How the AP’s story on “MMA for kids” has caused a firestorm
By Zach Arnold | April 4, 2008
I have noticed a big amount of local newspaper editorials across the nation today in regards to that Associated Press article last week talking about kids doing ‘ultimate fighting.’ That AP article did some major damage. CBS 13 in Sacramento has an article on the situation. The story has gotten so over-the-top that in Missouri, there is is now a bill to ban ‘cage fighting’ for kids.
Scott White at TKO Xtreme in Canada is looking for the following:
I’m looking for someone who can contribute news, articles and I’d like to get someone who’d be interested in conducting some interviews.
If you would be interested in helping Scott’s site out, contact him here.
Onto today’s headlines.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
This has been a great week for fight fans
By Zach Arnold | April 2, 2008
Save your arguments about pro-wrestling for another time.
If you are a pro-wrestling fan or an MMA fan, this has been a hell of a week for you.
On Monday night, the greatest television segment in the history of American professional wrestling happened on WWE TV with Ric Flair’s farewell address. There is no one who personified the greatness and excellence of being a professional wrestler more than Flair, and it didn’t matter where he wrestled (the States, Japan, Europe), he was simply the best at his craft. When he’s 80 years old and in a wheelchair at a nursing home, he will have the three hottest nurses alongside him and he will still get the loudest reaction at basketball games and any other sporting event he ever attends. That is how transcendent Flair is as both a character and as a person, which is why Monday’s segment on RAW was brilliant.
On Wednesday night, UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night show delivered in spades. Thiago Alves, one of the two underdog wildcards on the sportsbooks, delivered with a win over Karo Parisyan. Joe Lauzon had a hell of a fight with Kenny Florian, but Florian proved to be too much and won the fight decisively in round two. Anthony Johnson, on the undercard, absolutely pummeled Tommy Speer and James Irvin had the fastest knockout in modern UFC history (eight seconds). Matt Hamill also finished his fight very strong against Tim Boetsch. The one unfortunate thing about that fight is that, if I heard right on television, Joe Rogan used the term “rape choke” to describe the finish. Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar had an absolute war. (Maynard apparently broke his hand.) Add on a new season of The Ultimate Fighter and all I can say is that I am grateful to be both a fan and a writer covering MMA. Kid Nate and Luke Thomas broke down the action tonight on their radio show.
The Japanese market may be crippled, but there is some fantastic fight action happening right now in North America. Let us also not forget Cung Le’s fight with Frank Shamrock, which was a thing of beauty.
All in all, we should be grateful for the good things currently happening in the fight scene. I know I sure am.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, StrikeForce, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Lauzon vs. Florian and new season of TUF is tonight
By Zach Arnold | April 2, 2008
Make sure to get your predictions in today for tonight’s UFN card. There has been a lot of media coverage leading up to this event, so Lauzon vs. Florian definitely has a big-match feel to it.
Xyience has been officially sold:
The sale price will cover only part of the secured debt at Xyience, debtor attorney Laurel Davis said after the hearing. As a result, unsecured creditors and stockholders in Xyience will recover none of their money, she said.
Onto today’s headlines.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: IFL, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
April Fool’s: Does Chuck Liddell think Kimbo Slice is one?
By Zach Arnold | April 1, 2008
Chuck Liddell says Kimbo Slice is overrated, at least according to The Sun newspaper today. Expect this to pick up some steam on the blogs, no doubt.
Here is the BetUS preview for this Wednesday’s Ultimate Fight Night event. Todd Martin has an article talking about the upcoming match between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
Erin Bucknell recently talked with Armando Garcia about the Nick Diaz situation in California.
Choi Mu-Bae recently defeated Gary Goodridge in MMA.
Onto today’s headlines.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Namedropping: Bob Sapp & BALCO
By Zach Arnold | March 31, 2008
(Hat tip: Mikeinformer.)
As if things couldn’t get any worse for the giant from Seattle:
Novitzky said 30 athletes were called to testify before the grand jury in 2003. Novitzky didn’t identify any of the athletes, but testified there was “some evidence” that professional wrestler Bob Sapp — who briefly played in the NFL — bought steroids from Arnold.
Novitzky is expected to finish testifying on Tuesday and prosecutors plan to next call sports doping expert Don Catlin to the witness stand.
Catlin has developed numerous tests to detect performance-enhancing drugs and helped expose hundreds of cheating athletes. He discovered both of Arnold’s previously undetectable steroids — THG and norbolethone — that are at the heart of the BALCO investigation.
Thankfully, the Arnold in question is not me or a family member. (That would be a hell of a story, though.) Here’s the last image most American fight fans saw of Bob Sapp:
Been a hell of a few years for both Sapp and Michael Connette.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 47 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Shamrock vs. Le attracts huge media coverage
By Zach Arnold | March 31, 2008
Takashi Hasegawa of Pancrase will be fighting Musse Hasselvall in Stockholm, Sweden on April 5th in an under 60kg fight at Superior Challenge.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has an article on Xyience today, titled Having it all but seeing it fall. Tomorrow is supposed to be the date of the auction for the company. This is a really good article on how the Fertitta Brothers are tied in with the people who created Xyience in the first place. The only issue I have with the article is that Rich Bergeron wasn’t publicly quoted in the article, and given all of his lawsuit troubles with Xyience… he would be someone that I would think be of great interest to talk with (like Fightlinker did).
The IFL filed an NT 10-K form on 3/28 as notice of their inability to timely file a 10-k quarterly report.
Onto today’s headlines…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The one-year anniversary of PRIDE’s death
By Zach Arnold | March 30, 2008
It was a year ago when the death of PRIDE, Japan’s largest MMA play, became a reality. A company that was ultimately sunk by charges of corruption eventually met its fate. That fate is still playing out in a Clark County, Nevada courtroom with PRIDE FC Worldwide Holdings LLC suing Nobuyuki Sakakibara and his production company, Ubon Inc.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Cung Le beats Frank Shamrock in San Jose
By Zach Arnold | March 29, 2008
Interesting show tonight. Full results here. Plus, a broken forearm. Some people must have won decent money betting on Le to win. Adam Swift labels the main event as ‘an instant classic.’
Also, Frank’s wife went to the hospital.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 59 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Leonard Garcia is in hot water with authorities
By Zach Arnold | March 28, 2008
The big story of the day is that WEC fighter Leonard Garcia has been arrested by police in a major cocaine trafficking ring that allegedly extended from Lubbock to El Paso, Texas.
- The Fight Network: Tim Sylvia may be set to announce he’s leaving UFC
- Sherdog: Nick Diaz speaks on CSAC
- The Long Beach Press-Telegram: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira making a heavyweight impact
- The San Jose Mercury News: San Jose’s Cung Le developing into Strikeforce star
- The Canadian Press: Gary Shaw expects 15,000-17,000 paid for StrikeForce event
- The Record Online (NY): Chet Hardaway takes ultimate shot
- Reuters: NBC orders MMA series
- Reuters: Tito Ortiz enters ring for “Beatdown”
- The Sioux City Journal (Iowa): State House moves to tighten MMA regulations
- Bloody Elbow: Rampage Jackson beats up a blogger
- Steve Cofield: Kevin Iole talks boxing and MMA
- Fightlinker: Elite XC are scumbags
- Nightmare of Battle: More Lightweights added to Sengoku
- Adam Swift: Randy Couture litigation grows more complex
- The San Diego Union-Tribune: Cage-fight craze finds young fans nationwide
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
DREAM 4/29 Saitama card update (3/27)
By Zach Arnold | March 27, 2008
Middleweight GP 2008 tournament
4/29 Saitama Super Arena (3 PM)
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Andrews Nakahara (Kyokushin karate)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the Day – M-1 Global
By Zach Arnold | March 27, 2008
From Leland Roling of MMA-Analyst.com:
Zach Arnold called it… I bow to the Nostradamus of FightOpinion.com. The interesting part about all of this is that it very much seems like M-1 Global had less money than what was originally thought. Fedor’s demands were extremely high, and their European division wanted “glitz and glamour” over actual quality in their fights. The differences amount to one side wanting PRIDE, and the other side wanting HDNet Fights, and we all know what happened to PRIDE. Monte Cox made a smart move regardless if M-1 Global in the States succeeds or not.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White interviewed by kamipro
By Zach Arnold | March 26, 2008
Here it is (in Japanese). I’ll keep the summary short, since most of what he told the interviewer is similar to other American interviews he has done.
- He ripped into the DREAM promotion, calling it minor-league and said that Mirko was tuning his game up in the minor league so that he could come back to the Octagon where the real competition is.
- White was asked about Nobuyuki Sakakibara and if he had heard that Sakakibara went into soccer. White brought up that they were suing DSE, so no further comment could be made.
- Dana said that that EXC was collapsing as an organization and that they had to take whatever deal CBS offered them. UFC would not accept a bad television deal and that they are open to negotiating with anyone.
- He compared the deal Strikeforce made with NBC to that of television shopping (infomercials).
In an update regarding the lawsuit filed by PRIDE FC Worldwide Holdings LLC against DSE Inc. and Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the next scheduled court hearing is set for April 28th at 9 AM in front of judge Mark Denton in Clark County (Las Vegas) court. On 3/24, the defendant filed a 16-page motion to dismiss the case.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Today’s clipboard of news
By Zach Arnold | March 26, 2008
Updates on state MMA regulation
In Maryland and South Carolina.
Interview notes
With Matt Serra and Mark Cuban.
Pancrase today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
Nova Uniao’s Marlon Sandro defeated Miki Shida in the main event today in R2 in 4’19 by KO. Sandro is now the #1 contender for the KOP Featherweight crown. In the semi-main event, Izuru Takeuchi defeated Hiromitsu Kanehara after 3R by a 3-0 judges’ decision. Alavutdin Gadzhiev defeated Hikaru Sato in R1 in 1’20 by KO.
Other notes
Another Rampage Jackson/TMZ episode (along with a Rampage interview at Jarry Park), plus Todd Martin previews Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le.
Topics: HDNet, Japan, Media, MMA, Pancrase, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |