Bodog odds for TUF 6 finale event
By Zach Arnold | December 7, 2007
- Ben Saunders (-260) vs. Dan Barrera (+200)
- Jonathan Goulet (-500) vs. Paul Georgieff (+300)
- Matt Arroyo (-330) vs. John Kolosci (+260)
- Roman Mitichyan (-500) vs. Dorian Price (+300)
- George Sotiropoulos (-500) vs. Billy Miles (+300)
- John Koppenhaver (-125) vs. Jared Rollins (-105)
- Richie Hightower (-145) vs. Troy Mandaloniz (+115)
- Mac Danzig (-150) vs. Tommy Speer (+120)
- Clay Guida (-115) vs. Roger Huerta (-115)
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday chalkboard (12/7/07)
By Zach Arnold | December 7, 2007
Fox News Fight Game has a video segment talking about the death of Sam Vasquez.
The updated K-1 12/8 Yokohama Arena card line-up.
A week after losing by DQ in Cage Force (Tokyo), Dan Hardy is back in action.
Site news
I’ve added a Video Corner section on the right side of the page. Fox News Fight Game’s feed has been added. I will try to add a link to Steve Cofield’s site for the audio section later. If you have any feeds you would like to recommend for either section, please post a comment.
Today’s reading material
- The Manila Standard (Philippines): Heat-up for tomorrow’s Ring of Fire event with Josh Barnett
- Fox Sports (Steve Cofield): Matt Hughes hard as coach on ‘Ultimate Fighter’
- The Shreveport Times: 14-fight pro-MMA card tonight at historic Shreveport Municipal Auditorium
- Kevin Iole: TUF 6 finale puts Danzig, Speer under microscope
- The Akron Beacon Journal: Ben Pettit opens MMA school
- MMA Weekly: Ultimate Fighter ratings on downward trend
- Sherdog: The death of Douglas Dedge (definitely read this)
- The Fightworks Podcast: BJJ Black Belt Network, StudioX lawsuit link
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, UK, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sean Sherk remains UFC Lightweight champion
By Zach Arnold | December 7, 2007
This news coming according to a report by Steve Sievert of The Houston Chronicle.
Armando Garcia has some comments about the Sean Sherk appeals case with the CSAC.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday media round-up
By Zach Arnold | December 6, 2007
ESPN’s Page 2 has a profile article on Roger Huerta. He’s pretty popular in the media.
Here is part two of Todd Martin’s interview with Dana White on CBS Sports. Money quote about why season four of The Ultimate Fighter ended up being so boring:
“I think the concept was awesome,” White says. “We executed it poorly.”
He attributes this to two factors. First, “I think the problem was we didn’t have coaches. We let these guys come in and train when they wanted to.”
He adds: “The kids got an opportunity and they went for it. These veterans came in and tried to squeak out wins.”
Sam Caplan has an interview with Bas Rutten, talking about his new MMA documentary called Potent.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sam Caplan responds to Luke Thomas
By Zach Arnold | December 6, 2007
Addressing the way the MMA media has covered the death of Sam Vasquez:
My reasons for devoting light coverage to the story had nothing to do with fear or bringing negative attention to the sport and was not an attempt to sweep the situation under the rug. It has to do with how I was taught to practice journalism.
For me to comment on this situation is a lose/lose proposition. This story should be about Sam Vazquez, not a story about how the MMA media covered the story.
Here is part of what I stated on Monday:
Call me cynical, but I don’t think you’re seeing a large outpouring of emotion over the death of Sammy Vasquez from various members of the ‘MMA media’ because it doesn’t serve much of a purpose for said parties to talk about the death. No ‘upside.’
Given the bad track record of the ‘MMA Media’ umbrella in terms of covering in-depth stories that deal with hard controversy (like issues involving organized crime or promoter malfeasance), I can perfectly see why Luke Thomas reacted the way he did. More thoughts here.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday trash talk: New York Yankee loves UFC
By Zach Arnold | December 6, 2007
Over at MMAHQ.net, a new round of voting has started for MMA fighter rankings. Go vote now.
ESPN’s Buster Olney recently interviewed Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain and UFC was a favorite topic of conversation:
It was awesome! It def is getting bigger than boxing! Even had a couple guys from Nebraska fighting! There is so much more that goes into it than boxing. You got the martial arts aspect, ground and pound. It’s just so complex in all areas of training!
How about the promotion so far for Liddell vs. Silva?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
New RSS feeds added
By Zach Arnold | December 6, 2007
Check both the news side (left) and audio corner (right) for updated feeds.
Both Tagg Radio (here) and Fight Network Radio (here) have broken RSS feeds, so I can’t add them onto the site until they fix their feeds. (Podomatic also has XML feeds that do not provide individual links to each separate audio show, so I don’t know a solution around that problem.)
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Updated Yarennoka 12/31 Saitama card line-up
By Zach Arnold | December 6, 2007
- Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luiz Azeredo
- Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Gilbert Melendez
- Hidehiko Hasegawa vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai
- Shin’ya Aoki vs. JZ Calvan
Production ace Daisuke Sato has a new blog (in Japanese) about the event.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Big John McCarthy is retiring
By Zach Arnold | December 5, 2007
Throughout the last couple of days, The Fight Network has been issuing press releases regarding a conference call on Friday afternoon (2 PM EST/11 AM PST) in which famous MMA referee Big John McCarthy would make an important announcement. The obvious speculation is that he will retire from active officiating.
In a pre-emptive strike (of sorts) towards TFN’s Friday announcement, Kevin Iole is reporting that McCarthy will referee the Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida fight this Saturday and then retire after the fight.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #70: Richie Hightower
By Zach Arnold | December 5, 2007
This Saturday, The Ultimate Fighter 6 finale will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our special guest this week is Richie Hightower, who will be fighting on the card. If you’re a fan of The Ultimate Fighter, it’s an interesting interview to check out.
Also on this week’s show: We discuss the politics of the Japanese fight scene and what a mess it has become. Plus, we speak with Caleb of The Fightworks Podcast and MMA Predictions about last weekend’s NAMMAE (North American MMA Expo) event in Anaheim, California. Plus a debate on whether casual MMA fans look at fighters primarily as entertainers or athletes.
The 70th edition of Fight Opinion Radio is now online and available to download. Download this week’s show here.
Or you can use the great flash player to listen to it streaming (without having to use an external program). Check it out (down below).
[audio:http://www.fightopinion.com/podcasts/foradio-12-05-2007.mp3]Podcasting: Use http://feeds.feedburner.com/fightopinionradio. This link should work for all RSS programs and podcatching programs. You’ll never miss another show again.
If you have iTunes, do the following:
- In your iTunes program, go to Advanced. Then choose the Subscribe to Podcast option.
- Type in http://feeds.feedburner.com/fightopinionradio.
- The newest edition of Fight Opinion Radio will be automatically downloaded and future editions of FOR will download for you as well, hassle-free.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Fight Opinion Radio, Japan, Jeff Thaler, K-1, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, UFC, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Seiya Kawamata is back in MMA
By Zach Arnold | December 5, 2007
Just when you think the PRIDE yakuza scandal is about to finally die, the tentacles of history’s past are back in mysterious ways.
Seiya Kawamata, the admitted yakuza fixer who was a central figure of Shukan Gendai’s negative magazine campaign against PRIDE & Dream Stage Entertainment, is back in business. In a recent column by BoutReview Japanese editor Hideto Ida (a respected writer), there were two revelations made about Kawamata in an interview with writer Yusuke Yahagi that will no doubt raise some eyebrows. (Read previous posts about Kawamata on Fight Opinion by clicking here.)
- Kawamata apparently may cooperate with or give advice to the new M-1 Global promotion.
- Kawamata apparently has put money into and/or has a stake in FC Management, the company that (according to the article) is currently representing Brandon Vera.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Japan, K-1, M-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: Selective memory
By Zach Arnold | December 4, 2007
The X-1 promotion sent out a bulletin claiming that they will pay up to $50,000 for an opponent to fight Niko Vitale on January 26th. “Fighter must be top tier.” Seriously.
Eddie Goldman talks about the death of Sam Vasquez.
Curious timing award winner of the day: Kevin Iole says UFC should announce that Matt Hughes is going into their Hall of Fame. Check out this quote:
But even more significant than his exploits in the cage are his actions outside of it. Thanks to Hughes, UFC 79 will be the company’s biggest event of the year.
I guess we should all forget about Couture vs. Sylvia last March and Rampage vs. Liddell last May (the fight that the mainstream media was hyping would ‘bring boxing down’).
Other reading material
- The Cayman Compass: Trevor Howard wants to be Cayman’s Ultimate Fighter
- Gary Herman: Wanderlei Silva Q & A
- The Madison Courier (Indiana): City will block cage fighting booked at armory
- MMA Mania: UFC 81 – Terry Martin vs. Marvin Eastman
- The Baltimore Sun: What Sammy Vasquez’s death means to MMA
- The Fightworks Podcast: Super Challenge Grappling match-ups announced
- Fight Metric: Who remembers Ricco-Nogueira?
Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Reaction to Sean Sherk’s CSAC appeal ruling
By Zach Arnold | December 4, 2007
Let’s start with The Los Angeles Times:
Sherk’s attorney, Howard Jacobs, questioned the handling of Sherk’s urine sample in July, and also noted that the testing of Sherk’s “A” and “B” samples by the same team at a private lab failed to meet standards approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency that require separate individuals to analyze the two samples.
A lab representative countered that his facility is under no obligation to follow the strict WADA standards.
Executive Commissioner June Griffith-Collison moved to uphold Sherk’s one-year suspension and $2,500 fine and Commissioner Mario Rodriguez seconded the penalty, but no other commissioner backed them. Commissioners Timothy Noonan, Howard Rose, Peter Lopez and Julio Ramirez then voted as a majority for the six-month reduction.
Now, onto other reaction:
- Ben Fowlkes: Sherk steroid ruling captures worst of both worlds
- Steve Sievert: Split decision for Sherk
- MMA Payout: Ruling is terrible for all parties involved
- MMA Analyst: Not buying what Sherk or CSAC is selling
- MMA Opinion: Give it a rest, Sherk
- Sherdog: Sherk says he will never fight in California again
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |