MMAterial Facts (03/08/10)

• Promotional Battle Heats Up Outside Cage (Strikeforce vs UFC)
• Council dithering puts pressure on Vancouver UFC event, promoters getting antsy
• Alabama to grapple for cage fighting dollars
• Overseer of Boxing, Supporter of M.M.A.
• Ticket sales ‘booming’ for first WEC pay-per-view: president Harris

Promotional Battle Heats Up Outside Cage (Strikeforce vs UFC)

On Thursday, UFC president Dana White confirmed a live show on the same date, “Ultimate Fight Night 22,” on Spike TV. While UFC countered an Affliction pay-per-view show in 2008 with a live event featuring Anderson Silva, if things don’t change this time, it will be the first time the two top promotions run major nationally televised events simultaneously.

No matches are confirmed for the UFC show, however. Thursday, White attempted to make Matt Serra vs. Mike Swick, but that will be impossible since Swick just suffered an arm injury and will likely need surgery. UFC sources indicated Kimbo Slice vs. James Toney was under consideration, but the talks hit snags.

No site has been confirmed for the UFC show, although it is known at least two locations are under consideration in the state of Tennessee, including Nashville’s Vanderbilt University.
…
The Strikeforce promoter expects that the head-to-head maneuvering is not going to be a one-time deal, because both companies are running more dates and there are only so many Saturday nights available, so it’s inevitable that there will be conflicts.

“There will come a day when there will be a free show, with Fedor Emelianenko and/or Dan Henderson, going against one of their pay-per-views,” he said. “That is going to be interesting.” (Yahoo! Sports)

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MMAPayout Notes:

• Nashville_MMA, who broke the initial story that Strikeforce would be holding their 4/17 CBS event in Nashville, gives us an update: “Source at Vandy says UFC reached out and Vandy sent back a cost proposal. A UFC source told me a decision will be made by middle of the week” (Nashville_MMA)
• If a UFC show is happening on 4/17, it will NOT include Kimbo Slice.  UFC has officially announced Kimbo Slice vs Matt Mitrione for the May 8th UFC 113 show in Montreal.  (UFC)
• Whether it is related or not, UFC is set to have a press conference on Wednesday in Japan to make an announcement.  It is a vague piece of information but would fall around the same time the UFC would confirm their counter-programming event that could potentially host a Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Wanderlei Silva match-up. (GryphonJapan)

Council dithering puts pressure on Vancouver UFC event, promoters getting antsy

Vancouver City Council may have yet another fight on its hands involving mixed martial arts. Promoters from the grassroots level all the way up to the major league of the sport are seemingly growing impatient waiting for the go-ahead of sanctioned professional MMA as Vancouver city staff wrestle with liability issues.

Adding to the drama is a shortage of venues for mid-level events, which is compounded by a stall on the use of publicly-owned facilities.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Maximum Fighting Championship promoter Mark Pavelich, who has partnered with US sports and TV billionaire Mark Cuban to televise his Edmonton-based events across North America. “I wanted to do an event at the PNE Agrodome. The girls I’m talking to who run the place were going nuts about the possibility – TV, sell-out crowd – when we come to town, we do things the right way. We sent them our media pack, we have sponsors, we’re ready to go, and I wanted to go before the UFC comes to town in June. But some guy on the city council voted against it and is the main guy on board of directors on the PNE apparently, so we can’t do a deal because this one guy doesn’t want it there.”   …

“Even if it’s allowed, the city owns the building and will say, ‘No, you have to carry $12 million of insurance,’ – good luck with that. What asset would any local MMA promoter have to back that? I do $2 million of insurance for our shows, and sometimes $5 million for a one-off, but I’ve been in the business for 15 years. People know who I am. If you’re in the first year of promoting, where do you get the collateral for $12 million of insurance?” …

“The UFC are tossing out weather balloons on their Vancouver plans and they’re getting a little pushy. I need to compete with them – fine, let them be number one in the business, I’m fine with that – but if I can’t put on a show until the UFC, I’m like, come on. Rush it through so I can do a show in the 3rd or 4th week of May so a Canadian promoter can compete with them.” (Vancouver Sun)

Alabama to grapple for cage fighting dollars

Cage fighting is about to get a boost from Alabama’s legislature, legitimizing the fast-growing sport in the state and opening the door for millions in tourism dollars for big-ticket events, supporters say.

The house and senate are nearing approval of the final version of a bill that would regulate mixed martial arts in the state and change the newly created Alabama Boxing Commission to the Alabama Athletic Commission, said Casey Sears, boxing commissioner.

The legislation will protect professional and amateur fighters in the controversial sport and regulate events to ensure fairness.

But it also is likely to attract tens-of-thousands of people to marquee shows held at larger state venues and ramp up attendance at club fights already happening in local communities – unregulated – throughout the state, said Sears.  …

One of the sport’s largest promoters, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has had a full-time lobbyist working in Alabama to help move the legislation through.

“We look at television ratings and pay-per-view buys and there’s a lot of interest in the sport in Alabama, on a per capita basis,” said Marc Ratner, vice president of governmental and regulatory affairs for the UFC. “We’ve had interest from Birmingham, even from Mobile. We know in the future there will be a day when we do come there and it’ll probably be next year.”

UFC fights can attract thousands, said Ratner, who is the former boxing commissioner in Nevada. He said UFC will hold its first fight in New Jersey at the end of March. After tickets went on sale five weeks ago, more than 13,000 tickets were sold for gross receipts of $3 million. And UFC shows bring fighters, trainers, production and other staff to town, filling nearly 600 hotel rooms for at least three nights. (Birmingham Biz Journals )

Overseer of Boxing, Supporter of M.M.A.

A study for the state said that one mixed martial arts show in Buffalo and one in Manhattan would generate $1.2 million in state and local taxes. Lathan said the study underestimated the economic impact of legalization, which would almost certainly lure New York fans who are attending combat cards held in states where the sport is legal.

“Those are our revenues going outside the state,” she said.

But she said her enthusiasm for repeal was focused largely on improving safety for the fighters and to limit — or eliminate — illicit shows around the state.

“You don’t want underground smokers,” she said. “There is no pre- and postfight examination or on-site ambulance. They can get knocked out today and fight tomorrow.”

Ron Scott Stevens, whom Paterson dismissed as the head of the athletic commission two years ago in favor of Lathan, then one of the commissioners, disagreed. “Over time,” he said, “New York will find out that the injuries these people sustain will be very costly, not only financially, but to the human condition.” …

Lathan agrees with the sport’s proponents, notably the dominant organization in the sport, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, that the worst harm is orthopedic, not neurological, as it is in boxing. She insisted that New York would have the nation’s strictest M.M.A. regulation.

“It’s nice to have an ally in the commissioner,” said Marc Ratner, the vice president for regulatory affairs for Zuffa, the company that owns the U.F.C. Ratner, who assigned Lathan to judge bouts in Nevada when he was executive director of the state’s athletic commission, said he knew she favored repeal “from our discussions” before she became the commissioner in 2008.   (NY Times)

Ticket sales ‘booming’ for first WEC pay-per-view: president Harris

World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) is putting on its most star-studded card ever for its first-ever foray into pay-per-view. The company president expects gate numbers to reflect the bold move.

WEC president Reed Harris said recently ticket sales are “booming” in the promotion’s unofficial hometown of Sacramento. WEC has drawn most of its biggest gates in the California capital, and Harris says he expects a new record for WEC 48 on April 24 at Arco Arena.

“We had a record pre-sale, and tickets are tracking extremely well,” said Harris.

“I think we could maybe be upwards of 15,000 or so there. So, I think it’s going to be probably the biggest event we’ve ever done.”

Though WEC events have traditionally aired on free TV in the past, the company has long talked about breaking into the pay-per-view market currently dominated in record-fashion by sister company Ultimate Fighting Championship (both are owned by Zuffa, LLC). To make that move, though, company officials wanted to make sure they had a marquee card.  (The Star Phoenix)

QUICK HITS

• Cruz Ousts Bowles at WEC 47; Torres Upset (Sherdog)
• SANTIAGO ASSERTS HIMSELF AS SENGOKU CHAMPION (MMAWeekly)
• WEC 47 fighter salaries: Joseph Benavidez leads $264K payroll with $29K payday (MMAJunkie)
• Strikeforce Challengers VI draws 2,318 attendees for $86,440 gate (MMAJunkie)
• Strikeforce Challengers VI salaries: Trevor Prangley earns event-high $15,000 payday (MMAJunkie)
• Despite rumors “Kimbo Slice” vs. Matt Mitrione, in fact, official for UFC 113 in Montreal (MMAJunkie)
• “Kimbo Slice” manager welcomes James Toney fight but says nothing currently in works (MMAJunkie)
• Legend Pulver Torn After Loss at WEC 47 (MMAFighting)
• Micah Miller vs. Michihiro Omigawa Added to Yoshida Retirement Card (MMAFighting)
• Massachusetts MMA Event Pushed Back Month (MMAFighting)
• CUNG LE ANGLING FOR SCOTT SMITH REMATCH (MMAWeekly)
• THREE OF FOUR WEC 47 MAIN EVENTERS SUSPENDED (MMAWeekly)
• The masses want Canseco versus Walker: This website says so (Cage Writer)
• Mike Swick to enter surgery for injured elbow (FiveOuncesOfPain)

TV LISTINGS

• HDNet Fights Presents K-1 Classics (2008 K-1 Max) at 8 PM ET on HDNet (03/12/10)
• InsideMMA (James Toney, Ray Mercer, Freddie Roach) at 9 PM ET on HDNet (03/12/10)
• HDNet Fights: Sengoku Raiden Championship 12 at 10 PM ET on HDNet (03/12/10)
• Best of Pride FC at 10 PM ET/PT on Spike (03/12/10
  

UPCOMING EVENTS

• HDNet Fights: Sengoku Raiden Championship 12 at 10 PM ET on HDNet (03/12/10)
• HDNet Fights: XFC X-Night of Champions at 10 PM ET on HDNet (03/19/10)
• UFC on Versus: Vera vs Jones at 10 PM ET on Versus (3/21/10)
• HDNet Fights: King of the Cage – Legacy at 10 PM ET on HDNet (03/26/10)
• Strikeforce Challengers: Johnson vs Mahe at 11 PM ET/PT on Showtime (03/26/10)
• UFC 111: 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)