All Purpose UFC/MMA/That Kind Of Thing Thread

Mr7134 · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

January 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC LEGALIZES MMA

Capitol City Capitalizes on MMA: DC Legalizes the Sport
By Jim Genia

(January 10th, 2007) Slowly but surely, the sport is taken over the country. By a unanimous vote, the DC Boxing & Wrestling Commission last night legalized professional mixed martial arts in the Nation's capitol -- making Washington, DC the latest addition to the growing list of MMA-friendly locales.

"I think that there's a huge wave on the horizon and DC has got to get near the crest of the wave and ride it on in," said Commission Chairman Dr. Arnold McKnight. "Our citizenry is crying for the intensity that mixed martial arts brings."

In adopting the Unified Rules of MMA (the same rules used by such states as New Jersey and Nevada), the DC Boxing & Wrestling Commission has opened the door for such big promotions as the UFC and IFL, as well as a plethora of smaller events, to come calling -- and with a high-capacity venue like the MCI Center in the downtown area, this dense population hub is certainly a prime place for a visit.

Said McKnight: "I'm overwhelmed how [pro] wrestling can sell out at the MCI Center, or at least give us twelve- to seventeen-thousand [in attendance], then at a recent boxing show here in the District we got as few as a thousand people. And yet wrestling can sell out a venue! As you well know, wrestling is scripted. Mixed martial arts is not scripted, and I am sure it's going to bring a fan base as large as wrestling."

Just how soon can fans expect an event in Washington, DC? "We will have everything in place in six weeks," said McKnight, who mentioned fledgling MMA promoter Omar Olumee as someone already planning to promote a show. What if someone wanted to put on a show sooner than that? "If a promoter said they wanted to put on a show two weeks or three weeks from now, we'd utilize the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board's referees and judges to make sure the event was carried on in a professional way."

As for the sport's burgeoning amateur scene, the District of Columbia will follow the Garden State's lead. "We're going to meet with the head of the recreation department here in the Nation's capitol," said McKnight. "We want to start staging events here on an amateur level. I talked with [New Jersey Commissioner] Larry Hazzard about that and he thought it was a great idea."

Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, and now Washington, DC -- from the looks of it, mixed martial arts will definitely be coming to a city near you.
Click to expand...

zeke12 · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

With a lede like this:

Slowly but surely, the sport is taken over the country.

I'm pretty sure this did not appear in a real newspaper.

Source, please.

Inky_Wretch · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Zeke12 said:

With a lede like this:

Slowly but surely, the sport is taken over the country.

I'm pretty sure this did not appear in a real newspaper.

Source, please.
Click to expand...

It came from an MMA site...

http://www.fcfighter.com/news

fishwrapper · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

NoOneLikesUs said:

I doubt that the UFC/MMA fans are in fact people who have given up on boxing. They, instead, seem like the kind of people who have given up on following the WWE.
Click to expand...

This is a simple false premise. Martial Artists didn't give up on boxing. Many of them/us respect boxing, but it is not a martial art.
There is an estimate of 25 million people who have participated in martial arts in the United States. Multiply that internationally. Throw in the contact of the sport, you have a strong, immediate core. Stir in a marketing genius and you have a sport that sports sections and advertisers have to take notice.
The LA Times covers West Coast events and the UFC is a big advertiser in their section. The UFC has been a good advertiser (USA Today, Vegas and San Francisco papers).
It is easy to discount, but papers are just now getting past the idear (outside the South) that NASCAR is a regional sport.

zeke12 · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Inky_Wretch said:

Zeke12 said:

With a lede like this:

Slowly but surely, the sport is taken over the country.

I'm pretty sure this did not appear in a real newspaper.

Source, please.
Click to expand...

It came from an MMA site...

http://www.fcfighter.com/news
Click to expand...

It would probably be easier to write without someone choking you, however.

Mr7134 · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

With a lede like this:

Slowly but surely, the sport is taken over the country.

I'm pretty sure this did not appear in a real newspaper.

Source, please.
Click to expand...

I forgot to list the source. I didn't mean to infer that it appeared in a â€œreal newspaperâ€.

However, the fact that the piece was off a website doesn't mean that the DC Boxing & Wrestling Commission didn't vote to legalise MMA in their jurisdiction. Much like boxing sites, MMA sites are offer the first to carry news which they perceive as being important to the sport they are covering.

The LA Times covers West Coast events
Click to expand...

The LA Times have gone as far as to hire Dave Meltzer (who writes the â€œWrestling Observerâ€) to write a bi-weekly column on MMA for them.

Inky_Wretch · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

fishwrapper said:

... you have a sport that sports sections and advertisers have to take notice.
Click to expand...

Notice, yes. Start covering as much as football, basketball, baseball, auto racing? Not even close. Start devoting half as much attention to as high school sports? Depends on the market.

zeke12 · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Did the AP move anything?

As others have said, that's the big step.

Mr7134 · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

I should just note something about the legalisation of MMA in Washington DC. It turns out that what the head of the DC Boxing and Wrestling Commission told Jim Genia, who wrote the article, was slightly inaccurate.

Jim Genia has since got further clarification...

I just got off the phone with the DC Boxing & Wrestling Commission's legal counsel The rules and regulations the Commission approved on Tuesday night are interim rules, and will remain in place until the requirements of Title 2, Chapter 5 are met, at which time the official rules and regulations will be adopted. She doesn't foresee any stumbling blocks that would prevent that from happening.
Click to expand...

Chapter 5 of Title 2 talks about having to put notice in the DC Register so that people can dispute discuss or support the proposed rule changes.

fishwrapper · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

The LA Times covers West Coast events
Click to expand...

The LA Times have gone as far as to hire Dave Meltzer (who writes the â€œWrestling Observerâ€) to write a bi-weekly column on MMA for them.
Click to expand...

Um, that's not true.
Lance Pugmire advances and covers the events. A quick Nexis search tells you that.

fishwrapper · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Inky_Wretch said:

fishwrapper said:

... you have a sport that sports sections and advertisers have to take notice.
Click to expand...

Notice, yes. Start covering as much as football, basketball, baseball, auto racing? Not even close. Start devoting half as much attention to as high school sports? Depends on the market.
Click to expand...

I didn't state as much as football, basketball, baseball and auto racing.
It is also tough to ignore both their pay-per-view buys and gates takes.
Better than boxing except for Oscar De La Hoya.

zeke12 · Jan 11, 2007

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Right. And you see how much ink boxing gets in the average rag?

People keep touting PPV buy numbers. Guess what? Being on PPV means you're fringe at best.

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