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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2012
12/1/12
Maui Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
(BJJ)
(Lahaina Civic Center tentatively)
11/26/12?
Aloha
State BJJ Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
11/11-12/12
Eternal Submission Tournament
(Sub Grappling)
(Kauai)
10/20-21/12
NAGA
Hawaii
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Radford H. S. Gym)
9/8/12
Destiny: Na Koa
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
9/1/12
Toughman Hawaii
(Boxing)
(Hilo Civic Ctr)
8/18/12
Warpath to Mayhem:
Rumble at the Resort
(MMA)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Lihue, Kauai)
August
King of the Mat
(Submission Grappling)
8/4/12
Maui Open
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Lahaina Civic Center, Lahaina)
7/21/12
Sera's Kajukenbo Martial Arts Tournament
(Continuous Sparring, MMA (Controlled), and Sub. Grappling)
(War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
**CANCELLED**
7/14/12
King of the Cage
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
6/29/12
Vendetta 5
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
6/16-17/12
State
of Hawaii BJJ Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/16/12
Destiny
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/15/12
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
5/26/12
Toughman Hawaii Presents; King Of The Ring
(Boxing)
(Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium, Hilo)
5/19/12
Scrappler's Fest
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Island School, Lihue, Kauai)
The Quest For Champions
Martial Arts Tournament 2012
(Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling, Continuous Sparring)
(St. Louis High School Gym)
5/18/12
Vendetta 4
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
5/4/12
King of the Ring
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom)
Just Scrap XVI
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku)
4/28/12
Destiny
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower)
4/21/12
Amateur Boxing Event
Smoker Fundraiser
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
4/14/12
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom, Waipahu)
Hawaiian
Open Championship of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
3/29/12 - 4/1/12
Pan
Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
(Irvine, CA)
3/3/12
Warpath to Mayhem:
Rumble at the Resort
(MMA)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Lihue, Kauai)
Vendetta 3
(Kickboxing, Triple Threat)
(Waipahu Filcom, Waipahu)
Toughman Hawaii: Challengers
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic, Hilo)
2/11/12
Amateur Boxing Event
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
2/4/12
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
1/21/12
ProElite
MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
1/15/12
Polynesia
International BJJ Tournament
(BJJ)
(King Intermediate, Kaneohe)
1/7/12
Toughman Hawaii
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
|
|
September
2012 News Part 1
|
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O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson
Gracie Black Belts Chris and Mike Onzuka and Kaleo Hosaka as
well as a number of brown and purple belts.
We also offer Boxing and Kickboxing classes with a staff that
is unmatched. Boxing, Kickboxing, and MMA competitor PJ Dean
as well as master boxing instructor Chris Slavens provide incredibly
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Tyson
Nam Isn't
Against Fighting for Bellator, But Would Rather Have 'Handcuffs
Off'
Sep
9, 2012 - When the deck is stacked against you, life isn't much
fun. Bantamweight Tyson Nam can tell you all about it. When you
pull out an ace in the hole, however, things can get a lot better.
And quickly. Nam can tell you about that, too.
It's
been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Nam. After flying under
the radar for most of his career, an improbable but devastating
KO of Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas on August
25th at Shooto Brazil 33 changed quite a bit.
Sure,
the KO was incredible and caught everyone's attention both for
being spectacular and for crushing Bellator's top 135 pound fighter.
That was the good part. The bad part according to Nam, however,
is that Bellator wasn't going to let him walk away from the bout
with the upperhand.
According
to Nam, Bellator signed him in March of this year, but never
used him. "They sat on me for a good four or five months
before releasing me in June," Nam told Ariel Helwani on
Wednesday's edition of The MMA Hour. "My coach told me that
my agent said that they released me. So, it was kind of like
'have a nice day, have a good life' and that's about it,"
Nam said. "I was just really bummed out."
Upset
but thinking he was in the clear, he took the fight in Brazil
and the rest is history, right? "From my understanding,
I thought they forfeited that right when they released me back
in the middle of June and they didn't come with a matching offer
when Shooto Brazil presented itself." Not exactly. Bellator
claims they never formally released Nam from his contract.
Nam
does have the ability to fight elsewhere if Bellator doesn't
have a fight lined up for him, but they also have the ability
to match any existing offers. Just as Nam is ready to capitalize
on the biggest win of his career, Bellator showed interest, but
not the kind of interest Nam is particularly enjoying.
"On
August 25th after I knocked out their champion," Nam said
defiantly. "They didn't care about me August 24th, July
24th or June 24th. But [come] August 25th they were all over
it."
"It's
almost like, 'hey, you guys have been sitting on me for four
months. You guys promised me this, that didn't come through.
Then you promised me that, that didn't come through and now we
release you into wherever and I do something great just so happens
it was it's their Bellator champion," Nam said. "Now
let's bring this section 18 back up," Nam maintains, citing
the portion of his clause that gives Bellator the right to match
other existing offers.
While
inconvenient, Nam's taking it all in stride. He's apparently
getting offers from major organizations. "I can say they
are pretty big promotions if not some of the most recognized
promotions in the world." In fact, he's not even ruling
out fighting for Bellator. There's been bad blood between the
parties involved, but good offers are good offers. "If they
bring something to the table that's actually matching these other
offers that I'm getting, sure, why not?", he said.
But
that isn't his first priority. The offers coming in are apparently
very good and if Bellator can't or doesn't want to match them,
that's fine by Nam. All he wants is for Bellator to act, one
way or the other. They're matching period is reportedly only
fourteen days, meaning Nam should be free to sign with whomever
if Bellator elected not to meet competing offers.
A
skilled bantamweight who never quite got a good hand to work
with finally had an ace in the hole. And it's one he intends
to use. Nam has all the options he could ask for. Now all he
wants is the ability to act on them.
"Take
these handcuffs off me," he said
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Tito
Ortiz Isn’t Retired, He’s Just Graduated From Fighting
A
lot of people were taken aback recently when Cris “Cyborg”
Santos’ manager said that he believed a Cyborg vs. Ronda
Rousey bout would eventually take place, just not at 135 pounds.
It
wasn’t so much the rhetoric about the fight, but more so
who it was saying those words. And that would be Tito Ortiz,
who now claims Cyborg among his charges under his new management
company, Primetime 360.
Ortiz’s
career spans a time when fighters were lucky to be making in
the four-figures for a fight to now, where it isn’t uncommon
for those at the top to actually bump up into seven-digit paydays.
He
believes that he had a lot to do with progressing the sport to
that point, but also has the experience of building up his brand
and other business interests so that fighting wasn’t the
be-all, end-all to his life. Ortiz didn’t necessarily have
to make millions and millions of dollars from his fight career
in order to sustain himself once he stepped out of the Octagon
for the final time.
“During
my whole career, I made mistakes. I made positive and negative
things to get me to where I am today. I want to go out and find
the next generation fighters. I’m really going to take this
managing stuff by storm. I really want to battle for fighters
for what they believe in and what I believe in,” Ortiz told
MMAWeekly.com about why he decided to start Primetime 360.
Ortiz
has had representation over the years. In fact, current UFC president
Dana White was once he and Chuck Liddell’s manager. But
Ortiz wasn’t a fighter that would lay his life in the hands
of his representatives and just accept what was doled out to
him.
The
former UFC light heavyweight champion, as he says, took many
missteps throughout his career, but that’s because he was
always involved, always taking an active hand in the direction
of his career on the business end, not just in the gym and in
the cage.
That’s
why he believes he has something to offer today’s fighters
that sets him apart.
Ortiz
doesn’t intend to promise his fighters that stars and the
moon if they sign on with him. He intends to promise them that
if they are willing to put in the work, they will be successful,
and perhaps more importantly, they will have a future beyond
the short lifespan of a professional combat sports athlete.
“I
want to break the mold on fighters. They’re going to do
all the hard, diligent work to become superstars,” said
Ortiz. “I think that’s what it comes down to, where
I’m showing these guys the right things to do to make themselves
a brand. That’s what it’s really about, a fight for
the fighters, and that’s what I’ve been doing for myself
for so long, making the right decisions and not making ones on
pure emotions.
“I’ve
been in the trenches and I’ve battled for my brand; so not
reinvent the wheel, but make it better.”
Cris
Cyborg and Rob Emerson are the first of Ortiz’s clients
for Primetime 360.
Cyborg
has struggled, getting bad advice and making some wrong turns
in her career, dropping from her perch as the Strikeforce women’s
featherweight champion to sitting on the sidelines for a year
due to a positive drug test for steroids.
Ortiz
believes he can help fighters like Cyborg – that want to
do the right thing and put in the work – to put their careers
on the right track and build a safety net for their futures.
He
doesn’t intend to go out on a signing spree, taking on everyone
that sets themselves at his feet. Ortiz wants the fighters that
he believes see the bigger picture and are willing to put in
the work it takes to realize their dreams, not just those that
want their future handed to them on a silver platter.
“There
has already been guys that have contacted me: female fighters
and other guy fighters. Now I’ve just got to pick them,”
Ortiz told MMAWeekly.com.
“Primetime
360 isn’t just about fighting. I’m going to go out
and do my diligent work of looking for spots for them after fighting,
for a career after fighting is over. The lifespan of a fighter
is maybe 10 years. After that 10 years, what are you going to
do? I really want to sit down with my business management and
lay out their next 20 years, so they’re able to retire as
a fighter and go on to something bigger and better.
“You
sign with Tito Ortiz, I’m going to give you the opportunity
to become something that you want to become. You’ve got
to go out and you’ve got to do the work. This isn’t
something where I’m going to sign with Tito and I’m
going to become a superstar. No, that will not happen. They’re
going to have to do the work, too.”
As
he intends to instill in his clients, Ortiz hasn’t just
retired from fight. To him fighting was a part of his life and
this is the next step. That’s the core of the lesson he’s
learned, that if you put in the work, there is always a future,
and Primetime 360 is a part of his.
“I’m
not slowing down. I have so much more stuff to do. I’m
not retiring. I’m just graduating. I’m graduating
from fighting.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
Antonio
Banuelos Dropping to Flyweight
After
an up-and-down year in 2011, Antonio Banuelos is finally set
to return to action this month after having not fought since
last December.
“I’ve
just been training and trying to get a fight at 125 pounds,”
said Banuelos. “It’s tough trying to get a fight on
these smaller shows. I’ve been training my butt off, on
a real strict diet, and I’m ready to go and rock and roll
on Sept. 14.”
During
his time off, Banuelos told MMAWeekly.com that he, “Worked
on my strength and conditioning a lot. I’ve been focusing
a lot on my wrestling and foot work because I want to get back
to that, (and now) I’m feeling more well-rounded in everything;
my striking, wrestling and jits work.”
People
around Banuelos felt he might have been holding back at 135 pounds,
but he says there is a good reason for that. And now that he’s
moved down in weight, he should be much more explosive.
“My
trainers and a couple of guys said (I was holding back), but
I was fighting quality guys and you just can’t rush in there
and try certain things,” he said. “But that was because
I was a lot smaller than those guys and I was worried about being
taken down, so hopefully at 125 I’ll be a big, strong guy
and I can go out and do what I want to do.
“For
my upcoming fights at 125, I just want to press it, just redline
it, and just go out there and fight at the pace I want to fight,”
he said. “When I go out and I’m doing what I do best,
doing my thing, I can’t be stopped.”
Banuelos’
first fight at flyweight will come on Sept. 14 when he takes
on Joshua Sampo at Legacy FC 14 in Houston, broadcast live on
AXS TV.
While
he does some strategizing for his individual opponents, Banuelos
feels he’s at his best when he’s making the other fighter
have to react to him.
“Pretty
much for every fight I know their style, but what I want to do
is push my pace and push my style,” said Banuelos. “I’m
going to push the pace and keep it where I like it; on my feet
with my hands moving and try to stay off my back.”
Having
always faced the toughest competition in his weight class at
any given time, Banuelos intends to keep doing the same and feels
like now, not later, is the right time for him to make his move.
“I’m
not here to fight nobodies,” he said. “I just want
to go out and be the best, and to do that you’ve got to
go out and fight the top guys, and that’s what I want to
do.
“I
want to make my run right now. Moving down to 125 is the start
of it. Once I get this going, I’m just going to push it
from there.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
on FX 6 Fight Card Rumors
UFC
on FX 6
Date: December 15, 2012
(December 14 in the U.S.)
Venue: TBD
Location: TBD
-Hector
Lombard vs. Rousimar Palhares
-George Sotiropoulos vs. Ross Pearson
-TUF: The Smashes Finals
UFC
on FX 6 Start Times:
Preliminary Bouts on Facebook: TBD
Preliminary Bouts on Fuel TV: TBD
Main Card on FX: TBD
Source: MMA Weekly |
Tyson
Nam Isn't Against Fighting for Bellator, But Would Rather Have
'Handcuffs Off'
Sep
9, 2012 - When the deck is stacked against you, life isn't much
fun. Bantamweight Tyson Nam can tell you all about it. When you
pull out an ace in the hole, however, things can get a lot better.
And quickly. Nam can tell you about that, too.
It's
been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Nam. After flying under
the radar for most of his career, an improbable but devastating
KO of Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas on August
25th at Shooto Brazil 33 changed quite a bit.
Sure,
the KO was incredible and caught everyone's attention both for
being spectacular and for crushing Bellator's top 135 pound fighter.
That was the good part. The bad part according to Nam, however,
is that Bellator wasn't going to let him walk away from the bout
with the upperhand.
According
to Nam, Bellator signed him in March of this year, but never
used him. "They sat on me for a good four or five months
before releasing me in June," Nam told Ariel Helwani on
Wednesday's edition of The MMA Hour. "My coach told me that
my agent said that they released me. So, it was kind of like
'have a nice day, have a good life' and that's about it,"
Nam said. "I was just really bummed out."
Upset
but thinking he was in the clear, he took the fight in Brazil
and the rest is history, right? "From my understanding,
I thought they forfeited that right when they released me back
in the middle of June and they didn't come with a matching offer
when Shooto Brazil presented itself." Not exactly. Bellator
claims they never formally released Nam from his contract.
Nam
does have the ability to fight elsewhere if Bellator doesn't
have a fight lined up for him, but they also have the ability
to match any existing offers. Just as Nam is ready to capitalize
on the biggest win of his career, Bellator showed interest, but
not the kind of interest Nam is particularly enjoying.
"On
August 25th after I knocked out their champion," Nam said
defiantly. "They didn't care about me August 24th, July
24th or June 24th. But [come] August 25th they were all over
it."
"It's
almost like, 'hey, you guys have been sitting on me for four
months. You guys promised me this, that didn't come through.
Then you promised me that, that didn't come through and now we
release you into wherever and I do something great just so happens
it was it's their Bellator champion," Nam said. "Now
let's bring this section 18 back up," Nam maintains, citing
the portion of his clause that gives Bellator the right to match
other existing offers.
While
inconvenient, Nam's taking it all in stride. He's apparently
getting offers from major organizations. "I can say they
are pretty big promotions if not some of the most recognized
promotions in the world." In fact, he's not even ruling
out fighting for Bellator. There's been bad blood between the
parties involved, but good offers are good offers. "If they
bring something to the table that's actually matching these other
offers that I'm getting, sure, why not?", he said.
But
that isn't his first priority. The offers coming in are apparently
very good and if Bellator can't or doesn't want to match them,
that's fine by Nam. All he wants is for Bellator to act, one
way or the other. They're matching period is reportedly only
fourteen days, meaning Nam should be free to sign with whomever
if Bellator elected not to meet competing offers.
A
skilled bantamweight who never quite got a good hand to work
with finally had an ace in the hole. And it's one he intends
to use. Nam has all the options he could ask for. Now all he
wants is the ability to act on them.
"Take
these handcuffs off me," he said
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Murilo
Ninja promises to KO Paulo Filho
In April of 2006, when the rivalry between Brazilian Top Team
and Chute Boxe reached its peak, Paulo Filho and Murilo Ninja
faced each other in Pride. Back then, Paulo got the win by points
and scored a point for BTT on the close fight between the gyms.
On the main event of Best of the Best, in Belem, Murilo Ninja
will have the chance to revenge the 2006 loss and, besides that,
make history. He wants to be the first one ever to knock out
the Carlson Gracie’s black belt pupil, who was also never
submitted in professional MMA.
“I trained a lot for this fight. I did my preparation like
if I was fighting in Japan, in Pride. I trained much ground game
and stand-up too and I’m well prepared”, assured Ninja,
on an exclusive interview with TATAME.
“I have all the tools to wins this one. I’m going for
a second-round knockout, but it’s even better if I can do
it on the first round”.
Also a BJJ black belt, Murilo Ninja wants to dictate actions
on the striking game, but does not fear for a grappling fight
either.
“I’m ready to fight on the ground, I trained a lot
for that but I’m doing my best to keep him up because that’s
best for me”.
Responsible for initiating his younger brother in the martial
arts’ world, Ninja will have Shogun Rua on his corner, which
will only make him even more confident. And for those who thought
it would be Ninja’s farewell fight, the athlete guarantees
it won’t.
“I’m feeling fine and I love to do what I do, so I’m
gonna do few more fights. I trained well, I will have my brother
at my corner and everything’s fine. I’m in great shape,
well prepared, so I’m sure I’ll keep fighting”,
warns the 32-year-old fighter
Source: Tatame
|
Tito
Ortiz to Jon Jones: Don't Disrespect Me
UFC
Hall of Famer and former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz
is a fan of current light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones,
but took offense to recent comments Jones made about him in an
interview.
Ortiz gave his side of the story to MMAWeekly.com concerning
Jones’ recent statements about him and Jones’ role
in the cancellation of UFC 151.
“The situation happened with UFC 151. He was supposed to
fight Dan Henderson. He gets hurt a week before the fight. (The
UFC) said you’re going to fight Chael (Sonnen). He said,
no way, and he got a bunch of flack for it. All the fighters
said he wasn’t a true fighter and no one has ever done this
before. It’s crazy. I thought it was crazy and I stood
up for the kid,” said Ortiz.
“I like Jon Jones. I think he’s a great champion.
I think he’s a great guy. I’ve hung out with him
in Vegas, and I really took a liking to the kid. All of a sudden,
I heard an interview from him saying people need to stop comparing
me to Tito Ortiz because I don’t talk about money. That
was like a stab in my back. I was like, I stood up for you.
When no one else did, I stood up for you and you turn around
and say something like that,” Ortiz stated.
While Ortiz was originally supportive of Jones’ decision
to decline a short-notice fight with Sonnen, his opinion has
changed slightly.
“Dana said it best himself. He’s never had this happen
from a fighter before where he pulled out of a fight. I never
did in my career. I fought guys no matter what. It was about
what I was worth, not talking about money because I didn’t
have a manager. I was the guy taking the flack for it,”
said the former champion.
The angered Ortiz believes instead of criticizing him, Jones
should be praising him for laying the foundation for fighters
to apply leverage at the negotiating table with the UFC brass.
“You’ve got to understand. When you’re traveling
around in your Bentley – I don’t know if he still has
it anymore since he wrecked it into a tree – but when you’re
traveling around in your Bentley, you’ve got to understand.
I’m a person who put their life on the line and my career
and my image and my name on the line to battle for you to have
the type of contract you have and the money you’re making,”
said the UFC Hall of Famer. “If it weren’t for the
things I’ve battle for, and took the bad image for it, you’d
be traveling around in a Toyota right now.
“I took a lot of flack for negotiating and battling for
what I believed in,” continued Ortiz. “It wasn’t
a factor of talking about money. It was a factor of what I thought
I was worth. I was trying to raise the bar for all fighters,
and I think I’ve done that. For him to say the things he’s
saying, don’t disrespect me like that.”
At the end of the day, Ortiz is still a fan of Jon Jones, but
didn’t take kindly to the comments Jones has made.
“I was just disappointed, very, very disappointed with Jon.
Maybe the stardom is getting to his head. Like I said, I took
a liking to Jon Jones, but I was just really disappointed with
that interview. That’s all I’ve got to say about
that.”
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Results
DESTINY: Na Koa
Neal Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii
September 8, 2012
By Chris Onzuka - Chris@Onzuka.com
Hawaii
has been hit hard by the economy and the legislation regarding
MMA. Recently that law has expanded its reach to include kickboxing.
The Hawaii MMA scene has fallen far from its hey day of having
the 8,000 seat capacity sold out. MMA promoters have been struggling
to bring in fight fans when putting on major events. The smaller
events have basically kept the sport that we all love alive.
Promoter Jay Bolos wanted to get his money's worth and give Hawaii's
loyal fans the biggest bang for the buck by putting on 29 matches.
This allowed many fighters to get the opportunity to showcase
their skills in the famous Blaisdell Arena. The event featured
a number of amateur title matches along with professional title
matches.
Many
new champions were crowned and every fighter fought their hearts
out for almost seven hours of non-stop MMA action. A few fighters
were brought in from outside of Hawaii and with the exception
of Raquel Pennington hanging tough and showing that persistence
pays off by finishing a guillotine on local favorite Raquel Pa'aluhi.
Pa'aluhi was one of two second generation MMA fighters which
shows the time that Hawaii has invested in MMA and that I am
getting old. There were some spectacular fights with some amazing
finishes. Alex Pulotu-Stevenson's head kick finish of Kevin Aguigui
was one of them and the crowd was set on fire with the outstanding
job that local boys Ben Santiago, Sale Sproat and Dustin Kimura
performed on Black House fighters Paulo Silva, Douglas Silva,
and Damaso Pereira. There are limitations of having the undisputed
Middleweight king OUTSIDE the ring. The two local boys dispatched
their Brazilian counterparts in outstanding fashion.
The main event featured an infamous member of the MMA community
Charles Bennett, better known as Krazy Horse, but he goes by
Kid Khaos now. Bennett has KO power and has gotten into it inside
and outside the ring. He was paired up with none other than Hawaii's
own counterpart, TUF tryout alumni, Jonavan "Immortal Warior"
Visante Jr.. The start of their match could not have been scripted
better. Due to a slipped support board under the cage, shortly
after they began the match, it had to halted to fix that issue.
While waiting it to be fixed, both fighters started taunting
each other, with Bennett telling Visante, "lets only fight
on this side of the ring." The Referee could barely keep
them apart for the few minutes it took to fix the problem, seemed
like hours I am sure. Both fighters were tentative, with Bennett
looking for a big strike to end the night and Visante on his
bicycle looking to pick apart his foe. This was basically the
entire five rounds, with the exception of a few times where Bennett
got a hold of Visante and launched him in the air and slamming
him to the mat. Unfortunately, Bennett never opened up with any
ground and pound and Visante stayed busy on the bottom and eventually
got back to his feet. In the end, partly due to some interesting
judging, it ended up being a split decision in Visante's favor
earning him the professional world lightweight title.
155lbs
Pro World Lightweight Title Match
5 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Johnavan "Immortal Warrior" Visante Jr. (Team SYD,
Hawaii) def. Charles "Kid Khaos" Bennett (Florida)
Split decision after 5 rounds.
145lbs Pro World Featherweight Title Match
5 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) def. Damaso Pereira (Black
House Gym, Brazil)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 1:48 in Round 2.
185lbs
Pro Middleweight Title
5 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Sale Sproat (Molokai) def. Douglas Moura Silva (Black House Gym,
Brazil)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 1:12 in Round 1.
135lbs
Pro Women's Bantamweight Title
5 Rounds - 5 Minutes
Raquel Pennington (Altitude MMA, Colorado) def. Raquel Pa'aluhi
(Gracie Technics, Hawaii)
Submission via guillotine choke 3:52 in Round 1.
155lbs
Pro Lightweight Match
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Ben "Da King" Santiago (UKA, Hawaii) def. Paulo Silva
(Black House Gym, Brazil)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 0:23 in Round 1.
135lbs
Pro Bantamweight Match
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Ian Delacuesta (808 Fight Factory) def. Jireh Umi-Torres (Molokai)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
125lbs
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Angie Pereira (HMC) def. Haley Pasion (UKA)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
205lbs
Amateur Light Heavyweight Title Match
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Alex Pulotu-Steverson (Team Xtreme) def. Kevin Aguigui (Animal
House Gym)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 0:19 in Round 2.
145lbs
Amateur Women's Title Match
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Bryanna Fissori (SOMMA) def. Chantelle Berengue (Animal House
Gym)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
Preliminary
bouts:
155lbs
Amateur Title Match
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Robby Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord) def. Dan Ige (Gracie Technics)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
135lbs
Amateur Title Match
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Kevin Natividad (EightSixx BJJ) def. Brandon Mina (808 Top Team)
TKO, fighter could not continue after the end of Round 2.
Heavyweight
Interim Title Match
3 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Okala Makaiau def. Kevin Herzog (Team Mixed Plate)
Unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
145lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Ryan Delacruz (808 Top Team) def. Joseph Yeampierre (HMC)
Unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
155lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Micah Abreu (UKA) vs. Kaulana Costa (Team Akamine)
Draw
135lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Jared Iha (No Remorse) def. Drake Fujimoto (Relson Gracie Waterfront/SOMMA)
Unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
155lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Lawrence Collins (Jesus Is Lord) def. Robert "Cholo"
Aguirre (Freelance)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 1:22 in Round 1.
140lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Cody Santos (Bulls Pen) def. Tony "The Tiger" Rodrigues
(Waianae BC)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 0:35 in Round 1.
145lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Matt Aoki (Grappling Unlimited) def. Jason Recamara (Team Mixed
Plate)
Submission via triangle at 1:41 in Round 1.
145lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Jacob Lee (808 Fight Factory) def. Jomar Escosis (Freelance)
Unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
170lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Walter Walker (Hawaii United) dedf. Pedro Macias (Alliance JiuJitsu)
TKO, fighter could not continue after the end of Round 1.
125lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Geremy Martyn (Technics MMAD) def. Jared Gonda (Team Mixed Plate)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 1:15 in Round 2.
160lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Keoni Diggs (808 Top Team) def. Justyn Jumawan-Perreira (No Way
Fight Skool, Kauai)
KO at 0:16 in Round 1.
125lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Joey Balai (TCK) def. Stu Jones (Freelance)
Submission via rear naked choke at 2:39 in Round 2.
155lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Johnny Pecyna (808 Fight Factory) def. Ka'eo Kawa'a (UCS)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 1:27 in Round 1.
125lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Chas Dunhour (808 Fight Factory) def. Travis Arredondo (EightSixx
BJJ)
TKO via Referee stoppage (injured shoulder) at 0:22 in Round
1.
185lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Keoni Kahakelii (Team Mixed Plate) def. Dwain Uyeda (UCS)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 1:14 in Round 1.
170lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Marlon Calventas (Bulls Pen) vs. Rylan Fonoti (808 Top Team)
Draw
170lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Anthony Curbello (Freelance) def. Juan Berdon (Freelance)
TKO via Referee stoppage at 1:11 in Round 1.
130lbs:
2 Rounds - 3 Minutes
Lena Cook (Submit Hawaiian JiuJitsu) def. Monica Franco (Lion
Tribe)
Unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
|
Brock
Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko – Could it Happen?
by Damon
Martin
It’s
a well known fact that UFC President Dana White loves to appease
the fans, and give them what they are asking for most.
If
there was one occasion where White fell short in that goal was
his desire to sign former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko.
The
Russian legend never fought in the UFC and despite White’s
best efforts, he remains the great white whale to his Captain
Ahab.
So
when White recently visited the popular Underground forum and
sparked a debate about a possible super fight between Emelianenko
and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, the fans exploded
in response.
“What
happened was people were asking ‘could Dana make this fight’
and then I asked them how many people really want to see this
fight? I was asking a question,” White said when speaking
to UFC Tonight on Tuesday.
The
overwhelming answer from fans was ‘yes’ they would
pay to see the fantasy fight between Emelianenko and Lesnar.
“I
guess a couple people want to see that fight,” White said
with a smile.
While
the conversation is beyond interesting to MMA fans from all walks
of life, the likelihood of the super fight actually happening
seems all but impossible.
Lesnar
is currently under contract to World Wrestling Entertainment
through at least the biggest part of 2013, and Emelianenko retired
after his last fight earlier this year. When it comes to Dana
White, the best phrase to use is ‘never say never’
but this fight isn’t one any fans should hold their breath
about.
“I’ll
tell you this, I have done so much to try to get Fedor in the
UFC. You know how I am, especially when I say it publically,
like this is an obsession, I’ve got to get this thing done,
and tried to get it done,” said White.
“The
crazy thing is people are asking me to make this fight when they
know Fedor is retired. The guy retired. I couldn’t get him
when he was fighting, now we’re on such good terms I’m
going to pull him out of retirement?”
Emelianenko
has remained fairly quiet since he walked away from the sport,
and with Lesnar back in the pro wrestling world, the bout will
likely never happen but MMA fans everywhere can continue to dream.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
MMA
Paper Trail: Ratings Game
By Jack
Encarnacao
The
ratings performance of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s
fourth event on Fox -- and its plans for the fifth -- paints
a picture of the promotion’s evolving relationship with
its network partner.
Headlined
by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua-Brandon Vera, the Aug. 4 card
drew the lowest household rating of any mixed martial arts event
that has aired on network television, including the EliteXC and
Strikeforce shows on CBS. However, the rating did not seem to
cause alarm. UFC on Fox 4 went head-to-head with NBC’s Summer
Olympics coverage -- which attracted nearly 14 times the primetime
audience of the UFC show -- yet performed well in key demographics.
Though
ratings have overall trended downward for UFC events thus far
on Fox, Eric Shanks, the president of Fox Sports, told Sherdog.com
he has no qualms.
“I
don’t think you could be much happier,” Shanks said
of the UFC’s showings on the network, which last year signed
a seven-year, $100 million broadcasting deal with the promotion.
“The fight game, as they call it, is predicated a lot on
how good the actual fights are; same with a baseball game, same
with a football game. There were some quick fights. There were
some fights in [the second and third Fox events] that still delivered
large audiences and won the night in key demos every time, sometimes
even beating all three of the other networks combined. You take
a look at UFC on Fox 4, and you have unbelievable fights.”
The
two-hour, 22-minute broadcast on Aug. 4 scored a 1.4 average
household rating, down slightly from 1.5 for the May 5 event,
which established the previous basement number for MMA on network
television. The rating reflects the percentage of United States
households with televisions that watched the show. The broadcast
did slightly more viewers on average than the May show, however,
with 2.44 million compared to 2.42 million. UFC on Fox 4 did
its highest market ratings in Las Vegas, followed by Louisville,
Ky., New Orleans and Tulsa, Okla.
There
were several encouraging aspects of the ratings. General viewership
increased throughout the broadcast, starting at 1.04 and peaking
at 1.79 for the final 22 minutes, which featured gutsy, hard-hitting
action between Rua and Vera. The rating for males, ages 18 to
34, the demographic most coveted by advertisers, was a 1.9, a
19-percent increase from the May event. The demo number rivaled
those of major sports like baseball. Interestingly, viewership
in the demographic peaked as the main event participants were
getting into the cage but dropped 10 percent over the course
of the fight.
Shanks
said primetime television shows with high concentrations of viewers
in the 18-to-34 demo have the best shot at growing audience beyond
that group. They also command the highest ad rates.
“That’s
the hardest audience to attract, and, over time, it seems to
pay off,” he said. “Obviously, as that audience grows,
then it helps in ad rates, and ad rates is what you base your
business plan on. Buying into the UFC on Fox is not necessarily
a bargain now [for advertisers] because of the high concentration
of 18 to 34s. The pricing is near the top-end of the range for
sporting events.”
Despite
the fact that all four fighters had soundly fallen to champion
Jon Jones, UFC President Dana White looked to bolster the latest
Fox event by announcing title implications for the top two fights:
Rua vs. Vera and Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader. Title implications
have been a motif for Fox main events. Shanks said Fox does not
insist on the title implications, but the UFC knows what they
add.
“Dana
is a promoter, and he’s been a great promoter for a very
long time,” Shanks said. “He either feels the heat
on a fight, on a matchup, or he doesn’t. He’s a promoter;
he’s going to find ways to put heat on a fight. People hear
‘title fight’ or ‘shot at the title’ and
you might not know who’s in it, but the fight means something.
I think that gets you your initial tune-in.”
The
Fox broadcast was the second to feature four main-card fights.
The January event had three; the November one-hour special had
one. Shanks said the fight load is part of a strategy to keep
viewers parked.
“Look,
viewers are fickle,” he said. “I mean, they’re
sitting on the couch and if there’s a break in the action,
they’re going to tune away for six minutes, 10 minutes,
and then come back. It’s pretty easy to flip the channel.
You increase ratings just as much by getting people to watch
longer as by getting new people to the set. So that’s why
we’ve settled in this format together with the UFC. We are
packing four fights into two hours now. I don’t think you
could actually even fit more than that into two hours.”
The
August and May ratings were a far cry from what the UFC pulled
for its first two Fox events. The January show, which featured
Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis and Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping
did a 2.6 rating and 4.7 million viewers. The November show,
which featured Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez, did a 3.1
rating and 5.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched MMA
event ever on U.S. television. Those numbers do not include people
who watched the events live on Fox Sports Deportes or at a later
date on DVR.
Shanks
said a key part of the reason the first UFC on Fox did so well
was advertising during the network’s NFL games, among the
most-watched programming on television. Shanks said the NFL-UFC
integration will resume this season, promoting both the Sept.
14 premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter” on FX and the
next Fox fight card on Dec. 8.
“Last
October, it was a big deal that UFC was being promoted inside
of an NFL game; [it] had never been done before. We haven’t
had the NFL weight to promote since then,” Shanks said.
In
addition to in-studio appearances by fighters during halftime
shows, Shanks said executives have also kicked around the idea
of moving a UFC event to a Sunday, where it could be paired with
a football mega-event like the NFC Championship Game to “make
a big day even bigger.”
The
December Fox event has the potential to do a big rating, not
only because of the NFL integration but also because of the lineup
itself. The UFC loaded the roster with three main event-caliber
matchups: Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz for the lightweight
title, B.J. Penn vs. Rory MacDonald and “Shogun” Rua
vs. Alexander Gustafsson.
“Do
we expect that every fight card is going to be as packed as this
on Fox? No,” Shanks said. “You’d love it, but
it’s great because we can sit in a room and we respect each
other’s businesses. We know what’s on the line with
[the UFC’s] pay-per-view business. They know that we’ve
put a lot into this relationship, both rights-wise and giving
it a slot on network television and using our muscle to promote
it. So we both have a lot at stake here, and they get it.
“They
realize that you’re not going to get new fans by completely
watching pay-per-views,” he added. “You’ve got
to put on a great show to 115 million television homes.”
News
& Notes
It
was the best of months and worst of months for Jon Jones.
In
the same 30-day span in which the UFC light heavyweight champion
garnered headlines for being the first mixed martial artist to
sign a worldwide sponsorship deal with Nike, he was inundated
with scorn for his decision to decline a replacement opponent
at UFC 151. The decision prompted the UFC to cancel the pay-per-view
event, something the company has never done after putting tickets
on sale and announcing a main event.
“It’s
major, major deal,” UFC President Dana White said during
a media call. “We lose a lot of money, money that’s
already been spent. Many people, from fans to PPV distributors,
TV networks, sponsors and, more importantly, fighters who are
working hard to support their families and build their careers
are hurt badly by this selfish decision.”
It
remains unclear what the entire financial hit was to the UFC;
The Wrestling Observer reported $1.1 million worth of tickets
had been sold about three weeks out. The UFC tried to replace
Jones’ scheduled opponent, Dan Henderson, with Chael Sonnen
eight days out after “Hendo” suffered a knee injury.
Jones turned down the replacement bout but agreed to fight at
UFC 152 on Sept. 22. Lyoto Machida was offered the fight but
declined it. Instead, Vitor Belfort, who called UFC CEO Lorenzo
Fertitta to offer his services, got the shot.
Fighters
on the UFC 151 undercard, some of whom were counting on a Sept.
1 payday to cover basic expenses, had their fights moved out
anywhere from weeks to months. Many had to eat cancellation fees
for airfare.
Just
two weeks prior to the cancellation, Jones’ management announced
a global distribution deal with Nike, which will produce signature
“Bones Knows” T-shirts and feature him in commercials.
Complete terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Nike appeared
to make no formal announcement. The first meeting between Jones
and Nike was set up by Ari Emanuel, the high-powered talent agent
who pushed the UFC to Fox executives for years prior to their
landmark television deal.
The
UFC 151 cancellation came a week after Jones’ press agent,
John Fuller, announced he was no longer working with the champion,
who was already coming off negative press for a DUI arrest.
Other
items of interest:
•
A new player in the mixed martial arts scene is looking to promote
in Nevada and will be helmed by one of the sport’s most
influential agents. Resurrection Fighting Alliance, which has
signed a slew of hot prospects and recent UFC castoffs, announced
Ed Soares as its president this month. Soares manages an array
of top-shelf Brazilian fighters under the Black House banner,
including Anderson Silva, Machida and the Nogueira Brothers.
The Nebraska-based RFA, which has held three events, was founded
in 2011 by a group that included Wayne Harriman, who was one
of the founders of the World Fighting Alliance, a promotion sold
to UFC parent company Zuffa in 2006;
•
Fans got a peak of the roughly-sketched-out framework of the
UFC’s strategy for international expansion when the head
of the company’s Asia division discussed plans for a Japan-specific
circuit with a Japanese news outlet. Mark Fisher told Nikkan
Sports a “Japan Series” would launch next spring and
include four events in smaller arenas scaled for 5,000 people.
The events would not be numbered UFC cards and would feature
local talent. The idea, Fisher said, is to develop Japanese talent
for the UFC and foster awareness of the promotion. In an interview
with MMAFighting.com, Fisher tempered the reported plans as simply
points of discussion. It appears the idea for Japan that Fisher
spoke of would be part of a broader initiative across Asia and
include China, where Fisher is based. The UFC has explored setting
up regional circuits in different parts of the world after establishing
a television foothold in the markets. White said a key reason
the company plans to add a 115-pound weight class is to allow
it to bring smaller fighters in Asian countries into the fold;
•
August saw a number of significant moves in the television landscape.
Spike TV announced that in addition to bringing Bellator Fighting
Championships to its airwaves in January it will also be adding
venerable kickboxing brand K-1 to its lineup. Bellator CEO Bjorn
Rebney announced that a company reality show that Spike will
produce with the co-creator of “Amazing Race” will
feature first-run fights and not simply be a documentary series.
Bellator also announced television clearance in Russia on “Russia
2,” a channel that reaches 83 million people and broadcasted
the Olympics in the country. Bellator has recently acquired several
highly touted Russian prospects. Also this month, Canada-based
Score Fighting Series announced it has signed a deal to broadcast
its events in the United States on AXS TV, formerly HDNet. The
promotion is funded by Canadian sports channel The Score, which
will be purchased by fellow Candian sports network Rogers Communications.
The UFC airs in Canada on Rogers Sportsnet. The Score broadcasts
Bellator. In addition, a new promotion called World Series of
Fighting applied for a license to promote its first event at
Planet Hollywood in the UFC’s Las Vegas backyard. The promoter
is kickboxing mainstay Ray Sefo. In its application for a promoter’s
license, the league mentioned it will broadcast its Nov. 3 event
on the NBC Sports Network, formerly Versus;
•
While cold water was thrown on the idea that Frank Mir fighting
Daniel Cormier signified a new openness to UFC and Strikeforce
sharing fighters, it became clear Strikeforce is very much in
talent-sharing mode with surging all-female promotion Invicta
Fighting Championships. Fresh off her high-profile bout with
Ronda Rousey and still under contact to Strikeforce, Sarah Kaufman
will jump into the Invicta cage to face Kaitlin Young on Oct.
6. Invicta has used other Strikeforce female fighters in the
past, including Liz Carmouche, Amanda Nunes and Alexis Davis.
Rumors have swirled about an Invicta television deal; Showtime
Sports President Stephen Espinoza told the Sherdog Radio Network
“Rewind” earlier this year that Showtime is interested
in adding a second MMA league next year. As for Cormier-Mir,
Fertitta said the talent exchange is a one-time arrangement.
Espinoza said there is resistance from the UFC’s network
partner, Fox, to having UFC fighters used to build fighters contracted
exclusively to Viacom-owned Showtime. An agreement has been reached
that Cormier will come to the UFC after fighting Mir in the Strikeforce
cage;
•
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer published his semi-annual
list of the most-searched-for fighters on Google in the United
States in the first six months of 2012. The top active MMA fighter
was Silva, followed by Jones, Sonnen, Georges St. Pierre, Rousey
and Rashad Evans. Brock Lesnar and Gina Carano both ranked higher
than Silva. Google search trends are thought to be one of the
best indicators of a fighter’s box office and pay-per-view
appeal;
•
A host of MMA fighters ran into trouble with the law in August.
UFC featherweight Chad Mendes was charged with misdemeanor battery
in a California bar fight; recent UFC fighter Jason “Mayhem”
Miller was arrested for burglary and sent for evaluation after
allegedly breaking into a California church; UFC flyweight Ian
McCall served 17 days in jail on a probation violation; and UFC
veteran Frank Trigg was arrested in Las Vegas on a domestic violence
charge;
•
The UFC’s political battle with a Las Vegas gaming industry
union expanded to a new front. The veterans committee of the
Unite Here group penned a letter to leadership of the U.S. Marines
to ask that the military branch pull advertising from UFC events
due to past controversial statements and slurs from fighters
and White. A Marines spokeswoman told the military publication
Stars and Stripes that the Marines Corps has “expressed
its concern to the UFC” about issues raised in the Unite
Here petition and that UFC officials “have proactive measures
in place to deal with these isolated transgressions.” Many
of the remarks Unite Here cites were made on social media, a
platform the UFC is bullish about having its fighters utilize.
In a recent Internet chat, White said that with all the fighters
who have been tweeting the promotion has had “three incidents
that were stupid, really stupid, but explainable. What starts
to happen on Twitter is guys try to be a comedian. You’re
not funny, and what you think is funny other people don’t
think is funny; keep your stuff to you and your little clique
at home.” White also said the UFC set up a digital “war
room” backstage at UFC 148 to monitor where in the world
people were talking about the event on social media and to point
people at ways they could view the event in their neck of the
woods;
•
A report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune shed light on the tactics
used by the UFC and its pay-per-view distributor to detect unauthorized
screenings of its events at bars and restaurants. Three dozen
lawsuits have been filed in the state against the establishments,
and violations are caught by “an army of private investigators
and freelance ‘auditors’ armed with smartphones and
camcorders who are paid a bounty for finding establishments that
show the event without paying the commercial licensing fees,”
the report said;
•
In a significant coup for the UFC’s profile in Brazil, heavyweight
champion Junior dos Santos announced on his Twitter that he will
serve as ambassador of the city of Salvador, Bahia, at soccer’s
World Cup in 2014. Dos Santos has long called Salvador home;
•
Two U.S. combat sport Olympians now have representation by MMA
managers. MMA Weekly reported that Kayla Harrison, who won the
gold medal in Judo in London, has been signed by Dominance MMA,
the firm that represents Frankie Edgar and is helmed by Olympic
judoka Ali Abdel-Aziz. Abdel-Aziz said Harrison is targeting
competing for gold again in the 2016 games but has also begun
jiu-jitsu training at Renzo Gracie’s academy. Harrison’s
teammate, Marti Malloy, who won bronze in London, has signed
with the same firm that represents Shane Carwin and Chris Camozzi;
•
Pro Elite, the publicly traded former parent company of the defunct
EliteXC promotion, had its registration revoked by the Securities
and Exchange Commission on Aug. 28 -- a final nail in the organization’s
coffin. After the collapse of EliteXC in 2008 and subsequent
auction of its Showtime-CBS television contract, Pro Elite resurfaced
as a so-named MMA brand and aired two events on HDNet, most recently
in January in Hawaii;
•
The Wrestling Observer reported that UFC 147 on June 23 in Brazil
is estimated at doing 140,000 buys, the lowest buy total for
a UFC pay-per-view since 2005, and that UFC 148 on July 7 is
doing slightly less than one million buys but north of 900,000.
Transactions
A
list of notable fighters released from their contracts:
•
UFC: Miguel Torres, Oli Thompson, Josh Ferguson
•
Strikeforce: Evangelista Santos
A
list of notable fighters signed to new contracts:
•
UFC: Nate Diaz (four-fight deal), Mike Swick (four-fight deal),
Phil Harris
•
Strikeforce: Cat Zingano
•
World Series of Fighting: Miguel Torres
•
Resurrection Fighting Alliance: John Gunderson, Gilbert Yvel
•
Bellator Fighting Championships: Renato Sobral
•
Legacy Fighting Championship: Antonio Banuelos
•
Instinct MMA: Evangelista Santos
Statistics
& Data
UFC
on Fox 4 “Shogun vs. Vera”
Aug. 4 (Fox) | Staples Center, Los Angeles
Marquee Fight(s): Mauricio Rua vs. Brandon Vera, Lyoto Machida
vs. Ryan Bader
•
14,725: Attendance (10,151 sold, 4,574 comped)
• 16,347: Available arena capacity for the event
• $1,440,453: Gate
• 1.4: Average overall household television rating
• 2,240,000: Average viewers for the broadcast
• 1.79: Peak viewership (during “Shogun” Rua vs.
Vera)
• 1.9: Average rating among males, ages 18 to 34
• 194,000: Average viewers for preliminary fights on Fuel
TV
• $240,000: Highest disclosed purse (“Shogun”
Rua)
• $50,000: Value of post-fight bonus awards, which went
to Mike Swick for “Knockout of the Night,” Jamie Varner
for “Fight of the Night” and Joe Lauzon for “Fight
of the Night” and “Submission of the Night”
Notes:
Lowest rating to date for an MMA event on U.S. network television,
a hair below the May 5 Fox rating. The show performed well in
the face of competition from the Summer Olympics and showed healthy
gains among males, ages 18 to 34 from May. Lowest gate of the
three UFC events at the Staples Center, behind UFC 104 ($1.9
million) and UFC 60 ($2.9 million). Most viewers to date for
a Fuel TV prelims show.
UFC
150 “Henderson vs. Edgar 2”
Aug. 11 (Pay-Per-View) | Pepsi Center, Denver
Marquee Fight(s): Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar
•
13,027: Attendance (8,224 paid, 4,803 comped)
• $619,955: Gate
• 190,000: Estimated pay-per-view buys
• 974,000: Average viewers for FX preliminary fights
• $60,000: Value of post-fight bonuses, won by Donald Cerrone
for “Knockout of the Night” and “Fight of the
Night,” Melvin Guillard for “Fight of the Night”
and Dennis Bermudez for “Submission of the Night”
Notes:
PPV numbers affected by several reported technological issues
with certain types of DirecTV orders. Besides UFC 147 (140K),
lowest number of buys for a UFC pay-per-view since 2005. Lowest
gate for a UFC PPV event since UFC 55. Rating for prelims down
from 1.8 million for UFC 148, about even with UFC 149, but remained
highest rated show on cable in time slot among males, ages 18
to 34.
Strikeforce
“Rousey vs. Kaufman”
Aug. 18 (Showtime) | Valley View Casino Center, San Diego
Marquee Fight(s): Ronda Rousey vs. Sarah Kaufman
•
3,122: Attendance (1,638 sold, 1,484 comped)
• $145,510: Gate
• 1.43: Average household television rating
• 529,000: Average viewers for overall broadcast
• 1.9: Peak rating (during Rousey vs. Kaufman)
• 676,000: Peak viewers (during Rousey vs. Kaufman)
• $94,000: Highest disclosed purse (Ronaldo Souza)
Notes:
Highest-rated MMA or boxing event on Showtime since July 2011
event headlined by Dan Henderson vs. Fedor Emelianenko, according
to The Wrestling Observer. In the male, ages 18 to 49 demo, rating
for Rousey vs. Kaufman topped everything in the past 20 months
on Showtime except the February 2011 fight between Emelianenko
and Antonio Silva. Sunday morning replay did 332,000 viewers.
Last Strikeforce event, headlined by Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Kennedy
on July 14, averaged 420,000 viewers.
Bellator
73
Aug. 24 (MTV2) | Harrah’s Tunica Hotel and Casino, Tunica
Resorts, Miss.
Marquee Fight(s): Travis Wiuff vs. Attila Vegh, Marcos Galvao
vs. Luis Alberto Nogueira
•
1,600: Estimated attendance
• 167,000: Average viewers
Notes:
Audience drops from 193,000 for last Bellator event in July,
featuring Paul Daley. Slightly up over most recent Bellator season
average. Event hurt by loss of Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire
title fight due to injury, as Wiuff vs. Vegh light heavyweight
tournament final moved into headline spot.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Lyoto
Machida Will Not Get an Automatic Shot at Jon Jones vs. Vitor
Belfort UFC 152 Winner
by Ken
Pishna
When
UFC 151 fell apart and company president Dana White made the
announcement cancelling the event, the MMA world was aghast.
Dan
Henderson’s knee injury knocked him out of the headlining
bout with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and the UFC
failed to keep a suitable headlining bout intact, so White moved
on to ‘Plan B,’ moving Jones to the UFC 152 fight card
on Sept. 22 in Toronto.
At
the time of the UFC 151 cancellation announcement, he thought
he was putting Jones in a rematch with former champion Lyoto
Machida. But less than 24 hours later that changed as well.
“When
I make a fight, I don’t say a word until both bout agreements
are signed, the deal is done,” White recounted on Tuesday
night’s edition of UFC Tonight. “Well, I did exactly
what it is I never do because we’re in this position because
that big media call was the next day and I wanted to have some
answers.”
Machida
was en route to Brazil at the time and couldn’t be reached.
His manager, Ed Soares, according to White, said that he didn’t
see why Machida wouldn’t take the fight with Jones at UFC
152.
“So
I went with it and it didn’t work out,” White continued.
“This is the guy that had been terrorizing me for a title
shot, and then he said four weeks wasn’t enough.”
Shift
to Vitor Belfort, aka ‘Plan C.’ Both Jones and Belfort
agreed to the fight and are now the headlining about at UFC 152.
White
didn’t take aim at Machida for turning down the fight –
at least not in the way he went after Jones when the champ declined
to fight Chael Sonnen at UFC 151 – but he didn’t exactly
paint a rosy picture for Machida’s hopes of quickly regaining
title contention.
“Lyoto
has been crying for this title shot for a long time and you know
how this stuff goes. When you turn down the opportunity to fight,
things start going in another path,” he explained. “It
happened to Rashad Evans. Rashad Evans was out of a fight for
a year and a half.”
No
matter what happens between Jones and Belfort, White declared
that Machida would not automatically get a shot at the winner.
He didn’t have an announcement for Machida’s next opponent,
but did say, “Machida is not next in line. He’ll fight
another fight.”
That
seems to be fine by Machida, who believed that he just couldn’t
be fully prepared for a shot at Jones with just a three-week
camp for the fight. Having lost to Jones once before, at UFC
140 last year, Machida didn’t want to risk the huge career
setback that losing twice to Jones would be.
“If
he has to take another fight before the title fight, that’s
okay, too,” Soares said recently on MMAWeekly Radio. “But
one thing that we want to know is we want to make sure that he’s
100-percent prepared for this next title shot.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
6
Questions for Vitor Belfort
By Gleidson
Venga
When
opportunity knocked, Vitor Belfort answered.
Belfort
will challenge Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship
in the UFC 152 main event on Sept. 22 at the Air Canada Centre
in Toronto. The 35-year-old Brazilian was originally scheduled
to lock horns with the surging Alan Belcher as a middleweight
at UFC 153 on Oct. 13 in Brazil, but the possibility of reclaiming
205-pound gold proved too great a lure. Belfort held the crown
for seven months back in 2004.
Jones
drew the ire of fans, UFC President Dana White and many of his
peers in August, when he declined a short-notice bout with Chael
Sonnen at UFC 151 after his original challenger, Dan Henderson,
withdrew with a knee injury. His refusal to fight led to the
cancellation of the entire event, resulting in a financial and
public relations nightmare for the promotion. Jones was instead
moved onto the UFC 152 marquee. The polarizing 25-year-old Jackson’s
Mixed Martial Arts representative has yet to taste legitimate
defeat as a professional -- his only loss was by disqualification
-- and will enter the cage against Belfort as a prohibitive favorite
on a seven-fight winning streak.
A
Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under the late Carlson Gracie,
Belfort has resurrected a career once feared lost. He has posted
seven wins in his last eight appearances, losing only to UFC
middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Belfort last competed at
UFC 142 in January, when he submitted an overweight Anthony Johnson
with a first-round rear-naked choke. He has not fought at 205
pounds in nearly five years.
In
this exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Belfort addresses
the decision to accept the fight with Jones, provides his view
on what challenges the champion presents and discusses his decision
to put down roots with the Blackzilians in Florida:
Sherdog.com:
Is it true that not fighting at UFC 153 in Rio de Janeiro upset
you?
Belfort: If you only knew how amazing it is to fight in Brazil.
The energy from the audience puts you up there. In addition,
I certainly would have had all my family and friends present
in Rio, and they give me a lot of strength. However, I had to
accept the fight with Jon Jones in Canada because the challenge
is great and it gives me another shot at a belt. When the UFC
came to me, I did not hesitate. I accepted immediately. I really
want this fight.
Sherdog.com:
How do you view Jones as an opponent?
Belfort: In the UFC, there are no easy fights. There may be a
quick fight, but it’s never easy. You have to prepare very
well because you’ll regret it if you don’t. This is
already a struggle. Certainly, he’s a great opponent. Otherwise,
he wouldn’t be the champion. Fighting at a high level motivates
me a lot, as I’ve always tried to do it in my career. I
expect a tough fight, but I’ll be in my best shape. You
can mark it down.
Sherdog.com:
How has the change in opponent from Alan Belcher to Jon Jones
changed your preparation?
Belfort: Of course, I’ll analyze his fights, but beyond
that, it does not change much. I was already training hard, and
I was in good shape even before that. I changed my training camp
to the Jaco Hybrid Training Center, and I’m now training
with the Blackzilians. The team has fighters of the highest caliber,
like Rashad Evans and Alistair Overeem. It is a very serious
team, with a working philosophy that has pleased me very much.
A professional fighter cannot reach his maximum potential by
training only what he knows. He must be with a team that will
help him think, create alternatives and improve his technique.
I made a good choice when I entered this camp.
Sherdog.com:
What do you expect in this fight?
Belfort: If you want to be successful in the UFC, you have to
believe in one thing: your next fight will be your best fight.
Hopefully, it will be a tremendous fight -- worthy of the title
-- that people, especially Brazilians, will remember with great
fondness and pride.
Sherdog.com:
What would it mean for you to win this title?
Belfort: Dream of being the best in the world at what you do
is not just something a fighter wants; it’s something any
professional wants. I really want that title. In my head, I’m
going after my greatest moment. Is it more important than the
other two? I honestly cannot compare them well. Each one is like
a son. How do you tell a son that he’s better than the other?
You don’t. You love each one equally. But, yes, it is very
important to me.
Sherdog.com:
Do you have any messages for Jones?
Belfort: I am ready.
Source
Sherdog
|
Dana
White: Greg Jackson is a Businessman, He’s Not Your Family
by Damon
Martin
When
UFC 151 was cancelled, Dana White aimed both barrels at light
heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his trainer Greg Jackson and
fired, pointing the finger at them for the show not happening.
Now
almost two weeks removed from that fateful day in late August
when the first ever UFC event was scrapped, White admits that
the blame for the event’s cancellation was more widespread
than just Jones and Jackson, but he’s not taking back a
single word he said that Thursday on a media conference call.
Moreover,
White still believes exactly what he said about Jones’ trainer
and coach Greg Jackson, who advised the fighter against taking
any fight on 8-days notice after original opponent Dan Henderson
was forced out of the fight due to injury.
“The
Greg Jackson stuff, this guy, this is my philosophy on trainers
– you need a good trainer, a guy that’s going to be
there for you, who can kind of keep you in line, keep you training
and everything else, trainers don’t make fighters…talented
fighters make trainers,” said White on Tuesday during an
appearance on UFC Tonight.
“That’s
a fact.”
White
continued when speaking about Jackson and his approach towards
his team of fighters, and the family atmosphere he promotes so
often.
“The
thing you have to understand about Greg Jackson and I’ve
said it before, this guy is a businessman, first and foremost.
Before anything, this guy is a businessman. He’s built a
business. ‘We’re a family, we’re a family’,
that’s what he kept telling Rashad (Evans) and Jon (Jones),
so they wouldn’t fight because they’re a family,”
White explained.
“I
told Rashad and Jon, he’s not your family. Greg Jackson
is not your family member. If things go bad for you tomorrow,
brother Greg isn’t going to be there for you. Is he going
to pay your bills? Is he going to take care of your family? No
he’s not.”
White
points directly towards the fallout that happened between Jon
Jones, Rashad Evans and Greg Jackson as to why the trainer and
coach is more about business than protecting any kind of family
interest.
“You
saw when push came to shove, who did Greg Jackson pick? Who did
he ultimately pick at the end? He picked Jon Jones, the guy he
believed would beat Rashad, that’s a fact. That’s a
business, he’s a businessman,” White said about Jackson.
White
doesn’t appear to be backing off in any way when speaking
about Jackson or his influence on his fight team, but it’s
not likely either of them will be going anywhere, any time soon.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Today
Today
DESTINY: Na Koa will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at
the Neal Blaisdell Arena. Tickets are available at the Blaisdell
Box Office, any ticket master outlet (walmart locations), ticketmaster.com
or charge by phone. Tickets on sale now starting at just $35.
Prelim amateur fights will begin at 3pm. Main card will begin
at 6pm. A full card of action that will surely give you your
money’s worth.
This will be the most action packed DESTINY MMA event to date,
as we have a little bit of everything for you MMA fans. We have
Hawaii vs Mainland/Brazil matchups, Pro Title Fights, women MMA
matches, top local talent, upcoming amateurs, matchups that will
have you on your fight the whole fight, especially the main event
showdown that will be an all out war when Charles “Kid Khaos”
Bennett aka “Krazy Horse” of Florida, battles Waianae’s
“Immortal Warrior” Johnavan Vistante. The war of words
between these 2 have been intense on the social networks, so
don’t expect these 2 to touch gloves at the start of round
1.
Also, that night UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva will
be in attendance, as 3 of his students from Brazil takes on our
local fighters. Stay tuned for our Silva meet and greet time
and location.
And a fight that has a lot of the fans of women mma excited is
the battle of “Rocky’s” as Hawaii’s Raquel
Pa’aluhi takes on Raquel Pennington of Colorado in our 1st
Pro Women Title Match. Both go by the nickname “Rocky,”
so we shall see who will have the Rocky bragging rights that
night and walk away with our Pro Bantamweight Title.
Below is just our main card and title matches. The full prelim
amateur matches will be posted after weigh-in, since we all know
that many changes, dropouts or fighters with no paperwork always
happens in the last 2 weeks heading into event. Instead of updating
daily, I’ll just post the final card after weigh-ins is
official. For more info visit our website at www.destinymma.net.
***MAIN CARD***
-155lbs
Pro World Lightweight Title Match
Johnavan “Immortal Warrior” Vistante Jr (Team SYD,
Hawaii) vs Charles “Kid Khaos” Bennett (Florida)
-145lbs
Pro World Featherweight Title Match
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Damaso Pereira (Black
House Gym, Brazil)
-135lbs
Pro Women’s Title Match
Raquel Pa’aluhi (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Raquel Pennington
(Altitude MMA, Colorado)
-185lbs
Pro Middleweight Title
Sale Sproat (Molokai) vs Douglas Moura Silva (Black House Gym,
Brazil)
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Ray "Bradah Boy" Cooper III vs TBA
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Bruski Louis (Bulls Pen) vs Maki Pitolo (WOMMA)
-135lbs
Pro Bantamweight Match
Jireh Umi-Torres (Molokai) vs Ian Delacuesta (808 Fight Factory)
-155lbs
Pro Lightweight Match
Ben “Da King” Santiago (UKA, Hawaii) vs Paulo Silva
(Black House Gym, Brazil)
-125lbs
Angie Pereira (HMC) vs Haley Pasion (UKA)
***PRELIMS***
-205lbs
Amateur Light Heavyweight Title Match
Alex Pulotu-Steverson (Team Xtreme) vs Kevin Aguigui (Animal
House Gym)
-170lbs
Amateur Title Match
Sebastian Mariconda (HMC) vs Cody Andrade (SOMMA)
-145lbs
Amateur Women’s Title Match
Chantelle Berengue (Animal House Gym) vs Bryanna Fissori (SOMMA)
-155lbs
Amateur Title Match
Dan Ige (Gracie Technics) vs Robby Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord)
-185lbs
Amateur Title Match
Neale Johnson (SOMMA) vs Tillis Sionesini (Up N Up)
-135lbs
Amateur Title Match
Kevin Natividad (EightSixx BJJ) vs Brandon Mina (808 Top Team)
-Heavyweight
Interim Title Match
Kevin Herzog (Team Mixed Plate) vs Okala Makaiau
Bouts subject to change
Source: Event Promoter
|
Dana
White Confirms Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre Likely Next
if GSP Wins at UFC 154
by Damon
Martin
If Georges St-Pierre can defeat Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in Montreal,
it appears a showdown with Anderson Silva is looming.
UFC president Dana White has hinted at a possible megafight between
Silva and St-Pierre for years, but because of timing, injuries
and other fights that had to happen the bout has never been put
together.
Now with St-Pierre on the precipice of his return to action after
more than a year away following knee surgery, White is ready
to make the fight happen if the Canadian champion is successful
in his hometown title defense in November.
“I think we’re pretty close. If Georges St-Pierre beats
Condit, that could be the next fight,” White said during
UFC Tonight on Tuesday.
Since defeating Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 in July, UFC middleweight
champion Anderson Silva and his camp have seemed more than enthusiastic
at the idea of facing St-Pierre next. White says the feeling
is mutual from St-Pierre’s camp, and what could be the biggest
fight in UFC history may finally come together in the next few
months.
“These guys want to fight each other now,” said White.
“I think that if you’re a fighter and you’ve dominated
as long as Anderson has, and you’ve been great as long as
Georges has, you finally say ‘You know what? I want to test
myself; I think I can beat this guy.”
As far as what weight the pair would face off at, the UFC president
believes it will be a catchweight bout. While Silva has fought
in several weight classes throughout his career, and even contemplated
a move to welterweight to face St-Pierre at one point, White
believes a catchweight fight would be the ticket for the fight
to happen.
“At one point, it sounded like Anderson wanted to go to
170 and wanted to take Georges’ welterweight title, that’s
what he was talking at one point. Then it was 180 catchweight
cause Georges doesn’t want to go to 85, he’s going
to stay at 70, and he goes, ‘If I have to make the move
to go to 85, I’d have to stay at 85.’ So we figured
that a 180-pound catchweight makes sense,” White stated.
The other caveat to this situation coming to fruition is where
the bout would take place. If White has dreamed about a Silva
vs. St-Pierre superfight, it’s fair to say he’s had
just as many fantasies about putting on a card at the famed Dallas
Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Also known as Jerry Jones’ (owner of the Dallas Cowboys)
‘billion dollar playpen,’ Dallas Cowboys Stadium holds
over 100,000 fans if filled to capacity, and White believes Silva
vs. St-Pierre would be the perfect fight to take there.
“If that fight happens, it will probably happen at the Dallas,
Texas, stadium,” White commented.
Of course as close as this fight appears to reality, a lot of
things still have to happen before bout agreements are issued
and the fighters sign. Still, in the world of the biggest fights
possible, there may be none bigger for many years to come than
Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Viewpoint:
Don’t ‘Rush’ to Judgment
By Tristen
Critchfield
It
has been the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s summer of
discontent, with injuries and withdrawals marring a number of
promising cards over the past few months. Everything culminated
into one giant black cloud of despair on Aug. 23, when a series
of events beginning with a Dan Henderson knee injury led to the
cancellation of UFC 151.
As
a result, it has been a tense week-and-a-half in the MMA world.
Fighters were on edge. UFC brass was angry. Fans were just plain
frustrated. Over the course of the past 15 months, it is quite
possible that welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has been
through a similar gamut of emotions.
Since
he last defended his title against Jake Shields in front of a
record crowd at the Rogers Centre in Toronto at UFC 129, St.
Pierre has been called out, doubted and, as tends to happen to
fighters who are shelved for a significant period of time, overlooked.
The one thing St. Pierre has not been able to do is fight, which
is why the news of his official clearance last week came at just
the right time for a reeling organization.
“Yesterday
was the final chapter of my Road to Recovery,” St. Pierre
wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “I’m now medically cleared
to compete in professional mixed martial arts! Big thanks to
all my fans for the amazing support during those nine long months
of rehab -- couldn’t have done it without you. … Rendez-vous
le 17 Novembre, UFC 154, Montreal!”
Yes,
a bout between St. Pierre and interim 170-pound titlist Carlos
Condit has been targeted for a couple months, but these are uncertain
times in the sport, so any good news is welcome. When fighters
train for fights by fighting, health is never guaranteed. Things
are even dicier when it comes to athletes and their knees.
St.
Pierre underwent surgery for a torn anterior-cruciate ligament
in December. In stick-and-ball sports, the traditional line of
thought says that an athlete needs at least a full year back
before he can begin to think about returning to peak form. The
Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose tore his ACL during a playoff
game in April. Prognostications vary as to the exact date Rose
will get back on the hardwood, but is likely that he will be
playing at some point during the 2012-13 NBA season. Almost no
one with realistic expectations believes Rose will immediately
resemble the lightning-quick point guard who captured an MVP
award at just 22 years old. And that is OK. The Bulls can reload
and look toward the following season, hoping their star makes
a full recovery by then.
St.
Pierre has no such luxury. If his knee does not allow him to
duplicate the explosive shot that made him one of MMA’s
best wrestlers -- despite not having a wrestling background --
prior to the injury, he will not get a mulligan. Against a mobile
striker such as Condit, who has been rapidly improving with each
fight, GSP will need to be as close to 100 percent as possible.
History is not on his side. At 31 years old, time is not his
ally, either. As UFC 154 approaches, expect more and more questions
to arise as to whether St. Pierre is rushing his return.
While
his impressive UFC resume dictates he should remain very much
alive in the title picture even after a loss, there is a bumper
crop of new contenders at welterweight that would beg to differ.
The division appears to be far deeper than it was the last time
St. Pierre graced the Octagon. Part of the new breed, Rory MacDonald,
resides in St. Pierre’s camp. When St. Pierre first won
the welterweight title, MacDonald was 17 years old.
Even
with all that in mind, it would be a fool’s errand to bet
against the champion. After he lost to the lightly regarded Matt
Serra in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, St. Pierre
vowed that he would never overlook an opponent again. Critics
have become increasingly disenchanted with his methods of victory
-- four straight decisions -- but St. Pierre has not lost since.
A
consummate professional, St. Pierre wore suits to press conferences
when others donned gaudy T-shirts. Not surprisingly, he received
blue-chip endorsement deals with the likes of Gatorade and Under
Armour. With his warm personality, St. Pierre has long been an
admirable ambassador for the sport. His presence on fight cards,
despite accusations of a boring style, help drive pay-per-view
buys. What does all that have to do with the rehabilitation of
a knee? Nothing -- and everything.
If
the injury gods are cruel, no amount of preparation and dedication
will allow for a vintage GSP. Sometimes that is just the way
it works. However, St. Pierre’s attention to detail is obviously
impeccable. If anyone can beat an injury timetable, it is this
man. I am not saying St. Pierre will definitely make a triumphant
return, but I am saying he will do everything he can to ensure
the odds are in his favor.
You
should be pulling for St. Pierre. If all goes well in his comeback,
we can return to daydreaming about an Anderson Silva-St. Pierre
mega-match in an oversized football stadium. That is never a
bad thing. Or maybe “Rush” tells Johny Hendricks and
Co. that he is not impressed with their performance as he decides
to launch a campaign against the new blood at welterweight. Or
perhaps St. Pierre never returns to dominance. That does not
mean his demise is imminent; a GSP at 85 or 90 percent of his
former self still takes out the majority of the division.
All
of the above are desirable scenarios, if only because St. Pierre
makes for a better, stronger, more interesting UFC. At the very
least, he allows us relief from our UFC 151 angst, if only for
a moment.
Welcome
back GSP. Your return came just in time.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Keith
Kizer admits NSAC doctor issuing testosterone passes isn’t
an endocrinologist
By Zach
Arnold
I’ve
had many people ask me why I haven’t devoted more time recently
investigating Keith Kizer and the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The truth is that there is so much going on in California, a
state that has as twice as many shows happening as any other
in America, I only have enough time and resources to focus on
one mess that needs to be cleaned up. You know how extensive
our investigation into the state of affairs in California has
been.
However,
don’t come away with the impression that we have a lack
of interest in what’s happening with the mess that Keith
Kizer has created in Nevada. Trust me, there is no more single
infuriating regulatory figurehead in combat sports than Keith
Kizer.
Keith
Kizer is a man who says that testosterone usage for muscular
fighters should not be viewed as a scarlet letter. The reality
is that there isn’t a bigger drug enabler in combat sports
today than Keith Kizer, the man who grants hall passes to fighters
so that they can use testosterone, the base chemical of anabolic
steroids. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure
out just how dangerous testosterone usage can be in combat sports
and what the main reasons for usage are. The majority of fighters
who are begging for testosterone hall passes are doing so because
of previous or current steroid usage or because of brain damage
from concussions.
What
makes Kizer’s public stance about testosterone usage so
offensive is how much he regards testosterone usage as an entitlement
to fighters in combat sports. He actually uses the word entitled
or entitlement when discussing fighters using testosterone. It’s
really a remarkable admission of shamelessness on the part of
a regulator who is one accident, one death away in a Nevada-regulated
fight from getting his pants sued off for millions of dollars
due to issues of strict liability.
This
man is a lawyer who worked at the Nevada AG office.
We
discussed in our recent California report about the legal classification
for combat sports and how that classification means that the
current piss-poor regulatory practices we’re seeing in California
and Nevada is leaving these states vulnerable to lawsuits. Even
worse, the regulators involved know that they are engaged in
risky behavior and haven’t changed their ways.
The
Sweet Science: Drug testing will remain a joke until someone
is severely injured and lawsuits are filed
Kizer’s
stance regarding drug testing is pretty simple. He believes only
in the drug testing Nevada does as the #1 barometer for drug
testing and that any external drug testing from agencies like
USADA or VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency) is supplemental
window dressing. He also has a real vendetta against Dr. Margaret
Goodman, who formerly worked for the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Every time Kizer tries to make some wise crack in an interview
against VADA or Dr. Goodman, he shows his ass and beclowns himself
to an embarrassing degree. Like, when he admits that VADA testing
catches fighters cheating while Nevada testing doesn’t because
they don’t use Carbon Isotope Ratio testing unless a fighter
fails a standard urine test in the first place.
What
makes Kizer such a detestable figurehead in combat sports is
just how vacuous he is when he talks. He is the classic example
of a man who thinks he’s smarter than he really is and yet
is too oblivious to the mistakes he makes when he talks. And
when he barely gets challenged on a factual basis, he squeals
like a pig. Ask Mauro Ranallo. In Keith Kizer’s world, marijuana
is a performance enhancer but testosterone is A-OK. Under his
administration, marijuana users get punished harder and scolded
while testosterone users are patted on the back and told that
they are entitled to use the drug.
No
one has a bigger legacy of enabling the proliferation of testosterone
usage in MMA under the guise of regulatory approval than Keith
Kizer. That is his personal & professional legacy for the
rest of his life. And if you think he has any clue as to why
he should be frightened by his legacy, this recent interview
is proof positive that he is still lacking in self-awareness
about the Pandora’s Box he has now opened up.
In
a recent interview for the new web site Fight Medicine, Kizer
admits that the testosterone hall passes being granted to fighters
in both boxing & Mixed Martial Arts are being granted by
a doctor that is not an endocrinologist.
When
you do review TUEs, who’s on the board that reviews these
exemptions? Are there ringside doctors or endocrinologists (hormone
specialists) on the committee?
We
have a consulting physician who does all of our medical information.
Timothy Trainor’s his name. So he does all that stuff, and
he’s the consulting physician for the Commission. What he
does is he’ll go out and review the information. He’ll
talk to experts in the field if it’s something beyond his
basic level of practice or knowledge. And so he’ll have
his consultants and specialists he’ll talk to, in this case
endocrinologists or something along those lines, that helps him
in these issues.
There’s
also a broader policy type issue. We have a medical advisory
board or medical advisory panel, which we have doctors with various
different specialties that come onboard and, again, if it’s
something that doesn’t fall within one of their specialties,
we’ll invite other experts in the field – specialists
in the field – to come and testify before the panel.
Dr.
Timothy Trainor is an orthopedic doctor, as in a doctor that
deals with bones & tissue. He’s not an endocrinologist.
The fact that anyone in the Nevada AG’s office or the state’s
Department of Business & Industry thinks that it’s a
good idea legally to allow an orthopedic doctor to grant hall
passes for testosterone usage is absolutely crazy. These people
are out of their minds.
Earlier,
we mentioned Kizer’s obsession with trashing Margaret Goodman.
Here’s a perfect example of how Kizer tries to go after
not only VADA but anyone in the media supporting better drug
testing.
Translation:
The writers are just a bunch of sock puppets.
But
they have the supplemental testing, whether it’s done by
USADA (United States Anti-doping Association, a branch of WADA)
or VADA or somebody else, that’s something for the contracting
parties to decide. But I definitely would be in favor of any
additional drug testing that the applicable parties want to do.
But I’m not endorsing anybody. I know USADA and VADA have
had their war of words with each other because they both want
that dollar from the promoters. And they both have their PR people
masquerading as journalists in the press or in the blogs pushing
for them. I make it easy. You want to do a fight here in Nevada?
You have to come through the Commission and we’re going
to do any test we want to do. If you don’t like it, you’re
not fighting here. It’s very easy. There, they have to fight
it out, a peer battle and put each other down and put other people
down and try to get that buck, that ever important buck. We don’t
have to do that. So I just want to make it clear that we’re
not endorsing anybody.
Next,
Kizer goes back to his old routine about the T/E ratio, which
is really only one barometer to use for standard urine testing.
And
the six to one, of course, came from what? That’s what WADA
has used for most of its existence. Most of the time they’ve
been doing T/E ratios, they have used six to one. You don’t
want to brand someone as a cheater. You don’t want these
false positives. To me, a false positive is a lot worse than
a false negative. It’s the whole thing about sending an
innocent man to jail or a guilty man going free.
WADA
uses 4:1 now, which leaves only a little room for false positives.
A small window, at best. However, what the VADA testing in the
Lamont Peterson case exposed is that you don’t need a high
T/E ratio to be caught cheating. VADA uses Carbon Isotope Ratio
testing, which is the same standard that Nevada uses only in
the appeals process when a fighter flunks a weaker drug test.
If that reads as hypocritical to you on Nevada’s part, it
is. It was the CIR test that revealed Peterson had been microdosing
on testosterone with pellets.
In
the grand scheme of things, focusing singularly on the T/E ratio
is like being distracted by a shiny object.
Incredibly,
Kizer defends his drug testing protocols by citing… California!
I
know I talked with the California Commission. They went from
six to one to four to one about two years ago. When I checked
with their recently departed executive officer a couple of months
ago, I said, “How many guys did you get – that you
test – that fell between four to one and six to one on their
T/E ratio?” And he said, “Keith, absolutely nobody.
Of the hundreds we tested, nobody.”
Of
course you’re not going to catch every cheater who knows
how to skate under the 4:1 ratio. Just ask Lamont Peterson. The
idea that Kizer would cite California’s drug testing protocols
after what happened recently at the Strikeforce show in San Diego
just blows my mind.
The
icing on the cake from Kizer, unfortunately, is this gem about
more stringent drug testing protocols:
It’s
funny, if you ask the people making the argument to test everyone
why they don’t do it themselves, they won’t answer
you because their answer is, they don’t have the resources
to do that. I don’t know any drug testing group that tests
every athlete in their jurisdiction every week. You can’t.
You can’t. And if you could, it wouldn’t be fair to
the athletes to do that. But you do what you can with your resources,
and obviously, we do very a good job with ours.
It’s
done in tennis, where you’re required to notify drug testing
authorities where you are located and at what time.
What
makes Kizer’s act so tired and played out is that he keeps
barking about how testosterone usage can be harmful in combat
sports and yet says that athletes should be entitled to using
it. It always comes back to this axiom – if testosterone
didn’t enhance your performance, then nobody would be using
it. If Kizer believes so strongly in WADA standards, then why
doesn’t Nevada actually use them? Only a few athletes in
the history of the Olympics have ever been granted hall passes
for testosterone, including one individual who had a missing
testicle. That’s how high the bar is in order to get a TUE.
If
you’re a steroid user, testosterone usage allows you to
double-dip and gives you more physical strength to inflict head
trauma against your opponent. If you suffer from brain damage
due to concussions, testosterone lets you continue fighting and
absorb more head trauma which results in more brain damage.
Apparently
to Keith Kizer, selling out the health & safety of fighters
is worth justifying his $86,000 a year salary. I wonder what
kind of price tag a jury in a courtroom would put on a fighter
who gets severely injured, paralyzed, or killed at the hands
of an opponent who is a testosterone user. I suspect the price
tag for a verdict would be more than $86,000. I pray that this
scenario doesn’t happen but the environment has unfortunately
been fostered for an incident like this to occur down the road.
That is the legacy of Keith Kizer in the combat sports landscape.
He’s just lucky that the mainstream press doesn’t take
combat sports as seriously as they do baseball. Otherwise, every
new fighter being granted a testosterone hall pass from Nevada
would be getting chewed out like Melky Cabrera or Bartolo Colon.
Baseball
players who use testosterone are trying to hit a baseball as
hard as they can. Boxers & MMA fighters who use testosterone
are trying to concuss their opponent as hard as they can and
inflict trauma to the brain. You tell me which scenario should
require more scrutiny when it comes to testosterone usage. You
tell me which scenario is a bigger red flag in terms of legal
consequences. You tell me which scenario is more likely to cause
someone to get legitimately hurt and end someone’s career.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
One
FC 6 Includes a Slew of Evolve MMA Fighters
by AsianMMA.com
Evolve
MMA will have a huge representation when One FC returns to Singapore
in October.
The
fight team led by Chatri Sityodtong will send their biggest names,
including Shinya Aoki, Zoro Moreira, Leandro Issa, Mitch Chilson,
Brian Choi, and Radeem Rahman.
This
will mark Shinya Aoki’s (30-6-1NC) debut with One FC as
well as his first fight in Singapore, his home away from Japan.
Aoki will fight Arnaud Lepont, who called out the Japanese lightweight
after defeating Evolve’s Brian Choi at One FC 4. A tall
order for the Frenchman, Lepont will have his hands full in this
fight as he has never seen the caliber of competition that Aoki
brings to the table.
Moreira
(7-1) will be fighting for the One FC lightweight title against
– as of the time of publication – Eduard Folayang.
Moreira is coming off the biggest win of his career, having defeated
Roger Huerta. A highlight reel soccer kick to Huerta was the
talk of the town and the win took Moreira’s star up in a
huge way. Prior to that, Moreira walked through One FC lightweight
prospect Felipe Enomoto.
Leandro
Issa (9-2) is also coming off a huge win. Issa defeated Masakazu
Imanari at One FC 4, a fighter with much more experience. The
Brazilian dominated the fight for all three rounds, leaving Imanari
in the dust in a 30-27 unanimous decision loss. Imanari was unable
to get even close to Issa’s legs, which left him without
a hope throughout the fight. Issa is undefeated when fighting
for One FC and looks to bump it up even another level.
Choi
and Chilson will both look to get back in the win column as they
return home to Singapore.
Choi,
who was doing a fantastic job with Lepont and looked to have
the fight in the bag, was caught with an unsuspecting rear naked
choke in the third round of their fight at One FC 4. Choi, even
in defeat, looked wonderful for a fighter with only five professional
fights to his name. Dominating Lepont the majority of the fight,
he came out for the third round ready to take it home. In a flash,
Lepont locked in a rear naked choke on Choi and forced the submission.
Chilson
fought this past weekend at One FC 5. For those that watched
his fight, it comes as no surprise that he will be prepared to
fight on such short notice. Chilson’s fight was stopped
due to a soccer kick, but he was more or less unfazed as many
complained of a very premature stoppage. The fight was later
ruled a no contest. Nonetheless, Chilson will look to get back
in the win column in his fourth fight with the promotion. Chilson
was submitted by title contender Eric Kelly at the inaugural
One FC event last September, but rebounded to make short work
of AJ Vaa in Malaysia, at the beginning of the summer.
Finally,
Radeem Rahman, touted as Singapore’s first professional
mixed martial artist and one of the sharpest Muay Thai practitioners
on the Evolve MMA Fight Team, returns to the cage. With the blessing
of his country at his back, Rahman is looking to become the first
champion from Singapore, but will first have, no question, a
tough opponent in his tracks. A brilliant striker, Rahman has
gone above and beyond in sharpening his grappling and submission
skills. When AsianMMA.com to Rahman in May, he was ready to go,
hoping to fight this summer.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
on Fox 4 Prelims Drive Fuel TV Ratings Success to New Heights
Fuel
TV’s success as the flagship for UFC programming continued
in August, as the network reported on Tuesday that it hit its
highest peak audience ever, as well as had its most watched UFC
Prelims broadcast ever, during the month.
The
UFC on Fox 4 preliminary bouts, which aired on Fuel TV on Aug.
4, marked a high point of 328,000 total viewers during the 7:45
p.m. ET to 8:00 p.m. ET quarter hour, according to Nielsen Media
Research. That is the largest peak audience the network has ever
recorded.
The
UFC on Fox 4 Aug. 4 preliminary broadcast also accounted for
an average of 194,000 total viewers over the course of its three-hour
timespan. That represents the most watched UFC prelims ever on
Fuel TV, since its inception in January of this year with the
prelims for UFC on Fox 2.
Those
two high points in August put an exclamation point on another
solid month for Fuel TV. The growth of the action sports network
was a key aspect in the UFC’s television deal with the Fox
family of networks that began in January. The intent was to make
Fuel TV the flagship for UFC programming in an effort to build
its audience, which had often been measured in the tens of thousands
at the best of times prior to adding the UFC into the mix.
Thus
far, the strategy has paid off well.
In
2012, Fuel TV’s ratings have outperformed the corresponding
week in 2011 for 35 weeks and eight months straight since the
beginning of the year.
“It’s
been exciting to see eight consecutive months of incredible ratings
growth at Fuel TV,” said George Greenberg, the network’s
Executive Vice President and General Manager. “We’re
thrilled with our partnership with the UFC and the power its
programming has to attract huge and loyal audiences on a daily
basis. With more live fights coming up in September and through
the end of the year, we’re confident our viewership growth
will continue.”
August
accounted for 408 hours of UFC programming, the second-most of
the year, compared to July’s 480 hours.
Some
other Fuel TV August highlights:
–
August 2012 was up +50% in Total Viewers and +150% in M18-49
vs. August 2011
–
Prime time finished up +157% in Total Viewers and +189% in M18-49
vs. August 2011
–
Live UFC Prelims on FUEL TV on Saturday, August 4 was the network’s
most-watched prelims ever with 194,000 Total Viewers
–
On August 4, the UFC Prelims on FUEL TV viewership peaked from
7:45 PM ET – 8:00 PM ET with 328,000 Total Viewers, the
network’s largest peak ever
–
It was the network’s second most-watched show among M18-49
and fifth most-watched program of all time
–
On August 4, the UFC Prelims on FUEL TV contributed to the network’s
most-watched Saturday prime on both Total Viewers and M18-49
–
August 4 was the network’s second most-watched Saturday
among M18-49 and third most-watched Saturday on Total Viewers
–
For the first eight months of 2012, prime time viewership is
+164% vs. 2011
–
Since January 1, the network’s total day viewership is up
+91% compared to 2011
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Tomorrow
Today
DESTINY: Na Koa will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at
the Neal Blaisdell Arena. Tickets are available at the Blaisdell
Box Office, any ticket master outlet (walmart locations), ticketmaster.com
or charge by phone. Tickets on sale now starting at just $35.
Prelim amateur fights will begin at 3pm. Main card will begin
at 6pm. A full card of action that will surely give you your
money’s worth.
This will be the most action packed DESTINY MMA event to date,
as we have a little bit of everything for you MMA fans. We have
Hawaii vs Mainland/Brazil matchups, Pro Title Fights, women MMA
matches, top local talent, upcoming amateurs, matchups that will
have you on your fight the whole fight, especially the main event
showdown that will be an all out war when Charles “Kid Khaos”
Bennett aka “Krazy Horse” of Florida, battles Waianae’s
“Immortal Warrior” Johnavan Vistante. The war of words
between these 2 have been intense on the social networks, so
don’t expect these 2 to touch gloves at the start of round
1.
Also, that night UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva will
be in attendance, as 3 of his students from Brazil takes on our
local fighters. Stay tuned for our Silva meet and greet time
and location.
And a fight that has a lot of the fans of women mma excited is
the battle of “Rocky’s” as Hawaii’s Raquel
Pa’aluhi takes on Raquel Pennington of Colorado in our 1st
Pro Women Title Match. Both go by the nickname “Rocky,”
so we shall see who will have the Rocky bragging rights that
night and walk away with our Pro Bantamweight Title.
Below is just our main card and title matches. The full prelim
amateur matches will be posted after weigh-in, since we all know
that many changes, dropouts or fighters with no paperwork always
happens in the last 2 weeks heading into event. Instead of updating
daily, I’ll just post the final card after weigh-ins is
official. For more info visit our website at www.destinymma.net.
***MAIN CARD***
-155lbs
Pro World Lightweight Title Match
Johnavan “Immortal Warrior” Vistante Jr (Team SYD,
Hawaii) vs Charles “Kid Khaos” Bennett (Florida)
-145lbs
Pro World Featherweight Title Match
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Damaso Pereira (Black
House Gym, Brazil)
-135lbs
Pro Women’s Title Match
Raquel Pa’aluhi (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Raquel Pennington
(Altitude MMA, Colorado)
-185lbs
Pro Middleweight Title
Sale Sproat (Molokai) vs Douglas Moura Silva (Black House Gym,
Brazil)
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Ray "Bradah Boy" Cooper III vs TBA
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Bruski Louis (Bulls Pen) vs Maki Pitolo (WOMMA)
-135lbs
Pro Bantamweight Match
Jireh Umi-Torres (Molokai) vs Ian Delacuesta (808 Fight Factory)
-155lbs
Pro Lightweight Match
Ben “Da King” Santiago (UKA, Hawaii) vs Paulo Silva
(Black House Gym, Brazil)
-125lbs
Angie Pereira (HMC) vs Haley Pasion (UKA)
***PRELIMS***
-205lbs
Amateur Light Heavyweight Title Match
Alex Pulotu-Steverson (Team Xtreme) vs Kevin Aguigui (Animal
House Gym)
-170lbs
Amateur Title Match
Sebastian Mariconda (HMC) vs Cody Andrade (SOMMA)
-145lbs
Amateur Women’s Title Match
Chantelle Berengue (Animal House Gym) vs Bryanna Fissori (SOMMA)
-155lbs
Amateur Title Match
Dan Ige (Gracie Technics) vs Robby Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord)
-185lbs
Amateur Title Match
Neale Johnson (SOMMA) vs Tillis Sionesini (Up N Up)
-135lbs
Amateur Title Match
Kevin Natividad (EightSixx BJJ) vs Brandon Mina (808 Top Team)
-Heavyweight
Interim Title Match
Kevin Herzog (Team Mixed Plate) vs Okala Makaiau
Bouts subject to change
Source: Event Promoter
|
Shane
Carwin Explains the Uneasy Tension with ‘Average Guy’
Roy Nelson
by Damon
Martin
From everything UFC president Dana White has said so far, The
Ultimate Fighter 16 will be one of the most interesting installments
of the reality show produced.
The reports have slowly leaked, as the show comes closer to its
debut date on Sept. 14, that tensions ran high between coaches
Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson, as well as between Roy Nelson and
Dana White himself.
There’s definitely no love lost between Carwin and Nelson,
who have quietly jabbed at each other in the past through the
press and through social networking sites like Twitter.
Now as they head into the show, Carwin admits there’s always
been an uneasy tension between he and Nelson, and he’s sure
it’s going to come into play.
“I think we hold ourselves as two different people,”
Carwin told MMAWeekly Radio. “Roy’s a great fighter,
don’t get me wrong, very talented; could he be more talented?
I think so. If he took things more serious.”
Carwin’s view on Nelson is apparently shared by White, who
has spoken out on numerous occasions about Nelson’s weight
and appearance as he heads into fights.
“Listen, he’s a tough guy with a ton of heart. He goes
in there and he gives it his everything. My thing is, I’ve
always said to him, I’d love to see you take this thing
seriously and rip off some weight,” said White in March
of this year. “When you’ve got a chin like that and
a heart like that, you can’t deny the guy’s got a great
chin, a ton of heart and he can knock people out. If he really
could get to 205, he’d be a force at 205. He’d be a
scary dude. He’s got great wrestling, awesome submissions,
great chin, a ton of heart, and has knockout power.
“Who knows what Roy Nelson could really achieve if he applied
himself.”
Carwin also believes that Nelson’s approach of being the
“every man” in terms of not walking around with six-pack
abs and ripped muscles is essentially not telling the whole story
in terms of how he relates to who is actually the “average
man” in America.
“I think the other tension is that I am this average guy
and I’ve worked my ass off to get to where I’m at.
I started working when I was 15. My mom raised three boys on
her own and we were very poor. I grew up working construction
and concrete work and threw boxes at the beef plant. I did everything
just to try to survive,” Carwin stated.
“He plays this like he’s this average guy and, honestly,
I don’t think the guy’s ever had a normal job.”
While Carwin’s forte has never been to trash talk or verbally
go after an opponent before a fight, spending six weeks with
Roy Nelson might change his approach a bit. Carwin readily admits
he’s as fierce as any fighter in the world when it comes
to competition, and he might just end up showing a new level
of fire when facing off with Nelson on The Ultimate Fighter.
“When it comes to competing, I’m overly competitive
and that’s my goal,” said Carwin.
“The whole point of the show for me is these fighters. The
guys that end up on my team, I’m going to try to show them
a professional route, becoming the best that they can be, not
only in fighting but in life. That’s my goal to show these
guys.”
Source: MMA Weekly
|
The
Doggy Bag:
The Unintended Consequences Edition
Everyone
answers to somebody, so we, the staff at Sherdog.com, have decided
to defer to our readers.
“The
Doggy Bag” gives you the opportunity to speak about what
is on your mind from time to time. Our reporters, columnists,
radio hosts and editors will chime in with their answers and
thoughts, so keep the emails coming.
This
week, readers are pondering the strange and crazy consequences
that have played out in the recent MMA landscape. First of all,
Jon Jones has been getting smacked around pretty good in the
media for whatever role he played in the undoing of UFC 151.
However, his slated opponent, Dan Henderson, came out and announced
that he had suffered his MCL injury weeks earlier and trained
through it. That admission from “Hendo” has some of
you in a huff, wondering how the Olympian got off scot-free.
Neither
Jones nor Henderson likely thought their decisions would impact
the entire UFC 151 undercard, but they did. As such, those fights
have been quickly and neatly rescheduled for upcoming UFC cards.
However, your emails are asking whether or not some fighters
lucked out, getting to fight closer to home or with some perks
that UFC 151 just would not have offered them.
Negative
externalities are spilling into the Bellator roster, courtesy
of bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas. “Dudu’s”
decision to take a tune-up in his Rio backyard at Shooto Brazil
33 on Aug. 25 turned out to be a disaster. Hawaiian transplant
Tyson Nam planted his fist square on the 23-year-old Nova Uniao
prodigy and put him to bed, marring arguably the most promising
young fighter on the Bellator roster. Naturally, many of you
are curious if Dantas’ upset loss means that other Bellator
standouts are going to have the kibosh put on their MMA extracurriculars.
Speaking
of unexpected consequences, who would have ever imagined Andrei
Arlovski and Tim Sylvia’s fourth clash -- a fight mocked
and bemoaned by onlookers beforehand -- would lead to an improbable
fifth bout in their rivalry? More incredibly, who would have
ever expected that the exploits of their fourth fight might even
have built some anticipation for such a strange contest?
Some
of the unintended outcomes of One FC 5 were grimmer, however.
After watching yet another Jens Pulver knockout loss, it was
refreshing to hear “Lil’ Evil” tell the Filipino
crowd he was only looking to have another fight or two before
hanging up the gloves. You are skeptical, though, and, frankly,
so are we.
Am
I hearing right that Dan Henderson had this knee injury for weeks
before he pulled out of UFC 151? How is he getting off scot-free
here? Jon Jones is getting killed in public by his boss, UFC
President Dana White, and every other fighter on the UFC roster.
Meanwhile, Henderson is still an All-American hero. If he pulled
out two weeks ago, maybe this wouldn’t be such a debacle.
Am I off-base in thinking “Hendo” deserves some blame
here? -- Augie from Philadelphia
Brian
Knapp, features editor: There is plenty of blame to go around
regarding the UFC 151 cancellation fiasco. Yes, according to
published reports, Henderson was injured several weeks before
the bout and may have averted what became a financial and public
relations disaster for the UFC by withdrawing immediately. In
that sense, he deserves some responsibility for what unfolded.
However,
one has to remember that Henderson is one of the sport’s
fiercest competitors, a man who, to my knowledge, has never withdrawn
from a match. At 42, this may have been his last legitimate shot
at a major championship in mixed martial arts. Such opportunities
are not to be taken lightly. It only stands to reason that Henderson
would try to will his body to the finish line: in this case,
his five-round bout with Jones at UFC 151. I doubt it ever crossed
his mind that by doing so he was risking the stability of an
entire event. After all the UFC has lost a headliner before and
moved right along.
Should
Henderson shoulder some of the blame? Sure, I can see how rational
people would arrive at that conclusion. However, the guilt ultimately
lies not with Jones or Henderson but the promotion itself. It
constructed a house of cards and watched it fall. Lesson learned,
we hope.
Henderson’s
place as an “All-American hero” was secured a long
time ago and, certainly, his desire to try and fight through
an injury will do nothing to change it. The man built a rock-solid
reputation on fighting anyone at any time at any weight. You
have to have a serious set of stones to climb into the cage with
Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Mauricio
Rua, Vitor Belfort and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Henderson fought
them all.
With
UFC 151, his pride and determination worked against him, as,
for once, his body could not live up to the heart and desire
housed within it. Because of what Henderson has accomplished
and meant to the sport, he has earned a little longer leash.
am
happy the UFC has done such a good job getting the UFC 151 fights
rescheduled. I am curious if you think some fighters will get
a boost with the rescheduling now. Takeya Mizugaki and Yasuhiro
Urushitani are now scheduled to fight in Macau, which is way
closer to Japan than Las Vegas. Jacob Volkmann is getting to
fight in his home state of Minnesota. Do you think some of these
rescheduled fights now have a new spin because of these factors?
-- Aaron from Montana
Tristen
Critchfield, associate editor: With that kind of glass-half-full
mentality, you deserve a job with the UFC’s PR team. While
it is nice to look for silver linings after one of the darkest
days in promotion history, my guess is that the majority of the
fighters who were scheduled to compete at UFC 151 would have
preferred a Sept. 1 payday. Sure, Volkmann’s friends and
family in Minnesota can make it to the Target Center more easily
than they could the Mandalay Bay, but is that really going to
have an impact on the overall gate -- or his check -- in the
long run? And Mizugaki and Urushitani might draw more interest
in Macau than in Vegas, but they also have to survive two extra
months of training without issue.
Twitter
painted a broad picture of undercard fighter woes last Thursday,
with many UFC 151 competitors taking to the social medium to
air their grievances with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
While that was not necessarily fair, it is understandable why
they were upset: training for and traveling to a fight costs
money, and most of these guys needed that paycheck to survive.
Some even lost money as a result of the debacle. Not everyone
is so financially comfortable that they can afford to sit out
an event.
For
example, Daron Cruickshank earned $16,000 (including an $8,000
win bonus) for his triumph over Chris Tickle at “The Ultimate
Fighter 15” Finale in June, while Henry Martinez garnered
$12,000 (including a $6,000 win bonus) for beating Bernardo Magalhaes
that same month. Cruickshank and Martinez were scheduled to square
off at UFC 151; now their tussle has been pushed back to Dec.
8.
Obviously,
neither Cruickshank nor Martinez are at the top of the UFC’s
financial food chain, and not only do both men need a steady
income but postponing the fight for so long also likely eliminates
the possibility that either fighter could have gotten an extra
bout in before year’s end. With that in mind, try selling
Cruickshank or Martinez on the merits of competing on a UFC on
Fox 5 card three months after their originally scheduled paydays.
The
UFC should certainly be commended for making the effort to accommodate
as many disgruntled employees as it possibly can. However, not
everyone can be so fortunate as Charlie Brenneman and Kyle Noke,
whose welterweight bout was moved to the next available date:
UFC 152 on Sept. 22. As you mentioned, the promotion has done
its best to provide many of those affected by the UFC 151 cancellation
with alternate destinations that are as compelling and desirable
as humanly possible. That said, there is really only one possible
response here, using best fight manager’s voice: “We’re
interested in dollar signs, not storylines.”
Everyone
-- whether it be UFC President Dana White, the UFC, the fight
venue or the fighters themselves -- is working toward that same
bottom line. In the meantime, somebody please get Aaron a UFC
job application; the organization can always use a little more
positive spin in times like these.
So,
Eduardo Dantas got destroyed by Tyson Nam. Two questions for
you then. One, this gets Tyson Nam into the UFC, right? Two,
this is the end of Bellator champs having non-title fights, right?
I feel bad for him and other Bellator champions, but you need
to protect your product. That knockout was vicious, but it was
also pretty embarrassing. -- Rich from Ithaca
Mike
Whitman, news editor: Last I heard, Nam’s management was
waiting on a fax from UFC mini-weight matchmaker Sean Shelby.
Keep in mind, there is a reason that unconfirmed information
is not in the news box.
Regarding
the knockout of Dantas, you are right. Vicious, embarrassing
and completely unnecessary are words that readily come to mind
when re-watching that tape. There is no honor in playing Monday
morning quarterback, and it is easy to criticize any decision
after you have seen the result play out poorly. That said, I
agree that Dantas probably should not have been in that fight.
What
was the upside? While this certainly is not the first time Bellator
has let its fighters compete outside its circle, those instances
have made more sense when a service was garnered in return, as
in the Rob McCullough-Shinya Aoki Dream swap last year. For example,
it was wholly expected that former middleweight champion Hector
Lombard would continue to win while waiting for new challengers
in Bellator, but what if he had gotten upset in one of his appearances
Down Under? That would have been bad news, especially when considering
much of Bellator’s audience is made up of the hardcore fan
population who believed that Lombard was a world-beater at the
time.
While
I admire the fighter-first mentality of allowing a champion to
stay active and collect a paycheck instead of making him sit
idly and wait for an eight-man tournament to finish, I cannot
say it makes sense to me from a business perspective. If you
do not think Joe Rogan is going to mention that Nam starched
Bellator’s golden boy every time the Sports Lab rep makes
that Octagon walk, you are nuts.
We
should not put all the blame on Bellator, however. Against Nam,
Dantas looked like a 16-year-old whose dad just surprised him
with a brand new Porsche and a radar detector. I do not want
to assume too much or speak out of place, but based on my prior
experience watching “Dudu” duke it out, it looked like
he gave Nam very little respect in that fight. All of Dantas’
attacks -- from that flying whatever-that-was at the opening
bell to the wild sequence that ended the fight -- looked like
they carried with them the expectation that they would overwhelm
Nam simply because it was Dantas who had thrown them.
Sorry,
but when you bull-rush a man who is not hurt, bad things can
happen. Nam tried to counter Dantas’ knee attempts with
right hooks over the top several times in that first round, and
it was not shocking that one of them finally found the sweet
spot after Dantas left himself wide open.
To
me, that was not the same dude who beat Wilson Reis, Ed West,
Alexis Vila and Zach Makovsky in Bellator. That Dantas kept his
chin tucked and his defense tight. That Dantas used his reach
beautifully and made his opponents pay for hanging out in the
in-between spaces. That Dantas looked razor-sharp and focused
every single instant that he was in that cage. Unfortunately,
that Dantas did not make the trip back to Brazil.
The
upside is that we do not have to go all gloom-and-doom about
this. Dantas is only 23 years old and still has plenty of time
to mature into what I expect will be one of the very best fighters
in the game. Who knows? This loss could end up being the best
thing that ever happened to him.
A
no contest in Tim Sylvia-Andrei Arlovski 4 will surely get us
a number five. Is the MMA world ready for the most anticipated
rematch of all time? Wow. That's all I have to say. -- Chris
from Yorba Linda
Jordan
Breen, administrative editor: So many things to say for this.
First, let’s get the qualifiers out of the way: yes, Arlovski
and Sylvia are faded shells of whatever they once might have
been, and, no, they will not seriously contend for anything in
the UFC even if we concede the possibility of them winning their
way back. As always, we must accept the potential for one half-decent-but-flawed
big dude to beat another half-decent-but-flawed big dude. However,
Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos aren’t sweatin’
’em.
With
all that out of the way, look at me and tell me that the first
round of Arlovski-Sylvia 4 was not the best, most entertaining,
competitive round of fighting that these two guys have put on.
Their first three bouts were not exactly Morales-Barrera, but
it was good, honest heavyweight MMA. How fun is a round when
Sylvia comes on strong with a late flurry of hard punches to
steal it? How fun is it when those same punches do not completely
kill Arlovski all at once?
As
for the botched stoppage and all that jazz, One FC simply needs
to get its act together. Its “open attack” rule is
one of the dumbest things conceived in MMA, hence the social-media-in-real-time-evisceration
of the stipulation as the event streamed online. Everyone knows
this is dumb. Referees can’t call it fast enough when it’s
important. It’s like no one realized one overwhelming way
people get soccer kicked is when they get dropped in front of
their opponent's feet, like Arlovski-Sylvia. If you want soccer
kicks, just have soccer kicks and drop the pretense.
Now,
a fifth fight between them? First of all, the novelty alone is
severe and worth considering. The fourth fight’s ending,
as you mentioned, basically necessitates it. Sylvia won the first
round, but Arlovski clobbered him with a three-piece and two
penalty kicks. There was honest competition -- both guys wanted
to kick the other guy’s ass -- and it made them more entertaining
than usual. Surely this is worth sparking up again. This is better
than one of the East Coast Gracies molesting some hapless ham-and-egger.
Let
us also say this for Arlovski-Sylvia: they make great rivals
in general given their fight history and the whole “How’s
taste my pee-pee?” incident. However, the fact that both
of them are so hard-up and desperate now makes the rivalry even
better. If a fifth fight happens, the loss for either man is
probably some kind of notable nail in the coffin for whatever
slim hopes remain for either to get back to the UFC or a similar
platform. A fifth fight gives Arlovski or Sylvia the chance to
try to sabotage the other guy’s livelihood. Sylvia broke
his hand and will not be ready for a little while, but we can
wait until they’re both feeling froggy.
Isn’t
this what folks are talking about? People want fighters to be
real, to be genuine. People say they’re tired of fake trash
talk and “hyping” a fight. Surely then, these folks
would be entertained by two individuals that legitimately want
unfortunate things to happen to the other. In whatever reduced
state they might be in, Sylvia and Arlovski deserve each other
once more, if only for the chance to cap the rivalry by blowing
out the other man’s candle.
Unless
it’s a draw, of course.
Do
you actually believe Jens Pulver when he says that he will retire
in another fight or two? He admitted he still has bills to pay.
As a lifelong "Lil' Evil" fan, I want to believe he
will hang them up, but he reminds me of so many fighters who
go out there and keep getting smacked around after their primes.
I've heard too many of them talk about retirement and go back
on it to believe them at this point. -- Matt from Seattle
TJ
De Santis, Sherdog Radio Network program director: Prognosticating
when or if a fighter should retire is always a tricky subject.
If I say, “Pulver should retire, hands down,” I get
emails asking, "Who are you to say that?" People like
to think that if you're not a doctor, trainer or fighter you
have no right to say that any athlete should stop what he or
she is doing.
However,
as a fan and somebody that covers this sport for a living, I
can say that Pulver is hurting his legacy. I think something
similar is echoed by nearly every MMA enthusiast that I talk
to about Pulver's current situation. I am a big Pulver fan; I
still remember returning from an event one time and putting his
documentary “Driven” on my laptop. The film chronicles
Pulver's struggles leading up to his WEC fight with Javier Vazquez.
I will never forget being 40,000 feet high and fighting the urge
to start crying at what I saw.
"Lil’
Evil" is someone to be respected in this sport. He has always
been outspoken when it comes to lighter weight fighters and was
one of the first fighters to stand up for what he believed in
despite what the UFC felt. Pulver's fight with Stephen Palling
is also one of my favorite fights of all time. By now, that should
all be set in history, like Pulver’s fight career. Yet,
it’s not.
Pulver
fought at a time when MMA fighters were barely seen on television.
Now we have fighters signing huge endorsement deals with Nike,
Gatorade and so on. Pulver really never got to milk the cash
cow. Is that fair? No, but that's life. He was cheated by circumstance
and by time.
Pulver
states that he needs to pay bills and that he is doing it the
only way he knows how. He can still get fights because of his
past; the title of “former UFC champion” is a great
sell. However, how long can you continue to fight at a .500-or-below
clip and still have people care? I am sure there are a ton of
people that consider themselves hardcore fans that really have
no idea that Pulver still competes. Most others just feel sad
that it’s still going on.
Following
the loss to Vazquez, Pulver said his goodbyes in the WEC cage.
It seemed that his career was at completion and he would ride
off in to the sunset with a certain class. I looked forward to
him getting the call to do color commentary and still seeing
him as a personality in the sport. For whatever reason, that
didn't happen.
Advocates
of a Pulver retirement sometimes bring up the medical argument
with him. Some worry about the amount of punishment that he has
taken over his career. I mentioned the Paling fight; the amount
of trauma those men dished out was insane. Pulver once told me
that during that fight there were times he didn't know if he
was standing or sitting. "Bozo" even needed surgery
on his face following the contest. I can't say for a fact that
Pulver is destroying his body, but he is destroying his legacy
and no one wants to watch that from a man whose career was defined
by his pride.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Chaos
at California State Athletic Commission: Skinned gloves, illegal
hand-wraps, wrong gloves
By Zach
Arnold
The implementation of Sacramento’s new “3 inspector
policy” per show is turning out to be a disaster, not only
for liability purposes (enforcing health & safety) but also
for managing the box offices at live events. Mismanaging cash
is bad enough, but placing fighters at risk for getting severely
injured or killed is an entirely different matter.
A matter of life and death
In our audit article last Tuesday, I noted that cheating is quickly
becoming rampant at smaller events due to a lack of proper supervision:
I guarantee you that the lack of inspectors & supervision
at shows is resulting in boxers who are skinning their gloves
(manipulating the knuckle padding) and using illegal hand wraps
more frequently. I’ve already heard of a couple of recent
events where there have been some dangerously close near-misses
in regards to fighters skinning their gloves. Throw on top of
that the ability to use foreign substances and the ability for
fighters or their entourages to hide active drug use at events
and you have a recipe for disaster.
This is the commission asking for trouble when it comes to bad
publicity and big liability. Penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Not only are we hearing reports about skinned gloves and illegal
hand-wraps being discovered at recent boxing events in California,
we also were notified by multiple individuals about a bizarre
scene that took place last Saturday night in Fairfield, California
at the Fairfield Sports Center for a boxing event promoted by
veteran promoter Don Chargin. The headliner was welterweight
Alan Sanchez.
The show, which was a television taping for TeleFutura, had to
be delayed when someone pointed out that one boxer had different
size gloves on than the other boxer. Mind you, both boxers are
fighting in the same weight class and one had smaller gloves
on than the other. This is dangerous.
For Welterweights, you’re talking about 8 ounce boxing gloves.
Over 154 pounds, the gloves used are at 10 ounces. So, what’s
the big deal about one fighter having smaller gloves than the
other? For starters, if you are using smaller gloves it means
you have more speed and less padding. If you’re in a long
fight, the boxer with lighter gloves in later rounds won’t
have his arms as tired as his opponent with the heavier gloves.
Throw in the fact that used gloves are utilized by undercard
fighters and, after a couple of bouts, the gloves practically
are skinned due to wear & tear. This means less padding around
the knuckles and thus the gloves become more of a weapon to cause
traumatic damage against an opponent.
The fact that one fighter was allowed to come to the ring with
different size gloves on than his opponent is nothing short of
negligence by CSAC officials. The inspectors are supposed to
go through the gloves in the locker room before the fights and
the fighters are supposed to have a back-up pair of gloves handy
in case something happens to the original set of gloves (such
as a tear). Once the inspector checks out the gloves, they are
supposed to sign off on them. However, a recent CSAC memo says
that referees can also sign off on the hand wraps and glove inspections
as well due to the limited amount of inspectors per show. The
referees are supposed to check the gloves of the fighters in
the ring to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. The fact
that somebody that wasn’t an inspector or a referee at the
Don Chargin show pointed out the discrepancy in the size of the
gloves is alarming. I’m thankful the person who figured
this out made sure others knew what was going on, but it’s
still egregious behavior by the CSAC inspectors at the show nevertheless.
And they still want to cut the amount of inspectors at shows?
Issues of strict liability
Boxing, by a legal definition, is an ultrahazardous activity.
In legal terms, it means that no matter how many precautions
you take in regulating such a dangerous sport, there are matters
of strict liability involved if someone gets seriously hurt.
Generally, the term strict liability is used when you’re
talking about the commercial code and incidents where you are
dealing with defective products or accidents where dangerous
materials are being transported. Read this Findlaw item for an
example of this in action.
In the case of strict liability for the state of California,
you better believe that the state could be found liable for damages
against a fighter who is severely injured, crippled, or killed
because of negligent actions by an inspector and/or licensed
official regulating a combat sports event. If the damage caused
by such negligence is high, you’re easily talking about
a jury awarding a 7-figure verdict against the state of California
if there was an incident regarding a fighter using the wrong
size of gloves, using skinned gloves, or using illegal hand wraps
containing a substance like plaster of paris. It would not be
hard for a jury to award such a verdict to a fighter based on
pain & suffering and emotional distressed caused by injuries
resulting from direct regulatory negligence.
It’s also assault by the fighter in question if they’re
using such an illegal set-up and knowingly wanted to inflict
major damage on their opponent. Paging Louis Resto.
So, the choice the Department of Consumer Affairs has is a pretty
simple one. Are you willing to get rid of the incompetent &
bad apples at the commission or are you willing to continuing
rolling the dice that an incident happens that costs the state
of California 7-figures in court? Are you willing to adequately
staff shows you regulate with the right amount of inspectors
and use inspectors that are qualified as opposed to using inspectors
that you think you can politically control?
There are sections in the Business & Professions Code that
talk about incompetency as an issue for getting rid of people
who aren’t doing their job. Perhaps it’s time to dust
off the legal books and start following your own rules &
regulations before someone is seriously hurt by your inaction.
Having the Senate Business & Professions committee sunset
the California State Athletic Commission so that the Department
of Consumer Affairs can hide all regulatory activity in private
isn’t going to clean up the current mess. The last time
Consumer Affairs was allowed to sunset the commission, Armando
Garcia caused DCA to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit for $75,000.
They promptly turned around and replaced him with a Sacramento
lifer who cost them $750,000 for sexual & racial harassment.
Bad judgment just always seems to be part of the DNA of the Department
of Consumer Affairs.
Box office BS stinks to high heaven
Last Tuesday, we posted a very detailed article laying out our
case of what auditors working for the state of California may
find during their investigation of the California State Athletic
Commission. If you didn’t get a chance to read our report,
I would strongly recommend that you do so. We not only made predictions,
we also cited the laws that both the Sacramento CSAC office and
the inspectors out in the field are not following. The end result
is that the state of California is losing out on significant
revenue from shows because the cash is either missing or not
being properly reported on the ticket manifests (ledgers). With
the Sacramento front office not regularly auditing the event
packages being sent from the inspectors to the office after each
show, the end result is that auditors are going to find event
packages full of mistakes & glaring errors.
To put it to you in different terms, here’s what the state
auditors are likely to discover during their investigation of
CSAC:
1. Many of the lead inspectors that supervise shows are not managing
the box office correctly, resulting in the state of California
getting stiffed on cash.
This includes:
Relying on the numbers that promoters are telling them as opposed
to actually using a system of checks and balances
Not having access to seating charts (the Sacramento office is,
by law, supposed to have a seating chart on file before tickets
to an event are sold)
Not properly managing complimentary tickets and allowing promoters
to skim off the top by giving out tickets without labeling them
as sold or as comps
Mismanagement of calculating how many comps are being given out
at shows, not giving out a ticket to each person who gets a courtesy
pass and collecting it
Not enforcing rules regarding promoters needing to overstamp
tickets that have been sold at a reduced price
Not enforcing a policy of tickets being exchanged only at the
box office
Not collecting ticket stubs necessary to do a basic show audit
Not enforcing refund policies that are on the books to protect
the customers
2. A complete inability to audit the box office.
If you have no idea how many tickets were printed for a show,
how can you come up with an account of just how many tickets
were actually sold? If I give you two dozens eggs to sell and
you give me back six, I know how many are sold (18). If I don’t
know how many eggs there are to begin with, how can I audit the
amount of eggs that you allegedly sold? If the tickets are not
from an approved printer, how do I know the invoice is legitimate?
The law states that not only shall the printer be approved by
the commission but they are also supposed to send an invoice
to Sacramento for verification. But nobody is following the law.
The CSAC front office not only doesn’t audit the event packages
on the regular basis, they often are short-staffed because some
of the office crew work as lead inspectors at shows and take
time off from their original office duties. With the cuts being
made to the front office in Sacramento, expect this problem to
get significantly worse (not better).
We wrote our audit article to make a statement. The conditions
have deteriorated so fast with the California State Athletic
Commission that no one can even trust the box office numbers
any more nor can anyone trust that the inspectors currently being
used out in the field are competent enough to enforce the rules
on the books or are simply too overwhelmed to do so because of
how few bodies there are at events to properly manage a show.
In regards to the issue of complimentary tickets, take a look
at the state’s Business and Professions Code (18824):
(D) No fee is due in the case of a person admitted free of charge.
However, if the total number of persons admitted free of charge
to a boxing, kickboxing, or martial arts contest, or wrestling
exhibition exceeds 33 percent of the total number of spectators,
then a fee of one dollar ($1) per complimentary ticket or pass
used to gain admission to the contest shall be paid to the commission
for each complimentary ticket or pass that exceeds the numerical
total of 33 percent of the total number of spectators.
The reason this is an issue now in California is because there
have been some recent boxing events where almost 80% of the tickets
at recent events have been comps. If promoters are skirting around
reporting the amount of comps they have by not reporting those
tickets as such, it gives them an out to give a bunch of tickets
to potential sponsors in exchange for cash that they pocket on
their own and don’t report to the state of California.
Here’s an example. A promoter cuts a deal with a sponsor
for $1,000. When the sponsor brings their group of people to
the show, the promoter ends up giving the party passes to sit
at a table at the show. Instead of having tickets listed as $200
each for value, the promoter is keeping the sponsorship money
and the state gets $0. The state never sees the money if the
inspector isn’t enforcing the rules & regulations on
managing a box office. Furthermore, what if you sell tickets
under the table and pocket the cash because the inspectors have
no clue how many tickets there were to begin with or have no
idea about a seating chart for the show? Skimming off the top
is easy for promoters to get away with because of the incompetence
& corruption of the inspectors who are supposed to be representing
the state of California as intermittent state employees.
This kind of bad behavior simply incentivizes bad behavior from
promoters who are looking out for themselves.
Who’s collecting the licensee money and where’s it
going?
Since we wrote our article last Tuesday, we’ve been informed
by multiple sources of new problems that have arisen at recent
boxing & MMA events regulated by CSAC. Some of these problems
are issues that we covered in our audit problems but some of
them are brand new issues that I never even thought would pop
up.
Last Tuesday, we wrote the following about the process of people
getting licensed by inspectors at events:
Remember, the process for medical records & licensing isn’t
computerized. It’s 2012 and we’re still talking about
everything being done on paper here. You have licensees who pay
the same day to get licensed. Is the money being collected properly
at events and, if so, is it being compared to the number of licenses
issued? I think it’s safe to predict that the auditors will
find some discrepancies here. If Sacramento is not auditing the
show package, who would know?
It turns out that this problem may be very real and very ugly.
At recent live events regulated by the California State Athletic
Commission, lead inspectors supervising shows are allegedly misappropriating
money being given to them by licensees. A licensee can pay an
inspector by check/cash or have their fee taken out of their
purse. In instances where licensees pay by cash, the lead inspector
gives the cash to the promoter and in return adds that same amount
from the box office. In other words, a lead inspector collects
$500 in cash from licensees. The inspector turns around and gives
the promoter $500 in cash and then, on paper, adds that same
amount from the box office so that the promoter ends up paying
the state for it through that avenue.
If a licensee pays by cash or check, the lead inspector is required
by law to produce a receipt for the transaction and is required
to staple the check to the application form that the licensee
filled out.
So, what’s the issue popping up at shows now? One, some
lead inspectors are not producing receipts for the licensee transactions.
If you’re not producing receipts for these kinds of actions,
how can you audit the event package back in Sacramento? Sacramento
is supposed to audit the event package and compare the amount
of licenses granted versus what revenue was taken in for giving
out the licenses at the shows. The numbers are supposed to match.
So, what’s going on here? The lead inspectors aren’t
doing their jobs and they’re getting their cue from Sacramento
that since the front office doesn’t care enough to audit
all the event packages, then why should they care enough to do
their job and produce the receipts?
One source, on background, put it to us this way.
“If [CSAC] can’t even get their drug tests done right
for [Zuffa], a little receipt that people are going to throw
away anyways is the least of their worries.”
From the state’s Business and Professions Code (18825):
18825. An inspector or other representative of the commission
duly authorized by the executive officer shall be admitted to
the box office, and is authorized to assist in the counting of
tickets and in the computation of the tax due thereon, and to
take any other action necessary for the administration and enforcement
of this chapter. The inspector or other representative shall
immediately mail to the commission the official statement of
gross receipts received by him or her from the promoter.
If a lead inspector isn’t properly producing the receipts
for the transaction of cash when it comes to licensees, they
are violating state law. Under the B & P code, violating
these laws are misdemeanors. Looking for a DA’s office to
prosecute a commission worker just isn’t likely to happen.
What is much more likely to happen, however, is if there’s
enough pressure on the state to go ahead and use the allegation
of a B & P code violation as grounds for termination via
a notice of adverse action from the State Personnel Board. Unfortunately,
we’re not even seeing that at work right now in Sacramento.
No wonder the inspectors out in the field who are causing trouble
don’t give a damn about what’s going on.
A second reported problem with the licensee transactions is that
the cash figures being reported by the lead inspectors for licensee
applications is not matching up with how many transactions were
performed. In other words, if you grant $500 worth of licenses
and you don’t report the cash transacted as $500, you leave
yourself up to scrutiny for either making a bad (but honest)
mistake or for theft of funds that are supposed to go to the
state of California.
In other words, embezzlement and/or theft. Per the California
penal code section 503-515:
503. Embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation of property
by a person to whom it has been intrusted.
504. Every officer of this state, or of any county, city, city
and county, or other municipal corporation or subdivision thereof,
and every deputy, clerk, or servant of that officer, and every
officer, director, trustee, clerk, servant, or agent of any association,
society, or corporation (public or private), who fraudulently
appropriates to any use or purpose not in the due and lawful
execution of that person’s trust, any property in his or
her possession or under his or her control by virtue of that
trust, or secretes it with a fraudulent intent to appropriate
it to that use or purpose, is guilty of embezzlement.
514. Every person guilty of embezzlement is punishable in the
manner prescribed for theft of property of the value or kind
embezzled; and where the property embezzled is an evidence of
debt or right of action, the sum due upon it or secured to be
paid by it must be taken as its value; if the embezzlement or
defalcation is of the public funds of the United States, or of
this state, or of any county or municipality within this state,
the offense is a felony, and is punishable by imprisonment in
the state prison; and the person so convicted is ineligible thereafter
to any office of honor, trust, or profit in this state.
While the revenues in the big picture from licensees is small
potatoes for CSAC, it is a perfect example to illustrate just
how badly things have gone out of control. If the inspectors
out in the field think that the Sacramento office, which is leaving
the inspectors to their own devices, doesn’t care about
enforcing the rules & regulations on the books, why should
they care? After all, Denise Brown is the one who signed off
on an insolvency letter to George Dodd last May claiming that
SHE KNEW ABOUT FRAUD that was taking place at the commission
but didn’t have anyone arrested or fired over such actions.
The Department of Consumer Affairs, in writing, admitted that
they know that fraud is taking place at the California State
Athletic Commission and has done absolutely nothing about filing
any sort of notice of adverse actions against those who they
suspect are guilty of criminal activity in order to get the bad
apples terminated.
Apparently DCA only uses notice of adverse actions to get rid
of competent individuals like (former) Chief Athletic Inspector
Dean Lohuis, Joe Borielli, and inspector Dwayne Woodard so that
they can keep other people around, with shady backgrounds and
situational ethics, at CSAC. Of course, that gamble by Consumer
Affairs relies on the inmates in the asylum actually following
their marching orders.
As the state’s auditors will soon discover, the inmates
aren’t listening much to the Department of Consumer Affairs
and have gone into business for themselves.
The fact that Denise Brown, in writing, admitting to having knowledge
of on-going fraud at the California State Athletic Commission
is a red flag. Why is nothing being done? Is obstruction of justice
taking place? There’s a difference between a normal citizen
reporting a violation and the actual head of the Department of
Consumer Affairs acting upon violations that they know of. Huge
difference.
Unfortunately, as one source (on background) recently stated
to me in a conversation, “Nobody is afraid of each other
in Sacramento any more.”
Reason? Nobody is following the rules & regulations in the
front office.
Ask yourself this question — if you were caught embezzling
funds and the authorities knew about your activity, would you
be treated the same way as individuals at the California State
Athletic Commission are being treated by the Department of Consumer
Affairs? No, of course not. You would be criminally charged by
a prosecutor.
Where does the buck stop?
Chief Athletic Inspector Che Guevara.
He’s supposed to be the boss of bosses for inspectors at
the California State Athletic Commission. Who’s responsibility
and job is it to make sure that the lead inspectors are doing
their job and making sure that event packages are being properly
processed? Che Guevara.
Who’s responsible for the inspectors being educated on the
rules & regulations that they should be following while doing
their jobs on behalf of the state of California? Che Guevara.
Who’s responsible for making sure that inspectors are accountable
for their actions if they allow incidents such as illegal hand
wraps and skinning the gloves to happen at shows? The Chief Athletic
Inspector, Che Guevara.
But how can he educate inspectors on illegal hand wraps and skinning
the gloves when he was the one who, three years ago, missed the
illegal hand wraps of Antonio Margarito right in front of his
face? Not only was he not punished for missing the hand wraps,
he was promoted to Chief Athletic Inspector at the California
State Athletic Commission.
The buck is supposed to stop with Che Guevara. It’s on him.
Who’s holding him accountable? Nobody.
Source: Fight Opinion
|
Morning
Report: Return of PRIDE Rules; Tyson Nam Facing Legal Troubles
After KO of Bellator Champ
By Shaun
Al-Shatti - Staff Writer
Admittedly, even after all the drama of the past few weeks, it
felt somewhat bizarre when Saturday night rolled around. Maybe
it's just the odd stench disappointment leaves in its wake, but
after months of a specific date and specific fight being subconsciously
drilled into our heads, the complete anticlimax was almost unsettling.
But that's not to say there was a dearth of excitement in the
MMA world. Actually, the ups and downs were pretty remarkable.
To start with, Jose Aldo narrowly avoided hospitalizing Dana
White when he somehow walked away after being struck by a car
in a close call motorcycle accident in Brazil. All this despite
the fact that the very idea of a UFC champion riding a motorcycle
should've ceased to exist when Frank Mir nearly lost his career
eight years ago.
But before that could happen, Andrei Arlovski went ahead and
opened another can-of-worms with ONE FC's "open attack"
rule when he viciously soccer kicked Tim Sylvia into a drunken
stupor, leading the promotion to ax the well-intentioned but
poorly-executed rule and reintroduce PRIDE's old free-swinging
freedom with soccer kicks, much to the delight of old-schoolers
who can recite the play-by-play of Pride Bushido 9 word-for-word
without even glimpsing at their mint condition DVD box set.
And finally there was Tyson Nam, the 28-year-old American who,
realistically, should be still be celebrating the most life-altering
moment of his career after knocking out hotshot Bellator bantamweight
champ Eduardo Dantas in less than two minutes a few weeks ago,
but instead finds himself caught in Bellator's vindictive legal
web and potentially eyeing a forced, unpaid vacation until the
Spring of 2013.
So yes, the absence of UFC 151 may have been the overriding theme
of the break. But as usual in MMA, there was more than enough
to keep us busy. So let's stop wasting time and get to it.
6
MUST-READ STORIES
ONE FC adapts PRIDE rules. Days after Andrei Arlovski's controversial
'no contest' against Tim Sylvia, ONE FC altered their ruleset
to remove the "open attack" stipulation and allow soccer
kicks to a grounded opponent at all times.
Nam in Bellator legal crosshairs. American Tyson Nam is stuck
in legal purgatory after knocking out Bellator bantamweight champion
Eduardo Dantas last month at a regional show in Brazil. Despite
never competing for Bellator, Nam is being prevented from fighting
until the Spring of 2013 due to a "matching period"
in his old, unused Bellator contract.
Aldo okay after motorcycle accident. According to a report from
Tatame, UFC featherweight champion was hit by a car while riding
his motorcycle in Brazil. Aside from minor damages, Aldo is uninjured
following the accident.
Cormier vs. Mir set for Nov. 3. Strikeforce Grand Prix tournament
winner Daniel Cormier will fight former UFC champion Frank Mir
on November 3, 2012 in Oklahoma in the first ever cross-promotional
bout of Zuffa's dual ownership.
The agony of injury. Mike Chiappetta examines the stark toll
injuries have taken on the UFC's 2012 campaign.
Pacquiao to counter-program UFC on FOX 5. The next fight of one
of boxing's biggest draws, Manny Pacquiao, has been scheduled
for December 8, 2012, the same night as the UFC's star-studded
UFC on FOX 5 event.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Jose
Aldo Suffers Minor Injuries in Motorcycle Accident But Still
Plans to Fight at UFC 153
There have been more than a few occasions where motorcycle accidents
have involved prominent professional athletes, and the sport
of mixed martial arts joined that scary list over the weekend.
UFC 153 headliner and featherweight champion Jose Aldo was involved
in an accident when his motorcycle was struck by a car in traffic
in the city of Copacabana, Brazil.
According to a report from O Globo and Tatame.com, Aldo was heading
home when he was hit by the
Aldo endured a few scratches and a swollen foot from the encounter,
but according to his coach Andre Pedemeiras they are only minor
injuries and will not prevent him from facing Frankie Edgar at
UFC 153 in October.
His coach added that Aldo’s motorcycle riding days are over
until after his next fight.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Daniel
Cormier vs. Frank Mir, Luke Rockhold Returns At Strikeforce Card
Nov 3 in Oklahoma
by Damon
Martin
A heavyweight feature bout and a middleweight champion are expected
to headline the next major Strikeforce card headed to Oklahoma
City on Nov. 3.
Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier will
headline the event in a crossover bout with former UFC heavyweight
champion Frank Mir.
The two fighters meet as Mir agreed to come over to Strikeforce
for a one-fight deal to face Cormier in his last bout with the
promotion.
Following the fight, both Cormier and Mir will rejoin the ranks
of the heavyweights in the UFC.
The card on Nov 3 is expected to take place in Oklahoma City
at the Chesapeake Energy Arena according to a report from USA
Today.
In addition to the main event bout between Cormier and Mir, Strikeforce
middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is also expected to be part
of the upcoming Nov. 3 card as well.
Rockhold recently tweeted news that he was heading back into
training camp a littler earlier than expected after defeating
Tim Kennedy in July for his second straight title defense.
“Training camp starts tomorrow,” wrote Rockhold on
Aug 26. “Fighting sooner than I thought, sure there’ll
be an announcement in the next week or two.”
Sources have indicated to MMAWeekly.com that Rockhold will indeed
fight on the Nov 3 card, but his opponent remains a mystery.
The most logical choice seemed to be former Strikeforce middleweight
champion Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, but at this time he
has not been confirmed for the Nov 3 show as of yet.
The upcoming Strikeforce card on Nov 3 will air on Showtime at
10pm ET with tape delays on the west coast.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
DESTINY: Na Koa will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at
the Neal Blaisdell Arena. Tickets are available at the Blaisdell
Box Office, any ticket master outlet (walmart locations), ticketmaster.com
or charge by phone. Tickets on sale now starting at just $35.
Prelim amateur fights will begin at 3pm. Main card will begin
at 6pm. A full card of action that will surely give you your
money’s worth.
This will be the most action packed DESTINY MMA event to date,
as we have a little bit of everything for you MMA fans. We have
Hawaii vs Mainland/Brazil matchups, Pro Title Fights, women MMA
matches, top local talent, upcoming amateurs, matchups that will
have you on your fight the whole fight, especially the main event
showdown that will be an all out war when Charles “Kid Khaos”
Bennett aka “Krazy Horse” of Florida, battles Waianae’s
“Immortal Warrior” Johnavan Vistante. The war of words
between these 2 have been intense on the social networks, so
don’t expect these 2 to touch gloves at the start of round
1.
Also, that night UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva will
be in attendance, as 3 of his students from Brazil takes on our
local fighters. Stay tuned for our Silva meet and greet time
and location.
And a fight that has a lot of the fans of women mma excited is
the battle of “Rocky’s” as Hawaii’s Raquel
Pa’aluhi takes on Raquel Pennington of Colorado in our 1st
Pro Women Title Match. Both go by the nickname “Rocky,”
so we shall see who will have the Rocky bragging rights that
night and walk away with our Pro Bantamweight Title.
Below is just our main card and title matches. The full prelim
amateur matches will be posted after weigh-in, since we all know
that many changes, dropouts or fighters with no paperwork always
happens in the last 2 weeks heading into event. Instead of updating
daily, I’ll just post the final card after weigh-ins is
official. For more info visit our website at www.destinymma.net.
***MAIN CARD***
-155lbs
Pro World Lightweight Title Match
Johnavan “Immortal Warrior” Vistante Jr (Team SYD,
Hawaii) vs Charles “Kid Khaos” Bennett (Florida)
-145lbs
Pro World Featherweight Title Match
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Damaso Pereira (Black
House Gym, Brazil)
-135lbs
Pro Women’s Title Match
Raquel Pa’aluhi (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Raquel Pennington
(Altitude MMA, Colorado)
-185lbs
Pro Middleweight Title
Sale Sproat (Molokai) vs Douglas Moura Silva (Black House Gym,
Brazil)
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Ray "Bradah Boy" Cooper III vs TBA
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Bruski Louis (Bulls Pen) vs Maki Pitolo (WOMMA)
-135lbs
Pro Bantamweight Match
Jireh Umi-Torres (Molokai) vs Ian Delacuesta (808 Fight Factory)
-155lbs
Pro Lightweight Match
Ben “Da King” Santiago (UKA, Hawaii) vs Paulo Silva
(Black House Gym, Brazil)
-125lbs
Angie Pereira (HMC) vs Haley Pasion (UKA)
***PRELIMS***
-205lbs
Amateur Light Heavyweight Title Match
Alex Pulotu-Steverson (Team Xtreme) vs Kevin Aguigui (Animal
House Gym)
-170lbs
Amateur Title Match
Sebastian Mariconda (HMC) vs Cody Andrade (SOMMA)
-145lbs
Amateur Women’s Title Match
Chantelle Berengue (Animal House Gym) vs Bryanna Fissori (SOMMA)
-155lbs
Amateur Title Match
Dan Ige (Gracie Technics) vs Robby Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord)
-185lbs
Amateur Title Match
Neale Johnson (SOMMA) vs Tillis Sionesini (Up N Up)
-135lbs
Amateur Title Match
Kevin Natividad (EightSixx BJJ) vs Brandon Mina (808 Top Team)
-Heavyweight
Interim Title Match
Kevin Herzog (Team Mixed Plate) vs Okala Makaiau
Bouts subject to change
Source: Event Promoter
|
Did
Chael Sonnen Know about Dan Henderson’s Injury Weeks Ago?
Training
partners, friends and teammates are always going to know about
a fighter’s injuries, cuts or mishaps well before it ever
lands on the desk of a reporter or even UFC officials.
It’s
long been noted that fellow UFC competitors Dan Henderson and
Chael Sonnen are close friends and former training partners.
It was because of that relationship that conspiracy theories
began popping up everywhere after Henderson was injured and forced
out of UFC 151, and Chael Sonnen was the man looking to replace
him in his fight against Jon Jones.
Just
a couple of weeks earlier, Sonnen made his intentions to move
to 205 pounds known and immediately began a social networking
and verbal assault aimed directly at Jones. As the conspiracy
theory goes, Sonnen knew about Henderson’s injury ahead
of time and began attacking Jones as the perfect way to swoop
in and gain a fight with him on short notice.
Sonnen’s
manager, Mike Roberts of MMA Inc., recently spoke to MMAWeekly
Radio about that very subject, and he was happy to dispel all
the rumors.
“Chael
has not put on a pair of gloves since he took the ones off the
night he fought Anderson Silva. He has not trained one day other
than some light jogs around the neighborhood, something like
that,” Roberts said.
“Completely
100-percent not true. Everybody’s saying that Chael knew
about Dan being hurt, that’s why he was talking about Jon
(Jones). No, Chael was talking about Jon because Jon is the 205-pound
champion and that is where Chael is shooting for; that’s
who he wants to fight.”
Sonnen
will return to the light heavyweight division in December to
face Forrest Griffin at UFC 155, so as soon as he knew he was
going back up to 205 pounds, he targeted Jones because he has
the title, nothing more, according to Roberts.
“He’s
definitely hoping it happens, but right now he’s just not
sure if Belfort will show up to fight. For whatever reasons of
his own, he thinks that. You’ve got to assume Belfort is
going to show up and move forward from there. That’s really
where we’re at,” Roberts revealed.
The
focus right now, according to Roberts, is “100-percent”
on Sonnen facing Griffin at UFC 155, but that doesn’t mean
he’s not going to continue taking potshots at Jones whenever
he has the chance.
It’s
a pretty simple philosophy for Sonnen and it’s not going
to change any time soon.
“If
you have the belt,” Roberts said. “You are in his sights.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
VETERAN MIGUEL TORRES SIGNS WITH WORLD SERIES OF FIGHTING FOR
NOV. 3 DEBUT
Miguel
Torres will make his first appearance outside the UFC and WEC
realm since 2007 when he steps into the cage for the World Series
of Fighting on Nov. 3.
MMAFighting.com
first reported that Torres signed a three-fight deal with the
fledgling promotion on Sunday, and the organization confirmed
the news Sunday via Twitter. Torres was released from his UFC
contract last month and was originally scheduled to compete for
the Kansas-based Titan Fighting Championship on Nov. 2, but those
plans have apparently been revised.
The
World Series of Fighting issued a release last week promising
several major announcements at a press conference in Las Vegas
on Sept. 6. The promotion will likely air its events on the NBC
Sports Network, formerly known as Versus. More specifics about
the November event are expected to be revealed during this week’s
press conference.
A
former WEC bantamweight champion, Torres has experienced mixed
results since dropping his title to Brian Bowles in 2009, going
3-3 in his next six bouts. Most recently, the 31-year-old suffered
a first-round knockout loss to rising prospect Michael McDonald
at UFC 145 in April. The TriStar Gym representative fought three
times in 2011, earning decision victories against Antonio Banuelos
and Nick Pace while dropping a three-round verdict to Demetrious
Johnson.
Source: Sherdog |
Michael
Bisping Considering Eventual Return to Light Heavyweight
Michael
“The Count” Bisping is scheduled to face Brian Stann
at UFC 152 in Toronto in hopes of moving into a contender slot
in the middleweight division, but the Brit isn’t ruling
out an eventual return to the light heavyweight division.
Bisping
had a successful run in the 205-pound division, including winning
The Ultimate Fighter 3. He’s competed most of his career
as a light heavyweight, but after losing to Rashad Evans at UFC
78, he decided to make the drop to middleweight.
The
outspoken Englishman feels middleweight is where he should be
at this point in his career, but the thoughts of a 205-pound
return remain.
“But
seriously, I do think about it. I was 15-1 at 205 pounds, but
185 pounds is where I should be right now.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
Zach
Underwood Credits Roufusport Prep for Recent Bellator Victory
A
few miscues aside, lightweight Zach Underwood’s debut in
Bellator on Aug. 24 went well and he picked up a victory on a
major show and got a bit of revenge in the process.
“I
think I landed a few shots, and could have landed a few more,
but I ended up in a few bad habits that I got to get rid of,”
said Underwood of his unanimous decision win over Chris Coggins.
“Chris is a tough guy and it’s a good win for me to
have. He beat me before, so it’s good to go out there and
get that out of the way.
“I
knew he was a tough guy and he wasn’t going to quit, and
those the type of guys you have to get up for. Those types of
guys are good for your resume.”
Much
like teammate Rick Glenn, who picked up his own big win recently,
Underwood’s development has had exponential growth thanks
to the Roufusport fight team in Milwaukee, Wis.
“I
always go up to Milwaukee to Roufusport for training and to learn
new things and add new tricks so when I go out there I’m
not the same fighter,” said Underwood. “I’m prepared
for battle every time I leave there.
“When
we show up we have our man-talk sessions and when the bell rings,
it is what it is and we just knock the crap out of each other.
We rarely fight when we train and that makes you close and respect
each other. Not many people can train like that.”
As
Underwood has progressed, he’s come to realize the importance
of his fights, and uses that as a motivational tool to help him
get better.
“A
win’s important to me where I’m at and a loss would
set me back big time,” said Underwood. “It has to motivate
me. If it doesn’t, I don’t know why I’m still
fighting. It motivates me to get better.
“My
record is getting pretty good now. I was 8-4 (following a loss
to Mike Santiago in May of last year), but now I’m back
on track again at 10-4 with a couple more wins and I’m feeling
good.”
After
some time off, Underwood told MMAWeekly.com that he’s ready
to get back into fight mode and anticipates getting back into
the cage soon to build off his recent momentum.
“I
just took a week off to heal my body,” he said. “I
had a tough eight weeks to prepare for the fight and I wanted
a week away so I don’t get burnt out. I’ll probably
know something soon and I’ll start dieting again. I’m
already back in the gym and ready to start things back up again.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
Junior
dos Santos on Overeem: “He deserves to a beating and I’m
going to arrange that”
Junior
“Cigano” dos Santos will have to defend the heavyweight
title for the second time on December 29, against Cain Velasquez.
But if he could have a say on this, his opponent would be the
Netherlander Alistair Overeem.
Former
Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 champion, Overeem got to the UFC as
a strong contender to the title and did not give a chance to
Brock Lesnar on his debut. UFC paired him up against the champ’
Cigano earlier this year, but a surprise drug test test forced
him not to fight.
Pissed
off about Overeem’s statements, Junior dos Santos informed
Dana White he would gladly welcome Alistair to the octagon. Despite
not having his wish granted, once Alistair is suspended until
the end of the year, Cigano knows they will eventually meet.
“I
knew Velasquez was the contender, but if UFC wanted me to fight
Overeem I’d gladly shut him up because he’s been saying
a lot of crap, he’s been learning from Chael Sonnen”,
the champion said on an exclusive interview with TATAME.
“I’m
tired of these guys who think they’re so big, so strong,
so bad and that people will get frightened by them because they
look bad. There’s no such thing anymore. We’re athletes
and the winner will be the one who trains the most. That’s
what I have to say about it”.
Dos
Santos says that Overeem doesn’t deserve a chance at the
title on his comeback fight, once he has been suspended, but
said he would not mind hurt the challenger.
“I
really told Dana White I’d love to fight Overeem. Beating
Overeem, actually. That’s what’s going to happen when
this bout actually happens. It would be a pleasure. From the
way I see it, he didn’t deserve a title shot. Cain deserves
it and that’s why we’re fighting. Overeem deserves
to a beating and I’m going to arrange that”.
Source: Tatame
|
Matt
Hamill's return to the UFC gives him a chance to finally realize
his potential
There's
always been a sense when watching Matt Hamill that there is another
level which, for some inexplicable reason, he's been unable to
reach. He's been good when he should have been great.
Beginning with an outstanding wrestling pedigree, Hamill possesses
nearly all of the prerequisites for success as a mixed martial
arts fighter. For some reason, though, the whole hasn't equaled
the sum of his parts.
And so, after back-to-back disappointing losses last year to
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Alexander Gustafsson,
Hamill summarily retired.
He had nothing to apologize for, to be sure. He walked after
a loss to Gustafsson at UFC 133 with a 10-4 record and as a hero
to deaf people everywhere. He'd beaten quality fighters like
Tito Ortiz, Mark Munoz, Tim Boetsch and Keith Jardine, among
others, and was more often than not very competitive.
But he was a guy who'd lost the majority of his most significant
fights and not a guy who many believed was championship material.
When he retired, there was little fuss. It seemed like his time
was at hand after he was manhandled by Gustafsson.
His trainer/manager, Duff Holmes, did what any worthwhile trainer
will do: He was extremely frank with Hamill.
"Duff told me I didn't have it anymore," Hamill said
Wednesday. "I was banged up, I was hurting and I decided
to walk away."
But it wasn't long before Hamill felt pangs of regret. Suddenly,
he wasn't the celebrity he once was. When he was in the gym,
attention was focused on others who were preparing for fights,
and not on him.
And, as fighters often do when they retire, he began to reconsider.
He was working out with some of Holmes' other fighters and began
to wonder if his choice to step away had been in haste. His injuries
had healed, and he was, at 35, still young enough to compete
at a high level.
[Also: Michael Bisping gives his take on Jon Jones and the middleweight
picture]
He liked the freedom retirement presented, but he missed the
rush he got from fighting. As he began to mull a comeback, the
idea that he might be able to ascend to the next level began
to overtake him.
"I was helping the other guys and I was feeling good and
I started to have some regrets about the decision I made,"
Hamill said. "I started thinking about it and it made sense
for me to try to come back. If I didn't, I was afraid I'd have
regrets the rest of my life and I wouldn't be able to do anything
about it."
So, after a retirement that lasted about a year, he'll unretire
on Sept. 22 and return to active duty when he fights Vladimir
Matyushenko at UFC 152 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Hamill calls his comeback "Hammer 2.0" and said the
time off from fighting, however brief, gave him much needed perspective.
He is going to take a more cerebral approach to his game.
"I didn't perform well in some fights where I wanted to,
but I'm older and wiser than I was and I've gotten a lot smarter,"
he said. "I realize now, after I stepped away from it for
a while, that it's not how bad ass you are, it's what you know
and how you use your intelligence." Hamill was an athletic
freak who things came to easily. But he didn't always take the
smartest approach in his preparations or in his personal life.
Matt
Hamill shows the damage of his UFC 130 tussle with Quinton "Rampage"
Jackson. (Getty)
He'd go hard in practice when there was no need and would suffer
an entirely avoidable injury. Holmes was constantly nagging him
about the way he went about his business.
"I've told Matt this a lot, that he's been careless a lot
in some of the things he'd do," Holmes said. "In training,
he'd get too rough and push too far. At home, he'd be screwing
around and would hurt himself. He had this great athletic body
and he was just be careless with it.
"But he's trying to do things the right way now. He's taking
time to rest when he needs it. He is seeing a chiropractor, he's
getting the massages. He's a great athlete and he's starting
to take care of his body like great athletes do."
Hamill is the only man to hold a victory over UFC light heavyweight
champion Jon Jones, though it's quite a tainted win. He beat
Jones by disqualification after referee Steve Mazzagatti ruled
Jones hit him with illegal elbows.
He said "I definitely didn't win that fight," and said
he'd welcome another shot at Jones somewhere down the line in
an attempt to try to get what he perceives as a legitimate victory.
That may be a stretch, because the way Jones is going now, it
might take a super human feat to knock him off. Hamill, though,
has the kind of talent to compete on more than even terms with
the elite men at 205.
It's time for him to start doing it.
Source: Yahoo Sports |
Patrick
Cote vs. Alessio Sakara On Deck for UFC 154 in Montreal
Patrick
Cote was gunning to face an Axe Murderer next but instead gets
Legionarius.
Following
his return to the UFC in July, Patrick Cote had been hoping to
land a fight with Wanderlei Silva, but ultimately the orgnaziation
opted to go another route.
UFC
officials announced the new bout on Friday.
In
his return fight to the Octagon, Cote lost by decision to Cung
Le in a stand-up battle, and now looks to return to form when
he faces Sakara in November.
Sakara
will also try to erase the thoughts of his last fight, a knockout
loss to Brian Stann from April’s UFC on Fuel 2 show.
Cote
vs. Sakara will be part of the UFC 154 undercard headed to Montreal
on November 17.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Absolute
champ Leandro Lo’s double-attack finish in Fortaleza
This
weekend top-flight Brazilian gentle-art talent is converging
on the Northeast Brazilian city of Fortaleza, where Best Fighters
7 gathers men and women, adults and seniors of all belts and
sizes on the competition mats.
In
the open weight black belt division, Leandro Lo confirmed why
he was seen as the favorite going into the tournament. The Cicero
Costha-trained 2012 lightweight world champion bagged the BRL
3,500 prize money for winning the absolute division, triumphing
in five matches, of which four he won by tapout.
The
only one who didn’t tap to the São Paulo native was
Daniel Tanque of Ribeiro JJ, the other finalist, who was outpointed
by 13 to 2. Prior to the final with the eventual champion, Tanque
had to get past two other stalwart competitors: current Brazilian
national medium heavyweight runner-up William Martins, a Gracie
Barra representative; and Canadian black belt Jacob Mackenzie,
who competes under the Roberto Cyborg banner.
Leandro
Lo’s won in his quarterfinals performance against Nova União’s
Cássio Jacaré. With the skill to oblige his opponent
to concede the hold, Leandro gets a knee on the quarterfinalist’s
belly and has the foresight to know the arm will be left wide
open.
At
brown belt, Iranildo Gigante of MG team beat Evolution’s
Alison Pimentel in the absolute final for the gold. Now at purple
belt, Gracie Barra’s Rodrigo Mendes capped off a splendid
campaign with the absolute title, followed by SAS duo Rodolfo
Teófilo and João Paulo, in second and third place,
respectively.
The
competition rolls on throughout Sunday, when the white to black
belt weight groups take place.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Bellator
81 Marks Promotion’s First Trip to Rhode Island
Bellator
Fighting Championships will make its “Ocean State”
debut as the promotion travels to Rhode Island on Nov. 16 for
Bellator 81. It will air live on MTV2, in Spanish language on
mun2, and in commercial free HD on EPIX from The University of
Rhode Island’s Ryan Center.
Tickets
for Bellator 81 will be on sale beginning Sept. 7. Tickets will
be available at www.ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at 1.800.745.3000,
or at the Ryan Center Box Office.
“The
Ryan Center is an incredible arena that should play host to a
great night of fights,” said Bellator Chairman & CEO
Bjorn Rebney. “The Northeast has always treated Bellator
well, and I’m excited for the opportunity to bring Bellator
to Rhode Island on Nov. 16.”
No
bouts have yet been announced for Bellator 81.
Bellator’s
seventh season will feature tournaments in the featherweight,
lightweight, welterweight and heavyweight divisions.
Starting
in January, Bellator will move over to Spike TV, which is available
in over 100 million homes nationwide in the U.S.
Source: MMA Weekly |
John
De La O, cancer survivor and MMA vet, put cap on career in the
cage with symbolic gesture
HIGHLAND,
Calif. – An inspirational mixed martial arts veteran who
conquered cancer used his final fight to spark what may become
a new tradition in the sport.
After beating Brandon Anderson at a King of the Cage card last
week, John De La O, a 42-year-old from Huntington Beach, Calif.,
bowed in all directions to the crowd at the San Manuel Indian
Resort and Casino before laying down his gloves in the middle
of the octagon and leaving the arena. De La O says he did it
because it ‘felt symbolic’ and hopes it will becomes
a trend in the rapidly growing sport of MMA.
"I am leaving my competitive career behind but I left my
gloves behind to show that my heart as a fighter remains,”
De La O told Yahoo! Sports. "I hope it is something we see
more fighters do moving forwards. MMA is such a new sport so
there is not a lot of tradition yet like you see in other sports.
It was something for the people who believe that values, history
and tradition in sports are worth something."
John
De La O celebrates after a fight. (Courtesy: John De La O Facebook
page)
Following his first-round submission victory over Anderson, De
La O also made a cutting motion on his own body to signify his
successful battle with cancer. Five years ago he was diagnosed
with defused B-cell lymphoma and considers himself fortunate
to still be alive, let alone fit enough to compete in the fight
game.
"I almost checked out a couple of times but I made it back,"
said De La O, who runs De La O Jiu Jitsu, a martial arts training
center in Southern California. "I got rid of the lymphoma,
but then I almost lost an arm because of a blood clot."
De La O fought five times since returning to MMA in 2010 and
although he did not make it to the pinnacle of the sport, he
was a popular and well-respected member of the fight community,
especially in California.
"John is a great guy and a lot of young fighters who think
they know a lot could learn a thing or two from him and what
he has been through," said Mike Low, King of the Cage promoter.
"John has got a bit of a mouth on him and sometimes people
take it the wrong way but he is the kind of guy you love to see
fight because of how dedicated he is. I would love to see more
guys go out the way he did, complete with the little ceremony
at the end."
While De La O received almost universal support after his cancer
struggle, his last opponent, Anderson, managed to incite his
anger. After De La O responded to what he perceived as a discriminatory
comment from Anderson on Facebook, Anderson allegedly taunted
De La O about his disease.
A stream of insults flew back and forwards, with friends of both
fighters also getting involved. The social media storm was enough
to convince Low to make a fight between the men on his next card
– a truly 21st century piece of match-making.
"After what went down there was no way I was going to lose
to him," De La O said. "Especially in my last fight.
When I had cancer I would lay there, not able to run or train
or do a single push-up, and I told myself if I ever got back
then I would [work harder than everybody else]."
De La O's last triumph was not rewarded with a belt or a blockbuster
paycheck, but for a man who has seen it all in the sport it was
mightily sweet. And, as he bids farewell to MMA, he may very
well be leaving a fresh tradition behind.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
MMA
PAPER TRAIL: RATINGS GAME
The
ratings performance of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s
fourth event on Fox -- and its plans for the fifth -- paints
a picture of the promotion’s evolving relationship with
its network partner.
Headlined
by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua-Brandon Vera, the Aug. 4 card
drew the lowest household rating of any mixed martial arts event
that has aired on network television, including the EliteXC and
Strikeforce shows on CBS. However, the rating did not seem to
cause alarm. UFC on Fox 4 went head-to-head with NBC’s Summer
Olympics coverage -- which attracted nearly 14 times the primetime
audience of the UFC show -- yet performed well in key demographics.
Though
ratings have overall trended downward for UFC events thus far
on Fox, Eric Shanks, the president of Fox Sports, told Sherdog.com
he has no qualms.
“I
don’t think you could be much happier,” Shanks said
of the UFC’s showings on the network, which last year signed
a seven-year, $100 million broadcasting deal with the promotion.
“The fight game, as they call it, is predicated a lot on
how good the actual fights are; same with a baseball game, same
with a football game. There were some quick fights. There were
some fights in [the second and third Fox events] that still delivered
large audiences and won the night in key demos every time, sometimes
even beating all three of the other networks combined. You take
a look at UFC on Fox 4, and you have unbelievable fights.”
The
two-hour, 22-minute broadcast on Aug. 4 scored a 1.4 average
household rating, down slightly from 1.5 for the May 5 event,
which established the previous basement number for MMA on network
television. The rating reflects the percentage of United States
households with televisions that watched the show. The broadcast
did slightly more viewers on average than the May show, however,
with 2.44 million compared to 2.42 million. UFC on Fox 4 did
its highest market ratings in Las Vegas, followed by Louisville,
Ky., New Orleans and Tulsa, Okla.
There
were several encouraging aspects of the ratings. General viewership
increased throughout the broadcast, starting at 1.04 and peaking
at 1.79 for the final 22 minutes, which featured gutsy, hard-hitting
action between Rua and Vera. The rating for males, ages 18 to
34, the demographic most coveted by advertisers, was a 1.9, a
19-percent increase from the May event. The demo number rivaled
those of major sports like baseball. Interestingly, viewership
in the demographic peaked as the main event participants were
getting into the cage but dropped 10 percent over the course
of the fight.
Shanks
said primetime television shows with high concentrations of viewers
in the 18-to-34 demo have the best shot at growing audience beyond
that group. They also command the highest ad rates.
“That’s
the hardest audience to attract, and, over time, it seems to
pay off,” he said. “Obviously, as that audience grows,
then it helps in ad rates, and ad rates is what you base your
business plan on. Buying into the UFC on Fox is not necessarily
a bargain now [for advertisers] because of the high concentration
of 18 to 34s. The pricing is near the top-end of the range for
sporting events.”
Despite
the fact that all four fighters had soundly fallen to champion
Jon Jones, UFC President Dana White looked to bolster the latest
Fox event by announcing title implications for the top two fights:
Rua vs. Vera and Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader. Title implications
have been a motif for Fox main events. Shanks said Fox does not
insist on the title implications, but the UFC knows what they
add.
“Dana
is a promoter, and he’s been a great promoter for a very
long time,” Shanks said. “He either feels the heat
on a fight, on a matchup, or he doesn’t. He’s a promoter;
he’s going to find ways to put heat on a fight. People hear
‘title fight’ or ‘shot at the title’ and
you might not know who’s in it, but the fight means something.
I think that gets you your initial tune-in.”
The
Fox broadcast was the second to feature four main-card fights.
The January event had three; the November one-hour special had
one. Shanks said the fight load is part of a strategy to keep
viewers parked.
“Look,
viewers are fickle,” he said. “I mean, they’re
sitting on the couch and if there’s a break in the action,
they’re going to tune away for six minutes, 10 minutes,
and then come back. It’s pretty easy to flip the channel.
You increase ratings just as much by getting people to watch
longer as by getting new people to the set. So that’s why
we’ve settled in this format together with the UFC. We are
packing four fights into two hours now. I don’t think you
could actually even fit more than that into two hours.”
The
August and May ratings were a far cry from what the UFC pulled
for its first two Fox events. The January show, which featured
Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis and Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping
did a 2.6 rating and 4.7 million viewers. The November show,
which featured Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez, did a 3.1
rating and 5.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched MMA
event ever on U.S. television. Those numbers do not include people
who watched the events live on Fox Sports Deportes or at a later
date on DVR.
Shanks
said a key part of the reason the first UFC on Fox did so well
was advertising during the network’s NFL games, among the
most-watched programming on television. Shanks said the NFL-UFC
integration will resume this season, promoting both the Sept.
14 premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter” on FX and the
next Fox fight card on Dec. 16.
“Last
October, it was a big deal that UFC was being promoted inside
of an NFL game; [it] had never been done before. We haven’t
had the NFL weight to promote since then,” Shanks said.
In
addition to in-studio appearances by fighters during halftime
shows, Shanks said executives have also kicked around the idea
of moving a UFC event to a Sunday, where it could be paired with
a football mega-event like the NFC Championship Game to “make
a big day even bigger.”
The
December Fox event has the potential to do a big rating, not
only because of the NFL integration but also because of the lineup
itself. The UFC loaded the roster with three main event-caliber
matchups: Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz for the lightweight
title, B.J. Penn vs. Rory MacDonald and “Shogun” Rua
vs. Alexander Gustafsson.
“Do
we expect that every fight card is going to be as packed as this
on Fox? No,” Shanks said. “You’d love it, but
it’s great because we can sit in a room and we respect each
other’s businesses. We know what’s on the line with
[the UFC’s] pay-per-view business. They know that we’ve
put a lot into this relationship, both rights-wise and giving
it a slot on network television and using our muscle to promote
it. So we both have a lot at stake here, and they get it.
“They
realize that you’re not going to get new fans by completely
watching pay-per-views,” he added. “You’ve got
to put on a great show to 115 million television homes.”
Source: Sherdog |
Tuff-N-Uff
Building Tomorrow’s MMA Fighters Today
Walk
before you run.
It’s
an easy philosophy that can be applied to almost any craft or
trade, and it especially holds extra meaning in the world of
mixed martial arts.
Before
making it to the big show like the UFC or Bellator, fighters
are almost always expected to have some fight experience under
their belts so matchmakers and executives know exactly what they’re
buying into.
Even
earlier than professional fights however comes the opportunity
to rise up the ranks of the amateur fight circuit, and Las Vegas
based promotion ‘Tuff-N-Uff’ has proven to be one of
the best.
The
organization has boasted such famous names as Jon Fitch, Aaron
Riley, and Ultimate Fighter cast member Javier Torres among their
ranks of fighters that tested the waters with Tuff-N-Uff before
attempting a move into the pro ranks.
“Whether
someone says they want to try it to get it off their bucket list,
or maybe they just have a strong wrestling background or a strong
Muay Thai background and they want to transition, they’re
done competing in kickboxing or wrestling tournaments, and they
want to try to ply themselves in a fight. Everyone’s got
their own reasons to do it, and we’re excited to give them
an avenue to do it, especially the females,” said Tuff-N-Uff
President Barry Meyer when speaking to MMAWeekly.com.
Women’s
MMA has been a mainstay at Tuff-N-Uff over the years with probably
their most famous alumnus is current Strikeforce bantamweight
champion Ronda Rousey.
Rousey
fought for Tuff-N-Uff twice between 2010 and 2011 before making
her professional debut (she won both fights by armbar in case
you were curious).
Meyer
prides his promotion on putting on the best amateur fights possible,
and hopes to continue supporting all competitors but especially
women’s MMA into the future.
“It’s
like seeing your baby grow up. You’re happy for them to
see them successful. Especially Ronda (Rousey) and a lot of the
females, I counted recently and we’ve done over 100 female
fights, and so many more are getting into it that it’s great
to see,” said Meyer.
“I
think it’s really, really good and they love the exposure
and decide if this is something they really want to commit to.”
The
competitors on the card range in experience on the amateur circuit
and come from well known training teams like Xtreme Couture,
the Reign Training Center, Wanderlei Silva’s fight team,
and Robert Drysdale’s.
Meyer
expects a good crowd for a holiday weekend to see tomorrow’s
stars today.
“We’re
expecting fireworks,” said Meyer. “Then throw in the
free beer and food, makes it even better.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
Jose
Aldo Opens as -175 Favorite Over Frankie Edgar at UFC 153
Jose
Aldo will enter UFC 153 as the favorite over challenger Frankie
Edgar, but the odds are much, much closer than his previously
scheduled fight.
According
to Nick Kalikas from MMAOddsbreaker.com, Edgar will open as a
-175 favorite over former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.
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Frankie Edgar: Jose Aldo Super Fight ‘Intriguing’
Maurcio ‘Shogun’ Rua Opens at -160 Favorite Over Dan
Henderson for UFC 139
Edgar is a slight underdog with the betting odds placing him
at +145.
The
difference for the oddsmakers in comparison to the previously
scheduled main event for UFC 153 is quite large however.
Jose
Aldo was a 6 to 1 favorite over previous opponent Erik Koch with
the incumbent champion coming in at -600 odds, while Koch was
the betting underdog at +400.
Frankie
Edgar steps into the bout on short notice, but obviously has
the credentials to demand much closer odds even against one of
the top pound-for-pound champions in the sport in Jose Aldo.
Edgar
faces Aldo in the main event of UFC 153 headed to Brazil on Oct
13
Source: MMA Weekly |
Keith
Kizer admits NSAC doctor issuing testosterone passes isn’t
an endocrinologist
I’ve
had many people ask me why I haven’t devoted more time recently
investigating Keith Kizer and the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The truth is that there is so much going on in California, a
state that has as twice as many shows happening as any other
in America, I only have enough time and resources to focus on
one mess that needs to be cleaned up. You know how extensive
our investigation into the state of affairs in California has
been.
However, don’t come away with the impression that we have
a lack of interest in what’s happening with the mess that
Keith Kizer has created in Nevada. Trust me, there is no more
single infuriating regulatory figurehead in combat sports than
Keith Kizer.
Keith Kizer is a man who says that testosterone usage for muscular
fighters should not be viewed as a scarlet letter. The reality
is that there isn’t a bigger drug enabler in combat sports
today than Keith Kizer, the man who grants hall passes to fighters
so that they can use testosterone, the base chemical of anabolic
steroids. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure
out just how dangerous testosterone usage can be in combat sports
and what the main reasons for usage are. The majority of fighters
who are begging for testosterone hall passes are doing so because
of previous or current steroid usage or because of brain damage
from concussions.
What makes Kizer’s public stance about testosterone usage
so offensive is how much he regards testosterone usage as an
entitlement to fighters in combat sports. He actually uses the
word entitled or entitlement when discussing fighters using testosterone.
It’s really a remarkable admission of shamelessness on the
part of a regulator who is one accident, one death away in a
Nevada-regulated fight from getting his pants sued off for millions
of dollars due to issues of strict liability.
This man is a lawyer who worked at the Nevada AG office.
We discussed in our recent California report about the legal
classification for combat sports and how that classification
means that the current piss-poor regulatory practices we’re
seeing in California and Nevada is leaving these states vulnerable
to lawsuits. Even worse, the regulators involved know that they
are engaged in risky behavior and haven’t changed their
ways.
The Sweet Science: Drug testing will remain a joke until someone
is severely injured and lawsuits are filed
Kizer’s stance regarding drug testing is pretty simple.
He believes only in the drug testing Nevada does as the #1 barometer
for drug testing and that any external drug testing from agencies
like USADA or VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency) is supplemental
window dressing. He also has a real vendetta against Dr. Margaret
Goodman, who formerly worked for the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Every time Kizer tries to make some wise crack in an interview
against VADA or Dr. Goodman, he shows his ass and beclowns himself
to an embarrassing degree. Like, when he admits that VADA testing
catches fighters cheating while Nevada testing doesn’t because
they don’t use Carbon Isotope Ratio testing unless a fighter
fails a standard urine test in the first place.
What makes Kizer such a detestable figurehead in combat sports
is just how vacuous he is when he talks. He is the classic example
of a man who thinks he’s smarter than he really is and yet
is too oblivious to the mistakes he makes when he talks. And
when he barely gets challenged on a factual basis, he squeals
like a pig. Ask Mauro Ranallo. In Keith Kizer’s world, marijuana
is a performance enhancer but testosterone is A-OK. Under his
administration, marijuana users get punished harder and scolded
while testosterone users are patted on the back and told that
they are entitled to use the drug.
No one has a bigger legacy of enabling the proliferation of testosterone
usage in MMA under the guise of regulatory approval than Keith
Kizer. That is his personal & professional legacy for the
rest of his life. And if you think he has any clue as to why
he should be frightened by his legacy, this recent interview
is proof positive that he is still lacking in self-awareness
about the Pandora’s Box he has now opened up.
In a recent interview for the new web site Fight Medicine, Kizer
admits that the testosterone hall passes being granted to fighters
in both boxing & Mixed Martial Arts are being granted by
a doctor that is not an endocrinologist.
When you do review TUEs, who’s on the board that reviews
these exemptions? Are there ringside doctors or endocrinologists
(hormone specialists) on the committee?
We
have a consulting physician who does all of our medical information.
Timothy Trainor’s his name. So he does all that stuff, and
he’s the consulting physician for the Commission. What he
does is he’ll go out and review the information. He’ll
talk to experts in the field if it’s something beyond his
basic level of practice or knowledge. And so he’ll have
his consultants and specialists he’ll talk to, in this case
endocrinologists or something along those lines, that helps him
in these issues.
There’s
also a broader policy type issue. We have a medical advisory
board or medical advisory panel, which we have doctors with various
different specialties that come onboard and, again, if it’s
something that doesn’t fall within one of their specialties,
we’ll invite other experts in the field – specialists
in the field – to come and testify before the panel.
Dr.
Timothy Trainor is an orthopedic doctor, as in a doctor that
deals with bones & tissue. He’s not an endocrinologist.
The fact that anyone in the Nevada AG’s office or the state’s
Department of Business & Industry thinks that it’s a
good idea legally to allow an orthopedic doctor to grant hall
passes for testosterone usage is absolutely crazy. These people
are out of their minds.
Earlier, we mentioned Kizer’s obsession with trashing Margaret
Goodman. Here’s a perfect example of how Kizer tries to
go after not only VADA but anyone in the media supporting better
drug testing.
Translation: The writers are just a bunch of sock puppets.
But they have the supplemental testing, whether it’s done
by USADA (United States Anti-doping Association, a branch of
WADA) or VADA or somebody else, that’s something for the
contracting parties to decide. But I definitely would be in favor
of any additional drug testing that the applicable parties want
to do. But I’m not endorsing anybody. I know USADA and VADA
have had their war of words with each other because they both
want that dollar from the promoters. And they both have their
PR people masquerading as journalists in the press or in the
blogs pushing for them. I make it easy. You want to do a fight
here in Nevada? You have to come through the Commission and we’re
going to do any test we want to do. If you don’t like it,
you’re not fighting here. It’s very easy. There, they
have to fight it out, a peer battle and put each other down and
put other people down and try to get that buck, that ever important
buck. We don’t have to do that. So I just want to make it
clear that we’re not endorsing anybody.
Next,
Kizer goes back to his old routine about the T/E ratio, which
is really only one barometer to use for standard urine testing.
And the six to one, of course, came from what? That’s what
WADA has used for most of its existence. Most of the time they’ve
been doing T/E ratios, they have used six to one. You don’t
want to brand someone as a cheater. You don’t want these
false positives. To me, a false positive is a lot worse than
a false negative. It’s the whole thing about sending an
innocent man to jail or a guilty man going free.
WADA
uses 4:1 now, which leaves only a little room for false positives.
A small window, at best. However, what the VADA testing in the
Lamont Peterson case exposed is that you don’t need a high
T/E ratio to be caught cheating. VADA uses Carbon Isotope Ratio
testing, which is the same standard that Nevada uses only in
the appeals process when a fighter flunks a weaker drug test.
If that reads as hypocritical to you on Nevada’s part, it
is. It was the CIR test that revealed Peterson had been microdosing
on testosterone with pellets.
In the grand scheme of things, focusing singularly on the T/E
ratio is like being distracted by a shiny object.
Incredibly, Kizer defends his drug testing protocols by citing…
California!
I know I talked with the California Commission. They went from
six to one to four to one about two years ago. When I checked
with their recently departed executive officer a couple of months
ago, I said, “How many guys did you get – that you
test – that fell between four to one and six to one on their
T/E ratio?” And he said, “Keith, absolutely nobody.
Of the hundreds we tested, nobody.”
Of
course you’re not going to catch every cheater who knows
how to skate under the 4:1 ratio. Just ask Lamont Peterson. The
idea that Kizer would cite California’s drug testing protocols
after what happened recently at the Strikeforce show in San Diego
just blows my mind.
The icing on the cake from Kizer, unfortunately, is this gem
about more stringent drug testing protocols:
It’s funny, if you ask the people making the argument to
test everyone why they don’t do it themselves, they won’t
answer you because their answer is, they don’t have the
resources to do that. I don’t know any drug testing group
that tests every athlete in their jurisdiction every week. You
can’t. You can’t. And if you could, it wouldn’t
be fair to the athletes to do that. But you do what you can with
your resources, and obviously, we do very a good job with ours.
It’s
done in tennis, where you’re required to notify drug testing
authorities where you are located and at what time. What makes
Kizer’s act so tired and played out is that he keeps barking
about how testosterone usage can be harmful in combat sports
and yet says that athletes should be entitled to using it. It
always comes back to this axiom – if testosterone didn’t
enhance your performance, then nobody would be using it. If Kizer
believes so strongly in WADA standards, then why doesn’t
Nevada actually use them? Only a few athletes in the history
of the Olympics have ever been granted hall passes for testosterone,
including one individual who had a missing testicle. That’s
how high the bar is in order to get a TUE.
If you’re a steroid user, testosterone usage allows you
to double-dip and gives you more physical strength to inflict
head trauma against your opponent. If you suffer from brain damage
due to concussions, testosterone lets you continue fighting and
absorb more head trauma which results in more brain damage.
Apparently to Keith Kizer, selling out the health & safety
of fighters is worth justifying his $86,000 a year salary. I
wonder what kind of price tag a jury in a courtroom would put
on a fighter who gets severely injured, paralyzed, or killed
at the hands of an opponent who is a testosterone user. I suspect
the price tag for a verdict would be more than $86,000. I pray
that this scenario doesn’t happen but the environment has
unfortunately been fostered for an incident like this to occur
down the road. That is the legacy of Keith Kizer in the combat
sports landscape. He’s just lucky that the mainstream press
doesn’t take combat sports as seriously as they do baseball.
Otherwise, every new fighter being granted a testosterone hall
pass from Nevada would be getting chewed out like Melky Cabrera
or Bartolo Colon.
Baseball players who use testosterone are trying to hit a baseball
as hard as they can. Boxers & MMA fighters who use testosterone
are trying to concuss their opponent as hard as they can and
inflict trauma to the brain. You tell me which scenario should
require more scrutiny when it comes to testosterone usage. You
tell me which scenario is a bigger red flag in terms of legal
consequences. You tell me which scenario is more likely to cause
someone to get legitimately hurt and end someone’s career.
Source: Fighting Opinion |
Matt
Mitrione vs. Phil DeFries Added to UFC 155
A
heavyweight bout has been added to the upcoming UFC 155 fight
card with Matt Mitrione taking on British fighter Phil DeFries
on Dec. 29.
UFC
officials confirmed the fight on Friday.
Originally,
Mitrione was scheduled to be part of the UFC on FX 5 fight card
against Rob Broughton, but for unknown reasons that fight was
cancelled and now the former Ultimate Fighter shifts to later
this year.
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Good I Am” (UFC 137 video)
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Game? (UFC 137 video)
Mitrione instead faces Phil DeFries, who is coming off a win
over Oli Thompson from UFC on Fox 4 in early August.
The
two heavyweights will meet in a bout on the UFC 155 undercard
for the show headlined by heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos
vs. Cain Velasquez.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Patrick
Cote vs. Alessio Sakara On Deck for UFC 154 in Montreal
Patrick
Cote was gunning to face an Axe Murderer next but instead gets
Legionarius.
Following
his return to the UFC in July, Patrick Cote had been hoping to
land a fight with Wanderlei Silva, but ultimately the orgnaziation
opted to go another route.
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the Face
Instead, Cote will face heavy hitting Italian slugger Alessio
Sakara at UFC 154 in Montreal.
UFC
officials announced the new bout on Friday.
In
his return fight to the Octagon, Cote lost by decision to Cung
Le in a stand-up battle, and now looks to return to form when
he faces Sakara in November.
Sakara
will also try to erase the thoughts of his last fight, a knockout
loss to Brian Stann from April’s UFC on Fuel 2 show.
Cote
vs. Sakara will be part of the UFC 154 undercard headed to Montreal
on November 17.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Despite
motorcycle accident, Aldo confirmed for UFC Rio 3
Jose Aldo scared his coaches last Saturday. The UFC featherweight
champion, who has an appointment on October 13th at UFC Rio 3,
against Frankie Edgar, suffered a motorcycle crash in Copacabana,
when heading home. His motto was hit by a car.
The incident was reported by O Globo newspaper and TATAME confirmed
it with his coach Andre Pederneiras. According to Pederneiras,
the champion only got few scratches and a swollen foot, but it
will not get in the way of his next bout on the Wonderful City.
“Our only concern is the swollen foot, but there was no
fracture. He is gonna rest this week and get back to training
next week”, said the champ’s coach, on a chat with
TATAME. “He also got some scratches on his knee, leg and
butt, but we believe there won’t be a problem”.
Besides a little scolding, Andre prohibited the fighter from
driving motorcycles to avoid other risks in the future. “He’s
prohibited from riding a motto”, warns.
Além de um puxão de orelha, Dedé vetou seu
lutador de dirigir motocicletas para evitar mais riscos no futuro.
“Ele está proibido de andar de moto”, avisa.
Source: Tatame |
Vitor
Belfort training for fight of his life against Jon Jones at UFC
152
Vitor
Belfort is motivated like almost never before in his lengthy
career.
“I
make my own odds,” begins the challenger to the light heavyweight
belt in the following video, shot during a training session for
his September 22 fight in Canada.
To
anyone doubters, Belfort sends the following message:
“I
come from the old days, Carlson Gracie times. He was my coach.
He used to teach me, ‘We gotta be ready every day.’
… I’m training, getting prepared to fight the best
fight of all times.”
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
DESTINY: Na Koa will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at
the Neal Blaisdell Arena. Tickets are available at the Blaisdell
Box Office, any ticket master outlet (walmart locations), ticketmaster.com
or charge by phone. Tickets on sale now starting at just $35.
Prelim amateur fights will begin at 3pm. Main card will begin
at 6pm. A full card of action that will surely give you your
money’s worth.
This will be the most action packed DESTINY MMA event to date,
as we have a little bit of everything for you MMA fans. We have
Hawaii vs Mainland/Brazil matchups, Pro Title Fights, women MMA
matches, top local talent, upcoming amateurs, matchups that will
have you on your fight the whole fight, especially the main event
showdown that will be an all out war when Charles “Kid Khaos”
Bennett aka “Krazy Horse” of Florida, battles Waianae’s
“Immortal Warrior” Johnavan Vistante. The war of words
between these 2 have been intense on the social networks, so
don’t expect these 2 to touch gloves at the start of round
1.
Also, that night UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva will
be in attendance, as 3 of his students from Brazil takes on our
local fighters. Stay tuned for our Silva meet and greet time
and location.
And a fight that has a lot of the fans of women mma excited is
the battle of “Rocky’s” as Hawaii’s Raquel
Pa’aluhi takes on Raquel Pennington of Colorado in our 1st
Pro Women Title Match. Both go by the nickname “Rocky,”
so we shall see who will have the Rocky bragging rights that
night and walk away with our Pro Bantamweight Title.
Below is just our main card and title matches. The full prelim
amateur matches will be posted after weigh-in, since we all know
that many changes, dropouts or fighters with no paperwork always
happens in the last 2 weeks heading into event. Instead of updating
daily, I’ll just post the final card after weigh-ins is
official. For more info visit our website at www.destinymma.net.
***MAIN CARD***
-155lbs
Pro World Lightweight Title Match
Johnavan “Immortal Warrior” Vistante Jr (Team SYD,
Hawaii) vs Charles “Kid Khaos” Bennett (Florida)
-145lbs
Pro World Featherweight Title Match
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Damaso Pereira (Black
House Gym, Brazil)
-135lbs
Pro Women’s Title Match
Raquel Pa’aluhi (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Raquel Pennington
(Altitude MMA, Colorado)
-185lbs
Pro Middleweight Title
Sale Sproat (Molokai) vs Douglas Moura Silva (Black House Gym,
Brazil)
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Ray "Bradah Boy" Cooper III vs TBA
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Bruski Louis (Bulls Pen) vs Maki Pitolo (WOMMA)
-135lbs
Pro Bantamweight Match
Jireh Umi-Torres (Molokai) vs Ian Delacuesta (808 Fight Factory)
-155lbs
Pro Lightweight Match
Ben “Da King” Santiago (UKA, Hawaii) vs Paulo Silva
(Black House Gym, Brazil)
-125lbs
Angie Pereira (HMC) vs Haley Pasion (UKA)
***PRELIMS***
-205lbs
Amateur Light Heavyweight Title Match
Alex Pulotu-Steverson (Team Xtreme) vs Kevin Aguigui (Animal
House Gym)
-170lbs
Amateur Title Match
Sebastian Mariconda (HMC) vs Cody Andrade (SOMMA)
-145lbs
Amateur Women’s Title Match
Chantelle Berengue (Animal House Gym) vs Bryanna Fissori (SOMMA)
-155lbs
Amateur Title Match
Dan Ige (Gracie Technics) vs Robby Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord)
-185lbs
Amateur Title Match
Neale Johnson (SOMMA) vs Tillis Sionesini (Up N Up)
-135lbs
Amateur Title Match
Kevin Natividad (EightSixx BJJ) vs Brandon Mina (808 Top Team)
-Heavyweight
Interim Title Match
Kevin Herzog (Team Mixed Plate) vs Okala Makaiau
Bouts subject to change
Source: Event Promoter
|
Ultimate
Fighter 16 Full Cast Revealed
The
newest cast of the Ultimate Fighter has now been revealed with
32 participants squaring off for 16 spots in the latest edition
of the reality show.
UFC
officials announced the new cast on Thursday.
The
cast includes former Ultimate Fighter assistant coach Cameron
Diffley, who served as Forrest Griffin’s jiu-jitsu instructor
during season 7 of the show.
Other
notable names on the list include former Strikeforce competitor
Bristol Marunde, strength and conditioning coach and nutritionist
George Lockhart, and former Bellator middleweight tournament
contender Sam Alvey.
The
newest edition of the Ultimate Fighter will kick off on Friday,
Sept 14 with a special 2-hour edition of the show. The fighters
will be coached by former UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin
and former Ultimate Fighter winner Roy Nelson.
UFC
President Dana White expects nothing less than an interesting
show with Carwin and Nelson at the helm.
“Carwin
and Nelson are two guys who just can’t stand each other
and Roy and I haven’t exactly seen eye to eye either –
he’s been a nightmare for me to work with on this show with
all his stupid BS,” said UFC president Dana White via press
release on Thursday.
Several
high profile UFC fighters are also expected to appear on the
show in assistant coaching roles including former light heavyweight
champion Rashad Evans, as well as brothers Nate and Nick Diaz.
Here
is the full cast list for the Ultimate Fighter season 16:
Bristol
Marunde, 30, Las Vegas, Nev.
Cameron Diffley, 27, Las Vegas, Nev.
Colton Smith, 25, Fort Hood, Texas via Ankeny, Iowa
Cortez Coleman, 30, Hugo, Okla.
David Michaud, 23, Pine Ridge, S.D.
Diego Bautista, 26, Lakewood, Calif.
Dom Waters, 23, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Eddy Ellis, 29, Olympia, Wash.,
Frank Camacho, 23, Camp Springs, Md.,
George Lockhart, 29, Atlanta, Ga.
Igor Araujo, 31, Albuquerque, N.M. via Patos De Minas, Brazil
James Chaney, 25, Klamath Falls, Ore.
Jason South, 34, West Jordan, Utah
Jerel Clark, 23, Reno, Nev.
Jesse Barrett, 26, Tempe, Ariz.
Joey Rivera, 32, Tucson, Ariz.
Jon Manley, 26, Ludlow, Mass.
Julian Lane, 25, Mansfield, Ohio
Kevin Nowaczyk, 23, Chicago, Ill.
Leo Kuntz, 28, Bismarck, N.D.
Lev Magen, 25, Las Vegas, Nev.
Matt Secor, 25, South Glens Falls, N.Y.
Max Griffin, 26, Sacramento, Calif.
Michael Hill, 25, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Mike Ricci, 26, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Neil Magny, 24, Chicago, Ill.
Nic Herron-Webb, 22, Anchorage, Alaska
Ricky Legere Jr., 26, Corona, Calif.
Saad Awad, 23, San Bernardino, Calif.
Sam Alvey, 26, Murrieta, Calif.
Tim Ruberg, 30, Harrison, Ohio
Zane Kamaka, 23,
Waianae, Hawaii
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Eduard
Folayang Predicts ‘FOTN’ with Felipe Enomoto at One
FC 5, Hopes to Inspire Filipino Youth
By Mike
Whitman
If
Eduard Folayang is feeling any pressure ahead of his third One
Fighting Championship appearance, he certainly isn’t showing
it.
A
native of the Philippines and reigning Universal Reality Combat
Championship welterweight titlist, Folayang now finds himself
fighting on home soil in the co-headlining slot of One FC 5.
The event marks the Singapore-based promotion’s inaugural
trip to Folayang’s homeland and takes place Friday at the
Smart Araneta Coliseum in Manila.
“I
am so happy to be fighting in my home country. My skill was developed
here, and one way of giving back to Filipino people is to showcase
my talent here in my home country,” Folayang recently told
Sherdog.com “It is an honor, and I am very grateful to sir
Victor Cui and to One FC for giving me the opportunity to fight
in front of my fellow Filipinos.”
Folayang
will compete on the evening’s live pay-per-view stream against
Swiss competitor Felipe Enomoto. Though Enomoto has lost three
of his last four bouts, he notably submitted kickboxing veteran
Ole Laursen, the man who handed Folayang his first One FC defeat
via split decision on March 31.
“Enomoto
is a good fighter, and I am expecting an all-out war. I do not
think he will be afraid to keep the fight standing, and I know
he will not back down. Both my fights for ONE FC have been ‘Fight
of the Night,’ and I predict [the same for] this fight,”
said Folayang. “I am ready to go toe-to-toe with Felipe
for three rounds. If I can finish the fight before that, then
I will, but he is a very tough opponent. I want to show my skills
in striking, but if it something different happens, I am prepared
for anywhere the fight goes.”
Though
the 27-year-old has fought nearly half of his professional career
on home soil, his upcoming bout with Enomoto nonetheless serves
as a special occasion simply due to the platform on which he
will compete. Folayang now faces Enomoto at the same venue in
which Muhammad Ali bested Joe Frazier in their brutal third encounter
back in 1975, dubbed “The Thrilla in Manilla.”
“I
am very proud to represent the Philippines. A lot of people here
like MMA, and they see my fights on ESPN Star Sports, but this
is the first time One FC is coming to the Philippines,”
said Folayang. “I am happy that people can see me fight
for One FC in the arena and not just on TV.”
Friday’s
contest marks arguably the most pivotal moment in Folayang’s
career thus far, as the fighter looks to avoid suffering back-to-back
defeats for the first time. Though just a five-year pro in MMA,
Folayang has spent a total of 11 years honing his martial arts
skills to reach his current heights.
“I
started kickboxing when I was 16 years old, and after that I
transitioned into Wushu and became national champ and won three
medals at the Southeast Asian Games,” said Folayang. “In
2011, in Jakarta, Indonesia, I won the gold medal with a spinning
back kick knockout in the final. I would like to finish a fight
like that in MMA. It would be a good feeling.”
Though
Folayang says he is completely focused on Friday’s confrontation
with Enomoto, the lightweight hopes that this bout will serve
as a step toward his ultimate goal of becoming One FC champion
while inspiring other Filipinos to become mixed martial artists.
“I
am very happy with One FC, because it is the biggest promotion
in Asia and because it gives me the opportunity to fight in front
of so many fans in Manila. My focus is to become champion of
One FC. That is my dream, and that is my goal,” said Folayang.
“If young Filipinos have the talent and the heart to try
this sport, then why not try it? I hope I can be a good example
to young Filipinos, and if they decide to learn martial arts
because of me, I will be happy about that.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
UFC
Japan 2013 series starts next Spring
By Zach
Arnold
Mark
Fischer of UFC told Nikkan Sports the following:
UFC
Japan series starts in Spring 2013
The plan is for four house shows a year
The shows will be in 5,000-seat buildings
(Yokohama Bunka Gym, Osaka Prefectural Gym, Tokyo Bay NK Hall,
the like)
Won’t be UFC numbered shows but shows in order to find Japanese
talent and extend the UFC name into the marketplace
What wasn’t said is as interesting as what was said.
First,
is Japan going to be UFC’s primary Asian target market or
is it China, which is Mark’s home turf in Asia?
No
real talk about a television deal in the marketplace. As I’ve
said before, the over-the-air TV situation for combat sports
in Japan is terrible. The door has been slammed shut. The combat
sports business is too dirty right now for the networks to touch.
They don’t want any part of it. They would be interested
in a Japanese operation if it was big-time and clean but UFC
is not a Japanese operation. Will a Japan series change that?
No. It won’t really get them anywhere in terms of getting
a substantive TV deal in Japan. They’ll have to be content
with buying time from TV Tokyo for random 3 or 4 AM show airings
that don’t move the needle. That’s not UFC’s fault
but rather the way things are in Japan in 2012.
As
for what it means for the yakuza in combat sports, the gangs
on the ground are hurting big time for cash and the anti-yakuza
finance laws are targeting them in a big way. The police are
trying to clear out the gangs from some of the more notable buildings
so that there aren’t as many scams going on for protection
money of turf. That said, always expect the gangs to act like
stooges and try to sink their teeth into the UFC Japan series
either through managing talent or by trying to get an ‘in’
as a consultant. Dentsu has power and they can always take care
of the small fish but if the big fish get interested, you never
know. I doubt UFC will encounter much trouble with the smaller
buildings in the Tokyo area. The rest of the country may be a
different matter…
UFC
Japan 2012 at Saitama Super Arena turned out to be a last gasp
of big-scale MMA in Japan rather than a starting point. Even
if you believe the reports that Dentsu/Softbank had half the
arena comped for tickets, UFC still overachieved with that show.
But even bubbles burst and it’s clear that there was no
real momentum from that show for UFC to run big scale events
in Japan on a continuing basis. This is OK. It’s not bad
news nor is it a sign of any failure for them. It’s just
reality. Will UFC be able to draw big houses again in Japan?
The jury is still out on that one, but it makes it easier that
they really are the only ball game in town at this point. It
could go either way.
History
says that UFC looks at Japanese fighters and what they desire
in future prospects much differently than what the general Japanese
public thinks is appealing. The classic example is Tsuyoshi Kohsaka,
who the UFC coveted and he was an undercarder in RINGS. The public
cared little about Kohsaka, even after the UFC run, and cared
all about Kiyoshi Tamura. If the purpose of the UFC Japan shows
is to find talent that will be title-class, they may be in for
a disappointment given how the situation on the ground is right
now for the gyms and their kind of training. That and there simply
isn’t the level of high-end doping going on in the Japanese
gyms like there is at the American & Brazilian gyms. The
truth is the truth. If the mission of UFC is to try to find Japanese
fighters who can draw but may not be competitive worldwide, that
might be a more realistic goal. However, that’s not the
way UFC thinks. They always think with one mindset and not about
regional market preferences.
So,
I’m not entirely sure what the overall goal is for the UFC
Japan series other than it fulfills a contract with Dentsu, builds
some name recognition in Japan, and maybe they find a few fighters
in smaller weight classes. Just don’t expect a big splash
to happen as far as this series of shows booming into something
major. I like the overall concept but I don’t think the
UFC’s standard corporate philosophy meshes with the traditional
Japanese fan tastes very well. Here’s hoping they can find
some success and flush the bad guys out of the Japanese scene.
There’s still plenty of cockroaches that need to be fumigated.
Fight
Opinion
|
No
Lack of Motivation for Andrei Arlovski in Fourth Tim Sylvia Fight
By Dave
Doyle - Staff Writer
Trilogy
combatants tend to develop a healthy respect for one another
over the course of their battles. After all, if a pair of fighters
have squared off three times, it usually means they've fought
hard and well and elevated one another's games in the process.
Even
if they don't like the person on the other side of the cage,
their names become inextricably linked, like Chuck Liddell and
Randy Couture or Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
But
if Andrei Arlovski has any respect for Tim Sylvia, he isn't letting
on. As the two get set to square off for the fourth time in the
main event of OneFC 5 on Friday in the Philippines, Arlovski
refuses to give his rival any due.
"He
is a dick," Arlovski told MMAFighting.com in an interview
from Manila. "Normally I respect my opponents, but I do
not respect him."
Arlovski
and Sylvia fought over the UFC heavyweight title three times
in 17 months in 2005-06. Arlovski took the interim title from
Sylvia in 47 seconds with an Achilles lock at UFC 51; Sylvia
scored a first-round knockout victory to take the heavyweight
strap at UFC 59, then Sylvia retained the title via unanimous
decision at UFC 61.
But
the personal bad blood between the two has never been settled.
If anything, given that Sylvia dated Arlovski's ex-girlfriend
years after the two had their final fight, it's gotten worse.
So
when Arlovski found out last month that Soa Palelei dropped out
of his scheduled fight with Arlovski and Sylvia was taking his
place, the Belarus native couldn't have been happier.
"When
I found out I was fighting Tim Sylvia it was the best day of
my life," Arlovski said. "I don't like him, I don't
respect him and I will have no problem kicking him in the head
and stomping on his body. It will be fun.
"I
do not need motivation to fight pee pee mouth. I do not want
to beat him by decision or submission. I want to knock him out."
For
Arlovski, though, the former champion isn't just looking to smash
his most hated rival. He's also on a mission to prove that his
best days aren't behind him.
There's
really no way around it: Arlovski had some ugly moments. He suffered
three first-round knockouts in just over two years, getting his
bell rung by Brett Rogers, Fedor Emelianenko, and Sergei Kharitonov.
Arlovski
acknowledged that the ferocity of his losses caused him to rethink
his career path. Since the Kharitonov fight, Arlovski has won
his past two fights via strikes. While the opposition, Ray Lopez
and Travis Fulton, aren't exactly ranked foes, the wins have
been a step in the right direction.
"What
my losses made me think was that I needed to take my career more
seriously and to train right," Arlovski said. "Now
I have two knockouts in my last two fights so I am not thinking
about quitting, only about making other people want to quit.
I am only 33 years old, I am still young and I plan to fight
for many more years."
Arlovski
has trained in New Mexico with Greg Jackson, and he credits the
coach of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and interim
welterweight champ Carlos Condit for improving his approach to
training camp.
"I
have had the best trainers, the best sparring partners, the best
possible preparation," he said. "In the past this has
not been the case, but now that I am with Greg Jackson I am a
completely different fighter, I am motivated, I am well conditioned
and well prepared. I am dangerous."
Presumably
said preparation includes OneFC's hybrid of Unified and PRIDE-style
rules, the latter of which includes the legalization of foot
stomps and soccer kicks to downed opponents.
"I
am not just ready for [PRIDE-style rules], I am very happy about
it," Arlovski said. "Getting to fight Tim Sylvia again
was a wonderful gift and when I found out I could stomp on him
too, it was like Christmas."
The
bout is expected to draw a capacity crowd to the Smart Areneta
Coliseum in Manila. It will be available online, with a free
stream of the undercard beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET/5:30 a.m. PT
on Friday; the main card is available for $9.99.
While
Arlovski doesn't know what the future holds, he's just glad to
have an opportunity he wasn't sure he'd ever get.
"I
am a fighter and I like to fight and I like to get paid,"
he said. "I am happy that 16,000 people will be there, one
day they can tell their grandchildren that they were there when
Andrei Arlovski smashed Tim Sylvia into retirement.
"I
still feel good, 33 is very young in heavyweight years and some
heavyweights have not even started MMA until this age. My lifestyle
is completely different from what it was before, I am not 23
years old anymore, I am focused on training and fighting, not
night clubs and partying. I just want to fight and to win and
to get paid, I will be doing that for a long time."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
UFC
Planning Four Smaller Japan-Centric Events for 2013
by AsianMMA.com
The
UFC is putting together a Japan-only series that will take place
throughout 2013, according to the Japanese sportspaper NikkanSports.
The
company has been planning to put together a series of events
that will take place within smaller venues in Japan. Four events
will take place throughout 2013, according to the report. The
series will be “Japanese fighter” centric, said Mark
Fisher, the UFC’s Asian chief. The plan is to hold the events
in a venue to be named with a target attendance of about 5,000
people.
The
Japanese series will not fall into the UFC’s numbered series
of events. No word was given as to broadcast plans for the series,
but it seems the ball is rolling for 2013.
The
UFC returned to Japan this year with great fanfare with UFC 144:
Edgar vs. Henderson. Fans packed Saitama Super Arena to watch
some of the companies biggest names from both present and past
put on an exciting show. Benson Henderson captured the UFC lightweight
championship from Frankie Edgar at the February event.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Wanderlei
Silva’s homage to father at wake: “He was my hero”
Wanderlei
Silva and father Holando in Curitiba earlier this year / Photo
taken from internet
At
around 5 pm last Sunday, Holando Silva, 63, died in a powerful
collision on a stretch of highway PR 090 in Castro, 156 km outside
of Curitiba, Brazil. A few hours later his family telephoned
his son Wanderlei in Las Vegas to inform him of the tragedy.
Holando
was driving a Ford F-1000 and hit a Corsa head on. The two drivers
died on impact, and the force of the collision was such that
it totaled the pickup truck and sent it into a ravine. Three
other people, including two children, were injured.
Holando
was returning to his home in the Abapan District, where he had
lived happily for the last nine years after retiring from running
the bar at which Wand worked as a young man.
The
UFC and Pride FC star arrived in Brazil early morning on Tuesday
for the wake and burial at Abapan Cemetery, near the site of
the accident. Wand was welcomed by hordes of fans and onlookers,
thanked them and spoke in tribute to his father: “He was
my hero,” he is reported as saying on the Portal Ponta Grossa
website.
In
the GRACIEMAG.com comments section, one reader provided a synthesis
of the sentiments of his fans: “Wand, again it is time for
you to show that you’re stronger than life!”
The
GRACIEMAG team sends its heartfelt condolences to the black belt
and his family.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Bellator
Champ Michael Chandler Moves Camp from Xtreme Couture to Alliance
MMA
By Mike
Chiappetta - Senior Writer
It's
been a rapid ascent to the top for Michael Chandler, who had
barely been training in mixed martial arts for two years when
he defeated Eddie Alvarez to capture the Bellator lightweight
championship. It was a rise he credits mostly to his time at
Xtreme Couture, the Las Vegas-based camp that has spawned many
stars. But after nearly three years spent in the gambling capital
of the world, Chandler has taken a risk of his own. It's rare
for a champion to leave a camp; it's rarer still for someone
unbeaten to move on, but it's a change he's decided to make.
Chandler
has recently taken his perfect record to San Diego, where he
has begun training with Alliance MMA, the home of UFC bantamweight
champ Dominick Cruz, as well as notables including Phil Davis,
Alexander Gustafsson and Brandon Vera.
The
move came about two months ago, and while Chandler told MMA Fighting
that it was a difficult decision to make, it's so far proven
to be the right one.
"It’s
just a really healthy atmosphere," said Chandler, who is
awaiting a title defense against Rick Hawn. "I compare it
to a college wrestling atmosphere. Everyone shows up, looks at
the coach and the coach says, 'We’re doing this,' and the
guys say let's do it. It's just a cool team atmosphere where
everyone has respect and listens to the coaches.
"Obviously
they have really good striking there," he continued. "You
look at Cruz's striking, Ross Pearson's boxing, Jeremy Stephens'
knockout power, Brandon Vera and the list goes on. It's a great
situation for striking and Eric Del Fierro is a great striking
coach. It's cool to have a lot of strikers there. I worked a
ton on my hands on straight boxing with [Xtreme Couture's] Gil
Martinez, but I plan on trying to get as well-rounded as I can
be, so I want to add knees and kicks and elbows, and all kinds
of unconventional stuff, and rounding out my game. That's the
biggest thing, to add new strikes to my game."
Ironically,
the seeds for his move were at least indirectly planted by his
old coach, Martinez.
The
most recent edition of The Ultimate Fighter featured Cruz coaching
against rival Urijah Faber. The show taped in Las Vegas, and
Cruz moved most of his Alliance team there for the duration of
the show's filming. Martinez, who is friendly with Del Fierro,
told Chandler that it might be a good idea to train with the
group while they were in town. In turned into a regular thing
and Chandler worked with them for the majority of his most recent
camp.
After
Cruz and company wrapped up taping and returned back home, Chandler
knew he wanted to at least visit San Diego and make a test run
with the group on their home turf. He stayed in Del Fierro's
house for two weeks and decided it was the right situation for
him.
Chandler
(10-0) says he left Xtreme Couture on good terms and hopes to
work with both Martinez and grappling coach Neil Melanson again.
He also gives them full credit for building his skills up so
quickly. But MMA is about evolution, and moving to Alliance is
the move that he feels will best position him to best prepare
for upcoming challenge.
"I'll
always say that Gil got my hands to where they were up to that
Alvarez fight," he said. "He's still my friend and
I'll go to him for advice. And when it came to my training partners,
I told each I was heading out and I was making a tough decision
but it was one I had to make. I told them all if they call me
and need me for something, I'm there for them. The fight game
is crazy sometimes. It's one of those things where it's kind
of the natural progression of your career. It's one of those
things where I'll look back in a couple years and either say
it was a great decision or it wasn't a great decision. Right
now it feels right, and it's felt right ever since I was in Vegas
and felt like I wanted to move to San Diego and join the team.
So it's working out great right now."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Thales
Leites fires back to Anderson Silva: ‘We were never friends’
By Luca
Gomes
Wednesday
29th was the day Anderson Silva went back a few years to talk
about his fight against Thales Leites, at UFC 97, on 18th of
April, 2009. On the interview, the current UFC middleweight champion
said waited until the end when facing Thales because they were
friends. Inside the octagon, Spider defeated the countryman via
points.
But
this Wednesday, the 30th, Thales Leites got in touch with TATAME
to respond, on an open letter, Anderson’s statements. Check
below the point of view of the Nova Uniao athlete on the complete
letter:
“First
of all, I would like to say Anderson has never been or went to
Nova Uniao. I have never seen him around, we were never friends,
only professional colleagues. No doubt he is a great fighter.
If he says he was easy on me because he considers me to be his
‘friend’, I don’t agree. The fight was not finished
because neither of us could do it. People criticized me a lot
after the fight with Anderson, I really should have done more
and gone for it but the guys who came after me did not do things
much different. The ones who tried to stand-up with him got exposed
and were knocked out and the one who used the game plan of taking
him down was defeated on the judges’ decision, like me.
I think it’s funny a champion that always prays on the interviews
to respect the other and martial arts to say something like that.
I am a fighter and I respect everyone, I know what a fighter
goes through to get there. We all have good and bad moments in
our career, after all our like is just a big rollercoaster with
ups and downs. But we have got to stay humble and stay quiet
about subjects that do not add anything. There is no superman,
we are all human beings”.
Nova
União head-coach, Andre Pederneiras also comment on the
case on another open letter sent to TATAME.
“To
begin with, I would like to thank to the great champion Anderson
Silva for having mentioned our team on the show. We are very
flattered. On the other hand, we do not agree with what he said
about training on the team during the preparation for that fight
and, mainly, the way he mentioned our athlete Thales Leites.
We are sad to hear him saying he took easy on the guy. Nova Uniao
trains its athletes to become the bests in the world and sometimes
we are successful and others we are not, like with Thales VS.
Anderson.
I
ask the champion that if we have another contender in the future
so that he do not make it easy on him. We do not believe that
is what actually happened. Anderson did not finish the fight
because he could not. It is very bad for us years after that
fight to hear a speech undermining our work and everything we
have done for the sport, like trainings, tactics and everything
else. Undermining a team, a coach and mainly an athlete. Actually
this kind of statements does even more: undermines the 20 others
guys Thales has fought and came out as the winner, well known
athletes who fight on the worldwide MMA circuit.
Champion,
Nova Uniao will always root for you. Congratulations for your
success.
P.S.:
The first thing I told to my athletes Eduardo Dantas and Marco
Loro when the pairing up was confirmed was so that they should
fight for real when the Bellator title fight comes. Go there
and fight and then we will all eat pizza together, but during
the fight, do your best to finish the fight. MMA fans don’t
deserve that and even less your friends and teammate. That is
it.
Graciously,
Andre Pederneiras”
Source:
Tatame
|
‘Uncle
Creepy’ Ian McCall Released from Jail after Aug. 14 Arrest
for Suspended License
By Mike
Whitman
UFC
flyweight Ian McCall has been released from the Orange County
Central Men’s Jail after spending more than two weeks in
custody.
McCall
was arrested on Aug. 14 in Irvine, Calif., in relation to a June
charge of driving with a suspended license. McCall was sentenced
to one year of probation and $300 in fines after pleading guilty
to the charge on Aug. 21, according to the Superior Court of
California County of Orange website.
Known
as “Uncle Creepy,” McCall first introduced himself
to a national audience as a bantamweight in the WEC, going 1-2
in the organization before receiving his release in early 2009.
After spending nearly two years on the sideline during which
he battled drug addiction, McCall returned to competition in
2010 and soon made the cut to 125 pounds, where he found success
competing for Tachi Palace Fights and, more recently, the UFC.
McCall
was last seen squaring off with Demetrious Johnson in the semifinals
of the UFC’s inaugural flyweight title tournament, fighting
“Mighty Mouse” to a majority draw in their first encounter
before dropping a unanimous nod to Johnson in the June 8 rematch.
The 28-year-old was expected to return to action on Aug. 4 to
face John Moraga, but McCall was forced to withdraw from that
UFC on Fox 4 booking due to injury.
Source
Sherdog
|
Frankie
Edgar Moving to Featherweight, Agrees to Fight Jose Aldo at UFC
153 with Koch Injured
by Ken
Pishna and Damon Martin
The
injury bug takes no prisoners.
UFC
153 took the hit on Thursday when Erik Koch fell out of his main
event challenge of UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo due to
an undisclosed injury.
While
many events take a pretty big hit when a main eventer drops out
– UFC 151 was recently cancelled due to just such a scenario
– sometimes things work out for the better.
Koch,
a worthy contender, carried little name value into the match-up
with Aldo, but the UFC brass has already replaced him with former
UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Edgar’s manager,
Ali Abdel-Aziz of Dominance MMA, confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com.
Edgar
recently announced that he was dropping down to the 145-pound
division, but expected that he would have to fight at least once
or twice before getting a shot at the champ.
When
the UFC comes calling with a title shot in hand, however, it
makes for a difficult offer to pass up.
The
fight offers Edgar more than the opportunity to jump right back
into the championship mix after recently failing to regain the
lightweight belt from Benson Henderson at UFC 150. It also offers
him a spot in UFC history.
BJ
Penn and UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, thus far, are the only
two fighters to ever capture belts in two different UFC weight
classes. Edgar could become the third if he were to defeat Aldo.
Edgar
and Aldo will square off in the UFC 153 main event on Oct. 13
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The
news of Koch’s injury and Edgar stepping in was first reported
by USA Today.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Source: Wally Carvalho
|
George
St-Pierre Gets Green Light to Fight Carlos Condit, Heavy Favorite
by Oddsmakers
Now that Georges St-Pierre has declared that he is healthy and
has the green light to fight Carlos Condit at UFC 154 on Nov.
17 in Montreal, it’s time for the oddsmakers to chime in.
St-Pierre will have been out of action for more than a year and
a half come fight time, but that hasn’t swayed the betting
public away from the champ. He is a heavy favorite, despite Condit’s
victories over Nick Diaz, Jake Ellenberger, and GSP teammate
Rory MacDonald.
Case in point, Nick Kalikas of MMAOddsBreaker.com currently has
the line set at -355 for St-Pierre to Condit’s +265. In
a nutshell, that means that you’d have to place a $355 wager
on St-Pierre in order to win $355, while a $100 wager on Condit
would return $265, if he were to upset GSP.
That’s not near the disparity of the UFC 152 line on Jon
Jones and Vitor Belfort, where Jones was instilled as a 9-to-1
favorite, but it is still leans heavily in St-Pierre’s favor.
It’s actually a wider gap than the line was back in February
after Condit defeated Diaz, solidifying his shot at the champ.
With nearly three months left until fight time, the line could
change considerably depending upon how the betting public wagers
its money. St-Pierre, however, is largely considered one of the
top two or three pound-for-pound fighters in the world, so it’s
not likely to change too much into Condit’s favor.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Starting
’Em Young
By Jeff
Sherwood
HANFORD,
Calif. -- In a day and age in which youth sports has become a
global business behind Little League Baseball, Pop Warner Football,
the American Youth Soccer Association and many other prevalent
organizations, can we expect to see similar brands develop in
mixed martial arts?
The
California Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Organization offers such
a program: CAMO Juniors/Pankration. The Selma Enterprise took
notice of the 559 Fights promotion’s recent matchup between
Jace Luchau, 11, and Austin Terry, 12. Not all greeted the idea
with open arms.
“Some
parents are questioning football, with all its injuries, concussions,”
one post read. “Nope. Football just isn’t brutal enough
for this wonderful family. It’s amazing how some parents
treat their kids no better than, oh, pitbulls. But then animals
have a better lobbyist.”
That
may sound harsh, but we all know there are still people out there
that feel the same way about MMA, in general. It figures to be
a long and bumpy road to acceptance for youth MMA. You can find
the rules and regulations that are in place here: http://camo-mma.org/public/downloads/RULES_REGS_2010.11.20.pdf.
Those related to youth can be found in Chapter 2. A few of the
rules:
•
Competitors must be over 8 years old
• Contestants under the age of 18 must wear headgear
• Any swelling or bleeding will result in the fight being
stopped
• Shin guards are optional
• Opponents under the age of 18 shall not have more than
a 10-pound difference or two years in age difference
• CAMO may, at its discretion, authorize alternate rules
or provisions for Pankration from time to time, so long as the
safety and welfare of the contestants and public is not jeopardized
After
watching the fight between Luchau and Terry, it became apparent
that the rules needed to be tweaked if this venture is going
to be successful. Still, it is a start. We often see the young
athletes of the world growing up in their favorite sports, honing
their skills in an attempt to become the next Derek Jeter, Lebron
James or Tony Romo. Why would we not want to afford others, like
Luchau and Terry, the chance to become the next Anderson Silva,
Georges St. Pierre or Jon Jones?
There
were two junior bouts in California on Aug. 18. They took place
roughly three hours apart, the aforementioned one in Hanford
and the other in Los Angeles. A match between the son of Ultimate
Fighting Championship veteran Antonio McKee and Cesar Grijalva
unfolded in Los Angeles. Luchau earned a third-round stoppage;
McKee won a unanimous decision.
Afterward,
I made a few phone calls to gauge opinion and solicit comments
from those involved. J.T. Steele, a CAMO representative, was
the first person with whom I spoke. We talked about rules and
regulations, and he was open to suggestion. He admitted the venture
was a work in progress and realizes some rules need to be adjusted
in order for it to be successful.
I
then contacted McKee to ask him how he felt about his son’s
experience. He brought up many of the same concerns I have regarding
strikes, chokes, headgear and other rules. He made one point
I found particularly profound, claiming the regulations in place
are “creating bad habits. There are no head strikes, even
though they have headgear on, so fighters keep their hands down.
That’s not a good habit to pick up.”
Finally,
I touched base with Jeremy Luchau, matchmaker and promoter for
559 Fights and the father of Jace Luchau.
“I
think with the growth of MMA and its appeal to the younger generations,
not only will more kids start to train, but [they will] also
compete, just like our youth has done with football, basketball
and baseball,” he said. “It took time in the early
years of our sport to develop a widely accepted set of rules
and regulations, and I think with youth MMA in its infancy it
will take some time to work all the kinks out.”
In
the long run, I think the junior division will be good for the
sport. Now, do not get me wrong. I have no interest in seeing
two 11-year-olds duke it out like Forrest Griffin and Stephan
Bonnar at “The Ultimate Fighter 1” Finale. However,
athletes in all sports deserve an avenue through which to improve
and live out their dreams. Regardless of where youth MMA goes
in the future, it needs to be heavily monitored and strongly
regulated.
“I
think at the forefront of everyone's mind is safety for the youth
fighters, and I believe that is a good thing,” Luchau said.
“I believe CAMO is moving in the right direction to tweak
and adjust some of their rules, and overall this will be as safe
if not safer than many other youth sports.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
Chat
Wrap: UFC 151 Fallout, Why Jon Jones Is Right and UFC 152 Discussion
By Luke
Thomas - Senior Editor
The mixed martial arts world is divided. On the one hand, there
are those who view UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones' decision
to not fight former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen on last-minute
notice as a sign of selfishness if not outright cowardice. They
suggest he owes the UFC and MMA to have kept the UFC 151 event
going when Dan Henderson withdrew due to injury. These people
include fans, UFC President Dana White, several fighters and
many others.
There is another, group, however. They believe Jones was not
only well within his rights to decline the fight, but even made
the smart choice. They believe UFC 151's cancellation was not
Jones' fault. After all, he didn't book the card and he didn't
cancel the event. UFC did, they say. They also argue Sonnen filling
in last minute is a cynical ploy to keep a watered-down pay-per-view
event going and Jones is being made the scapegoat for a problem
that isn't his to solve nor his creation.
I will tell you today when the latter group is correct.
Join me today at 1 p.m. ET for this week's installment of the
live chat. We'll breakdown every angle of the UFC 151 cancellation
and look ahead to UFC 152. We'll also address whatever topics
are on your mind. And thanks to the technology of Google +, now
you can be a part of the chat.
As is customary, I'll post the video window here as the event
draws near and I'll answer any questions you may have if you
post them in the comments section below.
If you want to join me on Google+ and let everyone see your face,
now you can. Go to today's livechat Google + page. If you're
interested, drop a note and I'll add you to my circles. Once
you're in, I can invite you through to the chat. Just want to
participate in the comments? No problem. Participate however
you feel most comfortable.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Jens
Pulver Remembering What He Was and What He Could Still Be
Jens Pulver is a legend of MMA, but over the last few years his
trials and tribulations in fighting have been on public display
for everyone to watch.
Going 4-8 over his last 12 fights, Pulver has battled to find
his place in a sport he helped build not that long ago, but now
as he heads into his first bout for ONE FC, he knows to stay
relevant you have to win.
To get back on the winning track, Pulver needs to beat rising
star Eric Kelly this weekend and to do that, he knows he has
to remember what made him great, and what he’s still capable
of doing inside the cage.
MMAWeekly.com: What are your thoughts on Eric Kelly?
Jens Pulver: Nothing’s easy with this kid, he throws everything
hard, he’s got a big country on his shoulders and he wears
that with pride. He’s got the craziest rear naked choke
I’ve ever seen, he hits it from different spots that I haven’t
really seen before and all around athleticism and agility, while
my agility is starting to slide his is still fine. I know how
fast he is, If I don’t hit him hard he’s going to start
steamrolling me and once he starts doing that it’s like
trying to roll a ball up a hill, it’s hard to stop so I
can’t let him get to that point.
I know what it was like to be young and fight a guy who was a
former world champion. I know how you are motivated for that
I know how that pushes you and if he comes out and lands six,
seven, eight shots off the bat, like I said about that ball rolling
down the hill, I can’t stop that so I’ve gotta get
in there right off the bat and let him know ‘hey, I just
play with the name old, I can still throw punches!’
MMAWeekly: There will be 16,500 fans in the Araneta Coliseum,
after being UFC champion and fighting for Pride how much do you
need such a big stage to motivate you?
JP: I need that motivation. People read about my losses and I’m
not going to get into it but depression and anxiety are hard
to beat and they caught up to me. Having opponents that are top
notch makes the difference, when I’m sitting there and I’m
fighting a smaller show and I don’t know who my opponent
is, you know he’s going to come at me 1,000-percent but
I got no idea about him. A guy like Eric Kelly I know my work
is going to be cut out for me against him, I know who he is and
I know to fear him because I know about him and that makes me
train a lot harder.
MMAWeekly: How is your weight right now (approx 3pm Wednesday
afternoon!)?
JP: Right now I’m heavy, I am at 153 which is right where
I wanna be. I’m trying to stay big, but my days of being
the 155 lbs kingpin are over, those guys are way too big. Normally
I’m a 135lber which was my high school weight but coming
up from 135 to fight a guy like this at 145, I was all for it.
MMAWeekly: What sort of things have you been doing to prepare
yourself for this fight?
JP: I have been remembering what it was like to be the world
champion, this guy that had no fear, that took on anybody. You
hit me once I’ll hit you twice, you hit me twice I’ll
hit you eight times. I’m gonna take you into deep water
and I’m gonna drown you. I spend a lot of my time trying
to remember what I was and what I still could be and why I am
out there doing it.
For me it’s about the motivation, I could beat the national
champion in wrestling one day and then come out the next day
and lose to the worst guy because I’m an emotional guy and
I’m an emotional fighter. I wish before I fight somebody
would slap my mother, insult my family, say something about my
kids, something to make me mad. When I come out there and I’m
cool and casual and it’s like a sparring session I know
I’m in trouble but coming and fighting on a show like this
against a young star like Eric Kelly, it’s motivating and
I need that.
Source: MMA Weekly
|
Bráulio
Carcará’s MMA lessons: “Some things only click
once you’re in there”
Contributor:
Junior Samurai
Braulio
Estima (black trunks) sets up the shot for takedown to tap out
Chris Holland at Titan FC last weekend. Photo by Ryan Loco/publicity.
At 32 years of age, Bráulio “Carcará”
Estima made his long awaited MMA debut last Friday in Kansas
City, Missouri, USA, at the MMA event Titan FC 24.
The decorated Jiu-Jitsu competitor and ADCC 2011 superchampion
choked Chris Holland unconscious with an arm-and-neck choke 3:21
minutes into their fight, to the joy of Estima’s Gracie
Barra and Blackzilians teammates, including Vitor Belfort, Rashad
Evans and others.
The Zé Radiola student then spoke to GRACIEMAG.com about
what he learned with the experience:
GRACIEMAG.com: Was it an arm-triangle you’ll remember for
the rest of your life? How did it come together?
BRÁULIO ESTIMA: Yes, for sure. I feel the arm-and-neck
choke is one of my greatest weapons. Once I get my elbow around—whether
in mount, half-guard or sometimes even in side-control—,
I’m really close to my objective of ending the fight. I
try and focus on not letting that elbow slip off throughout the
entire process. I use that whole part of my body, but the most
important part is the readjustment of the shoulder against the
opponent’s neck right after I get his arm across to the
other side of his head.
At what point in your debut did you have the most fun?
It was a great experience for me. I enjoyed every minute of it,
from training all the way to cutting weight. I feel everything
went as smoothly as possible. I learned a lot throughout the
journey and mainly during the fight itself. There are some aspects
of Jiu-Jitsu that only click once you’re in there; it’s
something you can’t explain.
Do you feel you made many mistakes? Is there anything you’d
like to iron out for the next ones?
Yes, the biggest mistake I made was to go overboard with the
food after making weight in Kansas City. I ate so much that I
had to throw up after not managing to kick the mitts during warm-up.
I wasn’t sick; I was just stuffed (laughs).
And what about during the fight?
I feel I have to walk in to the cage already revved up for war,
because I went in there really relaxed, expecting things to build
up slowly… And it builds up the whole time; you can’t
let yourself lose focus. I also feel I need to position my guard
better, seeing as the little gloves don’t protect you from
your opponent’s strikes much. Anyone who does a lot of boxing
has to be keen to that.
Do you have any tips for Jiu-Jitsu fighters who are thinking
about practicing MMA?
To be a professional, it’s really important that you’ve
got a foundation on your feet, even if it’s just enough
of one to distract the opponent before shooting in on his legs.
I recommend doing a lot of wrestling up against the wall and
Jiu-Jitsu with the gloves on, shirtless and with Vaseline on
your face to simulate what it’s really like in there, because
it’ really slippery. I liked it; it was a good first step.
Now I need to improve my guard to not end up backpedaling, which
is where the danger lies.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Thompson
vs. Yousef on Tap for UFC 154
By MMA
Fighting Newswire - Author
Stephen Thompson and Besam Yousef will square off at UFC 154,
according to UFC Tonight on Tuesday.
Both
fighters are coming off their first career MMA loss. Yousef (6-1)
was submitted by Simeon Thoresen at UFC on FUEL TV 2 this past
April, while Thompson (6-1) lost a unanimous decision to Matt
Brown at UFC 145 in April as well.
UFC 154 will be held Nov. 17 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Georges St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit is expected to be the main
event.
Source: MMA Fighting
|
Sylvia
wants to KO and retire Arlovski
By Guilherme
Cruz
Tim
Sylvia once was the number one in the UFC but now has to climb
some stairs. Coming from seven wins within eight fights, the
North American confronts Andrei Arlovski this Friday in One FC.
The
athletes fought each other three times in the UFC, and Tim has
one more win than his opponent. This Friday he wants to enlarge
the advantage with a knockout win.
“I
want to kick his teeth down his throat and shut him up once and
for all. I already beat the crap out of him a couple of times,
knocked him out took his belt away again and then sent him to
the minor leagues so I'm not surprised he's upset. I want to
make an example of him and beat him into retirement”, shoot
Sylvia on an interview with TATAME.
Check
below the interview with Tim, who talks about the critics shot
at him when defeated by Ray Mercer, in 2009, after the losses
to Fedor Emelianenjo and Rodrigo Minotauro and also comments
on the mess revolving Strikeforce after rumors of him fighting
Daniel Cormier.
How
was your preparation for this fight?
I
am not approaching this fight differently from any other although
I know he is. My preparation has been good, I'm cutting about
20 lbs and I feel good.
You
defeated Andrei twice. What motivated you to accept this fight?
Do you feel you still have something to prove against him?
I
want to kick his teeth down his throat and shut him up once and
for all. I already beat the crap out of him a couple of times,
knocked him out took his belt away again and then sent him to
the minor leagues so I'm not surprised he's upset. I want to
make an example of him and beat him into retirement.
You’re
back with good performances. Where do you expect to go with a
win over Andrei?
I
have a three-fight deal with One FC so I plan to win all three
fights and then after that we will see.
You
heard many critics after your loss to Ray Mercer in 2009. How
you face the critics at that time and it helped you to get back
on track?
I
made a mistake, I have fought 38 times and anything can happen
in the cage. That's why this is such a great sport. I made a
mistake and I got punished for it and it's up to me to learn
from that and make sure I don't make that same mistake again.
I don't pay a lot of attention to what other people say so the
critics don't bother me.
You
were expected to fight Cormier at Strikeforce, but that didn’t
happen, and now you’re fighting in a big promotion like
One FC. How do you see these changes?
Well
I was ready to face Daniel Cormier and Zuffa wanted me to fight
him and then they changed their mind. I'm happy to be back in
the big leagues again with ONE FC and to have a fight coming
up.
One
FC is expected to create titles later this year. Do you expect
to fight for the heavyweight belt with a win over Andrei?
I'd
like to fight for the ONE FC belt and I am ready to do that.
Who
do you believe should be your opponent?
I
don't choose my opponents, that's up to One FC but I'm ready
to fight anyone
Source:
Tatame
|
8-Month
Layoff No Concern for Bibiano Fernandes Ahead of One FC 5 Clash
with Gustavo Falciroli
By Mike
Whitman
Bibiano
Fernandes may not be a member of the UFC roster, but that’s
just fine by the former two-division Dream champion.
UFC
officials erroneously announced Fernandes’ signing this
summer, and the MMA media followed suit in reporting the 32-year-old’s
apparent UFC 149 booking against Roland Delorme. The only problem
was that Fernandes had not actually put pen to paper.
Instead,
“The Flash” elected to sign with Singapore-based promotion
One FC and is now poised to make his organizational debut against
Australia’s Cage Fighting Championship bantamweight titlist
Gustavo Falciroli in the main event of One FC 5 One FC 5 "Pride
of a Nation." The event takes place Friday at the Smart
Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines, and streams live
on pay-per-view.
“[Signing
with One FC] was better for me and my family. Why would I go
fight [in the] UFC for sh---y money? I have a family,” Fernandes
recently told Sherdog.com “I believe One FC can be the best
-- the No. 1 promotion in the world. One FC will be around for
a long time for sure, depending on how everyone works together,
and depending on me too.”
In
Falciroli, Fernandes faces a dangerous but somewhat lower-profile
fighter than many of the men he faced during nearly three years
with Dream. According to Fernandes, his opponent’s potential
drawing power is an aspect of the bout with which he does not
concern himself, instead electing to focus his energy on the
combat itself.
“[Name
recognition] doesn't matter for me. He is good, and we will see
what will happen,” Fernandes said. “There will be a
lot of people there, but that does not bother me, because I always
fought in front of a lot of people in Japan. I don’t think
about how many people are watching, only about my opponent, and
that's it. I want to feel him -- to see how strong he is, how
quick he is, what he is doing, how he moves. After that, I can
play my game.”
Though
Fernandes is known as a potent grappler, so is his fellow expat
countryman. Despite this, Fernandes believes his ground game
will be the one that prevails when he locks horns with Falciroli
in the evening’s headliner.
“I
think my ground game for MMA is better than his, 100 percent.
I think he will try to take me down and put me on my back,”
said Fernandes. “He is going to punch, kick, try everything.
This is MMA, and I was born for this stuff. I have three belts,
and I understand the game more than other people.”
When
Fernandes steps into the cage, it will mark the first time he
has competed since knocking out Antonio Banuelos on New Year’s
Eve to win Dream’s bantamweight strap. Though his clash
with Falciroli will mark his first fight this year, Fernandes
says the time spent away from the cage is simply a part of his
routine.
“[Whether]
I fight jiu-jitsu or MMA, I always take a break, because I like
taking care of myself. The break has for sure helped me, because
if you fight, fight, fight, you get a broken mind,” said
Fernandes. “I like to clear my mind until I am ready to
go again. I want to wait and listen to what my body says, and
now I have no injuries. Now I feel good, and I want to fight
now because my body wants to fight.”
Though
Fernandes is fully aware of the substantial test that currently
stands in front of him, the 32-year-old nonetheless will welcome
an opportunity to compete for the One FC bantamweight crown if
and when it comes in the future.
“I
am a fighter, and I love fighting,” said Fernandes. “If
One FC wants me to fight for the belt in October, I will do it.
I am a born warrior, and I like to go to war.”
Source
Sherdog
|
Shinya
Aoki Making Promotional Debut at One FC 6
by AsianMMA.com
Shinya
Aoki will make his debut at One FC 6 in Singapore in October.
The
Japanese fighter was slated to make his debut this weekend at
One FC 5: Pride of a Nation, but will instead debut against Arnaud
Lepont in Singapore this fall.
Lepont
is coming off an impressive win in a fight that saw him down
Evolve MMA’s Brian Choi. In the clutch moments of the fight,
Lepont pulled off a submission to put Choi away. In the post-fight
interview, Lepont, plain and simply, called out Shinya Aoki,
one of the top lightweights in the world. One FC CEO Victor Cui
gave the Frenchman his wish and booked him against the “Tobikan
Judan” for OneFC 6.
Aoki
last fought in April with former Bellator lightweight champion
Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez defeated Aoki in the first round, getting
revenge for his loss at Dynamite!! 2008, a fight that saw Alvarez
succumb to the deadly submission skills of Aoki in the first
minutes of the fight.
Aoki
told AsianMMA.com that he is very excited to make his debut in
Singapore, the home of Evolve MMA and his home away from home.
Aoki has immersed himself into the Singaporean culture well and
enjoys his time in the country while training. Aoki feeds off
the aura of the crowd and his fight with Lepont will no doubt
deliver an extreme surge for the Tobikan Judan.
OneFC
6 will feature a three title fights in addition to the Aoki vs.
Lepont main event. No announcement has been made as to the stipulations
of the title fight, as of yet, but newly named matchmaker Matt
Hume will likely have a heavy say into how it shapes up.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Crystal
ball: California State Athletic Commission audit will reveal
up to 7-figures $ missing
By Zach
Arnold
With
the recent announcement by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee
that the California State Athletic Commission, controlled by
Denise Brown’s Department of Consumer Affairs, will get
audited we decided to write an article to prepare everyone for
what may be upcoming in regards to the results found in said
audit.
We
have already heard word that various auditors have started their
work for the state of California. There are allegedly auditors
that focusing specifically on certain tasks (such as some auditors
going to live events to see how everything is operating under
the ridiculous ‘3-inspector policy’ now being instituted).
Given
the amount of sources I have interviewed and the amount of research
information that I have obtained, I feel comfortable enough in
developing a report that will give you some of my predictions
as to what the auditors will find is wrong with the Department
of Consumer Affairs and CSAC. Keep in mind that DCA will be interested
in how to spin the audit so they can cover their asses when some
of the skeletons in the closet are revealed.
As
the public has seen with the drug testing debacle that happened
on Monday, you can only imagine what is really hidden beneath
the surface. Some of the truths are flat out frightening, both
from a financial and health & safety perspective.
So,
what are some of our predictions as to what auditors will find
is wrong with the California State Athletic Commission? Warning:
Our list of predictions is extensive and thorough. There was
no other way we could avoid writing this article without painstakingly
laying out where the cash is missing and who’s involved
in this mess.
WHAT
WILL BE FOUND?
1.
Tampering by the Department of Consumer Affairs in regards to
the Neurological Fund.
The
neurological fund, just like the boxer’s pension fund, is
a DCA-controlled fund that event promoters pay into based on
a percentage of the ticket sales going to finance these accounts.
The money goes directly to DCA, not to CSAC. In the case of the
boxer’s pension fund, hardly any of the money has been distributed
to boxers who contributed to the fund in the first place due
to eligibility requirements. If you fought two or three decades
ago, only now would you be qualified to receive any sort of money.
What makes this process a total joke is that CSAC has no plan
or idea on how to get the money distributed to the fighters because
they don’t have any sort of idea about which fighters to
contact or how to get the cash to them.
The
neurological fund is an even bigger controversy. Promoters have
paid into this fund and nothing has been done, on the surface,
with the cash. The idea behind the fund was to help finance medical
testing for concussions, such as baseline testing, and to produce
study results on how to implement changes to make combat sports
safer. So, what’s happened to the cash? On paper, the cash
has just been sitting around in the hands of Consumer Affairs.
In order to believe that nothing has happened with the cash,
such as the cash being loaned to other departments under the
DCA umbrella or cash being spent to pay off debt at certain departments,
you have to trust in DCA that they’re managing the money
properly and that it could withstand a forensic audit.
I
don’t buy for a second that DCA could withstand a forensic
audit of the neurological fund, especially given what has happened
with the Parks & Recreations Fund scandal that blew up in
Governor Jerry Brown’s face. With California having over
500 special funds and politicians having so much cash at their
disposal, abuse & fraud is ripe.
2.
The finances started to implode during the tenure of Bill Douglas,
Che Guevara, and Dave Thornton in 2008 & 2009. DCA’s
fingerprints are all over the budget troubles. Who signed off
on what and why?
When
we looked at the budget numbers for CSAC over the last five years,
we noticed that spending started blowing up in the faces of Consumer
Affairs right after Armando Garcia left due to a sexual harassment
case that the state settled for $75,000. Armando was bringing
in significant revenue to the commission and the commission was
spending the resources to get inspectors at the shows. Once the
revenues started to decline and DCA politics inflamed matters
into a worse predicament, the cracks in the foundation started
to show.
The
cracks started to show because of the baseline budgeting. In
other words, DCA rubber stamped budgets from their hacks like
Thornton and these budgets contained such high baselines for
spending that any amount on paper that was under the baselines
suddenly looked friendlier. The whole issue of Consumer Affairs
appointing Thornton, a Sacramento DCA lifer from the Medical
Board, as Executive Officer to CSAC was a joke. DCA replaced
Armando Garcia with a man who had ten times the settlement amount
($750,000) for his own sexual & racial harassment lawsuit
troubles. Bill Douglas was charged with seven misdemeanors for
allegedly trying to sabotage the CSAC front office when George
Dodd was in power.
When
Armando Garcia left CSAC, the commission had the best drug testing
policy in America (amongst the state athletic commissions regulating
combat sports). Now there are too few inspectors at events, the
most qualified inspectors are not getting worked by Sacramento,
and you have stunning drug testing follies like what we saw this
week with Kathi Burns (another DCA lifer) at CSAC.
Just
don’t expect the auditors to put any blame on the Department
of Consumer Affairs since that would hurt Governor Jerry Brown
politically.
3.
Dwayne Woodard’s legal claim about Sacramento’s plan
to wipe out the competent ‘old guard’ by replacing
workers with a less competent ‘new guard’ is very real
& substantive.
If
you aren’t up to speed on inspector Dwayne Woodard’s
lawsuit alleging that the Department of Consumer Affairs is guilty
of age discrimination & retaliation, read the document. It
will give you a window into just how crazy the thought process
is in Sacramento for making decisions at CSAC.
One
source put it to me this way yesterday: “If I know one thing
about the commission it’s that setting people up for failure,
regardless of cause, is their specialty.”
Why
would the state of California (Department of Consumer Affairs)
chase out highly-respected workers from CSAC in order to replace
them with incompetent hacks? Political control. DCA would rather
have stiffs who tow the political line than individuals who speak
up and alert Sacramento to troubles out in the field. Consumer
Affairs would rather use individuals who are semi-literate and
can’t properly fill out a ticket manifest ledger rather
than use someone who is totally competent but is willing to speak
up and tell the truth about what is really going on.
Who
has benefited from the political exodus of the old guard in favor
of the new guard? Start with Sacramento-favored Sid Segovia,
a man who isn’t a state employee who somehow managed to
get over $40,000 last year. As we noted in our tax report on
CSAC, he sure found a way to work a lot of hours:
Given
that he’s not technically a full-time state employee, this
would mean that his hourly wage as inspector would be somewhere
in the $35-40/hour or so range. Take 2011 for example. $41,000
was paid out to him. Divide that by $35 and you get 1,171 billable
hours. That means, under our hypothetical, that he was billing
CSAC for approximate 20-22 hours worth of pay each week.
And
then there’s political animal Mohammad Noor, who by all
accounts is an extremely competent inspector but also has reason
to keep his mouth shut and not stand up against political misdoings.
He managed to make over $180,000 the last five years and had
a year (2009) where he made more as an athletic inspector than
he did with his day job at the Department of Finance.
All
one needs to do to see the sabotage of the old guard at work
is to take a look at what California Deputy Attorney General
Karen Chappelle & DCA did to former CSAC Chief Athletic Inspector
Dean Lohuis. Lohuis & inspector Mike Bray managed to resolve
a situation involving Che Guevara missing the illegal hand wraps
of boxer Antonio Margarito three years ago at a Staples Center
event. If the hand wraps had not been discovered, Margarito would
have pummeled Shane Mosley with them. Under any normal circumstance
in a private business, Guevara would have either been severely
punished or fired by the boss.
So,
how did DCA & Chappelle handle the matter? Despite having
an open-and-shut case against Margarito without any need to tamper
with evidence or change testimony, Chappelle ended up screwing
up the CSAC hearing with Margarito by presenting two different
perspectives of testimony as to what happened at Staples Center.
Lohuis & Bray told their version of the truth while Chappelle
& Che told theirs. Yes, the California Deputy AG believed
the word of the man who couldn’t see the illegal hand wraps
in front of his face before she believed the word of two competent
individuals who knew what the hell they were doing.
The
end result? DCA filed a notice of adverse action with the State
Personnel Board against Dean Lohuis to get him fired from CSAC,
with the claim by Chappelle that Lohuis tried to alter Che Guevara’s
testimony at the Margarito hearing. The absurdity of this knows
no bounds. It was the responsibility of Chappelle to determine
what testimony was offered at the Margarito hearing, not Dean’s
responsibility. Lohuis and Bray weren’t going to perjure
themselves on the stand. Why on earth would Chappelle take an
open-and-shut case against Margarito and try to manipulate the
facts as they stood? It’s beyond comprehension.
What
isn’t beyond comprehension is that Lohuis got canned by
the state, Che Guevara got promoted to Dean’s job as Chief
Athletic Inspector after missing the Margarito hand wraps, and
Mike Bray (as our tax records demonstrated) has clearly been
a victim of retaliation at the hands of the Department of Consumer
Affairs. Why would DCA push out credible workers and back a lying
hack like Chappelle, who a judge claimed made an arbitration
decision on the Robert Guerrero matter between Golden Boy &
Goossen-Tutor that was based on fraud and/or corruption?
And
to top it all off, Che Guevara is considered a favorite to become
the next Executive Officer of the California State Athletic Commission.
That would certainly complete a toppling of the qualified old
guard in favor of the incompetent new guard, wouldn’t it?
If Sacramento is stupid enough to appoint Che Guevara as the
next CSAC E.O. they may as well get their checkbooks ready to
pay off millions of dollars in future lawsuit settlements.
4.
A big disconnect on the ground between the Sacramento CSAC office
and the inspectors out in the field.
There
are two aspects to this. The first is that there is a legitimate
disconnect between the inspectors in Northern/Central California
and the inspectors in Southern California. For all intents and
purposes, California practically behaves as if it is two separate
states when it comes to information sharing & communication.
Even though inspectors are supposed to work in their own designated
area, the truth is that it makes their job that much more difficult
when it comes to keeping up with the latest information on fighters
and promoters throughout the state. There really isn’t an
information pipeline for the inspectors on the ground. I’m
not referring to gossip chatter, either. I’m talking about
keeping up with fighters who work one part of the state and try
to fight in the other part of the state on short notice.
But
isn’t that the role of Sacramento’s office to keep
everyone informed? You know and I know that this is a matter
of the blind leading the blind. There is little information sharing
other than Sacramento telling inspectors to call them on the
phone to cite random law codes in order to operate events such
as weigh-ins.
It
gets worse. Not only is there is not a proper information pipeline
between Northern California and Southern California inspectors,
there’s no pipeline between Sacramento and the Southern
California inspectors at all. The inspectors practically are
on their own when it comes to managing shows in Southern California.
Outside of sending in event packets and the occasional phone
call, you could not have a situation where there is less contact
about what is happening in the state. I fully understand that
California has more shows than any other state, nearly double
than their next competitor, and that you can’t micromanage
everything. However, the Sacramento office doesn’t even
try to manage events on the ground outside of traveling to big
shows in the state. The smaller and mid-sized shows get completely
lost in the shuffle. The end result is that you have inspectors
who are basically on their own trying to handle business affairs
for the state and they are left angry, frustrated, demoralized,
and/or alone when it comes to having any sense of cooperation
with the bosses up North. The Balkanization that has resulted
is real and it’s impacting the way the state handles business
affairs on the ground.
About
two-thirds of all the shows in California happen in Southern
California — and yet the power structure is up North. There
is no strong voice or leader coming out of Sacramento to help
manage affairs where there is the most activity. And by managing
I don’t mean sitting on the phone and acting like they know
everything that is going on at the shows. They know little, if
anything, about what is actually happening on the ground.
Later
in this article, you will read our prediction on just how out
of touch the Department of Consumer Affairs is when it comes
to knowing how to follow the laws on the books and how to decipher
a box office.
5.
The manipulation of CSAC by the Department of Consumer Affairs
has destroyed the commission due to political motives.
Under
section 18611 (with Section 154), the California State Athletic
Commission has the right to hire their own legal counsel through
the State Personnel Board. They haven’t done so. Why? DCA
legal controls and manipulates the way business is done at the
CSAC front office in Sacramento.
Even
the Pest Control Board has their own legal counsel in California.
CSAC, which oversees a sport with tons of potential liability,
has none. That tells you just about everything you need to know.
There
is no independence for CSAC. DCA controls all the strings and
makes the personnel decisions. They are the ones who picks the
winners and losers. They certainly have a knack for picking losers.
If it wasn’t for Zuffa buying out Strikeforce and taking
away revenue from the San Jose events, DCA wouldn’t be panicking
right now about the way money has been spent at CSAC. After all,
DCA is the one who rubber stamps who gets paid and how business
affairs are handled. They’re the ones, along with the state
Senate and the Governor’s office, who manage to strip away
power from the Executive Officer’s slot at CSAC.
To
top it off, a lot of times the legal department at Consumer Affairs
is wrong on the advice or opinions they give. Whether it’s
due to incompetence or intentional sabotage, they have produced
execrable results and have made CSAC the ultimate punchline for
all American athletic commissions. This is what happens when
you put people on the commission who are looking to pad their
CV in order to run for political office rather than actually
bringing in people who have experience in combat sports.
6.
CSAC has no written policies & procedures manual/guide for
the lead inspectors to follow.
The
reality is that not every inspector is going to be competent
enough to know the rules & regulations by memory, so having
some sort of employee handbook would be useful. CSAC has been
told in the past to create these handbooks and they haven’t.
There’s no guide. Again, it’s a case of the blind leading
the blind.
Manuals
are not e-mail memos. We’re talking about guides with actual
step-by-step documentation of what the laws on the books are
and what needs to be followed. I can’t imagine what some
of the auditors on the ground right now are seeing with some
of the inspectors at the live events.
What
makes this situation even crazier is that the Sacramento office
picks who the supervising/lead inspectors are for shows arbitrarily
and not based on actual inspector qualifications (skills, experience).
This is why you have some inspectors, who can’t do the proper
math to manage a box office, getting work as lead inspectors.
Want to know why Sacramento is missing some cash? This is a good
focal point to analyze.
7.
CSAC’s critical understaffing of inspectors/officials at
smaller & mid-sized shows has lead to a decrease of safety
for fighters and is creating a new climate for cheating.
This
is what happens when you have individuals like CSAC Chairman
John Frierson saying that three inspectors is enough for a small
show. Nevermind the fact that inspectors have to stay with fighters
for their drug testing until the sample is procured. Nevermind
the fact that three inspectors trying to manage multiple locker
rooms with fighters and trainers looking for ways to cheat on
the hand wraps is an almost impossible task. Nope, none of those
considerations should be taken into account. Why? Because Che
Guevara, the man who missed the Antonio Margarito hand wraps
right in front of his face, is now advising short-handed inspectors
on how to make sure that hand wraps are being managed properly.
Here’s
Che from an internal CSAC memo a few months ago:
Two
inspectors will be stationed in the red and blue locker room
from report time to first bout.
The
inspector’s assigned to a locker room will continue to check
athlete equipment, trainer bucket, and oversee hand wraps.
At
larger, or more challenging venues, we will have assistance from
qualified CSAC officials when necessary to assist in approving
hand wraps.
When
logistics allow, we will instruct trainers to wrap hands towards
the center of the room so Inspectors can observe as many hands
being wrapped as possible.
I
understand this is going to be a huge adjustment for many of
us and we will face numerous challenges as we try to maintain
an acceptable level of safety.
Acceptable
level of safety? Here’s Che in a June 7th CSAC internal
memo:
There
are going to be many procedures that we will not be able to do
during this time; escorting athletes to the ring or bathroom,
keeping locker rooms free of non licensed people, etc. Unfortunately
we will not be able to handle a lot of the things we would normally
do. But it is crucial that we use our best judgment to not compromise
an athlete’s health and safety.
The
lead inspector may ask you to do the following things: Be in
the back until the first bout begins, then relocating to ringside
to observe corners. Work the locker rooms throughout the event.
Be stationed at the ring / cage for the duration of the event
Also,
the lead inspector will look to use all resources available to
him/her at an event or weigh in for assistance: In certain situations
we will use designated referees to assist in hand wrap observation,
and equipment checks when an inspector is not available. In short,
we may have to lean on other qualified people, key word being
qualified, to assist us in ensuring the health and safety of
fighters.
There
will be no designated payout out and suspension inspector. The
task will be delegated to the working inspectors, and the ringside
physician.
No
suspension inspector? For a state that has had numerous incidents
of suspended fighters working shows, this is a real sticking
point for me personally. It’s not up to the promoters to
make sure that their fighters are off suspended lists. If it
was up to the promoters to be 100% truthful all the time, we
wouldn’t have commissions in the first place to oversee
the health & safety of the sport!
I
guarantee you that the lack of inspectors & supervision at
shows is resulting in boxers who are skinning their gloves (manipulating
the knuckle padding) and using illegal hand wraps more frequently.
I’ve already heard of a couple of recent events where there
have been some dangerously close near-misses in regards to fighters
skinning their gloves. Throw on top of that the ability to use
foreign substances and the ability for fighters or their entourages
to hide active drug use at events and you have a recipe for disaster.
This
is the commission asking for trouble when it comes to bad publicity
and big liability. Penny-wise and pound-foolish.
8.
The Sacramento office is months behind on paperwork and has lost
critical medical information.
From
all accounts, paperwork issues are a nightmare at the CSAC office.
We’ve had multiple sources indicate to us that licensing
& medical paperwork gets lost frequently. I predict that
the auditors will find that some of the paperwork has been post-dated.
In
addition to losing their own paperwork, CSAC is months behind
in reporting results to agencies like Fight Fax and the Association
of Boxing Commissions. With cuts to staffing in the front office,
I don’t see this situation improving any time soon with
the current crew in Sacramento. Plus, if you have people in the
front office who are also working as show inspectors, that means
they aren’t around the office all the time and thus aren’t
100% focused on handling the business duties.
Remember,
the process for medical records & licensing isn’t computerized.
It’s 2012 and we’re still talking about everything
being done on paper here. You have licensees who pay the same
day to get licensed. Is the money being collected properly at
events and, if so, is it being compared to the number of licenses
issued? I think it’s safe to predict that the auditors will
find some discrepancies here. If Sacramento is not auditing the
show package, who would know?
The
person getting licensed writes a check, the check number is written
on the application, and the check is stapled to the application.
If the licensee wants to pay cash or check, the inspector is
required to write a receipt for the money received. That is not
always done and the only way you can find that out is if Sacramento
compared the licenses in the event package to the cash that was
received. If Sacramento was auditing the event packages like
they are supposed to…
9
and 10. CSAC & DCA don’t properly follow the laws on
the books regarding how to handle the box office of shows. The
inspectors have their own issues following the rules and regulations.
The end result is that promoters are avoiding having to pay the
state hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, in money
that is supposed to be owed to the state of California.
This
is where the freak out factor begins for Consumer Affairs.
Auditors
will discover that the CSAC front office routinely fails to audit
event packets sent to them by inspectors. I predict that the
auditors will discover that it’s a combination of the ticket
manifests not having enough information to properly do an audit
and the CSAC front office itself just not following the rules
& regulations in finding out where the money is missing from
the box offices & licensing fees collected.
Let’s
take, for example, an excerpt from a memo that now-former Executive
Officer George Dodd sent out on May 24th:
Third,
the number of hours that a lead inspector may claim to prepare
for the event and complete the event package prior to sending
it back to Sacramento is limited to two hours. Once you have
spent two hours on this process, you must stop working and send
the package back to the CSAC staff, who will finish whatever
paperwork is left undone. To accommodate this time frame, CSAC
office staff will work with lead inspectors to help prepare any
paperwork prior the event package being sent out and at the conclusion
of the event the lead will complete as much of the closing paperwork
as possible, and send the package back to the CSAC. To help reduce
closing paperwork duties, the CSAC staff will e-mail the necessary
reporting organization about suspensions using the paperwork
returned by the lead inspectors.
The
above decisions where not easy to make and neither will some
future decision that need to made. I understand the important
role inspectors’ play ensuring the health and safety of
fighters, but I must ensure that we remain open and available
to continue hosting events in California. While working under
these circumstances is not ideal, I have full confidence that
you will find creative and effective ways to cover the crucial
parts of event regulation to ensure the safety of yourselves
and the fighters. To further assist, I will be asking promoters
and venues, to work hard to set up events in ways to accommodate
our limited presence.
Where
do I begin with this?
Let’s
start with an example of how promoters are bypassing having to
pay the commission more than they should be paying. Promoters,
by in large, have their own records (accurate), the record they
report to the event venue, and the record they report to the
commission. Unless you subpoena a promoter in a lawsuit, you’re
not going to discover what the promoter’s own records show.
For example, a promoter gets a sponsorship deal with a company
for $2,000 and in exchange for the sponsorship deal the promoter
gives out tickets to the sponsor. In some cases, the tickets
given to the sponsors are not marked as sold tickets or as comps,
they’re just ignored at the box office. This scenario means
the tickets not listed as comps or tickets sold (or even reduced
tickets) are not listed as part of the box office despite the
fact that the promoter pocketed sponsorship money and the sponsor
got tickets in return. The state, in turn, doesn’t get money
because the transactions are not listed on the ticket manifest.
There
are plenty of scenarios involving illegal ticket sales that promoters
easily navigate in California because many inspectors aren’t
on the ball or even have knowledge of what the laws are.
Let’s
take a look at some of the rules & regulations not being
followed and how it impacts revenue (lost) for the state of California.
Rules
and regulations from the Department of Consumer Affairs. CALIFORNIA
CODE OF REGULATIONS, TITLE 4. BUSINESS REGULATIONS, DIVISION
2. STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION.
§
260. Approval Of Sale Of Tickets.
The
sale of tickets to an event is prohibited until there is a current
seating plan on file with the commission applicable to the event’s
arena. Any change in the seating plan submitted also shall be
filed prior to the sale of any tickets intended for use with
the changed arrangement.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, 18641, 18661, 18665 and 18700, Business
and Professions Code.
I
predict that the state auditors will discover that the commission
isn’t collecting seating charts for all the events they
regulate, which means they don’t have a chart to compare
ticket sales to when they audit the box office.
§
261. Complimentary Tickets.
(a)
No club or employee shall sell complimentary tickets. All clubs
shall be held responsible for the actions of their employees
in this connection.
(b)
A complimentary ticket is a priced flat ticket for which no charge
is made. Complimentary tickets shall be overstamped with the
wording “Complimentary-Not to be sold” on the printed
face of the ticket. The overstamp shall include the stub end
of the ticket retained by the ticket holder. The promoter shall
retain a clipped end of each complimentary ticket in the box-office.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640 and 18824, Business and Professions
Code.
I
predict the auditors will discover that inspectors are not following
the rules regarding the enforcement of comp tickets and that
promoters are skimming off the top of ticket sales by not correctly
having tickets labeled & stamped as they should be. If the
state did a forensic audit of the box offices, they would be
horrified at what they would discover in lost revenue.
§
262. Courtesy Passes.
(a)
Upon receipt of written permission from the commission, licensed
clubs may issue script, exchange slips, courtesy or advertising
passes or such other types of passes as may be approved by the
commission.
Approved
passes shall have plainly printed thereon the date of the show,
as well as the value and the number of seats to which the pass
entitles the bearer thereof. The pass shall be exchanged at the
box office for a ticket and the holder shall present such ticket
for admission to the ticket taker at the door, the rest of the
ticket other than the stub, remaining in the box office to be
checked as unsold tickets against the passes in the locked ticket
boxes. Both ends of the ticket and the pass must be punched or
clipped.
(b)
If a club issues passes good only for general admission tickets,
such passes shall be printed as specified above. The bearer shall
exchange the pass for a ticket which shall be sold from a special
roll, the ticket shall be presented for admission to the ticket
taker, who shall deposit it in the locked ticket box and passes
shall remain in the ticket office, to be checked as unsold tickets
against the number of tickets taken from the special roll as
shown by the opening and closing numbers. No pass shall be issued
for more than one general admission.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, 18824 and 18872, Business and Professions
Code.
Think
of this as the section regarding fighters, managers, and their
ridiculous entourages. I’m sure that if the auditors lined
up the amount of courtesy passes given out for a show with the
number of tickets collected at the box office, they will see
plenty of shows where the figures don’t match up. That and/or
the tickets/passes aren’t getting punched or clipped.
§
264. Admission Of Employees, Press, Commission Members.
No
person other than a representative of a commission shall have
the right of admission without a ticket for value, complimentary
ticket or pass.
For
purposes of computing whether the total number of complimentary
tickets exceeds twenty-five percent (25%) of the total number
of spectators pursuant to Section 18824, a complimentary ticket
issued to any person listed below shall be excluded from the
calculation of the twenty-five percent (25%) threshold.
(a)
Bona fide employees of the management of the club and municipal
or county officers on official business. Bona fide employees
are:
(1)Those
persons, including directors and officers, regularly employed
by, or under contract to, the club or regularly engaged in work
in business transacted there, when their duties require admission
to the place, and when on duty at the time admitted; and
(2)
Other persons whose admission to the place is required for the
performance of some duty to, or work for, the management of the
club.
(b)
Newspaper reporters, photographers, telegraphers, and radio announcers,
assigned to work by their recognized employers or superiors,
policemen and firemen in uniform and on duty, and persons of
similar vocation who are admitted with a complimentary ticket
to any club for the performance of special duties in connection
with any event and whose special duties are the sole reason for
their presence and free admission.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, 18641 and 18824, Business and Professions
Code.
For
this section, consider how many comp tickets have recently been
given out to big boxing shows. The Golden Boy event at the Home
Depot Center in Carson, California that was headlined by Antonio
Tarver had 1,200 paid and over 4,000 comps. The promoter is making
money from TV. The state gets a cut. The problem? If you have
the majority of your box office as comps, it means the state
isn’t collecting revenue. That means special funds like
the boxer’s pension fund aren’t seeing revenues.
What
this should remind you is the beginning of our CSAC investigation
last May when we started digging into the whole ‘no gift’
policy regarding the commission and how they got in trouble for
getting tickets. The commissioners had submitted paperwork to
the Department of Consumer Affairs for tickets, DCA approved
of the ticket allotment, and then the Executive Officer (Bill
Douglas) reportedly had calendar documentation showing which
commissioners DCA approved for show tickets.
I
predict the state auditors will find that the inspectors and
the CSAC front office are not following the rules & regulations
regarding who gets into shows for free and which people are listed
as having comp tickets versus those who aren’t.
§
267. Reduced Price Tickets.
Any
ticket for a boxing event sold for less than the printed price
thereon shall be overstamped with the actual price charged. The
overstamp shall be placed on the printed face of the ticket as
well as the stub retained by the ticket holder.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, Business and Professions Code.
This
law makes sense for promoters. You have a block of tickets in
a section of seating you need to sell, sell them at a reduced
rate in order to look good for television. And, yet, I predict
that the state auditors will find that the promoters are not
overstamping some of the tickets that have been sold at a reduced
rate.
§
269. Ticket Inventories.
Promoters
shall use only tickets from a printer approved by the commission
or its authorized representative. Printers shall send by mail
to the district office and to the Sacramento commission office
a sworn inventory of all tickets delivered to any club. This
inventory shall account for any overprints, changes or extras,
and a printer’s sample shall be attached. Promoters shall
notify printers of this requirement.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640 and 18872, Business and Professions
Code.
This
law, right here, is a scam. Anyone with a brain can see where
this law leads you — cronyism. Someone go ask the CSAC front
office for a list of approved ticket printers. The answer? You’re
not going to get a list.
However,
just because a law is a bad one doesn’t mean that you have
the right to ignore it — which is exactly what Sacramento
is doing here. Rather than being active instead of lazy, DCA
& CSAC just ignore the rules & regulations they don’t
want to enforce and enforce the ones they care about.
§
271. Exchanges.
No
exchange of tickets shall be made except at the box office, and
no ticket shall be redeemed after the show has taken place. Tickets
in the hands of agencies shall be returned to the box office
not later than one hour after the show has started.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640 and 18824, Business and Professions
Code.
I
predict that the auditors will discover all sorts of mismanagement
regarding ticket exchanges at shows. Remember, auditors are now
going from show to show to see what’s happening on the ground.
Just because inspectors may be on their best behavior around
an auditor doesn’t mean that the malfeasance isn’t
happening once the eyes of the auditors aren’t looking.
§
272. Refunds.
Every
club holding either boxing or martial arts matches shall have
printed on the stub of every ticket sold the following statement:
“Retain
this coupon in event of postponement or cancellation. Refund
$ _____.”
The
price paid for the ticket shall be printed in the foregoing blank
space, and the coupon detached and returned to the ticket holder
at the entrance gate. This coupon check shall also show the name
of the club and date of the contest or exhibition, and shall
be redeemed at its face value by the club upon presentation by
the purchaser if the advertised main event is postponed or does
not take place as advertised. The surety bond shall be conditioned
upon the compliance by the club with the provisions of this rule.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640 and 18681, Business and Professions
Code.
This
is to protect the consumers who buy show tickets. Sounds straight-forward
enough, right? I suspect the state auditors will discover that
this law isn’t always enforced with tickets sold at events.
It
should be pointed out that at boxing events, there is a 26 round
rule in terms of total rounds for a show. If the card can’t
satisfy this requirement, the ring announcer is legally required
to get into the ring and announce to the fans that they have
the option of getting a refund. Do you think this law is vigorously
enforced on the smaller or mid-sized shows? Probably not.
§
273. Ticket Stubs.
Under
no circumstances shall a ticket holder be passed through the
gate without having the ticket separated from the stub, or be
allowed to occupy a seat unless in possession of the ticket stub.
The ticket taker at the door shall separate the ticket from the
stub and deposit the ticket in the locked ticket box provided.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640 and 18824, Business and Professions
Code.
I
expect the state auditors to find out that in most cases the
stubs aren’t being properly collected. Hard to manage a
box office when you can’t do the basics, right?
Without
an accurate ticket invoice or ticket manifest, there’s no
way that a proper & accurate box office can be done.
§
274. Seats To Correspond To Tickets.
Ushers
shall see that spectators get the seats corresponding with their
ticket stubs, and that anyone occupying such seat unlawfully
be asked to vacate, and if necessary be ejected.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Section 18640, Business and Professions Code.
This
is an ugly one because a lot of times the ushers at smaller shows
are the drinking buddies of the promoters. They’re the last
folks who want to get into an incident if there’s a riot
at a show and they have to actually demonstrate some sort of
responsibility.
In
many cases, fighters and their entourages will show up and pick
whatever empty seats they want to sit in without any hesitation.
§
276. Counting Tickets.
The
commission representative shall check numbers and places of ticket
cans at gates and cause them to be sealed and padlocked, and
after the show have them opened and tickets counted under his
supervision.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, 18825 and 18872, Business and Professions
Code.
The
serial number on the tickets are supposed to be in sequential
order. The ticket counting is supposed to involve ticket cans
that are sealed. I predict the state auditors are going to find
out that these basic rules are not always being followed and
that numbers won’t match up with what’s listed for
the box offices.
However,
it may turn out to be a pointless exercise because of this following
law of Byzantine proportions:
§
277. Destruction of Tickets.
Tickets
and stubs of every description sold or unsold, other than unsold
reel tickets, used for any boxing contest or wrestling exhibition
shall be removed to the commission district office for audit,
if necessary, by a representative of the commission after the
promoter and representative have completed computation of gate
receipts and taxes due thereon. In the event tickets are not
taken by a commission representative they shall be retained by
the promoters for a period not to exceed six months. Such tickets
may be destroyed after they have been held for at least 30 days
and written permission has been granted by the commission for
the destruction of such tickets. Tickets shall be kept in separate
packages for each show in order that an audit can be made at
any time by the commission.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, 18825, 18826 and 18872, Business and
Professions Code.
The
lead inspector at a show is supposed to collect the tickets and
get them to CSAC.
The
law says that a promoter should hold onto tickets for up to six
months if the inspector has not taken them. If that’s not
crazy enough for you, the law states that the promoter can destroy
the tickets 30 days after the show if the commission gives the
A-OK.
Well,
how the hell is CSAC going to be able to audit a show that they
think has a suspicious box office if the promoter has the tickets
in question and can destroy them a month later? Why would a promoter
make any effort to send in the uncollected tickets?
Conclusion
The
auditors working for the state of California are about to discover
what a huge mess CSAC is.
As
I said up above… without an accurate ticket invoice or ticket
manifest, there’s no way that a proper & accurate box
office can be done.
The
question is what happens once they discover what’s wrong.
Will they actually fix it? Will they go along with the political
game and let the Department of Consumer Affairs try to sunset
the commission? Remember, sunsetting the commission simply means
DCA takes it private and eliminates what transparency there currently
is. It’s not going to improve the quality of regulation
whatsoever.
I
would remiss in not saying a final word about the judges, referees,
doctors, and other licensees who work shows on behalf of CSAC
and are paid on a sliding scale based on what is collected at
the box office. When you have inspectors who aren’t doing
their job in managing the box office properly and you have promoters
who can easily circumvent the laws on the books, you end up with
officials who are getting stiffed because the box office numbers
simply aren’t accurate. If there is no accurate invoice
produced for the box office and the inspectors are relying on
the promoters to tell them what the final numbers are, guess
who gets the screwed? The state of California gets screwed and
so do all the officials who work the events as licensees.
The
colossal mismanagement of affairs at the California State Athletic
Commission by the Department of Consumer Affairs has cost the
state an immeasurable amount of money and has also cost CSAC
any sort of credibility & respect from the public. Instead
of trying to sweep the mess under the rug, the auditors should
be ready to instruct the politicians to clean house and to be
proactive in ensuring the proper changes. Furthermore, the auditors
should instruct the state Legislature to immediately get CSAC
out of the Department of Consumer Affairs umbrella. DCA is the
problem, not the solution. The fish rots from the head.
Source:
Fight Opinion
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DESTINY: Na Koa will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at
the Neal Blaisdell Arena. Tickets are available at the Blaisdell
Box Office, any ticket master outlet (walmart locations), ticketmaster.com
or charge by phone. Tickets on sale now starting at just $35.
Prelim amateur fights will begin at 3pm. Main card will begin
at 6pm. A full card of action that will surely give you your
money’s worth.
This will be the most action packed DESTINY MMA event to date,
as we have a little bit of everything for you MMA fans. We have
Hawaii vs Mainland/Brazil matchups, Pro Title Fights, women MMA
matches, top local talent, upcoming amateurs, matchups that will
have you on your fight the whole fight, especially the main event
showdown that will be an all out war when Charles “Kid Khaos”
Bennett aka “Krazy Horse” of Florida, battles Waianae’s
“Immortal Warrior” Johnavan Vistante. The war of words
between these 2 have been intense on the social networks, so
don’t expect these 2 to touch gloves at the start of round
1.
Also, that night UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva will
be in attendance, as 3 of his students from Brazil takes on our
local fighters. Stay tuned for our Silva meet and greet time
and location.
And a fight that has a lot of the fans of women mma excited is
the battle of “Rocky’s” as Hawaii’s Raquel
Pa’aluhi takes on Raquel Pennington of Colorado in our 1st
Pro Women Title Match. Both go by the nickname “Rocky,”
so we shall see who will have the Rocky bragging rights that
night and walk away with our Pro Bantamweight Title.
Below is just our main card and title matches. The full prelim
amateur matches will be posted after weigh-in, since we all know
that many changes, dropouts or fighters with no paperwork always
happens in the last 2 weeks heading into event. Instead of updating
daily, I’ll just post the final card after weigh-ins is
official. For more info visit our website at www.destinymma.net.
***MAIN CARD***
-155lbs
Pro World Lightweight Title Match
Johnavan “Immortal Warrior” Vistante Jr (Team SYD,
Hawaii) vs Charles “Kid Khaos” Bennett (Florida)
-145lbs
Pro World Featherweight Title Match
Dustin Kimura (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Damaso Pereira (Black
House Gym, Brazil)
-135lbs
Pro Women’s Title Match
Raquel Pa’aluhi (Gracie Technics, Hawaii) vs Raquel Pennington
(Altitude MMA, Colorado)
-185lbs
Pro Middleweight Title
Sale Sproat (Molokai) vs Douglas Moura Silva (Black House Gym,
Brazil)
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Ray "Bradah Boy" Cooper III vs TBA
-170lbs Pro Welterweight Match
Bruski Louis (Bulls Pen) vs Maki Pitolo (WOMMA)
-135lbs
Pro Bantamweight Match
Jireh Umi-Torres (Molokai) vs Ian Delacuesta (808 Fight Factory)
-155lbs
Pro Lightweight Match
Ben “Da King” Santiago (UKA, Hawaii) vs Paulo Silva
(Black House Gym, Brazil)
-125lbs
Angie Pereira (HMC) vs Haley Pasion (UKA)
***PRELIMS***
-205lbs
Amateur Light Heavyweight Title Match
Alex Pulotu-Steverson (Team Xtreme) vs Kevin Aguigui (Animal
House Gym)
-170lbs
Amateur Title Match
Sebastian Mariconda (HMC) vs Cody Andrade (SOMMA)
-145lbs
Amateur Women’s Title Match
Chantelle Berengue (Animal House Gym) vs Bryanna Fissori (SOMMA)
-155lbs
Amateur Title Match
Dan Ige (Gracie Technics) vs Robby Ostovich (Jesus Is Lord)
-185lbs
Amateur Title Match
Neale Johnson (SOMMA) vs Tillis Sionesini (Up N Up)
-135lbs
Amateur Title Match
Kevin Natividad (EightSixx BJJ) vs Brandon Mina (808 Top Team)
-Heavyweight
Interim Title Match
Kevin Herzog (Team Mixed Plate) vs Okala Makaiau
Bouts subject to change
Source: Event Promoter
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