Cro Cop recently responded in a blog post stating among other things:

I was asked by the members of media if I’m willing to fight Overeem since we challenged me twice already. I watched DREAM 5 and I was happy to see a strong heavyweight match-up on the card, I have no doubts that DREAM will put more match-ups like that in the future. It was a very good performance by Alistair I must say. I’m happy to accept his challenge and I’m looking forward to this fight as I believe that we can deliver an entertaining fight. Now it’s up to DREAM to make this fight happen, I’m ready to face my challenger on the next show already.

It looks as though both fighters are up to the challenge but the question remains if DREAM will actually make the bout. When two Japanese heavyweights agree to fight one another one usually ends up fighting Zulu at the event.

If the bout were to occur, I never thought I’d say this but I think Overeem at the very least has a shot. Coming off of his impressive win over Mark Hunt, Overeem has looked very impressive in his recent bouts while it’s obvious Mirko has not. I’ll still give Mirko the benefit of the doubt until he loses again but Alistair is certainly looking more dangerous than he used to.

Pulver’s comments about how the UFC has become mainstream while MMA hasn’t are especially interesting.

The month will kick off with UFC 81 on Saturday, February 2, in Las Vegas. A heavyweight match between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir has been announced with heavy speculation that Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuira and Tim Sylvia will fight for the vacant UFC heavyweight title.

Then, after a ten day break, the WEC will hold its first card of 2008 on Wednesday, February 13. The show will be broadcast on Versus at 9 p.m. ET and is expected to feature Carlos Condit defending the WEC welterweight title against Carlo Prater and “Razor” Rob McCullough defending the WEC lightweight title. An official host city has not been announced but FiveOuncesOfPain.com (www.FiveOuncesOfPain.com) has heard through multiple sources that Albuquerque, New Mexico has been discussed as a likely destination.

On Friday, February 15, HDNet Fights will be holding another card in Dallas, Texas. Jake Rosholt is slated to fight Chad Jay while Johny Hendricks is set to square off against Blake McDaniel. A main event for the show has not been announced, but a bout between Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. Frank Trigg is a possibility, with the schedules of the fighters permitting.

There will be no rest for the weary as EliteXC is scheduled to hold a card the very next day on Saturday, February 16. The show will air live on Showtime starting at 10 p.m. ET and is expected to feature Kimbo Slice’s latest bout. An opponent for Slice has not been finalized but talks are ongoing with a specific opponent in mind. Also, according to the rumors section of MMAWeekly.com, a middleweight bout between Scott Smith vs. Kyle Noke is rumored. There were also rumors that the card could be taking place in Las Vegas but FiveOuncesOfPain.com (www.FiveOuncesOfPain.com) has confirmed through a source that the card will be emanating from a different city.

From there, it will be on to Seattle on Saturday, February 23 with Strikeforce set to hold a major show at the Tacoma Dome. Bob Sapp is scheduled to make his U.S. MMA debut against an opponent yet to be name. Also, K-1 legends Maurice Smith and Rick “The Jet” Roufus will face each other in an MMA bout.

The month will then close on Saturday, February 29 during the IFL’s season opener at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The teams involved with the card have not been announced nor has a television partner. Those details could become public shortly after the new year.

And believe it or not, FiveOuncesOfPain.com (www.FiveOuncesOfPain.com) learned last week from several fighters that BodogFIGHT has been exploring the possibility of holding a show in Las Vegas in February. However, with the UFC and IFL scheduled to run shows in Vegas that month, it remains to be seen if Bodog will go through with plans to hold a card in February.

There will be no break once February concludes as the UFC will come right back with UFC 82 on March 1 in Columbus, Ohio with a potential main event involving Anderson Silva defending the UFC middleweight title against Dan Henderson.

Over the weekend I attended the U.S. Grappling Championships in Delaware to support my wife and her teammates from her school, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United. She ended up competing in the Advanced Absolute Division despite only being a white belt. One of her competitors was none other than BodogFIGHT Women’s Champion Tara LaRosa.

I chronicled the experience of my wife competing against LaRosa in an article titled “Grappling with the Champ.” After LaRosa was finished competing, she was gracious enough to grant me an interview in which she discussed her current contract status, whether she’s in fact had negotiations with EliteXC, and her feelings on Gina Carano.

Sam Caplan: You’ve competed at Abu Dhabi and you obviously compete in professional MMA as the BodogFIGHT women’s champion, but you’re here today at the U.S. Grappling Championships in Delaware. It’s not a small tournament, but not as big as some of the others out there. What brought you out to compete today?

Tara LaRosa: I had nothing to do today and I got off work at 4 o’clock in the morning and I figured, “Alright, let’s come on down and do it,” because one of our guys (from the Fight Factory) is fighting on a card right near here (Andrew “The Crow” Staiger on a Combat in the Cage amateur MMA event).

Sam Caplan: Ed Hsu’s show?

Tara LaRosa: Yes. So I thought I’d come on down here and hit up the tournament and that it would be a good time.

Sam Caplan: Are you training full-time at the Fight Factory now?

Tara LaRosa: Yep, I am a full-time member of the Philadelphia Fight Factory and I’m on the fight team.

Sam Caplan: What’s your status with BodogFIGHT right now?

Tara LaRosa: I’m in negotiations for a new contract with Bodog and I’m also in negotiations with some other organizations as well. So we’re trying to work something out where everybody is happy.

Sam Caplan: Can you talk about some of the other organizations that have approached you about a contract?

Tara LaRosa: EliteXC has approached me with a contract and we’re trying to iron out some of the wrinkles and see if we can work together. I’ve been approached by Fatal Femmes Fighting, which, at this time we’re not going forward with negotiations.

I was also supposed to fight on the Platinum Fighting Productions card in the Philippines and what happened with that was I was technically still under contract to Bodog until December 24. Even if my fight had passed they still have me for a few months so I needed to get a permission slip, if you will, to fight on the other show.

Well, I had to go through a lot of red tape and different people in the company to get that and I didn’t get it in time so they had to replace me on the card. At first I was mad about it but they replaced me with Amanda Buckner, who I think definitely deserved the spot and hasn’t fought in awhile. So I was happy with the replacement, and thus had no problems with that.

Sam Caplan: With EliteXC approaching you, at any point did they mention a possible match in the future with Gina Carano?

Tara LaRosa: We’ve discussed it (but) they don’t seem to be optimistic on me fighting her right now. I’m really not sure what they want to do with me since their weight classes are kind of skewered and I’m not going to fight at 140 and I’m not going to fight for three minute rounds. So I really don’t know what we can do but we’re trying to work things out.

They’re trying to build their women’s division so I may meet up with some of the people that I’ve seen before and they may bring in some new people as well.

Sam Caplan: If they were going to offer you a match with Gina Carano would you move up to 140 just for that match?

Tara LaRosa: I’m not sure if I’d move up to 140 or not. It’s of my personal opinion that 140 is not a weight division. 140 is a special division set up for one particular girl who can’t make weight and everybody else that has fought in EliteXC, outside of fights with Gina Carano, (such as) Shayna Baszler, they fought at 135, which is a true weight class. So I’ll fight at 135 if I’m fighting for EliteXC.

Sam Caplan: She’s (Gina Carano) been promoted as the face of women’s MMA but a lot of pundits consider you the number one pound-for-pound fighter in all of women’s MMA. Why not move up for a chance to fight her just to possibly change people’s opinions of her as the top female in MMA?

Tara LaRosa: I know I’m supposed to respond a certain way professionally and politically, but how can she be number one or even the face of (women’s MMA) when she’s been in the sport for less than two years? And she’s only got five fights against girls that are not top tier women in the world. No offense to her opponents; they are all great and they are making their way up through the ranks but they’re still not top caliber yet — not to say that they won’t be in the future.

I think EliteXC may be realizing their mistake as having promoted Gina as such (as the face of women’s MMA) because now that she’s sort of drifting off into other professions such as TV and movies and other things outside of the sport, she doesn’t seem to be taking MMA as a full-time job or as seriously as the rest of us have, as a career.

I’m disappointed that she hasn’t taken it more seriously as to be our representative.

Sam Caplan: You briefly touched on 140 not being an official weight class for women and she’s had trouble making 140, which was setup especially for her. Do you feel like maybe EliteXC is at fault for asking her to cut all the way to 140 or do you feel it’s on her to get down to that weight?

Tara LaRosa: It’s on her to get down to that weight. If she wants to be a professional fighter then she needs to treat this as a professional sport. The rest of us have all cut weight. Everybody from Randy Couture to Tito Ortiz to everyone down into the amateur divisions. Everybody cuts weight. Especially as a professional, it’s your professional obligation to make your contractual weight (the) same as everyone else, she’s nobody special.

Sam Caplan: I’m a layman when it comes to cutting weight. Is there something you see from your perspective that she’s not doing that she’s supposed to be doing in order to meet her contracted weight?

Tara LaRosa: I mean, I don’t know her personally. I don’t know her personal life. I don’t know what she does inside or outside of the gym. I’ve heard rumors that she doesn’t even train between fights so just by her physical appearance, she doesn’t seem to have the physical physique of someone that is in the gym doing cardio and watching their nutrition daily and stringently, especially for someone that should be fighting at the lower weight.

I myself at one point had hit 170. I used to walk around at 148 and fight at 135. I made weight every single time. I’ve never missed weight. And now I’m fighting at 125. I’d rather tap to strikes then miss weight. It’s embarrassing. I find it to be an embarrassment. The rest of us put it out there and the rest of us treat it as a professional endeavor. I hope perhaps that she’ll do the same in the future. Maybe she’s learned from her mistakes? She did say she was going to work with a nutritionist and something to that extent, which I really hope, especially since she’s our representative, I guess. I’d like for her to be more conscious of these such things.

This news comes from a Bodog press release, a copy of which can be found here.

These two fought for the welterweight title back in April at Bodog Fight: Clash of the Nations. “The Goat” would score a second round TKO and claim the title and also add the only blemish to Alvarez’s MMA record.

Alvarez is ready to avenge this lone loss and also settle a feud that begun back in April, after some alleged comments made about Alvarez’ son by Thompson in a post fight drunken rant.

“Nick got drunk after our fight and said some things he shouldn’t have,” said Alvarez. “He made some remarks about my son, Eddie Jr., and I plan to make him pay.”

Should be interesting.

Read more on Fiveounceofpain.com

The match has not been signed yet and there are no indications of when or where it might take place. BodogFIGHT, which sponsored this past Saturday’s Strikeforce show, has changed its business model somewhat.

It is believed going forward the promotion will sponsor events promoted by other companies and lend fighters under contract to BodogFIGHT out. A match between two Bodog fighters, Jorge Masvidal and Matt Lee, took place on the Strikeforce card.

If Prangley vs. Lindland is signed, there’s a very real chance it could possibly take place on a future Strikeforce card (the next one is in November) or on the card of another promotion.

I don’t know how to write this.

I talked to Adrian, my boyfriend, on Monday August 20th. He was giving me grief about not doing enough cardio, we talked about what we would do when he got home. I told him my intenerary for the coming weeks. I gave him shit for being short, he gave me shit for not being able to tap him in close to 2 years. I told him I had been playing with playing with the rubber guard, and that I was working on adding the twister into my arsenal… to which he replied “that’s great, but you have to get me to the ground first.” …LOL he’s a really good wrestler, greco mainly. He had to go, someone in the background needed help with something, he’d call again later in the week.

My boyfriend, SFC Adrian M Elizalde was killed when an IED hit his truck on Thursday August, 23rd. He was 30 years old.

I found out at 3:30pm PST on Friday, 24th. I was in my hotel room in Vancouver, Bodog had brought me up to do some promo stuff and commentary for the season 6 shoot. For those of you that were up there, this is why I had sunglasses on throughout the fights, and why I would get up and leave periodically. The only people that knew were Jessica Aguillar, who had been 3 doors down and found me in a heap on the floor of my hotel room, and the staff. I didn’t want any of the fighters to know, I didn’t want anyone upset or distracted in any way before their fights.

Adrian was my hero in so many different ways. I used to tell him he was “my superman.” Adrian meant so much to me, I loved him so much. He was everything I had ever wanted….. I had hoped we’d spend a lifetime together.

-Tara LaRosa

It’s really sad news. We’ve lost a lot of brave men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan and I just hope we bring everyone home soon.

Tomorrow night at 11 p.m. ET on ION television in the States will be another installment of BodogFIGHT: New Jersey. The main event for the show will be a bout between Jorge Masvidal and Yves Edwards. I saw the match live and it was one of the better fights on the show.

Masvidal really impressed me and he’s someone that you could be hearing  more about in the future. If reports are true that Bodog is making cutbacks and Masvidal becomes available, he’d be a great fit for either the UFC, WEC, or EliteXC.

You can read my Op/Ed piece on Fedor by clicking here.

Full Card (subject to change):

145 lbs & under

• Sami Aziz (Sweden) vs. Hiroyuki Abe (Japan)
• JR Sims (USA) vs. DJ Taiki (Japan)

155 lbs & under

• Rodrigo Damm (Brazil) vs. Ryan Bow (Japan)
• Per Eklund (Sweden) vs. Rafael Dias (USA)
• Darren Elkins (USA) vs. Santino Defranco (USA)
• Chris Ade (Canada) vs. Koji Oishi (Japan)
• Chad George (USA) vs. Matteus Lahdesmaki (Finland)

170 lbs & under

• Nick Thompson (USA) vs. Mark Weir (UK)
• Piotr Jakaczynski (Sweden) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (USA)
• Chris Wilson (USA) vs. Ray Steinbeiss (USA)
• Diego Gonzales (Sweden) vs. Steve Berger (USA)

185 lbs & under

• Tim McKenzie (USA) vs. Yuichi Nakanishi (Japan)
• Kyacey Uscola (USA) vs. Gegard Mousasi (Netherlands)
• Steve Byrnes (USA) vs. Alexander Shlemenko (Russia)

205 lbs & under

• Antony Rea (France) vs. Steve Steinbeiss (USA)

Heavyweight

• Todd Gouwenberg (Canada) vs. Constantin Gluhov (Russia)
• Andrew Pederson (Canada) vs. Scott Lincoln (USA)
• Dan Evensen (USA) vs. Dominic Richard (Canada)
• Kristof Midoux (France) vs. Brad Morris (Australia)

Women’s 125lb

• Megumi Fujii (Japan) vs. Lisa Ward (USA)
• Carina Damm (Brazil) vs. Jessica Aguilar (USA)
• Rosi Sexton (UK) vs. Julia Berezekova (Russia)

Women’s 135lb

• Kelly Kobold (USA) vs. Julie Kedzie (USA)
• Tama Chan (Japan) vs. Molly Helsel (USA)

“Since its inception in 2006, Bodog Fight has become one of the heavy-hitters in the world of mixed martial arts, offering fans a unique combination of action and allure from exotic locations throughout the world.
 
In fact, a fifth installment of the cutting-edge series is scheduled to debut August 21 in the U.S. on the ION Television Network, which has helped introduce the program to viewers in more than 90-million American homes.
 
A sixth season of Bodog Fight will be shot later this month in Vancouver, Canada for broadcast on ION from October 9, 2007 to February 5, 2008, thereby fulfilling the contract agreed to by both parties.
 
It is our intention to re-evaluate this relationship when this current deal expires to determine whether it is in the best interest of both going forward.”

Calvin Ayre, creator of Bodog Fight

I won’t summarize the article too much, because who really cares about ION? However, there was this interesting tidbit in the piece:

The network has also been airing martial arts show “Bodog Fight” in late night since last year, but the brawling competition was too much of a departure for the network, says Burgess. It’ll probably go off the air once Bodog’s deal with ION ends in February.

Not good, to say the least. Hopefully Bodog’s upper management will start listening to the middle management and changes to the program can be made and prep the show for a new broadcast partner. No more beaches and no more fighters demonstrating submission holds on scantily clad females. It’s time to get serious and pattern the show after something that you’d see on ESPN Friday Night Fights. Make it look like a live telecast emanating from a small theater with young and up and coming fighters. The more of a sports telecast it resembles, the more suitors it will have.

Bodog needs to find a direction. If they can get some momentum going then the issue of whether ION wants them want back would be moot because they could easily outgrow the network.

Okay, I’m sure the latter achievement ranks pretty low on Paul’s personal list of accomplishments but it’s a big deal to me.

Paul is on board for the first-ever taping of “Inside the Cage,” scheduled for this Saturday at the ESPN 920 studios near Philadelphia. Matt and I plan to have the show available for download by either late Saturday or early Sunday (as we get the hang of things we’ll be able to offer more specific availability times). You’ll be able to download the show either here or at UFCTakedown.com.

We’ll talk to Paul about his recent announcement that he’s signed a new contract with Bodog, ask him about reports that Bodog has made cutbacks and whether they’re true, his thoughts on the show in Trenton, and much more!

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has obtained a bout sheet for the tapings and Bodog Fight welterweight champion Nick Thompson is scheduled to fight in a non-title bout. Former IFL fighter Chris Wilson and former UFC fighter Assuerio Silva are both scheduled to debut for the promotion.

Here is the complete bout sheet as of July 31:

145 lbs & under

1. Sami Aziz (Sweden) vs. Hiroyuki Abe (Japan)

2. JR Sims (USA) vs. DJ Taiki (Japan)

155 lbs & under

3. Rodrigo Damm (Brazil) vs. Darren Elkins (USA)

4. Per Eklund (Sweden) vs. Rafael Dias (USA)

5. Ryan Bow (Japan) vs. Santino Defranco (USA)

6. Chris Ade (Canada) vs. Koji Oishi (Japan)

170 lbs & under

7. Nick Thompson (USA) vs. Mark Weir (UK)

8. Piotr Jakaczynski (Sweden) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (USA)

9. Chris Wilson (USA) vs. Ray Steinbeiss (USA)

10. Diego Gonzales (Sweden) vs. Steve Berger (USA)

185 lbs & under

11. Tim McKenzie (USA) vs. Yuichi Nakanishi (Japan)

12. Kyacey Uscola (USA) vs. TBA

13. Steve Byrnes (USA) vs. Alexander Shlemenko (Russia)

205 lbs & under

14. Antony Rea (France) vs. Steve Steinbeiss (USA)

15. Mikhael Zyats (Russia) vs. Buddy Roberts (USA)

Heavyweight

16. Assuerio Silva (Brazil) vs. Constantin Gluhov (Russia)

17. Andrew Pederson (Canada) vs. Scott Lincoln (USA)

18. Dan Evensen (USA) vs. Dominic Richards (Canada)

19. Kristof Midoux (France) vs. Brad Morris (Australia)

Women’s 125 lbs.

20. Megumi Fujii (Japan) vs. Lisa Ward (USA)

21. Carina Damm (Brazil) vs. Jessica Aguillar (USA)

22. Rosi Sexton (UK) vs. Julia Berezekova (Russia)

Women’s 135 lbs.

23. Kelly Kobold (USA) vs. Julie Kedzie (USA)

24. Tama Chan (Japan) vs. Molly Helsel (USA)

Less Calvin Ayre - Calvin, we get it! You’re richer than us, get more sex than us, and are cooler than us. Do you have to rub it in our faces? I’ve e-mailed him a few times to get his response to certain things related to Bodog and he always seemed like a nice guy. On TV, he comes across as being very elitist. It would do the company a little good if Calvin phased out his image a bit and when he was on, focused on his likability. Don’t show us the Calvin who is smug and trying to act like he’s too good for everyone. Show us the maverick businessman who made hundreds of millions of dollars from nothing and is now getting involved with MMA because he has a serious passion for it and believes he has the formula for a solid alternative or supplement to the UFC. People might actually be able to get behind that guy and invest their energy into the product.

Dana White at times can be all over a UFC show (although I think he’s on much less during the PPVs than before) but when he is, it’s at least in a practical role. They either show his reaction to a big upset or he’s in the ring to put on a championship belt on or award a TUF trophy. When Ayre is on the screen, it usually serves little purpose other than to promote himself. I think the most annoying thing is that he’s incorporated himself into the intro of the Ion show and they show him in a ring sparring as if he’s one of the fighters. When Dana tried to get himself over as a fighter during the Bad Blood special I thought it was bad. But at least he was training for an actual fight and has a boxing background. Who is Calvin Ayre fooling?

The most smug act of all might have been the time he was doing an interview with Paul Lazenby and there were a ton of Bodog girls there. He just had to rub it in how big time he was. It was something out of a rap video. It was almost as though the implication was that if you didn’t have a group of women with you whenever you did an interview that you were a loser. I think I might hire some hookers so that whenever I need to go to a meeting or make a phone call everyone will think I’m a sweet ass pimp. Yeah.

Tone down the women - I have nothing against women. Really, I don’t. But the selling of sex in Bodog is just amateurish, at best. If you look at what the UFC does, they manage to incorporate some sex appeal into their shows but it’s tastefully done and the women at least have a purpose. They handle ring card duties and the production team shows a closeup of them every once in awhile. I’m not a big fan of the IFL ring girl deal that they do each week, but I think the outfits they’ve been wearing the last couple of weeks is the direction Bodog should go in. Sometimes less is more. Am I watching MMA or am I watching porn? Show some skin, but I think the dental floss bikinis that they wear are gratuitous. So, less of the Bodog girls and when they are shown, improve the context in which they are used.

Change the shooting locations - MMA on the beach every week kind of wears thin. A fight is not a day at the beach. And the location chose for the St. Petersburg show was just awful. It felt like some kind of prison movie. Why not start doing the tapings in small arenas to make the promotion seem less of a novelty? I know a lot of you aren’t pro wrestling fans but some of you are. Remember the kinds of arenas that ECW used to use? I think those could be great for MMA, especially since Bodog used a ring and not a cage. A place like the Manhattan Center would be excellent for Bodog.

A better television partner – If these changes are made, I think Bodog will have a better product. If they have a better product then they might be in a position to find a better television partner. A lot of networks have jumped onto the MMA bandwagon but I’m sure a few more would like to be involved. I guess on the surface ION television doesn’t sound bad because in most instances, you don’t need cable to get it. However, how many people actually watch ION? Aim higher and try to do a deal with a 18-34 male demo basic cable channel such as FX or USA.

Change the name - I know this will never happen but Calvin Ayre is going to find himself at a crossroads sooner rather than later. Does he want his MMA promotion to be able to hold its own financially or is it going to remain a loss leader? Bodog has a few fans but it needs more in order to survive long-term. Even “billionaires” have their limits as far as how much money they are willing to lose. I bet more people would have an open mind about Ayre’s attempt to get into MMA if he showed them he was serious about MMA as opposed to his show coming across as an infomercial for the Bodog brand at times. I think the way the brand takes precedence over the fighters is going to hurt when it comes to recruiting established talent. Josh Barnett is a prime example. He’s never ripped the promotion but he’s worked for it as a commentator and cornering fighters. When he was asked in interviews about Bodog he was complementary to some extent but pretty much ruled out fighting there. I think we can all guess why: credibility!

Using Bodog as a fight promotion name just makes the whole thing look cheap and hurts the credibility. And that’s a shame because there are a lot of fighters, staff, and commentators affiliated with Bodog who carry a lot of credibility. Give the promotion a name befitting a legitimate fight promotion and make Bodog a title sponsor.

My second biggest complaint about the show (I’ll get to the biggest later) was the pacing and the match making. I had to leave the show early because I just couldn’t take it anymore. And I feel bad because I’m from Philadelphia and I was looking forward to seeing Eddie Alvarez fight. But the show began shortly after 7:30 and it was 11:30 and the fourth to last match was still going on. The strange thing was that a lot of the matches ended early and the show was still moving at a snail’s pace.

I had been working since early in the morning and was tired and had a long drive from Trenton back to Philly. I was afraid at that point I wouldn’t be able to drive without nodding off so I just had to go. The lack of action really prompted my decision to leave. If I was watching good fights I would have probably forgotten about the time.

I really don’t understand why they decided to do 10 matches plus an intermission. I realize they have TV needs to satisfy but what they should have done was started the show at 6:30 p.m. and had the opening matches be Blair Tugman vs. Dan Hawley and Nick Agallar and Binky Jones. Would the place have been empty? Sure, but the crowd wasn’t that thick to begin with.

I’ve been to cards that lasted until 1:30 a.m. but those at least had 20 matches on them. There weren’t all that many matches on this card and like I said, a lot of them finished early but for some reason they just took forever in getting everything rolling.

The matchups also weren’t the best. They say styles make fights but in a lot of cases the styles clashed. I realize Bodog has some experienced people handling the matchmaking but I have to call it like I see it. I’m not ripping them for the sake of ripping them so if they are somehow reading this, I hope they don’t just disregard my comments as some “keyboard warrior” with an ax to grind.

In addition to the amount of matches and also the order in which they were presented, the actual decisions in matching fighters was questionable. You have a feared striker in Roman Zentsov and he was matched up against Branden Lee Hinkle. This was the worst match on the card because Hinkle kept shooting in repeatedly. Once Hinkle got Zentsov on the ground he did nothing at times to advance the action of the fight. I was shocked that the referee didn’t stand these guys up. There were so many obvious points during the match where the fight should have been restarted with the fighters on their feet. If they had been handing out red cards Pride-style then Hinkle could have possibly won the match but still owed Bodog money.

The David Love vs. Eben Oroz and Chael Sonnen vs. Amar Suloev bouts were also weak. Oroz looked very tentative for some reason and Love only pressed the action a few times. Sonnen really dominated Suloev but both guys used a counter-punching strategy and there wasn’t really an instigator of the action in that bout. There just weren’t enough guys on the card who were aggressive and really wanted to push the pace. Simply put, there were too many counter-punchers on the card.

The production also really killed a lot of the show’s energy. There wasn’t a whole lot to begin with because it doesn’t look like the show did well from an attendance perspective. When I got there just before 7:30 the place felt nearly empty. More fans arrived during the course of the show but there were still a ton of empty seats. Eddie Alvarez did his part though because there were a TON of green Eddie Alvarez Fight Factory shirts. The attendance would have been better if they had more local guys on the show. The Bodog name is not enough of a draw. They should have not booked some of the fights with the lighter weight, lesser-known guys from random parts of the country. Instead, they should have given the card more of a local angle with more local fighters.

I realize they don’t have a lot of guys from this area signed to the roster but bring in some unsigned local guys and promote their matches as “tryout matches” with the winners getting Bodog Fight contracts. And I realize Tara LaRosa is from Jersey but she doesn’t train in the area so you aren’t going to get the hook of having a bunch of friends, family, and people from her school buying tickets like they got with Eddie Alvarez or like Strikeforce does with all of their Southern California guys who teach a ton of students at the local martial arts schools.

In regard to the production, Bodog had to do a couple of re-shoots (an introduction to a match and also apparently having some of the Bodog girls record vignettes in the ring). There was also the extended intermission I mentioned earlier. At one point the ring announcer stated that the fights would start again in two minutes but I swear it had to have been 20 minutes after he said that. That was in addition to the time already spent on the initial part of the intermission.

While some people will say I am nitpicking, I also had an issue with the music. I don’t know for a fact that all the music used by Bodog was from the Bodog music label but I think I have a pretty good ear and I didn’t recognize a single song a fighter came out to or any of the promo music or music beds played in between fights. So what does the music have to do anything? Well, when I go to the show the intros get me pumped for the match. Despite being taped for TV, the intros were pretty much no-frills. There were some lighting effects and that was about it. It reminded me of an WCW house show from back in the day. When I say back in the day, I mean early-90s WCW and not late-90s WCW. It was so dull that I kept looking at the fighter entrance area half-expecting Maxx Payne to come out and fight Van Hammer.

Back to the music — when I go to smaller MMA and Muay Thai shows they have DJs playing good songs between the fights to keep the energy going in between bouts. If the smaller shows can do it, why not Bodog?

If they had used songs people were familiar with then maybe the crowd would have reacted somewhat to what was played (because they were unfamiliar with most of the fighters) and people would have started talking. Like I said, a minor detail but when you combine it with everything it really does add up. It also sounded like they played certain songs multiple times for fighter entrances. Heck, two fighters didn’t even come out to music. When Chael Sonnen came out there was some music and then it inexplicably cut off, prompting one fan to yell “Remix!” I thought that was a funny line. Philly fans are some of the wittiest in the world.

I know Bodog has a music label and they want to promote their brand but a lot of the songs just sound so generic from my perspective. If I was a fighter I’d have a real issue if they told me I had to come out to their music.

The PA system was also terrible. Why does that matter? Well, in addition to the lag time between matches they also played vignettes to promo the fighters before their entrances. I thought the promos were a little long and making matters worse was that the sound was hard to pick up on. I think the fact that there were so many empty seats and not enough people to absorb the reverb could have been part of the problem. It just stunk because Matt Lindland got in the ring and said a few words to Trevor Prangley after Prangley’s win. I’d love to report on what he said for all of you but I don’t know if he merely congratulated Prangley or if he challenged Prangley for the Bodog middleweight title he had just won (they are in the same weight class).

There was also no clock in the arena to keep the fans in the know about how much time was left in the round. There was no excuse for this because the Sovereign Bank Arena is used for minor league hockey and they had a traditional hockey scoreboard above the ring. You mean to tell me you couldn’t get a timer working? It killed the energy because fans really didn’t know to stand up and cheer if the fighter might have been close to finishing a fight with time ticking down.

They also started doing post-fight interviews towards the end but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. And I was only four rows back!

Another minor issue was the fact that there was a delay between the fighter entrances. They’d play a vignette, bring out the fighter and then pause and play the vignette for the other fighter and then bring him out. At most shows I think they play the video package for both fighters and then bring them out one after the other.

My biggest issue was with the crowd, which you can’t blame Bodog for. But I was really ashamed to be a Philadelphia sports fan. The racism at the show was simply horrendous. During Yves Edwards’ match vs. Jorge Masvidal two separate people were yelling the “N word” at Edwards. No disrespect to Masvidal, but by that point I was rooting for Edwards to win by brutal knockout in hopes he’d then grab the mic and call the fans out.

The racism continued during Yuki Kondo’s match vs. Trevor Prangley. There weren’t a lot of fans chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” but having a couple fans do it is a couple too many. There’s nothing worse than being at a show seated next to a bunch of Hacksaw Duggan marks.

This one kid next to me was chanting “U-S-A!” and someone pointed out that Prangley is South African. The kid looks at the guy and goes “So what? I’m from the USA.” There were some fans of Asian-heritage right next to me on the other side and they were jawing back at him. If there had been an altercation I would have been half-tempted to intervene on behalf of the Asian gentlemen.

There was also some chants directed at Kondo that incorporated the common racial slur used for people of Japanese descent. It reached a new low when someone hurled a slur at Kondo which is the common slur used towards people of Chinese descent. I mean, Kondo is from Japan. Is it too much to ask a racist to get his facts straight? By that point someone finally had the nerve to turn around to the guy and tell him if he didn’t shut up he was going to beat the crap out of him. That took guts to do because the kid he threatened was sitting with four other guys wearing Eddie Alvarez shirts. The guy who told them off appeared to just be there with his girlfriend. I simply think he had had enough. The kid kept his mouth shut… for five minutes.

Racism in MMA is bad for the sport. The non-racists need to take a more aggressive approach. How about when the racist chants start we all start drowning them out by yelling “Fuck you racists! Fuck you racists!” Yeah, I guess using expletives is a bad idea but anything to drown them out. I felt like I was at a clan meeting last night. I mean, I’ve never been to one but I could imagine feeling the way I did last night.

Overall, it really felt like the fans were second class citizens to the taping of the matches. The camera people didn’t even rotate positions! They had two guys on the apron who didn’t move at all. This angered a lot of fans who had paid good money but couldn’t see because the cameramen were blocking their sight line. Look, I realize they had a job to do but if they had rotated at least the fans would have been able to see some of the matches.

The pacing of the show was terrible. You know, I’m not sure if Bodog realized but Trenton isn’t exactly a short drive from Philly. You had a lot of people come out for Eddie Alvarez and their time was monopolized to some extent because if you had arrived at 7:30 and came there to see Eddie Alvarez you had to wait a long time due to production issues. If there had been strong action to keep them entertained then that would have helped pass the time.

Another annoying aspect of the show is Calvin Ayre’s insistence of shoving the whole Bodog image down everyone’s throats. We were “treated” to music from the Bodog label as well as promos for Bodog music. I know they have a lot of young bands on the label who are just trying to make their way into the music business but all the songs sounded so generic and overproduced.

They also ran some video footage of “Bodog Fight Girls” which was just lame. It was like they were piping in porno on the big screen. I understand what Ayre’s trying to do, he wants to promote Bodog as a lifestyle. But it gets to a point where he comes off as a homeless person’s Hugh Heffner. And Heffner didn’t shove the Playboy brand down people’s throats. He put out a product people enjoyed and then capitalized on the following he had created. Bodog on the other hand is trying to establish too many things at once. I know they are trying to market themselves but it comes across like excessive self-indulgence by Ayre. How did this guy make so much money in the first place?

I think all the T’N'A stuff you see on their shows really takes away from the credibility of the show. I’ll watch the Ion show sometimes and it feels like they are saying “Hey, forget about the fighters, watch the show because we’ve got plenty of scantily clad women for you! We know you’re a male between the ages of 18-34 so here is some clevage for ya!.”

Calvin, here’s some free advice for you: put on great fights and the people will come. Some of the fights from the last season were good but there weren’t enough of them.

Okay, enough of the diatribe. Here are my thoughts on some of the fights. I’m not going to give a full rundown because I didn’t make it through the entire show and you can get results everywhere by now:

David “The Dcotor” Love vs. Eben “The Big O” Oroz - Oroz looked a little nervous at first and came out cautious. Both fighters felt each other out early but the feeling out process just took too long. Both guys fought like they were in the UFC and had just been told before the fight that if they had won they’d be granted a title shot. Oroz was trailing in my opinion going into the third and showed little sense of urgency to make things happen. He looked like he trained hard but I don’t think he’s ready for the big time.

Mark Burch vs. Yoshiki Takahashi - These guys deserved a bonus. In fact, I’m not sure why this match was on so early. The two heavyweights came to fight and held nothing back. Both thew some heavy shots but Burch got the better of the exchanges and in spite of his Tank Abbott-esque physique, showed good technique by finishing Takahashi with some brutal knees at 3:45 into round one. Takahashi needed medical assistance because of the knees.

Chael Sonnen vs. Amar Suloev – Like I said, a battle of counter-punchers. Sonnen dominated, which surprised me. Suloev just didn’t look into the fight. Sonnen won via ground and pound at 3:33 of round two. Sonnen had Matt Lindland in his corner. Just a bad matchup stylistically in this one.

Yves Edwards vs. Jorge Masvidal – Yves is one of my all-time faves and I rooted more for him once they aired Masvidal’s cheasy entrance vignette. Masvidal looked like a knockoff rap video that some college kids would have made for YouTube to show all their buddies.

I was pissed when the UFC dropped Edwards but since leaving the promotion he’s done little to make the UFC look bad. I think he’s 0-2 or 1-2 in Bodog now? I don’t know what happened to this guy!? I thought he was one of the best strikers at 155 lbs. Was it a case that he was just never that good? I mean, he’s not all that old, looks like he showed up in good condition, and pressed the action at times. But he still got caught by Masvidal with a high kick at 2:59 into round two. Of all the matches I saw, this was the best of the night. Both guys like to strike and came out aggressive. More matches like this should have been made.

Masvidal has some swagger to him and good quickness. He’s got some nice striking ability and is definitely a prospect to keep an eye on at 155 lbs.

Branden Lee Hinkle vs. Roman Zentsov - Hinkle was cornered by Mark Coleman. Hinkle apparently took a page right out of Jake O’Brien’s playbook from when he fought Heath Herring. Non-stop takedown attempts with little effort to finish the fight once on the ground. A waste of Zentsov’s ability. Throw another striker in there with him and set off some fireworks. This match was bad. I’m talking Kevin Jordan vs. Gabriel Gonzaga and Ivan Salaverry vs. Nathan Marquardt bad. I have no idea what the referee was thinking.

Trevor Prangley vs. Yuki Kondo - Decent match, while it lasted. Prangley busted Kondo open and the match was stopped after round two. The blood looked bad at one point but when they had made the official announcement it looked like the bleeding had stopped. It seemed like an early stoppage to me because I’ve seen waaay worse in fights that weren’t stopped. It was just an anti-climatic way to decide a title because it didn’t look like an obvious stoppage. Prangley looked like the kind of guy who can fight for anyone in the world right now. As for Kondo, I’ve seen much better performances out of him.

Blair Tugman vs. Dan Hawley - Brutal. I mean, just brutal. You’ve got two unknown guys who should want to come out looking to make a name for themselves and they did little to distinguish themselves. Well, Hawley did do some crazy stuff. During his pre-fight video package he stopped talking and out of nowhere pronounced himself to be what I think was a “caveman?” Look, the sound was bad so who knows. He then does a clawing movement with his hands and makes a high-pitched shriek. It was like something you’d hear from an angry crow. Everyone reacted in silence. He did it again. Finally, it got over with the crowd and some of them started repeating the noise.

Hawley came out wearing poorly-made Lucha Libre masks and mugged for the crowd with his corner people, who were also wearing masks. The crowd started booing and chanting “Asshole! Asshole!” Then they got bored and started making the noise again.

During the pre-fight instructions Hawley did his clawing routine right in Tugman’s face. If I had been Tugman I would have pulled a Heath Herring and shoved the dude and gotten disqualified.

It seemed like Hawley was trying to be like Jason Miller. The problem is, there’s a method behind Miller’s madness and he’s funny. Oh yeah, and Miller backs everything up by also putting a show on in the ring. Hawley wasn’t funny and didn’t entertain. The two of these guys simply didn’t want to engage. The ref should have warned each of them.

Anyway, Tugman won the decision in a match that ended the night for me. Simply put, this match should have never been booked. If they needed to fill out the card then they should have went on earlier in the night. They followed this match up with Agallar vs. Jones which made no sense.

Another issue I have with Bodog is that they are using too many 135 lbs. and 145 lbs. guys. For a company that is trying to get established, they don’t need to be focusing on the lighter weights right now. Plus, smaller fighters in a big ring doesn’t work. If you are having featherweight and bantamweight fighters you need to have a small area so these guys are forced to engage.

On a positive note, I got to meet Matt from UFCTakedown.com. Meeting a fellow MMA blogger from the local area was probably my highlight of the night.

The line of the night goes to the fan who yelled out: “Now I know why Dana White didn’t show up!” The promotion comes off like the eqivalent of Thursday night college football on ESPN in which the only people who care are the fans of the schools involved and the gamblers who feel like they need to bet on everything. It almost felt like this was an event made for Bodog’s gambling arm.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks it’s a conflict of interest for a company to run both an online sports book and a sporting event? It’s a scary thing when a fight promotion could potentially have access to the knowledge of where all the money is being bet.

If you have a question for Eddie, you can call in at 866-459-ESPN. You can also listen live on the web at 920espn.com.

Update: We just started doing the show at 10 a.m. a few weeks ago so I’m not sure the template for the online broadcast for the first hour is set up. But everything should be working fine at 11 a.m. when Eddie is scheduled to come on.

Lee’s fight status was up in the air after his first EKG showed a low heartrate. A low heartrate is common in many highly-conditioned athletes but it also could mean that there’s a problem. After the second test the commission was convinced that the issue with the first test had to do with the former as opposed to the latter.

I asked Denis about his perspective of how Pride was run behind the scenes, discussed his current contract status and what fight promotions he’s speaking with, who he’d like to fight next, and much more.

I also just conducted an interview with another major name from Pride’s past and hope to have that available in the next day or so.

I might be in the minority, but I honestly believe that Angle is serious about competing in mixed martial arts. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s talking MMA in order to get his name in the news but my prediction is that we will see Angle compete in an MMA bout within the next 12 months.

Angle recently fought Brock Lesnar in Japan in a pro wrestling match for Antonio Inoki’s new promotion. Angle ended up beating Lesnar in a match where the outcome was predetermined. He walked away with Lesnar’s IWGP title, which Lesnar had kept after he claimed New Japan pro wrestling failed to pay him all of the money they owed him. After the match, Angle said that he was willing to give Lesnar a rematch, but only if it’s MMA rules.

Angle’s post-fight interview was no doubt a wrestling angle and isn’t solely good enough of a reason to believe that we’ll see the two fight each other anytime soon. However, going out and testing the public’s desire for a match is something that I consider to be a first step.

Those who believe Angle is bluffing cite his age and injury history as being the big factors as to why he won’t actually try his hand at MMA. However, Angle is an extremely competitive person and like most star athletes has an ego. I don’t mean ego in a bad sense, I mean ego in the sense that there’s a drive in him to be the best at whatever he does. I think he sees MMA and how big it’s gotten and also sees former contemporaries of his from amateur wrestling having success. Guys like Kevin Randleman and Randy Couture were great amateur wrestlers, but they weren’t as good as Angle. I believe he’s sincere when he says he feels he can go out at his age and compete with the best. I’m not saying he’s right, simply that I believe he’s not lying when he believes he can compete with Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture.

I also think that Angle might be regretting his decision to go into pro wrestling instead of MMA. If Angle had gotten involved with MMA right out of the Olympics, I think we’d be talking about him right now as the best pound-for-pound fighter to ever compete. Angle takes wrestling seriously but I think the opportunity to become a huge star in a legitimate sport as opposed to a staged sport has more appeal. The issue was that when Angle came out of the Olympics, MMA was on life support and couldn’t come anywhere close to the money that Angle was being offered by WWE and WCW.

There’s also the potential to make a ton of money. Angle would probably get a nice payday just for fighting a mid-grade opponent. And if he’s willing to step in with someone like Brock Lesnar, he could easily make $2 million for one match ($1 million guaranteed with the rest coming in the way of PPV bonuses). There’s also the potential that if promoted right, Angle vs. Lesnar could be one of the biggest PPVs in MMA history. The potential of such a huge reward for doing MMA might easily outweigh the risks involved for Angle.

According to the Wrestling Observer, Angle had canceled face-to-face negotiations with Bodog that could have resulted in a finalized agreement several weeks back. The Observer later reported that Angle and his agent, Dave Hawk had re-scheduled meetings with the Calvin Ayre-owned fight promotion. There’s been no update as to whether Angle has actually sat down with Bodog representatives but I would have to think that the leading candidates to land Angle would be Bodog, EliteXC, and K-1.

Bodog only was able to draw 15,000 buys for its Lindland vs. Fedor PPV  that took place this past April. Based on the poor sales totals, Bodog decided that they will tape their July 14 event in Trenton, NJ for their Ion television show as opposed to offering in on PPV. In spite of the decision, Bodog has not given up on PPV. The belief is that the Fedor/Lindland fight didn’t do big PPV numbers in spite of a huge marketing campaign is because the U.S. public isn’t overly familiar with them. I think they understand that in order to do big numbers on PPV in the U.S., you need plenty of star power. While Lesnar and Angle have just one MMA match between them, their histories in pro wrestling qualify them as big potential box office draws in MMA.

Another idea that has been considered is a match between Angle and Daniel Puder, who won the WWE’s “Tough Enough” challenge several years back and was involved in an incident with Angle where the two had an impromptu shoot wrestling exhibition where Puder reportedly nearly tapped Angle with a basic keylock. The WWE was embarased by the incident and never followed up on the real-life drama even though Puder ended up being out seven other finalists for a guaranteed six-figure contract. Puder’s one-year deal eventually elapsed and the WWE offered him a longer-term contract at a reduced right. He declined and returned to MMA.

It’s been several years now since Angle and Puder had their little run-in on Smackdown and it remains to be seen how much marketing potential still exists in a real fight between the two. The fact that the WWE owns the footage of Puder nearly tapping Angle out makes it real difficult to market the match to people who weren’t already familiar with the legitimate heat between the two.

In the end, Angle vs. Puder may not make much sense for Bodog even though Puder is already under contract to the promotion (he’ll be fighting on this week’s episode on Ion, by the way). But the allure of a special attraction match between Lesnar and Angle not only makes sense for Bodog but for EliteXC and K-1 as well.

EliteXC might be better served taking a pass on the potential bout since they are trying to build for the long-term. With the money needed to spend on putting together a match between Angle vs. Lesnar, they could probably go out and sign 4-5 high profile Pride fighters to multi-fight contracts.

As for K-1, even though they fell flat during their U.S. debut on June 2 at the LA Coliseum they still are trumpeting the event as a success to their Japanese audience and they apparently are serious about doing another event in the States. Lesnar vs. Min Soo-kim failed to captivate the U.S. audience, but Lesnar vs. Angle not only has marquee value in the U.S. but in Japan as well. FEG isn’t afraid to lose money so they might be the most willing fight promotion out there willing to spend in order to make the fight happen.

Whether Angle truly believes he can be successful in MMA may be irrelevant in light of the fact that he possibly could be leaving a small fortune on the table by not trying his hand at it.