Baroni/Shamrock press conference one for the ages
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The UFC wasn’t the only MMA promotion to conduct a conference call today to promote a pay-per-view. EliteXC and Strikeforce hosted a conference to promote their upcoming PPV on June 22 at 10 p.m. ET from San Jose featuring Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni for the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title.
Shamrock and Baroni were the stars of the show with Baroni putting on one of the most entertaining performances during a conference call that I’ve ever heard. EliteXC usually sends transcripts of their conference calls and if I get it, I’ll post it here.
Baroni may have set a World record for expletives used. I mean, I can’t remember hearing so much swearing. At one point he also told a reporter to hold on while being asked a question and Baroni asked someone in the background to bring him another beer and empty his ashtray. Later on, and I’m not making this up, Baroni could be heard urinating while on the conference call.
In addition to the antics, Phil said that Shamrock has been inactive over the past 7-8 years because the money in MMA wasn’t that big until recently and that the only reason why Shamrock has come back is for the money.
Baroni also indicated that he has an open invitation to return to the UFC anytime he wants. He basically said that he only wants to go back if he can secure a title shot. According to Baroni, Dana White has promised him that if he knocks out Shamrock that he will get a shot at the UFC middleweight title.
Frank said some interesting things as well. He claimed that Renzo Gracie took the easy way out in their fight back in February during EliteXC’s debut card. He claimed Renzo knew there was no way he was going to win and that he saw his chance to get out and took it. Shamrock didn’t feel he even really hit Gracie that hard with the knees that were deemed illegal.
Shamrock also said he has his next fights planned through 2009. I asked him about who he’d like to fight, specifically asking him if he wanted a rematch with Renzo and his adopted brother, Ken. Shamrock confirmed that both are matches he’d like to see made and I asked him if there had been any movement in talks with the match against Ken since the last time I interview him. He said he couldn’t comment in detail but that it’s on the table.
Another name Frank said he’d like to fight is a fighter already on the Strikeforce roster that will be fighting on the undercard June 23, Cung Le.
Can Forrest Griffin rebound at UFC 72?
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I just got finished listening to a UFC 72 conference call and it left me with some concerns about Forrest Griffin.
They’re is a saying that some knockouts can be so brutal that a fighter never truly recovers emotionally. Well, I don’t think Forrest is done as a fighter by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think his devestating loss to Keith Jardine at UFC 66 might have some lingering effects.
While Griffin has never be the type to come off as arrogant or overconfident and has always had a tendency to poke fun at himself, my feeling was that he might be questioning himself a little bit.
Remember the scene in Rocky III after Rocky got owned by Clubber Lang and Apollo Creed showed up at Mickey’s Gym out of nowhere? And Apollo kept telling Rocky that he needed to get back that “eye of the tiger?” Well, I think someone needs to have that talk with Forrest.
Griffin stated on more than one occasion that his biggest concern about his fight against Hector Ramirez was the possibility of getting knocked out. He even said at one point that after the Jardine fight he’s just not sure his chin is as solid as he tought it was.
I also asked Forrest about the reported re-occurence of staph infection in his knee and whether this bout had almost been called off. He didn’t address whether his fight with Ramirez was almost cancelled, but he did say the staph infection returned a second time and that he was on antibiotics for about a month.
Once he confirmed the return of the infection, I instantly had questions about his conditioning. I assumed he was going to tell me everything was going great and it hasn’t really affected him (because fighters only talk about injuries after a fight) but I asked him anyway. Forrest didn’t sound too confident in his cardio and quipped that he’s pretty sure being on antibiotics for a month didn’t do any favors for his conditioning. He also said that he felt the extensive travel for his fight could have an adverse effect on his cardio.
Maybe I am reading too much into things (something I have a tendency to do), but Forrest did not sound like a fighter who is going into UFC 72 expecting to win. My impressions of Hector Ramirez were the exact opposite. Ramirez sounded confident and hungry. He acknowledged that Forrest is a tough guy who can throw fists, but he seemed excited about that prospect, as if he was looking forward to a potential brawl.
Based on all the talk, I just get the sinking feeling we might see another upset in MMA.
Then again, talk is cheap.
Tommy Morrison to step into the cage this Saturday
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Tommy Morrison, a former WBO boxing heavyweight champion, will make his mixed martial arts debut Saturday at World Fighting Championship in Camp Verde, Arizona.
He is scheduled to face the 340-pound John Stover, who is being billed as having 8 professional MMA fights.
Morrison, who has zero mixed martial arts training, is calling this fight a one-time thing to help out his advisor Peter McKinn and to earn some extra money along the way.
Morrison left boxing in 1995 after receiving a positive HIV test. Earlier this year, Morrison was able to prove that the positive test was false and was approved of a boxing license by the West Virginia Athletic Commission. He officially returned to the boxing ring on February 22 by scoring a second-round knockout over John Castle.
Q&A with Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championships
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Dana White, 37, is largely credited with helping turn Ultimate Fighting Championships from a farce into a force in the world of mixed martial arts. As UFC president, White has overseen staggering growth in the public consciousness and helped UFC stake a larger claim in the pay-per-view market than WWE or boxing last year. As it goes more mainstream -- UFC was featured on recent covers of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine -- White has ideas about how it can grow even bigger. He talked about a wide range of topics recently with the Star Tribune.
Rampage wins title, Liddell still garners attention
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Hours after UFC 71, I posted at Sprawl ‘n Brawl the reasons why Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson is good for the UFC. To summarize, he is naturally marketable. Every interview he does is humorous. And as many have pointed out, he appeals to an African-American market that UFC has yet to tap into.
With all that being said, who has the UFC decided to put over?
Chuck Liddell.
Read on…
From a Q&A session with Dana White in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Q Chuck Liddell is among the most recognizable UFC fighters. What impact does his recent loss to Quinton Jackson have on UFC?
A It happens in this sport. Guys lose. Chuck is one of those fighters that’s going to bounce back. He’s a tough guy. … You never know who’s going to win. Chuck getting knocked out was the equivalent of Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson.
Excuse me? Buster Douglas? Surely, you’re not comparing ‘Rampage’ Jackson to Buster Douglas. Let’s be fair here. Buster Douglas was a 42-to-1 underdog. Didn’t you see the betting odds for the Rampage/Liddell fight? A 42-to-1 underdog Quinton Jackson was not. Not even close. This is an example of pushing the angle that the fight was a fluke victory for ‘Rampage’.
Not a single mention has been made of ‘Rampage’ in any of the interviews I have seen with Dana recently. Yet, he repeatedly mentions Chuck Liddell.
Most interesting are his comments yesterday on The Jim Rome Show. He says Chuck Liddell is one of the best, if not the best, mixed martial artists in the world. Dana mentioned that Liddell v. Silva would be the biggest fight in MMA history. I would have to argue that the 205 pound double-crown championship fight between Rampage and Dan Henderson could be considered the biggest fight in MMA history, depending on how you market it. White was also still shocked that Chuck got laid out. Apparently, Dana forgot what happened in Japan in 2003.
I don’t have anything against Chuck Liddell. I think he’s a great fighter and I love watching him fight. Chuck has done great things for the UFC and helped them get to where they are now, and I am sure Dana is appreciative. However, you have to roll with the punches and embrace your new champion.
You have a commodity that is waiting to be marketed in Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Market him correctly, and he can help you take UFC to a new level. If Jackson beats Henderson, you’ll have no choice but to market him — so you might as well get a head start.
C’mon, Dana. Like Rampage would say, “you know the bidness.”
Three IFL Athletes To Compete for USA Grappling Team Spots
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NEW YORK, June 7, 2007 - The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s number one team-based professional mixed martial arts league, will have three athletes competing this weekend at the USA Wrestling Grappling World Team Trials at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, with the winners going on to the Wrestling World Games in Antalya, Turkey in September. The trio, New York Pitbulls heavyweight Bryan Vetell (Hempstead, N.Y.), Portland Wolfpack middleweight Matt Horwich (Portland, Ore.) and Wolfpack assistant coach Dennis Hallman (Yelm, Wash.), all won qualifying events to reach this weekend’s competition.
WILL BARONI GET A UFC TITLE SHOT?
In a conference call with the media today, Phil Baroni and Frank Shamrock fielded questions about their upcoming headline bout for Strikeforce. In the midst of the banter back and forth between the two, Baroni made a few comments about his future that caught a lot of attention.
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'HILLBILLY KID' SHINES IN OCTAGON
When Spencer Fisher was 15 years old, his foundation crumbled beneath his feet. Within the same calendar year, he lost his parents in separate tragedies – his father to a train accident, his mother to a brain aneurysm. Orphaned before he could legally drive, Fisher soon faced the possibility of being separated from his two sisters. His family was on the brink of collapse before his grandparents stepped in to pick up the pieces.
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ULTIMATE FIGHTER RATINGS SLIP IN WEEK 9
The ninth episode of The Ultimate Fighter 5 drew an overall rating of 1.2 on Thursday, May 31st. The previous week's episode, which was promoted around the street fight between show contestants Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas, drew a slightly higher 1.3 overall rating.
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Jason Black - Filling The Void
Usually the best news comes when you least
expect it. Jason Black, a seven year veteran of mixed martial arts, with 22 wins in 25 fights and a reputation among the hardcore followers of the sport as one of the most underrated fighters in the game, had given up waiting, had given up expecting that he was going to one day get that call to fight in the UFC.
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Josh Koscheck: The MySpace Bulletin Wasn’t from Me
A bulletin that showed up on the official MySpace profile of UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck — one that ripped into the UFC’s policy for paying fighters — was not actually posted by Koscheck.
That’s the word from the American Kickboxing Academy fighter, who posted a follow-up bulletin claiming his account was hacked.
The original posting can be found after the “Read the rest of this entry…” link below. It basically states that the UFC is making record revenues while failing to appropriately compensate its fighters. UFC president Dana White was the biggest target in the 400-word diatribe.
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Fedor to Call Brother's Fight Versus Yvel
To residents of St. Petersburg, Russia,the "Flying Dutchman" will take on a different meaning July 21 when the ship is the backdrop for an international field of mixed martial artists, including wild Dutch fighter Gilbert Yvel (Pictures) and Russian heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures).
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Report: Sims, Thomas off TUF 5 Finale and out of the UFC
Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas will never be allowed to fight in the UFC, reports Steve Sievert of Houston Chronicle's Brawl Sports.
"Not only are they not fighting in the finale, they'll never fight in the UFC. Spike wanted that fight. It ain't gonna happen," UFC President Dana White told Brawl Sports.
During the eighth episode of TUF 5, Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas broke into an impromptu fight in the backyard which ended when they shook hands and agreed to face each other like professional athletes in an Octagon.
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Parisyan: ‘I would love to fight Fitch’
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Here’s a snip from Parisyan:
“I would love to fight Fitch. I’ll fight anybody at 170. I took the Josh Burkman fight. He was ranked top 10 in the world. Anyone who’s top 10, I’ll fight. Even me beating Jon Fitch, and I fight him and I beat him, I don’t gain anything. He’s a tough guy. I’m not underestimating Fitch. But still, I don’t gain anything beating Fitch, but I would fight Fitch. I want to fight for a title.”
Fitch will be in action less than one week from today against Roan Carneiro at UFC Fight Night 10 on June 12 at the Seminole Hotel Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. With a win in front of a national television audience on Spike television, it would no doubt do wonders for his name recognition among casual fans.
It would also help build an insane showdown between two top fighters at 170.
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