- UFC and Kerasotes Sign Theatre Agreement
- Dana White reaches 1 M Twitter followers
- UFC announces Montreal card
- UFC fighters looking forward to virtual selves
- Heart of a warrior
UFC and Kerasotes Sign Theatre Agreement
NCM Fathom and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) are partnering for the first Event in a series of 4 UFC Events that will be showcased in theatres throughout 2010. The first Event will feature George St-Pierre vs. Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy in the ultimate welterweight fight as well as the heavyweight championship fight between titleholder Frank Mir and his opponent Shane Carwin. Two world titles will be on the line in this one night event LIVE from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. (MMA Payout’s Perspective)
Dana White reaches 1 M Twitter followers
As if the battle of Hall of Famers at UFC 109, legalization of the sport in Wisconsin and the first-ever show in Australia at UFC 110 weren’t milestones enough for the Ultimate Fighting Championship®, February also set records on Twitter.
Dana White, UFC president, reached 1,000,000 followers on his Twitter account, @danawhite, on Tuesday, February 9th. Fewer than 250 of Twitter’s millions of users have broken the one-million mark. White’s inclusion in that elite list is testament to the meteoric rise of UFC.
“I love Twitter because I get to talk directly to UFC fans,” said White. “Their support is awesome and has made the sport what it is today.”
Like many big-name celebrities and brands, White uses his Twitter account to break news and promote events. But White has pioneered innovative uses of Twitter that truly bridge the gap between social interaction and digital marketing. White made national news last year after a series of Tweets promising free tickets to fans drew large crowds in cities from New York to LA. (UFC)
UFC announces Montreal card
Canadians Patrick (The Predator) Cote, Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout, Jonathan (The Road Warrior) Goulet and T.J. Grant will be fighting on friendly turf May 8 when the UFC returns to Canada for UFC 113.
The main event of the mixed martial arts card at Montreal’s Bell Centre features a rematch between light-heavyweight champion Lyoto (The Dragon) Machida and Mauricio (Shogun) Rua. In another key matchup, English welterweight Paul (Semtex) Daley takes on Josh Koscheck.
Other fights include Kimbo Slice versus Matt Mitrione and Tim Credeur versus Tom Lawlor.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the bouts to The Canadian Press on Thursday.
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UFC 83, in April 2008, was the UFC’s fastest sellout. The crowd of 20,011 was the organization’s largest, as well as the biggest MMA crowd ever in North America. The Montreal attendance erased the previous record of 19,049, set at UFC 68 on March 3, 2007, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
The pre-sale for UFC 83 exceeded 13,000 in the first 24 hours and the remaining tickets sold out within one minute of the public sale.
UFC 97, in April 2009, also sold out.
UFC 110, set for later this month in Sydney, Australia, recently became the second-fastest sellout in the organization’s 16-year history. The UFC says all 16,500 tickets for the Feb. 21 show at the Acer Arena were gone within hours of going on sale.
White expects another raucous evening in Montreal.
“I think it’s going to rock, I think it’s going to kick ass like it always does,” White said. “You can always count on Canada.
“Maybe not for health care,” he added mischievously with a chuckle, referring to a recent rant by UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. “But definitely for ticket sales.” (The Globe and Mail)
UFC fighters looking forward to virtual selves
In the world of mixed martial arts, the UFC has dominated the competition, and the UFC line of video games is similarly putting a chokehold on the MMA gaming market.
After the success of UFC 2009 Undisputed (an 84 average score on metacritic.com and the Best Individual Sports Game award at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards), UFC and THQ have teamed up again for UFC Undisputed 2010.
“THQ loved the idea, they were passionate about it,” UFC President Dana White said of the first game. “Things couldn’t have worked out better.”
Recently, the two companies offered guests at Mix Lounge at Mandalay Bay a sneak peak at their newest joint venture, unveiling the cover for UFC Undisputed 2010, which features Brock Lesnar. The game is slated for a May 25 release.
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The fighters who attended the preview party had their chances to weigh in on the new version. Efrain Escudero, winner of Season Eight of The Ultimate Fighter, said the first game ended up bringing him good luck.
“For the last game, they made me a very good boxer and then I started being a good boxer in the Octagon,” Escudero said, “so maybe they’ll improve my takedown defense this year.”
The Ultimate Fighter Season Seven winner Amir Sadollah admitted he spends a lot of time with the original Undisputed title.
“It’s most of my Friday nights,” he said.
Heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga noted that the improved graphics this year might not always be for the best.
“I got lucky when they made my first avatar because I was really in shape. I hope that they don’t change it for my new avatar,” Gonzaga said as he patted his stomach. (Las Vegas Sun)
Heart of a warrior
Nearly three years after graduating from Park High School as the Wolfpack wrestling program’s career-wins record holder, Pat Schilling is still taking down opponents — as an amateur mixed martial arts fighter.
Schilling — a two-time All-State wrestler and Park’s all-time leader with 131 career wins — will look to become a champion of another kind as he fights for the Brutaal MMA amateur title belt on Saturday, Feb. 13, at Treasure Island Resort and Casino.
Schilling, 21, has been training and fighting MMA for eight months at the highly regarded Ambition Training Academy in Eagan — also the training facility for Minnesota native Brett Rogers, who is ranked as the No. 5 heavyweight in the world by Sherdog, a Web site devoted to MMA.
Schilling, who fights at the featherweight level — 145 pounds and under — is currently 6-0 as an amateur. His foremost goal is to win the upcoming amateur championship belt. But, ultimately, he wants to turn professional and be on a similar level to Rogers.
“I want to be the best in the world,” Schilling said. “Brett’s last fight was a main event on national television, prime time on CBS with millions of people watching. I want that for me too.
But, I’m just going to take it one fight at a time. I trust my coach, Mike Reilly, with everything. I trust he’s going me the opponents I need, the game plan and the training I need to improve.” (South Washington County Bulletin)
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Indianapolis fighter braced for ultimate challenge
Mixed martial arts competitor Chris Lytle can’t remember all the specifics from the dozens of fights he has had over his 12-year career.
Right now, the only match on the Indianapolis native’s mind is his Feb. 20 welterweight bout against Brian Foster in Sydney on a high-profile Ultimate Fighting Championship card. But the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist has a lot more on his mind outside the octagon. He’s a member of the Indianapolis Fire Department and a father of four.
“Trying to distribute my time between training for fights, working for the fire department and spending time with my family is the most difficult thing because they require a lot of time, as well,” Lytle said. “Those are pretty much the three things I do. That’s about it.”
With his average earnings for a fight ranging from $20,000-$80,000, Lytle’s income is enough to allow his wife to stay home and care for his 6-, 8-, 12- and 14-year old children. Six weeks before a fight, though, when it comes time for two-a-day training sessions and more intense work in the gym, he is forced to miss time with his family.
“That’s definitely the hardest part, but I always have in the back of my head that I’m really doing my fighting for them,” Lytle, 35, said. “If I can make a lot of money doing this, it’s going to open a lot of doors for them down the road. That’s my main motivation.” (Indy Star)
QUICK HITS
- Shoulder injury forces Vitor Belfort out of UFC 112 title fight with Anderson Silva (MMAJunkie)
- Rolles Gracie Also Released by the UFC (MMAPayout Confirmed Report)
- Station Casinos files bankruptcy on its Green Valley Ranch Resort venture (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
- Fistic Medicine: Dementia Pugilistica & MMA (Sherdog) … [MMA Payout’s Perspective]
- Sonnen Victory Tour Continues With Political Appearance on Fox News (MMAFighting)
- Beltran: I Feel a Little Bad for Rolles Gracie (MMAFighting)
- All UFC 109 Drug Tests Come Back Clean (MMAFighting)
- EA Sports fighter Ken Shamrock says rival videogame could turn industry “on its head” (MMAJunkie)
- Jason High gets four-fight UFC deal, meets Charlie Brenneman at UFC Fight Night 21 (MMAJunkie)
- Sasaki, Not Sakuraba, for Filho (Sherdog)
- Yamaguchi Stuns Tsuji at Valkyrie 4 (Sherdog)
- Action Sports Hub Corner Man Sponsors Erin Toughill (Market Wire)
- Will Sonnen have to make a choice – Silva or politics? (Cage Writer)
- GERALD HARRIS DRAWS MARIO MIRANDA ON MAR 31 UFC (MMAWeekly)
- Exclusive: Miguel Torres WEC 47 Blog 1 (Heavy)
- Velasquez talks training for Nogueira (ESPN)
QUOTES OF THE DAY
Mark Coleman was officially released by UFC, making him the first guy ever to main event and then get cut within the next week. The decision was made because of his performance in the Randy Couture fight, with the feeling he was too old and slow to be competitive at the UFC level. Others cut coming off UFC 109 were Frank Trigg, Rolles Gracie, which was expected, Phillipe Nover, the former “next Anderson Silva” and Tim Hague. Not that losing Hague is any kind of a great loss even though he’s always good for a Canadian babyface pop in prelims in Las Vegas. He did have a sloppy looking match that the crowd for them most part didn’t like. But he got cut … in a fight that virtually every fan who saw it knew he really won. On the other hand, if it wasn’t for the fact UFC contracts don’t allow them to cut people after winning, they could have easily cut both he and Chris Tuchscherer after that fight. (Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer)
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I think the end result is the right call, but the process is a credibility hit for UFC in regards to them promoting Coleman in the main event slot. It’s also a hit to Keith Kizer (Nevada State Athletic Commission) because the commission, on paper, is the one calling the shots in licensing fighters over a certain age. Coleman was always a tough call on that front. I don’t blame Mark Coleman one bit for fighting — you make as much money as you can before you retire in this business. (Zach Arnold, Fight Opinion)
VIDEO OF THE DAY
- MMA Live 2-11-10: MMA Live recaps UFC 109. Randy Couture emerges from the battle of Hall of Famers and Chael Sonnen becomes the No. 1 middleweight contender. Also, the UFC 110 preview gets underway, as the MMA leader readies for its first show in Australia.
TV LISTINGS
- HDNet Fights Presents K-1 Classics (Maeda & Teixeira, 2008) at 8 PM ET on HDNet (02/12/10)
- InsideMMA (Randy Couture, Mike Swick, & Bobby Lashley) at 9 PM ET on HDNet (02/12/10)
- HDNet Fights Presents King of the Cage – Vengeance at 10 PM ET on HDNet (02/12/10)
- Best of Pride FC at 10 PM ET/PT on Spike (02/12/10)
UPCOMING EVENTS
Regarding Zach Arnold’s comment:
Coleman looked decent in his last fight. While I thought he would lose to Couture, I was shocked at how slow he was.
Had this fight come off of the heels of the Shogun fight, I would agree with him.