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Sunday, November 2, 2008

Razor Rob Talks Jeremy Lappen & the WFA Experience



During a recent appearance on MMAWeekly Radio, former WEC lightweight champ, "Razor" Rob McCullough discussed his time moving from the WFA to the WEC, doing business with Jeremy Lappen and KO Bonuses.

Check out this clip from the radio show and for more MMAWeekly Radio check out the podcast on iTunes or the member's section on MMAWeekly.com!

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posted by MMAInsiderBLOG @ 7:00 PM 





Friday, October 17, 2008

Frank Shamrock Was Clear to Fight Kimbo

Frank Shamrock offered to step up and fight Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson when adoptive brother Ken Shamrock was forced out of the bout due to a cut received the day of the event. Frank thinks EliteXC made a mistake making him the replacement and going with Seth Petruzelli instead.

"I thought the best decision of the night was to let me fight Kimbo which was definitely on the table," said the former UFC middleweight titleholder. "I think at the end of the day Kimbo got a little bit exposed. CBS threw MMA out there and that's what happens. That's what mixed martial arts is. I don't think network television gets it yet, but this is going to happen again. Weird, crazy stuff is going to happen again."

According to Frank, he thought he could be the replacement up until the moments before the broadcast began live on CBS. "Until an hour before the show I thought I was going to fight Kimbo as the main event," stated the San Jose resident. "I had hung my suit up and had the boys getting me shorts and mouth piece and stuff. I was going to pick one of two outfits and it was going to be a heck of a night either way."

EliteXC head of fight operations Jeremy Lappen previously stated that Frank Shamrock stepping in on such short notice was unrealistic and cited the inability to get Shamrock medically cleared in such a short time frame prevented the match up from happening. Frank Shamrock disagreed. "I got myself cleared, and I got everything ready to fight. But no one gave me the okay. No one gave me the lets do this thing."

"I actually called Armando (Garcia). He expressed concerned about my arm. I had my assistant call my doctor and had that cleared. All my medical stuff was still current," added the mixed martial arts veteran. "I had been medically cleared to fight, so it was just somebody making the decision. I think it was probably a pretty hefty decision to be made which is why it didn't get done."

The hold up was most likely the payout EliteXC would have had to give Frank to step in for the older Shamrock.

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posted by MMAInsiderBLOG @ 4:00 PM 





Saturday, October 11, 2008

One of These Guys Has To Be Right, Right?

The ever-evolving story between EliteXC and the controversy surrounding the Seth Petruzelli-Kimbo Slice fight keeps growing with major media outlets picking up on the alleged payoff story more and more each day.

The other problem with the entire situation is the ever-changing story that continues to flow from both the fighter and the promotion.

Originally, on Monday, Petruzelli appeared on a local Orlando radio station making the following statement:

"The promoters kind of hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him," Petruzelli said on "The Monsters in Orlando" show. "They didn't want me to take him down, let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him."

Since that time, Petruzelli has recanted that statement saying that his comments were misconstrued.

"All it was, was a knockout bonus that I just didn't say it was a knockout bonus," said Petruzelli while appearing on MMAWeekly Radio on Tuesday. "The UFC offers that, they offer submission bonus, they offer for fight of the night, and all I was saying was that I wanted to take the knockout bonus and not take him down.

"So it kind of got misconstrued as me saying that they wanted me to just stand up to get it, but that was just all me saying I wanted to try to get the knockout bonus."

EliteXC Head of Fight Operations, Jeremy Lappen, categorically denied the original report and released a definitive statement from the promotion about the situation with Petruzelli.

"Seth Petruzelli was offered a fee to fight Kimbo Slice, plus a knockout bonus, a common practice throughout the industry. EliteXC organizes and promotes fights. We have not... do not... and will not suggest or dictate fighters' strategies or tactics. How the fighters perform in the cage is at the sole discretion of the athletes involved."

So Petruzelli and Lappen both agree that it was a knockout bonus that prompted him to stay standing with Kimbo Slice in the main event of CBS Saturday Night Fights, right?

"We offered Seth Petruzelli a knockout bonus, a submission bonus and fight of the night bonus. If we were trying to influence the fight, why would we do that?" said Lappen in an interview with Franklin McNeil of ESPN.com on Thursday.

When asked directly on Tuesday if EliteXC offers submission bonuses, Lappen responded by saying, "We have given submission bonuses, but our bonuses that we tend to give are knockout bonuses."

So which story is true? Was Petruzelli offered a higher bonus for a knockout? Was he offered a submission bonus at all? The answer may never be known for sure, although after the onslaught of controversy, the state of Florida is now opening an investigation into the whole situation.

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posted by MMAInsiderBLOG @ 2:04 AM 





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