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Chael Sonnen: “They found me guilty for taking a legal substance (testosterone)”

By Zach Arnold | October 5, 2011

It was an interview featuring two participants (Chael Sonnen and Mauro Ranallo) that you knew, at some point, would devolve into who knows what. It inevitably reached that point of absurdity… and more.

Sonnen immediately said that he would be ‘defending his Middleweight championship’ against Brian Stann on Saturday night in Houston. When asked about what weight he’s at now and if he’ll be able to make the cut, he described it as a ‘painful, struggling challenging week for (making) weight.’ When asked why he hasn’t been publicly trash-talking Brian Stann, he quipped back with this response:

CHAEL SONNEN: “Look, I don’t try to get under someone’s skin. I don’t talk trash. I hear that said about myself but I don’t do that. I’m the most respectful guy in the sport. The difference is I’ve got a different opinion of what respect is. A lot of guys think it’s to be fake. A lot of guys think it’s respectful to bow to your face and stick a knife in your back when you turn around. I will tell you to your face that when you turn I’m going to put a knife in your back and then I’ll do it.

“I think he’s great, you know, I was in the WEC with him, traveled the road(s) with him, we were in different weight classes. He was the king of his division, I was the king of mine and frankly he was pretty green back then. He was pretty new to the sport and he still won the championship. So, all these years removed, it’s been a lot of fun to watch him do well. There’s not a lot of good guys in the locker room in this business, there’s a bunch of dirt bags. But he’s one of the good guys, so he’s all right with me.

MAURO RANALLO: “Who do you think is the biggest dirt bag in the sport right now?”

CHAEL SONNEN: “That’s my business, brother, that’s my business. Time will work itself out and he and I will meet, but for now I’ll keep that to myself. I’ve got Brian Stann in my sights.”

MAURO RANALLO: “Well, would it be Anderson Silva, who you actually begrudgingly gave some props to regarding his performance against Yushin Okami someone who you helped prepare. Are you beginning to soften on The Spider?”

CHAEL SONNEN: “No, absolutely not.”

MAURO RANALLO: “And do you see that as being the next target after you get past Brian Stann?”

CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, I already know who the next target is. My opponent is set, the date is set, and the venue is set. But before we get to anything to of that, I have to take care of business in Houston on Saturday night.”

Sonnen stated that he had changed up his management & training team in preparation for Saturday’s fight. He’s now training out of Scott McQuary’s facility in Tualatin, Oregon with coach Clayton Hires. He described the state of Team Quest as “a big revolving door … I think the rain gets to (people) a little bit in Portland.”

As for what kind of game plan the 2.5-to-1 favorite will implement against Stann…

“What’s a game plan? What does that mean? You got a bunch of guys with their 8th grade educations and their gold teeth sitting around trying to break down a fight. Listen, it’s a fist fight in a steel cage in Texas on Saturday night. There is nothing more simplistic in life than that. I don’t exactly need a plan. I walk out there when the guy in the shark suit gets out of my way and the referee with the dreadlocks says ‘get it on,’ I get it on.”

Revisiting history vs. revisionist history

The issue of Sonnen coming off his suspension for TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) was brought up. This was clearly not something he wanted to harp on at-length but decided to make his case and try to get it out of the way. I don’t think that worked out so well during this interview. Mauro asked him about the suspension and if he would fight in California again after issues relating to ‘elevated testosterone’ levels.

“First off, shame on you for putting out a false report. Not only did I not have elevated testosterone (levels), I was never even accused of that. The state of California never even accused me of that. Josh Gross went on ESPN and falsely reported that. I was never even up against those charges. I took testosterone and testosterone is 100% legal and shame on you as a member of the media for not coming out and not blasting the commission for that. I took testosterone, I offer no apology. Testosterone is not a banned substance in any of the 46 states that govern MMA or the two provinces in Canada. It is completely legal. They banned me for taking a legal substance and I never took an elevated amount, ever. I was never even accused of that other than by Josh Gross who got it on ESPN and by then it was all over the wire.

“They don’t know their own rules. I’m not trying to be condescending, I’m not trying to do any of those things but it’s that frustrating. They brought me in for taking testosterone. I had to explain to them that it’s not against their rules. They said, ‘hey, you took testosterone,’ and I said, “I sure did.’ I said, ‘look on page three of your own rule book, testosterone is legal.’ There’s very few things that are legal, you know, it’s a very sensitive list. Caffeine, for example, is illegal. Aspirin’s illegal, so it’s very sensitive. Testosterone is one of the few things that’s legal. So, they turn to page three and say, oh my goodness, he did take a legal substance, what do we do now?

So, they changed the argument. Right on the spot, they changed the argument to a disclosure issue. And that wasn’t what I was brought there for but of course I was ready for that and I had disclosed it. I disclosed it four different ways, three of which I could prove in writing and I submitted that. So, they changed the argument on me again and they just continue to do that and ultimately they said, all right, let’s just split the difference. We wanted to suspend you for a year, how about we just do six months? Well, there’s no such things. I break a rule, I serve a year, that’s it. If I didn’t break up a rule, you apologize and I get up and leave now. Of course, name one government agency that’s ever going to admit fault. So, they stick me with a six month suspension and now here, a year later, I’m on a radio show with a guy that still thinks I have elevated testosterone. I was never even accused of that. Josh Gross made it up.”

Sonnen further elaborated on the paperwork process in California and wanted to stress how each state handles drug & medical testing issues differently.

“When I got to Nevada, there’s an actual process. There’s a process of disclosure and you will receive a form and when you’re done you fold it up and stick in your wallet and you can pull it out and go, “look, I’m approved,” and you can hold it up just like you would a license. California doesn’t that have process. California uses the word ‘disclose.’ That’s it. So, now you’re left with your own ability to try to figure out what ‘disclose’ means. So, we disclosed it, we told them in an e-mail. Then we went back and re-disclosed it, told them face-to-face. Then we went back and re-disclosed it and wrote it all down. So when we get to the hearing they look at it and go, ‘well, we don’t like this, this is too broad.’ And I’m sitting there going, well, I tend to agree, I tend to agree that it’s a little bit broad. But it’s your rule, either way. You came up with the rule, I followed your rule. You don’t now get to punish me because you think you misappropriately wrote your rule. But that’s a really relevant fact and the point that I’m trying to make there isn’t this ‘poor me, they abused me.’ That’s fine, I can live with that.

“What I’m getting at is that each state is different. Look into the rules of that state. Don’t carry anything with you from state to state. If you were told something in New Jersey, don’t carry that with you to Oregon. Go to Oregon and start from scratch.”

Sonnen said that the cries over testosterone usage in MMA as compared to fighters using other drugs is a symptom of a double-standard at work.

“Testosterone’s really funny. Testosterone (usage) is this big ‘hey, look at this hand, so you don’t see what this hand is doing.’ Testosterone isn’t the best of the substances that are legal, it just seems to be the one that everyone’s focusing on which is fine, keep the focus there and they’re going to continue to miss the other great substances… you know, again, that are legal. Nobody needs to apologize for taking something legal. That’s just a competitive edge, we’re always trying to figure out, you know, what you need to manipulate, your proteins… You’ll hear guys talk about proteins to carbohydrates to electrolytes to IGF levels, you’ll hear all these things… that’s competitive edge, you’ve got to find out for you where your levels are best at. So, if a guy’s taking something’s that legal, then that’s the end of it. If it’s illegal, then you’ve got problems and you should be banned and I’ve been in full support of that. I’ve never taken anything illegal and that’s it. They found me guilty for taking a legal substance.”

Sonnen admitted during the interview, albeit briefly and stopping himself before completely elaborating, that he cleared house and changed up his management team because of the way certain things were handled.

Disgust with Brazilian fighters & PRIDE’s legacy

As for whether or not Chael Sonnen will go to Brazil and fight, he says he’s up for the challenge and that he has a time share there he vacations at ‘twice a year.’ He had less kind things to say about Brazilian fighters, however. In response to Vitor Belfort calling out Chael…

“What do you want me to do, respond to a chicken who never shows up to fight? You want me to take this clown seriously? I don’t think he would show up to save his life and I think that’s wise.”

When Wanderlei’s name was brought up, this is the point when the interview devolved into a mess over whether PRIDE fights were fixed and manipulated. Sonnen challenged Ranallo to truthfully state how legitimate PRIDE was as an organization in-the-ring. Ranallo fired back and said that during the glory years of PRIDE that the company promoted a sport that was raw & violent and said ‘maybe too much so’ for Chael to like. Sonnen was having none of it.

Sonnen said that defending PRIDE is “a level of ridiculous that I’m not willing to go to.” Kind of like trying to defend his testimony to the California State Athletic Commission about his testosterone usage, too.

Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 32 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Two big weekend takeaways: Point fighting in the UFC & Bellator’s lifeline to Spike

By Zach Arnold | October 4, 2011

1. Why is there growing disillusionment amongst fans who see a lot of UFC champions as ‘point fighters’ first?

MMA is a sport and a business where fans can be very emotional and impulsive in the opinions they make about fighters. Praise can be fleeting while negative reputations often remain painfully ingrained. One of the worst insults a fan can level against a fighter is labeling them as a ‘point fighter.’ Dominick Cruz is finding that out right now.

It was unfortunate that he and Demetrious Johnson found themselves in the uncomfortable position of being on Versus without any sort of TV advertising to help promote their fight. They also competed against some major sporting events (MLB playoffs, big football games) and so the deck was stacked against them.

Nonetheless, they put on a classic 5-round fight that I and others online thoroughly enjoyed. The problem? A lot of MMA fans, as compared to other UFC events, were not online and the reaction from those types of fans when they resurfaced online on Monday was one of bitterness against “Dominick the Decisioner’ as opposed to the hyper-competitive fast-paced chess match we saw on Saturday night.

It reminded me of what Rampage Jackson said to Bas Rutten a couple of weeks ago in his HDNet interview where he brought up a Japanese interviewer saying that the UFC version of Rampage is totally different than the PRIDE version. The message? The PRIDE version of Rampage didn’t care about wins or losses but rather fighting, smart or dumb, with hyper aggression and pure heart and a killer instinct. Is it an over-romanticization of Rampage’s career? Yeah, it is.

However, there is plenty of sentiment amongst hardcore MMA fans that UFC is a passionless, cookie-cutter, corporately watered-down MMA product compared to what PRIDE and other MMA organizations were/are like. You’ll never eliminate that viewpoint amongst a healthy sector of fans. That’s just how it goes.

I bring that up as context in regards to what we’re seeing now with UFC champions like Dominick Cruz, Frankie Edgar, and Georges St. Pierre. Even though Dominick did nearly finish off Demetrious during their D.C. fight (how DJ got out of that predicament I’ll never know) and St. Pierre nearly finished off Dan Hardy, there’s still a visceral and emotional reaction amongst hardcores that guys who become champions in MMA suddenly succumb to pressure of winning-first and heart-second.

It’s a very fine line. For instance, hardcore fans online voice support for those who give it their all but they don’t want you to be too stupid while featuring his trait (like Pat Barry did when he got caught with the triangle by Stefan Struve). And, yet, when Frankie Edgar outworks BJ Penn and goes the distance or makes a furious comeback against Gray Maynard, the reaction generally goes something like this:

“Great fight, but… (insert criticism here).”

While a superstar like St. Pierre, who has his own mega-fan base can withstand this criticism to a certain degree, fighters who haven’t made enough of a impression early on (like a Frankie Edgar or Dominick Cruz) risk falling into a trap where no matter how hard or how smart they fight, they are going to be plagued with the “yeah, but…” syndrome that can define their fighting reputation and legacy if they don’t manage to feverishly finish fights off in impressive fashion.

Take for instance the viewpoint of Eric Del Fierro, the trainer of Dominick Cruz. He was talking to Mauro Ranallo on Monday about what the game plan was for the fight against Demetrious Johnson.

“The mouse trap was wrestling. … The game plan was to wrestle. … People still doubt [Dominick’s] wrestling ability and he’s taken down almost everybody he’s fought.”

He successfully executed the game plan. Eric did his job as trainer. However, you can do your job and do it well… but still not manage to please the paying customers. It’s a conundrum that fighters and promoters face right now in regards to how soft the fan support may be for them down the road if they quickly gain, fairly or unfairly, a reputation that they’re a ‘point fighter.’

Matt Hume, who is about as diplomatic as anybody in MMA, framed the issue this way when he was asked about fans booing during periods of the Cruz/Johnson fight:

“You don’t just take off the players off the chess table that you don’t like to make the game go faster.”

As for the ad-nauseum argument that if only the fans going to the shows (the ones that are booing) were more educated about the sport and learned about the actual techniques being implemented during the fights…

“I don’t think it’s necessarily an issue of educating the fans.”

2. The year 2013 can’t arrive fast enough for Bellator & Spike TV. When it arrives, the marriage will be immediately consummated.

The flip side of this, of course, is that UFC will be ready to go after Bellator with guns a blazin’ because they’ll suddenly become ‘real competition.’ That Ken Pavia lawsuit for ‘trade secrets’ will likely be used as a PR weapon to bludgeon Bellator as ‘not being good guys’ over and over in the media.

None of that will matter, however, to fight fans who are desperate to see a competitor to Zuffa. You know the formula and what kind of desire there is for a product ‘that isn’t Zuffa.’ Over the last month, Bellator has put on some really good fights and the shows have been entertaining. Problematically for Bellator, the last two weeks also featured UFC shows and some very high-profile college football games. I mention college football because it’s a sport where there is heavy gambling and big TV viewership. Given that UFC is a sport also heavily motivated by gambling, I wondered what kind of impact it would have on Bellator on Saturday nights. When you’re running against UFC on PPV or Versus and you have huge games like Nebraska/Wisconsin and Alabama/Florida on TV, those are marquee games.

We know MMA is not a primary sport for sports fans… but it is a primary sport for fans who aren’t big fans of other sports in general. (I get heat for saying this often but my experience with our audience is just that.)

So, if you’re a sports fan and you have to pick between a big SEC game versus a fight like Dominick Cruz vs. Demetrious Johnson, more often than not as a traditional sports fan you’re watching the football game.

Bellator is in this very awkward position right now where, for the next year, they are having to proverbially stay above water until they get a life preserver from Spike in January of 2013. Spike will be motivated to help push Bellator to make things work. Despite TNA being a train-wreck of a operation, their show still attracts over a million TV viewers a week. Bellator is thankfully not TNA in terms of incompetence and I suspect Spike’s help will be significantly more beneficial to them than it has been for TNA.

How important is it for Bellator to a) move to Spike and b) get off of Saturday nights? Let Jordan Breen lay it out for you.

“First let me say that it doesn’t matter what day it is as long as it’s not Saturday. When they moved onto MTV2 with Saturday nights, the one e-mail I kept getting from MMA fans over and over and over and over again is, ‘man, I really like Bellator, I’m interested in their fighters but I just don’t have the time. On a Saturday night if I’m watching MMA, it’s going to be the UFC. I got a wife, I got kids, or I got a girlfriend or I got school or I got a job… people want MMA to be a hobby first. … Most fans want fights to be an exciting thing that they do on the weekend that they can rock to. They don’t want it to be homework, they don’t want it to be a chore. They don’t want to feel like, ‘man, I have to see the Bellator, time for me to get on Youtube or time for me to go download something like that.’ It’s not supposed to be an undertaking to enjoy sports and, yet, because there’s so much MMA (programming) I think that’s how a lot of hardcore MMA fans feel. So, just getting off of Saturday night no matter what other of the six days of the week they moved to I think would be great.

“Thursdays for TNA, I still think Thursday’s the best day. TNA I know they’re basically it’s… they’re kind of in Spike’s hands. People in the pro-wrestling world feel like if Spike TV turned their back on TNA, TNA might be down the tubes and so if they wanted to move TNA to a different night I wouldn’t be surprised because Thursday night is really the ideal night. Wednesday, Thursday both work well but I do think you probably want something a bit later in the week where people are a bit more willing to stay up late, rock the sports, just chill out in front of the TV. Thursdays are always tough because it’s a big TV night in general and you’ll have the fact that periodically there will be some NFL games or whatever but it’s still so much vastly better than Saturday night. Plain and simple, Saturday night, Bellator just gets washed over and overwhelmed, which stinks.”

“Friday I don’t think is great. I think we’ve seen, you know, from HDNet for instance hardcore fans maybe will rock on a Friday night but it’s going to be hit or miss and that’s one of the things that hurts Bellator now is being on MTV it’s just totally scattershot. Some nights they can trick enough MTV2 watchers into being (viewers) but it’s not a consistent audience which is why one week Bellator will do like 450,000 people and then the next week it’ll do 200,000. There’s a basement of hardcore fans that will watch regardless but there’s not too many people that are, you know, transient kind of TV watchers being converted to Bellator and being able to stack up in a better night I think goes a long, long way to being able to do that.

“Which dovetails with the other question, what would be ideal for the ratings (if Bellator went on Spike). If they can go on Spike and be early on in the 600,000-700,000 range and eventually try to build towards a million viewers for an episode, I think that would be a huge boon for them, a huge boon. So, I think that’s kind of what we’re looking at. We saw The Ultimate Fighter, the basement number for The Ultimate Fighter was just over a million viewers. So, if Bellator after maybe a season can start cultivating just under a million people watching their shows on Spike with proper support from a network that cares about MMA and will be kind of extra inspired to make the product work since they’ll be trying to stick it to the UFC for leaving them, that I would think would represent a pretty successful outcome for Bellator.”

Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

MMA Link Club: #UFC’s quiet debut in Washington D.C. for Versus TV

By Zach Arnold | September 30, 2011

Member sites of the MMA Link Club

This week’s MMA Link Club featured stories

Five Ounces of Pain: Dominick Cruz on what it will take to beat Jon Jones

“The person to beat Jones in my opinion is the person who has great striking fundamentals in terms of checking kicks, great boxing…I think you’ve gotta pressure him with hands. You’ve got to be able to fight like a short fighter like Mike Tyson…and you’ve gotta have that wrestling aspect. You’ve got to be able to put him on his back.”

MMA Fighting (Mike Chiappetta): Dominick Cruz resets for Saturday title bout, while Demetrious Johnson hopes to complete underdog story

Cruz is as much as a 5-to-1 favorite.

“Story of my life,” Johnson said. “I’m the smallest guy probably in the UFC. It is what it is. Everyone sees me as an underdog. I don’t mind. It is what it is. Like I say, story of my life.”

Yet Johnson is every bit the story of determination as Cruz. Until recently, he held a full-time job in a Tacoma, Washington recycling plant. During his May win over Torres, he suffered a broken bone in his leg, but he was still back to work at the plant on the following Monday. After accepting the title bout with Cruz, he gave up the job to prepare for the biggest opportunity of his life.

NBC Sports: Dominick Cruz diary series (part one, part two, part three)

Cage Potato: What your least favorite fighter says about you

MMA Mania: Ultimate Fighter 14 ratings rise for episode two, average 1.6 million viewers (1.2 cable rating)

The screen capture of Dana White is worth the click alone.

5th Round: Quinton Jackson eyes boxing career after UFC

Bleacher Report: UFC Live 6 on Versus — why you should give a damn

The network sure hasn’t, though. Advertising has been nonexistent. Could we see a WEC-level rating of 0.3 or 0.4 for this show?

Middle Easy: Cooking with Tim Kennedy — Crème Brûlée with flame torches

Somewhere, Ron Yacovetti is either applauding or cursing at his computer screen.

Low Kick: Stefan Struve says he’s not afraid to strike with Pat Barry

If Roy Nelson and Travis Browne can send you flying, Pat Barry can do the same.

The Fight Nerd: Art Davie is bringing back X-ARM!

The greatest thing in all of my life is returning.

MMA Convert: XARM is back, so get ready to be bitch-slapped and top-popped

MMA Payout: Brazilian billionaire interested in entertainment company responsible for bringing UFC back to Brazil

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

All kinds of messages sent by UFC with second show on same day as Japan event

By Zach Arnold | September 28, 2011

With the news tonight that UFC will run a separate Las Vegas event on February 26th at the same time as their vaunted vanity Japanese event at Saitama Super Arena, it is clear that some extraordinary political & business messages are being sent by Zuffa to not just fighters but also the fans.

Some of my observations you may agree with, some you probably won’t. I don’t expect you to agree 100% of the way.

1. Avoiding trouble

We know the stories about what happened with UFC legal eagle Jamie Pollack when he was sent to Japan (for relocation no less!) to try to run PRIDE after the asset sale agreement had taken place. Pollack left quickly after there was a hostile environment with the former PRIDE employees (who largely ended up with DREAM, no surprise there). It was so embarrassing and reckless that you had Nobuyuki Sakakibara’s stooges from the wrestling promotion Hustle running angles for upcoming wrestling events out of those same PRIDE offices & at the “Takada dojo.” Within a couple of months of Jamie Pollack arriving in Japan, he was out of there (and for good reason).

When Dana White had that egregiously awful press conference at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo to proclaim a UFC vs. PRIDE Super Bowl, it was a trap. A set-up. He got snookered. It immediately allowed anti-UFC forces in Japan to portray him as the evil money-hungry outsider who was going to destroy their business. Well, the Japanese scene largely imploded on its own but don’t think that lots of people in Japan are reticent in blaming UFC for their troubles. There’s a lot of angry people right now who aren’t making money. Dana White and company immediately put targets on their backs with that Roppongi Hills presser.

One of the most fascinating questions I had going into UFC’s announcement of running Saitama Super Arena is what kind of trouble they were asking for. The only people who can largely afford to pay the expensive front-row seats are yakuza stooges who are a) looking to cause trouble and get into or bet on fights or b) look to work over foreigners and glad-hand politically in order to screw someone over. Anyone who knows the history of Japanese fighting events knows that the rackets want their protection money (often looked upon by promoters as a ‘tax’) and have crashed shows in the past. The whole yakuza scandal that imploded PRIDE was about Seiya Kawamata, a yakuza fixer whose job it was to keep to the mafia out of the front row and backstage hidden away from police.

So, you might naturally suspect (and be correct in assuming) that there’s some people who are looking forward to showing up at the UFC Japan event to cause trouble. By running a show at the same time in Las Vegas, it gives Dana White & Lorenzo Fertitta a reason to stay the hell away from Japan. And for good reason. This is smart. I just feel for Mark Fischer and anyone else Zuffa sends over to try to run the show.

Wildcard thought: If Zuffa cuts a deal with Real Entertainment to have Real manage their Japanese show, that would open up a whole new can of worms as far as associations with ticket brokers, production companies, and the like. Advice to Zuffa: if you’re smart, you won’t send Scott Coker over to the show and have him take pictures while hanging around with characters like Sotaro Shinoda.

2. Minimizing expectations.

By UFC running a show in Las Vegas on the same day as their Japanese event, it will allow them to give the media a cue to bury the importance of the Japanese event and to hype the Vegas show as the A-show. The flip-side of this, of course, is that the Japanese fans are smart customers. Already telling them to show up for a main card at 10 AM at Saitama Super Arena is a joke and now telling them that the Japanese show is essentially a B-level show is basically waving the white flag at this point. Sure, UFC could conceivably book Rampage Jackson vs. Shogun if Shogun loses to Dan Henderson, but that’s not a main event that’s going to draw a huge crowd in Japan. However, it would allow UFC to split the difference and give their American fans a reason to downplay the struggles of the Japanese show. You run Shogun/Rampage in Japan as the Japanese main event but have it air on American PPV as the semi-main event fight for a big Vegas PPV card.

Matt Hume, on Mauro Ranallo’s radio show yesterday, claims that Softbank is supporting UFC’s Saitama event.

3. Going all-in on running weekly shows.

This is a horribly Pyrrhic calculation that Zuffa is making but they are proceeding with their commitment to doing this. There’s a reason every other major sport in the world has off-seasons. Fans need breaks and the product right now does not need diluting. However, Zuffa has so many guys under contract and in order to keep guys from floating away to promoters like Bellator, you have to run a lot of shows. So, UFC had a decision to make — contract the schedule and run less shows in hopes of making them more special or run every week ala WWE and just grind things out. We’ve seen how well (not) it’s worked out for WWE. I give Zuffa credit for going all-in and sticking their necks out on the line but I don’t think it’s a very good move in terms of eliminating the ‘specialness’ of their product.

The immediate impact of this decision to run multiple shows in different locations on the same night is the amount of stress it will put on the UFC production teams. They are already overworked and stretched to capacity. The more workload you place on them, the less variety there will be in the way the shows are produced. Just like WWE shows today largely look the same as they did a decade ago, UFC could fall right into that same trap. This opens the door up for mistakes being made.

4. Advancing Vince McMahon’s 1980’s strategy on a global level.

We’ve seen what UFC has done in buying out competition or putting them out of business in North America. Just like Vince McMahon raided the territories for the best wrestlers in the 80s to move them to New York, Zuffa has managed to do the same thing in 2011. Outside of Bellator, which is gasping for media oxygen right now, there really isn’t anyone who can withstand competing against the Zuffa machine.

Vince focused his primary market on the States, just like UFC has. The difference here between the two parties is that Zuffa sees an opportunity to dominate the entire world landscape. Let’s say that the company does aggressively run multiple shows in different countries and does combined PPVs. If they can dominate Brazil, Asia, Australia, and Europe then they will essentially be able to stifle any sort of environment in which a promoter wants to become a major player in their respective country. It’s a very bold and audacious way of thinking but also a very dynamic way of looking at how you want things to play out.

Understand that Vince McMahon wanted to be the world leader in wrestling but he also begrudgingly respected the Mexico & Japanese markets for a long, long time. It was only recently that Vince started to run strong in Mexico and that was helped because of the weakness of CMLL & AAA in terms of television. The WWE events in Japan are the same kind of cookie cutter shows that you see in Thailand, for goodness sakes. Vince always wanted to run the Tokyo Dome by himself and, in the end, he didn’t do it.

The great irony in all of this is that you privately hear rumors of (but not so much publicly) Shane McMahon’s name being tossed around whenever discussion of UFC trying to get into the Chinese marketplace pops up.

You don’t plan on running shows weekly unless you have a larger goal in mind. You don’t run weekly shows just to keep fighters busy and under contract because we’ve seen how many guys get hurt and have to cancel bookings at the last minute. The reason you run multiple shows weekly is to take over the world and to dominate as the major promoter in all big global markets. There’s a much higher chance that this kind of plan fails than it succeeds but we’re about to find out if Zuffa can pull off a feat that no other individual fight promoter has ever been able to accomplish.

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

Commentary: Why black UFC fighters struggle to earn respect from fans & media

By Zach Arnold | September 28, 2011

From Jordan Breen on his Tuesday radio show:

“I think part of it obviously is, there’s no getting around the fact that all of these guys make their own fates to some extent. Quinton Jackson does absurd things sometimes like motorboating and not being as dedicated as he could be in the gym. Rashad Evans has prickly comments at times and dances and does things that draw people’s ire. Even Melvin Guillard has a long and checkered history of questionable behavior. Anderson Silva conducts himself weirdly sometimes. There is individual incidents that are unique to the persons that make it important.

“But I do think in a lot of cases, yeah, there’s… you know… it’s not everybody, it’s not like every white male reacts viscerally to, ‘oh, a high-level black athlete.’ But many do, many do, you know? I think maybe sometimes it gets harped on too much but there’s a reason that, you know, people like (King Mo) are called ‘cocky’ and ‘arrogant.’ Part of it is because they are but the way the context in which it’s constantly framed is often times a very implicitly racist one. It’s widespread. It’s not everybody, but it exists.

“So, yeah, it is an unfortunate place to be in at times and the other thing that needs to be said for it also is a lot of it is intra-squad warfare there. A lot of it is to take a page out of Quinton Jackson’s book, black-on-black violence, you know? You have these guys going out there calling one another Uncle Toms and all this kind of other stuff. That’s pretty volatile and difficult stuff to be just throwing out there and that’s from black fighter to black fighter in a lot of cases. So, it’s wrong to also see it as a case of, oh, it’s like white media and white fans hating Black fighters or treating them differently and coding their language.

“It goes the same way, you know, being a black athlete is also made difficult by the way black athletes trend to treat other black athletes in some cases especially and I would even go so far as to say uniquely to some extent in the Mixed Martial Arts sphere where more so than some other sports, you know, the issue of being an Uncle Tom and these kinds of silly issues come up more prominently, you know. You don’t see it as much in a lot of other sports, it comes up very, very much in prizefighting especially…

“I don’t think there’s any getting around that Jon Jones is irrationally hated and dwelling on all things, part of it is how poorly he’s portrayed himself. In many respects, part of it is kind of the hokey nature of it all. Part of it is how manufactured he seemed recently with the British interview with Luke Thomas and other foolish things like this. He’s made some poor choices and I’m sure for some it’s residual racist foolish and for some, you know, they just might not like the cut of his jib and think he’s arrogant, plain and simple, and not desire him as a person. There’s lots of reasons you could potentially dislike Jon Jones. However, I think it’s weird to dislike Jon Jones and simply see him not as a great fighter. But I think it’s a begrudging bit of bitching and the reason I say that is… people’s reaction to Jon Jones and if you ask someone today, even a Jon Jones hater, who’s the best Light Heavyweight in the world? They’re still going to say Jon Jones, you know? There’s not that level of denial. I think part of why the Jon Jones hate is so ridiculous and so venomous is that these people at the same time that they critique Jones have to tacitly admit that he’s great. Because the way in which the argument’s positioned is, ‘oh, well, Jon Jones can’t beat Anderson Silva.’ ‘Oh, Jon Jones, he’s going to lose!” It’s not, ‘oh, Jon Jones, he can’t beat top Light Heavyweights’ or ‘oh, Jon Jones, he’s not the favorite against Rashad (Evans).’ Even people who hate Jon Jones have to talk about the Rashad Evans fight as if they’re saying, ‘oh, well, I mean, Evans has a shot.” Like if you hate a guy and that’s the best you can do, ‘oh, he’s got a shot,’ you’re clearly acknowledging the dominance of that party. So, I think even in the Jones hate, I think it’s still reflected how good of a fighter he really is.”

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

Mike Winkeljohn: “I don’t think Anderson would probably want that fight with Jon Jones”

By Zach Arnold | September 27, 2011

Kazushi Sakuraba and Jon Jones. One fighter is a legend who Frank Shamrock thinks will die in the ring. The other is hyped as the ‘future’ of MMA (he’s the ‘present’) who will be an insanely favored fighter in all upcoming bouts. If he can beat Rashad Evans and dispatch of someone the caliber of Dan Henderson, you almost don’t want to say it… but he could be a new generation Fedor only with a much stellar résumé at the rate he is going.

Sakuraba lost to Yan Cabral this past weekend at Saitama Super Arena under the DREAM banner. The fight result was minimally covered in the Japanese papers, largely out of respect to the poor guy and the fact that DREAM’s support in the mass media has tanked. It’s almost as if the fight didn’t exist in the mind of many fans in hopes of turning a blind eye to the current train wreck. Jones, meanwhile, cemented his status as a true ‘ace’ in the UFC while dethroning a big name from PRIDE’s past. Rampage had made his name in Japan by fighting Sakuraba and there was some cruel irony in seeing both men go down the way they did this past weekend. At least Rampage is in better physical shape than Sakuraba.

So, when I listened to Mauro Ranallo and Brett Okamoto talk about how Sakuraba has been allowed to hang around the business still, it was depressing:

BRETT OKAMOTO: “(In sports like baseball and football) There are better guys coming up, younger guys coming up that force you out of the sport. In this sport, that doesn’t really happen. You can stay around as long as somebody’s willing to try to make money off of you. Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening with Sakuraba. I think we’re all in agreement that he shouldn’t be fighting any more and it is just a drawback of this sport because it’s not something you really necessarily see in other sports.”

MAURO RANALLO: “No, and I don’t think you should necessarily see it in MMA and I guess this is speaking to the larger picture that if you are still forced to roll out Kazushi Sakuraba in high-profile fights or trying to milk any more out of a cow that has been milked dry for many years now, then I think that’s a larger indictment to the organization (DREAM) and fact, a culture, an MMA culture that I’m so firmly entrenched in and I’ll always remember with great reverence the 31 trips to Japan for PRIDE. But now, a short few years later in 2011, the entire industry there is on life support and I think it’s just a matter of time before, you know, either the plug is pulled or they rebuild and try to find, you know, the next stars. Because in Japan and I think the UFC will discover this as well even though the UFC’s a dominant MMA brand globally and all you have to do is put in the UFC and in certain places to get the draw, we’re learning in North America that you need to cultivate the stars, put together the fights the fans want to see. But in Japan in February (Saitama Super Arena)… Yoshihiro Akiyama, three losses in a row. He’s being moved down to Welterweight. We got Rampage Jackson coming off a loss but wanting to fight fellow PRIDE alum Mauricio Shogun. Takanori Gomi losing again, in big fashion, on Saturday. But where are they going to get the nationalistic draws? One thing we know about the Japanese culture is that they are just that, very nationalistic. They want to support their own and I just don’t think it’s going to be, you know, smooth sailing for the UFC in Japan and I think for the Japanese it’s going to be a long time before the glory days are restored, if they ever are again…”

**

One of the premises that fans always want to see with their favorite fighters in MMA is hope. Hope that they win. Hope that they can still stay competitive. There are lots of fans who are true diehards for fighters who are past their prime and then someone like Dana White comes along and makes a decision on behalf of the fighter when he can’t make any more money off of them.

In the case of Jon Jones, you no longer have to use the word ‘hope’ or ‘potential.’ He’s accomplished. He’s establishing a path and a track record as a champion. How long that reign lasts is anyone’s guess but the safe money is to say ‘long’ over ‘short.’

Continue reading this article here…

Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, UFC | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Five things I think I know are true after UFC 135

By Zach Arnold | September 25, 2011

1. Jon Jones is everything that the Japanese thought Satoshi Ishii could have been.

In or Out of the Cage, UFC champion Jon Jones proves hard to figure

Both are enigmatic, strange personalities with a lot of raw talent. One ended up delivering and the other one let his compulsive personality essentially wreck his career back home.

Remember when PRIDE died and K-1 was looking for an ‘ace’ after Masato had retired? It wasn’t Kid Yamamoto, since he and Kazuyoshi Ishii had a political falling out. It was going to be Satoshi Ishii, through the Inoki political line, that was going to be the golden ticket. He had everything in the palm of his lands. Instead, his mercurial nature doomed him with the public who turned on him and practically waved bye-bye to him as he fled for America.

In the States, Jon Jones won’t have to worry about being anyone’s savior. Fans largely care about what he does in the cage and if they get angry at him for his antics outside of the cage, then so be it. He can withstand it and make money from it. That’s the difference between Japan and everywhere else.

There are still believers in Ishii who think that he can somehow become a force in MMA, but it won’t be through the Japanese route.

2. Jon Jones is so dominant, oddsmakers will make him a bigger favorite for each future fight than they do for Georges St. Pierre.

For most GSP fights, he’s about -350 to -400 (3.5-4 to 1 favorite) for each title match. No different for his upcoming fight against Carlos Condit.

Jon Jones, for his fight against Rampage Jackson, closed out as a -515 favorite (5 to 1). Against Rashad, I would expect at least -375 as the line, if not higher. The fact that we are starting to see boxing-type lines amongst top Jackson fighters in UFC fights is remarkable.

3. Kazushi Sakuraba’s career relevancy is on par with Japanese MMA on a big stage – dead on arrival.

Ever since business fell apart after New Year’s Eve for K-1, I’ve noticed the mass media in Japan basically turn their backs on covering DREAM events on a large scale. Conversely, I’ve had several writers tell me that DREAM hasn’t opened up press opps. to talk to fighters until the week before shows. What you end up with are largely one-themed articles on the DREAM shows and a deader-than-dead vibe about their existence.

Sakuraba lost to Yan Cabral on Saturday. Yes, Yan Cabral. I had picked Cabral to win but merely because my default position now in any Sakuraba fight is that he’s going to lose. This image from Saturday’s fight is horribly sad. Sakuraba is expected to fight on New Year’s Eve (if there is a show).

The scary part about all of this is that he’s still the biggest draw available in Japan right now. Which is not saying a lot.

4. The more that Japanese fighters lose on upcoming UFC cards, the tighter the squeeze the promotion has for their February show in Japan.

In the limited Japanese media circles that covered UFC 135, the press labeled Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz as the top fight on the card. Naturally, Gomi lost and in relatively predictable fashion. Takeya Mizugaki won his fight against Cole Escovedo, but Mizugaki is unknown amongst the Japanese fans at this point.

The options for UFC to have any sort of drawing cards for the show are dwindling. If Wanderlei loses to Cung Le, that would be a killer. If Akiyama fights before the Japan show and loses, that would be virulently damaging. There’s been a floated belief that UFC will sign up Satoshi Ishii and book him for the Japan show but that is fool’s gold, a Pyrrhic signing at best. He moves the needle for media attention but he doesn’t sell tickets and he gets booed vociferously out of buildings. Plus, Ishii doesn’t come across as someone who liked being in Japan full-time on a personal or professional level.

By the way, the headline of Mark Hunt winning at UFC 135 drew the most hardcore fan reaction in Japan. Hunt’s one of the few gaijin fighters the UFC has that can plausibly pull in some hardcores.

5. Joe Warren should be stripped of his Bellator Featherweight title after losing to Alexis Vila in the Bantamweight tournament.

We hear MMA fans & writers talk all the time about the absurdity of champions in non-title fights and those who lose in such bouts. Well, Joe Warren’s predictable showing against Alexis Vila on Saturday night is the ultimate cherry on the sundae — the promotion’s Featherweight champion losing in dramatic fashion in a Bantamweight tournament bout.

The fight shouldn’t have been booked given Warren’s status as a company champion in another weight class and Bellator paid the price for it.

5b. UFC 136 in Houston is completely overshadowed.

The card itself is great — Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard, Chael Sonnen/Brian Stann, Jose Aldo/Kenny Florian. The fan demand and PR For it, however, I suspect will be abysmal and/or lackluster. It will get lost amongst fan interest for the 137 show in Las Vegas with St. Pierre/Condit and Penn/Diaz. This is the type of card that would have been perfect on FX or even Spike (if the relationship between Viacom and UFC had been better).

Over/under on buy rate of this show – 300,000.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

#UFC FN 25 (9/17 New Orleans) & UFC 135 (9/24 Denver) results (Bone Jones reigns supreme)

By Zach Arnold | September 24, 2011

Location: 9/17 New Orleans Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana
TV: Spike TV (9 PM EST live & 9 PM PST on delay)

Dark matches

Main card

Location: 9/24 Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado
TV: PPV (9 PM EST/6 PM PST)

Dark matches

Main card

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

MMA Link Club: Imperfect information versus true upsets in the UFC

By Zach Arnold | September 23, 2011

Rampage Jackson is now a 6-to-1 underdog at the sportsbooks for his fight on Saturday night against Jon “Bones” Jones. So, here’s the question — if Rampage beats Jones, do we qualify it as a matter of not knowing enough about the ‘real’ Jon Jones or would it be classified as a true upset?

Jordan Breen shares his thoughts on this question:

“One of the things that stood out to me is that one of the reasons we’re shocked by outcomes so much in Mixed Martial Arts is largely due to incorrect or imperfect, I think imperfect is a better word to put it, imperfect information. And I’ll give you an example — there are upsets where you have information about these guys. I mean, Tito Ortiz over Ryan Bader’s a great example. I mean, we still didn’t maybe know Bader would go down on a Ortiz punch but we had a sense of exactly what these guys could do for the most part and the way that it played out surprised us and even Nogueira/Schaub is a good example of this. We were aware, you know, if someone had said Nogueira’s going to land a big punch and knockout Brendan Schaub, I mean, yeah, it’s the less likely out of outcomes between him being knocked out or him getting a knockout but it’s still wouldn’t have blown anyone away considering that we know Nogueira can box and we know that Brendan Schaub was lamped by Roy Nelson.

“However, we have so many upsets in Mixed Martial Arts that are made of the stuff that (whenever) Jon Jones’ first loss will probably be made out of. We simply don’t see guys in adversity. They look incredible and then the moment that they’re ever put in a difficult or compromising position, they can’t deal with it. I’m not saying Jon Jones will be that way, I’m saying that when he does lose it will probably come as a shock to some people…

“The ways you imagine fighters to lose or to fail or their shortcomings are recognized through how it’s happened in the past. We just haven’t had that with Jon Jones and there’s no way to extrapolate what Ryan Bader’s one okay right hand could possibly mean. So, I largely agree. I think when Jon Jones does go down and if he goes down dramatically, it will seem CRAZY and I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HE LOST. And, yeah, it’s certainly a upset but I think there’s two kinds of upsets in MMA. There’s the kind of imperfect knowledge kind that we get so often but then there’s true upset where we understand very acutely how these guys interact and so I think those are more… richly satisfying because we know if Ryan Bader and Tito Ortiz or Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre fought endlessly we know Serra & Ortiz are going to come out with the long end of the stick more times than not yet they were able to do it when they pulled it off in that one, singular instance. So, I think it’s not just a point worth making but I think it’s a point that gets to the heart of a lot of why MMA is this upset-crazy kind of sport.”

Member sites of the MMA Link Club

This week’s MMA Link Club featured stories

Five Ounces of Pain: UFC on Fox real time press conference highlights

These are notes from the Los Angeles presser that had a small but loud crowd on hand.

MMA Fighting: WWE’s CM Punk calls Triple H’s comments on MMA ‘insane’

“Triple H just doesn’t get mixed martial arts. he doesn’t watch it either,” said Punk. “Saying the UFC needs to evolve, I guess he’s not wrong, but I think he’s missing the picture that UFC is evolving. There’s only one other sport entity in the world that has production rights to their own material on network and that’s the NFL. UFC has just bartered a huge deal [with FOX]. That’s evolution.”

No wonder Vince seems antsy to bury Punk in his current angle.

NBC Sports (Mike Chiappetta): 6-to-1 underdog status for Rampage Jackson at the sportsbooks is an insult to the man

Cage Potato: Hot MMA video round-up of 8 local show KO’s you probably haven’t seen before

MMA Mania (Kevin Haggarty): Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson — who has the statistical advantage at UFC 135?

The numbers indicate the two are closer than you think?

5th Round: Dana White says it’s all on Showtime in regards to the fate of Strikeforce

He ravaged that promotion like Vince McMahon picked apart the territories in the 80s when he picked the best talent from each group he conquered.

Bleacher Report: Jon Jones is the new Tito Ortiz

Is that a compliment or an insult?

Middle Easy: Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000 will go down January 12th — yes, you read that right

That accompanying picture in the article is worth the click alone.

Low Kick: Bas Boon prepares the nuclear option of threatening to sue Alistair Overeem for leaving Golden Glory

The Fight Nerd: ‘Supremacy MMA’ video game review

Some fans refuse to even touch the game because “it’s bad for the sport”. When I first saw the trailer for this game, I was one of those people too. However, the more research I did the more I learned that this was far from your traditional MMA game, and was trying to be something else.

MMA Convert: Ultimate Fighter 14 recap, episode 1 — ‘six minutes to f-bomb’

Six minutes. That’s how long it took for UFC president Dana White to drop his infamous f-bomb, which took the form of a string of invectives meant to motivate the newest crop of TUFers as they stood agape in the Octagon in the heart of the Mandalay Bay Event Center. “Do you want to be an f***ing fighter?” bespoke White. “How bad do you f***ing want it? Damn, am I f***ing thirsty. Can someone get me a glass of f***ing water?”

But, wait, I thought Fox Sports suit David Hill told me The Ultimate Fighter showed MMA fighters in a non-brutish light…

MMA Payout: Looking at Dana White’s claim that GSP is the UFC’s biggest PPV star

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

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

Strikeforce 9/10 Cincinnati results & 9/23 Las Vegas card

By Zach Arnold | September 23, 2011

Location: 9/10 U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio (Heavyweight GP tournament)
TV: Showtime (10 PM EST live & 10 PM PST on delay)

Dark matches

Main card

Location: 9/23 The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: Showtime (11 PM EST live & 11 PM PST on delay)

Dark matches

Main card

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

Jeff Monson asks Pat Miletich, “How can you not consider America a terror organization?”

By Zach Arnold | September 22, 2011

A Twitter conversation between Jeff Monson and Pat Miletich, in their own words:

JEFF MONSON: The US claims to be land of freedom and democracy yet is set to veto Palestinian bid in UN to become sovereign country to appease Israel.

PAT MILETICH: Palestinians elected a terrorist org (Hamas) to run it’s affairs and you’re siding with them over Israel? Pathetic.

JEFF MONSON: It’s the Palestinian Authority going to UN to seek recognition as a state, Pat, not the Hamas. Same process Israel used in 1948.

PAT MILETICH: PA, PLO, Hamas. All under the same umbrella and dedicated 2 the destruction of Israel. You have sided with the terrorists, bud.

JEFF MONSON: Recent poll showed overwhelming majority of Israeli’s want peace with Palestinians. As always it is government perpetrating violence.

PAT MILETICH: Everyone wants peace, Jeff. How do terrorists orgs make money, Jeff? Answer is simple. By continued terrorist acts.

JEFF MONSON: How can you not consider the US a terror organization? Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. We’ve started civil wars, overthrown elected leaders, trained and funded terrorists, and presently occupy 2 countries and all in the name of money. Just cause we have tanks & not resorting to road side bombs doesn’t mean it’s not terrorism.

PAT MILETICH: No country is perfect, but ours is the best there is 2 offer. Your anti-American mentality is what our enemies like. Join ’em.

So have the Jews, bud. You support people who hack heads off with steak knives and I support the home team. Stand where you are.

How’s your gas prices compared to the rest of the world? Most civil wars were gonna happen anyways, but good guys needed guns.

JEFF MONSON: Supporting the right for the Palestinians to be recognize is in no way supporting terrorist organizations. If you wanna learn about terror organizations read “The people’s history of the United States” by Howard Zinn. Our government is responsible for more oppresion, global poverty, and deaths than any other ‘terror’ organization could ever hope to accomplish.

PAT MILETICH: So, you’re blaming the world’s poverty on the U.S.A? You’re a joke, dude.

JEFF MONSON: To summarize, I don’t support terror organizations. You obviously support the biggest one in history with naive patriotism.

PAT MILETICH: Listen, asshole. If you don’t like your country, take a hike. Simple, bud.

You rattle on about USA being evil yet you enjoy the fight money and sponsorship our capitalism provides. Walking contradiction.

JEFF MONSON: Don’t you read any more? US corporations and banks, the IMF, and the World Bank run economies, impoverish countries, and dictate government policy. Maybe when Uncle Sam is done fucking the Palestinians at the UN he can come over to your place so you can suck his dick.

PAT MILETICH: You’re dead to me.

(Josh Barnett just popped big for his catch phrase.)

JEFF MONSON: I’m a wage slave like everyone else, just trying to do my part to change the system.

PAT MILETICH: Change the system? Why, so upstart fighters make the same wage as a pay per view vet like you? You’re a clown!

JEFF MONSON: That’s an expected response for someone that doesn’t have facts 2 what they say. Let’s catch up after you take a history class.

PAT MILETICH: I can’t figure out if you support socialism, communism, or anarchy. Honestly, I don’t think you know.

JEFF MONSON: This is what happens when you get into a debate between someone who reads and has a master’s degree in psychology & political science and… the other is a very good MMA trainer.

**

Afterwards, a troll on Twitter says to Pat, “Pat’s so short, Jeff can actually kick him to the head.” To which Pat responds, “You kidding? If Monson was an inch taller, he’d be round.”

And, now, Pat’s thoughts on Jeff…

Yeah, the truth? The truth comes from spray painting the capital w/ anarcy logo’s. Monson = fruitcake = TRUTH.

Listen, JM is pleading the cause of the terrorist org’s and our enemies. In the countries he supports he’d be hanged.

War sucks, but not fighting back sucks even worse. Ask the French. Hey, there’s a good place for Jeff.

Twitter, truly a source of entertainment.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 62 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

Big John McCarthy’s book & interview: real context & true history

By Zach Arnold | September 22, 2011


Click on the book cover to buy it on Amazon

I am a big fan of MMA history, especially since I covered so much of it while the boom period was happening in Japan and when UFC started in the States. Whenever I get review copies of MMA books in the mail, generally I end up very pleased with what I read (like I was with Jake Shannon’s book on Catch Wrestling). When Let’s Get It On arrived in the mail, there was no doubt that the book would deliver. Naturally, it was everything I expected (and more). Given the high turnover rate of MMA fans online over the last five years, it is a real pleasure to read a book from someone who was a pioneer of the sport and can smarten up newer fans on what the true history is about the evolution of the UFC.

You should buy the book, especially if you have a Kindle and can get the book for $8.

One pleasant surprise on the book front is that BJM did an extensive 40-minute interview with Eddie Goldman that I would strongly suggest you check out. If you have not read the book yet, then the interview will probably give you some good reasons as to why you might be interested. And if you did get the book, the interview goes into great detail on some pressing issues in the sport right now.

The history of the UFC and how BJM got involved is something that newer MMA fans will be quite intrigued by, especially the background on the study of martial arts at the LAPD & the Rodney King riots (along with training with Rorion Gracie).

Rules, regulations, and training

A few minutes into the interview, Eddie asked BJM about the current structure of governance in MMA and how it’s the wild west in so many different countries in regards to rules, drug testing, and quality of officiating.

“There’s no perfect answer for anything. Everything is about, when it comes to officials — be it MMA or boxing, getting people that are knowledgeable, that understand what they’re looking at, and are accepting of the fact that if, you know, they can do something that isn’t right and need to be corrected on it and are man enough to step up and say, you know what, I could have done that better. And to take criticism or just take any person’s advice and not personalize it and make sure that you always look at if there’s a way that I can do something better then let me look at that way and let me do it the next time so that I’m better at what I do because everybody throughout, you know, any type of officiating there’s always room for improvement and we all need to improve no matter who it is.

“The sport is continuing to evolve and the officials need to evolve with it and if you don’t evolve then you’re going to get left behind and you’re going to end up making mistakes and those mistakes can cost a fighter the fight, it can cost a fighter, you know, the threat of injury that they can’t come back and fight again and those are the things that you’ve got to always try to avoid.

“So, you know… what we’re trying to do now is we’re trying to come together as a group with a lot of the top officials and we’re putting in exactly why officials should be doing things. The mechanics of being an official most people don’t understand, what we call the mechanics of refereeing — where you should be, why you should be there and the understanding of what the fighters are doing are going to help set you up for those positions and if you don’t understand them then you’re not going to be set up.

“And there are shows that you can see officials that know what they’re doing and absolutely put themselves in the right position at the right time and things will actually flow for them and you’ll see it. And then you’ll see another official at the very same event who doesn’t understand those things and is going through the motions but doesn’t understand why they should be moving somewhere and it takes them more time to react and those are all seconds that can cause a fighter the ability to never be able to come back and fight again because you don’t know which blow is going to be the one that hurts them to the point that they can’t recover.

“So, our whole purpose is the safety of the fighters and through that purpose we should always all be working to improve and don’t be thin-skinned if someone has an idea or a way of doing something better than the way you’re doing it, then let’s all learn it and let’s do it that way.”

One example brought up during the interview is when a fighter has a submission on an opponent and the opponent verbally submits or taps out in order to get the fighter to give up the hold without the referee calling for the stoppage. (Rousimar Palhares, line one.)

Concussions, health & safety

As we learn more about the human brain and medical science evolves, the issue of concussions continues to gain prominence in regards to officials who have a thankless job in stopping fighters from obliterating the brain cells of their opponent.

“The one thing that’s really changed that, you know, no one knew before, nobody, you know, doctors didn’t know and it’s the one things that’s really come out with MMA is… in boxing, when a guy got hit and he was knocked out and he was knocked out going down and hit the ground and then, you know, the ground woke him up. Well, he was given time to actually get himself back up and, you know, get to a standing position and the referee may let him go, may not. In MMA the one thing we’ve realized is fighters can throw a punch, knock someone completely out with the punch, and then come back with another punch along the way and actually knock them back into consciousness. And, you know, I think if you would have asked doctors beforehand, hey, if I have someone who’s unconscious from a blow and you hit them with another blow, is that going to bring them back? They would have said absolutely not, it’s just going to increase the severity of that concussion and of what had occurred previously.

“But we know now, you know, I’ve had plenty of fights (and) every referee has fights where you have someone that they get hit with a punch and you’re coming in because they’re knocked out, guy ends up hitting them with another shot, and brings back them back into consciousness. It happened with Dan Henderson against Fedor, you know, people can sit there and say what they want. I was right there. Fedor went out with the uppercut that hit him from underneath and he got hit with two shots to the head, didn’t do anything, he got hit with a hammer fist to the side of his face and it brought him back into consciousness and he rolled. And Herb (Dean) was absolutely right in stopping the fight when he did because he saw a fighter when he was out. And it doesn’t matter if he gets knocked back into consciousness. It’s a matter of when a fighter goes unconscious, they cannot physically defend themselves and we’re going to stop the fight. When a fighter can’t intelligently defend himself, the fight’s over.

“We’re always learning. Fighters are always going to be going after… in MMA, when you have someone get hit and they go down, we don’t walk away from them, we go after them because we can end the fight, we can get our win and that’s what fighters are going to do. It’s up to the referee to be in position to properly stop the fight and sometimes that just isn’t going to happen. It doesn’t matter if the guy does everything right, the way someone falls a certain way or a position, he can be close and the guy’s going to get the extra punch in but you always work at putting yourself into the right positions so you can try to get in there before they get that secondary blow.”

BJM stood up for various athletic commissions and said that AC directors are doing the best job they can given the limited resources at their disposal and that states look at the AC’s more or less as cash cows. When the ACs don’t bring in the cash, then you end up with political & financial pressure.

Promoters vs. promotions and the issue of matchmaking

Mirroring the thoughts of Dana White, BJM said that one set of rules for MMA should be used throughout the world. He believes that instead of promoters having their own titles that there should be an independent sanction body to control belts and make title fights.

“The whole thing with promoters and, you know, the belts and everything and you’re going to have, you know, the Art of War champion, the UFC champion, the Bellator champion, all that… you know that’s something, truthfully, no promoter should be in charge of belts. It should be, you know, sanctioning bodies is what legally can have control of belts because when you have a promoter that has control over their belt you really don’t have the ability to put sometimes the best fighters together, you don’t have that. And so, you know, you could have the UFC who has the best fighters but… they’re going to put and Dana goes a good job and Lorenzo does a great job, they put the fights that people want to see together for the most part. But there’s always going to be that person outside of it and they can’t fight in the UFC because of contractual obligations to somebody else or something like that… when really you want to see the best fighters go in together and all of that still needs to be cleaned up and cleared up and this is a sport, this is not a single promotion.

“If it was just the UFC, well, then, the UFC is doing everything right. They’re doing a great job of promoting the sport, they’re doing a great job taking care of their fighters, they’re doing a great job of protecting the fighters. You know, when the UFC goes to Brazil, the fighters are being taken care medically, they’re being taken care of everything, there’s no problems. But if you take that same fighter and take them out of the UFC and take them to Brazil, they might not be having any medicals, they might not be having any type of person that is overseeing, you know, the person that they’re competing against and the record comparisons and the match-ups and all that and that’s what athletic commissions are for. To make sure that, you know what, the fans are going to see a competitive fight, it’s not going to be a train wreck and that the fighters are comparative in their skill levels so that its not as dangerous for those two fights going against each other as it is for one very skilled person going against a person that lacks the actual technical skill to be in that ring with that person he’s going against.”

He is skeptical that MMA will see a sanctioning body any time soon given the political clout of Zuffa in the sport and also amongst a growing number of politicians. So, how could change be forced upon UFC if they got too big for their britches?

“It would be great if those fighters could compete against fighters that are in the UFC but right now with the structure the way the sport is, it’s not going to happen because the structure of the sport is based upon promotions. We have promoters in boxing and we have promotions in MMA and those promotions are controlling the sport as far as who’s going to be able to fight who and they have their own belts, they all have their own belts and that’s going to end up having to come down to federal regulation as far as, you know, the ability to control the belt and who controls belts is really going to be the call of, you know, the federal government somewhere along the way when it comes to MMA because that’s the only way that things are going to change as far as putting those fighters together because the UFC…

“There’s no way that any promotion’s going to come in… Bellator could get all the money in the world and they’re not going to overtake the UFC, they just don’t have the structure to overtake them and the structure comes from not only what they’ve done but, you know, the people that believe in them and believe in the UFC comparatively. The UFC has marketed itself, has done an incredible job of to where they are the Kleenex, they are the Xerox of MMA. When people say MMA, they think of UFC.”

I cherry picked some topics from BJM’s interview with Eddie, so I would recommend that you check out the full interview in its entirety because it’s a great listen. You will enjoy it. As for the money question at the end of the interview, you will want to hear BJM’s reasoning as to why he wrote this book now and why the timing made sense. The answer is as detailed and historically caring as you might expect it to be.

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

Dana White: There’s a reason BJ Penn isn’t as big of a star as he should be

By Zach Arnold | September 21, 2011


Click on my mug to see me rant righteously about Joe Cortez & Larry Merchant to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com

Whenever Dana decides to let his inner fanboy come out in interviews, he’s a fascinating person to watch in terms of studying psychology. After he admitted in this interview that he bet on Victor Ortiz to beat Floyd Mayweather, perhaps Lorenzo Fertitta needs to call a shrink.

With that out of the way, some interesting items were touched upon. Dana White said that he views the trajectory of Jon Jones’ career the same way he viewed the trajectory of UFC once they became the #1 MMA promotion in the world.

Dana tried to reassure everyone that Matt Hughes is 100% committed to MMA heading into Saturday night’s fight against Josh Koscheck. (Both Hughes & Rampage are +400 under dogs heading into their respective bouts.)

In an odd statement, Dana said that he’s ‘at a good place’ right now with Nick Diaz and thinks he can do business with him. You have to watch the video interview to get the tone in which he said the remark. Ariel brought up rumors of Nick Diaz not wanting to do taping for a Countdown TV show but Dana shot them down…

Which naturally brought up BJ Penn’s comments online in which he claimed that UFC producers were telling him what to say. Dana, of course, was none too happy to deal with those remarks.

“What our job is we have to get inside of these fighter’s lives and this is the kind of stuff like… you know, a guy like BJ (Penn), with all of the things that’s happened in the past and what a big star he could have been… You know, if you look at a guy like Floyd Mayweather, say what you want about Floyd Mayweather… Dude, he does 24/7. Those cameras live inside his house, it’s called 24 fucking 7. It means that they’re with him 24/7, they’re in his car, they’re in his house, those guys are in the gym when they go to train. They see everything, you know, and Floyd Mayweather gets on there and lets them get into his life and see his personality and where he is and what he does.

“And we got fucking guys going, ‘oh, they told me what to say and I didn’t want to say that I’ll beat Nick Diaz!’ It’s just one of the fucking things hopefully with this next generation that’s coming up through, these guys get that and get what it takes to get people interested in you and to sell a fight and when somebody asks you a question if you think you’re going to win on Saturday. If you don’t think you’re going to win, then fucking say no, I think I’m going to get my ass beat.”

At this point in the interview, Dana went into total ‘boxing fan’ mode and ranted for several minutes about referee Joe Cortez & Larry Merchant. Dana’s description of Victor Ortiz ‘billy goat headbutting’ Floyd is great entertainment. He admitted that he bet on Victor Ortiz because he had ‘a puncher’s chance.’ Wonder if he’ll use that with the media to hype why Carlos Condit can beat GSP.

Dana says that Joe Rogan is a professional when it comes to post-fight interviews, something that Larry Merchant in his eyes is not. This led to Dana lobbying and pleading for HBO to insert Max Kellerman into Merchant’s role.

“Hey, Larry, if you were 70 years younger, you’re not kicking Floyd’s ass, OK? You babbling, senile moron.”

The most intriguing insider baseball segment of the interview is when Ariel asked Dana whether or not it’s true that Spike can’t air Bellator on TV in 2012 unless UFC buys the rights (picks up the option) to their video library to stop it from airing on Spike in 2012. Dana says that UFC has no intentions on buying the library rights, so Spike is stuck with UFC programming in 2012 as their only contractual choice.

Ariel then pressed Dana on Spike airing Bellator fights on their web site.

He closed out the interview by defending his booking of Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le on November 19th at San Jose Arena on PPV. In response to determining whether or not fighters under contract to UFC can be pushed into retirement:

“Whether you like it or not, I am the guy who makes those decisions.”

As for the Light Heavyweight picture… winner of Bones Jones/Rampage faces Rashad Evans. Winner of that fight faces the winner of Shogun/Dan Henderson.

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

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