UFC’s chaotic week in Pittsburgh shows how volatile the company’s business can be
By Zach Arnold | June 27, 2011
Miguel Torres screen captured what would be the image of the night. More on this later.
Click on the image to view the NBC/Versus video clip
The chaos for UFC’s Pittsburgh event for Versus television was remarkable in terms of what a roller coaster ride it was psychologically for the organization. Heading into Sunday’s event, there was very little interest in the main card and the Rick Story/Nate Marquardt fight was one where most people were kind of curious, but not enthusiastic.
Then the shit hit the fan and Nate Marquardt got suspended indefinitely by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. Consequently, he got fired by the UFC and Dana White put a 12-second cell phone clip online confirming the firing. A lot of things came into play to make this wicked brew, including the fact that UFC right now is in negotiations with multiple television outlets to get a new TV deal. Nate Marquardt has never been a big TV ratings draw, but he is still a ‘name’ and anything embarrassing from him was going to amplify the internal pressure that Zuffa is feeling right about now. That became evident during this interview Dana did for the Versus pre-fight television show.
TODD HARRIS: “Inside ConSol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along with the President of the UFC, Dana White. Dana, you’ve had a very busy 48 hours. Can you take us through the timeline, maybe in the last 28 hours of what you knew and how it all came about?”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, I found out, I actually found out on Thursday and, uh… All I have to say is, honestly, from what I saw here this evening and the way things have been handled so far, the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission is the best commission in the United States. Seriously, the way that these guys handle things and the way things have been done during the fight, before the fight, etc. etc. The thing that’s going on with Nate Marquardt, heh, Pennsylvania laws are unfortunate that the commission can’t come out and announce medical records or medical situations with fighters but I think it’s pretty clear to the fans and everybody else that I’m pretty disgusted with Nate Marquardt. He’s been cut from the UFC He won’t fight in the UFC ever again. So… you got to follow these guidelines with the health and blah blah blah blah blah blah. Bottom line is, what Nate Marquardt did is bad enough to be cut from the UFC.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Dana, are you able to shed any light as to what he did?”
“He didn’t pass his medicals, you know what I mean? It’s the way it has to be said here because of the laws and the health and this and all this stuff, you guys know me, you know how I operate. Before anything was said, he’s cut, he’s done with the UFC, I’m disgusted with him and he has no business fighting in the UFC.”
STEPHAN BONNAR: “Now, Dana, I know you and Nate have had kind of a rocky relationship in the past, maybe not as decorated as you and Tito’s beef but nonetheless…”
DANA WHITE: “Not really! Not really. You know, Nate Marquardt, I would say the exact opposite. Nate Marquardt’s done some things and I’m one of these guys that gives everybody a second chance. We all make mistakes.”
STEPHAN BONNAR: “Well, I was looking at this as the straw that broke the camel’s back based on his past.”
DANA WHITE: “No, listen, we all make mistakes, people make mistakes, we’re human beings, it’s going to happen. You know, it’s how you handle it and Nate Marquardt’s a nice guy, I mean he’s a nice guy, he’s a sweetheart, he always says the right thing and is a nice guy but, you know… being nice and acting nice and doing the right thing are two different things.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Dana, this is obviously a sport and things have happened in the past, not only in MMA but in every sport. Why did you feel the need to fire him? Why did you think this was bad enough that he should be fired?”
DANA WHITE: “Well, this is one of those situations where because of the laws in the state of Pennsylvania, Nate Marquardt’s going to have to man up and tell the world why he didn’t pass his medicals. He’s going to have to man up and come out and tell the world why he didn’t pass and when he does that I think everybody will understand why he was cut from the UFC.”
STEPHAN BONNAR: “Now, if he does do that, wouldn’t you give him another chance? I know you’ve said in the past before about fighters never fighting again and you’ve let them fight, can he redeem himself in this situation?”
DANA WHITE: “I don’t know. You guys see, you know, when Nate Marquardt decides to come out and talk to everybody, you know, if he does or if he doesn’t, whatever happens. I know there’s all these things out there about me where I can be too, whatever, if you really look at how I’ve treated people and treated fighters over the last 10 years, I give a lot of guys chance and I know that everybody makes mistakes and Nate Marquardt has been one of those guys. So for me to come out and say he’s not going to fight in the UFC any more, it’s got to be pretty serious. It’s not because ‘oh, Nate and I had some problems’ or, you know… Otherwise, if that was the way I felt about Nate Marquardt, would he be headlining a show on Versus? Would he be in the position that he’s in the, you know, Welterweight or Middleweight division? No. I’ve had a good working relationship with Nate Marquardt.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Open post: The #UFC cut of doom for Nate Marquardt
By Zach Arnold | June 26, 2011
A time line of things to come: Pennsylvania athletic commissioner Greg Sirb (Charles Jay-approved) reportedly addresses the matter at 4 PM EST. Then, Nate Marquardt and Dana White expected to appear on the UFC Live 4 on Versus pre-game show. Then, the actual show, and afterwards a post-fight show. And if it couldn’t get any surreal for you, Spike TV is supposedly continuing as planned with a Nate Marquardt-themed UFC marathon counter-programming special to combat UFC being on Versus. You don’t say.
In a strange way, this debacle has stirred up more interest for tonight’s show. When I first read that there was an issue with Nate’s ‘medical tests,’ I had a flashback to Gina Carano being yanked from the Strikeforce show in Dallas. Mystery abounds.
Zeus from Middle Easy weighs in.
Some folks to follow on Twitter regarding news as it breaks on the story:
MMA Nation | Josh Gross | Tomas Rios | MMA Supremacy | Robert Joyner | Casey Leydon | Greg Savage | Ariel Helwani | John Morgan | Steve Cofield
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 77 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Want to see UFC fights with no time limits & no judges in 2011?
By Zach Arnold | June 26, 2011
I bet some of you out there who hate the current state of MMA judging might be sympathetic to Rorion Gracie’s attitude right about now.
KENNY RICE: “Well, you hadn’t seen it all until 1993. What was this Ultimate Fighting Championship all about? Why were these guys going in here giving up 50, 75 pounds and beating guys and what was this Brazilian JOO-JITSU? What? What was going on? That was what people were saying back in 1993. Now, of course, MMA has become a way of life thanks to the UFC and it’s been the fastest-growing sport in the past decade and the man who got it all started is right here to my right. When you look back at it all, when everything got started, Rorion, did you think, ‘Wow, this sport’s going to really get this big?’
RORION GRACIE: “You know, it never surprised me it got that big because when I came to the United States in 1978 with the objective of establishing Jiu-Jitsu here, I was very confident that the techniques are so proficient, they’re so good that the world would not let them go by unnoticed. So, it doesn’t surprise me a bit that eventually everybody embraced the concept as I hoped they would.”
KENNY RICE: “Do you ever sit back and go, you know, if I could have worked out a business plan differently, I could have maybe still had a piece of this action here?”
RORION GRACIE: “Uh, actually, you know, it’s interesting that you’re talking about that. When I originally developed the concept of the UFC along with my friend Art Davie, the idea was to create an educational platform where the people could watch the fights and understand what works and what does not work and that’s why it was so surprising to all when Royce, a little skinny guy, goes in there and like you said gives up 50, 60, 70 pounds and he’s able to overcome his much bigger, stronger opponents. It caused an impact to where people said, “Wow, the little guy can do well.’ That was the objective of showcasing Jiu-Jitsu in those circumstances.
“Of course, eventually, everybody learns this stuff, they see how effective the technique is and that eventually helped level the playing field. So, after UFC 4 when Royce was squeezed by Dan Severn, the big huge giant that we had there, we had a 2 hour PPV window for the transmission of the event and the live show went for 2 hours, 3 minutes which means at 2 hours exactly the PPV transmission was interrupted, causing the biggest mishap in PPV history. My partners at the time then decided we should put time limits on the fights and by implementing time limits, as I told them, they’re going to kill the concept of the show because now the fights can use the time limit to determine a better way to use the rules, as you say, to take advantage of that. Because, until that point, there was no time limit, no judges, no points. Two guys walk in, one guy walks out. And you let them do whatever they want, that was the beauty of the original concept. Once they started putting time limits, if you get to the end of the fight and there’s no winners, you’re going to need judges to determine who wins and that would be a little risky business and that’s why I decided eventually to walk away because I felt the whole idea of letting judges determine who would win would take a little bit away from the reality of the fight. I’m sure very glad that UFC has grown as big as it is, as like you said, a major revolution in terms of fighting. I’m always going to be the father of the child…”
A bonus video clip here, as Rorion Gracie & Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) respond to Dave Herman’s comments about BJJ in MMA. Al Bundy, ‘legendary expert’ as HDNet calls him. Shades of greatness.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: A heartwarming moment between James Toney & Ken Shamrock
By Zach Arnold | June 26, 2011
The kind of low-rent press conference you’ve always dreamed of seeing. Horrible trash talking between the two, Toney’s scruffy beard, Ken looking whiter than ever & more like a pensioner than The World’s Most Dangerous Man, ‘seconds’ that look rather unique, all taking place in some high-ceiling room at the IFC Gym in Van Nuys, California with echo-y microphones that make it sound like they are talking inside Moby Dick’s stomach.
I don’t know who is promoting this fight or where it’s taking place (supposedly in late September/early October), but the idea of a ‘reality TV show’ crew following around Toney is going to be gold compared to the actual fight. Will the TV show subtitle every word he says like Zuffa did in the preview video packages to hype up Toney’s fight with Randy Couture?
According to Pro MMA Now, this fight will be using Gary Shaw-style rules:
The bout will take place Sept. 23 in El Paso, Texas, and be fought under modified MMA rules in which a 30-second ground rule will be implemented mandating the referee stand both fighters up should they remain on the ground more than 30 seconds. (8 rounds of 3 mins each with the ’30 second shot clock’ ground rule.)
Meanwhile, Toney is also continuing his taunts against David Haye & Wladimir Klitschko in rather expected fashion.
Not surprisingly, unfortunately, a lot of big boxing web sites have focused on this circus fight and are spinning this as an opportunity for Toney to even his ‘MMA record’ at 1-1 if/when he KOs Shamrock.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Card & odds for UFC Live 4 on Versus (6/26 Pittsburgh at Consol Energy Center)
By Zach Arnold | June 25, 2011
Dark matches (Facebook)
- Lightweights: Michael Johnson vs. Edward Faaloloto
- Lightweights: Ricardo Lamas vs. Matt Grice
- Lightweights: Nik Lentz vs. Charles Oliveira
- Welterweights: Charlie Brenneman vs. TJ Grant
- Welterweights: Daniel Roberts vs. Rich Attonito
- Lightweights: Joe Lauzon vs. Curt Warburton
- Lightweights: Joe Stevenson vs. Javier Vazquez
- Featherweights: Tyson Griffin vs. Manny Gamburyan
Main card
- Heavyweights: Matt Mitrione vs. Christian Morecraft
- Welterweights: Matt Brown vs. John Howard
- Heavyweights: Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry
- Welterweights: Nate Marquardt vs. Rick Story
David Williams: UFC on Versus 4 Preview — Faaloloto vs. Johnson and Grice vs. Lamas
The odds
Courtesy of our friend Nick Kalikas of BetOnFighting. For informational purposes only.
- Rick Story (-130) is a favorite over Nate Marquardt (even money). (56% in favor of Story.)
- Cheick Kongo (-215) is a favorite over Pat Barry (+175). (68%/32% split.)
- John Howard (-260) is a favorite over Matt Brown (+210). (72%/28* split.)
- Matt Mitrione (-255) is a favorite over Christian Morecraft (+205). (72%/28% split.)
- Tyson Griffin (-255) is a favorite over Manny Gamburyan (+205). (72%/28% split.)
- Joe Stevenson (-215) is a favorite over Javier Vazquez (+175). (68%/32% split.)
- Joe Lauzon (-275) is a favorite over Curt Warburton (+215). (73%/27% split.)
- Rich Attonito (-130) is a favorite over Daniel Roberts (even money). (56% in favor of Attonito.)
- Charles Oliveira (-155) is a favorite over Nik Lentz (+125). (60%/40% split.)
- Ricardo Lamas (-185) is a favorite over Matt Grice (+155). (65%/35% split.)
- Michael Johnson (-505) is a huge favorite over Edward Faaloloto (+355). (83%/17% split.)
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 51 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Deeming the Strikeforce Heavyweight GP tournament a big success
By Zach Arnold | June 23, 2011
624,000 viewers on Showtime last weekend. Smashing success, yes?
That was the theme of this recent radio discussion between Jordan Breen & Ben Fowlkes. The big question that has been debated ad nauseum is whether or not is whether or not the tournament can be called a success because Fedor lost in the first round. That wasn’t exactly an outcome that anyone had in mind. Ben says that despite Fedor losing, the tournament has produced enough match-ups and storylines to catch the attention of fans looking for something that is unlike what UFC normally produces.
“Worst case scenario, it’s going to be Fedor versus either Overeem or Werdum, so, you know, either one you can make the fight that we want to see. But I also think that what people really like about the tournaments is that, you know, especially when you do it this way where you set up the brackets ahead of time all the way through and not the PRIDE way where, you know, we’ll get through the first round and see what we got. But I think it’s still exciting that we just lay out the brackets and then kind of, you know, let everything work itself out. We don’t have the matchmakers trying to figure it out or letting someone’s management team try and keep them out of the tougher fights. I mean, everybody just has to fight and if you win you keep fighting and you have to keep fighting the other winners and that’s exciting and that’s something that we don’t get to see as much as we would like to in MMA because of, you know, the nature of matchmaking particularly in Strikeforce.
“But I do think the tournament still has (interest). Maybe it didn’t work out exactly the way we all thought it would but, I mean, you still keep fighting the fights and I think that’s what is going to make it compelling going forward.”
There’s been a lot of discussion as to whether or not the winner of this Heavyweight tournament should get a UFC title shot and face the winner of the Cain Velasquez/Junior dos Santos title fight (in 2012). Mr. Fowlkes says there’s no looking back now and that the tournament has to reach a conclusion to produce a #1 contender for the UFC HW title.
“I think that the winner does become an immediate UFC contender. But I think as far as, you know, should they even keep doing this (tournament)? The answer is yes, you’ve got to. It’s like going on like a horrible road trip where as soon as you get out on the freeway things start going bad and you get to the first night’s stop and you stay in this terrible little motel and you feel like you’re going to get robbed and you got a staph infection from the pool, but you got to keep going. You just don’t turn around and go home because it didn’t start off the way you wanted to. I mean, you’re going to get where you got to go even if you have a horrible time the entire trip, you just have to, you have to do just so you can feel good about yourself. I think Strikeforce has to get through this tournament all the way through, all the way through the finals even if knowing the winner is basically then just get pulled into the UFC to fight the UFC champion. You still got to do it and, God, I hope they do. The saddest possible thing they could is just kind of let this thing fizzle out and abandon the idea altogether.”
Mr. Breen said that despite the horrible fight performance featuring Alistair Overeem & Fabricio Werdum last Saturday night, there is an upside to it. Overeem now looks beatable and is no longer an invincible Incredible Hulk in the minds of hardcore MMA fans. Meaning, will the public think Bigfoot Silva has a legitimate shot of winning that upcoming fight?
“Well, you’re really pulling to find a bright side there,” a chiding Mr. Fowlkes responded. “I mean, what you’re saying is that Alistair Overeem looked mediocre enough that the Bigfoot Silva fight starts to seem more competitive. Which, okay, yeah, sure, I guess it does and I was talking with Ariel Helwani when we left the (Dallas) arena on Saturday night and he was saying, ‘Okay, now I think Bigfoot Silva’s the favorite in the tournament,’ and I was like, you know, I just can’t bring myself to utter those words.
“I still feel like we’re doing the thing where, you know, as soon as we see a guy fight then we forget about every other fight except the last one that we saw and I don’t know how many of us really thought that Alistair Overeem was this just, you know, Destructo 3000 Cyborg that was going to walk in there and decimate the entire field. I mean, I thought they had a lot of interest possible fights in that. But at the same time, just because you can’t knock out a guy for the brief moments that he agrees to stand on his feet against you, I mean there were a few times there in that fight where Overeem hit him with some pretty nice stuff but Werdum went down but went down just to try to pull into half-guard. I mean, it’s really hard to get something going against a guy like that. I don’t know how much we can really tell about Overeem based on that fight. I also think maybe there’s a little bit of a development curve here for Overeem, having fought a bunch of K-1 fights and a bunch of, you know, hand-picked cans in MMA where he never had to go more than a round. I mean, it’s been a long time since he’s had to fight that long in an MMA fight. So, maybe he’s going to have to adjust to it a little bit. I don’t know if we can look at this one fight which was just bizarre on a couple of different levels and say, okay, Overeem’s not as good as we thought. I mean, I still think Overeem deserves to be mentioned in that top heavyweight conversation but, I mean, we’ll see. That’s one of the good things about the tournament is he has to keep going forward.”
One thing that we have seen throughout Overeem’s various MMA fights is that, defensively-speaking, he’s largely the same fighter now as he has been over the last few years. His submission defense is better, to a degree, but outside of that…
“It’s like he forgets that he’s not wearing the boxing gloves any more and that he can’t really just stand there and cover up. I mean, again, though, you look at the guy and it’s like… I mean, even just looking at him and his frame, I can’t imagine him really slipping a lot of punches. He would have to move too much mass, it’s not like he can just move his head, it’s connected to his shoulders. I mean, it’s way too hard, you know, to imagine him as some really slick defensive heavyweight. But at the same time, maybe when Werdum is able to dot you up that much, it’s a sign that you need to work on defense. I mean, I was talking to Overeem when he showed up after the press conference was over and sat there and took a few questions and, you know, his face… it sure didn’t look like someone who had not been punched in the face a bunch of times that night and yet he was trying to say, you know, ‘Werdum doesn’t hit that hard, he wasn’t trying to knock me out, he was just using them to try to set up his (takedowns),’ and it’s like, well… it’s fine to say that now, I mean, you got hit in the face way too much then by a guy who wasn’t really in striking with you. I mean, what’s going to happen when you get in there with a big heavyweight who is throwing some leather? So, I don’t know, I mean, we’ll see. That’s why I still think that there’s a lot of interest left in the tournament, it’s just a kind of question of how much better is he going to be if he gets to fight again in a few months rather than having to wait so long and just in a bunch of series of meaningless, you know, two-minute fights.”
Overeem is the overall odds-makers favorite now to win the entire HW GP (42%). Josh Barnett is a close second (37%). Bigfoot Silva is a distant third (around a 1-in-4 shot according to gambling sites like BetOnFighting).
“I think [Overeem vs. Bigfoot is] absolutely a legitimate competitive fight, I mean I still favor Overeem in it. But, you know, it is interestng to see how Overeem’s going to deal with another pretty-experienced fighter who is another big guy and not able to just go in there and muscle people around the way he has been (others). So, yeah, obviously I think it’s an interesting fight. I think it’s going to be a really hard fight to sell to a lot of casual fans. I mean, it’s like, you’re trying to say The Guy Who Beat Fedor against The Guy Who Beat The Other Guy Who Beat Fedor. I mean, you know, maybe Fedor can do some pretty good numbers on CBS but once you get, you know, three or four degrees of separation away from it, it gets harder and harder. So, I’ll be interested to see how they go about trying to market that one and how successful they are in doing it. I think that’s going to be a big problem. But, you know, on the other side of the bracket I also think that Josh Barnett vs. (Sergei) Kharitonov is an interesting fight and I think that you can really do a lot of work there with Josh Barnett if you use him the right way and he seems to be practically begging to be used that way.”
The peak rating for the Showtime number last weekend really wasn’t all that much higher than the overall average viewership number. Does that indicate that the reason people are watching is a) it’s Heavyweights and b) it’s a tournament? Ben argued that Fedor losing to Bigfoot Silva actually gave the tournament credibility because, yes, the fans don’t get to see Fedor in future big-name, high-profile tournament fights, but his loss to Bigfoot Silva did prove that anything can happen in the tournament because of its format.
(Dallas fans, you can stop booing Bigfoot and treating him as if he’s Satan for beating Fedor.)
“[Fedor losing is] why I feel like the tournament is a way-more like egalitarian structure because, hey, Brett Rogers could have won it all. I mean, a lot of times we see the kind of matchmaking gets in the way of that and when matchmaking gets in the way of that it has a more pernicious feel. When the tournament happens and the guys just don’t perform like we thought they would or things like that, at least it was up to them. At least the reason it didn’t happen is because of them. I’m not prepared to say that, you know, tournaments suck when it comes to high-level guys because we don’t always get like the dream fights we want out of it. I mean, at least there’s a good reason why we don’t get the dream fights. I mean, Fedor’s not fighting Overeem because Fedor couldn’t get past Antonio Silva, you know. And if they would have just matched up Fedor & Overeem in the first round, it would have been just more of the same criticism of, ‘you’re just stacking one side of the bracket to make sure you get certain fights that you want out of it and so it’s not a true tournament.’ I don’t know. I still like the tournament structure, even if it doesn’t work out exactly the way you want it to, you know, everybody gets where they got by beating someone else. So, I still think you can always make a case for it.”
Despite arguing that the winner of the Strikeforce tournament should be ranked as the #3 HW in the world, Mr. Fowlkes does not see the tournament winner beating either Cain Velasquez or Junior dos Santos in a UFC title fight.
“Match-up wise, Velasquez versus Overeem would be interesting, it’d be an interesting fight to see exactly how it would look, how it would play out. But, I’d still favor Velasquez. Same thing with, you know, Velasquez or Junior dos Santos against Josh Barnett. I mean, I think you can really make a case that it would be a fight that a lot of us would like to see. However, I don’t think it would be one of those fights where we think, hey, it’s just a toss-up and I have no idea who’s going to win. JDS & Cain still seem like the top two. So, again I don’t know if that necessarily means that it would be useless to have these fights. I mean, whoever is left standing at the end of this tournament, that alone is going to be enough to sell a fight with them and whoever the UFC champion is. That, I think, is the ultimate purpose of this tournament and that’s the way they should think about it going forward.”
How would you deem the success level of the tournament so far — smashing success? moderate success? neutral?
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 39 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
If UFC lobbying for NY MMA legislation on economic & safety grounds is futile, what’s left to lobby?
By Zach Arnold | June 22, 2011
Update: NY lawmakers OK Niagara Falls tightrope walk
A tale of two markets, with Toronto media discussing the financial impact of UFC 129 at the Sky Dome (Rogers Centre) for the Ontario region while legislation for MMA in the state of New York stalls like a flooded car engine.
(New York isn’t only the trouble-making market right now for the UFC. We’ll discuss Vancouver’s issues at the end of this post.)
Justin Klein, who has his ear to the ground in regards to what is happening in New York politics for Mixed Martial Arts, reported yesterday that efforts for MMA legislation in 2011 were finished. Read his article for the quote that Assemblyman Sheldon Silver’s deputy, Herman Farrell, had to say about MMA. When the #1 and #2 power brokers in the New York state Assembly are against legalizing MMA, you can see how troublesome this is for the UFC in their lobbying efforts.
Justin made an appearance on Josh Gross’ ESPN radio show to discuss the fallout from the MMA bill stalling in the New York state Assembly. There are other major political bills stalling in New York as well, including a bill regarding legalizing same-sex marriage. As Justin put it, the MMA bill in terms of importance compared to gay marriage & rent control bills, is “really a pimple on an elephant’s ass.”
Despite the bill stalling in the Assembly, have UFC’s lobbyists made a positive impact on advancing the chances of the legislation getting passed in the future?
“I think that this year additional media attention, you know, some mainstream outlets were covering it a little bit more. You also had this Coalition (to Legalize MMA in NY) and you also, again, had some people up in Albany pushing a little harder that raises the awareness about the issue. But the unfortunate thing about New York politics is that unless you can get the leaders of the majority conference and, you know, in this case it’s as high as it goes, the Assembly Speaker Silver & his #2 basically Herman Farrell, unless you can get them to sort of let it go, we have a real problem here. I do think increased media exposure helps but at the same time I think it was last week that Siena put out another poll where, you know, 55% of New Yorkers were opposed to legalizing Mixed Martial Arts and I get into a number of reasons why I think the poll was skewed, but I don’t think that helps. So, you know, I think that you just have to make this issue bigger and bigger and keep pushing it. But, ultimately, I think education is key. The fact that Herman Farrell made that, you know, unfortunate statement about sticks and metal balls with spikes, I think it’s naive but I think there’s a positive there if you look at it at 10,000 feet because it shows he probably really doesn’t understand how much safety, you know, the safety aspects of the sport have changed and how highly and heavily regulated the sport would be. Certainly, as it became legal, the New York State Athletic Commission would be in charge with the regulatory process. So, in leaves at least some room in my mind for a chance to educate these people more and there it turns to the lobbyists and lobbying effort. Hopefully they can get in front of these influential people because I do think the votes are there to pass this thing, I just think it’s a matter of getting it to the floor and educating them more about the sport and everything that’s involved on the medical testing side and things of that nature.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fake Marika Taylor ‘interview’ with Keith Kizer: “Josh Gross is my buddy”
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2011
This is a video on Youtube that Marika Taylor is pushing now. I simply have transcribed what was portrayed in the video clip. Two notes to keep in mind: 1) This MiddleEasy.com note of an e-mail that Sonnen’s lawyer, Raffi A. Nahabedian, Esq., sent to Josh Gross (which turned out to be fake) & 2) as Dr. David Black, famous sports drug testing guru once said on the program 60 Minutes, testosterone is the base chemical for steroids.
Thought I would provide some context for what you are about to read.
‘MARIKA TAYLOR’: “Welcome to Outside the Ring. I am your host, Marika Taylor. and joining us today is Keith Kizer from the Nevada State Athletic Commissioner.”
‘KEITH KIZER’: “Hi, everybody. I’m Keith Kizer. Great to be here. I will be signing autographs later.”
‘MARIKA TAYLOR’: “Anyway… Why did you go on the radio and trash Chael (Sonnen)?”
‘KEITH KIZER’: “Because I was angry that he lied under oath at the December 2nd, 2010 California State Athletic hearing. And he’s prettier than me. He said that he spoke to me about Testosterone Replacement Therapy in 2008 when I have never spoken to him in my life.”
‘MARIKA TAYLOR’: “Were you at the hearing?”
‘KEITH KIZER’: “No, but Josh Gross e-mailed me during the hearing and asked me if I had ever spoken to Chael or his manager, Matt Lindland, about Testosterone Replacement Therapy?”
‘MARIKA TAYLOR’: “And what did you say?”
‘KEITH KIZER’: “I told him that I never spoke to either of them in my life.”
‘MARIKA TAYLOR’: “Have you ever read the transcripts from the hearing or watched any of the video from the hearing?”
‘KEITH KIZER’: “No, I have not.”
‘MARIKA TAYLOR’: “So, how do you know what Chael said at the hearing?”
‘KEITH KIZER’: “Josh Gross told me what he said.”
‘MARIKA TAYLOR’: “And you believe everything Josh Gross says?”
‘KEITH KIZER’: “Yes, because he’s a journalist and what he reports is always accurate.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The 9-Year Rule: A look at career lengths in Mixed Martial Arts
By Zach Arnold | June 19, 2011
Article written by David Williams
Mixed martial arts is a very young sport. While the history of the UFC dates back to 1993, established mainstream sports such as baseball and football have existed since the 19th century. Over time, those sports have evolved: the way they’re played today looks very little like the way they were played in the early years of their existence. Part of the evolution of these sports is the development of a mostly set career path. In baseball, for example, an average MLB player can expect to reach the major leagues between the ages of 23 and 25, reach his prime between ages 27 and 31, and decline afterwards, with most players retired or out of the sport by the time they reach their late-30s. Running backs in football are notorious for having short careers: most of them suffer a career collapse sometime around the age of 30.
For MMA, there doesn’t seem to be a specific age range in which fighters enter their prime or suffer a decline. Great fighters such as Wanderlei Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira are 34 and 35 years old, respectively, and both appear to be on the last legs of their careers. Randy Couture, on the other hand, didn’t even begin his career until he was 34 years old. A remarkable fact about recent high-profile MMA collapses is that there’s little consistency about what age they occur. While Chuck Liddell’s collapse took place in his late-30s, fighters like Joe Stevenson and Karo Parisyan aren’t even 30 years old yet.
Despite this inconsistency, I’m going to argue that MMA fighters, like baseball and football players, have consistent career paths. I believe that there’s a particular point at which most fighters enter the prime of their career, and a point at which most fighters exit their prime, and either decline or suffer a brutal career collapse. This is based not on the age of the fighter, or even how many times the fighter has competed professionally, but instead on how long a fighter has been competing professionally.
To determine exactly when it is that fighters collapse, I need an objective method to measure how well fighters perform over time. Fortunately, I have a great tool to use to do this with SILVA, my statistical analysis system that estimates how good MMA fighters are. SILVA does this objectively by only looking at the wins and losses of a fighter and his opponents. It takes each of the opponents on a fighter’s record, and assigns each fight a “Victory Score” based on how good the opponent is. This “Victory Score” is what I’ll use to measure the performance of fighters over time.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 81 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Alistair Overeem says his upcoming fight with Bigfoot Silva will happen in October
By Zach Arnold | June 19, 2011
I would like to embed this MMAFighting.com video for you here, but their video player does not allow for embeddable HTML coding. So, here’s the transcript.
ARIEL HELWANI: “You had an interesting fight. Some fans, as you could imagine, are a little disappointed. What did you think of your performance?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, I came here to knock him out… I trained hard for this fight, four months training camp. Yeah, I’m a little bit disappointed I couldn’t deliver on my promise to the fans and I apologize for that. But, you need two to tango and looking back at the fight, looking back at the total takedowns attempted, I can only come to the conclusion that Fabricio didn’t want to fight in the stand-up with me at all. Yeah, it was a little stalling in the fight on the ground and, um… Yeah, I got the win but I’m not entirely satisfied.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What’s going through your mind when he’s, you know, on his back and he’s telling you, ‘please, please, come to the ground with me,’ and obviously you have pride and you want to deliver for the fans but you obviously want to fight a smart fight. But what’s going through your mind when that’s happening, because you want to deliver for the fans but you also don’t want to go into his trap so how do you stop yourself from going into that trap?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, first of all, by not getting too emotional. Of course, when somebody is challenging you, you want to respond to that challenge especially when there’s a lot of fans watching but… on the other hand, I mean, c’mon, you’re the one laying down all the time. So, I think I’m not satisfied by my performance because I couldn’t deliver on the knockout but I think he should be a little bit ashamed of his performance by not delivering to the fans at all what they paid for their tickets.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think, you know, maybe he sort of ‘tricked’ Fedor to go the ground with him in their first fight he pulled guard that this sort of got to his head in a sense that he thought he could do the same thing to you and he kept going back to that? Because even on his feet, you know, he looked comfortable, he was engaging, but he kept going back to the ground. So, do you think that he thought based on what he did to Fedor that he could do the same to you and that kind of ruined the fight in a sense?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, I have the idea that he did engage in the stand-up fight but not to knock me out at all. It was all based to set up a takedown and then, yeah, as soon that didn’t work, he kept stalling in the fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “On the feet, a couple of times it looks like he landed some shots. Did he ever hurt you at any point?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “He didn’t hurt me, but of course the small gloves and, yeah, some connected a little bit. But he didn’t hurt me and that’s what I mean by he was throwing strikes but not with the intention to knock out. He was throwing strikes to attempt to get me off base and then get a takedown. Different kind of strikes.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Scott Coker told us that he thought cage rust was a factor, that maybe cardio or a lack of cardio played into your performance. How did you feel out there?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well… he kept going for the takedown, it frustrated me a little bit. I think my cardio was not that bad but it was also… I just wanted to be able to finish the fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “We talked earlier this week about the ranking sand the way people view you. This was really your first heavyweight you fought in MMA who’s in the Top 10. Do you think that you proved a point that you are a Top 5 Heavyweight after this one?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, I’m going to leave it that up to you guys and the fans.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You start thinking about Bigfoot (Silva) yet or you still focused on this one?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, Bigfoot is the next one. I’m going to start training for him a couple of weeks, but for now it’s time for a holiday.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “When do you think that fight will happen?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “I’m not sure, I’m not sure. I think probably October or something.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “When would you like for it to happen?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “I think October’s good.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “For him, because he said, you know, he wasn’t all that impressed with your performance and he promised he’s going to win the tournament and all that. He’s probably the strongest guy that you’ve ever fought in MMA, the biggest guy. I mean, this guy has to cut weight to make 265. He’s massive, going on his feet, going on the ground. Do you think you need to do something different in training because now it’s a drastically different opponent than the one you fought in Werdum?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Yeah, we’re definitely going to step up the game. I’m going to switch some things up but I’m going to be ready.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Is Alistair Overeem still the favorite of the tournament?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “You should ask that to the fans.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “I was just wondering what you thought.”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, I think I’m one of the favorites, definitely.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Did you see Barnett’s fight?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Yeah, I did.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What did you think of his performance?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, I already though he would win. He has a lot of experience, a lot more than Brett, he’s also a clever fighter. Yeah, also it’s a difference in styles and Brett is a hard-hitter, he wants to bring it in the stand-up and then, yeah, what’s his name, Josh Barnett is clever enough not to get into that game and just take him to the ground. Yeah, he did good, he did good.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “And, finally, your brother suffered a tough loss tonight. Chad Griggs is an interest guy, I mean he’s kind of just a brawler. What did you think of that fight or did you even see it, because I know you were preparing for your fight?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “I saw the fight and… it was a bad fight, I can tell you, it was a very bad fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What did you think happened?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “I don’t know actually, I can’t give you an answer on that.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 53 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Argument: Winner of Strikeforce Grand Prix should get a UFC Heavyweight title shot
By Zach Arnold | June 18, 2011
Not my argument, but the argument presented by Kevin Iole & Steve Cofield of the Yahoo Sports team at Cagewriter.com.
Before we get to what they had to say on the subject, a cursory glance at the odds (via BetOnFighting for the Strikeforce fights tonight in Dallas:
- Alistair Overeem is a -345 favorite to Fabricio Werdum as a +275 underdog. Overeem is roughly a 5 to 2 favorite (77%).
- Josh Barnett is a -345 favorite to Brett Rogers as a +275 underdog. Barnett is roughly a 5 to 2 favorite (77%).
- Daniel Cormier is a -500 favorite to Jeff Monson as a +350 underdog. Cormier is a 5 to 1 favorite (83%).
- Chad Griggs is a -135 favorite to Valentijn Overeem as a +105 underdog. Griggs is roughly a 7 to 5 favorite (57%).
- KJ Noons is a -155 favorite to Jorge Masvidal as a +125 underdog. Noons is a 3 to 2 favorite (60%).
- JZ Cavalcante is a -130 favorite to Justin Wilcox who is even money. JZ is roughly a 7 to 5 favorite (57%).
The event airs on Showtime tonight at 10 PM EST and, unfortunately, 10 PM PST on the horrible delayed feed.
Now, onto the video transcript…
STEVE COFIELD: “It’s a wide open field right now with the Heavyweights. I think this decides an awful lot.”
KEVIN IOLE: “I agree, I mean I think that certainly the winner of this tournament is going to be, you know, at least in the Top 4, you would think, in the world at Heavyweight, maybe even higher. Certainly Dana White wasn’t willing to commit that the winner of the tournament would be any higher than the best fighter in Strikeforce but I think it’s a good field and if you come out winning this tournament that you put yourself into position to be able to argue that you deserve a fight against the UFC’s top guy.”
STEVE COFIELD: “I have real concerns about Shane Carwin after the Junior dos Santos fight. I think dos Santos is great but, to me, Shane is kind of a one-trick pony at this point based on power. I think when Lesnar comes back, it’s going to be the same deal. I look at this field and I think Overeem, I think Barnett, and I think Bigfoot Silva all have a chance to be the guy right behind Cain Velasquez and JDS.”
KEVIN IOLE: “Well, I agree with you from one standpoint. I think there’s no doubt that Cain Velasquez is the best heavyweight in the world. I think he’s proven that with what he’s done. I’ve been on this guy for a long time and I’m just get higher on him as I see all these other guys fight. I think Cain, assuming that he’s healthy and with his rotator cuff we don’t know, I mean if he’s healthy and he’s back to what he was I think there’s no question he’s not only the best in the world, I think he’s going to separate himself. I would expect him to beat Junior dos Santos. About Shane, you know, I was disappointed in what I saw from Shane, you know, Shane I had pick him to win the fight. I thought he had two things going for him that would help beat Junior dos Santos, which was his punching power and his wrestling. But you know when you look at it his wrestling has not really been a factor in his MMA game and I thought going into the dos Santos fight I thought that was because he really didn’t need, he used his power so much and I thought, well, okay, the guy’s such a good boxer, he’s going to use his wrestling but it did not seem like his wrestling was a factor, you know, dos Santos stuffed all his takedowns early. I think he’s got to sharpen his MMA wrestling and then work on his boxing skill. I mean Junior dos Santos is a really good boxer for MMA but he won that fight with a jab and takedown defense, that’s really what he did and I think Shane needs to take it up. But whenever you can punch like Shane and you do have the background in wrestling that you’re going to be a factor, I just think that, you know, maybe he hadn’t drilled his wrestling enough and maybe he’s let his wrestling because he hasn’t had to rely on it all that much get away from him, so I think he needs to get back to being a wrestler.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Well, how about the three guys I mentioned in terms of rankings and where they get in the mix with Carwin, Lesnar, Mir behind JDS & Velasquez, if you think they are behind, in terms of Overeem, Barnett, and Bigfoot?”
KEVIN IOLE: “I think right now, Steve, that Cain Velasquez is clearly #1 and I think dos Santos is clearly #2. I think dos Santos showed, you know, he’s not an offensive wrestler but good defensive wrestling, you know, he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu, we haven’t really had to see that yet but I think he’s good on the ground, he’d be comfortable grappling, and he’s got really good boxing. So, I think he’s got a good mix that he can go and work on. So, I think those two guys right now are clearly #1 and #2. I think #3 is up for grabs. You know, I’ve rated in the USA Today/Bloody Elbow rankings, I’ve had Brock Lesnar sitting at #3 sitting behind Velasquez & dos Santos. But I think that position is up for grabs. Certainly Brock has a lot to prove by coming off the loss to Cain and, you know, he’s got some issues that are going on and certainly the winner of this tournament would have argument, in my mind, to be #. You know, Josh Barnett to me is the best fighter of that group except that, you know, it’s like he fights so rarely and hasn’t been around that you don’t know what to expect. I mean, Barnett has such a good, well-rounded game and I have great respect for what he’s been able to do over the years but, you know, with the steroid problems that he’s had, the suspensions, and the inactivity you know you question whether he can still compete at that highest level.”
STEVE COFIELD: “From an odds standpoint, the fights on Saturday… Barnett, he deserves it reputation-wise, skill set-wise, huge favorite, around -350 to -365 against Brett Rogers. We know Rogers’ biggest skill is, you know, the power punching. Does he have a chance to pull the upset here and, for the reason you just mentioned, I think Barnett fights to the other fighter’s strength sometimes, you know he wants to stand and bang with a guy who can bang, and the other part of it is the activity.”
KEVIN IOLE: “You know, I like Barnett in the fight and I think it’s worth playing the money. You saw Rogers against Fedor have some success so I think a lot of people started to overrate Rogers. We were seeing him fight guys toward the ends of their career, you know, he fought Andrei Arlovski when everybody was knocking out Andrei Arlovski and he fought Fedor, you know, just as Fedor was kind of in that gradual decline stage, I don’t think anybody and his brother would have thought that Brett Rogers would even have been close to Fedor when Fedor was anywhere near his prime, but you know when he fought Brett Rogers he had been around a long time and had a long run at the top and Brett gave him a run for the money. But I don’t see the overall game in him that he’s going to be able to deal with Josh Barnett. Unless Barnett really has totally lost it, I think he’ll be able to handle Brett Rogers.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Overeem, also, a huge favorite against Werdum, they fought years ago, they were both smaller. In this case, some places have Overeem -500, I think that’s outrageous. The normal line is around -350, which is still very big and, you know, I want to make a case for Werdum. I think his grappling is great, I think his experience is big, I have some worries about Overeem in terms of gas tank, you know, if the fight goes on and on. But I can also see in grappling situations where Overeem is just so big and strong, even the best technique is just going to be thrown away and (Werdum) won’t be able to get the fight to the ground.”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I like Overeem in this fight, too, I mean, I think that Werdum is getting a lot of heat because of the win over Fedor, again. But, you know, I think Werdum, to me, is just a step below Overeem. I think you’re right, you make a very good point about Alistair’s strength, I mean he’s a powerful guy, he’s got really good stand-up, really good kicks. I like him to stop Werdum some time in this fight.”
STEVE COFIELD: “All right, let’s look ahead, so we’re going with the chalk here, which is Overeem and Barnett. You match up the semi-finals, hopefully some time, what, in the Fall, hopefully. Overeem against Bigfoot Silva is I think a completely intriguing fight and then you’d have Barnett against Kharitonov and I think Kharitonov is kind of a wild card in this because of his punching power. So, out of that, who do you think makes the finals?”
KEVIN IOLE: “Well, I’m going to go with Overeem and Barnett and I think that would probably be the dream match-up that Strikeforce would like to see. I think when they made the tournament they were hoping to get Fedor in the finals. But right now, as it stands, I think you know to bring Josh Barnett in there I think that would be the best match-up that they could possibly get. But, again, there’s so many wildcards in this because the same thing with Kharitonov, you know, we haven’t seen a lot of him. Where does he stand? I mean, he obliterated Andrei Arlovski but what do we make of that because who hasn’t obliterated Andrei Arlovski? I think the match-up is going to be Overeem against Josh Barnett and I would favor Overeem in that and then we’re going to look at him as, okay, is the #3 Heavyweight in the world? Does he deserve a shot at the UFC champion? Because by the time this tournament finishes, we would assume that Cain would have defended his title against JDS and, hey, it might make for the Strikeforce Grand Prix winner against the UFC champion. It would be a natural fit.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Do you think that will happen? When you pressed Dana White on that before the last even, he almost borderline laughed at you.”
KEVIN IOLE: “Well, you know, I had asked him a lot of question because a lot of fans had been saying that the winner of the Strikeforce tournament is going to be the best Heavyweight in the world. Now I don’t necessarily agree with that, but I asked that question just like it’s been asked to me by fans a number of times. I asked Dana that question, ‘will this winner be the best Heavyweight in the world?’ and he was very puzzled by my question. I repeated it and he said, “the winner of the tournament will be the best fighter in Strikeforce, the best Heavyweight in Strikeforce.’ But, you know, I think if you look at the track that they’re on, I think it makes a lot of sense especially if you have Overeem, you know, if you have a clear cut win by Overeem. If you get him and then you have the winner of JDS & Cain Velasquez, now who’s the best fighter in the world? Because they’re going to be #1/#2, they’re going to be coming from the opposite organizations, we saw that with Rampage (Jackson) and Dan Henderson when they bought PRIDE. I definitely think that they’ll make that fight, it’ll be far enough down the road… I think the problem making the Strikeforce vs. UFC fights right now is that UFC is very sensitive to not harm Showtime, they want to make sure that Showtime has a quality product because there was a contract that existed. But they can move guys around and do as they see fit, so I think that it would be a big fight and I think we’ll see that Velasquez/JDS winner against the Strikeforce Grand Prix winner when it’s all over.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 40 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Alistair Overeem: Fedor refusing to fight me is the reason why I’ve been inactive
By Zach Arnold | June 16, 2011
Click the image to view the video interview at MMAFighting.com
ARIEL HELWANI: “I remember after your win over Brett Rogers, so much momentum, you know, it was such a dominant win, everyone was talking, a lot of buzz about you back here in Strikeforce. Do you feel as though you’ve lost a little bit of that because it’s taken over a year for you to come back?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, it was not my fault it took over a year to come back. We tried to put together the fight against (Fabricio) Werdum, the winner of the Werdum/Fedor fight. Werdum was injured, needed surgery on his elbow, so he was out. Fedor declined to fight me for the second time. At that point, I decided to compete in the K-1 GP because there were no fights for me in Strikeforce and, yeah, basically did that.
“I tried to put together the fight in May when I was fighting Brett Rogers. That was basically their idea. Their answer was, ‘we’re not going to fight you on May 15th, you can fight somebody else and we’re going to fight somebody else.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Why do you think they declined for a second time?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, I can’t read their mind… but they don’t want to fight me, obviously. And, ummm… yeah. I don’t know what’s going through their minds. I don’t know, can’t give an answer about that but I tried to put together that fight, we tried hard. Challenging in public, management negotiations, but they really did not want to fight me. First time when I fought Brett Rogers they did not want to and the second time they also did not want to and that forced me to fight in the K-1 which I also like to do and which resulted in the K-1 title. So, yeah.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you feel about the fact that your title is not on the line? Does that bother you or does it not really make a difference?”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, title’s not on the line, that means it’s going to be one round less or two rounds less, um… but other than that, yeah, it’s okay with me, of course. There’s nothing for me to gain. And basically, actually I think I like the idea that there’s something new on the line, there’s something for me to gain actually and that’s the GP title. So, I like that idea.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Another title. I remember that famous picture of you holding the three titles, now you can add a fourth one, maybe.”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Nice picture.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Very nice picture.”
ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “It’s nice. So, yeah, there is room for another belt. So, hopefully we’re going to work damn hard and this Saturday we’re going to make it happen, one step closer.”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 82 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
After #UFC 131, Vancouver was peaceful. After Stanley Cup loss, rioting.
By Zach Arnold | June 15, 2011
This video is footage of a famous riot in Vancouver after the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers in 1994. In 2011 after the Canucks lost in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins, there’s rioting and it’s getting really ugly.
Mashable has a ton of Twitter pictures of the rioting in downtown Vancouver after the G7 loss. This CBC report has tons of pictures of cars being set on fire and idiots setting other things (like stores) on fire.
Image copyright & credit: CTV.ca
This image is a screen capture from our friend SEGA Awakens.
Remember after UFC’s first show in Vancouver that there was a hate crime that took place and the promotion was blamed for producing a degenerate crowd at GM Place? Last weekend, UFC 131 came and went at Rogers Arena (same building) with nary an ounce of violence. This, despite Vancouver police asking UFC to pay for extra police protection for the show.
Dana White tonight on Twitter:
Hey morons stop ruining ur beautiful city of vancouver!!! Its just a
fuckinghockey game!!!!!!I don’t ever want UFC fans to act like
fuckingidiots.at the end of the day its just a hockey game!! You don’t destroy a city and hurt people over any kind of GAME!
Thinkin its ok to ruin a city over a
fuckingame! Being pissed=ok riot=fuckinmorons!! U need to be slapped!I know a lot of hockey fans and I respect the sport of hockey but I don’t respect this dumb
bullshit!
Multiple cars are now on fire in Vancouver. CBC video captures numerous brawls between people on the streets. Embarrassing, but expected.
People in Vancouver are throwing bricks and glass bottles at reporters and police.
People are now jumping over – and falling into – cars that are on fire, burning themselves in the process. The level of stupidity is high.
Molotov Cocktails are now being thrown into shops, setting additional fires. The level of stupidity continues to rise.
Wow, there are about six large fires right next to each other on Georgia Street in Vancouver now. Those are going to cause major damage.
CTV’s Rob Brown is a champion for getting this footage right in the middle of fights, fires, tear gas and mass looting.
Rumour is nine stabbings, one fatality. Not yet confirmed, but that’s three reports that I’ve heard about a fatality. Sad, sad times. St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver is now reportedly closed due to being packed with people suffering from injuries. Can’t take in any more.
There are many MMA writers and fans tonight online who are having some sort of schadenfreude in regards to the anti-social behavior going on in Vancouver and juxtaposing it to the behavior of MMA fans and anti-MMA attitude amongst New York legislators.
Image of the day: Vancouver on fire.
Quote of the day from Steve Nash: “Vancouver please stop burning shit. We’re a great city and have a lot of class. Our team is great and our championship will come. Soon.”
Our friend MMA Supremacy:
Holy crap! Fights breaking out in the middle of the streets of Vancouver right now, looks like the 18-34M demographic will be busy tonight.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |