Profiles in Courage: Leonard Shapiro
By Zach Arnold | July 25, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Washington Post columnist Leonard Shapiro is calling for MMA to be banned from TV. As you can imagine, my reaction to this is the same as his reaction would be if I told him that women’s golf shouldn’t be on TV.
Wouldn’t it be nice to forever ban Ultimate Fighting from the airwaves, not to mention the pages of my favorite Washington newspaper? It’s gratuitous street fighting violence, pure and simple, and spare me the mixed martial arts garbage or readership surveys that say it appeals to potential 18- to 34-year-old readers. You watch this stuff, you don’t read.
Show Len that you, in fact, can read and write by sending him an e-mail at [email protected] and [email protected].
To show Len that I in fact can read, I decided to read what else he had to say about MMA in past columns. Like this one from June 5th:
There’s also one troubling postscript to all this. HBO actually has been negotiating in recent months with Ultimate Fight executives to possibly begin televising some of their matches. HBO suits see the stunning pay per view numbers, and they also see that this despicable human blood sport is huge with the 18- to 34 year-old male demographic, and has no interest in broadening that base. Essentially, they see a money-making opportunity, and so what if it looks like back-alley street fighting between brawling brutes.
Shame on those HBO suits for even talking to them. Better they should bring back Deadwood.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: Takanori Gomi headed to HERO’s
By Zach Arnold | July 25, 2007
So sayeth Daily News in Japan. An offer made and an offer likely to be accepted. Gomi and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto are expected to appear at an All Japan Beach-Wrestling contest on the 29th. That ends any discussion of Gomi heading to UFC.
A couple of days ago, I alluded to an upcoming interview in GONKAKU magazine with Dana White (where he was talking about the future of PRIDE). Well, according to Dana in another interview (with Kamipro), he is frustrated with the negotiations he has had so far with Japanese television stations about getting PRIDE on free-to-air TV. White says he’s frustrated that he can’t get PRIDE on Japanese TV even with new ownership. The funny thing is that UFC does not have a television contract for a free-to-air show, yet expected to get one for PRIDE. Dana stated that HERO’s is Japan’s #2 brand, while PRIDE is still Japan’s #1 brand. He really said this.
At the end of the interview, White stressed that PRIDE FC Worldwide LLC is “a clean company” and asked the Japanese fans to engage in a letter-writing campaign to the free-to-air TV networks to bring on PRIDE programming. This does not sound like a confident man. What’s the word I’m looking for? Clueless.
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the day – Dan Wetzel
By Zach Arnold | July 25, 2007
From his Yahoo Sports column today. Go to full-page mode to see it.
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Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: From the horse’s mouth
By Zach Arnold | July 24, 2007
Pro Elite puts money into Cage Rage. Not a bad plan. Plus, Nick Diaz returns September 15th in Hawaii.
Kevin Iole is reading your letters and responding back. To e-mail him with MMA-related topics, use [email protected]. Plus, he made an appearance Tuesday on Fight Network Radio. Audio here.
Lots of interesting odds and ends in the latest agenda list for the July 31st NSAC meeting. UFC’s year-end event will happen at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on 12/29.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: BoDog, Boxing, Brazil, IFL, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tuesday media turmoil: Truths and untruths
By Zach Arnold | July 23, 2007
If you’re a beta tester of the new Fight Opinion site design, please go check out the test site and contribute feedback if you haven’t already done so. I really need to get moving on the new design and make it as compatible as possible for every browser platform.
Ikuhisa Minowa won his fight today at a show dedicated to his 10th anniversary in the fight game. The show was at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, drawing 1,078 paid. The headline coming out of the show is that Minowaman’s dream fight is to face Masakatsu Funaki. A New Year’s Eve battle coming?
Sean Sherk has hired doping attorney Howard Jacobs for his appeal with the California State Athletic Commission. If you recognize the name Howard Jacobs, the reason is likely because he was hired by Pawel Nastula when Nastula filed an appeal for his failed drug test with the NSAC. Jacobs and Nastula (who I quoted in the latest CBS Sportsline article) stated that Nastula did not dope, despite an alleged provision in his contract with PRIDE that allowed for doping to occur.
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Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 70 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #56: The steroids scandal
By Zach Arnold | July 23, 2007
Lots of big news and guests to talk about on this week’s edition of Fight Opinion Radio. First, Adam Morgan joins us to talk about the rumored $100 million USD deal between Spike TV and UFC. Will any of that money trickle down to UFC undercard fighters? Second, we are joined by Jonathan Goulet to talk about his upcoming fight with Mike Swick and doping in MMA. Why do fighters feel the need to take drugs, even when they know that they are going to get caught?
The 56th 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-7-23-2007.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.
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Topics: Erin Bucknell, Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday mundane: Syringes for everyone
By Zach Arnold | July 23, 2007
Gregg Doyel at CBS Sportsline has a new article on MMA’s drug culture titled Steroid scandal could destroy what UFC has built. He tends to write in more of an emotional style than say, me. Also, Mike Coughlin has an article on Ridding Mixed Martial Arts of Steroids. Dann Stupp in the Dayton Daily News has an article titled Athletic panels shouldn’t be the only ones giving penalties.
Lori Gilbert in The Stockton Record today:
If I paid to see the July 7 UFC bout at Arco Arena and learned two fighters were disqualified when they failed their drug tests, I’d demand my money back.
Bob Matthews in today’s Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:
Ultimate Fighting stars Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca recently were suspended after failing drug tests.
Six of the top 10 thoroughbred trainers in America have been suspended in the past year for positive tests for illegal drugs on their horses.
Pro sports in America have never been bigger than they are now. But it has never been tougher to be a pro sports fan.
Is there any hope?
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Topics: BoDog, Canada, Japan, Media, MMA, Pancrase, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 42 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sunday Summer open post
By Zach Arnold | July 22, 2007
Anything MMA-related on your mind goes here today.
Eddie Goldman has an important radio show discussing the various drug scandals in Mixed Martial Arts. He also critiques my CBS Sportsline article about MMA’s drug culture.
My name was on the byline of the Sportsline article, 411 Mania. And 411 Mania is wondering why there is a fuss about failed drug tests coming out of UFC 73 when there wasn’t “half the uproar” when Royce Gracie failed. I couldn’t disagree more with that assessment. I would know – I started writing the MMA drug culture article series beginning around the time of the K-1 LA Coliseum event.
More thoughts in full-page view.
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Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 40 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
MMA steroid articles
By Zach Arnold | July 20, 2007
By Zach Arnold
I want to point out two new articles today that I think you should read online in regards to the steroids problem in Mixed Martial Arts.
First, here is part one of my MMA drug culture article series on CBS Sportsline. (Article here, printable view here).
Please read the Sportsline article first.
Second, there’s an open-letter to Dana White at Sherdog. View that article here.
Colin Cowherd talked on his radio show today about the different levels of steroids abuse in sports (including wrestling). Audio here. Mauro Ranallo is not happy with all the doping going on in MMA. Audio here. Lance Storm is angry about cable news coverage.
For anyone who doesn’t think that there are drug problems outside of UFC in MMA, you’ll find out differently in the Sportsline article. There is an allegation in the Sportsline article from an individual that agreed to go on-the-record that DSE had a doctor who gave a fighter painkillers. Sportsline spent a full week in communication with DSE lawyers and an official to get comment. No comment was ever given.
Go to full-post mode to read my thoughts on the ‘open letter’ from Josh Gross to Dana White.
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Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 64 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday fight notes: Bonnar and Griffin to train together
By Zach Arnold | July 19, 2007
I have no idea what to make of this. Professionalism 101? Why not.
“Ken Pavia, my new manager, called me yesterday and asked me to fight Mike Swick in place of Chris Leben,” Goulet said. “He called me back two hours later and said Mike Swick didn’t accept [the fight], but I don’t think it was Swick [who declined]; I think it was his management.”
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Topics: Canada, IFL, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The steroids mess
By Zach Arnold | July 19, 2007
By Zach Arnold
After I wrote my post today breaking down the latest drug statistics from the CSAC, I decided to focus my time finalizing a pair of articles on MMA’s drug culture for publication. While my energy was focused on that, news broke that both UFC 155-pound champion Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca tested positive (Sherk for nandralone, Franca for drostanolone). Suffice to say, I will be modifying my drug articles to reflect today’s news. I will also be modifying tonight’s Fight Opinion Radio taping to reflect the updated information on steroids in California. Suffice to say, I’m not going to be in a happy mood on the show.
For the time-being, here are some links covering the latest drug-testing failures. Take a few minutes out of your schedule and read them.
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Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 46 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dopes caught doping at big rates
By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Keep your eyes open for any further reports at MMA California.
The California State Athletic Commission released the latest drug test-related suspension figures from the time period of 3/31/2007 to 7/6/2007. Within that three month time-span, there were 28 failed drug tests – 20 of them in MMA plus Johnnie Morton refusing to take a test (MMA testing over a period of 17 events), 5 in boxing (over a period of 28 events), and 2 in kickboxing.
Do the math – that means 5 out of every 7 drug test failures in California were related to MMA, or a little over 70%. If you count Morton’s refusal to take a drug test as a testing failure (which naturally you should), then the ratio would hit 3 out of every 4 (21/28) drug test failures (75%).
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Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 57 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Garbage media
By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2007
By Zach Arnold
A couple of months ago, allegations of dogfighting surfaced against NFL QB Michael Vick. I warned that the media would immediately try to lump MMA with dogfighting (examples here and here).
With a Federal indictment handed down yesterday against Vick, I suspected that the MMA/dogfighting comparisons would surface – again. I was right.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |