Another victory for MMA
By Zach Arnold | March 30, 2006
Special to Fight Opinion
The explosion of MMA continues to grow to broader areas by the day. The revolution of the combat sport has now blasted its way into the fringe market of Nova Scotia and is looking to strike briskly over the rest of the Maritimes (Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick). With the April 29th Extreme Cage Combat card being held at the Halifax Forum, the building is locked into a contact with promoter Peter Martell. However, there was great uncertainty amongst the promoters about any possible future events in the city. Councilor Bob Harvey set forth a motion to ban the fight genre from the myriad of fight fanatics in the Metro area. The Halifax Regional Municipality voted in favor for Peter Martell and Rob Walker, with a one-sided tally vote of 19-3 against the proposed ban.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Canada, Media, MMA | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 4/29 Las Vegas card line-up
By Zach Arnold | March 30, 2006
The promotion held a press conference in Japan to announce matches for their 4/29 Las Vegas show at the Grand Ballroom in the Mirage Hotel & Casino. Musashi vs. Semmy Schilt and Choi Hong-Man vs. The Predator were announced. Card line-up (in no specific order):
- Musashi vs. Semmy Schilt
- Glaube Feitosa vs. Ruslan Karaev
- Choi Hong-Man vs. The Predator
- US GP Tournament Reserve Match: Scott Lighty vs. Alexander Pitchkounov
- US GP Tournament Match A: Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge vs. Kengo (Watanabe)
- US GP Tournament Match B: Stefan Leko vs. Dewey Cooper
- US GP Tournament Match E: Goodridge/Kengo winner (A) vs. Leko/Cooper winner (B)
- US GP Tournament Match C: Carter Williams vs. Yusuke Fujimoto
- US GP Tournament Match D: Chalid “Die Faust” Arrab vs. Sean O’Haire
- US GP Tournament Match F: Williams/Fujimoto winner (C) vs. Arrab/O’Haire winner (D)
- US GP Tournament Match G (Finals): Winner of E vs. Winner of F
Topics: All Topics, K-1, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Yoshida & Kohsaka announced for 5/5 Osaka Dome GP
By Zach Arnold | March 29, 2006
Photo credit: Livedoor Sports
By Zach Arnold
DSE announced that Emelienanko Fedor, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Vanderlei Silva, Mark Hunt, Josh Barnett, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, & Hidehiko Yoshida would participate in their 2006 Open-Weight tournament, which starts on 5/5 at the Osaka Dome.
The timing of the announcement is curious, as it was done three days before the Bushido 10 show. Second, Nobuhiko Takada was the public face during the announcement. DSE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara was not front-and-center.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fox Sports Net & IFL sign deal
By Zach Arnold | March 29, 2006
By Zach Arnold
As predicted by Dr. J on Friday, the IFL has announced a TV deal with Fox Sports Net. Three TV shows will air on the network in May & June. In the press release, the IFL stressed how they were a national company.
Expect a lively debate on next week’s radio show about this announcement.
Topics: All Topics, IFL, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
PRIDE Bushido 10 – Preview and Analysis
By Al Yu | March 29, 2006
By Al Yu
4/2 Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum card line-up.
– 
Yves Edwards (28-10-1) vs Seichi Ikemoto (11-11-4)
Prior to losing a close decision to Joachim Hansen at PRIDE Bushido 9, Yves Edwards was on a seven fight winning streak, defeating Josh Thompson, Hermes Franca (2x), and Dokonjonosuke Mishima along the way. Most recently at UFC 58, Edwards was submitted by Mark Hominick in a fight that not many expected Hominick to win. Seichi Ikemoto is a Shooto and DEEP veteran. He recently lost a decision to DEEP Champion Jutaro Nakao. Ikemoto is making his PRIDE debut.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Al Yu, All Topics, Japan, MMA, PRIDE | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Truth serum
By Zach Arnold | March 29, 2006
By Zach Arnold
Mainichi Daily News reports that former tabloid writer Takashi Nishizawa will have to testify on Tuesday, April 4th in front of the members of the Diet. As we’ve discussed in the last few days, this could be fun to watch.
On a media sidenote, today the press was focused on the upcoming K-1 4/5 World MAX show (featuring Masato). Masato spent the afternoon doing photo-ops. No press for the Bushido 10 show. The only press coverage involved Phil Baroni showing his bare ass to a DSE cameraman. However, DSE announced that Fuji TV would air an edited version of the Bushido 10 show on 4/9 from 12:45-2:15 AM.
Topics: All Topics, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Onita is back in puroresu
By T2y-Sano | March 28, 2006
By Tetsuya Sano
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“Jadoh” Onita is back to puroresu for only one day.
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Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, Pro-Wrestling, Tetsuya Sano | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
New developments in Nova Scotia
By Zach Arnold | March 28, 2006
Tuesday night is when the Halifax City Council debates Councilmember Bob Harvey’s plan to ban MMA in the city. CBC Nova Scotia has more on the story. In the article, Harvey admits that he has received over a dozen e-mails since his proclaimation last week of trying to ban MMA in the area.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle Herald reports that Acura car dealer Bruce Hill is going to promote his first boxing show at the Halifax Forum on 4/13, two weeks before the scheduled 4/29 MMA event at the building. In the article, Monty Mosher states the following:
The timing of the boxing show appears suspect, coming only 16 days before a mixed martial arts contest will be held at the Halifax Forum. That event appears destined to sell out.
Hill said he’s been working on his promotion for nearly a year and is unconcerned by the Extreme Cage Combat production.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Canada, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Media round-up
By Zach Arnold | March 28, 2006
3/28 media links:
- Surprise, PRIDE US PPV customers. 3 of the 10 Bushido fights will air on Fox Sports Net on 4/9, including Baroni vs. Kondo (a fight that definitely could sell some PPV buys).
- Bushido 10 fighter Denis Kang interviewed on MaxFighting.
- New Hampshire is ready to host it’s first sanctioned MMA event.
- If you are a hardcore Shooto fan and fan of Japanese independent MMA leagues, check out this new blog (Complete Vale Tudo Access).
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
More mainstream media malfeasance
By Zach Arnold | March 27, 2006
An article just published on the USA Today web site manages to lump Toughman boxing with MMA.
Toughman, Ultimate Fighting, Kage Kombat and other forms of brawling are full of surprises. But the biggest may be that “extreme fighting,” a sport once on the verge of being banned, is enjoying increasing regulatory approval and drawing big crowds.
There’s the pre-requisite John McCain “human cockfighting” quote about MMA, and the article is sympathetic to participants in Toughman fights.
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Alliances & recruitment
By Zach Arnold | March 27, 2006
We have reached a deal with the staff of MMAFighting.com to work together on promoting each other’s sites. This includes exchanges of links, stories, and other content. It’s important to make deals with allies, and MMA Fighting certainly qualifies as a very good independent site. Expect a lot more in the future.
Second, I am going to be (temporarily) helping out on the PNW MMA web site. Eric Fredericks needs to take some time off, so I will attempt to run the ship over there as well as Puroresu Power & Fight Opinion. With that stated, I am in need of recruiting new posters for the PNW MMA site. If you are located in Northern California, Washington, Oregon, or British Columbia and would be interested in posting or sending in material (this includes promoters, agents, fighters, fans, etc.), please send me an e-mail immediately. Your help is greatly needed. Thank you!
Topics: All Topics, Media, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Wakuda: Testifying is violation of rights
By Zach Arnold | March 27, 2006
By Zach Arnold
On Friday, we documented the hot political case in Japan over a phony e-mail and how the scandal had tangential connections to the fight industry. We noted that in the phony e-mail case, lawyer Osamu Wakuda was representing Takashi Nishizawa, who is accused to writing the fake e-mail. The reason we noted the importance of this scandal was due to Wakuda, who is also representing the yakuza-linked Seiya Kawamata. Kawamata was the promoter of the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 show. He was the man who filed the complaint with Kanagawa police in 2004, claiming that he was violently threatened by DSE/PRIDE for booking Emelianenko Fedor on the Inoki show.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Japan, MMA, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bushido 4/2 Ariake Colosseum match order
By Zach Arnold | March 27, 2006
This week is likely going to be low-key in regards to Japanese PR for the Bushido 10 event. The gaijin will fly in on Tuesday and Wednesday (Narita Airport). DSE boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara has not been seen in front of the cameras (so far). The match order for this Sunday’s line-up:
- Yves Edwards vs. Seichi Ikemoto
- Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Paul Rodriguez
- Jens Pulver vs. Masakazu Imanari
- Dennis Kang vs. Mark Weir
- Joachim Hansen vs. Luiz Azeredo
- Murilo Ninja Rua vs. Paulo Filho
- Akihiro Gono vs. Kim dae Won
- Yuki Kondo vs. Phil Baroni
- Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Giant Silva
- Kazuo Misaki vs. Dan Henderson
- Takanori Gomi vs. Marcus Aurelio
Topics: All Topics, Japan, MMA, PRIDE, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |