Sunday night update (12/23/2007)
By Zach Arnold | December 23, 2007
Just to let everyone know, the Christmas edition of Fight Opinion Radio will be online in a few hours. If you are in a giving mood and would like to make a donation to our site to help pay for bandwidth costs, please click here to donate. Thanks.
The heat-up for the UFC 79 event is already starting in the media. Here is a profile article on Mark Bocek and here is an article talking about Melvin Guillard vs. Rich Clementi (and how much both guys hate each other). Speaking of Guillard, here is a Q & A with the man himself.
Here is a profile article on Elias Rivera, who will be fighting Tim Kennedy at the IFL 12/29 Mohegan Sun Arena event.
If you missed my article from a couple of days ago relaying my thoughts on the Japanese MMA scene, go read it.
Steve Sievert of The Houston Chronicle has chosen Quinton Jackson as his Fighter of the Year in 2007.
I really do need suggestions from readers as to what feeds I should add to the new boxing page. Please give me some recommendations.
Topics: Boxing, Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Calvan vs. Aoki officially canceled
By Zach Arnold | December 23, 2007
Sherdog’s Friday news report about the JZ Calvan vs. Shin’ya Aoki 12/31 Saitama Super Arena fight being canceled has been officially verified by the producers of the Yarennoka event. Both Calvan and Aoki appeared at a makeshift press conference at the DEEP gym to address the media regarding the match cancellation.
While the Aoki/Calvan fight was not likely going to be a big-money draw in Japan, it was easily the best bout on paper in terms of expected match quality for the Saitama event. Aoki is expected to fight on the card, but now the search is on for a new opponent. The event is now at six matches officially booked:
- Fedor Emelianenko vs. Choi Hong-Man
- Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Kazuo Misaki
- Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Gilbert Melendez
- Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa
- Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luiz Azeredo
- Murilo Bustamante vs. Makoto Takimoto
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Saturday fight slate: Josh Barnett wins again in Japan
By Zach Arnold | December 22, 2007
K-1 announced Yoshihisa Inoue vs. Takashi Tachikawa (former Chiba Lotte Marines baseball player) for their 12/31 Osaka Dome event.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pancrase, WEC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Mark Cuban and Floyd Mayweather Jr. meet
By Zach Arnold | December 22, 2007
Cuban is brilliant at generating publicity for HDNet Fights.
“Floyd is considering fighting with HDNet Fights,” Cuban told ESPN.com. “We are going to let him visit some gyms to talk to some folks about what it would take to learn. He knows it won’t be easy. But he is getting involved with MMA and HDNet Fights one way or another. He is pumped about it. He wants to go on to the next big thing. Floyd is a brilliant marketer. He follows the money.”
Topics: Boxing, HDNet, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
My personal outlook on the Japanese MMA scene
By Zach Arnold | December 21, 2007
Warning: This is a very long post.
For the last couple of months, I’ve stayed relatively quiet in terms of talking about the Japanese MMA scene and how things are lining up. For starters, I’m bored with a lot of it. Secondly, I don’t see a lot of positives right now.
Here is my breakdown of how the political landscape in Japan is shaping up and what you should be paying close attention to.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, HDNet, Japan, K-1, M-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Gareb Shamus is going to have a very Merry Christmas
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2007
The IFL filed a form 8k on Tuesday with the SEC, announcing the terms of their consulting agreement with Gareb Shamus. Shamus is being eased out of the IFL, but not without a sweet payday.
Retroactive to 11/20/2007 and ending on 5/20/2008, Shamus will be paid $20,833 USD per month for the next six months (or a sum amount of $125,000 USD).
Topics: IFL, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the Day – Sean Sherk
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2007
The man has a lot to get off his chest to anyone willing to listen to him:
I couldn’t care less what Kenny Florian or Hermes Franca say. They probably don’t like me because I beat the (expletive) out of them and I’d beat the crap out of them again. They’ve got resentments against me. They can say what they want to say. I know I didn’t do it and I’m willing to defend myself.
advertisementIF: Throughout this whole process have you felt support from the UFC management?
Sherk: I’ve felt some support. (UFC president) Dana (White) has been vocal with everything and he supports me with this. They’ve kept in contact with me. You can always feel like there could be more support from guys but ultimately it’s my deal.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Site update (12/21/07)
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2007
Due to scheduling and other guest booking issues, it looks like the annual Christmas radio show will be available late Sunday night/early Monday morning. If you have any links to Christmas music that I can legally use on the show that you would like to hear, please post a comment.
On my Christmas wish list, I need you to post some RSS feeds from boxing sites not listed on our new boxing page. I want to get more content on that page, so please help me out.
I am looking for someone who could help contribute to the site in a ‘utility role’ (similar to what Jeff Comstock did on this site before going to Bloody Elbow), helping post occasional news updates (based on the news links automatically generated on this site) and writing columns once in a while. Some past writing experience online would be a big help. If interested, use the contact form on the menu bar to get a hold of me. Thanks.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
More bad luck for Rich Franklin
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2007
According to a report at MMA Junkie, Rich Franklin has a torn meniscus in his right knee that will require surgery. He will be out of action until June of 2008.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Site update (12/20/07)
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2007
We’ve added more options on the top menu bar.
The most notable feature is our new boxing page, which is made possible thanks to the technical help of Dr. J. There are some sites definitely not listed on the page (MaxBoxing, Fightnews) because we could not find the RSS feeds for them. In the case of Seconds Out, the RSS feed listed on their page doesn’t even allow you to see their list of articles. We also tried to find the RSS feed for the Fox Sports Australia site, but no luck there. Same issue with The London Telegraph.
So, feel free to check out the boxing page and give me any constructive criticism you have for it.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: Street fighting
By Zach Arnold | December 19, 2007
The story of the day comes to us from Eastern Canada, where 24-year old Corben MacDonald is in court to face 42 charges of promoting illegal fights. MacDonald’s backyard fight ‘organization’ was called East Coast Street Fights. For more background information on this story, read this.
Josh Barnett has a new DVD out. He is currently in Japan and scheduled to wrestle tomorrow for the IGF promotion in Tokyo at Ariake Colosseum. On the 22nd, he will battle against Hikaru Sato in a catch wrestling match at Differ Ariake in Tokyo for Pancrase.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, HDNet, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Denny Burkholder has some things to get off his chest
By Zach Arnold | December 18, 2007
Popular MMA message boards tend to hate mainstream MMA coverage, with posters wondering aloud “why don’t they just hire people like us?” (Which draws various far-reaching assumptions such as that mainstream writers didn’t know about MMA until The Ultimate Fighter, never posted on an MMA message board, and are not, therefore, “people like us.” Which is wrong on all counts. Believe it or not, some of us were following the sport before today’s major MMA websites and message boards existed. **Raises hand.**)
Virtually every major MMA-specific website has a partnership with a mainstream sports site. Many blogs do also.
Bloggers that used to write about MMA for fun now seem more concerned with scoring a big partnership, selling ads, and “cashing in.” Others have shifted their focus from covering the sport of MMA (for fun) to skewering the media’s coverage of MMA (for sport).
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kevin Iole floats media trial balloon on Matt Lindland
By Zach Arnold | December 18, 2007
I don’t think the chances are good of Lindland returning to the UFC. Lindland’s not what I call an exciting fighter. I guess that’s what you happens when you’re stuck watching that pitiful Ravens offense for so long, you begin to think Lindland is exciting. And to say that Lindland would wipe the floor with Anderson Silva is like saying Kyle Boller is a better quarterback than Tom Brady. Lindland is one of the world’s elite middleweights and is one of the few 185-pounders who would have a shot to defeat Silva. It would be a highly competitive bout and neither guy would wipe the floor with the other.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |