Lifetime appointment: Keith Kizer’s job remains safe with Nevada politicos
By Zach Arnold | September 25, 2013
Image courtesy of @DukeOfFremont on Twitter
On Monday, Big John McCarthy stated the obvious when he ripped into Keith Kizer as a man who simply is clueless about combat sports. His comments backed up what we wrote about Kizer over the past week about the man’s job security and just who exactly is politically protecting him. I even made a prediction as to what kind of dog-and-pony show the five-person Nevada State Athletic Commission panel would present to keep Kizer in power.
My prediction turned out to be half-right. He’s keeping his job. What I didn’t expect is that there wouldn’t even be an attempt at a dog-and-pony show in the first place as a symbolic slap on the wrist for Keith Kizer.
At Wednesday’s Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting in Las Vegas, Chairman Bill Brady stated that fighter camps & promoters will be approached before big fights with pool lists of officials and will be given an opportunity to voice any displeasure with certain officials. (In other words, nothing has changed). Kizer was asked to provide pool lists and background information on officials he nominates into pool lists for the commissioners. Kizer, amusingly, told the commissioners that if they want information on the officials he books that they can go to Boxrec and check out the information themselves. Skip Avansino, who basically is treated as the don of the commission, said that he didn’t have time to go to Boxrec and wanted information supplied to him directly on officials. Brady said that the process Kizer has been using for selecting officials and notifying others about the process has been ‘somewhat sloppy.’ That was the only official criticism stated publicly on Wednesday.
Brady acknowledged a meeting the day before at the Nevada AG’s office in Las Vegas, which is next door to the NSAC office.
Kizer was asked for his pool list of officials for the Tim Bradley/Juan Manuel Marquez fight coming up in a couple of weeks. For referees, he listed three: Kenny Bayless, Robert Byrd, and Tony Weeks. His issues with Jay Nady continue. After listing a slew of judges, Kizer ended up selecting Byrd as the referee and judges which included Patricia Morse Jarman and Glenn Feldman. Kizer stated that JMM’s purse is $6 million USD and Tim Bradley’s purse is $4.1 million. Cameron Dunkin was called upon by the commission to voice any objections and none were voiced. Commissioner Francisco Aguilar asked Kizer why he doesn’t book foreign officials for top shows.
Keith Kizer’s job security remains unscathed. Marc Ratner, Skip Avansino, Lorenzo Fertitta, and Sig Rogich apparently won’t pull the plug on the guy and neither will the Attorney General or Governor offices. When Bob Arum rants and raves about the commission being controlled by Republicans, he’s actually telling the truth. It’s a very close-knit community and the political glue is Sig Rogich, a self-styled political fixer for Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush. Rogich is the classical political fixer who brings celebrities & pols to big fights and has a school named after him in Las Vegas. Rogich has lobbied the Nevada state legislature to legalize gay marriage & raise state taxes & increase immigration; he’s pretty much your classic Establishment Republican who has the ear of every state pol & wannabe pol nationally because of his public relations operation, Rogich Communications Group, and his background in advertising. So, while Bob Arum is right that Republicans controls the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he’s entirely wrong about Rogich being a racist if you look at his track record on immigration.
When it comes to advertising, Sig Rogich is a man whose claim to fame is coming up with the infamous Michael Dukakis “tank” campaign ad in 1988 despite Roger Ailes reportedly being involved in the process.
Mr. Rogich is the money man behind the World Series of Fighting, the unofficial bastard child of UFC & semi-stalking horse of Bellator. He is very close to the Zuffa family. He also is the former Chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Rogich and his allies have apparently decided that Keith Kizer isn’t enough of a political liability to stain their reputations. They’re wrong and eventually something horrible, like a death in the ring, will have to occur before they decide to pull the plug on what has been an embarrassing spectacle over the last seven years. The casinos are legitimately concerned about the reputation of the commission because they don’t want to lose activity for big fights at the sportsbooks. However, Rogich & Lorenzo & Ratner & Avansino apparently have no qualms about keeping Keith Kizer in place at the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
As one close Nevada insider stated, “What else did you think would happen? If [the political fixers] admit [Kizer] isn’t good enough, they have to get rid of him now. That doesn’t mean they won’t move him on if he continues to screw up but these guys are experts as how to handle all of this and Sig is one of the finest PR guys in the world for crisis management.”
Most PR firms tell their clients to publicly admit that they have a problem and then ask for public forgiveness. The political fixers that control the Nevada State Athletic Commission won’t even do that. Hell, they allegedly can’t even get Keith Kizer to attend yearly Assocation of Boxing Commission meetings.
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is Josh Barnett one win away from a heavyweight title shot?
By Zach Arnold | September 23, 2013
So far, we have six matches announced for the UFC 168 event on December 28th at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. A look at the card so far:
- Middleweights: Uriah Hall vs. Chris Leben
- Lightweights: Gleison Tibau vs. Michael Johnson
- Featherweights: Dustin Poirier vs. Diego Brandao
- Heavyweights: Josh Barnett vs. Travis Browne
- Women (135 pounds): Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate
- UFC Middleweight title match: Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva
With Jon Jones having a bruising battle against Alexander Gustafsson in Toronto at UFC 165, it’s clear that he’s not ready to make a move to Heavyweight. Which means that depth of quality heavyweights is non-existent at this point and it’s why UFC is rushing to sign a lot of new heavyweights who the company probably would have never considered booking in the past.
All of this leads to a situation that is prime for Josh Barnett, the wily veteran, to take advantage of. Despite his drug testing failures and business differences with the Zuffa empire, Barnett has the leverage in the business relationship right now and could gain even more leverage if he gets a win over Travis Browne. Browne is coming off a ballsy comeback performance in Boston against Alistair Overeem. Browne’s fight was on the same FS1 telecast as Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio Shogun, which means a whole lot of people watched the fight. And a whole lot of people are going to be watching the UFC 168 PPV as well. Weidman/Anderson is a pick ’em fight and Ronda is a 10-to-1 favorite over Tate.
As for Barnett, Jordan Breen says he’s a slight favorite… a very slight favorite.
“I still imagine Josh Barnett being able to get Travis Browne to the ground, even though I don’t think Josh Barnett is as good a wrestler as maybe as advertised sometimes. Barnett just isn’t a good outside wrestler, he’s not a guy with a power-double, he doesn’t maul guys to the ground. He basically has to punch his way in, get there, and then find ways to get leverage inside, trip guys to the canvas. Nothing wrong with that, just a tough order against Travis Brown who’s a big, athletic guy. He’s not just some lumbering 6’7″, 6’8” idiot. This is a guy that’s got some real athletic acumen, has slimmed down, is more aerodynamic and can do some different stuff in there. And we know that he’s not just going to submit to the odds, take a beating and crumble and die. Otherwise, Alistair Overeem would have beaten him. Travis Browne, when he came back, put a teep in his face.
“I still feel like Barnett probably deserves a little early favoritism. I see a lot of clinching, I think Barnett tries to smother him, take that reach away. Barnett’s a clever guy and I think he’ll do a good job of that but the question is how much offense can he actually rack up? Because we’ve seen some Josh Barnett fights historically, can’t get a guy to the ground, end up clinching along the fence, the ropes, and it’s not the most appetizing look and more than that, Travis Browne is someone that can actually hit hard and do some things close inside. I wouldn’t want to get caught with a Travis Browne knee to the face, to be sure. So, I favor Josh Barnett.
“The other part of the question is if he won, is he getting a title shot? I think so. How many other heavyweight options do you have? We’re going to have Cain Velasquez & Junior Dos Santos fight for a third time. That’ll be over. Daniel Cormier’s still got his eye on 205 pounds and he’s not going to fight Cain Velasquez, so short of JDS pulling it off in the third fight surprising people again, that ain’t going to happen. Who else is there? Fabricio Werdum? I mean, I have… I think Fabricio Werdum has shown his worth as a MMA heavyweight time and time again. I’d love to see him get that fight. If it means that him and Barnett have to do some kind of title eliminator, cool, but that’s really it. That’s the only other really feasible competition he has for a heavyweight title shot right now.
“This isn’t true just of Josh Barnett. I mean, I don’t think that his past with Dana White being prickly and, you know, saying some unsavory things about him in public in the past is going to hurt him based on the fact that they just need guys to fight for the heavyweight title. They love Cain Velasquez, they want to push him. You always want interesting challengers, worthwhile challengers for your champion. There’s just no one else. After the JDS/Velasquez III fight, it’s pretty much Browne, Barnett, Werdum, or bust. Stipe Miocic isn’t there as a contender quite yet. I mean, who are the UFC’s other prospects? I don’t know, maybe Shawn Jordan really gets it all together and turns into the guy but I’m not seeing it. There’s not that many options and when you don’t have that many options, it forces your hand. Josh Barnett, even if he was still publicly miserable to Dana White, if he went out and performed against Travis Browne in the worst case scenario, the very worst, title eliminator and I still don’t think that happens because we often talk about, ‘well, what if we do a title eliminator in this situation? what if we do a title eliminator in that situation?’ and the reputation of it or the shooting down of the idea is typically, ‘well, if we do that, we only have one contender where we used to have two.’ If there’s any division where that is always going to stand up where that’s going to always be a factor where you’re always going to have to consider how important it is to have two contenders instead of one, heavyweight’s going to be the division. It’s going to be one lacking depth and more than that you get a guy like Cain Velasquez who comes on the scene, rolls strong, beats up a lot of good guys fast… there’s not as many clear answers.”
How would you set the odds for the Barnett/Browne fight if you were an oddsmaker?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 165 made everyone’s head explode – Jon Jones retains title by unanimous decision
By Zach Arnold | September 21, 2013
Click the image to view the now infamous UFC 165 ad that stole the show
The judge who scored Jon Jones 49-46 over Alexander Gustafsson was Chris Lee. Richard Bertrand & Doug Crosby were 48-47 each.
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) September 22, 2013
Event: UFC 165 (Saturday, September 21st from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
TV: Fox Sports 2/Fox Sports 1/PPV
- Heavyweights: Daniel Omielanczuk defeated Nandor Guelmino in R3 in 3’18 by KO.
- Bantamweights: Alex Caceres defeated Roland Delorme after 3R by split decision.
- Welterweights: Michel Prazeres defeated Jesse Ronson after 3R by split decision.
- Lightweights: John Makdessi defeated Renee Forte in R1 in 2’01 by KO.
- Bantamweights: Mitch Gagnon defeated Dustin Kimura in R1 in 4’05 by submission with a choke sleeper hold.
- Welterweights: Stephen Thompson defeated Chris Clements in R1 in 1’27 by TKO from punches.
- Bantamweights: Wilson Reis defeated Ivan Menjivar after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Myles Jury defeated Mike Ricci after 3R by split decision.
- Lightweights: Khabib Nurmagomedov (-250, 5 to 2 favorite) defeated Pat Healy (+200) after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Francis Carmont (+160) defeated Costa Philippou (-200, 2 to 1 favorite) after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Heavyweights: Brendan Schaub (EVEN) defeated Matt Mitrione in R1 in 4’06 with a choke.
- Bantamweights: Renan Barao (-600, 6 to 1 favorite) defeated Eddie Wineland (+450) in R2 in 35 seconds by TKO.
- UFC Light Heavyweight title match: Jon Jones (-750) defeated Alexander Gustafsson (+600) after 5R by unanimous decision to retain the title (48-47, 48-47, 49-46). A judge gave Jones four rounds!
Outside of UFC 165, Anthony Pettis vs. Josh Thomson is now booked because TJ Grant is recovering from a concussion. Move makes sense in that Thomson is a regional guy and will help out some ticket sales at Arco Arena in Sacramento. There’s a vocal group of fans suggesting Pettis vs. Aldo in a title vs. title match for the Fox broadcast but Pettis looking strong on network television is not a bad thing, either.
Only minor headache for UFC here is that Thomson will attract some political heat for the organization because of his prior comments about gay marriage.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 54 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What to expect at next Wednesday’s dog & pony show with Keith Kizer
By Zach Arnold | September 20, 2013
Keith Kizer in the corner of Cyborg's opponent, expressing concern. Since when did he start giving a shit about fighters?
— Paul Lazenby (@MaulerMMA) September 21, 2013
$20M live gate & 2.2M PPV buys for Mayweather/Canelo. Can't wait for Keith Kizer next Wed. to use it to try to save his job. @MMASupremacy
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) September 20, 2013
The early estimates for the Floyd Mayweather/Canelo Alvarez PPV are extraordinary. 2.2 million PPV buys, a $20 million dollar gate at MGM, and over $2 million in closed circuit TV revenue. Plus, 22 million television viewers in Mexico watched the fight. In today’s languishing economy, these numbers are staggering and vindicate all the business decisions being made in Mayweather’s camp.
Which is why I highly suspect that Keith Kizer, the Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, will attempt to use the figures in an attempt to save his job by claiming that he somehow is partly responsible for the fight’s big business.
It’s time for Skip Avansino, Sig Rogich, Bill Brady, and Bob Arum to pick up the phone and make the call to get Kizer fired. Keith Kizer is a political liability. He’s not respected by any of the major fight promoters. They know it or are at least starting to come to the realization that he makes them look bad. If you’re a fight fan or industry insider and want to see Keith Kizer get fired, don’t make a case based on morality or superficial respect. Make the case to the powers-that-be that it’s in their best self-interests to remove him from power. Appeal to their id that it’s in their best interests to get rid of the guy.
Keith Kizer’s track record over the last seven years has been absolutely lousy. However, why is his job in jeopardy? Because he made the political fixers and the casino bosses look bad with the Cynthia Ross judge booking. The regulators in Las Vegas are always going to be accused, to a degree, of being corrupt. If you’re going to be accused of being corrupt, then at least make sure that your critics don’t accuse you of incompetence or the appearance of incompetence. By defending Cynthia Ross after the Mayweather/Canelo fight, Kizer put a big bright media spotlight on what we’ve known all along in terms of his incompetence & tone-deafness. He’s being accused of being corrupt and accused of incompetence. That’s the kind of double whammy that’s simply untenable to the power brokers. Kizer’s not very competent as a public relations spinster. He loves to pick fights and alienate potential allies. He’s also not competent in terms of recruiting and attracting business to his state. Most importantly to the powers-that-be, he’s not very good at making the commission look qualified with the officials he books for fights.
If you’re going to be a front man that pretends to be the Godfather of regulators, act more like Tom Hagen and less like Fredo Corleone.
Keith Kizer’s biggest blunder for maintaining job security was defending Cynthia Ross. He went a bridge too far and allowed his enemies the opportunity to go after him with vigor because it’s politically safe to do so. Kizer’s made many enemies over the years but lots of scribes bit their tongue because who is really interested in reading a bunch of anti-Kizer screeds? Once Kizer gave an opening, game on. In our article five days ago about Keith Kizer’s job security, we noted how he is prone to spending plenty of time on boxing & MMA message boards rather than, say, accomplishing productivity at the office.
Ask yourself the following: if Keith Kizer was fired tomorrow from the commission, would the amount of revenue the commission takes in from shows really change? Of course not. He has zero positive impact on business affairs. The way Marc Ratner molded Nevada’s commission basically makes it easy to run on auto-pilot as long as you don’t massively screw up paperwork. Why do you think Keith Kizer sits on his ass and goes on boxing & MMA message boards and web sites every day? He has time to kill while drawing a paycheck he simply doesn’t have to do much work for.
Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal just happened to make a similar point about Kizer in his latest column. Graney says that Kizer gave him a sermon about taking pleasure in writing negative things (about topics like UNLV football). Don’t worry, Ed, you’re not the only one wondering why Keith has so much free time. It’s easy to have free time when other states are poaching some shows from your calendar to fill their event calendars. What’s next, Kizer disguising his voice in order to be a regular caller on Steve Cofield’s excellent ESPN 1100 AM radio show?
Next Wednesday’s dog-and-pony show
The other day, I wrote an article stating that it was intervention time for Sig Rogich, Skip Avansino, and other politicos to step in and remove Keith Kizer from the commission. They have the power to make the call and it would self their best interests to do so. Every day that passes that Kizer remains in power, the worse they look to the general public. Kizer’s poor performance will be viewed as poor political performance on their behalf.
Next Wednesday in Las Vegas at 3 PM local time, Keith Kizer will assign officials to work the Tim Bradley/Juan Manuel Marquez fight. An award for great timing considering that Cynthia Ross, as a judge, scored the Bradley/Pacquiao fight in favor of TB and Marquez would go on to KO Pacquiao. The chickens are coming home to roost.
The predictable move from politicos like Bill Brady & Skip Avansino is to put on a front for the media attending by making it look as if Keith Kizer will endure this horrible scrutiny that will force him to sweat a bit. A dog-and-pony show, in other words. It’ll give the commission members, who do not run the day-to-day operations, a chance to look tough in public. It would be easy to do. It would also not be a good long-term move in the self-interests of those who really wield power.
The correct move from the politicos would be to announce a vote of no-confidence for Keith Kizer and to grease the wheels for removal behind-the-scenes. When the meeting starts at 3 PM, it will start out with a session for public comment. That means anyone can show up, if they so desire, and basically have a couple of minutes to say what they want about commission affairs. Most people are not going to take time off of work to attend a commission meeting but all it takes is one person to actually show up and address the elephant in the room while pointing out why the guy is a political liability. Kizer is vulnerable right now and only one person needs to make the case in an eloquent manner to tell the politicians that the guy’s days should be numbered. It would have more impact if a fighter, active or retired, made such remarks.
Grant Sawyer State Office Building
555 East Washington Avenue, Suite 3200, 3rd Floor
Las Vegas, NV 89101
555 E WASHINGTON AVE STE 3200
LAS VEGAS NV 89101-1066
I suspect at least one television camera will be at the meeting. If you’re a Vegas local, it’s now-or-never to push the weakened Kizer out of office. Showing up is half the battle. Convincing the powers-that-be that it’s in their best political interests to ditch the guy is the other half.
Prediction: Keith Kizer will announce what has already been reported, which is a seminar for officials next month in Las Vegas. Amusing that Kizer, who’s never worked as a judge, will find a way to remain the selector of officials. There will laughingly be a “sub-committee’ created amongst the 5 members to work with Kizer on picking officials and creating an unofficial list of criteria that officials must be compatible with. In other words, a bunch of public relations spin.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Intervention time: Keith Kizer in self-presevation mode after Cynthia Ross exits
By Zach Arnold | September 18, 2013
As with every scandal in today’s 24/7 news cycle, we have the general pattern: scandal happens, mea culpa or excuse, fighting over response, and then basic ‘we’ll investigate’ or ‘we’ll fix the problem’ response. Then the audience tunes away from the story and moves onto something else.
We know what happened with judge Cynthia Ross scoring the Mayweather/Canelo fight a 114-114 draw. Ross butchered the score for the Tim Bradley/Manny Pacquiao fight. I knew that as soon as she scored Mayweather/Canelo a draw, all the attention would go on her. It’s a fool’s errand. The real culprit is Keith Kizer and everyone, deep down, knows it. Kizer, in the past, has always defended his officials and judges — partially to create loyalty and partially because he has always figured that blowing off the critics was easy to do and that his job security was always in tact.
Then came Saturday night… and Sunday afternoon… and Kizer was defending Ross as a judge. Even the best con men discover that one cover-up too many can bite you in the ass. Rather than diffusing the situation and taking the heat off of his booking of judges, Kizer says what he always does in these kinds of controversies and defended Ross by blaming the 10-point must system. And in the process, Kizer exposed himself for others who held their fire back in the past to go after him this time because there was nothing to lose.
Realizing that his job security actually is at risk this time around, Kizer embraced a scenario where Ross would take an ‘indefinite leave of absence’. The whole thing is a farce. Keith Kizer is the man who runs the operation and has ran the ship since Marc Ratner left to go work for UFC. It doesn’t always mean that he is in total control, however.
In addition to embracing the departure of Ross, Kizer is claiming that he will hold a seminar for judges & officials either next month or in November in Las Vegas. A seminar. Talk about the blind leading the blind. If you have no leader and no leadership, then it’s useless. Kizer hopes that this sales pitch will cause the media to back off of him and relieve some of the public outcry.
Now is not the time to stay silent.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Shayna Baszler says Ronda Rousey is giving her advice on dealing with the spotlight
By Zach Arnold | September 17, 2013
Last week’s edition of The Ultimate Fighter was great television. I still believe that the show in general has outlived its usefulness and that the shelf life is pretty much done. On Spike or FX, that would be a correct assertion. However, given the low ratings that Fox Sports 1 attracts, The Ultimate Fighter is going nowhere and will be around for a long time because drawing a 0.7 on FS1 makes FS1 happy. When Fox is happy, UFC is happy.
Everyone, except maybe the participants involved, was happy with last week’s show. It was high drama, both real and scripted. It was 60 minutes of Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler bragging about what was going to happen against Miesha Tate fighter Julianna Pena. In round one of the fight, Baszler pretty much got close to scoring a 10-8 round. In round two, it was a different story. As Mike Tyson famously stated, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Pena ended up submitting Baszler and shocked everyone.
With that context in mind, Shayna Baszler’s radio interview with Sherdog on Monday was really interesting to listen to. Shayna explained why things went south in round two of her TUF fight.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Keith Kizer’s job security
By Zach Arnold | September 15, 2013
It was an interesting weekend for combat sports. Bellator had their Spike TV telecast from Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. The biggest note coming out of that show was this:
For those wondering, Viacom reportedly slots $50-60k per Bellator Spike show. Not very much money. @mmasupremacy @dilletaunt
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) September 15, 2013
To put this into perspective, consider the following:
@FightOpinion @Chris81203 At 60k a show & 26 shows that's $1.5 mil a year or around 1/5 what Showtime paid for SF & 1/60 FOX is paying UFC
— John S. Nash (@heynottheface) September 15, 2013
What the news indicates is what a lot of Bellator’s critics have stated: Viacom wanted to get back into the MMA space but on the cheap and now that the margins are tight, the U-turn to hit PPV with Rampage vs. Tito is the result of more or less an all-or-nothing gamble. Either Bellator’s going to start making money or else it’s going nowhere fast.
But at least Bellator didn’t have a prescription drug scandal at their event like WSOF did in New Jersey on Saturday night. WSOF had a rather mundane fight with Andrei Arlovski beating Mike Kyle by unanimous decision (bad call) and a splendid real-life Ric Flair flop with Rolles Gracie delaying the inevitable collapse to the cage canvas after Derrick Mehman knocked the poor guy out.
However, a prescription drug scandal mix-up cancelling a WSOF fight was nowhere near as bad of a hiccup as what went down in Nevada for the judging of the Floyd Mayweather/Canelo Alvarez fight. Nick Lembo, as you would expect, came off as a professional while Keith Kizer came off like a clown in Las Vegas.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Mastering social media marketing on Twitter to sell Floyd/Canelo PPV buys
By Zach Arnold | September 12, 2013
The trend is your friend. So is having everyone parrot your PPV sales pitch, whether they get paid or not to do it. Celebrities & athletes with a whole lot of followers.
RT if you are ordering the fight tonight — http://t.co/okOp5VIToG — #TMT
— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) September 13, 2013
Notice a trend? You will now.
Got the Mayweather Vs. Canelo fight ordered and ready to go, @FloydMayweather. Go here http://t.co/x2m34mDYQZ & order #TheOne.
— Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) September 13, 2013
The @FloydMayweather fight has been Ordered! Hard Work – Dedication! Go here http://t.co/6nHXbn5n9L & order #TheOne.
— Mike Trout (@Trouty20) September 13, 2013
Fight ordered! @FloydMayweather vs Canelo. Got my party set! Who got the Champ with me ? Go here http://t.co/ghoDLqFoE3 n order #TheOne
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 13, 2013
Gotta watch the best in boxing my homie @FloydMayweather do his thing on saturday! Order the fight here http://t.co/Cdyn9gDVoi #TheOne
— Rodney Jerkins (@RodneyJerkins) September 13, 2013
Just ordered the @FloydMayweather vs. @caneloOficial fight. It's going down Saturday night! Go here http://t.co/SCq6c0o8xc & order #TheOne
— FLO RIDA (@official_flo) September 13, 2013
Don't wait last min!!! Make sure you get the @FloydMayweather fight ready to go. Order it here http://t.co/P53UGQKjhd #TheOne.
— JALEN ROSE (@JalenRose) September 13, 2013
Fight ordered for saturday. Ready to see my big bro @FloydMayweather go in!! #themoneyteam. Go here! http://t.co/O0ZZ3gpcc6
— Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) September 13, 2013
Got the Floyd Mayweather fight ordered and ready to go, @FloydMayweather. Go here http://t.co/j7cxx4sk0m & order #TheOne.
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) September 13, 2013
Y'all order my little brother @FloydMayweather fight early. Go here to do so and watch the G.O.A.T do work http://t.co/hTkYaygiLG.
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) September 13, 2013
Ready for that action, go get it. Don't wait to order the @FloydMayweather fight Go to http://t.co/1OOk5duDyp
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) September 13, 2013
Shoutout my homie @FloydMayweather go here http://t.co/90JkOVad3G and order his fight on PPV. I'll be there to support the CHAMP. #TMT #MMG
— Paul George (@Paul_George24) September 13, 2013
GO ordered the @FloydMayweather vs. @caneloOficial fight. It's goin down Saturday night! Go here http://t.co/1OVDRSBzD5 & order #TheOne #TMT
— M A L L Y M A L L (@MallyMall7777) September 13, 2013
At least one person asked the obvious…
@MarkJackson13 question for you coach, did shotime incentivize you in any way to say this or just a coincidence?
— Bobby Isaacson (@bobbyisaacson) September 13, 2013
Perhaps the UFC & Fox may take a page from this marketing playbook for future shows.
If you’re curious about the financing of the Floyd Mayweather/Canelo Alvarez fight, check out Jonathan Snowden’s article about Golden Boy & Showtime having to come up with $60 million dollars to pay the two fighters by Monday. What’s also interesting to note from the article is the discussion about Golden Boy running 100 fights a year and how volume is where they make money on the margins. That’s topical given the recent news about the TV tax situation in California.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
ESPN laments boxing’s future with no union while praising UFC (with no union)
By Zach Arnold | September 11, 2013
I'm happy MMA sites cover boxing whenever a big fight comes around. I'm happier boxing sites don't return the favor.
— Ryan Bivins (@sweetboxing) September 11, 2013
It’s fight week for a big boxing bout and you know what that means… really awkard media banter about boxing’s future, boxing vs. MMA, and boxing fans going after MMA fans online because Floyd is making a lot of money.
I don’t know how or why it came to this, but it has.
According to Richard Schaefer, @directv has reported sales of #TheOne are at levels they were on Friday for Mayweather-Cotto. That did 1.5m
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) September 10, 2013
1.5 million PPV buys. 2 million PPV buys. Whatever the number is, it will easily eclipse anything UFC has presented this year. So, why the rush to bury the fight? Mayweather is edging towards 3-to-1 status, which is closer than previous contests he has had. Certainly moreso than the fight with Robert Guerrero. Chris Mannix, the Sports Illustrated & NBC Sports Network guy who hinted that there could have been a fix in the Anderson Silva/Chris Weidman fight, says that hyperbole has run amuck for Canelo Alvarez. Floyd Mayweather Sr. says that Canelo is not as good as Cotto. Not sure why that made headlines, but it did. Here’s a Deadspin article on the making of the Canelo myth.
And then there’s the whole “boxing is dying” meme that Floyd Mayweather addressed recently.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Bellator, Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Juanito Ibarra goes to court to order Rampage Jackson’s cooperation in deposition
By Zach Arnold | September 10, 2013
Remember the defamation lawsuit John “Juanito” Ibarra filed against Tito Ortiz (and many others) in June of 2009? Rampage Jackson apparently remembers and, according to court documents filed last month, allegedly isn’t being very cooperative in the discovery & deposition process.
The lawsuit (BC415273), filed in Superior Court of Los Angeles County, has a show cause hearing next week. On Halloween, there is a drop date dead for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to produce documents asked for by Ibarra’s attorney, Sam Smith, and also to give a deposition that supposedly has been put off for several months after multiple requests. In other words, the motion to compel & sanctions filing. The irony, of course, is that Rampage and Tito are fighting each other in Bellator, were friends but are now enemies in TNA, and are co-defendants in Juanito Ibarra’s lawsuit. A small world.
On June 5th, 2009, Ibarra filed the instant lawsuit against Defendant Ortiz and his company Punishment Athletic Enterprises (“PAE”) and numerous media outlets alleging, inter alia, causes of action for defamation, invasion of privacy (false light), intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
While the lawsuit is filed against Ortiz, Rampage Jackson is a key defendant. The lawsuit lists a ton of defendants (here are a few for example): Yahoo Inc, The Hearst Corporation, Punishment Athletics, Punch Drunk Gamer, Kris Karkoski, Houston Chronicle, Sam Caplan (Bellator matchmaker), Cage Potato, Break Media, Bloody Elbow, and Ballhype.
On July 20, 2010, media defendant Punch Drunk Gamer objected to discovery moving forward pending resolution of its appeal. The Court again stayed all discovery in the case. Since that stay, discovery in this litigation has been repeatedly stayed as a result of anti-SLAPP motions and pending appeals. On May 1, 2013, the Court of Appeal issued its remittur in the most recent appeal, at which time discovery could continue.
If no settlement is reached, a tentative jury trial date would be next Spring/Summer. We’re probably looking at another 8-10 months at least in waiting time, probably 14-16 months more likely.
Filing notes
From the Points and Authorities:
This is a straightforward motion to compel Defendant Quinton Ramone Jackson (“Jackson”), the original publisher of libelous statements made of and concerning Plaintiff JOHN IBARRA (“Plaintiff”), to sit for his duly noticed deposition. Although Defendant Jackson continues to make time to speak to media outlets to make defamatory remarks about Plaintiff, Mr. Jackson refuses to make time to attend his deposition.
Mr. Jackson has failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse, to provide a single date that Mr. Jackson and his counsel are willing to appear. After making false and defamatory comments about Plaintiff, Defendant Jackson should be eager to testify about the purported true facts supporting disparaging statements about Plaintiff.
Next, the requests for documents & deposition:
On May 23, 2013, Plaintiff served Defendant Jackson with a deposition notice and document requests.
On June 7, 2013, Defendant served boilerplate and deficient responses to Plaintiff’s Notice.
On June 10, 2013, Samuel J. Smith (“Smith”), Plaintiff’s counsel, sent an email to counsel for Defendant Jackson, seeking to obtain alternative dates for Defendants Jackson to sit for his duly noticed deposition. Therein, Mr. Smith explained that Mr. Jackson failed and refused to appear for deposition in response to a properly served deposition notice. Mr. Smith informed counsel for Jackson that in order to avoid filing of a motion to compel seeking appropriate sanctions, he needed to receive dates of availability for counsel and Mr. Jackson to appear for deposition. Mr. Smith also noted that Mr. Jackson’s solitary objection to the entirety of the request for production of documents was improper.
Mr. Smith received no response to his June 10, 2013, effort to meet and confer with Mr. Jackson’s counsel.
On August 1, 2013, Mr. Smith renewed his efforts to meet and confer with Mr. Jackson’s counsel, via email. Mr. Smith again explained that he wished to avoid a motion to compel and needed alternative dates from Mr. Jackson’s counsel.
On August 2, 2013, Defendant’s counsel explained that he had relayed the need for alternative dates to this client, but had not received a response.
On August 5, 2013, Mr. Smith again sought dates from Defendant and his counsel, but Defendant’s counsel was apparently unable to provide such dates, instead offering to “work out” an extension. Mr. Smith’s subsequent email and telephone call to work out such an arrangement went unreturned by Defendant’s counsel.
Whether Mr. Jackson’s refusal to make himself available for his deposition is the result of gamesmanship or a failure to take the legal process seriously, the Court should not countenance his ongoing conduct.
Conclusion:
Plaintiff’s request is simple: he should be permitted to take the depositions of the original speaker of false and defamatory allegations at the core of this litigation. Despite all efforts to avoid bringing a matter as trivial as scheduling before the Court, Plaintiff has been left with no other option. This Court should not permit a party to refuse to appear for deposition and subsequently refuse to agree to appear at a mutually-convenient time. The court should order Defendant Jackson to produce all documents responsive to Plaintiff’s requests accompanying the notice and to appear for deposition within ten (10) days of the order.
With Halloween as the drop dead date for Jackson to cooperate with Ibarra’s side on document production & deposition, the clock is ticking. Once the depositions start, that is when the real fun begins. Quinton doesn’t strike me as someone who I would be very comfortable with getting grilled hour after hour in a law office as a lawyer is setting him up for a line of questioning with documentation to fall into a trap of his own making. Just an opinion.
Rampage apparently has no trouble flying to wherever TNA and Bellator wants him to go. I don’t think a judge will look very favorably at him not cooperating with a deposition request.
Since the filing last month, nothing has allegedly changed in terms of response from Rampage’s side.
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
California State Athletic Commission denying athletic inspectors travel compensation
By Zach Arnold | September 10, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
Last October, I wrote an extensive article regarding a U-turn from the Department of Consumer Affairs regarding the way they pay athletic inspectors. When DCA went all-in in ousting George Dodd from his position as Executive Officer of the California State Athletic Commission, one of the major reasons they dumped all over him in the press is because of an exploding budget. And one of the major contributing factors to that exploding budget was the way athletic inspectors were booked for shows throughout the state.
The protocol for paying athletic inspectors: non-state employees got paid a certain wage per hour plus travel & mileage expenses. Full-time state employees working as inspectors got time-and-a-half for wages. According to California’s Labor Code, athletic inspectors for the AC are considered permanent intermittent state employees.
After ousting Dodd from his position as E.O., the Department of Consumer Affairs decided to get a bogus legal opinion from CalHR claiming that DCA no longer needed to pay time-and-a-half to full-time state employees and that it was no longer necessary to pay athletic inspectors for travel/mileage expenses. On top of that, DCA ordered inspectors to sign documents stating that they agreed to this new policy or else they weren’t going to work. When DCA attempted to implement this scheme, I tore apart the legality of it by actually citing state legal opinions & case law.
One of the weasel tricks used by Consumer Affairs and their state brethren in going after the athletic inspectors was to hide behind the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), which is federal law. Unlike most federal laws where they trump state law in court, the FLSA was meant as a floor and not a ceiling for labor rights. If a state, such as California, has more generous labor laws protecting workers then those state laws trump federal law in court. The higher standard prevails.
So, what’s changed?
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Promoters bracing for higher taxes from the California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | September 8, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
Amidst the good news of UFC running Arco Arena for a Saturday, December 14th Fox network broadcast event, some interesting developments are brewing for promoters in the Golden State.
The tabloid stories about kid’s Pankration in California and the lingering media scandal has set the stage for Assembly Bill 1186. AB 1186 would give the California State Athletic Commission power in overseeing such fights. This has made parents involved in kid’s Pankration extremely unhappy.
The current state of financial affairs for CSAC is tenuous. The commission currently has about $300,000 in the bank and is slotted for $1.2M a year from the Governor’s Budget for the foreseeable future. That means margins are extremely tight, given the volume of shows in the State and how much geography there is to cover. One mistake and the budget can blow up in a hurry.
With financial constraints at the forefront, Sacramento politicians at the Capitol are readying for a modification of the athletic commission’s current tax structure & enforcement policies. One look at the state House’s Sunset Bill, which would extend CSAC’s future for two years, lays out what changes are coming.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bring on Anthony Pettis vs. Jose Aldo, title vs. title?
By Zach Arnold | August 31, 2013
Just an observation… a number of Zuffa staff, including Dana, are very upset with the Barnett/Mir stoppage. It was good IMO #mma #ufc
— MMA Supremacy (@MMASupremacy) September 1, 2013
Fucking ridiculous stoppage!!!! The guys with experience make mistakes. That guy had no business being in the Co Main event!
— Dana White (@danawhite) September 1, 2013
You know the bad blood still exists with Dana and Barnett when Dana's bitching about the referee stoppage against Mir. Love this dynamic.
— FightOpinion (@FightOpinion) September 1, 2013
Pettis as UFC lightweight champ is better for UFC than Henderson. Finisher. Charismatic. Killer.
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) September 1, 2013
Also, remember when all these dorks were talking about the guard being dead in MMA? UFC 155 title was just won with an armbar from guard.
— Jordan Breen (@jordanbreen) September 1, 2013
Events: UFC 164 (Saturday, August 31st at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
TV: Fox Sports 1/PPV
- Middleweights: Magnus Cedenblad defeated Jared Hamman in R1 in 57 seconds by submission (choke).
- Lightweights: Al Iaquinta defeated Ryan Couture after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Heavyweights: Soa Palelei defeated Nikita Krylov in R3 in 1’34 by TKO.
- Bantamweights: Chico Camus defeated Kyung Ho Kang after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Welterweights: Hyun Gyu Lim defeated Pascal Krauss in R1 in 3’58 by TKO.
- Flyweights: Tim Elliott defeated Louis Gaudinot after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Gleison Tibau defeated Jamie Varner after 3R by split decision.
- Featherweights: Dustin Poirier defeated Erik Koch after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Ben Rothwell defeated Brandon Vera in R3 in 1’54 by TKO.
- Featherweights: Chad Mendes defeated Clay Guida in R3 in 30 seconds by TKO (punches).
- Heavyweights: Josh Barnett defeated Frank Mir in R1 in 1’56 by TKO.
- UFC Lightweight title match: Anthony Pettis defeated Ben Henderson in R1 in 4’31 by arm-bar.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |