Second look at Strikeforce Dallas & DREAM Ariake Colosseum summer cards
By Zach Arnold | June 15, 2011
Strikeforce 6/18 American Airlines Center (Dallas, Texas)
Dark matches
- Welterweights: Nah-Shon Burrell vs. Joe Ray
- Lightweights: Brian Melancon vs. Isaac Vallie-Flag
- Welterweights: Todd Moore vs. Mike Bronzoulis
- Lightweights: Conor Heun vs. Magno Almeida
- Lightweights: JZ Cavalcante vs. Justin Wilcox
Main card
- Heavyweights: Valentijn Overeem vs. Chad Griggs
- Heavyweights: Daniel Cormier vs. Jeff Monson
- Lightweights: KJ Noons vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Heavyweight tournament: Brett Rogers vs. Josh Barnett
- Heavyweight tournament: Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum
Jason Probst’s full event preview.
DREAM 7/16 Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum (Japan GP Final ~ 2011 Bantamweight Japanese tournament)
- Lightweights: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Willamy Freire
- Heavyweights: Todd Duffee vs. Nick Gaston
- Bantamweight 3rd place match: Keisuke Fujiwara vs. Kenji Osawa
- Bantamweight finals: Hideo Tokoro vs. Masakazu Imanari
- DREAM Light Heavyweight title match: Gegard Mousasi vs. Hiroshi Izumi
- DREAM Featherweight title match: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Frank Mir: I don’t see anyone on the #UFC HW roster who can beat Cain Velasquez
By Zach Arnold | June 15, 2011
Josh Gross has an excellent radio interview with Frank Mir this week that you can listen to right here. Josh asked him a wide-array of questions and got some interesting answers in return.
On the concept that MMA is a niche sport and will remain so…
“I really don’t know. I think the one thing that we have a hard time with because of the individualists of the sport it makes it to where I think people have a harder time following a particular fighter because on any given day we only fight once or, you know, twice a year, even some of the Lightweights that stay very active fight three-to-four times a year so when you follow somebody on that level, they only fight every now and then. Whereas in some of the team sports, they have seasons. In baseball they have over 150 games a season. You know, football has 16 games a season not counting the playoffs, basketball, you know, they have an in-season type of thing where I think that kind of hold sports back like boxing and MMA from ever over-eclipse a sport like soccer or a sport like football.”
During the radio interview, Frank said that he had his knee scoped 8 weeks before the Roy Nelson fight and that the swelling in the knee didn’t go down as fast as he first thought it would.
What’s next in Frank’s UFC career after his win at UFC 130 over Roy Nelson…
“I think it keeps me right there in the talk about moving up. Strategically, though, I’m still one fight away if I want to be in a title fight. Obviously, dos Santos is fighting next for the title versus Velasquez and so, you know, hopefully I’ll be looking for one more fight before that. Maybe right now would be a good idea to try to fight (Shane) Carwin, you know, I’m coming off two wins in a row and he’s coming off two losses, I guess there’s a good argument for having a rematch where even though he won the first bout I’m the way up and he’s having a bit of a speed bump.
“Taking a off of couple weeks and get right back into training. Any time, you know, September would be a great time to get back in there. Really, honestly, if I could fight three times a year I think that would be best as far as staying active and not pushing yourself too much to where you’re not able to recover from injuries or any kind of training between fights.”
- Jonathan Snowden: Theme of UFC 131 – Shane Carwin and the Death of an Era
Frank also said that he would be interested in fighting either Fedor Emelianenko or Alistair Overeem once everything from Strikeforce gets folded up into UFC. (He compared the Strikeforce situation to that of what happened with the WEC.)
Frank’s thoughts on Brock Lesnar’s current predicament with his medical situation.
“Oh, I definitely do (feel sympathy for Brock). I mean, right now, what he’s going through is not having to do with us as competitors competing in the Octagon, you know, he’s a father, a husband, and he’s having health issues. I don’t wish that on anybody. I hope that he’s able to recover and provide a lifestyle for his family that they’re used to. That’s something that, you know, I have complete empathy for. I can’t imagine being in the same situation right now as far as, you know, being a father.”
Josh asked Frank about the spotlight turning brighter on the UFC in light of various media reports regarding FTC investigations into the company. Throw into the mix the recent legislative battles in New York and discussion about the rights of fighters in relation to how much money UFC is making.
“A lot of guys will try to argue that, you know, we deserve more of the money but I’m like, yeah, if you put your name on a marquee and rented out the Mandalay Bay, how many people would show up to watch you fight anybody else? How much money are you going to make? So, that’s kind of always been my argument is like, well, go off and do it yourself. If you think you’ll make more money outside of the UFC, then why are you fighting in the UFC? Are you just stupid or not smart to do this? Can’t figure it out? If I thought for whatever reason I could make 3 or 4 times more money fighting outside of the UFC, I mean I love the guys and they take care of me but I’d be a silly person for not trying to do so.
“It’s best for me. If other guys feel like it’s not, then that’s up to them as an individual to make that decision. But my family and I are pretty well-taken care of…”
Frank’s thoughts on an upcoming UFC Heavyweight title match between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez…
“I’m still not completely sold on dos Santos. (He hasn’t seen the UFC 131 fight between JDS/Carwin). I don’t know how well-rounded he is. Velasquez right now, though, I think is a hard match-up for everybody. I think he posses the one tool that is every heavyweight’s Achilles heel and that’s his cardio. It’s amazing that he has cardio on the same level as most Welterweights that are at the top of their cardio game. He’s shown to be extremely well-rounded as far as hands, takedowns. He threw Brock Lesnar around like a rag doll, I couldn’t believe it, I mean he out-struck him obviously but he picked him up and threw him down and I was blown away by that. Also, Brock with all that size and power couldn’t even hold him down once he had taken him down. So, right now, I’m pretty much if you tell me Cain Velasquez and anybody to name on the other end of that roster, I would bet on Cain Velasquez.”
How do you see the proposed fight between JDS & Velasquez playing out in the cage?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Are changes & amendments needed for NY MMA legislation in order to get passed?
By Zach Arnold | June 14, 2011
So, UFC is trying a last-ditch public relations effort in the New York media to sway Assembly Sheldon Silver to bring the NY MMA legislation bill up for a vote.
(Highly unlikely this will happen.)
Dana White had a piece in the New York Daily News published under his name making his company’s case. An advertisement was also published in The New York Post. However, the PR effort was tempered by a new poll from Siena claiming that 39% of New Yorkers supported legislation while 55% were against the bill.
With all of this in mind, Eddie Goldman discussed the temperature of the political landscape and came up with three changes/amendments that could be done for the NY MMA legislation bill that could attract support from the right constituencies to get Sheldon Silver to bring the bill to the floor of the Assembly for a vote. I’d be interesting in hearing from you on what changes you think are needed to win over Sheldon Silver to get a vote on the bill.
Fix the uneven taxation for boxing vs. MMA show gates to encourage more local promoters to operate
“It’s really ridiculous that it hasn’t been legalized at this point and we’re going to have to go into, it appears, 2012, the 15th anniversary of this Draconian law outlawing Mixed Martial Arts, still having to fight this battle against these politicians. If that is the case, and I said it’s very unfortunate, it’s very bad for people in and around the combat sports in the New York area, if that’s the case then I would like to propose a couple of changes to this legislation.
“First of all, the legislation as written has a 3% tax on boxing, that’s on the gate revenue, and 8.5% on Mixed Martial Arts. Why almost three times as much? Does it cost three times as much to regulate a Mixed Martial Arts event as a boxing event? I really don’t think so, I think that’s really absurd. In fact, if they put those stipulations in there, what it’s going to mean is that the attempt to create smaller shows, regional shows run by New Yorkers and having New Yorkers fighting them, is going to be much more difficult because if you’re going to have 8.5% off of a huge gate in a place like Madison Square Garden, yes it’s 8.5% of the huge amount but the promoters can handle that. If you’re running an arena with 500 or 1,000 people or something like that and right of the top you’re giving 8.5% in tax, that to me seems onerous and unfair that it’s only 3% for boxing and 8.5% for Mixed Martial Arts. And I think if the bill is going to be written to particularly encourage the growth of the sport among New Yorkers that the amount of tax should be the same for boxing and MMA. If they want to raise the boxing tax to 3.5% or 4% or something like that, they can do that because there does seem to be a bit of increase of local shows this year and possibly next year in New York as well. But it should the same, there’s no reason that it shouldn’t the same, the licensing, the fees, all that stuff from what I understand is the same, it’s unfair to do that. That’s the first change I would have in the bill.”
Allow the NYSAC to regulate other combat sports so anti-MMA measures cannot be used for shutdowns
“Second, I would add a part that makes it explicitly clear that the New York State Athletic Commission will also have the right and obligation to write rules and approve rules for other professional combat sports not mentioned in this bill such as kickboxing, Muay Thai, San Shou, and others that might come along. I think that’s very important since this Draconian anti-MMA law has been used in the past to close down kickboxing shows in the state of New York. I think this legal gray area has to be cleaned up and let it be regulated as it is in many other states, let these sports be regulated and that should go under the New York State Athletic Commission.
Modify the Ali act so it applies to Mixed Martial Arts as well as boxing in order to win over union support
“The third part is going to be much more controversial and has to do with contracts. In 2003, New York state passed a law called S3016 that basically put into state law the federal provisions of the 2000 Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. I would like to see, along with many other people, the provisions of that law extended to Mixed Martial Arts. I know there are some that say, ‘Well, the Ali act by extension already applies to Mixed Martial Arts.’ Well, it doesn’t. It talks about boxing and boxers, it doesn’t talk about MMA fighters or football or tiddly winks or anything else and since John McCain was the main one pushing and in 2000 still opposed Mixed Martial Arts, there was no one you could say that was his intention. So, I think again even if there is an illegal gray area which I don’t think there is I think this law has to be explicitly amended to include Mixed Martial Arts and I’ve been told by people who know such legal matters all you’d really have to do to this law is to add the words MMA fighter or Mixed Martial Arts, that type of thing, wherever it says boxer or boxing and some of the key parts of this law on contracts are Sections 4 & 5 among others and you can go and look that up. Section 4 says that any contract between a boxer and a promoter or manager shall provide for a specific limitation of option contracts between the boxer and the promoter or between promoters with respect to a boxer to no more than 1 year. If the granting of such rights is required as a condition to the boxer’s participation in a contest, renewable only in writing signed by both parties. Section 5, any promoter exercising promotional rights with respect to a boxer during the 12 month period beginning on the day after the last day of the promotional right period described in subdivision 4 of this section between a boxer and the promoter or manager may not secure exclusive promotional rights from the boxer’s opponent as a condition of participating in a professional boxing match against a boxer and any contract of the contrary is contrary to public policy and unenforceable.
“Now, it’s obvious that the structure of boxing and Mixed Martial Arts is different. You don’t have independent sanctioning bodies, you don’t have the same issues in terms of options with different promoters, but nonetheless I think that the law has to be amended and I think what this would do would be those organizations such as UFC & Strikeforce & Bellator which have their championship clause would have that clause be determined illegal. That clause says that if you are the champion of that organization and you continue winning and your contract runs out, it automatically renews. It would place a cap on that, it cannot automatically renew in perpetuity or for years and years if you happen to be successful in defending your title. That is something that I think is against what the Ali act wanted to do for boxing and I think that MMA fighters should have the same protections that boxers have.
“A lot of fighters are forced exclusively to fight for Zuffa and not in other organizations, forced to sign over all sort of rights to Zuffa, and other things that I think have to be examined. We’re going to see what happens with all of this. I think it’s far from a closed issue what’s going to happen but I think it would be unfair to MMA fighters to have one set of regulations on contracts for boxers and another, weaker set of regulations on contracts for MMA fighters just as it is unfair to have one set of regulations for taxing gate receipts for boxing and another, more onerous one for taxing gate receipts for Mixed Martial Arts organizations.”
The last suggestion is interesting, especially in light of Robert Joyner reporting a couple of days that the FTC is supposedly interviewing several people for their current investigation into Zuffa. Lots of political knives are out right now, proverbially-speaking.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 50 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White excoriates Bob Arum, Gary Shaw, and Vancouver UFC 131 judges
By Zach Arnold | June 12, 2011
How about we start out with this heartwarming reaction to the quality of judging at UFC 131 last night?
“I think it’s horrendous,” exclaimed Dana White in this post-fight video interview with Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com.
“It’s getting to the point now where I don’t even know what to say any more. You, you… It’s one thing if, you know, if you look at me and everybody’s going, ‘Oh, yeah, his business…’ Fans get pissed off and I get pissed off because these guys are hurting the fighters. It screws your record, it screws up your money, it screws up your legacy, everything, guys getting losses that shouldn’t have losses, you know, Bones Jones shouldn’t have a loss on his record right now, and the list goes on and on and that was a referee, not a, and I can go on for days what’s wrong with the officiating in this thing. The guys tonight and what’s even scarier is that we have fucking TVs in front of these guys. Maybe you couldn’t see it before, maybe the lights or you had a bad angle, you have a television in front of you now. Anybody who, the guys who did those 30-27s tonight should never score another fight again. I mean, you have to absolutely not know what you are doing to score that fight 30-27.
“There’s nothing that I can do. Listen, I’m out here again, I’m talking to the athletic commission, the commission that oversees me and regulates me… fix it.”
Which brings us to this passage from the interview:
ARIEL HELWANI: “Do the monitors work? Do you think they actually help?”
DANA WHITE: “Apparently not! Apparently they do not work at all, apparently they don’t. I figured if you had a hard time seeing the fight because maybe you got a bad angle, maybe it was something in front of you, but you know how many fucking bad angles you got to get to score some of those fights 30-27? And you had television monitors.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “In the mid-90s, you remember in boxing there were a bunch of bad decisions and everyone was saying, ‘this is fixed, this is bad.’ Are you ever afraid that we’ll get to the point where fans really start catching on and saying, ‘what’s going on here?’
DANA WHITE: “That’s what I was going to say to you. I mean, back in the day when we watched boxing, you know, you had these fights out there and you’d go, ‘fixed, this was a fix, they needed this guy to win so they did this and that.’ I mean, if people think that this is fixed and I’m not, when you fix fights you don’t run around bitching about it and pay the guys the money, more money than they, you know, Omigawa can say, hey, listen, Omigawa lost. It is what it is. I don’t believe that. I veto, man. I don’t think he lost. We’re going to pay your money and we’re going to treat you like you won.”
So, is the monitor experiment not producing positive results?
As bad of a mood as Dana was in about the quality of judging at UFC 131, he was in a great mood to address a recent interview by our friends at FightHubTV.com where they talked to Gary Shaw, Al Bernstein, Oscar De La Hoya, and Bob Arum about UFC recently purchasing Strikeforce. Suffice to say, Dana was ready to throw verbal bombs back at any remarks over that business deal from the boxing world.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 48 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 131 in Vancouver: Junior dos Santos now advances to face Cain Velasquez
By Zach Arnold | June 11, 2011
Dark matches/TV prelims
- Featherweights: Darren Elkins defeated Michihiro Omigawa after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Heavyweights: Joey Beltran defeated Aaron Rosa in R3 in 1’26 by TKO.
- Middleweights: Nick Ring defeated James Head in R3 3’33 with a choke sleeper hold.
- Light Heavyweights: Kryzysztof Soszynski defeated Mike Massenzio after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Featherweights: Dustin Poirier defeated Jason Young after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Chris Weidman defeated Jesse Bongfeldt in R1 in 4’54 with a choke.
- Lightweights: Sam Stout defeated Yves Edwards in R1 in 3’52 by KO (punch).
Main card
- Heavyweights: Dave Herman defeated Jon Olav Einemo in R2 in 3’19 by TKO.
- Lightweights: Donald Cerrone defeated Vagner Rocha after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Featherweights: Kenny Florian defeated Diego Nunes after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Mark Munoz defeated Demian Maia after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Heavyweights (#1 contender’s match): Junior dos Santos defeated Shane Carwin after 3R by unanimous decision.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 70 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Inside MMA report on the politics of New York MMA legislation
By Zach Arnold | June 11, 2011
KENNY RICE: “Last month, the New York state Senate voted to regulate MMA by a 42-18 margin. To become law, the bill now has to pass the New York state Assembly. This may be a more difficult task than it sounds.”
LESLIE BOGHOSIAN: “It seems we’ve been here before, legalizing MMA in New York. Proponents have gotten close in the past but the bill has never made it here to the Assembly floor for a vote. With new rumblings in Albany, some are wondering is now the time?”
ASSEMBLYMAN STEVE ENGELBRIGHT: “Well, it’s a measure that we have… had some considerable controversy over, very few people have neutral feelings about it… so it’s a measure that tends to polarize.”
LESLIE BOGHOSIAN: “New York Democrat Assemblyman Steve Engelbright is the sponsor of bill A04146, known here in Albany as the Mixed Martial Arts bill. The measure passed through his Tourism, Parks, Arts, and Sports Development committee. A big step for supporters. But the biggest hurdle is still present, opposition within his own party.”
ASSEMBLYMAN STEVE ENGELBRIGHT: “The people in our Democratic conference are naturally very opposed to violence. In many cases, they represent communities that have been traumatized by violence. The MMA sport certainly is a rather spectacular, I think, display of athletic prowess but also violence. So, we have a divided majority conference on this issue.”
LESLIE BOGHOSIAN: “How it works in the New York Assembly, not unlike other states, is after a bill passes committee as the MMA bill did, it’s at the Speaker’s discretion to put it to a full Assembly vote. With the MMA bill having divided support in the Democrat Party, it seems unlikely the Democratic Speaker (Sheldon Silver) would schedule it and encourage conflict within his own party. This frustrates supporters like Assemblyman Dean Murray, a Tea Party representative from Long Island.”
ASSEMBLYMAN DEAN MURRAY: “We have the #1 Arena, the #1 media market, the #1 everything in the country and in, some cases, the world and, yet, you know, we can’t showcase this event. It’s… it’s just not right.”
LESLIE BOGHOSIAN: “Murray has been gathering colleague signatures in hopes of petitioning the speaker to put the issue in front of the full floor for vote. We contacted the Speaker’s press office, but did not receive comment before this story went to air. At last month’s UFC 130, Dana White stated he believed that the opposition in Albany was not a morality issue as previously thought. White said he believes that union solidarity has come into play.”
DANA WHITE: “This isn’t a Mixed Martial Arts issue. It isn’t a safety (issue) or anything like this, it’s the Culinary Union. The Culinary Union is up there spending their union dues to fight us in the state of New York because they don’t like the Fertittas.”
LESLIE BOGHOSIAN: “White believes that the Culinary Union’s disagreements with UFC owners Fertitta Brothers’ Station Casinos has spread to New York through their parent organization, Unite Here, and hijacked the progression of the bill. We contacted the New York chapter of Unite Here, which represents not only the Hospital & Restaurant industries but gaming as well. And though they would not sit down with an interview, they did negate White’s claims of any connection ot their Nevada influencing their position here in New York. Yes, they are against the bill, but for different, very specific reasons and referred us to their memo of opposition.
‘Unlike boxing which has the Ali Reform Act and the Boxer’s Safety Act, MMA has no safeguards to protect fighters from [exploitative], oppressive, and unethical business practices and fighters have voiced concerns about UFC and contract provisions that lead to perceived unfair fighter pay.’
“We reached out to a few Assembly members who are against the bill but none would speak to us on camera. As one Assemblyman put it, ‘There’s no need to speak publicly about it because it’s not getting to the floor for a vote. If that ever happens, then we’ll talk.'”
ASSEMBLYMAN STEVE ENGELBRIGHT: “I think this is a contest of values, ideas, and a sense of what is right and what is wrong and that’s why I respect the points of views of my colleagues. I don’t believe that MMA is actually going to take our society in the wrong direction, so I support sanctioning this but there are some who I think legitimately who are advocates for a greater sense of peace & well-being in the communities that they represent.”
ASSEMBLYMAN DEAN MURRAY: “We have 150 representatives in the New York state Assembly. I think that’s a good sampling. Put it to the floor for a vote. That’s my challenge to any opponent against this. Put it up for a vote today because, you know what? It’s going to pass.”
ASSEMBLYMAN STEVE ENGELBRIGHT: “Every year, we’re making gains. Whether this is going to be the year that we crest over the top, I don’t know that.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Eddie Goldman on NY MMA & UFC legislation opposition: It’s the gambling & casino connections, stupid
By Zach Arnold | June 10, 2011
Follow on Twitter for NY MMA Legislation news: Justin Klein | Eddie Goldman | Josh Gross
If you haven’t already done so, read this Bloody Elbow article on Sheldon Silver and why things have stalled.
From Eddie’s radio show this morning.
“There’s another issue that’s going on that a lot of people in the so-called ‘MMA media’ don’t really want to discuss, which is why there is opposition to MMA coming in and I’ve discussed the cultural issue before, I’ve discussed in years past that there was opposition from boxing promoters but not so much any more. One of the key issues is the opposition that a lot of people have, particularly now with the growing strength of the UFC and the near-monopoly, a virtual monopoly among major fighters and championship-level fighters, is the fact that Zuffa, which owns UFC & Strikeforce, is controlled by a Las Vegas gambling casino family with a very questionable past and certainly is well-known as being an anti-union organization. Just go to workerstation.org and look what’s happening with the National Labor Relations Board case against Stations Casino.
“The view in New York to gambling casino people was summed up in the rules that exist concerning boxing & pro-wrestling in the state of New York, that also is still regulated under the law, and there’s still a section on the books and it sounds like 1920s language when these things were originally written that talks about and I’ll paraphrase some of it, ‘The Commission may suspend or revoke a license or refuse to renew or issue a license if’ and it gives a bunch of different issues such as if they’re convicted of a crime and so forth ‘or is consorting or associating with or has consorted or associated with bookmakers, gamblers, or persons of similar pursuits or has himself engaged in similar pursuits.’ This wording, of course, was written long before you had legal casinos and legal sports books in places like Las Vegas and legal casinos in Atlantic City and now seems just about all over the place. But it shows the attitude to gamblers. They’re basically viewed on New York as being one cut above criminals. In other words, they may legalize that activity in Las Vegas but doesn’t mean that they’re not deplorable and unethical people in the minds of many people in New York and, given the history of the Fertittas, that’s not helping them.
“I’d really like to see this issue discussed a lot more rather than what a union of workers who are struggling to survive, who have had their health care & benefits cut and 401k cut and all of that while working for these different gambling casinos in Las Vegas, I’d like to see this discussed more but, again, we know we’re not going to see very much from our so-called ‘MMA media.’ And, again, you can search out these rules & regulations for boxing & wrestling in the state of New York and this is part of a very long handbook that’s put out, The 2010 Athletic Law Book was put out and you can find that information and search that out for yourself.
“So, that’s the attitude. To me, that’s much more of a real issue. Now what’s going to happen regarding Mixed Martial Arts in the state of New York? Well, I think the chances are well under 50% that it’s going to get through this year. But I think you’re going to see some very interesting things happening if, once again, MMA does not get through in New York. What I think it’s going to lead to is a real stepping up of the campaign to legalize Mixed Martial Arts. If it doesn’t get in in 2011, it will get in in 2012 which is an election year both on the local level and, of course, on the national & president level as well.
“So, there’s a lot that still has to be done on these different issues to make sure that Mixed Martial Arts fits in with the New York culture, which right now it really doesn’t and has really hurt it.”
The 2010 Athletic Law Book is 49 pages long. Here is the section of the book that Eddie is referring to:
(b) Without otherwise limiting the discretion of the commission as provided in this act, the commission may suspend or revoke a license or refuse to renew or issue a license, if it shall find that the applicant, or any person who is a partner, agent, employee, stockholder or associate of the applicant, has been convicted of a crime in any jurisdiction, or is associating or consorting with any person who has or persons who have been convicted of a crime or crimes in any jurisdiction or jurisdictions, or is consorting or associating with or has consorted or associated with bookmakers, gamblers or persons of similar pursuits, or has himself engaged in similar pursuits, or is financially irresponsible, or has been guilty of or attempted any fraud or misrepresentation in connection with boxing, or has violated or attempted to violate any law with respect to boxing in any jurisdiction or any rule, regulation or order of the commission, or shall have violated any rule of boxing which shall have been approved or adopted by the commission, or has been guilty of or engaged in similar, related or like practices.
Dana White is not feeling so confident right now.
“I’m never confident about New York. Obviously, this run was a little bit better. We got more support than we’ve had the last time, so we’ll see. Whatever happens happens.
“It’s nothing new. We’ve been doing this for almost 11 years now in a lot of different places and, yeah, we’re just going to have to keep working on it. I know the Union was there battling us the day that we, literally in the halls that day battling us, the day that we did it and we still had a great vote, you know. And then we got through the Tourism (committee) and lt’s see what happens. Everytime we go, we gain more momentum.”
In regards to Sheldon Silver not wanting to put the legislation bill up for a vote and tabling it: “I mean, I don’t find it weird at all. How do you find it? I mean, everybody knows what’s going, we’re not… none of us are blind. Whatever, we’re not going away, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to keep going, we’re going to keep working and working it and working it until we get in there.”
Would UFC having a network TV deal help apply the needed political pressure to get legislation passed in NY?
“No. I mean, look how popular we are now. How about we were, you know, what is it, I don’t know the mileagle but a few hundred miles maybe away from New York when we just put on that huge (Newark) show? And as we keep talkinga bout the problems that New York faces, not just in New York City but in Buffalo & Syracuse and some of these other small towns where events would be big for them… it’s just, it’s New York politics, man. It’s New York politics.
“I think if we were on… NBC… at 9 o’clock at night and pulled 200 million, you know, 200 million viewers watched, I’d still think we’d be dealing with New York politics.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC & G4 TV deal: Either insanely brilliant or an example of being too clever by half
By Zach Arnold | June 9, 2011
Yesterday’s report by The New York Times about UFC considering buying a ‘controlling’ ownership share of Comcast/NBC cable/satellite channel G4 raised a lot of eyebrows. With Spike TV paying UFC a reported $170M USD/year for television rights, UFC leaving Spike TV would be a huge business move on Zuffa’s part.
Without being privy to any ‘state secrets’ regarding the potential business deal, I can only go on what has been reported and what the possible thinking is behind such a decision. So, with that stated, let’s look at what it could mean.
A turnkey operation
UFC has wanted to have their own cable channel for the last couple of years. They had one of two options — either create one from scratch with a broadcasting partner/investor (like Comcast or Time Warner) or buy out an existing television network and try to re-brand said network. In other words, a turnkey operation (similar to putting the key in the ignition and starting your car).
Buying a controlling interest in the G4 TV network would be a mix of both scenarios. Comcast/NBC is the owner and G4 is, for all intents and purposes, a turnkey operation for UFC should they make the move. UFC already has a deal with Comcast for PPV distribution and for Versus, so the move on paper makes a lot of logistical sense.
Put it into perspective with other major sports-based networks. The Yankees generate hundreds of millions of dollars with the YES Network. The Mets have SNY. The Los Angeles Lakers are working with Time Warner Cable to build their platform. Major sports franchises having ownership of a television as part of their business portfolio can be a cash cow. It can invite and attract business investment from a lot of different movers-and-shakers if done correctly. UFC having a television network would allow them to really proclaim ownership of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and rewrite history for good. The idea of buying into G4 for UFC sounds great because you would have powerful & connected business resources working with you to try to get the channel on all cable & satellite platforms. Right now, G4 is a network that is on pay tiers for most television platforms in the States. Not a lot of people watch the channel.
What’s at stake
By buying into a turnkey TV station that is connected to Comcast/NBC, the hope is that UFC would be able to use all of those resources along with their Facebook, Twitter, & misc. media platforms to get the word out to watch their shows on Versus and on G4. In other words, create enough fan demand to carriers to pick up the G4 network and go from there.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 45 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A largely quiet week of hype heading into #UFC 131 in Vancouver
By Zach Arnold | June 8, 2011
So, with that as the premise, let’s take a look at a few different news stories here.
Mystery of the Day: Why Gina Carano isn’t fighting. The early media reports yesterday noted that Scott Coker that she had trouble with her medicals in Texas (of all states), but Loretta Hunt put that to rest with this report. So, once again, Coker got caught in yet another contradiction (just like he did in relation to the Fedor/Henderson negotiations).
The news of Carano’s bout cancellation with Sarah D’Alelio drew a lot of reaction online. (A lot of it was typical male fodder, such as “she must be pregnant!” or “she’s doing another movie?!”) At least it shows that there is a healthy portion of online MMA fans that do still care about her. It’s both good and bad. It’s mostly bad, however, because without her in an aggressive role as a fighter, there’s really little reason for Dana White and the Zuffa crew to care about having women’s MMA at all.
Mystery of the Month: That Strikeforce was still having their Dallas event on June 18th. You want to talk about getting zero play, this would be it. Remember the feeling last February for the Heavyweight tournament? It’s four months later and nobody even discusses it or thinks about it. There’s talk of having the finals on PPV just so the tournament can be financially paid for and not be a money loser.
Alistair Overeem is in a position now where he may as well just jump ship to UFC. K-1 is all but dead and outside of It’s Showtime it’s not as if he’s going to get many kickboxing dates now. Jump into the Heavyweight waters in the UFC and make it happen.
Tweet of the Day: From Mike McLeish:
Just heard several STRIKEFORCE fighters lost sponsors and a few all their sponsors. Sucks for those guys.
With the Full Tilt Poker situation the way it is (Phil Ivey recently sued them in Las Vegas court for $150M USD), that sponsorship is cooked. Combine that with UFC treating Strikeforce the way WWE treated WCW when they bought them out a decade ago and you have the situation you have. A lot of the readers here love the fact that there’s one league, one major promoter in this sport. I’ve never counted myself in that camp and this is a reason why — lack of competition means less outside money coming in and less opportunities for fighters to get booked. Plus, with one company having 200+ fighters on their roster, a lot of guys underneath simply aren’t going to get a chance to be promoted as a big star like they would in another organization. Fighters can get lost in the shuffle, even when they do win.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. pisses off fans even more… By not fighting Manny Pacquiao. However, you should cheer the fact that he’s going to be fighting “Vicious” Victor Ortiz. That fight along with Pacquiao/JMM & Margarito/Cotto is not bad for the 2011 calendar year. Kevin Iole thinks Mayweather/Pacquiao will happen in 2012.
A story I can’t figure out how important or not important it really is: UFC coming to XBox starting this fall. I tend to think it’s an important development.
Comment of the week: Vagner Rocha on his upcoming UFC 131 fight with Donald Cerrone… “It’s a lose-lose fight for him. If he beats me, so what? If I win, then he looks like [expletive].” That’s the spirit.
Over/under PPV buys for UFC 131… 450,000? In favor of a good buy rate number is the fact that Game 6 of the NBA Finals won’t take place until Sunday. G5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals will happen in Vancouver but UFC’s event will not be moved from Rogers Arena.
The biggest scandal in Japan in the last two weeks: This (and it’s getting uglier by the day).
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 36 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dave Meltzer: If UFC doesn’t change its attitude & stop acting like 1980s WWE, ‘s—‘s going to happen’
By Zach Arnold | June 6, 2011
Well, that’s quite the statement.
Dave Meltzer shared his thoughts late Saturday night (radio) after the TUF 13 Finale about the recent media scandals involving Quinton Jackson & Joe Rogan.
(You can read about everything in detail here and here.)
When discussing the Rampage & Rogan situations, he noted that the Rogan situation should be treated more seriously and that the Rampage situation is one that could cause more business trouble for UFC if they start to feel pressure from sponsors.
“Actually, Quinton’s not even the problem, Rogan’s the problem. Rogan is, I mean seriously… Rogan, he’s very lucky, that’s the only I can say, he’s very, very lucky that he’s announcing on Spike TV but… you know, again maybe if they got on, you know, ESPN that Rogan would be smarter with what he says on the Internet. Probably not, though.”
Probably not is right, based on the spam I’ve been getting from Rogan’s army of online supporters. A couple of paragraphs earlier, I remarked that Rampage’s behavior around female reporters is par for the course for him. That’s why he didn’t pay any attention to the ‘motorboating’ during the filming of the Rampage interview with Karyn Bryant at UFC 130. However, Bryant’s reaction and the way the interview played out in the media brought back some unpleasant memories for certain individuals.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
While you watched UFC’s TUF Finale, Dana White was fighting with Bloodstain Lane on Twitter
By Zach Arnold | June 5, 2011
Results from last night’s Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale from The Pearl at The Palms (featuring another dead crowd for an MMA event):
Dark matches
- Bantamweights: Reuben Duran defeated Francisco Rivera in R3 in 1’57 with a choke sleeper hold.
- Welterweights: Clay Harvison defeated Justin Edwards after 3R by split decision.
- Welterweights: Shamar Bailey defeated Ryan McGilivray after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Bantamweights: Scott Jorgensen defeated Ken Stone in R1 in 4’01 by KO.
- Featherweights: George Roop obliterated Josh Grispi in R3 in 3’14 by KO.
- Lightweights: Jeremy Stephens defeated Danny Downes after 3R by unanimous decision.
Main card
- Welterweights: Chris Cope defeated Chuck O’Neil after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Light Heavyweights: Kyle Kingsbury defeated Fabio Maldonado after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Ed Herman defeated Tim Credeur in R1 in 48 seconds by TKO.
- Lightweights: Clay Guida defeated Anthony Pettis after 3R by unanimous decision. Pettis loses his #1 contendership slot in the Lightweight division.
- Welterweights: Tony Ferguson defeated Ramsey Nijem in R1 in 3’54 by KO.
The reason for the title of this post
For those of you who followed the show’s proceedings last night on Twitter, you were treated to quite a spectacle. If you want the long version of the story, go on Twitter and look for yourself. I’ll give you the short version here. Bloodstain Lane, a colorful character & MMA fan, managed to get Dana White (and agent Malki Kawa and even Frank Mir) engaged in a Twitter war. Dana claims that Malki punk’d Bloodstain and that he somehow has video evidence of this. Mir proceeded to get into it with Bloodstain as well, while Dana said he can’t wait to meet up with Bloodstain so that Bloodstain can ‘slap him.’ Bloodstain said that he would show up for UFC’s event this August in Philadelphia.
danawhite @BloodstainLane don’t make excuses now! When u see me come slap me. I look forward to it!
@BloodstainLane deal, when you see me come slap me.
@BloodstainLane we r busy 2 nite u
fuckinloser! Its coming and I am SO excited 2 meet u and get “the slap” see u soon geek!@BloodstainLane I will buy u a ticket and room to vegas or vancouver and u can meet me and slap me! U in?
Now, mind you, Dana is engaging in a Twitter war with this guy during the main fights that aired on Spike last night. That’s right, Dana White is fighting with this guy on Twitter during the Clay Guida/Anthony Pettis and Ramsey Nijem/Tony Ferguson fights. If you have the show recorded, watch the end of the Ferguson/Nijem fight. After Nijem has the towel on his face and is rushed out of the cage, Ferguson gets his hand raised by the referee for the victory announcement. Dana White rushes into the cage at the very last-second to haphazardly hand over the glass trophy (if you want to call it that) to Ferguson.
If you want to read the fallout, you can go to their respective Twitter accounts and view the protracted flame war.
Between Dana’s Twitter war, Clay Guida dethroning Anthony Pettis and Pettis losing his #1 contendership, and Tony Ferguson taking care of business… it was quite an eventful night. Dana says that Jim Miller is ahead of Guida on the UFC Lightweight pecking order.
George Roop’s three rounds of brutality on Josh Grispi was ultra-impressive. Roop put The Korean Zombie to sleep and now he has destroyed the former WEC golden child prospect.
Scott Jorgensen’s KO of Ken Stone from top position in the guard was exactly what you wanted to see if you are a supporter of his. Excellent.
Closing thought
I am definitely interested in seeing the Shane Carwin/Junior dos Santos fight. However, I had to do a double-take when I saw the main card listed on the television screen for UFC 131. Seeing names like Diego Nunes, Vagner Rocha, and Jon Olav Einemo as main card fighters was quite unusual. I don’t know how well this card will draw on PPV, but I suspect the Vancouver fans will be in a very joyous mood. (The Canucks are up 2-0 on the Bruins and look to be well on their way to winning the Stanley Cup.)
Oh, and I can’t get those “CougarLife” commercials that aired on Spike TV during the TUF finale out of my mind.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sports media focus increasing on mess involving UFC, Rampage Jackson, Joe Rogan, Karyn Bryant
By Zach Arnold | June 4, 2011
When I posted our now very popular column on Thursday night concerning the multiple media messes happening that were soon converging into one large, broad narrative, I knew that there would be plenty of people not happy with the article. With that said, it was an article that absolutely needed to be written just to get quotes & statements on the record and to try to explain to casual online MMA fans what is exactly going on with various media brush fires that seem to be spreading quickly into bigger venues.
The focus of our column was on the blowback that the UFC, Rampage Jackson, and Karyn Bryant were receiving from both fans & media online for the video interview Bryant did at UFC 130 last Saturday night. In addition to how that whole situation played out, I also noted the situation involving ass-kissing MMA writers worried more about being social scenesters & keeping their media credentials with the UFC than actually telling the truth. Little did I realize that the two separate storylines would some how end up merging together in the Rampage/Bryant controversy.
After I published my article on the matter here, Kevin Iole was busy putting the final touches on his Yahoo column about yet another media controversy involving one of the faces of the UFC (Joe Rogan) and a Yahoo MMA female writer (Maggie Hendricks). I updated my article in full to cover that mess and Joe Rogan’s pathetic backhanded late night apology on Thursday.
Kevin’s column on everything that has been going on this past week was posted online. It’s an excellent read and whether you agree with the article’s theme or not, it was a good column that touched upon a lot of themes. The Karyn Bryant video interview with Rampage Jackson was embarrassing enough on its own. However, what she, Rampage, and UFC could have never imagined is that multiple media messes would end up converging into one huge public relations nightmare for all parties involved.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 48 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Last look: Card for UFC Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale
By Zach Arnold | June 3, 2011
Venue: The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas
TV: Spike (9 PM EST live feed/9 PM PST delayed feed)
Dark matches
- Bantamweights: Reuben Duran vs. Francisco Rivera
- Welterweights: Clay Harvison vs. Justin Edwards
- Welterweights: Ryan McGilivray vs. Shamar Bailey
- Bantamweights: Scott Jorgensen vs. Ken Stone
- Featherweights: Josh Grispi vs. George Roop
- Lightweights: Jeremy Stephens vs. Danny Downes
Main card
- Light Heavyweights: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado
- Middleweights: Ed Herman vs. Tim Credeur
- Welterweights: Chris Cope vs. Chuck O’Neil
- Welterweights: Ramsey Nijem vs. Tony Ferguson
- Lightweights: Anthony Pettis vs. Clay Guida
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |