This morning we got a spam e-mail from the IFL imploring us to buy presale tickets to “IFL Summer Throwdown,” which goes down August 15th at the IZOD Center in the Meadowlands, New Jersey. And just as we were about to hit the delete button, we saw this at the bottom:
The night will also feature the world debut of “The HEX,†the IFL’s brand new six-sided ring. This is the future fighting surface for all of MMA. To introduce this new era in fighting, the IFL Summer Throwdown fight card will present the most explosive Mixed Martial Arts action the East Coast has ever seen!
Ho. Lee. Shit.
Merriam-Webster defines “hex” as a “jinx” (in its noun form), or “to affect as if by an evil spell” (in its verb form), which is astoundingly appropriate considering how cursed the IFL is. This is their response to public disinterest? A six-sided ring!? As we saw last week, IFL CEO Jay Larkin believes that since MMA fans haven’t taken to their events, we all must be Affliction-wearing, Xyience-swilling jokers who care more about light shows and dancing girls than high-level mixed martial arts competition. (The rebuttal to that misguided viewpoint is long and complex, and is expressed in the analysis and comments in the original post.)
So, my first thought was wow, what an idiot. Doesn’t Larkin know that gimmicky ring surfaces are the tool of the desperate and creatively bereft? American MMA fans don’t respond well to the ring, so the answer is to give them a different, more fucked-up ring? Really?
But now I’m starting to think that the “HEX” is Larkin’s final “Kiss My Ass” to all of us.
New York, NY, May 7, 2008 — On Saturday, May 31, the best mixed martial arts programming on television will be on Spike TV, as the network presents a special night dedicated to UFC® superstar Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell. The homage to Liddell will feature two Spike TV premiere events not to be missed by [...]
MMA legend Randy Couture finds himself in a strange position these days. An ongoing legal battle with the UFC threatens his future as a fighter, and his affiliation with clothier-turned-MMA promoter Affliction has prompted the UFC to keep him and the “banned brand” off any of their broadcasts. Recently Couture talked with Cage Potato about his life as a fighter, the future of MMA, and this summer’s Fedor-Sylvia bout.
CagePotato.com: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Randy. How’s everything at Xtreme Couture? It seems like you guys have so many fighters in so many different organizations now. Does it ever get hard to keep track of who is fighting and where?
No, it’s not too hard. We’ve actually just got a big grease board and we just write who’s fighting and where and when and we do a pretty good job of keeping track of it that way. We’ve got new gyms opening up in Long Island and in Toronto. Everything is going really great.
What are your thoughts on Tim Sylvia signing to fight Fedor this summer? You’ve beat Tim, and the Fedor fight is the one you wanted more than any other. How does it make you feel to see Tim get that chance before you do?
I think it’s going to be a great fight. Tim’s a seasoned veteran and he presents some unique challenges with his height and his size. People knock Fedor because he hasn’t fought any top guys recently, but Fedor’s an excellent fighter. It should be very interesting to see how he handles this challenge. I know I’ll be interested to see it. It’s going to be a good one and I hope to be right there at ringside when it happens.
But Tim got let out of his UFC contract and that’s why he can take this fight. Does it bother you that it happened that way for him and not for you?
He didn’t get let go so he could do this fight, he got let go because the UFC didn’t want to pay someone that much money to fight on the undercard. They knew he wasn’t going to fight for a title any time soon and he only had one more fight on his contract, so they made the decision to let him go for financial reasons.
I can see how it made sense for them to let him go and it doesn’t make sense to want to let me go. I’ve got the belt, so that’s different. The way I look at it, that’s his good fortune to be able to go take the fight with Fedor. I’m not upset about it. I’ve still got a few more good fights left it me.
Tito Ortiz recently made some public statements about the lack of respect he feels from the UFC and from Dana White. He referred to the way they no longer show you on pay-per-views when you’re there cornering your fighters, never even mention your name or your gym. How much is this stuff about respect and how much is about money?
This list, which includes WEC Featherweight Champion Ur-eeh-jah Faybear, is taken from Sherdog.com — so it’s not unique to ESPN. Regardless, it’s discussion worthy:
Adrenaline MMA officially has a fight poster, a fight card, and a web site. Now all they need is butts in the seats. I suppose we should take this as a good sign. They’ve already accomplished more than M-1 Global did, even if they don’t have Fedor to dress up in a suit and look bemused by Monte Cox’s antics.
What’s interesting about this event is how heavily Adrenaline is pushing local fighters, which is smart. While the rest of the MMA world battles over TV deals that may or may not be profitable, Adrenaline seems smart enough to know — as the UFC did back when the Fertittas first took over — that ticket sales can sustain you through the rough times, especially if you market the hell out of the local guys and build a regional fan base.
That explains why they’re pushing “Chicago Policeman” Mike Russow against Jeff Monson as their main event. It also explains why they were so quick to snatch up local fighters like Rory Markham, Bart Palaszewski, and Kerry Schall (just to name a few) for this card. Chicagoans might not cross the street to see Daiju Takase fight, but when he’s taking on Terry Martin it suddenly seems like a match with some drawing power.
Pretty savvy, Adrenaline. Perhaps instead of hemorrhaging cash like some other MMA startups, you will merely bleed slowly while waiting for the paramedics to come back from their coffee and whiskey break. Sounds like fun.
With a sell out crowd of 8,000 fans expected to fill up the lower bowl of the Arco Arena, the WEC recently announced that it will release more tickets for WEC 34: “Faber vs Pulver” on June 1.
In fact, according to the press release, the Zuffa-owned promotion will sell tickets for the upper sections of the arena for only $35! (Excluding taxes and additional services, of course.)
Vice President of Production for the WEC, Peter Dropick, had this to say:
“WEC fans bought all of the tickets so fast that we decided to open up more seats upstairs. We originally planned to sell seats only in the lower sections for this event, but it’s going to be such an exciting night of fights that we want to accommodate as many fans as possible to see the live action.”
How can you argue with that?
WEC 34 is easily the most stacked card in the promotion’s history with two title fights lined up and two former champions also in action. It’s going to be an historic night on June 1, which we can all witness for free on the Versus channel at 9 p.m. ET.
To purchase WEC 34 tickets head over to Ticketmaster.com or StubHub.com (Note: StubHub often has seats available even if the event or certain section is “sold out.â€)
Adrenaline MMA officially announced its debut event, which takes place at the Sears Centre in Chicago, Ill., on June 14, featuring the heavyweight showdown between former UFC number contender, Jeff Monson, and relatively unknown but talented local product, Mike Russow.
According to the press release, 12 other bouts are slated for the show that will feature some familiar names and faces.
Here’s the rest of the card:
Terry Martin vs. Daiju Takase
Brian Gassaway vs. Tony Fryklund
Alberto Crane vs. Clay French
Jeff Cox vs. Bart Palaszewski
Taiwon Howard vs. Rory Markham
Jame Giboo vs. Mark Miller
Herc Hayes vs. Kerry Schall
Rob Kimmons vs. Hector Urbina
Aaron Rosa vs. Ron Fields
Dom O’Grady vs. Mike Stumpf
Joe Jordan vs. Ryan Williams
Christian Reynosa vs. John Hosman
Not bad at all for an inaugural event. And that more than likely has much to do with longtime MMA manager and Adrenaline MMA CEO, Monte Cox.
He and others started the promotion after M-1 Global collapsed without ever staging an event, enlisting the services of former UFC heavyweight champion ,Tim Sylvia, and undefeated IFL star, Ben Rothwell, to anchor the organization.
In addition, it appears that Adrenaline MMA is in cooperation with the IFL — Bart Palaszewski, Mark Miller and Zac George were all granted permission to compete on the card. And, according to the release, EliteXC provided striker Aaron Rosa and all-around standout Hector Urbina.
Sylvia and Rothwell, on the other hand, will be loaned out to other organizations such as the new Affliction upstart brand. In fact, “The Maine-iac†is expected to fight the last man to hold the Pride FC heavyweight title, Fedor Emelianenko, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on July 19.
It’s apparently all about sharing.
Doors for the first ever Adrenaline MMA event will open at 5:30 p.m. ET and fights are set to begin at 6 p.m. ET. To purchase tickets click here or call (888)-SEARSTIX.
For more information head over to the official Adrenaline MMA Web site right here.
To better encourage communication and interaction among the witty and energetic members of the Potato Nation, we’re pleased to announce that CagePotato.com now has its own Forums section! Head to Forums.CagePotato.com (or just click the button at the top of the page), register your screen name, and help us build this thing up by tossing in your two cents on the latest MMA news, upcoming fights, and everything else related to God’s Chosen Sport; or you could just shout out your favorite Thin Lizzy song, because apparently that works too. We had a couple friends test it out yesterday and all seems to be well, but if you run into any bugs, let us know at feedback@cagepotato.com. Thanks, as always, for your support. How ’bout we take this CagePotato thing to the next level?
Mir is also asked about a potential gig as coach on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), which he refuses to answer. However, he doesn’t do so with his best poker face.
With a sell out crowd of 8,000 fans expected to fill up the lower bowl of the Arco Arena, the WEC recently announced that it will release more tickets for WEC 34: “Faber vs Pulver” on June 1.
