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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."

If Dana White thinks TRT usage in MMA should be illegal…

By Zach Arnold | July 7, 2012

… then why…

a) do you book fighters who are using testosterone in high-profile fights?

If you think testosterone usage in MMA should be illegal, why reward the users by booking them in positions of making money?

b) allow fighters to use testosterone on overseas events that UFC self-regulates? (See: Rampage Jackson at UFC Japan 2012.)

c) have doctors overseeing/testing/regulating fighter usage of testosterone on the overseas bouts?

Dana thinks testosterone usage should be illegal… but it’s not going to stop him from drawing huge gates with headliners who are using testosterone. That’s his current position, take it or leave it.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Incredible: DCA advising CSAC on getting a loan

By Zach Arnold | July 6, 2012

For an audio summary of the entire chaos involving the Department of Consumer Affairs & the California State Athletic Commission, listen to Sherdog’s Press Row audio show with Jordan Breen & Zach Arnold.

Last week, we broke down California law for you in regards to why we characterized the 9 AM Saturday, June 30th CSAC hearing by the Department of Consumer Affairs on less than 16 hours notice to be an illegal hearing that would not hold up if challenged in a future lawsuit. In accordance with The Bagley-Keene Meeting Act, DCA must give 10 days advance notice for an upcoming Athletic Commission hearing. They also must allow for accommodations for those with disabilities to attend the public hearings.

When DCA bizarrely posted a notice on Friday, June 29th at 5:22 PM PST for a Saturday, June 30th at 9 AM hearing, they posted an agenda online citing standard 10-day advance meeting law codes. In the public comment section of the agenda, they cited [Government Code Sections 11125, 11125.7(a)] which is the 10-day notice.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

DCA’s new spin on illegal CSAC meeting doesn’t cut it

By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2012

On Saturday, we laid out our case to you with graphical evidence just how the Department of Consumer Affairs‘ attempt at an illegal meeting for the California State Athletic Commission violated multiple laws. They violated laws regarding public notification, classification of the meeting, and violating the Disabilities Act.

The article we wrote was based on the initial spin coming from DCA legal that they had classified their Saturday 9 AM last-minute CSAC meeting as a ‘special’ meeting as opposed to a standard public meeting. The problem with this spin is that in the agenda document they posted online 16 hours before the meeting took place, they cited Government codes in the public comment section that classified the meeting as a standard affair. They never listed the word ‘special’ or ’emergency’ in the document, which is not typical behavior for an agency controlled by the DCA when such an unusual meeting is called. They were arrogant and sloppy in their behavior of how they conducted business. Our assertion is that anyone who challenges the results of the meeting in court at a future date would win their court case.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Book review – Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling

By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2012

Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling is a hell of a book if you are looking for a conversational piece of literature to launch a million different topical discussions from.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Media, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Explaining why DCA’s Saturday CSAC hearing was illegal

By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2012

On Friday, we posted an item stating that the DCA’s last-minute ambush hearing for the California State Athletic Commission on Saturday morning at 9 AM was illegal. This immediately drew fire in a lot of quarters. However, we were very confident in our reasoning as to why the meeting should not have happened and that whatever the results of the meeting would be declared null & void if challenged in court.

In our item, we noted that there must be a 10-day advance notice for all public hearings. This is spelled out in the Bagley-Keene Meeting Act. As you will notice when you read the document, it is signed off by Doreathea Johnson of DCA legal in January of 2012. So, DCA legal cannot claim that they don’t know about this law. The 10-day notice is a hard and fast rule, given that they must give anyone with a disability at least 5 days to make any special arrangements to attend a public meeting.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

DCA’s illegal Saturday morning CSAC meeting

By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2012

No matter how hard the media spins DCA talking points about the chaos surrounding their involvement in the financial affairs of the California State Athletic Commission, understand that we have been telling you the real insider story about what has been going down. The only combat sports writer who has showed any attempt to understand what is going on is Josh Gross of ESPN. That’s it. That’s it. We should also give a shout out to Mauro Ranallo for inviting us onto his radio platform to discuss what has been going on in California.

We’ve had readers ask me to create a digestible summary article about the civil war between the Department of Consumer Affairs and the CSAC. Because we’re agitated by the lazy & incompetent nature of the writers who have written pro-DCA articles about the dysfunction of the CSAC, we wrote an article just for beginners and those who are confused by the situation. Thanks to the help of Boxing Insider, we’ve produced the following:

LA Times, combat sports media whitewash DCA’s hand in California chaos

Consider this article your baseline as to why things have played out the way they have.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Anderson Silva remains 5-to-2 favorite over Chael Sonnen

By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2012

First, before we get to the odds for fights about to take place, let’s take a look at four fights ready to happen in the near future:

UFC 149: Hector Lombard (-310) vs Tim Boetsch (+240)

UFC on Fox 4 (August at the Staples Center in Los Angeles): Mauricio Rua (-290) vs Brandon Vera (+220)

UFC on Fuel TV 5: Stipe Miocic (-275) vs Stefan Struve (+205)

UFC Flyweight Title Opening Odds: Joseph Benavidez (-280) vs Demetrious Johnson (+210)

And now, onto the odds for the July fights…

UFC 148 (7/7 Las Vegas):

UFC on Fuel TV 4 (7/11 San Jose Arena/HP Pavilion):

Chris Weidman (-140) vs. Mark Munoz (+120)

Strikeforce (7/14 Portland):

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |

How the California State Athletic Commission fought the Department of Consumer Affairs’ power grab

By Zach Arnold | June 28, 2012

DOWNLOADABLE/PRINTABLE PDF (10 pages)

John Frierson proved me wrong. He proved the Department of Consumer Affairs wrong. He proved everyone wrong.

The 82-year old Chairman of the California State Athletic Commission faced intense pressure from officials of the Department of Consumer Affairs to terminate George Dodd as Executive Director. Frierson, along with Dr. VanBuren Ross Lemons and the rest of the commission members, stood up to some of the most powerful forces at DCA in order to save George Dodd’s job. While the focus of the story will be on Dodd and how effective/ineffective he will be as Executive Director given the politics right now in Sacramento, the truth is that the civil war between the DCA & CSAC is very real and very raw. In DCA minds, the CSAC has been their puppet for a long time. They were never prepared to face any sort of backlash, let alone board members who they approve/disapprove showing some spine and standing up against DCA’s rubber-stamping mentality.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Civil war: CSAC keeps George Dodd (against DCA wishes)

By Zach Arnold | June 26, 2012

A few items of note from today’s tension-filled South El Monte, California CSAC hearing.

– All of the major bean counters from Department of Consumer Affairs were there. DCA wanted George Dodd out.

– The CSAC board voted to censure George Dodd and will have him continue as Executive Director under supervision.

– Attorneys were in the room not related to DCA. This caught the politicians by surprise.

– Public comment was held to three minutes per person. This didn’t go over well with a couple of people who wanted to speak. DCA officials were reportedly very upset by what took place in regards to what was discussed in public comment.

– There were various referees, judges, and other officials who spoke out in support of Dodd at today’s hearing. Whether DCA/CSAC thinks this was orchestrated by someone in the room or not, people did show up at today’s hearing to back Dodd. It caught DCA flat-footed.

– Dean Grafilo, Jerry Brown’s new appointment to the CSAC, voted during quorum on Dodd’s job status. He shouldn’t have… because he’s not been confirmed, yet, by the state Senate.

– What today’s decision means is that there are real cracks developing and people are not on the same page.

Josh Gross:

CSAC censured its EO George Dodd this afternoon for failing to inform the regulatory body of its insolvency. He retains his job, however.

CSAC retains its right to fire Dodd when it wants. Also, Dodd is instructed to work with the Dept. of Consumer Affairs to resolve the issue.

There was big outpouring of support for Dodd from officials and promoters, including @GoldenBoyBoxing and @GoossenTutor. Surely helped him.

It was nice, but that’s not what helped him necessarily… telling Dodd to work with DCA on the budget is like telling Dodd to have a fox guard a hen house. DCA is the one pulling the budget strings. The more people learn about DCA’s practices, the less juice they have in convincing outsiders that Dodd is acting as a lone wolf. Not a chance. DCA does not want to deal with a lawsuit from Dodd, considering they just got slapped with a retaliation & age discrimination lawsuit by someone of high credibility.

If you’ve followed all the inside baseball here with us for this civil war, you have a much better understanding about what is going on. DCA didn’t send their staff from Sacramento to El Monte to watch someone get a reprieve.

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Explaining the motives of the DCA/CSAC civil war

By Zach Arnold | June 26, 2012

The biggest question I’ve struggled to answer for our readers regarding the turmoil at the Department of Consumer Affairs and California State Athletic Commission is the following: why does the DCA, which manages so many high-profile bureaus under their umbrella, give a damn about the lowly athletic commission?

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

DCA, CSAC face retaliation & age discrimination lawsuit

By Zach Arnold | June 25, 2012

DOWNLOADABLE/PRINTABLE PDF (19 pages)

The day before George Dodd gets terminated reviewed by the Department of Consumer Affairs in regards to his job status at a hearing in South El Monte, California, a new twist has developed in the on-going civil war between DCA & the California State Athletic Commission. The DCA & CSAC have been named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by long-time CSAC inspector Dwayne “Woody” Woodard.

The lawsuit, filed on June 22nd in Los Angeles County Superior Court by attorney Farzad Tabatabai of Tabatabai & Blonstein, APLC (case number: BC487180) alleges that the DCA & CSAC are guilty of actions pertaining to age discrimination, retaliation, and creating a hostile work environment.

Rather than reprint the whole lawsuit document here, what we are going to do is break down various parts of the lawsuit filing. We will show you graphical snapshots, text summaries, and try to tie in some of our recent reporting in regards to a comparison against the claims made by Mr. Woodard in his lawsuit against the DCA & CSAC.

We promise you that this is worth your time to read and that it further advances the story in regards to our reports about the DCA/CSAC civil war.

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: CSAC, Media, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Source: George Dodd prepared for showdown w/ DCA on Tuesday

By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2012

On Friday, we reported that George Dodd was out as Executive Director of the California State Athletic Commission. After the Department of Consumer Affairs illegally threatened Dodd with personal liability for any CSAC debt, the outcome was fixed. In addition, we reported on Sunday that new Governor Brown commission appointee Brian Edwards was also a goner.

What hasn’t been discussed are the terms of DCA’s ousting of George Dodd. The folks in Sacramento thought that him cleaning out his desk was going to be the end of this process.

According to a source with knowledge of Tuesday’s DCA hearing in South El Monte, George Dodd is set to force the DCA into a public hearing about his job performance. Despite the outcome being a fait accompli, the source claims that Dodd will make the internal issues regarding CSAC & DCA business a public affair despite the DCA/CSAC having a closed session before announcing Dodd’s job termination on Tuesday.

Should Dodd go through with the public hearing request on Tuesday, our educated guess is that we will get, at the very least, a small glimpse into the politics regarding how the DCA controls manages CSAC and why they are making the political moves they currently are. In previous posts about the DCA/CSAC civil war, we have brought up the potential scenario of the DCA sunsetting the CSAC so that they could possibly take over all CSAC duties in secret. Such a scenario would mean that all decisions made by DCA would not be disclosed publicly. This would include budgeting affairs, licensing, drug testing, and matchmaking. Given all of the potential outcomes of this civil war, DCA moving everything into secret would absolutely be the worst case scenario for combat sports in California. If you think that the current situation is politically charged, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

In regards to the departure of Brian Edwards from CSAC, the belief on the ground is that he got out of dodge because he wanted no part of being involved in the start of this civil war. Once the insolvency letter by DCA was sent to the CSAC board members, that was enough for him.

If that doesn’t pique your interest, this might. According to a source on background, Governor Jerry Brown recently was ready to appoint two new people to CSAC. In order for those appointments to go through, they have to go through powerful state senate president pro tem Darrell Steinberg in Sacramento. The source claims that Steinberg, who is on the Senate Rules & Public Safety committees, has been advised by the Department of Consumer Affairs to hold off on the appointments.

As for the man (Brian Stiger) who appointed George Dodd to the DCA, Stiger was moved from the state level of DCA to the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs branch in January of 2012.

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |

Amidst DCA/CSAC civil war chaos, a second CSAC member (Brian Edwards) is gone

By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2012

On Friday, we reported that George Dodd was out as Executive Director of the California State Athletic Commission. Given the on-going civil war between the Department of Consumer Affairs and the commission, Dodd’s departure was a fait accompli.

However, a second departure from the commission should raise just as many eye brows. Brian Edwards, who was appointed to the CSAC by Governor Jerry Brown last year, is now gone from the CSAC. Here’s how Governor Brown introduced the addition of Edwards to the commission at the time of the appointment:

Brian Edwards, 48, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California State Athletic Commission. Edwards is the chief operating officer of Relativity Media. Previously, he was the chief operating officer and general counsel of Mark Burnett Productions from 2009 to May 2011 and the president and chief operating officer at Overnight Productions from 2007 to 2009. Edwards was the chief operating officer and general counsel at DreamWorks, LLC from 2004 to 2007 after serving as the head of legal affairs from 1999 to 2004. Edwards worked at Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger, serving as a partner from 1996 to 1999 after serving as an associate from 1989 to 1996. Edwards was a co-executive producer of the TV series, “The Contender.” This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Edwards is registered decline-to-state.

During our investigation of CSAC Chairman John Frierson, we took notice of Brian Edwards’ appointment because of a huge conflict of interest that The Los Angeles Times spelled out in an August 25th, 2004 article. Edwards was COO and general counsel at Dreamworks, LLC during the time that the reality show The Contender was being produced. This show, along with another boxing reality TV show called The Next Great Champ, received huge tax breaks from the CSAC and also did not have to follow disclosure rules regarding results of taped bouts. Frierson was on the commission at the time that the business decisions were made. Even worse, controversial California Deputy Attorney General Karen Chappelle & DCA counsel Anita Scuri approved and/or signed off on the business deals.

It reminded me of the state’s Business and Professions Code, 450.5:

450.5. A public member, or a lay member, at any time within five years immediately preceding his or her appointment, shall not have been engaged in pursuits which lie within the field of the industry or profession, or have provided representation to the industry or profession, regulated by the board of which he or she is a member, nor shall he or she engage in those pursuits or provide that representation during his or her term of office.

Despite this potential conflict of interest in Governor Jerry Brown appointing Brian Edwards to the CSAC board in 2011, the reputation of Mr. Edwards as someone with a solid background for helping out the commission handle business affairs was never really questioned. At the now infamous June 4th, 2012 San Diego hearing, you could listen to a couple of the commissioners on the board talking about Mr. Edwards having a sharp mind and utilizing his help when going over some pressing issues down the road.

While the DCA has not made an official announcement regarding the departure of Brian Edwards, we noticed something that caught our eye on the June 26th meeting materials packet for the CSAC’s hearing in South El Monte, California. His name was also not listed on the two-page agenda PDF that was released before the meeting materials were released.

Compare and contrast the following screen caps (first shot from June 4th agenda, second shot from June 26th agenda):


This wasn’t the only thing we noticed about these documents. We had a pretty good feeling that the DCA had already moved on from George Dodd as Executive Director because his name was replaced at the bottom of the documents in regards to having his contact information listed for those who have physical disabilities and need accommodations in order to attend the 6/26 hearing. Dodd’s name was replaced by Roseanna Leon of the DCA.

Compare and contrast the following screen caps (first shot from June 4th agenda, second shot from June 26th agenda):

In the June 26th meeting materials packet, the insolvency letter that was fired off by the DCA to the CSAC board members was published online. The letter claimed that DCA had a meeting with George Dodd about the commission’s finances on May 23rd. Brian Edwards’ name was listed as being a recipient of the insolvency letter. Mr. Edwards was not in attendance for the June 4th San Diego hearing. Soon after that meeting, he was gone from the commission.

Maybe he can give former CSAC AEO Bill Douglas a call at the Pest Control Board for some work.

Both George Dodd & Brian Edwards are gone from the CSAC. Anita Scuri, who we noted up above as having a role in approving the tax breaks for the reality boxing TV shows, departed DCA/CSAC after the June 4th meeting.

This is just the first wave of individuals about to hit the exits. Whether DCA has figured this out (yet) or not, that’s another story.

Tuesday’s hearing in South El Monte, California will be quite an interesting affair.

Topics: Boxing, CSAC, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

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