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Pre-Happy Hour Links
by David St. Martin on Jul 30, 2010 4:12 PM EDT
0 comments
No one likes that last hour of work on Friday. It's easily the longest hour in the week as we all collectively count down the minutes until we can go to our local watering hole for a couple pints of beer.
Thankfully WKR has the perfect remedy for this "dead zone" hour -- a link dump. Check out the following articles from around the web and that hour will fly by in no time at all
- Japanese Shane Carwin looks surprisingly like the real Shane Carwin- MiddleEasy
- Forrest Griffin Ready To Begin Nine Day Book Tour- Heavy
- Joe Soto vs. Joe Warren featherweight title fight set for Bellator 27- Five Ounces of Pain
- Phil Baroni: ‘I Want To Be The Biggest Comeback Story Ever - A Cinderella Man'- MMA Convert
- FIGHT! Life: Dan Hardy - Daley & Koscheck (VIDEO)- FIGHT! Magazine
- Aleksander Emelianenko Reaches Verbal Agreement with KSW, May Fight Mariusz Pudzianowski- MMA Scraps
- CagePotato Comments of the Week: Blockhead Chuck, Boring Jake- CagePotato
- Jon Jones May Not Have Asked for the Hype, but He's Stuck with It- MMA Fighting
- Mike Swick explains the dangers in cutting weight- Low Kick
- Dana White comments on the buzz growing around Jon Jones what he's looking for Sunday- Versus
UFC On Versus 2: Yushin Okami Vs. Mark Munoz
by David St. Martin on Jul 30, 2010 3:24 PM EDT
4 comments
While much of the limelight seems to be glaring down on Sunday's main event between Jon Jones and Vladimir Matyushenko, a fight that could help shape the middleweight division will be taking place just prior to it. Both coming off impressive wins over not so impressive opponents, Okami and Munoz are each taking a step up in competition to climb another rung in the ladder closer to the 185lb strap.
In Munoz, we have a phenomenal wrestler and D1 national champion. A ground and pound expert, Munoz has made no secret of his gameplan for Sunday night. Speaking with The Examiner's Dennis Guillermo, Munoz preached- "I'm going to take him down and pound him out." I don't want to say Munoz is a one trick pony just yet, but having the same gameplan against every opponent regardless of their tendencies sends a shiver down my spine. Make no mistake, Munoz has a chance to win this fight, but with so much hinging on his ability to take Okami down and control him, I just don't think Munoz has the depth necessary to beat a crafty veteran like Yushin just yet.
Update: UFC suing MMA agent Ken Pavia and promotion Bellator for "theft of trade secrets"
by Black Lesnar on Jul 30, 2010 8:31 AM EDT
in News
10 comments
UFC holding company Zuffa Inc. filed suit in Clark County against noted MMA agent Ken Pavia and small-time promotion Bellator for sharing of confidential UFC contracts and theft of business practices.
Pavia is the oft-embroiled in scandal agent of such big name MMA stars as Brett "The Grim" Rogers, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, War Machine and Phil "NYBA" Baroni while Bellator is a young, upstart MMA organization that focuses of weekly episodes and tournaments that is now available on Fox Sports Net.
According to the suit, filed Wednesday in Clark County District Court, Pavia delivered confidential contracts, including fighter agreements, to Bellator after being asked to do so in a July 4 email to him from Bellator founder Bjorn Rebney...
.....
An email which Zuffa’s lawsuit alleges is from Rebney to Pavia on July 4 was attached as an exhibit to the 16-page suit. In it, Rebney writes, " … You’ve been great about sending us ‘All’ of the seminal docs from the UFC, so that we can re-do them and implement them for Bellator."
Later, the email Zuffa alleges to have been written by Rebney continues, "Please list each in terms of what it is for and how the UFC uses them/implements them. … Then I’m going to have our team Monday re-type them and we will sufficiently alter them such that they will appear to be ours and noAst theirs."
The response that is purported to have come from Pavia is brief and says, in its entirety, "Still I (sic) vegas. May take 24 hours to organize as some forms go to the guys in my office."
Pavia was in Las Vegas for UFC 116 on July 3 and the alleged email is dated July 4. The email addresses that are in the emails Zuffa included are the email addresses for Rebney and Pavia.
Also according to Iole, there are other persons and corporations named in the suit by Zuffa as also engaging in breach of contract. Specifically "The improper disclosure of Zuffa’s operations documents and confidential information by Pavia, MMA Agents, and the Doe [unnamed persons] and Roe [unnamed corporations] Defendants constitutes a distinct act of dominion wrongfully exerted over Zuffa’s personal property."
USAT/SBN July 2010 MMA Consensus Rankings
by David St. Martin on Jul 29, 2010 12:01 PM EDT
0 comments
The July USA TODAY/Sports Blog Nation MMA Consensus Rankings are now live. Be sure and pick up a hard copy of USA TODAY to see them in print today.
The big movement was in the heavyweight division where Fedor Emelianenko fell from his long-time perch at the top.
Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it's still useful and informative to know who the MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA sources to produce our consensus rankings. We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter's total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.
War Machine speaks from behind cell walls; paints not so bleak picture
by Black Lesnar on Jul 29, 2010 9:08 AM EDT
in Weighing In
35 comments
War Machine weighs in on prison, racial politics, and defending himself while inside prison.
http://twitter.com/WarMachine170
What's up guys!? I'm gonna do a weekly blog for this year while I'm locked up. Just want to keep y'all posted and give you some insight on what it's like here for me. When I first got here I was told I was gonna be kept in segregation to pretect myself since I'm a "celebrity." I told them NO WAY! 23 hours a day lockdown? FUCK THAT! So they stuck me in the "mainline." They classified me a 5 on a scale 1-6 so I'm with the big dogs. Everyone here has been to prison. Few guys in my unit are murderers waiting to be shipped out to prison for life. Funny, kinda odd, but they are the most friendly of the bunch... Most intelligent too. Hardest thing about this place is finding people you can have a decent conversation with.
So when you first get here you learn the rules, jail politics. You got the Whites, the Mexicans, and the Blacks + others. Whites and Mex share tables for recreation but you only eat show at your designated race's table. You never sit at the Blacks table and vice-versa, but you can talk to them here in County Jail. If a Mex or White fights a Black, all the Mex and Whites are required to jump in. One on one fights are only allowed against your own race and take place in an empty cell. I think it's dumb. I'm not trying to fight anyone and can care less abotu who fights who. I hope no big rumbles happen... I can't afford more trouble. Buttt if you don't help, you get jumped afterwards. Maybe I'll just throw body shots and leg kicks so I don't hurt anyone... Anyway so far all is well.
I'm bored a lot, just been reading and working out to stay busy. All the guys here are cool to me, I get a lot of questions about fighting. Seems everyone wants to learn some "moves." I wish we could train here, would make it way more fun... lol. So yeah, anyway I don't see anyone fucking with ME... Only way BS goes down is if I get drug into someone elses lame drama. Well that is that! Week 1 in a nut shell. Look forward to keeping you guys updated. Can't wait to get out and fight for all my fans again! Can't wait to open my gym in Austin! Thanks for standing by me. If you go to sdsheriff.net you can e-mail me. Booking # 10754342 Jon Koppenhaver.-WM
Doesn't sound too bad now does it? Here's hoping he doesn't get beat up in prison and can grow from the experience into a better human being. Who am I kidding?
Shane Carwin's management runs afoul the SEC
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 28, 2010 9:05 PM EDT
in News
10 comments
(Whether you're wearing a suit or a Hooters t-shirt, that's just never fun.)
In a story covered by our very own Zak Woods in December of last year, Jason Genet - relevant to us Internet MMA fans as the manager of UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin (and, apparently, other prominent fighters including Efrain Escudero and Benson Henderson) - has, according to Josh Gross' Twitter, is in some serious shit with the Security and Exchanges Commission, whom today ruled against him to the tune of millions of dollars in relation to his involvement with a company called China Energy.
Of course, my initial reaction to the news of his fines was "how much does he get to keep?" As anyone that followed the rash of corrupt accounting practices-related collapses at the turn of the decade (Enron, MCI, Global Crossing, etc) already knows, jail time for big-time embezzlers amounts to a job unless the money is returned. Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco International, is currently serving an eight year (maximum of 25) sentence for improperly receiving and spending over $100 million in company funds, culminating in one of the greatest paragraphs in Wikipedia:
Tyco paid $1 million (half of the $2 million bill) for the 40th birthday party of Kozlowski's second wife, Karen M. Kozlowski. The extravagant party, held on the Italian island of Sardinia, featured an ice sculpture of the Statue of David urinating Stolichnaya vodka . This birthday bash was disguised as a shareholder meeting in order to get corporate funding.
Emphasis (unnecessarily) added - suffice it to say, however, that Kozlowski, found guilty of grand larceny in criminal court, was not compelled to pay back any of the Michelangelo-ice penis money. It makes for an interesting question - would you do a decade in the pen (state, not federal) for eight or nine digits? Unfortunately, according to Josh's tweet (Christ, I hate how that's become a noun), Genet will not only have to pay back his alleged profit (a cool $1.7 million), but $130,000 in penalties and almost $700,000 in interest. That's a shitty loan, but then again, he appears to have defrauded the people he borrowed it from, so I won't be shedding many tears over the finance charges.
What does this mean for Shane Carwin and his business relationship with Zuffa? Will Carwin stick by his manager, or look elsewhere for someone to represent him when contract time comes around? Does this news shed any light on the rumors and innuendo that surrounded Shane's finances before UFC 116? Only time will tell - until then, everyone that profits off of bilking others, using gullibility for profit and trading fake, invisible things for money can suck eggs. Original text of the complaint (and the chance to welcome me to WKR!) after the jump.
10 comments | 1 recs |
James Toney does live chat, hilarity ensues
by David St. Martin on Jul 28, 2010 4:27 PM EDT
12 comments
James Toney took some time out of his busy schedule to continue his masterful hyping of his upcoming fight with Randy Couture. MMA Fighting's Michael David Smith got Toney in for an in-studio live chat, and it was pretty much what I thought it would be. Toney should lease out his ability to trash talk.
some highlight from SB Nation-
If you win does that prove boxing is better than mixed martial arts?
James Toney: No doubt. It's already known that boxing is better than MMA but I'll prove that and that James Toney is the best fighter no matter if it's boxing or MMA.
what will happen when randy takes you down???
James Toney: If Randy takes me to the ground he's going to have to worry. I'm not the one who's worried about that. I guarantee you, Randy is worried. I'm not losing sleep on Randy Couture but I guarantee when he goes to sleep, he's thinking about me.
Hey James, how many fights did you have on your UFC contract?
James Toney: I'm the heavyweight champion of the IBA so why can't I be the UFC heavyweight champion?
How high do you rate Randy's striking?
James Toney: He's pretty good for a girl.
James Toney: He's got the balls to fight me but there's no MMA fighter who has the balls to trade punches with me. If they do it's suicide.
Female kickboxer dies the day after muay thai fight
by David St. Martin on Jul 28, 2010 1:12 PM EDT
0 comments
Coming off the heels of another unfortunate death of MMA fighter Michael Kirkman following his professional debut.
Sad news today via the Orlando Sentinel. Adrienne Simmons, a 30-year-old female kickboxer, died Monday afternoon after taking part in a competition over the weekend. The Atlanta native was competing in Florida for an event sponsored by the International Kickboxing Federation. Simmons took a devastating left hook to the head during the third and final round of her fight, and was immediately treated by an IKF doctor.
According to the Sentinel-
"Simmons had been fighting Lindsay Scheer in a Muay Thai match. When Simmons fell, a referee ended the bout immediately, and doctors sitting ringside attended to her right away. After she sat up and spoke, medical personnel took her away from the ring. Shortly after that, he and Scheer learned that Simmons had been airlifted to the hospital."
The IKF did not immediately comment on the incident, but headgear is required in IKF competition.
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