Safeguarding the Future of MMA in Great Britain
By Zach Arnold | September 10, 2007
Every British tabloid that I picked up last Wednesday, every news bulletin that I tuned into on the BBC’s Radio 1 network; it had appeared that mixed martial arts had finally at long last reached headline news… but regrettably for completely the wrong reasons. Preceding Saturday’s UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion event in London, the British Medical Association had called and protested for an absolute prohibition of the sport of ‘cage fighting’ here in the United Kingdom. Portrayed as a outrageous, barbaric, and fierce cockfight between two meat heads after a heavy drinking session at their local public house; mixed martial arts has not quite attained the desired popularity accomplished by our American counterparts.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Adam Underhill, Media, MMA, UFC, UK | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday madness with Michael Bisping
By Zach Arnold | September 10, 2007
So far, the amount of North American media coverage for the UFC 75 (London) event after it took place feels similar to the coverage for UFC’s Ireland event in June. In other words, pretty light and not very much of it. There was an avalanche of previews heading into the show, but not much reporting afterwards.
It’s not Rampage vs. Henderson that has fans and media members talking, albeit that fight did generate some press coverage. Instead, the focus is on the Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill fight, in which Hamill seemingly finds himself a huge winner PR-wise for losing by a controversial judges’ decision. From Fox Sports:
Behaving atrociously in the post-fight press conference, Bisping would not accept criticism for his performance, and verbally abused members of the press who questioned his victory.
“Of course I (expletive) won,” said the agitated Brit. “I gave him the first, then I took the second and third. I gave him an (expletive) boxing lesson.”
Bloody and bruised, Bisping was apparently the only one in the room who thought so.
FOXSports.com has now learned that Bisping is likely to go down to middleweight after this fight.
Dana White had this to say about the judges that worked the UFC 75 event in London. Take note of the heat UFC is getting for the decision to run another show in an area with no official regulation and how White is responding:
“These controversies that come up don’t mean a thing to me and they roll off my back with no problem because I know it’s all (expletive),” he said. “We’re the top dogs and every little thing we do is news and people create these wacky (expletive) conspiracies. The bottom line is, we’ve embraced regulation, we want the sport to be regulated everywhere, but I’m not going to stop putting fights in the U.K. just because they don’t have a commission.”
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Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #62: UFC 75 review
By Zach Arnold | September 10, 2007
No guests this week (the scheduled guest didn’t show). Welcome to radio. No worries, however, as we have a loaded show this week recapping the UFC 75 and WEC 30 events in Las Vegas. Plus, we’ll address the BMA’s attempt to get MMA banned, concussions in MMA, and Dana White’s statements about PRIDE’s future. Also, the world famous grab bag is back and we ask the question — will Pro Elite be around in two years?
The 62nd 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-9-10-2007.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.
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Topics: Erin Bucknell, Fight Opinion Radio, IFL, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Pro Elite, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, WEC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Hidehiko Yoshida may appear at Dynamite
By Zach Arnold | September 9, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Sankei Sports is reporting that Hidehiko Yoshida is considering an offer to appear at the K-1 Dynamite New Year’s Eve event. Yoshida was quoted as saying that he wanted to fight before the end of the year and that he is leaving any future career decisions to the J-ROCK office to determine. J-ROCK’s stance is that if PRIDE is dead, then Yoshida should be a free agent.
In the various Japanese sports newspapers on Monday, the Rampage/Henderson fight received little or no coverage whatsoever. The Yoshida talk grabbed a lot of headlines.
Meanwhile, Sam Caplan is trying to figure out how to salvage Mirko Cro Cop’s career and Kevin Iole talks about the official death of PRIDE. Well, it is. Plus, a proclaimation for Herb Dean.
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 75
By Zach Arnold | September 8, 2007
I will add results links as they are created.
Results (coming soon): Yahoo Sports | MMA on Tap | Sherdog | Sprawl ‘n Brawl | Javno | Lancanshire Telegraph | Fox Sports
All predictions, spoilers, news and notes go here.
A funny spoiler (view it in full page mode)…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 145 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Saturday headlines: UFC 75 previews galore
By Zach Arnold | September 7, 2007
Zab Judah defeated Edwin Vazquez in a rather uninspiring fight at the Hard Rock Biloxi on Friday night. Lamont Peterson defeated Frankie Santos in the main event (telecasted on ESPN2 TV).
The 4th CAGE FORCE event took place today in Tokyo at Differ Ariake. Main results: In a Lightweight tournament match Kotetsu Boku defeated Eiji Mitsuoka by a 2-1 judges’ decision, in Welterweight tournament matches Dan Hardy defeated Hidetaka Monma in R3 0’28 by TKO when the towel was thrown in and Yoshiyuki Yoshida defeated Akira Kikuchi in R1 in 4’33 by TKO (referee stoppage). Also, Hiroyuki Takaya defeated Jarrod Card in R1 in 3’02 by KO, Takeya Mizugaki defeated Kentaro Imaizumi by a 3-0 judges’ decision, Masahiro Oishi defeated Taiyo Nakahara in R1 3’55 by TKO from doctor stoppage, ISE (Toshikazu Iseno) defeated Satoshi Nishino by a 3-0 judges’ decision after two rounds, So Do Won defeated Tetsuo Sano in R1 1’28 by TKO from a cut. The next CAGE FORCE show takes place on 11/11 at Differ Ariake.
Mark Pavelich is shopping around sponsorship opportunities to anyone interested in sponsoring Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald. What are the price tags being shopped by Pavelich in Canadian dollars? $15,000 CD per event or $50,000 CD per year for a ‘platinum sponsor’ package including a 5 x 8″ logo on front thigh of shorts, 14 x 4″ backside shorts logo, 4 x 4″ logo on t-shirt or hoodie to Octagon, three TV or radio or print ads, and three guest company appearances (if you pay for the yearly deal). Plus, there are ‘gold sponsor’, ‘silver sponsor’, ‘bronze sponsor’, and ’emerald sponsor’ packages available.
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Topics: Boxing, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday headlines: Heat-up for UFC 75
By Zach Arnold | September 7, 2007
Matt Hughes joins Full Tilt Poker.
Art of War 4 will take place on 10/27 at the Grand Event Center in Tunica, MS.
Movement business-wise for The Fight Network.
Jon Fitch made an appearance on the Any Given Saturday radio show on Thursday (audio here). Plus, a UFC 75 preview (Fitch picked Henderson, Bisping, Mirko, and Alexander to win their fights.) Fightlinker comments.
A case of plagiarism for The Sun newspaper in the UK? If so, Sam will have the backing of CBS Sportsline lawyers. That’s a lot better legal representation than what a normal blogger would have.
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Topics: Boxing, Canada, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday afternoon update – 9/6/07
By Zach Arnold | September 6, 2007
Guy Mezger explains his role in Mark Cuban’s new MMA project.
The Sun tries to educate people on what MMA is.
UFC Junkie is rebranding itself as MMA Junkie.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
IFL stock goes below 50 cents
By Zach Arnold | September 6, 2007
Stock quote here. The low today was $0.45/share.
Here’s the latest activity with Pro Elite.
Topics: IFL, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 9/29 Seoul & Pancrase 10/14 Tokyo cards
By Zach Arnold | September 6, 2007
K-1 World GP 2007 in Seoul FINAL 16
9/29 Seoul Olympic Gym #1 (5 PM)
- Peter Aerts vs. Ray Sefo
- Jerome Le Banner vs. Ruslan Karaev
- Yusuke Fujimoto vs. Junichi Sawayashiki
- Remy Bonjasky vs. Stefan Leko
- Semmy Schilt vs. Paul Slowinski
- Glaube Feitosa vs. Chalid “Die Faut” Arrab
- Badr Hari vs. Doug Viney
- Choi Hong-Man vs. Mighty Mo
Pancrase 10/14 Tokyo, Differ Ariake
- Light Heavyweight: Yuki Kondo vs. Yuji Sakuragi
- Middleweight: Hikaru Sato vs. Kentaro Abe
- Lightweights: Kenji Arai vs. Takaichi Hirayama
- Welterweights: Asaki Honda vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
- Featherweights: Tatsuya So vs. Yukito
- Featherweights: Manabu Inoue vs. Jung Jin-Suk
- KOP Heavyweight Title: Assuerio Silva vs. Arbocious Tiger
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pancrase, South Korea, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday trash talk: Not interested in UFC 75? You have a problem
By Zach Arnold | September 6, 2007
Adam Morgan is moving on from Fight Opinion to 411 Mania. I wish Adam a lot of luck and hope he does well with his new job.
Tonight, Luke Thomas is interviewed Jon Fitch on his radio show starting at 10 PM EST. Details here. The phone number to call in is 646-478-5091. I want at least five readers to call into the radio show tonight.
Cage Rage and Pro Elite partner up financially… well, if you mean Pro Elite buying out Cage Rage, that is. Plus, David Dinkins Jr. will oversee production of all boxing & MMA telecasts on Showtime.
Komikazee has a radio interview with Dan Henderson. Dr. J has a UFC 75 preview. So does Denny Burkholder over at CBS Sportsline. Setanta Sports has an event preview. Rampage was interviewed recently on Fight Network Radio. Jake Rossen tries to come up with reasons as to why there is little interest in the Rampage/Henderson UFC 75 fight this Saturday.
I can give you a laundry list of reasons why UFC 75 is struggling to generate energy with the American public.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 60 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WEC 9/5 Las Vegas
By Zach Arnold | September 5, 2007
All links, spoilers, and thoughts on the show go here. Show starts at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST on The Versus Network.
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: BMA and Big Brother
By Zach Arnold | September 5, 2007
Lots of news coverage today regarding the state of Chris Benoit’s brain. ABC News has more details. Plus, check out the reader comments. On ESPN’s Outside the Lines today, they focused their 30-minute program on the Benoit brain tissue analysis and concussions in sports.
Commentary on Dana White: Komikazee | Fightlinker
The BBC is reporting that the British Medical Association is calling for a ban on MMA in Britain. The BMA used the dreaded term “human cockfighting.” As scary as this sounds, it sounds like the politics of MMA in the UK are similar to those in America — in 1993. More on this story at The Mirror and The Sun. Reuters has now picked up on the story. The Daily Mash responds in their own way to the BMA’s claims about MMA. Plus, an article on UK fighter Rosi Sexton.
Another MMA/dogfighting comparison, this time in the Canadian publication Macleans:
Farewell procedure, what about the crime? In gladiatorial human sports such as boxing, wrestling and especially mixed martial arts, there’s a good chance of injury and, occasionally, death. I find such sports sick-making, but participants enjoy themselves. I have no idea how dogs feel about fighting. They get terribly mutilated or killed, but this “sport” is apparently enjoyed by huge numbers. Just because many of us find it distasteful and brutalizing does that justify outlawing it?
I wouldn’t outlaw bullfighting, fox hunting or shooting birds, which makes me question why I am sympathetic toward outlawing dogfighting. Class and caste play their role: fox hunting is considered upper-class and dogfighting is seen as a vice of the cultural underclass. Dogfighting is gaining popularity in Russia and Afghanistan, where it was outlawed by the Taliban. I suppose it’s a step forward for both countries, which formerly used people rather than dogs.
The Gillette News Record in Gillette, Wyoming is reporting that a local man is in stable condition in a Casper hospital after suffering bad head trauma at a Ringwars MMA event promoted by Matt DeWolfe (based out of Rapid City, South Dakota).
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Canada, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, WEC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 42 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |