or legitimate title challenger. The style match up of Hazelett/Daley has led to heavy betting on the statistically less impressive fighter (Hazelett) to draw the fight to nearly being even, and Rashad Evans hasn’t necessarily run away with the line against Thiago Silva either. However, much of the remaining PPV card doesn’t do so well. Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon are healthy favorites, as is Dos Santos. Yvel and Ludwig, as much as I personally enjoy both, aren’t capable at this stage of fighting against elite competition and haven’t been for years. Their fights will likely end with “clean finishes”, as pro wrestling fans like to call them – KOs and tapouts. The gulf in talent and skills of the underdogs makes that inately likely. If Gilbert Yvel, Sam Stout, or Duane Ludwig do pull out a miracle win, it won’t be by lay and pray. If Hazelett finally beats a top fourty ranked welterweight (best previous win: Josh Burkman?), its not going to be by pushing him into the cage. And lots of finishes means a strong chance of preliminary fights making air. Anyone who is in touch with the sport enough to be reading this knows just how much hardcore fans love to see a billion quick stoppages on air.
When it comes then to answering the all important “Is UFC 108 relevant?,” the answer is easy: Only if you need it to be. For most, it’s not, and the journalism running into the event mirrors that mindset, in so much as they do not. The matches made on this card are, to put it bluntly, answers to questions no one asked or wanted to ask. But like a lot of the weaker cards, it will probably make for one of the UFC’s patented cavalcades of simplistic brutality that fans seem to adore and call their favorites. That often happens with events filled with mismatches and suitably matched limited journeymen. Fans who have been buying PPVs of the UFC for years will likely buy this one, just like they bought UFC 78, 85, 96, 103, or any of the other long list of generally mediocre cards that have been offered. Quality doesn’t seem to be a deterrent for them.
UFC 108 is not a positive change of pace, nor does it pretend to plumb the depths to find out how low you, the fan, are willing to go to get your fix. Its not especially worthy of your money, nor is it exceptionally poor value for it. It is simply there. How you choose to act is your business. Some 10PM EST Saturday night, I plan to be curled up in a Chicago hotel room, probably asleep. If you’re planning to watch the fights at home, well, I know you’ll be happy with your purchase. I’m sure of it.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Scandals in MMA — and don’t forget about Xyience
By Zach Arnold | December 30, 2009
I have two articles left to write in the Fight Opinion Five article series and I will get those done soon. As you might suspect, the last two topics will deal with scandals in Mixed Martial Arts. I remember a tagline that Ryan Harkness once attached to me, which is that I do my best work when there is a scandal brewing or when a company is dying. True or not, I am often associated with covering the biggest scandals in MMA this past decade.
One person who also found his name involved in scandal was Rich Bergeron. Bergeron has been aggressively campaigning against individuals that were involved in Xyience. If you recall, Bergeron found himself on the end of the lawsuit and having to defend himself pro se. Bergeron was dismissed as crazy and a lunatic, but as the Xyience situation unravels, it looks like the facts may be more friendly to Rich than people first thought.
If you don’t recall what scandal there was involving Xyience, search here. In short, Xyience was that beverage drink that fighters were pushing because they were sponsoring UFC fighters. And of course, Xyience management had been friendly with UFC management beyond MMA circles. Then the dirt-digging started to happen and that’s where Rich found that where there is smoke, there may be fire. Eventually, Xyience went bankrupt but the Fertitta empire (through a company called Zyen, LLC) took over. This is why you still see Xyience at UFC events. Xyience product is getting distribution clearance in various places now across the States.
The whole key to the scandal involving Xyience and how it went bankrupt is very complicated, which is why as a scandal it didn’t gain the traction that you thought it might have. If you can’t explain a scandal in a paragraph or two and it involves a ton of layers of facts to analyze, expect people’s eyes to glaze over. My opinion on what happened with Xyience is that as a scandal, it has/had all the key ingredients to blow up into something bigger if bigger media outlets focused on it and realized why UFC management thought Xyience was so important. Remember — when UFC took out those loans a few years ago (along with that revolving line of credit), was Xyience or PRIDE part of what was listed as key assets? Bergeron made the claim that Xyience was and he further claimed that if you connected the dots that you could show what was “really going on” between Xyience and UFC.
The key problem that Bergeron and others who paid attention to the Xyience scandal have in terms of getting the public interested is that no one has shown the hardcore fans, let along the casual fan why they should give a damn about a beverage drink maker going bankrupt and how UFC management having a close relationship with former owners of Xyience means anything in relation to the business end of UFC itself.
Compare and contract the Xyience scandal to the yakuza scandal involving Shukan Gendai’s negative campaign with PRIDE — the weekly magazine connected the dots and made claim after claim regarding not only mobsters, but also claims against Fuji TV sports producer Kunio Kiyohara (who was a powerful figure because his father was a big name in the newspaper industry). In the States, few people online believed the scandal would go anywhere. The truth is that Gendai, along with other media outlets in Japan, started picking up on the story and figured out ways to convince people that it was important. Combine that with the fact that shame still means something in Japan and you had a scandal that brought down PRIDE.
As for Xyience? It’s 2010 and people may not care about the scandal, but there may be good legal reason to care. The liquidating trustee for Xyience in bankruptcy proceedings has filed a complaint against Zyen LLC and Fertitta Enterprises in relation to Xyience. Station Casinos is struggling and things have not been going swimmingly lately for the Fertitta family. In the legal document linked in this paragraph, the liquidation trustee writes the following paragraph:
This Adversary Complaint arises from the premeditated decision of Fertitta Enterprises, including one of its officer and lead operators (Mr. Bullard), to take over ownership of the Debtor while stripping the Debtor’s secured and unsecured creditors of the considerable value that they possessed through their claims against the Debtor and its assets.
Document translation: Xyience got bankrupted on purpose by Xyen LLC (Fertitta) so that they could take over the assets and rip off the creditors.
I would strongly urge you to read that legal document and look at the full complaint by the Trustee. It’s very direct and blunt in terms of its accusations against the Fertittas and Zyen LLC. Here’s one more paragraph to give you a sample of just how direct the complaint is:
When it became evident that the Debtor’s financial structure — that is, its secured and other unsecured creditors, and the substantial number of outstanding stockholders — would render an ordinary takeover through stock acquisition too expensive, Zuffa and its owners decided instead capture the company through a series of secured loans, forced defaults and then a foreclosure of the assets.
And this may just be the beginning of the legal trouble brewing over Xyience.
On page 8:
On October 5, 2007, the Debtor used the Zyen loan proceeds to make the following payments, among others: (a) $4.5 million to Zuffa (substantially all of which was on account of missed payments under the January sponsorship agreement): (b) $1,029,166.67 to Fertitta Enterprises: (c) $257,187.50 to Mr. Frank: and (d) $257,187.50 to Mr. Sanford.
On page 9:
Despite knowing that the Debtor would be defaulting on its sponsorship agreement, and thus would be prohibited from selling merchandise containing the UFC label and trademark, Messrs. Bullard, Frank and Sanford, throughout November and December 2007, caused the Debtor to order and have millions of dollars worth of product manufactured with the UFC label so that the Debtor would be forced to deal with Zuffa, on Zuffa’s terms, when following the Zyen strict foreclosure, the Debtor was forced into a bankruptcy proceeding.
In December 2007, as the parties had planned, Zuffa terminated the October sponsorship agreement.
The complaint goes on to claim that the parties involved were involved in an inside transfer scheme that violated Nevada’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, along with Breach of Fiduciary Duty claims.
I applaud anyone who is doing the dirty work in finding out information regarding this case. The challenge for those who seriously believe that there is a story here that the public should care about is how to market this story, how to tell it, and how to package it in a way where people can simply connect the dots and be able to tell their friends about it without forgetting what exactly the scandal is about.
The truth is that the usual suspects in the media will not touch this story — it’s too under the radar and it’s simply high-risk, no-reward. I don’t expect many blogs or micro sites to touch the story either because it bores them to tears, so whoever keeps up on this case is going to have to do a really good job of trying to convince the opinion makers (writers) to mention it if they want to keep this full steam ahead. Plus, everyone is afraid of getting sued.
The fact that the Xyience case has now hit the court system is an advantage in terms of comparing this scandal to the yakuza scandal that destroyed PRIDE. PRIDE was taken down by a weekly magazine. In the Xyience case, we have a legal paper trail developing.
And that paper trail is going to prove to be fascinating in relation to how Xyience was presented on the financial paperwork that Zuffa LLC filed to get the hundreds of millions of dollars they borrowed. Now that we know that some of that Zuffa debt was purchased by parties such as Mark Cuban, what will happen if someone like the Xyience Inc. trustee can prove in court that fraud took place by the Fertittas?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Fight Opinion Five: Supporting the Black Man
By Zach Arnold | December 27, 2009
Throughout the past decade, we have looked through our site archives and all of the various notes written during the time period to come up with five of the most interesting and important stories that Zach Arnold and the Fight Opinion team have covered. This is an arbitrary list of themes, but each theme carries historical importance and also emotional importance to not only the fans but also the authors, too. This is not an article series meant to cover everything that happened over the past decade, but rather to highlight what were some of the most fascinating stories to cover.
One of the biggest criticisms leveled against Mixed Martial Arts this past decade involved the issue of race. Was MMA a sport only for white people? Are the people in the business racist? Where are the non-white superstars? Forever and a day, we’ve seen and heard the criticisms about MMA not appealing enough to different racial and ethnic demographics. There were newspaper articles, including one in The Los Angeles Times, talking about the demographic make-up of your typical UFC show in Las Vegas.
The situation with MMA is almost a reverse of what is happening in boxing. The mainstream media laments about boxing looking for the next great white American hero.
So what is the truth about MMA and it’s ability to appeal to those who aren’t white? You have to consider the business as a whole and how each market has played out. In Japan, Mixed Martial Arts is open for both the native Japanese stars and the foreigners. Of course, race has always played a huge role in the country as far as which fighters the fans are willing to look at as drawing cards that they are willing to pay to watch in person. We know about the large connection MMA has with the Brazilian community. (Even the newspaper writers understood that the Gracie family did exist.)
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 56 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |