UFC 129: Randy Couture & Jake Shields as two huge underdogs in the public’s eyes
By Zach Arnold | April 25, 2011
That’s the big challenge this week when UFC does the last-minute hard sell. Are enough fans convinced that either man can win their big fights?
“Here’s the thing. You know, I think a lot of people, again, have written Randy Couture off. I haven’t. I’ve been saying for a long time now, I still consider Randy Couture one of the top 10 Light Heavyweights in the world. And… I think that Machida is going to have problems with Couture. I don’t think that Machida’s going to go in there and just walk through and destroy Randy Couture. I think it’s going to be a tough fight. I think Randy Couture always takes his fights serious, he’s always in great shape, he’s always healthy, and he always comes up with great game plans. And I’m sure he’s got one for Machida. He texted me a couple of weeks ago and said, ‘this guy is very interesting.’ So I’m sure he was watching tape or whatever it might be and… it’s going to be a tough fight, but what does it do to Machida? The fact that I still consider Couture, you know I don’t watch, you know… I don’t, uh… believe half the bullshit rankings out there that they have. I think Couture is still top 10.
On why Lyoto Machida could be vulnerable…
“I think his style has kind of backfired on him a little bit. The thing, the style that got him all those wins all these years is kind of backfiring on him now. I don’t think people figured it out, but he lays back a little too much and doesn’t, you know, when he’s aggressive and we’ve seen what he looks like when he’s aggressive. Thiago Silva, you know Thiago Silva’s a tough guy who will stand up with you, go to the ground, whatever it is and we saw what happened there. If he, I think he needs to be more aggressive and come forward and he’s definitely going to have to be that way with Couture because Couture’s going to be right in his face the whole fight.
All of the talk heading into the UFC 129 fight about this being Randy Couture’s swan song…
“Back when Couture was 38 I said I won’t count him out any more. You can’t count Randy Couture out. I don’t care if he’s 68, I mean the guy is a freak of nature.
“He’s been saying that since he was 36, you know? He’s 56 now! *laughs* Who the hell knows?
Jake Shields’ confidence level sky-high heading into UFC 129 main event
From Sherdog radio interview last Friday.
“This is an opportunity that I’ve (wanted) for years. There’s a lot to lose. If I lose this, I’d be devastated. I mean, in one sense I have nothing to lose because the world’s not picking me or anything. But, you know, for me it would be pretty bad.”
Confidence that he can beat GSP on the ground, both on top and from his back position…
“Yeah, I think so, you know. I mean, I think GSP has good jiu-jitsu, I’m not saying he doesn’t. He’s got great posture, he’s great on top but I’ve been working on lots of submissions off my back and lots of sweeps and being really aggressive with him, not just kind of sitting there and waiting. A lot of guys in the past, if they’ve actually taken him down, they’ve gone for a couple of submissions but haven’t really hunted for them. I’m looking for more of an aggressive game. I feel like I definitely hold the advantage any time it hits the ground.”
Chael Sonnen & Matt Lindland were blown away when training with Jake a couple of weeks ago…
“We train really, really hard at our camp. I think that’s why we’re so successful and that’s why we’re confident. Some people will say we’re cocky and stuff but I don’t think it’s that way. We’re just confident in our skills and believe in ourselves. I think that’s why we’ve been going out there winning and winning. If you don’t believe in your skills and what you can do, you’re not going to be the best in the world. You’ve got to believe in yourself first because clearly if you don’t you’re not. Like when I went into the (Dan) Henderson fight, everyone said ‘you’re not going to win,’ but my whole camp believed in me. We all went into that fight knowing I was going to win, so it’s like you have to have positive people surrounding you.”
The final week of preparations…
“Pretty much the training’s done now. Pretty much I’ve done everything that I can do. I’ve done all the hard work, all the hard sprints, I have a couple of hard workouts… a couple of hard runs, but pretty much everything’s done. It’s a matter of staying healthy and not doing anything stupid. I believe Toronto’s going to be insane, the amount of media there and the amount of people and fans. I’ve been to Toronto before a couple of months ago and they were already going crazy for it, so imagine how it’s going to be when I get out there now.”
Being the bad guy, the big heel in Toronto at UFC 129 in front of 50,000+ fans…
“It doesn’t really bother me. I have my team come with me so I have people around me and a lot of the fans in Canada are actually pretty nice, a couple of months ago at least they were swarming me for autographs. Who knows, they might be booing me now. I have a feeling they’ll be swarming me for autographs and yelling at me when I’m far away.”
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Monte Cox fires back at Chael Sonnen for being discussed as a slumlord MMA promoter
By Zach Arnold | April 25, 2011
Last Friday (during a Sherdog radio interview), MMA manager/promoter Monte Cox was asked to give his thoughts on how the landscape has changed over the last decade. When he first started booking fighters, his events were often venues for promoters to scout for ‘the next big star.’ With more MMA media coverage and the environment being dominated by one major player, Monte says things have changed for him and that it’s not as easy to find “the next big thing.”
“There’s so many shows, small shows that, you know, people are getting the opportunity to go out and build, I mean, the exposure that MMA gets now is so much greater that before you had to kind of fight on one of my shows or, you know, one of the more well-known promoter’s shows to get noticed and have someone take an interest. Now, you know, everybody does such a good job covering it, all these shows get coverage and you go out and win a, you know, win a big fight somewhere, everyone knows about it that night. So, it makes it a little bit harder but they’re still out there. I mean, we’re still grinding away…”
He has ran a ton of shows under the Extreme Challenge and XFO banners. Which is where this next story comes into play.
The context: Sherdog did an interview with Chael Sonnen and part of the interview was discussing what he labeled as his career highlights & lowlights. One moment he labeled as a career lowlight was fighting Terry Martin on an XFO show promoted by Monte Cox several years ago. He accused Monte of being a slumlord MMA promoter that paid him “$500 flat” to fight and had no insurance or doctor at the event.
Last Friday, Monte Cox sounded off on the charges Sonnen made against him.
“As everyone knows, Chael never lets facts get in the way of a great story. And, you know, a lot of the stuff that he said in that interview was ridiculous.
“You know, the only thing about that show, I mean, again, this is seven years ago. This was a small show, it was an XFO, wasn’t even an Extreme Challenge. It was a show to develop talent, I mean to find people and all that, but what a line-up for a show that, you know, could only fit a 1,000. And he’s right, it was in a hall and. he’s right. there was no locker room facilities. We had to put them in a… in basically they had two big storage areas, so there’s tables & chairs. You know, again, it is what it is. I mean, it’s… If you’re fighting in that show, you’re probably there for a reason. You know? And he also said, and I don’t remember it exactly, he said $500 flat. I don’t think so. I think, I mean, I can’t remember not giving win money, I mean, and everything. But, I mean… if he decided to fly all the way out and fight Terry Martin for that and then when he’s standing in the ring looking, wondering why he’s doing it, I think it was more than a bad cage that had to do with that injury he got.”
Mr. Cox was just getting warmed up in his burial of Mr. Sonnen.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Randy Couture comments on why he wanted Lyoto Machida as his final opponent
By Zach Arnold | April 23, 2011
KENNY RICE: “I think this is different, though, than any other time we’ve had you on because going into this fight now we might actually be talking about, is this going to be your last fight win, lose, or draw?”
RANDY COUTURE: “I think it is. I think it’s time, you know, I kind of want to go out on my own terms, don’t want to wait until there’s an injury that forces me out or you lose two or three fights and everybody’s thinking you should retire. I’ve been on a good run, I’ve probably pushed it further than anybody’s going to push it in a long while and I’ve got a lot of other things that I’m working on that I want to focus on and I think it’s time.”
KENNY RICE: “You know, we’ve talked about this before, several times it’s been bounced around for the last year or so. Was there a particular moment where you said, this is it, I’ve decided that the (Lyoto) Machida fight is it. Is it just something that’s progressed, Randy?”
RANDY COUTURE: “It’s more something that’s kind of progressed, you know, there’s kind of been a transition. I’ve been getting more, more and more acting jobs and betting acting jobs, and obviously all the other businesses that I’m involved in are doing very well, the gym is great and the clothing line and all those things are doing fantastic. So, I really want to focus on those things and, to be frank, I want to enjoy life a little bit. I don’t want to grind out another camp, I’m not interested in making a run at the title or any of those things. Regardless of the win record is right now, it’s been about fighting. It’s been about going out and doing what I have a passion to do and what I love to do and I’ve wanted this fight for a long time and this seems like, it’s my 30th fight, it’s a great fight to finish on.”
TITO ORTIZ: “So, Randy, what do you think are some of the key elements for you to win this fight?”
RANDY COUTURE: “Well, I think everybody who’s faced Machida has to pressure him. I think he doesn’t do well backing up, he’s not a big fan of standing and banging, he doesn’t really like to get hit or trade that way and so I think using the cage effectively, using footwork to cut him off, we saw that with Shogun, we saw that with Rampage. Try to keep him off-balance and not walk into any of those things. If you play around and stay out of his distance, he’s got some pretty sharp kicks, he’s got a great straight left hand. He’s a very elusive guy, so sometimes during camp I felt like I’ve been in a track meet rather than a fight. But, it’s been a fun and interesting camp to train and get ready for.”
TITO ORTIZ: “Sounds like you’ve done homework because those are the mistakes I made when I competed against Machida, so I wish you a lot of luck.”
RANDY COUTURE: “Thanks, I appreciate it, Tito.”
KENNY RICE: “And you’ve learned from that?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Yes.”
KENNY RICE: “And Randy watched your tape. Has he thrown something at you, Machida, that, you know, you talk about the track meet and the speed and all that that he brings into it. Has he been somewhat different than anybody else you’ve faced in your distinguished career?”
RANDY COUTURE: “You know, he has been different. He’s got a very complex and very unique style, I think based on his Kyokushin Karate background. The footwork that he uses, his stance, the way he moves and sets up things, even the feints that he uses, the little hip movement and moving his feet the way he does are all different and not used to seeing a lot of that, it’s not grounded in boxing or Western kickboxing. It takes you some time to try to get used to seeing what you’re seeing and until you get used to it, you get hit with a lot of different things, things that you don’t expect that come from weird places. So, it’s been a little frustrating at the beginning but, you know, no different than having 280-290 pound guys on top of you for the first three weeks of camp and having that frustration, so it’s been frustrating but in a different way.”
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Why do we allow MMA promoters to hire referees/judges when it’s illegal to do in boxing?
By Zach Arnold | April 21, 2011
That is the question that friend to the site Rob Maysey of the Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association asked us the other day in response to the uproar over comments judge Chuck Wolfe made in regards to his scoring of the Joe Warren/Marcos Galvao fight.
On his Tuesday radio show, Jordan Breen addressed the topic in this manner.
“In regards to it, I don’t see that much of an issue. Obviously, one of the things that we like to say about Mixed Martial Arts that makes the sport, you know, clean or… pure or, more civil, than many spectators and naysayers choose to believe is that the Government helps regulate this sport and that the refs & judges & these people are not decided on by promoters, there’s no favoritism involved and, so forth. So, that’s nice. But the fact is, there’s still massive chunks of the world that MMA existing there is vital and there’s no way around the fact that referees are going to get paid to be there. Unless, I mean, simply it’s not a conscience-able stance to say that unless MMA is regulated, it shouldn’t exist because every Brazilian fighter you know is about to go down the tubes then. There’s no, I shouldn’t say there’s no regulation in Europe, I mean there’s regulation, you know, in Sweden for instance, but if you ever want to see another British fighter again, sayonara. Eastern Europe? Done. Brazil? Brown broad. Perish the thought. Japan? You’re never going to see a Japanese fighter ever again, not until the Japanese Boxing Commission gets on board. These things are not happening, so it’s ridiculous to act as though that all refs and all judges should be appointed by an athletic commission by virtue of the fact that most MMA at this point in time still isn’t regulated. So, then it becomes a question of, well, if you’re not regulating Mixed Martial Arts, who’s appropriate to use as an official? And regardless whether or not you have to pay them, surely the best people to use as officials are good, experienced referees and judges. On top of that, as John McCarthy pointed out in his treatise that he posted on The Underground, he’s often being paid in many situations because he’s being put on a poster and his image and his presence helps to sell and market the event. And if that’s the case, he deserves to be compensated for his likeness and whatever intangible presence he brings, whatever infusion of interest he brings to the table. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
In other words, he views the situation through the prism of realpolitik.
“The question that really informs the whole discussion, though, is how are we supposed to feel when these refs or judges are brought in another jurisdiction, paid to perform by a promotion, what is their responsibility? Do they have any responsibility to the promotion to, you know, favor a certain guy or can we ever put in a situation where because they’re being paid by a promotion that referees will be inclined to act a certain way? Well, I can’t speak for every referee or every judge, I can’t, but if you’re the kind of person that feels like you want the promotional poster boy to win because that promotion happened to pay you, you’re probably not a good person, you’re not that rational and you’re not doing a good service for Mixed Martial Arts and you probably shouldn’t refereeing, that’s about as straightforward and simple as I can make that. On top of that, there’s simply no realistic, better alternative, which I think is the most important thing to consider. If there was a better thing to do than to have a promoter pay John McCarthy $2,000 to fly and do their event or pay Herb Dean to come to their resort or casino that they’re having a card in South Africa or Costa Rica or the tip of Argentina, have him show up and all-expenses-paid hang out and do your thing and ref some fights Saturday night. Now, is there a better alternative to that? Not really, not at this point in time. There are so few well-trained judges and referees all around the world that if you want to have a legitimate world-class event you’re better having a ref or a judge or judges who are aware of these things so bringing them in is relatively important to begin with. But on top of that, the options that are available to you locally, regionally are probably not as good.”
Do you find the current process of promoters (in non-commission areas) hiring officials & referees to be an acceptable or unacceptable practice?
Here’s the prime example of a market where it’s the Wild West for promoting shows and the promoters call the shots with officials. DREAM has their 5/29 event at Saitama Super Arena for whatever charity project they are pushing that I’m not sure a lot of people are buying into. Tony at Sherdog has a round-up of Wednesday’s presser to announce the fights. Here is the line-up for their Bantamweight tournament:
- Darren Uyenoyama vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
- Yoshiro Maeda vs. Hideo Tokoro
- Masakazu Imanari vs. Keisuke Fujiwara
- Kenji Osawa vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 47 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Peek-a-boo: UFC on ESPN2
By Zach Arnold | April 21, 2011
Yesterday, I wrote a detailed post about Bellator’s yo-yo diet of ratings on MTV2. I closed out the article with this:
The only hope, and I mean only hope, long-term for Bellator is if UFC’s business relationship with Spike TV splinters and Spike decides to make the switch. Outside of that happening, I don’t know where the growth is going to be coming from in regards to viewership of Bellator shows on MTV2.
Last night, I think it is safe to say that a new wrinkle in the UFC/Spike TV relationship developed. At 11 PM EST/8 PM EST, the UFC Primetime series highlighting the upcoming GSP/Jake Shields fight randomly aired on ESPN2. I was completely taken aback when the program first started and immediately put out the word to friends about the broadcast. The reaction from my colleagues and friends was universal — utter amazement.
Now, the impact of it may be minimal in terms of accomplishment and more or less symbolic in nature. It appears to be a last-second deal and few, if any, in the online MMA community saw the broadcast happen.
(The old ‘If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ riddle.)
Whether it drew a lot of eyeballs or not, the point is that UFC had Zuffa-produced programming on ESPN2. That’s clearly symbolic.
There are two schools of thought about the reason this move was done. The first school of thought (by Robert Joyner) is that ESPN2 needed some filler programming and decided to air the broadcast. Given what has happened with the indictments last Friday with the major online poker operations and the television programs those companies sponsored, ESPN has found itself in a position where they are airing some poker programming and not airing other poker programming. For a last-minute emergency program, you could do a lot worse than airing a UFC infomercial. Robert also thinks that it could be a sign of ESPN/Disney warming up to UFC. The counter-argument to that is that if they were warming up and becoming buddy-buddy, you would think they would give a lot more advance warning in terms of airing this Primetime series.
The second school of thought (from yours truly and most other MMA writers) is that this was either a barter deal or a time-buy. If that is the case, what would be the motive? The first thought that comes to mind is that this was a tactical strike against Spike TV for what they perceive right now the network is doing in terms of promoting their television shows. Remember, we’ve seen this song-and-dance before when UFC decided to do a time-buy with ION to air PPV preliminary fights. It wasn’t a big success but it wasn’t a big failure, either. ESPN2/Disney is certainly a step up from ION in that regards. Call it brinkmanship, I suppose. If it is another flare between UFC & Spike TV, it certainly ups the ante in regards to what the relationship is like between the two parties.
The other part of the second school of thought is that this was a time-buy done out of precaution for the upcoming UFC 129 PPV. There are going to be over 50,000 fans at the Sky Dome/Rogers Centre in Toronto for this event. It is going to be a Wrestlemania-type atmosphere and historic. And, yet, as Geno Mrosko points out, something feels… strange… about the enthusiasm level heading into this event as far as buying it on PPV is concerned. There shouldn’t be, given that GSP is the #2 PPV draw in the UFC (only behind Brock Lesnar). The card also features what appears to be Randy Couture’s retirement fight (against Lyoto Machida). It features a solid bout between Mark Hominick and Jose Aldo. So, the PPV numbers should be good, right? I can’t imagine that the internal estimates for Zuffa heading into this PPV are low, but maybe they know something we don’t on that front? UFC announced on Wednesday night that all UFC 129 prelims will be streamed on their Facebook page.)
Whether last night’s ESPN2 airing is a blip on the radar screen or not, one thing is clear — UFC moving away from Spike TV would give Bellator the critical opening they need to get back on a much more favorable platform to build a hardcore audience for their product. That’s why this game of chicken we are seeing with UFC/Spike TV is important. It’s the one shot Bjorn Rebney has for long-term survival. If UFC bails on Spike TV and Bellator takes over that spot on the network platform, he can either sell the company or convince money marks to put more money into the deal.
As for why Bellator moving away from MTV2 to Spike would be so important for their long-term growth, Jordan Breen spelled out on his Tuesday radio show.
“I think this is the thing with Bellator that stands out about their particular ratings. If you want people to care about your product, it has to start out with hardcores. For instance, we know now that the TUF ratings are slumping for the UFC but we know that they’re never going to go below a certain basement because there’s a certain number of people that are really passionate about the UFC and are going to watch regardless. Bellator don’t enjoy this because they don’t have that kind of hardcore penetration, they haven’t built a basement, yet, a certain number of people that regardless of what else is on, the time change, are going to watch their product. And, so, when their second card is the best card that they’ve drawn and from week-to-week the ratings vary so radically, I mean there is no rhyme or reason to the ratings, yet, at all. I mean, the second week was their best. The first two weeks were strong and then, from there, it’s been completely scatter-shot all over the place. Assuredly, this is a week you’d expect to do well with no competition otherwise in the MMA sphere and it did very, very poorly. I think it points to the fact that they’re relying on the patronage strictly of people clicking through the channels to MTV2 and they’re not doing a good job at it.
“I think you have the over-reliance on ‘hey, people are clicking through the channels on Saturday night, they’ll see fighting, they’ll stop.’ This is true in some capacities but it’s not great for stability because when you get to a weekend, for instance, with the NBA playoffs, the NHL playoffs, and everything else that’s going on like this past weekend and weekends to come, what you can expect is, you know, it’s hard to say. It becomes a total grab bag as to whether or not the ratings will be passable or laughable. So, I think this is a by-product of Bellator going all-in on an audience which is going to be fleeting and fair-weather to say the very least.”
Being on a channel whose demographics are touted strongest for 10-12 year olds is a lot different than the audience Spike TV attracts.
“I think they miscalculated. MTV2 said we’re going to give you Saturday night, that’s all we’re really offering. Bellator wanted to accept because it represented good demography. I mean, it’s 18-to-34, it’s disposable income, it’s the kinds of things that you want. However, I think they underestimated how fleeting of a viewership it is. People don’t put on MTV2 and leave it there, they just flick by a lot and the kind of people that are often going by MTV2 I don’t think are people that are… I don’t want to say that they are not people that can be hardcore MMA fans because you can find a hardcore MMA would-be fan anywhere I think, but it’s not as though they were on FX and even though it’s a bit older you get people that are more locked in front of their television on a weeknight and would be more prone to sitting down and watching that kind of thing. I just think there’s been some real miscues in deciding why MTV2, why Saturday night was a good idea and why the kinds of people that watch on MTV2 on a Saturday night and I think it’s just a big miscalculation at this point in time and until they can do something to get that basement foundation, that 150,000-200,000 people that are going to watch every single weekend regardless, true hardcore fans who care about that product, the ratings are going to continue to be all over the place, completely up to the whims of whatever 16 year olds on a Saturday night might otherwise be watching.
“If they offered any weeknight to Bellator, it would have been a better call even if the 18-to-34 demographic for MTV2 seems more appealing because we’re seeing now this is fair-weather, flighty, channel-flicking to the max. On top of that, we have so much MMA now I think you need to be wary of… you know, I talked about establishing like a foundation of hardcore fans, it’s even hard to do that on Saturday nights. People, even nerdy MMA fans that obsessively, you know, take in everything about the sport, they still want to have a life. People want to go do things on Saturday night. People don’t want to feel like a slave to their hobby. It makes it not fun. So, people are faced with the notion of every single Saturday night feeling, I don’t know, behooved to watch Bellator. That’s not a good environment, at all.”
The stakes are high for the UFC & Spike TV relationship. Will Bellator be Spike TV’s ace-in-the-hole if UFC leaves the channel?
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
And now for a musical interlude… with Arianny Celeste
By Zach Arnold | April 20, 2011
Does it hold a candle… to this?
Topics: Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bellator’s yo-yo diet of ratings on MTV2 is both a blessing & a curse
By Zach Arnold | April 20, 2011
We’re not usually half-glass full kind of people, so I was trying to come up with a positive angle in relation to the news that last weekend’s Bellator event on MTV2 drew 132,000 viewers (by far their lowest ratings output this year). Surprisingly, it actually didn’t take me long to come up with the spin.
The positive angle: We should all be thankful that not many fans witnessed one of the worst scorecards by an judge in modern MMA history. Sure, Joe Warren was trending negatively on Twitter after he ‘won’ but anything these days can trend on Twitter.
(Like Rebecca Black.)
When you get past the spin, last weekend’s event for Bellator turned out to be a setback. Joe Warren, who is one of my favorite fighters to watch, was outclassed by Marcos Galvao and yet not one single judge saw it that way. Plus, the event was outdoors in near 100-degree Yuma, Arizona heat with fighters working in a cage with a black canvas mat.
On Monday, I wrote an article bringing up a point that Bellator color man Jimmy Smith proposed — the idea of putting judges on television right after they score a fight to articulate why they scored a fight the way they did. The reader reaction on here and on social media to the concept has been universally negative. However, count me personally in Jimmy’s corner on this suggestion. I keep hearing feedback that judges are already somehow accountable and that they have to explain their decisions to athletic commissioners any ways. Plus, we shouldn’t want to hear from judges because they will come off as geeks (like Doug Crosby) and make things look worse.
To me, those are the kinds of reasons that just enforce my support for Jimmy Smith’s idea of having judges explain decisions (both in boxing & MMA) right after a fight is scored. If you can’t articulate your viewpoint in a credible manner after scoring a fight, you shouldn’t be doing the job in the first place. I want to see as much exposure as possible for judges whose opinions and scorecards determine the financial livelihood of fighters. After all, taxpayers are the ones who foot the bill for the salaries of judges and officials. If referees can be put on the hot seat after a fight, then judges should as well. The more transparency and accountability there is for the people in charge of scoring fights, the more we can make progress in at least addressing the major issues the sport is facing with all of the questionable decisions being rendered. The idea that the status quo should continue is absurd. Look at the current policies in place on how to handle officiating in the major American sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, etc.) The speech police fine anyone who criticizes an official for making a bad call. “We’re sorry” notes from leagues are given to teams after obviously blown calls. Rather than getting the job done right, it’s more about covering up tracks. Public confidence in the officiating & judging of the major sports is at an all-time low. So, why shouldn’t there be an aggressive policy of transparency & accountability in a sports as dependent on judging as MMA?
Michael David Smith did us all a big favor when he interviewed Chuck Wolfe, the judge who scored the Joe Warren/Marcos Galvao fight 30-27 in favor of Warren. It was an embarrassing decision made by someone who was paid to be a professional. MDS gave the judge all the public comment he wanted to and we got to hear exactly what the judge was and is currently thinking. He said some incredibly asinine statements in the mold of ‘don’t leave it up to the judges’ and that Marcos Galvao should ‘look at himself in the mirror’ as to why he didn’t win a fight. You may think these are the stupidest remarks in the world and should be hidden, but I think they’re some of the dumbest remarks in the world and should be publicized. Let’s have guys like Chuck Wolfe and Doug Crosby put a face and a voice to the decisions currently being made that determine whether fighters are winners or are on the unemployed line after fights. If it takes some public scrutiny to change the current mindset, let’s encourage it. Let the chips fall where they may.
- Mike Fagan: Deconstructing Chuck Wolfe’s defense of 30-27 Warren score
- Luke Thomas: Chuck Wolfe says never leave MMA judging in the hands of Chuck Wolfe
After the horrible decision by the judges working the Bellator show last Saturday night, even Bjorn Rebney (Bellator CEO) was taken aback.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Satoshi Ishii halts MMA career to focus on another Olympic Judo run
By Zach Arnold | April 20, 2011
The Japan Times reported yesterday that the former Japanese Olympic judoka gold medalist Satoshi Ishii had suddenly made a U-turn in his professional career. He was scheduled to fight on, of all shows, the Strikeforce April 1st event against Scott Lighty before that fight got canceled. The world turned upside-down when Zuffa brought out the Strikeforce assets and Ishii ended up filing for divorce after nine months of marriage. Then, he was supposed to fight on a future Strikeforce Challengers card. That vanished after reported visa issues. Left with no real Japanese bookings on the table, Ishii has reportedly called it quits (for now) on his MMA career.
New Japanese reports this morning claim that he decided on Monday to enter into the upcoming 2011 USA Judo Senior National Championships event in Orlando on the 29th. His goal is to obtain American citizenship and make a run at the 2016 Rio Olympic games as a representative of the United States. Mr. Ishii has been living in Los Angeles since last July.
The career shift puts an end to what was one of the most heavily mismanaged prospects ever to hit the Mixed Martial Arts scene. He had all the tools and the power base to make it work. He may have came at the wrong time (with a dying Japanese MMA scene), but he still had lots of potential for high-profile television matches and commercial work. He was even aligned with the Antonio Inoki political machine to get things done. However, in the end, he was largely a colossal dud. He hated taking a punch and that’s not a good thing if you’re fighting in this sport. He also has a very mercurial personality and few fans could relate to his life story or his demeanor. He came off as aloof, goofy, and at times insulting — so much so that fans booed him and cheered Jerome Le Banner on New Year’s Eve 2010.
It’s easy to say that his career was mismanaged, but the larger truth is that you can only control someone to a certain extent. It’s clear, so far, that Ishii makes rash decisions in his life. I don’t know if impulsive is the right word, but undisciplined might be a more accurate term. On paper, he has all the talent in the world. That talent was certainly alluring to K-1 and he could have been a cornerstone for the promotion. However, he didn’t want to play the political games. He marched to the beat of his own drumt. Whatever he was doing for training, it didn’t pan out for him. Nothing clicked.
There was a lot of money on the table. However, to get that money, Ishii would have had to play by the rules and be disciplined about it. In the end, he didn’t want to be a Japanese mainstay. Furthermore, the money we thought that was on the table may have been nothing more than a mirage with K-1.
Last year, Jordan Breen discussed Satoshi Ishii’s career trajectory and praised the way both he & his handlers were going about his development as a fighter. If you read the article, I wrote a strong rebuttal stating that what we were seeing with Ishii was nothing short of a train wreck and one of the biggest busts of all time for an MMA prospect with major-league name recognition. Unfortunately, my assessment proved to be more accurate. It just wasn’t meant to be.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Should MMA judges have to explain their scoring of fights on TV after a bout takes place?
By Zach Arnold | April 18, 2011
This is video of Patricio Pitbull beating Wilson Reis in a Featherweight bout last Saturday night on Bellator’s MTV2 show from Yuma, Arizona in near 100-degree heat on a black canvassed cage. You read that right. The two Pitbulls (Patricio & Patricky) are on a tear in Bellator and look fabulous. They were brought to Bellator by their late manager, Ivan Canello. There’s a growing online sentiment that if Bellator Featherweight champion Joe Warren had to face Patricio that he would lose that fight.
Unless, of course, you end up in a commission state/reservation with judges like the ones we saw work the Yuma, Arizona show last Saturday.
Joe Warren was declared the winner by unanimous decision over Marcos Galvao in one of the biggest examples of awful MMA judging. Two judges scored it 29-28 in his favor and a third scored it 30-27. Having watched the fight multiple times now, the only outcome that I could see that would be ‘positive’ for Warren would be a draw… but you would really have to stretch for it. By the standards of the Unified Rules, Galvao should have won 29-28. By PRIDE standards, I would have had him winning the bout as well. Warren fought his usual aggressive ‘no-guard’ style which left him wide open in terms of positioning both in the stand-up phase and ground game. Galvao hit two knees in the second round which would have flattened a lot of opponents.
I like Joe Warren. I think he’s an entertaining personality and his fights never are boring. However, he realistically lost that (non-title) fight last Saturday night. He’s almost 35 years old and he’s got so much on his plate between preparations for a final Olympic run in 2012 and goals for winning Bellator’s Bantamweight title that I don’t see him focused enough in terms of making the right improvements to succeed. I don’t question his talent. I don’t question his heart. I question the way his schedule is laid out in terms of putting him in the best position to be as successful as he can be.
Marcos Galvao is a good fighter. However, he got knocked out cold in a WEC bout. He’s not currently an elite Featherweight. Against a Featherweight under the Zuffa banner, Joe Warren right now loses against most if not all of the Zuffa fighters. He’s not improving fast enough. Compare his trajectory to that of Ben Askren. Askren is doing it the right way.
As for the awful judging that led us to this point, Joe Warren is saying exactly what you would expect to him to say and I don’t blame him for it. This is not on him. This is on the three individuals who scored the fight. So, what can be done about it? Nick Lembo discussed this topic a few months ago and laid out what the state of New Jersey does in terms of putting new applicants through the paces in order to get credentialed. If you didn’t read what he had to say on the topic, go read it. I think it’s an excellent idea. The problem is that most states can’t adopt that system because they don’t have proper structuring in place to regulate amateur MMA or they outsource it to people like Jeremy Lappen.
Jimmy Smith, who did color commentary for last Saturday’s Bellator bout, has an easier and more high-profile suggestion. Put the spotlight on the judges right after they score a fight. Make them accountable for the way they score bouts and make them explain their thinking. Right now, judges don’t have to justify the way they score bouts other than private meetings with athletic commissioners after events.
“I think that’s the heart of the issue,” Jimmy explained to Mauro Ranallo on Monday’s edition of The Fight Show. “If you saw Anthony Lapsley vs. Jay Hieron, an early stoppage in Bellator, in our first episode of this season. I pulled the referee (Josh Rosenthal) aside, on camera, and said ‘what were you thinking? what was the reason for this early stoppage?’ and he said, “Well, I felt his arm, it felt stiff, he didn’t respond when I asked him a question,’ whatever it was. I pulled him aside on TV and said, ‘what were you thinking?’ and he said, ‘here’s what I was thinking.’ Judges don’t have that kind of accountability. They don’t. So, it’s kind of an anonymous activity as far as the sport goes. They’re not on camera. Referees take a lot of heat for the decisions they make.”
Mr. Ranallo, who is a big supporter of the PRIDE scoring criteria, suggested that the system currently in place for scoring fights is at fault as well. Mr. Smith agreed.
“The problem is that it’s a little too bit ambiguous. There is a criteria laid out and it’s effective striking followed by effective grappling, followed by ring control and aggression. Those are the majori criteria. The last one is defense which is a little strange. Your only defense is if the other guy has been active.”
“When you look at the Galvao fight, Galvao was extremely effective. His takedown defense was excellent. Joe Warren ate four or five flying knees. The striking was one-sided completely. In round three, then Joe Warren starts getting his takedowns going and then got some good ground ‘n pound but in terms of effective striking, the damage done to your opponent, Galvao was way ahead. That’s why I gave him the fight two rounds to one.”
Would putting the television spotlight on judges after controversial decisions make them more honest brokers?
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 39 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What the indictment of Full Tilt Poker & others means for UFC
By Zach Arnold | April 15, 2011
I cannot describe how important this story is about the Manhattan prosecutor going after the major poker web sites Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker. How big of a story is it? Bigger than one can imagine.
When discussing this story, you simply can’t avoid the politics of it. The political climate was growing in the US Congress to work out legislation for online gambling in the States. Harry Reid, who Zuffa management helped out politically in his 2010 re-election campaign, was receptive to the idea of legalization. Several other key players, like Barney Frank, were also keen on the idea. After all, legalize-and-tax made perfect sense. The political climate became so positive that the Las Vegas casino power players like Steve Wynn and the Fertittas got involved in deals with companies like Full Tilt Poker.
And now? After today’s indictment in New York, Steve Wynn can’t bail fast enough. What will the Fertittas do in response?
Full Tilt Poker is a Strikeforce sponsor. They are a sponsor of several high-profile MMA fighters. They also happened to become friendly with the UFC. (Remember when UltimateBet.net was thought to have an inside track and that collapsed?)
The situation will get messy and fast. Will Full Tilt pull sponsorship from events and from fighters? If so, that will mean a serious amount of sponsorship cash will be out of the window. It will be a lot easier for the promotion to replace the sponsor than it will be for the fighters, but the instability hurts all the way around.
By the way, the Manhattan prosecutor involved in this case is the same prosecutor that Dana White has publicly thanked in being aggressive in anti-piracy efforts relating to footage that Zuffa owns copyrights to.
As for the reaction to the indictment in Manhattan, it has been loud and boisterous.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
DREAM 2011 Bantamweight Japan tournament
By Zach Arnold | April 15, 2011
The promotion held a presser today to announce the promotion’s first 2011 show. May 29th at Saitama Super Arena. They are building it around a charity project theme of “FIGHT FOR JAPAN.” It’s different than the “Stay Strong Japan” charity project theme that has been more noted in media circles.
The plan is for a 61 kg Bantamweight tournament featuring: Masakazu Imanari, Kenji Osawa, Takafumi Otsuka, Darren Uyenoyama, Hideo Tokoro, Keisuke Fujiwara, Yoshihiro Maeda, & Atsushi Yamamoto.
There will be other fights on the card as well, featuring: Shinya Aoki, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Joachim Hansen, Kaoru Uno, Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura, & Katsunori Kikuno.
The idea is to run the May event and then have a second event in July. The promotion claims that they want to book Bibiano Fernandes & Joe Warren in the future. Tournament matches are expected to be announced next week.
Speaking of Mr. Warren, he fights on the Bellator card Saturday night in Yuma, Arizona against Marcos Galvao. During a recent Sherdog interview, he stated that he has been recently training in Boise, Idaho with Scott Jorgensen & Kit Cope. His upcoming plans for the next two years: Saturday’s fight, wrestling in June, defend his belt in August, fight in 135 pound tournament in October, and then take time off from fighting in 2012 to make one more run at the Olympics. It was interesting that he said that he found training for MMA to be much more fun than training for wrestling. “I feel more like a fighter than a wrestler. … Wrestling is a job for me.”
The “Fight for Japan” charity project is being spearheaded/supported by K-1, Martial Arts Japan Kickboxing, New Japan Kickboxing, J-NETWORK, RISE, Krush, BIG BANG, DREAM, Sustain, Pancrase, DEEP, ZST, & Jewels.
Sadaharu Tanigawa said that K-1 would run an event towards the end of June and that there is discussion of running events in Europe and China. A World MAX event (Japanese tournament) will happen in June. Krush will have a 70 kg tournament. There will also be a 63 kg tournament. There is no word on what K-1’s future on Japanese TV is.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Nick Diaz’s prospects against boxers like Sergio Martinez & Jeff Lacy
By Zach Arnold | April 14, 2011
Article written by Robert Poole
Nick Diaz, the Strikeforce Welterweight Champion, has always been able to use his striking skills to keep things exciting and make himself an interesting dream fight candidate which only seems to be bestowed these days to a few select non-UFC fighters that keep things interesting.
These skills have worked against MMA fighters, but now Diaz wants to expand that stand up striking game and fight professional boxers to prove his skill set is as good as his bragging about it has been. The names that have been tossed out there seem like a giant leap for anyone that has not trained in boxing long or worse hasn’t had an extensive amateur background. The amateurs really train your body’s muscle memory to know how to react when people throw punches at you. In MMA, you can shoot in to avoid strikes or attempt clinches in which you can back someone against the cage to gain position. Neither is possible in Boxing and, more than anything, head movement and footwork are the keys to the technique and style required to be successful.
The aforementioned names in the press: Jeff Lacy, Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga and Sergio Martinez, are amazing if you think about it. All are former champions with serious credentials that probably make them far too difficult for Diaz to just jump in with.
Let’s break these opponents down a bit.
- Lacy probably has the least impressive resume of the four, but he’s still fought world-class opponents and his size difference and power might be a big time problem for Diaz to handle. Diaz’s chin really hasn’t been tested by a World Class Boxer targeting it for twelve 3 minute rounds and it’s safe to say that there are no guarantees that it would hold up. Lacy’s power could be a big time deficit to overcome, though if there were any of the opponents Diaz might succeed against, Lacy’s lack of speed and not so great defense might work in Diaz’s favor. Diaz has shown in many fights that he has a decent jab and he’d have to stay very busy with it if he wanted to use his reach to keep Lacy’s power on the outside.
- With Fernando Vargas, you have a guy who has a decent amount of power but has folded in big fights with opponents that had more power than him and could slug it out with him. All of his losses were by TKO to the biggest names in the division: Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley (twice), Ricardo Mayorga, all but the second fight with Mosley were fights in which he faded late, 10th round or later. Being in some wars could make him vulnerable to a younger, less battle worn Diaz. However the question there would be, can Diaz keep the pressure on and fight hard into the 10th, 11th or 12th round? He’d need every one of them to push Vargas back.
- Ricardo Mayorga is the one guy on the list that suits Diaz’s style best. If you watch Diaz’ fights, when he throws hooks he throws very wide looping punches. Anybody with a short fast straight punches is going to give him fits because they’ll land well before Diaz’s punches meet their mark. Mayorga, too, is known as an unorthodox puncher who throws very wide looping hooks. He has a great deal of power in those awkward punches which is why he was able to give Mosley and Miguel Cotto more trouble than anyone ever expected but many of his punches come in at an angle that is more like a chopping action than anything. The space between his punches and the lack of heart Mayorga has shown in quitting in tough fights makes him an interesting pairing for Diaz.
- Sergio Martinez is the toughest opponent of all the names, though would provide Diaz with the best pay day. Martinez, the 2011 Fighter of the Year in Boxing, has electric power and deceptive speed. When many watch Martinez’ fights they don’t pick up the speed part of his game right away but against anyone who throws longer punches like Paul Williams or Kelly Pavlik did, he can hit the straighter, shorter shots that can lay you out quickly.
Diaz’s technique is where I think he is going to stumble, in my opinion. Aside from the lack of amateur boxing experience, I mentioned earlier he throws wide looping hooks and a lot of slap punches where he is keeping his arms out there as a strategic defensive tactic. Boxers often do this to use their reach to prevent a guy from getting in on them though most referees are not fans of it and warn the boxers about it, especially if they use the glove to push their heads back. Wladimir Klitschko is one of the worst offenders in this regard but he does it because it’s safer than having to always jab and keep your opponent outside your reach.
Diaz also doesn’t show a lot of Boxing-style footwork. He’s flat-footed, in fairness this could be because he doesn’t wear boots or shoes but it also keeps him off his toes which is a big factor in Boxing, and he doesn’t seem to move side to side to avoid a lot of shots. Also, his head movement is non-existent. He doesn’t move his head unless there’s a clear punch right in his face at that moment. He gives fighters a stationary target and boxers tend to destroy opponents that do that. Another big drawback is he keeps his hands low. Aside from the obvious taunting he does all too often in which he puts his hands down, he keeps them low naturally and eats a lot of shots in the cage because of it. His lack of defense against Paul Daley allowed him to get caught with a short straight left hand that dropped him and had him in trouble late in the first round this past weekend.
Another not-yet-mentioned potential opponent might be Kermit Cintron. Cintron doesn’t have a meaningful fight awaiting him in his division after the strange ending to the Paul Williams fight where he was dumped over the top rope and landed on his head. So, he could be a possibility because he will need a pay day. He has long called for a fight with an MMA opponent since a few have considered what Diaz wants to attempt now, previously.
Ultimately, Diaz would need to spend a considerable amount of time in the gym sharpening up his boxing skills. Boxing is not just about punching, it’s about movement. A different type of movement than employed in MMA. You’re not worrying about sprawling or guarding from your back, you’re worried about the fluidity of circling the ring, moving side to side to avoid punches, keeping your head moving and making it hard for your opponent to key in on a place to hit you. Diaz has the unfortunate habit of pulling straight back after being hit, a natural instinct for a real life fight but a no-no in boxing where the second shot in a combination can be far worse than the first.
Against the opponents he’s mentioned, I don’t see him succeeding. If he were serious about boxing, he would do well to follow the Tom Zbikowski route by working your way up against a few lower echelon fighters every couple of weeks and using that time to establish your training and skills and prepare you for a top level fighter. Nobody’s saying he has to take five years to get to that point but as often as MMA guys say that Boxing alone doesn’t translate to the cage, it’s equally true that MMA level striking alone doesn’t translate to the ring.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami in August for UFC Brazil return
By Zach Arnold | April 13, 2011
Yushin Okami will finally get his title fight and UFC gets to book it for a show that will be a sell-out and not an event where they will have to worry about how Okami is as a draw. If Anderson doesn’t knock him out in short order, this could be an ugly five-round fight.
Here’s an interview Anderson did with Ron Kruck of HDNet in which Anderson does the talking and there’s no Ed Soares. Take note of what he has to say about Jon “Bones” Jones. Popular guy these days. Even Chael Sonnen won’t talk trash about Bones.
With the murmurs of Royce Gracie fighting on the UFC Brazil card, who do you think he should fight on the show and where should that fight be placed on the card?
Scott Coker’s comfortable in his new Reed Harris-style role for Zuffa
I caught his interview the other day with Mauro Ranallo and what was striking was just how comfortable he was as a company spokesperson. His tag line is “Strikeforce 3.0 powered by Zuffa.” Some notes from the interview:
- He claimed that Dana White & Lorenzo Fertitta proved their level of dedication to promoting Strikeforce by showing up at the San Diego event when they could have no-showed it.
- Said that Paul Daley/Nick Diaz is so far the 2011 Fight of the Year and that Diaz is a Top 3 Welterweight.
- He said the best way to think of Strikeforce/UFC interpromotional match-ups is to look at it like AFC vs. NFC match-ups in the NFL.
- Mr. Coker said that he thought Gegard Mousasi won his fight with Keith Jardine. “Clear a Gegard Mousasi victory.” He says a re-match is in the works so that Keith can have a full training camp this time around.
- He claims that Shinya Aoki is Top 5 in the world in his weight class.
He is not Top 5. Sorry.
Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 71 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |