From Franklin McNeil's column on ESPN:

After repeated calls from ESPN.com, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation -- which oversees the State Boxing Commission -- said Thursday that it has opened a preliminary investigation into the matter.

"While the Department of Business and Professional Regulation doesn't have any reason to believe there was a problem with the Slice-Petruzelli fight, given the interest in it, the Department has begun a preliminary investigation to thoroughly review the circumstances of the fight," said Jennifer Meale, Communications Director for the DBPR.

Being honest I think nothing is going to come of this, especially considering that Jennifer Meale is already saying that they don't believe there was a problem with the fight.  Regardless, the investigation had to start at some point and as long as the DBPR is not just saying they're investigating without actually DOING IT something could very well turn something up.

Regardless all of the "will this hurt EliteXC?" talk is missing the big point.  ESPN is running multiple articles talking about the possibility of fight fixing on an EXC show.  The company is already hurt badly, regardless of if anything is turned up or not.

Following up on my earlier WAMMA story Pat Miletich (WAMMA President) contacted me and said to feel free to contact him with any questions about them and their mission.  I exhanged a few e-mails with him and the WAMMA COO Michael Lynch and I made the decision that what needed to happen was for the questions to come from our readers.  After all, every interview with WAMMA that I have read (my interview with them included) has been followed by a flood of comments that the interviewer didn't press the right issues or ask the right questions.

So it's your turn now.  If there is an aspect of WAMMA that you have a question about and want it asked of Pat Miletich and Michael Lynch and post it in the comments section.  No question is too tough.  It will depend on the volume of questions as to if I will have them answer everything or if I will only be able to pick the cream of the crop.

I'm going to lay out a few guidelines and other points of note:

1. Use your best judgement on what is appropriate.  That means "why do you suck?" is not a question worth submitting.
2. Refer to BloodyElbow's previous interview with WAMMA's CEO and COO and try not to duplicate questions.  If there is something you want them pushed more on, then ask it...but lets try to be original.
3. This is in no way an endorsement of WAMMA by BloodyElbow or myself.  This is about giving you, our loyal reader, the chance to get questions from people at the top of a very controversial body in the sport.

So let's get the questions flowing.  There is no excuse for not knowing something or blaming anyone for not asking the right questions.  It's all on you now...for once I have the easy job.

A hat tip to the Bronzeville Bully for posting a link and some details from Rob Maysey's blog on seeming contradictory behavior from WAMMA officials.  I had not yet read Rob's article on the history of sanctioning bodies and WAMMA's role in MMA until I saw Bully's fanpost.  While long-time readers of the site will no doubt recall that Mr. Maysey and I have not seen eye-to-eye in the past his work is very good on this subject, his facts are in order and we seem to be on the same page in regards to sanctioning bodies in MMA.

After reading the article I was left feeling a touch upset at the notion that Dave Szady (WAMMA CEO) and Mike Lynch (WAMMA COO) may have been lying directly to me with their statements that WAMMA would never seek a sanctioning fee from any fighter or promoter.  This is not something I take lightly and as such I have sent the following e-mail to Dave and Mike as they both said to contact them to address any rumors..etc:

Subject: Sanctioning Fees? From Brent Brookhouse of BloodyElbow.com

Michael and Dave,

I conducted an interview with you back in June for our website (BloodyElbow.com) and during that interview I asked you specifically if you would be charging sanctioning fees from either fighters or promotions in the future and you were both very steadfast in your response that this would never be the situation.  Rob Maysey of MMAFA.TV contacted you more recently to ask in more explicit language if WAMMA would be charging sanctioning fees of promotions or fighters and received yet again another strong response that this would never be the case.

However, as Maysey pointed out, the materials you provided to athletic commissions at the ABC Convention stated that you will "receive revenue from title sponsors, online portal subscriptions, sale of unique digital content, merchandising, and in the future sanctioning fees."

Obviously this does not fit with what you have told myself and my site's readers.  Speaking frankly this smacks of the kind of dishonest doubletalk that has made people question WAMMA's intentions from the start and harkens back to the boxing sanctioning body model that is so roundly dispised.  If you can, as you have both stated, say with 100% certainty that you will never charge fees from a promotion or fighter than that language had no reason to be included in the materials presented to athletic commissions and leaves a lot of answering for your organization to do to the fans of this sport.

It is my hope that there is some sort of misunderstanding here and that you were not just telling people what they wanted to hear until you gained the necessary foothold in the sport to begin charging fees. Our readers will be expecting a statement from your organization explaining this contradiction and I will be posting this e-mail exactly as it is sent to you on our site in the interest of full visibility for our readers on our communications.

Thank you,
Brent Brookhouse

The ball is in their court now, any lack of a response will be taken by myself to mean that they are indeed acting like children crossing their fingers under the table while making promises to our faces.

MMA fans don't want to be told what they want to hear...we all just want the truth.  Updates to come as I get them.

Update:  Dave Szady responded (twice) both presented without any editing:

Email #1:

Brent. We will NOT be charging sanctioning fees. Our revenue will come from our sponsors. We will NOT ask for a percentage of the fighters purse. This was also made clear in Canada during our presentation. The literature may have had wording that was being considered early on but dismissed as not a good option. Thankyou for your concern. We want to be totally transparent, above board and an organization of utmost integrity that can help to. Increase the legitimacy of mma and ensure its longevity

Email #2:

Brent. The literature will be corrected. Bottom line we do not charge and will not charge sanctioning fees. We do not and will not take a percentage of a fighter's purse. Thankyou for bringing this to our attention

Thoughts?

During the live results thread for last Saturday's EliteXC show I said the following prior to the main event:

Something about the way that Slice's entourage is having to hype him up so much before he comes out and his attitude when interviewed backstage just smacks of someone battling a degree of insecurity

This aspect of the mental game is something that gets overlooked by fans of the sport quite often.  You could see insecurity flowing from Kimbo when he was interviewed backstage about the change in opponent, it wasn't a "focus" as some have tried to pass it off, it was as though he knew that now that he was not going to be fighting a 44 year old who had lost 6 of his last 7 fights (all by KO or TKO) he was in a world of trouble.  Seeing that kind of attitude from a main event fighter who was being "given" a prelim fighter from a lower weight class was surprising to say the least.

Now tonight on The Ultimate Fighter we saw Shane and Junie join the ranks of young fighters whose insecurities were magnified by a combination of alcohol and TV cameras.  Chris Leben, Jesse Taylor, War Machine...the list of "kids" who were on TUF and had maturity issues exposed is so long that it has reached the point of troubling.

What needs to be understood is that athletes face a lot of pressure, but combat athletes are in a situation different from most other sports where the one-on-one, completely me-against-you environment where their flaws are out there for all the world to see.  When someone is not mature and not comfortable with who they are this kind of "you and only you with no excuses" sport can (and often does) absolutely wreck their mind.

I really enjoy TUF, moreso at this point than most other writers and readers of this site I'm sure.  But right now the show is more about watching insecure kids have trainwreck meltdowns as they drink themselves into oblivion than anything else.  If Dana White is serious about the development of these young fighters he needs to take the basic step of having a sports psychologist brought onto the show and having regular meetings (OFF-CAMERA) with the fighters to help them learn to cope with the pressures of the sport and the stress of being on a TV show, in a house with 15 other men who want to fight you and cut off from the real world with limited activities beyond getting shitfaced.

Until Dana takes the step to advance these kids as people rather than just fighters the show will remain a transparent attempt to create "compelling television" by throwing young men into a house with a never ending flow of booze so that he can eventually come in, call them "retards" (a potential PR disaster for any other "company president" in the world, mind you) and question their manhood and mental toughness.  This questioning of the fighters heart and manhood by the man they are most trying to impress is not helpful...it is, in fact, the most damaging thing that these troubled young men can hear after an emotional meltdown.

The show has advanced past the point in the early seasons where I said "I expect more of these fighters" to the point where I simply expect more out of the UFC.  It is far past time for the company to take all available efforts to help turn boys into men outside of the cage so they are able to do the same in it.

The early overnight numbers are in...and they're not exactly great:

Kimbo Slice got back in the ring last night for CBS’s EliteXC Saturday Night Fights and got pounded in the ring, losing to Seth Petruzelli in 15 seconds, and to Fox’s America’s Most Wanted in the ratings by 1.62 million viewers and 0.2 adults 18-49 demo ratings points. That’s exactly the same overnight viewership for Kimbo Slice from his bout on May 31, and just a tick down from the demo, but America’s Most Wanted was even stronger than it was on May 31.

...

9:00pm   FOX   America's Most Wanted                5.92     2.0/7

                 CBS  EliteXC Saturday Night Fights      4.30    1.8/6

The first set of numbers is the Viewers Live and Same Day with the second set being the 18-49 rating and share.  So EXC got blown away pretty heavilly by AMW last night, they lost their hyped main event and then Kimbo got KO'ed by a "no name" replacement 205 pounder.

Not exactly a good night for the promotion which is a shame considering everything below the main event made for a very solid show.

Update:  I should say that CBS executives are claiming to be very pleased with the ratings.  My main point is that the ratings didn't go up beyond what they pulled the first show.  I'm not seeing an upward trend in the ratings that I would expect from a "growing sport."  I'm still amazed that AMW would pull numbers like that though.

I understand that the majority of response to Kimbo's brutal loss around these parts has been joy and cries of "I told you so."  However, from a business standpoint EXC is left in an awkward spot.  They put a huge percentage of their marketing into the Kevin Ferguson hype machine only to see him put on a dissapointing, exposing performance against James Thompson and then getting KO'ed in 14 seconds against a light heavyweight.

From a business standpoint it is difficult to see any way that EXC can write Kimbo off or relegate him to the undercard.  It was clear that even after getting KO'ed that he was getting a very positive reaction from the crowd while Petruzelli was getting booed.  Ferguson remains EXC's biggest star unless they manage to sign Tito Ortiz (which I don't believe will ever happen).

The way I see it EliteXC has to keep Ferguson at the top part of their card and they have three ways to handle his next fight:

1) Brett Rogers - This is the option that EXC takes if they want to transfer Kimbo's hype on to someone else.  It also means the official end of the Slice gravy train because I don't see any way he doesn't lose to Rogers and a second straight loss takes away any mystique Kimbo has left.  Rogers, however, is extremely marketable and has a legitimate chance of becoming a champion in the promotion (provided it survives that long).  All that being said, I don't think they're ready to write off Slice.

2) Seth Petruzelli - This is a very risky option as Petruzelli isn't really a top level guy, maybe he could seem as such in EXC's 205 division but he just isn't a top guy anywhere else.  The obvious upside here would be a Kimbo win allowing them to blow the loss off as a case of a guy being put off his game by a last minute change.  But the risk is just too great, a second loss to Petruzelli would ruin Kimbo more than anything else I can think of.

3) Ken Shamrock - I think this is the direction they must go with this.  It is as close to a guaranteed highlight reel KO for Slice as anything, and it would be against a big name opponent.  There is also a storyline to build off of.  Also, the matchup doesn't look quite as grotesque after the Kimbo loss.  It's still transparent matchmaking, but at least it is now a very much needed type of transparent matchmaking.

Whatever the decision is, there is a desperate need for a Kimbo win for EXC to be able to continue delivering ratings.  Their show yesterday was very good, but the only person on their roster aside from Kimbo who can draw reliable money is Gina Carano.  As much as much of the MMA community would like to see Kevin Ferguson go back to fighting in backyards, EXC needs him and they need him with the aura that made him must-see TV.

 Make sure to join me here tonight as I provide live updates and thoughts on the EliteXC: Heat show on CBS.  I'll be taking you through the evening starting with the start of the broadcast at 9:00pm ET.

Kimbo, Shamrock, Gina, Arlovski...it's sure to be an interesting night so spend it here with us.

Update: As Chris Nelson pointed out it sounds like Tito Ortiz may be in the booth for at least one fight tonight:

"Right now EliteXC and myself are in great discussions for the future and working with each other," Ortiz said.

Ortiz made his first appearance in conjunction with EliteXC at Friday's weigh-ins. Although no formal announcement of his presence was made, a buzz quickly filled the room when the 33-year-old was spotted.

Ortiz said tonight's appearance may be far less under the radar.

"I'm here as a guest of EliteXC," Ortiz said. "I'm possibly going to be commentating a fight [tonight]. It's going to be exciting. I can't wait."

Yet another interesting possibility in an evening full of curiosities.

Update 2:  As we posted earlier Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock is officially off as Ken has managed to injure himself hours before the fight.  EXC reps are trying to replace Ken with Seth Petruzelli but Kimbo's people have yet to accept the replacement.  Rock and a hard place here as Seth stands about 1303% better chance of winning than Shamrock did...but if Kimbo doesn't end up taking the fight he looks like a bit of a punk in light of his "anyone, anywhere" talk and reputation.

Update 3:  MMARated is now reporting that Shamrock has left the building after an attempt to get him cleared by a second doctor.  It appears for sure that the main event is officially NOT Shamrock/Slice.  I haven't heard yet if they have locked Petruzelli in as a replacement.

Update 4: From MMARated:

Final Update: Kimbo Slice VS. Seth Petruzelli tonight. 100%

I'll go on record as picking Petruzelli by decision here.

The show is about to start.  Live results after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

Mike had a great article on Monday in regards to how the impact of high ticket prices and a steady stream of shows is "bleeding Vegas dry."  But it isn't just Vegas residents with aching pocketbooks.

We all know that the economy is in bad shape and if you've followed the news at all in the last week you know that the American taxpayers are very close to taking on a lot of added financial responsibility as we creep closer and closer to a 700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout.  Getting beyond the politics of the matter and down to what matters to this site, what does this mean for the UFC?

With the current state of the economy we heard a lot of talk about how luxuries are the first to go from Joe Taxpayer's budget.  Yet despite a housing crisis and severe devaluation of the dollar the UFC continues to pull solid live gates and do big PPV numbers.  But, as taxpayers are given additional financial strain eventually something has to give.  If things get worse eventually the entertainment dollars just won't be there and $50 monthly pay-per-view shows are just going to be too much for more and more people.

What would this mean for the UFC?  I assume that it would mean a stronger focus on getting their shows on network television where advertising revenue would somewhat offset the money they would then be failing to make off of PPV buys.  This could potentially turn a negetive situation for fans into a huge positive with more free cards, and would also allow the UFC to build up hype for broadcasts of a select few "elite events" on PPV (a Couture/Lesnar level event for example).  $50 every three or four months is much less painful to the bank accounts of Americans struggling to get by than $200 in that same timeframe.

Then again, we've seen the UFC and major networks go 'round the carousel more than once with no substantial results.  If the stubbornness of the UFC to give up some degree of their production leads to an inability to get on a network bigger than Spike and a continued expectation of fans to pour money into pay-per-view then it could turn out that the biggest threat to the UFC empire was never Elite XC or Affliction, it was the badly damaged United States economy.

Sherdog has up some comments from Frank Mir on Brock Lesnar.  Most revealing are his thoughts on what it was like to be in the cage (and underneath) Brock:

“He was more like getting hit by a car that’s moving very slowly and you can’t get out of the way,” says Mir. “It bumps and knocks you over and is just overwhelmingly powerful.”

Clinging to the underside of Lesnar’s hulking, 6-foot-3, 280-pound frame, Mir hadn’t realized he had gone for two armbars in the scuffle before transitioning to the fight-ending kneebar until he watched the tape later.

“I didn’t know where he was half the time,” he says. “It really felt like I was underwater and somebody was beating the s—-t out of me. I was just drowning under him.”

That fight was a battle of fight instincts where Mir was able to just use techniques pounded into him over years to eventually catch Lesnar in a mistake.  But for a guy like Mir to say that he felt so helpless for most of the fight is very revealing.  Size isn't the only factor in a fight but at 6'3" and over 240 lbs Mir is a large heavyweight and was left feeling like he was drowning.  Randy Couture is not a large heavyweight and while his moxy and solid strategy usually allows him to overcome the size issue he has had problems with large heavyweights with strong top games in the past.

Also Mir explains why he isn't upset over Lesnar getting such a high profile title fight:

“I can get why Brock Lesnar’s getting the fight,” he says. “It’s not like I think it absurd. If Brock Lesnar was fighting some bum off the street, it would be a main event card. That’s Brock Lesnar. If ‘Kimbo Slice’ came into the UFC tomorrow, he’s probably going to be above me. That’s just the way it is. It’s name recognition.”

In Lesnar, who’s demonstrated a strong work ethic since joining the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy for his training, Mir sees a respected peer, albeit one who needs more time to develop his skills in the cage.

“A guy like Brock Lesnar doesn’t upset me at all, says Mir. ”I think he has the potential to be a very legitimate martial artist. … So when I stretched out his leg and felt him tapping, I didn’t even try to extend it even further. But somebody like a ‘Kimbo’ or somebody like that who I don’t think respects the sport, like a ‘Krazy Horse,’ I don’t think they have a place in it. The referee couldn’t get to me fast enough.”

UPDATE:  Just a quick tip of the cap to Mythbuster who posted a fanpost on this that I somehow completely missed.  Read it here.

MMAFiend beat me to it in dropping a fanpost on Joe Rogan's response to Jim Rome's statement that Liddell should want no part of Anderson Silva.  Rogan's quote from the underground:

There's a real problem that I see in sports broadcasting where it's OK to be a [expletive] [expletive] head. We don't need that [expletive] in MMA. It's tough enough for these guys to take a loss like that, the last thing they need is some [expletive] head like Rome rubbing it in their face.

While I genuinely enjoy Joe Rogan (I even enjoy his rambling stand-up routines) he is coming across so poorly here.  The UFC brass are so desperate for mainstream media coverage, MMA fans are constantly whining that we don't get enough time on ESPN, and Joe Rogan himself spends time on end talking about how big the sport is getting.  But when MMA gets the same treatment on a show that EVERY OTHER MAINSTREAM SPORT gets suddenly we have to hold an opinion show host to a higher standard?

With the announcement of Couture/Lesnar we've seen the UFC get some air time on ESPN and this very site has seen a lot of comments stating that the sport needs, and hopefully will be getting, more coverage by the mainstream sports media (ESPN especially).  Suddenly just because Jim Rome does his usual shtick and takes a bit of an "edgy" position in telling Chuck that his best plan of attack isn't getting knocked out for the third time in five fights we're going to cry about fighter's feelings getting hurt?

I'm sure players from the Patriots were having a hard time dealing with the loss in the Super Bowl last season.  Were they given a pass in the media because everyone wanted to be careful not to hurt their feelings?  No.  They choked and were called on it.  Chuck Liddell receiving a mildly sharp comment on Rome Is Burning is nothing compared to Bill Buckner living through replay after replay of one error in an otherwise stellar career being shown as an example of a cursed franchise and spurring hatred from the fans toward him.

The sports media in theis country is rough and edgy is what sells.  If Joe Rogan, the UFC and its fans want more coverage they're going to have to deal with the fact that it isn't all going to be nicey nice and some people are probably going to get their feelings hurt.  If we want to be covered like any other sport by ESPN then don't cry and act like we somehow deserve better than the rest when the coverage comes.