Focus for UFC shifts to more live, Friday night TV content on Fox for 7 years
By Zach Arnold | August 18, 2011
Tomas Rios: “People, a major network has made a multi-year, multi-platform, big money commitment to the UFC. This is the biggest MMA story ever.”
Fascinating that ESPN has not discussed at all (either in TV reporting or their newsticker) UFC moving from Spike to FX/Fox family. Relations between ESPN & Fox are not as competitive as they once were, especially given NBC & Comcast as one unit now as the major competitor for programming (and Yahoo Sports as the top online sports reporting hub). At least ESPN put up a report on their web site.
The Ultimate Fighter will be more interactive in terms of airing live fights and taping footage from the past week prior to said fights airing. Friday night on FX will basically be UFC’s cable footprint. I’m a bit skeptical about Friday nights working out for them as opposed to Wednesdays or Thursdays.
Thankfully, the Gladiator graphic UFC has used forever is going the way of the do-do bird. As I predicted, not many changes at all to the UFC production layout (including their announce team).
Sports Business Journal says that Fox is paying UFC about $100 million dollars a year. The majority of UFC’s programming will air on cable channel FX, with four network television specials airing live each year on Fox terrestrial. Fox executives seem to think that they have found a real growth play here.
Luke Thomas: “UFC source tells me new Fox deal does NOT affect online distribution deals to Roku, Yahoo!, XBox or UStream. Nothing changes.”
Both Loretta Hunt & Josh Gross were at the press conference and credentialed. Loretta says that she shook Dana White’s hand. Make of that what you will.
An interesting question/premise being debated yesterday on Twitter about this new deal with Fox — will Fox force UFC management & employees to change their behavior (i.e. Rampage ‘motorboating’ & Joe Rogan’s comments about Maggie Hendricks) or will the status quo for behavior remain? I’m in the minority in stating that absolutely nothing will change from a behavioral standpoint. If Joe Rogan can come back to network TV (NBC) for a new series run of Fear Factor after the online kerfuffle he got into a few months ago, I don’t see how or why Fox is going to make him change (business reasons or not).
What was fascinating to see during the press conference was the reaction from Fox suits towards UFC’s production values. They seriously will allow Zuffa to produce shows as they see fit. When Fuji TV backed PRIDE, Fuji TV brought all of their resources and production team to the table. If Fox is going to allow UFC to produce shows the want they want to and pay them nearly $100 million USD a year, that’s a sweet development for UFC.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jonathan Shrager: Interview with Tom ‘Kong’ Watson — “I stand by my training partner Nate Marquardt”
By Zach Arnold | August 17, 2011
You can follow Tom “Kong” Watson on Twitter @TomKongWatson.
Jonathan Shrager: “I’d like to begin by asking about your unfortunate withdrawal from the Frank Trigg title defence at BAMMA 7?”
Tom Watson: “Yes, injuries are an inevitable bane of a sportsman’s life. It doesn’t matter at what level you compete, there are few things worse for a keen sportsman than not to be able to ply his trade and perform his art, whether through being on the substitutes’ bench, on the treatment table, or even worst case scenario on the operating table. The bottom line is that being sidelined is difficult to take, not only physically, but also mentally. And yet it is a sentiment with which you have to become accustomed to dealing through experience.”
Jonathan Shrager: “And can you elaborate a little on the specific injury which has forced you out of the fight?”
Tom Watson: “I had a scan the other day on my back, but even prior to assessing the images the doctor predicts that I have at least one ruptured disc. It’s pretty uncomfortable because the ruptured disc in my back is hitting a nerve resulting in constant nerve spasms. Consequently, I’m also struggling to stand for 15 minutes without having to sit down, and vice versa. I’m spending most of my days lying down.”
Jonathan Shrager: “Ok, well obviously everyone hopes that the scans reveal that the injury isn’t too serious, and that you can return to the cage ASAP. Prior to the Trigg fight, I heard Ariel Helwani had been in contact with you to discuss the fight. This highlights the rising prominence of BAMMA when you’re on the radar of the industry’s most recognisable interviewer?”
Tom Watson: “Indeed, I am proud to be fighting for BAMMA, and prior to its advent there weren’t many promotions outside of the UFC that were staging respectable events. The principal issue for BAMMA originally was attracting and signing high profile fighters, which it has successfully managed to address. And in terms of the live shows, the production values, the entertainment, and the treatment received by the fighters, the organisation is top notch. This will all be amplified by BAMMA’s recent global distribution deal with Content Media Corporation, which can only serve to significantly increase exposure and profile in numerous countries, and in turn attract even bigger marquis name fighters and sponsors. All positive implications.”
Jonathan Shrager: “Fantastic, and what do you think of Ariel as an interviewer?”
Tom Watson: “Ariel is undoubtedly a weasel, but he’s great at his job. In his line of work, a stirrer attains results. It’s no coincidence that Ariel is the man who always manages to obtain the exclusive interviews with Dana White at UFC events.
“Simply put, he captures the interviews that people want to see, full of media sensationalism. He broaches the topics and poses the questions that other interviewers may choose not to through concern of offending the fighters. I saw his recent sit-down with Chael Sonnen in which Chael defamed PRIDE and lambasted Brazilian fighters. Whilst extremely close to the bone, people enjoy such spectacles, including myself admittedly. And the proof is always in the pudding; Ariel is now arguably the single most successful and well-recognised reporter within MMA. From relative obscurity to prominence within a short time frame is a testament to his skill.”
Jonathan Shrager: “So you’re evidently a fan of his?”
Tom Watson: “Yes, I quite like Ariel. He only asks the questions, and it remains the fighters’ prerogative whether to respond. What does frustrate me is the occasions on which a reporter will purposefully modify your words, or omit certain sentences, in order to achieve the desired effect for their article.”
Jonathan Shrager: “It appears that the bitter war of words between BJ Penn and your teammate Nate Marquardt has recommenced following Nate’s assertion that BJ is a “Pothead”. Other fighters contributed with their input when the feud initially began. What did you make of fellow countryman Dan Hardy’s statement that Nate should work as a male stripper if banned indefinitely?”
Tom Watson: “Yes, Dan Hardy emerged with a characteristically humorous citation, but can Dan substantiate his comments about Nate’s medical background? At the end of the day, it’s all pure speculation. Referring to Nate’s past record with PEDs is futile since Nate has served his suspensions so that should be left in the past. And by Dan claiming that he doesn’t understand why 30 year-old men need TRT, well that’s an ignorant statement on behalf of Dan. Seemingly robust young athletes have suffered grave medical issues which nobody could anticipate so we shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover without knowing the hard facts. It’s a little bit silly for Dan to be involving himself in the debate, but then again I suppose he needs the publicity after his recent skid.”
Jonathan Shrager: “It’s evident that in MMA, fighters will always defend their teammates over countrymen. It underscores the bond that can be created between training partners.”
Tom Watson: “Well, I’ve never really trained with Dan Hardy, as when I’ve been with the team Roughhouse boys in Nottingham (Paul Daley, Andre Winner, Dean Amasinger), Dan has generally been out in the States. I always look out for his results, because he’s a Brit, he trains with guys I know, and he’s usually involved in exciting fights, but on the flip side, when he fought GSP I was one of Georges main training partners. And that’s the curious thing about MMA; you don’t always necessarily ally with your compatriot. The gym set-up resembles the military in that respect, in that sometimes different nationalities will unite to fight for a common cause. So I consider my training partners at Jackson’s as my brothers, as opposed to an unfamiliar fighter who happens to be of the same nationality.”
Jonathan Shrager: “And Chael Sonnen claimed that Nate might be omitting certain details. What’s your opinion on that?”
Tom Watson: “I’ve trained with Nate sporadically over the last few years, and he’s a good friend. I don’t like to offer an opinion, since the UFC, Nate and his medical advisors are the only parties privy to the specifics. What I can confirm, echoing the sentiments of many personalities within the MMA world, is that Nate is a great guy, and an honest man. It’s not as if he fought and was subsequently caught, but rather Nate was open about his TRT, and there were legitimate reasons for the treatment, so it’s a difficult situation.
“With respect to Chael Sonnen’s assertion that Nate was omitting certain details during his expose on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour, Chael found himself in a position which compelled him to make such a statement, in order to make it appear as if there was some point of distinction from his case of TRT following the Anderson Silva fight. Chael will soon be fighting one of my close friends and main training partners Brian Stann, which I don’t think is a favourable fight for Sonnen. Sonnen will probably enter the fight as the bookies’ favourite, so when Brian bests him, it’ll automatically thrust “The All-American” into title contention. I’ve become particularly close with Brian since his drop to middleweight, and following my fight with Murilo “Ninja” Rua I flew straight out to Vegas for his fight with Santiago, and then stayed at his house for a week.”
You can check out Jonathan Shrager’s writing profile here and follow him on Twitter @jonathanshrager. His interview with Nate Marquardt last week can be read here.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
On the week UFC is reportedly heading to Fox, Jared Shaw calls Dana White & T. Jay Thompson stupid
By Zach Arnold | August 16, 2011
“Thank you, Dana White. You made a huge mistake and you once again made Jared Shaw smart.” — Jared Shaw interview with FightHubTV.com
A couple of interesting events are happening soon, one being Pro Elite’s relaunch in Hawaii at the end of the month. To which Jared Shaw, son of Gary Shaw and former boss of Pro Elite, says the following:
“I think they’re a joke. I think my father called it right. I think T. Jay Thompson has too much dye in his hair. He forgot that he used to run around stripping for men and I think if he’s got anything else to say about the way the Shaws ran it, he can come say it to my face. Seriously, T. Jay. *blows kiss*”
With news of UFC reportedly landing a deal with the Fox TV family, a lot of people are saying a lot of things. Bellator isn’t saying anything right now, but you have to think that they are thrilled at the possibility of receiving a lifeline from Spike TV should UFC vacate the network. If Bellator is willing to cede some creative control to Spike, we could very well see a true & solid second-tier promotion in MMA to develop new stars. That would be an excellent development. What would not be an excellent development is if Bjorn Rebney goes into TNA mode and decides to stick to his tournament format rigidly, business be damned.
Another person who has plenty to say is Jared ‘$kala’ Shaw, the son of Gary Shaw. Jared is busy promoting Kimbo Slice, who won a boxing match in Oklahoma last Saturday night in 17 seconds. Remarkably, ESPN ran the result on their news ticker that same night and treated it as a serious story. On Monday, clips from Youtube of Kimbo’s win were shown on both ESPN & ESPN2. In other words, there are people in the media who are taking Kimbo’s attempted run in boxing seriously.
“What I thought is exactly what I told people we’d deliver, which is an injection into the boxing scene — steroid-free syrum. Kimbo Slice has hands, that’s just the natural cause. The last three years, it’s a mirage. You think because he wasn’t winning in MMA or wasn’t knocking people out (that) he wasn’t born and bred for thsi sport, you’d be crazy. If you really know both sports then you in Mixed Martial Arts, you have a much more squared-up stance. There’s takedowns, there’s kicks, he’s got a lot of things to look for. Now he’s just looking at two hands in a straight box and as he showed you (Saturday) night, he’s a human highlight reel. So whether you like Kimbo Slice, Jared Shaw, Gary Shaw or not, it doesn’t really matter because now you’re going to watch. Kimbo Slice is here to make a statement and as he just told me, he’s got a plan. He ain’t here to be a sideshow. He’s here to knock people out, take names, and build properly towards hopefully a Heavyweight championship run.”
And as for why everyone is stupid and should start marking out…
“As Kimbo stated, when we were in Mixed Martial Arts he was looking for a lot of different things, so he was unable to commit to just a punch for the fear that he knew his ground game was, you know, suspect anyways and he didn’t want to get easily taken down. he doesn’t have to look for that any more. So, with every day comes more learning in this game and with fights comes even more of a learning curve and he’s going to learn to get under those punches and he’s a very, very scary out for any heavyweight, I don’t care what size and what weight, what age, what color, creed, especially what their record is, it doesn’t matter because the fact is this guy has killer instinct. I don’t see that in David Haye, I don’t see that in Wladimir Klitschko. I’m not saying that Kimbo’s better than them, so please don’t take my words out of context. I’m saying I don’t see killer instinct. You can love Mike Tyson because he knocked people out. You better love Kimbo Slice.”
I breathlessly await the prospects of a transformative fight like Kimbo vs. David Haye or Kimbo vs. James Toney for an alphabet soup title.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
David Williams: A statistical look at Fedor Emelianenko’s place in MMA history
By Zach Arnold | August 15, 2011
Perhaps no fighter has been a lightning rod of debate quite like Fedor Emelianenko. If a cut stoppage loss to Tsuyoshi Kosaka in his early career is thrown out, Emelianenko began his career 31-0. In a sport in which the very best fighters in the world all lose at some point, including Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre, Emelianenko never did. Instead, he either completely dominated his opponents, like Tim Sylvia, or came back from trouble to score an impressive victory, like he did against Kazuyuki Fujita. It seemed that no matter the opponent, no matter the challenge, Emelianenko invariably would end up with his hand raised at the end of the fight.
The problem is that Emelianenko did this without fighting in the UFC. The result was that two groups of people were constantly pitted against each other in (often irrational) online debates. To many of Emelianenko’s fans, he was a deity of mixed martial arts, an unbeatable force who simply was incapable of losing a fight, and would smash anybody the UFC had to offer. To many of Emelianenko’s detractors, he was a fraud with a career that was protected by his management, beating opponents that were far from the best challengers the sport had to offer.
Now that Emelianenko has lost three fights in a row, many are saying that recent events have proved that people like UFC President Dana White were correct in saying that Emelianenko was overrated and that Emelianenko “sucks.” White has recently gone so far as to say that building a mixed martial arts promotion around Emelianenko is “like having your promotion carried by Kimbo Slice.”
Fighters like Emelianenko are exactly why I’ve created SILVA, my statistical analysis system for estimating how good mixed martial artists are. As a completely objective system, an analysis of Fedor Emelianenko can be done without bias. My aim is to use this statistical analysis to get a reasonable, measured viewpoint about where Emelianenko’s career stacks up against the best of his generation.
The primary tool that I will use to do this is the Victory Score statistic. Victory Score uses the record of the opponent, as well as the record of the opponent’s opponents, to estimate how good an opponent is. This is an approximate measure that won’t always be the most accurate way of rating a fighter, but for the most part, provides a fairly good estimate. My standard for what represents a “UFC-quality” fighter – a Victory Score of at least 65.00 – is somewhat arbitrary, but it’s an estimate that’s based on looking through Victory Scores of hundreds of fighters. For the most part, fighters with a Victory Score of above 65.00 can at least compete in the UFC, and fighters with a Victory Score of below 65.00 would struggle mightily to win in the UFC.
By using Victory Score to rate Emelianenko’s wins, and comparing his career to that of his contemporaries, hopefully Emelianenko’s career can be put into a proper context.
Fedor Emelianenko’s RINGS career
Emelianenko was 10-1 in RINGS, including the infamous cut stoppage against Kosaka. Here are the Victory Scores of Emelianenko’s ten wins:
• Renato “Babalu” Sobral – 76.45
• Ricardo Arona – 63.58
• Chris Haseman – 59.39
• Kerry Schall – 55.07
• Ryushi Yanagisawa – 51.47
• Lee Hasdell – 48.31
• Levon Lagvilava – 33.33
Emelianenko’s other three wins – against Martin Lazarov, Hiroya Takada, and Mihail Apostolov – were against fighters making their professional MMA debut.
The only fights worth mentioning here are Emelianenko’s wins against Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Ricardo Arona. The Sobral win easily qualifies as a win against a UFC-quality opponent, but the Arona win just misses the 65-point cutoff, as Arona was just 2-0 going into that fight (but with a win over Jeremy Horn). In any case, Emelianenko leaves RINGS a career 1-0 against UFC-quality opponents.
Fedor Emelianenko’s PRIDE career
Emelianenko was 16-0 from his debut at PRIDE 21 to his final fight at PRIDE Shockwave 2006. Here are the Victory Scores:
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (2nd) – 81.48
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (1st) – 80.81
• Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic – 75.33
• Heath Herring – 65.95
• Mark Coleman (1st) – 65.94
• Mark Coleman (2nd) – 65.14
• Kevin Randleman – 64.08
• Semmy Schilt – 63.84
• Naoya Ogawa – 63.63
• Kazuyuki Fujita – 63.48
• Mark Hunt – 62.70
• Zuluzinho – 61.67
• Tsuyoshi Kosaka – 59.01
• Gary Goodridge – 55.23
• Egidijus Valavicius – 50.13
• Yuji Nagata – 27.78
All told, this is a pretty harsh view of Emelianenko’s PRIDE career. The only wins that are truly highly rated are his wins against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Cro Cop. The wins against Heath Herring and Mark Coleman make it over the 65-point cutoff for UFC-quality fighters, but only barely. Still, the most important point is that Emelianenko didn’t lose a single time.
At this point, Emelianenko was 26-1 overall, but just 7-0 against UFC-quality opponents.
Fedor Emelianenko’s post-PRIDE career
Emelianenko is 5-3 since his final PRIDE fight. The Victory Scores of his wins are:
• Brett Rogers – 75.88
• Tim Sylvia – 74.78
• Matt Lindland – 74.63
• Andrei Arlovski – 69.79
• Hong Man Choi – 55.56
If Emelianenko had beaten the fighters he lost to, here are what the Victory Scores would have been:
• Antonio Silva – 77.16
• Dan Henderson – 74.04
• Fabricio Werdum – 71.87
Overall, despite building a record of 31-4, Emelianenko’s record against UFC-quality opponents is just 11-3, after reaching a peak of 11-0.
How does Fedor Emelianenko rate among his contemporaries?
Particularly, how does Emelianenko’s ability to beat quality competition hold up against the greatest heavyweights in MMA history? Here’s a list of the best fighters that the UFC and PRIDE had to offer in the heavyweight division over the years, their peak record against UFC-quality opposition, and their current record against such opposition.
• Fedor Emelianenko: Peak – 11-0, Current – 11-3
• Josh Barnett: Peak – 8-1, Current – 15-5
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Peak – 11-2, Current – 16-6
• Mirko Cro Cop: Peak – 8-1-1, Current – 13-8-1
• Randy Couture: Peak – 7-3, Current – 12-9
• Tim Sylvia: Peak – 6-2, Current – 8-6
• Frank Mir: Peak – 5-4, Current – 5-4
• Andrei Arlovski: Peak – 7-4, Current – 7-8
It’s very much worth noting that Emelianenko did not compete against quality opposition as often as his PRIDE contemporaries in Josh Barnett, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Mirko Cro Cop. When historians look back on Emelianenko’s career, they will certainly lament some of his prime fights being wasted on guys like Zuluzinho and Hong Man Choi.
It’s also worth noting that, naturally, there are differing levels of “UFC-quality” opposition. Emelianenko’s wins against Mark Coleman and Heath Herring are on the low end of the “UFC-quality” range. Emelianenko also has two wins against opponents from lower weight classes: Renato “Babalu” Sobral is a light-heavyweight and Matt Lindland is a middleweight. However, all of the fighters on the above list share at least one of these problems. For example, Cro Cop has wins over Kazushi Sakuraba and Wanderlei Silva, and Tim Sylvia has relatively low-rated “UFC-quality” wins over guys like Assuerio Silva and Jason Riley.
With all of that having been said, at least according to this measure, there isn’t a single heavyweight fighter who can match Emelianenko’s resume. Emelianenko had the best peak record against UFC-quality opposition at 11-0, and even with his recent three-fight losing streak, still has a better winning percentage than any of the division’s best fighters from 2001 to 2006. On top of that, Emelianenko has defeated four of the fighters on this list in head-to-head matches: Nogueira, Cro Cop, Sylvia, and Arlovski. The only other fighter to even face four of the other fighters on the list is Nogueira.
While this measure is far from the be-all and end-all of determining who the best heavyweight fighter of all time is, as far as I’m concerned, the facts all point to Emelianenko being that fighter. None of the fighters listed above have a resume as good as Emelianenko’s, and neither of the recent UFC heavyweight champions (Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar) have been fighting long enough to warrant being included in the discussion.
How does Fedor Emelianenko rate all-time?
While Emelianenko’s relatively low percentage of fights against quality competition isn’t enough to knock him out of the top spot among heavyweights in my opinion, it really starts to hurt when discussing his status as the best all-time fighter in mixed martial arts. In the welterweight division alone, Georges St. Pierre is currently 14-1 in his career against UFC-quality opponents (with Matt Serra missing the cut), and Jon Fitch and Jake Shields are each 12-2-1. Anderson Silva is an astonishing 18-1 against such opponents. In the lightweight division, Frank Edgar is 9-1-1, Gilbert Melendez is 12-2, and Shinya Aoki is 17-4. Chuck Liddell peaked at 14-2 (before retiring at 15-7).
While I wouldn’t necessarily rank all of these fighters ahead of Emelianenko on an all-time basis, this serves to illustrate that a lot of fighters who are still in their prime have competed against quality opposition as many times or more than Emelianenko, and did so very successfully. Even though none of them achieved an 11-0 record as Emelianenko did, Emelianenko’s relative lack of high-level fights prevents him from being the #1 fighter of all time in my opinion.
Looking ahead
I mentioned earlier that Cain Velasquez hasn’t had enough fights to be in the discussion for best heavyweight fighter of all time yet. However, Velasquez has had an amazing career start. Already, Velasquez is 6-0 against UFC-quality opposition despite having only having a 9-0 overall record. Velasquez has a big fight coming up in November, when he is slated to defend his title against Junior dos Santos, who himself is 7-1 against UFC-quality opposition. Whoever wins that fight will be in great position to make a run at becoming the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time.
Conclusion
“Greatness” is a subjective term, and everybody is going to have a different idea of what greatness in MMA truly is. I understand that the approach I’ve outlined is just one way to answer the question of whether or not Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time. For me, it’s an emphatic answer, one that should put to rest the notion that Emelianenko wasn’t ever all that good, or anything like Kimbo Slice in any way. Don’t get me wrong, I think that a guy like Cain Velasquez or Junior dos Santos could take the mantle from Emelianenko with a few more key wins. But as of right now, as far as I see it, Emelianenko is the best heavyweight ever.
David Williams can be reached @dwilliamsmma on Twitter and at his personal web site, Fantasy Fights.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 68 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The obligatory ‘Alistair Overeem explains how Golden Glory does business’ video
By Zach Arnold | August 15, 2011
“The dream fight for me is to directly fight for the UFC title. That’s something that would arouse me.”
No transcript needed (watch the whole video if you want the details), but a quick summary for you:
- Alistair said that the bigger-name fighters in Golden Glory get paid directly. He got paid directly when he fought for Strikeforce. He noted that the fighters who get paid directly then pay the managers & trainers at Golden Glory. Furthermore, the newer & lesser-known fighters have Golden Glory get paid and then GG pays them. He brought up Japan as a prominent reason for Golden Glory getting paid instead of the fighters directly because GG acted as a financial ‘back stop’ in case the Japanese promoters stiffed the fighters on their money. (A prominent example of this was the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 Kobe Wing Stadium show.)
- He made it clear that he wants to fight in the UFC but that he gets an immediate title shot. He said he wants to win the UFC Heavyweight title so that he can claim hold to all the major titles (DREAM, K-1, Strikeforce).
- Said that Zuffa has been sending him ‘mixed signals’ and that he still can’t figure out why all Golden Glory fighters got cut from the promotion because they had nothing to do with his business affairs.
- Alistair thinks that any sort of proposed fight with Fedor is over and that he’s not motivated for such a fight, but he does think that Fedor will bounce back as a fighter with good training.
As a bonus, here’s a video of Tito Ortiz going over-the-top in praise of himself for being such a company man for the UFC (and that he’s still hurting from the punishment Rashad Evans leveled on him in Philadelphia).
As for how well UFC 133 drew? MMA Supremacy hints that the PPV drew the same buy rate (250,000-325,000 buy rate range) as the PPVs have been drawing all Summer long for UFC. That is not a good sign.
HDNet posted this video online today (it’s from last October) where Shawn Tompkins gave the network a tour of the Tapout training facility in Las Vegas.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC Live 5 (Milwaukee): Chris Lytle retires with win, Shawn Tompkins dies at age 37
By Zach Arnold | August 14, 2011
Dark matches/Facebook
- Bantamweights: Edwin Figueroa defeated Jason Reinhardt in R2 in 50 seconds by TKO.
- Lightweights: Jacob Volkmann defeated Danny Castillo after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Cole Miller defeated TJ O’Brien in R2 in 3’12 by choke.
- Featherweights: Jim Hettes defeatedAlex Caceres in R2 in 3’12 by choke.
- Light Heavyweights: Ronny Markes defeated Karlos Vemola after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Ed Herman defeated Kyle Noke in R1 in 4’15 with a heel hook.
- Bantamweights: Joseph Benavidez defeated Eddie Wineland after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Jared Hamman defeated CB Dollaway in R2 in 3’38 by TKO (punches).
Main card
- Welterweights: Duane Ludwig defeated Amir Sadollah after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Donald Cerrone defeated Charles Oliveira in R1 in 3’01 by TKO.
- Lightweights: Ben Henderson defeated Jim Miller after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Welterweights: Chris Lytle defeated Dan Hardy in R3 in 4’16 with a choke.
Click the image to see Dana’s interview with Ariel Helwani on NBCSports.com
An interesting interview, not so much for news content, but because of some of the reactions Dana had to a few of the questions.
- He confirmed that Lorenzo Fertitta had a meeting with Showtime in New York and that it would be determined within the next couple of weeks what the future of Strikeforce will be.
- Dana said that he will talk with Golden Glory in the next couple of weeks and was pleasantly surprised to hear what GG said in their press release about Alistair willing to work exclusively for the UFC and get paid directly. “I chased Fedor around forever when I told you guys publicly that I didn’t think he was the best” followed by “You think I want to chase Alistair Overeem out of the UFC and don’t want him fighting here, I want him to go somewhere else? No.” Dana said that teams are learning that this isn’t Japan because “the Japanese don’t come out and talk
shitlike I do. I tell you guys the truth and the way it is.” - As for why he went on The Underground Forum to address M-1’s rebuttal about his Fedor negotiation claims, “If I was going to lie, why would I event talk about it? Why even talk about it, you know what I mean? I don’t have to tell you guys that stuff.” As for M-1 not saying UFC’s offer was a good one, “if they say that offer wasn’t
fuckingsweet, they’re dumber than I ever thought they were. They’re literally the dumbest people on earth, but they’ve proven that already. Vadummy has proven that he’s nofuckingrocket scientist, you know what I mean, in the handling of this guy’s career and the way that he’s handled everything.” - Dana admitted that Japan is not in the cards for the promotion but Abu Dhabi is by the end of the year.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 66 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
MMA Link Club: Over/under 800,000 viewers for UFC Live on Versus this Sunday?
By Zach Arnold | August 12, 2011
A couple of links to peruse before you take a look at the regular linkage in the MMA Link Club.
The battle is over for Scott LeDoux. He died on Thursday at the age of 62 due to complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Despite many notable accomplishments in his boxing career, LeDoux gained a level of notoriety for working Verne Gagne’s “Wrestlerock” show at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. He was involved in a classic 80s rap promo to promote the event.
This is a horrifying article to read, as it’s about TJ Cook and his return to active MMA fighting after suffering from kidney failure due to bad weight cutting. Is it a stretch to say that someone will die sooner or later due to weight cutting in MMA?
For those of you who haven’t gotten Blake Northcott’s new MMA eBook, you still have time to become a ‘late adopter’ and get on board. Check out her hot friend who designed her newest book cover. I hang with only the finest of ladies.
Member sites of the MMA Link Club
- Five Ounces of Pain – http://fiveouncesofpain.com/feed/rss
- MMA Fighting – http://www.mmafighting.com/rss.xml
- NBC Sports – http://www.nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/42363531/device/rss/rss.xml
- Cage Potato – http://www.cagepotato.com/feed
- MMA Mania – http://feeds.feedburner.com/sportsblogs/mmamania.xml
- 5thRound – http://www.5thround.com/feed
- Bleacher Report – http://bleacherreport.com/articles/feed?tag_id=3007
- MiddleEasy – http://middleeasy.com/index.php?format=feed&type=rss
- LowKick – http://www.lowkick.com/newrss
- The Fight Nerd – http://www.thefightnerd.com/feed
- MMA Convert – http://feeds.feedburner.com/mmaconvert
- Fight Opinion – http://feeds.feedburner.com/fightopinion
- MMA Payout – http://feeds.feedburner.com/Payout
This week’s MMA Link Club featured stories
Five Ounces of Pain: Pat Healy wants to be the first guy to finish Eric Wisely this Friday night
“Really, I’d like to fight right away barring no injuries or anything serious happening in this fight. I’d like to even maybe be on the Challengers show on September 25. I’d like to be right back on it. Shoot, man, I’d really like to have two more fights by the end of the year.”
MMA Fighting: Gerald Harris agrees to face Kazuhiro Nakamura at DREAM 17 on 9/24 at Saitama Super Arena
NBC Sports: Mike Chiappetta’s primer for UFC Live (Hardy vs. Lytle)
Will Jim Miller become No. 1 contender or head to the back of the pack? And who wins the mini UFC vs. WEC war?
Cage Potato: Gambling Addiction Enabler: ‘Hardy vs. Lytle’ Edition
Dan Hardy allegedly holds the striking advantage — but I’m not entirely convinced of that either. Straight money on Lights Out is a wise choice.
MMA Mania: Chris Lytle plans to end his fight against Dan Hardy ‘as soon as possible’
5th Round: Rampage says Jon Jones can’t bust a grape
“This guy has never been tested, he’s never been hit,” Rampage said of Jones. “I ain’t worried about his height, his reach. I ain’t worried about none of that. The guy can’t bust a grape. I ain’t worried about his crazy spinning elbow moves … We’ve done broke this guy down.”
Bleacher Report: Where has the love for Jon Jones gone?
Now people are talking about him being “overhyped”. Excuse me? Fans, much like the media, are failing to understand what they are seeing.
Middle Easy: The possibility of Dennis Hallman’s elbow giving birth to an alien is frighteningly real
LowKick: Interview with UFC Connected’s Showdown Joe Ferraro
And here I am at the Rogers Centre surrounded by 65,000 people. I just told myself “carpe diem, seize the moment here, look around you, appreciate this, and realize how far you’ve come”. At that moment I felt like a fan again, I got to sit back, and say “wow this thing is just unbelievable.”
At that point I realized I had to work that much harder. It’s like that guy in Jiu-Jitsu who gets their black belt and he finally realizes “I might be a black belt, but there is so much more to learn here”. I now have to work that much harder, to get that much better, and really do what I can to help bring this sport to the mainstream in Canada.
The Fight Nerd: Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney on season five, Nate Marquardt, and steroids
“Nate [Marquardt] was a dynamic in that we do things in a very specific way. We have a tournament format, you have to fight three fights to get there, nobody gets an automatic title fight. It’s a different way to promote MMA, it’s objective… it may not be the right fit for everyone. We just weren’t able to fit all the pieces of that puzzle together to get it done.”
MMA Convert (Jim Genia): What you need to know about Ronda Rousey
Rousey’s got a judo background. But not just any judo background, you see. At the 2008 Olympics inBeijing, she became the first American female to medal in the sport (she got a bronze) at that level. Prior to that, Rousey racked up world title after world title, smoking international competition like it was salmon for her bagel. As for credentials, when all is said and done, she’s got a fourth degree black belt in judo – which is a pretty badass thing on its own.
MMA Payout: Pro Elite relaunches web site, releases 8/27 event promo
Who will be in their upcoming Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament?
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Text of Golden Glory press release about #UFC business relations & Alistair Overeem
By Zach Arnold | August 11, 2011
Payment situation:
First of all we would like to thank all the support of the fans.
The Golden Glory management discussed before coming to the US about the payment situation and it was agreed to speak with a Zuffa lawyer about this in Vancouver, to find a solution.
There was a contract in place and Golden Glory and Einemo honored the UFC rules including getting the check on the fighters name (Einemo showed his check in the gym as well which was on his name and Alistair and Valentijn also confirmed their payment was done by check in their name). The Zuffa lawyer explained that the fighters could open an account at a bank were the UFC did their banking and the check would clear in only two days instead of 6 weeks till 8 weeks (that’s how long it takes to clear a check in a foreign country which was also an issue for some of the fighters) and they could then transfer the amount to the final destination at their choice. They were thankful and did this.
The reason that the Golden Glory management company is doing this business for the GG fighters for over 12 years with payment directly to the management company is for the benefit of the fighters, coaches and trainers are paid on time and the management company will take care of bookkeeper and taxes and exchange rates and legal help for the fighters.
We have many fighters from many different parts of the world and also have gyms in Berlin Germany, Liverpool England, Pattaya Thailand, California USA, Bucharest Romania, Moscow Russia and three gyms in Holland. Golden Glory is growing on an international level and we are working with one management company to coordinate these businesses.
Fighters only sign agreements with promoters if coaches, trainers, management and the fighter agree with the terms, regardless to whom the payment will be done.
The strikeforce situation was different.
Behind the scene I was preparing a great deal for corporation between strikeforce, /dream, k-1 and Glory to do something great together with Scott ( this included a tv channel and footage deal). I introduced Scott thru a partner of mine in LA to some powerful people in the US (Scott was very surprised after this meeting and exited and mailed me after his meeting with these people how impressed he was). I never could have guessed that at the same moment I was talking to Scott to make a massive move for becoming a real competitor to the UFC, Scott was already talking with the same UFC for selling strikeforce.
Scott told me that he had partners and that there were financial difficulties with strikeforce and any new TV or other deal they would welcome. As I am a producer as well ( produced more then 1000 hour of fighting content) and also made tons of other deals for promoters (like the K-1 live broadcasting on the dutch Tv Channel SBS6) I trusted Scott with some business plans as I knew Scott from the time he was a promoter for K-1 and we all wanted to move forward in the fight business.
Scott convinced me to start working with strikeforce, we always had a better deal in Japan and Europe, but as K-1 was having a lot of difficulties and Scott giving us all the terms we wanted, we started taking steps to do more and more business with strikeforce.
The problems with strikeforce was that we made some agreements with Scott which were creating headaches now Zuffa took over.
The fighters were paid in the previous strikeforce bouts to an account of the management without any problems, yet UFC claimed this was impossible. Then the fighters were loosing sponsors as the UFC took over strikeforce as they implemented their new rules. If you can sponsor the fighter you should sponsor the organization first. I understand this from a business point of few, but some companies can’t effort to pay 100K or more to an organization. And some fighters getting 5 or 10K in sponsorship is were they actually can make some good money. We just wanted the things as they were before, but it was far from what it was before. The payment was done how the UFC wanted and again we agreed and did the same as in Vancouver, so that matter was solved , so I do not understand why Dana claims we did not agree? We did not have a choice and never said we would not fight in the future or that we would refuse to work like this in the future (we worked out that problem with the Zuffa lawyer in the Vancouver and even agreed with their new sponsor policies). Maybe there is a miscommunication and Dana was not well informed that the direct payment issue was solved and no longer an issue as I myself have been in and out hospital for two weeks because of heath issues ( the reason why this press release is so late).
Anyway we regret the response from Zuffa and the releases, but it is their company and they can do what they want, we would like to keep working in the future with the UFC and with this statement I cleary say that direct payment to any of our fighter was not a problem and will not be a problem in the future. We just want to be able to produce great fighters and create great fights for the fans, we have no intention for Co-promotion deals and are even willing to make an exclusive deal for Alistair Overeem to fight in the UFC, if the terms are right.
Team Golden Glory
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Prominent MMA agent Malki Kawa on ‘The Art of the Deal’ for UFC fighter sponsorships
By Zach Arnold | August 11, 2011
Yesterday, MMA agent to the stars Malki Kawa did a fascinating interview with Mauro Ranallo on the radio (listen to it here). Malki was talking about signing a new deal for one of his clients and it let to a discussion about why he believes that agents should be asking big sponsors to include fighters in television & media commercials.
“The thing is I’m not going to sit here and say these companies are bowing down to me because that’s not the case. What’s going on is that I’m showing companies that there’s a real return if they get behind the fighter but at the same time I’m showing them how my fighter is going to get behind them. And if they’ll do certain things, I’ll make sure of other things and then, before you know it, okay, that makes sense, let’s do it. You know, Bud Light was its own thing. They were going to do a commercial with Jon (Jones) regardless.
“That had nothing to do with me but, you know, the K-Swiss thing, I remember when we sat down and we’re talking about it, my biggest thing was like, hey, look, I need him in these ads. I need to make sure that when you guys run something on ESPN this guy’s there. When you put in there with your next athletes, whether it’s I think last year they had (Jeremy) Shockey, if you guys put him with Shockey again, I need Jon Jones next to him, I want these guys. You know, when we do this deal, this is what it is and they said, look, that’s exactly how we intend to do it, we feel like he’s an elite athlete and that’s the way you know these guys need to be sold I think across the board.
“They’re not fighters, in my opinion. Fighting is just what they do. They’re athletes. Some of these guys can go play other sports. Some of these guys were wrestlers, some of these guys played football in high school, they did baseball, you know what I mean? So, all that stuff to me is like, you know, these (guys) are athletes. Just because one’s a football player or one’s a fighter doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not an athlete.”
Mr. Kawa further elaborated on the landscape of corporate sponsorship in the Zuffa-dominated MMA landscape and how an agent should navigate the dangerous sponsorship waters. Mauro brought up Anderson Silva’s recently sponsorship deal with Nike and asked about the concept of Nike paying UFC a lot of money and having Zuffa distribute that sponsorship money to the fighters.
“Let me put it to you like this. First of all, when Nike comes and does that, it’ll be like it [is] in football. They won’t be giving money to the UFC and just cut it over to the fighters. The way it works in the NFL is they sponsor the NFL and the teams are required to wear the Nike uniform and then what happens is if they want a player to be endorsed by Nike, Nike will have to endorse them and pay the player separate. So when all these managers are sitting here saying that there’s a sponsor tax and this tax, well… you go to the NFL and see how well you do trying to get a guy a deal when he’s got a helmet on his head and at the same time the league is already locked up by a big sponsor.
“One day, you know, one day we will get Nike to come in or Reebok or Adidas or even a K-Swiss to come in and say, guys, how much you’re looking for? $5 million, $10 million to be your exclusive only sponsor in the cage and they’ll say yes and they’ll strike the check and before you know i,t if you want to walk down to that cage and you’re sponsored by whomever, guess what? You can’t do it any more and now you have to deal with these companies.
“And then in the NFL, some guys are sponsored by Reebok — but you look at those guys, their shoes are taped up, the guys that are sponsored by Adidas their shoes are taped up, their gloves are covered, you cannot put on the brands of other companies. And you know what? At the end of the day that’s how I’m kind of focusing and how I’m acting like in this business now. Why am I sitting here telling companies we need you to put a guy in a commercial? Well, because, in the NFL, how else do you sponsor a guy? Either you give him cash like $10,000 and you say here’s some merchandise and we’ll just use you on our web site, or you’ll go get the Terrell Owens of the league or Ochocinco or Peyton Manning and you’ll say, you’re going to be the guy for our commercial, you’re going to be the guy for this. We’ll do a Nike deal or listen, the league is sponsored by Nike, we’re Adidas, we’ll come and sponsor you but you’re going to be in our commercials and you’re going to be in our ads and every magazine in every store. Well, that’s how I think these guys should be done as well and I think that will happen.”
Malki also had some words of caution about the sponsorships that Anderson Silva’s camp has recently been touting.
“Congratulations to Anderson Silva. He got a deal, you know, a Nike deal from Brazil. It’s a different thing, it’s still not America, it’s not like the U.S.A. yet, but it’s a step in the right direction. They’ve been doing Nike deals in Japan for a very long time, Nike Japan has been sponsoring fighters and stuff like that, so it’s not the first time that Nike shows up on a fighter. But it’ll be a thing when you see Nike show up in America on a fighter on a card, you know, promoted in America where, you know, Nike USA as a whole the main corporation is behind it and is putting these fighters in advertising in American stuff, then you know we’ve made it as a sport.”
Do you agree with Malki’s philosophy in regarding to obtaining sponsorship deals for his fighters in this current business climate? Furthermore, if UFC was to get one main huge big sponsor, which company do you think would be most likely to take the plunge?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
With pay TV subs & UFC PPV buys plummeting, time to look at free (legal) satellite TV
By Zach Arnold | August 10, 2011
Our good friend MMA Supremacy recently crunched some numbers on UFC PPV buy rates and the numbers look deservedly lousy, down almost 150,000 buys on average. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that pay television subscription numbers are also sinking like a stone in a lake. Outside of being able to purchase a PPV, it’s becoming a lot harder for households to justify paying for cable or satellite television.
Which brings us to an old-school method of watching television that used to be popular in the 1980s in the states and is a dominant method of watching television in the Middle East & Europe, Free to Air satellite.
FTA is extremely popular throughout the world because it’s easy to set up and watch. You grab a satellite dish, you get a receiver, and you start watching programming after you aim the satellite in the right direction. There are two types of wavelengths for TV signals: C band (I call it longwave) and Ku band (I call it shortwave). Ka band, which is a more sensitive frequency, is often used by internet satellite providers and is being experimented with by some major satellite companies.
The size of the satellite dish that you want or need depends on your location and what signal you want to pick up. If you are in North/South America and you want to pick up Ku band channels, you can do so on a 1 meter (3 foot) dish. This is generally the size limitation for condos & houses where you have a homeowner’s association (the law that allows you to have a 1m dish in these dwellings is called OTARD). If you can’t find a 1 meter dish in salvage or from a neighbor, you can buy one for around $100 USD. In Europe, it can be in the 70-100 Euro range depending on what size you get.
If you want to pick up C band channels, you need a dish at least 6 feet in size (solid or mesh). You will see a lot of these kinds of satellites on Craigslist or in newspapers where homeowners are willing to give them away or ask for a small amount of money in exchange for you coming to their property and picking them up. If a dish is in good shape and not bowed or completely rusted out of its mind, it’s a hell of an investment. To buy a 6 foot satellite new, the price is around $350-400. An 8 foot dish can be around $500. A 10-12 foot dish can be $700-1000USD. The bigger the dish, the more likely you want to search for a salvage.
For North/South American programming, I would peg the quality of Ku channels vs. C band channels to be about 20/80 in terms of the scale of balance for stations you really want to watch. The one advantage of Ku is that a lot of live events that are beamed to satellites are done on the Ku band, meaning you can do a lot of ‘wild feed’ hunting if you are a hobbyist. A lot of sporting events can be watched in this manner.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White: “I really love to stick it to the Fedor fans because they’re such lunatics”
By Zach Arnold | August 8, 2011
Dana orders you to click the image to see his full interview with Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com
This interview is drawing fire in several quarters for a couple of reasons. Before we get to those reasons, I thought Dana’s comments about keeping Yoshihiro Akiyama around (*cough* UFC Japan *cough*) and having him move down to Welterweight was interesting. “I have so much respect for that guy.”
As for Vitor Belfort, Dana clearly finds him to be a guilty pleasure as well. “When Vitor’s on, Vitor’s nasty.”
Speaking of nasty, that’s how Dana White reacted to Dennis Hallman’s trunks on Saturday night. “I’m actually very disappointed in my people that they would let him walk out with those on. C’mon, seriously.” Burt Watson in the doghouse? “It was borderline disgusting. I was grossed out by it.”
Unfortunately, Dana White didn’t leave it at that. He mocked Ariel Helwani and just like Rampage Jackson did in the past, Ariel’s manhood was challenged by Dana. “I could understand why you’d like them. I’m sure you love those shorts.”
Dana’s actions toward Ariel has drawn a lot of fire because of the company’s record in the past in dealing with slurs. It’s not a record that Dana or Rampage can run away from because there’s plenty of video and quotes publicly out there to display a wretched track record. However, I think aiming all the fire at Dana White in this circumstance is wrong for critics to do. I’m not defending Dana White nor am I defending his comments. His negative remarks speak on their own accord.
- The state of MMA journalism in 2011
- Behavior at UFC 130 exposes fault lines for sycophantic media socializing, homophobia, & sexism
- Sports media focus increasing on mess involving UFC, Rampage Jackson, Joe Rogan, Karyn Bryant
The focus here should be on the media and those asking the questions to interview subjects who verbally abuse them and get away with it. I can’t sit here and rant about Karyn Bryant two months ago with Rampage’s ‘motorboating’ incident and then suddenly absolve Ariel from this situation last Saturday night at UFC 133. Ariel is not a clueless fellow at all. He’s just made the decision to allow the remarks by Dana & Rampage to go unanswered in order to continue gaining media access to get paid at MMAFighting.com. If someone in the media doesn’t have enough respect for their own reputation, then who I am to stand up and defend them in a fit of righteousness? Dana White isn’t changing his stripes for anyone. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. So, if the critics want to aim their fire at someone in this situation, aim it at the appropriate target.
Bottom line, Ariel should not be afraid to defend himself at the very least against these kinds of attacks. By not standing up to these kinds of attacks, it sends a message to fighters and management that they have carte blanche to make the remarks to the press that they currently make. It shows a complete lack of respect for the ‘media’ by the UFC, but then again… when has their pushing around of the media hurt their bottom line financially? As long as people keep tolerating ‘business as usual,’ UFC will continue their brutish & disdainful behavior to the press. It’s behavior like this that will contribute to MMA remaining a niche sport and, in many cases, I think UFC is happy being popular enough to make solid cash but still not popular enough to be on the radar of the mainstream media in order to get scrutinized the same way that other professionals sports are microscopically analyzed.
Dana White explains why mentioning Fedor’s name gets him so worked up
ARIEL HELWANI: “On a personal note, how much fun did you have this week gloating with the fans online about Fedor? Just by looking at your Twitter, you’re having the time of your life here.”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, I know. And I, uh, joke around. I really love to stick it to the Fedor fans because they’re such lunatics, man. They go crazy and they flip out and, you know, it’s been this battle that I’ve had with the Fedor fans and the Crazy Russians for years. I have no, I don’t dislike Fedor. I don’t hate the guy. The thing that just, and to be totally honest with you, the thing that really… upset me and drove me crazy about the Fedor thing is when the media and this group of fans were out there saying, you know, that this guy is the pound-for-pound best in the world, he’s the greatest, and I’m not busting your balls or anything, I’m just being honest, when there’s so many guys who really did deserve that title and those accolades.
“You know, back in 2005, was Fedor the best? I don’t know, we’ll never know the answer, and here’s the Honest to God’s truth. Fedor and the Crazy Russian know this, they know it. They can’t deny it, they can’t lie about it, they can’t say anything and if you do, you know the real fucking story and what the truth is. We went out and we made them a crazy offer to come into the UFC and to prove that he was the best in the world and they turned it down. Nobody in their right fucking mind would have turned that deal down but they did because they did not want to fight here and if they really did and I’m talking to you buys, the Crazy Russians if you really did turn that deal down because it was all about the co-promotion, then you destroyed, you know, a guy who could have come in and proven that he was possibly the best.
“It’s just… you can sit around and you can talk about all this stuff, he was given the opportunity to do it and he didn’t take it. They know it. You know what I’m talking about. We sat in a room and we were willing to do anything to make that deal happen. One thing you got to understand about us and you can think I’m lying and you can think whatever, talking about the fans, I don’t give a fuck what they think, I don’t care. I’m telling you the truth, when you guys say that you want to see a fight, I try to make that fight happen. That’s what I believe my job is and if you don’t believe it, then I don’t give a shit. It’s the truth. The Russians know it’s true and, whatever.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “And just putting all the debate aside, that’s why you are all fired up about, right? Because this is something you wanted to see happen and it bothers you.”
DANA WHITE: “I flew to some fucking island out in the middle of nowhere, okay? Did everything that they asked to do, did everything that they wanted us to do to go make this fight happen… and… we went there for nothing because those guys literally went there to not make a deal. So, it is what it is, it’s not my fault, you know? I’m not going to sit around and cry about it. I tried to do the fight that the fans wanted to see, I tried to make it happen and they didn’t want to do it.
“He would have come into the UFC and he would have fought Brock Lesnar, that’s what he would have done and we would have saw who won or lost. If Brock lost and Fedor won, I don’t make those decisions, the fighters do. But I went out there and gave him an insane offer. Insane. And I’m so glad he didn’t take it! Now that I’ve seen what’s happened and how this thing has played out, I’m thrilled that he did not take that offer. But, I, uh…”
ARIEL HELWANI: “For the record, can you tell us what it is?”
DANA WHITE: “For the record? Vadummy, Vadummy knows… the deal that was offered to him, you know, and his fucking guy who was some political guy laughed at the deal. I bet you’re not laughing now, are you guys? It is what it is. I told you that day in the room, I told them. I said, guess what? He’s one punch away from being worth zero. Come in and take this opportunity, this is what the fans want to see, do it. And you know you didn’t fucking do it and you know it is what it is. So, people can get pissed at me and say whatever, you guys don’t know half the shit that goes on behind the scenes. I know all of it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Can you tell us what he turned down?”
DANA WHITE: “He turned down a ridiculous. insane offer. Turned it down. And they fucked (up), you know it, you know you did and I bet you wish you could go back in a time machine and sit down in that room and re-do that deal, I bet you wish you could. But you can’t, so it’s over.”
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 47 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Favorites win big at #UFC 133, but who will Rashad face — Bones or Rampage?
By Zach Arnold | August 6, 2011
Dark matches/Facebook
- Middleweights: Rafael Natal defeated Paul Bradley after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Featherweights: Mike Brown defeated Nam Phan after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Welterweights: Johny Hendricks defeatedMike Pierce after 3R by split decision.
- Bantamweights: Ivan Menjivar defeated Nick Pace after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Featherweights: Chad Mendes defeated Rani Yahya after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Light Heavyweights: Alexander Gustafsson defeated Matt Hamill in R2 in 3’41 by TKO.
Main card
- Welterweights: Rory MacDonald defeated Mike Pyle in R1 in 3’54 by TKO.
- Welterweights: Constantinos Philippou defeated Jorge Rivera after 3R by split decision.
- Welterweights: Brian Ebersole defeated Dennis Hallman in R1 in 4’28 by TKO.
- Middleweights: Vitor Belfort defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama in R1 in 1’52 by KO.
- Light Heavyweights: Rashad Evans defeated Tito Ortiz in R2 in 4’48 by TKO.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 47 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Alistair Overeem says that UFC not letting him fight for K-1/DREAM was a dealbreaker
By Zach Arnold | August 6, 2011
Don’t say I didn’t warn you about this, because I did. And if you didn’t click the link already, I’ll give you a second chance to do so. Our hunch about the trouble brewing between Zuffa & Golden Glory because of Kazuyoshi Ishii’s attempts at a revival seem validated here all of a sudden (again).
For the first part of this interview, Alistair gives a summary of what happened regarding his prior injuries and the phone calls he got from Strikeforce before he got cut. It sets up this next passage very nicely.
BAS RUTTEN: “They said you used an injury for negotiations. That was the impression they had over here (in America). But that was absolutely not true, right?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Definitely not, definitely not. The basic thing was there wasn’t a negotiation except for the date, that was the only communication going. But then the second thing what happened was Strikeforce found out that I only had one fight left on my contract. So, they were like, hey, wait a minute, if Alistair wins this fight he’s going to be in the finals without a contract, which for us would be the golden situation because then you’re in a final of a tournament without a contract. Well, there were some contract negotiations for an extension in Strikeforce and basically what happened was there was a lot of terms in there which… yeah, which we could not live with. One was exclusively to fight for Strikeforce and basically that would mean I would have to let K-1 go, to let DREAM go, and yeah, even the possibility of the UFC. I’m always a guy looking up, looking further, and yeah, the UFC is where the top guys are. That’s my ultimate goal to become a UFC champion. But, basically, they wanted to keep me in Strikeforce and, yeah…”
KENNY RICE: “You mentioned the UFC and now, of course, they are owners of Strikeforce. Can you, will you, and do you want to get back in with them and work out something so that you can fight at the top level of the UFC and maybe get that belt?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, listen. There’s two people ranked currently above me (Cain Velasquez & Junior dos Santos) and they’re both in the UFC, so of course I want to go to the UFC. I mean, I want to fight the top competition, these guys are there so of course it’s not up to me. It’s up to does the UFC want me? I’m willing to go wherever the top guys are.”
KENNY RICE: “Does the Strikeforce thing, though, do you think that will hamper you (with them)? Because they’re tied in now with UFC. With what happened in Strikeforce, does that hurt you with the UFC down the road, Alistair?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, that, I don’t know, that is unclear to me. It’s unclear where their priorities are and if it’s one entity or two, I don’t exactly know if that’s the case. But from what I understand that they wanted to keep me in Strikeforce to build the Strikeforce brand and, yeah, for me of course, I want to go where the top guys are and that is UFC and UFC is what I’m interested in. But, of course, I like K-1 and I like DREAM, so basically what I understand is that the contract for my next Strikeforce contract is what… yeah, what they couldn’t work out and, after that, I was released. After that, I was cut from my last fight in Strikeforce.”
The key takeaway from this interview is that, yes, he says he wants to fight in the UFC. However, he reaffirms what most people keep overlooking, which is that he wants to be able to fight in Japan. Remember, he had big plans for Japan late last year (which I’ve written about extensively on this site) and then, all of a sudden, he abandoned those plans and immediately declared himself 100% committed to Strikeforce. Japan wasn’t even a factor last February.
- After that, UFC ends up buying Strikeforce.
- Rumors emerge of FEG in a substantial debt crisis.
- Discussion starts up about Kazuyoshi Ishii looking to get the K-1 brand set up for a revival with connections/support from Holland. Who’s based in Holland? Golden Glory.
- Dana White says/claims that issues started rising up last June at the UFC Vancouver event over Jon Olav Einemo and how Golden Glory allegedly wanted the check made out to them, not the fighter.
- Meanwhile, Overeem has an ugly fight with Werdum in Dallas that doesn’t draw well.
- He has one fight left on his contract with two tournament fights to go. Zuffa asks him to sign a new deal under their normal standard contract terms and he says no, because… of Japan?
Six months ago, Japan was persona non grata to him. Now, abruptly, Japan is credibly a magical career option again to pursue? Something had to change, and clearly that was movement in Japan on the part of Ishii. Whether Ishii can back up anything he’s telling people (or not), that’s debatable. However, there was enough talk coming out of Japan that Golden Glory started talking about that market again (despite everything that has happened within the last year between Overeem & FEG).
That is why last week’s summary about Kazuyoshi Ishii was important. Whether or not Japan will become a relevant fighting market any time soon doesn’t matter, but the influence from there in regards to the UFC/GG situation seems evident.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |