Friday fight talk: Butterbean in a PRIDE dream match
By Zach Arnold | March 23, 2007
If anyone out there is an expert with WordPress on the technical side, e-mail me. Thanks.
PRIDE’s Japanese HP is promoting a press conference for 3/27 (Tuesday) at 6 PM JST at Roppongi Hills Arena. It’s being marketed as an “important announcement” to be made to both fans and the mass media.
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Topics: All Topics, Brazil, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Meltzer: Sakakibara tells PRIDE staff the company is sold
By Zach Arnold | March 22, 2007
–Nobuyuki Sakakibara yesterday told several members of the U.S. Pride staff that the company is in the proces of being sold to Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta. He said the agreement in principal is done but there are still some minor points to be worked out and the contract is not signed. Sakakibara said he would be leaving the company but that everyone would be keeping their jobs. The company would be operated separately from UFC, but obviously UFC could use any Pride fighter for a big match that it needed.
Key phrases — “agreement in principal” = likely a heads of agreement, “some minor points to be worked out” = likely due diligence. Read my Thursday news update to stay ahead of the curve on where this story really is likely going.
Now, the last sentence by Meltzer… more than likely, the fighter contracts with PRIDE are personal service deals and could have real problems being transferred to UFC. Therefore, the only guaranteed way to enforce the contracts is if The Fertitta Brothers bought shares into Dream Stage Entertainment Inc. If that’s the case, the risk factor just went up exponentially on a lot of levels with a lot of important authorities.
In the case of a money transaction to Japan, you’re talking about raising the awareness of the Tokyo tax bureau (along with the Kanagawa Police and perhaps Tokyo Metropolitian Police). In America, certainly there will be awareness raised by the Nevada Gaming Commission and by the Fishman Companies legal team. This is far from over as far as a business transaction.
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Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 52 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
HEROs at LA Coliseum
By Zach Arnold | March 22, 2007
On the various Japanese hardcore MMA web sites, there has been discussion the past couple of weeks about K-1’s first big HERO’s show in America happening at a large facility in Los Angeles. According to Matt Donovan of BZA PR, a press release has been issued for HERO’s first event at the very big LA Coliseum. The parties listed on the show are FEG (Tanigawa), ProElite (Gary Shaw), and ShowTime. Fighters listed for the event including Choi Hong-Man, Royce Gracie, Brock Lesnar, and former NFL football player Johnnie Morton.
A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday, March 27th at the LA Coliseum for the announcement by Sadaharu Tanigawa. Pro Elite and Showtime officials will also be on hand.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kevin Burke
949-223-2327 (office) 714-313-6863 (mobile)
[email protected]
Luis Maya
310.633.9411 (office) 213.479.6163 (mobile)
[email protected]
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Topics: All Topics, HERO's, K-1, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday legal talk: PRIDE, Fishman, and The Fertitta Brothers
By Zach Arnold | March 21, 2007
By Zach Arnold
On Jim Rome is Burning, ESPN TV personality Jim Rome announced that on his show tomorrow, PRIDE double-crown champion Dan Henderson will be on a correspondent’s segment.
According to the Clark County Court District web site, judge Timothy C Williams has been assigned to the Fishman Companies vs. DSE case (case number 07-A-537910-C).
There are a significant amount of questions already in play in regards to the court case itself. However, I came up with more after listening to the Sherdog radio interview with Ed Fishman that I think are really pertinent to ask.
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Topics: All Topics, Brazil, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ed Fishman interview on Sherdog radio
By Zach Arnold | March 21, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Some quick notes from the Ed Fishman interview on the Wednesday Beatdown Radio show.
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Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday media workout – DanHen mania
By Zach Arnold | March 21, 2007
It’s a busy media story day. The venerable Mike Sawyer sent me a ridiculous press release for Cage Fury Fighting Championship 5 show on June 16th at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Why is it ridiculous? The main event is a fight under MMA rules between boxer Ray Mercer and Kimbo Slice.
We hear from an industry source that the IFL recently fired an ex-UFC employee who was a television man. Anyone know the story?
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Topics: All Topics, Boxing, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fishman Companies vs. DSE
By Zach Arnold | March 20, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Fishman Companies (Ed Fishman), through attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck P.C., filed a lawsuit in Clark County, Nevada on Monday against Dream Stage Entertainment Inc., Dream Stage Entertainment (Japanese branch), and “does i-x.” The “does i-x” is a generic term for unknown individuals related to PRIDE that the court can later amend to name publicly once identities are verified and ascertained.
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Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tuesday turkey talk: More debate about PRIDE sold or not sold
By Zach Arnold | March 20, 2007
Greg Savage and Josh Gross on the latest with the UFC/PRIDE rumors. The bottom part of the article is the one that I’ve focused on, which is that unless Zuffa buys DSE Inc. itself it’s going to be very difficult to enforce any of those Japanese fight contracts. Plus, a lot of the top guys are free agents.
ESPN covers the online drug probe and allegations of WWE wrestlers as customers.
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Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, UFC, WWE, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
IFL on My Network TV – Week 2
By Zach Arnold | March 19, 2007
Post your thoughts in the comments section on this week’s show.
I thought this week’s show was a vast improvement from last week’s effort. There are some glaring flaws that need to be fixed, but it’s off on better footing now.
Jeff Hamlin has more thoughts, most of which I agree with.
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Topics: All Topics, IFL, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ed Fishman lawsuit being finalized
By Zach Arnold | March 19, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Update: NHB News (Japanese) points out an article from publication Cyzo in which its writer makes the claim that PRIDE’s debts have increased since running shows in America and that the company could be one billion yen in debt. That would be roughly $8-9 million USD.
UFC Junkie picked up on a news story from Sherdog writer Greg Savage claiming that UFC has bought PRIDE for $65 million USD. (Obviously, this would be interesting timing given that Sakakibara is headed to Las Vegas right now).
Well, a major roadblock in any sort of purchase of PRIDE is about to be finalized. Ed Fishman and his attorneys are expected to finalize their lawsuit against Dream Stage Entertainment either tonight or early tomorrow. The lawsuit will be over breach of contract, and it will include a focus on putting all of PRIDE’s major players past and present (Nobuyuki Sakakibara, Yukino Kanda, Hideki Yamamoto, etc.) under court deposition. What could be revealed under court deposition?
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Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 57 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday MMA madness
By Zach Arnold | March 19, 2007
News and notes
We hear PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara is traveling to Las Vegas (and perhaps Brazil as well) in the coming days.
I’m glad to see Japan is ahead of the curve on racial issues. The real black man in the picture is Andy Ologun.
There is a brand new web site called MMA Madness that has several sections to it (including a fantasy game section, a forum, a news site, and a calendar of events). From what I’ve seen so far, it does have a slick design to it.
There is a pretty interesting MMA event coming up on March 31st at the James L. Knight Center (produced by Panther Fight League) in Miami, Florida. There will also be guest appearances by Rich Franklin, Sean Sherk, and Tim Sylvia. The main event of the show is Johnathan Ivey vs. Marcus “Conan” Silviera. Tickets for the show are available through TicketMaster.
Onto today’s media links.
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Topics: All Topics, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sunday (Kimbo) Slice of News
By Zach Arnold | March 17, 2007
Liddell vs. Rampage II booked for May 26th.
After losing today to Ryo Kawamura in the main event of Pancrase’s March 18th event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Hiromitsu Kanehara announced his intentions of retiring from active fighting in the near future. Kanehara stated that he felt he could physically still fight, but mentally wasn’t where he needed to be 100%. Kanehara was a top star in UWF-International and later RINGS, before losing some higher-profile fights in the PRIDE ring.
- Random Speak: Let’s be nice here (an article responding to Jake Rossen)
- The Honolulu Advertiser: Vitale wins, Cabbage loses at X-1 event
- The Pioneer Press: MMA to be perhaps regulated in Minnesota by reinstated boxing commission
- The Detroit Free Press: Dan Gable talks about how to market collegiate wrestling
- The Fight Network: Kimbo Slice coming soon to BET (and a Jack Encarnacao mention)
- Dave Doyle: Thoughts on Chris Horodecki vs. Bart Palaszewski
- The Boston Herald: Kenny Florian’s success Ultimate surprise
- UFC Junkie: David Heath was originally slated to face Keith Jardine
- ESPN: Juan Manuel Marquez answers challenge in slugfest with Marco Antonio Barrera
- AP (via Boxing Scene): Evander Holyfield batters Vinny Maddalone for TKO win
- Todd Martin: IFL drew 3,500 for their LA Forum event
- The Toledo Blade: Article/interview with Mark Coleman
- Josh Gross: IFL 3/17 LA Forum attendance was 4,421
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, IFL, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
IFL 3/17 Los Angeles
By Zach Arnold | March 17, 2007
Tonight, the ‘surprise announcement‘ by Bas Rutten is that he is stepping down as coach of the Anacondas. Shawn Tompkins will take over coaching duties.
Topics: All Topics, IFL, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |