Make your predictions for UFC 123 at The Palace at Auburn Hills
By Zach Arnold | November 19, 2010
Dark matches
- Lightweights: Tyson Griffin vs. Nik Lentz
- Lightweights: Paul Kelly vs. TJ O’Brien
- Lightweights: Edson Mendes Jr. vs. Mike Lullo
- Welterweights: Karo Parisyan vs. Dennis Hallman
Spike TV matches
- Middleweights: Aaron Simpson vs. Mark Munoz
- Welterweights: Matt Brown vs. Brian Foster
Main card
- Lightweights: George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Lauzon
- Light Heavyweights: Phil Davis vs. Tim Boetsch
- Middleweights: Gerald Harris vs. Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves
- Welterweights: Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn
- Light Heavyweights: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The heat-up for UFC 123: What fight is really the main event?
By Zach Arnold | November 19, 2010
It’s been very interesting to see how the press coverage for the show in the Detroit area has played out. I would say it’s 60/40 (if not 65/35) focused on the BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes fight (ESPN & Detroit Free Press) more so than the main event (an eliminator bout between Rampage Jackson & Lyoto Machida). Rampage’s big headline in the Free Press yesterday dealt with his criticism of too many fighters who fight for points now in MMA (one Jackson bashing another Jackson) and that this reason turned him off from boxing so he hopes it doesn’t become a permanent fixture in MMA. As for his fight against Machida, Gareth A. Davies notes that Michael Bisping has advised Rampage to push the pace and get in Machida’s face rather than play counter-puncher. The Detroit News has photos from the media session at the Detroit Athletic Club. Rampage’s rival, Rashad Evans, will be in Asheville, North Carolina at a local MMA show to watch John “Buck Nasty” Buck.
BJ Penn said that he has considered training with Matt Hughes before UFC came to him with the fight offer for the trilogy fight. How much does Penn’s legacy hinge on the outcome of the fight?
The most important fight on the card is George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Lauzon. If George wins, he’s right near the top of the division and could conceivably face the winner of the Edgar-Maynard winner/Pettis-Henderson winner unification bout. Jack Encarnacao has an excellent article on Joe Lauzon and his MMA career. Very good reading. Sotiropoulos has found himself answering questions about his fight gear and whether or not it gives him an advantage in fights.
On the undercard, Phil Davis has become a sort of media celebrity heading into his fight where he is heavily-favored against Tim Boetsch. The main media storyline for the Aaron Simpson-Mark Munoz fight is that neither guy is really that interested in fighting each other. Also, big prospect Edson Mendes Jr. makes his UFC debut. Paul Kelly says that if he loses tomorrow that he’ll likely get cut by the UFC.
UFC Undisputed is now available on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
Other news
Meet Jesse Gonzalez, a parolee who will appear on Animal Planet’s ‘Pit Bulls and Parolees’ show as a feature profile on how he’s trying to change his life around with the help of his new dog, Bella, and also some training at Big John McCarthy’s UTA in Southern California.
Here’s a of a story for you in the UK — The ex of Katie Price has been arrested due to charges linked to a ‘Mephedrone drug ring’ that allegedly involves fighters for the KnuckleUp promotions group.
The Orange County Register reports that the trial for the driver charged with vehicular manslaughter in the death of Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr. will start shortly.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 2010 Dynamite 12/31 Saitama Super Arena
By Zach Arnold | November 19, 2010
It’s their 10th anniversary NYE show. (First one was an Inoki production on 12/31/00 at the Osaka Dome.)
One match announced today and that’s Bibiano Fernandes vs. Hiroyuki Takaya for the DREAM Featherweight belt. Also scheduled for the show is: Shin’ya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Hideo Tokoro, Kazushi Sakuraba, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, and perhaps Alistair Overeem. Themes for the card will include DREAM vs. K-1 (grapplers vs. strikers) and DREAM vs. Strikeforce. No mention of Michihiro Omigawa.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Rampage Jackson’s biggest concern at UFC 123 is having an exciting fight
By Zach Arnold | November 19, 2010
Video interview from MMAFighting.com.
ARIEL HELWANI: “I noticed at the press conference, you’re in a very good, right? You seem to be in a very good mindset going into this fight. Can you talk about that a little bit?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “Yeah, because I’m very confident. I trained very hard. I always train like it’s a championship fight so I’ve trained five rounds and my camp went really well and I’m, man, things are going good, you know. I’m just really happy.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “It was very personal between you and Rashad (Evans). This time, not so much. You know, not all that trash talking, just sort of a mutual respect there. Do you perform better when you don’t have to deal with that other stuff, the talking back and forth?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “Well, I don’t know. That has nothing to do with it. I don’t care. I don’t care about that type of stuff. Whether a guy’s cool or not, that has nothing to do with it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You’ve done a lot of media for this fight. You were on The Late Show with Craig Ferguson. What was that experience like?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “Man, that guy was funny as hell. Craig Ferguson, you the man. He’s funny. I could tell he didn’t know much about MMA and I was almost calling him out like, you don’t even know who I am, do you? But, you know, I didn’t want to call him out on live TV but he’s a cool guy.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think you turned him into a fan?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “Well, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure he might be interested to watch it if he has time.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You talked about potentially getting some other opportunities outside of fighting. Any projects you could talk about?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “There’s nothing that I can talk about. I focused solely on this fight. I didn’t… I haven’t even talked to my agents and stuff like that.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Just curious about the last fight. You said that there was something that happened that you probably shouldn’t have taken the fight. Are you able to elaborate as to what that was?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “I just, you know… I kind of learned something from watching Randy Couture. I noticed that he don’t make excuses and I do. I do make excuses for all my losses because I got excuses for all my losses. But I just really choose not to talk about it this time. I just felt obligated to take the fight because I couldn’t take the fight in Memphis because I had to, you know, do the movie. I’m a big fan of A-Team and Mr. T and B.A. Baracus and I never was a big fan of MMA. I just started fighting, you know. I’ve seen it and stuff before I started but I wasn’t like a big fan so I felt like, you know, I had to go with, I couldn’t not take the movie. So… When things happen in camp and stuff like that and I was thinking that maybe I should pull out of the fight but I didn’t. I just did it for the fans and I tried my best and I almost won, you know, I’m happy with that.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You said on Sportscenter (Thursday) that part of you fears that the fight might be boring just due to his style, in your opinion. Is there a possibility that, you know, because of his style and your desire to make it an exciting fight you’re sort of playing into his hand there, you sort of have to not make yourself be too over aggressive, you know what I mean?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “Yeah, I just have to see when I get in there. That’s what I do. I make my little tweaks and this and that at fights sometimes, you know what I’m saying. This is one of my worries about this fight. It’s not a worry of winning or losing because at this point in my career, you know what I’m saying, I really don’t, I always want to win, you know, I want to win really bad but I’m not going out there not to lose, you know, I’m not going to go fight not too lose, I’m not in that mindset so it’s like one of those things, like they asked me what my worries, what are my concerns are, am I concerned about his karate. I’m not concerned about myself. The only thing I’m concerned about the fight being an exciting fight for the fans because I think without the fans, you know what I’m saying, there would be no sport so why not try to put on a great show for the fans here…”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Finally, this was the first time we got to talk since you were on WWE RAW. Just curious about, you know, how you enjoyed that experience and I know you’ve always been a wrestling fan as a child. Did it sort of, you know, maybe get those creative juices flowing that maybe you try that one day?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “Man, that was like a childhood dream come true. If I wasn’t an MMA fighter I probably would have been a pro-wrestler. That was really fun, like the guys are so cool there like The Big Show, he taught me how to do the chokeslam correctly and the guys there are really cool. Ted DiBiase Jr. man, those guys are they’re like really down to earth and really cool people. It was a real treat.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think you’ll ever do it?”
QUINTON “RAMPAGE” JACKSON: “Well, yeah, if they have me I’d like to do something. I can’t do what they do, they go on tour like all year and stuff like that, I’ve got kids. I don’t like traveling that much. So I can be like one of those special come-here-every-now-and-then type of guys. I couldn’t do the whole thing that they do all the time.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White on boxing contracts vs. UFC contracts: “we’re the good guys”
By Zach Arnold | November 18, 2010
This is in relation to the Roy Nelson situation.
- Roy Jones Jr’s Square Ring, Inc. sues Zuffa, Roy Nelson
- Zuffa responds to RJJ lawsuit, seek indemnification against Big Country
- Yet another interesting lawsuit involving the UFC
- Fight Lawyer’s theory on Zuffa/SRI/Nelson situation
Read these articles to gain better context on the legal situation and then read these comments below.
ARIEL HELWANI: “What’s the situation with Roy Nelson? How was he able to fight if he had a contract with someone else?”
DANA WHITE: “It’s crazy, man.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Did you not know about this?”
DANA WHITE: “No, as far as we knew, he was not under contract. Dude, in 10 years have you ever heard us, you know, grabbing somebody else that was under contract? This is sneaky boxing [expletive]. This is the stuff that I’m saying, you know, everybody wants to point the finger at us like we’re the bad guys. Trust me when I tell you, we’re the [expletive] good guys. These fighters have to careful when they sign these rinky dink contracts with these other promoters. The funniest part is is Roy Jones Jr’s company, Roy Jones Jr. is a former fighter, you know, and you’ll hear this fighters crying about, oh this and that with the promoter. Well, he’s out screwing somebody else’s life over, another fighter.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “So is he done in the UFC?”
DANA WHITE: “You have to… when these guys go out and sign these contracts, you have to get a good attorney to look at these. I know right now there’s an organization out there that has guys signing these contracts that are old-school boxing contracts. They have options on top of options on top of options and you’re never out of contract with these guys.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “So is he done in the UFC?”
DANA WHITE: “I wouldn’t say that he’s done in the UFC. This is something that needs to be figured out.”
Somehow, I’m not sure that UFC wants to get into a public relations war about their contracts given that they almost cut the guy who is their UFC Heavyweight champion (Cain Velasquez) because the front office reportedly wanted all of the American Kickboxing Academy fighters to assign their video gaming rights to Zuffa. Plus, there’s that thing called the ‘champion’s clause’ that exists, too.
The UFC President also commented on whether or not Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir III will happen any time soon.
ARIEL HELWANI: “Is Brock/Mir III off the table? Are you no longer considering it?”
DANA WHITE: “Well, the fans have talked to me, you know. Listen, I value Twitter. Twitter’s such a great tool in talking to fans and finding out what they like and don’t like, etc. etc. Um… and there was an overwhelming, you know, amount of people that said they didn’t want to see that fight and I feel like my job is to bring the fans the fights they want to see so I’m going to try to figure this thing out.”
Mr. White has spent time this week in New York on business affairs and will be spending more time in New York (instead of Detroit where the UFC 123 show is happening). He will be doing the ‘car wash’ on ESPN to promote the upcoming PPV. Mike Straka:
Covering the Promax DBA Awards tonight in NYC, honoring UFC president Dana White and Tony Ponturo — one time the most powerful man in all of sports as head of Anheiser-Busch sports marketing budget of some 1 Billion dollars.
BJ Penn appeared yesterday on ESPN’s Sportscenter show and was really, really relaxed. I didn’t feel much energy at all when he was doing the interview. When asked whether or not he’s considering retirement he stated, “I want to do this for a few more years and stay as active as I can. I want to be in the Octagon and be in front of the fans and get a win under my belt.” As for why he’s fighting Matt Hughes at Welterweight instead of a catch weight, “It wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t fight at 170 again. I’m fine with it.” As far as what Penn’s future goals in the UFC are he stated, “I know I’ll get my chance. I plan on going out and beating Matt Hughes and in my heart again I want to be Lightweight champion.”
I thought Matt Hughes was terrific on the Countdown to UFC 123 show. He’s been terrific all the way around in all the interviews he has done for the fight — so much so that in many ways his fight against Penn is the real headliner on the Detroit card. I’ve heard a significant amount more discussion both on and offline about Hughes/Penn III than I’ve heard at all for Rampage/Machida. We’re going to find out a lot on Saturday night. Did Rampage gets a permanent rub from the A-Team movie or did the way he perform in the Rashad Evans fight hurt fan interest in him? What happens if he loses convincingly to Machida? Who will the fans cheer for between Hughes and Penn, two natural heels? Personally, the fight I’m looking forward to the most on the card is George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Lauzon. That is going to be a hell of a fight and it has great meaning, too.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dave Meltzer on critics of Mir/Lesnar III: Don’t ‘screw up the best thing for growth’
By Zach Arnold | November 17, 2010
I would encourage you to read this in full. Let’s set the stage on this and bring some context into the discussion.
Originally, news broke that Josh Gross was leaving Sports Illustrated to go to ESPN. This brought up Josh’s last column for SI where he talks about how UFC should air their foreign events live on TV in the States because virtually everywhere else gets live feeds. That’s debate #1.
Debate #2 is when Dave sounds off about people who don’t want to see Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar III. Dave admits that he has no desire to see that fight but that people (like MMA writers) who criticize the fight being booked are hurting ‘the growth of the business’ because they ‘don’t get business.’
Debate #3 ends up more or less being a discussion about what the role of an MMA writer should be — cheerleader or objective analyst? pro-business or pro-fighter? Realpolitik (UFC mainly) or utopian (cover UFC and major independents equally)?
There’s so much ground to cover in the comments that Dave Meltzer made about Josh Gross that I want you to read his commentary and then cherry pick at any of the points raised and debate on them.
Quick personal thoughts — no MMA writer should concern themselves with pushing ideas simply because ‘it will grow business.’ If you want to be a hack, get into PR — it pays more, too. No shame in it, but you can’t do both (despite the fact that a few writers do it now, ineffectively). As far as the live vs. delayed argument, there’s a simple compromise: have Spike air the broadcast live and then air the delayed broadcast for the originally scheduled slot. Not hard. As far as Lesnar/Mir III, the only real purpose I see in that fight is more or less a ‘loser leaves town’ match. If Lesnar lost to Mir again, it could be the type of loss that discourages him from future fighting. If Mir loses, his stock declines further.
Since there seems to be some discussion about UFC 122 (more because of the way the event was aired and produced), here’s an article talking about some of the results coming up if UFC really pushes the pedal to the metal with the amount of shows they run internationally in the next couple of years.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 58 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce and their difficulties in booking their heavyweights
By Zach Arnold | November 16, 2010
In the last couple of days, we’ve seen media reports about both Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem that make it seem unlikely that Scott Coker will be able to put together the big heavyweight fights that he thought he would be able to book by ‘the first quarter of 2011.’ Werdum says he wants to fight in Japan or Abu Dhabi next before fighting in Strikeforce again. By the time he returns to Strikeforce, it’s very conceivable that Cain Velasquez will have already fought Brock Lesnar and won the UFC Heavyweight title and have his first title match against Junior Dos Santos. Alistair Overeem appears to be scheduled to return to Strikeforce next May or June. That means a year in between fights for the promotion.
Where does this leave Strikeforce? They’re trying to negotiate a new deal with Fedor and M-1. Right now, it would seem likely that Fedor fights again for Strikeforce… but is in no hurry to do so. With the way things are declining in Japan, it’s hard to see him fighting there — even on NYE. I’m not putting it past K-1 to panic and pay a ton of money for Fedor to try to bolster what appears to be an extremely weak NYE card, but the odds are against this move happening right now.
Which leaves us with Josh Barnett. He’s going to want to fight. Does he end up fighting someone like a Shane Del Rosario? Bigfoot Silva? He’s going to want to fight and will (perhaps) be Scott Coker’s most reliable heavyweight, for what it’s worth. Of course, he has the taint on him right now and there’s the long-expected December hearing where both he and Chael Sonnen will be dealing with the appeals board that oversees the California State Athletic Commission rulings.
The situation regarding Werdum and Strikeforce is ridiculous. Yes, he has a contract that allows him to fight for other promoters not based in America. However, why is he not fighting in Strikeforce? There is zero momentum going for him on a national scale in the States because he’s been off television since beating Fedor. The promotion hasn’t marketed his big win nor have they really circled the wagons around him to make him their visual ‘ace’ in ad campaigns. It’s almost like Strikeforce doesn’t mind Werdum being out of the spotlight because people might forget that he beat Fedor…
It should also be noted that Scott Coker had talked and talked about a Middleweight tournament and how it could span two shows. Then he booked Jacare Souza vs. Tim Kennedy and the winner (Jacare) got their vacated 185-pound title. Quietly afterwards, the promotion announced that there wouldn’t be a Middleweight tournament in the end. Strikeforce managed to take the one division that they had real strength in (their Middleweights), promise something that sounded tenable or at least partially workable, and in the end produced nothing.
The promotion closes out the year with a show in Jackson, Mississippi this weekend and then their St. Louis event on December 4th. They need a much stronger campaign in 2011 and the ability to make more important fights more frequently. This is a performance business. No excuses.
Strikeforce 12/4 in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center
- Heavyweights: Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem
- Welterweights: Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith
- Heavyweights: Herschel Walker vs. Scott Carson
- Middleweights: Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland
- Light Heavyweights: Dan Henderson vs. Renato Babalu
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Urijah Faber talks about the art of taking a punch
By Zach Arnold | November 16, 2010
Steve Cofield clipped some audio from last week’s Pro MMA radio show which featured Urijah Faber. I had the show in my catalog of audio to review, so here’s a few items from that interview for you perusal.
Would winning a UFC belt mean more than a WEC belt?
“Um… you know, really if I were to break it down, no, but… on a bigger level, you know when I first started in this sport seven years ago my goal on my wall was to be a, uh, a world champ in the UFC or the WEC or in the UFC or PRIDE and PRIDE is gone. The UFC is the place to be and I’ve always wanted to have that belt, so I think, yeah, you know, deep down you know in my own head I think, yeah, I want that UFC belt. It means a lot to me but, you know, I don’t really fight because of belts. I fight because of uh… you know something that’s inside of me and something that I’m inspired by outside of material things but to have the symbolism of the UFC belt and put it next to my WEC belt and my King of the Cage belt and my Gladiator Challenge belt and everything else is going to be and my vintage vintage WEC belt that was before Zuffa, you know, it’s an exciting thing for me so I’m ready.”
Can Brock Lesnar learn to accept getting punched during MMA fights?
“I would say that I’m not sure how much it’s actually missing but he hasn’t had enough of it and that’s a ton of straight sparring. You know, when we train and our training camp is extremely high-level and really thought-out. We have a bunch of different trainers in a bunch of different areas. But, um… you know, even two and a half years ago when my head trainer Master Thong came in and started working with the team, he just kept saying, ‘Hey, no scared! You can’t be scared, you can’t be scared!’ and he would let us hit him in the face over and over again and we all thought he was crazy. I mean, he would literally have us unload on his face and he was kind of a genetic freak as it is and he’s had 200+ Muay Thai fights and boxing fights and MMA fights and stuff like that but uh… the bottom line is … getting hit is not the coolest thing to have done to you but it’s not that big of a deal and it takes a ton of sparring and some great defense and knowledge of what it’s like to get hit in order to be able to get used to it. So, I heard rumors that Lesnar wasn’t letting guys punch him in the space during sparring and I don’t know how many sparring sessions he did where he wasn’t able to use take downs but he needs to do some straight sparring. Even at this point, we spar twice a week straight boxing. We spar a couple of times a week with just kickboxing and, you know, transition that into MMA at the end of a practice or sometimes, you know, mix it all together in situations but you got to really get used to that. I mean, the worst punches are the ones you don’t see coming and if you don’t see any punches coming because you’re ducking your head that’s the worst-case scenario so I think he’s got room for improvement. I think he’s still going to be a great fighter as long as he decides to do that but he needs to get in there and accept, hey, I’m going to get hit and there’s guys that are better punching than I am and he needs to put in the time like everyone else.”
You can get comfortable with getting hit through experience even if your natural reaction is to kind of turn and run away or back away?
“Oh, 100%, you know, and we’ll been there where Lesnar was. I mean, unfortunately for him (millions are watching), it was me five years ago that was comfortable as he was and I worked on it over time and but with a great, great training camp you know I’ve got guys like TJ Dillashaw who’s been here 11 months and Chad Mendes has been here two years and Micah Ferguson who is a wrestler who is not used to getting punched, all these guys aren’t used to get punched and with the right uh… techniques and the right experience and the right nurturing environment in getting hit if there is such a thing, I mean it’s a pretty simple thing.
“I just kind of didn’t like the fact that he had so many eyes on him and had so much influence in this sport and he came off so bad for this sport after his fight with (Frank) Mir but I think he’s grown a lot and I would be willing to help him out if he was really into learning. You know I think there’s some things, just simple things that would help him out and I mean he shouldn’t be losing to guys that are 40 pounds lighter than him.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video: Renzo Gracie and the NY MMA Expo
By Zach Arnold | November 16, 2010
I’m interested by the fact that the NY MMA Expo has drawn little interest online (other than sites like MMA Die Hards). Why do the Expo events on the West Coast seem to draw more attention than the East Coast events?
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A grab bag of UFC-related headlines for the MMA notebook
By Zach Arnold | November 15, 2010
I would remiss in forgetting to note that Josh Gross has left Sports Illustrated and is now at ESPN. Loretta Hunt’s writings are now showing up at The LA Times.
Jorge Rivera says he is going to face Michael Bisping in February for UFC’s Australia event. Really?
Dana White has indicated that we will not see a trilogy fight between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar. Who will Lesnar face next? BTW, I find it interesting that the reports about the UFC 121 (Lesnar/Velasquez) buy rate indicate around a million buys with the Hispanic demographic up but the other demographics down.
UFC 122 drew 8,421 for an approximate $600,000 gate in Olberhausen, Germany. UFC hopes homegrown fighters will convince skeptical Germans. Marshall Zelaznik still stands by the notion of UFC having 4 ~ 6 UK events in 2011.
People Magazine notes that Chuck Liddell recently got engaged.
Steven Seagal training with Lyoto Machida? I think the PR is interesting for UFC 123. Machida should undoubtedly be the favorite in the fight. Speaking of favorites, BJ Penn is a slight favorite going into his fight against Matt Hughes. Hughes says he is having the time of his life right now and is happy for the upcoming paycheck.
A report from this past weekend’s MMA World Expo in New York.
An interview with Rich Franklin.
Today’s press conference with Sadaharu Tanigawa of K-1 and Sengoku officials came across as ‘big brother helping out little brother’, but the problem with that scenario is that K-1’s stature is rapidly declining.
An interesting article at Esquire talking about the future of boxing when Manny Pacquiao retires.
The Guardian (UK) newspaper gives EA Sports MMA four stars. A positive review.
Topics: K-1, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Freddie Roach accuses Antonio Margarito of using ephedra
By Zach Arnold | November 14, 2010
As I noted elsewhere online Saturday night, even atheists might believe in a God after the beating Manny Pacquiao put on Antonio Margarito. What made Saturday’s night fight even more the spectacle is when Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, accused Margarito of using Hydroxycut and ephedra in a pre-fight drink. Texas and their standards of drug testing got put in the spotlight once again.
As much as I’d like to say that Floyd Mayweather will eventually fight Manny Pacquiao given his legal troubles and money issues, I think Saturday night’s performance all but closed the door on Mayweather ever accepting such a fight. Who would be next for Pacquiao? Try Shane Mosley.
There was so much interest in Saturday night’s fight between Pacquiao and Margarito that Kevin Iole reported that Dana White allegedly paid Bob Arum a large amount of cash to get a satellite feed of the fight in Germany. Which, in many ways, is about as symbolic of a gesture as you could come up with to talk about what a deplorable card UFC 122 was and why nobody wants to talk about, let alone even remember that they watched it in the first place. It was that bad. I actually felt some decent vibes about Yushin Okami after reading an excellent Sherdog article on the man, but it appears his personality is diametrically opposite to his fighting style in terms of entertainment.
As for UFC 122, Dana White called Marquardt a choker and blamed it on Greg Jackson for fighting for points rather than a finish.
We won’t be seeing Roy Nelson any time soon thanks to that contract he signed with Roy Jones Jr. before he signed with the UFC.
Oh, I would be remiss in forgetting to mention about David Haye’s beating of Audley Harrison. You’re welcome.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Make your UFC 122 predictions (11/13 Konig Pilsener Arena)
By Zach Arnold | November 12, 2010
This airs on tape delay via Spike TV.
- Light Heavyweights: Seth Petruzelli vs. Karlos Vemola
- Lightweights: Duane “Bang” Ludwig vs. Nick Osipczak
- Welterweights: Amir Sadollah vs. Peter Sobotta
- Lightweights: Dennis Siver vs. Andre Winner
- Middleweights: Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara
- Light Heavyweights: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Goran Reljic
- Light Heavyweights: Kyle Noke vs. Rob Kimmons
- Light Heavyweights: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alexandre Ferreira
- Welterweights: Pascal Krauss vs. Mark Scanlon
- Welterweights: Kris McCray vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha
- Middleweights (eliminator): Nate Marquardt vs. Yushin Okami
Check out Kevin Iole’s article on UFC’s global expansion plans.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jon Fitch figures out that he doesn’t have big UFC fan support
By Zach Arnold | November 12, 2010
I would encourage you to read this item from Loretta Hunt in The LA Times about Jon Fitch and why he’s not getting a re-match against Georges St. Pierre any time soon. I hope Jon’s game improves to the point where he is finishing off his opponents in spectacular fashion. Until that aspect of his game changes, he’ll be (proverbially) stuck in cement and not be able to move upwards.
Brett Okamoto in The Las Vegas Sun has a good article on Urijah Faber’s future and how he finished his WEC career out in style. Take note about the details regarding the finish of that fight (the scary choke). Does referee Josh Rosenthal deserve heat from the fans for allowing the choke hold to be applied too long? I did not envy the position he was in last night because of the way Faber had positioned Mizugaki against the cage and covered him up.
Regarding Faber’s future in the UFC, the question is when not if he will be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter.
I linked to a Ha’aretz article the other day about a major MMA event in Israel. Today, The Jerusalem Post has details about the show and the future of the promoters involved.
Remember MMA’s worst fight in 2010, Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner at the UFC show in Boston? Andre Winner will do anything to avoid that from occurring again when he fights Dennis Siver at UFC 122 this weekend in Germany. Siver tells ESPN UK that he’s ready to take the fight to the ground if he has to do so.
The Toronto Star’s article about young kids in MMA classes.
Cain Velasquez’s two-sided answer to being asked about the Antonio Margarito video making fun of Freddie Roach for having Parkinson’s. Speaking of Cain, here’s an extended interview he did on Thursday for ESPN:
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