Can Brian Bowles beat Miguel Torres and become WEC Bantamweight champion?

It was a title fight that was supposed to happen on April 5th in Chicago. As if Brian Bowles needed any more disadvantages going into a fight against mega-ace Miguel Torres, he ended up getting hurt in training.

“I compressed my L4, L5, you know, I was just wrestling light, shot in, somebody sprawled on me, I heard it pop, and you know I sat out for like five minutes and as soon as I started pulling down, it was bad. I couldn’t even move.”

Despite an impressive 7-0 record in MMA competition, Brian Bowles has the deck stacked against him when he faces Miguel Torres next month. Bowles recently did an interview for the Versus web page talking about recovering from his back injury and how it will impact his title fight on August 9th in Las Vegas against Torres.

“The back’s feeling real good. You know, I’ve got it you know I think it’s 100%. It’s better than it ever has been. It’s ready to go.”

It’s one thing to say that you’re ready, but it’s another thing to have the injury linger in the back of your mind.

“No, the injury’s always there, you know, I rehab it every day, I’m doing all I can to strengthen my back, strength my core, so it won’t happen again, you know I got avoid positions, you know, I can’t just recklessly just pick people up and you know it’s always in my mind but you know I’m 100% confident that it’s ready to go, though.”

Bowles was originally supposed to fight Torres in Miguel’s hometown of Chicago on April 5th. Then the back injury happened and Takeya Mizugaki replaced Bowles. Mizugaki put on a classic performance against Torres, and it was the kind of performance that can potentially make you a household name. All Brian Bowles could do was sit and watch the fight.

“Ah man, it was, it made my hair stand up to see him come out, you know, I wanted it to be, when I got injured you know it was like it was depressing, you know, I hated to call the WEC and let them know that I had to back out, you know it was a long road to earn the fight and to have to back out you know it was a nightmare. It sucked bad.”

It may have sucked to watch, but in the end Bowles was happy with Miguel winning.

“You know I would have rather fought Miguel, he’s got a bigger name, you know, a win from him on my record would be huge. Yeah, I was definitely looking forward to fighting him, you know, in my mind I’ve been preparing to fight him and just being mentally and physically preparing to fight him and I was really looking forward to fighting him.”

Bowles will need all the help he can get when preparing for the upcoming fight. Mizugaki put the pressure on Torres and stood toe-to-toe with him for five rounds. It was an amazing fight performance. It also highlighted just how tough and dangerous Torres is as a man and as a fighter.

“Torres is a case where his physical skills line-up with what he’s actually good at,” Sherdog.com’s Jordan Breen recently stated in an interview with us. “He’s got his naturally dynamic, aggressive submission game and an unwieldy set of long limbs that assists in that. Also, the fact that he’s brilliant on the ground and really learned well under Carlson Gracie, which means he’s been able to take more time as he became the head of the class to work on his stand-up and really improve there.”

When Bowles watched Mizugaki fight Torres and extend him the distance (a full five rounds), did the Japanese fighter show the world a game plan on how to beat the champion?

“Kinda,” Bowles softly stated. “You know, he showed some weaknesses. I think he just fights like he fought, you know, and the fight didn’t work out to his advantage but he definitely showed some holes in Miguel’s game.”

Torres, in a recent Versus official web site interview, said that Mizugaki’s strategy may have worked on April 5th, but it isn’t going to work any more as a blueprint.

“I think he tried to [create a blueprint]. I think the next guy that I fight that tries that kind of a style’s going to get knocked out. Takeya was abnormal. I was hitting him with knockout shots and knees to the body that would drop anybody and he took an abnormal amount of punishment, you know. Normally, I always thought that it was going to be a guy that has the toughness that I have, I just haven’t met him yet and I met him in Takeya, so there are very few far and between but the next time I fight him or I fight somebody as tough as him I’m going to knock him out for sure.”

“I did underestimate him. I was doing so many promo for the fight because it was in my hometown. I wasn’t getting sleep, training was kind of getting rough, I was training at like 2 in the morning, so I mean there’s a lot of little things people don’t know about. But there’s no excuse — Takeya came, you know, he came with a great game plan. He came with a strong chin and a big right hand and I give him a lot of credit. He fought with his heart and I love guys that fight that way. For me, the fight was perfect. The fact he didn’t get finished was perfect.”

“I’ve watched that fight a thousand times already. I thought I performed very well. First round I gave it up, start using my jab and he was ready for it with a right hand. So I was trying to get his rhythm a little bit, second round I came out good. Third round he cut me, and after he cut me I kinda went crazy, so… that fight taught me two things: 1) I gotta switch my game up every now and then because guys get used to a certain style that I fight with. 2) I’m tough as shit, man.”

Breen said that Bowles doesn’t have the same skills as Mizugaki to pull off a similar kind of performance against Torres.

“[Mizugaki] jabs hard and moves his head better. Bowles straight runs at guys throwing punches, so if Miguel is gonna jab, it’s just linear geometry that he’s gonna get hit in the face. Mizugaki-Torres was essentially a kickboxing bout. Even though Bowles likes to punch, he always ends up wanting to take guys down. That’s really where he closes guys out, but Torres is going to be too dynamic in the sweep and submission department.”

As both Bowles and Torres gain spotlight and notoriety as fighters, the two men are having to get used to the limelight. In the case of Brian Bowles, it’s learning the act of trash talking and PR.

“You know, I’m getting more and more used to it. It doesn’t really bother me to do it but I’m just not all that great at it but yeah, I’m getting more and more comfortable with it every day.”

When Torres faced Mizugaki in Chicago, the hometown advantage turned into a disadvantage according to the champ.

“You know what, it’s not even really the pressure, it’s just everything you have to put up with. You know, you do double the promos, I speak Spanish and English so I gotta do promos in English and I gotta do promos in Spanish and it’s double because it’s in my hometown and it’s a title fight, it’s a main event fight. Everyone that you know is going to come out of the woodwork, they want tickets, they want to talk, they just want a piece of your time because they know you and they want to feel special. It’s just rough. It gets pretty rough.”

How’s life as an MMA superstar right now?

“You know the reaction is different. I’m the same person I’ve always been, nothing’s changed about me, it’s just that I’m getting more recognition for what I do now. For me, it’s a big plus because it makes my life a little easier but at the same time it makes it a lot harder, too, so.”

Preparation for Brian Bowles won’t be any easier.

“You know I think Brian Bowles, out of all of the guys that I’ve fought think he’s one of the main guys that deserves his title shot. He beat the #2 Marcos Galvao, he beat Damacio Page, I mean he’s beat tough guys, guys that are very strong fighters. Brian has a strong right hand, a good left uppercut, and he’s got a great guillotine so he’s one of those fighters that can fight you anywhere. I’m looking forward to go out to a war with Brian, I want to do a big show with him.”

Are there any weaknesses that Torres, the best 135-pound fighter in the world, possesses? Jordan Breen says yes, but that the champion knows how to cover for them.

“He’s helped by the fact that his style and even the benefit of being a champ — fighting five rounds — helps camoflauge his weaknesses. Torres has absolutely putrid takedown defense. This guy can’t stop any man who gets a hold of his legs. However, he’s so active that he can win a round off of his back even if he can’t sweep or submit you. You can’t just go in hoping to lay on him because of that. Even if you were able to stifle his guard game, you would have to do it for 25 minutes and win at least three of those five rounds, which is a much taller task than winning two out of three over 15 minutes.”

Does Bowles have a chance of pulling off the upset and becoming the new WEC Bantamweight champion?

“Bowles does a great job at being accurate and he’s got power. I just think Bowles is a B+ guy in all areas who has really been able to just be a good fighter and capitalize on the weaknesses of the guys he’s fought as any MMA fighter should.”

“I think asking him to avoid submissions over 25 minutes from Torres is just a little too much.”

If you talk to both fighters, neither man thinks that the fight is going to a decision.

“I’m winning by knockout,” Bowles exclaimed.

“Knockout in the first round or submission in the second round,” stated a confident Torres.

Win or lose, Miguel Torres is clearly the king of 135 pounders and has recently stated in a radio interview with Steve Cofield that he would like to help build up the 135 pound division the same way Urijah Faber has helped build up the 145 pound division in terms of popularity. So, where does the champion see himself right now in terms of his fighting career and his philosophy as an active competitor?

“You know what, I don’t think I have anything to prove. I think for me being the champ and having the belt is extra. I take every fight seperate. For me, every fight is an experience, it’s a moment in time that never gets to happen again. When I fight somebody I try to change their life, I want to change the way they think about fighting and the way they think about me and every fight’s seperate. I have nothing to prove to anybody except the guy I’m fighting.”

Joe Benavidez is likely one step away from a WEC title shot

He’s one win away from a potential title shot against the winner of Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles, and yet there’s a lot of work left for young prospect Joseph Benavidez to do to gain the respect of MMA fans around the world.

Benavidez has trained with WEC ace Urijah Faber in Sacramento for a while now, but it wasn’t until an offer made by DREAM last year that Benavidez’s name started to gain traction publicly. He had been offered a fight against Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto last Summer. It was going to be, by far, his biggest and most high-profile fight ever. Instead, Yamamoto would soon suffer a knee injury and be out of action for nearly a year. Benavidez was being marketed as “a protege of Faber vs. Yamamoto,” since K-1 was heavily pushing a storyline of wanting to book Yamamoto vs. Faber in a dream match.

Benavidez would instead have to settle for a win over Junya Kudo. After the one fight in DREAM, Joe signed a deal with WEC to fight in the 135 pound Bantamweight division. His first two WEC fights, against Danny Martinez and Jeff Curran, were decision wins. In his previous 8 fights, Benavidez had finished everyone. Now on the WEC stage, the competition is tougher than he has ever faced.

After his last fight with Curran, Benavidez expressed some disappointment with not being able to finish off the veteran. In comments made in a recent Versus.com interview, Joe clarified his post-fight remarks.

“I felt really good. After the fight, you know I made a comment that I wasn’t satisfied with it but that’s just me, I’m never satisfied. I want to go in there and finish him and stuff, but you know watching it I mean Curran’s just a competitor you know and he’s a great fighter that I went in there with, so, getting the win over him is the biggest you know getting the W and I was impressed by my performance you know. Of course I always look and think that I could have done things different and stuff, but overall I was impressed by him and I think that fight made be better as a fighter and better than my last fight so I’m just going to keep getting better.”

“I just wish I would have finished him, you know. You know maybe landed some cleaner shots and you know capitalize on the ground more, but like I said he’s just tough, he’s just a really good survivor you know, I could feel his experience in there more than anything, you know, people say how strong a guy he is and everything but I could feel his experience every time he was in danger. You know he put a stop to it and he’s just seeing everything so that was it. I had a pretty good pace for the fight but I’d even like a faster pace, so.”

The young star has major-league wrestling credentials, as he was a big-time star in New Mexico high school circles. Eventually he landed in Sacramento after missing Urijah Faber for a scheduled meeting. The two would soon form a close bond and become training partners. After earning a win over the tough Curran (who Faber previously beat), Benavidez thinks he deserves to be ranked.

“I know on the some of the rankings you know it definitely threw me into the Top 10, you know, but I definitely think I’m one of the Top 10 in the division. There’s so many tough guys and there’s guys out there that people, a lot of good fans don’t even know about who should be in the Top 10. My next opponent I think should be in the Top 10, but you know I’m definitely up there and I think I’m a contender. I can give anyone in the division a really good fight and beat pretty much anyone at my weight. I think I can beat anyone in my weight but at the same token anyone at the weight can beat me, just everyone’s that good so pretty practical.”

Benavidez has a lot of respect from hardcore MMA fans and insiders. According to the latest rankings by the Independent World MMA Rankings committe, he is ranked the 5th best Bantamweight in the world. A look at the current rankings:

Bantamweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)

1. Miguel Torres (37-1)
2. Brian Bowles (7-0)
3. Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2)
4. Masakatsu Ueda (9-0-2)
5. Joseph Benavidez (10-0)
6. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)
7. Will Ribeiro (10-2)
8. Rani Yahya (14-4)
9. Damacio Page (11-4)
10. Manny Tapia (10-2-1)

Benavidez’s name has surfaced recently as a possible replacement for Brian Bowles in the upcoming August 9th WEC title fight against Miguel Torres. The Bowles/Torres fight was originally scheduled for April 5th, but Bowles had to back out due to a training injury. Takeya Mizugaki would end up being Bowles’ replacement that night and ended up in a Fight of the Year candidate bout with Torres. Bowles is back and says he is 100% ready to fight Torres. Joe says that he has no hard feelings about not getting a title shot against Torres right away.

“No, I’m not disappointed. No, I just take everything in stride and look at everything as a positive. If I would have got the title shot after Curran, you know in my mind I would have thought, ‘Oh this is a great thing, I’m going for the title” and not getting the title shot, you know, I just kind of in my mind like, “Alright, I’m getting another fight. This is good, too, more experience and I’ll be better when I get the title” so, just trying to look at it as a positive either way you know, it would have been good either way. You know, another fight against another great opponent can’t hurt me, so, you know I’m ready to do that.”

Benavidez will be facing a tough opponent in Dominic Cruz, a man whose 13-1 record is only blemished by a loss to… Urijah Faber. There are clearly some advantages for the young star to be able to train with Faber in order to prepare for the upcoming fight against Cruz.

“You know I think that’s a good thing, you know, it’s me and Urijah have similar styles as people know and you know Urijah’s the only guy to beat him (Cruz). You know, that prepares me a lot mentally seeing Urijah beat him and you know we train the same every day, same coaches, same trainers, so in my mind I’m like there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to beat the guy. I put that in my mind, just that I’m go out there and get the win, I’m going to do it. As far as him as an opponent, I think he’s as dangerous an opponent as anyone in the division, you know, besides the two top Torres and Bowles, you know, but he’s as dangerous as anyone and you know lots of people haven’t seen him because he’s been on the undercard and winning his decisions but I mean anyone that’s seen Dominic Cruz fight live are really impressed by him and know how bad of a guy he is, so I’m looking forward to it. He has a great pace, I have a great pace, and it’s going to be a fun fight. I’m looking forward to it.”

“The most is his pace and cardio, you know, he has the physical gifts of his reach and stuff, he just uses that to a good advantage. Besides that, the guy just I don’t I’ve seen anyone in MMA throw more punches than him you know so I’m going to have to get away to slow that down somehow and you know, but I can throw a lot of punches myself so that’s what impressed him about me, his cardio and no one’s seen his wrestling and it’s impressive that no one’s really heard of the guy and how good he is.”

Given the track record of both men, expect this fight to be exciting but to go the distance and go to the scorecards. Benavidez’s two WEC fights are decisions and Cruz’s last three fights in WEC are all decision wins as well. Sherdog.com’s Jordan Breen thinks that three round fights may actually be a detriment to Benavidez’s skill set.

“I think [Joe] can finish him, but I expect a points win. Cruz is much improved and is tough, and really Benavidez isn’t a guy well-suited for three rounds. He’s an active fighter, but he’s a grinder in that he wears guys out. But he isn’t suited to the 15-minute bout. A Tyson Griffin sort of deal.”

Benavidez is confident in his ability to beat Cruz on August 9th in Las Vegas.

“My fight, I’m going to definitely you know win, beat Dominic Cruz, I got a lot of respect for him, but all I can really think and say in my mind I just can’t think about being defeated so you know, of course I’m going to go in there and win. My prediction for the most part is that it’s going to be a great fight, you know. Definitely looking for the finish. I’ve finished all of my fights before I got into the WEC and now I’ve had just two really good opponents that are really good at surviving and you know Dominic Cruz is going go in there and mix it up so I want to look for the finish but I just want to get the W either way and I think that’s going to happen. Improve my record, stay undefeated, and you know hopefully go for the title after that.”

Hardonk thwarts attempted LA robbery

Score one for the good guys, finally.

Antoni Hardonk, a heavyweight who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had just finished a training session last month in Los Angeles near Los Angeles International Airport.

He was talking with his attorney, Nima Safapour, when three young men approached him. They asked if he had money so they could buy cigarettes.

"My feeling is I want to help someone if I can, so I pulled out my wallet," Hardonk said.

But he had no change or small bills, so he told the men, whom he estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old, that he couldn't help them.

That's when one of them pulled out a homemade knife, which he said had about a two-inch blade, and demanded his wallet. Hardonk, who is 6 feet 4 and around 250 pounds, was surprised.

But not only is he a professional figher, he was a security guard and a bouncer in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He didn't frighten or lose his composure.

"I said, 'What? Are you crazy? I'm not giving you my wallet,' " Hardonk said.

At that stage, one of the other men said, "He's serious. We'll hurt you if you don't."

Hardonk continued to remain calm and told the men if they wanted his wallet, they'd have to come and get it. The men had second thoughts and left. At that point, Safapour suggested it would be wise if he were to drive Hardonk home instead of allowing him to walk by himself.

Only a very short distance away, Safapour eyed the same three men surrounding a woman. Safapour decided to call the police, because he knew the men were up to no good and the likelihood of something bad happening was increasing. The woman was saved when the men turned their attention on a man who was walking by himself. They went to him and more aggressively demanded his wallet, eventually wrestling with him and taking it.

Hardonk was watching from the car, about 80 to 100 feet away, when he saw them harassing the man. He jumped out of the car and began to run over to try to help the man, whom he did not know.

He wanted to make sure, though, that the man was being robbed and was shouting, "Is that your wallet?" as he was running toward the incident in progress.

Hardonk knocked over two of the men, but the third, who had the victim's wallet, took off running. Hardonk followed. The man who had the wallet dropped it and the trio managed to jump over a fence and into a thicket of trees and get away.

As Hardonk thought about the incident later, he realized it might have been best just to cooperate.

"In a similar situation in the future, it would probably be better just to give them the money and be done with that," he said. "Obviously, I had much better (fighting) skills, but is it worth the risk? They could have had a gun, other knives, who knows?

"But I'm stubborn. And I fight to earn my money and that's a hard way to make a living. And I'm not just going to give it away to guys like that."

Though he knew he took a large risk by chasing the suspects down after they had taken the other man's wallet, he said he has no regrets about that.

Too many people would do nothing for fear of not wanting to be involved. Hardonk's attitude is dramatically different.

"I believe if you can do something to help someone else, you should," Hardonk said. "We're all here and we should all try to help each other if we can. It's the right thing to do. I just did what I thought was right."

Los Angeles police told Hardonk and Safapour that there were three similar incidents on the same block in the same week. No arrests have been made.

"Really young guys, and I think they were probably on drugs or something," Hardonk said. "It's too bad. But I didn't think it was right just to stand by and do nothing."

The Issues of Referee and Judge Certification

‘Showdown’ Joe Ferraro has an excellent piece up at Rogers Sportsnet that details his experience with ‘Big’ John McCarthy’s referee certification seminar, C.O.M.M.A.N.D. (Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts National Development).

The course is broken down into three areas and participants require a passing grade of 90 percent (at minimum in all three) to be certified. As it stands today, the course has a 75 percent failure rate, as participants simply do not make the grade to officiate or judge in MMA.

 

Would-be referees must know and identify over 25 takedowns, 35 submissions, 25 positions and seven sweeps, reversals and transitions. They also must know the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts inside and out.

 

After the identification of the aforementioned moves and keen knowledge of the unified rules, participants are also trained and tested on in ring / cage mechanics. This is comprised of what is required by an official before, during and after a bout. It’s not just about positioning (which is HUGE when refereeing) but dozens of other variables that are key to the safety of the athletes who put it all on the line.

 

All of this knowledge is paramount for one to be proficient in officiating and without it I do not understand how commissions around the world allow men and women to step into the cage/ring and ref without proving they have this type of knowledge.

 

If the four major sports leagues — the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL — mandate that officials are properly trained before being allowed to step onto the playing surface, why doesn’t MMA do the same? If this sport is expected to be taken seriously then this type of certification must be the bare minimum an athletic commission requires from an applicant prior to receiving their license to ref or judge.

Payout Opinion:

It would seem as though we’re finally starting to see the issues of officiating, judging, and bout scoring come to the front of the MMA hot topic list.

Just ask yourself: what good are the rules and regulations that MMA has put into place - those designed to protect the health and integrity of the sport and its fighters - if the individuals enforcing them are incompetent or unqualified?

Yes, the sport is growing - and that’s great for a lot of reasons - but the flip side of that growth is the increasing complexity of the issues surrounding governance, regulation, officiating, and judging.

MMA cannot afford to rest on its laurels; it must adapt to the many new challenges that it faces, including the issues of consistent officiating and judging.

And, believe me, as MMA ventures more and more into the mainstream, the quality of officiating and judging WILL become an issue. Look no further than the MMA competitions of the last week: the awful officiating displays at Strikeforce; the late stoppage in the Rizzo-Yvel fight; or the controversy of Tibau-Guillard, Guida-Sanchez, and Blackburn-Garcia.

While I’m not yet prepared to advocate that ‘Big’ John’s COMMAND is the answer - not that his course probably isn’t the best out there right now - I will say that a universal testing and certification program for both officials and judges is something of a no-brainer. It would afford the sport, its fighters, and its fans the consistency that they’ve all been longing for. It would also help to further cement the legitimacy of the sport in the eyes of its critics.

Bjorn Rebney talks about the end of Bellator’s first season

As the late Billy Mays used to say, “Life is a pitch and then you buy it.”

We all know that Dana White is MMA’s master pitchman, but he has a lot of weaknesses to go along with his strengths in this department. Bjorn Rebney, the boss of Bellator FC, goes about business a little differently.

While the two men may end up using similar business tactics and acumen, Rebney is the complete opposite of White. He’s an excellent speaker with a sports marketing background. At times, Bjorn sounds like he came from the casting call of Jerry Maguire, but don’t be fooled — he may use marketing clichés such as Q score, pieces of the puzzle, and growth curves, but Rebney’s message is starting to resonate with the general public and fight fans across the States.

Bellator recently finished up their first season of fights for ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s Spanish-language channel seen around the world. Ratings for Bellator on ESPN-D were excellent for the channel, mostly ranging in the 1’s. On Discovery Channel, drawing a 1.5 rating is a minor success (like Billy Mays did with Pitchmen). Drawing a 1.5 on ESPN Deportes, however, is pretty impressive no matter how you slice it.

“Our show is going on ESPN Desportes to a spanish-language audience,” Rebney said recently in an interview with TheFightNerd.com (Matthew Kaplowitz) after a Bellator show in Connecticut. “The Spanish-language audience until Bellator hit on Deportes had never had a show produced for a spanish-language audience in real time that had Spanish-language announcers. It was being broadcast week to week. So, we’re hitting real virgin territory. If we’re able to do numbers that are better than in many instances the top dogs in the game and comparable to hitting an audience that knows nothing about this great game.”

“I think that we’re poised to do some really great numbers when we change over to English language and I think that going into the second season, we will do consistently stronger numbers in Spanish language because the fan base will know it I mean you know you can’t believe how many people came to us in terms of Spanish-language media saying, “Well explain this to us. Is it real? Are those real fights?’ There was a complete lack of understanding of this great game so, it’s gotten… it’s strong and I look at it from that perspective, I love it to be you know north of 1’s but it’ll get there.”

Bellator, during season one, crowned new champions — Lyman Good, Eddie Alvarez, Hector Lombard, Joe Soto, and Toby Imada are the names that most hardcore MMA fans recognize as being pushed by the organization. Now that season one is over, how will Bellator create new stars and challengers for their new crop of aces? Rebney told Kaplowitz that the matchmaking formula won’t change all that much.

“What you’ll see is much of the same, you’ll see Challenger series, 8 guys fighting to become the #1 challenger to challenge Lyman Good, to challenge Joe Soto, to challenge Eddie Alvarez or Toby Imada and to challenge Hector Lombard or Jared Hess. You’ll see guys fight for the right to fight for our championship. So, we’re not going to change the format. We didn’t do the format and say, “Oh, this is a great tournament and then we’re going to switch it on its head and go to old-school matchmaking formula.” It’s not going to happen.”

Being on free/cable TV or premium pay-to-watch TV like Showtime has been a primary method for a lot of MMA groups so far, since most have failed on PPV. Rebney says that the economics of MMA determine that Bellator will need to make the move to PPV in the near future.

“Happy right now on TV, but obviously the dynamics in this business require that you get to PPV. So, my hope and the vision was you’ve got four tournaments running simultaneously. Who knows if at the end of that all four of those guys are A-level guys? I think we have some guys right now with the ‘it factor’ I think the guy you saw win a title here tonight has the it factor. You look for all of those different parts of the ingredients. He can fight inside the cage, he’s got great talent, amazing drive, he looks like belongs on the cover of GQ, you know, he could be the evil or the good character in a Conan the Barbarian movie, he’s got all those kind of unique factors working together. And you want to take a person like a Lyman and he keeps working the way he’s working and create somebody that can fight him that becomes the A- or B- to his A and then you’ve got the ability to conceivably to move onto PPV.

Bellator second season will kick off in the Fall. And what I can say is that you will see Bellator in both English-language and Spanish-language. That’s as much specificity as I can give.”

While Eddie Alvarez is the name that the hardcores know the most about in Bellator and care the most about, the name Lyman Good is one that should be on your radar screen. In addition to his charisma, looks, and ability to fight, he potentially makes a very good candidate to become the poster boy for Bellator. Will Bellator go with one primary ace or will they use the ‘deck of cards’ theory that has been used in other fighting genres?

“I think Lyman has done an amazing job. Like I said he’s got an awful lot of pieces to the equation. We took him to what is called a Car Wash at ESPN where he went through literally about 9 or 10 interviews in one day. He was the consummate professional, started at 6 o’clock and done about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. But there are a lot of … we’ve been very lucky. Eddie Alvarez, whose fighting for our Lightweight title is another guy who generates a huge amount of buzz wherever he goes. He’s got an electrifying personality and a beautiful wife and great kids. Jared Hess, whose fighting Hector Lombard, is this magical kind down home Americana Oklahoma boy who’s a world class wrestler and strong as an ox and Mom travels with him and Mom loves him and Dad… I mean there are a lot of guys in this organization that could conceivably elevate themselves to the next level. Joe Soto who fought last week, who’s soft spoken and as kind as can be, walks up and is just like the most pleasant understanding guy. We got a lot of guys who’ve really stepped out of the box. Um, and it’s… I mean, Wilson Reis who Joe Soto beat has got this gregarious kind of over-the-top personality with huge big smiles and he loses and all he wants to do is give the guy that just beat him a hug and you know what I mean, he’s just… you got a lot of guys who we can get traction with, so I wouldn’t want to classify anybody as the poster boy but if there was going to be um we could a heck of a lot worse than Lyman Good as the face of this organization. He is a very high quality individual outside the cage and a very, very talented fighter inside.”

If you notice, Bjorn Rebney makes sure to always stay positive and praise his fighters. With Dana White, he’ll praise someone if they are on his good side but when the fighter is on his or Lorenzo Fertitta’s bad side, UFC management is not afraid to criticize or raise their volume when talking about said person in the media. It’s fair to say that UFC management can be very combative at times when talking about talent under contract (and even fighters who are not under contract to them).

One of the recent interviews Lyman did at ESPN was an interview segment for MMA Live. He came across as a star during the interview with Jon Anik. If the way to succeed in MMA is to build new, fresh stars, how does Rebney see Bellator’s role in the process and how does it impact the company’s marketing & booking philosophy?

“From my personal perspective, seeing a guy like a Lyman Good who I met three months who nobody knew who he was, he had no Q score, he really was an unknown fighter but for a small contingent and niche group in the Northeast and now to know that we’re getting blogs and people logging in, people coming to our site, people talking to us from California, Minnesota, you know, New Mexico and on, talking about Lyman Good, that’s very cool. It’s very cool to know that we kinda criss-crossed the nation, it’s very cool that 3-4,000 people come to our site every week, are looking at these fighters and going ‘Wow he’s an A-level guy, I want to see him, I want to learn more about him’, and people start to talk when people when to start talk about Lyman Good versus this guy or that guy and for to mention top guys in the UFC at 70 or start to mention top fighters from Japan at 70, very cool, it’s very cool for us. I don’t think that’s a defining moment, but it’s a real good growth curve moment.”

“What I preach about fighters controlling their own destiny, they can do it and they can do it here. So, that is very cool for me for a personal defining moment about what we’ve done.”

The Mystery of Tito Ortiz

It was only a few years ago that Dana White and UFC management thought that Tito Ortiz would become their first mega-Mexican superstar athlete. Unfortunately, Tito doesn’t speak Spanish and he grew up in Huntington Beach, California.

Rest assured that this was not the only problem between the two sides during Ortiz’s long tenure with UFC.

Outside of Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz is a marketing icon closely associated with UFC. His matches still air on Spike TV re-runs all the time. He’s still one of the most popular figures in all of MMA. Ortiz likes to call himself a brand, which is a fair claim to make. However, he also gives back to fighters by not only marketing them but by also sponsoring them. Of course, given UFC’s tactics these days in terms of who can sponsor what fighter and how a sponsor reportedly has to pay UFC the right just to even sponsor someone, it seems as if Zuffa wouldn’t be disappointed if companies like Tito’s were left on the outside-looking-in.

If only MMA Memories had existed a few years ago, I would have written about 30 articles about Dana White’s boxing match with Tito Ortiz and the Spike TV special that White made sure was on television to show just what great shape he was in and what a pussycat Ortiz ended up being.

We know what the history is between White and Ortiz. The great irony is that is no matter what White has tried to do to Tito, it always seems to reflect off of Tito like teflon and not cause any damage. Case in point — the last two notable fights Tito had in the UFC were against Rashad Evans a few years ago and against Machida. Tito and Evans went to a draw in Sacramento and Machida beat Ortiz by decision. Evans and Machida would end up facing each other and Machida would become the Light Heavyweight champion. When Ortiz and Machida were booked against each other in Tito’s UFC farewell match, it was clear that a lot of people thought Ortiz would get humiliated and damaged in the fight. Instead, the affair was largely boring and didn’t really hurt Ortiz’s stock all that much. White didn’t get the ultimate payoff that he wanted.

Despite being gone from UFC for over a year now, Ortiz keeps getting asked by the media as to whether or not he will return to Zuffa. During this time period, Tito has made several claims about potential contract offers from Affliction or Strikeforce or other parties, but nothing ever seems to come to fruition.

In a recent Trib Total Media interview with Jusitn Labar, Ortiz announced his latest business declaration.

“I’m starting my own organization also with Strikeforce called Punishment Fighting Championships so not just as a promoter, I’ll be competing also and bringing some of the other guys around, try to make some more superstars and for me to get a chance to fight in Pittsburgh would be awesome, I’d love it.”

And as for a return to UFC?

“Not as long as Dana White’s the President of UFC. It’s just, I have too much integrity, I have too much respect for myself and to be taken advantage of, to be talked as bad as I have from him, he does not have my best interests as a businessman or as a fighter he has no respect for me so I live my whole career and my life on respect and for me to grow on and show that successful no matter what that’s the most important thing in showing that I’m just not a fighter, I’m a brand and I’m a businessman, I’m a smart businessman and I’m going to make sure to look out for my future and for there I will lose complete integrity if I do go back.”

Set the odds to 3-1 that Tito makes a comeback to UFC by next year if and when the organization needs him to pop them a good PPV buy rate. Count on it.

One person Zuffa can count on to be their mega-superstar in Hispanic markets is Miguel Torres. Unfortunately, Miguel fights for their baby sister promotion WEC and he fights at 135 pounds. Oops. Dana White finds his Spanish-speaking super talent and somehow, Torres doesn’t fit into their scheme in UFC.

In an interview with Superstar Steve Cofield and Smokin’ Dave Cokin interview last week on ESPN 1100, Torres talked about his upcoming fight against Brian Bowles in Las Vegas on August 9th. Torres, who is taller than the majority of his opponents, has to train against smaller guys in camp in order to prepare himself for fights.

“Whenever I have a fight coming up I try to find guys who are almost the same height and the last time I fought in Vegas I fought Manny Tapia and I had to find guys that were like 5′4″, 5′5″ and I could not believe how tall I was than those guys. I was like man I got to go up in weight, I got to start put on some weight, and my metabolism is so crazy I can’t do it and when I fought Tapia it was so easy that I was so much taller than him. So I don’t know, it’s kind of crazy.”

While Mike Brown is the WEC’s ace at Featherweight (145 pounds), Torres is the promotion’s king at 135 pounds and overall the company’s best fighter. Nobody matches up with him in terms of speed, skill, stamina, and heart. What does Miguel think separates him from the rest of the pack?

“Well, I mean, it’s just the mentality, how you think about it. For me, fighting is a lifestyle. Mixed Martial Arts is a lifestyle for me. I do mixed martial arts to be a martial artist in the most pure sense. I don’t consider myself a fighter. I do this for enlightenment, I did it to learn more about myself, challenge myself, and you know for me it’s a process. A lot of other guys that get into the sport, you know, they played football, they wrestled in High School, they get into the sport in their mid-20s, they do it because they think it’s cool and they want to make a lot of money, they’re trying to break onto the scene and their mindset is a little bit different. Their training is not going to be focused 100%, their body’s not going to be there 100%, so it’s two different levels. A good example of that is when you had Machida fight against Rashad Evans. A guy who’s flourished his whole life, in the back of his head, this is his time and his moment in time to become a world champion, he’s been waiting his whole life. Evans is the world champion who came off The Ultimate Fighter, so you have two different mindsets.”

There’s that name again, Machida. We know Machida’s father taught his son karate and other martial arts as a kid, but we also know that Ryoto/Lyoto first came to prominence under the marketing of Antonio Inoki. Machida’s win over Rich Franklin on NYE 2003 in Japan is what got everyone’s attention. From that point forward, Machida was destined to become the king of his weight class, just like Torres is the king of 135 pounders.

Will Torres stay at 135 pounds, however?

“Well I’m happy where I’m at now, 135, I want to cement a legacy, I want to be, I’m one of the first fighters at 135 that’s actually been in the weight class and the popularity. I’m doing what Urijah Faber did for 145, so I want to do it at 135, you know I think a couple more of years here, two more years here at this weight class, and then before I retire I want to move up in weight just for some really big fights, some higher profile fights.”

The problem for Torres has more to do with the way UFC looks at WEC and handles their own affairs as opposed to his skill set, his marketing ability, and his fight style. Torres is the complete package and much like Urijah Faber, it is evident that these two prime talents should be on a bigger stage rather than watching the peak of their careers in a league that Zuffa treats as secondary to UFC for business purposes.

Since WEC isn’t on PPV and is a TV-only property, the salary structure is going to be lower. The live event ticket prices are lower than UFC’s, so the gates are smaller. For men like Torres and Faber who put on fight-of-the-year caliber matches while fighters in heavier weight classes make anywhere from 5-10 times the amount those guys do on undercards or midcard slots on PPV, it has to be incredibly frustrating.

“They do take care of us, they give us undisclosed bonuses and perks on the side but you know I have a family and I got things I want to do with my gym and I have other venues I can get into as far as making income. Fighting, I love fighting and I can stay and fight another 10 years, it’s just the training process, it’s just so rigorous not just on my body and my mind but being away from my family and just so much traveling and so much, you know, there’s so much other sacrifices that I make to get ready for a fight especially being at the level where I’m at now that I don’t get to have any fun in my life and you know depending on where the money is at in three or four years would depend on if I stick around but I’m planning on staying in 3 or 4 more years and then getting out.”

Money is always a top priority for fighters, no matter how much MMA is a lifestyle to them or not. Torres should be positioned by Zuffa in a much higher profile slot, but he isn’t. For years, Dana White clamored about finding that Spanish-speaking superstar that could help him expand operations into Mexico and other Latin America countries. Now that he has that fighter, not a lot is being done for expansion plans. Combine this along with the end of Setanta Sports and suddenly the European expansion plans compared to focusing more time, money, and energy expanding into Latin America is looking like a big mistake.

We know Torres is the real deal. As a guest host on MMA Live, he comes across as humble, yet very much his own man with his own opinions. In other words, he’s about as good as Rich Franklin when it comes to speaking and marketing. That’s a pretty good man to be compared to.

Given the limited shelf life that fighters have in MMA, Torres has to be frustrated. After all, he puts in an incredible amount of time into training, into marketing and hyping fights, and into doing PR for WEC. What is it that separates Torres from the rest of the pack as far as being an elite-level fighter both in training and during the actual fight performance itself?

“Well the biggest thing when you’re getting ready for a fight is getting your mindset right and if you’re training for a fight and the days coming up, you got two months to get ready for your fight and you’re going out and you’re having a good time and you’re going to the movies and playing video games and doing a lot of other stuff where you’re not focused on what you got to do, when the fight comes that night the day of the fight you think back on your training process, you know, that’s the ground that’s the base of what’s getting you ready for this fight and you think about that process and what did you do to get ready for that fight. You go back in your head, you know I was drinking, I was eating fast food or I was out partying or I was hanging out with these people and I wasn’t in the gym or you know, you got to be focused on what you got to do. The physical part is the easy part, anybody can be in shape, but to mentally be prepared for a fight that very few people can do and that’s what I do when I get ready for a fight, you know, wake up in the morning and I train, I’ll eat, I’ll take a nap, I’ll go back to the gym, go for a run at the beach, so I’m at the beach but I’m not really having a good time at the beach because I’m training, I’m running, when I get out of the beach I got to get back and sleep again so that the sun’s real hard on your body, then at night I train again so there’s no time to go out, there’s no time to do anything else but to eat and go to sleep because you got to do it all over again in the morning. It’s just a process.”

Bobby Lashley pummels his way to stardom by beating Bob Sapp

Heading into Saturday’s night fight between Bob Sapp and Bobby Lashley, Lashley was a -600 favorite at the sportsbooks. Sapp was +400. By the time Lashley got done with him, bettors were probably wondering how the hell Lashley was only a -600 favorite.

In predictable fashion in Mississippi, Lashley took down Sapp immediately and pummeled him for a couple of minutes before Sapp quit. Sapp has quit before and lost various battles, but Lashley did his work in such a no-nonsense fashion. Sure, there were ample opportunities for Lashley to apply a heel hook on Sapp and get a quicker tap-out. However, Bobby is learning on the job and getting a win over Sapp helped boost his name value. How much so? On Google News, Lashley was one of the ten most-searched named on their search engine. Lashley… on an independent MMA show… was one of the 10 most searched people online. In a news climate featuring the death of Michael Jackson, Governor Mark Sanford having an affair with an Argentina woman, and political turmoil in Iran, Bobby Lashley somehow has managed to capture major interest online despite being a novice in MMA.

There will be plenty of people who will attribute Lashley’s name value purely due to his WWE run where he was associated with Donald Trump at Wrestlemania. However, Lashley is just the latest ex-WWE star who has made the conversion to MMA and has actually improved his name value as a fighter. McMahon handcuffed Lashley in a world where scriptwriters tell wrestlers what to say. When Lashley isn’t handcuffed in this format, he comes off as a very intelligent, likeable, smart gentleman who people want to really root for. MMA also gives Lashley some cache, some credibility with wrestling fans who look at him and go, wow, this guy really is legitimate after all, he’s an ass-kicker. Vince McMahon’s lost a few steps in terms of the marketing department as far as building credible wrestlers is concerned. This, combined with ridiculous scriptwriting, has led talents like Brock Lesnar (UFC Heavyweight champion) and Bobby Lashley into the MMA world. The training is brutal, but the actual fighting is not so bad on their bodies when compared to working 3-4 days a week in hard wrestling matches.

Lesnar and Lashley are the two biggest examples of wrestlers who have escaped the WWE ring and managed to become mega-stars in MMA. This, no doubt, drives McMahon nuts. However, he hasn’t learned why these two men have become successful in real fighting and what lessons he should be learning from it.

After his easy win over Sapp on Saturday night, Lashley’s road to entering UFC is becoming crystal clear. He has all the star quality that a promoter could want, plus he’s likeable and willing to do more PR than perhaps Lesnar is interested in doing. Lashley is also becoming one of the latest African-American stars in MMA, a sport that will soon feature the most high-profile match-up in MMA ever between two Black fighters — Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.

Lashley does MMA training when he is preparing for fights, but not reportedly when he is off in Colorado when he is with his family. So, American Top Team is booking him for several upcoming fights and ATT is slowly but surely building Bobby’s skill-set up. By the time ATT has Lashley prepared in a year or two, he will immdiately become a big threat in UFC. His strength, combined with fantastic amateur wrestling skills and a growing submission game make him an ultra dangerous athlete.

The public is noticing what is going on with Bobby Lashley. I suspect Dana White is, too, despite his denials earlier in the week that he wasn’t going to watch Lashley’s fight against Sapp.

An ugly MMA referee performance upstages Gilbert Yvel’s big win over Pedro Rizzo

Gilbert Yvel has had a long, strange road in the MMA world. I remember watching him in the mid-90s when he was in RINGS and also doing Free Fight events in Holland. Yvel has always been a powerful striker and has often spoiled the best-laid plans. Just ask Josh Barnett, who had some difficulty putting him away at the last Affliction show.

Yvel, in the semi-main event of Saturday’s Ultimate Chaos show, faced another famous striker in Pedro Rizzo. As the case with strikers who take a lot of punishment, as they get older their reflexes start to deterioriate. Things start slowing down. Unfortunately for Rizzo, he got caught and caught in a big way.

Rizzo initially got top position on Yvel and just started raining a flurry of elbows on him. Yvel looked to be in trouble. The elbows looked questionable in terms of legality. However, in the words of Colonel Bob Sheridan on the telecast, “As long as you can get away with it, let it fly.”

Unfortunately, those words came into play… but for Yvel, not Rizzo.

Gilbert somehow was able to stand back up on his feet after Rizzo’s elbow onslaught and unleashed several punches in the stand-up game, then tagged Rizzo with a left high-kick, and unfortunately things got worse from there for Pedro. Down on the mat, Yvel tagged Rizzo with about five different shots to the head and knocked him out. The referee, whose name wasn’t listed on the television broadcast (it sounded like his name was Larry Engle according to the PA announcer), watched Yvel drop too many bombs on the helpless Rizzo before stopping the fight. Rizzo has a history of taking some brutal punishment, so having a referee jump in right away would have helped matters here. Rizzo was able to stand up on his own power after a few minutes, but the talk of the fight afterwards was the refereeing.

Poor officiating has been a hot-button topic this year, especially with Dana White’s grudge against Las Vegas-based Steve Mazzagatti. There have been plenty of criticisms against Herb Dean, Mario Yamasaki, and Yves Lavigne. The one name that hasn’t been mentioned is Big John McCarthy, whose reputation seemingly grows in stature as the days go by and more new faces in the referee landscape start popping up and getting involved in questionable situations.

In some respects, the production values and the atmosphere of Ultimate Chaos reminded me of watching an old Ultimate telecast… from Denver in 1993.

The winding down of the Bob Sapp era

“For me to against another big-time entertainer with me being fight entertaining and it’s huge, you know, and without question I’m loving to get in there and mix it up with him. I love to get in there and to do that, my thing is… I’m hella happy to consider him and to get this done.”

Those are the words from Bob Sapp during a radio interview last week with ESPN’s Las Vegas affiliate. Sapp, who has made a career this entire decade of pushing a persona, bull-rushing fighters, and getting paid to act outrageous, is on the way down as far as his active MMA career is concerned.

In this day and age where you have smart marks on message boards, bloggers, and critics all over the place, Bob Sapp played a unique and interesting marketing game. In an era where UFC fighters are serious and talk about winning only, Sapp played off of fans and their perception of him, of professional wrestlers, and of fighters in general. Sapp is one of the few fighters in MMA who plays a coy, subtle game of sucking in fans by telling them that he’s an entertainer, that he’s going to do this and no matter what happens win or lose he will continue on, and so forth. The way Sapp does it, however, was cunning in the past because he could convince people that all of his showmanship, all of his flash, was just an act, so therefore support him and join him for the ride.

However, that act becomes thin when the general public doesn’t think you are serious in actually training and competing to win. Bob Sapp is finding this out now.

Kazuyoshi Ishii, the Godfather of K-1, made Bob Sapp. I’m sure the Beast isn’t happy to read those words, but it’s mostly true. Ishii, who understood pro-wrestling marketing better than anyone else as a promoter this past decade, took Sapp and positioned him against smaller, weaker Japanese opponents in kickboxing matches. Sapp didn’t need technique given that he was double the size of his opponents. He bum-rushed guys and got away with some very questionable tactics. Ishii went as far as to be a ’special referee’ for Sapp’s K-1 fight against Cyril Abidi in 2002. This came a month after Sapp put a major league scare into everyone by using his power to push around Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at the Dynamite event at Kokuritsu (National) Stadium in Tokyo.

Give credit to Sapp where its due — he took real fight situations and was able to make money when others couldn’t. Case in point — he had two very questionable fights against Ernesto Hoost in October & December 2002, respectively. Sapp won the first fight due to Hoost getting cut and then he won the second fight after referee Nobuaki Kakuda stopped the contest at the Tokyo Dome. Sapp would try to make a pro-wrestling storyline out of this by booking an impromptu match against Ernesto Hoost for WRESTLE-1 at the Tokyo Dome. Because the match wasn’t advertised, the show drew incredibly poorly. It also ended up being a terrible wrestling match, if not one of the worst wrestling matches on a major stage this decade. If there was ever a scenario that encapsulated what Sapp’s strengths and weaknesses were as a worker, this would be the perfect example.

What became so frustrating about Bob Sapp is that he would show you glimpses of real promise. A guy that size with speed who could become something if he managed to be more focused in training. During Sapp’s big push in K-1, he did so much PR that he never slept let alone trained. This, of course in turn, reflected upon future fight performances. Just when you thought Bob Sapp could deliver the big payoff, it never happened.

The first set-back for Sapp was against Mirko Cro Cop in March of 2003. Mirko, a legitimate K-1 talent, just took Sapp apart. His eye socket was crushed and needed healing, yet the lasting image from the fight was of a huge giant wincing in pain and looking meek. This would not be the only time Sapp ended up in this predictament.

Sapp, after having wins over Manabu Nakanishi and other pro-wrestlers, ended up winning the IWGP Heavyweight title for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Antonio Inoki loved Sapp, as Sapp fit the mold of what Inoki always looked for in a gajin ace – bigger than life, speed, athleticism, personality. However, Sapp would end up losing an MMA fight in 2004 to Kazuyuki Fujita, Inoki’s Japanese ace, and this resulted in Sapp losing the pro-wrestling title. You can’t make this up. After losing the wrestling title, Sapp would end up being an actor in a couple of movies (including The Longest Yard remake).

Sapp came back to K-1 in 2005 and beat up on three Japanese fighters, but had to go the distance with two of them. Sapp ended up closing out the year by losing two decisions to Choi Hong-Man and Musashi.

Then came 2006, which was quite a year for both K-1 and PRIDE.

Shukan Gendai’s negative campaign against PRIDE started. Details about yakuza fixer Seiya Kawamata started surfacing and it was bad PR news for PRIDE. Things started looking shaky. Then came the ultimate blow to PRIDE — Sakuraba would jump to K-1 and HEROs. The war between K-1 and PRIDE was getting serious.

Enter Bob Sapp.

Sapp was booked in May of 2006 against Ernesto Hoost for a Simon Rutz-promoted event at the Amsterdam Arena. This fight was allegedly going to be Hoost’s retirement bout. Sapp showed up the day before the event, doing all the PR necessary to hype the fight. On the day of the event, Sapp showed up at the building with a lawyer (this according to Gary Goodridge on his web site). The lawyer was identified by some at the building as Michael Connette, a gaijin lawyer who worked with Dream Stage Entertainment (the parent company of PRIDE). Sapp stated that he had a contractual problem with K-1 and left the building. Peter Aerts, who was watching the event, ended up wearing another fighter’s gear and took the fight against Hoost on short notice.

Sapp would soon learn the power of K-1 and the Japanese fight press.

Here is what I reported on the story a couple of days after the incident took place:

“Sankei Sports, the newspaper affiliated with Fuji TV (which broadcasted the K-1 event), declared that “Sapp ran away” from the fight and issued a boycott against Hoost. The newspaper quoted matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa as saying that Sapp “requested unreasonable demands” right before his fight, and that a possible “banishment” or lawsuit could evolve from his actions. Yomiuri Sports had a reporter quoting the ring announcer at the K-1 show talking about Sapp being cowardly and how he left 30 minutes before the main event.

In a press release issued by K-1, Tanigawa mentioned that Sapp is still under contract with K-1 and cannot leave to another organization.

Sapp refused to fight against Hoost (while sporting bandages) and was admonished (either by K-1 or by K-1 Holland event promoter Simon Rutz). Sapp took the admonishment seriously enough that he had bodyguards arranged for himself in front of his hotel room (Nikkan Sports on Tuesday said that Sapp brought at least two bodyguards with him to the show). Sapp was seen arguing with K-1 and promotion staff waving around a piece of paper (the contract). The piece of paper being waved around was apparently a contractual release that would have made him a free agent. Sapp was taken away to a “safe house” after the argument. Yomiuri Sports newspaper noted that Sapp had an issue with not checking into the hotel room that K-1 had designated for him to be at.

On Tuesday, it was reported in Nikkan Sports that matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa would start imposing financial penalties on Sapp if he worked for any other promotion. Tanigawa claimed that Sapp has more than two years left on his K-1 contract, and that any time Sapp works for another promotion, he will have to pay a penalty of 100 million yen (close to $1 million USD) per fight. K-1 noted that all legal discussions are taking place via lawyers at the moment.

Despite the magnitude of this incident, it leads to a much more powerful situation regarding PRIDE, K-1, and Fuji TV (with producer Kunio Kiyohara calling the shots). In the much-talked about yakuza scandal, Kiyohara’s name has been clearly associated with his closeness to DSE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara. K-1 has had an off-again, on-again relationship with Kiyohara and the K-1 promotion has found TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) to be a willing partner for their bigger television shows. In the past, there have been stories of political problems between Kazuyoshi Ishii and Kunio Kiyohara.”

With Sapp getting crushed by the Japanese press and fans in the country developing a negative opinion of him, Sapp and lawyer Michael Connette held a press conference on July 9th, 2006 in Tokyo.

“Bob Sapp held a press conference on Monday morning at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Sapp told the press that he did not run away from fighting and that he wanted the fans to know the truth.

He went into detail about what happened at the K-1 5/13 Holland event and why he didn’t fight Ernesto Hoost, stating that what was said about him in the Japanese mass media was false. Sapp said that he felt angry with K-1 over contractual issues. When asked about whether or not Sapp would fight for another promotion, he stated that right now nothing was on the horizon. He finished by saying that his focus was strictly on resolving his problem with K-1 right now.”

K-1 and Sapp were at odds with each other, while PRIDE started to crumble due to the Shukan Gendai negative campaign which resulted in PRIDE losing their television deal with Fuji TV.

On April 27, 2007, we asked a few questions about Sapp’s lawyer, Connette, in relation to the falling out between PRIDE & Ed Fishman (their Las Vegas promoter) after the second PRIDE event at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“Regarding the role of Michael Connette in relation to K-1 fighter Bob Sapp. Is it true or false that Connette showed up acting as a lawyer on behalf of Bob Sapp in of May of 2006 in Holland at a K-1 event (where Sapp was scheduled to face fighter Ernesto Hoost)? If it is true, was Connette with Sapp to argue for K-1 to release Sapp out of his contract? If Connette showed up with Sapp, was Connette associated with DSE Inc. as their lawyer when K-1 alleges that Sapp breached his fighter contract with them? Is it true or false that K-1 has a lawsuit filed against Sapp for this alleged breach? Also, is it true or false that Connette is Sapp’s lawyer if that lawsuit exists? Furthermore, is it true or false that Connette was acting as a DSE lawyer in a hotel room meeting with Ed Fishman on February 25, 2007 (the day that Fishman alleges that Sakakibara asked him to rip up his 5-year consultant agreement contract with DSE)?”

After a lengthy dispute with K-1, Sapp ended up back with the promotion. He was booked against Peter Aerts (the man who replaced him at the 2006 Holland event) at the same building in June of 2007. Aerts crushed Sapp in under 30 seconds. Sapp, six months later, would face comedian Bobby Ologun on New Year’s Eve 2007 in Osaka and win. In February of 2008, Sapp lost in humiliating fashion to Jan “the Giant” Nortje in Seattle on a Strikeforce card. In 2009, Sapp has lost to Ikuhisa Minowa and Bobby Lashley.

There is no question that Bob Sapp made his mark in the fight business this decade and established himself as one of the strongest names in the business. The unfortunate part about his legacy is that he left you wanting more, but not intentionally. He left you wanting more in terms of him reaching his potential, of becoming more skilled as a fighter, and ultimatelly winning more fights.

He may entertain the masses and always have a fan base, but Bob Sapp could have bigger than life. He could have been bigger tham his larger-than-life body. Instead, Sapp found himself playing the role of a giant as opposed to actually fighting and acting like one in the ring. If you had to use a Punchout video game comparison, what we expected Sapp to become was Super Macho Man and instead he ended up becoming Bald Bull — memorable, but average-at-best as a fighter.

Historically, Sapp wlll be forever mentioned in the record books. Right now, the clock is running out on his career.

UFC Announces Chinese TV Deal

Today the UFC announced that it has signed an agreement with China’s Inner Mongolia Television to distribute its mixed martial arts content: 

“Obviously China is a huge market and the Chinese understand the martial arts probably better than anyone else in the world.  It’s a no brainer that UFC programming will be appreciated in China, and will become a big hit for the NMTV network,” said Dana White, UFC President.

 

Inner Mongolia Television, known as NMTV, is a network broadcast station available in 80 million households, with the potential to reach 240 million viewers throughout all the provinces of China. Starting this month, NMTV will air up to 16 hours of UFC programming per month, including the trademark shows The Ultimate Fighter®, UFC® Unleashed™ and UFC® All Access™, with an option to air recent UFC pay-per-view event telecasts.

 

With this deal, NMTV will air between one to four hours of UFC programming each week on Saturday and Sundays between 1:30-5:30 pm local time, broadcast in languages specific to each province.

 

UFC television programming can be seen in over 100 countries and territories worldwide in 17 different languages. UFC is the largest pay-per-view content provider in the world and is the fastest growing sports organization in history.

Payout Opinion:

The recent TV deals in countries like South Korea, Japan, and now China indicate that the UFC is going about its international expansion the correct way: they’re trying to build a foundation before moving in with live shows. It would be ridiculous to think that just because martial arts originated in the Far East that the UFC would be an immediate live-show and PPV success in the region. Thus, they’ve got to start slowly.

This all reminds me of the discussion we had last year, as a community, when Lorenzo Fertitta revealed that even countries like India were on the list for future live events. I reminded everyone then, as I will now, that despite the massive size and economic potential of nations like China and India, these are still areas with massive discrepancies in living standards - not to mention, general interest in the sport of MMA.

The UFC has enough on its hands just trying to get a foot hold in America and Western Europe, nevermind conquering Asian oddities like communist China or turbulent India. 

However, by slowly planting the seeds in Asia, the UFC is preparing those countries in advance; and, without a great deal of effort, either.

The TUF series and Fight Nights, if marketed correctly, will build their own following and that may open the door to local/regional promotions to begin with live events to further bolster support for MMA in the country.

Bobby Lashley pummels his way to stardom by beating Bob Sapp

Heading into Saturday’s night fight between Bob Sapp and Bobby Lashley, Lashley was a -600 favorite at the sportsbooks. Sapp was +400. By the time Lashley got done with him, bettors were probably wondering how the hell Lashley was only a -600 favorite.

In predictable fashion in Mississippi, Lashley took down Sapp immediately and pummeled him for a couple of minutes before Sapp quit. Sapp has quit before and lost various battles, but Lashley did his work in such a no-nonsense fashion. Sure, there were ample opportunities for Lashley to apply a heel hook on Sapp and get a quicker tap-out. However, Bobby is learning on the job and getting a win over Sapp helped boost his name value. How much so? On Google News, Lashley was one of the ten most-searched named on their search engine. Lashley… on an independent MMA show… was one of the 10 most searched people online. In a news climate featuring the death of Michael Jackson, Governor Mark Sanford having an affair with an Argentina woman, and political turmoil in Iran, Bobby Lashley somehow has managed to capture major interest online despite being a novice in MMA.

There will be plenty of people who will attribute Lashley’s name value purely due to his WWE run where he was associated with Donald Trump at Wrestlemania. However, Lashley is just the latest ex-WWE star who has made the conversion to MMA and has actually improved his name value as a fighter. McMahon handcuffed Lashley in a world where scriptwriters tell wrestlers what to say. When Lashley isn’t handcuffed in this format, he comes off as a very intelligent, likeable, smart gentleman who people want to really root for. MMA also gives Lashley some cache, some credibility with wrestling fans who look at him and go, wow, this guy really is legitimate after all, he’s an ass-kicker. Vince McMahon’s lost a few steps in terms of the marketing department as far as building credible wrestlers is concerned. This, combined with ridiculous scriptwriting, has led talents like Brock Lesnar (UFC Heavyweight champion) and Bobby Lashley into the MMA world. The training is brutal, but the actual fighting is not so bad on their bodies when compared to working 3-4 days a week in hard wrestling matches.

Lesnar and Lashley are the two biggest examples of wrestlers who have escaped the WWE ring and managed to become mega-stars in MMA. This, no doubt, drives McMahon nuts. However, he hasn’t learned why these two men have become successful in real fighting and what lessons he should be learning from it.

After his easy win over Sapp on Saturday night, Lashley’s road to entering UFC is becoming crystal clear. He has all the star quality that a promoter could want, plus he’s likeable and willing to do more PR than perhaps Lesnar is interested in doing. Lashley is also becoming one of the latest African-American stars in MMA, a sport that will soon feature the most high-profile match-up in MMA ever between two Black fighters — Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans.

Lashley does MMA training when he is preparing for fights, but not reportedly when he is off in Colorado when he is with his family. So, American Top Team is booking him for several upcoming fights and ATT is slowly but surely building Bobby’s skill-set up. By the time ATT has Lashley prepared in a year or two, he will immdiately become a big threat in UFC. His strength, combined with fantastic amateur wrestling skills and a growing submission game make him an ultra dangerous athlete.

The public is noticing what is going on with Bobby Lashley. I suspect Dana White is, too, despite his denials earlier in the week that he wasn’t going to watch Lashley’s fight against Sapp.

An ugly MMA referee performance upstages Gilbert Yvel’s big win over Pedro Rizzo

Gilbert Yvel has had a long, strange road in the MMA world. I remember watching him in the mid-90s when he was in RINGS and also doing Free Fight events in Holland. Yvel has always been a powerful striker and has often spoiled the best-laid plans. Just ask Josh Barnett, who had some difficulty putting him away at the last Affliction show.

Yvel, in the semi-main event of Saturday’s Ultimate Chaos show, faced another famous striker in Pedro Rizzo. As the case with strikers who take a lot of punishment, as they get older their reflexes start to deterioriate. Things start slowing down. Unfortunately for Rizzo, he got caught and caught in a big way.

Rizzo initially got top position on Yvel and just started raining a flurry of elbows on him. Yvel looked to be in trouble. The elbows looked questionable in terms of legality. However, in the words of Colonel Bob Sheridan on the telecast, “As long as you can get away with it, let it fly.”

Unfortunately, those words came into play… but for Yvel, not Rizzo.

Gilbert somehow was able to stand back up on his feet after Rizzo’s elbow onslaught and unleashed several punches in the stand-up game, then tagged Rizzo with a left high-kick, and unfortunately things got worse from there for Pedro. Down on the mat, Yvel tagged Rizzo with about five different shots to the head and knocked him out. The referee, whose name wasn’t listed on the television broadcast (it sounded like his name was Larry Engle according to the PA announcer), watched Yvel drop too many bombs on the helpless Rizzo before stopping the fight. Rizzo has a history of taking some brutal punishment, so having a referee jump in right away would have helped matters here. Rizzo was able to stand up on his own power after a few minutes, but the talk of the fight afterwards was the refereeing.

Poor officiating has been a hot-button topic this year, especially with Dana White’s grudge against Las Vegas-based Steve Mazzagatti. There have been plenty of criticisms against Herb Dean, Mario Yamasaki, and Yves Lavigne. The one name that hasn’t been mentioned is Big John McCarthy, whose reputation seemingly grows in stature as the days go by and more new faces in the referee landscape start popping up and getting involved in questionable situations.

In some respects, the production values and the atmosphere of Ultimate Chaos reminded me of watching an old Ultimate telecast… from Denver in 1993.

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