UFC 91 11/15 Las Vegas card
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2008
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Matt Brown vs. Ryan Thomas
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael dos Anjos
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley
- Welterweights (170 pounds): Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Nate Quarry vs. Demian Maia
- Heavyweights: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks
- Middleweights (185 pounds): Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone
- Lightweights (155 pounds): Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson
- UFC Heavyweight Title match: Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar
On a separate side note, here are the latest Station Casino financials.
Articles:
- Todd Martin (CBS Sports): Lots at stake as Lesnar, Couture prepare for epic collision of WWE champion vs. UFC champion
- Johnny Devine: Big expectations for Lesnar-Couture
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Pro Elite trying to fight off bankruptcy sale
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2008
In an incredible article, Media Post reports that Pro Elite management is trying to fight off the efforts of Showtime to have an auctioning of the company’s assets on November 17th. (Showtime obtained part-ownership of Pro Elite Inc. in exchange for money they gave to Elite XC management to help put on their 10/4 Florida event.)
Update: Loretta Hunt has a fascinating article on this story, including this tidbit:
[Monte] Cox, who has managed over 60 fighters over the last 11 years, said the 15-year-old sport has entered new territory with Showtime’s intentions to auction off his client’s contracts. Cox and others have their doubts that the sale of a personal services contract will be upheld in a court of law.
What’s fascinating about this news item is the fact that Elite XC reportedly used personal service contracts with fighters. If you recall, PRIDE used the same type of agreements with its fighters. When DSE sold the PRIDE assets to UFC, I was screaming at the top of my lungs that fighters would be able to break away from those contracts if they were PSCs. UFC found itself having to renegotiate new contracts with PRIDE fighters because of it.
Now, we have Cox claiming that the fighter contracts up for sale at the auction on November 17th are PSCs, meaning in theory that they are not transferrable to third parties. This is why Cox is questioning whether or not Showtime will be able to pull off what they are doing.
More details on the war between Pro Elite and Showtime here.
Update: Clearly, agents representing Elite XC fighters think that the personal service contracts are not transferrable to third parties.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The politics of DREAM & Sengoku
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2008
Gryphon elaborates on comments made by Hideto Ida, the editor of Bout Review. Ida, along with Shu Hirata, manage Roger Gracie. The big news item to come from Ida is discussion about K-1 boss Kazuyoshi Ishii trying to convince the owner of Sengoku (World Victory Road) to purchase DREAM from K-1.
This idea is not that far-fetched at all.
Seiya Kawamata, the admitted yakuza-fixer who was at the center of Shukan Gendai’s negative campaign against PRIDE, is one of Ishii’s more powerful allies in the fight business. Kawamata has long been rumored to be working with both K-1 and Sengoku, even if the operations are independent of each other. Ishii’s long-term goal in the Japanese fight business has always been a very simple one — control the industry by controlling the pipeline of television. If Ida’s comments are accurate, then the concept of Ishii trying to get WVR to buy DREAM with the idea of giving WVR access to Tokyo Broadcasting System makes perfect sense. Ishii would be able to get rid of the albatross known as DREAM from K-1’s finances, Sengoku would promote shows and have to pay the bills for everything involved, and the parties involved would have the ability to do an interpromotional feud (think of an MMA version of New Japan vs. UWF-International on a smaller scale.)
The big question is this: what power would K-1 retain with TBS if such a deal was brokered? We know K-1 has the World MAX series on the network, and the heavyweight shows on Fuji TV are not pulling substantial ratings any longer. Is Ishii playing with fire here by trying to sell off DREAM to WVR in hopes that he can get someone else to pay the bills?
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Sengoku, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Fabricio Werdum gone from UFC
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2008
MMA Weekly has a report stating that UFC management approached Fabricio Werdum (after his loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC 90) to re-negotiate his contract. The negotiations failed, so he is gone from the organization.
I do find it interesting that UFC has the contractual rights to not only be able to cut a fighter after they lose but to also ask a fighter to take a paycut or get released. In other sports (like professional football), there are buyouts and cuts but generally a negative impact towards a ‘salary cap.’ In the world of UFC, management has the best of all worlds — they have complete and total control.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Armando Garcia resigns from California SAC
By Zach Arnold | November 9, 2008
Loretta Hunt further elaborates on this agenda list on the California State Athletic Commission web site, which states that Armando Garcia will be tendering his resignation from the CSAC on November 18th.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Hermes Franca: Real man of genius (and DUI)
By Zach Arnold | November 6, 2008
A day after getting his face some camera time on the WEC 36 event in Hollywood, Florida (on The Versus Network), Hermes Franca has been arrested on DUI charges. What is it with Franca and drug tests these days?
Reed Wallace, who represents Franca, says his client is innocent.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tough questions asked about WEC’s future after Urijah Faber loses
By Zach Arnold | November 6, 2008
MSNBC: How UFC crushed the competition
”They offer the highest level of product in the marketplace,” said Shawn McBride, vice president of Ketchum Sports Network. “UFC is laser-focused on mixed martial arts. It’s a great case study.”
South Florida Sun-Sentinel: WEC draws 5,600 paid for Mike Brown’s big upset of Urijah Faber
In another stunning turn of events, middleweight defending champion Paulo Filho, scheduled to defend his title against Chael Sonnen, failed to make weight. The Brazilian came in a shocking 7 pounds overweight, forcing WEC officials to make it a non-title bout. Filho had to forfeit 25 percent of his prize purse to Sonnen.
“It’s not acceptable not to make weight because of a lack of discipline,” Sonnen said. “My heart is broken. I came here to win the world championship.
“I promised my father on his death bed I would win the world title, and it’s not going to happen.”
Luke Thomas: Is the WEC ready for PPV?
The problems that were true yesterday are eve more so true today: Miguel Torres, Jamie Varner and Carlos Condit are worthy champions, but not the sort of talent or name to corral PPV buys. In short, the organization – in a down economy and with far too few stars – is not ready to convince MMA fans to pay for PPV. While the diehards would likely plop down whatever money was being asked, it is hard to conceive of a scenario where they’d meet or exceed 100,000 buys.
Total MMA: WEC 36 – not exactly as planned
For Faber, its a monsterous step back in his career. The veil of invincibility and the dream matchups with names like Kid Yamamoto seem a million years ago already. He must now deal with Mike Brown if he ever wants to return to the mountain top. For Brown, the narrative is very different. Brown’s current win streak began before his single fight with Bodog, but it was his surprising lightweight division win over the once top contender Yves Edwards in that show’s second series that began his resurgence from fringe contender to potentially being the #1 featherweight MMA fighter on the planet. One has to wonder if the WEC might be interested in contracting the top Japanese featherweights; Imanari and Mishma clearly leading that class, both having fought outside Japan on several occasions. However, the risk of losing the belt to a non-english speaker instead of an immediate rematch will probably not be considered acceptable for Zuffa’s secondary promotion.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quick thoughts on WEC 11/5 Florida event
By Zach Arnold | November 5, 2008
It was quite a mixture of emotions watching what felt like the end of the road for Paulo Filho. Here’s a pro-wrestling reference for you – it was like watching Shawn Michaels ‘losing his smile’, like we watched a fighter who had no interest in engaging in anything other than on the ground with Chael Sonnen. Sonnen played the fight smartly and did what he needed to do to win. I don’t blame him one bit for his strategy. It was fun to watch the crowd turn on Paulo Filho so fast.
It’s clear that Mike Brown got hurt badly (rib) by Urijah Faber, which makes Brown’s win over Faber even more impressive. For the casual fan, this win was shocking. I’m not sure how much the win elevates Brown in the eyes of the average MMA fan in the States, but it sure does hurt Faber and take away some of the shine off of him.
We know Faber lost to Tyson Griffin and now to Mike Brown. I’m not so sure how Faber would stack up against the top UFC fighters in the 155-pound division. He’s a great fighter, but I think we can say that BJ Penn is better than Urijah Faber right now. WEC, with legitimate reason, was pushing Faber as the best pound-for-pound fighter before the loss to Mike Brown. That slogan goes out the window.
Jake Rosholt’s stand-up game is awful. He will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the future, but wow is that stand-up attack brutal. He damn near lost to Nissen Osterneck.
Watching Jens Pulver against Leonard Garcia was sad. Garcia wasted no time in finishing him off.
Overall, a thumbs up to this show on Versus.
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Media notebook: Heat-up for tonight’s WEC event in Florida
By Zach Arnold | November 5, 2008
CBS Sports (Denny Burkholder): WEC 36 stacked with interesting match-ups
The Baltimore Sun: Q & A with Randy Couture
MMA Stomping Grounds: If you could change anything about MMA, what would it be?
Randy Couture: I guess if there’s anything I could change, it would be that the athletes got things like health insurance and retirement plans and more equal compensation compared to other professional athletes and sports in our country. I definitely think its going to take time, any kind of change, especially like that, you’re talking about a lot of people and money. It’s going to take time.
Mainichi Daily News: Gold medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii to tackle pro-world of MMA
“To become the strongest of the world’s six billion people has been my dream since I was little. I think mixed martial arts is the toughest combat sports.”
AFP: Ishii trades gold judo medal for ticket to MMA
Only three months after saving Japan’s pride at the Beijing Olympics, the 21-year-old disappointed many in the homeland of tradition-bound judo by joining what is still widely seen as a make-believe sport designed largely for television.
Broward Palm Beach: Kimbo Slice’s a sissy – the fight that wasn’t threatens to ruin a sport that isn’t
Slice’s entire presence in the sport has only damaged MMA’s reputation. He’s most famous, after all, for YouTube videos of truly brutal backyard fights that employ none of the skills possessed by veteran MMA pros.
The Slice-Petruzelli fight represents a critical moment in the history of the sport. Had it been a success, widespread popularity might have followed. But as it stands now, MMA remains on the fringes, though with a hardcore audience intact.
Vanity Fair: Anatomy of a fight, part two (a very well-written article by Peter Nelson on De La Hoya/Pacquiao
Topics: Boxing, DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Matt Lindland loses Oregon state house political race
By Zach Arnold | November 4, 2008
Matt Lindland ran as a Republican in the 52nd District of Oregon in a State Representative race against Democrat Suzanne VanOrman, who went after Lindland aggressively in TV ads. In deep blue Oregon, Lindland thought he had a shot in his district…
VanOrman won by a 58-41% margin over Lindland.
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What? Paulo Filho misses weight by 7 pounds for Chael Sonnen WEC fight
By Zach Arnold | November 4, 2008
As noted when we posted the WEC 11/5 card line-up, Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen were going to have a good old-fashioned grudge re-match. A title belt was even at stake.
That, of course, may change given this news story that Filho weighed in at 192 pounds for a fight set at 185 pounds.
Mike Brown, who is fighting Urijah Faber, had to make weight on his second attempt. Rani Yahya could only get to 137 pounds for his 135-pound fight against Yoshiro Maeda.
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Pro Elite assets to be auctioned off on November 17th
By Zach Arnold | November 4, 2008
Form SC 13D – General statement of acquisition of beneficial ownership
On October 31, 2008, Showtime gave the Issuer a notice pursuant to the Security Agreement, as amended, that it intends to sell all of the Issuer’s personal property, whether tangible or intangible, to the highest bidder at a public sale to be held on November 17, 2008. Showtime reserves its rights under the Security Agreement, as amended, and applicable law to adjourn or cancel the sale and thereafter dispose of such property in a public or private sale or in any other manner provided by applicable law.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WEC 11/5 Florida card line-up
By Zach Arnold | November 3, 2008
145 pounds: Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown (more here)
185 pounds: Paulo Filho vs. Chael Sonnen
145 pounds: Jens Pulver vs. Leonard Garcia
185 pounds: Jake Rosholt vs. Nissen Osterneck
Undercard
155 pounds: “Razor” Rob McCullough vs. Donald Cerrone
185 pounds: David Avellan vs. Aaron Simpson
145 pounds: Jose Aldo vs. Jonathan Brookins
205 pounds: Carmelo Marrero vs. Steve Steinbeiss
155 pounds: Danny Castillo vs. Rafael Dias
135 pounds: Rani Yahya vs. Yoshiro Maeda
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |