Monday MMA headlines: Kimbo’s next project
By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2007
The Associated Press is reporting that ESPN is including MMA fighters as nominees in their Best Fighter category, which originally used to be ‘Best Boxer.’ Somehow, I don’t think Kid Yamamoto and Fedor are going to be nominated any time soon.
NHB News (Japanese) reports that the K-1 Holland event drew a 10.9% TV rating on Fuji TV. Not a great number. Usually that number is in line with what K-1 draws for their Las Vegas events on TV. The Las Vegas shows are generally their worst TV shows in terms of drawing ratings.
Reuters has an article this morning talking about Mark Burnett producing a reality show for Elite XC. Meanwhile, is there is a new pilot for a TV show involving Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt, and Keith Jardine?
An odd, unsigned editorial was published in The Chicago Tribune today about the Illinois General Assembly passing legislation on MMA in the state. The public editor of the news is Tim McNulty (e-mail here).
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Takada: PRIDE will return on 10/11
By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Daily Sports quotes Nobuhiko Takada today as stating that PRIDE will return in Japan on October 11th, which is the 10th anniversary of the promotion’s first event (10/11/1997 at the Tokyo Dome with Takada vs. Rickson Gracie). He promised to deliver an all-star cast of fighters for the event. Whether he is referring to an actual show or a memorial event is unclear.
Takada denied the rumors of a PRIDE-style event on August 18th at Saitama Super Arena, stating that Hustle would hold an event in Nagoya on the same date.
The comments were made at a PR session (alongside his wife Aki Mukai) at a Tokyo area high school.
Meanwhile, Weekly Pro is reporting that Kiyoshi Tamura will work on the IGF debut show next week in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sunday morning media: Kimbo Slice’s fan appeal
By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2007
Don’t make Joe Rogan angry…
Results from our last site poll question: Who will become the double-crown 205 pound champion?
Quinton Jackson – 59%
Dan Henderson – 41%
Relatively speaking, those results would suggest setting the odds at Jackson -180 and Henderson +120 going into their September 8th fight.
We’ve added a new poll on the right side of the main page. Check it out. It should spur an interesting debate.
This morning, Dan Le Batard on ESPN’s Sports Reporters talked about the rise of MMA amongst 18-to-34 year olds.
With the rampant Kimbo Slice-mania from callers on the radio show that Luke Thomas hosts, I had to check out Technorati to see if there was any juice whatsoever for the Kimbo Slice/Ray Mercer fight.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: HERO's, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 Finale
By Erin | June 23, 2007
A very interesting juxtaposition between the two sets of “major” fights tonight. Where Nate and Manny are pretty much “I just want to win the fight”, Jens and BJ are much more of the “I just want to want to beat his ass”.
Manvel “The Anvil”? Oh dear, that’s just unfortunate.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Erin Bucknell, MMA, UFC | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A brief history of the NYSAC
By Tomer Chen | June 23, 2007
By Tomer Chen
On June 21st, a Lower Hudson Online article criticized the sport of MMA, which is really no big shock given the rough ride of the sport over the last 14 years in the media and the sensationalism that seems to grasp the mainstream media as a tool to draw in readers. What was really shocking, however, was the criticism of a New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) Deputy Commissioner emeritus by the name of Steve Acunto, who has been a trainer for several decades in the sport of Boxing.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, MMA, Tomer Chen | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Super Saturday
By Zach Arnold | June 23, 2007
TUF 5 Finale results: Observer | MMA Weekly | Sherdog | UFC Junkie | UFC Mania | MMA on Tap | Fight Report | The Fanhouse | The Sweet Science | Gambling 911 | The Canadian Press | Yahoo Sports | The Houston Chronicle | The Honolulu Star-Bulletin | Yahoo Sports II | UFC HP
For the second week in a row, a Southern California newspaper screws up. BJ Penn wins ultimate title.
K-1 in Amsterdam: K-1 HP (Bob Sapp loses quickly to Peter Aerts)
Ricky Hatton vs. Jose Luis Castillo: Fight Report | BoxingScene.com | CompuBox | Philadelphia Daily News | Associated Press | The LA Times | Broadcasting & Cable (which ripped HBO tonight) | ESPN | Maxboxing | Reuters | New York Daily News | The Sunday Times | The Sunday Mirror
Kimbo Slice vs. Ray Mercer: Press of AC | 411 Mania | Bloody Elbow | Phanatic Magazine | Gambling 911 | Any Given Saturday (radio archive) | Fight Report
Kimbo chokes out Mercer in under 90 seconds in front of an estimated 7,000 fans according to the Press of Atlantic City. “The Colonel” Bob Sheridan was the play-by-play man on the show!
After watching Friday’s show from the San Jose Arena (HP Pavilion) with Baroni vs. Shamrock, tonight’s TUF 5 Finale sure came off flat in terms of production values and overall presentation. This is going to be a real point of weakness for UFC if they do not sit down and change it.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Suspend Frank Shamrock?
By Zach Arnold | June 23, 2007
On Thursday, Armando Garcia was quoted by Dave Meltzer as doing the following at the StrikeForce fighter weigh-ins and rules meeting:
Armando Garcia was very careful in explaining what wouldn’t be allowed, including swearing, lewd gestures, antagonizing T-shirts and hats, face paint in the ring (not a problem here since Warpath isn’t on the show), carrying an opponent and entertaining the crowd or anything that isn’t a 100% in earnest effort to win at all times.
Well, last night’s fight between Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni at HP Pavilion was a good fight. It was also a fight that featured Frank Shamrock taunting his opponent, including putting his hands together and motioning that he was going to put Baroni to sleep before hitting him with a 1-2 combination that sent Baroni to the canvas. Other periods (time marks) of taunting or ‘entertaining the crowd’ from Mr. Shamrock include — 1:19 left in round one, talking from the bottom position as the end of round one finished, 4:33 left in round two, and at 2:38 left in round two.
Mr. Garcia has suspended fighters in the past for questionable tactics in the ring. He has been vocal about fighters fighting to win and not to entertain.
So, will Mr. Garcia remain consistent in his behavioral policy and suspend Frank Shamrock for taunting? After all, the commissioner has an opening to do so with relatively little backlash after it was announced that Frank Shamrock tore his ACL and MCL a week before the fight. Those are injuries that could take over a year to recover from. Therefore, the commissioner can remain consistent in his behavioral policy while Shamrock stays on the sidelines due to injury and serves out any suspension handed down.
We fully expect and the general public fully expects that the CSAC will continue their consistency in enforcing their policies. Certainly the commissioner will live up to his high standards and remain consistent in suspending any and all fighters who violate such a code of conduct, including high-profile superstars.
All eyes are watching on Monday’s meeting at 400 R Street at the Sacramento River Room (1st floor) in Sacramento. Meeting agenda.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Saturday slice-and-dice: Kimbo vs. UFC vs. Hatton vs. K-1
By Zach Arnold | June 22, 2007
Somehow, I totally missed or skipped over the comment Dana White made about WEC & PRIDE in yesterday’s Entreprenur article. Luckily, both UFC Mania and Jeff Thaler (he’s back blogging!) picked up on what I missed. In order for White’s statement to come true (that WEC will be bigger than PRIDE), WEC would need to generate $60 million USD+ a year and also draw ratings on free-to-air television near the 20.0 ratings mark. Don’t hold your breath, either.
There is a hilarious article in The Miami Herald by Dan Le Batard (I can’t get over the fact that he’s in town for that show) about the Kimbo Slice vs. Ray Mercer fight on Saturday night in Atlantic City. The article claims that there are expectations of this event drawing 175,000 domestic PPV buys in America. To put this claim into perspective, WWE’s last PPV (Backlash) reportedly drew an estimated 120,000 ~ 140,000 domestic US PPV buys. Additionally, here’s a money quote from the article:
Nick Lembo, council to the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, asked himself the question out loud at this week’s news conference: ”Why is this sanctioned?” He introduced Kimbo simply as “somebody from the Internet.”
Mr. Lembo does not necessarily agree with Le Batard’s characterization.
Kimbo Slice will be paid $50,000 to fight plus a % of the PPV revenue, with the potential to make $80,000 if he wins by KO. Money mark alert.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Canada, HERO's, K-1, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce 6/22 San Jose event
By Zach Arnold | June 22, 2007
Ongoing results/reports: MMA Weekly | Sherdog | MMA on Tap | More than UFC | Observer | F4W Online | The Houston Chronicle | UFC Mania | Fight Report | Sprawl ‘n Brawl
MMA California has two reviews of the show: here and here.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
An all-out turf war for PRIDE in Japan
By Zach Arnold | June 22, 2007
More about this story at Gryphon’s site.
On Wednesday, Nikkan Sports published a report that on August 18th, the first ‘shinsei’ PRIDE event would happen at Saitama Super Arena. Obviously, it sounded like the kind of rumor that would be started by someone who used to be affiliated with DSE or is trying to get involved on the ground in Japan to try to revive the PRIDE name there. That’s just how business works in Japan.
Japanese writer Motoichiro Takasu contacted a representative of PFWW discussing Hiroyuki Kato, who was an important director of PRIDE events in Japan under DSE Inc. leadership.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday fight notes: Shamrock/Baroni happens tonight
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2007
Dana White interviewed by Entrepreneur. White is also interviewed in today’s Oregonian. He stated that Shogun will make his UFC debut on September 22nd. White also said this whopper of a statement:
“We’re already beating the NBA, Major League Baseball and NASCAR. The only think that is bigger in the (demographic) is the NFL.”
What has he beaten the NBA, NASCAR, or MLB at? Seriously… And on the issue of UFC being ‘U Fight for Cheap’…
“Fighters can make more money here or there, but the UFC is the place to create your legacy,” White said. “Fifty years from now, people are going to ask who was the best ever and the UFC has the best fighters.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Canada, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #53: A Fighter’s Heart
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2007
Start your weekend off the right way with a new edition of Fight Opinion Radio. Our special guests this week are Rex Richards (Strikeforce) and author Sam Sheridan (buy his book here). There’s only one way to describe our interview with Sam – wild and wacky. Especially the part of the interview where we talk about dogfighting and the dark side of the culture of the fight game.
You will wholeheartedly enjoy this week’s show. Plus, the world-famous grab bag — the highest quarter-hour rated segment in all of MMA radio.
The 53rd 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-6-21-2007.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, HERO's, Jeff Thaler, K-1, Media, MMA, podcasts, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The nanny state of California
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2007
What can you say about this quote?
Armando Garcia was very careful in explaining what wouldn’t be allowed, including swearing, lewd gestures, antagonizing T-shirts and hats, face paint in the ring (not a problem here since Warpath isn’t on the show), carrying an opponent and entertaining the crowd or anything that isn’t a 100% in earnest effort to win at all times.
More thoughts at The Flying Triangle.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |