To any MMA fan that wants to see what is GUARANTEED to be a dynamite fight.

Tune in to Showtime's main event for the Darchinyan vs Arce fight.   Yes its boxing which will immediately turn some of you off...  But if you give any fight a chance I would say give this one a chance.  Its little guys but they both are completely offensive minded, hit like a truck, and like to win by attrition.  Plus, they are two of the most talented guys in any of the weight classes around them. Oh – And there is several years of bad blood brewing.

So if nothing else DVR the Showtime fights tonight you won’t be dissappointed.

I would stake my reputation as a boxing fan on this fight being fucking amazing if not an all out war while it lasts.  This could be FotY.

 

Do you know when you'll be back to Sengoku?

 

I’m training to fight MMA now in March, at Sengoku, Japan. It’s 90% right, but it isn’t confirmed yet and I can’t guarantee. But I believe that will happen. I’m training in my gym. If I do fight in March, I’ll continue doing my training in London and four weeks before the fight I believe that I should go to NY with Renzo (Gracie).

 

How do you come for your third fight?

 

I think that I develop a lot my game after every fight I do. This will be the third fight in MMA and I believe I’ll be better every fight, not only physically but also mentally, with more experience, in a different way in the ring. The more I compete, the more I overcome myself.

This is why I abso-freaking-lutely fucking love HDnet.

check the rest here

From NightmareofBattle

 

11 participants for the DREAM Featherweight GP were announced today. The only surprises are Hiroyuki Takaya and very talented Greco-Roman Wrestler Joe Warren who received a two-year doping suspension in 2007 when he failed a drug test (for the second time) which made him miss the 2008 Olympics. The rest are as expected and it looks like another quality Featherweight GP.

Kid's participation is still not completely set but its likely that he will be slotted into the second round as the favorite with a first round bye

The weight of the GP also has yet to be set...  Though IMO its likely that it will be between 138-143 depending on what Kid can make.

HEIWA DREAM.7 Featherweight GP 2009 1st Round
Date: March 8th, 2009
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

Featherweight GP Participants:
Masakazu Imanari
Hiroyuki Takaya
Takafumi Otsuka
Hideo Tokoro
Wicky Akiyo
Atsushi Yamamoto
Bibiano Fernandes
Micah Miller
Chase Beebe
Joe Warren
Kim Jong Won
SHOJI/DJ.taiki

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Station Casinos Inc., the Las Vegas gambling company taken private by management and Colony Capital LLC in 2007, proposed filing for bankruptcy in collaboration with lenders as it struggles to pay the debt from the buyout.

The company offered investors 10 cents to 50 cents on the dollar in secured notes and cash, in exchange for about $2.3 billion of existing bonds, Station Casinos said in a statement yesterday. Some secured lenders have agreed to support the plan, the company said.

Station, which promotes its casinos to local gamblers in the Las Vegas area, had trouble paying creditors in a market among the hardest hit by deteriorating home prices and recession- driven job losses. Gambling revenue in Las Vegas last year may have fallen the most on record.

Unsecured bondholders “would prefer more cash to go their way,” said Chris Snow, a debt analyst at CreditSights Inc. in New York. “It certainly helps that the sponsors are putting up more capital in the form of equity.”

It seems Fertittas and Colony will have to come up with some cash to insert in the venture if they wanna have any hope of keeping their sasinos

As part of the proposal, affiliates of the Fertitta family and Colony Capital have agreed to invest as much as $244 million to maintain their current ownership stakes.

In December, Station abandoned a debt-exchange offer for some senior notes after trying to prod investors to accept a below-face-value cash payment or new, discounted notes with longer maturities.

If enough bondholders agree to this proposal, the company may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Station Casinos said in the statement. Under bankruptcy regulations, two-thirds of senior noteholders and two-thirds of subordinated noteholders have to agree with the plan before it is filed.

Station Casinos missed a scheduled $14.6 million bond interest payment on Feb. 2, ahead of the restructure plan. The company said yesterday it had about $350 million in cash as of Jan. 31 to fund operations.

So do the Fertittas hold ZUFFA or do they try and retain controlling interest of their family's baby from bondholders?

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest casino company, swapped $2.22 billion in bonds for new notes and cash in December in a sweetened exchange offer aimed at pushing back maturities and reducing debt.

Leon Black’s Apollo Management LP and TPG Inc. acquired Harrah’s in January 2008 for $30.7 billion, including $13.4 billion in assumed debt and transaction costs.

I wonder if half the guys in there ever show their face/screenname again

Lulz at stupidity

Good jobs to Brent, Nate and all others that know a brilliant ring tactician when they see it.

For the record - That Machida guy sure seems pretty good.  If I had ever doubted him before I'd definately stop doubting him right about now.  Can't wait for him to do this to Evans...  Or for it to be one of the most boring titles fights ever as you pit a master counterpuncher like Machida against a guy that eludes and shoots or throws the occasional haymaker like Evans

As reported by CBSsports.com contributer Gary Herman

WEC Vice President Peter Dropick not only confirmed the possible rematch, but said that Varner’s home state of Arizona is being considered as a potential destination.

“Arizona is definitely possible for the rematch,” Dropick told Herman. “Their rules have changed.”

Damn already?  Planning it so soon?

 

Varner is already on board for a second fight vs. Cerrone.

“Oh, hell yeah,” Varner is quoted in the report as responding when asked about possibly facing Cerrone again. “There will be a rematch. It was an honor to fight this guy. He’s still the number one contender. I can’t wait to fight him again.”

Could be a while though:

The scheduling of the rematch may not happen for an extended duration due to the fact that Varner broke a bone in his foot as well as the index metacarpal on his right hand.

Fortunately there doesn't seem to be any worry here about career ending injury so we can get this match on the books.

rom NightmareofBattle

Fabricio Werdum has told Tatame that he is close to signing with SENGOKU and Affliction. Check for details on Tatame’s English site if/when they put it up.

Hari’s teammate Melvin Manhoef might have a very busy fight schedule in the coming months. Manhoef’s management confirmed to 5 Oz of Pain that Melvin might participate at DREAM.7 in March. Besides that Melvin has a Kickboxing fight in February at an It’s Showtime event, a possible K-1 WGP in Yokohama participation at the end of March, and a fight at the aforementioned It’s Showtime event in May against Stefan Leko.

HEIWA DREAM.7 Featherweight GP 2009 1st Round
Date: March 8th, 2009
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

Possible Featherweight GP Participants:
Chase Beebe
Masakazu Imanari
Wicky Akiyo
Kazuyuki Miyata
DJ.taiki/SHOJI

Possible Participants:

Gegard Mousasi
Melvin Manhoef

Wow - Thats so strange that Affliction would be negotiating with Werdum when they have given up and are begging the UFC for survival.  So weird!  I can't possibly understand how that is happening!

Could this set up an unofficial rematch of the only match that Fedor really struggled in?  (Granted this was at least partially if not largely due to the weird rules in Rings)

From Tatame:

Away from competitions since 2007, at Pride, Ricardo Arona already has a date to come back. Training at Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Arona gets ready to be back at ADCC 2009. With the presence of the fighter in the event that launched him confirmed by the secretary of the event, Wagner Gomes, we spoke to the athlete on the expectation for the new challenge, that he knows like no one else.

 

"It’s very important to fight at the ADCC because I was away from MMA and competitions for a while, and I really started my professional life at ADCC, after I won my first ADCC. It’s important to return to competition and win it is very important to then sign new MMA contracts. It’s a matter of honor, because I’m unbeaten and is the best way to return", said Arona, who dreams of a superfight against Fedor Emelianenko, who is also confirmed in the event.

 

"He (Wagner) talked with me about a possible superfight with Fedor and, of course, I want it. It would be perfect, he has the difference in weight, but that doesn’t bother me. I would like it a lot", says the fighter. Asked about how would be the rematch from the defeat on MMA in the rules of Submission, Arona didn’t hide the optimism. "How would it be? (laughs) Oh, it’s difficult to imagine a fight, but it’ll be very good, it would be great. That’s my beach, the fight on the ground, takedowns, without punches... It would be perfect for me".

 Check out the rest here - Thanks to Tatame

Thanks to Nightmare of battle for keeping up with the news and letting the masses know that King Mo vs. LHW KOP Ryo Kawamura is very likely to take place at SENGOKU VII on March 20th. This was a fight that many people thought would happen on January 4th.

King Mo via awesomeness.  This takes place March 20th and I'm stoked.  I would say this should be a moderate step up in competition for Mo...  But Fabio Silva KO'd this guy a little over a year and half ago.  We know what Mo did to him.

Other fights being discussed for this card included Monson vs Roger Gracie - somehow I don't think thats gonna happen now lol.

From Japan-MMA.com

Currently he is training at 50%, and he does not want to risk possible injuries by stepping into the ring too early. This means that he is possibly out of the featherweight GP, but I have a feeling FEG will be able to keep a spot open for him. Currently he is rebuilding the muscles around his right knee, and working on his striking.

This is horrible news for DREAM as they need the Tiger Beat posterboy back ASAP.  Kid is hinting at an April return but that could also be too soon.  It would be beyond catastrophe for DREAM if he were to return too early and do a Shogun and get reinjured.  There is little doubt though that FEG is making sure Kid has the best doctors and rehab specialists working with him as he is truly their meal ticket.

I still couldn't find the original one but this is basicallllllly the same thing

From USAtoday - for my friend in the Live chat of UFC 93

Just to prove to you a fighter can't pick WHATEVER he wants and Dana wants music that sounds like pump me up fight music.  Personally I'd choose What is Love by Haddaway.  I wonder if Dana would shoot me down.

Just proving I didn't make it up that he shoots down musical choices

 

The house lights darken. The crowd roars in anticipation of the main event. A spotlight picks out a fighter stepping toward the cage. The music starts …

"Do you really want to huurrrt me?" sings Boy George as the ska-pop beat of Culture Club fills the arena.

UFC fighter Rich Franklin says he's crazy enough to be the fighter in that scene.

UFC President Dana White isn't likely to let that happen. "I might not let that one slide by," says White, who has veto power. "I've exercised it quite a bit."

UFC puts a premium on production values, and entrance music is part of it. White was happy to let Dave Kaplan walk out to the light-hearted General Public tune Tenderness at the finale of The Ultimate Fighter season.

"The music that comes out should either be very, very creative… or it better get you hyped up to see a fight," he says.

But White doesn't limit selections to any particular genre. Some modern classical music has made the cut, though White says he'd draw the line at Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Elton John's Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting would get White's approval. Candle in the Wind would not.

Edited by Kid Nate. Please use the blockquote button (it looks like a quote mark and is next to the strikethrough button) to make it clear what you're quoting. Also please include the actual link and for copyright purposes, repost no more than 3 or 4 paragraphs from your source. thanks

As the fanpost below me illustrates Tom Atencio is firing back as internet rumors swirl that the Affliction show has sold only 1500 tickets.  He also address Fedor not on the media promotion circuit, the nature of the beast when it comes to comping tix, why he picked Gilbert Yvel, (style matchup), and why Affliction won't be doing live music at this show.  (Should have done Ozzy at the first show IMO would have went alot better than having Megadeth.)

Tom seems to be pretty forthcoming in this interview and notes the uphill struggle of getting the fan that knows MMA as UFC to tune into the Affliction show.  He also indirectly clears up Werdum's quote about having 16 shows.  10 M-1 Events copromoted by Affliction and then 4 BIG events with Affliction/Golden Boy and M-1 Global (Fedor & Mousasi's management co)

Originally posted on Sergio Non's blog at USAtoday.com  (My print newspaper of choice these days)

 

Q: How are ticket sales going?

Atencio: Ticket sales are going good. I'm real happy, with the economy the way it is. It's definitely comparable to the last event.

There are some reports that Affliction has sold only 1,500 tickets; last time around, they had 6,000 sold by now. How accurate is that report?

(Claiming sales are only) 1,500 tickets is completely ridiculous. I don't know where that comes from. I think it's just people on the Internet and quite frankly, I think it might even be our competition just trying to make whatever they can. You know on the Internet people just put whatever they want and then everybody starts believing it.

If it's on the Internet, it must be true.

It's just completely ridiculous. Not even true. Not even close to being true.

The last time your total paid attendance was around 11 or 12,000 (California State Athletic Commission figures indicate paid attendance of 11,242 for the July 19 show). If you get reasonably close to that, would you be willing to paper the rest to fill up the place?

The truth of the matter is, there's a certain amount that we do pay because we have our celebrities. We have all the people that I sponsor. All our VIPs. And those are good seats. So truthfully, you're always comping and you're always doing a little bit of something. Not to mention our fighters and their contracts, there's always a little bit.

Sengoku 7 is tomorrow, (tonight/early tomorrow morning over here), and the weigh-ins are in

going from Main Event down, everybody made weight.  And according to the source Yoshida has apparently lost as much as 15 - 20 KG's  (33 - 44 lbs) to make LHW.  OMG Yoshida may actually be in shape. 

To have a little fun with the recent trend...   (Roids?)

This from Japan-MMA.com

9. Main-Event: Lightweight Title Fight:   5 X 5 minute rounds
Takanori Gomi 69.8kg
Satoru Kitaoka 70.0kg

8. Middleweight Title Fight: 5 X 5
Jorge Santiago 82.2kg
Kazuo Misaki 82.7kg

7. Light-Heavyweight:   3 X 5 minute rounds
Hidehiko Yoshida 92.9kg
Sanae Kikuta 91.4kg

6. Light-Heavyweight:  3 X 5
Muhammed Lawal "King Mo" 92.8kg  Lets do this Mo!
Yukiya Naito 91.8kg

5. Heavyweight:  3 X 5
Antonio Silva 118.2kg
Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao 102.4

4. Lightweight:  3 X 5
Eiji Mitsuoka 69.9kg
Sergey Golyaev 69.8kg

3. Heavyweight:  3 X 5
Dave "Pee-Wee" Herman 110.3kg
Choi Mu Bae 118.3kg

Opening Fights:  2 X 5 minute rounds
2. Lightweight:
Maximo Blanco 70.0kg
Seigo Inoue 69.9kg

1. Light-Heavyweight:
Hidetaka Irie 92.7kg
Minoru Kato 92.1kgEdit FanPost: SB Nation

This is really an excellent card and I know I'll find SOME way to watch it.

Also according to Nightmare of battle

The reason the "2008 Beijing medalist" that was rumored to be competing at this show is not competing, is there will be a major wrestling event coming up early this year that he, or SHE, (there were a couple dominant female japanese wrestlers at the last Olympics), will take part in then come to compete in Sengoku.  Assuming it is a male and Sengoku isn't adding a womens division, this makes the likely candidates Tomohiro Matsunaga or Kenichi Yumoto who would be a possible FW competitor.

That means anybody looking to watch it through less than reputable means...  It will be coming on at 2 AM West Coast and 5 AM EST.  TBS will be airing it from 7 - 11:24PM and it will be airing on XTM in S. Korea at 7PM local time.

It will be airing in full on SkyPerfect PPV at 12 midnight ( I am assuming Japan time)

                                 THERE IS NO LIVE BROADCAST OF DYNAMITE

Source:  JoeSon

(Mods you know what i'm talking about but I don't wanna post the proper address)

UPDATE:  As MMA Supremacy annotates in the comments apparently this will NO LONGER happen live though it may be tape delayed. 

LAME

www.eventmagic.tv is the website broadcasting the PPV and if you purchase before the 31st you'll also receive Dynamite 2007, K-1 World Max and for anybody that missed it K-1 WGP.  The event starts at 3PM in Tokyo so thats like 1AM EST on the 31st and 10PM PST on the 30th over here.  (I'm pretty sure my math is right on those numbers but I could be jacked up so you might wanna double check it.)

EDIT::

There seems to be some debate about this, (hell i'm even debating myself in the comments) -  according to timeanddate.com Tokyo is 17 hours ahead of LA so count backwards from 3PM 17 hours for the west coast and 14 for the east coast for the start time.

Simpler way - Its currently 1:30 PM in Japan and 8:30 PM in Cali...  So when its 3PM in Japan it will be 10:00 PM pacific and 1 AM EST...

End Edit::

$29.95 for a super high quality  stream and VoD service if watching it live doesn't fit your plans...  Sounds pretty good to me.  I think I know what I'm doing for the day of NYE and thats hooking this little laptop up to a 50 inch flat panel and watching all day.

Today, December 22th, completed exactly six days after WEC bantamweight fighter Will Ribeiro was involved in a motorcycle wreck that forced a sudden stop to his career.

The accident was reported by Ribeiro's friends as such; the 25 year old fighter was riding his motorcycle without a helmet, rounding a curve he found himself  fast approaching a car crash blocking the road. To avoid the colission he instinctively locked up the brakes (which happened to be only the front set). Ribeiro's bike endowed, throwing him head first into the curb.  Ribeiro's skull was masively depressed and do to the high speed of the impact/no helmet, he sustained severe damage to his brain. The most recent information we have received from hospital Andarai, is that the former Olympic Boxing member is in an induced coma at the hospital's intense care unit and has lost the sight of one of his eyes. Ribeiro's chances of surviving were slim.

Today, in a call to teammates of Ribeiro, we got news that his situation improved slightly, and even though he's still in an induced coma, he moved one of his legs in a display of a reasonable reaction to the treatment received.

Hang in there bud.

From Tatame.com

Two weeks after doing his second fight in WEC, at Las Vegas, Will Ribeiro now faces the most difficult of the battles. TATAME.com received a call from his coach Luiz Alves, telling about the bad motorcycle accident suffered in Rio de Janeiro, earlier today. "Things are really bad… The accident happened around 1a.m.. He were riding a bike without a helmet and, when tried to brake, skided and crashed", told Luiz Alves, who also told the athlete is in coma at Andaraí’s Hospital. Stay tuned on TATAME.com for more news about the accident.

Wow...  The guy had, (hopefully still does have), a bright career in front of him.  Right now all you can do is hope he survives intact much less fights again.  This buds for you Will...

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR...  And watch K-1 WGP on HDNet Tonight!!!   Undoubtedly one of the top 5 cards of any fightsport I've ever seen...  And I've seen a few.   3 words AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE, BRUTAL!!!  Apparently I've gotta add 20 some more words after this word right here....  So I'll just go on to exclaim how amazing this card was...  Fights of the Night abound...  3 KO's of the year candidates IN A ROW!!!  Its 6:30 in the morning and I have paper thin walls and i've literally shouted out loud 3 times.  I'm sure the neighbors will speak with me later.

Best K-1 card I've ever seen - The announcer said it was the best K-1 card he's ever worked...  PRIDE 33 level card.  So many HL's

EDIT FIRST COMMENT CONTAINS A SPOILER BEWARE

Posted before the finals:  Still awesome but In a different way from the rest of the fights WTF?!?!  I haven't seen anything like that since Tyson Holyfield

Wow the Japanese Websites that went to the announcement just dropped the info and this absolutely blows away ZUFFA's NYE plans and if Sengoku had any intention of running a NYE show they should can it right now.  This plus the earlier rumor that Tim Sylvia has been negotiating with Dream sounds awesome.  Tim vs Hong-Man Choi anybody?  Heres the details

From Nightmare of Battle:

It was announced earlier today at Akasaka in Tokyo that K-1 Dynamite!! 2008 will be held at the Saitama Super Arena on NYE. FEG President Sadaharu Tanigawa, DREAM event producer Keiichi Sasahara, and someone from TBS were all present.

Tanigawa said that there was an idea in the beginning of separating DREAM and K-1 into two events, but in the end it is was decided that K-1 WGP, K-1 MAX, K-1 Koshien and DREAM will all be on one card. He also said that he thinks that the card will be 15-20 fights long.

They also showed a movie at the press conference with the background music being from Star Wars.

17 fighters, who are all planned to participate, were present at the press conference:

DREAM: Joachim Hansen, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, Kazushi Sakuraba, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Masakazu Imanari, Takeshi Yamazaki, Atsushi Yamamoto, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Minowaman, Kiyoshi Tamura, Seichi Ikemoto (DEEP WW Champ), and Yuichi Nakanishi (DEEP MWGP Winner)
K-1 WGP: Musashi
K-1 MAX: Yasuhiro Kido and Yoshihiro Sato

Yoshihiro Sato proposed another fight with Masato, Aoki asked Akiyama if he would accept his challenge, and Sakuraba asked Yoshida if he would give him a fight.

Update: Besides the fighters present, Masato, Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto, Caol Uno, Hideo Tokoro, Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuyori Shibata, Junich Sawayashiki, Taishin Kohiruimaki, Mirko CroCop, Gegard Mousasi and Choi Hong Man were announced as participation candidates.

Japan-MMA.com is reporting that Badr Hari is also likely and FEG is still negotiating with Fedor.  (Skwirrl opinion - M-1 and Affliction said it is Ironclad Fedor will not fight on NYE but I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up to hand out challenge flowers to the winner of a fight or something similar)

 I tried to include the images from Japan-mma.com of the conference but I guess I don't know what coding to use for this website - sorry