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Semmy Schilt (left) in action against Jerome Le Banner.


K-1 2006 World GP Finals
December 2nd, 2006
Tokyo Dome
Tokyo, Japan


Single matchups:
Badr Hari defeats Paul Slowinski by unanimous decision.
Ray Sefo defeats Melvin Manhoef by KO at 0:40, RD 1.
Peter Aerts defeats Musashi by KO at 2:53, RD 1.
Hiraku Hori defeats Kyoung Suk Kim by unanimous decision.
Junichi Sawayashiki defeats Mitsugu Noda by split decision.
Takumi Sato defeats Tsutomu Takahagi by KO at 2:47, RD 2.



K-1 2006 World GP quarterfinals:
Remy Bonjasky defeats Stefan Leko by unanimous decision.
Glaube Feitosa defeats Ruslan Karaev by KO at 1:11, RD 1.
Ernesto Hoost defeats Chalid Arrab by unanimous decision.
Semmy Schilt defeats Jerome Le Banner by unanimous decision.

Semifinals:
Peter Aerts* defeats Glaube Feitosa by TKO at 1:02, RD 2.
Semmy Schilt defeats Ernesto Hoost by unanimous decision.

Final:
Semmy Schilt defeats Peter Aerts by unanimous decision.



* Injury replacement for Remy Bonjasky

Roger Gracie (left) armbarring Ron Waterman.

Bodog Fight: 'USA vs. Russia'
December 2nd, 2006
The Agrodome
Vancouver, Canada


Todd Gouwenberg defeats Ron Faircloth by KO at 1:34, RD 1.
Eddie Alvarez defeats Aaron Riley by KO at 1:05, RD 1.
Roger Gracie defeats Ron Waterman by armbar at 3:38, RD 1.
Eric Pele defeats Antonio Silva by TKO at 2:40, RD 1.
Trevor Prangley defeats Andrei Semenov by unanimous decision.
Mario Rinaldi defeats Sergey Kaznovsky by unanimous decision.
Chael Sonnen defeats Alexey Oleinik by unanimous decision.
Tara Larosa defeats Julia Berezekova by armbar at 1:28, RD 2.
Nick Thompson defeats Ansar Chalangov by rear naked choke at 4:59, RD 1.
Vladimir Zenin defeats Nick Agallar by KO at 4:26, RD 1.
Erik Oganov defeats Keith Wisniewski by split decision.
Michael Patt defeats Martin Malkhasyan by split decision.
Rob Velek defeats Tim Smith by TKO at 0:35, RD 1.

Pancrase 2006 Blow Tour
December 2nd, 2006
Differ Ariake
Tokyo, Japan


Yuichi Nakanishi defeats Izuru Takeuchi by split decision.
Mu Bae Choi defeats Masayuki Kono by triangle choke at 1:36, RD 2.
Manabu Inoue defeats Kenji Shimada by unanimous decision.
Takuya Wada defeats Nao Yoshida by rear naked choke at 4:22, RD 1.
Tatsuya Mizuno defeats Yasuaki Miura by armlock at 1:47, RD 1.
Artur Oumakhanov defeats Yuji Miyazaki by TKO at 1:03, RD 1.
Shoji defeats Taku Aramaki by KO at 3:36, RD 1.
Koji Yoshimoto defeats Yuki Yamasawa by majority decision.
Yuichiro Shirai drew with Kenta Nakamura.

SHOOTO
December 2nd, 2006
Shinjuku FACE
Tokyo, Japan


Akitoshi Tamura defeats Akiyo Nishiura by unanimous decision.
Tetsu Suzuki defeats Jin Akimoto by unanimous decision.
Yuki Konishi defeats Taisuke Okuno by unanimous decision.
Masakazu Ueda defeats Teriyuki Matsumoto by triangle choke at 4:42, RD 1.
Shinya Murofushi defeats Hiroaki Takezawa by armbar at 2:36, RD 1.
Mitsuhiro Takeda defeats Atsushi Matsuki by TKO at 3:16, RD 2.
Takamaro Watari defeats Nobuhiro Hayakawa by unanimous decision.
Katsuya Murofushi defeats Hayato Sato by TKO at 2:59, RD 1.

Frank Trigg from his days as a male nude model.

Icon Sport: 'Mayhem vs. Trigg'
December 1st, 2006
Blaisdell Arena
Honolulu, Hawaii


Frank Trigg defeats Jason Miller by TKO at 2:53, RD 2.
Sidney Silva defeats Jay Jack by triangle choke at 2:30, RD 1.
Jeremy Williams defeats Ron Fields by TKO at 0:37, RD 2.
Mark Oshiro defeats Tyson Nam by TKO at 2:16, RD 1.
Marshall Harvest defeats Kyle Miyahana by unanimous decision.
Chris Cisneras defeats David Padilla by armbar at 1:16, RD 2.
Paul Gorman defeats Ikaika Silva by armbar at 2:10, RD 1.
Ron Verdadero defeats Kekoa Baker TKO at 1:36, RD 1.
Maui Wolfgram defeats Ben Fonoti by armbar at 2:43, RD 1.
Sadhu Bott defeats Lorenzo Moreno by unanimous decision.
Bronsen Pieper defeats Vinny Delos Santos by TKO at 2:00, RD 1.

Fedor Emelianenko

Sources inside the Bodog organization are saying that the promotion has signed Fedor Emelianenko to fight on its March 3rd card in St. Petersburg, Russia.

While a clause in Fedor's DSE/PRIDE contract does allow him to fight for another promotion so long as it's in his home country of Russia, these same sources say that Bodog intends to try and sign Fedor to a long term deal.

Fedor currently has one fight left on his DSE/PRIDE contract, and that bout will be against Mark Hunt on December 31st.

Pawel Nastula (left)

The Japanese media reports that former Olympic Judo gold medalist Pawel Nastula and his attorney issued a formal reply today to recent steroid allegations presented by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, suggesting that an over-the-counter supplement Nastula had been taking could have been contaminated with the illegal substance or one of its derivatives.

In a signed declaration obtained by The Fight Network, Nastula also stated that his written contract with DSE/PRIDE allows for the use of doping.

Nastula tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone, as well as the non-approved stimulants pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanoalmine following his PRIDE 32 fight against former steroid user Josh Barnett on October 21st in Las Vegas.

Gilbert Melendez

The Japanese media reports that the matchup of Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri will take place on the PRIDE card on December 31st.

HEAVYWEIGHT


1.) Fedor Emelianenko Russia
2.) Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic Croatia
3.) Josh Barnett USA
4.) Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira Brazil
5.) Mark Hunt New Zealand
6.) Fabricio Werdum Brazil
7.) Alexander Emelianenko Russia
8.) Sergei Kharitonov Russia
9.) Tim Sylvia USA
10.) Antonio Silva Brazil


LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT


1.) Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua Brazil
2.) Vanderlei Silva Brazil
3.) Ricardo Arona Brazil
4.) Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira Brazil
5.) Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson USA
6.) Chuck Liddell USA
7.) Alistair Overeem Holland
8.) Renato 'Babalu' Sobral Brazil
9.) Randy Couture USA
10.) Vitor Belfort Brazil


MIDDLEWEIGHT


1.) Paulo Filho Brazil
2.) Kazuo Misaki Japan
3.) Dan Henderson USA
4.) Kazushi Sakuraba Japan
5.) Anderson Silva Brazil
6.) Denis Kang Canada
7.) Murilo Bustamante Brazil
8.) Rich Franklin USA
9.) Matt Lindland USA
10.) Amar Suloev Russia


WELTERWEIGHT


1.) Georges St-Pierre Canada
2.) Matt Hughes USA
3.) B.J. Penn USA
4.) Diego Sanchez USA
5.) Karo Parisyan USA
6.) Sean Sherk USA
7.) Jake Shields USA
8.) Carlos Condit USA
9.) Shinya Aoki Japan
10.) Akira Kikuchi Japan


LIGHTWEIGHT


1.) Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro Brazil
2.) Mitsuhiro Ishida Japan
3.) Takanori Gomi Japan
4.) Marcus Aurelio Brazil
5.) Hayato Sakurai Japan
6.) Joachim Hansen Norway
7.) Tatsuya Kawajiri Japan
8.) Gesias Cavalcante Brazil
9.) Koutetsu Boku Japan
10.) Hermes Franca Brazil


FEATHERWEIGHT


1.) Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto Japan
2.) Gilbert Melendez USA
3.) Ivan Menjivar El Salvador
4.) Hideo Tokoro Japan
5.) Alexandre 'Pequeno' Nogueira Brazil
6.) Hatsu Hioki Japan
7.) Mark Hominick Canada
8.) Jeff Curran USA
9.) Tyson Griffin USA
10.) Jens Pulver USA



AFP fighter rankings can be viewed at AFP TOP 10

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

Delson "Pe de Chumbo" Heleno

Fury FC 2
November 30th, 2006
Tom Brasil
Sao Paulo, Brazil


Single matchups:
Delson 'Pe de Chumbo' Heleno defeats Daniel Acacio by unanimous decision.
Givanildo Santana submits Michele Verginelli by armbar at 4:20, RD 1.
Cristiano Marcello submits David Kaplan by triangle choke at 2:37, RD 2.
Rodrigo Ruiz submits Carlos Ramon by guillotine choke at 4:18, RD 1.
Fabricio Monteiro defeats Mauricio Amado by TKO at 4:40, RD 1.
Luis Arthur Banha defeats Joao Assis by TKO at 3:41, RD 1.
Mike Easton defeats Hudson Rocha by KO at 0:45, RD 2.



FURY FC 205-pound GP semifinals:
Thiago Silva defeats Claudio Godoy by TKO at 2:06, RD 1.
Vitor Vianna defeats Danilo Motosserra by unanimous decision.

Final:
Thiago Silva defeats Vitor Vianna by TKO at 1:50, RD 1.

Dana White (second from right), who was once a boxercize aerobics instructor, appearing to stare at the crotch of Diego Sanchez.

By Eddie Goldstein


There was never any doubt in the mind of most MMA fans that Mark Wahlberg aka 'Marky Mark' made a very wise move by turning down the lead role in the UFC movie that Zuffa wants to produce under their Insomina Entertainment banner.

The movie was originally going to be based on possibly the most boring MMA team to ever exist, Team Miletich, and was going to have the former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White on board as an executive producer. Mind you, White has no previous background in big business or movie producing.

Work with Martin Scorcese or Dana White? That was an obvious no-brainer for Wahlberg and anyone with half a brain, and so the UFC movie project was put on hold indefinitely by Zuffa.

Well, according to Hollywood.com, Zuffa seems to have begun this movie project again (without Marky Mark of course), and the working name for the movie is 'Flow with the Go'.

Yes, you read that right, "Flow with the Go". For newer fans who may not know, it is a homage to the phrase Rickson Gracie once said in his documentary movie, 'Choke'. Gracie had meant to say "Go with the Flow", but said it wrong as english is his second language. The phrase then became legendary on the MMA internet forums.

And so the master of unoriginality Dana White, who ironically does not like to see the same trait of unoriginality in others, is now using the phrase for the UFC movie. But wait, it gets better...

According to Hollywood.com, the synposis of the UFC movie will be as follows:


"A soldier returns from the Middle East wanting to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He slowly works his way up from bar fights, and backroom brawls until he reaches the UFC."


So now not only do we have an unoriginal working name for the movie, but the movie's plot seems just as unoriginal as well as generic.

Now don't get me wrong. I may not agree with the politics of it all, but I am as big a supporter of our soldiers as anyone you'll ever find. And not that there's anything wrong with trying to tap into the Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans demographic that Zuffa seems to want to tap into...

But in all honesty, did we really expect anything less from a company that bases itself on the sleezy Vegas strip and calls itself 'Zuffa'?

Unfortunately, I can only answer that question with a resounding 'No'.






Eddie Goldstein is a legendary underground journalist of boxing, pro-wrestling, and now MMA. His contributions to MMA can be found here exclusively at Fightsport.com from now on.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com

SHOOTO
November 30th, 2006
Kitazawa Town Hall
Tokyo, Japan


Hideki Kadowaki defeats Daisuke Ishizawa by unanimous decision.
Ryuichi Miki defeats Takuya Mori by majority decision.
Mamoru Ohkouchi defeats Hiroharu Matsufuji by TKO at 2:30, RD 2.
Masato Fujiwara defeats Shinobu Miura by split decision.
Ayumu Shioda defeats Takeshi Sato by unanimous decision.
Katsuhisa Akasaki defeats Kenji Hasoya by unanimous decision.
Noboru Tahara defeats Kenichi Sawada by TKO at 4:57, RD 2.
Hiroyuki Abe defeats Hiroyuki Ikeda by rear naked choke at 3:56, RD 2.

KOTC: 'Amplified'
November 26th, 2006
Edmonton, Canada


Ruben Villareal defeats Wade Hamilton by TKO 1 3:15
Jason Day defeats Ricardeau Francois by guillotine choke at 1:21, RD 1.
Elmer Waterhen defeats Jacob McDonald by unanimous decision.
Sarah Kaufman defeats Misty Shearer by TKO at 5:00, RD 2.
Danny Valimaki defeats Daniel Miller by unanimous decision.
Jesse Lessard defeats Michael Jerace by unanimous decision.
Tim Hague defeats Jared Kilkenny by TKO at 0:31, RD 2.
Jason Volpe defeats Leno Santoro by TKO at 0:42, RD 3.
Justin Tavernini defeats David Mah by choke at 2:14, RD 2.
Victor Backman defeats John Cooper by TKO at 1:22, RD 3.
Ryan Heck defeats Paul Weber by rear naked choke at 1:30, RD 1.
Christian Smith defeats Jeff Entwhistle by TKO at 1:45, RD 3.

Maurice Smith

The IFL announced the matchup of Maurice Smith vs. Marco Ruas for their card on March 17th at the Los Angeles Forum.

The IFL announced the following:


"NEW YORK, November 29, 2006 - International Fight League, Inc. (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world's first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, today reached another milestone in its early history, becoming one of a handful of professional sports entities to be traded as a public company. Effective today, the IFL begins trading on the over the counter bulletin board under the symbol "IFLI".

"This is a landmark day for all fight sports, ranging from Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to professional boxing," said IFL CEO Gareb Shamus. "As a publicly traded sports entity, the IFL will be able to help the sport grow beyond its current boundaries and move into the mainstream with both fans and business partners. MMA has seen some significant growth in the last few years, from the emergence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on Spike TV to increasing ratings and attendance numbers, and we expect our model to add to that success in this new expanded international sports marketplace."

"For a long time, champions of the sport like Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Renzo Gracie, Matt Lindland, Bas Rutten, Antonio Inoki and Pat Miletich have never been able to achieve the renown in the mainstream that they have long sought," said IFL Commissioner Kurt Otto. "By becoming a public company and having them part of the IFL, we feel that not only these legends, but the next wave of athletes, will get more of what they work for and deserve in terms of recognition. It's a great day for all fans, business partners and competitors in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts."

The IFL, which began less than eight months ago with the IFL "Legends Championship" at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey has already experienced success on every level. Early developments have included:

* A deal with Fox Sports Net (FSN) to cover the initial IFL events that grew from three hours in the spring to 10 hours in the fall and pulled in millions of viewers.

* Initial business partners such as Microsoft's XBox, Suzuki, Dale and Thomas Popcorn, Coca Cola's Vault brand and Sandal's Resorts.

* Attendance at events in Atlantic City, Portland, Oregon and Moline, Illinois exceeded original projections.

* The attendance at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut for the "World Team Championship" final on Friday December 29 is also expected to be near-capacity.

The League will very soon announce its 11 date schedule for its 2007 regular season, and will begin 2007 with a 12 team field representing 10 United States cities (including four teams in California, two in Illinois and others) Toronto, Ontario and Tokyo, Japan. The League plans further expansion to include additional teams from around the globe.

Each of the nine regular season IFL events will consist of four teams - each with an athlete in all five weight classes competing - along with a special Superfight, for a minimum of 11 bouts per card. The team that wins the best three of five match setup will be declared the team winner for the match, similar to collegiate and high school wrestling meets. The IFL also differs from other MMA organizations in that the bouts are held in an oversized five rope boxing ring with three four minute rounds, each designed to create the most compelling in-arena experience for local fans.

All events will be subject to the rules and approval of the applicable state athletic commission. The scoring system is similar to professional boxing as well. However, in the event of a draw, a fourth round will take place to decide a winner.

The four IFL regular season teams with the best records will move on to the IFL semi-finals expected to be in early August, 2007, with the first IFL Team Champion expected to be crowned in mid-September, 2007.

After receiving the requisite shareholder approval at Monday's special meeting of Paligent, Inc. (OTC.BB: PGNT) shareholders, the IFL completed its previously announced merger with Paligent, which was effective at 1:01 A.M. this morning. The merger became effective immediately after a 1-for-20 reverse stock split by Paligent. Immediately following the merger, Paligent changed its name to International Fight League, Inc. Shareholders of Paligent will continue to own their post-split shares, but will be entitled to receive new certificates representing the same number of IFL shares of common stock as the number of post-split Paligent shares they held, which will constitute approximately 5% of the outstanding stock of IFL. The holders of the pre-merger International Fight League, Inc. shares of common stock (including the converted Series A preferred stock) will be entitled to receive approximately 1.032373 shares of post-merger Paligent shares of common stock, which will constitute approximately 95% of the outstanding stock of IFL. Letters of transmittal will be sent to appropriate holders for them to receive their new shares.

Once a Boxercise instructor, Dana White is now UFC president.

Courtesy of The Wrestling Observer:


"Nick Lembo of the New Jersey Athletic Control Board wrote a long letter to Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle regarding the factual errors in his story. He wrote that the rules the UFC guys say they invented were already sanctioned by New Jersey in 2000, and the prior owners of UFC had shows under those rules.

It will be interesting to see if the Chronicle prints a correction. Thus far, Lembo has written corrections to several major papers that have made the error and most have not corrected it. In fact one, after getting the letter, had the writer write another story and still repeated the mistakes."

According to Hollywood.com, Zuffa is resuming its plans to produce a UFC movie under its Insomnia Entertainment label. The name of the movie will be 'Flow with the Go'.

According to Hollywood.com, the synopsis for the movie is as follows:


"A soldier returns from the Middle East wanting to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He slowly works his way up from bar fights, and backroom brawls until he reaches the UFC."


The movie has no lead actor as of yet. Mark Wahlberg aka 'Marky Mark' was originally approached to play the lead, but he turned the offer down.

The former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White has been handed a position as an executive producer for the movie, even though he has no previous background in the movie industry or in big business. Below are the production credits for the 'Flow with the Go':


Director: John Herzfeld
Producer: Trent Othick
Executive Producer: Lorenzo Fertitta
Executive Producer: Frank Fertitta
Executive Producer: Dana White
Executive Producer: Tom Breitling

Renzo Gracie

'The Wrestling Observer' reports that Jay Dee Penn wants to sign the matchup of Frank Shamrock vs. Renzo Gracie for his premiere MMA show on Showtime, which is scheduled in February.

According to The Wrestling Observer, Penn and his group have picked up the remnants of 'The World Fighter' promotion, which folded when it did not receive a contract from Showtime.

Penn's 'Rumble on the Rock' promotion is now trying to sign a lot of the talent that was supposed to fight on The World Fighter show in January, and wants to schedule them for his February MMA show on Showtime, including the Shamrock/Gracie matchup.

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza

The Japanese media reports that BJJ world champion Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza will make his PRIDE debut in 2007. Jacare is expected to participate in the 185-pound division.

SHOOTO: 'GIG Central 11'
November 26th, 2006
Zepp Nagoya
Nagoya, Japan


Hatsu Hioki defeats Byon Sho Kim by TKO at 1:32, RD 1.
Yusei Shimokawa defeats Yasuhiro Akagi by unanimous decision.
Takahiro Kajita defeats Saburo Kawakatsu by TKO at 4:43, RD 1.
Akira Kibe defeats Takao Tamura by TKO at 4:32, RD 1.
Takeshi Okada defeats Kenya Kato by unanimous decision.
Daisuke Matsumoto defeats Kazuhiro Ito by unanimous decision.

Adrian Pang

GCM: 'Cage Force 1'
November 25th, 2006
Differ Ariake
Tokyo, Japan


Adrian Pang defeats Taiyo Nakahara by triangle choke at 2:00, RD 3.
Eiji Mitsuoka defeats Danilo Cardoso Sanolini by armbar at 1:23, RD 1.
Katsuya Inoue defeats Takefumi Hanai by TKO at 3:29, RD 2.
Takumi Nakayama drew with Wataru Takahashi.
Osami Shibuya defeats German Reyes by triangle choke at 2:51, RD 1.
Atsushi Yamamoto defeats So Tazawa by majority decision.
Mitsuhisa Sunabe defeats Roberto Matsumoto by TKO at 5:00, RD 1.
Yoshiyuki Yoshida defeats Asato Hashimoto by TKO at 0:35, RD 1.
Wataru Miki defeats Yoshinori Ikeda by unanimous decision.

PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara

DSE/PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara was recently interviewed by Japanese magazine Gong Kakutougi. Here's what Sakakibara had to say (translation by Akira S.):


Interviewer: Is there any special news for the show on December 31st?

Sakakibara: A special new face will come to PRIDE Shockwave. It will give ordinary people a big impact.

Interviewer: Is this decided?

Sakakibara: We are in final negotiations right now. How will be the opponent of Mirko Cro Cop.

Interviewer: What about plans for the future?

Sakakibara: I will reform PRIDE very much in the coming year. PRIDE Bushido was like a "toy box" for us. We had thought about various plans, and then it was born... And we made the lightweight and welterweight divisions. Fresh new talent and energy came from it, so PRIDE Bushido became a special event for the lightweight and welterweight divisions. But this separate system does not make sense now, so Bushido and the regular PRIDE show will be united in 2007. The regular PRIDE shows will now include heavyweight fighters like Fujita, and lightweight fighters such as Takanori Gomi.

Interviewer: So is PRIDE Bushido finished completely?

Sakakibara: "Bushido" will become the brand name for our regular PRIDE shows that take place in foreign countries. (USA is ordinary PRIDE number series) For example, if we do a PRIDE Bushido in China, then you may see Sanda fighters participate. If we do a PRIDE Bushido in Thailand, you may see Muay Thai fighters participate. And in our world tour, we hope to have Mike Tyson participate.

Interviewer: What about the PRIDE GP series?

Sakakibara: We plan to stage the PRIDE GP every four years, for each weight class, like the Olympics. In 2007 only one weightclass GP will be held. All other "number series" in the regular PRIDE shows will include a title fight. Basically, in every regular event a title fight will take place.

Interviewer: PRIDE will celebrate its 10th year anniversary next year. You have made one decade!!

Sakakibara: Yes, this anniversary show will be in 2007 in the February event in the USA. Vanderlei Silva will do a title fight on the card, and fights in four weight classes will be featured.

Interviewer: If every event has a title fight, will you need to make new weight classes?

Sakakibara: MMA in the USA has a super heavyweight class, and it is also possible to make a featherweight class. But it is not necessary at this time. We will discuss these options step-by-step.

Once a Boxercise instructor, Dana White is now UFC president.

By Eddie Goldstein


The other day I was reading an article in the L.A. Times on how Showtime plans to get involved in MMA, when I happened to see some 'funny' comments by the former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White.

In the article, Showtime basically said that even though they would not interfere with the current contracts of UFC fighters, that 'the game is now open'.

Former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White's reponse was to say that Showtime's involvement in MMA is 'funny'. Dana went on to say the following:


"I talked to Showtime five years ago and they hated it. It's always driven me crazy how people in the TV business are so unoriginal, and when something is hot they all try to jump in... Based on UFC's success, get ready for a million more washed-up boxing promoters and unoriginal TV networks to try and jump on board." -Former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White


Now, a few things really struck me regarding White's comments. Let's take a look at them, point-by-point:


1.) "It's always driven me crazy how people in the TV business are so unoriginal" -Former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White

Let's take a closer look at this statement, shall we? First off, this is the same former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White that originally (no pun intended) went on record to say he hated the idea of a reality series, when fans on the internet first proposed the idea to him. There would've never even been a UFC reality series if it weren't for the fact his bosses stepped in to make the deal, against Dana's wishes.

So they finally do the reality show, unoriginally riding the wave of the reality series phenomenon that had already swept the nation. And to top it off, his reality show format is basically a rip-off of the Boxing reality series called 'The Contender'. And his made up grudge matches, where each fighter says that "this time it is personal", has already been done in the WWE forever. Yet now he wants to be a hypocrite? Go figure.


2.) "when something is hot they all try to jump in..." -Former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White

Of course, in the world of the former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White it is perfectly fine to jump into the reality series phenomenon while it's hot. Let's go back even further... it's also perfectly fine for White to jump into the original UFC craze after its original owners, SEG, already made it a proven success. But in Dana's world, it is apparently not fine if anyone else does the same, especially when they try to jump into something he already tried to unoriginally jump into.

In this journalist's humble opinion, it is just another in a long line of examples where Dana White's bitterness and envy shines through, as if he were transparent. But wait, it gets even better...


3.) "Based on UFC's success, get ready for a million more washed up boxing promoters and unoriginal TV networks to try and jump on board." -Former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White

That was really the most comical of his quotes. The former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White attacking 'washed up' boxing promoters?? How quickly Dana forgets that he was a massive failure as a boxer, boxing coach, and boxing promoter.

But the best part is that in saying that washed up boxing promoters will now jump on the MMA bandwagon, Dana White unwittingly described how he himself got into the MMA business. We all now know the story of how the washed up wannabe boxing promoter (I say wannabe because he never even made a name for himself in pro boxing to even be considered 'washed up'. He was just a 'never was', in reality) moved back to Las Vegas to become a Boxercize instructor of all things.

And we all now know how Dana jumped on to the original MMA wave created by the original UFC owners, and how he basically hit the lottery when his billionaire classmate, Lorenzo Ferttita, decided to buy the UFC and make him the president of it.

And let's not forget that Dana actually got re-aquainted with his billionaire high school classmate because Ferttita's wife was taking one of White's boxercize classes.

But I digress... Dana White has always said he cares about the sport and its growth. That he wants to see all the fighters make big money. So if he cares so much about the sport and the fighters, why wouldn't he want more oppurtunities for them? Surely, big players such as Showtime will provide this, correct?

In my humble opinion, the former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White is basically bitter that people who are smarter then him and richer then his bosses are now coming into the MMA game.


4.) "I talked to Showtime five years ago and they hated it" -Former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White

They obviously did not hate it, as they are now "jumping in" to the MMA wave. In my humble opinion, they probably just didn't want anything to do with the former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White or the way the Ferttitas do business.

I remember when Dana said at the time of the Spike TV deal that he was personally against it, but that it was the best deal he could get and the Fertittas wanted it. Now he is claiming it was his idea all along. I guess time is the mother of all delusions.

Like I said, if the Fertitta's didn't get sick and tired of White's incompetant bumbling of the TV negotiations, there would be no UFC today. The former boxercize guy Dana White turned that deal down, and Spike had enough of trying to deal with his idiotic bullshit, until Lorenzo stepped in and put it back together. Now White thinks he is the reason for the UFC's current wave of success, when in fact it is succeeding in spite of Dana White and his bumbling ways.


So let's recap, what we have here is a former boxercize instructor who failed to realize his dream as a boxing promoter. He wasn't even good enough to be 'washed up' in the pro boxing business, he was just a 'never was'. He then unoriginally jumps on the original MMA wave created by the original owners of the UFC. He then unoriginally jumps on to the reality TV wave, and seemingly copies the format of 'The Contender' boxing reality show already in existence and adds elements from WWE pro wrestling.

And yet he now wants to criticize anyone else who he percieves as doing the same thing he did?

Welcome to the world of a former boxercize instructor who was a failure at everything he did in life until a billionaire decided to walk into his class one day.

Thank God for the free market economy. Thank God for Showtime.






Eddie Goldstein is a legendary underground journalist of boxing, pro-wrestling, and now MMA. His contributions to MMA can be found here exclusively at Fightsport.com from now on.

Discuss this at Fightsport.com