Judging how big Zuffa’s new insurance policy is for fighters
By Zach Arnold | May 10, 2011
Yesterday, ESPN ran the news on their TV ticker that Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard was postponed from UFC 130 due to both men suffering injuries. However, the much larger news announced yesterday was not covered on ESPN. It was covered in a UFC/Zuffa conference call.
Before we provide introductory quotes from that conference call, check out and read these articles covering the subject matter at hand:
- Luke Thomas: UFC Insurance Policy Details Emerge: Notes From Today’s Conference Call
- Cageside Seats: UFC Announces New “Unprecedented” Accident Insurance Coverage for Its Athletes
- Mike Fagan: The UFC’s New Insurance Policy, Conference Call Live Updates
- Kevin Iole: Zuffa set to offer fighters accident insurance
Here is how Lorenzo Fertitta introduced the news yesterday on the conference call:
“The issue of accidental insurance for fighters has been an issue, obviously, for a long time. Of course, fighters have always been and are covered for anything that happens during an event or during a fight. The complexity comes as far as providing insurance for fighters when they’re not in a fight, during their training, during time in-between and it’s unprecedented in the fact that in combat sports this has actually never been done. About three years ago, me & Dana sat down with the rest of our executive and, essentially, came to the decision that we were going to figure out how to do this, no matter what. And after a long, exhausting process of going through insurance companies and trying to be creative to figure out how we could put together a structure that would insure these fighters, we’re finally at a point where we’re happy to be able to announce that starting June 1st all of the fighters that are under contract with Zuffa, which would include all of the fighters on the UFC roster as well as the Strikeforce roster, will be covered under this plan. The coverage will also be available worldwide, so not only will this cover the fighters that live in the United States but will also cover the fighters from no matter where you are, whether it be Brazil, Europe, Asia, Canada, no matter where that be. In addition to that, Zuffa will pay 100% of the premium so this is a complete benefit to our fighters, they don’t have to cover out of pocket for any monthly fees or monthly dues or anything of that nature and the coverage will be up to $50,000 per fighter per year. It will cover everything from physician services, lab tests, emergency room, anesthetics, physical therapy, anything that would involve any type of an accident. So, with that, Dana you want to add anything else?
“And like Lorenzo said, this is a huge deal for us. This is a huge deal for us, this is a big milestone in the company. You know, you always hear me talking about milestones and all the things we’ve accomplished, we’ve been trying to figure this one out since we started the company. To be here today announcing that we can finally cover these fighters… and not just for fights but for training, like Lorenzo said, it’s a big day not only for this company but for combat sports in general. It’s never been done. People have talked about it, people have attempted to do it, it’s never been done and now it finally has and it’s a proud moment for us.”
The fallout
There’s a lot to react to here in regards to this news. I’m sure you have your own opinions and I sure want to hear them. I’ll start off by asking you this question: Is this announcement a big deal, little deal, or no deal at all?
My answer: Solid deal.
(Our friend, Keith Harris, disagrees: “It’s not really that different from what WWE does, except UFC pays for injury insurance, while WWE pays for the medical bills when their wrestlers need surgery.”)
In response to Keith, I would say the following: old-school wrestling fans know how tough it is for wrestlers to get insurance. Three words: Lloyd’s of London. Those policies got discontinued for a reason.
As for yesterday’s Zuffa insurance news, the first thought that crossed my mind is that this is a smart union-busting move by a company that should not want to see a fighter’s association (like Rob Maysey’s MMAFA) crop up. My second thought is that this keeps the pressure off of the organization in regards to the classification status of fighters as independent contractors as opposed to employees. The truth regarding any business ran by the Fertitta family is that unions always play a big part in their decision-making and their corporate bottom-line. Hell, it’s been a big part of the narrative in regards to why MMA hasn’t been legalized in the state of New York. (Ask Robert Joyner about that.)
Speaking of New York (like Eddie Goldman did yesterday), I can’t help but think that a positive benefit from this insurance announcement is that it will indirectly help Zuffa out in terms of PR in the state. No longer can politicians argue that fighters do not have insurance to cover accidents while under contract.
I thought Dana White’s comments were most telling on the conference call. When he was talking about others in the past promising to give fighters health insurance and benefits, that clearly was a shot at the IFL. Remember them? They were going to bring some heft and momentum to the table in regards to financial security for fighters. It didn’t pan out the way it was supposed to (on paper).
Most curious to me regarding this announcement yesterday was how it was done. It was done using a standard, basic conference call where a few people are allowed to call and listen in. You would think that for such a big announcement that there would be a big press conference to discuss what amounts to a major PR triumph. Dana White talked about how Zuffa’s new insurance policy is something that we haven’t seen in the world of combat sports. If that’s the case, why not go full-bore with a media splash? The announcement was done in a pretty low-key manner.
What will be most interesting is to see how other fight promoters react. Will they try to copy what Zuffa is doing here? If so, good. We may find out later on down the road that the insurance policies Zuffa has purchased for their contract fighters is not too expensive or not too fancy. Fine. The bottom is that they have now got the ball rolling here on an important business matter and I would much rather have other promoters try to copy it in some fashion than ignore the precedent being set here.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Another Saturday night of fights ending with a dud; who’s next for Manny Pacquiao?
By Zach Arnold | May 8, 2011
The description of last night’s fight between Manny Pacquiao & Shane Mosley can best be summarized in this manner:
BRIAN KENNY: “Manny Pacquiao is not only the #1 fighter in the world but he’s the most exciting fighter in the world. And, yet, he heard boos on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. A clear-cut win for Pacquiao here tonight, Teddy, but why were there boos?”
TEDDY ATLAS: “Not exciting. You know, people came a long way. They’ve bought into the brand of Pacquiao, The Pacman. it’s not just wins, it’s excitement. They didn’t get excitement tonight. They got the win, but not the excitement. I think some of it went to Pacquiao the boos where he didn’t take advantage of opportunities they thought were there for him to take advantage and a lot of the boos, also, went out to Shane Mosley who just did not do enough in the moments that there were things to do, there were opportunities to do.”
BRIAN KENNY: “Since Manny Pacquiao moved up in weight and took on Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, and Antonio Margarito we got used to war(s), all-out war(s). It didn’t happen tonight. How much changed in the third round, Teddy, when Pacquiao put Mosley on his back?”
TEDDY ATLAS: “With Mosley, we talked about the danger spot being early in the fight, that Mosley would have to do something. Pacquiao did something. So, if Mosley had confidence that he was going to do something early, that confidence… right down the drain.”
BRIAN KENNY: “Again, Manny Pacquiao, wins going away and cements his position as the #1 fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.”
There wasn’t even much to discuss about the fight result at the post-fight press conference.
INTERVIEWER: “Shane, what did you think of your performance tonight?”
SHANE MOSLEY: “I think was all right. Manny did a great job. He was strong, threw a lot of punches, and he was aggressive and won the fight.”
INTERVIEWER: “What do you think that you could have done better throughout the fight?”
SHANE MOSLEY: “*sighs* Maybe, throw more punches, been a little more aggressive. It was kind of dfficult. Many was very strong, very fast and did a great job.”
INTERVIEWER: “What happened in that third round when he knocked you down. Was it a big punch? Did you catch you off guard? What happened?”
SHANE MOSLEY: “Yeah, I think he caught me off guard. It was a left shot I’m not sure if it was to the temple, he caught me and I went down. It was a good shot.”
INTERVIEWER: “As the fight progressed, you seemed to have a couple of moments where you caught him with a couple of good hands and you seemed to stagger him a bit. Did you think that might been a point where you could have pressed a little it more?”
SHANE MOSLEY: “Yeah. I mean, Manny, he’s very unpredictable so he had strong shots, shots that I haven’t felt before. So, I had to really watch out and watch what was going on. He was very strong from actually 6 inches, he can just punch and hurt you.”
INTERVIEWER: “What’s next for Shane Mosley?”
SHANE MOSLEY: ‘Uh, I’m not sure. Right now I’m just going to go back to the drawing board to see what’s next.”
***
Just like last week’s UFC 129 main event with Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields, this main event wasn’t much to crow about. There are differences, for sure — such as Jake Shields being a top-level fighter while Shane Mosley was who we thought he was (channeling the spirit of one Dennis Green).
Buy rate projections from Top Rank, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN, involve Saturday’s fight drawing 1.2M as a benchmark. If it does that, it’s a wash. 1M or less, a failure. The internal opinion is that the fight will do between 1.2M-1.4M PPV buys.
Coming out of Saturday’s fight, Top Rank has floated the following scenarios for future Manny Pacquiao opponents: Juan Manuel Marquez, Zab Judah, Tim Bradley, and Sergio Martinez.
Marquez may have another fight on the table to accept. However, if he accepts the Top Rank offer, he will be by far the most credible challenger (not named Floyd Mayweather Jr.) left on the table. Maybe not the most recognizable name for casual fans, but the most credible. Zab Judah? Why? Tim Bradley? He recently had a chance to take a fight with Amir Khan and, somehow, that fell through or hasn’t happened, yet. Bradley should fight Khan instead of Pacquiao, but obviously lots of guys want that big pay day.
Sergio Martinez is the most interesting name because he presents an Anderson Silva-GSP challenge to Manny in terms of size. Much like Anderson being a weight class (or two) bigger than St. Pierre, Martinez will be noticeably bigger than Manny if they fight. Much like the “will GSP fight Anderson Silva?” discussion rages on in the MMA world, we may soon see a similar type of discussion in the boxing world regarding Manny & Sergio.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 33 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Loretta Hunt: UFC has created a climate of fear that has killed real reporting
By Zach Arnold | May 6, 2011
I was listening to a few different audio interviews the past couple of days and one interview stuck out to me. It was an interview that Loretta Hunt did with Sportstown Chicago about the politics of MMA writing. To set the stage for the quotes you will read from that conversation, here is how the interview played out. Loretta was asked to give her thoughts about what Randy Couture’s future looks like now that he has retired from active competition. The hosts obviously asked her about this because she worked with Randy Couture on his book, Becoming the Natural: My Life In and Out of the Cage. She talked about the fact that she ended up watching the fight on a television at a bar in Anaheim after spending time at a comic book convention/meeting of sorts. This obviously led to the segue about her not being at the UFC event in Toronto and media credentials.
“I think with the media ban, you know, I think it’s becoming aware now, slowly but surely that a lot of the media’s kind of afraid to talk about this for fear that they’ll lose their credentials as well and I guess I made the decision not too long ago that I’m not just going to be quiet about it any more, it’s not going to do anything to change the situation. If people want to find out more about it, you know, I’ll put the information out there so people can understand that there is no valid reason that they’re denying me and others like Josh Gross & Sherdog credentials, no matter what (Dana White) says.
“A couple of weeks ago he alluded to me and Josh (writing) some dirty things in the past or whatever and there is nothing. I’d love to hear what that is, you know, he said when he has the time some day he’ll sit down and talk about it and I hope he does because I obviously need to hear what it is that I did that was so dirty. The rest of the MMA community remembers me sitting in the press section with Josh many times and maybe a couple more people and that was it covering the sport when no one was really interested in it and I’ve always tried to be as professional as I can and I guess I’ll just continue to do that. So, there’s not much else I can do right now other than speak honestly about what’s happening and try & keep doing a professional job. I’m not just speaking up for myself but I’m speaking up for other people, you know, other smaller outlets and people that are just starting out in this business. I don’t want people to invest all this time in their lives into this sport as journalists, you know, only to be silenced and made to feel intimidated to not write what’s really going on. I want the history of this sport to be documented truthfully, not what we’ve got going on right now where people are just kind of afraid to talk about things. It’s not what journalism is about. And it’s not like this in any other sport.”
That set the stage for discussion about Dana White’s remark from a couple of weeks ago that media outlets need to be careful in who they hire as far as who they send to UFC events.
(Remember the situation with CBS Sports hiring Loretta Hunt only for UFC to not credential her and CBS in returning not covering the Strikeforce event in San Diego?)
“Well, I think Josh Gross was hired by ESPN.com. I’ve been hired by SI.com and others, The Los Angeles Times, and I do my books. I think our body of work speaks for itself and there’s reasons why these outlets have hired us, despite Dana White’s efforts to not get us hired and make sure that we kind of just float away in the sport and never come back. You know, for Dana to say that ESPN and SI needs to be careful about who they hire, you know, that’s… that’s an interesting remark to make, you know, to top news sports outlets in the world that have a super-stringent hiring process and, you know, pride themselves on only hiring the best in each of the sports. So, um… you know, but I don’t suspect this will be the last time he says something like that.”
What was addressed next is why Dana White is mad at her and Josh Gross. Remember this Sherdog article about managers/agents getting credentials (or not) backstage for UFC events? That was the article that caused Dana White to flip out and do his infamous Youtube video rant that drew tons of heat.
“I think with me in particular, I wasn’t giving my opinion when I wrote that story two years ago that got him all upset. I was reporting fact. I was reporting facts based on numerous on-and-off the record sourcing, so I haven’t even brought my personal opinion not so much. I don’t really like to write that way. In fact, it’s very rare that you’ll see me write an opinion piece, it’s not something that I do too much in the sport in the past. Maybe it’s something that I’ll do in the future because I am being asked actually for some opinion-based work. But, um… yeah, no, it’s not even about writing opinions. It’s presenting the facts of a story in a true and honest manner and I overwhelmingly did that and I think we need to go back to that story that he freaked out over. It bothered him so much and obviously it had something to do with the content of the story, about him denying backstage managers and picking who he gave credentials to and who he doesn’t. Which, ironically, where are we experienced that in the sport as well? We’re experiencing it IN THE MEDIA! So, it was a very ironic story for me to write.
“But, um, the managers came to me, a bunch of them came to me and they were upset and they were fearful. They felt that not only, you know, they would have to either take one of the corner men’s credentials to get backstage with their fighters or they would have to sit out, you know, and not go backstage and that worried them on a whole level of reasons. And even a reason I didn’t talk about too much in the article was, you know, how do you think the fighter feels when their manager can’t get backstage? So, they know now that Zuffa doesn’t like or Dana White doesn’t like their manager, you know what I mean? It really puts a strain, it can put a strain on the fighter and manager’s relationship and I don’t think that necessarily is a great thing, either, that comes out of this.
“But, um, yeah, I want people to remember that I don’t go around writing sensational stories or anything like that and I think he’s trying to categorize me as that lately, I don’t really know. But, you know, I see people saying, ‘she’s built her career on writing sensational stories.’ If you guys look at my body of work and, at this point, I’ve written I don’t even know how many articles I’ve written about MMA, I never counted, I never thought I would be doing this for 10 years-plus but it’s got to be at least 3,000, maybe 4,000, maybe 5,000. The majority of them are positive about this sport. I was obviously a proponent of this sport very early on, so, you know, I just find it kind of funny that, you know, I guess people that have come into the sport recently and don’t really understand and didn’t bother to read the article or don’t care and that’s their prerogative, you know, some people don’t want to get into the politics of this sport and they just want to enjoy the fights. Believe me, if I could do that, I would but, you know, in reality when Dana White doesn’t want me to come to UFC events, you know, get credentialed and he doesn’t allow me to come to Strikeforce events, that effects my ability to make a living and that’s what we’re getting down to.”
When it comes to big MMA media sites writing controversial or heavy-hitting stories, there are plenty of politics involved in what gets published and what gets spiked.
(Ask MMA Supremacy and Robert Joyner for more discussion about this topic.)
Loretta says the reason she is choosing to be more vocal about the politics between Zuffa and the media is because people are afraid to discuss it publicly in fear of losing their credentials and, in turn, not being able to make a living covering the MMA industry.
“Yeah! I’ve had people tell me! I’ve had people, you know, my peers tell me. I’ve had outlets say to me, you know, ‘we’re just trying to fly under the radar so Dana doesn’t get mad at us.’ Like, these are out major outlets and, you know, like when Jeff Wagenheim did the story for SI.com, he did a mailbag a couple of days later and when I talked to him about the original story, I said, “Jeff, you know, they are media that have told me that they’re afraid to write about this media ban. Like, you’re being brave to do this.’ And he was just like, oh, okay, like Jeff told me later, he said he was like, “okay, Loretta,’ you know. But when he wrote the story he said all these media people contacted him, thanking him for writing the story but then saying they wouldn’t dare write the story ourselves and he said, you know, ‘Loretta, now I believe you, I believe there is some kind of ear and intimidation going on in this sport.’ And it’s not just writers afraid about to write about the media ban, there’s ton of other subjects in the sport that could potentially ruffle Zuffa’s feathers or not that media just don’t even touch, you know, our sport, the media in the sport… there’s a lot of stories out there that they could be hunting and when they tell me, God, you know, thanks for doing that story, and it’s been said to me, too, I can’t help but think there’s people that are, media that are intimidated by Zuffa and the UFC and particularly Dana White.”
If you want to check out the full interview Loretta did with Sportstown Chicago, click here to download the audio.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 61 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
So, about that proposed Fedor vs. Dan Henderson fight…
By Zach Arnold | May 5, 2011
As Jonathan Snowden reported the other day, July 30th at Hoffman Estates, Illinois we will see these two men fight under the Strikeforce banner at a reported catch-weight of 220 pounds. MMA Supremacy points out the obvious, which is that Zuffa will be co-promoting an MMA event with M-1. I kid you not. That ought to be fascinating., especially if Fedor wins and Zuffa wants to roll Fedor over to the UFC.
As for the fight itself…
Stamina
Fedor’s gas tank is not what it used to be and he took a beating from Antonio Silva last February. The body can only take so much wear and tear. We know Dan Henderson can hang for three or five rounds (ask Rampage about that). If Henderson can get this fight to the ground, he can quickly sap out Fedor’s strength. Advantage: Henderson.
Speed & Power
I think it’s a wash for speed. Fedor has better speed standing up and he’ll be fighting a guy of comparable size, which bodes well for him. Henderson has certain punches he aims to deliver and Fedor’s great at countering. On the ground, can Fedor sweep Henderson or will he get stuck if Dan gets top position on him? Dan has power on the mat and he has lots of power standing up (ask Wanderlei). Dan has the power advantage and I think it gives him a better shot of winning this fight than most online seem to be giving him.
(Go to various forums and you’ll see Fedor being touted as the ‘overwhelming’ favorite.)
Recent experience
Look at the level of competition each man has fought recently.
Fedor: Tim Sylvia (W), Andrei Arlovski (W), Brett Rogers (W), Fabricio Werdum (L), Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva (L). Five fights in the last three years and his fight against Rogers was in the Chicago area.
Henderson: Rich Franklin (W), Michael Bisping (W), Jake Shields (L), Renato Babalu (W), Feijao (W). Five fights in the last 2 1/2 years.
No question that moment is on Dan’s side and I’d say that Dan has faced a slightly higher level of competition. He ran into a locomotive when he faced Anderson Silva (nobody’s beating him) and his title match against Rampage was a really tough battle.
Current skill
If there’s anything Fedor’s recent fights has taught us, it’s that he’s incredibly weak against BJJ players. He won’t have to worry about it in this fight, but he should worry about getting pounded hard and pushed against the cage. Look what Brett Rogers did to Fedor and how much trouble he put him in.
If this stays a stand-up war, I see Fedor clipping Dan and putting him down. If this goes to the ground, Fedor’s in for a rough five rounds (unless a doctor stops the fight). He could very easily get cut in the face here.
Addendum: Yes, I know about his fights with Nogueira. I don’t want anyone to act as if I’m a newbie or anything. Take note that I said “recent fights.”
Early thoughts
I think it’s a 55/45 fight in favor of Fedor, but I wouldn’t be overly confident going in as a 55% favorite. Dan presents lots of challenges and the Fedor fear factor is long gone. If I had to make an early prediction, I’d take Dan by decision (three rounds of punishing ground ‘n pound).
My initial assessment of this fight is probably different than everyone else’s, so let’s hear it. Break down this fight in the categories that I used here and make a case as to why which guy will win.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 51 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
GSP’s camp responds to criticism that he’s lost his killer instinct to finish fights
By Zach Arnold | May 3, 2011
On two separate radio shows yesterday, Firas Zahabi (audio here) and Greg Jackson (audio here) responded to questions & criticism about Georges St. Pierre’s performance against Jake Shields at UFC 129.
Whether it was online or in the Toronto newspapers, the question that a lot of fans, media, and some fighters (Ben Askren perhaps being one) are asking is this: Has GSP lost his killer instinct to seal the deal against opponents that he should finish off in his Welterweight title defenses?
“He’s just as sharp as he’s always been,” responded Mr. Zahabi in an Monday interview with Mauro Ranallo. “You know, his eye was injured, you could see it half-way through the third round, there was a swipe at the eye from the right side to the left side. It’s on the internet, the video’s on the internet, it’s everywhere. I retweeted the video, somebody sent it to me. It’s clear as day and when you fight with one eye, your depth perception is very well altered.”
MMA Weekly is reporting that St. Pierre suffered some bleeding in the eye but not a detached retina, which is good news. As for the fight against Shields, the injury played a big role in how the rest of the fight played out and the kinds of punches he started to throw.
“I think it had a lot to do with why he was missing his shots,” exclaimed Mr. Zahabi. “It was a little bit hard for him to gauge, you know, the depth and I don’t want to make any excuses. I mean, Jake looked phenomenal, he was better (than he ever has been) and it was a great fight. But the fact of the matter is, Georges did tell me several times he couldn’t see out of his left eye and things were going really well for him the first three rounds and even though he got a knockdown in the fourth round, the good left high-kick to the head… you know, he was still having trouble in that round until he got that high kick.”
As for why he didn’t jump on Shields after the high kick and go for a finish on the ground?
“That’s just textbook. when you stun a guy, you don’t jump on him. You make space because when you jump on him, you create a clinch, buying him time to recover. It’s textbook. In boxing, when you stun a guy you’re supposed to check the guy, you’re supposed to keep him at arms length and keep punching, keep working. But, you know, he did the right thing. Let the guy get up, hurt him again, put him back down, knock him back down, make space, don’t let him get into a clinch. You don’t want to get tied up on the ground with Jake Shields, that’s not the way you’re going to knock him out, so. Georges was definitely working for a knock out that night.”
In an interview Monday with Jack Encarnacao, Greg Jackson discussed the stand-up style of Jake Shields and said his open-handed stance is similar to what you see in a street fight (he made the same remark about Nick Diaz as well). He didn’t think that Jake’s eye-poke of St. Pierre was intentional.
“Well, it’s obviously a mistake, you’re not allowed to poke each other in the eye and I don’t mean street fighting as in like he was trying to poke Georges’ eye. When you open your hands up, especially if you’re fighting somebody’s bigger than you and they’re really launching a lot of power shots at you it’s important to put something in the way, like you can’t always just put your hand against your head like you do in boxing because the force isn’t dispersed in a large glove. So, a lot of times when you’re dealing with stronger people and you’re fighting them, bigger people, you have to really kind of put your hands in the way and your arms in the way of their big shots and parry their big shots so they don’t get clean shots on you because one shot can end your night or your day. With the hands open like that, it’s much more of like trying to anticipate the parry when punches come and stuff. I think what happened is Jake didn’t think and he threw a jab but his hand was still open, even though he threw a jab. So, I don’t think Jake did it on purpose, I know him pretty well and he’s a good guy and I don’t think he would do that on purpose.”
The Albuquerque trainer felt that GSP could finish the fight either on the ground or standing up.
“I felt like if we could do enough damage standing up and then some good ground ‘n pound, Georges might have a good chance of submitting him. He could also knock him out on his feet. We were trying to finish but I think what threw us off of that whole plan was Georges’ eye. When he got that eye poked and he couldn’t see things happening, he just wasn’t himself, you know what I mean? He had to really step up and be brave and focus on staying calm & relaxed and just using that jab as a range-finder and laying down that right hand to punch. But I think at that point, Georges just wanted to make sure that he didn’t get caught with something silly.”
Mr. Zahabi said that he was happy with GSP’s fight performance given the circumstances.
“He’s a warrior, you know, he didn’t back down from the fight at all. He kept engaging Shields. He could have ran around and sat on the first three rounds and just played it safe, he could have just kind of tied up with Jake. No, he kept striking, he kept working for the knockout. He was very adamant about getting it. You know, he saw that with the overhand right, you know how many did he throw? And some of them, you know, a good few landed and backed Shields up, but they just weren’t on the jaw, they were a little too high and some just missed by an inch or two. But he was going for it, Georges was going for it, so I’m really happy with that.”
“If you look at the guys Georges is fighting, all of the guys that he’s fought, who’s finished these guys? Who’s finished Jon Fitch? Who’s finished Jake Shields? Who’s finished these guys? They’re hard to finish these guys, man, they’re really high-caliber fighters and, just, people don’t understand, it’s not always easy. I’m not making excuses. All the coaches are working hard to get all our fighters in our camp to finish, definitely. But it just, you know, it’s just not easy.”
***
Speaking of GSP’s trainers, they will be in attendance this weekend at the Paradise Warrior Retreat in NYC, starting on Friday. Click the link for more details.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Cesar Gracie: I’m really surprised how well Jake Shields did punching GSP
By Zach Arnold | May 2, 2011
Cesar Gracie made an appearance on Brian Hemminger’s radio show yesterday to discuss how his stable of fighters performed at UFC 129 in Toronto. There was plenty of quality red meat put on the grill during this interview in terms of choice quotes.
“I thought Jake probably performed the best out of everybody because it looked to me like, you know, he… if that fight kept going, Jake wins, is what it looked like to me. He hurt St. Pierre, broke his nose, popped his eye, and I was really surprised how well he did standing with the guy. I got him with a new boxing coach, this guy named Mario, and the guy really tuned up Jake’s game. He was throwing a great jab. He landed the right hand a couple of times really hard and I really think it caught GSP off-track to see how good Jake has come along in the stand-up department. Props to GSP for having excellent takedown defense and making it a stand-up fight where he thought he will win, but Jake came out to fight and I thought he looked really good. GSP has beaten everybody else up for the most part and made it very lopsided in his wins and, even though he was able to take the fight where he wanted it and that was standing, it looked like Jake did very well standing, you know, on his feet with him.”
Scream all you want, but the reality is that two judges (Nelson ‘Doc’ Hamilton and Richard Berstrand) both scored the fight 48-47 in favor of GSP. Want to know the reason for the close scoring? Damage. Get used to hearing this argument.
Of course, Cesar admitted during his interview with Brian that they did not want the fight standing up and, conversely, that’s all this bout ended up featuring.
“Actually, we did want that fight on the ground because I truly believe that Jake is superior on the ground than GSP and I think even GSP believes that, so that’s why you saw him not really wanting to engage. Georges’ had a couple of good takedowns and from top position he decided to get back up because I think he realized he was fighting the superior grappler and, you know, props to him. Jake had a leg a couple of times, GSP got out very well, it looked like a couple of times his leg just kind of slipped right out of there, you know, so it must have been really slippery or something, I don’t know. So, yeah, he defended all the takedowns and made it a stand-up fight, so…”
Remember the moment where Jake asked Gilbert Melendez about pulling guard? Not part of the script.
“No, it wasn’t part of the game plan, actually. I think they were just wanting to bring it to the ground and he was wondering, ‘hey, do you want me to pull guard?’ and was asking it was a good idea and Gilbert said, no, you know. I think with Jake even his guard is so good he’ll reverse position if they, if, you know… He was trying to find a way, you know, finish this fight. It’s a tough, tough fight for anyone fighting GSP because the guy’s a master at the point fighting thing. He’ll go with his striking a little bit and if he’s not doing that great standing, he’ll take you down. If he thinks he can pass guard, he will and try for a submission, if not he’ll just sit there and throw some strikes. With Jake, he really didn’t want to do either of those so he decided to stand and try to out-point him standing, which is what he did and I thought it was close. Again, at the press conference, Jake was there not looking too bad at all and Georges was at the hospital, so I don’t know. I thought Jake did great, really the amount of pressure, both guys looked extremely nervous, both Jake & GSP coming into that with 55,000 people when they first got in there and, you know, it’s one of those things.”
After the fight, it was made clear that Dana White is very interested in booking GSP vs. Nick Diaz soon. He’s visiting young Mr. Diaz in Stockton this week. Luke Thomas reported that Nick, at the post-fight press conference, expressed interest in fighting St. Pierre.
So, what will it take to make it happen? What are the roadblocks Cesar sees in the way of making that fight?
“I don’t know how bad is GSP’s eye, is he going to take six months off? And then why couldn’t Nick box and then go fight GSP, for example, that kind of scenario. Now, if the eye if not a really big problem and they want the next fight for GSP five months from now to be Nick Diaz, I mean obviously Nick would be, uh… he would be delaying quite a contract, a money-making contract in boxing so how would that, is he going to give up that all that money… I mean there’s so many questions right now and really the only (people) that has the answers to it are, you know, Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, so I’m very much looking forward to meeting with those guys. Lorenzo’s a guy that I truly like the guy and Dana is a good guy, too, you know, a good businessman and we’re going to tell him our concerns and hopefully they have some answers for us and we’re waiting just like you guys.”
Translation: Make us an offer we can’t refuse.
As for how a battle between St. Pierre and Diaz would look if it was a stand-up war, we’ve seen GSP’s last two fights against Koscheck & Shields feature tons of stand-up. Cesar thinks that this kind of fight would be right in Nick’s wheelhouse.
“(Unlike other MMA fighters who throw wild haymakers) Nick doesn’t do that kind of style. What he’ll do is he’ll jab you. Some of them are very light, they just keeping touching you, touching you, you don’t know when the hard one’s coming in. Nick can throw a very hard punch, make no mistake about it. Most of his punches he’s just not throwing that hard in there. He times the hard shots. But he definitely hits very hard.
“Styles makes fights and I think, for example, Jake kind of, you know, he did really well standing. It’s no secret that Nick is, I think, probably has the best hands in MMA right now. He knocks out all the guys that are supposed to knock him out. There’s no question in my mind that GSP would not stand with Paul Daley, for example, but Nick did and knocked him out. Aside from all these guys that GSP would feel extremely threatened by, Nick would stand up with beat them up so I do not believe that GSP has better stand-up than Nick Diaz. I think Nick is the superior striker and if that was a stand-up I think Nick would come out on top. But it’s an interesting match-up because Nick’s jiu-jitsu is world-class, also. he has a great guard, he submits people, he doesn’t get hurt. That might be a nightmare for GSP and the only way to know that is if these two guys fight, so we’ll see what happens.”
If UFC management brings some briefcases full of cash to the Cesar Gracie camp, we probably will see Mr. Diaz fight Mr. St. Pierre as long as GSP doesn’t have serious eye damage. Let the hype train for that fight begin.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
All the media fallout from Toronto’s UFC 129 event
By Zach Arnold | May 2, 2011
These are little snippets from articles published today for your perusal. If anyone listed here wants to take down their snippet, contact me.
By the way, Cage Potato claims that Ken Hayashi’s Ontario Athletic Commission did not oversee the drug testing of the UFC 129 event.
Headlines
Luke Thomas: Georges St. Pierre should fight Nick Diaz, not Anderson Silva
A question was posed from a Brazilian journalist to UFC President Dana White about the future prospects of George St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva. … That’s when I heard Nick Diaz quietly say as if to suggest “why not me?” the following simple statement: “I want to fight George St. Pierre.”
I want Nick Diaz to fight Georges St. Pierre, too.
Jason Probst: GSP needs to fight Nick Diaz — now
A challenge of Silva would be a disruptive chapter in a seamless title reign. Physically, he would have to gain a goodly amount of muscle for a fight against an exceptionally dangerous opponent. If he comes up short, St. Pierre would be faced with the potential of having to return to 170, which could be tough given the size he would put on. Style-wise, I do not think he matches up so well with Silva, who is virtually knockout-proof and would have five rounds to work his lethal tools.
That is why Nick Diaz is the perfect next challenger for GSP.
- Jason Amadi: GSP’s risk-averse style threatening title and dominance after UFC 129 victory
- Steve Buffery (Toronto Sun): GSP losing super-fight traction while Mark Hominick emerges as the new Canadian MMA hero
- Toronto Sun: GSP wins but didn’t finish the job
- Ben Fowlkes: Name the last GSP fight that you’d actually like to sit down and watch again
- Matt Roth: Zuffa and the UFC finally hit it big
Loretta Hunt: Couture content with retirement, looks forward to new role in MMA
“The fact that we sold out at a 60,000-seat stadium with our sport — it’s just an indication of one, the Canadian fan base, who I think, in a lot of ways, got and embraced this sport a lot sooner than the American market did, and two, just how far we’ve come in the sport.
“I think this is going to be a benchmark moment for the sport, not just in attendance, but in the type of shows were going to see or at least what everything’s going to be measured by going forward,” said Couture.
Take note of what Randy also has to say about a fighter’s union or something equivalent to Rob Maysey’s MMAFA.
Bruce Dowbiggin (Globe and Mail): Toronto savours UFC forbidden fruit
Why is UFC successful? White has taken the Vince McMahon big-event strategy from World Wrestling Entertainment – that many of his fans grew up on – and added real blood. All it needs it Miss Elizabeth (sadly demised) and Bobby (The Brain) Heenan to complete the model. The intimacy of the event, compared to football or hockey, is also key to the televised look of UFC.
The London Free Press (Canada): Mark Hominick does himself proud
“I came in a 4-1 underdog,” Hominick said. “A lot of people didn’t think I would last a round. I lasted all five. If there was a sixth round, I would have won.”
If he had another minute, he might have won.
“I knew he was running out of steam. I could hear him breathing hard after the first two rounds.”
Kevin Iole: Mark Hominick shows warrior’s heart in defeat
He looked like guys do when they owe the mob some money and don’t pay.
There was, however, no bigger winner at UFC 129 on Saturday than the gritty featherweight who is due to become a father any day now.
Brian Hemminger: Nate Diaz ‘probably’ dropping back down to Lightweight
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White: I haven’t been approached with criticism about the GSP UFC 129 fight
By Zach Arnold | May 1, 2011
From a post-fight interview with MMAFighting.com:
DANA WHITE: “If you are looking for criticism from me, which sounds like you are, the only criticism I have is he was throwing a weird overhand right, like this… looping overhand right, which I’ve never seen him do before. Usually he throws that straight Superman punch, his punches are straight down the pike, I was trying to figure out why he kept throwing the same punch all night. He was throwing it hard, like he was trying to knock him out, like he was trying to force a knockout, so…”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Dan Henderson caught Jake Shields with that kind of punch, so maybe he was trying to recreate that.”
DANA WHITE: “Maybe. Dan Henderson didn’t finish him. *chuckles*”
ARIEL HELWANI: “That’s true. So, is the criticism fair? Because, you know, I’m sure you heard from some fans and people talking already, he’s not going for the finish, he doesn’t seem to have that killer instinct. Would you agree with that?”
DANA WHITE: “Nobody said anything to me. When I was leaving here tonight, everybody said great fight, nobody said anything negative about the fight whatsoever to me.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “So, no problems in terms of the fact that he hasn’t finished anyone in a while or anything like that? He’s just fighting tough guys. in your opinion.”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, listen, when you’re at the level he’s at, you’re going to continue to fight the best guys in the world and, you know… Georges St. Pierre keeps winning. He keeps winning. He isn’t catching anybody with any exciting front kicks or anything like that, but he’s a winner.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What did you think of Jake Shields?”
DANA WHITE: “I thought Jake… uh… you know… he busted up Georges’ eye… I don’t know what his game plan was. I was always interested in this fight because I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen. I said maybe Georges is going to use his wrestling defense to stand up and try to use his hands against Jake and I always wondered if Jake could take him down. I thought Georges would say, ‘I’m a great wrestler, I’ll take him down and get right into his game because I know I’m better than him at that anyway and beat him there.’ I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen.”
- Bloody Elbow: Georges St. Pierre Holds Back UFC’s Canadian Coming Out Party at UFC 129
- Mike Chiappetta: Strikeforce Champ Nick Diaz Could Be Georges St. Pierre’s Next Opponent
ARIEL HELWANI: “Is there even any fight at 170 that interests you for Georges?”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, there’s always going to be fights out there at 170 that are interesting, there’s going to be new guys coming up, you know, Nick Diaz is out there…”
ARIEL HELWANI: “But can you make that fight?”
DANA WHITE: “Um… can I make that fight? We’ll see what happens.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “But he says he wants to go box first. What is the likelihood of him boxing before ever fighting back in the UFC?”
DANA WHITE: “Well, he fights for Strikeforce, you know, he’s a Strikeforce champion. He wants to box. I’m going to go to Stockton this week and talk to him.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You’re making an appearance in the 209?”
DANA WHITE: “Oh yeah. I am.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Don’t get slapped.”
DANA WHITE: “It’s going to be tough to do there.”
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 129 (Toronto): Two judges had Jake Shields one round away from winning the title
By Zach Arnold | April 29, 2011
The biggest live UFC event of all time.
Dark matches
- Lightweights: John Makdessi defeated Kyle Watson in R3 in 1’27 by KO from a spinning back fist.
- Middleweights: Jason MacDonald defeated Ryan Jensen in R1 in 97 seconds with a triangle.
- Bantamweights: Ivan Menjivar defeated Charlie Valencia in R1 in 90 seconds by TKO from a vicious left elbow strike to the jaw/face.
- Welterweights: Claude Patrick defeated Daniel Roberts after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Featherweights: Pablo Garza defeated Yves Jabouin in R1 in 4’31 by submission (triangle).
- Welterweights: Jake Ellenberger defeated Sean Pierson in R1 in 2’42 by KO.
- Welterweights: Rory MacDonald defeated Nate Diaz after 3R by unanimous decision (30-27 three times). MacDonald German Suplexed Diaz three times in R3, with the third suplex a complete head drop.
Main card
- Light Heavyweights: Vladimir Matyushenko defeated Jason Brilz in R1 in 20 seconds by KO.
- Lightweights: Ben Henderson defeated Mark Bocek after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Light Heavyweights: Lyoto Machida defeated Randy Couture in R2 in 1’05 by KO.
- UFC Featherweight title match: Jose Aldo defeated Mark Hominick after 5R by unanimous decision.
- UFC Welterweight title match: Georges St. Pierre defeated Jake Shields after 5R by unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47 twice).
The aftermath
To me, the big story coming out of this card is that two judges had Jake Shields just one more round away from winning the UFC Welterweight title on points. Dave Meltzer reports that the two judges who scored it 48-47 are… Nelson “Doc” Hamilton & Richard Bertrand, two guys that I respect. Oh my.
Mark Hominick took a beating and showed the true heart of a champion. Jose Aldo had his make-or-break performance tonight and he made the best out of it.
The show ran 3 1/2 hours long. That’s what happens when you have two 5-rounders on a 5-fight card.
Highlight moment of the night was Rory MacDonald throwing around Nate Diaz like he was trash. He German suplexed him three times in the third round, including the third round right on his head in a move that would have made Kevin Randleman proud and reminisce about what he did to Fedor years ago.
Jason Brilz was a trending topic on Twitter a year ago for his fight with Rogerio Nogueira. Now? He got taken to the cleaners by the Janitor, who was taken to the cleaners by Jon Jones last August. Unforgiving sport.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 128 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is UFC 129 all about the size of the crowd or the actual fights?
By Zach Arnold | April 28, 2011
It’s the big question being asked by media writers this week in Toronto and Steve Cofield & Kevin Iole of Cagewriter.com (Yahoo Sports) discussed the premise in this video clip. The most immediate, stark contrast between this event in Toronto and, say, UFC 100 in Las Vegas is the sheer amount of media covering the event in the GTA. Hint: It’s really, really large. It’s by far the biggest amount of media coverage ever for a North American MMA event and it’s not even close. Tom Wright has done a magnificent job so far for UFC’s Canadian operations.
(If you are looking for lots of video clips online covering UFC 129, check out The Score web site.)
Now, the obvious elephant in the room here is the UFC’s current media policy (i.e. the contracts they have American writers sign to cover events for access). Whatever side of that discussion you are on, what is clear here is that the UFC needs the media a lot more here to promote this Toronto event than they need the media to do the kind of business they pull off for big Stateside shows. As UFC increases their Canadian business, will Tom Wright be helpful in maintaining a more open, permanent media policy up North or will it start to morph into the situation currently at American events?
As for my personal answer in regards to whether or not UFC 129 is the ultimate triumph of UFC’s ‘brand-first, fighter-second’ philosophy… the answer is no. The answer is Georges St. Pierre. He’s the driver for this show, followed by the fact that this is Toronto’s first major MMA event. But to ponder whether or not this show is a triumph and some sort of revenge against a guy like Rampage Jackson who once said that he thinks UFC management is confident they could sell PPVs by putting two ‘symbols’ in a cage… try again.
Dana White’s stance on Nick Diaz boxing
He says it’s allowed in Diaz’s current Strikeforce deal… but… he plans on visiting the 209 after UFC 129 to… encourage Nick to make a wiser career choice. More on this later.
Mayhem Miller’s reason for not creating mayhem on Showtime
This MMA Weekly report illustrates the absurdity of Showtime (and CBS by extension). The report claims that after the infamous Nashville brawl on CBS that Mayhem was ‘banned’ from ever fighting on Showtime or CBS television again. Their reported reason, according to Kevin Iole, is that Mayhem was not credentialed to be in the cage at the time while Nick Diaz apparently was. The fact that Mayhem was slotted as a ‘no TV’ fighter after that brawl… Suffice to say, he won’t have that problem now fighting under the UFC banner.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Cesar Gracie on GSP: “He’s a great hammer. Let’s see him when he’s the nail.”
By Zach Arnold | April 26, 2011
It’s the biggest fight in the history of Jake Shields’ impressive MMA career. It’s the largest live event ever in the history of the UFC. Firas Zahabi, trainer extraordinaire for GSP, says that once the fight starts you forget about counting the heads of 55,000 spectators in the venue. Kenny Florian, friend of the Tri-Star Gym in Montreal, knows differently.
“This is unlike anything any fighter will have experienced unless they’ve fought over in PRIDE,” he stated to Josh Gross on his Monday ESPN radio show. “You (have) the Rampage Jacksons and those guys who had the honor of fighting over in Japan with that big crowd. But even then, just the loudness of it and the fact that it is a UFC event and it’s North America is huge. How do you prepare for 55,000 lunatic Canadian fans? It’s going to be phenomenal, a ton of great fights, and you know I said it before, this is something that will go down in a fighter’s career, something that they will always remember.”
If there was ever a radio show to go out of your way to listen to, it would most certainly be Monday’s GPB ESPN podcast. Josh Gross interviewed the two trainers in Saturday’s mega-fight, Firas Zahabi & Cesar Gracie. The attitude both men carry into the fight is confident, but the way their address their respective opponents is certainly different. Cesar Gracie is extremely confident that his man is the favorite to win Saturday’s fight and that the momentum is on their side.
“GSP’s never fought someone on this kind of level in his life. He just hasn’t. A lot of people will point out to the guys GSP has fought, Matt Serra, BJ Penn, but those are 155-pounders that are fighting GSP at 170. Those are guys that can make 155. I mean, Jake cannot make 155 unless you cut his legs off or something, it’s not going to happen. Jake, I think, like Joe Rogan said, I think he’s the best grappler (GSP) has ever encountered. So if it gets into grappling and scrambling, I feel really good about that.”
I don’t think there’s any question that the grappling battle will be fascinating, but that’s not where this fight will likely be won or lost. It’s in the stand-up game and the clear-cut advantage favors St. Pierre. Ask Josh Koscheck what makes St. Pierre such a great stand-up fighter. As Mr. Gracie pointed out to Josh, it’s his speed.
“I’m not as concerned about his strength as Jake can deal with enormous strength. I’m not concerned with, you know, anything like that. But the biggest thing in this fight, I think, is the speed that GSP brings to the table. He throws a jab, he drops his other hand, he throws a right hand Superman punch whatever you want to call it, he does a lot of things that you’re not going to do in traditional boxing where someone will make you pay for it. But because he’s so quick at it, it works for him and so his explosiveness and his speed are the biggest attributes that he’s bringing to the table for this fight. And, accordingly, we’re trying to, you know, have Jake deal with that.”
By far, the most intriguing comments of the interview came when Josh asked Cesar the way he sees this fight turning out. He all but labels GSP as a front-runner, in the sense that St. Pierre is a guy who once he starts to dominate never lets up but may react quite differently when on the other end of the attack.
“I’d say tapout, I really do. I think that the best way for Jake to do it is to… of course… I’m not impressed with… I’ve never seen anything from GSP’s toughness in regards to taking a beating. He’s a great hammer. Let’s see him when he’s the nail. And that’s the biggest thing, you know, I did see him tap out to Serra from strikes and, you know, could you imagine Nick Diaz tapping out to strikes? I can’t. It wouldn’t happen. You’d have to kill him and it still wouldn’t happen. So, you know, Jake has to put GSP in some deep water like that and really see what he’s made out because GSP is such a phenomenal athlete. He doesn’t have to, he can always be the hammer in his fights, he can always punish people and punish them. I want to see what happens when he’s getting punished, also. When it’s, you know, when you got to come back from that punishment. When BJ Penn in their very first fight, BJ was starting to punish him, first round it was all BJ, lighting him up on his feet. So what did GSP second round said, hey, I don’t like this, I’m going to clinch, I’m going to take you down, I’m going to win on points and that’s exactly what he did. If he happens to take Jake to the mat, you cannot hold Jake down. I’ll be surprised if GSP can hold Jake down. I think he’ll get up, I think he’ll get up on top of him, you know, so that’s just what I think. So, this is a great match-up.”
Mr. Zahabi doesn’t think that it would be a mistake for GSP to get into a ground battle with Mr. Shields.
“I would think it would be a mistake to show too much respect for Jake Shields’ grappling. He’s a great grappler, he’s a phenomenal grappler. But I don’t think he’s been with a grappler as good as Georges as well. Georges never had faced such a good grappler and neither has Shields. Georges’ jiu-jitsu is extremely well-developed, extremely well put together. Georges for this camp has rolled with 20 different black belts, literally over 20 different guys with their own specialties on the ground. So, he has plenty of experience on the ground, plenty.”
The tone from the GSP camp about facing Jake Shields is their traditional cautious, but confident attitude.
“Shields is a pressure fighter, he just keeps, he doesn’t stop, you never see a lull in the action. He’s always pressing the fight and Georges is the same way, Georges is very active and that’s why we call him ‘Rush’ because he presses the fight, puts the rush on you. And it’s going to be interesting to see which guy backs up first, which guy steps back to take a breath and which is the guy who is trying to slow the rhythm down because I really feel that the first guy to slow down is the guy who’s going to lose the match and it’s going to be interesting to see who that is.
“All these jiu-jitsu guys, they’re very smart. Jiu-jitsu is a thinking man’s game and he’s definitely a jiu-jitsu specialist and he’s definitely a smart guy. Most guys who are very good at jiu-jitsu are very, very smart and that’s definitely one of his best (attributes).”
A key point of philosophy in big fights involving GSP is to get his opponents to mentally break down and make critical mistakes. That philosophy will be in effect here with plans on GSP continuing to be the hammer and Shields getting pounded as the nail.
“If somebody’s holding an Ace, he’s holding an Ace and you take that away from him, his whole game is going to collapse. But at the same time you want to attack his strength, you want to beat him at his own strength but at the right time, on your own circumstance and if the guy’s good at jiu-jitsu and you pass his guard, believe me, it’s going to hurt his confidence for the rest of the fight. If he’s a striking guy and you knock him down, it’s not going to go well for him in his mind, you just took away his Ace. George is always looking to do that, but again, at the right time. If you just jump on a guy and his strength, it’s not necessarily a good strength. You want to avoid the strengths early on and attack the weakness and then kind of want to turn the tables. It’s very important that Georges doesn’t over-respect his opponent’s strength because, you know, as good as your stand-up is, as good as your jiu-jitsu can be, there’s always something there to capitalize on and Georges has proved that time and time again. He’s taken down the wrestlers. He’s exchanged standing with the best strikers. He knocked down Thiago Alves in his fight, he’s taken down Matt Hughes and he’s beaten guys at their game as well.”
It’s one of GSP’s most intriguing tests to date as champion and it’s on the biggest stage this Saturday night in Toronto. Win and retain the championship while officially cleaning out your division or go home to Montreal without the belt and ponder what’s next for your career. Wonder what outcome Anderson Silva is rooting for?
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kevin Iole: This whole ‘Nick Diaz in boxing’ thing is one big work
By Zach Arnold | April 26, 2011
Discussion between Kevin Iole & Steve Cofield of Yahoo’s Cagewriter.com MMA site about Nick Diaz wanting to have a boxing match
To summarily introduce a new item into this story mix, here’s Cesar Gracie commenting to Josh Gross on Monday:
“I was literally in a meeting … and… they had a couple of UFC brass guys, lead counsel and so forth with us and that’s what we were discussing. I think things are moving in a positive direction and we’re working on it, so we should be able to get something done soon here is what I’m hoping on, so those guys are working on it for us and we’ll see what we can come up with.”
Add that to the backdrop of this story when you’re reading these comments from the radio spot. The context revolves around the salaries of both MMA & boxers, primarily with the news last week from ESPN The Magazine that Brock Lesnar made an estimate $5 million dollars-plus in 2010. The question – do fighters make too much or too little? Are you on the side of the fighters or the side of the promoters?
KEVIN IOLE: “I’m on both sides here. Now, we have a lot of fans that say, you know, especially in MMA that fighters should be paid and there’s a balance as fans, I want the fighters to do as well as they can both in boxing & MMA because I know the risk their taking. But at the same time, if you start paying guys what you’re paying Pacquiao & Floyd Mayweather, etc. then you can’t make other fights because the money is just not there. One of the reasons that you don’t see guys like Pacquiao fight but a couple a times of year because the promoters can’t afford to pay it, it’s just too expensive and too big of a thing. So, you know, you’re cutting them in. So, there’s a middle ground that we want to see the pay scale for the fighters reach where we want the fighters to be compensated very well for taking the risks that they take in putting on the show that they put on but, by the same token, we don’t want one guy to be able to price out everybody else and so we’re going to end up having a bunch of mismatches. So there’s a real fine line there that has to be walked.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Would you argue that the 30th biggest MMA fighter makes a lot more than the 30th biggest boxer?”
KEVIN IOLE: “I would say yes. I would say that the 30th biggest MMA fighter, there is a middle class in MMA which does not exist in boxing. In boxing, you have I think probably, well just taking Mayweather & Pacquiao alone you could say two fighters earn over 90% of the money. But I think if you say you could probably say 10 fighters are earning 99% of the money in boxing and that would be very close to being accurate. And in MMA, it’s spread out much more. So, you know, I think that’s probably true. You have a good, solid middle class working in MMA that you don’t have in boxing.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Now, it’s weird. Nick Diaz is on top of the world. He is line eventually to maybe meet up with Georges St. Pierre. He’s doing well, he’s getting paid well, we’re reading like $175,000 a fight and, yet, he called his life a living hell and is now calling out boxers. And I heard a media take the other day, I think it was on HDNet from Kenny Rice who does the Inside MMA show, and he said that Diaz if he was to meet a guy like Fernando Vargas for a big fight like that maybe he would make upwards of half or it would it match what he’s made in half of his MMA fights.”
KEVIN IOLE: “That’s so ludicrous almost not to deserve comment. I think if Nick Diaz fought Fernando Vargas he’d been lucky, and I’m saying lucky, to make $100,000. I think he would have made probably closer to $75,000 or $50,000. But it doesn’t matter because he’s not going to box, I mean that’s just not going to happen. And if he did, talking about fighting Sergio Martinez. Are you kidding me? C’mon. I mean, they’re different sports, they’re not going to make it. But no, the top end boxers are making that kind of money. But there’s not guys that are just, you know, off for five years coming back making that money, no way and no way would Nick Diaz, who would mean nothing to a boxing audience, he’d mean nothing. It would do, you know, there’s no way that he would make that kind of money.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Well, what I think MMA media sometimes fail to pick up on is that TV drives the whole boxing thing money-wise unless it’s on PPV and obviously that’s TV, too, but it’s either HBO or Showtime who have to work to pony up big money and like you just said I don’t think Showtime is going to kind of screw its own product by taking Diaz over to boxing and having him lose badly and I would assume HBO has no interest in a guy who’s 1-0 even if he is a big MMA star, so how the hell would that warrant getting him a pay day of $200,000, $400,000, $500,000, $1,000,000. It just wouldn’t happen.”
KEVIN IOLE: “Look at what Erik Morales made to fight Marcos Maidana a couple of weeks ago. … Morales, when he is done fighting, is a Hall of Famer. Erik Morales was guaranteed $250,000 for that fight! Where are they coming off that a guy like Nick Diaz is going to make that kind of money for never having boxed before! They’re out of minds, they’re absolutely out of their minds. Kenny Rice is wrong, not even close to being right.”
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Mr. Chuck Liddell, Executive Iceman of the UFC
By Zach Arnold | April 25, 2011
Well played. Brush up on your Portuguese, Chuck.
Let’s just say that the reaction to this video is a bit different than the fan reaction to the announcement of Jon Jones pulling out of his upcoming fight with Rashad Evans due to injury. Lots of open media speculation that, somehow, this whole thing was a work and that the heat between Jones & Rashad was manufactured because the two really do like each other and never would fight each other, therefore meaning that the injury Jones suffered from the Shogun fight is now an easy ‘out’ for the two of them to avoid fighting each other.
(A more realistic possibility: With injury issues coming out of the Shogun fight last month, debate about whether or not to go through with the surgery and postpone a big-money fight or go through with it and perhaps lose the title while hurt. Similar to the delay Cain Velasquez had after he waited a little while to get surgery from his fight with Brock Lesnar.)
The public reaction of Phil Davis replacing Bones in the Rashad fight in Philly is… so far, shall we say… muted.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |