Jimmy Ambriz Will Not Face Bobby Lashley
by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 19, 2010 10:26 PM EST
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Strikeforce officials on Tuesday afternoon told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that journeyman heavyweight Jimmy Ambriz (14-12-1 MMA, 0-0 SF) is not fighting the former pro wrestler at "Strikeforce: Miami," despite a seal of approval from the Florida State Boxing Commission.
Despite the latest setback, officials said they felt confident a replacement opponent would be found in time for the Jan. 30 event, which features a welterweight title bout between Nick Diaz and Marius Zaromskis and will be broadcast live on Showtime....
Officials said the promotion was "starting from square one" in the search for a heavyweight to face Lashley.
- MMA Junkie confirms that Jimmy Ambriz is out as an opponent for Bobby Lashley.
Starting from square one is not the kind of thing you want to hear roughly 10 days from the weigh-ins. We've gone from rumors of Shane Del Rosario (who we heard rumors of Lashley's camp turning down), to Yohan Banks (who the state commission oddly turned down) to Jimmy Ambriz (who was turned down by Showtime) to...a question mark.
For as many strides as Strikeforce has made to this point this shows a lot of the growing pains they're having to go through. Camps, fighters and networks are all seeming to have too much input into how things are run which is leading to a really ugly situation here.
[UPDATE] by Anton Tabuena - Lashley Comments on the Situation
"I got a call last night that said I'd definitely be fighting, and [Strikeforce officials] said, 'We want to make sure to have the right opponent for you'... I hope everything works out. I hope they find someone and the fight is good."
"It's going to be a little difficult training. I have to sharpen all aspects of my game, so regardless if I have an opponent or not, I'm still going to work on every piece of my game going into this fight."
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FUBAR:
Level 1 Reached
Keep firing Assholes!
Mind numbing, tedious and ultimately self defeating.
by Ubernoober on Jan 19, 2010 10:04 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Now Brett Rogers is calling out Bobby on Twitter now. We may hit level 2 soon!
Be a man, not a child-Phil Anselmo
by ANance on Jan 20, 2010 9:27 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
grimrogers?
that’s not his real twitter account, that’s just a troll account.
by Anton Tabuena on Jan 20, 2010 10:10 AM EST up reply actions
James Toney is looking for a MMA fight :D
by who me on Jan 19, 2010 10:05 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
It’s ok for all those people to have input a few months before the card. But when you reach that level, someone needs to be put in charge, and they need to have the ability to say, lashley fight him or don’t fight. The time for holding hands is over, someone needs to make a decision.
by Phildo on Jan 19, 2010 10:06 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Well…Lashley and his camp were fine with Ambriz, Strikeforce was okay with it, but Showtime said no. And I can see why they are allowed to veto things…but still…
Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com
by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 19, 2010 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
It seems that last minute booking of events is a bad idea, who would of thunk it? :D
It really is just getting ridiculous at this point, they are at a point where there are no good options because even if they find someone acceptable to all parties there isn’t any time for a fighter to prepare for this.
They had an opponent booked (Banks) and the commission wouldn’t sanction the fight.
My question is this: Was Showtime OK with Lashley fighting Banks? If yes, why wouldn’t they want him to fight Ambriz? Not much difference.
by Johnnynumber5 on Jan 20, 2010 1:18 AM EST up reply actions
Why are the so adamant about Lashley being on this card?
Why won’t they move his fight to the next card?
- are they worried about pissing off all the fans who bought tickets to the show?
- are they hoping he’ll do such great numbers that StrikeForce will hit a benchmark on Showtime?
- do they absolutely have to introduce him to fans before putting him on CBS?
- is there some contractual obligation they have to fill?
WTF? Just put his fight on the next card.
Wrasslin
He’s still be on TNA shows, but he can’t put off his wrasslin schedule for another month. He probably needs to work a match or three.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:24 PM EST up reply actions
*He’s still been on
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:25 PM EST up reply actions
Trying to clarify
So you’re saying that StrikeForce has to get him a match because after this card he has to go back to “wrasslin”? Now I got more questions:
-Why just wait until April when they can book him on a CBS card?
- Do you think they promised/agreed to a match in January and now they have an obligation to get him one so he’s training wasn’t wasted?
- If he has to get back to “wrasslin” what does that even mean for a CBS match for him?
Consider this;
Delaying his fight that long means having to pay him his “show” fee to save face this time. It’s probably more money than they want to pay without getting him some exposure.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:32 PM EST up reply actions
Also
I didn’t say he’s leaving to wrestler forever, but he is doing both. That’s well known.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:32 PM EST up reply actions
I meant if his plan was that he had to get this fight in because he couldn’t spend so much time training since he had to go back to wrestling then how would we be ready for an April 16th CBS show?
I have no idea
Someone smashed a TV on his head two days ago and he’s supposed to fight in a week and a half. The whole thing is stupid to me.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:36 PM EST up reply actions
For a second I thought you meant someone really smashed a tv on his head. Is prowrestling still big?
The company he's in, TNA Wrestling
is pretty damn small potatoes. Sort of a Strikeforce without Fedor. WWE still does pretty well for itself, though.
The got their Fedor
And his name is Hogan
HI YAH!
by Thats It For you! on Jan 20, 2010 9:28 AM EST up reply actions
Eh
WWE is a very profitable organization, probably always will be. Things aren’t what they used to be, and it’s a lot more boring now than the late 90’s were. TNA is making a big push to be the new WCW, but there’s a lot of discontent with the way the product is changing (they’re hiring on a lot of old timers and released wrestlers like WCW used to). So he’s probably making pretty good money off of them for the time being, and he doesn’t have to travel like he did in the WWE. He must be doing well between fighting and wrestling, but I think it’s foolish for Strikeforce to let him get pull of stunts like that and train for a fight at the same time. Guys have gotten seriously injured doing less significant activities.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:42 PM EST up reply actions
Lashley’s actually being advertised for a UK tour TNA is doing, which just happens to overlap with the Jan 30th fight. Him getting pulled from the SF card wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
I agree, I was just pointing it out. Being advertised for a multiple-date house show tour overseas is a little different. Plus he’ll get paid very well if he works those dates because they’ll draw big gates there.
And he did appear on the PPV, just didn’t wrestle.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
They never had any intention of wrestling him, though
they just wanted his name attached in a misguided attempt to get cross-over fans. And those tours often just throw names at the wall. The shows are always subject to change.
He’s wrestled many times in TNA. They just bait-and-switched him out of this match to surprise-debut Kennedy and not make Lashley work so close to a potential fight.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
Bait and switching a co-main event on a PPV is clearly a sign
that they think his name is important enough that they’ll risk pissing off their fans to use it, even when they know he won’t actually be working.
Meh. I always saw TNA as more of a smart-fan type of promotion anyway. I’d venture a guess that 1/3 of the people that ordered the show already knew Anderson was going to replace him.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
Well, of course TNA fans are smarks.
But playing to the smarks gets you the atrocious ratings that TNA’s had all these years. This whole neo-WCW thing is supposed to draw in the casual, and bait-and-switches piss them off.
The main deal is that TNA had always told me they were willing to work with anything that I had to do with fighting. This is their first opportunity to show they’re really going to work with me. That’s all I really can say about that.
Originally when we signed the deal, they knew I was going to have a huge obligation in the fighting business. At the end of the day, that’s my main source of income and what requires the most dedication.
They told me they would be able to work with me and anything that I wanted to do, and they know that this fight’s important and every other fight that I have with Strikeforce is important. I just want to see that they’re willing to hold up their end of the bargain and support me as I fight and move forward.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:58 PM EST up reply actions
He’s saying the “we’ll see over the next 2 weeks” (an answer to the question after the one you quoted) because Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan took over TNA 2 weeks ago, and no one is sure of their position in the company. Hogan has tried to make a wrestling angle out of Lashley’s duality (and he completely snowed Josh Gross with it), but it could very well end up that Lashley will be leaving TNA very soon. He’s certainly not going to give up his fight career.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
Looks like TNA is in a downward spiral. There are a lot of angry fans after their PPV on Sunday, from what I gather.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 11:04 PM EST up reply actions
Yes, there were. The longtime fans completely shit on the PPV, and other than the first-week gain of viewers tuning in to see Hogan/Flair/Hardy on TV, they’ve gained nothing. Not surprising, really. Lashley might be best off exiting stage left ASAP.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
I heard they moved back to a four-sided ring and were working 80’s style matches and the whole program got booed to shit. Welcome back, Bischoff.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 11:07 PM EST up reply actions
Yup. With WWE mid-carders like Val Venis and Kennedy winning matches over guys that built TNA. Completely ridiculous. The fans in the front two rows actually turned their backs on some matches.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
The fans in the front two rows actually turned their backs on some matches.
Wowwwww.. That’s brutal. Didn’t hear that.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 20, 2010 12:13 AM EST up reply actions
When Morley won, using the money shot, which I guess they are allowed to use as a term, the first few rows right in front of the hard camera all turned their back.
I think that’s awesome.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
So do I
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 20, 2010 12:22 AM EST up reply actions
Somehow they all got it in their head that
recreating the losing side of the Monday night war was a good idea. It’s basically 1998 WCW with a couple of legitimately good workers and a much worse financial situation. Also, all their major draws from those days are now 50-60 years old.
I only followed prowrestling up to when Hogan slammed Andre (why did I bet on Andre!) so the only thing I know about it is what others tell me (a friend of mine gave me a whole rundown on the Monday Night Wars, It sounded pretty funny).
Anyways, a couple of prowrestling questions to you or whomever wants to answer:
1) are there a lot of mma fans who follow prowrestling? Or is it more like boxing where there is not as many fans who cross over as some believe?
2) I know Lashley is not as popular as Lesnar, but can Strikeforce expect to see a sizeable amount of prowrestling fans follow him to mma?
3) How does his prowrestling activities affect his mma career? is he on tour when working so he’s unavailable for work? Or is everything done is one studio, in one location (like a lot of the old AWA stuff) and he just has to show up for a couple hours a day and shoot one day a week (Kind of like doing a sitcom, he’s got a lot of freetime)?
I shall answer your questions three.
1. Aside from people who followed Lesnar, not really. Much of WWE’s audience is younger people that MMA is a little too mature for.
2. In a word, no. Not really. Pro Wrestling fans never got behind Lashley at all. They don’t really care about him.
3. TNA is willing to completely cave, and not work him whenever he has a fight. They feel like just having his name attached to them is enough, without ever having to actually have a match. Kinda like Strikeforce, actually.
Thanks
And thanks for not calling me bridgekeeper.
No,YellGree….
I’m putting you on administrative leave from the Nerd Force. I want your badge and gun on my desk.
Keep firing Assholes!
Mind numbing, tedious and ultimately self defeating.
Dude, you’ve been laying the smack down on the nerd force around here lately. Impressive.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
We do it by the book in this Nerd Department, we don’t need any loose cannons.
Keep firing Assholes!
Mind numbing, tedious and ultimately self defeating.
Nerd department?
Hard to believe no one has taken your lunch money yet, Mr. Ubernoober.
by John Nash on Jan 19, 2010 11:50 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
1. Aside from people who followed Lesnar, not really.
I strongly disagree with that.
The original TUF boom in 2005 was built on the back of WWE Raw. Having Raw as a lead-in on Spike was a HUGE part of the reason TUF was a success. Almost all of TUF’s initial audience was viewers who hung around after Raw ended.
There is a ton of overlap in the pro wrestling audience and the post-TUF MMA audience.
1. MMA is chock full of past and current pro wrestling fans(particularly former pro wrestling fans that grew out of it), lets face it MMA is what pro wrestling would be if pro wrestling was an actual sport. In Japan the connection is a lot more blatant than in the US because there is a real stigma on pro wrestling in the US that just doesn’t exist in Japan.
2. Pro wrestling fans never really cared about Bobby Lashley to start with, if anything it’s the MMA that has gotten his popularity/notoriety up.
3. TNA likes the MMA tie in so they will work with it, in pro wrestling attention is everything and Lashley doing “real” fights gets them attention too. Besides TNA tapes like a month of shows at one time so it doesn’t take up a lot of his time, although it could really affect his health. Pro wrestling is dangerous.
I'll answer these too, since I have a bit of a different take on some of these
1. My take is that a lot of old wrestling fans (ie; late 90’s) are MMA converts because they tired of/grew out of the product.
2. Of course he’ll bring new people. Wrestling fans love to follow the characters they recognize to new mediums. Even if it’s only 25,000 fans who are like “Damn, I want to see him really fight!”, that 25k that probably didn’t have any interest in MMA before.
3. They let the big talent do whatever they please, so he’s under the impression that he can come and go whenever he’s available. And most of their shows are filmed at Universal Studios in Florida.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 11:02 PM EST up reply actions
Are you 100% dedicated to MMA, or is pro wrestling still a big part of who you are and what you do?
I’m 100% committed to MMA. I don’t think people realize that the pro wrestling I do with TNA is very limited. That’s just a small amount of time and the owner of TNA wants to help my MMA career. He knows I’m dedicated to MMA and he supports that.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2009/12/11/bobby-lashley-im-in-strikeforce-to-fight-the-best/
by Johnnynumber5 on Jan 20, 2010 1:21 AM EST up reply actions
What if they cancelled his fight
But gave you a free Fedor sweater and a stuffed Mayhem Monkey? Would that placate you?
bah
Just leave him off this card. The actual benefits of including him are increasingly difficult to see, at this point.
Though I must admit I find it a bit of a shame we won’t get to see Ambriz’s weird physique lumbering around again…
Pacquiao vs. Lashley
2010 Seahawks Goals: Master the forward pass, sack the QB, and knock Arizona off their perch.
And for 10K, I'll happily make Lashley look like a total world beater.
by Trysdor on Jan 19, 2010 10:21 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I hear they’re trying to decide between Mark Kerr, Bo Cantrell and Warpath. Seriously though, I’d put him against Monson. If he loses to Monson, it wouldn’t impair his future marketability (think Mir-Lesnar I), but if he managed to beat Monson, some people would probably rank him as a top 10 HW.
Monson is one of his primary training partners.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:57 PM EST up reply actions
Just goes to show you how thin their roster looks.
They should just forget about it. The last thing they need is someone to pull a Petruzelli on them.
You have to be the man... you have to be very, like, alpha male with her. You know? Decide what you do and everything. So, show her who's the boss, you know? - GSP
Sigh..
they’re really going to get someone who will get off his couch a few days before the weigh-in.
Honestly
I’m starting to feel that’s the plan— a half respectable name that will have no time to properly train.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 10:29 PM EST up reply actions
he didn't look like that at a recent grappling tournament....
I'm like PacMan fightin you silly kids... throw ya Hatton the ring, and get knocked outlike Ricky did.
lol.
They should get the original black, muscular, crappy fighter-killer himself, Seth Petruzelli.
by ufc4 on Jan 19, 2010 10:32 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
for a "world title" no less
Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com
by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 20, 2010 8:41 AM EST up reply actions
Gary Goodridge will do it, heck he’d probably fight Ambriz on the undercard and work the ticket counter before the fight too.
John Devine will be his opponent, if he’s not pulled from the card. Meltzer has speculated on this for the last couple of days.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
that was even before the commission approved Ambriz though..
I’m not sure if that’s still the case now…
by Anton Tabuena on Jan 19, 2010 11:41 PM EST up reply actions
I dig it
I wish this would have been signed from the beginning, or at least after the Del Rosario fight got crushed.
Blackout612- "Wuts teh UFC?"
Ubernoober- "It like two guy who just stand and swing for fence and try to knock each other shit out it awesome"
by Blackout612 on Jan 19, 2010 11:05 PM EST up reply actions
Where did that awesome post of Luke’s go where he banned the guy on his first post? I’ve been getting the rec’ button warmed up and now I can’t find it.
Did you see the size of that chicken?
by Heenan on Jan 19, 2010 10:54 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
There are ton's of HW's for him to fights
-Travis Fulton
- Travis Wuiff
- Ricco Rodriguez (probably would sub lashley though)
- Eddie Sanchez
-Soa Palelei
Lashley –
“I got a call last night that said I’d definitely be fighting, and [Strikeforce officials] said, ‘We want to make sure to have the right opponent for you,’” Lashley told MMAjunkie.com on Tuesday night. “I hope everything works out. I hope they find someone and the fight is good.”
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
Strikeforce has like a 12 person staff. Clearly they need to hire some more people.
by snakecharmer1340 on Jan 19, 2010 11:55 PM EST reply actions
And they have access to a large chunk of SVSE personel which operates the Sharks, SAP Open tennis, HP Pavilion, boxing and several other sports and entertainment events. They have plenty of people to work on this.
The Showtime/CBS relationship gave them access to new financial backing, and I think what you are seeing on some of the cards is the growing pains of the partnership.
Actually, they are looking to increase their staff for this year.
by MMASuPreMaCy on Jan 20, 2010 1:05 AM EST up reply actions
They need any post production done for them have them contact my company. I’ll even give them a discount.
by John Nash on Jan 20, 2010 1:20 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Didn’t they add a really good consultant at like $1,000,000 a fight?
by MMAWrestling on Jan 20, 2010 1:34 AM EST up reply actions
Comes highly recommended from Affliction.
by MMAWrestling on Jan 20, 2010 1:35 AM EST up reply actions
I’m glad you’re getting someone to help you out. It seems you’ve been too busy to cover this lashley story, you could use a hand.
by Phildo on Jan 20, 2010 8:57 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
12 people?
I thought it took more than that just to carry Fedor around on his throne everywhere he goes.
Come fight night, a as-of-yet-unnamed fighter will arrive to the arena and find out he has a fight with Lashley.
I seem to remember something like that happened in not-so-distant past…
by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Jan 20, 2010 5:45 AM EST reply actions
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