What’s missing on the job application for Executive Officer slot at CSAC
By Zach Arnold | August 14, 2012
This was posted online yesterday and the Department of Consumer Affairs is using a 10-day application process time frame.
At the end of the application notice, I’ll note something of importance.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What’s next for the California State Athletic Commission?
By Zach Arnold | August 13, 2012
This question is one that Mauro Ranallo and I tried to answer last Friday on his radio show. My segment is around 15 minutes long, so it’s concise but easy for anyone to understand if you’re an outsider to the whole topic of CSAC’s political & financial troubles.
(If you’re looking for an audio source to give you the origins of what exactly has been going on, listen to my interview a few weeks ago with Jordan Breen on Sherdog radio.)
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Printable option now available for all site articles
By Zach Arnold | August 13, 2012
When you view individual article links, you will now notice there is a new print icon that you can click on. I’ve finally found a solution, after many years, of making all of our posts in a clean printable format for everyone to utilize.
Not only can you print individual articles, you can also save the article text into PDF format and edit the printable text so you print off only the paragraphs you want printed. This will be useful for longer articles if you only want to print off certain sections and not the entire post.
On top of these added features, there’s also a feature to change the size of the font in the printable text.
When viewing articles on the main page and not the individual article link itself, you won’t see the print button. You’ll see the print button only in individual article mode.
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Dana White: It doesn’t matter who I think won the Henderson/Edgar fight
By Zach Arnold | August 12, 2012
Video courtesy of MMAFighting.com
ARIEL HELWANI: “So, why don’t you tell us how you scored the main event?”
DANA WHITE: “Because I feel like… Ben Henderson has won twice. The judges have given him the decision both times. You know, I’m just… I’m not going to go out there and give my decision that doesn’t matter any way. The kid won the fight. Don’t leave it in the hands of the judges, you know. If you let it go to the judges, I’ll tell you this — I had even going into the last round, you know? And if you leave in the hands of the judges, one of you is going to be bummed out at the press conference. Period.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “It seems like and I’m maybe just seeing the other side of the coin here that you don’t want to open that can of worms by saying if you do think Frankie Edgar won because it seems like unanimously the entire MMA media thought he won. To start the whole thing about a rematch again…”
DANA WHITE: “Guess what? Doesn’t matter what you guys think, either. It doesn’t matter what any of us think. The judges made their decision tonight and it was for Ben Henderson, you know? The kid… the kid won, what are you going to do?”
Kevin Iole: Henderson-Edgar II decision was debatable but not egregious, and shouldn’t detract from card
ARIEL HELWANI: “I know a lot of people always say Frankie should go down to 145, he doesn’t have to cut weight. But he just lost two fights to arguably the best Lightweight in the world, very close, controversial. He could have won both of them. How could you really make the guy go down?”
DANA WHITE: “I can’t. I can’t make him go down at all. I agree with you 100%. I think that not only has he, you know, these two fights but all the fights that he’s won in the past including BJ Penn and Maynard and all the other fights that he’s won. I love this kid, I respect him, and I just think he would do at 145. But, again, it’s much like my ‘who do I think won?’ It doesn’t matter, it’s not my decision. If Frankie Edgar wants to stay at 155, he’s earned that right. He deserves that right and he can do whatever the hell he wants.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Before this fight, did he tell you that if he loses, ‘OK, fine, I’ll go down to 145?”
DANA WHITE: “Ummm… I don’t remember exactly what he said. It wasn’t as much the issue of him going to 145 as it was… you know, how bad he wanted the rematch, you know? Whatever he wants to do, I’m cool with.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 150: Ben Henderson wins split decision over Frankie Edgar
By Zach Arnold | August 11, 2012
Event: UFC 150 (8/11 Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado)
TV: FX/PPV
Preliminary fights
- Bantamweights: Chico Camus (+160) defeated Dustin Pague after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Nik Lentz (-350, 7 to 2 favorite) defeated Eiji Mitsuoka in R1 in 3’45 by TKO.
- Bantamweights: Erik Perez (-115) defeated Ken Stone (-115) in R1 in 17 seconds by KO.
- Middleweights: Michael Kuiper (-115) defeated Jared Hamman (-115) in R2 in 2’16 by TKO.
- Featherweights: Dennis Bermudez (-300, 3 to 1 favorite) defeated Tommy Hayden in R1 in 4’43 by submission (choke).
Main card
- Lightweights: Max Holloway (-115) defeated Justin Lawrence (-115) in R2 in 4’49 by TKO.
- Middleweights: Yushin Okami (-600, 6 to 1 favorite) defeated Buddy Roberts in R2 in 3’09 by TKO.
- Middleweights: Jake Shields (-200, 2 to 1 favorite) defeated Ed Herman after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Donald Cerrone (-300, 3 to 1 favorite) defeated Melvin Guillard in R1 in 1’16 by KO.
- UFC Lightweight title match: Ben Henderson (-200, 2 to 1 favorite) defeated Frankie Edgar after 5R by split decision.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 49 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The IBF backs Lamont Peterson’s testosterone usage
By Zach Arnold | August 11, 2012
Where to begin?
A crash course on testosterone, hypogonadism, and doping
You remember Lamont Peterson, the boxer who was supposed to fight Amir Khan in Las Vegas but ended up failing a drug test administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, the agency that Peterson wanted to assist in drug testing both fighters? Peterson ended up failing his VADA drug testing due to his (micro-dosing) usage of testosterone. Keith Kizer, the Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director who hands out Therapeutic Use Exemptions for testosterone usage by fighters in Nevada, threw a misguided temper tantrum about Dr. Margaret Goodman after Peterson failed the VADA test because it cost Nevada money for canceling the fight. Kizer admitted that standard Nevada drug testing wouldn’t have caught Peterson’s testosterone usage because he skated under the 4:1 Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratio.
Peterson’s camp claims that the fighter needed the testosterone pellets (micro-dosing) and that it was for therapeutic use. And yet, he didn’t bother to get a hall pass from the testosterone-friendly Keith Kizer to use the magical T. In response to the criticism from various parties about Peterson’s failed drug test, VADA released a statement giving their side of the story. A week later, Andre Berto failed a VADA drug test.
Everyone knows that testosterone is a performance-enhancing drug. If it didn’t enhance your performance, you wouldn’t be using it. Testosterone is the base chemical for anabolic steroids. And if no one was interested in using testosterone, you wouldn’t be bombarded with radio & TV ad campaigns for Ageless Male & Androgel 1.62. It’s ridiculous that these ads air during the Olympics on the NBC family of networks and also on ESPN, the same network that goes after athletes like Ryan Braun for alleged synthetic testosterone usage.
So, given the circumstances surrounding Lamont Peterson’s testosterone usage… the IBF announced yesterday that he can keep his junior welterweight title and that he’ll be defending it against Zab Judah. Will Keith Kizer rubber stamp the fight for Las Vegas?
The fact that Peterson is proclaiming that the IBF has cleared his name over testosterone usage is absurd. However, it is a win for him in terms of public relations if you believe the BBC. Ridiculous.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
DCA’s nightmare: The California State Athletic Commission is about to get audited
By Zach Arnold | August 9, 2012
A potentially nightmarish scenario for Department of Consumer Affairs head honchos Denise Brown and Awet Kidane, along with the folks at DCA’s legal department … if the politicians are willing to reveal the skeletons in the closet.
Assemblyman Luis Alejo, whose efforts at pushing AB2100 failed, has gotten his CSAC audit request approved by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee.
Here’s the press release from his office:
(SACRAMENTO) – Assemblymember Luis A. Alejo’s (D-Salinas) request for a state audit of the California State Athletic Commission was unanimously approved by the bicameral Joint Legislative Audit Committee yesterday.
The California State Athletic Commission is responsible for protecting the health and safety of its licensees; boxers, kickboxers and martial arts athletes. Through the years, the Commission has become one of the largest combat sports sanctioning bodies in the nation. However, it has been recently highlighted that the Commission had become insolvent due to excessive spending.
“This situation is of great concern to me; other combat sports fans and athletes in our state because it could cause the Commission to cease its operations, thereby denying regulation and oversight for combat sports,” says Alejo.
The idea of the audit came as a result of the Commission’s internal financial troubles being exposed. Since then, two of the Commissioners and the Executive Officer have resigned. Recent reports indicate that the Commission’s financial problems might be due in part to money being overspent on athletic inspectors’ salaries and in-state travel.
The state audit requested by Alejo will focus on reviewing the financial operations of the Commission and whether they are in compliance with relevant laws, rules, and regulations. In addition, Assemblyman Alejo asked the State Auditor to review the current status of the Boxer’s Pension Fund and the Neurological Examination Fund which are regulated by the Commission.
“This audit will help us determine if a strategy has been developed to control the Commission’s costs and to guarantee that public dollars are being spent to serve the needs of athletes, promoters and fans of combat sports in California,” says Alejo.
Luis Alejo represents the 28th District in the California State Assembly, which consists of San Benito County, the Salinas Valley, North Monterey County, South Santa Clara County and the city of Watsonville.
Given the recent troubles surrounding accounting & loan practices for special funds in the state of California, the status of the boxer’s pension & neurological funds is a real touchy subject. There’s quite a bit of cash available for politicians to misuse, either in administrative costs or by juggling the numbers to hide any potential loans from other DCA departments with the funds.
We applaud Assemblyman Alejo’s request for an audit of the athletic commission. I suspect there’s more than a few agencies under the DCA banner that also deserve the full audit treatment as well.
Video of yesterday’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing can be watched here or downloaded here in MP4 format (2.23 Gigs).
- Investigation: The future of combat sports in California (May 6th)
- Investigation: How did (then) 80 year old scandal-plagued politician John Frierson get an important job promotion? (May 9th)
- The politics of MMA’s testosterone push & California’s coming collapse (June 7th)
- California State Athletic Commission on a path towards insolvency, could get shut down (June 10th, 2012)
- PDF report now online – Blame game: DCA, CSAC civil war (emergency 6/26 meeting set by DCA) (June 16th, 2012)
- DCA/CSAC civil war: Taxpayers & promoters get a raw deal in California (June 19th, 2012)
- DCA outlines potential CSAC fraud; Dodd out as Executive Director (June 22nd, 2012)
- Amidst DCA/CSAC civil war chaos, a second CSAC member (Brian Edwards) is gone (June 24th, 2012)
- Source – George Dodd prepared for showdown w/ DCA on Tuesday (June 24th, 2012)
- DCA, CSAC face retaliation & age discrimination lawsuit (June 25th, 2012)
- Explaining the motives of the DCA/CSAC civil war (June 26th, 2012)
- Civil war: CSAC keeps George Dodd (against DCA wishes) (June 26th, 2012)
- How the CSAC fought DCA’s power grab (June 28th, 2012)
- DCA’s illegal Saturday morning CSAC meeting (June 29th, 2012)
- Explaining why DCA’s Saturday CSAC hearing was illegal (June 30th, 2012)
- DCA’s new spin on illegal CSAC hearing doesn’t cut it (July 2nd, 2012)
- Incredible – DCA advising CSAC on getting a loan (July 6th, 2012)
- DCA preparing CSAC loan to help cover debt, some of which DCA admits was caused by fraud (July 9th, 2012)
- Horrible atmosphere at CSAC, strained promoter relations (July 12th, 2012)
- Notes from 9 AM CSAC stakeholders call (July 15th, 2012)
- George Dodd resigns at CSAC; DCA goes for full purge at CSAC (July 16th, 2012)
- Road map of CSAC chaos reveals fingerprints from California’s biggest politicians (Darrell Steinberg, Jerry Brown, Denise Brown) (July 18th, 2012)
- Why it’s possible UFC will get involved in CSAC chaos (July 18th, 2012)
- Tax records reveal DCA corruption & who cashed in big at the California State Athletic Commission (July 23rd, 2012)
- Pest Control E.O. Bill Douglas accused by prosecutor of targeting CSAC office (July 30th, 2012)
- Che Guevara thinks he’ll be the next E.O. at the California State Athletic Commission (August 3rd, 2012)
- Department of Consumer Affairs admits George Dodd was right & that the California State Athletic Commission isn’t broke (August 7th, 2012)
- Sacramento’s new sleazy cost-cutting measures for the California State Athletic Commission (August 8th, 2012)
Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sacramento’s new sleazy cost-cutting measures for the California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | August 8, 2012
At Wednesday’s California State Athletic Commission hearing in Sacramento at the HQ of the Department of Consumer Affairs, the CSAC board announced that DCA lifer Kathi Burns would continue as the interim Executive Officer. Burns, who has no experience in combat sports, is your classic bean counter from DCA. Take a look at her recent work history (via tax records):
She is stuck in a position by DCA to either succeed temporarily & get rewarded or, should everything go to hell, get punished by Denise Brown and Awet Kidane in Sacramento.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Department of Consumer Affairs admits George Dodd was right & that the California State Athletic Commission isn’t broke
By Zach Arnold | August 7, 2012
Tomorrow, the California State Athletic Commission will hold its first meeting in the post-George Dodd era in Sacramento at the HQ of the Department of Consumer Affairs. At that meeting, a budget review will take place which will reveal that George Dodd was not lying when he said that there was money left in the bank for CSAC at the end of the 2011-2012 Fiscal Year.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
U-turn: Junior dos Santos wants Alistair Overeem now, Cain Velasquez later
By Zach Arnold | August 5, 2012
Video courtesy of MMAFighting.com
And here Javier Mendez was thinking that the worst comment he would hear this week was Josh Koscheck wishing that the American Kickboxing Academy gym would burn down in San Jose…
The tone from Dana and how excited he is about this request from JDS is clearly jubilant.
“Dos Santos camp has been ducking @cainmma from start to try and get Overeem fight.” – @akajav on @junior_cigano wanting @Alistairovereem.
Just to clarify: I will fight whoever UFC puts in front of me. But when people talk to much I feel anxious to shut them up.
If it’s in Nevada (on December 29th), Keith Kizer will find a way to help out sooner rather than later.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Che Guevara thinks he’ll be the next E.O. at the California State Athletic Commission
By Zach Arnold | August 3, 2012
Last week, we reported that Governor Jerry Brown’s office was recruiting candidates for the vacant Executive Officer slot at the California State Athletic Commission. The reaction to this news, both on the inside of DCA/CSAC and outside, was less than charitable. After all, the root problem for CSAC’s future is that it’s controlled by Denise Brown’s Department of Consumer Affairs, the 4,000-employee strong Sacramento political monster. Until CSAC is back to being a self-sufficient commission, DCA will continue to run interference in business dealings. Therefore, it’s hard to believe that any candidate that Governor Brown’s office selects will be able to navigate the vindictive politics of DCA management, DCA’s legal department (Anita Scuri, Doreathea Johnson, Spencer Walker), and controversial California supervising Deputy Attorney General Karen Chappelle. Plus, the fact that Governor Brown’s office is active in selecting candidates for the CSAC E.O. slot as opposed to letting CSAC itself recruit candidates for the job tells you everything you need to know about the lack of transparency & authority at CSAC.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Rashad Evans backs TRT usage in MMA, Michael Bisping… not so much
By Zach Arnold | August 1, 2012
It’s interesting to see how much the two anti-testosterone debaters (Kenny Florian & Michael Bisping) dominate this short conversation in terms of the time they take to speak, while Rashad is kind of playing it cool… but at the end says that he thinks MMA fighters should be allowed to use testosterone.
A couple of points brought up in the video – 1) Florian says there’s a huge advantage for the testosterone users when it comes to extra time to train (recovery from injuries) and how guys with more experience become drillers to killers. 2) The increased strength from using testosterone is discussed. 3) The argument that you don’t see testosterone usage as much, if at all, with the fighters in smaller weight classes because of the bulk it puts on your body frame. Remember, Rampage Jackson missed weight for his UFC Japan 2012 fight and said that he gained much more weight than he thought he would.
Unfortunately, this roundtable discussion didn’t touch upon the connection between concussions & testosterone levels.
Michael Bisping coming out in favor of random testing of fighters for four to five drug tests per year is certainly an interesting back drop to the upcoming testing by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency for both BJ Penn & Rory MacDonald.
Building upon the point made by Dominick Cruz — what is the cut off weight class in which we start to see a heavy amount of usage of testosterone? Is it 170 (Welterweight) or 185 (Middleweight)? I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on what weight limit you think the benefits of testosterone usage really start to come into play here.
Here’s Dan Henderson talking about how he’s not a normal 40 year old. He’s exactly right.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Brandon Vera: My fight w/ Shogun will change UFC history … because I care now
By Zach Arnold | July 31, 2012
BAS RUTTEN: “What did you change in your training, Brandon?”
BRANDON VERA: “Uh, what did I change?”
BAS RUTTEN: “Yes.”
BRANDON VERA: “Um… I brought back in all my Muay Thai coaches. I brought back in all my training partners from all across the country, the world. Gustafsson came in on a sparing day and gave me some. Everybody has been here and started showing up to support for this. Everybody understands how big this opportunity is, what this could mean for myself, my career, and UFC and the history of MMA and, uh, everybody’s been supporting me 100%. What has changed I guess the most is my attitude towards training and what I should have been doing since day one.”
KENNY RICE: “What should you have been doing since day one that you haven’t been?”
BRANDON VERA: “I should have been caring, man. I should have understood the fact that I fight in the UFC where the greatest fighters from around the world congregate to compete for the number one spot and I didn’t treat it like that for a long time. I didn’t treat it like that at all. So… I understand where I’m at now, I understand.”
JOSH KOSCHECK: “It’s my first camp being away from San Jose and being away from training with you and everybody but there’s a substitute for it, you know, I get to train in my own gym, I get to stay at my own house at night.
“Starting a new gym in Fresno is a big step, you know, it’s a big risk. It’s a new beginning to my life and I feel like my career might have just got a little bit longer because I don’t have that stress of being in San Jose.”
JON FITCH: “So, the bridge is pretty much completely burnt?”
JOSH KOSCHECK: “The bridge over in San Jose is pretty much burnt, you know, and it’s nothing with anybody over there. There’s only one person… and we all know (who) that person is, Javier. You know, I just wasn’t happy, it wasn’t the place for me any more.”
“I could no longer train. I didn’t really care because I knew I was leaving San Jose. I’m done with this fucking guy. I’m done with being around… like… does the guy not know how much I’ve done for him and his gyms, like fighting for 8 years under that name? 8 years. And it’s like, not once he ever came up to me and said, ‘Kos, thank you for fighting under the gym.’ He never truly ever cared about coming to your fights until you were on TV, never truly cared about coming to my fights until I was fighting in the big fights because he wanted to build his own name off of us. Too much fame, too much TV, people change. I can say truly, Fitch, I’ve been the same from day one. Total d-i-c-k from day one. I say what I feel and if you don’t like it, tough shit, you know? He changed.
“I hope the gym burns to the ground. *laughs* Is that bad? Hopefully nobody’s in it but, just, well maybe one person, but… if it burns down, I’m cool. We’ll be good.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |