Thursday trash talk: The road to UFC 73
By Zach Arnold | July 4, 2007
Dave Doyle is starting to write columns over at Yahoo Sports on MMA. The RSS feed for his columns is here. The RSS feed for Kevin Iole’s columns is here.
Here are the odds over at Bodog for the UFC 73 event. The obvious odd that sticks out is Marquardt at +140. Ortiz comes into his fight as a slight favorite. Mark Bocek at +260 and Mike Nickels at +400 is also interesting.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: IFL, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: Mirko brings in the artillery
By Zach Arnold | July 3, 2007
The guys at profightstore.com are reporting that Sergey Kharitonov will arrive in Croatia on July 20th to train with Mirko Cro Cop (for Mirko’s upcoming fight against Cheick Kongo).
How anxious is the media for more dirt on the Chris Benoit story? Read here.
Sadaharu Tanigawa supposedly said that Armando Garcia told him that Choi Hong-Man can fight anywhere outside of California. Somehow, I’m having a hard time believing this…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: BoDog, HERO's, IFL, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WEC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Phil Baroni suspended by the CSAC
By Zach Arnold | July 3, 2007
And here I’ve been talking to people today on the phone who say that MMA doesn’t have a major drug culture…
Phil has been suspended for allegedly taking two types of steroids (including boldenone, which a horse steroid that strangely seems popular with MMA fighters).
MMA Weekly has reaction from Baroni’s camp.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A message to all commenters
By Zach Arnold | July 3, 2007
Perhaps I have not communicated enough what kind of ground rules there are for people who post site commenters here. Therefore, I want to make a few things clear.
Don’t attack people for their personal looks. Don’t threaten to release personal information on individuals (soc. security number, home address, credit record, etc.). Use common sense.
If you have a comment you want to post that you think is of questionable concern, write me first. I want this site to be an environment that does not degenerate into a cesspool.
Topics: Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tuesday headlines: MMA and drug testing
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2007
Well, no title unification on September 8th in London for Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson. Interesting manuever that UFC is not pushing the PRIDE belts. Sounds to me like UFC will not be recognizing either of Henderson’s PRIDE title belts. Reminds me of yesteryear in 1991 when Ric Flair came into WWE with “the real world’s heavyweight championship” and they blurred the belt on television. I just had to work that wrestling reference in.
Speaking of wrestling, that whole issue of drug testing… it is an issue in MMA circles, too. The New York Times elaborates.
K-1 has rescheduled the date of their Hong Kong event at the Asia World-Expo Arena for August 5th. Choi Hong-Man is announced to face Gary Goodridge. What will the California State Athletic Commission have to say about this? K-1 also announced a date of September 29th for a show in Seoul at the Olympic Gym #1.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, IFL, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Regulating professional wrestling
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2007
By Zach Arnold
I’ve written a new article over at CBS Sportsline regarding the issue of whether or not regulation (state and/or federal) of professional wrestling is feasible. I was able to talk to a couple of athletic commissions and was hopefully able to paint an accurate picture as to whether or not regulation would be implemented and if it could be enforced.
You can access the article at:
http://www.sportsline.com/mmaboxing/story/10243354
Sheldon Goldberg responds to the CBS Sportsline article. Fight Opinion Radio lead host Jeff Thaler also responds.
It should be noted that Benoit’s personal doctor, Dr. Phil Astin, turned himself into local authorities today. More details here. The Smoking Gun has more information.
Read more here (including breaking news updates)…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, Pro-Wrestling, WWE, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday morning media: Kid Yamamoto returns
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2007
This is a great satire piece because you could clearly picture Spike TV coming up with a gimmick like this.
Updated HERO’s 7/16 Yokohama Arena card line-up:
- Middleweight Tournament (70 kg, 3R at 5 mins): Kaoru Uno vs. Katsuhiko Nagata
- Middleweight Tournament (70 kg, 3R at 5 mins): Hideo Tokoro vs. Black Mamba
- Middleweight Tournament (70 kg, 3R at 5 mins): Vitor “Shaolin” Ribiero vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
- Middleweight Tournament (70 kg, 3R at 5 mins): JZ Calvan (ATT) vs. Andre Dida (Chute Boxe)
- (3R at 5 mins) Alexandre Franca Nogueira vs. Shuichiro Katsumura
- (3R at 5 minutes) Yoon Dong-Sik vs. Bernard Ackah
- (3R at 5 mins) Ralek Gracie vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Sadaharu Tanigawa stated his intentions for Kid Yamamoto’s participation on the next HERO’s show in September. Yoshihiro Akiyama may also return in September.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sunday news review: Sakakibara hanging around
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2007
Antonio Inoki rap song from the IGF show
The Feds went after Al Capone on taxes. The Nevada State Athletic Commission reportedly wants their tax money from DSE, this according to The Fight Network. The commission is threatening license revocation. That’s it?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
European powerhouses MAX & G4 announce landmark deal
By Mark Pickering | June 30, 2007
MAX Entertainment Holdings Inc, parent company of German mixed martial arts powerhouse MAX, has announced a partnership with fledgling promotional team G4 productions in the latest assault on the much sought-after European market.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Mark Pickering, Media, MMA | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Why it is unlikely that Fedor is coming to the UFC
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2007
They call him the “Russian Emperor”, the “Baddest Man on the Planet” or “T-1000”. Russia’s Fedor Emelianenko is without a doubt the strongest martial artist of our generation, perhaps even of all time. Plus: He’s a free agent, at least sort of. After the collapse of Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championship and subsequent sale to UFC owners Zuffa LLC., the contract extension the 30-year-old heavyweight champion signed with former owners Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) in January is not worth more, than the paper it was printed on. As a result, a bidding war for Emelianenko broke out when his one fight deal with bodogFIGHT expired in April.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: BoDog, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Saturday media slum: Dumpster diving
By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2007
Royal Burnell has a report about an upcoming Art Dore “Extreme Cage Combat” event in Michigan in which Royal claims that fighters are using the dumpster area of a Hooter’s restaurant to set up a ‘locker room.’ Royal’s report includes pictures.
Get ready for Congress to start asking WWE some questions — The Associated Press is reporting that Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson is asking his staff to see if there is cause to hold a Congressional hearing on the issue of steroid abuse, with wrestling at the forefront. More at The Fanhouse.
The Texas department of licensing (which acts like their state athletic commission) is refusing to release fighter salaries for the UFC 69 event that took place in April in Houston.
We have some observations about this story and some contact information…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, UK, WWE, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Pro Elite’s SEC 10QSB quarterly report
By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2007
Breaking down the numbers in full detail.
Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/e/070628/pele.pk10qsb.html
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Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #54: Ken Shamrock speaks out
By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2007
Dana White recently stated that he released Ken Shamrock from his UFC contract because he didn’t feel that Shamrock could be competitive in the UFC. However, Ken Shamrock and his manager/attorney Rod Donohoo dispute this claim. On this week’s edition of Fight Opinion Radio, both men appear on our show to talk about the supposed reason that Dana White terminated Mr. Shamrock’s UFC contract. Ken also discusses his theory on UFC’s current management trying to erase the UFC’s past history and stars. Plus, where will Ken Shamrock be fighting next?
Also on this week’s show, we discuss the tragic Chris Benoit murder-suicide story and what it means for professional wrestling. Is regulation coming? Should it be coming? How would you enforce regulation? What are the costs involved? Plus, should MMA-style regulation be the model that wrestling follows? And, would the MMA industry resemble professional wrestling if there was no medical or drug testing?
The 54th 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-6-29-2007.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, IFL, Jeff Thaler, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Pro Elite, Pro-Wrestling, StrikeForce, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |