The meltdown over the IOC purging wrestling from the Olympics
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2013
MMA stars not happy about wrestling’s fall
The USA Today headline says it all. I can only imagine what the late Jeff Blatnick would be saying right about now.
The decision by the IOC to ditch one of the Olympic’s original competitions has caused the uproar of all uproars. So, where was this level of passion when the sport has been in trouble and getting cut as an athletic endeavor at all sorts of universities? Yes, there have been elements in the wrestling community who have tried their hardest to help out with fundraising efforts to save wrestling programs from getting the ax across the States. However, many of those efforts haven’t panned out as planned.
Maybe the uproar in the mainstream media & social media will have a positive effort. However, the safest answer is to say that the impact will be muted at best. Money talks and the IOC sees no money, no revenue in keeping wrestling around as a sport in the Olympics.
It was interesting to see that the sports media’s most popular angle to approach on the IOC wrestling story was to tie MMA into the headlines & conversation. Luke Thomas has a good round-up of reaction here.
The most interesting conversation in sports radio talk I heard yesterday was on Dan Patrick’s radio show when they brought up the IOC cutting wrestling. It was supposed to be mentioned in passing but it quickly moved into a discussion about the role of wrestling and potential role of MMA in the Olympics. The prevailing opinion on the show was that if you’re going to cut wrestling, replace it with MMA or keep both around and get rid of other sports. Dana White’s long-time crazy pitch of having MMA fights in the Olympics actually paid off yesterday because there were multiple sports media outlets that approached the wrestling/MMA connection in positive terms.
(The one person on a major sports talk platform acting like an idiot on the matter has been Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio.)
Obviously, the biggest question to be asked is what kind of blow axing wrestling from the Olympics will mean for the sport of wrestling and what it means for developing new amateur wrestlers into the MMA circuit.
Eddie Goldman says that no one should be surprised by the IOC’s decision:
“In a way, I was not that surprised by this because I’ve been saying all along and I said this directly to people from FILA, I’ve said it to USA Wrestling, I’ve said it to everybody on every level of wrestling and I’m not alone in this… wrestling is not being properly marketed. It’s not being properly promoted to the public and the people involved in running wrestling often have very bad communication skills. For example, in response to the decision of the Executive Board of the IOC, USA Wrestling set up a web page to save Olympic wrestling. You won’t find a FILA web page, it was closed down last year and one of the things that wrestling has to do is adapt or change or die. It’s very simple. And it’s taken a step towards death because if wrestling is not on the Olympics, it will be in the Olympics in 2016 in Rio, but if it’s not on the Olympic program after that funding from governments and all the people that fund the Olympic sports will dry up and it will begin to wither away.
“And if we look at the criteria that the IOC uses we will see that wrestling was delinquent in many, many different areas. The IOC has a report which they said will be released in full later analyzing 39 criteria of all the sports on the Summer Olympic program. They look at things like TV ratings, how much wrestling did you see on TV from the Olympics in the various countries, how much of it did you see online, how much communication was put out about when wrestling would appear on these networks or online, ticket sales.
“If you look at also the media coverage, how much media coverage is there of the sport of wrestling? Wrestling internationally and in the United States and in a number of other countries is run as a semi-secret sport! It’s run as something where it is almost a hobby for a bunch of rich, elite guys rather than building it up on the grass roots levels using social media, using all the tools that are available today in the 21st Century to communicate what a great sport this is.
“Wrestling is a very universal sport, one of the most universal that’s out there. But it also maintained two styles in the Olympics, freestyle and Greco. There was both men’s and women’s freestyle but there’s no women’s Greco. Nobody even trains in it and there are no competitions for it to my knowledge and I wonder whether that was a factor also for the IOC which is looking more and more to include women on the Olympic program.
“There are all sort of blunders that were made and it’s not too late to save this sport because, for example as we said, when baseball and softball were kicked out a couple of years ago, they’re trying to make a comeback. But it’s going to be very, very difficult for wrestling to do so because it’s going to require a change in the culture of those running the sport of wrestling. Some of us have been saying this for many, many years and now the chickens have come to roost.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Lawyer Pat English slams USADA over handling of Erik Morales drug testing
By Zach Arnold | February 13, 2013
If you don’t know who Pat English is, read this 2004 article by Thomas Hauser on the well-known fight lawyer.
Here is text of a letter that English sent to USADA & the Association of Boxing Commissions on Tuesday regarding USADA’s claim that Erik Morales should be suspended for two years. Morales failed an USADA drug test by testing positive for clenbuterol before his fight with Danny Garcia last October in New York.
Pat wrote the letter on his own accord and isn’t representing anyone or any party other than himself in the matter.
Travis T. Tygart, CEO
United States Anti-Doping Agency
5555 Tech Center Drive/Ste. 200
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
Dear Mr. Tygart:
I understand that USADA is charging boxing Erik Morales with an anti-doping rule violation for the presence of Clenbuterol in urine samples taken on October 3, 2012 and October 10, 2012. USADA proposes a two year suspension.
Please by advised that Boxing is governed under laws enacted by the various states and administered by State Athletic Commissions, which are governmental bodies. Those state commissions are charged by law to regulate the sport and to mete out disciplinary actions, including, but not limited to suspensions. Nowhere in any state statute is that authority delegated to USADA.
Further, Mr. Morales fought in New York on October 20, 2012. The initial positive sample was taken as noted above, on October 3, 17 days before the event. The second sample was October 10, 10 days before the event. However, it is my understanding that USADA did not disclose the positive results to the commission having jurisdiction over the event until either October 18 or 19, and not before a website disclosed the information first. In essence USADA failed to disclose the results to the governmental body having jurisdiction until it was too late for the governmental body to make a reasonable determination whether the event should proceed.
If I did not know better I would conclude that USADA did not know that boxing (and combat sports in general) quite uniquely, are governmentally regulated sports. However, I do know differently as both you and I were invited experts before the Nevada Athletic Commission regarding PED’s.
I submit that, with deference, it appears to be hypocritical to withhold crucial information regarding test failures from the Commission having jurisdiction, and now, nearly four months later, seek to impose a suspension.
I am familiar with the standard contract language, referring to USADA, in the contracts of the Promoter which staged the bout in which Mr. Morales participated, though not Mr. Morales’ individual contract. There is nothing in the standard language in which a boxer agrees to “abide by the [USADA] Code and Protocol,” as asserted in USADA’s letter.
In a situation where positive test results were withheld from the Commission, USADA’s letter is very troubling. Significantly, the proposed penalty, to wit, a suspension from any “competition organized by or under the auspices of any signatory to the code” is meaningless to a professional boxer. Promoters are not signatories to the Code, nor are Athletic Commissions, nor are ratings organizations. Thus the word “grandstanding” comes to mind.
There comes a time when apparent hypocrisy must be called out. This is such a time.
So that this letter is not uniformly negative in nature I have the following suggestions for changes in which USADA can make a positive difference. It can:
1) Pledge to turn over immediately upon receipt test results to Commissions having jurisdiction over an event.
2) Turn over to the applicable Commissions any test results from fighters taken in the past, positive or negative. If positive, then the appropriate Commission can deal with the issue.
3) Ensure that any contracts to which it is a party or pursuant to which it is testing provide that:
a) All test results will immediately be shared with the applicable Commission and both fighters involved as well as with the Promoter.
b) Ensure that no party can abort the process. In this regard we understand that on one or more occasions samples were destroyed and this must never again occur.
Only if this is done will USADA purge itself of the taint which makes its actions suspect in the Sport of Boxing.
Very truly yours,
Dines and English, LLC
Patrick C. English
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Court ruling against Dan Goossen will scare California-based fight promoters
By Zach Arnold | February 11, 2013
A Los Angeles Superior Court trial ruling by judge Conrad Aragon against California-based boxing promoter Danny Goossen last week could set the stage for all major California-based fight promoters to no longer sign or solidify contracts with fighters & associates while being located in California.
Judge Conrad Aragon, who was supposed to retire in February 2011, issued a rather … unique ruling against Dan Goossen in regards to Goossen’s lawsuit against boxer Tony Thomspon. For a full background on the lawsuit, click here to read Dan Rafael’s article on the matter.
A quick summary of facts regarding the lawsuit: Goossen (of Goossen-Tutor Promotions) is based in California. Tony Thompson is a DC-based fighter with Maryland jurisdiction. Goossen claims that he and Thompson made an oral agreement over the phone in which Thompson allegedly agreed to give Goossen a % of money in exchange for Goossen being his promoter in setting up a fight with Wladimir Klitschko (K2 Promotions). Goossen claims that after he negotiated the fee to set up the fight, Thompson breached the oral agreement and committed fraud by stiffing him on the deal while receiving the benefits of his work.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
California still “researching the legal basis” for grabbing athletic inspector $
By Zach Arnold | February 8, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
A primer
The hatchet man/fixer that the Department of Consumer Affairs is using in 2013 to go after California State Athletic Commission inspectors for time-and-a-half payments is a man named Jeff Sears. Sears has been around at the Department of Consumer Affairs for years in Human Resources. He’s a money man/communicator.
In April of 2007, CSAC Assistant Executive Officer Susan Lancara and Jeff Sears sent out memos to inspectors about issues relating to travel reimbursement. Time-and-a-half pay for full-time state employees who also worked as athletic inspectors remained a constant. It’s important to note the issues regarding travel reimbursement because the Department of Consumer Affairs last year, in a horribly ill-advised ploy, tried to reclassify inspectors and take away travel reimbursement for some inspectors. In essence, creating a caste system for lead inspectors versus traditional inspectors for travel reimbursement. Not everyone being treated equally if you’re a full-time state employee.
In March of 2010, the California Department of Personnel Administration (via labor lawyer Casey Tichy) sent DCA lawyer James Maynard a memo stating that full-time state employees who work as athletic inspectors are, by law, entitled to a time-and-a-half rate (overtime) under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA, which is Federal law, acts as a floor and not a ceiling for labor law. State labor laws that go above and beyond FLSA standards are considered superior in terms of enforcement. The memo from Tichy cites established legal opinions/case law citations backing up the time-and-a-half rate payment to inspectors.
This is important to note for several reasons.
- One, George Dodd being blamed as the fall guy at CSAC for the time-and-a-half issue is not his fault. He was following orders from the state of California.
- Two, the March 2010 memo was issued and enforced at CSAC via DCA. The recent letters of confiscation that the Department of Consumer Affairs sent to top athletic inspectors like Mohammad Noor demand that Noor and 17 other athletic inspectors pay back overtime wages that they were given by DCA… for the year 2010. DCA hasn’t even sent out letters of confiscation for overtime paid in 2011 and 2012.
The letters of confiscation given to 18 CSAC athletic inspectors last month are based on a trumped up legal opinion crafted by Cal HR (California Human Resources) and given to the Department of Consumer Affairs. The phony legal opinion touted by DCA is a complete U-turn from the 2010 labor memo they received, as the ‘new’ legal opinion ignores all California state labor laws and instead claims that the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) is the ceiling and not floor when it comes to paying athletic inspectors time-and-a-half. In other words, DCA got a ‘new’ legal opinion to tell them what they wanted to hear so that they could confiscate overtime money from athletic inspectors after the budget problems at the California State Athletic Commission blew up in their face and became a big media story.
To compound the ass-covering over what has happened at CSAC, the Bureau of State Audits produced a fraudulent audit of CSAC’s athletic inspectors by basing their calculations on the 2012 phony legal opinion from CalHR as opposed to the 2010 memo sent from a state labor lawyer about time-and-a-half payments.
It is this phony legal opinion that the Department of Consumer Affairs is now basing their letters of confiscation on, attempting to garnish wages or collect cash from 18 CSAC athletic inspectors. As we previously reported, DCA gave the 18 athletic inspectors a time period of 15 days to either agree to have their wages garnished or to come up with a payment plan for the overtime cash. The 15 day time period being pushed by DCA is an arbitrary time limit, not a legally enforceable time limit. According to Mohammad Noor, February 8th (today/Friday) is when DCA will attempt to confiscate money from the 18 athletic inspectors.
As a result of the letter of confiscation, Noor resigned as CSAC’s top athletic inspector. According to a memo we’ve obtained (on background), Noor has warned other athletic inspectors about DCA screwing up the calculations of salary payments to athletic inspectors for prior months. He noted that such a challenge from the inspectors would stop the automatic confiscation process on February 8th.
However, there is a new twist to the story that complicates matters further for the Department of Consumer Affairs and could set the stage for a major litigation battle between DCA and CSAC’s athletic inspectors.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The questions not being asked about UFC’s backing of Vitor Belfort’s testosterone usage
By Zach Arnold | February 7, 2013
Here’s the corporate statement that set things ablaze yesterday online:
Zuffa, LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship®, released the following statement today regarding drug test results from UFC on FX 7 that took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 19, 2013.
All 22 fighters on the UFC on FX 7 card were drug tested at the event and all fighters passed their drug tests with the exception of Thiago Tavares. The results for Tavares showed the presence of Drostanolone, an anabolic steroid and banned substance. Tavares has been informed that he will receive a 9-month suspension retroactive to the date of the event and that he must pass a drug test upon completion of the suspension before receiving clearance to compete again.
To dispel rumors that have been circulated, Zuffa wishes to clarify that Vitor Belfort’s drug test results were negative and did not indicate the presence of any performance enhancing drugs.
Belfort has been on a medically approved testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) regimen under the supervision of a medical doctor from the State of Nevada, after being diagnosed with hypogonadism, or low testosterone. The purpose of a medically administered TRT regimen is to allow patients with hypogonadism to maintain testosterone levels within a range that is normal for an adult male.
UFC will suspend fighters for getting caught smoking marijuana but they won’t bust fighters who get hall passes for testosterone.
If you have been following the Anthony Bosch drug scandal in Major League Baseball, the media has largely focused on Bosch and his background while also naming supposed clients. In the case of the Belfort testosterone news, all of the heat has been on Belfort and little of it elsewhere.
The focus should be on the enablers moreso than the fighters at this point. It takes many parties to tango on this front.
Question 1. Who is the doctor?
UFC won’t give names. Is it Tim Trainor, Keith Kizer’s friendly doctor for the Nevada State Athletic Commission (who isn’t an endocrinologist)? Is it Dr. Jeff Davidson, the emergency room doctor that UFC leans on heavily for overseas events? If not either one of those doctors, then who is it? And why hasn’t the name been released?
Question 2. Did Belfort pay for the doctor to give the hall pass or has the doctor being paid/reimbursed for services by the UFC?
Remember when Rampage Jackson claimed that his doctor billed the UFC last year? He would later claim that a “Russian doctor” who hooked him up with testosterone was paid with money out of his own pocket…
Question 3. Will UFC get away with this behavior because fans are giving up on drug usage in all sports?
I ask this question because of two items I’ve seen within the last 24 hours. First, this item by Greg Savage about not all hall passes being equal is a great read. He’s exactly on target, too.
The scary part is that there are elements of the national American sports media that are starting to consider backing the UFC’s position of having mark doctors handle athletes who are using testosterone. Case in point: Mike Greenberg of ESPN says that the battle to combat doping in sports is a futile effort and that we should consider letting doctors do a legalized form of doping. Mike Golic disagreed with this position, saying the point of athletes using drugs is to always get an advantage over other athletes — which means that even if there was legalized doping, the cheaters would simply use a higher volume of drugs and experiment with new drugs not currently being administered by doctors.
Question 4. How should UFC view Michael Bisping’s losses to fighters when he keeps fighting guys who are getting hall passes for testosterone?
When it’s time to negotiate a new deal, I’m sure they’ll be benevolent and discount the doping by his opponents… right? Right?
Question 5. Will media writers emphasize the importance of attacking doping in combat sports because the risks of physical damage being inflicted by cheaters are much more serious than hitting home runs or having more endurance to ride a bicycle?
This always seems to get lost in the shuffle. It just happens to be the most important point to focus on when it comes to doping in combat sports.
Topics: Boxing, Brazil, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Moonlighting scandal: Che Guevara fights to save his job at the California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | February 1, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
The last two months have been no good and very rotten for one Che Guevara at the California State Athletic Commission in Sacramento. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, either.
Guevara, who obtained his job as Chief Athletic Inspector at CSAC after perjuring himself (thanks Karen Chappelle) in the Antonio Margarito hand-wrap scandal in 2009, is fighting to keep his job at the commission after being embroiled in major political trouble.
There are several factors that have contributed to the deterioration of Guevara’s job stability. The first factor is the fraudulent audit by the Bureau of State Audits which has attacked CSAC for paying time-and-a-half to full-time state employees who work as athletic inspectors at shows. The commission has taken a big hit in Sacramento’s political circles and in the sycophantic California press which regurgitates what press flacks from various agencies tell them to parrot. The result of the state of California going after athletic inspectors with letters of confiscation for back pay is that some of Guevara’s biggest allies, like Mohammad Noor, have simply left the commission. With Noor leaving CSAC, Mark Relyea has been selected as the #1 lead inspector in Southern California. This has allegedly caused turmoil with inspector Anthony Olivas, a Che Guevara ally who (according to two sources on background) is not happy that he’s stuck behind Relyea in the pecking order. However, there are two factors at work here. One, Relyea is trusted by Andy Foster. Two, Olivas was the lead inspector during the incredible disaster last September in Oxnard where deadbeat promoters Raul Barbosa Orozco and Armando Renteria stiffed fighters out of their purses by canceling a show at the last minute due to ticket sales (which in and of itself is an illegal act according to California state code). Thanks to Andy Foster’s efforts to get the Oxnard fighters their money, an estimated $13,000 hit on Orozco’s promoter bond was issued. Since the bond hit, Orozco’s contractor’s license has been suspended in the state of California because no active bond is listed with his license.
Inspectors out in the field are furious at what is going on and how bad the communication has been. Guevara had been in charge of booking assignments for inspectors and officials for shows. With angry inspectors leaving or protesting, Guevara’s mix of people that he needs for political stability is being rattled.
The second strike against Guevara is that state auditors are digging deep in regards to missing revenue from botched box offices by inspectors out in the field. Remember, part of Che Guevara’s job is to teach inspectors how to calculate box offices correctly. He didn’t do that — something which we pointed out — and now the state auditors are finding this out for themselves. The box office packages being sent to Sacramento after shows are often incomplete or missing receipts. There’s a lot of heat on Guevara over this right now in various CADEM (California Democratic Party) circles that pay attention to what’s happening at CSAC.
It should be pointed out that, outside of scanning medical documents, the majority of data at the commission’s office is in paper form and not electronic. This includes the lists for promoters, fighters, so on and so forth. It was only until recently that inspectors were given Excel spreadsheets to use to calculate box offices. We’re still hearing reports out in the field about some inspectors having difficulties figuring out how to calculate the box offices properly.
The third strike against Guevara’s job security is that he has been stripped of many of his job duties. Multiple sources from different political factions have told us that Guevara’s booking power has been taken away. One source, on background, claims that Guevara is limited to working Northern California shows as a lead inspector and doing basic office duties. He has supposedly being told to review box offices. If he screws up, he’s finished. The office currently has an assistant from the Department of Consumer Affairs that is supposed to audit the event packages.
How did Guevara lose his booking power (and why is this important)? Guevara told associates last December that he was taking a month off. 30 days for a vacation? It didn’t sound kosher to many people out in the field at shows and the rumor mill quickly spread that the 30 day ‘vacation’ was to be viewed as some sort of suspension or warning. Multiple sources have indicated to us that Andy Foster, the new Executive Officer, played no role in Guevara being gone for 30 days.
Guevara came back after his 30 day ‘vacation’ and found out that he was stripped of his booking power by Andy Foster (during his absence). The power to book inspectors and officials for shows was how Che Guevara maintained his political power while people like George Dodd were left to take the political fall. Now that this power is gone, Guevara’s political power has become real shaky. Two sources claim that Foster caught Guevara trying to book inspectors for a show behind his back and put a stop to it.
The mystery regarding the 30-day vacation/suspension continues. The Sacramento Bee, however, may have just given us a clue as to how shaky Guevara’s job status really is. This is something that Denise Brown & Awet Kidane at the Department of Consumer Affairs did not want to deal with. Their golden boy continues to give them more public relations headaches.
The Sacramento Bee has been investigating the practice of ‘moonlighting’ by full-time state employees who have been given second or even third jobs in their own state department and paid a full salary per extra job. Guess who is now one of the state employees in the cross-hairs over moonlighting? Che Guevera. You won’t see the Sacramento Bee publish his name in their newest document dump, but his job title and moonlighting practice is the first item of data on their new moonlighting list.
Take a look at the embedded Google Doc spreadsheet that the Sacramento Bee has posted on their web site:
Guevara has, according to The Bee, been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The Chief Athletic Inspector at CSAC was allegedly not only getting paid nearly $4,700 a month for his job, he was also getting $26 an hour for working at shows… as a Chief Athletic Inspector.
Take note that Guevara was not the only person in the CSAC front office who also got paid a separate wage as an athletic inspector at shows. Look at our tax records and you will see Sarah Waklee, Nichole Bowles and Brandon Saucedo who got paid as inspectors and for CSAC office work by DCA. Waklee, Bowles, and Saucedo no longer work in the CSAC front office and none of the three had “Chief Athletic Inspector” in their job title, but an aggressive state auditor or stooge from DCA’s “Department of Investigation” could always target them because they are vulnerable here.
The Bee’s investigation into state workers moonlighting for their same state department has caused an uproar in Sacramento and has sucked up a lot of California media oxygen this week. It’s resulted in legislation being proposed to stop the moonlighting practice for state employees when it comes to ‘additional appointments.’
With his booking power stripped, a 30 day ‘vacation,’ state auditors breathing down his neck, political allies quitting, and bosses desperate to throw someone under the bus to maintain a phony political image, Che Guevara is discovering that he’s starting to run out of allies in Sacramento.
What he doesn’t know is that the worst has yet to come for him.
Topics: CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC’s media battles with Spike/Bellator, photographers, and rankings
By Zach Arnold | February 1, 2013
Before I digress about UFC’s media battles that have taken place this week, I would be doing Scott Stern of the Las Vegas Fight Shop a disservice if I didn’t mention the autograph bonanza at his store this weekend. If you’re in the Las Vegas area, you have to check it out. Details here. He’s got a lot of big names in the MMA world signing autographs and meeting with fans. It’s a hell of an experience. Scott has always had a reputation of being a first-class professional and I can’t stress enough how well he takes care of his customers. I normally don’t promote things like this, but Scott’s worked really hard to make his store successful and he deserves credit for the job he has done.
One of the guests for the autograph bonanza will be Randy Couture, which is great timing considering that he reportedly just inked a deal with Spike TV to be a coach on Bellator’s new MMA reality series coming up. Will it be a success? Will Rampage show up to be a coach as well? Lots of possibilities. Do I think Bellator’s new show will draw eyeballs? Not as many as The Ultimate Fighter, but probably enough to where both Bellator and Spike will be happy. The expectations are lower for the #2 promotion and landing a name like Couture will give them some credibility amongst the casual fans.
The move led Dana White to go back to trashing Couture in the media again…
“I’m happy I never have to do business with Randy Couture again. He’s the furthest thing from Captain America.”
Which leads us to what is happening with The Ultimate Fighter and the ratings that the show is attracting on Tuesday nights. The first show drew 1.51 million viewers and episode two drew 1.27 million viewers. It’s better than last season, but that’s not saying much. The move from Friday nights to Tuesday nights naturally should increase viewership, but it doesn’t appear that the show is outperforming expectations at all.
As our friend MMA Supremacy puts it:
TUF Ep 2 drew 919K live & w/ same day DVR, it was 1.27M. It’s performing about the same as old Friday night slot for TUF 15 Live w/ additional costs & w/ Sonnen and Jones.
And…
that 9PM timeslot averaged around 1.8M and FX expected “epic” ratings. DW predicted 3M viewers on FX move.
If the bickering between UFC/Fox and Bellator/Viacom isn’t enough, now there are two media developments that have the “MMA media” scrambling.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What’s the verdict on the new Ultimate Fighter series (Jones/Sonnen)?
By Zach Arnold | January 22, 2013
With FX & Spike feuding over MMA positioning for weekly cable programming, we ended up with FX pushing The Ultimate Fighter on Tuesday nights versus Bellator going live on Thursday nights. The Bellator show drew over 900,000 viewers last Thursday. So, how will The Ultimate Fighter fare on Tuesday nights?
For starters, Tuesday nights are better than Friday nights… but I still don’t think it’s a great night to run the show on. There wasn’t especially a lot of buzz for Tuesday’s debut.
As for the production values of the show’s new season, this is really the first time we’ve seen changes made and you can thank FX for that. The focus was more on story-telling and entertainment than it was on the actual fights. The biggest challenge for The Ultimate Fighter is convincing viewers that the fighters participating can actually have success and be a top fighter in UFC once the season is over. We’ve seen too many fighters win the show and go nowhere on undercards afterwards.
The change in terms of story-telling and overall production (slower frames per second, more behind-the-scenes focus) created quite a mixed reaction (read here to see what I’m talking about). There was definitely more of a focus to get names next to the faces and to have the fighters talk, which was both a plus and a minus. One fighter compared staying in ‘the house’ to visiting a Federal prison. Another fighter talked about not being able to pay bills, having a home foreclosed on, trouble making child support payments, and being divorced… but he still has God and fighting.
“Looks like tears are the primary bodily fluid being thrown around on TUF 17. Dana is the ultimate armchair MMA coach. He always knows what you shouldn’t be doing.
“It was pretty underwhelming. Fights were edited heavily and the ‘personal drama’ was mostly a lot of repetitive crying scenes. Instead of a riveting human drama it was a dozen repetitive scenes of fighters in hotel rooms talking/crying about sacrifices.”
FX and UFC had to make a directional change with The Ultimate Fighter. The status quo wasn’t working. The question is… was the change implemented too polarizing or was it positive enough to win over new & old fans of the show?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Resignations, pending lawsuits at California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | January 18, 2013
To read all CSAC-related articles, dating back to May 2012, CLICK HERE.
Thursday night’s Bellator event at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California was supposed to be a great moment for new CSAC Executive Officer Andy Foster. The event drew significantly better numbers than expected and it was a positive first step for Bellator and Spike TV. With Bellator ramping up the number of upcoming events in California for 2013, this was supposed to be a celebratory moment for Foster.
Instead, this week has been unpredictable for Foster — and it was capped off by a resignation that has stunned many insiders in the California scene.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Court document details on rape charges against two Lloyd Irvin students
By Zach Arnold | January 12, 2013
On January 7th, WJLA (ABC 27 affiliate in the Washington D.C. TV market) reported that two male students of Lloyd Irvin, Matthew Maldonado & Nicholas Schultz, were arrested on sexual assault charges. Authorities claim that the rape of a female Lloyd Irvin student was caught by surveillance cameras.
On January 10th, WJLA filed a report about Maldonado & Schultz appearing in court. Lloyd Irvin issued the following statement on the matter:
“We are so concerned about the victim’s well-being and we are talking to her about what we can do to support her during this traumatic time. But she is strong, a wonderful young lady, and we are confident she will get through this period and move on with her life. She is eager to start training with us and we are going to be there for her in any way that we can.”
On the same day (1/10), Brent Brookhouse wrote the following article: Case involving students revives interest in old rape case possibly involving Lloyd Irvin
After this article was published, an item on PRWEB from Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts touted a rape prevention & self-defense seminar for February 2nd.
Lloyd Irvin’s Martial Arts Academy is fully dedicated to empowering as many women as possible. Information is power and arming women with the ability to be smart, aware of their surroundings and defend against an attacker is top priority in the Ladies Kick Butt seminar and program.
If you are a woman or have a woman in your life, it is imperative that they attend this seminar to learn life saving techniques.
On January 11th, Brent Brookhouse wrote an article claiming that Lloyd Irvin purchased a web site called LloydIrvinRape.com.
We’ve had a chance to look at the criminal complaints & warrants filed against both Maldonado & Schultz. Here’s what the documents state.
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Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bellator’s Spike launch & its meaning for California’s 2013 business climate
By Zach Arnold | January 10, 2013
When Bellator Sport Worldwide LLC has their Spike TV card on January 17th in Irvine, California at the Bren Events Center, there will be a lot of important eyeballs in state politics paying close attention to how well the event does.
Bellator’s 2013 event scheduling calendar makes it clear that California will be a geographical cornerstone for the company, which is news that Sacramento is happy to hear. It means a second MMA player besides the UFC for revenue for a state athletic commission that Andy Foster is trying to rebuild in a big way.
The January 17th show will be important symbolism on multiple levels. On a regulatory level, expect to see some big names working the show (such as Big John McCarthy and Gene LeBell). LeBell, who has not been booked often by Che Guevara, will see a significant increase in profile under Andy Foster’s watch. That’s a good thing. New blood on the judging, officiating, and inspecting level is coming. One promoter, on background, claims that there will be an emphasis in the future to book officials who have actual in-ring fighting experience. The philosophical change will certainly be different than business as usual.
The Bellator 1/17 main card looks like this:
- Michael Chandler vs. Rick Hawn
- Renato Babalu vs. Mikhail Zayats
- Pat Curran vs. Patricio Pitbull
- Seth Petruzelli vs. Jacob Noe
- Emanuel Newton vs. Atanas Djambazov
The success of the Bellator shows in 2013 is a big deal for CSAC. When it comes to revenue from big boxing & MMA events, the revenue is capped at $100,000 per show for the commission. So, CSAC has a real interest in seeing mid-sized promoters do well in the state. The UFC show on 2/23 in Anaheim (Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche) is drawing lukewarm business. One Sacramento source says that the numbers UFC is doing for their show advance are to be expected because of a few reasons: 1) California remains a boxing-first, MMA-second state in terms of fan preference; 2) there’s a lot of MMA shows in California which means that you can sell a fair amount of tickets but not draw as big of gates because your price point has to be lower; 3) the majority of the activity is in Southern California, meaning that the Northern California shows often get second-tier fights as opposed to the major money bouts.
What happens behind-the-scenes at the Bellator show on a CSAC level will give everyone an indication of where things are heading for 2013 politically… and the politics are hot-and-heavy right now in Sacramento.
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Topics: Bellator, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Review: Brian J. D’Souza’s “Pound for Pound” MMA book is top-class reading
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2013
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In 2012, MMA fans were spoiled with some really, really great books. For 2013, there’s already a candidate for book-of-the-year that deserves your attention.
Brian J. D’Souza’s new book, Pound for Pound: The Modern Gladiators, is a fantastic read. Yes, it is lengthy (over 350 pages), but there’s just no other way someone could write the kind of subject material that he did without using a long-form writing style. When I say that this book is incredibly well-sourced and detailed, I’m not kidding around. And, yet, the book is a surprisingly easy read for those who have short attention spans… which means it has a lot of appeal for the MMA fan in your life.
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Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
GLORY 12/31 Saitama Super Arena & Inoki 12/31 Ryogoku show notes
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2012
GLORY/DREAM NYE event
MMA fights
- Lightweights: Will Brooks defeated Satoru Kitaoka in R2 at 3’46 by TKO from punches.
- Ladies: Marloes Coenen defeated Fiona Muxlow in R1 in 3’29 by armbar.
- Welterweights: Mach Sakurai defeated Phil Baroni after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Melvin Manhoef blistered Denis Kang in R1 in 50 seconds with a knee to the body.
- Bantamweights: Bibiano Fernandes defeated Yoshiro Maeda in R1 in 1’46 with a triangle choke.
- Lightweights: Shinya Aoki defeated Antonio McKee in R2 in 24 seconds by give-up.
- Featherweights: Georgi Karakhanyan defeated Hiroyuki Takaya after 3R by split decision.
- Featherweights: Tatsuya Kawajiri defeated Michihiro Omigawa after 3R by unanimous decision.
Kickboxing
- Heavyweights: Jerome Le Banner defeated KOICHI by KO in 3R.
- 85 kg: Jason Wilnis defeated Toshio Matsumoto by decision.
- 70 kg: Robin Van Roosmalen defeated Yuichiro Nagashima by decision.
$400,000 Grand Slam Heavyweight tournament:
- Semmy Schilt defeated Brice Guidon by TKO in R2.
- Gokhan Saki defeated Raomoru by TKO in R1.
- Daniel Ghita defeated Jhonata Diniz by decision.
- Remy Bonjasky defeated Filip Verlinden by decision.
- Mourad Bouzidi defeated Peter Aerts by TKO.
- Jamal Ben Saddik defeated Errol Zimmerman after 2R by decision.
- Anderson Braddock Silva defeated Igor Jurkovic by TKO in R1.
- Rico Verhoeven defeated Sergei Kharitonov after 2R by decision.
- Semmy Schilt defeated Rico Verhoeven by decision.
- Gokhan Saki defeated Braddock Silva by KO.
- Jamal Ben Saddik defeated Remy Bonjasky after 2R by decision.
- Daniel Ghita defeated Mourad Bouzidi in R2 by TKO.
- Semmy Schilt defeated Gokhan Saki after 2R by decision.
- Daniel Ghita defeated Jamal Ben Saddik by KO in R1.
- Semmy Schilt defeated Daniel Ghita by TKO in R1.
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2012 in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan
- Kazuyuki Fujita defeated Naoya Ogawa in 8’27 by referee stoppage (rush of punches). The fans booed the finish because they didn’t think Ogawa suffered damage for a stoppage. Inoki did his 1-2-3 dah! chant and not a lot of people in the audience went along with it.
- Atsushi Sawada & Hideki Suzuki defeated Ray Sefo & Hiromi Amada in 15’20 when Suzuki used a double-arm suplex hold on Amada.
- MMA: Mirko Cro Cop defeated Wakakirin in 78 seconds.
- MMA: Satoshi Ishii defeated Tim Sylvia after 3R by unanimous decision. There was some booing here.
- MMA: Minowaman defeated Bor Bratovz (Slovenia) in R1 in 3’18 with a heel hold.
- MMA: Rolles Gracie defeated Yusuke Kawaguchi in R1 in 2 minutes by submission.
- Kendo Kashin & Shogun Okamoto defeated Bob Sapp & Erik Hammer in 4’28 when Kashin went over on Sapp.
- Kickboxing: Prince Ali defeated Masayoshi Kakutani in R1 in 1’43 by TKO.
- Masked Genome Jr. defeated Kohaku Kamen in 4’47 with an Octopus hold.
- Akira Jo defeated Kotaro Nasu in 6’47.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |