MMA Quick Hits 6/15/10: No UFC for Utah, Kampmann vs. Hardy
1. UFC on Versus 2 moving cities: According to Heavy.com, EnergySolutions Arena officials have canceled the event for their venue, making the UFC move the event from Salt Lake City, UT to San Diego, CA. The UFC, in a press release, stated that poor ticket sales was the reason behind the move. This is horrible news for the fans that have already bought tickets to the event. According to other reports it may have something to do with the Mormon community using Sunday’s for church, therefore not purchasing tickets to the event.
2. EA Sports announced the cover athletes for MMA: At their E3 press conference in Los Angeles today, EA Sports announced that their upcoming video game titled “MMA” will be released on October 19, and that Fedor Emelinanenko and the UFC’s Randy Couture will both be on the cover of the game. Now, if you are confused about Randy being on the cover, don’t be. Randy had a deal with EA Sports for other games to use his likeness so technically they can use him in this game. And they did. Smart move by EA to get a recognizable face on the cover with Fedor. I’m not knocking Fedor, but the US fans don’t know and don’t care who he is. Facts are facts. I doubt the game will be better than THQ’s Undisputed 2010 though. Besides, EA told Dana MMA wasn’t a real sport when he went to them to make the game. Now they just want on the bandwagon. Count me in on the “not buying this game” crowd.
3. Martin Kampmann wants to fight Dan Hardy: Following his impressive win against Paulo Thiago, Kampmann sat down with MMAJunkie.com Radio and said he has an opponent in mind for his next fight. “I’d love to fight Dan Hardy,” Kampmann said. “I think that would make a great fight. I heard he doesn’t have an opponent right now, so that could be a great opportunity.” Since all the other top fighters in the UFC’s welterweight division are scheduled for upcoming fights, this makes since. And Dana loves when fighters ask for fights so this will probably happen. Hardy will probably be a featured fighter at UFC 120 when the UFC goes to London, so this will give Kampmann some time off and enough months to train for it. I’d pay to see it.
4. Parisyan talks to CagePotato.com about Strikeforce: “Scott Coker said we had a coffee and it didn’t work out. Bull****, we didn’t have coffee. We had lunch at the Beverly Wilshire. When I left, he was jumping up and down, so excited to sign me. To back it up, Jay Glazer and Sam Spira, those guys were there. He was very happy to sign me and I was very happy to sign with them but they’re the most unprofessional [organization] I’ve ever seen in my life. Strikeforce is a very unprofessional organization. [Coker and Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou] are great guys but the networks run these shows. Not the show… They think different. Even if I fight for Strikeforce and never fight for UFC, god forbid… they will come nowhere near to the UFC. UFC is the most professional organization, I’ve ever worked for in seven years.” So it seems like what Dana says is true, that the network runs the organization and not the guys in charge, so to say. Karo might not be the most credible source but some of this has to be true.
5. Undefeated Ron Sparks joins Bellator: Bellator announced that it has signed 5-0 fighter Ron Sparks to fight at Bellator 23, which takes place June 24 at the Fourth Street Live! entertainment district in Louisville, KY. Sparks is a Louisville native and has finished all but one of his opponents by first-round KO or TKO. He will face off against David Hess in the preliminary portion of the card. Not a bad move by Sparks. He was supposed to be fighting tomorrow night for Strikeforce against Bobby Lashley but Lashley withdrew because of injury. The fight wilh Hess will be his toughest match to date, and I’m sure someone gets knocked out. Maybe we’ll get to see it.
4 Comments
American fans don’t know or care for Fedor? Where do you get your information? Every friend I have watching MMA knows all too well who Emelinanenko is! Dana White has been extremely vocal about his efforts to sign Fedor to a UFC contract.
Well, it’s like this. No one cares. I do, and most of my friends do. We aren’t the majority. That’s just a fact. Every time Fedor has fought here in America his arena has not sold out and his PPV buys weren’t even 300,000. Those are facts. His last fight on CBS got decent ratings but that’s because it was on CBS, not because of Fedor.
Interesting facts; thanks for sharing those. However, that could also result from weak cards and lack of promotion. I don’t know if I’d spend $50 on a PPV with Fedor is the rest of the fight card is a dog.
The UFC has grown to where it is today because of Dana’s promotion of the sport and management of the brand. If Fedor was in the UFC I believe he would be a tremendous draw. If he keeps fighting in other promotions he may never get the level of recognition and competition he deserves.
This is the first time I’ve read your site, RK. I’ll be back. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for the support.
I agree with you, if Fedor was in the UFC he'd be the biggest thing in MMA. But he's not, and therefore most don't care about him. They should, but they don't.
Dana is a great promoter, that's for sure.