Upcoming
Events
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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2009
1/31/09
UFC 93
(PPV, Las Vegas, NV)
2008
12/27/08
UFC 92
(PPV, Las Vegas, NV)
12/20/08
4th Annual Clint Shelton Memorial
(Boxing)
(Palolo Gym)
12/13/08
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Final
(PPV, Las Vegas, NV)
11/22/08
Longman Jiu-Jitsu Open
(BJJ)
(Kauai Veterans Center,
Lihue, Kauai)
11/21/08
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
11/15/08
Aloha State Championship
of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ/Sub Grapping)
(Gym #1, UH Manoa)
UFC 91
(PPV, Portland, OR)
11/7/08
HFC Stand Your Ground IX
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
10/25/08
X-1
(MMA & Boxing)
(Palolo Hongwangji Hall)
UFC 90
(PPV, Chicago, IL)
10/19/08
Clay Guida Seminar
(Icon Fitness & MMA Gym)
10/18/08
Destiny
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
UFC 89
(PPV, Birmingham, England)
10/17/08
Hawaiian Amateur Pankration Association
Presents
Friday Night Fights At Pipeline Café
(MMA)
(Pipeline Cafe, Honolulu)
10/12/08
HFL Championships
(MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
10/11/08
NAGA
(BJJ & Sub Wrestling)
(Blaisdell)
10/10/08
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
10/4/08
The Quest
for Champions Martial Arts Tournament
(Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling and Continuous Sparring)
(Kalani High School Gym)
EliteXC on CBS
(TV)
808MMA
(TV)
9/27/08
X-1 Presents Temple of Boom
(Palolo Hongwanji, Honolulu)
(MMA & Boxing)
9/20/08
Boxing
(Palolo District Park)
(Boxing)
9/17/08
UFC Fight Night 15
(PPV, Omaha, NE)
9/7/08
2008 Samahan Filipino
Martial Arts Tournament
(Forms, Fighting, Masters Demonstrations)
(Pearl City High School Gym)
9/6/08
UFC 88:
Break Through
(MMA)
(PPV)
9/5/08
Got Skillz Fighter
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
8/23/08 & 8/24/08
Hawaii Training Ctr Boxing
(Boxing)
(Waipio
Industrial Court)
8/15/08
MMA At The O
(MMA)
(O Lounge Night Club)
8/14/08
Paragon Fighter
(Kickboxing)
(O Lounge)
8/9/08
K-1 Hawaii Grand Prix
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Stan Sheriff Center, UH at Manoa)
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Kalaheo High School)
UFC 87
(MMA)
(PPV)
7/26/08
Maui Jiu-Jitsu BJJ Tournament
(BJJ)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
7/19/08
Kawano B.C., Palolo B.C., & USA-Boxing Hawai Amateur Boxing
Show
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
Affliction - Fedor vs. Sylvia
(PPV)
7/12/08
Aloha State
Mixed Martial Arts Competition
10AM - 7PM
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
7/11/08
Hawaii Fighting Championships 10
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballrooms)
7/5/08
UFC 86 - Jackson vs. Griffin
(PPV)
6/27-29/08
OTM Pacific Submission
Grappling Tournament
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
MMA Expo
(Blaisdell Convention Center)
6/21/08
Hawaii
Xtreme Combat
(MMA)
(Lahaina Civic Center, Lahaina, Maui)
Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale
6/20/08
Paragon
(MMA Hybred)
(O Lounge)
6/15/08
Grapplefest
(Submission Grappling)
Anderson Silva Seminar
Studio 4, UH at Manoa
1-4PM
$100
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua Seminar
Tropic Lightning TKD
Waipahu
5-7PM
$60
6/14/08
EliteXC
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI)
6/7/08
UFC 85 - Bedlam
(PPV)
6/6/08
Punishment in Paradise
Pound 4 Pound
(Kickboxing)
(Ahuna Ranch, Maili)
6/5-8/08
World Jiu-Jitsu Championsihps
(BJJ)
(California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California)
6/1/08
Hawaiian
Open of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ/Sub Grapping)
(Gym #1, UH Manoa)
WEC 33
(Faber vs. Pulver)
(PPV)
5/31/08
CBS EliteXC
Saturday Night Fights
(9-11 p.m. ET/PT)
(CBS)
5/25/08
Man Up Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
5/24/08
UFC 84 - Ill Will
BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk
(PPV)
5/16/08
X-1: Legends
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI)
5/9/08
Man Up Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Hawaii Fighting Championships 9
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballrooms)
5/3/08
Hawaii
Fight League
Season 1, Event 3
(MMA)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
Full Force 4
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
Heart-of-a-Cage-Fighter
(Kauai
Veterans Center, Lihue, Kauai)
4/25/08
Punishment
in Paradise
(Kickboxing)
(Farrington High School)
4/18/08
Local Pride
Friday, April 18, 2008
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
4/12/08
Man Up &Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Filcom Center, Waipahu)
4/6/08
GrappleFest: Submission
Sundays
(Submission Grappling)
(Hawaii Room, Neal Blaisdell Center)
3/29/08
Garden Island Cage Match 7
(MMA)
(Hanapepe Stadium, Hanapepe, Kauai)
Hawaii Fighting Championships 8
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial)
3/28-30/08
Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
(Californina State University, Dominguez Hills, CA)
Registration ends 3/22/08
3/16/08
Sera's Kajukenbo Open Tournament
(Continuous
Sparring, MMA, Submission Grappling)
(Maui High School Gym, Kahului, Maui)
Icon Fitness Gym Tournament
(Submission Wrestling)
(Icon Fitness Gym)
3/15/08
Icon Sport
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
3/9/08
2008 Pacific Invitational BJJ Tournament
(BJJ )
(Hibiscus Room, Ala Moana Hotel, Honolulu)
3/7/08
Got Skillz Fighter
(Kickboxing/MMA)
(Waipahu Filcom)
3/1/08
USA-Boxing
Hawaii, Palolo B.C. & Kawano B.C. Presents Amateur Boxing
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park)
2/29/08
X-1 at the O-Lounge
Fight Club Meets Nightclub 4
(MMA)
(O-Lounge, Honolulu)
2/24/08
Icon Grappling Tournament
(Sub Grappling)
(Icon Gym)
2/17/08
Hawaiian
Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(BJJ/Sub Grapping)
(Gym #1, UH Manoa)
2/15/07
Midwest Invasion: Team Indiana vs. Team Hawaii
(MMA)
(Coyotes Night Club, 935 Dillingham Blvd, Kalihi)
2/8/08
Hawaii Fighting Championships 7
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
2/2/08
Man up and Stand up
(Kickboxing)
(Dole Cannery
Ballroom)
1/26/08
X1 World
Events: Champions
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
1/20/08
Big
Island Open Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
(Konawaena High School)
(BJJ/Sub Grappling)
(POSTPONED)
1/19/08
UFC 80: Rapid Fire
(BJ Penn vs. Joe Stevenson)
Newcastle, England
1/12/08
Hawaii Fight League
Season 1, Event 2
(MMA)
(Dole Cannery Ballroom)
|
|
October 2008 News
Part 3
|
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 6 days a week training!
We are also offering Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday nights
with Ian Beltran and Kickboxing Tuesday and Thursday with Kaleo
Kwan!
Click
here for info!
Take classes from the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment! |
In Memory of
Lars Chase
Rest in peace my brother
March 10, 1979 - April 2, 2008 |
Looking for a hotel
room on Oahu?
Check out this reasonably priced, quality hotel in Waikiki!
For the special Onzuka.com price, click on one of these banners
above! |
Check out the FCTV website! |
Fighters' Club TV
The Toughest Show On
Teleivision
Tuesdays at 8:00PM
***NEW TIME***
Olelo Channel 52 on Oahu
Also on Akaku on Maui
Fighters' Club TV Radio
The Toughest Show On
Radio
Mondays at 9:00-10:00AM
AM1500 The Team
(808) 296-1500
- Call
in with questions and comments
with hosts Mark Kurano
& Patrick Freitas |
Onzuka.com
Hawaii Underground Forum is Online!
Chris, Mark,
and I wanted to start an official Onzuka.com forum for a while
now. We were searching for the best forum to go with and hit
a gold mine! We have known Kirik, who heads the largest and most
popular forum on the net, The Underground for years.
He
offered us our own forum within the matrix know as MMA.tv. The
three of us will be the moderators with of course FCTV808 being
the lead since he is on there all day anyway!
We
encourage everyone from Hawaii and our many readers around world
to contribute to the Hawaii Underground.
If you
do not have a login, it's simple and fast to get one.
Click here to set up an account.
Don't worry about using Pidgin English in the posting. After
all it is the Hawaii Underground and what is a Hawaii Underground
without some Aloha and some Pidgin?
To
go directly to the Onzuka.com Hawaii Underground Forum
click here!
|
Want to Advertise on Onzuka.com?
Click here
for pricing and more information!
Short term and long term advertising available.
More than
1 million hits and counting!
|
O2 Martial Arts
Academy Day Classes Start May 2!
Women & Kids Kickboxing Class starts May 4!
Click here
for pricing and more information!
O2MAA Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Day Classes will be held on Monday,
Wednesday, and Fridays from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and will be taught
by one of Relson Gracie's first black belts, Sam Mahi!
We will be starting a Womens and Kids kickboxing class on Sunday
afternoons from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The class will be taught
by none other than O2's Kaleo Kwan! It will be a non-competitive,
fun atmosphere and allow the ladies and kids to get in a quick
workout and learn some legitimate kickboxing technique before
the long work week starts.
|
Want to Contact
Us? Shoot us an email by Clicking Here!
|
10/31/08
Happy Halloween! |
Quote
of the Day
"The
true spirit of conversation consists in building on another man's
observation,
not overturning it."
Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, 1803-1873, English Novelist
and Politician
|
Onzuka.com
Wishes All Of You A Happy Halloween!
Stay safe and have fun. Don't forget to check your kids' candies
before letting them dig in and obtain the sugar high from hell.
There are some sick people out there, but don't let that stop
you and your kids from having an incredible Halloween.
|
SKRAP
MAGAZINE WINTER 2008 ISSUE
OFFICIAL RELEASE
The ORIGINAL MMA Lifestyle publication SKRAP Magazine will be
releasing its second issue (Winter 2008 Oct.-Dec.) following
up on a huge and widely popular debut of its premiere issue in
late June. SKRAP Magazine is continuously being regarded as the
industry standard and is setting the bar even higher with the
release of its Winter 2008 issue.
The official launch will be at "SKRAP Events- HAWAIIAN CLASSIC
KICKBOXING" Saturday November 22nd, 2008 @ Kalaheo High
School. SKRAP Magazine will raise the roof with an exciting night
of kickboxing action featuring young and experienced talent representing
Waianae Gym, Team Aniland, HaMMa House GYm, East O'ahu- Waimanalo
Kickboxing, 808 Fight Factory, Evolution Kickboxing, Konnah Blokk,
Team Standalone, HSD, and much, much more. EVERYONE through the
door will receive a copy of SKRAP Mag's newest issue ABSOLUTELY
FREE. SKRAP Magazine will also be providing exclusive coverage
of the event so everybody from the athletes to the fans and everyone
in between will have a chance to be in the following (Spring)
issue of SKRAP Magazine. With special guest appearances, autograph
opportunities, and a chance to support your local SKRAPPER this
will be an event you dont wanna miss!
If your interested in fighting on this card or for ticket information
and general inquiries including sponshorship info call (808)
294-1234 or e-mail Rich Tomas at rich@skraphawaii.com
Rich
Tomas
SKRAP Magazine
(808)294-1234
skrapmag.com
|
2009
IMMAE-Hawaii MMA Expo
Aloha,
If you received this email...it is because you have been invited
to participate in the 2009 IMMAE-Hawaii MMA Expo at The Blaisdell
Exhibition Hall on June 26, 27 & 28 2009.
Be a part of Hawaii's most premiere exposition and help stimulate
Hawaii's economy. The IMMAE-HAWAII Expo will give your company
the edge on your competitors and will also provide your company
with the three most important facet of business: "Exposure,
Sales & Business Development"
Attached is the 2009 MMA Expo Exhibitor packet & Sponsorship
form for your review. Be a Exhibitor or Sponsor for the 2009
IMMAE-HAWAII Expo. Don't wait booth prices will go up, Save Now!
IMMAE-HAWAII, LLC looks forward having your company in next year's
MMA Expo. If you have any questions feel free to call IMMAE-Hawaii,
LLC. See You There! Visit: www.hawaiimmaexpo.com or call (808)
781-6194. Title Sponsor: Explosivehands.com
Sincerely,
IMMAE_HAWAII
"Hawaii's MMA Expo"
President/Founder
Javen B. Guzon
Bus: (808)781-6194
Fax: (808)-440-0682
evolutionsprts@yahoo.com
|
The
press talks to Enson Inoue’s former wife about his drug
arrest
By Zach Arnold
Miyu Yamamoto, the sister of Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto
and ex-wife of Enson Inoue, made an appearance Friday at the
opening ceremonies for an event called “EAT JAPAN in Tokyo
Marunouchi.” Naturally, the press started to ask her questions
about Enson Inoue’s arrest last weekend and, according to
a wire report in Japan, she did not want to answer any questions
and supposedly left the media area briskly.
In
addition to Inoue’s recent arrest, Kid Yamamoto and associates
have been reportedly targeted by Tokyo Metropolitan Police in
relation to marijuana drug raids (this according to Shukan Gendai
last July).
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Renzo
Gracie: Legacy
DVD Released on November 15th
This is a film that follows Renzo Gracie, a third generation
Jiu-Jitsu fighter from the infamous Gracie family, for the last
10 years.
Check out the following website and its preview clips.
http://www.renzogracielegacy.com/
|
St-Pierre
impressed with Alves' performance
Georges St-Pierre has his eyes locked on Thiago Alves after watching
Alves defeat Josh Koscheck Saturday in person at UFC 90 in Chicago.
“I
was very impressed by the performance of Thiago Alves,”
St-Pierre wrote Monday on his Yardbarker blog. “He showed
everybody why he belongs in the top fighters in the welterweight
division. Of course, it’s up to the UFC, but I think he
will be one of my next opponents pretty soon.”
Alves,
who is now undefeated the past two years inside the UFC Octagon,
is one win away from tying the record for consecutive UFC wins.
Prior to winning the unanimous decision over Koscheck at UFC
90, Alves pulled the upset UFC over former champ Matt Hughes,
whom Alves knocked down with a flying knee and finished with
strikes on the ground.
An
Alves-St-Pierre bout wouldn’t be immediate though, as St-Pierre
will defend his belt next against BJ Penn at UFC 94 on January
31, 2009.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Couture
unafraid of big Brock
Veteran nearly 50 lbs smaller than Lesnar
Once
again Randy Couture will enter the octagon as the “little
guy.” Just as was the case when he faced Tim Sylvia, the
fight in which he recaptured the UFC heavyweight belt, the veteran
will have a much larger opponent on his hands. Not that Brock
Lesnar is a giant in terms of his height, quite the contrary,
as at 6 foot 2 inches he is only an inch taller than Couture.
The disparity in question is weight. While Couture normally weighs
in at around 225 pounds, Lesnar is easily over 265.
The
monster he has ahead of him doesn’t scare the seasoned fighter.
“"I brought Josh Hendricks in. He's actually fighting
on the same card against Gabe Gonzaga. He's a 245-pound guy with
a wrestling background. I've got guys like Mike Whitehead and
a bunch other guys that walk around 240, 250 with good, solid
wrestling backgrounds. They're pushing me and ganging up on me.
It's hard to find guys like Brock that are that size and move
the way he moves,” said Couture in an interview on MMAJunkie.com.
“Just
because he's 270 pounds doesn't mean I can't take him down. I've
taken down bigger guys. So, I can create that threat and that
fear in his mind that he's going to end up on the bottom, which
is someplace he's not used to being. Those are things that I
can focus on, and use speed and mobility and those things as
advantages for me," he added.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
UFC
92 "THE ULTIMATE" FIGHT CARD ROUNDING OUT
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is building up its Dec. 27
year-end event to also be its boldest offering of 2008. In addition
to the UFC 92 bouts already announced – Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira vs. Frank Mir, Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans, and
Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson –
the promotion made several other bouts official on Thursday,
rounding out the card.
Added
to the pay-per-view portion of the fight card is Ultimate Fighter
season seven finalist C.B. Dollaway. Following a loss to Amir
Sadollah in the finale, Dollaway bounced back with a win over
Jesse Taylor at UFC Fight Night 14. He will face Mike Massenzio,
who in his UFC debut submitted veteran Drew McFedries.
The
final televised bout features two heavy-hitters as Cheick Kongo
tries to get back into title contention when he faces Mustapha
Al-Turk. A champion in the Cage Rage promotion, Al-Turk hopes
to make a splash in his Octagon debut against the French striker.
Preliminary
bouts announced for UFC 92 include Matt Hamill's attempt to bounce
back from a loss to Rich Franklin, as he will face former IFL
fighter Reese Andy. Middleweights Yushin Okami and Dean Lister
will battle it out in their quest to rise up to challenge for
the title. Japanese fighter Ryo Chonan faces another former IFLer
in Brad Blackburn. Heavyweights Antoni Hardonk and newcomer Mark
Burch will square off, as will two more big boys in Pat Barry
and Dan Evensen.
UFC
92 "The Ultimate" will take place on Dec. 27 at the
MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Murilo
Rua Looking at Possible Return to Japan
Sam Caplan
Murilo
“Ninja” Rua, one of many fighters from the EliteXC
roster left in a state of limbo following ProElite’s demise
last week, has expressed a desire to return to Japan once his
contract status is clarified.
“I
don’t have anything set yet, I had two more fights to do
at Elite and now I’ll see what I’m gonna do,”
Rua is quoted as telling Brazilian MMA site Tatame.com. “I’ll
speak with my manager and look for another event, maybe in Japan.
I don’t have anything right yet, but I believe Japan is
a good opportunity.”
Before
signing with EliteXC, Rua was a mainstay with the Japan-based
PRIDE Fighting Championships for several years, compiling a 6-7
record under the PRIDE banner while competing in multiple weight
classes.
Rua
was the first-ever fighter to hold an EliteXC title following
his second round TKO over Joey Villasenor during a co-promote
between EliteXC and Strikeforce in June of 2007. The win earned
Rua possession of the promotion’s then-vacant middleweight
title.
He
lost the title to Robbie Lawler during EliteXC’s “Uprising”
event in September of the same year but proceeded to go undefeated
in his next two fights. He was rewarded with a fight against
Benji Radach during EliteXC and CBS’ third installment of
Saturday Night Fights earlier this month. After several heated
exchanges, Rua finally succumbed to Radach’s power and was
TKO’d at 2:31 of round 2.
Despite
the ProElite’s impending bankruptcy, Rua is taking the news
in stride and is ready to move on.
“I
already heard some rumors about that, but I wasn’t imagining
that it’d happen so fast,” Rua said in the interview.
“They did some events and they couldn’t make it, now
it’s time to go after new opportunities, train hard and
wait for another contract. I’ll continue training hard here
to be ready for my next fight.”
Source: The Fight Network
|
Silva
wanted to knock out Cote in the later rounds
Making it to the third round with Anderson Silva may not be something
for Patrick Cote to brag bout.
“My game plan since the beginning was fight five rounds,
inducing him to commit mistakes and capitalize on that during
the first three rounds and look for the knockout during the fourth
and fifth rounds,” Silva told Sherdog.com. “It was
working, and the biggest proof of that is that I almost didn’t
waste any blows. I connected with a couple of good punches and
knees, but unfortunately he got hurt and the fight was over.
This is not my fault.”
Silva
takes his training for five-round title bouts seriously. When
a fight doesn't go the full five rounds -- which has been all
the time -- Silva postpones his celebration and goes backstage
to continue working a sweat. The UFC caught up with Silva after
a workout following his win over Cote Saturday at UFC 90.
“Our
body is used to five rounds,” Silva said. “Sometimes
I’m only able to do three, and I want to come back and work
out all the energy I had built up planning to do five rounds.”
In
his previous seven UFC victories, the longest fight was 9 minutes
and 52 seconds when Silva tangled with former PRIDE middleweight
and light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on March
1. Silva said in an interview published today on Sherdog.com
that he planned on taking the fight past the third round.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Sell
Ecstatic About Welterweight Debut
By Kelsey Mowatt
Often,
change can be a good a thing, and this past Saturday Pete “Drago”
Sell proved just that. After losing 3 straight bouts, and having
gone winless in an official UFC bout since he submitted Phil
Baroni in February, 2005, the charismatic fighter decided to
drop down from the middleweight division to test the waters at
170lbs. At UFC 90, Sell made his welterweight debut a successful
one, by working his way to a Unanimous Decision victory over
fellow “Ultimate Fighter” vet Josh Burkman.
“I
feel great man,” Sell told FCF when asked for his feelings
regarding the win. “I got injured last September after I
fought (Nate) Quarry, and it took me a while to recover. I was
back by February and started training by March, and started to
think that I would make the jump to welterweight. I decided that
I was going to put one hundred percent of myself into this. I
was training so hard, three times a day, five days a week, twice
on Saturdays, taking Sunday’s off. I was putting myself
through hell getting ready for this fight. My cardio was awesome,
I could have fought more rounds, I felt great man. I’ve
been on a losing streak, it’s been brutal, coming up short.
That’s what I’m preaching now man, keep at it, keep
positive, things will work out.”
Early
in this past weekend’s bout, it might have appeared to some
that Sell’s losing streak was going to continue. After Burkman
backed the New York fighter up with a hard right hand, he took
Sell down to the mat, and proceeded to land several hard elbows
from above. Although Sell eventually managed to work his way
out from under Burkman, his Las Vegas opponent had controlled
much of the opening round.
“I
was alright man,” Sell said when asked whether or not he
was hurt after Burkman landed the punch. “You know what
it was, when he caught me it was the way my feet were, I was
a little off balance so it made it look like it was a lot worse
then it was. He did catch me with a good shot though. Good for
him. When I came back to the corner I was thinking, ‘are
you kidding me? This ain’t happening right now. I’ve
worked way too hard to have this happen to me.’ So I told
myself that I was going to go back in there and do whatever it
took and things worked out for me.”
For
the next two rounds, Sell proceeded to dictate the pace, getting
the better of the striking exchanges while landing several hard
punches to Burkman’s body. Even as the third round began,
it appeared that Sell was the much fresher of the two fighters,
and Burkman spent much of the last five minutes in retreat.
“I
think my cardio was a good part of it,” said Sell when asked
how much his conditioning played into earning his 8th career
victory. “I just kept pushing him, I felt like my cardio
was lasting, and if we had gone more rounds it would have got
worse and worse for him you know? Plus being tired and getting
hit with those body shots definitely doesn’t help a lot.”
Going
off of Sell’s performance Saturday, it would appear that
the Matt Serra student made the right decision to drop down to
welterweight.
“I
tell ya man, I really did it the right way,” Sell told FCF.
“My buddy Anthony, he was a body builder, he doesn’t
compete anymore, but he had a lot of good ideas for my diet.
I did it over a period of time. From March I started bringing
down my weight. After a bit I was walking at around 190. Instead
of having to kill myself at the end I did it over a while. I
feel like I’m going to be strong for that weight class.
I feel like I’m a lot more agile and faster. I don’t
have that extra meat on me now. I can move a lot better. I think
it’s going to be a good thing for me.”
Source: Full Contact Fighter
|
A
Death in the Family
by Loretta Hunt
Turi Altavilla had already lived once through the death of an
MMA promotion from the inside. He never expected to experience
it again.
Regardless,
Altavilla entered the offices of Pro Elite Inc. in Los Angeles
on Oct. 20 knowing that it would be his last day there. Employees
had been told that a lifesaving deal for the company’s purchase
by the CBS-owned Showtime Network had fallen through in the last
two weeks, and that if a last-ditch turnaround hadn’t been
accomplished over the weekend, Pro Elite’s plug would be
pulled.
Altavilla
hadn’t received the phone call of salvation he prayed would
come over the last 48 hours. Instead, an announcement was made
that morning that 22 months was all the company would get to
make its mark in the sport, and desks were to be cleared out
and offices vacated.
Prior
to Altavilla joining the Pro Elite family in June 2007, he’d
worked in the U.S. office for revered Japanese juggernaut Pride
Fighting Championships. And as Altavilla has learned the hard
way, a company can cease to exist in a variety of ways.
“Pride
was a titan with the UFC, two titans going at it, each of us
thinking that we did shows with different flavors, different
ways to present the fights, different philosophies and styles.
That one hurt,” says Altavilla. “I’m not saying
this one, Pro Elite, didn’t, but it’s a different kind
of hurt. Pride died over the course of 12 months –- it was
a slow death. With Pro Elite, the feeling was completely different.
We blew it. We had a lot of money. We had a rare opportunity
to make some noise, and we blew it. I don’t know how anyone
could say anything differently.”
When
a company goes under and is over $55 million in the hole, it’s
obvious that a lot more things went wrong than right.
Altavilla,
who’d worked the trenches for the low budget but highly
lucrative King of the Cage promotion for three years prior to
his four years with Pride, saw a lot of wrongs the moment he
walked into Pro Elite’s extravagant offices.
Though
Altavilla’s previous positions in other companies dealt
with the promotion and running of live events, Altavilla was
the only true English-speaking employee in the Pride office and
learned the art of the business deal fast.
Its
“fight team” bloated to 12 members, Pro Elite hired
Altavilla as a Vice President for Home Entertainment and put
him to work handling DVD and merchandise production and sales,
and later Internet deals after that division of the company was
stripped.
“During
my Pro Elite tour-of-duty, a lot of people were calling me the
‘earner,’ because I was focusing on just making the
company money,” says Altavilla.
There
were others roaming the halls whose job descriptions weren’t
as defined, Altavilla observed.
“It
seemed there were friends of a lot of higher-ups there, and that
doesn’t seem like the proper way to establish a company,”
he says. When layoffs came in January 2008, Altavilla still wondered
what some of the exiting employee’s job descriptions had
been.
As
a vice president, Altavilla attended virtually all in-house meetings,
many of them determining the day-to-day decisions that would
translate into the 17 events the promotion pulled off in 20 months.
Earlier
on, Gary Shaw, a boxing transplant who was given the leadership
role of live events president, seemed open to democratic voice,
but the process proved too slow and unproductive. Altavilla remembers
a day where eight employees sat around a boardroom table trying
to decide who James Thompson should fight in his EliteXC debut.
“There
were times when I think maybe Gary understood that we were all
very good at what we did previously, and he was trying to involve
us, but a lot of us were turned off by that,” says Altavilla.
“It just seemed pointless to have that many people in a
room trying to discuss what they thought would be the proper
match.”
When
the elder Shaw announced later that lesser experienced employees
Richard Chou, J.T. Steele, and Shaw’s son, Jared, would
handle the matchmaking, the elder employees -- some of them with
double-digit years in the business -- were disheartened. Altavilla
believes Choi and Steele rose to the occasion, but the younger
Shaw became territorial and difficult.
“Jared
would try and make it very clear that both he and the matchmaking
team were calling the shots with the matchmaking,” says
Altavilla. “There wasn’t even any pretending that they
would try and throw us a bone. There were times when others had
different ideas for matches that were clearly better ideas, and
he’d make it clear that that wasn’t going to happen.”
When
Shaw did open the floor for collaboration, Altavilla says he
often clashed with the rest of the group.
“It
was more a hindrance in what we wanted to do,” says Altavilla.
“I’m not saying the rest of us were always on the same
page, but we all could present very logical arguments. Whatever
the decision was in the end, we would all follow it. I think
Jared often wanted to do things just his way, and he was very
stubborn about it. To him, it was the right way. We had very
specific thoughts on matchmaking and who might be a star.”
While
Gary Shaw had years of promoting behind him and a relationship
with Showtime that earned him a margin of respect, his son has
no such resume to speak of, says Altavilla.
“At
the end of it all, you’re talking about guys with years
and years of experience that have seen and done this on many
levels, and then you’re talking about Jared, who was basically
a fan,” says Altavilla. “It often seemed to me like
he was a fan who won some reality show and got to be a part of
an MMA company.”
In
the boardroom, the debate raged on for one pivotal fighter in
particular –- Internet superstar Kevin "Kimbo Slice"
Ferguson.
“We
often disagreed on who to match up against Kimbo,” says
Altavilla. “It was constant heated discussions, because
Kimbo’s career was still being built up. It was a unique
situation to have someone with that star power having minimal
MMA experience and to find fair matches that he could really
win or lose. Jared felt very strongly about certain opponents
for Kimbo, and it was what it was.”
Shaw
never attempted to keep his affinity for Slice hidden, although
it showed a bias in his position. In fact, the 26-year-old executive
often seemed a part of Ferguson’s multi-man posse, because
he rarely left the fighter’s side at media days and other
public events. Still, Altavilla denies that the company showed
favoritism in selecting Slice’s opponents.
“I
don’t think the company tried to protect Kimbo,” he
says. “We tried to put together marketable matches. I think
everyone was mindful of that fact that Kimbo’s career was
so young, but look at the guys he fought and combine their records.
He fought some very experienced people with a lot of wins. I
really think he deserves credit for that. Most guys start out
facing other guys that are 0-1 or 2-0, guys at the same level.”
To
the younger Shaw’s credit, he wanted to pair Slice with
Brett Rogers after the two fighters nearly came to blows at a
post-fight press conference in May. Much of the media balked
when an already announced fight between the two was shelved,
as Rogers was deemed a difficult opponent for Slice.
Altavilla
says that, at the time, the promotion wanted a “bout mainstream
fans would go bonkers for” to head the third CBS telecast,
and Rogers just wasn’t a known commodity yet.
Disdain
for the youthful Shaw spilled out into the public realm, as well,
says Altavilla. While the Pro Elite team tended to all the last-minute
on-site stresses that come with hosting live events, Shaw seemed
to disappear.
“I
don’t what his background was exactly in boxing, but I don’t
feel like he knew MMA at all,” says Altavilla. “I don’t
know what he thinks promoting a show involves. Does it just involve
showing up and speaking at a press conference? Because if it
does, then maybe I’ve been doing it the wrong way. When
someone can just show up and not contribute and steal the limelight,
morale is going to go down.”
Though
the box office receipts were dismal, Altavilla considers the
July 26 EliteXC event in Stockton, Calif., the company’s
most optimistic moment. Gary Shaw was on his way out of the organization
and did not attend, says Altavilla, and Jared Shaw wasn’t
around to roll up his sleeves with the rest of the staff, as
they got the cage to the venue on time and tended to fighters
and sponsors.
“He
was never a part of that,” says Altavilla. “Because
of the attention he’d bring on himself, the media and outside
people would seem to think he was running the show, and he absolutely
was not, and I think that should be made clear.”
Altavilla
corroborates that to get rid of Gary Shaw, Pro Elite had top
keep his son, Jared, onboard. Seemingly untouchable under the
protection of his father in the past, many in the company believed
Jared Shaw would be the next to go once the dust cleared.
“I
think a lot of us were guilty of keeping our mouths shut, because
we thought it was a matter of time before Jared was going to
get the boot,” says Altavilla. “We thought it would
be any week. Obviously, that never happened.”
In
his final months with Pro Elite, Altavilla says Jared Shaw made
numerous calls to the media unbeknownst to the rest of the staff.
One of those calls pertained to a deadline set for 160-pound
champion Karl James Noons, who had entered a contractual dispute
with the promotion.
“None
of us would have gone out and mentioned all of these things that
were a part of KJ’s contract,” says Altavilla. “None
of us wanted to take this personally. He took it too far. He
seemed to burn a bridge with KJ, and I just don’t see the
need for that. You have to think big picture. In a couple of
years, we could have been working with KJ again. We were already
trying to work with him again.”
Altavilla
says Shaw’s final media-grabbing overtures against UFC President
Dana White were unmerited, but the promotion was heading into
deeper waters with its fateful Oct. 4 show.
In
a moment of panic backstage, Altavilla watched CBS, Showtime
and EliteXC representatives huddle to make a decision regarding
an injured Ken Shamrock’s replacement. Altavilla says he
and Terry Trebilcock, who sold his successful King of the Cage
promotion to Pro Elite the year before, looked at each other
and backed away, sensing there were too many chefs in the kitchen.
Once
the decision was made to promote undercard fighter Seth Petruzelli
to the main event against Slice, Altavilla said negotiations
were held behind closed doors. Altavilla does not know which
Pro Elite representatives were present for the now infamous talks.
“I
didn’t see any wrongdoing during my time with Pro Elite,”
says Altavilla. “I wasn’t in that room. I’m glad
I wasn’t in that room. I don’t think my colleagues
were capable of doing that.”
Others
had their doubts, including CBS, which reportedly pulled away
from the promotion as speculation of “a fix” gained
steam from Petruzelli’s post-fight comments.
The
comments were a final link in a chain of events that led to Pro
Elite’s demise and the loss of Altavilla’s and others’
jobs.
Altavilla,
34, is what the industry would call a “lifer.” He doesn’t
plan on leaving the volatile fight game, though he’s come
to accept that disappointment is a very real part it. Living
through two failed promotions hasn’t quelled his passion
for the sport or cut his connection to its fighters and all the
nameless workers that go unnoticed behind the scenes. Altavilla
will try again with another group down the road because for him
MMA is not just a job but something that he lives and feels.
“The
demise of Pride was extremely painful. It bothered me for months,”
says Altavilla. “It really stung, because anyone that went
to Pride events realized how incredible they were. With this,
it just felt like we blew it. With Pro Elite, it was a different
kind of disappointment, but disappointment nonetheless.”
Source: Sherdog
|
Cote
on ice for a long while
Canadian to have knee operated next week
Patrick
Cote will not be seen back in the UFC octagon any time soon.
Due to the serious injury suffered to his knee during his fight
with Anderson Silva at UFC 90, the Canadian will have to go under
the knife. As the procedure is not the simplest and recovery
will be slow and gradual, Cote is expected to go six to eight
months without fighting.
There
is still no official information as to Cote’s position in
regards to the UFC middleweight belt. What is certain is that
while he recovers, another challenger will try to pry the title
from Anderson Silva’s hands. And if left to Dana White,
president of the UFC, Anderson will be back in the octagon soon.
“He (Anderson) wants to fight again. If possible, at UFC
91, on November 15th,” revealed the UFC top man in an interview
with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Although
he has not fought since the beginning of the year, Yushin Okami
is pointed to as a possible challenger to Anderson Silva. Both
has already faced off at Rumble on the Rock and the Japanese
fighter took the win for an illegal kick thrown by the Brazilian,
who was disqualified.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
MATT
RIDDLE OUT OF UFC 91 BOUT DUE TO INJURY
by Damon Martin
The welterweight debut of former “Ultimate Fighter”
185-pound cast member Matt Riddle will have to wait. He has suffered
a knee injury that will force him out of his upcoming bout against
Ryan Thomas on the undercard of UFC 91 on Nov. 15.
Riddle’s
injury was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the
situation.
Riddle
made a great impression on fans during his time on The Ultimate
Fighter and after the show wrapped up filming, he relocated to
Arizona to train alongside former housemate C.B. Dollaway at
Arizona Combat Sports.
In
his first official fight in the UFC, Riddle won a decisive unanimous
decision over Dante Rivera at The Ultimate Fighter finale show
in June.
For
the fight in November, Riddle was cutting weight and making his
170-pound debut, but during training for the bout the young fighter
fell victim to a knee injury that will likely require surgery
and could keep him on the shelf for the better part of six to
eight weeks.
No
word has come down from the UFC about a possible replacement
to step in for Riddle to take on Ryan Thomas at this time.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Satoshi
Ishii: Not aiming for 2012 London Olympic games
By Zach Arnold
Well,
there’s still some hope for K-1 and Sengoku to snag the
judoka for their big NYE events coming up (K-1 12/31 Saitama
Super Arena & Sengoku 1/4 Saitama Super Arena). Maybe. At
an imperial garden party today in Akasaka, Tokyo, the 100 kg
Beijing gold medalist from Kokushikan University indicated that
he wasn’t aiming to participate in the next Olympic games.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Quote
of the Day
“Keep
your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.”
Helen Keller, 1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author and Lecturer
|
BISPING
TALKS ULTIMATE FIGHTER 9 COACHING ROLE
Michael "The Count" Bisping won season three of The
Ultimate Fighter and will coach season nine of the popular reality
show on Spike TV. Armed with the experience of having gone through
it, Bisping is excited about his role as coach.
"I'm
absolutely thrilled to be involved with TUF again," Bisping
told MMAWeekly.com. "I think it's a great tool for the UFC
to discover new talent. Obviously, for my career, it was amazing.
I've got some very, very fond memories and I can't wait to get
involved with it again."
Season
nine will feature a United States vs. the United Kingdom theme
consisting of lightweight and welterweight fighters.
"As
far as the talent in the U.K., there's a lot of great talent,"
said Bisping. "I've seen a lot of people on the Internet
saying things like England couldn't compete with a team from
America. I don't see that as the case at all. I think we've got
some fantastic talent."
Bisping
feels he'll be able to relate to the unique situation of living
in The Ultimate Fighter House having been there himself. And
that he'll be able to draw on that experience to benefit the
fighters on his team.
"I've
been there myself, so I'll know some of the feelings they're
going through," stated the British middleweight. "One
of the main things I will tell them is what Dana (White) used
to tell all of us, my season and every season. It really is the
opportunity to change your life. Until you live it, you don't
realize how serious it is. It really does change your life. That's
one thing I'm going to implement to the people on there. Listen,
this is your shot."
While
Bisping has been announced as the coach for the U.K. team, current
rumors place the winner of the upcoming UFC 93 fight between
Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson slated for Jan. 17 as the other
coach.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
FABRICIO
WERDUM KNOCKED OUT OF CONTENTION
Fabricio
Werdum was displeased prior to UFC 90 about him not getting a
chance to be in the heavyweight tournament that consists of current
champion Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar and interim champion
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir. After all, he just defeated
former No. 1 contender Gabriel Gonzaga and top prospect Brandon
Vera.
Taking
the fight with Junior dos Santos at UFC 90 wasn't exactly what
he was hoping for, but he took the fight in stride. However,
there were some people, including UFC president Dana White, who
thought that Werdum was bigger than usual. Not necessarily out
of shape, but noticeably larger. In fact, he was nine pounds
heavier in this fight than his last.
Unfortunately
for Werdum, he was brutally knocked out in the first round by
dos Santos, getting drilled by a vicious uppercut. According
to an interview with Tatame.com, he didn't underestimate “Cigano,”
but he was surprised at how fast everything happened.
Junior
dos Santos was relatively unknown prior to this fight, but he
did get some buzz when he was shown hitting the mitts in UFC
president Dana White's video blog. In fact, the betting lines
actually decreased after seeing how fast and accurate dos Santos'
hands were in the blog.
It
will be back to the drawing board for Werdum after this latest
setback. He'll have to sit back and wait to see how the whole
heavyweight title picture shakes out. In the mean time, having
recently signed a new contract with the UFC, he will have to
get back on track and fight another decent heavyweight contender
like Cain Velasquez or Shane Carwin to attempt to propel himself
back into the title picture.
Leaving
Curitiba, Brazil to move to the United States, Werdum will train
out of Chute Boxe in California with Rafael Cordeiro to help
excel his overall game.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
SILVA
APOLOGIZES FOR UFC 90 PERFORMANCE
Being highly regarded as the best pound for pound fighter on
the planet doesn't give Anderson Silva much room for error whenever
he fights because somehow the entire MMA world has questioned
his performance in the win over Patrick Cote last Saturday night
at UFC 90.
While
many seemed to criticize Silva's performance, the champion was
in complete control of the fight, landing the only real power
shots of the bout.
If
anything, Silva showed great composure and control to avoid an
all out slugfest against a heavy handed opponent in Patrick Cote,
and the 185-pound king said as much following the fight.
"I
didn't come here to play. I didn't come here to put on a show.
I came here to do my job," Silva stated at the UFC 90 post
fight press conference. "I didn't become a champion and
defend my title as many times as I have not doing my job or playing
round. So, I hope everybody understands that. And I hope all
my future opponents understand that. I'm not here to play. I'm
here to win."
Following
the lead of teammate and training partner Lyoto Machida, Silva
used a counter striking clinic against Cote, but unfortunately
for the duration of the two full rounds that happened in the
fight, the Canadian played much of the same gameplan.
Regardless
of the result, Silva's strategy worked as Cote never connected
with any heavy shots, but the overall action was lacking throughout
the contest.
"I
came in here. I did my job. My strategy was working," Silva
stated. "Patrick couldn't find me. And it's unfortunate
that his knee went out."
The
end of the fight could not have been predicted, as previously
mentioned, Cote's knee buckled in the third round causing the
fight to be stopped and Silva was declared the winner.
Despite
picking up his eighth victory in the UFC, Silva still stayed
humble and apologized to the Chicago crowd who did not get the
performance out of the champion that they were hoping for.
"I
apologized because I've trained really hard with my trainers
for five rounds," said Silva. "I dropped down from
230 pounds to 205 pounds to 185 pounds. So, I worked my butt
off. I had a long training camp to prepare myself for this fight.
So I really feel like I owe everyone an apology for this fight.
I owe you guys an apology; I owe the fans an apology and Dana
(White).
As
for a rematch between Silva and Cote, that remains to be seen.
It's possible that Cote could be out for an extended period of
time with the knee injury and Silva has been rumored to move
back to 205 pounds for his next contest.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Women’s
MMA has earned its place
In
an industry that really only has a few truly proven marketable
top stars – and right now, only one stable major league
operation – the folding of Elite XC last week has raised
questions about the future of women’s mixed martial arts
and its biggest star, Gina Carano.
The
two main organizations over the past two years who promoted women’s
fights, Elite XC and Bodog, are now both out of business, leaving
women searching for a place to ply their trade.
Affliction,
hardly stable but at least still in the game, has never promoted
women’s matches, but is open to the idea. UFC, at least
as of the weekend, was not.
“I
think that Gina Carano is a real star,” UFC president Dana
White said on Thursday. “She’s beautiful, talented
and she’s a real fighter. I just don’t think there
are enough good women fighters that you can start a division
around them.”
Jeff
Osborne, longtime promoter of the Evansville, Ind., based HooknShoot
promotion, which pioneered the promotion of women’s matches
nearly eight years ago, said White’s claim might have been
valid two years ago, but that things have changed. He said the
number of quality women fighters has increased greatly in the
past two years, and believes if UFC started featuring women,
the division would explode.
“It’s
really taken off in the last year or two, maybe in a small part
due to Gina,” said Osborne.
In
late 2006, when women fighters such as Carano, Tara LaRosa and
Erin Toughill started getting some television curiosity attention,
there were a number of questions about the viability of women’s
MMA.
At
the time, men’s MMA wasn’t even fully accepted by the
sporting community. Women’s boxing had a run in the early
part of the decade based around Laila Ali and Christy Martin,
but it ended up a novelty that didn’t prove to have legs.
While
there are exceptions, most women’s sports haven’t done
well with spectators. And there were questions whether seeing
women bruised and bloodied would be a turnoff that hurt the perception
of the sport. UFC, treading cautiously until the sport was regulated
in all the major commission states, didn’t want or need
the risk.
“Women
fights are generally more exciting than men’s fights,”
said Osborne. “Some of the men fight not to lose. The women
just don’t care as much about winning and losing. They just
want to go all out and fight.”
The
real visibility of the sport can be traced to Elite XC’s
first event on Showtime on February 10, 2007. While all the pre-show
hype was based around a Frank Shamrock vs. Renzo Gracie match,
it was a prelim match between Carano and Julie Kedzie that stole
the show. As the match ended (a unanimous decision for Carano),
and the two hugged to a standing ovation, it was an emotional
moment that put the sport on the map.
It
almost didn’t happen. Like UFC, Showtime was very squeamish
about the idea. Just doing MMA at the time was controversial
enough. They were afraid of what people would think with women
fighting inside a cage.
It
was little known at the time that the match was a do-or-die proposition,
as Gary Shaw, the head promoter of Elite XC, saw Carano as a
potential breakout star and begged to get the match on the live
show, saying that if it didn’t work, he’d never ask
again. After the match was over, he never had to ask again, and
all opposition from the Showtime side was gone.
By
the time Elite XC made this year’s deal with CBS to air
matches on prime-time network television, Carano was considered
the company’s second most valuable marketing asset, behind
only Kimbo Slice.
On
the last Elite XC show in Sunrise, Fla., Carano and Cris “Cyborg”
Santos had two of the three most exciting fights on the show.
Both got better fan reactions than Andrei Arlovski, a former
UFC heavyweight champion who was probably the company’s
second most popular heavyweight over the past five years, behind
Randy Couture.
Osborne,
one of the country’s most successful independent MMA promoters,
could have told the TV types that women’s MMA would be a
success. He has even promoted all-women’s fight cards, which
have been hit-and-miss. His first women-only show, in 2002, was
a big success, but the second, a few months later, did poorly.
“The
first show, people didn’t know what they were going to see,”
he said. “Some of the regular fans didn’t go because
they didn’t want to see only women fighting. Others came
because they thought they were going to see catfights. The second
show was way down, but by the third show, people started to care
about the fighters. Today, with Kaitlin Young (who scored three
first-round knockouts in a row in winning a tournament on one
of his shows, and later faced Carano on CBS), people pay specifically
to see her.
“It’s
definitely come up over time,” he said, noting his major
women’s shows the past three years have shown a general
increase in interest, as well as fighter depth and quality. “We’ve
been able to retain the audience and build since 2005. And now
there are more and more women training. Now half the people training
in our gym are women. I honestly think now is the time to make
a move.”
For
UFC, the key to a women’s division at first would be Carano,
and her contract situation is unclear with the Elite XC bankruptcy.
But if she is available, it is not at all far-fetched she could
become the biggest mainstream star in the sport, and become MMA’s
answer to Danica Patrick.
Carano
fought at 140 in Elite XC, and given her issues with making that
number, it would be safer to use her in a 145-pound weight class.
There are plenty of women who can fight at that weight, including
former Elite XC fighters such as Santos, Young, Tonya Evinger,
Kedzie, Kelly Kobold and non-Elite XC fighters such as Meisha
Tate and Elaina Maxwell who are all well-trained and skilled
fighters.
Osborne
said there is actually far more depth at 125 and 135, noting
people such as Sarah Kaufman (who Elite XC was using at 140),
Tara LaRosa, Marloes Coenen, Rosi Sexton and Megumi Fujii, who
are complete unknowns to anyone but the most hardcore fans. He
believes there are 30-40 genuine quality women fighters today
in those divisions.
There
were women’s fights on all three of Elite XC’s shows
on CBS. While the idea of MMA on CBS garnered the expected negative
reaction from people who mostly had little or no understanding
of the sport, there was virtually nothing negative written either
before or after about the Carano vs. Kaitlin Young match.
And
Young had massive swelling on her face, so the lightning rod
of a women’s face being banged up from a fight, held live
on CBS with millions watching, caused none of the feared outrage.
As
far as the public not wanting to see women fight, the evidence
couldn’t contradict the notion more. There have only been
five MMA matches in history that have gained one million new
viewers to a television show from the previous match. Two of
them have been Carano’s two fights on CBS.
Based
on minute-by-minute ratings and the increase from the prior match
on the show, the largest-ever gain of new viewers for any MMA
match on U.S. television was the Oct. 4 Carano vs. Kelly Kobold
match. It gained 1,643,000 new viewers, growing the audience
from 3.6 million to 5.2 million. Not shockingly, it gained 69
percent in males 18-34.
Most
UFC television shows, in total, don’t even have 1,643,000
viewers.
The
unanswered questions are whether the ratings and popularity are
unique to her, and whether her popularity is more a short-term
novelty of a woman with a great look for television who can fight,
as opposed to the idea people as a general rule will care about
woman fighters.
The
Christy Martin phase of boxing would argue one way. Osborne’s
experience as an MMA promoter is a strong argument the other
way.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
|
UFC
needs to challenge Silva
ROSEMONT,
Ill. – Anderson Silva’s corner kept screaming at him
to start acting like, well, Anderson Silva. UFC president Dana
White said he thought he was in an “alternate universe”
and wanted someone to slap him out of this bad dream.
At
the end of the first round of their UFC 90 main event, Patrick
Cote, after watching Silva bizarrely bow to him, shrugged in
bafflement. That wasn’t even as unusual as the moment in
the second round when Silva offered a hand to help Cote up off
his back, rather than stomp him as you’d expect.
The
Silva-Cote middleweight title fight ended in the third round
when Cote blew out his knee without any contact. That was as
strange, although not as much as the fight lasting to the third
round in the first place.
“I
was sitting there saying, ‘What the [expletive] is going
on?’ ” White said.
Everyone
showed up in suburban Chicago looking for Silva to deliver one
of his Mike Tyson-esque destructions of Cote, the heavy underdog.
This is what Silva fights are about, some violent combination
of punches, knees and kicks that render opponents senseless.
“He’s
a killer,” White said.
Not
on Saturday. While Cote deserves credit for fearlessly standing
in front of him, this was about Silva, arguably the best fighter
in the world, deciding not to do much fighting.
He
didn’t throw a purposeful punch for most of the first round.
Rather than attack with his patented combinations, he danced,
he pranced, he swayed and he even prayed. He did little hand
tricks, Muhammad Ali feet shuffles and ran around in circles.
“If
you don’t know him and you showed up for the first time,
you’d [think] that guy was goofing around, he was acting
arrogant and cocky and trying to play with [Cote] like he was
a little kid,” White said. “That is not this guy’s
style, that’s not his personality, that’s not who he
is.”
No
it isn’t. Silva, afterward, apologized for his performance
yet also defended it, claiming he wasn’t out there playing
and he was just throwing Cote off his game. He sounded as confused
as everyone else.
The
theories of what happened are endless. Perhaps he didn’t
respect Cote and was unprepared. Perhaps he felt the need to
deliver an entertaining show to the fans. Perhaps he was bored.
Perhaps all the talk about switching to boxing or retiring outright,
got to him. Perhaps he felt pressure to finish with a spectacular
knockout.
Whatever
it was, the solution is simple.
White
needs to feed Silva opponents that’ll either motivate him
to bring his “A” game or make him pay for any mental
lapses.
Give
him Chuck Liddell on Super Bowl weekend at UFC 94. If he survives
that, give him Georges St. Pierre back at middleweight to headline
the historic UFC 100 early next summer. Then have him go back
to light heavyweight for a shot at whoever has the title after
that.
Give
him anything but what he’s gotten his last two fights, opponents
that weren’t capable of hurting him and thus incapable of
bringing out his best.
“I
don’t know, I’ve got to think about it,” White
said of Silva’s next opponent.
He
would only smile at the suggestion of Liddell, the former light
heavyweight champion, which means he’s certainly considering
what would be a major pay-per-view draw. He did say he thought
Silva wanted to return to 205 pounds for his next fight (Saturday’s
was at 185).
Mostly
White was searching for answers just like everyone else. Over
the past two years Silva (23-4) has been his most reliable meal
ticket. You put the Brazilian in the octagon and someone gets
finished; often quickly and in spectacular fashion.
Until
Saturday, no one in the UFC had lasted past the second round
with the guy. He wasn’t just considered by many the best
pound-for-pound fighter in the world, but the most exciting.
He
was the perfect headliner for the UFC’s first card in the
Second City. Cote is a tough guy who wasn’t backing down,
but few outside his diehard fans thought Silva would need more
than a few minutes to send everyone home buzzing about the UFC.
Instead
fans were booing at the end, as much at Silva as the disappointment
of Cote’s knee giving out.
“I
was sitting there going, ‘No, this isn’t happening,’
” White said.
In
the end, if this is what constitutes an off night and an emotional
letdown for Silva, then it isn’t too bad. Cote got a couple
shots in, but not nearly enough for the fight to be in doubt.
It’s why White didn’t look too interested in an immediate
rematch even if Cote was healthy.
So
give Silva a challenge he can’t afford to sleepwalk through.
End the Knockouts Across America parade, give up on the middlewe | |