An open letter to Steve Acunto, Deputy Commissioner Emeritus of the NYSAC
By Adam Morgan | June 21, 2007
Dear Deputy Commissioner Emeritus Acunto,
I know you’re a very busy man, shuffling around all those papers on your desk, so I won’t waste much of your time. What I have to say should ring true rather quickly, so please pay attention.
Read on…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Adam Morgan, Media, MMA | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday trash talk: Too many shows
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2007
Now I realize why UFC doesn’t want to be a publicly-traded company.
This weekend’s activities: StrikeForce on Friday at the San Jose Arena with Shamrock vs. Baroni. Tuff ‘n Uff on Friday night in Las Vegas with Frank Mir vs. Renato Babalu and Brad Imes on the undercard. On Saturday, Las Vegas has two major fights (Ricky Hatton vs. Jose Luis Castillo and BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver) plus Kimbo Slice vs. Ray Mercer from Atlantic City and Chris Jericho at the HOOK ‘n SHOOT event in Kentucky. Also, K-1 with the bizarre return of Bob Sapp in Holland to fight Peter Aerts. Sunday (if you care about pro-wrestling) is a WWE PPV. The schedule of content never seems to end.
Onto today’s headlines.
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Topics: Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
NYSAC Deputy Commissioner emeritus: MMA ‘brings out the worst in people’
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Today’s Lower Hudson Online presents a classic drive-by media piece that serves as the boilerplate template for anti-MMA screeds. Author Rick Carpiniello says that it is “Time to KO Ultimate Fighting before somebody gets killed.”
In order to justify his article, Carpiniello quotes Steve Acunto, deputy commissioner emeritus of the New York State Athletic Commission. He’s also co-founder of the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing. In other words, he’s an angry boxing legend who’s not thrilled about the rise of MMA.
Read on…
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Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Beta testing a new site format
By Zach Arnold | June 20, 2007
We are going to be launching a new site design soon, and in order for it to be successful we are going to be asking for some volunteers to help us out in the beta testing process.
Our goal is to end up with 10 regular or semi-regular site readers who know our site well and have them interact with our new site design. If you are interested in being involved in this process, please post a comment here or e-mail me (I would prefer a comment with you leaving a valid e-mail address when you fill out to add a comment) and I will select 10 people to help out in the viewing process.
We started this site on Christmas of 2005 and it has been a great experience. Now it’s time to step up our game and I can definitely use your cooperation to do this.
Topics: Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday night fight headlines
By Zach Arnold | June 20, 2007
Lots of links, little time to digest.
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Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday war room: Kimbo Slice a favorite
By Zach Arnold | June 20, 2007
Kimbo Slice is a -205 favorite with oddsmakers for his upcoming fight against Ray Mercer. Related article here.
Nobuyuki Sakakibara has a lot of friends right now. More details here in Japanese.
Calvin Ayre is bringing in some back-up.
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Topics: BoDog, Boxing, HERO's, K-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: PRIDE returns on August 18th
By Zach Arnold | June 19, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Nikkan Sports reported on Wednesday morning that the first show of the ‘shinsei’ (newborn) PRIDE will happen on August 18th at Saitama Super Arena (the same ‘home’ building that DSE used). The theme of the show will be a “Japanese all-star” presentation, centered around Hidehiko Yoshida.
Meanwhile, UFC is allegedly finding more ways to keep busy — just ask Phil Baroni. Original reporting here.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Zuffa and Cage Rage in trademark dispute
By Zach Arnold | June 19, 2007
There is news today that the London law office of McDermott, Will, and Emery (hired by Zuffa LLC) is in a trademark dispute with Cage Rage. What makes the article containing this information difficult to understand is exactly what the dispute is about. The article claims the following:
Zuffa alleges that UK company Cage Rage infringed its trademark by organising fights using the Ultimate Fighting name.
Since then the company has sought to crack down on any other organisations using the Ultimate Fighting name.
Cohen said: “We wrote to Cage Rage and they failed to respond adequately, so we sued them. It’s a passing off and trademark infringement action.”
To top it all off, the article at the end uses Zuffa’s proprietary term of ‘ultimate fighting’ to describe MMA as… ultimate fighting. For those with knowledge of the situation — when did Cage Rage use the term ‘ultimate fighting’?
Long-term legal question: With so many mainstream media outlets using the term ‘ultimate fighting’ and not MMA, at what point does the value of trademark enforcement for UFC become an issue (i.e. similar to Apple and the term ‘podcasting’)?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tuesday media talk: Reaction to Shamrock in UFC
By Zach Arnold | June 18, 2007
The California State Athletic Commission further elaborates on Royce Gracie’s failed drug test.
Lines from the oddsmakers on this weekend’s UFC event.
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Topics: HERO's, IFL, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday afternoon media news & notes
By Zach Arnold | June 18, 2007
Relson Gracie addresses the reports on Royce Gracie failing a CSAC-administered drug test.
Results from the latest Spirit MC show in South Korea.
The IFL has moved their September event from the LA Forum to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida on September 20th.
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Topics: IFL, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, South Korea, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Trouble in Japanese paradise
By Zach Arnold | June 18, 2007
By Zach Arnold
With the demise of PRIDE (backed by Dream Stage Entertainment), you would think that K-1 would be in a celebratory mood. (Look at this picture of Sadaharu Tanigawa and Bob Sapp shaking hands today. Tanigawa has a priceless look on his face. Sapp vs. Aerts is set for this Saturday in Holland, 13 months after the infamous scandal in the same place involving Sapp refusing to fight Ernesto Hoost due to a contract dispute.)
Instead, 2007 has been one giant headache of a year for the organization.
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Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Do MMA fans care about steroids and drug testing?
By Adam Morgan | June 17, 2007
By Adam Morgan
Related article: How big of a drug problem does MMA have?
With the recent result of Royce Gracie testing positive for nandrolone, the question of steroids and drug testing’s prevalence in MMA once again becomes a major issue.
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Topics: Adam Morgan, K-1, MMA | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Weekly: Body blows for UFC
By Zach Arnold | June 17, 2007
By Zach Arnold
When you are the only game in town in your respective sport, every successful venture and lowly failure is magnified.
UFC is the only top dog in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. There is a reason that the mainstream media calls MMA “Ultimate Fighting” and why the myth of Dana White adding both weight classes and rules to MMA after purchasing UFC exists. To the victor go the spoils, and the victor often is the one who re-writes the history.
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Topics: Boxing, Fight Opinion Weekly, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |