Hailing from the hit TV show, King of Queens, actor Kevin James’ latest venture is a film revolving around music and mixed martial arts. To add support and credibility to the upcoming project, Ultimate Fighting Championship president, Dana …
Hailing from the hit TV show, King of Queens, actor Kevin James’ latest venture is a film revolving around music and mixed martial arts. To add support and credibility to the upcoming project, Ultimate Fighting Championship president, Dana White, gave his consent to use the UFC brand in the movie, slated for release in 2012.
According to MMAWeekly’s Damon Martin, Here Comes The Boom is about James’ character, Scott Voss, a high school science teacher, who moonlights as an MMA fighter, in order to save the school’s financially struggling music program.
Along with the comedian, the movie also stars Salma Hayek and Henry Winkler. Also casted for this comedy, as denoted on IMDB.com, are UFC notables: commentator Joe Rogan, ring announcer Bruce Buffer, ring girl Arianny Celeste and former champion Bas Rutten.
Until now, Zuffa LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion, has never given anyone the rights to use their trademarked name, since obtaining the UFC in 2001. Kevin James, a longtime mixed martial arts fan, called White directly for permission when production began.
“I like Kevin and he called me up and he’s passionate about the sport, he wanted to do this movie. We haven’t given the rights to anybody,” White explains. “(In the movie) it’s UFC, we gave him the rights to it.”
Though Dana White was asked to have a role the film, the UFC president laughingly declined.
“They asked me. I’m no actor. No way in hell I would do that,” expressed Dana.
Here Comes The Boom is currently in production and scheduled to be released by summer of 2012. The film was written by Kevin James, Rock Reuben and Allan Loeb, and directed by Frank Coraci.
ROLAND RISO MMAIDIOT.COM
Roland Riso is a contributing writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained from MMAWeekly.com.
The MMA world rejoiced today when UFC President Dana White broke the news that the long-awaited battle between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz would finally be happening later this year at UFC…
The MMA world rejoiced today when UFC President Dana White broke the news that the long-awaited battle between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz would finally be happening later this year at UFC 137.
But given that Diaz is perhaps Strikeforce’s most prominent champion, and he is now fighting in the UFC, could this fight be more than just a champion-versus-champion contest? Could it actually be the beginning of the end for the organization currently known as Strikeforce?
When White first broke the news that Zuffa had purchased Strikeforce, the MMA community began weighing the pros and cons of the situation. While Zuffa’s financial backing would help better promote the organization, many were skeptical that the lack of competition in the United States, or even throughout the world, could lead to a less exciting end product.
Though he understood the concerns that fans would undoubtedly have, the UFC President was adamant that things would not be changing.
“It will be business as usual,” he repeated numerous times.
Zuffa and the UFC stayed true to that word for months, but the looming possibility of an earth-shattering announcement kept fans on pins and needles. On Wednesday, that announcement was made loud and clear with the unveiling of the UFC 137 main event which will feature St-Pierre vs. Diaz.
Not only that, but we later found out that not only had Diaz signed on the dotted line to fight St-Pierre, but that he had also signed an eight-fight deal with Zuffa. This contract is a first in that it is not exclusive to either Strikeforce or the UFC, but rather Diaz can fight in either organization.
So, to be clear, the Strikeforce Welterweight Champion is not exclusive to Strikeforce.
It goes without saying that Diaz is the most interesting fight that St-Pierre has left within the division. In order to leave no questions behind about possible “ducked” opponents at welterweight if he does decide to move up in weight classes, St-Pierre needed this fight.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that this fight negatively affects the Strikeforce brand.
While Diaz is the king of the Strikeforce welterweight division, he is simply looked at as another challenger to Georges St-Pierre in the UFC. Sure, his title will be noted by the commentators and probably even a bit in the promotional videos that come out. But this fight is for the the title that fans care about—the UFC title.
It’s one thing to have an up-and-comer from Strikeforce come to the UFC and replace a fighter who had to pull out of a fight on short notice. But it’s a completely different thing to take the champion from Strikeforce and pit him as the challenger for a UFC title.
If that’s not saying, “Strikeforce is dead to us,” I don’t know what is.
While nothing has been announced yet, it seems almost inevitable that the UFC will continue to pull top-level talent from the Strikeforce roster over to UFC events while leaving the table scraps for Strikeforce to live off of. Does this remind you of anything? The WEC perhaps?
The WEC was unique in that it contained two divisions which were not featured in the UFC, the featherweight and bantamweight divisions. But once the UFC decided to add those divisions to its own programming, it simultaneously dropped the curtain on the WEC as a whole.
The only thing that Strikeforce has that is unique from the UFC in terms of fighting divisions is the women’s divisions. While some of us are entertained by these bad-ass ladies, there is still a huge population of the MMA community that has not—and likely never will—latch onto the idea that females can be entertaining in any sport, let alone a combat sport.
While Dana White has repeatedly stated that he has little-to-no interest in having the women’s divisions be a part of the UFC, it’s extremely hard to believe that the women’s divisions alone would keep Strikeforce from being eaten up by the UFC. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the female divisions will be an eventual casualty to the Zuffa purchase.
Like the WEC toward the end, Strikeforce had trouble establishing itself as its own brand in competition with the UFC. The term “Ultimate Fighting” remains very prominent in the casual fanbase and Strikeforce and the WEC simply have not been able to conquer that in order to establish fans of their own. Almost no one in the world is solely a Strikeforce fan. But a big chunk of fans are strictly UFC fans.
This simple, yet significant distinction is why there really is no reason for the UFC to keep the Strikeforce brand around. There just really isn’t anything compelling happening in Strikeforce that would keep fans interested past the end of 2011. The Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament has been successful in generating interest, but that should be completed by the end of the year.
After that, Strikeforce essentially becomes “UFC B-Squad” in terms of excitement level. It is at that point which we could see Dana White breaking news once again about the UFC and Strikeforce officially combining rosters, solely under the UFC name.
Whether or not this is the beginning of the end for Strikeforce remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain—this is not business as usual.
UFC president Dana White made an otherwise slow news day into an exciting one that fight fans have been waiting for for a long time with a simple tweet that was succinct and to the point.
“U wanted it! U GOT IT!!!”
What we will get will be a welterweight showdown between UFC champ Georges St-Pierre and Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Although he didn’t say whether or not both (or any of the two for that matter) titles will be on the line, does it really matter?
UFC president Dana White made an otherwise slow news day into an exciting one that fight fans have been waiting for for a long time with a simple tweet that was succinct and to the point.
“U wanted it! U GOT IT!!!”
What we will get will be a welterweight showdown between UFC champ Georges St-Pierre and Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Although he didn’t say whether or not both (or any of the two for that matter) titles will be on the line, does it really even matter?
As we discussed during last week’s episode of The Bum Rush Radio Show, Diaz might be the most legitimate challenger St-Pierre has faced in some time, in spite of White’s constant claims that every challenger the St. Isidore, Quebec fighter has faced “is toughest opponent yet.” Of noting is that St-Pierre dropped just his first two rounds since 2008 against the the Stockton, California native’s Team Cesar Gracie training partner Jake Shields in April and many feel that Diaz is a more well-rounded version of the former Strikeforce middleweight champion.
Diaz too has not lost since 2007, having notched wins in that time over Frank Shamrock, Scott Smith, Mach Sakurai, KJ Noons and Paul Daley.
One thing’s for sure, St-Pierre isn’t going to be able to jab Diaz into a living death or smother him on the ground and dry hump him to a decision. This one’s gonna be a 209-style scrap, son.
Dana White tweets: GSP vs. Nick Diaz is on for UFC 137. UFC 133 fight card to include: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Rich Franklin vs. Antonio “Lil’ Nog”.
UFC 133 fight card to include: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Rich Franklin vs. Antonio “Lil’ Nog” Rogerio Nogueira set for August 6th.
Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsAt UFC 130, Dana White didn’t sound very confident that he would be able to put together the much talked about Nick Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre super-fight. However, on Wednesday afternoon, the UFC president ann…
At UFC 130, Dana White didn’t sound very confident that he would be able to put together the much talked about Nick Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre super-fight. However, on Wednesday afternoon, the UFC president announced the fight was a done deal and would take place at UFC 137 on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas.
MMA Fighting spoke to Cesar Gracie, Diaz’s manager and trainer, about how the deal was completed and what this means for Diaz’s Strikeforce future.
A transcript of the conversation can be found below.
Ariel Helwani: How did this deal get done?
Cesar Gracie: We just sent the contract yesterday and it arrived in their office today.
Is Nick now a UFC fighter?
You know what? That’s an interesting question and they have not told me how they’re going to structure that.
So is his Strikeforce belt on the line?
I don’t know. I truly don’t. They haven’t told me if his belt is on the line. I don’t think so. This is not like that because if his belt was on the line that would make GSP the Strikeforce champion (if he wins). And then what? He’s going to fight someone from Strikeforce? I don’t think that’s happening. But then again, refer to Dana on that one because I truly don’t know.
Did Nick sign a one-fight deal with the UFC or a longer one?
We have a new deal. Multi-fight, multi-year contract with the UFC.
How many fights is the new contract for?
I can tell you it’s a multi-fight, multi-year contract. I can’t tell you how many fights.
So it sounds like he is a UFC fighter now.
Right, but the contract does give the option to fight in Strikeforce. So what that opens up is the potential for him to also fight in Strikeforce.
Over the weekend, Dana White referred to some issues which were stopping this fight from being made. Do you know how those were resolved?
There was a lot of misinformation — there were a lot of reports out there that weren’t true. Showtime, I don’t think was a problem, to be honest with you, at all. They don’t have a contract with Nick. Nick’s contract is strictly with Explosion [Strikeforce’s parent company prior to the Zuffa purchase]. It has never been a contract with Showtime. So the reports you heard were erroneous and false. Other than that, the hurdles were the [Jeff] Lacy thing, stuff like that. I don’t know if they were Strikeforce, and if they were, Nick signed a new contract that dissolved his old contract with Strikeforce.
Do you know if Showtime is getting any kind of percentage of the pay-per-view?
No idea.
Any idea why Vegas was chosen as the site of the fight?
There were two venues they were looking at: one was in Canada and one was in Vegas. We didn’t know which one it was going to be until today.
Would you have been OK with fighting in Canada?
I did tell them it would be better if we fought in Vegas, obviously, because then the belt wouldn’t have very much further to go once Nick gets it (laughs).
Do you think this marks the end of Nick’s run in Strikeforce?
Hopefully. If he’s back in Strikeforce, I would imagine that’s because he lost his next fight.
After a month of speculation that started after UFC 129 in Toronto, it’s official: UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will defend his title against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz.
UFC president Dana White made the news official …
After a month of speculation that started after UFC 129 in Toronto, it’s official: UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will defend his title against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz.
UFC president Dana White made the news official on Wednesday afternoon through his Twitter account, saying, “U wanted it! U GOT IT!!!” White said the fight will take place on Oct. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for what will be UFC 137.
St-Pierre defended his title with a unanimous decision victory over Jake Shields at UFC 129 in Toronto at the end of April. After the post-fight press conference, White talked about potential interest in a GSP-Diaz bout with a small group of reporters. And fans and analysts have been calling for it ever since.
Through the last month, White has been insistent that there have been obstacles in the way of Diaz simply coming over to the UFC to fight St-Pierre. And one of those obstacles was Diaz saying he was interested in trying his hand at boxing – even hooking up with a promoter before pulling back and deciding to stick with MMA.
White met with the Strikeforce champion, who after a TKO win over Paul Daley in April seemed to have run out of challenges in the promotion, which is now owned by the UFC. White and the UFC needed to clear the hurdle of Diaz’s Strikeforce contract – and there have apparently been enough inroads made for White to make the fight announcement.
The initial announcement leaves several questions lingering, though. White was not immediately available for comment on what Diaz’s return to the UFC means for his Strikeforce welterweight belt and how the promotion will fill it, assuming he vacates the title.
But Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on Wednesday that under Diaz’s new multi-year, multi-fight deal, Diaz will also be able to return to fight for Strikeforce – though Gracie said if that were the case, it would likely mean he would have lost to St-Pierre.
One of the initial barriers, White said, in Diaz coming to the UFC was Strikeforce’s deal with the Showtime premium cable channel, which broadcasts the promotion’s events. White said on Saturday after UFC 130 in Las Vegas that Diaz’s Strikeforce deal wasn’t a “Showtime contract,” per se. But he has indicated throughout the last month that the Strikeforce-Showtime deal did present a hurdle the UFC would have to cross to make the superfight with St-Pierre a reality.
St-Pierre (22-2, 16-2 UFC) had his streak of 30 straight winning rounds snapped by two of the judges in his win over Shields in Toronto. But he has remained the most dominant champion in the sport the last three years. Since winning the UFC 170-pound title back from Matt Serra at UFC 83, the Montreal native has defended it six straight times against Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy and Shields. After winning the belt the first time, against Matt Hughes at UFC 65, St-Pierre lost it to Serra in his first defense in what is regarded as arguably the biggest upset in the sport’s history. But since then, GSP has been unstoppable.
Diaz (25-7, 1 NC, 6-4 UFC) returns to the promotion for the first time since UFC 65 in November 2006. Since leaving, he has gone 11-1 with wins in the now-defunct EliteXC, Dream and Strikeforce. He took the promotion’s welterweight title from Marius Zaromskis in January 2010 and has defended it three times with wins over KJ Noons, Evangelista Santos and Daley.
Diaz joins his brother, Nate, in the UFC. Nate Diaz was the Season 5 lightweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Last year, Nate moved from lightweight to welterweight. He has lost two straight unanimous decisions, but prior to that slide he won six UFC post-fight bonus awards in eight fights. When he moved to welterweight, he indicated he would like to fight in both weight classes. His brother’s return to the UFC might force him back to lightweight.
St-Pierre is currently regarded as one of the top two pound-for-pound fighters in MMA, most often flip-flopping the No. 1 or No. 2 spot with UFC middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva. In MMA Fighting’s most recent welterweight rankings, St-Pierre is No. 1 at 170 pounds; Diaz is No. 4 on the list.
Diaz becomes the second high-profile Strikeforce fighter to migrate over to the UFC following Zuffa’s purchase of its rival promotion in March. Jason “Mayhem” Miller signed with the UFC not long after, booking a fight against Aaron Simpson for UFC 132 in July. But White last week announced that Miller will coach against Michael Bisping on Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” then face him on the TUF 14 live finale.
But while Miller’s new deal appears to be UFC exclusive, Diaz’s contract could open the door for other fighters to sign new Zuffa deals that would allow them to fight under both banners.
White’s announcement of the Oct. 29, event, a certain pay-per-view, as UFC 137 sets up a busy stretch for the promotion, which has already announced a UFC Fan Expo and event in Houston on Oct. 8. And in April, MMA Fighting was first to report that the UFC was set to return to England for an Oct. 15 event. There are also plans in place for an event in Denver on Sept. 24, plus a return to New Orleans for a Spike special show on Sept. 17.
Hailing from the hit TV show, King of Queens, actor Kevin James’ latest venture is a film revolving around music and mixed martial arts. To add support and credibility to the upcoming project, Ultimate Fighting Championship president, Dana White, gave his consent to use the UFC brand in the movie, slated for release in 2012.
At UFC 130, 
After a month of speculation that started after