UFC President Dana White’s defense of Tiger Woods
By Zach Arnold | December 17, 2009
I’m catching up on some video clips from the past few days and one of them was this gem. It was footage of Dana White in Memphis, Tennessee for the UFC 107 event and he addressed the media while wearing a Tiger Woods hat.
“Leave Tiger woods alone. Leave him alone. What he does at home is his business… or anywhere else.”
In a one-on-one media interview, White later says in the clip the following.
“That guy’s the biggest two-faced jackass I’ve ever heard talk in my entire life. (Jesper Parnevik.) Whatever his name is. He’s a douchebag. You think Tiger’s wife is upset that he introduced them, you know? I doubt it.
I don’t even watch the news or listen to anything and I’m hearing it, it just gets old, man, leave the kid alone, he made a mistake, we’re all humans we make mistakes, let him fix things in his life and take care of his family. We love to build people up in this country and tear ’em down, man, that’s what we love to do.”
Parnevik, who White refers to, is a golfer who became famous for introducing Elin Nordegren to Tiger Woods, as Elin was Parnevik’s nanny for some time. After the Woods serial infidelity scandal started to break in the media, Parnevik made comments about what she should have done to Tiger.
I swear that I didn’t time this post to run on the same day that there is a report that Woods and Nordegren are getting a divorce in the near future. Nor did I time it to coincide with bookies taking bets on spread levels in terms of how much she will get in a divorce settlement, either.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Which organization will bring back Karo Parisyan to MMA?
By Zach Arnold | December 17, 2009
I had originally set to do this post over the weekend, but I got sick and it got put on the back burner. Anyhow, Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated did an interview with Karo Parisyan and asked Karo how his life was going and what was next in his MMA career (audio here). It’s one of the rare times where I cannot vouch 100% accuracy for the quote transcription despite the fact that I went over and over and over in replaying the audio at different speeds to try to get the best-possible accuracy on this quote below. The interview is a long one, so I only included the first answer (which was three minutes long). Karo is all over the place when talking during the interview, so sometimes it’s hard to keep up with his train of thought. I thought it was worth taking the time to write out what Karo had initially said in his SI interview.
“Let me tell you something, there’s so much emotion and so much stuff going on through my body but you know I’m not a chick, you know I fucking it’s for a man everybody deals with it, even girls deal with problems. Right now I’m getting my life back on track basically, man, in a million years I would never thought stuff like this would ever happen to me because you know it’s like when you don’t think of it it actually happens. I would never imagined my career was on skyrocket, I was doing great, training, fighting, blah blah blah, and then couple of you know stupid stuff happens in your life and some you know a couple of mistakes you make that you don’t think it’s going to be like you know destiny-wise and you fuck up your own destiny a certain way but you know I’m good man, I’m getting my life back on track. I have so much more to offer to the Mixed Martial Arts world, so much more I just can’t give up like this and just leave the martial arts world and the fighting world and have everybody think of Karo like, ah dude, this guy what happened to him, he fucking fell off the face of the earth and he screwed up, you know it’s not just me. I just never know how to give up, so, you know first and foremost I would like to apologize to the UFC and especially Dana and Lorenzo Fertitta and you know and Dana White for what happened you know, I don’t crap where I eat, UFC was my home, you know I’ve been here for seven years and here my intentions were never to screw the UFC especially Dana and Lorenzo you know whatever happened happened, lot of bad stuff happened in my life, some bad decisions, you know and you know it’s like one of those things that you don’t think it will happen, you’re like no no no, but you know I’m a big believer in karma and you just don’t fuck up and when you screw up it’s going to bite you in the ass, excuse my language. I don’t know man, right now I’m in a better mental state trying to get everything back on track, that’s what I said in my last interview and before that you know and I understand that people don’t believe me any more and it’s a natural thing, it’s human nature like you know this guy said that the last time that everything was fine and you’re doing everything but why would I believe him now? You know, but… I don’t expect anybody to hear what I’m saying right now, all I expect people to do is especially for my fans I let a lot of people down you know, a lot of people down and you know I still have a lot of support, I still have a lot of support you know from a bunch of people and fans all around the world and other countries even like you know what I mean like the President man, I got a lot of support from people but besides the support I’m just you know asking for one more chance to be able to redeem myself and show everybody that who Karo really is and in time I will prove myself when I come back and start fighting in Mixed Martial Arts for whatever organization it may be.”
I’m not sure if he’s talking about Dana White when he says the President or who he’s talking about. If someone can figure out everything that he said in the opening of the interview, please let me know so I can correct the record.
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Video: Melendez and Thomson on CSN Bay Area to promote Strikeforce 12/19 San Jose event
By Zach Arnold | December 17, 2009
Dave Meltzer claims that ticket sales are not doing well for the show at HP Pavilion. Herschel Walker is currently in San Jose and is expected to address the media about his MMA debut in late January in Florida. Dan Henderson is also expected to appear in front of the media and answer some questions.
Go to full-post view to see the video clip.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin set for UFC 111
By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2009
Alternate headline that I recommend — Repeat of UFC 100 to happen at UFC 111 for the same low, low price of $55 USD.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Looking ahead to 2010
By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2009
I’m sorry I haven’t been as active as usual, as I have been sick. Should recover fine in a couple of days.
First note to mention — we’re on a new server. A faster server, if you have noticed. In the end, it was worth doing. Now, money-wise, any help given to us would be greatly appreciated. I know the business is in a little slump right now, but I am trying my best to keep a positive attitude on 2010 and what will happen. Here’s hoping for some high-quality fight shows.
Second — next week will be beginning of our fourth year online with Fight Opinion. I’m an old veteran at this game, as I was around before people were really using the web (I don’t have gray hair, trust me). We’ve done a lot of things in four years and gone through more controversial topics than I can even recall. Going through the archives, there’s a lot of things that newer readers of this site have really missed out on. I sure have written a lot of text in four years.
Third — here’s hoping we get more multimedia (audio and video) of MMA interviews and radio shows. I miss doing the radio show with my old running mate Jeff Thaler, but Jeff’s got a big family now and I’m happy that his life is going well for him. I give him so much credit for stepping up and being such a big contributor to what we’ve done over the past couple of years.
Let me close by saying I’ve met a tremendous amount of people through this site that I respect and have great admiration for. Unfortunately, as I’ve experienced over the years, people come and go and only a few hang around long-term, but here’s hoping that the people who have helped me out and made a difference in my life stick around and continue to be involved in what we are doing here.
Thank you, everyone, and I hope to get back to working here soon.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bouts on UFC’s Australia debut card
By Zach Arnold | December 15, 2009
Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia. 16,500 tickets claimed sold.
- Heavyweights (up to 265 pounds): Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Joe Stevenson vs. George Sotiropoulos
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Keith Jardine vs. Ryan Bader
- Heavyweights (up to 265 pounds): “Teak-tough” Ben Rothwell vs. Mirko Cro Cop
- Light Heavyweights (205 pounds): Elvis Sinosic vs. Chris Haseman
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 107 (12/12 Memphis at FedEx Forum)
By Zach Arnold | December 12, 2009
Dark matches
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Kevin Burns vs. TJ Grant
- Welterweights (170 pounds): DaMarques Johnson vs. Edgar Garcia
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Rousimar Palhares vs. Lucio Linhares
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Johny Hendricks vs. Ricardo Funch
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Matt Wiman vs. Shane Nelson
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Alan Belcher vs. Wilson Gouveia
Main card
- Heavyweights (up to 265 pounds): Paul Buentello vs. Stefan Struve
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Kenny Florian vs. Clay Guida
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Jon Fitch vs. Mike Pierce
- Heavyweights (up to 265 pounds): Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo
- UFC Lightweight Title match: BJ Penn (champion) vs. Diego Sanchez (challenger)
Jon Fitch continues to not finish opponents off in UFC bouts
Which leads to Jordan Breen pointing out the obvious:
Fitch’s situation is unfortunate. UFC don’t want a GSP rematch, don’t want him to be contenders, so opponents are tough guys with no Q value
Love the stream of @’s I got. Don’t you all remember when you flooded Joe Silva’s inbox to see Fitch on the main card? Tsk tsk bandwagoners.
Unlike Yushin Okami (who got finished by Chael Sonnen), it’s hard to see anyone finishing Fitch off outside of St. Pierre. Glass ceiling…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 76 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dan Henderson on his MMA legacy and what’s in store for his future
By Zach Arnold | December 11, 2009
I’m encourgaging you to read this 3,300-word article I wrote this morning on Dan Henderson and comments he made on a Sherdog radio interview last Wednesday:
“You know I guess occasionally I do look back and say, shit, I have you know fought this guy and that guy, I guess I fought quite a few guys who are considered legends now, but honestly I fight for the challenge of things and I get up for the challenge and it’s exciting to me to maybe be the underdog again or it’s exciting to me to be really have to change my game plan up for this guy or for that guy and to be really careful when I’m out there fighting against certain guys and I love it and I love my job and you know I obviously have been in the sport and been active in the sport longer than most people and this is one reason I kind of held out for a bit longer on this contract you know just because you know I feel like I’ve definitely helped this sport grow and just because I’m not a loud-mouth shit-talker doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get paid you know the way I should compared to some of these other guys that are loud-mouthed and that I would beat up. So you know it is what it is and I’m actually quite happy with the way things went down and if Dana pushed for it, I really thank him for it.”
In the article linked above, Henderson talks about what negotiations with UFC were like and what kind of a deal Clinch Gear has with Strikeforce. Some very interesting, candid comments.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 36 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The latest negotation happenings for the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight
By Zach Arnold | December 11, 2009
We know there’s bad blood between Floyd Mayweather and Bob Arum, but the news today that Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy didn’t want to have a meeting with Jerry Jones to hold the event at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas is baffling. It’s a beautiful start-of-the-art venue in a state where there’s no income tax. The move has prompted Arum to hand over negotiations on his side to Todd duBoef.
To Jerry Jones’ credit, he sent a proposal on Thursday night to keep Cowboys Stadium open as a possibility. The two venues publicly discussed as in play are JerryWorld and the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Staples Center, according to Pacquiao’s camp, is a no-go because of California’s notoriously high state-income tax. The claim is that Pacquiao would pay up to $5 million USD more in taxes if he fought in California instead of Nevada or Texas.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White pre-UFC 107 press conference quotes
By Zach Arnold | December 11, 2009
“I think there’s two different Frank Mirs. I think there’s the Frank Mir that started in the UFC and then there’s the Frank Mir after the motorcycle accident. Um, you know Frank’s had really two different careers and the talk with him and Brock Lesnar, he really does hate Brock Lesnar and believe me when I tell you Brock Lesnar really does hate him, too. Um… I think that, like Frank said in this fight, Frank was giving his opinions on Cheick Kongo and uh and you know like you said, Cheick doesn’t like he had to say so I’m sure it’s going to make for a very good fight on Saturday night. It’s good, though, stuff like that motivates guys. I’m sure it helped Cheick in the gym.”
“Well, 2010 we’re going to go to a lot of places that we haven’t been yet, so, um… we’re looking to move this show around, going to go to Australia, going to go to Abu Dhabi, um… Boston, you know, a lot of markets we’ve never been, um… and we’re looking at opening up a lot of new markets in 2010, too, meaning other countries and New York.”
Q: “How does that process work? I mean, do you just visit somewhere and you’re like, yeah, this would be great, we could bring it here?”
“Yeah, well… we, uh, yeah that’s pretty much it, yeah. It’s that scientific. I like it here! I think we’ll do a fight here! Heh heh. We think about where the market’s going to be strongest. This sport has gotten so big so fast that I’ll give you an example. When we went to Cologne, Germany, you know when you start talking to the I guess we’ll call them the decision makers in Germany, in Cologne or these different states, um you know they think that the UFC is small and you know nobody’s ever heard of it but we know when we put on that event that people are going to come and the place is going to be packed and then after we leave, people are blown away but what that does is just like we did in the UK, you know, you set off an MMA bomb there and the virus starts to spread um after you do the live event. We went on uh we sold over 10,000 tickets just on pre-sale in Australia before they even went on sale, 10,000 sold. So I was supposed to fly there uh Monday for a press conference, I’m not going now. We don’t have to do it because we did so well there, so… um… it’s bigger than everybody thinks.”
“No, listen, we put together a great fight card here, you know, if anybody should be upset it should be Rampage that he’s not fighting in his hometown. Um, you know we brought an awesome title fight you know to Memphis, um, he’s still with us, yes, uh, Rampage is still with us and he’ll be fighting in the next few months.”
“Depends on who wins, you know. One of the things that I always used to talk to BJ about was cleaning out a division, you know, you know when he was going to his whole wanting to jump around from Lightweight to Heavyweight and all that stuff I said you know, settle into a division, clean it out, and then we’ll talk from there so you know if BJ’s a couple of fights away from cleaning this thing out, if he should beat Diego on Saturday night, um so I don’t know if BJ wanted to we’d have to look and see what’s next. Diego obviously, Diego wins, there’s a lot of talented guys in this division for him to fight.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sound off: Bobby Lashley signs with Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | December 10, 2009
Press Release
NEW YORK (Dec. 10, 2009)– Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) heavyweight champion and undefeated mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Bobby Lashley has signed a multi-year agreement with STRIKEFORCE and will make his debut for the world championship MMA promotion at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday, January 30.
The 6-foot-3 inch, 250-pound Lashley, also a former collegiate wrestling star for Missouri Valley College and member of The United States Army, will face an opponent that has not yet been determined during the live SHOWTIME® telecast of STRIKEFORCE: Miami, the historic, first-ever STRIKEFORCE event in the state of Florida.
In his last MMA start on June 27, 2009, the 33-year-old pulverized and scored a first round (3:17) TKO over 6-foot-5 inch, 350-plus-pound goliath Bob “The Beast” Sapp with a barrage of punches in Biloxi, Miss. The win upped Lashley’s MMA record to 4-0.
“I’m looking forward to fighting for STRIKEFORCE and challenging myself by taking on some of the top heavyweights in MMA,” said Lashley, a native of Junction City, Kan., and resident of Denver, Colo.
After competing in several matches in both the WWE Raw and SmackDown! shows in 2005 and 2006, Lashley captured the WWE United States Championship by defeating rival “JBL.” During this stint with the league and another in 2007, Lashley wrestled several top superstars, including The Big Show and John Cena.
Lashley made his MMA debut on Dec. 13, 2008, earning a 41-second TKO over Joshua Franklin after Franklin sustained a cut and could not continue.
Earlier this year, Lashley joined Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling. In his first appearance with the league on July 30, he helped tag team partner Mick Foley defeat superstars Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash.
Tickets for STRIKEFORCE: Miami officially go on-sale tomorrow/Friday, Dec. 11, at the BankAtlantic Center ticket office as well as online at www.Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
Doors at BankAtlantic Center open at 7 p.m. The first non-televised, preliminary card fight will begin at 8 p.m.
STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on premium cable television network SHOWTIME. The promotion made its live, primetime debut on CBS with the “Fedor vs. Rogers” mega-fight that it co-promoted with M-1 Global on Saturday, November 7 and generated 5.46 million viewers for the main event between the world’s number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, and superstar Brett “The Grim” Rogers.
About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” In May 2008, West Coast
Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WEC: Ben Henderson comments about Jamie Varner on Inside MMA
By Zach Arnold | December 10, 2009
Recently, Henderson was a guest on the weekly panel for the Inside MMA show on HDNet. Hosts Kenny Rice & Bas Rutten asked him a few questions about his upcoming fight against Jamie Varner.
Rice: “I guess you defend your interim title. You’re taking on a titleholder but you’re sort of a titleholder yourself right now.”
Henderson: “Yeah, I have the interim title. Basically, it’s just a number one contendership. I don’t really consider myself a champ at all quite yet. When Jamie and I get it on, when we dance, when I get that belt around my waist then I’ll be the champ.”
Rice: “All right, well recently as you probably know if you watch Inside MMA regularly Jamie Varner was on the show and he talked about this fight coming up against Ben.”
Varner: “I felt Cerrone won the first round and the fourth and the fifth rounds, so, it’s kind of tough for me to call. Henderson did more damage, but I thought Cerrone won more rounds.
I’m looking forward to the fight, I’m really excited. I’ve trained with Ben Henderson before, I know what he brings to the table and he knows what I bring to the table. He had one hell of a time training with me, trying to take me down and execute anything on me, so I’m expecting a tough fight but I’m also expecting a quick fight.”
Rice: “Gee, Ben, I guess he was talking a quick fight for himself. And you say?”
Henderson: “I would imagine so. He’s expecting a quick fight. I imagine that’s what he’s hoping for. Donald Cerrone took him into some deep water we saw, we all saw, you saw for yourself how that fight went once it got to the later stages, the fourth round, fifth round, I’m going to take him into those deep waters again, you know, take him out in a war and see how he likes it.”
Rice: “This has been a fast rise for you.”
Rutten: “Yeah, we were just talking about it.”
Henderson: “It has. Um, I’ve been blessed, God has really blessed me, directing my career in the right path you know has gone pretty quickly fighting some smaller, local shows to fighting for titles you know in a matter of 9, 10 fights, so…”
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Transcript of Marc Ratner interview on HDNet
By Zach Arnold | December 10, 2009
Recently, HDNet host Ron Kruck did a satellite interview with Marc Ratner, the former boss of the Nevada State Athletic Commission who currently works for Zuffa (the parent company of UFC). Ratner has been busy lobbying on behalf of Mixed Martial Arts in several states in order to get the sport legislated in the 48 States that have athletic commissions. Here is the transcript of the interview that recently aired on the network.
Ratner: “My main job is one of education and lobbying to get the sport regulated wherever there is an athletic commission and other places throughout the world.”
Kruck: “Marc, you’re doing your job very well because a few more states recently approved MMA regulations. Currently, how many sanction Mixed Martial Arts?”
Ratner: “As of today, 40 states, there’s 48 states that have athletic commissions, 2 states — Alaska and Wyoming — do not have an athletic commission. We’re currently in the legislatures in New York, Wisconsin, and West Virginia, so we’re very, very certain, feel strongly about that uh early next year we will have those [three] states and then start working on Connecticut and Vermont and a couple other ones.”
Kruck: “You mentioned New York, Mark, it seems you’ve been working with them a long time. How far away are they?”
Ratner: “I really, uh, feel that we would have had New York finished this year but their Senate broke down, they’re still not back in session, so there’s a problem politically there. It wasn’t about Mixed Martial Arts. I really think that we will get approved, we’ve gotten through quite a few of the committees. Maybe by February or March of next year.”
Kruck: “So what has been the biggest obstacle in getting MMA into New York?”
Ratner: “It’s about education, uh, Ron. One of the problems in the very beginning, uh, of MMA which was 1992, 1993, the advertisements were No Holds Barred, anything goes. No rules, and certainly you couldn’t have a sport like that that wasn’t a sport with no rules. So there are still people in different places where the sport’s not sanctioned yet who still think it’s a Wild West sport without any rules.”
Kruck: “Great point, Marc. Let’s switch topics now and talk about refereeing in MMA. Are you pleased with the state of MMA officiating right now?”
Ratner: “It’s very important to deepen the pool of officials so one of my goals, once we get the sport very well-regulated and get through with our lobbying, is to get more judges and more referees involved and really have them learn and uh there will be more seminars. I think that the future of the sport, besides getting new fighters, is dependant upon officials and we’re certainly going to work on that end just to keep increasing the knowledge of officials around the world.”
Kruck: “In your opinion, currently what is the biggest issue with MMA referees?”
Ratner: “Well, Ron, what I found on the local level when we go to whether it’s Oregon or it’s to Texas, we look at these new officials and they’ve never had a fight as big as when they have 12-to-15,000 people on them and sometimes they freeze, they have to learn what it is to officiate in front of a big crowd so that’s part of the problem. We have to have the officials really understand the ground game because so many of them don’t, when to stand the fighters up and that’s one of the big problems with what we have. Also, the judges have to be more consistent and that’s going to take some time and we just got to keep making it evolve.”
Kruck: “I couldn’t agree more, Marc. Are there some current rules you’d like to see changed or modified?”
Ratner: “I’m very happy with the Unified Rules, I think there can always be some fine-tuning but until we get the sport fully regulated in America, I would not want any changes.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |