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Mixed Martial Arts--- ProElite Employee to NSAC Chief: No "Muay Thai-Style Kicks" Allowed in Kimbo/Petruzelli Fight
by Ivan Trembow
MMAWeekly

ProElite CEO Chuck Champion and in-house counsel Keith Wallner were on the phone during the Nevada State Athletic Commission's meeting on Wednesday and discussed the scandal involving the fight between Seth Petruzelli and Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson. NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer said that he previously spoke with ProElite representatives and was told that the reports of Petruzelli being paid to stand up were completely untrue, and that nothing improper occurred.

However, Kizer said that about two weeks ago, he had a conversation with someone from ProElite whom Kizer did not name. As later recalled in comments to MMAWeekly, this is Kizer's account of that conversation: "Someone affiliated with ProElite told me that the fighter or his camp said that he had not been training to fight a Muay Thai specialist and thus he had not trained to defend Muay Thai-style kicks, so that he would agree to fight the proposed opponent if the opponent agreed not to use any such kicks, and that information was told to that opponent."

After recalling this information during the NSAC's meeting on Wednesday, Kizer said that he was curious to ask Champion and Wallner if there was any truth to that. Wallner essentially said that he had never heard of anything like that.

Champion said that he was present for the negotiations, and that nothing like that happened in his presence, and that nothing at all improper happened in his presence. Champion said that both fighters did have a KO bonus, but that is standard in the industry and that approximately 30 to 40 percent of ProElite's fighters have KO bonuses in their contracts.

During the meeting, Champion and Wallner also discussed the cancellation of the EliteXC event that had been scheduled to take place in Reno, Nevada on November 8. Champion said that CBS/Showtime had been scheduled to underwrite the costs of the November 8th event, just as CBS/Showtime paid for the October 4th event. However, CBS/Showtime backed out of underwriting the costs of the November 8th event, and ProElite did not have sufficient funds to put on the event with its own funds.

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 8:55 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Penn vs. Pulver Preview Special to Air on Versus Network?
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

In a strange development, the 30-minute countdown special for the upcoming fight between BJ Penn and Jens Pulver will actually air on Versus Network tonight (June 22nd), despite the fact that the show is specifically designed to promote a Saturday night broadcast that will be airing on Spike TV, not Versus.

The 30-minute special, entitled "Bad Blood: Penn vs. Pulver," premiered on Monday night, June 18th at 11:30 PM on Spike TV. Barring a last-second schedule change or the NHL Draft running past its allotted timeslot (7:00 PM to 10:00 PM), the Penn-Pulver preview special will air on Versus tonight at 11:00 PM Eastern Time, less than 24 hours before the fight between Penn and Pulver begins on Spike TV. Versus does not have a staggered feed for different time zones, so an 11:00 PM Eastern start time is 10:00 PM for the Central time zone, 9:00 PM for the Mountain time zone, and 8:00 PM for the Pacific time zone.

Zuffa's contract with Spike TV specifically states that Spike TV is the exclusive basic cable home of UFC programming. While the contract, which expires in mid-2008, does not preclude the UFC from signing a deal with a premium cable network such as HBO or a broadcast network such as CBS, it does prevent the UFC from signing a deal with Versus, ESPN, or any other basic cable network for the duration of the contract. So, in order for the Penn-Pulver special to be cleared to air on Versus, Spike TV would have had to specifically approve it.

When asked about the unusual nature of this arrangement, a Spike TV spokesperson told MMAWeekly, "It is unusual, but a great way to promote our finale to a potentially new audience. [The special] is also available on SpikeTV.com and iFilm."

With the generally low ratings of Versus, it does not seem as though Zuffa has much to gain from airing the special on Versus, unless one takes into consideration the fact that there happens to be a pay-per-view event airing at the same time that will be co-promoted by Zuffa competitors EliteXC and Strikeforce.

Zuffa has a well-established history of aggressively counter-programming on Spike TV with extended UFC marathons whenever a competitor runs a major televised event. While one could argue that it's strictly a series of coincidences, the UFC has happened to schedule marathons of UFC programming on Spike TV to air head-to-head with the WFA pay-per-view in July 2006, the Pride USA pay-per-view in October 2006, the first EliteXC event in February 2007, the second EliteXC event earlier this month, and the K-1 Dynamite pay-per-view earlier this month.

Now that Zuffa owns the WEC and has WEC programming on Versus Network in addition to having UFC programming on Spike TV, the UFC now has two different cable networks that it could theoretically use if it wanted to counter-program against a competing MMA show. Versus stands to benefit from this arrangement because the Penn-Pulver preview special will likely out-draw the show that Versus was originally planning to air in the timeslot.

So, in addition to UFC programming airing on Spike TV tonight, the Zuffa-owned WEC will be airing a Friday encore of WEC WrekCage at 10:00 PM on Versus, and that will be followed by the Penn vs. Pulver preview special at 11:00 PM on Versus. Both shows will be going head-to-head with the EliteXC/Strikeforce pay-per-view event, which also starts at 10:00 PM.

There's nothing unusual about a replay of UFC Fight Night 10 airing on Spike TV tonight, as the UFC has aired UFN replays on Friday nights for several weeks. However, tonight's airing of WEC WrekCage is somewhat unusual, as it is the only Friday night airing of WEC WrekCage on the schedule for the next six weeks; and tonight's airing of the Penn-Pulver preview special is highly unusual, as it will mark the first time ever that a preview special for a Spike TV event will be airing in its entirety on a competing cable network.

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:10 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- K-1 Dynamite Attendance Breakdown
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The final attendance figures for last weekend's K-1 Dynamite show have been released by the California State Athletic Commission. As is often the case with attendance figures, there are two groups of figures: The figures that are 100% official and verifiable, and the figures that are claimed by the promoters of the event that are not verifiable or fully documented.

Starting with the basics, the seating capacity of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is 92,000. The total number of tickets printed for K-1 Dynamite was 75,332. Out of the 75,332 tickets printed, the number of those tickets that were not sold, used, or given away was 18,975.

Verified Paid Attendance vs. Non-Verified Paid Attendance
The verified paid attendance number for K-1 Dynamite was only 3,674, which generated $203,090 in revenue. This includes just 94 of the tickets that were sold for $250, and just seven of the tickets that were sold for $1,000. The fact that these 3,674 tickets were sold to consumers is something that was tracked and verified by Ticketmaster.

FEG, the promoters of the event, paid $2,342,500 to buy 39,083 tickets to its own event. The fact that FEG bought that specific amount of tickets for that specific price is something that was tracked and verified by the California State Athletic Commission, which charged FEG the appropriate taxes for purchasing 39,083 tickets to its own event.

It is FEG's claim that after they (FEG) purchased 39,083 tickets to the event for $2,342,500, FEG then turned around and sold exactly 39,083 tickets to consumers for $1,602,610. This is the part that is not independently verifiable.

In terms of the taxes that FEG has to pay the California State Athletic Commission, FEG only has to pay taxes on the amount of $2,342,500. The claim that FEG re-sold all 39,083 of those tickets for $1,602,610 is not something that affects the taxes that FEG owes in any way, so the figures cannot be independently verified by the California State Athletic Commission.

The fact that FEG did indeed purchase 39,083 tickets to its own event does not set any kind of paid attendance record, as "paid attendance" figures are created by paid ticket sales to actual fans who come to events. To use a college football analogy, if a game were held in a 150,000-seat stadium, and the host college purchased all 150,000 tickets without selling any of those tickets, and zero fans showed up to the game, the number of fans in attendance with paid tickets would be zero, not 150,000.

There is no way of knowing whether or not FEG actually did re-sell all 39,083 of the tickets that it bought for its own event. FEG might have sold those tickets to fans, or FEG might have given away many of those tickets to fans for free.

In the Japanese media, FEG has been claiming that the attendance was 54,000, and that has not been supported in any way by the numbers that have been released by the California State Athletic Commission.

In addition, FEG reported to the CSAC that it gave away 13,600 tickets as free "comp" tickets, but there is no documentation regarding what happened to those 13,600 tickets after they were given away. Furthermore, out of all the thousands of people who were documented passing through the turnstiles at the L.A. Coliseum on the night of the event, only six people passed through the turnstiles with tickets that were marked as free "comp" tickets. It would seem to be peculiar that 13,600 tickets would be given away and then less than 0.1 percent of those people would show up to the event.

While this would seem to call into question the veracity of FEG's claims, the fact remains that there is no way to know for sure how many tickets were actually sold to fans for the K-1 Dynamite event. The unverified number is 42,757 (or 54,000 in the Japanese media), but the number of tickets that were verifiably sold is still 3,674.

The verified paid attendance record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States is still held by the Strikeforce event that was held in San Jose, California on March 10, 2006. The verified paid attendance for that event was 17,465.

The second highest verified paid attendance for an MMA event in the United States is held by UFC 68, which took place in Columbus, Ohio on March 3, 2007. The verified paid attendance for that event was 17,358.

Verified Total Attendance vs. Non-Verified Total Attendance
A somewhat more clear picture of the total attendance for the K-1 Dynamite event is gained because the California State Athletic Commission verified the actual number of people who got their tickets clicked at a turnstile and walked into the venue. That number was 18,340.

While it was possible to gain entry into the venue without getting a ticket clicked at a turnstile, those fans are by definition not officially counted. As reported by Sam Caplan, who writes for CBS Sportsline and Five Ounces of Pain, the California State Athletic Commission "had someone whose sole job it was on Saturday [June 2nd] to handle tracking the number of fans entering the Coliseum."

So, as with the paid attendance figures, there is no way of definitively knowing the total number of fans in attendance, but the documented, verifiable number is 18,340. It would seem to be peculiar that there would be 18,340 fans who passed through ticket turnstiles and entered the venue if FEG did indeed sell over 39,000 tickets to fans as it claims.

The face value of the tickets that passed through the turnstiles was $1,529,530, but again, there is no way of knowing how much of that amount came from fans who actually bought tickets and how much of that amount came from tickets that FEG purchased itself and subsequently gave away to fans.

The verified total attendance record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States is still held by UFC 68, which took place in Columbus, Ohio on March 3, 2007. The verified total attendance for that event was 19,079.

The verified total attendance of 18,340 for the K-1 Dynamite event is now the second highest in U.S. MMA history. The event that previously had the second-highest verified total attendance for an MMA event in the U.S. was the March 2006 Strikeforce event in San Jose, California. The verified total attendance for that event was 18,265.

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:03 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- K-1 Dynamite Fighter Salaries
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

MMAWeekly has obtained the fighter salary information for K-1 Dynamite USA, which took place on Saturday, June 2nd in Los Angeles, California. The event was co-promoted by Showtime/EliteXC and FEG, the parent company of K-1.

The following figures are based on the fighter salary information that FEG and Showtime/EliteXC are required by law to submit to the state athletic commissions.

Although MMA fighters do not have collective bargaining or a union, the fighters' salaries are still public record, just as with every other major sport in the United States. Any undisclosed bonuses that FEG and Showtime/EliteXC also pay their fighters, but do not disclose to the athletic commissions, are not included in the figures below.

All of the fighters on this particular card had flat salaries with no win bonuses, with the exception of the four fighters who competed on the live Showtime broadcast (Jake Shields, Ido Pariente, Jonathan Wiezorek, and Tim Persey). Shields and Wiezorek each won their bouts, so they are the two fighters on this card who had win bonuses.

Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti was fined 20% of his purse for failing to make the contracted weight of 155 pounds. This fine amounted to $9,000, half of which went to the California State Athletic Commission, and half of which went to Calvancanti's opponent, Nam Phan.

Johnnie Morton's entire purse of $100,000 is being withheld for the time being by the California State Athletic Commission, as a result of Morton's refusal to take a post-fight drug test. Morton has also been indefinitely suspended by the CSAC for refusing to take his drug test.

In the listings below, "Main Event Fighters" are defined as fighters who compete in the main event of a show and/or compete in a title fight on a show. "Preliminary Match Fights" are fights that are taped before a television or pay-per-view show goes on the air, regardless of whether or not those fights aired on the telecast or pay-per-view broadcast.

Main Event Fighters
-Brock Lesnar: $500,000 (defeated Min Soo Kim; no win bonus)
-Min Soo Kim: $30,000 (lost to Brock Lesnar)

Main Card Fighters
-Royce Gracie: $300,000 (defeated Kazushi Sakuraba; no win bonus)
-Johnnie Morton: $100,000 (lost to Bernard Ackah) (purse is being withheld for the time being due to refusal to take drug test)
-Melvin Manhoef: $50,000 (lost to Dong Sik Yoon)
-Jonathan Wiezorek: $40,000 (defeated Tim Persey; includes $25,000 win bonus)
-Kazushi Sakuraba: $30,000 (lost to Royce Gracie)
-"Mighty" Mo Siliga: $30,000 (defeated Ruben Villareal; no win bonus)
-Ruben Villareal: $30,000 (lost to "Mighty" Mo Siliga)
-Jake Shields: $24,000 (defeated Ido Pariente; includes $12,000 win bonus)
-Dong Sik Yoon: $20,000 (defeated Melvin Manhoef; no win bonus)
-Tim Persey: $20,000 (lost to Jonathan Wiezorek)
-Bernard Ackah: $5,000 (defeated Johnnie Morton; no win bonus)
-Ido Pariente: $2,500 (lost to Jake Shields)

Preliminary Match Fighters
-Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti: $36,000 (defeated Nam Phan) (original purse was $45,000 and he was fined $9,000 for failing to make weight)
-Nam Phan: $29,500 (lost to Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti) (original purse was $25,000 and he also received $4,500 from Calvancanti's fine)
-Hideo Tokoro: $15,000 (defeated Brad Pickett; no win bonus)
-Katsuhiko Nagata: $15,000 (defeated Isaiah Hill; no win bonus)
-Brad Pickett: $8,000 (lost to Hideo Tokoro)
-Isaiah Hill: $2,500 (lost to Katsuhiko Nagata)
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $1,287,500

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:09 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Royce Gracie Tests Positive for Steroids
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Royce Gracie has tested positive for the anabolic steroid Nandrolone Metabolite, according to the California State Athletic Commission. In a highly anticipated rematch, Gracie defeated Kazushi Sakuraba by unanimous decision at the K-1 Dynamite show on June 2nd in Los Angeles, California.

Gracie has been suspended for approximately 12 months from the date of the fight (through May 30, 2008). He has also been fined $2,500, which is currently the maximum penalty allowable in California and which represents approximately 0.8 percent of Gracie's $300,000 purse. Gracie has 30 days to appeal his suspension and seek a disciplinary hearing if he so chooses.

When asked yesterday if the official fight result would be changed to "no decision" if any fighter wins a fight in California and then tests positive for steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, the California State Athletic Commission's Bill Douglas told MMAWeekly, "Currently, our rules do not support overturning a decision based off the drug test results. However, Armando [Garcia] and I are meeting with the AG [Attorney General] next month to begin the process of modifying the existing laws to incorporate those rules for the future. Should everything move along like I anticipate, I would expect to see the changes in place by the end of the year."

If K-1/FEG or any other MMA company with a license to promote shows in California were to allow Gracie to fight anywhere in the world during his CSAC drug suspension, that company could face revocation of their license to promote shows in California.

The same is true for any MMA promotion that uses Hong-Man Choi or Antonio Silva, both of whom were denied licenses to fight in California on medical grounds, due to tumors near their pituitary glands (which are located in the brain).

The CSAC's Bill Douglas tells MMAWeekly that if a company places a "denied" athlete such as Choi or Silva in a fight, "We have a problem. If the promoter is licensed with California and they knowingly placed a 'denied' athlete in a fight, then the promoter is looking at having their promoter's license suspended, they are looking at a fine, or they could possibly have their promoter's license revoked."

K-1 has announced that Choi will be fighting on a K-1 event in Hong Kong on July 29th, which could jeopardize K-1's ability to hold any additional shows in California in the future.

Previously, as reported by MMAWeekly's Ken Pishna, the California State Athletic Commission released information verifying that former NFL star Johnnie Morton's pre-fight drug test had come back positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

Morton's punishment has not yet been handed down, but he may face revocation of his license to fight in California. Because he refused to take his post-fight drug test, Morton's $100,000 fight purse has been temporarily withheld until disciplinary action is determined.

Prior to Gracie and Morton's positive test results, heavyweight fighter Tim Persey, who fought on the EliteXC portion of the event televised on Showtime, tested positive for methamphetamine. He was subsequently fined $1,000, equal to five percent of his $20,000 fight purse, and suspended for six months.

The following fighters tested negative for all banned substances at K-1 Dynamite: Brock Lesnar, Min Soo Kim, Kazushi Sakuraba, Bernard Ackah, Jake Shields, Ido Pariente, Jonathan Wiezorek, Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante, Nam Phan, Katsuhiko Nagata, Isaiah Hill, Hideo Tokoro, Brad Pickett, Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga, Ruben "Warpath" Villarreal, Dong Sik Yoon, and Melvin Manhoef.

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:07 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Tim Persey Tests Positive for Methamphetamine
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Tim "Big Perm" Persey, who fought on the Showtime/EliteXC portion of last weekend's K-1 Dynamite USA event, has tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the Los Angeles Times and the California State Athletic Commission.

Persey has been suspended for six months by the California State Athletic Commission, although he will have a chance to appeal his suspension and request a disciplinary hearing if he wishes to do so. Persey has also been fined $1,000 for his positive drug test. His salary for the fight was $20,000, so the fine of $1,000 represents five percent of his salary.

Persey is a heavyweight fighter who had an MMA record of 8-1 coming into his fight against Jonathan Wiezorek in the first Showtime-televised fight of the K-1 Dynamite USA event on June 2nd in Los Angeles, California. Wiezorek defeated Persey by TKO when the referee stopped the fight in the second round due to a series of strikes on the ground that Persey was unable to defend.

Persey was added to the K-1 Dynamite USA card when Wiezorek's original opponent, Antonio Silva, had to pull out of the fight.

Silva's withdrawal from the fight was a result of medical issues that were never officially announced, but the L.A. Times reported, "A source familiar with the medical results of [Hong-Man] Choi and [Antonio] Silva said each was found to have pituitary gland tumors."

Such tumors are frequently a sign of a disease called Acromegaly, which can result in serious illness or death if the tumors are not surgically removed.

When Silva had to withdraw from the card, Persey agreed to replace Silva and fight Wiezorek on short notice. Persey's previous fight in EliteXC took place on the company's February debut event, at which he knocked out Bo Cantrell in an non-televised preliminary bout. Barring an appeal, Persey's disciplinary suspension expires in early December.

Persey's positive test for methamphetamine is the second drug testing issue to arise from last weekend's K-1 Dynamite event. Previously, former NFL player Johnnie Morton refused to take his post-fight drug test and was indefinitely suspended by the California State Athletic Commission as a result.

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 7:07 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Analysis of Elite Xtreme Combat's Public Unveiling
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Elite Xtreme Combat (Elite XC) shows a lot of promise and will carry with it the prestige of being the first MMA promotion to air live fights on a premium cable network in the United States, but there is also reason for concern on a few specific points where Elite XC seems to be disconnected from reality.

First, there's this statement made by Elite XC president and longtime boxing promoter Gary Shaw at the company's press conference last week: "With Showtime and their eyeballs [television viewers], we will make real world champions."

While it's more prestigious than Spike TV due to its history of winning television industry awards, Showtime is a pay cable network with approximately 14 million subscribers, while basic cable networks like Spike TV are available in over 85 million homes.

If Elite XC is going to "make real world champions," there are a number of ways in which they could do that, but they are deluding themselves if they believe that they're going to have more "eyeballs" than the average UFC broadcast on Spike TV.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Elite XC executives are also hoping to match up their fighters against UFC fighters at some point in the future. Good intentions aside, that's another statement which is simply disconnected from reality.

Zuffa has its fighters under exclusive contracts and is going to continue to have them under exclusive contracts in the future; Zuffa is certainly not going to send fighters to its upstart competitors. It's unrealistic to think that there are ever going to be fighters competing in Elite XC while they're still under contract to the UFC.

Then there's the obligatory Frank Shamrock drama, which has gone something like this over the past few months alone: The December 8 bout against Phil Baroni was a fight that Shamrock announced without it ever actually being signed. Then it was announced that he'd be fighting Renzo Gracie in The World Fighter's debut show on January 26. Then The World Fighter went under before it had its first show.

Then Shamrock signed a contract to fight Baroni on a Strikeforce show in April, a contract which specifically states (according to Strikeforce) that he cannot fight for any other group before his next Strikeforce fight. Then he signed with Elite XC to fight Renzo Gracie on February 10 and announced it publicly, despite the existence of the Strikeforce contract. Shamrock claims that he's allowed to fight Gracie first.

Now Strikeforce has sent documents to Elite XC and Showtime "officially notifying them that there is a problem," according to Strikeforce's Mike Afromowitz in an interview with MMAWeekly's Ken Pishna.

As with any Frank Shamrock fight, one can only have a fair degree of certainty that it's going to happen when the bell rings to start the fight.

One of the most disconcerting statements at the Elite XC press conference was another one from Gary Shaw: "We want to come out with a 15-second stand-up clock, and if in the referee's judgment there's zero action, you stand them up and start again after 15 seconds." Shaw added that it will be up to the individual athletic commissions to approve that proposed change to the rules.

This should alarm MMA fans who actually want to see MMA, as opposed to something that could turn into kickboxing with takedowns and the occasional submission. This could happen in the worst-case scenario if "zero action on the ground for 15 seconds" ends up meaning "zero strikes or submission attempts for 15 seconds." It all depends on how one defines "inactivity," which is purely subjective.

Gary Shaw went on to say at the press conference, "We want electrifying fighters... we don’t want two guys to lay on the ground and... the fans turn on Showtime and they see two guys laying there. We want to give them action, and I believe that's been the success of the sport."

If "two guys laying on the ground" is what Shaw thinks of ground fighting, then Elite XC has a very serious problem. Statements like that are only going to give the impression to MMA fans that Shaw is either a boxing promoter who doesn't understand MMA, or he's doing one heck of a good impression of a boxing promoter who doesn't understand MMA.

At least one thing that Elite XC does seem to "get" is that one of the keys to success is promoting individual fighters and match-ups, as opposed to the promoters. Shaw said during the press conference, "I believe in the talent. I believe the talent should be larger than the company because that’s who people come to see.... If you ask people who promoted [Mike] Tyson versus [Lennox] Lewis, they have no clue, but two million people bought it on pay-per-view... It should be about the athletes. They’re the ones that should be the stars."

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:07 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Vera Attends Elite XC Press Conference, Has One Fight Left on UFC Contract
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Brandon Vera, who is widely regarded as the number one contender for a title shot in the UFC's heavyweight division, was in attendance at the press conference that was held by new MMA promotion Elite Xtreme Combat and Showtime Networks on Thursday in Hollywood, California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Vera met with Elite XC president and longtime boxing promoter Gary Shaw on Thursday. Vera told the press that he has one fight remaining on his UFC contract, and that he wants his next contract to be with "whoever wants to take care of me the best."

When asked about competition among MMA promotions in an interview with the Orange County Register, Vera said, "How long have McDonald's and Burger King been around? Yesh, hell yeah, competition is definitely good. It helps the fighters in more ways than one. It helps us get paid better. You know, we can ask for more money, we can ask for more promotional stuff. By having competition out there, it's good for everybody, I believe... [it's good for] the companies because it creates more awareness of MMA, and [it's good for] the fighters because it gives us leverage a little bit... a little bit (laughs). It doesn't give us a lot of leverage, but it gives us some."

The undefeated Vera is 4-0 in his UFC campaign, with victories over Fabiano Scherner, Justin Eilers, Assureio Silva, and Frank Mir. In his most recent fight, Vera scored an impressive TKO victory over Mir at UFC 65 last month. Vera was paid $40,000 for the fight ($20,000 for fighting and an additional $20,000 for winning).

Vera was expected to get the next shot at the title of UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia, but Zuffa has a logical policy in place of not giving title shots to fighters who are not under multi-fight contracts, so Vera is not going to get a title shot unless he signs a multi-fight contract extension.

If Vera does sign an extension, then he is still very likely to be the next fighter to challenge for the UFC Heavyweight Title, assuming that the UFC is also successful in extending Sylvia's contract. If Sylvia signs a multi-fight contract extension and Vera doesn't, the next logical challenger for the title among the UFC's current crop of heavyweights would be the winner of the UFC 66 fight between Andrei Arlovski and Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz, although Sylvia and Arlovski have already fought each other three times.

The Los Angeles Times also quoted Vera's manager, Mark Dion, as saying, "If UFC wants to keep all of its fighters in house, they can, but it's people like [Elite XC], who have money and a platform like Showtime, who will compete for fighters now. This is the first time UFC is not the monopoly."

Zuffa president Dana White seemed to dismiss the talk of Vera signing with Elite XC when he said in the same Los Angeles Times article, "I've never lost a big star in my six years here."

White also said regarding Elite XC's promoters, "A couple other organizations, who had more talent, with guys who knew more, have already tried to do what these guys are, and they've failed. These guys don't know the difference between MMA and thumb wrestling."

Labels: Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC), Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:51 PM

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