Al Haymon’s PBC boxing experiment only works if he cashes in on PPV
By Zach Arnold | March 7, 2015
Boxing. Changed forever. #PremierBoxingChamps pic.twitter.com/s33MBkwPwT
— PBC (@premierboxing) March 6, 2015
After watching the debut of Al Haymon’s PBC promotion on NBC with Robert Guerrero vs. Keith Thurman, my impression of what Haymon is attempting to accomplish in his business venture remained unchanged. This business venture will only work if Haymon can convince his television partners long-term to do barter deals instead of massive pay-for-play contracts. The only value for being on network television at this point is if the TV network is all-in promoting the shows (which was not the case with NBC for Saturday’s event) or if Haymon can build up his fighters to cash in on PPV. It’s no different than all the money marks who have tried to compete with UFC over the years. The difference is that Haymon is reportedly bankrolled by a couple of hundred million dollars.
In many ways, I’m not sure what historical context fits best here. We know Haymon would love to create a UFC-style model. By paying television networks money to air shows, it turns those very networks against paying out a lot of money to other promoters for shows. We’ve heard the rumblings, via Steve Kim, that ESPN is growing tired of paying money for Friday Night Fight events. In that respect, Haymon’s ploy feels a bit like Vince McMahon raiding the territories in the 80s and pushing them off the television landscape. The difference is that Top Rank still has HBO in their corner.
As opposed to the super exciting, always entertaining V. Klitschko. #irony “@TomLoeffler1: AB really did reinvent himself. Always Boring "
— Stephen Espinoza (@StephenEspinoza) March 8, 2015
With the way Haymon is reportedly using money mark cash, it reminds me a bit of the SWS experiment gone wrong in Japan in the early 90s. In April of 1990, All Japan worked with Vince McMahon for the Wrestling Summit event at the Tokyo Dome and New Japan participated as well. McMahon had his various odd requests for certain things on the show. Anyhow, the match that would forever change history there was Gen’ichiro Tenryu vs. Randy Savage. After the spectacle drew big heat, Tenryu and associates bolted All Japan and created SWS the next year. They poached the WWE alliance and thought it would work. It failed. SWS had visions of getting on network TV ala Haymon’s PBC but couldn’t do it. The major difference is that PPV has never been a factor in Japan whereas it is the financial lynchpin for combat sports in North America. The other difference is that Tenryu escaped his SWS failure by turning out to be one of the most brilliant self-promoters ever by working with all the other major promoters. Haymon’s not a star to any casual boxing fan and I’m not sure how many promoters will work with him if PBC fails.
So, I’m not sure the SWS analogy totally fits with what Haymon is trying to pull off. What about an analogy to PRIDE? PRIDE lost big cash under Hiromichi Momose and ended up under the auspices of Fuji TV. Fuji TV pumped in significant cash. A couple hundred million bucks. It proved to draw huge ratings. Sometimes nearly 20 million viewers. The difference is that Fuji TV had the major ad agencies on their side and easily racked up the inventory. With Antonio Inoki’s vision, Fuji TV turned New Year’s Eve into the mega-holiday in all of combat sports. Of course, PRIDE allegedly turned out to be nothing more than a vehicle for different business factions to pass money through with various dummy companies supposedly attached to the operation. I don’t see Haymon’s PBC turning out to be like PRIDE. If UFC hasn’t been able to turn their numbers on Fox into PRIDE-style broadcast TV ratings with Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos, I seriously doubt Haymon’s going to do the same with Broner or Thurman.
PRIDE worked because Fuji TV had skin in the game. The US networks have no skin in the game with Al Haymon. UFC worked because The Ultimate Fighter clicked and Spike TV went all-in, which in turn helped PPV grow with Tito Ortiz & Ken Shamrock. In order for Haymon to get any return on investment to his financial backers, he will have to get them money on the back-end from PPV or else get money through network television advertising. I could perhaps see the former but definitely not the latter.
The booth is really lacking energy. If they want to continue with Marv and Sugar Ray, need a younger guy in there to add some energy
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) March 8, 2015
While I was happy to watch the NBC show, I’m still uncertain on what the long game is here and why NBC will look at PBC any differently than they look at a standard NHL game they put on Saturday night to fill television time.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ronda melts down the internet; if UFC can’t convince fans of real challengers, then what?
By Zach Arnold | February 28, 2015
BROCK has arrived at #UFC184 pic.twitter.com/ykbpJPSlll
— Dave Sholler (@Sholler_UFC) March 1, 2015
A crazy amount of storylines from Saturday’s UFC 184 event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
First, Brock Lesnar showed up to meet Dana White. Lesnar was reportedly supposed to appear on RAW this past Monday, only to not appear on television. Here’s Lesnar playing off two very powerful businessmen with ease and he’s doing it around Wrestlemania time. WWE has always structured their booking for Wrestlemania. To have such upheavel with their champion heading into the Santa Clara event is remarkable.
Koscheck foaming at the mouth from Ellenberger power figure-four gripping a guillotine turned into a north-south choke. This card is VIOLENT
— Jordan Breen (@jordanbreen) March 1, 2015
There was madness all over the card from top to bottom. Ronda Rousey dispatched of Cat Zingano in 14 seconds, leading ESPN anchors to pontificate if she should be fighting male fighters now. If you thought last year’s malarkey about Ronda fighting Mayweather was scripted PR insanity, the calls now for Ronda vs. male fighters is going to ramp up in a big way. Interesting that ESPN anchor Kevin Connors point-blank asked Chael Sonnen if UFC pulled the wool over the eyes of the public by trying to sell Zingano as a credible challenger to Rousey.
The semi-main event featured the UFC debut of Holly Holm. Before the PPV card started, Dana White remarked that he would expect to see some jitters from Holm and that it may take some time for her to get acclimated to fighting on such a big stage. He couldn’t have been more on point. She’s not ready to fight Ronda at this point in time.
It’s obvious that Cyborg is who Ronda will face in her next big fight, but can Cyborg make weight or will they bite the bullet and fight at a catchweight of 140 pounds? If Cyborg can’t fight until the end of the year against Ronda, who do they match Ronda with on one of their Summer cards?
Addendum: Bethe Correia makes a lot of sense. I’m not sure if the public will buy her as a serious threat even though the heat between her and Rousey is very real. It may not matter now, given that Ronda is reportedly going to film a movie soon.
Interesting headline at Fox Sports: Ronda Rousey is the UFC’s Mike Tyson but that’s not necessarily a good thing
Jake Ellenberger and Roan Carneiro brought the chokes and it was a little scary to see what was done to Mark Munoz. The referee, Jerin Valel, let the choke go on for way too long. He was third-in-line behind the usual hands, Big John McCarthy and Herb Dean. Jason Herzog did not referee on the card.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A legislative push to extend the California State Athletic Commission into 2020
By Zach Arnold | February 27, 2015
On Wednesday, California state senator Jerry Hill (D – San Mateo) introduced Senate Bill 469. The bill would extend the life of the California State Athletic Commission by four years. Currently, the Athletic Commission is set to sunset on January 1, 2016. SB469 will extend that sunset date by four years to 2020.
The juxtaposition of this news to what is happening in the pre-trial motions of the Leland Yee case is interesting to watch play out. Yee’s lawyer is reportedly asking for extra time until August before they have to make a final decision on whether or not to play Let’s Make a Deal with the Feds. That trial is/was scheduled for June. One of the allegations the Feds leveled against Yee and his political consultant was the charge of supposed extortion against the Athletic Commission. If Yee roll the dice and heads to trial, the Feds will have to show their evidence regarding these allegations.
In other Athletic Commission-related news, no movement to report in both the Assembly & Senate Budget Act 2015 bills that would increase the spending authority from $1.2 million a year to $1.44 million a year.
On a curious side note, recent lobbying records publicly filed by Zuffa LLC & Station Casinos LLC in Sacramento show both donations & expenditures involving Assemblyman Luis Alejo. Three years ago, Alejo was pushing Assembly Bill 2100 in California. AB 2100 would have allowed MMA fighters to tap into the Boxer’s Pension Fund and would have subjected promoters to regulations regarding adhesive/coercive contracts. AB 2100 predictably died.
Build up rivals to make more $. Spending PR time on Cyborg/steroids & ring card girls does nothing to sell tickets for Saturday's UFC fight.
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) February 26, 2015
As for this weekend’s activities in Southern California, quite the slate with Golden Boy at Fantasy Springs, Invicta, and then UFC at Staples Center. Here’s this Washington Post article: The best fighter in male-dominated MMA might just be a woman. Jake Rossen at ESPN has an article asking whether or not MMA gyms have a sexual harassment problem. He manages to tie in Ronda Rousey’s judo career into the discussion.
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A public service announcement for a California State Athletic Commission survey
By Zach Arnold | February 23, 2015
Dear Valued Stakeholder,
The California State Athletic Commission is beginning the development of its strategic plan for 2016-2019. The Department of Consumer Affairs, SOLID Planning Solutions (SOLID) is assisting the Commission with its strategic planning process.
As a stakeholder involved with the profession, you have an important perspective and stake in the success of the Commission. Your completed survey will provide input as to how the Commission is doing by identifying strengths, challenges, and current trends to consider for the future direction of the Commission.
Thank you for taking time to participate in this short survey. All responses are anonymous. This will allow us to add your feedback to our analysis as we prepare our strategic plan.
SURVEY LINK: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSAC2016SP
Thank you for participating in this survey. Your valuable input is appreciated by the California Athletic Commission. If you have any questions or additional comments, please contact Ted Evans in SOLID Planning Solutions at (916) 574-8394 or [email protected].
Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Will UFC’s 2015 NYE super fight feature Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar?
By Zach Arnold | February 22, 2015
A proposal so crazy yet so obvious, it just might work a half a decade later. Too bad Frank Mir didn’t call out Brock Lesnar after tagging Bigfoot Silva in Porto Alegre:
What a huge opportunity missed. How do you not call out Lesnar? Thought Mir was smarter than that.
— FrontRowBrian® (@FrontRowBrian) February 23, 2015
Sunday’s fight between Bigfoot Silva and Frank Mir was highly ironic given their… updated… stance on testosterone usage that they declared a few days ago.
There are lots of impactful match-ups for UFC to book this calendar year but Mir/Lesnar still carries more marketing punch than anything on the horizon sans Jon Jones/Anthony Johnson. Stacked cards are valuable but so is veteran star power. Plus, Mir vs. Lesnar is a fight that’s on the edge of UFC Heavyweight importance — neither guy is as good as Werdum or Cain, but they’re good enough to be taken seriously with such a shallow talent pool in the division. Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson are still fighting.
As for UFC’s card Sunday night in Brazil…
And there you go again. I'm not sure how much Brazilian fans can take going to these events and watching all their key fighters lose #ufc
— MMA Supremacy (@MMASupremacy) February 23, 2015
A brutal night for the favorites.
- Frank Mir defeated Bigfoot Silva in 100 seconds in R1 by KO.
- Michael Johnson defeated Edson Barboza after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Sam Alvey knocked out crowd favorite Cezar Ferreira in R1 in 3’34.
- Adriano Martins defeated Rustam Khabilov by split decision.
- Frankie Saenz defeated Yuri Alcantara by unanimous decision.
- Marion Reneau defeated Jessica Andrade in under two minutes with a choke.
Onto Staples Center for Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano. I’m not sure most casual fans know the other fights on the card… Hey, Gleison Tibau is fighting a month after his split decision win in Boston.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Andy Foster in California doubles down on using anonymous judges for performance reviews
By Zach Arnold | February 21, 2015
First, a summary of events that transpired at the February 18th Los Angeles meeting for the California State Athletic Commission:
- Spencer Walker, the long-time Department of Consumer Affairs lawyer who has ruled the roost at the Commission, is out. Doreathea Johnson, who oversees legal affairs at DCA, will take an even more aggressive approach to overseeing legal responsibilities for CSAC.
- John Frierson was re-appointed to the Athletic Commission by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, the big kahuna in Sacramento. Frierson stepped down as Chairman of CSAC, with John Carvelli formally crowned as the new Chairman. This is no surprise and maintains status quo from last year. Former boxer & current appellate lawyer Mary Lehman is Vice Chair.
- Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons is gone from the Athletic Commission board. It is unknown if Dr. Christopher Giza will be re-appointed.
- The Athletic Commission is near a break-even point for this year’s Fiscal Year budget but is projected to build a cushion by the end of the FY.
- There are concurrent Budget Act bills in both the state Assembly & state Senate to increase the budget appropriation for CSAC yearly from $1.2 million USD to $1.44 million USD.
- Tyson Cave’s lawyer petitioned the Athletic Commission board for a reversal of the decision in Cave’s ESPN fight last December with Oscar Escandon. Spencer Walker declared that since no one from Cave’s camp showed up for the meeting, an entry of default was suitable to deny the petition. Cave’s petition for appeal was denied.
- Steve Fossum’s IKF was granted another six-month extension to regulate Muay Thai & amateur kickboxing in California.
- Martha Shen-Urquidez, consigliere/ally to both Andy Foster & Big John McCarthy, has her own subcommittee now to oversee the training of officials in California.
Onto the details…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The devil is in the details for UFC’s new drug policy
By Zach Arnold | February 18, 2015
So…during a drug testing presser. Dana yells at everyone, then announces a title fight and basically mic drops
— Brent Brookhouse (@brentbrookhouse) February 18, 2015
There were high expectations heading into Wednesday’s Las Vegas presser with Dana White & Lorenzo Fertitta. How would they handle the public relations for all of the recent failed drug tests?
If you listened to Jordan Breen and Greg Savage on Cheap Seats, the expectation games for Wednesday’s presser was very high. Just what exactly would be concretely established by UFC given their history over the last five years with several high-profile fighters using testosterone? Dave Meltzer wrote an article comparing MMA’s drug plague to tackling America’s national debt.
Wednesday’s presser started out horrifically, got better after the first few minutes, and then got muddied with “we haven’t fully determined what the details are” answers in the media Q & A session.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Law and leadership, not shadow tribunals, is the way to fix bad officiating in California
By Zach Arnold | February 15, 2015
There is a problem with the quality of judging & officiating of certain boxing fights in the state of California. There is a built-in procedure to handle the discipline of referees & judges who have demonstrated a lack of proficiency in performing to the standards of their required job duties:
Call the officials in question to attend a State Athletic Commission meeting. Give them the right to a public, private, or public/private combination hearing regarding their job status. If you’re going to suspend them and/or strip them of their license, you have the Athletic Commission as a whole make that determination.
Here’s what you don’t do if you want to avoid litigation.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday news dump: Sacramento tells commission to not give fighters testosterone exemptions
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2015
There are two intriguing & news-worthy developments happening right now with the California State Athletic Commission and the political bosses that oversee the operation at the Department of Consumer Affairs in Sacramento.
One development is very much welcomed and the other development is very much crap. We’ll address the latter in another article soon forthcoming.
Onto the positive news. Awet Kidane, the big kahuna that oversees the 4,300+ workers at DCA in Sacramento, is now the second DCA boss in a row to tell the Athletic Commission to back off of Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons’ dream of a Therapeutic Use Exemption policy. Dr. Lemons has repeatedly sold his policy idea as one which would make the process of granting TUEs for fighters needing testosterone as rare and supervised. The counter-argument, which the doctor and others have not been able to generate a response to, is this:
Why should there be a policy to allow any fighter to use testosterone when its a banned substance in the first place?
In April of 2012, we spoke out against the proposed TUE policy. In late 2014, a new push was quietly made to grease the skids to get the TUE proposal passed with a largely hidden 45-day comment period. That period ended on December 15th, 2014. On December 15th, DCA’s number one sent the Athletic Commission a letter stating his formal opposition to implementing any such TUE policy.
Here is the text from that letter, which was released late Friday afternoon:
Dear Chairman Frierson:
[DCA] has great concerns regarding the California State Athletic Commission’s proposed regulations for the establishment of a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) process. I would like to commend the Commission’s thoughtful efforts to craft a fully realized regulatory process. However, serious procedural and policy concerns remain and I urge the Commission to withdraw this proposal and cease moving forward with the establishment of TUEs in California.
Despite the Commission’s best efforts, the proposed regulation still lacks completeness in both transparency and specificity. For example, the regulation is silent on the physical review of the TUE application, a process that must be as transparent as can be made possible. As written, members of the public and licensees are not provided clarity as to whether the application is reviewed by the Medical Advisory Committee, the full Commission, the Executive Officer, or some combination thereof. The proposal also does not specify if the application, and the review of it, would be made public or kept confidential. Additionally, there is language that indicates retroactive exemptions could be made possible, and this is simply unacceptable given the gravity and history of this subject.
More importantly, the need for this regulation proposal has yet to be justified. This is particularly true provided that existing law already grants the strongest protection for our licensees by prohibiting the use of forbidden substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. This regulation exposes licensees of the Commission to unnecessary risk that goes above and beyond those inherent in their chosen profession. The risk that is taken by allowing licensees of the Commission to use, among other substances, synthetic testosterone, is extraordinary. This raises numerous concerns, not the least of which is that the opponent of any fighter with an exemption for the steroid could be at a dangerous disadvantage to someone who has been training, and is performing, with the help of that substance.
Fighter safety would be jeopardized in more ways than it would be protected, which is why states like Nevada have placed outright bans on TUE’s, and the Association of Ringside Physicians, “supports the general elimination of [TUEs] for [TRT].” By following Nevada’s example of not allowing any exemptions, and preserving the restrictions in existing law, the Commission will send the strongest message possible which is that our athletes will continue to compete on an even playing field and in a manner that will not jeopardize their health and safety. Ultimately, this demonstrates the Commission’s commitment to upholding its mission statement by ensuring the health, safety and welfare of the participants in regulated competitive sporting events in California.
For this reasons I reiterate my encouragement that the Commission not move forward with the adoption of proposed section 424. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your proposed rulemaking. If you have any questions, please contact Christine Lally, Deputy Director for Board and Bureau Relations at 916-574-8200.
Sincerely,
Awet Kidane, Director
Department of Consumer Affairscc:
Reginald Fair, Deputy Secretary, Legislation, Business Consumer Services and Housing Agency
Christine Lally, Deputy Director for Board and Bureau Relations
Melinda McClain, Deputy Director for Division of Legislative and Policy Review
Andy Foster, Executive Officer, California State Athletic Commission
If Dr. Lemons wants to save his TUE proposal, he will have to whip the other votes and I’m very skeptical that he will be able to do so at this point in time.
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
The quick & dirty on any changes coming to California State Athletic Commission board
By Zach Arnold | February 4, 2015
The terms of California State Athletic Commission board members Dr. Christopher Giza, Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons, and John Frierson expired on January 1st, 2015. Dr. Giza’s spot on the board is a Governor’s appointment. Dr. Lemons’ spot on the board is a state Senate Rules Committee appointment. Mr. Frierson’s spot on the board is an appointment from the Speaker of the Assembly.
The next meeting for the Athletic Commission is on February 18th in Los Angeles.
According to California Government Code section 1774, Governor Jerry Brown has up to 90 days to attempt to get Dr. Giza, Dr. Lemons, and/or Mr. Frierson reappointed to the Athletic Commission board. Any reappointments would have to be approved by the state legislature. If an incumbent is not reappointed within the 90 days after their term initially expired, then that incumbent’s seat becomes vacant.
In short, the February 18th meeting in Los Angeles could be the last CSAC meeting for Dr. Giza, Dr. Lemons, and/or Mr. Frierson unless Governor Brown decides within the next month (or two) to keep them around for a few more years.
If the Governor decides to reappoint any of the three incumbents, they are still subject to confirmation in the legislature. If the legislature gives their blessing, then the incumbents will be granted full terms again.
If the legislature doesn’t give their blessing, the incumbents will have to give up their seat a year from the date of reappointment.
Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 183’s double drug testing failures leads us to ask these basic questions…
By Zach Arnold | February 3, 2015
Anderson Silva reportedly tested positive for two different kinds of steroids on a January 9th Nevada State Athletic Commission-administered drug test. Silva fought Nick Diaz this past weekend in Las Vegas.
First question: Why are fighters allowed to fight if they fail a pre-fight drug test?
Second series of questions: If the Nevada State Athletic Commission is doing pre-fight drug testing of fighters, are they receiving the results of such drug tests before the fight actually occurs? If not, what is the point of doing pre-fight drug testing? What is the purpose of pre-fight drug testing other than to catch fighters doping and suspend them before they fight while allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs?
As for where this leaves Silva’s future career prospects, is a fight with Chris Weidman officially off the table? Is the only fight left for Silva, at this point in time, a not-as-dreamy-as-used-to-be super fight with Georges St. Pierre?
Silva was also reportedly not the only fighter to fail a drug test. Nick Diaz allegedly failed a Nevada State Athletic Commission post-fight drug test for… marijuana. Last week, we asked the following questions on Twitter:
@FightOpinion @MMASupremacy sent the commission an email about 2 weeks ago and was given a no comment
— Steven Muehlhausen (@SMuehlhausenMMA) January 28, 2015
- If it is true that Nevada’s commission issued a “no comment” regarding questions of Nick Diaz’s licensing status, why was a no comment issued?
- Was Nick Diaz actively licensed with Nevada’s commission long before the UFC 183 fight or was he licensed only recently?
- Was Nick Diaz drug tested in the same manner as Anderson Silva before their UFC 183 fight? If not, why not?
- What is Nevada’s policy regarding fighters getting licensed in proximity to when their fight is scheduled to take place? If fighters can wait to get licensed until the last minute, does that mean that those fighters are not subjected to random drug testing unlike other fighters licensed by the commission?
Additionally, what is the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s future stance going to be regarding testing fighters for cocaine like they did with Jon Jones? Is it going to be the official position of the Commission that cocaine is a performance-enhancing drug? If not, why continue to test for cocaine metabolites in the future? If cocaine is considered a PED, why hasn’t Jon Jones been formally suspended?
Addendum
I knew Anderson Silva was quite the popular fellow, but the general sports media decided to cover his positive drug test as a big deal. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports is calling for Anderson’s retirement.
Anderson Silva is proclaiming his innocence for the positive drug test result. He’s proclaiming his innocence via Dr. Marcio Tannure, who also happens to be the doctor for Brazil’s MMA commission.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Your 2014 California State Athletic Commission salary figures
By Zach Arnold | February 2, 2015
Tax records courtesy of The Sacramento Bee:
The lawyers:
Doreathea Johnson (DCA deputy legal advisor) – $144,000
Spencer Walker (DCA top lawyer) – $119,000
The front office:
Andy Foster (Executive Officer) – $91,600
Sophia Cornejo (Assistant Executive Officer) – $71,500
Heather Jackson – $37,600
Athletic Inspectors
Mark Relyea – $39,200
Larry Ervin – $16,700
Dave Rasmussen – $12,900
Raul Oseguera – $11,600
Nichole Bowles – $11,000
Robert F Judge – $10,800
Rick Estrada – $9,400
Brett Correia – $7,950
Brian Morris – $7,860
Rudy Barragan – $6,560
Mike Guzman – $5,680
Joe Ulrey – $5,300
Armando Gutierrez – $4,390
Roy Farhi – $4,080
Burton E Alejandre – $4,000
Jim Russell – $3,840
Derek Enns – $3,670
Chris Crail – $3,190
Sacory Dillard (detective at Pechanga?) – $3,150
Joe Borrielli – $2,760
Danny Cruz – $2,600
Anthony Olivas (now fired) – $2,560
Louis Perry (private investigator) – $2,340
Gene Fields – $2,290
Dwayne Woodard – $2,240
David Pereda – $2,170
Frank Gonzales – $2,040
Sean Wells – $1,900
Ivan Guillermo – $1,850
Hanley Chan – $1,850
Ernesto Martinez – $1,830
Armando Melendez – $1,740
Steve (taxman) Sims – $1,670
John Tohill – $1,450
Gil Urbano – $1,450
Carlos Moreno – $1,060
Derik Lipe – $920
Bruce Rasmussen – $915
Gil Martinez – $770
Brad Ehrman – $710
Lily Galvez – $656
Monica Larson – $640
JD Foreman – $628
Tim Huff – $598
Kurt Larson – $578
Mike Bray – $573
Sarah Waklee – $544
John (Juanito) Ibarra – $506
Kevin Highbaugh – $493
Greg Fajardo – $411
Jeffrey Ervin – $400
Michael Diego – $369
Brad Landon – $263
Erin Brown – $150
Rose Saavedra – $134
TOTAL – $215,328
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
No more Chris Weidman fight at Staples Center and… no more Anderson Silva?
By Zach Arnold | January 31, 2015
"Don't cry. Don't cry. You're the man" – Nick Diaz to Anderson Silva, after calling him a bitch and pussy in the first 30 secs of the fight.
— Jordan Breen (@jordanbreen) February 1, 2015
Wanderlei Silva said it was “worse than WWE.” Anderson Silva cried after winning the UFC 183 main event fight with Nick Diaz by unanimous decision.
Anderson just apologized to his son, said a fighter is what he is, and told the Combate reporter that he thinks he fights again.
— Matheus Aquino (@MatheusDCAquino) February 1, 2015
Heading into Saturday night’s fight, there was some murmuring that Nick Diaz was having a challenging training camp. Of course, there were rumors about Anderson Silva’s possibly-challenging training camp as well. Two rusty fighters put right back in the spotlight. The end result was no surprise. It probably will come as no surprise that Anderson Silva doesn’t look ready to fight Chris Weidman any time soon.
Chris Weidman isn’t ready for Chris Weidman to fight any time soon, either. With his fight against Vitor Belfort off the Staples Center card in late February, Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano is the main event. There were high hopes & expectations heading into the Los Angeles event, as it has been rumored that over 10,000 tickets were sold for the event. With a new main event, it will be interesting to see if there are a substantial amount of refunds or if Ronda can cement her status as a true marketing ace for UFC.
UFC 183 attendance was 13,114 for a $4.5M gate. Those are great numbers for this fight. A lot of Brazilians flew over to watch Anderson #mma
— MMA Supremacy (@MMASupremacy) February 1, 2015
Saturday night’s UFC 183 card wrapped up a pretty successful January campaign for Zuffa:
- Tyron Woodley defeated Kelvin Gastelum after three rounds by split decision. This fight, like the main event, did not generate the best of reactions from the audience.
- Al Iaquinta blasted Joe Lauzon by TKO in R2 in 3’34.
- Thales Leites submitted Tim Boetsch in R2 in 3’45 with a triangle choke.
- Thiago Alves KO’d Jordan Mein in the second round.
- Miesha Tate prevailed over Sara McMann in a very spirited contest (majority decision win).
Despite the mostly good news for UFC coming out of January’s events, the respectable Iain Kidd at Bloody Elbow claims there is evidence of long-term concerns with UFC’s PPV model. There remains a great debate as to whether or not the WWE Network business model (now claiming 1 million served) is the way to go and that PPV is on its way out. I remain skeptical on any sky-is-falling claims about PPV as a dying business model. If you have fighters who the general public view as stars, you’re going to sell PPVs whether it’s on cable/satellite or the internet.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |