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UFC 89 (10/18) card line-up

By Zach Arnold | October 16, 2008

TV: Spike TV, 9 PM

As it stands right now:

Headlines going into the show:

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Dave Meltzer’s comment on UFC bonuses

By Zach Arnold | October 16, 2008

Cryptic, evasive, whatever you want to call it (from this week’s Wrestling Observer newsletter — go subscribe if interested):

UFC has all sorts of bonuses, some that you hear about and most that you don’t.

So, name them. Why mention this item in this week’s newsletter and then not go into detail with your paying customers about what these bonuses exactly are? MMA Payout and other web sites who have focused on UFC contractual clauses and bonuses aren’t afraid to discuss what they can surmise as fact from fiction, so why the apprehension?

On a separate note…

Reading the Observer this week in terms of trying to justify or place Elite XC’s bonus situation with what UFC does was frustrating. Fine, MMA is just as much about ‘entertainment’ as it is ‘sport.’ What that has to do with the specific allegations against Elite XC management, I have no clue.

In regards to trying to historically compare the Kimbo/Petruzelli situation to what has happened in the past in Japan… we know that Japan is the Wild West when it comes to the fight business. I would like to think that American MMA fans have higher standards and hopes for how the US side of the business is ran in the States than it is in Japan (with rampant drug usage, mafia financial backing and money laundering, etc.)

Furthermore, we know that historically-speaking, Japanese MMA evolved from the professional wrestling scene there (UWF, UWF-Inter, RINGS, Pancrase, etc.) To try to compare the MMA scene in America versus the scene in Japan… I don’t see where it really fits into the Kimbo/Petruzelli scandal as far as adding ‘historical context’ to the scandal.

Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Time to add new RSS feeds to the site

By Zach Arnold | October 15, 2008

We need to add more RSS feeds to the site to pull more headlines. If you have the time, please post a comment and give us a specific list of feeds that you would be interested in seeing on this site. Thanks.

Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Any interest in UFC 89?

By Zach Arnold | October 15, 2008

The LA Times has been adding more and more MMA-related blog posts on their web site. A message to LAT: I would be happy to add the RSS feed of MMA-related blog posts onto this site, but your blog RSS feeds only grab ‘all posts’ as opposed to giving the reader the option of only reading ‘MMA posts’.

What we’re reading right now…

Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 35 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

What we’re reading right now

By Zach Arnold | October 14, 2008

If you notice that the site is a little ‘buggy’ today, it’s because we’re updating the software on our end to be able to process everything as smoothly as possible.

A quick media-related note — ESPN has now snagged the services of Neil Davidson, who is an excellent MMA writer for The Canadian Press. Neil has two articles up on ESPN now: Paul Kelly keen on restoring British pride against Marcus Davis and Chris Leben leaving his past behind.

Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 45 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Our new server is really great

By Zach Arnold | October 14, 2008

I’m serious about this. The downtime is rare, the speed is fast, and I finally have some peace of mind here.

So, yeah, help us out and go donate some money. All of the money donated goes to our new fancy web server.

Hopefully, we will get the Feedburner situation resolved shortly.

Topics: Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Moving to a new server

By Zach Arnold | October 14, 2008

Much to the relief of everyone. Rejoice.

With that said, it’s costing us a good amount of money. Therefore, we really could use your help to offset our web-hosting costs. You can donate money for our new web server by donating here. Please include an e-mail address when you make a donation so that I can personally contact you and thank you for helping our site out.

Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

K-1: Hey, maybe you should forget about Fedor

By Zach Arnold | October 13, 2008

Now that Affliction has announced Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski for January 24th, it’s starting to set in with K-1 that maybe the guy they were hyping for their NYE show last month won’t be fighting in Japan any time soon. The promotion is claiming that they will further discuss this ‘crisis’ (according to Nikkan Sports) at the end of the month.

Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Thanks to Elite XC, a sports writer compares MMA to the XFL

By Zach Arnold | October 13, 2008

In the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, no less:

The MMQB doesn’t mean to preach, and we are not prudes, but we can’t envision any circumstances when MMA would be seriously considered major network fare. The primary reason is that NBC tried this gambit in 2001 with the XFL, which was the brain child of Vince McMahon — impresario of World Wrestling Entertainment — who thought a trash-talking football league that basically encouraged unsportsmanlike-like conduct and featured cheerleaders that make the Cowboys cheerleaders look overdressed would bring boffo ratings in primetime on Saturday nights.

… People who follow MMA say that one of the problems is that ole Kimbo and female star Gina Carano are the only fighters with star appeal.

Which prompts us to offer this bit of advice to CBS and EliteXC: Take a page from the WWE playbook and just script it so that Kimbo and Gina never lose. We don’t think anyone watching will care.

Except, of course, MMA fans… other fight promoters… Las Vegas… athletic commissions…the Feds.

Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

A different perspective on the Elite XC stand-up scandal

By Zach Arnold | October 12, 2008

Jake Rossen of Sherdog attempts to look at the story from a ‘realist’s point of view‘:

Let’s face facts: The vast majority of promoters and fans in this industry want to see a mediocre kickboxing match with four-ounce gloves. The stand-up rules, the restarts, the round durations, the illegal blows (no knees on the ground) all work to discourage ground fighting.

This is a business, and business dictates that extended stretches of patty cake inside someone’s guard is box office death. It’s why you saw Art Davie screaming for John McCarthy to stand up Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock at UFC V, why Liddell claims John Perretti told him to keep his first fight at UFC 19 standing and avoid the ground if he wanted to be invited back, and why EliteXC is currently mired in a public relations nightmare over what they did or did not say to Petruzelli about taking Slice down.

The fighters have been so ingratiated into this practice that you can have a bout between an amazing wrestler in Sean Sherk and an amazing jiu-jitsu artist in B.J. Penn decided by nearly 25 minutes of striking.

This industry rejects at least 50 percent of its own product. It’s like Hostess trying to get rid of the filling in a Twinkie. Insanity.

At least Jake is willing to address the topic, unlike several of the more heavily-trafficked MMA media web sites.

Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Frank Shamrock vs. Ken Shamrock is coming soon

By Zach Arnold | October 12, 2008

ESPN report here. Who will get to promote the fight? Frank has a financial interest in Elite XC, but both brothers have worked with Strikeforce. How about EXC letting Strikeforce be the local promoter of the fight in San Jose and airing it on CBS?

Speaking of Elite XC, Michael David Smith of AOL Fanhouse has a note about Jeremy Lappen. This is an important update, as MDS asks Josh Gross of SI as to whether or not he ‘misquoted’ Lappen (as Lappen recently claimed). The report claims that there is audio of what Lappen said to Gross.

What was it that I said a couple of days ago about not having a centralized PR strategy and attacking multiple media outlets? How dumb is this? What’s astounding about this whole situation with Jeremy Lappen is that he’s a corporate lawyer. He’s not a dummy. However, I am shaking my head at the way he has (mis)handled this entire situation.

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Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

US sports media weighs in on Elite XC scandal

By Zach Arnold | October 11, 2008

You can always count on Greg Cote of The Miami Herald to be a blithering idiot:

Kimbo Slice’s loss in 14 seconds during that EliteXC mixed martial arts card in Sunrise has spawned allegations the outcome may have been predetermined. Gee, there’s a shock. That’s like shouting ”Fix!” at Wrestlemania? (Kimbo should please go away now. His 15 minutes and 14 seconds of fame are up).

Tom Seals of The Wichita Eagle in Kansas lumps in the Elite XC scandal with MMA in general:

If you’re a fast-growing, relatively new sport wondering how you can gain even wider mainstream acceptance, here’s a tip: Don’t go all professional wrestling on us.

Don’t use a script for your matches. Don’t allow your matches to be fixed. And while you’re at it, don’t even give the appearance that your matches might be fixed.

Yes, we mean you, mixed martial arts.

John Whistler of The San Antonio Express-News proclaims the ‘stand-up’ scandal to be MMA’s first big scandal (uh… guess he missed out on various drug test failures and a mafia scandal):

For the first time, ultimate fighting is facing allegations of fight fixing. And while there’s no reason to believe it won’t survive even if the claims prove to be true, MMA will suffer a severe blow to its credibility.

The sport always has prided itself on its legitimacy and always pointed to this when people compared it to boxing.

Make no mistake: Shenanigans much worse than this have occurred in boxing over the years, and nothing has been able to kill off that sport.

But this is the last thing MMA or its legions of young, energetic fans needed right now.

If you are a member of the general American sports media reading this post, check out what Mike Fagan and Steve Cofield has to say first before you try to discuss this scandal.

It’s clear that UFC has every reason to be angry with the way this scandal is playing out in public. Most fight fans are smart enough to figure out what the deal is here, but UFC is going to have to protect its image with the average American who knows nothing about MMA. Because UFC has done such a good job of marketing the “UFC = MMA” equation, any sort of negative scandal will be used against them whether they are involved or not.

I realize UFC has two big shows coming up and they need to focus promoting those events. However, if the sports media continues to push this story further and further in the wrong direction, then UFC would be probably be well-advised to hold an official news conference to smarten up the media about what this ‘stand-up’ scandal is really all about.

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Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |

Video: Dana White explains the Elite XC scandal to the average person

By Zach Arnold | October 11, 2008

In this two-minute video clip, Dana White lays out what the Elite XC scandal is all about to the average human being (from his point of view). The part of this interview that should resonate the most with the MMA media is the situation regarding betting on fights at the Vegas casinos involving Elite XC matches. White explains, in simple terms, why the Elite XC “stand-up” scandal matters and has teeth to it.

Note how direct Dana White is in terms of his accusatorial tone against Elite XC. He flat out goes after them in this video. This is such a strong statement that Elite XC either needs to release an official statement responding to White’s comment or they should sue him. The more pressure Dana White applies publicly on the story, the further this scandal will escalate and the more critical the response will be for Elite XC to answer these charges effectively.

Update: On the scrolling news ticker at the bottom of ESPN’s TV broadcast, the network has been reporting (under the ‘MMA’ tab) about the Florida DBPR opening up an investigation into the Kimbo Slice/Seth Petruzelli fight.

Also, Eddie Goldman conducted an interview with matchmaker John Perretti about the Kimbo/Petruzelli controversy (audio here).

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Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

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