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UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a U.S.-based mixed martial arts organization, recognized as the largest MMA promotion in the world. The UFC is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada and is owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC. This promotion is responsible for solidifying the sport's postion in the history-books.
UFC is currently undergoing a remarkable surge in popularity, along with greater mainstream media coverage. UFC programming can now be seen on FOX, FX, and FUEL TV in the United States, as well as in 35 other countries worldwide.
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02-18-2013, 04:03 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Flyweight
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 328
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Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano pulled from UFC Sweden card over political concerns
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Fighters Only is reporting that a women's MMA bout between Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano was pulled from the upcoming April 6 UFC card in Sweden due to concerns on the part of UFC VP Garry Cook that it could create problems for the organization in a new market.
Saturday MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani tweeted the following bit of news Saturday:
Ariel Helwani: "Mayday is now sitting where he belongs. Dana says no co-main yet for 4/6. I was told it was gonna be Miesha-Cat, but that was moved to 4/13."
Helwani is referring to Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano which will be on The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale on April 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada and not UFC on Fuel TV 9: Gustafsson vs. Mousasi, where it would have co-mained the card.
Fighters Only followed up with a very interesting, albeit unconfirmed, explanation:
"The fight was pulled because it was felt by Garry Cook, the UFC VP in charge of UK and European operations, that it wasn't suited to the Swedish audience.
Sweden is a new market and there is still some considerable opposition to the UFC among that infamously liberal and ‘progressive' nation's press. Politically it is a very left-wing country and it was only in 2007 that a 1970 ban on professional boxing was lifted.
Alexander Gustafsson has spearheaded the charge into what has proven to be an unexpectedly lucrative market for the UFC, but the potential for the national press to dislike or misinterpret a women's fight was felt to be too high to risk."
It's very interesting that Cook's, presumably accurate, assessment of the cultural mores of Sweden are so different than our current situation in the U.S. where Ronda Rousey's upcoming UFC 157 bout has generated more positive mainstream press for MMA and the UFC than any development of the past five years.
If the report is true, Cook is right to be cautious. The UFC is doing very well in Sweden with men's MMA, there is no reason to risk that expansion by being overly aggressive. We've seen before in Germany (where MMA was banned from TV after a UFC event got a lot of publicity) that progress in European markets can quickly be set back by upset bureaucrats.
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http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/2/18...-swedish-card-
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02-18-2013, 04:09 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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of Nazareth
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: The Moon
Posts: 6,416
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I always assumed the Sweds to be super liberal. If anything, they would be more accepting of womens MMA then any other country in Europe.
The above is based on my experience with swedish friends... of which ive had all of 3 my whole life. |
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02-18-2013, 04:17 PM
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#3 (permalink)
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BOOMER SOONER
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,323
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Booooooooooo!!!!!!!!
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02-18-2013, 04:57 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Speed Kills
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 15,299
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Miesha will just have to beat up Cat at a later date. 
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02-18-2013, 05:07 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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Cheeky freak of the week
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 1,640
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soojooko
I always assumed the Sweds to be super liberal. If anything, they would be more accepting of womens MMA then any other country in Europe.
The above is based on my experience with swedish friends... of which ive had all of 3 my whole life.
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Pretty much this, I can't see how this would be a problem at all, and I fail to understand the reasoning behind it. |
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02-18-2013, 05:34 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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Middleweight
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: the couch
Posts: 2,663
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Very strange... Sweden is the most feministic country in the world. If there's one place where you'd expect people to agree that women too can compete in MMA, that would be Sweden.
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02-18-2013, 05:55 PM
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#7 (permalink)
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Featherweight
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,341
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Couchwarrior
Very strange... Sweden is the most feministic country in the world. If there's one place where you'd expect people to agree that women too can compete in MMA, that would be Sweden.
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Its more an anti violence issue, the UFC think a women getting brutally knocked out would scare them. Well Garry Cook does, i wonder if his opinion is even shared by the Swedish... |
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02-18-2013, 06:08 PM
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#8 (permalink)
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: See that guy over in the window, with the binoculars?
Posts: 19,713
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This is a huge problem. If the UFC is gonna promote womens mma than they need to take off the gloves and go for it. The UFC sat on the fence for years but the when they signed women they needed to get off the fence. Your in the game stick to your principles. Very disappointing as this hurts the legitimacy of womens MMA.
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02-18-2013, 06:27 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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Bantamweight
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 931
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Is the source legit, because this makes exactly zero sense.
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02-18-2013, 06:51 PM
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#10 (permalink)
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It's Hammer Time!
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Germany
Posts: 6,446
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Garry Cook? As in THE Garry Cook from ManUnited?
I don't get this. If anything I'd think women competing makes MMA more legit as a sport and makes it seem less like two brutes smashing each other's faces in.
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Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano pulled from UFC Sweden card over political concerns
