SB Nation User Blog: smoogy

EA MMA Game to Star Frank Shamrock?

smoogy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:50:19 -0000

Fronted by Luke Thomas.

An interesting tidbit from this MMAPayout profile:

Shamrock business model in recent years includes 70% of revenue from fighting, 15-18% from licensing, and 12% from consulting. The latter consists of fees Shamrock earns from promotions like Elite XC, and in the past, UFC, offering advice and support. He takes cash and/or equity as payment, and sometimes will invest his own capital.

He believes in taking risks, but only calculated ones. "I’ve taken some risks with my brand, but they were only risks where the payoff was way beyond the risk." Over time, he’s changed his approach. "I’ve got a life and longevity plan," he said. "I want to be healthy and happy, but I have to be in really good shape and stay at the highest level. Otherwise my brand will suffer and people will be kicking my ass." As a result, Shamrock has been much more deliberate about how he plans and promotes his fights. "My plan is to fight for 10 more years, until I’m 45, but the risks get higher every year as I get older, so I work to raise the value of each fight each time," by amping up the promotion and buildup, and commanding higher revenues.

At the same time, he continues to diversify his business outside the ring, landing some national, mainstream projects like "MMA for Dummies" with Wiley Publishing and one of the crown jewels of sports licensing deals, an MMA videogame by EA Sports that hits stores in 2010.

Last time we heard any details regarding this EA Mixed Martial Arts game, it was Randy Couture touting his possible inclusion in May:

IGN: You didn't appear in any of the UFC video games. Why was that the case?

I wouldn't waive my rights, so they yanked me from the game, and I'm not in the new version. I'm pursuing trying to do a video game of my own which I'm talking to EA about. I'm going to show up in Command and Conquer as a general, in a theatrical version of the video game they're doing now, and hopefully that will be the first step towards a video game with EA featuring me!

Obviously Couture, having returned to the UFC, appears to be out of the running, but it sounds like EA will forge ahead, with Shamrock and other non-Zuffa MMA stars comprising the roster. No word on whether or not the EA logo has been banned from the octagon yet.

Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber

smoogy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:27:58 -0000

Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber

Report: Jerome Le Banner vs. Tim Sylvia Possible for Affliction 3

smoogy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:08:30 -0000

Fronted by Luke Thomas.

Chris Howie of MMANews.com has it:

Although the second Affliction show is still over a month away, future plans include a third show that will most likely take place in January of February 2009. One fight that Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio is looking at is one that some fans have been talking about for quite some time.

"In terms of fighters we are looking at Jerome LeBanner, he is interested in doing MMA and apparently him and Tim Sylvia have some history between them so that is something that we are looking at right now."

My memory of it is kind of hazy, but as far as the background to this fight goes, the short version is that Le Banner called out Sylvia when he was champion, and again after the first Arlovski fight, with Tim brushing him off both times. To say JLB is a little over the hill would be an understatement, but he is no stranger to fighting larger opponents and I think Sylvia would be foolish to try and trade blows with him.

Report: Affliction to Sign Tito Ortiz for Oct. 11th PPV

smoogy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:24:20 -0000

Steve Cofield has the exclusive for Yahoo Sports:

Sources have told Yahoo! Sports that free agent Tito Ortiz will fight Renato "Babalu" Sobral in the co-main event at Affliction's next fight card, on Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas. The main event will feature a heavyweight bout between WAMMA champion Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.

Affliction vice president Tom Atencio would not confirm the Ortiz-Babalu fight. He said details for the fight card will be released during an Aug. 6 news conference that most likely will be held in Las Vegas.

How big is this signing for Affliction?

Well, lets look at the buy estimates (courtesy of MMAPayout and Dave Meltzer) for Tito's last five pay per views:

UFC 59 - Ortiz v. Griffin - 425,000
UFC 61 - Ortiz v. Shamrock II - 775,000
UFC 66 - Liddell v. Ortiz - 1,050,000
UFC 73 - Ortiz v. Evans - 425,000
UFC 84 - Ortiz v. Machida - 475,000-525,000

Average: 635,000

To put this in modern TV parlance, Affliction just pulled a "game changer". With a PPV ace like Ortiz, the landscape changes drastically. Given a proper promotional effort, the 250,000-300,000 buy range talked about by Affliction promoter Tom Atencio that was passed off as a laughably unrealistic goal now seems much more attainable, to say the least.

RUMOUR: Rampage arrested again?

smoogy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:06:48 -0000

Totally unverified at the moment but I figured one of you sleuths could check into it:

alright, well anyway i live next door to rampage in irvine ca. just got home from work and the neighbors were telling me that he got arrested again. I guess there was a cop car there trying to arrest him and he refused thus involving multiple units. They had like stun/taser guns drawn. I asked why he was getting arrested because i know he posted bail and the cop told me neighbor the nanny was afraid of domestic violence. Im not bullshitting you, dont ban me for trolling.

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/rampage-gets-arrested-newport-beach-ca-all-dicussion-here-814660/index490.html#post24506170

UFC 84 Preview: Dana White

smoogy — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:18:43 -0000

This diary entry was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

UFC President Dana White talks BJ Penn vs Sean Sherk.

The faces of Dana White.