Alistair Overeem wins 2010 Nikkan Sports MVP award
By Zach Arnold | December 22, 2010
Background information: Every year, Tokyo Sports (and other media outlets they work with) give out yearly pro-wrestling awards. With the rise of MMA, they also gave out awards to those who did the cross-over between the two (think: Bob Sapp). Nikkan Sports, one of the major sports daily papers in Japan, created their own awards several years ago but separated wrestling and fight (K-1/MMA) categories in their award choices. The difference in the voting process is that the media votes in the Tokyo Sports awards and the fans vote for the Nikkan awards.
“Konnichiwa. My name is Alistair Overeem. It’s been a really hard year but a successful year. I participated in the K-1 GP and won a championship title. So I’m very proud of that. It was hard fights. I’ve worked and trained really hard with myself and the team, but it paid off and we became champion after three hard fights on December 11th and I’m the most happiest man on the planet right now. Very proud, very happy to bring the gold (belt) back home. I have no injuries, so me and the team decided to stay in Tokyo to do television appearances and PR. So we are now in Tokyo doing that and because I have no injuries, I will participate in the Dynamite show December 31 so I look forward to showing my Japanese fans great fights, a lot more knockouts, and come to the Dynamite show. Mitene!
“Dear fans, I would like to thank all of you who voted for me to receive the [Nikkan Sports] award 2010. Domo arigato.”
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez the fighter of the year for 2010?
By Zach Arnold | December 22, 2010
Mike Chiappetta says that you have to pick Mr. Velasquez because Cain was a 2-to-1 underdog to Brock Lesnar for their Anaheim title fight last October. His other contenders for Fighter of the Year include Frankie Edgar, Anthony Pettis, Nick Diaz, and George Sotiropoulos. I think Dominick Cruz deserves mention, but my pick is Jose Aldo. By far the biggest splash this year. He’s got an aura about him amongst the fans that is truly unique.
As for Fight of the Year in MMA in 2010, your guess is as good as mine. Here’s an argument in favor of Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva from Oakland last August. MMA Ratings is your hook-up for all sorts of results and rankings of past fights in 2010 and is a great resource if you’re looking for a tool to pick a fight and defend your pick.
Georges St. Pierre is now #1 on Sherdog’s P4P list. However, don’t tell The Toronto Sun that St. Pierre is Canadian athlete of the year.
The “TBA” slot in the Alistair Overeem fight on the Dynamite show is rumored to be Todd Duffee.
Tito Ortiz says that his fight against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will happen in Seattle on March 26th on Spike TV. Tito says it won’t be his last fight in the UFC, but…
Gray Maynard said that he didn’t see Anthony Pettis do his Showtime kick initially because he doesn’t have cable. Must be a Roku guy. Check out this interview with Duke Roufus talking about last Thursday’s fight. The last ever WEC show on Versus drew a 0.62 cable rating or 615,000 viewers.
The Australian market for UFC is red hot. The Sydney Morning Herald has an article titled ‘Ultimate fighting: barbaric or new boxing?’ Nothing you haven’t read before 1,000 times, but you can sense the media in the country is trying to come to grips to why UFC’s second show coming up in Australia sold out so fast.
Rich Bergeron argues that UFC’s current bonus system for paying fighters is not fair.
Strikeforce 1/29 San Jose (HP Pavilion) card line-up so far: Nick Diaz vs. Evangelista Cyborg for the Welterweight title, Jacare Souza vs. Robbie Lawler for the Middleweight title, Herschel Walker vs. Scott Carson, and Roger Gracie vs. Trevor Prangley.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Josh Thomson: After I fight Kawajiri at Dynamite, he should fight me in Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2010
(Why did you want to fight Crusher Kawajiri?)
“It’s him. It’s his fighting style. It’s his heart, his spirit, like everything about him, he’s a great fighter. Always respected him. I can’t say enough about him. I think he’s a great person. I had an opportunity to meet him a couple of times, really quiet, seems very humble. What a great fighter, you know, and he brings it every time he fights and those are the type of guys that I think everybody wants to fight and if you don’t want to fight those guys then you’re in the wrong sport or in it for all the wrong reasons and this opportunity was given to me and there’s a lot of talk of him coming to Strikeforce, you know, some time next year. So, I figured I might as well fight him now in his hometown, in his backyard, in his promotion, and in front of all the Japanese fans and all of everybody and when he comes here hopefully I get an opportunity to fight him here in a cage in my hometown and on a big stage here, so I think it goes both ways. Like I said, it all comes down to just keeping a relationship with DREAM and with the other promotions as well as just trying to bond a relationship with them to make sure we can interchange fighters and make sure that it benefits both promotions.”
(Your thoughts on how you are perceived and where you want to go in your fighting career?)
“Yeah, you know, I think I spent too much energy and too many [thinking about] the rankings and stuff. I’m over it now. I mean, really, like, you’re really just speaking into deaf ears and it’s kind of stupid so… I think you’ve noticed that I’ve kind of just taken a step back from doing the media stuff and really focus on my training and my fighting and, you know, I think anything a fighter can do is just really just focus on themselves and focus on the team that they’re with and try to make everybody around them better and, uh… you know, and just do that, you know. Let you your fighting do your talking and like I said I’m pretty much over it. So, I’m ready to step up my game and, you know, a fight like this is just something that you couldn’t pass up and whether it’s two week notice or whatever, three weeks notice, whatever it is, you know… I’m coming to that point of like, hey, I’ve fought all the best guys I possibly can that are available to me and, you know, once this fight’s done and hopefully I come out on top and when I come out on top that, you know, there’ll be another Gilbert (Melendez) fight possibly or, you know, potentially another fighter, you know, that is at the top so like I said before, I only want to fight the best guys and fighting the best guys is whoever is available to fight at the time, so right now Kawajiri was available to fight. I have to make myself available because these opportunities don’t come very often and so I’m just stepping up to capitalize on this opportunity, you know. That’s what you have to do as a fighter. Josh Koscheck spoke some words of wisdom me one time and it stuck with me ever since and that was probably about a year ago is that, you know, you’re a fighter, you know? You can’t make any money unless you fight. So, for those people who don’t want to fight or don’t want to take fights then you just keep nickel-and-diming it through your life. Well, as long as you’re training constantly and you’re fighting constantly, you’re only going to get better and a mental thing for you is just to stay busy and if you’re always fighting, you’re always training which means that you are getting better, so and in the process you’re making money. You can’t make any money unless you fight, so that was something that always stuck with me in the last year so I’m looking for every possible fight I can possibly find. There was no way that I was going to let this opportunity pass.”
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tito Ortiz: When I fight Little Nogueira, it will not be my last UFC fight
By Zach Arnold | December 20, 2010
Interview courtesy of fighthubtv.com.
“How do you think you’re going to fare against him?”
“I’ll be fighting Little Nog in March in the UFC and my hands are full, as always. Everyone you fight in the UFC is tough, you know? I recently lost a decision to Matt Hamill. I’m kind of bitter and bummed about it, but back to the gym, you know, a week after the fight, lick my wounds, healed myself, and get back in the gym but I think it’s going back to my main base and that’s wrestling. I’m hungry. I want to fight. Little Nog is one of the best guys in the world, a ranked fighter and you know he’s great with his hands, great with his wrestling, and great with his jiu-jitsu and it’s just one of those things. I just got to prepare and do the right things to make the fight go my way and, you know, fight my ass off and entertain as I do in each and every one of my fights.”
“Dana White recently said in an interview that this was your last shot, your last chance in the UFC. How do you feel about that? You feel any added pressure?”
“Um, no, there’s no added pressure at all. You know, I’m going to fight no matter what. You know, in his mind, uh, it may be my last fight. Nah, not at all. I’m going to continue fighting. Win, lose, or draw, I’m fighting no matter what. You know, I’m healthy, man. I got a new back, I got a new neck, you know I went through major back surgery, major neck surgery, and I wouldn’t have gone through that if I wasn’t serious about my career. You know I’m only 36 years. I believe I still have at least three or four more years of solid fighting and when I start getting knocked out in each one of my fights, then it’s time for me to hang ’em up. But, you know, I’ve never been knocked out unconscious, ever. After every one of my losses I’ve always stood to my feet and I’ve always given a hell of a fight every time I’ve fought. Even the last three, four fights that have been decisions. You know I lost a split decision to Forrest (Griffin) that I thought I beat him. You know I [had a draw] to Rashad Evans. In my last match against Matt Hamill I made a couple of mistakes and did not defend the takedown. That’s my fault for not wrestling and like I said I come out, I fight, I entertain, I sell tickets and I go out and I entertain as I do. I put my heart on the line every time I fight so this is far from my last fight but I’m going to win so Dana (White) will have nothing to worry about.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A Dying Little Girl’s Smile Rallies The Martial Arts Community
By Adam Underhill | December 20, 2010
Last Friday, Adam Underhill posted the story of Mr. Rattanachai Jadngooluem, a Muay Thai instructor who has helped trained many professional MMA fighters. (You can read the story below in the original post.) Upon hearing the story, UFC President Dana White stepped up to the plate and is now helping out the Jagngooleum family. Dana White funds liver transplant for trainer’s daughter. A happy ending.
**
Originally posted on December 17, 2010.
Our friend Adam Underhill wrote this post. His e-mail is here. Reminder: As with all charitable endeavors, do your research and verify what you are reading and the credibility of who you are donating money to.
The Tiger Muay Thai camp in Phuket is well known for it’s high class Muay Thai and mixed martial arts training, but now it will be famous for it’s community who have joined forces together to save a little girl’s life.
Kru Nai (Mr. Rattanachai Jadngooluem) is one of the Muay Thai trainers at the camp and is no stranger to a challenge. Kru Nai has an impressive fighting record of 3 Lumpinee Champion wins at 3 weight classes and also World Muay Thai Champion title. However this time Kru Nai has a fight for life that he just can’t win on his own.
His 7-month old daughter, Tuptim, has been diagnosed with a biliary obstruction. Without adequate medical assistance from sadly overrun government hospitals, the condition has now been diagnosed as critical. The only option for Tuptim is a liver transplant as the liver has been damaged beyond repair. Tuptim has now been admitted into ICU as she is bleeding internally. Doctors are worried that she will die before the New Year without immediate medical attention.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Adam Underhill, Press Releases | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Anthony Pettis heats up ESPN, Twitter, media sites with his Showtime kick
By Zach Arnold | December 17, 2010
Last night and this morning, ESPN has been running at the bottom of each hour of Sportscenter a quick item called “incredible MMA kick” which, as you might suspect, features Anthony Pettis doing his Showtime cage kick on Ben Henderson. Josh Elliott, one of the anchors, is big into MMA so it’s not surprise that he gave it a push. (Jamie Penick has more details on this.)
Anthony made a last-minute appearance on ESPN’s Firstake at the end of their show on Friday morning. “MMA fighter uses cage to deliver roundhouse kick to head of opponent.” He has named the move, “The Showtime off-the-wall kick.”
On the web sites of Sports Illustrated and The Independent (UK), Pettis is getting attention for last night’s fight. I can’t recall this amount of media attention for a fighter’s move from a WEC event. Ironic considering that Urijah Faber damn near turned Takeya Mizugaki into a zombie after he choked him out last month in Las Vegas.
Go to the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and you’ll see lots of people are either talking about what they saw last night or people searching Youtube and other video sharing sites to find the clip of the kick heard around the world. This is not only a big deal for the career of Anthony Pettis but it’s also a big deal for UFC, who manages to catch a tremendous break here because Pettis will face the winner of the Gray Maynard/Frankie Edgar fight that will take place in a couple of weeks. No one would have thought before Thursday night’s fight that the focus of the 155-pound title unification bout would end up being on Mr. Showtime, but it undoubtedly will be when it comes time to promote the fight because Maynard and Edgar are not big box office attractions (yet).
James Brydon puts it best in his Sportsnet article that it was a career-defining moment and also one of those “where were you when…” MMA memories fans will have for years to come. Thursday’s event drew a reported 6,384 in Glendale, Arizona.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 68 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Despite amazing highlight reel kick in main event, the final WEC show goes out anticlimactically
By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2010
I watched tonight’s show with casual to semi-hardcore fans, interested in seeing what the reaction would be to the final WEC event. By the end of the night, the conclusion from everyone was that the show had a weird vibe to it and felt nothing like a farewell event.
I was watching the show with a big Ben Henderson fan and we noticed right away that the Glendale crowd was there to see him and see him only. The other fighters got tepid responses except for when Dominick Cruz was looking at Urijah Faber. Only Henderson and Faber got any sort of crowd reaction. These were not exactly hardcore fight fans. The Vegas crowd last month was better. My friend kept asking me, “Why didn’t they run the final show in Sacramento with Faber?” All I could say was, “I know.”
If tonight wasn’t crystal clear enough for you, Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber will likely be the coaches. I’d prefer Miguel Torres and Faber, but either combination is OK with me.
Cruz fought as good of a fight as I could have expected against Scott Jorgensen. You can teach many things but you can’t teach size and at Bantamweight, Cruz’s size is king. So is his talent and game-planning skills.
I thought the main event played out the way I expected. I want to salute the one judge who had the temerity to give a 49-46 score in favor of Anthony Pettis. I had it 49-46 with Pettis winning rounds 2-5 and Henderson winning round one. You could even make an argument for R3 being a 10-8 round given just how dominant Anthony was with the choke. When I heard going into R5 both Todd Harris and Stephan Bonnar proclaim that the fight was even after four rounds, my jaw dropped. When the scores were read at the end, I couldn’t believe that two of the judges had it even going into R5. Two 48-47 scores. Incredible.
Pettis closed out the WEC with one of the most amazing springboard kicks you will ever see off the cage. What a fantastic kick combined with no defense by Henderson. You shouldn’t be able to hit an opponent that flush with that kind of kick, but he did. Pettis is very, very cocky and I think he will make a great foil for someone in the UFC in terms of drawing fan reaction.
The main event lived up to the hype but the rest of the TV card did not. On paper, this card looked better than any of the major NYE events coming up. Unfortunately, tonight’s show largely was a drag (on the TV side) and it was a shame that some of the better fights from the undercard weren’t shown. There were no tributes to WEC, no look back at WEC history, and no sense of any sort of emotion. It was as if Zuffa wanted to get the show done and over with and get the hell out of the arena. In that sense, the show was greatly lacking and lousy for the fans. After all, if you’re watching the WEC, chances are you are likely a semi-hardcore or hardcore fan and would appreciate at least some sort of tip of the cap to what WEC meant in terms of producing great fights. Instead, the message being sent to the fans felt forced. It was a force-feeding of “we’re transitioning to the UFC” the whole time. It didn’t even seem like an ounce of energy was spent on giving the WEC a proper farewell on TV.
- Remembering WEC – a noble experiment, business failure
- Sad swan song for the little promotion that could
Addendum: I wish tonight’s show would have featured all the ‘name’ fighters in the promotion’s history that put on the quality bouts that made the company what it was. It would have been great to see Mike Brown, Miguel Torres, Joseph Benavidez, so on and so forth take a curtain call. Yes, I know they are going to fight in the UFC, but it would have been nice to have seen their accomplishments highlighted.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC Australian PR blitz with Penn, Fitch, Noke, and Sotiropoulos
By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2010
But before we get to coverage of that, we should note the situation with Sean Pierson and his attempt to enter the Toronto Police Academy. This York Region article gives you the background information on the story. In short, the police aren’t happy with him because he used to be known as “Pimp Daddy” in MMA before he made it to the UFC. (He fought on the Montreal event last week.) Today’s Toronto Star has an update and the verdict is in — his entry into the police force has been stalled.
I thought we would be seeing more shows in the Middle East…
…when Flash bought a minority stake in Zuffa LLC. Instead, the proposed March 19th Abu Dhabi event with Shogun vs. Rashad Evans will now happen… in New Jersey.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy vey
BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, George Sotiropoulos, and Kyle Noke went on a public relations tour yesterday in Australia to promote the promotion’s upcoming event in Sydney in February. A red hot ticket and business will be booming. However, in places like Victoria and Melbourne, you won’t be seeing events any time soon.
Get a feel of the media temperature here:
- 9 MSN Sports: UFC fighters aren’t street thugs, says Fitch
- The Moonee Valley Leader: UFC fighters visit Tullamarine Invictus gym (here’s a photo of the fighters at the gym)
- The Herald Sun: New push to promote bloody sport cage fighting
The UFC’s return to Brazil
Another locale we will see UFC in soon is Brazil and Josh Gross says that yesterday’s press conference by the company shows that the UFC is all grown up in their return to Brazil. The memories of Ultimate Brazil… Say, would you book Anderson Silva vs. Georges St. Pierre for the 8/27 HSBC Arena card in Rio?
Here’s video of the Yahoo Sports crew talking about potential fights for the Brazil show. One match discussed is Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber, pending Faber able to recover after knee surgery.
Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Make your predictions for fights on last ever WEC event
By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2010
Dark matches
- Bantamweights: Renan Barao vs. Chris Cariaso
- Lightweights: Ricardo Lamas vs. Yuri Alcantara
- Lightweights: Danny Castillo vs. Will Kerr
- Bantamweights: Eddie Wineland vs. Ken Stone
- Bantamweights: Brad Pickett vs. Ivan Menjivar
- Lightweights: Jamie Varner vs. Shane Roller
- Lightweights: Tiequan Zhang vs. Danny Downes
- Lightweights: Bart Palaszewski vs. Kamal Shalorus
Main card
- Lightweights: Donald Cerrone vs. Chris Horodecki
- WEC Bantamweight title match: Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen
- WEC Lightweight title match: Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis
Articles heading into the show
- Dave Meltzer (Yahoo Sports): WEC champions Ben Henderson & Dominick Cruz are headed for a sentimental evening Thursday night in Glendale
- John Morgan (MMA Junkie): Anthony Pettis embraces underdog role at WEC 53, confident he can shock the world
- Michael David Smith (MMA Fighting): Chris Horodecki should beat Donald Cerrone by decision
- Ken Pishna (MMA Weekly): Dominick Cruz Ready To Flip The Switch On Scott Jorgensen
- Sherdog: A tribute — memories from the WEC
- Spencer Kyte (Heavy): Ben Henderson is prepared for the next big thing
- Sherdog: Scott Jorgensen says that WEC will live on in UFC like PRIDE has
- Northwest Herald: Bart Palaszewski sees his dream to fight soon in UFC come true
- The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Anthony Pettis at a crucial point in his MMA career
- The Arizona Republic: Jobs, dreams on the line at WEC 53
- Josh Gross (ESPN): Dominick Cruz won’t be still, silent for Scott Jorgensen
TV time starts at 8 PM EST/5 PM PST on Versus with Molly Qerim and Ariel Helwani doing a preview show. The fights starts at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST. Then there will be a post-fight show on the network as well.
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The incomparable Bas Rutten as the charming MMA gym salesman
By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2010
I didn’t transcribe the video because I want you to watch it to get the vibe and tone of the sales pitch. I know that Bas has his critics but this video demonstrates what I think is his best side. The video interview is basically a run-through of his new gym, Bas Rutten Elite MMA.
He noted during the interview that at least eight people had promised to show up for the grand opening but didn’t. (Alluding to either not taking it seriously or politics.) There was quite the focus on the new shower facilities at the gym and the gym’s ‘if you stink, hit the showers’ policy. Bas said that his business office will be at the gym, which will allow him to separate his professional life from personal life when he goes home daily. As far as training MMA fighters, he will only train certain fighters. Bas feels that the gym needs to have a relaxed, friendly atmosphere as opposed to fighters raging and challenging everyone to a fight in the building.
The most curious part of the interview is when Bas talks about ‘a famous coach’ telling him that one flaw in his fighting system course is that he doesn’t tell fighters to twist their arm before landing a punch. (You have to watch the video to see the absurdity of this.) Bas appropriately demonstrates this horrible technique and how the coach was humbled for bringing it up.
He does confirm in the interview that, yes, he does wake his wife up at night when he comes up with ideas for new submission holds. “At least 8 times.”
At the end of the interview, Bas has some advice for anyone who gets bullied and how to handle the situation.
One person who didn’t no-show the gym’s grand opening was “Judo” Gene LeBell. He had something to say as well.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC will not have Wanderlei Silva & Chael Sonnen as TUF 13 coaches
By Zach Arnold | December 15, 2010
Which is a smart move. As much leverage as they have over the relatively politically weak Keith Kizer, it would have been a bad move to have Sonnen on TUF so soon after what happened in California during his appeals hearing. It would have sent a horrible message for the company’s credibility to ‘reward’ him so soon after everything that has gone down.
Besides, there are bigger fish to fry. Like running in Brazil on 8/27 at HSBC Arena and opening up the floodgates for a natural marketplace for their product. This is big news on a lot of levels. Historically, UFC is now pulling off what PRIDE always said they would do but never actually did, which is run a major MMA show in the country with a rich Brazilian roster of talent. PRIDE had Brazilian Top Team and Chute Boxe in their corner and didn’t pull it off. So, for UFC to make the move now is big.
Dana White is promising that all the major Brazilian names will be on the HSBC Arena card including Anderson Silva. In hindsight, he’s in a no-lose situation regarding the outcome of Silva/Belfort given that the champion will probably defend the title in Brazil. And imagine Mr. Silva against the aforementioned Mr. Sonnen.
On a selfish level, I am fascinated to see how this development plays out in the Brazilian fight media. Who will be pro-UFC, anti-UFC, etc. Will it turn out in similar fashion to the current political climate for writers in the States?
What are some of the fights you would book for the Brazil show that would draw the most interest from the local fans?
Topics: Brazil, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bjorn Rebney: Yeah, maybe those Bellator/Strikeforce fights won’t happen
By Zach Arnold | December 15, 2010
Our good friend Jamie Penick and his crew at MMA Torch did a radio interview last night with Bjorn Rebney, the boss of Bellator, talking about the new TV deal they signed with MTV2. I didn’t transcribe the full interview, so I would encourage you to listen to it here.
Some key points from the interview:
BJORN REBNEY: “It is a great day. You know, it’s been a lot of work over the last five to six months. It’s been a lot of plane flights and a lot of meetings and a lot of discussions, but you know it all came to fruition. We got to announce it today. It was exciting. I think it’s an unbelievably magical fit for our brand and hits the right demo and reaches the right audience and just a spectacular partner to work with. We couldn’t be more happy.”
QUESTION: “Can you tell some of our listeners who maybe haven’t heard the story yet or seen everything with it what 2011 is going to be like for Bellator on MTV2?”
BJORN REBNEY: “Well, it’s going to be busy. I can tell you that. It’s going to be 25 events in 2011. It’s going to be two full 12-event seasons complemented by three specials, so starting in March we’ll go March-April-May, we’ll go every single week for three solid months with a 12-event season. Then after that 12-event season is finished up, we’ll do a series of specials once a month so that the brand stays fresh and we stay in the eyes of, you know, fans of Bellator. And then we’ll kick back up in September and go September-October-November for three months and slow it all down for the holidays and kick it back up again in 2012.”
QUESTION: “There were reports out that you guys were coming close to a deal with FX and Fox Sports overall to be on numerous platforms. Was there anything to those deals was it always MTV2?”
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bellator signs 3-year TV deal with MTV2, not FX
By Zach Arnold | December 14, 2010
Press Release
MTV 2 AND BELLATOR AGREE TO 3-YEAR PARTNERSHIP
Rising Mixed Martial Arts Organization Features Top Stars In Exciting Tournament Format; MTV2 To Debut Live Matches in March 2011
New York, NY, December 14, 2010 – Bellator Fighting Championships, a growing force in the world of mixed martial arts, has a new television home, MTV2. It was announced today jointly by Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney and Eric Conte, SVP, Programming and Production, MTV2. The three-year deal will commence in 2011.
Featuring some of the sport’s top stars, Bellator brings a unique format of world-class fighting to fans with 12-week, eight-man tournaments in respective weight classes. MTV2, which features the highest concentration of M12-24 and M12-34 in television, will telecast two of these LIVE tournaments per year, plus a collection of special feature events. The first tournament will premiere in March 2011.
“MTV2 is the perfect home for the intense mixed martial arts action of Bellator,” Eric Conte, SVP, Programming and Production, MTV2. “MMA is at the top of our audience’s wish list, and partnering with Bellator to bring live events and specials to MTV2 made complete sense since our viewers are so hungry to see more MMA on-air.”
“We are thrilled to partner with MTV2 which has such a strong audience of hard-to-reach young guys,” said Rebney. “With a timeslot on a prominent nationally-distributed cable network aimed at young men, we now have the perfect platform to showcase our exciting, action-packed tournaments and fighters.”
Bellator which is Latin for “Warrior,” is based in Chicago, IL and was founded in 2008 by Rebney. The stable of fighters include some of the most exciting in the sport including Eddie Alvarez, Hector Lombard, Joe Warren, Ben Askren, Zoila Frausto and Roger Huerta, once featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Bellator events are held in venues all across the country. Their fights have previously aired on Fox Sports Net, NBC, bi-lingual channel Mun2, ESPN Deportes, and the Score.
About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator’s Founder/Chairman & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production, television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations. For more information go to www.Bellator.com
About MTV2
MTV2 is a man’s best friend, available in nearly 80 million homes and with the highest concentration of males 12-24 and 12-34 on TV today. A vibrant mix of music, lifestyle and action sports programming, MTV2 has reflected the habits and behavior of young people since its launch in 1996. MTV2 is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |