Issue 022
February 2007
Gracie vs. Shamrock: One more time!
Once again two owners of the biggest names in MMA are to square off, but this time it's not who you might have expected.
In the fourth encounter between a Shamrock and a Gracie, Frank and Renzo will meet on upstart promotion EliteXC in a middleweight clash. The two legends will square off in the first ever EliteXC event, February 10th 2007.
The Shamrock-Gracie family duel dates back to 1994 when Royce Gracie, Renzo’s cousin, defeated Shamrock’s adopted brother Ken. One year later, Royce and Ken fought to a draw in a rematch.
Frank Shamrock,34, knocked out Cesar Gracie, another of Renzo’s cousins, in the first round in March this year. The five-time defending middleweight champion semi-retired from competition after defeating Tito Ortiz by submission in 1999 and has returned for just three fights since including the Gracie KO. “I am as passionate as ever about being in the cage,” said Shamrock. “In 1999, I began pursuing a career in Hollywood and had some great success. Now, having the chance to finally settle the score with the Gracie family, I can’t think of a better way to make a big comeback.”
Gracie, 39, is representing the first family of MMA. The Gracies introduced the world to Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the outset of the MMA phenomenon. Renzo is known to pundits for his fierce determination, competitiveness and pride. Coupled with his nature as a family man, Renzo is one of the most well-liked and popular fighters today. Gracie fought recently on the International Fight League, choking former UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich into submission.
Shamrock was the one of the first fighters to successfully incorporate wrestling, jiu-jitsu and kickboxing into one art form. In his 13-year career Shamrock has a record of 21 wins, seven losses and one draw and has not lost a fight since a split decision loss to John Lober in 1997. “I am the complete package,” said Shamrock. “I can strike with anyone, I have excellent submission skills and come February 10th, another Gracie is going to feel my wrath. You will see me bear my soul. And for those of you who have seen my fights, you know that I always bear my soul in the cage. And it is a very angry and violent soul.”
"Frank always says he's the best in the world and talks bad about everyone, not just my family. I would love to shut him up,” said Gracie. "I met up with him in Japan a while back and he couldn't look me in the eye. I found out later that he was talking trash about me in an interview. When they [EliteXC] told me the whole plan for this organization and for this event, I could not say no. What they didn’t know was that I would take this fight for free. But they are paying me for it. It is a great honour to be fighting Frank. I was afraid he was going to wait until I was too old to beat him.”
EliteXC is a newly formed Mixed Martial Arts venture led by CEO Doug DeLuca and President of Live Events Gary Shaw, the legendary boxing promoter. Also linked with the promotion is JD Penn, a MMA promoter out of Hawaii and brother to BJ Penn.
It was announced at the press conference that pro-wrestling superstar Bill Goldberg and enormously popular television personality Mario Lopez would be part of the announcing team. It also was announced that the undercard bouts not televised on Showtime would be streamed live at www.EliteXC.com.
Even before the fight happens could Shamrock be out for the count?
Contractual questions surrounded the fight Shamrock vs. Gracie even before the press conference was over. Shamrock’s contract with the California-based Strikeforce promotion has doubters questioning whether he will be able to fight on EliteXC in February.
Strikeforce official Mike Afromowitz told news website MMAWeekly.com “Frank has a contract with us that very clearly states that his next fight is to be for us. By signing to fight elsewhere before fulfilling that fight, he is not honouring that contract.”
Strikeforce has announced a number of times, most recently on their latest show on December 8th, that Shamrock would face Phil Baroni. The fight had been postponed twice and scheduled for April. If Shamrock was to fighting for another promotion in such close proximity to the Baroni fight, he could leave Strikeforce without a main event.
When questioned at the EliteXC press conference Shamrock stated to several members of the media that he was allowed to take the fight. He has been quoted as saying “I have a business relationship that allows that to happen.”
UFC buys out the World Fighting Alliance
Jackson and Herring to move to the UFC?
In a shocking move Zuffa, the company that’s owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has swallowed rival organisation WFA.
WFA Enterprises LLC, which is a subsidiary of Zuffa and is a company created to dissolve the old WFA, purchased select fighter contracts and the trademarks and other intellectual property of World Fighting Alliance, Inc. Under the terms of the purchase, World Fighting Alliance, Inc. will cease all operations.
Quinton Jackson and Heath Herring are two of the fighters that were on the WFA’s books, and the possibility of them appearing in the UFC is strong. UFC President Dana White said, “Zuffa is committed to giving our fans the best fights between the best fighters in the world. This acquisition helps us continue fulfilling that goal. Bringing the WFA fighters into the Zuffa family is the best thing that could happen for the fighters – and for the fans.”
The WFA held four events with the most recent being last July at the L.A. Forum, headlined by the co-main events of Bas Rutten vs. Ruben Villareal and Rampage vs. Matt Lindland. Ross Goodman, President of the WFA. “This business opportunity presented itself and it made sense for everybody to make this transition.”
Zuffa – proud owners of the WEC
Dana White has said in a newspaper interview that the UFC has bought the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting).
White confirmed rumours the UFC had bought out the California-based promotion saying “We’re going to take that to a whole other level, put it on television and blow it up. Pretty soon the WEC will be number two [to the UFC].”
“The WEC isn’t going to be looked at as a feeder show or guys who are aspiring to be in the UFC. There is going to be no trading or swapping. It’s going to be UFC versus WEC.”
The Zuffa-owned WEC is expected to continue to hold shows under the WEC name and would use a UFC-style Octagon (which is trademarked in North America). WEC president Reed Harris and matchmaker Scott Adams are expected to remain with the company.
Speculation among observers points to a Zuffa strategy of closing the door to other MMA promotions wishing to get onto American TV. At present UFC is exclusively on Spike TV, although is been rumoured to be looking into bigger networks such as HBO. The WEC has events broadcast on HDNet, a High Definition channel. If the UFC is able to secure a deal for the WEC on another network then this would leave other MMA companies with limited options in terms of securing their own TV deals.
Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and president Dana White were sitting in the audience at WEC 24 on October 12th last year. It is expected that the first WEC show to be produced under UFC ownership is an event tentatively planned for January 2007.
Nastula: “PRIDE allows doping”
Suspended PRIDE fighter Pawel Nastula has issued a formal reply through his attorney to counter recent steroid allegations presented by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Nastula, a former judo champion with an exemplary record in the sport, suggested an over-the-counter supplement the Polish fighter had been taking could have been contaminated with the illegal substance or one of its derivatives.
Shockingly, Nastula said in the statement that his written contract with PRIDE “allows usage of doping.”
The Olympic judo gold medallist tested positive for nandrolone, a banned anabolic steroid, following his October 21st loss to Josh Barnett in Las Vegas.
Nastula listed five over-the-counter supplements he had been taking near to the competition date. Along with Pro-Line Whey Protein, a multivitamin supplement and magnesium, the document also mentioned two supplements manufactured by Ultimate Nutrition. “There is strong evidence that some of the very supplements and supplement companies Nastula was using in October 2006 have documented histories of being contaminated with steroid precursors, and more specifically, nandrolone precursors,” read the document.
“As an elite athlete in Poland, I have been subjected to doping tests, both in and out of competition (as a judo athlete, I was subjected to random no-notice drug testing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year),” read Nastula’s declaration. He estimates that he has been tested around 50 times in his judo career.
“Since I finished judo and started with PRIDE, I have stayed truthful to my convictions of fair play, and I have always been against all forms of doping. I would withdraw myself from the competition, rather than cheat the fans.
“Despite the fact that my written contract with the promotion of PRIDE, which binds me worldwide, allows usage of doping, I never wanted and never needed such assistance.” No official comment from PRIDE representatives has yet been issued.
Franklin’s nose healed, back in 2007
Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin will return to action in March of 2007 according to his official website.
Franklin has been cleared by doctors to start full training after recovering from his nose surgery, required after he lost his title to Anderson Silva in October of last year. He will be able to fight at UFC 68 in March.
In a statement posted on his website Franklin is said to be keen to get back into the fray. “Rich was cleared by the doctor this morning to start training full time again. He has also been told that if he is offered to fight on the March UFC card, he will be ready – and you can bet he will be mentally prepared as well.”
16 million see MMA on TV show ‘60 minutes’
An hour’s worth of mixed martial arts was beamed into almost 16 million homes across America thanks to CBS’s news show ‘60 Minutes’.
Broadcast on Sunday December 10th, the show featured many of the sports top personalities and included segments on the UFC and the IFL.
The show earned a top-five ratings placing and drew an estimated 15.83m viewers. ‘60 Minutes’ had been in the top 10 four times this season, but in the top five only once.
The ‘60 Minutes’ page on Yahoo.com received more votes and message posts for the MMA piece than any other sports story listed, including pieces on Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and the New York Yankees.
Two of the International Fight League’s coaches, Renzo Gracie of the IFL’s New York Pitbulls team and Pat Miletich of the IFL’s Illinois-based Silverbacks team were both prominently featured in the report on the growth of Mixed Martial Arts. Reporter Scott Pelley trained with both Gracie and Miletich prior to their fight on September 23rd last year.
The programme also featured UFC champion Matt Hughes, his career and his relationship with Miletich. UFC president Dana White was also featured on the show, but was criticised by pundits for his misleading views over the role Zuffa had in instituting changes in the sport of MMA.
New Jersey State Athletic Control Board representative Nick Lembo was heavily critical of White’s claims that it was Zuffa who brought about many of the rule changes and safety measures that gave the sport credibility following public outcry in the 1990’s.
Many of the measures White claims Zuffa implemented – namely gloves, rounds and time limits and banning dangerous tactics, were already commonplace long before Zuffa LLC bought the UFC from previous owner SEG in 2001.
Cro Cop – will he, won’t he?
PRIDE star Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic has been subject of intense speculation and rumour mongering.
Various stories floating around include that Mirko has pulled out of the Dec 31st PRIDE NYE show, that he has been approached by the UFC and is considering offers, that he has signed with another large American promotion and more.
The 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix champion was scheduled to appear on PRIDE’s biggest card of the year, but chose to withdraw in order to fully recover from recent surgery to his injured foot.
”I won't be 100% ready, I still can't kick like I want to. It's better to wait for a few more weeks and give more time to this injury to heal,” said Mirko in a statement released on his official web site.
Mirko has hinted in interviews with Croatian newspapers that he has been in talks with the UFC but as yet he has not revealed his intentions. Cro Cop, who is generally ranked as the number two heavyweight in the world, has one fight remaining on his PRIDE contract. It is thought that aside from rematching current champion Fedor, who Mirko lost to via decision in 2005, his options with PRIDE are limited. Cro Cop has defeated the number three ranked HW, Josh Barnett, a total of three times.
IFL granted Nevada promoter’s licence
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has granted the International Fight League promoter’s licence, opening the door for the growing promotion to hold events in the spiritual home of combat sports, Las Vegas.
IFL President and co-founder Gareb Shamus declined to disclose any future event dates for ‘Sin City’ in 2007 but only commented the destination was “a big part” of their future.
At the hearing IFL Commissioner Kurt Otto fielded multiple questions regarding “self-policing” of the athletes they hire with regards to steroid and drug testing.
Otto told the NSAC that IFL fighters abide to regulations that include financial penalties for infractions. Otto also said the entire roster for their December 29th World Team Championship Final (a total of 22 fighters) would be tested across the board for steroids and drugs.
