Tom Atencio’s no-good, very-horrible week
By Zach Arnold | July 23, 2009
If you missed yesterday’s Affliction conference call (the promotion didn’t provide audio but it’s available on a couple of web sites), you should listen to it. You could just hear the frustration in Tom Atencio’s voice. A mixture of chaos, frustration, sadness, and overall miserableness. And that was just yesterday.
I have a new article going over what Atencio has been dealing with since the news broke from the California State Athletic Commission that Josh Barnett failed a drug test and that he allegedly tested positive for drostanolone.
Here’s a snippet from the article, but I encourage you to read it in full.
Right after you find out that you lost Barnett, you realize, “Oh crap, I have two conference calls over two days with the press.” You know what kind of media onslaught is coming towards you. Questions about the failed drug test by Josh. Questions about whether or not you will remain friendly with him. Questions about who you are replacing Barnett with on the card. Questions about Affliction’s future. Being on that conference call is the last place in the world you want to be, but you know that you need the media on your side more than ever so you have to suck it up, you have to be polite and yet careful in how you answer anything so you don’t make false promises.
After you read my new article, here are comments from Fedor & M-1 on the Barnett situation. They all but admit that Vitor Belfort is who Fedor will fight on 8/1, but that they really want Brett Rogers.
As for what happens to Josh next… Sengoku has a big show on 11/5 in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan and that is when Satoshi Ishii is supposed to make his debut. If the situation in California turns out as bad as it looks for Barnett, then he can fight on that show. Remember, Antonio Silva fought in Japan during his CSAC suspension and it doesn’t look like he paid a price for it. Outside of the November 5th Sengoku date? IGF has a major show on 8/9 in Tokyo at Ariake Colosseum. Given that he’s off the Affliction show now, that no doubt becomes a big booking date for him.
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 101 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC’s childish stance with ESPN
By Zach Arnold | July 23, 2009
Dave Meltzer in this week’s edition of The Observer:
After the piece they did a few months ago, Dana White banned ESPN’s E:60 from being credentialed at UFC 100. The show was looking at doing three more UFC-related stories, a feature on Evan Tanner, Quinton Jackson and to do an updated feature on Brock Lesnar. However there have been signs over the past week that White is softening his stance.
This incident reminds me of when Major League Baseball got pissed off at ESPN for revealing All-Star Game roster selections before TBS did because MLB had a contract with TBS for “exclusively” being able to tell viewers the AS rosters first. Never mind the fact that this “exclusive” means little or nothing to most baseball fans, MLB went on a hissy fit against ESPN and stripped the network of its on-site credentials for the ’07 game in San Francisco.
However, the UFC hissy fit is significantly more laughable. The E:60 piece on Dana White and his tirade against Loretta Hunt was about as neutered as you could possibly get. There was no hardball on it at all and White did not come off horribly after the show aired. The fact that White held a grudge over a tame, harmless E:60 story is not simply a display of hardball tactics; it’s a display of Vince McMahon-style penny-wise, pound-foolish media paranoia.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Why is Affliction drawing more heat than Josh Barnett?
By Zach Arnold | July 22, 2009
Ivan Trembow asked this question tonight:
[It amazes me that Affliction is taking more heat for Josh Barnett’s positive steroids test than Josh Barnett himself is taking. Barnett is the one who has placed everyone involved (Fedor, Belfort, Santiago, Affliction, the fans, etc.) in a bad situation.]
I think there’s a cumulative effect going on here involving multiple reasons and/or thoughts:
- In much the same fashion that people got sad and angry about PRIDE’s collapse due to Shukan Gendai’s negative campaign about the yakuza scandal, the hardcore MMA fans weren’t so upset at the possibility of the mafia possibly being involved in the fight business. The hardcores were upset that a media scandal ended up taking their proverbial crack away from them and that crack was seeing big-level fights. Again, with hardcore fans it’s not so much the crime (failing a drug test/PED use in MMA or being involved with questionable people) as it is ‘getting caught’ that these fans care more about. Few people online seemingly get upset about the complete lack of ‘real’ drug testing in Japan, but in the States when someone fails people care but they are more upset with the fighter getting caught than the actual use of drugs in MMA. Sports fans at this point are beyond cynical about all of this, which is sad and unfortunate.
- Barnett’s never been an Internet darling online. Because he’s never been embraced that much, I think a lot of hardcores are angry at Affliction for pushing Josh as a PPV main eventer in more of the “what do you see in this guy?” kind of logic as opposed to, “Yeah, he’s the 2nd or 3rd best heavyweight in the world.”
- There’s a lot of frustration amongst hardcore fans online who want to see UFC get a big rival in MMA and they understand that any such rival has little-to-no margin for error and by basically building an MMA promotion around one guy (Fedor), suddenly everything can fall apart like a deck of cards if one bad incident happens.
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What to make of the Josh Barnett story regarding a reported failed CSAC drug test
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2009
Sherdog reports that either Vitor Belfort or Bobby Lashley will get a chance to face Fedor. If I’m Belfort, I take that fight immediately no matter what the outcome is. This would be a golden ticket for him and could you imagine what Dana White would be willing to pay him if he somehow pulled off the upset? UFC would mark out like crazy. As for Lashley, avoid this fight at all costs. No reason to take it. I disagree with Dave Meltzer’s assertion that Lashley would be in a no-lose situation taking the fight.
Fightlinker sums up the Barnett story in a simple manner.
Barnett was scheduled for day two of a two-day conference call session that starts on Wednesday to hype up the upcoming Affliction event. When asked whether or not audio of the conference call would be available to members of the media, the PR staff said ‘no audio.’
There is a bigger lesson to be learned here when thinking about this story. The lesson to be learned is that out-of-competition drug testing works and that drug testing right before and right after a fight is nice and everything, but it doesn’t ultimately catch a lot of the cheaters. Drug testing at events makes for nice PR more than it does make for great policy.
Which is something that Ivan Trembow has long-focused on and deserves a lot of credit for. Nevada was the first to push for out-of-competition drug testing, but the commission (lead by Keith Kizer) has been all over the place in terms of being inconsistent of enforcing the policy. You don’t know what events or if/when it will happen with the NSAC, whereas California (a bankrupt state I know much about) even in a bad fiscal situation managed to do out-of-competition drug testing.
So now that out-of-drug competition has allegedly busted a prominent fighter, let’s see which MMA writers want to step up to the plate and actually start asking legitimately tough questions to athletic commissioners about the implementation of out-of-competition drug testing. If MMA wants to be taken as a serious sport and athletic commissioners want to be fully trusted by the public as opposed to being little more than glorified PR spokespeople for promoters who pay a % of the event gates, then the focus by hardcore MMA fans and writers should be on enforcing a consistent out-of-competition drug testing policy. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 89 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Kim Couture talks about her divorce
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2009
Posted by Steve Cofield. You better believe I will be transcribing this later.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kimo
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2009
Here were some online postings of when everything spread like wildfire: here and here.
Yahoo Sports: Former UFC star Kimo Leopoldo not dead
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship contender Kimo Leopoldo appeared at the Orange County Sheriff’s office in Santa Ana, Calif., late Tuesday afternoon, ending rumors of his death that spread rapidly across the Internet.
“He’s standing here in front of me, talking to some members of the press,” said Jim Amormino, the spokesman for the county sheriff’s coroner’s office, in a phone interview. “He’s alive and well.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fallout from DREAM 10 event
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2009
DREAM 10 (7/20 Saitama Super Arena) drew a poor crowd. Claimed attendance for the show was 11,970. Still better than anything Sengoku’s drawn in the same building. DREAM is already pushing Marius Zaromskis as their Welterweight version of Mirko Cro Cop.
DREAM 11 will take place on 10/6 at Yokohama Arena. Shin’ya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen has been booked for the show.
Here are some post-fight comments from a few of the fighters at DREAM 10 (I’ll add more quotes throughout the day).
JESSE TAYLOR (after beating Yoon Dong-Sik)
Interpreter: “So, how did you feel about your match? Could you please comment on it”
Jesse Taylor: “I feel great, it’s a win, it’s my first time here, definitely not my last. I really like being here in Japan and fighting here, I love the audience. I really loved it out here but I really wish you know it wasn’t an injury, I think I would have won any kind of way, I would have won anyways but I don’t like winning like that.”
Interpreter: “So if Mr. Yoon Dong-Sik wasn’t injured, what kind of technique would you try to perform after that?”
Jesse Taylor: “Well, obviously you guys saw me go for the rear naked choke, I became I’m pretty fond of that move and I’m a rear naked choke artist but I could stand and bang too so what I was going to do is break him down with some grappling and then I was going to do some punching as well towards the end.”
[This led to a very awkward moment because the translator had no idea how to translate ‘naked choke’ or ‘rear naked choke.’ If he had said ‘choke sleeper hold’ she probably would have figured out how to translate it accurately. She was trying to figure out a term like kata-hajime here.]
Interpreter: “So after you was only one week after your last fight. So when is your next fight?”
Jesse Taylor: “Well, I don’t know, I’ve been fighting quite a bit these days. I just stay busy, obviously I stay more focused, more grounded when I’m busy and fighting. It’s hard for me to say no to fights, I love to do it. It keeps me out of trouble.”
Interpreter: “So people are talking about how bad boy you are in Japan and you are getting popular, getting popularity because of that but actually I think you are a very skilled and capable fighter. So in the future, what kind of point do you want to show? You want to show to the fans? As in being a bad boy.”
Jesse Taylor: “Well, thank you very much. Yeah, the UFC kind of labeled me with that and I don’t know if I really like that or not but yeah I just want to show the fans, the people at home that I’m actually a pretty good guy. Obviously from my past I have a lot to prove now. I have two boys, two sons and you know this provides a means to an end and I really like fighting here, I mean, to tell the truth I like fighting here a lot more than in the States so hopefully you guys like me and hopefully I’ll be back and I want the best. I can also go both wegiht classes, so I can do welterweight or middleweight here, so wherever the fight you demand from me is where I’ll go.”
“Thank you. I got to keep beating people up so you guys have more questions for me. I’m done.”
MELVIN MANHOEF (who lost to Paulo Filho)
Interpreter: “Could you please comment on your fight.”
Melvin Manhoef: “Yeah. The fight went pretty good, you know, as you know I’m a stand-up fighter and I like to bang and I was hitting him pretty good and in the one moment I lost my distance a little bit and I don’t know how I get fall but I have seen it on the television and then I can see what went wrong, you know, because my distance was too close and I fell and I want to turn out of the armbar but it was like stuck, you know, and yeah. A little bit of shame because you know I really wanted to win from him because everybody’s yeah talking good about him because he’s very good and this and that and you know he’s one of the greatest ground fighters, so I really wanted to win from him you know and unfortunately it didn’t happen but yeah.”
Interpreter: “Will you keep on fighting in MMA going forward?”
Melvin Manhoef: “Yeah, of course, I’m keep on fighting, you know I’m a fighter you know and you can say that he win the fight but you know he didn’t hit me one time you know and yeah, you know, my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is getting better but you know the guys are like doing it like 10 years already and I’m doing stand-up fighting also for technique so you see stand-up they cannot beat me but on the ground I’m very vulnerable. But I’m training every day, harder and harder, but my takedown defense is good because he couldn’t get me to the ground and you know I do both things, I do K-1 and I do DREAM you know, MMA, so it’s very difficult for me to focus me and myself on one thing so maybe if I focus myself on one thing, it will be much better but you know I like to fight so I want to fight both and I think you know if we do it again I think he cannot win you know, but now for this time he win because he was OK, he was yeah, he was not better but you know he was better on the ground so. But it’s my own fault, maybe also you know I was too greedy to finish it up you know you see every time when I fight I fight with aggression, sometimes I fight too much with my heart you know and if I fight too much with my heart I want to enjoy the fans and everybody and I want to finish everything quick and that is my fault again you know, I have 15 minutes the time but I want to finish him in two-three minutes and that’s also something to really [comment?] with my team you know, I have to be patient.”
TAREC SAFFIEDINE (who beat Seiichi Ikemoto)
Interpreter: “Could you tell us about your match? How did you feel? How did you fight?”
Tarec Saffiedine: “I fight I think I could do better, you know next time I bring more on the table I think and my opponent’s really tough, he’s really I mean it was tough when I kick him, kick him and he just kept coming at me and you know but right now I feel good, I feel good.”
Interpreter: “Was the double punch effective from your opponent?”
Tarec Saffiedine: “He got me with it one time with his right hand, it surprised me, he tried I think three times and I avoid them but just one time I think it was in the first round he got me one, it surprise me, yeah.”
Interpreter: “Well you said you wanted to bring more to the table next time. What would you like to show your audience or your fans or your opponent next time?”
Tarec Saffiedine: “I want to bring more aggressiveness because I knew I can finish the guy today but he was really tough so for my next fight I will train harder and I will show you more aggressiveness and more combination on the stand-up.”
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
DREAM 7/20 Saitama Super Arena
By Zach Arnold | July 19, 2009
- Welterweight GP Reserve match: Seichi Ikemoto vs. Tarec Saffiedine
- Welterweight GP: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Marius Zaromskis
- Welterweight GP: Jason High vs. Andre Galvao
- Welterweight GP Tournament Finals
- Lightweights: Shin’ya Aoki vs. Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro
- Lightweights: Katsunori Kikuno vs. Andre Dida
- Middleweights: Melvin Manhoef vs. Paulo Filho
I had to chuckle at this commenter:
I was kinda suprised to see that Herr Tim Laidbacker picked Filho to win by submission.
Anyone who has brain and watched Filho’s last 2 fights should not think he would submit a beast like Manhoef without trouble. It just won’t happen, Herr Laidbacker.
So what was the end result? Read here. Full event results here.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Clay Guida interview on Versus web site
By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2009
On the Versus web site in the MMA section, a video interview was posted featuring Clay Guida at UFC 100. (Direct link here.) Clay is as charismatic as ever. He talks about his upcoming fight schedule and thoughts on UFC 100. Check it out.
TRANSCRIPT
Interviewer: “Hanging out with Clay Guida here at UFC 100. Clay, we’re kind of half way through the card at this point. Anyone impress you, yet?”
Clay Guida: “So far, so good, man. Awesome fights. Jon Jones, he kind of came out a little bit flat and then he got back to the Jon Jones that we’ve seen just you never know what he’s going to do next, that spinning back elbow caught O’Brien on the top of the head and you know cemented him with a standing guillotine you don’t see that very often in MMA let alone the UFC, it was awesome.”
Interviewer: “One of the fighters came out, I can’t remember which one, I saw you in the front row taking pictures like you were a fan. What was up with that?”
Clay Guida: “I tell you what, I’m a bigger fan than I am probably a competitor man, I was trying to get Mac Danzig and you know we fought but he’s an awesome guy, I want to get him back you know help him out and I was just kind of shouting giving him you know some reassurance and he just had a tough break man you know.”
Interviewer: “Yeah, he just lost to Jim Miller via decision. What does he need to do in his career now to switch it up because when he came off of The Ultimate Fighter doing so well, so much hype about him and now he’s sort of hit this rough spot in his career.”
Clay Guida: “Yep, you know what, he’s a great striker and he’s a pretty good wrestler, it just seems like once he gets into the exchanges he leaves his legs wide open, he has a hard time defending the takedown, so. And he works out with great wrestlers every day at Couture’s, you know, it’s just one of those things, he’s had some tough matches in his last four fights.”
Interviewer: “What does UFC 100 mean for you?”
Clay Guida: “It’s amazing to be here, man, it’s very special and I’m honored to be part of it and the fans could not better, I mean there was thousands and thousands of people at the Fan Expo and to be part of this is I wish I was fighting tonight.”
Interviewer: “Yeah, we last saw you in action earlier in June against Diego Sanchez, a potential fight of the year candidate. I know you were disappointed that you didn’t win but what are you looking at now? Who’s on your radar?”
Clay Guida: “You know what, UFC contacted us, they haven’t come up with an opponent but they’re talking maybe November, maybe 106 I think, back in Vegas, that’s where I do my best work but whoever wants to scrap it up, let’s do it because I like fighting man, it’s all I want to do.”
Interviewer: “The one thing I’ll always remember about that fight, post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, you were jumping up and down like you’re ready to go another three rounds man, you have endless energy. It’s a truly pleasure to watch and we look forward to seeing you back in action sooner rather than later.”
Clay Guida: “Excellent, thank you very much and I can’t wait to get back in there. Look out, coming back.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video interview: Denis Kang in Brazil
By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2009
I tried to do a transcript of this, but there was too much background noise so I couldn’t do an accurate transcription. You should be able to understand most of what is said if you casually listen, but if you try to make out every word accurately, it’s tough sailing.
Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Gina Carano comments on upcoming fight against Cyborg
By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2009
I have a lot of multimedia to catch up on watching and listening to this weekend, but one clip I ran across was at AOL Fanhouse where they had a quick interview with Gina Carano when she was in New York earlier in the week to hype up her upcoming August 15th fight against Cyborg. (Direct video link here.)
The interview clip itself was short. Gina comes across as a combination of nervous, bashful, and almost uncomfortable when it comes to doing interviews. Which is why this transcript is somewhat short. Nevertheless, here it is.
TRANSCRIPT
Interviewer: “Welcome to New York. The last time we saw you here was in May of 2008 for the Elite XC’s first event on CBS. It seems a little bit different now, doesn’t it?”
Gina Carano: “Gee, are you seeing this? This is amazing. This is crazy. I really appreciate all the media covering this because this is, this is huge for the sport and for women and for me.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC’s Mike Swick: Brock Lesnar ‘probably the most hated fighter in MMA history’
By Zach Arnold | July 17, 2009
A note about transcripts: You can use the material on your site, no problem, but at least link back to us if you can. Reading this article, I could tell our handy work is already popular.
UFC Welterweight fighter Mike Swick did an interview on ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas (audio here) and made some very candid comments about UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. (You can access many ESPN 1100 radio interviews over at Cage Writer.) Although he made his case in a somewhat respectful tone, it is clear that Swick and other MMA fighters have little patience for Brock Lesnar’s antics.
TRANSCRIPT
Interviewer: “What did you think about like about that 90 second rant that he went on? What was the worst part about it? As a UFC fighter, was it the fact that he would not get out of Mir’s face after he beat him? Was it the fact that he flipped off the crowd? Saying that about the sponsor or what he said about his wife?”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Rashad Evans on Kimbo Slice, Brock Lesnar, and coming back from a UFC loss
By Zach Arnold | July 16, 2009
Rashad Evans did a radio interview on ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas (audio here) and here are some of the comments he said during the interview in regards to the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, Kimbo Slice, his altercation with Rampage Jackson at UFC 100, Brock Lesnar’s post-fight antics, and coming back from a knockout loss to Machida. (You can access many ESPN 1100 radio interviews over at Cage Writer.)
TRANSCRIPT
Interviewer: “Like earlier this year to talk about Kimbo it was insane how many people wanted to talk about him. What can you tell us about Kimbo Slice trying to come across the UFC?”
Rashad: “I think it’s a good move man, Kimbo he’s definitely talented and he’s a lot different than people expect, you know he’s probably one of the most humble persons I’ve ever met in my life.”
Interviewer: “Is that right?”
Rashad: “Yeah, yeah, Kimbo’s super cool, man, he’s a super cool guy.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |