Majority of late money bets is being placed on Brock Lesnar to win at UFC 121
By Zach Arnold | October 23, 2010
TMZ is running with a headline titled ‘Brock Lesnar – Bearded Badass!’ So, how much is he making a fight? The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says Lesnar is making $5 million USD a fight with sponsorships included.
Yesterday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune ran an article about ‘the Brock Lesnar effect’ and how college wrestlers see a future in MMA after their wrestling stint is done. The Yuma Sun has an article on Cain Velasquez and how one of his old wrestling coaches says that younger kids don’t see the connection between amateur wrestling and MMA. Furthermore, the article quotes some wrestlers who are now ‘training MMA’ instead of doing wrestling training. The San Jose Mercury News has a profile article on Velasquez that I would encourage you to read.
The majority of fighters think Cain will win at UFC 121, while a significantly healthy portion of fans (casual and hardcore) think that Lesnar will win. Mike Chiappetta asked me what I thought the percentage breakdown was for who MMA writers like in the fight and I said it was about 60/40 in favor of Lesnar. As you can see here for a sample, it’s in line with what I’ve seen elsewhere. As for the main odds on the card, Velasquez is a +130 underdog and Martin Kampmann a +180 dog despite Jake Shields having to make a sizable cut to make weight. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated says Velasquez will be the champ in the future but that Lesnar will win the 121 match. Randy Couture says it’s a 50/50 fight on paper but that the odds tilt in favor of Velasquez the longer the fight goes. BetUS says that the late money is coming in on Lesnar. Speaking of BetUS, they now have a deal with Bloody Elbow. Fox Sports says that Lesnar ‘is easy money’ to win.
As for what Brock plans to do after the UFC 121 fight, win or lose he’s going hunting in Canada again.
On a side note, you notice how quiet Paul Heyman (by his standards) has been this week? Not doing the media rounds this time for Lesnar.
Bjorn Rebney says it’s up to Scott Coker to make the fight between Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez happen.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 24 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Make your predictions for UFC 121 (10/23 Anaheim Pond/Honda Center)
By Zach Arnold | October 23, 2010
Dark matches
- Heavyweights: Jon Madsen vs. Gilbert Yvel
- Middleweights: Chris Camozzi vs. Dongi Yang
- Lightweights: Sam Stout vs. Paul Taylor
- Welterweights: Mike Guymon vs. Daniel Roberts
- Middleweights: Patrick Cote vs. Tom Lawlor
- Middleweights: Court McGee vs. Ryan Jensen
Main card
- Heavyweights: Brendan Schaub vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
- Welterweights: Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago
- Light Heavyweights: Tito Ortiz vs. Matt Hamill
- Welterweights: Jake Shields vs. Martin Kampmann
- UFC Heavyweight title match: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 121 Playbook: Time to find out if Cain Velasquez is a hero or a goat
By Zach Arnold | October 22, 2010
You can see the media flow of articles on UFC 121 pick up, per usual when Brock Lesnar is the headliner. The Arizona Republic and Arizona Daily Star have articles on Cain Velasquez’s wrestling credentials, work ethic, and how good his skill set is. MMA Live had a Sports Science segment yesterday (about four minutes long) that did more to put over Velasquez as a threat than anything UFC has promoted to date. SS had a tackling demonstration where Velasquez’s tackling power was measured on par with the power Indianapolis Colts defensive ace Dwight Freeney generates. Josh Gross talked to Javier Mendez about Cain’s training and what to expect.
However, don’t count Cole Konrad in the camp of those awe-inspired. He told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that Velasquez is predictable. The Strib also has an article talking about the Brock Lesnar effect on amateur wrestling and how wrestlers can see a path to a professional fighting career.
Right now, the conventional media wisdom is that the baseline for PPV buys for UFC 121 is 800,000. We’re in the heart of college football season, but Brock Lesnar is Brock Lesnar (I’m channeling John Madden here talking about Brett Favre) and I’ll say he draws 900,000 PPV buys. As far as how the show will do for live gate, who knows? The fact that UFC is giving away tickets like they did for the Staples Center show (which also featured Cain Velasquez) isn’t the sign of hotness.
Quietly, Matt Hamill and Tito Ortiz will fight on the UFC 121 main card. Hamill is the favorite in most eyes of the fans and writers. He’s looking for a win in the cage and in a new movie coming up.
Diego Sanchez put on an hour-long training session in front of the media at the UFC-branded gym in Rosemead, CA. to hype up his fight this weekend at UFC 121.
Other news & notes
Boost Mobile is now the ‘official wireless partner’ of the UFC.
UFC Canada boss Tom Wright had a business meeting in Vancouver on Thursday and it seems clear that the promotion is coming back next Summer to the area. MMA Torch notes that Australia & Abu Dhabi are also on the map again.
The London Telegraph gives a thumbs up to the new EA Sports MMA video game.
Sergio Non has a preview of big MMA fights coming up for the rest of 2010.
Brent Brookhouse says it is time to consider Eddie Alvarez as the #1 Lightweight in MMA. For those who follow us on the Tweety Bird site or on the big FB, you know my thoughts already on last night’s Bellator show. Alvarez did make Roger Huerta look bad, but Roger Huerta has a tendency of doing a good job of that by himself when it comes to a lack of strategy and defense. Once Alvarez chopped him down, he was able to tag. Even though Alvarez is one of my favorite fighters to watch, the guy was an ass last night during his fight. Of course, he had the horrible luck of his fight running opposite the Phillies on TV last night in Philadelphia but the crowd was strong and way more vocal than the typical Bellator live event audience. As for where Alvarez ranks, he’s Top 4 but not #1. At this point, there really aren’t many valid excuses left for not booking Alvarez vs. Gilbert Melendez. We need to see that fight and see the outcome of the Frankie Edgar/Gray Maynard fight before there’s a clear semblance of where everyone stands in the Lightweight division.
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Cain Velasquez on UFC 121 marketing: “It just makes sense”
By Zach Arnold | October 21, 2010
Video courtesy of MMAFighting.com.
ARIEL HELWANI: “Cain, obviously a lot of attention on you and I know you’re not so fond of doing the interviews and having the spotlight. How are you dealing with all of this?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “It’s not so bad, you know. I think with every fight, just more and more media stuff that you have to do and it kind of gets you ready for this moment. So, I mean, and also you know having the Primetime (crew) following me around for, you know, three weeks straight kind of definitely gets you ready.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Brock clearly didn’t seem to be a big fan of having Primetime, the camera crews follow him around. What was the experience like for you?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “I was kind of the same way. It took some time to get used to but just knowing you know just having to work with them, you know, they need the shots that they need to make this show look good and just to get out of your hair so I mean I pretty much did what they needed me just to do that.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “I know you are very private. Was it hard for you to sort of put your family out there and things like that?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Ummm, you know, a little bit. I always think, you know, it would be kind of good you know to have them be a part of this and maybe kind of bad to not really have them in it or whatever so I was kind of torn between the two but I talked it over with my fiancée and she’s like, yeah, we can definitely do that. It was no big deal. I mean, for me, I love it that they were a part of it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “It’s funny because a year ago, almost exactly a year ago was UFC 104 and you fought Ben Rothwell in Los Angeles and I feel like that was sort of a turning point for you. You were co-main event, a lot of people were looking at you but plus that’s when we first started to get the push from the promotion in terms of like you being a Hispanic fighter, Mexican descent and all that. Now, it’s really coming out there. Are you surprised at how much they’re pushing it? You know, it’s the main part of the promo, you come on before Brock does.”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Yeah, I mean, it definitely was. When I first saw the promo, yeah, I was kind of surprised but… I mean, for this fight being here and having, you know, a lot of people here of Mexican descent, I mean it really helps it out and it just makes sense.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Is that part of your motivation to become the first Heavyweight champion of Mexican descent to hold the title?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “You know, just that I am Mexican, I mean… just me being in this sport, I mean I always wanted to be the champion, this was the whole reason why I got into this sport. I had this opportunity now and I’m not going to let it slip by.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What did you think of Brock Lesnar’s last fight against Shane Carwin?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “I thought it was a good fight, you know, he definitely did show a lot of heart where I don’t think a lot of guys could have survived that first round, he did, came back and got the submission so I mean it just shows that he’s always improving. I expect a much better Brock Lesnar than he’s showed on that night.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “But more to that point, you got guys like Brendan Schaub who say that he only surrounds around himself with wrestlers and he did bring in Pat Berry this time, but that he’s not doing enough to evolve. Do you agree with that or do you think that he’s improved from fight to fight?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “He’s improving fight to fight. He hasn’t been in the sport that long and I mean there’s only room for improvement and he’s at the right age now where he’s peaking now, where he’s (coming) at his prime so I only see him improving.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “A lot of talk about the fact that he’s actually 265 right now, he might come even under 265 come weigh-ins. Do you think that’s a conscious decision on his part because you are smaller than him to be a little leaner?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Ummm… you know, what he said with whatever illness he had, he changed his diet, I think it had something to do with it but I think that’s better for me, you know, instead of you know having somebody that close to weight rather than having somebody come in at 285 or 290, you know, around there.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “At the end of the day, how do you envision the fight playing out?”
CAIN VELASQUEZ: “Man, I’m expecting a five round war. I’ve said this a bunch of times, that’s what I’ve trained for, that’s what I’m expecting with my hand raised at the end, definitely.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Steve Cofield: Are people angry about UFC 121 marketing just so they can manufacture anger?
By Zach Arnold | October 21, 2010
Steve Cofield and Kevin Iole over at Cagewriter have a discussion about the “first Mexican heavyweight champion” marketing push that UFC is using for this Saturday’s event at the Honda Center (Anaheim Pond) for the Cain Velasquez/Brock Lesnar fight. We wrote an article about this topic two days ago and basically our argument for why there’s some fan frustration about the way Cain Velasquez has been marketed and presented is because of the following:
- There’s marketing someone based on their nationality or ethnicity. They’re two separate qualities. It’s when the two get conflated that starts causing backlash. (e.g. You can have Irish heritage and celebrate it, but you’re still an American and represent America.)
- Fans want to watch a fight between two fighters who they think are talented, have great talent, and a title match where the challenger is perceived to have a real shot because of what skills they possess.
When you read the transcript, you’ll notice Steve talk about the issue of illegal immigration and how he thinks the current landscape of American culture plays into whatever backlash there may be against the UFC’s marketing.
Onto the transcript.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Big MMA TV slate for UFC tonight and Bellator tomorrow
By Zach Arnold | October 20, 2010
Tonight on Spike TV — final all-access show with Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez (9:30 PM) airs along with a new edition of The Ultimate Fighter. Dave Meltzer says the network also plans on airing the main card from last July’s UFC 116 (Carwin vs. Lesnar). On Thursday night, we get Bellator. Eddie Alvarez is prepared to give Roger Huerta a beatdown this Thursday night in Philadelphia (at the Liacouras Center) for Bellator’s latest event on Fox Sports Net/Comcast Sportsnet. It would be nice if the network actually aired the show live on their affiliates, but that war is lost. Nevertheless, it’s a fight I’m definitely interested in watching. Bjorn Rebney claims that new TV developments are coming soon for Bellator.
Also on the Philadelphia card is Ben Askren vs. Lyman Good for the Welterweight title, Wilson Reis vs. Deividas Taurosevicius, Rick Hawn vs. LeVon Maynard, and fighting on the undercard is Jamal Patterson.
UFC notebook leading into UFC 121
Lance Pugmire in The Los Angeles Times today talking about Brock Lesnar’s drawing power and where it places Cain Velasquez financially. One fighter who isn’t drawing much attention for being on the UFC 121 event is Tito Ortiz and The LA Times takes note of where Ortiz’s career stands.
Jason Probst has a preview of the main card for UFC 121. Take a look at Dave Meltzer’s article on Cain Velasquez’s training and who he’s been training with.
Yoshihiro Akiyama claims that Michael Bisping was very slippery when he tried to take him down during their UFC 120 fight. UFC 120 drew a 1.3 rating on Spike TV for the delayed broadcast last Saturday night. Jamie Penick says there’s no reason to be disappointed with the rating.
Jon Jones has made it clear that he won’t fight Rashad Evans. UFC might have a few million reasons for him to change his mind.
THQ and UFC have a new licensing deal that lasts until 2018.
Both Chuck Liddell and Dana White appeared at a political rally at UNLV for Harry Reid on Monday. The reaction on Politico is… interesting. White will attend a political rally on Wednesday with VP Joe Biden at Univ. of Nevada (to stump for Reid).
The ChicagoNow web site claims that Good4UDrinks has been banned by Zuffa for sponsorship of fights because of Zuffa’s business interests in Xyience. Sherdog has more details on the story. Take note of what Shane Carwin, of all people, had to say about this:
“Another worthy, great, honorable company supporting fighters banned from the UFC. Thank you for making the road even tougher.”
A third UFC-branded gym is set to open in Corona, California (Inland Empire – Tapout country). The strategy is to win over ‘blue-collar’ fans.
Misc. news & notes
The ups and downs of Roger Hollett’s MMA career in Canada.
Check out this profile article on Aisling Daly.
Who would you like to see Jose Aldo fight next, Mark Hominick or Josh Grispi?
Stephen Brunt in The Globe and Mail talks about fight promoters in the Toronto marketplace. He brings up the upcoming Bernard Hopkins/Jean Pascal fight being promoted for Quebec City on 12/18 and how Quebec has much more experience in dealing with fighting events. The Toronto Sun remarks on the state of Canadian boxing and says that MMA has had an impact on recruiting young prospects who otherwise would have stayed in boxing.
Topics: Bellator, Boxing, Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, WEC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is the “Cain Velasquez as first Mexican Heavyweight champion” campaign a turn off for white UFC fans?
By Zach Arnold | October 18, 2010
“The skills that I have and the experience that I have in the sport on my stand-up, it’s possible for me to knock out Brock.
“October 23rd in Anaheim, I’m going to beat Brock Lesnar. He has something that I want. This is the whole reason why I got into the sport is to become champion. I’m going to beat him.
“For the Latin people here in the US, the Mexicans in Mexico need a champion. For us, we have a rich tradition in boxing and to not have a Mexican champion is unheard of. We need it. I’m glad I’m able to be in this position that I can, you know, give that to them and I want to. I want to give this belt to them. The people need a champion. This is the whole reason why I got into this sport is to be the champion. I’m going to beat him.”
It’s been interesting to see how Zuffa is marketing the upcoming match between Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar. They’ve marketed this fight as Cain’s chance to become “the first Mexican Heavyweight champion” despite the fact that he was born in Salinas, California. He’s gone on record to push for the repeal of SB1070 (the Arizona immigration enforcement bill that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into state law.) Last week, when Brock Lesnar was asked about this issue during a UFC conference call, he was not enthusiastic about being part of this specific discussion.
One of the major claims from critics of MMA about UFC is that the majority of their fan base is supposedly white. (I don’t necessarily agree with that assumption, but let’s assume it’s true for this argument.) Does all the “Brown Pride” talk and “first Mexican heavyweight champion” marketing turn off white UFC fans or is it a matter where white fans largely don’t care one way or the other about this? I’ve argued before that the energy going into Brock Lesnar fights is largely anti-Brock or pro-Brock and that the opponent he faces is starting to become secondary in regards to drawing power.
Let’s say that Velasquez is able to beat Lesnar on Saturday night — will the “first Mexican Heavyweight champion” and “Brown Pride” talk work to boost Velasquez’s popularity or will it turn off white fans?
In this FightHubTV video, check out the atmosphere for a promotional event Velasquez did in LA last weekend. During the video, a couple of fans in the crowd are asked why Cain will win and the responses range from “because we’re [expletive] Mexican” to “Mexican pride.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Public ruling on UFC 120: We hate ESPN and the show was OK
By Zach Arnold | October 17, 2010
I’ve been more interested in the reaction to the show than the show itself. As for the show itself, I’m not sure how you can say that ‘it set back British MMA’ because it’s going to take a while before we see some real cultivation of that scene in general before the real elite fighters are developed. Perhaps I’m not as skeptical as I should be. Hywel Teague says a lack of talent and shallow pool of fighters is hampering UFC’s expansion plans.
Overall, I thought it was an impressive atmosphere to see at O2 Arena and that the crowd was lively. The Michael Bisping fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama was fun — nothing more, nothing less. Bisping was certainly more aggressive than usual and punched (a lot), which is an improvement over bicycling backwards and circling around like he did in the Dan Henderson and Dan Miller fights. Dana White says that he would like to see Akiyama move down to 170 pounds (stamina issues) but I’m not sure if a move to 170 will help improve what Akiyama needs to work on. I give him credit — when he made the decision to jump to the UFC it was a risky move because he could have sat back and cherry-picked the fights he wanted in Japan. However, given the money troubles with DREAM and the way things have collapsed in Japan, Akiyama ultimately made the right move. His win total doesn’t reflect it, but he showed guts and heart in moving to the UFC.
Names at the UFC 120 show — Guy Ritchie, Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr.
Reading this article by USA Today on Tito Ortiz reminds me of what Luke Thomas has said over the last week, which is that absolutely no one is talking about Ortiz leading up to this weekend’s UFC 121 event in Anaheim. All the barkers are pushing the Lesnar/Velasquez and Shields/Kampmann fights, as they rightfully should. It’s a far cry from even a year ago when Zuffa had invested time to promote Ortiz.
Yesterday (before our server ate the post) we noted that there were a ton of people angry at ESPN for ‘giving away spoilers’ about UFC 120 match results on their news ticker during college football games. What I can say is that the reaction I’ve gotten from our various online outlets and in e-mail is that it’s about 65/35 angry versus those who say “hey, this is a real sport, shut up.”
This Thursday’s Bellator 33 event in Philadelphia features Eddie Alvarez vs. Roger Huerta and Lyman Good vs. Ben Askren. As fights alone, I expect them to be really entertaining and fun to watch. However, so many people have lost confidence in the promotion because of their television platform that it largely seems interest is muted.
For those who haven’t heard, Dana White told Ariel Helwani after the UFC 120 show that he will be in Reno this Wednesday with Vice President Joe Biden at the University of Nevada. Biden’s in town to stump for Harry Reid’s re-election bid for the US Senate.
When asked about the issue of over-saturation, Dana White’s attitude was summarized in this one quote: “We can’t pump out fights fast enough.”
After Vitali Klitschko’s pummeling of Shannon Briggs on Saturday night, Briggs is expected to stay in the hospital reportedly for up to a week.
Do you believe that MMA is part of the normalization of sociopathology in America? Put that axe down, junior.
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Moving servers
By Zach Arnold | October 17, 2010
We moved to a different server over the weekend. Not 100% smooth, but things should be ironed out now (regarding domain redirection and 404 errors).
Long story short, the transfer eliminated content we posted on Saturday. We’ll pick things back up again starting tomorrow.
If you want to help us out with server costs, use the donation link on the blue header bar. Thanks.
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The heat-up for UFC 120 in London
By Zach Arnold | October 15, 2010
The card line-up for Saturday’s event at the O2 Arena.
A reminder: Show airs on delay on Spike TV from 8-11 PM EST and same for West Coast viewers. (I criticize Showtime for this and I’ll do the same here for Spike TV — this is ridiculous). DVR highly recommended given the long time frame and commercials and promo spots during the show for next week’s UFC show in Anaheim. Speaking of which, The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a great article on Brock Lesnar’s training camp and they noted that Lesnar has never been as relaxed before a fight as he is for this fight coming up against Cain Velasquez.
Kevin Iole says it’s time to give Michael Bisping his due. I disagree with that assessment, but I do agree with Dana White’s assessment that Bisping would need a couple of more wins after beating Akiyama to even sniff a title shot. As a draw in the UK, Bisping and Hardy’s profile is certainly elevated. This show has by far the most press out of all of UFC’s past excursions to the UK.
Michael Bisping doesn’t have much desire to do judo (defense) training in preparation of his fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Brent Brookhouse takes a look at Dan Hardy trying to get back on the winning track and the challenges he faces with Carlos Condit. Meanwhile, Gareth A Davies of the London Telegraph says Mike Pyle will beat John Hathaway. Sherdog has a preview of the UFC 120 undercard fights.
The Canadian Press has an interesting story about UFC airbrushing Dan Hardy’s body because he had a tattoo that they thought was anti-Chinese.
Cain Velasquez wants SB1070 eliminated in Arizona and Brock Lesnar doesn’t want to touch the subject.
A debate about the growth of MMA over the next ten years. We’ll see. Right now, UFC is in a real battle in Germany.
A Razor Rob McCullough sighting, this time in Bellator.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 120 (10/16 O2 Arena in London)
By Zach Arnold | October 14, 2010
Spike TV will air it both on East and West coasts from 8 PM to 11 PM. I hate this delay.
Dark matches
- Lightweights: Spencer Fisher vs. Curt Warburton
- Lightweights: Paul Sass vs. Mark Holst
- Light Heavyweights: Steve Cantwell vs. Stanislav Nedkov
- Heavyweights: Rob Broughton vs. Vinicius Queiroz
- Light Heavyweights: Cyrille Diabate vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Main card
- Welterweights: James Wilks vs. Claude Patrick
- Heavyweights: Cheick Kongo vs. Travis Browne
- Welterweights: John Hathaway vs. Mike Pyle
- Welterweights: Dan Hardy vs. Carlos Condit
- Middleweights: Michael Bisping vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Report: No Fox Sports Net affiliates will air Bellator’s show live tonight
By Zach Arnold | October 14, 2010
Michael David Smith is the bearer of the bad news, but given all the pre-emptions at this point I’m not surprised. Then again, baseball season is over and ESPN is the one with college football on Thursday nights, so what’s the reason this time around? Tonight’s Bellator show from Kansas City features their Heavyweight tournament finals (Cole Konrad vs. Neil Grove) and Bantamweight tournament finals (Ed West vs. Zach Makovsky). Also, Ryan Thomas vs. “Judo” Jim Wallhead and Michael Chandler vs. Chris Page.
UFC in London
The fight that is generating the most press, by far, for UFC 120 is Dan Hardy vs. Carlos Condit. Hardy has been talking non-stop and ripping into Greg Jackson for making fighters boring. Hywel Teague, who has left Fighters Only magazine and is now with ESPN, says Dan Hardy is making MMA entertaining again.
- Dan Hardy says Carlos Condit is a wide open target to punch
- Dan Hardy admits takedown concerns ahead of UFC 120
- Condit/Hardy match made after Joe Silva listened to a Condit radio interview (seriously?)
- Condit says he’s more technical than GSP at submissions and can make Hardy submit
Michael Bisping is in the main event slot of UFC 120 and he continues his usual confident stance heading into the fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama. Yes, he is favored to win (likely by decision), but if he continues to circle around in fights the way he did in the Dan Henderson UFC 100 debacle and the recent UFC fight against Dan Miller, Akiyama can tag him good.
Brent Brookhouse takes a look at the upcoming John Hathaway vs. Mike Pyle fight.
Check out the interesting comments from EA Sports President Peter Moore about what he thinks of his MMA video game and what he thinks of the marketplace.
For those wondering what the heck the Sherdog/EA Sports MMA Fighter Exchange program is about, read here. Jordan Breen on Twitter (here), Sherdog (here), and Esther Lin (here) have dispatches from various parts of the world with many fighters.
Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran and the art of gore. Give this article by Franklin McNeil a read, as I think you’ll like it.
Tom Wright says the plan in 2011 for UFC in Canada is to have three major events — Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. The Toronto event will be in the middle of ‘011.
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Erik Paulson explains why Hector Lombard has heat with Josh Barnett
By Zach Arnold | October 13, 2010
INTERVIEWER: “Erik, Hector Lombard came out there during the (Bellator) telecast and kind of had some words to say about Josh (Barnett) and I know Hector used to train here at CSW. I just want to get your opinion, your view on him doing that.”
ERIK PAULSON: “OK, well… Hector and Josh sparred really hard since day one here. Hector likes to throw hard, everyone knows that. He likes to spar hard, he likes to throw hard so one day him and Josh in a five-minute round turned a five-minute round of boxing into a 32-minute round of boxing and they just kept hitting each other harder and harder and basically what I did is I just sat and followed them with a mop. I mopped up all the blood because they were both bleeding. That was them, uh, full of piss and vinegar and whatever and they want to do that, it’s fight practice, they’re both adults, they can do that. So, uh… Hector likes to train hard, that’s just his m.o. and Josh grabbed him one day and brought him in the cage when I wasn’t here and I walked in and he had Hector down and he said, hey you like to go hard and Josh wouldn’t let him up because Hector, they, whatever. They just have a go, so, uh… Hector never forgave him for that and so it’s been bothering him and he told Josh that the reason he left here was because of that.”
INTERVIEWER: “What was Josh’s take on that? Did you talk to Josh after that call-out happened?”
ERIK PAULSON: “Josh called me that night and he said that Hector, while he was in the audience at the fights in Florida, that Hector Lombard just called him out. He said he was going to fight Hector and I said, why? He goes Hector called me out at the fights, he said I heard Josh Barnett’s in the audience, who would you like to fight? Next fight he said he’d like to fight Josh Barnett. Well, he’s 185, Josh is 260, so… again, that would never happen. So Josh said I’m going to fight Hector and I said, oh, wow, really? That’s a little mismatch in weight there. When you going to fight him? Where? He goes I’m going to fight him tonight. He goes, he called me out and I’m going to have some words with him.
“As far as Hector’s skill, his skill is unbelievable. His judo is spectacular. I admire, I like Hector. I don’t like people calling people out that train together, I think that’s stupid but apparently Hector still had a problem with it and he called Josh out so it is what it is. I know they had words and talked about it afterwards and basically I just said that Hector, more than anything, just need to resolve that issue with Josh and needed love. He basically just had these bad thoughts from that whole ordeal and he wars with everybody, it was just that Josh gave it back to him and I think that they had never really had words since then and, you know, he saw Josh in the audience and he just said, hey, I want to fight Josh. And it was right after a 38 second win, so, you know… It is what it is and that’s it and I don’t have anything else to say about it. They’re both grown adults and if they want to fight, I’m sure no matchmaker will make it happen because they’re both in two different weight divisions or brackets but, uh, there’s no money in street fighting but if they have to settle it that way, which I think should be the last resort, I think they should talk and delegate things to other people, who did what, and be diplomatic about the whole thing and they should be able to talk about it over a beer or over maybe some fisticuffs. We’ll see.”
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |