MMAterial Facts (02/19/10)

• UFC sues Web site operator over alleged pirated broadcasts
• Inside the UFC’s Lawsuit Against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
• Las Vegas Casino Families Square Off in Station Bankruptcy
• iBN Sports and CraveOnline Agree to Strategic Content Distribution Partnership
• Lynnwood ‘Fight Pastor’: Mixed martial arts ministry is not a gimmick

UFC sues Web site operator over alleged pirated broadcasts

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is suing a Web site operator it says is selling pirated broadcasts of current and past UFC fights.

Las Vegas-based Zuffa LLC, owner of the UFC, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Thursday against Moazzam Gandu. Zuffa says Gandu lives in Stafford, Va., and runs the Web site www.rage-streams.net.

Zuffa complained that rage-streams is offering unauthorized “live streaming” video of UFC 110 for $6.99, even though the lowest authorized price for the broadcast of the event is $44.95.

UFC 110 is a series of bouts set for Sydney, Australia, on Saturday (Sunday in Australia).

Rage-streams also offers for sale unauthorized video of at least 40 past UFC events, Zuffa charges. Rage-Streams is profiting from these current and past broadcasts by selling advertising with them, attorneys for Zuffa said.

The lawsuit asserts allegations including copyright and trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices. It seeks a temporary restraining order barring rage-streams from providing unauthorized UFC broadcasts.  (Las Vegas Sun)

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After latest action, UFC counsel hopeful for “decided downturn” in illegal PPV streaming

The suit asks for up to $150,000 per copyright infringement, plus legal costs, revenue earned from the website, and a halt to its operation.

The Las Vegas Sun first reported the action on Friday, and MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has since obtained a copy of the lawsuit that can be viewed here.

The suit charges Gandu with using UFC logos to promote his Web site’s service and undercut channels for the promotion’s authorized content. By example, it says Rage-Streams.net offers a stream of the promotion’s upcoming UFC 110 pay-per-view event for $6.99, while the UFC and authorized partner Yahoo! Sports charges $44.95.

It also claims the website gives its customers the ability to keep and spread pirated content after subscribing to the service. As a result, the lawsuit says, the UFC has suffered damage to its brand and bottom line.

“Instead of making revenue off the advertising you put around the live stream, like USTREAM or Justin.tv, these guys are just going to charge for it,” Lawrence Epstein, the UFC’s general counsel, told MMAjunkie.com on Friday. (MMAJunkie) … (MMAPayout’s Perspective)

Inside the UFC’s Lawsuit Against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Seemingly slipping past everyone’s notice, on November 3, 2009, the UFC filed a lawsuit against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson seeking declaratory relief on Jackson’s contract in a Las Vegas courtroom.  The complaint details the dispute with Jackson over his decision to pull out of UFC 107, as well as the communications between Jackson’s management and the UFC.

According to the complaint, on September 22, 2009, Jackson posted a blog on his website stating he was done fighting.  The UFC took this to be an official statement of retirement, and exercised their right under the promotional agreement to suspend the contract pending Jackson’s return to the UFC.  After sending Jackson a letter notifying him of the suspension, Jackson’s manager, Anthony McGann, responded with a letter stating that Jackson was ready to renegotiate his contract.  The letter also threatens to proceed “in the courts” if Zuffa is unwilling to renegotiate.

The complaint asserts that Jackson is intentionally trying to extort the UFC into renegotiating his deal under threat of running out his promotional agreement.  The UFC brought this action to get a declaratory judgment stating that Jackson’s refusal to fight and statements that he was “done fighting” constitute a retirement that allows them to exercise their rights under the promotional agreement, including the right to suspend the agreement and thus toll the term of the contract.

A letter from Jackson’s attorneys argues that retirement requires certain notice provisions under the promotional agreement, and because Jackson did not meet those requirements, his “blog” does not constitute a real retirement.  (BloodyElbow)

Las Vegas Casino Families Square Off in Station Bankruptcy

A longtime and normally profitable business partnership between two of Las Vegas’ most prominent families has turned very ugly.

GCR Gaming, an affiliate of the Greenspun Corp., which owns and operates media, land development and gaming companies, filed a motion with bankruptcy court Thursday accusing Station Casinos, which is owned by the Fertitta family, of “wrongdoing” and of “flagrantly and continuously” breaching its “contractual and fiduciary duties” in their joint-venture partnership of the Green Valley Ranch Resort.

The filing alleges Station Casinos executives breached those duties, in part, by directing high-stakes gamblers at Green Valley Ranch to other casinos that were owned solely by Station Casinos.
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The new filing includes a declaration by Greenspun Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian Greenspun in which he alleges Station Casinos “routinely and systematically diverted high-stakes gamblers” from the Green Valley Ranch Resorts to other properties wholly owned by Station.

In one instance, he said, Station Casinos tried to lure a player from Green Valley Ranch Resort to Red Rock Resort by offering tickets to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event.

The UFC is majority-owned by the Fertittas. Lorenzo Fertitta is chairman and CEO of the UFC and sits on Station Casinos’ board as vice chairman.

Greenspun also accused Station Casinos of sabotaging Green Valley Ranch’s marketing and promotional efforts to “undercut its ability to effectively compete” with Station’s own properties.  (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

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Two prominent Nevada casino-owning families, the Fertittas and the Greenspuns, are making like ultimate fighters in a bankruptcy-court showdown over their jointly owned casino.

In one corner is casino operator GCR Gaming LLC, which claimed in a court filing Thursday that Station Casinos Inc. steered high rollers to its wholly owned casinos. GCR is controlled by the Greenspuns, the family that also controls the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.

In the other corner is Fertitta-owned Station Casinos, which is trying to restructure its crushing debt under bankruptcy-court protection. Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, the brothers who own Station, also own the Ultimate …  (Wall Street Journal)

iBN Sports and CraveOnline Agree to Strategic Content Distribution Partnership

Foothill Ranch, Calif. (Vocus/PRWEB ) February 19, 2010 — iBN Sports, the Internet’s premier sports television network, is partnering with the Internet’s foremost content aggregator for film, sports, gaming and video, CraveOnline. The relationship will allow iBN Sports to tap into CraveOnline’s vast distribution platform and provides CraveOnline with a resource for the high quality sports content that their 26 million unique users crave each month. Revenues for both companies are already driven by similar sponsorship and advertising models which will enable them to easily share content distribution rights and revenues from ad sales.

“This agreement with CraveOnline will further broaden the exposure we provide our partners and help promote the high quality content we produce to a larger fan base,” says John Mudge, CEO of iBN Sports. “Our fan base is growing each month and we expect those numbers to increase exponentially once our content is distributed to the CraveOnline audience.”

“We are excited to be partnering with iBN Sports who offers the best in online live sports broadcasting,” says John Keefer, Director of Operations for CraveOnline. “The CraveOnline community is actively seeking new sports content and through this partnership we are able to continue to provide our visitors with what they crave most.”

The distribution partnership is effective immediately and viewers can expect to see iBN Sports content distributed across the CraveOnline network by March.   (PRWeb)

Lynnwood ‘Fight Pastor’: Mixed martial arts ministry is not a gimmick

“That’s one thing everyone just assumes that we do,” said Beals, whom we wrote about in December and appeared in a Feb. 1 Times story about the integration of mixed martial arts into Christian ministries nationwide.

The Times piece has brought a lot of attention to Beals’ Lynnwood church, where mostly male attendees gather to watch Ultimate Fighting Championship fights, and Beals and other employees are crafting a martial-arts ministry that will allow them to sponsor fighters, sell merchandise and ultimately introduce a chaplaincy to the new and somewhat controversial sport of mixed martial arts.

Thanks to the story, Beals — known as “Fight Pastor” — is answering high-profile interview requests and seeing more traffic to his Web site. He’s connecting with other mixed martial arts pastors he never knew existed. He’s getting more traction from fighters interested in being sponsored by the church. He’s heard some pitches for a reality TV show. Somebody even sent him an address and phone number and offered to fly him down to California to fight.
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Beals — a UFC fan long before he was a pastor — insists that’s what’s happening at his church is not a marketing trick, and it’s not a response to feminization, though most of the church members who participate in Canyon Creek’s dominant MMA ministry are men and the church’s MMA ministry has spurred much of its growth.

“I want to make it clear to the MMA community that I am not doing this as a gimmick. If (growth) happens organically because of this ministry, that’s cool,” he said.

“I’m an MMA fan. That’s why we’re an MMA ministry.” Beals added. “Our ministry is not to get people into our church. We are going out into the MMA culture.”   (Seatle PI)

QUICK HITS

• Jordan Breen UFC 110 Chat Recap (Sherdog)
• UFC 116 targeted for July 3 at MGM Grand Garden Arena, could mark Lesnar’s return (MMAJunkie)
• Zuffa Named in Bankruptcy Fraud Complaint (MMAPayout Perspective)
• Countdown to UFC 110: 635,000 Viewers (MMAPayout Perspective)
• TUF 11 Teaser Trailer (FiveOuncesOfPain)
• Strikeforce Challengers VI weigh-ins open to public in San Jose on Feb. 25 (MMAJunkie)
• Shamar Bailey replaces injured Bryan Travers on Strikeforce Challengers VII main card (MMAJunkie)
• HEATH HERRING RESPONDS TO CONTROVERSY (MMAWeekly)
• HDNet and UFC a winning combination (Brawl Sports)
• Super Bowl Champ Interested in MMA (MMAFighting)
• Bellator Back to Chicago on April 15 (MMAFighting)
• Snakebitten Radach Undergoes Surgery, Battles Staph (Sherdog)
• Cro Cop cut? Couture and Jackson offered a fight? (Cage Writer)
• UFC 110 Preview and Predictions (Heavy)
• Bellator signs Eric Marriott (FiveOuncesOfPain)
• Nogueira talks UFC 110, future (Sports Illustrated)

TV LISTINGS

• HDNet Fights Presents K-1 Classics (HMC, Nortje, Schilt, LeBanner) at 8 PM ET on HDNet (02/19/10)
• InsideMMA (Eddie Alvarez, Greg Nelson, Mark Decascos) at 9 PM ET on HDNet (02/19/10)
• HDNet Fights Presents Champions & Challengers Vol. 3, at 10 PM ET on HDNet (02/19/10)
• Best of Pride FC at 10 PM ET/PT on Spike (02/19/10)
  

UPCOMING EVENTS

• UFC 110: Nogueira vs Velazquez at 10 PM ET on PPV (02/20/10)
• Strikeforce Challengers: Prangley vs Amoussou at 11 PM ET/PT on Showtime (02/26/10)
• WEC 47: Bowles vs Cruz on at 10 PM ET on Versus (03/06/10)
• UFC on Versus: Vera vs Jones at 10 PM ET on Versus (3/21/10)
• Strikeforce Challengers: Johnson vs Mahe at 11 PM ET/PT on Showtime (03/26/10)
• UFC 110: GSP vs Hardy at 10 PM ET on PPV (03/27/10)
• UFN 21 : Florian vs Gomi at 10 PM ET on Spike (03/31/10)
• The Ultimate Fighter 11 Debut after UFN 21 on Spike (03/31/10)