Tuesday headlines: The NFL vs. MMA
By Zach Arnold | September 3, 2007
Tomorrow (yes, Wednesday) is the next WEC event from Las Vegas and I’m looking forward to it. We will recap the event on the next edition of Fight Opinion Radio.
Here is some more background information about Mark Cuban’s interest in MMA. Cuban and Fishman working together would be a hell of a deal.
Kevin Iole says that UFC shows it isn’t greedy with fight offerings.
ESPN has an article about NFL players interested in MMA.
Hidehiko Yoshida is going to be a free agent.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Canada, IFL, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White interview with Sportsline
By Zach Arnold | September 3, 2007
CBS Sportsline posted their new interview with Dana White and when it comes to the issue of the whole PRIDE asset purchase, it is one of the most incoherent and peculiar interviews I think I’ve seen in a long time.
First, White explains why he fired Renato Babalu and how Babalu’s incident was worse than BJ Penn’s choke on Jens Pulver in June.
I think that Babalu’s (choke) was very malicious. B.J. held the choke, they don’t like each other, the ref jumped in and stopped it. B.J. didn’t jump up there and say, “He was a punk; he was a motherf—–. He had to pay for it. He had to learn some respect.”
The way I read it, Babalu’s crime apparently was that he admitted the intent behind what he did and Penn didn’t, therefore Babalu’s got to go.
Considering that Babalu was expendable as a 205-pound fighter in UFC, the decision to let him go was relatively painless.
Now, onto the meat of the interview and contradictions – the discussion about the PRIDE asset sale.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday madness: Mark Cuban wants Fedor
By Zach Arnold | September 3, 2007
Your top headline of the day – Mark Cuban wants to do business with Fedor. I don’t know whether to be excited or scared about this. I’m more worried about Cuban in as far as doing business in the fight industry, especially with some of the characters we’ve seen on display from the world of PRIDE.
Fighter’s Only Magazine is reporting that James Thompson is joining Xtreme Couture.
Mike Swick has been pulled off of UFC’s 9/19 UFN card. He was originally scheduled to face Jonathan Goulet in what would have been a pretty entertaining fight. Instead, Goulet is likely to face Dustin Hazelett on that 9/19 show.
Sergey Kharitonov’s participation on the HERO’s 9/17 Yokohama Arena card was officially announced today. Plus, K-1’s benevolent matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa has decided to give Yoshihiro Akiyama a chance to return to action at the same Yokohama event. We’ll see if it happens.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, WEC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sunday media slate: Rizzo remains on his winning ways
By Zach Arnold | September 2, 2007
Lots of news and notes coming out of the Art of War III event from Dallas, TX. on Saturday. Results here and event PBP here. The event drew around 8,000 (although there is a debate about that number), which is a respectable crowd. Two ‘upsets’ at the top of the card with both Jeremy Horn and Jeff Monson losing.
Michael David Smith at the AOL Fanhouse is calling for Renato Babalu to banned from MMA.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Rich Franklin has taped a 30-minute TV pilot called “American Fighter.”
Dave Meltzer on yesterday’s New York Times article about UFC:
Then came the famed Zuffa myth about the “rule changes” like no biting, head-butting, hair pulling and eye gouging. They quoted Dana White talking about why people die in boxing all the time and not in MMA (rules and gloves allowing repeated punches to the head). The story had White claim every participant is tested for steroids before every match. That’s not even close to true. I think there has been one UFC ever (the 7/7 show in Sacramento) where every single participant on the card was tested. Two shows this year had no testing at all, but I doubt you’ll see that again because UFC was embarrassed by that fact. Most have a good number of people tested, such as Saturday’s show having 10 of the 18 tested at random including all the top guys. The story quoted the same football quotes about how if they tested like UFC, there would only be quarterbacks and kickers.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 36 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #61: Writer’s roundtable
By Zach Arnold | September 1, 2007
The views and opinions expressed by guests on the Fight Opinion Radio show are those of the guests and not necessarily those expressed by the staff of Fight Opinion Radio.
A good week for Fight Opinion Radio, as we recap the UFC 74 event from last weekend. This week’s highlight segment is a writer’s roundtable featuring Luke Thomas and Jordan Breen discussing Renato Babalu’s termination from the UFC, Josh Barnett’s comments about the UFC Heavyweight Title, and Jeff Monson’s comments about steroids in MMA. Plus, the world-famous grab bag and discussion of Bodog losing their domain name.
The 61st 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-9-01-2007.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: BoDog, Erin Bucknell, Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Saturday surprise: K-1 interested in Asashoryu?
By Zach Arnold | August 31, 2007
The headline that has everyone’s attention in Japan is a report in Tokyo Sports that K-1 made an offer of one billion yen to Asashoryu for an 8-fight MMA contract. K-1 denied the report.
One of the more intriguing stories coming out of Japan is the future of DEEP. DEEP is ran by Shigeru Saeki, who used to work with PRIDE on their Bushido shows. When the initial rumors started floating in late July about ex-PRIDE staffers getting together and essentially declaring turf wars against UFC in Japan, I was interested to see which ex-PRIDE members would work with each other on a new project. We’re starting to get some of those answers right now. Saeki said in a Japanese interview that he is aiming to hold a DEEP event outside of Japan and that the goal is to get the show aired on a good TV network. Gryphon adds more details to the story, relaying a rumor that Daisuke Sato will work with Saeki on the project. Sato was the man in charge of all the tremendous video packages that you saw at PRIDE events. He was also a coordinator in terms of production of events. The idea of Saeki and Sato teaming together is to try to recreate an event series similar to the PRIDE Bushido events, involving some of the bigger-name Japanese talent that UFC has not hired. The rumored list of talent would include Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Shin’ya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Masakazu Imanari, and other non-heavyweight Japanese stars.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday flame wars: Barnett vs. White
By Zach Arnold | August 31, 2007
“And he’s like, he’s more part of the UFC than part of Yahoo.” — Oliver Copp talking about Kevin Iole, F4W Daily show, 8/31/2007. More information on Oliver here. Copp also said on the radio show that Dana White has heavy influence on the music that fighters use for entrances to the cage.
The Texas DLR is now doing random drug testing at this weekend’s Art of War event in Dallas. However, note the reason given for the TDLR doing the random testing…
Josh Barnett responds to Dana White’s latest comments. He also responded in audio form on Fight Network Radio Thursday.
Pat Miletich talks about Matt Hughes leaving MFS to start his own gym.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WWE’s new big drug scandal
By Zach Arnold | August 30, 2007
Dave Meltzer sets up the table of information here and here and here.
Now, here are the media reports referenced by Meltzer: Sports Illustrated | ESPN | The New York Daily News
TJ Quinn became one of Barry Bonds’ worst media enemies for covering the steroids beat, and he could very well become McMahon’s biggest nightmare as far as investigative media writers go.
Reviews and updates: 411 Mania | The New York Daily News | The Sun
Update: The top story on Friday’s ESPN First Take show was the SI report that 14 wrestlers from WWE receiving steroids and HGH. The entire list of wrestlers who are customers were printed on-screen.
Update II: WWE’s stock price has gone up today.
Topics: Media, Pro-Wrestling, WWE, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Five things I learned from the UFC 75 conference call
By Zach Arnold | August 30, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Luke Thomas wrote-up an excellent summary of the UFC 75 conference call. My first thoughts after reading the summary:
- Renato Babalu was fired from UFC for holding a choke hold on David Heath for around 3-4 seconds after the referee asked him to let go. Babalu’s firing sounds more designed for Public Relations than it does for business matters. White sounded like he wanted Babalu to be a babyface rather than a heel, even though being a heel would have drawn better business.
- You can get fired in UFC if you display a lapse in judgment or bad behavior, but if you get busted for steroids or are Dana White’s best friend in the whole world you likely won’t or may not get fired.
- Despite White calling PRIDE “a tainted brand,” he sure didn’t mind using the PRIDE name to hype up the Jackson vs. Henderson fight, did he? Ironically, White then basically declared that after the fight the PRIDE 205-pound belt would be eliminated. White can’t get his story straight on what the PRIDE brand is — “tainted” or “such a big brand.” Once again, another business topic that White can’t figure out a position on (mainly because of his stupidity). I had to laugh at this line about doing business in Japan: “We’re lucky to rent office space.”
- Rampage Jackson and his camp have declared a public relations war on PRIDE fighters who they thought were on the secret sauce. Stating that Wanderlei Silva couldn’t “juice” like he wanted is going to stir up the hardcores, but in his mind I’m sure he’s telling the truth. The irony was thick, as Dana keeps flip-flopping back and forth about whether the PRIDE brand is “tainted” or “a big brand” while Jackson basically tainted it on his own accord by saying the guys he fought in the PRIDE ring were steroid users.
- We aren’t going to see Josh Barnett ever in UFC. Dana White — “Nobody gives a shit about Josh Barnett, especially me.”
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 53 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday trash talk: Jay Glazer is not welcome in Kentucky
By Zach Arnold | August 29, 2007
When I was 13 years old, asking for secret sauce meant the mystery dipping condiment with your french fries. Now, secret sauce has a whole new meaning for 13 year olds. (Hat tip: Mikeinformer.) More reaction to this story can be found here. Plus, more discussion about steroids and UFC fighters.
How MMA’s popularity is changing street fighting.
It is interesting to see Apy Echteld talking about Fedor negotiations. Echteld is Fedor’s manager in Holland (and promoter of 2H2H events), while Vadim Finkelstein is the primary backer of Red Devil. Here’s a flashback regarding Apy.
MMA super smart-mark and Elite XC commentator Jay Glazer is in a lot of hot water over comments he made about Kentucky. You know it’s not a good day when you have to start your column with this line: “First, despite the headline, I do not think the state of Kentucky is the pits.” To give Jay credit, he always comes across as a good sport about all-things MMA and he has an interesting news item about Randy Couture in his latest column:
When the UFC heavyweight champion Randy “The Natural” Couture dominated Gabriel Gonzaga on Saturday night to defend his title, it took all of about five minutes for a coach in the NFL to ask me if I knew Randy and if I could hook him up with the champ to have him come in and talk to the team. Then by the next morning, another coach called. Three days later, a player called then another coach called.
I found it amazing that throughout my training camp tour, all these players, coaches, front office types and even equipment people wanted to talk about was mixed martial arts. It used to be where I’d go to camp and get asked a million football questions while watching practice. Now, I get 999,990 MMA questions and 10 football queries.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Canada, Japan, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 35 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Whatever happened to… Mark Hall
By Zach Arnold | August 29, 2007
By Zach Arnold
If you’re an old UFC and MMA fan, the name Mark Hall brings back some interesting memories. I haven’t heard his name mentioned much in the last few years, but today his name surfaced in a media report — and it’s not great publicity, either.
The Press-Enterprise (Southern California) is reporting that Hall’s wife and two sons in Temecula were arrested last week on narcotics charges. Audio report of this story. Look at some of the mugshots in the article – total Fightlinker material. The mug shot of the woman is Hall’s wife.
The Hall family members are accused of receiving illegal prescriptions and are also accused of potentially selling the drugs to others. Here’s quite the item from the PE article:
Both Saege and Dylan Hall were convicted in connection with a 2003 racial attack on a black student at Murrieta Valley High School.
Since then, he has been convicted of several other crimes including theft, drug possession, burglary and making terrorist threats, court records show.
The brothers were charged Monday with possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for sale and prescription drug fraud, court records show. Dylan Hall was also charged with three counts of burglary. He pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday.
More reports: North County Times | San Diego News-Tribune
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: What’s in a name?
By Zach Arnold | August 29, 2007
It is not a good day in the world of Bodog.
You, too, can buy Mike Tyson’s poop.
If Kevin Iole called his critics last week “keyboard warriors,” I can only imagine what he is going to say after reading this. Luke Thomas has some words for Iole. Both Frank Trigg and Joe Stevenson think Babalu’s days in the UFC could be finished. Plus, Don Frye gives advice to someone who lives with their sister.
I feel your pain, Sam. Believe me.
There are brand new videos over at the Fox News web site of their Fight Game video series. That link is to the RSS feed of the videos.
Some new photos of the Couture/Gonzaga fight from UFC 74.
The ever-brilliant Dana White discusses steroids (again):
“There are a lot of things you can’t do, it’s illegal, everybody knows it and there’s no sport out there right now, where the penalty is harsher, than in the combat sports. When these guys get busted for steroids, you lose the ability to make a living for a year,” he added.
I’m sure the athletes competiting in cycling and the Olympics would like to issue to a rebuttal to White on this matter.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: BoDog, Boxing, Canada, IFL, Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 32 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tuesday headlines: Rickson Gracie is returning
By Zach Arnold | August 28, 2007
There is a brand new SEC filing by Pro Elite. Any new information in the filing? I did notice this gem on page 15:
The material weaknesses noted were: (1) the Company inadequately maintained accounting records, (2) accounting policies and procedures were not formally documented, and (3) the accounting department did not have sufficient technical accounting knowledge. The significant deficiency noted was that an affiliate did not provide adequate accounting for funds advanced by the Company.
The Company has begun taking remediation steps to enhance its internal control over financial reporting and reduce control deficiencies. We are actively working to eliminate the internal control weaknesses and deficiency noted by: bringing all accounting and record maintenance in-house, implementing Microsoft Dynamics/Great Plains accounting software; formally documenting accounting policies and procedures; creating centralized, on-site document repositories and maintenance; and hiring personnel in the accounting and legal departments.
On page 25 of the filing, it states that future reality show contestants for the Mark Burnett-produced show-to-be will sign dual contracts (one with Pro Elite or PE affiliates and one with Burnett’s production company). Furthermore, Burnett will have the full rights to the reality TV show footage (if produced). The last lines of the paragraph states:
Subject to specified exceptions, JMBP and Mark Burnett have agreed to exclusivity with respect to mixed martial arts programming. The term of the agreement extends until the earlier of the end of the term of the license agreement with the broadcast of the series or the failure of JMBP to enter into such a license agreement by June 15, 2008.
Additionally, on page 27, the filing states that Pro Elite currently has 37 full-time employees. On page 31, the filing claims that Gary Shaw receives a $10,000 USD per-month housing allowance in the Los Angeles area.
Jeff Comstock points out that Entremetrix Corp. has bought out Gladiator Challenge. Pro Elite had previously shown interesting in buying out the independent MMA organization. You can track Entremetrix’s stock price right here and view their SEC filings right here.
Rickson Gracie is going to fight on New Year’s Eve. Only one promotion runs on NYE now – K-1.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 56 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |