Featuring Ivan Trembow's Self-Important, Random Rants on Mixed Martial Arts, Video Games, Pro Wrestling, Television, Politics, Sports, and High-Quality Wool Socks

 
Mixed Martial Arts--- Random Thoughts on a Variety of Topics
by Ivan Trembow

-UFC Primetime Debuts: After watching the first episode of UFC Primetime, I think it’s a very well produced show that is also a lot like HBO’s 24/7 series. It’s amazing to me (although no longer particularly surprising) to see how much the MMA media has been fawning all over the Primetime.

For a company that bashes every aspect of boxing as consistently as the UFC does, they sure don’t have a problem with emulating boxing-style promotion of a big fight. Wow, you mean that stuff filmed this week will be on the show just a day or two later? Oh my god, what a unique idea. It’s amazing to see how many web sites have described Primetime in that way (as if it’s a revolutionary concept), without also using the words “just like 24/7.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with copying 24/7; it’s just hypocritical for the UFC to bash boxing all the time and then to duplicate 24/7 so blatantly. The style in which the music played over the training footage, the close-up camera angles on the fighters’ faces as they’re being interviewed, the footage of their home lives… it was all very well done, and it was all very much like 24/7... and again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Hopefully, there will be more of this kind of show in the future. In contrast to the Trash TV of The Ultimate Fighter, Primetime treats the sport with the dignity that it deserves.

-K-1 Dynamite a Mixed Bag: Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez and Daisuke Nakamura vs. Hideo Tokoro were very good fights. The various freak show match-ups were not.

-UFC's Awards for Best Fights of 2008: It’s April Fool’s Day three months early with what must be a tongue-in-cheek article on the UFC’s web site about the best fights of 2008. When they had an article in early 2008 about the best fights of 2007, I laighed when they had Griffin-Bonnar II in their honorable mentions for Fight of the Year, but they’ve really out-done themselves this time! Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin? Paul Kelly vs. Paul Taylor? Antoni Hardonk vs. Eddie Sanchez? Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor? Aaron Riley vs. Jorge Gurgel? The Onion has nothing on them when it comes to satire, apparently.

-Affliction's Second MMA Event Coming Up: Affliction's first MMA event did better business than I thought it would from a PPV standpoint, but it will be hard for the second show to come anywhere close to that. It was funny to hear how delusional Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was during the recent press conference for Affliction's event. Affliction’s Tom Antencio said something like, “We know we’re not the UFC. The UFC is like the Q-Tip of MMA. We’re just trying to put on great shows.” Then minutes later, Cohen must have been confused because he said, “Just like Tom said, we are going to be the Q-Tip of MMA!”

Cohen also hilariously said, “Many members of the media have said that this is the MMA card of the century!” It’s a good card, sure, but I don’t recall even one member of the media (much less “many”) who has called it the event “of the century.”

Like some of his fellow MMA promoters, Atencio has also made a habit out of blatantly lying about business figures. Atencio's blatant lies will make it very hard to feel sorry for him when his MMA promotion goes out of business, which is what's going to happen if his second show loses as much money as his first.

-UFC's Lack of Competition Nothing to Celebrate: With that said (regarding Affliction potentially going out of business), the lack of legit competition to the UFC is nothing to celebrate. Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson is a good match-up, but not as the main event of a PPV event, especially when PPVs cost $45. The same was true of Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves last year. If the UFC had more legitimate competition, they would have much less of an ability to get away with sometimes offering sub-standard product at full price.

If the only defense to the sub-standard PPV main events is that they're inevitable when the UFC runs so many PPV events, then it’s a cop-out because nobody is forcing them to run 12 or 13 PPV events per year. So far, it has generally only been a few times per year that they have PPV main events that aren’t worthy of being PPV main events, so I’d much rather have 10 PPV events per year and have all of them be worthy of being $45 PPVs than have 12 per year and have a few of those with sub-standard main events.

If, theoretically, the UFC decided to cut two PPV events per year from their schedule, they could still have the same number of total main card slots in which to showcase fighters if they were to also add two free TV events per year to their schedule (or, for that matter, they could add more than that). They run into these problems where they are scrambling to fill all of the PPV main event slots with great fights, but that would happen less often if they didn’t have quite as many PPV main events that they had to book in the first place.

Labels: Boxing, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:31 PM

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Boxing--- Wow, what a performance by Manny Pacquiao in his fight against Oscar de la Hoya on Saturday night. Most of the discussion going into the fight was about De la Hoya's size advantage, but it ended up being Pacquiao's speed advantage that made the difference.

Pacquiao's strategy was very similar to his strategy in the fight earlier this year against lightweight title-holder David Diaz, and that was an equally one-sided beating.

Pacquiao’s performance was one of the most masterful performances I have seen in combat sports in many years, especially given that just last year De la Hoya had a very competitive fight with Floyd Mayweather.

Going into the fight, I wasn't sure who was going to win, but it was clear that Pacquiao had all the tools to beat De la Hoya and at least had a chance of winning. It’s unbelievable how many people in the sports media were saying, “De la Hoya will automatically win because he’s bigger.” Yes, that gave him an advantage, but no, that did not automatically mean that he was going to win.

Mixed Martial Arts--- Most pro wrestlers are afraid to do anything that might displease Vince McMahon, even if they have just been released from WWE, and it appears that some MMA fighters are afraid to do anything that might displease Dana White, even if they have just been released from the UFC.

Just as some pro wrestlers avoid signing with TNA Wrestling to avoid upsetting McMahon, recently released UFC fighter Jorge Gurgel said in an interview with CBS Sportsline that he didn't want to sign with Affliction's MMA promotion in part because he didn't want to get "black-listed."

Gurgel said: "Apparently, Dana [White] and the UFC do not like Affliction. I do not want to go to a place that the UFC does not like and have the possibility of getting black-listed."

Kickboxing--- Why on earth did HDNet hire Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson to do color commentary for the U.S. broadcast of the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals? It would be bad enough to hire Ferguson to do commentary for an MMA event, but this was a kickboxing event. It's as if HDNet was so excited to get an interview with Ferguson that they thought, “To heck with booking him in a long interview segment on Inside MMA; let's put him on commentary for the biggest event of the year in a sport in which he has never competed"!

Mixed Martial Arts--- Here's a quote from UFC welterweight Marcus Davis about his upcoming fight against Chris Lytle:

"We’ve both been like, ‘I respect you, respect what you do, but a fight between each other is money in the bank.' I basically said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it and the first guy to take the other guy down is a p--sy.'"

These kinds of statements are disgraceful and are yet another example of the glorification of C-level kickboxing within MMA.

Labels: Boxing, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:14 PM

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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--- K-1 Event to Premiere in United States with One-Month Tape Delay
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The opening round of this year's K-1 World Grand Prix will be available on American pay-per-view outlets, but not until four weeks after the event takes place in Japan.

The field of sixteen remaining fighters from across the world will be narrowed down to eight on September 30th at the "Final Elimination" event in Osaka, Japan, and the event will debut on United States pay-per-view outlets on Friday, October 27th. Like previous K-1 PPVs, this event will be three hours long and will carry a suggested retail price of $29.95.

In addition, Doug Jacobs of Integrated Sports, the company that distributes K-1's PPV events in the United States, tells MMAWeekly that the company will be distributing the October 9th K-1 Hero's event on American PPV, although a premiere date has not been set. The Hero's MMA event in question is not on the schedule for October, so the earliest that it could possibly premiere on American PPV is November 1st.

Jacobs also said that Integrated Sports plans to distribute the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals on American PPV. The event takes place on November 25th in Tokyo, Japan, and a PPV premiere date for the United States has not yet been set. On this event every year, the field is narrowed from eight quarter-finalists to one World Grand Prix Champion, and it was MMA veteran Semmy Schilt who won the crown last year.

The annual K-1 Dynamite show, which takes place every year on December 31st, will also be distributed on American PPV at some point, but once again a premiere date has not been set.

While the next two major K-1 events (Final Elimination and Hero's) will have significant tape delays in the United States, Jacobs said that Integrated Sports plans to air K-1's events on American PPV with shorter tape delays in the future. Jacobs said, "We will certainly try to do future US-based shows live. As far as Japan shows, we are exploring same-day delay and quick turnaround delay."

Labels: K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 8:13 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Brock Lesnar Signs with K-1 Hero's, Will Make MMA Debut in Early 2007
by Ivan Trembow

Brock Lesnar, a former NCAA National Champion in amateur wrestling and later a pro wrestling star in WWE, has officially signed with the Japan-based Hero's MMA promotion, which is owned and operated by K-1.

Lesnar's signing was officially announced by K-1 at the company's show in Las Vegas on Saturday night. He is expected to make his MMA debut in early 2007, and his first opponent has not yet been determined.

It was also announced on Saturday night that Lesnar would be doing some training with MMA legend Royce Gracie, but as reported by the Wrestling Observer, this is essentially a storyline announcement to build the Japanese public's interest in Lesnar. The storyline of, "This person is being trained by this legend" is frequently repeated in Japan, and its popularity in Japan stems from Antonio Inoki's years as a legendary figure in Japanese pro wrestling.

While Lesnar will be training with Gracie at some point, it will more than likely be for just a brief period of time, and Gracie's camp will be just one of many that Lesnar visits.

Lesnar is trying to get a diverse sampling of MMA training under his belt, having already trained with Sean Sherk's team in Minnesota and Pat Miletich's crew in Iowa.

Shortly after the 29-year-old Lesnar spent some time training with Miletich's team last month, Miletich said in an interview that "no human being" will be able to beat Lesnar one year from now.

Lesnar quit his job with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2004, at which point WWE tried to enforce a six-year no-compete clause that would have included all pro wrestling and MMA events worldwide.

At every court hearing in the case, things went Lesnar's way, prompting WWE to reach an out-of-court settlement just before a trial date was to be set earlier this year.

The settlement gave Lesnar the freedom to fight for any MMA promotion in the world, and he has now signed with K-1 Hero's instead of signing with the UFC or Pride.

Labels: K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 7:29 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- K-1 Event to Air on Pay-Per-View with Shorter Tape Delay
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

MMAWeekly has learned that for the first time since K-1 lost its United States pay-per-view distribution deal with ESPN last year, a K-1 event is scheduled to air on American PPV with a tape delay of less than one week. A K-1 USA event will take place in Las Vegas on Saturday, August 12th, and the event will debut on American pay-per-view six days later on Friday, August 18th.

In addition to several superfights that have not yet been announced or even determined, this event will feature an eight-man tournament, with the winner getting a spot in the final sixteen of this year's K-1 World Grand Prix in Japan. The winner of last year's K-1 World Grand Prix was Semmy Schilt.

The currently scheduled six-day tape delay for this K-1 event is a far cry from live PPV for American events, or a same-day tape delay for international events.

However, it's also much shorter than the several-month tape delays that K-1 events have had ever since Integrated Sports, a sports marketing company, picked up the United States PPV distribution rights for K-1 events earlier this year.

While Zuffa's decision to raise the price of UFC pay-per-view events to $39.95 has led a domino effect of sorts, this has not yet extended to K-1 in the United States.

Following Zuffa's decision to go with the $39.95 price point, Pride raised the price of its non-Bushido PPV events to $34.95 (up from $29.95), the WFA decided to charge $34.95 for an event that might have otherwise carried a $29.95 price tag, and even World Wrestling Entertainment decided to raise the price of its PPV events to $39.95 (up from $34.95) in order to avoid being seen as "beneath" the UFC on the PPV totem pole.

Despite the price increases of other organizations, K-1 has made the decision to stick with the $29.95 price point in the United States, at least for now.

Prior to the K-1 USA pay-per-view in August, two K-1 events that took place in May will debut on American pay-per-view in July, as previously reported by MMAWeekly.

One of these two events is a K-1 Hero's event, which marks the first time that an event from K-1's growing MMA promotion will air on American pay-per-view.

The K-1 Hero's show that took place in Japan on May 3rd will debut on American PPV on Friday, July 14th. Following that, the K-1 Amsterdam show that took place on May 13th will debut on American PPV on Friday, July 28th.

Labels: K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 4:56 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- K-1 Hero's To Debut on U.S. Pay-Per-View
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Hero's, the MMA promotion operated by K-1, is scheduled to make its debut on American pay-per-view next month.

Airing on a two month tape delay, the Hero's event that took place on May 3rd in Tokyo, Japan will debut on American PPV on Friday, July 14th.

The May 3rd Hero's show featured Japanese MMA stars such as Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, Caol Uno, Hideo Tokoro (a 150-pound fighter who fought Royce Gracie to a draw last December), Yoshihiro Takiyama, and Kazuyuki Miyata, as well as a special attraction match with Don Frye taking on Chad "Akebono" Rowan.

This development brings to five the number of MMA promotions that have widespread PPV distribution in the United States: UFC, Pride, Hero's, WFA, and King of the Cage.

MMAWeekly has also learned that the K-1 Amsterdam show that took place on May 13th will debut on American PPV on Friday, July 28th. This was the event (with K-1's usual kickboxing rules) that was supposed to feature the super-fight main event of Bob Sapp vs. Ernesto Hoost, but Sapp pulled out in the middle of the show and was replaced by Peter Aerts, who had been doing color commentary up until that point in the show.

While it's better late than never for fans in the United States who want to see these events, it remains to be seen if K-1 events will move back to having a more timely U.S. broadcasting schedule at any time in the future. When K-1 lost its deal with ESPN PPV in the United States last summer, over six months passed without any K-1 events airing on American pay-per-view.

Integrated Sports, a California-based sports marketing company, picked up the American PPV distribution rights to K-1 shows earlier this year, but has only aired the shows on tape delays of a few weeks or months. There has yet to be a K-1 show distributed by Integrated Sports that has aired on U.S. PPV on a one- or two-week tape delay, much less the 18-hour tape delay that American fight fans have come to expect.

Labels: K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:06 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- K-1's MMA Divison Put on Hold Indefinitely
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

K-1 has confirmed what many in the mixed martial arts world already suspected: K-1 has put its MMA division on hold indefinitely. The second K-1 MMA event was originally scheduled to take place in late September, but before the event was ever officially booked, doubts began to surface about whether K-1 would ever put on a second MMA show. Now K-1 matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa has told a Japanese newspaper (as reported by Puroresu Power) that there are no plans for any further K-1 MMA shows in the forseeable future.

The idea of having MMA-only shows starting developing internally in K-1 towards the end of 2003 after Bob Sapp's lackluster performances under K-1 rules against Kimo and Remy Bonjasky (where Sapp got himself intentionally disqualified to avoid being KO'ed or TKO'ed).

K-1 realized that Sapp was no longer going to be able to beat top names in their traditional kickboxing-rules matches, but there was a feeling within K-1 that Sapp would do much better under MMA rules. Having an MMA division would also allow K-1 to sign away more top stars in their ongoing war with Pride in Japan.

So, the IWGP pro wrestling title was to be put on the line for the first time in a shoot fight between Bob Sapp and Kazuyuki Fujita scheduled for May 22 of this year, after which Sapp would be able to fight on numerous shows defending the prestigious belt.

To put it lightly, it didn't work out as K-1 hoped. Sapp was demolished by Fujita, and after losing another K-1 rules bout to Ray Sefo, Sapp was all-but-gone from K-1. He is now filming his role in "The Longest Yard" starring Adam Sandler, and is expected to be back in K-1 next year at the earliest (or never).

The loss of Sapp as the anchor of the MMA division, combined with the broader issue of K-1's huge financial losses due to overpaying fighters and not drawing enough fans into arenas, spelled the end of K-1 MMA for the forseeable future.

The question now becomes, "What will happen to all of the fighters under K-1 MMA contracts?" This includes fighters who previously fought in the UFC like BJ Penn and Genki Sudo, as well as fighters signed away from possible Pride deals like Don Frye, Royler Gracie, Rodrigo Gracie, Alistair Overeem, and Sylvester "The Predator" Terkay (who hadn't even debuted for Pride yet).

According to K-1's Sadaharu Tanigawa, fighters who are under contract to K-1 MMA will not be allowed out of their contracts, but they will be able to fight for other organizations just as long as K-1 acts as the go-between (and thus gets a cut of the fighters' purses).

Of all the fighters listed above, BJ Penn is undoubtedly the one who is most damaged by his decision to sign with K-1. Penn won the UFC Welterweight Title by defeating Matt Hughes in January of this year, then turned down the UFC's requests for him to defend the belt against Hughes or one other welterweight fighter. As with all championship bout agreements, the UFC 46 bout agreement that Penn signed stipulated that Penn would be an exclusive UFC fighter for a period of one year if he won the belt. Nonetheless, Penn chose to take a higher financial offer from K-1 MMA to fight on their May 22 card, and as a result he was immediately outcast from the UFC and stripped of the Welterweight Title.

Where does BJ Penn go from here, you ask? As far as big-money offers go, the answer is more than likely nowhere. The UFC is not going to re-hire someone who violated an exclusive UFC contract. K-1 does not have an MMA division anymore, and it is very unlikely that Penn would agree to start fighting in K-1 under kickboxing rules. Pride may or may not be interested in adding Penn to their smaller Bushido line of shows, but they wouldn't be offering anywhere near the amount of money that K-1 offered, or even necessarily the amount that Penn was making in the UFC. Penn may be limited to fighting for his family's own Hawaii-based promotion, Rumble on the Rocks.

As for the other fighters who signed K-1 MMA contracts:

-Several of the fighters in question have fought under K-1's kickboxing rules in the past and/or would have no problem doing so in the future (Gary Goodridge, Duane Ludwig, Alistair Overeem, Sylvester Terkay).

-Rodrigo and Royler Gracie will be able to get MMA bookings in Pride if they choose to, provided that they don't set their asking price too high.

-Don Frye makes most of his money in pro wrestling anyway, and is very limited in what he can do physically at this point due to spinal injuries which he has still not had surgery on. (You can add Frye to Pat Miletich and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on the list of fighters who have had back or spinal injuries for a couple of years but have not had corrective surgery.)

-Ricco Rodriguez will be greatly hurt by K-1 MMA's closure due to the fact that he has already burned his bridges with the UFC and Pride, and as previously reported on MMAWeekly, his last remaining option to make big-time money was in K-1 MMA.

-Kazuyuki Fujita is under contract to New Japan Pro Wrestling and is loyal to Antonio Inoki, who is one of the lead money backers behind New Japan and K-1. This makes any future Pride appearances for Fujita very unlikely given the intense nature of the war between K-1 and Pride, with Inoki firmly entrenched on the K-1 side of the battle.

Labels: K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:31 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- K-1 Bellagio Fighter Salaries Raise Eyebrows
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Before we get into the analysis and commentary on these numbers and an interview with Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Marc Ratner, let's take a look at the numbers themselves. These are the dollar figures that K-1 submitted to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for the K-1 USA event that took place on August 7, 2004.

K-1: Battle the Bellagio III Fighter Salaries
-Marvin Eastman: $10,000
-Sergei Gur: $9,100
-Chad "Akebono" Rowan: $7,800
-Gary Goodridge: $7,800
-Rony Sefo: $7,800
-Brecht Walis: $7,800
-Jorgen Kruth: $7,800
-Jan Nortje: $7,800
-Ray Sefo: $6,550
-Alexander Ustinov: $6,500
-Carter Williams: $6,000
-Rick Roufus: $6,000
-Dewey Cooper: $6,000
-"Mighty" Mo Siliga: $5,550
-Tommy Glanville: $5,000
-Scott Lighty: $2,000
-Frank Cota, Jr: $2,000
-Rob McCullough: $2,000
-Anthony Brown: $1,800
-Brian Warren: $1,500
-Raul Romero: $1,500
-James Martinez: $1,000
-Alex Jucan: $1,000
Total Fighter Payroll: $120,300

Commentary and Analysis:

-You may be asking yourself how it's possible that not a single one of the fighters made more than $10,000 on a card promoted by a company with deep pockets like K-1. While there's no doubt that K-1 doesn't spend as much money on its American shows as it does on its Japanese shows, the company as a whole has the deepest pockets of any MMA/kickboxing organization in the world. K-1 as a company has more money to throw around and is more notorious for throwing such money around than its Japanese competitor Dream Stage Entertainment (which runs Pride), and is in a different league financially than the UFC.

-While exact figures are not known, by all accounts K-1's top fighters make six-figures per fight in Japan or at least high five-figures. Even if one makes the assumption that American fighters make a lot less money on K-1 USA shows since the shows don't generate a large amount of revenue, it would be naive to think that K-1's top fighters in the Japanese market are not well taken care of, especially considering the bidding wars that frequently take place between K-1 and Pride.

-K-1 is not legally required to disclose to the Nevada State Athletic Commission the complete financial structure of any given fighter's contract, and we'll get into why that's the case later in this article. It would certainly seem that K-1 is using its legal right to not disclose the complete salaries, because it would be hard to look at the salaries listed above and believe that K-1 is paying 20+ fighters a grand total of $120,300. That would be a very difficult to believe assertion in general, but let's look at three cases that would be particularly hard to believe.

1. Ray Sefo has been a huge star in K-1 for years, and this year has been groomed to become one of K-1's very top stars by being fed a burnt-out Bob Sapp in a match in Japan, which Sefo predictably won by TKO. He is listed as making $6,550 on this show. Okay, maybe Sefo just loves to fight and is willing to travel to America and do it for next-to-nothing. That argument can be made, but it's a lot harder to explain the cases of Gary Goodridge and Chad "Akebono" Rowan.

2. Gary Goodridge is one of many fighters who have been snatched away from the competing company in the ongoing war between K-1 and Pride in Japan. Goodridge had a contract with Pride that paid him high five-figures or low six-figures, and he was signed away by K-1 with the promise of more money. He is listed as making $7,800 on this show.

3. Chad "Akebono" Rowan, despite never having won a K-1 fight, is one of K-1's mega-stars in Japan, having drawn several of K-1's top ratings of all time. He makes well into the six-figure range per fight, and yet he is listed as making $7,800 on this show. To put that number in perspective, eleven of the sixteen fighters who were on the UFC 48 card made more than that... and the UFC has a small fraction of the money to work with that K-1 has.

Digging deeper only reveals more questionable numbers. Let's take a look very specifically at some of K-1's top stars in Japan and how much money they supposedly made for various fights in America over the course of the past three years.

-Perennial Grand Prix players Peter Aerts and Stefan Leko supposedly made $750 each for a K-1 USA show on August 11, 2001.

-Multi-time World Grand Prix Champion Ernesto Hoost was listed as making $100 at K-1 USA's show on August 17, 2002. On the same show, Stefan Leko and Mike Bernardo were also listed as making $100, while Gary Goodridge supposedly made $1,100. Additionally, all eight fighters in that night's tournament were listed as making between $100 and $500.

-Former World Grand Prix Champion Mark Hunt supposedly made $50 for his K-1 USA fight on May 2, 2003. Gary Goodridge and Stefan Leko also allegedly made $50 that night.

-Bob Sapp was listed as making $5,000 for his April 30, 2004 fight against Tommy Glanville in Las Vegas. When you consider that Sapp was one of the K-1's biggest stars of all time, and very likely K-1's highest-paid fighter of all time, it seems ridiculous to suggest that he would be fighting for $5,000 under any circumstances.

-If you think Bob Sapp fighting for $5,000 is questionable, consider this: For his K-1 fight against Kimo on August 15, 2003, Sapp supposedly made $50. One of the biggest stars in K-1's history... signing a bout agreement that pays him fifty bucks.

-How would it be legal for K-1 to not report the full amount that the fighters are making, you ask? Well, as a foreign company with foreign contracts that are not bound by US law, K-1 is fully entitled to have "promotional contracts" wherein a particular fighter might make X amount of dollars per year and X amount of dollars per fight on top of that.

These promotional contracts are not public record in Japan and are completely outside the jurisdiction of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and all other branches of US government. Therefore, there is no way to know how much K-1 fighters are making on their promotional contracts, or if K-1 is reporting these figures to the appropriate branches of government in Japan. In no way does MMAWeekly have evidence of K-1 doing anything illegal in this situation; all we seek to do is report on the numbers that K-1 has filed with the athletic commission over the years and then raise the obvious questions that those numbers bring up. K-1 has not responded to MMAWeekly's requests for comment as of press time.

If one assumes that K-1 has promotional contracts with fighters in Japan that pay the fighters a base salary and an additional amount for any given fight, it would still be hard to believe that Akebono's amount for any single fight would be $7,800; or that Peter Aerts' amount for any single fight would be $750, or that Ernesto Hoost's amount for any single fight would be $100, or that Bob Sapp's amount for any single fight would be $50.

After taking all of the above into consideration, one also has to consider that K-1's former CEO Kazuyoshi Ishii was convicted of massive tax fraud in Japan earlier this year and was sentenced to 22 months of prison time. According to court records and numerous Japanese newspapers, the court found that Ishii and at least two other K-1 employees concealed millions of dollars of income over several years and thus avoided paying millions of dollars in taxes. While K-1's business practices in Japan do not necessarily have any bearing on any of the company's US operations, Ishii's conviction means at the very least that one cannot simply give K-1 the benefit of the doubt in any legal matter without looking at the matter from every possible angle.

-For more details on the legalities of this situation, and the specific role that the Nevada State Athletic Commission is able to play in the process of K-1 fighters getting paid when they fight in America, we turn now to the Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Marc Ratner. After an initial exchange of e-mails in which I explained what my concerns were, I spoke to Mr. Ratner via telephone and here is how the conversation went.

Ivan Trembow: I appreciate you taking the time to comment on this...

Marc Ratner: ...Well, what you're asking me, we have these contracts and they say they're fighting for a thousand dollars or whatever that number might be. And there are other contracts, promotional contracts in foreign countries, which is legal. Our fiduciary duty at the athletic commission is to make sure that the fighter gets paid what's on the contract that they signed in Nevada, the bout agreement.

Trembow: So provided that K-1 reports the salaries in Japan or whatever country they're paying any given fighter, it would be perfectly legal for any given fighter to be paid additional money in Japan, or with money coming from Japan?

Ratner: Yes, it would be legal because a fighter might have a promotional deal that pays them a certain amount per year, and then whenever they fight they get an additional amount. But the purse that they get in the state of Nevada is what I go on. The contract they sign with the Bellagio... my legal duty, my fiduciary duty is to make sure that they have a check for that amount.

Trembow: So anything else in addition to that would be beyond the jurisdiction of the Nevada State Athletic Commission?

Ratner: Yes, that's correct.

Trembow: And it would be beyond the jurisdiction of the Attorney General's Office or anything else in American government as well?

Ratner: Right, that's correct, because what we're going by is the bout agreements. And I mean, certain fighters in boxing, they have promotionals where they get a certain amount, and then they make a certain amount for fighting, and they might get paid an amount by a promoter in England or wherever it may be. All we want to make sure is that we have the money for what they get paid as far as the contracts that they sign, the bout agreements signed in the state of Nevada. The tax liability is upon the fighter when they get paid and has nothing to do with the state. All the fighter will get here from the Bellagio is a 1099 [tax form that they can fill out] for whatever amount they earn here in Nevada.

Trembow: One big factor that raised a red flag in my mind in the first place is the fact that the former CEO of K-1 in Japan was convicted and sentenced to jail time for tax evasion...

Ratner: ...Right, but I understand that he may have been here, so he's not gone yet.

Trembow: Yeah, he had a suspended sentence as of a few months ago. I'm not sure if it's still suspended or if...

Ratner: ...That's K-1 Japan, and this is an important legal distinction. K-1 Japan is completely separate from K-1 America even though these guys, they're completely separate corporation-wise, I'll say that. And when K-1 fights here in America, the sole promoter is the Bellagio (Hotel & Casino), which has a very important gaming license. And they are aware of Mister Ishii's problems in Japan, and that's why they have an arms-length agreement to do business with K-1 America, because they couldn't do business with a felon in a foreign country. The gaming company wouldn't be able to. So we as the athletic commission, through our lawyer who is also with the gaming commission, made sure that the Bellagio/Mirage/MGM corporate lawyer was aware of everything that's going on in Japan with Mister Ishii, and they are.

Labels: K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:40 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- K-1 or K-Work?
Commentary by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

(The following article is a commentary by Ivan Trembow and does not necessarily reflect the views of the other staff members at MMAWeekly.com.)

Even before the announcement came on Sunday that Bob Sapp would be fighting Frans Botha at the K-1 event on December 6 in the Tokyo Dome, one couldn't help but feel that something definitely smelled of a "work" when Sapp got himself intentionally disqualified against Remy Bonjasky at last Saturday's K-1 event. I don't think Bonjasky was in on it, but it does clearly fit the very easy-to-recognize pattern of pro wrestling booking. With all of the worked elements in K-1, it certainly shouldn't be out of the question that there would be a plan going into the fight for Sapp to get himself intentionally disqualified so that he could fight "someone else" at the Tokyo Dome in December in a big-money singles fight.

The way it played out, the events on the pay-per-view further played into Sapp's "Beast" character, it opened up Sapp's schedule so that he would be able to fight someone else in December, and most importantly it allowed the very exciting Remy Bonjasky to advance into the Final Eight without having to knock out Sapp in the process. Bonjasky was embarrassing Sapp in every aspect of the game. He was taking the best Sapp had to offer and was probably just a few minutes away from knocking out Sapp, when Bonjasky slipped and Sapp delivered a transparently premeditated punch to the back of his downed opponent's head.

It's no different than a pitcher in baseball intentionally walking a great hitter. It's usually not that big of a deal to send a man to first, and you don't want to take the risk that he's going to connect and knock one out of the park. In addition, it doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination to think that K-1 would want to protect Bob Sapp and ride out the gravy train of his drawing power for as long as possible, and K-1 executives are smart enough to know that Sapp isn't going to win the entire Grand Prix on his own merits (nor can they work an entire tournament). Sapp would be exposed and would probably get knocked out, just as he appeared to be headed towards before he got himself intentionally disqualified against Bonjasky.

Though I am convinced that there was a plan going into last Saturday's event for Sapp to get himself intentionally disqualified in the event that he was able to get Bonjasky to the ground for a moment, it's also possible that no such plan existed before the event. Even if that is the case, I still think Sapp decided to do it at some point during the course of the fight to save himself from what he knew was going to be a very unpleasant ending. It's the same reason that Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear (minus the mental instability) and the same reason that many boxers have gotten themselves intentionally disqualified over the years: In their minds, it's better to break the rules and get disqualified than it is to be knocked out or embarrassed.

The fact that Sapp's announced opponent for December is Frans Botha instead of Mike Tyson indicates one of three things: A) K-1 couldn't come to terms with Tyson to fight on the December 6 show, B) Tyson was willing to take the fight in December but K-1 wanted to stretch it out a while longer before putting Sapp in a position where he's likely to be knocked out by Tyson, or C) K-1 officials were trying to convince Tyson to do a worked fight of some kind and they couldn't come to terms on the particulars.

Regardless of why this particular fight is happening at this particular event, the fact is that we've got Sapp vs. Botha scheduled for K-1's December event unless K-1 changes its plans. So in the top mix of K-1 we have Sapp, Botha, Tyson (if he ever actually signs for a specific fight), Kimo (who still has multiple fights remaining on his K-1 contract), Shannon Briggs (who has signed a multi-fight K-1 contract), and Butterbean (who has been telling people that he has another big K-1 fight coming up).

The top of K-1 cards over the next year could very well consist of any possible combination of fights between Sapp, Botha, Tyson, Kimo, Briggs, Butterbean, and maybe a few more washed-up boxers if K-1 is able to sign any more of them. Most of the fights will be legitimate, while some of them will undoubtedly be worked. While that might be an interesting series of fights to watch from a freak show standpoint, it's certainly a huge step backwards in terms of establishing K-1 as a legitimate sport in America. Sadly, because the vast majority of the mainstream media isn't aware that "MMA" and "K-1" are two different things, K-1's semi-regular works and circus-like story lines will only serve to hurt MMA in the United States as well.

Labels: K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 4:39 PM

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