K-1 12/2 Tokyo Dome event
By Zach Arnold | November 25, 2006
Next week, K-1 has their World GP 2006 finals at the Tokyo Dome. Out of all of the major pro-wrestling, MMA, and kickboxing events that the Tokyo Dome has held, this may in fact be one of the most quiet build-ups to a Tokyo Dome show I’ve seen. In fact, off the top of my head without looking, I could not name a single fight coming up for the K-1 Tokyo Dome event. Even with big TV support, I cannot imagine that the crowd is going to be big to watch this event live. Here is the card line-up (in no specific match order):
- GP: Semmy Schilt vs. Jerome Le Baner
- GP: Ernesto Hoost vs. Chalid “Die Faust” Arrab
- GP: Glaube Feitosa vs. Ruslan Karaev
- GP: Remy Bonjasky vs. Stefan Leko
- Reserve match: Peter Aerts vs. Musashi
- Ray Sefo vs. Melvin Manhoef (this is the likely replacement for Sefo’s original opponent, Choi Hong-Man)
- Badr Hardi vs. TBA
- Hiraku Hori vs. Kyoung Suk Kim
- Mitsugu Noda vs. Junichi Sawayashiki
- Takumi Sato vs. Tsutomu Takahagi
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Meltzer: Strikeforce won’t draw
By Zach Arnold | November 24, 2006
On Friday’s Figure Four Daily radio show, pro-wrestling writer Dave Meltzer told host Bryan Alvarez that the upcoming Strikeforce show on December 8th at the HP Pavilion (San Jose Arena) will not draw a strong crowd. Listen to the show yourself to validate the accuracy of the quotes I have written here.
“Strikeforce is not going to draw well. Cung Le vs. Jason Von Flue is not a main event. … He’s a guy who got cut from UFC dark matches and now they want him to main event an 18,000 seat building?”
In regards to Strikeforce’s Fox Sports Net Bay Area show (hosted by Brian Webber and Frank Shamrock), Meltzer thought that it was cheesy.
“It was UFC All Access but put together by a local independent group and not by UFC. It was like an indy pro-wrestling television show.”
Commentary: 1) I thought the preview show was actually pretty decent in terms of production. Bodog’s brand was all over the TV in terms of advertising. 2) If the building (HP Pavilion) is promoting with Scott Coker on the Strikeforce show, it might be a deal where HP Pavilion doesn’t charge for the building rental and also does a hard push for advertising in exchange for a percentage of the live gate. This is something we see mid-sized and big-sized buildings in America use as a promotional tactic to keep arenas active during long periods of time when there are few or no shows booked during a period of time.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Friday media round-up
By Zach Arnold | November 24, 2006
- Fox Sports: The Weekly Tapout – King Georges is crowned
- New York Times: A Boxing Regulator Changes Corners (article about Marc Ratner)
- UFC HP: Three new fights added to UFC 66 12/30 Las Vegas event
- Manila Bulletin (Philippines): Manny Pacquiao advised to go freelance (and not sign with a specific promoter)
- Boxing Scene: Mike Tyson denies Fleiss brothel rumors
- SecondsOut: Riddick Bowe wants to knock ‘ungrateful’ Holyfield out again in 2007
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
NYE TV schedule
By Zach Arnold | November 23, 2006
Burning Spirit notes a news item from the January 2007 edition of The Television magazine. The magazine published the New Year’s Eve TV schedule. For TV-Asahi, the following is listed: Doraemon Special (18:00-20:00), TV Tackle Nagata-cho Special (20:00-on). For Nippon TV: Weekender Special (19:00-21:00). TV-Tokyo will have a Gaea year-end party special. None of the networks have PRIDE’s Otoko Matsuri (Man Festival) show scheduled to air on free TV in Japan.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Turkey of the Year
By Zach Arnold | November 23, 2006
We talked about this on our radio show this week. Now it’s your turn Strictly either picking a promoter, a fighter, or a promotion, pick your Turkey of the Year (the worst) and give your reasons why you chose your selection. Any selections outside of the noted criteria will be deleted.
Here are the choices we made this week on the radio show.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, MMA, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Cage Rage set to debut on The Wrestling Channel
By Mark Pickering | November 22, 2006
London’s Cage Rage have signed a contract with The Wrestling Channel to produce a daily magazine TV show, Cage Fighter, premiering on December 4th.
After weeks of stringent negotiations, it has emerged that Cage Rage will front a shift in programming for the Dublin-based channel, with co-promoters Andy Geer and Dave O’Donnell on hand to present the sixty-minute broadcast.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Mark Pickering, MMA, UK | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The scandal that never dies
By Zach Arnold | November 22, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Comments off
No, the title of this post isn’t referring to the PRIDE vs. Shukan Gendai yakuza allegations war of words. We’re talking about the infamous K-1 corporate tax scandal under the tenure of Kazuyoshi Ishii.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio: Episode 33 (Thanksgiving Special)
By Zach Arnold | November 22, 2006
Our show this week is themed (mostly) about UFC in celebration of Thanksgiving and the American MMA scene. Dave Doyle of FoxSports.com joins us to give a live show perspective of UFC 65. The first 20 minutes of the show is a general summary of what happened at UFC 65 and the main stories coming out of the show. After our interview with Mr. Doyle, we have a 50-minute long roundtable with Zach Arnold, Erin Bucknell (who attended the UFC 65 show live), and Luke Nicholson breaking down the entire UFC 65 event in detail. We also discuss issues such as the credibility level of each UFC title and weight class. A big focus of our roundtable is to try to brainstorm some ideas that UFC could use in figuring out the enigma that is the UFC Heavyweight division. (Listen to Monte Cox from the 32 minute to 34 minute mark attempt to defend Tim Sylvia’s fight at UFC 65. He also says that PRIDE has signed three-fight deals with Joe Doerksen, Josh Neer, and Travis Wiuff. He also claims that PRIDE wants to run at least six shows in the US in 2007.)
Share the Thanksgiving spirit and donate some money for our web hosting costs.
Closing out our show this week is a Thanksgiving roundtable with each co-host giving thanks to one MMA-related item (promoter, fighter, event, etc.) and also the Turkey of the Year award is back. Last year, Bryan Alvarez declared Kazuhiro Nakamura (who took off his judo gi during a fight with Vanderlei Silva, proceeding to get knocked out) as his Turkey of the Year. This year’s award has candidates just as fitting for qualification.
If the podcasting/iTunes file distribution doesn’t work for this week’s show, e-mail me and let me know.
Comments off
Podcasting Links
- iTunes subscribers – click here.
- Yahoo Podcast subscribers – click here.
- Podcast Alley subscribers – click here.
The 33rd 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
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Erin Bucknell, Fight Opinion Radio, Jeff Thaler, Luke Nicholson, Media, MMA, podcasts, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
The Wednesday blotter
By Zach Arnold | November 21, 2006
- MMA HQ: Who’s next for GSP?
- Maxboxing: Why promoter Gary Shaw must be thinking MMA is better than boxing more and more as each day passes
- MMA California: Strikeforce Triple Threat FSN Countdown show review
- Gong Kakutougi interview with PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara (via Burning Spirit): 12/31 Saitama Super Arena show will have an “All-Star Theme” to it, Mirko Cro Cop will fight a “new face” on the show, Vanderlei Silva will defend the Middleweight title on 2/24 in Las Vegas, PRIDE will run 5 US shows & 1 ~ 2 other foreign shows & 6 Japanese shows in 2007, and the Bushido name may be used for marketing some of the foreign events.
- The Montreal Gazette: He’s Montreal’s smiling ring assassin
- The Calaveras Enterprise: Jake Shields tapped out for first time in career
- The Baltimore Sun: Saturday night at the bar (big crowds show up to watch UFC 65)
- Cage Rage: 12/9 London event card line-up
- Bodog Fight: 12/2 Vancouver event card line-up
- Fox Sports: Dave Doyle’s UFC 65 observations/notes
- MMA California: Strikeforce preview show premieres on FSN Bay Area TV
- Broadcast Newsroom: The Media Group’s involvement is supporting BodogFight
- Journal de Montreal (French language): Claim that Georges St. Pierre made $500,000 USD total (w/ bonuses) in his fight with Matt Hughes (and also received a Hummer SUV from UFC management, along with the claim that there were 15,300 fans at UFC 65 in Arco Arena)
- UFC Junkie (a good site): Estimated UFC 65 fighter salary figures
The Journal de Montreal article (if someone can help with the translation) is probably the most interesting of the articles in terms of news value.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fedor vs. Hunt
By Zach Arnold | November 21, 2006
That is your main event for the PRIDE Heavyweight Title on 12/31 at Saitama Super Arena.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday media summary
By Zach Arnold | November 20, 2006
- Jake Rossen: Hilarious commentary on the UFC 65 show
- Video: UFC 65 post-show press conference
- Press Release: The Media Group has secured PPV distribution rights for BoDog’s 12/2 Vancouver PPV event
- MMA Weekly: Cesar Gracie backs out of The World Fighter promotion
- Press Release: IFL announces rosters for 12/29 Connecticut show
- Ivan Trembow: Vitor Belfort responds to steroid charges
- Houston Chronicle: Rush’s hour arrives
- Manteca Bulletin: UFC thrills Nor-Cal fight fans
- Canadian Press (via Ottawa Sun): GSP made $80,000 USD for his UFC 65 main event fight
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Holyfield could fight for a title soon
By Zach Arnold | November 20, 2006
Two interesting news items regarding boxer Evander Holyfield. First, the San Antonio Express reports that former Minnesota Vikings NFL owner Red McCombs is interested in booking a show at the Alamodome in 2007 with Evander Holyfield fighting for a world title. Second, frequent site commenter Mr. Roadblock pointed out to us that Holyfield is scheduled to fight on the undercard of the Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Urango HBO-produced event on January 13th. Could we see Holyfield vs. Klitschko?
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WWE posts details on PRIDE meeting
By Zach Arnold | November 19, 2006
On the WWE HP, the article discusses Vince McMahon talking with DSE officials about Hustle.
Hustle Mania takes place this Thursday at Yokohama Arena with HG’s retirement match from pro-wrestling. How can you not love Generalissimo Takada and HG on the same stage together. We can’t forget about Ogawa, either.
Topics: All Topics, PRIDE, Pro-Wrestling, WWE, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |