Gong Kakutougi status in question
By Zach Arnold | February 18, 2007
Before you start flooding this post with replies about other topics, let’s discuss the red-meat topic of the day that Gryphon has alluded to. Background about the situation can be read here (this is from October of 2006). Here’s the news update today (in Japanese).
Last year, we lost Weekly Fight. We could lose Gong Kakutougi this year, one of the major MMA magazines in Japan. The Japanese fight media that became so instutitionalized is falling apart at the seams.
In unrelated news, here’s a post about MMA activity in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Don’t forget Andy Wang’s BJJ facility.
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Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Weekly: Japan’s second-class fight scene
By Zach Arnold | February 18, 2007
By Zach Arnold
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It seems like a distant memory. In December of 2005, PRIDE announced the most-expensive fight in the history of MMA with Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Naoya Ogawa. At a price tag of nearly $5 million USD, it blew away anything else happening at the time in the industry’s landscape. It was such a hot rumor that when Yomiuri Hochi first reported the rumor before PRIDE ever made an official announcement, it led to DSE punishing Yomiuri in terms of media access.
Today, you’re very unlikely to see a fight in Japan with $5 million USD on the line. What seemed to be attainable 15 months ago is no longer a realistic proposition in Japan, a country that is now relegated to second-tier status globally for major-league MMA activity.
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Topics: All Topics, Fight Opinion Weekly, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio #41: Old-School
By Zach Arnold | February 17, 2007
Add us as your MySpace friend.
Potential sponsors (web sites, fighters, teams, companies) – if you want to have ads on our show (paid or barter), e-mail us immediately. Use the e-mail also if you Want to write guest op-eds for the site.
We have a show this week that I think both MMA fans old and new will appreciate very much. We have two very entertaining guests this week on our show.
First, Aaron Crossen of The Valley Vanguard newspaper in Saginaw, Michigan joins us to talk about the debacle in Michigan regarding Toughman promoter Art Dore and the Michigan DLEG (Department of Labor & Economic Growth). It’s a battle that could kill amateur MMA for good in the state. Read Aaron’s article on the story here. More background on the situation can be found here and here. In regards to the people that Aaron suggested Fight Opinion readers contact and write to, the two names mentioned are Robert Swanson (former director of the DLEG) and Keith Cooley (who has just taken over as director). Please write these gentleman with nice, polite, and articulate letters stating that you don’t want to see Toughman-style illegal MMA events sanctioned and that Mixed Martial Arts is a viable business that the state of Michigan should regulate and sanction. Especially if you live in Michigan, you can make a big difference regarding the direction of MMA in Michigan by writing the DLEG and creating a positive movement for MMA in the state.
Second, we have the wild and crazy Wallid Ismail on our show this week to talk about old-school MMA and how the industry has changed so rapidly within the timespan of a decade. What was it like to feud with the Gracies in the 1990s when it was truly no-holds barred? How has the business positively or negatively changed recently? What are some of the goals coming up with Jungle FC (as noted in our story about JFC’s tie-up with boxing promoter Cedric Kushner)? Plus, more details about the lawsuit filed against Elite XC.
Also on this week’s show: A recap of Elite XC (who does Elite XC post the biggest threat to?) and the world-famous grab bag. 2 hours of the best weekly MMA radio show around.
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Podcasting Links
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The 41st edition of Fight Opinion Radio is now online and available to download. Here are your options for listening to the show:
Broadband (MP3) | Dial-up/Streaming
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Topics: All Topics, Erin Bucknell, Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler, Luke Nicholson, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The value of records
By Tomer Chen | February 17, 2007
By Tomer Chen
The name of Rocky Marciano invariably brings up his record: 49-0 with 43 KOs. After all, Rocky is the only World Champion in Boxing history to ever retire with such a high record without any losses or draws to ‘mar’ it. True, there have been numerous champions who won more bouts than Marciano (such as Willie Pep and Julio Cesar Chavez), but ultimately they lost and their aura of invincibility disintegrated. There are also fighters such as Jimmy Barry and Ricardo Lopez who retired undefeated with more wins than Marciano, but had draws on their records, which have reduced the impact of their wins superceding Marciano’s. And, of course, there are a number of other greats who had overall more impressive resumes than Marciano while losing (such as ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong & Muhammad Ali). So, the question invariably becomes: Why does everyone dream of being the next Marciano? What is the value of a great record?
There are a number of answers to the question. One aspect is the public’s perception of wins and losses in combat sports. Fans, after all, love winners and usually root for those that show they are worthy of the respect of the fans through their successes. The young Mike Tyson, for example, became a media darling within one year of his professional debut as a fighter, appearing on the January 1986 cover of Sports Illustrated magazine with the nickname “Kid Dynamite” as he stopped every opponent he was placed in with in devastating fashion for his first 19 bouts, conjuring up images of such destructive past Heavyweights as Joe Louis, George Foreman and Earnie Shavers. It was not just the fact that he was an undefeated prospect, but the fact that as a prospect he was mowing down everyone that was placed in with him, even if it sometimes took a bit longer as the opponents would fight to survive. A modern version of a Tyson-style hyped fighter is Edwin Valero (with 21 KOs in 21 wins), although he has two things working against him to prevent the same hype that Tyson got: (i) he is not an American fighter (he’s Venezuelan) and (ii) he fights at Junior Lightweight, not the flagship Heavyweight division. On the other hand, the current generally regarded #1 P4P (Pound-4-Pound) fighter in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jr., is also undefeated (37-0 with 24 KOs), but unlike Valero and Tyson before him, there is little mystique about Mayweather beyond his great Boxing skills and agility (even as he bloats up in weight). Whereas Tyson was on Sports Illustrated’s cover as the new force to watch based on his demolition of opponents, Floyd has managed to convincingly win against virtually everyone he every faced (besides his two wars with Jose Luis Castillo), but often showed (i) the lack of finishing power and (ii) a preference to win decisively rather than in a crowd pleasing manner. It should be noted, however, that he did batter a number of quality guys into submission (most notably Diego Corrales and Arturo Gatti), but it was in one sided contests rather than wars of attrition that the fans love such as ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns I, Rocky Marciano-‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott I or Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier I & III (all of which were labeled as Ring Magazine Fight of the Year). In addition, he has often been promoted as arrogant, but not in the “I’m the best and I’ll prove it every single time!” manner of a Muhammad Ali, but more in the “I’m the most talented guy out there, and you’ll be happy with whoever I fight, even if he’s not P4P the best!” style. Floyd is often criticized for having taken less than great matchups in recent years, taking on opponents like Henry Bruseles and Sharmba Mitchell instead of Ricky Hatton, Miguel Angel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, which would have helped solidified his legacy some more. In addition, claims that he will retire following the Oscar De La Hoya bout on 5/5 also have hurt his public image, given that he’s rather young (30 in a week) and still has a list of quality fighters he could take on, win or lose.
Of course, there are plenty of examples where fighters did not win every contest they participated in, yet became significant drawing cards, such as Arturo Gatti, Beau Jack and Oscar De La Hoya. However, in the case of Gatti and Jack, their ‘never say die’ attitude in the ring and the relentless style they pursued were what allowed them to do huge business in their eras (Gatti in the late 90s and early 00s at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ while Jack fought in the 30s and 40s primarily at Madison Square Garden in New York City) while fighters like Oscar De La Hoya and ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard drew heavily from their natural talents and charisma to make huge business. Gatti, however, is a somewhat bizarre case, as he has lost a good deal, losing to all the A level fighters he ever met as well as some B and C level fighters such as Micky Ward and Ivan Robinson. The manner that he typically lost in, however, were exciting give and take brawls where both parties dished out punishment to the other and never gave in (Gatti, in fact, won 4 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year awards: 1997 (vs. Gabriel Ruelas), 1998 (vs. Ivan Robinson I), 2002 (vs. Micky Ward I) and 2003 (vs. Micky Ward III) – he was 2-2 in those bouts, beating Ruelas and Ward, but losing to Robinson and Ward), which overcame the fact that as a fighter he was probably a B level fighter at his best (and really, his best left him very susceptible to cuts and bombs landing). In this regard, the fans ignored the record of Gatti and his true skill level because of his bloods and guts fighting style that is really what most Boxing fans want to see, even if some may publicly blast the almost reckless style that tends to run counter to claim that the sport is ‘The Sweet Science’.Â
Another aspect of the record is the fact that being undefeated means that in X contests, no one has been able to best you either by stopping you or getting the nod from the judges. Of course, there are cases where guys with perfect (or near perfect) records have simply been filling up on the so-called ‘losers for hire’ or ‘tankers’ in states with little to no to little state athletic control such as Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee & Missouri. As described in Jim Brady’s Boxing Confidential (in the chapters titled ‘Tankers’ & ‘The Thrill of Defeat’), fighters in the less regulated states tended have the opportunity to fight multiple times (and even got stopped multiple times in a row) due to poor research on the commission’s behalf as well as the fighters taking aliases (a practice that was employed by Oklahoma promoter Pat O’Grady) and padding their own records by fighting the same opponents under various aliases in order to make each other’s main records look good. Peter McNeeley, a Tyson victim who entered the ring with a record of 36-1, had pretty much padded his way in Massachusetts and Arkansas to get a ‘legitimate’ record entering the ring that night, where he was thrashed and was mercifully DQd by his manager to stop the onslaught (he was dropped twice quickly).
It is not unexpected that the first few fights of a fighter’s career will be up against minimal opposition, but in today’s Boxing game, it is not shocking to see a ‘prospect’ go 20-30 fights against opponents who barely pass the .500 win/loss average, if that. Even the man at Heavyweight who is currently closest to topping Marciano’s 49-0 record, Nikolay Valuev, with his 46-0 (34 KOs) record has only really ‘stepped up’ (and the term is pretty liberally applied)Â the quality of his competition in his last 5 or so fights. The two best fighters he faced from the bunch (John Ruiz and Larry Donald) also gave Valuev fits and it seemed as though his hometown advantage of fighting in Germany that gave him the nod in both of those fights. It should be noted, however, that Valuev is not so much propped up by the promoters and managers in regards to his seemingly impressive (on paper) record, but rather his freakish size and appearance (most people seem to associate him with the Neanderthals in terms of facial structure), a 21st century Primo Carnera (without the Mafia control). It is generally understood that he will likely face a Wladimir Klitschko or Samuel Peter (who is supposed to face Oleg Maskaev for the WBC Heavyweight belt as he became his mandatory) eventually to help unify the 4 ‘big’ heavyweight belts (IBF, WBA, WBC & WBO) and will more than likely be thrashed. In a way, the fact that Valuev’s handlers were able to build up his record with so many soft touches and a few decent threats that he got by in order to set up a huge money fight is another reason people gun towards a record like Marciano’s.
On a slight tangent to this discussion point, I would like to express my personal belief that the state athletic commissions, as a whole, need to tighten up with regards to the contests that they authorize between fighters. As an example, the recent WEC 25 main event between “Razor†Rob McCullough and Kit Cope was allowed to occur although McCullough was a vastly more seasoned MMA fighter (13-3) than Cope (1-3); they not only allowed the bout to occur but had it as the main event. This fight, even on paper, was a complete mismatch and the submission via strikes result by McCullough was not a shock at all. On the other hand, a proposed Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Wes Sims recently proposed for the 2/24 PRIDE Las Vegas card was shot down as a ‘mismatch’, although both fighters had some top level (or at least veteran) experience (Fujita fought Kerr, Shamrock, Yvel, Cro Cop x2, Fedor Emelianenko & Wanderlei Silva while Sims fought Mir x2, Sylvia & Severn). While Fujita does have a few more fights versus top opposition, it should be noted that Sims has remained more active in recent years and would have that as a potential advantage. In addition, on paper, the match up looked universes more competitive than the Cope-McCullough matchup that was OKd by the commission. The Hunt-Sims potential fight would have been slightly less competitive in my mind (as Hunt has significantly improved his ground game in recent times and has fought more top opposition than Sims in Fedor Emelianenko, Cro Cop, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett and Hidehiko Yoshida), but nonetheless was a more reasonable main card matchup than Cope-McCullough.
Yet another aspect of pointing to Marciano’s record is simply the fact that he holds a record in the sport of Boxing: the most wins without a loss, draw or No Contest at retirement. Ego fuels the desire of being ‘the man’ who won the most without losing and fighters always want to be that man. Perhaps the closest case to date of someone nearly accomplishing the goal is Larry Holmes going 48-0 before losing a controversial decision to Michael Spinks. The fact that Holmes was denied his 49th victory to tie Marciano’s record shook him up so badly that he famously said: “If you want to get technical about it, Rocky Marciano couldn’t carry my jockstrap.” to try and brush aside the fact that the disputable loss hurt his ego badly and that Marciano’s record wasn’t touched, yet again. ‘Big’ John McCarthy, the legendary MMA referee who has been a UFC mainstay since UFC 2, once stated (paraphrased): “Everybody wants be Rocky Marciano, but the nature of the game is that they eventually all fall short of his achievement.” His point was simply that while the goal of being ‘the man with the most wins’ was honorable, it also haunted most fighters in Boxing and MMA because the specter of doing one (or more) better than Rocky and retiring as such kept them off balance and, more often than not, age (with a possible combination of money attracting them out of retirement) or the right punch ended the fighter’s dreams. After all, two Heavyweight champions that had seemingly retired undefeated (Jim Jeffries and Michael Spinks) ended up coming back and losing, breaking their perfect records because of (i) hype for their potential to upset the dominant champion of their time (Jack Johnson in Jeffries’s case and Mike Tyson in Spink’s case) and (ii) money.
Probably one of the biggest variables in the reasoning of why Marciano’s record is placed on a pedestal has to do with ‘The Brockton Blockbuster’/’The Rock’ himself. Marciano, the highly touted champion who took the World Heavyweight Championship from ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott and defended it 6 times before retiring as undefeated champion (the second champion to retire for good after Gene Tunney and the only to retire without a loss, draw or No Contest) is seen as the man who followed in the tradition of Joe Louis of being a fighting champion and taking on the best his era had to offer (Roland LaStarza x2, Rex Layne, Joe Louis, Harry Matthews, ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott x2, Ezzard Charles x2, Don Cockell & Archie Moore), beating them all. Of course, critics of Marciano’s greatness in the history of the sport often point out that Louis, Walcott, Charles and Moore, his greatest wins (since all of them were Hall of Fame-level fighters), were when they were old men and that he had a few gifts in his career (the first LaStarza decision, a compassionate ring doctor who didn’t stop the second Charles fight and a referee who allowed him to foul Cockell silly and not DQ him). Although I personally do believe Marciano is historically overrated to an extent due to his 49-0 (43 KOs) record (I do consider him my #5 all time Heavyweight, however, behind Louis, Ali, Holmes & Johnson), I would point out that while Joe Louis should have stayed retired after the second ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott fight and definitely was way past his zenith (the legendary writer A.J. Liebling described in The Sweet Science his own sadness at seeing a clearly past his prime Louis taking on guys he would have beaten easily in his peak years and struggling with them after he was embarrassed by Ezzard Charles, arguably the greatest Light Heavyweight of all time but a slightly above average Heavyweight and en route to his final destruction at the hands of Rocky Marciano), the other three certainly were dangerous foes.
First there was ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott, who was a middle of the road Heavyweight (going 8-6 against top 10 contenders of the period; he had not fought from 1942-1944) until he faced a career end (even if he did not realize it at the time) Joe Louis on 12/5/47 at the old ring age of 33. Decked twice and embarrassed by ‘Jersey’ Joe (who the NYSAC at one point was refusing to sanction in a championship bout given his poor record), Louis was about to leave the ring before the announcement was made (a DQable offense), but was kept in and was shocked (as was everyone else) to hear he had received a gift Split Decision by 2 judges (Referee Ruby Goldstein gave it as a clear win to Walcott, which Louis essentially agreed with after the fight). Although Walcott had lost the fight, he won immense recognition for his great performance, which showed that the legendary Louis of old was gone. He was granted a rematch with Louis, but was KOd in the 11th. He proceeded to lose to Ezzard Charles in a NBA World Heavyweight title bout (after Louis retired for the first time), went 2-1 in contendership bouts and got a rematch against Charles (who at this time won the World Heavyweight Championship claim by beating Joe Louis silly over 15 rounds), which he lost by decision, again. For some reason, however, Charles felt it was necessary to give Walcott a third try and what became Ring magazine’s Fight of the Year for 1951, Walcott KOd Charles brutally with a left hook in the seventh round to become Heavyweight champion of the world. At 37, Walcott was the champion of the world, and he decisioned Charles to retain his title. Finally, Rocky Marciano had beaten recently beaten Joe Louis, Rex Layne & Harry Matthews, setting up the biggest matchup possible at the time. Walcott-Marciano I, which became the 1952 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year and one of the greatest fights of all time (in my opinion), had Walcott dropping Marciano in the first round and beautifully out-boxing Marciano for most of the fight, building up an immense lead and forcing Marciano to go all out in the championship rounds (13-15) to force a KO (his only way of winning). So, in the 13th round, Marciano uncorked his signature right hand, ‘Suzie Q’, as Walcott loaded up his own power shot, cold cocking the champion and making Marciano the new champion. In the rematch, Walcott essentially quit after getting dropped by a good shot, likely feeling like Max Baer that (to paraphrase Baer on him giving up against Joe Louis) “When people want to pay to see me executed, they will have to pay more than five dollars a ticket.” And on that sour note, ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott would retire and become a referee (infamous for his role in the Ali-Liston II fight and his inability to control Ali yet giving him a KO win over Liston) and later a member of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission (which, based on the story told in Boxing Confidential, he was forced to resign from due to a corruption/bribery scandal along with Bob Lee Sr., the man who would eventually form the International Boxing Federation) before dying in 1994 at the age of 80. Walcott, a man that few saw as a true champion had, like Jim Braddock (the Cinderella Man) before him, become the unexpected Heavyweight champion and proved his mettle in a classic war with ‘The Brockton Blockbuster’, showing that he was not ‘shot’ by a long shot.
Ezzard ‘The Cincinnati Cobra’ Charles, on the other hand, was a respected fighter throughout his career, starting as a Middleweight and beating a number of top contenders in the class including Teddy Yarosz and Charley Burley, men who were feared in their weight class, earning Charles the reputation of being a ‘policeman’ (a fighter who turned back dangerous opponents to the crown that the champion often feared facing). But his real legacy is at Light Heavyweight, where he compiled an incredible record as a LHW, beating the likes of Joey Maxim, Archie Moore, Jimmy Bivins and Lloyd Marshall (without getting a title shot and being regarded as the uncrowned champion of the division) before going up in weight to Heavyweight and to challenge for the Heavyweight championship. Charles beat ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott for the NBA Heavyweight Championship, beat some of the top contenders in the division and a year later beat a badly faded Joe Louis (who was forced to continue fighting to pay back taxes due to the IRS, including purses he had donated to the US government) by a wide decision. Many said he could have finished Joe earlier but didn’t want to batter him worse than he did out of his admiration for the long time king of the Heavyweight division and arguably the greatest Heavyweight that ever lived. Marciano would shortly take out Louis for good (and would be remembered for crying in his dressing room at beating up the man he looked up to for many years after Louis’ final stand). Charles defended his claim against Walcott again and then was KOd in their third fight (as mentioned above). Walcott would win the fourth battle, making their series 2-2. Charles would have mixed results, going 5-3 against top ten contenders leading up to the first Marciano bout. The bout, while Charles lost, showed that he had immense heart as well as his great skill, taking a bad beating and winning some of the early and middle rounds before getting trounced and losing a 15 round decision. He was given a rematch with Marciano and managed to make a deep cut in Marciano’s nose that some claimed would have warranted a stoppage by the ring doctor (although many reports contradict the claim), leading Marciano to ‘go loose’ and KO him in the eighth in 1954’s Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. After this bout, Charles had really reached the end of his trail and suffered a number of losses before retiring and dying in 1975, suffering from lateral sclerosis of the spine, which had left him paralyzed. One of the true greats of the ring, Charles may have already begun his descent when he faced Marciano twice, but he still had most of the tools to remain competitive on two occasions with Marciano and allegedly was very close to giving Marciano his first loss by a cut stoppage.
Finally, Archie Moore, the legendary ‘Old Mongoose’ who won the World Light Heavyweight Championship at anywhere from 39 to 42 (depending on what source you use for Archie’s age) was in the middle of probably his most dominating period when he challenged ‘The Rock’ in 1955. A man who I personally regard as the second greatest Light Heavyweight of all time (behind Ezzard Charles, who went 3-0 against him), Moore was a force in Boxing, who still holds the KO record at 131 KOs in 183 wins. A clever boxer as well as a slugger, Moore was, like Charles, a ‘policeman’ for years, overlooked for years and having to fight opponents that the champions of the period feared such as Charley Burley, Lloyd Marshall, Ezzard Charles, Holman Williams, Harold Johnson & Jimmy Bivins. In 1952, Moore finally got his title shot against Joey Maxim, dominating him to win a decision and the Light Heavyweight crown. Moore would only lose 4 more times and draw once from this point on to the end of his career, with 3 of the losses coming at Heavyweight (to Marciano, Floyd Patterson & Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali))and one he avenged at LHW against Giulio Rinaldi. He would draw with future LHW champion Willie Pastrano. Finally, after winning the LHW crown, began building up his campaign to face the recently crowned champion, Rocky Marciano. Al Weill, Marciano’s manager (and an associate/former matchmaker of the mob controlled IBC) had no interest in putting Rocky in with Moore because of his boxer-slugger style that could confuse his prized champion (hence the ‘Old Mongoose’ nickname). However, Moore put out a large campaign that forced Weill’s hand and caused interest in the bout. The bout saw Moore, the LHW champion, dropping Marciano in the second round, but slowly getting battered down to the canvas himself (he would go down 5 times), going down for good in round 9. The argument most make about Moore being ‘too old’ and ‘a poor opponent’ was due to the relatively one sided nature of the bout, but in reality, it was simply a battle of styles with Marciano wearing down the vastly slowed down ‘Old Mongoose’ and finally breaking him for good in the 9th. After this bout, Marciano retired and while he began to prepare for a potential matchup with Ingemar Johansson, but decided he could not reasonably come back, and never did, only making the computerized ‘fight’ with Muhammad Ali in 1969, shortly before his death in a plane crash. His relatively young death (about 46)Â may have been another variable in the mystique of the legendary warrior who did not give in to defeat.
A side tangent on the point of records is my opinion on the way that MMA has provided Win/Loss records. Unlike Boxing (for the most part, though Boxing too has been guilty of this, especially in foreign countries like Thailand), there has been a number of fighters promoted by various organizations throughout the years, touting “500-0” records (or similarly ludicrous numbers) with little paperwork to prove it. However, to be fair, the fights in those days tended to be in unsanctioned fight states with little oversight of ‘truth-in advertising’. However, there have been a number of examples of fighter record padding that seems to have gone on during recent years. In the UFC, for example, Kris Rotharmel, a fighter who was a participant in TUF 3, has a record touted as 40-4 (as can be seen here). On the other hand, Sherdog’s Fight Finder, one of the more highly regarded fight archiving sites on the internet for MMA (like Boxrec is for Boxing), lists Rotharmel’s record as 4-3 (as can be seen here). It should be noted that the Fight Finder, like Boxrec, are *NOT* absolute record keepers of every single fight in the history of the sport. However, a 37 fight differential is not the same as a fighter claiming he had 3-4 more wins on his record that were in ‘underground’ leagues that no one noticed a number of years back. It is this time of record claiming that should be investigated by commissions like the NJSAC, NSAC, NYSAC, etc. There should be the expectation that if an organization such as the UFC, PRIDE FC, IFL, BoDog, etc. claim heavily inflated records (or heck, even records differing from the Fight Finder and other record keeping systems), they should have a paper trail of some sort showing that (i) the guy fought somewhere against a guy and won or lost and (ii) it was for money (IE: it was a pro fight and not an amateur contest).
Another issue for me is when some organizations remove losses from records, even if they are recognized as such. This is probably the bigger sin of the two (padding wins and removing losses) because unlike padding wins where one can claim a fight happened out of the eyesight of the media and a commission, removing losses basically is trying to alter the prettiness of a record in terms of the amount of times a fighter has lost. On the UFC website, for example, they claim Royce Gracie’s record is 13-2-2 and includes the Harold Howard forfeit loss, which means that the Kazushi Sakuraba loss in PRIDE and a draw has been removed from his actual record of 13-3-3. To me, this is dishonest advertising and if you do not wish to recognize fights that were taped and shown to the world (forget about underground fights), then you shouldn’t advertise the fighter’s record at all. Boxing promoters aren’t afraid of showing complete records (or at least as complete as possible given Boxrec and other record keeping sites), even with losses for the fighter under their nemesis promoter’s banner, because they can just point to the key wins and losses rather than recognize the other organization.
The athletic commissions really should push more ‘truth-in advertising’ against selective record keeping by the organizations, especially in cases such as the above where blatant manipulation or vast claims in the amount of fights a fighter has had are being made. After all, without good background checks on the wins/losses by the commissions, what’s stopping PRIDE from claiming Mark Hunt is 84-1 in MMA (when he is 5-3) or something drastic like that (which happened quite a bit in the early days of MMA when there was no athletic commission scrutiny)? Just like the United States Boxing Championships scandal hurt both Ring Magazine and Boxing because of the heavy record padding made by the ranking editor, Johnny Ort, in order to ‘justify’ running the tournament on ABC (which led to an ABC published report that tarnished Boxing’s image even further), this type of behavior may ultimately bite back MMA.
Overall, I feel that the record of a fighter is important, but only when taken in context. For example, looking on paper, Emanuel Augustus’s 34-28-6 record (.500 win rate including draws, .548 win rate not including draws) seems pretty poor, but looking at the quality of opposition he faced as well as the fact that he often fought opponents in their own backyards and got the short end of the stick, it’s a misleading statistic. Similarly, Peter McNeeley’s 36-1 record into the Tyson fight, on the surface, seemed impressive, but that had more to do with the fine matchmaking made by his manager and promoter than actual achievements in the ring. Record is one element of a number of criteria to consider (such as skill, quality of wins, excitement, drawing, etc.) to place the importance (or lack thereof) of a fighter in the big picture. Without due consideration to the difficulty of opponents, the success rate against the best, the peak period and so on, you will get misleading results in terms of pure record-based statistics (such as seen in Bill Gray’s Boxing’s Top 100: The Greatest Champions of All Time, which had somewhat mystifying picks in rankings such as Wilfredo Vasquez at #15, Virgil Hill at #17 & Khaosai Galaxy at #23 (I also disagreed with the ranking of guys such as Ricardo Lopez, Mike McCallum & Bernard Hopkins), mainly because they were long term champions (even if not all of them faced great competition during their reigns) ;As a note, I vehemently disagree with the author’s premise that winning a title is a good way of sorting out who were the greatest since fighters like Sam Langford and Charley Burley were denied title shots due to the color of their skin (really, their talents, but the color line was the public justification)) that will put over fighters who really should not be spoken of in the same breath as many of the other legends of the past simply because they had a good manager and promoter/matchmaker to give them a nice, long reign with a very good number of defenses. To quote former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics”. And given that records are really a former of statistics, well, you can piece the together my conclusion.Â
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, MMA, PRIDE, Tomer Chen, UFC | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Milan hosts New Generation Tournament II
By Mark Pickering | February 17, 2007
By Mark Pickering
MaxFighting.com
Milan, the fashion capital of the world, a city more akin to the glamorous world of design and lavish indulgence, will host Italy’s leading mixed martial arts and submission event, New Generation Tournament II, on Sunday, March 25th.
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Topics: All Topics, Mark Pickering, MMA | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Saturday news flash
By Zach Arnold | February 17, 2007
Shin’ya Aoki defeated Akira Kikuchi by a 2-1 judges’ decision in the main event of today’s Shooto event in Yokohama at Pacifico National Hall.
The R1 Gym sent out a mass e-mail stating that Frank Trigg wants to both fight and do commentary for the PRIDE 2/24 Las Vegas show. ” I will get the job done inside the PRIDE ring then go back to the broadcast booth & tell you about it.” On fighting Kazuo Misaki: “I ain’t going home no punk, I’m gonna knock his dick in the dirt.” If this was California, Frank would have been immediately suspended.
This is never a positive to read if you are in the Japanese fight industry. Read the whole thread.
Episode 1 of BodogFight: Season 2 (file size – 458 MB). If someone actually wants to do TV reviews of the BoDog shows, e-mail me.
Thomas “Wildman” Denny (who was scheduled to fight Nick Diaz on the now-cancelled Gracie FC 1/20 Miami show) will be fighting for King of the Cage on March 10th at Avi Casino in Laughlin, Nevada.
Frank Shamrock will be holding open try-outs on Saturday for his IFL Razorclaws team at the Shamrock Submission Fight Team facility in San Jose, California (11 AM-5 PM).
More news and headlines will be updated on this post throughout the day. Onto today’s headlines.
- The Fight Network: Cage Rage 4/21 UK card (Bob Sapp vs. Robert Berry, Vitor Belfort vs. Marvin Eastman, Mark Weir vs. Daijiro Matsui)
- The Bay City Times: Toughman promoter Art Dore refuses to abide by Michigan DLEG’s Cease & Desist orders to stop promoting illegal MMA events
- Budo Videos: Stephen Quadros previews PRIDE 33
- FoxNews.com: New episode of Fight Game video
- Random Speak: Interview with Nathan “The Rock” Quarry (who is no longer with Team Quest despite what the interview says)
- MMA California: More PRIDE ticket giveaways
- Sherdog: Thiago Alves suspended for 8 months
- Bodog Beat: Royce Gracie thrills MMA fighters, fans in Costa Rica
- The Sunday Paper: Takedowns and knockouts (article about Carlos Newton)
- WTVF (Nashville, TN): Ultimate fighting seeks legal status in Tennessee
- Bloomberg: IFL’s stock soars – why?
- The Roanoke Times: Virginia may soon regulate professional fighting
- Associated Press (via Fox Sports): Jim Lampley charged Friday with violating a temporary restraining order
- The Associated Press (via The Casper Star Tribune): Wyoming aiming to get a boxing commissioner, likely to oversee boxing & MMA
Topics: All Topics, BoDog, Boxing, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday news and notables
By Zach Arnold | February 16, 2007
If you are interested in writing a guest op-ed or two for the site, e-mail me.
From Josh Thomson’s MySpace: KNOXX GEAR WILL BE GIVING AWAY FREE PRIDE TICKETS!! FREE
KNOXX GEAR and PRIDE FC will be at 40055 Mission Blvd Fremont, Ca 94539 at 3:00-4:00pm in the Main Plaza on Sunday, Feb. 18th!!!!
There will be FREE PRIDE FC tickets for the Feb 24th event in Las Vegas!!!! YES!! PRIDE FC will be giving away FREE tickets!!!! Come to get free PRIDE clothing and win tickets to watch the PRIDE FC event!!!! KNOXX Gear will also be there to pass out free shirts and prizes!!!! Don’t miss out on this event!!! Special guest Pride fighters will be there for autograph signing and picture taking!!! Wild 94.9 will also be there with their street team giving away prizes!!! Dont’ miss the fun and most importantly…. Don’t miss out on the free prizes!!!
Onto today’s headlines.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jungle FC signs deal with boxing promoter
By Zach Arnold | February 15, 2007
By Zach Arnold
In an interview taped on Thursday night (which will air in the coming days on FO Radio), Wallid Ismail announced that Jungle Fighting Championship has signed a deal with New York-based boxing promoter Cedric Kushner to produce four MMA events in the United States in 2007.
While Jungle FC will continue to expand with future show plans, the lawsuit against Elite XC continues on. An amendment was recently made to the court documents processed in the lawsuit. When Jeff Thaler gets the chance to read any of the publicly-available court documents, he will chime in with his legal opinion about the case being brought to court.
Topics: All Topics, Brazil, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC Officially Announce UK Show
By Ally Clark | February 15, 2007
The UFC today officially announced it’s return to the UK on April 21st. It’ll be the first time since 2002 that the biggest MMA promotion in the US and arguably the world has produced an event in Great Britain.
In the press release posted on the UFC website President Dana White described his delight at his company finally returning. “We are very excited to be back in the UK, We had a lot of obstacles over the last six years, but I never gave up on bringing the UFC back to the UK. Now we have our UK office up and running, we’re going to have fights in the UK and throughout Europe, so the UFC is here to stay.â€
It is the first of a rumoured five shows to take place in the UK this year and goes head to head with leading British promotion Cage Rage on the same day in April.
More to follow.
Topics: Ally Clark, Media, MMA, Press Releases, UFC, UK | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday news and links
By Zach Arnold | February 14, 2007
I hope your Valentine’s Day went better than it did for this guy. I shouldn’t say this guy, because the guy happens to be the head of a very strong yakuza group in Japan. Not a fun time for any of the fight groups in Japan right now.
Joe Rogan goes to war with comedian Carlos Mencia.
Rex Richards (who we had on the FO Radio Christmas special) has made the decision to give up his Arena League football career to focus full-time on fighting. He is looking for sponsors for his next fight (which is on the StrikeForce 4/21 card that will be on Showtime PPV). If you want to sponsor him, leave a MySpace message with West Texas MMA or e-mail me and I’ll forward inquiries along to his camp.
Onto today’s headlines.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, BoDog, Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wednesday link-o-rama
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2007
From the IFL’s MySpace bulletin on Tuesday:
If you go to Ticketmaster and put in the code BOGO you can get two tickets for the price of one to the Atlanta IFL fights on Feb 23rd.
- The Houston Chronicle: Premiere of Elite XC falls to UFC repeat in ratings battle
- MMA Insider: Ratings for Elite XC’s Feb. 10 event (now, read this after reading the Chronicle post)
- BetUs.com: UFC 68 preview for odds
- Vegas Pop: Georges St. Pierre and Keith Jardine hanging out at PURE in Las Vegas
- WECT 6 TV (Wilmington, North Carolina): Ultimate fighting gains popularity (w/ video clips)
- MMA HQ: Diego Sanchez vs. Josh Koscheck feud on MySpace
- UFC Mania: Jens Pulver to school Joe Lauzon on UFC Ultimate Fighter 5 show
- UFC Junkie: Frank Mir vs. Antoni Hardonk at UFC Fight Night 9
- Mediaweek: Podcasting to generate $400 million USD in ad sales by 2011 (so, there… keep listening to FO Radio)
- China Combat: Interview with Andy Pi – Part 1
- MMA California: Cage Combat 2/17 Santa Rosa, CA. show press release
- NWI Times: Miguel Torres fight team up to the challenge
- The Daily Iowan: MMA alive & kicking in Cedar Rapids
- Point Spreads: BodogFIGHT books Russia vs. USA PPV with Fedor vs. Lindland on 4/14
Topics: All Topics, IFL, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tuesday news review
By Zach Arnold | February 12, 2007
Today’s red meat article comes to us from The Sunderland Today in the UK, which is titled Doctor’s warning to ultimate fighters. It’s full of the political correctness and nanny-state politics you’ve come to love.
Also, there are many a Japanese women likely crying at the news of Masato marrying Shin Yazawa.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 39 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday media review
By Zach Arnold | February 12, 2007
Enjoy violence w/ some Japanese commentary.
A new poll question has been added to the right side of the page. Results from our last site poll:
Who should buy PRIDE?
- UFC (Zuffa LLC) – 43%
- No one should – 34%
- Ed Fishman – 24%
Onto today’s headlines.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |