Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto
UFC INKS JAPAN SUPERSTAR! BUT IS IT TOO LATE FOR “KID?”
San Francisco, CA- There were times when the only time you saw MMA from Japan was through VHS tape swapping. One of the fighters that I was quite impressed by was Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. His television ratings in Japan were Michael Jordan’s NBA Finals-like numbers. Last week, he inked a deal with Dana White and the UFC, making his Octagon debut in February against Demetrius Johnson at 135 lbs. With a record of 18-3, can we still call him “Kid” seeing he’s 33?
UFC 124 DID AROUND 750,000 HOMES
The Georges St. Pierre-Josh Koshcheck (UFC 124) match a fortnight ago did between 725,000 and 800,000 homes. This comes from a TV executive who has been pretty close on the UFC PPV numbers. Unlike other boxing and MMA promoters, the UFC do not release their PPV numbers. If the show did 800,000 homes and the UFC pocketed their 50% of the cable fees, making it #4 or 5 for the year, the UFC would have banked a cool $20 million just on the PPV alone. Live gate was a little less than $5 million. Speaking of St. Pierre, with nothing left at welterweight (170 lbs) to prove, Georges would like to fight UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, if not at the middleweight limit of 185, a catch weight of 178.
STRIKEFORCE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP OVEREEM ADDS K-1 TITLE
Alistair Overeem, the rarely seen Strikeforce MMA champ added the K-1 Heavyweight Kickboxing title, this after beating three guys in one night. A quarter final match saw Alistair lick Tyrone Spong by decision. In the semi-finals he rumbled with stablemate Gokhan Saki, who he defeated by breaking Saki’s right arm with a kick for a TKO 1. Finally, the British born Dutch based fighter fought Peter Aerts. Alistair came out on a mission, all out aggression and finished Peter in one round. He has a less than impressive record at 33-11, and Sherdog.com ranks him #8 among the big boys of MMA. In 2011, there will be a Strikeforce heavyweight tournament involving Fedor Emilenenko, Fabrice Werdum (who beat Fedor in April), Josh Barnett, Andrei Arvloski and Overreem. We are awaiting the dates from Strikeforce head honcho Scott Coker.
CANADA’S FIGHT NETWORK NEEDS CASH INFUSION
Claiming to be $14 million in the hole, The Fight Network of Canada, after filing for Bankruptcy recently, has brought on Leonard Asper as their new CEO. Formerly with Canwest Golbal Communications. At one point and time, The Fight Network claimed to have 520,000 paid subscribers, that in 2008.
Pedro Fernandez