Tag: podcast

Super Fight League’s Ken Pavia On The “Untapped Potential” Of MMA In India

With one event under their belt, the Indian based Super Fight League promotion is ready to host it’s second show this weekend in Chandigarh, India. Mixed martial arts has yet to make it big in the country of 1.2 billion people but it’s a destination that UFC president Dana White plans on bringing the sport […]

With one event under their belt, the Indian based Super Fight League promotion is ready to host it’s second show this weekend in Chandigarh, India.

Mixed martial arts has yet to make it big in the country of 1.2 billion people but it’s a destination that UFC president Dana White plans on bringing the sport as well as his companies “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series.

So it should come as no surprise that when SFL CEO Ken Pavia looks at the country he sees a wealth of “untapped potential” when it comes to fans and upcoming fighters.

Pavia was a guest on “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” on Tuesday to talk about the upcoming SFL 2 event this weekend and the “potential” market that India presents for the sport of MMA.

“The first event sold out, no seats were available the day of the event,” Pavia told Mauro Ranallo on The MMA Show. “We were on the front page of the Mumbai Times — the No. 1 circulated English newspaper in India — two times the week of the first event. The second event this weekend is sold out. We have seven events the rest of the year, a reality show, and 12 next year. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. The WWE is big out here but it’s starting to wane now that (the Indian fans) have realized it’s fake, so we’re looking to capitalize on it.”

The early success of the SFL is a positive sign for a sport that Pavia says has no real competition in the country.

“Virtually nothing,” Pavia said of what kind of MMA competition his promotion faces in India. “Bellator’s on a very small cable station. This is complete virgin terirtoy. They were confused by the first event and thought it was professional wrestling. It was incumbent upon us to educate them. It’s like 1993 and UFC 1 all over again. But the celebrities we have have brought us attention and our television deal reaches 500 million homes. We’re five times bigger than NBC in the U.S., which reaches 95 million homes. We hope that we’ll get people to watch it for the first time.

“We have 1.2 billion fans here and they pay big money for sporting events. The only thing that’s bigger is cricket and English Premier League soccer. Bollywood sells out all their shows, and we’re looking to take that audience. We have so much untapped potential in our thumbs.”

Not only that, but the goal is to also cultivate the talent that India possesses which, Pavia admits, is raw at this point in time.

“The Indian fighters have always been cannon fodder for fighters in the region and haven’t had a chance to adavnce to bigger shows so the progress has been retarded a little bit,” he said. “I think we have phenomenal athletes in India but they haven’t been exposed to the right trainers or opportunities, so we built an Olympic-style training centre and we have Benji Radach and Dennis Hallman as the coaches for the next few months.We have excellent athletes that are a little bit green, but they have potential.”

Also featured on Tuesday’s Podcast was Bellator fighters Eric Prindle and Travis Marx, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, and New York subway hero Joe Lozito.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney Says Promotion Monitoring Fighters Twitter Accounts

Big brother is watching, well in this case, Bellator Fighting Championships is watching the Twitter accounts of their fighters. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney says the promotion is monitoring what their fighters have to say on media venues like Twitter, going so far as to call fighters out on questionable posts. The subject came up during […]

Big brother is watching, well in this case, Bellator Fighting Championships is watching the Twitter accounts of their fighters.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney says the promotion is monitoring what their fighters have to say on media venues like Twitter, going so far as to call fighters out on questionable posts.

The subject came up during Thursday’s podcast of “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” following in the wake of the recent dismissal of Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal from Strikeforce over his Twitter comments.

Rebney spent 40-minutes talking to Ranallo discussing everything from tonight’s event to the future of the promotion on Spike TV.

“We had a fighter very recently post something on Twitter and it utilized some terminology that was wildly out of place and totally inappropriate and we called him on it immediately. His answer was he said he didn’t mean to offend anyone by it, he was trying to show by comparison, blah blah blah. We said we understand what you’re saying but it doesn’t matter, you’ll offend a group of people if you post it that way. He said thanks for making me aware of that and he pulled it down immediately. We’re tracking it, we’re watching it, we’re paying attention to it.”

NSAC Exec Keith Kizer Says Steroid Users Will Always Receive “The Biggets Penalty”

This past Tuesday, former Strikeforce fighter Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal was fined $39,000 and saddled with a nine month suspension back dated to a Jan. 7, 2012 Strikeforce event. Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director, Keith Kizer spoke recently about the sentencing as well as Lawal’s Twitter rant which led to the fighter’s release from […]

This past Tuesday, former Strikeforce fighter Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal was fined $39,000 and saddled with a nine month suspension back dated to a Jan. 7, 2012 Strikeforce event.

Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director, Keith Kizer spoke recently about the sentencing as well as Lawal’s Twitter rant which led to the fighter’s release from Strikeforce.

Kizer, who was a guest on “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” on Wednesday, noted that many fighters in the past have tried to blame a “supplement” for their predicament but shouldn’t expect the commission to “roll out the red carpet for you” because you claim to be innocent. Also, that when it comes to steroids, the NSAC feels very strongly against their use and will always issue a stiff penalty to those who break the rules.

“If you’re going to go do steroids then fight in Nevada, don’t expect us to roll out the red carpet for you…”

“Obviously (Lawal’s) answers on his pre-fight medical questionnaire were not 100% accurate, and that’s putting it nicely. It’s foundational to say that if you read, speak, and understand English, then why did you check no in the box?

“There’s always going to be tough questions. This is a very serious disciplinary matter and it was handled as such.”

“…The last three steroids cases we had were nine-month suspensions and a 30% fine,” Kizer said. “(The punishment) depends on what the drug is. The steroids are the ones we give the biggest penalty for.”

“… It’s not uncommon for an athlete to come forward and say, ‘It must have been this supplement, please believe me,’” Kizer said. “Well, (the commission) considers all the factors when they make those crediblity decisions.”

Also featured on Wednesday’s podcast was Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal, Bellator welterweight Ben Saunders, and UFC middleweight Court McGee.

Bellator Lightweight Semi-Finalist Lloyd Woodard On Breaking Patricky Freire’s Arm

Last Friday night saw the opening round of Bellator’s Season Six Lightweight Tournament. Headlining the card at the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas was a lightweight tilt between tourny favorite Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Feire and Lloyd ‘Cupcake’ Woodard (12-1). Their match did not disappoint, with each fighter scoring some big shots throughout their fight. In […]

Lloyd Woodard submits Patricky 'Pitbull' at Bellator 62

Last Friday night saw the opening round of Bellator’s Season Six Lightweight Tournament. Headlining the card at the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas was a lightweight tilt between tourny favorite Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Feire and Lloyd ‘Cupcake’ Woodard (12-1).

Their match did not disappoint, with each fighter scoring some big shots throughout their fight.

In the second round, both fighters would stand in the pocket trading punches with the ‘Pitbull’ getting clipped by a knee before attempting a takedown. Woodard would take the opportunity to sink in a kimura submission to force the tap at 1:46 of the second, but only after Freire refused quite forcing ‘Cupcake’ to bust his elbow.

As a guest on ‘The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo‘ podcast, Woodard talks about earning the submission victory against a black belt but wasn’t “cool” that he had to break the arm to do it.

“I felt a little bit of dislocation, a little bit of crunching,” the member of the Dogpound Fight Team said. “It wasn’t like a snap break but it was definitely twisting, I felt rotating, I felt like something might give. My adrenaline was going real high so I can’t give you all the details, but I’m glad I got the tap. It wasn’t cool that I had to break his arm, but I’m glad I got the win.”

“I think people were sleeping on me for this tournament and didn’t realize I’m here to win,” the 27-year old said. “I’m a tough kid who went out with Mike Chandler and put up a good fight. He outworked me that day but it’s not going to happen again. I look forward to cracking his head at the end of the tournament, but first thing’s first, I have to get through Rick Hawn. It’s going to be a ball — it’s an hounour and a pleasure to beat him up and advance in this tournament.”

Woodard faces Rick Hawn next month at Bellator 66 in the tournaments semi-finals.

Hawn, who moved down to lightweight after losing in the Season Four Welterweight Final last May, earned his way into the semi-finals by defeating Ricardo Tirloni by first round knockout at the Bellator 62 event.

Strikeforce Champ Ronda Rousey Headed To Stockton To Train With The Diaz Brothers

To be a truly successful mixed martial artist nowadays fighters have to constantly evolve, and that means training throughout the year even without a scheduled fight. It’s the same for Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey (5-0), who despite her perfect record of five straight armbar submissions, is headed to Stockton, California to improve […]

Strikeforce Champ Ronday Rousey – Photo by Rey Del Rio – FOXSports.com

To be a truly successful mixed martial artist nowadays fighters have to constantly evolve, and that means training throughout the year even without a scheduled fight.

It’s the same for Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey (5-0), who despite her perfect record of five straight armbar submissions, is headed to Stockton, California to improve her fight game.

Rousey is headed to the Team Cesar Gracie gym, made famous by the quality fighters who train there such as Nick and Nate Diaz, Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez, and Jake Shields.

‘Rowdy’ told MMAWeekly Radio that she was headed off to Stockton next month which would mark the first time in her mma career that she has fought outside of her normal gym.

“Yeah, I’m going up there from the 3rd to the 16th (of April) and it’s going to be the first time ever since I started doing MMA that I’m going to be training for an actual extended period of time away from my core camp, who I’ve always been with.”

“When I did judo I used to go around all the time, like every month or so I would go away for a week or two weeks to go train somewhere else,” said Rousey. “For some reason it’s something I never did in MMA, so they invited me to come train up there, and they’re good at a bunch of things that I need to work on so I’m super excited. It’s going to be the first time I’m training away from home in a long time.”

A few months ago, Rousey trained with Nick Diaz previous to his fight with Carlos Condit for the UFC interim welterweight title.

Earning Bellator’s Season Five Heavyweight Tournament “Bittersweet Moment” For Eric Prindle

Bellator heavyweight Eric ‘The American Soldier’ Prindle (7-1, 1NC) was declared the winner of the Season Five tournament, earning the $100,000 contract and title shot with champ Cole Konrad after opponent Thiago ‘Big Monster’ Santos failed to make weight. Santos hit the scales just shy of twelve-pounds overweight for their rematch, which had already been […]

Bellator heavyweight Eric ‘The American Soldier’ Prindle (7-1, 1NC) was declared the winner of the Season Five tournament, earning the $100,000 contract and title shot with champ Cole Konrad after opponent Thiago ‘Big Monster’ Santos failed to make weight.

Santos hit the scales just shy of twelve-pounds overweight for their rematch, which had already been delayed by one week from Bellator 61 to Bellator 62, after Prindle came down with “flu-like” symptoms and with Santos reportedly even more overweight.

For Prindle, it’s a “bittersweet moment” for the former American soldier who trained hard for several months for the expected rematch after their first meeting ended in a “No Contest” due to a low blow. He says he even feels “disrespected” by his opponent for failing to make weight.

“He kind of disrespected me. Obviously he hasn’t been training to make weight so he kinda looked past me which bit him in the butt. It really upset me because I trained hard as hell and wanted to use the stuff that Erik Paulson and Josh Barnett at CSW taught me. I’m an MMA fighter, a professional, and I want to be able to fight if a fight’s set up. The yo-yo effect on my emotions bothered me. (Winning the tournament)’s a bittersweet moment, and I don’t want to say I didn’t earn it, but the fight is the fun part. I did all the work and everything and I was ready to go but Santos disrespected me and Bellator.”

Prindle was spoke to Mauro Ranallo on “The MMA Show” on Friday 23 March 2012, which also included guests Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith, media personalities John Morgan and Mike Chiappetta, Topps trading cards rep Jeremy Fullerton, as well as couple of other guests.