Jeremy Lappen says both ESPN & SI ‘misquoted’ him
By Zach Arnold | October 10, 2008
One of the worst political strategies you can employ when defending yourself against serious allegations is to question the credibility of the media scrutinizing. Why? Because you are not only questioning their credibility, but also setting yourself up for a counterattack that you may simply not be able to respond to. If you do not have a centralized PR strategy that is universal in terms of your line of statements, then every contradiction and every different statement can and will be used against you.
Case in point: Jeremy Lappen told Michael David Smith of AOL Fanhouse today that Josh Gross’s SI article and Franklin McNeil’s ESPN article quoting Lappen making two contradictory statements regarding the bonus structure of Elite XC contacts are ‘both wrong.’
“They’re both wrong,” Lappen said. “We have given submission bonuses in the past but they’re not as common as knockout bonuses. If the question is, ‘Have we ever given submission bonuses?’ The answer is yes. But we give knockout bonuses more often. We gave Seth a knockout bonus before the fight started. That was part of the deal.”
Here’s the problem for Lappen — these two articles directly quoted him on the record. That means, Jeremy Lappen gave them the quotes. In order for Lappen’s accusation to logically hold up in saying that both Gross and McNeil are wrong, wouldn’t this imply that either writer ‘misquoted’ him (as MDS writes) or published false statements attributed to him? Charging a writer with fabricating or manufacturing inaccurate quotes is a serious charge, as you are challenging someone’s journalistic integrity.
Does Jeremy Lappen want to get into a war with Josh Gross and Franklin McNeil and challenge their integrity and credibility as fight writers? ESPN and SI are two huge media entities. To have an interview subject attack either entity for ‘misquoting’ or for fabricrating quotes is not something to be taken lightly.
Ben Fowlkes comes up with the ‘friendliest’ of defenses for Elite XC and it’s not exactly flattering, either.
Previous articles:
- Reports: Kimbo/Petruzelli fight being ‘investigated’
- The Elite XC PR disaster continues, even with the wrong focus on the scandal
- Bad news for Elite XC — big media outlets focus on the Kimbo/Petruzelli stand-up scandal
- How about that good PR for Elite XC?
- We want real answers, not fanboy interviewing questions
- Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be ‘paid to stand with him as well’
- The PR spin on the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice situation
- Can Elite XC management be prosecuted for this?
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Reports: Kimbo/Petruzelli fight being ‘investigated’
By Zach Arnold | October 9, 2008
LA Times report and San Jose Mercury News report. Additionally, posts at MMA Convert and MMA Opinion. Steve Barry’s article at MMA Convert catches Jeremy Lappen supposedly changing his story on the bonus structure of Elite XC contracts.
I’m not bullish on anything happening here as far as a positive outcome in this ‘investigation’ is concerned. It will be the standard, “We didn’t manipulate the fight” response from Elite XC, the Florida commission will probably go along with it, and then we’re all supposed to hope this thing goes away and vanishes forever.
The credibility of this whole investigation boils down to one question — does the Florida Boxing Commission think that promoters telling MMA fighters to do ‘stand up’ fights constitutes an ethical breach in the sport? Based on previous Commission answers in media reports, the answer so far appears to be ‘no.’ If the FBC thinks there’s no ethical breach, then this ‘investigation’ is meaningless. If the FBC thinks it is a breach (and Gary Shaw has more than given them ammunition based on his comments to The LA Times), then this investigation might actually go somewhere.
Let me be very clear here with my opinion on this matter — telling fighters to ‘stand up’ for fights is manipulating a fight. Gary Shaw is on record as saying that it’s not unethical to do this in MMA. You can spin this 5 million ways if you would like to that this kind of policy is not ‘fixing’ fights, so let me suggest the following… Go up to one of the major MMA bettors in Las Vegas and try to tell them with a straight face that a promoter suggesting or ordering a fighter to do a ‘stand-up’ fight in MMA is somehow not manipulating the outcome of a bout. You will be promptly laughed at.
In addition to focusing on the concept of promoters being able to tell MMA fighters to do ‘stand-up’ fights, there’s also the concept of certain fighters having specific bonuses (a “KO” bonus but not a “submission” bonus) but not all fighters getting this bonus option. The idea that certain fighters are given certain type of fight-performance bonuses without that information being publicly disclosed is a questionable practice, in my opinion. Don’t think gamblers wouldn’t like to know which fighters have or don’t have “KO bonus” provisions in their contracts? A selective bonus structure like this could certainly influence the way fighters compete at fight events, and it’s the kind of information that could certainly sway how much money is bet on a fight and who it is being bet on in Vegas. This bonus structure is not similar to UFC’s bonus structure because the UFC awards bonuses for best KO, best submission, fight of the night, etc. after each fight event. In other words, the promotion is not approaching certain fighters with certain types of bonuses that could persuade a fighter to change their behavior.
Can’t keep a straight story in public
Let’s focus in quickly on a point that Steve Barry raised at MMA Convert. Jeremy Lappen told Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated the following on Wednesday:
Petruzelli (10-4) said he received an additional $20,000 to $30,000 for the short right hand that snapped Slice’s jaw after 14 seconds into the main-event fight. While EliteXC Fight Operations Chief, Jeremy Lappen, declined to discuss a dollar amount, he confirmed the presence of a guaranteed knockout bonus in Petruzelli’s revised fight contract, which also included a higher purse for the trouble of fighting Slice.
EliteXC, it seems, does not view submissions, widely thought of as the most technical aspect of MMA, as an overly important portion of an exciting fight.
“We don’t give submission bonuses,” Lappen said. But Petruzelli “knew a knockout bonus was possible before the fight.”
Now, take a look at what Lappen said to Franklin McNeil of ESPN & The Newark Star-Ledger on Thursday:
“We offered Seth Petruzelli a knockout bonus, a submission bonus and “fight of the night” bonus. If we were trying to influence the fight, why would we do that?
You just got caught contradicting yourself, Mr. Lappen, by your own conflicting statements within the timespan of 48 hours. What conclusion am I supposed to come up with by reading these two articles and these two entirely different, contrasting statements? You are part of corporate management in Pro Elite, which runs Elite XC. Pro Elite is a publicly-traded company that, in theory, is supposed to be more scrutinized in terms of business activity than a privately-operated business. Could Pro Elite be investigated by an entity for this scandal outside of the Florida Boxing Commission?
The most damaging aspect about this scandal involving Elite XC is that the parties involved have made conflicting statement after conflicting statement publicly. It’s all documented and on the record. This isn’t some anonymous blog site posting rumors involving hearsay. It’s quotes directly involving Petruzelli, Lappen, and the Shaws. None of them have a similar story and all the Florida Boxing Commission has to do is read the major MMA web sites to find out the sourcing of all of these quotes (whether it be from radio interviews, newspaper articles, or press release statements.) That’s what makes this case so damning for Elite XC — every time they’ve tried to respond and deny an allegation, they end up conflicting their past statements in the media with new statements that go against what they said in the first place.
Bottom line
There are plenty of questions that can and should be raised in an investigation, but I suspect that few if any will actually be asked or if anyone in Elite XC will be heavily scrutinized on this front. (Again, this is my personal opinion.)
If you’re wondering about my skepticism in regards to this investigation, this article might explain my feelings a little bit.
Stock news
Speaking of Pro Elite, here’s their latest SEC filing in regards to the role CBS played financially in last Saturday’s event in Florida.
Just who is potentially affected by this Elite XC scandal?
- The sportsbooks and MMA bettors in Las Vegas. If Las Vegas thinks that fights are being fixed or manipulated, are they going to want to put any betting lines on the board for the public to place bets on? Maintaining the utmost credibility when it comes to fights in the United States is a major deal. That’s why fixing a fight or bribing a fight to manipulate the potential outcome of a fight is a felony and gets you jail time.
- The stockholders of Pro Elite. Investors in Pro Elite cannot be happy right now, both with the current financial numbers the company has produced in 10k filings and also with this current scandal. An investigation into the company’s activity based on this scandal could be bad news for company management.
- The MMA industry as a whole, particularly UFC. There are people inside the MMA industry who have spent their entire lives trying to build this sport up, only to now see the sport get a black eye because of the Kimbo Slice situation. Dana White justifiably should be upset with what is going on here. A match fixing or manipulating scandal could do legitimate damage to the credibility of Mixed Martial Arts in the United States.
- The fans. There are plenty of boxing fans who now watch MMA because it’s a more exciting product. The last thing this business needs is boxing-style corruption seeping into this young, fresh industry that is gaining more and more steam. Fans deserve true, legitimate outcomes to fights.
How do you think CBS would feel about an SEC investigation into Pro Elite, given the amount of money that CBS has put into the company so far? It doesn’t matter if the amount of money is peanuts for CBS, the fact is that they put money into the company.
Previous articles:
- The Elite XC PR disaster continues, even with the wrong focus on the scandal
- Bad news for Elite XC — big media outlets focus on the Kimbo/Petruzelli stand-up scandal
- How about that good PR for Elite XC?
- We want real answers, not fanboy interviewing questions
- Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be ‘paid to stand with him as well’
- The PR spin on the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice situation
- Can Elite XC management be prosecuted for this?
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Server issues
By Zach Arnold | October 9, 2008
A formal statement will be issued in the next couple of days in regards to why the site was taken down. Until then, no further comment.
Topics: Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Elite XC PR disaster continues, even with the wrong focus on the scandal
By Zach Arnold | October 9, 2008
As we have focused on this past week, the hot issue regrading the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice fight has been the ‘stand-up’ controversy. All of this, mind you, was started by Petruzelli’s own radio comments in an Orlando radio interview. It’s bad enough that there is a dark cloud hovering over this fight in regards to whether or not a fighter may or may have not been told to ‘keep things standing-up’.
However, a more interesting phenomena has been developing in the general sports world. There has been consternation about the Kimbo/Petruzell fight being ‘fixed’, but for much different reasons — and ESPN’s Michael Wilbon ripped into Elite XC this afternoon on TV. The charge? That the Kimbo/Petruzelli fight was fixed because Kimbo really wasn’t hurt from Petruzelli’s short jab and that Kimbo supposedly must have taken a dive in the fight. (Audio here of Wilbon’s accusation — time mark starting at 6 min, 30 secs.)
Let us be perfectly clear — we are not on the bandwagon in regards to the mantra of Kimbo Slice “taking a dive.” Not the case here, at least in our estimation based on the facts at hand and from past quotes involving the parties at hand. I do believe that discussion of the Kimbo/Petruzelli fight being ‘fixed’ because of this theory that Kimbo took a dive is actually very harmful to the much more specific charges that have been leveled against Elite XC, which is that certain fighters are encouraged to keep fights ‘standing-up’.
Clearly, in my judgment, there is a scandal brewing here — but it’s not the one that media types like Michael Wilbon are focusing on. Instead, they’re choosing to attack Elite XC from the wrong angle here.
With all of the following above said, let’s address the negative impact that Wilbon’s comments will have on Elite XC and MMA in general. Plenty of mainstream, casual fans watch Pardon the Interruption. Likely, so do a lot of the suits in CBS Sports. In the time span of four days, we’ve gone from Gus Johnson calling Seth Petruzelli’s win over Kimbo Slice as “the biggest upset in the history of Mixed Martial Arts”, to Petruzelli claiming that promoters kinda hinted to him that they wanted him to keep things standing up, to a flurry of conflicting public statements involving Petruzelli and Elite XC management, to Jim Rome and other mainstream media outlets quoting Dana White on why this scandal is bad for the MMA business, to Gary Shaw admitting in the LA Times that he doesn’t find asking MMA fighters to ‘stand-up’ as being unethical, to now Michael Wilbon calling the fight a fix — but for different reasons than anyone could have imagined in MMA media circles.
How anyone could possibly think that this scandal has not been damaging to Elite XC and/or MMA is beyond me. The wildcard in all of this is how or where the media takes this next. If the media takes their cues from people like Dana White, then it’s clear that this scandal will have a sharpened focus on Elite XC and what their role is in the MMA business. If the media takes their cues from no one and decides to basically tar-and-feather the entire industry on the accusation of Kimbo/Petruzelli being ‘fixed’ (but for the wrong reasons), then who knows how much damage will be created here. It’s starting to look more and more like it is going to be in UFC’s best interest to address this topic specifically in the media and put the focus on where it should be — not only to correct media writers and personalities, but to also protect the company image that UFC has been spending years building up with the general public.
Previous articles:
- Bad news for Elite XC — big media outlets focus on the Kimbo/Petruzelli stand-up scandal
- How about that good PR for Elite XC?
- We want real answers, not fanboy interviewing questions
- Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be ‘paid to stand with him as well’
- The PR spin on the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice situation
- Can Elite XC management be prosecuted for this?
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bad news for Elite XC — big media outlets focus on the Kimbo/Petruzelli stand-up scandal
By Zach Arnold | October 8, 2008
A few hours ago, I wrote this post reviewing the possible options of attack for MMA fans and writers if they wanted to further pursue the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice “stand-up” media scandal that is unfolding before our eyes. The most viable option of attack was to encourage the mainstream media (the broadsheets, TV networks) to pick up the story and run with it. We’ve already seen Jim Rome on ESPN give his two cents.
Now, business is really starting to pick up.
First, Dan Duggan in The Boston Herald talks about Petruzelli’s controversial radio comments from a few days ago in Orlando. Duggan’s media angle here? Getting comments from Dana White, which a sure-fire way to build up more steam for this story.
“It disgusts me,” White said. “I’ve been busting my (expletive) for 10 years flying all over the planet to show everybody what a great sport this is and what amazing people are involved in it. Then CBS throws this guy who fights at people’s barbecues on the main event because they’re trying to compete with us, and he gets knocked out in (14) seconds by a guy who didn’t win ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and couldn’t fight in the UFC. Then the guy turns around the next day and says, ‘The promoters actually paid me to not go to the ground with this guy. They paid me to stand up,’ which I’m pretty sure is illegal.”
Second, Lance Pugmire in The Los Angeles Times has an article about Petruzelli’s Orlando radio comments and further elaborates on how damaging the Kimbo Slice loss is to Elite XC. Congratuations to Steve Barry of MMA Convert for getting quoted in the article. Note that Pugmire’s story is not only online but also in the print edition of the Times paper today.
The LA Times article is even more damaging because it has quotes from Gary Shaw about encouraging MMA fighters to stand-up for fights.
“Do I think that’s unethical? No,” Shaw said. “Because in MMA, you get bonus money for a knockout. I don’t see it as unethical . . . asking him to be TV and fan friendly.”
One quote I want to address in the LA Times article is this one:
“Press reports that Elite XC suggested or paid money to . . . Petruzelli to keep his fight against Kimbo Slice off the ground are false. . . .
Look. This scandal never would have happened if it wasn’t for Petruzelli himself saying what he did. The MMA media hasn’t ‘twisted his words’ one bit. Why? There’s been no need to twist any words. Petruzelli’s comments were made during a radio interview. The audio clips from that interview are easy to access online and accurate transcriptions of those comments are also available for anyone to access online. The Internet can be a very unforgiving place, especially when it comes to attempts to re-write history.
To have two big articles on this scandal in two major media markets (LA & Boston) is real bad. To have the comments that Gary Shaw made in the LA Times is devastating in terms of credibility.
Yesterday, I said that the media should have covered the PRIDE yakuza scandal more seriously than they did (coverage barely existed in the States). That scandal negatively impacted the business in a big way. Hopefully, everyone in the media, in the MMA industry, and those who work at state athletic commissions starts investigating the ‘stand-up’ fighting scandal.
Make no mistake about it — if Dana White wants to use his clout to push this story further in American media circles, he can. Would UFC benefit from this? Yes. However, so would the industry as a whole. Everyone has a vested interest in keeping as much corruption out of this business as possible. If you don’t think UFC management has a vested interest in seeing things stay as clean as possible, then you don’t understand what’s at stake here.
As for Kimbo Slice, Dan Henderson of all people is bullish on him making a comeback in the MMA business.
One other angle to focus on…
Think about what Gary Shaw is quoted as saying in the LA Times article as compared to what Shaw’s son, Jared, said to MMA Weekly a couple of days ago. Go through the money quotes:
Gary Shaw:
But Elite XC consultant Gary Shaw said he wouldn’t hesitate to “go to a fighter and say, ‘We’re looking for a stand-up fight.’ You’re not asking him to throw a fight. You’re talking about a fan-friendly fight, not about protecting Kimbo.”
Jared Shaw:
“Why in a million years would we ask Seth to not take Kimbo down? That’s crazy. That’s all Kimbo’s been working on is the ground game. Ken Shamrock, 84 percent of his wins are submission and through the ground, so Kimbo was ready for the ground. If anybody knows Seth Petruzelli, he’s a K-1 fighter, I wouldn’t want him standing. So to say ‘don’t take him down,’ that’s ridiculous.”
Now, focus in on comments Jeremy Lappen made in a brand new company statement:
“Seth Petruzelli was offered a fee to fight Kimbo Slice, plus a knockout bonus, a common practice throughout the industry. EliteXC organizes and promotes fights. We have not… do not… and will not suggest or dictate fighters’ strategies or tactics. How the fighters perform in the cage is at the sole discretion of the athletes involved.”
Really? You should have told Gary Shaw this before he spoke to reporters at The LA Times on the record. Gary Shaw, a man who’s still a consultant for Elite XC. Gary Shaw, the man who built Elite XC based on his personal fighting & matchmaking philosophies. Gary Shaw, the man who built Elite XC around Kimbo Slice & Gina Carano as his main attractions. Gary Shaw, a man who told the LA Times that asking fighters to keep things ‘standing’ is not unethical.
One thing is very clear here — this has been a terrible PR disaster for Elite XC. If Dana White chooses to make this a bigger issue, it will be more than just a PR nightmare for Elite XC management.
Previous articles:
- How about that good PR for Elite XC?
- We want real answers, not fanboy interviewing questions
- Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be ‘paid to stand with him as well’
- The PR spin on the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice situation
- Can Elite XC management be prosecuted for this?
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
How about that good PR for Elite XC?
By Zach Arnold | October 8, 2008
- Josh Gross (SI): Seth Petruzelli backtracked from comments that Elite XC told him not to KO Kimbo Slice
- MMA Memories: Why match fixing and bribery scandals are bad for MMA
- MMA Weekly: Roy Nelson has had it with stand-ups, referees, and ‘politics’
- Fightlinker: Roy Nelson bitches about stand-up and ‘politics’
- Bloody Elbow: Jim Rome talks about Elite XC on ESPN (transcript of Rome’s comments here) and Florida Boxing Commission sez: Nothing to see Here, folks
And if you thought this was bad, things continue to get worse the more Petruzelli and Lappen talk in the media. Read this and you’ll find out what the next controversy is going to be.
So why does this any of this matter?
As alluded to in the MMA Memories article, you better believe that some folks in Las Vegas are more than interested in finding out exactly what is going on. Gambling does take place on these fights, after all. We know that bribery, conspiracy to commit an act of bribery, and fixing a fight are felony criminal acts. One of the flimsiest excuses used by Petruzelli defenders online is that what he may or may have not admitted to was no different than what UFC does with bonuses awarded for best KO, best submission, fight of the night, etc. after each of their shows. Now, you have Petruzelli’s cover-up excuse claiming that he had a KO clause in his contract and that Elite XC offers a bonus structure like UFC does. Except, of course:
a) that’s not how UFC does their bonus structure in the first place (they award bonuses after each show)
b) Jeremy Lappen in an interview (linked above) with Josh Gross said that the company doesn’t give bonuses out for submissions but does for knockouts.
c) Benji Radach, who fought on the undercard, denies that there is a bonus structure like the one Petruzelli alluded to.
Let’s cut to the chase here. If I’m Keith Kizer and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, I am following this story very closely. Elite XC’s next big show is November 8th in Reno. Just because this scandal revolves around a show that took place in Florida doesn’t mean that Nevada shouldn’t have some possible cause for concern here. This whole matter stinks, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this whole scandal is little more than just bad PR. It should most definitely warrant an investigation. Whether anyone likes it or not, Elite XC is America’s second largest MMA organization and has a platform on CBS. If anything, it should create a higher level of scrutiny upon the actions of management in Elite XC.
Now, if people are legitimately outraged over this situation (and I think there are a few people who really do care about this), it pays to study recent history to see what tactics may or may not work.
a) Get bigger media outlets to focus on this story (Franklin McNeil of The Newark Star-Ledger could do a credible job covering this story). The issue of bribery and fight fixing is easy enough to explain to the casual sports fan. They get what it’s all about. Unlike the yakuza scandal (which I wish the mainstream media would have covered but didn’t), there’s really no excuse not to apply media pressure on Elite XC, CBS, Petruzelli, etc. This is not a manufactured, tinfoil hat conspiracy. (See the MMA Memories article as to why it isn’t.)
b) Get access into the shareholder’s meeting at CBS. (This is what ultimately brought down PRIDE because Fuji TV canceled PRIDE from the network before they had to deal with a 1,000 angry shareholders at a public meeting. It didn’t help PR-wise because shareholders flooded executives with questions over the yakuza scandal involving PRIDE and the Livedoor debacle. Putting pressure on CBS executives to defend the Petruzelli scandal could definitely make some of them sweat. Does Elite XC really have that much leverage in CBS to be able to fend off a challenge from angry shareholders?)
c) A lawsuit (the least likely tactic to be used, but the idea would be to somehow to try to get Petruzelli, Lappen, etc. under oath in a court room. In other words, a pipe dream.)
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Around the media horn (10/8/08)
By Zach Arnold | October 8, 2008
Dana White gets his mafia TV show
UFC boss sets mob drama at Spike. Maybe he could recreate the PRIDE yakuza scandal using old editions of Shukan Gendai. Nah…
A PR push for Chris Leben
From bad boy to coach, UFC fighter Chris Leben grows up
“I still like to have fun, I still like to get my heart rate up, do exciting things. After my last little stint in jail, a lot of things that have happened to me in my life, I’ve realized there’s a lot of situations that are good fun, safe fun, beneficial fun – and then there’s other kinds of fun and situations that I now choose to abstain from.”
Seth Petruzelli’s PR nightmares
Petruzelli fights controversial statement
“I didn’t even think I was saying it that way when I said it,” said Petruzelli. “It was me basically just saying I wanted to have a standup fight, then they offered a knockout bonus to do it, so I took it. I’m sorry that I created this controversy. I didn’t mean to do it at all.”
Rampage vs. Silva III
Rampage vs. Silva likely to be booked on December 27th for UFC’s ‘fattest card ever’
KJ Noons thinks he’s a free agent
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
We want real answers, not fanboy interviewing questions
By Zach Arnold | October 7, 2008
PRO MMA: Now I know a lot has been made about the fact that EliteXC supposedly paid you not to take Kimbo down. Now I’ve read the comments you had made and it seemed like your words were severely twisted around. Can you go ahead and set the record straight for everyone: Were you paid to keep the fight standing?
Seth: No, I wasn’t paid to keep the fight standing. The only reason I said that is that it was a knockout bonus which I wanted to make, so I wanted to keep it standing. It kind of got misconstrued that they wanted me not to take him down, but it was a knockout bonus, they would have paid either one of us for the knockout bonus.
On a predictable, but disheartening note, Ivan Trembow points to comments made by the Florida State Athletic Commission. Why have a commission regulating an event at this point then?
More comments on this situation from MMA Convert and Fightlinker.
Other articles:
- John Pollock: Where does Elite XC go from here?
- Deadspin: Was the Kimbo fight supposed to be fixed?
- Binghamton University: ‘The air smelled of the fight being fixed’
- The Sun (UK): MMA’s circus is finally over
- Sports Illustrated (Jon Wertheim): An MMA’s star flop could KO an upstart league
- The Street: ‘The economy may be falling faster than mixed martial arts fighter Kimbo Slice after a right-hand jab by Seth Petruzelli, but the stock of the sport continues to grow and appeal to an ever-expanding mainstream audience.’
- Miami Sports: Was the Kimbo fight fixed?
I and others had heard similar stories regarding both Petruzelli and Shamrock. EliteXC has denied these allegations. One important note is that, whether these claims are accurate or not, paying a guy to keep a fight standing, while not true to the spirit of MMA, is not “fixing a fight”. Obviously the idea would be that Kimbo has a better chance to win if the fight stays standing. If Petruzelli got paid to lose Saturday, sure, that would be a fix. But whether he got paid to stand or not, he still knocked the guy into next week.
The notion that this was fixed comes from the home of the tinfoil hat conspiracy theory.
Was Petruzelli encouraged to fight standing up with Kimbo? Absolutely.
Was he paid extra to stand? It looks like it.
While it looks shady, we already knew that EXC was running a shady business. No secrets here.
Tomer Chen:
I think it’s funny that people are trying to spin the implication of his remarks with regards to the positioning of whether or not its fight fixing. Given that, in the past, legendary boxers like Sam Langford, ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson and Jack Dempsey were told by promoters such as ‘Tex’ Rickard to carry opponents to allow for enough film to be filmed (in order to run movie house programs since a KO 1 would not be enticing) or to try and protect their guys’ image/give them a chance to get a gift decision if the better fighter was to let it ride out, it seems a bit comical to suggest that eliminating the takedown/ground element of a fight for a bribe isn’t trying to ‘stack the deck’ and essentially fix the fight towards your guys favor (at least in theory; hell, some fights that were supposed to be dives turned into legit contests, most notably Battling Siki-Georges Carpentier).
And even if Petruzelli didn’t take a bribe, as far as I know, you still can lose your license for not reporting it to a commission. A famous case was Rocky Graziano being offered a bribe by some mobsters, turning it down (although many suggest he had several mob fixed wins during his run to the Middleweight crown) and then was indefinitely suspended in NY and several other states for failing to report a bribe attempt.
Seth Petruzelli is now getting fight offers from Japan. That same article also claims that Petruzelli wants to fight Tito Ortiz.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #91: The meltdown of Kimbo Slice & Elite XC
By Zach Arnold | October 7, 2008
Kimbo Slice gets knocked out in 14 seconds, Elite XC loses their top meal ticket in the process, and the winner of the fight opens his mouth in a very bad way. Welcome to the fight business! We’ll do our best to make the case as to why you should care about allegations of fight fixing and bribery by promoters in the fight business. (Besides the fact that it’s a felony criminal offense in the United States.)
After the meltdown of Elite XC this past week, we take a long-term view look at the MMA industry landscape. Just what kind of start-up capital would it take to actually be competitive on a global or national level in the UFC-dominated MMA business? (Hint: There is a large disparity in terms of what each of us at Fight Opinion Radio thinks is needed for start-up capital.) Is MMA a viable business to make money in or not?
Plus, the world-famous grab bag (is it fixed? is it worked?).
The 91st edition of Fight Opinion Radio is now online and available to download. Download this week’s show here.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be “paid to stand with him as well”
By Zach Arnold | October 7, 2008
Update: In this radio interview (time mark – 40 minutes), Dave Meltzer claims that he had heard about the Seth Petruzelli “stand-up” scenario before Petruzelli himself brought it up on the radio on Monday morning.
“He’s backtracking. Uhm… I will also say that the story that he said, I had heard that story, uhm, long before, uh Seth Petruzelli said it. So, I believe it to be true. I cannot tell you that as a fact.”
Meltzer hopes that the athletic commission(s) looks into this and that this type of demand should not be allowed unless the commission sanctions a fight specifically as a stand-up match and markets such a bout to the public that way.
Start of original posting
This report is in the latest edition of Figure Four Weekly, published by Bryan Alvarez:
Seth Petruzelli said that he was paid to stand with Kimbo. Well, he said that and then he claimed he never said it. For what it’s worth, we heard in the days leading up to the fight that Ken Shamrock was being paid to stand with him as well. It’s a pretty shady way of doing business, and while it’s not outright working the fight it is attempting to give one man an advantage — or a perceived advantage, as did didn’t help Kimbo one goddamn bit — over another.
You can subscribe to Bryan’s publication by going to F4WOnline.com.
Within the timespan of 24 hours, we have Seth Petruzelli’s radio interview comments on EXC management allegedly ‘kinda’ hinting that they wanted him to stand-up only against Kimbo Slice and now we have Bryan Alvarez putting his name on the line by flat out reporting that Ken Shamrock was going to be ‘paid to stand with [Kimbo]’ as well. The audio already exists of Petruzelli’s comments, and Alvarez has put his reported claims in print to his readership.
Now, compare Petruzelli’s initial comments and Alvarez’s report to comments Jared Shaw made to MMA Weekly last night:
“Why in a million years would we ask Seth to not take Kimbo down? That’s crazy. That’s all Kimbo’s been working on is the ground game. Ken Shamrock, 84 percent of his wins are submission and through the ground, so Kimbo was ready for the ground. If anybody knows Seth Petruzelli, he’s a K-1 fighter, I wouldn’t want him standing. So to say ‘don’t take him down,’ that’s ridiculous.”
Petruzelli lost his two matches in K-1 competition, including a loss to Bob Sapp… all of this in 2004.
Fight fixing or bribery to alter the outcome of what is supposed to be a legitimate, sanctioned fight is a felony in the United States. Again, this is not Japan. This is not professional wrestling. Elite XC’s event was sanctioned by the Florida State Athletic Commission. There’s a lot of reasons to care about this story. If what Petruzelli and/or Alvarez said is true, then people involved in the production of last Saturday’s event should be prosecuted. Prosecutions for similar-type crimes has happened before in the fight industry, so there’s no excuse to let this incident go unpunished if indeed any crimes were actually commited.
In regards to media coverage of this situation, this should not simply be a one-day-and-go-away news story. We are talking about the image of MMA being tarnished in the States and the implications are damaging for everyone involved in the business. It’s a lousy scenario for everyone who supports this business and a fight fixing scandal of this magnitude could certainly turn off potential corporate sponsors — the kind of corporate sponsors Elite XC wants to get to survive as a company if they want to make it to their fourth event on CBS.
Previous stories:
- The PR spin on the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice situation
- Can Elite XC management be prosecuted for this?
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
DEEP 10/23 in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall
By Zach Arnold | October 6, 2008
Main event is Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yasuhito Namekawa. Riki Fukuda of GRABAKA fame is also scheduled to fight at this show.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Satoshi Ishii postpones decision on whether or not to convert to MMA
By Zach Arnold | October 6, 2008
He held a press conference in the last few hours to publicly announce that he would not make a decision regarding his future in Judo or MMA at this very moment. If he stays on the current course and does not enter MMA, he will likely participate at the 2012 London Olympic games.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The PR spin on the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice situation
By Zach Arnold | October 6, 2008
Update: Elite XC comments on the situation.
I commend Sam Caplan for his reporting, but this title reflects a poor choice of words. “Petruzelli disputes reports he received a bribe to keep Slice fight a standup affair.” This is not so much a knock on Sam as it is on Petruzelli’s “they twisted my words” PR spin.
What Petruzelli’s really caught disputing are not so much ‘media reports’, but rather his own comments that were transcribed at various MMA media outlets and made available earlier in the day. By labeling it semantically as disputing reports, it essentially is creating a theme of “Seth vs. the media” when the theme really should be “Seth’s comments vs. Seth’s new comments.” If the theme is kept in tact of “Seth vs. the media,” then people are more inclinced to tune out the story. If it’s Seth’s own words vs. his new words, he’s in trouble.
Previous stories:
- Can Elite XC management be prosecuted for this?
- AOL Fanhouse: Seth Petruzelli on Elite XC: ‘They didn’t want me to take Kimbo Slice down’
- Bloody Elbow: What else has Elite XC been up to?
The reason this story matters is because bribery or conspiracy to commit bribery in relation to fixing a fight is a criminal offense in the States. A felony. Don’t lose sight of this. The outcome may have or have not been expected, but that doesn’t change Petruzelli’s initial statements.
There’s some irony to this situation, as one of the major stories in Japan right now revolves around Shukan Gendai’s recent report laying out allegations of match fixing in Sumo and Asashoryu having to defend himself in Tokyo District Court against those charges.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |