Guy Mezger
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Pro wrestling/MMA/boxing hybrid audio blog JarryPark.com conducted an interview recently with HDNet Fights commissioner Guy Mezger.
Mezger revealed to interviewer Ariel Helwani that the IFL and HDNet have reached an accord that includes an agreement to televise the promotion’s World Grand Prix finals on Dec. 29 along with 2008 events.
Mezger left the impression that HDNet would be the sole carrier of the IFL’s WGP finals.
However, when contacted by FiveOuncesOfPain.com (www.FiveOuncesOfPain.com), the IFL offered a position that differed from Mezger’s comments.
“We are looking at several TV and new media opportunities right now and expect to have an announcement in the next week about December 29,” IFL Senior Vice President of Communications Joe Favorito said in a statement to FiveOuncesOfPain.com. “There has been interest among several entities and we are right now evaluating which one is best for the fans, the sport and the event itself. Nothing is confirmed.”
Mezger stated during the JarryPark.com interview that an official announcement about the IFL and HDNet relationship is due to be made on Monday.
He also confirmed a story first reported this morning by FiveOuncesOfPain.com contributing writer Adam Morgan, who stated that Sean Salmon is out of a co-main event against Jason “Mayhem” Miller scheduled for HDNet Fights’ next card on Dec. 15. He will be replaced by Tim Kennedy, who holds a previous win over Miller.
Kennedy is scheduled to fight on the undercard of the IFL’s WGP finals on Dec. 29 but we have learned that his involvement on the HDNet Fights card on Dec. 15 comes with the IFL’s consent. As of now, he is still scheduled to fight on Dec. 29 but a backup plan is being devised.
Mezger’s interview is very informative and I highly recommend everyone check it out. There’s tons of great audio content on JarryPark.com, a site that I visit regularly.
Written by admin on November 21st, 2007 with comments disabled.
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HDNet Fights held a conference call on Wednesday afternoon to promote their next live telecast on Dec. 15 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.
Involved on the call were HDNet Fights president Andrew Simon, HDNet Fights matchmaker Guy Mezger, along with fighters Sean Salmon and Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who will be fighting each other in a clash of middleweight during the show’s co-main event. The other main event will feature Frank Trigg vs. Edwin Dewees.
Here’s a recap of the conference call:
- The rumors of Randy Couture joining the promotion were brought up. Mezger wasn’t real comfortable with the topic and said he wanted to focus on talking about the card. He said that if there was a way to get Couture on board at HDNet Fights that it would be “awesome.”
- Miller and Trigg have signed three-fight contracts that are non-exclusive. However, there are some restrictions when it comes to their exclusivity, such as they don’t want fighters that they’ve signed to multi-fight deals competing a month before they’re supposed to fight for HDNet Fights.
- 22-24 shows are planned for 2008. The number of shows will include live HDNet Fights cards as well as cards presented by their partners, such as the IFO and Ring of Combat. The plan is for HDNet Fights to hold their cards in Dallas during the next 12 months in order to build a fanbase and them start doing shows around the country. Pay-per-view is also an option they are looking at for the future. Also, titles could be introduced once they fill out their divisions and gain some traction.
- Mezger revealed during the conference call that their next show after the Dec. 15 event will be in February. Team Takedown standout and Masters of the Cage light heavyweight champion Jake Rosholt will be debuting for the promotion on that card. Mezger was asked if there was interest in the other three members of Team Takedown (Johny Hendricks, Shane Roller, and Eric Bradley) and he indicated that there was. He was very complementary to the team’s management and the fighters they’ve signed.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG
Written by admin on November 14th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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Mark Cuban conducted both a press conference locally in Dallas this morning and also a conference call for the national media soon after. The press conference and the conference call was to announce the formation of HDNet Fights that will be televised every Friday on Cuban’s high-definition subscription cable channel, HDNet.
HDNet already televises MMA content but today’s announcement confirmed recent reports of an extension of MMA coverage on the network with fights being offered every Friday night. The plan is to offer 24 MMA event telecasts in the upcoming year. Additionally, a new magazine-style program called “Inside MMA” that will also air every Friday and be hosted by Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten. The show debuts this week.
HDNet Fights will be working with other promotions such as the IFO and Art of War, however, Cuban’s new group will promote cards of its own. The first Cuban-promoted card is scheduled for October 13 from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX.
Guy Mezger, who is essentially Cuban’s day-to-day MMA operations manager, was on the call and announced several matches.
They are as follows:
- Main event: Erik Paulson from Shooto fame will be taking a break from his training duties and coming out of retirement to fight 5-time kickboxing champ Jeff Ford. This will be a light heavyweight matchup.
- Former UFC heavyweight title contender Justin Eilers will be taking on Justin Howard.
- Freddie “Speedy” Espiricueta will fight Jason House
- Former UFC fighters Pete Spratt (of Houston) will be taking on Sammy Morgan
- Sean Salmon will be fighting Leopoldo Serao
- T.J. Walberger will go against Anthony Lapsley
- Justin McDowell will fight Ivan Jorge
- In a battle of super heavyweights, Joel Traves will do battle with Sunia Filikitonga
Other fighters are listed on the promotions web site (HDNetFights.com) so I’m assuming there will be more matches.
Highlights of the press conference include:
- There was talk of Fedor but nothing new to report. Cuban confirmed they’ve offered some things that interest Fedor’s camp and that the UFC has offered Fedor’s camp some things that interest them.
- I asked Mezger about other big name free agents. He wouldn’t get into specifics but I asked him if they’d be interested in Josh Barnett. He not only said that they’re interested but that discussions have taken place. He mentioned that if they were to sign Fedor, they’d need someone to fight him and that a lot of people aren’t willing too. We all know that Barnett would be willing too.
- A lot of fighters signed for the first card are on one-fight deals. Mezger is exploring possibilities with certain fighters who could fit into a situation where they’d be signed to multi-fight contracts.
- There was a lot of talk about the IFL. Ring of Fire, Art of War, and Richard Steele’s IFO will all be promotions that HDNet Fights will be working with but with 24 shows planned, they will need to work with more companies. The IFL’s HD rights for 2008 are not secured so there’s nothing to stop them from working with Cuban at this point in addition to their deals with Fox Sports Net and MyNetwork. Also, don’t rule out HDNet as a possible solution to the whole IFL live telecast issue.
- Josh Gross from Sherdog.com mentioned in an article today that Cuban has been talking to the WWE and Vince, Shane, and Linda McMahon. Gross didn’t offer much detail so I asked Cuban if he could elaborate. Basically, the McMahons aren’t looking to start an MMA promotion. However, they have existing PPV distribution and Cuban expressed an interest in talking to them about production since they are already doing so much of it.
- Justin Eilers dropped a nice little nugget of info. He’s training in Vegas now at the Vegas Fight Club where Tony Fryklund trains. Eilers actually trained in a boxing gym for a while in Iowa after leaving MFS. Apparently his decision to leave MFS wasn’t one that came on good terms. He reluctantly revealed that he had a beef with Tim Sylvia. Basically, when Eilers got the title shot against Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia didn’t feel like he deserved it and felt that the title shot should have been his. Instead of being a good teammate and sucking it up, he just refused to work with Eilers in helping him get ready for the match. You know, I’ve defended Sylvia in the past but that’s a bullshit move on his part.
- Right now HDNet has 6 million subscribers. It’s available to most people who have satellite. Technically, you don’t even need an HD set. You just need the HD box and you can hook it into the S-video connection of your TV and subscribe. It’s not available on Comcast but Cuban said they are working on that.
Written by admin on September 12th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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I’ve got some MMA News & Notes for you on a Thursday afternoon. I was on the EliteXC conference call today and I hope to have some highlights for you a bit later.
On to the news…
- I was able to touch base with Guy Mezger today and ask him for some more detail behind Mark Cuban’s new MMA project. You can read the highlights of my conversation in an article I that I wrote for CBSSports.com by clicking here.
- There’s a new promotion in Canada called Hardcore Championship Fighting that’s planning a big show on Oct. 19 in Calgary. The main event that’s being floated around right now is Wesley “Cabbage” Correia vs. Aleksander Emelianenko. HCF apparently has big money behind it and I’m hearing they are talking to some very big names.
- Do you want to speak with the most underrated fighter in MMA? Luke Thomas’ Any Given Saturday will be on a special night tonight at 10 p.m. ET and the guest will be UFC welterweight Jon Fitch. You can access the show at BloodyElbow.com and call-in as well (646-478-5091).
- There’s a new Rampage interview available at Complex.com. You can check it out by clicking here.
Written by admin on September 6th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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In a new article at CBSSports.com, my boss and editor, Denny Burkholder, is reporting that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is indeed serious about expanding his holdings in MMA. Cuban informed Burkholder that his first hire is none other than former UFC champion Guy Mezger.
Cuban has hired MMA veteran Guy Mezger to run the day-to-day operations of his MMA project, and will rely on Mezger to handle tasks such as talent evaluation.
“We have already started,” Cuban said. “Our first hire was Guy Mezger, who will be responsible for managing fight cards, attracting and signing fighters.”
Mezger runs the Lions Den affiliate in Dallas, TX and has served as a commentator and matchmaker for several MMA organizations. His reputation in the industry is impeccable.
In addition to working with Mezger, it appears that Ed Fishman, formerly of Pride, could be involved somehow as well:
In White Chocolate’s press release, they indicated that former Pride Fighting Championships USA president Ed Fishman was present for the recent meetings with Cuban and Mezger. Fishman was the driving force behind Pride FC’s pay-per-view events held in Las Vegas in 2006 and early 2007, in the days before the company was sold to UFC parent company Zuffa LLC.
I’m only giving you bits and pieces here. You really should go to CBSSports.com and check the entire report out by clicking here.
Written by admin on September 4th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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