UFC 93 card line-up for PPV (1/17 Dublin)
By Zach Arnold | January 5, 2009
- 205 pounds: Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson
- 205 pounds: Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio Shogun
- 185 pounds: Alan Belcher vs. Denis Kang
- 185 pounds: Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares
- 170 pounds: Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle
- 170 pounds: Martin Kampmann vs. Alexandre Barros
- 205 pounds: Eric Schafer vs. Antonio Mendes
- 205 pounds: Tomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati
- 170 pounds: Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway
- 155 pounds: Dennis Siver vs. Nate Mohr
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
The Fertitta family and USA Capital
By Zach Arnold | January 5, 2009
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a story about the US court system, USA Capital, and investors who lost so much money that they are living out of cars and selling off homes to try to pay off debts they have.
However, one group of investors who put money into USA Capital ended up recovering all of the money they invested:
The Fertitta family, founder of Station Casinos in Las Vegas, had $17 million invested in USA Capital and got it all back when one of their attorneys was on the oversight committee, Larson said. The attorney then resigned from the committee.
Anthony Zerbo, a 76-year-old from San Jose, Calif., invested about $900,000 in USA Capital over six years after seeing an advertisement in a financial publication.
“When you’re rolling it over and it’s doing good … you think first deeds of trust, you can’t go wrong,” Zerbo said. “Toward the end, things weren’t going good and we tried to pull back our loans and it wasn’t there.”
The first thought that came to mind when I read this story is the story that Bob Meyrowitz repeats over and over again, in which he claims that Lorenzo Fertitta was on board of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and that, somehow (according to Meyrowitz), Fertitta wouldn’t sanction UFC in Nevada and that this turn of events led to UFC being sold to the Fertittas for $2 million USD.
Here’s the actual story about how SEG came to sell the UFC to Zuffa, gathered from multiple issues of the Wrestling Observer, with edits made in brackets to fill in context or correct grammar, and with a timeline clarification courtesy of Whaledog.com: “Meyrowitz [former UFC president Bob Meyrowitz] would go to InDemand [the PPV company] and ask what he needed to do to get back on InDemand, and they said the UFC needed to get sanctioned [by a major sanctioning body]. He got sanctioned in New Jersey, and was basically told that he needed to get it sanctioned in Nevada, as that was the most influential athletic commission in the country. [Meyrowitz] set up a meeting in Las Vegas, and at the time, sanctioning was going to happen based on what inside sources were telling both Meyrowitz and InDemand. Suddenly, the night before the approval that was going to be the step to put the UFC back on the map, Meyrowitz was told that he was going to be voted down [the next day, when his request was scheduled to be voted on by the members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission]. He didn’t have the votes. He was also told that if he followed through the next day, and was voted down, he would never have an opportunity to be sanctioned. So, he pulled out, they created some cover reason as to why he was pulling his attempt at sanctioning, and basically he was screwed. Lorenzo Fertitta [the current co-owner of the UFC] was an influential member of the Nevada commission at the time. [Approximately one year later], Fertitta purchased the UFC [for $2 million], then got sanctioning in Nevada, and then got on PPV.”
Meanwhile, life apparently continues to be very good for Fertitta family members in Orange County (the ritzy Emerald Bay area):
Plans for one—116 Emerald Bay – call for an 8,924-square-foot home with an elevator, two basements opening out onto the beach, plus a pool and spa on the outside deck. The lowest level features a gym, theater, game room and a “wine alley.”
The kitchen upstairs will have a walk-in fridge, while the “great room” will have a bar, TV lounge and pizza oven. The master suite on the fourth level features a chamber called the “prayer room,” and the hall has a set of niches for votive candles. The home will have two garages with room for five cars. Indoors, it will have 11 bath or powder rooms, four bedrooms plus the master suite. Completion is expected in 2010.
Property records list the owners as Blake and Delise Sartini, sister and brother-in-law to Las Vegas Station Casino bosses Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. The couple declined through an intermediary to comment.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Jon Wertheim’s new MMA book
By Zach Arnold | January 4, 2009
The author’s from Sports Illustrated.
Blood in the Cage: MMA, Pat Miletich, and the furious rise of the UFC. Also available at Barnes & Noble.
Anyone who gets a chance to read this book, please post a comment here (positive or negative) about the book.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Sengoku 1/4 Saitama Super Arena results
By Zach Arnold | January 4, 2009
Event reports: Japan MMA | Sherdog | AOL Fanhouse | USA Today | MMA Junkie | Steve Cofield
What a disastrous showing again from this promotion. Hidehiko Yoshida loses to Sanae Kikuta, Takanori Gomi loses again, Kazuo Misaki loses… the only positive in terms of native business (once again) is King Mo winning.
Ever since Gomi opened up his own gym…
Topics: Japan, MMA, Media, Sengoku, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Kohaku reaches 40% average rating on NYE 2008
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2009
Ratings for NYE on Japanese TV…
The NHK event (Red & White Music Festival) reportedly drew a 35.7% rating in the Kanto (Tokyo) area for the first half of the program and a 42.1% rating in the second half, giving the program an overall 40% rating for the third year in a row.
Nippon TV drew a 15.4% rating in the Kanto area for their ‘Downtown’ NYE special show.
The K-1 Dynamite NYE event drew a tepid rating on Tokyo Broadcasting System. Part 1 (7-9 PM) drew an 11.8% rating, Part 2 (9-11 PM) drew a 12.9% rating, and Part 3 (11 PM-11:24 PM) drew an 8.4% rating. Tanigawa commented to the press and said that all things considered, the rating was what it was without having Masato, Kid Yamamoto, Kaoru Uno, and Jerome Le Banner. The boxing fight with Sakata on TBS drew a 9.0% rating. Hustle Mania on TV Tokyo drew a pathetic 3.4% rating (which is absolutely terrible).
Topics: Japan, K-1, MMA, Media, Zach Arnold | 40 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Ground & Pound Awards for 2008
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2009
From Tim Leidecker
GROUND & POUND AWARDS 2008 It is time for the Fourth Annual Ground & Pound Awards, the internet award ceremony that lets you, the fans, make the decision!
The year 2008 is now officially in the books and not only international politics and financial market have experienced major changes, but mixed martial arts as well.
Former champions and super stars like Mirko Cro Cop, Wanderlei Silva and Semmy Schilt said goodbye to the top of the mountain, while exciting young talents like Gegard Mousasi, Thiago Alves and Shinya Aoki lay claim to be the sports’ future.
The UFC is circling solitarily on the MMA firmament and the former fighting Mecca Japan has to be at full stretch in order not to fall behind completely.
Contrary to many other websites and magazines which often have promotional and or political interests in advancing certain fighters, we are not deciding the winners ourselves, but we are giving you,the fans, the opportunity to select the best fighters, fights and events of the year.
Who will be Anderson Silva’s heir as Fighter of the Year? Which is the strongest fight team in the world? And which promotion consistently puton the best shows? You decide!
The ballot will be open for fourteen days and once again reflect theviews of fans, fighters, coaches and promoters around the world. If you want to smack down your vote as well, you can do so here:
http://www.groundandpound.de/limesurvey/index.php?sid=27397&lang=en
Voting runs until January 14 and the results will be published January 15, right here on Fight Opinion! Thanks for voting!
Topics: MMA, Media, Tim Leidecker, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Why wearing a mask during a fight is a bad idea
By Zach Arnold | January 1, 2009
At least it’s not as bad as when Kazuhiro Nakamura took off his judo jacket during a fight and promptly got KO’d by Wanderlei Silva…
Topics: Japan, K-1, MMA, Media, Zach Arnold | 25 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Time Warner, Viacom in major dispute - what it may mean to UFC fans
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2008
Update (12/31): The two sides have now kissed and made up.
If you are a subscriber to Time Warner cable and you are a UFC or TNA fan, you may not be watching either league on your television set in the near future.
According to The LA Times:
Viacom Inc. has threatened to pull its programming in a high-stakes showdown over pricing. Nearly 2 million homes in the Los Angeles area that are customers of Time Warner Cable Inc. could lose such Viacom channels as Nickelodeon, MTV, VH-1, Comedy Central, Spike, TV Land and BET.
“It rarely comes to this,” said television consultant Larry Gerbrandt of Media Valuation Partners in Beverly Hills. “If they go off the air, no one wins. Customers will get upset at Time Warner and they could lose subscribers, and Viacom will lose important advertising revenue.”
The New York Times says that the cable dispute will effect customers in major cities such as New York, LA, and Dallas. Nikki Finke further elaborates.
For a full media round-up of this developing story, check out this Orange County Register post.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Amir Khan’s no-good, very weird Christmas
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2008
In the only style they possibly know how to, The Sun (UK) has a report claiming that a deranged man smashed his Range Rover and caused tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the vehicle.
Strangely, his incident brings back memories from several years ago on Ashton Kutcher’s practical joke show Punk’d. During an episode of Punk’d, Kutcher pranked Wilmer Valderrama by having an angry man (Al) smash up a Cadillac Escalade with a hammer and a crowbar. The Escalade that was damaged was not really Valderrama’s customized vehicle, but rather an Escalade that was configured to look exactly like his vehicle.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
UFC’s big advertisement on TV during NYE
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2008
If you’ve been watching all of the countdown-to-start-of-2009 programs on US TV with footage from Times Square in New York City, there’s one image that you have seen over and over again without fail — an ad for Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn, which takes place on January 31st in Las Vegas.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | No Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
K-1 Dynamite 12/31 Saitama Super Arena
By Zach Arnold | December 31, 2008
All news and notes from today’s event go here.
Of course, who knew that the one interesting story heading into tonight’s event was Hayato “Mach” Sakurai allegedly being involved in amateur sex tapes with three different women.
Event reports: MMA on Tap | MMA Frenzy | Japan MMA | Bloody Elbow
I don’t know if Bob Sapp winning is what Mr. Ishii had in mind tonight…
Notes from after the show
The announced attendance was 25,634 paid. That is… well…
Main card results:
Kiyoshi Tamura defeated Kazushi Sakuraba after two rounds by a 3-0 judges’ decision.
Joachim Hansen and JZ Calvan was canceled.
Shin’ya Aoki defeated Eddie Alvarez in R1 in 1′32 with a heel hold.
Melvin Manhoef defeated Mark Hunt in 18 seconds by KO.
Gegard Mousasi defeated Musaashi in R1 by KO.
Mirko Cro Cop defeated Choi Hong-Man in R1 in 6′32 by KO.
Alistair Overeem defeated Badr Hari in R1 in 2′02 by KO.
Tatsuya Kawajiri defeated Kozo Takeda in R1 in 2′47 by KO.
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai defeated Katsuyori Shibata in R1 by TKO.
Semmy Schilt defeated Mighty Mo in
Bob Sapp defeated Kinniku Mantaro in R1 in 5′22 by TKO (referee stoppage).
How the Japanese media is covering the event the day after
Sports Nippon: Top headline - Mirko wins, out for months after knee surgery. Second headline - Obstructive mask… Kinniku Mantaro’s sage-sage campaign. Third headline - Reality! Sapp crushes hero.
Sankei Sports: Top headline - Sakuraba, decision loss… “One more time.”
Nikkan Sports: Top headlines (all involve boxing). Top Dynamite headline - Kawajiri overwhelms with punches and kicks. Second headline - Tamura confronts Sakuraba for first time in 12 years.
Topics: Japan, K-1, MMA, Media, Zach Arnold | 43 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
Video: Dana White backstage at UFC 92
By Zach Arnold | December 29, 2008
A fascinating look at his meeting with Satoshi Ishii (that looked like Manabu Takashima was acting as the translator there), along with all of the various details heading into the production of the event that the UFC President micro-manages.
Topics: MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
UFC sends K-1 a big ’screw you’ message with Satoshi Ishii
By Zach Arnold | December 28, 2008
Make no mistake about it — this press release is pure gamesmanship by Zuffa and a warning shot towards Kazuyoshi Ishii:
“Satoshi Ishii has the potential to be very successful in mixed martial arts,” said Dana White, UFC President. “We can’t wait to start working with Mr. Ishii, we look forward to helping him with his training, his career, and his eventual debut in a professional fight.”
It’s hard to take this seriously, considering how much money Ishii would be leaving on the table by going to UFC instead of fighting for K-1. However, this is a very interesting tactic for UFC to take in relation to doing future business in the Japanese marketplace.
One side effect of this kind of strategy is that it will solidify the entire Japanese fight media on the side of Ishii and K-1. The perception of the ‘evil foreigner invading Japan’ will become alive and well. If UFC does indeed run in Japan in 2009 (with the help of a promoter like Total Sports Asia), you will see the same kind of panic from the power brokers in the Japanese fight industry that you saw in 2003 when WWE tried to make a push by running Yokohama Arena events. Eventually, WWE flamed out and has scaled back plans for Japan to more or less ancilliary business (opening an office, merchandising, airing PPVs on a month delay, etc.) What is UFC’s goal exactly in the Japanese marketplace?
Topics: Japan, K-1, MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This