Before David Lee Roth left the band and they became a poor pop metal imitation of their former greatness, Van Halen ruled the world with the primal fury of Godzilla raging through Tokyo. The VH/Roth ouevre, particularly their first four studio albums, have a rightful place among the best metal albums ever. Here’s the band at the height of their powers:
We here at THE SAVAGE SCIENCE have the best job in the world. Still, there are times when we are forced to report on unpleasant topics and this is one of them. Actually, its not so much the topic that’s unpleasant as the picture accompanying this report.
Via SukiMMA: The always entertaining Akihiro Gono has recently discovered the HBO chick series “Sex and the City”. Even for someone unfamiliar with its cultural context, Gono quickly gets to the crux of the show’s appeal:
Sex and the City was on when I turned on TV before going bed. It was the first time for me to watch that show. I liked a lot because this show contained lots of sex talk and stuff. I’m going to rent the complete series at Tsutaya(rental video).
And here’s the disturbing part…the post on Gono’s blog about his new found enthusiasm for self absorbed women in NYC was accompanied with the following picture. At least Gono had the decency to crop the photo…..as we were saying, fight sport journalism isn’t always pretty:
When we last checked in with Kid Yamamoto following his recent surgery, he was filling his hours playing SimCity on the Nintendo DS. He most have lost interest in the video games since he’s taken up drawing, and SukiMMA brings us his Keith Haring-esque work:
Takanori Gomi was apparently unhappy with his listless performance in the main event of Sengoku 4. Here’s some quotes via the essential SukiMMA:
After the fight interview with SENGOKU.
Gomi:
I was going to give him damages by not punching but kicking. I was almost down in the beginning of 2R because of kicking a lot in 1R. My opponent didn’t tackle me and aimed the counter punches. I saw a belt last night and I strongly felt that I didn’t want to lose. I personally wanted him to be more aggressive as a champion of DEEP. I think great performances by other lightweight fighters contributed SENGOKU to get more attention. I wish I could have an exciting fight yesterday. Don’t worry, I will definitely get a belt. I want my next fight in Nov and have a title match next year.Takanori Gomi talked about his performance in a press conference on Aug 25.
My performance wasn’t good enough as a main event. I felt the pressure since other lightweight fighters did great job. It was the last fight in my 20 years old, and I was very motivated to ko him. I didn’t have chance to ko him despite of giving him pressure, and I changed my game plan and focused on not ko but win this fight.
The championship fight of SENGOKU lightweight tournament will be exciting no matter who I fight against. I cannot wait my next fight. I was bruised on the right leg because of kicking a lot. In my next fight, I want to show that I can do better.
Gomi was not satisfied with his Sengoku performance @ SukiMMA
KJ Noons has sent this to a number of MMA media outlets and it appears to be
legit. Nothing really too exciting–We have no issue with Noons
fighting Eddie Alverez but he’s realistically not going to be able to
fight until later this year. He had a nasty eye injury at the DREAM
LW GP semi finals and is getting married in September meaning that its
going to be hard to focus on training.
Noons may or may not have a legit beef with EliteXC, but the bottom
line is that its time honored prizefighter “etiquette” to offer a
guy a rematch in the event of a controversial decision Most recently
on the last ShoXC card Po’ai Suganuma rematched Jared Hamman in
somewhat similar circumstances. Diaz is a guy who “bleeds easily”,
and there’s not many who are of the opinion that Noon’s win was
convincing or decisive. From the sound of it, he’s trying to
obfuscate the primary issue–that for whatever reason he doesn’t want to offer Diaz a rematch:
I would first like to address all the false allegations and insults
from Jared Shaw, aka $kala, VP of Elite XC. You will see why I am so
disgusted of how Elite XC treated me and how it applies to this
proposed fight and my career.$kala says:
Honor my contract. Elite XC wants to talk about honoring the contract.
How about when Elite XC honored the contract and my pay to fight
Edson Berto went down after I lost my first fight. That was not part
of my contract. Or how about the contract Gary Shaw breached by not
promoting my boxing career? Gary Shaw only gave me one out of four of
the agreed upon fights. I have not boxed for over a year. When I
signed with Elite XC, I was promised they would promote both my boxing
and MMA careers. I could have signed with another MMA only company,
but I wanted to box too.Elite XC does me a favor after I lose, by putting me on the first
ShoXC against Edson Berto? Berto’s father is good friends with
Jared’s father, Gary Shaw who wants Berto’s brother on a boxing
contract. Berto was the next guy Elite XC wanted to build. But I win
that fight and now I am 1-1. Elite XC gives me an opportunity to
fight Diaz. Elite XC puts me against Diaz because Elite XC’s roster
was so light and there was nobody else to fight him.Elite XC creates a new weight class for Diaz because he beat Gomi.
Giving Diaz a belt and creating a weight division (160) he can make,
will make your belt legit. Sorry to ruin Elite XC’s plans and beat
him.Elite XC never promoted or took care of me as their champion.
Examples:
In the Elite XC’s DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2)
baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite
XC’s promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC
flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must
have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that
you lost. Why wasn’t I flown in for the signing?Elite XC has never promoted me on either of their websites, EliteXC or
Pro-Elite.Elite XC offered me a fight on the first CBS show, but only if I
signed a new long-term contract. Instead of promoting their best
fighters on CBS, you have to be on a long term contract for them to
promote you. That was not our deal.Consider when Elite XC gives a couple thousand tickets away at their
CBS show in Stockton.Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my
cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per
show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask
for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time
about one extra ticket!Or how about when Elite XC brought Diaz into the ring after my last
victory in Hawaii to disrespect me and my family.Chuck Champion (President Elite XC) threatens me, my family and my
manager with lawsuits and how he’s going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard
to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. I’m glad $kala
disclosed how much I make, which breached the confidentiality clause
of the contract. I will break down the real numbers for you. I am the
defending world champ, I have been the main event for Elite XC three
out of four times on Showtime. In almost two years I have made
approximately $83,000?After paying my trainers and managers fee, I have $50,000 thousand.
After taxes, probably 30 grand. Divide that by two years for $15,000
thousand a year. Divide by 52 weeks that amounts to approximately $300
a week. I do not know anybody that can survive on that amount of
money. My buddies make more money than that in a couple days being a
bus boy or bar back. And yes you can argue I should fight more. Elite
XC doesn’t give me fights or promote me, they ice me. Gary Shaw
Productions only gave me one of the agreed upon four fights per the
boxing contract.And I do not want to ramble on about all the little small stuff that I
can keep going on about. But the straw that broke the camel’s back is
they want me to fight Diaz for the second time. Diaz is not the
number one contender and they are paying Diaz three times more money
than me. Diaz complained after the Stockton fight, he was not paid
enough. How do you think that made me feel? Yes you can argue that
Diaz gets more for the draw, therefore I do not deserve as much
compensation. If that is the case, it is a result of Elite XC
terrible job promoting me. Instead of promoting me as their champ and
upcoming athlete, Elite XC has resented me for ruining their plans to
make Diaz their champ. That is just total disrespect. So it comes
down to money and what is fair. I am tired of being bent over by
Elite XC with no Vaseline.I am right when I say Diaz is not the number one contender. Elite XC
is trying to force this fight for their ratings. Eddie Alaverez is the
number one contender and anybody with half a brain knows that a fight
with Eddie is a way harder fight for me than Diaz. I will fight Diaz,
but Elite has to be fair. I’m not ducking Diaz, why the hell would I
be scared of someone I already beat.With that being said, I am going to focus on my boxing career. I can
make more money doing 6 and 8 rounders every other month and make more
than I did being the Elite XC defending world champ. At least I will
be able to sleep at night and be able to look myself in the mirror
everyday. That right there is worth more than $300 bucks a week or
fighting a guy I cannot stand for less money than him the second time
around.Will the Diaz fight happen, yes. Will the fight happen on Elite XC on
October 4, 2008, probably not. The way things are being run by Chuck
Champion, a guy whose history is newspapers, not fighting, and $kala,
someone who talks a lot of game, but has never put on a pair of
gloves, never stepped in a ring or cage. $kala has had everything
handed to him with a silver spoon from daddy. Does anyone else but me
think $kala just wants to be famous and stir up all this dirty
laundry? I guess any publicity is good publicity. When I think about
it, it has been good promotion for their October card since nobody is
talking about it until you bring up the Noons vs. Diaz match up.Before I end, I would like to thank my team, my trainers and workout
partners for helping me prepare for my fights hours every day. I would
like to also thank my manager Mark Dion for standing behind my
decision making. I want to be a fighter who is not doing whatever I am
being told like some kind of mindless puppet.Thanks for hearing my side.
K.J. NOONS
The Croatian sports media is reporting that Mirko Cro Cop vs. Alistair Overeem is a done deal for DREAM.6. We’ll update with details as we get them. Here’s a news report from Croatian television that should give you the general idea…
UPDATE: Our Eastern European source Edo adds the following note:
The report is only 30 seconds long and not very detailed but they seem 100% sure else they would not have reported it on national nightly news. Also I read somewhere that someone had seen tv ads for the event with the line: “cro-cop will fight the man who dropped mark hunt” One website speculated it Schilt but that would be almost impossible - but the line was propably refering to Overeem- the next day this news came out.
Show Edo some love by visiting his website for the latest UFC and MMA odds–BetWWX.com
That’s what Kevin Iole is reporting….
The UFC plans to allow former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to fight even though he was formally charged with two felonies on Tuesday for his role in a July 15 traffic incident in Southern California.
Jackson, 30, was charged with one felony count of evading while driving recklessly and one felony count of evading a peace officer and driving against traffic. He was also charged with three misdemeanors.
Notably, he will not be charged in the death of the unborn child of one of the women whose car he hit, 38-year-old Holli Griggs. Griggs was driving in the left lane on the southbound 55 Freeway when Jackson’s pick-up truck sideswiped her sport utility vehicle, according to police. Griggs miscarried following the accident.
Jackson, who will be arraigned on Thursday, is free on $25,000 bail.
If you’re a frequent visitor to the SAVAGE SCIENCE you already know that our HQ is located in Portland, OR. Today the community is mourning the death of Kevin Duckworth at age 44. He was the center on the great Portland TrailBlazer teams led by Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, and in retirement continued to live in the Rose City where he was one of the most beloved of the team’s former players.
Duckworth was in the coastal town of Lincoln City, OR for a free basketball clinic sponsored by the TrailBlazers. Details are still sketchy, but it appears that he was found dead in his hotel room this morning with speculation centering on a heart attack or similar cardiac ailment.
Duckworth is survived by a fiancé and two children. While he showed flashes of brilliance as a player and was a valued contributor to some great Blazer teams, he’s being remembered by the community for his generous nature, kind heart and loving personality.
THE SAVAGE SCIENCE would like to offer our thoughts and condolences to his family and friends. Rest in peace, Duck…
Kevin Duckworth tribute @ PortlandTrailblazers official site
Affliction will be the primary sponsor of Mike Skinner’s #00 car at the 8/31 Pepsi 500 race in Southern California:
Affliction Entertainment and Michael Waltrip Racing have teamed up to race for the checkered flag in the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California. This year’s Sprint Cup Series race at the two-mile D-shaped oval will find Waltrip’s #00 Toyota, driven by veteran driver Mike Skinner, fully wrapped in Affliction Entertainment’s “Day of Reckoning” graphics promoting the upcoming Oct. 11 MMA Pay-Per-View event from Las Vegas. In addition to Affliction’s sponsorship of the Michael Waltrip Racing #00 entry, the company will work with Auto Club Speedway to promote “Day of Reckoning” to the multitude of fans who attend the events planned at the world-famous speedway this Labor Day weekend. Utilizing the venue’s multiple promotional opportunities, Affliction and Auto Club Speedway have packaged an entertaining mixture of promotional opportunities to make the fans aware of Affliction’s upcoming event. Roy Englebrecht Events, Donald J. Trump and Affliction Entertainment in association with Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino present Affliction “Day of Reckoning” featuring the WAMMA heavyweight elimination match between Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett on Saturday, Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Tickets are available online at www.unlvtickets.com or by calling 702.739.FANS. Ticket prices range from $75 to $500. Arlovski vs. Barnett is available live on cable and satellite Pay-Per-View and closed circuit television
We’ll get some pictures of the Affliction paint scheme on the car as soon as we can…
Affliction to sponsor #00 car at NASCAR race in California @ Jayski.com
Will be Ken Shamrock…
