Larkin’s Take On Things Makes Some Sense
by Charles Jay I thought that in light of the reportedly shaky ground his company is treading on, and the fact that he has had a more sophisticated background than most people who are piloting MMA “franchises,” it might be useful to go into the file and pull up an interview I reading a month or […] (Read More)

IFL Puts The Hex On Rivals
By Charles Jay IFL PUTS “THE HEX” ON RIVALS - OR MAYBE ON ITSELF? You know, I’ve always been aware that there was a problem with the IFL (International Fight League, for those of you who don’t know that “brand”), but I’ve had a devil of a time putting my finger on it. It just had to […] (Read More)

MMA Records: Should Be Just THAT
By Charles Jay There is an issue that is especially important now that the Association of Boxing Commissions has now appointed a designated official “record-keeper” for mixed martial arts (you can find them at MMA.tv). Which fights are MMA and which aren’t? I ask that because already, I have found at least one competitor in mixed martial arts who […] (Read More)

Nick Diaz Creates His Own Bad “Pot” Luck
By Charles Jay I know a lot of people in the mixed martial arts industry have had issues with Armando Garcia, the head of the California State Athletic Commission. Whether some of those gripes are valid or not, I’m not sure, because I don’t know enough about them. I do know that he’s been made the villain […] (Read More)

Bill O - Another Attack on MMA
 By Charles Jay  On Thursday night, FoxNews’ Bill O’Reilly ventured where he so often does - the abyss of his ignorance - when he tackled the subject of mixed martial arts on the “Factor.” His guests for the segment were Bernard Goldberg, right-wing author and correspondent for HBO’s “Real Sports” program, and Jane Hall, a professor […] (Read More)

Jones vs Silva is Just Speculation
By Charles Jay: A boxing website named BoxingTalk allegedly quoted Roy Jones as saying that he would be interested in fighting Anderson Silva, recent victor over Dan Henderson, who is being currently touted by the UFC as the best “pound-for-pound” fighter in the world. Maybe there’s a little irony there, as Jones, the former middleweight, super […] (Read More)

Gotcha Gary Shaw. Got Him? Not Really
By Charles Jay I was recently reading an internet column that, after a little research, pointed out that Gary Shaw, the front man for Elite XC, wasn’t being entirely truthful when he denied ever having said anything derogatory about the sport of mixed martial arts. This was in response to the insinuation by the UFC’s Dana […] (Read More)

De La Hoya’s MMA Entry Is Nothing to Dismiss
By Charles Jay Golden Boy Promotions wants to be involved in mixed martial arts. Oscar De La Hoya’s group, which has experienced a surprising amount of success in boxing, is teaming up with Affliction, a leading industry clothing line, to create a new MMA organization that hopes to compete with the big boys. “Maybe Affliction knows something […] (Read More)

Between a (Sham)rock and a Hard Place
By Charles Jay If the promoters of Saturday’s fight in London really wanted to put Ken Shamrock in with Kimbo Slice, they might have wanted to think twice before risking that with a guy who could conceivably lose any time he stepped into the cage.  Well, obviously Shamrock was looking for an easy payday, or the […] (Read More)

Searching For Kimbo’s Next Opponent
By Charles Jay I think you’ll all agree that Kimbo Slice probably needs a tuneup before he takes on Ken Shamrock, although some might argue everything he’s had has been a tuneup thus far. I don’t know if any of these guys are CBS material, but considering what Kimbo has faced to date in his brief mixed […] (Read More)

Notes On Quotes - Lets Go For A Few Spins
By Charles Jay This was Gary Shaw, boxing and MMA promoter, last week: “The Wladimir Klitschko heavyweight title fight last Saturday was everything that is wrong with boxing. Vazquez-Marquez III is everything that is right about the sport. We need more fights like this one.” With all due respect to Gary Shaw, who is an industrious promoter, let’s […] (Read More)

How Big a Deal is The Elite XC/CBS Union?
By Charles Jay I really mean it when I ask that question. I don’t know that this is something to get excited about in terms of it being a grand triumph for mixed martial arts. Remember that this is a deal that is the product of corporate incest, if you will. Showtime is an “investor” in the […] (Read More)

THE IFL: What is Real, What is the Illusion?
By Charles Jay The message seemed to come through loud and clear. About a year ago, John Dorman, a stock analyst for the respected Bloomberg.com site, was making a study of something called the International Fight League, which had been trading shares on the NASDAQ since late 2006. What Dorman discovered was astounding, to say the least. The […] (Read More)

MMA Can Be Hazardous - Don’t Delude Yourself
By Charles Jay A few days ago, a student at the University of Prince Edward (in Canada) who was undertaking a career in mixed martial arts collapsed and died after a training session. The youngster, Rene Ayangma, made his pro debut in New Brunswick in December and was scheduled to fight again next month in Halifax. […] (Read More)

The Obligations of Randy Couture
Charles Jay Some people have already beaten the whole Randy Couture-Zuffa-HDNet thing to death, and so I can tell you that I’m not going to spend weeks and weeks on it. In a broader sense, I would think that Couture’s “declaration of independence” from the UFC says something about the way the organization sees its relationship […] (Read More)

Background Checks? Got It Down to a “Xyience”
By Charles Jay How do you make something out of nothing? Can anyone say “whole cloth”? A couple of weeks ago, a company called Xyience, a major sponsor of UFC shows, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, as reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. When you take a look at what the company does and where it stands, […] (Read More)

Mark Cuban: Is he the ‘Contender’ ?
Charles Jay IS HE THE “CONTENDER”? Will Mark Cuban eventually mount the big challenge to the UFC? Or is he a bit player? When people scoff at the idea of Mark Cuban being involved in the business of mixed martial arts, I think they’re missing something that is going to become very critical as time passes - they […] (Read More)

Kimbo Brings a “Slice” of Boxing With him
Charles Jay We introduce the “opponent” to the MMA world I was asked by the owner of the site why in the world am I writing so much about Kimbo; in fact why am I writing about him at all? My best reply is that Kimbo Slice is on the Jimmy Kimmel show and he’s been profiled by […] (Read More)

THEY KNEW: Don’t let the UFC’s latest lawsuit fool you
Charles Jay The headline says all you need to know, if you’ve followed the UFC very closely. Or does it? “Vegas Owners Sue Their Own Martial Arts Property” That’s what appeared in the Las Vegas Sun the other day. The story written by Jeff German goes on to explain that the Fertittas brothers, principal owners of Zuffa LLC, […] (Read More)

Mark Cuban: The Man Who Could Be King
Charles Jay THE MAN WHO COULD BE KING One entrepreneur has a chance to break UFC’s stranglehold on the sport - that is, if he really wants to Well, the last time I was heard from I was telling you about someone who could conceivably compete on even terms with the UFC - if he really wanted to. Many […] (Read More)

The Missing Ingredient: Passion
Charles Jay Maybe I’m just funny this way - if someone was straddling the fence and asked my advice on whether he should make an investment in mixed martial arts, I would advise against it. Not just because I think the mid-level area of this business was a little saturated, but because I figure if someone […] (Read More)

Who’s Stepping Up In MMA?
By Charles Jay The job that Dana White, with the Fertittas’ money behind him, has done in building the UFC to the point it is today, is startling. I’ll guarantee you can point to very few success stories like it in the recent history of pro sports. The UFC has opened up possibilities elsewhere in this industry. […] (Read More)

Who Am I, And What Am I Doing?
 by Charles Jay About a hundred years ago, I wrote a long series of pieces exploring all the aspects of the professional boxing business. It was called “Operation Cleanup” and wound up being integrated into a couple of online books. A third book named “Body Shots” was later added. This material identified some of the areas […] (Read More)

Hey Bad Boy, We Hear ‘Ya
by Charles Jay “The UFC is caring so much about the brand itself. They could care less about the fighters.” – Tito Ortiz, January 21, on Sirius Satellite Radio As I witness Tito Ortiz now speaking out against the UFC, I can’t help but think the floodgates may be starting to open, especially as his vitriol comes […] (Read More)

The “Brand” or the “Star”
By Charles Jay Because they must operate with the sanction and approval of athletic commissions, the UFC’s live gate figures are going to be part of the public record, since taxes and fees are assessed by the state agency based on those numbers. But pay-per-view figures, which are known to the cable operators, are not necessarily […] (Read More)