Issue 096

December 2012

THAI MMA PROMOTION LAUNCHES GAMESHOW

Thailand-based MMA promotion Dare FC has launched an online fight series featuring pre-filmed bouts, despite mixed martial arts currently being subject to a ban in the country. The promotion, running since before the March 2012 ban, launched its Most Dangerous Gameshow featuring mixed martial arts contests held in a mystery location referred to only as ‘The Underground’. The show marks some of the first activity in the Thai MMA scene since the national government outlawed the sport. 

UFC SEEKING TO IMPROVE ITALIAN MARKET

UFC president Dana White has revealed the promotion is trying to gain a foothold in Italy. When quizzed at the UFC on Fuel 5 press conference in Nottingham, England, about the UFC’s plans for the Italian market, reportedly held back by an unfavorable TV broadcast set-up, White stated the UFC is seeking to improve its profile in the country. He noted his business partners, Zuffa co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, “want Italy bad.” However, White made no indication the organization would take an event there in the near future. 

YUKON, CANADA

CANADIAN MP HAS MMA GYM IN OFFICE 

Canadian Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for the Yukon, is utterly obsessed with mixed martial arts. So obsessed the Conservative has turned part of his parliamentary office into an MMA gym. As you can see, Leef’s facility is packed with training gear and memorabilia. 

One can imagine Leef spends most of his office time calling out correspondence to his secretary for dictation while he drills double-legs. Elected in 2011, five-foot-seven Leef is a former fighter and even has a Sherdog record which shows an 0-2 career at bantamweight. Even Leef’s official website has a section marked ‘MMA Clinics’ such is the man’s passion for the sport. Unusual but true.

THE SOUTH PACIFIC... PROBABLY

TROPICAL ISLAND + TUF = WARRIOR ISLAND?

Sometimes to think outside the box, you have to think outside the country. Or rather, think of a place outside your country but use the same box. It seems that’s what the people behind upcoming TV show Warrior Island have done with their Ultimate Fighter-except-on-a-tropical-island reality series. 

At the time of going to press, the only details FO had to go on about the show were ascertained from a pretty ambiguous trailer, that mostly features shirtless men, and a shirt-wearing Dan Severn (UFC legend and all-round MMA bad ass), jogging through the jungle. Primarily there was a flaming spear travelling in space around Earth, as various different martial arts were displayed on screen. That and the fact it’s called Warrior Island encourage us to believe it’s tropical TUF. Let’s just hope it’s not the island from TV series Lost, because polar bears don’t play by the Unified Rules.

$20m

The canceled UFC 151 card, due to be headlined by Jon Jones and Dan Henderson, was estimated to have cost the promotion $20m in lost revenue.

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UFC light heavyweight Chael Sonnen said he may write two more books following his debut release, The Voice of Reason: A VIP Pass To Enlightenment.