Dan Henderson and Mark Coleman talk about their MMA futures
By Zach Arnold | January 15, 2009
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph (UK):
GAD: You’re 38. Does retirement enter your mind?
DH: It’s hard to know when that moment is. There’s a lot of fighters going through that dilemma. Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, it must be going through their heads. There’s things I want to accomplish that are attainable in this sport, and if I attain them, it would probably be a good time to retire. I want to beat Anderson Silva (the sport’s No 1 pound for pounder, who Henderson lost to two years ago) and I also want to fight for the 205 lb belt. And then retire.
Meanwhile, Mark Coleman has no plans to retire any time soon:
“I’m hearing the ‘old’ word quite a bit, but I use that as motivation,” he said. “I’ve taken good care of my body and have been very fortunate with injuries, only two surgeries, so I’ve been blessed. Anyway, age is just a number.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What is it about Olympia, Washington that brings out crazy people?
By Zach Arnold | January 15, 2009
I ask this question rhetorically because Jeff Monson was just charged with a felony for spray-painting an Anarchist symbol on the State Capitol of Washington (in Olympia). It’s this same State Capitol that drew the attention of media hordes when atheists placed a sign promoting the winter solstice next to a nativity scene. The situation created controversy to the point that a ‘Festivus Pole’ (in memory of the late TV show Seinfeld) was considered for placement in the Capitol.
The Seattle Times has more on the arrest warrant issued for Monson.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Dana White on the Road to UFC 93
By Zach Arnold | January 14, 2009
The promotion claims that the 1/31 show featuring GSP vs. BJ Penn is sold out. The hype TV specials for that fight start airing tonight on Spike TV.
Update: Here are some comments from Dana White on the upcoming UFC Prime Time hype TV specials.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ticket information for Affliction 1/24 Honda Center event in Anaheim
By Zach Arnold | January 13, 2009
So, I went to Ticketmaster to look for available seats for the January 24th event headlined by Fedor vs. Arlovski. The first thing you notice is that Affliction is giving away a ‘free t-shirt’ to anyone who buy a ticket with a face value of $200 or higher. Underneath the t-shirt offer are prices for parking, which range from $15-40 USD.
In short, you can pretty much get whatever kind of ticket you want for the show. More information here.
I know that on a mailing list for MMA writers, the organization yesterday (like for the first show) was offering free t-shirts as a way of saying ‘thank you.’
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 102 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Forrest Griffin out of action for all of 2009
By Zach Arnold | January 13, 2009
So sayeth The Sun in the only style they can.
On a side note, the mess in Michigan for MMA legislation is growing.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bizarre video: A kid named Brock Lesnar on Child’s Play game show
By Zach Arnold | January 12, 2009
I wanted to share this item with you from an old friend of mine:
Found this clip on another site, the kid who is the spitting image of and says his name is Brock Lesnar, says he lives in Woodyear, CA and is in the fourth grade… which means at the youngest he is in this, he is nine years old which would put Brock Lesnar as 34 instead of 31. The show was called Child’s Play and it only ran from September 1982 to September 1983.
I’ve watched the clip and I don’t think it’s the UFC champion. Any guesses on this one?
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the Day – Will Josh Barnett ever fight in UFC?
By Zach Arnold | January 12, 2009
From a recent interview with 8Count:
8CN – Any chance you’ll ever fight in UFC again? There were some rumors about a year ago about them potentially signing you.
Josh Barnett – Maybe when I was a free agent from Pride, but they never really made me an offer so I guess they weren’t interested. To be honest, I don’t really know what Dana White’s problem with me is, but when he makes blanket statements like saying Randy Couture is the best fighter in the world, if I’m a fellow heavyweight and I’ve already beaten him, I’m going to say something. Say what you mean, Dana, don’t just spout whatever. I just don’t let people get away with running their mouths, especially when I’m in a rival organization and he’s going to say something about the company I work for. But I’m a business man; I don’t really have to like anybody in the fight business. I just need to do my job and do my job better than anyone else.
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 42 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
About that mystery MMA show coming up…
By Zach Arnold | January 11, 2009
… and I’m not talking about next week’s UFC event. I’ve seen cable and PPV ad spots for that event coming up.
I’m unfortunately referring to the Affliction show on the 24th in Anaheim, which has absolutely no media heat whatsoever. Zero. Zilch. Nada. A disaster in the making.
Speaking of which, has the California State Athletic Commission granted Gilbert Yvel his license yet? What happens if he doesn’t get his license before the fight with Josh Barnett? Does Barnett get paid anyways, or does he take one for the team and get paid nothing?
The big ‘angle’ going into this show is that Freddie Roach is going to be in Andrei Arlovski’s corner for the fight against Fedor?
Those merchandise sales at the kiosks for Affliction better be really good this time around. I still stand by my prediction that I made two months ago — that this show will draw no more than 20,000 PPV buys. Those of you who were clamoring about this show drawing 100,000 PPV buys, would you like to revise your estimates?
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 47 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 94 card line-up (Penn vs. GSP)
By Zach Arnold | January 8, 2009
Undercard
- Welterweights: Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer
- Heavyweights: Jake O’Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
- Welterweights: Chris Wilson vs. John Howard
- Lightweights: Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares
- Welterweights: Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono
Main card
- Lightweights: Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida
- Welterweights: Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun-Kim
- Light Heavyweights: Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
- Light Heavyweights: Ryoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
- Welterweights: Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 46 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the Day – UFC management on January 7th New York meeting for legalization of MMA
By Zach Arnold | January 6, 2009
UFC ready to grapple the Big Apple:
Meanwhile, Gov. Paterson is cutting programs and paychecks to address a $15 billion deficit in the state budget, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered $1.4 billion in budget cuts last month. Ignoring the income MMA and the UFC could bring to the state and city would seem fiscally irresponsible.
“At a time when the New York economy is in crisis, it would be a mistake for the state to miss out on the considerable revenue that our events would generate,” said Marc Ratner, a UFC vice president for Government and Regulatory Affairs. “We are eager to bring both the excitement of our new sport as well as its major tax and tourist revenue to New York State.”
Runner-up: Family of teen injured in fight club seeks compensation
The teen’s attorney said he’s in the process of sending the letter for the School Board to review, but would not comment on how much money the family is seeking in compensation. The attorney said the letter should arrive in time for the board’s next meeting.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 93 card line-up for PPV (1/17 Dublin)
By Zach Arnold | January 5, 2009
- 205 pounds: Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson
- 205 pounds: Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio Shogun
- 185 pounds: Alan Belcher vs. Denis Kang
- 185 pounds: Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares
- 170 pounds: Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle
- 170 pounds: Martin Kampmann vs. Alexandre Barros
- 205 pounds: Eric Schafer vs. Antonio Mendes
- 205 pounds: Tomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati
- 170 pounds: Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway
- 155 pounds: Dennis Siver vs. Nate Mohr
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Fertitta family and USA Capital
By Zach Arnold | January 5, 2009
Update (1/6/08): Here are more details about the new Sartini monster house being constructed.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a story about the US court system, USA Capital, and investors who lost so much money that they are living out of cars and selling off homes to try to pay off debts they have.
However, one group of investors who put money into USA Capital ended up recovering all of the money they invested:
The Fertitta family, founder of Station Casinos in Las Vegas, had $17 million invested in USA Capital and got it all back when one of their attorneys was on the oversight committee, Larson said. The attorney then resigned from the committee.
Anthony Zerbo, a 76-year-old from San Jose, Calif., invested about $900,000 in USA Capital over six years after seeing an advertisement in a financial publication.
“When you’re rolling it over and it’s doing good … you think first deeds of trust, you can’t go wrong,” Zerbo said. “Toward the end, things weren’t going good and we tried to pull back our loans and it wasn’t there.”
The first thought that came to mind when I read this story is the story that Bob Meyrowitz repeats over and over again, in which he claims that Lorenzo Fertitta was on board of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and that, somehow (according to Meyrowitz), Fertitta wouldn’t sanction UFC in Nevada and that this turn of events led to UFC being sold to the Fertittas for $2 million USD.
Here’s the actual story about how SEG came to sell the UFC to Zuffa, gathered from multiple issues of the Wrestling Observer, with edits made in brackets to fill in context or correct grammar, and with a timeline clarification courtesy of Whaledog.com: “Meyrowitz [former UFC president Bob Meyrowitz] would go to InDemand [the PPV company] and ask what he needed to do to get back on InDemand, and they said the UFC needed to get sanctioned [by a major sanctioning body]. He got sanctioned in New Jersey, and was basically told that he needed to get it sanctioned in Nevada, as that was the most influential athletic commission in the country. [Meyrowitz] set up a meeting in Las Vegas, and at the time, sanctioning was going to happen based on what inside sources were telling both Meyrowitz and InDemand. Suddenly, the night before the approval that was going to be the step to put the UFC back on the map, Meyrowitz was told that he was going to be voted down [the next day, when his request was scheduled to be voted on by the members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission]. He didn’t have the votes. He was also told that if he followed through the next day, and was voted down, he would never have an opportunity to be sanctioned. So, he pulled out, they created some cover reason as to why he was pulling his attempt at sanctioning, and basically he was screwed. Lorenzo Fertitta [the current co-owner of the UFC] was an influential member of the Nevada commission at the time. [Approximately one year later], Fertitta purchased the UFC [for $2 million], then got sanctioning in Nevada, and then got on PPV.”
Meanwhile, life apparently continues to be very good for Fertitta family members in Orange County (the ritzy Emerald Bay area):
Plans for one—116 Emerald Bay – call for an 8,924-square-foot home with an elevator, two basements opening out onto the beach, plus a pool and spa on the outside deck. The lowest level features a gym, theater, game room and a “wine alley.”
The kitchen upstairs will have a walk-in fridge, while the “great room” will have a bar, TV lounge and pizza oven. The master suite on the fourth level features a chamber called the “prayer room,” and the hall has a set of niches for votive candles. The home will have two garages with room for five cars. Indoors, it will have 11 bath or powder rooms, four bedrooms plus the master suite. Completion is expected in 2010.
Property records list the owners as Blake and Delise Sartini, sister and brother-in-law to Las Vegas Station Casino bosses Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. The couple declined through an intermediary to comment.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jon Wertheim’s new MMA book
By Zach Arnold | January 4, 2009
The author’s from Sports Illustrated.
Blood in the Cage: MMA, Pat Miletich, and the furious rise of the UFC. Also available at Barnes & Noble.
Anyone who gets a chance to read this book, please post a comment here (positive or negative) about the book.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |