Press Release: Women’s MMA show claims audience of over 4,000 in Las Vegas
By Zach Arnold | July 10, 2009
“Tuff Girls” Makes MMA History in Las Vegas
Vegas’ First Female MMA Card Features 10 Exciting Battles
Las Vegas, Nevada (July 10, 2009) – Proving that brains, brawn and beauty mix, “Tuff Girls” fought to a packed house at the Orleans Arena where 20 female mixed martial arts warriors battled in the amateur ranks. Promoted by Tuff-N-Uff, the nation’s premiere amateur mixed martial arts organization, “Tuff Girls” was the first all-female MMA card in Las Vegas history.
“We made history tonight with the largest attended female MMA event in Las Vegas history,” said Barry Meyer, president of Tuff-N-Uff Productions of the 4,000 plus attendees. “We provided exciting matchups that featured some of the top talent in the United States. Women have a place in MMA and have the talent to back it up.”
Continue reading this article here…
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MMA Live 7/9 from Las Vegas
By Zach Arnold | July 10, 2009
I’d link the show here, but guess what? ESPN has now disabled embedding on their videos. Defeats the whole purpose of having it online, yes?
The direct Youtube link is here, but not embeddable. Is it possible to embed YouTube clips if the author has turned off the embeddable code? ESPN has turned off embedding for all of their videos, which is short-sighted.
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Your big UFC 100 preview
By Zach Arnold | July 10, 2009
I’ve spent a good two weeks with the MMA Memories staff doing my best Ron Jaworski impersonation by pouring over a ton of audio and video clips in hopes of building up an article base previewing this weekend’s show. I think you will enjoy reading the articles. Check them out.
- Dan Henderson makes his case on why he will win at UFC 100
- Frank Mir acting like the UFC Heavyweight champion
- Thiago Alves isn’t intimidated by GSP
- Brock Lesnar says Frank Mir is jealous of him
- Yoshihiro Akiyama looks for a fresh MMA start in the UFC cage
- Jon Fitch looks to get payback against Paulo Thiago at UFC 100
- Stephan Bonnar looks to rebound by winning at UFC 100
- The trainers for GSP and Thiago Alves sound off about UFC 100
- Randy Couture says GSP and Lesnar will win at UFC 100
The controversial UFC demands to fighters about the EA MMA video game
I’ve received messages from contemporaries asking me why I didn’t comment on this story like I have over the sponsorship ‘tax’ story. Simply put, I was interviewed by a couple of media outlets and I gave them my thoughts on the matter for their articles.
There is one article I would like you to read relating to EA Sports, in which the author lays out a scenario that I actually agree with that could end up creating a unique situation for UFC.
Report: Mark Cuban now a Zuffa bondholder
We know the history of the Fertitta family as far as relations with bondholders and Station Casinos goes. Nevertheless, MMA Payout is reporting that Cuban is now a bondholder for UFC (buying some of their debt) and will have first access to the company’s financial reports. Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta must be thrilled by this news.
Continue reading this article here…
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Dana White answers a reporter’s questions about UFC 100 on UK TV
By Zach Arnold | July 9, 2009
Steve Cofield has the audio and here’s the transcription:
Reporter: “Dana, you know about the UFC.com is streaming live to England?”
Dana White: “Yeah, and we’re on the channel 433.”
Reporter: “But some people don’t have Sky so can you assure them…”
Dana White: “I know, you know what, I’m getting Twittered by people fucking that want to murder me in England because of this. Do you think that we don’t want to be on the biggest platform we could possibly be in to show UFC 100 live? You know, like I say, for us to navigate and do our business in these hard economic times it’s crazy, you know, the network that we’re in business with goes out of business. What the hell am I going to do? I mean, what do I do? If you don’t think we’ve been working our asses off trying to get this thing on a great platform and we were this close to getting a good one and just didn’t work out.”
Reporter: “Are you worried that the stream is not going to be good enough?”
Dana White: “There’s nothing that I can, there’s nothing, I’ve… we have done everything that we could absolutely do to make this happen for the UK fans. Listen, for any UK fan to be pissed at me about UFC 100, I have battled and fought and done everything I can to bring MMA to the UK. And, the UFC. I mean, I was fucking getting my ass kicked over there, I was losing hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars going over there, my first time in there I spent probably fucking $8 million dollars more than I should have on marketing, I mean I have done everything that I can do for MMA in the UK.”
Reporter: “And you’re not going away.”
Dana White: “Exactly, and we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to figure this thing out, we’re going to keep battling over there until we figure this thing out. We’re in the UK to stay and it sucks and I’m sorry that we can’t have a better platform you know to be on, the one that would make everybody happy but I’m trying.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dan LeBatard talks about UFC 100 on ESPN
By Zach Arnold | July 9, 2009
He and JA Adande were hosting Pardon the Interruption today. Adande repeated UFC’s company line that the event will drew 1.5 million PPV buys. Adande asked LeBatard if UFC will continue to get bigger.
“Bigger, and I think bigger means they can be the fourth biggest sport in the country.”
Both commentators accepted the idea that UFC 100 will drew 1 million PPV buys. Dave Meltzer is reporting that the UFC 100 Countdown show drew a 1.1 cable rating, blowing out the cable rating of any other Countdown show in the history of Spike TV.
For all of the hatred inside and outside of MMA circles for Brock Lesnar, the fact is that he has clearly surpassed Chuck Liddell as the company’s ace in terms of being their #1 draw. It doesn’t hurt to have Frank Mir in the mix, either.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Betting on UFC 100
By Zach Arnold | July 8, 2009
Steve Cofield & Dave Farra held a gambler’s anonymous meeting on Raw Vegas regarding the top three fights at UFC 100 and what is the ‘best value’ to bet on.
- Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping – both men said if you like Bisping, bet now before more people bet on him. He’s considered their ‘best value pick.’
- Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves – both men said if you can get St. Pierre at around -200 or -225, take it. If not, avoid the fight.
- Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir – both men said take Mir if he’s +190 or higher as an underdog. There’s a good chance that casual fans will put more money on Lesnar than Mir at the sportsbooks.
How ESPN is covering UFC 100
Besides MMA Live being live in Las Vegas, ESPN’s coverage of UFC 100 consists of Colin Cowherd on ESPN2 answering questions like this:
More frightening appearance: Brock Lesnar or Lady Gaga?
SportsNation said 53% in favor of Lesnar, BTW.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
ESPN SportsNation on UFC 100
By Zach Arnold | July 7, 2009
Question posed today on ESPN TV: What % of SN Will watch UFC 100 – 25% or 52%?
Answer: 25%
Yahoo changes MMA section to ‘UFC’
Take a look at their sports section — the headline is now UFC instead of MMA. Well, I did see the Yahoo Sports logo on all UFC video PR, after all…
Why will Brock Lesnar win?
Greg Nelson, Brock Lesnar’s trainer, says Brock won’t make the same mistake as he did in the first fight against Frank Mir:
“Well I think this time around with Mir he’s an entirely different fighter,” said Nelson. “He’s now filled in a lot of those holes that he had when he first went in. Before he was a wrestler who had an incredible athleticism and he used it but he had some holes and he’s a little bit too wild in there that first time. Now he’s been in there a few more times, he’s very composed, he has an ability to find how to land those big big giant mullets that he has on his hands, you know, that’s going to be the thing right there. Once he lands one of those shots, you know, one big shot can change the fight and he has the ability to do that at all times.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Greg Jackson talks about GSP’s strategy against BJ Penn
By Zach Arnold | July 7, 2009
In addressing a question about whether or not he game plans a fight to break an opponent’s will:
“It’s kind of a complicated issue,” Jackson recently pontificated. “We have a structure that we give him, these are the things that you want to do, these are things you don’t want to do, here’s what you do when he does this, here’s what you do when he does that, within that structure the artist has to be able to work, so you have… you’re tethered by it, but within that structure you’re able to move around. The BJ Penn fight is a great example of that. Once I saw that with BJ Penn we were able to out kickbox him, I wanted to take that way from BJ Penn so even though our game plan was to take him down, in the second round I called, I believe it was the second round I called “I want to kickbox him more” because mentally I wanted BJ Penn to know that he couldn’t win at that point kickboxing, so if he was going to try to get up from the guard it was going to be no better for him, and that starts the breaking process. So that was something that we did on the fly a little bit, you can do it Georges, once you see where the fight is going, so there’s a little bit of that adaptation stuff, but mostly you pretty well stick to the game plan.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Not the kind of media storyline UFC wanted heading into this weekend
By Zach Arnold | July 6, 2009
The buzz about UFC reportedly wanting $100,000 per six months from sponsors before they can even negotiate with contracted fighters is not dying down (and for good reason). It should be pointed out that the fee demanded by UFC is for sponsors who want their logo or trademark to appear on fighters or be promoted by fighters during UFC telecasts.
Josh Gross in Sports Illustrated puts it this way:
For the UFC, according to sources familiar with the company’s thinking, motivations are simple: the promoter wants its share, which it believes it earned by providing the platform for fighters to make significant sponsorship dollars; protection for official sponsors, such as Bud Light and Harley Davidson; additional control over brands gaining exposure to UFC audiences; and to further marginalize MMA agents and managers.
MMA Payout has more thoughts on what UFC is doing with fighters and their ability to have sponsors.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 47 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The heat-up for UFC 100 begins right now
By Zach Arnold | July 6, 2009
I spent all day yesterday transcribing a ton of audio related to the UFC 100 event this weekend. For the record, UFC Countdown is on Tuesday night and I will do my best to get as much audio transcribed as possible. It’s going to be a lot of material to pour through. Keep your eyes open at MMA Memories for some articles. I will also try to work on transcribing some audio from a recent Urijah Faber interview where he discussed his displeasure with money right now as the ‘ace’ of WEC. He makes a pretty cogent case, actually.
- The last few weeks, I’ve gotten hardly any reaction for MMA Live recaps. If you don’t want them, I won’t do them. Simple as that. I put aside Thursday nights to recap them, but if nobody is interested then there’s no reason for me to continue doing them.
- If Inside MMA was available in downloadable form online by HD Net, I’d be transcribing that show every week. Unfortunately, it’s not, so hopefully this answers the question as to why I don’t cover that show (even though I’d like to).
- Yoshihiro Akiyama is in Hawaii and headed to Las Vegas. He looks to be in great training shape, which is different than his previous couple of fights (including the Denis Kang fight in South Korea). Alan Belcher will no doubt be a tempting underdog for MMA bettors, but Akiyama is a favorite going into the fight (around -300) for a good reason.
- I realize that fighters who fight at a high level are supposed to be confident, but Frank Mir sounds incredibly overconfident. I spent the weekend listening to about 6 different interviews with him and my goodness, he sounds like he is going into the fight as the champion. The more I hear Mir talk, the more I start to favor Lesnar in the fight. My opinion last week was the opposite of this.
- Michael Bisping’s schtick going into the fight against Dan Henderson is that Henderson is old and can be stopped. I’m not suggesting that Bisping doesn’t respect Henderson, but some of his comments have been unique to say the least.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Overflowing crowd attends Mitsuharu Misawa’s memorial ceremony in Tokyo
By Zach Arnold | July 4, 2009
Today at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, a public memorial was held in tribute to Mitsuharu Misawa who died in Hiroshima on June 13th. The memorial ceremony was styled in a similar fashion to Giant Baba’s memorial ceremony in February of 1999 at Nippon Budokan. A super-large portrait picture of Mitsuharu Misawa wearing the GHC Heavyweight title belt was placed alongside row after row of flower bouquets. The NOAH green ring was set-up in the middle of the arena, surrounded by tables with flowers surrounding the ring. The event was a two-part ceremony (first part for the wrestlers, second part for the fans). Asahi Shimbun reported that fans started lining up for the event yesterday (Friday) at 4 PM. Conservative estimates were that 10,000 fans showed up, but the number being floated around as the day-long memorial service took place was more along the lines of 25,000 fans. An estimated 28,000 fans attendended Giant Baba’s memorial ceremony 10 years ago.
Video of the memorial service can be seen here and here.
Virtually every big name imaginable in the business showed up to the service to pay their respects. Akebono received the most Japanese media attention. Masa Chono, Yuji Nagata, Kensuke Sasaki & Akira Hokuto, Riki Choshu, Tatsumi Fujinami, and many other wrestlers were in attendance.
Kazuo Tokumitsu handled a lot of the talking at the ceremony. There was a ten-count gong, then Misawa’s “Spartan X” theme song played, then a ring call was done for a final time introducing him coming to the red corner at 250 pounds, then his name announced. (Think back to what was done at the Tokyo Dome in 1999 for Giant Baba’s final ring call.)
Topics: Japan, Media, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
MMA Live (July 2nd, 2009) show recap
By Zach Arnold | July 3, 2009
Hosts: Jon Anik, Pat Miletich, & Franklin McNeil
Mr. Anik opened up the show proclaiming UFC 100 to be the ‘single biggest event in MMA history.’ The panel opens up with discussion of Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar and comments Mir recently made online. Pat said that with 10 days to go, the fighters are working on their technical aspect of their games and are ‘blowing out their lungs’ but are being careful about not getting hurt. Franklin said that Mir’s talk about big guys being easier to face is curious because he’s not sure how fast Mir really will be come fight time. Franklin added that just because he’s training with Forrest Griffin doesn’t mean Forrest is necessarily that fast. Pat said that Mir’s confidence is growing after the win over Nogueira because Mir’s displaying better boxing skills, but Lesnar is being trained by Greg Nelson who is one of the best MMA minds in the world. He concluded by saying that Lesnar is a specimen and a fast learner.
ESPN will be in Las Vegas next week
MMA Live show – 12:30 PM PST on Thursday
Weigh-in Special – 3:30 PM PST on Friday
Preview Special – 6 PM PST on Saturday
Post Fight Extra – 10 PM PST on Saturday
Full Tilt Poker is MMA Live’s new sponsor.
Pat Miletich was asked to name his five favorite UFC fights:
5. Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 43 (June 2003)
4. Couture vs. Liddell II at UFC 52 (April 2005)
3. Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn II at UFC 63 (September 2006)
2. Tyson Griffin vs. Frankie Edgar at UFC 67 (February 2007)
1. Frank Trigg vs. Matt Hughes I at UFC 45 (November 2003)
Franklin seem appalled that Pat didn’t include Stephan Bonnar vs. Forrest Griffin. Pat noted that those two fighting was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters play each other because there was no defense. Franklin still looked shocked.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kazuo Misaki, Sengoku holds apology press conference
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2009
When it rains, it pours. Kazuo Misaki was found guilty of fleeing police during a traffic stop on March 19th.
There are pictures and lots more coverage of this story on the major Japanese news sites: here and here.
Update (7/02): Sengoku announced that Misaki vs. Nakamura is still on for 8/2 in Saitama. If Nakamura wins, he will face Jorge Santiago for a title shot. If Misaki wins, he gets nothing. He will be ‘indefinitely suspended’ after the 8/2 Saitama event.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Sengoku, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |