Quinton “Rampage” Jackson meets the police
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2008
Quinton Jackson has long been a favorite of TMZ, the Hollywood gossip web site that has become a powerhouse in US media circles. He’s appeared on TMZ more times than you can count to promote himself or say wild things.
Unfortunately, he’s found himself again on TMZ, but in a much different light.
Quinton Jackson was arrested on Tuesday in California on hit-and-run charges after allegedly leaving the scene of a car accident. Kevin Iole reports that Dana White is heading to Orange County to post bail for Rampage.
Besides the criminal aspect of this case, there is also a public relations aspect to the situation. Not a very good one, either.
- The Orange County Register: Rampage Jackson arrested after Costa Mesa car chase (details added)
- The Daily Pilot: Police – ‘Rampage’ goes on one
- The AP/IHT: Former UFC champion Rampage Jackson arrested
The UFC dodged an incredible bullet here. If Jackson was injured or, God forbid, injured someone else, it would’ve been a public relations nightmare. Inexplicably, the entire sport of MMA would be on trial in the court of public opinion. Because the sport is in its infancy on the sports landscape, every incident like this is going to be magnified.
Jackson should be able to bounce back from this with little long-term damage. There are a number of athletes in mainstream sports who have done far worse things and are still competing. Of course, it’s unfortunate that this storyline has to shadow the biggest weekend of the year for the sport.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Today’s chalkboard (7/15/08)
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2008
Total MMA radio has an interview with Amir Sadollah.
- Stephen Quadros: Affliction 7/19 Honda Center event preview
- The Fightworks Podcast: OPML file of 60 BJJ blogs you should be reading
- The Las Vegas Sun: Fiercest UFC fighter isn’t in the ring – fan with disability helped change access rules, now writes for sport’s web site
- The Billings Gazette (MT): Former Skyview wrestler Reese Andy set for UFC debut
- The Omaha World-Herald (NE): UFC Fight Night coming to Omaha in September
- Men’s Fitness: Edith Labelle – get to know UFC’s 5’8″ Canadian beauty
- The Tennessean: Ultimate fighting brings up moral questions
- UFC HP: Brad Blackburn – removing question marks one fight at a time
- MMA California: CSAC clarifies ‘back of the head’ and other rules
- Dave Meltzer (Yahoo Sports): Cain Velasquez has chance to show he’s real deal
- Kevin Iole (Yahoo Sports): Can Jesse Taylor make most of second chance?
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The InBev/Budweiser story and the MMA angle
By Zach Arnold | July 15, 2008
If you don’t know what I’m referring to, start here. Focus on this paragraph:
With the U.S. economy slowing, InBev might constrain spending on sports endorsements, said John Sweeney, director of sports communication at University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism. But the company must guard against competitors swooping in to buy any advertising space it abandons, he said.
After reading the AP article, check out what Darren Rovell had to say on the subject. Amy Robinson has further thoughts (so does MMA Payout).
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Upcoming dates for Randy Couture promotional book tour
By Zach Arnold | July 14, 2008
This is for his new book, Becoming The Natural: My Life In and Out of the Cage. (Amazon, Barnes & Noble).
- Monday, July 21st – NYC / Virgin Megastore Times Square (6:00 PM)
- Tuesday, July 22nd – NYC / Borders Wall Street (12:30 PM) AND Bookends in Ridgewood, NJ (6:00 PM)
- Thursday, July 24th – San Diego / Camp Pendleton (6:00 PM)
- Monday, July 28th – LA / Virgin Megastore Hollywood & Highland (7:00 PM)
- Tuesday, July 29th – Torrance, CA / Borders (7:00 PM)
- Wednesday, July 30th – Long Beach CA / B&N (7:00 PM)
- Thursday, July 31st – Las Vegas / B&N (7:00 PM)
- Monday, August 4th – Chicago / Borders in Schaumberg (7:30 PM)
- Tuesday, August 5th – Cincinnati / Joseph-Beth Booksellers (7:00 PM)
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Nick Lembo to chair ABC MMA committee
By Zach Arnold | July 14, 2008
The following is a statement from Mr. Lembo’s office.
I have been asked to chair the ABC’s MMA committee.
The ABC is comprised of athletic commissions from the United States and territories, Canadian provinces and both countries sovereign indian lands.
I would like your participation and input with regard to review of professional and amateur MMA matters. Your assistance would be a benefit to our committee members.
Your participation will conclude with a presentation report and document to the ABC membership at their 2009 convention in New Orleans next July. Please reply to me if interested.
Thank you for your involvement and support of the sport.
Nick Lembo
The committee will be chaired by Nick Lembo (NJSAC). Other members include: Jim Erickson (North Dakota SAC), Armando Garcia (CSAC), Keith Kizer (NSAC), Dale Kliparchuk (River Cree AC), Josef Mason (Colorado AC), and Michael Mazzulli (Mohegan Athletic Unit).
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kelvin Hunt: Why Chuck Liddell should move to the heavyweight division
By Zach Arnold | July 14, 2008
The UFC Light Heavyweight division is THE best division in all of MMA. Many new faces have emerged since this time last year… with a few fighters with familiar names that are no longer present. As we all know, the UFC’s HW division is lacking something. The one guy (Brandon Vera) they were pushing hard just lost back-to-back fights (albeit the second one was controversial) and has now moved down to the LHW division. Zuffa needs a star at HW and Chuck Liddell is the man for the job. Below are a list of possible match-ups at LHW…. followed by a list of match-ups Liddell has at HW.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Today’s chalkboard (7/14/08)
By Zach Arnold | July 14, 2008
- Gumby (On the Mat): What drives me crazy (BJJ class)
- The San Diego Union-Tribune (CA): Brandon Vera’s skills start with wrestling
- The Baltimore Sun: Q & A with Brandon Vera
- The Des Moines Register (IA): Muay Thai’s popularity surges with MMA
- Sportsnet (Canada): Mark Pavelich Q & A
- Gregg Doyel (CBS Sports): Don’t let size deter you on this Top 25 MMA list
- The South Florida Sun-Sentinel: UFC faces a challenge from Affliction
- Franklin McNeil (Newark Star-Ledger): MMA fighters working to become standup guys
- Fighters Only Magazine (UK): Phil Baroni will not be pressing criminal charges
- MMA California: Rebel Fighter – a night of champions event results
- K-1 HP: Remy Bonjasky wins in Taipei
Topics: Affliction, Canada, K-1, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
M-1 in Japan this Thursday
By Zach Arnold | July 13, 2008
DEEP will run an M-1 co-promotional show on Thursday at Korakuen Hall featuring two team challenge themes: America vs. France and Japan vs. Holland.
America vs. France
70 kg: Keith Perrigon vs. Samuel Judes
76 kg: Vince Ortiz vs. Farouk Lakebir
84 kg: Jason Bukich vs. Karl Amoussou
93 kg: Bryan Harper vs. Christian M’pumbo
93 kg: James Jack vs. Malick Ndiaye
Japan vs. Holland
70 kg: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Bogdan Cristea
76 kg: Ken Hamamura vs. Romano delos Reyes
84 kg: Yuta Watanabe vs. Jason Jones
93 kg: Yuji Sakuragi vs. Kamil Uygun
93 kg: Katsuhisa Fujii vs. Jessie Gibbs
Topics: Japan, M-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Affliction online videos
By Zach Arnold | July 13, 2008
They have a YouTube channel set-up right here.
Here is a 3 1/2 minute video preview for this weekend’s show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California:
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #85: The debate over the judging for Rampage/Griffin at UFC 86
By Zach Arnold | July 11, 2008
While we are busy fielding offers for advertisers, we took some time to interview Rami Genauer of Fight Metric to talk about Forrest Griffin’s unanimous decision win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 86. Rami explains how the Fight Metric system ruled the bout a draw. Meanwhile, there’s dissension in the ranks of Fight Opinion staff over who should have won the decision. Listen to this week’s show and find out why there is a difference of opinions. Would Forrest Griffin have won the decision under PRIDE’s scoring system?
The 85th 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, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Today’s MMA media content
By Zach Arnold | July 10, 2008
Brandt DeLorenzo at MMA Opinion asks where Brad McCray is and whether or not he’s still with Sherdog.
Kevin Iole gives James Irvin points for honesty when it comes to how Irvin is trying to sell his chances of winning his July 19th bout against Anderson Silva.
Luke Thomas appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s radio show on Thursday (audio here) to talk about Affliction vs. UFC on July 19th.
ESPN has a new edition of MMA Live, recapping UFC 86. Fox News has a new edition of Fight Game with Randy Couture, also recapping the UFC 86 event.
The staff at Total MMA has a new interview with Neil Grove. Will Grove face Kimbo Slice soon?
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Advertising on Fight Opinion
By Zach Arnold | July 10, 2008
If you are interested in advertising on our web site, we’re interested in working with you to make it happen.
We will not accept offers from fight promotions or advertisers we deem to be questionable.
Quick information about our site
Our site was launched on Christmas of 2005. Over the course of the site’s three-year history, we have covered all of MMA’s biggest stories (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Last year, we transformed our site into being more of a portal-style news outlet where MMA fans can visit for one-stop shopping in terms of keeping up with the latest headlines in the industry.
Our site’s audience primarily consists of hardcore MMA fans, writers, bloggers, fighters, agents/managers, promoters, and those who heavily invest their time in supporting the sport (such as members of athletic commissions). Around 80-85% of our readership is American and 5% is Canadian.
Approximately 85% of our traffic originates from people directly visiting the site (set as their home page, bookmarks, or typing in the URL directly). This means that we have the ability to be a solid ‘link driver’ and send our readers to your company’s site. We send readers all the time to MMA sites large and small in hopes of building up more exposure for more MMA-themed companies and projects.
Advertising options
We have four ad slots available:
- Top left of the sidebar. Your choice: 200 (h) x 150 (w) pixels for an image ad w/ a text link beneath it of 10 words or 100 (h) x 150 (w) pixels for an image ad w/ a text link beneath it of 25 words. The words can be a tag line or if you have a web site with RSS-generated news content that can be linked, we can link to the feed (similar to what we do with MMA Predictions).
- Top right of the side. Same parameters as the top left sidebar ad.
- The middle of the left sidebar. 100 (h) x 150 (w) pixels for an image ad w/ a text link of up to 10 words.
- The middle of the right sidebar. Same parameters as option #3.
In addition to having your ad displayed on our site, we will also run audio ad spots for your company on our podcast and work with you on promotional items (press releases, new merchandise, etc.) if interested.
Payment options
Our preferred method of payment is check/money order.
We will work with sponsors on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you are interested in advertising on our site and want up-to-date advertising rates, please use our contact form to get a hold of us immediately. Make sure that you type Advertising on Fight Opinion as the name of the subject of your message to us so that we can get back to you promptly.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
DREAM 5 card line-up
By Zach Arnold | July 10, 2008
- Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata
- Mark Hunt vs. Mr. X
- Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Motoki Miyazawa
- Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Joseph Benavidez
- Lightweight GP reserve match: Joachim Hansen vs. Black Mamba
- Lightweight GP: Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
- Lightweight GP: Shin’ya Aoki vs. Kaoru Uno
- Lightweight GP finals
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |