Jay Larkin CEO of the IFL talks about how groundfighting "is tedius and like watching gay foreplay"
(portfolio.com)Wow and this guy runs an MMA Organization...
Jay Larkin surveys the inaction with a weary, seen-it-all expression. "This isn't my idea of fighting," he says of the world's fastest-growing spectator sport. "To me, two guys rolling around on the floor is tedious, like watching gay foreplay."
That's not the sort of assessment you'd expect from the I.F.L.'s chief executive, but Larkin, who ran Showtime's boxing division for 25 years, is nothing if not brutally honest. He'll have to be brutal to keep his publicly traded startup—which has plowed through more than $30 million in the last year and a half—from going down for the count.
On Tuesday, Larkin announced the cancellation of the league's August 15 event at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Bereft of fans, funds, sponsors, and marketable personalities, the fight promotion seems to be rapidly imploding. "Trying to revive this company is like doing open-heart surgery," concedes Larkin. "We're going to stick around as long as we possibly can."
Adrenaline MMA makes Saturday's full card available online
(mmajunkie.com)The full card for Saturday's Adrenaline MMA event will be available online, the organization today announced.
Although the main card of the event will be shown live on HDNet, viewers can also watch the entire 14-fight card online at Vividas.com.
Saturday's event, Adrenaline MMA's debut show, takes place at the Sears Centre Arena near Chicago and features a main event between Mike Russow and Jason Guida. A host of UFC, PRIDE and IFL veterans are also booked for the show.
"Those MMA fans who can't see the fights live or watch on HDNet will have the opportunity to see all the fights, including the preliminaries, live through Vividas," Adrenaline MMA CEO Monte Cox said. "Our undercard is as loaded as our main event."
Vividas will offer a high-quality, full-screen feed of the event beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The televised main card of the event begins at 9:30 p.m. ET.
A foursome of UFC veterans make up the two feature bouts. Chicago's Terry Martin (16-4) faces Japan's Daiju Takase (7-11), and Chicago's Brian Gassaway (25-17) takes on Las Vegas fighter Tony Fryklund (14-9). IFL standouts Bart Palaszewski, Mark Miller and Zac George are also in action.
Frank and Ken Shamrock to fight soon
(fightersonlymagazine.co.uk)Frank Shamrock will be facing his step-brother Ken in his next fight, according to a recent interview.
The California native told MMAYou.com that the deal is "pretty darn close" to being done.
"I think it's a good time for it," he said. The two were raised by the same stepfather - Bob Shamrock - but have famously never got along.
Shamrock also called out Tito Ortiz, who recently left the UFC, for a rematch.
Saunders vs Rollins Moved to UFC 87
(mmauniverse.com)An announced bout between "The Ultimate Fighter 6" castmembers Ben Saunders and Jared Rollins has been moved from UFC 86: Jackson vs Griffin, on July 5th, to the undercard of UFC 87: Seek and Destroy.
The transfer was recently made on the official fight cards for the pay-per-view events.
UFC 87: Seek and Destroy takes place on August 9th at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Headlined by a welterweight title bout between champion Georges St Pierre and Jon Fitch, the event also features Brock Lesnar versus Heath Herring and Kenny Florian versus Roger Huerta.
NSAC: Vitor Belfort Must Pay
(bloodyelbow.com)There's been much speculation -- led by Fightlinker -- that Vitor Belfort wouldn't be allowed to fight on the July 19th Affliction: Banned card unless he settles up with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Belfort got popped for drugging at PRIDE 32 and was hit with a $10,000 fine and a 9 month suspension.
Six months later he was fighting in Cage Rage in the U.K. Not cool, Vitor. Turns out he never paid his fine either.
New Yahoo article on Affliction
(sports.yahoo.com)He doesn’t so much as have a promoter’s license yet, but Tom Atencio has already got the shtick down.
He’s about a month away from promoting his first mixed martial arts card, but he’s already touting it as the best in the history of the sport.
BJ Penn, Michael Bisping, Urijah Faber and Carlos Condit to visit troops in Afghanistan
(mmamania.com)UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn and middleweight contender Michael Bisping, along with WEC champions Carlos Condit and Urijah Faber, will soon travel to Afghanistan to visit with United States military and other coalition troops stationed there.
Here’s a snip from UFC President Dana White:
“We are honored to send UFC and WEC fighters to visit the men and women of the United States Military. We are pleased to be giving back to such a great cause; many of our fighters have served in the military and understand what a great contribution our troops are making overseas.”
No timetable for the visit or duration of the trip was announced at this time. However, Condit is set to defend his 170-pound title on August 3, meaning it has to happen real soon or after WEC 35.
This is certainly not the first time Zuffa has dispatched a small contingent of its fighters overseas. Randy Couture, Rich Franklin and Rachelle Leah visited troops in Iraq back in 2006. Tito Ortiz and Justin McCully have also been fixtures on recent USO tours.
Remember that the promotion staged a special Spike TV live event in an aircraft hangar at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Calif., on December 13 that was open only for troops to attend. It featured a main event between Diego Sanchez and Joe Riggs, which the “Nightmare” won via first round knockout.
And there’s also been discussions that the UFC plans to hold a future event on the deck of a Navy aircraft carrier.
Cesar Gracie: "You guys might see the Diaz-Gomi rematch"
(fighthype.com)"If Nick is 100% on, he is the best in the world. If you put Nick somewhere and you say, 'the winner is the fighter that comes out of this cage,' guess who is coming out? Nick Diaz is coming out of that cage. I don't care if it's Georges St-Pierre or whatever. I know he can lose a fight and I know in X amount of rounds this guy can outpoint him, but I know that Nick is a true fighter. He's a warrior wherever he goes," stated Cesar Gracie as he spoke about Nick Diaz and his upcoming clash with Mushin Corbbrey this Saturday. You don't want to miss what else he had to say as he talked more about the Diaz brothers and shared his thoughts on BJ Penn, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Jake Shields, Matt Hughes, Frank Shamrock, the EliteXC debut on CBS, a Diaz-Gomi rematch and much more.
Wanderlei Silva Interview
(sukimma.blogspot.com)Wanderlei Silva was interviewed by Japanese MMA and pro wrestling mag Kampiro following his brutal 1st round knockout of Keith Jardine at UFC 84, and Wand had an interesting theory about how he got back on the winning track:
Donald Trump Makes His Move
(mmapayout.com)When the Affliction clothing line announced its Affliction: Banned pay-per-view event, there was a great deal of skepticism. To be blunt, there is no way that the show will be able to make a profit.
Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski have big money contracts, and the ceiling for non-UFC MMA pay-per-views has been around 50,000 buys. That includes the Las Vegas Pride pay-per-views which had comparably star-studded cards, world-class production and a much stronger brand name. As a live event the Affliction show will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, which drew a $1.98 million gate for the last UFC show featuring Chuck Liddell.
More Reality On The Way From UFC
(mmapayout.com)In the most recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer intimated that there may be more reality programming on the way from the UFC, in addition to The Ultimate Fighter:
"UFC is going to do a new reality show. I don't know the details of the show itself, but my impression is it involves Matt Hughes in a big way."
Hughes would seem an excellent choice for the new reality concept. Hughes's career has benefited greatly from his two stints as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter.
Matt Hughes Wants Matt Serra Showdown
(mmauniverse.com)Former UFC champion Matt Hughes had a long journey home after his defeat at UFC 85: Bedlam. Hughes was beaten in the second round of his fight with Thiago Alves at the 02 Arena in South East London. Hughes has had time to reflect on the defeat and consider his future as a fighter.
He shared his views on his blog at www.matt-hughes.com .
“Well, I didn’t think I’d come back writing something up after a loss. I fully expected to win, things didn’t go my way. Thiago came in big, some people told me that he looked bigger than me in the octagon. I didn’t expect that but I also think that had nothing to do with the outcome of the fight.
PS. Thiago really did come in big! He made Hughes look tiny in comparison i thought.
Cub Swanson vs Hiroyuki Takaya WEC 35 fight set
(mmamania.com)Two fighters looking to get back in the win column after devastating defeats — Cub Swanson (12-2) and Hiroyuki Takaya (9-5-1) — will battle it out in a 145-pound clash at WEC 35 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 3, according to Sherdog.com.
Swanson was on the rise until he suffered a setback against Jens Pulver in his return to the featherweight division at WEC 31. “Lil Evil” submitted Swanson just 35 seconds into the first round — only the second loss of Swanson’s pro career.
He actually took a low profile tune-up fight outside the promotion after the defeat, submitting Donnie Walker with a rear naked at an International Fighting & Boxing League (IFBL) bout back in February.
Evan Tanner blog on Spike.com coming soon
(mmamania.com)Quoteworthy:
“I’ll be making two to three posts a week. Spike’s given me the freedom to talk about whatever’s on my mind, within reason of course.
1. I’ll be giving training updates, with pictures and video footage, sparring sessions, technique sessions, and strength and conditioning sessions. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some behind the scenes footage in the dressing room before and after fights, and footage of everything else that goes on that’s never shown on the UFC event coverage.
2. I’ll also be giving thoughts on upcoming events, and individual fights. And sometimes, I’ll be doing post fight reviews. I’m sure I’ll have a thing or two to say about developments with the UFC and the MMA world in general.
Mezger clarifies comments...
(mmayou.com)
In this statement from Guy Mezger, Mezger clarifies for our readers any misunderstanding that might have arisen from our Wednesday June 11th, 2008 interview with him.
Glad people didn't jump all over it before.
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