- Bellator and Everlast announcing equipment, merchandising and sponsorship deal
- Strikeforce Nashville Almost Finalized, Last Day for UFC to File for 4/17 Event in Nashville
- Cung Le, Scott Smith and Nick Diaz featured in new “EA Sports MMA” gameplay trailer
- GSP Evolving The Business of MMA
- Massachusetts Commission: Double Weigh-Ins at Fighters’ Discretion
Bellator and Everlast announcing equipment, merchandising and sponsorship deal
Bellator Fighting Championships and sports-equipment giant Everlast today announced an exclusive partnership.
As part of the deal, Everlast becomes the organization’s exclusive equipment provider – for fight gloves, cages and training equipment – while producing a co-branded line of consumer offerings. (MMAJunkie) … (MMAPayout Perspective)
Strikeforce Nashville Almost Finalized, Last Day for UFC to File for 4/17 Event in Nashville
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told Nick Solomon, reporting for JabsNGrabs.com and MMAWeekly.com, on Wednesday that the promotion had already submitted an opponent for Lashley and was awaiting approval from the Tennessee Athletic Commission. He declined to name the opponent. (MMAWeekly)
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STRIKEFORCE: APRIL 17, 2010 ON CBS
Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee
CBS Main Card:
Jake Shields (24-4-1) [SF MW Champ] vs. Dan Henderson (25-7)
Gegard Mousasi (28-2-1) [SF LHW Champ] vs. “King Mo” Lawal (6-0)
Shinya Aoki (23-4) [DREAM LW Champ] vs. Gilbert Melendez (17-2) [SF LW Champ]
Rumored Prelims:
Bobby Lashley (5-0) vs. TBA (SWING BOUT: CBS Bout)
Cody Floyd (5-0 am, 0-0 pro) vs. Thomas Campbell (17-2-1 am, 0-0 pro)
Cale Yarbrough (6-1) vs. Josh Schockman (3-2)
Andy Uhrich (5-1) vs. Dustin West (2-2)
Ovince St. Preux (4-4) vs. Chris Hawk (3-4)
Hunter Worsham (5-1) vs. Zach Underwood (4-0)
Dustin Ortiz (1-0) vs. Justin Pennington (0-0)
* MMAPayout thanks PROMMA for information relating to the under-card.
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MMAPayout Note: According to Tennessee State Athletic Commission regulations, Zuffa has until Thursday, March 18, to file an event permit application should the Las Vegas-based promotional company wish to counter Strikeforce’s April 17 date in Nashville. (Josh Gross, Sports Illustrated) … UPDATE: It has been confirmed that the UFC WILL NOT run a LIVE counter-program event against Strikeforce on 4/17 (MMAFighting), however, I am sure we can expect a UFC 110 or UFC 111 repeat on Spike TV, which the UFC has done multiple times already.
Cung Le, Scott Smith and Nick Diaz featured in new “EA Sports MMA” gameplay trailer
In anticipation of its upcoming release of “EA Sports MMA,” EA Sports’ first mixed-martial-arts videogame title, the gamemaker today released a preview video containing actual gameplay footage.
Some of the notable fighters (and playable characters) featured include Cung Le, Scott Smith, Nick Diaz, Bobby Lashley, Brett Rogers and Jeff Monson. (MMAJunkie) … (MMAPayout Perspective)
GSP Evolving The Business of MMA
“I didn’t make a lot of friends in the beginning when I was turning down a lot of the fight specific brands, but I really saw from the beginning when I started working with Georges, that he had the potential to transcend the sport ala Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan,” Spencer told MMAWeekly Radio in an interview.
Making the move against signing on “fight specific” sponsors for St-Pierre was a risk, but a calculated risk, according to Spencer. The gamble paid off when the Canadian signed on with CAA, a lucrative company that also represents athletes like Derek Jeter and David Beckham. (MMAWeekly)
Massachusetts Commission: Double Weigh-Ins at Fighters’ Discretion
For the time being, double weigh-ins will remain on the books in Massachusetts, but it will be up to fighters whether or not to adhere to them.
The state’s athletic commission this past weekend amended its unusual weigh-in policy, which bars fighters from weighing more than 1.0625 of their contract weight on fight night. The rule discourages excessive weight cutting and gains. Under the change, fighters will not be weighed twice if both agree to waive a second weigh-in. (Sherdog)
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The policy has nice intentions, but it’s blithely ignorant of how foolhardy athletes can be: Few will be warned off enough to consider going up a weight class. If Massachusetts is serious about making radical alterations to weight classes, a better idea would be to conference in the Association of Boxing Commissions and petition for uniform change across the board. The state doesn’t operate in a vacuum, and there is little sense in policy varying so widely across the country. (ESPN)
VIDEO OF THE DAY
- EA Sports released gameplay footage for EA Sports MMA, scheduled to be released late this year.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
QUICK HITS
- Paulo Filho on “short list” of possibilities for Bellator champ Hector Lombard, no title (MMAJunkie)
- Bellator hasn’t forgotten West Coast, but Eastern markets to host 2010 shows (MMAJunkie)
- Stephan Bonnar hosts “The Ultimate Fighter Aftermath” wrap-up show for “TUF 11” (MMAJunkie)
- Lyle Beerbohm vs. Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro targeted for May 15 Strikeforce event (MMAJunkie)
- Ortiz Was Hospitalized With Flu (MMAFighting)
- Shinya Aoki: Two Title Belts Would Mean Something Special (MMAFighting)
- St. Pierre’s Quest for ‘Beautiful’ Perfection (Sherdog)
- NO WORRIES AS AOKI STEPS IN CAGE WITH MELENDEZ (MMAWeekly)
- BELLATOR COULD TAKE HUERTA TO MEXICO (MMAWeekly)
- High school blogger meets his prom date, Arianny, on national TV (Cage Writer)
- Neck injury forces Tito Ortiz out of TUF 11 and bout with Chuck Liddell (FiveOuncesOfPain)
- Pat Curran Completes Bellator Lightweight Tournament (Heavy)
TV LISTINGS
- HDNet Fights Presents K-1 Classics (Masato, Drago, & Andre Dida) at 8 PM ET on HDNet (03/19/10)
- InsideMMA (Dan Henderson, Mike Straka & Donovan Craig) at 9 PM ET on HDNet (03/19/10)
- 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)
UPCOMING EVENTS
- 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)
Great morning read mate, thank you! 🙂
Mass is making a poor choice to try and stop weight cutting with the route they choose. You cant stop weight cutting this has been proven ans every commission has tried for many sports and it cant be done in a safe manner. Adding in rules to prevent fighters from cutting to much only forces fighters into unsafe measures to cut the same weight as they will surely do. Adding a second weigh in only forces guys to cut a second time to please the commission which is not healthy especially when some question the hazard of cutting once. Even worse will be if fighters stay dehydrated to make the second weigh in. This is what can lead to death. With 2 weigh ins there is a bigger chance a fighter has to fight when he isnt feeling well due to a more complicated weighing process.
These commissions feel they need to keep anyone from having an unfair advantage. But is being a few lbs bigger really a proven advantage? People dont win fights in MMA due to the gap in weight cutting skills. There are a lot of big weight cutters who dont have much success like Baroni, Riggs, Irvin, Tito, etc. When some is doing well it isnt because they are heavier. Would GSP and Anthony Johnson still not be bigger, stronger, faster than their opponents even at the same weight?
As you add weigth you sacrafice speed and quickness.So with so little roof that weight(5-10lbs) plays much of a factor. Its not worth the effort or risk to even address the issue.