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The good people at famed gentleman’s magazine Playboy have an interview with UFC prez Dana White in their September issue (which drops Friday, August 15) and one of the more interesting nuggets to come out of it are White’s remarks on what torpedoed the HBO deal:
“I pulled the plug at the 23rd hour. HBO was pi**ed off… I would have had to sell out, literally. They would have owned the UFC… I took meetings with HBO’s boxing guys. I’ll tell you, if I had to hear one more time about how many fu**ing Emmys they had won, I was going to dive out the window. I said ‘You won a bunch of Emmys, but I’m kicking your a** on pay-per-view.”
Awesome. Do I believe Dana White actually said that to HBO executives? Not really, but it’s still a good story. As much as people criticized him for not making the HBO deal happen, you have to respect his desire to maintain his autonomy, even if it means not blowing up big time with HBO’s Emmy factory.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dana White interview if he didn’t bash Tito Ortiz:
“That big-mouthed bit*h, that clown. Back when he had the title, he refused to fight Chuck Liddell. He sat on the sidelines for a year and a half, crying, ‘Aww, I don’t have any money!’ So I brought him back and made him a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. That year he made more than $6 million, yet he bit*hes about me. Well, I put up with Tito’s sh*t when he was a decent fighter, but now he’s not and I don’t have to… Did you see what a wall flower he was on [The Celebrity Apprentice]? The guy has no presence. He was the idiot hiding in the back. If he actually did something, people would know how stupid he is.”
There we go. Now I feel better. White also discusses Mark Cuban, Donald Trump, and a bunch of other stuff. That, plus the promise of naked women, makes it seem worthwhile to pick up a copy. Too bad it’s not the German version, which features naked women who are also Olympic athletes.
Written by admin on August 14th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Olympics and Donald Trump and naked and nude and women and Playboy and fight and General and Tito Ortiz and UFC and Dana White and HBO and Mark Cuban and News and MMA.
(’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…
Written by admin on August 5th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Affliction and fight and contract and AFL and Winky Wright and General and Boxing and UFC and HBO and News and Chris Horodecki and MMA.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Ricky Hatton at 1:35 of round 10 by KO.
Written by admin on December 8th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on mayweather and ricky hatton and floyd mayweather and Boxing and HBO and MMA.
UFC President Dana White and Spike TV President Kevin Kay announced yesterday that their two organizations have agreed to a four-year television contract extension that lasts up until 2011.
The details of the partnership were revealed in a teleconference and in a press release.
Essentially, the deal ensures that The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) mixed martial arts reality series remains a staple on the cable television network. In fact, two seasons are slated for 2008 and 2009 (four total).
In addition, one new installment of TUF will air in 2010 and 2011 (two total). During the single seasons in 2010 and 2011, however, a new fight series that is currently in development will be introduced and be featured along with TUF.
White also mentioned that there will be 12 UFC Fight Night events guaranteed throughout the duration of the contract – four each year. There could be more added depending on certain circumstances (i.e. Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock III).
“Unleashed” will also be in the forecast – all 39 one-hour episodes of them. Spike TV will run 13 per year in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Here’s a snip from White:
“With the tremendous success and the record ratings we have achieved over the years, I am very happy to have Spike TV as UFC’s cable partner. I am excited to continue our relationship with the team that has supported UFC from the very beginning, and to have even greater success with all of our UFC programming on Spike TV.”
There was no real news on the ESPN or HBO fronts. At the moment, White seems content with the SpikeTV deal and the sporadic coverage the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” provides leading up to major pay-per-view (PPV) events.
He is confident that a deal with HBO will happen in time.
For the actual audio of this announcement head over to “Mr. Sunshine.”
Written by admin on October 26th, 2007 with comments disabled.
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The year-long back-and-forth negotiations between the UFC and premium cable channel HBO have broken down for good, according to comments from HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg in a NewsDay.com report today.
Here’s the snip from Greenburg:
“After lots of discussion it became apparent that the business model doesn’t make sense for either one of us. So, we agreed to go our separate ways. You never know what the future holds. We have enormous respect and admiration for the executives we dealt with at the UFC. We wish them well.'’
Not an outright nail in the coffin, but the prospect of watching UFC fights on HBO are dashed once and for all at least for the near term.
UFC President Dana White has been adamant for months that a deal would ultimately be struck. He has also been quoted as saying the he “is the problem” for the deal not being forged sooner.
Control of the production of the shows on HBO seemed to be the major hang-up. Both parties wanted the authority to produce the events and in the process protect their valuable brands.
It seems now that a compromise could not be reached.
The UFC planned to feature the international events on HBO such as UFC 70, UFC 72 and UFC 75 — all of which took place in Europe. In addition, the HBO cards would have showcased up-and-coming fighters who were headed to more prestigious pay-per-view (PPV) events.
In short, the talent would be better than UFC Fight Night cards but not quite ready for the PPV audience.
Don’t forget that the arrest of former CEO Chris Albrecht — who was later fired from his post — more than likely also had an affect on the stalled negotiations. He was the man who championed bringing the UFC into the HBO fold.
For now EliteXC is the only mixed martial arts promotion that has a deal with a major premium cable channel (ShowTime).
Written by admin on October 5th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on HBO and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
Semi Love ... TONIGHT!
For the first time in the history of UFC Fight Blog, I'll actually be covering the IFL. Shocking, I know. That's not to say that I'm going as far as to purchase a PPV, but I am interested enough to make picks and follow the action via Sherdog or MMAweekly's play-by-play. So, with all the fighters making weight, it's time to sit back and watch my picks fall like Beyonce. I felt like a blind man picking for a horse race when I was picking the fights, but what the hell, ALL IN!
(By the way, maybe Kurt Otto's trying to be "too cool for the room," but the semi finals are actually tonight ... Thursday.)
Cage Raging
The official line up for Cage Rage 23 has been announced via MMAweekly (
here) and it appears as if the Brits go by the motto, "the more titles, the better." In one for the FOUR title fights Vitor Belfort will be taking on James "The Messenger" Zikic for the Cage Rage World light heavyweight title. Not only does Cage Rage like having one hundred titles, but they also like using at least four words to describe each. Either way it'll be free on proelite.com and amusing if nothing else.
Free Fighting
This weekend also boasts the best reason to watch cable, MMA. Specifically, the WEC makes its return to VERSUS in PPV fashion. With a line up that features two title fights, this is a contest that is not to be missed. Oh, and did I mention, IT'S FREE!
HBO...no
I can't imagine that a UFC-HBO deal is still on the table. Over one year ago, MMAweekly announced that an HBO deal was on the horizon, and yet nothing. Think of all the things that have happened in a year:
Rich Franklin, Chuck Liddell, Tim Sylvia and Matt Hughes were all champions.
Arlovski and Sylvia were preparing for their rematch.
Randy Couture was a commentator.
Elite XC hadn't had their first show yet.
Pride claimed allowed Wanderlie Silva to attend a UFC event and agreed to let him fight, then announced that they would "take over the UFC." That went well.
Sean Sherk was a welterweight because the lightweight title didn't exist.
MMA forums were abuzz with Tito-Dana talk.
UFC Fight Blog didn't EXIST!!!! (Word.)
---Check me out tomorrow, I'll be doing a preview/picks tomorrow for Sunday's WEC event.
If you are interested in trading links or just want to contact me feel free to throw me a line: ufcfightblog@yahoo.comPLEASE DON'T STEAL MY CONTENT, LINK ME!
Written by admin on August 2nd, 2007 with comments disabled.
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From the HBO deal to recent PRIDE FC rumors to the showdown between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva that may not happen, UFC President Dana White and four fighters answered wide-ranging questions today during the conference call to promote UFC 73: “Stacked.”
Sam Caplan over at FiveOuncesOfPain.com was on the call — along with other reporters and UFC fighters Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz, Sean Sherk and Nathan Marquardt — but we’ll summarize his summary.
That’s because there were some interesting topics discussed.
Here’s what we found most intriguiing:
- White “scoffed” at the claim that the HBO deal is dead. In fact, White said that the UFC was, “right about there with the deal.”
- Old PRIDE FC contracts, according to White, are valid with Pride Worldwide —the new company that owns PRIDE FC. However, a lot of the fighters on the PRIDE FC roster are signing with the UFC because the status of the promotion is uncertain right now and they want to fight. And reports that PRIDE FC running a show anytime soon appear to be untrue, according to White, because there is still so much that needs to be sorted out regarding its future.
- The blockbuster fight between Liddell and Silva is a little overblown and that it is unlikely to happen at UFC 76 on September 22 if at all so soon. In fact, Liddell could actually return in November.
- Evans’ uncle wants Ortiz to “pay for all the years the black man was enslaved” after the “Nappy Headed Ho” comments.
- Sokoudjou may not be allowed to fight in EliteXC (he’s legally tied to PRIDE FC for two more fights) despite reports that he signed with organization.
- White called the people who reported Ken Shamrock would fight Michael Bisping as, “Internet Knuckleheads.” Who, us? He went on to say that he doesn’t believe Shamrock is still a UFC-caliber fighter and that Shamrock should consider retirement.
That’s our recap of the recap. Head over to FiveOuncesOfPain for the entire scoop.
Written by admin on June 28th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFC 73 and HBO and Pride and Dana White and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and MMA.
