Elite XC 2/16 Miami
By Zach Arnold | February 16, 2008
There are a lot of MMA fans online who are uploading the Kimbo vs. Tank fight on the various video sites (YouTube, Daily Motion, etc.) Go out of your way to catch a replay of the show on Showtime if you can (TV schedule here for replays).
Event results: MMA Weekly | Sherdog | The Fight Network | MMA Junkie | MMA Mania | Five Ounces of Pain | 411 Mania
Meanwhile, Kelly Pavlik defeated Jermain Taylor in their re-match tonight in Las Vegas.
Reaction: Sportsnet | The Sweet Science | CBS Sports | Miami Herald | Dave Meltzer | Steve Sievert | MMA Opinion
Steve’s comment about Kimbo vs. Ken Shamrock being a ‘mismatch in Kimbo’s favor’ may draw some heat online.
It’s fights like Kimbo vs. Tank that give Bob Meyrowitz inspiration that his blast-from-the-past ideas can still work with American MMA audiences.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday night fights: Heat-up for Kimbo vs. Tank
By Zach Arnold | February 15, 2008
There’s a new site called http://www.intheguard.tv that has been launched. Check it out.
- Sherdog: Cuban’s HDNet Fights enters Couture-UFC war
- UFC HP: Tim Boetsch vs. Matt Hamill added to UFN 4/2 card (full card line-up here)
- MMA California: 2008 California State Pankration Championships
- 15 Rounds (Gary Herman): EXC Miami event predictions
- Fox Sports: Kimbo, Antonio Silva expected to win at Miami event
- Dave Meltzer: Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott an old-school showdown
- Kevin Iole: Antonio Silva has XXXXL expectations
- Todd Martin (CBS Sports): WEC & EXC pursue different paths to success
- AOL (The Fanhouse): ‘Fighting Fedor’ reality series a bad idea
- The Springfield State Journal-Register (Illinois): Matt Hughes makes triumphant return to Assembly Hall in Champaign
- The Independent (Ireland): Is Setanta Sports about to be purchased by Disney? (UFC currently has a deal with Setanta)
- Bloody Elbow: Brock Lesnar — bigger than Kimbo Slice, bigger than Chuck Liddell
- Gambling 911: Kimbo Slice -450 odds across the board
- MMA Junkie: Frank Trigg’s fight breakdown of Tank vs. Kimbo
- 411 Mania: Alexandre Franca Nogueira to sign with WEC
- MMA HQ: Elite XC – Street Certified preview
- MMA Analyst: Quick and dirty preview of EXC Street Certified event
- Total MMA: Bob Sapp interview (talking about the issue of race in Japanese marketing)
Topics: HDNet, Japan, K-1, M-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #76: Thaler family MMA get-together
By Zach Arnold | February 15, 2008
Jeff Thaler and Thaler family members join us this week to recap the WEC 32 event from Wednesday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Does Carlos Condit deserve the praise that he is receiving online? Where does he stand in terms of worldwide rankings in his weight class? Plus, what’s the best sports analogy to use to compare WEC’s stature to UFC’s stature.
Our second segment focuses on the start of DREAM, the joint venture between K-1 & DSE staff. We try to figure out and rationalize how MMA fans are getting excited about a company whose grandmaster is currently sitting in a jail cell.
Plus, the world-famous grab bag takes a look at the latest Xyience news in bankruptcy court and Phil Baroni’s new deal with EXC.
The 76th 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, Japan, Jeff Thaler, K-1, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fightlinker’s interview with Rich Bergeron
By Zach Arnold | February 14, 2008
Listen to the audio here. The interview is 100 minutes long.
At the 70 minute mark, Bergeron starts making claims of Zuffa engaging in fraud. It will be interesting to see how UFC responds to Bergeron’s various claims in this controversial, in-depth interview.
An update on the Bergeron vs. Xyience Inc. court case: In addition to a hearing set on 3/5 at 9 AM in Clark County court by Bergeron for a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, there has been an additional hearing set for 3/18 at 9 AM for Bergeron’s motion for sanctions.
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday news review (2/14/08)
By Zach Arnold | February 14, 2008
The latest IFL SEC filing.
- KSBY 6 Action News: Knockout crowd shows up in San Luis Obispo to meet Chuck Liddell at book appearance
- The Canadian Press: Scalpers move in to fill demand for UFC 83 tickets in Montreal
- MMA Betting Blog: Kimbo or Tank? Find out where the smart money is going
- The Barrie Advance (Canada): Catching up with Gary Goodridge
- CBS Sports: Former student Ian Loveland becomes debut opponent for IFL newcomer Dennis Davis
- Tagg Radio: Interview with Dave Meltzer
- Mainichi Daily News: Taking dives in diapers — did Akebono’s fall from grace also claim his marriage?
- Dave Doyle: Carlos Condit keeps cool when others lose crowns
- Fox Sports: Condit scores first-round submission over Carlo Prater
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fertittas make their next move with Xyience
By Zach Arnold | February 14, 2008
John Edwards in The Las Vegas Review-Journal this morning is reporting that Zyen LLC, one company that The Fertitta Brothers have used to help finance Xyience, has won a battle in bankruptcy court to loan more money to Xyience.
According to Edwards, Zyen LLC can now loan up to $2.6 million USD to Xyience.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WEC 2/13 Albuquerque
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2008
Event results: MMA Weekly | The Fight Network | Sherdog | MMA Mania | Yahoo Sports
Steve Sievert was right – that is a packed house in Albuquerque.
This is a fantastic show. Chase Beebe got schooled by Miguel Torres and Jamie Varner frustrated Rob McCullough in a fight that featured some heavy punching in round three. I can accept the stoppage in the Hiroyuki Takaya fight, although I’m not a fan of it 100% of the way.
Someone should have had the dump button ready to go on Jamie in that interview…
Carlos Condit finished off Carlo Prater in relatively quick fashion. Condit had terrific hometown backing, as he received a superstar reaction from the fans.
Audio: WEC 32 recap show (Any Given Saturday)
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Site performance issues
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2008
The answer as to why our server has had trouble lately. More on this later.
Topics: Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 & DSE/PRIDE staff join to create DREAM
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2008
A big press conference was held today in Tokyo at the Metropolitan Edmont hotel with 500 fans in attendance to announce a new promotion called DREAM. Mirko Cro Cop was in attendance and was quoted by the Japanese press as saying that “cage fighting doesn’t suit me” and that Japan is really his second home. Mirko will debut for the promotion on 3/15 at Saitama Super Arena for DREAM 1. Essentially put, a lot of the booking will be similar to the days of PRIDE with themes, matches, and so forth.
The DREAM event schedule:
- DREAM 1 (3/15 Saitama Super Arena) – Lightweight GP 2008 tournament
- DREAM 2 (4/29 Saitama Super Arena) – Middleweight GP 2008 tournament
- DREAM 3 (5/11 Saitama Super Arena) – Lightweight GP 2008 tournament 2nd round
- DREAM 4 (June in South Korea or Yokohama Arena) – Middleweight GP 2008 tournament 2nd round
- DREAM 5 (7/21 Osaka Castle Hall) – Lightweight GP 2008 tournament finals
- DREAM 6 (September at Saitama Super Arena) – Middleweight GP 2008 tournament finals
List of competitors for the Lightweight tournament.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 35 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Six degrees of Ken Imai
By Zach Arnold | February 12, 2008
On the eve of what appears to be Mirko Cro Cop showing up in Tokyo for the K-1/DSE joint press-conference in Japan to announce their new promotion, I thought that I would take a brief respite here and put on my historian cap to talk about a certain individual.
To understand the various scandals and seismic behind-the-scenes events that have taken place in the Japanese MMA industry this decade, it is important to focus on an individual who somehow manages to skate under the radar time-in and time-out. This person deserves major scrutiny for his actions in the MMA business.
It’s time to play connect-the-dots with Ken Imai.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Eddie Goldman sounds off on UFC’s lawsuit against DSE
By Zach Arnold | February 12, 2008
Start at the 16 minute, 30 second mark (audio here) and listen.
Cross-reference: Two-part interview with Tadashi Tanaka (part one and part two)
In our earlier news post today, we linked to an article that Charles Jay wrote about regarding UFC’s lawsuit against Dream Stage Entertainment over the PRIDE asset sale deal.
MMA Memories, the site that CJ wrote his article at, contacted a source in the MMA industry with cursory knowledge about the 29-page lawsuit filing and the source raised three questions about the situation.
- PRIDE FC Worldwide Holdings, in the lawsuit, claims that they had three separatement agreements with Nobuyuki Sakakibara & Ubon Inc. (asset sale agreement, consulting agreement, and non-compete agreement). Why did UFC hire Sakakibara to a consulting agreement? What was the need to make such a consulting deal, given that an asset sale agreement is different than hiring people?
- Did the backers in PRIDE/Dream Stage Entertainment know about Sakakibara’s $1.5 million USD consulting agreement with PRIDE FC WW Holdings?
- PRIDE FC WW Holdings hired (through a consulting agreement) the main guy in DSE who Shukan Gendai publicly and persistently accused of being a front man for the yakuza. Why wasn’t his salary from PRIDE FC WW Holdings put into a special bank account to make sure that certain performance benchmarks were met by Sakakibara before money was transferred?
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tuesday reading material (2/12/08)
By Zach Arnold | February 12, 2008
Popular Japanese MMA writer Hiroshi Nielsen caught this screen capture of Yahoo Japan’s main page today. Kazuyuki Fujita’s signing with World Victory Road was a main story on the site. Hiroshi thinks that it’s not so much a sign that MMA is hugely popular in Japan right now, but rather a testament to the power of Japanese professional wrestling.
Pro Fight Store has a report claiming that while it is not 100% official that Mirko Cro Cop is done with UFC, there are rumors that Mirko will likely return to Japan to fight in the near future (for the new K-1/DSE organization).
- Rich Bergeron: Xyience co-CEOs Adam Frank and Kirk Sanford are done with the company (Bergeron makes more claims about The Fertitta Brothers)
- Sherdog: Xyience bankruptcy proceeding continues (Fightlinker summarizes the Sherdog article)
- MMA Payout: Report that UFC 80 drew 225,000 PPV buys
- Charles Jay: Operation Clean-up — They knew… don’t let UFC’s lawsuit against DSE fool you
- The Fightworks Podcast: Episode #103 – BJJ and women
- Nightmare of Battle: Phil Baroni’s 3/5 WVR match is canceled
- The Observer Online: ‘Natural born killer’ Carlos Condit seeks revenge
- Dave Meltzer (Yahoo Sports): Rob McCullough’s long journey to stardom
- Kevin Iole: Stephan Bonnar suffers torn LCL in his knee, out six months
- Bloody Elbow: WEC 32 betting odds
- Steve Sievert: WEC 32 selling intrigue; Condit, Prater aren’t buying (Steve claims WEC could draw over 6,000 paid for the event in Albuquerque)
- MMA HQ: WEC – Condit vs. Prater event preview
- MMA Madness: Is Carlos Condit ready for the UFC?
- TKO Xtreme: Is MMA legalization moving forward in Ontario province?
- Grapple Monkey: New BJJ & MMA blogs
- The Albuquerque Tribune: Cibola High graduate Carlos Condit will defend fighting title in home town
- Midland Daily News (Michigan): Passions run deep about MMA
- Inside the Octagon: Dissecting another inaccurate article about MMA
- Iowa City Press-Citizen: Extreme midget wrestling lands Union Bar in court
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #75: The return of Judge Jeff Thaler
By Zach Arnold | February 11, 2008
We’ve now officially reached the point where Judge Jeff Thaler may become a weekly segment on our radio show, thanks to the millions of MMA-related lawsuits being filed in the United States. This week, the Judge takes a close look at PRIDE FC Worldwide’s lawsuit against Dream Stage Entertainment. What are some of the unique consequences that could come out of this court case?
The 75th 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, Japan, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |