UFC plays hardball with Arlovski
By Zach Arnold | August 27, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Most hardcore MMA fans online generally understand how Zuffa LLC, the parent company of UFC, does business — especially when fighters have one fight left remaining on their contract. So, it should be of no surprise that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva indicated to Steve Sievert of The Houston Chronicle that Andrei Arlovski will not be booked again in a high-profile UFC fight unless he signs a new multi-fight contract.
What is different for UFC, however, is that they are publicly admitting what most insiders already knew and assumed… the assumption that UFC knows they are the only major game in town and that fighters have nowhere else to go in order to create leverage at the negotiating table.
While the UFC matchmaker stopped short of saying the organization doesn’t need the former heavyweight champ, comments such as “where else is he going to go” and the contract “has to make sense for us” send a clear message as to who has the upper hand in the ongoing negotiations. The UFC won’t book Arlovski until the contract issue is resolved.
On paper, UFC’s calculation makes complete and total sense. It’s the same song-and-dance that we are currently seeing in the American pro-wrestling scene with WWE. The main rivals for UFC are undergoing major problems (HEROs is completely disorganized, IFL is bleeding massive amounts of money, and Pro-Elite admitted that they don’t even have their accounting practices in order according to their latest 10Q report) and fighters have little-or-no negotiating leverage. That was certainly cemented when PRIDE died earlier this year.
However, the MMA scene is about to likely change — and you can thank UFC’s stupidity in dealing with PRIDE for it.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday medical notes: Several fighters at UFC 74 injured
By Zach Arnold | August 27, 2007
Quote of the day on ESPN TV: Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon stating that he wants to see Randy Couture take on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, nothing more or nothing less. In other words, Wilbon doesn’t want to see Randy fight anyone else. In a strange and funny way, he may have stumbled onto an interesting concept. Rather than have Couture fight on 12/29, book him versus the winner of Jackson/Henderson in a non-title fight for the Super Bowl weekend show. It would annoy the hardcores due to the title ramifications (making it non-title), but it would draw a monster box-office. Everyone else is trying to figure out who Randy Couture’s next opponent will be.
If anyone is an ESPN Radio insider, please send me an e-mail (as I have a question about accessing This is ESPN Radio segments). Thanks.
Nobuhiko Takada is the king of flatulence.
The participants announced for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Here are the NSAC medical suspensions coming out of the UFC 74 event. Gonzaga with the broken nose, Crane with the broken right orbital bone, and Hardonk with a right shoulder injury. Too bad they forgot about Randy Couture’s broken arm and Joe Stevenson’s broken jaw. What is happening over at the NSAC? Here are the UFC 74 fighter salaries.
Oh yeah, there were other events taking place besides UFC this past weekend. Ken Shamrock’s son, Ryan, won in his MMA debut. Plus, Krazy Horse Bennett lost at the ShoXC event in Vicksburg, MS. Also, Matt Serra took a trip to Baltimore.
An interview with Sokoudjou. Plus, knocking down the MMA/dogfighting comparisons.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White admits that PRIDE is dead
By Zach Arnold | August 26, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Update: One point that I forgot to mention in the initial point is that White’s public quote that the PRIDE assets are ‘tainted’ is going to perhaps raise some interest from the Nevada Gaming Commission. If there is one thing that the NGC does not like, it is any sort of connection of license holders to organized crime. If the NGC asks Dana White why the PRIDE assets in his view are suddenly ‘tainted,’ he’s going to have to explain the whole backstory with PRIDE and why Lorenzo Fertitta was able to make the asset sale purchase in the first place. Not smart at all.
Update II: More Dana White comments on PRIDE, including this gem of a line — “I’ve pulled everything out of the trick box that I can and I can’t get a TV deal over there with PRIDE. I don’t think they want us there,” said White. “I don’t think they me want me there.” I cannot stop laughing.
Alex Marvez has an excellent article at Fox Sports with quotes from Dana White on many issues, including the future of PRIDE. In short, Dana White has changed his tune on PRIDE — or is finally revealing his true feelings.
Even though he purchased PRIDE earlier this year, White insinuated the Japanese-based promotion is essentially history. White said the PRIDE brand was “tainted,” referring to the alleged mob involvement of its previous ownership group that cost the promotion its television outlet in Japan.
“(The Japanese) don’t want another (mixed martial arts) organization over there,” White said. “That company was in trouble. We went in and bought it out with every intention of keeping PRIDE alive. (Japan) is a very tricky place to do business.
“The problem is PRIDE was never a big company in the United States and I’m not going to drop another $44 million to try and straighten it out. We kept running the Japanese offices over there and it didn’t work out.”
Let me count the interesting things about the statements that White was quoted about in relation to PRIDE…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 74
By Zach Arnold | August 25, 2007
Live show reports: The Fight Network | Sherdog | MMA Weekly | UFC Junkie | F4W Online | UFC Mania | MMA on Tap | Irish Whip Fighting | Steve Sievert | The Observer | Yahoo Sports | Alex Marvez
Non-UFC note: The Fernando Vargas/Ricardo Mayorga fight has been postponed.
Kevin Iole – Renato Babalu disgraces the sport, Dave Meltzer – Josh Barnett marks out. Update: Kevin Iole reports that the NSAC is withholding 50% of Babalu’s $50,000 USD fight purse.
For our faithful Fight Opinion Radio listeners, you know that there was only one site member who picked Patrick Cote to beat Kendall Grove and that would be me. You could have made some money by picking that upset, too.
Kevin Iole raises an interesting question (unwittingly) about Roger Huerta’s victory at UFC 74 — is it fair for a fighter (in his own fight!) to be able to watch himself on a TV screen or does it give that fighter an unfair competitive advantage (even if the other fighter has access to the same technology)?
Media reaction to the fallout from UFC 74 can be seen in full-page mode.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 58 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Saturday update: The road to UFC 74
By Zach Arnold | August 25, 2007
This is a primer for you to read before UFC 74 takes place.
NPR (National Public Radio) did an article on MMA that was… well… it was what it was. The New York State Athletic Commission once again came out against MMA and in favor of boxing. The article also shamelessly parrots The Zuffa Myth. Dana White is also quoted in the article as saying that “there is not a problem with steroids” in MMA.
If you are a member of MMA Predictions, make sure to get your picks in for both the ShoXC and UFC 74 events tonight. Plus, I know there is a BodogFight event in Vancouver (an event in which Mark Weir got injured at). Here is the day one taping results.
The weigh-in results for UFC 74.
Diego Sanchez claims that Georges St. Pierre’s arrival at Greg Jackson’s camp led to him deciding to leave Albuquerque.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: BoDog, Canada, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
CSAC promoter meeting set for 9/28
By Zach Arnold | August 24, 2007
Armando Garcia of the CSAC will be hosting a Promoter’s Information Meeting (with CA licensed boxing, kickboxing, and MMA promoters) on Tuesday 9/28 at 11:30 AM PST at the Ronald Reagan State Building, First Floor Auditorium, located at 300 South Spring Street in Los Angeles.
Details of the agenda in full-page mode…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday fight notes: Heat-up for UFC 74, round two
By Zach Arnold | August 24, 2007
I’m opening a separate post because there are a ton of MMA media links today. A busy day for the MMA writers. Luke Thomas was in a car accident and Adam Morgan once again was on the radio beat.
ESPN practically ran a five-minute infomercial, I mean “cooler talk” segment with Joe Rogan on SportsCenter about “ultimate fighting” with Fred Hickman. It was all promotion for UFC 74 and who Joe Rogan’s top UFC fighters are. He pushed Sean Sherk really hard on TV and not once was Sherk’s steroid suspension mentioned.
Seconds Out is reporting that Setanta is offering UFC 75 to subscribers for no extra charge.
Funny item of the day – ‘Ultimate Cage Fighting’ in Idaho will have a show on Saturday at the CSI Eldon Evans Expo Center. The event promoter is ‘Superstar’ Lee Anderson.
Another MMA/dogfighting comparison made. In the same newspaper (The Chicago Sun-Times), sportswriter Rick Telander is in Las Vegas to cover the UFC 74 event. Telander was/is not a fan of MMA (he wasn’t as of October 2006) when he did the boilerplate anti-MMA article for his newspaper.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday fight notes: More steroid comments from Dana White
By Zach Arnold | August 23, 2007
Weekly Pro is reporting that Erik Paulson has been booked for the upcoming IGF (Inoki Genome Federation) event in Nagoya. Josh Barnett, Don Frye, Kiyoshi Tamura, Mark Coleman, and other MMA names are also scheduled to appear.
Dana White continues his defense of Sean Sherk:
“I don’t think he’s a liar,” said UFC president Dana White of Sherk. “You can look at him and the guy looks like a bodybuilder and whatever. This is a kid who won’t walk through the casino ‘cause he doesn’t want to inhale smoke. He tells me he didn’t take steroids, I believe him, but it’s not up to me. It’s up to the California State Athletic Commission. We’ll see what happens. If they find him guilty of taking steroids, yeah, he’ll be suspended and he’ll lose his title.”
Let’s see… Dana believes Sherk and manages to somehow make the judgment of the CSAC an issue by essentially saying, “Hey, I believe him, but those guys don’t.” I guess ‘the government’ is making a decision based on judgment and not science?
Alex Marvez was live at the press conference when Dana went off on the issue of steroids, and he says that UFC must clean its own house first.
A steroids-related sidebar to this story – the IOC (International Olympic Committee) wants the punishment for first-time drug test offenders to be increased to 4 years for a first-time offense. The current punishment is 2 years. Right now, the talk of increasing penalties for failing a drug test is currently conjecture and not substantive.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: BoDog, Canada, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, Zach Arnold | 45 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
IFL gets demoted on MyNetwork TV
By Zach Arnold | August 23, 2007
Variety is reporting that MyNetworkTV is demoting the IFL Battleground show from Monday nights to Saturday nights, with those Saturday night events being repackaged editions of “IFL Battleground” shows. The IFL show is being replaced with celebrity programming on Monday nights on MNTV. There’s no other way to say it — the IFL got its free-to-air TV network show cut in half in length and demoted from Monday night to Saturday night. This is just more bad news for the IFL.
411 Mania is reporting that Jake Ellenberger will replace Rory Markham on the IFL’s 9/20 Hollywood, Florida event. Ellenberger will fight Delson Heleno at 170 pounds. Plus, the heat-up process is starting for Ryan McGivern vs. Fabio Leopoldo.
Topics: IFL, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #60: Mauro Ranallo
By Zach Arnold | August 23, 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.
Red meat radio. Need I say more? This week’s show is high-quality entertainment. Our first guest this week is Mauro Ranallo (from The Fight Network). It is the first time that Mauro and Zach Arnold have talked directly to each other in over two years. During that two-year time span, the MMA industry witnessed the biggest collapse of a fight organization in the history of the Japanese fight game. We asked Mauro for his uncensored, uncut, and unfiltered thoughts about what it was like working for PRIDE when the ship started to sink. The politics, the backstabbing, and the big events. In addition to PRIDE discussion, we discussed the upcoming ShoXC event in Mississippi this weekend and what the future of Pro Elite is. Is the North American MMA scene starting to resemble what Vince McMahon did to the North American pro-wrestling territories in the mid-1980s? Also discussed with Mauro during the interview was the issue of steroids in MMA. A 30-minute interview that we think you will listen to and be highly-entertained by.
Also stopping by the show this week is Ted Ehrhardt and Johny Hendricks of Team Takedown. Mr. Ehrhardt is the boss behind Team Takedown and he explained to us what the concept of TD is and what kind of impact the team will have in MMA. Johny talked to us this week about coming back from a recent training excursion at the Xtreme Couture training facility in Las Vegas. Team Takedown features some world-class amateur wrestlers and a lot of people are paying close attention to see how Johny does in his MMA debut on September 28th.
Plus, we have the world-famous grab featuring our predictions for the upcoming UFC 74 event this weekend.
The 60th 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.puroresupower.com/powerhour/shows/foradio-8-23-2007.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: Erin Bucknell, Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White talks to Yahoo Sports
By Zach Arnold | August 22, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Dana White is a fan of rabbits.
At first glance, I wasn’t all that intrigued by what Dana White had to say to Kevin Iole in the Yahoo Sports Q & A session on Tuesday. However, as the case with a lot of what Mr. White says, you have to pay close attention to what he says to truly appreciate some of what he tries to spin.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday trash talk: Rampage likes PRIDE rules best
By Zach Arnold | August 22, 2007
Mauro Ranallo interviewed Stephen Quadros on Wednesday (audio here). Plus, an MMA Madness interview with Georges St. Pierre.
Dave Doyle on what to look for at UFC 74.
A very interesting appearance for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday. He made no bones about the fact that he would like to see the PRIDE rules come to America because he believes fights would finish quicker. Jackson said he supported knees to the head on the ground and also soccer-ball kicks.
The paid attendance for the IFL show in NJ on 8/2 was 5,800, meaning most of the 7,077 in New Jersey was paid.
More details about Kevin Randleman’s arrest in Nevada.
Kid Nate asks us to compare and contrast what Dana White has to say about fighters versus what Dan Henderson recently said in the press.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, IFL, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, Pro-Wrestling, South Korea, UFC, Zach Arnold | 33 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: Dogfighting and MMA analogies
By Zach Arnold | August 22, 2007
The latest MMA Weekly fighter rankings.
Quinton Jackson will appear on ESPN’s First Take show (formerly Cold Pizza) today.
There’s a rumor (Jordan Breen says it’s no long a rumor but fact) floating around that Milton Vieira had problems with a visa interview and he will not be able to fight Satoru Kitaoka on 9/5 at Korakuen Hall for Pancrase.
With Michael Vick agreeing to accept a guilty plea in relation to felony dog-fighting charges, I was anticipating to see whether or not the mainstream media would (once again) attempt to link MMA with dog-fighting.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Brazil, Canada, Media, MMA, Pancrase, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |