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Empire Mixed Martial Arts (a real world mod)
 EmpireTV has been successfully promoting themselves as the first cable station with a network tv programming schedule. Most experts agree that regardless their programming schedule, EmpireTV won't be a serious contender to the ratings of network stations, FOX, CBS, ABC and NBC. Their advertising has however peaked the interest of many potential viewers. Six months of such aggressive advertising can do that. Maybe too much so. Many wonder if the interest they've garnered so far will last until the station finally does premiere next year. Regardless the success or failure of the station itself, Mixed Martial Arts has another potential outlet coming soon to a channel near you. EmpireTV has yet to announce any promotion they've signed with leaving us to wonder. The UFC has a solid deal with the FOX networks. Strikeforce is signed with Showtime until 2014. Bellator was recently bought out by Viacom who will be airing their programming on SpikeTV beginning next year. With the Japanese promotion Dream going under this year that leaves no top promotion to air on the network and a serious question of the quality of product they can produce. Since EmpireTV claims they will have weekly MMA programming, the only company we see as an option could be M-1 Global. Time will tell and we'll keep you updated as more news leaks out over our six month wait. 06.30.12 Quote:
Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:06 AM. 
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#2
06-25-2012, 12:52 AM
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 PURCHASED BY  Bellator to Close by Years End Just one week after EmpireTV announced they'll be venturing into mixed martial arts, the yet to premiere station shocked the MMA world today announcing the purchase of the worlds largest MMA organization not owned by Zuffa LLC. Last weeks announcement of a weekly MMA series on the new network left a lot of questions as to where the talent would come from. Today's announcement answers a lot of those questions. With the purchase of Bellator from Viacom, EmpireTV has gained control of the MMA promotion that's come closest to a weekly MMA series in recent history. The announcement was a huge shock to the MMA world. Just this year BellatorFC sold a majority stake in it's promotion to Viacom who intended to begin airing Bellator programming on their SpikeTV station. Spike lost their contract with the UFC last year when the UFC signed a contract to air on the FOX networks. When asked about the situation a spokesman for Viacom said, "The deal was just too good to pass up." Only a week into the MMA business and EmpireTV is certainly making waves. In their announcement today, a spokesman for Empire stated, "We paid a lot to purchase Bellator Fighting Championships. A LOT. Bellator was just recently purchased for a fair market value. We purchase it just months later for much more than it had just been bought for. We did so because BellatorFC has some of the best up and coming fighters in the world. We plan to make an immediate impact in MMA. To do so we needed the best fighters in the world. The purchase of Bellator was the first step in doing that." The Empire spokesman went on to say that Bellator would finish it's current season by years end airing on MTV. After that Bellator would cease operations. The spokesman for Empire stated, "We don't want fans to look at it as Bellator ending. We at Empire purchased Bellator for a good reason. We view it's closure like the closure of the WEC. Those fighters were brought into the UFC. Brought up to the big leagues because that's where they deserved to be. Bellator was a very successful promotion. We're just taking those fighters to the next level. Empire Mixed Martial Arts is bringing in the very best fighters available to sign. We expect the Bellator fighters to compete just as successfully as the WEC fighters did, and still do in the UFC today." The Empire spokesman did state that MMA fans could expect to see a tournament format on EmpireTV. He went on to state, "We plan to put on a bit bigger of a show. Expect to see something more similar to a Pride Grand Prix than a Bellator seasonal tournament. It's going to be big. We're going to find out in our first year just who is the best fighter not under a UFC contract." The MMA world outside of the Zuffa has been turned on it's head over night. The six months until Empire MMA's premier has just begun to seem a little bit longer of a wait. 07.07.12 Quote:
Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:08 AM.
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#3
06-26-2012, 01:26 AM
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 In an interview with the CEO of Empire's mixed martial arts division today, many subjects were covered. The highlights of the conversations included Empire's top MMA man letting it slip that among the fighters the promotion is looking to bring in, include some top names of the past that have recently retired or have semi-retired. Those names include the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko CroCop, Matt Lindland and Tito Ortiz. Empire's CEO stated, "The UFC doesn't have all of the top talent out there. We want to bring in the undiscovered stars of tomorrow, the top talent out there today and the stars of MMA past that still have something to give. We've contacted people like Fedor, Tito and CroCop to see if they had interest in one last go. We'd love to see those guys give the tournament one last try. Even though the fighters are aging, they all still have something to give in our opinion and their names will bring a lot to our new promotion. We're hiring, hiring the best available fighters there are." When asked if Dana White should be worried, the Empire representative replied, "The UFC is the monster. We don't expect to become immediate competition for them. We do expect to immediately be number two. In two or three years, who knows. I won't say the UFC should be worried, but I'd have my eye on us if I were them" Empire's MMA CEO also stated that Empire is looking into television contracts outside of EmpireTV as an outlet for their MMA in countries where Empire doesn't air. They're looking at Asian markets as well as European and Russian markets. EmpireTV may not be a worldwide television station but they do want their MMA to be. 07.28.12 Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:09 AM.
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#4
06-27-2012, 03:04 AM
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Sign former DREAM talent!  Exactly one month to the day that Empire Mixed Martial Arts announced the purchase of BellatorFC, they announced today that they've signed several top stars that recently fought under the now defunct Dream Banner. The biggest names in the signings include, Shinya Aoki, Hayato Sakurai, Tatuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen, Ikuhisa Minowa and Masakazu Imanari. Apparently the signings have been happening for awhile and seem to be ongoing. This poses some potential dynamic Dream versus Bellator match-ups and poses for some potential promising tournaments if that is what EMMA plans to do. Another revelation was revealed as EMMA also announced that intended to hold at least one event in Japan in their inaugural first year. They're hoping to find a stronghold in the MMA history rich country. MMA in Japan has been fledgling since a tsunami wreaked havoc on the country a year and a half ago. Japan is a country that the UFC is just beginning to find a hold in. It's very ambitious of an upstart company to try and do so. EMMA certainly seems to have high aspirations for a debuting company. Not since Affliction "threatened" the UFC with their debut, has any promotion seemed so promising. Keep in mind that the UFC did everything in their power to see that Affliction wasn't even able to hold their third scheduled event. A television company would seem to be a bigger backer than a clothing company but you have to consider that the television station EmpireTV will be just as new as the MMA promotion is itself. Time will tell and hopefully we'll see some good MMA along the way. 08.07.12 Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:12 AM.
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#5
06-28-2012, 01:09 AM
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 EMMA Announce Ambitious Plans In a press release today, Empire Mixed Martial Arts outlined ambitious plans for their inaugural first year. Details of fighters, dates and cities have still yet to be released, but EMMA did give us several details we've been curious about since they threw their hat into the proverbial MMA cage. The promotion will consist of fifteen different weight classes. There will be ten male and five female weight classes in the first season. Each weight class will have it's own sixteen person tournament. That's two hundred and forty fighters that will enter into a Grand Prix style tournament at the start of next year. A list of of EMMA weight classes is listed below.
Female
The first thought that comes to my mind is how many in the MMA world have avoided the excessive weight classes that many feel hurt pro boxing. EMMA seem to be embracing it. We also wonder if there are enough top stars to fill a two hundred-forty non-UFC fighters. EMMA seemed enthusiastic while outlining there plans today. The first event is scheduled to be held in the first week of January next year. We were told to expect the announcement of their first tournament within the next few weeks. 08.21.12 Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:11 AM.
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#6
06-29-2012, 04:47 AM
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WWE wrestler Batista signs with EMMA  Former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista (better known as Batista) announced on his website today that he's signed a 3 fight deal with upstart MMA promotion Empire Mixed Martial Arts. Bautista also revealed that his first professional MMA fight will be on EMMA's Superweight Grand Prix card sometime at the beginning of next year. Bautista wasn't sure whom his opponent was as of yet, nor did he know if he would be competing in the sixteen man tournament or in a separate bought. The soon to be 43 year old pro wrestler turned mixed martial artist may not revolutionize the sport, but he certainly will bring some attention to EMMA much as Brock Lesnar did for the UFC years ago. Lesnar of course was a decorated amateur wrestler, credentials Bautista does not have. Bautista may be the more popular pro-wrestler though. Even years of being away from the "sport" Batista is still a huge name in the wrestling circuit. Digging a little deeper we found out that the contract is worth a reported $30,000 plus per fight, with a unknown winning bonus. It's not the money Bautista probably made in the WWE, but he's committed to MMA and is presumably running out of time to see this thing threw. 08.24.12 Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:13 AM.
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#7
07-03-2012, 03:06 AM
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EMMA to Air on TBS in Japan, First Event Announced  In what many would consider a power move and a big step in international MMA, EMMA has agreed to terms with Tokyo Broadcasting System to air their first mixed martial arts event on TBS in Japan. This is major news in MMA especially for an upstart promotion. Japan is notorious for only airing Asian based promotion that will market to Japanese fans. The UFC hasn't even worked out a deal with any Japanese t.v. station to air in Japan though they have been trying. In a press release today the CEO on EMMA announced the deal saying, "We at EMMA are proud to have come to a deal to air our first event in Japan on Tokyo Broadcasting Systems. EmpireTV is proud to air throughout English speaking nations in North America, Europe and Australia. MMA however is universal and not limited to language barriers like television is. So at EMMA we've been searching for other outlets in other, non-English speaking markets. We've already agreed with Channel 1 in Russia which is a major step for us as Channel 1 is a very large station in Russia. The market for MMA in Japan was second to none prior to the tsunami that hit here as well as the organized crime involvement in Japanese MMA. We're proud to announce that we've agreed to a deal with TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting Systems) to air our first mixed martial arts event in Japan. We plan for this to be the biggest event in Japanese MMA on Japan's biggest station, since PrideFC last aired on TBS years ago. We're bringing a pure product to Japan. We whole heartily will be marketing our first event to a Japanese crowd while still providing our global fans with the mixed martial arts they will soon come to love from us. It's going to be big. We're going to do it big, as Japanese fans have become accustom to. With the reactors back up and running in Japan we'll be in full production mode. More importantly than that, we got TBS to agree to this one off event partly because we volunteered to donate the proceeds of this event to help out with the rebuilding and recovering the country is still going through. This event will be 100% non profit for EmpireTV and EMMA. We're not only looking to help out there in Japan but we're also looking to getting our foot in the door, building relationship and hopefully making some friends there for our future endeavors. We want to impress TBS so that they want more. This is good news for all MMA fans because we'll be going all out. Initially EMMA's first event was going to air the first weekend of next year. With this deal being worked out with TBS we're now rearranging some things. We've convinced EmpireTV to let us air our first MMA event the very first day of airing. Actually EmpireTV will go on air several hours earlier than scheduled just to air our New Years Eve event in Japan Live. With Dream, Pride, Sengoku and more or less K-1 now gone in Japan, there's a huge opening this New Year's Eve, traditionally the biggest day in Japan for MMA, kickboxing and pro wrestling. Now we'll go one air live with MMA at 7:00 am EST in America, being Live around the world. We were planning to go big with our first event. Now, we're planning to go even bigger. Our first event will be Empire Mixed Martial Arts Featherweight Grand Prix. If Dream had survived the hard times Japan has faced recently it's our understanding that they would have had a Featherweight Grand Prix in 2012 and that there next event was going to be Kazushi Sakuraba's final fight against Shinya Aoki. We're going to fulfill those unfinished plans. The sixteen fighters who'll enter the 2013 EMMA Featherweight Grand Prix will be announced in the upcoming weeks. We're only four months out from our New Years Eve event. Fighters and fights will be announced very soon to give everyone proper time to train and for the fans to get properly excited. We do know that the Main Event of that card will be Shinya Aoki vs Kazushi Sakuraba  in what Sakuraba is saying will still be his retirement fight. We're very excited to provide Sakuraba with the platform for that fight. We also told Sakuraba for plan as grand an entrance as he sees fit. Sakuraba deserves that after a storied career. So do the fans"09.06.12 Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:14 AM.
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#8
07-03-2012, 05:07 AM
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****ADVERTISEMENT***** Quote:
Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 07:16 PM.
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#9
07-06-2012, 05:12 AM
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EMMA Announce Featherweight Grand Prix  Empire Mixed Martial Arts released the complete fight card for their first event today. The fight card will be held at the historic Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and will air in the U.S. on EmpireTV. The complete fight card (listed below) will feature two retirement bouts of two Japanese legends. The card will be headlined by Kazushi Sakuraba taking on Shinya Aoki in Sakuraba's retirement bout. This is a fight that was rumored to have been on Dream's next card. The promotion folded before the fight could happen. Sakuraba stated before this fight that he wanted to end his illustrious career fighting Japan's best. Aoki is considered by many to be that man. Though Aoki hasn't fought at Welterweight in several years, he'll step up in weight to make this battle of legends come to fruition. Also on the card, another Japanese legend Caol Uno will face off with American Joe Stevenson in Uno's final fight. Both Uno and Stevenson were at one time top contenders in MMA's Lightweight division. Both have struggled in recent years leading both men to drop in weight class to the Featherweight division. The fight card will be completed with a Dream vs Bellator 16 man Featherweight tournament. The Dream v Bellator battle will be headlined by former Bellator Featherweight Champion Pat Curran, taking on former Dream Featherweight Champion Hiroyuki Takaya. The full 13 fight card is listed below.
Katsunori Kikuno, Andre Amado, Katsuhiko Nagata and Jadamba Narantungalag will all be making their Featherweight debuts. The highly anticipated Shawn Bunch will be making his professional debut. The EMMA match maker stated with the announcement of this card that, "It's my belief that Japanese fighters that once dominated MMA, have fallen behind in mixed martial arts in recent years partly because many fighters aren't fighting in their natural weight classes. Weight cutting was brought into MMA by amateur wrestlers crossing into MMA. Wrestling is not a prominent sport in Japan. As weight cutting grew to be a larger part of MMA as a whole it didn't grow equally with the slightly isolated Japanese MMA community of fighters. I'm working with our Japanese fighters to correct that." The lineup of fresh Featherweights in EMMA's Grand Prix reminds us of Dreams last Bantamweight Grand Prix when several top Featherweights cut to Bantamweight to compete in the tournament. Perhaps the EMMA official is correct and Japanese fighters are beginning to catch up. 09.12.12 Quote:
Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:16 AM.
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#10
07-06-2012, 01:21 PM
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Awesome idea for a Dynasty it seems to be a mash up of Dream and Bellator my two (Or one at this point) favorite Orgs outside of UFC. Will be fallowing to see what happens I think Aoki beating Sakuraba at this point is most likely which makes me quite a sad man.
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#11
07-06-2012, 03:11 PM
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#12
07-07-2012, 01:47 AM
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EMMA to Have K-1 Belt Maker Design Their Championship Belts  Empire Mixed Martial Arts announced today that they've signed the maker of K-1's belts to design their own Championship belts. The press release stated that, "After a long and extensive search and many considerations we at EMMA agree that the best belts in all of Martial Arts were K-1's Championship and Grand Prix belts. We've signed what we consider the best in the business, to design for us." This is just one more link between EMMA and Japan in recent weeks. The company seems devoted to the region. It should be interesting to see how far the American based promotion can go in the Japanese market. 09.14.12 Quote:
Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:17 AM.
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#13
07-08-2012, 05:49 AM
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EMMA Reveal Their 2nd Card  Grand Prix Fights Main Event Anthony Johnson vs Sokoudjou Renato Sobral vs Jeff Monson Muhammed Lawal vs Christian M'Pumbu Ricardo Arona vs Travis Wiuff Houston Alexander vs Jimi Manuwa Steve Bosse vs Gilbert Yvel Eliot Marshal vs Tatsuya Mizuno Wilson Gouveia vs Jan Blachowitz Reserve Tournament Fight Richard Hale vs Anthony Taylor Undercard Fights Maurice Smith vs Rhadi Ferguson Robert Drysdale vs Carlos Eduardo Moise Rimbon vs Alexander Volkov 09.29.12 Last edited by Jipper16 : 08-03-2012 at 01:18 AM.
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#14
07-08-2012, 08:31 PM
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EMMA Reveal Superweight Grand Prix EMMA announced today that their third event, a Superweight Grand Prix will be held January 11th of next year in in Dallas, Texas. It was previously announced that the companies "Superweight" division would be fighters who weighed more than 250 pounds. Today however the CEO for EMMA announced that they would be conforming to the Unified Rules for MMA for their "Superweight" or Super Heavyweight division, which will now be for fighters over 265 pounds. Many large MMA promotions in the past like the UFC, have opted not to have a weight class above 265 pounds because of the lack of depth and skill levels for fighters that are that large. The lack of depth in the division is so scarce we couldn't even guess as to the 16 fighters the company will have to come up with to fill their Grand Prix quota. The CEO of EMMA did state that they have recently signed some former K-1 talent to compete in the Grand Prix and that we could expect a few surprises once the card is announced. The only region that ever found success with fighters so big is the Asian/Japanese market where audiences like their David vs Goliath match-ups. Yet another connection between the new EMMA promotion and Japan. We'll keep you up to date as more news is announced. 10.1.12 Quote:
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#15
07-09-2012, 07:48 PM
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I don't think I've been this excited for Dynasty updates since the Kumite dynasty. Question: When you say three months, do you mean real time, or game time?
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