Urijah Faber helps Dana White breathe a sigh of relief
By Zach Arnold | November 11, 2010
On one hand, Urijah Faber’s Bantamweight win over Takeya Mizugaki on Thursday night was largely predictable and expected. This certainly gave Dana White some relief knowing that the value of the UFC-WEC merger stays in tact. On the other hand, Faber choked out Mizugaki so bad that Mizugaki’s body was as stiff as a cinderblock after the choke was done. I give credit to Faber for staying still on the mat after the choke was released because any sudden, ill-advised move could have put Mizugaki’s health at risk. Thankfully the officials at cage side were able to help Mizugaki recover quickly. It was a scary choke and in such a position in the cage that it made Josh Rosenthal’s job very hard.
A few other takeaways from tonight’s WEC 52 event…
We are a week away from UFC 123 at The Palace of Auburn Hills and tonight was the first time that I actually saw a PPV ad for Rampage vs. Machida. The promotion is going to need a really, really strong week of hype to drum up more interest for the 11/20 show. I’m excited to see the show but it’s the casual fans that really matter.
Faber’s team continues to steamroll and win big in WEC fights. Will that success carry over to UFC?
Joe Benavidez’s win over Wagnney Fabiano was bittersweet. Benavidez fought a great fight and Fabiano fought a horrible fight. Fabiano is just a tease at this point, nothing more nothing less.
The WEC live 30-minute pre-fight and post-fight shows hosted by Molly Qerim with Ariel Helwani deserve a thumbs up. Molly is smooth on the mic and does a good job handling the flow of the shows. A pro. Check out her interview with Dana white. Feast your eyes on that monstrosity of a sweater the UFC President is wearing.
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Make your predictions for WEC on 11/11 in Las Vegas
By Zach Arnold | November 11, 2010
Dark matches
- Featherweights: Yves Jabouin vs. Brandon Visher
- Featherweights: Cub Swanson vs. Mackens Semerzier
- Bantamweights: Clint Godfrey vs. Michael McDonald
- Lightweights: Zack Micklewright vs. Dustin Poirier
- Lightweights: Anthony Njokuani vs. Ed Faaloloto
- Featherweights: Raphael Assuncao vs. LC Davis
Main card
- Bantamweights: Damacio Page vs. Demetrious Johnson
- Bantamweights: Joseph Benavidez vs. Wagnney Fabiano
- Featherweights: Erik Koch vs. Francisco Rivera
- Featherweights: Chad Mendes vs. Javier Vazquez
- Bantamweights: Urijah Faber vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The story behind the Margarito video making fun of Freddie Roach
By Zach Arnold | November 11, 2010
A discussion amongst the Yahoo Sports MMA/boxing writers.
STEVE COFIELD: “If anyone should be sensitive to Freddie Roach and this awful thing that’s happened to him with Parkinson’s, you know we don’t know for sure that the fight game, boxing does it to you but there’s pretty good evidence, if anyone should be sensitive to that it should be boxers and people around boxing and there was a video [Tuesday] night that got out on Fanhouse where (Antonio) Margarito and one of his training partner’s, Brandon Rios, are doing Freddie Roach Parkinson impressions, shaking, contorted faces, stuttering… Just stupid. Childish!”
KEVIN IOLE: “It was horrible. I mean, it was beyond stupid. I mean, and you know, I know Dave is outraged over Margarito even having the fight but this would make somebody even way over the top on that. I mean, and then they had, it was worse because of the lame excuse he had at the press conference when he said, well I wasn’t making fun of him, I didn’t even know he had this disease.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Yeah.”
KEVIN IOLE: “This is Roberto Garcia talking. He said I didn’t know he had this disease and I was just talking, he goes, I thought he maybe had something from his boxing career. Well, yes! That’s what he has. And Freddie’s Parkinson is actually trauma-induced Parkinson’s and it’s a Parkinson’s that came from, you know, from too many years in the ring and being hit too often so it’s really a sad thing that they did and it showed just a complete lack of class on the part of all three men.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Am I going too far saying, you know, it says a lot about Margarito I think.”
KEVIN IOLE: “I think it does, too. I mean, I was critical, highly critical of him in my column this morning on Yahoo Sports after watching it and I just don’t see how, you know, how Margarito, you know, thinks he can just explain this away because he cannot.”
STEVE COFIELD: “The other part of it is when you watch the video, and they pulled it down, although I was able to screen cap some shots of them doing their Freddie Roach Parkinson’s impression so they’re up on the boxing blog up on Yahoo… the beginning of the video is another disturbing trend, you know, as if it’s not bad enough to sit there and mock on a guy with this awful disease, they continue to make light of the incident that got them in hot water in the first place and that is the plaster substance on his hands, you know, in the 24/7 they’re putting Cinderblocks on this hands. This video starts out with some kind of like hammer thing, some steel thing like, GUYS, IT’S NOT FUNNY. I don’t like, just you’re not letting it go now!”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, I agree, I mean, I just don’t understand. Like, just forget about it, conduct yourself as a professional with class and dignity and eventually you will restore your reputation. But I mean this joking around he’s doing about it, I mean he’s making a fool out of himself and people are laughing at him, not with him.”
STEVE COFIELD: “From a media philosophy standpoint on that video that had Margarito and one of his training partners mocking on Freddie Roach for having Parkinson’s, um… if you were in charge of a web site and the video was up there, would you pull the video?”
KEVIN IOLE: “No.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Because I just want to tell people, Fanhouse had it up, my guess is Fanhouse put pressure on the blogger and they may have gotten calls from Camp Margarito and promoters to pull that video down.”
KEVIN IOLE: “I can tell you what happened because it was taken, it was taken down by Lem Satterfield who is their boxing editor and he took it down at about 4 in the morning. He had just gotten up to get ready to fly to the airport. He lives in suburban Baltimore to fly to the airport to come to Dallas today. I talked to Lem at length at the press conference and he yanked it, he said he saw it and it disgusted him and he just thought to take it down because of that. So that’s why he took it down. I think he regrets having taken it down now just because you realize there was significant news value to it. My only objection to it was that the ‘reporter’ and I use that in quotes because he certainly is not a real reporter that did the interview, prodded them into it and you know that’s not the role of a journalist to be doing something like that and he was like doing the ‘ol, hey, he said this about you and he said this about you and he was really prodding them into it. It doesn’t excuse them for saying it but the reporter in that case was unprofessional and got them to say that by the way he was interviewing them. If I was in charge and I saw that video, of course I would put that video up and it would stay there. I would have been angry only from the standpoint that my ‘reporter’ would have behaved so abominably the way this ‘reporter’ who did that interview did.”
STEVE COFIELD: “It is a news item, you’re right, and it was out there so I think it’s kind of silly and naive to think that no one saw it and it’s just going to go away. It was reposted, it got reposted, it was edited because I think there was a more offensive impression later in the video, that was up for a couple of hours and then as you said in quotes the ‘journalist’ then I think pulled the, hey, that’s my video because someone else posted it, that’s my video copyright you know whatever infringement, rights deal and pull it down, so it got pulled down a second time.”
KEVIN IOLE: “Yeah, it’s just too bad, I mean it’s really bad and I think people need to see that to what idiots these guys are and how they conduct themselves.”
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 122 (the show that Pacquiao/Margarito will crush in viewership)
By Zach Arnold | November 10, 2010
This Friday and Saturday at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York will be the MMA World Expo. In the words of American VP Joe Biden, this is a big [expletive] deal. Read the CBS New York report and look at all the names from the MMA world that will be in attendance.
Ha’aretz, one of the major Israeli media outlets, has an article about yesterday’s MMA event in Tel Aviv at the Nokia Arena which drew a reported crowd of 6,500.
Article of the day to read — Competitive advantage, the story of Round 5 and Jakks Pacific.
Nate Marquardt doesn’t have an easy task in the cage against Yushin Okami on Saturday in Oberhausen and just like his last fight on Spike (against Rousimar Palhares), he’s unlikely to draw a big TV rating. The UFC show will face stiff competition from the Margarito/Pacquiao fight in Dallas and also a slate of college football games.
The Fresno Bee has a profile article on Reed Harris and how life has changed since Zuffa bought out WEC. He’s now living near the Wynn Golf & Country Club in Las Vegas. As for Thursday’s WEC show, Urijah Faber definitely needs to beat Takeya Mizugaki in his 135-pound fight in order to get some post-merger momentum going. Mizugaki said that he would like to see Michihiro Omigawa and Lion Takeshi fight in the UFC. Interesting comments from Faber in the Las Vegas Sun talking about ‘Internet warriors’ saying he hit a roadblock at 145 so he’s dropping down to 135.
Yea or nay on Brittney Palmer? She’s coming over to UFC in the WEC merger.
Marshall Zelaznik tells ESPN UK that a big UFC title fight will be held in Europe in 2011. In the UK, there’s a brand new BJJ magazine being published called Jiu-Jitsu Style.
A flashback to when UFC tried to run an event in Japan. It reminds me of the old clip of football coach Dick Vermeil in a Coor’s Light commercial where he says, “You’re spinning your wheels. Don’t make the trip.” Well, UFC didn’t make the trip in the end.
Old-school UFC veteran Vladimir Matyushenko talks to ESPN about what he learned recently with new-school MMA fighting.
Can having a UFC party at your place with random strangers be a bad idea?
There are multiple media reports, including one in The Orange County Register, claiming that Mark Munoz is training with boxer Nonito Donaire. Munoz is preparing for his upcoming November 20th fight against Aaron Simpson.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Disastrous and historically all-time TV ratings low point for K-1
By Zach Arnold | November 9, 2010
Monday’s World MAX tournament show in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan that aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System from 9 PM to 10:54 PM JST drew an all-time record low TV rating of 7.6%. The one fight that drew a rating on the show was Satoshi Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata, which drew a 12.1% rating. K-1 front man Sadaharu Tanigawa said that ‘the absence of a new star’ is what has led to K-1 drawing low ratings.
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Video & transcript of HDNet interview with Urijah Faber in Sacramento
By Zach Arnold | November 9, 2010
RON KRUCK: “Well, Urijah, you’re up next at WEC 52 and you’re dropping to Bantamweight. Tell us about that decision. Why did you decide to do that?”
URIJAH FABER: “It’s something that I wanted to do for a long time. Actually when I started in this sport, I wanted to be a 135-pounder but uh… you know when I started in this sport seven years ago and it wasn’t legal in California, the only fights that were happening were on Indian Casinos, pretty much had to do whatever the promoters said. Wasn’t on TV, guys weren’t getting paid much, so I was up to 155 fighting my first two fights and then I made a stand, I brought in some fans and I told the promoter, hey, I want to least at 145s and I became a world champion there. I was a world champion for a number of years in different organizations, you know, I think three different organizations I was the world champ and… I was 145 pounds, so you don’t really fix it when it’s not broken and it was something that I wanted to do to be a champion at multiple weights because I know that I can go down and compete and just has been the opportunity to do it, you know, coming off of a hard loss like that, I wanted to get the win and drop down and accomplish it there but at this point I want to go back down and keep on working on my weaknesses and come back and be a champion again.”
RON KRUCK: “What’s been the biggest challenge of dropping down a weight class, if anything?”
URIJAH FABER: “Just getting my weight down. I mean, the last seven years has been… I’ve been trying to gain weight, you know, and it’s been a goal on my wall, you know, put on weight, put on weight, and I’ve been doing things pro-actively to make that happen so I can get up to 158 pounds, you know, pretty easily and when you’re talking about 35s and I’m lean, that’s a long ways to go. But my body’s reacting really well to the weight cut, I’m back down to about 151, 152 after eating dinner and, you know, 147, 148 after practices and I’ve already done one test run down to 140 and I felt great. I was still four pounds off but I know I can make it, so I’m excited about the new weight. It’s going to be a great thing for my career and I’m already one of the bigger guys in the division for the first time and it’s going to be fun.”
RON KRUCK: “Let’s talk about your opponent quickly. Taking on Mizugaki, a very dangerous fighter. What makes him such a difficult opponent?”
URIJAH FABER: “Um… the most difficult part about Mizugaki is that the fact that he’s, you know, going to come forward and not quit. You see him go against all these tough guys and he knows what he likes to do. He loves to fight, he loves to come straight forward. He is good at defending take-downs, he’s got a couple of good take-downs himself, mostly upper body stuff but he’s never really been in some serious danger on the ground, occasionally getting into a little bit of trouble but he’s a well-rounded fighter and he’s also big for the weight class, so the one thing that I’m going to be different and better at is being creative in thinking outside the box. Now, you know, especially with fighting guys that are my same size… you know, he’s going to have to do a lot to finish me and I just don’t think it’s going to happen and I think I’ve got a lot of ways to finish him.”
RON KRUCK: “The one thing, Urijah, that’s consistent with Team Alpha Male is your relationship with these guys. There are some guys that you’ve known pretty much your life.”
URIJAH FABER: “Yeah, you know, you have a guy like Danny Castillo. He and I were wrestling each other back in the day, you know, I mean 9th graders and on some of the same all-star teams for wrestling and stuff like that. Chad Mendes and TJ Dillashaw are guys that I recruited when I was a coach at UC Davis and we were making phone calls to TJ’s house and him kind of blowing me off and Chad Mendes, he came on our recruiting trip and ended up going to Cal Poly, we had a relationship over the Summers working wrestling camps so… you know, we have that aspect of the team. We also have guys that have sought us out and come from all over the U.S. I mean we got Kyacey Uscola who’s from Idaho, we’ve got Joseph Benavidez from New Mexico and Justin Buchholz from Alaska, you know we have guys that are coming from all over to be a part of, you know, this energy and the team that we’re building.”
RON KRUCK: “I think one of the unique things you’ve been doing to help out some of the younger guys is what you guys refer to as ‘The Block.’ Tell me a little bit about that.”
URIJAH FABER: “The Block is just something that’s kind of taken its own form and what really happened was I graduated college, wasn’t making much money at a time where anybody could buy a house and I, uh… got a loan on a decent little house and I moved a bunch of my buddies in to make ends meet and it’s been kind of a safe haven for that go-between area where guys are graduating college or kind of at the crossroads of figuring out what they’re going to do. I’ve had so many come in and lived on our block and some stay, some become fighters, some become businessmen, whatever, but you know on any given time we have, you know, 12 to 17 guys living on The Block and most of them are related to MMA and we all help each other out. We do, you know, sessions where, you know, we’re working on the mental side of things also with group, you know, exercises on bettering yourself and we have fun parties and there’s a lot of interesting stuff that goes on, so… you know, guys like Chad Mendes and TJ Dillashaw have come in, lived on The Block, moved off The Block, and new guys come in. We got some 20-year old guys from Alaska and guys are just graduating college that are on and then you’ve got myself who’s getting up there a little bit in age and it’s an interesting mix and it’s fun.”
RON KRUCK: “So, basically, on The Block, these guys live together, they come here and train together, they party together. This is really like a family, isn’t it?”
URIJAH FABER: “Yeah, it’s a big extended family and, um… you know, there’s plenty of times where guys are giving each other crap but more often than not…”
RON KRUCK: “Like a family.”
URIJAH FABER: “Yeah, we’re, you know, keeping each other straight. if there’s an issue, I’m not a dictator but I’ll throw out my opinion on what’s the best thing for, you know, some of these younger guys and, you know, bum rides from each other and keep each other accountable. It’s easy to stay in this life that’s not a real easy lifestyle when you have a lot of people that are doing the same things, so, um, you know, butting heads and getting punched in the face and working your butt off every day. You know, if you’re doing that all by yourself, that’s pretty rough. But when you have a group of guys that have a camaraderie with it, it’s a lot better.”
RON KRUCK: “Castillo described Team Alpha Male as the best looking fight team out there and if you go to your web site, I mean, seriously, Urijah, you look at the pictures down there… you guys look like a bunch of surfers or really GQ models. Do you guys get any [expletive] about that?”
URIJAH FABER: “Well, I don’t know about that, but yeah I don’t know that how that worked out, I guess just kinda, you know, I think partially because we are in great shape all the time and we’re in California where the weather’s beautiful and, you know, like people we’re attracted to you know a similar energy and stuff so maybe that’s, uh… more of a personality thing than looks. I don’t know, I mean… you ever watch the cheer-leading team and you look and like, look at all those hot chicks, and then you try to find the hot one and you’re like, oh, wait, never mind. Maybe it’s a little bit like that.”
RON KRUCK: “That’s a good point. You don’t see happen this too much but coming up at WEC 52, yourself, Chad, and Joseph all on the same card. How cool is that to have that type of support from your fellow teammates?”
URIJAH FABER: “It’s great. You know, we all feed off each other. We’ll be able to bring a whole host of trainers. Like I said, we have a lot of different trainers in our gym and teammates that sit in each other’s corners and having that camaraderie and unity is just great. It feels like we’re going to war and you know you got your brothers on the side of you and nothing really like that feeling, so, I mean I attribute that to I mean just like Danny Castillo’s last fight, he stepped in on a couple of week’s notice and because of the lifestyle that we live, we stay in shape, we stay ready and when you stay ready you don’t have to get ready and so that’s probably one of the differences here in our gym and it’s part of being a team and not being selfish, you know when you’re not up to that you’re helping other guys out.”
Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce press release on Herschel Walker’s opponent and keyboard warriors
By Zach Arnold | November 8, 2010
HERSCHEL WALKER’S OPPONENT BLASTS CRITICS FOR UNDERESTIMATING HIM BEFORE HIS DEC. 4 FIGHT IN ST. LOUIS ON SHOWTIME®
Scott Carson Rips Into ‘Keyboard Warriors’ and Vows ‘To Shut Them Up’
NEW YORK (Nov. 8, 2010) – STRIKEFORCE formally announced that legendary football superstar and unbeaten MMA fighter, Herschel Walker (1-0), of Wrightsville, Ga., will be opposed by Scott Carson (4-1), of Lake Forest, Calif., in a featured heavyweight matchup on Saturday, Dec. 4, at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).
The 6-foot-1 inch Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner and a 1999 College Hall of Fame inductee, holds a fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and boasts additional training in the combat disciplines of Muay Thai and Kenpo. He has been honing his MMA skills at world-renowned American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose, Calif., under head trainers Bob Cook and Javier Mendez.
The remarkable Walker, 48, will be making his first start since winning his pro debut with a unanimous three-round decision over Greg Nagy on Jan. 30, 2010, at STRIKEFORCE: Miami on SHOWTIME.
So, who is Scott Carson?
“I’ll tell you one thing. I’m a lot better fighter than the one I’ve been reading about on the Internet,’’ Carson said. “This is a huge deal for me, a tremendous opportunity, but you’d think I was nothing going off what has been written by some of these keyboard warriors, who I doubt have ever stepped in a cage. It’s a lot easier to sit in front of a computer and talk (stuff) than it is to actually fight.
“I am trying to take it all in stride, but I have no idea why some people are talking so negatively without ever having seen me. They don’t know me. I’m pretty well-rounded with good standup and wrestling.
“They say I’m old at 40 but I don’t feel 40 and I certainly don’t look 40. I think I look 30 and I’m in great shape. I’m ripped, just like Herschel.
“I’m going to be more ready for Dec. 4 than I have been for any other fight. I plan to shut up all the critics, each and every one of them. Let them write something factual after they’ve seen me on Dec. 4.
“I’m really excited about fighting a great athlete like Herschel. I’m training every day. But the fact that some people aren’t giving me a chance is only giving me extra motivation. This is going to be a great fight.’’
The 6-foot-2-inch Carson turned pro in September 1999 and won his initial four starts through June 2001. He is a former WEC veteran who scored a first-round submission victory over Bryson Haubrick at the very first WEC event.
HERSCHEL TO FIGHT SCOTT CARSON AT STRIKEFORCE EVENT DEC. 4 IN ST. LOUIS ON SHOWTIME
After being sidelined with a back injury and due to several scheduled fights falling out, Carson didn’t return to the cage until last June 12 in Los Angeles. A member of Reign Training Center in Lake Forest, he got knocked out in the first round by undefeated Lorenz Martin (3-0 going in, 5-0 now).
“I was out a long time because of my back and I did rehab for a while,’’ said Carson, who trained for years with Chuck Liddell before he joined Reign Training Center in Lake Forest. “I never thought much about not fighting again; I always wanted to come back.
“But I couldn’t do anything until I was 100 percent. Once I got healthy again, I got better the more I trained. I’ve helped a lot of guys get ready for fights while waiting for my chance. I had a few fights lined up before my last fight, but they all fell out for one reason or another.’’
The comebacking Carson makes no excuses for his last start, his first in nine years.
“It got to the point for the longest time that all I did was train,’’ he said. “Then, the next thing we know, I’m fighting. I felt good going into that fight but just got caught. It can happen to anybody.’’
In the main event of a stacked card on STRIKEFORCEC’s return to Scottrade Center, MMA superstar Dan Henderson (25-8) of Temecula, Calif., faces former STRIKEFORCE light heavyweight world champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral (36-8) of Brazil in a collision of world-class 205-pounders.
Other televised fights: Former world heavyweight champion Antonio “Big Foot’’ Silva (14-2), of Coconut Creek, Fla., by way of Brazil, faces the older brother of STRIKEFORCE heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, Valentijn “The Python’’ Overeem (28-23), of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Paul “Semtex’’ Daley (25-9-2) of Nottingham, England, meets power puncher Scott “Hands Of Steel’ Smith (17-7, 1 NC), of Elk Grove, Calif., in a battle of explosive welterweights (170 pounds) and exciting local favorite “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (17-6, 1 NC), of Granite City, Ill., takes on 2000 Olympic Games silver medalist Matt “The Law” Lindland (22-7) of Oregon City, Ore., in a middleweight (185 pounds) scrap.
St. Louis native and promising welterweight, Jesse Finney, will take on a foe to be announced in the top non-televised undercard bout.
Tickets for the event are on sale at Scottrade Center, online at Ticketmaster.com and Strikeforce.com or by phone (800) 745-3000.
Doors at Scottrade Center will open for the event at 6 p.m. CT. The first preliminary bout will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the first SHOWTIME televised main card fight will begin at 9 p.m.
About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA) series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose. In March 2009, STRIKEFORCE signed a multi-year agreement with SHOWTIME® to stage live events on the premium cable television network. The promotion has since also produced two live, primetime events on the CBS Television Network.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Satoshi Ishii claims he’ll fight Tito Ortiz next (11/8 K-1 Ryogoku event results)
By Zach Arnold | November 8, 2010
His fight today at the K-1 World Max event in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan was against Katsuyori Shibata and he won in R1 in 3’30 with an arm-lock for the submission. After the fight, he claims that he doesn’t want to fight on the 12/31 Dynamite show at Saitama Super Arena. Why? He says he wants to fight Tito Ortiz in America. I’m guessing he’s claiming that he would fight Ortiz in UFC on their 1/1 event?
Either he’s trying to gain leverage or throwing a temper tantrum or just making no sense (as he is often wont to do.)
Results from today’s K-1 event in Tokyo:
- Fabiano Da Silva defeated Jan Kaszuba after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (29-27 twice, 30-26).
- Makoto Nishiyama defeated Shunsuke Oishi in R2 in 54 seconds by KO.
- World MAX reserve fight: Hinata defeated Andre Dida after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-25 three times.)
- DREAM MMA rules fight: Satoshi Ishii defeated Katsuyori Shibata in R1 in 3’30 with an arm-lock.
- World Max 70 kg tournament: Mike Zambidis defeated Yuichiro Nagashima in R3 in 53 seconds by KO.
- World Max 70 kg tournament: Giorgio Petrosyan defeated Albert Kraus after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-29 twice, 29-28.)
- World Max 70 kg tournament: Drago defeated Mohamed Khamal after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-26 three times.)
- World Max 70 kg tournament: Yoshihiro Sato defeated Michal Glogowski after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-29 twice, 30-28.)
- Yuta Kubo defeated HIROYA after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-27 twice, 30-28.)
- World Max 70 kg tournament: Giorgio Petrosyan defeated Mike Zambidis after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-28, 30-29 twice.)
- World Max 70 kg tournament: Yoshihiro Sato defeated Drago after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-28, 30-27 twice.)
- Yuya Yamamoto defeated Seichi Ikemoto in R2 by KO.
- World Max 70 kg tournament finals: Giorgio Petrosyan defeated Yoshihiro Sato after 3R by a 3-0 JD. (30-28 twice, 30-27.)
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
What do readers look for in an MMA magazine?
By Zach Arnold | November 8, 2010
I’m not an avid reader of MMA magazines, but I recently received a stack of five different magazines from a friend who wanted me to see what they were all about. I’m more of a newspaper/journal kind of guy, so I fully admit that I’m not the typical magazine reader. With that said, I came away very surprised at the format of many of the MMA mags and here’s a few takeaways I had after reading them. (If you are an editor for one of the bigger MMA magazines, I’ll be happy to give you specific details if you contact me.)
Bombardment of graphics
After getting over the sticker shock of most of the publications ($5 ~ $7 an issue), my immediate takeaway was just how much the magazines rely on photos, ads, and layouts. It’s overwhelming, to say the least, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking for.
No focus on content
I’ve been told that some publications have great articles. So, I went through some articles (the ones that I could find) and I wasn’t that impressed at all. Excluding the actual article content, the presentation is striking. The fonts used are incredibly small (making it hard to read and focus) and everything else in the layout distracts you from reading the text. It seems like the articles are largely an afterthought as opposed to being the main crux of the magazines.
Of the magazines that I saw, the UFC magazine was the best at placing focus on article content.
Ads and pictures
I understand that publishers have to pay the bills, but it’s hard to swallow having someone pay $6 for a magazine and then have at least 40% of the publication be ads. On top of that, the excessive layout spreads of models. If I want to look for that kind of thing, I’ll go on the internet.
Even more interesting is the kind of sponsors the magazines are attracting. It’s largely all clothing or supplement companies. The variety isn’t all that different. Now, to be fair, I have not been put in a position to where I’ve had to shop around a publication to attract sponsorships, but it seems as if the most common publications attract very similar sponsors (like ring tone companies, gyms, so on and so forth.)
Short attention spans
I tend to be a details-oriented guy, so I guess I have a mid-to-long level attention span which makes me out of the norm for the ADD-addled MMA audience buying the publications. Everything seemed short in terms of article length, lots of blurbs, lots of things to keep your eyes moving around on the page while skimming… I understand that people who read magazines don’t read 100% of the material in them, but it seems a full reverse is on display here to not encourage you to read the articles at all.
Bottom line: I came away, in general, largely disappointed with the magazines that I saw. Not enough focus on reading material and too much focus elsewhere. However, I’m willing to give ground on the fact that perhaps I’m not the target audience of these publications. What kind of thoughts do you have in general on the MMA magazine landscape and how would you improve some of the publications that you have read?
Books
I received a copy in the mail of The MMA Encyclopedia on Friday. This thing is massive. You could use it as a weapon in a fight. One thing is clear when you check it out — a lot of hard work went into making this reference book. It’s detailed and very readable. I hate hate books that use hard-to-read fonts or bad layout designs. This book, in particular, had a clean and organized layout that I give a thumbs up to. As far as what the book was missing… perhaps a CD/DVD version of the book could have been attached to the printed copy as a bonus?
If you’re looking for a good fight-themed book to pick up, check out From the Fields to the Garden: The Life of Stitch Duran.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
K-1 2010 NYE show at Saitama Super Arena
By Zach Arnold | November 4, 2010
Today, there was supposed to be an announcement regarding some fights or fighters for the card, but that has been put off. The press conference today was more or less a general announcement to the public about the show. Show has a 4 PM start and will feature 12 ~ 13 fights. Mr. Tanigawa told the media that they had too many fights last year (17) and that they needed to trim it down a bit. The show will air in Golden Time on Tokyo Broadcasting System. Expect some K-1 vs. DREAM and Strikeforce vs. DREAM fights on the card.
Scott Coker says that he would consider working with Bellator
Take a look at what he had to say to Mauro Ranallo on The Fight (radio) Show on Tuesday:
MAURO RANALLO: “Lots going on of course, Scott, and lots of good things. I just want to finally put the proverbial nail in the coffin in case listeners were not paying attention yesterday or over the weekend. What is going on with Strikeforce and Bellator Fight Championships? Are you in negotiations with Mr. Bjorn Rebney? Have you talked to Mr. Rebney?”
SCOTT COKER: “No. The answer is both to those is no. I mean, you know, I think that um… the texts that he’s been sending is to an old phone that I haven’t used for phones and he has the wrong number, so we have not talked, we have not spoken. I’m getting ready for our next two fights and but I’m sure that, you know, in the next couple of weeks we definitely will link up at some point.”
MAURO RANALLO: “So you are definitely open to talking with Bjorn about the possibility of co-promoting some fights down the road?”
SCOTT COKER: “Yeah. And you know, Mauro, here is the issue, really, is that, you know, look — if you want to do something, you know, come, you know, don’t drag it through the media because we’re not going to do business in the media. It’s unprofessional, it makes it just feel like you’re just trying to, you know, keep your name in the headlines, you know, for whatever reasons you need to do it. Uh… and to me it’s silly, so to me if you want to have a business conversation, then let’s sit down and have that conversation. You know, Mauro, Strikeforce has never been afraid to co-promote. We’ve done it with Elite XC when we did the Shamrock fights with Cung Le and Phil Baroni and we did it with M-1 when we had Fedor fight, you know, Brett Rogers and Fabricio Werdum. We did it with DREAM when we sent Nick Diaz to fight (Hayato) Sakurai, we brought (Shinya) Aoki here to fight Gilbert (Melendez), so you know putting our fighters in harm’s way and having them fight the best out there, we’re all about that. But it has to be done in the right way. Otherwise, you know what? We should just go on our separate ways.”
Technically, this isn’t all that different than what he said last Friday on Sherdog radio. However, he has sent mixed signals through other media channels. Dave Meltzer noted that Mr. Coker’s reaction to him on this deal was “No dialogue. Not viable.” So, his responses in various media interviews has created more confusion than clarity.
A few other notes from the interview with Mr. Ranallo. The Strikeforce CEO says he expects to see both Fedor and Josh Barnett in action in the first quarter of 2011. Regarding Fedor: “Let’s keep our fingers crossed. That’s our time frame that we’re trying to shoot for.” Regarding Tyron Woodley, Mr. Coker said that he needs to win a few more fights before being considered for a title shot against Nick Diaz. The winner of the upcoming Dan Henderson vs. Renato Babalu fight will face Rafael Feijao for the 205-pound title. When asked about whether or not Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante and Josh Thomson will have a rematch soon, Scott Coker remarked, “Right away? I’m not sure. … At some point in their careers, I’m sure they will fight again.” He also noted that he thinks we will see Nick Diaz vs. Mayhem Miller in 2011 on one of the 18 ~ 20 shows that Strikeforce has set up with Showtime during that time frame. When asked about the UFC-WEC merger, Mr. Coker said, “I always felt like, you know, why have two leagues when you can just have one?”
Topics: Bellator, DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Unfortunate is Ed Soares’ favorite word
By Zach Arnold | November 3, 2010
He feels Chael Sonnen’s pain, he really does. From last Friday’s Sherdog radio show:
INTERVIEWER: “You know, what do you think about this whole situation that’s going on? Kind of crazy, huh?”
ED SOARES: “You mean is there something new that came up?”
INTERVIEWER: “No, there’s nothing new. He hasn’t said anything. Obviously, his hearing’s coming up.”
ED SOARES: “Let me say, I’ll be honest with you. I sincerely feel bad for Chael. I do. People are like, oh, yeah, sure you do. I really do. Chael’s not a bad guy, man. He did a great job marketing the fight. I think he may have crossed some lines sometimes but, hey, it is what it is. Sometimes people let their, you know, emotions get the best of everyone. They get the best of every single person out there. Sometimes you get caught up in a moment and you might do things that you regret but I really feel bad for Chael because, again, he’s a good dude. Even though we fight against each other, I feel like we’re all on the same team, we’re all here presenting MMA, we’re all here trying to make this sport bigger and get better and it’s just a shame to see a guy put on such a great performance against the greatest fighter on the planet right now and then this comes out and it’s just unfortunate. It’s unfortunate not only for him, mostly for him, but it’s unfortunate for everybody. It’s unfortunate for the UFC. It’s unfortunate for us. The [rematch] would have been a big fight, it would have bene a big PPV, a lot of people are lsoing money from it especially Chael. Plus, he’s losing his credibility which, his best performance of his life, is now tarnished. It’s such a shame.”
INTERVIEWER: “Now, do you think with all this happening, do you think it was actually better for Anderson Silva or does it even matter? I mean, because, a lot of people are saying now, well, Chael, the reason why he fought so well was, you know, because he was on steroids, blah blah blah.”
ED SOARES: “Well, I mean, there are a lot of variables. He was on steroids, he fights that well against Anderson because Anderson was hurt, I mean, all these different things, I mean only God knows, you know. Regardless of what it was, it was what it was, man, you know. He put on a good performance and now it’s tarnished. That’s the fact, you know.”
Nate Marquardt recently was quoted in The Las Vegas Sun newspaper as saying that he doesn’t care if his opponents use steroids or not. Given all of the discussion about steroid usage in MMA, it was ironic that UFC busted a fight for the second time on a UK card for Stanozolol. (The other was Chris Leben, who’s DUI arrest apparently has not gotten his upcoming fight booking canceled.)
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Scott Coker has no immediate interest in Bellator, focused on booking Melendez/Aoki II
By Zach Arnold | November 3, 2010
With all the hullabaloo about Bjorn Rebney and Bellator’s PR staff publishing texts they allegedly sent Scott Coker asking for a meeting to book a Bellator vs. Strikeforce themed-fight show, I decided to go back to last Friday’s interview that Mr. Coker did with Sherdog radio. On the show, the Strikeforce CEO says he had not received any messages from Mr. Rebney.
INTERVIEWER: “Yeah, maybe he’s texting the Fake Scott Coker. Maybe he’s got it mixed up.”
SCOTT COKER: “Maybe that’s what it is. I think that’s probably what it is! You guys should say, hey, you got to stop getting a hold of the Fake Scott Coker.”
INTERVIEWER: “Scott, you know, you said something a moment ago, saying well, if he’s serious about this, he needs to call me or he needs to come down here (San Jose) and sit with me. It seems like, you know, Bellator has more to gain than Strikeforce for making this co-promotional fight happen. Is that sort of your sense, too, you’re not going to go out of way to make this happen, Bjorn has to come to you?”
SCOTT COKER: “Let’s be honest. I understand why he wants to do it so badly. I mean, you know, who is there left for Eddie Alvarez to fight in Bellator that has any relevance?”
INTERVIEWER: “No one really.”
SCOTT COKER: “OK, so that’s why he wants to make this fight happen. So, you know, we’re busy, guys. I mean we got some great fights we’re going to put together next year. We got a great fight with (Dan) Henderson and (Renato) Babalu on December 4th. I mean, we’re doing 18 fights next year, so I have a very busy schedule and I have to, you know, try to, uh, you know, make the Melendez-Aoki fight, number 2 fight happen in Japan on New Year’s Eve, so, you know, we have a busy schedule so if it’s that important to him, you know, he’s going to have to make the effort. Just crying about it in the media, to me that’s not an effort. That’s just trying to get publicity for Bellator.”
INTERVIEWER: “Yeah, you almost think, you know, this is a natural MMA way of going about things, you go and cry on message boards to get fights and stuff like that and for some reason MMA was like the only sport that it actually worked in, you know.”
SCOTT COKER: “Yeah, here’s the thing, you know, I think that everybody knows that we’re straight-up people, straight-up businesspeople and, you know, we run a real company and we’re very busy. So, you know, if he wants to put it together, then let’s have that conversation. But I’m not going to do it through the media, I think that’s a mistake, you know, and for him to say Hector Lombard saying he wants to fight Jacare, and this and that, I mean, c’mon. That’s such… you know, who’s left for Hector Lombard to fight in their Middleweight division? I mean, I think that, you know… I understand they’re running thin, so, I get it. But, you know, go pick up the phone, give me a call, come out to San Jose, do what you have to do, but, you know, I’m not going to have, let’s have a conversation. He wants to have just, you know, on a media site.”
INTERVIEWER: “Yeah, Bjorn’s been saying a lot of things like he’s confident in all of his champions against your champions and why not do one big Bellator vs. Strikeforce card. Just hypothetically, no business involved at all, how do you see your champions against the Bellator champions?”
SCOTT COKER: “Oh, c’mon, I feel like our guys can fight anybody in the world. And you know what guys? We did. I mean, here’s the thing is that you know when it was time for Aoki, who at that time you know I think Gilbert handled Aoki very, very, uh, uh, very easily, I think it was not even a tough fight for him, but before the fight happened, you know, people there was a lot of questions about what would happen and I think that when they eventually fight, whether it’s on the 31st or some time next year when they fight again in Japan and we can put that fight together, I think people are going to have that question, in the ring is it going to be different because Gilbert can’t prop him up against the cage and use the cage as an apparatus, you know, and when Aoki fought Kawajiri last time, he just looked amazing and I just said, wow, this guy is, he looks back to form, he looks very comfortable in the ring and very comfortable fighting in Japan much more so than he did when he fought in Nashville.”
Honestly, I have no idea why he is so focused about that re-match or what there is to gain from it. It’s not as if there is huge demand amongst Japanese MMA fans to see that match at this point. There’s way more domestic interest in Bellator vs. Strikeforce fights and probably more money to be made from it as well.
As far as Strikeforce’s response to Bellator’s PR challenges, it comes across as somewhat passive. So, if Scott Coker sees himself as MMA’s Bob Arum and Dana White as MMA’s Don King, what does that make Rebney? MMA’s version of, well, Bjorn Rebney?
Topics: Bellator, DREAM, Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The launch of the new book ‘The MMA Encyclopedia’
By Zach Arnold | November 2, 2010
All the ordering information on the book is here. Clicky clicky.
How much will Urijah Faber’s popularity grow now that he’s in UFC instead of WEC? Esther Lin has more details on Faber’s upcoming fight next week against Takeya Mizugaki.
The worst-kept secret in the world — UFC will continue using it’s bigger cage for main cards and for Spike TV/B-level shows they will use the smaller cage. I give props to long-time friend Zack (no, I don’t talk to myself) for pointing out this issue a year or so ago.
Jon Fitch gets a rude awakening with Jake Ellenberger fight offer. Kenny Florian and Evan Dunham will reportedly fight on January 22nd. On that same 1/22 card, we’ll get Matt Mitrione vs. Tim Hague.
Heath Herring stuck in contract limbo with the UFC.
Are you buying or selling the idea that a winner of a Pedro Rizzo vs. Tim Sylvia fight will get a bid into the UFC? Strikeforce, perhaps, but UFC?
Gracie Magazine says the UFC is looking to have an event in Brazil shortly.
ULT MMA has the back story on the latest mess Donald Cerrone has gotten himself involved in.
Ryan Couture has a staph infection. Ouch. Please get well soon.
Another mixed review of the EA Sports MMA video game.
Sengoku plans big 12/30 MMA event
The day before the traditional big New Year’s Eve show by K-1 in Japan, Sengoku has their eyes set for a show at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. The show will be called “Sengoku: Soul of Fight” and there will be martial arts exhibitions starting at 11 AM. The actual MMA portion of the event will have 8 ~ 10 fights including Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki for the Featherweight title, finals of their Welterweight GP, and the Bantamweight tournament semi-finals.
Satoru Sayama’s wacky new fighting concept
Satoru Sayama has ran a few shows under the Seikendo banner in the past and this time around, he ran a show on Friday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo called “Budo Seikendo” which used a double-level octagonal-shaped mat (photo here). Check out his introduction here.
The idea behind the format is to give it a more “Bushido-style” and Sumo-style raw fighting feel. Check out how the fighters dressed to fight in the Octagonal-style dohyo. The rules are: up to three rounds (R1 & R2 three minutes each, R3 two minutes), knock your opponent out of the inside mat twice and you win, or you can win by KO/submission/stoppage.
A new Seikendo dojo will be established in Tokyo next Spring.
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Sengoku, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 69 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |