November 18: It’s time for GSP to shine
By UFCmania | November 14, 2006
By Tom Bones
If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it hundreds of times during the last six months.
Georges St. Pierre is a different fighter now than he was in 2004 when he lost to Matt Hughes.
Back then, the 23-year-old rising star was star struck, competing against his idol on the biggest mixed martial arts stage in North America. He showed Hughes too much respect and paid the ultimate price for it, losing via armbar with one second remaining in the first round.
But, things are different now.
“Rush†has improved his game since the defeat. So, too, has Hughes. The pride of St. Isidore, Canada, however, has improved more. And this time around, he’s treating the nine-time UFC welterweight champion just like any other opponent.
Sound familiar? It should.
Rather than beat a dead horse, let’s instead talk about the one thing that definitely hasn’t changed since UFC 50: “The War of ’04.â€
Specifically, Matt Hughes is still a big dick.
Is his arrogance the byproduct of success in the Octagon, just an act or is it his nature?
Regardless, his actions and words clearly bother many fans and fighters alike, including St. Pierre. Hughes takes swipes at the 25-year-old frequently, cracking jokes at his expense and finding just the right comments to push his buttons.
Look no further than this season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 4, which showed Hughes often teasing St. Pierre with schoolyard taunts.
It’s a very strange relationship, if that’s what you want to call it.
And clearly, it irritates St. Pierre. To his credit, the sportsman rarely stoops to the same level.
Even during the TUF 4 Finale interview with the fighters, St. Pierre bit his lip while Hughes made a poor attempt to assassinate the character of one of the classiest guys in the sport.
“Georges showed his true colors that night,†he said, referring to the public comments St. Pierre made in the wake of Hughes’ victory over BJ Penn at UFC 63: “Hughes vs. Penn.”
Give us a break, Matt.
Most of us fans have had enough. And obviously, so too has Georges St. Pierre.
This time he may have taken things too far, which may work to his disadvantage on November 18. He also doesn’t appear to take St. Pierre too seriously — a big mistake.
After coming off of a huge emotional TKO over “The Prodigy” less than two months ago — and talks of retirement swirling — is the St. Pierre fight something for which the 33-year-old can get motivated?
Listen, with more than 40 victories under his belt versus a meager four defeats, the dominance and accomplishments of Matt Hughes are undeniable and downright gaudy.
But, his shtick — much like his debatable reign as the greatest of all time — are getting tired.
Put simply, it’s time to pass the torch.
It’s time for a gentleman to carry the mantle as UFC Welterweight Champion.
It’s time for GSP.
Tom Bones is the managing editor of UFCMania.com. You can contact him via e-mail at [email protected].
Topics: All Topics, Tom Bones, UFC | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monday news round-up
By Zach Arnold | November 13, 2006
Lots of various rumors, stories, and news items of interest to everyone. Including Fedor news.
Video of Werdum vs. Aleksander from the 2H2H event.
The top story is a report on Boxing Talk claiming that Showtime is going to work with JD Penn (of Rumble on the Rock fame) to produce MMA events on the network. This is very big news. (Special thanks to Clint Larsen). I’ve attached the official press release from Showtime at the end of this post.
Update: The WFA has canceled their 12/9 Las Vegas PPV event.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quick IFL & PRIDE thoughts
By Zach Arnold | November 12, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Here’s an odd headline (one of those stories with a “make of it what you will” warning) from Burning Spirit… All the entries for Yuji Shimada’s online blog are gone. Mr. Full (of Burning Spirit) speculates that either Shimada stopped the blog because he didn’t have the time to keep it updated or he wrote something inappropriate and the blog was halted.
On the PRIDE front, Hidehiko Yoshida confirmed his status (positive) for fighting on both the Man Festival & 2/24 Las Vegas events. A couple of weeks ago, DSE teased the idea of Yoshida facing a South Korean judoka. The newest tease is a Man Festival main event of Emelianenko Fedor vs. Hidehiko Yoshida. If that happens, then the chances of Fedor vs. Mirko II happening on 2/24 in Las Vegas would significantly increase. Yoshida’s management, J-ROCK, has significant power in PRIDE right now.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, IFL, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC Fight Night post-show open thread
By Zach Arnold | November 11, 2006
Have at it. Anything related to Saturday’s night event. Bad judging? Dana drunk?
More thoughts: Here, here and here.
Canadian Press (via CBC Sports): Cote loses Middleweight battle in UFC TV show’s finale
Fight Report has some great short clips from the event.
Houston Chronicle: Has the Ultimate Fighter lost its punch?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Angle and Lesnar in HEROs?
By Zach Arnold | November 11, 2006
By Zach Arnold
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Two interesting reports. First, Mike Sawyer in an audio interview at F4W Online reported that Brock Lesnar is scheduled to make his MMA debut for the HERO’s promotion in February. The show is apparently set for Las Vegas. That same month, UFC has their Super Bowl weekend event in early February. PRIDE also has a show at the Thomas & Mack Center on 2/24. In other words, it’s going to be an enormously crowded month for MMA action in the Vegas scene.
Second, Gryphon at NHB News notes (more here in English) an interesting item from K-1 matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa. In a mini-interview with Weekly Gong, Tanigawa brings up the name of Kurt Angle possibly making his MMA debut in America for HEROs (listed as either February or March). If it is February, this would mean that there is a possibility of both Angle and Lesnar making their MMA debuts simultaneously on the same show.
Commentary: If K-1 pulls this off, it would certain be cause for concern for their rivals. They would be attacking PRIDE (which needs as much assistance in America to be successful right now) and also using big names that UFC had a chance to acquire (Angle & Lesnar) but didn’t pull the trigger on.
Here is a very interesting Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article on Kurt Angle.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Open thread: Holyfield fight
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2006
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Reviews: Fight Report | Reuters | Associated Press
And then there was Wladimir Klitschko knocking out Calvin Brock on Saturday night.
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tim Sylvia: Not a fan of Jeff Monson
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2006
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From Dave Doyle’s weekly Fox Sports column:
I’ve heard about some of the things he’s said and I think he’s a piece of s—,” said Sylvia, who defends his title against Monson at UFC 65 at Arco Arena in Sacramento on Nov. 18. “He disrespects our soldiers and our country and our President. I’ve been out to talk to soldiers and they deserve all the support they can get. I want to go out and teach this guy a lesson.”
“The guy can fight,” said Sylvia. “He’s a better fighter than he gets credit for. I don’t care for what he stands for but that doesn’t mean I’m not taking him seriously as an opponent.”
Speaking of Pat Miletich’s camp, Sherdog reports that Matt Hughes is considering retirement after finishing out his UFC contract. Real sentiments or leveraging his potential bargaining power to get more money per fight in the future?
Ivan Trembow has an update about ESPN’s attempts at banning UFC commercials.
Tito Ortiz will be in Texas today, making it unlikely that he will get face time on TV tonight for UFC’s event (unless it’s done via satellite).
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio: Episode 31
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2006
One guest. One name. Frank Shamrock. This week on Fight Opinion Radio.
Additional topics discussed on the show include: Mauro Ranallo leaving PRIDE, Kevin Randleman allegedly fails an NSAC drug test, plus the world-famous Grab Bag (including an explanation on why women love Emelianenko Fedor).
And, oh yeah, by the way… Mr. Shamrock says he would like to fight Vanderlei Silva. Listen to our interview to hear his reasons.
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Podcasting Links
- iTunes subscribers – click here.
- Yahoo Podcast subscribers – click here.
- Podcast Alley subscribers – click here.
The 31st 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, Japan, Jeff Thaler, Luke Nicholson, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Rob Sayers, UFC, WFA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Mauro Ranallo leaves PRIDE
By Zach Arnold | November 9, 2006
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The Fight Network reports that announcer Mauro Ranallo has left PRIDE in what Loretta Hunt indicates is a “re-organization of PRIDE’s Los Angeles offices in the coming weeks.”
Fight Report: PRIDE’s ship continues to sink as Ranallo bails out
MMA Toronto: Mauro Ranallo gone from PRIDE
On October 22nd, the day after PRIDE’s Las Vegas event, PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara stated on November 10th there would be an announcement in regards to PRIDE’s attempts to get on free network television in Japan for New Year’s Eve. This date was long-circled by many Japanese fight fans as an important date to find out whether or not PRIDE would rebound by getting a new TV deal. It’s November 10th right now, and there is no TV deal announced. This is called losing face, and in Japanese business culture losing face is a big deal. The five major free TV networks (TBS, Nippon TV, Fuji TV, TV-Asahi, and TV-Tokyo) are finalizing plans now for their New Year’s Eve programming. The longer any sort of announcement by PRIDE is delayed, the less likely it is they will be back on Japanese television.
“If they don’t get a deal for New Year’s Eve, it is a terrible sign for the organization.” — Dave Meltzer, 11/2/2006
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFN TUF Finale open-thread
By Zach Arnold | November 9, 2006
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Here’s the fight card line-up for this Saturday’s event that will air on Spike TV.
- Predict the TV rating that the show will draw on Spike TV (I pick 1.2).
- Make predictions for the main fights (or for all of them).
(Admin note: If you submit a comment to any of the threads and it doesn’t appear right away, do not be concerned. There is a delay right now.)
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday media round-up
By Zach Arnold | November 8, 2006
Will be updated all day long.
- Miami Herald: Serra to meet Lytle in Saturday’s The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback finale
- UFC HP: Travis Lutter back in the spotlight this Saturday
- New York Newsday: Can’t take the fight out of this Long Islander (Matt Serra)
- Houston Chronicle: IFL team competition to air throughout November on FSN & Rogers Sportsnet
- CNN Money: The ultimate fighting machines (this is the Business 2.0 article done on the Fertittas that claims UFC had lost nearly $34 million dollars by 2004)
- MMA HQ: Emelianenko Alexander coming to UFC?
- Houston Chronicle: Rich Franklin opens up about loss to Silva
- Marine Times: Ortiz will show up in Miramar after all – just off the base to host his own party (and here is Tito’s own press release about this)
- Miami Herald: Relationship between Spike TV and the UFC continues to produce big numbers
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
NHB News: PRIDE NYE show not on free TV
By Zach Arnold | November 7, 2006
That’s the report in Japanese. It appears that TV-Asahi will not air PRIDE programming on the network for New Year’s Eve. Burning Spirit has more details (in Japanese). The source that NHB News & Burning Spirit alludes to is a television industry magazine called The Television.
Further updates will be added to this post over the next few days.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
KID Yamamoto will not appear in New York
By Zach Arnold | November 7, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Sports Nippon newspaper is reporting that Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto will not appear at the NYAC Open on November 18th in New York. This was supposed to be a big event for Yamamoto to participate in for amateur wrestling as far as his hopes of making the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The newspaper report alludes to rumors that Yamamoto might be recovering from an injury and couldn’t make it. The paper claims that Yamamoto will participate in the All Japan championships in January. The big question is whether or not he will be able to participate on K-1’s 12/31 Osaka Dome show if he has to prepare for a big amateur event in January.
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |