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Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

Criticize UFC pay & get booked as a heel against a top steroider on enemy turf

By Zach Arnold | July 26, 2013

Tim Kennedy says he’ll be happy to fight Vitor Belfort… as long as it’s in a state like California. Why? This is why:

“Listen, I am 33 years old,” he said. “I have been jumping out of planes, shot at, exploded, blown up for 10 years. I’ve been punched in the head for 15 years. If anybody’s going to have an excuse to use testosterone, it would be me. I do not need testosterone. My level of testosterone is like twice that of an average dude. So guess what I haven’t done? Steroids in the past. Oh man, there it is.

“It is complete horses–t that these guys are using testosterone. It’s cheating.”

Well, Dana White has a gift for Vitor Belfort. I guess somebody needs to be the Strikeforce Killer. Doesn’t have the same ring as the Gracie Hunter, but I suppose it pays well.

In a quest to kill two birds with one stone, the UFC is considering a fight between top testosterone user Vitor Belfort and emasculated UFC pay scale criticizer Tim Kennedy. Only in the world of UFC could someone with honorable military service to his country be viewed as the bad guy… unless you’re WWE and you turn Sgt. Slaughter heel during the first Iraq war.

Lots of people are questioning why this fight may take place. The simple answer? Here’s one part of the rationale.

For the UFC, it’s a win-win scenario. Keep pushing & protecting a top testosterone user in the company, especially since he’s right in the Middleweight title picture with the chaos surrounding the Anderson Silva loss. Protect him by keeping Vitor in Brazil where the steroids can flow freely. Push him against a fighter who embarassed UFC management with a takedown of fighter pay and has also been an outspoken critic of testosterone usage by fighters in the organization.

Kill two birds with one stone. And make the military guy a heel, to boot. Right on cue, here’s Tim Miller with the testosterone defense for Vitor:

I’m sure Kennedy will have something to say leading up to the fight. Maybe he’ll complain about not getting hazard pay when facing an opponent on TRT.

The other thing, TRT does not make you a better athlete. It does not make you a superhuman, and if you’re 35 years old, it doesn’t make your body 25 yrs old again. I actually had a chance to speak with a doctor here in San Antonio. Doctor Robert Yerrington. His son, Jason owns Ohana Jiu Jitsu and is my MMA coach. Jason has coached many fighters and fight teams both pro and amateur for local promotions.

Of course testosterone is a performance-enhancer — if it didn’t enhance your performance, nobody would be taking it. It doesn’t matter if you look like Vitor Belfort or if you look like Bartolo Colon, there’s a reason guys are users of anabolic steroids. It also helps with recovery from injuries suffered during both training and fights. To deny that testosterone usage has no benefits is simply putting the blinders on.

Meanwhile, Dana White & Pete Carroll entertained a session of the Mutual Admiration Society in Seattle.

Both men know a thing of two about having a roster full of suspended drug users.

Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

The seduction of Rampaging testosterone

By Zach Arnold | July 25, 2013

The buzz of the day comes from Damon Martin’s report that Rampage Jackson and Roy Jones Jr. will have a boxing match at the end of the year. The man who couldn’t outbox Ryan Bader while being bloated on testosterone apparently thinks he can beat Roy Jones in a fight. MAIN EVENT MAFIA. Maybe Kurt Angle will show all those bums in MMA what the business is.

Bjorn Rebney apparently can’t contain his urge to go back in revisiting his boxing roots. I’m not sure Sugar Ray Leonard can say the same thing about Bjorn?

The deal Nick Diaz had in place was with Don Chargin. The reported deal in place with Rampage & Roy Jones involves Viacom. Quite a difference.

As long as Colonel Bob Sheridan is doing the play-by-play on PPV, I’m sold. If Viacom wants to flush down their financial investment down the drain, let’s throw a party and watch yet another TNA prospect (like King Mo) get embarrassed on the network.

While everyone is distracted by the prospects of this freak show fight, ESPN was dropping a bomb with the latest from the Biogenesis drug scandal that has gripped baseball.

Jonathan is right on this account. The Shane Carwin drug story got little traction with the masses. However, there are a couple of different elements at work here should a big MMA name get exposed in the Biogenesis scandal. This tweet will explain:

The two factors to pay interesting attention to: 1) ESPN’s coverage. Clearly they have their heavy-hitters on the story with TJ Quinn and Quinn is a bulldog. He will not go away silently. As long as you have a compelling hook like Alex Rodriguez, the story will get attention. If the MMA name(s) are small fish, nothing to fry. If they’re big names, however, look out.

Why would ESPN have incentive to go balls-to-the-wall?

2) Fox Sports 1 is ready to launch. The UFC is one of their high-profile coveted sports properties in getting the network launched as a serious contender in the American sports media landscape. And before the channel even launches, network executives are mocking ESPN for covering drug scandals in sports and marketing FS1 as a network all about ‘fun’ and ‘jockularity,’ which translates to “Best Damn Sports Show Period 2013.”

The question I posed in my article on FS1 is what will they do when a scandal hits the UFC. If FS1 doesn’t cover any scandals with appropriate reporting, it will leave the door wide open to ESPN’s investigators to go for blood. Will FS1 be smart enough to realize that they’ll need to cover serious scandals with serious reporters or will they intentionally (and egotistically) leave themselves vulnerable to outsider attacks that will damage their credibility?

Topics: Bellator, Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Of long-term contracts and low(er) UFC PPV buy rates

By Zach Arnold | July 23, 2013

Remember when Dana White said that Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman would draw 800,000 PPV buys?

How many years has the conventional wisdom been that re-matches in MMA draw better the second go-round and in the rubber match?

One of the interesting situations the UFC is dealing with has to do with site fees at casinos. It’s common knowledge that boxing fights attract the whales and that’s what the casinos want. Conversely, MMA attracts more of a younger crowd and not many whales. The hope was that as UFC and MMA matured that more whales would start to be attracted to the fights. Unfortunately, that is just not turning out to be the case and many casinos, big and small, are starting to recalibrate what site fees/four wall deals they will offer. In California, this is becoming more of a factor on tribal land because players like Fantasy Springs, Morongo, and Chumash are taking a pass on MMA in favor of traditional boxing spot shows. Only Pechanga (with Bellator) and Thunder Valley (independents) are willing to touch MMA events.

Casinos are second-guessing their Return on Investment when it comes to pouring money into the MMA space, similar to what sponsors who have crashed & burned discovered in a hurry. A touch of irony given who owns the UFC.

Ed Fishman, who wanted to buy PRIDE, had the right idea after all. He wanted to buy the organization, keep it up-and-running in Japan, but run major casino events and attract whales by having a product featuring a lot of Asian fighters. History sure would have been different if Sakakibara & Ishizaka actually wanted to stay in business… but they couldn’t given that police basically wanted them out for good. If they hadn’t viewed Ed Fishman as simply a money mark, PRIDE could have been a very interesting casino play today.

The other trend of note is that many UFC fighters are starting to sign very long-term bout deals.

The answer as to why the fighters and UFC are agreeing to these types of contracts — a marriage of necessity. There’s no one else in the industry who can pay what UFC can, so beggars can’t be choosers. And for the UFC, they can always cut a fighter from a contract. It’s really the best of all worlds for UFC.

The only problem, however, is that UFC is starting to eliminate any sort of convenient excuses to give politicians as to why there shouldn’t be an Ali Act in MMA. Granted, there hasn’t been one prosecution of an Ali Act violation since the law was passed (and there are currently a ton of contracts in boxing that contain as least a few major violations of the Act given that the TV networks are basically de facto ‘promoters’)… but UFC will eventually have to deal with a political environment where desire for an Ali Act in MMA strengthens. It’s going to happen sooner or later, given that Harry Reid will lose his Senate leadership role down the road.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 56 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Bellator 2013 Summer Series fight cards

By Zach Arnold | July 21, 2013

Date: July 31st in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Santa Ana Star Center

Date: September 7th in Uncasville, Connecticut at Mohegan Sun Arena

Date: September 13th in Temecula, California at Pechanga Resort & Casino

Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Cashing in with Bloodstain Lane, the future of MMA sponsorship?

By Zach Arnold | July 20, 2013

This is not a headline I expected to write, but truth can often be stranger than fiction in combat sports.

On Thursday, the inimitable Anthony Bloodstain Lane signed a sponsorship deal with Bobby Razak and Street Made Team. Bobby is a director and founder of TapouT films. The deal is an example of a California company reaching out to a New York personality. New York, of course, is the only major state where MMA is still banned. Once MMA legislation does pass (after Sheldon Silver’s departure… eventually…), lots of potential for growth.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Fox Sports 1: We won’t focus on drug usage in sports (like UFC)

By Zach Arnold | July 18, 2013

One of my favorite sports sites, Awful Announcing, has been doing a great job in covering the impending launch of the Fox Sports 1 channel. I’ve always had a soft spot for Awful Announcing but they have really stepped up their game lately and two reports on their site deserve your attention.

With four big fight cards coming up for UFC in August, the launch of Fox Sports 1 is critical for Zuffa’s success. The channel needs to be strong. So, having a big launch will be important. Given that FS1 is a rebranding of the Speed channel, you would think that the launch would be easier… but Fox Sports 1 is having trouble with cable and satellite companies. The problem? Carriage fees.

According to a report in this week’s Sports Business Journal, John Ourand reports that three cable and satellite providers, Dish Network, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable are still negotiating carriage agreements. Awful Announcing has learned that a fourth provider is also negotiating and perhaps balking at Fox’s proposed 80 cents per subscriber cost. In Ourand’s report, the deal to carry Fox Sports 1 would eventually increase to $1.50 per subscriber.

The whole financial model for Fox Sports 1 is to basically accomplish what ESPN has accomplished, which is swallow up your television bill with an excessively high carriage fee in order to make an exorbitant profit. It’s the whole point of all of the Fox Sports television properties, from the regional networks to the Big Ten channel. When Rutgers entered the Big Ten, the excuse publicly was that it would be good for recruiting to enter into the New York market. The real answer as to why Rutgers was so key for the Big Ten is that the Murdoch empire would be able to soak up carriage fees on cable/satellite systems in the Northeast. So, everyone who is a subscriber has to pay for the carriage fee whether or not they actually watch the station in the first place.

If the television providers balk at the FS1 carriage price, then that puts a damper on FS1 expansion plans. Furthermore, it reminds us to John McCain’s attempts to create an a la carte system for pay TV subscribers. Such a system would basically slash ESPN’s revenue by at least 50% and shrink the universe in terms of number of cable channels in existence because many conglomerates own a family of channels (think: Discovery, A & E, Lifetime, etc. in same universe) and a la carte would burst that bubble.

So, negotiation over carriage fees is one hurdle for FS1. However, these types of disputes generally end up in some sort of settlement no matter how nasty they get publicly. That’s one issue. The second issue, however, is much more critical regarding the creative direction of Fox Sports 1 as a channel. If Fox Sports 1 wants to be a serious player, they need to be a real alternative to ESPN and part of that strategy should be focusing on the fundamentals of reporting and doing the things right that ESPN currently is not. The celebrification of sports by ESPN creates a myriad of conflicts, tension, and frankly some unwatchable programming on the network. It also impacts what kind of reporting is done on Sportscenter regarding stories that should or should not be focused on.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Injuries, retirements, and rematches: Just another week for the UFC

By Zach Arnold | July 13, 2013

Last weekend, Dana White was claiming that Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva would draw 800,000 PPV buys. Then, Anderson Silva played the fool and got knocked out… only for UFC to reportedly not allow media outlets like ESPN from showing the actual finishing scene. Even during Chris Weidman’s “car wash” at Bristol on Thursday, they didn’t show the final blows.

Brian Stann announced his retirement from MMA. He said that the loss to Wanderlei Silva in Japan put him too far back in the food chain and that this development, combined with his fight style, made it impossible for him to move upwards without suffering significant damage. Therefore, he retired and will now move on to doing college football work for Fox Sports South. You read that right. Given that the season happens on Saturdays, I wonder how many UFC events on Fox he will be able to appear on.

Josh Koscheck is out of his fight with Demian Maia due to an undisclosed injury. Last night, it was announced that TJ Grant was injured and that the end result would be Anthony Pettis vs. Ben Henderson in Milwaukee next month for the Lightweight title.

An Inconvenient Truth that should be pointed out, however:

And today (Saturday), Dana White goes on ESPN to announce the rematch between Chris Weidman & Anderson Silva for Las Vegas on 12/28. That show also features Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate. The timing of this announcement is already raising questions regarding Invicta’s PPV on Saturday night:

Exit question: What matches are available for the UFC’s Super Bowl Weekend show in New Jersey in 2014?

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

A big shoe drops at the California State Athletic Commission: Che Guevara resigns

By Zach Arnold | July 9, 2013

To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.

The era of Ernest “Che” Guevara will soon be ending.

Guevara, the major power player at the California State Athletic Commission for many years, entered a resignation letter. Guevara was the henchman for the bureaucratic behemoth known as the Department of Consumer Affairs in Sacramento, an outpost featuring some of the craziest political animals you have ever seen. It’s practically a revolving door for cronies affiliated to powerful politicians in both the state Assembly and state Senate (plus the Governor’s office). All of the political interfering over the years with CSAC has to do with major politicians who micromanaged a lowly athletic commission into the mess that it was in when Andy Foster took over.

Here is the statement from Andy Foster, acting Executive Officer of CSAC:

Che Guevara has turned in his resignation as Chief Athletic Inspector effective August 6th. I am hopeful that this transition process will be smooth and we will see minimal operational deficiencies. The Commission is very appreciative of the service Che has provided. I will personally miss Che at the office, and I wish him much success in his future endeavors.

Here is the text of Guevara’s letter:

July 5, 2013

Ernest Che Guevara
[address & private information redacted]

SUBJECT: RESIGNATION OF CHE GUEVARA AS CHIEF ATHLETIC INSPECTOR OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION

Executive Officer Andy Foster,

I write to you to publically announce my resignation from my position as Chief Athletic Inspector (CAI) of the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), effective August 6, 2013.

I would like to formally express my appreciation and gratitude to the staff, officials, and inspectors who have always demonstrated the utmost professionalism, respect and kindness towards me. And for continuing the good fight of making combat sports, in California, safe and fair for all who compete.

I would also like to extend my thanks to Chairman John Frierson, past and present Commission members, Department of Consumer Affairs, and specifically Executive Officer Andy Foster.

With the continued leadership of Andy Foster and entire California State Athletic Commission I am confident CSAC will continue to lead as the safest Athletic Commission in combat sports.

If I can be of any help during this transition, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Che Guevara

cc: Commission members, Supervising Attorney General Karen Chappelle, Director Denise Brown

Now, what are the implications of this development? There’s a lot to discuss here.

The back story

When George Dodd was forced out by DCA big wigs from his position as Executive Officer, Che Guevara reportedly believed that he had a shot at getting the job. When that didn’t happen, Andy Foster ended up being picked by DCA. The commission stamped DCA’s approval after a job interview and Foster got the gig.

A couple of months into his position, Foster took away a healthy portion of Guevara’s job power and handled duties himself. This left Guevara as a paper pusher in the Sacramento office. Then Foster put Guevara to use by flying him out across the state to various fighting events to do his job as a lead inspector.

Combine these factors with the scenario of a hostile political climate in Sacramento regarding the shape the commission is in along with Guevara’s biggest backers in DCA keeping a hands-off approach and it led to the situation we have today. Sure, Guevara could have kept his $60,000/year job with state benefits. However, he didn’t see a path for accumulating political power and the job simply became too much of a hassle.

What’s next for Guevara

For months, there have been rumors that Che believes he can get a job with Golden Boy and that he could somehow work alongside Oscar De La Hoya friends Eric Gomez & Armando Gaytan. Whether that happens remains to be seen. It’s believed that Guevara will get back into the managing fold in California for boxers. Perhaps he will be a go’fer/conduit for Golden Boy in getting local fighters in exchange for a cut of the action. Perhaps there is a role for him given changes recently made at Golden Boy HQ.

What’s next for the California State Athletic Commission

The way the Department of Consumer Affairs has treated CSAC has been deplorable. The commission doesn’t have a FAX line. There are now four workers left in the front office. Everyone is completely maxed out over paperwork and politics. The burn out factor is incredible. It’s the most thankless job one could have in combat sports. The amount of shows that take place in California dwarfs any other state. In fact, it may be safe to say given the current event schedule that California has as much activity as the other major players combined.

What makes Guevara’s exit complicating for the California commission is that he was “the boxing guy.” Andy Foster is an MMA guy. MMA is his passion. It’s the sport he knows. Boxing is not a sport he knows. It’s not his passion. That’s not to say that Andy doesn’t want the big boxing events nor does it mean that he doesn’t want to deal with the major promoters. Far from it, he wants action. However, he’s not equipped to fully understand everything entailed with matchmaking or politics for boxing. Boxing, in California, is the driver of revenue for the athletic commission. California is the most active commission in the United States and boxing is a key factor. In other states, MMA is the main player now. In California, boxing is king. With Guevara out of the loop in the front office, the reaction from the major promoters in boxing will be very interesting. There are already two camps of thought being formulated. Camp A believes that it will be easier for promoters to get away with booking huge mismatches and scamming fighters with someone like Foster in charge because he isn’t a boxing-first guy and wants to keep promoters happy. Camp B believes that some key promoters will take a step back now from the state given that an MMA man is in charge and they’re not sure how it is going to politically play out.

One person who is a big winner in Andy Foster’s growth in political power is Danny Goossen. After Andre Ward and his camp attempted to get out of a Goossen contract based on flimsy accusations, Goossen won arbitration. Goossen wants to promote in California. Ward has largely fought in California. Whether Top Rank or other parties were behind Ward’s attempt to get away from Goossen, who the hell knows. However, as long as the Ward/Goossen marriage lasts, it means big fights in California. I would likely expect to see Top Rank play ball and get Ward vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. booked in California instead of Nevada. Texas would be the only alternative but California makes more sense.

As for CSAC’s front office, words cannot describe how deplorable the situation is right now (thanks to the Department of Consumer Affairs). The stress level is insane. The state budget limits being imposed now on the commission make Andy Foster’s job that much more difficult. It’s an incredible tightrope he is having to walk. The chaos is intense.

What it means for the Department of Consumer Affairs and big-name politicians in Sacramento

I can safely predict that the next year is going to be hell for a lot of key political players in the DCA food chain who have been involved in some of the biggest scandals regarding the athletic commission. There will be more firings and resignations to come. The difference is that the names will involve political animals rather than people who players in the combat sports scene know about.

If I’m Doreathea Johnson, the nitwit in charge of DCA’s legal department, I’m starting to get nervous right now… and for damn good reason.

A lot of skeletons are about to come out of the closet. There are quite a few people inside of DCA who are ready to turn on the higher-ups in the organization. Serious names at stake here, too. It will not just play out in the court system but also through the press. Expect major developments that will further highlight what kind of disintegration DCA has caused with the California State Athletic Commission.

There will be public embarrassment coming on a big level unless major financial payoffs occur. This much I am confident about.

The reaction internally amongst those who work for the commission and those in Sacramento regarding Guevara’s resignation fell into two categories. Camp A had some sympathy for his plight but weren’t really backing him, just more understanding of him than the current crop of Sacramento politicians. Camp B, which is the majority, hates Guevara and what he represented. However, you won’t find many people today throwing a party or celebrating this development. The takeaway from both camps on the issue is that if Guevara, a diehard lifer who destroyed people like Dean Lohuis and Mike Bray, is quitting then the Titanic really is sinking and the conditions are much worse than previously believed.

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

How big is fan interest in an Anderson Silva rematch with Chris Weidman?

By Zach Arnold | July 9, 2013

For boxing fans, Nate Campbell’s idiotic taunting of Robbie Peden is a moment that no one will ever forget. The great Barry Tompkins had the call for what was such a ridiculous knockout. It was hard to imagine that we could possibly see something rival as dumb of a taunt as what Campbell did in the ring.

Well, that moment arrived when Anderson Silva taunted Chris Weidman and got blasted for it.

The Campbell/Peden clip is still aired on television to this day as the gold standard of blunders. So, you would think that such a high-profile fighter like Anderson Silva getting brutally punched would draw huge attention in the press. After all, Dana White claimed that PPV buys were trending towards the 800,000 PPV buy range for UFC 162.

Instead, press coverage has largely been quiet. ESPN didn’t air any clips from UFC 162 on Saturday night. Anderson’s KO was tailor made for Sportscenter and there was nary a peep. You would have thought on Monday that the clip would have gotten a lot of oxygen on sports media platforms. It didn’t. As I wrote on Fightline, you would think that Anderson Silva’s art of beclowning himself would have gotten major play. He’s the closest thing fans had to Fedor once Fedor became human. He became the man Dana touted as pound-for-pound king once negotiations fell apart with the Russian and his camp. If you read the Fightline article, you’ll see quotes from Jordan Breen discussing what Anderson Silva’s legacy is after the loss. That’s a question that easily gets a lot of response for debate.

So, where’s the discussion amongst the masses about what took place over the weekend? It’s as if Weidman was somehow just a bystander who got lucky that a champion was clowning around and that he punched the guy like any fighter should. Weidman was an underdog going into the fight, but not a Buster Douglas-sized 42-to-1 underdog. He was basically a 3-to-1 underdog in Vegas. Every fighter the UFC could find was picking Weidman to win the bout. And yet it seems that about 80 to 85% of the discussion from the fight is about Anderson Silva.

Vegas already has odds ready for the rematch, should it happen. The odds? Anderson Silva is a 2-to-1 favorite. Should he take the rematch, it will either happen in Las Vegas at the end of the year or happen in Newark, New Jersey on Super Bowl Weekend 2014. Which location would be better business-wise for UFC? Before you answer that question, consider the following:

Josh Gross claims that Anderson Silva will either accept the rematch or retire. If Silva doesn’t accept the rematch, then we’re looking at a scenario with Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort and Belfort will probably want the fight in Brazil. What a scenario it would be to see a possible super testosterone death match between Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort.

Exit question: Given the recent discussion about where the UFC stands financially, how bad does it look in the press that Nevada’s athletic commission is claiming that Chris Weidman was paid only $48,000 for his title win over Anderson Silva? Yes, we know the figures given out by the athletic commissions isn’t fully accurate, but the headline given to the press that he was paid $48,000 to fight in the main event of a UFC 162 PPV that Dana White claims was trending towards 800,000 PPV buys looks awful — especially given that Weidman was marketed in the PPV campaign as “the perfect fighter.” Having a know-nothing sports press believe that you paid “the perfect fighter” $48,000 to beat the legendary Anderson Silva is awful public relations.

Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 50 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Where does the UFC really stand financially?

By Zach Arnold | July 8, 2013

The last two weeks have been really strange for the UFC in terms of what’s been discussed in the press. The organization, with UFC 162 this past weekend, started the first of six shows over the next two months where the roster is as busy as one can recall. So many fights and the risk for injury causing a fight to get canceled at the last minute remains high. However, if the shows go off as planned, tons of great fights to watch and positive developments for the UFC.

None of that withstanding, Tim Kennedy recently made comments about fighter pay in the UFC. He just made his UFC debut over the weekend by beating Roger Gracie.

Arguing about fighter pay in the UFC is nothing new. However, with Kennedy’s comments it seemed as if he really hit a nerve with UFC management. Combined with comments made from former fighters like John Cholish, the rabbit ears at Zuffa HQ really have been very sensitive. Within a couple of days, Kennedy was not only backtracking from his fighter pay comments but he was also emasculating himself in the process.

This led to Lorenzo Fertitta via Dana White making some rather curious statements about fighter pay and UFC’s financial situation. Dana responded by claiming that if they have to bump up fighter pay on the undercards, then they will take away the bonus system.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 46 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Fuel TV removes UFC Tonight video segment trashing referee Steve Mazzagatti

By Zach Arnold | June 20, 2013

“Steve Mazzagatti: A danger to all fighters?”

That was the blaring headline from a two-minute segment on the UFC Tonight show that aired on Tuesday on Fuel TV. It was Chael Sonnen and Kenny Florian talking about Steve Mazzagatti as a referee in reference to his performance during the Josh Burkman/Jon Fitch fight last week in Vegas. Burkman choked out Fitch and let go of the choke so that Mazzagatti would then stop the fight.

Dana White went nuts about Mazzagatti while he was in Winnipeg and it led to Keith Kizer going after Dana in the press after Dana said that Kizer would promote Mazzagatti to the Anderson Silva/Chris Weidman fight in order to spite everyone.

Quotes from a recent Dave Meltzer article:

Keith Kizer, the Executive Director of the commission said that he’s surprised this was a story, saying in this instance, he didn’t even see it as a referee judgment call, good or bad.

Kizer compared the sudden choke out to a one punch knockout in boxing where the fighter lands the punch, knocks the guy out, the opponent stops on his own volition, and the ref sees the damage and waves it off.

“Dana’s a good guy,” said Kizer. “Very few people care about other people as much as Dana. But you’ve heard what he’s said about former fighters, former employees, even fighters in his organization. Even Jon Jones. He likes to put people down, whether rightly or wrongly. It’s an ego thing. We all have egos. I think it’s wrong when people lie and you can make your own conclusions on Dana.”

During the UFC Tonight segment, Florian just dumped all over Mazzagatti. It was a burial. Unlike most sports programs where referees are criticized for their poor performance, the UFC Tonight segment basically made Mazzagatti out to be a threat to the health & safety of fighters who step into the cage with him. It came across as a really personal attack that was ordered by UFC management. In many ways, it reminded me of Vince McMahon. McMahon has had some legendary grudges over the years and has used his television platforms to live out his revenge. His two most famous cases involved two controversial figures, sports owner giant Stan Kroenke and famous conservative watchdog Brent Bozell. Kroenke was involved in a booking mishap of the Pepsi Center in 2009 regarding the Denver Nuggets and a playoff basketball game. The playoff game pushed WWE’s booking out of the venue and so McMahon ended up running the Staples Center in Los Angeles to spite the Denver faithful. He went so far as to use the Lakers famous announcer, Lawrence Tanter, to work the RAW show in which McMahon beat up a fake Stan Kroenke and had a multi-man tag match where the heels wore Denver Nuggets jerseys while the babyfaces wore Laker jerseys.

McMahon had a famous feud with Brent Bozell of the Parents Television Council in 2000 and created an obnoxious heel group called Right to Censor in protest.

Dana and Lorenzo’s crusade against Steve Mazzagatti is now being carried out on their media platforms. Their behavior is starting to resemble that of when McMahon holds a grudge against someone. It can go over the top. Tito, anyone?

Apparently, someone at Fox Sports watched what was going on and wanted to make the UFC Tonight segment on Mazzagatti disappear as fast as Lloyd Irvin wishes his $1 million USD lien from Uncle Sam would vanish.

The video is not on MSN and it may (or may not) be on the Fuel TV site.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

The good, the bad, and the ugly regarding Fight Master

By Zach Arnold | June 19, 2013

On a night where we saw War Machine return to action and win, Babalu retire after a loss, and Seth Petruzelli get blitzed by King Mo, Bellator launched Fight Master on Spike TV.

Reality series ‘Fight Master’ draws on ‘The Voice’ to break ‘TUF” mold

The Good

The format of the show revolves around four coaches (Joe Warren, Greg Jackson, Randy Couture, and Frank Shamrock) and qualifying fighters picking the coach they want to work with in training camps. The personality of the four coaches is great and Frank Shamrock absolutely shines with his strong, devious personality. It’s a lot of fun to watch. Jimmy Smith plays the role of Dana White (bald, no tie, in-cage instruction guy) and semi-hosts the show by leading the interaction between the fighters and the coaches. Some of the obversations by the coaches are great. Personal highlight was Joe Warren getting burned by having a fighter he didn’t want selecting him as their coach. One fighter ripped on Shamrock by saying he’s an old guy from a bygone era and couldn’t teach anything about today’s MMA scene.

The idea of the show being dominated by the personality of the coaches is the core strength of the show. It also leads to the show’s core weakness.

The Bad

The biggest problem with The Ultimate Fighter is that the show declined in ratings due to the fact that UFC was no longer recruiting the best fighters to participate on the show. If the UFC wants a hot free agent, they’ll simply sign them to a new contract. By doing this, they undercut the prospects of their own reality show because what you end up with are fighters on TUF who win the reality show and then go nowhere on UFC undercards.

Bellator & Spike attempt to cover up this flaw now in the MMA talent pool by putting most of the focus on the coaches rather than the fighters. It may help the television rating of the show but it still doesn’t address the fact that UFC has so many fighters under contract that it is tough to recruit that hot, new prospect for a reality show because the depth just doesn’t exist right now. This is the glass ceiling that will prevent reality shows like TUF and Fight Master from becoming really popular.

As evidenced by Wednesday’s debut show, we didn’t get to see a whole lot of in-cage action with the fighters. It was simply highlights and then focusing on the reality TV drama as to which coaches the fighters wanted to work with.

The Ugly

For a one-hour reality TV show, it dragged. And dragged. And dragged some more. The editing by Spike was awful. There were a million commercial breaks and right before a fighter selected a coach, they cut away to a commercial. It was the perfect excuse for the viewer at home to switch the channel to go watch the Boston Bruins/Chicago Blackhawks game or another program on television. And when Fight Master came back from commercial break, the fighter picked the coach and we moved onto another fighter. Rinse and repeat.

I came away mildly interested in the show because I really like the coaches and think that there’s potential with this show due to the different feel than the bland, cookie-cutter Ultimate Fighter format. With that said, I’m not sure how seriously fans will take the show because of the lack of talent available for a reality TV show like this. Also, Bellator isn’t a strong brand name like the UFC so I’m not sure if the Spike TV brand will carry the day on this. The hook for UFC’s reality show is that you get a contract with the UFC. That means something to the masses. Does the hook of a fighter winning a contract with Bellator mean much to the viewers at home?

I’m keeping an open mind for this show but only for a couple of more weeks.

On the set of Fight Master: Can Bellator’s new reality show take aim at UFC?

Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

A perfect example of Sacramento politics and the California State Athletic Commission

By Zach Arnold | June 19, 2013

To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown’s office made a last-minute announcement regarding a new appointee to the California State Athletic Commission. The 7-member board had just gotten filled up with new members. Here is a look at the terms of each member:

As we have previously outlined, the appointment of Carvelli was fascinating on a political level. He’s a big-time health care lobbyist in the Capitol who has ponied up a lot of cash to both Republican and Democratic politicians. He’s had to deal a lot with Darrell Steinberg, the Godfather of the state Senate. Steinberg and company have used an invisible hand, both behind the scenes and through the Department of Consumer Affairs, to really screw around with the lowly California State Athletic Commission. Carvelli’s appointment was pure politics.

Dean Grafilo is another shining example of California politics at work with CSAC. Grafilo was a representative of the local SEIU in Sacramento, a former chief of staff to Assemblyman Warren Furutani, a legislative aide to Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, and the associate government relations director for the California Medical Association. In other words, there’s nothing in Grafilo’s background that suggested he had a role on CSAC’s board and yet he got appointed. Why? Because Grafilo was appointed the day before DCA & CADEM tried to oust George Dodd at a public meeting in El Monte, California. Grafilo was sent to El Monte to essentially be a go’fer, a hatchet man to tell the other board members to fire George Dodd. When that didn’t happen, Grafilo stayed busy in other various political projects. The culmination of this has now led Grafilo to become the chief of staff for Assemblyman Rob Bonta, an Oakland Democrat.

It’s men like Grafilo, political lifers, who have been sent to control to influence the Athletic Commission. It’s these kinds of politics that have created a non-stop chaotic atmosphere for CSAC meetings. When there is constant turnover and political meddling by the most powerful forces in Sacramento, it’s impossible to maintain stability.

And rather than helping new Executive Officer Andy Foster out with additional staff members in the front office or even giving the man a FAX line, the front office has to deal with political sharks all the time. The political shark he now has to deal with in place of Dean Grafilo is a mover-and-shaker in California politics.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

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