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Random Strikes
Five Rounds Of News 05.09.08
Posted by Randy Harrison on 05.09.2008
News and opinions coming your way, rapid-fire style!!
§ Spike TV has announced that they will air a 3 hour homage to Chuck Liddell on the same night EliteXC will make their debut on CBS. First they will air "Ultimate Knockouts 4", which features some of Liddell's most memorable MMA fights. Spike will then air an hour long documentary entitled "Ultimate Iceman: Chuck Liddell", which chronicles the career of Liddell thus far. After that they will air "Liddell vs. Silva: UFC Unleashed Special Edition", which will feature the Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell fight from UFC 79.
SMELL THE INTRIGUE!!! The UFC loves to act as if things like the EliteXC/CBS deal aren't a threat, but then they go and counter-program with their own full night of MMA programming featuring their biggest star. The interesting thing is that Viacom wins either way because they own both Spike and CBS, so whether MMA fans tune in to see Kimbo or they tune in to see Chuck, Viacom gets the money in their pockets. Let's just hope that it doesn't split the market too badly to where the CBS show flops because if it does even moderately bad in the ratings, expect CBS to drop it like a bad habit the first chance they get. If that happens, it could be a long, LONG time before we see MMA on primetime network TV again. Watch the EXC stuff and DVR the Chuck specials. That's what I'll be doing.
§ During a recent interview with ESPN The Magazine, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell confirmed that he still wanted to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 85 in June despite a torn hamstring. Below is a direct quote made by Liddell during the interview:
"I was going to fight, too. But then [Dana] White called and said to forget it, to heal up and come back 100 percent."
That boy ain't right. I'll give Chuck his props for wanting to be a tough guy and fight through the injury, but Dana White was right on this one. Chuck only has a few fights left, one would presume, so why waste one when he's fighting at WAY less than 100%, and why risk making the injury worse to where it could end Liddell's career. Discretion is the better part of valor sometimes and I'm glad that everyone used discretion here to keep Liddell out of this fight.
§ Dana White recently conducted an interview with Yahoo! Canada and spoke on numerous different subjects:
On the UFC returning to Canada:
"Everywhere I go, it doesn't matter if we do a fight in Houston, Texas, Anaheim, California, if we do fights over over in the U.K., so many Canadians shows up, it blows my mind. We never expected this thing to be this big in Canada. Not only are there a ton of fans, but there's a ton of great talent coming out of Canada. Canada is going to be a part of our roadshow from here on out."
On merging WEC and the UFC's weight classes:
"We're going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We'll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We're still trying to figure that out."
On Fedor Emelianenko being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world:
"The guy hasn't fought anybody since 2005 and people want to call him the pound-for-pound best in the world? Give the respect to the guys who deserve it. The guys who come in and fight everybody three times a year, they fight the best fighters in the world. (UFC middleweight campion) Anderson Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. End of story."
Other news and notes from the interview:
-White mentioned the UFC is still negotiating with Andrei Arlovski.
-He mentioned that if Renato "Babalu" Sobral can put together a few quality wins, the door is open for his return to the UFC.
-He dismissed the idea of a UFC women's division.
-Mentioned that he would love to see a fight between Urijah Faber and Kid Yamamoto, but the Japanese star comes with a huge price tag.
-And in closing, White mentioned that the UFC has a "major deal" in place with a current television network.
Canadian fans have been known to be quite rabid about their combat sports and the UFC is proving no exception. Good to hear that they'll be back up there again soon. As for the WEC/UFC weight class thing, I agree with making the WEC be about lighter weight classes because they need to have a hook. Otherwise it's just going to be thought of as UFC-Lite. If they can separate themselves and stand on their own with lighter weight classes and less crossover with the UFC, it will only benefit them as a brand down the road. Anderson Silva is pound-for-pound the best, no question about that. I'd love to see Andrei Arlovski be able to get back into the UFC as I've always been a fan of "The Pitbull". Ditto for Babalu. Faber and Kid would rock my face and they need to make that match post-haste. In terms of the television deal, I'll believe it when I see it because there have been way too many cries of wolf for me to just trust what's being said about a network deal now.
§ The Wrestling Observer is reporting that the UFC has released Din Thomas, Tommy Speer, & Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Thomas last fought at UFC Fight Night 13 where he lost via decision to Josh Neer and he is now contemplating retirement. Speer's was the runner-up to Mac Danzig on "The Ultimate Fighter" season 6. He also fought at Fight Night 13 losing to Anthony Johnson via TKO. Hironaka last fought at UFC 83 where he lost via TKO to Jonathan Goulet.
I'd say that I'm shocked about the Speer cut, but he has seemed really one-dimensional in his fights and they're probably hoping for him to catch on and do some things in the WEC, where he was previously. Hironaka is neither here nor there because he didn't do much of anything for me when I saw him fight and they could probably bring in any of ten other Japanese fighters more talented to take his place. The real surprise is Din Thomas, who at one time was thought of as possibly being in the Lightweight Title picture. It's a shame that injuries and inconsistencies have seemed to plague Thomas because he's always an exciting fighter and always ready to lay it all on the line in every fight. Hopefully he'll reconsider retirement and catch on either in the WEC at 145 or with another promotion to continue fighting.
§ Adrenaline president & CEO Monte Cox has confirmed that Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell will both be fighting at the upcoming Adrenaline 2 card in September in Moline, Illinois. However, he didn't name an opponent for either fighter.
The new Adrenaline promotion is set to run their debut card on June 14th.
Here's to hoping that the horse isn't out of the barn and they're not hemorrhaging money by the time the second show rolls around. I get that Monte is one of the guys who is all about having guys be able to fight wherever they want to, but by giving up his two biggest stars to another promotion, he's making me question his business sense. I know he's promoted forever, but why would you send Sylvia and Rothwell to fight in Affliction and leave yourself with a main event of Mike Russow vs. Jeff Monson? Seriously, he'd better hope that he's able to get past the first card and that he even gets a chance to take advantage of signing Syliva and Rothwell.
§ EliteXC's Vice President Jared Shaw has confirmed that Drew Fickett has pulled out of his June 14th fight against Jake Shields for the EliteXC welterweight title, due to a knee injury. Shields had mentioned a few days ago that he might be interested in pushing the title fight back to July so it could featured on a "EliteXC on CBS" special.
Booooo!!!! The second time this fight has been postponed, and it's a fight that I'm REALLY wanting to see, so I hope that it finally gets a chance to happen. If it ends up happening on CBS even better. The sad part is that I'm a huge Fickett fan, but I'm thinking he's going to get squashed by Shields. Either way I'll still be rooting for him. KNIGHT RIDER!!!!
§ The IFL has announced that they will debut a new six-sided ring that will be used in all of the promotion's future plans. The IFL plans to debut the new ring at the promotion's August 15th event in New Jersey. The following is a quote by IFL CEO Jay Larkin on the new hexagon shaped ring:
"From a production and live event standpoint, the ring has proven to be the most fan and media friendly environment, as well as providing the safest possible environment for our athletes. The Hex allows for the larger surface that is utilized in other MMA organizations while still retaining the advantages we have enjoyed with the ring."
I've seen some events in a ring of that nature and it will be interesting to see if they make it a larger-sized structure like the Octagon, since most of the six-sided rings I've seen on smaller shows have been smaller rings. I'm not willing to completely bag on it yet because it seems like it could be an innovative idea that hasn't been seen by the MMA masses. I hope that they'll have it ready for the August 15th event because it will be interesting to see how it works and if it could be a viable third option to the cage and the regular four-sided ring.
Today, Chris Leben was sentenced to 35-days in jail due to a parole violation, which he turned himself in for. He will be released on May 27th, as he is being given credit for days served, but that will allow him the proper time to train for the June 7th fight with Michael Bisping in London. UFC's Joe Silva did have a back up plan in case Leben wasn't able to do the fight, but there is no confirmed replacement as of this report.
Well, UFC 85 certainly seems like the most cursed show in MMA history doesn't it? I commend Leben for stepping up and taking care of this, but honestly, it shouldn't have taken an international fight for him to do it and he should have taken care of it when it first came up. Now, he's out the payday he would have received for a co-main event fight, and he's possibly on the bad side of the UFC at a time when they aren't thinking twice about cutting people. At least Chris will get to train some grappling in jail trying to keep himself...intact.
§ The state of Arizona recently passed a legislation introduced by state representative Jonathan Paton that would allow the state boxing commission to regulate the sport of MMA. UFC Hall-of-famer Ken Shamrock was a huge advocate in getting the law passed in Arizona:
"I wanted to clear up any misconceptions members had about MMA. It is far from the "human cock-fighting" analogy used years ago by John McCain. There are rules in place to ensure the safety of participants. Over the years fighters have sustained fewer injuries during MMA competitions than in boxing. Mixed Martial Arts is a legitimate sport that takes considerable skill and intelligence."
The new law, which was signed in by Governor Janet Napolitano, will officially go into effect 90 days after the legislation ends.
Some good news to end the Random Strikes on as it's always nice to see another state regulate this great sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Congratulations to Shamrock for helping to push to get the regulation through and thank you to the state of Arizona for seeing past all of the half-truths and scare tactics to see that MMA is safe when done properly by people who are professionals. I can't wait for the day that MMA is regulated in every state in the country and there are no more misinformed politicians who feel like they can use MMA for their own personal agendas.