From bad to worse for Station Casinos financially
By Zach Arnold | December 24, 2008
Originally published on December 16th.
Reuters reported yesterday that Station Casinos Inc is in a very precarious position right now with creditors. This paragraph is scary enough:
The failure of the debt exchange leaves the company in a precarious position, as analysts anticipate it may trip terms in its bank debt by the end of the year and will need to negotiate with bank lenders to avoid a default.
Chapter 11 is certainly not Chapter 7 in terms of bankruptcy proceedings, but this is certainly not a positive development. Neither is this story about Station Casinos temporarily halting matching 401(k) contributions to current employees.
How’s this news playing out internationally? The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia reports that Crown invested $242 million USD into Station Casinos and that the investment may now be ‘worthless.’ Standard & Poors has cut their rating on Station’s secured debt to ‘negative.’
Update (12/24): From bad to worse for Station Casinos. There will be a lot of restructuring of debt, but a significant price will be paid. The Las Vegas Review-Journal put it best today — “Station Casinos taps credit line.” Merry Christmas.
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Total MMA: The book
By Zach Arnold | December 23, 2008
A couple of years ago when the collapse of PRIDE happened, I thought about writing a book covering the history of Japanese MMA. Then, I thought about it, and realized how much work would have to go into it and how few people in the end would probably be interested. At least I was focused on the Japanese scene. I never could have imagined trying to write a book on the history of modern MMA worldwide and how the past ties into the present and the future.
Thankfully, I won’t have an opportunity to do this. Jonathan Snowden decided to take it upon himself and go for it. The end result is a new book, Total MMA, that is a pretty remarkable book that has a little bit for every type of MMA fan — both casual and hardcore fans will appreciate the effort that went into writing this book. There are actually quite a few pictures in the book that will bring back a lot of memories for old-timer fans.
What makes this book a cut above most, if not all, MMA-related books is that you can see a layering process at work in terms of historical storytelling. It’s as if a time line was created, all the pieces laid out in preparation, and then the final product consisted of one smooth story. Think of the way this book was written in the same manner that musicians create songs on the computer with multiple tracks, with each track having its own beat. Now, think about how long that process takes, and then throw on top the goal of telling a complete historical account of a very complicated business in a not-so-complicated manner in which a fan or even non-fan of the industry can read and understand. Jonathan managed to pull this off in a big way with Total MMA and this book deserves more media spotlight than other MMA books that have gotten hype over the last couple of years.
Places where you can buy the book online:
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the Day – Scott LeDoux
By Zach Arnold | December 23, 2008
He participated in boxing. He participated against Larry Zybysko at Wrestle Rock. But he’s drawn the line with MMA:
Scott LeDoux, who oversees the state boxing and mixed martial arts commission, said he would seek another Ultimate Fighting Competition next summer for Target Center, which last August featured ex-Gophers heavyweight Brock Lesnar and had gross ticket revenue of $2.2 million. Of that, $80,000 went to the commission.
LeDoux, a former heavyweight boxer who spent time in the ring with 11 former world champions, says UFC has replaced boxing in popularity.
“That’s good for the sport and not good for boxing,” he said. “I could never fight in that (UFC) cage because it’s so brutal.”
Speaking of UFC and Minnesota, Jon Fitch was in the headliner for last Summer’s event against Georges St. Pierre. After the contractual dust-up over video game rights with UFC management? Fitch is relegated to dark match status. Thoughts on this from Sherdog, Fightlinker, and MMA Opinion.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Footage of McCullough/Cerrone WEC “no-TV” fight
By Zach Arnold | December 21, 2008
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MMA sites and issues of malware, spyware, and other bad creatures
By Zach Arnold | December 21, 2008
Brandt DeLorenzo has this item today on his site about issues some web surfers have reportedly had when accessing the Sherdog web site. In short: claims are being made against Sherdog that pro-wrestling fans made for years against sites like 1Wrestling.com & PW Insider.
Personally, I haven’t had any trouble with these sites. However, I use Firefox as a browser. If you don’t already, go get Firefox and also download add-ons No Script and ABP (Adblock Plus). You’ll be happy that you did.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Nikolai Valuev beats Evander Holyfield… by majority decision
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2008
There may not be a more pointless ‘big’ boxing fight booked since… well, a few days when the re-match of Chad Dawson vs. Antonio Tarver was announced. Because, as you know, Dawson/Tarver I did really big business. Sure.
So, how close was the Valuev/Holyfield fight? The score cards said… 116-112 and 115-114 for Valuev, a draw on the third card.
What’s the controversy coming out of this fight? That Holyfield should have won the fight. We’ll start with comments from Bryan Armen Graham at Sports Illustrated. Boxing Scene has a report headlined with this title: Nikolai Valuev robs Evander Holyfield of historic title win.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tetsuya Sano wins MVP award at The Outsider event in Tokyo
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2008
Amateur shootboxer and fight writer Tetsuya Sano won the MVP award at today’s Outsider event in Tokyo at Differ Ariake. “The Genome of Josh (Barnett)” defeated “The man of tattoos” Keinosuke Yoshinaga in match 24 of the event (there were 25 matches in total). Pictures of the Sano/Yoshinaga fight can be viewed here. After the fight, Sano talked about the recent death of a family member (one month ago) and that the Buddhist service for that family member was being held the same day of his fight. Sano thanked the crowd afterwards for their support. (A picture of Maeda and Sano together in the ring.)
The big news coming out of the show involves the next Outsider event being promoted on March 15th in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan, with an expected 20-fight card line-up.
Sano’s trainer is referee/fighter Ken’ichi Serizawa (Keishukai/Shizuoka).
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Videos: UFC 92 heat-up for Mir vs. Nogueira
By Zach Arnold | December 19, 2008
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Videos: Heat-up for UFC 92 with Forrest Griffin & Rashad Evans
By Zach Arnold | December 19, 2008
Around 25,000 views for each in only two days:
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The face of a (alleged) shooter
By Zach Arnold | December 19, 2008
Some updates on the death of Justin Levens and his wife. First, The LA Times reports the following:
A handgun was found near Justin Levens’ body, and Amormino said if it’s established to be a murder-suicide, the MMA fighter was “definitely the shooter.”
KTLA reports that Levens and his wife were due in court for an assault charge, but that their bodies were found on the same day of the court date. Read the article for further background.
Sherdog reports that drugs were supposedly found at the crime scene:
Authorities also took into custody what appeared to be prescribed painkillers and anti-depressant medication, though they were not found in the standard-marked pharmaceutical containers denoting whom they belonged to.
Fox 11 has more on the drug situation. ABC News has a profile article on the background of Justin Levens and how he got into MMA. The article immediately tries to tie in the Chris Benoit situation. AOL Fan House has more on the media coverage of this story.
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Is Satoshi Ishii going to be UFC’s trojan horse into Japan?
By Zach Arnold | December 18, 2008
Daily Sports newspaper in Japan has everyone buzzing about the possibility of Satoshi Ishii signing with Zuffa instead of with DREAM. The paper’s angle is that if Ishii signs with UFC, he won’t be fighting in Japan.
It’s an intriguing story. It’s not uncommon for a Japanese fight star to use the name value of an American promotion (think: WWE and Japanese wrestlers) to try to build up credibility back home. The “oh, look, WWE is interested in me! But I stayed home in Japan because I’m loyal to you” spin.
That said, if Ishii signs with UFC, there’s only one reason for Zuffa to make this move — to run shows in Japan. The problem for UFC is that the climate on the ground for them is hostile — they’ll need someone like a Total Sports Asia or someone else to promote events on the ground for them. If Zuffa goes alone into Japan, they will bleed cash heavily and lose face. Japan is a very delicate situation.
Further making things interesting is the return of Godfather (Kazuyoshi) Ishii, who pulled good ratings for the K-1 World GP event at Yokohama Arena on Fuji TV. If (Satoshi) Ishii ends up in UFC, will K-1 have their hands on this situation? The Godfather always has been a big believer in promotion vs. promotion feuds for marketing, and K-1/DREAM vs. UFC would be interesting — but would rely entirely on K-1 to market the feud in Japan because UFC has no juice currently in that marketplace.
I don’t believe the idea of (Satoshi) Ishii working for UFC in the States and in Europe for a second. This is a young man who is going to command a very high salary. He’s not fighting for $8,000 USD a fight — given his stature in Japan, more like $800,000 USD a fight. Plus, there are some interesting political aspects as far as who is controlling Ishii right now — the Inoki side of power (revolving around Naoya Ogawa).
Entertaining fodder to contemplate on a slow news day.
Update (12/18): Nikkan Sports says that Ishii will be in Las Vegas to watch the UFC 92 show.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Justin Levens and wife found shot dead
By Zach Arnold | December 18, 2008
TMZ is reporting that former UFC and IFL fighter Justin Levens and his wife were found dead at their house in California. More details here.
The story has been picked up by both Fox 11 and CBS 2 in LA. Levens had a 9-8 record in MMA competition. Sherdog has more on the last months of Levens’ MMA career.
Levens was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for oxymorphone this past July. Levens had been booked to fight Ray Lazama on an undercard bout on the Affliction debut show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA.
What will the tone of the media coverage be on this story? Check out the lede on this Orange County Register story:
A mixed martial arts fighter nicknamed the Executioner and his wife were found dead in a bed in a Laguna Niguel condominium Wednesday, the victims of possible gunshot wounds. Sheriff’s investigators are looking into the possibility of a murder-suicide.
I’m sure the media will have interest in Levens’ MySpace page, including focusing on this picture of him holding a gun with the caption, “one way or another i will get the best of u.” There’s also this picture with him holding a gun at Brittney Skye.
Update: Here is a Fox 11 report on the story (LA TV). There is a video clip of the report at the bottom of the article. In that video report, the reporter heavily played up the fact that Levens was an ‘ultimate fighter’ and made sure to use the nickname ‘executioner’ several times. “He was one of the big stars in the world of ultimate fighting.” The reporter claimed that no one had seen Levens or his wife for the past five days, so the mother of the wife went looking for them and found their dead bodies (and a gun) in a ‘grizzly’ scene in the upstairs bedroom of Levens’ condo in Laguna Niguel. The reporter discussed Levens being suspended by the CSAC for taking oxymorphone, and then noted that the sheriff’s department had been at the Laguna Niguel residence at least twice this year, with the last police visit responding to a call of a ‘possible OD (overdose).’ The reporter closed out the brief video by saying “Justin Levens, The Executioner, the big ultimate fighter’ and his wife were found dead in their condo.
CBS 2 in Los Angeles has a short video report on the story and will continue to update this page tomorrow.
Update: Deadspin:
I’m not sure what in Levens’ background may have led him to this, but with the MMA we’re not exactly dealing with your typical athlete. Another fighter at the Affliction event, Sergei “The Pit Bull” Arlovsky, is featured on his web site with vampire fangs.
UPI report on the Levens story here.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The press talks to Enson Inoue’s former wife about his drug arrest
By Zach Arnold | December 18, 2008
Original post date: October 24th, 2008
Miyu Yamamoto, the sister of Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto and ex-wife of Enson Inoue, made an appearance Friday at the opening ceremonies for an event called “EAT JAPAN in Tokyo Marunouchi.” Naturally, the press started to ask her questions about Enson Inoue’s arrest last weekend and, according to a wire report in Japan, she did not want to answer any questions and supposedly left the media area briskly.
In addition to Inoue’s recent arrest, Kid Yamamoto and associates have been reportedly targeted by Tokyo Metropolitan Police in relation to marijuana drug raids (this according to Shukan Gendai last July).
Update: Enson Inoue is interviewed by MMA Junkie. He is speaking out for the first time to the media.
Update (12/18): Enson Inoue appeared in Tokyo District Court on Wednesday and admitted to the charges of marijuana possession. Nikkan Sports noted that Inoue appeared in court wearing a “Yamato Damashii” sweatshirt. A ruling will be made on the 26th.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |