Chael Sonnen goes balls out for hypogonadism defense
By Zach Arnold | December 2, 2010
I’m sure you’ve heard the news that Chael Sonnen had his suspension reduced from one year to six months today by a California State Athletic Commission appeals board. In other words, he’ll be back fighting soon enough in the UFC and a lucrative rematch with Anderson Silva is likely on tap for 2011. It’s a fight everyone wants to see.
The legal defense today by Chael Sonnen and his lawyer, Howard Jacobs, was remarkable. They claimed that Mr. Sonnen suffered from hypogonadism (lack of testosterone) and that due to the Americans with Disabilities Act that Sonnen should continue to fight. Somehow, I don’t think when the ADA legislation was passed that a UFC fighter was in the minds of the bill’s creators.
Sonnen stated that Nevada State Athletic Commission boss Keith Kizer told him that he didn’t need to disclose the fact that he’s using TRT. (Kizer denied this claim.)
- Michael David Smith: Chael Sonnen gets off easy with California commission
In the end, Sonnen proved what James Toney proved — which is that if you put up any sort of confident fight against the CSAC appeals board, you have a good chance of getting a suspension reduced.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Five observations I know to be true about UFC and K-1
By Zach Arnold | December 2, 2010
Will the outcome of Chael Sonnen’s hearing impact the way we view fighters and PEDs?
Follow Josh Gross, as he will in attendance today in Sacramento. (And feel free to add your own comments here to this post.) I’m still baffled by the fact that a fighter would allegedly take a testosterone shot a day before a fight and that the idea of TRT being allowed by an athletic commission even exists. If acceptance of TRT becomes a norm amongst major athletic commissions, they may as well do away with drug testing.
Whether the suspension gets reduced to six months or twelve months, the bottom line is that there is no deterrent whatsoever for Dana White to not book an immediate rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. The fan demand for a rematch continues to grow and people want to see if Sonnen’s first performance was a fluke or if it was real, regardless as to whether or not he was doping.
The collapse of K-1 will end up being the year’s biggest story
I get it. If you took 100 fans and asked them what’s more important, the Chael Sonnen hearing or K-1’s collapse, 99 would pick the Sonnen hearing. Talking and reading about K-1’s impending collapse at this point for most people is like watching paint dry. And yet, this story will deeply impact the business not only in Japan but around the world.
The door will be slammed for anyone to get back onto network television in Japan. There may be occasional one-off specials on a minor network like TV Tokyo, but that’s about it. MMA will not be major league for a long time to come. The most lucrative kickboxing promotion will also shut down. This means a lot of fighters and a lot of agents are going to be out of work. None of this is good for the business. It may be a win short-term for Scott Coker (since it will pressure guys like Overeem to focus only on Strikeforce), but part of the allure of some of the fighters under the Strikeforce banner was the ability to fight for K-1/DREAM. With the Japanese option likely off the table, expect more disgruntled fighters under the Strikeforce banner.
TUF 12 was a wretched season to watch.
Consistently brutal television in terms of the quality of MMA fights. We’ve discussed the point over and over again that the show is nothing more than a vehicle to promote a fight at the end of the series between two coaches, but it would be nice if the show made finding real prospects a top priority instead of a television executive deciding who has the best ‘TV look’ or who will get drunk on camera. There have been some mediocre seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, but this season takes the cake in totality for worst overall fight quality. UFC should be embarrassed that they aired these fights on television.
The audiences that watch the TUF 12 finale and Strikeforce St. Louis events are different audiences
Amongst all the talk about whether or not UFC will hurt Strikeforce head-to-head, my gut feeling says that the people who watch Strikeforce are inclined to do so in the first place no matter what. Whether it’s because they view it as a protest vote against watching the UFC product or if it’s due to in part to Strikeforce having a different demographic make-up for audience (older fans), I largely do not see the two audiences for Saturday’s events crossing over with each other.
As far as fight quality is concerned, the TUF 12 finale main card will likely produce better results than the Strikeforce show. There’s zero momentum for Strikeforce and the focus seems preoccupied on their upcoming 1/29 San Jose event and 2011 being “the year of the Heavyweights.” Wasn’t 2010 supposed to be the year of the Heavyweights for Strikeforce?
The best prospect fighting this weekend is…
Jussier “Formiga” Da Silva. Profile article here. Flyweights, here we come.
Topics: K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 tried to get Satoshi Ishii booked for Ariake Colosseum show
By Zach Arnold | December 2, 2010
Amidst the chaos right now happening for K-1, an interesting report came out today that the promotion tried to book Satoshi Ishii for a fight on their World GP kickboxing event on 12/11 in Tokyo at Ariake Colosseum. Supposedly, the promotion tried to book Ishii in a K-1 rules fight against either Ewerton Teixeira or Jerome Le Banner. The fight offer was promptly turned down by Ishii’s camp. The public stance by Ishii’s camp as to whether or not he will fight on the Dynamite show is currently stated as: ‘unknown.’
The fight offer makes no sense and yet all the sense in the world. Why would Ishii accept a fight against Teixeira or Le Banner? He would get crushed in a stand-up battle. Why put yourself in that position? And yet, for K-1, the inquiry into seeing whether or not they could get Ishii for a stand-up bout says everything you need to know about their confidence level for attracting TV ratings on Fuji TV for this upcoming event. The promotion is going on a show-to-show basis at this point for matchmaking, which correlates with our earlier reporting about fighters being told that matchmaking for the Dynamite show won’t start until after the 12/11 Tokyo event.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 12/4 Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas
By Zach Arnold | December 1, 2010
Dark matches
Lightweights: Sako Chivitchian vs. Kyle Watson
Lightweights: Cody McKenzie vs. Aaron Wilkinson
Featherweights: Tyler Toner vs. Ian Loveland
Middleweights: Rich Attonito vs. Dave Branch
Featherweights: Fredson Paixao vs. Pablo Garza
Bantamweights: Will Campuzano vs. Nick Pace
Main card
Featherweights: Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia
Welterweights: Johny Hendricks vs. Rick Story
Middleweights: Kendall Grove vs. Demian Maia
Light Heavyweights: Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac
TUF 12 Finals (Lightweights): Jonathan Brookins vs. Michael Johnson
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
TV deal or not, Dynamite event still on (and why there’s fear about K-1 collapsing)
By Zach Arnold | December 1, 2010
The public feeling of sadness and bitterness for K-1’s current financial situation compared to the collapse of PRIDE may sound the same but it really isn’t.
When PRIDE collapsed in 2007, the promotion attempted to stay bold and put on large-scale shows that appealed to the masses. In the end, it was a ploy to try to get the highest bidder — which turned out to be Zuffa. Nevertheless, there was a great sense of despair and sadness about the promotion’s demise despite the circumstances that led to its downfall. It died with a passionate fan base still remaining. The same cannot be said about K-1.
With there being an impasse between Tokyo Broadcasting System and K-1 over what to do with Dynamite on New Year’s Eve, the bitterness that fans are tasting has nothing to do with an emotional connection for K-1 as a product. This time around, the sadness is all about the fact that MMA may not make it again onto a major broadcast network in Japan for a long, long time (if ever again). The great fear is that MMA will go back to being a niche sport and suffer the same fate that professional wrestling did last decade. The great irony in all of this is that it was the MMA monster that severely damaged pro-wrestling. With network executives willing to back MMA, pro-wrestling lost whatever television support it had left. Despite being relatively cheap programming in terms of rights fees, Nippon TV dropped NOAH from the late-night network line-up and NOAH has never been the same in terms of popularity. New Japan is still hanging on to their late night TV slot on TV-Asahi because the company is owned by Yukes. Yukes can be both an owner and a sponsor at once. It has saved the promotion from the electric chair.
Currently, the situation right now for Dynamite appears to be on course for a ‘no TV’ show. In other words, it may air on HDNet and on SkyPerfecTV PPV, but perhaps not on broadcast television. The whole point of the New Year’s Eve concept when it was developed and crafted by K-1, DSE, and Antonio Inoki was to stage an assault on NHK’s Kohaku (Red & White Music Festival show) and demonstrate the strength and appeal of the fight game. It worked. Despite finishing second or third at times, the NYE shows demonstrated an erosion in viewership for NHK’s programming.
A decade later, K-1 is in bad shape. They have to put all of their eggs essentially in the Fuji TV basket and hope that their 12/11 Ariake Colosseum show in Tokyo does well for a TV rating. If it does not draw a good rating, then the promotion will be faced with less than three weeks to promote an event at Saitama Super Arena without heavy television money to pay big names for fights that people want to see. Then again, that quandary has plagued K-1 since the collapse of PRIDE — they haven’t been able to develop the kind of Japanese aces that the general public cares about.
Understand that for many of Kazuyoshi Ishii’s enemies, there is a mixed feeling right now about K-1’s demise. Negative because K-1 losing network support means that nobody else will be able to break in for a while. This includes UFC. If a Japanese network won’t support K-1, they sure won’t support a non-Japanese flavored product like UFC. Happy, however, because the Godfather has ran over a lot of people and did what he had to do in order to survive.
The belief amongst some of Ishii’s old enemies and people who have had negative feelings about doing business with him is that it will take a long time for the damage to dissipate but that eventually a new generation of promoters with more reputable backgrounds will come into the fold.
(For American sports fans, an example to think of: college university programs that have gotten the death penalty or close to it, like Miami or Baylor.)
Personally, I wish I could be that positive. However, history tells us that there isn’t a lot of reason to be positive when a major promotion collapses. When WCW collapsed in America, WWE never was able to replace or gain that audience. When PRIDE collapse, K-1 was not able to gain the trust of that fan base. They just faded away. Sure, there will promoters who will try to fill the void should K-1 collapse, but it simply will not be the same. It will certainly have a negative impact on agents and fighters looking for bookings outside of the Zuffa world.
I’m just starting to see some real talk about New Year’s Eve programming plans for the major broadcast networks in the Japanese media wires today. As I alluded to earlier in the week, this week is one of the most critical weeks in the history of K-1 for their survival and for the survival of the Dynamite show at Saitama Super Arena. Either the deal with TBS gets done soon or it doesn’t get done at all. They’re already way too late in the game here.
As for how K-1’s PR machine is handling the situation, all hands are on deck to promote the Ariake Colosseum event. They are all-in right now. Mr. Tanigawa will appear on Samurai TV to do some PR soon. I was also told by one source that K-1 plans on having the Dynamite show (TV deal or not) and that matchmaking will start after the 12/11 Tokyo show takes place. The period of time compression will be unbelievably stressful.
Regarding Mr. Ishii, he penned a column today that has nothing to do with K-1 but is quite… unique.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Thursday’s California Circus with Chael Sonnen & Josh Barnett
By Zach Arnold | November 30, 2010
All of the hearing details can be found here. 157 pages (with about two being relevant). The meeting will take place on Thursday at 9:30 AM at 2005 Evergreen Street (Hearing Room) in Sacramento.
Who knows how the political winds have changed in California and whether or not this will be a forgiving appeals panel to one Chael Sonnen. What I do know is this — after Thursday’s hearing, we may find out some new angles to usage of PEDs in MMA. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned publicly that I thought it was curious that all of a sudden we are starting to hear reports about fighters allegedly using TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy). TRT is not exactly something that you associate with healthy guys in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Yes, I realize that 2010 became the year that lots of potions and infomercials for “Low T” (testosterone) got pitched to the public to buy the latest and greatest invention to give your sex life a boost and make you more active again like you used to be. However, we’re talking about MMA fighters here who are viewed by many fans as tremendous athletes. (More on a TRT defense here.)
Hormonal replacement therapy and TRT can, in some instances, be credibly explained. In other cases, the usage of such methods should raise a lot of red flags. If guys are hurting their bodies allegedly through bad weight cutting procedures or through the usage of PEDs, then it’s hard to say with a straight face that this is somehow a safe sport. After all, what is the purpose of TRT? It’s used when someone has a damaged endocrine system and has to synthetically boost their testosterone levels in their bodies. For most sports fans, this is not a topic you think much about. For pro-wrestling fans who have witnessed many public scandals involving online pharmacies and mark doctors, TRT is not a new revelation.
Which reminds me of the back-and-forth debate that happened between Josh Gross and Larry Pepe (here, here, and here) in which Larry challenged the idea that so many fighters would be visiting endocrinologists to get drugs to beat tests. A couple of things: a) what if fighters were allowed by the athletic commissions to use TRT or similar treatments and get exempted for it? b) who’s to say that there aren’t plenty of mark doctors out there willing to help certain gyms out with what is needed? We’ve seen plenty of mark doctors across various sports get busted for HGH or steroids to help out certain athletes.
What I think will be most interesting about Thursday’s meeting is not what the outcome of Chael Sonnen’s suspension will be but rather if the current debate on PED usage in MMA somehow gets advanced (if there are new defenses being used or new techniques revealed publicly that were once kept in the shadows). I have low expectations about Thursday’s appeals hearing, but if the hearings are going to serve any purpose then I think we may hear some explanations that could progress the media debate as to what is happening in the business for PED usage.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The clock is ticking on K-1’s imploding Dynamite show
By Zach Arnold | November 28, 2010
The deadline is approaching for K-1 this week to get everything in order if there is going to be a Dynamite show taking place at Saitama Super Arena. December is already approaching and there is still no official word regarding a television contract between Tokyo Broadcasting System & K-1 for what has been traditionally Japan’s biggest yearly fighting show. If TBS does not offer substantial money to K-1 to produce a NYE event, the question is not whether the Dynamite show will lose money… but just how much will be lost.
There are multiple scenarios on the table. The worst of all worlds would involve K-1 paying TBS for television time. Another bad outcome would be K-1 receiving little or no money (bartering), which would prohibit the promotion from being able to spend the kind of money needed to book big-name talent to pop a big TV rating. If a deal between K-1 and TBS falls apart, K-1 could very well find themselves in a scenario where they run a DREAM-type no-TV event.
(This is the current conventional wisdom amongst some Japanese insiders I’ve talked to over the weekend.)
If that happens, the event will largely be a meaningless exercise that could lose money but not as much as a pay-for-play scenario. If a TV deal falls apart, the smart solution would be for K-1 to cancel the NYE event and either stay on the sidelines or work with Sengoku for their Ariake Colosseum event. (Who would have ever thought that this would be a possibility?) Given that a month ago K-1 tried to portray itself as a ‘big brother helping out a little brother’ by offering to work with Sengoku for their 12/30 Tokyo event, it would be a major loss of face if K-1 canceled the Dynamite event. Which is why, in the end, it’s likely the show will go on in Saitama even without television. This is all about saving face and maintaining image even with a steep price tag. Understand that K-1 needs momentum and something positive to point to in order to maintain their ties with both Fuji TV and Tokyo Broadcasting System. If Dynamite bombs, their future on network television will be shaky.
The stress is enormous right now on K-1’s staff. They have their 12/11 Ariake Colosseum event for Fuji TV that they need to sell tickets for. So far, the primary focus for promotional operations this week has been for the Ariake show. It’s going to be tough for K-1 to sell out that event. Now, combine that with the fact that they are in a terrible position going into the Dynamite show with little or no momentum and something has to give.
In past years with the Dynamite event, event planning often started as early as mid-September. Sketch out a plan, start having ad agencies put out feelers, and by November get a television contract done. We are now heading into December and there’s no (official) deal worked out. The silence from both K-1 and Dynamite on this front is deafening. This is the week we will find out whether or not the Dynamite show has a TV deal. There’s always the possibility that K-1 could try to get the show on another network, but at this point those options would be severely limited because NYE plans are already tentatively in place for the major networks like Nippon TV, Fuji TV, etc. TV Tokyo is a possibility, but it’s the smallest of the over-the-air channels in terms of reach and would be viewed as a major step-down image wise compared to TBS.
The scope of just how much planning going into a big show like Dynamite cannot be understated. There’s the TV side of the equation. There’s the actual production of the show at the arena. There’s the promotional operations machine. Then you have to sell advertising (and this is especially difficult if you don’t have the help of an ad agency connected to a major TV network). On top of that, there’s the actual matchmaking and construction of a fight card where you have to deal with tons of egos and demands from both agents and talent. You have to book hotel rooms and make sure everything logistically is sound. I understand that this is not K-1’s first rodeo, but the promotion is not on the same level as PRIDE was when it comes time to doing work from the ground-up for a massive show. K-1 has always been the TV promotion and PRIDE was the live house promotion. With the TV deal in complete limbo, K-1’s in a major predicament here.
On the TBS web site, there are no details announced regarding a deal with K-1. There is a match announcement of Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Bibiano Fernandes and that’s it. Nothing else. Amongst the ticket brokers, there is only basic event information given out.
The long-term survival prospects for K-1 will be largely determined by how well the 12/11 Ariake Colosseum and 12/31 Saitama Super Arena shows do business-wise. If they are money losers, the promotion will be on its last legs. If the shows can somehow break even or make a little money, then life goes on.
This is one of the most important weeks in the history of K-1’s organization.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 12/11 Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum final card
By Zach Arnold | November 27, 2010
With all the chaos surrounding the upcoming Dynamite event at Saitama Super Arena on 12/31, the promotion is putting the final touches for their 12/11 event in Tokyo at Ariake Colosseum. They have their work cut out for them. Here’s how the final card looks:
- Reserve fight: Ewerton Teixeira vs. Errol Zimmerman
- Reserve fight: Hesdy Gerges vs. TBA
- Super fight: Sergey Kharitonov vs. Singh Jaideep
- WGP 2010 Tournament: Alistair Overeem vs. Tyrone Spong
- WGP 2010 Tournament: Daniel Ghita vs. Gokhan Saki
- Winner of Overeem/Spong vs. winner of Ghita/Saki
- WGP 2010 Tournament: Semmy Schilt vs. Kyotaro (Keijiro Maeda)
- WGP 2010 Tournament: Mighty Mo vs. Peter Aerts
- Winner of Schilt/Kyoto vs. Winner of Mo/Aerts
- Tournament finals
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
If K-1 has to do a pay-for-play deal for NYE, it would be disastrous
By Zach Arnold | November 25, 2010
Japanese MMA photographer Dan Herbertson dropped a big item this morning:
FEG is paying to broadcast this year’s Dynamite!! on TBS. I don’t have time to check right now but I believe this is the first time.
I was taken aback by this because this would be the ultimate story of 2010 in the Japanese fight landscape if true. Later on, Dan revised the item and found out from a source that K-1 and TBS are currently negotiating the terms of their deal for New Year’s Eve.
But what would happen if K-1 was forced into a pay-to-play deal with TBS for their New Year’s Eve event? Considering this a what-if article.
It would be devastating news that could very easily spell the end of K-1 as we know it.
Pay-for-play is something that we have seen done in recent years in Japan with the smallish TV-Tokyo network. Promotions like All Japan Pro-Wrestling, ZERO-ONE, Hustle, and Sengoku all paid for air time on the smallest of the free-to-air broadcast networks in Japan. None of those companies who bought time ended up making any substantial progress from doing so. It’s (generally) a money-losing concept.
In essence, buying time from a broadcast network for a pay-to-play transaction puts you in the same standing and regard as an infomercial. Except, infomercials are mostly profitable. When I say that pay-for-play puts you in the same standing, what I mean is that the TV network is taking a check from you for air time and is taking zero risk. You buy the time, you sell the advertising, you handle the matchmaking (mostly), and the risk is on you.
Pay-for-play situations on broadcast networks are extremely expensive, even if we’re talking middle-of-the-night time buys. However, what if your time buy is on a major television day like NYE in Japan and it’s in ‘golden time’ (prime time)? I asked one long-time office source in Japan to estimate to me what kind of price tag it would be to buy time in such a slot and the source estimated a price tag of $4 million USD.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that K-1 has to pony up the cash and is $4 million USD in the hole. What about advertising? K-1 will be forced to sell their own advertising and that is simply not the company’s usual standard operating procedure. There will be enormous stress placed on everyone working for the company to not only lean harder on their current sponsors but to also try to attract new sponsors within a month. To put this into perspective, let’s look at how past NYE shows worked on major TV platforms like Fuji TV and Tokyo Broadcasting System. As a promoter, you work closely with a major sports TV executive producer. You come up with a general frame work for a card by mid-September, early October at the latest. You work with one of the major ad agencies in Japan (Dentsu the largest, followed by Hakuhodo and Asatsu) and give them about three months to start selling ad time and attracting clients. The TV network executives help shape a card that they think will draw the best ratings and end up paying a rights fee to the promoter in exchange for ownership rights to the footage and (sometimes) production.
In a pay-for-play scenario, K-1 has to handle all of these aspects and do so within a compressed time frame. Almost impossible to achieve without financially taking a gigantic hit. In many respects, K-1’s NYE 2010 event could end up as a much more costlier version of DREAM where it’s on PPV to buy and a shortened version on broadcast television with limited sponsorship support.
If the ad agencies told Tokyo Broadcasting that there was enough sponsor support/demand for K-1’s NYE show, the network probably would continue doing business-as-usual with K-1.
On pay-for-play time buys with broadcast networks, network support for such programs (like infomercials) is very limited. Granted, TBS would want to draw good ratings on NYE because NYE has become the biggest day of the year for the ratings war in Japan. However, if K-1 is paying them for the time and it’s a disaster, TBS already got the money and can simply cut ties with K-1.
Without the generous television money to back their show, K-1 would not be able to pay for big-name talent to appear at their Saitama Super Arena event. Not having stars on the show would mean a show that attracts low ratings and that in turn would seal K-1’s fate with Tokyo Broadcasting, if not Fuji TV as well.
If K-1 has to buy time on Tokyo Broadcasting System, this will in effect be the end of Kazuyoshi Ishii’s grand ‘pipeline strategy’ plan. When PRIDE collapsed, K-1’s big strategy to control the entire fight business in Japan was to control the major broadcast networks. If you wanted to be on a network (think: Yarennoka with former DSE staff), you had to work with K-1 and do business on their own terms. K-1 collected the rights fees from television and let the promoters collect whatever they could for the live gate. It was a dominant position for them to be in. It also kept the competition away from acquiring a substantial television deal (ask Sengoku) and created a strangle hold. However, that strangle hold is only as strong as the ratings that K-1 attracts and their product has gone completely cold with the public. Both their kickboxing and MMA properties have failed to appeal to the Japanese television audience.
By having to do a pay-for-play situation with Tokyo Broadcasting System, K-1’s pipeline plan is killed. K-1 losing television means significantly more than a vacuum being created. It would mean that the fight business would encounter ‘ghost town’ status amongst television executives looking for programming to attract ratings. When the Reconstruction period happened, Rikidozan was the major star on Nippon TV. The next generation was Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba. In the 90s, wrestling declined and older TV executives who used to be big backers of the fight game faded away from supporting the product. Newer executives came into power and fewer of them have the same kind of sentimental thoughts about fight programming that their predecessors had. This lead to New Japan and All Japan airing on network TV at 2 AM in the morning. It led to a decline in interest for house shows and ratings, resulting in a collapse of the pro-wrestling industry. The same thing is happening for K-1 now and the erosion process is very hard to stop, let alone reverse.
If K-1 ended up doing a pay-for-play scenario for their NYE event on Tokyo Broadcasting System, they would be paying for their own corporate funeral — a very expensive one at that. The funeral wouldn’t feature Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki II, either.
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A look at the evolution of American Kickboxing Academy and Jon Fitch
By Zach Arnold | November 24, 2010
Really an excellent interview on HDNet and I wish more of this content was available online. I have included a transcription of the full interview (click on full-page mode). Or watch the interview if you get some spare time.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White: Rampage’s my boy
By Zach Arnold | November 22, 2010
Suffice to say, he wasn’t upset by Rampage Jackson’s win at UFC 123 on Saturday night.
ARIEL HELWANI: “You said on Wednesday that you never really know what kind of Rampage you’ll see out there and considering the fact that he went on this three month promotional tour for the movie and changed his training camp and all that. Were you surprised by his performance, that he looked that good?”
DANA WHITE: “I thought he looked a million times better than he has in his past fight. You know, the question I had, for me I thought he looked slow in his last couple of fights. He did not look slow [at UFC 123]. We know who he was in there against, a guy who is very fast, agile, and the thing about Machida, too, is, uh… Machida shows these signs of brilliance where he just, like he threw that flying knee that hit Rampage hard right in the stomach and… you know Rampage is a human being, no matter how tough he is, you know he’s hurt and instead of starting to kick the body again and go after him because you know you hurt him, he starts running around and moving away. You don’t win fights like that. I know that some people are saying Machida won the fight — you need to watch it again. He lands like maybe 5 or 6 punches in the third round. You know, that doesn’t win you a fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you like watching Machida fight?”
DANA WHITE: “Um, yeah, no. I appreciate Machida’s style and the things that this guy, that’s what, you know, you’ll get these people that start booing… Listen, guys, there’s so much on the line. Guys are going to fight smart fights and there’s a difference between a smart fight and a boring fight. Going into a fight, you know what two styles are. Did people think that Rampage, that Machida was going to walk out to the center of the Octagon, plant his feet, and just trading with Rampage Jackson? No, none of you thought that. What he’s going to do is he’s going to use, and I said it leading up to this fight, did you ever hear me in any interview say, ‘this is going to be a bangfest, these guys are going to go toe-to-toe.’ No, I said, I think what we’re going to see from Machida is that elusive style that got him here. He’s going to stay outside, try to pick Rampage apart with kicks and punches and frustrate him and beat him and, uh, and I think Rampage is going to have to, if he’s in shape and if his timing is on, he’s going to move forward, he’s going to move forward, try to blast him, try to use his wrestling, and he actually did a lot more things than I said he would do. I thought he fought the fight perfectly and I thought Machida fought the fight that I thought he would fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You’ve been announcing a lot of fights here which is sort of unusual because you need some time to think about. So, I’ll ask you — what do you think is next for Rampage?”
DANA WHITE: “Um… you know, I don’t know. It’s funny, I had all these answers for all these other fights, but I don’t know about Rampage. We’ll see what’s next?”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What do you make of his entrance song? Sort of a tip of the cap to the old PRIDE days.”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, you know, I think he said I want to come back and fight like the old Rampage from PRIDE, so that’s what he wanted to walk into for this fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Speaking of turning back the clock, BJ Penn looked fantastic and I had a chance to see him and he sort of looked at me and said, ‘I really needed that one, Ariel’ in sort of a very sincere way. What does this mean to BJ in terms of, you know, just continuing his career and he sort of said that you’ll call where he’ll fight next, so I ask you, where do you think he’ll fight next, which division?”
DANA WHITE: “Well, yeah, he did look good. I think he looked like the old BJ and I actually like BJ at 170 pounds. He came in talking to himself, all crazy and swearing at himself and fired up, he looked like the BJ from the old days, so, you know, uh… I think I like him at 170 pounds and we’ll do him and (Jon) Fitch in Sydney.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “As the main event?”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Fitch was supposed to fight Jake Ellenberger. Why is he not fighting him?”
DANA WHITE: “Because he’s going to fight BJ instead.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Just switched it up?
DANA WHITE: “I announced it at the press conference.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Based on his performance?”
DANA WHITE: “Uh, yeah.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “I’m guessing maybe the winner of that fight potentially could be a number one contender considering how high Fitch was up in the rankings?”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, they’re definitely in the mix. Yep.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “And Dennis Siver-George Sotiropoulos. How long was that on your mind?”
DANA WHITE: “Um… yeah, we said if he won the fight that that would be an interesting fight.”
Who you got winning in the Penn/Fitch fight?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Who’s next for Manny Pacquiao?
By Zach Arnold | November 22, 2010
The screaming headline on the newswires (include Japan) is that Pacquiao will retire soon. He stated that he thinks he has three years left before retirement enters into the equation.
As for who he will fight next… he’ll fight Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, or Sergio Martinez (coming off of his brutal KO of Paul Williams). However, Martinez will not drop down in weight to take the fight. (Martinez is represented by Lou DiBella.) Pacquiao said he would fight Juan Manual Marquez but doesn’t think there would be any fan interest. He said the money for the Marquez fight would have to be a guaranteed purse. Pacquiao said a fight against Marquez would be a guaranteed money-loser. If that falls through, Lou DiBella wants Andre Berto to get a shot at Pacquiao.
Martinez says that he has two or three good fights left before he retires. He’s 35.
Pacquiao arrived home on Monday to get back to doing political work.
Here’s an interview with Michael Levine, one of Pacquiao’s business allies.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 55 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
“All fights should be five rounds” and half-point scoring
By Zach Arnold | November 20, 2010
There’s plenty of grumbling about the split decision win by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson over Lyoto Machida. (Examples can be found here and here.)
Two arguments came up immediately in the post-fight discussion:
a) The usual suspects clamoring for all UFC fights to be five rounds.
b) Would Machida have won if we used half-point scoring instead of standard scoring under the Unified rules?
On point a), I’m generally a guy who is a believer in fights being three rounds and not five. What I am willing to concede ground on is this — I’ll accept the notion of eliminator/contender bouts going five rounds. I’ll take that step.
On point b), let’s take a look at how someone (according to Josh Gross) would score the Rampage/Machida fight using a half-point system:
Just for fun, under half point scoring: R1 10-9 Machida, R2 10-9.5 Jackson, R3 10-8.5 Machida.
I’m not opposed to experimentation with the half-point scoring system, but how much more accurate would it make for scoring of fights by the current crop of judges in MMA?
Dana white announced that George Sotiropoulos will fight Dennis Siver in February in Australia.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 72 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |