(The infamous “he’s going to eat that spit” speech. Inspiring.)
The last time we devoted blog space to Ultimate Fighter coach Al “Stankie” Stankiewicz, some of you complained that we were applying a double-standard by encouraging his drunken antics and denouncing those of Jesse Taylor and Junie Browning. Fair enough, but what you have to remember is this: when a young, strong professional fighter gets drunk and violent, it’s called assault. When a crazy old man who goes by the name “Stankie” does it, it’s hilarious. Why? Because he’s old. The rules are different for old people. The rest of us just have to accept that.
It’s kind of like when you go to a family Thanksgiving and your racist grandfather makes a remark about “those thieving, hot-blooded Latins.” There’s no point in getting upset, and you know he’s just talking about Desi Arnaz anyway. So you do what any minimally functioning family does. You pass the potatoes and pretend it didn’t happen.
Today’s Stankie story comes yet again from Ryan Bader, who seems way more interested in telling these tales than any other cast member, God bless him. This time, it was our very own blogger, Efrain Escudero, who found himself pulled into the mysterious world that Stankie seems to inhabit all by himself:
Stanky had this thing with Efrian Escudero. He liked Efrian a lot but really wanted to spar him. Stanky always told him that he would kick his ass if they boxed. So one day we told Stanky his dreams were going to come true. Nogueira told him he could spar Efrian in straight boxing if he wore the chest/rib protector. They would spar in the ring, with full walkouts and the whole hooray. I would corner Efrian and the rest of the team would be behind Stanky. This made his day, if not year — well, probably decade.
Kyle overheard Stanky while he was hitting the speed bag warming up talking to himself. Stanky was muttering out loud to himself, “Stanky, one last hoorah. This is it, old chap! You’re back in the game! Back in the fire! Do this and you can finally put down the gloves.”
Hahahaha!
Efrian and I walk out first, make our way to the cage and get him ready. Stanky comes out with the whole team behind him, on top of the world. It almost looks like he was going to break into tears. He entered the cage and gave Efrian a menacing look. (Or was he just squinting to see Efrain across the cage because they took of his glasses?)
The bell sounded, and they are at each other’s throats. Well kind of, considering Efrian could only hit to the body on Nogueira’s persistence. Stanky was actually telling Efrian to engage and heckled Efrian the whole time. In the end Stanky came out on top, with a little help from Efrian, but on top. This was his time, his glory, his moment where he shouted out, “Ponchita!” (His wife’s name.) “Ponchita, I did this for you!” The scene freezes, goes to black and white, and fades out to blackness on his team’s shoulders.
Wow. Seems like Bader gets a little carried away there at the end. It’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t, and I’m almost expecting him to admit that it was all just a crazy dream he had. Someone please just tell me that there is video evidence of this and possibly other Stankie antics.
(All that wisdom, and no primetime TV slot on which to garble it…yet.)
Right away we knew that Al “Stankie” Stankiewicz (aka: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s boxing coach) had a certain magic about him. From his crazy motivational sayings to his semi-coherent ramblings about sardines, the man is straight up charismatic. But the more stories about him that trickle out, the more it’s starting to seem like he is being criminally underused in this season of The Ultimate Fighter. The latest Stank-tastic tale comes from TUF 8 cast member Ryan Bader, who paints a portrait of Stank as a lovable old card getting the most out of his affiliation with Nogueira:
I have a funny story about Al Stankie, who is our older boxing coach. After practice the coaches would go grab something to eat — most of the time without showering and in full Team Nogueira garb, which (I’m pretty sure) they were not supposed to be doing. Stankie had on a rashguard, full TapouT velour red warm-up, a TapouT beanie and a couple long gold chains. They went to The Palms to watch the Lakers vs. Celtics game. Stankie is a big Lakers fan, and when a Celtics fan expressed some joy about his team scoring, Stankie walked over and slapped the guy — with all of our Brazilian coaches looking on in horror. Before the other coaches could grab him, he yelled out, “I am with the heavyweight champion of the world! You want some?” Those of us that saw this understood that this could be Junie’s relative, and maybe that is why he wasn’t kicked off the show yet. Stankie is a great man, and Spike TV should give him his own show.
There are many stories that involve Stankie that I will try to give to you each week. We would all gather around Dan Valverde, one of the assistant coaches, and he would tell us the stories of what Stankie did over the weekend.
Bader also described Stankie as “drunk and funny as ever” when he and Nogueira showed up at the house to try and squash the prank war, which might at least partially explain the disrespect shown by many of the Team Mir fighters.
As for the suggestion that Spike TV should give Stankie his own show, we’re all for it. The fact that Brooke Hogan has her own show and Stankie doesn’t, well, let’s just say it’s a sign that this nation has lost its way.
(Somebody better tell him that’s not a regulation boxing glove.)
I love guessing games. And it is because I love guessing games that Affliction and the ever-changing story behind their second event is a constant joy for me. So what’s the story now? Will they have a completely new date scheduled? Will they claim to have no date at all? Will they go so far as to name some of the fighters on the card? Or will they shoot down any interesting rumors about who might be fighting?
This time around Affliction VP Tom Atencio is saying the main event will likely be a boxing match, thanks to Golden Boy’s involvement, and MMA will comprise the entirety of the undercard:
“We are going to do a combination show of boxing and MMA. They will run the back end and we will do what we do well.” Atencio says of the show. “It will be between nine and ten fights total. Right now it looks like we are going to do a boxing main event and everything under it will be MMA. It really depends on who we have boxing though. If they are big enough names then absolutely they will be the main event and that is what we have planned right now. Things change though and we have nothing finalized.”
Hold up, Tom. What about Fedor? We all know he’s the cornerstone of this little operation. Is he lacing up the boxing gloves, you know, just to give himself a challenge? Because if not, it sounds like you’re saying either a) Fedor won’t be the main event (and when’s the last time that happened), or b) he won’t be on the card at all.
Option b sounds more realistic, what with Josh Barnett saying he won’t fight Fedor in January and Fedor feeling his annual New Year’s Eve itch coming on. But on that subject, Atencio is uncharacteristically forthcoming.
We have a solid relationship with Fedor. We have extended our deal with Fedor. He and M-1 global are 110% our partners. The rumors are that he is fighting in Japan on New Year’s Eve but I can crush and squash those rumors right and tell you he is not fighting on New Year’s Eve.
Notice how he stops short of saying that Fedor is fighting for him in January. Which would be the next logical step. Looks like all we know right now is that FEDOR WILL RETURN! I saw it on TV, so it must be true.
Oh, and Atencio also wrote the Gegard Mousasi vs. Vitor Belfort report off as a rumor. What’s funny is Mousasi is the one who first spouted off at the mouth about that. According to Atencio, they’ve never even discussed a contract to fight for Affliction. That just figures.
KJ Noons became the latest Elite XC fighter to release an official statement, as he finally dished on what’s been keeping him from taking a fight with Nick Diaz on the October 4 CBS show. Noons sent his screed to MMANews.com, and it is full of fun little quips and nuggets about life in Elite XC. Noons’ grievances range from the financial to the probably merely perceived to the petty, but he puts it all out there with enough attitude and anger to make up for all the time he let Jared Shaw run his mouth without consequences. Among his complaints:
In the Elite XC’s DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XC’s promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that you lost. Why wasn’t I flown in for the signing?
[…]
Consider when Elite XC gives a couple thousand tickets away at their CBS show in Stockton.
Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time about one extra ticket!
Or how about when Elite XC brought Diaz into the ring after my last victory in Hawaii to disrespect me and my family.
Chuck Champion (President Elite XC) threatens me, my family and my manager with lawsuits and how he’s going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. I’m glad $kala disclosed how much I make, which breached the confidentiality clause of the contract. I will break down the real numbers for you. I am the defending world champ, I have been the main event for Elite XC three out of four times on Showtime. In almost two years I have made approximately $83,000?
Of course, Noons then goes on to tread familiar ground for fighters, explaining that he has to pay his trainers and managers and (gasp!) taxes with that money, so he figures he’s really only making around $300 a week, and his friends who are bus boys make more than that (he really said that).
The Diaz situation rears its ugly head in all of this, and it seems that their request to have Noons face him in a rematch on CBS was what really set “King Karl” off:
But the straw that broke the camel’s back is they want me to fight Diaz for the second time. Diaz is not the number one contender and they are paying Diaz three times more money than me. Diaz complained after the Stockton fight, he was not paid enough. How do you think that made me feel? Yes you can argue that Diaz gets more for the draw, therefore I do not deserve as much compensation. If that is the case, it is a result of Elite XC terrible job promoting me. Instead of promoting me as their champ and upcoming athlete, Elite XC has resented me for ruining their plans to make Diaz their champ. That is just total disrespect. So it comes down to money and what is fair. I am tired of being bent over by Elite XC with no Vaseline.
I am right when I say Diaz is not the number one contender. Elite XC is trying to force this fight for their ratings. Eddie Alaverez is the number one contender and anybody with half a brain knows that a fight with Eddie is a way harder fight for me than Diaz. I will fight Diaz, but Elite has to be fair. I’m not ducking Diaz, why the hell would I be scared of someone I already beat.
Noons concludes by saying that he plans to fight Diaz eventually, but not on the October CBS card, and that he also plans to focus on his boxing career, where he feels he can make more money. He also claims that no one is talking about Elite XC’s October card apart from the Noons-Diaz match that isn’t happening on it. He does know about the whole Kimbo Slice-Ken Shamrock thing, right?
Here’s a crazy idea: if Noons is upset that Diaz is making more money and getting more of a push, why not go out in front of the CBS audience and give him a whipping? After all, he’s not a top contender, so it should be an easy paycheck, and after he beats Diaz down Elite XC will have to pay him more and promote him as their champ, right? Plus, think of the extra sponsorship money he could pick up in front of a CBS crowd.
Or he could just sit out and not get that money. Either way. Maybe his bus boy friends know of some place that’s hiring.
(’You’re looking at Don King’s hair behind me, aren’t you? Man, every damn time.’)
In an interview with MMAmemories.com, Winky Wright diagnoses boxing’s problem by contrasting it with what MMA is doing right:
“When I was coming up, more top fighters fought each other. They all wanted to prove they were the best in their weight class, not in the WBA, the IBF, but the best, period. But now the promoters and the networks get in the way and we’re losing a lot of fans because of it. The promoters milk the prospects, they don’t match them against top fighters. The networks allow too many easy fights.”
“I would definitely say (boxing is) declining as the best are not fighting the best. In the NBA they don’t just cancel the playoffs and have the Lakers against some sorry team. No one would watch. That’s why the UFC is gaining so much in popularity. The best fight the best and the fans love to see it.”
Winky is spot on, here. It just makes you wonder if we shouldn’t be interpreting this as a cautionary tale.
- In other news, Sherdog.com is reporting that Chris Horodecki has been officially released from the IFL, at his request, and is entertaining a couple different offers at the moment. The cockeyed financial optimists at the AFL have supposedly made a “very generous offer” (they know he’s not a woman, right?), but Affliction has said they’ll beat it in order to get “The Polish Hammer” on their October 11 show. The clock’s ticking…
Legendary boxing guru Freddie Roach — who has trained a long list of superstars including Oscar De La Hoya, Mike Tyson, Bernard Hopkins, and James Toney — will enter the world of mixed martial arts on July 19th, when he’ll be working the corner of Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Banned. According to Fighthype, Arlovski has been developing his hands at Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, in preparation for his bout against Miletich-trained bruiser Ben Rothwell.
Roach fought as a pro boxer from 1978-1986, beginning his career on a 26-1 run before retiring with a 39-13 record. Casual boxing fans may know him best from his appearances on De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7, the HBO documentary series that followed his training of the Golden Boy. For your viewing pleasure, here’s a short HBO feature on Roach, which details his rough upbringing, boxing career, transition to training, and recent battle against Parkinson’s disease.
The Fight Network, the Canada-based combat sports channel, announced Tuesday they are making their first moves to enter the American market. To this end, The Fight Network announced the appointment of TwoBlueRhino (TBR) as the company's U.S. Affiliate Sales and Marketing agent. Nory LeBrun, TBR's President/Founder, will act as The Fight Network's Executive Vice-President of U.S. Affiliate Sales and Marketing.
LeBrun's main duty will be negotiating and gaining clearances with the various cable companies and satellite providers that make up the patchwork that is the US non-network landscape. Satellite providers may be the first step, as these clearances are generally easier to negotiate vs cable providers.
The Fight Network targets reaching 40 million subscribers in the U.S. over the next three years as part of its overall objective of reaching 100 million homes worldwide by 2012.
The Fight Network's offerings include Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Boxing, Wrestling and Kickboxing and theme-related entertainment. They may need to amend their offerings for the US market, as they will have a hard time lumping in their professional wrestling programming with their other combat programming for the US audience and maintaining legitimacy.
The Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas is putting on a hybrid card of boxing and MMA on the same night, June 20th. The card is free to the public, with all 16,000 tickets for the night of fights already distributed.
"We thought this would generate some interest, but it has surpassed our expectations," Libonati said. "We think this is the first time that boxing and MMA have been offered on the same card at the same venue on the same night."
This is an interesting concept. With the gate being non-existent, I imagine they are looking to make their money back in several ways. The boxing portion of the card will be televised on ESPN's Friday Night Fights while the MMA portion is rumored to be aired on HDNet.
There is generally a decent license fee from ESPN for their show and possibly a fee from HDNet, so that should offset some costs. They should also be able to make money from some of the usual live event revenue staples, merchandising, local sponsorships, and concessions. This looks to be more of a foot in the door, leading to future cards that they can charge for. With all the sniping that has gone on between the heads of boxing and MMA, a move such as this to bring the two combat sports together is more than welcome.
As a follow-up to our previous post on boxing brand Everlast and their moves into the MMA market, Everlast President Adam Geilser recently spoke with Brandweek and gave more insight into their marketing plans and why they are looking to reach MMA fans:
BW: Everlast recently signed a deal with Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Randy Couture. How does his mixed marshal arts background fit into your future plans? AG: Everlast is the exclusive apparel and equipment sponsor of Randy’s Xtreme Couture Gyms. In September we will launch Everlast’s MMA equipment line at retail. We are doing a photo shoot with him [this week] for a print campaign that will run in men’s and sports magazines. …… Our brand is strong with consumers 30 and older. With Randy and MMA, we will attract 16-22-year olds, a demo we have had trouble attracting. So the opportunity to speak to these younger consumers is key for us. It’s a major opportunity to grow our business.
Thomas Hauser of secondsout.com has a great article on HBO and it's affect on the state of boxing as a whole.
The Key points of the article.....
-HBO is overpaying for fights that are mostly mismatches or mediocre fights that aren't drawing ratings. -HBO is no longer building fighters for the future, just throwing money at the current big names. -HBO is leaning too much on Golden Boy Promotions to the detriment of their product. -HBO PPV is leading to the watering down of the cards on HBO proper. -The Higher-ups at HBO that control boxing on the channel aren't boxing guys and are out of touch with the sport. -HBO corporate is leaning on HBO Sports to have better fiscal responsibility
While not MMA-specific, the article is a great primer for the pitfalls that are faced when the reins of power for an industry are placed in the hands of folks that aren't of the industry. Say a lot of things about Dana White, but he eat, sleeps, and breathes Ultimate Fighting and very much has his finger on the pulse of the sport. Dana has been hesitant to cede too much power over the product away for a network deal and this article gives some credence to that view.
A lot of the stuff dealing with PPV is very instructive as to why HBO and the UFC were never able to come to some agreement on a television deal. With boxing, HBO is able to do shows on the pay channel and then cash in big time when superstar fighters move over to PPV fights. IF HBO did a deal with UFC they would be hyping up and paying for a product where they would see none of the huge back-end profits on PPV, a one way deal very much in the UFC's favor.
