Giovanni Lorenzo ready to break out Saturday night

Posted on | June 18, 2008 | No Comments

Top rated Middleweight contender fights ex-champ Marquez on Showtime

NEW YORK CITY (June 17, 2008) – Unbeaten Dominican middleweight sensation Giovanni “Chico Malo” Lorenzo has planned a breakout party Saturday night when he fights former world champion Raul “El Diamente” Marquez in the 12-round co-feature on Showtime Championship Boxing, live from Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

The show is headlined by a super middleweight bout between IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham and Edison Miranda, while Lorenzo-Marquez is an IBF eliminator. “Giovanni’s fight with Marquez is a voluntary IBF eliminator that we took because ‘Gio’ has been criticized for having fought light opposition,” Lorenzo’s co-manager Rich Ryan explained, “so we thought it was a good move to take the Marquez fight and have Giovanni showcased on Showtime. ‘Gio’ is Abraham’s mandatory and if they both win, they’ll build excitement together Saturday night in separate fights, on the same card, for their proposed title bout.”

Lorenzo (26-0, 18 KOs), who represented his native Dominican Republic in the 2000 Olympics, after posting a 247-16 amateur record with 15 gold medals in International competition, now lives in the Washington Heights section of New York City. He is rated No. 1 by the WBC, No. 4 by the IBF (1 and 2 are unrated), No. 8 and No. 9 by the WBO and WBA, respectively, and No. 10 by The Ring.

“I’ve trained very hard for this fight and I’m looking forward to fighting such a worthy opponent like Marquez,” Lorenzo said. “He is a former world champion who will bring out the best in me. People will see that I am a future champion. I’m not thinking ahead to Abraham at all. My sole focus is Marquez; once I knock off Marquez then we can talk about Abraham. I know it will be a tough fight but I grew up as a kid dreaming that one day I would get a chance to fight Marquez. Now that dream is going to become reality and for a kid from Jerringa Dominican Republic it doesn’t get better than that.’

Unquestionably a step-up in competition for the 27-year-old Lorenzo, the still dangerous southpaw Marquez (40-3-1, 29 KOs), 1992 U.S. Olympian, hopes to derail his

Dominican opponent’s plans. Marquez captured the IBF light middleweight title in 1997 and he twice successfully defended his belt. His only career losses have been to world champions Jermain Taylor, Fernando Vargas, and “Yori Boy” Campas. Marquez retired in 2004 for two years, when he became a commentator for HBO Latino, but he returned to the ring and has won five of six bouts with a draw.

Lorenzo, whose most notable win to date was a seventh-round TKO of Archak TerMeliksetian (15-2) in 2006, is arguably one of the underrated fighters in the world today. Saturday night the world will learn about this prize-fighting secret from the Dominican Republic.

-GL-

MATT LINDLAND: He Lays Down The Law In And Out Of The Ring

Posted on | June 18, 2008 | No Comments

Oregon Politician & World-Class MMA fighter

SIGNAL HILL, California (June 17, 2008) – 2000 U.S. Olympic Silver Medal Wrestler, Matt “The Law” Lindland would bring the same dogged determination that made him one of the world’s top professional mixed-martial-artists to a job in the Oregon House of Representatives.

The 38-year-old resident of Oregon City may be near the end of his fighting career, but his political life is just beginning. Recently winning the Republican nomination for House District 52 in Oregon, Lindland received 58-percent of the votes in the primary and has begun his campaign for the general election in the fall.

Oregon suffers from some of the worst unemployment rates in the country, and Lindland believes there’s a solution—if the state became competitive in the global marketplace, jobs would open in the private sector and the quality of life would improve for his prospective constituents. When it comes to building a world-class school system, the would-be Representative believes in shifting power from the bureaucracy to the teachers, parents and principals. Other key issues for him include changing land laws to make them fair to property owners, discontinuing government regulation of property values, and opposing tax increases. Lindland offers an alternative to the Democrats’ planned tax hikes, which he feels would be dangerous to an already shaky economy. Instead, he proposes that if tax revenues continue to decline, state government should spend less and not raise taxes for families already suffering from the present recession.

The Oregonian endorsed Lindland’s candidacy:
Lindland, who is making his first run for public office, is a conservative who thinks state government takes too much out of the pockets of families and generally interferes too much in their lives. After a slow start to his campaign, he has shown signs of the resolve and discipline that made him a medal-winning amateur wrestler. (Phyllis) Thiemann, while very pleasant and interested in some district issues, makes a less compelling argument for her election. We think district Republicans will be hungry for Lindland’s gift.

Lindland has been a fighter all of his life. In fact, he earned his nickname, “The Law,” in an unusual way. He lost the championship final of the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials to Keith Sieracki, who, according to Lindland, tripped him. Lindland appealed, based on rules prohibiting Greco-Roman wrestlers from using their legs for advantage and/or defensive/offensive moves. An arbitrator ordered a rematch and Lindland won. The U.S. Olympic Committee appealed in federal court to keep Sieracki on the team. A three-judge panel and federal district judge all decided in Lindland’s favor. A USOC request in the U.S. Supreme Court was denied. Lindland joined Team USA, captured an Olympic silver medal, and later took the nickname, “The Law.”

Lindland, who has won 20 of his 25 pro MMA fights, is matched against Fabio “Negao” Nascimento in one of five MMA bouts on “Affliction Banned,” July 19 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. This event is headlined by the much-anticipated return of Russian heavyweight superstar and former undisputed PRIDE® champion Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko (27-1) in association with M-1, against former 2-time UFC® heavyweight title-holder Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia (24-4).

“I’m so excited to be part of this show,” Lindland said. “I’m excited to be back in the gym and honored to be part of this great card. I love fighting in this arena more than in politics because I know my opponent in the ring. I look him right in the eyes.”

The superstar-studded “Affliction Banned” card is so stacked with talent that it had to be separated into two live shows produced for broadcast. The night’s activities will kick off with a one-hour, free live telecast on FSN (Fox Sports Net) starting at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM/ET), dubbed “Affliction Live,” featuring the highly anticipated US debut of Fedor’s brother, Russian heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (13-3), against tough Texan brawler Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello (23-10), of Amarillo, and Brazilian strongman, Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira (13-3) versus veteran Vernon “Tiger” White (26-32-2).

“Affliction Banned” will be distributed on Pay-Per-View and air live (9 PM/ET, 6 PM/PT) on cable and satellite viewing in the USA and Canada via iN DEMAND, TVN, Shaw Communications, Viewers Choice Canada, DirecTV, DISH Network, Bell ExpressVue and Star Choice for a suggested retail price of $39.95. The telecast will be available in both standard and high definition television.

Tickets for “Affliction Banned,” range between $50.00 and $1,000.00, and are on sale at the Honda Center Box Office and online at Ticketmaster.com.

To download all video, photos and PR related media go to:
http://www.afflictionbanned.com/media.html

Affliction
Already a mainstay for the most elite athletes, heaviest bands, A-listers and the fashion conscious, Affliction Clothing’s ability to set the bar high in fashion is evident in its collection’s indulgence of style and design, focus on quality, and its trademark series of divinely executed, dark and powerful themes. (www.afflictionclothing.com)

The Trump Organization
The Trump Organization encompasses global real estate development and global licensing, sales and marketing, property management, golf course development, entertainment, entertainment and product licensing, brand development as well as restaurants and event planning. Donald J. Trump is the Chairman and President of the Trump Organization, a privately held company in New York. (www.Trump.com)

EUROPEAN BOXING NEWS

Posted on | June 18, 2008 | No Comments

Former EBU cruiser champ Johny Jensen announced his retirement after failing a brain scan, which is bad enough – unfortunately the story doesn´t end there. According to Danish websites sporten.dk and politiken.dk Jensen failed the brain scan twice before: first before his upset win over Italian Vincenzo Cantatore in Rome in December of last year and then again as he lost the title to Frenchman Jean Marc Monrose in Marseille in May. In both cases it appears the Dane came in with a document saying he had failed the MR scan but with permission to fight from the Danish Federation.

How this could happen isn´t easily explained. Jesper D Jensen, head of the Danish Federation, comments to Danish media that he´s not a doctor and only confirmed that in the permission to fight that all documents were enclosed. Jensen then passed the final medical exam in both Italy and France where the medical documents where supposed to be checked but somehow no-one noticed or cared to check. The hospital that performed the brain scan says they dutifully sent the result to the doctor who had sent Jensen to them – what happened there is anybody´s guess but the info wasn´t passed on. Jensen’s been promoted by Team Palle throughout his career but it was apparently trainer Poul Duvill that took care of the paperwork on the road. The incident overshadowed today´s press conference in Copenhagen where Dmitri Sartison and Mikkel Kessler met eye to eye. The two fight for the vacant WBA supermiddle title June 21 in Brondby.

Ex-pro Fredrik Alvarez lost the case against Swedish medical authorities. Alvarez had sued for damages for malpractice. After a fight in 99 the fighter slipped with a bottle in his hand and was badly cut. The wound healed but the pain remained although Fredrik fought on and it wasn´t until later it was discovered that there was a piece of glass left in the hand. Alvarez and his lawyer claimed the damage the piece of glass had done had ruined his career. The medical authorities have paid some compensation already and acknowledges the mistake made and that Alvarez can´t use the left hand properly but the court didn´t see that the injury in effect had ended Fredrik´s career. The case may still be appealed.

The Sinan Samil Sam vs Paolo Vidoz, Odlanier Solis vs Fransois Botha show set for July 4 have been moved from Istanbul to Ankara. Sam vs Vidoz is for the vacant EBU and IBF I/C heavyweight titles.

Slovenian welter Jan Zaveck outscored German Marco Cattikas last night in Maribor to win the vacant IBF I/C title. Zaveck is now getting ready to fight EBU champ Jackson Osei Bonsu July 26 also in Maribor.

UPDATE:

Contrary to what was reported last night then EBU cruiser challenger Johny Jensen arrived – according to politiken.dk and confirmed by Italian agent and matchmaker Alessandro Ferrarini – to Rome in December of last year with a clean bill of health – at least on paper. His MR scan showed irregurlarities to the point where he shouldn´t had been allowed to fight. However, a doctor looked at the documents, signed that everything was ok and neither Jensen or his handlers was told that something was wrong. Dr Peter Angermann tells Politiken he don´t remember the results of the scan but says that as far as he could tell everything looked allright. Jensen then stopped Vincenzo Cantatore in the first round of a big upset. The next fight came May 3 in Marseille against mandatory challenger Jean Marc Monrose. Again, the MR scan showed irregurlarities. It appears that trainer Poul Duvill, an experienced trainer who´s been involved with some of the best Danish pros for quite some time now, had noticed something was wrong with the champ during training. Sparringpartner Anders Hugger tells stiften.dk that he himself had seen nothing wrong. Still, Jensen went off to France and was stopped in the first round. Mogens Palle, who wasn´t in neither Rome or Marseille, told media during the Kessler-Sartison press conference that he first heard something was wrong with Johny when Duvill called him after coming home from France.

Jensen himself is currently on vacation in France but tells sporten.dk he is doing badly, got problems with his eyesight, have problems with being around people and feels the damage is permanent. Another paper quotes Jensen saying he´s able to keep his dayjob and live a normal life. He is still employed by Vola in Horsens and the company have sponsored him throughout his career. Jensen have contacted a lawyer and is looking into suing the responsible for this tragic incident for damages but the question appears to be who is reponsible?

Many have asked why Jensen didn´t pull out himself if he was feeling bad but he says to sporten.dk he didn´t start feeling bad until a week after the Monrose fight.

The Danish Federation had all the necessary medical examinations performed and an apparently permanently brain damaged fighter could still slip through the net.

MIDWEST CAGE CHAMPIONSHIP 14: PRIDE OR FATE

Posted on | June 18, 2008 | No Comments

Midwest Cage Championships Saturday, June 14 show concluded in a title match that nearly brought down the house. Less the one week later, fans can view highlights and complete versions of all eleven bouts on Mediacom Connections Channel 22. The premier broadcast airs this Friday, June 20 at 10:00PM. Pride or Fate includes two championship fights, including an incredible upset where Joe Vedepo took the MCC Middleweight belt from Brian Green.

Twisted Parrot will host an MCC 14 viewing party Friday at 10 PM. Twisted Parrot is located at 6500 Hickman. Admission is free, and the ever popular .25 cent beer promotion has returned, as well as a full menu of great food. Mediacom, Twisted Parrot, and HD-Net are regular MCC sponsors and worked closely together to co-promote the live event and televised broadcast. MCC 14 highlights will be included on an upcoming episode of HD-Nets weekly MMA talk show Inside MMA. HD-Net is available on Mediacoms HD tier.

Full details on MCC’s next event, titled MCC 15: Light Out, will be provided via a press release this week.

MUAY THAI AT LEEDS TOWN HALL

Posted on | June 17, 2008 | 1 Comment

By: Dominic Lavin

Lisa and Richard Smith of Bad Company tonight lived up to their reputation as one of the premier centres for Muay Thai excellence by staging an excellently organised night of fights at Leeds Town Hall. The twelve fight card included two world title fights, two women’s fights and several A class fights.

On the undercard Davy Mac of Bad Company against Loz Reilly of Hanuman was a an evenly skilled and well matched bout with Davy emerging as winner and the Dennis v Kapowitz meeting which was given as a draw by the judges proved a good honest entertaining scrap with impressive use of the spinning elbow by both corners.

The first international fight of the evening saw James France of Leeds matched against Yatabre Kisma of France. As a fighter James shows a lot of promise and from round one took the upper hand with steady confident work and position in the ring. Yatabre wasn’t shy in attack but James absorbed his opponent’s efforts well and countered strongly with a full compliment of techniques. By round three James’s opponent was showing signs of tiredness and the Frenchman was forced to retire in round 4 when a strong roundhouse kick dislocated his shoulder.

Richard Cadden was the first fighter of the evening to put a title on the line in front of an audience of around 2200 people. Cadden has held the WPMF World, Wako Pro Euro and IKF European titles several of his 47 fights have been in Thailand and he has won 33 so far in total. His challenger was Rungankorn Kharnpan a UK resident Thai national that he has fought twice before, and with the aggeragate score at 1 each tonights match was billed as a decider with the winner to walk away with the ISKA World Title at 65 kg.

Richard is a very positive fighter and got to work early in round one, there were some good elbow exchanges that by the end of the round left Richard bleeding from the right eye. Rounds two and three again saw Richard pressurising his opponent suffering a knockdown but remaining undeterred and taking the initiative. In round four whilst helping Richard recover from a foul blow the doctor inspected his cuts and judged him unfit to continue. Despite leaving the ring without a win nobody can fault his guts and determination, luck can occasionally win fighters a single title but the several titles Cadden has held were won with the true heart and courage that make Cadden a credit to himself and his gym.

The main event of the evening was Liam Harrison’s defence at 62 kg of his WMC World Title against Sarmsamut Kiatchongkao of Chuwattana Gym in Bangkok. Prior to the fight Liam was confident and relaxed and to be fair made pretty light work of his fourth round stoppage of his opponent who is currently ranked number 7 at Lumphini Stadium. In the past Thais have been known to underperform outside their homeland and without taking anything away from Liam Sarmsamut was a little complacent in the early rounds. Harrison’s impeccable timing and accuracy gave him round s one and two with some strong low kicks and hooks, with a take down in each round. In round 3 the Thai felt the canvas four times however he did start to wake and find Liam with his right knee. In round four the Thai started to take the reins and improve his positional game however Liam retaliated with strong boxing and an elbow which cut him badly enough for the doctor to end the fight.

Andy Howson’s fight against Weera “Spicey”Mingthon of Ko Samui Thailand proved to be a value for money match at 53 kilos. Andy’s one of the top flight at Bad Company and Spicey (who hails from Hua Thanon near Lamai), is the current Chaewang Stadium Champion and Southern area Champion at his weight. Round one was a traditional Thai round with each man respectfully finding range. The second round saw some more exciting exchanges with Spicey attacking flamboyantly and Andy responding with strong hooks and noteably strong front kicks. Round three was fought out at mid range, with some well delivered elbows from both corners and in Round four Andy took a strong single shot left hook from Spicey but responded with some commendable long boxing combinations and sealed the round with front kicks that pushed Spicey back. At the end of round four Spicey nodded his approval at Andy’s efforts and despite landing a good right cross at the beginning of round five Spicey had very little to offer in reply to Andy’s handy work, when the decision came from the judges nobody was surprised to see Andy emerge the winner.

The final fight was between Mark DeLucca an American guest at Bad Company and Alex James of Studio 2000 in Derby, both are accomplished fighters who have spent time fighting and training in Thailand. Prior to the fight Alex (who fights at 64kg) said “He’ll probably slaughter me. I go into all my fights with that attitude and if I get anything else it’s a bonus.” Despite entering the ring dressed as Elvis there was unfortunately no bonus on the night for Alex. To be fair Alex was probably the stronger of the two, fighting well on his back foot and then switching to attacks that cornered Mark however the doctor judged a pretty minor cut that Alex received in round five enough to stop the fight and Mark left the ring with a winners trophy.

All in all it was a professionally run show at a first class venue with well matched fights, the highlight of which for me was Tom Bird (Bad Company 68 kg) knocking Karl Stoddart of Jai Muay Thai clean out in round five with what has to be one of the most beautifully delivered left hooks I’ve ever seen.

PHOTO GALLERY: (click on the thumbs to see full size)

THE UFC RUMOR MILL KEEPS CHURNING: VINCE AND DANA POISED TO BUY THE UFC?

Posted on | June 17, 2008 | 1 Comment

By: Rich Bergeron

Leave it to a hard-nosed, hard-hitting, in-your-face sports news site like THE SPORTS MUFFIN to come out with the scoop of the year in MMA. Rumor now has it that Dana White and Vince McMahon are going to buy the Ultimate Fighting Championship and leave the Fertitta brothers to tend to their casino and real estate empire. This comes as no surprise, but the motivation for the move seems to be more sinister than it sounds. The strategy in getting Vince on board is alleged to involve locking all other possible MMA leagues from Madison Square Garden should MMA be granted sanctioning in New York. According to the folks over at Sports Muffin Vince has “exclusive rights to Madison Square Garden for any Sports Entertainment.” That just didn’t pass my smell test when the author of this piece proclaims that means Vince and Dana can lock out other MMA leagues from MSG. For one, I can’t find a single source that confirms this exclusive rights setup Vince has. Also, how the heck can anyone in their right mind categorize MMA as “Sports Entertainment?”

At any rate, I’m trying to find out more about that situation to see if its true. There’s no doubt about the fact that Vince McMahon and his family have a storied history with Madison Square Garden, holding various wrestling events there over a span of more than 80 years. I hit the bricks and did some research, and the following Wikkipedia description of WWE and Madison Square Garden ties does not seem to indicate a monopoly held by Vince at MSG:

“Connecticut-based World Wrestling Entertainment considers it [Madison Square Garden] a home arena as well, due to the fact that all generations of the McMahon family, including Vince McMahon’s father and grandfather, have promoted shows at the Garden. MSG has hosted several WrestleMania and SummerSlam events, two Survivor Series events and the 2000 and 2008 Royal Rumble. More WWE Championships have been won at MSG than any other arena. WWE’s strong relationship with Madison Square Garden prevented competitor World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from ever having a show at the Garden. In 2005, WWE severed business ties with the arena because WWE felt that increased rental costs would prevent them from making a profit in the building. However, over a year later, World Wrestling Entertainment temporarily patched things up with MSG and the hiatus ended with a September 11, 2006 edition of RAW and HEAT. Though they pulled the 20th installment of SummerSlam, which would have been held at the Garden on August 26, 2007. (It was held at the Continental Airlines Arena) WWE continues to make occasional appearances at MSG, and returned for the 2008 Royal Rumble in January.”

It also appears WWE will host an event at MSG in August of this year. But, as far as any exclusive rights, it seems only wrestling has applied so far, so it seems a bit far fetched that a “Sports Entertainment” rights arrangement could ever prevent other MMA leagues from hosting shows at the venue. Unless, of course, MMA turns into glorified WWE shows with every fight staged and story lines out of soap opera episodes. Besides, even the UFC has enjoyed decent attendance at UFC 78 in the Prudential Center Arena in New Jersey. You never know, if the UFC and Vince do somehow monopolize MSG maybe EliteXC and CBS will go and put on an event at Yankee Stadium. It could always backfire on the ultra-egos.

New York City events approved for MMA is not the pinnacle, be-all-end-all that will determine the ultimate survival of the sport of mixed martial arts. It is not even the last bastion that will open the floodgates in other states. It is the failure to communicate and cooperate that is starting to choke the sport into a lull where as far as the “fastest growing sport in the world” a peak has finally been reached. IFL CEO Jay Larkin admitted a little while back in a conference call to announce the cancellation of the company’s August 15th event that indeed the peak is behind this sport and pure competition without cooperation and co-promotion is starting to kill it.

Yet, for all its worth all these rumors are being kicked up because Dana is about to drop a bombshell of an announcement about the UFC. Lo and behold there is a free UFC show slated for Affliction: Banned’s debut night of July 19th. Other leagues are getting over-sold and over-hyped, given sweetheart TV deals, and gaining steam. But, leave it to Dana to throw a monkey wrench in everything. This is his sport to many fans, the house that Ruth built so to speak. He’s not letting go of it without a fight. This rumor is not long on fact and full of speculation, but it introduces an interesting probability of what would become of the UFC under Vince McMahon’s ULTIMATE control?

Would another Wildlife foundation file suit and take the initials UFC away? (Universal Forest Conservation)

Would UFC fighters start inhaling steroids?

Would the cage be fitted with barbed wire for certain super fights?

Would strikes delivered from off the top of the cage fence count?

Will posses be able to storm the cage and prevent their fighter from being grounded and pounded into oblivion?

But, all kidding aside, Vince McMahon would bring a wealth of connections, money, influence, and business savvy to what is really a troubled league that everybody thinks is coasting on a wave of domination. Donald Trump’s dipping his toes in the sport’s waters with Affliction’s MMA league already. Oscar De La Hoya even toyed with the idea of entering the promotional ranks of the sport. He’s tight with Affliction himself. By six degrees of separation Tito Ortiz is a new friend of Donald Trump’s after being on The Apprentice. He’ll likely end up at Affliction. The UFC will need its own big guns to compete and continue to run rampant as the biggest and baddest of them all with competitors like Showtime-driven EliteXC and the fledgling Affliction promising to bring it hard right out of the gate. The Fertittas just don’t have that financial fight left in them.

The rumor behind this Mr. McMahon debacle can be traced to the Forbes article that loosely proclaimed the UFC’s net worth to be “a billion.” The Fertittas were in the throes of a grand celebration after making all kinds of millionaire lists. Yet, the economy has soured since then. They sunk the UFC into a $350 million debt instrument that now has junk bond status. The UFC is actually still in debt, technically speaking. It’s worth is all wrapped up in its potential. The Fertittas will have to continue to spend money to make money to keep the league competitive. They are at the same time heavily involved in the privatization of Station Casinos, countless other Real Estate deals and investments, and also dealing with a housing, credit, and economic crisis. National news frequently puts Nevada at the top of the list for housing issues and foreclosure problems. The Fertittas’ home base is there, and it’s overbuilt and underfed at the moment. They have their own credit facilities to catch up on without having to worry about keeping the UFC’s tab current. They need to get out from under it, plain and simple.

Along comes Vince McMahon and Dana White, which is a potential partnership White himself reportedly chuckled about during an interview where that possibility came up:

“In addition to announcing the licensing deal with JAKKS, White used his CNBC appearance to denounce some of the rumors that have been swirling about a big announcement he has planned for as soon as Thursday of this week.

“The hottest of the rumors, and those that were posed to the UFC president on CNBC, include speculation that the promotion has signed recently retired boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather, Jr.; that they will enter into a partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment and Vince McMahon; that a new television deal with either FOX, ABC, or ESPN is on the table; or that the company will announce it is going public. All of which White responded to with a definite, and at times chuckling, “No.””

What a pair! What a match made in highlight reel heaven. You take the two biggest egos in sports history, one from real sports and one from orchestrated sports, and you put them together. Sounds like a trailer for a reality series already before the horse is even out of the gate. They should be coaches on the ultimate fighter at some point and then fight each other, right? If Vince was on the team back when Dana and Tito were going to fight, Vince would have done it in pure WWE style.

Anyway, the mere discussion of the topic of a White/McMahon merger inspires visions of a crazed, over-involved, maniacal Mr. McMahon totally putting Dana White’s performance as the kid who takes the ball and goes home with it to complete shame. I see McMahon coming in intending to cripple every other competitor, take them over, and make all the old employees work for him. Take notice of how Vince bought Killer Kowalski’s ECW off the bankruptcy block and divided and conquered World Championship Wrestling in the same year (2001). Imagine if McMahon were around during the PRIDE buyout? We would have UFCmania, the true Superbowl of MMA, and the fifth installment would be on PPV this weekend.

You can’t go wrong with two incredibly polarizing figures at the top of the organization. Or can you? There is that old doomed failure-before-it-began football league Vince founded. What was that thing called? The XFL? Gimme a break, Vince.

If you can give Vince McMahon true props for his most outstanding skill, you’d have to reward his ruthless, winner-take-all approach to business. He never lets anyone or anything get in his way, and he’s involved in everything. Much to the chagrin of the fans who love to hate him, he even wins matches he inserts himself into sometimes. This from a guy who’s Dad didn’t even want him involved in the sport at all when little Vince started tagging along at events at age 12. Give it a few weeks and Vince’ll want to be in the cage. He’ll bring Randy Couture back for the occasion and fight him one handed and win because Randy’ll get 200 million for it. If he can’t beat you, he’ll buy you, that’s Vince’s motto. And he does match up well with the ruthlessness factor the Fertittas bring to the table. Though he’s not quite the billionaire he’s made out to be, Vince is responsible for that infamous moment in Wrestling history that has been re-staged countless times by multiple different players now: THE MONTREAL SCREW-JOB. It’s worth the read to follow the link. It’s kind of like what the Fertittas did to Xyience.

I do think Vince McMahon may want the UFC, but I do wonder what he’d do with it if he ever had control. I have to admit that possibility concerns me. We are at the precipice of a new age in mixed martial arts, and the UFC will have to really pull out all stops if they want to remain viable and sustainable for the duration. Jay Larkin’s grim conference call about the IFL’s troubles didn’t bode to well as a “State of the Nation” address for the sport. All I can say is Dana White better come to the table with something huge the next time he opens his mouth in front of a microphone.

For more on Vince McMahon read his Wikkipedia Page. It’s really a true “Behind the Music” account of his storied history.

DON’T GET SCREWED: GET YOUR SPONSOR PAY UP FRONT

Posted on | June 16, 2008 | 1 Comment

About 3 months ago I decided to advertise a background special here at Fight News Unlimited for $1,000 for a full year. So, I was pretty stoked when I got the following email message not long after I posted the idea on the front page of unlimitedfightnews.com:

——————–

from Fight Trend
reply-to fighttrend@yahoo.com
to info@unlimitedfightnews.com
date Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 9:49 PM
subject $1,000 background special
signed-by yahoo.com

Hello,

My name is Scott Ennis, I am the President of a new MMA Clothing & Media company called Fight Trend, LLC. We have a website at www.fighttrend.com right now it is a news and mma community site, until June when we publically release our clothing line. We are in the process of signing fighters and have 4 signed already. We are doing some things with HDnet Fights this friday live with matt lindlands sportfight promotion, and also the IFL in May at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. One of our pr guys happened upoon your site and noticed your buy our background for a year campaign. He immediately notified me and here I am. I am interested in this and any other advertsing opportunities you have available on your website. I am looking to close this deal asap. If you would like to speak via voice to confirm and to hault any speculation that this is bogus, as I am sure you must loads of emails from people who say that can produce and want to do something but dont. I will give you my cell phone number. Please keep this confidential. Again thanks and I look forward to doing business with you soon!

Scott Ennis

Fight Trend, LLC

www.fighttrend.com
—————

To show my gratitude for wanting to get the deal done as soon as possible and also to try out another new idea, I decided to give Scott a free VIP sponsorship as part of the background special deal. Not only would I put his logo in the background of the home page and blog page of our site, but I would also give him the benefits of a service worth just as much as the background special deal. Basically, I decided to give him $2,000 worth of advertising for $1,000.

So, I got the above message in mid-April, and not long after that I hooked Scott up with his logo on our blog page before I even got a cent from him. I guess that was a bad idea in retrospect, but I had talked to Scott over the phone, exchanged multiple emails with him, and expected him to come through. He seemed to have a lot going on and came across as someone who wouldn’t have any trouble getting the payment out. He actually promised to Fedex me a company check:

——-

from Fight Trend
reply-to fighttrend@yahoo.com
to Rich Bergeron
date Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 10:18 PM
subject Re: $1,000 background special
mailed-by yahoo.com
signed-by yahoo.com

hide details Apr 21

Rich, everything looks great…. I will fedex you a signed copy and company check this morning. Also… if it is ok with you I have another background logo that is a little less clutter for you and will make your frontpage look a bit better… I will send it in another email… let me know when you get it…

Scott Ennis
Fight Trend, LLC
www.fighttrend.com

————
The weeks have since gone by, and from that one first email stemmed 36 more between us back and forth. I called him numerous times on the cell phone number he gave me, but he never answered. Most of my emails also went unanswered. He would respond from time to time with either excuses or explaining what the next big thing was that he was working on. I sent four emails between the end of April and May 5th that went unanswered. Finally, he wrote back on May 5:

I am currently in arizona working on an audit for my surety company I will be back in about three days sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner we are extremely busy here. Yes interested give me till I get back to ct and I will get you what you need. Are you going to ifl event at mohegan sun on fri? We are sponsoring event that was taking a lot of my time. If you are going to be there we can meet in person as I have 2 fighters being sponsored as well. Let me know. I assure you you are not being avoided I have been busy with the ifl sponsorship thing and now my surety companies audit. Call me anytime you are one of the few people that have my cell number as I would get calls from people everyday to get their script produced. If u don’t have it here it is ###-###-#####. Please keep it to yourself thanks. Again I’m in arizona and its a three hour diffrence. Again sorry for the delay we will fix this soon

I have been calling Scott, sending him PayPal reminders, and waiting for that check that never comes. All he’s done is try to explain things away, and I’ve given him tons of free advertising to this point. I’ve even offered to take partial payment. Yet, nothing ever happens. He even sent me this message on May 19th:

Hello, sorry its been very long. As you may know or maybe you don’t know we now have struck a deal with two promotions and with that deal comes two investers inparticular that have requested all future contracts go through our company attorney. I have forwarded the contract you sent me to them today they will have an answer on the contract by the end of the week. I am sorry for the delay. We struck a fantastic partnership with these organizations and were forced to move quickly and quietly. You will have answer very shortly. Thanks for your patience. I will personally give you an exclusive on our deal as soon as its finalized. As for phone calls to me. If you call from any sort of restricted number, blocked number or masked number I do not answer the call. As the other business endeavers I am in that would cause problems. Talk to you soon.
Scott

I have given this guy every opportunity to make good on his promises. Each and every time he’s balked. He even promised to send a payment out last on Saturday, May 31st. It’s been over two weeks and nothing has arrived here.

I didn’t want to get to this point with Scott, and I don’t know him outside of this deal. He could be prompt and courteous when it comes to everyone else he deals with for all I know. Yet, it seems to me that for a guy talking so much about all the great big things he has going on it should not be such a hassle to get a mere $1,000 bill paid in a three month window.

He obviously has other interests and advertises one of them (Easy Bail Bonds) on his Web-site. Being in that kind of business you’d think the man would have a greater understanding of making prompt payments. I don’t know what the problem is and why I can’t get paid here, but from here on out I’ve decided to strip the site and every other affiliated social profile of all of his logos. I also decided to put this blog together to help others who might be victimized by this type of scam or by the promise of doing future business with Scott. I can’t say he’ll do the same thing to you, but I will tell you that you better make sure you get paid up front before you do anything for him.

Anyone who is willing and able to make a real payment can get the same deal I offered Scott with a VIP Sponsorship and the background Special for just $1,000. Just email me at info@unlimitedfightnews.com for more information.

Thanks,

Rich Bergeron
Editor/Writer/Webmaster
Unlimitedfightnews.com

UFC COULD GO TOE-TO-TOE WITH AFFLICTION ON JULY 19TH

Posted on | June 16, 2008 | No Comments

by: Jack Bratcher

[mpinpage]

Ok if you had the choice between paying about forty dollars to watch some high-quality MMA fights on pay-per-view from a brand new and unproven, mostly unknown promotion or watching a free high-quality UFC event free on Spike TV what do you think the average person will do?

As if Affliction didn’t already have a big enough challenge getting people to buy this pay-per-view, their potential veiwership could really take a beating if the UFC does give us a free MMA event on July 19th as has been speculated.

What I don’t understand is why Affliction has not done a better job promoting this event. The only promotion I’ve seen are Youtube videos that I specifically searched for. The fact of the matter is that the Affliction: Banned card is the best Heavyweight MMA card ever assembled on American soil if not the world. Some could argue it’s the best MMA card ever assembled period. And that is great news for hardcore MMA fans but the fact remains that the average person and the casual MMA fan will only recognize one or two names on the card at most. There are so many champions and former champions on that card they could easily promote these fighters but they aren’t. Every MMA website should have ads for this event. They should have television commercials, maybe a television promo, radio commercials. Affliction: Banned should be everywhere we look. Word is that Affliction is anticipating between two and three hundred thousand buys for the pay-per-view. However, John Pollock today on Fight Network Radio said that if the UFC does go toe-to-toe on July 19th with a free event on Spike TV (possibly featuring Wanderlei Silva vs. Brandon Vera) that the Affliction: Banned pay-per-view would be lucky to get 30,000 buys. That’s a far cry from two or three hundred thousand and would be a devastating disappointment for the T-Shirt turned MMApromotion company.

I’m interested to hear from our readers. Which would you choose: a free full-length live UFC event featuring Wanderlei Silva and Brandon Vera on Spike TV or the Affliction: Banned pay-per-view costing approximately $40.00?

I got to tell you, personally, there’s no way in hell I’m missing that Affliction card but I’m also not gonna miss a free UFC event with Wanderlei fighting Brandon Vera. I have a feeling on July 19th I’ll most likely have one event streaming on my Hi-Def computer monitor while the other one is playing on my Hi-Def TV.

On one hand I find it a little silly and maybe a bit disturbing that Dana White feels the need to use his fighters to put on an event with the specific intention of taking away viewers from the Affliction PPV event. We always hear Dana talking about how all these other MMA promotions can’t hold a candle to the UFC but then he feels the need to put on an event to hurt their PPV numbers? A little weird. But I guess that’s the way business works at this level. Who am I to question the business practices of the man who took a fledgling no-holds-barred fighting organization and turned it into a legitimate Mixed Martial Arts sports company and a household name across the nation. Whatever White’s reasons, if the UFC does indeed hold a July 19th free event on Spike TV, we the fans are the real winners because we get double the action.

To view all the fighters and match-ups scheduled for the Affliction: Banned event on July 19th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and to see the official press release click HERE. (http://promma.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/new-press-release-from-affliction-61108/)

[/mpinpage]

 

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