Cynthia Calvillo received an additional three-month suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission per MMA Junkie. She was fined 15 percent of her disclosed $41,000 purse ($6,150) in addition to $436.08 in attorney’s fees. USADA suspended Calvillo six-months for an in-competition drug test at UFC 219 that revealed marijuana metabolites in excess of the allowable […]
ESPN scores highest cable boxing ratings in 2018 thus far
Top Rank Boxing on ESPN drew over 1 million viewers for its Saturday night telecast featuring Oscar Valdez and Scott Quigg scored 1,082,000 on Saturday night. The 123-minute telecast drew a 0.37 rating in the A18-49 demo. According to Nielsen, the Andy Vences-Erick De Leon fight was the highest-rated boxing event on cable for 2018 […]
Smith talks Project Spearhead in SBJ article
The Sports Business Journal reports on Leslie Smith and her efforts to organize UFC fighters with Project Spearhead. The effort “by fighters, for fighters,” seeks to collect enough signatures by fighters to obtain an National Labor Relations Board vote to determine the fighter employment states. Via SBJ: In order for the NLRB to look at […]
ESPN Top Rank Boxing Saturday night scores highest overnights this year
Saturday night’s ESPN Top Rank event drew the highest overnight ratings (in terms of market rating) for 2018 according to the network. It was the prelim fight between Andy Vences and Arick De Leon that scored a 0.8 metered market rating. Last week’s Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz drew a 0.7 rating on Showtime and 1.055M viewers. […]
Cro Cop’s end around his USADA drug suspension
Should Cro Cop have served his USADA suspension in full? Bellator announced that Mirko Cro Cop would be facing Roy Nelson at Bellator 200 in London on May 25th. Cro Cop “retired” in November 2015 in lieu of serving a two-year ban for violations of the UFC’s anti-doping program. Cro Cop admitted to the use, […]