Bureaucrats: Yeah, maybe we do have fundamental problems in MMA judging
By Zach Arnold | December 13, 2010
The new angle here, if you want to call it that, is that my article about Keith Kizer’s unwinnable war with UFC perhaps is proving to be prescient after all.
Who knew that this man would cause such turmoil? Listen to Nam Phan’s comments about the fight he had with Leonard Garcia. Take note of his honesty about how the current MMA judges look at striking in fights:
As I referenced in the Kizer/UFC war article, we are at a point where UFC is in a bizarre proxy war situation and isn’t backing down from the idea of having Chael Sonnen as a coach on next season’s Ultimate Fighter show. It would be the ultimate in-your-face move by UFC to Keith Kizer and I don’t see what recourse he would have to stop it from happening.
Our mate Keith Harris recently asked if the athletic commissions are involved in studying up on CTE and issues related to fighters suffering from brain damage. A very trustworthy source with knowledge of the issue told me last week that right now the commissions are largely hands-off on the issue and that no major studies are underway.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Antonio Inoki as the front man for K-1’s 2010 Dynamite event; TBS time frame set
By Zach Arnold | December 13, 2010
Today, we were supposed to get a 10-match card announced. Instead, we know six of the fights:
- Featherweights: Kaoru Uno vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
- Lightweights: Josh Thomson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
- DREAM/K-1 Mixed rules fight: Shinya Aoki vs. Yuichiro Nagashima (the crazy okama)
- Welterweights: Marius Zaromskis vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
- K-1 MAX Rules Lightweight fight: Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura vs. Tetsuya Yamato
- DREAM Featherweight title match: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
The big development, if you want to call it that, today was the announcement of Antonio Inoki as “executive producer” of this year’s Dynamite event at Saitama Super Arena. If you believe that Inoki would book the kind of fights listed up above, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you. Any how, Inoki will play the Hulk Hogan role of being the face for the event and promising some ‘big surprises’ for the show.
The news of K-1 & Kazuyoshi Ishii calling upon Antonio Inoki to participate is interesting on a lot of political levels, but fights move the needle for fans rather than politics. Politically-speaking, the move to bring Inoki on board is a tacit acknowledgment by K-1 that they needed more star power than they could produce with the fights on their card. Inoki is a far bigger star than anyone on the fight card. Here’s the problem — he can’t fight. Sure, he may do a goofy wrestling exhibition match, but you’ve seen that before. You’ve also seen Inoki-produced events before (see: 8/8/03 at the Tokyo Dome for UFO when he booked Matt Ghaffari vs. Naoya Ogawa and Sanae Kikuta was stretchered out after a beating by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, plus the infamous 12/31/03 Kobe Wing Stadium show that later on would be a key moment in the implosion of PRIDE.)
The bigger political game here for K-1 is Satoshi Ishii. Inoki and his power base (Tatsuo Kawamura) have the juice and hold the cards. I would fully expect to see some of the IGF wrestlers, like a Josh Barnett or Wakakirin the ex-Sumo fighter, get booked. That could also mean a Mark Coleman sighting as well. Intriguingly, a match between Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett would suddenly turn a (largely) meaningless Dynamite event into a show where Strikeforce would see two major matches taking place between Barnett/Overeem and Thomson/Kawajiri. It would be funny to see those fights happening in Japan as opposed to the States. Michael Schiavello, the HDNet voice for K-1, says that Alistair Overeem “would sodomize Barnett.” If they can’t book Barnett, the other name being mentioned is Andrei Arlovski.
For reference, Tatsuo Kawamura is a long-time power broker in the entertainment scene in Japan. He went to school with the late Hiromichi Momose. Momose was the founder of PRIDE (the former yakuza boss who wore a ball cap and sat at ringside for all the major PRIDE events.) It’s funny to see the whole New Year’s Eve concept come full circle on the 10th anniversary event.
A source with knowledge of the major television happenings in Japan indicated to me today that Tokyo Broadcasting System will discuss NYE plans for programming by this Friday. (More below.) The same source also noted, when watching the K-1 World GP event from over the weekend in Tokyo at Ariake Colosseum, that the promotion had a lot of little sponsors supporting the show but no big heavyweight companies showing up. Of note was a ring sponsorship by Fashion TV.
Mr. Schiavello, right after the World GP event was over, claimed that he was told that K-1 found some new financial backing and would be able to run shows in 2011. The sad thing is that, at this point, it’s largely irrelevant because no matter how much cash you have, you either have the ability to make new Japanese stars or don’t. As I noted here over the weekend, Kazuyoshi Ishii’s biggest strength is also his biggest weakness. He knows how to build up foreigners and make them into stars in Japan but has a much shakier track record when it comes to Japanese native aces.
Whatever opinions you have about the fights on this upcoming Dynamite card, the truth is that for star power it really doesn’t hold a candle to the recent World GP event. As for how the Fuji TV event did ratings-wise, I would say the verdict is: OK, not great, but steady. I think it probably helps give the promotion a stay of execution by the channel. Here’s the report claiming that this year’s show overall drew a 13.0% rating. The other networks (N-TV, TBS, TV-Asahi) ran non-sports programming. Asahi drew huge numbers for figure skating (22.9%) and for a taxi driver show (15.8%). The K-1 show did beat the average of both N-TV and TBS programming. In other words, a solid second place standing for Saturday night. For reference, last year’s World GP event drew a 15.3% rating.
As for Mr. Inoki, he appeared today at the press conference for Dynamite and said that he wanted the event to regain it’s fighting spirit and pummel Kohaku (Red & White Music Festival on NHK). Given that Mr. Inoki sold New Japan to Yukes and arranged to have his appearances and licensing matters go through them, I wonder if they gave the OK for being this event’s front man or if he did it on his own accord…
TBS’s kakutougi division has set up its own Twitter account. You can follow them and Dan Herbertson and Tony Loiseleur and have a good time doing it. On Twitter, TBS noted Inoki as the executive producer for the Dynamite show. I would take this as a sign that the Dynamite show will air on the network for NYE. What the specifics are for a time frame are currently unknown. The promoter side, not the TV side, announced that the show will air on all TBS affiliates on NYE from 9 PM to 11:39 PM JST. TBS now confirms the news on their Twitter account.
As for Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Mr. Tanigawa today stated to the media that he talked to Kid’s manager. K-1 says that Kid’s manager told them that he got an offer from the UFC but has not signed a contract yet. Tanigawa believes Yamamoto would be well-served to continue fighting in Japan.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
GSP/Shields and Velasquez/dos Santos likely headliners for first Toronto UFC show
By Zach Arnold | December 12, 2010
Full credit to MMA Fighting and Ariel Helwani
The interview runs 10 and a half minutes long. Not the most newsworthy interview, but certainly an intriguing one for the last three minutes.
Before we get to that part of the interview, the UFC President basically said that as long as Georges St. Pierre continues to be in the pound-for-pound best mix that he will never escape criticism. (This was in response to whether or not St. Pierre will get criticism for going the distance and not finishing off Josh Koscheck.) “I thought he looked incredible tonight. He fought the perfect fight.” The title of this post says it all as far as what we will likely see in late April when UFC makes its debut at the Sky Dome (Rogers Centre). Mr. White was asked why we wouldn’t see GSP vs. Anderson Silva in Toronto and it was promptly pointed out that it was Jake Shields’ turn to get a title shot. Dana did admit that the reason he put off booking St. Pierre vs. Anderson is because he expected Anderson to jump up to Light Heavyweight but instead he remains at Middleweight and can make the cut. If the fight does get it booked, the requirement would be for Anderson to make the cut to 180 pounds. As for why the Jim Miller/Charles Oliveira fight didn’t get more attention from UFC’s marketing department, Mr. White bluntly stated that the Countdown crew was not going to go down to Brazil to film footage for a fight that wasn’t high-profile on the card. As far as whether Joe Stevenson will keep his job in the UFC, Dana played it coy but hinted that Stevenson would hang around for at least one more fight.
And then the interview got interesting when Ariel Helwani brought up the name Alistair Overeem, referring to Overeem’s win at Ariake Colosseum earlier in the day. Dana White made it a point to clearly and repeatedly state that he has no heat with Alistair Overeem and likes him but hates the fact that MMA web sites rank him in Top 10 lists for best MMA Heavyweight fighters in the world. He doesn’t understand how competing in kickboxing fights can earn him support in MMA ratings lists. Furthermore, Mr. White said that he would only hire Overeem if Overeem fought more regularly in MMA fights and did so against higher-quality competition. He went into a rant about Strikeforce’s booking and called him the minor leagues. He trashed their St. Louis event (from last weekend), saying that it was a card full of mismatches and that UFC could do that all day long but they won’t because their matchmaking treats MMA as if it’s a sport. He buried Matt Lindland and Scott Smith, saying that Smith was a guy who couldn’t win The Ultimate Fighter.
On a side note, Mr. White acknowledged that he would like to put together a fight between Kid Yamamoto and Urijah Faber.
Topics: Canada, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 124 on 12/11 in Montreal at the Bell Centre
By Zach Arnold | December 11, 2010
Undercard matches
- Lightweights: Pat Audinwood vs. John Makdessi
- Welterweights: TJ Grant vs. Ricardo Almeida
- Middleweights: Joe Doerksen vs. Dan Miller
- Welterweights: Matt Riddle vs. Sean Pierson
- Middleweights: Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Rafael Natal
- Lightweights: Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
Main card
- Welterweights: Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
- Lightweights: Joe Stevenson vs. Mac Danzig
- Lightweights: Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
- Heavyweights: Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle
- UFC Welterweight title match: Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 2010 World GP Finals (Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum) event results
By Zach Arnold | December 11, 2010
- WGP Reserve Fight: Ewerton Teixeira (Brazil) defeated Errol Zimmerman (Curacao) after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-28 twice, 29-28.)
- WGP 2010: Peter Aerts (Holland) defeated Mighty Mo (America) in R1 in 2’30 by KO.
- WGP 2010: Semmy Schilt (Holland) defeated Kyotaro (Japan) after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-27 twice, 30-28.)
- WGP 2010: Gokhan Shaki (Turkey) defeated Daniel Ghita (Romania) in extra time by JD.
- WGP 2010: Alistair Overeem (Holland) defeated Tyrone Spong (Suriname) after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (29-27 twice, 29-28.)
- Hesdy Gerges defeated Yusuke Fujimoto in R1 in 1’41 by KO. Fujimoto’s retirement bout.
- WGP 2010: Peter Aerts defeated Semmy Schilt after 3R by a 2-0 JD. (30-29 twice, 29-29.)
- WGP 2010: Alistair Overeem defeated Gokhan Saki in R1 in 2’33 by KO.
- Singh Jaideep (India) defeated Sergey Kharitonov (Russia) in R1 in 2’58 by KO.
- World GP 2010 finals: Alistair Overeem defeated Peter Aerts in R1 in 1’07 by KO.
Alistair looks like The Incredible Hulk in this photo. Mr. Tanigawa’s quick comment after the show about K-1 being a central focus in Alistair’s fighting career was interesting. While both Alistair and Kyotaro are in consideration for Dynamite show matchmaking, Peter Aerts said he planned on spending NYE with his family but would be open to a fight offer if it was good.
I don’t know how the show will do ratings-wise on Fuji TV, but the network and promotion ended up with the kind of main event in terms of right names to grab the most attention. Aerts, being the most-recognized foreigner in K-1, and Alistair being the second gaijin ace for the promotion now.
To finish off the proceedings, an intriguing note from one Michael Schiavello:
I am told K-1 will be back next year and money deal has been signed from international investors!! Woohoo!!
The big question is whether or not Ishii was able to convince some money marks to go for a joy ride or if he’s cashing out some equity to keep the operations running. With that stated, the fact that Yoshihiro Akiyama, Kid Yamamoto, and Michihiro Omigawa have all left Japan to fight in UFC says a lot.
Our friend Dan Herbertson over at MMA Fighting will have photos from the Ariake Colosseum event online shortly. Good work.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Decision December for the two major promotions in UFC & K-1
By Zach Arnold | December 10, 2010
This weekend, the two major organizations that promote MMA will be having critical shows. What’s at stake for each promotion, however, varies greatly.
UFC will break their all-time record for attendance with UFC 124 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The fight card itself is nothing special but the main event is red-hot and has been promoted amazingly well. It’s a rare occasion in UFC for a big PPV where you have a headlining fight featuring one champion (Georges St. Pierre) who is so heavily favored to win over his challenger (Josh Koscheck) and yet that is stopping absolutely no one from buying the show. It truly is remarkable how I have not yet encountered a single reader who believes Koscheck will win, yet everyone is adamant that they will watch this show. If that’s not the definition of doing an excellent job in promotion, I don’t know what it is then.
The sense of electricity for the show is huge and there will be a lot of important people at the event, such as Ken Hayashi and members of the Ontario Athletic Commission. With Montreal attracting UFC’s big box offices in the past, everyone else in Canada wanted to get in on the action. In a few years when we look back at the major expansion UFC will undergo in the Canadian marketplace, the past shows they’ve had in Montreal must never be forgotten (especially when Shogun destroyed Liddell). If there is one clear statement to make this week about UFC, it’s to say that this has been a great week for the organization and they have so much momentum on their side for business it’s really incredible.
On the other side of the globe and the other side of the momentum equation, you have K-1. The promotion is on its last legs. Whether or not the promotion collapses and goes into hibernation or dies, one thing is for certain — this Saturday’s Ariake Colosseum event in Tokyo is a make-or-break show. K-1 has this event airing on Fuji TV. Fuji TV has been their long-time television partner. If the show tanks in the ratings (a good possibility), how much longer will Fuji TV stick with K-1?
And then there’s Dynamite at the end of the month. It was announced today that Fields will be the main sponsor of the show. In other words, K-1 has not been able to attract any large-scale sponsors for the Dynamite show. Entirely predictable but sad. It indicates what I noted all along, which is that K-1 is leaning hard on their current sponsors but not able to expand the sponsorship pie. This is why you’ve heard no support publicly yet from Tokyo Broadcasting System about the event. Whether or not the show actually airs on New Year’s Eve is largely a moot point now. The damage is done. The prestige is gone. The question is all about finances now for K-1. Take a look at the leaked card so far.
Which leads me back to Saturday’s upcoming event at Ariake Colosseum. I’ve had a few insiders note to me that this show feels like ‘the last hurrah’ for K-1 on network television. I’m not sure if this is the company’s last television show, but I certainly feel that this event more so than Dynamite will be the finale in terms of putting on a strong display for a show. What’s amazed me so far in the media reaction about the leak concerning Josh Thomson vs. Crusher Kawajiri is how the same MMA writers who complain that fans don’t understand the business of MMA are the first ones to mark out about how ‘awesome’ Thomson vs. Kawajiri is when it’s a fight that maybe 500 Japanese fans care about.
I think the atmosphere at Ariake Colosseum for K-1 on Saturday night will be strong because of a mixture of both good and bad reasons. Good reasons because the World GP is historically the promotion’s strongest. Good because we may end up seeing Alistair Overeem vs. Semmy Schilt, two Golden Glory stars, in the finals. Good because I expect some of the fights to have highlight reel finishes. Bad, however, because there is such a thing as a ‘this is the end’ effect on fans. You can’t ignore it. I think there will definitely be some fans at the show who wouldn’t have been there in the first place because they want to see history and want to be a part of one of the last major shows that the promotion is putting on. I’m not suggesting that K-1 won’t have any shows in 2011, but what I am suggesting is that they are going to be financially in a bad place and the possibility of a promotional stoppage is high. I think the Ariake Colosseum show will turn out to be exciting but also sad in a way, too.
To put the cherry on top of K-1’s collapse and UFC’s rise, the story about Kid Yamamoto heading to UFC in 2011 makes a lot of sense for all parties involved. Yamamoto could easily make more money fighting for DREAM, but look at all of the financial problems in Japan right now. Plus, to say that relations between Yamamoto and K-1 are strained would be a great understatement. Remember the stories in Shukan Gendai about Kid Yamamoto and marijuana parties? So do I. As for what reason Yamamoto would go to UFC, I think there are a couple of reasons. The primary one is to get a Bantamweight fight against Urijah Faber. This has been talked about for yeras in the Japanese press as a dream fight. Now that the WEC merger will be soon complete, Kid can get a fight with Faber in UFC. I also think it’s got a strong chance of being on a main PPV card. I know it’s a fight that only the hardcore fans would largely care about, but it would be a hell of a fight to see in the UFC and one that I think UFC’s matchmakers will be glad to book. If you book Yamamoto in a showcase fight against a lesser opponent, you do risk having him potentially lose and kill interest in a fight with Faber. The secondary reason I think Yamamoto will be happy in UFC is because he’ll get to fight in a cage and fight at the right weight class for a guaranteed paycheck. In today’s Japanese climate, there are no guaranteed paychecks any more.
How much is Georges St. Pierre’s image as a legendary fighter on the line at UFC 124?
This isn’t much a question that I’ve spent much time thinking about, but clearly it seems to be the one that everyone is asking heading into this weekend’s fight. Everyone knows about the ongoing debate between Dana White & Greg Jackson as to whether or not Jackson is making his guys strictly into point fighters. Jonathan Snowden has a look at GSP’s top 10 career defining moments. St. Pierre’s last fight was against Dan Hardy, who decided to play the role of gumby in their title match and ridiculously not submit to some painful submission attempts.
I will say that there will be a tremendous amount of pressure, both internal and external for St. Pierre to get the job done fast against Josh Koscheck and in painful or brutal fashion. If Koscheck manages to frustrate St. Pierre and drag the fight out to go the distance (Daniel Cormier thinks this is possible), there will be a lot of impatient fans. Could St. Pierre make a mental mistake due to putting too much pressure on himself to finish off Koscheck early? He did admit that Koscheck gets under his skin. He gets under mostly everyone’s skin, though.
Outside of the main event, the fight I’m paying the most attention to is Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira. Love the fight on paper. Miller is one of those guys who is always in the -150 to -400 range each fight and just keeps winning. Always reliable, solid, and with a win against an exciting prospect like Oliveira, he will slowly elevate himself into title contention (or at least main event status for a Fight Night level show).
On a Canadian media note, the former boss of Canwest Global Communications has purchased The Fight Network.
Topics: Canada, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
How changes in California evaluating judges could negatively impact scoring fights
By Zach Arnold | December 9, 2010
New update at the bottom of the article.
I wanted to point out this discussion with Dave Meltzer, who takes a look at how California’s commission will start evaluating judges in 2011. Take note of what kind of changes are coming and use that template to analyze the judges giving Leonard Garcia a decision win over Nam Phan last Saturday in Las Vegas.
DAVE MELTZER: “I don’t know. You know I mean, it’s Tony Weeks and Adalaide Byrd who gave rounds one and three to (Leonard) Garcia. The other judge, now this is another point, actually, the other judge, the Japanese judge, gave all three rounds to Nam Phan but the key is that, and this is not Nevada so much, but California… this is the point… California’s going to be evaluating judges based on, um, how they fare when you score rounds as compared to the other judges.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Oh God…”
DAVE MELTZER: “So the Japanese judge who probably had it right would actually, if this was California’s evaluation system, he would look really bad because he missed on two of the three rounds based on the consensus and so it would look like he was the bad judge as opposed to the other two judges. So, that’s one of the things where the way they are evaluating judges and the way you evaluate judges’ consistency, it’s uh, you know, compared to the other two judges…”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Oh, this is great. So we got a bunch of stupid judges and if the stupid ones are, uh, outnumbering the intelligent ones then we’re just going to have more stupid judges.”
DAVE MELTZER: “Not necessarily that, but in certain cases some guys may look bad. But the point of the evaluation is is that subconsciously what’s going to happen is no one’s going to give 10-8 rounds.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Oh God…”
DAVE MELTZER: “Because they know that the other judges aren’t going to give 10-8 rounds so if they give a 10-8 and the other judges give a 10-9, then it looks like that they were out of sync with the scoring. So, that’s the, um… you know, and this is again not in Nevada but it will be, it is how in 2011 the California judges will be evaluated and to me the end result is is that we’re going to see a lot fewer 10-8 rounds in California because the judges are going to know that I’ve got to, instead of judging how I believe the fight goes, now I have to judge based on how I believe the other judges are going to judge the fight and not be off on that and that’s a completely different mindset. I mean, again, when I, you know, and people who follow my play-by-plays and everything, I always say you know in a lot of these fights, you know, which is often the key on these would be fights where a guy is on top, does nothing on top, the guy on the bottom is threatening submissions, actually gets near submissions and things like that, and I’ll go like, the guy on the bottom won the round but I think the judges are going to give it to the guy on the top. If you are now a judge and you were, you know, wanting to protect your position, if you thought that the guy on the bottom won you might give it to the guy on the top based on the fact that that’s how it’s usually judged, so it’s really um… There’s a lot of issues with the judging, you know, it’s a bad system to begin with and bad judges…”
(snipped to discussion a few minutes later on in the discussion)
DAVE MELTZER: “The problem is not the 10 point must system. The problem is how judges are trained in that they’re going to give everything a 10-9. They won’t give 10-10’s because the commission frowns on 10-10’s which is ridiculous because when no one does anything to either guy, you know, it’s an even round! And someone shouldn’t get credit for, you know, what I call a coin flip round and that’s what it is. … I mean, when there are rounds when nobody does much of anything, it is, you know, essentially a coin flip round, either guy can get it and it creates a situation where, you know, and it’s the same value of beating the [expletive] out of somebody in the other round. So, it’s… and you get these decisions like [Nam Phan losing to Leonard Garcia]. It really wasn’t… uh, an outrageous decision yet I know the people in the UFC were absolutely furious. I know (Joe) Rogan was furious and when Rogan went off, UFC if Rogan had gone off and I can tell you this one, if Rogan had gone off on that and UFC did not agree with it, Rogan would be in hot water and he is not in hot water. In fact, they were really glad he did, which just tells you where, you know, their mentality was is that they believe that, you know, Nam Phan got completely robbed and in a sense he did, but you know again, it’s partially the system. Also at the end, I mean when it was over though it was like you would really I have to stretch I thought to get two rounds for Garcia but um… it was a very good fight up until the decision. I mean, it was what I expected, you know I mean Garcia just, Garcia goes all out. He swings really hard until he gasses out. He gassed out earlier in usual because he wasn’t in the shape he’s usually in which is what happens when you’re called late. Nam Phan, very disciplined, you know, pretty exciting fighter and… in a sense, you know, at the end of the day my feeling is that a lot of people are going to go, he got robbed, and he did but… for your career, honestly, a lot of people don’t realize this is but it’s like with Matt Hamill in a situation or even Evan Dunham recently. It actually benefits you to get robbed because what happens is so many people get behind you for being robbed. Like if Nam Phan were to actually won this decision, nobody would be talking about Nam Phan. They would be a little bit and you know it still would have gotten Best Fight and everything, but Nam Phan will gain a lot more popularity for being robbed and UFC, which is the key to the whole thing, is that the UFC matchmaking and the UFC hierarchy will not hold this loss against him because they consider it a win. So, you know, I mean who people analyze records and go, Oh my God, he’s 16-8 instead of 17-7, oh my God! You know what? It doesn’t mean [expletive] and the reality is like when Matt Hamill lost to (Michael) Bisping. Matt Hamill became so much more popular for losing to Bisping because he got robbed than had he won the fight justly.”
Update (12/9): Eric Kamander has an absolutely must-read article on the new scoring system in place, which includes a fourth judge in case there is a tie. I strongly encourage you to read this and give me your feedback.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
In the world of UFC fans, Josh Koscheck = villain & Chael Sonnen = hero
By Zach Arnold | December 9, 2010
Update at the end of this article.
On Saturday night in Montreal at the Bell Centre, UFC will have its largest crowd ever for an event and the event is appropriately headlined by Georges St. Pierre defending his Welterweight crown against Josh Koscheck. Koscheck is public enemy #1 in the eyes of UFC fans. He relishes the heat he is getting and the fight will draw really big numbers.
With this in mind, I had a sit down conversation with a close friend who is a semi-hardcore MMA observer and we started talking about why Koscheck is so hated. It’s not as simple as saying that he acts like the little snot-nosed brother you never had because that shtick wouldn’t draw the fan reaction he’s getting now. Certainly, a heavy element of the heat is based on the purely emotional attachment that the fans have to St. Pierre who in the eyes of many can do no wrong. However, that wouldn’t equate the level of hatred and venom that Mr. Koscheck is attracting at this moment.
So, what is it? What is it about Koscheck that makes him hated to the degree that he currently is in the eyes of the fans? He hasn’t gotten into a stupid trash talking affair like Rashad Evans did with Rampage Jackson in which some of the dumbest comments about race were ever made. He doesn’t have a penis-looking tattoo on his chest like the former UFC Heavyweight champion. He’s definitely improved as a fighter. By all accounts, Josh Koscheck is an incredibly hard worker who has managed to take the right path in life and stay out of trouble.
This season’s Ultimate Fighter show was largely pedestrian sans some amusing segments between Koscheck and an EMT (aka ‘male nurse.’) Realistically, that was the ‘worst offense’ Koscheck did on the show. He was largely on good behavior and yet, if you listened to the audience at UFC 121 in Anaheim, they treated him like he was in lower standing than a third-world dictator. It’s fairly obvious that the marketing vehicle of The Ultimate Fighter worked magnificently. The question: How did everything come together perfectly to create this combustible fan reaction?
What I found most interesting about the fan reaction to Koscheck is that it is largely the polar opposite to the fan reaction to Chael Sonnen these days. Judging by the amount of feedback I’ve gotten here, here, in e-mail, and offline, Sonnen is practically viewed as a hero for standing up to THE MAN on Thursday when he had his appeals meeting with the California State Athletic Commission board.
The comments I received ranged from “we don’t have any right to judge him” to “you don’t understand his personal situation” to “you guys are a bunch of keyboard warriors and don’t have the balls to fight in the cage like he does.” The arguments are virtually all emotional and completely void of facts. And those who contacted me who did know the facts of the case are largely upset — not at the fact that Sonnen did what he did but the fact that he got caught in the first place and that it delayed his rematch with Anderson Silva.
The disconnect between the fans, fighters, hanger-ons, etc. and the media covering this issue based on the facts is enormous. It’s as wide of a gap as I can possibly recall on an MMA ‘scandal’ to this degree. I was struck by just how aggressive they were in their defense of Sonnen. I truly believe that they view Sonnen with admiration because he’s got the nerve to do something that drug users in this sport don’t have, which is come out and open up Pandora’s box about what he did while proclaiming that it’s above board and necessary. Who would have ever thought that a fighter’s counsel would make an argument that he shouldn’t be suspended because it would be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act? You want to talk about bold!
There’s plenty of fighters who are doping and testosterone replacement therapy is a growing practice. (Just look at pro-wrestling.) You damage your body by using anabolic steroids, you go see a (mark) doctor when your testosterone level is low, you get a prescription to use testosterone, and off you go. Because Chael Sonnen’s defense has been so publicly blunt and aggressive, will his story give legitimacy to this kind of activity in the industry? Once the doors are open on this, who’s to say we won’t see an even bigger increase in doping that’s not detected by drug testing?
The reason Sonnen tested positive is because he took testosterone a couple of days before his fight. The idea of TRT in theory is that you try to get your body up to its normal levels (1:1 to 3:1 range). He was at nearly a level of 17:1 for his fight. That’s crazy. Anderson Silva and Ed Soares have every right to be disappointed, if not angry. (For more on this issue, read this comment.)
Sonnen noted that he takes two testosterone dosages a week.
One thing Chael Sonnen is telling the truth about is the overwhelming positive support he is receiving. He’s absolutely 100% accurate about that. For Mr. Sonnen, the California commission is a perfect foil. It didn’t matter how brash, shameless, truthful or untruthful he was last Thursday, he knew that image of California’s commission is tarnished in the eyes of many as a disorganized and ignorant bureaucratic operation. The more he pressed the commission, the more public sympathy he would earn. What made the hearing fascinating is that Sonnen claims that UFC physician Dr. Jeff Davidson told the California commission before his fight with Yushin Okami about TRT and had things cleared away. (This is being disputed.) Under oath, Sonnen claimed that he talked with Nevada State Athletic Commission boss Keith Kizer about TRT. Kizer has told numerous media members after the hearing that he did no such thing.
Which leads us to the next step in this saga. Sonnen will have to re-apply for a fighter’s license in Nevada because it expires on the 31st. Mr. Kizer will face a predicament. As Kevin Iole recently noted, the houses for big fighting events in Las Vegas are way down. Scary numbers for the casino shows. We know that UFC generates significant revenue for the local Vegas economy with their big events there. The rematch between Sonnen and Silva will draw big, big numbers if it’s done in Las Vegas. Will Keith Kizer stand up to Chael Sonnen and help block Sonnen from getting licensed again or will the economics of the situation alter the outcome of the re-licensing hearing? After all, the Nevada commission did reject a license request for Antonio Margarito after he got caught with a plaster-like substance on his hand wraps in California. The difference between Margarito and Sonnen, however, is that Margarito is a reviled figure nationally and Sonnen has gained fan support since the Silva fight.
And I’m totally baffled as to why the more fans learn about the case brought against Mr. Sonnen at the appeals hearing, the more they seem to support him in the matter. I give Chael credit for one thing — like a good magician, he pulls off a trick and right as you figure out how he accomplished it, he’s already onto something else.
(Update 12/9): A report that the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved both Dan Henderson and Todd Duffee for HRT/TRT.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Keith Kizer is fighting a losing P.R. & political battle with the UFC
By Zach Arnold | December 9, 2010
New update at the bottom of the Mr. Kizer/Mr. Rogan portion of the article.
For the most part, Keith Kizer has largely been anything but bold as the director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission during his tenure in office. Other than not licensing Antonio Margarito, it’s largely been business as usual in Las Vegas. The economy has tanked in the States, especially in Nevada where jobs are scarce and the foreclosure crisis has hit the state hard. At this point, whoever brings money and business to the state is lauded as heroic. Kizer, for the most part, has not done anything to get in the way of UFC’s business affairs. In a sense, you could say he’s been useful to them.
Well, it looks like the sentiments have changed dramatically. If this was a mafia movie, a consigliere would sit Mr. Kizer down and read him the riot act. UFC is not happy with the way personnel matters related to officiating are being handled in the state. Joe Rogan, acting on his accord, is the perfect front man for UFC to rip into officials and into Kizer. As long as it’s Rogan and not Dana White or Marc Ratner doing the dirty work, UFC can publicly say that their hands are clean of the criticism. Rogan went on national television last Saturday and implored with the fans to verbalize their disgusting with officiating. He made the remark that the judging and officiating is so incompetent that the public attacks UFC for being ‘corrupt’ when they have nothing to do with bad referee work or judging whatsoever. In other words, it undermines the credibility that the UFC has with the public and that can alter the bottom line if people view the sport your promoting as fixed or a work. We all know UFC’s mentality is that their organization is the sport, so anything that hurts them is a call to action.
This is not a winnable war for Keith Kizer, neither in public nor in private. If the Fertitta family is angry, they have the financial muscle to make a difference. If they’re not happy with the ways things are run in Nevada, they can run shows elsewhere and help other states make money while Nevada is on the sidelines. Don’t think that the local politicians ignore this kind of thing. Commissioners come and go. but UFC and their deep pockets are not going anywhere. If you’re a betting person and had to choose between who’s going to last longer in power, Keith Kizer or the UFC in Nevada, Mr. Kizer’s drawing the short end of that stick.
In perhaps the next step in what could end up being a bizarre proxy war, there seems to be a heat-up in a war of words between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. How about that. These two have been rumored for over a month now to be the next coaches on The Ultimate Fighter. Sonnen coaching on a UFC program taped in Las Vegas where Keith Kizer has to show up for weigh-ins. The amount of messages that would be sent by the UFC for having Sonnen be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter would be enormous. It would be a total slap in the face to Kizer, given that Sonnen claimed that Kizer approved of him using Testosterone Replacement Therapy. Kizer completely denies this charge. Given this scenario, the idea of UFC using Sonnen as a coach and rewarding his behavior by putting him on national television week-after-week would speak volumes about the seriousness in which UFC looks at the issue of PED usage amongst fighters in MMA. It would all but eliminate UFC from publicly ever taking the high road on the matter, but of course the tradeoff would be significant short-term financial gains for a PPV match between Wanderlei and Sonnen.
Update (12/9): Mr. Kizer’s getting flooded with angry fan response and he’s not happy with the tone of the feedback.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Today’s parallels between Strikeforce and K-1
By Zach Arnold | December 7, 2010
K-1 claims that they will announce 10 fights for their Dynamite event (12/31 Saitama Super Arena) after their 12/11 Ariake Colosseum event takes place in Tokyo. I find this news to be curious because a week ago the company line issued to certain individuals is that they weren’t going to focus on Dynamite until after the Ariake Colosseum event. How things change.
K-1 says that they will talk to Satoshi Ishii’s management this week to see if they can get him booked for the Dynamite event. At this past weekend’s IGF (Inoki) event in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan, disgraced former Sumo wrestler Wakakirin is now Inoki’s Japanese ace in IGF and said he wanted to fight at the Dynamite event. Both Ishii and Wakakirin are aligned on the Inoki side of politics. A stranger sidebar to the Dynamite discussion is a PR stunt by K-1 to tease whether or not disgraced Livedoor boss Takafumi Horie (who’s now in the porn business) will appear at the Saitama Super Arena event.
The situation for K-1 on New Year’s Eve is critical. They need Tokyo Broadcasting System a lot more than TBS needs them, despite the attitude on display by some of “what else is TBS going to air that will draw just as well on NYE?” The truth is that as K-1 loses more power, TBS gains more control. TBS will continue to gain influence over K-1 as a company until they get tired of Kazuyoshi Ishii and pull the plug. Low ratings can have that effect on a relationship. The position K-1 is in going into New Year’s Eve is horrible. They will have less than three weeks to promote a show at a major arena with a rumored card line-up that, so far, has little or no relevance to the Japanese public at hand. Bibiano Fernandes vs. Hiroyuki Takaya, Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Marius Zaromskis, and Josh Thomson vs. Crusher Kawajiri all are DREAM-level fights but they do not come across as fights that a Japanese television executive would book for ratings, right?
(It should be noted that the original rumor for Dynamite matchmaking a few weeks ago was a fight between Sakuraba and Akebono.)
What’s been so fascinating about this year’s Dynamite show is that all the action has taken place behind the scenes. TBS holds all the cards. It would seem unlikely, at this point, that a pay-for-play deal was reached, but who knows? A barter deal (advertising split), should K-1 manage to somehow get a limited time frame on the network for NYE, would make the most sense. The problem is attracting significant sponsorship dollars. We’re far too late into the game here.
When one looks at the historical purpose of the New Year’s Eve big fight show (started by DSE & Antonio Inoki in 2000 at the Osaka Dome), the purpose was to attack the establishment. The establishment, in this case, was NHK’s traditional NYE powerhouse Kohaku. Inoki, PRIDE, and K-1 positioned themselves as the rebels challenging the status quo and proving that the Japanese fight game is the strongest in the world. It was a showcase for top Japanese stars and for developing new Japanese aces. Inoki brought the pro-wrestling marketing sense and stars from New Japan, PRIDE brought the major-league production values, and K-1 brought the juice through their television connections.
Look at the Dynamite franchise now, 10 years later. The juice is gone. If K-1 can get the event aired on TV, that is somehow considered a victory in this current climate. You would have never imagined that scenario, even three years ago. And… the fights being leaked so far in the press are intriguing but not for the reasons you would expect. Josh Thomson vs. Crusher Kawajiri is a fight that Scott Coker wants to see, but can you honestly say the mainstream public in Japan cares? No, which is why I think it’s fascinating to see that some of the fights that could end up getting booked on Dynamite will end up having more consequence on the matchmaking outside of K-1 rather than in the promotion’s own booking scenario.
I am reminded of a discussion Dave Meltzer had with Bryan Alvarez after the Strikeforce show in St. Louis last weekend in which they criticized Strikeforce for not announcing fights for their 1/29 San Jose event during the Showtime telecast. The word that kept popping up was ‘mindboggling.’ Was it because Josh Barnett couldn’t get re-licensed? Was it because Gilbert Melendez’s hand injury hasn’t healed up in time to book a trilogy fight against Josh Thomson? Those were the questions being asked in the discussion. That discussion led to a larger discussion about how much Showtime controls Strikeforce at this point as an MMA property and that Showtime has certain ideas and values as to how to book events. Dave claims that the reason Strikeforce preliminary fights aren’t shown on Showtime is because Showtime believes that since they are a premium cable channel that, unless you are already an established MMA star, you shouldn’t get air time on their channel as a nobody. “Airing prelims, that is a UFC move,” is how Dave described Showtime’s attitude on the matter. Strikeforce can put on good shows, but they are at the mercy of Showtime at this point.
Which is, ironically, the position Strikeforce’s Japanese partner, K-1, is in now with TBS. This is not a political position that Ishii ever thought he would find himself in. Even if TBS decides to air Dynamite, the big issue is money. If TBS doesn’t have to pay much money for the telecast, how will K-1 survive financially? All eyes are on this Saturday’s Ariake Colosseum event and whether or not K-1 can draw a good enough rating to maintain their relationship with Fuji TV. Here’s photos from today’s workout featuring Kyotaro (Keijiro Maeda).
The relationship between Fuji TV and K-1 goes back to the beginnings of K-1 as a national player in the 90s. K-1 aired their major shows on Fuji TV and then developed B-level “K-1 Japan series” events that aired on Nippon TV. Eventually, K-1 shifted towards the World MAX events and moved from Nippon TV to TBS. For two decades, the promotion has had an incredible run of shows on three of Japan’s biggest broadcast networks. I was recently reading an article from writer Ichiro Ochiai talking about the tragedies and triumphs of the K-1 Japan series aces like Musashi, Yusuke Fujimoto, Tsuyoshi Nakasako, Hiromi Amada, Nobu Hayashi, and Tatsufumi Tomihira. The lack of new Japanese superstars is what led to the irrelevance and death of the K-1 Japan series. Heading in 2011, K-1 finds all of their television properties in danger of extinction. The company is now at the mercy of television executives.
The sad predicament K-1 is in now reminds me of another sad predicament of someone who made a name for themselves under the Dynamite banner and that’s pro-wrestler Tadao Yasuda. Yasuda become a semi-household name in Japan after choking out Jerome Le Banner. The win caused chaos in New Japan matchmaking and Yasuda would eventually win the IWGP Heavyweight title because of a match result in a shoot fight. Yesterday, in quiet fashion, Yasuda announced that he would be having a retirement show on February 4th in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall. Yasuda was the classic hard-luck story you see in pro-wrestling all the time. He made the conversion from Sumo wrestling and never really panned out as a good wrestler. His penchant for gambling away his salary on pachislo (pachinko slot machines) was so prominent that it became the storyline used by TBS in the pre-fight clips for his 2001 Dynamite bout. His daughter was at ring side to watch him fight Le Banner. After Yasuda pulled off the upset win, he became known as “King Debtor of the Heisei era” in the media. He won the IWGP title, gambled away more money, turned heel in New Japan and became “Hollywood” Tadao Yasuda, and eventually left. He had a failed suicide attempt at his house in October of 2007. He became broke again due to gambling.
In the press report issued for his pro-wrestling retirement show, he says that he plans on moving away from Japan to head to Brazil because he’s too tempted to gamble his money away in his home country. He noted that he wants to teach Sumo wrestling. In a plea to the fans, he promised that he wouldn’t blow the money from the retirement show on gambling and that he would use it for retirement.
He’s fading off into the sunset on a predetermined date. The question is whether or not K-1 & Dynamite will fade off into the sunset shortly as well.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dan Henderson gets Feijao fight next, Lawler says Lindland was very predictable
By Zach Arnold | December 5, 2010
Before we get to the interview transcripts, I want you to check out this interview Ariel Helwani did with Scott Coker. Not a lot of newsworthy items in the interview, but some of the answers to the questions may catch your eye. I thought he ‘split the baby’ when it came to talking about retirement for both Scott Smith and Matt Lindland. It was a “they need to sit down and have a conversation” answer. However, the fact that he didn’t say ‘no’ to the notion of retirement for either fighter said a lot (to me, anyways).
Josh Gross notes that the Strikeforce show in St. Louis drew 7,146 at the cavernous Scottrade Center. Strikeforce has consistently drawn mediocre numbers for their St. Louis events, but I’m not inclined at all to blame that on St. Louis being cold to MMA. Far from it.
CREDIT TO MMAFighting.com and Ariel Helwani
ARIEL HELWANI: “Robbie, considering Matt Lindland, considering you’re here in St. Louis, can you describe the emotions that you’re feeling right now after such a vicious knockout?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Uh, it’s always nice to knock someone out. It’s always nice to get a big win. Uh… Matt just came out and just probably should have wrestled a little more and I was just ready for him to stand with me.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Were you surprised that he did that?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “No, that was my game plan. I thought this guy thinks he’s going to come out and exchange with me, then look to close the distance and I think I did a good job where I was moving and slipping his punches a little bit and throwing hard leather where he couldn’t just close the distance. But, uh, I expected him to stand.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “By the way, I think the interview’s officially longer than the fight. Pretty amazing, right? I mean, you almost feel like you want to fight again, right? I mean you’re not even tired.”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Yeah, if this was a tournament, I’d be ready for that second one for sure. Hopefully Matt’s OK and I’m looking forward to training on Monday.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Did you feel as though, um, you know, after what happened in your last fight that you needed an emphatic victory here tonight to sort of reassert yourself at 185 here?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “No, I don’t really care. I mean, usually when I win it’s usually pretty exciting and it’s usually by knockout. So, that’s how I fight all the time. I don’t press to do anything spectacular. That’s just the way I fight. I go hard, I go to try to finish people, I go to take people’s heads off.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “At this point do you think Matt should, you know, reconsider fighting the top tier guys?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Uh, that’s on him. He should go back and talk to his family and that’s on him, I’m not going to make any of those calls for him.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “And how about you? You’re only 28 years old, yet it feels as though you’ve been fighting for 20 years. You know, what do need to do now to just keep improving and to really get back in that title chase?”
ROBBIE LAWLER: “Uh, I’m going to be training with good guys, plain and simple. There’s some guys in Arizona I’m going to be working with that are opening up a new gym. I’m hoping to be a part of that, really good guys, big guys, big strong wrestlers and I’m going to keep wrestling, keep working on my striking and keep working on being faster and stronger.”
Now, onto Dan Henderson’s comments about his fight performance on Saturday night…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A couple of MMA careers should be finished after tonight’s shows
By Zach Arnold | December 4, 2010
And I’m not even talking about the judges who scored the Nam Phan/Leonard Garcia fight in Las Vegas, either. (More on that in a minute.)
The immediate reaction to my thoughts about both Scott Smith and Matt Lindland needing to retire is that Smith should get a pass as long as he goes back to Middleweight, but that yes, Matt should call it a career. I think an argument can be made for both. Smith suffered yet another brutal knockout in his career, this time at the hands of Paul Daley. Lindland also suffered a sub-one minute KO loss to Robbie Lawler who was in target practice mode the entire time. Given the relative weakness Scott Coker has displayed in the past in standing up to fighters, I expect both men to continue getting booked. Realistically, they shouldn’t be booked for any more bouts after tonight’s showing in St. Louis.
The accumulation of punishment that both Smith and Lindland have endured over the span of their MMA careers is remarkable. They should not get future bookings simply because watching them get knocked out is fun or entertaining. This is a violent sport and it’s a sport where fighters figure out the realities of their careers and health way too late after the fact when the damage is already done.
I get it. MMA writers, for the most part, shouldn’t think they are entitled to tell a fighter who puts his health on the line in a fight to be an arbiter as to when that fighter should hang up the gloves. However, the body of evidence for both Smith and Lindland to call it quits before they suffer permanent brain damage is mounting fast.
As for the horrible MMA judging on display in Las Vegas tonight for the Nam Phan/Leonard Garcia fight, all I can say is that Garcia has some sort of magical spell that he puts on American MMA judges. (See: His fight from April against The Korean Zombie.) His technique is horrible and he swings like a wild man, yet a boxing judge like Tony Weeks of all people rewards him with a decision win over Nam Phan. The look and reaction on Phan’s face after the decision was priceless. It was so bad, Spike TV utterly failed at bleeping out ‘bullshit’ chants by the crowd. It was so bad, Joe Rogan used the second round of the pedestrian Johny Hendricks/Rick Story fight to tee off on Keith Kizer.
(Heckuva job, Keith. Hell of a week, too, for the Barney Fife of MMA. People are laughing at you, not with you.)
“It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on fighters not knowing what kind of officiating you are getting. … It’s gross. You should be able to leave it in the hands of the judges. The Nevada State Athletic Commission, that’s what it is. Keith Kizer has denied that there’s an issue. … I think he needs to clean house. … It’s sheer, complete, total incompetence. Send e-mails, write blogs, get online…”
The one judge who got the Phan decision right was Japanese.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Transcript of Chael Sonnen on HDNet right after CSAC appeal hearing
By Zach Arnold | December 4, 2010
MIKE STRAKA: “Chael, what was it like being on the hot seat today? You finally had your hearing.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, you know, dealing with the commission… the commission’s a pretty small entity, but a commission has a lot of power over a guy like me. Uh… I haven’t really dealt with this matter until today. I had a team of lawyers. I’VE been dealing with, uh, the Federal Government, uh, all the way dating back almost five years ago, interfered with a campaign I had for public office, so that’s where my attention has been. I’m getting real close to, uh, reaching a deal with the Federal Government on that issue, but that’s where my focus has been. The lawyers handle things and business went well today.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Well, let’s talk about the hearing. You basically, you got your suspension cut in half, which is a victory for you. But, there is an embarrassment issue, you know, people think you’re on steroids. How are you going to deal with this?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Uh, well, you know, listen… I don’t plan to deal with it at all. I don’t know really anybody that thinks I was on steroids. Um… and if they do, I wouldn’t offer an explanation, uh… or an apology, the facts were the facts and that’s it, that’s between me and the commission and we dealt with it.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Now, the issue was, you were taking some form of testosterone, but you were allowed to with what’s called hypogonadism and Testosterone Replacement Therapy…”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Sure.”
MIKE STRAKA: “And this is something you disclosed and you did disclose it to George Dodd, but there was a protocol issue. Correct?’
CHAEL SONNEN: “That’s correct. I was found not guilty on the substance issue, uh… you used the term steroids which is a big catch-word and that’s really not fair. Now with that said, testosterone falls in the category of steroids. But that’s like saying that mouthwash falls in the category of alcohol or cough syrup is alcohol. It’s not exactly the same thing and it’s not what we’re talking about. One is a medicine versus an illegal substance. Um… I was never accused or suspected of an illegal substance. That was an online rumor that was started and perpetuated and I never did anything to step in and stop it. But I was accused of taking testosterone without the proper disclosure and still to this moment I don’t know what the proper disclosure they were looking for was. I walked straight up to the commissioner and told him, this is what I’m on…”
MIKE STRAKA: “And he testified under oath today that, yes, you did say that.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Yeah, you know, when they put their case forward, I didn’t disagree with any of it. He said, you know, I went up and told him that, hey, this is going to test positive tomorrow, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to write it down and he said, yeah, let’s write it down. This is the night before the fight. He comes out and uses that against me. ‘Hey, Chael even told me he was on the stuff!’ And I was going, well, right! I even told you that’s what disclosure means, I’m not sure we’re on the same page on what disclosure means. There’s no other process to disclose. In the state of California, they don’t have a form that needs filled out. They don’t have anybody higher up to go to. They just simply use the word disclose and that’s what we did and that’s not even the crux of my argument. I disclosed to them in writing over a year ago, I disclosed to them with their previous commissioner who was actually an interim commissioner between Armando Garcia and the sitting director, uh… it’s medicine and received approval and then all of a sudden they pulled the carpet out from under me and said, geez, we didn’t know anything about it.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Well, you mentioned today at the hearing that it was an embarrassing issue that, you know, that you had to deal with when you were younger and was that part of the crux of… the non-disclosure or the trepidation that you alluded to today in the hearing?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, there was never a non-disclosure from the boss. I went straight to the top. I told him and he approved it. Uh… there’s not a whole lot else I can do. There was other intermediate steps that we didn’t disclose on. Now… I wouldn’t apologize for that, though, I don’t understand, I mean I feel like that’s very redundant to tell the boss and then state it five other times. I really don’t know what to do there but they did get hung up on the fact that we didn’t write it on certain forms. Well those forms, Mike, were filled out in public in public settings as opposed to private.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Well, let’s get down to brass tacks. You lost, you lost your immediate rematch with Anderson Silva. You’re out of fighting for probably a good eight, nine months now when you could have been fighting again. Now Vitor’s getting a chance to fight. You may or may not get a chance to fight Anderson right away again. So, you know, it seems like a small matter in a way but in other ways it’s a very big matter and you lost a lot on that. So, how do you reconcile that?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well… I don’t… let’s start from the beginning. I am not a victim here. I am not a martyr in any way and I appreciate the overwhelming support that’s coming in, but the rules are the rules and if I broke the rules then I should be punished. There should be, you know, I believe in commissions and I believe in regulation and that’s not only good for the athletes but it’s good for the industry. The UFC will not go to a municipality that doesn’t have a governing body. So… I’m in support of that and they did not abuse me or mistreat me. They gave me a fair shake and, you know, that’s just the truth. I don’t like it and I don’t like it because I don’t understand it. I don’t have any better clarity today on what it is that they’re looking for than I had yesterday or several months ago. They internally did not offer any suggestions. They themselves were a little bit confused on this issue as well. I thought because they were confused, out of sportsmanship they should have given me the benefit of the doubt. They should have made the leap that if I’m going to go right up to the commissioner and tell him, right up to the executive director, face-to-face, and tell him that that is my attempt to disclose and, Mike, that is not my strongest argument.”
MIKE STRAKA: “What is your strongest argument?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “My strongest argument is I went to them in 2009 and received approval and it wasn’t simple. It wasn’t just a matter of telling them and they said OK. I had to get them paperwork. We had to FAX them stuff. The doctor did that. And we were given approval. That approval is a lifetime approval. You don’t have to go back and re-do it. I work with the Oregon state commission. I know that we’re undermanned and overworked, so with that in mind I did go back to them in 2010. This time I did it by e-mail. I have an e-mail response where they tell me, OK. This is after the request of five different blood tests of which all I submitted. It was very sophisticated to get an approval this time. That’s not my only argument. I then went up again to the executive director and told him face-to-face, this is in my system and this will show up. We then grabbed a form and wrote it down with USADA, the testing agency, and ultimately today what I was found guilty of was not disclosing. I just told you four different ways that I disclosed and uh… you know, I’m not here to re-try this on your show but I am here to say I am a little bit confused. In hindsight, I really don’t know what I could have done differently.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Well, the suspension was lessened to six months. You’re back in action on March 2nd. What’s next for you? Do you know?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Uh, I do know, but it’s… it’s a secret at this point.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |