(Jake O’Brien: Too boring for the UFC? Photo courtesy of UFC.com)
— The debut of Strikeforce on NBC on Saturday night was hindered by a lack of participation by major NBC affiliates. In Houston, Without a Trace aired in the timeslot Strikeforce was supposed to have; in New York there was just a black screen for 30 minutes. Steve Sievert reports that Strikeforce purchased the late night/early morning timeslot from NBC, meaning the show is closer to an infomercial than a network sports broadcast. Hopefully it’ll help harvest some new fans for Strikeforce, because the March 29th Showtime broadcast of “Shamrock vs. Le” only pulled in a 1.2 rating (287,00 viewers), which is lower than Showtime’s viewership for “Street Certified” (1.9) and Shamrock’s previous two headlining fights against Cesar Gracie and Phil Baroni (1.6, 1.7). If you missed Strikeforce on NBC’s premiere, click here.
— Following the first loss in his eleven-fight career (against Andrei Arlovski at UFC 82), the UFC has cut ties with Jake O’Brien; he had two fights left on his current contract. Reportedly, the UFC simply had too many fighters under contract, and are in the midst of a talent purge. We can only assume that O’Brien’s last three fights, in which he bored audiences with dull wrestling and lay-and-pray tactics, soured his image in the eyes of the UFC top brass. O’Brien’s manager Ken Pavia confirmed that O’Brien has agreed to a two-fight deal with the Palace Fighting Championship organization. “Had we known that his tenure with [the UFC] was at risk when we were presented with the Arlovski fight, we may have approached it differently,” Pavia said. “I don’t think they’ve seen the true Jake. He’s still a kid, and he’s still learning.” Before he joined the UFC, all of O’Brien’s fights ended in first-round KO/TKO victories.
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Written by admin on April 14th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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(I like my ‘chino enemas with extra foam.)
For those of you unaware, the UFC had an event on Saturday - UFC 82. We’ve given you results & commentary, payouts, 7/11 encounters, Chuck-Heads, and more. And to cap off our thoroughly kick-ass coverage of it all, here are the traditional Monday-after suspensions.
The Ohio Athletic Commission has revealed that only four of the fighters from the event have been slapped with medical suspensions. Each of the fighters who got the on-hold ruling lost via KO or TKO, although no broken bones or lacerations were reported. Since, Yushin Okami has been said to have broken his hand while KOing Evan Tanner and Josh Koscheck possibly might have broken his as well while dealing Dustin Hazelett his TKO and subsequent medical suspension.
Evan Tanner pulled a 60-day suspension, while O’Brien, Hazelett and Sakara all got 30-day suspensions. Overall, pretty tame suspensions for a major MMA event.
However, the best suspension announcement was Luke Cummo’s caffeine overload suspension. Fightlinker “broke” the story early today that Luke Cummo had received a three-month suspension for having “extremely elevated caffeine levels beyond anything the commission had ever seen before.”
“Normally we don’t pay that much attention to the level of caffeine in a fighter’s blood,” said OAC commissioner Warren Petty. “But Luke Cummo’s readings were off the chart. At first we thought there must be a mistake with the test, but follow ups showed that our original findings were accurate. This guy must have been tripping balls in the Octagon.”
Oh, you had us until tripping balls, although I wouldn’t put it past the made-up OAC member, Warren Petty, to say something like that. The story went on to say 3-liter coffee enemas were to blame, but luckily MMA Weekly was johnny-on-the-spot and squashed this one - not that anyone was buying it after “tripping balls”. However, OAC executive director Bernie Profato wasn’t too happy about the hoax story and had this to say about the matter:
“I’ll be contacting the state’s Attorney General office (on Tuesday) to see what options we have in this type of matter because this is absolutely not true.”
I’m sure Zuffa will be filing suit soon as well.
Written by admin on March 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
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Former UFC heavyweight champion, Andrei Arlovski, finds himself in a peculiar situation tonight when he locks horns with the undefeated Jake O’Brien at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion.”
“The Pitbull” — one of the organization’s biggest stars — is competing on the untelevised preliminary card. It’s a big step down for a man who has seemingly done nothing wrong inside the Octagon sans a few “dull” performances.
That’s perhaps more than likely not the primary reason, however, Arlovski will not be featured on the pay-per-view (PPV) live this evening. It’s what’s going on outside the Octagon that has everyone abuzz.
He’s got one fight remaining on his current UFC deal and there’s talk that he was forced to “sit on the bench” until an extension was struck. In fact, Arlovksi has not fought in almost one year … and he’s been perfectly healthy.
We caught up with Andrei and discussed his fight later on tonight, the contract situation and his plans going forward. He was tight-lipped for much of the interview, but that can be attributed in part to the sensitivity of his future talks with the Zuffa brass about a new deal after the O’Brien fight.
Here it is:
MMAmania.com: Andrei, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule. We know that you’ve got a lot going on this weekend with your return to the Octagon against Jake O’Brien. So let’s start with that. What do you think of O’Brien?
Andrei Arlovski: Jake O’Brien is a very good, well-rounded fighter. I look forward to test my skills against him.
MMAmania.com: What have you done to prepare for him? Please explain a little bit about your training and training camp.
Andrei Arlovski: My training and my training camp was the same as always.
MMAmania.com: Because you are such a fan favorite and have been with the organization for so long, what were your thoughts and feelings when you found out that you would be fighting on the undercard? It seems like a lack of respect for one of the organization’s top consistent draws for the past few years.
Andrei Arlovski: My job is to fight. It is UFC’s job to promote and it’s up to them where they put my fight. I am a fighter, not a promoter.
MMAmania.com: Is there any added pressure to finish this fight fight convincingly to prove that you are worth your asking price in future negotiantions?
Andrei Arlovski: What asking price? As far as I know, I haven’t asked for any money.
MMAmania.com: Okay … so then what is the gameplan, especially if he intends to grind out a boring decision. Is this a fight in which we will see the Pitbull throw caution to the wind?
Andrei Arlovski: As always, I have a gameplan. I will try and execute and do everything I can to win the fight.
MMAmania.com: You haven’t fought since the Fabricio Werdum bout back in April 2007. Ring rust — will it play a factor?
Andrei Arlovski: I was not just sitting around for the last 10 months.
MMAmania.com: What is your current contract status with the UFC? Has anything changed since we previously spoke?
Andrei Arlovski: The contract situation is between myself and the UFC. It would be unprofessional and unethical to discuss it at this time.
MMAmania.com: It’s safe to say that several of the top heavyweights are now competing outside the Octagon. Do you want to be back in the UFC, why or why not?
Andrei Arlovski: I have been a UFC fighter for over seven years and I do not have any other plans at this point in time. I am concentrating on my fight for Saturday.
MMAmania.com: If you do re-sign, and you defeat O’Brien, do you feel you deserve the title shot that was promised to you in 2007 but never honored?
Andrei Arlovski: At the end of the day it is not my decision who gets the title fight. I am a contender and will wait in line like everyone else.
MMAmania.com: Who do you see winning the heavyweight bout between Cheick Kongo and Heath Herring Herring at UFC 82?
Andrei Arlovski: I wish them both the best of luck but I do not like to make predictions.
MMAmania.com: Who are some of the fighters who allegedly refused to take a fight with you before O’Brien, can you name names?
Andrei Arlovski: I am not in a position to discuss privileged information. This question should be directed to Dana White.
MMAmania.com: Who are some of the fighters (besides Sylvia) who you want to challenge in your next few fights?
Andrei Arlovski: Never in the past have I picked my opponents. The promoter has always picked them. I just want to be able to fight the best guys out there and test my skills against the best competition.
MMAmania.com: Thanks, Andrei. We know you’re pressed for time. Good luck against O’Brien and with everything else going forward. Are there any sponsors you like to plug before we wrap this up?
Andrei Arlovski: Yes, thank you. I have two new sponsors, Trendkilla.com and cafepress.com/arlovski. I would like to thank the rest of my sponsors, Dreamsoft, Prestige Auto Gallery and Geneva Seal for their continued support.
MMAmania.com: Sounds great. And how about a final message for your fans before the fight?
Andrei Arlovski: Thank you for your continued support during my time away for the Octagon. I appreciate and read the emails you send to me on arlovski.tv and myspace.com/arlovski.
Written by admin on March 1st, 2008 with comments disabled.
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Bring out the blankets:
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski will return to the Octagon after almost a one-year layoff to fight Jake O’Brien at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” on March 1 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, according to Yahoo!Sports.com.
Here’s the snip:
“… popular heavyweight Andrei Arlovski would fight at UFC 82 on March 1 in Columbus, Ohio. He said the opponent isn’t certain but is likely to be Jake O’Brien. Arlovski hasn’t fought since a lackluster win over Fabricio Werdum in April in Manchester, England.”
More on this soon.
Written by admin on January 20th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Jake O'Brien and UFC PPV buys and UFC 82 and Andrei Arlovski and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and UFC Heavyweight Division and MMA.
