Posts from — July 2009

I’m posting this because it amuses me in some small way. It looks like Jeff Monson, aka “The Snowman,” will be cooling his heels behind bars. According to the Associated Press, the hulking heavyweight has pled guilty to malicious mischief for spray-painting an anarchist symbol on the Washington State Capital in 2008.

Monson was arrested in January after pictures of him committing the crime popped up in ESPN The Magazine. He has also entered an Alford plea for similar crimes committed at the Lacey Armed Services Recruitment Center, which is like pleading no contest, meaning he’s not saying he did it but if it went to trial he knows he’d be found guilty.

Monson is looking at 90 days in jail and somewhere in the vicinity of $22,000 in restitution fees as part of the plea bargain, although sentencing isn’t until October 1. Until then, he remains free to get into fights, spray-paint national monuments and wear really ugly track pants while doing it.

Sherdog has posted a video interview with Strikeforce’s answer to Dana White, the very low-key Scott Coker, about the whole Affliction-Strikeforce-Fedor Emelianenko business. The biggest insight Coker offers is the sense that he doesn’t really have a strong grasp of the state of the sport of MMA and the players involved (e.g. he suggests Fedor should face a Strikeforce fighter he’s never fought before, perhaps Fabricio Werdum, but then asks the interviewer to correct him as to whether Fedor and Werdum have ever fought. Ah, no Scott, Werdum hasn’t fought Fedor, but he did beat his little brother, Aleksander Emelianenko). And you wonder why no one can compete with the UFC…

Last night I reported that Fedor Emelianenko had been offered a $30-million, six fight deal with the UFC that he turned down because the UFC refused to co-promote with M-1 Global. Now, a day later, MMA Fanhouse is telling a different story.

Quoting an anonymous source close to the negotiations (which could be complete bullshit, who knows?), the actual offer on the table was a three-fight contract with a guarantee of less than $2 million per fight. Of course, that’s not including ancillaries like a cut of the pay-per-view revenue, which could conceivably push Fedor’s take home pay closer to the $6 million per fight originally reported.

Doesn’t matter. Fedor/M-1 have said no and the heavyweight is now on a flight back to Russia. At least until tomorrow when UFC president Dana White pulls a rabbit out of his ass. You never know, could happen. But at this point I just ant to see Fedor fight somebody, anybody. Hell, I’d be happy watching Fedor fight Carrot Top. Really happy, actually. Have you seen Carrot Top lately? The dude is freakishly jacked up.

CNBC ran a UFC profile piece/handjob last night. Pretty tame stuff. They did rely on an awful lot of clips from the bloody and barbaric early days of the organization, perhaps to counter the complete nut-hugging the rest of the story felt like.

Here are links to the entire piece if you missed it:

Part 1 is about where the UFC is today, how huge it’s become, and how cool it is that UFC president Dana White gets stopped for autographs and photos wherever he goes.

Part 2 spends some time with Rich Franklin, both back home and before his fight against Wanderlei Silva in Cologne, Germany. If you’re a Franklin fan it’s sort of fun (although they do seem a little preoccupied with his nickname, Ace, which he got because he looks like Jim Carrey’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective). There’s also a bit of the history, including a not terribly enlightening interview with UFC founder Rorion Gracie (love his red belt, though).

Part 3 talks about the popularity of Tapout for some reason that I’m not sure I understand, as well as how the UFC stacks up against professional boxing, the emergence and disappearance of Affliction, yada yada, the UFC is still number one. Dull and nothing new, at least to anyone who’s a fan of the sport. I’m sure the usual CNBC viewer was riveted/appalled in equal measure.

Below are a few outtakes from the version that aired.

That’s the question everyone will be asking if CBS Radio MMA host Carmichael Dave’s report on the terms the UFC have offered Fedor Emelianenko/M-1 Global are accurate.

Here’s what’s (reportedly) on the table:

- a six-fight contract worth $30 million

- an immediate title shot

- a percentage of the pay-per-view revenue for the Fedor/Brock Lesnar fight, which would likely be the biggest UFC PPV ever

- freedom to wear as many M-1-logoed items as he wants into the Octagon

- freedom to compete in combat sambo competitions

Apparently, though, Fedor/M-1 still refuses to sign the deal unless the UFC agrees to co-promote with the company. Whoever is making the decisions over there is out of their fucking tree. This is easily the most lucrative and accommodating contract in UFC history. This is a once-in-a-lifetime deal for a once-in-a-generation fighter.

I think fans will be pissed if Fedor turns this opportunity down. He’s getting buckets of money, freedom to wear any signage he wants (which pretty much accomplishes M-1’s goal of promoting itself) and the ability fight in other competitions, something no other fighter in the UFC has.

This is an Alex Rodriguez-sized contract offer. To turn it down is the depths of stupidity. I mean, he does know he’ll get paid in American dollars and not rubles, right?

How to win in three seconds, by WEC vet Steve Ramirez: listen to ref’s instructions, refuse to touch gloves with opponent Darvin Wattree, return to corner, at the bell come out swinging.

The welterweight, who was fighting on the July 25 PureCombat 9: Home Turf card, now shares the record for fastest MMA knockout during a fight ever, tying IFL veteran Chris Clements‘ three-second knockout of Lautaro Tucas at TKO 25 in 2006.

The reason I qualified the knockout as the fastest during a fight is because of one Mr. Heath Herring. At a 2005 K-1 Dynamite show, the Texas Crazy Horse cold-cocked Yoshihiro Nakao before the referee had even finished giving his instructions. This was after Nakao delivered a blow of his own.

I interviewed Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le a couple of weeks ago and he stated then that he wasn’t sure exactly when he’d be returning to the cage to defend his title. Seems he’s pretty happy acting in movies with Dennis Quaid and Channing Tatum.

Well, now Cory Brady over at Five Ounces of Pain is taking Le to task for not stepping up to the plate to defend his title: “Call me old school or call me a cranky SOB, but I’m from the crowd that believes a champion has an obligation to defend their title. Step up or step down, it’s that simple.” Couldn’t agree more, Cory.

Today’s Fedor Emelianenko press conference in Anaheim, CA, turned out be pretty much what I expected – a whole lot of nothing.

Fedor has not signed with the UFC, although he’s gotten an offer and made a counter-offer and there will likely be a counter-counter-offer and so on. Those negotiations are ongoing, but since M-1 Global, of which Fedor is a stakeholder, only wants a a co-promotion deal we may not see the Russian heavyweight in the Octagon anytime soon. Fedor and M-1 have also been made an offer by Strikeforce, which is being considered.

The only definitive statement to come out of the presser is that Fedor will highlight the new EA Sports MMA video game along with Gegard Mousasi and Renato “Babalu” Sobral that’ll be release sometime next year for Playstation 3 and XBox 360 consoles. So there’s that to look forward to.

Okay, you’ve probably seen that insane Muay Thai vs. capoeira fight from The Protector starring Tony Jaa. Or maybe you remember Iron Chef America’s Mark Dacascos as an ex-Special Forces soldier-turned-high school teacher who kicks a little inner city ass using the flamboyant Brazilian martial art in Only The Strong. But that’s the movies.

Capoeira has some flashy acrobatic kicks, but it’s more dance than combat. No one would seriously use capoeira in an MMA fight. Then I came across this clip of whirling dervish Marcus Aurelio out-kicking Keegan Marshall at a North American Challenge event in North Vancouver. Skill plus luck equals knockout. Hollywood couldn’t have choreographed it better.

This vignette was produced by The Fight Network in conjunction with Toronto’s annual LGBT Pride festivities. A great concept with mediocre execution, and the two “hosts” are terribly unfunny.