MMA regulation pending & comebacks
By Zach Arnold | February 11, 2009
The Canadian Press reports that Ken Hayashi’s favorite crutch to keep MMA out of Ontario province, the Criminal Code, looks to be fading away and that UFC wants to move into the area shortly to promote a big event. (Air Canada Centre?)
A bill to lift the ban for MMA in South Carolina may be passed shortly.
T. Jay Thompson is back in action as an MMA promoter, under the new Kingdom MMA banner. The first show takes place on 3/28 or 3/29 at the Blaisdell Center Arena with Kala Kolohe Hose vs. Jason “Mayhem” Miller as the headliner.
The Olympian reports that Jeff Monson will be allowed to travel to Russia for an MMA fight. Monson’s attorney in court says that Sengoku canceled his March booking in Japan, which would have been a ‘substantial payday.’ An interesting twist – Monson’s younger brother works as a police officer in Kirkland (by Seattle).
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
California State Athletic Commission suspends Antonio Margarito for one year
By Zach Arnold | February 10, 2009
You’ll notice that in this LA Times article that Dr. Christopher Giza is quoted near the top for his admonishing of Margarito and the wrap job on his hands. Dr. Giza was the one person the CSAC appeals board who has been consistent in drug-related hearings for MMA, while the rest of the appeals board ranges from entertainment executives to individuals who don’t even close to sharing the same opinions as the good Doctor. Keep this in mind when you wonder why this same appeals board reduced the time of a steroid-related suspension for James Toney.
Kevin Iole, understandably, is upset. However, the mayor of Tijuana is not and wouldn’t mind Margarito fighting there soon. Dan Rafael has more details on the Margarito suspension today. Rafael’s report includes comments from Bob Arum explicitly stating that Margarito will be fighting in Mexico soon:
While trying to have the ruling overturned, Arum said he would set up a fight for Margarito in Mexico. Although other states will respect California’s ruling, other countries won’t necessarily adhere to it. Fighters banned in America have often found Mexico hospitable.
The ruling means that Margartio’s proposed June rematch with Miguel Cotto, whom he knocked out last summer to win the title, is off unless the ruling is reversed.
“We’ll figure out a fight for him in Mexico,” Arum said. “It will be on one of our pay-per-view shows this summer. I think we’d have the opportunity to do 200,000 or 300,000 buys.”
Will the NSAC or CSAC suspend Arum’s promoting license for doing this? Unlikely.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Both good and bad news today for UFC
By Zach Arnold | February 10, 2009
The bad news? Karo Parisyan tested positive for painkillers. Reportedly, Parisyan didn’t tell the Nevada State Athletic Commission about medications he took before the fight.
The good news? UFC’s Tampa show from last week drew a 1.5 cable rating. It was a great show, so I’m happy to see that the fighters were rewarded with a large audience.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A politician pushes for an MMA ban in Manitoba province
By Zach Arnold | February 10, 2009
The Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that a local city councilman is pushing for a ban on MMA after an 18-year old fighter suffered a concussion and was taken to a local hospital.
Read the article, but note this gem:
“We don’t allow dogfighting, we don’t allow cockfighting, so why should we allow this?” Nordman said Monday.
“There’s no reason an 18-year-old should be hospitalized.”
The promoter for the event was Canadian Fighting Championship. The building in question, the Winnipeg Convention Centre, has been host to prior MMA events promoted by long-time pro-wrestling and MMA promoter Tony Condello.
Geoff Dittman (reader) pointed out these two links of interest:
Update on 18-year old fighter’s medical condition
Winnipeg Sun columnist speaks out against proposed MMA ban
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sam Caplan: Strikeforce booking Shamrock vs. Diaz for 4/11 San Jose event
By Zach Arnold | February 10, 2009
Marketing-wise, Frank Shamrock vs. Nick Diaz will be an excellent fight. Two major charismatic trash-talkers who are incredibly exciting to watch. This will not be a hard fight to market.
Credibility-wise, is Diaz going to fight at 185 pounds? He had issues making 160 pounds in Elite XC, and he usually fights at 170 pounds… likely, Frank will have a good weight advantage going into the fight. Diaz has the better cardio, but Frank is a much harder puncher.
This is a smart fight to book, but it does provide easy fodder for UFC-backers to point out that if Zuffa had booked a fight like this that people would be giving the company a lot of grief — and they’re right. As for selling tickets, both are local fighters in the Bay Area so it should definitely attract local and regional media coverage.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 48 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Station Casinos and bankruptcy: Letting the chips fall where they may
By Zach Arnold | February 9, 2009
The Las Vegas Sun has a new article talking about a pre-packaged bankruptcy offer by Station Casinos to avoid Chapter 11 proceedings.
What’s at stake? If the pre-packaged bankruptcy offer is approved by bondholders, the Fertitta family will remain in control. If it’s not approved, it’s a free-for-all.
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
February 2009 site news & notes
By Zach Arnold | February 8, 2009
Just wanted to do some housecleaning and keep everyone up-to-date on what is happening with the site.
First, I wanted to remark on the stability of the new server that we have been hosted on for the past few months. Amazing, isn’t it? Downtime is exceptionally minimal, even if the price tag for hosting costs more. If you would like to help us out with server posts, feel free to make a donation by clicking right here. Thank you.
Second, I want to get more of our readers signed up to our MySpace account. I know, many of you use Facebook, but for those of you who use MySpace and haven’t added us as your friend, go add us as your friend. I would like to build the account up with a few thousand friends relatively soon. I will update the blog section of the account as well when I get the chance.
Third, I am starting up a mailing list for the web site. I’ve been meaning to get around to doing this for a while. I want to build this list up pretty quickly and, in a perfect world, get a couple of thousand subscribers. Content-wise, I will try to send some mails out featuring media prep. (think: news/article linkes) and writers to keep an eye on. Consider it as your possible addendum with normal Fight Opinion reading (on the site or using our RSS feed). Please feel free to subscribe to our mailing by joining up right here:
Subscribe: [email protected]
My guess is that you just use the word ‘subscribe’ in both the title and/or e-mail message to this and it will set you up with the mailing list.
Subscribe: [email protected]
If you have trouble subscribing to the list (check your e-mail spam folder, first), use the contact form with the e-mail address you want me to send a mailing list invite to. Hopefully there won’t be too many problems. I promise that this e-mail list won’t spam your account with 10 mails a day. I am not sure why, but the mailing list is having trouble with responses from Hotmail accounts. Yahoo, GMail, normal ISP, etc. should work fine, however.
Fourth, I wanted to give a quick thanks to Ivan, Tim, and the rest of the site readers. I am really happy with some of the friends that I have made over the last few years since this site was launched on Christmas of 2005. I realize that there’s a lot of room for the site to grow, but I never could have envisioned the impact that we would have had over the last three-plus years. I attibute the success of the site to our readers and to everyone who has helped me out over the years (from Rob Sayers to Erin Bucknell to Jeff Thaler to Caleb Queern to Dr. J to Brandt DeLorenzo to countless others). Without so many people helping me out here, we wouldn’t be in the position that we are today.
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A video lesson for fans: Don’t attack a boxer, MMA fighter, or pro-wrestler
By Zach Arnold | February 8, 2009
Do not attempt to get into a fight with someone who could legitimately kick your ass. As I watched this video, in my mind I was thinking about what would have happened if this was The Diaz Brothers, Dana White, or Joe Rogan instead of Chris Jericho. There will be plenty of updates on this story right here.
Topics: All Topics, Media, Pro-Wrestling, WWE | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
(Boxing) Vic Darchinyan wins in Anaheim
By Zach Arnold | February 7, 2009
Gary Shaw’s ace-in-the-sleeve, Vic Darchinyan, took care of business against Jorge Arce in Anaheim at the Honda Center on Saturday night. The judges had the fight one-sided on their scorecards. More details on the fight can be read at SecondsOut. The fight aired on Showtime.
According to the LA Times, the crowd was estimated at around 5,450 paid. And you thought Affliction had problems drawing in this building a couple of weeks ago. (Apples and oranges comparison, but UFC reportedly drew 7,500 for their Tampa event on Saturday night.)
After Darchinyan’s win over Arce, Nonito Donaire announced that he wants a crack at Darchinyan’s belts. However, Gary Shaw would have none of it. According to Shaw, Evil Vic may be moving up a weight-class or two soon.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Alex Rodriguez, MLB, and NSAC drug testing policies
By Zach Arnold | February 7, 2009
On January 31st, Ivan Trembow reported that the Nevada State Athletic Commission had recently stopped doing out-of-competition drug testing for MMA fighters. Mr. Trembow’s report built upon news from Ring Magazine that the NSAC gives competitors two-days notice before the fighter is required to show up to an accredited drug-testing lab and get tested.
On Saturday, news broke in Sports Illustrated that Yankees SS Alex Rodriguez allegedly tested positive for anabolic steroids during ‘confidential sampling’ testing that was taken to establish whether or not a permanent, random drug-testing policy was needed for baseball. (The margin need for positive drug tests in order to establish a permanent policy was 5% of all tests producing positive results.) A developing side-story in regards to the reportedly Rodriguez drug test is that the baseball player was allegedly tipped off before the drug test occurred.
The most disturbing aspect of the SI.com report was not the revelation that A-Rod now belongs with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire on the Mount Rushmore of juicers.
No, the most disturbing allegation is that Rodriguez was tipped off in September 2004 that he would be tested later that month, tipped off by none other than Gene Orza, the union’s chief operating officer.
Orza was accused of much the same thing in the Mitchell Report, which said he violated the union’s agreement with MLB by informing a player about an upcoming drug test. The player was not identified in the report.
As any expert will tell you, drug-testing programs are inherently flawed, often amounting to little more than public relations as the cheaters find new ways to stay ahead of the testers.
But the allegations of tipping — denied by the union — create an even bigger problem for MLB, casting doubt on the credibility of its program.
Given that the state athletic commissions have gotten some heat for methods used in their drug testing policy of MMA fighters, do the new reports surfacing on drug tests and drug testing procedures from other sports provide any sort of perspective that we should be considering in regards to the way business is being done now?
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC February 7th (Sun Dome) card line-up
By Zach Arnold | February 7, 2009
Undercard
- Lightweights: Matt Grice vs. Matt Veach
- Middleweights: Nick Catone vs. Derek Downey
- Welterweights: Steve Bruno vs. Matt Riddle
- Lightweights: Gleison Tibau vs. Rich Clementi
- Middleweights: Dan Miller vs. Jake Rosholt
- Lightweights: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Rob Emerson
Main card
- Welterweights: Luigi Fioravanti vs. Anthony Johnson
- Lightweights: Mac Danzig vs. Josh Neer
- Heavyweights: Cain Velasquez vs. Denis Stojnic
- Lightweights: Joe Lauzon vs. Jeremy Stephens
Event reports: Fanhouse | MMA Weekly | Sherdog | Bloody Elbow | MMA Junkie | MMA Frenzy
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Chuck Champion and Pro Elite are not done yet
By Zach Arnold | February 6, 2009
Check out this interview Josh Gross conducted with Chuck Champion, Pro Elite CEO.
- He says that the promotion will focus on King of the Cage and other promotions that they purchased with assets. This confirms that the deal between Scott Coker and Pro Elite was a limited asset deal (i.e. TV situation). What does this mean, however, for Terry Trebilcock, T. Jay Thompson, and others?
- CBS, according to Champion, still has a 20% stake in Pro Elite. Why?
- The lawsuit with Wallid Ismael has been settled. Interesting.
- What exactly is the end game here for Champion, Lappen, and associates?
Eddie Goldman has a new radio interview with Scott Coker talking about Strikeforce’s asset purchase with Pro Elite. Lots of news.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Joe Calzaghe announces retirement from boxing
By Zach Arnold | February 5, 2009
News broke yesterday that the 46-0 fighter would call it quits from the sport, turning down a long-rumored fight against Carl Froch. With Floyd Mayweather Jr. on the sidelines and Pacquiao/Hatton signed, the question was whether or not Calzaghe would accept a fight against Froch. The answer is no.
Calzaghe had long been promoted by Frank Warren, but ended the relationship to work with Roy Jones Jr. for a fight at Madison Square Garden. He won a decision and the undercard for the show was brutal.
Surprisingly, a lot of Calzaghe’s critics have come out of the woodwork in the media. Accusations of him being ‘scared’ to fight Froch and also the labels of him being a ‘slapboxer’ have been flung around in the foreign press.
He declined to give Hopkins a rematch after the American’s lack of grace in defeat, while he says that he lacks the motivation for bouts against younger, unbeaten champions such as Carl Froch, the WBC super-middleweight champion from Nottingham.
Froch will now turn his eyes towards a fight against Jermain Taylor either on April 18th or April 25th.
Ben Dirs at the BBC makes the argument for why Calzaghe belongs amongst the all-time greats. Ron Borges questions whether or not Calzaghe is the best Brit of all time. The Mirror says that there is no doubt that he was the best of the best. Scott Christ takes a look at Calzaghe’s legacy. Ricky Hatton has nothing but praise for Calzaghe.
Here is a video interview the BBC conducted with Calzaghe on why he’s retiring now.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |