Empire Mixed Martial Arts (a real world mod)

Jipper16 · June 25, 2012

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The heavily hyped but yet to premiere television station, EmpireTV announced today that mixed martial arts will be a stable of their weekly weekend programming when the station begins airing at the beginning of next year. Heavily financed, the Atlanta, Georgia based station has been aggressively running advertisements for their future programming on cable and network stations since early June of this year.

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

This is my first Dynasty. Things will be slow going as I'll be modifying fighter stats as I see accurate before their first fight for me. This dynasty will not follow organisations outside of the one I'm running. Instead the one I'm running will follow along with real world organisations outside of the game. I have a few surprises planned along the way and plan to have fun with it all. If you only follow Zuffa you might not enjoy my dynasty.

Jipper16 · June 25, 2012

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PURCHASED BY

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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

My intentions with this MOD is to create the best promotion possible without effecting the real life Zuffa rosters. I didn't want to do a Bellator mod and not follow the things Bellator would do. Instead I created a fictional promotion. To have the best non Zuffa fighters, I either had to sign all of Bellator's talent out from under them or purchase them as a company. Purchasing them seemed more realistic than signing numerous contracted fighters. Even with their recent Viacom purchase. With the Bellator roster at my disposal I believe the other fighters I need can be more realistically signed.

Jipper16 · June 26, 2012

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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

Jipper16 · June 27, 2012

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Sign former DREAM talent!

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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

Jipper16 · June 28, 2012

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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.

Male

250-Any Superweight
250-226 Heavyweight
225-206 Cruiserweight
205-186 Light Heavyweight
185-171 Middleweight
170-156 Welterweight
155-146 Lightweight
145-136 Featherweight
135-126 Bantamweight
125-116 Flyweight

Female

145-136 Featherweight
135-126 Bantamweight
125-116 Flyweight
115-106 Strawweight
105-096 Miniweight

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

Jipper16 · June 29, 2012

WWE wrestler Batista signs with EMMA

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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

Jipper16 · July 3, 2012

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EMMA to Air on TBS in Japan,

First Event Announced

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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 http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/3993436/J9XBV_large.jpg 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

Jipper16 · July 3, 2012

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What would you do for $1,000?
How about $100?
Or $10
Or $1
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Next year America sells out.
Find out what you would do as the live audience is brought into the game show and we find what you America would do and how much you'd do it for.

What Would You Do? is a television game show that asks it's audience what is the craziest thing they would do for money. Often reduced to a bidding war between audience members we find out what the craziest things Americans will do for a free weeks long vacation. Or who in the studio audience will shave their head on national television for the lowest price.

What Would You Do? will push the limits of cable television, taking a page from Japanese game shows with contests like, who can hold in an enema the longest before splattering their contents all over national t.v.

09.08.12

Jipper16 · July 6, 2012

EMMA Announce Featherweight Grand Prix

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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.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs Shinya Aoki (Retirement fight for Sakuraba)
Grand Prix Tournament Fights
Hiroyuki Takaya vs Pat Curran
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Patricky Freire
Takeshi Inoue vs Marlon Sandro
Katsunori Kikuno vs Daniel Straus
Joachim Hansen vs Mike Corey
Andre Amado vs Ronnie Mann
Kazuyuki Miyata vs Alexandre Bezerra
Akiyo Nishiura vs Nazareno Malegarie
Caol Uno vs Joe Stevenson (Retirement fight for Uno)
Undercard Fights
Katsuhiko Nagata vs Shawn Bunch (Reserve Tournament Fight)
Doo Ho Choi vs Jadamba Narantungalag
Kazunori Yokota vs Yuji Hoshino

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

Please forgive my crude Photo Shop techniques. I'm still learning

UltraMantis · July 6, 2012

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.

Jipper16 · July 6, 2012

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.

First off, thank you for the comments. It's actually going to be more of a non-UFC/Zuffa organisation. My first event will be Dream vs Bellator though. I'm not sure what the events after that will look like yet. It'll be slow moving but I hope you stick with me and thanks again.

Jipper16 · July 7, 2012

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EMMA to Have K-1 Belt Maker Design Their Championship Belts

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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

I hope everyone will forgive me. I knew I couldn't design a belt myself for my fictional company. I've always loved the K-1 belts and their logo was one of the easiest to erase for me. So I've stolen the K-1 belts for my company.

Jipper16 · July 8, 2012

EMMA Reveal Their 2nd Card

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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

Jipper16 · July 9, 2012

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

Yes, I'm trying to build suspense but this time is also giving me time to adjust my fighter stats before the events start. 3 more months of build up then the action will be weekly and non-stop. If you stick with me that is.

ManUnderMask · July 10, 2012

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?

Jipper16 · July 11, 2012

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?

Thank you! I mean game time. Dates are at the bottom of each post. Fights begin the New Years Eve card in Japan.

ManUnderMask · July 12, 2012

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jipper16" data-cite="Jipper16" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="34045" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Thank you! I mean game time. Dates are at the bottom of each post. Fights begin the New Years Eve card in Japan.</div></blockquote> Sweet. I watched the real New Years Eve show on HDNet, all 9 hours of it, and I loved every second. I'm sad I won't get to see it again in real life (no HDNet, no Dream), but I can still live it through the dynasty!

Jipper16 · July 12, 2012

<div style="text-align:center;">Shaq to Finally Make his MMA Debut</div>

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<div style="text-align:center;">Former NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal has been training in mixed martial arts for over a decade. He used boxing, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and wrestling training, as a way to stay in shape outside of basketball. In mid-2009 Shaq stated he wanted to try professional MMA by challenging fellow 7 foot plus athlete Hong-Man Choi of South Korea. Though Choi accepted the challenge, a fight between the two never came to fruition. Shaq has reiterated over the last 3 years that he wants to fight MMA fighters who are his size including the 7'2" South Korean. He's also accepted the challenge of fellow sports star Jose Canseco who's only MMA fight to date was against Hong-Man Choi. Shaq ended his NBA career in 2011. He has since taken up a broadcasting job on TNT's announce team. His excess of time outside of the NBA has opened Shaq up to finally signing to fight in MMA.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af143/Jipper16/WMMA/Fighter%20Bodies/ShaquilleONeal.gifShaquille O'Neal vs Hong-Man Choihttp://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af143/Jipper16/WMMA/Fighter%20Bodies/HongManChoi.gif

will finally happen on Friday January 11th of next year, at EMMA's Superweight Grand Prix. Finally a fight over 3 years in the making will take place. It's unclear if Shaq vs Choi will be a part of the Grand Prix itself or an additional side show attraction. There's no doubt that Shaquille O'Neal making his MMA debut will be a ratings attraction for the new network. </div>

Jipper16 · July 13, 2012

<div style="text-align:center;">An Interview with Anthony "Rumble" Johnson</div>

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af143/Jipper16/WMMA/Fighter%20Bodies/AnthonyJohnsonIII-1.gifIt was less than a year ago when Anthony Johnson missed weight for a UFC event for the third time in a row. It’s been 3 years since “Rumble” last fought at anything but a catch weight fight. After failing twice to make the 170 pound welterweight limit, Johnson moved up a weight class to make the 15 pounds easier Middleweight limit. Johnson missed weight in his Middleweight fight by 12 pounds, weighing in at 197 pounds. The 28 year old rising star was released from the UFC for his failures to make weight. Johnson signed with TtianFC and was set to make his Middleweight debut for them only a few months later. Last minute Johnson’s first TitanFC fight was changed to a 195 pound Catchweight fight. Though both Johnson’s camp and opponent David Branch’s camp stated the fight was an agreed Catchweight fight, there was some confusion and speculation otherwise about the truth of that.

We sat down with one of the many new signee’s to EMMA, a promotion that’s yet to debut for a little Q & A. We asked “Rumble” several questions including why he left Titan Fighting Championships so soon after signing with them. We asked him about his jump in weight once again, this time to Light Heavyweight at 205 pounds as well as his upcoming opponent Sokoudjou and his new company Empire Mixed Martial Arts. Here are the highlights of our conversation.

Question: Why did you decide to leave Titan so soon after signing with them?

Answer: We didn’t have anything exclusive with Titan. They helped me out and I think I helped them. If you’re not going to be in the UFC, EMMA is clearly the place to be right now.

Question: Why did you decide to jump once again in weight class and compete as a Light Heavyweight?

Answer: EMMA actually contacted my people about competing in their Light Heavyweight Grand Prix. They didn’t even ask about Middleweight. I’ve been packing on muscle during training for some time and it’s gotten harder and harder to drop the weight. It’s not like I’m some short fighter who just can’t cut weight. I’m big for a Light Heavyweight, huge for a Middleweight and damned near impossibly big for a Welterweight. It’s just taking me some time to figure out where I should be.

Question: So the people from EMMA requested you fight at Light Heavyweight?

Answer: My people told me they offered a Light Heavyweight Grand Prix spot. I was told they'd also offer me a Middleweight spot if I preferred. I was told that they compared me to Alistair Overeem going from Light Heavyweight to Heavyweight and I actually agree. I look forward to fighting some boys my size. Stop picking on the Junior High Schoolers and fight some varsity.

Question: What do you think about your upcoming opponent Sokoudjou?

Answer: I think he’s going to get knocked out. (laughs) I don’t know. We’re about the same age, both still reaching our prime. We’ve both been in the sport a long time though. We both got hyped up early in our careers for our highlight reel knock outs. He’s struggled with some loses since, I had my weight cutting issues. I guess we’re both trying to prove ourselves in different ways.

Question: You think EMMA is going to be a place to do that?

Answer: I’m excited about being in a Grand Prix. Who doesn’t like a Grand Prix?

Question: The UFC? (laughs)

Answer: Yeah, I guess. But I do.

Question: Finally how is the training going?

Answer: It’s going great. It has been for a while. We knew about the Sokoudjou fight pretty earlier so we’re just getting into the early stages of getting ready for him. It should be good. We'll be ready.

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will make his Light Heavyweight debut January 4th of next year in the main event of EMMA’s Light Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Jipper16 · July 13, 2012

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="ManUnderMask" data-cite="ManUnderMask" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="34045" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Sweet. I watched the real New Years Eve show on HDNet, all 9 hours of it, and I loved every second. I'm sad I won't get to see it again in real life (no HDNet, no Dream), but I can still live it through the dynasty!</div></blockquote> I was on my sofa watching it live too.

Jipper16 · July 14, 2012

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From Mike Judge the creator of King of the Hill
The Blue Collar Comedy crew are back, this time in a television sitcom. Mike Judge in association with the Blue Collar comedians is bringing a King of the Hill style show to life. Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White will essentially be Hank Hill, Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive and Jeff Boomhauer in this cartoon to life sitcom. Though much of the show will be based on the comedians comedy, Judge said the original idea came when he saw the foursome standing together just as his King of the Hill characters always did in their infamous alley. Judge also currently works on the revamped "Beavis and Butthead" and has a cult following to his movie "Office Space". He will lead the comedians into sitcom life when the show premiers at the beginning of next year on EmpireTV. It should be interesting to see if the blue collar comedians can succeed in a sitcom lead by Judge when their few attempts at acting (The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Witless Protection, ) have all failed.

10.12.12

Jipper16 · July 15, 2012

K-1 Legend Returns to MMA

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With EMMA is set to reveal their Superweight Grand Prix card tomorrow, a little news about one of the fights was leaked a day early. An unconfirmed report for a Holland martial arts website posted yesterday that K-1 legend Semmy Schilt will be making his return to MMA. Schilt last fought in MMA 4 years ago before he left to focus on his K-1 career. Schilt succeeded the following year by winning the K-1 World Grand Prix. According to the Dutch site, the 39 year old fighter stated he was drawn back to MMA for several reasons including the opportunity to compete in a Grand Prix format like he's familiar with from K-1 World Grand Prix's. He also said that getting to fight opponents his own size in the Superweight division was also a draw for him as he believes he is the best big man in the business.

EMMA previously announced that they had signed some top K-1 talent for their Superweight GP so it's not completely surprising, but signing a name like Schilt may be the ultimate impact that poaching K-1 talent could have provided.

10.13.12

Jipper16 · July 15, 2012

EMMA Reveal Superweight Grand Prix

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Main Event

Shaquille O'Neal vs Hong-Man Choi

Grand Prix Fights

Semmy Schilt vs Jan Nortje

Jerome LeBanner vs James Thompson

Sean McCorkle vs Soa Palelei

Bob Sapp vs Jimmy Ambriz

Mighty Mo vs Butterbean

Guilherme Siva dos Anjos vs Goncalo Salgado

Alexandru Lungu vs Tadas Rimkevicius

Chris Barnett vs Brian Heden

Non-Grand Prix Fight

Dave Bautista vs Robert Burneika

Reserve Tournament Fight

Imani Lee vs "Zuluzinho"

Undercard Fights

Brandon Sayles vs Ryan McGowan

Levan Razmadze vs Chance Williams

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Jipper16 · July 15, 2012

<div style="text-align:center;">http://media.ufc.tv/fighter_images/Mirko_Cro_Cop/Mirko_Cro_Cop_500x325.png Another K-1 Legend Signs with EMMA EMMA announced today that K-1 and MMA legend Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic has signed to make his return to MMA. This news comes just two days after the announcement of Semmy Schilt's long awaited return to MMA and a day after announcing a Superweight Grand Prix that's full of former K-1 talent. CroCop retired from the UFC at the end of 2011 and immediately return to his Kickboxing roots signing to fight with K-1 once again. The Croatian never ruled out a return to MMA one day but at 37 years of age most MMA fans thought if they wanted to see CroCop fight again, they'd have to do so while he was wearing boxing gloves. Early reports have Pedro Rizzo as a possible first opponent for CroCop. Both Rizzo and CroCop are legends of MMA, well known for their vicious leg strikes. Somehow the two never met in an MMA ring though. It seems that like many of the recent K-1 fighters to sign with EMMA, CroCop to was lured in by the Grand Prix style format. Since there inception just a few months ago, EMMA have signed K-1 fighters, Mirko CroCop, Semmy Schilt, Melvin Manhoef, Jerome LeBanner, Hong-Man Choi, Jan Nortje, Mighty Mo, Imani Lee and it appears they may also have signed Sergei Kharitonov. These signed fighter just deepen the roots EMMA seem to be setting in the Asian market, as most of these fighters are most prominently known there. It also leads us to wonder who else the new promotion might bring over to MMA. So far all of the K-1 fighters have had previous MMA experience but we still hope a name like Badi Hari may pop up in a future Grand Prix announcement. If EMMA is able to pull Igor Vovchanchyn out of his 7 year retirement we'll officially announce Empire Mixed Martial Arts as the greatest MMA promotion of all time. You never know. Vovchanchyn retired early in his career and is only 39 years old today. With Vovchanchyn holding the inaugural <a href="http://www.sherdog.com/events/WH-Igor-Vovchanchyn-Cup-22669" rel="external nofollow">Igor's World Cup</a> this year, we suppose anything is possible. <div style="text-align:right;">10.15.12</div> </div> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="34045" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I know it's taking awhile to get to the actual fights. I'm trying to keep it interesting along the way. I'll be amazed if anyone is still reading once I get there. Please keep in mind that I'm adjusting every fighter stats as I go along. Thanks to anyone who's still viewing. </div></blockquote>

Jipper16 · July 16, 2012

Breaking News

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Kyra Gracie signs for EMMA

The first female of the Gracie family has finally signed to fight in MMA. Kyra Gracie, the granddaughter of Robson Gracie and niece of MMA fighters Renzo, Ralph and Ryan Gracie has long been rumored to make her MMA debut. A second degree blackbelt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, Kyra is the highest ranked female jiu-jitsu artist in the Gracie family. Her accomplishments in martial arts include being a 5 times Brazilian BJJ champion, winning the Pan American BJJ games 5 times, being a 4 time World BJJ Champion and winning the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship 3 times, including in 2011. The 27 year old has stated numerous times that if she were going to cross over to MMA it would have to happen soon. She's also said that the conditions and the money would also have to be right for her to do it. Apparently Empire Mixed Martial Arts has provided the newest Gracie to enter a cage what she needed. On her website today Kyra announced her signing with EMMA also stating that her first fight should be sometime early next year. Kyra stated, "The money was right, but more importantly EMMA is fully committed to women's MMA." Though Kyra hasn't thrown a punch in the martial arts world, many fans still know her because of her famous family as well as the photo shoots she's done, like that pictured above. Her name will bring some needed attention to what could potentially be a fully women's fight card that EMMA may be planning to produce next year. Without a Cyborg Santos or Ronda Rousey headlining the card EMMA's effort into Women's MMA will need all the attention it can get.

10.17.12

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