NYE MMA fallout
By Zach Arnold | January 4, 2008
Ratings-wise for the K-1 Dynamite show on Tokyo Broadcasting System, the first round of Kid Yamamoto vs. Rani Yahya drew the highest quarter-hour rating of the night, drawing a 20.9%. The Fedor vs. Hong-Man fight on South Korean cable drew a reported 13.4% rating.
Hong-Man’s active fighting career is also reportedly on hold due to mandatory enlistment in the South Korean military.
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, M-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, South Korea, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Pancrase 1/30 Korakuen Hall card
By Zach Arnold | January 2, 2008
- Bantamweights: Yuki Yamasawa vs. Seiya Kawahara
- Lightweights: Daisuke Hanazawa13 vs. Wataru Takahashi
- Lightweights: Shinsuke Shoji vs. Yuichi Ikari
- Welterweight KOP title match: Katsuya Inoue vs. Satoru Kitaoka
Plus WINDY Tomomi.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Pancrase, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Charity events
By Zach Arnold | January 2, 2008
Randy Couture will be hosting a charity poker tournament on January 12th at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas from 1-6 PM.
Rashad Evans will participate at Curtis Granderson’s Grand Kids Foundation Celebrity Basketball Game in Auburn Hills (Detroit area) on January 26th.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quotes of the Day – Lorenzo Fertitta
By Zach Arnold | January 2, 2008
In a sit-down media session with Kevin Iole:
One of the greatest successes that we’ve had, for instance, is the last show we did in New Jersey (UFC 78 on Nov. 17). We had a fight being headlined by two guys who had never fought for a championship and, relatively, had never been proven to be pay-per-view draws. But we basically sold out the arena in New Jersey and we did very strong, above average, pay-per-view. So to me, while it wasn’t Liddell-Ortiz, that said more to me than one of what you might call one of our bigger fights did. It showed that our UFC brand can carry a whole show.
Plus…
And like I said before, we invest into the sport to try to grow it by doing things like going to Europe. We took major losses in Europe (in 2007). We didn’t make money on any of those European shows.
But looking forward five years, we realize that Europe is going to be bigger than the U.S. and a lot of those fighters are going to benefit from the way we’ve cultivated the European market.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Yo-Sam Choi dead at age 33
By Zach Arnold | January 2, 2008
South Korean boxer Yo-Sam Choi, who slipped into a coma after winning a 12-round decision over Hari Amol in Seoul on Christmas, is brain dead and will be taken off of life support.
Coverage on the story at BBC Sports, Eastside Boxing, and Boxing Scene.
Topics: Boxing, Media, South Korea, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
2007 NYE ratings
By Zach Arnold | January 2, 2008
According to Sports Navigator:
Hustle drew a 4.0% rating on TV-Tokyo.
K-1’s Dynamite event drew the following:
6:00-8:30 PM – 11.1%
8:30-11:00 PM – 14.7%
11:00-11:34 PM – 11.1%
In other words, not very strong across the board.
Kohaku (Red & White Music Festival) drew a 32.8% rating in part one and 39.5% rating in part two of their night-long show on NHK. The Kohaku ratings were the second-lowest of all time.
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, M-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video of the Day – Mirko Cro Cop does the Hustle
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2008
Setting the scene: Ryoji Sai & Erica (the legendary Aja Kong) are facing Kintarman (Kintaro Kanemura) & Kurodaman (Tetsuhiro Kuroda) in a Dynamite Hardcore Hustle weapons match. The last time Kintarman & Kurodaman participated in this match format (Hustle Mania on 11/25 at Yokohama Arena), their ‘weapon’ of choice was Mark Hunt coming to the ring. After Kintarman & Kurodaman won their match with Hunt’s assistance, they performed the Brief Brothers dance made famous during Kanemura’s days in FMW.
In this NYE match, Erica summons Mirko Cro Cop to the ring to be her weapon. Poor Kurodaman. Now is not the time for antipathy.
Topics: Japan, Media, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Serious Pimp… seriously?
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2008
Check out this wacky press release:
Serious Pimp Apparel had an epic night at the 2007 IFL World Grand Prix Championships live on HDnet, December 29, 2007 with three athletes winning at inaugural event with 3-5 million viewers watching.
“We would also like to congratulate Mark Cuban for his HDnet IFL HD broadcast. Not only did it surpass the highly publicized UFC 79 PPV broadcast by over 4 million viewers, it also brought the MMA sport to the masses, affordably, said Kutzner.”
Topics: IFL, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the Day – Jake Rossen
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2008
UFC President Dana White and owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta were alleged to be openly ecstatic at cageside over Griffin’s submission win over Rua in September. Matchmaker Joe Silva passed a note to announcer Joe Rogan during Lyoto Machida’s mauling of Sokoudjou on Saturday, saying the bout’s outcome was indicative that “This ain’t Japan.”
Never mind the fact that Machida fought the majority of his career overseas, or that PRIDE alumni Quinton Jackson and Anderson Silva are doing just fine. The partisan commentary by UFC chairs is getting to be a little distracting, especially considering they already “won” the fabricated war created by fans with their acquisition — and subsequent dismantling — of PRIDE earlier in the year.
Wasn’t it Chris Leben who, ironically, in his pre-fight Ultimate Fight Night 5 live interview said that Anderson Silva should go back to Japan where the competition is a little easier? We know what happened in that fight…
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 39 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The story of Choo Sung-Hoon
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2008
South Korean friend and correspondent Yeo Jong-Hoon tells the story about Yoshihiro Akiyama and why Kazuo Misaki’s comments to Akiyama after their MMA bout was over are drawing a lot of heat.
By Yeo Jong-Hoon
I watched K-1 Dynamite! and Yarennoka last night. Both aired in Korea cable TV, network XTM. (Dynamite was delay, Yarennoka was live).
As you know, MMA/K-1 is very popular here in South Korea. We can watch all of the major events (K-1, HEROs, PRIDE, UFC) on cable television. Most of the shows are live, too.
I want to ask for opinions about Choo Sung-Hoon (aka Yoshihiro Akiyama).
Last night, Kazuo Misaki’s comments to Akiyama made Korean fans mad. If Misaki vs. Akiyama II happens in South Korea, it will draw big money and big ratings.
The story of Choo Sung-Hoon…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, South Korea, Zach Arnold | 40 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tanigawa: K-1’s ‘large coalition’ will continue
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2008
Today, Kazushi Sakuraba and Sadaharu Tanigawa held a press briefing in Osaka. (Picture here.)
If Fedor’s face looked like he suffered from road rash, then Sakuraba’s face is twice as bad.
However, the big story coming out of the press conference involved Tanigawa proclaiming that the ‘large coalition’ that K-1 was a part of would continue.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thoughts on the Japanese NYE 2007 MMA events
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2008
(I want to apologize for not responding to e-mails sent to me today, as Hotmail for some reason is acting up and giving some weird error messages when I send replies or try to delete mails.)
“The message you selected could not be found. It may have been moved or deleted. Please click the folder again to refresh the view.”
I really hate the ‘new’ Hotmail.
There were a few things that stood out to me about the two MMA shows on NYE in Japan.
The most glaring event was how a man behind a jail cell has recaptured power in the fight scene.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Vanishing Xyience
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2007
One of the notable aspects of Saturday night’s UFC 79 event in Las Vegas was that the fact that the promotion did not push Xyience hard. Instead of having the typical Xyience logos on the Octagon mat canvas, they had huge logos for Harley Davidson and Lumber Liquidators (a company that recently went public on the NYSE). Both Harley Davidson and Lumber Liquidators have larger name recognition with the American public than Xyience does.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |