Open (blogger) season
By Zach Arnold | July 22, 2006
Consider this post a call to all small or independent bloggers (not the big MMA sites) who want to get the word out about their online postings. I read a ton of sites on a daily basis to gather material for the page, but I am always looking to link to new content. Feel free to use this post as a chance to get the word out about your blog, specifically if you happen to do a write-up review of the WFA PPV taking place on Saturday night in Los Angeles. Post a comment with links or use the trackback link to link postings from your blog to this post. Please keep this spam-free. Thanks.
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
KID leaves MMA
By Zach Arnold | July 22, 2006
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto has left the world of MMA to return to wrestling. His sights are set for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (free-style wrestling), preparing to participate in the 60 kg. weight class. Yamamoto said that he decided to make this decision based on the fact that he is 29 years old and he feels this is his last chance to live out his dreams of being in the Olympics.
Kid will participate in the All Japan wrestling championships in November, and if he wins in that competition he will likely make it to the Olympic team.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
HERO’s 8/5 Tokyo card finalized
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2006
A press conference was held on Saturday to announce the participation of Kaoru Uno, Hiroyuki Takaya, and Hideo Tokoro for the Middleweight tournament (8/5 Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum event). Genki Sudo will not work the show due to injury (K-1 claims Sudo has a herniated disc, causing numbness in his left hand). Updated 8/5 Tokyo card line-up:
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kestutis Smirnovas (RINGS Lithuania)
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Kin Tai Ei (Seido Kaikan)
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Shungo Oyama vs. Rodrigo Gracie
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Carlos Newton vs. Melvin Manhoef
- Middleweight Tournament: Hideo Tokoro vs. Ivan Menjivar
- Middleweight Tournament: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. J.Z. Calvan (that’s what K-1 uses as the name for Gesias Cavalcanti)
- Middleweight Tournament: Kazuya Yasuhiro vs. Rani Yahira
- Middleweight Tournament: Kaoru Uno vs. Black Mamba
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The spam filter
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2006
For the last couple of weeks, the spam filters on the site have been working overtime to weed out bad trackbacks and spam disguised as comments (the drug companies and online gambling sites apparently love this site).
A word to everyone who posts a comment on this site – if you don’t use a valid e-mail address (that is yours) or other valid information, do not expect the filters to keep your posts on the site.
Topics: All Topics, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Quote of the day from Rampage
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2006
In an interview in The Long Beach Press-Telegram (discussing Quinton “Rampage” Jackson leaving PRIDE):
“I left at the right time,†Jackson said. “I think it has a lot to do with karma. They treat people bad. We are the show. The fighters are the show. You have to treat the fighters well. You have to keep the fighters happy and some of the people in PRIDE don’t do that. Now they lost their tv deal and can’t afford to pay their fighters. It’s bad karma for them.â€
The WFA media machine is in full effect today. Check it out.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, PRIDE, WFA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fight Opinion Radio: Episode 22 (The Return)
By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2006
We’re back (hopefully on a normal schedule) this week with a brand new Fight Opinion show, as the entire crew (Rob Sayers, Luke Nicholson, Erin Bucknell, and Zach Arnold) discuss the latest news stories in MMA. We have an overlook on the UFC vs. PRIDE interpromotional battle, a preview of the WFA Los Angeles PPV (which, sadly, was taped before Kimo was suspended), a review of UFC 61 and preview of upcoming UFC events, and a roundtable discussion (including topics such as the war between K-1 & Bob Sapp, and American legislation that could ban placing online bets for MMA fights).
The 22nd 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, Luke Nicholson, Media, MMA, podcasts, PRIDE, Rob Sayers, UFC, WFA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kimo pulled off of the WFA PPV
By Zach Arnold | July 20, 2006
By Zach Arnold
The WFA sent out a press release, stating that the California State Athletic Commission has notified them that Kimo failed a drug test (reportedly tested positive for Stanozolol).
This was easily the last big-money fight in Kimo’s MMA career, and now it is finished. Fight Report has more details.
Update: Sherdog reports that the WFA is scrambling to find an opponent for Mr. Rutten. This is completely unfair to Bas. They should forget about the idea of an MMA fight and come up with something else for him to do — such as an exhibition match (they have Bill Goldberg, why not Goldberg vs. Rutten) or even a pro-wrestling match (he did face Yuji Nagata and Koji Kanemoto in New Japan a few years ago).
Update II: Bas Rutten’s new opponent will be Ruben Villareal, whose last fight was in May against Don Frye.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, WFA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 61 Payouts
By Stephan | July 20, 2006
The following are the official pay outs from the UFC 61 “Bitter Rivals” pay-per view from July 8th. Keep in mind that a few, definitely Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, also received a percentage of the PPV sales profits.
- Tito Ortiz ($210,000) def. Ken Shamrock ($100,000)
- Tim Sylvia ($120,000) def. Andrei Arlovski ($90,000)
- Frank Mir ($56,000) def. Dan Christison ($5,000)
- Joe Stevenson ($24,000) def. Yves Edwards ($8,000)
- Jeff Monson ($20,000) def. Anthony Perosh ($3,000)
- Drew Fickett ($12,000) def. Kurt Pellegrino ($2,000)
- Josh Burkman ($10,000) def. Josh Neer ($6,000)
- Hermes Franca ($8,000) def. Joe Jordan ($4,000)
- Cheick Kongo ($6,000) def. Gilbert Aldana ($2,000)
Total fighter pay out: $676,000
Source www.MMANEWS.com.
Revenue: I have heard of around a 400,000 PPV buys, let me be conservative and estimate it at 300,000 with the UFC getting 50% of that, it translates to: $6 mil. For more on UFC PPV buys, read this here. For the actual live attendance, according to this generated a $3.3 million dollar live gate.
Total roughly $10 million, take out $1 mil for running the even and promotion, and you’re still looking at $9 mil
Let me preface this by saying that I really enjoy the UFC, but I wish it would be more generous with its fighters, like PRIDE. Why do you think the best fighters fight in Pride? Still is true today, but who knows for how long though.
I know the UFC keeps on saying that they have lost millions in the early years…And they should recover their cost and still make a decent profit. This is fightopinion and my opinion is that nobody should be fighting in the UFC for less than 5K anymore, that is actually damaging the UFC’s reputation.
Besides the fact that the UFC came close to save 23K on Frank Mir, anybody else see something wrong with this picture?
You think this is just an anomaly of this card? Check out these last few events as well:
UFC 58 Event which took place on March 4, 2006:
- Georges St. Pierre: $48,000 (defeated BJ Penn $25,000)
- Rich Franklin: $32,000 (defeated David Loiseau in main event $9,000)
- Nathan Marquardt: $30,000 (defeated Joe Doerksen $5,000)
- Tom Murphy: $10,000 (defeated Icho Larenas $3,000)
- Mike Swick: $10,000 (defeated Steve Vigneault $2,000)
- Spencer Fisher: $8,000 (lost to Sam Stout $4,000)
- Yves Edwards: $8,000 (lost to Mark Hominick $4,000)
- Rob Macdonald: $5,000 (lost to Jason Lambert)
- Jason Lambert: $4,000 (defeated Jason Macdonald)
Gross Totals: Fighter Payroll: $207,000 Event Revenue: $11 million
How about UFC 60 you say, that must have been expensive with Royce? UFC 60 Fighter Salaries Event which took place on May 27, 2006
- Royce Gracie: $400,000 (lost to Matt Hughes in main event $110,000)
- Jeremy Horn: $70,000 (defeated Chael Sonnen $5,000)
- Brandon Vera: $32,000 (defeated Assuerio Silva $8,000)
- Diego Sanchez: $24,000 (defeated John Alessio $3,000)
- Mike Swick: $14,000 (defeated Joe Riggs $12,000)
- Spencer Fisher: $14,000 (defeated Matt Wiman $3,000)
- Gabriel Gonzaga: $10,000 (defeated Fabiano Scherner $3,000)
- Melvin Guillard: $10,000 (defeated Rick Davis $2,000)
- Dean Lister: $10,000 (defeated Alessio Sakara $10,000)
Gross Totals: Fighter Payroll: $740,000 Event Revenue: $26 million (includes PPV revenue of $23 million; plus live gate of 2,900,090)
Total payout 740,000 and made 27 mil!!
My point? The UFC should pay the starting fighters a minimum of $5k as mentioned before. Second, great fighters like Rampage and Cro-cop should not be going to the WFA, but to the UFC. I understand why the WFA is trying to bring Co-cop in and I commend them for being able to put together an exciting card, even with legends and b-fighters. But really…who will be able to give Cro-cop a decent fight in the WFA? If Pride is losing momentum, the best fighters should be going to the UFC. If not, what is the U for in the UFC anymore? We know the UFC does have the money now, so do deliver us the best fighters!
Enough of my rant!
Topics: MMA, Stephan Marceau, UFC, WFA | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Mirko fighting in America?
By Zach Arnold | July 20, 2006
By Zach Arnold
The last 24 hours, MMA boards have been buzzing about comments that Mirko Cro Cop reportedly made in an interview regarding his future in fighting (specifically where he will fight). Read his comments here. In short, he said the following (I cleaned up the grammar):
JL: You have mentioned on many occasions that you would love to fight in America.
Mirko: I will fight there soon, maybe even this year in October. However, not in PRIDE or UFC but in another organization that has just started. Their offer is excellent and I’ll very likely accept it.
My thoughts: Given that Mirko does not fight for a low salary, it’s likely that the league that made an offer to him is the WFA. Mirko fights for no less than 6-digits USD, so it’s going to cost big money to bring him to America to fight. With that stated, this comment indicates a lot about the future of PRIDE. Ken Imai manages Mirko’s business in Japan, and Imai is no dummy. He is close to Sakakibara (PRIDE’s boss) and the fact that Mirko is looking to fight outside of PRIDE can be read many ways (specifically — the money is drying up fast). You can also read into Mirko’s comments that K-1 likely isn’t interested in bringing him back, which means that he has to start looking elsewhere for more options. The WFA might be his new home.
Update: Duke in the comments section indicates that the new suitor might be StrikeForce, which is promoted by Scott Coker… who is aligned with K-1. That would be a convenient marriage for K-1 — to keep Mirko away from PRIDE and be able to keep him away from PRIDE’s American plans by using a proxy group.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, PRIDE, WFA, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
HERO’s 8/5 Tokyo card line-up
By Zach Arnold | July 19, 2006
8/5 Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum (4 PM)
Network – Tokyo Broadcasting System
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kestutis Smirnovas (RINGS Lithuania)
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Kin Tai Ei (Seido Kaikan)
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Shungo Oyama vs. Rodrigo Gracie
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Carlos Newton vs. Melvin Manhoef
Kin Tai Ei fought in K-1 in the early 90s against opponents such as Orlando Wiet.
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WFA ‘King of the Streets’ – Preview and Analysis
By Al Yu | July 19, 2006
By Al Yu
Event Date: 07.22.06
Location: The Forum (Los Angeles, California)
Fight Card:
- Antonio McKee vs Adam Arredondo
- Jorge Oliveira vs Marvin Eastman
- Rob McCullough vs Harris Sarmiento
- Jason Miller vs Lodune Sincaid
- Ivan Salaverry vs Art Santore
- Ricco Rodriguez vs Ron Waterman
- Lyoto Machida vs Vernon White
- Bas Rutten vs Kimo Leopoldo
- Quinton Jackson vs Matt Lindland
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Al Yu, All Topics, MMA, WFA | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Gendai: Gackt associated with DSE owner
By Zach Arnold | July 19, 2006
By Zach Arnold
This week’s edition of Shukan Gendai has a top story in their magazine, claiming that popular Japanese music artist Gackt (through the office he is employed with) is associated with Mr. I (Ishizaka), the alleged yakuza owner of PRIDE who is rumoredly hiding in South Korea.
In short, attaching the name of Gackt to the PRIDE scandal is an attempt by the magazine to add juice to keep the story alive in the eyes of the public. In the article, it is noted that Gackt made an appearance at a PRIDE show a couple of years ago and the media was unexpectedly told that he was “a friend of Hidehiko Yoshida,” with the supposed real reason being that Gackt was at the show to see Ishizaka.
I will try to add details to this post as I thoroughly re-read the article again. (Thoughts from Japanese bloggers on the story can be found here, here, here, here, and here.)
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Media, PRIDE, Yakuza, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
WFA aims for pro-wrestling fans
By Zach Arnold | July 19, 2006
WFA President Jeremy Lappen comments:
“Pro wrestling’s audience is waning,” Lappen said. “I think boxing’s audience is waning. I think those people are still out there. They’re just looking for something else to watch. I think what they’re going to watch is this.”
The fighters don’t seem to mind the extra attention and appear more than willing to provide a colorful personality.
Here is an interview with Ryoto Machida, who is fighting on this weekend’s event.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |