Jardine Begins His Search for Consistency
(ufc.com)“There’s nothing worse than sitting in a locker room after a fight knowing that you didn’t get a chance to fight,” said Jardine, reflecting on his one round loss to ‘The Axe Murderer’ at UFC 84. “I wanted to run it back out there and fight again as soon as possible, but things happen.”
YOSHIYUKI YOSHIDA STILL EYES KOSCHECK FIGHT
(mmaweekly.com)Yoshida's manager, Shu Hirata, confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that his fighter will still compete on the Dec. 10 UFC Fight for the Troops card, possibly still against Koscheck.
There has also been speculation that Diego Sanchez may take up the spot against Yoshida in the main event for the UFC Fight for the Troops show.
NO NEW YEAR, NO UFC
(mmaweekly.com)MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday learned that Affliction Entertainment has entered into a formal partnership with M-1 Global to promote mixed martial arts events around the globe.
The two entities had already been working together, but had no formal arrangement.
The official partnership includes co-promotion of the M-1 challenge series, an international mixed martial arts tournament that pits fighters from different parts of the globe against each other. The M-1 Challenge’s next stop is scheduled for Oct. 29 in Kansas City, Mo., where Xtreme Couture light heavyweight Mike Whitehead will headline the card.
Well doesn't this make our days more dull.
Ken vs. Frank! beware: not set in stone
(mmaweekly.com)The brothers Shamrock are fixin to step in to the cage against one another.
given ken's fragility and Franks penchant for running his mouth, this is still far from a certainty.
However, its exciting as hell, i only wish this was 6 or 7 years ago
Brett Rogers vs. Paul Buentello to be added to Nov. 8 EliteXC show
(fiveouncesofpain.com)A clash of heavyweight titans Brett “The Grim” Rogers and Paul “The Head Hunter” Buentello is expected to be officially announced by EliteXC as having been added to its Nov. 8 event at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the news with Rogers’ trainer, Mike Reilly of Team Bison in St. Paul, MN earlier this morning. Reilly indicated that bout agreements are expected to be signed within the next few days but that verbal commitments from both fighters have already been secured.
“Brett is very excited to be getting back into the cage after such a long layoff and is excited to be taking on such a great opponent,” Reilly told Five Ounces of Pain. “Paul presents the biggest test of Brett’s career. He’s a great fighter and we have a ton of respect for him and we’re really excited to step up to that next level challenge.”
Rogers last competed on May 31 during EliteXC’s “Primetime” event in Newark, N.J. Fighting Jon Murphy in what will go down as the first-ever mixed martial arts fight ever broadcast on primetime network television in the U.S., Rogers improved to 8-0 following a first round TKO over the former Syracuse University linebacker.
ELITEXC GATE REVENUE & MED SUSPENSIONS
(mmaweekly.com)FINAL GATE INFORMATION
There were 6,854 paid attendees for $677,793 in gross gate revenue. An additional 847 tickets were given out as “comps,” adding up to $97,542 in uncounted revenue. 7,701 people attended the event in all.
At the post-fight press conference, EliteXC Head of Fight Operations Jeremy Lappen originally reported that 9,414 fans attended the event with 7,723 paid attendees for a live gate of $826,000.
MEDICAL SUSPENSIONS
Undercard fighter James Edson Berto was suspended for 30 days following his TKO loss to Conor Heun.
Lead-off main card fighter Murilo “Ninja” Rua was suspended indefinitely by the commission following his knockout loss to Benji Radach. He will likely need to be cleared by a doctor to be eligible to fight again.
Heavyweight Roy Nelson was suspended for 60 days following his TKO loss to Andrei Arlovski.
Main event attraction Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson was given the least amount of suspension, with 30 days on the DQ list for his 14-second TKO loss to Seth Petruzelli.
Ferguson’s would-be other half, Ken Shamrock, was not suspended by the commission due to the fact he did not fight on the card.
Cantwell May Face Al-Hussan At UFC Fights For The Troops
(mmajunkie.com)Although he's been without an opponent since original December foe Brian Stann withdrew from their next fight due to injury, WEC Light Heavyweight Champion Steve Cantwell may now have an opponent for UFC Fights For The Troops. Razak Al-Hussan has accepted the fight, now it's up to Cantwell.
Paul Kelly Has A Good Story-And A Better Scar
(mmamania.com)Paul Kelly recently told the WInnipeg Sun about a childhood motorcycle accident that nearly killed him and cost him a leg, but left him with quite the scar and a bit of an advantage in MMA-he now has no feeling in his thigh area as a result of the carnage, so he doesn’t have to check kicks.
Takanori Gomi Among 3 Added To Sengoku 6
(mmaweekly.com)In addition to the previously announced Joe Doerksen vs. Izuru Takeuchi fight added yesterday, Sengoku today announced 2 more fights added to Sengoku 6: Former PRIDE Champion and World #1 Lightweight Takanori Gomi vs. Sergey Golyaev and Muhammad Lawal vs. Fabio Silva.
One on on with Tyson Griffin
(bloodyknux.com)Listen in as Bloodyknux.Com's Tyler Horton talks with UFC LW Standout Tyson Griffin. Tyson talks preparations for his bout against Sean Sherk at UFC 90 , career retrospective, a future art career? and much more....
Silva "My time is already over"
(sherdog.com)In a video interview with Sherdog Anderson Silva goes on to discuss Dan Henderson's matchup with Palhares, his upcoming fight with Cote, and confirms that he will retire after he finishes the remaining six fights left on his contract. He goes on to speculate that his contract would probably run out by June 2009. He expresses interest in traning the next generation of fighters after retirement.
Kelly overcomes the odds to reach the cage
(sports.yahoo.com)Saturday could be a crowning moment for Paul Kelly as he faces off against Marcus Davis at UFC 89. The undefeated Kelly takes his first big step up on the Birmingham card. In a way, he's fortunate to be stepping at all. A childhood accident nearly left him unable to walk according to The Telegraph:
Kelly was messing about on a motorbike with his mates along a railway line in West Derby, Liverpool. It was getting dark. "I thought I knew it all," explains Kelly, built with the frame of a rugby union hooker. "We were out all day and all night on the bike on the railway sidings. Of course, we shouldn't have been there. As it was getting dark, I hit a stack of wet leaves at 40 miles an hour and went into a huge concrete block on the sidings. My leg just exploded. It was a mass of blood, bone and muscle."
The injury was so severe Kelly got 800 stitches and 13 skin grafts. At 12 years old, he was told he'd never walk again. He's worked his all the way back to be one of Great Britian top MMA prospects.
Carano is Mother Teresa with four ounce gloves
(sports.yahoo.com)Kim Couture ripped Jared Shaw for 'peeking' at a naked Gina Carano during the infamous EliteXC 'Heat' weigh-in two weeks ago. Yahoo! Sports tracked down Carano and she had nothing but nice things to say about EliteXC and Shaw:
"Jared is doing well. He's maturing as a person as we all are. It's just a little awkward. I'm not mad at anybody. If someone was trying to sneak a peek then alright, I'm sure a lot of other people would've."
St. Gina, who may be the nicest person on god's green earth, also refused to criticize the way that she weighed-in sans clothing. Couture thought Carano could've been weighed in behind the curtain away from prying eyes:
"I'm okay the way the weigh-ins went," said Carano. "We can definitely do things better in the future but I can do things better in the future to try to get down to 140."
Cyborg vs. Carano in works for February
(tatame.com)Cris Cyborg aggressive style was a great surprise for the American crowd, who loved to see the Brazilian fighter in action inside EliteXC’s octagon. After two victories, the Chute Boxe athlete now might face Gina Carano, the experience and undefeated fighter, who’s pointed as the major representative of the American female MMA. After seven fights in career, both might face each other in the octagon, and the expected fight is in works for February of 2009.
“I think it’ll be in February, and it’ll be cool. Everybody wanna see this fight, we both fight on the last event and won, and it’ll be great”, said, imagining how the fight would be. “I’ll keep my Muay Thai like I did in my last fights. I’ll stand with her, and I think she likes it too, so why not? It’ll be a huge fight and someone is going down”, analyzes the fighter, keeping an eye on the EliteXC belt: “they didn’t say if it’s going to be for the belt, but I think it’ll be”.
Facing Carano would be the biggest challenge in Cyborg’s career, but the Brazilian fighter doesn’t wanna steal her representative place in the MMA world. “She’s the MMA face out there (laughs), and I don’t wanna steal her place… She can be MMA face, I’ll build my place everyday”
Nothing new: Michael Bisping UFC 89 interview with MMAmania.com
(mmamania.com)Since dropping to middleweight, Michael “The Count” Bisping (16-1) has been on a mission to establish himself as a top 185-pound contender.
And he’s off to a brilliant start — The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Season 3 winner has looked impressive in first-round stoppages over Jason “Dooms” Day (17-7) at UFC 85 and Charles “Chainsaw” McCarthy (10-5) — (who Bisping sent into retirement) at UFC 83.
But his biggest test (at 185, anyway) is certainly the one he faces this Saturday night, October 18, at The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. That’s where he’ll face off against Chris “The Crippler” Leben (18-4) in the main event at UFC 89: “Bisping vs. Leben.”
We caught up with Bisping today to see how he plans to handle “The Crippler’s” punching power (he doesn’t seem too worried about it), find out about his evolving ground game (he’s been training in Japanese jiu-jitsu since he was eight years old) and to get his take on the possibility of serving as a coach on the upcoming TUF 9: “U.S. vs. U.K.”
NIGHT OF COMBAT 2 FIGHTER SALARIES & LIVE GATE
(mmaweekly.com)The total payout of fighter salaries for Night of Combat II was $160,500, which compares to total gate receipts of $32,405, according to the NSAC. There were 1,063 tickets sold to the event, 672 given away as comps, leaving 7,176 unsold tickets.
MAIN EVENT FIGHTERS
– Hector Ramirez ($20,000/win bonus was $5,000) def. Rick Roufus ($15,000/win bonus would have been $5,000)
MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
– Jay Hieron ($20,000) def. Chris Kennedy ($8,500)
– Mike Pyle ($20,000) def. Brian Gassaway ($15,000)
– John Alessio ($15,000) def. Gideon Ray ($15,000)
– Josh Haynes ($10,000/win bonus was $5,000) def. Sean Salmon ($7,000/win bonus would have been $5,000)
– Jonathan J.J. Mix ($3,000) def. John Halverson ($3,000)
– Patrick Gonsalves ($1,500) def. Shawn David ($1,500)
– Elena Reid ($1,500) def. Stephanie Palmer ($1,500)
– Ryan Hess ($1,500) def. Ian Omalza ($1,500)
NIGHT OF COMBAT 2 DISCLOSED FIGHTER PAYROLL: $160,500
MMA and Boxing Events Suffer from Weak Attendance in Las Vegas
(bloodyelbow.com)From Loretta Hunt of Sherdog:
“A Night of Combat 2,” a collaborative event led by Superfights MMA promoter Skip Kelp in conjunction with Kim Couture’s KC Concepts, sold 1,063 of the 8,911 tickets available at the Thomas & Mack Center for a gate of $32,405. Tickets were set in a very reasonably priced $15-50 range, and comped tickets brought attendance up to 1,735 spectators.
Xtreme Couture standouts Jay Hieron, Mike Pyle, and John Alessio topped an 18-fighter bill that paid $160,500 in fighter purses.
Gary Shaw’s Antonio Tarver-Chad Dawson light heavyweight title fight drew 911 attendees to 1,770-seat Pearl inside The Palms for what was anticipated to be a sellout. Tickets ranged from $150-750 for a total gate of $329,650.
Tarver was compensated $1 million for his unanimous decision loss, while Dawson earned $800,000 for the live Showtime-aired event. No other fighter on the bill made above $5,000, though the promotion paid out the maximum $50,000 broadcast tax, signifying it took in at least $3 million from Showtime.
It's no secret that the Las Vegas area has been hard hit by falling home prices and a decline in tourism dollars due to a slowing economy. The weak attendance for these two events may be a sign that fans are becoming more selective in their use of lessening disposable income. Even the UFC is experiencing some difficulty:
The Success of DEEP
(sherdog.com)
Sherdog has a nice article about DEEP and the man behind it,promoter Shigeru Saeki. The story is an interesting one as it ties in the success of a regional show like DEEP into the personality and ability of Saeki himself. As for what accounts for DEEP's success, it's essentially their ability be unorthodox while offering a consistently quality product. They play outside the boundries of the Tokyo-based large promotions and that's precisely why they thrive:
As a promoter who has found success where others have not -- with female fighters and nationwide touring -- one would be hard pressed to pinpoint why Saeki has flourished when many of his peers have failed. It’s difficult enough to survive as a regional fight show in Japan without accruing huge debt in the dark days that have followed the “kakutogi boom.” Still, Deep clings to its place in the local MMA scene.
“I wouldn't be able to comment because I never realized that there was [a boom],” Saeki says. “Maybe for K-1 and Pride there was, but for myself, Shooto, Pancrase, GCM and ZST, we didn't really feel one.”
So where then does the promotion’s success originate? Another ingredient in Deep’s triumphs comes from the time-honored tradition of spectacle, which appears to work well in Japan.
“This year will be Deep’s eighth, so Japanese fans probably know what we do best by now,” Saeki says. “We're an MMA promotion, but we're also an entertainment company.”
DEEP's Megaton tournament wasn't anything I cared about and not something I'd like to see replicated in America, but if it keeps the Japanese happy and MMA alive there is some upside to it after all.
Props to Bloody Elbow.
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