Monday, August 24 9:11 pm PT: Do you live in New York? Would you be entertained by the site of a genial-looking Russian with a belly full of potato soup and vodka hitting a heavy bag while Brigitte Nielsen tells gathering press that he hits with 1200 psi?
If you’re willing to budge on the Nielsen thing, Strikeforce can help you: reigning puncher of stuff Fedor Emelianenko will be holding an “open workout” at Fighthouse on 122 West 27th Street in New York City this Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. This would be more of a maintenance phase activity, since he still has no fight officially scheduled yet.
Don’t live on the East Coast? Catch Emelianenko this Friday, where he’ll be playing Twister with Gegard Mousasi as part of an in-ring “exhibition” during an M-1 Global card in Kansas City, Kansas. Presumably, Emelianenko will begin his coast-to-coast tour of Bennigan’s outlets in the fall.
But really: when it comes to developing a brand name in the states, the UFC’s hours and hours of basic cable exposure is tough to top. Emelianenko’s real stroke will come when he’s in front of a CBS camera crew; Judging a livestock show, or whatever the hell he’s doing in Kansas -- apologies to Kansas -- isn’t exactly legend-building at its most effective.
Monday, August 24 3:56 pm PT: The California State Athletic Commission unanimously decided Monday to delegate authority of amateur MMA to the newly formed California Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Organization (CAMO).
CSAC commissioner Mario Rodriguez, who co-chaired a committee with commissioner June Collision that reviewed and selected candidate organizations on Aug. 20, said amateur MMA could be enacted as soon as CAMO is capable to oversee it.
CAMO, a non-profit organization, was ceded all control over the state’s amateur MMA program, much like USA Boxing oversees the amateur boxing circuit in California.
CAMO representatives, Jeremy Lappen and J.T. Steele (both formerly of Pro Elite), said the organization will introduce regulations and organization details in a press release in the coming weeks.
Also on the agenda, the CSAC requested that executive director Dave Thornton draft language introducing instant replay to the state for consideration and voting at a later meeting
Monday, August 24 10:45 am PT: Thank God for smart people making with the science: a new study from the plainly-titled Brain Injury journal indicates that pugilists might soon benefit from a blood test that can detect damaged nerve cells.
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Erciyes University Medical School in Turkey tabbed 44 amateur boxers and measured a protein that’s indicative of brain damage against a control group: the boxers were found to have elevated levels. Scientists also discovered that the damage didn’t abate after a two-month layoff from contact, which means that getting your brain dribbled isn’t something you just wait out.
What relevance this has in MMA probably won’t be known until someone begins following four-ounce-gloved athletes over a long period of time and charts their neurological condition. Already, fighters known for their headhunting -- Gary Goodridge, Chuck Liddell -- are channeling Joe Frazier in some of their speech. Reduction of head blows in MMA avoids the fatalities found it boxing, but it may not avoid forgetting the car keys.
Monday, August 24 10:20 am PT: If the name Matthew Polly rings any bells, it’s because he’s penned several articulate, ambitious pieces on Slate.com about Fedor Emelianenko, Russia, and what jiu-jitsu shares with the Kama Sutra. (Ask him.)
Pushing 40 and with a physique that evidences many pizzeria dinners, Polly decided to step into the ring Saturday for one amateur fight in preparation for a first-person, book-length trek into the sport due for publication next year. Polly, 38, defeated David Sexton, 24, when Sexton couldn’t answer the call for round two.
“I was really nervous,” Polly told the Las Vegas Sun. “I actually went and hid in one of the bathroom stalls to try and calm down…My first thought when I got out there is, I got Joey Varner (Xtreme Couture trainer), Robert Drysdale (world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert) and Randy Couture walking in with me, I was like, I can’t shame them.”
On the heels of Fight! magazine editor Donovan Craig climbing into a ring, this further cements my prediction of MMA as the new skydiving, a kind of midlife-crisis adrenal dump you pursue when you’ve worn out your copy of “Fight Club” and want to get very gonzo journalist. I wonder if Thomas Harris ever disemboweled anyone prior to writing Hannibal.
Monday, August 24 7:45 am PT: “Hosting” a professional wrestling event is not the world’s most appealing resume bullet point, but if you’re Floyd Mayweather, it’s probably irrelevant: in an effort to appeal to that demographic to hype his Sept. 19 bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, Mayweather will be appearing on the WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” program tonight on the USA Network. And considering he has that fight in four weeks, it’s unlikely he’ll be taking any steel chairs to his face.
If you find yourself lost in the narrative, consider that Aaron Glazer, a writer for the Examiner dot.com site, wrote, “Randy Orton has been bullying Guest Hosts for weeks, even going so far as to attack Freddy Prinze, Jr.” Things are clearly coming to a head.
Not an unwise move for Mayweather, who would categorically love to chair a “victory” for boxing in a head-to-head revenue comparison on the 19th. It’s also a feat that’s not likely to be duplicated by the UFC, which has long held a slightly hypocritical attitude toward Vince McMahon’s theatrics.
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