MMA-URLS

It’s common knowledge Josh Thomson is a 33-year old Strikeforce lightweight who has been plagued by injury issues and may only have a limited number of fights left in him as a result. However, nobody knows exactly how important winning the divisional title this past weekend was to Thomson at this stage in his career better than “The Punk” himself. Thomson took champion Gilbert Melendez to the limit on Saturday night in their co-headlining clash at the Strikeforce Grand Prix Final and nearly came away with the belt thanks to a spirited performance highlighted by his success while standing and near finish of “El Nino” in the fourth frame. Though Melendez ultimately won a decision some would label as controversial, Thomson seemed content with the result when asked about it after the fight and had no harsh words to offer up on the scoring or his rival’s victory. “Everyone keeps telling me I got robbed but I don’t really think on that. I just think it was a good performance by both fighters. We gave the crowd what they wanted to see and it seems like everyone was happy. I mean I’m not happy I lost but it was a great fight,” said Thomson in an interview with Showtime, adding he was also pleased to have turned in an entertaining effort on the heels of his self-labeled “sh*tty” showing in an outpointing of K.J. Noons a few months back. “It just goes back to the old adage that you can’t leave it in the judges’ hands,” continued the 19-5 Thomson. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left it. I should’ve done it myself. I should’ve finished him in the fourth, to be honest, with the Rear-Naked. Had the opportunity and just couldn’t get it done.” With Melendez unlikely to accept another match-up against Thomson in favor of focusing on new opponents it’s hard to say who the American Kickboxing Academy staple will step in the cage with next. What is certain, however, is the likelihood of Thomson doing his damndest to keep it exciting even if he comes up short in the end. Check out the full interview with Thomson below: PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: fight, strikeforce, ’t, melendez, thomson

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There is something magnetic about the heavyweight division.No matter how much talent resides in the lighter weight classes or how frequently the mighty mites of the sport put on incredible displays of technique and conditioning bouncing around the cage and punching each other in the face non-stop for 15 minutes, there is still something uniquely enticing about seeing a pair of heavyweights staring each other down across the cage.While the various other divisions within the UFC have consistently boasted deep, talented ranks, the heavyweight division has experienced good times and bad. Even now, with the division deeper than perhaps it’s ever been, the need for identifying prospects and putting them through the paces to see if they have what it takes to contend with the best heavyweights in the business is both daunting, and crucial.Finding solid additions to the roster is challenging enough, yet alone coming across a six-foot-four-inch, 240-pound collegiate wrestler with Golden Gloves credentials who is athletic enough that he got a look from Major League Baseball once upon a time. That’s why people have been paying close attention to Stipe Miocic’s arrival and advancement in the UFC heavyweight division.The 29-year-old Strong Style Fight Team member entered the UFC having generated a great deal of buzz in earning six consecutive stoppage victories on the regional circuit. None of his foes lasted to the third round; three didn’t make it out of the first.His potential was put to the test in his opening appearance in the Octagon in a matchup against durable veteran Joey Beltran at UFC 136 in Houston, Texas. He went to the cards for the first time in his career, but as he had in his previous six bouts, Miocic came away with the victory.Four months later, the Croatian-born Cleveland native showed the power that made him such an intriguing prospect on the regional circuit when he needed just 43 seconds to dispatch fellow unbeaten up-and-comer Phil De Fries in a Knockout of the Night-winning performance in February.“It’s awesome. I really can’t say much,” Miocic offers, truly at a loss for words when asked to explain how his two-fight tenure in the UFC has been. A staccato burst of expression is all he can muster. “It’s fantastic. I’m excited. It’s been great, and keeps getting better. Keep winning, that’s the name of the game.”The chain reaction of changes to the UFC 146 fight card resulted in Miocic being presented with a third opportunity to step into the Octagon by filling the opening opponent slot opposite fellow undefeated prospect Shane del Rosario in the former Strikeforce standout’s UFC debut.Getting the call on short notice doesn’t give Miocic any reason for concern, and he’s well aware that del Rosario is going to be looking to make a strong first impression when they collide Saturday night in Las Vegas.“I’ve been training, so I’m in shape. He’s a gamer; he’s a tough dude, and I’m sure he’s going to come to fight. My coaches have been breaking videos down, but it’s hard to say (what’s going to happen) because he’s been out of the cage for a year-and-a-half after a terrible accident.”After pushing his record to a perfect 12-0 with a first-round submission win over Lavar Johnson in February 2011, del Rosario’s car was struck by a drunk driver, forcing him to withdraw from a scheduled bout with Daniel Cormier, and press pause on his promising career until now.Each win thus far has increased the attention on Miocic, and should he emerge from his meeting with del Rosario with a zero still holding down residency in his career loss column, the spotlight is sure to get even brighter. That kind of scrutiny can be unnerving for some, regardless of age and experience, but the former Division I All-American from Cleveland State University isn’t worried about succumbing to the pressures or buying into his own hype.“(The key is) just having the right people behind you — coaches, family, and friends — and not worry about the hype,” says Miocic. “Just keep doing what you’ve been doing; the reason you got there.“I just take it in stride, (and try to) keep getting better each fight. I have my coaches on me, telling me stuff to keep working on. I have no say in who I fight — they give me the call, and I’m fortunate and thankful that they’ve given me this fight at UFC 146. (It’s a great opportunity), but you’ve got to keep getting better, and keep winning. That’s what people want to see.”Miocic gives a great deal of credit to the team of coaches and fighters he trains alongside as a part of the Strong Style Fight Team, a group that includes former UFC competitor Forrest Petz, and Bellator veterans Chris Lozano and Brian Rogers.“We’re hard workers, and we’re a close, tight group with great coaching. (Head coach) Marcus Marinelli is phenomenal. He helps us get better at our games, and uses things that are going to help us, not just give us stuff that we should try. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, and he’ll think of something that would work in our arsenal.”The 8-0 heavyweight prospect already possesses a solid arsenal, with his weapon of choice being the big right hand he used to halt De Fries’ unbeaten streak in Omaha, Nebraska earlier this year. After getting tagged with a couple early shots, Miocic seemingly decided, “Enough is enough” and went on the offensive, an explanation he agrees to with a laugh before elaborating.“I just started off slowly, and I can’t do that. I thought he was going to take me down; I didn’t think about his hands too much. He hit me, but (it wasn’t anything) I wasn’t prepared for; I think I can take a punch. And then I hit him with the right hand.”Simple as that — “and then I hit him with the right hand.”That’s why heavyweights draw casual and hardcore audiences alike, and why the upcoming battle of the unbeaten prospect between Miocic and del Rosario might be the most intriguing fight on the all-heavyweight main card at UFC 146.Miocic is eager to get back into the cage and test himself against his toughest opponent to date. But where some fighters are worried about living up to the hype, the talented heavyweight prospect is focused on one thing and one thing only.“It’s going to be a war; I’m looking for a three-round war, and I’m expecting him to be tough as nails, but I’m going to get that W no matter how it ends. Decision, submission, knockout, I don’t care — just get that W.”TO GET READY FOR THE BIG EVENT, CHECK OUT THE UFC 146 E-PROGRAM BY CLICKING HERE

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With the majority of his mixed martial arts wins coming by way of submission, including back-to-back tap outs of Pat Schilling and Mackens Semerzier in his first two UFC bouts, Daniel Pineda could be mistaken for a lifelong jiu-jitsu practitioner, and not a guy who used to think “it was better just to punch somebody in the mouth and get them out of there quicker than trying to get somebody’s neck.”But by late-2009, a promising career had turned into something else for the native of Dallas, Texas. In 2008, he tried out for season nine of The Ultimate Fighter, assuming that his 6-2 record and finishing instincts would earn him a place on the reality series. That didn’t happen.“I had a good record, and I was like ‘if I didn’t make it with that, I’m never gonna make it,’” said Pineda. “So I stopped caring.”Not that he stopped fighting. He kept accepting bouts and kept showing up, but after upping his record to 8-2 in the immediate aftermath of the TUF tryouts, he lost four in a row, three by submission. At 8-6, he was now on the road to journeyman status, or even worse, ‘opponent’ status.“I knew I had to do something because I was getting tapped out,” he said. “I was a wrestler and all I did was take people down and pound them, and I knew in my mind that I had to work on my ground and do some standup. So I started standing up, I did the ground game, and I just picked up on everything. Then once I started getting submissions, I was like ‘oh man, this is pretty cool.’” Crediting his family, his brother (and Strikeforce vet) Jose Santibanez and standup coach Bob Perez for getting him motivated again and keeping him in the sport, Pineda turned a corner. He went on a streak where he won seven of eight, all via KO or submission, and in January, he got the call to compete in the UFC’s featherweight division. First up was unbeaten prospect Schilling, and if Pineda was nervous in his 97 second submission win in Nashville on January 20th, he didn’t show it.“Knowing that I was there where I wanted to be, it took my nerves away,” he said. “When I fight in Houston (his current hometown), I always get nervous because I didn’t want to let anyone down. But in Nashville, I didn’t know anybody.” But the world watching knew him after the impressive debut, and March, the BJJ purple belt made it two in a row in the Octagon, as he finished Semerzier with a triangle armbar in just over two minutes. Now that failed tryout in Chicago is just a memory.“I made it to the interview but never got called back, and that put me down a lot,” said Pineda, 17-7, of TUF 9. “So when I made it to the UFC and made those two statements, I feel like I’m telling you ‘yeah, I could have made it.’”One memory that hasn’t faded is his previous losing streak. In fact, that may just be what’s pushing the 26-year old to new heights as he awaits his UFC 146 assignment against former WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown this Saturday.“I think about that a lot. It’s still in the back of my head and it’s not gonna go away. I don’t like losing and that’s one thing nobody wants to do.”It’s been over two years since he saw someone else’s hand raised in a fight, and now, there’s no talk of losing from Daniel Pineda, only of winning and getting in position to become a featherweight contender, then a title challenger, and finally, a champion. “I think if I beat Mike Brown come UFC 146, I think I should be (a contender),” he said. “But first we have to beat Mike Brown, and then we can see. But that is my goal, and it’s everybody’s goal – to get the belt. That’s what I want.”

Posted in: ufc, submission, ’t, i ’m, pineda

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Looking over Josh Barnett’s resume, the list of men he’s faced in his career is a mix of heavyweight royalty and tough, talented fighters a notch below the elite. After accumulating 31 wins over a 15-year career, you might be tempted to think that getting motivated is a challenge or that the end of the road is within sight for the 34-year-old catch wrestler.Think again.“I really like the sport, and I like training,” explains the articulate, well-spoken heavyweight. “When I’m not training for fights, I’ll often play with other martial arts like Silat or Panantukan, whatever I can get my hands on. I enjoy the movement, and the challenge of learning something new, and adding to the skills that I already possess.“When it comes to the fighting, the prime motivation is that I want to be the best in the world. I’ve still got years left to do this, and I’m not gonna stop until I can’t do this anymore. When that athletic window is over, I’ll know it, and I’ll at least be able to say that I have no regrets.“And (it’s also) because I really enjoy fighting,” adds Barnett with a slight laugh, echoing the sentiments shared in the “I Am A Fighter” video he recently filmed for Showtime. “I enjoy the violence, the combat. I like being in there having this guy trying to hurt me, and having the free rein to do whatever it takes to put this guy into the floor.”Saturday night in San Jose, the guy he will be trying to put through the floor is undefeated former Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier, as the pair square off in the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. Having already dispatched both Brett Rogers and Sergei Kharitonov in dominant fashion, Barnett is one more win away from being the last man standing in the Strikeforce heavyweight ranks.Achieving that feat will be no easy task.Brought into the tournament as a replacement for Alistair Overeem in the semifinals, Cormier earned his place opposite Barnett with an impressive first round knockout victory over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Many viewed the Brazilian heavyweight as the favorite following his opening round dismantling of Fedor Emelianenko and Overeem’s removal from the competition, but Cormier used his superior movement and improved striking to rock the former Elite XC champion before earning the stoppage just ahead of the four-minute mark of the opening round.It was the type of performance that elevates a fighter from prospect to contender, and while Barnett is acutely aware of the dangers Cormier presents, defeat is not an option when your mission is to establish yourself as the best heavyweight in the sport today.“I’ve gotta win this tournament, and I’ve gotta beat Daniel, but it’s not just Daniel — I’ve gotta beat everybody that I get into the ring with. I can’t really allow for…”Barnett’s voice trails off as he stops to put his thoughts on losing together.“Not that I ever allow for losses to have any precedent or any sort of space in my life — I know that that is something that you have to accept — but I really try my utmost to keep that so far from even acceptance because I don’t want to allow the concept of losing, anything other than complete and utter victory to be foremost in my mind at all times.”Save for Barnett and Cormier, the Strikeforce heavyweight division has been boarded up, though the Grand Prix champion will remain in the organization for at least one more fight after Saturday night.For the most part, the best of the best in the big boy ranks reside in the UFC. It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of seeing Barnett return to the Octagon seemed impossible, but UFC President Dana White has said that he’d be ready to have Barnett join the rest of the former Strikeforce fighters on the UFC roster at the conclusion of the Heavyweight Grand Prix, win or lose.Barnett last fought in the UFC more than a decade ago, departing after being stripped of the heavyweight title he won from Randy Couture following a positive post-fight drug test at UFC 36.While most would assume returning to the UFC would be one of the chief goals of a fighter determined to establish himself as the best in his weight class, Barnett says not so fast.Though he allows the current MMA landscape makes it very difficult for a fighter to considered the best in their respective weight class while competing outside the UFC — “Yes, to a degree, this is true.” — Barnett’s focus is on who he beats, not where he beats them.“To beat all those guys is very important, and this may seem contradictory, but it’s not important to get back to the UFC. It’s important to be the best fighter I can be, and be as confident and devastating in the ring as possible, and the rest will work itself out.”Comments like that are part of why Barnett remains an intriguing figure in the heavyweight ranks 15 years into his career. Not only does he deliver entertaining fights and pile up victories, the part-time pro wrestler also isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind, before he’s stepped in the cage or after he’s had his hand raised in victory.“The inherent similarity is there, and it’s plain for all to see,” says Barnett of the relationship between wrestling and mixed martial arts. “It’s just that most fighters don’t have much personality or lack the ability to put it out there in a very interesting way. Not my fault.“I’m gonna go out there and put my feelings out there, let the world know what I’m thinking, create interest, and give them something to hate or love, but nonetheless care about, and I don’t see any other way to really be the best I can be without bringing that part of the equation into play.“I don’t think it’s for everyone — everyone’s going to find their own way to do it — but just gimme a mic, gimme a camera, and a room full of people, and that’s all I need. The stage is set.”It is for Saturday night in San Jose, where Barnett will look to add another name to his impressive list of vanquished foes, and take another step towards reaching his goal of conquering the heavyweight division.

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JUNG “COWBOYS” UP, BIG TIMEChan Sung Jung was a huge underdog heading into his main event bout with Dustin Poirier. That was an understandable situation. After all, this is the same guy who lost three of his last four bouts before coming to the UFC. Since that time, however, Jung has been nothing short of a monster. Three UFC fights. Three wins. Each occurred inside the distance. Each won a post-fight award. “The Korean Zombie” has gone from from wondering if he would have a job much longer to legitimately talking about his UFC championship aspirations. Not a bad restart to his featherweight career.I’ve got to be honest. I don’t know what has changed for Jung since joining the UFC. He certainly hasn’t taken a step backward in quality of opponents. His three previous losses came courtesy of Manasori Kanehara, Leonard Garcia and George Roop. His three UFC wins came against Garcia, Mark Hominick and now Poirier. Nothing against Kanehara and Roop, both of whom are very talented fighters, but Hominick and Poirier are a step up, not a step backward. Yet, Jung raised his game to meet the challenge.We are certainly premature in beginning to break down a potential bout with featherweight ruler Jose Aldo, since the champion is currently preoccupied preparing for a title defense against Erik Koch on July 21. But let’s have some fun anyway. Aldo will truly turn Jung into a Zombie on the feet – an unconscious zombie. Jung certainly appears to enjoy an edge over the champion on the ground. I’m more convinced of that notion after watching him control Poirier on the mat. The question, however, will be whether Jung can actually take Aldo to the canvas and keep him there for any material length of time. That is easier said than done.SADOLLAH FAILS TO IMPRESS, BUT KEEPS ON KEEPIN’ ONAmir Sadollah is an affable fighter. His self-deprecating personality is very reminiscent of Forrest Griffin, a man most of the fight world adores.  His effort on Tuesday night, however, was not at all reminiscent of the former UFC champion. That isn’t all Sadollah’s fault. It takes two to truly create what Joe Rogan has described as a beautiful ballet of violence, and Jorge Lopez was more interested in grinding than taking risks. The same can be said for Sadollah.Let’s face it. Not every fight is going to be thrilling. Styles make fights, and these guys didn’t make for the most explosive matchup. But it seemed to me that both men were embracing a bit of the “fighting not to lose” approach. Sleepy or not, a win is a win. Sadollah righted the ship after losing his last bout. He will now look to continue his on-the-job learning in the UFC. People often forget that this guy has fought all of his professional fights in the Octagon.Sadollah is now a veteran of 10 professional bouts. That isn’t much in the way of total career experience, but it is enough for him to be considered a legitimate UFC veteran at this point. Not an overly experienced one, but a veteran nonetheless.I think it is time for Sadollah to step up his game to see what he is truly made of. We need to know whether he is going to be just another welterweight, or if this guy has legitimate top-of-the-heap staying power. I’m not sure where I think he will ultimately net out. But it is time to find out.CERRONE RETURNS TO HIS FORMER TACTICAL SELFDonald Cerrone is one of the most decorated post-fight award guys in the UFC. He fights with an all-action, come-forward style. Jeremy Stephens is a walking bucket of C-4. Mix those two together and their fight should have been an epic war.It was epic, all right. But it wasn’t an epic war. It was an epic beatdown courtesy of the “Cowboy.” Cerrone completely neutralized Stephens’ power, using his legs to control the distance and exact damage. Kicks to the legs. Kicks to the body. Kicks to the head. And, of course, flying knees. He mixed in punches to complete the systematic undressing of an exceedingly dangerous striker. But the fight was controlled first and foremost by Cerrone’s legs.Stephens valiantly tried to devolve the action into a knockdown, drag-out slugfest. But he had no answer for Cerrone’s legs. He kept wildly swinging away from well outside of effective punching range to no avail. Cerrone completely controlled him by setting the distance and then putting on a technical striking clinic. It was clear very early that the fight was going to be a one-sided affair, and Cowboy never lost focus for the full 15 minutes. It was a stark contrast to his last performance, where Cerrone was the recipient of a similarly thorough beatdown thanks to Nate Diaz.If Cerrone can dispatch with the emotion that led him astray against Diaz and remain focused on beating opponents with technique, this guy could find his way to the top of the 155-lb kingdom. Cerrone asked for a fight with Anthony Pettis next. I think that is just what the doctor ordered to help separate one of those two from the current pack of championship contenders.HAPPY FILTHY BIRTHDAY!Tom Lawlor was in the midst of a rough patch entering his bout with Jason MacDonald, having lost three of his last four bouts. A fourth loss in five fights could have been disastrous for his short-term job security. It suffices to say, “Filthy” Tom was facing a lot of pressure heading into Tuesday night’s bout.Yet, the former collegiate wrestler was able to ignore the intense pressure and put forth a career-best performance in the television walkout bout. His knockout win over MacDonald was something was a thing of beauty. Not only was he a serious underdog in the standup arena, in my opinion, but MacDonald was a guy who hadn’t been truly knocked out – I don’t mean stopped by strikes; I mean knocked unconscious – ever in his career. And Lawlor hadn’t scored a knockout win in nearly five years.I’d call that a career-best performance, one that occurred on his 29th birthday. It isn’t one that will put him into contention just yet. But it is one that he will be telling his kids and grandkids about for decades to come. And it is one heck of a birthday present.  

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You know him as The Voice of the Octagon. The impeccably groomed showman with the volcanic vocal chords who revs up the crowd – and UFC fighters – right before the fists start flying. But what you may not know is that Mr. Bruce Buffer – one half of the First Family of Fight Announcing (along with brother, Michael) – is a lifelong martial artist and professional poker standout who is meticulous in his eating habits. 54 years young, Buffer shares his philosophy on eating well and what he does in the hours leading up to a UFC event to ensure optimal performance and mega-watts on the mic. Curreri: So, do you believe diet plays a role in you being on top of your announcing game in the Octagon? Buffer: Yeah, I believe that on a daily basis so I practice that every day. I treat my body like a machine. Just like a fine car, we have to put oil in that car or else it breaks down. The same principle applies to the human body. I look at my body as a machine. Not just a temple – but a machine. So I don’t lag when it comes to my body. I’ve got to be prepared for anything, inside of the Octagon or in my personal life. Curreri: Tell fans about how you prepare your voice for optimum performance in the hours before a UFC show?Buffer: I enjoy a good steam at the spa at the hotel because steam is great for the vocal chords. I keep honey at the show, which lubricates my vocal chords. Or Hall’s Mentho-lyptus (lozenges) in case I get a sore throat. I’ve done shows with a 104 temperature, I’ve done shows with just getting off laryngitis, I’ve done shows with severe colds. The bottom line is, I always tell myself ‘I’m not fighting … I can get through this. The show must go on.’ So I can always deliver, no matter how I might feel during the show. My adrenaline kicks in and I can always do a show. Also, I don’t go out and go screaming and clubbing the night before a show. I want to be fresh before the show. I’m always ready for a show. If I got a (surprise) call from Dana White tonight and he said, ‘Be ready for a show tonight,’ I would be ready. To me, the whole thing behind the phrase, ‘It’s Time!’ … I want to be ready to move and ready to roll every day of my life. That’s just the way I live my life. Curreri: Talk about your evolution as a martial artist.Buffer: My dad started teaching me boxing when I was five years old. I started martial arts when I was 12 – I started in judo. Then I earned a black belt in Tang Soo Do. I was always interested in Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do theory, which we all know today to be mixed martial arts. Then I got into kickboxing and Muay Thai. So I’ve been doing Muay Thai my whole life. I never lifted weights until I was about 27 years old. My main source of exercise until then had been a couple of hundred push-ups per day. The only weights I did were arm curls. My theory on staying healthy is 20 percent exercise, 80 percent nutrition. It’s all in how you eat. I started thinking like that in my mid-20s. I don’t care what you do, or how much you exercise, if you don’t watch how you nourish your body, how you nourish your temple, then all of that is for naught. Curreri: A day in the dietary life of Bruce Buffer …Buffer: When I’m home, because I travel a lot on weekends for shows, I will wake about 8:30 (a.m.) and the first thing I will do is have a vegetarian egg white omelet, oatmeal, a cup of coffee and that pretty much gets me going for the day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. One of the biggest problems people have is they don’t eat breakfast, and that’s why those crashes happen in the afternoon. So they rely on energy drinks to get them through the rest of the day. The only time I ever drink an energy drink is when I’m at a long poker tournament, when I need a pick-me-up. Otherwise I stay away from energy drinks. Curreri: How many meals do you eat per day?Buffer: I try to eat every three or four hours, so about five meals a day. They are not all big meals; portion control is key. In America we are big overeaters and there is a lot of waste in this country. So after I eat breakfast I will work out for two hours. My workouts consist of circuit training, cardio workouts and about a half hour of stretching. When I get back I usually make a nice shake. I make my shakes with protein powder, water, I put a lot of blueberries, which are great for the protein. I also put in vegetables and something for digestion. I have little bars that I buy that are low in sugar, have the perfect amount of protein and a low amount of carbohydrates. Because all of my carbohydrates I consume before 6 o’clock (p.m.). Curreri: What is your theory on no carbs after 6 p.m.?Buffer: I eat them early because they help me get a good burst in the morning and I know I’m going to be burning them off. If you eat carbs past 6 or 7 (p.m.) and you are not exercising, then if you eat carbohydrates then your body naturally stores them as fat. So if you want to lose body fat, along with portion control you also need carbohydrate control, too. So most of my carbohydrates are breakfast and lunch. Curreri: You’re on the road a lot and sometimes you can’t always eat to your own perfection or highest standards. What do you eat when you have to settle for less-than-ideal meals? Buffer: Well, most every country has a wide variety of food. If it’s kind of hard to eat like I want to eat at hotels … When I travel I take a supply of (supplement) bars with me on the road as a meal replacement. So if I can’t find what I want to eat then I can basically live off those bars. I’ll take at least two bars with me (for every day on the road). So if I’m leaving for a four-day trip, like in Brazil or the U.K., I’ll bring at least 8 to bars with me.If I have to order something from the hotel, the safest thing for me to order is the club sandwich. I like that they put eggs on them. But I change the bread to wheat bread and tell them that instead of three pieces to give me two pieces. And most places I go to I can always have a breakfast omelet. And breakfast is my favorite meal. I could literally eat breakfast every meal of the day. Curreri: Does your eating ritual change on the day of a UFC event?Buffer: Absolutely. Usually on the day of a UFC, I like to sleep in that day so I’ll have extra energy coming out. Sometimes I’ll fly in (to the host city) the morning of the event or the night before. I make sure that I have a good meal before I leave for the arena. Typically I might have chicken and vegetables, or a turkey sandwich and some fruit. I might also eat from the media buffet right beforehand for extra carbohydrates. Because even though I am not fighting or running around like crazy, for a UFC I’m at the event for six to eight hours at a time and I like to have energy when I work. So I carb up before a show. Curreri: Speaking of ‘your life,’ you are working on an autobiography. When will it be available?Buffer: Yeah, Random House publishing is working on it right now. The working title, of course, is “It’s Time.” And I hope that’s the finished title. It is due to be released approximately April 2013.Curreri: Give fans a perspective or benchmark of some of your physical feats, at 54, that might impress some folks.Buffer: I can easily bang out 75 pushups, no problem. My cardio level is very high. It’s just that your body can’t take the punishment it used to take. Maybe after a long surf session I’m a little sorer than I used to be, but still, I can handle it. You know, I just had my ACL replaced and I stayed in shape the whole time. I’m nine months into (healing) and now I’m going to start getting in the water and start surfing the way I like to surf. Curreri: Will we ever see you do the ‘360’ again inside the Octagon on the new knee? Buffer: The 360 is retired. Oh, but here’s another thing: I did the 360 when I was 52 years old. I’d like to see someone else get out there and do one of those at 52 years old. Curreri: Now, you didn’t tear your ACL doing the 360 in the Octagon, right?Buffer: No. This will all be detailed in my book, by the way. I blew my ACL at UFC 129, but the full details will be in my book. Curreri: What are the absolute DON’TS in the Bruce Buffer diet? Buffer: A real standard rule is to avoid eating anything white: white bread, white pasta, white rice. Usually they are full of starch and carbohydrates that are not good for you. Another key thing is no late-night eating and no carbs after 7 (p.m.) if you can help. That’s because the carbs sit in your body and your body will naturally turn them into fat. Another thing is to eat every three to four hours so that you can speed up your metabolism. Eating big meals is not the way to sustain your body. You want to feed your body with sustained energy throughout the day.  

Posted in: day, ’t, body, ’m, curreri

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Despite having spent 10 rounds together already, there has been no trash talk between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez before their rubber match for the Strikeforce lightweight championship this Saturday night. No bad blood, no mean mugging, just a high level of respect between two professionals who know that no matter what happens before they step into the cage at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, when the bell rings, they’re going to have to fight just as hard as they always have, talk or no talk.That’s just the way Thomson likes it.“People always talk about how they love watching the grudge fights,” said the number one contender for the crown. “Granted, they make for great hype videos and stuff, but when it comes down to the fights, if you think about it, the fights generally end up being boring because both fighters are afraid of losing to that person that they hate so much. But Gil and I, we have a mutual respect for each other, and my honest opinion is, if I lose to him I know he’s gonna be a gentleman, I know he’s not gonna talk down or talk bad about anything to do with me or the sport, and it’s easier to fight harder against somebody like that, knowing that no matter what happens, they’re going to show you respect. When it’s somebody that you hate, you’re really afraid to pull the trigger because you don’t want anything to happen to you where you get caught or knocked out. You don’t want that guy to have bragging rights over you. With Gil, we’re 1-1 right now, both fights have been Fight of the Year candidates, and they’ve both been impressive fights.”Truer words have never been spoken. In boxing, Maurice Blocker and Simon Brown were best friends, but their 1991 fight for the welterweight title was one of the most brutal back-and-forth brawls ever. In MMA, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture were cordial and respectful toward each other, but they had no problem punching each other over the course of their own trilogy. The same goes for Thomson and Melendez. No, they’re not best buddies, but after two championship fights in 2008 and 2009 (the first won by Thomson, the second by Melendez), they have developed an admiration and respect for each other that can only be created through the cage battles they’ve endured.“There’s no doubt about that,” said Thomson with a chuckle. “I’d say we know each other pretty damn well. If you listened to Gil commentate my last fight with KJ (Noons), he was kinda calling out the positioning I was gonna use and do before I was actually even doing it in the ring. So he knows me pretty well, I know him very well, and I know that if I go for the knockout and I land three punches and follow him, he’s still gonna be standing, he’s still gonna be right there. He’s definitely not gonna back down, and if anything, he’s gonna push forward. That’s the kind of fighter he is, that’s the person he is, so I don’t anticipate him changing anything in his mentality because that’s the way he’s been ever since I’ve known him and he’s always been that fighter inside that when you hit him with a good shot, he wants to show you that he can take it and he wants to be right back in your face and let you know it didn’t bother him. There’s a lot you can know about a guy by spending that much time in the ring with him.”Winner of three of four bouts since he lost his Strikeforce title back to Melendez, the man he won it from 18 months prior, Thomson’s greatest nemesis may not even be “El Nino,” but the injuries that have hampered him throughout his career. So there was great anticipation for the San Jose native’s return to the cage in March after a nearly 15 month layoff. Asking the Strikeforce brass for the fastest road to the title, he was matched with talented striker KJ Noons, and while it wasn’t vintage Thomson, he got the unanimous decision win. Initially, “The Punk” was critical of himself and his performance, but upon further viewing, he was able to learn to live with the result.“I was hard on myself, but I wasn’t disappointed with my performance in how I was able to get the job done,” he explains. “I thought I should have been able to finish him, submission wise or ground and pound, but I had cut back on my training so much that I was really exhausted for that fight. I was tired. I always considered myself to be one of the more fit athletes, and I’ve always been in shape, ready to fight, and this fight was something I hadn’t experienced in years, feeling tired like that. So I felt that had I been in better shape, I would have been able to finish him, probably in the second or third round. But you have to take the win when you can. When you don’t perform to your best ability and still get the win against somebody like him, you really gotta look at the positives of that and that’s kinda what I did after the fact. I was upset with myself in the ring, but then later on, a week or two down the road, I actually went back and looked at it. I dominated the fight in all areas; I just needed to focus more on my conditioning and get back to the hard training I used to do.”By the time the dust settled on the Noons fight, the die had been cast for his next one, a championship bout against Melendez, a rubber match that was almost inevitable given their history and standing in the organization. Add in that this weekend’s event is taking place in the backyard of both Bay Area battlers, and this was a natural.“Yeah, of course,” said Thomson. “Obviously I think the two of us are the best guys in Strikeforce, so I think when that happens, we always find a way to meet at the top. When I beat him the first time, he made his way back up to me, and now I made my way back up to him. So it was just a matter of time, and this is where we ended up.”Yet despite their history, Thomson doesn’t believe the results of his first two meetings with Melendez will have too much, if any, bearing on what happens the third time around.“I beat him in ‘08 and that doesn’t do anything for me, and he beat me at the end of ‘09, so realistically it doesn’t do anything,” he said. “Those fights were years ago, and a lot of things have changed. Our games have changed, our age has changed, our mentality has changed, and I think the way we fight has changed a little bit. I think we’ve both gotten better and more confident in our skills, and things have changed. If I go in there with the mindset of ‘I’m gonna fight him the way I fought the first fight,’ he’s changed it up a little bit and he’s learned from that first fight a lot. So if I go back to just trying to do that, it’s not gonna work. And if he thinks I’m gonna fight him the same way I did last time, he’s mistaken, because I’m not gonna be that stupid to just go out there and brawl with him. He can expect me to try and pick him apart and do a lot of things that I did similar to the first fight, but I just gotta make sure I get in and get out and use my speed. That’s the biggest thing.”And while the fight is technically the co-main event to the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix final between Josh Barnett and Thomson’s AKA teammate Daniel Cormier, another five round classic with Thomson and Melendez in the birthplace of the promotion could not only steal the show, but amp the company’s profile up even higher. That would be a satisfying result all around for the 33-year old veteran.“Gil and I have been with the organization since the beginning and it’s nice to know that they’ve built the promotion around the two of us, along with Cung Le and Frank Shamrock,” he said. “The four of us feel like we carried this promotion on our backs to make it as successful as it has been, and it’s been wonderful. We’ll see what happens and where it goes from here, but at the end of the day, as a fighter, we just really worry about going in there, putting the best fights together that we can and giving the fans what they want. I’ve hit the age where it’s not so much about the wins and the losses anymore; it’s about really going out there and seeing what I still have left in the tank and just showing that I still want this. That’s a fight you have with yourself every day. As an athlete, you have to ask yourself ‘do you still want this?’ And certain fighters bring it out in you. Gil is one of those guys I’m gonna go and train my ass for, and there’s no doubt about it. He’s found a way to bring it out of me to perform my best and that’s really what it comes down to.”  

Posted in: fight, way, ’t, melendez, thomson

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Gilbert Melendez isn’t exaggerating when he calls Nate Diaz’ win over Jim Miller on May 5th the “most important night” of his friend’s life. It was a network televised win against a legit contender that thrust the Stocktonite into a UFC title fight, and sitting back home in Northern California, Melendez, the Strikeforce lightweight champion, couldn’t have been prouder of his longtime training partner.But as soon as the fight ended, Diaz, speaking to the world, didn’t heap praise on himself; instead, he told anyone listening about Melendez and his place in the 155-pound pecking order. It was a selfless act from Diaz, and an unforgettable one for “El Nino.”“We are one hundred percent family, and I was touched,” said Melendez. “There are no words for me to explain what he did. It was the most important night of his life and he shared the spotlight with me and the rest of our team, and me especially. It feels really good and I’m proud of him as well. We go through this together a lot and he knows the road I’m on and I know the road he’s on, and we’re only as good as our last fight, so it’s a rollercoaster, but it feels really good.” Melendez pauses, then continues.“He didn’t have to do that at all.”But Diaz did do it, adding to the chorus of voices proclaiming Melendez as an elite lightweight in one of the sport’s most competitive divisions. It’s recognition that the Santa Ana native is appreciative of, even if he had to watch as the furor over a rumored move to the UFC died down.“As a fighter and from my peers and the media who are educated in the sport, I’ve done a lot,” he said. “I’ve been ranked pound for pound, I’ve avenged losses, I’ve done some great things, and I can live with myself with that.” He’s been unbeaten for over three years, has had two reigns as Strikeforce’s lightweight champion, and wins over the likes of his Saturday opponent Josh Thomson, Shinya Aoki, Clay Guida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Rumina Sato, and Jorge Masvidal, speak for themselves. Consider that he has avenged the only two losses of his 20-2 career (to Thomson and Mitsuhiro Ishida) as well, and you can understand why fans and pundits salivated at the idea of Melendez crossing over like another training partner of his, Nick Diaz, as well as recent UFC signees Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, and Lavar Johnson. Those rumored plans were put on hold though, and the 30-year old Melendez has moved on, ready to continue his reign in Strikeforce by being even more dominant in the cage.“I had to redo my goals,” he said. “Right now my goal is to represent my team well, make a living for my family, to continue to become a better mixed martial artist, and I want to take some risks out there and not just win. I want to go out there and perform and have some fun. I’ve been having a lot more fun in my training, and that doesn’t mean I’m not training hard; it just means I’m trying new things, I’m being more aggressive, and that’s my way to stay motivated.”And if he needed any more of a push, he’s got it in the form of fellow Northern Californian Thomson, a respected rival looking to regain the title he lost to Melendez in 2009. Both of their bouts (Thomson won the first meeting in 2008) were heated five round battles, and after 10 rounds in the cage together, Melendez has a pretty good idea of what “The Punk” is bringing to the HP Pavilion in San Jose this weekend.“I feel like I do,” he said. “I know what he’s got and I’ve been through that with him. We’ve been through two five round battles, and I feel like I do know him very well. You build a relationship because you respect the guy as well, but more so than anything, I know what he has and the main things I did take from that is I know he has a lot of heart, he has great conditioning, and he’s tough.”Melendez-Thomson III also has the potential to do one of two things. It can either show Melendez off as a dominant champion getting better by the day, or if Thomson wins or has a stellar performance in a close fight, it can be the ray of hope for other 155-pounders in the organization that the division isn’t all Melendez all the time. That’s a lot for the 10-year pro to have on his plate, but he’s dealing with it well while also looking forward to possible defenses against contenders like Pat Healy or Gesias Cavalcante.“Obviously I anticipate a tough Josh Thomson, but I always look forward,” he admits. So what’s the plan for the future?“The plan is to win.”That begins on Saturday, and like every fight for Melendez these days, no matter the venue, he has to win to keep everything he’s worked so hard for intact. So if Thomson’s expecting to see the same fighter he fought twice before, “El Nino” has a surprise for him.“I think the difference between me and Josh is he thinks he knows me like he knew me in 2009, and I see him and I feel like he hasn’t evolved,” said Melendez. “He’s always tough, he’s always in shape, but the difference between me and him now is that I’ve been working my butt off day in and day out to become a better striker, wrestler, and mixed martial artist, and I plan on showing that. And I want to be way more aggressive. This is part of my goal of having a good time in there. It’s not sitting back and just winning and fighting. I want to get in there and I want to throw those dogs and I want to do it intelligently and technically. I think it’s gonna be one of those fights where I force this guy to fight me.”

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Unofficial spokesman Cesar Gracie seemingly bought a bit of understanding from fans after making a passionate plea to the public regarding star student Nick Diaz’s decision to no-show a BJJ superfight against Braulio Estima scheduled for this past weekend. In his statement, Gracie explained Diaz had been mislead in terms of Estima’s desire to transition from a career on the mat into one inside the cage as well as on some weight-related matters. However, any good faith earned may have been wiped clean in light of Estima’s own take on the situation. The decorated submission-specialist took to Twitter yesterday where he outlined a few points pertaining to Gracie’s account. “When (the promoter) approached me to offer me the fight I was actually training at the Blackzilians at the time so obviously I was training MMA,” wrote Estima. “I never fought before so (he) said it was fine & why (not) cancel the fight before if this was really an issue??” “Nobody has ever bended no rules for me,” he continued, turning to Diaz’s problems with his weight. “Because there was no rules set to start off with. It wasn’t going to be a UFC match but a superfight on a BJJ Expo so the whole point here was for us to show a fight. Has Nick signed a contract that stated the date time and weight that we both need to reach? I didn’t… Besides when did Nick actually weigh in? And who witnessed that if we are being so strict and professional?” “You are saying Nick had left by 10:00 AM Saturday morning? Why you never said anything then? I even asked you I’d like to see him and his weight and you said he’s not gonna come down because he ate already and wouldn’t make the weight anymore,” stated Estima. “Nobody at any point had mentioned he could have left. Leaving me believing we would fight till the very last minute…You’re talking about lack of professionalism in the organization of the superfight and this was very professional behavior right?” Ultimately, Estima summed things up saying he was frustrated by the way things had unfolded and adamant about Diaz being largely to blame. Read the full statement from Estima below: 1st- When Junior approached me to offer me the fight I was actually training at the Blackzilians at the time so obviously I was training MMA. Junior told me about Nick not wanting to fight an MMA fighter. I never fought before so [Junior] said it was fine & why [didn't you] cancel the fight before if this was really an issue..?? 2nd- Nobody has ever bended no rules for me. Because there was no rules set to start off with, it wasn’t going to be a UFC match but a superfight on a BJJ Expo so the whole point here was for us to show a fight.. has Nick signed a contract that stated the date time and weight that we both need to reach? I didn’t. And since this whole thing was going to be a friendly event I really don’t see any issue here even if Nick turned up 10lbs overweight. Still when asked I went and dropped the weight to meet the requirement. Actually to put things straight it was myself that called Junior around 10pm Friday to check if there is going to be a weigh in at all. He kept contacting you and got back to me saying I need to be 180 that time, of course I said I can’t for the simple reason I was away in Irvine and it was already late at night but I said sure no problem I’ll make it first thing in the morning if needed, even if it would put me in a bigger disadvantage I didn’t care I just came to fight. Junior had actually called me back no later than midnight that he spoke to you and confirmed the weigh in for 10am. Besides when did Nick actually weigh in? And who witnessed that if we are being so strict and professional? 3rd – You are saying Nick had left by 10am Saturday morning? Why you never said anything then? I even asked you I’d like to see him and his weight and you said he’s not gonna come down because he ate already and wouldn’t make the weight anymore. And Lana, after speaking to you, called his room and said he was actually there sleeping. Nobody at any point had mentioned he could have left. Leaving me believing we would fight till the very last minute, now you’re talking about lack of professionalism in the organisation of the superfight and this was very professional behaviour right? There is many more points here that I don’t agree with but I am just fed up of this whole situation and don’t agree for anyone to ever release the blame from Nick for whatever reason, we were there to fight and that’s what should happen no excuses, we are both professional athletes and should respect one another no matter what. And this is inexcusable. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: fight, nick, ’t, weight, estima

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Does somebody have a case of the Tuesdays? Well, don’t worry, Danny Boy Downes is here to chase those blues away with another edition of the Downes Side. Normally, I don’t like having fights during the week because I’m so bust doing important things you wouldn’t get. This week, though, I have to attend an Engaged Enrichment and Marriage Preparation retreat so it looks like I lucked out. I’m sure I’ll learn things about religion and stuff, but I’m betting there will be some dirty talk, so that’s a plus.Jason MacDonald vs Tom Lawlor The night kicks off inside Fairfax, Virginia’s Patriot Center with a middleweight contest between “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald. Both are looking to rebound after first round losses in their last fights. MacDonald is an accomplished grappler with 19 of his 25 wins coming via submission. Ultimate Fighter season 8 alumnus Tom Lawlor has strong wrestling and boxing, but will forever be remembered for being this guy. MacDonald is an excellent submission artist, but he’s struggled when opponents get top position on him. His last loss to Alan Belcher illustrates this perfectly. I don’t see him taking Lawlor down and expect the majority of this fight to be spent on the feet. This means “Filthy” Tom will be able to utilize his boxing advantage to pick apart “The Athlete” and eventually TKO him in the 3rd. Igor Pokrajac vs Fabio MaldonadoNext up is a light heavyweight match between Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado. Pokrajac is riding a lot of momentum after knocking out Krzysztof Soszynski in 35 seconds last December. Team Noguiera’s Maldonado wants to get back in the winner’s circle after seeing his 11-fight winning streak end in June.Sometimes, you’re just outmatched. I learned this lesson when I challenged Joseph Benavidez to see who could pick up more phone numbers at the local retirement home (seniors just love that guy). Pokrajac has an advantage with regards to clinching and wrestling, but not enough to make it a factor. Maldonado is a former pro boxer and he’ll make that readily apparent in this fight. He’s shown a proclivity for throwing body punches and will drop Pokrajac with one and ground and pound his way to a 2nd round TKO.Yves Jabouin vs Jeff Hougland The next fight pits a couple of bantamweights as Jeff “Hellbound” Houghland takes on Yves “Tiger” Jabouin. Just like I did with my future father-in-law, Jeff Hougland made a poor first impression in MMA, losing four of his first five. Things picked up for the Washington product, who hasn’t lost since 2005, and gives me hope for my situation. Undefeated since dropping down from featherweight, Jabouin is looking for a signature win after two straight split decisions.I liked Hougland’s chances until I saw his comments in the pre-fight videos (skip to 1:35 mark). “Control the range” is basically code for, “try to survive as long as possible.” Now, I can respect this philosophy because I use the same one every time I go to a dance club. Unfortunately, though, Hougland’s chances surviving the stand up are about as good as me getting on America’s Best Dance Crew. Jabouin gets the TKO in the first, but I’m sure Hougland and I can find a niche somewhere.Jeremy Stephens vs Donald Cerrone We stay on the lower end of the scale with a lightweight bout between Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Looking to climb a few rungs on the crowded 155 lb ladder, Stephens makes his 14th appearance in the UFC. With a record of 7-6 in those previous 13 fights, I think we can all say the highlight of his career was a UD victory over a man once called (by his mother) “the handsomest boy in the UFC,” a Mr. Daniel Downes. Cerrone experienced his first UFC defeat at the hands of Nate Diaz at UFC 141 and has no plans on repeating the experience any time soon.Neither fighter has ever been knocked out and that streak continues. The volume punching of Diaz may have given Cerrone problems in his last fight, but that won’t be a problem against Stephens. “Lil Heathen” does have 14 TKO/KO victories, but he throws single, power shots. I see Cerrone using his range advantage to tag Stephens on the outside with straight punches and coast to a unanimous decision victory. It’ll be a tough loss for Stephens to take, but at least he’ll always have that win at the Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale to tell his grandkids about.Amir Sadollah vs Jorge LopezOriginally scheduled to take place at UFC 143, injuries forced both men to withdraw. Now, a few months later Ultimate Fighter 7 winner Amir Sadollah takes on Wanderlei Silva-trained Jorge Lopez in what should be an exciting welterweight contest. While well-rounded, both fighters are predominantly strikers. Sadollah has a more classic Muay Thai style that favors clinching, while Lopez is more of a counter striker. I’ve learned a few things writing this column. 1) People assume Dana White actually reads this and plead for him to fire me. 2) Much like Nietzsche, John Keats and James Joyce, I’m a misunderstood author whose true brilliance is often under-appreciated. 3) Never bet against guys trained by Brazilians because the majority of the times I’ve done so, it’s turned out poorly. So, unlike all those times I got sick eating Play-Doh as a kid, I have learned from my mistakes and take Lopez as he counter strikes his way to a unanimous decision. Chan Sung Jung vs Dustin Poirier That brings us to the main event of the evening as Chan Sung Jung (that’s right, Korean Zombie isn’t his birth name) squares off against Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier. Best known for his slugfest debut against Leonard Garcia at WEC 48, the Korean Zombie is undefeated in the UFC and carrying high expectations after knocking out former number one contender Mark Hominick in 7 seconds at UFC 140. The twenty-three year old Poirier is also undefeated in his UFC career and recently submitted Max Holloway in the first round. I won’t deny the impressiveness of the Korean Zombie’s knockout in his last fight. Despite its impressiveness, though, it was an aberration. It’s just like the time I ate Taco Bell and didn’t spend the next 5 hours on the toilet. Sure, you want to enjoy the moment, but don’t expect it to happen every time -- especially when you have a long car ride planned (literary....genius). While the Zombie does have the advantage standing, Poirier is capable enough to survive the onslaught. Jung will tire himself out and “The Diamond” will take advantage of this in the later rounds en route to a decision victory, thus ensuring Dustin “The Diamond” a longer career than Dustin Diamond.That wraps up another edition of the Downes Side. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @dannyboydownes and read my blog here. Also, feel free to leave your thoughts, comments and delusions here as well.

Posted in: ufc, fight, time, ’t, vs

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It looks like former Strikeforce champion Gegard Mousasi won’t be joining the UFC anytime soon. The 26-year old, who holds an overall record of 32-3 and has only lost a single time since 2006, recently revealed he’s in the process of recovering from a serious knee injury and is also contracted to Strikeforce for enough fights to keep him busy for a couple of years. “The operation was successful. The recovery is doing very well. I will be back 100 percent again, but it will just take time,” said Mousasi in an interview on MMAJunkie Radio, adding he hadn’t spoken about his status before because “no one asked”. The talented light heavyweight didn’t go into detail on how the injury occurred but mentioned he would fight before the end of the year assuming his rehabilitation went as planned. With Mousasi out for another six months it’s difficult to know exactly what type of promotion he’ll be returning to given Strikeforce’s issues drawing attendance and relative lack of overall depth. However, Mousasi plans to honor the deal he signed and will continue competing under their banner until told otherwise. “I had one fight left. Then I was hoping maybe to go to the UFC after that, but then they offered me – they said we’re going to give you a new contract. So I signed for another six fights. Now I have a six (or) seven-fight deal, I believe, in Strikeforce,” explained Mousasi. “(Zuffa) said the Strikeforce fighters were going to stay with Strikeforce. And that’s the thing that it was, so we signed again.” For reference, Mousasi has only fought for Strikeforce five times since initially inking a contract in 2009. However, when he makes his way back to the organization his presence will certainly be welcome as often as possible given his success in the ring including past victories over Mark Hunt, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Ronaldo Souza, Renato Sobral, and Hector Lombard. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: fight, strikeforce, ’t, year, mousasi

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It’s a brutal truth of the fight game. If you start your career with a 1-4 record, the odds of you ever making it to the UFC are slim and none. Jeff Hougland beat those odds.A day away from a UFC on FUEL TV main card bout against Yves Jabouin on Tuesday in Fairfax, Virginia, the 33-year old from Enumclaw, Washington is sitting in a good spot in his career. After losing that fourth bout against Glen Cordoza in July of 2003, he hasn’t felt the biter sting of defeat, but the outlook wasn’t so optimistic nearly nine years ago.“I was like ‘man, I’m not a good fighter,’” recalled Hougland, a young man on the fast track to a dead end life before finding mixed martial arts in 1999. But he didn’t walk into the gym that first time in order to save himself from a possible life in jail, only to prepare himself for what he was likely to face behind bars.“I really did think that I was going to prison, so I needed to learn how to fight better,” he said. “I started training really hard, but then I enjoyed the training so much that I wanted to fight and I wanted to be good at the fighting. So I had to change my lifestyle. I couldn’t hang out in the streets as much, I wasn’t with my friends and the people that were kinda putting me in these bad spots, and I eventually totally separated myself from that. I know it’s cliché, but people say ‘fighting saved my life,’ and I’d say having my wife and my daughter and fighting, if I didn’t have all three around the same time, I know I would be dead or in jail because it was bad. I was definitely heading down the wrong spot.”The Cinderella tale should have had its ending with Hougland raising his hands in victory after a stirring run through the MMA world. That’s only in the movies. In real life, Hougland was a gutsy brawler with heart, good hands, and some takedown defense, but that was it. After winning his pro debut with a submission of Rusty Simpson in July of 2002, four consecutive defeats (including one to future Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez) followed. The current bantamweight lost one bout at 170 pounds and the rest at 135, but he has no sour grapes. “Those guys beat me fair and square,” said Hougland, who nonetheless had a 1-4 record and few bright options. Well, maybe one. He was still hooked on the game.“I loved it so much, I just couldn’t quit,” said Hougland, a Modesto, California native. “I said if I quit, I’m giving in, and I just didn’t want to. And I felt like the reason I was losing was because I didn’t know any jiu-jitsu. So I jumped ship and I fixed the problem. I went to a jiu-jitsu school, I put on a raggedy old gi that they gave me, and I trained in a gi for like a year before I even thought about fighting again. And it made a huge difference.”Then he started winning. And he hasn’t lost since. “In hindsight, I think it was a good thing,” said Hougland. “I wish it didn’t take four losses for me to figure that out, but I was kind of a young, hard-headed guy. I figured, man, I can sprawl on these guys and I’ll hit ‘em, and…yeah. Once I got exposed, every jiu-jitsu guy wanted to fight me because they saw I had no ground game, and the losses started racking up.”But after four wins put him over the .500 mark at 5-4, sailing still wasn’t completely smooth for the man dubbed “Hellbound.” Two knee surgeries and a series of scrapped fights kept him out of action for four years, a time when he figured enough was enough.“I opened a gym and said I’m not gonna fight anymore,” said Hougland. “I was just gonna focus on coaching and doing all this stuff. But I was always training and I still had the hunger. I said I can still do this, I can still hang with these guys that are 10 years younger than me and faster and stronger.”In July of 2010, Hougland returned and submitted Roy Bradshaw in 85 seconds. One win led to another and another, and after four comeback victories, he got a late notice call to face Donny Walker at UFC 132 in July of last year.“I had only been training for maybe two weeks, and when I say training, I had been rolling in a gi,” said Hougland. “I hadn’t thrown a punch for a month. I fought a month before (in May of 2011) but I hurt my back really bad, so I took a month off to let it heal. And then I started rolling in a gi again just to get back into training, and boom, I got the call. I’m not gonna say no to a huge opportunity like that, but this sport is about being mentally tough, and you’ve got to put emotion and those feelings in their place. You can either use it for you or use it against you. And as I got older and wiser in my fight career, I’m able to deal with these things better.”He beat Walker via unanimous decision in his Octagon debut, and while an October 2011 bout fell through due to a Hougland injury to his hand, he was cleared in December and eventually scheduled for a UFC 148 match in July against top contender Renan Barao. But then Easton fell out of tomorrow’s card in Fairfax, and the UFC needed Hougland for Jabouin. He accepted the assignment, even though the Barao fight would have skyrocketed him up the 135-pound rankings if he won. “I was disappointed,” he admitted. “I didn’t ask for that fight (with Barao), and I didn’t even think I was on the radar to fight that guy. That was the name they threw out to me, and I’m here in the UFC to fight. I want to be one of the best in the world and those are the kinda guys I gotta beat to do that. It would have put me on the map, people would know who I was and this sport is about taking risks, and that was a risk I felt was worth taking and I think I can beat any guy at 135 on any given day. So that was disappointing, but Yves Jabouin is no joke. He’s a handful himself, he’s a real tough fighter, a great striker, and he comes from a great team, so I have a hard fight with him too. And anybody that the UFC has is gonna be top notch, so if you’re not here to fight the best guys, then you’re in the wrong spot.”And being nationally televised on FUEL TV means that fans are certainly going to get to see him in action, perhaps for the first time, making this just the kind of fight Hougland needs to propel himself toward a dream shot at the 135-pound title. That’s a long way from 1-4.

Posted in: ufc, fight, guy, ’t, hougland

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In case you didn’t already know today is Mother’s Day, and let’s face it – you can’t spell MAMA without MMA. In honor of the holiday I’ve decided to show some love to the ladies whose contributions to the sport have helped make it such an incredibly entertaining endeavor. No, not the ring girls, but rather I’ll be ranking a few of my favorite MMA mothers. Also, if you’re a fighter out there whose beloved mom doesn’t make the cut, keep in mind this list is completely subjective as are all rankings and it’s not a slight on how wonderful she undoubtedly is. 1.) Ronda Rousey / Ann Maria DeMars There is no question Rousey would not be who she is today without the influence of her mother. DeMars is a decorated judoka and fierce female, raising “Rowdy” Ronda as a single-parent for most of her life after the untimely death of her father. She introduced Rousey to judo at an early age, developing both her skills on the mat as well as strengthening her character. Rousey recently recounted a story where she was eleven year old, broke a toe in a match, and was then made to run laps after crying about it. The lesson imparted – “Sometimes you have to fight when you’re injured. You need to know you’re capable of that.” Today Rousey is an arm-snapping, ass-kicking machine whose personality (and genetic blessings) have earned her a spot at the top of the MMA food chain as the face of woman’s MMA. 2.) B.J. Penn / Lorraine Shin I don’t know a lot about Shin but what I do know is that she is a constant presence in the crowd when her baby – Baby Jay more specifically – fights. She also penned a passionate letter to the NSAC after his second bout with Georges St. Pierre, complaining of GSP using a grease-like substance to gain a competitive advantage in the cage. Wrote Shin, “I have and continue to support my four sons who have earned their black belt status in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I have also had the opportunity of attending many Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments as well as MMA fight events in Hawaii, Guam, Japan, England and the U.S. Mainland. I am no stranger to the MMA fight world…During the rounds that followed, I was shocked to see that B.J. appeared to be helpless, as well as defenseless in his attempts to grasp and hold Georges St. Pierre while on the ground. I silently kept screaming and asking myself, ‘What is wrong? Why can’t B.J. defend himself?’ I was horrified with fear. My son was going to be seriously hurt because he could not defend himself…Although still in shock and fearful for my son (in the locker room), it then made sense to me why B.J. couldn’t defend himself. Georges St. Pierre used a greasy substance on his body, therefore giving St. Pierre an unfair advantage over my son, B.J. Penn. “While in the locker room, I couldn’t understand why the fight was not stopped by the UFC’s referee or the Nevada State Athletic Commission for the unfair advantage by St. Pierre and his cornerman after they realized the foul. How could this happen? Why was it allowed?” That, my friends, is a mother’s love. 3.) Carlos Condit / Camille Prevost I have always had a soft spot for Condit’s mother since his days in WEC. She walks him down to the cage and often works in his corner since she’s a registered nurse. There’s something inherently sweet about a mom supporting her son to the point she helps fuel his fire to compete in a sport he loves even if it means he could get hurt. Runner Up – Urijah Faber / Suzanne Faber I’m not fully familiar with Mrs. Faber but as the lone matriarch on the list to have stopped a robbery while wielding a gun she deserves a little recognition from those outside her family. “Happy B-day to my beautiful mom Suzanne today,” posted Faber on his Twitter a few weeks back. “Still feisty, just caught a burgler /w a pellet gun. Held him off till the cops arrived … he thought she was using a real gun … She was house sitting & found this High powered pellet gun. Looks dangerous enough.” Faber may have the Hollywood chin but it sounds like his mom is the real action hero. On that note, stop reading this article and go give your mom a call to tell her how you feel! Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted in: mma, ’t, st, mother, rousey

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After Jorge Lopez trained with mixed martial arts superstars Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, “Shogun” Rua and “Ninja” Rua as a teenager, and even went on to work with “The Axe Murderer” once he began fighting professionally in Las Vegas, you would figure that he has seen pretty much anything you could see as a welterweight prospect on the rise.But then he made his UFC debut last September against Justin Edwards, and things were a lot different than he ever expected.“It’s funny, I’m fighting and I can hear (UFC color commentator) Joe Rogan talking at the same time,” said Lopez. “I got taken down, I was being pressed against the cage, and I popped back up. I can hear him saying ‘and he pops back up like a spring.’ (Laughs) I can hear him saying these things and I’m fighting, and it’s really surreal. I see (Octagon announcer) Bruce Buffer in there and it’s like a dream almost. It doesn’t seem real until you’re actually fighting.”It was the culmination of a strange week for Lopez, who entered the bout with an 11-1 record and all the expectations that come along with being a protégé of Wanderlei Silva. But from the time he showed up in New Orleans on fight week, he realized that this wasn’t like any other match he had experienced.First he arrived in town at 190 pounds, 20 over the welterweight limit.“(UFC site coordinator) Burt (Watson) was mad at me,” said Lopez. “I wasn’t dieting the right way. I had just fought four weeks before then, so I was a little too confident in my weight. I thought I should have been okay with my weight and I wasn’t. I was a lot bigger than I should have been.”Lopez made weight at 171, but on fight night, he wasn’t as zoned in as he usually was.“It was a crazy feeling,” he said. “Before we actually walked out, I was having a hard time waking up before the fight and having a hard time getting hyped up and feeling like I was about to fight. I was really low energy and it didn’t seem real.”Seeing and hearing the people he had only seen and heard on television before didn’t help him shake the jitters, and by the time he “woke up,” he only had five minutes to erase Edwards’ two round lead.“Not until like the third round, when I realized that I could be down on the scorecards, did I wake up,” said Lopez. “I remember thinking between rounds ‘I could be losing right now, I’ve got to pick it up.’ And I did. Something just snapped and I started playing my game as opposed to just worrying about everything else.”Lopez won the third round battle but lost the war, dropping a 29-28 decision to Edwards. Ask him about the fight though, and he has no excuses or sour grapes. For him, it was a bad night, one that he got out of his system, and now it’s time to move forward. “It was weird, but it’s good to get that out of the way, and I’m prepared to see all that the second time,” he said. “I learned a lot from that fight and kinda got the jitters out, I know where I’m at now, and it won’t be the same for me.”And if there are other positives to take away from the defeat, the main one if not only does he still have a job, but the UFC brass was impressed enough with him to put him in the co-featured slot on this Tuesday’s UFC on FUEL TV card in Fairfax, Virginia. His opponent is former Ultimate Fighter winner Amir Sadollah, someone who just happens to be a familiar face to Lopez, who trained with his fellow Las Vegan when the two worked at the Xtreme Couture gym a while back. During those sessions, Sadollah was already an established UFC fighter and Lopez was a hungry up and comer looking for rounds and the chance to see where he stood against an Octagon vet.“I guess the biggest reason why I would like to spar somebody like that is to know where I’m at, where I stand, and know where the top level guys are at compared to me,” he said. “And getting the good work in, that’s always good also.”Lopez knows that what happens in sparring is different from what happens in a fight, but he also admits that he saw enough of Sadollah to have a good idea of what he’s going to show up with this Tuesday.“I noticed a lot of holes in his game, and I kinda got a good feel to how he fights,” he said. “It’s no surprise that he’s a tough guy, and he never stops coming forward. I had seen that in his fights, but I also got to experience it in training. The few times that we trained together, it was the same thing. We’d be sparring and he would never stop coming – he’d always push me and push me. It’s something that I knew beforehand and that’s still who he is.”With Lopez coming off nearly eight months off, as an injury took him out of a UFC 143 bout with Matthew Riddle (who replaced an injured Sadollah in the February match), you would think he would be concerned with ring rust as well as a hard-charging opponent come fight night. But it’s just the opposite for the well-rounded 23-year old.“I’ve been doing a lot of work with Gil Martinez and Robert Drysdale, so I definitely think you’re going to see a different fighter,” he said. “I’ve been really focusing on improving every skill in my arsenal. Before, I was at a point where I thought, I’m good where I’m at, so I’m gonna keep training how I am now. But I wasn’t evolving. Now I feel like I’ve been evolving over the past few months and getting better and better.”And there’s no better place to show that evolution than in the co-main event of a UFC card.“Some people may see it as extra pressure, but I love that,” he said. “Being the first fight of the night in New Orleans was weird. I had never been the first fight of the night on any card in my life. But being the co-main event and being one of the highlighted fights, fighting Amir, a big name, it only motivates me more and pushes me more to want to show these guys how good I really am and what I can really bring to the table. I gotta show up on Tuesday night and prove that I belong here.”   

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Some fighters are superstars in the gym, but when the bright lights are on and it’s time to perform for real, they’re a lot less than that. Some fighters are the opposite, content to take their lumps in the gym as long as they deliver stellar efforts when the bell rings.UFC welterweight Amir Sadollah falls into the latter category, and he has no shame in admitting it.“I get beat up in the gym all the time,” said the Ultimate Fighter season seven winner, who returns to the state he grew up in, Virginia, to battle friendly rival Jorge Lopez this Tuesday on FUEL TV. “I have my share of bad days, but I think that’s always been a strength of mine (to come back from that and perform on fight night). I’m not going to say I don’t try in practice, but I’ll be trying on certain things and kind of letting things happen. And at the end of the day, I think what I’m doing is really training and really practicing and experimenting in training, where it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you get tapped out of beat up, as long as you’re applying what you’ve learned on fight night.”So if Lopez believes that his sparring sessions with Sadollah a while back have prepared him for what he will see in Fairfax in two days, not so fast, says the 31-year old vet.“Even if you trained with someone recently, training is different from a fight, and I think you’d be foolish to really think you can know what’s gonna happen,” said Sadollah. “I don’t know about him, but I know I fight very different from how I train. It’s good to have an idea, but at the same time, you just have to go ahead and continue with your gameplan and not worry about what they’re gonna do.”That’s just another part of the educational process of Sadollah, one of the rare athletes who has fought his entire professional career under the UFC banner. To succeed in the Octagon and stay here for nearly four years is a significant feat. To do it without any prior pro experience takes things to a whole other level. Sure, there have been ups and downs for Sadollah, but the ups have kept the downs from overwhelming him. Needless to say, he has no regrets.“I always wish I can do what’s best for my career and make it optimal, but I was kinda thinking about that (fighting his whole career in the UFC), and I wouldn’t change anything,” he said. “I’m glad that I got to jump in the big leagues, and I’m proud of all my wins and losses in the UFC. It’s the big stage and you gotta be confident to be there, and I think that was best for me. My personality’s the same way. I want the challenge, and I want the high risk / reward. Of course it’s much harder to fight in the UFC than on the local circuit, but at the same time, if you can do it, you’ve got something to be proud of.”Winner of bouts over CB Dollaway, Phil Baroni, Brad Blackburn, Peter Sobotta, and DaMarques Johnson, Sadollah has proven himself in the Octagon, and even his decision loss to veteran Duane “Bang” Ludwig in August of last year proved to be educational, as he got to test his standup skills against one of the best technical strikers in the game. He didn’t come out on top, but he got plenty of things to work on moving forward.“For me it was important,” said Sadollah. “I’ve always seen so many fights in the UFC that are these great promised striking battles, and then they turn into a grappling match. And not that I’m so vain that I wouldn’t try to win the fight, because I definitely went for takedowns in the fight and Duane did a great job on the feet in defending that stuff. But for me, he’s a great striker and definitely the best I’ve faced so far, so it was important to know that I wasn’t gonna ditch out on the striking. I was there to fight and win, but I also wanted to fight the best and learn from that experience, and I feel like I did that.”Injuries have kept him sidelined since the Ludwig bout, with his original UFC 143 meeting with Lopez becoming a casualty as a result. But when he was able to train, Sadollah made sure he was in the gym, not just to get in shape and keep sharp, but to learn.“It was unfortunate that I was injured, but the upside of all that is that training for the period that I was able to and then going into this camp, I noticed all these, not shortcuts, but things I was doing efficiently and doing well in my camp, and things that historically I had stressed about, I wasn’t stressing about anymore,” he said. “It showed me that maybe I’m starting to get the hang of this.”You rarely get this kind of honesty anywhere in the sports world, but particularly in the fight game. Most fighters don’t want to show the process to get to this point, to admit that maybe they don’t know it all. To those athletes, that just gives an opponent ammo for an upcoming bout. Sadollah has never been a typical pro fighter though, and in all honesty, he’s the same person today that he was when he first appeared on the world’s radar on The Ultimate Fighter in 2008. That’s admirable.“It would be wrong to say that nothing has affected me, but I’m just trying to let all this experience help me as a person and not detract from me, and that’s always been a definite goal of mine,” he said. “Obviously I want to be in the UFC and perform to the best of my abilities and fight the biggest fights and be the best, but you don’t want to let your own hype take away from who you are and I’ve been fortunate enough to have supportive family and friends to keep me grounded.”Being humble is the first step to getting better. If you know it all, you’re not willing to learn. Amir Sadollah has checked his ego at the door of every gym he’s been in over the last few years, and now he’s beginning to reap the benefits. “I’m starting to feel like these lessons are accumulating and I’m starting to learn the tricks,” he said. “I’m far from being a master, but I think I’m definitely past being green.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, sadollah

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The Diaz brothers didn’t pick up facial warfare at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, it was handed down from several previous generations of the Diaz bloodline. Mean-mugging is not something you learn to do after being bullied in grade school it’s hereditary.  Last week, Nate Diaz used his trademarked 209 war face to demonstrate that he was the number one contender for the 155lb UFC championship, and tonight, Nick Diaz will grapple one of the finest BJJ practitioners in the world.  It wouldn’t feel right if there wasn’t controversy, so to spice things up, Braulio Estima arrived overweight by nine pounds yesterday.  Knowing that Nick Diaz ‘ain’t scared, homie,’ today (according to his facebook page.) he reached the agreed weight of 180lbs and the match can take place.  Wasting no time, Estima rehydrated and began the first round of interviews with the media where he explains that Nick Diaz will not taunt him like he does his other opponents, and he expects this match to end within 4 minutes, by triangle.  The festivities kick off live on PPV at 9:30pmEST/6:30pm PST. [Source]

Posted in: diaz, nick diaz, nick, ’t, braulio estima

Read the full article at Middle Easy

The Diaz brothers didn’t pick up facial warfare at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, it was handed down from several previous generations of the Diaz bloodline. Mean-mugging is not something you learn to do after being bullied in grade school it’s hereditary.  Last week, Nate Diaz used his trademarked 209 war face to demonstrate that he was the number one contender for the 155lb UFC championship, and tonight, Nick Diaz will grapple one of the finest BJJ practitioners in the world.  It wouldn’t feel right if there wasn’t controversy, so to spice things up, Braulio Estima arrived overweight by nine pounds yesterday.  Knowing that Nick Diaz ‘ain’t scared, homie,’ today (according to his facebook page.) he reached the agreed weight of 180lbs and the match can take place.  Wasting no time, Estima rehydrated and began the first round of interviews with the media where he explains that Nick Diaz will not taunt him like he does his other opponents, and he expects this match to end within 4 minutes, by triangle.  The festivities kick off live on PPV at 9:30pmEST/6:30pm PST. [Source]

Posted in: diaz, nick diaz, nick, ’t, braulio estima

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In a week Gilbert Melendez will put his Strikeforce title on the line against Josh Thomson, the latest in a line of talented foes “El Nino” has faced lacking elite status. While a win over Thomson is an accomplishment to be proud of, it’s also one doing little to cement Melendez’s place at the top of the 155-pound division. Melendez is all too familiar with the unfortunate truth that the world’s best lightweights do their work inside the Octagon, even going so far as to ask Zuffa to bring one or two over for him to tackle given that the company owns both Strikeforce and the UFC. The 30-year old Californian recently addressed his current reality where his attitude seemed to be one of mild acceptance mixed with understandable disappointment. “I think the common fan still hears my name and says, ‘Who the hell is that? I think the reason is because they haven’t seen me fight or that I’m not in the UFC,” explained Melendez in an interview with Heavy.com. “I get respect from my fellow fighters, but the common fan doesn’t know who I am because they don’t follow Strikeforce the way they follow the UFC.” “I wish some of these guys in the UFC would take the risk,” Melendez continued on his frustration with seemingly being bogged down in the prime of his career. “At the end of the day I understand the business moves. I’m sure their managers tell them fighting me in Strikeforce isn’t the best business move, and I understand.” At one time, both B.J. Penn and Anthony Pettis were named as possible options according to Melendez’s camp with some confirmation coming from UFC President Dana White as well. Though the future of Strikeforce remains uncertain, and he may not necessarily be happy about his circumstances, Melendez still seems intent on finishing out his deal with the organization before moving on (or moving over to the UFC’s roster as the case may be). “I’m going to be with Strikeforce for a while, or at least until my contract is up. I have this fight plus three more, and I respect that,” said Melendez, showing he’s a man of honor above all else. If Melendez gets by Thomson there appear to be slim pickings in terms of future contenders to the crown. First in line is likely Pat Healy who is on a four-fight winning streak or possibly Eddie Alvarez if Zuffa decides to sign him away from Bellator when he becomes a free agent in a few months. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: ufc, strikeforce, ’t, ’m, melendez

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

In a few short years in the UFC, middleweight Tom Lawlor has a well-earned reputation for keeping fight fans entertained in and out of the Octagon. But as he approaches Tuesday’s UFC on FUEL TV matchup against Jason MacDonald, there has been a distinct, almost silence around “Filthy” Tom.“I’m flying under the radar, or at least trying to,” he said, admitting that this course of action wasn’t by accident. “I think I’ve been accused of being not as focused on a fight as I should be. So pretty much I’ve said nothing about the fight except for the fact that I’m fighting. I just want to go out there and let my performance speak for itself.”That’s unfortunate, simply because Lawlor’s pre-fight antics have added a dose of levity to what is a very serious sport once the bell rings. In fact, it’s been these little sidebars on the way to the Octagon, whether it’s entering as Hulk Hogan or weighing in as Dan Severn, that allow Lawlor to have some fun before it’s time to go to work. But a few critics will always shout louder than the legions of fans that enjoy the non-fighting stuff from the New Englander as well.“It’s just a few fans, but they seem to think that you should be training 24 hours a day and you should have no life outside of the workplace,” he said. “I always wonder if those same people live their lives like that. Are these the kind of people that are taking work home every night and sitting on a computer and toiling away and hating their lives? And my guess would be yes. These people probably do hate their lives and they want everyone else to be just as miserable and only focus on working all the time.”Oddly enough, Lawlor’s time living in Florida basically saw him involved in the world of martial arts nearly 24/7. Whether he was helping to run a gym, teaching classes, or just training for his own fights, Lawlor was immersed in the sport. Yet after he moved to Providence, Rhode Island to buy a house, he has seen his life change drastically.“In the past year I’m kind of less involved in the sport and I’m just training and fighting,” he said. “I’m not helping run a gym, and I’m not teaching classes on a regular basis. Where I live now, there are gyms, but I’m used to more of a one-stop shop for all of my MMA needs. Here it’s kind of fragmented. There are boxing gyms and jiu-jitsu places, and there are MMA places, but they’re not on as big of a scale as some of the places I was used to going to in Florida. So it’s a different environment, and I do miss being more involved in the sport in coaching and helping other people train and being a teammate. With all these gyms up here, I’m getting pulled in different directions as well. I have a bunch of guys that I would consider teammates, but they’re not all on the same team.”And then there’s always the weather.“I hated sunshine and the heat and being able to go outside whenever I want so much that I said I’m gonna move to a place that has almost the worst weather in the country,” he deadpans, noting that after New England had some of its best weather in years this past winter and spring, “Any of that suffering and anger that I would have built up over the winter has kind of subsided a bit.”Despite all the changes, it’s clear that Lawlor still has his sense of humor. With that intact and his training situation settled in the Northeast, all he has to focus on is his fight with MacDonald, which gives him the opportunity to break loose of a skid that has seen him lose three of his last four bouts. Yet he insists that this isn’t something he particularly dwells on.“Honestly, the only people that ever bring it up are MMA media people,” he said. “No one ever goes, ‘oh man, you lost three of your last four fights.’ (Laughs) I haven’t had anyone say that to me besides when people do interviews with me. But I really don’t like trying to explain it because then it sounds like I’m making excuses.”If he won’t, then it will have to be pointed out that many people believed he won the three rounder with Aaron Simpson in 2010 that he lost via split decision. Four months later he was doing well against Joe Doerksen before gassing out in the second round and getting submitted. His next bout in October of 2010 was a decision win over Patrick Cote, and after a year off due to injury, he came back in 2011 and got caught and finished early by Chris Weidman. Now going 1-3 in his last four doesn’t sound so bad, but no one looks past the numbers too much these days, and against Canada’s MacDonald, Tuesday may be a must win.“I really don’t think about it that much,” said the 29-year old. “Maybe I should think about it more. The problem with my record is that I have 12 professional fights, and half of them have been in the UFC. So with this fight, more than half of my professional career will have been in the UFC. So I’m fighting guys that are considered to be some of the top guys in the world and it’s a trial by fire in a way. I’ve been with the company, if I count The Ultimate Fighter, for four years. But before that, I was fighting full-time for a year. So it’s a situation where, and I hate this cliché, but it is what it is.”In other words, he’s had to grow up in public, which can be a double-edged sword. Sure, the recognition and money is better in the big leagues, but at the same time, your shortcomings aren’t witnessed by 100 people in a church basement. They’re broadcast to millions. “I don’t think people realize how big of a difference it is between fighting on the local scene and fighting in the UFC,” he said. “If you don’t have that experience, it’s really like a whirlwind when you’re in there fighting.”Tom Lawlor has survived the whirlwind though, and like fellow fighters Amir Sadollah, Matt Mitrione, and Matt Riddle that followed a similar path, he’s made a home for himself in the UFC. Now all he needs to do is to protect that home against MacDonald, a task easier said than done, but one you know he’s ready to tackle. And watching that may just be better than any flashy Octagon entrance.

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, people, ’m, lawlor

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UFC heavyweight Frank Mir has a lot of respect for the stand-up skills of divisional champion Junior dos Santos. However, when it comes to the Brazilian’s ground-game it’s a different story altogether. While “Cigano” is primarily known for his boxing, a good portion of the success in Mir’s career has been the result of his BJJ-based arsenal including nine submissions in sixteen total wins. Perhaps most notably in the group of competitors he’s finished is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, a legendary fighter with too many tap-outs to his credit to count who also happens to be one of Dos Santos’ grappling coaches. The success against Nogueira is yet another factor adding to Mir’s confidence when it comes to his May 26 match-up with Dos Santos. “I don’t think it’s any secret – he has no chance of winning the fight if it goes to the ground,” said Mir of Dos Santos in an interview with Inside MMA. “The only time that I’ve ever seen him take a shot is if he’s pretty handily winning the fight and I think he just does it just for maybe a change of pace, to throw something out there. But as far as when you see people engage him, he’s a throw-punches-and-run kind of guy. He doesn’t wanna sit there and get grabbed and taken down and he’s not gonna fight that battle. If he was capable of doing it, we probably would’ve seen it already.” “Fact is, he avoids (the ground) like it’s poison,” concluded Mir. Considering the only blemish on Dos Santos’ record came as the result of an Armbar it seems Mir could be on to something though the stoppage occurred nearly five years ago. Mir-Dos Santos will face off in headlining action at UFC 146. The first episode of a UFC Primetime series documenting the build up to their bout airs tonight at 11:00 PM EST on FX, possibly giving viewers a glimpse of exactly how concerned Dos Santos is regarding Mir’s submission-oriented attack. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, mir, ’t, do

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

When bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz went down with a serious knee injury the UFC wasted little time addressing the issue, stating an interim belt would be created with Urijah Faber challenging a yet-unveiled opponent at UFC 148 where he was originally scheduled to face Cruz. The first name on Faber’s list of potential candidates, as well as those of most fans and media members, was 28-1 Brazilian Renan Barao who hasn’t lost since his professional debut more than seven years ago. The 25-year old Barao, who is already slated for action at the same event, is apparently on board with that idea and excited about the possibility of fighting Faber let alone for divisional gold. “It would be great. Actually, I fight any guy UFC tells me to. I’m prepared and I can fight anyone,” said Barao in an interview with TATAME. However, according to Barao, he still hasn’t heard from the UFC yet though that’s not to say countless other outlets haven’t been lobbying for his attention since the announcement surrounding Cruz’s health. “People on Facebook and Twitter want me to be in this fight and Faber himself pointed me out. The champion got injured and Faber is fighting. I’d be really glad to confront him. That’s all. They haven’t said anything to me.” UFC 148 is scheduled for July 7 in Las Vegas. The UFC is likely to make an announcement in the next week or two surrounding an opponent for Faber given the amount of time required to train for a five-round title-fight against an adversary like “The California Kid”. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, faber, barao, hasn ’t

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During every media event leading up to UFC on FOX, I watched fans clubbing each other over the heads with their iPhones to meet Ronda Rousey and snap photos with her. No other athlete/celebrity in attendance got as much attention as she did. Ronda Rousey doesn’t have the luxury of hiding now that the entire world wants to hang out with her. We don’t blame people for wanting to chill with her... We chill with Ronda Rousey all the time… She’s cool. If she gives you the chance to hold her luggage or buy her a latte, we suggest you jump on the opportunity immediately. You could then hop on Facebook and tell all your friends you just did something awesome for Ronda Rousey, and in return, she doesn’t hate you like the dude below. Today, we learn that Ronda has some 'old friends' that have suddenly resumed interest in hanging out with her only because you guys have made her famous. Through the power of her Instagram account, we can learn the importance of calling a woman back.

Posted in: ’t, ronda rousey, rousey, ronda, instagram account

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In a world where New York legislators think it’s fair to keep child pornography legal while making sure MMA stays illegal, citizens often find themselves visiting one of countless local watering holes like the one in the video today. Not sure if this was filmed in New York, it probably wasn’t, but this is the kind of stuff that continues to occur when intoxicated bar patrons can’t agree on socially conscious political issues. At some point during this lesson in Street MMA, a conservative blamed the entire thing on Barack Obama, and with the distortion of the internet, who are we to say it’s not his fault? All we know is that size doesn’t matter when it comes to bar fights; it’s coordination and a series of well placed haymakers that separate the man standing from the man with the broken jaw. Props to Kieran for the find.

Posted in: mma, ’t, wasn ’t, street mma, ’s coordination

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He’s fought a war in Afghanistan, helped his wife through a battle with cancer, and even trains dolphins. Turns out that Alex Soto’s talents don’t end there, as now he can apparently even see the future.“I kinda saw this coming,” smiles Soto, referring to his UFC on FUEL TV bout with Francisco Rivera this Tuesday in Fairfax, Virginia.First a little background. Originally slated to face Octagon newcomer Azamat Gashimov on the card, Soto instead got matched with another UFC debutant Chico Camus, when Gashimov withdrew from the fight due to injury. No big deal for the San Diegan, who said “The opponents switching and everything, that’s something I’m used to, and it’s something that happens a lot in this sport. In fact, Azamat was signed a while ago and he hasn’t fought in the UFC, so I was thinking ‘man, this guy must be training for a long time, he’s real excited about fighting in the UFC, and he’s probably gonna overdo himself somehow.’ And I was kinda prepared for that. So I wasn’t too surprised.” Yet after signing for the Camus bout, a routine tape watching session produced an interesting conversation between the bantamweight prospect and his wife Joy.“The day before I got called and was told I was going to fight Rivera, I was actually watching videos on him. I said ‘This guy’s good.’ I looked at my wife and said ‘I’ve got a good feeling I’m going to fight this guy. If I was a matchmaker, I’d put us together. We’re on the same schedule of fighting and we’re lined up; it’s like the perfect matchup.’”Only problem was, after losses to Erik Koch (in the WEC) and Reuben Duran (in the UFC), Rivera wasn’t in the Zuffa organization anymore. But when Camus pulled out of the May 15th event due to injury, Rivera – winner of two in a row on the local circuit – got the call to return.His opponent? Alex Soto. And Soto couldn’t be happier.“I’m really excited about this next fight,” he said. “He (Rivera) is super dangerous, very aggressive, and I’m the same way, so it’s gonna be very exciting.”It’s not a shocking reaction, given the fact that the 28-year old Soto has dealt with a lot more stressful situations in life than just having opponents change on him. And the excitement in his voice is palpable, not just because he has a willing combatant in front of him, but because he’s about to get the opportunity to rebound from his first pro loss against Michael McDonald at UFC 139 last November.The lead-up to the McDonald fight was a lot different than it is for most debuts, as Soto (a late replacement himself) garnered a ton of positive media coverage for his amazing story. It seemed like every day before the bout produced another Alex Soto story, yet despite having to deal with these pulls on his time while preparing for one of the best 135-pounders in the game and having to make weight, Soto took everything in stride. The fight though, that was another story, as McDonald ended matters 56 seconds into the first round.Ask him six months later about the bout and whether all the media attention distracted him, and he has no extraneous excuses for the loss. In his eyes, he made a mistake, he paid for it, and now it’s time to move on.“It wasn’t difficult,” said Soto of dealing with all the added attention before the biggest fight of his career. “I was just out of character during that fight. I was very excited and very happy to be there and to get the opportunity to fight somebody who I had been a fan of. It didn’t overwhelm me, but the focus wasn’t there. You hear about the Octagon jitters and I wanted to break that; I didn’t want to have that. I wanted to just go out there, perform, and put on a good show, and in the course of it, I ended up making a huge mistake and paying for it. That’s how it is.”Of course, McDonald hasn’t skipped a beat, issuing the same kind of devastating defeat to former WEC bantamweight boss Miguel Angel Torres at UFC 145. Not that it’s any consolation to Soto, who lost for the first time in eight bouts.“I’ve never been knocked out,” he said. “I thought I could take a giant punch, but he got me right on the button. But it’s something that I keep telling everybody, that I’m gonna meet that guy sooner or later again, I just know it.”To get there, Soto had to right his ship and make sure he doesn’t commit the same mistakes in the future that he did against McDonald. That was the tougher part, but with his team in San Diego, he’s confident that the right adjustments have been made.“It was really rough after that fight,” he admits. “I had to focus and concentrate and be true to myself and re-evaluate my mental state. A huge part of this is the mental game, so I really have a great team of mentors and coaches and we worked through the growing pains. So I can’t wait to go out there and give it a good try and do what I do best, and that’s competing and fighting at a high level. Before every fight, I kinda have a theme, and for this fight, we have to fight smart and keep our composure. That’s the big key to this fight, to be the smarter fighter and the more skilled fighter. That’s what it’s gonna take for this one.”So is the Alex Soto crystal ball giving off good vibes for this Tuesday’s meeting with Rivera?“I’m very excited just to have another shot,” said Soto. “I feel like I really didn’t get to showcase my abilities in the last fight, so I’m looking at this as a great opportunity to get out there and really show the fans that ‘hey man, I don’t suck.’ (Laughs) I’m here because I’m good and because I’m good and I can hang with these guys.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, soto

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Unless you’re a diehard college wrestling fan, you may not have heard of Marcus LeVesseur before, and that’s a shame.Simply put, the 29-year old Minnesota native, who makes his UFC debut this Tuesday in Fairfax, Virginia against Cody McKenzie, is the owner of one of the greatest runs ever recorded in college sports annals, having gone 155-0 with four Division III national wrestling titles for Augsburg College.It’s a mind-boggling string of excellence (for reference, the only other United States collegiate wrestler to finish school with an unbeaten record is the legendary Cael Sanderson), one made even more stunning by the fact that LeVesseur also won four Minnesota state high school titles and scored a win over Ben Askren along the way. Oh yeah, he was a quarterback on the football team too.“I was pretty much a two-sport athlete my entire life,” said LeVesseur, who still holds the Augsburg football records for single season rushing yards and touchdowns. “I did a little bit of track and field as well, mainly for the training. But wrestling was number one and football was a close second. I always joke around and say that if I was 6-4, I might be in the NFL.”But wrestling was always his love, the sport where he said “I just had the talent and IQ of a wrestler.” And that love made him sacrifice experiences his peers were going through just so he could excel on the mat. So don’t call him gifted. As any elite athlete will tell you, it takes a lot of hard work to make things look so easy when the lights come on.“Everybody says ‘Marcus, you’re super gifted and athletic and you have it easy,’” he said. “I’m like, dude, you don’t understand all the work, pain, and misery I went through. I had a personal coach that was a good friend of the family, and he would be at my house at six in the morning in the winter and we’re running before school. As a high school freshman and sophomore, I was on a college workout regimen. People don’t know that or believe that.” He would lose during his high school career, but he finished with the aforementioned four state titles and 141 straight wins, leading him to the Division I University of Minnesota. And while he won all ten of his matches at the national powerhouse, having two NCAA champs ahead of him on the roster (Luke Becker and Jared Lawrence) didn’t bode well for his future. Add in some off the mat issues, and he was ready to make a bold move.“Hands down, their program was phenomenal and I have nothing bad to say about the program or the coaches,” said LeVesseur. “At that time, I wanted to wrestle, and there were two phenomenal wrestlers, Jared Lawrence and Luke Becker, that were upperclassmen that had been through the program for years, and they kinda had the spot. I ran into a few political things, and there were some personal / social problems and a little bit of the family, and it all hit at once. I wasn’t happy. I thought I deserved at least a match to see where I was at. I didn’t get that.”LeVesseur spoke to a good friend, Jamell Tidwell, about Augsburg, got positive reviews, and then spoke to the school’s wrestling coach, Jeff Swenson. Having made up his mind, LeVesseur got his release from Minnesota and began the next chapter in his life. Nearly a decade later, he has no regrets about going from D-I to D-III. “I made the smart choice in going to Augsburg,” he said. “This is a lot bigger than just wrestling. I’m here to get my education as well, I need to be happy, this is where I feel comfortable, and this is what I’m gonna do. And if I were to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing because I’ve learned so much and I’ve met some key people who are in my life to this day because of making that transfer and I wouldn’t trade it in for the world.”The results were astounding, both on the mat and the gridiron, and amazingly, he kept everything together throughout his lengthy unbeaten streak, even though the idea of pinning that “1” in his lost column was a golden ticket for anyone who faced him. “Obviously it brings a lot of pressure, but I’ve always been the first to respond very well under pressure,” said LeVesseur. “And to have the target on your back, in a sense it’s kind of fun because you have to be on top of your game at all times.”He also credits coaches Swenson and Scott Whirley for helping him stay sharp, both mentally and physically.“They kept me level-headed and not really trying to buy into all the hype,” he said. “The hype is there and it’s not gonna go nowhere, so why even pay it attention? I just had to stay focused, train hard, lift, run, and do everything I did even more intensely. When you’re involved in it, it’s just so surreal that you don’t want to make any mistakes. You just want to stick to the protocol and just go. There’s no time for ifs, ands, or buts; you just gotta show up and do your job and that’s what I focused on.”It worked. But unlike basketball or football, there is no NBA or NFL for stellar college wrestlers, so when college was over, LeVesseur began looking a little bit more seriously at the sport he had been dabbling in since 2003 – mixed martial arts. And though he won a lot more than he lost and built a solid reputation on the local circuit, the big shows weren’t calling and he wasn’t getting the attention you would assume someone with four national wrestling titles would get. He admits to watching some virtual rookies getting UFC shots and shaking his head at times, but there’s no bitterness in his heart or his voice when he talks about it.“It’s hard to see that happen – a guy with two or three fights and he’s in the UFC and he’s doing good,” said LeVesseur. “But me personally, I’m just a competitor. Everybody hates to lose and I would think that I’m the number one guy on that list. (Laughs) But when you do lose, you learn, and it just kinda brings you back down to reality and makes you say ‘obviously you’re doing something wrong, so you gotta get back to the drawing board and refocus. So I really kept my eye on the prize.” Currently 21-5 with 17 finishes, LeVesseur has won six of his last seven, including wins over Ultimate Fighter vets Dane Sayers and Brian Geraghty. If it looks like he’s hitting his stride as a fighter, he says that would be an accurate assessment.“There have been a few moments in the past where maybe I just wasn’t applying myself as hard as I was supposed to,” he said. “I think that’s probably a small reason why it (a call to the UFC) has been longer than some have expected. But I think it’s perfect timing. Let’s say if I got the opportunity two three years ago, I might not have been ready. So the last two years, I’ve had a lot of fights and a lot of good competition, a lot of guys with a lot of fights under their belt, and I feel I’m ready.”But as LeVesseur is keen to point out, this is only the first step. He’s got a lot more up his sleeve before he’s done in the UFC.“This was my first goal, to make it to the UFC,” he said. “A lot of people say that they want to make it there and then they’re satisfied. That’s not me. I’m very thankful that I’m here, it’s a blessing, and I need to seize the opportunity. But, there’s a lot more than just making it to the biggest promotion in the world for Marcus “The Prospect” LeVesseur. I want to show up, do my job, get the victory in an exciting fashion, and I want to let the people in the world know that ‘hey, this guy’s a wrestler, but this guy throws down.’”

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, ’m, lot, levesseur

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A month after his fights, Dan Hardy walks around north of 200 pounds. After his fight with welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, the heavy-handed Brit tipped the scales at a muscular 218.8 pounds! And yet, when it’s time to step on the scales for the official weigh-ins, Dan Hardy always makes the weight, and his cardio is always on point. So don’t let the punk rocker hairdo and cocky soundbites to the media fool you: Dan Hardy is extremely conscientious and scientific about his profession and what goes into his body. The eight-year veteran has experimented with a wide range of diets and supplements, including weeks training with Shaolin Monks. Curreri: When you stayed with the Monks, what did you eat?Hardy: That was the same every day. They have a very consistent diet. In the morning we would have powered milk, hot water, white rice and boiled eggs. That was breakfast every day the whole time I was there. The funny thing is, when you were having breakfast you knew what you would be having for your next meal because you could hear them out back killing it. They would be out there ringing the necks of chickens, or killing a pig, whatever, it was quite an experience. Lunch and dinner, we would sit around a table, probably eight of us, and there would be a big bowl of rice in the middle. Then there would be six bowls: four of them would vegetable based and two would be meat. Chicken, eggs or pork was popular. They didn’t eat beef all that often. All the food steamed, pan-fried stuff, very clean. And it was all grown locally from a nearby village. And you could taste that. The volume of the food was the only issue I had. They were feeding us the amount that the monks were eating. I went out there at 180 and I came back weighing 152 pounds.Curreri: These days, tell your fans – and some of the haters – about the top secret Dan Hardy Diet. Hardy: I have a system. Every morning I get all of my supplements out and put them in a little pot. I get two fruit juices – a fruit juice and coconut water – and mix them in a big mug with a scoop of branch chain amino acids and 20 drops of chlorophyll. I stir that up and take my supplements with that. Then I have a vegan protein bar with about 10 grams of protein, just something to get my stomach going. My supplements: Vitamin C, Vitamin B Complex; Green tea, fish oils, probiotics. I don’t want my stomach working too hard during training. If your stomach is digesting food during training then it carries nutrients away from your stomach and it makes me feel nauseous when I train. So I’ll take my supplements, my vegan protein bar, then I’ll check my emails and watch a fight before heading off to training. Curreri: What fight videos do you watch each morning? Hardy: I usually have a fighter whose game I want to study each week. There is something about his style that I want to learn. So I might watch a guy that has something in his grappling game that I want to use. Or a boxer or a Thai boxer. Then I’ll do repetitions of whatever that particular fighter did in my mind. Then when I get to training I’ll put that into practice. Curreri: Who and what have most influenced your diet? Hardy: Different scientists, nutrition experts and other athletes. I went through a stage, around UFC 95 when I fought Rory Markham, I was working with an expert who was very knowledgeable. He took diet to another level, to where it was almost more important than the training. I was soooo overwhelmed, it was like a full-time job. I was taking 72 pills a day. All different kinds of things: Beef liver, L-Carnitine, which was the worse one because it makes your skin smell like fish. It interfered with my training sessions. Funny enough, that was my quickest fight in the UFC, but I think it was circumstantial. I don’t think it had to do with the diet because I felt exhausted for that fight and I didn’t look right on the scales, either. So after that fight I pulled it back a lot. I really focus a lot on getting nutrients from food instead of supplements. During training camp I stay away from anything that is acidic, like dairy products. Curreri: What’s on your shopping list?Hardy: I went shopping yesterday … I buy as much organic as I can. I buy lots of different types of fish, chicken breast, turkey, avocado, lots of free-range, organic eggs. All my meat is cage-free. But when I get close to the fight I rely on a lot more drinks. Last night I had fish and broccoli. My carbs are very low. I eat sprouted wheat bread as one of my main carbohydrates. Today I’ll go home, have a shake and then eat four eggs with two slices of wheatberry sprouted bread. I might have apples, bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe or grapes. Obviously I only eat bananas right after training – I wouldn’t eat them at any other time of the day. I like to get as many fiberous, natural carbs as I can as opposed to complex carbs. Occasionally I’ll have brown rice but not often. Quinoa is quite a popular complex carb at the moment. I’ll probably have a couple Sushi rolls once a week – I might have some raw tuna with avocado -- and that is as close to a cheat meal as I get during training camp. Usually Monday and Tuesday are pretty tough days. Wednesday I do a conditioning session in the morning and a technical session in the evening. I know Thursday and Friday will be hellish days as well, so I like to have some extra carbs on Wednesday just to carry me through those sessions. Curreri: How many of your meals do you prepare yourself? Hardy: I actually prepare quite a lot of them myself. My girlfriend is very good, too. She used to be vegan so a lot of the dishes she cooks are vegan-conscious, though I like to add a good protein to them as well. Sometimes I’ll get home and she has prepared a meal, like, say, turkey meatballs or a vegan gravy that is fantastic. With that I’ll have carrots, green beans or asparagus. Curreri: So many fighters are eating clean, organic, free-range meat, etc..Is it the American fighters that are leading the charge on this or do you think fighters in other countries are becoming much more sophisticated about their diets and relying on organic foods? How much has the American diet influenced your dietary decisions?Hardy: There definitely is a difference. I’m a lot more conscious about eating organic when I’m in the U.S. – without a doubt. Organic food is easier to get and it’s cheaper in Europe. You can consistently go into supermarkets (in Europe) and you can find most of the stuff that you need that has been locally farmed and organically produced. It’s good, clean food. There’s no craziness in it, no additives, it’s not been transported 10,000 miles to get to the U.K. and all that stuff. The food generally in Europe I think is, across the board, of higher standard. I mean, in the U.S. you can get good food, it just comes at a much higher price tag. So my food costs for a training camp in the U.S. are a bit more expensive, and that’s saying something given the (Euro versus the dollar) exchange rate. Over here, if I walk into a regular supermarket chain … I walk around the supermarket in despair, because I cannot face most of the food that’s on the shelves. It’s just very, very highly processed and it’s got a lot of stuff in it that people don’t need to be taking in. The meat is very low quality and produced on huge farms with 800,000 cattle just crammed into little fences. It’s just not the quality of food that I would like to put into my body. Short-term, being an active athlete, it concerns me. But also long-term it concerns me. I think a lot of the illnesses in the U.S. are down to the regular food you can get. When I was growing up (in the U.K.) there were a lot of people in their late 50s and early 60s dropping dead of heart attacks and stuff like that. That has dropped off considerably. But those people grew up on a diet of cigarettes and bread and dripping. I don’t know whether you have (bread and dripping) over here, but basically it’s just highly processed white bread and dripping, which is beef fat. This came from rationing during (World War II) when basically you ate everything you were given because you didn’t know when you would be eating again. So when you cooked meat, you would save the fat that came out of it and put it in a little pot and spread it over your bread like it was butter. And that was a regular thing. There was also a lot of “Black Pudding,” which was basically fat blood. Basically everything was used during the second World War because of rationing. And later on you could see the effects of it later in peoples’ lives as they got older. In Europe, the food is a better quality because if it’s not, it puts a strain on the healthcare system. They don’t want more patients, so the food is better quality. Even fast food is healthier! I’ll have cheat meals in the U.K. a lot more consistently than I would here. In the U.K. my cheat meal would be fish and chips. The fish are line-caught (as opposed to farm-raised), it’s fried in healthy fats and all the potatoes are organically made and it’s made in the restaurant. I feel nauseous just seeing (some fast food) commercials on TV. I couldn’t eat a meal like that. Curreri: A month after a fight how heavy are you? Hardy: 205 is about right. If I try to gain muscle and lift a lot of weights – like I did after the GSP fight – when I weighed 218.8. I find my body functions best around 200 pounds. I do most of my training camp at around 192, 194. And then when we get close to the fight I drop it down more than that. Usually, on the Monday before a fight, I’ll be around 186. I tend to eat very small amounts throughout fight week. I always have a handful of almonds with me for little nuggets of energy. Or I might have a few grapes or blueberries, or an apple occasionally. I avoid any dairy or red meat. I know a lot of people cut water the week of the fight; well I don’t. I try to drink as much as I can up until the Thursday night before the weigh-in. I’ll stop drinking water about 6 p.m. at night. Then I’ll drink green tea, Vitamin C and apple cider vinegar for my natural diuretics. Sometimes I use dandelion root as well. That’s a really good supplement when I’m trying to lose water weight. Friday morning I’ll take the Green Tea, Vitamin C and apple cider vinegar and that gets my body going and the weight cut starts. Curreri: Unlike a lot of top fighters, you don’t shun fruit juices. Hardy: I’ve always got a bottle of water with me and in the house at all times. Because dehydration can be caused by laziness. I usually drink a gallon and a half a day of water. On top of that I’ll have a couple of cartons of coconut water. I do drink fruit juice. I know a lot of athletes don’t like that. But I never drink it from concentrate, it’s all organic. After training I’ll usually have a shake. Today I’ll go home and have beet juice, apple juice and carrot juice. Then I’ll mix a raw protein – which is pea protein, rice protein, chia seeds, hemp protein I use quite a lot and then a green and red powder mix. Curreri: Why a vegan protein? Hardy: The thing I like about vegan protein is – you know they’re clean. Because vegans are the most serious about nutrition that I’ve ever met. To be healthy and vegan, you have to really know what you’re doing with your diet. I mean I know a lot of vegans don’t eat healthy, but among the upper echelon of vegan athletes they know what they’re doing. I’m not a big fan of artificial sweeteners, or a lot of stabilizers and flavorings that are added to foods and drinks. I’d rather have something that tastes disgusting and has a weird texture but feels clean and makes my body work better.

Posted in: fight, ’t, lot, ’ll, food

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Zeus would wager the pink slip to his economy hatchback that King Mo is the only light heavyweight in the world that beat Jon Jones with ease. While the only collateral I have would be a moped with a Wu-Tang sticker on it, I don’t think the bet is worth entertaining the possibility of having to walk to the gym every day. My gym is in another borough, and King Mo is the kind of dude that could level [b]anyone[/b] with a double-leg takedown. If you don’t believe that, we’re going to start putting Ipecac in your coffee until you come around. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of lattes until you start seeing things our way. LayzieTheSavage actually caught up with King Mo, and he wants to let you know how he’s doing since his staph infection that nearly ended his life.

Posted in: ’t, king mo, mo, king, wutang sticker

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Listening to Tony Ferguson talk about his fight tonight at UFC on FOX 3 it is clear the 28-year old Ultimate Fighter winner can’t wait to get inside the Octagon in hopes of continuing his ascension up the lightweight ranks. “El Cucuy” holds an overall record of 13-2 including three straight wins since his time on TUF, taking out seasoned veterans Aaron Riley and Yves Edwards in his last two tilts. Standing in his way of a fourth consecutive victory is Michael Johnson who stepped in a few weeks ago as a replacement for Thiago Tavares (who himself was filling in for Dennis Hallman). The shuffling around might bother some fighters, but Ferguson doesn’t seem to mind based on the end-goal remaining the same. “I’m ecstatic for this fight. The opponents have changed but my attitude hasn’t changed one bit,” said Ferguson in an interview on Rebellion MMA Radio. “I’m not looking past him, I’m just looking through him. I’ve prepared myself mentally and am focused.” Ferguson continued on to explain he respected Johnson based on his affiliation with the Blackzilian camp but would not be denied his dream of one day fighting for the lightweight championship. “I can’t wait until it’s my turn for that belt,” added Ferguson, crediting the 155-pound division for its depth while expressing his confidence in eventually earning a title-shot. Ferguson’s fight with Johnson is set for the Fuel TV portion of tonight’s prelims (5:00 PM EST). Facebook face-offs will be shown an hour earlier while the main card fires up at 8:00 PM EST on FOX. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ’t, johnson, ferguson, ’m, ” ferguson

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Timing is everything.Last year, as Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard remained locked into a trilogy atop the UFC lightweight division, a collection of fighters with championship aspirations built their cases for being next in line.Among that group was Whippany, New Jersey native Jim Miller. A scrappy, blue-collar-to-the-core contender, Miller had put together a seven-fight winning streak since losing a decision to Maynard at UFC 96. The only other loss of his career came a little more than three years earlier against Edgar in a battle for the Reality Fighting lightweight title.Injuries pushed back Edgar-Maynard 3 until October. In the interim, Miller was booked with another of those emerging contenders, former WEC champion Benson Henderson, in the co-main event of a Fight Night event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Though it played second fiddle to a welterweight fight between Chris Lytle and Dan Hardy, most everyone viewed Miller-Henderson as the real main event. UFC President Dana White had announced a victory would elevate Miller to the top of the list of challengers — a chance to rematch one of the two men that had beaten him previously in a battle for the lightweight title. All he had to do was get through Henderson.It wasn’t meant to be. Henderson controlled Miller throughout their three round encounter, sweeping the scorecards and halting Miller’s seven-fight winning streak at the same time. Henderson would go on to earn a title shot later in the year, and he completed his climb to the top of the division with a victory over Edgar at UFC 144 in February.Along the way, the large crop of contenders that had bottlenecked at the top of the division back in the summer had been whittled down substantially. Henderson had dispatched Clay Guida after defeating Miller, while Joe Lauzon upset Melvin Guillard, ending his solid run of success. In December, Nate Diaz collected his second consecutive win since returning to the lightweight ranks, halting Donald Cerrone’s steady climb up the rankings with a performance eerily similar to those his older brother Nick had been putting forth in recent years.Miller returned in January opposite Guillard, a pairing that would allow the winner to bounce right back into contention. Headlining the UFC’s maiden voyage on the FX network, Miller made the most of his opportunity, surviving an early power shot from Guillard that planted him on his backside to choke out his enigmatic opponent just over two minutes into the very first round.The victory earned him a pairing with Diaz on the top of the UFC’s third show on FOX, a shot at the lightweight title going to the victor.“You know, timing definitely does come into play,” says Miller in his standard laid-back drawl. “There were a couple guys there that if the title situation didn’t get as backed up as it had that could have fought — myself, Melvin, even Cerrone with five impressive wins. It’s just the way that it works out some times.“Losing in August doesn’t erase the nine prior wins that I have in the UFC; those are still there. I’ve done that work, so it might not be as long of a streak now, but I’ve still beaten all the guys that I’ve beaten.”If Miller seems unaffected by the twists and turns in the road to the lightweight title, it’s because the 28-year-old married father of two has never made what he does in the cage out to be anything more than a job. Training and stepping into the Octagon is his version of a 9 to 5, and though he’s very good at what he does, Miller refuses to let his career define him.“I’ve always been that type of person where I never got too carried away with it,” he explains. “I try to have a lot of things going, and do a lot of stuff. I’m real close with my family, and I always knew that no matter what I do — fighting is just a sporting event, and a job for me. The situation with my nephew is one of those times where it solidifies that there are bigger things than getting into the Octagon.”Daniel James Miller Jr. is the son of UFC welterweight Dan Miller, Jim’s older brother. The two-year-old boy was born with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (PKD), and is awaiting a kidney transplant. Having already had both of his kidneys removed in order to prepare for the transplant, Danny Jr. undergoes daily dialysis treatment, and will be on anti-rejection medications for the remainder of his life.“He’s doing all right; he’s been a lot better lately,” Miller says as an update on his nephew’s condition. “They’ve finally got him infection free. Hopefully he’ll be back home soon, and they can get that transplant.”Watching your nephew battle through that, it’s easy to understand why the ups and downs of a career in the cage don’t seem to faze the lightweight half of New Jersey’s Fighting Miller Brothers.On a different level, it’s the same reason being one half of the headlining act in his home state doesn’t get much of an emotional response from Miller either. Whether he’s fighting as part of the main event in East Rutherford or the first fight of the night in Butte, Montana, the workmanlike lightweight with a 21-3 record is still going to approach the task at hand the same.“As a fight, it’s the same thing,” says Miller matter-of-factly. “When I think of it as fighting my opponent and what it’s going to be like that night, it’s the same as any other thing — the door closes behind me, and my vision doesn’t extend beyond that cage. I’m still getting locked inside of a chain-link fence with another guy who has been training for months to punch me in the face.“There has been a larger media presence because of being on FOX and being the main event, and in this area, so there is more to it than normal, but that’s what I want.”Some fighters make no effort to hide their contempt for the media obligations that accompany being a UFC fighter. As he explains the taxing and sometimes frustrating schedule of events that awaits him during Fight Week, it’s clear that Miller would prefer to be anywhere else during his final few days of weight cutting, but the consummate professional will take his seat at the pre-fight press conference, and fulfill his obligation with a smile on his face.After all, it’s a requirement when you rise to the position of potential title challenger and main event fighter, and that’s a position Miller is happy to hold at this point in his career.“There’s been some media and stuff, but it hasn’t been a burden. Fight week is definitely going to be a little more hectic, and that’s when it counts; that’s when it will have an effect. Even the first couple days are easy, but it’s the day before weigh-ins when it starts.“That’s usually when there is a decent amount of media going on, and that’s when we start feeling it. We as fighters usually do a good job of hiding it because it starts to take a toll on you, and you start to feel a little miserable. When the weight starts coming down, you’re a little bit anxious, a little bit antsy, and a little short, but it’s all part of the job.”While making nice with the media is a piece of what he does for a living, stepping in the cage with Diaz on Saturday night is where he’ll really earn his keep, and potentially the title shot that has eluded him thus far.The younger half of the Diaz Brothers has looked impressive since dropping back down to the 155-pound ranks following back-to-back losses in the welterweight division in the first half of 2011. Precise boxing, high punch counts, and a slick ground game have fueled his successful return; the same recipe that has turned his brother Nick into one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport today.Though he admits that Diaz will be a difficult challenge once the cage door closes, Miller is buoyed by the fact that the talented trash talker who won Season five of The Ultimate Fighter has struggled against opponents with a skill set similar to the one he will carry into the Octagon on May 5 at the IZOD Center.“Nate is a very tough fight for anybody in this weight class; he’s as tough as they come, and very well trained. His boxing in his last fight was awesome, and cardio-wise, his volume of punches that he threw was pretty incredible to watch. He’s good on the mat too, so it’s a tough fight.“I have some similar characteristics to guys that have beaten him, so that keeps my confidence up to where I know I just have to go in and fight my fight, do what I’m capable of, and put it to him because he has shown that little bit of weakness. It’s about trying to capitalize on that.”Miller will be ready to put in an honest day’s work come fight night, just as he has in each of his previous 12 trips inside the Octagon. As for how he intends to deal with the trash talk that is likely headed his way in the days leading up to the fight, and once he and Diaz are alone in the cage?“I honestly haven’t worried about it. I just completely disregard it, so it doesn’t matter to me. It’s not going to get a rise out of me.”Listening to trash talk isn’t part of the job description.

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If you want a glimpse into who Nate Diaz is, just ask him what he thinks life after winning a UFC championship would be like. There’s no talk of a nicer car or house, of money, or even of being considered the best lightweight on the planet. His first, and only, priority are the people that have helped him along the way.“I got friends and family that need to be taken care of, so that’s what I’m working on,” Diaz told UFC.com. “I’ve got guys out here that I’ve been trying to get their names out, and I’ve got training partners that have talent, and I think if I had some more ears listening, I can get them out there.”He reels off some names, forgetting some, but not maliciously. As he notes Lucas Gamaza, Daniel Roberts, Rudy Hernandez, Jonny Carson, the El Nino Training Center, the Cesar Gracie Fight Team, and Damian and Tarzan Douglas, he stops only to say, “I could list people for days.”For him, this is more important than talking about himself. The way he sees the world, fighting is what he does for a living, but it’s the time spent in the gym with his training partners, who are not just friends, but virtually family, that’s most important. So when he was awarded his Jiu-Jitsu black belt from Cesar Gracie in April, it was a big deal, to say the least.“I started training when I was about 15 years old,” he said. “So it means a lot and I feel like I’ve been working for it for a long time. When I started, I knew that was one of the goals because I was watching Royce Gracie, my coach Cesar, and Dave Terrell and all these badasses do their thing. So I knew I had something I was aiming for. It would have helped if I wasn’t fighting to maybe get it a little sooner because I had a lot of stuff to cover in the meantime. There were a lot of guys that I was competing with in the blue belt division and purple belt division who went on and got black belts a couple years ago. But all the time they were on the mat, a lot of time I was on the mat and also in the ring sparring and kickboxing and wrestling and doing all kinds of other stuff. I would teach classes when I could, but it’s kinda hard to teach when you’ve got fights and stuff. So I had some obstacles, but I’m glad I finally did it.”If you’ve followed the fight game for any length of time, one thing is clear – Gracie doesn’t hand out black belts haphazardly or as a reward for showing up. Diaz is only the fourth member of the Cesar Gracie Fight Team to earn the coveted honor (Diaz’ brother Nick, Jake Shields, and David Terrell are the others), and even though the youngest member of that group has impressed fight fans with his standup attack, he has not neglected the gentle art on his way up the MMA ladder.“Jiu-Jitsu’s a big part of my game, and it’s a big part of everybody’s game because if you don’t know it, you’re gonna sink in this,” said Diaz. “You’ve got to cover every angle as much as you can, so it’s definitely a big part. I do jiu-jitsu every day and as soon as the fight gets a little closer, I don’t put on my gi as much, but as soon as the fight’s over, I’m usually right back in my gi. I gotta learn the best I can and be the best martial artist I can be.”But it is the unorthodox yet brutally effective striking attack of Diaz that has been the catalyst for his resurgence at 155 pounds after a 2-2 stint at welterweight that saw him finish Rory Markham and Marcus Davis, only to drop two decisions to Dong Hyun Kim and Rory MacDonald. Diaz insists that we may not have heard the last of him among the 170-pounders.“The thing with 170, I didn’t even want to fight Rory MacDonald or Dong Hyun Kim because no one knew who they were,” he said. “I felt they kinda built a name off me. I was just fighting Melvin Guillard and Clay Guida at 155 and now I go up to 170 and they’re sticking me all these hard fights with no names. So it’s kinda lose-lose for me and win-win for them. Not to put myself on a high horse, but I’m losing to Dong Hyun Kim and Rory MacDonald and it was kind of irritating. I didn’t specifically say I was going back to ’55; I told my manager I would fight at ’55 or ’70, whatever the bigger fight I could get. I would rather fight Takanori Gomi than Joe Blow at 170. I’ll still fight at 170. It would seem like I got washed out of that division, but I don’t think so. Both of those guys didn’t do much to me.”But once he fought Gomi and Donald Cerrone back at 155, the difference was night and day. He dominated the former PRIDE champion on the feet before submitting him late in the first round, and he snapped Cerrone’s six fight winning streak with a three round standup clinic that you don’t see too often from soon to be jiu-jitsu black belts. Yet as far as Diaz is concerned, this didn’t happen by design; he just dealt with what was given to him on fight night.“It’s hard work and you’ve got to do a lot of jiu-jitsu and a lot of boxing,” he said of his training life. “Sometimes you might do more of one than the other or not done enough of one, but you need to make sure you cover it all. You don’t usually go into a fight with a plan to do jiu-jitsu on somebody or just box somebody. You have to be ready for whatever they’re gonna throw at you.”And as Gracie covers the ground game, Richard Perez has done great work with both Diaz brothers on their boxing, and they’ve also had help from some folks in high places, like current super middleweight boxing champion Andre Ward.“I sparred with him a couple times and I sparred with a lot of his partners at his gym,” said Diaz of Ward. “He’s definitely the best boxer in this area and I think he’s the best boxer in the world, pound for pound, right now, so it was good to just be in the same environment with him and in the same gym as him and Nick working together. I picked up a lot of stuff, and I worked with all his coaches’ guys too; it’s good work over there.”So for all the preconceived notions of Diaz and his brother of just being mean mugging brawlers from the “mean streets” of Stockton, California, it’s clear that it’s the art of fighting and the work that goes into it that matters most. In a lot of ways, Diaz is almost a mirror image of his opponent this Saturday in the main event of UFC on FOX 3, Jim Miller. Neither go chasing down cameras or interviews, preferring to let their fighting do the talking. And when you ask Diaz about his foe, the respect is obvious.“He’s tough everywhere,” he said. “I’ve seen the guys he works out with and he’s got a black belt in jiu-jitsu and decent standup and he’s a good wrestler, so he’s definitely a well-rounded fighter, and it’s gonna be a tough fight.”Plus, it’s going to be held in Miller’s New Jersey backyard. For some, that could be an issue. For Diaz, it’s another night in the lion’s den, and he’s just fine with it.“I’m always behind enemy lines,” he said. “I’m not worried about it. There might be some booing, but whatever, that’s the name of the game. I’ll fight anywhere. But I would definitely rather be at home, for sure.”Which begs the question, could Nate and Nick Diaz have become who they are today anywhere but the 209 area code they rep proudly? Would a Palm Springs or Hollywood upbringing have given them the drive to succeed or the chip on the shoulder to believe they could conquer the world? Diaz pauses to ponder the question.“I don’t know,” he said. “I think we live in the best state and the best country in the world, so I think we’re pretty fortunate about that. We can drive to southern California or drive to the bay area and we’ve got everything right here. I think people are pretty real out here. It’s not hard to recognize some fake stuff when I leave town.”Not a surprising answer from a real fighter, one whose life could change significantly on Saturday night should he beat Miller and earn a shot at the UFC lightweight title. But none of that is on the radar at the moment.“I’m just concentrating on this fight. There’s a lot of hype, a lot of talk, and that (getting a title shot with a win) is what I’ve heard, but first things first, and I’ve got to fight Miller. I’m dealing with the mission at hand right now.”

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Despite Nick Diaz‘s recent statement regarding a return to the ring if the Nevada State Athletic Commission wipes the slate clean of punishment pertaining to a failed drug test for marijuana metabolites it appears the enigmatic Diaz is no closer to fighting again today than he was a month ago. While he himself has remained fairly quiet on the issue in public, letting teammates and lawyers do the talking for him, those who know him best have a good idea of his true intentions. As such, the one individual worth listening to above all others is the scrapper’s younger brother, Nate Diaz, who recently updated the world on his sibling’s status when asked about it while promoting his bout this weekend against Jim Miller at UFC on FOX 3. Details of Diaz’s Lawsuit Against the NSAC “Most people retire but they don’t got sh*t to do. They’re going to get fat, they’re going to get bored, they’re going to sit at home. Nick’s competing in a jiu-jitsu tournament next weekend. He just did four triathlons in the last two months, and he’s having fun, man. Staying busy,” said the 27-year old Diaz in a conversation transcribed by MMAFighting. “The way things have been going since forever, I don’t think he’s interested. He’s not interested in fighting, but who knows what’s going to happen in the future.” While Diaz left the door open with his final statement it appears his brother is in a good place and happy to remain there. His next outing will come in a grappling superfight against Braulio Estima. PHOTO CREDIT – DIAZBROTHERS.COM Tweet

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Fans and pundits analyzed Josh Koscheck’s close split decision win over Mike Pierce at UFC 143 in February from every possible angle. Was he distracted by an impending split with the AKA camp in San Jose? After 20 UFC fights, had Father Time started to creep in on the 34-year old native of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania? Did Pierce just have his number?None of the above.“I didn’t have any real motivation to fight Mike Pierce, to be honest with you,” admitted Koscheck, who improved to 19-5 with the victory, his second straight since losing to welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre in December of 2010. “He doesn’t have a very big name, I really didn’t have much motivation, and you could tell the night of the fight. I probably fought him at 60 percent. Not taking away from Mike Pierce, he fought a good fight, but I think I’ve got a little more motivation to fight Johny Hendricks than a Mike Pierce.”That’s understandable. Hendricks, like Koscheck, is a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion (Hendricks actually pulled it off twice), he is coming off a 12 second knockout of Kos’ friend and longtime training partner Jon Fitch, and the bout will be televised on network TV thanks to FOX. That’s plenty to get you motivated right there.“This is a big event, and I can’t believe that they’re actually putting me on FOX,” he chuckled. “As rated R as I am usually, it’s pretty bizarre, but they’re smart, and they get it. They want to get good ratings, and a guy like me, a real son of a bitch, can make for good TV.”But he wasn’t going to get to this point without beating Pierce, and while he was far from vintage Koscheck on that February night in Las Vegas, if you’re an elite prizefighter, you can usually find a way to win, either with experience, heart, guile, or all three. That’s what Koscheck did against a hungry opponent eager to use the Ultimate Fighter season one star as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.“This was actually the first time that I was in a different place in a fight, and I definitely pulled the victory out by small details and small things,” he said. “I need to be at a hundred percent, full steam ahead, when I fight Johny Hendricks.”Koscheck’s respect for his foe is apparent, even if he doesn’t come out and say it explicitly. That’s what we’ve gotten for the most part from one of the sport’s most polarizing figures. If he doesn’t like you, he’ll let the world know. If he respects you, well, you just won’t hear him. “I feel like I’ve been respectful to a lot of fighters out there, but certain fighters I definitely disrespect because I don’t like them,” he said. “But there have been plenty, for example Matt Hughes. When I fought him, I was very respectful toward him, I didn’t really say anything too bad, and after the fight, look at my speech. Look at my speech after the St-Pierre fight. It is what it is, and they’re gonna hate and continue to boo, and I’m gonna continue to win fights just to piss them off even more.”That could get tiresome for most, but not for Koscheck.“It doesn’t bother me at all,” he said. “The people that really know me and the people that get the opportunity to sit down and have a one-on-one conversation or hang out with me, they get it, they understand, and there’s no hard feelings. If I gotta be hated to be successful, then I guess I gotta be hated. I feel like there’s no changing it at this point in my career.”You get the distinct impression that he means it too. But what about entering one of the most important fights of his career without the AKA banner behind him? Koscheck, who now works out of the Dethrone Base Camp in Fresno, admits that this camp has pretty much been business as usual.“This camp’s no different from the last couple,” he said. “The only difference is that I’m training in Fresno. I’m training at the same times every day – 12 to 2 fight training, and all my cardio or my mitts from 7 to 9. So it’s no different. There are some different faces and a couple different coaches involved, but overall it’s pretty much the same.”That’s the good news. The even better news for him is that while he enjoys the serenity of a drama-free camp, he also has a Manny Pacquiao-esque ease in being the calm in the middle of chaos. So when camera crews descended on him in Fresno and the east coast media prepares for him this week, it’s nothing that will distract him from the task at hand, which is beating Johny Hendricks and inserting his name back in the title picture.“I’m definitely in a good place, and definitely in a place where I can be relaxed and focused on one thing, and that’s becoming a better fighter,” he said. “But I can do both (deal with calm and chaos). The past couple weeks have been pretty crazy. I’ve had three different film crews pretty much living with me (Laughs), but before that, it was really quiet. I deal with both of those perspectives and I just try to go about my day and focus on the things that I need to focus on to win this fight.”As for Hendricks, Kos says, “He’s a former (wrestling) champion, but he’s claiming that he’s a better wrestler, and that’s fine with me. He can be a better wrestler, but I’m a better fighter, and that’s what we’re doing on May 5th – we’re fighting. I think that it’s cool that it’s the first time two national champions get to square off, but he’s young and I think that with my experience and me being a better fighter, it will pay off for me.”At 34, Koscheck only has six years on the 28-year old Hendricks, but in terms of UFC experience, it’s an open and shut case for the Californian, and that’s what he’ll rely on this weekend. Sure, both have one punch knockout power and top-notch wrestling pedigrees, but in a bout like this, one like the Pierce match, it’s the little things that could play a big role in the outcome, such as being willing to go into deep water and do whatever it takes to win. And for all of Koscheck’s talk about the money, his cars, his planes, and his houses, his actions speak louder than words, and over the years, his actions have shown just one thing: he’s willing to go that extra mile to win.“I fought a lot of good guys and I never backed down from a fight,” he said. “Even when it’s somebody I really didn’t want to fight and I said ‘what’s this guy gonna do for me?’ I still fought him anyway, and I’m the type of guy that will fight anybody. I’ve never said the word ‘no’ to anybody about stepping up and fighting. When somebody backs out, I’m the first guy that volunteers to take the fight whether I’m in great shape or not. At the end of the day, I felt like I’ve done what I need to do to make a name, and as a fighter inside, I will fight anybody anytime. And when the UFC doesn’t call, I’m calling them to beg them to let them take the fight. I’ve offered to fight at 185 just because I like to fight. It’s something inside of me that says I want to compete and test myself. I’d rather be out there in the public fighting than in the gym training. The training is the hard part, the fighting is the easy part, and I’d rather be fighting in the Octagon in front of the millions of people that are watching than be in the gym training. I’d fight every month if they’d let me, and you’re never gonna find out if you’re truly the best if you don’t fight everybody. And I’m not afraid to fight anybody.”

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On Saturday night in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Oklahoma State alumnus Johny Hendricks will face off with Edinboro University’s Josh Koscheck in the UFC’s first ever meeting of former Division I National wrestling champions. That alone makes it a historic meeting, but neither fighter is too interested in that aspect of the fight. What matters more is getting the win and moving a step closer to a welterweight title shot.And though this is a mixed martial arts fight, the attitude shared by both men is one that was born in the wrestling room, a feeling that once you win, there is no time for rest, because when you rest, someone is right behind you waiting to take your place. Hendricks learned that fact as soon as he stepped into the room at OSU. Eventually, his time as a Cowboy would garner him national titles in 2005 and 2006, but before that happened, he had to realize that this wasn’t high school anymore.“When you go into a Division I school, everybody’s great, and that’s one thing nobody ever told me,” said Hendricks. “When I was in high school, I could beat anybody in my high school, wrestling wise, and I beat everybody. But nobody tells you when you get to college that everybody did that. You’re just another number that’s trying to make his name. And everybody else wants it just as bad as you.”At that point, there are two options – excel or get thrown to the side. Hendricks chose to excel, and he took a similar attitude into the sport of MMA in 2007. And though the days were long back when he began training in Las Vegas, the only thing he knew is that the payoff would be great if he kept his nose to the grindstone. “People don’t understand that whenever I was at Xtreme Couture, I woke up at 9, 10 was the first session, and I would train from 10 to 1,” he said. “Then some amateurs would come in from 1 to 2 and I would spar with them every other day. Then from 6 to 9 I’d work out again. That was my day every day because I knew that once everything started getting to go, I was gonna be sort of on the faster track. I didn’t think I’d be in the UFC in five fights, but that’s when I knew I only had a certain amount of time to do this, and I had to make the most of it that I could. Every moment I could, I spent in the gym.” Hendricks blasted out of the gate, going 3-0 before adding two more victories to his ledger as a member of the WEC roster. By 2009, he was debuting in the UFC with a 29 second TKO of Amir Sadollah, and there was no turning back now. In fact, as he compiled wins over Ricardo Funch, TJ Grant, and Charlie Brenneman, things were almost going too fast for the Ada, Oklahoma native, and just before a split decision loss to Rick Story in December of 2010, his first and only pro MMA loss, it was time for a change. For him, that meant moving back with his family in Dallas, Texas, just four hours away from his old stomping grounds on the OSU campus. And though he resisted at first, he soon realized that he needed to go back to where his greatest triumphs were born in order to get his fire back.“You always got to go back because it’s easy to fall into a routine, and that’s something that happened to me,” said Hendricks. “And when I moved back to Texas, I was able to go back to Oklahoma State more and I didn’t at first. But once I got that loss, I started going back to Oklahoma State and I got that (fire) back. It’s hard to mimic these 20-year olds looking at you and licking their chops because they know you’re 27, 28 years old, and they’re going through wrestling season and all you’re doing is fighting for a living. Fighting’s easy compared to wrestling, and whenever I got back in there, you gotta get that toughness back, that want, and it’s very easy to lose. You think you still have it, but it slowly slips away until you get put back in that kind of situation. And then all of a sudden, man, it hits you, and you get fired up and the next thing you know, you get that anger and desire back that you lost. It’s pretty nice to have Oklahoma State only four hours away.”Nice for him and bad for his opponents. Since the loss to Story, Hendricks has sandwiched a gritty split decision win over Mike Pierce with two Knockout of the Night wins, one in 95 seconds over TJ Waldburger in March of 2011, and one in 12 seconds over longtime contender Jon Fitch last December. The power of the “Bigg Rigg” makes you wonder if he even worries about his wrestling anymore. But it’s always on his mind, just like landing one on an opponent’s chin is.“The reason why I’ve been doing so good on standup is that I try to figure out my opponent,” he said. “Does he think I’m gonna hit him? If he does, then I need to do that. If he thinks I’m gonna go out there and hit him and try to take him down, he might be waiting for that. So you’ve got to feel out your opponent, and sometimes, it hasn’t gone long enough to get that. The Lord has blessed me with some power, and one thing that I have noticed is that I don’t try to knock anybody out. I really don’t. All I’m trying to do is throw fast and about 80 percent. That’s all I need to throw. I’m just trying to get it there as fast as I can. That’s it. Because the faster my hands go, the quicker I can see what I need to do. For some reason, time slows down and me and my opponent slow down when I’m in the Octagon, and whenever I do something, I can sorta see what’s coming.”That’s an enviable vision to have, and entering the biggest fight of his career to date, one televised nationally on FOX, the 28-year old is confident that not only will the Koscheck bout be a good one for the fans, but one that will be good for Johny Hendricks.“I believe so,” he said. “You’ve always gotta believe in yourself. No matter what fight comes your way, you can win. There’s always a chance and always something that can push you to where you can get your hand raised at the end of the day. If you go in without that attitude, you’re already beat before you get in the Octagon and that’s a bad mental frame to have. There’s a fine line between confidence and cockiness, and I like to say that I’m confident because if you’re not, you’re in the wrong sport.”  

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If UFC heavyweight Pat Barry wasn’t working Saturday night he’d definitely be tuning in to watch UFC on FOX 3. Of course, the affable Barry will be busy serving as one of the four featured fights on the FOX broadcast in a bout against fellow knockout artist Lavar Johnson. Not only is the card full of intriguing match-ups but Barry-Johnson seems destined for a devastating finish. Barry has finished six of the seven opponents he’s beaten with strikes while Johnson has fourteen TKOs in sixteen total victories. Given their propensity for putting opponents away violently Barry knows it’s no mistake he and Johnson have gotten the rub of a network television slot and plans to deliver on their investment of faith in him to do so. “The UFC is really strategic about what fights they place where and at what time. And I think it’s a really great chess move to throw me on the cards that they do and position me where I’m at. It’s really great timing and the fight with Lavar and I is an ideal match,” said Barry in an interview with the UFC’s website. “I’m still a fan, and this is the kind of fight that I want to see – two guys that come in there that are finishers and don’t go the distance; two guys that stand and bang and are always looking for knockouts. We’re not distance fighters.” However, while Barry may prefer to brawl he’s also eyeing the possibility of picking up a submission win. As fans may remember, Barry showed up to his last fight – a pasting of Christian Morecraft – with a new hairdo and the promise of letting it go until he tapped his first opponent out inside the Octagon. “I’m always going to be expected to stand there and strike, but if the right opportunity is there, this isn’t kickboxing anymore, it’s MMA. So will I do it? Yeah, absolutely,” admitted Barry of a attempting a submission or two. “If I don’t have to I won’t, and of course I would like to stand there and trade blows until one of us gives up. But if the timing is right and I see the right window for it, will I go for it? Absolutely.” “The hair is still not cut,” he playfully added. “The sides are getting cut, but the top is still growing. I’m getting closer and closer to Kid n’ Play.” Fans can catch Barry-Johnson battle it out until one falls when the main card broadcast starts this Saturday night on FOX at 8:00 PM EST. Prelims will be shown on Fuel TV firing up three hours earlier. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Think of it as one of the perks of being a UFC fighter. No, not VIP passes to the hottest clubs, autograph seekers around every turn, or television features singing your praises. For lightweight Danny Castillo, his perk was the opportunity to supplement the daily routine of his recent training camp in Las Vegas with a trip to the Mayweather Boxing Club to work with Jeff Mayweather, brother of the perhaps better-known Roger and Floyd Sr., but no second fiddle to his siblings when it comes to teaching the intricacies of the sweet science.“I try not to harp on the whole thing and not get caught up,” said Castillo, a longtime boxing fan who counts the late Diego Corrales as one of his fistic heroes. “I want to focus on the technique and get in as much work as possible, but sometimes I do sit back and I see Roger there and I realize I’m working with one of the best families in boxing, the Mayweathers. Sometimes I go home and it could be a little thing like Jeff telling me my defense looked good that day, and it’s just an amazing feeling to hear that. It’s just great to be around there and it makes training enjoyable and it’s really motivating for me. I’m eager to learn and I felt like I learned so much from him in the short time that I worked with him.”It’s almost like the professional version of a fantasy camp, but instead of 40 and 50 year olds hitting batting practice with the idols of their youth, Castillo is getting practical knowledge that will serve him well in his day job, beginning with Saturday’s bout against up and comer John Cholish on the UFC on FOX 3 card in New Jersey. “I think I sharpened up my boxing, and my jiu-jitsu as well, so when I get in that fight, I’m sure John Cholish is gonna try to take me down, so I’m excited to see where I improved the most,” he said. “That’s the cool thing about this fight and what’s got me so pumped. I’ve been prepared for the last two, three weeks. In the past I’ve gone into fights saying ‘did I work enough on my boxing, did I work enough on my Muay Thai?’ But right now, I just want to hurry up and get it over with.”And even though he’s walked up the four steps into sanctioned combat 17 times and built a reputation as one of the rising stars of the 155-pound weight class, the 32-year old isn’t someone who thinks he’s got it all figured out. He’s hungry, both in the gym and the Octagon, to get better and better, an attitude he shares with his Team Alpha Male training partners, most of whom traveled with Urijah Faber to Vegas as “The California Kid” coaches the 15th season of The Ultimate Fighter.“We’re so like-minded, all of us together, and you could pretty much put us in the middle of the forest, and we could run a camp out there and enjoy ourselves,” said Castillo, probably the only person in the world who can tell you he left his native Sacramento to go to Vegas and get away from it all. “I really enjoy the company of the guys that I train with, and the knowledge that’s in the room from everybody, it’s weird because we don’t necessarily have one single coach. It’s more like a co-op and everyone’s so eager to learn.  So I wasn’t worried about it (leaving Sacramento for this camp) at all. The only thing I was worried about was my strength and conditioning coach not being there, but he did an awesome job of emailing me my workouts every day and checking in on me, and at the TUF gym I was able to get those workouts in. It was great for me.”Add in work with renowned jiu-jitsu coach Sergio Penha (“that guy’s awesome, he’s phenomenal,” said Castillo), and “Last Call” may very well have had his best camp to date, and it’s the perfect time for it, as he’s won five of his last six bouts, with the only defeat coming via decision to Jacob Volkmann in August of last year. Since then, he stopped Shamar Bailey in the first round and won a close split decision over Anthony Njokuani.The three rounder with Njokuani wasn’t Castillo’s best performance, but he did do enough to win, a final outcome that drew boos from the Las Vegas crowd. Castillo admits that the response bothered him briefly, but with the help of teammate and UFC vet Justin Buchholz, along with the rest of the Alpha Male squad, he brushed off the criticism and moved forward.“After the fight I was a little bit disappointed in my performance, but that’s because I’m my biggest critic, and I expect that from myself after every fight,” he said. “But to boo me after I put it all in the cage…Njokuani is a talented fighter and he’s getting better all the time, and for me to beat somebody of his caliber, it’s a notch on my belt, and it’s a confidence booster and a stepping stone for me. And to hear people booing me, I just fought my heart out for 15 minutes and you guys want to boo me? It was kinda hurtful, but it bothered me for about five minutes. I have great guys around me, and Justin Buchholz was like ‘dude, what the hell are you sad about? You just got two paychecks, there’s nothing hurt on you, you just fought one of the best strikers in the lightweight division, and you won.’”Buchholz couldn’t have put it any better, and if Castillo didn’t know that you can’t please everyone all the time in this game, he knows it now. So what’s the solution? Keep getting better and keep winning, and everything else will work itself out. That’s the goal, and Castillo hopes to leave Jersey this weekend not just with a win, but with some new fans as well.“I hope they (the fans) see my improvements,” he said. “I believe I’ve made some huge leaps and bounds in my career, I’m coming up on my fifth year of fighting, and it seems just like yesterday that I was fighting in the Gladiator Challenge and then the WEC. But now I’m in the big show and there’s nothing stopping me now. I feel like I’m finally reaping the benefits of all the hard work I’ve been putting in. I think you’re gonna see a different, more motivated fighter come May 5th, I’m really excited, and I hope to gain a bunch of new fans.”    

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, ’m, work, castillo

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This past weekend, I eagerly watched Marloes Coenen walking into the cage on a choppy web-stream while the fire alarm in my apartment building went off. Every part of me wanted to ignore it until I looked out the window and saw a dozen emergency vehicles closed the entire street. Even then, I wanted to stay in my apartment and finish watching the fights before evacuating a burning building, but FDNY didn’t give me that option when they pounded on my door because the hallway was filled with smoke. I pleaded to the them in the lobby to go back and grab my laptop, but they explained that surviving this ordeal would be a more fruitful option than watching the main event of Invicta FC. They clearly have different priorities than I do. If Marloes is reading this right now, I hope she understands that I was willing to burn to death watching her fight this weekend, but the New York Fire Department didn’t allow me to; and for that, I’m sorry. The remainder of my night was a lot like the videos below, except there weren’t any cameras to document it, and our beverages were far less exciting while being considerably more expensive. Also, Dana White and Ed O’Neill weren’t there. Props to Zombie Prophet for the rip. {iframe}http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xqiol2_bfry_sport"{/iframe}

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, i hope, zombie prophet, smoke i

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When UFC middleweight Alan Belcher steps inside the Octagon this Saturday to face Brazilian leg lock specialist Rousimar Palhares it will be just his third fight in two years. He defeated Patrick Cote at UFC 113 in May of 2010 and was forced to the sidelines afterwards because of an injury to his eye in training that almost cut his career short. Luckily for Belcher the eye surgery he underwent saved his vision and his career. Belcher went on to return to action in September of last year, thoroughly dismantled Jason MacDonald via first round submission (strikes), and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. After some time off to enjoy the birth of his son, Belcher is ready to climb back in the saddle and work his way towards a title shot, something he was getting very close to before he had problems with his eye. At one point he was scheduled to face former #1 contender Demian Maia in the main event of a UFC Fight Night event scheduled for September of 2010. They say that things happen for a reason and at just 28-years-old Belcher is preparing to reach his physical prime. In a sport as rough and tough as MMA the time off may have been a blessing in disguise. “I feel great, stronger than ever and more athletic,” said an excited Belcher in an interview with Five Ounces of Pain. “I’ve come a long way over the past three years and I keep getting stronger and stronger. I’ve been eating really well and have changed my lifestyle to become healthier than any other point in my life. I’ve been training with Lyle Henley in Mobile for awhile and he’s got me feeling really strong.” In Palhares he will face a fighter who has won ten of his fourteen victories by submission including six by heel hook. The Brazilian’s opponents know his leg-attack is coming, but very rarely can stop it from happening.  According to Belcher, when it comes to their fight this weekend at UFC on FOX 3, he is feeling as good as he ever has and knows what needs to be done to avoid those dangerous leg locks that Palhares has in his arsenal. “I’ve been putting myself in certain situations so that when the fight comes I know what Palhares strengths are and I can avoid them. I’ve been training with some guys who are really good with leg locks and I’m learning how to fight those submissions off. Dean Lister has been a huge help and I’ve been training with a lot of BJJ blackbelts. The main thing is staying out of those situations. I know I can grapple, but I’d prefer to keep the fight standing.” With the card being on FOX and the event in New Jersey the media attention has been extremely high. So, on top of fighting one of the best submission specialists in the middleweight division, Belcher has had more media obligations than ever before as well as the pressure of fighting in primetime on national television. Just like most other fighters, Belcher is intent on focusing his attention on the task at hand and isn’t worried about any of the outside influences. He also realizes what a win over Palhares can do for him and that is his primary concern. “I don’t feel any added pressure to be honest with you,” Belcher admitted. “Actually I am grateful for being on such a big card and that Dana White and the UFC believe in me enough to put me in this spot. I feel like it’s a great position, I get to fight in front of more people and being a veteran I know I can handle it. I feel like this fight is coming at just the right time for me. I’m not too sure where a win puts me as far as title contention although a lot of people believe I can hang with anyone in the division. A win here would probably put me in a top spot, but there are a lot of top guys right now so it’s hard for me to say just where I would be. I know that a win isn’t going to put me backwards that’s for sure. Winning is always the right step and while it take me awhile as long as I don’t lose I’m doing well. I don’t plan on losing anytime soon. I’ve had losses, learning experiences and I’ve gone into fights unprepared, but I don’t plan on doing that anymore. I know I will be prepared and that is probably half the battle. I won’t lose because I’m out of shape or I underestimated my opponent. If a guy beats me it’s because he beat me on my best day and he was better than me. Let’s take it one fight at a time.” Belcher has never been accused of being a boring fighter or doing just enough to get a win. That much is evidenced by all of the bonuses Belcher has won including Fight of the Night against Yoshihiro Akiyama a few years back. His war with Akiyama certainly set the tone for an exciting evening at UFC 100 and in 23 career fights he has only had five fights make it to the judges’ scorecards. Though winning a fifth bonus in his last six fights isn’t something clouding Belcher’s thoughts, he still has an opinion on which of the three options he’d like to win – Knockout, Submission, or Fight of the Night. “If I had to choose one I would choose whatever one paid me the most,” Belcher joked. “I guess if I really have to pick one I would go with the Submission of the Night because it would be so unbelievable. I think the Knockout of the Night would probably be the most realistic choice. It would also mean that I am sticking to my game plan and keeping the fight standing. It means that I’d be staying out of those dangerous grappling situations and eventually hurt him and earn a knockout or TKO. Hopefully it’ll come true and I can earn another bonus. I really don’t try and go for a bonus at all I just fight and give 110%. I just go out there and do the best that I can, I never give up and when you are facing another fighter who never gives up it’s bound to make for an exciting fight.” Fans can catch Belcher vs. Palhares as part of the main card this Saturday night. Things start up on FOX at 7:00 PM EST including a headlining tilt between Jim Miller-Nate Diaz. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

The Octagon debut of Pascal Krauss couldn’t have gone any better, as his UFC 122 win over Mark Scanlon in November of 2010 kept his unbeaten (10-0) record intact and earned him Fight of the Night honors. Nine months later, he wondered if he would reach those heights again.“There were some moments when I wasn’t sure if it was ever gonna be like it was before,” said Krauss, who suffered a shoulder injury that forced him from a UFC 138 bout with John Hathaway and left him with plenty of painfully sleepless nights. “But those were just short moments when you’re in the darkest hours, like in the middle of the night when nobody else is awake, just you because it’s too painful, and then you start thinking and driving yourself crazy.” There are few injuries more agonizing than one to the shoulder. If you’ve ever experienced one, the simplest acts leave you wincing in pain, and even finding a comfortable position to sleep in is nearly impossible.“You can’t sit, you can’t lay on your back or your stomach,” recalled Krauss. “The best thing I could do was just stand and walk around. That’s what I did for like five days in a row without sleeping at all. I would walk in my room up and down, up and down, and almost going crazy. But as soon as I could start doing simple things again, I was like ‘yeah, I’m gonna make it. I’m gonna get to where I was before, and it’s gonna be good again.’”Fast forward to today, and things are good again for the 25-year old native of Breisach, Germany. His shoulder is back in working condition, he’s had a solid training camp with Duke Roufus’ Roufusport team in Milwaukee, and he’s got a rescheduled fight this Saturday night in New Jersey against fellow welterweight prospect Hathaway. Given all that, he can look at the last 17-plus months away from the Octagon with a philosophical bent.“That was probably the worst period of my life so far,” he said. “But it also had something good in it so you don’t start flying too high and losing the ground under your feet and thinking you’re better than everybody else. You realize how important the small and simple things – like being healthy – really are in your life. It was a bad time, but it had some good in it, and I look at it like if it doesn’t kill me it makes me stronger. I hope it works that way.”Strange how fate can have its way of putting the brakes on things just as they’re beginning to take off, and they were taking off for Krauss in 2010. Unbeaten on the European scene and one of the continent’s top prospects, “Panzer” finished all nine of his previous foes before going the route with Scanlon in his home country. He admits to being nervous before his UFC debut, but he didn’t show it in the fast-paced and action-packed three rounder.“I always love to fight, and as soon as I step into the cage I feel that all the pressure goes away and I’m doing what I like most,” he said. “I felt a little bit more tense, and I felt like I couldn’t compete on my best level. But it still worked out pretty good.”That would be an understatement. But then disaster struck, and the highly touted prospect when from headlines to the back pages in a New York minute. “It really was a contrast,” he said. “One moment you’re flying super high and everyone’s talking to you and wanting to see you fight again, and you feel like, ‘yeah, I’m doing really good right now and I want to keep going and try to achieve as much as possible.’ Then the next minute you’re out completely and can’t do anything anymore.”Eventually, Krauss healed up and got the green light to go back to the gym, and when he got the call to face Hathaway, he kept his tradition of taking his show on the road for training camp intact by heading to Wisconsin. But why not go back to San Diego, where he worked for the Scanlon fight? “I always like to go and discover new things and train with new people and learn some new techniques to mix it up a little bit,” said Krauss. “I was in California after my last fight for vacation when I was injured, and I felt that maybe there were too many distractions out there for me. I met a lot of people out there and I know a lot of guys who own bars and stuff. (Laughs) It’s nice out there – the beach, the girls, all that stuff, and I thought it might be better to come here and have a good camp and focus on that for a while. It’s pretty cool out here (In Milwaukee). It’s a really good camp, a lot of good guys to train with, and I live really close to the gym so I can just walk over there and train anytime I want to.”And hey, if you’re 25 and able to see the world, why not do it? That’s Krauss’ view, and while he has gotten plenty of top notch training everywhere from Brazil and San Diego to Mexico, Los Angeles, and New York, the biggest perk for him is that by going on the road, he’s able to avoid distractions from school and work at home. “I always love to travel, and I like to get out of my hometown and get away from daily life,” he said. “Back home I still go to college, I know a lot of people there and I work, and if I stay in my hometown, there’s a big chance I’ll get involved in the daily business that’s going on and I don’t want that. So that’s why I always choose to go somewhere else and train and experience new things. (When I came to Milwaukee) I didn’t know anyone out here personally, but it’s great to meet new people and make new friends and have a good time.”Krauss only has one semester of college left, and he credits his injury for realizing that getting his degree is important, even if it’s only a backup plan to his current focus on the fight game. So expect that to happen in the near future, but in his immediate crosshairs is Hathaway, and he’s ready for him.“I have seen him fight before, but I’m not that big into following other guys,” said Krauss. “If you spend that much time in the gym training and hanging out with all your friends and all the fighters, you’re glad sometimes when you’re outside the gym and you can do other stuff. You don’t want to just watch tons of other fights and make sure you follow each guy who’s out there and see what he does and what he’s been up to. So I knew his name before, but now I know him even better, and I’m sure after May 5th I will know him a little bit better again.”Krauss smiles, content that he’s finally on the verge of being an active fighter again and one with big plans for his return.“Let’s get as many wins as possible,” he said. “People are saying the world is going down this year (Laughs), so I should try to get as far as possible this year.” 

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It’s impossible not to like Lavar Johnson. Easygoing in a way no 6-foot-4, 240-pounder is expected to be, the big man from Madera, California is almost unrecognizable from some of the adjectives that describe his fighting style: knockout artist, crushing puncher, relentless.That’s just fine with him. Even when he’s in the Octagon, or previously on the football field, he makes it clear that it’s never a personal thing. He just likes to win.“I’m competitive and I’ve got a little mean streak to me,” he chuckles. “I’ve been in fights before, and I like to compete. I played football and I was real aggressive on the football field as well, so it’s nothing to me. I don’t have to be mad. I just like to play hard.”And with Johnson packing two sticks of dynamite in his fists, when he decides to play hard, it’s usually bad news for anyone sharing the field of battle with him. Case in point, his UFC debut in January against Joey Beltran. There was no bad blood, no trash talking, just two California heavyweights putting the gloves on and trying to get a win. And despite Johnson’s reputation (he had finished each of his 15 previous wins), many assumed that he wasn’t going to do the same thing to “The Mexicutioner.” Sure, he might win, but he wasn’t going to stop a fighter who earned descriptors like “steel chin” and “iron jaw” the hard way.Johnson, even with 20 pro fights under his belt, was jittery before getting called to the Octagon.“I was nervous before I went out there, but after that first punch, everything’s out the window,” he said. “I even threw up before the fight in the locker room and that usually doesn’t happen. So I was a little nervous, but when it’s time to go it’s time to go, and that’s it.”Four minutes and 24 seconds after the opening bell, that was it for Beltran as well, as a series of uppercuts ended his night and gave Johnson his first UFC victory, and a Knockout of the Night bonus. Add in his pre-fight visit to the trash can, and it was a night of firsts for the 34-year old. Maybe it’s an omen for good things in the future.“I got a nice win, so if that’s the key to victory, I don’t mind it,” he laughs.The finish of Beltran was a revelation for fight fans, most of whom had seen Johnson do his thing on the local California scene and in Strikeforce, but who never expected him to deliver the goods with such style in his first time on the big stage. But Johnson has been knocking people out for a long time, ever since his days on the Toughman circuit.“We had 16 ounce gloves and headgear, and I was knocking people out,” he recalled. “I was one of the few people who were actually putting people to sleep. And it went from there.”Turning pro in 2004 with a loss to future WEC champion Doug Marshall, Johnson righted his ship four months later with a TKO of Levi Thornbrue and began building a reputation as a ‘must see’ heavyweight. You were not going to get wrestling clinics or jiu-jitsu matches from Johnson; win or lose, someone wasn’t going to hear the final bell.“When you fight, that’s what I think of, people punching each other in the face,” he said. “Any heavyweight can knock someone out with one punch, so that’s what I go in there thinking. Anything can happen, so I try to get off first and make it happen and be the first to land that big shot.”So when the dust settled from his win over Beltran and a UFC on FOX main card bout with like-minded heavyweight prospect Pat Barry was announced for May 5th, the immediate expectation was bombs away. And Johnson feels no pressure when it comes to keeping his end of the bargain.“I’m under no pressure,” he said. “I’m the underdog, but this is what we do. We fight. And the only way I know how to win is to go in there and beat ‘em up. I don’t feel any pressure. I feel like I have nothing to lose. The greatest thing has already happened and I’m thankful that I made it to the UFC, and I couldn’t be happier. Everything else is just a bonus. I’m just blessed and honored to be able to compete against these guys.”Life has undoubtedly changed for Johnson, who almost didn’t make it to this point after a random 2009 shooting that took him out of the sport for 10 months. So he’s grateful for everything that’s happened and he’s just letting his new celebrity soak in.“I’ve got a pretty big fanbase here, and a lot of people support me,” he said. “I’ll be driving down the street or walking to the gym or store and everybody’s like ‘knock Pat Barry out,’ and this or that. It’s cool, I enjoy it, and that’s why I do it. I do it for the people in Madera, and all my fans and my family. They enjoy it, we’re all big MMA fans, and me being in there competing gives us all something to look forward to.” “I never thought that I’d be boxing or doing UFC,” Johnson continues. “I always thought those guys were crazy (Laughs), and boxing, I’ve been a big fan, and I would mess around with boxing with my friends in the garage and stuff like that, but I never thought I’d make a profession out of it.”It’s almost to the point where you hope for a draw on Saturday night in East Rutherford, New Jersey, considering that Johnson and Barry are two of the most likeable fighters in the organization. And even knowing the hostilities that will break out on fight night, both are equally respectful of each other.“Pat Barry is a funny dude,” said Johnson. “He’s real cool, I’m a big fan of his, and he’s a great athlete. I’ve watched almost all of his fights in the UFC, and he’s a very dangerous opponent. He kicks hard, he hits hard, and he moves well, so I’ve got my hands full.”Johnson doesn’t think “HD” will stand with him for long though.“We all think that he (Barry) is gonna try and take me down,” he said. “As soon as I hit him, he’s gonna feel the power and he’s gonna try to shoot. I don’t see it happening, but if he takes me down, I’m gonna get right back up and he’s gonna tire himself out. He’s not gonna submit me, and I’ve been working on that a lot right now.”So no flying armbars or power double leg takedowns?He laughs.“I’m not looking to submit nobody. My fans and my family, they don’t like to see heavyweights rolling on the ground. They like to see heavyweights out there trying to knock each other out. Even if I have a rear naked or an armbar and I’m in a good position, I’m just gonna swing. I’ll save the submissions for the jiu-jitsu tournaments.”

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Reputation means a lot in this world, no matter what part of it you’ve chosen to hang your hat on. So let’s get this out of the way about UFC heavyweight Pat Barry. He shows up - whether it’s for an interview, a photo shoot, or most importantly, a fight. And once he’s there, he will give you Pat Barry, a hundred percent, no holds barred, no filter, no airs. It’s why when he showed up at the UFC Fan Expo in Houston last October to sign some copies of the UFC Encyclopedia (and mind you, this wasn’t a scheduled appearance), the line snaked around the booth, with Barry making sure everyone who approached him felt like he or she was the only person in the room. That included the little girl who asked Barry for his autograph and he agreed, but only after she fulfilled his request:“I want your autograph first.” His performances in the Octagon leave you with a similar feeling that you didn’t just see someone showing up for a paycheck, but a person who really cares that you got your money’s worth. Sure, the 7-4 record isn’t sparkling, but I can’t think of anyone who would want a refund after seeing any of his eight UFC bouts. So when the UFC announced that Barry would be involved in one of the four nationally televised UFC on FOX bouts this Saturday night in New Jersey against fellow banger Lavar Johnson, it was really no surprise, because “HD” always delivers a fight.“I think that they keep that in mind whenever they place me where they place me,” said Barry. “The UFC is really strategic about what fights they place where and at what time. And I think it’s a really great chess move to throw me on the cards that they do and position me where I’m at. It’s really great timing and the fight with Lavar and I is an ideal match. I’m still a fan, and this is the kind of fight that I want to see – two guys that come in there that are finishers and don’t go the distance; two guys that stand and bang and are always looking for knockouts. We’re not distance fighters.”Win or lose, Barry has only heard the final bell once, in a 2011 decision victory over Joey Beltran. California’s Johnson has yet to let a judge get involved in one of his fights. If you’re looking for an excuse to run to the fridge, concession stand, or bathroom, this isn’t the fight to give you that window of opportunity. Frankly, that has to be a lot of pressure on both men, but Barry says that’s not the case.“I go into the fight with the same amount of pressure as I do any other fight, even the ones that aren’t seen when I’m on the undercard,” he said. “When the fight’s over with, the idea that it was on FOX and the world got to see it will be really cool, and even beforehand it’s really cool, but I don’t go in with more added pressure because it’s on FOX. I’m at maximum pressure anyway before the fight no matter where it’s being seen at.”That’s because in spite of his always exciting performances, winning still rules the day if you want to climb the heavyweight ladder, and Barry has dropped two of his last three. His last effort was a telling one though, as he survived some rocky moments on the mat against Christian Morecraft, and after showing off improved submission defense, he got up and knocked his opponent out at the 3:38 mark, picking up a Fight of the Night bonus along the way. Eight days later, he saw Johnson debut in the UFC with a first round KO of his own against the steel-chinned Beltran, and Barry had a feeling the two would eventually meet.“When he walked in to fight Joey Beltran, I had never seen him fight,” said Barry of Johnson. “I’m not up to date on all the fight shows going on, and I didn’t know who he was. But after he fought Joey, I definitely looked him up. I said this guy’s a threat and this is the kind of guy they’re gonna put me in the ring with one day. Then I got the phone call saying I was fighting him, so I was already doing my homework on him, knowing that he would be the ideal type of matchup for me.”That’s a deceptive answer though. Is Johnson an ideal matchup because he will stand and trade with the former kickboxer, or because there is no chance (and he’s gone on the record saying it) that he’ll look to take the fight to the mat, leaving Barry some openings to work his own budding ground game? Barry admits that he wants to go shot for shot with Johnson, but that if the opportunity presents itself, he’ll take the fight wherever he’ll have the best chance of winning.“I’m always going to be expected to stand there and strike, but if the right opportunity is there, this isn’t kickboxing anymore, it’s MMA,” he said. “So will I do it? Yeah, absolutely. If I don’t have to I won’t, and of course I would like to stand there and trade blows until one of us gives up. But if the timing is right and I see the right window for it, will I go for it? Absolutely.”He’s even lived up to his word that he won’t cut his hair until he submits someone in the Octagon.“The hair is still not cut,” said Barry. “The sides are getting cut, but the top is still growing. I’m getting closer and closer to Kid n’ Play.”And he may be getting closer to a haircut as well, as his work with Marty Morgan and the Deathclutch team in Minnesota is making him more and more confident of what he can do if the fight hits the canvas.“It’s coming. It’s not second nature yet, but it’s getting there,” said Barry of his ground game, but don’t get him wrong; at heart, he’ll always be a striker, and an unpredictable one at that. So he issues a warning: expect the unexpected.“I’m inventing things when I’m in the Octagon – new punches, new kicks while I’m on the spot,” he said. “So I’m still unpredictable. Everybody knows that I’m gonna be a striker, but you can’t determine where and when they’re gonna come from.”So what can you depend on when it comes to the 32-year old New Orleans native? That you’ll be entertained.“I’ve been a performer since Day One, I’ve been a performer since birth,” said Barry. “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do, just perform. It just so happens that this is my stage. I come in and I have an art that I’m really good at, and I have the ability to make memorable fights, even the ones I lose. Win or lose, you’re gonna know you just watched something and you’re gonna remember it. You know that when I step in there, you’re gonna see something that’s just awe-inspiring, flashy, or just something. I’m coming to perform at all times. Even if a guy who I’m fighting is trying to stalemate me, I can still make it exciting. I can make you fight me back.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, barry

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Other than a general update stating she hadn’t broken her arm, former Strikeforce bantamweight champ Miesha Tate has remained fairly quiet about her condition since suffering a submission loss to Ronda Rousey from early March. Rousey locked Tate’s limb up in an Armbar and torqued it violently after “Takedown” initially refused to tap. The finish was one of the more gruesome in recent memory and left questions surrounding how badly Tate had been hurt despite her acting as though things were fine. However, as tough as Tate may be, she recently confirmed the damage was fairly severe and that she still isn’t sure when she’ll return to the ring. “I basically tore everything. I tore the inner and outer sides of my ligaments attached to the muscles and bone. They actually pulled the bone off with the ligament and then I tore all the muscles around that. So… it was pretty bad, but you know for me it wasn’t really that bad,” admitted Tate while stopping by the Invicta FC booth this past weekend and chatting with announcer Mauro Ranallo. Tate Says Surgery Not Necessary for Injured Arm Tate went on to explain she’ll be getting her two-month check-up this week where she’ll find out more pertaining to how long she’ll be sidelined. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, tate, ’ll, miesha tate, twomonth checkup

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Few heavyweights can say they’ve fought let alone beaten half the talent listed on Josh Barnett’s resume. The 34-year old has been fighting at a high level for nearly fifteen years, racking up wins over some of the sport’s best along the way including Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. While Barnett’s success is impressive to most it doesn’t surprise the 31-5 veteran who knew from an early age that a life based around some form of fighting was always his destiny. “Even when I was a little child I fought kids that were older, that were bigger. I never quit. Even if someone got the best of me I didn’t stop and they ended up quitting. I don’t care how many licks you get in on me, I will get mine,” said Barnett in a recent interview with Showtime promoting his upcoming bout against Daniel Cormier. “That was just a mentality that most people didn’t possess, plus I have a mean streak that a lot of people didn’t have either.” “I love what I do for a living and I don’t want to do anything else,” Barnett continued. “I meant to be a fighter. If MMA wasn’t around maybe I’d be a boxer, maybe I’d be in the military, but I was meant for combat.” Barnett said his introduction to MMA came in high school when he saw UFC 2 and, after a few funny pit-stops, ended up fighting professional at the urging of a former coach. Barnett was hooked and the rest is history. Check out the full interview below including footage of Barnett’s formative years: PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: ’t, barnett, i ’d, ’t care, mine ”

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

When John Hathaway made his UFC debut in January of 2009, he was 21 years old and part of a small group of under-25 prospects that included the then-youngest fighter in the organization, his 20-year old opponent Tom Egan. More than three years later, Hathaway - who won that night in Dublin via first round TKO – is still on the prospect list at 170 pounds, but the group of young fighters seemingly sprouting up everywhere has made him a seasoned vet at 24. And for the record, now he’s merely 27th among the youngest competitors in the organization.But with age comes experience, and Hathaway has certainly earned his keep in that department. 15-1 as a pro, “The Hitman” has won six of those bouts in the UFC, with his lone loss coming to Mike Pyle in October of 2010. More importantly, the Brighton, England native has learned how to deal with everything else that comes with being a professional fighter that doesn’t include punching someone in the face.“There’s a learning curve and I kind of get better at it each time I believe,” said Hathaway, who received a healthy share of attention in the UK before his UFC 120 bout with Pyle. “I try to improve with it each time and get slightly better at dealing with the pressure and the media attention. Naturally, I feel like I’m a fairly shy guy when it comes to that. I’m not a massive fan of my picture being taken and this, that, and the other, but I’m definitely learning and improving at it and trying to hone my craft and get better at it.”The personable Brit has passed those tests, but when he lost his unbeaten record to Pyle, some questioned whether this was the same fighter they watched roll over Diego Sanchez less than five months earlier. But Hathaway returned to the gym, sewed up some holes in his game and in March of 2011, he got back to his winning ways with a three round split decision win over The Ultimate Fighter alum Kris McCray. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win.“There was a lot of pressure on me to get back into the win column for that fight, and McCray did his best to kind of spoil my game a lot and just stay on top and not really do too much and not let me work too much,” recalled Hathaway. “I was trying to work like crazy and get as much off as I could on my back while I was still trying to get up and keep the fight active. I felt like I won because of the work rate, but I know judges like to score takedowns and he did get quite a few on me, which I’ve tried to correct.”But if you’ve been keeping your eye on the MMA scene, you’ll notice that there has been a distinct lack of Hathaway news over the last 13-plus months, with the exception of the announcement that he was forced out of a UFC 138 bout against Matt Brown last November due to injury. Since then, he’s been getting healthy, working on his game, and doing it far from the spotlight, and as he approaches his return match against his original UFC 138 foe, the equally injury-plagued Pascal Krauss, Hathaway has a healthy dose of anticipation going on right about now.“It’s been too long,” he said of the layoff. “It’s put me off track a little bit on where I want to be and where I want to be going and stuff like that, so I’m pushing and hoping for a good and successful year and getting a lot of competitions in and building myself back up and getting myself back in a spot that I need to be in. But I think it’s wonderful to get back to business and not be thrust into the spotlight so much and have a lot of media attention on you. I’ve had a lot of time to learn and pick up some things and hone my craft a little bit, which is always quite nice, and hopefully I’ve improved a fair bit. And I’m prepared to do a lot more.”Saturday is a great place to restart for Hathaway, and even though the Krauss bout isn’t on the televised UFC on FOX 3 main card, this is one of the best matchups between two rising stars we’ve seen thus far this year, and the Brit knows that he’s in for a fight against the unbeaten German, someone he’s had plenty of time to study.“I was looking at him quite a bit before the fight in England,” said Hathaway. “And obviously I changed to Matt Brown before I had to pull out myself, but we still had the tape on him so it was quite good to go back to that style and knowing slightly more about him than what I would if he was a fresh opponent. It’s nice to get that fight back on and it will be good for both of us I think. He’s an undefeated athlete and a great competitor, he doesn’t know how to lose yet, and he’s very well-rounded. He’s a strong guy as well and a good size for the weight, so I see hard competition in him. But I look forward to proving myself.”And given Krauss’ unbeaten slate and the Fight of the Night performance he put on in his Octagon debut against Mark Scanlon in November of 2010, a win by Hathaway will make up for lost time pretty quickly in a stacked welterweight division where one big victory can skyrocket you up the ranks.“You look at someone like (Johny) Hendricks who hasn’t had a lot of fights, but with his last fight against (Jon) Fitch, look where that’s put him,” said Hathaway, referring to Hendricks’ 12 second KO of the longtime contender. “In this division, there are so many good guys in there, and we’re all vying for the top spot, so if you beat the right guy, it does put you within one or two steps of getting a title shot. If he beats (Josh) Koscheck on the same card as me, he could be just one more fight away from a shot. It’s a packed division, but it’s all packed full of good people, so if you beat the right good person at the time, it will shoot you right up to where you need to be.”That’s all John Hathaway wants at this point, to get back to where he was and continue on the path to a world title. He’s made it through the only loss of his career and a long layoff; now the hardest part is just waiting for the opening bell to ring.“I’m at the stage now where we’re so close to it, I just can’t wait to actually do it and get out there and get in the midst of it,” he said. “It’s been too long for me. I’ve been missing the sport and it’s gonna be great to compete against someone so tough.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, lot, hathaway

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With former UFC champions Tito Ortiz and B.J. Penn both coming to the ends of their storied careers it makes sense to start looking forward to their eventual admittance into the organization’s Hall of Fame. In reality, that date will come sooner than later considering Ortiz’s plan to hang his gloves up after a July fight with Forrest Griffin and Penn still stating he’s enjoying his recent retirement. UFC President Dana White echoed similar sentiments last week in a conversation with MMAFighting where he discussed the HoF credentials of each iconic athlete. “Despite my personal problems with Tito, he belongs in,” said White who nearly boxed Ortiz for charity one time at the peak of their rivalry. “He was the champion when we first bought this thing. The fact that Tito is still here, Tito and I have had our moments, but it doesn’t change what he did for the company. The beef between me and Tito, Chuck (Liddell) and Tito, the fact is, that played a huge role in helping making this thing as big as it is.” Turning to Penn, White pointed out the impact “The Prodigy” had being along the lines of Royce Gracie’s from the standpoint of showing an impressive level of technique and tenacity despite his stature. “There was a point in time when we first bought this company when people thought guys in the lighter weight divisions couldn’t be stars and couldn’t see pay-per-views and couldn’t cross over. Penn was definitely that first crossover guy for us,” admitted White of Penn’s role in the UFC’s development into a billion-dollar business. White didn’t reveal specific plans to induct Penn and Ortiz into the Hall of Fame though an opportunity to do so is set for this summer at UFC 148. In addition to featuring Ortiz’s final fight on the lineup, the card is the deepest in recent memory with a ton of other notable tilts including title-fights between Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen and Urijah Faber-Dominick Cruz, plus comes with the added bonus of a Fan Expo similar to those where other Hall of Fame announcements have been made in the past. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ortiz, ’t, tito, penn

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Recently the UFC added one of the finest competitors outside of the Octagon to its roster by signing reigning Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard. For those unfamiliar with the 34-year old Olympic judoka, Lombard holds an overall record of 31-2-1 including 24 stoppages and wins over the likes of Trevor Prangley, Joe Doerksen, Brian Ebersole, and Alexander Shlemenko. Even more impressive, Lombard hasn’t lost in more than five years while racking up 24 victories over the span. While his official UFC debut hasn’t been announced yet there are a number of good options out there that would put Lombard in position for a shot at the organization’s belt by mid-2013. Granted, his credentials might merit a crack even sooner, but between Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping/Mark Munoz the UFC’s title-picture is already fairly focused for the next nine months. That being said, here are three possibilities for Lombard that make sense for multiple reasons: Kyle Noke: At first glance I suspect a few readers rolled their eyes. However, though Noke is far from a big name, he and Lombard have history including a Draw. It would be a good way to acclimate Lombard to the Octagon while also letting him avenge a semi-stumble by (likely) picking up a highlight-reel win. Noke is expected to return soon from injury so why not make it happen? Rousimar Palhares/Alan Belcher: Okay, this is kind of cheating since I’m listing two guys, but with them fighting each other next weekend it all works out since ultimately Lombard would face the winner. Both are interesting match-ups stylistically based on aggression plus neither is a particularly big 185er, a factor worth mentioning considering Lombard’s own diminutive size at 5’9”. Brian Stann: Stann came out of his recent win injury-free and has the name, plus success, to make for an intriguing opponent. He also likes to strike which makes for a nice stylistic showdown capped off by a probable knockout. Lombard Out to Be UFC Champion Truly, given Lombard’s skill-set and aggressive approach there aren’t many opponents who wouldn’t be fun to see him face – Bisping, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, Rich Franklin…the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, the bulk of the UFC’s best middleweights are already busy, but fortunately there are a few folks who still fit the bill as mentioned above. PHOTO CREDIT – BELLATOR Tweet

Posted in: ufc, lombard, ’t, opponent, middleweight

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Iconic Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko is a man of few words, opting for humility rather than constant self-promotion. As such, it’s rare to hear his thoughts on any number of topics including those he’s directly involved with. However, Emelianenko recently addressed a few matters while being interviewed at a European fitness conference, and though his responses weren’t necessarily detailed he certainly got his point across including those on the differences between M-1 Global and UFC. “They make their own fighters,” said Emelianenko of the UFC to GNP TV after one of the most tense dramatic pauses in MMA-interview history. “They train their own guys and don’t buy established fighters.” “We’ll see,” he continued when asked if he was completely done considering the possibility of competing inside the Octagon one day down the road. Check out the full interview below where Emelianenko also offers up his thoughts on future opponent Pedro Rizzo, trash-talking in MMA, and the quality of fighters outside of the UFC: PHOTO CREDIT – M-1 GLOBAL / STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: ufc, fighter, ’t, emelianenko, fighters ”

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Hey, guess what. Michael Chandler didn’t know who Akihiro Gono was until he was booked to fight him in a Bellator superfight. Surprising considering Gono fought in the UFC three times, picking up submission of the night in his debut. Gono also fought under the PRIDE banner a total of nine times, in which period he beat Gegard Mousasi and Hector Lombard. Less surprising however, when you consider Chandler never really watched MMA and still doesn’t. In Michael Chandler we’re talking about a guy who until recently didn’t take more than a week off training since high school, who was excited at the prospect of four fights in the year. The dude clearly likes to stay busy. Chandler spoke to Fighters Only recently about beating Alvarez, being injured and his future and as you can see in the quote below, he isn’t really a fan of MMA, despite being involved in one of the best fights from 2011. “I've never really been a huge fan of MMA. I still don't follow it very much. I never really watched much of PRIDE and I didn't even know who he was honestly. Any average fan of MMA, who has watched the UFC and PRIDE, knows who he is. I'm just happy to get back in the cage, no matter who it is.” You might not want him on your team for MMA Trivial Pursuit when they invent it but I’ll take a future Frate Trane over an MMA nerd any time in almost any other situation. Still, I can’t help but wonder if knowing who Don Frye is would improve Chandler as a fighter. [Source]

Posted in: mma, ’t, chandler, michael chandler, gono

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Living and training in Hoboken, Louis Gaudinot is only a couple exits on the New Jersey Turnpike away from what may end up being the most important fight of his three year pro mixed martial arts career this Saturday night against Brazil’s John Lineker, but the length of the drive to East Rutherford doesn’t do justice to the time it took him to get here.Think about being the 5-foot-8 high school football lineman who knows he can’t compete on the Division I level because of his size, or the star small forward in basketball who knows that being 6-foot-2 in that position just won’t cut it when you’re facing those 6-foot-6 and higher at the next level. That’s what Gaudinot (5-3, 125 pounds) was looking at for much of his career. You either find a rare fight at your weight on a level playing field, or you give up every possible physical advantage, with the exception of speed, to bigger opponents just to get real-time experience.To go one step further, when Gaudinot had the opportunity to compete at bantamweight on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter, he took it, knowing that the possibility of failing in front of millions of television viewers was right there in front of him, perhaps killing any future marketability. But that’s what fighters do sometimes – they roll the dice.“I knew the type of opportunity it was, and I never thought in a million years that I’d be fighting in the UFC,” said Gaudinot. “Six, seven years ago they didn’t even have 155 pounders, and 125 and 135 really didn’t exist. It was almost impossible to get a fight. I always thought that I’d be fighting in the WEC, and even they didn’t have 125; they were just talking about it. So the opportunity was there, and I had to take it, and they let me know that they’d give me a shot at 125 when it comes up. So I had the choice to either sit on the sidelines and fight locally, or go up a weight class and fight in the UFC. I think a lot of people do that on short notice fights or to go on The Ultimate Fighter, and when they drop down, you definitely see a lot more success in their careers, and that’s what you’re gonna see in mine.”Gaudinot didn’t win TUF 14, losing in the quarterfinals to Dustin Pague, but he stopped Paul McVeigh to make it into the house, he gained a large fan following for his exciting style (and green hair), and even though he lost a bout to Johnny Bedford on the season finale card, the UFC kept its end of the bargain, giving him his shot at redemption against Lineker in his natural weight class. To top it off, he’s getting to do it in New Jersey, the perfect scenario to reintroduce himself to the masses.“When I had found out they were doing the card here in New Jersey, I asked my coach to give a call to (UFC matchmaker) Sean Shelby and those guys and see if they can get me on the card. Then I was bugging (UFC president) Dana (White) and Sean Shelby on Twitter, and my fans were doing it too, kinda like they were doing the rally for Mark Hunt. (Laughs) I really wanted to fight here in my hometown, and I knew that I would have 14-15 weeks to get ready, and fighting at 125, I get to show the world what I can really do in my weight class.”In the 21-year old Lineker, he’ll be facing a wild card, a young gun with a 13 fight winning streak and 24 pro bouts, but one who has fought all of his fights in his native Brazil against opponents virtually unknown to all but the most hardcore of hardcore fans. The same could have been said for another Jungle Fight champion, Erick Silva, who has since become one of the welterweight division’s most promising up and comers. Will Lineker follow in his countryman’s footsteps? Gaudinot is looking to nip that quest in the bud on Saturday.“He’s definitely had a lot of fights, and that’s good for experience,” said Gaudinot of Lineker. “People get nervous going into the cage and performing in front of a crowd, so he’s done it 20-something times, and he’s definitely experienced in that sense. I watched a bunch of his fights from Brazil on youtube, so I can study him, but I don’t think he’s faced the level of talent that I have over the years, especially since my last couple fights were in the UFC. I’m looking to get in there and show him that he’s not on the same level as I am.”And as far as the UFC jitters go, Gaudinot got those out of the way back in an empty Mandalay Bay Events Center when he beat McVeigh to get onto TUF 14.“That, to me, was like my first UFC fight in a way,” he said. “I had Dana White and the two coaches (Michael Bisping and “Mayhem” Miller) sitting there in an empty arena that holds 15,000 people. That’s really where my nerves were kicking. I think I got those jitters over with, and especially this fight, fighting in my hometown, I’m excited. I’m not nervous at all, I’m just anxious to get out there and show everybody what I can do.”In a lot of ways, Gaudinot is a seasoned vet at this point in his UFC career, despite having just one official fight in the Octagon. He’s gone through the pressure of winning in order to change his career (and life) forever, he’s had cameras following him every day for six weeks, and he’s gone through the process of getting ready for a UFC fight, which can sometimes be more stressful than the fight itself. He’s also been the David against Goliath and the fighter that has to do twice as much to get half the recognition bigger athletes get. So to see him finally get his opportunity to compete on a level playing field on the sport’s biggest stage, you have to say he’s earned it. And with the 125-pound weight class just getting off the ground in the UFC, a couple good wins could have him in a title fight sooner rather than later. Now that’s an incentive to succeed.“When there’s only eight guys in the division, you win two, three fights and you look good in them, you could be looking at a title shot,” said Gaudinot. “You don’t want to look too far ahead, but it’s definitely interesting to know that two fights in and I could be in a title elimination bout or even a title bout, depending on how the division plays out in the next year. But I want to focus on my opponent that I have on hand now, and not look past him.”That’s the only attitude Gaudinot can have. He’s come too far up the MMA turnpike to look back or look too far ahead. All that matters is now.“When I go out there, I’m gonna lay it all on the line,” he said. “I fight with my heart and I’m gonna go down swinging and go to the very end. I’m looking to show that even though we’re 125 pounds, I’m looking for the knockout. I want to show that even the little guys can end it with one punch too.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, ’m, gaudinot

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Tonight in Kansas City, Invicta Fighting Championships will hold an all-female mixed martial arts card featuring some of the world’s best female fighters. Two of the most notable fighters are former Strikeforce bantamweight champ Marloes Coenen and the lady who gave the Golden Glory fighter all she could handle when the two met in March of last year, Liz Carmouche. No one gave the 28-year-old Carmouche much of a chance, but despite taking the fight on less than two weeks’ notice “Girl-Rilla” controlled the first two frames before succumbing to a fourth round Triangle Choke. Carmouche would go on to face another former champion in her very next bout when she took on Sarah Kaufman four months later on a Strikeforce Challengers card. Despite putting up a valiant effort she would go on to lose via Unanimous Decision. She hasn’t fought since, but she has used that time to strengthen up all areas of her game and she is looking to make it a rough night for her opponent former boxer Ashleigh Curry who is 1-0 in her MMA career. Carmouche a former Marine with three tours of duty in the Middle East is excited for Invicta’s prospects and looking to end her two fight losing streak with an exclamation point. She recently sat down with Five Ounces of Pain and spoke about her career, fighting for Invicta FC, and much more… Can you give us a little insight into your background and how you got started in MMA? Liz Carmouche: I was in the Marine Corps for five years and I was looking for something that would offer me a physical and mental challenge. MMA seemed to meet every aspect. Mentally you have to be prepared for all the different forms of martial arts and physically it will push you to the next level. After week one of getting beat up and I was hooked. Where are you currently training in preparation for your bout with Curry? LC: I’m currently training at the San Diego Combat Academy. My main trainer is Manolo Hernandez, I have Matt Fort who is my wrestling coach and Landon Piercy teaches Muay Thai. Fort is also my main training partner. What can you tell us about your opponent Ashleigh Curry? LC: She was a professional boxer who is now transitioning into MMA. Her record was 4-7-2, she is a southpaw, she won her one and only MMA fight via TKO. What would consider your strengths in MMA? LC: I feel like I consider myself to be more of a well-rounded fighter. I haven’t really decided to focus on just one aspect of the sport as I’d rather be capable in all areas. What do you feel are the keys for Invicta FC being a successful MMA organization? LC: I’m not exactly sure what the plans are for Invicta. I would imagine that this card is more or less like a test show to see how things go and what the reaction is to it. If it works out as well as everyone is expecting it to I would think that there would be more shows. I know that’s what I am hoping for; I am looking forward to going around the country putting on shows in venues like the one in Kansas City. What were your thoughts on the Miesha Tate-Ronda Rousey bout that took place in March? LC: I was thought it was a great fight and there were certainly a few moments when I was watching when I was like, “Oh my God!!” I thought they were both amazing and I don’t know how Tate was able to deal with that pain. Who do you feel is the face of women’s MMA at this time? LC: I don’t necessarily feel that any one fighter is the face of women’s MMA right now. I think there are three main names that everyone recognizes and they are Coenen, Rousey, and Tate. Tate and Coenen have been around longer than Rousey, but to say only one of them is the face of MMA wouldn’t be accurate. Do you feel it will be tough for Cris “Cyborg” Santos to come back from her suspension and do you feel it was a black eye for women’s MMA? LC: I think it was just one negative hiccup for us as it’s certainly been happening in men’s MMA for quite some time. I mean it’s constantly coming up. It seems like every other day there is another male fighter failing a test and this was just one for us out of every female fighter. She is certainly very well recognized and it kind of set us back a little bit. As far as her coming back I know she is still training so there won’t be any difficulty for her in that regard. She is going to be under a lot of skepticism and she will have some difficulty coming back from that. How did you enjoy your time with Strikeforce and will you be fighting for them again? LC: I’m still contracted through Strikeforce and still have three fights left with them. They are booked up for a few months so they allowed me to fight for Invicta because it’s been so long since I last fought. I’ll be fighting for Strikeforce again at some point. How did you become involved with Alchemist? LC: I was introduced to the organization through Alex Soto as he helped me with my sponsorship with Ranger Up and then talked to Lex McMahon about me. They came and met with me and I’ve been with them ever since. What can your fans expect from you come Saturday night? LC: It’s been quite a while since my last fight and I feel as though I didn’t get a chance to showcase all of my skills. I am looking to show them that during this time off I haven’t been slacking, but I’ve been growing as a fighter and that’s what I want to show them. I’ve adapted my game and I just want to keep growing. Are there any sponsors or anyone else you’d like to thank? LC: Other than Ranger Up I am also sponsored by Build and Destroy since day one they are an up and coming business and even though they don’t have much they always make sure to do whatever they can for me. I’d also like to thank Secret Savage and Out of Bounds. I’d like to give a special thanks to my mom and my girlfriend Lisa. They have been super supportive in all the fights I have ever had. I’d also like to thank Matt, Bill Crawford and Landon for all they do for me back home. Fans can see Carmouche fight tonight for free through Invicta FC’s website along with the entire card when things start up tonight at 8:00 PM EST. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: fight, mma, ’t, lc, invicta

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Max Hiler isn’t your typical 12-year-old.As a student, he’s in the gifted and talented program at school, bringing home straight As on his report card. He loves science, and is fascinated by Stephen Hawking, the renowned British theoretical physicist who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.He’s on the swim team at school, and played one year of football before declaring, “You know, that was fun, but I’m not doing that again.” He also likes martial arts, having started taking aikido not too long ago.Outside of the classroom and sports, Max is kind and generous. This past Christmas, after seeing a Toys for Tots commercial on television, he brought all his video games to the local GameStop, sold them, and then donated the money to the local Toys for Tots campaign.“He said that he thinks that’s the worst thing there could be: for a kid to wake up and not have any presents on Christmas,” said his mom, Michelle Hiler.On Easter Sunday of this year, Max had a headache.He’d had them before, off and on over the last few months, but never anything too bad. He’d been to see his family practitioner in the past, but there were no signs that there was anything to be worried about.As the day wore on, Max’s headache turned into a migraine, so his mom decided to take him to the emergency room, hoping to get a shot to help the pain subside.“They did a CAT scan when we were there, and within hours we were at a Children’s Hospital in San Antonio having emergency surgery on his brain to install the shunt — a ventriculoperitoneal shunt or VP shunt,” explained Mrs. Hiler.Doctors discovered Max has what is known as a pineal teratoma, a rare tumor that develops in the pineal region of the brain, just above the brain stem.“It’s a very rare form of tumor,” explained Max’s dad, Sean Hiler. “In the City of San Antonio, there probably isn’t another person who has had it. In the United States, there are probably only about 175 people who have that same condition, and in the world, there’s probably only about 3,500.”The non-cancerous tumor is caused by the continued growth of stem cells during gestation.“It’s just something he’s born with,” continued Mr. Hiler. “Certain stem cells that were supposed to shut off didn’t shut off, so they start growing. They’re just cells that don’t get the message to shut off, and because it’s not cancerous, it doesn’t respond to radiation or chemotherapy.”Max is scheduled to have surgery on at Christus Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, Texas on Monday.On Friday, Max had an unexpected visitor, as interim UFC welterweight champion Carlos Condit made the trip to San Antonio to spend the afternoon with this incredible 12-year-old boy who truly embodies what it means to be a fighter.“For today, to have Mr. Condit just call us and say, `Hey, I’m on my way. I’d like to meet Max’ was amazing,” said Mrs. Hiler. “To have somebody just drop what they’re doing — their whole schedule for the day — and take a flight out to meet somebody they’ve never met before, it really meant a lot. And I know it did to Max too.”“(Carlos Condit) is a great ambassador for the sport,” added Sean Hiler, choking back tears. “Everything he does… he’s just an amazing individual. He’s just an incredibly… incredibly kind and generous man.“I sent an email to him thinking that maybe he’d send an autographed picture or maybe a card or something; I never actually expected that he would come here. I was driving back from Houston, and my wife sent me a text saying `Carlos Condit is on his way to the house.’ I just about wrecked my truck I was so shocked by it.“Everything has happened so fast, and for Carlos to see that need, and to have that compassion to just drop everything, and come see Max… I can’t even put it into words.”As it turns out, Max and the former WEC welterweight champion have a lot in common, spending the afternoon hanging out on the couch, talking about their mutual affinity for science documentaries, martial arts, and dogs. Condit was also made an honorary knight in The Royal Council of Bald Men.“Max had to have his head shaved for the surgery, so he has this club that he’s started called The Royal Council of Bald Men,” explained Sean Hiler. “All the guys in the family and a lot of our friends have all shaved our heads in solidarity, and Max has this little foam sword, and he knights us all, accepting us into The Order. We’ve got a picture of him knighting Carlos and giving him an honorary membership into The Royal Council of Bald Men.”“We received a letter from his dad, just telling us his situation,” Condit said Friday on his way back from San Antonio. “There was the option to send him a video or send him a shirt or something, but I decided to go out and visit him, and it was great.“I feel like I’ve been blessed to do what I do for a living, and if I can act — it was great visiting Max and his family, and I’m glad I went.”“I think it was kind of surreal for (Max) to have this person coming into his house that he’s heard his dad talk about, and seen on TV,” said Mrs. Hiler. “I think it was just kind of surreal for him. He enjoyed it — he really enjoyed Carlos, and talking to him about dogs, and science, and the universe.”“It was just amazing listening to he and Max talk to each other,” said Sean Hiler. “Just how much they had in common — things that they enjoyed, and similarities with things that Max likes. He brought his belt, and Max got to take his picture holding his belt around his waist.“I posted on Facebook that the UFC belt that he has is bigger and heavier than you can imagine; you pick that thing up, and it is so heavy,” chuckled Mr. Hiler. “But the belt that Carlos deserves for just being such a great human being… is too big for most men to be able to lift, and he wears it easily.”Though he’s been feeling better since having the shunt installed on Easter Sunday, Max has to head back to the hospital on Monday for a lengthy surgery, where the doctors hope to be able to excise the tumor if possible.“Their plan is to just go in and do a biopsy just to see what the tumor is for sure,” explained Mr. Hiler, “but the neurosurgeon, Dr. Mancuso, said that she believes it is probably a teratoma.“(Max has) named his tumor Voldemort,” he continued. For the scant few who might have missed out on the entire Harry Potter phenomenon, Lord Voldemort is the arch-enemy of the young wizard with the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. “He’s scared, but he wants to get it over with; he wants to kill Voldemort.”“He told me (Thursday) that he can’t wait for Monday to get here, and that he’s terrified that Monday will get here,” recalled Mrs. Hiler. “He wants to get it over with and be done with it, but at the same time, he’s afraid. I told him, `That’s okay. I’m afraid too.’”Despite the severity of his condition, Max’s parents say the bright, young future astronomer has maintained a positive outlook, his curiosity focused on the incredible amount of support and attention he’s received over the last month.“He’s a little taken aback by all of the attention that he’s getting, more so than he has any fear of the upcoming surgery,” offered Ms. Hiler. “He doesn’t feel sorry for himself. The other day he said, `Why am I getting so much attention? Aren’t there other sick kids in the world too?’ He just doesn’t see himself as a special. He doesn’t understand why he’s getting so much attention, and other kids may not be getting so much attention.”That’s what makes you so special, Max.Keep fighting!Here’s a video of Max from Friday, put together by his science teacher (and favorite teacher), “Coach” Jimmy Bryant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr92_DiVbu4&feature=colikeFor more information on Max, please visit: http://maxhiler.chipin.com/max-hiler-fund

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, max, mr, hiler

Read the full article at UFC

Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett knew he wanted to be a professional Mixed Martial Artist at an early age. Intrigued by a copy of UFC 2 he saw as a teenager, Barnett slowly made his march towards greatness with a few speed-bumps along the way but is now considered to be one of the top fighters in his division. Barnett will test his abilities on May 19 against Daniel Cormier in the final of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix in an attempt to pick up his ninth straight win. While the unbeaten Olympic wrestler may pose problems for Barnett, “The Warmaster” wouldn’t have it any other way given his calling in life. “I love what I do for a living and I don’t want to do anything else. I meant to be a fighter,” said Barnett in an interview with Showtime profiling his journey in the sport. “If MMA wasn’t around maybe I’d be a boxer, maybe I’d be in the military, but I was meant for combat.” Barnett Wins Battle for License in California Cormier-Barnett will headline a card also featuring lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez defending his title against Josh Thomson as well as former title-holder Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante clashing with top 205er Mike Kyle. Check out the full Barnett interview below: PHOTO CREDIT -  STRIKEFORCE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, barnett, i ’d, daniel cormier, barnett “

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Last month a quartet of competitors ushered in the UFC’s flyweight era with the opening round of a tournament set to determine the company’s first 125-pound champion. However, one man who wasn’t in the group was in part the reason the UFC introduced the division – John Dodson. The diminutive Dodson impressed fans on the Ultimate Fighter 14 where he won the season’s bantamweight tournament by knocking out T.J. Dillashaw in the final. Throughout the show Dodson was referred to as a natural 125er who had a ton of potential and personality to match. When Dodson wasn’t called on for the honor of potentially being the promotion’s title-holder it turns out he was far more disappointed than any admirer of his may have been, though he quickly gained some perspective and reset his focus. “I was a little hurt and offended that I wasn’t a part of it because I was the one running my mouth off as best as I could on The Ultimate Fighter about bringing in flyweights, but my brother said it best for me; he said, `John, don’t worry about it. All they’re doing is letting somebody else hold the belt and warm it up for you so that you really want it,’” said Dodson in an interview with the UFC’s website. Dodson’s quest to get the belt starts next Saturday when he faces Tim Elliott on the preliminary portion of UFC on FOX 3. To get ready for the challenge he’s been working hard at Jackson’s MMA, ready to show the world why he’s the uncrowned champion. “I have guys at my weight class that are helping me prepare for this. I don’t have to worry about the speed or the technique being a problem against me; I have all that with me already,” began Dodson on his training before injecting some of his trademark humor. “I also have the heavier weights as well — the ‘35s and ‘45s — plus Donald Cerrone’s been kicking my butt, letting me know how much I suck right now.” The process may be a grueling one but well worth it if Dodson even comes close to achieving his dreams. “The Magician” may not have been able to make a flyweight tourney spot appear out of thin air in March but he has a much bigger trick up his sleeve if things go as planned. “I have a goal set in my mind, and I want to make sure that I can hold all three titles at once. I need to get 125 first because I want to have them all in order: 125, 135, and 145. I want to make sure that I can hold all of them and defend all of them at the same time,” said a confident Dodson. “If I can take one, I want to be able to carry them all on my shoulder, and I want to be able to defend them whenever the time comes. Plus, what that means is that I’ll get more fights throughout the year. If I defend (one of the three titles) once every two months, that means I’m guaranteed to fight six times a year.” Overzealous, perhaps, but Dodson clearly has his mind set on greatness and has the talent to achieve it with the right people around him (check), exceptional physical gifts (check), and an unquenchable thirst to be the best (check). Prelims for UFC on FOX 3, including his May 5 match-up, begin at 5:00 PM EST on Fuel TV. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, flyweight, dodson, gifts check

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Monday Night RAW this week was like trying to stay awake after taking an Ambien: a couple moments of near-delirium followed by hours of wanting badly to fall asleep. Except for a big surprise cameo and one solid-enough match between Kofi Kingston and Chris Jericho, Monday night was mostly a good example of why I dread three-hour shows. We didn’t get more or longer matches. The extra hour didn’t help spotlight any rising talent who’d been lacking screentime, except maybe Nikki Bella, who along with her sister Brie is on her way out by most reports. There wasn’t even a unifying gimmick like a WWE draft or that poorly rigged roulette they use in Las Vegas. Unless you’re a fan of video packages there wasn’t that much for you. If you are a fan of video packages then for God’s sake keep reading. What Did the Divas Getting RAW Duo Think of the Show? You Think You Know Me? Edge was my first favorite wrestler, back when he posed and played kazoos with Christian. Hell, before that, he was my go-to character on the Wrestlemania N64 game back when he was a silent ambiguous vampire who hung out with fellow Brooder Gangrel. (The reasons for this: 1. That game gave you about a ten-second window to pull off finishers,and he could do four Downward Spirals in one Tombstone Piledriver’s worth of time, and 2. Hhis music was the best.) So keep in mind that I am biased and prone to hyperbole when I say that his unannounced appearance was better than Ghandi and the Miracle On Ice combined. Within a couple of minutes, Edge took over the show so completely that I forgot I was annoyed about the bait-and-switch by John Laurinaitis and Brock Lesnar that would have gotten the contract signing out of the way at the start of the show for once. His promo revisited the highlights of the various John Cena-Edge feuds over the 2000s including that one memorable time when Edge got tossed into the nasty-ass Long Island Sound and provided a sense of urgency that the buildup to Cena and Lesnar’s Extreme Rules match-up lacked. Without having to say so in as many words, Edge reminded Cena and the audience that Lesnar has had a privileged career in WWE, that Lesnar’s early push to the top, his ability to reshuffle his career at will, and his lucrative return contract are unique to him. Oh My God, They Killed Paul Bearer One of the stories inexplicably spread out across multiple segments of the never-ending Raw featured Randy Orton and Kane spending another night trying to out-angry each other. Kane cut the same 1600s Puritan fire-and-brimstone promo he’s used for the last ten years and got interrupted by Orton on video wheeling out with Kane’s father, frequent kidnappee Paul Bearer, who is still around despite being having been encased in concrete and thrown off a ladder. To earn his paycheck Monday night, Bearer got rolled into what was supposed to be a giant icebox but whose billowing fake fog and mood lighting was more reminiscent of a South Beach VIP room. In a blow to his campaign for 2012’s Son of the Year, Kane showed up to Club FREEZR apparently to rescue Dad, but instead shoves him back inside to be charged $12 for a Corona. Tensai Continues Eating Dudes Lord Tensai took a break from playing Wilson in the touring Cast Away musical to defeat R-Truth in a brief, misty match following his win over Cena last week. In my head, Prince Albert chose his own name when he was promoted to lordship and got a new title, like the pope. And Then There Was a Video Package… …so very many video packages. The Colossus and Rhodes Big Show and The Great Khali are an awful tag team because Big Show should never be in a position where he’s the athletic one. Nevertheless their match was reasonably entertaining, thanks largely to the efforts of their opponents, Alberto Del Rio and especially Abercrombie & Fitch Ninja Cody Rhodes. Rhodes seems to expand his offensive repertoire every time he gets in the ring. This time it was a neat figure four leglock on Big Show. Khali wasn’t required to do anything strenuous like fall down, and Del Rio, who left Cody alone mid-match to take the loss, made his appearance while recovering from injury. We got ten minutes of wrestling out of it instead of a video recap of twenty minutes ago. Good deal. Michael Cole needs to stop talking over Ricardo Rodriguez. It is rude. In other tag team news, champions Primo and Epico got beat yet again, this week by the wacky team of Santino Marella and Zack Ryder. Yeah, I don’t care either. Eve Torres Gets New Job, Beth Phoenix Gets Hurt, Nicki Bella Gets Giant New Butterfly Accessory Eve Torres is the new Personal Something Or Other to GM Laurenaitis which will give her lots of opportunities to boss people around and read from cue cards backstage. Torres interrupted the Divas’ Championship match between contender Nikki Bella and champion Beth Phoenix and changed it to a quote-unquote Lumberjill match to get the women on the roster on TV without making them relevant to anything going on. Nikki wins the Big Purple Belt after rolling up Phoenix, who was selling an ankle injury so convincingly it could’ve come straight out of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. She’s fine, if you were wondering. The consensus seems to be that the Bellas will be leaving WWE soon, and that Nikki’s title win is a short-term transition until Kharma returns to obliterate her and everybody else. By the way, any children in the audience definitely got a lesson in female anatomy based on Nikki’s choice of ring attire. Yikes (in a good way)! Anyone else think that Torres’ entrance music sounds like something you’d say about a used car? “Here’s a 2002 Kia Sorrento we just got with power everything and only 20,000 miles, what do you think?” / “She looks good to me, Jim.” Let’s Get All the Punk-Jericho Crap Out of the Way In One Section Jericho and Kingston had the best match of the night, predictable as it was that Jericho would take the win before his match with Punk on Sunday. Kingston seems to have settled into a routine where he shows up consistently to let the crowd enjoy him jumping around before losing to someone who actually has a match on the pay-per-view, at least not when he’s getting thrown together with a random tag partner. Afterward CM Punk and Jericho engaged in a series of interactions that got less and less interesting as the night went on. Jericho sends over a gift basket of booze that seemed way too expensive for a passive-aggressive insult. Punk says he isn’t going to drink it, but possibly does according to a snitching Alex Riley and an odd camera angle. A seemingly drunk Punk has his championship stripped from him for failing a baffling “field sobriety test” administered by Teddy Long in the ring that consists of walking straight on a red line and saying the alphabet backwards while Jericho yells at him, none of which seems permissible in any court of law. Punk reveals he was faking, smacks Jericho in the head with the mic, gets his belt back, and it’s all really silly. Punk, whose wink-nudge sarcastic quips remind you in case you had forgotten that what you’re watching is ridiculous, needs to be kept away from this kind of asinine crap as long as it’s established that his character is too cool for it. Jerry Lawler’s response to possibly seeing Punk drinking was “I don’t know what to think about what we just saw,” which should be the title of his autobiography (and his collection of T-Shirts). Daniel Bryan As Referee? Yes. The Sheamus-Mark Henry match featured positive thinking specialist Daniel Bryan as guest referee. It was an instance where a short match made sense, since why wouldn’t Bryan count a pin for Henry as fast as humanly possible against his most hated rival? Taking advantage of a distraction by Henry, Bryan put Sheamus in the Yes! Lock accompanied by his usual chorus of chants and scattered boos. A fun five minutes. By comparison, the Orton-Kane-Bearer skits took up an estimated 587 hours. Even the Funkadactyls Couldn’t Save This Poor Justin Roberts. After having to help restrain charging Londoners last week, he had to proclaim the following with the same enthusiasm he uses for Wrestlemania main events: The following match is proudly presented by Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos! Appropriately, the short Brodus Clay/Hornswoggle vs. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler match that followed gave me gas. After his team’s DQ victory, Hornswoggle bit Vickie Guerrero on the ass, because why the hell not? This Title Sponsored By Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches Aside from Edge’s pep talk, the highlight of RAW’s Lesnar-Cena developments was Lesnar awkwardly tossing backstage interviewer Josh Mathews-with-one-T into a black curtain for asking really stupid questions. After that we waited and waited for the contract signing that finally happened with about ten minutes left in the third hour. The contract signing was perfectly fine once they got around to it. I’m enjoying Lesnar as an entitled, arrogant jock in the mold of Terrell Owens or Floyd Mayweather, Jr., because it doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. Of course he wants a private jet. Of course he wants his name in the title of the show. But it may be time to retire the in-ring contract signing segments for a while. The anticlimactic by design ending this week, in which a silent Cena stared down Lesnar as Lesnar slipped out of the ring wearing a Rhodes-like self-satisfied grin, was fresh and suited the characters, but it annoyed the crowd and ended the go-home show before the PPV on somewhat of a sour note. The alternative would be the usual, predictable back-and-forth insults leading up to a brawl. I don’t see how this is the best use of TV time, especially considering the main event match this week involved Hornswoggle. I hope reading this recap didn’t feel as endless as watching RAw did. We’ll be back soon with coverage of Smackdown and Sunday’s Extreme Rules. See you soon! PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: show, ’t, punk, lesnar, jericho

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Alistair Overeem may have escaped yesterday’s hearing with the NSAC with a reduced suspension, but he’s not done convincing the powers that be that he deserves another chance in the UFC Octagon. Dana White is still pissed off at Overeem, clearly evident by the conversation he had with Jim Rome this morning (audio above). The [...]

Posted in: overeem, ’t, jim rome, alistair, isn ’t

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One of the names that will always be synonymous with MMA is undoubtedly Chuck Liddell. The former UFC light heavyweight champ is as iconic as they come in the sport based on his heavy-handed style and unique look. However, while Liddell may be associated with the Octagon as long as the UFC is around, he’ll likely never set foot inside the infamous eight-sided structure again. Liddell was asked about his retirement by Fuel TV last weekend after UFC 145 and “The Iceman” clearly seemed content in his current life, welcoming a new daughter recently while keeping his eye on things as both a fan and Zuffa executive. “It was a hard decision to make…to retire…but it came down to…it wasn’t that I couldn’t compete with guys. I had two problems. I can’t quite take a punch like I used to and I didn’t want to change my style. I mean I could. I could start wrestling and trying to control (opponents), take less chances, but then I still got the chance of getting hit hard,” said Liddell on the subject. “I wanted to go out fighting the way I like to fight – exciting and fun.” “The only thing that would even make me think about coming back is if they gave me a shot at the title,” he playfully continued before adding a serious note, stating, “I don’t want to come back as a sideshow.” The 42-year old Liddell lost five of his last six fights including four by way of knockout. However, despite his slide, throughout the bulk of his career he was one of the most feared competitors in the game, holding an overall record of 21-8 with thirteen strike-based stoppages and wins over Tito Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva, and Randy Couture. Watch the full interview below where he also offers up his assessment on current 205-pound champion Jon Jones: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, liddell, problems i, sideshow ”

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

When something has been part of your life for so long and has given you so many fantastic memories you never truly can get it out of your system. Couture has remained busy since his last fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 in April of 2011. He has caught the acting bug starring in such movies as The Expendables and its sequel. He is still coaching a large stable of fighters at his Las Vegas based gym Xtreme Couture and he will once again handle broadcasting duties for the UFC on FOX 3 in May. Couture may be closing in on 49-years-old, but he has the energy of a man half his age. His ambition and drive to succeed is just as strong as it has ever been. The demand on his time will always be great because of what he brings to the table. You know when you are getting Randy Couture involved with a project you are going to get the very best from a man who will always give his maximum effort. Most people are content with relaxing and spending time with their family when they retire, but Couture is not most people. “I just finished filming Expendables 2,” said Couture in an interview with MMAFrenzy. “Before that I filmed a movie called Hijacked in which I had the lead in, they will both be out this summer. I’m heading to LA for a meeting about a movie and I will be commentating for the UFC on Fox once again in New Jersey. We just had our third annual Xtreme Couture GI Foundation poker tournament with all the proceeds going to wounded soldier and their families. We have our third annual Ride Four Our Troops on May 19. It’s always fun to give back and help those families who need help. Those guys have sacrificed their limbs and it’s something I have enjoyed building from the ground up.” Couture seems to be content knowing that his fighting career is over and doesn’t plan on making any more comebacks like the one he made back in 2007 when he returned after a year on the shelf to defeat then UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia to become the division champion for the third time. The itch can be scratched with some long hours in the gym training alongside some of the toughest fighters in the world. “Whenever I’m in Vegas I’m at the gym every single day,” admitted the UFC Hall of Famer. “I don’t really get the itch to fight as I feel like I made the right decision. In today’s society it’s very rare when an athlete gets to go out on his own terms. I felt like I had the privilege to do that and I didn’t have anyone telling me I couldn’t fight anymore. I haven’t really looked back or second guessed myself. I’ve been getting more acting jobs and keeping real busy. I’m really excited about commentating and I’ve developed a passion for acting. Things are going really well for me.” Another thing keeping Couture busy these days pertains to Ryan Couture, a Strikeforce lightweight carrying on the Couture legacy inside the cage. “My son Ryan just had the biggest fight of his career against Connor Heun when Strikeforce went to Columbus. It was a big step-up for him and Connor is a wily veteran,” said the proud father of his boy. “That was the first camp where I was actively involved with helping Ryan prepare for his bouts. Before that whether it was wrestling or fighting I took a step back and stay out of his way. I wanted him to allow him to develop on his own terms; it’s already a burden carrying the same last name in both of those sports. The expectations because of the last name have put a target on his back right from the start. He came to me and asked for my help and I was certainly happy to get involved and help him formulate a gameplan. I think he responded very well and it was fun to see him have a great performance.” While his son may be the future of MMA, the current talk of the MMA world has been centered on Testosterone Replacement Therapy and whether or not it should be allowed in the sport. Recently, UFC heavyweight title contender Alistair Overeem tested way above the limit and was pulled out of a bout with divisional champion Junior Dos Santos in May, then suspended for nine months, as a result. With Couture being so entrenched in the sport his opinion is always taken seriously and he certainly has one on the increasing presence of TRT. “There is such fine line with all of the anti-aging stuff that’s out there now. TRT is generally something a guy does in their 40’s and 50’s when their natural production of testosterone drops off. There are other natural ways to boost your own body’s production without replacing it and it’s safer as well, but it still should be under the care of a physician,” offered Couture on the topic. “It’s a very fine and a very personal thing and there is no easy answer. An athlete is using his body to earn a living and entertain the fans, they want to get the most out of themselves, but sometimes they go too far with it.” As a man who competed at a high level in his 40s without the aid of steroids or testosterone injects, it seems Couture’s nickname – “The Natural” – has never been more fitting. (written by MMAFrenzy Staff)

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, ’m, i ’ve

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Every fighter who steps in to the Octagon envisions the day when he has his hand raised in victory as UFC President Dana White wraps a championship belt around his waist.In that regard, John Dodson is no different from anyone else. He too hopes to be standing in the center of the cage, fans cheering as Bruce Buffer announces his name as a UFC champion.And then he wants to do it all over again in a different division — twice.The man with the Colgate smile and infectious exuberance has set his sights on being the first man to ever hold UFC gold in three different weight classes —flyweight, bantamweight, and featherweight.What’s more is that the 27-year-old veteran wants to collection those championship belts in order, which is why after becoming member of the fraternity of Ultimate Fighter winners last season as a bantamweight, Dodson returns for his post-TUF debut in the newly formed flyweight division.“I have a goal set in my mind, and I want to make sure that I can hold all three titles at once,” explains Dodson, who squares off with newcomer Tim Elliott on the preliminary portion of the UFC on FOX 3 fight card on May 5th. “I need to get 125 first because I want to have them all in order: 125, 135, and 145.”Dodson knows he’s going to face an abundance of questions about setting his sights on capturing three titles before winning he’s had a chance to build off his December knockout victory over highly touted T.J. Dillashaw.Still to this day, a story can’t be written about veteran Brandon Vera without mentioning the San Diego native’s bold prediction that he was going to be the first man to hold the heavyweight and light heavyweight titles simultaneously, a feat “The Truth” never came close to accomplishing.While some may press Dodson to set the bar a little lower for himself, that’s not how the 13-5 Team Jackson-Winkeljohn fighter is programmed.“I’m putting it as high as I can. I’m going to aim for the stars.”As Dodson sees it, the UFC allowed lightweight champion BJ Penn to step up and challenge Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight title without having to vacate his title. If the organization was willing to entertain the idea of “The Prodigy” reigning as champion of two divisions separated by 15 pounds, Dodson feels his desire to compete in three weight classes spaced 20 pounds apart shouldn’t be an issue. He also sees it as a way to ensure he gets to fight as often as possible.“I want to make sure that I can hold all of them and defend all of them at the same time. If I can take one, I want to be able to carry them all on my shoulder, and I want to be able to defend them whenever the time comes. Plus, what that means is that I’ll get more fights throughout the year. If I defend (one of the three titles) once every two months, that means I’m guaranteed to fight six times a year.”This weekend’s event serves as the departure point for Dodson as he embarks on his ambitious journey. While he admits that being left out of the inaugural foursome selected to fight for the freshly minted UFC flyweight championship stung a little, he understand why that group of combatants were chosen. Instead of dwelling on his disappointment, Dodson uses his exclusion from the four-man tournament as motivation, and plans to leave no doubt that he deserving of the opportunities that will eventually come his way.“The four that were picked were there for a reason. They have two of the best guys from the UFC that can make the weight, and they also brought in the two guys that were the best in the division.“I was a little hurt and offended that I wasn’t a part of it because I was the one running my mouth off as best as I could on The Ultimate Fighter about bringing in flyweights, but my brother said it best for me; he said, `John, don’t worry about it. All they’re doing is letting somebody else hold the belt and warm it up for you so that you really want it.’“I want to prove my worth,” continues Dodson. “I don’t want people to sit there and say, `John got this handed to him.’ I want to prove it. They can throw anybody they want in my way, and I’ll just go ahead and do the best that I can to eliminate everybody in the process. If that means I’ve got to fight the guys that were in the tournament, up-and-comers, whoever’s still standing, (so be it).”First up is Elliott, a late replacement for Darren Uyenoyama with no previous UFC experience. While facing a newcomer tends to heighten expectations for a more well-known fighter like Dodson, the man with the trademark creepy cackle knows he’s in for a serious challenge, whether the fans think so or not.“He fought Jens Pulver, and then he fought Josh Rave,” Dodson says, reciting his opponent’s two most recent victories. “He’s on an eight-fight win streak, and it doesn’t really matter to me (that he’s a newcomer that people don’t really know). He’s coming out hard, and he’s willing to fight. Most people don’t really know too much about 125’ers as it is, and this is a good chance for them to find out that we are talented; not just in the UFC, but other organizations as well.”Just because the division as a whole isn’t as recognizable as its heavier counterparts doesn’t mean Dodson has been suffering through a shortage of training partners in preparation for this fight.While this may be just the fourth flyweight fight in UFC history, Dodson competed in the 125-pound weight division for the majority of his career prior to joining the cast of The Ultimate Fighter as a bantamweight, and he’s been training with ‘25s throughout his career, as well as a having at least one slightly heavier colleague putting him through the paces this time around.“We have guys that are 125 at my camp; we’ve all grown up together, and we’re making sure that we’re fighting at 125,” explains Dodson. “That’s the weight class we’ve all aspired to compete in. As soon as the UFC — and there were other promotions like Tachi Palace Fights before that — started allowing us to shine a lot more, and stop fighting at a higher weight, we started doing it.“I have guys at my weight class that are helping me prepare for this. I don’t have to worry about the speed or the technique being a problem against me; I have all that with me already. I also have the heavier weights as well — the ‘35s and ‘45s — plus Donald Cerrone’s been kicking my butt, letting me know how much I suck right now.”Where some people might complain about a change in opponent in the late stages of camp, the perpetually upbeat Dodson took the news in stride. Though the hardcore set may have been more interested in the original clash of styles with the grappling ace Uyenoyama, Dodson thinks the pairing with Elliott will produce a better fight for the fans on Saturday night.“I can’t really do anything with them changing (my opponent),” he says with the calm of a man who truly isn’t concerned by the late switch. “It doesn’t really matter who I fight; I’m just glad I’m still fighting on this card. If I had gotten pulled off the card I would have been a little heartbroken.“I know he’s taking the fight on short notice, and that’s cool — I’m glad that he is; big ups to him. I’ve got to just come out prepared for everything. I’ve got to have my striking up to par, my ground game, my wrestling. Everywhere that the fight might go, I need to be ready at all times. I’ve just got to be on my game.“It is a better style matchup for me, but also it’s going to be a better fight for the fans to watch. It’s going to be a high intensity fight. I know that he likes to push the pace for that first round, and I’m willing to push back. I can push him as hard as he wants to go, and I’ll eventually break him.”When he does, Dodson will get right back into the gym to continue his pursuit of the first of the three titles he aims to capture and defend in his UFC career.“People can sit there and make fun of me all they want, but that’s the goal I have in mind. You’ve gotta have a goal to chase, right?”

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First things first, let’s talk about that Green Day song. Green Day was a lot of fun when you were 13 and hormonally pissed off for vague reasons and enjoyed funny and bouncy songs about masturbating and haven’t discovered the Dead Kennedys yet. Then a decade and then nearly two passes after their breakthrough, and the bsnf’d jukebox musical on Broadway is situated some few hundred feet from the stage adaptation of Mary Poppins. They are still kind of nice to listen to sometimes, such as when Time Of Your Life plays at the CVS while you are in line to buy a diet green tea. If you are 13 and watching Smackdown now, chances are there are musicians who your parents didn’t listen to who you probably enjoy more, say, one of those bands from Nickelodeon and Disney Channel comedies that make piles of money on tour in real life. Justin Bieber, maybe those dancing kids from the UK that are giving tween girls worldwide new and exciting feelings. I don’t know, Adele? Anyway, my point being, I do not know who my enemy is, and I am not going to figure that out just because Green Day keeps asking me. Between Smackdown’s theme and CM Punk‘s use of Cult of Personality should fans really be surprised when Daniel Bryan walks out one day with the sweet sounds of Creed? Speaking of Bryan, who could probably make Scott Stapp look like Bret Hart in the ring, let’s get on to the show… Daniel 3:16 says “Yes” Bryan starts the show off accompanied to the ring by his now standard combination of affirmative chanting and boos that were not necessarily inserted in the editing room, then cuts a promo in which he attempts to turn “Yes” into an arrogant refrain instead of a rallying cry. It seems works a little bit with the London crowd, but not much. Audiences will naturally pounce onto a catchy catchphrase delivered with some amount of charisma, just ask The Rock or Zack Ryder or even the Road Dogg (who made his career on an entire catch-monologue). Despite being less thematically appropriate for WWE’s Extreme Rules than Kane and Randy Orton banging each others’ heads on poles for ten minutes, the two of three falls match stipulation is an especially good one for Bryan as it allows him to build up to it by highlighting his ability to–in his words–”wrestle,” a term that I’m thankful no longer seems verboten on TV. Bryan taunting his skills, and the fact that Sheamus will be on thin ice during their match for having Brogue Kick’d an innocent referee, gives Bryan at least a little cred in saying he’s got the edge going in. I doubt Bryan will win, but I’m cautiously optimistic that he and Sheamus will have a match that involves two above-average professional wrestlers engaging in professional wrestling…and that’s at least NINETEEN seconds long! The Wrath of AJ And then Bryan demonstrated that emotionally abusing your ex-girlfriend in public still helps at getting you booed, at least a little. Progress! It’s a little sad, but WWE has just a couple of stock roles that most of its women performers get shoehorned into. For the most part your best shot at becoming a top Diva are developing your skills at smiling and pointing (Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, 2007-late 2011), or getting good at teenage mean girl deceit and manipulation (Torres, late 2011-present, LayCool). AJ got the chance to tap into another one of those tropes by getting berated by Bryan and taking it out by beating on Natalya, who makes a poor heel as she is always so chipper, sweet, pretty, and says things like “Cool your jets, mister” to Michael Cole on commentary. So, apparently, AJ is crazy now. I hope she makes it work: wrestlers as successful and generally awesome as Victoria and Mickie James cut their teeth on the hysterical woman stereotype and made characters that were their own. Barring nuanced, well-developed, motivated female characters on WWE TV, this will have to be okay. You’re Welcome Judging by Damien Sandow’s introductory promos he can pile on the know-it-all bullshit at least as well as most cable TV talking heads and way better than Donald Trump stumbling his way through his lines on RAW. Looking forward to his debut. Funkasaurus Update Eesh. I really hope Brodus Clay and Hornswoggle are just a one-time thing. And I hope they find something better than the lame gangbanger getup for Hunico. Long Night Former Smackdown GM and current Guy Hanging Around Teddy Long has a crappy time on the show, first being talked down to by the likes of Darren Young and Titus O’Neil, then being put on silent London cliche funny hat guard by John Laurinaitis, then having his sort-of girlfriend Aksana wave around her strapping friend Antonio Caesaro under his nose before retreating to Laurinaitis’s office for what let’s hope was not a three-way. One would think Long has an easy hostile work environment lawsuit, but Laurinaitis recruited the only lawyer on the roster. He’s got it tough. Randy Orton’s Dad Is Fine, You Guys And at Extreme Rules Kane will feel the dark and twisted pain of his soul, voices, tortured, etc. WWE is lousy with teenage emo poets in big tattooed bodies. Tag Team Division Just Has Flesh Wound, Not Dead Yet Young and O’Neil debuted on Smackdown as a perfectly serviceable thrown-together tag team to beat the Usos, who at least got to do their cool Siva Tau chant and have a real match on TV. Young and O’Neil aren’t exactly fresh new faces, though; Young was in Nexus for a while, and for the last 4,300 weeks they’ve performed on the current “season” of NXT, WWE’s silly, surreal, sometimes brilliant online showcase for lower card wrestlers and William Regal that no longer bothers with the pretense of being a phony contest for rookies. Damas y Caballeros: A Brief Appreciation of Ricardo Rodriguez Ricardo Rodriguez has the best job in pro wrestling. His voice is instantly recognizable. He gets huge reactions with a sneer and a rehearsed monologue. He doesn’t have to put himself through physical hell on a regular basis, though he’s capable of it: YouTube is full of his crazy 450 splashes and corkscrew moonsaults. He can take a finisher like a champ, which has come in handy very, very often. Alberto Del Rio even seems to actually like him, which is more than you can say for most wrestlers who have subordinates. If you are not a Spanish speaker, Rodriguez’s extremely funny, over-the-top ring intros are as good a place as any to start learning. Del Rio’s match against Big Show was fine, nothing we didn’t see a bunch of times in 2011. Cody Rhodes, whose Disaster Kick I like to use for any video game create-a-wrestler who I want to have cool ninja moves, interfered to give Del Rio the win with what was the first of Rhodes’s multiple moments of greatness throughout the evening. Ryback Continues Rybacking I don’t know what a Ryback is. Did his parents name him that? Old football nickname? Is there a reason he’s not Skip Sheffield anymore? I like to imagine that Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre just hang around all the time as they did during this match, shooting the sh*t about squash matches and how much Flo Rida sucks. The Main Event or, Oh, So That’s Why The Great Khali Was There I had a couple of paragraphs on being confused as to why The Great Khali had found himself in Friday’s main event, teaming with Sheamus and Orton against Bryan, Mark Henry, and Rhodes, though much of it was just “What the hell?!?” over and over. But then Khali collapsed like the top-heavy bookshelf he is after a typically perfect Rhodes sneak chop block and I approved. Like his teammate for the night, Bryan, Rhodes has a great “Yeah, I just did that” sh*t-eating grin that he pulls out whenever someone gets screwed over. I have no idea why Big Show got to just show up and tag himself in, but it helped push the PPV’s matches and set up a feel-good ending that saw all the babyfaces show their finishers off against human concrete slab Henry. Though between those six guys a lot of time was spent on what we’ve seen before–Bryan and Show, for instance, need a little time away from each other–some of the combinations were fresh: Rhodes/Sheamus, Bryan/Orton, or if they’re serious about the tag team division’s kick in the behind, Bryan and Rhodes joining forces to create Team Ultimate Smugness would make for some excellent TV. That’s it for my recap of Friday’s Smackdown. I’ll be back with coverage of Monday Night RAW this week (which I’ll be previewing later today before the epic three-hour episode starts up live on USA). PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

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After this past weekend’s performance against Rashad Evans at UFC 145, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had plenty on his plate worth celebrating. The dynamic 24-year old picked up his seventh straight win since suffering a disqualification loss, including four straight against former UFC champions, and emerged victorious in a bout where the personal stakes were as high as the professional ones. While the 16-1 Jones certainly felt some level of satisfaction in his showing against Evans, only moments removed from his success inside the Octagon the 205-pound king was busy analyzing his effort and looking for areas to improve in. “It wasn’t necessarily about doing things I didn’t do when we were training (together),” explained a semi-satisfied Jones in an interview from the locker room with UFC cameras. “I just knew that I had grown a lot. I grew a lot. My game’s a lot different than it used to be. I just thought if I went out there, played the game the way I like to play it, be very versatile, that I would be okay.” “But, he caught me a few good times. The guy hits hard, so can’t be doing that,” Jones continued, switching gears. “I try not to get hit in practice at all and I definitely don’t want to be taking big hits like that. Those things will slow your career down and I’m very young, I have a long time to go, so I’m not happy that I got hit so hard. But it was a learning experience for sure.” Jones also mentioned he was glad to have finally experienced a full five-round fight as a means of gauging his cardio, though he didn’t necessarily seem sure how to react to the result. “It was my first five-round fight and it felt like my cardio wasn’t an issue. Maybe it was an issue, I don’t know.” Watch out the full interview with Jones below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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JONES TAKES IT TO ANOTHER LEVELUFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones answered any remaining critics with a virtuoso performance on Saturday night. He completely shut down arch nemesis Rashad Evans in every facet of the game. The win erased any doubt over the legitimacy of his championship reign.Remember that it was Evans, not Jones, who was originally supposed to face Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in Newark, New Jersey. When Evans injured himself, the UFC opted to substitute in Jones, rather than delay the championship bout until the rightful number one contender healed. That decision sparked controversy inside one of the most successful mixed martial arts teams in the world – Jackson-Winklejohn MMA – and ultimately left a cloud of doubt lingering over Jones’ reign.Jones not only cleared the skies with his win. He firmly placed himself in the middle of the vaunted pound-for-pound debate with fellow mega stars Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva. If one just considers fights since January 1, 2011, it is tough to argue that anyone other than Jones deserves to be considered the sport’s single best competitor.Let’s take a look at the comparables.During that span, Jones has five annihilation wins in five fights. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Shogun Rua, Lyoto Machida, and Rashad Evans were all reigning or former champions at the time they faced him. Yet, “Bones” Jones literally outclassed each of them, making it seem like they didn’t belong on the same level as him. Oh yes, before dispatching with all those elite stars, Jones thrashed then-undefeated star prospect Ryan Bader.GSP and Silva are also undefeated over the last 16-plus months. But the two have combined for only three fights during that period due to injuries. GSP’s lone victory was a decision win over Jake Shields, who arguably has been the best fighter in the world outside of the UFC for the past few years leading up to the GSP fight. While GSP’s win was impressive, it was just one win. Had the champion also faced and defeated Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit, then one could make a great case for GSP being the sport’s most accomplished fighter since January 1, 2011. One win isn’t enough.Silva only holds two victories during that span. He made former champion Vitor Belfort and perennial top contender Yushin Okami look amazingly ordinary in those two bouts. That in itself is an amazing feat. Add to the mix that Silva, who is currently in the midst of a 14 fight UFC winning streak, holds just about every UFC championship record imaginable, and it is tough to argue that anyone other than Silva deserves the top spot based on a complete body of work. But we aren’t looking at entire careers right now. We are just looking at the last 16 months. Nobody in the sport has accomplished more than Jones during that period. Nobody has faced tougher competition. And nobody has made more successful title defenses.2011 was undoubtedly the “Year of Jon Jones.” 2012 might not be any different.HENDO NEXT UP FOR THE CHAMPIt doesn’t take long for UFC officials to add a sobering dose of reality to a champion’s victory party. Dana White announced after Jones’ dominating win over his bitter rival that Dan Henderson will be up next. For those who don’t have a long memory, this is the same Dan Henderson who won the PRIDE 183-pound and 205-pound belts. He remains the only man in history to simultaneously reign over two divisions of a major fight promotion. This is the same Dan Henderson who savagely knocked out Fedor Emelianenko in a heavyweight bout. Yes, the same Fedor who was once thought to be the most dangerous man on the planet. It is the same Dan Henderson who represented the United States in two separate Olympic games. Anyone who thinks that his better days are behind him at 41 years old need only look back to UFC 139, where Hendo survived a back-and-forth war with former champion Shogun Rua in what many believe was the best fight in UFC history. We will break down the fight from every angle as it approaches, but Hendo might just be the toughest matchup for Jones so far in his illustrious career – at least on paper that seems to be the case. IS MACDONALD-GSP THE NEXT JONES-EVANS?Rory MacDonald won’t turn 23 years old until July 22. Yet, he is already a veteran of five UFC bouts. His only loss among them was a dramatic, come-from-behind win by Carlos Condit at UFC 115. Had he survived seven more seconds, he would be a perfect 5-0 right now, because he was ahead on two of the three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.Condit is the reigning interim UFC welterweight champion, just in case you forgot. That tells you just how good MacDonald really is. The question now is whether this guy is the future of a division currently ruled by his mentor and training partner Georges St-Pierre?Several youngsters have entered the UFC amidst tremendous hype. None more so than Vitor Belfort, who, at 19 years old, won a UFC heavyweight tournament. He instantly became one of the sport’s favorite sons. His lightning-fast hands, Gracie pedigree and good looks made him an instant star in the sport’s early years. Yet, it took Belfort seven more years before he finally won his first UFC title. And he wasn’t able to successfully defend it. Belfort has had a great career and remains one of the very best fighters in the sport, but he has never quite lived up to the tremendous hype that followed him during his early years.Jon Jones didn’t enter the UFC with the same wave of popular support as Belfort. Some could argue that he competed under the radar for his first several fights before finally getting everyone’s attention with his destruction of Brandon Vera two fights before capturing the 205-pound championship. There is little doubt that Jones has exceeded all but probably his own expectations at this early point in his career. Of course, the expectations for him now are through the proverbial roof. Unless he becomes the next Anderson Silva (or first Jon Jones), I’m not sure whether people will view him as fulfilling his destiny or not. That brings us to Rory MacDonald. This guy is definitely the real deal. His near-miss with Condit and win over Nate Diaz are vivid evidence of that truism. Expectations for him are building like those for few other 22-year-old fighters in the sport. I’m not so sure he will be able to live up to them any time soon.That isn’t by any means meant to be a knock on his skills. MacDonald has plenty of those. It is instead the reality of competing in a division that is currently ruled by an all-time great who remains squarely in the prime of his athletic career. GSP turns 31 next month.Unless GSP starts to decline due to injuries or accumulated cage mileage, it is tough to imagine anyone derailing his career in the short term. Condit certainly has a shot at it. Maybe Johny Hendricks and Nick Diaz, too. But none of those guys will be betting favorites against the champion. It is equally tough to imagine MacDonald staying out of the welterweight title picture during the next couple of years. So it seems that GSP and MacDonald two are on a collision course, much like Evans and Jones when the two were both training under the same roof.  I know I’m getting way ahead of myself. GSP is currently recovering from an ACL tear and MacDonald is not yet considered a true welterweight contender. He’s also gone on the record saying that he won’t fight his training partner. But I have no doubt that GSP will be back as good as before and MacDonald will enter contender status by the end of the year or possibly early in 2013.So when the time comes…if the time comes…will GSP and MacDonald compete as teammates? Will one of them leave Zahabi MMA and Tristar Gym as their collision course starts to draw near? Those questions will make MacDonald’s rise through the division that much more interesting in the coming months and years, in my opinion.THE TIME IS NOW FOR BROWNEThe UFC heavyweight division is about as deep as it has ever been with guys like Junior dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, “Minotauro” Nogueira and others. The UFC now has the luxury of putting on non-title marquee matchups, just like it does in other divisions, to sort out the championship challenger queue. Travis Browne is ready for one of those marquee matchups.Five fights into his UFC career, Browne already owns a couple of bonus checks for Submission of the Night and Knockout of the Night. He also has a draw on his record against the well-respected Cheick Kongo – a fight that many believe he should have won. Still undefeated through 14 professional fights, “Hapa,” as he is known, is now ready for the big time.

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Last night former UFC champion Rashad Evans became the latest high-level fighter to fail at solving the puzzle current title-holder Jon Jones presents inside the Octagon. Evans, who landed a few solid shots, absorbed a good deal of damage throughout the five-round affair including some of the stiffest standing elbows ever witnessed in the sport. After having a chance to freshen up Evans addressed the bout in an interview with Fuel TV on the post-fight show, saying his overall performance at UFC 145 “sucked” and he was disappointed he hadn’t followed the gameplan his camp had put in place. On the bright side, Evans is confident he’ll have an opportunity to avenge the loss at some point in the future. “I still don’t like him,” Evans said with a smile when asked if their match-up had resolved any lingering personal issues between the two rivals. “He fought a good fight and I’ve gotta respect him as a fighter, and I had respect for him as a fighter before but…I still don’t…I’ll tell you what, we gonna fight again.” Evans Not Planning on Move to Middleweight The loss dropped Evans’ overall record to 17-2-1, snapping a streak of four consecutive victories in the process as well. Check out the full interview with Evans below where he also mentions suffering a minor foot injury that limited his movement in the cage: Tweet

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Last night Jon Jones went into the deepest waters of his career and stayed afloat, picking apart opponent Rashad Evans with slick striking and avoiding any takedown attempts thrown his way. However, as good as Jones looked in the main event at UFC 145, the 24-year old would be the first to tell you his performance was far from perfect. Literally minutes removed from his decision win Jones was already analyzing the match-up and what he’d learned from the experience. “I definitely answered a lot of questions in my own game. It was my first five-round fight and it felt like my cardio wasn’t an issue. Maybe it was an issue, I don’t know,” said Jones backstage in an interview with the UFC’s cameras. “He caught me a few good times,” the 205-pound champion continued, pointing out an area he feels he has to improve in. “The guy hits hard, so can’t be doing that. I try not to get hit in practice at all and I definitely don’t want to be taking big hits like that. Those things will slow your career down and I’m very young, I have a long time to go, so I’m not happy that I got hit so hard. But it was a learning experience for sure.” A Round-by-Round Look at Jones vs. Evans Check out the full interview below where Jones also explains why beating a “lion” like Evans is a “major confidence booster”: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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Now that we’ve had a few moments to go over the preliminary card, it’s time to look at the six fight main card. With Jon Jones-Rashad Evans headlining, as well as some pivotal bantamweight and welterweight bouts, fight fans are sure to be treated to one hell of an awesome night of fights, so call your cable providers or go to your local watering hole ASAP and get ready for some “LA VIOLENCIA!!!!!” Mark Bocek (10-4) vs. John Alessio (34-14) Bocek is a damn good lightweight. Say what you will about his inconsistencies, but Bocek has only lost to some of the top lightweights in the world. No big deal. His grappling prowess is guaranteed to give fits to anyone in the division. His opponent, the returning Alessio, enters on short notice but should be more than prepared. The Canadian fighter is ready for action and looking to make a big statement upon his return. Unfortunately for Alessio, I don’t think he’ll fare quite as well as he hopes. Bocek is legit, Alessio has trouble with serious grapplers, and he’s going to end up tapping out to something. Winner – Mark Bocek defeats John Alessio via Submission Round 2 Mark Hominick (20-10) vs. Eddie Yagin (15-5-1) Hominick needs to get back on track following a devastating knockout loss back at UFC 140 in Toronto. The Canadian featherweight contender is on the long road back to the top, and in an ever-improving division such as the featherweight class, he needs to make some definitive statements. With guts, heart, and determination, Yagin is a hard guy to be matched up against. He’s absolutely tenacious, very skilled, and won’t lay down for anyone. However, I think “The Machine” has his number, and although I don’t expect a stoppage, I certainly expect the “Team Tompkins” fighter to beat up Yagin, probably badly. Winner – Mark Hominick defeats Eddie Yagin via Unanimous Decision Miguel Torres (40-4) vs. Michael McDonald (14-1) Torres makes his return to the octagon after being briefly fired for his rape surprise-van joke. The one time pound-for-pound contender, who has embraced a bit of a more safe fighting style as of late, still has the skills required to cause problems for anyone and his only loss in recent memory, to Demetrious Johnson, is a fight he very well could have won. McDonald is often overlooked in the bantamweight division. Still incredibly young, the powerful and well-rounded fighter, who is always improving, looks for a key win here to propel himself to a potential title shot later in the year. While the sky is the limit for McDonald, I think Torres will use his experience and incredible gameplanning to give McDonald a scrap and win a close decision. Winner – Miguel Torres defeats Michael McDonald via Split Decision Ben Rothwell (31-8) vs. Brendan Schaub (8-2) “Ben Rothwell, you absolutely suck.” Whoa, sorry, I think the ghost of Chael Sonnen overcame me for a second there. Rothwell is back to have a solid five minutes and suck air for another ten. While he used to be a highly-touted heavyweight, he doesn’t really offer too much to an already shallow division. Schaub may never be a champion in the UFC, but he’s an incredibly athletic and improving fighter. With almost all of his fights, win or lose, ending by knockout, it’s no doubt that Schaub puts on exciting fights. I expect this fight doesn’t fit that criteria though. Rothwell will gas, Schaub won’t be able to finish, and this is going to get UGLY. Winner – Brendan Schaub defeats Ben Rothwell via Unanimous Decision Rory MacDonald (12-1) vs. Che Mills (14-4) MacDonald makes his long awaited return after eight months away from the cage. The Tri-Star prospect and training partner of welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre is definitely just a short time away from being a champion in whatever division he chooses to fight in. I am more confident in his abilities than I am of even someone like “Bones” Jones. His opponent, Mills, probably shouldn’t be in this fight. Everyone, including Rory, has underestimated the Brit and honestly it’s a fair assessment. It kind of feels like Mills is being thrown to the wolves. I can’t say too much else about that. Winner – Rory MacDonald defeats Che Mills via Submission Round 1 Jon Jones (15-1) vs. Rashad Evans (17-1-1) Here is where I get weird. Jones comes into this bout on a hot streak. The light heavyweight champion has made relatively short work of everyone who has stood before him, and the hype is definitely justified. Evans finally gets his shot at the belt after so many false starts, but I think the wait has done him well. While the feud has cooled off, he and Jones have been constantly improving, and we will see them at their best tonight. Call me crazy, but I’m confident “Suga” ‘Shad is going to beat Jones. Jon is better – way better even – on his feet. However, he is distracted mentally, incredibly cocky, and likely not fully prepared for what Evans brings to this fight. Rashad dominated Phil Davis with ease, including outwrestling arguably the best 205-pound wrestler in MMA. He can go 25 full minutes, he can dominate on the ground, and his hand speed is insane when he lets loose. I think Rashad is going to mix limited striking with takedown after takedown, and from there he will hold the lanky Jones down and go to work on him. As the fight goes on, a frustrated and gassed Jones will get taken down with more ease, end up more humbled, and come back stronger than ever. This will not be his special night. Winner – Rashad Evans defeats Jon Jones via Unanimous Decision I’ve done enough talking and writing, you’ve done enough reading, so go get some fresh air and get back in time for those darned fights. Tune in to see the main card at 10:00 PM EST on PPV. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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That’s right everyone, another weekend with TUF Live and a UFC event means another double dose of Danny Boy Downes! Even though Sweden may not take kindly to people who don’t like Filmjölk, it treated me fairly well as I went 4-2 in my predictions. That, and I was able to haul these bad boys back from the wedding shower. As a side note, I’ll take getting punched in the face in a cage over opening gifts in front of a room full of women anytime.Speaking of which, it seems that the awkwardness/disdain between Rashad Evans and Jon Jones has subsided for UFC 145. The two were downright cordial at the presser earlier this week. If these two can put differences aside maybe there’s hope for Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva.... okay, you're right, that's ridiculous.Mark Bocek vs John AlessioThe main card kicks off with a lightweight contest between Mark Bocek (10-4) and John Alessio (34-14). Bocek earned a unanimous decision victory at UFC 140 against Nik Lentz, but is mostly known for his superb grappling ability where the majority of his victories (7 to be exact) have come via submission. A great all-around talent, Alessio has won 10 of his last 11 fights (losing only to Siyar Bahadurzada a year ago) and returns to the UFC for the first time since losing to Thiago Alves in 2006. Fun fact: that was the same year Big Momma’s House 2 skyrocketed to success. Alessio is no slouch on the ground, but he has a significant advantage standing up. As long as he sticks to straight punches and doesn’t overcommit, he could squeeze out a decision victory. Much like Big Momma’s House 2, though, that sounds better on paper (Martin Lawrence + Fatsuit = genius). Bocek will be able to get his takedowns, control position and get the decision from the judges. Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm going to watch some good 2006 movies like  this and this.Mark Hominick vs. Eddie YaginNext we drop down to featherweight for Mark Hominick (20-10) vs. Eddie “The Filipino Phenom” Yagin (15-5). A former no. 1 contender, Hominick is currently on an uncharacteristic losing streak and Chan Sung Jung dropped him in 7 seconds in December. Yagin's 15 wins are evenly distributed between KOs, submissions and decisions, and now he's looking to get that first UFC win after losing in his debut at UFC 135. Mark Hominick is one of the best, most technical strikers in MMA. People are trying to make his loss to the Korean Zombie bigger than what it really was -- an aberration from a stellar career. Saying he has a glass jaw from one fight is like saying I wasn’t cool growing up because I played the flute in the school band. 1) Hominick was still standing after his fight against Jose Aldo and 2) Remember Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull? He’s all types of cool. Yagin gets KO’d in the second.Miguel Torres vs. Michael McDonaldWe then get the much anticipated return of Miguel Torres (40-4) as he takes on Michael “Mayday” McDonald (14-1). On top of the bantamweight division for a long time, Torres has had difficulty as of late going 3-3 in his last few bouts. McDonald, on the other hand, hasn’t lost since 2009 and is taking a big jump up in competition as he searches for his fourth UFC win.At first glance, McDonald takes this all day. He’s younger, stronger and a rising star in the division. At first glance, people thought the Compact Disc was the pinnacle of music technology. Am I saying that McDonald is going to be obsolete in a few years? No. Am I saying that I still use my Discman? Maybe. Do I pray that McDonald comes out to “I Keep Forgettin”? You know it! Torres has the experience and is hungry for a win and takes this by decision.Brendan Schaub vs. Ben RothwellThe next fight is a heavyweight bout between Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub and Ben Rothwell. Runner-up on season ten of The Ultimate Fighter, “The Hybrid” is looking to rebound after getting KO’d by Big Nog in August. Ben “Hybrid of a Viking and Roy Nelson” Rothwell is looking for redemption after his loss to Mark Hunt at UFC 135 in Denver proved that heavyweights should not be allowed to fight at elevation. Atlanta is only 1050 feet (that’s 320m for my metric system friends) above sea level, so this one shouldn’t be too bad.Full disclosure: I’ve trained and hung out with Ben Rothwell here in Wisconsin, so I’m not exactly an unbiased observer. Normally in this case I throw the predicting job to my Grandma Murphy, but she’s currently recovering from a broken hip (this is actually a true statement). In lieu of that I’ll leave you with a fun anecdote. When he was a teenager, Ben Rothwell once jumped a guy working behind the counter at a Taco Bell who he felt was insulting him. While there may not be any video evidence of this occurrence, I imagine it looked something like this. Rory MacDonald vs. Che MillsThe co-main event of the evening pits Rory “Ares” MacDonald (12-1) against “Beautiful” Che Mills (14-4). Coming off a TKO victory against Mike Pyle, MacDonald hails from Kelowna. At first I thought it was a Hawaiian Island but it’s actually in British Columbia. There are similarities, though, seeing that both places grow things. Hawaii has macadamia nuts, pineapples, coffee, and guavas while British Columbia grows marijuana. Mills was born in Gloucester, England which....uh.....has the largest ice cream factory in Europe (hey, they all can’t be winners). He made his UFC debut with a 40-second TKO win that earned him a co-main shot against the Canadian kid they're calling the next GSP.Before injuring his knee in November, MacDonald was one of the fastest-rising stars in the division, and I expect him to continue that momentum. Mills is strong striker with an excellent clinch. Unfortunately, his attempts to utilize the clinch will allow MacDonald to get close, get the takedown and deliver the punishing ground and pound we saw him use in his fight against Pyle. MacDonald via TKO in the 1st. Jon Jones vs. Rashad EvansThat brings us to the main event of the evening. Rashad Evans has won four straight since losing to Lyoto Machida (his only loss) and people still aren’t giving him the respect he deserves, which further cements him as the lunch lady of MMA. Jon Jones has experienced a meteoric rise in the UFC en route to becoming the light heavyweight champion and undefeated. Well, except for that whole illegal elbow thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s like my cousin Lindsay’s police record as a minor -- it’ll get expunged after a few years. When the Evans vs Jones hype was coming around the first time, I had Jones. That is, until Rashad’s fight against Phil Davis made me a believer. Now, Phil Davis isn’t at Jon Jones’ level, but he’s still an excellent fighter. Plus, I honestly believe the fact that they trained together gives Rashad an advantage in the sense that he doesn’t give into the mythos of Jon Jones. This will be a close, back and forth fight. It’ll be a technical chess match. Jones will tag him, but not with anything devastating. Rashad will utilize his footwork and speed to avoid getting caught with big shots and eventually get in to put the champ on his back. Here too there won’t be particularly devastating strikes, but it will be enough for Rashad to get the split decision win and take the title back.Well, that wraps up another edition of the Downes Side. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @dannyboydownes, my blog and catch me live blogging the fights tonight here. Also, feel free to leave comments, musings, questions or post your deepest darkest secrets. I promise to respond and not judge you (maybe). Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a nice new chip and dip bowl that needs to be used.

Posted in: ufc, fight, jone, ’t, vs

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Hey everyone, Danny Boy Downes back with another edition of The Ultimate Recap: Live! Let the record show how much I sacrifice to give all of you the best MMA reality show recap on the internet. Not only do I stay in repeatedly on Friday nights to watch the show (I have friends...maybe), but I even cancelled my plane ticket to North Carolina for the International Whistlers Convention (IWC). In all fairness, I probably would have been kicked out anyway because there’s no way I can comply with #12 on their Code of Ethics.After three wins in a row, Team Faber is feeling confident. While they may be whistling Dixie, Dominick Cruz is visibly upset at losing another match. Right after the fight, he decides Chris Tickle needs “tough love” and yells at him in the gym in front of members of both teams. Now, I know I give Tickle a hard time on this column, but I don’t think that immediately after the biggest loss of his career is the right time to criticize him. But what do I know? I thought Sylvester Stallone deserved an Oscar nomination for his role in Rambo: First Blood.In the aftermath of Tickle vs Proctor, we see the first real conflict between Faber and Cruz. Faber tells Tickle quite audibly that he did a great job and, “Don’t let anyone get you down.” Cruz does not take kindly to this. He calls out Faber on his record... and his fashion choices. Later in the locker room, Dominick apologizes to Tickle for coming down on him, but the damage may have already been done. It’ll be interesting to see how things go forward.We then cut to life in the TUF house and see that the cabin fever is really starting to affect Andy Ogle. He says he’s meditating, but it looks more like someone having a bad trip at Burning Man. He then gives his future defense attorney a stomach ulcer by telling the other guys how he had a dream of his girlfriend getting murdered. Now, perhaps I’m just too private of a person, but there are some things you don’t share. It’s like this week when I asked a stranger how their day was going and they proceeded to tell me about how they recently amputated someone’s toe and gave details like, “it’s way easier to cut off someone’s toe than you think.” Just say, “Things are going well, how about you?” and be done with it.After the commercial break we see Brittney Palmer reading something on a tablet. My first thought is, “I bet it’s Charles Dickens or a critique of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead,” but it’s only the TUF twitter account. Cut to Team Cruz’ training during the week and Vinc Pichel’s background story. He explains that he got the nickname “From Hell” from his mom because he got in a lot of trouble and arrested growing up. Two things: 1) How many parole officers have to come to TUF training sessions? 2) I wonder if Mrs. Pichel introduces him at family parties as, “Vinc from hell.”The only thing tougher than raising Vinc Pichel is Sam Sicilia’s training session. He’s clearly struggling, and Cruz says, “We have to keep him confident,” but after seeing Cruz' drill-sergeant-like coaching style, I'm struggling to picture his version of positive reinforcement.Things are going a bit smoother at Team Faber’s camp as John Cofer tells his story. He focuses on how important wrestling was for him, “It taught me mental fortitude.” Faber doesn’t give the most resounding endorsement when he says, “He’s not the most dangerous guy in the world.” The strategy for this fight is for Cofer to, “be safe on his feet” and get the takedown.The “Team Purple” friendship between Team Faber's Michael Chiesa and Team Cruz' Sam Sicilia is a cause for worry for some of the guys in the house. They’re concerned the two friends will leak gameplans to one another. This worry then causes Ogle to transition from murder hallucinations to fits of paranoia and he confronts Chiesa. Chiesa assures him that he’s not going to give any information away and that tin foil hats are a great way to make sure the CIA doesn’t read your thoughts. Also, the government adds fluoride to our drinking water to keep us subservient. I thought this was a little over the line, but I thought Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were going to be married forever.Weigh ins come without issue and Dana White makes an appearance. He then gives a speech that will surely make him a shoe-in for the commencement address at Harvard. While I don’t have it fully transcribed, I think most of you can imagine how it goes. Let's just say it's a reprise of his famous "So you want to be a f#*(ng fighter" monologue from season one. Some people may think that this is an unprofessional way for a president of a company to act, but you should hear Warren Buffet talk. That man makes the Osbournes look like the Jehovah's Witnesses that came to my door last month. It’s fight time and as round one starts and you immediately see that Cofer is the aggressor. He keeps coming forward and pushing for the tie-up. Pcihel does a great job moving around and counter punching. This pattern continues for the rest of the round. There aren’t any real significant strikes but Pichel does have some visible damage on his face. In the last ten seconds Pichel flurries, but I give the round to Cofer for keeping his opponent on his heels.Round two sees Pichel take a more aggressive posture and doesn’t let Cofer dictate the pace like the first round. Cofer gets a takedown with about two minutes left, but can’t get the finish. Pichel is able to get back up, there are a few more exchanges and the round ends. The judges have it tied up and we head to “sudden victory.”The round begins, Pichel tags Cofer early and you know immediately that this one is going to end soon. Pichel puts Cofer on the fence, gets a takedown and finishes him with an arm triangle 43 seconds into the round. The only thing more impressive than that third round from Vinc is how casually Jon Anik says, “And Cofer’s dream is over.” Read fight reportWe get to next week’s matchup and it will be Sam Sicilia against Chris Saunders. They have a quick staredown and Andy Ogle runs around in the background in a wrestling singlet. Will Team Purple move onto the quarterfinals together? Who is Chris Saunders? What’s the over/under on Andy Ogle before he starts walking around naked ranting like the Kony 2012 guy? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter Live!In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter @dannyboydownes, the show @InsideTUF, my blog and catch me live blogging UFC 145 tonight here. Also feel free to leave some comments about the show or your favorite whistler. Personally, I’m a fan of David Morris, although you can’t deny the skills of Chris Clackum...Team Cruz (3-3)Myles Jury - (0-1) lost a split decision to Al Iaquinta in episode 4Jeremy Larsen - (0-1) lost via unanimous decision to Mike Chiesa in episode 5Justin Lawrence - (1-0) won via KO over Cristiano Marcello in episode 3Vinc Pichel - (1-0) submitted John Cofer in episode 7Mike RioSam Sicilia - scheduled to fight Chris Saunders in episode 8Chris Tickle - (0-1) lost via submission to Joe Proctor in episode 6James Vick - (1-0) won via KO over Daron Cruickshank in episode 2Team Faber (3-3)Mike Chiesa - (1-0) won a unanimous decision over Jeremy Larsen in episode 5John Cofer - (0-1) lost to Vinc Pichel in episode 7Daron Cruickshank - (0-1) lost to James Vick in episode 2Al Iaquinta - (1-0) won a split decision over Myles Jury in episode 4Cristiano Marcello - (0-1) lost to Justin Lawrence in episode 3Andy OgleJoe Proctor - (1-0) submitted Chris Tickle in episode 6Chris Saunders - scheduled to fight Sam Sicilia in episode 8

Posted in: ’t, team, episode, cofer, pichel

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Posted in: ’t, homie, slvgpc link, slvgpc

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The circumstances surrounding Rashad Evans’ falling out UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and former trainer Greg Jackson are well-documented. The drama created by their past relationship as teammates at Jackson’s gym in New Mexico has been a focal point of their feud, seemingly mentioned every other minute on any promotional piece surrounding their title-fight Saturday night at UFC 145. However, while he may be benefitting from the scenario, don’t expect UFC President Dana White to feel sorry for any of the men involved based on the root of their hard feelings. “There is one thing that is an absolute fact, and no matter how often Greg Jackson pumps that family sh*t, Greg Jackson is a (expletive) businessman. The more top guys he brings in, the more money he makes. There’s nothing wrong with Greg Jackson, but he’s a (expletive) businessman,” said White in an interview with Yahoo Sports. “Some of these fighters, who ought to know better but don’t listen to that sh*t and don’t take it for the crock of sh*t that it is. These guys need to make the decision where they train based on where they think they’ll get the best work and develop the best, and not on this (expletive) crazy idea that you’re becoming a part of a family.” “Greg Jackson (expletive) told Rashad this wouldn’t happen, that they’re family and all that other sh*t, but look what is going on now,” the outspoken executive continued. “Look and see who is at Jackson’s and who is not. Train where you think it’s going to be best for you and if that’s Jackson’s, that’s fine. Just don’t buy into this family sh*t because there’s nothing to it. This is the fight business, not the friend business.” White’s Breakdown of Jones vs. Evans Fight White has been a longtime opponent to the notion of teammates not wanting to meet inside the Octagon. Based on his latest statements clearly he has no intentions of changing that viewpoint in the future. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: jackson, ’t, greg, sht, ’s nothing

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Rashad Evans was always the young gun – flashy, fast, powerful, able to leap tall buildings in a single…you get the picture. He’s not that guy anymore. The skill is still there, the power and the speed seemingly undiminished. But at 32, he’s the old man compared to his opponent in the main event of UFC 145 this Saturday night, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.Evans knows what he brings to the Octagon this weekend, so you get the impression that such talk doesn’t bother him, but watching his alternatively intense then bemused looks in the lead-up to the bout show a former phenom that has settled into the role of wily veteran. You may think you know what he’s thinking or planning, but you really don’t. And even after countless interviews to promote one of the organization’s biggest bouts this year, he has yet to show his cards.That’s something that only comes with time and experience, and Evans has both on his side. It wasn’t the case when he held the title, when his consecutive knockouts of Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin forecast a long reign that ultimately ended in his first defense against Lyoto Machida in 2009. Four wins later, it remains the only loss of his pro career, and that’s with good reason, as he’s learned from the mistakes he made when he was on top.“One thing about it is that I just control the people around me and not let them make a big production out of everything, and that’s what happens sometimes,” said Evans. “When you get to a certain position, everybody wants to help you, but they really want to help themselves in a sense. So by helping you, they’re really helping themselves. Everybody has a bit of advice, everybody has a new way you could do this, everybody has a new way you can get better, and I don’t know everything and I don’t claim to, and I find great enjoyment learning, so I can learn anything from somebody, but at the same time, you gotta tune it down a little bit and cut down on the noise, because if you get too much coming in at one time, it’s gonna become a distraction, and it doesn’t help you at all.”If there’s one thing surrounding Evans’ opponent, Jones, in the last few weeks, it’s been plenty of noise. The phenom from Endicott, New York is seemingly everywhere, and while he appears to be taking everything in with a certain level of grace, Evans showed that same poise when he was holding the belt, and look what happened in the Octagon and behind the scenes. So when Evans talks about Jones and what he expects to happen if he doesn’t keep everything together physically and mentally under the intense pressure and scrutiny he’s under, it bears listening to. Yet while Evans hopes to precipitate that fall from grace by taking the belt from his former training partner this weekend, when asked if he would feel some empathy for Jones should that fall happen, “Suga” says he would.“I can say that, and I’ll say that to him,” he said. “Because honestly, as much as I want to destroy him and beat him and shock the world and prove who I am, a part of me goes out to him because I know he’s setting himself up for a fall and I don’t know if he can take it. He’s wrapped himself up in a lot of falsehoods and I don’t know if it’s because he’s young, but he really can’t see the fall coming. And when I say this, I don’t want to make it seem like with everything in life you always have to be like ‘oh, I can’t do this because I’m gonna fall.’ No, you can reach for the stars, but you have to understand a fall for what it really is. And there’s usually a lesson to be learned every single time you gotta take a step back, and if you can find a lesson, you can become stronger from that fall. But if you don’t understand it for what it is and you don’t accept the fact that it’s going to happen, when it does happen, your denial about it makes sure you don’t grow from it. I don’t know if he’s gonna be able to handle that part, and I wish for him to because honestly, I like Jon in some ways and I developed a relationship with him when I was training with him, so a part of me roots for him and hopes that he does well in life and stuff like that, but he’s delusional sometimes.”Some would say that’s a necessary evil for all fighters, to lie to themselves and say getting punched, kicked, and choked doesn’t hurt, and that all that pain is only in their mind and not in their aching limbs. Evans agrees…to a certain extent.“I think you need to be delusional sometimes, but sometimes you gotta be rational,” he explains. “I think what happens is that when you become too delusional in life, you lose touch with reality and that’s bad. You have to keep at least one anchor close to land, just in case you gotta pull yourself back to shore. You don’t want to be way out there and get a hole in your boat and be shipwrecked and not know how to get back, because that’s when fools get crazy. They get too far away from reality.”And for all the trash talk and bad feelings surrounding this fight, Evans is grounded in reality. When he says he’s going to beat Jones, it’s not out of arrogance but in a belief in his skills and his training. And when he assesses the champion, he doesn’t dismiss him as a young, wet behind the ears, kid. He knows what “Bones” brings to the table, and he’s prepared accordingly.“From the first time I trained with Jon, I knew he was gonna be really good,” said Evans. “I never knew how fast he was gonna be good because somebody can be good in the practice room but really not good in the fight. So when I saw that his mental game was just as good as his physical game, I knew there was no rate on how fast he could go because he actually believes a lot of the stuff that he says, and I’ll tell you what, belief is 99.9% of it. If you believe, you can go really far with this just on belief alone.”It’s a surprising admission from Evans, considering that his eight year pro career has proven him to be a master of the mental game. With one comment, one gesture, or one move, he can take an opponent out of his element and play him like a video game. He’s done it for years, and in the lead-up to the fight, he’s poked and prodded Jones to find the weak spot and get in his head. Jones looks to have weathered that storm nicely, but with the exception of pre-fight pushing or jawing matches (none of which have happened here), the true winner of the mental chess match only shows up on fight night. So expect Evans to continue to try and work his magic every minute until that bell rings.“When you’re able to make somebody go somewhere mentally where they haven’t gone before, that’s always a good thing because with that, you get a new reaction and a new way, and it’s gonna be interesting to see how he (Jones) handles that,” said Evans. “He’s gonna try and divorce himself from all the feelings that he has towards me and towards the situation and try to make it like a normal fight. But with the added pressure and everyone around, it definitely has to seep in a little bit. He feels like he’s fighting for the honor of Jackson’s gym, and he’s here to defend his master, Greg Jackson. And I’m sure Greg is putting things in his head like oh man, you’ve gotta beat Rashad because Rashad has said this about me, and I offended Greg, so I think that Greg is now wanting to see me get beat.”If anything has been made clear throughout the year long buildup to this fight, it’s that Evans’ true animosity may not be with Jones, but with Jackson, his former coach. And deep down, that animosity may hide a deeper hurt about how things played out when Evans and the Jackson’s MMA team split after Jones won the 205-pound belt in 2011.“It (the split) just lets me know what people are about sometimes,” said Evans. “People are about their best interests, and Greg is no different. At one point, we came up together. If it wasn’t for the fighters out of his gym, nobody would even know who Greg Jackson is. He would just be a guy in Albuquerque who has pretty good jiu-jitsu and pretty good MMA, and another guy who had a gym. It was the fighters that actually got him known, and through what he showed us and through what we experienced together, we created something that the world is talking about, and other fighters sought him out to be a part of the team. So when he looks to destroy me, he’s destroying a piece of himself because without me, he wouldn’t be. Without Keith Jardine, he wouldn’t be, without Georges St-Pierre, he wouldn’t be, without Diego Sanchez, Joey Villasenor, or Nate Marquardt, he wouldn’t be. We were the guys who made Greg Jackson the guy who people wanted to come to.”At this point, a day removed from the big fight, Evans is talked out. He was talked out weeks ago, as his days were filled with questions about his sparring sessions with Jones, their former friendship, and every intriguing angle revolving around this match of 25 minutes or less.“I’m so tired of it I can’t even go on Twitter or any social networks because that’s all everybody’s talking about,” he said. “That’s good to an extent that everybody’s talking about it, but I can’t escape it. If I post a picture of me doing something else, somebody would say something like ‘oh, you should be training for Jon Jones.’ They must think I just sit in the gym and train 24/7 and do nothing but that, and only break to go and eat, and when I eat, I only eat salads.”Evans laughed, finding a spark of humor in the midst of the madness. He’s been here before, comparing it to another long-simmering grudge match, with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Evans made it through that process painlessly, winning the 2010 bout via decision and putting that feud in his rearview mirror. It showed a lot about how far he had come since the Machida fight, and in subsequent wins over Tito Ortiz and Phil Davis, he also showed off his versatility and finishing power (against Ortiz) and his ability to go five rounds for the first time (against Davis).So he’s ready for the dynamic Jones and whatever he brings to the Octagon. Sure, Evans is older now, but he’s also wiser, and with that wisdom comes the realization that nothing lasts forever, so that when you get your time to shine, you need to make the most of it.“Right now, this is my moment in time to embrace this and enjoy it for what it is because the truth of the matter is, it won’t be like this always,” he said. “These fights are few and far between, so when you get an opportunity like this, you just gotta enjoy it. So whenever I find myself getting frustrated, I just try to enjoy it because before you know it, it will be all over with, I’ll be an old man telling a story about when I fought Jon Jones. (Laughs) I understand what can happen in a fight of this magnitude and what can happen when you get caught up too fast with everything around you and how it can drain you and really make the fight bigger than what it is. What this fight comes down to is that this is a guy that I know very well, this is a guy I used to train with, and this is just another sparring session after we haven’t faced each other in a long time. So it’s gonna be interesting.”

Posted in: fight, time, jone, ’t, evan

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Jon Jones hasn’t broken. You may have expected him to. You couldn’t fathom that a kid who became the youngest champion in UFC history in March of last year could keep it together under some of the most intense scrutiny a mixed martial artist has received in this era. Chuck Liddell? He was already well-established in life and his career when fame hit. Brock Lesnar? The WWE prepared him for dealing with anything his time in the public eye would entail. Jones? How could a 24-year old possibly take a sport on his shoulders and maintain his poise when so many were trying to take him down, while at the same time putting the pressure of linking his name with the likes of Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee on his back?But he made it. After taking a championship fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on six weeks’ notice and winning that fight at 23, Jones defended his title with submission wins over two more legit stars in former titleholders Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida, capping off a year in which he went 4-0 with four finishes, foiled a robbery attempt on the day of the Rua fight, and went from being “the next big thing” to “the big thing.”On Saturday, he faces another challenge in a bout against a former training partner in former world champ Rashad Evans. The lead-up to the bout has been heated, not surprising given the way Evans split from the Jackson’s MMA camp where the two first became friends, and it’s tested Jones’ resolve in an entirely new situation. Sure, Rampage trash talked Jones a bit leading up to their bout, but it was nothing like this. The exchanges between the two have been very personal, and while Jones wasn’t drained by the process, he has grown tired of the barbs.“I’m not tired of talking about Rashad,” he said a couple weeks ago. “I’m tired of the whole drama of the fight. I can talk about Rashad all day; it’s a part of the fight game and you gotta talk. But the drama part of it is getting old, like him calling me fake but really never having a real reason why I’m fake. It’s kinda lame now. It’s like ‘come up with something new, bro. Talk about my skill set, but don’t keep calling me fake and then when I ask you why I’m fake, you’ve got no reason. Or when I ask him why I’m cocky and he says ‘oh, because you believe in yourself and you think you’re not gonna lose.’ That’s corny. I’m the champion and I do believe in myself. Come up with a good one at least.”Jones could address that last comment to the fans who have opened fire on him ever since he began tearing through the light heavyweight division. Many mistook his confidence for cockiness, when all he was doing was stating what every fighter should state: that on fight night, he had every intention and every belief that he was going to win. Eventually, he started to win over the doubters.“On my Twitter page and stuff, and when people talk to me in person, they always say ‘Jon, I think you have a great attitude,’ and I think it’s the attitude of a winner,” he said. “Your extreme confidence is your biggest weapon. It’s nerve racking to your opponent when you know that the guy you’re facing feels no fear for you. There’s respect obviously, a hundred percent, because I train all day, every day and study all day. If I didn’t respect the fact that I could lose the fight, then I wouldn’t train. Cockiness is ‘I don’t have to train, I’m already the champ.’ That’s cockiness, that’s silliness. But what I have is extreme faith and I think a lot of people are starting to get it.”And Jones is starting to get it too. At first, he would take unwarranted criticism to heart, whether it came from the fans or the media, and while superstar athletes in other sports are largely insulated from dealing directly with their fanbase and from most in-depth queries from the press, in MMA, the fighters are ultra-accessible to the media and regularly interacting with their fans. So watching Jones adjust to life in the spotlight has been a fascinating process, not just for us on the outside, but for the champion himself. And he’s learned plenty in just a little over a year.“There are several different things that I learned from being where I’m at,” he said. “One of the things I’ve learned is how different people’s minds work. You can say one thing and some people love it and some people truly hate you for it. So being in the position that I’m in, I’ve learned how diverse the world truly is, and how many different mindsets there are. It’s something that can’t be caught in a college course, being in the public eye and having hundreds of thousands of people that you can talk to every day through Twitter or Facebook. I’ve also learned to have skin like an armadillo. You really got to let things roll off your shoulder. I’ve heard it all and none of it bothers me anymore. And the biggest thing is that I’ve kept my team close to me. I’ve kept the people who I felt really cared about me and loved me really close to me to the point where we’re not a team anymore – we’re a legitimate family, and that’s been awesome, and I think that’s the biggest reason why I haven’t gone crazy with how fast things have moved in my life, and why I’ve been able to control it.”Having life outside the Octagon under control has allowed Jones to focus on everything he needs to do to keep the belt inside of it. And while Evans is a decided underdog according to oddsmakers heading into Atlanta’s Philips Arena, Jones is well aware that he will have one of his stiffest challenges to date when he looks to retain his crown for the third time.“What I’m most excited for in this fight is to prove that I learned more training with him than he learned training with me,” said Jones, 15-1, but when he makes a statement like that, it’s not really one hundred percent truthful, because if you really want to see what gets “Bones” the most excited, just bring up the topic of wrestling. It’s a trigger that has been drawing a fevered reaction ever since his 2009 bout with Matt Hamill. In the lead up to that fight (which was Jones’ only loss, albeit via disqualification), some said that the up and comer was going to have some difficulty with the wrestling of “The Hammer.” All that did was fire Jones up to prove those naysayers wrong, and he did just that, regardless of the end result.In the weeks and months leading up to Saturday’s UFC 145 main event, the same talk has been whispered, with the former Michigan State Spartan, Evans, expected to be the first man with the wrestling skill to put the former JUCO national champion, Jones, on his back. Just a mention of it and the Endicott, New York native will bristle, but all you’re doing is releasing him for chapter and verse about what is obviously his favorite aspect of MMA. So Jon, do you have the same mindset heading into this fight, wrestling wise, as you did before the Hamill bout?“It’s the same mindset,” said Jones. “The difference is, with (Evans’ last opponent, former NCAA Division I champ) Phil Davis and Rashad, they had these huge egos and they made it more of a wrestling focus to the point where they were both probably going to wrestling practice every day. My difference is that I have a ‘screw that’ attitude. The attitude is, say his wrestling may be better than mine. I want to believe ‘screw that,’ I’m not gonna allow you to take me down. And if you do take me down, I’m gonna get right back to my feet and come right back at you. It’s not like if you take me down I’m pinned and the match is over. No. If you get me down, I’m gonna get back to my feet and we’re gonna have to fight. And I’m not gonna go down easy. I’m gonna make him work for every takedown he may possibly get. And I think between my youth, work ethic, and cardio, I think him trying to take me down could be his downfall because I refuse to be outworked. “But the ‘screw that’ attitude is that I’m gonna take him down as well, and I’ll never give anybody a clear advantage in martial arts to where I’ll sit here and say ‘oh man, he’s a black belt, so I’d better stay off the ground with him because I’ll get tapped out.’ Or I’ll never say ‘oh man, Shogun and Rampage are so amazing at kickboxing and boxing that I’m intimidated and I better stay away and not strike with them at all.’ Or I’ll never say ‘Rashad Evans has a great double leg, so I better stand real low and purposely try not to get taken down the whole time.’ No, I’m gonna go out there and put it all on the line and maybe he’ll get me down or maybe he won’t. Maybe I’ll get him down or maybe I won’t. But I totally think that I have some of the best wrestling in the light heavyweight division, and I’m gonna back up those words and prove it. In this fight, there will not be a wrestling mismatch. You will not see Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis. I will not be dominated in the wrestling category. I have a lot of pride in my wrestling and I believe that I could have been a great Division I national champion just like Phil Davis was. I just never had the opportunity to prove it.”That was because Jones left school to get a job when his girlfriend got pregnant with the couple’s first child, a responsible act that should let you know all you need to when it comes to his character. Yet while everything obviously worked out pretty well for Jones and his young family, as he soon discovered fighting, there is still that ‘what if’ in the back of his head when it comes to wrestling, and every time he gets the chance to face off with someone who may be more accomplished on paper, he gets even more amped up.“When I had to drop out of school, I felt like such a failure,” said Jones. “I felt like I didn’t finish the mission. At the time, being a Division I national wrestling champ was my biggest goal and aspiration. And because I dropped out of school, I never got to finish that goal. So becoming a UFC world champion really filled that void and proved to me that I can be at the highest level. And that’s why wrestling Jake O’Brien meant so much to me, because he went to Purdue. That’s why wrestling Ryan Bader meant so much to me, because he went to Arizona State. To prove to myself that I could compete with Division I level wrestlers, it really tickles me and it really gives me an extra edge. In this fight, I’m gonna prove that not only am I a better mixed martial artist than Rashad, but I believe that I’m a better wrestler. And not only do I know that I’m better at Greco than him, but I feel as if I’m better collegiately, and I’m gonna prove it.”Jones laughs, knowing that he just issued an impassioned soliloquy on wrestling and its meaning to him both in his life and in this fight. And at that moment, you know that he isn’t cocky. He’s just a young man on top of the world and on top of his sport, and he’s talking from the heart. And just like one of his former opponents, Brandon Vera, once told me, if you make bold statements, you have to then take responsibility for them. Jon Jones is on board with that.“You’ll look really silly if you say all these things and you can’t back it up,” he said. “And a big thing is, I never really offend my opponent. You don’t hear me going out and saying things about him. I’m not putting anyone else down. I’m saying that I believe that I’m gonna win in there, I believe that maybe he had a better wrestling career than me, but that I’m gonna work hard and train hard on my defense and not even be taken down. It’s all positive reinforcement and reassurance, it forces you to fulfill your own prophecy through hard work and training, and that’s a powerful, powerful thing.”

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Longtime welterweight standout Josh Neer has always been a man of few words. But when asked earlier this year about the 10 minutes of hell he got from Keith Wisniewski before scoring a second round TKO win, Neer was downright effusive in his praise of his foe.“Some of the shots I hit him with, I thought he was done, but then he just kept coming,” said Neer. “He was like the Terminator.”If you didn’t see the bout held in this nation’s capital last October, you missed out on a good ol’ Midwest brawl, complete with two vets trading shot after shot at close range until Wisniewski’s face decided it had enough, forcing a doctor’s stoppage due to cuts. “I’m pretty effective in there,” said Wisniewski. “I have pretty heavy hands, especially body shots, knees and stuff, and I felt like I was gonna get the better of him, although through two rounds obviously that hadn’t come to pass. But in my head, I was eventually gonna be able to turn the corner that way and it just never happened.“To be honest, he didn’t hit me with a lot of power shots in that fight, just a lot of cumulative shots,” he continues. “He was scoring a lot with his elbows. None of them were the type of shots that kinda rattle your head and give you a concussion, but they were damaging and scoring. I was never really dazed in that fight, but my face was kind of a mess.”When it was over, the Indiana native may have put a 12th loss on his 28-12-1 record, but he didn’t disappoint anyone in the Verizon Center except himself.“It’s important for me to always leave it all in the ring and fight my hardest and I do like to put on a good show for the crowd,” he said. “In that sense, I’m definitely happy that we put on what I felt was a pretty good fight, going back to watch it. But obviously the ultimate goal is winning; there’s really no consolation prize.”It’s a veteran way of looking at things, a no-nonsense attitude built over 14 years in the pro ranks, and Wisniewski, in the midst of his second run in the UFC, knows better than most what each loss costs and how it feels to finally get a return call to the Octagon after a nearly six year wait.“I’m extremely happy with where I’m at and I think I’ve paid about as many dues as anyone to get there, so I guess I appreciate what I have right now,” said the 30-year old, whose UFC 56 decision loss to Nick Thompson in November of 2005 kicked off a five fight skid which would have tested the resolve of any fighter.“It was definitely a frustrating period for me,” he said. “I don’t think I trained as hard as I am now. It was kind of a period where I was working a lot, I had a lot going on at home, and I don’t think my focus was quite where it needed to be. But in all fairness, I think if people go back and watch those fights, especially the (Jorge) Masvidal fight, I’m pretty sure I won that fight. I would say that 90 percent of the people who watched that fight would agree, and three of the other losses easily could have went my way. The (Rory) Markham fight could have went my way, and I would say the fight that most likely I lost was the (Erik) Oganov fight. But I could have easily won all four of those fights if you go back and watch the tapes. They were all very competitive.”After the Thompson fight, Wisniewski lost a majority decision to current Strikeforce contender Masvidal, lost via TKO to UFC vet Markham when he couldn’t come out for a tiebreaking fourth round, and dropped a pair of split decisions to Oganov and UFC vet Carlos Prater. Losing is one thing, being inches away from victory is another.“That’s one of the drawbacks,” said Wisniewski of the fighter’s life. “Any fighter that comes out with a loss, they wish that they could fight the next weekend to shake that loss off. It puts a huge amount of pressure on you every single time you get in the ring and I’m sure other athletes feel that. Even a sport like baseball, where you have a 162 game season, I’m sure every time they go out there they’re feeling the pressure to win too. But in a sport where you only fight a couple times a year and maybe 10 times in your whole career, every fight becomes very important.”Beginning in 2008 though, Wisniewski got back on track and began a six fight winning streak that included victories over UFC vets Pete Spratt and Chris Wilson, earning him a call back to the Octagon. But in his typical self-effacing fashion, the Hobart resident isn’t about to claim that he’s figured this game out.“Every fight’s different, and every opponent’s different, so a lot of that, especially some of those earlier fights in that win streak, weren’t quite as high level,” he said. “No offense to those guys, because they were tough, but they weren’t UFC level guys. Only the last couple guys on that win streak were really, really solid. I felt good going into the Neer fight, and I anticipated winning that fight, but as far as figuring it out, I guess I’m still working on that.”And he’s working on it with the same team he’s been with throughout his career, the Duneland Vale Tudo Fight Team that includes his brother Justin. Seeing anyone with the same team for that long, especially these days, is the exception rather than the rule, but to him, it’s a no brainer.“I think beyond anything else, there’s a certain brotherhood and camaraderie with being part of a team,” said Wisniewski. “Me and my brothers were co-founders of the gym, so I really like having him in my corner for every fight, and that’s very important to me. And even some of the guys that have been there six, seven, eight years, those guys are like my brothers, and it’s hard to just uproot and move somewhere else and try and find that again.”But the six fight winning streak and the stellar effort against Neer show that Wisniewski’s apparently turned the corner in his career, something that should help him get back in the win column this Saturday night in a UFC 145 prelim bout against Canadian newcomer Chris Clements.“He seems very aggressive, getting in there and trading a punch to give a punch,” said Wisniewski of Clements. “He’s got pretty heavy hands and kinda mixes up his combos with kicks and punches. He typically presses forward, and I see it as a tough fight and a pretty difficult challenge. I definitely think he’s gonna try to take the fight to me.”For some, that would be a cause for concern. For Keith Wisniewski, it’s just another day at the office. But don’t call it work.“I really enjoy the sport, I enjoy the competition, and even more than competing, I really enjoy training and being at the gym with the guys getting ready for a fight,” he said. “It’s not a labor for me, it’s something I enjoy.”

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It is 3:30 p.m. on a sunny afternoon in Las Vegas and Forrest Griffin has discreetly settled into a popular sushi restaurant. Tipping the scales at 226 pounds, he gulps down 20 or so pieces of sushi – salmon, yellowtail salmon, eel and tuna. He adds a large salad for good measure and washes it down with his favorite beverage of all-time: a 16-ounce coffee. “This will be my biggest meal of the day,” he says, though he hints he may have overdone it given that within an hour he will begin lacing up for another evening MMA sparring session. A politically astute man of many opinions and diverse interests far beyond MMA (he’s written two New York Times bestselling books, after all), the former UFC champ was kind enough to let me tag along and quiz him on the diet behind one of the sport’s most well-conditioned cardio machines. Curreri: You said you were 226 this morning. It’s interesting because you’re a big light heavyweight and could fight some at heavyweight if you chose to. Griffin: Yeah, I had six or seven fights at heavyweight. Light heavyweight is a deeper weight class but there are two problems: One, I don’t have the pop, the power. Two, I no longer have a heavyweight chin. You know, I get the best of Roy Nelson 70 percent of the time. But that other 30 percent of the time – same with Frank Mir – with these little gloves, I just can’t take their shots. The other thing is, when Roy gets on top of you the world feels like it’s ending. So heavyweights are not fun.Curreri: How long have you been conscientious about your diet? Did it start with being a pro fighter? Griffin: No. I was one of those guys, I remember growing up in high school and I would eat a can of tuna every day after fourth period. And then in college I tried to play football (at the University of Georgia). I would keep a notebook and try to eat 6,000 CLEAN calories a day. Do you know how hard that is to eat 6,000 CLEAN calories a day? It’s hard. I was working out 2 to 3 hours a day, lifting, running, sprinting. At that time I had such a high metabolism. I was reading all the bodybuilding magazines and stuff. I was on the practice squad and stuff but I just realized that no matter how hard I tried I just wasn’t as talented as those guys.Curreri: You played defensive end in high school. How big were you?Griffin: When I graduated high school I was 223 with 5 percent body fat. I ran a 4.6 40 (yard dash) and I could dunk the s--- out of a basketball.Curreri: Can you still dunk a basketball?Griffin: It’s sad. It took me three tries last time but I did it. One-handed. I remember eating cake (years ago) and I remember thinking, ‘When was the last time I had anything with this much sugar in it?’ And it had been over two years. So I was eating super-clean even in my early 20s. Curreri: You’ve got so many different diets out there today: Vegan, Paleo, High protein/low carb, etc..Does your diet relate closely to any popular diet in particular?Griffin: I kind of make up my own diet. I was talking about that the other day … the less steps between you and your food the better. I still eat processed foods, but I try not to. So I eat organic most of the time. I notice, too, that the more sugar I eat the more often I get sick. And that just stands to reason: you’re making your body more acidic. I’m a big believer in the Paleo diet, I just don’t have the discipline for it. My wife and I buy expensive meat and expensive veggies. And I’m telling you, I bought some organic kale and the last little bit of it went bad. I was pissed. ‘Man, it was six bucks for that kale! We’re just throwing money away!’ I drink green drinks, throw some spinach in there. I don’t TRY to eat healthy, I ENJOY eating healthy. But I also want to eat unhealthy, too, you know?I usually supplement with a lot of protein shakes. So I eat 5 to 7 times a day. I eat a lot of food. But I’m lucky because I really enjoy working out. I always have. I don’t care what it is but I’ve got to do something for a couple of hours. Curreri: If we were to peer into the Griffin home refrigerator right now, what would be in there?Griffin: There’s coconut milk, vegetables, tons of spinach, Greek yogurt unsweetened that my wife makes dip with. Tons of good stuff. Avocado, homemade guacamole. I actually eat out more than I’d like to. The old standby for me is Jason’s Deli. I’ll get a salad or a wrap. I won’t eat cheese or anything fried. I don’t touch fast food. The pink slime and that kind of stuff, we have no concern because we’re never eating that stuff. I don’t drink fruit juices or do juicing, either. If sugar is bad, then why is lots of sugar in juice good? If I’m going to eat something bad, (screw) it, I’ll eat Ben & Jerry’s or cake. No processed cookie crap. High acidity causes more wear and tear on your body, and perhaps, this is what Randy (Couture) used to say, more lactic acid in your muscles. Refined sugar is poison. We all know that. Anything that tastes really good is really bad for you. The older you are as a fighter, the more diet plays a part because you need all the help you can get. But you can’t eat foods, alcohol or stuff that breaks you down further. You are what you eat. And unfortunately, you are what your food eats. I remember when my mom used to buy liver. You can’t buy liver anymore! It’s so shot out because of all the hormones, steroids and antibiotics that destroy an animal’s liver. So you wouldn’t want to eat that. I’m super fortunate because my wife’s family are big hunters. So I’ve got a freezer full of boar, venison, a freezer full of good game. But it’s fresh meat. A deer will not willfully sit in another deer’s s---. Cows don’t have a choice. Curreri: Do you cook?Griffin: It’s funny you ask. I actually cook the same thing every day. I cook two or three pounds of ground lean organic turkey or chicken, then I put broccoli or spinach slaw and that’s dinner every night. I might put some olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette. I also might put some barbeque sauce or hot sauce. I eat a lot of hot sauce and it’s great because it doesn’t have a lot of calories. But never use hot sauce before a workout. I get the worst indigestion if I do that. I’ll be on fire.We pretty much buy everything organic from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. The diet that I eat, over time you might notice that you get sick less and feel less tired. But it’s not an overnight thing.Curreri: Tell me about your diet growing up. Griffin: My mom was a hippie and looking back that was cool because we always ate healthy. It was just me and my mom and we didn’t have a lot of money. We ate a lot of stews and ghouloshes, stuff that at the time I hated. But looking back they were actually pretty healthy. I remember on weekends we would eat Breyers ice cream. My mom was really into not taking Aspartame, not taking BPA, things like that. Curreri: I would be remiss if we didn’t talk about your extraordinary coffee consumption, up to 14 cups of coffee a day. A certified coffee addict. Is caffeine ever an issue for a pro fighter?Griffin: Caffeine obviously beats your system up, it causes you to get sick more, and it causes you to break down more. Anything that gets you going will be by nature catabolic and cause you to break down more at some point. That being said, I just love coffee. I’m never going to NOT take in caffeine. I just don’t take any caffeine after 4 p.m. and I don’t usually have any trouble sleeping. I just started drinking coffee my freshman year in college. There are a lot of papers that wouldn’t have gotten written if not for coffee.Curreri: Forrest Griffin the fighter minus coffee. What would that be like? Griffin: I would be awesome. I would be so much healthier. I just would never make it to the gym!

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On Saturday night, Rashad Evans will set out to accomplish something that no other fighter has accomplished. Defeat Jon Jones.Yeah, yeah, I know Matt Hamill technically owns a win over Jones via disqualification. If you watched that fight, you also know that Jones completely dominated him and was seconds away from scoring a TKO win before the illegal 12-to-6 elbows. The illegal blows did not even cause the stoppage, as Hamill was unable to continue due to a shoulder injury.So nobody has had any true measure of success against Jones yet in his career. But Rashad Evans isn’t just another fighter. He is a former champion with but a single loss on his own record. He holds stoppage wins over UFC legends Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. And, most importantly, he has spent untold hours in the gym training and sparring with Jones.That last fact is undoubtedly the most critical in terms of Evans’ chance at scoring an upset win. In fact, it may actually give him the edge, if you believe people who have witnessed those sparring sessions.Everyone who faces Jones in combat struggles to deal with his length and striking creativity, primarily because it is impossible to replicate in sparring sessions, which leaves his opponents unprepared come fight time. Most also struggle with his offensive wrestling due to his tremendous Greco-Roman base. And nobody has ever taken him down in a fight. As a result, nobody has been able to defeat him.Evans doesn’t fall into either of those categories. He is very familiar with Jones’ length and striking creativity because they have competed in standup-only and full MMA sparring sessions on many occasions. Even though Evans could not find a sparring partner to replicate Jones’ standup skills during this training camp, that doesn’t erase the historical knowledge base he has from all of the sessions at Greg Jackson’s MMA academy.Evans is also, arguably, the better wrestler of the two, whether we are talking straight wrestling or wrestling for MMA. Granted, Jones has the best takedown success ratio in UFC light heavyweight history. But Evans has taken down each and every opponent who he has attempted to take down inside the Octagon, and he also has the most successful takedowns in UFC history, across all weight classes.More importantly, though, Evans has taken Jones down in practice—many times. Word out of Albuquerque has always been that once Evans takes him down, Jones can’t work back to his feet and definitely doesn’t have the submission game from the guard to pose much of a threat to Evans. Undoubtedly, someone out there is incredulously ranting like Allen Iverson circa 2002. “I know it’s important, I honestly do but we’re talking about practice. We’re talking about practice man. We’re talking about practice. We’re talking about practice. We’re not talking about the game. We’re talking about practice.” That is the abridged version.Yes, we are talking about practice, not actual competition. Yet, unlike with the Iverson situation, where he was defending his decision to skip practice, we are talking about the outcome of two guys who are ultra competitive sparring. That is certainly relevant data when breaking down the fight. It may not be outcome determinative data, but it is relevant data nonetheless.Jones will absolutely be a different fighter come “go time” than he was in the training cage. So will Evans. Jones has definitely grown as a fighter since his rift with Evans ended their friendship and training partner status. So has Evans. Jones will have some new wrinkles added to his game – new combinations that he likely never attempted full speed in sparring with Evans, particularly spinning kicks or any sort of strike with his heel or elbow that could injure his then-friend. Evans will have to deal with those as a matter of first impression, but he has probably seen just about everything else.Evans knows what he has to do to win on Saturday night. He needs to get inside of Jones’ long strikes, whether by pressing the action or slipping and countering. The former will force Jones to fight while moving backwards. That is a tough way for anyone to win because it is nearly impossible to throw any sort of strike with authority (unless your name is Chuck Liddell) while retreating. The latter opens the door for Evans’ overhand right, one of the most effective weapons against taller fighters and also his money punch.Evans also needs to try and bait Jones into over committing on his power shots. Taunts will help with that. These guys don’t like each other. If Evans is having some success on the feet and starts to taunt Jones, the champion will likely react by swinging for the fences. That opens the door for Evans to change levels and get the fight to the ground.Once on the ground, Evans can really do damage. Opponents don’t easily escape Evans’ top control, so he will be able to wear down the champion and curry favor with the judges, once he scores a takedown. That will be big because Jones isn’t used to fighting from behind.If I was cornering Evans, I don’t think I would want him to spend much time in the clinch with Jones. Sure, that is a great position to sap some energy from an opponent. But Jones is likely the better Greco guy, so it may allow him to score a throw-style takedown. I don’t know if he can do that to Evans. But nobody else has been able to do much to prevent it in the past.I would only advise fighting in the clinch if Evans was confident about the position due to their training history together. These guys know in the back of their minds who the better clinch fighter is. For that matter, they know who is the better striker, wrestler, Monopoly player and just about everything else. The fact that Evans has campaigned so hard for this fight suggests to me that he truly believes that he will win on Saturday night. Unless he is totally delusional, that confidence has to be the result of their sparring sessions, which, again, is noteworthy data.Will Evans pull it off? I don’t know. I think the Evans of the past – the ultra-confident homerun hitter who feasted on foes with his unbelievably fast fists – has the best chance to defeat Jones. The problem is I don’t think that Evans exists any more. We haven’t seen him since his loss to Lyoto Machida. Every time Evans faces someone with any kind of fistic power, it seems as if he is wondering if the knockout punch is just moments away.Luckily for Evans, Jones doesn’t have true one-punch knockout power. If he does, we certainly haven’t seen it yet. Maybe the Evans of old will resurface. Maybe, just maybe, it will be the same Rashad Evans who obliterated Liddell and destroyed Forrest Griffin. If that guy truly doesn’t exist anymore, then Evans needs to do just what he has done in basically each fight since losing to Machida – use calculated strikes to set up takedowns and control the action from the ground. I don’t know if he can take down Jon Jones, but I certainly wouldn’t put it past him. Not by a mile.At the end of the day, I think this fight is much closer than most believe. He certainly has a much better chance than the massive betting line suggests. If I had to pick a winner, my gut leans towards Jones, but for some reason, my head leans towards Evans.How is that for sitting on the fence?QUICK FACTSRashad Evans•    32 years old•    5’11, 205 lbs•    74.5-inch reach•    22-1-1 overall •    4-1 in last 5 fights•    8-1-1 in last 10 fights•    4-1-1 against 5 current or former UFC champions•    41.7% of UFC wins by TKO/KO•    58.3% of UFC wins by decision•    No UFC wins by submission•    Lone professional loss by knockout•    Former UFC light heavyweight champion•    147-day reign as champion; no successful title defenses•    Former heavyweight winner on The Ultimate Fighter•    Fight of the Night (TKO2 over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133)•    Fight of the Night (TKO3 over Forrest Griffin to win UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 92)•    Knockout of the Night (KO2 over Chuck Liddell at UFC 88)•    Knockout of the Night (KO2 over Sean Salmon at UFC Fight Night: Evans vs Salmon)•    Current layoff is 84 days•    Longest layoff of career is 434 days

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Brazilians have a way with nicknames. They sound so cool in Portuguese, but then when you get the translation, they can occasionally be…well…insulting.Gabriel Gonzaga’s “Napao” translates to big nose. Rousimar Palhares’ “Toquinho” is tree stump, and Antonio Silva’s “Pezao” is big foot. So how did UFC welterweight Che Mills (who is not Brazilian) get the nickname “Beautiful”? Well, he got it from a Brazilian of course.“It was sort of a little joke in the gym between me and my training partners,” said Mills with a chuckle. “I can’t remember how it exactly started, but basically it was my BJJ coach, Chico (Mendes). He just held on to it, and for weeks and weeks he just would not let it go. Every time I walked into the gym, he’d be like ‘Hey, Mr. Beautiful,’ and it just kinda stuck. It’s not what a lot of people think – I’m not really a vain person like that. It’s all for fun.”Life is fun for the 29-year old Gloucester native these days. He’s in the midst of a five month stretch in which he finally earned a spot on the UFC roster after eight years and 18 pro fights, then went on to win his debut against Chris Cope last November with a Knockout of the Night that took just 40 seconds. Oh yeah, he’s in a co-main event this Saturday night against Canadian phenom Rory MacDonald on a UFC 145 card that’s one of the biggest of the year thus far. How does he explain such a run of good fortune? “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m still waiting for someone to explain it to me really. What can I say? I can’t really ask for a lot more than that.”Well, it’s not as if everything were handed to him. A pro since 2003, Mills quickly made a name for himself on the UK scene, and though he would have his ups and downs, once Michael Bisping’s ascension to the UFC became a reality and the Brits started bashing down the doors to the Octagon, Mills was expected to be one of the next wave, and his ticket was going to be the US vs. UK season of The Ultimate Fighter.James Wilks had other ideas, and in an elimination fight to get into the competition, he submitted Mills en route to winning the series’ welterweight title.  “It was quite devastating at the time,” said Mills. “I had all types of thoughts, and for me personally, it was a bad performance, so I was quite hard on myself, and in my head I was thinking that the UFC obviously saw that performance right in front of their eyes, and I wondered if I would ever get the chance again. I thought that I may not make it to the UFC after all. But I kept going, kept winning, and carrying on, and finally I got my chance.”Winning seven of his next nine bouts, Mills made his case for inclusion among the best 170-pounders in the world, and with the UFC going to Birmingham for UFC 138, he finally got the call in 2011. But in the lead up to the bout, he felt the pressure of having to make up for his last bout in front of the UFC brass.“Especially the four to six weeks leading up to the fight, it was a lot of pressure,” said Mills. “Just more so career wise, because I’m not getting any younger and all I was telling myself was that if this goes horribly wrong, then where do I go from here? That was the main pressure I was putting on myself really. I was trying to push what other people were saying about how I deserved it out of my mind to not get too ahead of myself. All I wanted to do was win.”He did more than that, as his speed and power left Cope in a heap in less than a minute. Praised by UFC commentator Joe Rogan and fans around the world, Mills suddenly had the spotlight firmly on his head. And that was just fine with him. “I didn’t expect it to be like this at all,” he said. “Publicity wise, I’m getting everyday people recognizing me, whereas before, I could just walk down the street and just be a normal person. So I’m getting a lot more attention and that’s the main thing really. People from all different angles are talking to me and wishing me well, saying they watched the fight, and they wish me good luck in the future. Before it was just hardcore fans, but now, it’s just amazing really.”Yet if Mills was a revelation to casual fans with his win over Cope, he has also been one to himself, as he has changed his approach to the sport and his career considerably since his early days.“Really and truly, I’d say the last two years, I’ve really taken it seriously in every aspect,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, before I used to train well and stuff, but that would be it. Let’s say I had a fight in four or six weeks time, I’d say ‘I better get to the gym then.’ I’d train really hard, but then after the fight, I’d take a few months off and just train two or three times a week and not really learn anything. But now I’ve got an entirely different mentality, and after the last few fights I’ve always been back to the gym as soon as possible, trying to learn different aspects, and just trying to grow, basically.”This Saturday, he will look to show off his talents and veteran experience against rising star MacDonald, whose efforts thus far have him painted as the heir apparent to the welterweight throne manned by his fellow Canadian and training partner Georges St-Pierre. For some vets, that would put a sizable chip on the shoulder as they try to knock the young gun down a few notches. Mills isn’t one of them.“His wins speak for themselves,” he said of MacDonald. “And even his loss to (interim welterweight champion) Carlos (Condit), he did really well. I see a really talented kid, he’s got a bright future ahead of him, no doubt, and I don’t have anything bad to say about him. I’m quite complimentary towards his style actually.”But they still have to fight. And while all the hype surrounds MacDonald, Mills is quietly confident that with a win, he’ll be getting that spotlight turned on him once again.“That’s the motivation really,” he said. “Everybody’s talking about Rory, and deservedly, but the way I see it, the more people talk about him and the more people say that I haven’t got a chance, if I did get that win, the sky’s the limit.”

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Earlier today I took a look at some of the lesser highlights of RAW. Now it’s time for the big blokes to come into play! King Bryan I of England Jerry Lawler says a lot of stupid things on commentary. For instance, if a Latin person utters a first-day-of-class Spanish term like “si” or “muy bien”, Lawler will find himself confounded, as though Rosa Mendes is trying to read him Don Quixote. A stupid thing Lawler said on this week’s RAW was that he couldn’t understand why AJ was watching the Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston match on the Official Match-Watching Screen backstage. Foolish. AJ is a known wrestler and wrestling fan, and there is a Daniel Bryan match on TV. What else would she possibly be doing? The crowd’s constant Yes-ing throughout the show were pretty made it pretty clear who the bulk of the fans, or at least the loudest ones, had come to see. Bryan’s short backstage segment with Kingston and AJ, in which he renamed what is now the “Yes Lock” and chanted “Yes!” in Kingston’s face until Kofi realized that he wasn’t going to stop doing it and just sort of walked off and left Bryan to shout it at no one in particular, was the hilarious, manic emoting that justifies his continued reactions. Well, that and his excellent in-ring work, I suppose. After suddenly, catchily plugging his finisher, the finish of his match against Kingston was forgone conclusion but getting there was the best trip of the night. The audience was chanting with and clinging to Bryan’s every offensive move to the point where WWE should consider signing them en masse. Kingston tapped to the climactic, triumphant Yes Lock as we knew he would and Bryan became the glorious War God of London for about five minutes before ascending from the arena on a cloud with Jesus and Holo-Tupac. Good moment. Bryan avoided the obligatory post-match attack by big dumb Sheamus, finally figuring out that the thing to do when you see him running at you full-speed is f***ing duck. Part One of My RAW Review Chief Jay Strongbow Legendary wrestler Chief Jay Strongbow died at 83 after enjoying a lengthy retirement and it’s depressing and alarming how many wrestling alumni don’t get to do that. And Then, About Forty Minutes Pass I thought I had been paying attention, had to look online to remind myself of the stuff that happened in the show’s second hour before the main event. Here is what had slipped my mind: not that much. Brodus “The Funkasaurus” Clay vs. Dolph Ziggler was something I had looked forward to: I love Clay’s act, and the Funkettes, and Vickie Guerrero for that matter. Honestly, I’d say Ziggler could get a great match out of my grandma. So it kind of sucks that even when it could’ve been good TV we still didn’t see Clay wrestling for more than a minute. Unless Big Show and the Great Khali are being built up for a title match, and I really hope they’re not, feeding current champs Epico and Primo to them in a couple of seconds was pretty much a waste of time for all involved. R-Truth solved the mystery of the thing he was doing, I guess. A Somewhat Less-Super Cena The man who returned to WWE as Lord Tensai is enormous, athletic, angry, and will spit acid in your face, which is more than enough to distract me from his past as a walking, talking dick-joke. Booking him in the main event against John Cena so quickly after the character’s debut and subsequent squash matches shows a confidence in his abilities that indicates no time will be wasted with him. Tensai was a solid pick for John Laurinaitis’ main event reveal, an unknown outsider still familiar enough that it was reasonable for Cena to view him as a threat. He dominated most of the match with quick and crisp strong-guy offense. Maybe having a tag-along worshiper helps with his mystique, but he seems younger and fresher now than I remember Albert being ten years ago. Though Cena saved a little face with an overcomplicated finish, Tensai continued the Rock and Brock Lesnar’s work at making Cena look more vulnerable than he has in years. If you’re among the many exhausted of the groove Raw seems to follow when Super Cena dominates constantly, this should be a positive development. Next up I’ll catch you on Friday with a preview and recap of Friday’s Smackdown in London. Good night, good luck, and YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!!! PHOTO CREDIT -  WWE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, cena, bryan, kingston, bryan ’s

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I cheated on every single calculus exam in college in order to pass the course and earn the credits I needed to graduate.  Sorry Mr. Schiavo, but after taking your class for the third time, I couldn’t rely on your broken English to understand the material.  Sitting next to Korean exchange students was a far better strategy.  If you somehow end up reading this (even though you have no interest in MMA, and couldn’t care less about me after the end-of-year review I wrote to the department about you), please understand that when you left to make copies of crossword puzzles, the entire class exchanged answers like pack of cool-hand senior citizens playing a game of Bingo.  This probably comes as a surprised to you, I’m sorry for being the one to break it.  Rest assured that Alistair Overeem never took your class, but if he did, he wouldn’t cheat.  In fact, he has never cheated at anything his entire life.  Let’s let Chael Sonnen explain why accusing him of foul-play is immature of the media and fans alike. [Source]

Posted in: ’t, alistair overeem, class, chael sonnen, calculus exam

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Contrary to popular belief it turns out there is more to Rashad Evans and Jon Jones than each being a former teammate of the other who has a personal stake in their April 21 title-fight at UFC 145. Shocking, isn’t it? In fact, outside of their rivalry Jones and Evans are human beings like the rest of us, though obviously a pair of individuals with extraordinary athletic talent, competitive drive, and the mental tenacity to test themselves inside the Octagon. While each may be fueled by the history with one another, as well as the involvement of the sweetest prize in the sport, the light heavyweights will also be fighting for their families this weekend. The topic of those most dear to them came up on last Friday night’s episode of UFC Primetime where Evans started inducing viewers’ sniffles by explaining the difficulty in being away from his home to train in Florida. “I always wanna be there for my kids and to not be there is hard. And I just hope that all the fighting and everything, it pays off and it helps them in their lives, because it’s all I really have,” said Evans, fighting back tears before recollecting himself later to explain, “No matter what you have going on in your life, it doesn’t matter, because when you step out there into the Octagon you better be ready to fight. Because your opponent…he doesn’t care. He’s trying to get paid. He’s trying to get paid off you. So what are you gonna do about it?” Jones also narrowly avoided waterworks when discussing the death of an older sister who had impacted his life greatly and whose memory he hopes to honor on a daily basis. Check out the complete video below (with plenty of non-sappy stuff too): PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, jone, ’t, evan, ufc primetime

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Cheerio from London! Isn’t London great? We hope you enjoy watching our show from London. I wrote in my RAW preview I assumed they’d decorate the stage with an old-timey red phonebooth and Judi Dench. I was going to also say something about a double-decker bus and and one of those black cabs, but I didn’t want to lay the joke on too thick and I didn’t know what those cabs were called (“hackney carriages”–oh, never change, English people). So RAW comes on and the usual fireworks start the show and there’s the stage and to my wholehearted delight: Old-timey red phone booth, double-decker bus, hackney carriage; check, check, check. AND there was a giant video Union Jack behind the titantron. Brilliant. Tragically I was wrong about Dame Judi, but for the sake of credit where it’s due I should give credit to everyone last night for being really well-behaved last night when it came to lame bad teeth and other stereotype jokes. Pats on the back, WWE Creative. I probably won’t be as good about it. Charmed Third Time for Mark Henry and CM Punk I approve heartily of WWE bringing back special in-ring intros for championship matches, which I had figured to officially be a thing of the past after their conspicuous absence during Wrestlemania. I disapprove just as much of the fact that they made us sit through the fireworks and that crappy Nickelback song but kept Henry’s entrance off TV. Not only did I have to turn elsewhere for my weekly Three 6 Mafia fix, but it made Henry come off as just another Tom, Dick, or Trent Baretta right before a well-promoted title match. The match itself was solid though, as the Punk/Henry series over the last few weeks generally has been despite all the wacky finishes. They’re really a good match for each other: Henry gets to toss around a particularly beloved hero like a hacky sack–the highlight tonight was by Punk being picked up and launched a couple feet with a thud into the outside barrier in a dramatic pre-commercial break sequence. Punk’s offense is legitimized because it really does seem like the only way to knock Mark Henry down would be to Thai kick at his knees nonstop, in contrast to all the geniuses who try to hit him in the head as though that is supposed to do something. Punk’s chair-plus-Macho Man elbow drop win gives him a convincing win without making Henry look like a pushover, while providing proof that wrestlers can use weapons creatively and effectively without necessarily braining each other with sheet metal. YES YES YES ooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOH YES The London crowd was blazing hot last night and should be congratulated for helping put on a good show–well, certain incidents notwithstanding. I hope the rising ooooooOOOOOOOH chant highlighting big spots makes its way across the Atlantic. Recalling these blokes and the recent crowds in Miami got me all the more excited for Chris Jericho’s announcement that he’ll have a rematch against Punk in a Chicago Street Fight at this month’s Extreme Rules, in honor of the PPV taking place in Punk’s famed hometown of Lewiston, Idaho. Jericho Doesn’t Really Have Much Dirt On Punk, Does He? After the initial shock of revealing Punk’s father as a one-time alcoholic in the weeks before Wrestlemania, Jericho’s inside scoops on Punk’s life have gotten less and less dramatic. This week the news delivered via satellite was that Punk may have been within 50 feet of liquor when he had lunch at a pub, which are often the only places to eat over there anyway if you’re not in the mood for curry or Subway. R-Truth and the Mystery of God Knows What R-Truth did a Sherlock Holmes comedy thing throughout the night that I suppose I should acknowledge, piecing together the Case of Let’s Get Hornswoggle On TV. Santunga As I said, the blatant pandering to the London crowd was much easier to watch Monday than it has been in the past. Santino Marella’s prematch soccer jersey switch routine was better than sending the Bella Twins out to pose in cut-off versions of the wrong uniform and get booed. His match against David Otunga was a perfectly fine sort of crowd-pleasing match culminating in a Cobra strike. I find Otunga’s current Oily Flexing Coffee-Drinking Lawyer persona pretty funny, but the sequence where–oops–he forgot which side to pin Marella from after hitting his finisher demonstrates that he probably shouldn’t yet be the ring more than a few minutes at a time. But during the match, Otunga did kick Marella in the face when he did a random split, which is exactly what you should do when some idiot does a split in front of you during a fight. So my hopes are high. Oh Good: Brock is Being Brock To put it delicately, there may be no one in the world I have less in common with than Brock Lesnar, which is why I feel more supportive of John Cena than I have in a long time. Three weeks in and the Cena-Lesnar is clicking better than Cena-Rock did in the endless months preceding Wrestlemania. The Rock and Cena spent their year of promotion Tweeting insults at each other, playing to their own fans, and dueling via parallel promos, eventually performing in their own respective concert segments one time. In style they were and are, in other words, far more alike than they are different. Lesnar is, and by most accounts legitimately seems to be, the jerk that Cena tells kids not to emulate in the Be A Star ads (not that Cena is exactly an anti-bully role model himself, just ask Ricardo Rodriguez, or Vickie Guerrero, or Lita–but that’s another essay entirely.) He doesn’t thank the fans or visit sick kids or delight in saluting veterans. He is nothing more or less than the asskicker he claims to be, and at a moment where Cena’s character needs all the sympathy the audience will give him, Lesnar, who I want to see defeated because I think that he is JUST SO MEAN, is the right opponent. Against him, Cena can try to bring back fans who may find him to be a bit of a repetitive goober sometimes but who don’t vocally detest him. In a related note, Lesnar’s chest tattoo made its first WWE appearance during the interview video package, and WWE made the bold choice not to blur it out for obscenity. Bold move for PG TV. When I Am King, John Laurenaitis’s Music Will Play Every Time I Enter a Room I called it. Laurenaitis’s awkward but smug heel GM character is such a breath of fresh air after so many years of comically over-the-top villain authority figures. It’s a literal breath of fresh air in a way, considering that the authority in question was most often Vince “SHUT UP GODDAMNIT” McMahon, who regularly pushed people’s faces into his ass. Zack Ryder Sure Gets Chokeslammed A Lot The 2011 Rise of Ryder was pretty fun but he’s gotta find something to do other than fist pump and lashing out at women who reject him, or that dude’s just going to keep getting chokeslammed by life. The Kane-Randy Orton isn’t interesting me much so that’s about all as I can think of to say about them. This feud feels like it should’ve happened in 2006. That’s it for the first part of my RAW Review. Check back in later today for the headlining highlights! PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, cena, punk, henry, london

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There is dedication in the world of mixed martial arts, and then there is dedication of a Bocekian level. Bocekian? Consider it the new term for going above and beyond the call of duty in order to take yourself to the next step in your chosen profession. It’s named after UFC lightweight Mark Bocek, whose training camps with American Top Team in Florida were preceded by trips south from his native Ontario with his fiancé Mary.Simple enough, right? Many fighters travel to training camp. They don’t drive for three days though.“I wanted to have my car down there and I didn’t want to pay for a rental so I drove down like four or five times,” said Bocek, before adding, “and that was crazy. I will never do that again in my life.”He can laugh about it now, as he now trains at Montreal’s Tristar Gym, a more manageable five hour drive (four and a half by train), but back then, pursuing top-notch training with ATT was anything but a process to joke about.“If I’m not driving 12 hours a day, that’s a four day drive,” said Bocek of his road trips in “an old Eclipse.” “It was rough. It’s not even an SUV, so you’re getting some serious back pain after that.”But he did it, all the while continuing to build a UFC resume that started in July of 2007 and that has him currently sporting a 6-4 Octagon record. It’s not an easy life, and not one he’s exactly recruiting family members into. So when you ask for the reaction he gets when he discloses the literal lengths he’s gone to in order to train, he chuckles.“I guess I just wouldn’t tell them,” said Bocek. “Most people think we’re crazy, but most people think you’re crazy for what you do anyway. This is a crazy sport and I think it’s the toughest sport in the world. So I don’t start telling my nephews or little cousins ‘yeah, I want you to be a fighter when you’re older, and this is awesome.’ I’ve been training from a very young age, and I’ve known what I wanted from a very young age, but in the end, people see 15 minutes on TV and they have no idea what goes into this. I don’t tell everyone ‘yeah, you should be a fighter,’ but everyone wants to be a fighter or thinks they want to be a fighter. But they don’t really know.”This Saturday night, he’ll look to win his seventh UFC bout when he takes on returning John Alessio, and even though his fellow Canadian is a late replacement for the injured Matt Wiman, there’s no question that Bocek will be prepared for the bout given the folks he’s been spending his days with in Montreal. And if you thought his road adventures were stressful, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.“You wake up every morning and go to a gym where there’s ten bad dudes trying to KO you, it’s not that much fun,” said Bocek. “It’s pretty scary. You get in there and you rotate sparring rounds between Rory MacDonald and Nordine Taleb constantly, when I get into the cage, there’s always a chance anyone can get touched on the chin and KOed, but aside from that, I’ll be ready.”A black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kempo Karate, Bocek has been training since his teen years and fighting professionally since 2004. Yet despite all his experience, what keeps him sharp before the actual battle are the butterflies that hit his stomach when he gets ready to spar.“Sometimes it’s just like the first time,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t really want to do it because your body’s sore from the previous day and you haven’t really fully recovered, but I think in order to peak properly and recover that last week, week and a half out prior to your fight, up to that point, you’ve got to train like an engine.”And while the engine in his Eclipse may be gasping for air, the 30-year old Bocek’s fighting engine is fresh and getting fine tuned by Zahabi and company, and the union has been a fruitful one for Bocek, who just finished up his second full camp at Tristar.“After sitting down with Firas and talking with him and going out there and training with the guys, I liked his approach to mixed martial arts and strategies for MMA for a jiu-jitsu guy like myself,” he said. “I like that everything was specific, nothing was the same for every individual, and every athlete was looked at closely with a specific gameplan. And there’s a lot of good training within my weight class and also in the next weight class above me. So even though things can tend to be weird or awkward when you’re training with and competing with someone within your own weight class, you know you’re never gonna face a welterweight or a featherweight, so I can get a really good push in training either way and we’ve got (strength and conditioning coach Jonathan) Chaimberg out here, who’s top notch as well, so it was a really good fit and I’m really enjoying it.”Winner of three of his last four, Bocek appears to have gotten on a roll in the Octagon, and considering that his only loss in that stretch was a competitive decision loss to current lightweight champion Benson Henderson in April of 2011, a victory over Alessio could move him ever closer into the crowded title race. But the Toronto native refuses to look past April 21st.“Definitely not, because that’s kinda the attitude I had when I fought Benson,” he admits. “I was kinda looking past him, I was coming off a good win against (Dustin) Hazelett, he was coming off that loss to (Anthony) Pettis, and at the time, I overlooked him a little bit, and look where he is right now. It was a very big mistake. So right now, it’s just this fight. You know how it is; a good win throws you right back in the mix, rankings change from event to event and they don’t really mean much. But I’m really focused on this fight right now.”Bocek won’t even take solace in the fact that he gave the debuting former WEC champ a tough go in Henderson’s UFC debut. He only looks at what he could have done to turn the tables.“I would have liked to had not fought so much as a jiu-jitsu guy in that fight and maybe not be as desperate for the takedowns,” said Bocek of the Henderson bout. “I felt okay in that first round. I feel I won the first round and lost two and three. He clearly won the fight, but one guy wins, one guy loses, and the main thing is to learn and keep getting better. I lost many times in jiu-jitsu and came back.”And he’s come back from his MMA losses stronger than he was before he suffered them. That’s the key in this toughest of sports. You take the hits, shake them off, and move forward. It’s not easy, but nothing worth being good at is. And that just may be why this lightweight fighter keeps giving a Bocekian effort every day.“I enjoy this,” said Bocek. “It’s not always a pure passion; it’s a mix between passion and a job. I like competing, I like getting my arm raised, and nothing matches that feeling. I’ve been competing since I was a kid, it’s turned into my job now, and I definitely enjoy it, but it’s not something you can do forever, so I just want to keep fighting intelligently and do it as long as I can. I’ve never done it to keep coming in second place. Yeah, I have my losses, but I’m trying to learn and improve those weak areas and we’ll see how it goes. I don’t know what the future has, but I have a good feeling about this next fight.”

Posted in: fight, day, ’t, training, bocek

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Losing stinks. No matter whether it’s in checkers, video games, or a spelling bee, no one likes to be the one on that “other side.” Yet while most losing is done in private, the hearty souls who strap on four ounce gloves and put themselves on the line in front of thousands in arenas and hundreds of thousands more on television have even more to contend with should they leave with their hand unraised. And how they deal with it will determine their future success.Most put it out of their heads, choosing the ignorance is bliss defense. If I don’t remember it, it didn’t happen. Others search for excuses, some plausible, many not, in order to explain away something they believe shouldn’t have happened.Then there’s Brendan Schaub. After getting knocked out by heavyweight legend Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira at UFC 134 last August, he didn’t forget the second loss of his pro career, he didn’t try to explain away, and he certainly didn’t accept it. But what he did for the last eight months leading up to his return to the Octagon this Saturday against Ben Rothwell is embrace what he did wrong, figure it out from every possible angle, and do everything in his power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.And as soon as he forgets what happened on August 27, 2011, he just needs to turn around from the man in the mirror and look at the back of his bathroom door.“I hung up my wraps from Rio in my bathroom, and not a day goes by that I don’t look at those things to make sure that that never happens again,” said Schaub, whose analysis of the defeat began minutes after it was over, as he made his way through the bowels of HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro to find Nogueira.“I talked to Nogueira for about 30 minutes after that fight,” he said. “As soon as I lost, I went in the back and talked to him. I asked him when you were getting ready for this fight, what did you see? Strengths, weaknesses. When we were in the fight, what were you looking for? That’s something not a lot of guys can say they did, and I learned a ton talking to him.”It was a master class in MMA that you couldn’t find in any university, but when the talk was over, the 29-year old Schaub had a degree that only comes with a few punches, knees, and kicks along for the ride.“I’m not saying I’m a big star like LeBron James, but it’s like LeBron James going up to Michael Jordan like ‘hey man, give me some pointers on how to beat defenders or how to dunk the ball,’” he said. “Talk about one of the best to ever do it, and getting tips from him and then asking him what he did to prepare to beat me. For me, that stuff is priceless.”In just 11 pro fights, Schaub has gotten an education few heavyweights can claim. A finalist on season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter, the former University of Colorado fullback got a little too cocky after some early success against Roy Nelson, dropped his hands, and got stopped, but after that bout and knockout wins over Chase Gormley and Chris Tuchscherer, he was matched with former title challenger Gabriel Gonzaga, PRIDE star Mirko Cro Cop, and Nogueira in successive bouts. And after beating Gonzaga and Cro Cop, there was really no turning back for “The Hybrid.” He couldn’t go back to fighting journeymen or fellow prospects. He was in the rough part of the heavyweight neighborhood for good, and he knew it.“Whenever I go out in public or do those UFC Expos or signings, they come up to me and say ‘man, that Gonzaga fight was crazy,’ or ‘that Cro Cop fight was awesome,’ or ‘Nogueira, that fight didn’t go your way but you were doing great until you got caught; what was it like fighting in Brazil?’ No one asks me about the other fights. Your legacy is off the legends and the big names that you fight, and the tough opponents.”A win over Nogueira would have likely propelled Schaub into the title picture, and despite fighting a national icon in front of a Brazilian crowd cheering Nogueira on, the Denver product had success early, and just like in the Nelson fight, he was able to tag his foe and rock him before the end came.“I expected him (Nogueira) to take me down,” said Schaub. “He got in on that single leg and I pride myself on my takedown defense, so I remember getting out of it so easily and turning him against the cage, and I thought to myself ‘oh, he’s screwed now. He can’t take me down.’ And that’s when I got a little bit relaxed.” Schaub stops for a moment, almost as if he’s reliving the bout again.“That fight is one hundred percent on me and the mistakes I made,” he continues. “I’m not a guy that throws lead uppercuts. I’m just not because they expose you to an overhand right and that’s what he caught me with. I was out of my element a little bit when I threw that, he did a great job faking the takedown and coming over the top with it…”And the rest is history.“I felt like it was me against the world in there,” he said. “They (the fans) were so amped up for that fight, and I was like ‘man, you guys are cheering for this guy, and I’m gonna go out there and destroy him – watch this.’ And I came out guns a blazing and I left myself open for the counter. I haven’t fought like that in a while, probably not since the Roy fight, and look what happened in that one too. Now it’s more about being relaxed and kinda letting my hard work pay off.”After the bout, despite the outcome, he did keep to an old ritual he picked up, but this one had a little bit more meaning than before.“I’m smart with my money, I have a financial adviser, and I don’t go crazy with my bonus money or anything like that,” said Schaub. “But every time after a fight I buy myself a gift, whether it’s a watch or shoes, or something like that. And after this fight, I was just so disappointed in myself and I felt that I had let so many people down that I went and bought the best boxing gloves I could find, and I was back in the gym. And since I lost to Nogueira, every single day, no matter what I do in practice, I end the day with a hundred jabs.”Eight months makes for a lot of jabs, and though rumored bouts against Fabricio Werdum and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva never panned out, he will get a top-notch foe to throw hands with in Ben Rothwell, another veteran looking to teach the up and comer a painful lesson on fight night.  And while Schaub is the likely favorite, it’s a tune he doesn’t really like hearing before fights like this.“With those past fights, everyone was like ‘oh, they’re giving Schaub these easy fights, and he’s fighting these legends who are washed up,’” he said. “Really? Because the way I see it, they’re in a fight, and they know they have to train their asses off. So I get a tough Gonzaga, whose back is up against the cage, and I beat him. I get Cro Cop, and it was the best Cro Cop I’ve seen in the UFC and he gave me a helluva fight. That guy tore me up and I knock him out. They say ‘Ah, he just caught him.’ Then we get Nogueira. When’s the last time you saw Nogueira move like that? I thought it was Muhammad Ali out there. Then he goes out and does the same exact thing to Frank Mir, makes a huge mistake, but he did it to a guy who’s probably fighting for the title soon. I’m getting these vets with their backs against the wall because they know they have to beat me or have a good performance to keep their job, and it’s not easy. And I’m excited for the opportunity, but it’s by no means a gimme fight. You’re poking the bear when they give me these monsters.”Brendan Schaub isn’t complaining though. Fighting is what he does, and fighting the best is what gets him out of bed in the morning to look at those handwraps, remember what the gameplan is, and to practice it all day until it’s time for those hundred jabs. And on Saturday, he gets to show what he’s learned since last August.“I think it’s a good time to be a heavyweight,” he said. “There are some great matchups for me and I’m gonna be a tough fight for anyone. So I’m in a good spot, I’m gonna go out there and do my job, put a great performance on against Ben Rothwell, and I’m right back in there. I’m one win away from getting back on track, and I’m just excited for the upcoming matchups.”

Posted in: fight, nogueira, ’t, ’m, schaub

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The cheers had stopped. Then came the fight you didn’t see. Miguel Angel Torres had just defended his WEC bantamweight title for the third time, cementing his place on the mythical pound-for-pound list with a stirring five round slugfest against Japan’s Takeya Mizugaki.The 25 minute scrap at Chicago’s UIC Pavilion on April 5, 2009 was unquestionably a Fight of the Night winner, and praise rained down on the champion at the post-fight press conference just before he heard even more of it at an afterparty thrown in his honor. By the time it was over, it was 4am and Torres had just enough time to hit the hotel, grab his bags, and get to the airport to grab a plane to Mexico for a week of PR work.“As the plane came down, I guess the elevation made my eye swell shut, so I landed and got off the plane and it literally looked like I got mauled by a cougar or gorilla or something,” said Torres. “My eye was swelled shut and purple, I had scrapes all over my face, my lip was split open, and I was doing television interviews from Monday through Saturday non-stop. No amount of makeup or no sunglasses were gonna cover that up. I felt myself getting sore as the day went on. My ribs, my hands, my feet, my shins, pretty much everything hurt. Even my hair hurt.” It’s the side of the game few, if any, see. I once asked the late Arturo Gatti what the morning after was like following one of his epic wars, and he laughed. “Well, I don’t see the daylight because my eyes are swelled up.”When repeating this quote to Torres, he knew exactly what Gatti was talking about. The East Chicago, Indiana native told of there being no soap at the venue that night a little over three years ago, forcing him to water himself down just to get the blood off.“It was that hectic,” he said. “I pretty much felt like s**t for a good four or five days, I got home Saturday, and I wasn’t right for about three of four weeks. In the middle of that I’m teaching class, doing appearances, doing shows for ESPN, and it’s already the middle of June, end of June, and they’re telling me I’m gonna fight Brian Bowles in August, and I basically had six weeks to train for the fight and it was a learning curve for me.” As he puts it now, “I didn’t know I could say no to certain things. I was saying yes to everything and traveling for all these different things. I know better now, but I wouldn’t take that experience back. I learned a lot from that. I learned who my friends are and what I’m really about, and it’s led me to the path that I’m on now, I’m in a good place, and I’m very happy.”Plenty of road has been traveled for him to get to this place, days away from an important UFC 145 clash with rising star Michael McDonald this Saturday in Atlanta. Torres would get knocked out by Bowles in their August 2009 bout, losing his title and the air of invincibility that accompanied a 17 fight winning streak. He dropped his next fight as well, getting bloodied and submitted by Joseph Benavidez. He would switch training camps, eventually settling in with Firas Zahabi at the Tristar Gym in Montreal, and he has won three of his last four bouts. Last December though, an off-color tweet got him ousted from the UFC, and while he was brought back in less than a month, the time outside the organization felt much longer to Torres.“It was short, but it was the longest period of my life,” he said. “Every day felt like a year and I had no idea what was gonna happen. That’s what made it seem like it was so long. You don’t know what’s gonna happen the next day, and you’re just trying to correct things. You’re getting advice from a hundred different people a day, and phone calls and emails, and you should do this or this, and it’s one of those frustrating things, but everything happens for a reason, and it made me a stronger and better person in the end, and all I can do is thank God and thank my manager and all my friends and supporters who stuck through everything with me.”Through it all, Torres still has his sense of humor, still has a healthy dose of irreverence, and still has the ability to be the best bantamweight in the world. But life isn’t as simple as it used to be when he was coming up on the Midwest circuit and taking on all comers with a style that most would deem reckless. Even in his WEC days, no matter who stood across from him, Torres was not only willing, but expecting, to make it a war. And while that’s fun for those on the outside to watch, it doesn’t spell a long career for the one throwing and taking the punches.“People don’t understand what it is to win a fight and come out banged up for a month,” Torres explains. “You come back and you’ve got to fight again in three or four months. You gotta get back on the ball and you just can’t take two or three months off and recover and get back and start training again. You gotta be done with your fight, be healthy, get back and see what you did wrong and see what you did right, fix what you did wrong and get back in training and get better before you start training for a fight again. Being in a fight shouldn’t be getting in shape. You should always be in shape. But you can’t be in shape when you’re hurt.”When you’re a fighter, these things just become part of the everyday routine. It’s an inconvenience, not a deal breaker. Torres was no different, but one day Zahabi sat his new charge down and gave him a heartfelt talking to.“Firas basically told me that if I kept fighting the way that I was fighting, that I was not gonna last long,” said the 31-year old Torres. “You can’t make a war out of every fight you go into because your body’s not gonna hold up. There’s always gonna be a younger, stronger kid out there that wants to go to war too that’s not gonna have the injuries you have and the stress you have. He made me look at fighting differently, and he brought my daughter up. He said ‘look, you have a daughter. You’re not gonna fight forever. You gotta be healthy because when you retire you don’t want to have a messed up head, and be punch drunk, and have your hands all messed up.’ And he struck a chord with me because he was one hundred percent right.” Four year old Yelana is the light of her father’s life. Fight mode Torres turns into dad Torres as soon as the topic of his daughter comes up, and he admits that while being in Montreal for training camp, “The biggest problem I’ve had is missing my daughter. She’s four, she’s a beast. (Laughs) I don’t want my daughter to grow up. I wish she could stay four forever.”Any father would likely agree with Torres, as these are great years to see children go from toddlers to that next stage of life, where they actually start developing into little people. That makes the time away even more difficult, but Torres knows that what he’s sacrificing now is for his daughter’s benefit later.“I talk to her on the phone often, and she knows that I’m training and she knows what I’m doing,” he said. “She thinks I’m friends with Iron Man, and I tell her that Iron Man’s my best friend. (Laughs) For her birthday party I dressed up as Iron Man and made an appearance. She knows I’m training for a fight, and of course she misses me, but she doesn’t have a good concept of time yet. So I tell her I’ll be home in a month, and she’s like ‘tomorrow?’ It’s really hard because she loves me and wants to see me, and it’s hard being away from her, but I know after my fights, every fight that I have, every purse I bring home is change in the bank for her and for her future, and I’m gonna be able to afford her certain things that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise, and when her college is paid off in a couple years and she has her future set, she’ll grow up and look back and be able to know that I took care of her.”If Torres’ upcoming opponent, Michael McDonald, was in college, he would be approaching graduation day shortly. Instead, “Mayday” has opted for the school of hard knocks, where a win over the former WEC champ would definitely afford him the MMA equivalent of Magna Cum Laude status. It’s an odd situation to say the least, with Torres “official” pro debut coming in March of 2000, when McDonald was just nine years old. If that won’t make you feel old, nothing will.“I don’t think it’s weird at all,” said Torres. “I know he started early; I think he was 14 when he started competing, so it’s not weird at all. I think the biggest thing is the experience level. I train with a lot of younger guys that are super tough and they’re really good, and all my training partners are his age. They’re 19 to 22, 23, with great wrestling, great jiu-jitsu, great striking. They’ve got explosion and they’ve got youth on their side. But the one thing that always gets me through is my experience. And I know this fight’s gonna be super tough, and I’m not looking past him at all. Everyone’s telling me ‘oh, you can’t look past this kid,’ and for me, every fight I have is a title fight, and this guy’s coming out to take my head off. I know he’s taking this fight super serious, and anybody that fights me is gonna try to make a name off of beating me.”It’s the curse of being the man who once ruled the division, the grand master of the bantamweight class who basically put the 135 pounders on the United States map during his time as king. Yet as Torres explains, he’s always had a target on him back.“I’ve been that guy forever,” he said. “Even before I had a record, I was the small guy that everybody wanted to beat up, and then when I was winning all my fights, I was the undefeated guy that everybody wanted to beat, and after I lost, I was the legend that everybody wanted to beat again. I’ve always been the guy that somebody’s wanted to beat up, and I’m totally used to that and there’s no pressure at all from that. For me, a fight’s a fight, and I’ve never lost a fight that I’ve trained a hundred percent for. If I was healthy and trained a hundred percent, I’ve never lost a fight. I’m totally healthy, and this is the first time I’ve gone into it with no stress from my home life and my gym. I hired my sister, she’s been doing a great job since January, and I’ve had not one problem, not one phone call with something going wrong. So there’s no stress from home, I’ve been training clean for the past month and a half, and stresswise and mentally, I’m free to train and just be able to enjoy myself out here and do what I gotta do to get ready for my fight, and I haven’t had that before, even when I was home.”After over a decade full of battles, some more taxing than others, Torres sounds like he has finally figured things out in this Rubik’s Cube of sports. But at what cost to the fans eager to see him throw down like he did with Mizugaki and so many others? It’s a question many have asked when looking at his UFC decision wins over Antonio Banuelos and Nick Pace, fights in which he was disciplined and effective, but not as visceral with his attack as he used to be. It’s a topic Torres has grown tired of.“There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and people were really criticizing me, saying ‘oh, you’re scared and you’re ultra-passive now,’ and all these things, and that’s not the case at all,” he said. “When you learn a new style, it takes time to develop that style and mold it in and mesh it with your old style. I’m still naturally aggressive inside, and I’m more aggressive than people think. I’m that pissed off Mexican everybody used to watch. I fight myself a lot to control how I fight and how I approach my bouts. But Firas is a very smart guy, I trust him with my life and my career, and even though everybody puts me down or says they want to see the old Torres or whatever, I know what’s right for my daughter, for my gym, for my students, and for my future, and no one’s gonna send me any other way.”So what way is Miguel Angel Torres heading? Back to the top of course, and when he gets there, he can’t wait to celebrate with the faithful and scoff at the non-believers.“It’s always sweet, but I think the second time around is the sweetest,” he said. “I’m always the underdog and I always look at myself like that. Even when I was on top, I was the underdog. It comes natural to me, I’m used to it, and I’m most comfortable when I’m the underdog, and I’m the most dangerous. I have a ton of supporters that I love and I appreciate, and I have a ton of haters that have no idea what it takes to do what I do or live how I live. Everything I do is to prove someone right, or prove someone wrong.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, torre

Read the full article at UFC

Gina Carano did an interview with Crave to promote her Actionfest Action Star of the Year award, and was nice enough to answer a few questions about the sport she dumped for Hollywood: You haven’t announced whether or not you’re retiring from MMA yet, have you?No, I haven’t. I think it’s really nice for me to get into this new career. I know I can’t make a living fighting, nor would I want to make a living fighting for the rest of my life. Plus it’s been a decade now. I don't know if you’ve been reporting or doing something for 10 years, but after you do it long enough and you find something else to put your energy towards, it’s just like starting over but it’s fresh and you have the energy all of a sudden to do it....With fighting, do you have to declare you’re in or retired? Can’t you just fight if you want and take a break if you want?That’s the way I look at it. I don’t want to be one of those people that says, “Oh, I retire. Okay, I’m back. Oh, I retire. Okay, I’m back.” I’m just like okay, this is what I’m doing right now. Who knows what’s going to come after it? I really haven’t really gotten that far yet. Damn you Gina with your reasonable responses. Why can't you just come back and get smashed by Ronda Rousey for less money than you're making doing movies? You suck.

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, gina carano, ’m, haven ’t

Read the full article at Fightlinker

Gina Carano did an interview with Crave to promote her Actionfest Action Star of the Year award, and was nice enough to answer a few questions about the sport she dumped for Hollywood: You haven’t announced whether or not you’re retiring from MMA yet, have you?No, I haven’t. I think it’s really nice for me to get into this new career. I know I can’t make a living fighting, nor would I want to make a living fighting for the rest of my life. Plus it’s been a decade now. I don't know if you’ve been reporting or doing something for 10 years, but after you do it long enough and you find something else to put your energy towards, it’s just like starting over but it’s fresh and you have the energy all of a sudden to do it....With fighting, do you have to declare you’re in or retired? Can’t you just fight if you want and take a break if you want?That’s the way I look at it. I don’t want to be one of those people that says, “Oh, I retire. Okay, I’m back. Oh, I retire. Okay, I’m back.” I’m just like okay, this is what I’m doing right now. Who knows what’s going to come after it? I really haven’t really gotten that far yet. Damn you Gina with your reasonable responses. Why can't you just come back and get smashed by Ronda Rousey for less money than you're making doing movies? You suck.

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, gina carano, ’m, haven ’t

Read the full article at Fightlinker

In a little less than three weeks welterweights Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck will meet in a featured fight at UFC on FOX 3. Though both men were accomplished amateur wrestlers and possess knockout power, the similarities stop there with personalities as different as their trademark hair (Hendricks’ being on his chin of course). Koscheck has earned a reputation for himself as a cocky-more-than-confident competitor who loves basking in media attention and belittling opponents when possible, while Hendricks’ resides on the opposite end of the spectrum as a modest man from the Midwest who simply loves the thrill of the game. The 28-year old Oklahoman recently sat down with Rebellion MMA Radio where he updated fans on his current status, the excitement clearly evident in his voice. “Training is going great. Everything is lining up the way that it should. It’s starting to get to where I can do more and more and more,” explained Hendricks. “I’ve done so much talking for this fight, more than I ever have, and I’m just ready to get into the Octagon and see him across the cage. That’s really all I care about right now.” When he steps foot in the infamous eight-sided structure on May 5 he’ll do so on a three-fight winning streak including a twelve-second knockout of perennial contender Jon Fitch this past December. The ability to flatten Fitch might leave some fighters gunning to do the same in their next outing but Hendricks isn’t about to let one brutal finish define his overall skillset. “Before the Jon Fitch fight not a lot of people knew who I was, not a lot of people knew my power,” said Hendricks, pointing to the increased awareness surrounding how dangerous his hands are. “And I definitely didn’t think that was gonna happen….but I also know that, in the third round, if I need a knockout I have that power,” Hendricks continued, confident in the knowledge he can always turn an adversary’s lights out at any moment even if he’s been outclassed prior to landing a fight-ending punch. Hendricks also avoids the pressure to perform based on others’ expectations, such as solely being a knockout artist, by tuning out a lot of the static surrounding the sport altogether. According to the 12-1 fighter, he already has enough on his plate to lend time or attention to strangers’ opinions. “All that stuff is poison. Trash-talk and all that kind of stuff, it makes you think about everything BUT what you need to do,” the bearded brawler revealed. “I don’t read articles, I don’t do those kinds of things, because my main focus is one thing – I’ve gotta win that night. If you sit there and start reading stuff, and you read it and you read it and you read it, after three months you might believe it. That’s something I don’t want to fall into.” Beyond sticking to his general gameplan in match-ups rather than resting on the laurels of his win over Fitch, another reason Hendricks may not rely purely on stand-up against Koscheck has to do with the belief he’s superior to anything the Ultimate Fighter alumnus has to offer on the mat. While both men won national titles in college, Hendricks’ repeated the feat and nearly did so a third time. “I definitely believe that I’ve got the better wrestling. I wasn’t a one-time (champion) – I was a two-time and I lost my senior year match in the finals so I had a chance to be a three-time national champion,” stated Hendricks on the matter. “Plus, not only that, but I only live four hours away from Stillwater so I get to go to Stillwater every three weeks and spend a week up there.” “Nothing’s better than getting a week of college wrestling in. Whenever I come back from that I feel like I’m in so much better shape,” he concluded, mentioning the lack of extended breaks in wrestling practice in addition to the hunger of college athletes 6-10 years younger who want to say they outperformed someone with his credentials. Check out the full interview with Hendricks, as well as an interview with Efrain Escudero and UFC on Fuel 2 talk with Five Ounce regulars Bryan Levick-Mitch Ciccarelli below: (Hendricks material starts at approximately 57:00) PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: josh koscheck, ’t, i ’m, knockout, hendrick

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

WHY FIGHTING?“I just really love to fight. I’ve always been a fighter, but I fell in love with the sport after I graduated from college. I met some guys who were doing it, and ever since then I’ve been in love with it.”WINNING THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 2“I surprised a lot of people, including (UFC President) Dana White. A lot of people thought that I didn’t have any talent at all. See, I always had confidence in myself, but the better I did, people would say ‘wow’ and they just couldn’t believe it. I knew my own potential, but they didn’t know, so it was a big surprise to them.”EMBRACING THE SUFFERING“My mindset is, I’m gonna try to go where my opponent doesn’t want to go – we’ll see who can suffer the longest. That’s basically it, and if he can outlast me in suffering, then he wins the fight. But it’s a mindset to drive yourself to suffer. My wrestling coaches used to call it mental toughness. They would dog us out in practice and make us do things that we possibly couldn’t do, but they made us feel like we had to do it. They’d say ‘mental toughness, mental toughness’ and you learn to like the suffering - you learn to welcome that feeling when it comes. A lot of people run from it because they want to start feeling okay again, but when you embrace the suffering, you just ride it out, and pretty soon, you’ve outlasted your opponent.”DON’T SLEEP ON “SUGA”“I definitely think people sleep on me. They don’t quite understand how I do the things that I do – some people respect it, but they don’t understand it. They say, ‘I don’t see how this kid can win, I don’t see what he does that people haven’t beat him yet.’ And they’ve counted me out many times, and they continue to sleep on me. I don’t know what I have to do to break out of it, but I’m not gonna worry about it anymore. I’m just gonna do me and just let my work speak for itself.”ON BEING A ROLE MODEL“I’m very comfortable with the fact that I bring an African-American face to the UFC. It’s excellent if black kids, or any kids for that matter, see me and are inspired by what I do. I’m very excited to be a good representative for black people and a good role model in general. I enjoy it because I know it’s not gonna be around forever and who knows how long it can last. I know everybody doesn’t always have this chance to experience this, so I feel like I’m experiencing a once in a lifetime thing and I’m just enjoying it as long as I can.”ON RESPECT“I think it’s kinda messed up that sometimes I’m just passed over, but that’s what I call soul food. It’s food for my soul and it helps me grow to be stronger than I normally would if everyone else had been behind me the whole time. But I definitely believe that if I keep going in there and showing people what’s inside of me – what I can do and what I’m capable of doing – it will definitely let them say ‘wow, I was wrong about him.’”ON LOSING“To lose is a very humbling experience. You’ve got to break yourself back down to see what happened, and ultimately you just try to move forward. When I was younger I would cry and get upset, but as I got older and matured, I understood what it meant to lose and I got a better handle on it. I said ‘okay, I lost, this is why I lost, and I’m never gonna let that happen again.’”FIGHTING ADVERSITY“Sometimes when you’re down in a fight, you just gotta say ‘I’m gonna go for broke and whatever happens happens. If he’s able to withstand this or dominate me in any fashion, then he’s the better man this night.’ But you know what, he’s gonna feel me. That’s my biggest thing; when I’m down and out, he’s gonna feel me. And then from there it just comes together.”HIS REASONING FOR TAKING THE LIDDELL BOUT“I’ve always said that I wanted to be the best and that I wanted to leave my mark in this sport. The only way you can do that is by facing the best. I’m not a fighter who wants to fill himself with false hope that I’m something that I’m not. I think I’m the best, so I’m gonna go out there, fight the best, and test myself.”ON FIGHTING AND BEATING LIDDELL“There was no pressure to take him down. I was confident enough in my standup that we could go blow for blow and I was not gonna be afraid to take a hit from him and just do it. You hear people talk about his punching power, and you try not to let it really resonate in your mind because the last thing you want to be doing is going out there afraid of your opponent’s punch. Then you’ll be fighting a scared fight.”ON THE SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE MMA WORLD“My intention when I threw the punch was to throw it as fast as I can. And I threw it, it went through, and I was gonna follow up with the left hook, but he was already going down. And after the left hook went by, I was like ‘oh no, he fell down. I’ve gotta hurry up and finish him.’ But it seemed like it took forever for me to come out of that left hook to turn around and get on him. It was so quiet in there, I could hear a pin drop. The fight was over, Herb Dean had stopped it, and I was in shock because everybody was so quiet.”POST-LIDDELL“I’m definitely able to enjoy the moment, and everybody’s so excited about it, but I try not to live in the moment. I don’t want this to be the only thing I’ve ever done when it comes to my career. I want this to be the beginning stage, where people start to really see my capabilities. I’m trying to walk a fine line – yeah, I enjoyed it and it was a good experience, but I’m not truly satisfied, because satisfaction is something you get once you’re ready to be done because you have fulfillment. If you don’t have that fulfillment, you’re always able to go on and reach new heights. And that’s what I want to do.”ON HIS TITLE SHOT“It feels like it was a long journey, but it’s a wonderful thing and it feels great. I can’t go ahead and make it too big of a thing though. It has to be just another fight for me. And that’s how I’m gonna approach it. I’d love to be a title holder, and whether I go out there and win this time or not, I’m gonna be a title holder. It’s a matter of not putting too much pressure on myself, enjoying the moment, and going out there and trying to have fun with it.”ON WINNING THE BELT“Even when I won the belt, it was a strange feeling because I thought that I would have that euphoric feeling – like you see people dropping to the ground and crying, they’re so super excited, and I didn’t feel that. It was strange and I’m kinda disappointed because I didn’t genuinely feel like that. It just felt like another fight. I’m very proud that I’ve achieved what I have, but at the same time, I didn’t feel anything different. I thought that by winning the belt I’d have super powers or something. (Laughs) But nothing happened – I didn’t gain any special knowledge or anything.”ON GETTING THROUGH THE TOUGH FIGHTS“In my mind, I say ‘there’s no way that I’m losing this fight. No matter how bad I’m feeling, I’m just thinking the whole time that I’m in a fight and getting pushed that ‘I’m not losing, I’m not losing.’ I just say that over and over to myself. When things are getting hard or I’m fading out, I just say that and it works out.”THE FINE LINE BETWEEN THINKING AND ACTING“There is a fine line and you can’t be all in your head. You can’t be so in your head that you’re thinking ‘oh, what if this don’t happen, what if this happens?’ You have to let go and relax enough to take some chances. When you’re so much in your head that you’re worried about winning and losing, you don’t pull the trigger sometimes when you should because you’re thinking ‘well, what if I get caught?’”ON LIFE AS THE UNDERDOG“I always keep in my mindset, no matter what, that I am the underdog. And being the underdog comes more from a training perspective than as how others view you, because if you train as if you are the underdog, then you’re doing the little things. You’re doing the stuff when you don’t feel like doing it and that’s what being the underdog really means. Because when somebody says you’re the underdog, it’s more a motivational factor to say ‘oh yeah? I’m gonna show them. Let me go do this extra work or make sure I do this a little bit better.’ As long as you take that mentality of doing that extra work or doing the things that you feel that you need to get to that next level, then I think you can still fight from that position.”IF THIS IS THE END…“In this game, you’re always one fight away from your last fight. Each and every time I go to training camp, I train as if it’s my last fight because one of these times it very well may be, and who knows if this is gonna be the last time. So I enjoy myself the whole way.”ON THE FANS’ MISCONCEPTIONSI think sometimes that once the fans have their mind made up about you, that’s it, and I think a lot of it comes from that Matt Hughes thing (during season two of The Ultimate Fighter), where he said I was cocky and that I like to showboat, and I think that stigma has followed me. No matter what I do, they see my personality as concrete, and there’s no changing it for a lot of people. A lot of people are very lazy with their opinions, and once their mind is made up one way, they either refuse or it’s very hard for them to go another way. But I take the good with the bad, and the good thing is this – I’ve never met a fan that didn’t like me.”REALITY CHECK“Even though I was winning, I was losing all along, and the reason I say that is because the way I was winning was not really my fighting style. It’s good to be able to mix it up and be able to exchange and go toe-to-toe with anybody, but at the same time, you should never get away from your base and what you are. If you do, it’s just a matter of time before you get found out and you lose. I’m a wrestler for the most part; why am I trying to extend my game to go way past where I feel comfortable and where I can excel?”COMING BACK FROM HIS FIRST LOSS“Coming back you always have questions, questions about your ability to fight still and about the things that led up to you losing. So I had a lot of those questions answered (against Thiago Silva) and it was positive because I felt like I just had a bad night (against Lyoto Machida). And that may happen in this sport, but I was able to move on and move forward, and by having that fight I was able to get a lot of those things out of the way. Going back to the same exact Octagon that I got knocked out in, in the same exact place, same exact everything, it was kinda like I had a lot to overcome but if I overcame it, I should be ready for anything.”THE ULTIMATE GOAL“I want fans to get that feeling you get when you’re on the edge of your seat, you can’t quite get up, and you’ve got the butterflies in your stomach, and you’re not even out there. I want them to feel that, I want them to feel the passion from watching me fight. That’s the most exciting thing I think we, as fighters, or anybody in the entertainment industry, can give to the fans. That feeling that they are there.”  

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, thing, ’m

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Michael McDonald has been looking forward to fighting Miguel Torres for a couple of years now.The 21-year-old bantamweight prospect, viewed by many as a future champion and one of the most talented young fighters in the sport today, recalls watching Torres during his ascent to the top of the 135-pound division in the WEC; the days when Torres was a champion, a fixture on pound-for-pound lists, and in the midst of an impressive winning streak.Most young fighters look at a champion on the television and hope to one day emulate what they see. Let it be said that Michael McDonald isn’t “most young fighters.”“I watched Miguel Torres when he fought Chase Beebe when he first burst onto the scene, and he won the title. I remember when he fought him, and when he fought Manny Tapia — when he was the best in the world in peoples’ eyes — I remember watching him at that time and saying, `I think I can beat him.’ I didn’t say, `In two years I think I can beat him.’ I said, `Right now, me being me, not compromising a single thing for his style — just me being me — I think I can beat him right now.’”McDonald will get the chance to look across 32 feet of canvas at Torres Saturday night when the two 135-pound standouts go toe-to-toe to kick off the UFC 145 pay-per-view broadcast. “I’ve just wanted to fight this guy for such a long time. When he fought Manny Tapia, I made the decision that I wanted to fight both of them. I’ve fought Manny already; I got that one out of the way. Now this is my chance at the second notch.”McDonald dispatched Tapia on his way to becoming the youngest fighter in the WEC at the time, handing the former title contender a first round loss in February 2010. A little more than two years later, he’s poised to complete the double, and take the next step towards becoming a challenger for the bantamweight title.To the majority of observers, each of McDonald’s trio of wins inside the Octagon has been impressive. He won Fight of the Night honors in his UFC debut against Edwin Figueroa, and then took a split decision from the durable Chris Cariaso at UFC 130 last May. Back in November, McDonald delivered his most dynamic performance to date, stopping Alex Soto in just 56 seconds at UFC 139 in San Jose.While fans and critics praise his performances, the ultra-competitive Modesto, California native has very different feelings about his first three appearances on the biggest stage in the sport.“I’m not happy with my progression so far, and what I’ve shown people in the UFC about my skills,” McDonald says, the disappointment in his voice clinging to his words.“Those are the only two decisions that I’ve been to in my life,” he says of the fights with Figueroa and Cariaso, “and I don’t think that it’s just because the competition is getting better. I really think that if I’m on my game, I can finish just about anyone on the planet in the first round. If I’m on my game.“Someone might say I’m cocky, overconfident, whatever — who cares? That’s what I think about myself, and I’m going to get the chance to prove it to myself whether I can or not, so we’ll see. I want to be able to prove it to myself, but I’m not happy with how I’ve done so far. I’m happy that I’ve made some money. I’m happy that I’ve gotten to invest that money in some good things. I’m happy that I’m winning, but I’m not happy overall with my performance.”That might sound like a fighter being overly self-critical, perhaps even put-on to some people, but it’s the sincere assessment of an athlete who gauges his performance not by the applause he receives from the audience or the praise he gets in print.“I’ve always been a competition addict — anything that I could compete in, I would — and the reason why I fell in love with fighting was that I was good at it, and it was the most pure form of competition that I had found.“Competition for me, and the fighting thing, it’s all just what I feel I can do. I’m competitive with myself,” explains McDonald, who speaks in a reflective, thoughtful cadence more customary of someone twice his age.“I’ll have a problem or feel like something is troubling me from training that needs to be fixed, and someone will come to me and say, `Your opponent’s doing this. Look how much he’s training. He’s going to beat you up if you’re not training. Who cares about this little problem? Go do this!’ and that will piss me off because I don’t care what they’re doing.“I don’t care what they’re like, what their fighting style is, or who it is — I have a problem right now, and I need help with that problem. It’s not about what they’re doing, it’s about what I’m doing, and I’m going to do the best that I can do no matter what they’re doing.“If I can do better, than I should do better,” McDonald continues, his conviction radiating through the phone. “I don’t need to look at someone else, and see how good they’re doing or how lazy I am just to motivate me to do better. If I can do better, than I’m going to do better, and do the best I possibly can."I feel like when I don’t compare myself to other people, but just say that I’m going to do the best that I can, that’s when I work harder. Not when I look at my opponent and say, `He’s not working at all; I’m so far ahead of him.’ It’s just whatever I can do. It is strictly my competition with myself, and proving to myself that I can do what I think I can.”That’s what frustrates him about the fights with Figueroa and Cariaso. Despite coming away from both outings victorious, McDonald knows he made mistakes in each contest, and as such, feels little satisfaction from the scorecards ending up in his favor.“It’s not about what other people think: it’s about what I think about myself, and how I know I did. It’s not about whether I won or not; it’s about could I have done better. When I look at the Edwin Figueroa fight or the Chris Cariaso fight, I don’t talk about the problems in those fights, but there were an incredible amount of problems, and I could have done much better.”McDonald was happy with his performance against Alex Soto, however, but not for the reasons you might think.“My last fight was the first kind of glimpse of me feeling good. I felt great for that fight, and every time he came in, I touched him. That’s what I like to do. It wasn’t just that one punch that I hit either — every time he came in, I hit him, and didn’t get hit, and that’s what I like to do. That makes me happy, not the win or the knockout.”When the UFC flyweight division was introduced, the bantamweight ranks lost two of its elite contenders, Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez. With champion Dominick Cruz having already dispatched the majority of the remaining contenders, a victory over Torres could put McDonald in line for a shot at the bantamweight title against the winner of the Cruz-Faber trilogy fight that goes down later this summer.Just like Tapia and Torres were, both Faber and Cruz are on McDonald’s list of competitors he’d like to challenge himself against.“It’s not that I don’t like the guys or anything like that — I want to fight them because I think that they’re great, but I still think that I’m better,” he says, clarifying the competitive motivation that drives him. “I still think that I can beat them, even though they are great; that’s why I want to fight them.“I want to fight a lot of good people. I want to fight Urijah (Faber). I wanted to fight Joseph Benavidez. I want to fight (Dominick) Cruz. I want to fight Eddie Wineland. I want to fight Renan Barao. There are a lot of people that I want to fight just for that simple reason that I think that I can beat them.”McDonald is cognizant that his career is only in its infancy, and that he has the luxury of being patient, rather than having to chase the biggest names at every turn. At the same time, the competitive side of him is itching to prove that despite being the most junior man in the bantamweight division, he just might be the best of the bunch as well.“I don’t want to be stupid because I do realize that I am 21-years old, and if everything goes perfectly, I’ve got another 15 years in this sport. That’s almost as long as I’ve been alive. I have a long way to go, and there’s still so much that I have to learn. “I’m not going to run forward and say, `I want to fight all the time, and give me the best fighters ever.’ I’m not going to sandbag and say, `Give me the easiest opponent’ either. I’m ready for anyone that they throw at me.“I’m real about knowing that I’m 21 — I’m young, and I’ve got a long way to go until I’m the best that I can be, but I feel that right now, I am able to compete with the top fighters in the world at 21-years old.”Even if the day comes that McDonald rests atop the bantamweight rankings, he still won’t be done competing with himself, and that what makes it all the more likely that he’ll get there, sooner rather than later.“The competition with everyone else is secondary,” McDonald reiterates. “It’s not about saying, `I’ve got a long way to go until I’m the best in the world,’ it’s `I’ve got a long way to go until I’m the best that I can be.’” 

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In a recent interview with SiriusXM Fight Club, I was asked how I 'personally' felt about the use of PED’s in MMA, and I pretty much responded that it doesn’t bother me (as a fan) whatsoever. Personally, I just want to see fights happen. It’s up to the commissions to deem those contests “fair” and the promoters to reprimand fighters who violate their organization’s policies. For all the people who took to Twitter and asked if I was serious, and how I could condone cheating. Relax, because Junior dos Santos doesn’t care either. The dude said so in this interview with Globo. Even if Alistair Overeem had the testosterone level of a sex-starved United States Marine Corps military base, he’d fight any human the UFC puts in front of him. If the fight happens I will fight with pleasure, but I can tell if it is proved that the use of illegal substances is disrespect to the sport and something unfair to me. The ratio of testosterone in his body that there may be increased by 30% his strength and aggressiveness of it, I was told people who know the subject. Will really be unfair fight, but as a fighter will be ready to face anyone. If the athletic commission and the UFC want I'll fight him. I am a fighter and will be there to fight, but it is sure to be disrespect to MMA and how serious is this sport. This will also be unfair, it will be unfair to me. I've never used these devices to gain strength. I think the right would do blood tests on wrestlers as is done in the Olympics, not the urine, since the blood is easier to detect these illegal substances. We want to know who the best really. No use to be the best liar. Being a world champion making false use of a lot of drugs, that's not being champion. I can clearly say that I am the champion without ever having the use of any illegal artifice in order to get there. I favor more rigorous tests to assess whether someone is doped. It has to be a clean sport and these tests should occur more surprises. If Overeem is more aggressive and stronger the more he will resist blows and it will be difficult for me. If I lose will be unfair. He will not have fought better than I have fought doped. In a world where we can’t draw the line between PEDs and tainted horse meat, Junior dos Santos stands alone in a UFC Octagon awaiting an opponent. The dude is totally willing to sign one of those release forms they give you before you go on the nuttiest ride at your local amusement park. He just wants to fight, and you should bow your heads in honor of his rawesomeness.

Posted in: fight, overeem, ’t, use, face anyone

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In a recent interview with SiriusXM Fight Club, I was asked how I 'personally' felt about the use of PED’s in MMA, and I pretty much responded that it doesn’t bother me (as a fan) whatsoever. Personally, I just want to see fights happen. It’s up to the commissions to deem those contests “fair” and the promoters to reprimand fighters who violate their organization’s policies. For all the people who took to Twitter and asked if I was serious, and how I could condone cheating. Relax, because Junior dos Santos doesn’t care either. The dude said so in this interview with Globo. Even if Alistair Overeem had the testosterone level of a sex-starved United States Marine Corps military base, he’d fight any human the UFC puts in front of him. "If the fight happens I will fight with pleasure, but I can tell if it is proved that the use of illegal substances is disrespect to the sport and something unfair to me. The ratio of testosterone in his body that there may be increased by 30% his strength and aggressiveness of it, I was told people who know the subject. Will really be unfair fight, but as a fighter will be ready to face anyone. If the athletic commission and the UFC want I'll fight him. I am a fighter and will be there to fight, but it is sure to be disrespect to MMA and how serious is this sport. This will also be unfair, it will be unfair to me. I've never used these devices to gain strength. I think the right would do blood tests on wrestlers as is done in the Olympics, not the urine, since the blood is easier to detect these illegal substances. We want to know who the best really. No use to be the best liar. Being a world champion making false use of a lot of drugs, that's not being champion. I can clearly say that I am the champion without ever having the use of any illegal artifice in order to get there. I favor more rigorous tests to assess whether someone is doped. It has to be a clean sport and these tests should occur more surprises. If Overeem is more aggressive and stronger the more he will resist blows and it will be difficult for me. If I lose will be unfair. He will not have fought better than I have fought doped." In a world where we can’t draw the line between PEDs and tainted horse meat, Junior dos Santos stands alone in a UFC Octagon awaiting an opponent. The dude is totally willing to sign one of those release forms they give you before you go on the nuttiest ride at your local amusement park. [b]He just wants to fight, and you should bow your heads in honor of his rawesomeness.

Posted in: fight, ’t, do, use, face anyone

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If you’re searching Clinton, Iowa for Eric Wisely on a Friday or Saturday night, don’t look for him at the local gentleman’s club, as he’s had some bad experiences in venues like that.“Every time I went, I got into a fight, sometimes twice,” said Wisely of his two visits to the club Amsterdam, but get your mind out of the gutter. The East Moline, Illinois native wasn’t fighting over Daisy May on stage three. Instead, it was at the Amsterdam where five years ago his friend Karl Kelly thought that he would be a good fit in the fights the club used to present.“It was always packed,” said Wisely of the club. “A buddy of mine always knew that I was athletic, but I’m not a people person. (Laughs) I’m surprised to this day that I’m in front of millions of people and I couldn’t go in front of the classroom and talk to 20 people, let alone take most of my clothes off and get into a cage with another guy.”But he did, and immediately, he was hooked. So what kept him interested in this new world of mixed martial arts.“I won,” he deadpans. “And being competitive, everything I do, even if it’s for fun, it’s still as hard as I can do it, and it definitely happened a lot quicker than I thought. Once you got in there and the fight started, it was like bam, it was over. It surprised me, but I think I liked it at the same time.”By the end of 2006, his fighting in amateur bouts led to a start as a professional, and he was off to the races, learning on the job in a Midwest circuit that will keep you busy while also separating the men from the boys. Soon enough, Wisely showed that he was one of the top prospects in the area, beating most of the local talent, and when he lost, he was never finished, even going three rounds with current UFC featherweight contender Erik Koch in 2007.But the big shows just weren’t calling.“I think the reason it took so long was because I was training in a little gym in Clinton, Iowa and I had to beat pretty decent guys just to get noticed,” he said. “That’s why I went to a TUF 12 tryout, to get that experience and get noticed and see how all the background is.”In January of 2010, the rest of the fight world started to take notice of Wisely when he took just 2:03 to knock out former world title challenger Hermes Franca, who was just four months removed from being on the UFC roster. Eight months later, Wisely beat Franca a second time, sandwiching the victories around a tryout for The Ultimate Fighter’s 12th season. He didn’t make the cut, but the Zuffa brass was now paying attention.In April of 2011, he submitted another UFC vet, Matt Veach, and soon, he was contacted by Strikeforce. His foot was in the door.“You’re waiting and you just beat Franca twice and you just beat Matt Veach and nobody’s calling, and the next thing you know, I finally get into Strikeforce,” he said. “I knew it was gonna take longer, and it was definitely a little bit longer than I thought it would be, but I stuck with it because I was still winning. If I was losing, I probably would have re-thought my strategy and taken a different approach, but it worked out for the best.”Wisely would drop his Strikeforce debut to the surging Pat Healy last August, but after a non-Zuffa win over Brandon Girtz last November, he was brought into the UFC in a new weight class, featherweight, to take on Brazil’s Charles Oliveira on January 28th. Things didn’t work out as planned though, as he was caught in a painful-looking calf slicer and submitted in just one minute and 43 seconds.“Now that I think about it, I don’t even remember it hurting,” he said of the finish, which dropped him to 19-7 as a pro. “I took it pretty good and I figure I learn the most from my losses, although I can’t say I’ve never been finished now. But I was ready to get back in there and make up for it.”He gets his chance this Saturday against England’s Jason Young, a fortunate turn of events that came about when Akira Corassani was injured and forced to withdraw from the match. Once Wisely heard about the opening, he wanted it.“As soon as I heard that his guy backed out, my manager asked me if I wanted it,” he said. “After my last one, especially since I lost, I was like I’m ready to go.’ I’ll show ‘em what I got and move forward. There was no hesitation at all.”The fight is on short notice for the Iowan, but once you remember that this is a kid who was used to fighting multiple times on one night, that’s not a problem, and it’s clear that he’s done his homework on the man dubbed “Shotgun.”“He’s very crisp on his feet,” said Wisely of Young. “I know he’s got a 1-2-3 and a kick combo, and he’s got fancy standup. The ground is where he’s lacking the most, and our gameplan will hopefully find a lot of his holes. He’s tough, his endurance is good, but in the second and third round he starts to slow down a little bit, and that’s where you can start to pick it up and find the holes a lot bigger. It’s gonna be a tough fight if I can’t get him down, and a long fight.”But as Wisely readily admits, “I like the battles,” and with seven knockouts on his record, he can crack a bit too, though his ability to stun and finish foes comes mainly from his unorthodox striking style, one that can lull you into a false sense of security long enough for you to be staring up at the lights moments later.“My standup is very weird,” he laughs. “I move a lot, I’m very hard to hit, and in 40-something fights, the only shots I’ve gotten hit with are grazing ones that cut me open. I’ve been hit hard, but I’ve never really stumbled or got dizzy. I’m very, very strong for being such a little guy, and I think it’s from working with a lot of big guys in my gym.”Wisely’s come a long way from fighting in the strip clubs of the Quad Cities, and even though the atmosphere may initially be hostile in Stockholm considering that he’s fighting a European, he expects that by the end of the night, his style will gain him a few thousand new fans.“I’m assuming they’re gonna be booing when I come out because it’s his backyard, but I’m bringing a high pace with hard hitting, takedowns, sprawls, you name it, I’m gonna do it,” he said. “I’m gonna be on him the whole time, non-stop.”

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When the UFC first announced their intentions to hold an event in Sweden, Alexander Gustafsson was preparing to face Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 141. Though he was focused on “The Janitor,” the opportunity to compete in front of his family and friends in Stockholm had certainly crossed his mind.He described the potential opportunity as “a dream come true” back in December. After earning a first-round stoppage victory over Matyushenko to extend his winning streak to four, Gustafsson’s dream is about to come true as the talented striker is set to headline this weekend’s UFC on FUEL TV event.All the elements are there to make this the most pressure-packed fight of the 25-year-old prospect’s career.The local light heavyweight stands as the star of the show, and the most accomplished and recognizable name on the highly European lineup. Originally matched up with veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Gustafsson was thrown a curveball midway through his training camp, as the man known as “Little Nog” was forced out of the bout, and replaced by the returning Thiago Silva.In addition to fighting at home for the time in almost three years, many people view this as Gustafsson’s chance step into the spotlight, and show why whispers that he might one day be a potential threat to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones have been growing louder with each subsequent victory he collects in the cage.That combination of factors could easily leave Gustafsson feeling like he’s under the gun as he gets set to step into the cage at the Ericsson Globe Arena on Saturday night. Unfortunately for Silva, the only thing the talented Swedish contender is feeling is excitement.“I’m really excited for it,” says Gustafsson. “I couldn’t believe it just a few months ago, so I’m very excited for it. It’s going to be great. It’s a huge thing for Swedish MMA, for the future, so I can’t wait. It’s going to be awesome.“I don’t feel any pressure at all. I’m just doing what I love to do, and I’m just enjoying every day. This is what I love to do, but it’s just another fight for me. Of course, it’s in my hometown, and it’s a dream come true for me, but at the end, it’s just a fight like every other fight.”Gustafsson knows that opportunities will come for him in time provided he keeps winning, and instead of focusing on where a victory in this fight will lead him, he’s more interested on the impact the UFC’s arrival in his homeland will have on the sport moving forward.“I see myself as a top 10 guy, and I want to fight the best guys in the division, but like I’ve said before, it’s just one fight at a time. I don’t have any hurry. I just have to win my fights; that’s the most important for me.“The sport is getting big in Sweden,” he continues. “There’s so much talent from the young guys, and this will be progress in the right direction. More gyms are going to pop up now, and in the near future, you’re not going to have to fly overseas (to train), so it’s on the right path.”Making the journey across the Atlantic is something Gustafsson has been doing regularly since he suffered the only loss of his career to Phil Davis at UFC 112.The former Division I National champion used his tremendous wrestling advantage to control Gustafsson on the ground, eventually forcing the lanky striker known as “The Mauler” to tap to an anaconda choke late in the first round. Looking to improve his abilities on the mat and continue to evolve his training, Gustafsson turned to the man who had just beaten him and the team at Alliance MMA for help.“Right after that fight, I talked to his coaches, and we invited Alex out — so did Phil — and we knew he’d be an asset to have as part of the team,” explains Eric Del Fierro, the head coach of the San Diego-based team that includes Davis, Brandon Vera, and UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. “You could tell he had good rhythm in his striking, but a lot of these guys from Europe are missing the wrestling component that you need, so we invited him out.“His boxing coach Andreas (Michael) called me up and said, ‘We’d like to come out and possibly do a camp with you guys.’ They came out for Cyrille Diabate, and he did a full camp with us, which was about nine weeks, and we just worked on his weaknesses, and gave him a bit of a different look at the fight game.”The improvements were noticeable right away, as Gustfasson controlled the French veteran throughout the contest, finishing him in the second round by rear naked choke, and he’s continued to look more impressive in each successive outing.“It’s astonishing that he’s in there finishing all of his opponents and still flying under the radar, which is good for him,” says Del Fierro of Gustafsson, who has finished all five of his wins inside the Octagon, and 12 of the 13 fights he’s won overall. “I told him to enjoy it because you’re only going to be there for so long. The spotlight is going to be on you, and you’re going to have to rise and shine with that spotlight.”Saturday’s main event meeting with Silva stands as the opportunity Del Fierro speaks of.Silva, an American Top Team product with lethal striking and an underrated submission game that isn’t often utilized, has lost just twice in his career, both coming to former light heavyweight champions — Lyoto Machida at UFC 94, and Rashad Evans just under a year later at UFC 108. The 29-year-old Brazilian is returning following a one-year suspension resulting from his use of a banned substance before his UFC 125 bout with Gustafsson’s Alliance teammate Brandon Vera.Though he’s quick to give Silva credit for his accomplishments in the cage, Gustafsson admits he’s less than impressed with his opponent’s actions and attitude in his bout with Vera.“I think he’s a great fighter, no disrespect. He’s a really great fighter, and he’s beaten some tough guys, but as a sportsman, I don’t think he behaves too good. His lack of respect for his opponents and stuff, that just motivates me even more, and makes me want to fight him even more. I’ve wanted to fight him for a long time now, and I’m glad I finally get the chance.”Del Fierro is excited for the matchup as well, as he believes it will be a great opportunity to see where Gustafsson stands in the deep and talented light heavyweight division.“Thiago is a stern test; he’s a tough guy, he always brings the fight, and never goes backwards, so we’ll see how Alex deals with it.”Talk of Gustafsson being a potential challenger and threat to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones started to get louder following his win over Matyushenko back in December. Having rattled off four consecutive victories, and dispatched a pair of durable UFC veterans in back-to-back outings, it’s understandable for people to view the 25-year-old Swede as a future championship contender in the 205-pound division.It’s a feeling Del Fierro shares, even if he doesn’t say those words exactly.“He’s literally a kid, and he’s a kid that enjoys training. He never shows up just hating his life; he loves every moment of it. He’s a phenomenal athlete, and his boxing coach, Andreas Michael, I can’t say enough about him; the guy is awesome. Together, I think we were able to give Alex a better understanding of striking for MMA —not necessarily just boxing — and the kid just has fun.“He goes in there, and enjoys going in there and implementing these new weapons. We helped him out with his kickboxing, and his wrestling and jiu-jitsu games, and he’s doing great. I’ve (worked with) him for about two years, and we’ve seen leaps and bounds in his striking, and his kickboxing, and his abilities to use knees in the clinch, and his offensive and defensive wrestling.“His jiu-jitsu game has evolved a lot around his body type, and showing him how to use his own leverage instead of the basic understanding of jiu-jitsu, and the kid’s doing great. I don’t think he’s even at fifty percent of his potential.”Gustafsson sums up his potential a little more succinctly. “For me, the last couple of years have been great. I’ve been taking the sport seriously; it’s been more like a job, not just a hobby. I train harder, I know where I train, and there is more thinking behind the training.“I’ve got my whole club in Stockholm where I’m based, and my head coach, Andreas Michael, is with me 24-7. He’s helped me a lot with everything, and with Coach Eric’s help and everyone at Alliance, it’s been a lot of progress. I’m still just young in the business, and I can be so much better, and I will be. I just want to learn and progress every day.“When it comes to how good I can be, the sky is the limit.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, guy, ’t, gustafsson

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It’s been a while, but the Downes Side is back! Luckily, many of you have gotten your Danny Boy fix reading my Ultimate Fighter recaps. To those of you that haven’t, you’re missing out on my crack analysis. There have been references to Sonic the Hedgehog, Finnish neuroscientists, cross-stitching and chain wallets. I bet you feel like a fool right now, huh?This week the UFC heads to Sweden for another UFC on FUEL TV event. Yet again, I was left home. The only thing more disappointing than not seeing the fights is the fact that I won’t get to visit the IKEA headquarters. It’s way cheaper than Disney World because you have to assemble the rides yourself. Realistically, I probably couldn’t have gone anyway since Momma Downes is throwing a wedding shower for my fiancé this weekend and I have to be there to carry things. Let’s just hope the fights are as entertaining as my aunts after they knock down a couple mimosas.Brad Pickett vs Damacio PageWe start with a bantamweight bout between Brad “One Punch” Pickett and Damacio “The Angel of Death” Page. Everyone’s favorite Brit was on a nine fight win streak, but has had some trouble as of late, dropping two of his last three with a big break due to injury. Page is looking to end a unlucky streak of his own since losing his last two fights by submission.Prediction: While everyone may know Pickett for his entertaining brawls, he does have nine career submission wins, including one ridiculous Peruvian necktie. Having said that, I don’t see “One Punch” submitting him, and that’s where the good news ends. Pickett has the advantage in reach, power and standup that will give him unanimous decision victory. On the upside, Angels of Death are rarely fired -- they've got a pretty strong union.DaMarques Johnson vs John MaguireNext up is DaMarques Johnson against John Maguire. Johnson is 4-3 in his UFC career with his most recent victory a first-round KO of Clay Harvison last November. Submission specialist John Maguire steps inside the Octagon for a second time after a decision victory at UFC 138. A grappling specialist, he has won 9 of his 17 fights by submission.Prediction: We all know that English fighters aren’t know for their wrestling, but Johnson has shown holes in his takedown defense. DaMarques has shown strong submission defense -- up to a point -- but Maguire’s “Gypsy Jiu-jitsu” will be too much for him to handle. Maguire finishes this in the second and then one of his cousins gets hired as my personal wedding consultant.Dennis Siver vs Diego NunesThe next fight features WEC/UFC veteran Diego “The Gun” Nunes as he takes on German striking powerhouse Dennis Siver. Nunes has won four out of his last five, the most recent being a decision victory over Manny Gamburyan in December. Making his debut at featherweight,  Siver’s last fight was a submission loss to Cowboy Cerrone that inspired him to “reduce the amount of candy I eat" and drop to featherweight.Prediction: Siver was one of the strongest lightweights in the UFC. Now that he dropped down a division, his strength advantage should be even greater...in theory. I think the weight cut will affect him severely and weaken his stamina. As long as Nunes can defend the initial onslaught he’ll be able to wear down Siver en route to a third-round TKO. Siver may not get the sweet taste of victory, but at least he’s in the right country to buy these.Paulo Thiago vs Siyar BahadurzadaNext is the highly anticipated debut of Siyar “The Great” Bahadurzada aka  Siyar “The Killer” Bahadurzada as he matches up against BJJ black belt Paulo Thiago. Thiago got back on the right track last August with a unanimous decision victory over David Mitchell after dropping two in a row to Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann. Bahadurzada -- who we'll just call STK because it's easier to spell -- is 20-4-1 and the first Afghan-born fighter to compete in the UFC. He hits his opponents as hard as his name is to pronounce, with four straight KO victories.Prediction:  Even though Thiago is primarily a grappler, he feels comfortable enough standing that he doesn’t constantly go for takedowns. For his sake, I hope he reconsiders that strategy. STK isn’t the type of striker you play around with at the beginning of the round to “test yourself.” Even if Thiago takes my advice, though, I see him surviving the first and then getting KO’d in the second. Joe Rogan better start practicing saying “Bahadurzada.”Brian Stann vs Alessio SakaraIn the co-main event, we see the “All-American” Brian Stann taking on Alessio “Legionarius” Sakara. Stann is looking to rebound from a submission loss to fellow American icon Chael Sonnen at UFC 136. Sakara hasn’t fought since March of 2011 when he lost via decision to Chris "All-American" Weidman. (I was actually live at the fight, sitting next to a woman who couldn’t understand why people were calling him Italian because, “His tattoo clearly says he’s Romanian!”)Prediction: The real question here is how Stann will react to a crowd that doesn’t chant U-S-A! Sakara is dangerous on his feet, but has shaky defense when pressured. Seeing that nine of Stann’s eleven victories have been finishes, that doesn’t bode well for our Romanian friend. Stann takes this one in the first round and then eats apple pie while playing baseball and remembering the Alamo. Because....AMERICA!  Thiago Silva vs Alexander GustafssonThat brings us to the main event of the evening. Silva may have replaced an injured Noguiera, but this fight will be the Gremlins 2 of main events -- even better than the original. Silva is looking for some redemption after his last fight (that caused this beauty of a broken nose) was overturned by the NSAC. Gustafsson wants to get his fifth straight win and do so in front of his countrymen at the UFC's Sweden debut event.Prediction: When it comes to grappling ability, Silva is far ahead of Gustafsson. He was able to put a high level wrestler like Brandon Vera on his back and he can definitely do the same to “The Mauler.” On the feet, the Swede does have better footwork and speed, but he moves unnecessarily and often crowds himself. This is how I see Silva taking advantage. Gustafsson will be overeager, get caught moving in and lose by TKO in the second. The Swedish fans won’t be happy, but I imagine even their boos and jeers sound magical.That wraps up another edition of the Downes Side. Be sure to follow me on Twitter @dannyboydownes, check out my blog and leave some comments. If they’re good, I might even post pictures of the gifts. You know you want to look at the pots and pans set I registered. Stainless steel or anodized? The anticipation is killing you already! 

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, decision victory, victory

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In past situations UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones has shown enormous amounts of respect to his adversaries. However, in the case of rival Rashad Evans the 24-year old hasn’t bitten his tongue regarding his upcoming challenger’s shortcomings. Jones’ demeanor has in large part been influenced by the overwhelming amount of negativity coming out of his former teammate’s mouth pertaining to his own ability as well as that of the coaches at Jackson’s MMA. “Bones” recently blasted Evans in an interview where he made it clear he is hardly concerned with the former title-holder’s ability to take opponents down and control them from above. “We know everything about him. I really don’t think he takes that seriously. I think he thinks him holding me down in practice means a lot when it doesn’t. Holding me down does nothing but kills time on the clock,” explained Jones in a conversation with Prickly Pear Studios. “It’s safe to say he lays and preys. Who has he finished from the top position? I think one fight when he was at heavyweight and then Forrest Griffin. His top game…I’m not afraid of it. He doesn’t go for submissions really.” “When I get on top of people you see blood within the first few seconds. Instantly. He gets on top of people, people get back to their feet and start fighting again,” Jones joked, shrugging off Evans’ signature attack. Jones-Evans Face Off in Heated Interview on Ultimate Insider Fans can see how successful Jones will or won’t be in defending against Evans’ approach when they meet on April 21 at UFC 145 in Atlanta. The bout marks the culmination of almost a yearlong feud between the two talented 205ers. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: jone, ’t, people, doesn ’t, evan

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Tuesday’s live “Blast from the Past” Smackdown featured a few minutes of fun matches, a few more minutes of less fun ones, and, lord, so many large old dudes. I’m pro-nostalgia and pro-cameos by your occasional Roddy Pipers and Ricky Steamboats, and hells yeah I am always down to watch “Mean” Gene Okerlund and Howard Finkel enunciate things. But it hasn’t been that long since we’ve seen most of those very special tonight-only guests on WWE TV. Wasn’t Jim Duggan tagging with Santino Marella, like, yesterday? Besides bringing their vets out for their latest comeback tour, WWE’s agenda for the night was another attempt at taking care of the Daniel Bryan problem – you know, the chants and the signs they themselves are responsible for after Wrestlemania booking worthy of the Hall of Fame of Crappiness. Given the choice to go with that flow or trying to shut his popularity down while they can, they’ve done the latter. It’s frustrating as hell for a Bryan fan, I know. But, they are doing kind of a good job at it. Piper was compelling enough, as usual, that, as usual, I’m more forgiving of the little things that drive me crazy about him (“little lady,” ugh). This wasn’t as memorable as Piper’s Pit with John Cena was a couple years ago, but he brought out the jerk within Bryan well while cracking down on the hated “YES!” chants on live TV. AJ has the tough-to-watch victim act down (though I’m hoping one day she gets to be as funny on TV as she is on Twitter). And Bryan got to slap someone then run away which he should be doing every week.  So, I hope his fans don’t lose hope, and I really really hope that WWE doesn’t f*** this up. The Okerlund/Sheamus vs. Bryan/Alberto Del Rio main event, while pretty spectacularly stupid overall, adequately highlighted the jerkitude of the heels…well at least before the distinguished heroic WWE legends ganged up on two smaller guys and hugged it out. Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton, itself a blast from the past if six or seven months ago counts, wasn’t really anything new. It was clear a clean finish wasn’t going to happen, but that’s because Henry is a friggin’ beast again and that is dandy. In the back, Orton tried to knock down the wrong door before finding his dad laid out (I appreciated keeping “Cowboy” Bob Orton‘s hat in that shot just so it was totally clear who that guy on the ground was) inside an adjacent wide-open room in which Kane was waiting in ambush, obviously. It strikes me that Randy and/or any of the voices in his head may not be very bright. The Antique Rhodes Show! Cody Rhodes and Dusty Rhodes were in the middle of basically the same father-son argument they had last year when noted dick Big Show interrupted. Rather than inputting another video inside a video inside a video, this time Show replayed one of Cody’s grooming tips from back in his “Dashing” days. Though they were not only just a year and change ago they, shut up, were hysterical. I was waiting and wishing for a Goldust appearance (hey, happy birthday to him, by the way) but instead at some point it occurred to Dusty to dance to his theme song and Cody just grumped off with a picture-perfect geez god just let me die look, which hit straight home because my dad likes to sing ABBA in public sometimes. This could’ve been so much better, but Cody is in his own league right now. The biggest chunk of the show this week fell under “other,” I guess, and here’s all that. Despite being a star and apologizing genuinely for bullying a ref last week, Sheamus got fined a million bajillion dollars by GM Johnny Laurinaitis. The Ryback Formerly Known as Skip Sheffield also beat a jobber down while wearing ring gear in part resumbling a very elegant evening gown. A cool little Heath Slater/Tyson Kidd vs. Usos tag match guest starring Jimmy Hart and his megaphone was overshadowed by fellow legend Mick Foley doing more or less the same damn thing he does whatever he shows up every couple months. “Hacksaw” Duggan encouraged the crowd to chant “USA” at a Mexican wrestler; classy as always, WWE. A dude in the crowd may have thought Sgt. Slaughter was an actual military officer. A blink-and-you-missed-it six-person mixed tag finally gave Drew McIntyre something to do (he walked out) and which, I’m pleased to say, marked the first time in a few months that Natalya has been onscreen for more than a few seconds without farting. Maybe that whole story is… behind us? Hey, I will put my lame butt jokes up against Vince McMahon‘s anytime! Finally, who can forget Damien Sandow used a bunch of SAT words but actually seemed to know what they mean and a something, something horny Mae Young? That’s my Smackdown recap this week. Hit me up next week for RAW, for which I’ve got a list of lines about Brock Lesnar’s phallic chest tattoo as long as Brock Lesnar’s phallic chest tattoo. Yes, that was one of the lines. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: week, ’t, wwe, wasn, cody

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Mixed martial arts probably isn’t the first discipline that comes to mind when you think of combat sports practitioners from Cuba. Sure, there are the likes of Javier Vazquez and Hector Lombard that represent the Caribbean island in the world of MMA, but when the idea of being in the hurt business is concerned, the first thought is always of boxing greats such as Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon, and Joel Casamayor, only one of which (Casamayor) made that trip from home in search of a better life in the United States.The latest Cuban standout to hit US shores to begin a quest for fighting glory is Yoislandy Izquierdo, and though he packs knockout power in his fists, he’s no boxer. Instead, he will be making his UFC debut this Saturday against Reza Madadi after compiling an unbeaten 6-0 MMA record. So why not boxing?“Boxing is a huge sport in Cuba as you know, and I practiced it for a few years,” said Izquierdo through manager / translator Alfred Munoz. “However, my passion was always in martial arts even though boxing did help me to become a well rounded athlete.”In many ways, it was a tougher road to take for the native of Havana. Sure, the Cuban amateur boxing program is consistently seen as the best in the sport, and getting a spot on the national team is beyond ultra-competitive, but to pursue a sport in which there is really no local scene and no opportunities to compete and learn your craft in real amateur or pro fights has to be an even more harrowing undertaking. Not that Izquierdo was thinking that far ahead when he was enrolled in a local karate class at the age of 11 to help him deal with his asthma.“I have been a martial artist for most of my life,” he said. “I started at the early age of 11 in karate. Even though mixed martial arts is not practiced legally in Cuba, I always wanted to practice the sport. When I left the country, my goal was to practice MMA and make it my career. Soon after making Miami my home, I went to a gym where MMA was practiced and the owner, who is now my manager, helped to guide me in the sport.”You could say the rest is history, but that would be cutting out the most interesting part of this tale, the one where Izquierdo decided to leave his life in Cuba behind to chase a dream that only a select few can reach. This wasn’t relocating to a new city or state for a job and if it didn’t work out you could come home. Once Izquierdo fell in love with MMA, he knew that if he left, there was no turning back. That’s a lot to have on your mind, but he knew what he needed to do to truly be happy.“The moment that I knew that I could make my career in MMA came to me in Cuba,” said Izquierdo, who won several gold medals in karate and sanda tournaments growing up. “Having had the will to master various disciplines in martial arts, I knew that I would be successful in MMA. I would watch MMA videos brought in by family members visiting from other countries and I knew that I was the perfect athlete for the sport. When it became feasible for me to leave Cuba and come to the United States, I knew my dream to make MMA my career would come true.”In 2008, the 24-year old left Cuba. If you don’t know what that entails, suffice to say that it’s not as easy as picking out a flight online, packing your bags, and getting on the plane. For Izquierdo, his trip involved a visit to Spain, then Guatemala. From Guatemala he entered Mexico, and then crossed the border into the United States, where he was granted political asylum. Left behind were his mother, brother, aunts, uncles, and his oldest daughter.“They are very proud of my career in MMA,” he said, but he also admits that “The most difficult adjustment to life in the US was not having my family by my side. Even though I have started a beautiful family here in the States, I still miss my family back home.”Izquierdo now has another daughter in the States, and from April of 2010, he has been fighting professionally and turning heads on the South Florida MMA scene. When asked to describe his style for those who haven’t seen him in action yet, he says “My fighting style is very explosive. I am not a passive fighter by any means. I do attack both on standup with very technical boxing and on the ground with strong jiu-jitsu techniques.”With wins in all six bouts, four finishing before the final bell, the 28-year old has made it look easy thus far, but looks can be deceiving.“My success has not come easy,” said Izquierdo. “I have sacrificed a lot to get to where I have gotten. I train for most of the day and until a short time ago I had to work as well. By getting the call to fight in the UFC I consider my success to be great.”And even though the names on his record aren’t household ones, even in diehard MMA fans’ households, Izquierdo has apparently impressed the UFC enough that he got the call to meet veteran Reza Madadi this Saturday in Stockholm.“When I first heard that the UFC asked me to fight I could not believe my dream had finally come true,” he said. “Once I truly internalized it I was very excited, and I still am very excited.”For many debutants, those feelings of excitement occasionally turn to dread when the first-time Octagon jitters kick in. Fighting in Madadi’s hometown could add even more to the stress level, but the man with the nickname paying tribute to his own homeland, “Cuba”, is unbothered by such matters at the moment, which is no surprise considering what he went through to get here.“Even though I am a humble person and athlete, I have the heart of a warrior and a warrior fights in any land,” said Izquierdo. “On April 14th fans can expect to see my best performance yet.”

Posted in: mma, ’t, sport, izquierdo, cuba

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Even though UFC lightweight Kenny Florian is out with an injured back and unsure if/when he’ll be able to return to the ring it sounds like the former title-contender isn’t all that excited anyways about coming back to a sport devolving with the increased use of illegal substances to gain a competitive advantage. The 35-year old served up a scathing rant this week on UFC Tonight where he pulled no punches in terms of criticizing peers who have tested positive for drug use. “As a clean fighter the whole issue of performance enhancing drugs in MMA really pisses me off. This sport is about honor, technique, and discipline,” stated an animated Florian. “When did it become about uses the better PEDs and who can past the test better than the other guy?” “This isn’t baseball where you’re just hitting a ball. This is fighting and you’re hitting other people in the face,” he continued. “If you’re a fighter and you’re using PEDs, how does it feel good knowing that you won using them? The fans should be mad too. How many fights are the fans gonna miss out on due to failed pre/post fight-testing? Don’t do it dummies!” In closing Florian called for random testing to weed out cheaters in hopes of saving MMA from heading down what he foresees as a dark path. Check out Florian’s full statement below: PHOTO CREDIT – TAPOUT

Posted in: mma, ’t, florian, ’re, ped

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As excited as fans are to finally see light heavyweight champ Jon Jones defend his title against former training partner Rashad Evans it appears both fighters are equally anxious to settle their score inside a cage. And, though the championship may be highly sought after, the personal satisfaction of beating the other seems to outweigh the value of any metal trinket given the animosity between the two. Those feelings boiled over this week on Ultimate Insider when Jones and Evans came together to address the plethora of issues surrounding their April 21 scrap at UFC 145. Among the topics discussed in the segment were Greg Jackson’s decision to corner Jones, a fact “Bones” brought up was in part related to Evans’ negative remarks about the team. “The history? I made that history. What are you talking about? I’m the one that helped make the history,” responded Evans after Jones mentioned he’d “bashed” Jackson MMA’s reputation. “You came into it. Don’t talk about the history when you have no roots in the history. I helped make Greg Jackson. I helped to make them the reason why you even wanted to come there and train. So don’t talk to me about the history of the team, bro. Don’t talk about the history of that program because motherfu*ker I made that program!” Later in the conversation Jones also addressed Evans’ overwhelming confidence in his ability to win their fight based on the knowledge he gained while the two were teammates, smirking at the notion of Evans having any clue as to what he was working on more than a year after their split. “Trust me, I know the ways I can lose and I’m training for that. You don’t think I’m training extensively on my bottom game and my takedown defense? You don’t know if I’m gonna shoot on you or if it’s gonna be a fake shot. You don’t know what you’re getting into. So you can say what you want but I KNOW just as much as you THINK that you know,” stated Jones on the matter while adding Evans was flat out “weird” based on the nature of his comments. The remarks didn’t phase Evans who said other opponents had studied him as well and still come up short. “When you’re in there with me I get you to skip to my Lou and you WILL skip to my Lou,” replied Evans confidently to Jones’ assessment. Check out the first half of the interview with the second piece likely being made available later this week: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: jone, ’t, history, evan, evans ’

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If you’re a veteran fighter with a decade of professional experience, but one that hasn’t gotten the call to the UFC, it can be cause for alarm. Then alarm leads to a lack of focus, a lack of focus leads to a loss against a lesser opponent, and the Octagon grows even more distant. So how did Siyar Bahadurzada avoid this brutal chain of events as he waited for his opportunity to compete in the world’s leading mixed martial arts promotion?“At one point, I thought, what is this? Why am I not fighting in the UFC?” he said. “But that actually made me even sharper and more hungry.” And when the opportunity came up for him to compete in the United Glory promotion’s eight man World Series tournament in 2010-11, Bahadurzada saw it as his chance to show the UFC brass just what he could do at 170 pounds.“When there was the Glory World Series tournament with eight welterweights, I promised myself that I want to finish all three fights within five minutes,” he said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish all the fights in five minutes, but I did finish all three fights by knockout, and that was kind of my ticket to the UFC and what got the UFC interested in me.”Two UFC vets, Derrick Noble and John Alessio, both fell in less than two minutes each. Belgium’s Tommy Depret made it to round two, but suffered the same knockout fate, and soon after, Bahadurzada was a UFC fighter.“This is my time,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for this call for years, and finally I get a chance to show my skills in the UFC and I’m very excited about it.”This Saturday in Stockholm, Sweden, Bahadurzada makes his Octagon debut against perennial contender Paulo Thiago, but getting the call was the easy part. Actually getting to the fight has taken him on some detours, as he split with his longtime team, Golden Glory, and also saw his original debut against Erick Silva get scratched when he broke his hand.“My entire world crashed when I broke my hand the first time,” he admits. “But on the other side, everything happens for a reason, and maybe this is supposed to be like this, and it makes me sharper and more hungry. And even if my body’s broken and I’m tired, my heart and my mind is on fire because this has been what I’ve been waiting for for years and this is my dream. How many people have a UFC contract on the planet? It’s like a couple hundred and I’m one of those people; that’s a big honor for me.”As for his current training situation, Bahadurzada has also landed on his feet, joining up with renowned Muay Thai trainer Lucien Carbin to sharpen the skills that have seen him score half of his wins by knockout, including five of his last six.“I’m an independent kind of guy and I’ve still been training with my friends who I was training with when I was with Golden Glory,” he explains. “And my Thai Boxing trainer Lucien Carbin and Golden Glory didn’t have a good bond with each other, so I didn’t get to train with him all these years. But now I’m back with Lucien and his style of fighting is perfect for me. It’s aggressive, there are a lot of knee strikes, kicks, punches, and it’s complete Muay Thai with elbows and everything. That style is perfect for me. We’re working on some cool stuff and I can’t wait to show it.”If you haven’t seen him fight, you’ll be pleasantly surprised on Saturday, as Bahadurzada won’t shy away from a confrontation in the Octagon. And while the Shooto light heavyweight (183 pounds) champion and Sengoku 2008 Grandprix semifinalist may be a mystery to many UFC fans, having competed primarily in Europe and Japan over the course of his 10 year career, his style and his back story are likely to make him one of the organization’s most compelling figures should he be successful.Currently making his home in the Netherlands, where he has lived since he was a teenager, Bahadurzada grew up in vastly different surroundings in his native country of Afghanistan. Born and raised in Kabul, the future fighter saw battles of a different, graver, sort as a child.“Growing up in Afghanistan when I was a kid, like three, four years old, I walked over bodies and body parts, and those things are in me – I can never get it out of me,” he said. “You grow up with those things, but I’m really a changed person. When I see people of my age, 26-27 years old, and see the way they think and the way they see life, that kind of life in Afghanistan formed me and built my character. The person I am today, I think I owe it back to my country and the things that I’ve been through.”And he doesn’t shy away from talking about his country or his culture, despite the turmoil that still reigns in the region. He’s proud to be an Afghan, yet as he explains, what has happened there in the last several years doesn’t always tell the complete story of his nation.“Let’s be honest, after 9/11 everybody’s ashamed of being an Afghan,” said Bahadurzada, who still has aunts and uncles living in the country. “Everybody tries to avoid being an Afghan and change the conversation and avoid talking about their nationality. But people don’t realize that we’ve had a history of 5,000 years, and if you look back in history, you will know what Afghanistan is about. We are hospitable people, we have a great culture, we’re very friendly, and we’ve always been open. And that’s what I’m trying to explain to people. Unfortunately the media has put us in a very dark light, and I hope with all my heart that I can bring a change to that.”Admirably, Bahadurzada accepts the pressure that goes along with being someone trying to change preconceived prejudices, saying “I see that as a dream, and I’m fighting for it. That’s my motivation and that’s what I want to get.” Yet at the same time, he is prepared for what could very well be a hostile reaction once he makes his United States debut.“There are people who are stupid and people who envy you,” he said. “People who are stupid, in a matter of time, if you put on good fights and show your character and what kind of person you are and they see it, they will change their opinion of you. But people who envy you, don’t even waste your energy on them; they will never change and they’ll always be hating. So I’m prepared for that, being booed until they get to know me. I have the confidence in myself that once people really get to know the person that I am and my character and what I stand for, I think they will start loving me, and also because of my fighting style. So I don’t worry about that (a negative reaction) too much, but it is in the back of my head, yes.”That’s not what’s in the front of his head though. That space belongs to Thiago, who broke a two fight losing streak with a decision win over David Mitchell last August. With victories over Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, and Jacob Volkmann, Thiago has the scarier resume, and as a black belt in jiu-jitsu, he will pose problems for the 27-year old, who has suffered two of his four pro losses via submission, but Bahadurzada is unfazed by the challenge, and when you ask him what he sees when he looks at the Brazilian, he smiles.“Right now I see a face all pretty and everything. But I think there will be a change in it after we fight, no disrespect.”So whether you know him or not, or think he’s overmatched against Thiago, Bahadurzada is confident that he has some surprises up his sleeve come Saturday night.“People send me messages and because they’ve never seen me fight or they don’t know me, and they say ‘hey man, you better watch out, Paulo Thiago’s really good.’ I give Paulo Thiago the respect because he is good, and no disrespect to him or his fans, but I will smash Paulo Thiago. I’m just waiting for the moment to come.”It’s just a few days away, and Siyar Bahadurzada can’t contain his excitement.“I hope they (the fans) get to see the heart that I have,” he said. “I hope I can put on a good show because that’s what I’ve been training really, really hard for and I want them to see my fighting spirit and my heart. That’s what I want to show the people.”

Posted in: ufc, ’t, i ’m, people, bahadurzada

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With the exception of a brief lightweight hiatus from 2004 to 2006, fighters from 155 pounds on up always had the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in the Zuffa-era UFC, a goal that someday, if they won enough fights, they would earn a spot in the Octagon.As for those whose optimum weight was 145 pounds and below, they were pretty much out of luck unless they were able to secure a contract in Japan. In England, the situation wasn’t any better. Just ask East London bantamweight Brad Pickett, who finally saw some sunlight when he signed with the Zuffa-owned WEC in 2009. But even that didn’t produce the kind of acclaim he has now, which includes UK newspaper columns, video game appearances, and main card UFC slots.“Back a couple years ago, when I signed with the WEC, for me, that was the big stage for my weight class, and at the time, there was no inclination that the UFC and the WEC would merge,” said Pickett, who fought at featherweight in his pre-WEC days. “Obviously, being a fan of the sport, I always thought it would be awesome to fight in the UFC, but there was never gonna be that opportunity because they didn’t have my weight class. As soon as I heard the news that the WEC and UFC would merge, I thought, brilliant, it’s massive for me in terms of my exposure. Because there were so many people in the UK that didn’t even know what the WEC was, even though it was the best in the world for my weight class. So me going into the UFC now, the level of opposition is exactly the same, but my level of exposure has quadrupled. It’s massive for me.”He’s handled it well too, and that’s not always the case when you go from relative obscurity to your phone ringing off the hook at all hours with various requests. But at 33, Pickett is a bit more mature than some 20-year old kid getting exposed to the spotlight for the first time, so the adjustments to becoming a UFC fighter were fairly minor.“I have to manage my time a lot better now because you get a lot of different interviews and lots of stuff in the media, but with that, it’s good for every fighter,” he said. “It’s a way to show your personality and how you come across in interviews and stuff like that. I’ve never shied away from media, but sometimes I just have to be a little bit careful with my diary and make sure I don’t double-book things or that people call me when I’m resting. It’s no trouble to me picking up a phone or answering a few questions on the internet. It just takes a few minutes out of my time, and when people see you fight in a cage, they don’t really get to see your personality. They get to know you a lot more when you’re on a TUF show or something like that, but when you’re not in that show, it’s hard to get your personality across unless you do interviews and stuff like that.”Pickett nails it in interviews, as he’s generous with his time and in telling his story, but if you’ve watched him fight, it’s clear that he would be a fan favorite even if he were mute. Again, he gets it, and he knows that in this business, whether you win or lose, just don’t be boring.“You need to be exciting in fights because at the end of the day, it’s an entertainment business,” he said. “You cannot afford to keep winning and be really boring, because as soon as you get that loss, they’ll just cut you. So at the end of the day, you’re employed by the UFC as an entertainer, so you need to make sure you make your fights exciting. But then on the other hand, you can’t be just exciting and keep losing fights because you won’t be kept either. So you need to balance it out and be able to get the job done and be exciting at the same time and it’s not that easy all the time. Sometimes you have to grind things out and make them go your way, but you definitely have to balance it out. Sometimes the style matchups help, and the matchmakers of the UFC normally get the job done very well, so we can put on very good shows.”A “good show” would be understating Pickett’s last bout, a one round Fight of the Night battle with Renan Barao that fit more action in four minutes and nine seconds than most fights get in 15 minutes. Pickett got tagged with a submission defeat, but most will remember the journey, not the destination. He’s not one of them, and though he figured he had an airtight gameplan, he got caught before he could adjust it on the fly.“Me looking at footage of him (Barao), he didn’t look good when he got pressured,” said Pickett. “So my idea was to go out there and be really aggressive. He’s fighting in my hometown, in my eyes I was the biggest fight he’s had to that date, so if I went out there and put it on him, he may crumble. But hats off to him, he stayed very composed and fought really well. He didn’t take me by surprise because you never should be surprised too much in this sport, but then I thought okay, I need to take my foot off the gas a little bit, slow myself down, and start picking my shots because I can’t throw like that for 15 minutes. I needed to be more methodical with my punching, and as soon as I started thinking about that, I got cracked with this knee and the rest was history.”The loss was Pickett’s second in his last three fights, and having it come in his UFC debut stung a little bit more, so this Saturday’s showdown with Damacio Page will be even more important to the future of “One Punch.” Luckily in Page, he will be taking on an opponent who shares a similar fighting philosophy – punch now, ask questions later.“He’s a very dangerous opponent,” said Pickett of Page. “I think he’s very similar to me, but I honestly believe that technically, I’m better than him in every area, but not by a massive margin. It’s not like I’m phenomenally better in any area; I just believe I’m a little bit better than him in all areas, but that doesn’t take anything away from him. I think he’s still good in all those areas as well and he’s still a very dangerous opponent. He throws very hard, so I have to make sure my defense is there and I don’t get hit, and I have to pick my shots and try to test his chin.”And though Page could try to throw a wrench in the works and come out with a completely different gameplan from what everyone expects, Pickett is confident that he will get into a war this weekend, regardless of what his opponent’s plans may be.“My style will make you fight, like it or not,” he said. “I’m always coming forward, I’m always going to be in your face, I don’t fight at a slow pace and I always come at someone. So you either run away or you have to collide – it’s gonna be one of the two. And that’s why I tend to always get into fights because of my style coming forward. It’s hard to shy away from a fight with me because I kind of force you into having a fight. And most of my fights have been that way.”He’s not exaggerating. In five Zuffa fights, he’s picked up one Submission of the Night and two Fight of the Night bonuses, and he jokes that regardless of the level of competition, he’ll find a way to make it a pitched battle from start to finish.“It’s been my career basically,” said Pickett. “I can’t remember when I had a real quick first round finish. Maybe my last one was back in England against Dave Lee (in 2009). I just seem to always get myself in a war. I could fight pound-for-pound the best guy in the world in my weight class, like Dominick Cruz, and I’d make it a really entertaining fight. And then I could fight some guy who’s had one amateur fight and who’s not very good, and I’d make it a real entertaining fight. (Laughs) Is it me? I don’t know what happens, I just seem to get myself in exciting fights. But to be honest, I’d never shy away from a quick knockout or quick submission, because at the end of the day, the quicker you get the job done, the quicker you can get back in there and have another fight.”And after injuries kept him to less than one round of work against Barao in 2011, he’s looking forward to a busy 2012, starting with the Page bout this Saturday.“This year is to get back on the horse,” said Pickett. “It’s very important for me to win this fight. The buck stops with me and I don’t like to look too far beyond anything past this fight, but hopefully, if all goes to plan, I win this fight, stay healthy, and make it a very active year and get myself back in the mix. If I lose this one, I fall further away, so I need to make sure I win this one and keep myself more relevant, and keep myself in a job basically. I need to make sure I win. I don’t want to be one of those people who are just happy to be in the UFC. I want to be somebody within the UFC.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, time, ’t, pickett

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Unbeaten welterweight Ben Askren has a message for his critics – if you don’t like the way he fights, change the channel or get used to it. Askren is one of MMA’s most effective grapplers, honing his uncanny ability to take opponents down and control them from above as an Olympic-level wrestler. However, though he’s typically quite active in all positions, Askren’s style hasn’t lead to a ton of finishes in his ten-fight career including his current run of six straight decisions. “Funky” addressed concern for his approach in a recent interview with MMAWeekly where he referred to his recent title-defense against Douglas Lima, a bout he was showered with boos in. “My striking has improved tremendously, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stand around for 25 minutes and slug it out with someone that has one-punch knockout power. That’s ridiculous. If I wanted to do that I’d go to the sport of kickboxing,” Askren explained. “People neglect the fact that I have a brown belt in jiu-jitsu. I feel like I landed ten times as many punches as I ever have and a lot of them were really, really hard. A lot of lesser men would have rolled over and gave up a Rear-Naked Choke like most of the sissies in MMA.” A Closer Look at Askren The 10-0 Askren only has one stoppage under the Bellator banner though a controversial one in nature, as opponent Ryan Thomas denied ever verbally tapping out as the referee had implied was the case. PHOTO CREDIT – BELLATOR Tweet

Posted in: bellator, ’t, askren, douglas lima, mma ”

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There aren’t many folks out there with a better understanding of Mixed Martial Arts than Randy Couture, a former UFC champion in multiple divisions during his Hall of Fame career who has also helped foster the development of countless competitors through his work at the Xtreme Couture gym. The 48-year old has nearly seen it all in MMA since debuting nearly fifteen years ago yet to hear Couture talk about it nothing he’s witnessed in the past compares to today’s talent. Couture recently sat down with Ultimate Insider to offer up his thoughts on the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter. Though Couture stopped short of picking any single individual based on the inability to ever truly settle the argument, he was able to whittle it down to four of the UFC’s current title-holders: Jose Aldo, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Jon Jones. “Georges St. Pierre is a strategic and tactical monster. He knows exactly where he wants to be, he breaks his opponents down, (and) he’s knows exactly what he needs to do to win those fights,” said Couture of the welterweight champ, adding he has been particularly impressed by the quality of GSP’s wrestling despite never having been formally trained in the discipline prior to MMA. Moving on to the light heavyweight king, Couture explained he wasn’t initially sold on Jones until his sophomore performance inside the Octagon. “I watched Jon Jones in his first fight and he was flailing around. I wasn’t terribly impressed with him at all. He looked like he was struggling and he didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do out there,” Couture revealed. “And they matched him up in his very next fight with Stephan Bonnar. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, Stephan’s gonna kill this kid,” and he did things in that fight that I was like, ‘How the heck did he do that?’ I went back to the gym myself and was like, ‘I need to slow that down and figure out how he did that.’” Couture also credited Aldo with “animalistic intensity” and labeled Silva’s attack has involving “laser-sighted striking with amazing ground skills”. Watch Couture’s complete take on the quartet’s caliber below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, jone, ’t, ’ i

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Greg Jackson didn’t want to do it, but eventually he had to. “Go home,” he told UFC bantamweight Damacio Page. “You can’t work out, you need to go home.”It wasn’t done in a mean-spirited fashion or to make Page feel unwelcome. It was just some tough love from the renowned coach, letting his charge know that if he was going to get back to being one of the top 135-pounders in the world, he would have to completely heal from neck surgery before being allowed to train again.“My mentality is, if I’m thinking about people (upcoming opponents), I’m thinking about training, about working, about doing something,” said Page, fully healed from last September’s surgery and getting ready for his return to the Octagon this Saturday against Brad Pickett. “And when I had the injury with my neck, it was the hardest thing to do because I’d go in the room and Greg would tell me to go home because I get in the room and I want to show moves. When I get a big injury, I have to separate myself because I want to train, I want to work, I want to do stuff and be in it.” Eventually, Page and Jackson found a happy medium, as he promised not to work out when he entered the Albuquerque gym. Instead, he helped coach his teammates as he waited to get better. That wouldn’t have been the route taken by the “old” Page, a competitor so fierce that despite what happened on the town the night before or how beat up and injured he might have been, once he stepped through the doors of the gym, it was on.“I was doing whatever I was doing and then I was coming into the gym and it was time to go, and that’s where a lot of injuries happen,” he said. “When I was younger and wrestling and doing other things, I could do it because I was younger. But now that I’m getting older, you gotta be a little bit smarter about what you’re doing and take the right approach. You can’t go 110% the first day back. And it was really hard to stay away, but I knew I had to because of the severity of my neck injury. That was the hardest part. Even with my shoulder injury, I was still young and dumb and I came back too early, so I had to go back and get it re-scraped and have other stuff done to it and then I was out another four months.”It’s a wisdom and maturity that comes not just with time, but from going through several setbacks that make you realize that what you’ve been doing just isn’t working anymore. For a while, Page was the most promising of bantamweight prospects, and he knew it. 3-1 in the WEC, with a lone loss to future champion Brian Bowles, Page was closing in on a title shot late in 2009, but injuries scrapped successive bouts with Takeya Mizugaki and Antonio Banuelos before he finally returned in late 2010 to face Demetrious Johnson, who upset him via third round submission. Four months later, he made his UFC debut, only to get beaten a second time by Bowles. Entering Saturday’s bout, he’s lost two in a row, a long way from when he felt invincible.“That’s exactly what it was,” said Page. “I’m knocking people out, I’m submitting people, I’m destroying people, oh man, I’m ranked sixth in the world, one more fight I’m getting a title shot. And that’s what was going on. Then I had a shoulder injury and was out for eight months. Then I come back and have injuries here and there and then fight Demetrious Johnson. Then I come back, fight Brian and have another injury, and things could change real quick. You just have to stay positive-minded and work hard, and train hard and smart.”And while you wouldn’t know it by looking at his record, he’s turned a corner in his life and career.“I think when I was doing really good and everything was going right, the fast fame and all the other stuff got a hold of me,” he admits. “Your name starts to get big and you start to go drink and start to go have fun and you’re not really focusing on anything because everything’s going right. But I think in the last couple years, from the injuries and the losing and stuff like that, it made me refocus and get everything back to where it needs to be to get ready for this fight. I think I’ve grown more from these last two years from injuries and all this other stuff – physically, mentally, and emotionally, all the way around – and it just makes me a better fighter. I think I’ve been fighting mentally for the last two, three months that I knew I was gonna fight Pickett. I’m fighting every day in my head and I’ll be ready.”This past New Year’s Eve, Page celebrated one year alcohol-free, and the time off has made him appreciate the gifts he has athletically, while also realizing that there is a life after fighting, one that may begin sooner rather than later should he sustain another serious injury.“I already told myself after two major surgeries that if I have one more major surgery or some real bad injury, then I’m gonna hang it up because it’s not worth it for the rest of my life,” he admits. “There’s still a life after fighting. But as long as I stay healthy and I feel good, I’m gonna do this until I break down again. I doubt that’s gonna happen though, because I changed my lifestyle, I’m doing things right, and I feel good, so I’m not going anywhere for a long time. There is no doubt. If I didn’t believe in my neck or how strong it is, then I don’t deserve to be fighting.”So no avoidance of black cats or walking under ladders for the 29-year old “The Angel of Death”?“It’s unfortunate that I’ve had injuries, but there’s no superstition,” he said. “I just go in there and train hard and I think a lot has to do with my lifestyle changes. I’m not getting those injuries and I’m not making those mistakes and doing dumb things. I’m making the right choices to better my future as a fighter. So I think coming into this camp I realized what I was doing wrong, I fixed it, and I’m coming real strong into this fight.”And if their histories tell the tale, this weekend’s matchup with Pickett will be a fight; not a wrestling match, not a dance, but an all-out slugfest between two guys who would rather get root canal work done than take a backward step. In other words, welcome to a meeting of two mirror images.“Me and Brad are pretty much the same and I think it has to do with our mentalities – you’re either gonna go do it or you’re not,” said Page. “He’s a go for broke style fighter, just like I am. It’s go for broke or let’s go home, and I think it’s gonna be one intense fight. It’s gonna be in your face and let’s get it on, plain and simple. I have a lot of respect for Brad and he presents a big problem for anybody. He’s gonna bring it, he’s gonna be in your face, and it’s gonna be a great puzzle to figure out to disrupt his style of fighting, even though my style of fighting’s the same. It’s all about who implements the game plan first. It’s almost like fighting myself out there.”Should he beat his clone, it will mark Page’s first UFC victory, and his first win overall since submitting Will Campuzano in October of 2009. Two and a half years is a long time to wait for anything, but Page doesn’t look at Saturday’s return as a continuation of what he started back in 2005. For him, it’s a fresh start.“Everybody knew me as the vicious killer of WEC, and since then, what have I done?” he asks. “I’ve done nothing, really. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gone out there and I’ve fought and I’ve fought in exciting fights, but I haven’t really done anything to turn people’s heads or even give ‘em an acknowledgement that I’m there, and I think now that the ’35 pounders are just coming up in the UFC and everybody’s really recognizing us, it’s like a rebirth. Go out there, start off the night, get a big win, and jumpstart everything again.”

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, injury, ’m, page

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In most religions the definition of  'god' includes the embodiment of the 'omni' characteristics: omniscience, omnipotence, omnibenevolence and omniprescence. In other words, you have to be all-knowing, all-powerful, all good and present in all things in order for the people to bow before you and call you their supreme leader. This is why humans can't ever really claim to be 'god'. We can't be 'all' anything-especially always present. The closest thing to omnipresence via a human was probably Waco's David Koresh. He claimed to have impregnated 400 virgins within his commune style cult. Even though Koresh was present within all those women there were men in that commune too, so unless he it can be proven he was laying pipe to the dudes as well; we can't even consider him God of Waco. David Koresh, so close-yet so far from diety status at the same damn time. In MMA there are fighters over the years that we have all put on pedestals and worshipped as though they were supreme god-like beings. Fedor, Shogun, Sakuraba, Overeem, Silva and even Jon Jones have all had their MMA moments of divinity. Those beliefs have all been crushed over the years though as all of them have been proven to be mortals via losses at some point in their careers. All of them except Jon Jones that is. His only loss to Matt Hammill via disqualification back in 2009 doesn't prove his mortality. Until you've been knocked out, submitted or just suffered an unquestionable five round beatdown via your opponent your potential immortality remains intact. According to his latest yahoo sports blog, Rashad Evans wants and plans to discredit any claims to a god-like fighter status that might be surrounding Jon Jones. "Yeah, I want to beat Jon and prove a point that he’s not this god we all need to pray to at night. He said on live TV that America could learn from him. I Googled it: There are 311,591,917 people living in America right now and Jon Jones thinks that 311,591,916 of them need to learn from him. He’s a drop in a bucket like the rest of us. The guy praises himself going to sleep. But the thing is, opponents have been buying into that, too." "Watching at ringside last September at UFC 135, I couldn’t believe the way Quinton “Rampage” Jackson fought Jon. He gave him too much respect and way too much distance. You have to be “in” or “out” with Jon – either out of range looking to come in with strikes and takedowns, or you got to be in his face throwing and pushing his ass against the fence. He’s got too much reach on you to be in the mid-range – that’s his sweet spot – and you can’t get caught out there with him.The illusion of or the mythical Jon Jones that the other guys fought, it doesn’t exist for me. I know how weak he is mentally – all the doubts he has about himself. I’m going to be the first one to stop this kid." "I saw an interview where he says he’s not giving it to me. He don’t have to. I’m taking it from him at UFC 145 on April 21." Rashad is going in for the attack on Jon Jones like a secular humanist attacks spiritual religion after being forced to listen to a Bill O'Reilly rant. There's a mere 12 days left till this religious MMA warfare goes down in Atlanta at UFC 145. [source]

Posted in: jon, jone, jon jones, ’t, god

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After the usual review of last week’s match (Iaquinta vs. Jury), we immediately see that the evening’s fight has put Sam Sicilia in an awkward position. He’s torn between helping his teammateJeremy Larsen  and a “great friend” Michael Chiesa. Despite whatever friendship he has, Coach Cruz is upset with losing and wants any advantage he can get to make sure it doesn’t happen again. He asks Sam to give him a scouting report on Chiesa so he can help prepare Larsen better. Watching this, I couldn’t help but think this whole exchange was like that guy at the bar who tries to get a girl to go home with him at closing time. Cruz tries all the usual routes to get someone to do something they don’t want: guilt, charm and even questions his dedication. I thought he was going to break him, but Sicilia stayed strong. We then get a glimpse into Team Cruz’ strategy for the fight. Larsen thinks that Chiesa is one dimensional and can only grapple. Cruz tells him that while he may not have the best takedown defense, using the cage will be strategic. In the Team Cruz training shots, our buddy Bad Tickle shows himself again. His excuse this time is that he has gout. I always thought that gout was one of those diseases like typhoid or dysentery that only exist anymore in Oregon Trail. Cruz confronts Tickle and tells him that being hurt is just part of being a professional fighter. You’re never going to be 100% so either you want it or you don’t. Feeling his masculinity being questioned,Tickle does what he does best -- get pissed. “I can’t even stand!” he cries.....then stands up and walks out. The show cuts to the TUF house where Chiesa and Larsen are in the kitchen together. Will we finally see bodily fluids in someone’s food? Alas, no. Chiesa politely asks Larsen, “Do you still wanna share a room?” Personally, I don’t see the big deal. I’m always in a room with people that are about to fight each other. It’s called the Downes family reunion. Which reminds me, where’s all the booze this season?Cut to the Team Faber training session and their strategy for the fight. Faber says that Chiesa has, “Some of the best MMA style takedowns,” and there is no doubt what he plans to do. Chiesa then talks about what’s been on everyone’s minds since the fight was made and opens up about the death of his father. He acknowledges that he has an easy out and could use it as an excuse for underperforming or even leaving the show altogether, but instead says that the tragedy has been a source of motivation. Feeling kind of bummed now? Did you just reflect on the importance of family and think you should go call you own father and tell him you love him? In a seamless transition, we shift to Chris Tickle’s bowel troubles. Sparring with Larsen, he catches a good body shot that hurts him. He expertly deflects his defensive lapse with, “My stomach hurt before I started training,” and tries to run off to the bathroom. Cruz doesn’t let him and says, “I don’t care if you s#*t all over yourself!” If that doesn’t make it on the back of his next t-shirt, I’ll be greatly disappointed.Jeremy Larsen then tells his story. He feels like an underdog and can’t wait to prove people wrong. He’s definitely determined, but he could use some lessons in salesmanship. He doesn’t do himself any favors when he says, “I don’t really have a strength in anything.” He says that he’d either be dead or in jail if it weren’t for MMA.Tickle goes to the doctor and they tell him that the tests came back negative for gout. He credits the prescription antibiotics they gave him. According to my research, they usually give you nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which are just fancy words for ibuprofen and Aleve. I wonder if he gets prescription water if he’s thirsty.Weigh ins come and the only thing of interest is that Urijah Faber making fun of Dominick Cruz’ red shoes. To me they just looked like basic skateboarder shoes. I’m definitely not the one to ask about fashion, though. I still rock my kick ass chain wallet from the 90s.The fight begins and Chiesa wastes no time trying to close the distance and get inside. He takes Larsen down in the first minute and then tries to advance position. Larsen does a good job of not getting put in a bad position and gets up. He soon overcommits on his strikes, Chiesa ties up and takes him down again. With about one minute left in the round, Chiesa goes for a darce, but can’t finish. Then, the controversy occurs. Larsen has his back on the cage and is hunched over on one knee. Chiesa is still standing over him going for the choke and then throws an illegal knee. There didn’t seem to be a lot behind it, but it’s obviously a foul. A point gets deducted, the round restarts and they clinch to the bell.Round two is pretty much more of the same. Larsen gets put against the cage, taken down, gets up, overcommits on his strikes and then gets taken down again. He must not have watched Keeping Up With the Kardashians to learn the evils of committing too soon. Chiesa wins the decision, but then the most amazing thing happens on this season -- the fighters actually answer Jon Anik’s questions. Chiesa gives a shout out to his mom and love to his departed father. Larsen feels cheated that there wasn’t a third round because of the point deduction in the first from the knee (He doesn't seem to realize that since he lost the round 10-9, the point deduction still makes it a 9-9 tie). He calls himself “a warrior” and then whines a little bit more. Read fight reportTeam Faber has control of the pick. He says his first pick was the most "obnoxious and loud" member of Team Cruz, Dominick's shoes, but apparently they're at home today. So he goes with a consolation prize that gives us all what we want -- more Chris Tickle. That’s right, next week we get to see our buddy Bad Tickle fight Joe Proctor. Will Chris redeem himself from the detractors? Can Proctor take out the guy that Cruz said has the potential to win it all? Does a sudden bout of scurvy make the fight not happen at all? Find out next week!In the meantime, be sure to follow me on twitter @dannyboydownes, my blog here, the show at @InsideTUF and leave some comments. Be forewarned, if there’s no article next week, it probably means the Downes family Easter Egg Hunt got out of hand again.Team Cruz (2-2)Myles Jury - (0-1) lost a split decision to Al Iaquinta in episode 4Jeremy Larsen - (0-1) lost via unanimous decision to Mike Chiesa in episode 5Justin Lawrence - (1-0) won via KO over Cristiano Marcello in episode 3Vinc PichelMike RioSam SiciliaChris Tickle - scheduled to fight Joe Proctor in episode 6James Vick - (1-0) won via KO over Daron Cruickshank in episode 2Team Faber (2-2)Mike Chiesa - (1-0) won a unanimous decision over Jeremy Larsen in episode 5John CoferDaron Cruickshank - (0-1) lost to James Vick in episode 2Al Iaquinta - (1-0) won a split decision over Myles Jury in episode 4Cristiano Marcello - (0-1) lost to Justin Lawrence in episode 3Andy OgleJoe Proctor - scheduled to fight Chris Tickle in episode 6Chris Saunders

Posted in: fight, ’t, cruz, larsen, chiesa

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In a perfect world, Alistair Overeem’s testosterone levels would be somewhere around the level of 5:1.  Considering his physical disposition, that sounds about right anyway.  Unfortunately, he has the testosterone level of 14 men, and that’s over twice as much as he’s allowed to compete with in the state of Nevada.  The silver lining of this cloud is that the fight between him and Junior Dos Santos CAN still take place, it just can’t be in Las Vegas.  In theory, since Alistair Overeem didn’t have an active license at the time of his surprise drug screening (his provisional license expired at the end of 2011), the Nevada State Athletic Commission cannot suspend a license he didn’t have, nor can they punish him in any way.  It would solely be up to the promoter (UFC) to punish the Dutch kickboxer.  The fight could still take place in Brazil, unless Mark Hunt steps in to fight Junior Dos Santos in Ubereem’s place on May 26.  In fact, there has been a public outcry from the fighters and fans across all social media networks to #RallyForMarkHunt  since the news was announced that Alistair might not be able to compete at UFC 146.  It has become an instant internet phenomenon.  Personally, I don’t think the UFC will ever let the fight happen; they can’t afford to put Junior Dos Santos in that much danger.  Regardless, folks like KneeBarBuffet are cutting videos like this one, pleading to give the Super Samoan his shot at UFC gold; and that's a message we can get behind.

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, alistair, dutch kickboxer  

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Eight years ago. 2004. Mac Danzig remembers grabbing some chicken breasts from the freezer, cooking them up and chowing them down. It was a milestone moment, signifying the last time the conscientious consumer would taste any meat or fish. The animal rights advocate had already stopped eating dairy products; he was now full-fledged vegan. No big deal, except Danzig’s diet made him a glaring anomaly in the MMA and society in general, where carnivores are widely presumed to have a huge edge in the all-important strength department. So for years the Cleveland-born, California-based fighter shouldered plenty of criticism and battled misperceptions about his eating habits. But Danzig, winner of season six of The Ultimate Fighter and single father to a three-year-old daughter, has noticed a gradual shift in attitudes over the past few years as the fight game evolved and ever more attention is paid to the cleanest diet possible. Weeks before his UFC 145 showdown with fellow lightweight Efrain Escudero, 32-year-old Danzig opened up about his food philosophies and recently being featured in the acclaimed “Forks Over Knives” documentary that is related to a book of the same name that climbed to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Once, the fight world virtually scoffed at Danzig’s fringe diet. More and more, however, he is looking like a pioneer who was ahead of the times. Frank Curreri: Some people might think, five or six years ago especially, that your diet is extreme or wacky. That you are a tree-hugging pacifist. So many stereotypes are attached to vegans and vegetarian athletes in “manly” sports. Has that perception of your diet as extreme or radical changed? Mac Danzig: “Yeah! Over the last few years there have been a lot of changes in perception. When people first start realizing that I was Vegan, I was the odd man out. I was the only person in combat sports doing it. You know, there was one other random professional boxer who happened to be vegetarian, but his diet was filled up with cheese and whey protein, so that doesn’t really count. So I was the only guy. It didn’t matter how many fights I won, whenever I’d lose people would always criticize my diet. ‘Oh he doesn’t get enough meat and protein in his diet, that’s why he lost!’ But now you have fighters turning to similar diets for health reasons – guys like Jon Fitch, who use those diets for their training camps but not necessarily for moral or ethical reasons. So people see him doing well and they think, ‘Ok.’ Jake Shields has been a longtime vegetarian and he eliminates dairy and goes Vegan and people go, ‘Oh .’ And more and more people started doing it, so I don’t find myself getting criticized as much. I’ve been getting more and more positive feedback. People do seem more curious about the diet and more accepting.”Curreri: Talk a little more about being a vegan pro athlete and getting enough protein.Danzig: “I used to always get that, ‘Well what do you eat?’ ‘Where do you get your protein?’ I get that all the time. The truth of the matter is that protein requirements are blown all out of proportion. We are led to believe that we need huge of amounts of protein for physical activity. People have been saying that for so long. The fact of the matter is, even if I did eat meat I wouldn’t be so focused on my protein intake. I wouldn’t worry that much about it because you get enough protein if you have a balanced diet. But so much of our society is based on what is printed in magazines and publications. All of that knowledge was handed down, literally, by the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno days … people who looked at bodybuilding as the ultimate way for Joe Schmoe to get in shape and be five percent closer to looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. And that’s been going on for a long time. It goes hand in hand with this whole fitness mindset that has been going on for decades. You don’t need one gram of protein per pound of body weight. You don’t need that at all. If you are regularly active and at a good weight, if you get more than 80 grams of protein a day then you are fine. The body can’t even process more than that, your liver can’t process more than that. If you give your body too much protein then it’s either going to turn it into energy or to fat. And your liver has to do all that.”Curreri: Talk about your education as a vegan. What convinced you that this way of eating was ideal for you? What spurred you to go Vegan?Danzig: “I’ve been researching nutrition for years and years, and not just being vegan, but nutrition in general. I’ve asked a lot of questions from knowledgeable people over the years, read books, read medical journals and stuff like that online. So I’ve been educating myself as much as possible for years and then using trial and error. For years I didn’t do the Vegan diet even though personally, morally and ethically I wanted to. But I believed in what everyone else was saying, ‘You need meat! You need some kind of animal product, fish or chicken … to maintain your strength and muscle mass. As an athlete you need that.’ And I believed all of that. Then I saw some examples of athletes that were Vegan and were getting good results and I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to try it.’  At the very beginning for me it was moral and ethical. In this day and age, buying animal and dairy products causes way more suffering and harm than it does good. Don’t get me wrong, yes, I love animals … but if we were in a different day and age like 100 or 200 years ago then, sure, I would do whatever I had to do to live. If I had to be a hunter-gatherer then I would. I might feel bad about it, but I would respect the animals that I killed and I would eat meat. But things are different. We don’t live in that day and age anymore. Today you have processed meats and a lot of animals suffering unnecessarily for it. Now, some people just blow that off and don’t have a conscience about it or they just don’t care. They wouldn’t eat their dog but they feel that way about other animals. But for me, I just decided to stop eating meat. I didn’t want to contribute to all of that. I’m not trying to change the world or wear that on my sleeve or make a political statement, because that just turns people away. I only have control over one person and that’s myself. And I feel good about it. Curreri: Give us a day in the life of Mac Danzig grubbing. Danzig: “It depends whether I’m in hard training. When I’m in hard training, like right now, I wake up in the morning, get some stuff done and I go train. I skip breakfast and the reason I do that is because if you train before you eat you will burn off the glycogen stores and the immediate fat sources that you have accumulated a lot quicker. So if you eat breakfast before you workout, then you are burning off some of what you just ate. I like to start with a clean slate for weight-cutting purposes. So I go work out. After I work out I have a Vegan protein shake and mix that in a blender with mangoes, banana, coconut for the good fats, and some cashews. Then a little bit later I will have some sort of carbs … usually quinoa, because it has complex carbs and a lot of protein. I’ll add steamed vegetables and some kind of fruit. I snack throughout the day with fresh fruit. I try to only eat organic fruit and that’s where I get my sugar intake from. I stay as far away as possible from refined and processed sugars. I go train and then when I’m done I’ll have a salad, usually with spinach and kale, with beans and legumes as the main source of protein. Sometimes I might eat Tofu or Tempeh. Tempeh is a little better because the processing and fermentation process that the soybean goes through is not as intense. Or I might add lima beans to my salad. Later on at night I eat more fresh fruit, as always.”Curreri: Tell us about the last time you ate meat. Danzig: “The last time I remember eating meat was sometime in 2004. There was a guy who had a journal online and he offered examples of his diet alone. I had a boxing match coming up – this was before I started fighting in the UFC. So before the boxing match I decided to cut out animal products … At that point I had already cut out dairy and the only animals I was eating were chicken and fish. So I just cut them out and I was Vegan. So I ate some chicken breasts in my freezer because I didn’t want to waste it. It wasn’t good or bad. It didn’t make me want to eat any other meat or miss meat. That was just the last time I ate meat.Curreri: Let’s harken back to your childhood days. What kind of diet did you have growing up?Danzig: “Me and my mom didn’t have a whole lot of money. We both cared a lot about animals and hypothetically wanted to go vegetarian but we didn’t know how to do it. This is like the (1980s) and when you grow up in the Midwest or the East there was not a lot of information about it. We just got by on what we could. I think I drank more 2 percent milk than any other liquid because we didn’t know any better and there were so many commercials about milk – like the milk campaigns that they are still doing. I drank so much milk that I ended up with an allergy to it. A typical meal for me was white bread, baked potato, a side of lunch meat and milk. That was what I had a lot. It wasn’t good for me but when you’re a young kid you can process that. But if you go vegetarian or vegan you’re going to be making yourself so much healthier.”Curreri: What is one of your Go-To meals, something that might be appetizing even to a non-vegan. Danzig: “I eat a lot of vegan energy bars from Whole Foods. I’m really into Coconut milk to make curry, so I’ll make a yellow curry powder and mix it with coconut milk, put that over organic brown rice and add some stir fried vegetables with snow peas. If I have 20 minutes to prepare something, that’s something I might make.”Curreri: You are featured in the relatively popular documentary “Forks Over Knives” and the film highlights your diet and profession, seemingly to show viewers that those who exclusively eat plants and fruits can still be tough guys and elite athletes. What was that experience like and what kind of feedback have you received? Danzig: “Yeah, it was a short thing. They followed me for a day and then threw it in there. They don’t mention me too much, but it was good. That documentary was a big eye-opener for a lot of people, so it was good. I didn’t know it would be that successful because there are a lot of documentaries out there, and lots of times when you’re interviewed and videoed it never even gets off the ground so I never hold my breath. So I didn’t realize that documentary would have the impact that it did. I’ve had lots of feedback from different fighters, coaches and training partners that have seen it. All sorts of people hit me up by e-mail or Twitter to tell me they saw me in the film. A lot of times people were just watching and had no idea I was in it until they saw me in it.”

Posted in: ’t, people, lot, diet, vegan

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UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen once again lived up to his reputation as a sliver-tongued scrapper this week during a segment of “Chael’s Corner” on UFC Tonight where he took his peers to task over a topic many would argue he himself is quite familiar with – lying. Sonnen made it clear he isn’t necessarily concerned about things his fellow fighters say to help promote future pairings so much as their lack of general honesty with the public. “There’s a tremendous difference with what fighters say versus what fighters mean,” began Sonnen before going into a full-fledged rant. “For example, ‘I don’t want to leave it in the hands of the judges,’ means, ‘I didn’t train to go three rounds.’” Sonnen listed off a variety of other instances involving similar misinformation, then turned his focus towards fighters who don’t give full credit to opponents they’ve faced as a way of acting tough instead of being completely open on the subject. “I don’t understand why fighters don’t just talk plainly. In my last fight I took on a gentleman named Michael Bisping. He hit me very hard and it hurt a lot. And people were shocked that I’d admit that. Because they’re all so used to lying,” Sonnen explained of his January 28 meeting with the talented Brit. “Well guess what, if a guy hits you hard and it hurts, is your ego so small that you can’t pay him a compliment? Is your ego so fragile that you can’t say, ‘Look, I had my bell rung in the middle of a fist fight’? It kinda seems like a normal thing to happen to me. I expect to be hit hard. I expect to be kicked hard. I don’t need to hide from those things.” If only he extended the same courtesy to Triangle Choke finishes at the end of a fight… Check out the complete video from Sonnen below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fighter, ’t, thing, sonnen

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

With only a few weeks remaining before Jon Jones’ much-anticipated main event match-up with Rashad Evans at UFC 145, opinions on the likely result have been rolling in at an increased pace from fans, media, and fighters alike. One man with a significant interest in how things will unfold is Dan Henderson, a top contender seemingly set to face whoever emerges victorious in the April 21 bout. While it seems most people are picking Jones to retain his belt, shrugging off notions of Evans’ ability to contend with the dynamic champion’s diverse skill-set and size, Henderson isn’t so sure such will be the case and envisions a scenario where Evans emerges with the title in tow. “Rashad got a lot of criticism for his last performance but I thought he fought really well, really solid. Jon Jones is tough but Rashad could definitely come out winning,” said Henderson in an interview with ESPN. “He will definitely put Jones on his back if he fights like he did against Phil Davis. Rashad’s the better wrestler. It’s just that Jones is awkward. But Jones (won’t) be able to stop him taking him down for that long.” “Don’t count out Rashad Evans. Everybody’s assuming it will be Jones, but Rashad is a good fighter too,” concluded Henderson on the topic. Henderson’s next move involves waiting for Jones-Evans to face off, possibly even holding out for a few more months after being promised a shot at the middleweight strap as well if he so desires. The decorated veteran holds an overall record of 29-8 with wins in his last four fights including an instant classic against Mauricio Rua this past November. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: jone, ’t, henderson, rashad, evan

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Travis Browne has a challenge for his UFC 145 opponent Chad Griggs.“I wasn’t going to put it out there,” he says through the laughter, “but I’ll extend the challenge: I have my cute little beard-thing going, and he has his muttonchops, so I want to put out the challenge that whoever loses shaves their facial hair off for a month.“I’ve been putting as much into my beard as he has his muttonchops. I’ve gone through stages,” continues the affable heavyweight. “If you look back at all my different fights, I did the chinstrap, and I tried to get all fancy and did like a fade. If he’s game, we can set something up. Maybe the other person will videotape the loser shaving it off our something.”The 29-year-old Hawaiian is excited and talkative, happy to be closing in on his return to the Octagon, ready to replace the memory of his last appearance with something more representative of his robust talents.“It was a dominant performance over Rob Broughton,” says Browne of his UFC 135 battle with the British heavyweight last September. “I mean, it was 30-27, and there was no time that I was ever in trouble — so it worked, but it wasn’t the most fun or exciting fight that anyone has ever seen.“That being said, I’ve taken a lot from that fight, and learned what I need to do in my next fight in order to be successful. Not only successful, but try and be spectacular in winning. Sometimes you can be successful, but feel like you lost, and that’s what happened with Rob Broughton.“I was expecting so much out of myself. I put so much pressure on myself, we were trying new things, and I was thinking a little bit too much instead of just reacting like I normally would. There was a lot that went into it, but we learned a lot, and corrected a lot of mistakes, and we’re going to keep pushing, and keep moving forward.”Browne’s fight against Broughton was his first since relocating his training camp to Albuquerque, New Mexico to work with coaches Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn, and the team of talent assembled at their gym.After earning Knockout of the Night honors for his Superman punch finish of Stefan Struve at UFC 130, the unbeaten rising star was expected to run through Broughton in Denver. Instead, he never really found his rhythm.The first four fights of his UFC career have produced a 3-0-1 record, but it has been an admittedly up-and-down run according to Browne. That’s why he’s had April 21 circled on his calendar for a couple of months now, when he’ll get to return to the Octagon and prove to everyone that he deserves to be considered amongst the best of the UFC’s suddenly deep heavyweight division.“People are saying that I’ve had kind of a rollercoaster between finishing (James) McSweeney in four minutes, going to a decision and getting a draw with (Cheick) Kongo, then having that nasty knockout against Struve, and then having like a lackluster performance against Rob Broughton.“I think this is the fight that is really going to make people either believe in me or push me aside. This is a fight where I have to come out and prove myself — that I do belong in the UFC, that this is my home, and I need to show people that. “Circumstances are a little bit different for this camp,” adds Browne, noting that there were communication issues between he and his new coaches last time around that have since been rectified. “I’ve learned what kind of fighter I’m going to be, and I’m excited to see how I progress now that Coach Jackson has got a hold of me, and is going to start molding me into the fighter I’m going to be.”Coming off of his highlight reel victory over Struve last spring, Browne was tabbed by many as “The Next Big Thing” in the heavyweight division. Because of the lack of depth within the weight class, his climb up the ranks appeared to be headed towards the fast track prior to his sub-par performance against Broughton in the thin air of Denver, Colorado.Seven months later, the heavyweight ranks have been restocked with former Strikeforce competitors, and Browne couldn’t be happier.“It feels like I retired and now I’m on my way back,” he jokes about the time it has taken for him to make his way back into the Octagon. “I’m actually glad that they’re bringing over the guys from Strikeforce — that way the heavyweights can have more fights. I think that’s one reason why it took seven months for me to get a fight: there just wasn’t the right guy to line up.“I think it opens everything up; it gives (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva a lot more to work with. It just makes for more exciting fights for the fans as well. We have (Alistair) Overeem and (Fabricio) Werdum. There’s going to be (Daniel) Cormier and (Josh) Barnett, and there’s (Antonio) Silva, and that guy Lavar Johnson. All those guys coming over just makes for a lot more interesting matchups.”Included in that collection of transplanted heavyweight challengers is the man he’ll face at UFC 145, Chad Griggs.Less than two years ago, the 33-year-old IFL veteran was unknown to all but the most ardent MMA fans before he was brought in by Strikeforce to face former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley in a fight few expected him to win.After outlasting an exhausted Lashley, Griggs scored a pair of first round wins over prospect Gian Villante and veteran Valentjin Overeem to push his record to 3-0 under the Strikeforce banner, and 11-1 overall. His straightforward, aggressive approach and outstanding muttonchops have made him a fan favorite, while his unexpected three-fight winning streak in Strikeforce (he’s won six straight overall) has made him a member of the UFC heavyweight ranks.In addition to being able to put the aforementioned facial hair wager on the table heading into their meeting on April 21, Browne also welcomes the pairing with Griggs as an opportunity to put what he’s been practicing with Jackson and company in Albuquerque to use inside the cage.“A fight with Chad Griggs is actually really good because it puts me on track to becoming the fighter that I’m going to be,” discloses the six-foot-seven-inch tall heavyweight, who has amassed nine of his 12 wins by way of knockout. “Our game plan for Chad is the same way that I’m going to be fighting when I’m going for the title, so it’s exciting to see and be a part of. It’s a work in progress, and I have some of the best coaches in the business working on it.“The thing about Chad is that he’s unpredictable,” asserts Browne. “He doesn’t know what he’s going to do when he gets in the cage. All he knows is that he’s going to come forward and try to hit you, and that’s what I admire about him: he fights off of instinct, and he comes out and just tries to get it done.“For us, that’s great because it gives me a chance to really work everything that I’ve been learning. It’s not like we know he’s going to jab, overhand, and then shoot in for a double or he’s just going to try and press me into the cage or he’s just going to try and standing the middle and just bang it out with me. We don’t know what Chad’s going to do. He could try to back me into the cage. He could try to slug it out, or he could shoot in for a double; who knows? And that’s something we look forward to. It’s exciting for both Chad and I as fighters to have that, and it’s exciting for me in terms of my development as a fighter.”More than anything else, Browne is looking forward to returning to the aggressive form he displayed throughout his career prior to the fight with Broughton last September.“My last fight, I was trying to be a little more careful, and I fought not to lose,” he admits. “I didn’t really understand that when (UFC president) Dana White or these other people would say, `You need to fight to win; you can’t fight to not lose.’ I didn’t understand that until my last fight. Looking back at that fight, I was fighting to not lose, so if I fight that same fight against Chad Griggs, I’m losing. I can’t just sit back and let him dictate what goes out, because he’s way more dangerous than Rob Broughton will ever be.“I keep referring to Chad Griggs as a pit bull because that’s the way that he fights, and I think I have to go out there and match that intensity. I can’t hold back. I can’t be worried about `oh, I’m going to try and do too much and get caught’ because I tell you what: everybody gets caught.“Sooner or later, you get caught,” Browne adds with a laugh. “If it’s Chad Griggs or if it’s in the championship fight, I don’t give a crap. I’m going to go out there, fight my hardest, and bring the fight to him the same way he’s going to try and bring the fight to me.”Though he’s 12-0-1 thus far and unbeaten in four trips to the Octagon, Browne expects this fight to be the one where he really establishes himself as a threat in the heavyweight division, and he predicts that the judges’ scorecards won’t be needed.“This is definitely going to be one of my breakout fights. I heard him say in an interview that somebody is going to be bleeding, and I welcome that. We each have nine knockouts, and we want to put somebody to sleep.“It’s not going to the judges.”

Posted in: fight, heavyweight, ’t, browne, ’m

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There aren’t many fighters who can claim to have the experience or success of Mark Coleman. The 47-year old Hall of Famer not only won a pair of UFC tournaments in the organization’s early days but also laid claim to the company’s inaugural heavyweight title, a PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix crown, and even a victory inside the Octagon a few years ago against Stephan Bonnar despite being in his mid-forties. “The Hammer” recently looked back on his career while speaking with Inside MMA where he touched on a number of topics including his glory days, a controversial moment occurring after one of his fights with Fedor Emelianenko, and whether or not there were any opponents still piquing his interest. “I’ll be honest with you. It’s easier to win the belt than to keep the belt,” said Coleman of his early run in the UFC where he won gold only to lose it in his first defense. “Nothing against Mo Smith but if I would’ve prepared properly I think I would’ve destroyed him. But I didn’t because I didn’t prepare properly, he did, and what a humbling, humbling experience.” Coleman took that humility with him to PRIDE where, entering the 2000 Open Weight Grand Prix with a 1-1 record in the promotion, the godfather of ground-and-pound surprised all by emerging as the tournament’s champion. “The critics are usually right but you can prove em wrong sometimes,” Coleman fondly reflected. Another bout under the PRIDE banner fans likely remember is Coleman’s encounter with Emelianenko at PRIDE 32 where, after losing, the decorated wrestler brought his terrified daughters into the ring to spend time with them. While Coleman didn’t say he regretted the decision, he did make it clear he received a lot of heat and appeared to be genuinely affected on an emotional level by the situation. “It was a tough night because I took a lot of criticism from a lot of fans and a lot of professionals claiming that I traumatized my daughters. And at the time, being a dad, it was the most important thing to me. I just remember very clearly…I don’t mind losing, I just don’t wanna hurt my kids,” a tearful Coleman expressed. Looking forward, Coleman stopped short of guaranteeing a return to the ring but acknowledged he could be swayed to do so if the right situation appeared. Likewise, the 16-10 competitor doesn’t appear to have any interest in taking on the next generation of Mixed Martial Artists but wouldn’t mind getting his hands on a legend or two. “It seems to always come down to one guy…Tito…what’s his last name? Oh yeah, Tito Ortiz. Dan Severn, he’s the one calling me out every day. He wants a revenge match versus me but I keep telling him, he’s 280 pounds and needs to lose some weight and then maybe I’ll think about it. Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz…other than that…I gotta get in shape,” admitted Coleman, perhaps indicative he is enjoying retirement a little too much to return after all. Meanwhile, though his fighting future is up in the air, Coleman’s main focus moving forward will be on his aforementioned daughters who are now both athletes in their own right. From world champion to proud father, Coleman’s journey has been an eventful one with no signs of slowing down in the immediate future. We should all be so lucky at his age. Watch the full interview below: PHOTO CREDIT – FEG/UFC

Posted in: ’t, pride, lot, coleman, mark coleman

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Former Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez is in a precarious position at the moment. Poised to test free agency for the first time in years, the 27-year old is coming off a loss to Michael Chandler and facing a man in his next outing who finished him in about 90 seconds the first time they met, Shinya Aoki. As much as Alvarez is looking forward to avenging the loss, he’d originally hoped he would receive an immediate rematch with Chandler based on how close their November meeting was. Chandler submitted Alvarez a little over halfway through the fourth frame of their title-bout despite appearing to be on fumes based on an all-out war in the previous rounds. “Before I even left the ring that night I went to Bjorn (Rebney) and I said, ‘I know this isn’t your protocol or what you do, but I would like a rematch. I think I earned it and I think the fans would enjoy it. Let’s try to do that,’” said Alvarez last week while calling in to the MMA Hour. However, Alvarez understands the same tournament structure giving Chandler a shot at his belt or even earning him one during the organization’s inaugural season is one Bellator isn’t interested in messing with. And, as much as he’d like a shot at winning his belt back, Alvarez is fine with CEO Rebney’s firm stance on the matter. “The way it’s ran, it keeps the integrity of the sport. It is a sport where a guy who works hard, who is basically an unknown can come out and be a champion. It is that. I think that a lot of promoters and promotions and even boxing does a good job in disguising that, making the champion look like someone who is immortal, someone who can’t be beaten. Bellator, more than anyone, keeps the integrity of the sport by facing guys who are unknown and could be very dangerous,” explained Alvarez. “In normal circumstances, some promotions may keep their champion away from a guy like that. Bellator doesn’t do that. That’s what makes it honest and true and keeps the integrity of MMA.” Without a title-shot on the horizon Alvarez’s focus is instead on Aoki who he’ll see at Bellator 66 on April 20. If he stumbles again as he did to the Japanese submission specialist in 2008 any thoughts of another title-run or salacious salary will quickly float out of the cage door. Bellator 66 Ready to Wow Fans with Five Fights on Main Card “I need to go in there and I need to perform the way I usually do, then we can talk about other things. Because, right now, I can go in there and if something doesn’t go my way that night, I don’t have much to stand on. I need to go in there and show my value.” Alvarez is 22-3 in his career and had won seven straight prior to the Chandler loss. Nineteen of his victories have involved some form of stoppage. PHOTO CREDIT – BELLATOR Tweet

Posted in: bellator, ’t, chandler, alvarez, night i

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I’m back for another edition of the Ultimate Recap Live, and not just because I spent my rent money on Mega Millions tickets without winning a cent. Well, actually that’s most of the reason, but let’s both make the best out of a bad situation.The show opens up with a recap of last week’s fight. Dana criticizes BJJ black belt Cristiano Marcello’s stand-up gameplan and calls kickboxer Justin Lawrence a real contender. The fighters themselves have your typical reactions. Lawrence is downright giddy. I’m pretty sure if they continued the tape we’d hear him say that he’s going to use the $5000 bonus to buy a box full of lottery tickets. Don't do it, Justin! Marcello is disappointed, but he knows that the season is still young and wants to help train his teammates any way he can. The coaches then review the choice for the current fight -- Al Iaquinta vs. Myles Jury. Cruz doesn’t help his Count Dracula moniker by saying that he wants to, “Go straight for the jugular.” Faber feels that Cruz overreached in this selection and simply says that when he heard the announcement he thought, “Yes! Thank you.”We then get a look inside Team Cruz’ training. Dominick sums up his training philosophy as , “If you grind yourself to the bitter end, the fight is easy.” The guys on the team talk about how Cruz pushes everyone. A highlight here is when Dominick tells someone to, “Pick it the [expletive] up,” in the most casual way possible. If they didn’t beep it out of the broadcast, I would have thought he was just asking about the weather.The downside of training to the limit, though, is that injuries happen. That’s exactly what happens to Mike Rio. Sparring with Myles Jury, he catches a spinning backfist that causes his knee to buckle under him. Cruz brushes it off by saying that “he’s hurt, not injured,” but I’m not so sure that the distinction would be widely recognized by the medical community. We cut back to the house where the guys are dealing with the cabin fever that comes along with being on a TUF season. Andy Ogle writes love letters, Cruickshank stuffs his face and Myles Jury is a loner. The guys show their true desperation by playing charades. Honestly, I never knew people actually played that game. I just thought that it was one of those things that only happen on TV and movies -- like how playing in toxic waste gives you super powers. Well, at least this lesson didn’t make me sterile...From there we have Iaquinta’s training montage. While it may have lacked the cinematic flair of a Journey song, we do learn that he has no plans on being defensive in this fight. We watch another snapshot of Rio trying to work through the knee injury. He says that he doesn’t want it to get in the way, but it’s clearly affecting him. Again, Cruz doesn’t seem too sympathetic.Back at the house, Urijah stops by and brings a life coach to talk to everyone. Our buddy Tickle is none too impressed telling us, “I don’t need no damn life coach.” Doth the Tick protest too much!? Sadly, this is the only real Tickle-ing we get this episode.From there, Jury’s training package starts. He, too, says that this his strategy will be to force his opponent to go backward. Later, as Team Cruz gets ready to break training for the day, they interrupt him in the shower and the cameraman gives viewers an uncomfortable up-skirt angle of Jury’s towel. Back at the house, Team Faber is already looking ahead to next week and saying that they should take out Rio because he’s “old” and “hurt” (Rio: 30. Faber: 32.) Ogle says that he’ll take the fight because he wants revenge against Rio for beating his friend to get into the house, but I call BS. That’s like saying you’re going to the Chinese Buffet by your house for the ambience and the decor. Weigh-ins occur without incident and we witness one last look into the locker rooms before the fight starts. Usually at these we get nothing of note, but Dominick Cruz says some interesting things. As he pumps up Jury, he tells him that Myles is way more prepared than the guys on Team Faber. Apparently, they’ve been, “painting each other’s faces, making flags and oiling each other’s backs.” Why did we not see this? Did the cameraman capture an erotic TUF thriller featuring these scenes that FX deemed too racy? C'mon, FX, you aired The Shield!The fight begins and Iaquinta sticks to his gameplan just like he said. He keeps moving forward and doesn’t give Jury a lot of space. Myles does a decent job countering, but he seems too hesitant to let his strikes go (something Cruz criticized him for earlier). This continues for most of the round until about a minute left when Iaquinta puts in Jury in what wrestlers call a spladle (pictured above) and what everyone else in the world calls a "what the eff is that?!" Jury eventually escapes and the round ends.Round two opens with a low blow that slows the pace, but it soon picks up. Although both fighters start to open up more, Iaquinta is still the aggressor. Jury continues to get pushed backward, but shows nice movement by not getting pinned on the cage. Unfortunately, halfway through the round he starts to noticeably slow down and Iaquinta capitalizes and catches him with some strong shots as the round closes.The fight is scored a draw after two, so we head to the “sudden victory” round. Calling Jury gassed would be an overstatement, but he definitely doesn't have much pep left. I think the long pause between the second and third round while they calculated the scores likely contributed. Iaquinta controls the third much like he handled the second -- he pushes forward and Myles doesn’t answer back with much. Even though I thought he clearly took the third, the judges give Iaquinta a split decision win and Team Faber earns their first victory. Read fight play-by-playThe only thing more frustrating than MMA judging is Jon Anik trying to get an answer to his questions in the post fight interviews. Iaquinta says that if he wins the best-fight-of-the-season bonus, “I’m gonna go finish college just like grandma wanted,” and Jury just rambles on about whatever he wants. We head to the fight selection where Urijah Faber opens by saying that he chose this matchup because it would be an easy fight, but then immediately backtracks by saying everyone there is tough and, “Anything can happen.” Although he's trying, it seems Urijah  just doesn’t have it in him to really insult people (paging life coach Chael!). He then reveals that next week’s contest will be between Mike Chiesa and Jeremy Larsen (Cruz' last pick).How will Chiesa keep his emotions in check after the death of his father? Can Team Cruz bounce back from their first defeat? Will the cameraman make one of the coaches dress up as a pizza delivery boy for his next film? Find out next week!In the meantime, be sure to follow me on twitter @dannyboydownes, the show at @InsideTUF and leave comments. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if that cameraman has any job openings before they shut off my electricity...Team Cruz (2-1)Myles Jury - (0-1) lost a split decision to Al Iaquinta in episode 4Jeremy Larsen - scheduled to fight Mike Chiesa in episode 5Justin Lawrence - (1-0) won via KO over Cristiano Marcello in episode 3Vinc PichelMike RioSam SiciliaChris TickleJames Vick - (1-0) won via KO over Daron Cruickshank in episode 2Team Faber (1-2)Mike Chiesa - scheduled to fight Jeremy Larsen in episode 5John CoferDaron Cruickshank - (0-1) lost to James Vick in episode 2Al Iaquinta - (1-0) won a split decision over Myles Jury in episode 4Cristiano Marcello - (0-1) lost to Justin Lawrence in episode 3Andy OgleJoe ProctorChris Saunders

Posted in: fight, ’t, cruz, jury, iaquinta

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While the UFC has officially announced Silva vs Sonnen 2, Chael sonnen would like you to know he hasn't actually signed his contract yet: “My demand has not been met,” said Sonnen to MMAFighting, adding he’d signed nothing and would let the world know his terms in the immediate future. Who knows if this is referring to his challenge at UFC 136 where he laid down the gauntlet and said "If I beat you, you leave the Middleweight division. If you beat me, I'll leave the UFC forever" or something else. Maybe he's cooked up some fresh pro wrestling angle he's trying to weave into the fight. Winner gets his steak cooked by Anderson's wife however he likes it. Loser has to stick his face in Roy Nelson's sweaty gunt. Stuff like that.Barring Chael not signing his contract (yeah, sure), you should now be prepared for three months of what I'm sure will be non-stop sh*t talking. Let's get it started with the above video: Anderson said I need to stop talking and start training and my response simply would be: why? Why is it that I would do that? And by the way, Anderson, if I want you opinion I will beat it out of you. Don’t walk around handing out free advice, why don’t you grab a sharpie and draw Steve Segal’s widow peak on him. His hairline is about as authentic as his fighting abilities. So, you go sing to your hamburgers and dance on stage with Justin Bieber and I’ll handle the heavy work in this company live I have done for the past 5 years in your absence. You don’t matter, Anderson, and when you talk to me and talk down on me – don’t talk down on me, don’t talk to me like you’re my equal cause you’re not, I stomped you before and I’ll stomp you again. You are a nuisance to me and to everybody else, you ducked me for 6 years, then you ducked me for 2 years after that. There’s nothing I can do more than pick a fight. You put every stipulation you could on this thing that you could think of and I answered them all, including coming to Brazil like that’s some kind of a big deal. What’s the difference? It’s a plane ride somewhere. I’m not fighting you in Brazil, I’m not fighting you in Chicago, I’m not fighting you in Florida; I’m fighting you in the octagon and you when you get there and I get in there, I’m going to stomp you this time the same as I did last time. You can complain about your rib, I’m sure your rib did hurt, your rib is inside of a coward, that’s the problem your rib’s got. It’s got the same problem your hands and feet have, they’re attached to you dummy. I’m going to be attached to you to for 25 minutes or until you give up.

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, ’m, sonnen, anderson

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Posted in: nick, tekprodfx, ’t, doesn ’t, drug

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I still can’t believe Frank Mir snapped Nogueria’s arm like a wishbone at Thanksgiving. Because of him, I can’t play the wishbone game with my cousins whenever our family gathers for dinner. Just the thought of it makes me visualize Mir sending a vibration through his Nogueria’s torso and I become as squeamish as Paula Dean at a glance from a treadmill. Luckily for Big Nog, he has the regenerative ability of the vampires in True Blood and he’s already back at the gym training. In fact, if anyone is reluctant about fighting again, it’s Frank Mir, who turned down a fight with Fabricio Werdum because he doesn’t feel comfortable fighting in Brazil after dismembering one of their MMA heroes. Here he is talking about all the hate mail written in Portuguese that he has received in this video courtesy of CraveOnline.

Posted in: mir, ’t, fabricio werdum, regenerative ability, gym training

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I can’t remember the last time someone took down Jon Jones.  Not sure if it has ever happened in his professional MMA career.  It probably hasn’t, but it might have.  Once again, it’s a Sunday and expecting quality journalism on a day like today is very unrealistic.  Your attention span should be affected dramatically by the amount of alcohol you consumed the evening prior.  If you’re not hung-over, I applaud you for being one of the very few readers who don’t fall into our target demographic of 18-34 year old readers who’ve earned their black belts in wasting potential. Anyway, Marco Filho is not related to Paulo Filho, but he is an impressive recreational MMA practitioner and accomplished journalist in Brazil.  On multiple occasions, he has competed in modified rules MMA bouts against Anderson Silva, Junior Dos Santos, and Lyoto Machida.  Under those rules, the UFC fighters have two 3 minute rounds to finish Marco with their ‘signature move’, and usually, they succeed well within the allotted time.  However, today, in the “Senseinocao” segment of Brazillian television show “Sensei SporTV”, Filho challenged Jon Jones to defeat him using some variation of a spinning kick and the current light heavyweight champion was unable to do it.  In fact, he also got taken down en route to suffering the first asterix-free loss of his career (regardless of whether or not it counts in his official record).  All of these words would be absolutely pointless (and laughable) without a video to prove it.  Props to Lowkick for the find. [Source]

Posted in: mma, jon, jon jones, ’t, filho

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Well, episode one (which you can read here) went so well that I decided to give up my Friday night again to bring you the Ultimate Recap Live again. Sure my cross-stitching has to suffer, but life is all about sacrifices.The episode opens up with a recap of last week’s events. While not as engaging as my recap, it hits the big points. There’s a big emphasis on how Dominick Cruz embarrassed Team Faber by letting them choose who they wanted to fight against number 1 pick Justin Lawrence, a request that was welcomed with awkward silence and eventually Cristiano Marcello. Based on the reactions of the fighters, the move clearly had an effect. We hear exaggerations, excuses and a couple head scratching comments from both sides. Team Faber’s John Cofer blames Urijah Faber for not taking charge and making a decision. Apparently coaches are not only supposed to teach you how to fight but also give you a backbone. Is it really stepping up if you have someone do it for you? Isn’t that more like being carried? Cofer does have a point, though. Sometimes people in authority don’t want to fulfill their obligation to you. I still remember when my dad told me to be a “big boy” and said he wouldn’t help me go potty anymore. That was the worst eighth birthday in history...Team Cruz’ Vinc Pichel says that Team Faber is “hating life right now.” Really? I’m pretty sure they’re glad they avoided a fight they didn’t think they could win. However, he could be referring to some deep philosophical void they’re experiencing by coming to grips with their own frailty.Speaking of deep, introspective thinkers, next we’re given a view into the world of Chris Tickle. After calling out Team Faber in the kitchen, we see him running around in a gas mask. Instead of offering the benefits of oxygen deprivation training, the explanation we receive is, “smiles are addictive....it brings less negativity in the world.” This coming from the guy who was just trying to make Team Faber feel bad about themselves and essentially calling them cowards. Hey Tickle, you know what brings less negativity into the world? Less negativity.Tickle then pulls a “prank” by taking the sign from Urijah Faber’s parking spot. Something tells me that if he’s been parking in the same spot for a couple weeks, he probably doesn’t need the sign. Next, Lawrence works his standup by hitting mitts and talks about his route to fighting. He says he’s here to “shock the world.” Yeah, just like all the other #1 picks in history. Remember that LeBron James guy? Man did he shock the world when he got good at basketball.We get another glimpse at “Bad Tickle” dragging his feet getting to practice, blaming his bowel movements, among other things. Coach Cruz is frustrated, but says, “I have to encourage him.” He confronts Tickle and tells him to get his head in the game. Tickle apologizes and tells his coach that he didn’t mean anything by it and then in the next frame tells the camera that it “pissed me off.” Oh Tickle, I’m so glad you came along so I don’t have to confront my mortality like last week.Coming back from commercial we see Marcello training with assistant coach Justin Buchholz, who tells us, “don’t discount crazy.” Team Faber finds the sign and uses some tape to modify Cruz’ photo in the training room to make him look like the “Dracula/Eddie Munster hybrid” that Faber calls him.As Team Faber leaves and Team Cruz arrives, Tickle confronts Cofer over an impression of him he caught Cofer doing. We get the usual BS tough-guy talk, but the real highlight is Tickle proclaiming, “I don’t put up with shit since I was eight years old.” Besides feeling bad for his mom, I tried to figure out what could have happened to set him off. He was eight in 1991, so my best guesses thus far are: 1) protest of First Gulf War 2) His mom wouldn’t buy him Sonic the Hedgehog for SEGA 3) He took the death of Finnish neuroscientist Ragnar Granit really hard.More training clips from both guys, Team Cruz adds a chin thong to the butt-chin portion of Faber’s picture, and then we cut to weigh ins. Nothing of real note, then it’s fight time. Team Faber sits with a few Brazilian flags and then Marcello totally kills Team Cruz’ U-S-A chant by coming to the Octagon with an American flag. From start to finish, Lawrence controls the fight. He throws a lot of power shots but doesn’t string combinations together. The first round passes without real significant strikes landed on either side. In the second round the two stand in front of one another more, which does not work well for Marcello. About halfway through the round he gets clipped with a big right hand. It doesn’t finish him, but he never recovers. Soon, Lawrence partially connects with a hook and that’s the last strike thrown, giving the #1 pick/apparent underdog the win 3:16 into the second and an extra $5,000. Read fight play-by-playThe selection this week goes without incident and ends up being Team Cruz’ Myles Jury vs Team Faber’s Al Iaquinta. Will the unbeaten Jury continue to have, “God on his side?” Will Iaquinta get a bonus so he can move out of his parents’ house? Will Chris Tickle finally come to grips with the death of Ragnar Granit? Find out next week!In the meantime, be sure to follow me on twitter @dannyboydownes, the show @InsideTUF and leave some comments. And as always, if you can recommend any good stitch-a-longs coming up, I’d appreciate it.Here’s the season at a glance:Team CruzMyles Jury - scheduled to fight Al Iaquinta in episode 3Jeremy LarsenJustin Lawrence - (1-0) won via KO over Cristiano Marcello in episode 2 Vinc PichelMike RioSam SiciliaChris TickleJames Vick - (1-0) won via KO over Daron Cruickshank in episode 1Team FaberMike ChiesaJohn CoferDaron Cruickshank - (0-1) lost to James Vick in episode 1Al Iaquinta - scheduled to fight Myles Jury in episode 3Cristiano Marcello - (0-1) lost to Justin Lawrence in episode 2Andy OgleJoe ProctorChris Saunders

Posted in: ’t, team, episode, faber, tickle

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Fans may have been surprised to see Demian Maia paired against an opponent like 15-1 Dong Hyun Kim for the Brazilian’s welterweight debut, but the match-up certainly didn’t surprise the accomplished BJJer. While Maia may have come up short in two of his last three outings, the 34-year old is accustomed to facing high-level opponents based on his relatively successful run at 185 pounds and expected the same in his new divisional home as well. Maia spoke some about Kim in a recent interview where he expressed excitement over the challenge ahead of him, offered up an assessment of the South Korean’s skills, and also updated the world on the status of an injured hand. “I knew they’d give me a hard guy,” said Maia of Kim in a conversation with TATAME. “I had many tough fights in the UFC and I can’t wait for anything other than tough guys too. It’ll be a hard test but I’m hoping it all works just fine in this weight cut and that I do a good fight and win” Maia on Why He Thinks like a White Belt When asked to break down the “Stun Gun”, Maia pointed to the judoka’s well-rounded skill-set, adding that he felt the fight could go anywhere based on Kim’s ability to strike and grapple. In the meantime Maia will work on slimming down from his current weight (193 pounds) to be in a reasonable range for 170 without having to cut too much during the final run. One thing he won’t be doing, at least for awhile, will be sparring at full speed due to an undisclosed hand injury. The 15-4 Maia brought it up when asked if he had any regrets about the bout being on July 8 rather than a few weeks earlier when the UFC visits Brazil. “I couldn’t do it even if I wanted because of my hand,” the submission specialist explained. “In July I’ll have a couple more weeks and it’ll make a huge different on training because my hand is not 100% repaired yet.” Maia vs. Kim will serve as one of the featured bouts at UFC 148, an event headlined by Dominick Cruz defending his bantamweight title against Urijah Faber and also involving match-ups like Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le, Michael Bisping vs. Tim Boetsch, and Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin. Tweet

Posted in: ’t, vs, hand, maia, kim

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Dana White sat down with the Calgary Sun while in Canada and big-upped our national sport hockey while simultaneoulsy implying soccer was for pussies. I’m not a big hockey fan. But I respect how talented you have to be to play hockey. Soccer? That’s a whole other ball. Can’t stand soccer. It’s the least-talented sport on Earth. There’s a reason three-year-olds can play soccer. When you’re playing a game when the net is that big and the score is 3-1 (and that’s a blowout) are you kidding me? You know how untalented you have to be to score three times when the net is that big? Now back to hockey. You have guys on skates with crooked sticks and you have to hit a puck into a net that’s the same size as the goalie. And at any time someone could take your head right off your shoulders and it’s perfectly legal. That’s a real sport that takes real talent, speed and all the things you need to be a real athlete. Now fighting is a part of hockey and has been since Day 1. It’s part of the game. It is what it is. I think we live in a world now where everything has been so pussy-fied. When I grew up we didn’t wear helmets when we rode our bikes. We didn’t have car seats. We didn’t have all this stuff. Now things are safer and we should be safer but let’s not go overboard. Fighting’s a part of hockey. Period. What the hell is Dana White doing??? Doesn't he know he's going to be spending a lot of time down in Brazil, the land of Pussyball? Maybe he'll Romney-bot it when he arrives and say hockey is just figure skating for thugs. And maybe after the UFC spends a bit more time in stadiums rather than arenas he'll start to understand that it's the size of the field that's the deciding factor in scoring, not the net. And soccer isn't full of pussies. Those badasses are always mixing it up. More examples of the manliest sport in the world right here.

Posted in: time, ’t, sport, soccer, hockey

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Urijah Faber and the Art of Instinctive Eating“Man, this is good!” Urijah Faber raved, shaking his head in bliss, after a bite of his lunchtime creation. Fresh off filming of another episode of The Ultimate Fighter, the No. 1 contender at 135 pounds journeyed to a Las Vegas grocery store. The ensuing 2 pm feast was enough to make a medieval king jealous. Watching Faber build his own salad from scratch reveals a diet as dynamic as he is charismatic. On this afternoon, his table is engulfed with a $28 lunch, standard for him. There is a massive salad (maybe triple the size of a normal salad), a bag of chips, a large container of salsa and a 16-ounce smoothie to wash it all down. “Traditionally I’ve always eaten a lot of salads,” the 32-year-old said, “because growing up we always ate a lot of salads … While I was in the womb, before I can even remember, I was conditioned to enjoy a healthy diet.”As they say in the fight game, Faber “walks” most of the year in the neighborhood of 156 pounds. Before his fights, the former Division I wrestler cuts down to 135 or 136 pounds, then rehydrates immediately following his weigh-in. Over a 30-minute lunch, the sport’s most popular bantamweight offered his unique philosophies on food and nutrition. The picture he painted is one of a man who doesn’t deprive himself -- but instead eats mostly whatever he wants, mindful of always seeking out the highest quality ingredients. He has sipped Pepsi and Coke a time or two, but has otherwise shunned conventional soda pop. He draws parallels between his own views on food and the ‘everything is the devil’ hang-ups of The Water Boy, Bobby Boucher. Spontaneity and impulse are central themes to the Faber “diet.” This is a man who always listens to his gut. Here is a compelling sit-down interview with Urijah Faber on the art of Instinctive Eating: What are some of the ‘Don’t’s on your eating list? “There are a lot of things I don’t like. It’s like the Water Boy, Bobby Boucher and his mom saying that ‘Everything is the devil.’ I had that growing up. Like, I’ve never had a soda pop or a Pepsi. I’ve tasted it a couple times but never really drank one. It’s like, you know, ‘It’s the devil!’ (chuckles). I’ve had root beer …and I’m not a complete weirdo when it comes to stuff like that, but I don’t ever drink soda. I try to avoid candy but sometimes I crave it and I’ll have a little. I don’t eat red meat very often; I just don’t like the way I feel when I eat it. On occasion I’ll have a good steak or In N’ Out burger if I feel like it. I don’t like milk very much … I’ll drink goat milk, I think it’s better for your body and easier to digest. I’ll try to get it as close as ‘out of the goat’ as possible without sucking on the nipple of the goat (chuckles). “I don’t avoid milk in all cases. I actually like Egg Nog at Christmas time. But milk, in general, I feel like it makes a lot of mucous for me and I think there can be a lot of hormones in milk that I don’t like. It’s just another one of those things that mom raised me to be anti against since I was young. With your team on The Ultimate Fighter, do you simply stick to teaching techniques, instilling confidence, etc… Do you actually go over dietary considerations with them as well?“If I see there is a problem with someone, I’ll definitely step up and say something about their diet, at least make them aware. Because a lot of times people don’t even know that they’re not eating right. For example, this is a salad. Is a salad from McDonald’s the same thing? Because they have ‘em with iceberg lettuce, cheese, croutons and tomatoes … so it sounds great. “We had this guy on our team from Hawaii and he was having the hardest time making weight. He’s like, ‘All I had last night was salad, blah, blah, blah. So he had this family get-together and invited the whole team over. They had three types of salad: One was a fruit salad with marshmallow mix. Another salad had fried bacon bits, wonton sticks, iceberg lettuce and chicken. And then they had like an iceberg lettuce salad. They all were salads, but they were all super unhealthy! So I started thinking, ‘Yeah, he just had salad but it had a bunch of ranch dressing or something on it.’The Dominick Cruz diet vs. Urijah Faber diet. Who wins?“I’ve talked to Dominick and spent some time with him and it sounds like his diet is horrible. He was kind of making fun of himself about it. It’s a testament to his mentality. He’s pretty tough mentally from the crap he puts into his body. So he does pretty well.“So, hands down, first round KO, Faber wins the diet contest.” Tell the fans reading this about your lunch today and why you chose it.“Traditionally I’ve always eaten a lot of salads because growing up we always ate a lot of salads. Like this salad here has chicken in it, some cheese, a lot of olive oil and garlic, apple cider, some dark green lettuce, couscous, some Israeli couscous – which I don’t even think I’ve eaten that before – but it looked good so I threw it in there. “There are a lot of complex carbohydrates in here, a lot of saturated and unsaturated fats, fiber, protein and a whole lot of flavor. Protein is important. Protein isn’t necessarily an energy source but it’s for rebuilding your muscles and you utilize the creatine that you get from meat. The first three to seven seconds of explosive activity you use creatine. Some people take creatine supplements … Everybody has creatine naturally and some people have high levels naturally, but you can also get it from meat. “So this is a high calorie meal; I don’t count calories but I know there are a lot in here. I need a lot of energy and this will satisfy me. I’ve got a smoothie for sugar (16 ounce mix of blueberries, strawberries, banana, low-fat yogurt and orange juice). I also love chips and salsa. It’s something that I crave. I’ve seen people go on diets where they try to avoid a bunch of things. I’m not like that. I’m more of an instinctive eater. I’m craving chips probably because my body is telling I need some salt and carbohydrates – and probably because it just tastes good. You want to enjoy what you’re eating … Man, this is so good.”What figures, people or sources have most shaped your philosophies on eating healthy? “First and foremost, my family, my mom and dad and how they raised us and what they taught us to like. If we were watching movies we had popcorn and smoothies. My mom would cook with olive oil instead of butter, honey instead of sugar, and all those kind of things. So I learned a lot and created a regimen through them. “I also had a lot of influences when I was in college at UC-Davis (University of California-Davis). I took classes, did research and educated myself as to what’s behind good food and what makes it healthy. My third big influence was the wrestling world. Cutting weight is so important in our sport and I’ve had a lot of good coaches who built knowledge through trial and error. So I’ve learned a lot from them. How much of your diet is based on upbringing, how much on what you have learned from others and by studying nutrition, and how much on instinct? “While I was in the womb, before I can even remember, I was conditioned to enjoy a healthy diet. After that I started learning more when I was an athlete. I learned a lot through trial and error as an athlete. I learned what you should and shouldn’t put into your body, especially at certain times of the day (what Nutrition expert Dr. John Ivy of the University of Texas calls “Nutrient Timing”). The scientific part of my diet is things like … I don’t want to eat a steak an hour before a workout. Steak takes like six to eight hours to digest so you can’t utilize that energy for a long time. A piece of bread trickles into your system and you can use it over a couple of hours, it’s steady energy. Sugar (holds up his smoothie) is a right away energy source, in 15 to 45 minutes I’ll feel the effects of this sugar. “Sometimes it’s good for me to have simple carbohydrates, like white rice. I come down 21 pounds from my walk-around weight (roughly 156 pounds) to make 135 pounds. So when I get down to about 10 pounds over (145) it makes sense to have high energy dense food. So it’s fine to eat white rice on an occasion like that, but for the most part I like complex carbohydrates – beans, rice, vegetables, couscous, all those grains, nuts, they are complex carbohydrates. “Simple carbohydrates have been refined and they’ve taken away a bunch of stuff and just leave the energy part. That’s what America has too much of. If you’re working out a ton, and you need some simple carbohydrates, then do it. But if you’re not working out at all, and all you eat is simple carbohydrates, then you’ll be storing fat. And that’s a lot of white rice, a lot of breakfast cereals that are processed, and a lot of processed foods. Tell us the difference between weight cutting for wrestling versus a UFC fight?  “You can imagine, if you weigh in for a wrestling match and you have to compete in an hour, you’re not going to cut as much in that final week. You have to come down gradually and be able to function right after you make weight. It may mean, for example, if I were to make weight for wrestling, I don’t want a full meal. I want something that is going to give me some energy quick: a bagel, power bar, fruit, some sort of recovery drink with electrolytes and sodium to get myself hydrated. Just enough to get me through my seven minute competition. You need to be able to function for seven minutes at the highest rate possible. “I’ve had twenty something title fights, so when I’m making weight I have a whole day to recover. So I can be a little more dramatic with my weight loss and deplete my body more during the week of competition, (and after weighing in) then get that rebuilding, rest and completely rehydrate. But I have a lot more resources to get ready for a 25 minute battle, versus seven minutes in wrestling. If I had to make weight in MMA the way I did in wrestling, and compete for 25 minutes, I would be in some serious trouble.” Do you cook? What are some of your go-to dishes?“I’m a really good cook. I can cook everything my mom cooks – just not as well. I think that comes with time. Growing up we had to make a lot of food for ourselves. My mom would make us cook dinner once a week during high school, so my brother and I would have to make dinner. My parents also worked their butts off so I was always cooking stuff for myself. I make smoothies, salads, Italian dishes, I know how to steam vegetables … I do it all.” For more info on the Faber diet you can log onto Faber’s Web site at http://urijahfaber.com/category/eat-like-a-champ/.Tune in to UFC.com every Thursday for more nutritional tips from UFC superstars...

Posted in: ’t, ’ve, lot, diet, salad

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The Sports Business Daily/Journal had a brief article on the UFC-Fox deal in which both sides indicated that control and opportunity were big issues in the monumental deal for Zuffa. The article states that control was a big part of Zuffa choosing Fox. Zuffa still controls production of its shows although it takes suggestions from Fox.  Overall, Fox was fine with allowing Zuffa to continue with producing its shows. Via SBJ/SBD: Fox was OK with letting UFC control production, Eric Shanks, president and COO of Fox Sports.  “You wouldn’t have given up control if you don’t trust the guys,” Shanks said. “You want the authenticity that made the sport what it is. Part of what made it authentic was the production. Still, Zuffa has worked with Fox in addressing some of its concerns.  We’ve seen the elimination of weapon sponsors, cleaning blood off of the mat, toning down some of the content and shortening fighter entrances with the UFC’s switch to Fox. In addition, Zuffa was interested in the fact that Fox had so many platforms to promote the UFC.  This factor outweighed other opportunities with HBO or purchasing and rebranding the G4 network. Payout Perspective: It’s obvious that control is a big factor for Zuffa.  You need only look to the company’s dealings with Showtime to recognize that Zuffa is very protective of its brand and the way it does things.  You may recall that Showtime execs didn’t agree to some of the suggested changes Dana White had for Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Tate, which angered White to the extent that he’s hands off of Strikeforce. As for the changes so far, the blood on the mat and weapon brand ban are things that relate to Fox’s overall standards and practices.  The issue with the blood has to do with the perception of the sport and the fact that it is still introducing it to the masses.  As Shanks was quoted, ““I don’t want it to look like someone just sacrificed a goat before Fox comes on the air.” An interesting takeaway from the article is how shortening up the fighter entrances might indirectly hurt sponsors and the sponsorship of fighters.  With shorter appearances on the camera, it may hurt the sponsorship value of a patch, t-shirt or hat of sponsor.  It will make sponsors and agents think of other ways to get its brands on camera.

Posted in: fox, ’t, sport, zuffa, control

Read the full article at MMA Payout

Fill in the blank: The oldest UFC fan I have ever met is __ years old. 63? 67? 72? You can stop scanning your brain. I got ya beat. I’m confident that the man who would set the record for oldest UFC fanatic lives right here in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas. He is a native New Yorker and World War II Army veteran. He has worked extensively as an ad exec, painter and sculptor. And, in his spare time, his daring choice of television programming has prompted his wife of 62 years to ask him on many a night: “Why are you watching that again?”“Cuz’ it’s the best thing on television!” he responds in an affable tone, citing humor as paramount to his long-lasting union. The name of this unique superfan: Mr. Sam Chinkes. Born in 1923. 88 years young. And living proof that although the UFC impressively reels in the male 18-34 demographic, and has hooked a surprising number of female fans on the sport as well, that the elder statesmen among us are not immune to the allure and artistry of a cagefight. After all, a fascination with fighting is in every human being’s DNA. Since the early 1990s, Chinkes said, he has been faithfully watching UFC. Back when Royce Gracie put UFC on the map with mind-blowing victories over 250-pound Goliaths. “My wife doesn’t care for it,” Chinkes confided, “but she has her own TV. I watch (UFC) whenever I can and most of the time I find it’s the best thing on TV … except for some old movie favorites of mine. I watch movies about the mafia all the time. I mean, I’m from New York. But I’ll still watch UFC instead of my favorite movies because I’ve seen the movies many times before. I make sure to catch the statistics before all of the fights. I’m crazy about the announcer, Bruce Buffer. He’s terrific! Very dramatic. He’s a real pro.”Track and field was Chinkes’ forte in his prime, though he was always smitten with the sport of boxing. As a child growing up in the Bronx, he and some friends would test themselves on a makeshift punching bag made from a potato sack. They donned gloves and lightly sparred under a fire escape stairway. “We never hit each other hard – though I saw stars one time,” Chinkes reminisced.  “I’m not a fighter. I’ve never been in a fight in my life. But if the UFC were around when I was younger, I would have liked to have coached a fight. I’m absolutely sure I could have done it. I would understand my fighters, be a good strategist. I was a survivor of World War II, so I think in those terms. “So I’ve always liked the sport. It’s athletic. There’s an art to keeping your balance, hitting someone and avoiding getting hit. The strategy involved is the most amazing part. It’s also very mentally challenging for anyone to enter the ring or the Octagon.”I ask Mr. Chinkes to name his favorite UFC fighters. “The Canadian guy … what’s his name? … GSP,” he replied. “The heavyset guy who was beat recently… the heavyweight champ … Brock Lesnar! Yeah. He’s a guy I got to like for awhile. But then I saw that as tough as he is, as big as he is – he can’t take a punch. Am I wrong?”Bonus Material: How I (Accidentally) Met Sam ChinkesGood stories, like $100 bills, aren’t supposed to miraculously fall from the sky and into your lap. Cosmic luck caused mine and Mr. Chinkes’ paths to cross. I was reading alone at what seems like the world’s last bookstore when a gentleman sat down at the table next to me. For as long as I can remember I’ve had a soft spot for most of my elders, particularly those of upbeat energy and the glass-is-half full cheer. The laid-back but self-assured stranger beside me fit the bill. I asked what he was reading and the conversation flowed easily from that point on, as if I had known this man for many years. He seemed super-sharp, showing off a very agile mind. “You must read a lot,” I presumed. “As a matter of fact, not all that much,” he countered. That veered us in to more interesting turf: He’d been married 62 years to the same woman. 62 years! How many things, other than food and water and a toilet, do you think you’ll enjoy a 62-year relationship with? I’ve always been fascinated by seniors, by the wisdom they’ve accrued that could save the rest of us the suffering of wisdom by Trial & Error. I’ve always been irked by what seems, in my opinion, a society that treats seniors as second-class citizens. There are other cultures where seniors are treated with reverence. Here we tend to treat them with deference, as if they are all senile, all something none of us wants to be. And I’ve always, always, always been fascinated by people that can make their marriage work for a long time. 30 years. 40 years. 50 years. And not suffer the marriage, but enjoy it. A divorcee myself, I perk up when marriage marathoners share their secrets and advice. “You want to know what it is?” he tells me. “It’s humor. We’re always making each other laugh. I used to think that the younger years would be the best. But the truth is, our older years are the best. We laugh more now than ever.” He asks me to guess his age. I concentrate on his face and build. I’ve always possessed a whacky (and incredibly useless) skill of being able to guess how much people weigh within two or three pounds. I get it from my wrestling background. People’s ages stump me more, because some people age prematurely and others so gracefully. “76,” I tell Mr. Chinkes. Stumping me makes him smile. “88.”We talk some more and somehow or another we start discussing television programming. I live in a four bedroom home and have 20-inch television that I have never, not once, turned on or watched. My instant friend watches his fair share of television. “You know the best thing on television these days?” he asks rhetorically. “It’s UFC.” I didn’t instantly perk up. I didn’t make the connection. UFC? That must be three initials that stand for some senior citizen organization. He couldn’t be referring to the UFC I know and love – Ultimate Fighting Championship. But just to be sure … “What do you mean by UFC? You don’t mean cagefighting UFC, do you?” “Yeah, the cage fights! I love watching that!” And there you have it. Apparently every demographic on the planet is susceptible to the UFC, which is one of the few places left on earth that is truly a meritocracy. Unlike almost every other business, UFC isn’t a who-you-know industry. It isn’t about who has the most money, or the best lawyers, or the prettiest mug. It’s mano y mano. May the best man win. Sam Chinkes “gets it,” reminding me – reminding all of us – that we should learn and evolve and stay open-minded for as long as we are here. I walk him to his car. He wants to show me something. He opens the trunk of his car. There are dozens of black shirts in a box. He holds one up: It is a sketch of one fighter front kicking another to the face. Reminscent of the breathtaking technique that Anderson Silva used to knockout Vitor Belfort. “I drew that sketch right off the top of my head in seconds,” Chinkes said. Sam Chinkes gave me one of his shirts. And I thought so highly of this extraordinary fan, and his love of UFC, that I wrote a story about him. Sam has never been to a live UFC event. The UFC and myself are going to change that very soon. Do you know a UFC fan who breaks the mold, or are you one? Email a picture and description to fanpic@ufc.com to be considered for a future feature!

Posted in: ufc, ’t, year, ’ve, chinke

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Don’t let the long hair or love of comic books fool you. UFC lightweight Benson Henderson is as blue-collar a fighter as you’ll find on the organization’s roster. When it comes to his chosen profession, rather than craving attention, acting out, or making demands, “Bendo” is content bringing his lunch-pail to his proverbial office on a daily basis and simply going to work. Henderson offered a look into his mindset during a recent interview with the UFC’s website in addressing his attitude about fighting, pointing out he has a habit of competing in BJJ tournaments while remaining under the radar and even did so a week after winning the lightweight title from Frankie Edgar at UFC 144. “I don’t need the spotlight on me. I love to compete, I love the competition aspect of life, and I love the martial arts aspect of living and constantly improving and bettering yourself and not getting complacent. I’m trying to get better, even if it’s the weekend after a fight. I’m trying to have fun, go compete, and improve whatever realm I’m in,” explained the 28-year old. As one might expect, the same attitude carries over into the cage as well where Henderson has looked better than ever over the past year, racking up victories over Edgar, Mark Bocek, Clay Guida, and Jim Miller. When it comes to opponents in general, Henderson is happy to take on any adversary based on both his confidence as well as an approach to MMA allowing his bosses to their jobs so he can focus on his own responsibilities. “In my eyes, I don’t really see myself as one of those prima donna wide receivers: ‘I want this, and this has gotta happen.’ I represent the UFC, I’m the 155-pound guy right now, and even if you don’t have the belt, it’s not about you calling some guys out. To me, that’s kinda tacky and disrespectful,” said Henderson. “It’s Sean Shelby, Joe Silva, and Dana White’s job to put somebody in front of you. Whoever they put in front of me, I will beat up. It doesn’t matter. My job is not to match myself up and call this guy or that guy out. I’m not gonna go on Twitter and make my own match. Some guys are into that and that’s the way they want to pursue their career, and they can go right ahead. My job is to beat people up.” Though some have read his nonchalance about match-ups as obscene self-assuredness, the 16-2 Henderson is quick to dismiss that notion, saying that striving to go down in history as one of the top competitors his chosen sport has ever seen is an essential element found in any high-level athlete. “People seem to think that I’m arrogant or cocky, and I don’t want to come across like that,” offered Henderson on the topic of how he’s been perceived in certain circles. “I’ve said it from the very beginning that I want to be the best fighter and I want to fight and beat everybody. It’s not me looking ahead and being cocky all of a sudden like, oh, I beat Frankie Edgar and now all of a sudden I’m gonna smash everybody. I was saying this from the beginning. I’m as confident as any other fighter on the UFC roster. I’m a very confident fighter and all fighters are, or they should be. I want to fight everybody on the roster at 155, I want to beat ‘em all, and I want to have a nice long reign at 155. I’ll do a Bernard Hopkins or Joe Louis. I want to make 155 my weight class and I want my name to be synonymous with it. I think that would be something special.” Henderson will have a chance to further solidify his reputation later this year, possibly at UFC 149 in Calgary, by taking on Edgar a second time to eliminate any doubt about his decision win over “The Answer” last month. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, i ’m, henderson, ’m

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Whenever my girlfriend sees pictures/videos of women ‘pretending’ to be MMA fighters for the sake of sexing-up a sport in which being sexy has nothing to do with the subject matter, she violently assaults my computer monitor. I’ve subsequently learned to watch Bellator while she’s at work because the sight of Mercedes Terrell submitting Jade Bryce in their weekly breakdown would force me to replace our third plasma screen in just under twelve months. This relationship has been costly. I don’t blame her for feeling the way she does after reading the countless comments on any article we post about female fighters, particularly the more attractive ones. I also don’t blame my local Best Buy for recommending an amazing warranty on all the electronics I buy. Hopefully, she won’t mind these pictures of Justin Bieber pretending to be a lot tougher than he actually is. After all, this it’s not exactly a girl (technically), and he’s not exactly winning whatever fight he’s pretending to be a part of in this MMA-inspired photo shoot by Complex.

Posted in: ’t, justin bieber, ones i, mma photo, women ‘

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UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones may be touted by many as peerless pugilist after achieving in a few years what MMA’s greatest hope to accomplish in a career, winning the title and successfully defending it in dominating fashion against top ranked competition. However, “Bones” hasn’t bought into the opinions of others, instead being driven by a sense of professional paranoia as the man everyone is gunning for. “I realize I have a target on my back like all champions do, and I have to train like I am the challenger in order to stay champion,” wrote Jones in a blog entry for FoxSports. “You’ve seen it in other sports, when a young guy comes on the scene and does well, people get excited and start writing and saying ‘This guy can’t be beat.’ There’s a lot of hype about me right now; some media experts are saying I am unbeatable, but I know it’s not true. I wouldn’t bust my tail so hard in the gym if I was unbeatable,” he continued. “I honestly feel I am working harder than any other fighter in the light-heavyweight division. I am listening to my coaches, watching tapes of my opponent, and working very hard.” Another source of motivation for Jones is undoubtedly the caliber of challenger he’ll face next month at UFC 145 when he faces rival and former champion Rashad Evans. Evans has expressed supreme confidence in his ability to beat the 24-year old on numerous occasions during the build towards their bout, citing his familiarity with Jones’ weaknesses based on their time training together as well as overall inexperience. Similarly to the idea of being “unbeatable”, Jones also isn’t buying Evans’ bravado about having his number. “On April 21 he’ll realize he doesn’t even have my area code,” Jones responded to the notion. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, jone, ’t, “ i, unbeatable

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Now that there's no more money to be wrung out of Mirko Crocop's 'Final Fight' against Ray Sefo in Croatia, Mirko can go ahead and admit it wasn't his final fight at all. Unlike half the people who attended the event, we already knew this going in. But it's nice to get some confirmation. There I was worried for thee seconds that we might not get to enjoy another few years of Mirko jerking us around regarding retirement. Mirko talks to Fighters Only's John Joe O'Regan about all the injuries that have hindered him over the past few years - a herniated disc and scratched cornea before the Mir fight, a torn bicep before the Roy Nelson fight, blown knees since the end of PRIDE - and how he's finally (for reals this time) feeling healthy again: Thank god, I feel perfect now. I am back to doing the splits on two chairs. I don’t know if you’ve seen the picture of the splits on the two chairs? I am back to that. So I feel really good and… what can I say? I have a few options on the table and I will see which ones to take....And one more thing - I am sick and tired of explaining to reporters - not you, not you! - but people who are calling me, journalists who I respect, and I am glad they are taking interest in me. But I don’t want to say I will fight ten more fights or one more fight. Maybe I will do fifteen more fights or I will do none… You will be informed about everything.Right now I have some offers and I am thinking carefully about what to do. Right now I am still on vacation and I am back in training on Monday. So lets wait and see; I don’t want to keep discussing speculation on the next fight, the future. You know what I mean John - lets just wait and see what the future will bring. Right now I am ready and I have an offer for May, July and September. We will see which offer I take and which offers I will not take. Yes K-1... but I have some MMA offers as well. We will see. I don’t want to say too much! All I can see is I will see; I don’t want to talk too much. When Crocop says K-1, does he just mean kickboxing or is he specifically talking about the new Zombie K-1 struggling to claw it's way out from under a giant pile of debt and sketchiness? His agent was hot sh*t back when the Yakuza ran everything so it wouldn't surprise me to hear he's returning to the fold, and maybe he thinks being a superstar means having to worry less about getting stiffed on payments. If there's ever a problem, he'll just mail the bill alongside a VHS copy of Ultimate Force and things will be taken care of promptly.

Posted in: fight, ’t, mirko, crocop, chairs i

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On April 14th, the UFC’s Octagon will travel overseas to Europe for the 15th time in its nearly 19 year history, setting down for an inaugural event in Stockholm, Sweden that is headlined by the light heavyweight battle between hometown hero Alexander Gustafsson and Brazil’s Thiago Silva. Gustafsson-Silva promises to be an explosive matchup, and if it does live up to expectations, it may just earn a spot on this list of the ten best fights to appear on the UFC’s European cards. 10 – Rich Franklin W3 Wanderlei Silva – UFC 99 (2009, Cologne, Germany)When it was announced that the main event of the UFC’s first foray into Germany was going to pit former middleweight champion Rich Franklin against former PRIDE champ Wanderlei Silva, you knew things were going to turn out okay at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, and neither “Ace” or “The Axe Murderer” disappointed during their three rounder. Filled with solid action throughout that was punctuated by periodic bursts of berserker attacks from Silva, Franklin pulled out a close, but unanimous, decision in which his more disciplined style paved the way to victory. “He caught me in the second round, but for the most part, I really kept myself out of those exchanges,” said Franklin. “I didn’t get caught, I was not greedy with my punches – I used two or three punch combinations, got in and out, used a lot of footwork, and tried to do my best to not stand there and trade punch for punch. I kept moving and stuck to the gameplan for the whole 15 minutes, and it wasn’t that bad.”9 – Marcus Davis Wsub1 Paul Taylor – UFC 75 (2007, London, England)We couldn’t have an all-Euro list without at least one fight from New England’s “Irish Hand Grenade,” Marcus Davis, who fought seven consecutive times in Europe at the height of his UFC career. And this one was a short, but memorable, bout, where Davis got dropped early by a head kick, only to show off his underrated submission skills and finish the fight moments later. After the bout, which earned Davis the Submission and Fight of the Night awards, he declared that he was willing to do just about anything to keep the fans satisfied. “If I’ve gotta take another neck kick to get people to jump out of their seats and have a good time, that’s what I’ll do,” said Davis. “If I have to learn how to do a flying gogoplata or something crazy, that’s what I’ll learn. I’ll do whatever I’ve got to do to become better and better and better.”8 - Antoni Hardonk KO2 Eddie Sanchez – UFC 85 (2008, London, England)This heavyweight battle between Antoni Hardonk and Eddie Sanchez didn’t get a lot of attention, either before or after the fight, and that’s a shame, because it was an entertaining scrap with plenty of haymakers thrown before the finish. And if anything, the bout did make an impression on the winner, as Hardonk told me that the victory was the one he would put in a time capsule to let people know what he was about as a fighter. “One fight that I think about a lot is when I fought back in London at UFC 85,” said Hardonk. “I fought Eddie Sanchez and I got really hurt in that fight. At one point he hit me right in the eye and it broke my orbital bone. I was dizzy, I fell to the floor, and he jumped on me to finish the fight, but I used my ground skills to survive and weather the storm. Then I came back and I knocked him out. That was definitely one of the fights that I think about a lot because I overcame myself that time. There are some guys that are extremely gifted. They have physical talent, they’re super fast, they’re strong, and sometimes have great technique. But it’s easy to be tough or look great when things go your way. But it’s hard to look tough and put on a great fight when you’re being dominated. It’s completely different.”7 - Paul Kelly W3 Paul Taylor – UFC 80 (2008, Newcastle, England)If you saw this one, you’ll know why it’s here. If not, here’s what I wrote when listing the All-England battle between Paul Taylor and Paul Kelly on the best fights of 2008 list: Nothing like a little local rivalry to spice things up, and when British welterweights Paul Kelly and Paul Taylor locked up, they were fighting as if the fate of England itself was at stake.  Punctuated by an opening 30 second sequence that saw both fighters standing and trading punches at close range, the fight was fast-paced throughout, with the two even exchanging blows while on the mat.  As the bout progressed, the bigger and stronger Kelly pulled ahead and away, but Taylor, despite being cut and overpowered, never stopped battling, almost pulling off a kimura in the second round and still landing enough punches and kicks while standing to keep Kelly honest.  In the end though, it was Kelly by unanimous decision in a memorable Octagon debut.6 – Matt Wiman KO2 Thiago Tavares - UFC 85 (2008, London, England)Buried on the undercard of a stacked UFC 85 card that includes names like Hughes, Alves, Bisping, Swick, Davis, Marquardt, Werdum, and Vera, Matt Wiman and Thiago Tavares soared to the top of the list to win Fight of the Night honors at the O2 Arena with an exciting back and forth battle that saw a dizzying array of submission attempts by both men, some crisp standup, and finally an emphatic knockout by Wiman, who topped off his June by getting married a week later.  Everything you could want in a mixed martial arts match was here, and both fighters showed what the sport can be when done right.5 - Renan Barao Wsub1 Brad Pickett – UFC 138 (2011, Birmingham, England)It didn’t last long – just four minutes and nine seconds – but for pure fury, you couldn’t do much better than the bantamweight battle between Brazil’s Renan Barao and England’s Brad Pickett. From the sound of the bell to open the bout, the two tore at each other like bitter enemies, with Barao eventually gaining the upper hand and ending matters via rear naked choke submission.4 - Ian Freeman TKO1 Frank Mir – UFC 38 (2002, London, England)The first UFC card in Europe may have been headlined by the welterweight title fight between Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton, but it was local hero Ian Freeman who stole the show by handing unbeaten young gun Frank Mir his first pro loss via first round TKO. What made the win even more poignant was that “The Machine” scored the win not knowing that his seriously ill father had passed away shortly before the bout, news he found out after the biggest win of his career.3 - Quinton Jackson W5 Dan Henderson – UFC 75 (2007, London, England)For historical reasons alone, this first unification bout between a UFC champion (Quinton Jackson) and a PRIDE champion (Dan Henderson) would probably warrant a spot here, but then the two veteran light heavyweight stalwarts proceeded to put on a back and forth five rounder that Jackson eventually emerged victorious from via five round unanimous decision. 2 - Michael Bisping TKO2 Denis Kang - UFC 105 (2009, Manchester, England) While it might be overdramatizing things to say that Michael Bisping’s career was on the line when he faced veteran Denis Kang at UFC 105 in Manchester, following his UFC 100 knockout loss to Dan Henderson, a second defeat wouldn’t have done “The Count” any favors. And after a strong first round, Kang was in control and seemingly on his way to victory, but in the second, Bisping made his adjustments, turned up the heat and stopped Kang. The pride of UK MMA had gotten back on track and he did it in spectacular fashion.1 - Tyson Griffin W3 Clay Guida - UFC 72 (2007, Belfast, Northern Ireland) “I was actually surprised to hear boos before me and Tyson engaged, about the first 10 or 12 seconds,” said Clay Guida of the early moments of his UFC 72 bout against Tyson Griffin. “Then we started throwing punches and it was a mess from there on out.” It was a beautiful mess though, as Guida and Griffin went at it tooth and nail for three rounds in a bout that was the Belfast card’s Fight of the Night and a 2007 Fight of The Year winner for many fans and pundits.  And while Griffin took the razor-thin split decision, there were no losers in this one, as both lightweights showed off the intensity and technique of mixed martial arts, primarily on the mat, where they scrapped for much of the 15 minute bout.

Posted in: ufc, fight, bout, ’t, punch

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Here’s the difference between Benson Henderson and the rest of us. The week after winning the UFC lightweight title should have been a time for the Arizonan to be taking his victory lap, blowing up to middleweight on a steady diet of food not meant for world-class athletes, and generally living it up.Instead, the newly crowned titlist, one weekend removed from winning a five rounder over Frankie Edgar at UFC 144 in Japan, was back in action, competing in the Arizona International Open jiu-jitsu tournament. As a brown belt he took first place in the middleweight division and third in the absolute class, but the results really don’t matter – not in the great scheme of things and not to Henderson. It was all about getting out there and doing it.“I’ve done that after all my UFC fights,” he said, almost matter-of-factly, as if it’s no big deal to be back competing just a week after a grueling five round MMA fight. “It just so happens, coincidentally, that there’s always a jiu-jitsu tournament the weekend after I get back. I like to compete, I like to have fun, and it’s a nice little break for me being able to compete and the world isn’t on the line, like ‘You have to win, it’s all or nothing.’ If I lose, big deal; I get caught in an arm lock, yeah, okay, I lost, but I had fun competing.”It’s a pleasant reminder that while this is prizefighting and a way to make a living and a business, there are still fighters out there who embrace the martial arts aspect of the sport, and that still look at getting better as the greatest reward.“I don’t need the spotlight on me,” said Henderson. “I love to compete, I love the competition aspect of life, and I love the martial arts aspect of living and constantly improving and bettering yourself and not getting complacent. I’m trying to get better, even if it’s the weekend after a fight. I’m trying to have fun, go compete, and improve whatever realm I’m in.”That attitude allowed Henderson to sail to the top of the WEC’s lightweight division in 2009-10, and in less than a year in the Octagon, he’s done the same in the UFC, defeating Mark Bocek, Jim Miller, Clay Guida, and Edgar to ascend to the throne. And in typical Henderson fashion, he defeated Edgar in a close and exciting battle that left no fan disappointed. Well, maybe Henderson, who, as a perfectionist, would have liked to end the bout with a flourish.“My take on the fight is that it was a good scrap, but I definitely think I could have done better,” said the 28-year old, who earned the belt via scores of 49-46 twice, and 48-47. “I left some holes out there and didn’t quite get the finish that I wanted, but it was a good scrap.”“Good scrap” is an understatement, and it’s the reason why Henderson and Edgar will meet up again later this year for a rematch. And that’s just fine with the new champ.“Let’s run that back, let’s do it again,” he said. “In my eyes, I don’t really see myself as one of those primadonna wide receivers: “I want this, and this has gotta happen.” I represent the UFC, I’m the 155-pound guy right now, and even if you don’t have the belt, it’s not about you calling some guys out. To me, that’s kinda tacky and disrespectful. It’s Sean Shelby, Joe Silva, and Dana White’s job to put somebody in front of you. Whoever they put in front of me, I will beat up. It doesn’t matter. My job is not to match myself up and call this guy or that guy out. I’m not gonna go on Twitter and make my own match. Some guys are into that and that’s the way they want to pursue their career, and they can go right ahead. My job is to beat people up.”Henderson takes that job seriously, and if you didn’t know that from a WEC career that saw him face Anthony Njokuani, Shane Roller, Donald Cerrone (twice), Jamie Varner, and Anthony Pettis, you can certainly see it in his UFC resume thus far. Simply put, Henderson doesn’t back down from a fight, and when he says that as champion he wants to fight everyone, it’s not a catchy quote; it’s reality. And while he knows it may take some time for the rest of the world to catch on, he’s willing to put in the time to make sure everyone knows that he’s not a talker, he’s a doer.“I definitely don’t want to get too far ahead of myself,” he admits. “People seem to think that I’m arrogant or cocky, and I don’t want to come across like that. I’ve said it from the very beginning that I want to be the best fighter and I want to fight and beat everybody. It’s not me looking ahead and being cocky all of a sudden like, oh, I beat Frankie Edgar and now all of a sudden I’m gonna smash everybody. I was saying this from the beginning. I’m as confident as any other fighter on the UFC roster. I’m a very confident fighter and all fighters are, or they should be. I want to fight everybody on the roster at 155, I want to beat ‘em all, and I want to have a nice long reign at 155. I’ll do a Bernard Hopkins or Joe Louis. I want to make 155 my weight class and I want my name to be synonymous with it. I think that would be something special.”Considering that boxing greats Hopkins and Louis each reigned for over a decade, that would be something pretty special, but Henderson is up for the challenge. And though it remains to be seen, his eventual impact may turn out to be greater outside the Octagon than in it, as he’s a many-layered individual with interests and a back story that goes far beyond what is seen as typical these days. As I wrote of Henderson back in the WEC days, “In a world of black and white, WEC lightweight contender Ben Henderson emerges in Technicolor.” Nothing has happened since to dispel that notion. If anything, he’s turned into an even more compelling figure to watch. But he’s not about to change under the bright lights. He’s still Benson Henderson. He just has more people paying attention these days.“It’s not something I really thought about until later on, until I started to realize that I’m on a much bigger platform to get the things that I talk about and bring up and love out there,” said Henderson, a self-proclaimed comics, sci-fi, and fantasy junkie who is also a devout Christian. “But I don’t want to be the guy who just does all that stuff just for the sake of doing it. I want people to know that it’s okay to be a comic book nerd and still go beat people up. (Laughs) But the thing I want to be adamant about is being a Christian and being that guy for some kid who always hears about it from his grandmother but doesn’t give it any serious thought; now he can hear about when he’s watching Pay-Per-View and then go ‘yeah, maybe I’ll listen to this.’”

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Though UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and former teammate Rashad Evans are seen as rivals, as far as the 24-year old title-holder is concerned their issue is professional rather than personal no matter how Evans or media spin it. Jones recently elaborated on his mindset a month out from facing Evans at UFC 145 where he credited his satisfaction with the important things in life for preventing him from being drawn into his adversary’s game. “I have no problem with him. Right now I have my kids, I have my girl. We have our place together. I’m following my dreams. I’m doing the right things in life. I’m on the right track,” said Jones in an interview with the UFC. “Rashad is the one who looks at this whole story like, ‘This guy went off and created his own team. He’s left the people that were there for him at the beginning.’” Evans Thinks Knowledge Will Be Key to Beating Jones “He’s the one who is going through this whirlwind in life and I just can’t wait to put him out of his misery and solidify me being the light heavyweight champion, telling him to go have a seat somewhere,” Jones added. However, just because “Bones” doesn’t have a bone to pick with Evans outside of the Octagon, he’s also not blind to the state of their relationship in comparison to where it was while both trained at Greg Jackson’s gym. Jones hasn’t ruled out some sort of reconciliation between the two once they’ve squashed things on April 21 but he also isn’t expecting it. “Whether me or Rashad will ever be friends again in the future, only God knows; only time will be able to tell,” explained Jones before concluding, “One thing that is inevitable is respect.” Jones-Evans will headline UFC 145 in Atlanta where other featured bouts include Che Mills-Rory MacDonald and Brendan Schaub-Ben Rothwell. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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Ultimate Fighter finalist Brendan Schaub may be coming off a knockout loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira but apparently the 29-year old’s confidence wasn’t rocked in the process. Set to face Ben Rothwell next month at UFC 145, Schaub is entering the bout supremely self-assured based on what he feels is a superior approach to striking as well as a level of conditioning Rothwell hasn’t encountered in a long time minus a fight with Cain Velasquez he lost via TKO. The 8-2 Schaub spoke about Rothwell in a recent interview with the UFC promoting the event where his conviction was clear. “I’m gonna be a champion. That’s 100%,” said Schaub. “I can do it all. You want to strike? Let’s do that. It’s gonna be a short night though.” Though Schaub credited Rothwell will resiliency, he also pointed out that opponents who have hurt “Big Ben” in the past haven’t possessed the cardio to put him away. “It’s gonna be fifteen minutes of me in his face,” explained Schaub of the pace he plans to set, adding, “He’s definitely a different caliber of toughness but just being tough isn’t gonna get you to the belt.” Though the April 21 card is headlined by a much-anticipated title-fight between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans, Schaub envisions a scenario where fans will only mention their match-up in passing before talk turns to the victory he expects to deliver come showtime. “I guarantee you people walk away from this fight talking about my performance rather than the main event or anyone else on the card.” Fans can catch Rothwell-Schaub on the UFC 145 PPV where other fights include Che Mills-Rory MacDonald and Mark Hominick-Eddie Yagin. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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According to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, by rolling a die you open up at least six potential future timelines but unless you are Luke Rhinehart, the appearance of a six instead of a three probably won’t affect your life. However if you were a stockbroker, there’s every chance using a die to decide which stocks to buy and sell could improve your career. It certainly couldn’t hurt. “But what does this have to do with MMA?” I hear you cry. Well, if there’s one thing the MiddleEasy staff love to talk about more than MMA, it's food. If there are two things; they are food and science fiction. After discussing the many-worlds theory we wondered what would happen when you combine a fighter’s unflinching confidence that they will win with the infinite possibilities in a multiverse. With the Bellator season six middleweight tournament just around the corner, we are provided the perfect opportunity to examine each fighter as if they existed in their own self-determined universe before watching these bubble universes collide on live television. There are eight fighters in the tournament so at least eight possible futures opened up when the matches were made. Through the magic of imagination, we’re there; the fighters are in the cage and we join them for the post fight announcements. Perhaps in another universe Maiquel Falcao isn’t released from the UFC for reasons relating to his 2002 assault, things could be very different. That's a thought experiment for another day however; right now we're concerned with the potential parallel universes which stem from this tournament. In this timeline, the crowd roars as one-time UFC fighter Maiquel Falcao’s hand is raised with Jimmy Lennon Jr.’s distinctive voice in the background. “What a fight!” yells Sean Wheelock before passing over to his broadcasting partner Jimmy Smith inside the cage. After the obligatory replay of his first round knockout victory, Jimmy Smith asks Falcao who he would prefer to fight next in his bracket. Upon hearing from his translator what Smith has asked him, Falcao, with a focus only on honey replies, “I don’t care. I want Hector Lombard”, and walks out of the cage. The outcome of the fight could have been predicted, given his record of winning almost all of his fights in the first round by knockout. Calling out the Bellator middleweight champion? Not so much.   Maybe it was the unanimous decision win over former WEC champion Paulo Filho. Perhaps the Cage Warriors 43 KO win over Jack Mason did it. Whatever it was, at some point after losing to Dave Menne back at Bellator 34 Norman Paraisy stopped being known as “that French guy from TUF” and started being seen as a genuine threat. Standing in the centre of the cage with his arm raised, visibly drained from the grueling three-round ground battle he has just won by unanimous decision, he gets the respect of the fans. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have gone for that flying knee which had led to him being taken down and probably losing the third round but nonetheless, he’s just eliminated one of the favourites to win this tournament. Whoever he drawn next, he knows that he’s gone one stage further than most people predicted.   Although this sport as known as mixed martial arts, with proponents often emphasizing the ‘mixed’ aspect, it’s rare to see a 2nd degree BJJ black belt with the calm and patient striking of Vitor Vianna but then again, he is the main training partner for Wanderlei Silva. This makes opponents wary of both striking with him and taking him down. The post-fight replay shown to the crowd enforces this, as we see Brian Rogers’s strategy of pressing Vianna into the cage and dirty boxing his way to victory backfire in the second round.. A simple inside trip brings Rogers to the ground and in the ensuing scramble Vianna takes his back in a snake-like transition. Making it look easy, as if he was Ryan Hall fighting a drunken restaurant patron, Vianna sinks in a rear naked choke. As this replay loops, an emotional Vitor Vianna tells Jimmy Smith that he wants to finish what he started in season five by winning the tournament and taking the belt back to Wand Fight Team.   “In some ways, this fight is very similar to your season five fight with Victor O’Donnell” yells Jimmy Smith, his arm around Brian Rogers’ shoulder. “You’ve come out aggressive, thrown Vitor in to the cage with your power whizzer and eventually forced the referee to stop this fight giving you your eighth first round win by knockout. How do you feel?” “My last fight with Victor O’Donnell had a lot of haters saying it was a bad stoppage, and that I’d have lost if the referee didn’t end the fight short. I want to prove them wrong. Here’s hoping Victor can win tonight so I can meet him in the semi-finals” Rogers is visibly pumped by the win, and the camera follows him down the aisle back to the dressing room as he slaps hands with fans and celebrates earning $25,000 for less than five minutes in the cage.   Winning the M-1 Global light heavyweight strap is one thing, but to move down a division and try to win the Bellator middleweight tournament is a completely different challenge. Still slick with sweat, his sponsor’s t-shirt still only half covering him, Vyacheslav Vasilevsyn has belied the expectations people may have had based on his age by outlasting Victor O’Donnell. While troubled early by the aggression of O’Donnell, the 23-year-old Russian found his rhythm in the second round and controlled the rest of the fight by moving in and out of range, firing off stiff jabs to keep his opponent at bay and at a number of points backing him up with sloppy but effective one-two combinations. Concluding his post-fight interview he tells Jimmy Smith that he must now have his hand raised three more times before his Bellator journey is finished. As he walks out of the cage, Sean Wheelock reminds us that this was a solid display of striking from an international master of sport in Sambo and a Judo brown belt in his first fight on American soil.   Victor O’Donnell has been given a second chance to progress in a Bellator middleweight tournament after being eliminated by Brian Rogers in last year’s quarter-finals and after this victory, he is visibly excited at the prospect of avenging this loss in the semi-finals. Holding Jimmy Smith tight, he explains how he transitioned to the fight winning armbar after being thrown by Vasilevsyn with a rarely seen drop seoi nage as the footage is slowed down and displayed on the big screens in the arena and for the viewers at home. His face lights up like a three year old being presented with a huge slice of chocolate cake as Jimmy mentions Brian Rogers’ name. “This isn’t about Rogers, this is about me” he tells the crowd. “I want to fight for that belt and if Brian’s in my way, I see him as just another obstacle in my way”. Strong words follow a strong performance and the viewers at home are treated to another viewing of his armbar victory before the commercials kick in again.   Thirteen wins by armbar in an eighteen-fight long MMA career has qualified Givanildo Santana to be known as “the arm collector.” All but one of these armbar victories have come in the first round. It wasn’t as if nobody seen this coming. Bruno Santos came into the fight with a 12-0 record but left with his first loss to a first round armbar. Before the outcome is made official, the camera pans across the crowd before stopping on a fan with a home-made sign on which is penned “all your arm are belong to us”, bringing laughter from the commentary booth and everyone at home who played Zero Wing. The reigning Tachi Palace Fights middleweight champion stands in the centre of the cage with his arm raised, and likely not for the last time in this tournament. He looks defiant, as if he is saying to the rest of the middleweight fighters “your arm has no chance to survive, make your time.”   Bruno Santos The “Schrödinger's cat" paradox can be seen as a simplified version of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in which each outcome results in the creation of a separate universe so as to accommodate for the uncertainty of both a dead and a live cat inside the box. Bruno Santos has no care for this type of paradox after winning his tenth fight in a row by unanimous decision. Entering each fight, Santos knows how the fight will end; with the referee throwing his arm in the air. Even fighting three men in one night couldn’t put a stop to his decision winning spree. For Santos, each fight is not the branch point for the birth of as many different universes as there are potential outcomes because there are no other potential outcomes. He has just beaten Giva Santana by unanimous decision and the only variable he sees in his next fight is the opponent. So, that’s just one of the many outcomes for each fighter in the Bellator middleweight tournament. The beauty of this is that we won’t know which potential timeline real life will follow, and which ones will float off alone as theoretical quantum mechanical constructs. I guess we’ll all just have to tune into MTV2 on Friday night to see which branch of reality the middleweight tournament finds itself on.

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Despite the usual craziness that comes along with becoming a UFC champion, for Carlos Condit, the month after winning the interim UFC welterweight title at UFC 143 in February has been a lot less stressful than the one before it.“Yeah, absolutely,” chuckles Condit, whose five round unanimous decision win over Nick Diaz earned him the interim belt as Georges St-Pierre recovers from knee surgery. Now he’s taking a well-deserved break. “Last year was pretty tumultuous, so I’m staying in shape, but I’m taking time to just enjoy being the champion, enjoy hanging out with my family, and for the most part, I’m just mentally relaxing so I can get back into a camp here in the next couple months and be able to completely dedicated and completely into it.It was a crazy lead up to the Diaz bout for “The Natural Born Killer,” one filled not just with an intense training camp, but the added pressure of having cameras following his every move for the UFC Primetime show.“The weeks leading up to a fight are super stressful anyway, and the cameras didn’t add a whole lot more stress, but any more stress on top of a highly-stressed situation kinda amplifies it,” explains Condit, who, while always accessible to the media, has never been one to chase after the spotlight. So letting the world into not only his life, but that of his family, was something new for him.“It’s hard to put all that stuff out there,” he said. “I am kind of a private person, but that’s what people want to see and what some people connect with. I am just a regular guy. I get up and do the family thing and go and do my job like everybody else, but my job just happens to be training for cage fights.”And then fighting in front of millions. Knowing all this, it made his performance against Diaz, who hadn’t lost in over four years, even more impressive. For five rounds, Condit followed his gameplan to a tee, sticking and moving and never allowing Diaz to get into a rhythm. When it was over, the judges rendered him the victor by scores of 49-46 (twice) and 48-47. “I don’t think it was the war that everybody was expecting or even that me or Nick was expecting,” said Condit when asked his thoughts on the bout. “But it was an entertaining fight and I proved to myself that I can really stick to a gameplan and a strategy. In the past, I’ve gone in there with a strategy and once punches were thrown, I abandoned all that and kinda threw down. This fight showed me that I’ve matured as a fighter with experience.”Coming off consecutive knockout wins over Rory MacDonald, Dan Hardy, and Dong Hyun-Kim, Condit was expected to stand and swing with Diaz until someone fell, but the Albuquerque native impressively turned the tables on his foe. And though it was a close, competitive, and compelling fight, some disagreed with the final verdict, causing an internet firestorm on the Sunday after the fight that surprised many, including Condit.“Initially it did,” he said. “In the cage before they announced the decision, I felt that I had won maybe 4-1. I was positive that I had the decision and thought that I had won at least four of the rounds. Going back and watching it, some of the rounds were pretty close, but some people are completely baffled that anyone would see it for Diaz, and then some people are completely appalled and offended that I got the decision. But pretty much everybody that I’ve talked to enjoyed the fight and thought that I won, for the most part. I don’t know, it’s just one of those things.”And though it was disappointing to see Condit be the focal point for these uncalled attacks on Twitter and other social networks, he takes it with a grain of salt.“I understand it,” he said. “I think when you say MMA fans, you’re talking about a pretty broad spectrum. MMA appeals to a lot of different people, and different people want to see different things in a fight. It makes sense. There’s criticism of the way a person fought and then there’s going a little bit farther than that, and I think that’s uncalled for.”What can’t be denied is that Condit fought an impressive fight over five fast-paced rounds against one of the best welterweights in the game. He had a solid gameplan, executed it perfectly, and got a well-deserved win. Was it the Armageddon in short pants fans screamed for? No. But this isn’t a toughman competition either, and Condit knew that standing in front of Diaz and fighting his fight wasn’t the wisest course of action.“Not every single fight is gonna be like that,” said Condit. “I’ve had 30 fights in my career that were knock down, drag out fights, and if they weren’t, they were brutal knockouts. And the one time that it isn’t, people are a little upset.”But that’s why they call this mixed martial arts, and Condit’s rise from WEC titleholder to UFC champion has been a prime example of a fighter’s evolution. It also showed off a fighter who has to be considered a serious threat to the man who is also at the top, St-Pierre. After an agreed-to rematch with Diaz was scrapped due to the Stockton native's NSAC suspension, Condit is looking forward to finally testing himself against Montreal’s finest.“We had a pretty solid roadmap to what we thought would be a victory over Georges, and that’s something we had to put on the shelf because of his injury and because the fight got canceled,” said Condit, who saw a UFC 137 bout with the Canadian scrapped due to injury, as well as a early 2012 match due to a GSP-Diaz showdown that never happened, again due to a St-Pierre injury. “But it’s gonna be a very similar blueprint when we fight eventually.”Hoping for a late 2012 return to face St-Pierre, who is reportedly ahead of schedule when it comes to rehabbing his knee, Condit will just enjoy his belt and his time with the family until that phone rings. And when it does, he will not go into training camp as a content champion. Instead, he will reprise his role as a hungry challenger.“It’s bigger, but I’m not yet satisfied,” said Condit of life as a UFC champion. “There’s still that pesky word ‘interim’ in my title, and until I’m able to purge myself of that and be the undisputed champion, I’m still hungry.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, diaz, ’t, condit

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Everyone’s an expert when it comes to picking fights. Few really are though, especially while looking at the upcoming UFC 145 main event between light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former titleholder Rashad Evans on April 21st in Atlanta. So whose opinion should you trust? How about someone who fought both men like Stephan Bonnar, one of three fighters (Lyoto Machida and Quinton Jackson being the other two) to have gotten a look at “Bones” and “Suga” that few can claim.“I’m sure like anyone who’s really watched them and knows them well, they can gather the same input that I have,” said Bonnar humbly, “but I definitely know their strengths, and they don’t have too many weaknesses. Yeah, I know them well.”In 2006, Evans won a three round majority decision over “The American Psycho” in his second bout after winning season two of The Ultimate Fighter. Two and a half years later, Jones scored what was at that point the biggest win of his career as he decisioned Bonnar over three rounds at UFC 94. Both fighters went on to win the light heavyweight crown, Evans losing it to Machida, Jones still holding the belt he took from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua last year, but the biggest talking point heading into UFC 145 is the former friendship between the two, one built at Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This bad blood has taken on a life of its own in recent months, and it may be the only thing Bonnar, a longtime light heavyweight contender, can’t relate to from a career that began in 2001. In fact, when asked if he’s ever been in a fight that had a grudge attached to it, he has to think pretty hard about it.“Let’s see,” mused Bonnar, running through his 24 pro MMA fights before coming up with “Not really.” (Laughs) It helps not really knowing the guy. I’m sure if it was something like this (Jones-Evans), where there was someone I did train with and we had a falling out, there would be bad blood, but that never was the case.”And the way he sees it, the less baggage you bring into a fight the better, because once the bell rings, everything that happened before really doesn’t matter.“Love the guy or hate the guy, once that guy blasts you in the face, you want to beat him up,” said Bonnar. “Even like Forrest (Griffin), we always got along on the show and I always liked him, so it was kinda weird fighting him. I never fought anyone I really knew before or liked or considered a friend, but then that bell rang and he came out and he just started blasting me. And that changes everything. (With Jones and Evans) It’s not in your best interest to get too emotional. That can get in the way of their gameplan. It can be good to be emotional, but it has to be a really focused and disciplined kind of emotion. That kind of reckless emotion is where you leave yourself open for mistakes.”At the same time, Bonnar admits that in his bout with Evans, not getting that initial punch in the face kept him from getting in gear and into fight mode, causing him to lose the decision and a three fight winning streak in a bout that won’t make either fighter’s highlight reel.“I knew he (Evans) was really talented,” said Bonnar. “I was more mad at myself, and that was the perfect example of never really getting that blast in the face you needed to light that fire under your ass. I was playing a grappling match with him. But that was a really good strategy. (Greg) Jackson has really good strategies, he’s smart, and I’m sure that was part of it. Try to beat this guy with your wrestling and don’t piss him off too much because you don’t want to get him started.” Bonnar never got started, and while he obviously moved on, he was reminded of the bout while working as a FUEL TV analyst on the recent UFC card in Australia.“It’s like Court McGee in his last fight with (Costa) Philippou,” he said of the bout won by the New Yorker via three round decision. “That’s what I was thinking there too, because he reminds me a lot of me. You see that a lot of times, guys hurt him and get him in trouble and they try to get him out of there and that’s like the worst thing you can do. Philippou did his homework and fought a smart fight. He used his superior boxing to outpoint him, he never got too emotional, and never really got to trying to get him out of there, and he was just content with winning a nice, technical battle. And that was the best thing he could have done. That reminds me of the Rashad fight too.”Fast forward to January of 2009, and Bonnar is riding a two fight winning streak when he’s matched up with up and comer Jon Jones at UFC 94. At that time, Jones was just 1-0 in the Octagon, with a decision win over Andre Gusmao under his belt. And yeah, the kid showed amazing potential, but this was a huge step up for him. Bonnar didn’t listen to the pundits; he knew he was in for a fight.“Just looking at his frame and his other fights, I knew he’d be a handful,” he said. “He’s got some athletic gifts and good wrestling, so I knew he’d be good, but I thought I could handle him and that my experience would pay off.”Jones rose to the occasion, winning a three round decision punctuated by plenty of jaw-dropping moves straight out of Hollywood movies. It was the first true step on the New Yorker’s remarkable ascension to the top of the light heavyweight division, and Bonnar wasn’t surprised at the way Jones’ career has progressed since their fight.“I know talent,” he said. “I had the same feeling when I fought Machida (in 2003). After that fight, I was like this kid’s gonna be good. I know I don’t suck, and I was really impressed with him. Of course I was depressed about my loss and it was on a cut, but then in his next fight he fought Rich Franklin and knocked him out, and then I was like, “See? I knew he was good.” I had the same feeling with Jones. I was like ‘wow, the kid has some skills.’ And everyone was giving me crap, saying Bonnar lost to a newcomer and he sucks, and in the back of my head I was like ‘just wait and see.’”While Jones and Evans took care of their individual business on the way to Atlanta, Bonnar did the same, snapping a three fight losing streak that began with the defeat against Jones with consecutive victories over Krzysztof Soszynski, Igor Pokrajac, and Kyle Kingsbury. It’s been one of the organization’s feel-good stories to see Bonnar get back on track, especially considering that his first fight with Griffin in the TUF 1 finale helped kick off the MMA explosion in 2005. And if you wanted an example of just what the Munster, Indiana native brings to the table, look no further than the rematch with Soszysnki in 2010, a Pier Six brawl punctuated by a defiant and bloody Bonnar staring at the camera after his second round TKO win while standing in the middle of the Octagon.“I thought it would look pretty cool,” he laughed. “I was kinda making a statement like ‘yeah, you can hit me all you want, but I’m not going anywhere.’”It was a defining moment to be sure, but as Bonnar waits for the call to resume his three fight winning streak, he’s been enjoying a break of sorts, doing well-received commentary work on FUEL TV while also getting his “Punch Buddies” t-shirt line out to the masses. So while the work hasn’t stopped, it’s a different kind of work, and he’s embracing it. He’s also looking forward to seeing Jones and Evans do their thing on April 21st, and finding out whether “Suga” can stop the “Bones” freight train.“What makes this interesting is that Rashad is the guy who could threaten Jones with takedowns,” said Bonnar. “I really didn’t understand Rampage having a wrestling background and Jones kicking like that and him (Jackson) not even trying a takedown. He let the guy get way too comfortable and in his rhythm. At least Rashad will be threatening the takedown. He’ll take away those kicks from Jones because he’ll eat one to take him down. That makes a big difference. Even if you don’t plan on taking him down, at least make the guy think about it. At least shoot in and get back up and throw punches, and then next time tap a leg and throw an overhand. Finally someone will be able to do something like that to Jones and threaten him with a takedown and maybe put him on his back. And Rashad’s the guy who could do that.”That mental part of the game may be the most intriguing for a number of reasons. Jones has yet to show cracks in his foundation, despite a strong first round effort from Machida in their UFC 140 bout last December. Will that make Evans doubt himself? Or will Evans look to positive days in sparring with Jones back when the two were teammates as the one thing that will gain him that all important mental edge on fight night? Bonnar doesn’t believe those sparring sessions will haunt Jones in the coming month.“I don’t think that will really be a factor,” he said. “Those old gym stories really mean nothing. I don’t know how many times I’ve been in there early in training camp and having fresh guys rotate in on me and I’m just gassed and complete garbage and I’m out of shape. And I know guys go ‘oh yeah, I was whuppin’ on Bonnar today; he ain’t s**t,’ and it’s always gonna happen. It happens to all of us those first couple weeks of training camp. So I don’t think that will play into Jones’ head, especially now after he’s had all these matches and all these victories since he and Rashad stopped training together.”So what is the key to victory for the 24-year old champion? It may come down to using what’s worked in the past, but with a little tweak here and there. “He’s so much longer,” said Bonnar of Jones, who, at 6-foot-4, is five inches taller than Evans, and who also owns a ten inch reach advantage. “He was pretty much using that length against Rampage with his feet, more than his hands, keeping him at bay with his kicks. With Rashad he can use that same strategy, but using his hands a little more. You don’t want to kick as much because Rashad’s pretty good at catching kicks and taking you down. If you saw in the Phil Davis fight, he did that a couple times, and if I’m Rashad, that’s what I’m gonna want to do. So with Jones, use the hands more and be more conservative with the kicks. He uses the jab, he switches stances well, which keeps you guessing, and he can throw from both sides. So he needs to keep him at bay and stuff the takedowns, and I think that’s Jones’ best strategy.”With a little over a month away from fight night, a lot can change, and no one knows this better than Bonnar. But he does believe that his fellow light heavyweights will deliver a fight to remember.“I think it will be a good fight,” he said. “I think Jones will have a really good gameplan for Rashad because he was one of their guys. Greg Jackson will put a really good gameplan together, and another thing too is that Jones has outstanding wrestling. Look how he’s taken down (Vladimir) Matyushenko and threw Matt Hamill, so there’s a chance we could see Rashad on his back, and when’s the last time you saw that? So I’m sure that’s in the gameplan of both guys to put the other guy on his back, where they’re most out of water.”And when all the plans go out the window and you still have to find a way to win, that’s when you see who the true champions are.

Posted in: fight, guy, jone, ’t, bonnar

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Bellator has not only built a nice niche for itself by possessing some of the best fighters in the lower weight classes, but they also seem to have a knack for finding local talent and showcasing them on their undercards. This gives these particular fighters an opportunity to fight in front of a larger audience, on a bigger stage and it helps prepare them for what will hopefully be a long, successful career. Metairie, Louisiana native Eric Scallan will take what he hopes to be the first step on his way to top of the mountain this Friday night when he faces Texas native Derrick Krantz in front of what should be a wild and raucous crowd at the Horseshoe Riverdome in Bossier City, LA. “I grew up right outside of New Orleans and started wrestling when I was just eight years old,” said Scallan in an interview with Fighters.com. “I kind of excelled at it and I placed three times in the states. My senior year I placed second in state and continued on as a freshman at Dana College in Omaha, Nebraska and was a teammate of Benson Henderson. I was young and really didn’t focus so I transferred to Wartburg College in Iowa. Again I failed to live up to my potential and made the move to Lafeyette, LA.” “I started training with Dustin Poirier at some rinky dink Karate Dojo where we would choke each other with belts and punch sand,” Scallan continued, half-joking. “We made the best of it. I had a wrestling background and Dustin had great hands and a killer instinct. We made the move to Gladiator Academy and joined up with Tim Credeur. From there things really took off. He showed us what being a martial artist was all about. He was an awesome coach; he showed us real Jiu-Jitsu and helped me rid my life of all the garbage and nonsense that surrounded me.” With both he and his opponent living in close proximity to Bossier City there may not be a home-field advantage, but that doesn’t make a difference as far as Scallan is concerned. As long as he has a chance to showcase his skills he’s more than happy. “Krantz has actually fought in Shreveport a lot,” explained Scallan. “To be honest he may have the hometown advantage. The most important thing is getting to fight on the main stage. I’ve been through so much bullshit fighting in these smaller organizations and traveling throughout Texas and Mississippi just to get some fights. Watching Dustin in the limelight has pissed me off because I feel as though I should be there with him, but I have no one to blame but myself.” Scallan has worked hard to get where he is at. He admittedly made a lot of mistakes and because of his immaturity he feels as though he never fully lived up to his potential as a collegiate wrestler. Thankfully he has woken up and with the help of some great teammates and the support of his family and friends he is looking forward to becoming a world class mixed martial artist. He understands that anything worth having takes hard work and persistence. Combine his natural athletic ability with those important virtues and you have a recipe for something special. His background plays a huge role in who he is and where he plans on going. “I knew if I worked hard I would catch a break. I had one of my old fight promoters put in a good word for me and Bellator called me to replace Krantz’s original opponent who had gotten injured. I’m not looking at this fight as something to be grateful for because I know I deserve to be here,” Scallan revealed. “I feel like I definitely belong here and I’m ready to show everyone that I belong here fighting amongst the best in the world. I am fully disciplined now and changed my life around, I haven’t drank in over nine months and changed my diet, my whole lifestyle revolves around MMA.” Recently there has been some attention thrust upon the guys at Gladiator in particular Poirier. He was shown training alongside Matt Schnell from the MTV reality series Caged and, according to Scallan who was there, they handed Schnell a beating to see where his true intentions were at. Scallan was more than surprised and walked away somewhat impressed at how dedicated Schnell is to becoming a legitimate Mixed Martial Srtist as opposed to a reality show star. Schnell found something out about Poirier that Scallan has known for a long time and that is Poirier is as dedicated to MMA than any other fighter. “Dustin made it pretty clear in one of his interviews that he wasn’t really looking to be filmed for the show,” offered Scallan. “They came down and just trained for the one day. We have kind of a big ego at our gym and we beat the sh*t out of Schnell. He was beat up before Poirier even got to him, we had him sparring for five minute rounds. We actually liked the kid and have a lot of respect for him. He came in really humble and worked really hard. He didn’t act like a bad-ass or anything.” “From what I have been told he is training down in Sacramento with Team Alpha Male and Joseph Benavidez,” Scallan elaborated on his fellow Louisiana fighter. “He’s set up with Tito Ortiz’s group Team Punishment. He is really taking advantage of the opportunities the show has created for him. He really likes Dustin and admires the discipline that he has. Poirier is a great guy to follow, he works hard and has come a long way. He is definitely something special, he lives and breathes MMA. He’ll work out three or four times a day and I can call him to work out with me and he’ll never say no. You have to tell him no sometimes, he’s been a huge inspiration to me.” With a great team behind him, a positive attitude, and desire to become one of the best in the sport, Scallan will face the toughest test of his short MMA career on Friday night. Krantz is 10-5 and has finished every one of his victories. He also has faced a higher level of competition. One advantage Scallan has over Krantz is two of his teammates have fought and defeated Krantz within the last fifteen months. “If you’re from Texas or Louisiana then you know who Derrick Krantz is,” Scallan said. “He had about 20-30 amateur fights and had a pretty start to his professional career winning his first seven fights. The only people he has lost to are Poirier, another teammate of mine in Rich Clementi, one guy who fights for Bellator, and two guys who are in Strikeforce now. He hasn’t lost to anyone who he wasn’t supposed to lose to. He’s not a traditional wrestler, but has good takedowns and is really strong. His stand-up is not technically good, but he’ll keep coming forward no matter how many times you hit him. My cardio is better than is, but once it gets out of the first round it’ll be all downhill after that.” As everything else falls into place around him, Scallan is able to focus fully on his fighting career. He recently signed on with Alchemist Management which has alleviated a lot of his fears concerning the outside distractions. Alchemist has become the home for many of today’s top Mixed Martial Artists including Nate Marquardt, Stephen Thompson, Brendan Schaub, Rory MacDonald, Thiago Silva, and many others. Scallan knew it was imperative that he had the right people behind him looking out for his best interest so that he can concentrate on training and becoming the best fighter he can be. “Things are really coming together for me now,” said an excited Scallan. “Signing with Bellator and Lex McMahon and the Alchemist group gives me a clear cut path to the UFC and to the top. I’m finally ready to grab the brass ring. If this would’ve happened earlier I don’t think I would’ve been ready for it. Finding the right representation was a big concern for me and finding someone who is trustworthy. Everyone I have talked to has said Lex is a guy I can trust. No one had a bad thing to say about him or Alchemist and that really put my mind at ease.” Scallan is very confident and he has no problem admitting that he has an ego. He feels as though his talent is as good as anyone else in the sport. He has the perfect opportunity to show the world what he is made of and what he has to offer. That comes as good news to those who are behind Scallan, but for the man who will be locked inside the cage with him it spells nothing but trouble. “You are going to see me show up, this is the biggest fight of my life on the biggest stage,” exclaimed Scallan. “I always perform my best under pressure; it’s going to be non-stop action. You won’t see me get tired and you’ll never see me quit. Every time I get hit I’m going to swing right back. My pace gets better as the fight goes on. Anything can happen in MMA with those four ounce gloves, but Krantz will have to kill me if he wants to beat me. I have so much on the line and I’m so focused on winning that I can’t see it going any other way that in my favor. Expect to see me finish him and put on an exciting show for the fans.” Catch Scallan fight on the Bellator 61 prelims starting at approximately 6:00 PM EST. The show is highlighted by the opening round of the organization’s Season 6 middleweight tournament and a rematch between heavyweights Thiago Santos-Eric Prindle to determine the Season 5 tournament champion. Tweet

Posted in: fight, show, ’t, poirier, scallan

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UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was interviewed recently by Brazilian network SporTV. The network asked Silva what he thought of UFC president Dana White’s stance on teammates and friends needing to fight. Silva made it clear that he disagreed with his Boss’s stance, believing it is just something that White cannot understand as a non-fighter. Silva’s stance is hardly unheard of in MMA with many fighters refusing to fight friends and teammates. UFC lightweight Nate Diaz echoed a similar sentiment by saying recently he would not want to fight former lightweight champ Frankie Edgar due to their Gracie connections. Jon Fitch and Josh Koschek have taken the same stance, often to the detriment of their own careers. Silva’s translated statement on fighting friends: It’s funny to say that, right? If that was the case, I would like to ask him if he’d like to split the UFC with Lorenzo, each would have their own show fighting for audience and sponsorship and everything else that involves their business. They’re friends, partners… What I think is that friends shouldn’t fight. Dana doesn’t fight. He sells well the fight, he’s a good promoter, but he isn’t a fighter. I have nothing against Dana, I admire him, but he doesn’t know what this is, and he can’t say that two friends should fight. We spend more time together than with our own families. We share the pains, the frustrations, and just because he wants to sell a fight that he thinks it would be cool and that the public would like to see two companions fighting. He wants to match a fight with two friends? That’s impossible, it only happens with people who aren’t real friends. We have a philosophy in our team that, regardless of two being from the same weight class and the same objective of being UFC Champions, we know that this won’t happen. MMA is not a collective sport. It’s not normal for me to fight a guy that I live with everyday. It’s natural to him, because he doesn’t fight and hasn’t even got pinched once.” Dana White’s reaction: “This isn’t baseball or football. They aren’t a team. They train together, go out together, but they aren’t a team that plays together. I’d like for Anderson to tell me if I’m wrong: he has the belt, the fame, the money, and it is because of that, that there are many guys who’d like to be Anderson Silva, especially those inside his gym and are friends of his. Many friends of his would love to have that belt and they should fight for it. If they have to fight, it doesn’t mean that they don’t like each other, that they can’t be friends. It’s business, it’s what they do for a living. If this was something I and Lorenzo would have to fight, we would. If Lorenzo has the title and I’d have to fight him, it’s what would happen. It’s not personal, it’s only to see who’s best. Imagine two famous teams in Brazil, such as Flamengo and Corinthians. Imagine if they would refuse to play against each other because they’re friends, because they like each other. ‘We don’t want to play you, we’d hurt your feelings.’ Anderson, come on… Vitor [Belfort] used to train with him. Did you see what he did to his friend? I guarantee you that the guys that are his friends want to be like him. Your friends want your belt, and they won’t pay your bills when you’re done fighting, Anderson.” While it should be noted that Belfort and Silva had a falling out prior to Belfort’s accepting of his title shot at UFC 126, White’s reaction has been his stance since day one on the issue.

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, silva, friend

Read the full article at MMA Frenzy

It’s not uncommon for Mixed Martial Artists to move down a division in hopes of entering the ring as a larger, or at least similarly-sized, competitor rather than facing opponents who are bigger/stronger. However, in the case of UFC light heavyweight king Jon Jones it appears “Bones” is interested is heading the other direction, opting to test his skills as a heavyweight rather than put any strain on his 6’4” frame by attempting to drop down to 185 pounds. Jones recently brought up the idea again in an interview where he stated he’d already spoken to UFC President Dana White about doing so later this year though was told to hold off on the switch until after he’d potentially cleaned out his current weight-class. “He said he didn’t consider it a good idea right now,” explained Jones in an interview with Brazilian outlet SporTV. “But after beating Dan Henderson, Rashad Evans, and maybe Alexander Gustafsson in 2012, I don’t see what to do in this division, not wanting to disrespect anybody.” Jones Addresses Allegations of Being “Cocky” The 24-year old title-holder also addressed the possibility of a fight with Anderson Silva, the explosive middleweight champion he’s drawn comparisons to as far as in-ring creativity and overall dominance. While Jones wasn’t necessarily opposed to the bout, it’s definitely not a match-up he’ll be seeking at any point in the future. “My job is to be prepared to face the best in the world,” said Jones on Silva. “I’d rather not deal with Anderson, but if I have to fight him, I will focus on my confidence and on my technique. I respect and look up to him so much. For me, the ideal scenario would be having him as my mentor and learn with him after he retires. It would be great for me. That would be ideal, but the world wants to see us fighting.” Before anything else, up next for Jones is Rashad Evans, a former teammate and current rival who he’ll face on April 21 at UFC 145. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, jone, ’t, ’d, future “

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The chain of events that will eventually lead us to Atlanta on April 21 and allow the world to witness a battle for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship between current title holder Jon Jones and former champion Rashad Evans was set in motion long before Jones ever stepped foot inside the Octagon. You may agree with this assessment or not, but in my opinion UFC President Dana White is a master puppeteer and saw an opportunity to pay Evans back for his refusal to fight former teammate Keith Jardine the minute Jones joined Greg Jackson’s camp and started making his way up the ranks of the light heavyweight division. After recently speaking with Evans it became apparent very quickly that he is fiercely loyal and steadfast in his beliefs. While many will say MMA is an individual sport most of those people haven’t had the opportunity to spill blood, shed tears, and sweat alongside a teammate day in and day out. Evans values his relationships amongst his teammates more than he does a championship or a paycheck. That’s not to say he doesn’t desire to hold the UFC light heavyweight title or make a good living and be able to support his family. It just means he isn’t willing to sacrifice the relationships he has forged along the way and alienate the men who have helped get him where he is today. Evans and Jardine quickly developed a bond when the two men were contestants on the Ultimate Fighter 2 back in 2005. They actually fought on the show with Evans winning by decision. As soon as taping was over Evans joined Jackson’s gym and quickly strengthened that bond with Jardine, one that is still going strong today. As the two fighters slowly but surely climbed the light heavyweight ladder talk began to grow that they could possibly face one another if their success continued. Beginning with his fight with Tito Ortiz at UFC 73 in July of 2007, Evans started to fight a higher level of competition. After the Ortiz bout he would go on to defeat Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, and then Forrest Griffin at UFC 98 in December of 2008. With his ensuing knockout over Griffin, Evans became the new light heavyweight champ. Jardine on the other hand was going through a period of inconsistency and because of this talk of him fighting Evans seemed to temper off a bit, but that doesn’t mean that White would forget that both men publicly refused to fight one another. If Jardine had continued on with the success he had after the show had ended both he and Evans would have found themselves in a very difficult position. Jardine had defeated both Griffin and Liddell before Evans did, but lost to Houston Alexander and Wanderlei Silva after those wins. While those losses may have spared the two friends and training partners the headache of either fighting one another or risk losing their position with the UFC it remained in the back of White’s mind and would rear its ugly head the minutes Jones started making a name for himself. Evans has gone on record as saying that he was not comfortable with Jackson bringing Jones in to the camp. He felt as though it would ultimately lead to the same drama that he and Jardine were forced to deal with. Eventually Evans gave in and agreed to train alongside Jones. It didn’t take long for the two men to develop a strong bond in and outside of the cage. Evans took Jones under his wing and didn’t hold back when it came to helping Jones become the best fighter he could be. Somewhere along the way they made an agreement not to fight one another or allow White to come in between them. Jones seemed to value his relationship with Evans in the same manner Rashad did with Jardine. After beating Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 114 the UFC announced Evans would go on to face then champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua once the champion had recovered from knee surgery. The bout was to take place at UFC 128. As it turned out, while training for the match-up Evans injured his knee and was forced to pull out of the fight. In a surprise move, White awarded Jones the opportunity to face Rua after he defeated Ryan Bader at UFC 126. The move in itself wasn’t what upset Evans as he knew the UFC needed to find a replacement; it was the fact that Jones spoke out in an interview during the promotion for his fight with Rua and stated he would face Evans if the UFC offered him the fight. Obviously upset with Jones, Evans left Jackson’s camp and moved south to Florida. Stung by Jones betrayal and for what he perceived to be a lack of support from Jackson, Evans needed to pull himself together quickly and regroup. He and a team of Brazilian fighters who used to train with American Top Team joined forces with some respected fighters to create The Blackzilians and began training under the tutelage of Mike Van Arsdale at Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton. Since he began working there Evans has defeated Ortiz and Phil Davis. These days “Suga” seems to be more at peace, and although he is still hurt by what went down he is forced to deal with the fact that this is a business; that not everyone abides by the same values he does. In just six short weeks Evans will get the opportunity to punish Jones for stabbing him in the back and in the process he can win back the belt he lost to Lyoto Machida. The veteran has a chance to prove to the young lion that he made a colossal mistake by breaking the pact they made. Evans also gets to show Jackson that he chose to stand behind the wrong fighter. There is much more at stake here than the UFC title. Everything Evans believes in is on the line. Never has a fight been more personal and never before has a fight created such controversy. As if fighting Jones wasn’t difficult enough, Evans also has to fight the naysayers who have criticized him for taking this too personal. None of us know what went on behind closed doors between Jones and Evans, but we will get to see the fallout from it all come April 21. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, jone, ’t, evan

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

MMA fans are a sordid, hateful bunch. Unfortunately, their abundant hate is rarely focused in the right direction. They don’t hate athletic commissions, they don't hate the rules, they don’t hate circumstances, but they hate the fighters who put their bodies and health on the line for them (or maybe they do hate the aforementioned things, but not as much as the fighters, at least not as vocally).

Posted in: fighter, ’t, fan, body, right direction

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By now you’ve likely seen the Ronda Rousey-Miesha Tate fight. Failing that, you’ve read or heard about the result. Once again, Rousey found herself the victor, in the first round, by Armbar. She moved her record to 5-0 and became one of the quickest fighters in the sport to attain a major championship, particularly in the modern era. One of the major narratives coming out of the fight is obviously Rousey’s dominance and her place as perhaps the biggest star in the history of Women’s MMA (no offense Gina Carano fans). However, something I find interesting and mildly disconcerting coming out of the fight is the celebration of Tate’s “toughness” in regards to her unwillingness to tap to the second Armbar Rousey had her in. As much as I hate to reference Twitter in any journalistic sense, it’s quite apparent that MMA has a disproportionate presence on the medium. Fellow fighters, fans and even some media were lauding the former champion for her “warrior spirit,” “fighting to the bitter end,” and the like. This is the part that I don’t understand. Had Tate tapped out to the first Rousey armbar, which looked like it too caused some damage to her right arm, I don’t suspect that anyone would have batted an eye. When Miesha survived that hold however, she had already earned the respect of myself and most others watching the fight. My personal expectations of Tate in the fight had been exceeded. Of course, her expectations heading into the fight and mine were two vastly different things. I’m sure she intended on retaining her belt, however unrealistic that was, and was willing to do whatever it took to do so. Where that crosses the line from being admirable and turns foolish is the issue. The second time Rousey caught her foe in an Armbar; Tate was completed flattened out with no chance to escape. Flail about as she might, it was clear that the fight was over at that point. Yet rather than tap, Miesha decided to show her “toughness” and “warrior spirit” allowing Rousey to snap her arm like a twig and then ply it in the most grotesque angles possible. Let’s sum this up, the end result of the fight – where Tate eventually tapped anyways – was that she still lost, but instead of simply losing a very spirited affair and heading back to the training room she has the unenviable task of going through what is certain to be a long, arduous recovery from a gruesome arm injury that may require surgery (if it doesn’t, I’ll be absolutely shocked). While we don’t know the exact details of the injury at this point, the likelihood of Tate fighting again in 2012 seems slim. Tate Says Arm is Not Broken but Needs MRI for Ligament Damage My question is: Why celebrate this? The former champion did herself absolutely no good at the end of the match. Her refusal to tap defies logic, and has only set back her career. Yet this is something we see regularly in MMA. The mentality from both fighters and fans that submitting is a sign of weakness, and those who would rather ‘Face the Pain’ (har har) get treated as heroes has long been one of the more perverse realities of the sport. In some cases, this toughness works out well for a fighter, with Seth Baczynski against Tim McKenzie being the most notable and emphatic example. More often than not though, when a fighter refuses to tap they simply end up with an injury, not a victory. Even if we look at another example of “toughness” from recent shows, we see that this phenomenon isn’t strictly confined to tapping out to a submission. On the UFC on FX 2 card, Kyle Noke – fresh off a knee injury sustained against Ed Herman – reportedly blew out his knee in the first round against Andrew Craig, yet fought through to a Unanimous Decision loss. Noke, like Tate, was celebrated for his toughness, but the question that I have is how much additional damage he did to his knee, and how much longer he will be out of action as a result. On the flip side, you look at a fighter like Brian Bowles who bowed out of his bantamweight title contest with Dominick Cruz due to a plethora of injuries and how he was reviled as a quitter long after. To me, Bowles did the smart thing. He knew he couldn’t perform to his utmost potential given the injuries he had, and decided to fight another day. When you’re dealing with fighters at the highest levels of the sport, winning and losing come down to such fine details that it is hard to fault anyone for wanting to be as close to their best as possible. This is a mindset that won’t go away without some change on behalf of guilty parties, as in every pre-fight interview, or every new season of The Ultimate Fighter, we’re graced with lines like “I’ll never tap out. They’ll have to break something or choke me out,” or “I’m ready to go [through hell]/[to the death].” Even just looking back to the last season of the show, there was no greater moment to me than watching when Akira Corassani – who was definitely guilty of such braggadocio – was in fact choked out by Dennis Bermudez. Still, I am in the minority, many fans saw Corassani as one of their favourite fighters on the show, and appreciated his mentality and willingness to follow through on it. I understand that fighters are there to entertain us, but at the same time these are people who make a living with their bodies. By encouraging the sort of behaviour that results in fighters sustaining unnecessary injuries and exacerbating existing ones, we are doing no one any good. Fighters need to be healthy to collect a paycheck, and there is nothing about having your arm snapped, knee shredded, or brain deprived of oxygen that helps that become a reality. Both fighters and fans need to grow up just a bit, and realize there is no shame in submitting. That said, I love both the fact that Rousey was more than willing to snap her opponent’s arm if she wasn’t going to tap, and that she had no remorse about it. If you’re going to be indifferent about what happens to your body inside the cage or ring, you might just get what you deserve. Just don’t expect me to feel bad, or applaud you for your stupidity… and enjoy your stint in rehab. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE Tweet

Posted in: fight, fighter, ’t, tate, rousey

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Okay, maybe it wasn’t exactly the right time to ask Dana White about this after they just forgot how to count to 28 in Australia (come on, guys, it really isn’t that much harder than knifey spooney), but he has now officially come down against the implementation of the half-point scoring system in MMA fights. The mere mention of the half-point system was recently enough to send White into one of his vintage f*ck-laced tirades, recorded by MMAFighting.com’s Mike Chiappetta: "We get into half-points? They better learn to count f---ing whole points before we get to half-points," he said. "You put a half-a-point in there, holy s---, every f---ing card will be destroyed. It’s a bigger problem than half-points. And I don’t want to smash these guys, they accepted what they did and they were stand-up about it, but Jesus Christ, there’s three f---ing numbers. There’s 10s and 9s. If you can’t count 10s and 9s, let’s not throw f---ing fractions in there." White said that during his career of promoting over 1,600 fights, a similar scenario has only occurred one other time, and though he didn't specify that instance, he's most likely referring to a UFC 41 bout between Matt Serra and Din Thomas. In that event, Serra was originally declared the winner by majority decision, but a scoring error was later discovered and New Jersey state regulators corrected the mistake, giving Thomas the win. "It’s the worst thing ever when you go back and you tell a guy, 'I need to talk to you, you didn’t win this fight,'" White said. "The guy’s already made his f---ing phone calls, he’s already made plans. You think you won the fight and find out the fight’s a draw, or what would have been worse if I would’ve had to go back and tell him, ‘You lost the fight. You didn’t win.’ "That’s why tallying the scores and doing what they do is so important," he continued. "Not only for all the selfish things for me, for the product and the sport and the brand and all that stuff, but these fighters... You literally have their lives in your hands. Get a f---ing calculator. You know what I mean? Do something. Take more time. Make sure that stuff is right." Dana has a point that you have to learn to do missionary before you can do the wheelbarrow or the reverse Mormon, but we really ought to have some faith that not every athletic commission is stuck at Sesame Street levels of math skill. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and speculate that the guy reading the scorecards in Australia was paid off by gamblers from Macau (source: absolutely nothing). In his statement, Dana didn’t really address the actual merits and/or decrepitudes of the half-point scoring system. Sure, the half-point scoring system could end up producing lots of three-round draws due to one 10-9 round for one fighter stacking up against two 10-9.5 rounds for the other. But then, what’s to stop the UFC from putting a tiebreaker round (we’re not allowed to say “sudden death” anymore, thank you Rebellion Media) in all future fight contracts to break the impasse? Judging by how MMA fans were salivating like a pack of wild hyenas at the prospect of a fourth round during the McCall-Johnson flyweight tournament fight and then collectively gushed pus from an infected ulcer when they found out it was a mistake that they didn’t get it, tiebreaker rounds might not be such a horrible thing for the sport.

Posted in: fight, round, ’t, fing, halfpoint

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Ah New York, where the state flower is Travis Bickle, and where if you don’t break your leg in an underground fight show, you’re just not trying hard enough.  If I didn’t love this place so much, I’d want to nuke the site from orbit (it’s the only way to be sure).  Anyway, yesterday saw a flurry of activity on the MMA front – so much so that an update is in order. -Dana White and co. came to Radio City Music Hall in Midtown Manhattan for a press conference meant to extoll the virtues of the upcoming UFC on Fox 3: “Diaz vs. Miller” event, which will see Nate Diaz take on New Jersey-based fighter Jim Miller at the IZOD Center (which is on the side of the Hudson River where MMA is sanctioned and everyone is happy).  Here’s the New York Daily News rapping about it, although the biggest talking point is what the Baldfather said: “We’re going to keep grinding and grinding until we get it done,” White said Tuesday, referring to the ongoing legal battle.  “We’ll get it done by any means necessary.  It’s going to happen.” Sorry, but invoking the Jean Paul Sarte-by-way-of-Malcom X phrase “by any means necessary” does not bespeak of confidence. -Did someone mention legal battle?  In case you were wondering, the lawsuit Zuffa LLC filed against the State of New York is still chugging along.  As per the usual legal rigmarole, we are stuck at the phase where the State makes a motion to dismiss the suit and Zuffa’s attorneys makes a rebuttal and the State makes a rebuttal to that.  In other words, the case is mired the Swamps of Legal Brief Despair.  Worth noting here in that New York is now arguing that, while Zuffa may have cleaned up their act and put on events that follow stringent rules, if the State were to start sanctioning MMA, what would stop organizations like Extreme Fighting from “reverting to the savagery of their prior years”?  Um, guys, Extreme Fighting’s last event was in March of 1997.  I don’t think they’re putting on another show. -While the UFC was kicking the Rockettes off stage so Nate Diaz could offer Jim Miller a bong hit and Miller could respectfully decline, the grassroots movement that’s been striving to get the sport sanctioned here held a rally.  Yes, it was across the street from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office in Manhattan.  Yes, I was a guest speaker.  Yes, about forty people showed up, which was a similar turnout to the rally that was held last year.  I don’t think any mountains were moved, but a former State Assemblyman named Michael Benjamin was there and spoke as well, and in his humble opinion, the female side of MMA competition is what’s going to really convince the State Legislature that the sport is viable and worthy of sanctioning love.  Here’s Pete Lampasona of the Fight Nerd on that.  Personally, I think if you put all the anti-MMA people in a room with Ronda Rousey and lock the door, you better believe those people will soon be signing anything their broken arms will allow. -Last but not least, or maybe it is very least, here’s some cat demanding that before the UFC is allowed to come the New York State Athletic Commission should adopt more stringent screening for testosterone levels.  Because, you know, Quinton Jackson wouldn’t be half the man he is today if not for the injections given to him by UFC-recommended doctors. New York.  It’s what’s for dinner.

Posted in: mma, ’t, nate diaz, state, york

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The first 15 are in the books, now it’s time for the heavy hitters. In anticipation of this Friday’s premiere of The Ultimate Fighter Live on FX, who are the 15 greatest fighters to ever emerge from the long-running reality series?15 – Stephan Bonnar Post TUF record: 8-6Stephan Bonnar could fight for another 10 years and win multiple titles, yet to most fans, he will always be remembered for the fight he lost to Forrest Griffin at the TUF1 finale in 2005. It was the war that put the UFC on the map and made Bonnar a household name to MMA fans. Since then, “The American Psycho” has had his share of ups and downs, but midway through 2010, he bounced back, and with three consecutive wins over Krzysztof Soszynski, Igor Pokrajac, and Kyle Kingsbury, it will be interesting to see what Bonnar can do at 205 pounds this year.DEFINING FIGHT – L3 Forrest Griffin ITUF TALK –“I knew it (Griffin I) was a good fight when the final bell rang and the crowd was going nuts and yelling for another round. Just looking into the crowd and at everyone’s face, the energy level was so high, I said, ‘it must have been a good one.’”14 – Matt SerraPost TUF record: 3-3How does Matt Serra, a guy who has a .500 record since winning The Ultimate Fighter get to this point on this list? Well, first, one of those three wins saw him take the UFC welterweight crown with a knockout of Georges St-Pierre, a man many believe will one day be seen as the greatest welterweight of all-time, and two, one of the losses (a close three round decision) came to the man who currently holds the title of greatest welterweight ever – Matt Hughes. Add in Serra’s TUF4 finale win over Chris Lytle (a loss Lytle avenged in 2010), his wins on the show over Shonie Carter and Pete Spratt, his UFC victories over Frank Trigg, Yves Edwards and Jeff Curran, and his memorable battles with Carter, BJ Penn, Din Thomas, and Karo Parisyan, and you’ve got a body of work that certainly warrants his place among the best fighters ever to appear on The Ultimate Fighter.DEFINING FIGHT – TKO1 Georges St-PierreTUF TALK – “I was actually in Manhattan the other day and I got stopped like six times by people wishing me good luck and stuff like that. Then I was in 7-11 and this guy stops me and goes, ‘man, you look just like Matt Serra.’ It’s kinda surreal. But listen, that could be gone tomorrow, so I keep everything grounded. I’m not gonna let anything get to my head. I went in there thinking that if I put on a good performance and get to show some skill, it can really help out my schools. Of course I wanted to win the whole thing, but I knew there would be a bunch of tough guys in there and I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I just said, ‘man, this could really do wonders for my school.’ This is how I make my living, teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and that’s what I’m sticking to. My school enrollments picked up a lot, it’s been a blessing, and I’m just keeping grounded with that. I’m not going Hollywood.”13 – Roy Nelson Post TUF record: 3-3The most experienced fighter on TUF 10, former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson showed himself to be a cut above his fellow competitors as he defeated Kimbo Slice, Justin Wren, James McSweeney and Brendan Schaub to win the season title. He didn’t skip a beat with an impressive 39 second TKO of Stefan Struve in his proper Octagon debut, and while “Big Country” has since lost decisions to Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir, and Fabricio Werdum, an impressive third round TKO of Mirko Cro Cop in 2011 and a renewed attention to his cardio regimen shows that the iron-jawed Las Vegan is one big win away from being back in the title hunt soon.DEFINING FIGHT – KO1 Brendan SchaubTUF TALK – “I’ve never been in jail, but I could imagine jail actually being a little bit easier. And the way I always say it is that I can’t wait to do my Visa commercial – Gloves: $50, Tapout T-shirt: $28, Living in The Ultimate Fighter house: priceless.”12 – Matt WimanPost TUF record: 8-3With an exciting fight style, eight UFC wins, and an engaging personality, you have to wonder why Matt Wiman isn’t a bona fide star yet. But with his most recent win, a Fight of the Night victory over TUF6 winner Mac Danzig, Wiman should be in everyone’s consciousness. And if he hasn’t, you can be sure that a win over Mark Bocek at UFC 145 in April won’t hurt.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Cole MillerTUF TALK – “I don’t feel comfortable backing up and running around. I don’t feel comfortable if I’m not working hard for something, and if I’m playing it safe, I feel like the other guy is plotting and planning, so I want to put him on the defensive and I want to push the pace and bring the fight to him. I’ve tried fighting other ways and tried to be overly technical, and it just doesn’t work for me. I obviously practice technique and I have good technique, but that isn’t the most significant thing to me – I like going hard and pushing the pace and taking care of business, not in a reckless way, but in a smart way.”11 – Joe Lauzon Post TUF record: 7-4After debuting in the UFC in September of 2006 with a stirring 48 second knockout of Jens Pulver, Joe Lauzon didn’t need The Ultimate Fighter as a springboard into the organization, but he took the opportunity to compete with one of the series’ most talent-rich casts anyway. And though he didn’t take the season five title, his post TUF stint in the UFC has been quite impressive in its own right as he’s won three of his last five bouts (all by submission), with his only losses in that stretch coming to Anthony Pettis and George Sotiropoulos. And let’s not forget the seven post-fight bonuses he’s picked up since leaving the show, establishing him as one of the sport’s premier action heroes.DEFINING FIGHT – Wsub1 Melvin GuillardTUF TALK - “I got to train with such world-class guys like BJ Penn, Regan (Penn), and Tony (DeSouza), and even the other guys on our team. It was a great measuring stick. You think ‘I can do okay against this guy or that guy’, but until you actually get to do it, you really have no idea. I think being put up against the best was awesome for me because I know where I am and where I have to get and how I measure up against other people. It’s weird because when you train with ‘your’ guys, you really don’t have as much of a measuring stick to other people. When you get to go up against the best, it’s a much more accurate read.”10 - George SotiropoulosPost TUF record: 7-2In MMA or any sport for that matter, it’s the squeaky wheel that gets oiled, and soft-spoken George Sotiropoulos is anything but a squeaky wheel. But when you win your first seven UFC fights after competing on season six of The Ultimate Fighter, it’s hard to be ignored, and in 2010, Sotiropoulos had a stellar year that saw him emerge as a true 155-pound contender as he defeated Joe Stevenson, Kurt Pellegrino, and Joe Lauzon in succession. 2011 was a rocky one, as he lost bouts to Dennis Siver and Rafael dos Anjos, but odds are that we will see the Aussie standout back in contention in 2012.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Joe StevensonTUF TALK –“Seeing different types of people and different traditions and different walks of life, I got to have a very open mind. I’ve seen what life’s about, I’ve seen good and bad in other things, and I’m grounded. For example, the kids in Thailand, in a lot of cases when they train over there it’s not really sport; they’re forced to do it because their families can’t afford to keep them. They send them to training camps and in a way it’s something they gamble on. So being in the (Ultimate Fighter) house was easy because it was my choice to be there and I wanted to be there because I love it so much. A lot of the guys were so miserable in there and they don’t know how lucky they were.”9 – Matt HamillPost TUF record: 9-4The raw talent of Matt Hamill was evident on season three of The Ultimate Fighter, but it wasn’t until he bounced back from a TKO loss to Rich Franklin two years after his Octagon debut that he began fulfilling his promise. After the Franklin fight, Hamill won five in a row, with only his DQ victory over Jon Jones being a less than stellar performance. And when Mark Munoz, Tito Ortiz, and Keith Jardine are the guys you’re beating, you’re a legit contender. In 2011, Hamill retired after defeats to “Rampage” Jackson and Alexander Gustafsson, but it’s safe to say that “The Hammer” won’t be forgotten by fight fans anytime soon.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Tito OrtizTUF TALK –“In wrestling, success came easy. It came so naturally, and the mat was my home. Joining this sport has been a challenge. I learn new things every day and others can knock me down, which they never could in wrestling. But I'm getting better and I’m still striving to be at the top in MMA also.” 8 - Nate DiazPost TUF record: 10-5With the attitude of a true fighter and good bloodlines (brother Nick is a UFC vet), Nate Diaz was going to make it to the UFC with or without The Ultimate Fighter. But the reality series jump-started the Stockton, California native’s career, and he defeated Rob Emerson, Corey Hill, Gray Maynard, and Manny Gamburyan to win the season five title. He’s continued his run of success with 10 Octagon victories, including ultra-impressive wins over Takanori Gomi and Donald Cerrone in his return to 155 pounds after a brief stint at welterweight.DEFINING FIGHT – Wsub1 Takanori GomiTUF TALK - “I talked to my brother and my manager, Cesar, and they were telling me that it would probably be the best thing for me. I was definitely not too excited about going. I wanted to, but at the same time I didn’t. I didn’t feel like I was too good on camera, and I’m not great at interviews, but I’m glad I did it the way it turned out. I thought I was gonna be one of the least experienced guys in the house fightwise, to be honest with you. “Once I was there, I realized there were people there with less fights than me, but there wasn’t any pressure. I thought I had a good chance, that’s for sure.”7 - Diego SanchezPost TUF record: 12-5It’s been a crazy career thus far for season one TUF winner Diego Sanchez. From his early days at welterweight, where he went 4-0 before back-to-back losses to Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck, to a brief stint at lightweight where he challenged then-champion BJ Penn for the UFC crown, and then to his recent resurrection at 170, the man formerly known as “Nightmare” and now dubbed “The Dream” has always been exciting in the Octagon and nearly as compelling outside the cage. Needless to say, win or lose, odds are that we’ll be talking about him for a long time.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Karo ParisyanTUF TALK – “In my mind all the TUF guys are gonna lose and I’m gonna be the only undefeated fighter and I’m still gonna be the only guy that went through the show, finished everybody, and I’m gonna be ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ They’re gonna say, ‘that guy Diego Sanchez, he was ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ through all the seasons.’ They’re gonna say that he was the only guy that dominated it, came out after it, stayed undefeated, won the belt, and got out of his contract undefeated.” (Before his bout with Karo Parisyan)6 – Josh Koscheck Post TUF record: 15-5A no-nonsense competitor whose ‘tell it like it is’ attitude has made him a polarizing figure from the time he was on the first season of TUF, Josh Koscheck has basically grown up in the UFC, with 20 of his 24 pro fights taking place in the Octagon. Along the way, ‘Kos’ has battled the best in the game, from Georges St-Pierre and Diego Sanchez, to Thiago Alves and Matt Hughes, all the while adding new wrinkles to his world-class wrestling attack. Most potent of his new weapons is a devastating right hand, one he’s used to great effect over the last couple years, and as he continues to grow as a fighter, Koscheck will certainly remain entrenched among the best 170-pounders in the world.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Diego SanchezTUF TALK - “I get thousands and thousands of e-mails every day and it’s amazing what it’s done for my life. Most of the time, if you’re calling my phone in the last six months, it’s been ‘voice mail filled’. So it was overwhelming at one point. Now things are starting to slow down a little bit, but you really don’t picture yourself in that position - because I grew up in a blue collar, hard working family - getting to the point to where ‘okay, now you’re on a reality show.’ So I get on TV, and after the show it’s like ‘Oh my God, it’s crazy.’ I go into the UFC and they have to move my seat because fans are coming down to get autographs and pictures. So it is a bit overwhelming, but in another sense it’s good. It’s good for our sport and the fighters.”5 - Kenny FlorianPost TUF record: 12-5A fighter who actually caught the eye of UFC President Dana White in a losing effort against Drew Fickett in 2004, Kenny Florian entered the TUF1 house with little fanfare, but he defeated Chris Leben to make it to the middleweight final against Diego Sanchez. Sanchez pounded out a decisive victory over Florian in the finals, and many wondered where KenFlo fit in the great scheme of things. We found out soon enough as he dropped to welterweight and then lightweight, where, after a title fight loss to Sean Sherk in 2006, Florian put together a six fight winning streak with victories over Din Thomas, Joe Lauzon, Roger Huerta, and Joe Stevenson that earned him a second title shot. And though Florian was submitted in the fourth round by Penn and lost a 2010 bout to Gray Maynard, the New Englander earned a title shot at 145 pounds with a win over Diego Nunes in June of 2011. That title shot against Jose Aldo ended in a decision defeat, and currently, Florian is contemplating his fighting future while doing excellent work as a studio and Octagonside analyst for UFC telecasts on Fuel TV and FX.DEFINING FIGHT – Wsub3 Takanori GomiTUF TALK – “After experiencing the last Ultimate Fighter finale, I feel like I can really go through anything now. Just experiencing the craziness of everything that happens backstage prior to the fight, the interviews leading up to the fight, I’ve matured in a way that I’m gonna stay focused on the fight itself. Having gone through that before, I feel like I’ve definitely grown.”4 - Michael BispingPost TUF record: 12-4The man who put MMA on the map in the UK, Michael Bisping had little difficulty winning on the British circuit, and he continued his winning ways on TUF3 as he took out Ross Pointon, Kristian Rothaermel, and Josh Haynes to win the season’s light heavyweight title. His good fortunes continued in finishes of Eric Schafer and Elvis Sinosic, but his rep took a hit after a controversial decision win over Matt Hamill at UFC 75. Bisping would lose for the first time in his next bout, a UFC 78 loss to Rashad Evans, but his gutsy performance in the razor-thin decision defeat won back some of the fans he lost after the Hamill bout. Losing to Evans prompted Bisping to drop to 185, and three straight wins (Charles McCarthy, Jason Day, and Chris Leben) followed before a devastating knockout loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 in July. Eager to get back in the race, Bisping has won five of his last seven, including Fight of the Night victories over Denis Kang and Yoshihiro Akiyama.DEFINING FIGHT – TKO2 Denis KangTUF TALK - “You’re not gonna see me in any factories for quite some time.” (In the locker room after winning TUF3)3 - Forrest GriffinPost TUF record: 9-5There’s probably no one in the game who would want to avoid the spotlight more than Forrest Griffin, but that became an impossibility when the former police officer won season one of The Ultimate Fighter with a stirring three round win over Stephan Bonnar that kicked off the MMA explosion in 2005. After that, it was a constant stream of interviews, appearances, and photo shoots for Griffin, who still found time to engage in a memorable war with Tito Ortiz, get upset by Keith Jardine, and rebound to shock Mauricio Rua and Quinton Jackson, the latter bout earning him the UFC light heavyweight crown in 2008. Griffin went on to lose the belt to Rashad Evans and get stopped in a single round by Anderson Silva, but consecutive wins over Ortiz and Rich Franklin put the ever-popular Griffin back on track before Rua got even with a first round TKO victory at UFC 134 last August. DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Stephan Bonnar ITUF TALK – “I didn’t get here through all that hard work and winning fights nonsense; I got here through a TV game show, and I’m comfortable with that.”2 - Gray MaynardPost TUF record: 8-1-1, 1 NCA three-time All-American wrestler for Michigan State University, Maynard entered The Ultimate Fighter’s fifth season with just a few fights, yet he quickly made his presence known among the talented cast with wins over Wayne Weems and Brandon Melendez. And though he lost his next bout to Nate Diaz, he didn’t miss a beat since the show ended, rapidly rising up the lightweight ranks thanks to big wins over the likes of Frankie Edgar, Rich Clementi, Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Diaz, and Kenny Florian. In January of 2011, he got his long-awaited shot at the title against previous victim Edgar, and though he was seconds away from finishing the champ in the first round, he had to settle for a five round draw. “The Bully” got another shot at Edgar in October of last year, but after another near knockout win in the first round, he got stopped himself in the fourth, putting his title dreams on hold for the moment.DEFINING FIGHT – DRAW 5 Frankie EdgarTUF TALK – “To tell you the truth, I thought I looked like crap on the show. The one fight against Brandon (Melendez), I don’t know what happened there, and I just couldn’t wait to get back in the gym and train. I was back in the gym a couple days after the show ended, and it just felt good to be back training right, and I can’t wait to get back in there and prove that I’m a lot better than I was on the TV show.”1 - Rashad EvansPost TUF record: 12-1-1An undersized heavyweight with little reputation to precede him, former Michigan State wrestler Rashad Evans wasn’t expected to do much with the giants on TUF2, but four wins later (Keith Jardine, Mike Whitehead, Tom Murphy, and Brad Imes), the New York native had won the show’s title. Evans continued to surprise in his post-TUF career, and though he received a reputation for putting on less than compelling fights early on, by the time he was blasting out Jason Lambert and Sean Salmon, that rep changed. Evans would then engage in two close battles with Tito Ortiz and Michael Bisping, decisioning Bisping and fighting to a draw with Ortiz. These fights were preludes to a spectacular knockout of Chuck Liddell and a decisive finish of Forrest Griffin that put the UFC light heavyweight championship belt around his waist. Evans lost the title to Lyoto Machida in his first defense, but rebound wins over Thiago Silva, Rampage Jackson, Ortiz (in a UFC 133 rematch), and Phil Davis have earned him a shot at the title belt held by former teammate Jonny “Bones” Jones in April.DEFINING FIGHT – KO2 Chuck LiddellTUF TALK – “I surprised a lot of people, including (UFC President) Dana White. A lot of people thought that I didn’t have any talent at all. See, I always had confidence in myself, but the better I did, people would say ‘wow’ and they just couldn’t believe it. I knew my own potential, but they didn’t know, so it was a big surprise to them.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, fighter, ’t, tuf

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Octagon girl, aspiring artist, and now Playboy model – is there anything Brittney Palmer isn’t capable of? She’s as talented as she is beautiful and has been entertaining MMA fans since her days as a WEC ring girl. She began her career in entertainment as a Magician’s Assistant and Dance Captain for the Ultimate Variety Show in 2006. From 2007-2010 she was an Ensemble Dancer for X Burlesque in Las Vegas at the Flamingo Hotel. Her big break came when she was hired in 2007 to work for the WEC and was moved over to the UFC when the two organizations merged. It wasn’t long afterwards that she discovered she had a legitimate talent for painting with one of her best portraits to date featuring none other than UFC President Dana White. Following in the footsteps of fellow Octagon girls Rachelle Leah and Arianny Celeste, Palmer recently showed off more of her “talents” in the March issue of Playboy magazine. Life has been good thus far for the 24-year old beauty, but it hasn’t come without a ton of hard work. To keep up a schedule like the one Palmer has an individual needs to remain focused and committed. There’s not much time for a social life especially now that her issue of Playboy has come out. The demands on her time have become even greater, but Palmer is enjoying every minute of it. From traveling all over the world meeting new and interesting people, Palmer is living the dream and she couldn’t be happier. “Everything has been amazing and the best thing is I truly am an MMA fan,” said Palmer in an exclusive interview with Five Ounces of Pain. “Being part of an organization as big as the UFC and part of the #1 growing sport in the world is something I am so thankful for. I am so grateful to be one of only three girls alongside Arianny and Chandella (Powell). It’s been a great journey and I’m just enjoying the ride. Working for the WEC was great and I am still working with the same people just on a larger scale. There are a lot more events, but being such a big fan that only adds to the experience.” Getting to sit cageside and witness some of the most historic moments in the sports history is something that Palmer can share with her grandchildren when the time comes. She also gets to know and develop relationships with many of the world’s best athletes while watching them make history. She entered the sport at the right time and it’s only going to get bigger and better over the next few years. “Getting to watch fighters like Jon Jones who is an amazing athlete, Anthony Pettis, Donald Cerrone, Urijah Faber, Dominck Cruz, and Clay Guida makes this job that much more enjoyable,” explained Palmer. “There are so many great fighters, there are too many to name, but they all have their own styles and that’s what makes it interesting to watch.” Palmer is not the typical art prodigy whose talent was recognized when she very young. In fact it wasn’t all that long that she discovered drawing wasn’t just something she enjoyed it was an opportunity to showcase a talent and share it will millions of fans. Posing in Playboy provides the type of platform that can really push someone into super stardom. Many women have gone on to have great careers in film and on television after posing in the periodical. However, while there are many positives that can come from being in the pages of one of the world’s most famous magazines there could also be some drawbacks as well. Family members can be embarrassed while strangers can be downright cruel and obnoxious. Palmer knew what posing in Playboy entailed and she seems to have no regrets what so ever, realizing the positives far outweighed the negatives. “It’s been so great and surreal,” said an excited Palmer. “I’m so happy and lucky to be in the situation I am in. This is the happiest I have ever been, my career is on such a hot streak right now. I am counting my blessings because I am so grateful for everything I have right now. Being an art student I am used to being around nude figures so I wasn’t hesitant when I was approached by Playboy. I wouldn’t say this was a dream I had as a little girl, but this is a golden opportunity. My friends and family have been so supportive, they know every decision I have made has helped my career and led me to a better place.” This coming May in Birmingham, England at the NEC Arena The MMA Show Live will join The Martial Arts Show for the first time. There will be over sixty fighters in attendance including Rashad Evans, Kenny Florian, Jake Shields, Brendan Schaub, Rory MacDonald, Stefan Struve, and none other than Ms. Palmer too. As such, lucky attendees will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the beauty live and in person. “I am going to be signing autographs for fans,” Palmer said. “I will be giving away some of my Playboy calendars. I am really looking forward to going over there. It’s just another opportunity that this sport has given me. I plan on being in the UFC for many years to come and riding this wave. I am cloud nine and getting to meet my fans makes me even more appreciative of all that I have been blessed with.” PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/TRACY LEE

Posted in: time, ’t, palmer, fan, playboy

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

We've got some more stuff for you from this past weekend's Jewels fight between Roxanne Modafferi and Takayo Hashi. Here's a bunch of pictures from Sportsnavi and here's a blog from Roxanne talking about her defeat, entitled "I met my goals but lost the fight." I've cut it down to a few paragraphs here so make sure to go read the whole thing! Takayo Hashi is a fantastic fighter. It was an honor to fight her, and I’m grateful to Jewels for putting the fight together. When I’m at 100%, we both tended to stalemate in sparring sessions in practice, when we used to train together.That’s why I’m especially disappointed that I lost against her, and I’m upset at the circumstances surrounding this fight....I KNOW I could have won. But it wasn’t my night. I tried hard not to go to the ground, but when Hashi got me there, she dominated me all over the place on the ground. She’s really good on the ground. She earned her win. I should have done better. I should learn more reversals. I need to get physically stronger.So she won the decision. I couldn’t implement my ground game on her. She was the better woman last night. She trained hard for it. We both suffered for it in our own ways....I recognize my achievements, my failures. I wish …well, no good wishing for things I can’t have. I’m staying in Japan, I don’t know what team to join- there’s no ideal ONE team-, I don’t have a full-time coach. There’s no such thing as an easy fight. That’s why it’s called a ‘fight’ and not a piece of cake. Which I am totally going to have after lunch today....I’m still searching for the right answer. But this won’t be the last time I fight. Because I had this breakthrough- one step closer to becoming the pro fighter I want to be. If I hadn’t…I dunno. But I just want to get stronger. I accomplished my goal that I’d posted earlier on twitter: I met my challenges head on with my eyes looking forward and my head high, and struggled with all the strength my body would allow me.I was absolutely terrified. But I did it anyway.“Always do what you are afraid to do.” Her full blog is here.

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ground, ’m

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This Friday night the newest season of the Ultimate Fighter will flicker into existence on the FX airwaves with a “real time” format to boot including live fights and immediate reaction from all of the involved parties. It will also give former WEC champion Urijah Faber an opportunity to reunite with rival Dominick Cruz in a competitive manner with each coaching a team of TUFers before eventually facing off for a third time in July. While Faber is certainly amped at the idea of beating Cruz as a coach first, then as a fighter, it turns out his true motivation for accepting a role as one of the team-heads has to do with his love of the sport rather than his hate for “The Dominator”. “That’s what I’m most excited about man,” replied Faber in an interview with MMAFightCorner when asked about watching the teams perform on a weekly basis. “I mean, I’m a huge fight fan. I mean, dream come true to watch two guys that are like, who have everything at stake, fight live each Friday. It’s going to be something great for me, that’s for sure.” Of course, getting to one-up Cruz isn’t a bad prospect either as far as Faber is concerned based on their long-standing feud. While “The California Kid” may not be an instigator looking to cause problems, that doesn’t mean he won’t be ready to respond appropriately when need be. “It’s a long history between us. And it’s basically, and I’ve always said, I feel like he chose me as an enemy. I don’t even know the guy and he already started you know, being kind of a jerk off,” said the 26-5 Faber. “So, I accepted it and I’ll run with it. I don’t have any enemies, but I’m not scared of the confrontation, that’s for sure.” “I’ve never been in a situation where I’m training to basically fight and do harm to someone, and then also have to live in the same area as him and see him every day. So, it’s gonna be interesting man. I don’t know exactly how it’s gonna go, but it’s going to be interesting,” he concluded. TUF 15 debuts at 9:00 PM EST with a two-and-half-hour special featuring sixteen qualifying fights with winners moving on to get a spot in the house, one step closer to a season title and six-figure contract. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, faber, dominick cruz

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This Friday night, March 9th, a new era in the history of The Ultimate Fighter begins, as the 15th season of the reality series premieres on FX with a new twist: all the fights are live. And even with this exciting change in format, one thing remains the same, the fact that the show will be the launching pad for some of the mixed martial arts world’s brightest stars and perhaps a few champions. So after 14 complete seasons, who are the 30 fighters who have emerged as the cream of the crop? Today, we start the countdown to find out.So how did we determine the fighters chosen here? First is level of success. Winning a UFC championship is the obvious pinnacle, and only three TUF competitors (Matt Serra, Forrest Griffin, and Rashad Evans) have reached those heights. Fighting for a UFC belt is big plus in a fighter’s favor as well. Next up is quality of opposition. Fighting at the highest level of the game and losing a few fights will get you more points here than winning a bunch of fights at the prelim level. And finally, we’re looking at impact on the organization, which is a subjective call, but one that is necessary. Headlining pay-per-views and being in the public eye consistently adds a level of pressure fighting in non-televised bouts just doesn’t have. That’s why a Michael Bisping, who has been the face of UK MMA and the headliner or participant in a featured bout on many major cards, is in the top five while other veteran performers are below him. With that said…30 - Kendall GrovePost TUF record: 9-7Heading towards journeyman status when he entered the TUF house for season three, Grove began taking his training and fighting career seriously under the tutelage of coach Tito Ortiz and ran the table en route to the season three middleweight title. What has followed since has been a mix of impressive wins over Alan Belcher, Evan Tanner, and Goran Reljic, crushing KO losses to Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera, and a two fight losing streak that prompted his release in 2011. “Da Spyder” has since won two of three outside of the UFC, and if he can find consistency, maybe we’ll be seeing him back here sooner rather than later.  DEFINING FIGHT - W3 Evan TannerTUF TALK - “Before the show I never had anybody come up to me and shake my hand and tell me that I was one of their favorite fighters. But after the show, it started to happen and it was just a mind trip.”29 – Joe StevensonPost TUF record: 8-8Joe Stevenson, a pro since the age of 16, was about to walk away from the game when he got the call to compete on season two of The Ultimate Fighter. Stevenson went on to defeat Jason Von Flue and Marcus Davis on the show before winning that season’s welterweight title in a three round war with Luke Cummo. Following his stint on TUF, Stevenson was upset by Josh Neer, a defeat which prompted a drop to 155 pounds. At lightweight, ‘Joe Daddy’ found his home, winning four in a row before getting submitted by BJ Penn in a 2008 challenge for the vacant 155-pound crown. Stevenson has hit a rough patch after that, losing six of his last eight, including a decision loss to Javier Vazquez that got him his walking papers last year. But given his history, it would be foolish to count him out just yet.DEFINING FIGHT – Wsub1 Melvin GuillardTUF TALK – “I probably wouldn’t have continued if it weren’t for the show. The show is such a springboard for the fight game, and for the athlete himself, that it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. There are things in your life you just don’t say no to.”28 – Mike SwickPost TUF record: 9-3A rising star who had won five of six fights before appearing on season one of TUF, Mike Swick solidified his place as one of the game’s top prospects during the show, losing a tough bout to Stephan Bonnar, and then tore through his opposition in the middleweight division, winning four straight in the first round and then decisioning former title challenger David Loiseau. But after losing a three rounder to Yushin Okami, Swick resurfaced in the welterweight division. He looked to be settling in with decision wins over Josh Burkman and Marcus Davis, but it was in his next two bouts that he finally looked to be acclimated to 170 as he stopped Jonathan Goulet and Ben Saunders. In his last two bouts though, Swick has struggled in losses to Dan Hardy and Paulo Thiago, and after taking some time off to deal with an esophageal condition that has been plaguing him over the last few years and a knee injury, he hopes to return to action soon.DEFINING FIGHT – TKO2 Ben SaundersTUF TALK - “This is my job. I’m very passionate about it and I want to move up and be the best in the world. I’ve given up a huge portion of my life for this, and I didn’t do it for nothing. I’m taking it to the top, one way or another.”27 – Keith JardinePost TUF record: 8-9-1Some will look at the five knockout losses suffered by Jardine since he left season two of The Ultimate Fighter and dismiss him, despite the fact that those defeats came at the hands of Wanderlei Silva, Thiago Silva, Houston Alexander, Ryan Bader, and Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold. Yet we can’t forget that Jardine holds wins over a pretty impressive group that includes the names Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Wilson Gouveia, and Brandon Vera, and in 2009 he ate bombs from Quinton Jackson for 15 minutes before losing a hard-fought decision. So you can rightfully say that “The Dean of Mean” needs to find consistency, but you can’t question what he can do as a fighter. Just ask the men he’s beaten.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Chuck Liddell TUF TALK - “Fighting is the apex of all competition, and there’s nothing harder than getting in the ring to fight. Actually, that makes it easier for everything else you do in life. Anything hard in life I might be doing, it’s just like, ‘this is nothing compared to fighting.’ I’ve conquered the demons from going into the ring and fighting, so everything else is easy after that.”26 - Krzysztof SoszynskiPost TUF record: 6-3If you said Krzysztof Soszynski’s career before The Ultimate Fighter 8 resembled that of a journeyman, he would probably agree with you. But that’s the life you lead when you’re learning on the job and running towards killer competition on a regular basis. What this education did for Soszynski was make him a dangerous fighter when it was time to step on the world stage, and since TUF, he has proven himself to be finally hitting his stride, as he’s won six of nine UFC bouts, with the only losses coming to Igor Pokrajac, Brandon Vera and Stephan Bonnar (in their rematch). And while he’s hinted at retirement, Soszynski probably still has a good amount of gas in his fighting tank.DEFINING FIGHT – TKO3 Stephan BonnarTUF TALK – “People look at my record and they think ‘oh, he’s just a mediocre fighter and got into the show through The Ultimate Fighter. But to me, I work my butt off every day in the gym, I give everything I have to this sport and even though I have nine losses on my record, most of them were early on in my career when I really didn’t know any better and didn’t train with anybody who was top level and who could teach me the right way. It’s been a learning experience for the last six years, I finally made it, and I’m gonna stick with it and keep training my butt off.”25 – Tony FergusonPost TUF record: 3-0Tony Ferguson didn’t play around on TUF 13, knocking out Justin Edwards, Ryan McGillivray, and Chuck O’Neil on the show before winning the season title with a first round KO of Ramsey Nijem. He hasn’t stopped yet in his post-TUF career either, TKOing veteran Aaron Riley, and winning an exciting three rounder over another vet, Yves Edwards. Now slated for a bout with Dennis Hallman in May, “El Cucuy”  (The Boogeyman) is certainly putting a scare into his fellow lightweights.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Yves Edwards TUF TALK – “I wouldn’t give it up for the world. Even though I almost had a heart attack seeing myself on TV, I’m so happy that I had the opportunity to do that. At the time you’re in the house, it drives you nuts, but looking at it now, the whole experience was amazing and I miss the house.”24 – Nate QuarryPost TUF record: 7-3For a long time, Nate Quarry may very well have been the most underrated fighter in the middleweight division, and that went back to what could be referred to as the first phase of his UFC career in 2005. That year, Quarry went from TUF to the Octagon, won three fights in a row by knockout, and was then given a shot at Rich Franklin’s middleweight title, which he lost by devastating KO himself. Following the defeat, Quarry underwent a serious spinal fusion surgery and few expected him to return to form when he came back in 2007. But come back he did, winning four of six bouts, including classic wars with Pete Sell and Tim Credeur. It was an amazing comeback, earning Quarry – one of the game’s good guys – some well-deserved accolades. And though a TKO loss to Jorge Rivera in March of 2010 prompted him to announce his retirement from the sport, “Rock” certainly made an impression on all who met him and watched him fight.DEFINING FIGHT – KO3 Pete Sell TUF TALK – “To be honest with you, sitting down and watching the show could be very disturbing at times. Especially the episode where Chris Leben had the problems with (Josh) Koscheck and Bobby Southworth. After I watched that episode, I had a hard time sleeping. I was up for three, four hours after the show and I had a hard time sleeping for the next couple of days because it just seemed so personal and so emotional, and now all of a sudden someone has seen those personal sides of me. Millions of people that I don’t know are seeing parts of myself that I don’t show to just anybody – things that don’t come up in everyday life.”23 – Marcus DavisPost TUF record: 12-7One of the UFC’s most exciting fighters, pound for pound, during his nearly five year run, Marcus Davis made a successful transition from the pro boxing ring to the Octagon, but it wasn’t without some serious growing pains and soul searching. But once “The Irish Hand Grenade” realized that his fists alone would only take him so far in MMA, he began winning, and winning, and winning, even throwing in four submission wins in the UFC along the way. Owner of victories over the likes of Chris Lytle, Paul Kelly, and Paul Taylor, Davis hit a rough patch that saw him lose four of five, but Davis has won three of four since being cut from the UFC, proving that you can’t keep a good man down.DEFINING FIGHT – Wsub1 Paul Taylor TUF TALK - “In a lot of respects, I was a boxer who was trying to fight in mixed martial arts, somebody who was trying to pick up some of the tools and just use some of them in order to use my boxing game. And after being in the UFC and seeing that I can’t do that, I realized that if I wanted to be in the UFC and be a mixed martial arts fighter, that’s what I have to be. I can’t be a boxer who uses partial mixed martial arts techniques to box. So now I don’t look at myself as a boxer – I look at myself as a mixed martial artist22 – Ryan BaderPost TUF record: 7-2This may be a little overdramatic, but Ryan Bader was about to become a cautionary tale of ‘too much, too soon’ heading into his UFC 144 bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson last month. Sure, Bader was talented, but after using his raw skills to pound his way to a 5-0 Octagon record after winning season eight of TUF, back-to-back losses to Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz in 2011 could have crippled him psychologically. Not “Darth” Bader though, and when the pressure was at its highest, he delivered with a shutout win over the former light heavyweight boss that resurrected the Arizonan as a light heavyweight contender.DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Quinton “Rampage” Jackson TUF TALK – “2011 was an interesting year, but I’m glad it happened because I wouldn’t have changed some things if those losses didn’t happen. That was the catalyst for great things this year. I’m gonna go out there and beat a legend of the sport and I’m gonna be a new fighter. Each fight I’m gonna get progressively better and I want to get up there in the upper echelon of the 205-pound division and stay there.”21 – Melvin GuillardPost TUF record: 9-4Season two’s Melvin Guillard was always talented. The question was, could he keep his game together when dealing with a myriad of out of the ring issues and tragedies. Well, once he hooked up with the Greg Jackson team in Albuquerque, a new version of “The Young Assassin” emerged, and he was nearly unstoppable, going on a five fight winning streak before losing back-to-back bouts against Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller. Now training with the Blackzilians team in Florida (who he worked with part-time for the Lauzon bout and full-time for Miller), Guillard is amped up for a strong return to form in the ever-crowded lightweight division.DEFINING FIGHT – TKO1 Evan DunhamTUF TALK –“I’ve been through so many ups and downs in my career, and in my personal life, and one thing I always remember is that (UFC President) Dana (White) has always been good to me and he’s always been honest with me. And Dana sat me down one time a while back and he said ‘kid, you have all the talent in the world, and we like you. Don’t throw it away.’ And for my boss to come and tell me that they really care for me, that’s an honorable thing for me, and if my boss believes in me, why shouldn’t I believe in myself? I’m my own worst enemy. If I mess myself out of this, it’s because I did something. But I’m just so happy that I got to see what I was doing wrong.”20 – Brendan SchaubPost TUF record: 4-2A former fullback for the University of Colorado, Brendan Schaub clearly had the athleticism and the power to compete in the heavyweight division in MMA, but after he was knocked out in the TUF10 finale by Roy Nelson, there were question marks. There aren’t too many of them left anymore though, as Schaub dispatched Chase Gormley and Chris Tuchscherer in rapid-fire fashion before putting together back-to-back wins over veteran contenders Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko Cro Cop, the latter win at UFC 128 earning him Knockout of the Night honors. A loss to the legendary “Minotauro” Nogueira last year was a setback, but a win over Ben Rothwell on April’s UFC 145 card will put the “Hybrid” train back on track.DEFINING FIGHT – KO3 Mirko Cro CopTUF TALK –“It’s kind of like the game’s changed. Now you’ve got to be athletic and you’ve got to have it all. You gotta be able to wrestle, you gotta be able to strike, so the game’s changing. You see guys like Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos, guys around my size who are really athletic heavyweights, making a name for themselves and doing well. I think the day of the big, experienced guy who just gets by on his toughness, that’s not gonna fly anymore.” 19 – Ross PearsonPost TUF record: 5-2DEFINING FIGHT – W3 Spencer FisherAlmost universally seen as one of the lightweight division’s top prospects, aggressive battler Ross Pearson had only two hiccups at 155 since winning season nine of TUF, a second round submission loss to Cole Miller, and a close split decision defeat against Edson Barboza. Otherwise, he looked outstanding in beating veteran competition like Aaron Riley, Dennis Siver, and Spencer Fisher, yet despite this, he decided a change of scenery was in order, and late last year he moved to featherweight, where he debuted at UFC 141 with a win over Junior Assuncao.TUF TALK –“Obviously I was very confident in me own skills and confident that I was going to go in there, do my best, and get to the finals, but no one ever really said to me, ‘oh, you’re the favorite to win’ or anything like that,” he said. “It was basically my own self-belief that I would do well.”18 – Matt Mitrione  Post TUF record: 5-1With no pro experience in mixed martial arts, former NFL lineman Matt Mitrione was expected to make some noise on season ten of TUF, and then go away. He had other plans though, defeating UFC vet Scott Junk on the show and then going on to compile a 5-1 record in the Octagon while amazing skeptics with the rapid growth in his technical game. Add in fight changing power and a healthy dose of athleticism, and suddenly the charismatic and popular Mitrione is a player in the heavyweight division.DEFINING FIGHT –KO2 Christian MorecraftTUF TALK – “Verbally, I said I was done competing (after football), but internally, I was never ready to be done, and I think I knew that I had to find something else to do. Sales wasn’t it. I started my own company and that was part of it, but it wasn’t the physical part, and that’s what I missed most. My wife saw that in me and she said, look, you’re gonna be doing something stupid anyway, you might as well get paid for it (Laughs).”17 – Chris LytlePost TUF record: 9-6If you told me that there’s someone out there who dislikes Chris Lytle, I’d say you’re lying. Even the guys who threw hands with “Lights Out” for three rounds couldn’t say anything bad about him, and it’s why you wanted to see him go out with a Lytle-esque performance in his final bout against Dan Hardy last August. And that’s just what he did, showing off his striking, toughness, and finally, his submission game, as he finished “The Outlaw” in the third round. It was everything Lytle represented in 14 minutes and 16 seconds, and a fitting end to a career well fought.DEFINING FIGHT – Wsub3 Dan Hardy TUF TALK – “I don’t know if the word is that I’m addicted to it, but I just love to compete, and there’s nothing I’ve ever found to equal the overall feeling you get after you’ve struggled so much and put so much into something and then come out on top and achieve something. Most of the goals you have in your life never become tangible at one point, but this does. You put everything into this one fight that you’re training for, and when you win it, it’s like everything you worked for in your whole life has been successful. It’s a great feeling. So I’m kind of addicted to that feeling.”16 – Chris LebenPost TUF record: 12-7Whether you loved him or hated him, Chris Leben always provoked strong feelings from MMA fans while being the poster boy for bad behavior on the first season of TUF. His post-TUF career has also matched his persona, thanks to an up and down journey that has always been compelling, regardless of the final result. And though Leben’s only .500 in his last eight, you can’t forget the 5-0 run that began his UFC career, and the back-to-back 2010 wins over Aaron Simpson and Yoshihiro Akiyama that came only two weeks apart, all moments that will forever keep “The Crippler” on fight fans’ minds.DEFINING FIGHT - Wsub3 Yoshihiro AkiyamaTUF TALK - “I’m one of those guys that always thought they were gonna be famous. I thought I was somebody important before I was somebody important, I guess. In my mind, people should have always been pointing to me and saying, ‘hey, there goes Chris Leben.’”Just missing the cut - Patrick Cote, Tim Credeur, Efrain Escudero, Court McGee, DaMarques Johnson, Kyle Kingsbury, Matt Riddle, CB Dollaway, Amir Sadollah, Mac Danzig, Matt Brown, Jorge Rivera

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, tuf, record

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When I saw the first shot of Strikeforce’s Brandon Saling last night as he was about to meander down the walkway to fight Roger Bowling, they only showed his face. Just based on that, I thought to myself, “Gee, he sure does look an awful lot like the white supremacists in those MSNBC prison shows.” I convinced myself that I was being unduly harsh because there are plenty of trailer park residents out there who can’t help the way they look and were essentially born into their white trash status. Even when they showed his huge “White Steel” tattoo, I told myself, “That’s OK, it’s just his nickname... ‘Black Steel’ would be a cool, non-racist nickname for a black fighter too! Besides, is that any worse than Brown Pride?” But evidently, my Mr.-Rogers-like attitude was a bit naive and I really should have gone with my gut on this one. Some endeavoring Sherlocks out there with HD-DVRs (or Sherdog, or weighin photos, whatever) discovered that he has an “88” shoulder tattoo surrounded by lightning bolts. For those who aren’t well-versed in neo-Nazism (most of you, I hope), Bloody Elbow has some info on these groups’ use of 88 as a pro-Hitler symbol from Wikipedia. I won’t bore you with a sociology lesson, but suffice it to say, if you have an “88” tattoo that’s not something along the lines of “RIP grandma, 1912-1988,” you’re probably a scumbag. Dana White says he's "looking into it," but really, it seems pretty black-and-white to me. Also, it seems that while Zuffa/Forza was busy implementing useless pre-contract drug tests, they forgot to add criminal background checks and simple google searches into the mix as well. Oops! Saling now marks another entry in the growing list of pervs in MMA: in addition to a 2008 domestic violence issue, Saling is a registered sex offender because of a 2004 case in which he allegedly raped a child under 13 years old: Two Noble County men are facing first-degree felony rape charges following an investigation by the Noble County Sheriff's Office into the weekend disappearance of a 12-year-old girl and her 13-year-old sister. According to Noble County Sheriff Landon T. Smith, the girls parents had allowed them to go to an all-night birthday party at a friend's house in Monroe County last Friday. According to reports, the girls left the party with the suspects. Brandon C. Saling, 18, Summerfield, and James T. Allen, 18, Sarahsville were each charged with rape of a person under 13 years old, a first-degree felony. There are multiple easily-googlable perv alerts available with his mugshot on them. Zuffa/Forza didn’t take the five minutes to look those up. But at least we’ll still know if a prospective Strikeforce fighter has been smoking pot. Therefore, the REAL miscreants will still be weeded out. So how did Strikeforce General Manager Scott Coker react to getting caught with his (thankfully figurative) pants down? And where is the athletic commission in all of this? MMAJunkie has news on what will happen next: (More after the jump) read more

Posted in: strikeforce, ’t, saling, sex offender, county

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  MMAFrenzy’s own Steve Barnes was in attendance on Saturday night at Strikeforce: “Tate vs. Rousey” to help cover the event. While in attendance, he compiled his fight-by-fight notes including observations on the crowd, the fights, the post-fight conference, and more.   Strikeforce bantamweight title fight – Miesha Tate (c) vs. Ronda Rousey   As I said in the podcast preview, that is why you don’t do clinch work with a judoka, especially an Olympic level one. The koshi garuma that led to the ending armbar was gorgeous and that will be the bane of many future opponents.   At the press conference, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker mentioned a dislocated elbow for Tate, but nothing more specific than that. Judging by what we saw in the cage, though, if that’s all the damage, Tate should consider herself a bit fortunate.   Josh Thomson vs. KJ Noons   We can probably assume Josh Thomson is probably the second best lightweight in Strikeforce. He’s probably the best jiujitsu practitioner in the division as well. These two things made this fight kind of come out of the “Bizarro World.” I certainly didn’t expect Josh Thomson to play the wrestling control game with Noons, and I don’t think many other people did either. I understand wanting to play a ground game with KJ Noons. He’s a very good striker, I know, but still. The biggest reason I could guess he played that game was because he was trying to wear Noons out for the third round. And judging by his interview afterwards, he wasn’t real happy. It will be curious to see what he looks like his next time out.   Kazuo Misaki vs. Paul Daley   Oh, what a difference a year and a half makes. Then, Paul Daley was running rampant over guys with his trademark left hook. KO after TKO after KO were running onto his record and he had a title shot with Nick Diaz. Now, though, I don’t want to say he’s a shadow of himself, but he’s not the same fighter. I’m not going to pretend to know what’s in his head or in his training camp but it looks like he’s so gun shy about his wrestling and ground game that he’s overcompensating to the detriment of what got him where he is.   I think this was the first time I’ve ever seen Misaki and I was pretty impressed. He said he was disappointed to not finish the fight, but hey, you can’t finish them all. More interesting, though, was the scoring. Someone in the pressroom mentioned that usually during a fight, one of the fighters will be the stalker, the other will be the stalked but during this fight, they switched several times during the same round. It was a really odd fight to try to score. Paul Daley thought he won (and played the third round like he thought he was winning), and Misaki certainly thought he won. I had it for Misaki, but as I said on Twitter, any combination of scores would not have surprised me.   Lumumba Sayers vs. Scott Smith   I wrote down right as the fight started that “Scott Smith looks soft around the middle.” He didn’t look good and I mean he really didn’t look good. If he’s still in Strikeforce when you read this, it will be a mild surprise. If he’s still in Strikeforce a week after you read this, I will be absolutely stunned. Props to Sayers, he looked good and he did what he had to get a dominant win.   Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Bristol Marunde   I train in judo and jiujitsu. From that point of view, it really sucks competing against someone who is that much better than you are. It really does. There’s a feeling of helplessness, frustration, and “awe” of feeling the power and speed of someone who is in there basically doing whatever he (or she) wants and the best you can do is defend and try to do your best. That’s what Bristol Marunde did for the first five minutes and he survived. Which is better than I usually do, but that’s beside the point.   From where I was sitting, it looked like in between the first and second rounds Marunde loosened up and good for him. He had nothing to lose. He was coming in to fight a guy who before his last fight was the Strikeforce middleweight champ. Why not, as our British friends would say, go out there and have a go at it? I am giving a huge amount of credit for his job.   Jacare was never really in any danger in that fight but still went out there and did what he does. Good for him.   Preliminary Card: It was a fun watch. There was a little for everyone. There was the technical submission grappling in Healy/Fodor. There were two guys standing and slugging. There was an awesome women’s fight. And while the crowd was booing at the end, I don’t think it was that they were booing the women, as Mauro Ranallo kind of intimated they were; rather, I believe they were booing that one judge saw the fight as a draw and that was a little interesting, but I can also see why (but for the record, I disagree). Alexis Davis vs. Sarah Kaufman Alexis Davis is tough. I mean, really tough. She also doesn’t have any head movement. Both of which meant that she got a special visit by the ring doctor in the furst round for a nasty looking cut over her left eye. Of course, Kaufman came out looking like she had something to prove. Which she did and she should be commended for controlling the fight from the opening bell. It annoyed her that she should have had Rousey’s spot in the main event. That said, and nothing against Alexis Davis, but Davis is someone that if you’re complaining about not getting a title shot, you should be putting away. To be fair, I typed all that before the third round and wow, I’m not sure what else to say. A better grappler likely could have taken advantage of the way Kaufman left her arms out there. Maybe it was the let down of not having the title shot, but she certainly didn’t look impressive enough to make me complain about it. Roger Bowling vs. Brandon Saling* After the crowd was less than pleased with the grappling of the Healy match, they got their red meat with the first round. Both guys were legitimately stunned at points but Bowling showed better ground work to win the round. Bowling is a legitimately interesting welterweight prospect. He’s got solid standing work and it appears he has some good positional grappling skills (haven’t seen much, if anything, about his submission grappling). Keep an eye out. He could challenge what passes for the big boys in Strikeforce’s welterweight division. Pat Healy vs. Caros Fodor Solid win for Healy. Fodor showed really good promise on his feet and even showed some reasonably good takedown defense, but it wasn’t enough. Healy kept going for that arm triangle, but couldn’t get his legs free until the end. This clearly isn’t the end for Fodor; he has a future here. Fodor looks like he just needs reps on the ground. I think he had Jorge Gurgel in his corner (or at least someone who looked a lot like him), so he’s likely in good hands. To be fair, he was going against a crafty veteran who kind of worked him over. We’ve seen that story before, we’ll see it again. Conor Heun vs. Ryan Couture Heun looked good in the first round. He looked strong and showed good wrestling, securing a couple big takedowns, but nothing really devastating. I gave him the first round, but at the same time, I wouldn’t have complained at all if a judge had given that to Couture. In fact, all three judges did. It appeared, though, that Heun tired his arms out going for a big D’arce choke in the second, which ultimately ended his night. Not directly, but he wasn’t the same afterwards. Ryan did a good job securing a finish. *Viewers noticed during the fight that Saling was sporting some body art that was neo-Nazi in appearance. Scott Coker said that they did not know prior to the event, but he had been licensed in several states including Ohio. The official Strikeforce/Zuffa policy on the matter states that offensive body art is prohibited. Coker and Saling (and/or his management) have had a conversation about it and the state of Ohio’s Athletic Commission will be launching a formal investigation into the matter Monday. [Editor's note: the tattoos in question were an "88" tattoo and lightning bolts in the style of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, that served as Adolph Hitler's private military force. The tattoos are common prison tattoos representing Aryan Brotherhood gang. Strikeforce has also asked the commission to review whether or not he had properly documented his criminal record, and standing as a sex offender, on his licensing application. If Saling failed to do so, it could amount to perjury.]  

Posted in: fight, strikeforce, round, ’t, vs

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In the early stages of Hurricane Ronda’s verbal assault on Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, you almost felt for the Washington state native, simply because she had never run into someone like Ms. Rousey, the Olympic medal winning arm collector who blasted onto the scene with four wins in 49 seconds or less. And “Rowdy” Ronda opened up with both barrels, letting the world know just what she thought of “Takedown” Tate, who didn’t feel that she should defend her crown against an MMA rookie.But once the fight was made for this Saturday night at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, something interesting happened. Miesha Tate got mean, and she began giving as good as she got to her challenger. And it wasn’t just selling a fight; it was a champion marking her territory and defending it. “I see right through Ronda,” said Tate. “She’s a lot of talk and she’s got way more talk than she could ever possibly walk. It’s just not even possible, inside one year, that as much as she runs her mouth that she could ever live up the expectations that she’s creating around herself. She’s setting herself up for failure, and she’s digging herself a hole faster than she could if she had a backhoe. I respect Ronda, I’m not underestimating her, I’m sure she’s going to be a challenging opponent in ways, and she’s good at what she does, but I don’t feel that she’s a well-rounded fighter, and I think that’s going to be pretty easy for me to exploit.”So far, through the aforementioned four pro fights and three amateur bouts, the 2008 US Olympic Bronze medalist in judo hasn’t needed to show off anything but her takedowns and armbars, and she’s passed every test with flying colors. Even her three amateur opponents couldn’t make it out of the first minute, and this Tyson with submissions understandably captured the imagination of the fight world. But when she armbarred Julia Budd in 39 seconds last November, she stunned many by calling out Tate, who ruled a division Rousey had never even competed in. But when it was confirmed that dropping from 145 to 135 pounds wouldn’t be an issue, Rousey got her title fight, and it didn’t sit well with the champion or the promotion’s veteran bantamweight contenders.“Ronda hasn’t paid her dues whatsoever in MMA,” said Tate. “There’s no way that she’s more deserving of a title shot over Sarah Kaufman or Alexis Davis, and Ronda, in my opinion, is not a fighter. She hasn’t fought a single fight yet. She’s 7-0 (pro and amateur) because she goes out there and plays into her strong point of judo against people who don’t have any kind of a wrestling or judo background, and who don’t understand how to defend against her techniques. So she goes out there and she outjudo’s these girls. I think I’ve seen her throw maybe five punches in her entire career. She has yet to take a solid punch and she has yet to throw a solid punch; therefore, I don’t consider her a fighter, and my intention is to basically make this into a fight because I don’t think she’s prepared for that.”Tate, on the other hand, has definitely put in her time in a sport still in the growing stages. A pro since 2007, Tate actually made her debut by fighting twice in one night in a HooknShoot tournament, beating Jan Finney before getting knocked out by Kaitlin Young. Nothing like getting your first pro win and first pro loss out of the way on the same night. From there, she made her Strikeforce debut in 2008, decisioning Elaina Maxwell, and she won four more bouts before losing to Kaufman in 2009. Undeterred, Tate soldiered on, putting together a five fight win streak that included another two fight / one night tournament, but this time she won both fights to earn a shot at Strikeforce 135-pound champion Marloes Coenen. It was in that bout last July that Tate showed that she had what it took technically to win a big fight, but more importantly, she displayed the heart of a champion as she submitted Coenen with an arm triangle choke in the fourth round. The victory was a stirring one, but you have to wonder, in the midst of Rondamania, has she been able to enjoy her title?“Yeah, I’ve really settled into it,” she said. “It feels nice and I don’t intend on going anywhere.”Tate is also gaining a groundswell of support from fans who haven’t exactly embraced Rousey’s ‘tell it like she sees it’ way of promotion.“I’ve been getting a lot of people on Twitter saying ‘well, I was really a big fan of Ronda at first, but the girl just doesn’t shut up, I’m sick of her mouth, and I want you to shut it on March 3rd. I’m on Team Tate now,’” said the champion. “And I’m just welcoming them. It’s kinda nice to see the shift. I thought she’d start to shoot herself in the foot, because with all the trash she’s been talking, and most of it is pure nonsense, there’s no way she could ever even live up to this legend she seems to be creating for herself. So I think people are starting to see that, and they’re getting tired of it.”No one’s more tired of it than Tate, who hasn’t just had to read Rousey’s quotes on the internet; she’s also had to spend time with her on numerous media events to promote the bout. That couldn’t have been too awkward, right?“I don’t like it, but I’m a professional and I can maintain a manner of professionalism,” said Tate. “But the ideal that I can hope for in a situation where I have to be around someone that I can’t stand, and the best way that I feel I can represent myself is to just ignore them to the best of my ability. It’s kind of that old rule your mother tells you, ‘if you don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.’ I don’t say anything at all because I don’t have anything nice to say to that girl. I don’t like her, and I don’t like what she stands for. She stands for ‘hey, if you’re cute and you run your mouth, you can get a title shot,’ and I don’t agree with that. I think that it should be skill set first, and then whatever else outside the cage second. Call me old school or traditional or whatever, but I feel strongly about that and I’ve always done it that way. I’ve earned this belt, and I earned this shot.”And now the only thing left is for Tate to introduce her challenger to the deep water she hasn’t experienced in MMA yet.“There are certain things that you can’t make up for, one of which is experience,” said Tate. “You can’t recreate time in the cage, no matter how many times you spar in practice or how many times you drill. When you haven’t faced adversity in that kind of situation where the spotlight is on and someone’s taking it to you, and you’ve got to pull it together and find a way to win, you can’t replicate that, and you can’t do that any other way than by doing it. And she’s really lacking in that area experience wise, and I think she has a false sense of security because what she’s been doing has been working against the girls she’s been fighting. But stylistically, none of them have been like me, have had a background like I have, or near the pedigree.” That’s a world champion talking, one who doesn’t plan on relinquishing that belt anytime soon, especially not to Ronda Rousey this weekend. And when you’ve earned your spot as the best bantamweight in the world, the desire to keep it is even more motivating than silencing a bitter rival.“I’ve earned this position, but I have to keep working to make sure that I stay on the top because there are a lot of really badass women out there, and they’re all hungry and they’re all gunning for me,” said Tate. “So I’m the best for now, but in order to stay there, I have to make sure to not get too comfortable.”

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During the build up to their title-fight this weekend, Strikeforce bantamweight champ Miesha Tate and undefeated challenger Ronda Rousey have been anything but cordial towards each other. However, Rousey has come forward to say the bulk of her verbal jabs at Tate have been a means of promoting the match-up rather than representing any sort of personal attack. Tate, on the other hand, doesn’t see things that way as she made clear in a recent interview where she said Rousey has crossed the line too many times to go back now. “She’s made it personal for me. She says it’s not personal, but it is,” explained Tate in a conversation with MMAWeekly. “The difference between her and Chael Sonnen is that Chael’s been around for a long time, and I think people understand that it’s more of a gimmick. He’s a funny guy and he says things that are funny. The difference with Ronda is that she’s rude. She’s not necessarily comical in everything that she says; she’s kind of a bitch to be honest.” “Not only am I not a fan, I cannot stand the girl,” Tate continued. “She is full of it. I think she runs her mouth way too much. She says things that just make her look absolutely ridiculous and I think she gives women’s MMA a bad name. I don’t think she’s good representation or a good role model for the sport, period” “Not only do I not like her, but I don’t respect her at all,” the 25-year old added. Strikeforce Releases “Greatest Hits” Video for Tate-Rousey When it comes to their actual scrap this Saturday night where real jabs will be thrown rather than those of the verbal variety, Tate is confident in Rousey’s inability to live up to her hype. “I think she’s going to fold under the pressure, when after the first minute and she hasn’t submitted me, or even worse, she’s taking punches and thinking ‘Damn why can’t I finish this girl? I did it to everyone else’,” said Tate, alluding to Rousey’s lack of experience in the cage and ease in which she’s put away her previous opponents. Fans can watch the two talented women settle their score on Saturday night with the Showtime-bound broadcast starting at 10:00 PM EST. Prelims will air on Showtime Extreme two hours earlier. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE (Austin Hargrave) Tweet

Posted in: saturday night, ’t, tate, rousey, ’t respect

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It's always interesting to see what Quinton Rampage Jackson is up to after a loss. One time he went on an energy drink fueled fast that resulted in a monster truck rampage and brief stint in a mental institution. How will he react to his loss to Ryan 'Unf unf' Bader and the negative fan reaction that followed? Fighters Only found out. By writing what is sure to be the biggest hit song by a UFC personality since Arianny: We made a big hit actually, people will be really surprised when I release this because I have been making music for like six or seven years but never released anything. Now I am finally comfortable to actually release something. I was depressed yesterday but then we made this hit last night and it immediately cheered me up because normally I make music just for a hobby, I never release it, its just for me to enjoy.But this song cheered me up in my hard times right now and I think my fans can get some enjoyment out of it. It cheered me up if they don’t like it I don’t give a fuck. I’m the king of doggy style. And talking about that knee injury, more importantly how he was prescribed testosterone to help with it: I almost pulled out but then I went to see the doctor and he told me to talk to an age-management doctor. So I went and talked to them and they tested me and said my testosterone was low; they prescribed me testosterone, to bring my testosterone levels back up to levels where I can be like… so that I am the same as young people, like when I was 25, and it would help build my knee up. I hurt my knee like a month ago and I only did three shots of testosterone but it put a lot of weight on me, a lot of muscle on me but it healed me knee up good enough to where I could fight.It was hard for me to train, it takes time to heal, I couldn’t do certain things, but this was my first time ever using testosterone. I took what the doctor prescribed to me and I went to the pharmacy… I gave myself small doses and that shit immediately changed me, that’s why I am saying now I am not going to retire. I am not gonna retire no time soon, its just unfortunate that I got this injury.I started hitting it up pretty good, I still gotta take care of my knee but I feel like a 25 year old again. My sex life changed, I was back to five times a night like when I was 25, straight up. I got stronger, lifting weights. I was never good at lifting weights but I was doing everything, pull ups and stuff, everything with my top half. I gained a lot of weight but I gained a lot of water as well, I never knew about testosterone putting weight on you like that. I had to cut weight [for the fight] and I cut 22 pounds out of the 30 I needed to cut, I just couldn’t make the rest. I couldn’t make the rest. ...I keep it real, I am not doing anything wrong. Its legal and I am not abusing it and I am not going over certain levels. From what I learned about it, when I got tested my levels my levels were really low and the doctor was telling me that athletes can burn testosterone.Sure enough I did it like a week or two and, I couldn’t train but… that’s why I did this song about doggy style! My doggy style was buck wild man I’m telling you. I was like a young man, back to lifting weights and stuff, running treadmill and I could run and run. Wow, so you're telling me that taking testosterone will magically give you the strength and energy you need to be better at MMA and doggy style? I am shocked and amazed. Why hasn't anyone else looked into this? And isn't it great that the rules and guidelines regarding performance enhancers are so clear about how to deal with fighters who take testosterone? The current setup is already so great at catching people who use actual steroids. I'm glad it also shines in this new area as well. Now if only there was something Rampage could take for focus and disciprine.

Posted in: time, ’t, weight, knee, testosterone

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The decision to make the leap to a new weight class isn’t one to be taken lightly, and unfortunately, it’s usually done when a fighter has reached a dead end in his career predicated by a series of losses. A change in scenery can do you good, the story goes, but often even a drop of 10, 15, or 20 pounds doesn’t always do the trick.Cole Miller doesn’t fit that stereotype. For much of his career, he fought at featherweight, a veritable no man’s land in terms of big show exposure in the United States in the years before the WEC made its mark on the MMA landscape. He then moved to the 155-pound lightweight division, no problem for his 6-foot-1 frame, and after parlaying that move into a spot on season five of The Ultimate Fighter, he appeared to have found his home.But even though he won seven of ten fights at lightweight, collecting three Submission of the Night awards and one Knockout of the Night bonus, the thought of dropping back to featherweight was always there, a notion that grew stronger when the WEC merged with the UFC in late 2010.“I’ve been thinking about this for years now,” said Miller, winner of three of his last four at 155 pounds. “The only thing that really kept me from not moving down was the bonus money. I was getting injured and only fighting about twice a year at the time, and I had made a couple bonuses and that big bonus money wasn’t in the WEC. I had never fought at 155 really until The Ultimate Fighter. I fought a couple times there, but it was only to get some recognition as a lightweight so I could get into the UFC – that was my goal. So I fought the whole first half of my career at 145 pounds, and I definitely wanted to be competing at the top level, so I’ve been thinking about it for a few years now. And once they brought the WEC into the UFC, I was like ‘all right, this is something I’ve gotta do.’ I knew I was gonna move down.”This Friday night (Saturday morning in Australia), Miller makes the move official when he takes on Steven Siler in a UFC on FX 2 featherweight bout. But nothing is ever as cut and dried as that, especially when it comes to the career of “Magrinho,” one that has seen his most difficult foe become his body, not the person standing across from him on fight night.“I’ve been fighting twice a year for five years now,” he admits. “I’ve had a surgery every other year since I got into mixed martial arts in 2003. It just sucks and I’m tired of it.”He’s not exaggerating either, and as a point of reference, just look at 2006, a year Miller fought eight times, winning seven. From there, he went straight into the Ultimate Fighter house, and following a finale card win over Andy Wang, he was apparently on his way to big things. But injuries and losses to Jeremy Stephens, Efrain Escudero, and Matt Wiman kept him from putting together more than a two fight win streak in the Octagon (something he’s done three times). More tellingly, the hard days of training when he was healthy, with teammates that were lightweights in name only, were beginning to wear him down.“I was giving away a lot of size, and size isn’t everything and I wouldn’t say it’s the reason I lost some of my fights,” said Miller of life as a lightweight. “I made some mistakes, and you lose fights for a lot of different reasons. But the point is, why give up the strength and size if I don’t have to? And it wasn’t just the in fight stuff that gets you beat down and worn out; it’s the training. I’m training with real lightweights. I’m 165 pounds and I’m training with (Gleison) Tibau. 155 pounds isn’t big, but 190 pounds of muscle is big, and this is the weight of the guys I’m training with when I’m walking around at 165. I was worn out more after training, I was having to do strength and conditioning three days a week, and a lot of it was heavier lifting just so I could maintain some size and strength, and I was just beat down and worn out physically and mentally.” So after his submission win over TJ O’Brien last August, he decided it was time to return to featherweight. Of course, a broken right hand suffered in the first round of the fight postponed that move, but once he was cleared to resume training and he got the Siler fight, a new day dawned for the Georgia native.“Now I’m training with guys my size, and I feel it,” he said. “I don’t feel beat down constantly anymore, and I feel better. I’m at the same speed, but my strength has gone up, and I’m able to train the way I naturally do. As a martial artist, I’m able to throw higher outputs because I don’t have to worry about takedowns as much. I can stop them coming from featherweights. It’s just completely changing the way that I’m training and functioning. Fighting at featherweight and training with featherweights full-time, I feel I’ve got a couple more years before I really start to hit my physical prime, and I think this is gonna be key to bring the most out of my game.”And as fate would have it, who does Miller get to show off his new featherweight game against? The same fighter who defeated Miller’s brother Micah to get into the house on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter. Bad blood? Revenge? Fighting for the family honor?None of the above.“I’m not some guy that needs to come in here and defend my little brother’s honor,” said Miller. “My brother’s a grown-ass man and my brother’s a better fighter than I am. Fortunately for Siler, things happened, and my brother happened to get food poisoning and a stomach illness when he fought Micah. And in reality, why would I want this fight? If I go in there and let’s say I beat this guy, I beat this guy but my brother couldn’t. It doesn’t really make it look as good. So I’m not excited to jump in and take this fight for that reason. I’m excited because I haven’t fought in six months and this guy’s just another name for me. I’m ready to go in there and kick his ass because the bank account’s low and I’m ready to kick somebody’s ass. I don’t care that he beat a lackluster Micah Miller.”Miller’s confidence is evident, and he’s earned that right. But at the same time, he’s also not about to dismiss Siler, an experienced vet who is underrated by many in the game. Cole Miller is not about to underrate him.“I certainly don’t look at Steven Siler as just some scrub,” he said. “I’ve got respect for the guy, he’s been around, he doesn’t have the greatest record, but he definitely doesn’t have a bad record. I have a very realistic viewpoint of his skill level and I trained according to that.”So while Siler may be the wild card in this matchup, what Miller is sure of is that a win in his new division will kick off plenty of speculation that with his name, skill level, penchant for exciting fights, and a wide open contenders’ class at 145 pounds, he could be on the fast track to the title picture sooner than most. He knows that talk is out there, but first things first.“I think the one thing at lightweight and featherweight that they have in common is that there is really no clear-cut path,” he said. “There’s just too many guys. But the one thing that featherweight has that I have an advantage at is I’m new to it, so I think that as long as I win and I win in a good fashion and I perform in the way that I’m capable of, with the right fights I can certainly be on what you call a fast track. But I’m not looking past my next opponent and I’m not underestimating him. I don’t want to say I’m looking past him, but I am looking through him. I’ve got high hopes and aspirations about moving down to 145 pounds, and I’m not just seeing this light at the end of the tunnel. I’m seeing every road block that’s in my way, and I’m training according to them.”Cole Miller has probably seen more roadblocks than the majority of his peers, and for five years, he’s managed to stay afloat and relevant under circumstances that would have eliminated most other fighters. He knows it too. But he also knows that he can’t take another five years of the same thing, or even one year. Now’s the time to make his run, and he’s got all the confidence in the world that he’ll be able to do it his way.“If 2012 isn’t different from 2011, I’m about to be up out of this,” he admits. “I can’t be doing this. I can’t be fighting twice a year and winning half the fights I fight in a year. To be honest, if 2012 goes the same way as 2011, I’m gonna find something else to do. But the way I’m seeing 2012, I just keep thinking that things can’t keep going the way they’re going. I struggled too much and put so much into this sport, and there’s definitely people that have had it harder than me in life and in the game, but I’ve paid some dues and I need a little bit of good luck on my side. I’m gonna think that 2012 is gonna be a good year, an undefeated year, and I’m gonna have four fights. And by the end of this year, I will be a top contender for that title.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, year, ’m

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A lot of things have gone on in the last couple months for Joseph Benavidez. He is no longer a bantamweight, he is officially a “Joe-Jitsu” fighter, and this Friday night he will make his flyweight debut against Yasuhiro Urushitani in the UFC’s first-ever 125-pound tournament.Yet even with all these changes, Benavidez promises that one thing will stay the same. Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” will remain his entrance theme.“That’s my jam,” said Benavidez, whose career has only seen him change up his song once, with a move to James Brown’s “The Payback” for his rematch with Dominick Cruz. Other than that, it’s all ‘The Nuge.’ “Ted Nugent’s the one, that’s the one that gets me going and I think the fans are starting to know me by that song also.”With that settled, you’ve got to consider that everything else will fall into place for the 27-year old Las Cruces product, one of the top bantamweights in the world for years, but also one in need of a change of weight class scenery.“I always thought from the very beginning that I could make flyweight, but there wasn’t a division, so I was kinda forced to compete at ’35,” he explains. “I remember when I first got to California five years ago, I weighed 136. Me and (Team Alpha Male squadmate) Urijah (Faber) thought flyweight would be perfect, but it didn’t exist, and really a ’35 pound class barely existed, but I knew I could compete with these bigger guys anyway, so, I walked around at about ‘35 to ’40 and competed in that weight class. After my first loss to Cruz, I was only weighing about 140, and that’s when I realized that I had to be a little bigger to compete with these guys. I went up to 150, tried to bulk up and get a little stronger, and it worked out. I kept my speed and stayed powerful, and I was doing fine in the weight class. I only lost to the champion, I was number two in the world, but I was in kind of a funny situation as far as title shots and getting fights go.” That funny situation involved both his teammate Faber and his nemesis Cruz. If Faber wins the title from Cruz in their rubber match later this year, Benavidez would be put in a position of fighting his friend, something neither is interested in. If Cruz retains the 135-pound crown, how does the UFC sell a third fight between Benavidez and the only man to have beaten him – twice?“I was kind of in a weird purgatory in that ’35 pound division,” said Benavidez. “I couldn’t fight Cruz again, me and Faber agreed we wouldn’t fight each other, and those are the next two guys at the top, and I really can’t fight either of them. So I was in a weird position, getting kinda weird fights that didn’t make sense, and they were on the undercard, so I didn’t really even get a chance to really benefit from this merger (with the WEC and UFC). Now I don’t have to answer the questions about fighting Urijah or Cruz now; me and Urijah can just both have belts and that’s been the plan since the beginning.”He can also regain the momentum he had back in the WEC, where he went 5-2, losing only to Cruz while turning back the likes of Miguel Angel Torres, Jeff Curran, Rani Yahya, and Wagnney Fabiano. When he came to the UFC, the main card staple didn’t see TV time for his wins over Ian Loveland and Eddie Wineland, but on Friday, he’s back in prime time against Japan’s Urushitani, a fighter new to UFC fans and, initially, to Benavidez too.“Honestly, I had just heard his name,” he said of the 19-4-6 veteran. “You look at the rankings and stuff, and I’ve seen him at the top of the flyweight rankings, but I never took the time to go check out his videos until I got the fight with him, and now that I’ve checked him out, he’s a great fighter, he has some good wins, and it’s definitely a great fight for me. I’m glad that I get to fight someone who’s already established at the weight and it’s not just me and another guy from ’35. This guy is already established at the weight class, so when I beat him, I’ve beaten a flyweight who’s proven himself. He has that international flavor to add to the tournament, and the Japanese are known for their lighter weight fighters and he’s the best one they have over there. So it’s a great fight.”And one that will put him in a fight for the first UFC flyweight title later this year. From purgatory, Benavidez has shot right to heaven, because if he wins, by the end of this week’s card, he will know who he’s fighting next, practically planning out the rest of his year.“That’s one of the best things of it all,” he said. “In the ’35 pound division, I had no idea who I was gonna fight. Even up to when the flyweight tournament was announced, that was a pretty long layoff for me, and look at my first fight in the UFC; I was the number two bantamweight in the world, and I’m fighting Ian Loveland on an undercard. Then I fought Eddie Wineland, who was coming off a loss, and these fights were doing nothing for me. After that I had no idea who I was gonna fight. So it’s good that I’m back in a spot where I can have my fights planned out, and it’s great to know that not only do I have this fight, I have that fight. It’s job security, but it’s hard not to look forward to that also, though, because you know who your next opponent could possibly be.”That possible next opponent is either Demetrious Johnson or Ian McCall, the two fighters competing for a spot in the flyweight final as well. Yet unlike Urushitani, Benavidez has had his eye on these two WEC vets for a long time.“I’ve always watched them and I’ve actually been a fan of both their fighting styles for a while,” said Benavidez of Johnson and McCall. “Me and Ian fought on the same card before and me and “Mighty Mouse” have also. So I’ve seen those guys a lot, I love their fighting styles, and the UFC picked the four best guys that they could have to start this flyweight tournament. The one who comes out on top is definitely gonna be the number one flyweight in the world.”Benavidez claims that he’s “faster and in better shape” and even a little meaner at 125 pounds, and if that’s the case, he’s got a great shot at putting the new division in a “Stranglehold” immediately. So with his music, training, and situation in order, all he’s got to worry about is fighting on Australia time, which will be on Saturday morning in order to have the fights air in the US on Friday night. No problem, says the inventor of “Joe-Jitsu.”“Fighting is second nature to me. If somebody came into my house or ran up to me in a dark parking lot, no matter what time it is, I’m gonna beat the guy up and I’m gonna be ready to fight then,” he said. “So the fact that I’ve trained for this, I’m gonna be ready to fight no matter what time it is.”  

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, flyweight, benavidez

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Conor Heun’s father Jim had a picture hanging on the wall of his office that wasn’t the usual shot of a bowl of fruit or the Colorado mountains. Instead, it was a pretty notable cartoon of a stork holding a frog in his mouth while the frog wrapped its hands around the stork’s neck. The caption? “Never Give Up.”“That stuck with me and it’s something that resonates with me,” said the younger Heun, who took that adage to heart and brought it into his mixed martial arts career, most notably in a bout with Magno Almeida last September that saw him caught in a tight armbar in the second round.“Magno’s a submission wiz and I’m a wrestler,” Heun recalled. “It’s the classic matchup back in the 90’s. What happens if you take a jiu-jitsu guy down? You get armbarred. Well, that’s what happened. But he didn’t realize that I was willing to sacrifice that for the win.”What Heun sacrificed was his health, or at least the health of his right arm, as he refused to tap to Almeida, even when it was clear that his arm was being taken to places it wasn’t meant to see. Eventually, Heun got free, dislocated elbow and all, and he not only made it through the second round, but he won the third and the fight.Never give up.“Tapping out to me is giving up,” said Heun, who improved to 9-4 with the win. “If you knock me out, I’m out, that’s it, that’s my body saying it’s done, and if you choke me out, I’m out. But other than that, I have a real hard time giving up, and that’s what tapping out is.”So he didn’t do it. As simple as that sounds, it’s much more complex than that, but in the Reader’s Digest version, Heun’s stay in Strikeforce hadn’t been the most successful entering the Almeida bout. He had dropped back-to-back decisions to Jorge Gurgel and KJ Noons, and a third consecutive loss might have earned him his walking papers, and he knew it.“Yeah, I’d be out of a job,” he said. “I knew that going in. And I knew he was gonna catch me, as #$%$ up as that sounds. But I knew what I was getting myself into. I’m a pretty intuitive person, and I knew that that fight was gonna be a rough fight. But I knew I was gonna come out victorious.”Now for the more complicated part. Conor Heun doesn’t see things the way most professional fighters do. For them, MMA is a sport, a competition. They will shake hands with their opponent before the bout, and do the same afterward. Heun will do the hand shaking part, but when it comes to everything else, this isn’t just a sport for him, something he made clear with a nearly 1,500 word blog that could best be described as the Heun manifesto. “MMA is a sport but “fighting” is not,” he wrote. “Boxing is a sport. Wrestling is a sport. Jiu Jitsu is a sport. These sports have scoring systems in place designed to determine the winner and the object is to score more points than your opponent. Fighting is not a sport. In fighting, the winner is the guy who walks away able to return to his family with his freedoms intact. In the defense of one’s freedoms and one’s family, the total destruction of one’s enemy is justified. MMA is a sport but it is based on fighting, because of this it is a brutal and savage sport.”Heun’s piece shot through the MMA world in the past week, leading up to his Strikeforce bout against Ryan Couture this Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, and with good reason, as it touched on many aspects of fighting and his place in the fight world that don’t get discussed too much, at least on the record. But Heun bravely bared his soul for the world to see.“I’m a deeply emotional person, and writing is a way for me to express some of those feelings in a productive manner and sort of step back and take a look at my own dysfunction sometimes,” he chuckles. “But I think it speaks to some people. People can tell that it’s real, people can tell that it’s from my heart. I posted it on the Underground (Forum) and it’s got something like 16,000 views. But I’m not sure if people really know what to think about it.”Of course, the bullet point was Heun’s comment that “On March 3rd in Columbus Ohio I will fight Ryan Couture and I will use everything in my power to destroy him,” but as the Colorado native makes clear, “I don’t have any ill will towards Ryan. It’s just the place that he’s put himself, and that’s in front of me and in front of my dream. I can’t stand for that. And that’s what he wants. He wants a great fight, I want a great fight, and we’re gonna go out and throw down. But understand where I’m coming from. I’m going to war and I’m willing to die.”It’s a blunt and harsh statement, and while there are dangers inherent in any contact sport, you never want to see anyone leave the field of play forever changed by the act of competition. Heun has left forever changed though. The refusal to tap in the Almeida bout wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, and going in, he knew what the repercussions could be. But he’s dealt with them, even if some don’t realize what they were.“I think informed fans understand the repercussions and I actually feel that I may have done a disservice to the fans a little bit by the video I posted a couple weeks after the Almeida fight, saying ‘hey, I’m fine,’” he said. “It was a long and arduous recovery, a lot of physical therapy, my arm doesn’t go straight the way it used to anymore, but I wouldn’t take that back. I wouldn’t have gone back and done it any different.”And if you wonder what Jim Heun thinks of his son’s fighting philosophy, you need not look any further than his corner on the night of the Almeida fight, as he was there, remaining as his son describes him, “my biggest fan.”Heun remembers the weekends growing up when the Friday night before a wrestling tournament involved a trip to Blockbuster Video to rent old UFC tapes and watch them with his dad, who was also his coach. But his father’s influence went way deeper than that.“When I was a little kid, I had bunk beds in my room and my dad was my wrestling coach,” recalled Heun. “That top bunk always had a kid in it from his team that was struggling with his family, had abusive parents, or an alcoholic father, and he was always opening our home to other young men to give them a respite. And he taught people double leg takedowns and arm drags, but he also taught young boys how to be men. And I believe that’s gonna be my highest calling.”In fact, that’s a big reason why he does what he does. It’s not for fame or glory, but simply to provide a better life for himself, everyone around him, and maybe even some people he hasn’t even met yet.“I’m fighting because eventually I want to open a gym, I want to have a place that I can call home, I want to have a place for me and my girlfriend where we can live and raise a family that no one can take away from me, whether it’s an apartment or a house,” he said. “I want to own a place where I can live and then I want to start teaching. I started fighting professionally in 2006, but I was a very small, very angry young kid growing up and I was in a lot of fights where there weren’t contracts and where there weren’t refs and judges, where people were trying to beat me down and take my freedom and marginalize me. And that’s where my fighting started. And I believe I’ve got some karmic debt that needs to be repaid for things that I’ve done back then, for guys I met in the street that didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. And I feel that the way I’m gonna be able to do that is by living a life of honor and integrity and acting as a role model for young boys. And I feel like in our society there are so many kids who don’t have positive male role models in their life. They don’t have anyone teaching them what it means to live with integrity and how to be a man.” Yet all those dreams will have to be put on hold if he loses to Ryan Couture this Saturday night. Maybe now you’ll see why he thinks the way he does. “Hopefully, I can take care of Ryan and get him out of the fight quickly with minimal injury to him or myself, collect that win bonus, and move on to the next fight,” he said. “If I can finish four guys this year, and that’s my goal, I think that puts me in line for a title shot.”That would be some year. Heun knows it too, and he wants the world to follow him on that journey.“I hope it inspires people to chase their dreams because that’s what I’m doing – I’m chasing my dream.”And he’ll never give up.

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For the second time in just over a year, the UFC returns to Australia for UFC on FX 2: “Alves vs. Kampmann” – which is crazy, because I haven’t even sought out Australia on the map that many times, so for Zuffa to fly the whole traveling circus to that distant locale is like quite the endeavor times ten.  Anyway, as the name implies, the four-bout main card is airing live on the FX channel.  Meanwhile, the prelims are airing on Fuel TV – which I still don’t get – but according to my channel guide, they’re airing concurrently on FOX Deportes – which I do get.  As such, I will cut out the preamble and get right to the preview, because, you know, that’s a lot of fights to write about. FX card: -Thiago Alves vs. Martin Kampmann – When last we saw Alves, the Brazilian striker and former welterweight top contender was smoking a hopelessly outgunned Papy Abedi at UFC 138, with Abedi playing the welcomed role of softball in a game Alves has been steadily losing since Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch hugged the fighting spirit right out of him.  But lo!  Dangerous Dane Kampmann is no hugger!  He’s a pleasingly well-rounded fellow more than willing to slug it out when he should be grappling, and grapple when he should be slugging it out.  Therefore, what we’re likely to get in this marquee matchup is fun – fun of the striking variety, fun of the impending TKO variety, fun of the “non-hugging” variety.  As for who will emerge victorious, that depends on if Alves is in shape and able to make weight.  If all is good on the scale for him, he has the firepower to put Kampmann away; if the 170-pound weight limit is nothing more than a bad joke for the Brazilian, well, the battle has already been lost in his own mind before the fighters have even entered the cage. -Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani – The flyweights are upon us!  Hide your women!  UFC on FX 2 will see the opening bracket of the UFC’s four-man 125-pound tournament, which will theoretically crown a champ, make some stars, and give the general public an inkling of what’s in store now that the littlest fighters can step to the plate.  First up: top bantamweight contender and Team Alpha Male micro-wrestler Benavidez against Shooto champ Urushitani.  Urushitani has been in the fire for about eleven years and has proven to be a man of decent striking ability and strong endurance, but he’s got a tall order before him in Benavidez, who lost a split decision to UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz back in 2010 yet is otherwise a takedown- and transition-dynamo.  I see the American grounding out the decision, despite Benavidez really being unable to hurt Urushitani in all three rounds. -Ian McCall vs. Demetrious Johnson – We all saw Johnson try and fail against bantamweight king Cruz.  What might be forgotten, however, is the fact that Johnson was – and still is – a kind of human whirlwind who can mix dangerous subs with dangerous strikes in very fluid fashion.  Too bad his move down to the flyweight division means he has to face McCall, who, thanks to Tachi Palace Fights’ love for the 125-pounders, has established himself as the best at that weight.  Which isn’t to say Johnson can’t win.  He can.  It’s just that when it comes to one fighter wearing the other one down and capitalizing, it’s likely going to be “Uncle Creepy” who finishes “Mighty Mouse” when the battle rages into later rounds. -Court McGee vs. Costa Philippou – Since winning TUF 11, McGee has been fed some easy fights against guys that play right into his ever-improving standup game.  Philippou will mark the first time that McGee faces someone in the Octagon who can actually punch his head off.  And yeah, that’s pretty much what will happen.  You see, Philippou has got some of the most dangerous hands in the middleweight division – dangerous both in terms of power and accuracy – and McGee’s usual modus operandi of eating a few punches before ratcheting up the heat is only going to serve to get him killed.  This one is ending abruptly, via TKO, and Philippou is getting his hand raised at the end. Fuel TV/FOX Deportes card: -James Te Huna vs. Aaron Rosa – As hard-hitting New Zealanders go, Te Huna is probably one of the best.  I know, I know, that’s not saying much given New Zealand’s contributions to the MMA world.  But when it comes to taking on the slimmed-down Rosa, that’s enough to ensure that the local-ish guy is getting the knockout over the American. -Anthony Perosh vs. Nick Penner – Being a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is no guarantee you’re going to look good in the cage.  Take, for instance, Aussie Perosh, who may have submitted Cyrille Diabate at UFC 138, but didn’t win over many hearts and minds in the process.  With promotional newcomer Penner, Perosh gets a second shot at making a strong first impression.  Why?  Because the Canadian Penner’s biggest win to date was a sub against Butterbean, and that was back in 2007.  Perosh is having “a stellar performance” practically handed to him.  Dude better make the most of it. -Cole Miller vs. Steven Siler – To get onto the last season of TUF, Siler defeated an ill Micah Miller.  Uh oh, here comes Micah’s brother Cole, who’s got more than enough jiu-jitsu to tie Siler in a knot and leave him requiring a chiropractor right there on the Octagon floor.  Watch for Miller to avenge his brother via sub.  Hard. -Andrew Craig vs. Kyle Noke – Noke is an ex-TUFer, a salty veteran, and one of Australia’s better fighters.  Craig seems pretty game, and won a regional belt courtesy of the Legacy Fighting Championship (that’s in Texas for all you “big-picture only” types), but the dude is being fed to Noke to make sure that Team Aussie gets at least one win for the night.  Seriously, Noke’s just got too much experience and ability in all areas.  Craig is going down. -TJ Waldburger vs. Jake Hecht – Waldburger is a brown belt in jiu-jitsu.  That’s all you need to know about him.  In his promotional debut, Hecht sprawled against the cage when Rich Attonito tried to take him down, and then he elbowed Attonito senseless.  Bottom line: if Waldburger finds himself under Hecht, it’s getting ugly.  Hecht via TKO. -Mackens Semerzier vs. Daniel Pineda – Despite possessing one of the best first names ever, Semerzier has some serious peaks and valleys on his record.  He shocked the world by submitting Wagnney Fabiano in the WEC, lost his next three in the promotion, went on to tap out Alex Caceres when the WEC became the UFC, and needed an inadvertent headbutt to outlast Robbie Peralta when the two had a striking battle.  Therefore, Pineda, an experienced regional fighter out of Texas, should be a good gauge as to where Semerzier belongs.  If he loses to the kickboxer/submission fighter hybrid, Semerzier needs to be given the boot; if he wins, he should stay.  My gut tells me Semerzier can pull it off, but who knows.

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Much has been made recently of Ian McCall’s struggles with addiction and how he overdosed only to receive a second chance at life. He has certainly made the most of his gift as he is the #1 ranked flyweight in the world and is preparing to make his UFC debut in the organization’s flyweight tournament, set to start this Friday night in Australia. McCall faces Demetrius Johnson in one bout while Joseph Benavidezl takes on Yasuhiro Urushitani. The two winners will then mix it up later in the year for the right to be crowned the UFC’s first flyweight champ. “Uncle Creepy”, as he is affectionately known, is currently on a four-fight winning streak  including a victory over Jussier da Silva in February of 2011 under the Tachi Palace Fights banner. At the time Da Silva was considered by countless fans and pundits as the top 125-pound fighter in the world. A win over Dustin Ortiz just three months later earned McCall a shot at the TPF flyweight belt against Darrell Montague. Once again McCall made the most of his opportunity and walked away the new champion by choking Montague out in the third round. Now that the UFC has added the 125-pound division, the 11-2 McCall can finally showcase his talents and unorthodox look in front of millions of MMA fans. A man like McCall shouldn’t be kept under wraps. His story is inspiring, his talents are plentiful, and his personality is charismatic and engaging. When Court McGee won The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 fans really took to his story given all of the trial and tribulations he went through as he battled addiction. As such, there is no reason to believe the fans won’t attach themselves to McCall in the same fashion. With just a few days before the biggest fight of his career McCall is able to head to Australia feeling confident. He has a strong support group both in and out of the cage and a clear head that will allow him to focus on the task at hand. Many fighters are quick to point out that surrounding yourself with the right people is one of the most important aspects of the sport. For McCall, he has made sure to apply that philosophy into his personal life as well. Now that he is UFC bound, McCall knows it’s time to ramp his game up and be prepared for anything. “My coaches have me really focusing on my wrestling right now,” McCall said in an exclusive interview with Five Ounces of Pain. “I don’t suck at wrestling, but now that I’m in the UFC and will be facing opponents like ‘Mighty Mouse’ and Benavidez I know I need to work on that aspect of my game. We’ve brought in some guys to help me out and I’m a big believer in that I always have room to learn and we’ve been doing just that. I’ve been trying to improve my Jiu-Jitsu and work towards getting my blackbelt.” One advantage that McCall and Urushitani may have over Benavidez and Johnson is that they have been fighting at flyweight for awhile now. Although the ten pounds doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to cut when you are as lean as these fighters are to begin with, cutting any amount of weight, especially for the first time, could provide an edge to the those already accustomed to the process. “I think Benavidez will have a more difficult time that Johnson because Demetrius isn’t that big,” McCall explained. “I don’t think the cut will be that hard for him even though he hasn’t done it in awhile. I think he’ll be fine. Joe is a little bigger, but he’s an intelligent guy and I’m sure both fighters will get the weight cut down without any problems.” Although he has to get passed Johnson first and that is where his focus should and will be, there has to be a tiny part of him that is thinking about who he may fight in the finals. Benavidez has fought a lot of top guys over the past few years including Cruz twice so McCall has been able to keep up with his career. It’s not as easy when it comes to following Urushitani, but McCall seems to have a winner of that bout in mind already. “Joseph is a bad, bad man,” McCall explained. “Quite simply he goes out there and he f*cks people up. I think that the Japanese fighters have a hard time with fighters like Benavidez. Not to take away from them, especially Urushitani who has beaten a lot of good fighters, but I think Benavidez will be able to finish. Still, you never know since the Japanese fighters are real tough and sneaky. I think Urushitani has a tougher fight than I do as far as styles are concerned.” Since the UFC created the flyweight division there has been a lot of talk about what other fighters are going to be brought into the UFC. There are certainly a lot of talented guys competing in Tachi Palace, Japan and Brazil for the UFC to go out and sign. McCall offered his own opinion on who he feels would be successful in the UFC. “Without a doubt Jussier da Silva,” McCall said confidently. “He just keeps getting better and better each and every time out. The win he had over Mamoru Yamaguchi is a feat in and of itself. I think they will sign Mamoru because he is who he is. I know there are a few other Brazilian guys, plus guys like Dustin Ortiz and Darrell Montague who are fighting in TFC. John Dodson is a stud – he’s a badass. Some people may not like him because of his time on TUF, but he’s a great fighter.” Now that the flyweights are here they can finally begin to receive the recognition and the salaries they deserve. As we have witnessed with the additions of the bantamweight and featherweight divisions in the UFC, fans are quick to accept and embrace these smaller fighters. For many of them it’s been a long time coming taking fights in the middle of nowhere for very little pay. Now it’s their time to shine and McCall is promising the fans they won’t be disappointed. “Everyone fighting at 135 and 145 has paved the way for us,” McCall said appreciatively. “Look at the fights they have been putting on. They have great champions like Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo. Then you have fighters like Urijah Faber and Mark Hominick who are consistently putting on great fights. When have you seen a boring fight in the UFC in either one of those two divisions? Even their slowest fights are more exciting than a lot of the fights in the bigger weight classes. We have so much energy and don’t need to conserve it. We have fought so hard to get to where we are at we aren’t going to do anything to jeopardize our position. We’re going in there and we are going to try to take each others’ heads off!” Fans can tune in to watch McCall battle Johnson when the main UFC on FX 2 broadcast starts at 9:00 PM EST with prelims on Facebook/Fuel starting a few hours earlier. The night’s headliner features widely respected welterweights Martin Kampmann-Thiago Alves doing battle in hopes of moving one step closer to a divisional title-shot. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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There has been one rematch in particular fans of PRIDE have wanted to see for quite some time – Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Back in 2005 the two met in the opening round of the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix with Rua scoring a vicious knockout victory over Jackson. After falling to Jon Jones in a bout for the light heavyweight title last year, Jackson asked to be matched up with Rua for the recently-completed UFC card in Japan, UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson. The timing didn’t work out, and instead Jackson faced Ryan Bader and lost. While Jackson’s stock may have taken a hit, “Shogun” doesn’t seem to mind in terms of another fight with Jackson. Rua, who was last seen falling to Dan Henderson in what many called the “Fight of the Year” this past November, still feels the need to step inside the Octagon with “Rampage” before the two retire from the sport. “The fight against ‘Rampage’ will happen. It’s inevitable and (the) UFC knows it,” said Rua, in a recent interview with TATAME. “He won’t retire before fighting me and neither am I. I don’t know if he got injured (vs. Bader), if he was not feeling okay….it’s hard to know, but ‘Rampage’ is very professional and deserves to be respected.” Rua added that he is expecting to find out his next opponent soon and will be back in training quickly to return to action. However, he offered no hint as to who the lucky party will be, only saying, “I don’t discard Ryan Bader nor ‘Rampage’, Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin… I guess there are many guys I could fight,” said Rua. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/SUSUMU NAGAO

Posted in: rampage, jackson, ’t, rua, ryan bader

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While welterweight Paul Daley has a fight this weekend at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey against Japanese veteran Kazuo Misaki, an adversary he certainly isn’t overlooking, it appears the hard-hitting Brit has a different opponent on his mind – Tyron Woodley. Daley and Woodley went to war for fifteen minutes last July in a bout where “Semtex” not only pressed the pace but showed marked improvement in terms of limiting Woodley’s takedowns. However, in the end the unbeaten Woodley still walked away with the decision win and that doesn’t seem to be sitting well with Daley. “I beat Woodley in my opinion, so it wasn’t that frustrating,” explained Daley in an interview with Strikeforce. “He fought a scared fight and was tired by the second round. I feel bad that the referee’s decisions gave him the win in the judges’ eyes. Three minutes s of inactivity on the floor…that’s not scoring points, and it certainly ain’t entertaining for the fans, who all cheered when it was stood back up.” The 29-11-2 Daley has fought twice since the loss, picking up a pair of decisions, but expects to get back to his old ways of rendering opponents into puddles of goo on Saturday night against Misaki, also on a two-fight winning streak. After beating Misaki, as he expects to do, Daley plans to ask for a second shot at Woodley based on being not only one of the division’s most entertaining fighters but a deserving contender. “After this fight, the only fight I should be offered is a rematch with Tyrone Woodley for the welterweight belt,” said Daley, elaborating that his plan in 2012 is “to stay very busy, and keep fighting and keep winning.” Fans can tune in to catch Daley-Misaki on Showtime when the main card starts up at 10:00 PM EST. The event is headlined by Miesha Tate defending her bantamweight belt against unbeaten judoka Ronda Rousey. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

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Steven Siler doesn’t care if you think he can’t beat Cole Miller this Friday night in Australia. He’s used to it. And he’s starting to make a career out of overturning those odds.So what if it took him four tries to beat Olly Bradstreet or three to best Kawaika Kauwe? No one was laughing when he submitted Travis Marx in a 2008 bout televised on the TapouT reality show, and everyone sat up and took notice when he submitted highly-regarded Micah Miller to earn his way into the house on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter. So do you still underestimate the 25-year old from Ogden, Utah?“You never know,” he chuckles. “I still got the little boy look, so hopefully people will still look past me and I’ll keep on taking advantage of it.”19-9 as a pro, with a December decision win over Josh Clopton that kicked off his UFC career, Siler should be the last person viewed as an MMA neophyte, but it’s something he’s dealt with his entire career. Early on, that was no surprise, especially when you see that he started his career off a dismal 5-7, a record that included two losses to Kauwe and three to Bradstreet. You know there’s got to be a story there.“The promotion I was fighting for - Ultimate Combat Experience – they had their fights in a bar,” he recalls of his trilogy with Kauwe in 2006. “And I was unable to get into a bar. (Laughs) So we were only able to fight every so often at a place that was 21 and under. And there were only so many underage people in Utah, so we kinda got forced up against each other.”The first fight, Siler was defeated by technical submission even though he claims he never lost consciousness. The second time around, he separated his shoulder on a slam and lost by TKO. The third fight, he got it right, winning a split decision over Kauwe.As for Bradstreet, “It was like a yearly thing. I fought him when I was 18, 19, 20, and then I finally started training when I lost to him when I was 20, and once I got training and I got better, I finally beat him when I was 21. After the fourth time, he started training with me, so I spent a lot of time with that guy.”Yes, you read correctly. For the first two years of his career, Siler didn’t train for fights; he just showed up for them, happy to get the $50 or so he would pick up for the night’s work. But after the third loss to Bradstreet, Siler’s buddy (and future UFC fighter) Jorge Lopez got him to go to the gym and actually start learning his craft.Since then, Siler has gone 14-2, with the only defeats coming against former WEC champ Cole Escovedo and UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes, both of which taught him valuable lessons in the art of humility.“The Mendes one was disappointing because I took that on a couple weeks notice and I figured he’s just some wrestler,” said Siler of the 2009 defeat. “I was on this nine fight win streak and big-headed, thinking I’m dominating everybody, and I took it for granted. Then I fought Mendes and he rocked me really quick and I never actually recovered. With Cole (in January of 2011), it was actually the same exact thing. The big head was starting to come again, and hopefully this was the one that humbled me and made sure I don’t get big headed. I was completely dominating that fight, I’m pushing him around and hitting him from all angles, and the big head came and I started getting cocky and making mistakes and the next thing you know I’m in a triangle and I can’t get out and I’m choked out cold. I definitely learned a lot from those two losses.”He took those lessons into the elimination round for TUF 14. Despite his experience, Miller was a heavy favorite, with even UFC President Dana White expecting the WEC vet to walk away with the victory. Siler didn’t go along with conventional wisdom though, submitting Miller in the third round.“You can kinda tell that Dana figured Micah was the favorite, and he told me afterwards that the reason why he doubted me so bad was because I looked like I wasn’t ready for the fight,” said Siler. “I’m a calm-looking guy and I don’t get all amped up and pumped up. I feel good when I’m in the cage and I don’t need to hype it up or anything like that. I stay quiet and do my own thing, and I think that just throws everyone off.”Siler would lose a quarterfinal TUF bout to eventual winner Diego Brandao, but his bounce back win at the finale over Clopton earned him a pretty interesting bout with Micah’s older brother Cole Miller in Sydney. But is it interesting because of the matchup and the stakes, or because Miller has a shot at avenging his family’s defeat? Or is that just another great angle for the media to play with?“It’s something more for the media to play with,” said Siler. “I just see it as a chance for me to step up and get a great matchup. It’s a great chance for me to show off my skills and kinda use him as a stepping stone.”Siler sounds confident, and he’s got the right to be given the road he took to get here. The record isn’t sexy, but the experience gained in those hard times puts him with guys like Brian Ebersole and Pat Healy as fighters whose talents may have been obscured by their records. Yet as Ebersole and Healy have shown, if you perform on fight night, all past sins are forgiven.“I really do hope so, because those are the guys who are the most dangerous because they’ve been around, and of course they can pull out any fight at any time,” said Siler. “The younger guys might buckle, and if something gets hard, they might roll over and lose, where the guys who’ve been around, they know the certain things to get out of there and the way to improve their chances so they can end up pulling out the win. So the guys who had to work and work and get some more fights, I think they’re the most dangerous people of all.”Siler counts himself in that group. Who would have thought it back when he was fighting in underage shows for fifty bucks? Not him.“When I first started, there was no way I ever expected to ever be doing this as a career,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t train. I expected to be doing this as something fun to do, and that I was always gonna be working my day job from 7 to 3:30. After I made that appearance on that TapouT reality TV show where I was the opponent but I actually beat the guy who was supposed to win, that’s when it started sinking in that maybe I could actually make big things out of this.”

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Posted in: ’t, silva, jacare, sonnen, mattyblayze

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When it comes to having the home field advantage, so to speak, in the UFC, few have it as good as natives of Australia. And it’s not just the fact that a loyal fanbase will pack the arena and cheer them on to victory, but that they don’t have to take the sometime horrific plane ride to get to the beautiful “Land Down Under.”One of those Aussie standouts, Sydney’s Anthony Perosh, is certainly not going to apologize for it.“All I can say is payback’s a bitch,” laughs Perosh, who, truth be told, is only a 10 minute drive away from the Allphones Arena where he will face Nick Penner on this week’s UFC on FX 2 card.  “The last time I fought in England (at UFC 138 last November), it was a 24 hour flight. I guess it’s like with any sport. When you’re at home, everything’s easier. Your coach is here, your family’s here, your friends are here, and everything is here. Having a home crowd match is always a bonus.”If recent history is any indication, Perosh isn’t in need of any extra advantages, as a return to the light heavyweight division in 2011 has seen him undergo a career resurrection (at least UFC wise), as he’s won two in a row, submitting both Tom Blackledge and Cyrille Diabate. It’s a far cry from his first go round in the Octagon in 2006, when dropped back-to-back heavyweight bouts to Jeff Monson and Christian Wellisch.“For whatever reason, maybe my stint in the UFC in 2006 might have been a bit premature,” he said. “I didn’t really find a weight division I was comfortable at because I was heavyweight back then, and now I’m a light heavyweight and a much better light heavyweight. I didn’t have all the coaches and training back then, and at the same time I had my business to run. I got that up and running, and then when everything was sorted, I knuckled down and started fighting and winning.”5-3 in MMA after the decision defeat to Wellisch at UFC 66, Perosh - a highly decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who owns 10 Australian titles and two Bronze medals from the World BJJ Championships – slowly worked his way back onto the UFC’s radar, winning five of his next seven bouts. Yet it was a fight week illness to Ben Rothwell that got Perosh a return call, and though he was stopped by Mirko Cro Cop on just a couple days’ notice at UFC 110 two years ago, it was the foot in the door he needed. Now with two straight victories, he’s kicking that door down.“Everything I’ve done, I’ve always put my mind to it a hundred percent,” said Perosh. “I don’t go into anything half-assed and I do believe in myself. I know my weaknesses too. My weakness is in striking and some other parts and I made sure I found those coaches and found the sparring partners and do what it takes to actually compete and win in the UFC. So I’m gonna just take it one win at a time. I’m aiming for my third win in a row, and after that I’ll hopefully get even a bigger challenge.”This week’s foe, once-beaten Canadian Nick Penner, is a newcomer to the Octagon and to Perosh, who doesn’t necessarily see that blind spot as a disadvantage, primarily because he’s fought much of his career focusing on his own game and not that of his opponent.“When I was fighting on local shows, I didn’t know that much about my opponents, and my first win in the UFC against Tom Blackledge, I didn’t know too much about him, so I’m not worried,” he said. “I know a little bit about him (Penner), but I’m not too worried. I have goals for my training camp and a strategy for my fight, so my goal is to do that on the night.”If Perosh appears to be calm, cool, and collected, that’s because he is. Credit for that doesn’t just go to his grappling background or his 18 pro fights over nine years in the game. It may just be because at 39, he’s not going to get rattled by much in or out of the Octagon.“I don’t even look at the age,” he said. “I keep telling people I’ll retire if my body can’t keep up with the training. That’s the hard bit. It’s not actually the fighting, it’s the training. And if my body can’t keep up with the training and if I can’t get fight fit, then I’ll give it away. I’m not gonna hang around.”But he’s not going to go away without a fight either, especially considering the time it took to get to this point. When Perosh turned pro in 2003, the idea of the UFC putting on events in Australia was just a dream. It was a dream he embraced though.“I’m a forever optimist, so I was hoping,” he said. “Even from the fact that Australia is a big sporting nation and Australia doesn’t want to be left behind in anything. We’re already this big island in the middle of the ocean with nothing surrounding us, and we always try to keep up with everything. It doesn’t matter whether it’s sport or finance or whatever, we always want to be in there, and I think MMA was just a natural progression.”And almost seven years after that first fight (actually first three fights, as Perosh won his first three bouts in a single night tournament), he got to see the Octagon in his home country when UFC 110 rolled in. This week’s event will mark the third in as many years on home shores, and Perosh is starting to see the sport break through to some people who would never have been exposed to it otherwise.“I definitely see it from a school point of view,” said Perosh, who runs Sinosic Perosh Martial Arts with friend and UFC vet Elvis Sinosic. “People pick up the phone and call my school, and a lot more people are asking for MMA rather than BJJ or kickboxing, so that’s a big plus. Secondly, all other martial artists are interested in MMA. It’s not just BJJ or kickboxing; Taekwondo, Karate, and Kung Fu, they love it as well. But I still think it’s lacking a little bit in the general public. It hasn’t really hit free TV like it has over there (in the US), and the general public are still a little bit in the dark.”That’s nothing a few more wins from one of the country’s favorite sons can’t cure, and that’s just what Perosh has planned for 2012.“Three more wins, and that will put me in the top ten.”

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An approximately 17 hour flight from Texas to Australia would be torture for most. For Aaron Rosa, it’s just part of the job.“You gotta do what you gotta do,” Said the UFC light heavyweight, who faces James Te Huna on this Friday’s (Saturday in Australia) UFC on FX 2 card in Sydney. “It’s my job, so I pack it up and get ready to go. I kiss my daughter, kiss my wife, and say ‘see you next week.’”As matter of fact as that sounds, that’s the way Aaron Rosa approaches life in and out of the fight game. He wasn’t a highly recruited athlete waltzed up the ranks and placed square in the middle of the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion. He worked for everything he got, battled through plenty of obstacles, and finally made it here in 2011. But what made the Del Rio’s native’s journey even more impressive, is that even as he was introduced to the UFC faithful last June against Joey Beltran, he was still working an 11 hour shift driving a truck and delivering Red Bull.So each of his previous 16 wins (and three losses) came while working a full-time job. That’s an impressive feat any way you slice it, but when he got stopped in the third round of the Beltran fight at UFC 131, he knew things had to change if he was going to compete at the elite level. The first was dropping back to the light heavyweight division; the second was putting his day job to the side.“I got heavy,” admits Rosa, who fluctuated between fights at heavyweight and 205. “I was working 11 hours a day, delivering Red Bull. So I was working most of the day, eating fast food while I was driving and not training like I should have been, so I really let myself go. I didn’t stick to a diet, and I was just working so much I couldn’t really do it. So after the Joey Beltran fight, I was like, man, if I’m gonna really do something with this, I need to take it seriously and just concentrate on fighting. I spoke to my wife and she said ‘yeah, this is your shot. Try it, see what happens, and God willing everything works out. If not, then you move on and do what you gotta do.’”That support from his wife Christina was all he needed. Now Rosa was going to live and train as a full-time professional mixed martial artist and see where the sport took him. Needless to say, having his wife in his corner is no small factor in his positive mindset today.“It’s the most important thing,” he said. “She suffers with me. When we’re down on our luck or barely scraping by, she picks up the slack and she really pushes me when I get down on myself. I don’t like barely making it or being barely on time with stuff. But she’s there for me and she really helps me out. She takes care of our daughter, she’s a really good supportive wife, and I can’t ask for anything more.”Rosa and his bride are also parents to a year old daughter, giving him even more motivation to succeed in a career that started off in 2004 under conditions that would give the shakes to some young fighters who only know the modern version of the MMA career path.“My very first fight, an amateur fight, was in Louisiana, and that was my opponent’s hometown,” recalled Rosa. “It was a smoker, and it was 2004, so there really weren’t regulatory bodies. I fought in a bar and his whole family showed up. And when I came out, they booed the s**t out of me.”He laughs about it now.“I drove to Louisiana. And I didn’t get paid. I drove eight hours just to get in a bar fight, basically. (Laughs) I said ‘What am I doing?’ But I guess it worked out.”And at least when he steps into the Octagon against local favorite Te Huna, he won’t be rattled by any boos.“I’m near-sighted, so I can’t see anybody except the guy inside the ring,” he laughs. “I can’t see the people in the crowd or nothing like that.”Yet all joking aside, the path traveled by Rosa is one that you see less and less of these days. In one way, that’s a good thing, because it means that fighters are being taken care of financially and in terms of regulation and safety measures. But in another, you don’t see hard-nosed scrappers like Rosa who came up the hard way and stuck with the sport when it was far from a mainstream entity.“I think it just makes you push forward and keep going,” he said. “I always tried to push myself as hard as I could when I’m training or doing anything. I keep going and keep going. If you grow up with adversity, it’s gonna show. Your life makes you or breaks you, and it translates to the cage. You either rise up or you fold. I think I rise up all the time.”Last November, in his first bout as a full-time fighter, Rosa did just that, decisioning Matt Lucas over three rounds. It wasn’t a typical Rosa barnburner, but it was a win – his first in the UFC – and as he admits, he is still a work in progress.“It was really good, but I was kinda disappointed in my performance,” he said of getting his first UFC win. “I couldn’t get the stop, and the guy just kept holding on to me all the time, and it made the fight kinda boring. I was trying to tell him ‘dude, let’s just fight.’ But he kept holding on to me the whole time and I don’t like that type of stuff. If we’re going out there to fight, and they’re paying us money, let’s fight. But I’ve got to do a better job of creating my opportunities. I just can’t wait for him to engage. The best fighters make their opportunities in the cage, so I was disappointed because I should have stopped that guy. I had the conditioning, I had everything; I just couldn’t make my opportunities. Hopefully, now I’m a lot stronger than I was for that fight.”And he won’t have to look too far to find the hard-hitting Te Huna, whose two UFC wins over Igor Pokrajac and Ricardo Romero have come via knockout. “He (Te Huna) is a strong guy, explosive, he comes at you, but he’s also a wrestler who likes to take guys down and ground and pound them, so he has a little mixture of everything and I’ve got to be ready on all fronts,” said Rosa. “Hell, I might even take him down, I really don’t know. (Laughs) I let the situation dictate what happens. I go in there, punch him in the face a couple times, maybe he backs up and I’ll take him down. But I always go into a fight thinking I’m gonna kickbox a guy all night. That’s all I think about - hitting the guy in the face.”This week, he gets his chance. He’s a long way from Texas, and an even longer way from that first amateur fight in Louisiana, but when it comes to Aaron Rosa in Sydney, a fight’s a fight.“I’m flying 17 hours to go get into a fight, so once I’m there, I’m there.”

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One of the great things about professional wrestling is that for every moment of intensity or impressive athleticism there are at least a few blunders featuring a spot gone wrong or poorly executed gimmick. From the notorious entrance of The Shockmaster to wardrobe malfunctions, things don’t always come off as planned in a live format let alone one where “over the top” isn’t always relegated to battle royals. In WWE’s latest episode of Are You Serious? the organization decided to take a look at a few of pro wrestling’s funnier moments including Kevin Nash’s WCW debut as Oz, complete with the cast from the movie his name had been pulled from. Other highlights include an announce table giving out before The Rock can dole out some damage on Mick Foley, a wrestler from WCW named Arachniman who was essentially Spiderman with streamers, a strange promo from legend Paul Orndorff, and the first televised wedding in WWE history. Check out the clip below and don’t be surprised when you catch yourself laughing out loud: PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

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HENDERSON PROVES THAT SIZE DOES MATTERBenson Henderson looked like he was at least one full weight class bigger than Frankie Edgar during their championship fight. Joe Rogan made a comment during the bout that we may be watching a future welterweight, Henderson, fighting a future featherweight.The late, great Evan Tanner once told me that, all else being equal, the bigger man will win more often than not. He was explaining why he decided to drop from light heavyweight to middleweight in search of his first UFC championship. Those words seemed to ring true on Saturday night.The fight was, by all accounts, a very close contest. Edgar seemed to land on the feet with more frequency. He also scored more takedowns. But it was clear that he wasn’t able to hurt the challenger with his punches, and he certainly struggled to control him on the ground.Henderson, by contrast, might have landed fewer strikes, but he definitely landed the far more damaging blows. He appeared to move Edgar with every blow, even those that didn’t land on the button. At the end of the fight, Henderson didn’t appear to have a scratch on his face, whereas Edgar looked like he had gotten into a car wreck, with his left eye completely swollen shut, bumps and bruises around his face and a deep gash above his nose. Henderson also got up at will following each Edgar takedown. It was the first time that I can recall Edgar completely failing to control an opponent following a takedown. Plus, Henderson dismissively shucked off several Edgar takedowns, something that Edgar certainly isn’t accustomed to experiencing.Landing fewer shots. Scoring fewer takedowns. Not really dominating with jiu-jitsu, despite one close submission attempt. Yet, he won the fight. It seemed like size was the difference on Saturday night.I have no idea what is next for Henderson. I do know that a rematch with Anthony Pettis, the man who snatched his WEC 155-pound strap, is a fight that I am clamoring to see. Or maybe a bout with Gilbert Melendez, arguably the best fighter under the Strikeforce banner. Of course, we can’t forget the winner of Jim Miller versus Nate Diaz on May 5. There are lots of interesting first defenses for the new champion.By the way, rest in peace, Evan. We haven’t forgotten about you.WAS THIS THE FIGHT TO CAUSE THE MOVE?Joe Rogan often asks Edgar if a move to featherweight is in his future. After all, Edgar is one of just a very few non-heavyweight elite who barely cut any weight. The truth is that Edgar probably should fight at featherweight. Cutting weight is a necessity to avoid fighting much bigger guys. But another truth is that only two men have ever defeated Edgar, and every man he has faced in the UFC is physically larger than the now former champion. I seriously doubt that Edgar will drop to featherweight for that very reason.I think he will campaign for an immediate rematch, and the fight was an entertaining, competitive scrap. But there were no doubts outside of Edgar’s own head about who won the fight. It was about as clear as a close fight can be, if that makes any sense. It seems much more likely, therefore, that Edgar will need to win one or two more fights in order to secure a rematch with the champion. RAMPAGE NEEDS TO FIGURE IT OUTI excoriated Anthony Johnson for missing weight at UFC 142, less than two months ago. I’m not going to give Quinton “Rampage” Jackson the same level of criticism. Why? This was the first time in his PRIDE or UFC career that he slipped up on the scales. It is no big surprise that ‘Page blows up between fights. Shedding unneeded weight is a major issue in virtually all of his camps. So it makes perfect sense that he would miss weight after suffering an injury in training that prevented his normal road work.But I’m not letting Rampage of the hook that easily. Healthy or not, Rampage has absolutely become a one-trick pony in his UFC career. Make no mistake about it: that one trick is savagely effective. Yet, there is nobody at the top of the sport who is a one-trick pony – nobody.Rampage needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out what he wants to do with his career. I know that sounds harsh. It’s not. Those are words of love, trust me. Rampage is one of the most gifted fighters in the 205-pound division. Notice that I wrote “one of.” Jon Jones is THE most gifted fighter in the division. Nevertheless, Rampage isn’t that far behind.The problem, however, is that ‘Page no longer competes as a complete mixed martial artist. I’m not talking about him focusing solely on his standup. That is OK. Chuck Liddell was a standup-only fighter when he elevated himself to heights that no other American-born mixed martial artist has achieved. Yet, Liddell knew the value of the jab. He knew the value of mixing in committed kicks. He understood that he couldn’t just follow an opponent around the cage looking to throw bombs. That is exactly what ‘Page does at this point in his career.The former champion has all the tools to return to the top of the sport, but that is never going to happen, unless he changes up the way he competes. Again, I’m not criticizing him for missing weight. Everyone gets one pass. I’m quite sure that ‘Page took Ryan Bader seriously. It is his game plan that I’m criticizing. And I will continue criticizing it, until he remembers that jabs and punches thrown with less than bad intentions are acceptable, if not preferred.BADER COULDN’T HAVE SCRIPTED IT ANY BETTERI’m sure Bader saw himself stopping Rampage in his dreams. Whether by knockout or submission, I know for certain that knew this was his best opportunity at scoring a dramatic win over the former champion, due to Rampage’s training camp injury that prevented him from making weight.Nonetheless, Bader’s effort, particularly in light of the fact that he was fighting basically in Rampage’s hometown, was nothing short of spectacular. He won every aspect of the fight—standup, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu. The win definitely erases the bad taste left in his mouth after the Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz losses. I’ll actually take it one step further. This win advances Bader’s career more than any fight on his resume, including winning “The Ultimate Fighter.” I’ll be honest. I’m still a bit uncertain whether Bader is a legitimate contender or if Rampage is just on the downside of his illustrious career. We’ll find out in his next fight, because my guess is that Dana White and Joe Silva will give him another marquee matchup. And that will tell us all we need to know about a fighter who has as much potential as anyone in the division not named Jones.Tune in to UFC.com later today for thoughts on the rest of the stellar UFC 144 card…

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A DIFFERENT LEVELThere are MMA strikers. And then there are pure strikers.Cheick Kongo is a striker, one of the best in mixed martial arts. Mark Hunt is a pure striker, one of the best in the world.We use the phrase “world-class” way too much, when it comes to describing skills of a particular MMA fighter. There are very few world-class strikers in MMA. You can probably count them on one hand. Hunt is among them. That isn’t me going out on a limb. This guy is the former K-1 champion. For those who don’t know, K-1 is the top of the food chain, in terms of striking competitions. I’ll take the K-1 heavyweight champion over the heavyweight boxing champ any day.Hunt’s reaction after the fight says it all. He is a man of few words. He expected to win. He knows he is the best striker in the heavyweight division. Next question.I am struggling to think of another fighter in the UFC who has improved more in his late 30s than Hunt. He turns 38 in less than a month, and he is now on a three-fight winning streak after surviving a six-fight losing streak. Yes, you read that correctly. Mark Hunt lost six consecutive fights from 2006 to 2010. Approaching his 38th birthday, this is the best Mark Hunt that the world has ever seen. I can wait to see what’s next for the Super Samoan. I’d love to see him scrap with Pat Barry, by the way. That would be a standup fan’s dream matchup.HUH?Wow….I’m left speechless….or, as is the case here, wordless.Jake Shields DID NOT win every round against Yoshihiro Akiyama on Saturday night. Look, I don’t have a dog in this fight. It’s not like I have an Akiyama bias. If anything, I have a Shields bias – he is a great guy, a lot of fun to hang out with, and one of the true gentlemen in the sport. But he didn’t win all three rounds. Shields even admitted as much in his post-fight interview. This is yet another example of why we need to further educate the judges in our sport. That score was bizarre, absolutely bizarre.  For the record, I scored the fight 29-28 for Shields. I scored the first round for Akiyama. He controlled the action with effective aggression, landed several meaningful strikes, and put Shields on his back. Shields won the second, in my opinion, because he completely dominated the standup game. He didn’t land anything of consequence, but he kept touching his foe over and over. The third was easy to score. Shields almost finished it, and Akiyama should have lost a point for grabbing the fight two (or maybe even three) times.This was a fight where judges got it wrong and right at the same time. Shields won; just not every round.By the way, the fight proves to me that Akiyama should stay at welterweight. That is the best he has looked in the UFC, in my opinion. I’m less convinced that Shields should remain at welter. He seemed exhausted midway through the second round. Thus, I think the weight cut is too much for him at this point in his career. The “man weight” he has added in the last four or five years makes welterweight too difficult. I’d like to see Shields move up to middleweight and see what he can do. Sure, he needs to fix his striking deficiency, if he wants to compete with guys with great takedown defense. But I think that 185 pounds might be the best weight class for him at this point.“THE BARBARIAN” HAMMERS HIS WAY INTO CONTENTION People who suggest that a cornerman is irrelevant probably didn’t watch Tim Boetsch come back from oblivion to knock out Yushin Okami. Boestch got dominated in the first two rounds. Then, as he stood from his stool for the final stanza, his head cornerman, Matt Hume, said “You’ve just got to be super aggressive this round, son.” Translation: You are losing the fight and need a stoppage to win.Boetsch took those words to heart and obliterated Okami in the final round. It was one of the more impressive final round comebacks in recent memory. There was nothing in the first two rounds that suggested that Boetsch had any shot at winning. Instead, it seemed like just another routine unanimous decision for Okami, who is one of the most difficult riddles to solve in the middleweight division. Yet, “The Barbarian” refused to be denied, and he somehow found a hole in his foe’s game – defending the uppercut in the clinch. Okami had no answer, so he went to sleep.Boetsch didn’t just make himself relevant in the division. He is now an instant contender. How can I be so certain? In his last 23 Okami fights, only five men, including Boetsch, hold a victory over him. Anderson Silva. Rich Franklin. Chael Sonnen. Jake Shields. And Tim Boetsch. Yep, he is now legit.PETTIS GOES “SHIN TO CHIN”Joe Rogan is the best in the business. I’m going to take that one step farther. He is the best color man in any major sport. I said it. Flame away. I don’t care. I’ll still read the comments anyway. Rogan coined a phrase that I’m going to use again and again. Anthony Pettis went “shin to chin” with Joe Lauzon, resulting in the most spectacular high kick knockout of 2012 to date. For anyone who wasn’t a WEC fan back in the day, Pettis holds a win over Benson Henderson. Actually, it was more than a win. It was a win punctuated by a ninja kick that swiped the WEC lightweight championship from Henderson’s grasp. But for a hiccup against Clay Guida in his UFC debut, Pettis would have been fighting Frankie Edgar tonight, not Lauzon.Pettis is absolutely among the 155-pound Preferiti. It will be interesting to see what Dana White and Joe Silva have in store for him next. YAMAMOTO CONTINUES HIS RAPID FALLThere was a time, not that long ago, when purported hardcore fans and fan blogs searched for any reason to anoint a non-UFC fighter as the “best in the world.” In my opinion, it was their way of showing the message board world that they knew something that the rest of us supposedly didn’t. Sometimes those folks had it very wrong. Sometimes they didn’t.There is an argument that in 2005 those folks had it exactly right. Those were the days that many viewed Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto one of the very best fighters in the world, pound for pound. That year, he won an elite Japan-based lightweight tournament. He followed up a perfect 4-0 in 2005 with a four-second knockout of Kazuyuki Miyata in what remains one of the fastest knockouts in the history of the sport.Suffice to say, Yamamoto was a beast back then, and at a paltry 5’4, he was almost always fighting much bigger opponents. Yamamoto remained in the pound-for-pound discussion through 2007, racking up a total of 14 consecutive wins. But injuries and a long hiatus from the sport changed everything. Yamamoto has now lost five of his last six fights, including three in a row, despite dropping all the way to bantamweight. I’m not sure what has gone wrong with one of the most popular fighters in Asia. Maybe dropping a couple of fights in a row crushed his confidence? Maybe he is just on a stretch of bad luck? Maybe?If we are being honest with ourselves, Yamamoto is in very real danger of becoming just another opponent, if he doesn’t right the ship soon. Three straight losses in the UFC often results in a man to go find himself in a smaller promotion before returning to the bright lights of the Octagon. I don’t know if that fate awaits Yamamoto or not. Only Dana White can answer that question. What I do know is that a man who used to be viewed as one of the best is in the midst of a dramatic fall from grace.GOMI DOESN’T FOLLOW IN YAMAMOTO’S FOOTSTEPSEverything I said above about Yamamoto being a legend before ever coming to the UFC applies to Takanori Gomi as well. I’ll go so far as to say that he absolutely was the very best lightweight in the world when he was the reigning PRIDE Lightweight Champion. I don’t think there was any doubt about it.Like Yamamoto, Gomi fell on extremely hard times, though his struggles started half a year earlier, at the end of 2008. He dropped five of eight fights from November 2008 through September 2011. Riding a two-fight losing streak (both by stoppage) heading into UFC 144, Gomi needed a win as badly as anyone on the card. Mission accomplished. Well done, “Fireball Kid.” Well done.  The win certainly keeps him relevant in the UFC’s lightweight division. The living legend needs to do more in order to move into actual title contention, but he certainly is still relevant.

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A few observations from UFC 144: “Edgar vs. Henderson”: -The sad thing about Zhang Tiequan losing is that his defeat pushes the date of the UFC event in mainland China back by about three years. -Really, it’s hard to believe Steve Cantwell was ever the champ of any organization. -The competition in high-level MMA has passed “Kid” Yamamoto by.  All that’s left of the man that once was is a bunch of violent clips on a highlight reel and a bunch of depressing losses. -If not for an aged opponent many years past his prime, we’d almost be saying the same thing about Takanori Gomi right now. -Congrats to Anthony Pettis, who, with one smooth knockout, has now place himself back in the mix of lightweight contenders. -Yes, Hatsu Hioki looked great and showed a lot of promise in terms of his standing in the division, but let’s be clear about something: it was only Bart Palaszewski he defeated.  Beating Palaszewski does not mean you’re ready for Jose Aldo. -Tim Boetsch getting dominated and coming back to utterly crush his foe is the reason I watch mixed martial arts.  Also, it’s the reason why I let myself get bitten by radioactive spiders, spend hours in the lab trying to create a Super-Soldier Serum, and blast myself with gamma rays. -Upon re-watching it, I can certainly see how the judges gave the bout to Jake Shields over Yoshihiro Akiyama.  But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Shields isn’t capable of being exciting while Akiyama most definitely is. -I can’t believe that in the year 2012, Mark Hunt can now be considered a viable force in the heavyweight division. -Ryan Bader didn’t so much look good as Quinton Jackson looked awful.  Great slam, though. -In my heart I wanted Frankie Edgar to win, but I can understand why the judges gave Ben Henderson the nod.  Edgar played his Speedy Gonzalez game and scored liberally, yet in no way, shape or form did he visit upon his opponent the same destruction Henderson visited upon him.  However, give the man his damn rematch if he wants it!  Lord knows he’s earned it.

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Quinton “Rampage” Jackson didn’t seem like his usual self against Ryan Bader in the co-headliner of UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson Saturday night. Following an entrance featuring the PRIDE theme and brought those in attendance at the Saitama Super Arena to their feet, Jackson never got on track, looking fairly sloppy throughout as Bader claimed a decision victory. After missing weight, the former light heavyweight champion disclosed he suffered a knee injury in training likely keeping him out of the bout had it not been in Japan. “Rampage” made a name for himself while fighting in Japan before joining the UFC and had lobbied for a chance to compete on the card since the second it was announced. “I almost didn’t make it to the fight, but I didn’t want to pull out for the Japanese fans,” said Jackson at the post-event press conference. “I injured my knee pretty bad, and my doctor told me not to fight. But it wasn’t real serious. I didn’t need surgery or nothing, but he told me it wasn’t a good idea to fight.” Jackson went on to say he believes the injury came about while working with Tyson Jeffries on his wrestling. “Rampage” added his belief he was in as good of shape as ever before the knee problem sprung up and said he would be back fighting once again as soon as he’d healed up completely. The loss was the second consecutive stumble for Jackson who also fell to title-holder Jon Jones in September. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: rampage, jackson, ’t, wasn ’t, knee

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Quinton “Rampage” Jackson wasn’t in the best of moods following Friday’s weigh-ins for UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson. Jackson, who will meet Ryan Bader in the co-main event, missed weight after tipping the scales at 211 pounds. Bader agreed to the fight at a catchweight, with “Rampage” forking over 20 percent of his purse to “Darth.” During an interview on Fuel TV’s weigh-in special, Jackson reported suffering an injury during training that kept him from doing his normal workouts. While he wouldn’t go into detail what the injury was, Jackson seemed quite upset. Earlier in the show, guest analyst Rich Franklin said that missing weight by just a few pounds meant Jackson wasn’t taking the fight serious. Those were fighting words, as far as “Rampage” was concerned. “Rich Franklin needs to watch his mouth before I smack him the next time I see him,” said Jackson, who reported on Twitter some four hours before the weigh-ins that he was still six pounds over. “He should watch what he says. You don’t question if a fighter is taking a fight seriously or not. I take all my fights seriously. I’m tired of people saying that.” Jackson (32-9) will be trying to get back on track after a submission loss to Jon Jones in 2011 in a fight for the UFC light heavyweight title. Bader (13-2) is coming off a knockout victory over Jason Brilz. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/LEXANI

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I was able to watch the FUEL TV fights last week -- where I went 5-1, thank you -- at my brother’s house as he and his roommates celebrated his 21st birthday. I don’t know what to think about the fact that a bunch of college students who hide the holes in their wall with Mission Impossible 4 posters and don’t refrigerate their beer have a better cable package than me. Oh well, at least I cover the holes in my wall with Charles Dickens novels. The Ultimate Fighting Championship makes its long-anticipated return to Japan for UFC 144. Yet again, I’ve been left off the invite list. This was upsetting partly because I wanted to take my love of Ramen noodles to another level. Oh well, if I want an awkward cultural exchange, I can just walk into any Northern Wisconsin sports bar and order a Syrah with fruit notes of a “deep purple plum.” Anthony Pettis vs Joe LauzonThe main card kicks off with a fight that fight should determine who gets the next shot at the lightweight title. Lauzon looked great in his last fight against Melvin Guillard and is looking to fulfill the biblical prophecy of “the geek shall inherit the earth.” Anthony Pettis is coming off a decision win against Jeremy Stephens where he showed much-improved wrestling ability. Prediction:  In the interest of journalistic integrity, I think it’s wrong for me to predict this fight since I personally know and like both of these guys. As a result, I outsourced this prediction to my Grandma.Me: Grandma, who do you think will win the fightGrandma: I hope your friend Anthony wins.Me: Do you think he’ll knock Joe Lauzon out?Grandma: Joe seems like a nice boy. He’s pale like you. I hope he doesn’t get hurt. That fighting business is terrible.There you have it. Per my Grandma Murphy, Pettis by decision.Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart PalaszewskiNext up is Hatsu Hioki facing off against Bart Palaszewski. Hioki has won five in a row, including his UFC debut against George Roop in October. “Bartimus” Palaszewski made his featherweight debut in his last fight with a first-round smashing of Tyson Griffin. He’s also the only fighter I’ve ever seen eat at Cinnabon, so he gets bonus points for that.Prediction: While Hioki has the grappling advantage, his fight against Roop showed his vulnerability in the standup exchanges. “Bartimus” has more power than Roop and that will give Hioki a hard time. Palaszewski will connect with that big right hand and put it away in the first round. If he can just stay away from Cinnabon, he should be a big force in the featherweight division.Yushin Okami vs. Tim BoetschYushin “Thunder” Okami vs Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch – can you say “boom”? Since dropping to middleweight, Boetsch has won two in a row and gets a big step up in competition. Meanwhile, Okami has quietly been looming at the top of the division -- his only losses in the last four years have been to Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.Prediction: So far, Boetsch has had the size and strength advantage at middlweight. This advantage ends at 144. There’s a common misconception that Japanese fighters are always undersized for their divisions. Anyone who’s seen Yushin Okami knows that this idea is patently false. Fighting for the first time in Japan in over six years, Okami will push the pace and grind out a victory with 30-27s across the board. Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake ShieldsBoth fighters here are looking to reverse their recent luck. Sexyama has been on a skid, losing his last three fights to Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort and Chris Leben, triggering a drop down to welterweight. Jake Shields, after winning 15 in a row, has dropped his last two. Prediction: Only two of Akiyama’s 17 fights have gone the distance. Contrast that with Jake Shields, who’s batting over .500 in decisions. Akiyama has judo skills and will try to push it, but he’ll be stifled by Shields’ grappling. Another decision win for Jake, but at least Akiyama has this. Mark Hunt vs. Cheick KongoHeavyweight Mark Hunt has been quite the surprise in the UFC. Since stepping into the Octagon, he's landed three fights and two wins under Zuffa rule. Frenchman Cheick Kongo is coming off an underwhelming UFC 137 win over Matt Mitrione.Prediction: Kongo has shown that he’s willing to fight the “smart” fight even when it’s not the most fan-friendly strategy (see Kongo vs. Buentello, Kongo vs. Mitrione, et al). Mark Hunt’s striking ability can’t be questioned, but his ground game and conditioning are suspect. Kongo will use grappling to wears down Hunt and put him away in the 2nd. It’ll be ugly, so you might want to use this time to grab a drink.... er, maybe not.  Rampage Jackson vs. Ryan BaderRyan “Darth” Bader is a great example of fighter progression. The former ASU wrestler has developed his striking game en route to 6-2 record in the UFC with 3 T/KO wins. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is a 41-fight veteran who’s fought on the biggest stages for over a decade and is looking for a triumphant PRIDE-style homecoming. Prediction: Both of Bader’s career losses have come via submission. While that won’t be a problem against Rampage, Darth’s striking just isn’t at the level to compete with the former PRIDE superstar. Rampage’s boxing has stunted wrestlers like Matt Hamill before, and it’ll do the same here, wearing down his opponent. Japan, get ready -- Rampage wins via TKO in the 3rd and storms Tokyo to celebrate.Frankie Edgar vs. Benson HendersonThe champion Frankie Edgar is currently riding a 7-fight unbeaten streak that’s seen him fight Gray Maynard and BJ Penn twice each. Since losing his WEC title, “Smooth” Henderson has torn through the best in the lightweight division, adding Jim Miller and Clay Guida to his list of victims. Prediction: Edgar has to be the most disrespected UFC champion in history. His only loss came in 2008 to a guy he eventually knocked out, yet people keep saying he should drop down to 145. That said, I think he’s met his match. Frankie’s greatest asset has been his speed, and Henderson won’t struggle with that. Especially after seeing Henderson’s scrambles against Guida and Miller, I doubt Edgar will be able to take him down, either. This one goes into the championship rounds and “Smooth” puts Frankie away in the 5th. The title changes hands, and that sets up the table for Pettis vs Henderson 2.That wraps up another edition of the Downes Side. Be sure to follow me on twitter @dannyboydownes and leave a comment -- I always read them and respond. I know it may come off as desperate, but that’s mostly because I don’t have a better cable package

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, vs, hioki

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UFC President Dana White has posted his second video blog pertaining to this weekend’s UFC 144 lineup, giving viewers a glimpse behind the scenes at what he’s been up to this week in Japan including a press conference promoting the event. In the clip, also White does a little shopping at a MMA-related store in Saitama, though the highlights definitely come from his backstage interactions with UFC 144 fighters Frankie Edgar and Quinton Jackson. “What are you weighing,” White asks Jackson who responds with a laugh, “You don’t wanna know.” Another entertaining exchange between White and “Rampage” relates to Jackson’s desire to move to Japan for a year in hopes of learning the language. However, it’s not necessarily for the reasons one might assume. “My kids be talking sh*t about me. My two youngest kids are Japanese. They’re fluent. They talk sh*t about me right in front of my face. I just want to learn so I can talk sh*t back to them,” Jackon jokes. “I can understand a little bit of what they’re saying but I just know they’re talking sh*t about me. But I don’t know what they’re saying. They’re laughing because they know I don’t know. That’s embarrassing that your kids can speak a language you can’t.” UFC 144 takes place tomorrow night starting at 10:00 PM EST with prelims on Facebook/FX starting a few hours earlier. Check out the full vlog below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, video blog, ’re, sht

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Nick Diaz has finally spoken. Problem is he really didn’t say anything. At least not about testing positive for marijuana following his controversial loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143. Diaz appeared on last night’s premiere episode of “MMA Uncensored” on Spike TV and said he is “under instruction not to talk about that.” Bummer. Diaz did talk a little bit about the Condit fight though and why he’s so frustrated with MMA right now. Transcription via 5th Round: “Honestly, I felt it was smarter to play it safe and go ahead and push forward and win the rounds,” he expressed. “I’ve lost fights before where I’m landing more punches and I’m moving away from the guy. So, the way that they score things at the end doesn’t seem very consistent to me. “I come back and I learn from my mistakes from last time and it doesn’t really make a difference in the end. So, if anything I proved that this isn’t really working out. Because of all these fights I’ve lost, I’m usually winning the fights. You watch the guys taking more damage. “It’s just kinda irritating to me that we’re awarding people in mixed martial arts for trying to move away and not finish the fight.” As for the future, Nick says he hasn’t really thought about any of it yet and it “just feels good to get some workouts in and try to act to normal.” For better or worse, he’s going to have plenty of time for that with his looming suspension. Image via Esther Lin for MMA Fighting

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The beautiful thing about writing about MMA is not only do I get to talk to some of the biggest stars in the sport I am also presented with numerous opportunities to talk to guys just getting their start. For instance, when I first spoke to Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson he had yet to fight in the UFC. Then lo and behold I had five conversations with him in a month and now he could very well be on his way to becoming a future champion in the UFC. Today I spoke with 21-year-old Alex Morono, a welterweight who will be fighting this Friday night for Legacy Fighting Championships 10 on HDNet. Morono is one of those guys that doesn’t take anything for granted. Mature beyond his years, he appreciates the opportunity he has in front of him and realizes that Rome wasn’t built in a day. He’s willing to be patient and when the times right for him to fight for a bigger promotion he’ll be ready. When it’s all said and done these fighters are pretty much the same, they love to compete and are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful. Bryan Levick: Where are you currently training for your fight on Friday night? Alex Morono: I’m training at Gracie Barra up in North Houston. My coach Chad Robichaux has two schools and one of my coaches Todd Moore has fought for the WEC, DREAM, and Strikeforce. He actually fought Shinya Aoki at DREAM 6 in 2008. My striking coach Michael Chase Corley has fought some of the best strikers worldwide. We have a great group of guys here in Houston. BL: How did you get into MMA in the first place? Morono: I didn’t do much when I was young other than play soccer. I was pretty overweight, but I had a couple of friends who were boxing and training in Jiu-Jitsu. We would always get together and watch the old PRIDE fights and one year I asked for a membership to a boxing gym. I was 15 or 16 and fell in love with it; I lost a bunch of weight and had my first Muay Thai fight at sixteen. I won with a headkick knockout and the rest is history. BL: What do you know about your opponent Rashon Lewis? Morono: I know he’s a big strong guy who played college football. We have a mutual opponent and while he lost I ended up submitting the guy in under a minute. I think I’m years ahead of him on the ground and striking, but he’s real athletic and that goes a long way in MMA. Technically I think I’ll smash the guy, but I know I have to deal with his strength. BL: What area of your game would you say is your biggest strength? Morono: I think my footwork is my best attribute. I have managed to take very little damage in my fights which to me is always ideal. It was good to start out in boxing and it’s carried over to MMA. I’ve never really been hit that hard in any of my fights. I think I need to work on my wrestling and I’ve been doing a lot to improve in that area. I have noticed since I began focusing on wrestling my cardio and strength have gone up. BL: What does your family think about you fighting professionally? Morono: At first my mom wasn’t into it and my dad didn’t care. He used to come to all of my Jiu-Jitsu matches. Now they are all at every one of my fights cheering me along. I don’t think they have ever missed a fight. I know my dad is worried that I’m getting hurt, but I’ve never been injured or taken any serious punishment. BL: Where do you see yourself in the next year? Morono: I’m definitely going to take my time; I am not in any rush. My coaches are my guides and since I am only 21 I’m going to take things slow and fight guys that are at my level. This fight for Legacy is great as it’s going to be televised on HDnet. There are some UFC and Strikeforce vets on the card so I’ll be able to get some good experience fighting locally. I really enjoy fighting for Legacy and have been with them since I was amateur. Make sure to check out the 3-1 Morono’s fight out when things start at 10:00 PM EST. Other bouts include action from UFC alums Pat Audinwood and Gerald Harris. PHOTO CREDIT – ALEX MORONO/LEGACYFC

Posted in: fight, guy, ’t, morono, bl

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Contrary to popular belief, there is no secret formula to Benson Henderson’s otherworldly ability to take punches that would drop lesser men or survive submission attempts that would force 99% of his peers to tap out. Simply put, what it comes down to is getting beat up nearly every day for years.And just to confirm, how long has the number one lightweight contender been getting beat up?“Every day,” he said. “That’s part of training. Every single day. I got some tough as crap training partners who are some of the best in the world; people just don’t realize it yet because they haven’t got their shot in the UFC. I’ve got guys at my gym right now that will give Jose Aldo a run for his money first fight in the UFC. I’ve got some guys at 155 that I’d put up against just about anybody in the UFC right now and they’d hold their own.”Don’t be surprised. And not just by his willingness to admit that he’s not “the guy” handing out the punishment at The Lab in Glendale, Arizona. Being humble and more apt to praise teammates like Chris Gruetzemacher and Yaotzin Meza than himself is just his personality, and that egoless approach to life is what has earned him a WEC championship at 155 pounds and now a shot at the biggest prize in his division: the UFC belt currently held by Frankie Edgar.“You just can’t be that way in wrestling, or in combative sports, period, and have long-term success,” said Henderson of the notion that you have to be the toughest guy in the practice room all day every day to succeed. “You gotta get beat up. That’s how you get tougher. When I was in (Dana) College, I got the crap kicked out of me literally every single day in practice my freshman year. I left the practice room in tears every day. I am the man I am today and I’m fighting for the UFC belt today because of that. You just can’t be the best guy in the room all the time, kicking everybody’s butt. You can’t do that and be successful, and you can’t continue to grow. You have to continually get pushed.”You do that, and then when fight night comes, you’re prepared to push back, and few have done it better over the last few years than the 28-year old Arizonan. From the time he made his debut in the WEC in 2009 with a submission win over Anthony Njokuani, Henderson has produced that rare mix of winning fights and exciting fights, as he’s been a part of instant classics with Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, and Clay Guida, en route to a WEC title and 3-0 UFC record. But the finish line is not in view yet for “Smooth,” whose only goal is greatness, a task he believes will begin Saturday night in Saitama Super Arena in the main event of UFC 144.“Frankie’s tough, he’s a great fighter, he’s beaten the greatest lightweight fighter of all-time (BJ Penn), and he beat him twice,” said Henderson of the champion from Toms River, New Jersey. “He has a great chin, he has a great heart, he’s proven himself to be a great champion, and he’s a great all-around guy. What can you not say about the guy? It’s gonna be fun to dance against him. For me to be where I want to be, which is to be the greatest lightweight fighter of all-time, I can’t get there unless I beat the great lightweight fighters out there.”On paper, this five rounder has the potential to meet, or even surpass, the memorable scraps both Henderson and Edgar have already donated to mixed martial arts’ 155-pound archives, and even though there is the added variable of this fight being halfway around the world in Japan, Edgar’s experience in long-distance fights (he won the title in Abu Dhabi) could be negated by the fact that Henderson is no stranger to the five round championship distance, which he has gone twice before. In a fight as evenly matched as this one, every little advantage could be a major one.“Speaking objectively, I wouldn’t say it evens things out, but I have been there before,” said Henderson. “It’s not a new experience for me. It’s not like ‘oh my goodness, what do we do here?’ I have plenty of five round fights under my belt, I’ve been the distance, been rocked, survived, been caught in some bad places, survived, so I think it just adds to the experience level. A lot of guys didn’t realize I had as much experience under Zuffa that I did, and more experience than the guys I was fighting when I came over to the UFC. So it’s definitely a factor and I want to use that to my advantage against Frankie as much as possible.”When it comes down to it, Henderson isn’t asking for any favors though. He’s not expecting an easy fight, an easy weight cut, or a (pardon the pun) smooth ride to a world championship. He’s been around this game long enough to know that nothing comes easy. So his focus shifts from expectation to hope, hope that all the work he’s done, that all the blood, sweat, and tears he’s shed, and all the beatings he’s taken in the gym will have gotten him ready for the biggest fight of his life. He knows he’s ready; now it’s just a waiting game until Saturday night.“We don’t live in a perfect world,” said Henderson. “Not everything’s gonna be the exact way you want it to be. So you just do the best you can, deal with everything as it comes, and hopefully you have one great performance on one given night. That’s all you really want. You want all your weeks, and months, and years of preparation to lead up to having one great performance on one night. I need that night to be this one against Frankie Edgar.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, guy, ’t, henderson

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UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar’s underdog rise has been well-documented over the years, and rightfully so. But as his UFC 144 title defense against number one contender Benson Henderson approaches Saturday night at Saitama Super Arena in Japan, add this little tidbit to the growing legend of “The Answer,” the fact that when he began fighting professionally, the division he would eventually rule in the UFC wasn’t even part of the regular fighting rotation. So what was the eventual goal?Japan.“When I first started the sport, the UFC didn’t have the 155 pound division,” said Edgar, who turned pro in October 2005, which was smack dab in the middle of the lightweight division’s 2004-06 hiatus in the UFC. “I was a little guy, and at the time Japan had a lot of little guys, a lot of shows, and I thought that maybe that was where I would have to have my career.” Obviously that didn’t happen, but it is ironic that he now headlines for his sport’s biggest promotion in the country that he might have had to run to if he wanted to compete on the elite level of the sport. It’s just one of many twists and turns in the professional life of the 30-year old Edgar, who has remarkably kept his wits about him while still remaining the same kid from Toms River, New Jersey that he’s always been. In pro sports, that may be a bigger feat than beating BJ Penn twice.“My family keeps me grounded,” said Edgar, a married father of two sons. “I’m the same person I’ve been since Day One, and I think it has to do with being from Jersey and having the blue collar roots. And it’s just how I perceive myself. I know this can be taken from me at any time, so I gotta make sure I work hard at it, and I’m just trying to enjoy every moment.”That kind of attitude will get you two things: it will get you underestimated by peers who believe you can’t be humble and good at the same time, but more importantly, it will earn you respect from the people who matter: your family, friends, and the ones who actually pay to watch you fight. In Jersey, that type of respect means something, and it’s afforded only to a select few. One of the fight game’s most notable recipients of that level of no-nonsense respect was the late former boxing champ Arturo Gatti. Despite being a native of Montreal, the Garden State adopted Gatti (who lived in Jersey City) as one of its own and stuck with him through thick and thin. So when UFC President Dana White compared Edgar to Gatti after the lightweight champ turned in a stirring come from behind knockout win over longtime rival Gray Maynard at UFC 136 last October, it was high praise, and fitting in many respects.“It’s an honor to be compared to Gatti in the sense of toughness, putting on exciting fights and representing Jersey,” said Edgar. “I’ve been to a couple of Gatti fights myself and I was always a big fan of his, but I don’t want to be known as the guy that could take a punch because that means you’re getting hit too much. (Laughs) I’d rather be known as the guy that’s dominant and smart and finds ways to win. But again, if I get praised for being tough, that’s something I welcome too.”Gatti was one of boxing’s good guys, and his toughness and penchant for delivering exciting fights was legendary. At the same time, he lived as fast and hard outside the ropes as he fought inside them, likely shortening his career at the top. That’s the difference between “Thunder” and Edgar, and it’s why we may see “The Answer” on top of his sport for years to come. Then again, there are no easy nights in the 155-pound weight class, as Edgar has seen in his four championship fights thus far. In the first two, he went five rounds with Penn in decision wins at UFC 112 and UFC 118. In the next, he had a third consecutive five rounder, rebounding from an almost certain knockout defeat against the only man to ever beat him, Maynard, to earn a draw. And then last October, he again rose from the canvas against Maynard; this time though, his comeback ended in a fourth round knockout victory. That’s a lot of work for any champion, but Edgar’s not complaining. In fact, ask him about fighting someone named Henderson and not Maynard, and he smiles.“You know, it’s nice,” he said. “Having to think about Gray for such a long time, it’s kind of welcoming to prepare for someone different, physically and mentally.”Few, if anyone, would say that they welcome a fight with Henderson, the hard-charging former WEC champion, but that’s why Edgar wears the belt around his waist. And while “Smooth” produced his own Edgar-esque highlight reel in the WEC, the champ is only focusing on the recent past of his challenger.“We only try to look at recent fights because that’s the closest Ben we’re gonna see,” he said. “Obviously, we’re all gonna be different from fight to fight, but you can’t look too far back to see what kind of guy he is; you want to look at stuff more recent because that’s most likely what he’s gonna show up as, and you take it from there. All in all I don’t really try to fight a face or a name; I’m just fighting a style. He’s an opponent and that’s how I try to approach it.”That’s the smartest approach, because looking at the lineup of contenders waiting for him should he turn back Henderson could drive anyone crazy. So it’s one opponent, one style, and one fight at a time. That’s the mental game in a nutshell, and it’s one Edgar is in the process of mastering, especially the part about hoping for the best but expecting the worst.“Every fight I would love to get them out of there in 30 seconds and make it a nice, easy day,” he said, “but that just doesn’t seem how it works for me and I never prepare for that. I always prepare for the drag ‘em out wars because you gotta expect that. If you go in there expecting it to be a quick fight and it doesn’t happen, you can kinda get blindsided. I’m expecting a war, I know how tough he is, I know he brings a hellacious pace, and he wants it. This is the UFC title we’re talking about. No one’s gonna walk into this fight not wanting this badly, because I know how I was when I was a challenger, so I gotta approach it as a champion ready for a hungry kid.”  

Posted in: ufc, fight, time, ’t, edgar

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In honor of WWE’s decision to air a live Smackdown on Tuesday night, this week’s review will be super-sized, discussing action from that show in addition to Monday Night RAW. Both featured moments equating to multiple steps down the “Road to Wrestlemania” so let’s get right into it, shall we? My initial reaction to Eve Torres’ behavior during RAW’s opening segment was one of being insulted. Not by her apparent gold-digging ways, mind you, but rather by the ridiculousness of her confessing so openly to The Bella Twins with a camera right in her face. She’s been a rival of the Bellas for a long time, making the scenario extremely strange, and even a child would understand the potential for John Cena to find out he was being used and be a little more discreet as a result. Fortunately Cena was there, listening in, which made things a bit more bearable based on the comedic exchanges it lead to. On that note, clearly Cena’s character is reverting back to his older, harsher style of running down adversaries. He even mugged to the camera a few times, saying, “The kid is back,” off microphone. It’s a turn fans have been waiting a long time for though one I’m not sure will continue beyond Wrestlemania. Regardless, his cold-blooded verbal assault on Eve was classic. Hopefully the angle will involve her having a mental breakdown or trying to hurt herself as a way of showing how “evil” Cena has become since Kane inspired him to “embrace the hate”. Also, beyond simply the Eve stuff, Cena’s later promo was one of the best in awhile from a guy who is talented on the stick but can’t always color outside the lines as he did in discussing The Rock and even his own failed movie career. All in all wonderful work by the writing team and Cena. Sheamus vs. Mark Henry was nothing to write home about. Truly, I can’t think of a less appealing semi-headliner at Wrestlemania in recent history than Sheamus taking on Daniel Bryan will be. David Otunga is obviously getting pushed now though Ezekiel Jackson was a poor choice to use. Otunga out-powering a guy of Jackson’s size/stature requires the wrong kind of imagination on the viewer’s part. It’s beyond believable whereas a guy who is smaller, yet technical, beating a relative giant would make more sense. Unfortunately Otunga doesn’t posses the skills to back up that type of style in the ring and thus we’re treated to overly-choreographed, amateurish work. Was anyone else as entertained as I was in hearing The Undertaker eating “What” chants? It was bizarre to not see the audience in the palm of his hand but that’s what happens when you let Taker cut a promo rather than seem like a silent bad-ass. His outfit was far from intimidating and, other than a few nice lines from HHH, I thought the segment did a poor job building any real interest in their Wrestlemania fight. I said “Hell in a Cell” long before the words ever were spoken because it was an obvious route to take. P.S. – Don’t be surprised when you see Shawn Michaels involved as a special guest referee. Equally predictable was Chris Jericho winning the Battle Royal to face CM Punk at Wrestlemania. Then again, even if the scenery wasn’t anything to gawk at the destination is still one worth visiting and I expect great things from Jericho-Punk both in the ring and on the microphone leading up to their bout. As far as Smackdown goes, it seems clear WWE is setting up a John Laurinaitis vs. Teddy Long match with control of both RAW/Smackdown GM duties on the line. After watching Long butcher lines on RAW there’s no question Laurinaitis has my support. He’s not great but he certainly isn’t terrible, something you won’t find my saying about Long who has overstayed his welcome in my book by at least a year. The rest of the show was fairly forgettable. More Otunga-Jackson gibberish, Henry plummeting back to Earth after his title-run, Big Show getting a throwaway feud with Cody Rhodes, and so on. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, cena, line, wrestlemania, tuesday night

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You learn a lot about a fighter after a defeat. You may find out even more after two losses. Luckily, Ryan Bader passed all his tests with flying colors after the lost first half of 2011 that saw him drop back-to-back bouts to future light heavyweight Jon Jones and former 205-pound boss Tito Ortiz.He didn’t fade into the background, he didn’t hide from the bright glare of the media or from the barbs of fight fans. He took the first two defeats of his pro career for what they were – simple setbacks, made some adjustments, and when he returned to the Octagon at UFC 139, he took just 77 seconds to blast out tough Jason Brilz and return to the win column. Sounds simple enough, but a lot went on between February and November of 2011, and to make it into 2012 as a promising 205-pounder on the verge of contendership again, he had to look back to his college days and a similar scenario.“In wrestling, I was ranked number one as a sophomore at one point, and I ended up shuffling between the top five and top ten,” said Bader, an Arizona State University wrestling alum. “You lose some, but I got fourth that year. But my junior year, I went out and I didn’t place, I didn’t become an All-American after being ranked so high in my sophomore year, and I was kinda in a slump.”Enter ASU’s assistant coach Aaron Simpson, a future training partner and fellow UFC fighter. Simpson sat Bader down and gave it to him straight, letting him know where he lost his way.“You’re going out there and if you don’t have a four point lead or something, you start to do crazy stuff, and they’re scoring on you and coming back to beat you,” said Simpson. “You need to go back to what you were doing sophomore year – going out there, grinding it out, and winning by one or two points, but being smart about it and doing what you do and not freaking out if you’re not beating them by a lot of points.” Bader listened to his coach, earning All-American status a second time in 2006. Now he looks to have a similar resurrection in mixed martial arts, where he tore out to a 13-0 record and the season eight Ultimate Fighter title before losing to Jones and Ortiz.“I’ve been there before, so I know that I needed to get in the right frame of mind, and I have,” he said. “Going into that last fight, I put those two losses behind me, and I went out there and fought aggressively to finish the fight, and that’s how I’m gonna continue to fight.”Changing things around in his Power MMA & Fitness gym in Arizona, as well as bringing in Carlos Condit’s original coach, Tom Vaughn, has done Bader good, but there are certain things that can’t be dealt with externally; they must come from within, and Bader passed this test by showing his grace while being constantly reminded of Ortiz’ stirring comeback win over him at UFC 132 last July.“These days with social media – Twitter, Facebook, and all that kinda stuff – you’re always being reminded, especially that fight with Tito,” he said. “I get Tweets up to today about it, and it just reminds you and motivates you, but at the same time, you can’t take it too much to heart. You’re out there doing it and putting it all on the line, and stuff happens sometimes.”True, but at least it’s good stuff now, as the win over Brilz propelled the 28-year old into a UFC 144 co-main event this Saturday night against former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. “I finally have the ability to prove myself again with a fight like this,” said Bader. “It’s a huge fight, he’s coming off a title shot, he’s beat the Who’s Who of MMA, he’s a legend of the sport, everybody knows who he is, and he’s still in the Top Five of the division. So the opportunity is there for me again to go out there and beat him and let everybody know that I do belong with the top fighters in the division. It’s a great opportunity, and I’m gonna seize it.”And with Jackson hinting at a return to the aggressive, yet sometimes reckless, form that won him a legion of fans back in his PRIDE days in Japan, Bader sees that possibility as an opportunity to use his opponent’s aggression against him.“He’s mentioned that a few times in different interviews that I’ve seen, and when we were out there for the press conference in Japan, he said how he might be more open, trying different stuff, and taking risks to please all the Japanese fans,” said Bader. “I hope he does because if he does that, he’s opening himself up a little bit too. So there are pros and cons to it, but there’s nothing he’s gonna do that’s gonna really surprise us. We’re training to fight our fight.”That probably means using a controlled aggression, his underrated punching power, and his wrestling to keep Jackson off-balance, wondering where the next attack is going to come from. Defensively, Bader is probably safe from his Achilles Heel in his two losses – submissions – but among other things, Jackson has fight-changing power and the experience to get himself out of any serious jams.“Rampage is tough,” said Bader. “He’s obviously known for his heavy hands, he comes forward, he has great head movement, and not only that, he’s got great takedown defense. You don’t see many people taking him down. He has those heavy hips, he’s a big dude, he packs a hard punch and he can take a punch. So he’s gonna want to go in there and implement his gameplan and walk you down and land those big bombs on you, and try to put you away. That’s what he’s known for – knocking people out and slamming people and all that, but that’s what we’re ready for.”You hear that all the time from fighters, but you get the impression that Bader’s readiness is for real. He’s seen the bottom already; now it’s time to get moving back toward the top.“2011 was an interesting year, but I’m glad it happened because I wouldn’t have changed some things if those losses didn’t happen,” he said. “That was the catalyst for great things this year. I’m gonna go out there and beat a legend of the sport and I’m gonna be a new fighter. Each fight I’m gonna get progressively better and I want to get up there in the upper echelon of the 205-pound division and stay there.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, year, ’m, bader

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They called it a major upset. Why? That’s a mystery, considering that Joe Lauzon had gone 7-3 in his previous 10 UFC bouts, ending five of them via the ground game that was opponent Melvin Guillard’s Achilles heel in the Octagon. But when October 8, 2011 rolled around in Houston, Texas, many fans and pundits feared for Lauzon’s health against the Louisiana knockout artist dubbed “The Young Assassin.” New England’s “J-Lau” wasn’t shaking though. “I knew that Melvin was most dangerous when people are scared, so I wasn’t gonna be scared,” said Lauzon. “I might have gotten knocked out because of it, and he might have beat me, but I wasn’t gonna make it easy. I was gonna come forward and fight hard, and if I lost, I lost. At least I didn’t make the mistake I knew beforehand, which was if I came out tentative, then he would eat me up.”Lauzon did a complete 180 from tentative, dropping Guillard early and then finishing him off with a textbook rear naked choke. The whole fight took just 47 seconds. And while the fans screamed upset, Lauzon didn’t take the lack of pre-fight faith in his abilities personally.“I think a lot of people were surprised by it, but I wasn’t surprised at all,” he said. “I didn’t think it was gonna end exactly like that, but I one hundred percent expected to beat Melvin. And I wasn’t insulted. What I may see as a clear cut advantage on my side, other people might think that I’m way outmatched, or vice versa. They might think I have a clear cut advantage on something, but it’s a lot closer than they think. So I don’t really get too upset on things like that. It was definitely an upset in a lot of people’s eyes, but I was really confident.”More than four months later, Lauzon’s days of creeping up on unsuspecting opponents appear to be a thing of the past. On Saturday night, he faces dynamic rising star Anthony Pettis in a UFC 144 main card bout at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and the talk isn’t of Lauzon upsetting “Showtime,” but of him being in the lightweight title picture with a victory. That’s heady stuff for the 27-year old from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, one of many things on his proverbial table at the moment, including the fact that he’s fighting in one of most fighters’ bucket list destinations – Japan.“I’ve always wanted to fight in Japan,” said the eight year pro. “Before MMA was real big here, Japan was always the place to go. It’s turned around now, but before, when the UFC was just getting going and gaining all that momentum, Japan was the place to fight, so it’s pretty cool to go back there and be part of such a big card. The quiet fans are going to be a trip. I always hear my corner very clear and I’m very accustomed to their voices, so I can pick them up, but listening to the other corner and all that kinda stuff is all gonna be pretty cool. I think we’ll hear (commentators) Joe (Rogan) and Goldie (Mike Goldberg), and I’m looking forward to all of that. I started training before I started watching the UFC, and honestly, I think I watched a little bit more PRIDE in the very beginning than I did the UFC. There were the entrances with the drums and there were so many people there and the whole entire thing is just a surreal experience.”And in a place where the fighting culture celebrates not just the winners, but those who deliver compelling fights, Lauzon and Pettis are a perfect fit. Plus, Lauzon believes that though he has been painted as the groundfighter going up against a striker in Pettis, things may stray from that perceived script on fight night, not surprising considering that Lauzon’s standup has looked extremely sharp in his last three bouts against Gillard, Curt Warburton, and George Sotiropoulos, and that Pettis’ wrestling was solid in his recent win over Jeremy Stephens.“I think Pettis is good everywhere,” said Lauzon. “Everyone knows him as the kid that jumped off the cage, and he’s obviously got good kickboxing, but he’s good on the ground too. I think people forget that part about him. Also, I don’t think he’s got a clear-cut advantage on the feet, like a lot of people are thinking. Everyone looks at me as ‘oh, he’s got so many submissions,’ and this and that, but I think people forget that I’ve been hurting people with my punches and that’s been setting up my submissions. The last couple fights, I smashed guys on the feet, and then I took a submission once it hit the ground. So I don’t see it as this clear-cut striker vs. grappler match that a lot of people are seeing. I favor the ground over standup and I think Pettis favors standup over ground, but I think we’re both pretty even in a lot of areas, and I’m expecting a tough fight and an exciting fight. Most likely, the fight’s gonna end somewhere absolutely crazy, so I’m excited.”Yet despite Lauzon’s penchant for highlight reel finishes, the way he sees it, none of that is possible without having a firm grounding in the fundamentals – both standing and on the ground – that he works on with guys like boxing coach Steve Maze and grappling guru Ricky Lundell.“The fundamentals are the most important thing,” he said. “I learned early on, doing jiu-jitsu and grappling and things like that, rather than being really, really good at a couple moves, I wanted to just know 50 moves and be able to impress people and do things like that. But as I got better, those 50 moves weren’t working on people. I had maybe a couple moves that would work on someone that was good. So instead of me trying to learn all those different moves, I just try to focus on the fundamental stuff. That’s all I really care about. You’ll never see me do anything super fancy in a fight, boxing or wrestling wise. I want to be really, really good at the fundamentals. Grappling, I could do a little bit more because I’ve been doing it for so long and I’m so confident and things like that. But if I’m in camp, I’m not trying to go ‘oh, this is a new, cool move;’ I’m trying to do all the things that I already know and tighten things up and get better. One of the things BJ (Penn) said to me on The Ultimate Fighter was that it’s just advanced basics. You have to know the basics inside and out. Whereas someone might know a couple details on it, you’ve got to know all the details on it. You have to know it better than the other guy, and that’s how you’re gonna win. You’ll shut down his basic movements, which are the building blocks for everything else they do.”In other words, you have to know the rules before you can break them. And now that Lauzon has put in endless hours in the gym and has compiled close to 30 pro fights, he has earned the right to mix things up a bit and add his own particular flair to the basics.“People think I do a lot of crazy stuff now,” he said. “I used to do so much crazier stuff before. I toned it down, but because I’ve got nine years of doing off the wall stuff, it works out for me. If you’ve got really good fundamentals, then it’s easy to figure out some of the crazier stuff and go outside the box a little bit. But if you don’t know those very basic building blocks, it’s really, really tough to start doing more advanced stuff.”It’s around this time that it’s safe to start getting excited about this fight, not just because it’s a meeting of two of the top 155-pounders in the game, but two of the most exciting. Yet after nabbing post-fight bonuses in nine of 11 UFC fights, does Lauzon start expecting them?“I don’t start counting the money, but it’s gonna be sad when I have a fight and I don’t get a bonus,” he laughs. “But I’m more focused on putting a good fight and winning than I am about saying ‘oh, I’m definitely gonna try and get a bonus.’ And the way I fight brings lots of bonuses my way, so I don’t think about it too much.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, people, thing, lauzon

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Full audio from today’s Strikeforce “Tate vs. Rousey” conference call via BJPenn.com. Also, here are some choice quotes from the call via MMA Fighting. Miesha Tate on looks playing a role in this fight: “I’m not in denial about that. I understand the logistics behind it and why this fight would want to be put together and how it has the ability to do bigger things than if Sarah Kaufman and I were fighting each other. Just the hype, the selling points, the marketing points — I understand all of that, because it’s not just a sport. To me, the sport is the most important part. But honestly, like I said, if nobody wants to watch it, it’s more of a detriment than anything else.” Ronda Rousey on the same: “I think that’s part of what makes this fight so exciting, so anticipated. We’re pretty much getting into unarmed combat, anything’s possible. Someone could die. When you see two girls that pretty much look like Xena: Warrior Princess going at it, that was a show on TV for a reason. People want to watch it. It’s going to be a huge fight and it’s going to change women’s MMA.” Rousey on her quick rise through the ranks: “This day a year ago I was working three jobs and struggling to train and do all this stuff, and I just wanted to be done with all of that. I just wanted to be able to support myself through fighting and I wanted to do it as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to sit around and do that for a few more years and slowly work my way up while telling everybody ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and bowing my head. I knew that I could win the title the day that I started, and the quicker I could get it the better. If giving a couple more entertaining interviews than some of the girls helps me out, then I’m going to do that.” “I’ve been being pretty much overtly rude. I haven’t been lying or saying anything I didn’t think [was] true, but I’ve been saying things I wouldn’t say to people’s faces usually because it’s not polite.” Tate on making the most of the opprtunity: “We have a responsibility as women to stick together and really try to help other girls… Ronda and I are getting the opportunity for the limelight. The thing about women’s MMA, when you have very little opportunity for mass exposure, you’ve got to make the most out of it. It’s got to be the most bang for your buck.” It was also revealed today that KJ Noons has yet to be medically cleared to fight on the card, Derek Brunson is off the card because he failed medicals and Roger Bowling vs. Brandon Saling has been added.

Posted in: fight, ’t, anything, tate, rousey

Read the full article at MMA Convert

The upcoming season of the Ultimate Fighter debuts in a few weeks with a new “live” format and a batch of potential-laden prospects looking to become the show’s next graduate to achieve stardom inside the Octagon. However, one of the most intriguing aspects of TUF 15 has to do with the intense rivalry between coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. Though both bantamweights are supremely talented neither seems to respect the other, even where ability is concerned. Faber recently elaborated on his mindset regarding Cruz, saying the champion poses little danger in the cage other than when it comes to picking up points and winning a decision. Unphased by Faber’s remarks, Cruz responded on this weekend’s episode of Inside MMA where he referred to their fight last July, saying, “I’ll always fight him better than he’ll fight me. As much as he wants to talk about being the more dangerous fighter, this and that, the dude was on his heels the entire fight. He didn’t want to come forward. He was countering the whole time (or) looking to counter because he didn’t know when I was going to come or go.” “There’s a style that he doesn’t understand…that he chooses to say negative things about….because he can’t understand it,” Cruz continued. “What you don’t understand you choose to talk bad about. He’s not gonna beat me. He doesn’t know how. I’m gonna go in there and have my way with him just like I did the last fight.” TUF 15 debuts on March 9. Though no specific date/event have been attached to the rubber-match between Cruz and Faber it is believed their bout will go down at UFC 148. Check out Cruz’s complete response to Faber on below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, ’t, doesn ’t, cruz, faber

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Joe Lauzon spends a lot of time playing video games. With the technological advancements in UFC Undisputed 3, an actual fight with Melvin Guillard was completely unnecessary because the game’s AI had already declared him the winner before the second round in any probable scenario. If Melvin threw a kick, Lauzon would catch it and get the fight to the ground. If Melvin would punch, he would duck and take the fight to the ground. Or, If Melvin decided to bounce in and out of the pocket with a hit-and-go strategy; Lauzon was prepared to counter with the appropriate combination to shift Melvin’s equilibrium just long enough to get the fight to the ground. You see, you’d be irresponsible to act like odds-makers and assume that videogames aren’t sophisticated enough to determine a more probable outcome. Most gamers would agree. At this point, all that Joe Lauzon vs. Melvin Guillard banter seems irrelevant considering the fight is over and the outcome is sealed in Wikipedia’s library of record keeping until someone gets bored and screws it all up. However, J-Lau has had enough of Melvin Guillard telling the world that he didn’t get ‘beat’, but rather, that he beat himself. In an interview with BJPenn.com, he had this to say about the situation: “Whenever I see Melvin he is always super nice you know, before the fight and after the fight he is always ‘Hey how you doing?’ always really friendly. But then in interviews I see [him say] ‘Well Joe didn’t beat me, I beat myself.’ It’s like no, I slapped you in the face with my fist and then you went down and I choked you. I’m pretty sure I am taking credit for that. I kind of feel we set the gameplan for beating Melvin. You come forward you don’t act scared of him and let him get off and he kind of falls apart a little bit. That’s exactly how Miller went. Our fights were almost identical… It’s like, how do you lose two fights in the exact same way? What kind of progress or improvement did Melvin show since when I fought him?” Melvin Guillard has vowed to drastically improve his iiu-iitsu game over the next year at the Blackzillians’ camp. We certainly hope he does because we’re huge fans of anyone who walks into the octagon looking like a miniature Simon Phoenix. We also hope that someone educates him on the MMA omen that overshadows his past two losses when he weighed in and/or walked out to the cage wearing sunglasses indoors.

Posted in: fight, ’t, guillard, melvin, lauzon

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A year ago, I discovered a little sandwich shop on Mulberry Street that produced the finest Chicken Parmesan sandwiches I’ve ever had. That entire summer, I continued frequenting the restaurant and also discovered their turkey sandwiches were enchanted with an unknown mysterious additive. No, it’s not just a turkey sandwich. They do something miraculous with turkey, skipping several generations of culinary & technological advancements to produce a sandwich that I refused to tell anyone about, because I didn’t want the most ballerish sandwichery in NYC to be discovered. Later that year, Anthony Bourdain’s highly acclaimed “No Reservations” show on the Travel Channel discovered the same place and America’s most outspoken food snob proclaimed “Torrisi” as one of NYC’s best kept secrets, thereby shredding any hope I had of keeping my gustatory treasure to myself; after millions of people watched the hour-long dissection of how amazing their food was, and how no other comparable restaurant sourced their ingredients as honestly, locally, and sustainably as them, it became instantly impossible to even see a table outside of their lunch hours. Formerly smug and well-fed foodies were forced to settle for something far less extraordinary in Little Italy just down the street, but on Wednesday, February 15, I found myself walking back up that same street for the first time in months to have a sandwich with Joe Lozito – avid MMA fan, assistant treasurer at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, loving father of two, and self-proclaimed Chicken ‘Parm’ aficionado. I tried to explain how amazing these sandwiches were, and insisted we endure the hour-long wait for a table (thanks to Anthony Bourdain’s endorsement). Ultimately, we were in great spirits following our brief walk up Mulberry Street, which consisted of smiles, jokes, and laughter as he brought closure to a yearlong saga that played out in New York City’s criminal court system. On February 12, 2011, Joe entered New York City’s subway system en route to work, following a routine he has practiced for years, just like millions of his fellow “straphangers”, as they’re known locally. What differentiated Joe from everyone else on the train was that his years of watching MMA would ultimately save his life, and the lives of every other man, woman, and child on the train that day. The "one" train he normally took uptown wasn’t in service that morning. Indifferently, Joe boarded the "three" line. He assumed a seat in the front car nearest to the subway operator’s quarters and waited for the doors to close but there was a delay as an ‘emotionally disturbed person’ boarded the same car and proceeded to pound on the operator’s door. If you’ve spent any extended time in New York City, none of this would seem out of the ordinary. In fact, I would venture to say I’ve never experienced a completely “normal” subway ride getting anywhere in the 25+ years I’ve lived in this city. Unbeknownst to Joe, this particular unhinged man was the focus of a city-wide manhunt following four consecutive murders stemming from the night before. When the conductor essentially told the man to get lost, he turned his eyes to Joe, the person geographically nearest to him at that very moment. He reached to his belt line and retrieved an eight-inch chef’s knife, the kind you’re probably accustomed to seeing in a kitchen, stared directly into Joe’s eyes and muttered “You are going to die”. Within seconds, the knife traveled into & out of Joe’s arms, shoulders, and head; a total of seven times. Joe immediately planted his legs on the vinyl-coated floor and shot for the most important single-leg takedown of his life while the train came to a screeching halt. A passenger must have triggered the subway’s emergency brake lever upon seeing the savage attack commence. Bleeding profusely, Joe wrestled the man to the ground, disarmed him, and more or less single-handedly brought an end to the Maxim Gelman 24-hour killing spree, while the rest of the subway’s patrons resisted getting their hands dirty. Several moments later, two New York police officers emerged from the conductor’s cabin, where they had resided for the duration of the train’s course. They immediately arrested Gelman and graciously accepted credit for apprehending NYC’s most wanted man while Joe continued to bleed out onto the dirty floor of the subway car. Nobody knows exactly what prompted two armed personnel sworn to protect and serve the people of New York to wait as long as they did to come out and pick up the suspect they were specifically stationed to look out for that day. It was nearly 25 minutes after the attack began when the train proceeded to the next station and Joe finally made it into an ambulance where his bleeding cuts were tended-to. To date, he credits his survival to a single compassionate passenger, Alfred Douglas, who found some clean napkins to compress his most critical wounds and kept him alive long enough for medics to take control of the situation. While Joe was rushed to the hospital, the local news coverage of his ordeal exceeded any other headlines that week. There wasn’t a single channel covering sports, pop culture, or politics, where the story wasn’t about Joe Lozito stopping a madman on a killing rampage. Less than a day later, Joe was considered medically stable enough to talk to media regarding his horrifying experience on the subway. Throughout the entire media-blitz, the reoccurring question remained, “How were you able to overcome a man stabbing you and end up disarming him?” Joe’s humble response, over and over again, was, “It’s something I’ve seen guys do in the UFC on a regular basis, but without the knife.” It’s the story he told FOX, ABC, CBS, TMZ, and finally Dana White - who responded by deeming Joe a true life “hero” and subsequently invited him and his family to sit at a VIP table at UFC 128 in Newark, New Jersey. Since then, Joe has sat ringside at multiple MMA events, considered a guest of honor - and in our opinion, it’s well deserved for many reasons. Besides the gravity of what he was able to overcome, protecting dozens of horrified passengers, this was the first time that all major media sources united to produce a story regarding Mixed Martial Arts in a positive light in a state where the sport is still illegal - In fact, it remains the ongoing joke of the MMA world that people like Bob Reilly have ignorantly (and without rational consideration) called mixed martial arts “savage” and unfit for the state of New York. I’d venture to guess that people like Mr. Reilly or any of his constituents at the New York State Assembly would struggle to remember any time when a baseball, football, or basketball fan was able to use what he saw on TV to stop a ruthless murderer and save potentially countless lives in the process. Needless to say, Joe Lozito is not impressed by their ignorance either. Eleven months later, MMA is still illegal in New York and Maksim Gelman will serve 200 consecutive years in prison without the possibility of parole. The local media swarmed the sentencing, capturing disturbing images of the psychopath verbally lashing out while the victims’ families cried over their lost loved-ones. It was a top story in a city where there’s rarely enough time to cover something that happened a full calendar year ago. Despite the lunacy, it wouldn’t be Gelman’s last time in court or his final hurtful remark. Just 27 days later, on February 15, 2012, Joe returned to court to face the man who tried to kill him, who was to be sentenced for up to an additional 25 years in prison, a formality at this point, but a final opportunity for Joe to say his piece to the murderer. While our cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, a brief transcript of Joe’s final statement to Maksim Gelman was clear and concise: “This guy has a lot of time he has to start serving... I don’t want to keep him here.” Joe proceeded to acknowledge Alfred Douglas for saving his life by giving him first aid after the attack. He then looked directly into Gelman’s eyes. “When you attacked and I took you down, you went down real easy,” “You didn’t take me down, you jerk-off,” Gelman fired back. Looking at the courtroom, Lozito responded, “Look, it’s the funniest Russian since Yakov Smirnoff.” A brief moment of laughter overcame the courtroom. Joe proceeded. “I appreciate that you chose me, I really do... Maybe if you’d continued your extreme cowardice, you would have picked on another person, a woman and maybe she couldn’t defend herself. Or a child.” Gelman resumed interjecting, “You fucking jerk-off. Moron!” “Why are you so angry?” Lozito mocked back. Clearly infuriated, Gelman began hollering loudly, forcing the judge to tell him to keep quiet. “Just think about the lives you have changed,” Lozito resumed, then listed the names of Gelman’s four victims. “They’ll never get to walk the face of this earth because you’re a spoiled little boy who nobody listened to as a kid. Instead of taking your ball and going home, you threw a tantrum.” “I wish you all the best. I hope you rot in your cell and you have hell to look forward to, so enjoy it.” Given a last chance to speak on his own behalf, Gelman’s final words were simply "Kim Kardashian, will you marry me?” followed by one last insult towards Lozito, “That jerk-off can suck my dick.” “No thank you, for the record,” Lozito replied as he took his seat and awaited the judge’s sentencing. "We've been subjected today to something of this man's evil, unrepentant nature," Judge Carruthers said. "Remove him." He handed down an additional 25 years in prison to the pre-existing 200 year sentence. Gelman was escorted out through the back of the courtroom for the last time, and the remaining spectators in the room were left looking around at one another in abrupt disbelief at what they had just witnessed. A quadruple homicide + attempted murder convict wasn’t in the same league as the other criminals before the judge that day. That kind of evil wasn’t even in the same galaxy of most people’s notions of reality. At a charity event MiddleEasy attended a few months ago sponsored by the New York Mixed Martial Arts Initiative, Joe was uncertain how he’d handle himself once the day arrived. It was our first time meeting, and he was reluctant to introduce himself, despite effortlessly being the most charismatic man in the room. My initial impression was that he was a soft-spoken individual who could say a lot without saying anything at all. The look on his face often tells a variety of stories. Joe will probably wear the physical scars of the wounds he sustained for the rest of his life, but emotionally, I’m convinced nothing could ever break him. When the time had come, Joe took a deep breath, stood up, and proceeded out of the courtroom just as confident as he walked in, answered a few questions amidst a flock of impassioned photographers and journalists, then insisted he wanted the best chicken parm sandwich on the island of Manhattan. Luckily, I knew just the place… We toasted a round of beers in the spirit of closure to a year-long wait to say his peace. You could ask Joe Lozito 10,000 different ways, and he’d deny that he’s anything remotely close to a hero, but the reality of what he did transcends any notion of just being humble. It’s because of him that dozens of people who rode the subway got home safely on the night of February 12, 2011. A year later, the people who sat there while Joe was getting attacked by a monster continue live their lives as though nothing ever happened, and they may never fully grasp how lucky they were that this particular MMA fan was aboard that train. Not only is Joe Lozito a hero, but he’s a person that can never be thanked enough for putting himself in harm’s way so that nobody else had to. If you haven’t yet, you should take a moment to send him a simple “thank you,” on Twitter. He whole-heartedly appreciate every single motivational message you send his way, insisting it makes his physical and mental recovery that much more bearable. He also responds to every last message and is always up for a discussion about sports. On a personal note, it’s people like Joe that give me faith in humanity, humility, and make me proud to be in a position to tell his story. Thank you, Joe Lozito. I’m proud to consider you a hero, and a friend. Additional thanks go out to Jason Nawara for editing this footage we obtained by sharing this day of closure for a lot of people.

Posted in: ’t, joe, year, lozito, gelman

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There aren’t many fighters out there flashing a bigger smile than the one UFC welterweight Johny Hendricks currently has splashed across his face. A 12-1 wrestler with knockout power, Hendricks is coming off the biggest win of his career in knocking out Jon Fitch and has another huge test ahead of him in the form of facing Josh Koscheck at UFC on FOX 3 he’s eagerly awaiting. Hendricks spoke about the upcoming fight with Koscheck where the enthusiastic 28-year old expressed his thoughts on the opportunity, saying, “I’m so excited. As soon as they told me…I was coyote huntin…I couldn’t even coyote hunt and I love hunting. I was so excited I was like, ‘Hey guys, I’ve gotta go home and start watching film, doing stuff for that.’ Man, I can’t wait!” Hendricks: “The Bigger the Fight the Better I Am.” While Hendricks had originally hoped for a shot at Carlos Condit’s interim welterweight title, with Condit deciding to sit out and wait for linear champion Georges St. Pierre to return it appears Hendricks feels Koscheck was the next best thing. “If I beat him I might get Fighter of the Year. That’s what I’m looking for now,” explained the Oklahoman. “If I don’t get that title-shot let’s move towards something else.” Of course beating a seasoned opponent like the 17-5 Koscheck is certainly easier said than done, Hendricks is absolutely confident in his ability to put the polarizing pugilist away. “Put my hands on him, take him down, whatever. I don’t care where the fight goes. I believe I’m better than him everywhere the fight goes,” Hendricks stated on the subject of taking Koscheck out. “I just can’t wait to hit him. Put this left hand on him and see what happens.” Koscheck-Hendricks will serve as part of a four-fight main card on FOX featuring Lavar Johnson vs. Pat Barry, Alan Belcher vs. Rousimar Palhares, and headliner Jim Miller vs. Nate Diaz. Check out the full Hendricks interview below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, koscheck, hendrick

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While most see Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen Part Deux as a foregone conclusion, as clear cut as the matchmaking may be the UFC has yet to announce an actual bout between the rival middleweights has been signed. Even Sonnen went on record last week to say he has yet to actually be offered the fight despite hearing from multiple sources it’s essentially a done deal. One of the things holding up the highly anticipated pairing from taking place appears to be Silva’s health. Though the dynamic Brazilian has returned to training since injuring his shoulder and back, the 36-year old Silva (who turns 37 in April) recently admitted he still isn’t close to 100%. “I’m always doing some BJJ training in a gi with the guys so I keep everything well-adjusted, but due to the injuries to my shoulder/back I’m a little slow,” confessed Silva in an interview with Sherdog. “I’m doing physical therapy and nursing it enough so when I’m really back training there aren’t any injuries that hinder me.” “You reach a certain age where you don’t heal as fast so you have to take your time,” he continued. “I don’t want anything to be wrong when I come back to the real hard training. I’ll continue doing physical therapy until the pain goes away and I’ll keep up the workouts.” The UFC has targeted June for the title-fight between champion Silva and challenger Sonnen giving “The Spider” another six weeks to heal up before starting a full blown camp. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ’t, silva, training, ’m, time ”

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Close your eyes and try to picture a fighter with more than 45 fights under their belt, a guy who has been competing for more than a decade.What do you see?Chances are you see a battle-hardened veteran, a forty-something who has been around the block a time or two. You most likely picture a faded star, someone left trading on his name and accomplishments that came a long time ago, fighting on the regional circuit in front of a couple thousand fans at best.What you probably don’t picture is a 28-year-old featherweight contender with a crooked, hot pink Mohawk and a mischievous grin preparing to make his second trip into the Octagon next weekend at the famed Saitama Super Arena, where thousands of Japanese fans will watch him compete.You don’t picture Bart Palaszewski.The vast amount of experience he has accumulated at a relatively young age isn’t the only facet of the long-time Team Curran trainee that makes him different from most of his peers either.Ask Palaszewski a question and he’ll give you an honest answer — no clichés, no filters, and no sugarcoating. Regardless of the subject, “Bartimus” gives it to you straight, a departure from the “stock answers” approach most athletes employ these days.“I was always told you’re as good as your last fight,” began the 35-14 featherweight who has fought in an alphabet soup of organization over his ten-year career when asked about his upcoming opponent, Hatsu Hioki.“That’s what Monte Cox always told me over the years, and Monte knows his stuff. If his last fight impressed anyone, they have got to be a hardcore Hatsu Hioki fan. I mean, personally, I think he lost the fight, and I hope he performs the same way against me.”Considered one of the top 145-pound fighters in the world, Hioki made his UFC debut in October at UFC 137, earning a split decision victory over George Roop that many believe should have went the other way. Explanations for his poor performance started being offered as soon as scorecards were read, with the ubiquitous Octagon jitters leading the way.Earlier in the night, Palaszewski made his first appearance in the Octagon as well, dropping to featherweight for the first time. He knocked out UFC veteran Tyson Griffin just past the halfway mark of the opening round, earning Knockout of the Night honors in the process.He says Hioki wasn’t the only one suffering from Octagon jitters that night, which is precisely why he’s not buying it as an excuse for his poor performance.“I had jitters, but you’ve just got to get out there and do it. Just because I have more fights doesn’t mean I don’t get nervous before a fight; I get nervous before every single fight. I’m nervous for this fight.“I don’t care if I have 10 fights in the UFC — it’s still a UFC fight. Every fight is going to be against a top opponent in a big, big show, so the Octagon jitters will never go away, bottom line.“I beat Tyson, and now I went from a guy that was Top 10, now I’m stepping up again and fighting a guy who’s Top 5. Should I have jitters again? It’s constantly going to be like that. Ready-made excuse maybe?”Palaszewski isn’t really concerned about the explanation — he’s too busy preparing for the biggest test and most important fight of his career.He knows that regardless of his tepid performance against Roop, Hioki is a talented competitor who earned his place in the upper echelon of the featherweight division by beating some of the best fighters the 145-pound ranks have to offer. While he wasn’t impressed with what he saw four months ago at the Mandalay Bay, Palaszewski knows he’s in for a challenge.That’s precisely why he asked for this fight in the first place.“Hioki’s actually a fight we asked for. Before my fights, I always make up my list with my coaches and my management — guys we’re going to go after in case I lose or if I win a fight,” explained the former member of the IFL’s Quad City Silverbacks. “We got to turn the winning list into the UFC last time, and Hioki was at the top of the list.“I’m extremely excited that the UFC granted me my wish, and they think I’m worthy of fighting a top contender like Hioki. But like I said, it was a fight that I wanted; it wasn’t a fight that was luck of the draw or the UFC throwing the fight at me. I think I match up with him really well, and it’s going to be a good fight.“I think a win over Hioki will definitely propel me to being in the running (for a title shot), but I’m not looking past Hioki. He’s a tough dude, obviously; he’s a top contender. He’s top 5 in the world, he’s got an amazing record, he’s got everything backing him up, so I’m just looking at him, concentrating on him 100 percent.”Featherweight champion Jose Aldo is blazing a path of destruction through the division. Having already collected victories over Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, and the previously unbeaten Chad Mendes, it’s conceivable that the winner of this fight could be the next man to challenge the 145-pound dynamo for divisional supremacy.In typical fashion, the former WEC lightweight contender gives an earnest assessment of his place in the pecking order, before trailing off into what can only be described as “Bart being Bart.”“I’m 100 percent Hioki right now, and personally, I think there are guys ahead of me. I think there are a lot of guys that have more wins, and in my eyes, they deserve a shot sooner than me.“Obviously, if the UFC says `Go’ I’m one of those guys that — if the UFC says, `Jump!’ I don’t even ask, `How high?’ I just start jumping. If it’s not good enough, I keep trying harder and harder to jump higher. If they tell me, `You’re up against Jose’ I’m going to do it, but if not, I’m focused on the next step.“But the UFC hasn’t said anything to me. There’s a lot of chatter online, but that doesn’t mean squat unless it comes out of the UFC’s mouth, which doesn’t make sense because the UFC doesn’t have a mouth.”As the laughter subsides, the reflective and serious side of Palaszewski returns as the conversation shifts to the strange odyssey that has been his professional career, which started with a loss to former WEC champ Cole Escovedo in 2002.“Shoot — I was in high school when I started fighting. I was a young kid, and I was doing it for fun. I mean, I still do it for fun, but it just happens that it’s my job too; it’s a hobby and a job all at once.“I take it seriously from that point of view because it is my job, but it’s that much easier to get up in the morning because it’s something that I love to do. It’s not like I have to go answer to some #$$%^&^ at work, telling me what to do. I’m extremely happy, and I’m very… I don’t even know… I’m ecstatic about it. I get to do in life what I love to do.”Palaszewski hit a rough patch a few years ago when he was putting more energy into what he calls “The Fighter Lifestyle” — partying, staying out late, and sleeping all day. That stopped prior to his fight with Zack Micklewright at WEC 50. Now instead of spending his mornings recovering from the previous night’s activities, he hangs out with his daughter.The always honest Palaszewski knows it’s no coincidence he’s found success and climb to the brink of contention in the featherweight division now that he’s found what works best for himself outside of the cage.“At this point, I’ve just grown up I think. I’ve seen a sports psychologist, and that’s the thing: I always had performance anxiety because I was just a kid, man. I was kid fighting in a man’s world. At this point, I’m growing up; I know what needs to be done.”Palaszewski points to his performance against Griffin in October for proof that the changes he’s made are paying dividends, and says things are right on schedule for his showdown with Hioki in Saitama this coming weekend.“The first cut was easy. I know this is going to sound weird, but it was easier than making ’55 because I had to be so strict with my diet, and I had to be so strict with my roadwork that (making) ’45 was easy. I spent a lot of time on the treadmill, elliptical, and everything else you can think of.“I was so light heading out to Vegas, and I was so strict, my mind was set on making ’45. I didn’t do a practice cut or anything; I signed the fight for ’45, and that was it. I figured out a diet plan, and the pounds were coming off just right that we didn’t have to adjust anything. This weight cut has been going well — I’m actually lighter than I was at this point last time, so I’m happy. “It’s cool that Saitama has held so many historic fights in MMA; it’s going to be huge. It’s a great arena, and it’s definitely a different experience. Japanese fans compared to US fans are two different worlds — you’re going to have 30,000-plus people there and you’re going to be able to hear a pin drop. I’m stepping into enemy territory, so I guess I’ve got something even more to prove now.”When asked for his thoughts on how the fight with Hioki would play out, he answered the same way he does with every question — honestly, with a dash of “Bart being Bart” for flavor.“I’m going to be in Beast Mode, homie! I’m gonna kick some butt!”

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, ’m, hioki

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ELLENBERGER BECOMING TOUGH TO IGNOREJake Ellenberger added to his rapidly growing win streak by overwhelming a game Diego Sanchez on Wednesday night. It was an easy fight to score. Ellenberger controlled the action on the ground and on the feet through the first two rounds. A spirited rally by Sanchez wasn’t enough to offset the 10-minutes of effective work Ellenberger put in during the early parts of the fight. But the back-and-forth was enough to earn each man a $50,000 check for the “Fight of the Night” award.Ellenberger now has six consecutive wins on his resume, after suffering a loss in his UFC debut. Think about it for a moment. Other than Nick Diaz’s multi-year winning streak that recently got abruptly ended courtesy of Carlos Condit, who else in the division has put together a run over the last couple of years that is more deserving of a number one contender standing than Ellenberger? Jon Fitch? No. Josh Koscheck? No. Sanchez or maybe Thiago Alves? Certainly not. Jake Shields or Johny Hendricks? Try again.For my money, Ellenberger now stands alone behind Condit in the 170-pound pecking order. It will be interesting to see if the interim champion chooses to take an optional defense, or if he will sit on the sidelines and wait for the true welterweight kingpin, Georges St-Pierre, to return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. That decision will likely impact whether Ellenberger gets the much coveted first shot at Condit or if he will need to win yet another fight in order to secure a shot at UFC gold.My guess is that Condit will wait, rather than risk his pending bout with GSP. I wouldn’t advise him to go down that path, but all signs seem to be pointing in that direction right now, which means Ellenberger will likely fight in an official title eliminator next. Could that be a bout with the winner of the May 5 bout between Kos and Hendricks? Sounds like the perfect matchup to me.BIGFOOT SIGHTING!Man, Dave Hermann is one furry guy. From the bushy beard that extended down to his Adam’s apple to the body-hair sweater he rocked inside the Octagon, I don’t think I can recall someone who has recently competed in the UFC who more closely resembled Bigfoot. Andrei Arlovski could also be confused for a Wookie when he doesn’t partake in the phenomenon that has become known in recent years as “manscaping.” But he doesn’t quite rise to Herman’s level in the Bigfoot look-alike contest. The crazy amounts of fur may have been exaggerated because Herman was competing against a guy who could easily be confused with Mr. Clean. Stefan Struve appeared hairless from head to toe. It was quite the contrast in human appearance. Of course, none of that is relevant to the actual fight. Herman’s bushy beard did not save him from getting knocked out. And the sweater didn’t factor into the outcome, other than possibly contributing to a good warm up. Yet, a day later, Herman’s physical transformation remains the most memorable part of what was a pretty entertaining fight. SIMPSON-MARKES HIGHLIGHTS THE WEAKNESS IN THE CURRENT SCORING SYSTEM Mixed martial arts is a tough sport to judge. No question about it. But I’m struggling to understand a few of the scorecards. Aaron Simpson nearly knocked out Ronny Markes in the first round of their contest. He also dished out a pretty good beating on the ground – to the tune of 19 unanswered ground strikes. The second round was a much closer round. Neither man really hurt the other. The only significant moment was a takedown by Markes, but he didn’t do much with the takedown, aside from landing a couple of decent ground strikes that were a far cry from the frequency or savagery of Simpson’s ground strikes in the opening round.In the absence of any other differentiatior, a takedown is certainly an appropriate data point to determine the winner of a particular round of completion. But was it enough to justify awarding Markes the same score that the judges awarded Simpson one round earlier? The easy answer is the score was absolutely appropriate under the current scoring system. Markes won the round. A 10-10 score in the second would have been a complete travesty. Similarly, a 10-8 round for Simpson in the first would have been a crazy outcome. So, what other choice did the judges have, other than scoring the fight even through two?I think those two rounds perfectly illustrate the need for a new scoring system, one that takes into account squeaking out a round versus nearly getting knocked out or submitted versus taking a savage five-minute beating. The issue, of course, is that I don’t really know how to score the round, apart from the 10-point must system. Do we add half points? Is there a different answer?  I don’t know. I only know that there has to be something better than the current status quo.HAS MENJIVAR FOUND HIS GROOVE?Ivan Menjivar was going nowhere fast when the calendar turned to 2011. The Salvadorian mixed martial artist entered the year having lost three of his last four fights, including his long-awaited debut in the bantamweight division. Honestly, it seemed like he was on a fast track to the mid-major shows.Then something happened. I don’t know what it was. But Menjivar found something. Three fights. Three wins, one by each flavor (submission, decision and knockout). Menjivar is now 3-1 as a bantamweight. After a career spent fighting much larger guys, he finally seems to have found his true home competing against guys who are closer to his natural size. Another win could very well put him into title contention. If we are being honest with ourselves, the bantamweight division remains a work in progress, in terms of pecking order.  Sure, there’s reigning champion Dominick Cruz, and former champion and MMA poster boy Urijah Faber is the next in line. Renan Barao arguably stands third. After that, it is anyone’s guess.Does Menjivar’s three-fight winning streak put him in that next level below Barao? Or, does he need a bigger body of work, after suffering a rough 2006 that lead a temporary retirement that lasted nearly four years?You tell me. Spell it out in the comments below.

Posted in: fight, ellenberger, round, ’t, ground

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Even though it’s been a year since the falling out between former teammates, current rivals, Jon Jones and Rashad Evans it appears Greg Jackson is living up to his word and won’t be in the champ’s corner when he defends his title against Evans in Atlanta this spring. Evans was under Jackson’s tutelage when “Bones” first joined the team and split from the group in New Mexico as a result of his issue with Jones. “I don’t expect him to be in my corner,” said Jones earlier today during a press conference promoting the event. However, though Jackson may not physically be there that doesn’t mean the renowned instructor won’t be on Jones’ mind throughout the fight. “Greg has taught me this whole thing about being a great artist,” explained Jones. “And he said, ‘In order to be a great artist you need a great coach, a great teacher. You need someone who is always giving you new paint, new paintbrushes.’ That’s what he’ll do leading up to this fight. He’s gonna give me lots of new tactics, lots of new ways of thinking and approaching this sport. And then I’m gonna have the canvas on April 21 to paint a new masterpiece.” Jones Thinks Evans is “Coming Down the Other Side of the Hill” Then again, while he may not have said so specifically, it apparently wouldn’t bother Evans if Jackson did corner Jones based on the damage that’s already been done. When asked what his relationship with Jackson was like at the moment, Evans replied, “We don’t have a relationship. We don’t get to talk no more. I haven’t talked to Greg in probably a little over a year.” Jones-Evans will serve as the headliner at UFC 145 with other match-ups including Rory MacDonald vs. Che Mills and Brendan Schaub vs. Ben Rothwell. Check out the entire press conference below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: jone, jackson, ’t, evan, greg

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With the UFC’s heavyweight division dealing with a recent surge from Strikeforce it turns out there’s a former UFC champion who also wants to get in on things in the form of Tim Sylvia. While he’s publicly lobbied for a second shot in the organization where he held the title on multiple occasions, “The Maine-iac” is now reaching out to fans in hope their voices will be heard by the Zuffa brass. He’s also taking a few of the UFC’s current athletes to task in the process. “I think I deserve to be there,” said Sylvia in a video he posted on Twitter. “For the people that hate me, I really need you to tell me why. I don’t understand it. If anything I’m basically one of you guys. I wasn’t a college athlete. I wasn’t much of an athlete at all. I had to work my ass off to get to where I am today.” Sylvia, who is 6-2 since losing to Fedor Emelianenko, also questioned why fighters he feels he’s superior to both in terms of skill and marketability are given an opportunity in the Octagon while he can’t get a sniff. Among the names mentioned is Stefan Struve’s, the 6’11 “Skyscraper” who pounded out Dave Herman last night at UFC on Fuel 1. Grouping Struve in with Christian Morecraft and now-released Joey Beltran, Sylvia stated, “The list goes on and on. I don’t understand why any of these guys are in the UFC. I think I’d knock them out in the first round.” The 30-7 Sylvia also added that people who don’t like him should want to see him be proven wrong by getting his ass kicked inside the Octagon. At 35 and with a birthday in March it seems Sylvia’s time may be running out. However, given his championship-winning history, having slimmed down to the point he can make 265 pounds, and some relative success as of late including wins in his last two fights, stranger things have certainly happened. Check out the full video below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, struve, sylvia, tim sylvia

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

There’s no question that UFC welterweight Diego Sanchez is one of the most exciting fighters on the roster. A dynamic personality with tremendous heart, an iron will, and polished skill-set, Sanchez has made a name for himself as one of the few “must see” competitors since making his Octagon debut in 2005. However, since defeating Kenny Florian at the original Ultimate Fighter Finale, Sanchez is only 11-5 including last night’s clear-cut decision loss to Jake Ellenberger. Sanchez spoke some about his performance after the event on the Fuel TV post-fight broadcast where the 30-year old also addressed the possibility of dropping back down to lightweight. Though “The Dream” avoided offering anything concrete on the topic it appears he’s at least open to the idea. “That’s up in the air,” responded Sanchez when asked about competing at 155 pounds. “I’m gonna take the fights that propel me to the biggest stage.” In 2009 Sanchez went 2-1 at lightweight, losing in a championship bout against B.J. Penn after taking out Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida. He is only 4-4 in his current divisional home since 2007. As far as the ankle injury he errantly referred to after his loss, at least regarding fans’ reaction, the 23-5 Sanchez elaborated some saying it wasn’t an issue during the fight with Ellenberger but affected his ability to prepare. “It wasn’t that it bothered me, you know? It was okay. I had an ankle brace on it and a little tape but I just didn’t have the proper training that I could have had if I would’ve been at 100%,” Sanchez explained. “I didn’t get to run. I didn’t get to sprint. I couldn’t even jump rope. I had to work around the injury, do what I could do, and prepare. I came in with the best Sanchez that I could be. I gave it my all.” All was nearly enough, as Sanchez overcame two-and-a-half rounds of losing to nearly pull out a victory in the end thanks to a late flurry on the ground. Check out the complete interview below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: bj penn, ’t, sanchez, wasn ’t, championship bout

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This isn’t a story about fighter pay.  This isn’t a story about the financial inequities – perceived or actual – in the business of sanctioned fighting.  This isn’t about how someone should be compensated for their services, or about how life can be unkind to those who are diligent and hardworking.  This is a story about Keith Mills, who, at 43-years old, has been covering the sport of mixed martial arts since before it was even called that, since before there was “The Ultimate Fighter” and live events aired on FOX, since before the bald guy in Las Vegas began issuing forth profanity-laced tirades and made what was once spectacle into a billion-dollar industry.  For over eleven years, Keith has been aiming his lens and capturing shots of mixed martial arts competitors in action.  His work appears regularly in everything from mainstream outlets ESPN and Sports Illustrated to top MMA news websites Sherdog.com and MMAWeekly.com to the United Kingdom magazine Fighters Only and the Japanese magazine Gong.  He’s been flown out to shoot fights in such locales as Costa Rica, Hawaii and Russia.  And for the last two and a half years, Keith has been homeless. When you look at him it makes sense, the Devil, as they say, residing right there in the details.  There’s his Abraham Lincoln-esque beard and missing front teeth, his tattered, patchwork denim jacket and the Full Contact Fighter magazine logo tattooed on his upper arm, all contributing to an appearance akin to some Amish/outlaw biker hybrid sans menace, his friendly demeanor the only indication that he won’t hit you with a tire iron when your back is turned.  He’s the Octagon Generation’s version of Vietnam War photojournalist Sean Flynn, a figure of stylized eccentricity, shooting pics of combat not from the berm of a rice paddy but from the edge of a cage. There’s a whole world of MMA events out there that never make it to pay-per-view or broadcast television, regional-level affairs taking place in casino ballrooms and civic centers – really, anywhere a promoter can get away with erecting a cage and setting up rows of metal folding chairs in concentric circles around it.  Far away from the glitz and glamor of the UFC’s extravaganzas of pomp and circumstance, that’s where these events are found and where you’ll find Keith.  Though he gets credentialed to shoot those big UFCs, the bulk of Keith’s work is done in the minor leagues, where nearly every weekend there’s an event for local heroes to carve out small, private chunks of legend for themselves. A decade of working alongside Keith, of knowing him by the overpowering odor of stale cigarette smoke that permeates his clothes, his jovial laugh, and the confidence that, while I’m writing from cageside, his camera would be there too, targeting whatever I’m seeing from another point along the circumference of the cage, and the first I learn of his living arrangements comes in a throwaway conversation.  We’re at an event called the Cage Fury Fighting Championship at the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., and I ask him how long it took him to drive up from his home in Maryland.  He doesn’t have a home, he tells me.  He lives in his car, and has been for a while. This isn’t the first time Keith has been homeless.  At 17, he lived “around the University of Maryland” for six months, and when he was 25 he spent two years around Baltimore, splitting time between a storage shed and his car.  But this stretch has lasted for two and a half years, precipitated by a layoff from his day job at a Borders bookstore in Friendship Heights, Washington, D.C. in December, 2009.  “I think of this as ‘working poor’,” he says. All possessions not in his Honda Civic are kept in his sister’s garage in Newark, Delaware.  He keeps some food at his girlfriend Amber’s place in Takoma Park, M.D., and when not on the road, he sleeps “around Columbia, Maryland”.  “Amber has multiple sclerosis and her health insurance is so high that she has a tiny place,” he tells me.  “There’s not enough room for the both of us.” Sherdog is footing the bill for his motel room for his Cage Fury Fighting Championship gig, which enables him to process and send along his photos as well as crash in an actual bed.  “I’ll stay with Amber tomorrow,” he says, laying out his schedule for the week, a week that will culminate with another event – this one called Ring of Combat – in Atlantic City.  “Tuesday to Friday I’ll sleep at rest stops on I-95.  Saturday I’ll get another motel from Sherdog to process Ring of Combat photos.  Repeat and rinse.” In 2011, Keith grossed an average of $1,749 per month.  But there’s no set season for MMA competitions, just periods of varying frequency, and it is there, in the depths of inconsistency, that Keith often finds himself struggling to stay afloat.  “I pay for gas to get between cities,” he says, and goes on to describe how fueling his car can cost $200 one month (like this month, for example, where he’ll only trek to West Virginia once and New Jersey twice) and maybe $1,000 the next.  In addition, he pays $35 a month for his cell phone and $140 for car insurance.  And last but not least, there’s the food he must buy. Keith paints a picture of the near future, of a March and April that will have him driving to Kansas City, K.S., Hammond, I.A., Bossier City, L.A., and Laredo, T.X., luxuriating in a motel once a week and residing at rest stops and truck stops the rest.  “I have an atlas where I’ve circled the rest stops that have electricity, to charge batteries and use my microwave.  I plan my travel accordingly.  I also have a book which lists truck stop locations.” With all that travel and no real home to come back to, it’s a grueling existence, but when ESPN and Sports Illustrated use your photos, and when the UFC is calling you to request the rights to various pictures of fighters they’ve acquired, fighters you’ve shot when they were toiling in the minors… to some, it’s probably worth a bit of suffering in hell.  “I’ve stuck with it because it’s natural to me, is a constant challenge, rewarding – emotionally, anyway – and it gives me a tremendous sense of purpose.  I always grow an inch when my Japanese editor says, ‘I appreciate you.’”  He goes on to add, “It’s not about money.  It’s about doing something with your life.” “It’s not too bad,” he says.  “I have a microwave in my trunk to cook at rest stops and motels, and a refrigerator in the back seat that’s powered off the cigarette lighter.”  He lists the blanket he keeps in his car as another asset.  “I have a yearly Internet account at a truck stop chain called TravelCenters of America – Internet is the biggest challenge, not finding a place to sleep.  I despise WalMart’s employee practices, but their website has a store locator and most are open twenty-four hours for groceries.”  “The biggest issue is no health insurance,” he says.  “If something goes wrong, like when my knee blew out in Austin, or when the car breaks down in Richmond, I’m fucked.  Also, when editors pay me late, I sometimes get stranded in places like Gainesville, F.L., for a couple days.” For every homeless person wandering the streets or stuck in a shelter, it’s assumed the glittering brass ring that dominates their hopes and desires is a place to call their own.  That assumption holds true for Keith.  “The goal is to get Sherdog to pay for plane tickets,” he says.  “I figure if I improve every quarter what I’m capable of, eventually I’ll be worth plane tickets, and then I can use the money I now do for travel on a place to stay.” And so it goes for MMA’s homeless photojournalist, the Flying Dutchman of the fight circuit, doomed to steer a course for anywhere he can park his car and microwave his dinner while the rest of us sleep comfortably in our beds.  Once, long ago, when I asked him why he’d gone into the business of shooting fights, he reasoned that it was a path to become a photographer for the Associated Press – something that had been a dream of his. “Actually, I look at this as a budget version of the wire photographers at the Associated Press,” says Keith.  “At least I’m not sleeping in a foxhole in Croatia or being shot at.” 

Posted in: ’t, place, car, isn ’t, keith

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There’s little argument in the MMA community about the impact a fighter’s mental state can have when it comes to success inside the cage. As is the case in most walks of life, those who have a high level of confidence tend to win while less secure athletes stumble. Tonight’s UFC on Fuel 1 main event between Jake Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez will feature two men cut from a similar mold who will both enter the Octagon supremely self-assured based on their past accomplishments and dedication to greatness. Ellenberger recently elaborated on his mindset in an interview with the UFC’s website where he explained, “Fighting is such a mental game; it’s all about confidence. If you truly believe you can become a world champion, it’s going to happen. If you don’t, and you doubt it, for sure it’s not going to happen. I completely believe I will become world champion — I just don’t know when it’s going to be.” With the future typically hazy in MMA, especially when it comes to the UFC’s current welterweight scene, Ellenberger makes sure not to look too far down the road instead of at the challenge directly in front of him. “For now, I’ve really just tried to focus on one fight at a time, control what I can control, and move forward with each fight. I’m in no hurry. I’m young, and I’m still learning — I’m learning every day — so I’m just focused on Diego,” said the 26-year old Ellenberger. In terms of how he envisions their headliner playing out, Ellenberger appeared unconcerned about Sanchez’s skill-set based on “The Juggernaut” having trained with some of the sport’s top guys in preparation for the pairing at Reign Training Center and Kings MMA. “I feel like I can win this fight anywhere that it goes, and I’m prepared to fight the whole time,” revealed the 26-5 Ellenberger. “It kind of goes back to that confidence — I’ve been fighting against some of the best Muay Thai guys and some of the best wrestlers in the world every day, so I’m confident that there’s nothing he’s going to bring that I don’t see everyday or haven’t seen before, truthfully.” “I’ve prepared for the long, grueling, not fun fight, but that’s how we do it, you know? That’s what we train for,” he concluded. “I know I’m going to win this fight. I can’t tell you when and how, but I will leave with my hand raised, there’s no doubt about that.” Catch Sanchez-Ellenberger as part of the show’s featured broadcast on Fuel TV tonight at 8:00 PM EST with preliminary action on Facebook at approximately 6:15 PM EST. Fans without Facebook access or simply wanting to brush up on some great fights can also watch Sanchez in some of his greatest fights on Spike TV starting at 7:00 PM EST. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, ellenberger, ’t, i ’m, ’m

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I was disappointed with my performance in my UFC 143 prediction column , so I spent Sunday dealing with it in the same way I’m sure Nick Diaz did – retail therapy at the World Market. Is there any pain that wicker furniture can’t make go away?There will be twenty fighters looking to avoid the warming embrace of wicker this Wednesday as the Ultimate Fighting Championship rolls into Omaha, Nebraska for UFC on FUEL TV. The main event pits Diego “The Dream” Sanchez against the “Juggernaut” Jake Ellenberger. It’s Sanchez’ first fight since last March when he took on Martin Kampmann and ended up looking like this. I was front row with Pat Barry for that fight and trust me, it was worse in person – struck to our cores, we both called our mothers and told them that we loved them.Ivan Menjivar vs. John AlbertThe main card kicks off with “The Pride of El Salvador” Ivan Menjivar against John “Prince” Albert. This is the classic veteran against the exciting TUF-tested prospect matchup. TPoES has been in the MMA game for over 10 years and has fought every bantamweight worth mentioning (plus random guys like “GSP” and “Urijah” at various weights in smaller promotions). Albert -- while falling in the quarterfinals of TUF 14 -- made his mark knocking out Dustin Pague in 69 seconds at the finale.Prediction: I have to go with the veteran on this one. Some might say it’s my anti-novelty-body-piercing bias, but as a responsible journalist, I assure you that is not the case. Menjivar just has too much for Albert to handle. He’ll push the pace and not give Albert the chance to get comfortable. Menjivar by TKO in the 2nd TJ Dillashaw vs. Walel WatsonIn the second bantamweight brawl of the night, Team Alpha Male male and TUF finalist T.J. Dillashaw goes up against Walel “The Gazelle” Watson. Dillashaw looks to rebound from a well-placed left hook that cost him the TUF crown. Bantamweight Watson, graced with a rare-for-the-weight-class 5’11” frame, is well versed in submissions, with 7 of his 9 wins coming from tapout.Prediction: I’ve watched enough Animal Planet to realize that whenever there’s a gazelle on TV, it’s usually bad news for that gazelle. Submission skills are important, but as the recent Maia/Weidman fight showed us, they can be neutralized by strong wrestling and that’s what exactly will happen here. Dillashaw will get the takedown, get position, get control and get the decision. On the bright side, unlike his Animal Planet counterparts, at least Watson will get to keep his entrails.Stipe Miocic vs. Phil De FriesThe next bout features a showdown between undefeated heavyweights. Collegiate wrestler and Golden Gloves champion Stipe Miocic looks to give British BJJ purple belt Phillip De Fries his first loss. Prediction: I don’t surprise easily (unless you count the cancelling of “All My Children”), but I would be shocked if this fight went the distance. Both fighters are dangerous, strong competitors. The difference here will come to boxing and that’s where Miocic will use his superiority and wind up with the 1st-round TKO. (That, incidentally, will give him as many wins as Erica Kane has husbands.)Aaron Simpson vs. Ronny MarkesArizona State wrestler Aaron has been riding his “A-Train” to a three-fight win streak. Ronny Markes is a well-rounded fighter from Brazil who boasts an impressive 12-1 record beating opponents by knockout and submission. Prediction: I learned my lesson last week betting against the Brazilians, and I won’t make that mistake again. Simpson has been steadily evolving into an MMA fighter instead of a wrestler who fights. Having said that, he still has had a hard time putting guys away. Markes has more firepower and – unless his debut drop to middleweight was too taxing – ends this one in the 3rd.Stefan Struve vs. Dave HermanJust 23 years old, Stefan Struve is making his 10th appearance in the UFC – thanks for making the rest of us look bad, Stef. The 6-foot-11 “Skyscraper” is looking to run his record 7-3 to the organization. Meanwhile Dave (as in vs. Goliath) Herman, made a successful Fight of the Night debut in June against the massive John-Olav Einemo, and here he’s looking to topple another giant opponent.Prediction: The secret word is “distance.” Struve’s biggest weakness in his fights has been his inability to use his height effectively, and I see this trend continuing. Herman will be able to get inside those long limbs and deliver some punishment. Plus, by fight time, the temperature will be near freezing in Omaha. Struve may have that hardy Dutch blood, but never underestimate the usefulness of body fur.Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger In the main event of the evening, we’ve got two fighters seeking to step up the welterweight ladder. Jake Ellenberger has won his last five fights, the most recent being a strong TKO over Jake Shields. Diego Sanchez returns to the Octagon since that aforementioned bloodbath with Kampmann left him convalescing for a few months. Prediction: Tony Robbins may have helped Diego attain a new outlook on life, but it won’t improve the outlook at the end of an Ellenberger fist. Even The Dream’s solid chin won’t be a problem for The Juggernaut. Ellenberger gets the hometown-boy win and puts Sanchez away in the 2nd. I just hope this fight doesn’t make me want to curl up in the fetal position like the last one did.As another issue of the Downes Side closes, be sure to follow me on Twitter @dannyboydownes and comment on the article. Last time the comments section heated up and I was challenged to a fight for the rights to the column. Pistols at dawn? A game of chicken with farming equipment like in the movie “Footloose” perhaps? I’ll let the people decide.

Posted in: fight, ellenberger, ’t, vs, sanchez

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The last time I saw Tim Sylvia was at a post-fight press conference in Worchester, MA. He asked me to pass him a bottle of water and then pointed out my fly was down. Amazingly, he was the first person to notice my zipper was at half-staff the entire evening. Either the lighting at the DCU Center was dim, or Tim Sylvia has owl-like vision and extraordinary attention to detail. If Mariusz Pudzianowski understood English, he probably would have joined Roxanne Modafferi, Butterbean, and the rest of the room enjoying a laugh at my wardrobe-malfunction’s expense. Props to The Fight Nerd for the emotional support thereafter. Tim Sylvia doesn’t understand why you people don’t like him. We don’t either. He also doesn’t understand why he’s not in the UFC, maintaining that he feels like he can beat 80% of the guys in the organization. When he’s not protecting the streets of Iowa with his part-time police gig, he’s cutting videos on YouTube pleading with fans to help get him back in the UFC. Queue the Batman themed music while The Underground comes to the rescue!

Posted in: ’t, tim, sylvia, tim sylvia, owllike vision

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Almost a month ago to the day he first announced his possible retirement from Mixed Martial Arts after injuring his back, UFC lightweight Kenny Florian is still feeling the effects of his herniated disc and no closer to knowing whether or not he’ll ever fight again. The 35-year old Florian, who celebrates a birthday in May, addressed his condition as recent guest on Sherdog Radio where he explained, “I want to be able to train like I was before…If I’m not able to do that, if I can’t do two times a day or whatever, can’t keep a training schedule like that, I’m not going to compete. My health isn’t worth it. I’m someone that when I want to do something, I want to do it 100 percent.” Florian continued by saying he is still able to work out to an extent but is still extremely limited, stating, “Sometimes I’ll try to push it a little bit and find out that my back definitely isn’t close to 100 percent. It’s tough. It’s been very, very frustrating just because I’m doing such limited work — training — from what I was doing before.” Currently Florian has served as one of the core players on Fuel TV’s UFC programming including his role as a co-host on UFC Tonight. The former lightweight/featherweight title-contender holds an overall record of 16-7 with fourteen wins inside the Octagon. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/TAPOUT

Posted in: ufc, ’t, i ’m, florian, ’m

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Last year, the song “Coming Home” became a staple on the mixed martial arts circuit. Whether in their home state, province, city, or town, the man born Sean John Combs and his band Dirty Money echoed through countless venues, providing the soundtrack for numerous fighters as they made their walk to the cage.Jake Ellenberger could choose to bump the man who brought Biggie to the masses as he makes his way to the Octagon on Wednesday night, as for the first time in more than six years, the Omaha native is fighting at home.Back then, the 26-year-old University of Nebraska at Omaha product was a perfect 6-0, preparing to take on Brian Daley in the main event of All Fighting Championships 4: New Hitter.A lot has changed since then.Ellenberger returns home with a 26-5 record, headlining his second consecutive UFC event, and riding a five-fight winning streak. He’s 9-1 over his last ten fights and hasn’t tasted defeat in more than two years, dating back to the back-and-forth battle with new interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit that marked his debut on the sport’s biggest stage.Heading into the UFC’s debut event on FUEL TV, the welterweight division remains under construction.Champion Georges St-Pierre is on the sidelines after being on the surgical table, his return not expected until late in the year. Nick Diaz lost a close fight to Condit on February 4th, and is now staring at a suspension, while perennial contender Jon Fitch was starched on the second to last day of 2011, leading to Johny Hendricks making a rapid move up the 170-pound ranks.Ellenberger is a part of that group at the top of the heap, a victory over Diego Sanchez Wednesday night at the Omaha Civic Auditorium potentially all that’s standing in the way of a rematch with Condit and a chance to claim UFC gold. “I can’t really… I don’t really know the emotion,” admitted Ellenberger when asked what it would be like to get a victory in the UFC in his own backyard. “I’ve put so much work and dedication in; I’m just really excited to show that. I’ve always been honored to be a part of and to compete in the UFC, and now to headline an event in my hometown is fantastic. It’s extremely exciting, for sure.”Fighting in Omaha will also give Ellenberger a chance to compete in front of his family and friends, including his mom, who wasn’t exactly thrilled when her son announced that he wanted to be a professional cage fighter.“When I first said I wanted to fight, my mom was pretty against it. I was living with her at the time, and she actually kicked me out of the house. She said, `If you’re gonna fight, you’re not gonna live here.’ I said, `Alright, see ya.’”Ellenberger laughs, and then makes it perfectly clear that both he and his twin brother Joe, a 12-1 lightweight, have full parental support when it comes to their fighting careers.“She’s become a lot more educated (about the sport since then). My brother had been competing in wrestling most of his life, and we were always very, very competitive, so eventually she just came to be a big supporter. Both my parents are actually huge supporters of what we do.”While Joe returns in regional action early next month, Jake is ready to take the next step towards becoming UFC welterweight champion, a journey that began in earnest when he decided to pack his things and move to California to train full time.“The decision was easy. I had made a lot of friends out there, so the move was a pretty simple choice. I’m focused on becoming a world champion, so I’ve surrounded myself with the best coaches and fighters I can. I’ve gained more, and become more of a fighter in the last year than I have in my other six-and-a-half years fighting.”The powerful welterweight known as “The Juggernaut” has spent the last year training alongside Mark Munoz, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, and Kryzsztof Soszynski at Munoz’s Reign Training Center, as well as working with legendary Chute Boxe Academy founder Rafael Cordeiro and the collection of all-stars at Kings MMA. It’s a combination that has instilled Ellenberger with a great deal of confidence as he continues on his quest to stand atop the welterweight division.“It’s a good feeling out there with really good people – Mark Munoz, Rafael Cordeiro, guys that are just awesome to be around. There’s definitely an energy about some of the guys that I’ve been around, and I think it’s going to be the deciding factor in becoming a champ.“I want to fully maximize my potential. I kind of look at the guys that I train with and my coaches (and think), `Why wouldn’t I be confident?’ At Kings (MMA) when I spar, I fight against some of the best fighters in the world every day, so when I go into a fight, my confidence is huge.“Fighting is such a mental game; it’s all about confidence,” continued Ellenberger. “If you truly believe you can become a world champion, it’s going to happen. If you don’t, and you doubt it, for sure it’s not going to happen. I completely believe I will become world champion — I just don’t know when it’s going to be.“For now, I’ve really just tried to focus on one fight at a time, control what I can control, and move forward with each fight. I’m in no hurry. I’m young, and I’m still learning — I’m learning every day — so I’m just focused on Diego.”After being upset by British prospect John Hathaway in his welterweight return, Sanchez has climbed back into contention on the strength of back-to-back wins over Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann.The man who won the middleweight competition on the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter has always been a crowd pleaser because of his aggressive approach in the cage, a quality Ellenberger has come to respect in his opponent.“The thing I respect about Diego is that anybody he’s ever fought, he’s always come to fight. There are not a lot of guys like that; there really isn’t. Win or lose, he’s going to fight. He’s a goer; he’s a straightforward guy, and I’ve always respected that about him.”Wednesday night’s main event stands to be an explosive and entertaining affair.Not only has Ellenberger collected consecutive first-round knockouts, and four finishes during his current five-fight run of success, but each of Sanchez’s last four victories have earned he and his opponent a Fight of the Night bonus, with his epic encounter with Clay Guida being recognized as Fight of the Year for 2009 by numerous outlets.The hometown favorite is prepared for whatever his meeting with Sanchez may bring, and promises to give the partisan crowd something to cheer about at the end of the night.“I feel like I can win this fight anywhere that it goes, and I’m prepared to fight the whole time. It kind of goes back to that confidence — I’ve been fighting against some of the best Muay Thai guys and some of the best wrestlers in the world every day, so I’m confident that there’s nothing he’s going to bring that I don’t see everyday or haven’t seen before, truthfully.“I’ve prepared for the long, grueling, not fun fight, but that’s how we do it, you know? That’s what we train for. I know I’m going to win this fight. I can’t tell you when and how, but I will leave with my hand raised, there’s no doubt about that.”

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Welterweight contender Martin Kampmann goes by the nickname “The Hitman,” but you might as well have changed that to “The Surgeon” the way he carved up Diego Sanchez in the first round of their March 2011 bout. Battered and bloodied, Sanchez returned to his corner at the bell, and for 95% of the fighters out there, that first five minutes would have been cause for severe concern.Sanchez is part of that 5% that would squint through the blood covering his face, sneer at his opponent across the Octagon, and dare him to do what he just did again. And the way he describes it, that 60 seconds between rounds in Louisville was his most defining moment.“My absolute favorite moment of my career was in that Martin Kampmann fight going into that second round because that was the moment I flicked the switch,” said Sanchez. “This is a weird switch, I don’t know if all fighters got this switch, but I know that I found it in that fight. I found a switch that says, you know what, I don’t have no regard for my face right now. I could care less about what’s going on right now, but I truly have one thing in mind, and that’s to take out my opponent. At that moment, I’m a vicious warrior and I’m gonna try to take this person out anyway I can. And I just had to make it into a street fight.”That’s just what Sanchez did, and over the next two rounds, he took the fight to Kampmann, showing no regard for strategy or his well-being, and he brawled his way to a razor-thin 29-28 win on all three judges’ scorecards. The fight, one of 2011’s best, not only took Fight of the Night honors, but Sanchez and Kampmann each received a $160,000 bonus check for their efforts. It almost never happened though, because if Sanchez’ gameplan would have been successful, it could have been an entirely different fight. Luckily for everyone watching, Sanchez didn’t have a Plan B when Plan A didn’t work. But he guarantees that won’t happen again.“With that victory I had one of the most crucial learning experiences of my career, and that was that I could never ever go into a fight not sharp on my striking,” he said. “For that fight I didn’t hit mitts with (striking coach Mike) Winkeljohn once, and I didn’t even go as far as punching a bag once. All I did was wrestle, wrestle, wrestle, and I had it in my mind that no matter what this guy tries to do, I’m gonna take him down and I’m gonna win the fight. But he knew that, and I gave him the opportunity to hit me with knees while defending the shot. And I learned. I got a really strong iron jaw, and a big heart, and I need to use that to my advantage and I need to fight with my hands. I need to be sharp with my striking and go in there as a striker first and if a takedown presents itself it presents itself. For the rest of my career, I will always go into a fight as striker first because the fight starts on the feet.”That could be a problem going into Wednesday’s UFC on FUEL main event against Jake Ellenberger, perhaps the hardest puncher in the UFC’s welterweight division. If you’re not on top of your striking game, “The Juggernaut” can make it a short night for you. Even if you are, if he lands one on the button, it’s usually lights out. That’s not even mentioning the fact that Sanchez has gotten cut pretty badly in his fights against Kampmann and BJ Penn, and sometimes, judges can score the blood and not the fight. “None of that concerns me because I was blessed and I have completely and totally recovered from these cuts,” said Sanchez. “I don’t have scar tissue, and it’s amazing. You guys are gonna see me and I don’t even have scars. It was a miracle. I was healed, I didn’t have plastic surgery, but just by using oils, and massaging, and trusting in God that he was gonna heal me, I have become totally healed from those cuts. I’m a warrior and I have my war wounds, and now I’m just going in to fight differently. I’m still evolving and still getting better as a striker.”Sanchez’ attitude should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed his career over the years. Always precocious, “The Dream” is supremely confident but also willing to back up his words, and his performances – win or lose – have proved it. Remember, this is the same kid from Albuquerque who said with a laugh “at 20 years old, the only thing I knew was grab that bottle of Ibuprofen and train.” And while he’s had his moments of quirkiness (who can ever forget the “Yes” cartwheel?), when it comes time to fight, he’s locked in and ready to go.But after healing his cuts, Sanchez still wasn’t going to be able to do what he loves, as a broken right hand scrapped a highly-anticipated UFC 135 bout with Hall of Famer Matt Hughes last September. “I was excited for the Matt Hughes fight and I was extremely ready for that fight,” he said. “I was ready in all aspects of my game, I was really ready to go in there and fight and then I broke my hand and I had to be on the shelf. But now here it is, 11 months later since I fought and I just trust in God that everything happens for a reason, and that this is my time.”The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time, as Sanchez was coming off two consecutive Fight of the Night wins (over Kampmann and Paulo Thiago) and the Hughes bout was going to be a high-profile co-main event on Pay-Per-View. It wasn’t to be though, and Sanchez is philosophical about the whole ordeal.“It was probably the first time in my whole career where I was doing everything right,” he said. “I was living right and everything was just harmonized perfect, so when the injury happened, I just took it as a blessing in disguise and I accepted it with positivity. That was a major challenge for me. But it actually turned out better for me because now I’m fighting a guy in Jake Ellenberger who is recognized as one of the best guys in the division. There’s plenty of tough guys in my division, but I look at him as one of the top one or two in the division.”Ellenberger enters tomorrow’s bout with a five fight winning streak with four of those wins coming by knockout. It’s a daunting task for Sanchez, or at least you would assume it is, but this is one fighter who refuses to walk down the same path as most.“I know that on February 15th when they lock the door and it’s just me and Jake in there, nothing that I will have said will matter, and it’s just gonna be me and him in there, and I know that once that 15 minutes is over, I’m gonna walk out and be able to say I gave it everything that I had,” said Sanchez, and what more can you ask from any fighter? Maybe for all the “Yes” cartwheels and craziness over the years, he’s the guy who “gets it” more than anyone. It wasn’t an overnight process, but it is one he began two years before most people have that life evaluation talk with themselves at 30.“I was probably one of the wild children of MMA,” he said. “It’s no secret that I had a problem with the partying and the drinking, and that was a part of my career when I was a young bachelor and I was wild. It affected me dramatically. It affected me in my fight performances, and I was never truly at a hundred percent, so when I turned 28, I remember the clock ticked over - and I was born on New Year’s Eve, so the year ends - and I’m like ‘all right, I’m gonna be 30 in just two years. Man, I better get my stuff together right now.’ I want to be the guy at 30 years old saying ‘well, I got myself together,’ or at least I’m doing okay. I don’t want to be the guy at 30 years old saying I need to get my stuff together. I got a head start, things are good, married life is awesome and I’m in a whole different state of mind.”Now all he has to do if fight. And for him, that’s always been the part he never had an issue with.

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, sanchez, ’m

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The UFC’s first foray into airing an event on Fuel TV proper is Wednesday night, and it seems more than a few people are going to be out of luck when it comes into finding the broadcast on their television.  And that does suck, because an event headlined by the likes of seminal TUF winner Diego Sanchez and rising contender Jake Ellenberger isn’t something you can just ignore.  No, it’s a regular meat-and-potatoes matchup that could satisfy the appetite of any true MMA fan.  But that’s how it goes, I guess, when the UFC marries FOX and is now obligated to give FOX’s developmentally disabled nephew some love and attention at family gatherings.  I mean, it’s not like the UFC can lock Fuel TV in a closet when no one’s looking and step outside to smoke a cigarette.  Am I right?  So!  A preview of what will probably be the greatest UFC event ever (simply because I won’t be able to see anything beyond the Facebook-broadcast preliminary bouts)! -Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger – When the Valkyries come to take Sanchez off to that great banquet hall in the sky, and the first toast is made by the host of Valhalla in the little guy’s honor, the tribute will likely include something about how Sanchez was never quite the best but damn did he fight hard.  His last two performances garnered him healthy “Fight of the Night” bonuses for their unending scrappiness, and though he was handled by BJ Penn and John Hathaway before that, he’s left it all in the cage just about every time.  Ellenberger, on the other hand, has been climbing up the rankings like a man possessed (and like a man possessing fists full of dynamite, which, uh, is a somewhat accurate analogy).  But other than taking on Jake Shields and losing a decision to Carlos Condit in his Octagon debut a couple years back, Ellenberger really hasn’t been given top guys.  Sanchez, then, will be a great test of his mettle.  Can Ellenberger sprawl out of Sanchez’s aggressive fistic- and grappling-heavy onslaught, and create enough space to blast him?  Possibly, but Sanchez damn sure isn’t going to make it easy on him.  Watch for the TUF 1 winner to end up a bloody, panting mess, yet emerge with a split decision and another bonus. -Stefan Struve vs. Dave Herman – A few years ago, the UFC heavyweight division was powered by the nuclear energy generated by the likes of a seemingly unbeatable Shane Carwin, a practically indestructible Cain Velasquez, a mountainous Brock Lesnar, and a few other giants who were fearsome and frightening.  Nowadays, though, we get campfire-level heat in the form of overgrown gawky teenager Struve and Dave “I gassed out hard against Jon Olav Einemo in my UFC debut” Herman.  Which is… kind of disappointing.  Anyway, Struve is tall and lanky and can strike dudes from great distances, and Herman is good at grabbing guys and kneeing them.  I give the edge to Struve here, simply because he’s been kicking it Octagon-style for a while now, but, eh, the TKO victory could go to either one.  It depends on who imposes their will the most. -Aaron Simpson vs. Ronny Markes – Grizzled wrestler-turned-fighter Simpson isn’t so much a finisher as he’s the kind of guy that simply fights until his opponents wither – which, though it probably means his career will last a fraction of the duration of a normal MMA career, does usually mean viewers are left with a sense of satisfaction at having someone fight their heart out.  Will he’ll be able to grind Markes into putty and break the Nova Uniao rep’s spirit?  Not necessarily.  But if the Brazilian doesn’t get a chance to put Simpson on his back and deliver punches, it’s likely that Simpson is going to gut out another decision that forces us to say “damn” and cuts six years off his life. -Philip De Fries vs. Stipe Miocic – Miocic really put it on the durable Joey Beltran in his UFC debut, so you have to wonder if the big Brit De Fries is in over his head.  I’d say, given Miocic’s Division I wrestling background and the rich and vibrant wrestling scene in the UK, Miocic is going to have the advantage – at least in sustained intensity.  Look for him TKO De Fries while the Brit is looking for a submission that never materializes. -TJ Dillashaw vs. Walel Watson – What does a pedigree in wrestling and membership in Uriah Faber’s Team Alpha Male School for Frenetic Grappling get you?  Apparently, a slot on TUF.  However, it does not get you the coveted TUF Lucite, so Dillashaw can count himself among the elite “guys who came in second place on TUF” crew.  Whoopee!  For his part, Watson threw down pretty hard against Yves Jabouin at UFC 140, and though he lost a close decision, he proved to be competent and capable when fists are flying.  That said, Dillashaw is going to take him down and work him.  It will go the distance – if anything, Watson is tough – but what we’re going to see from Dillashaw will be textbook “nonstop pounding from top position”, plus a ton of pent up regret over having wasted six weeks of his life languishing in a house in Las Vegas. 

Posted in: ufc, ellenberger, ’t, vs, sanchez

Read the full article at MMA Convert

Surefire Hall of Fame fighter B.J. Penn shocked  many the MMA world when he said he was retiring from the sport following a loss to Nick Diaz last year. Still, as genuine as Peen appeared, countless fans believed it would only be a matter of time before the former UFC champion had a change of heart and signed to compete once again. Now, several months removed from the announcement, “The Prodigy” seems happy with his decision. Penn, a former lightweight and welterweight title-holder, lost three of his last five fights, defeating Matt Hughes and going to a draw with Jon Fitch in the other two. The defeat at the hands of Diaz at UFC 137 left him looking like a fighter who was nearing the end. “I’m enjoying my time away from the sport,” said Penn, in a recent interview with ESPN. “That’s where I am right now. I’m living a regular life instead of living the roller coaster.” Penn has been fighting since 2001, so the rigors of the sport have taken a toll both mentally and physically on the Hawaii native, as he added, “I haven’t (lived a normal life) in 15 years. I’m trying to find myself a little bit – not as a fighter trying to come back to the sport, but just as a person.” UFC President Dana White talked recently about hoping Penn would decide to return with the UFC planning a show for Hawaii this year. That doesn’t seem to be enough at the moment to get Penn back inside the Octagon, however. “We would just have to sit down and talk about what made sense,” Penn said. “That’s amazing they are finally deciding to go to Hawaii, but I wouldn’t want to waste Dana’s time, getting his hopes up on something he wants to put together.” PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fighter, ’t, sport, penn

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

My knowledge on court proceedings begins and ends with what's represented by Judge Judy on daytime TV. Even then, I would only watch it when I was home from school sick, so when I took the time to read (and actually get caught up in) War Machine's latest legal troubles via this court transcript, I developed a slight head cold. Kind of a weird Pavlov's Bell effect going on here. In honor of our former days of staying home from school sick and watching court shows, I present to you the transcript of Jon Koppenhaver's latest hearing via The UG. It's 100% worth the read in a daytime court sort of way. ------- DISTRICT COURT CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA STATE OF NEVADA, Plaintiff, vs. WAR MACHINE, aka, JONATHAN PAUL KOPPENHAVER, Defendant. ) CASE NO. C276252-1 DEPT. XXI BEFORE THE HONORABLE VALERIE ADAIR, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012 RECORDER’S TRANSCRIPT OF HEARING RE: SENTENCING APPEARANCES: FOR THE STATE: SHAWN A. MORGAN, ESQ. Deputy District Attorney FOR THE DEFENDANT: GARRETT T. OGATA, ESQ. RECORDED: LAS VEGAS, CLARK COUNTY, NV., THURS., FEB. 2, 2012 THE COURT: State versus War Machine. MR. MORGAN: Court’s indulgence. Steve Miller. Judge, we do have a speaker; I’d ask that he be able to speak last. THE COURT: That’s fine. And, Mr. Morgan, what’s the State’s position? No opposition to probation but has retained the right to argue all terms and conditions, and I’m assuming the underlying sentence as well? MR. MORGAN: That’s correct, Judge. I just -- I understand that we’re asking for probation, and I would ask that it be on the felony given the facts of this case, the extensive damage to the victim, and I think it’s appropriate given all the facts as well as when you look at the defendant’s other criminal history and his two prior violent felony convictions. With that I’d submit it. THE COURT: And I’m assuming the 61,000 and change in restitution reflects the extensive medical bills that the victim had to incur as a result of this? MR. MORGAN: That’s correct, Judge, workmen’s comp payout. THE COURT: All right. Your true name is Koppenhaver but you’ve had it legally changed? THE DEFENDANT: Yeah, I had it legal -- I had to change it for legal reasons. I was getting sued for copyright infringement. It’s my nickname -- THE COURT: Right, you were a fighter? THE DEFENDANT: Yeah. THE COURT: All right. What if anything would you like to state to the Court before the Court pronounces sentence against you? THE DEFENDANT: Well, I just want to say that, you know, like, my lifelong dream was to become a professional athlete and make it to the UFC, all right. I got into the UFC; I had a couple fights. And then when I lost my contract, I got, you know, I battled a lot of depression, and I got real self-destructive, and there’s about -- about two and a half years, three years where I just kinda stopped caring about anything and acted like a jerk, you know. I never had gotten in trouble before, and these three years I just, you know, I went out a lot. I was drinking too much. I was getting in bar fights, and I was just, you know, acting irresponsible and acting stupid. After this case I actually got into a fight in San Diego, and I served a year straight. I just got released in July. In that year I had a long time to sit there and think, you know. Before it’s like I was getting in trouble, getting in trouble, but I was never -- I never got punished, you know. Like if you touch a hot stove and it doesn’t burn you, you touch it again, you know. So that year really gave me a lot of time to reflect, and a -- and it remotivated me to get back into my career and do the right things. And since then I’ve been married. I’ve been out for six months now and haven’t been in any trouble. I’ve been doing my anger classes. I’ve been staying sober, and I’ve just been avoiding bars and avoiding alcohol, and just, you know, trying to live life correct. I made a lot of mistakes but that year -- THE COURT: What are you doing to address your alcohol problems, and do you have, like, counseling or AA or -- THE DEFENDANT: No, I didn’t have an alcohol problem like that; I just had a problem with -- really it was bars. It was a combination of bars and drinking and my temper and the fact that I just didn’t care about anything, you know. I mean, I was being -- I get tested every -- I’m on probation in California so I get tested, you know, once a week for alcohol. I do anger management classes, you know, and I’m just avoiding stuff. I’m staying in the gym, teaching classes, training, hanging out with my wife. I’m just not -- I’ve just changed my lifestyle. I’m just -- I’m not doing that anymore. THE COURT: Mr. Ogata. MR. OGATA: Thank you, Judge. Judge, I think you’ve heard it from him. I think it’s pretty clear, and in fact, in know that in the time that I’ve know John it actually has changed a lot, drastically. I mean, even from the beginning, you know, there would be missed phone calls when we were supposed to talk on the phone. Now, it seems like he calls before I even get on the phone, before I even say did John call, he’s already left messages. And I know that a lot of that is on the side of what’s going on, but, Judge, I think he really -- that year has really set him straight. I know that he knows now when he fights he fights professionally. He fights in the gym. He fights in the ring. He gets paid for this. He does not need to do these bar fights, stupid bar fights, and I know that his priors, if you look at them, they’re all bar fights. We went through the discovery of the medical bills, and that was one of the things that was concerning to me was that amount, but after reviewing it with John and going over this thing, it actually made sense, and he even told me, he says, you know what, I just want to make it right. I want to pay the guy off. I want to do what I need to do for probation. The issue I know with the State is we have no opposition to probation for the felony, but I know it’s a wobbler, and I know this is a stretch, Judge, is asking the -- THE COURT: Yeah, you know, you’re really stretching because here’s the thing. You know, he’s gotten in trouble before, and, you know, he’s a professional fighter -- MR. OGATA: I understand, Judge. THE COURT: -- and he’s picking on people who aren’t professional fighters. I mean, it’s ridiculous, and he says he wants to -- he’s hurting himself. Well, he’s not punching himself in the face, I mean, you know, to be blunt. He, you know, he’s a professional fighter, and he needs to show, in my view, that he’s a tough guy, and he gets drunk, and he picks on people who are not professional fighters. I mean, to me, it’s not just some other, you know, drunken, you know, ordinary person like you or Mr. Morgan getting drunk and taking a swing in a bar. It’s a guy who’s trained to really hurt people -- MR. OGATA: I understand, Judge. THE COURT: -- and, you know, it’s a whole different -- whole different thing than just a bar fight in my view. And so, you know, the time has come in my mind, Mr. Ogata, for a felony. And now what we’re talking about is his freedom, I mean, I’ll just be candid with you because, you know, it’s great he learned in jail and this and that, but, you know, maybe if he does really well, and he’s lucky enough to get probation, you can come see me later, but, you know, again, he, you know, I mean, I don’t really know why it took him a year of sitting in jail to figure out, oh, hey, I’m a professional fighter; I really shouldn’t be popping innocent people in the face, you know, because I get drunk and angry and I have a temper. You know, to me that should have been -- he should have been a little more self-aware down the road. And frankly, you know, wanting to be a professional fighter, you know, is like, kind of like wanting to be a rock star or a movie star, something like that. Not everybody gets to do it. So the fact that his career was, you know, going sideways a little bit, in my view is no justification, you know, for this kind of violence, and it’s repeated violence. So, I’ll just be candid with you, Mr. Ogata, that’s where we are when I looked at this. MR. OGATA: So my request of reducing it down to a gross misdemeanor -- THE COURT: Well, you know, like I said he’s -- MR. OGATA: I just wanted to throw it out there, Judge. I know -- THE COURT: -- if he’s lucky -- if he’s lucky enough to get probation and he does really well, then you can pitch that to the Court. I’m not making any commitments or promises. We’ll see what direction his life takes, you know. MR. OGATA: I understand, Judge. THE COURT: But, you know, honestly, you know, he’s dangerous, and he’s dangerous because of his training and everything like that, and that makes it different than just some person out there getting in bar fights. MR. OGATA: I understand, Your Honor. THE COURT: In my view. MR. OGATA: I think Mr. Koppenhaver understands that too; we’ve discussed that. THE COURT: All right. MR. MORGAN: Judge, we do have a speaker. THE COURT: I know. Thank you. It’s Mr. Miller. Is Mr. Miller here? MR. MORGAN: Yes, Your Honor. THE COURT: Sir, I need you to just follow my marshal and come up, you know, right here. Just right up here to the witness stand. And please, sir, remain standing facing our court clerk, and she will administer the oath to you. (Speaker sworn.) THE CLERK: Please be seated, and would you please state and spell your name. THE SPEAKER: Steven Edward Miller, S-t-e-v-e-n, Edward, E-d-w-a-r-d, Miller, M-i-l-l-e-r. THE COURT: All right, sir. Thank you for being here. What would you like to say today? THE SPEAKER: I’d like to say there’s -- first of all there’s a couple of corrections that need to be said from the opening from what I heard. First of all, it’s not a worker’s comp issue. The State picked it up because the company I worked for did not have valid worker’s comp insurance. So therefore I went 90 days after being kicked out of a hospital and not treated and getting the surgeries that I needed to where I was supposed to go to an assisted living facility to learn how to walk again because I had a broken left knee, fractured right ankle, torn ligaments in my right knee, along with a cut and the fracture over the bottom of my right eye. None of this was done. I still can’t do my duties at work properly. And to sit there and say this was a drunken bar fight, we were both at work that night. I witnessed you go out and get into a fight with a customer. I took it to management. Management had you up at the front. I was dismissed to go back to the door where I work. You waited for me to turn to the side to walk away before you punched me. Plain and simple. Preyed on somebody as a professional that wasn’t even facing you. Okay. Now, when you sit there and say, okay, yeah, the year, you sat there and had a year to think about it and everything else, all I have to ask is did you hear any remorse, any at all? If you had a year knowing that this date was coming up, I would think you would come up with a better excuse than what you had, honestly. I mean, I still -- I don’t know what they can do with my knee. I can’t even see a doctor seeing me on a medical lien because the case was dismissed out of bankruptcy court where the company was lost. THE COURT: Oh, okay. So you did pursue a civil remedy -- THE SPEAKER: Yes. So there’s nothing left. There’s nothing else there. This is it. THE COURT: All right. So no doctor will take it on a lien for your civil case? THE SPEAKER: Right. I can’t work properly. I can’t bend. I wake up in the middle of the night. I don’t sleep properly. I don’t have the medications that I need, nothing. This has been going on for almost three years. THE COURT: All right, sir, and what would you like to see happen today? THE SPEAKER: Well, I sit there and I look at he was on probation from San Diego for another fight. Obviously not a drunken fight; it happened outside of a gym after training. Don’t go to a gym training on alcohol. At work, once again, not alcohol related. Everything that his attorney said, none of it makes sense. None of it’s the truth. It seems to me that it’s all fabricated, something to make you kind of feel a little bit weepy eyed to say, oh, yeah, he can do it on his own, but I know that you see through it. THE COURT: Let me ask you this. The State in this case negotiated the case -- and in fairness, it was not Mr. Morgan who negotiated it -- and they’re agreeing to probation for this defendant. Did you have an opportunity to discuss the negotiation with the State in this case before they entered -- THE SPEAKER: That was not discussed with me or with my attorney that’s in the courtroom as well. That was done totally outside of us, and I would not see probation, like you said, being a professional, going out and having actions like this, knowing the consequences of your actions; I don’t see where probation in my mind fits the crime. Basically, I can’t do what I’ve done for a living since ’94. THE COURT: And let me ask you this. In the PSI it’s talking about just the injury because the Court, you know, we don’t get everything that the State has or the defense has. We get what they put in the PSI. They’re focusing on the injury to your face, but as -- there obviously was more of a fight where your leg was injured and -- THE SPEAKER: Right. I had a broken left knee to where when I went to the ground my knee twisted. The upper leg turned causing the bottom of the kneecap, the bone to split out where I was supposed to have a pin inserted and have it fixed, but since there was no insurance that never happened. So anytime I turn to my left, there’s no anchor on my knee. It can pop out and just go. Other than that I had a fracture to my right ankle and torn ligaments in my right knee. So my right ankle still gets painful every once in a while because I didn’t get all the physical therapy. I didn’t have any surgeries that, once again, there’s supposed to be a pin. They were going to go in -- or a plate, whatever it is they were going to do. I know I didn’t get treated right because of the insurance thing. So, you know, it’s ruined my life. THE COURT: All right. Thank you for being here. Does the State have any questions for the victim speaker? MR. MORGAN: No, Judge. THE COURT: Mr. Ogata, do you have any questions for the victim speaker? MR. OGATA: No, Your Honor. THE COURT: Sir, thank you for being here. And you can just follow my marshal and return to your seat next to your attorney who’s here in court today. Here’s the thing. As I said, you know, he was a professional, and the victim in this case is a large man, but he, you know, tall man is what I mean, but he’s not a professional fighter, and it sounds like he -- to use a colloquialism -- kind of sucker punched him by having his head turned and then hit him. And again, you know, he obviously has issues with anger. I don’t know if there’s steroid abuse involved or what or it’s just something psychiatrically wrong with him. I am going to follow the negotiation of probation; however, the time he spent in jail in San Diego is about that victim in San Diego. We’re about today this victim. So I think he needs to do jail time for this victim not the victim in San Diego because that doesn’t, you know, mean a hill of beans to the victim who’s sitting here. So I will go along with the negotiation having said that because there needs to be some punishment for what he did in Nevada and what he did to this victim. All right. By virtue of your plea of guilty you are hereby adjudged guilty of the felony crime of attempt to commit battery with substantial bodily harm. In addition to the $25 administrative assessment, the $150 DNA analysis fee and the fact that you must submit to a test for genetic markers, you are sentenced to a minimum term of 18 months in the Nevada Department of Corrections and a maximum of 60 months in the -- I’m sorry, 48 months in the Nevada Department of Corrections; that’s the maximum on this charge, restitution in the amount of $61,114.92. Your sentence is suspended. You are placed on probation for a period of time not to exceed 5 years. Sir, 5 years is the maximum on probation. Here are the conditions of your probation. Number 1, you’re going to spend the next year for this crime in the Clark County Detention Center. Number 2, when you’re released you’re going to complete anger management counseling. What you’re doing in San Diego may satisfy Nevada P and P, if not, you’re going to have to do separate anger management counseling, and I want you in that as soon as you’re released from custody. Number 2 (sic), you’re not going to have the use, possession or control of alcohol, and I can see you steaming right there right now, the anger. You’re trying to control yourself. You have a serious issue because the next time you wind up killing somebody, and, you know, you’re going to be in prison for a minimum of 20 years. THE DEFENDANT: I’m not steaming, ma’am. THE COURT: Well, you look like you’re -- THE DEFENDANT: I’m just nervous. I’m -- THE COURT: Sir, that’s fine. I mean, you know, you know what you need to do. I don’t want any alcohol. You can’t frequent any establishments that serve alcohol as their primary function, casino bars, freestanding bars, anything like that. You’re going to do -- have a substance abuse evaluation. I want that done within 30 days of your release, and you’re going to do whatever counseling is deemed necessary. You’re going to obtain lawful, fulltime employment to get this restitution paid. If you can make enough money as a fighter, that’s fine, but again, you know, that’s one of those professional athlete, model, singer, dancer, whatever, you know. Not everybody gets to do that. So you may have to get some other kind of a job to make restitution. That will be as directed by P and P. I want you tested for the use of anabolic steroids because that in my view may be what’s contributing to your anger problem. Any use of anything like that will be considered a violation of your probation. And finally, your probation is contingent on your good behavior within the Clark County Detention Center. So if there’s any bad behavior, that will be considered a violation, meaning beating up the other inmates, fighting with the guards, anything like that. So we’re going to have a status check regarding your behavior in the detention center before I release you on your probation because again, you know, you’re a professional fighter in there, and I don’t want any kind of problems in the detention center. Let’s status check it for six months to see how he’s doing. MR. MORGAN: And, Judge, just so the record’s clear, the restitution needs to be ordered to the Division of Industrial Relations not the victim. THE COURT: All right. You know -- MR. OGATA: Judge, he’s requesting if he can get his things in San Diego together because he had to travel here. He’s showed up for every court date for -- THE COURT: Doesn’t he have a wife? MR. OGATA: He does. THE COURT: Can’t she do it? THE DEFENDANT: My wife -- my wife’s an immigrant from Hungary, and she doesn’t have a license, none of that stuff. She doesn’t have anyone here but me. It’s just her and I together here. She moved here from Hungary a year ago. And, I mean, like when I did my year in San Diego, I turned myself in. I did the time. There was no problem, you know. I just want to get my stuff in order -- THE COURT: Sir, I’m not anticipating a problem. I’m anticipating that you’re going to be a good inmate, but I’m looking at you; you’re a professional fighter. I just want to make sure you understand that it’s not going to be do whatever you do at the Detention Center and then go on your merry way and I’m not monitoring what you’re doing at the Detention Center -- THE DEFENDANT: I understand. Ma’am -- THE COURT: -- ‘cause we’ve had other professional fighters in the Detention Center, and I just need to know that you’re on your best behavior and not taking advantage of your superior training or whatever. THE DEFENDANT: Can I say one thing. When I did my year in San Diego I was never involved in one fight. THE COURT: That’s good. Then there should be no problems. THE DEFENDANT: So I’m just letting you know that, you know, I haven’t had any problems since then. THE COURT: Good. That’s fine then. MR. OGATA: So the request, Judge, I know that he’s complied -- I mean, he’s been to every court date that I’ve ever had with him. He will comply with any requirements -- THE COURT: What is it you need to do in San Diego? THE DEFENDANT: Well, I need to get rid of my car. I want to, like, put my stuff in storage. I want to get everything done, get my wife situated. I mean, we came here thinking that we’re getting probation and that was it. So this is like a shock. That’s why I might look -- whatever you said I looked like. I’m just nervous. I didn’t expect this, and she doesn’t expect it, and, you know, my job, I want to get -- THE COURT: Mr. Ogata? MR. OGATA: Judge, the request is, I mean, if we can get some time for him to get these things together. I know that he can come back and check himself back in. THE COURT: Here’s the deal. I’ll give you two weeks for a surrender date. Understand this, you don’t come back, you get in a fight, you get in trouble, get a DUI, anything like that, you’re going to prison. There is no probation. So basically, you know, the future’s in your hands, you know, and we’ll modify this, you know, give you 19 months on the bottom end in prison instead of the Detention Center. So just appreciate that basically, you know, it’s up to you now to come back, not get in trouble, and then we’ll, you know, you’ll get the opportunity at probation. THE CLERK: Surrender date is February 16 at 9:30. THE COURT: Mr. Ogata, is that for you? MR. OGATA: That’s it, Your Honor. THE COURT: Thank you, sir. MR. OGATA: Thank you, Judge.. [Source]

Posted in: right, ’t, court, mr, ’re

Read the full article at Middle Easy

There are a lot of perks to being in the UFC. Heavyweight Dave Herman is kind of partial to one in particular: when he gets a contract to fight, he fights.Sounds simple, but for Herman and any of his peers who came up on the local circuit, just having someone to show up when they’re supposed to isn’t always a given.“There were many times when I was literally in my car driving to the fight, and I get a phone call, ‘hey, your opponent backed out,’” he said, “Or I show up and I’m at weigh-ins, the dude’s right there, and he’s like ‘I ain’t fighting that guy.’ Sometimes opponents changed that night.”Well, Herman’s opponent in this Wednesday’s UFC on FUEL co-main event, Stefan Struve, has joined him in Omaha, Nebraska, and it’s safe to say that he’s going to be there on fight night as well. That’s good news for Herman, who is looking to rebuild the momentum he had after stopping John-Olav Einemo in his Octagon debut last June. The Indiana native was scheduled to return against Mike Russow at UFC 136, but a pre-fight drug screening saw him test positive for marijuana, a charge he vigorously denies. Nonetheless, he wasn’t licensed in Texas, keeping him on the sidelines until the call came for the Struve fight.“The day I found out it was a rough day,” said Herman of not getting licensed. “But then I accepted it and said well, there’s not anything I can do about it, so I just moved forward. But right when I heard the news, it was heartbreaking.”What added to the disappointment was that fans were intrigued about seeing the 27-year old back in action thanks to his Fight of the Night win over Einemo, his 21st win as a pro and clearly his biggest. But it was not to be. Yet in a cloud with a silver lining scenario, the Struve fight has the potential to be even more exciting than a scrap with Russow would have been.“I think Russow actually was a pretty good stylistic matchup for me, but not necessarily from an entertainment standpoint,” said Herman. “I think this guy (Struve) will be way more entertaining, and way more fun to watch, so hopefully we’ll be able to put on a good show.”And nab another Fight of the Night award?“I wouldn’t say I’m counting on it, but it’s definitely a goal and one I plan on working very hard towards,” he said. “That’s what it’s there for – fight harder, make sure you come out ready to go and give the people what they want to see. It’s not guaranteed, so if you come out expecting and you don’t get it, you’re setting yourself up to be let down. But it is something extra to work towards, a little extra incentive to win.”To win against the 6-foot-11 “Skyscraper,” the 6-foot-4 Herman will have to deal with the unique matchup difficulties any Struve has to address. So is it possible to even replicate an athlete of Struve’s size in the gym?“I haven’t really tried to replicate it all,” he said. “You can try to get tall people in, but I haven’t actively looked for anyone. Obviously he’ll have a reach advantage and advantages on everything that being longer can help you with, but at the same time, there are disadvantages, so it’s whether you can take advantage of them or he can.”At least now, when it comes to preparing yourself for opponents of all different shapes, sizes, and talent levels, Herman has Dan Henderson and the Team Quest squad in Temecula, California to get him ready. Back through the first 15 fights of his pro career from 2006 to 2008, he was just winging it, and it goes back to the whole Wild West feel of the local fight scene, where a bout on Wednesday may not be a bout on Friday. “Let’s say I’ve got a date, and I’m doing cardio,” he explains. “‘Okay, I’m gonna work hard and get ready for this date,’ and then I’m on my way there and they say it’s not happening. I just worked out for two or three weeks for nothing. I put in all this work and it’s disappointing. That happened to me like eight times.”So in response, Herman just adapted.“I just cut out the one aspect of it,” he said. “I just won’t get ready. Now I won’t get the disappointment.”Strangely enough, it worked, as the former Indiana University wrestler went 15-0 in those first 15 bouts. But in bout 16, he got stopped in the second round in Japan by Choi Mu Bae, and it was the sign he needed that changes were required. And it’s been a successful switch for him, considering his 6-1 record (the only loss coming via disqualification to Rameu Thierry Sokoudjou in 2010) since deciding to actually train for fights. He’s made it look easy, but it was far from it.“The first year of training was the hardest one,” said Herman. “It turned from ‘man, this is fun, I don’t really have to do much, I’m getting paid, this is awesome,’ (Laughs) to work, and I had to actually show up every day. That first year I’m trying to learn all this new stuff, and you don’t realize how little you know until you get taught. And then you’re like ‘wow, I was doing everything wrong.’ So I was overthinking everything that first year. Prior to that I never had any trouble, I never had any problems, I didn’t have a thought or care in the world, and it didn’t matter that I was doing it wrong. ‘I hit the guy, did I hit him right? It doesn’t really matter, he fell asleep.’ That was a little rough, and getting the technique into habit and getting rid of all the bad habits I came up with on my own was the hardest part, and I’m still working on that now, but I feel a lot better about it.”And here he is, in the UFC, in a co-main event slot against Struve, and a star on the rise in the heavyweight division. Looks like all the puzzle pieces fell into place, eh? Well, he definitely wouldn’t have changed a thing.“On one hand in hindsight, if I had started training sooner, I could be more advanced in my training and my career, I could be making more money and be a much more skilled fighter, but at the same time, I was having fun, I was being me, and I haven’t traditionally been known for making the best decisions (Laughs), so it’s a work in progress and I wouldn’t change anything.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, herman

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Here’s a conundrum for you: This Wednesday night is UFC on Fuel TV: “Sanchez vs. Ellenberger”, which, of course will air on Fuel TV – a channel about eleven people in the world have access to.  And, unlike the past bouts that have been broadcast on Fuel TV and on FOX Deportes concurrently, that doesn’t seem to be the case this time around.  The main card is only being shown on Fuel TV.  However, the prelims for this event will be shown on Facebook.  So it seems as if, in some perverse twist of reality, there’s going to be a UFC event were the preliminary bouts attract more eyeballs than the main card itself.  (Remember: I don’t have Fuel TV; therefore, my eyeballs will be on my computer monitor, then on the punching bag at the gym later that night.)  What then to do about a preview?  Dare I prognosticate on a roster where I’ll only be able to post a live play-by-play on the bottom half of a card?  Ah, what the heck, why not.  Some of you out there will be checking out the prelims on Facebook, and maybe even a few of you out there in the Land of Oz, Middle Earth and Neverland have access to Fuel TV and can watch the main card.  If that’s the case, consider this a very special gift just for you. -Ivan Menjivar vs. John Albert – Albert crapped out of TUF 14 when he went up against eventual winner John Dodson, but that doesn’t mean he sucks at fighting.  It just means that he sucks when it comes to fighting on reality television.  (Actually, Albert TKO’d Dustin Pague at the TUF 14 Finale, so he really does have some skill and ability.)  Menjivar, meanwhile, has been fighting so long, he’s one of the few fighters out there eligible to compete and collect Social Security checks (which is weird because he lives in Canada) at the same time.  Therefore, the crux of this matchup can be summed up in one sentence: Young buck ex-TUFer takes on veteran old schooler for no marbles whatsoever.  By virtue of being younger and hungrier, I give the edge to Albert and could see him pulling off the decision.  Or I could see Menjivar squeaking by like he did against Nick Pace.  -Vagner Rocha vs. Jonathan Brookins – Brookins won TUF 12 handily with the help of his tight, albeit somewhat shallow, jiu-jitsu game, then dropped one to Erik Koch.  Jiu-jitsu black belt Rocha caught a beatdown from Don Cerrone in his UFC debut, but rebounded with a no-nonsense submission over one-dimensional TUF never-was Cody McKenzie.  What we have here, then, is a pairing between two strong grapplers who aren’t too comfortable slugging it out – which probably means we’ll be subjected to three rounds of uncomfortable slugging it out that inspires no one to take up jiu-jitsu for its “completeness as a style”.  I don’t envision Brookins taking Rocha’s back and choking him out, even though that’s his modus operandi, and I don’t envision Rocha winning any positional games.  No, this is going to play out on the feet, one tentative jab at the air at a time. -Buddy Roberts vs. Sean Loeffler – A King of the Cage champ and product of the West Coast scene, the middleweight Loeffler is making his debut sporting the ability to nail submissions and score knockouts.  Roberts is making his first venture into the Octagon as well, and as a product of Team Greg Jackson, he should be well-prepared.  As Roberts leans more towards the striking end of the spectrum, this one has the potential to be a good standup conflict… or it could be a lesson in nervous man-huggery against the cage.  Either way, it could be entertaining for what it is, and I see Loeffler having the advantage based on experience alone.  Watch for him to take the decision. -Anton Kuivanen vs. Justin Salas – Hey, another pair of newcomers, only these two are lightweights.  Kuivanen is supposedly some hot potato grappling specialist from Finland (as if that means something – Finland isn’t exactly tearing up the MMA world).  Salas, on the flipside, is a former Division 1 wrestler who’s grinded out wins against UFC vet Rob Emerson and a bunch of guys you’ve never heard of.  Do the Finnish even know what wrestling is?  I have no clue, but regardless, Kuivanen better be prepared to work from his back, ‘cause that’s where Salas is putting him. -Tim Means vs. Bernardo Magalhaes – Magalhaes is a Brazilian who’s spent his career fighting in Australia, which is kind of weird when you think of it, and akin to, say, an American spending his entire career fighting in the Finland scene.  Anyhoo, Means is a King of the Cage champ, too, and favors busting dudes in the face.  I can’t really say how this one will turn out, as being a top fighter in Australia means diddly-squat when it comes to fighting here in the States, but if I had to pick a winner, I’d say Means takes the decision.  Being a KOTC champ does have quantitative value.

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Through 11 pro mixed martial arts bouts, the one certainty about a Walel Watson fight was that it was going to be finished. Win or lose (but mostly win), “The Gazelle” made a concerted effort to take enough risks to ensure that either he or his opponent wouldn’t hear the final bell.Then came fight number 12, an exciting UFC 140 scrap with Yves Jabouin in Toronto. That one went the distance. That one also handed Watson his first Octagon defeat, via split decision.“From now on, I’m finishing fights,” said Watson, whose emotional reaction to the loss could be seen on UFC President Dana White’s post-fight video blog. “I’ve got great coaches, and we sat down, watched the film, and they showed me where my mistakes were in that fight. There were little things where a judge could see it his (Jabouin’s) way, and one judge could see it my way, and what that taught me is that I just can’t leave it in the judges’ hands. That was the first time I left it in the judges’ hands, and I paid for it and I’ll never do it again.”As with any split decision, the MMA community is divided as well, with just as many believing Watson deserved the verdict as those who thought justice was done that December night. It was little consolation to the affable Watson. “At this point in my life, the money isn’t what I’m all about,” he said. “What hurt that day the most was that now I’m 1-1 (in the UFC) instead of 2-0, and that set me back maybe a year or two years from the belt. That’s what hit me the most when I walked out of the Octagon that night.”The funny part about the whole thing is that against Jabouin, San Diego’s Watson got exactly the fight he wanted: a standup battle in which both men fired off their best stuff at each other for 15 minutes. That’s usually not the case.“It’s something I’ve had to deal with my whole career, being a 135er and being 5-foot-11,” he said. “The minute I step in the cage or the Octagon, people are like ‘nah, I’m cool; I’m not striking with this guy.’ (Laughs) In the Yves fight, it was the first time I had a guy willing to strike with me and I got sucked into this striking match where he punches, I punch back, and we’re just going back and forth, instead of having that killer instinct that I usually have because a guy’s trying to take me down and beat me up.”So, in other words, he was having too much fun.“I was having fun,” he smiles.Luckily, the loss was the kind of defeat that hurts your pride and your wallet, but not your standing among the fans or the organization. Case in point, Watson’s return this Wednesday against The Ultimate Fighter 14 finalist TJ Dillashaw won’t be on the preliminary portion of the UFC on FUEL event, but on the televised main card. And that’s just where the former wide receiver and cornerback wants to be. As former NFL receiver Keyshawn Johnson used to say “Just give me the damn ball.”“I like to be in the limelight, I like that pressure, and I’ve always welcomed it,” said Watson. “I never turned away from it, I never shied away from it, and I’ve always tried to be great. I want to be one of the best in the world, and you’re gonna have all eyes on you, and I expect that.”But if there’s a downside to Watson’s rise, it’s that after knocking out Joseph Sandoval in 77 seconds in his UFC debut and thrilling fans in the Jabouin bout, he’s not going to be able to sneak up on anybody anymore.“I still think I have some sneaking up to do because people are still doubting me and there are people out there that don’t believe in me, so I have to show them and make them believers,” said Watson, a pro since August of 2008 who has shown not an ounce of the UFC jitters associated with a rookie’s early bouts in the Octagon. Yet as he admits, he does a good job of hiding them.“There’s always jitters; I just suppress them,” he said. “Once I know the jitters are there, I know I’m still alive, I’m still a human being, and those things allow me to know that I still have human emotions and I’m not a robot and I don’t think I’m the baddest thing walking around. I still have fear and I still get nerves. It’s how to control them and how to make them work for you.”The 27-year old sounds like he’s got everything together, not always an easy feat when you go from building your career mainly south of the border in Mexico to the biggest event in the world. But what aids Watson is that his reason for being here is not for fame and fortune (though that would be nice), but for something bigger than that.“I’m not just fighting for the fame or for the money; I’m fighting to be the best,” he said. “I want that 135 belt. I think about it, I dream about it, and I want it so bad. That’s what drives me every day, no matter what. It makes me work harder than I’ve ever had to work in my life. Every day, no matter how I feel, no matter how sick, sore, or hurting I am, I work to be the best, and that’s what I want more than anything.”This week’s recipient of all that work will be Dillashaw, a fellow bantamweight prospect who fights out of the Team Alpha Male camp in Sacramento.“I see an awesome wrestler, but I also see a guy that doesn’t respect me,” said Watson. “He thinks he’s just gonna go in there and ground and pound me out, as he keeps saying, and I think I’m gonna have to show him something else.”Watson’s striking, aided by his height and reach advantages, is a cause for concern for any bantamweight though, making the idea of an immediate takedown an attractive one. Watson isn’t concerned at the moment though.“I look at it as more of a blessing, rather than a curse, because I feel that especially once my wrestling gets better – and I’m working on it every day – that I’m going to be able to dictate the fight no matter what,” he said. “I can pick you off standing up, and soon my wrestling’s going to be real vicious and you’re not going to take me down. So what are you gonna do when you’ve got a 5-11, 135-pounder standing across from you in that Octagon? You’re not gonna do much.”Welcome to the bantamweight division, a weight class that has hit its stride, producing fighters that are not only technically sound, but exciting as well. Sounds like it’s going to be a good year for Watson and company.“I feel like the new guys that are here, none of us are point strikers,” he said. “We’re all real guys that want to fight. That (Mike) Easton-(Jared) Papazian fight was awesome, and everyone says we don’t have power and we don’t have this - what do you mean, those guys were going at it. I’ve knocked somebody out, I’ve seen several knockouts in the bantamweight division, and this new group of guys that’s coming in, we’re exciting and we’re not your traditional guys.” As for his personal journey, Watson is optimistic that his loss to Jabouin won’t be repeated anytime soon. “I’m fighting here, I hope I’m fighting two months later, and I just want to keep fighting every two months, God willing,” he said. “I pray that by January of next year, I’m fighting for the number one contendership and I’m gonna do everything I can to put myself in that position.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, watson

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UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre doesn’t want Nick Diaz to walk away from MMA.

Posted in: diaz, nick diaz, ’t, gsp, pierre

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John Dodson fight? What John Dodson fight? That’s the attitude TJ Dillashaw took following the first and only loss of his pro mixed martial arts career last December. For him, the key to being able to regroup and rebound is a simple one.“Being a competitor, you gotta have a short-term memory,” said Dillashaw, who was stopped by Dodson in the first round of their battle for The Ultimate Fighter season 14 bantamweight title. “If you dwell on it for too long, it’s gonna affect the way you train, affect your confidence, and you gotta draw it up for what it is and forget about it as soon as possible. I can’t really put a time frame on it, but you can’t dwell on it for too long.”Yet if he can’t pinpoint the exact date when he put the defeat to the side and began the road back, he certainly remembers when he told his team that he wanted to get back in the Octagon. Immediately.“It was definitely the first thing I said,” he recalled. “I wasn’t the one making the phone calls, but I told my manager that I wanted to fight as soon as possible and try to get this one behind me.”Thus began the growing process that can either make or break a young fighter. A three-time Division I National wrestling qualifier for Cal State-Fullerton, Dillashaw’s post-college association with Urijah Faber and Team Alpha Male immediately put expectations on his shoulders and a target on his back when it came to MMA. And so far, the 26-year old has handled everything well, from his 4-0 run in local shows to his stint on TUF14, where he earned a spot in the finals with wins over Matt Jaggers, Roland Delorme, and Dustin Pague. As for the loss to Dodson, it was just one of those things where a fighter gets caught with a good shot and it’s game over. Some thought Dillashaw was the victim of an early hook by the referee, but a loss is a loss, and as far as defeats go, a quick KO can be easier to explain away and live with than a sustained three round beating. “I guess it’s better for your confidence going into your next fight, but if I’m gonna lose to someone, I’d like to really lose and know that I got beat by his talent and skills and not only by how quick I think it was called,” said Dillashaw. “Yes, he did catch me, and you saw that I lost my equilibrium there for a minute, but I don’t think I was out of the fight yet. It’s part of the sport to continue through adversity and I just wanted to get that fair chance. It might not have even gone my way if I got the chance to come out of it, but for as long as I trained, at least give me that chance.”For the moment, that chance has passed, but Dillashaw will get another one on Wednesday when he faces off with fellow prospect Walel Watson on the UFC on FUEL TV card in Omaha, Nebraska. In many ways, facing the Southern California striker is the perfect matchup for Dillashaw, because it will put him right back in the line of fire with an opponent intent on handing him a second knockout loss. What do you when you fall off a bike? You get right back on. Can’t hit the curveball? You’re going to get them served at you over and over until you prove you can handle it. Same thing here.“He’s a very good opponent for me, I think,” said Dillashaw. “He’s a striker, but I don’t think he’s a very dangerous striker. Watching some tapes on him, I feel like he doesn’t have the killer instinct in him. He’s got a lot of submission victories because he gets taken down – he’s real long and lanky – but that’s not really gonna work on me. I’ve been training with guys that are his size in the same weight class. We’ve got Chris Holdsworth, a very good black belt at our gym who is 5-11 as well as a 135-pounder, and I’ve got three 145-pounders that are 5-11, so I’m getting used to the height, and they’re all very good strikers at our gym. I feel like the guys that I practice with every day are gonna be even more dangerous than he is, and I’m gonna try to run right through him and make an example of him.”But here’s the biggest difference between the TJ Dillashaw of last December and the one traveling to Omaha: he could have said ‘hey, I got caught; I’m just going to continue doing what I’m doing.’ And he has continued to train with the Sacramento standouts from Team Alpha Male. But when the opportunity arose for him to work with renowned former Chute Boxe trainer Rafael Cordeiro at his Kings MMA gym, Dillashaw didn’t hesitate to accept the offer. Talk about walking into the lions’ den.“I was definitely shy going in there because I knew who he (Cordeiro) was and all he’s done,” said Dillashaw. “But when I got there, he’s the most humble, nicest guy in the world, and he’s an awesome trainer. He teaches great classes, and they can go very, very hard, which I was a little nervous about, but that’s the way we go at Team Alpha Male too, and it wasn’t really over the top. They said, ‘if you want to get a good look at what’s gonna happen in a fight, you gotta go hard.’ And Rafael does a very good job of instructing a class and teaching what you need to do.”And by breaking out of his comfort zone, Dillashaw revealed his commitment to the game as he continues to lay the groundwork for what he hopes will be a future title run. It’s a scary proposition for his 135-pound peers, because you’ve got to remember that’s he’s only been doing this for a couple years, but it probably seems longer considering he’s been working with Faber, Joseph Benavidez, Chad Mendes and the rest of a team that is among the most high-profile in the sport.“I’m a little bit more well-known and been on TV and stuff, but I’m still very new to the game and I’m not gonna buy into all the pressure because I’ve been doing this for just about two years now,” he said. “I feel like I’ve made great gains and I’m proud of everything I’m doing now, and I just want to continue to do that. I’ll put the pressure on myself and just realize that I’m gonna continue to get better, and as good as I have been doing in the last two years, I have all the room to grow, and I’ve got the team to do it.”So is he ready for his return to the spotlight on Wednesday?“This is where I want to be and what I want to do,” said Dillashaw. “I’m so excited to get the exposure and to be pumped up as fast as I have been, but I’ve got to take it as just another fight. I try to look at every fight as my toughest, and I gotta get through the adversity that’s put in front of me.”

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When Rashad Evans outpointed Phil Davis at UFC on FOX 2 and exited the match-up in relatively good health the mystery surrounding who light heavyweight Jon Jones would defend his title against next was solved. However, the question about equally deserving contender Dan Henderson’s future remained unanswered. Henderson, who solidified his standing as a top challenger with an exciting win over Mauricio Rua in November, recently opened up on his plan for 2012 in a conversation with ESPN where he explained it’s never been his intention to wait for Jones-Evans to settle their score. “That was never what I said or anything,” said the former Strikeforce/DREAM champion. “I don’t know who said that, but it wasn’t me. My thoughts were I was waiting to see what happened with Rashad and Phil Davis. That was the only thing I was going to wait for.” “Obviously you can’t guarantee that nobody gets hurt,” he added, alluding to the possibility of stepping in as a replacement for Jones or Evans, continuing, “I don’t know what the plan is, but I’d fight whoever it is they think would be a good match-up. The problem is there’s really nobody right now who fits the bill for a title contention fight; that would make sense to fight me. I don’t know. Maybe I’d fight at a different weight class. I don’t know if they see anybody at heavyweight that would make sense? But I would prefer to fight someone in April or May.” The idea of a heavyweight tilt is certainly enticing given Henderson’s success against Fedor Emelianenko though, as he admitted, there aren’t a lot of names jumping out at him as being something fans might want to see. The 41-year old also mentioned a rematch with Quinton Jackson as a possibility pending the outcome of Jackson’s bout against Ryan Bader at UFC 144. With Henderson on the record the ball now appears to be in the UFC’s court. What match-up they’ll throw back remains to be seen though, clearly, “Hendo” is ready for the challenge as long as it makes sense and fans are interested in seeing it go down. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/STRIKEFORCE

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Rolles Gracie is preparing to take on Bob “The Beast” Sapp in a Super Heavyweight clash at ONE FC: Battle of Heroes in Jakarta on Saturday despite giving away around 100 pounds in weight. However, the member of MMA’s first family is determined to put on a the sort of performance which could establish him as a serious contender for the ONE FC heavyweight title as well as belts outside of the organization. Gracie spoke with Five Ounces of Pain about becoming the latest in a long line of his family members to fight in Asia, his anguish at being cut by the UFC after only one fight, and how excited he is to be a part of the fastest growing mixed martial arts organization in the world. Bob Sapp is 100 pounds bigger than you and you are naturally a heavyweight, not a super heavyweight. Did you have any doubts about taking this fight? Gracie: No, none whatsoever. To me there is no difference between heavyweight and super heavyweight. Its just a number after it gets to the point where you are more than 100 kilograms – you should be ready fight everybody. I respect Sapp as an opponent. I respect every opponent I fight. You have to give respect to anybody who steps inside the cage and Bob Sapp is no different.  he has a history in the sport, he has beaten so many people, he is massive, and so you have to give him respect. Sapp’s strength is his striking and he has competed in K-1 and beaten Ernesto Hoost. Do you feel like this is a dangerous match up because his strengths are your weaknesses? Gracie: It’s a challenge. The power behind his punches is huge so he is definitely dangerous and if I blink I might wake up on my back with people looking down at me. I give him respect and that’s why I trained hard and am ready to do my job. I had a couple of big guys to train with but not as heavy as him. I don’t know how much he even weighs. I think it is between 340lbs and 370 lbs and I had a couple of guys who were 300 lbs so not as big as him but close. Does having such a large opponent make you more reluctant to shoot for the takedown in case he ends up on top of you? Gracie: I’m comfortable on my back. It doesn’t matter who is on top of me. I am comfortable it doesn’t make a difference who they are. I am confident in my guard and think I can pull off submissions or sweeps from there. I’m ready to go three rounds with him if I have to. People say that he is gonna’ gas quick but I didn’t base my camp on that. I am ready to go five rounds if I have to. I trained as if he isn’t ever going to get tired. Have you focused your training more on striking and MMA, or do you still train BJJ with a gi? Gracie: I always train with a gi but once it gets close to the fight, like six weeks away, I won’t put the gi on unless I have had a really hard day and just want to do some free rolling. Then I put my gi on and go and roll with my students. I focus on everything but I cannot forget where I come from or what brought me here which is BJJ so I can’t make the mistake of not training BJJ. I train BJJ and I train the other things like wrestling and boxing. Sapp fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who also has very good BJJ, at a PRIDE event back in 2002. Have you watched that fight again recently? Gracie: I watched Sapp’s fight with Nogueira. It was an epic. Hopefully my fight won’t be like that but that was a fight which I watched a lot and I could see things I could work on for strategy but the fight happened ten years ago and both him and Noguiera have improved a lot since then so I can’t base too much on that. You cornered Gregor Gracie at the first ONE FC show at the Singapore Indoor Stadium last September. What did you think of that? The first ONE FC show was awesome, I liked it so much I wanted to fight on the next one. It was a great show and the One FC guys do everything right, they take really good care of the fighters, they put on shows in sold out arenas, it’s awesome. Gracie: I have been waiting for something like this and the time has come. I’m ready to represent and to put on a show for the Asian fans. My whole family has fought in Asia, not just Renzo Gracie, and this is my third time fighting in Asia and I like the crowd here. It’s the birthplace of martial arts and I think Asia is like where the majority of martial arts were born it’s in people’s DNA to understand martial arts and they love it a lot. It’s a different crowd. Your only loss came against Joey Beltran in your UFC debut. Did you learn a lot from that experience? Gracie: I couldn’t prepare the way I wanted and I couldn’t perform the way I wanted. It wasn’t the greatest thing to happen to my career, I would never call a loss a great thing, but I learned a lot from that and it made me change my training and made me think. I was so excited to fight for the UFC, my last fight was like six months before and I didn’t want to put it off and wait another three months to fight again but the right thing would have been to pull out and get another show. How disappointed were you to get cut by the UFC after only one fight? Gracie: I was very disappointed to get cut by the UFC because they knew I was injured and wasn’t 100% but I did the fight anyway and then they didn’t give me another shot . It wasn’t me performing but to be honest I didn’t think I performed that bad. I out-struck Beltra, I took him down, and I mounted him. But my cardio was bad and he was only able to take advantage of me after I ran out of gas and that’s something I can fix. All I had to do was step up my cardio. Would you ever consider fighting for the UFC again? Gracie: If they call me I will see but I am happy where I am right now. I’m happy to fight for ONE FC. That’s all I’m thinking of. Joey Beltran just got cut by the UFC. Would you be interested in a rematch if ONE FC decided to sign him up? Gracie: I truly believe I can beat Beltran. I think if we fight ten times I’m going to beat him nine. The only time he is going to beat me happened already. I can beat him any area, a grappling match, a wrestling match, a kickboxing match. So you are confident in your stand up? Gracie: I am very confident in my stand up, just because I don’t show my striking much doesn’t mean I don’t have striking. I have great striking partners and if I feel if I cannot take somebody down I am happy to use my striking, but if I can take them down I will. Would you like to be the first ever ONE FC heavyweight champion? I want to win the ONE FC heavyweight belt. I wanted them to make this fight a championship match but I know they are working on their belts and this is only the second edition of the show but I am looking forward to having that belt. My manager is talking to Victor Cui about future opponents and future shows. I had a great experience with Gregor here and I am ready to embrace this project. 5 OZ: How important to you think it is for there to be a show in Asia which fans all over the world can enjoy instead of just watching the UFC? Gracie: I don’t believe in monopoly. The more shows we have the better. If you only think about one or two shows you are not really thinking about the sport. The initiative which Cui is doing, partnering up with smaller shows in Asia, is great because it is going to create opportunities for more fighters. If you have only one show how many fighters can you have on your roster? It’s great and this is going to be one of the best shows in the world. 5 OZ: Is there anything else you want to add? Gracie: I want to thank everyone from Renzo’s team, guys from Fuji gis and Tokyo Fight Brand. The ONE FC undercard will stream for free starting at about 8:00 AM EST on Saturday morning with the main card available for $9.99. Check out the organization’s website or Facebook Page for more info.

Posted in: fight, show, ’t, fc, gracie

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

It turns out Dan Henderson doesn’t want to wait to fight the Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans winner after all. Dana White said last week that he did, but Hendo recently told ESPN he said no such thing. “That was never what I said or anything. I don’t know who said that, but it wasn’t me. My thoughts were I was waiting to see what happened with Rashad [Evans] and Phil Davis. That was the only thing I was going to wait for.” He may not want to sit on the sidelines, but Hendo also realizes the problem with wanting to fight. There’s really no one to fight that makes sense. “Obviously you can’t guarantee that nobody gets hurt. I don’t know what the plan is, but I’d fight whoever it is they think would be a good match-up. The problem is there’s really nobody right now who fits the bill for a title contention fight, that would make sense to fight me. I don’t know. Maybe I’d fight at a different weight class. I don’t know if they see anybody at heavyweight that would make sense? But I would prefer to fight someone in April or May.” The reporter asked Hendo if he would be interested in fighting the Rampage Jackson vs. Ryan Bader winner. Hendo showed interest in it, but wasn’t sure if the timing would work out. It’s an idea, but fighting at a different weight class probably makes more sense at this point. The last thing the UFC wants to do is risk eliminating Hendo from light heavyweight title contention right now. Any ideas who Hendo should fight? Image via James Law for MMA Fighting

Posted in: fight, ’t, hendo, winner, sense

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If there’s one thing practically every mixed martial arts writer can say, it’s that there’s no such thing as a bad Diego Sanchez interview. When The Ultimate Fighter season one winner and former world title challenger gets rolling (and it usually doesn’t take much), it’s best to just set up your recorder and let him roll, because you’re about to get enough quotes to last you for a week’s full of stories. With his UFC on FUEL main event against Jake Ellenberger approaching a week from today, here’s a sampling of memorable musings from “The Dream.”THE GOALS HAVE NEVER CHANGED (2005)“I’m not here to be the fifth best or the second best in the world.  I’m here to be the best in the world, hands down.  If I set my expectations lower than that, I wouldn’t be a champion.  NEVER PERSONAL (2005) “It’s business when I go in there.  I look at this as my career, as my life.  I’ve got my mom and my dad – my dad who works construction – and I want to have money for them to retire.  I want to end all the hard work and I want to be there for stuff like that.  I think about the reasons why I’m fighting and stuff like that.  So a little thing like that - trying to distract me by getting me mad – that’s not gonna throw me off my goal.” THE ART OF WAR (2005) “This is my art.  It’s my body, my mind, and my spirit, and when I go into the ring I look at it as war. I look at it like he’s trying to take my job from me, trying to take the money I’ve put on the table for food, and basically trying to take my life away.  So when I go in there, I go in there with the mentality that once they lock that door, I’m going in there and fighting for my life.  And when you’re fighting for your life, what else do you got?”   ORIGINS (2005)  “I wasn’t looking for the fight, it found me, and that’s basically the way fighting found me. I hadn’t been in a lot of fights in my life and I got tested in the street fight one time, fighting a big, strong, tough athlete who had strong endurance – he was a football player and he outweighed me by like 70 pounds, and I was able to overcome those odds. And I had wrestled, but I didn’t know jiu-jitsu – it was all heart. And when I overcame that guy, I started to think that maybe I am meant for this.”  DESTINY (2005) “I always loved the UFC, I always wanted to be a UFC fighter, but did I think it was gonna happen? I didn’t know. But after that happened, I started to realize. Then it was just one fight after another, building momentum, my confidence grew and I continued to trust in God and believe that maybe this was why I was put on the TV show and why everything is just the way it is. I believe its destiny.” ABU DHABI (2005)“I took that tournament on two weeks notice, I wasn’t training, and I cut 23 pounds in a week. I was so weak from my match with Jake Shields, a match that I lost, and then I was able to stick with Marcelo (Garcia) a day later in the absolute division and I was stronger because I had a day to recover. We were 0-0 with 30 seconds left and I was getting desperate and I went for a sloppy move with the best grappler in the world and he caught me with the counter move and I was submitted for the first time in competition. But what I had done to my body, I killed myself. I never wanted to quit so bad in my life. I was mentally weak in that sauna, and I felt myself wanting to quit. It taught me a big lesson. After that happened, you will never see Diego Sanchez cutting weight like that again for a mixed martial arts fight. Because if I had been in a mixed martial arts fight, I probably would have been beaten, because my insides were gone. I felt my organs hurting and I never want to feel that in a fight. I did a lot of things wrong to get things right.” CONFIDENCE MAN (2005)“If I’m not confident, then I’m gonna start to have doubts and start to think about the bad things that can happen to me in the cage – like getting knocked out or submitted or cut. If I think about those things, it’s gonna be on my mind and it’s gonna bring me down. I stay positive, I stay focused, and I think about what I have to do to beat my opponent.” FIGHT LIKE IT’S YOUR LAST (2005) “You never know when it’s gonna be your last fight, and I fight every fight like that.  When I’m in there, I will fight with every ounce of blood I have in me, with all my spirit, heart, and mind. And I’ve heard fighters say this, but truly, he’s gonna have to kill me to beat me because I’m not gonna quit, I’m not gonna break.” THE “0” (2006)“In my mind all the TUF guys are gonna lose and I’m gonna be the only undefeated fighter and I’m still gonna be the only guy that went through the show, finished everybody, and I’m gonna be ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ They’re gonna say, ‘that guy Diego Sanchez, he was ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ through all the seasons.’ They’re gonna say that he was the only guy that dominated it, came out after it, stayed undefeated, won the belt, and got out of his contract undefeated.”JUST BELIEVE (2006)“Really all it is is a mental state, a way of thinking, and it’s a way of believing in yourself. I believe in myself, and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing this. Anyone can do anything if they believe and I’m trying to get that message across. Everybody wants to hate and everybody wants to doubt, and there are people out there who want to see me lose just to see me lose, and they think I’m cocky, but I believe in myself. If you want to hate me because of that, go ahead. If I didn’t believe, there would be times in fights where I’d be like, ‘okay, I can quit, I’m tired,’ but I feel I’ve got a lot a heart, and though people say every dog has its day and everybody has his time to lose, maybe that’s true but I’m trying my best to take fights smart and fight smart and do my best to keep my record undefeated. When I started this game a long time ago, I told myself I’m gonna be smart about it. I’m not just gonna go in there and be (former UFC contender) Robbie Lawler and say “ARRRGGGGGH, I’m gonna brawl and try to knock your head off and try to be the most exciting fighter in MMA history.” That’s not my gameplan. My gameplan is to be smart, and that means there may be some boring fights, but other fights are gonna be damn exciting, and I’m always gonna push the pace and do what I can to win.”THE FIRST LOSS (2007)“It was a slow process, but ever since I won the Ultimate Fighter TV show in 2005, even though I had good fights and great wins, slowly, the fame was changing me. And I had to look back, analyze everything and ask myself who I was. I wasn’t that same tiger when I went into the ring with Josh Koscheck that I was whenever I started getting into this game. I was going through the motions and I wasn’t focused. I wasn’t being myself. I just need to be me and not think about anything else. I have to be that same hungry, King of The Cage fighter that was at the bottom of the barrel, that comes from Albuquerque, New Mexico, raised in poverty. That’s the Diego Sanchez that I need to be.”A CHANGE OF SCENERY (2007)“I’ve been doing the same thing for a long time. I’ve been raised in Albuquerque my whole life and I was ready for a change. I had been wanting to go out to California. Every time I’d come out to San Diego, for a month or two months to do conditioning camps with Rob Garcia, I’d always be like ‘man, it’s so nice out here. I wish I could run the beach everyday or work on my boxing more.’ But there wasn’t a ground guy out there for me, and of course there was my loyalty to Greg Jackson. I had the Jackson Gaidojutsu team, New Mexico was my home state, and I knew everybody over there, but things happen and it was the right time. Saulo Ribeiro and Xande Ribeiro moved to San Diego and opened up a school, and those guys are, in my opinion, the two best ground guys in the world. I’ve rolled with Marcelo Garcia and some of the best guys, and there ain’t nothing like a Saulo Ribeiro or an Alexander Ribeiro.”THE MOVE TO LIGHTWEIGHT (2009)“Fighting at 170 has always been good for me, but I walk around at a little chubby 180, and by the time I’m in great shape and ripped, I’m 172, 173, and not really cutting weight. So where this sport is going, everybody’s cutting weight. When I fought Jon Fitch, he had at least 20 pounds on me, and there was a very big size advantage. So after getting injured before the Thiago Alves fight, I just had to make a decision. I thought about all the options at 170, and what would be the best choice for me, and then I thought that if I dropped to ’55, I’m going to be bigger, stronger, able to focus more on technique and not on how to get bigger. Strength training was a big part of my training at 170, trying to get bigger. Now at 155, I get to work more on maintaining strength, which is a totally different task. I made the decision, and if there’s ever a time for me to do it, it’s gonna be now, while I’m still in my 20’s. When I get into my 30’s it’s gonna be a lot harder.”THE FIRST TITLE SHOT (2009)“I’m one to always put high expectations on every fight, so there’s no added pressure on me. For me, I feel like there’s always the same amount of pressure on every fight because every fight’s just as important. But this fight is something special to me. For the first time in my career, I’m fighting for a world title, and more important, against my opponent, BJ Penn. The guy’s probably been the most dominant lightweight in UFC history and I’ve been waiting for this fight with BJ Penn for a long time because all along I knew that fighting BJ Penn was going to bring out the best Diego Sanchez, and Diego Sanchez fighting BJ Penn is going to bring out the best in him. So that night we’re both gonna be pushed to see who has more heart and who is the better fighter – and that’s what it’s gonna come down to because I feel we match up well in all areas of the game.”GOING HOME TO ABQ (2010)“I loved San Diego and I still do. I was living really nice out there, real comfortable, but I just felt in my heart that I had to get back to my roots. I asked myself, ‘what got me there, what got me in the UFC, what got me to The Ultimate Fighter, what got me through The Ultimate Fighter, and what got me to the top of the UFC 170-pound division?’ It was just that hard working energy of Albuquerque and having my mom and my dad, and having that love around me all the time.”GETTING HUNGRY AGAIN (2010)“I felt very humbled in the BJ Penn fight and in the two months after the fight when I couldn’t train and I was just out and about and doing my thing because I had this big cut on my head, that’s when I felt very humbled. It’s not about the Hollywood lifestyle. It’s really nice to get all these fans and all these people who love you because of what you do in the Octagon, but I had to look back to before all of that when I was just another kid wanting to climb to the top. I don’t need to have the most expensive this or the nicest that. I don’t have to drink bottled water; I can drink some of this Albuquerque tap water and get just as rough and rugged and mean. And I honestly feel like my skills have improved.”ON ALBUQUERQUE (2010)“Before Albuquerque was known to the world, I grew up watching Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero boxing and I was a little fighter. I got into street fights, and it’s just a mentality. I call it the ‘Burque. It’s short for Albuquerque but it’s just a mentality, that ‘let’s get it’ mentality, and that separates me from a lot of the other fighters. I could never go into a fight and be thinking ‘okay, I’m gonna circle right, circle left, throw three leg kicks, see how he counters, and then I’m gonna set my takedown up.’ The mentality that I fight with is that I look at two pitbulls and before the fight, those two dogs are just going for the kill and they’re instinctively countering each other and moving synergistically and looking for the opportunity to strike and take their opponent out. And that’s the way I go into a fight. I think that’s probably the reason why I have such a big fanbase. They love that I go in there and put my heart on the line and I risk it. I’m gonna always risk it.”BACK TO JACKSON’S (2010)“Greg (Jackson) had told me that the door was always open and they always treated me like a family member, with open arms. And I was just being stubborn. I wanted to try to do a camp myself, but I was still in the process of moving. I went to do my camp in New Mexico (for the John Hathaway fight) because I felt I needed to do that, but I still had my place in San Diego, still had ties to my previous team, and I wanted to do it right when I made my return to Jackson’s. Right now, everything’s perfect.”GROWING PAINS (2010)“I want to be the best and I want to continue to get better. I’ve made some mistakes in my career, I’ve made some bad decisions, and there’s been multiple times where I was growing up and I got sucked into the limelight. But right now, I realized in my last fight that when it’s all said and done, it just comes down to earning the W. So my mentality now is, I’m just gonna earn it. I’m gonna earn the victory, work hard, and when I go in that gym, I want to be the hardest worker in there. That’s my whole new mindset on mixed martial arts and my career – be the hardest worker and earn the victory.”ON FIGHTING (2010)“It’s my blessing. I feel like I was blessed with the fighting ability and that’s my calling. It’s what I love to do and it’s my passion. You’ve heard me say this way back in the beginning of my career that I feel it’s my destiny to fight and to be champion, so I’m not letting go of that. I’m gonna continue to work hard, and I really feel like I’ve got my head on my shoulders finally after so many trials and tribulations. I’ve got my feet digging down in the ground, I’m standing firm, I’m working hard, and I’m gonna show everybody how hard work can pay off, because talent can only take you so far.”RISING TO THE TOP AGAIN (2011)“I’m climbing up the ladder and there’s only one way to do it and that’s to earn it. That’s what I realized after my losses to BJ (Penn) and John (Hathaway). I was going through the motions. I always trained hard and I’m not making excuses, but there’s no comparison between my training in San Diego and what it is here. I was in San Diego basically doing jiu-jitsu in the gi and then going to striking. I was putting MMA together and trying to create this style that wasn’t my own style. And when I came back to New Mexico, Greg said, ‘that’s not you. We gotta change a lot of things.’ He analyzed my fights when I wasn’t with him and he broke me down, and we reinvented me to what my style should be, and I came full circle as a martial artist and found my style. It took some time, but we worked on it.”EGO (2011) “I’ve always been able to look at myself and say ‘remember where you came from.’ It’s not hard for me to put my ego aside because that’s the way you get better. You can’t care what other people think because some days you’re gonna go into the gym and have hard days.”COMING HOME, PART II (2011)“I look back now and it was a great experience being away, but I never would have appreciated what I have if I didn’t leave it. Me and Greg (Jackson) started out together. I was one of his first fighters, and we were on the grappling circuit and had barely started doing MMA fights. I didn’t know what I had. I didn’t even know what I had in my hometown of Albuquerque. Now there’s such a deep appreciation each and every day that I walk into that gym just knowing that I really have something special here.” THE PAYOFF (2011)“I like getting bonuses and going out in the streets and having people just shining at me like bright lights, saying ‘oh, I can’t believe your last performance, it was so amazing, and the fight was so good.’ I want that kind of reaction.” 

Posted in: fight, time, ’t, i ’m, ’m

Read the full article at UFC

College is a time for you to express your creativity under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol.  If drinking isn’t your thing, attending class is still a secondary priority when you consider the quality of the LAN party scene at America’s higher-education institutions.  Or maybe you were really into really into collegiate sports, and never developed a proficiency in removing women’s undergarments with one hand while sipping a beer with the other.  It’s something you’ll have to do if you ever want to pledge a fraternity or be considered the baddest man on the planet by Mike Goldberg.  Alistair Overeem isn’t very good at it, but he’s practicing alongside his training for his title fight with Junior Dos Santos and since we know you wouldn’t ever believe us if we didn’t have the video to prove it, here it is. [Source]

Posted in: ’t, title fight, wouldn ’t, baddest man, ’s something

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Last night’s show featured far more misfires than bulls-eyes with things starting off on a sour note in the form of HHH once again stealing the spotlight from more-active competitors, talking about how he felt bad for the Undertaker after the beatdown he’d laid on him at last year’s Wrestlemania. By that logic Kevin Nash should have turned down his eventual bout with HHH out of pity since he also sent him off with medical personnel. The reality is the WWE should have actually shown HHH as being a bit intimidated, seeing that he hadn’t intimidated Undertaker to the point of picking a new adversary. After all, Taker did beat HHH (something Hunter’s promo failed to mention). Even worse was the video clip from Taker as a response to HHH’s actions. There’s nothing wrong with putting together a package like that and as a stand-alone piece it was entertaining. However, having him take that route rather than make his comments in person was silly and did nothing to elevate what is supposed to be one of the biggest angles of this year’s big show. By the way, hearing that Shawn Michaels will be at RAW next week was affirmation to me he may be involved in the Wrestlemania bout. Why not do a Triple Threat with three of the company’s icons, plus what more impressive way to have Taker go 20-0 and retire? Big Show-Daniel Bryan remains a strange storyline to me and I’m not sure what the payoff will be. Bryan’s heelishness seems forced and let’s be honest – is AJ supposed to be the least intelligent Diva on the roster? The way her cluelessness is being sold to viewers implies a bottle of Jim Ross’ BBQ sauce has more intellectual prowess than Bryan’s girlfriend. Having Sheamus beat David Otunga, not to mention sell to the point of only finishing the bow-tied brawler based on his overconfidence, made little sense to me. If they’re trying to get Otunga over as a worker the WWE should reconsider. He looked stiff in there and way too stunt-oriented as opposed to being able to flow. Also, was it me, or did it seem like both men were working a little rough against each other? Some of the execution had a shootish feel. I was more disappointed in CM Punk’s silent response to Chris Jericho’s behavior than I was by the weeks of Y2J not talking. As long as they eventually start going at each other verbally I’ll be happy, as it will highlight two of the best talkers in the business, and I understand the reason Punk let his belt send the message. It frustrated Jericho, was great for the storyline, and was unique so WIN X 3 on that front. The tag-team bout between Khali-Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes-Wade Barrett could have been much better, giving Rhodes-Barrett a chance to shine instead of focusing fully on the simmering feud between Khali and RKO. Who isn’t drooling over that one, right? Sarcasm aside, Orton was left looking like a golden boy, i.e. business as usual. Nothing much to be said about the Divas’ tag-teamer other than that I don’t understand why Tamina doesn’t work barefoot to get over the “Superfly” angle and the Bella Twins’ outfits would make Attack of the Show’s Candace Bailey proud based on glitter and a certain animal’s toe. I enjoyed the Six Pack Challenge without question and thought the end went over well. Jericho vs. Punk is clearly being built for Wrestlemania and I for one can’t wait to watch it develop. The show ended with Kane stalking Eve Torres. All I’ll say is the “Big Red Meh-Chine” has done his job by bringing out the hate. Not John Cena’s, mind you, but mine in terms of how much I despise this angle. It’s ridiculous on so many levels it isn’t funny and does nothing for either man other than to show Cena knows how to do a psychotic smile while dishing out damage. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: show, ’t, hhh, wwe, i ’ll

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While countless individuals may be impressed with what they’ve seen thus far from unbeaten Olympic judoka Ronda Rousey, one person who won’t be found among them is Strikeforce bantamweight champ Miesha Tate. Tate defends her belt against Rousey on March 3 in the main event of a stacked Strikeforce lineup where the 25-year old plans to drag “Rowdy” Ronda into deep waters when they face off to see how she reacts to an actual fight rather than an quick submission win. “I just want to frustrate her. I want to push her outside that minute and make her second-guess and wish she never wanted to take this fight,” said Tate while serving as a guest on Inside MMA. “I have yet to see Ronda actually fight. I’ve seen her go out there and do her judo or what not but she hasn’t ever brought a fight and that’s what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna make this a fight.” Though Rousey is 4-0 no opponent has lasted more than 49 seconds with her, leaving her cardio as being somewhat of a mystery. “Not to mention the weight cut,” Tate added. “This is his first drop to 135. Also, (there’s a) no-pound allowance. That’s going to change her body dynamics. The way she’s used to throwing people and having that weight behind her is gonna change.” In terms of the trash-talk from Rousey, Tate explained it motivates her when she hears it but for the most part she has her upcoming adversary tuned out. “I don’t really listen to much of anything Ronda says. I don’t watch her interviews,” stated Tate on the topic. “I get a little bit of that drift that comes through Twitter…half the time I really honestly think it makes her sound like an idiot. That’s just being brutally honest. I think she’s pretty delusional.” Check out the complete interview below: PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: fight, ’t, tate, fight ”, ronda

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

While paying the same price to watch a PPV on the UFC's website as you would to see it on TV may seem like a bit of a rip, at least there's some cool bells and whistles attached to the internet version. You have your choice of cameras to watch, and your choice of audio. Sick of Goldy hawking Corn Nuts? Turn the announcers off. Wanna feel like you're sitting in your favorite fighter's corner? They've got an isolated audio feed for each corner too. That's what Bloody Elbow user KGNLuc used to transcribe everything going on between Nick's cornermen Nate Diaz and Richard Perez. Here's some highlights: (before the fight)Red Corner (probably talking to the corner-team): Be calm in the corner. That’s where the cameras are, they’re tryin’ t make us look bad. The camera [...] is makin’ us look bad for freakin’ out so be calm on the cameras (round 1)Nate: He’s tryin to make you chase him too. Cut him off real good. He’s tryin to coast for five rounds. Cut him off good!(round 2)Nate (to a teammate, 4:03): He’s got nothin on him, dude. He’s just tryin to set stuff up. (right here, Condit throws a spinning elbow at around 3:58) See, that’s the kind of ass*ole-sh*t he’s got. But ... he better land a good one if he wants to end it cause he can’t really do too much.Red Corner (somebody else than the staff that could be heard so far 3:08): Condit you pussy!Red Corner: You can run all day!(between rounds 2 and 3)Nate: You ain’t gonna have to chase him so much, too. You can if you want but you don’t have to. He’s trying to make you chase him around some hard shit (?). You can wave him down like "Come to me motherf*cker!". [...]You won the last two rounds so keep doin what you’re doin. But you can make him come to you too. Or do what you want. You can do that too, he ain’t doin nothin. (round 3)Nate (no clock yet...right at the start oft he round): It’s lookin goodRed Corner: You think so?Nate: Yah, two – zero.Red Corner: Sometimes though, they...Nate: Nah, two to zero. Everybody knows that. F*ck that! The guy ain’t doin nothin. He’s doin what he can though. After the jump, rounds 4, 5, and the aftermath: Greasing allegations and Nate Diaz's scorecard. read more

Posted in: round, ’t, nate, corner, ’s tryin

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NELSON IS AS TOUGH AS THEY COMERoy Nelson is one bad dude. Not bad in the behavioral sense. Bad in terms of toughness. Anyone watching his last four fights knows that this guy is near the top of the food chain in terms of durability, heart and grit. He also has better than average power for a heavyweight. The problem, of course, is that Nelson isn’t a true heavyweight. Not by a mile. The six-foot mixed martial artist has the frame of a middleweight. Despite the fact that he has shed 20 pounds over his last two bouts, he still carries no less than 30 pounds of excess body fat. And I’m probably being generous with that number.Imagine how good this guy could be, if he could make 185 pounds. I know that is asking a lot. It would require a complete physical transformation. But Nelson wouldn’t be the first guy to pull that off. Former UFC fighter Joe Riggs actually began his career as a 300-pound heavyweight before dropping all the way to 170 pounds. I don’t see any reason why Nelson, with the help of a master dietician and a ton of self-discipline, couldn’t drop to middleweight.Imagine a lean, muscular Nelson competing against guys with similarly sized skeletal frames. I think he would be an absolute beast, if not a legitimate championship threat. Yes, I know that there is this guy named Anderson Silva who just so happens to rule the middleweight division. He is pretty good, though Nelson has a much better chance against Silva than he does against any of the top heavyweights. He simply gives up too much size and strength to the top heavies, in my opinion. Plus, I wonder if Silva, Vitor Belfort or any of the other middleweight bombers could stop “Big Country” with strikes. Junior dos Santos, a much bigger, more powerful champion than any middleweight, hit Nelson with everything, including the kitchen sink, and couldn’t knock him out. What makes anyone think that top middles would fare any better? I also wonder if middleweights could handle Nelson’s power, assuming it the drop in weight wouldn’t adversely impact it. Fabricio Werdum made no bones about the fact that he took lots of painful lumps in his win over Nelson. Frank Mir experienced the same result. And dos Santos ate more than one punch during his dominant win over Nelson that left him second guessing whether he wanted to fight in a phone booth versus dominating from the outside.I know Nelson is a master at using his added girth to his advantage on the ground. Yet, it is difficult for me to believe that his ground game would suffer from a significant move south on the scales. It’s not like this guy just lays on people. He is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie, so his ground game is a highly technical chess match that I believe would be even more effective against smaller guys.  Even if 185 pounds is a pipe dream, 205 pounds should not be a very difficult journey. He is already 20 pounds, plus a typical weight cut, away from qualifying for the land of the light heavies. Jon Jones is one of the very best in the game, but just like with Silva, I’d give Nelson a much better chance at upsetting that guy than dos Santos.KOS STILL STRUGGLING TO FIND COHESIONMake no mistake about it. Josh Koscheck remains one of the top five welterweights in the world. It is a position that the polarizing veteran has occupied for several years. Saturday’s split decision win, one that many believe was wrongly decided by the judges, does nothing to affect his lofty status. A win is a win, and Kos now has 15 of them in 20 trips to the Octagon.Nonetheless, I’m a bit surprised that Kos continues to struggle to seamlessly blend his world class wrestling skills with a standup game that has become one of the better in the division. Sure, he scored two takedowns, arguably the difference-makers in two of the three judges’ eyes. But the takedowns appeared to be more moves of necessity—dare I suggest desperation—than a natural part of his offensive attack.It seems to me that Kos prepares for a fight one way or the other—standup or wrestling—and it shows in his performance. Anyone believing that this guy can no longer dominate a bout with his wrestling should pop in the DVD of UFC 113. Kos put on a takedown, ground control and ground-and-pound clinic against Paul Daley on that night. It was a masterful performance of technique, though it was the last time we have seen Kos use his wrestling to dominate the action. That is a complete shame because this guy is wasting his biggest competitive asset.Kos has a dynamite right hand. He loves to knock people out. Knocking people out, versus holding them down and grinding out wins, tends to result in bigger paydays. All that is fine and good. But the former AKA star (more on that below) will increase his knockout opportunity by forcing opponents to constantly fear the takedown.The threat of a takedown forces an opponent to keep his hands just a little bit lower so that he can use underhooks to help avoid a trip to the ground. The threat of a takedown prevents an opponent from sitting down in his stance, which means he cannot generate the same power on his own strikes. And, of course, the threat of a takedown all but eliminates kicks, since catching a kick is one of the most effective ways to get the fight to the ground.I’ve been writing for years that Kos was a future champion. I still believe that to be the case, but only if he starts to truly reincorporate his wrestling into his off attack. Two other pieces of constructive criticism are warranted. Kos either needs to find away to stop tugging at his shorts. I don’t know if that is a nervous tick or if his thick thighs constantly pull on his fight shorts. Either way, that behavior first reared its head during his second bout with Georges St-Pierre. It has been a constant ever since. He ate several jabs from GSP, Matt Hughes and Pierce solely because his hands were on his thighs, rather than held high in a defensive position. I guarantee opponents are keying strikes off Kos grabbing his shorts. He should find a way to eliminate that hole sooner rather than later. The second item to consider is the waning use of his left hand. Kos has a very good jab and a tremendous left hook. Yet, he hardly threw either on Saturday night. One-trick strikers are easy to deal with no matter how good that one trick might be. Kos knows that. Increasing the use of his left hand will make his right that much more effective. KOS SPLITS WITH LONGTIME COACHI was taken aback when Josh Koscheck announced at the post-fight presser that he would no longer train at the San Jose headquarters for the American Kickboxing Academy. Keep in mind that this guy owns, not one, but two gyms in Fresno, California that bear the AKA name. I have no idea if the decision leave AKA San Jose will affect the licensing rights for those two gyms. That stuff will sort itself out over the coming weeks.What is interesting about the split is that it apparently isn’t a split from Team AKA. According to an interview with MMAWeekly.com's Damon Martin, it is actually only a departure from his head coach, Javier Mendez. An irreparable personal rift has apparently developed over the last few years, so Kos has opted to go in a different direction.The welterweight contender plans to continue having “Crazy” Bob Cook and Dave Camarillo, two of his longtime coaches, prepare him for battle, and both will continue to work his corner during fights, according to Kos. He also plans to provide housing and a paycheck for his close friends and AKA teammates to come up to Fresno for his training camps.This is an interesting development, for sure. It is newsworthy any time a top fighter makes a coaching change. But I’m not sure if this qualifies as a coaching change, since Cook and Camarillo will remain  constants in his camp. One has to assume that Kos will enlist the help of a new striking coach to replace Mendez, though he has not made any announcements to that effect just yet.Without getting into the details behind the rift, I think that the change will actually be good for Kos. There is no doubt that his development has become stagnant over the last couple of fights. Maybe the disconnect with Mendez is to blame. Maybe he has become too comfortable in his routine. The maybes are endless. What is certain, though, is that, if Kos really trained himself for the Pierce fight, as he is claiming, then change is an absolute must. A new voice of authority, new techniques, a change of scenery or all of the above might be just what the doctor ordered for Kos. His routine will obviously be different training out of Fresno, rather than San Jose. Just that little variation from the mundane past might be enough to jumpstart Kos back on the upswing of the developmental curve. Of course, the biggest risk is that his longtime teammates and friends won’t make the journey to Fresno to help Kos prepare. If that happens, he will need to figure out a backup plan for elite training partners. Otherwise, the departure could turn out to be disastrous.History suggests that Kos will be just fine, possibly even better off. Elite fighters who spend their entire career training with one head coach and in one location are the great exception, not the norm. Reigning or former champions GSP, Rashad Evans, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Randy Couture, Vitor Belfort, Rich Franklin, Quinton Jackson, BJ Penn, and a host of others have all made at least one major camp change in their respective careers. The book is still out on Evans, but the rest of them enjoyed tremendous success after making the change. I have a feeling Kos will follow suit.NEW YEAR, NEW LOOK FOR THE UFC’S TELEVISED PRODUCTIONUFC 143 was the debut for the UFC’s new pay-per-view production format. The intro was a dramatic change from the kneeling gladiator that had become the promotion’s trademark opener. The watermark time clock sported a completely different look. The regular use of on-screen, in-fight statistics appeared for the first time. And the promo for UFC 144 had a totally different feel from 2011 and earlier promos. Bottom line, I’m a big fan. I absolutely loved the way UFC 143 came across from a production standpoint.  That includes the production for the televised prelims on FX, which clearly had FOX production team written all over them and was a major step up from the 2011 and earlier televised prelims, in my opinion.What do you think of the new television look and feel? Was it as obvious to you as it was to me? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. I’ll be reading, as always.Watch the UFC® 143 replay

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NOT AS ADVERTISED, BUT POSSIBLY THE BEST TACTICAL DISPLAY OF 2012 TO DATEAnyone who read my pre-fight breakdown knows that I was seriously salivating over what appeared to be a surefire barnburner between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. I really thought the matchup had all the necessary ingredients for a “Fight of the Year” performance. The fight certainly didn’t live up to the hype from an all-action standpoint, but that does not, in any way, detract from what was a near flawless performance by Condit.“The Natural Born Killer” committed to a game plan that consisted of sticking and moving with the use of constantly changing angles. He never varied from that attack, not even for a minute. Sure, Diaz trapped him a few times, forcing Condit to fight with his back against the cage. But those exchanges lasted only a few brief seconds before the new interim champion circled away from the cage and resumed his tactical approach. Diaz pleaded with him over and over to stand and fight, using vitriolic trash talking, taunts with his hands at his side, and doing just about everything else he could think of to try and goad his foe into a brawl. Condit never gave in to temptation, despite the fact that his natural inclination is to plant his feet and go to war with opponents. Anyone who believes that is easy to do should go back and watch Diaz’s career over the last four or five years. Every one of his opponents, except for British slugger Paul Daley, entered the cage with the same game plan. Only Condit was able to successfully implement it.While the end result wasn’t a “Fight of the Year” battle, it was a virtuoso tactical performance, arguably the best of 2012 so far.DEFEND OR NOT TO DEFEND, THAT IS THE QUESTIONCondit’s win over Diaz brought him a share of the championship that he so desperately coveted, but the belt comes with a dilemma. UFC President Dana White revealed after the fight that champion Georges St-Pierre is nowhere near being ready to resume full mixed martial arts training. The current estimate is the champion will finish his rehabilitation sometime in June, which means he won’t likely return to competition until November, at the earliest. GSP’s health leaves Condit in a precarious position. He has to decide whether to wait for GSP and unify the belts in his next fight or take an optional defense while the Canadian standout is on the mend.  That may seem like an easy choice, but this is anything but an easy decision. Let’s look at both sides of the issue. The argument in favor of waiting is an easy one to make. First and foremost, Condit knows that his title is only a placeholder until GSP returns. He will forever be able to refer to himself as a UFC titlist, but not a champion, until he defeats GSP (or GSP fails to return from his current injury exile). Thus, he hasn’t really accomplished his goal of reaching the pinnacle of the sport. Not yet anyway. Taking an interim fight in the unpredictable world of the UFC, where there is no such thing as a tune-up or keep-busy championship bout, creates a risk that he will never actually receive the opportunity to challenge for the true championship. Thus, the risk created by defending the interim belt outweighs the reward, in terms of building Condit’s legacy in the sport. Second, if there is ever a time to face GSP, who is one of the best fighters on the planet, pound for pound, it is right after he returns from a major injury. GSP will have to deal with the dreaded cage rust when he returns. I’m not listening to any argument to the contrary. There is no way that he will be as sharp in his first fight back as he was in his last bout. The issues caused by the time away from active training and actual fighting are compounded by the mental hurdle associated with getting over an ACL tear is no joke. It takes most athletes some reps in actual competition, even once fully healed and rehabilitated, to subconsciously believe that the knee is ready for game speed. I will be shocked, if GSP is any different.GSP, therefore, should have holes in his game that might not otherwise be present, if Condit faces him at any other point in their respective careers. Why risk blowing that opportunity, just to take an interim fight?The argument for taking an interim fight is also pretty straightforward. Any advantage that Condit has over GSP due to the champion’s injury-forced exile is tempered by the interim champion self-exiling himself for a long period of time. Keep in mind that the longest layoff of Condit’s career is 269 days. If he fights GSP on November 1, he will break his personal inactive mark by two days, and there is no guarantee that the true champion will be ready by November 1. Any little setback in his rehabilitation or preparation could postpone the fight even further, which means cage rust will be just as big of a problem for Condit as it is GSP. Think otherwise? Talk to Rashad Evans about hanging around and waiting for an opportunity, rather than remaining busy. He will quickly admit that long stretches away have affected his subsequent performances. Again, why would Condit be any different?Equally relevant is the fact that the fight game is as much about earning a living as it is competition. Condit doesn’t get paid to sit on the sidelines. He gets paid when he fights. Does it make financial sense to wait until November or possibly later for his next payday? Remember, we are talking about a guy with a wife, baby and new mortgage. I’m a firm believer that fighters need to maximize their earnings during their brief time in sport. All fighters have very limited shelf lives. The question of “what’s next” once their career reaches its expiration date is a daunting one for all but the wealthiest of fighters, particularly since the expiration date arrives at different times for different fighters. It is a date that is nearly impossible to predict. So, passing up lucrative paydays, even in the face of risking a potentially more lucrative one down the road with GSP, seems like financial suicide to me.Equally important, however, is the mental aspect of opting to sit on the sidelines. Think about it for a minute. If Team Condit attempts to talk their man into waiting for GSP, I question whether that would create a little doubt in the back of his mind. After all, if he isn’t good enough to defeat whomever the UFC puts in front of him, what makes anyone think he is good enough to defeat the man who many believe to be the single best fighter in the world? Will that self doubt cause hesitation when he actually receives the opportunity to fight GSP?I’m a firm believer that Condit should take an interim defense of the interim title, based on GSP’s protracted timetable. Not only will it help maximize his short-term earnings, it will also put him in the best possible position, in my opinion, to remain at the top of his game for when the opportunity to face GSP does finally arise.What would you do, if you were advising “The Natural Born Killer”? Let me know in the comment section below.PAY NO MIND TO THE RETIREMENT TALKNick Diaz announced after the loss to Condit that he was hanging up the vale tudo gloves. To quote Public Enemy, “don’t believe the hype.”Diaz isn’t going anywhere. Not after that loss, anyway. His words inside the Octagon were those of a deeply frustrated fighter who believed that, once again, he was treated wrongly by the system. I’m not so sure that he will continue to hold that belief when he goes back and watches the tape of the fight.For the record, I scored the fight 3-2 for Diaz, giving him the nod in rounds one, two and five. The first two rounds were easy to score, in my opinion, as were rounds three and four. The final round was a bear, and I’ll admit that I still go back and forth on that one. On one hand, Condit definitely landed more in terms of striking volume and significant strikes. He also showed far better Octagon control by darting in and out, while Diaz continually and ineffectively chased him around. On the other hand, the takedown followed by the back mount was the single most dominant position of the round for either fighter. Condit was in more danger of getting stopped in those moments than Diaz was at any point in the fight. Of course, Diaz didn’t actually come very close with any of his submission attempts, so there is a school of thought that says I shouldn’t give so much weight to the takedown and back mount. It is a completely subjective question, one that I actually don’t feel that strongly about. In fact, after re-watching the fight, I am actually starting to lean toward Condit for the final round.Whatever your scoring philosophy, the bout was close enough that it wasn’t highway robbery for either man to drop the decision on Saturday night. Diaz should not feel as if he has been wronged by the establishment. He should instead ask himself why he was unable to cut off the cage when Condit was on his bicycle, or why he didn’t get off first when Condit came into range. It was a very un-Diaz-like performance, one that I chalk up to a bad night mixed with a virtuoso effort by Condit. Diaz isn’t going anywhere, folks. Trust me on that one. In fact, I think he is probably just one win away from re-asserting himself as the number one contender. Dana White mentioned in a post-fight interview that Diaz versus Josh Koscheck would be an interesting next fight. I agree. I think that is an excellent way to shake out who stands behind Condit, if he opts to wait for GSP. If Condit decides to take an interim challenge, I think Diaz has a strong argument that he deserves a rematch. Either way, my guess is that Nick Diaz will be back in action inside the Octagon before summertime.

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With mutual respect being shown between the welterweight headliners at UFC 143 the trash-talking has been left to 170ers Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce, two wrestlers by trade who have shown some power while standing as well. Things over boiled over at yesterday’s weigh-ins when Pierce, wearing a blonde wig to mock Koscheck’s trademark tresses, went nose-to-nose with Koscheck forcing UFC officials to step in and separate the two. The heated adversaries have been at it at some time, a situation starting when Pierce called Koscheck out online after the American Kickboxing Academy’s original opponent (Carlos Condit) was moved to a main event match-up with Nick Diaz. The newly created rivals spoke about one another last week at the open workouts for tonight’s event where, as you might suspect, flattery was not on the menu. “I didn’t really know who this guy was when I agreed to fight him,” said Koscheck when asked about Pierce. “I remember he fought Jon Fitch but not too well. I think I remember that fight, he didn’t get anything going until the very last minute. I know he called me out, so he must think he can win… but they all think that until I punch them in the face.” “Josh Koscheck knows who I am,” Pierce replied to the assertion. “He’s pretending he doesn’t because he is Josh Koscheck and that’s what he does: he acts like this all the time. He’s a bit of a jerk and that’s his personality and that’s just who he is and what gets him noticed. “I hope he is overlooking me because Jon Fitch beat me,” he continued. “That was two years ago and I am a much better fighter now and, for that fight, I had a family issue to take care of which distracted me. I hope Josh is underestimating me, but I doubt it. I’ve been waiting and trying for an opportunity like this for years.” Ultimately, Koscheck made it clear he doesn’t care who he’d paired against as long as his check from the UFC clears, meaning his verbal jabs at Pierce aren’t necessarily as personal as the 13-4 grappler is taking them. “I get paid the same whether I am fighting Mike Pierce or Carlos Condit, so I don’t care who I fight,” bottom-lined Koscheck. “I am a gold digger, I fight for money. You’d be a dumb SOB to fight for free but I do enjoy my job and I fight my ass off. I have a big mouth and I don’t want to lose and I want to look good out there.” See walks the walk tonight when Pierce-Koscheck fight on PPV at 10:00 PM EST with Facebook/FX prelims starting three hours earlier. Check out video of the weigh-in exchange below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Legal troubles have again cost War Machine (otherwise known as Jon Koppenhaver) a year of his freedom after recently being sentenced to jail-time stemming from an old case. Machine had been scheduled to face Karl Amoussou in the opening round of Bellator’s Season 6 welterweight tournament, a series of bouts slated to start on March 30 with the winner receiving both a $100,000 payday and title-shot. While specifics weren’t offered, Machine announced his status on Twitter, expressing frustration after getting his life on track again six months ago when he was released from prison for a separate yearlong sentence. War Machine Gets Second Chance from Bellator Bellator hasn’t wasted any time finding a replacement for Machine, filling his vacancy with the hard-hitting Chris Lozano. “The Cleveland Assassin” holds an overall record of 9-2 with seven TKOs. “After the last tournament, I knew I needed to grow, so I decided to make the move to Greg Jackson’s,” said Lozano in an official press release from Bellator. “Over the last months, I have just elevated my game by leaps and bounds. Every day I’m surrounded by some of the best fighters in the world, and it has made me a better fighter. It’s controlled chaos. I’ve really gotten back to some of the things that made me so dangerous, and I can’t wait to show off all the training and hard work this March.” Amoussou seemed unfazed by the change in opponent, saying, “I don’t care who I fight in the upcoming Bellator Welterweight Tournament. I’m going to rock the Bellator welterweight division and destroy every fighter that stands in front of me. I don’t care where you train or who you are, if you are in my way to the belt, I feel sorry for you.” The two will face off on March 30 at Bellator 63. The other three bouts scheduled for the tourney’s quarterfinal round include Ben Saunders vs. Raul Amaya, and Bryan Baker vs. Carlos Pereira, and Brian Foster vs. David Rickels. Tweet

Posted in: bellator, ’t, welterweight, tournament, machine

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If asked to list the top five welterweights, maybe even top ten, in the UFC it is likely Mike Pierce’s name wouldn’t make the list. While Pierce has certainly found some success inside the Octagon, he’s lacking any truly significant victories and not anywhere near the self-promoter a handful of his peers are. In fact, his opponent tomorrow night – Josh Koscheck – wasn’t overly familiar with Pierce either when he took the bout against him. “I didn’t really know who this guy was when I agreed to fight him. I remember he fought Jon Fitch but not too well. I think I remember that fight, he didn’t get anything going until the very last minute,” said Koscheck at an open workout for UFC 143. “I know he called me out, so he must think he can win… but they all think that until I punch them in the face.” However, regardless of opponent, Koscheck was happy to take the tussle because it’s his job and he enjoys fattening his bank account. “I get paid the same whether I am fighting Mike Pierce or Carlos Condit, so I don’t care who I fight. I am a gold digger, I fight for money,” Koscheck explained. “You’d be a dumb SOB to fight for free but I do enjoy my job and I fight my ass off. I have a big mouth and I don’t want to lose…I want to look good out there.” Koscheck Vows to Be First to Finish Pierce See if Koscheck can live up to his own hype Saturday at 10:00 PM EST on PPV with undercard action firing up three hours later on Facebook/FX. UFC 143 is headlined by Condit vs. Nick Diaz for the interim welterweight championship with other match-ups include Scott Jorgensen vs. Renan Barao and Roy Nelson vs. Fabricio Werdum. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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Article Compiled with Assistance from Jeremy Lambert Renowned trainer Dave Camarillo will be in Las Vegas this weekend to take in the sights and sounds of UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit first-hand while providing support for American Kickboxing Academy fighter Josh Koscheck, also scheduled for action at Saturday night’s event. However, the appearance will be among the last of his career after amicably parting ways with AKA to focus on his own school, Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu Family Martial Arts and Fitness. While it’s certainly a change from the more-glamorous grind of preparing Mixed Martial Artists for competition at the highest level, it’s one Camarillo welcomed with open arms after coming to grips with his diminished passion for coaching MMA. Camarillo took some time out of his schedule to talk with Five Ounces of Pain where he explained the decision to alter career paths despite his success at AKA and also offered up some insight on the UFC 143 headliner between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. “You try to be everyone and to be honest I wasn’t giving the fighters and students what they needed because I couldn’t be two places at once,” explained Camarillo. “When I first came to AKA I was actually going to fight. I was a talented guy who studied martial arts early and I was fast and athletic and knew what I was doing, so there was some promise for me early on to fight but then I sat myself down and said, “I don’t want to fight. It’s not 100% in me.” I’m 0 or 100. That’s just my personality. If I have any doubts, I’m going to do something else, and so I decided to coach. And MMA coaching wasn’t 100% anymore in my mind.” “It came back to being 5 or 6 with my dad and training judo and bowing in everyday and that’s what I want to do,” Camarillo replied, his genuine investment in the cause coming through. “That’s what’s most important to me. Changing lives like my life was changed through martial arts, there’s no better gift. So that 50 or 60%, I had to switch it. So now I’m 100% into my academy and my career. The focus is my gym and providing for my family and my students.” While Camarillo’s primary attention is now on the next generation of martial artists he does still have personal ties to a few of his former students and current friends, one of whom is of course Koscheck. “I will be in Josh Koscheck’s corner this weekend and I’ll finish out his and Jon Fitch’s career but I think that’s it,” said Camarillo of his future work with UFC athletes. “These guys are always open to come train with me but at this point, it’s on my terms because of my decision. You make the decision and stick with it. I’m working harder but my life is easier because I’m into it. You can’t lie to yourself and now that passion is back. “ As far as the main event determining both a top contender and a potential opponent down the road for Fitch or Koscheck, Camarillo sees the bout as being closely matched with either man at risk of defeat without a near-perfect performance. “Carlos Condit is tough, long, and good everywhere. He’s no joke. Good jiu-jitsu, stand up is strong, and he’s not a bad wrestler,” evaluated Camarillo before turning to the fight’s favorite. “Nick Diaz is probably the best striker in the division and I think he’s the gutsiest as well. I think he’s just as well-rounded as Condit. Unless Diaz comes in aggressive and gets caught early on, I think he’s going to pressure him like he does everyone and give Condit that pressure that he just can’t handle.” Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu has two locations in California with eyes on expansion in the future. Koscheck’s fight with Mike Pierce is set for the PPV portion of the event with the show starting at 7:00 PM EST on Facebook/FX before the featured fights begin at 10:00 PM EST. PHOTO CREDIT – DAVECAMARILLO.COM

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You had to hear it to believe it, and even then it was shocking. Hundreds, maybe thousands of British fans were firing back at American Chris Cope with the “Woooo” yell that has become his trademark (via pro wrestling legend Ric Flair) as he walked to the Octagon to face home country favorite Che Mills at UFC 138 last November. It was one of those moments that only sports can provide, and The Ultimate Fighter 13’s Cope has an idea why fans from another continent were buying in to what he represented.“Here’s the thing, and I’m not trying to sound cocky or arrogant, but I’m kinda like a Rudy, and how can you not like the underdog?” said Cope, referring to Rudy Ruettiger, the walk-on for the Notre Dame football team whose story was immortalized in the film “Rudy.” “Forrest Griffin is never gonna be known as a spectacular, crazy fighter, but that guy provides the average Joe with hope because he’s a guy who came from grass roots, he worked hard and trained hard and now he’s in the UFC and he’s one of the poster boys.”Already 1-0 in the UFC with an impressive win over TUF13 castmate Chuck O’Neil in June of last year, Cope was in the process of building his own success story until a crushing knee sent him to the canvas and kicked off a sequence that saw him stopped in 40 seconds by Mills. Yet as he walked back out into the LG Arena to watch the rest of the event, once again he was stunned by what happened.“I got laid out in that fight,” he said. “I got caught with a knee 40 seconds in, and I was embarrassed as hell. I knew I was going up against a really good fighter and I knew that things could happen even though I’ve never been caught like that before. It is what it is, and it happened. But I remember going back to the locker room and then coming back out to sit down, and they all wanted autographs. They all wanted pictures. I’m like ‘guys, I lost; I got caught in there, why do you want my autograph?’ They said ‘We don’t care. We love you, you’re great.’ That made me feel good because it made me really feel like it doesn’t matter whether I win or lose because these people have got my back. I call it the Woo Nation. I do it, they do it, and when I fight, I’m not just fighting by myself. They’re in there fighting with me.”This Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, odds are that the Woo Nation will be out in force again to back their man when he faces Matt Brown in one of those fights that promises action.“I think he’s a very tough guy, he comes out to fight very hard right off the bat, he’s got very good striking, underrated submissions off his back, and he’s a gamer,” said Cope of Brown. “He comes to fight, and he’s always very dangerous. I’m a fan of his and I’ve got nothing but respect for him.”There’s also plenty on the line for both men. Cope, still relatively inexperienced with eight pro fights, is coming off the loss to Mills, which puts him at 1-1 in the Octagon. Brown is 1-4 in his last five, making a win imperative. But regardless of what’s at stake, Cope has never strayed from a path of work, work, work.“I’m a grinder,” said Cope, who does paralegal work at a Southern California law firm in addition to his fighting career. “I wake up at six in the morning, I’m at work by seven. My lunch break is training, I train and then I go back to work, I leave at four. And then I basically go to pro practice from 4:15 to 5:30, then I work another hour with a trainer from 5:30 to 6:30, then either run or do strength and conditioning after that. I don’t know what it is about me, but if you’re gonna build a wall of success, you build it one brick at a time. And all those practices add up.”For him, that’s the key, just being consistent and working harder than the next guy. “People saw me on The Ultimate Fighter, and they didn’t think I was that good,” he said. “And you might be better than me, you might be faster than me, and you might be more athletically gifted than me, but when you’re missing sessions, I’m not. I’m in the gym, and come hell or high water, I’m getting those three goals.”Three goals?“I’ve got three goals in this thing, and once I do those, I’m done. One of them is to fight for the UFC, and I’ve done that. The second is to fight in Japan. The third one is to win a belt, and if I can do it in the UFC, that’s the number one dream come true. And once I get those three, I’m out.”If Cope sounds like he’s got everything together at the age of 28, that would be an accurate assessment. But it wasn’t always that way for him. “My dad used to be a narcotics cop, and when I was growing up, he always told me that he’d disown me if he ever caught me on drugs, and the whole time I was growing up, when kids were getting involved with weed and ecstasy, and after graduation, cocaine, I never messed around with it,” he said. “Alcohol was the one thing, and I’m like ‘it’s no big deal; it’s legal, I’m fine doing this.’ Well, lo and behold, in my opinion it’s one of the most destructive drugs out there. Almost every time there’s a murder, or an accident, or sometimes a fight, usually alcohol’s involved. It’s America’s drug.”And Cope bought into it hook, line, and sinker, using alcohol as a means to fit in with the crowd his father warned him about. “I thought I was the cool guy,” he said. “I graduated from UCSB (Cal-Santa Barbara) and Playboy rated it like the number two or three party school in the country. And the college parties I threw were out of a movie. I thought I was awesome and the coolest party guy ever.”But after getting picked up by the police on three misdemeanors (vandalism, public intoxication, and resisting arrest), Cope began to see that he was headed in the wrong direction.“For the first time in my life, I saw myself on the other end of the legal system, and I didn’t like that at all,” he said, “But I still kept drinking for a couple years.”  All the while, his pro MMA career was taking off, and when he got called to Las Vegas to be interviewed by producers for season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2010, it was party time for the 4-1 Cope. “I was faded, and that was 11 in the morning the next day,” he recalled. But when he got home to San Diego, he took a good, hard look at himself and didn’t like what he saw.“I was embarrassed about myself,” he said. “I said enough’s enough. I’m done. I quit. And that was December 8th, 2010.”More than 13 months later, he’s still sober. “I used to call myself an alcoholic and I don’t call myself that anymore,” he said. “I just say that I’m a person that doesn’t really have a kill switch. It doesn’t define who I am, it’s just an aspect of my life, and I just keep going.  It (alcohol) didn’t add anything to my life. It really alienated people from me, it caused me to blow a lot of my money, and I would guarantee that if I was drinking on that Ultimate Fighter show and got drunk on there, I wouldn’t be in the position that I’m in now. Life couldn’t be better now and I’m glad I did it.”If that’s not a reason to become a full-fledged member of Woo Nation, I don’t know what is. And if you’re looking to count someone out of a fight, Chris Cope is probably not that guy, because no matter what the final result is, he’s already won.“You can play in small in life, or you can play big, but to play big, you’ve got to get on the field,” he said. “And when you get on the field, you might win or lose, but you still got on the field and played ball.” 

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If you want to define the pure essence of the word “fighter,” odds are that eventually you will find yourself face to face with the story of Nick Diaz. In many ways, he’s been fighting since his days growing up in California, moving from school to school and always being the new kid. It’s a story shared by thousands, but few have taken it as far as Diaz has – to the main event of UFC 143 this Saturday and a shot at the interim welterweight title against fellow contender Carlos Condit.But for all the media attention and scrutiny around the 28-year old from Stockton since his return to the UFC late last year, all you really need to define who Diaz is would be a look at his second pro fight in July of 2002 against Chris Lytle. Yeah, that Chris Lytle, who at the time was already a seasoned vet of the sport. But when Lytle’s original foe, Jake Shields, was forced from the fight due to a staph infection, it was his 18-year old teammate, Diaz, who stepped in.“This guy had something like 20 fights,” said Diaz in an interview before his 2011 bout with BJ Penn. “Chris was fighting in Japan, he was ranked in Pancrase, he was way older than I was, and I was supposed to lose.”But he didn’t. Instead, Diaz pounded out a three round split decision that earned him his first title, the IFC welterweight belt, and truly started him on a career that he has had a love-hate relationship ever since. And though a lot of water has gone under the bridge since that day, he still has fond memories of his first big win.“I think I was a lot happier when I won back then,” he said. “It was more about proving myself. Back then I really had something to prove and I really needed to be more than what I was. After those fights, I felt established in all sorts of ways. It was good.” “When people would hear about who I was, they would pretty much think I was full of s**t,” he continues. “And even after these fights they would think the same thing, but at least I would know I’m not, and it was just enough for me to keep going.”A jiu-jitsu player since he was 15, and a pro MMA fighter from 18, Diaz has spent more than half his life in the sport that made him a worldwide star, one of the best welterweights on the planet, and perhaps the game’s most intriguing figure. It’s a trio of titles that Diaz could probably do without, well, at least two of the three, and when it comes to being the best in the world, Diaz would likely enjoy that title if he didn’t have to deal with all the miscellaneous distractions and requirements that come along with it, like media obligations, etc. But he has no apologies for who he is.“With me, you get the real me, real martial arts and a real warrior mentality,” he said at the media workouts for his fight with Condit. “I don't act friends with anyone I am going to fight. That's crazy, I don’t understand that. Some people aren’t mature enough to understand I don’t want to put on an act for the cameras. I’m real. I’m acting natural, I don’t want to be friends around a guy I am about to fight.”You could chalk up such comments to Diaz being a hard man in a hard sport, and his mean mugs, and trash talking and taunting during fights do little to dispel that image. But we may not be seeing the full picture of the enigmatic welterweight.“I don’t know how I come off, but I don’t like to hurt people, first off,” he said last year. “You get these guys like ‘I’m going through a lot and I’m real pissed off and I’m ready to fight and I just want to hurt somebody.’ I don’t say that and I don’t feel that. I don’t want to hurt anybody; I don’t want anybody to be hurt. I want to win, I want to come out on top, and I want to be in an exciting fight because I worked hard, but I don’t necessarily want anyone to hurt. That’s what I don’t like about fighting. I like the competition, I love it, but I don’t love fighting for money, because it hurts people.”It may be why Diaz has been fairly reclusive when it comes to the media, and why he wants to keep his day job and his personal life as two separate entities.“I’m trying to separate life and MMA fighting because they’re really two different things for me and that’s kinda rough for me to deal with and it’s probably been my biggest problem, more than the fights,” he said. “It’s my challenge to separate the two.”So when he falls short of succeeding in that challenge, he’s left with two things – training and fighting. And with 11 consecutive wins constituting an unbeaten streak that has lasted nearly four years, it’s obviously something that has worked for him professionally. Personally? That may be another tale to tell.“I don’t have any life, I don’t have anything else going on,” he said. “All these other people are like ‘oh, I have a wife and kids now.’ I don’t have any of that. I screwed all that potential stuff I had going for that up way back when I was too busy training to fight and acting crazy to train. Now I don’t really like the idea of changing what’s been working for me right now. So as long as I’m fighting, I don’t see things changing for me.”Especially not with an interim title shot and the prospect of fighting current champion Georges St-Pierre right at his doorstep. But first he has to get by Condit, an equally hungry contender who has earned Diaz’ respect.“He’s the next guy I need to prove myself against,” said Diaz. “We are both top level and we win by doing damage, not by trying to score points. He has a realistic fighting style like I do. Carlos is a very well rounded guy. He’s tough and it will be a fight.”If Diaz emerges victorious on Saturday night, he will once again be the center of attention, something that has seemingly plagued him for years, but never more than when he missed two press conferences for a proposed fight with St-Pierre last year and saw the fight scrapped. He was eventually brought back into the fold for his UFC 137 bout with Penn, which he won via unanimous decision, and is now slated for Saturday’s matchup with Condit, which was originally going to be the GSP fight until the champion injured his knee and was sent to the sidelines. But during all of this, Diaz became mixed martial arts’ anti-hero, the most interesting man in the world not appearing in beer commercials. It’s everything that he didn’t want, but with another stellar performance, the focus will be on his fighting and not everything else that he’s already put to the side to focus on his craft. On Saturday night, he could make his case for being the best welterweight in the MMA world, something that will only be proven as fact should he beat Condit AND St-Pierre. But he already has an endorsement from boxing’s best at 168 pounds, super middleweight champ Andre Ward.“I've worked (sparred) with Nick and his brother Nate in the past,” said Ward, who was recently named 2011 Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. “Both are extremely good boxers, and have a great feel for standup boxing. Nick specifically, is left handed, tough as nails and physically strong. That's why we work with him. I like Nick Diaz in an Octagon against anyone. I also feel he could compete in a boxing ring, if he so chooses.”That’s the kind of respect Diaz wants. He’s not interested in photo shoots, autograph signings, or the bright lights. This is a fight. And if everyone else hasn’t figured that out yet, that’s not his problem.“This isn't soccer, it’s fighting,” he said. “I've got no problem that this is a sporting event and being respectful, but it is a fight. It is what it is. It matters how I am seen by fans; sometimes I care, sometimes I don't, but when I think about it, I try to be real.” 

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If you’ve ever wondered why Nick Diaz strays from the norm when it comes to the way he treats opponents or even media duties he’ll have you know it’s based on authenticity in a world where fakeness is the norm. Diaz has no illusions of what his chosen profession entails – two individuals attempting to damage the other to the point of submission or separation from consciousness. “Some people aren’t mature enough to handle it. This isn’t soccer. I have no problem being sportsmanlike about this whole thing. I understand it’s a sporting event. But to me this is a fight,” Diaz explained in an interview with MMAFighting. “I’m not going to let things change that to help this sport become what it is. I think this sport IS what it is. I don’t worry about looking good. I do what I’ve got to do to survive, to keep my teeth in my head, and my head on my shoulders. I apologize to whoever can’t put that together and understand that.” “People try to say, ‘Nick Diaz, he’s crazy or not crazy or fake crazy’,” the outspoken welterweight continued. “I’m like, ‘Hey, bro, what you see is what you get.’ I’m not out here trying putting on an act like I’m crazy. In my opinion, everyone else is crazy. They’re the ones who put on an act for you, doing what they’re told in front of the camera…They turn these guys into robots. I’m just not going to be that guy. Don’t tell me I’m crazy. I’m out here acting natural. I’m the only one here being realistic out here about this sort of thing.” Diaz also said his style of fighting reflects his opinion about keeping things real, opting to brawl against strikers instead of rely on his high-level grappling ability. It’s also a mindset he sees Carlos Condit possessing, who he faces this Saturday night in the main event at UFC 143, and an aspect of his opponent he genuinely appreciates. Fans can see what Diaz does next, a prospect often as entertaining as his offerings inside the cage, when he collides with Condit. The show fires up at 7:00 PM EST on FX/Facebook before main card action starts at 10:00 PM EST on PPV. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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I’m happy that my Casio G-Shock watch is solar powered and I never have to replace the batteries. Unless my region of the world gets struck with an electromagnetic pulse attack, I will always know what time it is, and always have a nifty digital stopwatch that I can use for whatever people use stopwatches for. That being said, I'm happy the sun decided to come out today to recharge my watch and simultaneously enabled the groundhog to see his shadow. The sooner the summer arrives as a direct result of the groundhog seeing his shadow, the sooner we get to GSP return to MMA (even though he says he’s going to make his return in the Fall). I’m also ecstatic that Josh Koscheck’s eye has healed from his fight with Georges St. Pierre and he’s finally back to competing in MMA. As much people hate to admit it, he's an exciting fighter and a necessary 'villain' in what's otherwise a (mostly) respectful welterweight division. What makes me unhappy is that GSP isn’t fighting Nick Diaz this weekend at UFC 143 and that Josh Koscheck has gone as far to say that he hopes Georges never comes back to MMA, but if he does, that he’s nowhere near the level he was before tearing his ACL. "I'm interested in the outcome of the Diaz vs. Condit fight on Saturday night. Should be a good fight. Hopefully Georges is out for more than 10 months and they can make that Interim titleholder fight twice. Hopefully he never comes back. ACL surgeries can take a lot out of you. They say you truly don't recover after those. I've had friends who have had those and they say they're not the same so hopefully it equals out the playing field and we can get another crack at Georges." I don’t want to live in a world where the sun doesn’t come out to recharge my watch and groundhogs can’t see their shadows. If the rest of us had the multitasking ability of the sun, we’d easily be able to solve the Norwegian butter crisis, and still have time get-in a 40-minute cardiovascular workout in the same day. Canadians didn’t need additional reasons to dislike Josh Koscheck, but if they did, then we just hooked them up. In these times of political uncertainty, at least Kos doesn’t flip-flop on his hatred of Canada and their most beloved MMA Champion. More politicians should look to Josh Koscheck about sticking to their message, regardless of how many times you lose in the court of public opinion. [Source]

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Josh Koscheck doesn’t seem to be the type for New Year’s resolutions, and while he doesn’t describe it as such, his mantra for 2012 definitely has that feel to it.“My saying this year is that I can do anything for 15 minutes,” said the longtime welterweight contender. “15 minutes of life is a very short period of time, and I truly believe I can do anything for 15 minutes. When I’m old and looking back at this I’m gonna say ‘I was a crazy dude, getting in there and fighting somebody, what the hell was I thinking?’ (Laughs) But right now, I’m young, I still got a lot of fight left in me, and I think I’m in a good place in life. And when you feel like you’re in a good place in life, good things happen to you.”Koscheck’s optimism is well-placed. This time last year, he was coming off a five round championship loss to Georges St-Pierre that left him with a broken orbital bone. But after healing up and knocking out UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes last September, he put himself right back into contention heading into this weekend’s bout against always tough Mike Pierce, a fighter who surprised many by calling Koscheck out for the fight. “Kos” wasn’t surprised though, claiming that making noise on Twitter was the only way Pierce would get a big fight, and grudgingly, he admits the Portland native isn’t bad at the trash talk game he’s mastered. “He’s doing a good job, I guess, for a young lad,” smirked Koscheck. “I just want to fight, and obviously nobody in the weight class would step up, so I guess I gotta fight this guy and put him in his place.”Fighting’s the fun part for Koscheck, one of the UFC’s most active competitors, with 19 Octagon bouts already under his belt. After Saturday night, he’ll be just six away from tying Tito Ortiz’ record for most UFC fights, a remarkable accomplishment in itself for the 34-year old, but not the one he’s truly after.“The belt’s always the important thing,” he said. “That’s what I want, but hopefully they make the winner of the (Nick) Diaz-(Carlos) Condit fight fight one more time because Georges is gonna be out for quite a while. So hopefully I get a crack at that interim title and hopefully I’ll smack whoever has that belt around and then me and Georges can get a chance to fight again.”After going 0-2 against GSP in their first two outings, a third bout seems to be a distant prospect for the Pennsylvania native, but hope is part of the motivation process in any sport, and it helps keep him moving forward. If it doesn’t happen, will Koscheck be trudging up to Montreal when he’s 75, still looking for redemption?He laughs.“The first time he outwrestled me, the second time he cracked me the eye with a jab and I couldn’t see for 25 minutes, and I tried to tough it out just to give the fans what they paid for and I tried to win the fight regardless,” said Koscheck. “So I definitely think we have some unfinished business, but I hope I’m not 75 and still taking my walker or wheelchair up to Canada to get Georges to fight. Who knows? Hopefully, we can just settle it when we’re 75 by playing cards or doing wheelchair races if I don’t get another opportunity with him.”There is pressing business before that though, and plenty of intriguing matchups for Koscheck at 170 pounds, beginning with Pierce in Las Vegas. That’s enough for him to put his body through more weeks of suffering to get the payoff on fight night, especially after a 2011 campaign that saw him compete just once. “It feels good to be back fighting,” he said. “It’s what I like to do and I enjoy getting in front of the people and putting on a show. It’s better to be fighting than it is to be training. The training aspect of it is dead awful. It seems like Groundhog Day every single day. I get up in the morning at 10:40, I eat my cup of oatmeal, red cup, white spoon, half a cup of oatmeal, put honey on it, get my protein shake, get my towel, put my stuff in my training bag and walk out the door and drive to training. I do my training for two hours, come home, get my eggs, get my chicken, take an hour nap, and right back to the training at seven o’clock. I come home after that, eat, and go to bed. The training aspect of it sucks, but I enjoy the fighting aspect way more and I can’t wait to get in there and fight.”Yet despite that monotony, Koscheck hasn’t strayed from Northern California and his relationship with the AKA Fight Team, the squad that has been with him from the start.“There’s that old saying, if it’s not broke, why fix it?” he said. “I’ve been pretty content where I’m at, and the only reason I’m still where I’m at is because of the training partners I have. I really believe that those guys are the guys that got me here, and if you have guys of the caliber that I have to train with every day, those are the guys that have been there and have made me as successful as I am.”This is true, but when it comes down to it, Koscheck is the one that has to make that walk to the Octagon, something that he revels in while others get frozen under the bright lights. What separates him from the pack?“I think a lot of it comes from my background and how I’ve grown up and what I expect from myself as a person,” he said. “I think I definitely like going out there and putting pressure on myself and competing at the highest level, and it’s one of the things I’ve said throughout my career – I’m fighting in front of millions of people; why would I want to go out there and get embarrassed, when you can go out there and put on a show and succeed? Obviously not every fight in my career has always went my way – I’ve lost some and I’ve won some. And the good thing is that I’ve won more than I’ve lost. (Laughs) So I’m in a good place in life and I’m in a position where I don’t need to fight. I fight because I like it and because I want to fight and because I still have a lot to prove. Financially, I can probably stop fighting and be fine with it and worry about my gyms, and my apartments, and about the rentals that I have, and stuff like that, and be cool and just scale back my lifestyle. But I live a certain lifestyle that I’ve become accustomed to, and I love to do, so why not fight? It’s an easy way to make a lot of money.”Being content could equate to losing some of that hunger that got you to the top before though. Koscheck doesn’t believe that’s the case with him.“Just being content doesn’t mean I don’t want more,” he said. “More money is always good, more wins are always good. At the end of the day, it’s all about being content, and putting yourself in a position to go out there and relax and have fun with it. If I’m not having fun in this sport, by God, I’m gonna be looking for a new job. This sport takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, and if I’m not having fun with it, why put yourself through the misery.”Why indeed? But after the rigors of training, the endless interviews, and everything else, Koscheck has 15 minutes to punch Mike Pierce in the face. And like he said, he can do anything for 15 minutes.“If I can’t beat Mike Pierce, I better consider finding a new career or just fighting for paychecks. I gotta put it on him and prove a point to this young guy and all the young guys that think they’re gonna call me out.” 

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When it came to marketing, Scott Jorgensen wasn’t just good; he was damn good. A graduate of Boise State University who earned three Pac-10 wrestling titles in addition to his psychology degree, the Utah native was at a familiar crossroads for successful college athletes who don’t have a logical professional career (like the NFL or NBA) waiting for them in their sport as soon as school ends. “I originally wanted to try it (fighting) out, but I had the option to go move to the Olympic Training Center, and in my mind, it was either wrestle and work a job and try to make the Olympics, or just become a regular guy, just working hard every day like my dad and build a life for myself,” said Jorgensen. “I took to fighting.”And to working. Soon, his work ethic and talent sent him flying up the corporate ladder."When I graduated college, I was working in non-medical home care,” he said. “I was a marketing director, and my buddy kinda set me up with the job and I got going, and I was actually really good at it. I worked my way into ownership of a non-medical home care company, and I earned my ownership through building offices. I was a really good marketer, I went in there and doubled business for a company called Vida home care.” Jorgensen wasn’t a bad fighter either, and less than two years into a pro career that began in 2006, he was invited to compete in the WEC, stamping him as one of the best bantamweights in the world. In the cage, Jorgensen was raw, aggressive, and able to make any opponent’s night miserable. His rise was steady in the organization, but after a 3-2 start, a Fight of the Night win over Takeya Mizugaki in December of 2009 started his road to the title. Three more wins (against Chad George, Antonio Banuelos, and Brad Pickett) garnered him a December 2010 fight with Dominick Cruz for not just the WEC, but the first UFC 135-pound title as well, and it was at this point he decided that splitting himself between his marketing job, fighting, gym ownership, and fatherhood wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Something had to go.“Right before my fight with Dominick, I was like this has to happen,” he said. “I’m gonna call it quits with the day job stuff and this is what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna live my dream and ride it as long as I can.” Jorgensen would lose to Cruz via unanimous decision, putting his dream on hold, but not crushing it. Remember, this is the same hard-nosed wrestler who put up with an ungodly schedule for years and still made it to the upper echelon of the division. One setback wasn’t going to deter him, and in 2011, he made his intentions known to a new fanbase in the UFC as he knocked out Ken Stone and decisioned Jeff Curran. This Saturday night, he faces streaking Brazilian Renan Barao in an intriguing pairing that may just be an unofficial title eliminator.“I think it’s definitely gotta be up there right now,” said Jorgensen. “There’s only a few guys on a tear that I think could be considered number one contender. And I’m fresh off two straight wins, Barao’s on a heater, and to me it makes sense. I fully plan on beating Barao and facing the winner out of Dominick and Urijah.”This March, Cruz and Faber continue their rivalry as coaches on the 15th season of The Ultimate Fighter before settling their score in a rubber match later this year. Should he emerge victorious against Barao and earn a title shot, Jorgensen will be in an interesting place. He wants redemption against Cruz, but after the first fight, the rematch is a tougher sell at the moment. And while Faber would be a more marketable fight, he is also friends with “The California Kid,” a dynamic that wouldn’t stop Jorgensen from taking the bout if a title is on the line. Regardless, Jorgensen already knows who he’s rooting for.“Urijah’s my friend and I want him to win, regardless of whether I’m gonna fight him or not,” said Jorgensen. “He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and he’s big factor in why I’m fighting today. We share the same managers, we’ve been sponsored by Form, and I want my friend to do well. Eventually I want to fight Dominick though, whether he’s got a belt or not. I didn’t perform the best against Dominick, but between those two in their title fight, I want Faber to win. And that’s not because of anything against Dominick for beating me. I will fight Dominick again down the road, I know that, and I’m not too worried about getting my revenge there.”That’s a ways down the road though, and “Young Guns” knows it. Barao is a dynamic competitor fresh off a spectacular finish of Brad Pickett last November, and even if he wasn’t one of the most dangerous fighters in the division, Jorgensen would have his eyes solely on Saturday night, because the last time he let his focus stray, it ended up in the loss to Cruz.“I’ve got one job ahead of me first and foremost, and that’s to go in there and take care of Barao,” he said. “And whatever happens between Dominick and Urijah, it doesn’t matter. As long as I take care of business February 4th, everything else falls in line. And that’s always been my mentality, and the one time I got away from that was before I fought Dominick. I started thinking ahead and started thinking that things were gonna be easy and handed to me.”The lesson was a costly one, but a lesson nonetheless, and it reminded him that in this sport or in life, nothing comes easy. And as soon as the 29-year old Jorgensen remembered that blue collar work ethic instilled in him by his father, it was like riding a bike. Now his job is to make Barao miserable for 15 minutes or less. “Barao’s a tough guy, he’s very well-rounded, and he’s on a streak, so he’s got a lot of confidence and he’s riding high,” he said. “But there are a lot of firsts in this fight for him, and he’s gonna get his eyes opened on what it’s like to be tangling with the guys at the top of the division. And I’m going in there with the same mentality I’ve had in my last two fights against Curran and Stone, and that’s to outwork him, put the pressure on him, and be first in everything. I’m gonna be the guy that makes him rethink whether he wants to sit through another couple rounds of this guy grinding on him, pushing him, breaking him, beating him, choking him. And that’s my gameplan. I’m gonna go in there and I’m gonna hit him, kick him, choke him, take him down, slam him, and I’m gonna do everything to make him uncomfortable. And I’m good at it.”That he is, and as his six-year old son Braeten follows in his father’s footsteps (he’s already earned his orange belt, is entering his second season of freestyle wrestling, and can run half a mile and pull off 20 pushups, 30 situps, and four unassisted pull-ups), Jorgensen is showing him that in this family, you can have all the talent in the world, but the one who can outlast everyone is the one who succeeds.“That’s 20-plus years of wrestling,” said Jorgensen when asked about mental toughness. “I made it my first three months of college with maybe one takedown. And that’s no joke. That’s perseverance and the heart of a champion. I’m somebody who’s not gonna break because the going gets tough. My grandpa always told me ‘cowboy up.’ And I’m not much of a cowboy – I’m tatted up and I got a red Mohawk (Laughs) – but there’s a little bit of country in me and a little bit of cowboy, and I’m not just gonna roll over because things get tough. If it’s gonna get tough, I’m gonna push back. And if he’s gonna push back, I’m gonna push back harder. I’m gonna grit my teeth and lower my chin and come forward.”

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The squeaky wheel gets oiled. Mike Pierce knows that now, and he kinda likes the whole idea.“It was kinda nice when you ask for something and you get it,” said Pierce, who took to Twitter in December to ask UFC President Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta for a February 4th matchup with Josh Koscheck. Well, he got his wish. “It was great, I should have done it years ago.”For Pierce, it’s been a long road to Las Vegas and the main card for Saturday’s bout with the former world title challenger. 5-2 in the Octagon, with his only losses coming via decision to Jon Fitch and Johny Hendricks, the Portland native was that ‘middle of the road’ contender who had some spotty outings early in his UFC career but who was starting to hit his stride with his 2011 wins over Kenny Robertson and Paul Bradley. “I’ve been with the company three years now, I hope I picked up something along the way,” he laughs. “But I think I’ve found my place and my niche and I’ve been developing a style that’s not only effective, but exciting to watch.”Yet without a spectacular victory over a big name foe, he was probably stuck in the preliminary portion of the card until a long win streak would give him his shot. Or he could just take his chances and call out the biggest available name. So that’s what he did, choosing Koscheck as the object of his tweets.“He (Koscheck) would give me a little more credibility, he’d put me in a good spot if I beat him, and the other thing is that he’s just one of those guys that I think the fans just don’t like, and they would really love to see someone kick the s**t out of him, and I want to be that guy.”Pierce got the fight, but Koscheck hasn’t been his usual loquacious self this time around, something that surprises his opponent.“He’s been unusually quiet this time around,” said Pierce. “I don’t know why he hasn’t been his normal Josh Koscheck self. A lot of people have been asking me ‘why do you think he’s like that.’ I don’t know, ask him. (Laughs) I just saw an opportunity there to fight one of the top guys, he’s been around a long time, he’s someone I wanted to fight, I asked for it, and I got it.”It is a tough fight for Pierce on paper, but he’s had plenty of experience taking on wrestlers in his UFC stint thus far, with Fitch, Hendricks, Bradley, and Robertston all coming from Division I programs. So getting in there with a former D-I national champion in Koscheck isn’t an issue.“I would love to do nothing but beat up on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guys and smash them all day long, but the guys that are at the top are typically the wrestlers,” said Pierce. “You can look division through division, and whether they’re wearing belts or not, a lot of the top guys have strong wrestling backgrounds. It’s just one of those inevitable things where you’re gonna fight a lot of wrestlers, so it comes with the sport.”And Pierce is no wrestling neophyte, having briefly competed for Portland State University’s mat squad.“It always gives a little extra incentive to try to one up someone in a fight where we both have strong wrestling backgrounds,” he admits. “Of course, he won a national title and he was an All-American four years in a row. I didn’t really stick with wrestling for as long as I could have. I got bored with it, and it was time for me to move on and do different things, and I chose a different path. Had I stayed with it, I’m sure I would have been an All-American at least once or twice, but I’m in the sport where I want to be now, and my background and titles that I did have or could have had don’t really mean anything to me, and neither do his.”What Pierce will definitely be looking for is Koscheck’s right hand, a lethal weapon that has ended many nights for opponents, but also one that he believes is easily detected.“He loves throwing that right hand,” he said. “The only problem is that you can see it coming from yesterday. (Laughs) But it always helps to have a little bit of luck. I had a wrestling coach ask me a question, what would you rather be, a consistent wrestler or a lucky wrestler. I said I’d love to be the consistent wrestler. He kinda laughed and said ‘I’d rather be a lucky wrestler, because the lucky wrestlers beat consistent wrestlers. And it’s the same thing in the fights. He (Koscheck) has got a skill set and it’s been working for him, but I don’t plan on being caught by an overhand right I see coming a mile away.”And at 31, Pierce knows that the time is now if he wants to make a move on the ever elusive world title, so a win over Koscheck is imperative.“I’m not getting any younger,” he said. “I’m in this sport to be the best and to have a title and that’s always been my goal at the end of the day. And if that’s what it takes, another fight or another two fights to get there, then so be it. I’m just gonna keep coming until I’m there.”So who’s next on the call out list?“I haven’t been putting any thought past Josh Koscheck,” he laughs. “I’ve been focusing primarily on him, and when it comes to that, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with someone. Hopefully, I’ll get it again. It worked this time, maybe it will work again.”  

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, koscheck, wrestler

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I like Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit in much the same way I enjoy salsa verde and salsa roja. Both fighters and both condiments bring something unique to any given situation. I don’t want to pick only one because it’s better than the other, and I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t have both drizzled over my tacos. Together, they round everything out just right, and if you disagree, your opinion does absolutely nothing towards me altering how I enjoy my Mexican food. GSP has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to fight Carlos Condit. There have even been rumors that he’ll move up in weight to avoid fighting a fellow Greg Jackson fighter (although they’re probably not true). No, GSP wants to fight Nick Diaz, and he has made it an obsession to rant about it in every press appearance since Cesar Gracie has suggested that Georges be stripped of his belt. Check out this quote from a recent interview on UFC.com. “I am very nervous that Carlos Condit will win on Saturday night, and that I won’t be able to fight Nick Diaz this summer. I feel bad, it is weird that I want him to lose, but I have never wanted to fight anyone as much as I want to fight Diaz. I don’t truly hate him as a person. I don’t know that he is a bad guy, but I hate what he brings to the sport with the disrespect and the unprofessional things he says and does. It is sort of a professional hatred. He has been nothing but disrespectful and arrogant towards me. During UFC 137 (week) I felt like I had to walk around Las Vegas with my fists ready (to punch Diaz) because every time I came across him he wanted to fight there and then. Every time the elevator opened (in the hotel) I needed to be ready to fight in case he stepped in. I was on edge all week. This guy is crazy. I am used to hearing (smack) talk from opponents, Matt Serra did it, Dan Hardy did it, and Josh Koscheck did it, but with Diaz he has taken it to another level. He and his coach (Cesar Gracie) have called me a coward and tried to disrespect my accomplishments. All that has done though is make me determined to beat him up. He will bring out the best in me, I will be 100% focused, like a bomb-expert defusing a time bomb. When my back is against the wall and I have no choice but to win, when I cannot lose to this person under any cost, that is when I am most dangerous.” GSP will learn who he fights on Saturday night at UFC 143 at around midnight if you’re on the East Coast, 9:00 pm if you’re on the West coast, or sometime in the metaphysical unknown if you’re hanging out with Ricardo Arona at a surf resort halfway across the world. In a perfect world, the fight will end swiftly in Diaz’s favor so that the inevitable war of words can begin, but getting through Carlos Condit is likely to be a grueling job, and we’re glad we’re not in Nick Diaz’s position right about now. [Source]

Posted in: fight, diaz, ’t, carlos condit, ’re

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I know, I know. It’s silly to ask a fight promoter not to fight. Let’s be clear here up front: I understand why Dana White and Zuffa would support legal action like SOPA & PIPA, and were I in their place I’d be concerned about piracy too. They have a company whose foundation is built upon their customers paying to see events live, so anything that undermines that business is clearly going to have an impact on profits. That being said, SOPA is not the way to stop piracy. In fact I’d be very surprised if our government was able to introduce any kind of legislation that effectively stamps out piracy in all its forms. Fighting a war on piracy is similar to fighting wars on drugs and terrorism; they may be noble causes but ultimately they will prove to be futile. Religious and social divides will always cause cultures to hate each other, some people will always look for a way to alter their consciousness, and there will always be people on the internet with more free time than money. Another thing that won’t help fight piracy is angering the hacker community. After taunting hackers on Thursday,the UFC President  had his site hacked again in addition to having his personal information compromised. I have no desire to know what Dana’s social security number is, but the fact that it’s now available for viewing on the internet should be a clear sign that mistakes have been made. Maybe Dana can shrug off this invasion of privacy and claim it’s no big deal. After all, he can change his phone numbers, hire private security for his home, and pursue legal action against anyone taking advantage of his personal information. His customers, however, may not be so lucky. On Friday another member of the hacker group Anonymous (the very group White provoked on Twitter on Thursday) announced that he had hacked both UFC.com as well as the company’s live streaming site UFC.tv. This hacker also claims to have retrieved data from customer’s who have used UFC.tv to purchase PPVs. Anonymous made headlines this past Christmas when they used stolen credit card data to make donations to charity, and they have vowed to release the data acquired from the UFC if Dana provokes them again. I know Dana has taken a carefree attitude towards this hacking situation, and at the start he wasn’t really out of line to do so. The initial attack just took down UFC.com for a few hours, which is roughly equivalent to taking down some advertisements. Had he left it at that things may not have gone any further. By provoking the hackers (and specifically Anonymous) and equating their actions to terrorism, Dana brought unnecessary grief upon himself, his family, and his business. Anonymous doesn’t deal in the business of pirating PPVs, they are hackers acting as social activists. Whether or not you agree with their methods and their message is up to you, but there’s no reason to invite action from them against you and your business, particularly when your website is storing credit card information from your customers. It’s also worth noting that Anonymous is (by their very nature) a decentralized organization, with no control over their individual members’ actions. There’s been no action yet with any stolen information (at least that we know of) but this entire chain of events could lead to serious ramifications for the UFC and their online businesses. They have essentially broken the trust necessary in a capitalist society, wherein the consumer willingly supplies his financial information to a corporation with the implied understanding that it will be used in a responsible manner and not abused in any way. Obviously the UFC will be working with law enforcement agencies to find those responsible for this intrusion, but by inviting the attacks White may have implicated himself in any civil action that takes place in the future. It’s certainly too early to know exactly what will happen as a result of these hacks, but for now we can’t rule out the worst scenarios coming to pass. So if the UFC and White are unable to completely stamp out piracy and stop the actions of hackers, what’s the solution? One way to solve the problem is to give people a reason to buy your product online. Those who watch pirated streams are obviously willing to sit in front of their computer to watch a UFC event, so Dana White and Zuffa should be working to convert those people into paying customers. The easiest way to do this is to make PPVs less expensive. It seems like such an easy thing to do coming from somebody like me (you know, a consumer) but it really does make sense. Whenever the price of his product is brought up, Dana dismisses the issue by stating that people can buy the program in groups, go to their local bar or restaurant, or if all else fails, just don’t watch it. What about those UFC fans like myself who usually watch the events alone? Not everyone has friends that watch the UFC and would be willing to pitch in for buying a PPV every single month. What about people under the age of 21, or those members of society who don’t drink? It’s hard to justify spending $45-55 for something that’s just for me, especially when that money could be used for food or clothing for my family. Dana would say that that’s too bad and I’ll just have to deal with not watching the UFC events, but is that any way to grow your business? If the UFC really wants to get more people to purchase their streams online (especially in the wake of a possible violation on consumers’ private information), lower the price for the streaming version of the event. Since the UFC doesn’t have to share that $45 or $55 with cable and satellite providers for their online stream, perhaps they could pass some of those savings on to their consumer. Cut the price for a streaming event to $25 or $30 and I can practically guarantee that you’ll have a lot more people buying a reliable, quality stream over a sketchy pirated one. This doesn’t have to be a permanent price change either; they could offer it on some of their events and reserve the higher price point for bigger cards. Flexible pricing is one idea that could be implemented for the streams as well as the regular PPV broadcast, and it allows the UFC to be more aggressive with cards that lack a blockbuster main event. As the sport’s biggest stars start heading towards the end of their career (and some are already there, see Lesnar, Brock and Liddell, Chuck) the UFC is going to be putting more and more fresh faces at the top of their cards, and having a lower price point for shows not anchored by proven draws allows these events to be seen by more people; which in turn gives these newer fighters a better chance to gain fans. Let’s also consider the first time buyer. The whole point of getting their product on broadcast television with Fox is to create new fans who will in turn purchase the PPVs, right? If you had your first MMA experience this past Saturday night would you want to put down $45-55 to watch this weekend’s event? Make the first PPV after a Fox show lower priced and you’ll assure yourself a better chance of hooking those new fans. The UFC will never be able to wipe out piracy completely. As their own employee Joe Rogan likes to state, “you can’t stop the internet.” Provide a product that’s both affordable as well as attractive, and back it up with great customer service, and you’ll please the customers you have while adding new ones all the time. It’s worked wonders for online businesses like Amazon.com, iTunes, and Steam, and there’s no reason why it can’t work for the UFC as well. They can continue their anti-piracy efforts by working with law enforcement to take down sites illegally streaming their shows, but at the same time they can be proactive and offer a more appealing product that people want to pay for. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, event, dana, people

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Despite three surgeries on his knee that were costing him nearly two years of his prime as a mixed martial artist, Ed Herman knew that he would eventually come back to the UFC and life as a full-time fighter. That doesn’t mean there weren’t questions, both internally and externally, and days when everything just seemed to go wrong.“There are times when you have a bad day and you think, ‘is it over?’” Herman recalled of the time between his August 2009 fight with Aaron Simpson and his return to the Octagon in June of 2011. “And a lot of people are questioning if you’ll ever fight again.” This was never more evident than in his time working as a bartender while he rehabbed his knee. People aren’t exactly known for their tact in the best of circumstances. Add in some alcohol and it gets worse, as Herman recalled.“People are like ‘hey, you’re that guy who used to be in the UFC. Aww, here’s an extra buck. Sorry buddy.’” It was a stark reminder for someone barely 30 years old of how fragile a career in professional sports can be. Herman didn’t take such jabs as an excuse to fade away though. It made him work even harder to get back what he lost.“That kinda stuff motivated me, and it put in perspective how great of an opportunity it is to fight in the UFC, and how blessed I was still to do that. So to possibly have all that taken away was a lot to deal with.”Herman would have his third knee surgery in March of 2010. Shortly afterward, his friend and longtime training partner Ryan Schultz talked to him about opening a gym in Fort Collins, Colorado, far from his home base in Portland. Herman didn’t need much convincing, and in August of 2010, he moved to the Rocky Mountain state and Trials Martial Arts and Fitness was born.“I fell in love with it, packed my bags, rented my house out, and moved out there,” said Herman, who has adjusted well to the new surroundings. “I miss home, but I definitely needed a change with the weather. It’s sunny here like 300 plus days a year, which is awesome. I like the snow too, so you get the hot summers and the cold winters, but what’s cool about the winter is that it could be cold, but the sun comes out.”More importantly, the sun was coming out on Herman’s career as well, as he got the green light to begin training and to resume his career.“Sometimes having some time away from the sport you can reflect on what’s going on around you,” he said. “So I guess everything happens for a reason, and maybe it was good for me to have that time off to refocus mentally. I’m also working with some new coaches, and I had great people around me before, but sometimes change can help.”The questions would only be answered in the Octagon though, and Herman was expected to be tested immediately by Louisiana jiu-jitsu black belt Tim Credeur in their June 2011 bout. 48 seconds later, Herman had a knockout win, his first victory in the UFC since he defeated David Loiseau in April of 2009, and a new start to a career that looked rocky even before the knee injury, as he had gone 1-3 in his previous four fights.Of course, skeptics are rarely convinced with one comeback victory, so Herman had to show them one more time, and he did two months later as he latched on a heel hook against Kyle Noke and submitted him at 4:15 of the first round. Surprised?“Maybe I surprised people a little bit, but everybody knows I’m gonna bring it every time, no matter what,” said Herman, now 19-7. “A lot of people said ‘what have you been doing different, oh my gosh, you look so much better.’ But I’m the same guy; I just was able to put it together and everything kinda went my way. I always had those skills. Maybe I was just putting things together better. But things happen in your career, you make different choices, and that can reflect on your performance.”And oddly enough, Herman’s resurgence comes with an added benefit – a clean slate, as there are some newer fans who may not even remember him as the finalist on season three of The Ultimate Fighter, but as a rookie fighter with a knack for fast finishes.“I think with the new fanbase, I definitely got some new fans, which was great,” he said. “And some of the old fans came around too, maybe some people who didn’t like me before.”Saturday night, the world will see Herman, as he’s on the UFC 143 main card in Las Vegas, taking on unbeaten, but relatively unknown Clifford Starks.“There’s not that much tape on him, but looking him up, he’s 8-0, he’s newer to MMA and I would say he’s a young, up and coming, hungry guy, but he’s the same age as me, really,” said the 31-year old Herman of the 30-year old Starks, a former Arizona State University wrestler who made his Octagon debut with a win over Dustin Jacoby at UFC 137 last October. “He’s definitely an athletic dude and I’m sure he’s gonna come hungry and come for me, so it’s the same motivation, if not more. When you’re supposed to win, there’s a lot more pressure on your back – at least there is for me anyway. So I feel like I have to go out and perform. If I go out there and lose, or look bad winning, then that’s only going to be a negative thing for me. I have to go out there and put it on this guy and show him that he’s not at my level and make him understand why he shouldn’t be in there with me.”Herman does understand what Starks is going through, having been there himself back in 2004, when he was the hot 8-0 prospect running through the local circuit before getting the call to travel to Japan to face Kazuo Misaki in his ninth pro fight.Who? Only a guy whose record already included fights with Chris Lytle, Nate Marquardt, Ricardo Almeida, and Jake Shields.“It was a big shock for me,” said Herman. “I went from fighting locally in the Northwest to boom, you’re in Japan. And then my manager, Matt Lindland, he didn’t even tell me who Misaki was. I get over there and I find out he’s one of the top ranked Japanese guys in the world and I’m like ‘dude, you didn’t tell me that.’ (Laughs). Matt goes ‘It doesn’t matter, you’ll kick his butt.’ All right Lindland. It was good in some ways, but in other ways it’s not the best way to bring up a young fighter.”At 3:31 of the second round, Herman got put to sleep by an arm triangle choke. That was the bad news. On the bright side, he went on to win five of his next six bouts, earning the spot on TUF3 that launched his UFC career.“I did pretty well,” said Herman of the Misaki bout. “I was kicking Misaki’s butt until I made a mistake and let him choke me out unconscious. I always wanted that one back.”As for Starks, Herman says “It’s his second fight in the UFC, and it takes a while to get used to all that, but he competed a high level in college wrestling, so he’s used to competing, and that’s a big thing. So I think he’s gonna be comfortable competing, and he probably believes he can win until he gets in there with me and I start putting the pressure on him, and I feel like I can get in there and break his will.”That doesn’t mean “Short Fuse” is underestimating his foe. It’s just the opposite, because he knows that one bad break or one bad loss can put a serious dent in this comeback and in a 2012 plan that he hopes will pave the way to a shot at a world title. “I’ve got a tough fight coming with Starks and I do respect the guy,” said Herman. “But I’m looking to go in there and get three, four wins this year if I can, and make my way through the top ten and ultimately look for a title shot. I’ve got to take it one fight at a time of course, but I’d love to work my way to the top and get a shot at the title some day.”Then there will definitely be no more bartending gigs.“Maybe I’ll buy a bar someday and bartend there.”

Posted in: ufc, time, ’t, i ’m, herman

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When Johny Hendricks did the previously unthinkable by knocking Jon Fitch out in December at UFC 141 he immediately thrust himself into title contention given Fitch’s previous success in the Octagon as well as his own 12-1 career mark. However, Hendricks didn’t let the performance or his record do the talking for him and quickly made sure to express the fact he’d done what Diego Sanchez, Thiago Alves, and Georges St. Pierre couldn’t by finishing Fitch off. The All-American wrestler with knockout power is once again putting himself out there to make sure the public hasn’t forgotten his name where contendership is concerned, lobbying for a shot at the winner of this weekend’s headlining bout at UFC 143 between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit rather than a title-eliminator beforehand. An Extended Look at UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit “I’ve been telling everybody I really want the winner of (Diaz vs. Condit),” Hendricks explained to ESPN’s website. “You don’t get this opportunity too often. Now that I’ve done it in the ring, I’ve got to do it outside the ring. If I don’t promote myself outside the ring — I mean, there are great fights going on and now they’re happening almost every week. You can be forgotten.” Hendricks acknowledged upcoming fights between Mike Pierce-Josh Koscheck and Sanchez-Jake Ellenberger could bump him down the ladder, a situation he hopes to avoid if at all possible. “Here’s the thing,” Hendricks continued. “Unless the UFC says, ‘Johny, you have to fight — we want you to get a shot at the title, but we have some questions, and you need another one first,’ then of course I’m not going to bite the hand that feeds me. I’m going to do what they say,” before adding, “But if it’s up to me, I’d much rather go for the UFC interim belt. I’ve seen so many people who are right there, right there to get that shot and something happens … it never fails, something happens, and they don’t win. And then it takes them three or four fights to get back, which is a year to a year-and-a-half back, and that’s if everything lines up perfectly.” While he’s not ready to become Chael Sonnen just yet, Hendricks did say you can expect to see him pleading his case publicly because he’s started to grasp the importance of self-promotion outside of the Octagon. “You’ve got to,” he casually concluded. It is expected the winner of Diaz-Condit will defend the interim championship at least once before linear title-holder St. Pierre returns to action from a torn ACL he suffered in preparation for a February fight. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, ’ve, hendrick

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA.  Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. It was the UFC’s big return to FOX and despite nearly one hour of in-cage action, fans were left just as disappointed as they were back in November when they only saw 64 seconds of fighting. Chicago hardcores, used to seeing the greatness of Michael Jordan, Derrick Rose, Stan Mikita, and Jonathan Toews were subject to watch the “just enoughness” of Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen. By the end of the night, fans were probably begging for Kanye West to interrupt the main event to announce, “hold on Rashad, I’mma let you finish by Jon Jones is the greatest fighter of all time.” Lets go to the scorecard: *Pretty disappointing for Dustin Jacoby, Chris Camozzi, and the fans that their fight wasn’t even on Facebook. Maybe Dana White was more worried about the hackers than he’d lead us to believe. MINUS ONE *Oh God, the first voice we hear on the UFC Prelims is Jay Glazer. Not a good start. MINUS TWO *Can Lavar Johnson not get a banner? MINUS ONE *Shame on Joey Beltran for not touching gloves. MINUS ONE *I’m not sure how far Johnson can go in the division, but he has some scary power to be able to stop Beltran like that. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to Johnson for those sick uppercuts. PLUS THREE *No really Beltran, you should have touched gloves. MINUS ONE *As always, I have to take away points from these TV broadcasts because they don’t televise walk outs and have too many commercials. MINUS THREE *Michael Johnson looked much improved in the first round with his striking and takedown defense. Good job by him. PLUS TWO *That said, he faded as the fight went along and it’s not like Shane Roller switched up his game all that much. MINUS TWO *Poor form by the crowd, booing when they immediately clinched. MINUS TWO *I didn’t like the call by Herb Dean in the third round. Were some of the shots to the back of the head? Yes, but Johnson wasn’t getting out of the position and we’ve seen guys get pounded out like that before. It made Roller re-think his strikes and gave Johnson time to recover. MINUS FOUR *Also, if you’re going to make that call and say it’s a foul, then stand them up and give Johnson time to recover. Shoddy call by Herb. MINUS TWO *I guess Herb judged the fight as well. MINUS ONE *Not a good post-fight interview from Johnson. It didn’t help that Joe Rogan didn’t get his unfunny TV commercial reference but saying your footwork sets you apart while not acknowledging your lack of cardio was pretty lame. MINUS THREE *To prove I actually liked something about the fight, I’ll give the fight as whole points because it was an entertaining bout. PLUS FIVE *Big fan of Charles Oliveira and it was great to see him at 145 and winning again. PLUS THREE *Awesome calf slicer submission by Oliveira. This kid will be a beast for years to come. PLUS SIX *Not a great first UFC impression by Eric Wisely. MINUS ONE *It was nice that Johnson didn’t get dragged into the whole “Strikeforce heavyweights have always belonged in the UFC” deal. Everyone is there now and that’s all that matters. Johnson’s win doesn’t prove all them have always belonged and if he lost, it wouldn’t have meant that none of them belong. It’s a dumb argument. PLUS FOUR *FOX just can’t do any sporting event without including robots, can they? Get me Will Smith. MINUS THREE *Even though FuelTV doesn’t televise full walk outs, they showed enough of Cub Swanson’s walk-out for me to catch that he came out to “N-ggas in Paris” by Jay-Z and Kanye West. BALL SO HARD! PLUS THREE *It appears that Brittney Palmer is back to being beautiful and is no longer stunning according to Mike Goldberg. MINUS ONE *Sick right hand by Swanson on George Roop. You would have thought that Roop realized that it was the only thing Swanson was throwing with any effectiveness, but nope. PLUS THREE *Extra points for knocking out the mouthpiece of Roop with the punch. PLUS FOUR *The less said about Jon Olav Einemo vs. Mike Russow, the better. It brought this card to a quick halt. MINUS FOUR *And Goldberg’s commentary was extra bad during the fight as well. MINUS THREE *Anyone who comes out to Red Hot Chili Peppers is a good man in my book. I salute you Evan Dunham. PLUS TWO *Good scrap between Dunham and Nik Lentz. Not the most technical fight ever, but both guys got after it on the feet and did some nice work on the ground. PLUS FIVE *It was a shame that the doctor stopped the fight as Lentz was still in the fight, but fighters safety comes first. I also think that UFC didn’t want too much blood on the mat before going on FOX. EVEN *Once again, points will be deducted until UFC on FOX doesn’t use NFL on FOX music. MINUS TWO *I approve of Randy Couture and Jon Jones in place of Dana White and Brock Lesnar. Couture won’t be as emotional as Dana and Jones obviously is invested in the main event. PLUS TWO *That said, it would have been nice if Curt Menefee knew who Jones was. MINUS ONE *BOOOO RANKINGS! MINUS TWO *Yeah, lets not talk about Chris Weidman vs. Demian Maia. It was a sloppy striking contest before they got tired and then it was a drunken striking contest once they were tired. MINUS FOUR *I’m taking away even more point from Maia, who had a full training camp and still showed up the way he did. At least Weidman has some type of an excuse. MINUS SIX *A lot of credit has to be given to Michael Bisping, who fought a very good fight against Chael Sonnen, especially in the first two rounds. He bettered him striking and controlled the clinch, where many thought Sonnen would have the advantage. PLUS FIVE *Also credit goes to Sonnen, who, as expected, just kept moving forward and out-wrestled Bisping in the third round. PLUS FIVE *However, I have to take points from the judges for not agreeing with me, as I thought Bisping won 29-28. MINUS TWO *Extra points because I was entertained for the entire 15 minutes. PLUS SIX *What an awesome promo by Chael. PLUS FOUR *As great as it was though, he didn’t mention fighting Anderson Silva again, which should have been his main bullet point. MINUS TWO *Funny moment by Jones as he acknowledged Rashad’s “swagger jacker” comment. PLUS ONE *You use “All of the Lights” by Kanye West, you get points Phil Davis. PLUS ONE *”Survival of the Fittest” is such a great walk-out song. Nice job Rashad Evans. PLUS TWO *Aaaaaand Evans vs. Davis was underwhelming. Evans seemed to fight not to lose while Davis was just in over his head. MINUS FIVE *I do want to give Evans credit though because Davis is a skilled fighter and Evans was never in trouble during the fight. So good job by him. PLUS THREE *If nothing else, Jon Jones really loves himself some Jon Jones. EVEN *Overall UFC on FOX 2 felt pretty underwhelming. These FOX shows are built on the main card and this main card delivered one good fight, but it was sandwiched between two very lackluster outings. MINUS THREE Official Score: 11 For a more in-depth look at UFC on FOX 2 plus a preview of this weekends UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit event, make sure to check out tomorrows Five Ounces of Podcast with Samer Kadi and myself. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, johnson, point

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

If you tuned in to UFC on FOX 2 and thought last Saturday’s scrap between Michael Bisping and Chael Sonnen was close you weren’t alone. Apparently both of the involved individuals felt the same way, and though Sonnen got the judges’ nod he would have understood if the scorecards had favored Bisping instead. The two outspoken middleweights discussed their bout during the post-fight press conference where respect was shown throughout, at least regarding each other. Check Out Highlights from the Sonnen-Bisping Bout “I was surprised about everything. Michael Bisping hit me so hard in the first round I didn’t even know what day it was,” said Sonnen when asked if he was impressed by Bisping’s grappling prowess. “I remember when I came to, looking at him and thinking, ‘Oh my god you have no idea how bad you hurt me or you’d step in and do something about it.” I mean the whole fight I was never in a position I was comfortable, not one. It was fifteen awkward minutes.” “I don’t have a bad thing in the world to say about the guy,” he concluded on Bisping. As expected, the topic of Anderson Silva came up and Sonnen was a little less cordial in addressing him. “I’d rather talk about real men like Mr. Bisping who steps in on ten days’ notice and fights me. Those are the kind of guys I’d rather give media attention to, not some bum hiding in Brazil,” replied Sonnen when asked if he felt Silva would agree to a rematch. Check out the full press conference below with things starting up at about the thirty-minute mark: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ’t, bisping, sonnen, ’d, round i

Read the full article at Fighters.com

EVANS UNDOUBTEDLY DISAPPOINTED, BUT IT WAS THE RIGHT APPROACHRashad Evans will be the first to admit that his win over Phil Davis, while completely one-sided, was far from pretty. Evans controlled his younger, larger foe from bell to bell with far quicker strikes, much more effective takedowns and vastly superior grappling. The problem is that Evans failed to put away his overmatched opponent. And the failure to end fights has become an albatross around Evans’ neck in recent fights, the recent knockout win over Tito Ortiz notwithstanding. The opportunities were there. Evans could have stepped up his standup, opting to sit down more on his punches and increase the volume in search of a crowd-thrilling knockout. He also could have taken more chances on the ground in search of a submission or stoppage due to strikes. He did none of those things. Evans instead remained focused on completely controlling the action without really taking any chances, which made the bout feel more like a sparring session than a fight.It is no secret that I have criticized the former champion more than once for his conservative approach to competition. Not this time. In fact, I am going to take the opposite view of his performance.  I applaud Evans for the intelligent victory. Why? He did what he had to do in order to give the fans the biggest light heavyweight bout out there – the long-awaited grudge match with champion Jon Jones on April 21.Evans knew going into the fight with Davis that, if he won, there would only be 84 days to heal up, rejuvenate his body and properly prepare for what could be the most significant fight of his career. He also knew that the short turnaround time meant the opportunity to face Jones would go to someone else, likely Dan Henderson, if he sustained anything more than a very minor injury against Davis. So, Evans did what he needed to do in order to set the stage for 2012’s first true mega fight and likely the most lucrative payday of his career.I know. I know. Saturday was the biggest and brightest stage that Evans has ever performed on. This was a golden opportunity for “Suga” to turn himself into a fighting legend. But all that pales in comparison to securing the mouth-watering matchup with Jones. I’m sure many will take the opposite view, but this was one time when I completely support his decision to fight with a conservative approach. Well done, champ.DAVIS LEARNS VALUABLE LESSONPhil Davis was a much better collegiate wrestler than Rashad Evans. That much was obvious from their respective Big Ten careers. Evans, however, is a much better mixed martial arts wrestler. That was equally obvious from Saturday’s fight.Davis needs to learn how to transition his elite wrestling skills into effective fighting techniques. I have no doubt that he will do just that, but it sometimes takes a wrestling reality check, like the one he received courtesy of Evans, to force the issue for someone with his amateur chops. Davis should focus on learning how to use strikes to set up his power double. He needs to better develop his clinch game so that he can execute judo-style throws and pull off high-crotch takedowns. And he needs to learn how to strike while still maintaining his balance so he can effectively sprawl. Once he does those things, the sky is the limit for this guy.By the way, was it just me or did Davis look like he was a full weight class bigger than Evans? He looked absolutely huge inside the cage. I have no idea how much weight he cuts, but one has to assume that it is a significant amount. It would not shock me to see Davis pull an Alistair Overeem and put on a bunch of muscle in search of a run at heavyweight sometime in the next couple of years.DID THE PRESSURE GET TO SONNEN?Let’s get right to the point. Chael Sonnen had better hope that his performance against Michael Bisping was an off night. Otherwise, he is going to get brutalized by Anderson Silva this summer.Sonnen appeared gassed as early as the end of the first round. His takedowns throughout the fight seemed telegraphed and lethargic. And his strikes were as robotic as usual. Those are harsh words, I know. But this is a guy who repeatedly claimed heading into the fight that he was “undefeated” and “undisputed.” He walked around with a fake championship belt. And, in true WWE style, he delivered a message about a “disclaimer” with the affect and cadence of a heel hoping to appear intimidating. It was fun stuff. Even Bisping acknowledged that the banter was entertaining. Boastful words like those, however, create tremendous pressure to deliver an impressive performance. Sonnen won, but he didn’t back up his words. Indeed, some, including maestro commentator Joe Rogan, felt that Bisping should have been awarded the victory. For the record, I agree. But the fight was close enough that nobody can really complain in earnest about the judges’ scores, other than maybe the one judge who saw it 30-27 in favor of Sonnen.The former title challenger’s struggles against Bisping weren’t wholly unexpected. “The Count” is one of the most difficult middleweights to take down, and he is even more difficult to hold down. What was completely unexpected was Sonnen apparently running low on gas as early as the end of the first round. While the Team Quest standout will never be confused with the Energizer Bunny, he is not known as a guy with a particularly small gas tank, either. I have always viewed his cardio as better than average. Yet, it clearly betrayed him on Saturday night.One has to wonder if the pressure of fighting on broadcast television contributed to the quick depletion of his conditioning. One must further wonder if Sonnen’s own mouth added to the pressure. Those are the likely culprits for performance, absent an unknown injury suffered during training that prevented him from getting into top shape. If that is the case, Sonnen needs to figure out how to deal with that sort of pressure because his next bout will be an even bigger event. And Silva won’t be entering the cage with an injured rib, either. NOTHING BUT POSITIVES FROM BISPING’S PERFORMANCEAnyone who read my pre-fight breakdown knows that I didn’t give Michael Bisping much of a chance to defeat Chael Sonnen. It wasn’t that I believe Sonnen to be the better fighter. My opinion was solely based on the notion that 11 days wasn’t sufficient time to prepare to defend Sonnen’s takedowns, based on Bisping’s lack of an amateur wrestling pedigree. The Brit ultimately lost the bout because he was taken down in each round. Nonetheless, he showed tremendous takedown defense and an even more impressive ability to work back to his feet once taken down. Remember, folks, that Sonnen is a former US Olympic alternate in wrestling, whereas Bisping has no amateur wrestling experience at all. Viewed through that filter, his performance on Saturday was nothing short of amazing.WEIDMAN’S GAMBLE PAYS OFFChris Weidman obviously isn’t afraid of taking risks. With less than two weeks to prepare, Weidman agreed to replace Michael Bisping as Demian Maia’s opponent for the UFC’s second televised event on FOX. It was the kind of opportunity that could make or break the career of a young fighter like Weidman. On one hand, a win over a contender on broadcast television is the best possible shot of adrenalin for a young prospect’s marketability. On the flip side, a brutal one-sided loss to Maia, whether by knockout or submission, in front of what was sure to be one of the largest television audiences in the history of MMA doesn’t do much to build interest in future bouts. That second scenario was a very real risk, since it was all but certain that Weidman would gas out, if he didn’t score a stoppage in the first round. There was simply no possible way to get into proper shape in less than two weeks. Weidman didn’t care. He stepped up to the challenge anyway. He expectedly hit a massive cardio wall early in the second round, but that did nothing to prevent him from gutting out a clear victory over arguably the most dangerous submission artist in the sport. Weidman’s decision to take the fight against Maia turned out to be a brilliant way to catapult his own career. I don’t know whether it was a calculated risk based on the matchup or just an example of Weidman’s unbreakable confidence in his own skills. Either way, this guy just made himself relevant in the 185-pound division.MAIA NEEDS TO GO BACK TO HIS ROOTSMaia’s dramatic change in style from grappler to striker over the last few years has done nothing to improve him as a fighter. Quite the opposite is actually true. Maia is a very predictable striker, one that a guy like Weidman would have no qualms about facing on short notice. By contrast, Maia is the single-most dangerous ground fighter in the sport, in my opinion. Remember him basically throwing Chael Sonnen on his head before quickly submitting him with a perfectly executed triangle choke? This is the same Chael Sonnen who almost defeated Anderson Silva.I will forever wonder why Maia chose to work back to his feet, rather than work his submission game, on the two occasions that Weidman took him to the ground. Those takedowns were the only glaring mistakes by committed Weidman during the bout, in my opinion. They were perfect opportunities for the Brazilian to score an impressive win over his exhausted foe. Yet, Maia did nothing with them. Can you imagine the Maia of 2008 wasting those opportunities? Me neither. Someone in Maia’s team needs to sit this guy down for a major heart-to-heart. At 34-years-old, there isn’t enough time left in his career to evolve into Anderson Silva or Vitor Belfort on the feet. It just isn’t going to happen for Maia. Sure, he needs to continue to improve his overall skills if he wants to rise to the top of the division. Yes, he needs to continue to develop his striking to make himself a more dangerous fighter. But he should never forget what made him great in the first place—his otherworldly submission game. Allow me the egomaniacal moment of suggesting the best way for Maia to maximize his game.  First and foremost, he needs to learn how to strike with his right hand. That lone improvement will make him more effective in the standup game. Next, he needs to learn how to use strikes to set up takedowns. Third, he should work takedown after takedown, until he actually starts to believe in that part of his game.As mentioned, Maia isn’t going to develop into a homerun hitter on the feet. No chance. And he isn’t going to turn into a stick-and-move guy any time soon, either. So, outpointing guys on the feet like Silva, Belfort, Bisping, Munoz, Okami or other top middleweights not named Sonnen probably isn’t in the cards.His game plan for every fight should focus on getting the fight to the ground. His striking should be solely focused on setting up takedowns—period. Abandoning his world class submission game is the biggest crime being committed in the UFC at the moment. Getting guys to the ground will always present the best opportunity for Maia to win. I’ll take him all day every day against any middleweight in the world, including Anderson Silva, in a ground-focused fight. I feel the exact opposite about standup-focused fights.

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Russell Crowe, in his career-defining role as Maximus in the box office bonanza “Gladiator,” made famous a line that has been uttered more than once to a crowd by UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer in the off-camera moments just before a pay-per-view broadcast kicks in.Are you not entertained?The question was yelled to a silent crowd following several minutes of gladiatorial battle.I guarantee that neither Buffer nor anyone else will be asking the crowd that question at the Mandalay Bay Events Center when Nick Diaz versus Carlos Condit finds its conclusion this Saturday night. G-U-A-R-A-N-T-E-E.This is an absolutely delicious matchup for fans who enjoy all-action bouts. It certainly may come to an abrupt end in the first few minutes. Any fight can end suddenly. But the matchup suggests otherwise. All signs point to a back-and-forth war, where both men enjoy moments of solid success, though both will likely get bruised and bloodied.Don’t get me wrong. I think there is a clear favorite, though it wouldn’t necessarily be an upset for either man to win. Yes, those are contradictory statements. I don’t care. They accurately describe the fight, in my opinion.Diaz is the man most expect to win. I agree with that notion. This guy is in the midst of one of the most impressive welterweight winning streaks since Jon Fitch ran off 16 in a row. Unlike during Fitch’s run, however, nobody is questioning Diaz’s finishing ability or his ability to thrill a crowd. The Stockton, California native fights with a full-throttle, unyielding style that is designed to break an opponent mentally and physically.It is a style that has overwhelmed everyone since the beginning of 2008, including all-time greats BJ Penn and Frank Shamrock. He mixes possibly the best boxing in the sport with a granite chin, an endless gas tank and high-level Gracie jiu-jitsu. Not a bad combination. But let’s not kid ourselves. Condit is the far more explosive fighter. If this fight ends by knockout in the first round, Condit is the one who will have his hand raised. Not Diaz. And while Condit isn’t riding an 11-fight winning streak, his recent run of success isn’t much less impressive than what Diaz has experienced.Condit has won 12 of his last 13 bouts. That lone loss, a split decision dropped to Martin Kampmann, was arguably a bad result. At the very least, it was highly controversial. In his last two bouts, he walked through Dong-Hyun Kim and Dan Hardy via first round knockouts. The former was undefeated at the time. The latter was just over six months removed from challenging for the world championship. The pair will meet on Saturday night for the interim UFC welterweight Championship, a secondary title that officially anoints a number one challenger to injured champion Georges St-Pierre. Better put, Saturday’s bout definitively answers the question as to who is the second best welterweight on the planet.When referee Steve Mazzagatti signals for the action to begin, Diaz will do what he does in every fight. The surly gladiator will aggressively take the center of the Octagon with his hands held unorthodoxly high, likely at eye level or higher, and begin his unrelenting attack. Diaz will work from the southpaw stance, focused on just touching his foe with his fists over and over again. He won’t load up on his strikes. That takes too long and increases the odds of missing the target. Instead, sharp right jabs, often mixed with pawing grabs at his opponent’s left hand, will establish the range. He will pump the jab again and again, bruising, bloodying and distracting his foe. The shots will come in short succession, like one-arm combinations. But he is far from a one-armed striker. Diaz will fire his straight left—a very straight left, as soon as his right foot establishes the proper position on the outside of Condit’s lead left foot. Sometimes he will throw the left in isolation following a jab. Often he will follow it up with a clean-up right hook. He will also mix in leading with both of those strikes. The point is to overwhelm and confuse his opponent, all the while chipping away at his strength and cardio from the constant bombardment of shots thrown at 70% of his maximum power.From time to time, Diaz will clean up his straight right with a right outside leg kick. He might even add a left or right high kick here or there. If Condit finds some success on the feet, Diaz may switch to an orthodox stance, fighting with the same fistic patters as when he attacks from his more traditional southpaw stance. His straight right is nowhere near as good as his straight left. By contrast, his left jab and left hook are close to, if not equal, to their southpaw counterparts.The one constant throughout the attack will be Diaz’s taunts. He will lean forward, sticking out his chin with his hands spread wide apart, as if he is giving an opponent a free shot. Diaz knows that he has amazing defensive skills, so the goal is to bait his opponent into missing so that Diaz can counter. If his foe hesitates, Diaz will fire slapping hooks from his widely spread fists. Those are calculated moves designed to show his foe that the former Strikeforce champion is the superior fighter. It’s as if he is screaming, there is nothing you can do to hurt me. I leaving myself wide open, and I’m still putting my stamp on you.Physical taunts aren’t the only mind games that Diaz plays with his foes. A big part of his game is using harsh words to both hype up himself and enrage his foe. The former often serves as a shot of adrenalin—or, more appropriately in Diaz’s case, a steady stream of adrenalin from bell to bell. The latter often leads to an opponent fighting with more recklessness or loading up more on strikes. Either of those mistakes makes Diaz’s tappy-tap attack more effective.Thus, venomous taunts will flow like water exiting a wide-open spigot. Personal insult after personal insult will bombard his foe second only to the nonstop barrage of punches. It is a demoralizing assault, one that only the mentally and physically toughest fighters can withstand. Diaz is counting on the fact that Condit is not among those. I’m quite sure Condit disagrees.Like Diaz, Condit is also a savagely aggressive fighter with an excellent chin, equal comfort on the feet or the ground, and a deep gas tank. Sounds like a carbon copy, doesn’t it? These two are actually as different as they are similar.Condit is the physically stronger fighter. He possesses a high percentage of fast-twitch muscle fiber in his body, which enables him to explode on foes in a way that leaves many other welters green with envy. Diaz generates knockouts from perfect timing and technique. Condit does it with explosive speed and power.Condit is also more of a go-for-broke attacker. He is willing to throw caution to the wind and attack in berserker style. All of Diaz’s attacks are calculated and controlled. He is never wild. He never forgets defense.Guess what? Both of those traits – tremendous explosiveness and a willingness attack, even in the face of guaranteed return fire – are exactly the recipe for defeating Nick Diaz on the feet, assuming, of course, that a fighter has the standup skills to execute during the attack.Carlos Condit and well-rounded go together like peanut butter and jelly.“The Natural Born Killer” is one of the most well rounded fighters in the sport. In 27 professional wins, he has 13 knockouts and 13 submissions on his resume. That is reminiscent of a prime Rich Franklin, before the former middleweight champ became obsessed with his standup game. Condit’s standup is pretty straightforward, though extremely effective. He fights with the squared orthodox stance of a Thai fighter. He is more versatile on the feet than Diaz, incorporating kicks, elbows and knees with his fists, as opposed to Diaz’s heavily boxing-focused attack. And he can end the fight with any of those strikes. Typically not in one-strike fashion. Condit is more of a combination striker, but he has the juice to score one-shot wins. Just ask Dan Hardy.On the ground, Condit is much craftier fighter than his Brazilian jiu-jitsu rank suggests. He doesn’t inspire fear in opponents from his guard. But he is a monster from the top position and a back expert. His ground acumen is irrelevant in this fight. He isn’t on the same planet in terms of BJJ skills, compared to Diaz. The only way Condit wins this fight by submission is if he first lands a consciousness-altering strike, leaving Diaz basically defenseless for a brief period.Condit doesn’t much care about that. He isn’t coming Las Vegas to submit Diaz. He is coming to knock him out, whether cold or by cuts. And I’m sure he believes he can do just that.Neither Diaz nor any other fighter is invincible. The big key to victory for Condit is to force Diaz to fight moving backwards. Condit must be the bully. He cannot sit back and counter. Otherwise, Diaz will overwhelm him with his volume punching, just like he did Penn. He might land a fight-ending counter. That can happen in any fight. It is just highly unlikely based on Diaz’s history facing even bigger, more explosive strikers, like Paul Daley, and smothering them with his whirlwind attack.On the other hand, if Condit comes out and fires first, he has a chance to do what only KJ Noons has done since mid-2006—defeat Nick Diaz. Noons beat Diaz by beating him to the punch. Noons, who doubles as a professional boxer, used good angles and always made sure he fired first with accurate, sharp punches. Diaz never got into a rhythm against in his first bout against Noons principally because he never had the opportunity to lead. In the rematch, Diaz undressed his former conqueror in typical Diaz fashion. He was the bully from bell to bell. Condit can’t let that happen on Saturday night.The second key to victory for Condit is to clinch with Diaz, force him up against the cage and use dirty boxing—elbows, forearms and slicing punches. Diaz has a history of easily cutting along his eyebrows. That is no big secret. He underwent surgery in 2008 to remove excess scar tissue and grind down his brow bones to help correct this problem. It certainly helped in subsequent fights, but his brow leaked against Penn, which suggests that scar tissue might be building back up. Condit should seek to find out.I truly believe that this fight will be an epic war. Will Condit be the one to survive the war? Is he the man to put an end to Diaz’s amazing 11-fight run? It doesn’t seem likely, in my opinion. A skilled, explosive and attacking striker is the best way to beat Diaz on the feet, but it is still a long-shot way of winning. The absolute best way of beating Diaz is to put him in the cage against a dominant wrestler with great submission defense who takes him down and holds him there. Condit isn’t that guy. So I’m going with Diaz, likely by decision but possibly by late-round stoppage. QUICK FACTSNick Diaz•    28 years old•    27-7, 1 NC•    Finished 9 of last 11 opponents•    5-0 in last 5•    10-0 in last 10•    11-fight winning streak•    4-1 in title fights (4 in Strikeforce, 1 in Elite XC)•    Has never been submitted•    Former Strikeforce welterweight champion (never lost title; vacated it to return to the UFC)•    Fight of the Night (UD3 over  BJ Penn at UFC 137)•    Current layoff is 98 days•    Longest layoff of career is 315 daysCarlos Condit•    27 years old•    27-5•    4-1 in last5•    9-1 in last 10•    4-0 in major title fights (all in WEC)•    Has never been knocked out•    Has only gone the distance 3 times in 32 professional fights (1-2 in those bouts)•    Fight Night award in last 3 fights•    Knockout of the Night (KO1 over Dong-Hyun Kim at UFC 132)•    Knockout of the Night (KO1 over Dan Hardy at UFC 120)•    Fight of the Night (TKO3 over Rory MacDonald at UFC 115)•    Current layoff is 217 days•    Longest layoff of career is 269 days

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A few observations from UFC on FOX 2: “Evans vs. Davis”: -Last night the UFC had their “UFC 33 moment” on major network television.  There, I said it.  Now let’s get past it. -We can add Lavar Johnson to the list of kickass fighters the UFC plucked from Strikeforce.  He may not be a Nick Diaz or Dan Henderson, but as heavyweight sluggers go, he’s a breath of fresh air.  -Michael Johnson and Shane Roller fought hard, but nothing I saw leads me to believe they’ll ever be the man.  (Plus ten points if you caught the Steven Seagal- “Out for Justice” reference.) - Congrats to Charles Oliveira for applying a heretofore-unseen-in-the-Octagon submission technique to a scrub. -If Cub Swanson fought like that consistently, he WOULD be the man. -I don’t know what sucked more, Mike Russow’s lay and pray or Jon-Olav Einemo’s lay-and-just-lay. -That was a pretty freakin’ solid scrap between Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz.  Good for Dunham for bringing out the best in Lentz. -Okay, Chris Weidman took the fight on only eleven days notice, so he has a good excuse for his lack of cardio.  *Ahem*, Mr. Demian Maia, please report to the principal’s office. -I felt the decision in the Chael Sonnen/Michael Bisping fight could’ve gone either way, and Bisping out-performed all expectations I had of him.  And Sonnen… if he fights like that against Anderson Silva, he’s going to get murdered. -It was a forgone conclusion that Rashad Evans had more tools and experience and was going to defeat Phil Davis.  But what we didn’t see was any reason why Evans could possibly defeat Jon Jones.  He can’t.  He’s a dead man walking.

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It seems everyone has an opinion on who they feel will emerge victorious tonight when it comes to the co-headlining clashes between Chael Sonnen-Michael Bisping and Phil Davis-Rashad Evans. Among them is Dan Henderson, a top light heavyweight contender who could be in line for a shot at Jon Jones’ title if Evans stumbles against Davis in the evening’s main event. However, based on how “Hendo” sees the fight unfolding, he’s not holding out much hope for the championship opportunity to present itself. “Rashad should win,” explained Henderson to TATAME. “Rashad has better hands and they’re both good wrestlers. I think it is gonna come a lot down to conditioning, who is in better shape.” Of course, even if Evans does lose Henderson isn’t sure the crack at Jones will come his way after turning down a match-up with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira that would have kept him busy until mid-2012. It really did make no sense to me,” said Henderson after joking that he hoped he hadn’t made UFC President Dana White mad. “What was the point of that fight? They were just trying to put together a main event that wasn’t gonna be that great.” As far as how he sees Sonnen faring, surprising few Henderson went with his training partner at Team Quest rather than the brash Bisping who he unforgettably knocked out at UFC 100. “I don’t see Bisping even having a chance,” he flatly stated. See how Henderson’s picks play out tonight on FOX with the broadcast starting at 8:00 PM EST. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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In a strange way the knee injury keeping Phil Davis on the sidelines for nearly a year may have actually made the 9-0 light heavyweight a better fighter. Though “Mr. Wonderful” was on a tear before going out, picking up four wins in 2010 and a fifth in March 2011, the time off also gave him a chance to work out some holes in his game rather than having to intently focus on preparing for an opponent. “When you fight four or five times in a year, you don’t really have time to get better,” said Davis in an interview with the UFC’s website. “You’re just going from fight camp to fight camp and that’s not always good for someone as inexperienced as I am. So it has been great to just fall back for a little bit, and you can’t rush an injury, so I just had to work at a slow, steady pace until I got better, I picked up skills here and there, and now I’m right where I want to be.” Now that Davis has had a chance to heal up and improve his technique he faces the biggest challenge of his career in the form of a headlining bout with Rashad Evans tonight at UFC on FOX 2. However, rather than be motivated by thoughts of a title-fight with Jon Jones or even the high profile pairing with Evans, Davis pulls inspiration from the notion of maximizing his potential. It’s a mindset he developed in his formative years allowing him to primarily be mindful of the things in his power to control. “I’ve been a champion before, and the rules change and it’s a completely different sport, but the attitude is very much the same,” the 27-year old revealed. “If you can’t master your own skillset and your own self, then it doesn’t matter who the other guy is or what the other guy is capable of doing. If you can’t be the best you, then he doesn’t even have to be the best. Sometimes you get caught up chasing this number one guy, and all of a sudden, that guy loses and you have to go against somebody else. So why have you been training to fight this guy the whole time?” “If you’re only looking to beat people, ultimately the people will continue to change,” he explained. “I want to be the best me I can be. I don’t care who I’m gonna have to face. I just want to continue to prepare myself and advance my skills.” How far his skills have advanced remains to be seen, specifically on FOX tonight at 8:00 PM EST.

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The worlds of WWE and the UFC intertwined this week during the MMA organization’s stop in Chicago for tomorrow night’s UFC on FOX 2 event. While some may point to co-headlining middleweight Chael Sonnen’s microphone mastery at a recent press conference as being akin to those possessed by some of professional wrestling’s greats, it’s actually the man who was scheduled to accompany Sonnen to the cage that has been the real focus where WWE is concerned. CM Punk has been a longtime supporter of Mixed Martial Arts (and self-admitted BJJer), even incorporating certain techniques into his move-set that are pulled from some of the disciplines featured in the sport. However, while Chicago-product Punk had agreed to walk down with Sonnen, WWE CEO Vince McMahon quickly reneged on his original approval of the situation. McMahon Shoots Down Punk on FOX Punk recently spoke about the issue, among other things, in an interview with MMAFighting where he said he felt the stars had aligned properly given the event’s location and him originally having tomorrow off from house-show work. “We were introduced by Gerald Briscoe, old school wrestler obviously and road agent for WWE now,” said Punk of his original introduction to Sonnen. “He scouts a lot of the amateur wrestling tournaments and stuff around the country so obviously that’s the link. He knows Chael. He put us on the phone one day, like spur of the moment…and I think we’re alike in a lot of ways.” “I get a kick out of anybody that’s entertaining,” the WWE Champion continued on Sonnen, mentioning Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz as two other fighters who seem to have embraced the power of showmanship. The popular Punk also weighed in on Brock Lesnar’s future where he said, “He split. He left us high and dry. Now, there’s a code in the locker room when you’re the champ you kinda toe the line and the money you make kinda gets distributed to everybody else. So I think maybe five years ago I would’ve been more up in arms about it…but, once again, I won’t fault anybody for making money.” “I would welcome Brock back. I don’t think Brock wants to come back. But that’s just my opinion,” Punk continued. “He’s done his time here, he’s done his time in MMA. I think he was great at both. And there (are) a few guys that are out there that I don’t know that there’s really a place for them in modern day WWE and Brock might be one of them. Doesn’t like the road, doesn’t like people, and I just don’t know if they’d be willing to spend all the money, like the one big payday, for him to come in and work Wrestlemania.” PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

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One fighter sure to be watching the action closely this weekend at UFC on FOX 2 is Dan Henderson, a top light heavyweight contender with a possible title-shot coming his way depending on how Rashad Evans fares against Phil Davis who also happens to be a teammate of Chael Sonnen. Henderson recently offered up his thoughts on both match-ups where he made it clear one of the two bouts wouldn’t be nearly as close as the other. “I don’t see Bisping even having a chance,” said Henderson to TATAME, opting to favor Sonnen’s takedown attack more than the Brit’s striking. The pick was far from surprising given his love of wrestling and memorable knockout of Bisping when the two faced off at UFC 100. As far as the fight impacting his future in a direct sense, “Hendo” went with former champion Evans who he sees as being more fit than the lanky Davis. “Rashad should win,” the 41-year old legend revealed. “Rashad has better hands and they’re both good wrestlers. I think it is gonna come a lot down to conditioning, I think. Who’s in better shape…” Evans Anxious to Finally Fight Davis If Evans should fall many believe Henderson would get a crack at current 205-pound title-holder Jon Jones though it appears Henderson isn’t so sure himself. “I don’t know if I made Dana mad when I said ‘No’ to (Antonio Rogerio) Nogueira,” Henderson laughed. “But, you know, for me it didn’t make sense right now. Nogueira lost to Davis and (Ryan) Bader, then beat Tito Ortiz…It really did make sense to me. What was the point of that fight? They were just trying to put together a main event that wasn’t gonna be that great.” Like the rest of us, Henderson will have to tune in tomorrow night at 8:00 PM EST when UFC on FOX 2 unfolds from Chicago to see how his picks play out. Make sure to check Fighters.com for live coverage throughout including preliminary results starting at 5:00 PM EST. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE Tweet

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The next shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva will be on the line when Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping meet on short-notice at UFC on Fox 2 tomorrow night in Chicago and the outspoken contenders plan on backing up their words in the Octagon, they recently told the UFC. Chael Sonnen: “I hate terms like ‘hype’ and ‘trash-talk’ because I don’t do that. I never say anything I don’t mean and I’m not going to insult a guy I have no problem with. But, that said, Bisping is a jerk and I’m going to finish him faster than he can devour a Bovril and meatpie. I am the best fighter in the world. He thinks he can beat me, I think I can beat him and we are going to see who is right in the only debating forum that matters – the UFC Octagon. I came to Chicago to do Michael Bisping a lot of physical harm. I don’t come here to ‘talk trash’ because that’s not something I do. When this fight was announced, over 2 million extra tickets were demanded by the fans. This is the real main event, the biggest fight of all time.” Michael Bisping: “I know some fans are disappointed that there hasn’t been eight weeks of zingers between us and, to be honest, I think we would have got into it if this fight had been made two months ago. But right now, both of us had to focus on getting ready for a new opponent – and in his case a more dangerous opponent in me – on a week’s notice. I never talk trash unless someone has disrespected me and, to be honest, Chael has been very complimentary of me. Chael and I have thrown a few little jokes here and there but that’s because we’ve both got a sense of humor. And he’ll need that sense of humor after he goes to the hospital on Saturday night just like seven of my last eight opponents have. I am under no illusions – I am getting kicked, punched, elbowed and taken down by Chael but he’s getting punched, kicked, kneed, elbowed and knocked out in return. It will be a nasty, nasty war, but I’m beating him up and winning this fight. I am sure I will be taken down, but he’s going to have to worry about being submitted each time he does that. He won’t be able to hold me down and I know I can pick him apart standing. “It is a great fight, I am sure we are both going to look like car-crash victims on Sunday AM. Never mind the trashtalk, we can both do that in our sleep, just tune in on FOX and watch the fight of the year. I may have only been told about this fight last Tuesday, but I have trained my arse off since I was eight years old. I am going to make the oddsmakers look like fools; I am winning this fight.” For complete coverage of UFC on Fox 2 stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com. Pictured: Michael Bisping

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Chris Weidman stepped in to fight top middleweight Demian Maia Saturday’s UFC on Fox 2 event on just a week’s notice, but recently told the UFC that he isn’t worried about the short-notice and instead sees it an opportunity to jump up the division ladder: “Taking the fight at a week’s notice wasn’t all that had a decision. I have an opportunity to gain a lot of recognition and get myself up to where I want to be. I was just about to eat a load of waffles when I got the call… I threw those waffles away. There was no chance I was going to pass this up, I want to get into the top five and here’s my chance. You only live once. I didn’t want to sit at home and watch some other guy fight on FOX in an opportunity I already had passed up. I’m not worried about stepping up at all. I have a lot of respect for Demian’s jiu-jitsu, but if we go to the ground, I’m confident and excited to prove I can hang with my own BJJ. He’s going to have a lot to worry about, too, in this fight. I’m not the guy who’s going to be starstruck just because of the stage or the fact I am stepping up to this level. I believe in myself and I think I can go in there and submit him or stop him.” Meanwhile, Maia has moved past the disappointment of not fighting Michael Bisping, who meets Chael Sonnen in the event’s co-headliner, and is embracing fighting the undefeated Weidman before he’s more experienced: “I was disappointed to hear my fight with Bisping was off, but am happy to still be on the card on FOX. I’m ready to turn a negative into a positive, to control the part I can control, which is winning. A win over Bisping would have put me back in the world title picture, but Weidman is a dangerous young fighter and he knows a win over me put him in a great position. Bisping actually apologized to me for taking the Sonnen fight, but I completely understand. I appreciated him saying that, but this is what we do and the sport we are in. Now I can’t think about Bisping. I have to think about Chris Weidman. I don’t know if it is possible for Weidman to be 100% fit after taking the fight at such short notice. I’m not sure, but I have to go in thinking with the mindset that he is 100%. He is very dangerous, and I guess that I would rather fight him now than after he gets even better and more experienced. For sure, he will be very motivated. I am not going to lose at this stage though; I have worked too hard and expect a submission after a tough fight.” For complete coverage of UFC on Fox 2 stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com. Pictured: Chris Weidman

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Phil Davis is fighting Rashad Evans on Saturday night. But it doesn’t really matter to Davis who stands across from him on fight night. It could be Evans, it could be “Shogun” Rua, it could be light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. He’s not concerned. They’re all just names to him.“If you’re only looking to beat people, ultimately the people will continue to change,” said Davis. “I want to be the best me I can be. I don’t care who I’m gonna have to face. I just want to continue to prepare myself and advance my skills.”It’s a philosophy grown from years in the wrestling room, a segment of his life that reached its peak in 2008 when he won the NCAA National championship for Penn State University. His next step was to attack the world of mixed martial arts, and while he hasn’t reached the peak of the mountain yet, he has not wavered in the belief system that took him to the top once already in wrestling.“I’ve been a champion before, and the rules change and it’s a completely different sport, but the attitude is very much the same,” he said. “If you can’t master your own skillset and your own self, then it doesn’t matter who the other guy is or what the other guy is capable of doing. If you can’t be the best you, then he doesn’t even have to be the best. Sometimes you get caught up chasing this number one guy, and all of a sudden, that guy loses and you have to go against somebody else. So why have you been training to fight this guy the whole time?”At this point, it’s safe to say that Davis hasn’t had a picture of Evans on his mirror ever since the two were scheduled to fight back at UFC 133 last August, a bout postponed when the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania native injured his knee and was forced to the sidelines.“Not necessarily,” he chuckles. “As soon as you don’t have a fight, I’m back to focusing on me a hundred percent, and no one else. I do try to keep an eye on the division and who’s fighting who and how guys are doing. I attended the fight in August and watched him (Evans) fight Tito (Ortiz), and I was definitely checking him out and watching how he was doing. But not too much other than that.”And as much as a knee injury and over five months on the sidelines can hurt a young fighter’s career, in this case, it may have been a blessing in disguise for the 27-year old, who was fighting at a breakneck pace since entering the UFC in 2010. Just 4-0 when he made his debut at UFC 109 against Brian Stann, Davis fought four times in 2010 and once in March of 2011 before getting injured. Yes, he was impressing fans and the media and winning all his fights as his level of competition kept getting amped up, but when he got injured, he finally had the time he needed to add some more skills to his still raw MMA game.“When you fight four or five times in a year, you don’t really have time to get better,” admits Davis. “You’re just going from fight camp to fight camp and that’s not always good for someone as inexperienced as I am. So it has been great to just fall back for a little bit, and you can’t rush an injury, so I just had to work at a slow, steady pace until I got better, I picked up skills here and there, and now I’m right where I want to be.”Yeah, as scary as it sounds, a guy who already has beaten Stann, Rogerio Nogueira, Alexander Gustafsson, and Tim Boetsch is getting even better. His timing is impeccable though, as this is without question the biggest fight of his career. Not that he’s getting caught up in all the hype of being the main event on FOX. “This is just the next fight,” he said. “This is just another challenge along the road of me becoming a champion.”Sounds convincing, and according to him, not getting rattled and not letting his ego run wild isn’t difficult at all.“That’s the easy part as long as you’re true to yourself,” said Davis. “If you start to believe that you’re the best, baddest dude ever, and it all just comes so easy to you that you don’t have to work hard for it, then it’s hard to make new goals for yourself. But I know that things don’t come easy for me. If you forgot how you got to where you are, then you won’t make it to the next level. Even if you reached the highest point, there’s something else.” Like the perfect fight? What would that entail for “Mr. Wonderful?”“Minimal damage and a perfectly executed gameplan,” he said. And what happens next?“You make a new gameplan and prepare to carry that one out.” So you can be perfect more than once?“I don’t see why not.”

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In early 2006, Rashad Evans was fresh from winning The Ultimate Fighter’s second season at heavyweight and he was returning to the 205-pound weight class to begin chasing after a UFC title. He was just a prospect then, unbeaten with the world ahead of him. Yet before his fight with Sam Hoger, he spoke of a philosophy that would serve him well in the future. He called it “embracing the suffering.” When reminded of this in a recent interview before his Saturday FOX main event against Phil Davis, he laughed.“The theme for this camp has been embracing the suffering,” said Evans, but it’s been no laughing matter getting to the Davis fight, where a win will once again put him in position to regain the light heavyweight title he lost to Lyoto Machida in 2009. Since the lone defeat of his career, Evans has won three in a row, beating Thiago Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Tito Ortiz. But he’s also been plagued with injuries, layoffs, cancelled fights, late replacement opponents, a switch in training camps, and a highly-publicized feud with his former teammate and current 205-pound champion Jon Jones. So there’s been plenty of suffering for Evans to embrace.“Coming back from an injury and not being able to be active with back-to-back injuries like that is kinda hard,” he admitted. “It was a bit tough, I wasn’t finding my rhythm early on and stuff like that, but when you spend so much time out, it tends to happen like that.”In the process, the man whose name should be first on your mind when it comes to contenders for Jones’ throne has become an afterthought to many. On Saturday he gets to reintroduce himself to the world as the number one contender, so at this point, some fans’ apathy doesn’t really affect him now.“In this sport, it’s pretty much what have you done for me lately,” said Evans. “If I’m not out there doing it on a consistent basis, letting everybody see all the time, then people tend to forget. And that’s fine, that’s okay with me. It just gives me a little bit of something more to work for and it gives me a lot more motivation on those days when it’s hard to motivate myself. I just think about where I could be, where I should be, and where I want to be, and that gives me enough drive to push through those days that get hard.”So what are those days like?“On those days, it gets kinda frustrating, I can’t lie,” he said. “I get upset and angry with myself when things don’t go the way that I want them to, but then I remember that it’s all part of the plan, it’s all part of what’s supposed to happen to me. I don’t think that anything happened to me that’s not supposed to happen to me, and I feel that I can make it through and persevere through anything. So I just try to keep a strong mind because it’s easy to start feeling sorry for yourself. And once you start feeling sorry for yourself, only bad things come and you can never get anything done.”Needless to say, Evans keeps his internet surfing to a minimum during camp, choosing to avoid the inevitable stream of haters and advice-givers that always seem to overshadow the true fans.“I stay away from the internet for the most part,” he said. “But I still keep a bead on what’s going on. All I can control is what I need to do on January 28th. That’s my main focus. Everything else is just extra. Kanye West said it best when he said “nothin’s ever promised tomorrow, today.” So it don’t even matter when they say ‘Rashad, you get this next title shot.’ It’s all about what happens when it’s supposed to happen, and I’m not gonna waste no time, thought, or energy trying to be like ‘this should be what it is.’ Because when it is, it is.”At 32, Evans has pretty much seen it all in the sport of mixed martial arts, both good and bad. And once of the key things he’s learned is that all the stuff outside the gym and the Octagon is just that – stuff that needs to stay outside. When the door closes and the bell rings, it’s time to – you guessed it – embrace the suffering. And with his team of Blackzilians in Boca Raton, Florida, he’s getting exactly what he needs to achieve that feeling.“I’ve got a bunch of killers in my training room, and they are not feeling sorry for me or taking it easy on me one bit,” said Evans. “So whenever I go in there, I gotta go against Rumble (Johnson), I gotta go against whoever else they may bring in, and they want a piece of me, so if I’m not competing at that level, I’m gonna be feeling bad in practice as well as outside of practice. I’ve got to swim or drown, and that’s how it’s been and that’s how I’m able to stay sharp, because everybody around me is razor sharp.”Physically, Evans is where he wants to be, and that was the biggest hurdle for him after dealing with serious injuries to his knee and thumb over the last year. As far as the mental game goes, he’s always had that part of things down pat, and nothing has changed leading into this Saturday’s bout. In fact, his motivation comes from way back, and it extends far into the future.“I come from nothing,” said the Niagara Falls, New York native. “Growing up I didn’t really have too much, and I can tap into that anytime that I want to and just remember how bad things were for me growing up and just knowing that I never want to go back there and I don’t want my kids to go through it. So what I’ve got to do is I gotta stay strong and I gotta drive. And more than anything else, this is a dream of mine to become the best and in other words, immortal. How many other people get a chance to be remembered forever? And that’s what I really want. I want to be remembered forever.”Evans’ attitude brings to mind a conversation with future boxing Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins in which he told me that a loss in his upcoming fight with Oscar De La Hoya would knock him out of Pay-Per-View fights and back to fighting on basic cable. He knew that wasn’t going to happen, but he needed to think that in order to keep himself hungry and motivated. Evans has that same mindset.“I never want to get content,” said Evans. “I never want to think that I’m at a certain spot and I’m gonna stay there, because this organization’s hard to stay in, and this is the wrong place to get complacent in. You’ve got so many guys coming up and putting in work, and everybody wants to be in my position, so I gotta be paranoid and think that if I’m not producing, if I’m not going out there and winning fights and winning impressively, I’m gonna be replaced. And I don’t like that and that’s not an easy feeling for me, so I try to do everything in my power to make sure that does not happen.”The unbeaten Davis is one of those guys “coming up and putting in work,” and he would like nothing more than to take Evans’ spot at the top of the light heavyweight contenders’ list. But can a young fighter with raw talent beat an older, but more experienced one? Evans believes so.“If you go in there and you just think that you’re experienced and you’re gonna use that alone to take the young buck out, you might find yourself sitting down and being upset because if he’s got that raw talent and he’s hungry, that could get him the win,” said Evans. But like anyone who has been to the mountaintop and wants to get back there again, it’s not as simple as that. He may be older, but he’s got tricks up his sleeve that he can’t wait to reveal on Saturday night. Evans didn’t embrace the suffering for nothing; now it’s time to dish some out to his opponent. “You gotta be hungry and try to match that intensity,” he said. “I know Phil is preparing for the fight of his life and he’s got everything to gain in this situation. This is his coming out party. So I really got to go in there and beat him mentally first. I’ve got to think like I’m fighting me. I’ve got to tap into that feeling I had when I fought my big fight against Chuck Liddell or Tito Ortiz or Rampage, which was ‘this is my moment to shine.’ If I go in there thinking I’ve got something to keep away from him, it’s not gonna be a good fight for me. I’m going in and I’m gonna hunt for him. I’m trying to take something he’s got.” 

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The winner of Chael Sonnen’s co-headlining collision with Michael Bisping this Saturday night at UFC on FOX 2 will earn a coveted crack at the UFC middleweight championship. However, as far as Sonnen is concerned it’s the same as any other fight he’s ever been in. “I’m not after a title shot, and this is the big thing that separates me from everyone else,” explained Sonnen in an interview with the UFC’s website. “I’ve never asked for a title shot and it’s not about a title shot – it’s about the title.” Sonnen Plans to do “A Lot of Physical Harm” to Bisping in Chicago The 34-year old’s interest in the gold is not unlike his peers’ but where his opinion differs from most relates to the difference between the worth of a “title shot” in comparison to that of a champion’s legacy. “For so many guys, they want that title shot and they sit and they argue and they go to the media and they politick for these opportunities, and I’ll fight my way through,” Sonnen continued. “And if somebody can beat me, then I don’t deserve it; if somebody can beat me, then they should go have it. I don’t need politics or the media or anything else to propel me. If my skills and my ability won’t do it, then I don’t want it. It’s not about the shot and these fake opportunities because you politicked your way through the system. I will punch my way through the system, and if it fails me, then I shouldn’t be there in the first place.” As far as what belt he’ll actually be fighting for, though UFC President Dana White has been adamant in saying Sonnen will fight Anderson Silva a second time if he emerges victorious, the 26-11-1 grappler has been equally firm in his opinion that “The Spider” won’t face him in a rematch after narrowly escaping their original encounter with his title in tow. “He can go off and do what he wants,” said Sonnen of Silva. “But he will be remembered the same way Mike Tyson is – as a phony. I had to grow up hearing Mike Tyson was the best fighter in the world when he was never – not for one day of his life – the best fighter in America. He never won a national title as a kid, he never made an Olympic team as an amateur, he could never beat Evander Holyfield, he never was the best fighter in America, but for 10 years they told us he was the world champ. It’s the same with Anderson. He’ll be remembered the same way. His pocketbook and his bank account will look really good, and he’ll be remembered as the wimp that he is.” Before anything Sonnen will have to get by Bisping at this weekend’s epic event on FOX. The show starts at 8:00 PM EST with preliminary action on FX/Facebook in the hours preceding the main card clashes. Tweet

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From the moment Phil Davis stepped into the Octagon, he was never given a fair chance. In the second round of his first UFC fight against Brian Stann, Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan compared his skills and physique to Georges St. Pierre. In the third round, with three minutes remaining in the bout, Rogan was already bringing up the possibility of Jon Jones vs. Davis. That’s right, before Davis had already collected his first victory in the UFC, he was already being linked to the current UFC light heavyweight champion. From that point on, various MMA personalities and media members have always linked him to “Bones” Jones due to their freak athleticism. It wasn’t good enough for Davis to hit a power double in order to get guys to the ground; he had to suplex them. It wasn’t good enough for Davis to lock on submissions; he had to throw spinning back elbows. It wasn’t good enough for Davis to just win fights; he had to dominate opponents. Davis and Jones are like #1 overall picks in different draft years. Jones is like LeBron James, the most gifted athlete in the sport today, with the ability to take over the game/fight like no else. Davis is like John Wall, a great athlete in his own right, but hasn’t quite taken the sport by storm the way Jones/James did. On their own, Wall and Davis are outstanding and any team/camp would be lucky to have them. When constantly put in the same sentence as LeBron and Jones though, well, that’s just not fair. Now Kobe Bryant, better known in MMA circles as Rashad Evans, is coming to town. Before we look ahead though, lets go back to when Evans and Davis were originally scheduled to meet, which was last August at UFC 133. Davis was so overlooked in that fight, that when he had to pull out with an injury and was replaced by Tito Ortiz, people were actually more excited and thought it would be more competitive. Maybe Ortiz fans were just so caught up in the nostalgia of Tito actually winning his bout against Ryan Bader that they thought he had another miracle in him, but no logical MMA fan could have truly believed that Ortiz stood a better chance than Davis. As expected, Kobe dominated Mike Bibby. Fast forward to now. In the build up to Davis vs. Evans, it’s been all about the former UFC light heavyweight champ. Just look at the UFC on FOX promo. Evans is knocking out Chuck Liddell and Sean Salmon while also landing strikes on Forrest Griffin. Davis is throwing a head kick, which ended up being blocked, and they decided to show that from two different angles. That’s all the highlights they had of Davis? Not his submissions on Alexander Gustafsson or Tim Boetsch? How about his dominance against Stann or his ground and pound on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira? Nope. They just showed him throwing a kick that was blocked. They had Kobe making game-winning shots and throwing down dunks while Wall was highlighted by taking a charge. Furthermore, Davis isn’t guaranteed a title shot if he beats Evans on Saturday night, while Evans will get a title shot if he comes out on top. The consensus is that, unless Davis looks spectacular in victory, Dan Henderson will get the next crack at Jones and the 205 strap if Davis’s hand is raised at the end of the night. I guess remaining undefeated while beating a former champion who only has one loss on his record in front of what could be the largest UFC audience ever, isn’t good enough to get a fight that was brought up by one of the announcers 12 minutes into your UFC career. Unfortunately, despite being brought up in his first fight, Jones vs. Davis isn’t the fight people want to see. LeBron vs. Wall might be the match-up fans are clamoring for in a couple of years, but right now, the people want LeBron vs. Kobe. The people want Jones vs. Evans. “Mr. Wonderful” never had a chance to succeed in the UFC. If he hasn’t been compared to a fighter than might go down as the greatest light heavyweight ever, he’s been overlooked heading into the biggest fight of his career. He’s never been allowed to stand on his own due to the brilliance of Jones or the anticipation of a bigger fight. Davis can have his one shining moment on FOX. He could beat Evans in impressive fashion, have Goldberg and Rogan going crazy, have Dana White Tweeting nothing but exclamation points, and have fans begging for him to fight Jones. If that’s going to happen though, Davis will have to put on the most flawless performance of his career in a building built by the flawlessness of Michael Jordan. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Lavar Johnson knows that the man he’s facing in his UFC debut this Saturday night, Joey Beltran, is one of the toughest men in the entire sport, let alone the division. But the former Strikeforce heavyweight is also aware that fighting 15 minutes or less with “The Mexicutioner” can’t be tougher than surviving being shot three times.So when the training gets rough or the leather starts flying in the middle of a fight, the 34-year old always has a reference point of how much worse things could be. Back in July of 2009, Johnson was at a family reunion when a random drive-by shooting took the life of his cousin, and injured him and three other family members. 13-3 as a pro at the time, and less than two months removed from a Strikeforce debut that saw him knock out Carl Seumanutafa in just 18 seconds, Johnson was now in the fight of his life. Hit in his stomach, forearm, and hip, Johnson was forced to have his appendix removed and he received damage to his colon and intestines. Eventually though, after losing 60 pounds, he recovered and left the hospital. It was a life-altering experience for the Madera, California native.“When you’re that close to dying, you realize how precious life is,” said Johnson. “I’ve got kids and my girl, and I saw everybody else going through it…my life means a lot to me, but it means a lot to others as well, so it puts everything in perspective.”And just like a fighter, Johnson had every intention of putting the gloves on again, and less than a year later, on March 26, 2010, he picked up where he left off, stopping Lolohea Mahe in the second round.“It (the shooting) didn’t really affect me too much,” he said. “My breathing was just a little off, but everything healed up fine, so I’m good to go. I haven’t had any problems, other than being old (Laughs) and the wear and tear on my knees; that’s about it. Other than that, I’m good.”Following the win over Mahe, Johnson knocked out Virgil Zwicker in the first round of an October 2010 bout, but 2011 wasn’t as kind to him, as he was submitted in consecutive fights by Shane del Rosario and Shawn Jordan, putting his record at 15-5. But as he prepares for Beltran, the one thing he probably won’t have to worry about is getting submitted, as this one has Pier Six brawl written all over it.“I think it’s gonna be a good and entertaining fight,” said Johnson. “He likes to stand up and trade and I do too, so I think our styles match up fine.”The question is, has Johnson ever faced anyone with a chin like Beltran’s, and has Beltran ever faced a puncher like Johnson? The 34-year old banger thinks he has the answer to those questions.“I don’t think he’s been hit by anybody like me yet, so we’ll see. I’ve got a little pop in my punches, so we’ll see how he handles it.”If Johnson sounds confident in his ability to become the first man to knock out Beltran, he’s got reason to be. None of his wins have gone the distance, with all but one ending via his fists. But more than that, Johnson has gained confidence by working with two of the best big men in the game – former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Strikeforce Grand Prix finalist Daniel Cormier. Johnson has gotten plenty of sparring time with Velasquez at the AKA Gym in San Jose, and that experience has been invaluable.“You get to see where you’re at,” said Johnson of working with Velasquez. “If you ever have the chance to spar with the heavyweight champion of the world, you’re gonna test yourself and see where you’re at. He was number one in the world, and you’re always pushing forward and trying to better yourself, so it always gave me a push and I’m always learning something new. Him and Cormier always take the time out to show me a little something here and there. That’s awesome, and they’re good guys too.”Watching Velasquez in the eye of the media storm has helped the soft-spoken former linebacker carve his own path as well.“He (Velasquez) is humble, he’s himself, he doesn’t get caught up in the media and the hype, and he just does his job,” said Johnson. “He’s a hard worker, he clocks in, does his job, does it well, and goes home.”Expect the same from Lavar Johnson.“I know he (Beltran) is gonna go hard and he’s not gonna give up and quit, and neither am I,” said Johnson. “I just hope the fans get a Rocky-type fight, but of course with me raising my hand at the end.”

Posted in: ’t, johnson, velasquez, ’re, beltran

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In mixed martial arts, variety is often the spice of life. But not to Chael Sonnen, the middleweight contender who has never strayed from his native Oregon and the gifts that familiarity breeds, even after enduring the struggle to get them.“It’s one of the bigger challenges of this sport – the monotony,” he said. “The same drive, the same gym, the same smells, the same sounds, the same awful track playing in the CD player, the same voices, the same drills. It’s very monotonous, and it’s very difficult mentally, aside from the physical work. I’m always looking for some way to add a little excitement back to it, or to freshen things up, but I don’t have the answer for that. I’m stuck more in the rat race end of it.”Surviving that rat race has paid off though, if you consider that Sonnen has won four of his last five UFC bouts, came within 1:50 of winning the middleweight title, and in the process established himself as one of the mixed martial arts’ most compelling stars. So don’t expect him to be switching up from his familiar haunts at Team Quest anytime soon.“I don’t do well on the road, I don’t do well away from home,” he said. “I’m not ever gonna leave. I was born in West Linn, Oregon, I will die in West Linn, Oregon, and I don’t like to go far. I eat here, sleep here, train here, I don’t like to have to go anywhere, and that’s okay, I’m not complaining about it. There is something to be said for doing the same thing over and over each day with the same people in the same place, and you can’t get around it.”And while it’s Sonnen’s outlandish quotes that are the ones lighting up Twitter and message boards around the sporting world in the last couple years, when it comes to his craft, Sonnen is at his best, revealing the parts of the game few prizefighters will, simply because it would make them appear to be less than supermen. Sonnen has never subscribed to that notion, readily admitting that when all is said and done, a fist fight with another well-trained athlete isn’t the ideal night out many of his peers make it out to be. But the 34-year old has never shied away from that walk to the Octagon, even when the situation is less than ideal.“Those are mental skills that I’ve worked on and I’m not gonna share the secret to success because a lot of people do struggle with it, and those athletes can find their own journey,” he said. “But it’s just part of it. The event’s going to take place whether we want to do it or not, whether we feel good or not, whether we’re happy or sad – the event is going to happen. So the question is, how are you going to deal with it when it does?”Since his return to the UFC in 2009, Sonnen has dealt with his second lease on life in the Octagon with wins and brutal honesty, a deadly combination that is also a highly marketable one. But while it’s the soundbites that have made him a star, it’s his fights that have made him arguably the best 185-pound fighter in the world not named Anderson Silva. And should he defeat Michael Bisping this Saturday night in the UFC on FOX co-main event in Chicago, he will get another shot at the champion later this year. Yet Sonnen isn’t concerned with the shot, per se.“I’m not after a title shot, and this is the big thing that separates me from everyone else,” he explains. “I’ve never asked for a title shot and it’s not about a title shot – it’s about the title. And for so many guys, they want that title shot and they sit and they argue and they go to the media and they politick for these opportunities, and I’ll fight my way through. And if somebody can beat me, then I don’t deserve it; if somebody can beat me, then they should go have it. I don’t need politics or the media or anything else to propel me. If my skills and my ability won’t do it, then I don’t want it. It’s not about the shot and these fake opportunities because you politicked your way through the system. I will punch my way through the system, and if it fails me, then I shouldn’t be there in the first place.”So evening the score with Silva isn’t an issue?“That rematch is never gonna happen,” said Sonnen. “Don’t get caught up in that. Anderson and I will never cross paths again.”And Sonnen is okay with that?“Yeah, that’s the way it goes.”But even if he won the title, would never getting another shot at Silva eat at him?“I imagine it will, but such is life. You pack up and you move on.”You guessed it, the Gangster from West Linn is just getting warmed up.“The title’s the goal, not Anderson,” Sonnen continues. “He can go off and do what he wants. But he will be remembered the same way Mike Tyson is – as a phony. I had to grow up hearing Mike Tyson was the best fighter in the world when he was never – not for one day of his life – the best fighter in America. He never won a national title as a kid, he never made an Olympic team as an amateur, he could never beat Evander Holyfield, he never was the best fighter in America, but for 10 years they told us he was the world champ. It’s the same with Anderson. He’ll be remembered the same way. His pocketbook and his bank account will look really good, and he’ll be remembered as the wimp that he is.”Needless to say, Sonnen’s venom for “The Spider” is still strong, and maybe he’s just laying the promotional groundwork for a rematch that would likely shatter attendance and Pay-Per-View records. But first there’s the business of Bisping, the Brit who isn’t about to let his own opportunity for a shot at Silva fade away without a fight. And Sonnen knows this, so he’s taken his foot off the smack talk pedal a bit leading up to this one, instead showing a grudging respect for the skills of “The Count.”“These guys are all so tough,” said Sonnen. “They really are. I look at Bisping’s skills and I don’t know that it’s tickling me with a feather, but I look at Bisping’s record, and I go ‘damn, the one thing that guy knows how to do is win.’ And Bisping’s been in a lot of big fights, he’s headlined shows, sold out arenas, and he’s a winner. First and foremost, he wins matches, so it’s not like they dealt to me from the bottom of the deck here – this guy’s a good fighter, his name’s been in title contention, and I’m a supporter for the most part. A lot of people don’t think Bisping’s ready for title shots and big fights, and I’m sitting on my couch going, well, he’s beating everybody they’re putting in front of him. I don’t think we can badmouth him with a straight face for too much longer.”Whether Bisping is a tougher fight for Sonnen than the man he replaced - the injured Mark Munoz - remains to be seen, but the veteran from Oregon is well aware that whether they talk smack or play nice, when Saturday night comes, they have to fight. “He’s coming after me, I’m coming after him. That’s all the motivation you need.”It’s simple. It’s direct. It’s Chael Sonnen, creature of habit.

Posted in: fight, title, ’t, shot, sonnen

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The moment Michael Bisping dispatched his coaching rival on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter, Jason Miller, via third round TKO last December, it should have signaled the end of a long year that included two fights, two training camps, the taping and promotion of the show, and a move from his native Manchester, England to Southern California.In other words, Bisping earned himself a break for the holidays. Yet less than a week after his win over Miller, “The Count” was getting a call from UFC President Dana White, asking him if he was interested in opening up the company’s second FOX card in Chicago against Demian Maia on January 28th. Bisping jumped on the opportunity.“This is what I do,” he said. “I’m a fighter, this is how I make my money, and I like to be active. Doing The Ultimate Fighter was ten months off and that’s far too long for me. I don’t like to do that. I put a little weight on in between the Jorge Rivera fight (at UFC 127 in February of 2011) and the Miller fight because of The Ultimate Fighter, so I lost the weight, I was back in shape, I had a good performance (against Miller) and no injuries, and of course, when Dana White comes to you and asks you to fight on FOX, who am I to say no? That’s the man right there, and if that’s what he wants, that what he gets.”Bisping’s acceptance of the bout was just another example of the Brit’s fighting spirit, something that occasionally gets lost in the midst of his trash talking with prospective foes. And let’s face it, taking on a short notice fight immediately after a previous one is always a less than ideal situation. Doing it when you’re in Bisping’s position, which is within shouting distance of a world middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva is even riskier. But the 32-year old didn’t flinch.“Obviously there’s always a risk,” he said. “But if I’m gonna go out and be champion, I need to be able to beat these guys. If I can’t beat them, sitting on the sideline and twiddling my thumbs certainly isn’t gonna help me beat them. This is what I do, and let’s see what happens. If I beat him, great; if I don’t, then I don’t deserve the title shot, simple as that.”There would be more twists and turns to this story though, as January 17th saw fellow contender Mark Munoz forced out of his co-main event bout with Chael Sonnen on the same card in Chicago. Bisping then got another call from White. Did he want to step up again, this time to face Sonnen for a shot at the middleweight crown? Again, the answer was yes, and while some late-notice fighters have that shell-shocked sound to their voice in the moments after getting the news, Bisping sounded ecstatic last week, and he made sure to get in the first verbal jabs on the always quotable Sonnen.“There’s no doubt about it, he’s a tough opponent, has great wrestling, and he’s a grinder,” said Bisping of the former middleweight title challenger. “But he’s got no submission defense, and Chael Sonnen’s best weapon is his mouth, and that’s something that’s going to be absolutely useless in this fight. I see a very bright future for Chael Sonnen as a used car salesman very soon.”For fight fans and the media, the Bisping-Sonnen matchup is gold, not only in the Octagon, but outside it as well, and while the two have fired off some zingers at each other in the last few days, there is an obvious mutual respect between the two. You would think such a situation would favor Sonnen and not Bisping, since “The Count” has insisted in the past that he fights better when angry, but whether Sonnen unleashes a torrent of smack talk at him or not, Bisping is prepared for battle.“The fact that I’m winning, the fact that I’m a natural competitor, the fact that I’ll lose almost half of my fight purse if I lose, the fact that if I beat him it gets me a title shot, that’s all the motivation I need,” said Bisping, who brings a four fight winning streak into the fight. “The fact that he may or may not be calling me names doesn’t really come into it. I have my goals that I want to achieve. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always nice and it always spices it up a little bit when they talk a little s**t, but I don’t need it.”“And all trash talk aside, he’s going to be a very difficult match,” he continues. “The title shot is right there, and it’s there for the taking. All I’ve got to do is reach out and take it. But to do that, I’ve got to beat Chael Sonnen. I’ve had a week’s notice, it’s not perfect, but I am who I am, and I’m a fighter. Dana called me, offered me the opportunity, and I took it straight away. I may have only got a week’s notice, but there’s a lifetime’s worth of preparation coming into this.”That may be the key. After all the sacrifices, the fights, the training, the media tours, and the ups and the downs, this is what Bisping has been fighting for. Now he just has to get past one 15 minute hurdle on Saturday and he will be that much closer to his goal. It’s almost as fate has intervened, because he’s gone from what promised to be a peaceful Christmas with his family to a major fight on national television that could very well change his life. Sounds like all the dominoes have lined up at the perfect time.“Dana said I win this fight, I’m fighting for the title in a soccer stadium in the summer,” said Bisping. “It’s all there. The dominoes are lined up, and I’m gonna knock them down. Easier said than done, but if anyone can do it, I can.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, bisping, sonnen

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The UFC’s “A” team may be taking to the field on the FOX network on Saturday night, but there’s a sizeable “B” team that’s duking it out on Fuel TV in the three hours before that big hoedown.  (Did I just use the word “hoedown”?  What the hell?)  Now, I don’t know about you, but whenever I call my cable company and ask if I can get Fuel TV added to my already extensive channel package, the person on the other end laughs uncontrollably and hangs up.  However, last weekend, when Jim Miller and Melvin Guillard were on deck, someone tweeted that the prelims airing on Fuel TV were also being broadcast on a channel called FOX Deportes – and lo and behold, I have FOX Deportes.  Granted, I speak almost zero Spanish and had no clue what was being said, but a fight’s a fight.  Other than knowing the names of the fighters, what more do I need?  So, in the spirit of there being a possibility that my liveblogging duties on Saturday night will extend beyond what’s on FOX’s flagship channel and stretch into the realm of “fuera de combate”, here’s a preview of the undercard.  Maybe some of you will get to watch the prelims, maybe none of us will.  Who knows.  At least I tried. -Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz – Some fighters are so exciting, you sit on the edge of your seat whenever they’re in motion, wary of the wicked knockout or slick submission they could inflict on their opponent at any given moment.  Lentz is not one of those fighters.  No, Lentz hugs people to death.  He’s pretty good at it, though, which is why he still has a job.  As a rule, Dunham is pretty exciting, and for a while there he was considered number one with a bullet when it came to the lightweight division.  Guillard squashed that with a rapid-fire TKO about a year ago, so here we are with a matchup that pits Mr. Huggy Bear against someone actually quite dangerous and skilled at finishing.  My money is on Dunham winning the decision, except I have truly never gambled, even though I’ve spent so much time in casinos attending MMA shows.  Weird, huh? -John-Olav Einemo vs. Mike Russow – Einemo is a big, heavyweight jiu-jitsu black belt from Norway, which is kind of cool if you think about it.  Norway.  That’s like totally “Viking” or something.  Russow, on the other hand, is a big, hard-headed wrestler galoot from Minnesota, and Minnesota was settled by the Scandinavians, with Scandinavia comprised of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.   So technically, while it’s cool Einemo is repping the Norwegian MMA scene, he’s really fighting his brethren in Russow, which kind of makes the matchup less cool.  Anyway, Einemo may have gotten smoked by Dave Herman in his UFC debut, but he’s still a better grappler than Russow.  I see him winning by sweeping Russow, easing into mount and raining down punches. -Cub Swanson vs. George Roop – Swanson’s never really been able to rise to the occasion when taking on top-level featherweight competition, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t skilled.  He has, however, been in the game for a while, and his body has gotten kind of worn down, so count that as a strike against him.  Roop, meanwhile, is a tall and lanky gamer who’s proven to be tougher than a two-dollar steak.  Also, he tends to flounder against top-level competition too, so watch for these guys to wow us – Swanson on the ground and Roop on the feet – and for one of them to get the decision, then face someone tougher in the future, and get killed. -Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely – Up until he faced Jim Miller at UFC 124, Oliveira was the next big thing, busting out submissions like it was 1999 and he was the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.  Unfortunately, Miller kneebarred him easily, his win over Lentz was turned into a “no contest” when it was determined the Brazilian won via an accidental foul, and Don Cerrone just completely smashed him.  So I picture the conversation between Dana White and Joe Silva going something like this: “What the heck are we going to do with this Oliveira kid?  He had so much potential?” said White.  “Why don’t we pluck someone completely unworthy from the sub-minor leagues and feed him to the Brazilian – you know, to make Oliveira look good?” said Silva.  “Great idea.  Also, $@#^&*>+!” said White.  Oliveira is going to murder Wisely.  He better.  It doesn’t get any more spoon-fed than this. -Shane Roller vs. Michael Johnson – Roller can wrestle, nail a submission, or land a knockout punch.  He can also get worked over on the ground, get submitted, and get KO’d.  I guess that makes him well-rounded?  Johnson came close to winning TUF 12, but instead will forevermore suffer under the curse of the “TUF Runner-Up” (seriously, go back and look where all the TUF runner-ups are right now).  I have Roller outwrestling and outworking Johnson, but since both men are so capable at getting beaten, this one could go either way. -Lavar Johnson vs. Joey Beltran – Lavar Johnson (no relation to the aforementioned Michael) was a somewhat decent heavyweight slugger in Strikeforce, and now that Strikeforce is no longer in the heavyweight business, we get to see homeboy mix it up in the Octagon.  Yay!  His first opponent in the UFC?  The Human Punching Bag (didn’t I call someone that last week?) known as Beltran.  This is actually a good test for both men.  If Johnson can put Beltran away, he’ll prove to be a solid addition to the UFC roster; if Beltran wins, then that just proves he’s a badass and that Strikeforce sucks.  Or did suck, when it wasn’t a Muppet with Dana White’s fist up inside it like a proctologist with a profanity streak.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, vs, johnson, russow

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If you’re a Brazilian fight fan or someone associated with the sport, you were either in HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro on January 14th or you wanted to be there for UFC 142. But not Demian Maia. Tucked away in Sao Paulo, Maia was putting the finishing touches on his training camp, getting ready for a fight in Chicago on January 28th, and, with the exception of an autograph session in his home city, not worrying too much about what was going to happen in Rio earlier this month.“I’m very focused and I don’t think about fighting on this or that day – just that I have a fight on the 28th and that’s it,” said Maia when asked about the event and whether he was going to attend or watch UFC 142. “I don’t even know if I’m gonna watch because normally right before my fights I don’t usually watch fights. I’m just focused on the 28th.”So there was no worry from him about being seen with the crème de la crème of the Brazilian MMA world or disappointment about not competing on the card; he had business to take care of, and all eyes were on America, not Brazil.“I’m very happy to fight and because I do what I love, and I know UFC is coming to Brazil more often, so sooner or later I know I’m going to be fighting here, but I’m not in a rush about that,” said Maia, whose attitude matches his fighting style. He’s not going to be reckless or wild. He will beat you with his mind before he does it with his hands or feet, and in a little over four years, he has gone from a one-dimensional jiu-jitsu player to a well-rounded mixed martial artist whose form may be unorthodox, but effective. And that’s come with a mix of work, focus, and a refreshing lack of ego.“For me, it’s not hard because I love what I do and I love to fight,” he said. “I love boxing also, and not just jiu-jitsu, so whenever you do something that you love, it’s never hard work. Of course the training and everything is tough, but what I do I like very much and when you’re like that I think you develop very well.”“I see some guys that are standup fighters and they’ve been doing jiu-jitsu for many years and they’re still not so good, and there are some jiu-jitsu guys that do standup for many years and they’re not so good, and the key is that they don’t like the other style,” Maia continues. “Sometimes they don’t like to train other styles and sometimes they don’t like to go from being the best at what they do to learning something else and there’s an ego involved there. If you think like a white belt, you can keep getting better. And when I decide to do something, I know that I will do it hard and I will get it.”Winner of three of his last four, with the only loss a hard fought three round scrap with Mark Munoz that saw him actually rock “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” while the two traded blows early on, Maia has shown the ability to handle himself standing as well as on the mat. He will never be confused with a 185-pound knockout artist, but if going three rounds with Munoz and five rounds with champion Anderson Silva haven’t erased the memory of his knockout loss to Nate Marquardt back in 2009, you’re just not paying attention.So with his ego in check, his game growing by leaps and bounds with every fight, and the outlook looking bright for the 34-year old, it was no surprise that he didn’t get rattled when his original opponent for this Saturday’s FOX bout, Michael Bisping, was pulled from the fight to replace the injured Munoz against Chael Sonnen. In comes unbeaten New Yorker Chris Weidman, and Maia is as ready for his new foe as he was for the last one.“Chris Weidman is one of the most promising fighters in the middleweight class, with amazing wrestling credentials, and he’s also showing a lot of good and always improving Jiu-Jitsu technique,” said Maia. “Being undefeated is not easy at this level of competition and he’s shown that he is a good fighter. I respect a lot the fact that he took the fight on short notice, as this is a big card on a great platform in FOX, and it shows how much heart he has. In no way do I think this is an easier fight, and I think it's going to be very interesting and great for the fans.”And a win on such a nationally televised platform will also do wonders for Maia’s growing profile.“It’s a good test for me if I want to be champion one day,” said Maia, who is already reaping the benefits of the UFC’s success in his home country.“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “After last year, when the UFC came back to Brazil again, there was a great change in the sport in Brazil. And now, people recognize us in the street, they come to talk to us everywhere, and it’s different than before. Before, maybe just other fighters and the people involved with fights knew who I was. Now everyone comes to talk and the sport is very big here.”Not surprisingly though, he hasn’t let all the attention get to his head.“It doesn’t change my life. I’m still the same person like everybody else.”That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t mind making his debut as a UFC fighter in his home country with a world title on the line one day.“That would be great.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, fighter, ’t, maia

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It’s 49 degrees today in NYC following our first snowstorm of the year. It leads me to believe that Al Gore had the wrong impression about global warming all along. If I can put on a t-shirt in January and walk to the nearest bodega for a bag of plantain chips, loosing the polar ice caps seem like a fair sacrifice. In congested cities like Rio, those people see the sun almost every day, and the bi-product is some of the most beautifully tanned women in the Southern hemisphere. In fact, the only people complaining in Rio were the folks who weren’t keen on Eric Silva’s controversial disqualification over Carlo Prater, a decision the majority of MMA fans and media disagreed with. It’s been several weeks since the fight, and Carlo Prater is finally speaking about how he felt about it in this interview with Brazil’s Sportv.globo.com. “I think in the end I was made out as a villain. I wasn’t laying on the octagon for nothing after the fight. I want that to be clear. I had to stay in the hospital until Monday. They (UFC) asked me not to go public because, indeed, that wouldn’t do any good for me or Eric. IMO, Mario did the right thing. It’s been a long time since rules have been implemented. You are not allowed to do anything you want inside the cage. Watching the fight video I could see at least 9 blows to the back of the head. I think the way Joe Rogan behaved was completely unethical. He went with the crowd. A real professional doesn’t do that. He was acting like a fan when he should be acting as a shout caster. Mario is a million time more competent than him. He’s been living off this for 20 years. Joe Rogan is just a swagger, someone who walks amongst fighters but isn’t really a fighter himself. He doesn’t understand. Whatever… human beings make mistakes and I am not going to be holding grudges against him” This isn’t the first time someone has criticized Joe Rogan; but it is the first time that Joe Rogan took a position on a controversial stoppage and declared that the referee was wrong inside the octagon. While that kind of personal engagement to the sport might not be something we’re used to, I feel it’s exactly what’s missing in other sports. So often we find commentators sitting monotonous in a press booths, summing up what they see and offering little to no constructive interpretation outside of a fact sheet that’s handed to them, while Rogan lets his passion for the sport transcend the broadcast. Hopefully Carlo Prater and Joe Rogan can make amends before their next event together. Maybe they too can hug it out over a bag of plantain chips. [Source]

Posted in: ’t, joe, joe rogan, rogan, carlo prater

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No one likes to lose.The actors who walk down the red carpet at the Oscars, stopping to tell Ryan Seacrest they’re just happy to be nominated? They’re lying; they want to win. Being nominated is a tremendous accomplishment, but everyone wants to win. That way you don’t have to summon up all your acting chops to make the “I’m so happy for them” face on live television.Like the nominees who go home without a trophy and every fighter in the world, Michael Johnson doesn’t like losing either.Last time UFC fans saw the former Ultimate Fighter finalist, he was the latest lightweight to be caught in a submission by British standout Paul Sass. The October defeat sent the 25-year-old known as “The Menace” back to the gym in search of answers, and what he came up with is an outlook that shows that backwards step could produce forward progress, starting as early as this weekend.“A lot went wrong,” Johnson laughed when asked to assess his last appearance. “He got me in a weird situation that I didn’t really spend a lot of time on. I got a little confused, and I had to tap before he tore my knee out of place. It was just a mistake that I had to go back and work on, and it’s definitely not happening again anytime soon.“Sometimes losing can be good. The majority of times they’re horrible, but it’s good to have it happen early, as opposed to later on in my career. This way I actually have time to work on it, get better, and not get caught in it again.“I went back to the drawing board, spent a lot of time with my jiu-jitsu coach and the many black belts we have in our gym down here, and we work on it every day. Next time I do see something like that, I’ll know exactly what to do, and not just sit there and think about it.”That drawing board is located in Boca Raton, Florida, where Johnson has spent the last year as a part of the Imperial Athletics team more commonly known as “The Blackzilians.”Training each day alongside the likes of Jorge Santiago, Gesias Cavalcante, Melvin Guillard, and Rashad Evans, Johnson has seen consistent improvement in his skills, and knows the grueling hours he spends in the gym will eventually pay dividends in the cage.“Being down here for the last year as opposed to just getting in the game, I’ve improved dramatically. My standup has gotten way better working with Henri (Hooft) who has come over from Amsterdam. My jiu-jitsu has gotten better. Working on my wrestling with Mike Van Arsdale, it’s gone through the roof. I see myself being a better fighter every day.”Johnson gets to put the past four-months worth of gym time to the test this weekend in Chicago when he faces Shane Roller on the preliminary portion of the UFC on FOX 2 card.With the tremendous depth in the lightweight division, many look at this as a must-win fight for Johnson. The St. Louis native has a different way of approaching the contest, one that further shows he’s ready to take a step forward in the UFC’s most talent rich division.“I think every fight is considered a must-win. If you want to go forward in this sport and you want to make yourself known — if you lose, you take a couple steps back, and if you win, you’re in a completely different frame of the business.“I’m looking at this fight as one where I'm definitely improving and getting better. I’ve had a great, great training camp, and I’m ready to go out here and get a win. I definitely don’t want to sit here and take two losses in a row. That’s really hard to come back from, and then you kind of want to sit around and second-guess yourself. I would say this is a `must not lose’ as opposed to a must-win.”Some would say the two are the same, seeing only semantic differences between must-win and must-not-lose. As Johnson explains it, the difference is in how you prepare for the fight and execute your game plan when the cage door closes.“You’ve got to believe in yourself and your coaches. I’ve had a great training camp; all the hard work is done at this point. I’m just ready to get out here and get a fight.“I can’t get nervous and put a lot of pressure on myself and say, `I have to win this fight. I have to win this fight.’ Everybody wants to win, it’s just one of those things where I have to take all the pressure off myself, and go out there and fight my fight. If you’ve done all the things that you need to do to this point, the win should be the easy part.”Winning in the UFC is never easy, and Roller will be determined to bring his two-fight losing streak to a halt and hand Johnson a second consecutive loss in the process.Johnson is confident that won’t happen, and that his meeting with the WEC veteran will be the start of a breakthrough year in 2012.“He took this fight on short notice, so I’m really not seeing him having the wind or being in the best shape to go three rounds with me. I’m going to feel him out for the first round, put the pressure on him, and then look to finish him in the early second.“This is definitely going to be a new start for me. I’ve taken a new approach to training; completely rededicated myself to the game. I’ve done everything necessary to be a champion in the future, and this is definitely going to be my coming out party.”

Posted in: fight, time, ’t, johnson, ’ve

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Like a lot of people who watched their lightweight battle at UFC 119, Evan Dunham believes he beat Sean Sherk.Taking home Fight of the Night honors and a win in the eyes of the public did little to numb the pain of coming away on the wrong side of the scorecards. Instead of standing with a dozen consecutive victories, Dunham was dealt the first loss of his career, and it rattled him.The UFC continued to push the talented lightweight as one of the top emerging talents in the deep 155-pound division, booking him as one half of the headlining act for the second Fight for the Troops event. Originally scheduled to meet Kenny Florian, a knee injury put the former title contender on the sidelines, and put Dunham in the path of the surging Melvin Guillard.In less than three minutes, Guillard blitzed Dunham, leaving him crumpled against the cage with a second consecutive loss on his record. In the span of four months, he’d gone from unbeaten up-and-comer poised to make a push for a title shot to another member of the large collection of fighters huddled just outside of contention.“I think in the long run it will be good for me,” Dunham said of the experience. “The two losses were tough, but that’s just part of the game. I’ve just got to learn from it. Not every lesson is learned in the gym; sometimes they’re learned in the ring or after the fact, dealing with it mentally. I think in the long term it will be good for me because I was able to adjust some things mentally and physically, and I’ll be a better fighter for it.“I had a pretty good streak there — 11 wins without a loss — and then I lost that fight to Sherk that I truly believe I didn’t lose, so it was tough to swallow. Mentally it was straining and strenuous on me. One way I was able to get over it was to focus on what I believe happened in that fight – that I won that fight. I’m over it at this point; it is what it is, and that’s what helped me prepare for that (Shamar) Bailey fight, and put on a good performance.”After almost nine full months on the sidelines spent streamlining his training routine, dealing with lingering injuries, and starting to work with Ray Sefo, Dunham returned to the cage in September with a dominant decision victory over TUF 13 alum Shamar Bailey.The 30-year-old Oregon native controlled the action from the outside, peppering Bailey with punches from start to finish. Earlier in his career Dunham would have come away from the fight focusing on what he wasn’t able to do in the bout, but not now. Now he’s only concerned with building on the positive elements of his performance, continuing to develop, and returning to contender status in the UFC’s deepest division.“I was happy with it. My first thoughts were that I was disappointed that I couldn’t put him away, but that goes back to critiquing myself when maybe I don’t need to be so hard on myself. I was really happy with it. He’s a tough kid that can take a shot, and I was able to put my hands together nicely. I think it was a good step to work my way back up there. I was happy with the performance and we’ll build off that.“After watching the film and going over the fight with Ray, I think there were reasons why I wasn’t able to put him away — little things with my technique, how I was throwing some of my punches, and that sort of stuff. There’s reasoning behind it; we’ve made those adjustments, and I plan on being able to correct that here in the future.”Dunham gets the opportunity to put the adjustments he’s made to the test this weekend in Chicago, returning to the cage in a bout that many critics see as a high risk, low reward encounter.Originally scheduled to face unbeaten British submission specialist Paul Sass, the 23-year-old Scouser was forced out of the intriguing matchup with an injury, with Nik Lentz stepping up to fill the void. Despite his recent two-fight winless streak, Dunham sees his new opponent as a tougher test, but one he’s well prepared for heading into Saturday night.“I honestly believe from watching both Sass and Lentz fight, I think Lentz is a tougher fight; he’s more experienced. It’s two different styles of fights — you went from Sass who would do anything in a fight to end up on his back to a guy who will do anything to put me on my back and keep me there. Sass is a tough guy, but I think Lentz is more experienced, and he’s a grinder, and you’ve always got to be careful with guys like that.“With Lentz, there isn’t really any mystery behind him; you know what he’s going to do. He’s going to come in, he’ll probably stand with me for a little bit, but as soon as he gets caught with any kind of punch, he’s going to be coming in hard for that takedown.”Regardless of who he’s facing and the opinions of the experts, Dunham intends to make a statement about where he stands in the division with this fight, and he knows just how he’ll do it, right down to how he’ll get his hand raised.“I plan on going out there and putting a great performance on, making people realize that I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, and I deserve to be considered at that level. I think this a great opportunity (to do that).“I think we’ll come out in the first round, exchange some punches, and he’ll eventually shoot. I’ll stuff his shot, put him on his back, beat him up a bit, and then I’m going to come out in the second round and knock him out.”

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On Saturday night the UFC returns to the FOX network proper, and with it comes a six-man fight card that features one jiu-jitsu master, one Brit, and four wrestlers-turned-mixed martial artists.  Yes, that’s four dudes – a full two-thirds of the main card – who know all too well what it feels like to starve themselves into a singlet and compete in a sporting endeavor whose scoring system is only slightly less complex than that of cricket or Calvinball.  I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s worthy of some sort of acknowledgment that wrestling is a huge ingredient in the simmering soup that is an MMA fighter.  And what better way to acknowledge that than to harken back to some of the greatest wrestling moments in MMA history?  (That’s a rhetorical question; I really don’t care what your answer is.  I’m writing this damn thing either way.)  -UFC 4, December 16, 1994 – The year was 1994, and the types of fighters we’d thus far seen in the Octagon wielded backgrounds in either useless, esoteric arts or stuff that (surprisingly) actually worked.  Seriously, ninjitsu.  Five Animals Kung Fu.  Joe Son Do.  Need I say more?  Looking back, we were even laughing about it then.  Of course, a real shock in terms of a style that fell into the “what works” category came at UFC 4, when Dan Severn stepped into the cage, snatched up a much smaller Anthony Macias, and repeatedly suplexed the poor guy into the canvas.  It was Division I collegiate wrestling in action, and like an athletic supporter full of Bengay, it was an eye-opener. -UFC 10, July 12, 1996 – The role of wrestling took a turn for the intense when Mark Coleman entered the Octagon at UFC 10.  Yup, intense.  Very intense.  So intense, in fact, that opponents feared his unstoppable takedowns and headbutt-heavy ground and pound as much as they feared his post-fight victory celebrations and the veins that threatened to explode on his forehead.  Coleman is singularly responsible for ushering in the era when wrestlers dominated, as well as the era when no one cared about dangerously high blood pressure and brain aneurisms. -UFC 15, October 17, 1997 – It didn’t have to all be about getting people down and mushing them, as Randy Couture showed us at UFC 15 when he took on the Brazilian fistic freight train known as Vitor Belfort.  No, an extensive background in Greco-Roman (a form of wrestling that most resembles ballroom dancing) meant a fighter could latch onto a foe and repeatedly deliver short punches to the face.  It was immediately labeled “dirty boxing” by pundits who recognized its effectiveness, although Belfort called it “Oww, stop, it hurts!  Stanky, help!” -UFC 31, May 4, 2001 – Chuck Liddell had already fought in the UFC four times before he met up with Kevin Randleman at UFC 31, but it was only at that particular event that the world saw wrestling employed in a way heretofore unseen with such complete effectiveness.  A little context first, though.  Back then, Randleman was the latest version of “unstoppable wrestler with unmatched intensity”, and though he’d secured himself a UFC heavyweight championship belt and subsequently lost it to Couture, he was still a beast, and his bout with “The Iceman” was to mark the beginning of his run at the organization’s light-heavyweight title.  But Liddell, who was a Division I wrestler before becoming a dangerous kickboxer, needed only a minute and eighteen seconds to sprawl out of trouble and stun Randleman into the Land of the TKO’d, and that was all she wrote.  You see, wrestling skills didn’t have to be about getting someone down; they could also be about preventing yourself from getting taken down so you could punch someone’s lights out. -Dynamite!! USA, June 2, 2007 – Not since Bam-Bam Bigelow had fought Kimo Leopoldo in Japan and Kimo was fooled into thinking his victory was real (and not predetermined) had a pro wrestler pulled off such a convincing con, but then came Brock Lesnar, who parlayed a win over South Korean grappling dummy/punching bag extraordinaire Min-Soo Kim at a Dynamite!! USA show in Los Angeles into a trip to the UFC.  It probably helped that Lesnar hailed from a legitimate amateur wrestling background, but still, you can’t tell me that Dana White and Joe Silva didn’t take one look at his World Wrestling Entertainment credentials and said “Sold!” in unison. -UFC 117, August 7, 2010 – Chael Sonnen was a pretty okay fighter leading up to his UFC 117 title shot against middleweight king Anderson Silva.  But that “okay-ness” transcended into something so much more when he talked endless trash and backed it up by beating the ever-loving snot out of the Brazilian.  For four and a half rounds Sonnen employed top-notch wrestling to outwork Silva and batter him relentlessly on the ground (and even get in a few good licks on the feet) before tapping to a submission.  It goes without saying that if you replaced the American’s wrestling background with, say, badminton, he’d have never been able to pull off what he did.  A great wrestling moment in MMA history?  Definitely.

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA.  Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. Usually fans that go to the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville see a hockey team filled with hard working and consistent players but very little star power. Things weren’t that much difference when the UFC came to town this past Friday as the card was filled with a lot of hard working and consistent fighters, but very little star power. Like the Nashville Predators though, the fighters delivered a top notch performance and sent the fans home happy. The only thing different was a distinct lack of Carrie Underwood. Lets go to the scorecard: *Being live at the event is different. I admit I was too busy staring at Brittney Palmer during the fighter walk-outs for the first fight. EVEN *”The Ninja of Love” Nick Denis might have the greatest nickname ever. PLUS ONE *Denis showed Joseph Sandoval his ninja skills with some brutal elbows in the clinch. PLUS FOUR *Pat Schilling walking out to “Shipping Up To Boston” scores points. Although the last time I was in the arena and someone used this as their walk out song, Anderson Silva went all matrix on him (Forrest Griffin). PLUS ONE *And Daniel Pineda proves that coming out to “Shipping Up To Boston” while I’m in the building only gets you beat. Great performance by him. PLUS THREE *Never heard of “Memories” by David Guetta until Fabricio Camoes used it as his walk out song, but I like it. PLUS ONE *Nice battle between Camoes and Tom Hayden with a cool finishing sequence as well. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to Camoes for not giving up on that choke. PLUS TWO *I don’t know the song that Daniel Roberts entered to, but he wasn’t doing the tomahawk chop, so I’m taking off points. MINUS TWO “If “Whoop A Mans Ass” isn’t an appropriate song for a fight, I don’t know what is. Good job Charlie Brenneman. PLUS TWO *That said, he ruined his walk out by having ear buds in. MINUS ONE *I have to give the crowd credit for yelling “HASHTAG…..BOOM!” when Brittney walked back to her seat. I, along with a few other media people, appreciated it. PLUS THREE *Aaaaaaand Brenneman brings an action packed card to a halt. He did what he needed to do but it slowed down an event that was moving along nicely. MINUS THREE *Also, I blame Joe Silva a bit for making the fight. Roberts was coming off 2 straight losses where he was more or less out-grappled, what did he expect would happen when he matched him against a wrestler like Brenneman? MINUS TWO *At least Charlie recognized that he needs to start finishing fights if he wants to move up the ladder. PLUS ONE *Kamal Shalorus came out to Johnny Cash covering “I Won’t Back Down.” I’m torn on this. I love Johnny Cash, but Tom Petty’s version is pretty untouchable. We’ll call it a wash. EVEN *Great first round between Shalorus and Khabib Nurmagomdev. It looked like Shalorus was out of it but somehow kept moving and ended up surviving. PLUS THREE *Strong first impression made by Nurmagomdev. Shalorus is a tough opponent and he managed to dominate the fight in his UFC debut and put him away. PLUS FOUR *Remember when Shalorus claimed that no one could take him down? Those were the days. MINUS TWO *I don’t really like dubstep, but I thought Jorge Rivera’s walk out song was pretty banging. PLUS TWO *Congratulations to Rivera, who went out a winner. He’s been through a lot in his life and this is a well-deserved moment for him. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to the crowd for giving him a nice “JORGE!” chant after the victory. PLUS THREE *I know the people at home don’t get to see it, but the “Baba O’Reilly” montage before the main card is the most awesome thing ever. PLUS THREE *Christian Morecraft’s walk out music made my ears bleed. MINUS TWO *Uh oh, Pat Barry is learning a little bit of submission defense. Nice job by him escaping those bad positions. PLUS TWO *Brutal KO win for Barry. He’s gonna be a star as long as he keeps winning. PLUS THREE *Planking? Come on Pat. That was so 2011. MINUS TWO *Come on Jared Papazian, “Run This Town” can only be used by Jose Aldo. He’s earned that right. MINUS TWO *Gotta love Mike Easton and his purple Hulk shorts. PLUS ONE *A fun scrap between Easton and Papazian. Some really good exchanges and both men got their licks in. Glad they finally put a bantamweight fight on the main card. PLUS FOUR *While I had Papazian winning 29-28, I wasn’t too upset with the judges scores. Close fight, but I’m still gonna take away points just because the judges didn’t agree with me. MINUS TWO *Easton dancing his way past press row was a funny sight. PLUS ONE *You walk out to 2Pac, you get points from me Josh Neer. PLUS TWO *”Click Click Boom” is one of the worst songs ever. Shame on you Duane Ludwig. MINUS TWO *Sick nasty guillotine by Neer. Dude is tough as nails. PLUS FOUR *Props to Jim Miller for coming out to “Bad Moon Rising.” A choice walk out song. PLUS TWO *Another great fight with a quick finish. Melvin Guillard looked like he had Miller in trouble, but you can never count out Miller in a fight. He showed outstanding composure to survive and them comeback to win. PLUS SIX *Overall UFC on FX 1 was an excellent event. Obviously being there live didn’t hurt, but there was action in almost every fight and plenty of first round finishes. PLUS EIGHT Official Score: 54 For a more in-depth look at UFC on FX 1 and a preview of this weekends UFC on FOX 1 event, make sure to check out tomorrow’s Five Ounces of Podcast with Samer Kadi and myself.

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A string of injuries and a bit of bad luck has nearly rendered Rashad Evans an afterthought in the collective minds of mixed martial arts fans as he prepares to headline UFC on FOX 2 this Saturday night. Evans saw three opportunities to challenge for the UFC light heavyweight championship slip through his fingers due to injuries. Two of those opportunities were to come against reigning champion Jon Jones, a former teammate turned bitter rival. Now fully healthy, Rashad Evans must pass one more test before finally securing his eagerly awaited bout with champion Jon Jones. That test comes in the form of undefeated, red hot prospect Phil Davis on January 28. Davis is far from a tune-up bout for “Suga.” He may, indeed, be the most dangerous opponent that Evans has faced since losing the championship back in 2009. Davis might not have the same MMA credentials of Thiago Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Tito Ortiz. But he certainly does possess the one skill that many think is Evans’ kryptonite—elite wrestling.Davis is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best wrestler that Evans has faced in his career to date. The four-time Division I All-American won an individual national championship in 2008 and finished in the top 10 nationally in each of his four years at Penn State. His collegiate record was 116-17. Evans also wrestled in the Big Ten sports conference, along with Davis, though he experienced far less success. In three years at Michigan State University, Evans racked up 48 wins in 82 attempts. MMA isn’t wrestling. An amateur wrestling pedigree doesn’t always translate into elite takedown efficiency. Georges St-Pierre, who possesses some of the best takedowns and takedown defense in the sport, proved that point. Nonetheless, the spread between Evans and Davis, in terms of pure wrestling ability, is enormous. If Davis is able to devolve the action into a wrestling match, which is precisely how Evans fought Jackson and Silva, then he is in a whole heap of trouble. Why do I write those words? Phil Davis has never been taken down in a UFC bout. Pause for a moment. Now, go back and read the preceding paragraph again. Ok, that was overly dramatic. I know. I’ll quickly concede that Davis has never faced a highly decorated wrestler in the UFC. I’ll also concede that Evans has far superior takedowns to any of his previous opponents, and he is very adept at setting up those takedowns with strikes. I don’t care. I don’t see any way for Evans to dominate, or even stalemate, the takedowns in this fight. He will not be able to take the action to the ground whenever he wants, unlike in just about all of his previous fights. That may seem like a major problem for Evans. I actually believe the opposite is true.Evans was at his very best when he had complete confidence in his standup skills and chin. The results back up the statement. Dramatic knockout wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin remain the best performances of his career. They also elevated him to the top of the sport, albeit for only a brief reign.Sure, he got blasted out by Lyoto Machida after defeating Griffin, and he certainly fought Machida with all the standup bravado that he showed against Liddell and Griffin, but that can happen to anyone on any given Saturday in the UFC.Since that loss, Evans has been a tentative, and dare I say somewhat boring, fighter. The Machida loss looked to erase any confidence he previously had in his ability to survive a power strike from a standup killer. His game plans, therefore, focused solely on quickly getting the fight to the ground and keeping it there at all costs. Submissions and stoppages from ground strikes weren’t really part of the blueprint. Those actions require the attacker to take chances. Taking chances means risking an opponent escaping to his feet. Avoiding any scenario where that could happen was of paramount concern for Evans, once he scored a takedown. I’m not surprising anyone by suggesting that his wins over Jackson and Silva were sleepers, rather than slobberknockers. Evans’ win over Ortiz in his most recent bout was anything but a sleeper. Why? He didn’t respect Ortiz’s standup or his power. He knew for sure that he could take whatever Tito could dish out on the feet. The result speaks for itself—his first win inside the distance in two-and-a-half years.  I firmly believe that Evans can take the same approach with Davis. “Mr. Wonderful” is far more athletic than Ortiz, but he poses no greater threat on the feet, in terms of strikes. The former collegiate wrestling star remains a work in progress in MMA. He defeats opponents with his wrestling base and pure athleticism. But his gaps in skills make it tough for him to finish top-level opponents. I know the submission against Tim Boetsch was a thing of beauty, but Boetsch isn’t on Evans’ level.Evans should come out and see if Davis has the guts to initiate the action. Davis enjoys solid height and reach advantages, but he has nothing on Evans in terms of speed and striking technique. If Evans can bait him into throwing a jab, which Davis does with a noticeable hitch, the former champion will able to slip to his right and step in with a ferocious overhand right, his money punch.If Davis refuses to lead, Evans should circle until he has opening to attack from an angle. Davis won’t be able to effectively change levels and power through for a double-leg when Evans is attacking off of one of his shoulders, rather than square to his core. Davis is not an expert striker, nor is he overly comfortable on the feet, so he will retreat in the face of pressure.  Liddell is one of the few mixed martial artists over the last several years who had the power and skill to land knockout strikes while retreating. Davis does not have that ability, which means Evans should really turn up the heat with his hands once his foe begins to move backward.The pressure will cause Davis to do one of two things—cover up or desperately lunge for a takedown. Neither of those will cause Evans much agita. If Evans continues with a spirited attack, then a stoppage should soon follow.I would not look to take Davis down, even if he opens the door by covering up. Evans has no idea if he will be able to control Mr. Wonderful on the ground. Why take the chance of a sweep and end up in the one position where Davis will have a major advantage—Evans on his back.It probably goes without saying that Davis must get the fight to the ground in order to win. I believe that with all my being. His awkward strikes were somewhat effective in a few of his fights, but they won’t be against Evans, assuming the former champion rediscovered his standup swagger in the Ortiz fight.Is this too much too soon for Davis? Will his otherworldly wrestling skills be enough to carry the day, or has he developed enough well-rounded skills to beat Evans in multiple positions?Or, will Evans lock up what he so desperately covets—another shot at the title, which also has the fringe benefit of putting him in the cage with his bitter rival?If forced to choose, my money would be on Rashad Evans. This guy really is the complete package. The only question mark hanging over his head are his chin and confidence. Neither should be a problem on the 28th. I think Phil Davis has tremendous potential. If he can get up the striking curve, the sky just might be the limit for this truly special athlete. I just don’t think that wrestling alone will be enough to get it done this time. Prove me wrong, big fella.Quick Facts:Rashad Evans•    32 years old•    5’11, 205 lbs•    74.5-inch reach•    21-1-1 overall •    4-1 in last 5 fights•    8-1-1 in last 10 fights•    4-1-1 against 5 current or former UFC champions•    Former UFC light heavyweight champion•    147-day reign as champion; no successful title defenses•    Former heavyweight winner on The Ultimate Fighter 2•    Fight of the Night – TKO2 over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133•    Fight of the Night –TKO3 over Forrest Griffin to win UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 92•    Knockout of the Night – KO2 over Chuck Liddell at UFC 88•    Knockout of the Night – KO2 over Sean Salmon at UFC Fight Night: Evans vs Salmon•    Current layoff is 175 days•    Longest layoff of career is 434 daysPhil Davis•    27 yrs old•    6’2, 205 lbs•    79-inch reach•    9-0 overall •    Has never faced a current or former UFC or PRIDE champion•    Submission of the Night – SUB2 over Tim Boetsch at UFC 123<br>•    Current layoff of 308 days is the longest of his career

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This past Friday night fans saw a new Melvin Guillard take to the Octagon against Jim Miller. While the end result of their headlining bout at UFC on FX 1 may have been all too familiar a sight, prior to the submission loss Guillard maintained his composure in the cage rather than constantly charge at his opponent. And, according to “The Young Assassin”, he also felt much more comfortable with defending submissions on the ground even though he was unable to stop Miller’s widely respected grappling attack in the end. Guillard spoke about his loss at the post-event press conference where he discussed the fight’s finish and gave full credit to Miller for living up to his reputation on the mat. “I’ve been working on my back escapes, and it’s crazy, but I knew exactly what to do to get him off my back but when he grabbed me, he had it tight and at that point I couldn’t do anything,” said Guillard of Miller’s Rear-Naked Choke. “A lot of people criticize my ground game I’m not gonna sit here and think that I have the best ground game because obviously I don’t. I’ve lost fights on submissions,” the 28-year old continued before saying the defeat didn’t rub him the wrong way like his previous stumble did. “But to lose to a guy like Jim, I wasn’t emotional about this loss like I was about the (Joe) Lauzon fight because I really feel in my heart the Lauzon fight was a fluke. I had Jim hurt and I wanted to be patient and I backed off when I could’ve probably swarmed him. It could’ve been a different result. But I don’t regret anything I did tonight. I think I went in and executed my game. I fought one of the best guys in this division and I think I sent a message to a lot of guys.” Footage of Guillard breaking down emotionally backstage after his submission loss to Lauzon was featured in a Dana White vlog chronicling UFC 136 where the match-up took place. Lauzon dropped Guillard, the vastly superior striker, in the opening moments of their bout and sunk in a RNC for the victory. Check out what Guillard, Miller, and the rest of the UFC on FX lineup had to say at the post-event presser below:

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IS HE NEXT?Jim Miller is in the midst of tremendous UFC career. After 12 fights in the promotion, his record stands at an amazing 10-2. There aren’t many guys in any weight class that hold 10 wins through their first 12 trips to the Octagon. With Frankie Edgar set to defend his title against Benson Henderson at UFC 144 on February 25, there is a big-time scrum going on to determine who is next in line. The ultra-deep lightweight division has no shortage of deserving challengers, with Nate Diaz, Clay Guida, Edson Barboza, Anthony Pettis, and Donald Cerrone just a few names that quickly come to mind. None of those guys have enjoyed the same recent success as Miller. Former champion Sean Sherk is another who could make a solid case, based on his career accomplishments. In fact, he might be the only one who can put together a case that trumps Miller, if one ignores the fact that Sherk has been on the sidelines for the past 16 months due to a run of injuries. Assuming Edgar wins, Jose Aldo is the guy I’d like to see challenge for the belt. Edgar is a great matchup for him on paper, and the chance for a guy to make history (i.e., holding two belts at the same time) is always something that brings tremendous intrigue. If Aldo isn’t interested in moving up, then Miller is the logical next choice, in my opinion. If Henderson wins, an immediate rematch is likely, but Edgar will likely drop back into the 155-pound pack if he suffers a one-sided loss. In that instance, Miller is at the top of my list for three reasons. First, Miller has earned the right based on his body of work in the UFC. Second, I don’t think Aldo matches up as well with Henderson, due to the size difference, so I don’t think the reigning featherweight champ would move up. Third, Henderson-Miller reminds me a lot of Henderson-Guida from a matchup perspective, which should make for a tremendous fight.Should Miller be next in line? Tell me what you think in the comment section below.MELVIN, MELVIN, MELVIN…Friday’s bout between Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller went almost exactly as predicted. Guillard showed his vast superiority on the feet. But he was exposed, yet again, once the fight hit the ground.The affable lightweight now has six career UFC losses. All six came via submission. All six were some form of choke. If that isn’t a telling statistic, then I don’t know what is.Guillard is constantly referred to as one of the best, if not the best, athletes in the UFC. I fully agree with that notion, which makes it all the more frustrating to watch him lose by choke again and again. Imagine how good this guy would be, if he could address that gaping hole in his game. Guillard’s hands are as good as anyone in the division. His flying knees are at the top of the lightweight food chain. His physical strength probably rivals that of most welterweights. And he is a very good wrestler. Yet, Guillard will never fulfill his amazing potential until he addresses his lack of submission defense. If I was in his corner, I’d have him take a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sabbatical—nothing but submission defense for the next several months. Most 60-fight veterans don’t have much room left for growth. They are so set in their ways that dramatic improvement isn’t really an option. Guillard is the exception to that norm. He is just now coming into his fighting prime. The growth he showed during his stint as a student at Greg Jackson’s gym was amazing. That suggests to me that he is still a sponge waiting to soak up more knowledge. For Guillard’s sake, I hope that knowledge is filled with submission defense.NO ROOT CANALS FOR NEERJosh “The Dentist” Neer earned his nickname because he reportedly left more than a few teeth on the canvas – none of them his own – during his amateur career. His professional career has been equally exciting. I don’t know if he has extracted any teeth from his opponents, but Neer has certainly engaged in slugfest after slugfest with some of the baddest dudes on the planet. That is why many people thought that his bout with Duane Ludwig, arguably the best technical striker in the welterweight division, would be a Fight of the Year candidate, though many thought Ludwig would be the one playing the role of dentist.The bout was certainly fun while it lasted, but the explosive rock’em, sock’em robots war that everyone hoped for didn’t materialize because Neer opted to fight with his head, not his ego. Ludwig is the better striker; that much was obvious early on. He was basically landing crisp, hard shots at will. But this is mixed martial arts, not kickboxing or boxing, so Neer took Ludwig to the place where he often struggles – on the ground.It only took Neer a matter of seconds to submit Ludwig once the action hit the floor. The result should serve as a reminder that this guy is far more than just a slugger. Neer is a very skilled mixed martial artist. He now owns six consecutive wins, the last two coming in the UFC. Neer has always excelled against the middle tier. The question is whether he can compete with the true cream of the welterweight crop. A win over Ludwig is a good step in that direction.POSSIBLY THE BEST BARRY, BUT IS IT THE BEST WEIGHT CLASS?363 days since last winning in the Octagon, Pat Barry finally righted the ship with a savage first round knockout win over Christian Morecraft. The fight was typical Barry, with good back-and-forth action before a sudden end. This time, however, “HD” showed a vastly improved ground game. The much bigger, heavier Morecraft twice got him to the ground. Barry, who is routinely criticized for having a limited ground game, worked back to his feet both times. The second trip to the canvas saw Morecraft mount his foe and then sink what appeared to be a very deep arm bar. Barry didn’t panic. He instead showed high-level submission defense by working his way out of the arm bar and back to his feet. Moments later, Barry showed his elite striking by slipping a wild right hand and countering with a perfectly placed leaping left hook. The follow-up punches were just icing on the cake. That was probably the most well rounded performance of Barry’s UFC career, one that proves he is working hard to shore up the shortcomings in his game. I firmly believe that he will continue to get better as a fighter. But the one thing he cannot overcome is his height. Mark Hunt is listed as the shortest heavyweight in the UFC at 5’10 to Barry’s 5’11. But I highly doubt that Barry is actually taller than Hunt. I actually think the opposite might be true. Whatever the case, he is extremely vertically challenged for a UFC heavyweight. I often wonder how Barry would perform if he found a way to cut to light heavy. I know he is sick of hearing that. But I cannot help but wonder.  And I can’t help but wonder why he hasn’t hired a diet guru to find out for himself. Maybe he just loves being David each and every time he fights, because the average heavyweight certainly looks like Goliath every time Barry steps into the Octagon.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, miller, barry, neer

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A few observations from UFC on FX: “Guillard vs. Miller”: -Russian fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov wrecked Kamal Shalorus something fierce.  Which is a pity, because his name is exceedingly hard to spell, and now we’re going to see that badass fight lots more and guys like me have to write about it.  Why can’t guys with names like “Joe Smith” fight? -Thank you, Jorge Rivera, for a long and fruitful career in the cage.  You may not have won any UFC titles, but you kicked ass more often than not and always entertained. -Not since Andre Roberts KO’d Harry Moskowitz at UFC 17 have we seen standing elbows used like that.  Welcome to the Octagon, Nick Denis.  You shall make a fine addition to the bantamweight roster. -Ah what the heck, if Pat Barry can deliver those colorful knockouts every now and then, I say keep him.  Christian Morecraft, on the other, has got to go. -Mike Easton: scrapping hard like it ain’t no thang.  -In case you were wondering, that guillotine Josh Neer employed is dubbed a “C-otine”, which was the work product of Miletich-trained Mike Ciesnolevicz from years ago.  If you thought TUF washout Cody McKenzie invented it, please punch yourself in the groin now. -I don’t fault Melvin Guillard for getting swiftly handled once he went to the ground.  No, all credit goes to Jim Miller and his ace jiu-jitsu skills on that.  WAR MILLER!

Posted in: ufc, ’t, miller, guillard, ain ’t

Read the full article at MMA Convert

Have you ever been walking through the city streets and a man offers you something that makes you, “run faster, jump higher, and lift heavier”? Some people would accept this “mysterious substance” and reap the rewards. Me? I throw it on the ground. Have you ever been told that something is good for you, but you have no clue what’s actually in it or even bother to check? You just go ahead and accept that this “mysterious substance” is good for you because a friend told you it was and then take it. Me? I say, “If it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for the ground.” Now lets just say that this “mysterious substance” isn’t legal and could cost you a lot of money and scrutiny if it comes out that you’re on this substance. Lets just say that by taking this substance, you’re risking your health and the health of the people you’re competing against. Do you regret jumping a little higher or listening to your friend? Don’t you wish you just injected it into the ground? Steroids in MMA are being used by more fighters than just the three or four who get busted every year. Those fighters are just better cheaters than the guys who do end up getting popped. They know when the teacher isn’t looking so they glance at their neighbors paper, they’ve come up with hand signals to relay answers to the person sitting behind them, or they’ve made a “water bottle cheat sheet” that is drastically underused in today’s society. The fighters who do fail post-fight drug tests are just like the kids in school who get caught cheating. “I didn’t know I was cheating, it was an accident,” “everyone else is cheating, how come you only caught me?” “I didn’t know they were test answers, my buddy just wanted me to hold it for him.” Obviously Zuffa could take steps to prevent the use of illegal substances, which I’ll get to later, but how about these fighters take some responsibility as well. I have a hard time believing that they don’t know what they’re putting into their body, and if they question a certain supplement, they should check with the commission, who should already be providing them with a list of every banned substance. Fighters aren’t dumb. They know what goes into their bodies, they know others are cheating so they’re going to cheat as well, they know whether or not they’re using illegal substances. Instead of just admitting it though, and accepting that they screwed up, they try to play the victim. The only problem is, no one feels sorry for a guilty victim. Just ask Casey Anthony. Earlier this week Zuffa started a new policy that will see them test any potential UFC or Strikeforce signee before the ink is dry on the contract. This sounds like a good idea and a step in the right direction, but what does it really accomplish? Guys get tested before they sign a contract and then what? There is nothing stopping them from getting on illegal substances after they’re signed. And how about the guys who are already under contract? I guess they can just keep doing what they’re doing. An obvious next step would be for Zuffa to do their own random drug testing. Nevada tried to implement random testing a few years ago, but all they did was test the main event fighters a couple of weeks before the event once or twice, and we haven’t heard about their random testing since. The problem with this is the fact that it would cost a lot of money for Zuffa to send agents to random gyms, collect a urine sample, and then have it shipped off for testing. Would it be worth it? You would hope so if Zuffa actually does testing at random. And by random testing, I mean testing Georges St. Pierre within the first month of being cleared for training, and not testing him a month before the fight takes place. I want to take it a step further though. Before a fight is official, both competitors sign a bout agreement. So how about when UFC sends over the bout agreement, they send over a plastic cup with it? Fighters will need to pass a drug test before the contest can become official. It’d be like taking the SATs. You sign your name to prove you’re not completely stupid, and then you take the test to prove you’re smart enough to get into a college. Or you’re cut out to be a future teacher, which is what I always thought the SATs were designed to do. Will that cost just as much money as random testing? Most likely, but Zuffa needs to take a step if they want to clean up the sport, because as good as commission testing is, it’s also flawed. Harsher punishment would be a cheaper route to go. When a fighter fails a steroid test, they’re usually fined and suspended for one year, although the suspension can be reduced. A one-year suspension is a pretty big deal, but the UFC usually keeps the fighter around and continues to give them high profile fights when they return. I’d like to see Zuffa implement a two strikes rule, but with extra punishment built in. If you fail a test the first time around; you get suspended for a year (no reduction unless it’s 100% proven that the initial test was false), lose your purse money from the fight that you failed the test for, and upon return, be put on the preliminary portion of the card. If you fail a test the second time, you’re done and won’t be brought back under any circumstances. If fighters know that the punishment isn’t worth the risk, maybe they’ll be less likely to play with needles. Steroids in MMA isn’t a new issue. It’s an old issue that’s going to keep coming up every time a fighter fails a test. The issue will likely never be put to bed, but we can at least get it drunk enough to where it passes out on the bathroom floor.

Posted in: fighter, ’t, test, ’re, testing

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

First it was Tim Kennedy slicing his toe off earlier this morning followed by an array of bone fragments surgically extracted from Mark Munoz's elbow. Now we have picture of the nastiest cut you will see this year, compliments of an enormous amount of cojones from MMA pioneer Guy Mezger. Mike Russell from CagePotato did an excellent job transcribing today's Guy Mezger interview with Bob Carson on 'Carson's Corner,' and Bas Rutten just capped the epic story with an equally tremendous picture of Mezger's sliced hand. Apparently a guy was shoving a lady, Mezger attempted to the diffuse the situation but was rushed by the dude -- who weighed about 155 lbs. Guy Mezger tossed him to the ground, the attacker got back to his feet and pulled a knife. Apparently Mezger didn't see, and was stabbed in the hand but thought he blocked a punch. Mezger ended up knocking the guy out a total of three times before the cops stepped in. Here's an excerpt from CagePotato regarding the altercation. I didn’t see the knife. That’s the reason I got caught the way I did. I didn’t see the knife until… I mean, he had slashed me on the hand and I didn’t feel it. It’s not because I’m a tough guy, I just really seriously, honestly didn’t feel it. This is the most amazing thing because he sliced through three of my tendons [of my hand] and it never hurt. When I went to the emergency room, I was just trying to get in there and get out because my son had a soccer game and I didn’t want to miss it and I also had my company’s — my company that I own’s Christmas party. I was the only one in the emergency room and then a guy came in with an aneurysm, so I knew that I wasn’t going to get seen, so I said the nurse, ‘Hey, could you Steri-Strip this for me and I’ll come back tomorrow and get stitches?’ So they were like, ‘Okay, let’s look at it.’ When they were looking at it I saw my tendons and I was like, ‘Oh goodness,’ and I shot a photo of it on my phone,” he explained. “I called a surgeon buddy because his partner is one of the best hand surgeons in Texas and I thought I could see my tendon hanging out, so I sent him the picture and I was like, ‘Hey, can you get me an appointment?’ So I hadn’t even seen the emergency room doctor yet and I had an appointment with the best hand surgeon in Texas, and he said to go ahead and plan for surgery on Tuesday. So I was actually taken care of really well. It happened Sunday, Monday I got to see [the surgeon], Tuesday I had the surgery and I’ve been on the mend since then and they say I can expect a one hundred percent recovery.” Alright guys, now for the picture. Keep in mind this will be the most graphic cut you see this year. If you are eating, wait until your food has digested before you look at it. Don't say I didn't warn you. Big thanks to Brian H. for the tip.

Posted in: guy, ’t, hand, surgeon, mezger

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Last October, UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard found himself in an envious position. The 28-year old slugger had won five straight fights and was poised to earn a title-shot with a win over Joe Lauzon at UFC 136, a match-up most labeled as being his to lose as long as he could keep Lauzon from taking him down. However, when things were said and done, it was Lauzon who landed a knee-knocking strike rather than power-puncher Guillard. Shortly thereafter the fight was over and Guillard was back at the drawing board. In less than a minute Guillard learned a valuable lesson and one he will carry with him into tomorrow night’s headlining fight at UFC on FX when he faces Jim Miller, also an apt grappler with decent striking similarly to Lauzon. “The Young Assassin” spoke some about his upcoming bout, saying he has no intention of repeating his performance from the Lauzon loss. “What happened last time was a mistake,” Guillard explained in a press release promoting the show. “I rushed in so hard and fast I was stunned with a jab and from there I lost the fight. It was kinda dumb, but I am young enough to learn as long as realize the mistake. I made the mistake, it didn’t just happen, I know that but I also know I’m still one of the best fighters in the division.” To help erase the memories of fans with the October loss firmly implanted in their minds Guillard made it clear he’ll still be looking for a finish against Miller – it just won’t come as the result of throwing caution to the wind and going all-out right off the bat. “I am looking at making a statement on FX against another top guy in the division. He’s one of the best fighters in the world at this weight and it is a great main event,” Guillard continued before adding, “I won’t be reckless, but you will see what I can do on FX Friday night. You will see the Young Assassin!” Guillard holds an overall record of 29-9-2 with nineteen TKOs including past wins over Shane Roller, Evan Dunham, and Dennis Siver. Other bouts at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller include Josh Neer vs. Duane Ludwig and Christian Morecraft vs. Pat Barry. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, guillard, lauzon

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Isn't it interesting that every time a fighter pops positive for steroids, they always deny it and say it must be a mistake? MMA must be the only sport on the planet that doesn't have people juicing. Following the trend, here's Muhammed 'King Mo' Lawal's camp disputing that he took Drostanolone leading up to his last fight. I'm at the point now where I don't even bother to post about a steroid bust until the inevitable denial. "Both of us are very surprised by these results," Kogan told USA TODAY. "Neither of us has ever heard of this drug. ... We honestly have no clue where this came from."Other than food and drink, the only substances that Lawal takes on a regular basis are iron supplements, Kogan said. When Lawal had fluid drained from his knee a few weeks before the bout, he did receive an injection of a non-anabolic steroid, Kogan said. More from Mauro Ranallo's show on The Score: “We had some knee problems going into the fight (against Larkin). He had a torn ACL and his knee swelled up three or four weeks before the fight and we had to have it systematically drained,” Kogan said. “He is in surgery right now having his ACL put in (Lawal does not have an ACL).”“We talked to that doctor if there might have been something he put in that may have caused this, but from his conclusion it doesn’t seem likely. He put in an an anti-inflammatory steroid at the time when he first drained the knee, but since then he hasn’t put anything in,” Kogan said. “But it wasn’t an anabolic steroid so it wasn’t the same. That’s basically where we are right now. We are still trying to figure out this thing out.”“Lawal was stunned. This guy has been competing since high school and has reached the highest levels of competition in wrestling, including being an Olympic alternate,” Kogan said. “For him it’s always been about a sense of competition. He is very much against cheating. It’s not in his DNA.” So what do you think? Seed of doubt planted? I'm a sucker for these kinds of things. At first I wanna go after the athlete with torches and pitchforks but somehow by the end I'm always left scratching my head wondering if maybe there WAS some wacky screwup. The kinds of steroids most professional athletes are using nowadays are designed to get you past Olympic level blood testing. Standard commission drug testing is a joke. It's to the point now where I don't think the people caught doping are being caught for the actual doping they're doing.

Posted in: ’t, wasn ’t, i dont, kogan, ” kogan

Read the full article at Fightlinker

(Matthew Polly is the author of Tapped Out and American Shaolin and various nuggets of awesome here on Fightlinker. We sent him out last week to interview Gina and check out her movie. Now here's his review of Haywire, coming out Friday January 20th.) “Well, there is one group that will be happy with that,” said Jim Genia, the author of the excellent Raw Combat, after the press screening of Haywire mercifully ended.“Who?” I asked. “It was worse than Colombiana.”“Strikeforce,” he said. “They’re getting their fighter back.”It pains me to write that Jim is probably right. I’ve covered Gina for years, I trained in the same gym for six months while she was preparing for Cyborg, and I interviewed her for Haywire. She has never been anything but unfailingly polite, going out of her way to talk with me when MMA fighters of much lower levels of fame couldn’t be bothered. I knew she wanted this movie to be her big break in Hollywood. I did too, because she deserves it. She’s fought for nine years in an industry where Dana White couldn’t be bothered with WMMA, Gary Shaw grossly underpaid her, and Scott Coker pushed her into a match with an opponent everyone knew was juicing. But I haven’t seen a one-and-done like Haywire since Cindy Crawford’s Fair Game.It didn’t have to be this way. Director Steven Soderbergh revived the movie careers of Terence Stamp (The Limey) and Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight) and cemented George Clooney as the Cary Grant of our times. But like Anderson Silva circa Demian Maia, Soderbergh seems bored with the entire process, filming experiments like Solaris, Bubble, and The Girlfriend Experience (another bit of stunt casting with porn star Sasha Grey) that satisfy no one but his most diehard fans.Soderbergh has even made noises about retiring from movies. On the basis of Haywire he’s half way to Florida, having already given up on basics like plot, character development, narrative logic, and realistic dialogue. All that he seems to still care about is style and cinematography. Haywire is a visually stunning movie. I felt like I was watching Picasso put lipstick on a pig. (More after the jump) read more

Posted in: ’t, haywire, movie, american shaolin, george clooney

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Middleweight Michael Bisping has never been one of the UFC’s most beloved fighters, at least outside of the United Kingdom, but “The Count” likely won some fans over this week by stepping up ten days notice to accept a bout against Chael Sonnen rather than allow the organization’s January 28 card on FOX to suffer by passing on the pairing. Sonnen is widely considered to be the division’s second-ranked competitor and excels in areas Bisping is still attempting to master. However, to hear Bisping explain it, he would have taken the fight regardless of the amount of time he had to prepare, labeling the match-up as “a huge fight, huge opportunity for me and my family” in a recent blog entry for FoxSports. A Look at What Brought Bisping to his Current Set of Circumstances The 32-year old Brit also went on to reveal his mindset in terms of accepting the bout, writing, “Dana hadn’t even finished saying Munoz was out before I was planning how to beat Sonnen in my head. I’ve accepted fights on short notice for the UFC throughout my career, but this one is a massive, massive chance for me, and I am very grateful to Dana (White), (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva and the UFC. I was already hugely grateful to be asked to fight on FOX, but to fight Chael on FOX … well, there are hundreds of fighters who would kill for this opportunity, and I would have had to be a fool to turn it down.” “Next week, I’m ready to go all guns blazing. A fight is a fight, and at this level anything can happen, but all things being equal, Chael Sonnen cannot knock me out. He can’t submit me, either,” Bisping added before frankly stating, “The worst that is going to happen is that he will outpoint me and, if I don’t beat him, I didn’t deserve a title shot against Anderson Silva anyway. Watch how things unfold in the co-headlining clash at UFC on FOX 2 when things fire up at 8:00 PM EST on 1/28. Not only will a top middleweight contender be crowned on the card but Rashad Evans-Phil Davis will meet in the main event with a likely crack at 205-pound champion Jon Jones on the line. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, bisping, sonnen

Read the full article at Fighters.com

Duane Ludwig won’t tell Josh Neer what to do, but he thinks Neer should probably try to get him to the ground when they meet Jan. 20 at UFC on FX “Guillard vs. Miller.”

Posted in: ’t, neer, josh neer, ludwig, duane ludwig

Read the full article at Sherdog

Some things take a little time to settle in. For Jim Miller, that thing was his August 2011 loss to Benson Henderson. It was the New Jersey standout’s first defeat in over two years, snapping a seven fight winning streak, but at first, he dealt with it with little difficulty.“It was like okay, I felt like I pretty much gave every ounce of energy that I had,” said Miller, who later discovered out that he had fought while less than a hundred percent thanks to a kidney infection that he didn’t know he had. “And then as it settled in a little bit more, then I got a little more frustrated with myself and I thought that I should have done things differently, I should have fought smarter, and it bugged me. It still bugs me. It’s not so much the losing; it’s the not performing to my best. It’s not adapting to the way the fight’s going and not doing the smartest things or the best things while I’m in there. That really bugged me. I’m pissed when I win sometimes because I still don’t have that good of a fight, but still come away with the win, and it’s still just unsatisfying.”Five months after the fight, you can hear it in his voice that if there’s one fight he wants back, it’s the one he lost to Henderson.“It will always eat at me,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m bitter and stubborn.”Of course, there’s no shame in losing to the former WEC champion, who challenges for the UFC lightweight title held by Frankie Edgar in February. But as far as Miller is concerned, when he started feeling less than his normal self on fight night, he should have adjusted his plan of attack. But he didn’t. And though he had his moments in the fast-paced three rounder, he just couldn’t put Henderson away.“I didn’t adapt,” he said. “I knew that he was gonna be tougher to put away, but I knew if I had the better technique, I’d be able to put him in danger. But something was wrong going in there, and I knew it in my warm-ups, and stepping into the Octagon I could just feel that I didn’t have the energy to fight the way that I normally fought. But I did. I kept attacking, and there were times with a couple of those subs where I’m confident any other night that I finish him. But it was just too late and I didn’t have enough energy. In hindsight, I probably should have fought a little bit more conservatively and worked more for dominant position and then used my technique to put him into trouble, instead of just attack, attack, attack the whole fight, and for the first time in my career actually feeling like I was gassed out.”At any other point in his career, Miller probably would have shown up at UFC matchmaker Joe Silva’s door and asked to be put back into action as soon as possible. But instead, Miller has been on the sidelines since then, first to heal, next to welcome a son into the family, and then to wait for a big fight that his success in the UFC has earned him. He gets that big fight Friday night in Nashville, when he headlines the UFC’s first FX event against Melvin Guillard. But that’s not to say he wasn’t a little antsy waiting for the opportunity to redeem himself in the Octagon.“It’s tough,” he said. “You want to go in and reconcile yourself and avenge a loss and stuff like that and get back to winning ways, but sometimes there are more important things to do. When my son was born, my daughter was only 15 months old, so it’s not like they’re that far apart and she’s a little more independent. It’ll be great when they’re older and they’re really close, but when they’re this small, it’s a lot of work.”Miller laughs, knowing that it’s work that will always beat taking a punch to the face, but he doesn’t seem to mind that part of his day job either. In fact, when you’re talking about the wild card in his bout with “The Young Assassin,” it may be that for all of Guillard’s power, there hasn’t been much mention of Miller’s cast-iron chin. And when asked if that chin has ever been dented in a fight, he can only come up with one example from his past.“When I fought Frankie (Edgar), he knocked me down,” said Miller of the 2006 bout the two had back in Atlantic City, won by the future lightweight champ via decision. “He hit me right on the button and sat me on my butt. I hopped right back up and shot in for a double leg, but that’s the only time I’ve ever been knocked off my feet. I’ve been lucky enough to get a hard head like my father. (Laughs) I don’t want to get hit by him (Guillard) though, that’s for sure.”But if he does, and he shakes it off like he’s shaken off everything else he’s been hit with over the last six years, it could be the catalyst to frustrate Guillard, put some doubt in his head, and leave the door open for Miller to go to work. Hey, it’s a tough way to make a point, but Miller’s willing to do what it takes to get the win.“I’m not afraid of getting knocked out, I’m not afraid of getting hit,” he said, “But I’d rather be known as good than being known as being tough. Anybody that says ‘aw, I like getting hit,’ or any of that stuff, I gotta say ‘come on, really?’ Nobody wants to get hit. But there are some guys that just don’t let it bother them. I try not to let it bother me. It’s part of the game. You’re going to get hit. I’ve only been in one or two fights that have gone past the first round where I haven’t gotten a black eye. It happens. You’re gonna make contact. But you just don’t worry about it. Getting punched in the face really doesn’t hurt that bad. There are things that hurt a lot worse than getting popped in the nose.”Like losing. And Miller doesn’t want to go down that road again. On the bright side, after each of his previous two defeats, he went on to put together winning streaks of eight and seven fights, respectively. Guillard won’t be a willing participant in Miller’s plan though, and the New Jersey native knows it.“I see a tough fight,” he said. “He (Guillard) has proven that he’s a very dangerous guy. He’s got tons of power on his feet, he’s very athletic, but he also has shown those little weaknesses, and it’s my job when we step in there to try and exploit those weaknesses and create the opportunities that I can and capitalize on them. But he’s an X-Factor; he can beat anybody in the division on any given night. It’s just whether he gets off first and controls that momentum, or somebody makes him a little bit flustered, and that’s what I try to do, and that’s my goal on the 20th – to put the pressure on him and make him make that mistake.”Then, if only for a minute or two, Miller can forget the Henderson fight and move on. After that, it’s back to collecting names on the way back to the title picture.“I want to continue what I had going before August of last year,” he said. “That wasn’t an accurate demonstration of my abilities, and I wasn’t the fighter that always stepped into the Octagon before that. So I’ll continue to get better and prove it.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, miller, thing, ’re

Read the full article at UFC

Back when Duane “Bang” Ludwig was collecting Muay Thai titles and then making a name for himself in mixed martial arts, most notably with a 73 second knockout of Jens Pulver in 2003, no one assumed that it would take years for him to finally get the attention he deserved.He did everything you wanted to see from a striker – he had impeccable technique, knockout power in his fists and feet, and he always showed up ready to fight. It should have been the formula for stardom, but for some reason, the world never caught on. So when Ludwig knocked out Jonathan Goulet in a 2006 UFC bout in Las Vegas and the timekeeper ruled the finish as 11 seconds and not the actual 6.06, few, including the fighter, paid much attention to it. UFC commentator Joe Rogan was one of those few who did.“I was never too adamant about it, to be honest,” recalled Ludwig. “A couple weeks after the fight, Joe Rogan actually MySpaced me and said ‘I feel you should have got the fastest knockout.’ But I didn’t really care too much about it. I didn’t really understand marketing or anything at the time. But then Todd Duffee got his (seven second) knockout (of Tim Hague) and he was a big star all of a sudden, and I was thinking ‘well, wait a minute, that actually belongs to me,’ and it kinda irked me because it’s like being told the American flag colors are red, white, and purple when you know it’s red, white, and blue. What are you talking about?” Then came one of those groundswells of support that may not be unique to the MMA community, but not too many do it better, and all of a sudden a movement began to give Ludwig his rightful spot at the top of the list for fastest knockout in UFC history. Ludwig, 33, was humbled by the reaction to his quest.“It’s a good story for the kids because they’ll be able to say my dad or my grandpa is special because of that, and it’s a good thing to be known for because it separated me from every other human being on the planet, past, present, and possibly future, and that’s some cool stuff.”The Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn’t budge from its original ruling though, apparently leaving Ludwig out of luck. Well, at least until UFC President Dana White stepped in on Christmas Eve and Tweeted that according to the UFC, Ludwig’s knockout is the fastest in company history. He even provided video evidence that Ludwig’s finish of Goulet at 6.06 was faster than Duffee’s (7.56) and Chan Sung Jung’s recent KO of Mark Hominick (6.26).“I’m not too boastful anyway, but it’s good to have it legitimate now,” said Ludwig. “There’s no discrepancy, which is cool. And the other thing that’s important to me is that I have more respect now, and with that I can help more people. I help quite a few people, and it’s definitely good to have a little bit more extra star power behind you to open doors a bit easier and so I can get more things done that I’d like to get done.”That’s the “Bang” Ludwig that dominated headlines throughout 2011. Yet the real story isn’t what happened outside the Octagon, but what has been going on inside it, where a shaky return to the UFC in 2010 that resulted in an 0-2 record and a serious leg injury has turned into a return to welterweight and back-to-back wins over Nick Osipczak and Amir Sadollah. All of a sudden, Ludwig is a player again in the sport’s biggest organization.“I should have moved to 170 before,” admitted Ludwig. “Making 155 has always been a struggle, and it is my fault because I chose the weight class. But now when I step on the mat to train, it’s to get better as an athlete and a mixed martial artist, and not just to burn calories. So the mental shift is a lot better for sure.”With the exception of his six second blastout of Goulet, Ludwig hasn’t looked better in the UFC than he did last August, when he put on a striking clinic against Sadollah, who, to his credit, stood in there and tried to match the veteran kickboxer blow for blow. It didn’t end up well for the former Ultimate Fighter winner though.“He attempted about seven takedowns, and they were unsuccessful with the exception of one,” said Ludwig of the bout. “So he definitely had it in his mind to take me down and was trying to use his striking as a setup, but the power of belief is definitely pretty strong, and he believed he could strike with me until I started cracking him. Then he realized that he needed to take me down, but it wasn’t happening. I can attribute that to moving up to 170. And now I’ve got a wrestling coach, Leister Bowling, and he’s definitely helped me a lot. This crew of guys here in Colorado is helping me, and we all help each other.”Friday night, Ludwig is likely to get another willing standup combatant in fellow vet Josh Neer, a fighter you never have to look too hard to find in the center of the cage.“He’s a super tough, durable veteran,” said Ludwig of Neer. “He’s been around a long time, he’s tough as nails, and he’s someone that always comes to fight and is always in good shape. It’s gonna be a tough night for sure and potentially Fight of the Night. I feel my wrestling is a bit better, I think he’s better off his back than I am, but overall at jiu-jitsu I think we’re about even, and I feel my striking is technically better than his, and I’m faster and I hit harder. So on paper, I give myself the edge, but you never know until the bell rings and we’ll see what happens. But I definitely felt good in training camp, things are coming together, it’s a good matchup, and hopefully things go well.”Two words you never thought you would hear in a description of a Ludwig vs. Neer matchup – wrestling and jiu-jitsu. And while those options are there for both, it’s probably safe to say that this one is going to remain on the feet. If it does, that provides some interesting dilemmas for Neer because while “The Dentist” has fight-ending power and a granite chin, Ludwig has the technique and precise striking that can give anyone a long (or short) night. So the question is, can someone ever catch up to Ludwig’s years of experience in striking or make up for it with power and aggression?“Of course, when we strike, we’re dealing with split seconds and fractions of an inch,” he said. “So anything’s possible, and that whole duck and chuck or lucky punch or you zig when you should have zagged thing, those things are true. When you’re striking with these little gloves, anything can happen. But technically, on paper, I feel I’m superior to most guys, but maybe I blink and the punch comes, I don’t see it, and something could happen. But the odds are definitely in my favor, and I’m always up to take that gamble and those chances. That’s fun to me and it keeps me awake and alive. The X Factor is, who’s gonna be more mentally ready when the bell rings, and hopefully that’s me.”Sounds like 2012 is going to be an interesting one for the Denver native, and after the year he had in 2011, you have to wonder what he can do to top it. But he’s not interested in such pursuits.“I’m happy no matter what goes on,” said Ludwig. “I don’t really want to top anything. I enjoy life.”

Posted in: ufc, ’t, knockout, thing, ludwig

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Make room at the table in New Jersey for Thanksgiving dinner. The long lost brother of Jim and Dan Miller is coming home.“We’ll be triplets,” laughed lightweight contender Melvin Guillard. “My mom just left me out in the sun a little bit longer.”It’s a hearty laugh for “The Young Assassin,” one produced after he explained, in all seriousness, why he feels his opponent in the FX main event Friday – fellow 155-pound standout Jim Miller – is almost a mirror image of himself.“I’ve had my eyes on Jim Miller for around a year and a half,” said Guillard. “I watched him go and wreck guys constantly, and the reason why I admire the guy and look up to him is because he reminds me a lot of myself. He goes in there to bang, he’s got killer instinct, and he takes guys out. And that’s the kind of fighters I like. It’s like fighting myself in the mirror basically. The only difference is, I won’t be punching myself, I’ll be punching him. (Laughs) I know he’s gonna bring it, but I don’t think he’s ever fought a guy like himself. I’m gonna give him a little bit of what he likes to do, and that’s pressure him.”Guillard, 28, is in a good place these days, despite the fact that he saw his five fight winning streak snapped by Joe Lauzon last October at UFC 136. It was a shocking result to many, but Guillard sees it as just one of those things where in this game, if you make one mistake, that could be the end of your night.“Just one thing went wrong,” said Guillard, who was submitted in 47 seconds by Lauzon. “I was very impatient. I tried to rush it. I knew I was in better shape, I knew I was the better fighter, but I just happened to rush myself, and that’s the result when you rush something so delicate. You get caught with a stiff jab and then the guy takes your back and chokes you. I didn’t lose anything from that fight, but I did gain something in that I need to be more patient. It taught me to slow down and take those three deep breaths sometimes and then get a reaction.” Before the loss, Guillard was riding high, having scored back-to-back 2011 knockouts of Evan Dunham and Shane Roller, and it was expected that a win over Lauzon would have propelled the New Orleans native onto the short list for a shot at Frankie Edgar’s lightweight title. Some even suggested that Guillard was overconfident for the bout against the New Englander, a notion the fighter dismisses.“I just really felt good,” he said. “I was in good spirits and I was excited. I respect Joe and I know he has good skills. I knew that going into the fight; that was why I asked to fight him. I didn’t want no tomato can. I wanted to fight back home in front of my home crowd in Houston and actually give people a good fight. It just fell a little short. But I never underestimate anybody, not even the newcomers. And I look at it from a life perspective. You don’t know where somebody comes from, you don’t know their background, and you don’t know what they’ve been through in life or why they’re fighting. Some people come in there because they have a purpose to survive. They want to fight to survive in life, not just in the cage, and that’s the way I fight. When I step in there, I’m trying to better my life, so every fight’s important, and I treat everybody the same way. I fight every guy with the same intensity because at the end of the day, you can be one fight away from being cut in this business, and I want to make sure I keep my job for a long time to come.”That shouldn’t be a problem for Guillard, given his talent and ability to always deliver compelling fights. And that’s not even mentioning his ever-growing level of maturity, something evident in the days after the Lauzon loss. I asked him how the Melvin Guillard of 2007 would have reacted to the defeat. He laughed.“I probably would have been immature and stupid and said a lot of dumb things that I shouldn’t have said and probably would have gotten myself in trouble. But I think I handled it very well and very professionally. Am I upset with the loss? Yeah. Nobody wants to lose, and I hate losing, but it happens.”And even when it does, sometimes your professionalism and body of work will earn you a high-profile comeback bout, and that’s just what he got against Miller, who is also looking to rebound from a recent defeat, his to Benson Henderson last August. Guillard is grateful for the opportunity and doesn’t want to squander it.“The UFC must really think high of me and must really know that I’m one of the top contenders, and I get to prove it on January 20th, fighting a guy like Jim Miller,” he said. “They wouldn’t have gave me a guy like Jim Miller and a main event on FX after a loss if they didn’t think that we were top contenders and quality guys.”Now the hard work begins to build up another winning streak and get back in the title race. For this next leg of the journey, Guillard has changed his training camp scenery, going from the Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque to Boca Raton, Florida, home of the ever-growing Blackzilians squad. “It’s been great, and I take nothing away from Jackson’s,” said Guillard of the switch. “I had great training partners there and they had guys coming in and out of town, but I think what I was lacking at Jackson’s was the structure. And here I have that as far as the training. I have to be on time and everybody has to be on the same page in the gym and doing the same thing. You don’t have people over here doing one thing and people over there doing another. Everybody’s in there to work and get better. So I think it was a smart move for my career right now.”There were no hard feelings in the split either.“At first I was gonna do half my camp here, half my camp there, but when I got here, I realized how structured and how great the training was, and I realized it was making me a little bit better because now I was focusing on my wrestling and my jiu-jitsu way more. I didn’t leave on bad terms and I hope Greg (Jackson) and them see it that way. Sometimes fighters have to move on to get better, and I felt like (Mike) Winkeljohn and Jackson did their job. I went on a five fight winning streak with those guys, and it was an amazing journey, and I always want to go back and still learn from them. I hope the door doesn’t close in my face and I hope I have a chance to go back and continue to train with those guys. A lot of them mean a lot to me, like Cowboy (Cerrone), Leonard (Garcia), Clay (Guida), little John (Dodson), little Diego (Brandao), Carlos Condit, and Jon (Jones) is a good friend of mine too. So I always want to go back. I still love those coaches the same way, and they’ll always be coaches to me.”The only thing left is Friday night, and it’s the start to what is expected to be another compelling year in the life of Melvin Guillard. And while the book is yet to be written by “The Young Assassin,” he can give you a sneak preview of what he believes 2012 holds for him.“One word – champion,” he said. “I will be the champion in 2012.”

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Last Monday night the WWE delivered a solid show that furthered a few storylines and planted seeds for a handful of others likely to unfold over the next few months as the company builds towards Wrestlemania. Things kicked off with Mick Foley making an appearance in hopes of being named to the field for this year’s Royal Rumble. However, Dolph Ziggler quickly spoiled the lovefest between Foley and fans by taking Foley to task, explaining he didn’t deserve the opportunity based on how hard the rest of the roster works throughout the year to get a slot in the Rumble. I thought Ziggler’s promo was actually better than Foley’s, blasphemy to some I suspect, and I enjoyed the element of reality involved as it made complete sense for a full-time guy to have a problem with a part-time legend filling one of the coveted slots. My assumption is that the feud between Ziggler-Foley will continue to build until they face off at Wrestlemania since neither is likely for a headlining position. Given Ziggler’s workrate and rising star I could even see WWE putting him over, likely by cheating. Either way it should make for an excellent affair with solid mic-work and one I didn’t see coming (but appreciate all the same). The Tag Title match between Epico/Primo and Air Boom was also solid albeit a bit short. My guess is that Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston are going to be broken up in the next few months, at least based on the fact Bourne not only ended up giving up the belts at a house show but also was the one who got pinned on RAW. I’m not sure who will be the heel in their eventual feud but each needs a boost in the personality department so I’m simply happy to see them both potentially getting one down the road. At first look I didn’t like the notion of Jack Swagger taking Zack Ryder’s United States Championship but given the pay-off with John Cena I quickly changed my opinion. Ryder can always win the belt back once he’s “healthy”, and the way the WWE used the storyline to have Cena flip out was a stroke of brilliance. The Divas’ tag-team match featuring Perez Hilton was a stinker. I have no interest in seeing Hilton in a WWE ring and his fear of being assaulted by women was ridiculous. The way he hid behind Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox might have been funny to some, just not me (or the people in attendance based on their lackluster reaction). R-Truth is growing on me to an extent and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t smile when he told the crowd, “Don’t ‘WHAT’ me…okay, ‘WHAT’ me.” I’m glad to see his personality start to shine more and more each week. The Disney montage had its moments too. All in all it was a nice “over the top rope” set up for the Royal Rumble where I suspect the issues between Miz, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, and R-Truth will continue to develop. As I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed Cena going apesh*t on Swagger and “embracing the hate” to Kane’s enjoyment. I sincerely hope they continue fleshing out Cena’s anger and turn him from being a somewhat generic “face” to a character with a bit more going on internally than always being so happy-go-lucky. Brodus Clay was a welcome sight as well (and his dancers even more so). However, I’m concerned about his ability to put together an actual bout instead of squashing guys like JTG. Either way, he’s entertaining and unique, both factors working in his favor without question as far as long-term success. Finally, while the six-man tag was fun, the true highlights were The Twistercution…er, Chris Jericho…leaving the ring and CM Punk’s verbal barrage on Laurinaitis. Clearly Y2J is goofing on the fans by getting them excited, then bailing, and I love that he STILL hasn’t said a single word yet! Beyond that, Punk running down everyone’s least favorite executive was one of the best promos he’s cut in a few weeks. He was passionate and executed his lines as brilliantly as could be done. The bit afterwards with Foley/Laurinaitis was okay and it least it brought some more personality out of “Interim GM”. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, cena, wwe, foley

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If you’re one of the many MMA fans wondering why Michael Bisping would risk his four-fight winning streak and spot on the contendership ladder by taking on an opponent with Chael Sonnen’s skill-set “The Count” has an answer for you – he had no other choice. No, his hand was not forced by his bosses at the UFC but rather by a sense of self-belief and appreciation for the opportunity he was given. Bisping addressed the situation in a blog for FoxSports on Tuesday evening where he acknowledged the significant challenge in front of him with less than two weeks’ notice to prepare but also explained it’s a test he’s more than willing to take given the stakes. “Dana (White) hadn’t even finished saying Munoz was out before I was planning how to beat Sonnen in my head,” wrote the 32-year old Brit. “I’ve accepted fights on short notice for the UFC throughout my career, but this one is a massive, massive chance for me, and I am very grateful to Dana, (matchmaker) Joe Silva, and the UFC. I was already hugely grateful to be asked to fight on FOX, but to fight Chael on FOX … well, there are hundreds of fighters who would kill for this opportunity, and I would have had to be a fool to turn it down.” The 22-3 Bisping made it clear he has no illusions about Sonnen’s talent in terms of takedowns and top control but has little concern for the 26-11-1 grappler’s abilities beyond those aspects of his game. “Next week, I’m ready to go all guns blazing. A fight is a fight, and at this level anything can happen, but all things being equal, Chael Sonnen cannot knock me out. He can’t submit me, either,” Bisping began before bottom-lining the situation by adding, “The worst that is going to happen is that he will outpoint me and, if I don’t beat him, I didn’t deserve a title-shot against Anderson Silva anyway.” Fans can catch Bisping-Sonnen scrap next weekend at UFC on FOX 2 at an event headlined by Rashad Evans meeting Phil Davis with a future date against 205-pound champion Jon Jones up for grabs. Bisping’s original opponent, Demian Maia, will now face unbeaten All-American wrestler Chris Weidman in his place. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, bisping, sonnen

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If it ever seems like Mike Easton is almost attacking life, armed with an enthusiasm unmatched by us mere mortals, he’s got a good reason for it. “I wasn’t supposed to make it,” said the UFC bantamweight, who was born at just two pounds, three ounces in D.C.’s George Washington Hospital nearly 28 years ago. He recalls his mother Gina telling him that some of the babies around him were blind, while others had HIV. Even a nurse that took care of him died in a fatal car accident. When all was said and done, Easton and another child were the only ones to emerge unscathed. So is it any surprise that Easton became a fighter?“My first opponent ever was death,” he said. “After that, a man is just a man. I could care less about who they put in front of me in the cage. He’s just a man. He’s never gone through what I’ve been through.”That’s usually bad news for Easton’s opponents. “The Hulk” has won 11 of 12 pro bouts, including his first UFC match last October against Byron Bloodworth in D.C.’s Verizon Center. It was the debut all fighters dream of, winning by knockout in front of your hometown fans, and Easton says that it certainly lived up to all expectations.“It was incredible,” he said. “It was a dream come true, literally. Just to fight in front of the home crowd at the Verizon Center, we packed that place out. My whole team was there, I saw a whole bunch of green and black shirts running around, and to show my support and my fan base was just incredible. A lot of people don’t know that we love MMA around here, we like to fight around here, and we love combat sports. I was just happy to see that my fan support was out there, my family was out there, and it was an awesome feeling.”It was the culmination of the first leg of a journey that began a decade earlier, when a 17-year old Easton walked into the Jiu-Jitsu academy of Lloyd Irvin and said that he wanted to fight in the UFC. It took 10 years, but Easton made it. And even more impressively, in the age where camp jumping is commonplace, he made it with Irvin by his side. And as far as Easton is concerned, that will always be the case.“Especially as an African-American, to see what he (Irvin) has done in the community is incredible,” said Easton. “He’s from this area, so he knows how all the young guys act because he was one of those young guys. And don’t get me wrong, everybody has their ups and downs with their coaches (Laughs), but he’s like a father figure. It’s like me talking to my dad; we have our ups and downs too. But I know he is the best coach in the world. He knows how to coach, he knows how to run a camp, and he always seems to find time for me. I got my black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Master Lloyd Irvin, and to me, I’m not going nowhere. If God forbid something happened to him, who’s gonna help keep the gym running? I’m one of his black belts; I would have to do that. That’s my obligation and my job because it’s a family.” He has a tattoo of four fours to represent his commitment to his coach and his team, saying “I pledged myself to Lloyd Irvin’s mixed martial arts academy and to this team, so I have four fours on me, which represents my commitment to this team, and I ain’t going nowhere.” It’s a refreshing notion these days, not only the idea but the practice of loyalty, and while Easton had his ups and downs growing up, as an adult, he knows that without jiu-jitsu and MMA, his current path might be quite different. “I’m from Washington, D.C., and this is a rough area, it’s a rough town,” he said. “Guys do not play around here and I’ve seen a whole lot of things. I’ve witnessed friends being killed with my own eyes, I’ve got friends in prison right now, and I have to do certain things so I can prove to these guys out here that you don’t have to do anything negative to make it out here.”Easton talks about getting wrestling and boxing put into local schools, a great idea but one that is unlikely to happen anytime soon given the current culture’s resistance to anything that might involve physical contact, even though nothing builds (and reveals) character more than sports that involve putting yourself on the line in a one-on-one combat situation. But even without that dream becoming a reality, Easton can still do plenty for his community just leading by example.“My whole goal is to change people’s lives and to try my best to be a good role model,” he said. “I’m still human, I’m not perfect, but I can still teach and talk to these guys. What you do is what you do, but at some point, things have gotta change, especially for the inner city community.”His greatest example may just be his persistence. Surviving after being born at two pounds, three ounces is impressive enough, but taking the long road to the big show in MMA showed plenty of grit as well, especially considering the two years he lost due to injury.“This is always what I wanted to do, and I wasn’t gonna let anything stop me,” he said. “I had a two year layoff because I had a fractured elbow, and my last couple fights before I signed with the UFC I was fighting with a fractured elbow, but I was winning and doing my thing. But it came to a certain point in time where toughness just wasn’t gonna do it. I had to make sure I had to get my body healthy again, and now I’m back at 110 percent and I’m ready and raring to go.” Friday night, Easton looks to make it two in a row when he takes on Jared Papazian on the FX-televised main card. It’s a huge opportunity for both men to showcase their skills on television, and even though Papazian is a late replacement for original opponent Ken Stone, for Easton, his goals remain unchanged.“It doesn’t change anything up,” he said. “Nothing ever changes my gameplan. If anything, they have to worry about me. If he wants to stand up, that’s awesome. I heard this guy is more of a slugger, which kinda puts him in a bad predicament. I’m used to striking, I’m a high level striker, and it’s what I like to do. I got pinpoint accuracy, I pick people off when I have to, I slip real good, and he’s used to fighting guys that just stand there and slug with him, with no head movement or none of that. “He’s got his beliefs that he’s just gonna come in and destroy Mike Easton,” he continues. “Well, he has a whole ‘nother thing coming to him because I’m a professional. I’ve been through an eight week camp, a hard grind, battling through injuries, and no man’s gonna stop my destiny, and my destiny is to be considered one of the best guys in the UFC. And at some point in time, I’m looking at the belt; that’s the ultimate goal, to be the number one guy. So I’m taking it one fight at a time, I’m not rushing anything, and I’m gonna make a believer out of him.”Easton pauses, almost as if to reflect, and when asked if he’s ready to be “that guy” to inject a new level of energy into the bantamweight division, he answers immediately in the affirmative.“I’m probably one of the hypest dudes ever, and I get it from my dad,” he laughs. “My dad is hype like that. I’m considered the top hype man in MMA, right? Well, I learned that from my father. My dad is my number one hype man, and he has me ready to punish anyone. It doesn’t matter who you are, doesn’t matter where you’re from, I don’t care. When I talk to my dad, he makes me believe that I am the best in the world. I believe that myself, but then you have your dad telling you this, and he’s been telling me I’m the best since I started doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts.”Can you really argue with Mike Easton Sr.? No, because his son has been training for this since he was born. Literally.

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Professional fighters are just like you and me. They can’t pick fights correctly either.“I’m a fan, and I’ve gone to fight cards where I’ve picked every single fight wrong,” laughed UFC middleweight veteran Jorge Rivera. “You would think I know what I’m talking about, but you don’t, and that’s what I love about it.”Always candid, especially when it comes to his beloved Boston teams, Rivera’s enthusiasm always amps up a notch or two when it comes to the sport that has been his life for the last 11-plus years, and even though he’s approaching the big 4-0 in February, his love for the fighting life hasn’t waned.“I enjoy what I do and everything that comes with it, so I want to give it my best go,” said Rivera, who returns to the Octagon this Friday to face Eric Schafer. “I have a lot of fun with it. I enjoy fighting, I enjoy fighting for the fans, and I enjoy fighting for everything that I love.”It’s something many thought we wouldn’t hear again after his UFC 133 bout with Costa Philippou last August. Rivera dropped a three round split decision in that fight, his second loss in a row, and pre-fight interviews seemed to center more on his fighting future than his fight.“I felt like someone was kicking me in my ass and telling me ‘hey, have a good trip,’” laughed Rivera, who believes that saying he can’t fight forever got misconstrued into this is the last roundup. But he’s back, and looking forward to getting back into the win column against submission ace Schafer.“I think it’s gonna be a striker vs. grappler match,” said Rivera. “Eric is durable, he can take a beating, and he’s a tough guy. But his strength is obviously on the ground. And I see him using his jiu-jitsu and his wrestling to get me there and try to keep me there. I’m looking to keep him up and chip away and knock him out. I don’t see the fight being a fast one; I actually see this fight lasting a little while, into the second or third round, and I expect a good, grueling fight for me. It’ll be fun.”Only a fighter will describe a grueling 15 minute battle as fun, but that’s truly where Rivera is at home, and if he can get in a back-and-forth, action-packed scrap, he’ll feel a lot better about that than the fight against Philippou, a match expected to be an all-out war but that settled into something a lot less than that. The fans weren’t the only ones surprised either.“I think in the first couple exchanges that we had, I think I hurt him and I don’t think he wanted any part of it,” said Rivera of the Philippou bout. “I’ll go even further on it, and it surprised me that he would just hold me against the fence. The guy was strong, I’ll give him that, and it was frustrating me because he had the ability to just hold me against the fence. I don’t want to exert all my energy peeling a guy off me and then have no pop in my punches. So I’m playing a game in my mind as I’m fighting him, and in the back of my mind I’m going ‘I thought you were a pro boxer?’ (Laughs)”He’s not complaining though.“That’s the beauty of the sport, and that’s what I love about MMA. It’s so unpredictable. You think you have a handle on stuff and you really don’t, which, in my opinion, is awesome.”Rivera can be objective about the bout now, and after 27 pro bouts, he’s realized that it’s not always about the wins and losses, but about the battle, and about everything that surrounds the fight – the training, the sacrifice, the fans, and the bright lights. It’s safe to say that the Massachusetts native dubbed “El Conquistador” has done all right for himself in the fight game, and as he prepares to open his new gym in Milford, the Rivera Athletic Center, the first week in February, he’s eager to pass on what he’s learned to a new generation.“Other than training, this has been the focus of my life for the last couple months, and it’s coming together nicely,” said Rivera of the gym. “It will be ready to go when I get back home, and am I ever pumped. It took me three years to get it up and running, but I found the spot, and I’m just ecstatic about it.”And when it comes to preaching the gospel of MMA to the masses, you won’t find a better representative than Rivera.“I love MMA and I love living the martial arts life,” he said. “I know it’s gonna sound cliché and corny, but it provides you with the principles of life that you need – discipline, perseverance, persistence, humility. All these things you need to be a good person, martial arts provides these for you. I know firsthand, and if I could help other people with it, I want to. It’s my passion. “I went from a guy who was a nobody living the life of a lowlife to a guy that’s something of a common name in a lot of households,” Rivera continues. “It gave me a job, it gave me a career, it gave me income, and it gave me something that I love to do. Before, I hated my jobs. (Laughs) I enjoyed the people that I worked with for the most part, but I always hated my boss, no matter who it was. It gave me a greater appreciation for what I do now.”What he does now is fight, and as sentimental as he gets when talking about the sport that saved him, he still will have no qualms about punching Eric Schafer in the face when the bell rings for their middleweight bout. It’s what he does, and while he doesn’t concern himself with predictions – and wisely so – he does reveal what will happen on fight night.“I’m gonna give you all that I have,” said Rivera. “I plan on going out there and baring my heart in that cage. I won’t hold back and I’ll give you all that I got.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, rivera, love, “i

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Josh Neer doesn’t ask for much. He doesn’t have a ten deep entourage to cater to his every whim, doesn’t request that the brown M&M’s to be removed from a candy bowl. All he wants is that when you sign to fight him, you fight him.It should be a simple request, but Neer has seen his aggressive style get nullified more than once in the past, and it even cost him his UFC job in 2009 when he lost back-to-back bouts against Kurt Pellegrino and Gleison Tibau. It could have been the sign for him to make a drastic stylistic overhaul, but that’s not his style. Yet while the attitude remains unchanged, he did add a few wrinkles to his game over the last couple years to make life a little easier on himself.“I didn’t get the best matchups that I wanted to get,” said Neer of his bouts against Pellegrino and Tibau, both of which he lost via unanimous decision. “I think that I do better against the actual fighters. I think there are a lot of guys that are just athletes that are fighting, as opposed to actual fighters. I fought two good athletes and I didn’t go in there with the right gameplan. I went out there thinking that they’re gonna come out and try to fight me and beat me, and really, they went in there just with the gameplan to try to win the fight. Guys say that they’re gonna stand up and trade and get Fight of the Night and everything else, but most of the time they’re really not gonna fight that way, especially those types of fighters like the athletes. I realized that I have to go in there and defend the takedown and try to stay up and make it a more exciting fight.”Iowa’s Neer may be just 28 years old, but he’s got an old soul when it comes to fighting. When you’re estimated to have had close to 100 amateur fights, countless gym wars, and 44 “official” pro bouts, that’s probably as old school as you’re going to get, and as far as he’s concerned, when you have the gloves on, you’re not supposed to engage in a wrestling match.“In the old days, it was mainly just fighters that were in the UFC, and now, I think there are more athletes in there and it’s more of an athlete thing than an actual fighter thing,” he said. “But there are still a lot of veterans around, and a lot of them are at the top right now. Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Shogun (Rua), Wanderlei (Silva). Those guys are still around.”Neer may not have the accolades of the above group just yet, but he is cut from their cloth, and he’s got the respect of his peers. What earned him even more is his route back to the UFC following his release in 2009. Unlike many cut fighters who will engage in one or two easy bouts and then light up matchmaker Joe Silva’s cell phone asking for a return, Neer did what he always did – fight. If the call came, great. If it didn’t, he still had to make a living.“I like to fight wherever,” said Neer, a pro for nearly a decade. “The UFC chose to cut me so I had to fight elsewhere.”As for those “other” guys that try to shortcut their way back?“Guys that do that kind of annoy me,” he said. “I think those guys are just looking to get noticed and get attention. I don’t really understand it, but I like to fight, and I tried to fight good competition when I was outside the UFC, just trying to earn my way back, as opposed to just winning a couple of easy fights and then try to get back in. I earned my way back in.”That he did. From 2010 to his callback to the organization for last October’s bout against Keith Wisniewski, Neer fought seven times, losing only to Eddie Alvarez. All of his victories came by way of knockout or submission, making his return an unsurprising one. It was still nice though. “It was good to get the call back and get back in there and get to fight some of the best guys.”Neer also got a willing dance partner for his first fight back, as fellow veteran Keith Wisniewski went toe-to-toe with “The Dentist” for 10 minutes and took a series of hellacious shots until the Octagonside physician called a halt to the bout at the conclusion of the second round.“I knew he was a tough guy because we fought on a couple of the same cards, and I knew it was gonna be a tough fight,” said Neer of Wisniewski. “He’s experienced, he’s well-rounded, and he’s been around forever, so it was a tough fight, but yeah, some of the shots I hit him with, I thought he was done, but then he just kept coming. He was like the Terminator.”It was precisely the fight that Neer craves, and he’s likely to get a similar scrap when he takes on Duane “Bang” Ludwig this Friday night in Nashville. Ludwig is another vet who was fighting back before fighting was cool, and when he steps into the Octagon, all the kind words and handshakes go out the door. That’s Neer’s kind of fighter.“He’s a real technical fighter, and he’s the type of fighter that I like to fight,” said Neer of Ludwig. “He’s gonna try to finish and not just win by points. I think he’s good.”But what of Josh Neer’s future in the game? He’s won big fights, earned Fight of the Night bonuses, and beaten top-level opposition, but he has never put together the kind of streak that would land him in the title picture. Is reaching the top of the welterweight division still the goal?“I think everybody that fights should want to be a world champion,” said Neer. “That’s definitely one of my goals, but I think more of a realistic thing is to be someone like Chris Lytle that has exciting fights every time I fight, and go in there and be remembered that way.”Well, “Lights Out” wouldn’t be a bad role model, as you won’t find anyone with a cross word to say about the recently retired Indiana native. Neer could live with having that type of legacy.“That definitely is a big deal for me,” he said. “You look at Wanderlei Silva and he’s never been the champion of the UFC, but he has everyone’s respect. The same thing with Chris Lytle.”And Josh Neer. 

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When UFC heavyweight Pat Barry looks across the Octagon at Christian Morecraft on Friday night he’ll see nothing more than another opponent. While some fighters motivate themselves through anger or contempt, Barry’s happy-go-lucky personality outside of the cage extends into it as well where he’s certainly out to win but never looking to prove a personal point. Barry recently opened up on his approach in an interview with the UFC’s website where he explained fighting was equivalent to any other competition one can think of and shrugged off the taboo of training partners taking each other on because, at the end of the day, mixing it up in the ring is nothing more than business. “This is a full contact game of chess which happens to entail striking and hitting each other in the head and in the body or submitting each other,” said Barry. “Those are the rules of the game, and if you can’t accept that, then you’re in the wrong sport.” “I get into the Octagon and I can be friendly with all these guys beforehand, and I’m friendly with them during and friendly with them after. I don’t have to go into the ‘I hate you, now I’ve got to kill you’ mentality. I don’t dislike anybody, especially total strangers; I don’t have a reason to hate a stranger,” he continued. “Some guys need to hate your guts in order to hurt you. Maybe that just makes me crazy, because we can be best friends and I’ll still punch you in the head if we step into the Octagon together. But that’s just because I know this is what the game entails.” The 32-year old kickboxer went on to compare it to a one-on-one game of basketball where opponents don’t take it easy on the other, or make it more than it is, because they’re simply trying to win. His belief also carries over when it comes to potentially fighting his teammates. “When you’re training together, you go at each other a lot more intense than you do when you’re at a fight because you’re in the comfort of there’s no one watching, we’re just at practice, we’ve got big gloves on,” explained Barry. “So when guys are training together, they beat the sh*t out of each other a lot worse than they do in an actual fight, but when it comes to fight time, they’re like ‘No man, I can’t do it.’ Wait, you can kick my ass for free, but you won’t do it and get paid?’ That don’t make sense.” Fans can see if Barry’s mindset helps or hinders him against Morecraft when the two lock horns in co-headlining action at UFC on FX. The main card starts up at 9:00 PM EST with preliminary pairings being shown on Fuel TV a few hours earlier. The evening’s festivities are headlined by a bout between top lightweights Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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This is the life of Pat Barry: Train. Travel. Train. Fight. Travel. Train. Repeat.“All the moving around sucks,” said the heavyweight up and comer, who returns to action this Friday night in Nashville to face Christian Morecraft. “As soon as you get comfortable somewhere, you gotta move somewhere else, and that part is definitely not fun.”A New Orleans native, Barry has trained in the Netherlands, Croatia, China, Milwaukee, and now Minnesota, home to the DeathClutch team that formerly was the domain of the now retired Brock Lesnar. It’s part of the job if you want to get better and if you want to – like former kickboxer Barry – develop the parts of the game you haven’t already got a good handle on. So that means learning new towns and new directions, and meeting new people in between sessions where you judge progress by the amount of times someone isn’t forcing you to tap out.“I would like to believe that there’s one person that knows everything and that’s just not true,” said the 32-year old Barry. “There’s no Yoda. You gotta be mobile, you gotta be able to move around, and not everybody knows everything that you need to know. You learn a lot from going different places.”It’s the rite of passage for most mixed martial artists, but where Barry differs is that every day is injected with plenty of humor and light-hearted looks at life in and out of the fight game. “HD” is the polar opposite of dour, always ready with a smile or quip in the midst of the most trying day. It’s a personality that has made him one of the most popular fighters in the game, and not only among fans, but among his peers. To even go one further, Barry has become fast friends with a lot of the men he fought, a bizarre concept to many, but not him.“To me, it’s knowing what the game entails,” he said. “This is a full contact game of chess which happens to entail striking and hitting each other in the head and in the body or submitting each other. Those are the rules of the game, and if you can’t accept that, then you’re in the wrong sport. I get into the Octagon and I can be friendly with all these guys beforehand, and I’m friendly with them during and friendly with them after. I don’t have to go into the ‘I hate you, now I’ve got to kill you’ mentality. I don’t dislike anybody, especially total strangers; I don’t have a reason to hate a stranger. Some guys need to hate your guts in order to hurt you. Maybe that just makes me crazy, because we can be best friends and I’ll still punch you in the head if we step into the Octagon together. But that’s just because I know this is what the game entails. That’s like Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley getting on the court to play one on one and Jordan deciding that he’s not gonna score on Barkley. What? The game is to outscore the other guy; the game is to win. It just so happens that this game that we’re playing consists of physical contact with each other. If you don’t know that we’re about to hit each other really hard, then you haven’t done you’re research and I can’t feel too bad for you.”And Barry’s been on both sides of that equation, sometimes in the same fight. He dropped Mirko Cro Cop before getting submitted late in their fight. He pounded Joey Beltran with leg kicks for 15 minutes in their bout. He nearly knocked out Cheick Kongo before getting knocked out himself seconds later. And he nearly slammed Stefan Struve through the Octagon mat before getting caught by submission in their Washington D.C. battle last October. Win or lose, he came to fight, his opponents did the same, and they shook hands when it was all over. It’s all part of the game according to him, so he’s baffled when training partners won’t fight each other outside of the gym.“When you’re training together, you go at each other a lot more intense than you do when you’re at a fight because you’re in the comfort of there’s no one watching, we’re just at practice, we’ve got big gloves on,” said Barry. “So when guys are training together, they beat the s**t out of each other a lot worse than they do in an actual fight, but when it comes to fight time, they’re like ‘no man, I can’t do it.’ Wait, you can kick my ass for free, but you won’t do it and get paid?’ That don’t make sense.”When you’re talking about things that don’t make sense, exhibit one may be Barry’s 2011 campaign in the UFC. Kicking things off in January with an impressive three round win over Beltran for his first decision victory, Barry then engaged in the most exciting 2:39 fight you’ve seen in a long time in June, as he nearly finished off Kongo before a miraculous comeback gave the Frenchman the win. In October, he put together another memorable bout against the 6-foot-11 Struve, yet got caught again, this time via submission. On paper, a 1-2 record doesn’t look too great, but in terms of performance, Barry didn’t disappoint anyone. He still can’t explain the last 12 months though.“Last year is definitely a mystery,” said Barry. “I know that anything can happen, I’m always aware of that, and I know that anything is possible. But I still can’t figure out what happened in the Cheick Kongo fight. Still. The Stefan Struve fight, and every fight that I’ve lost, I’ve legitimately lost. There’s no ‘well the ref should have stopped it,’ or ‘it was because I got poked in the eye.’ I lost, I was beaten, nothing else happened other than the other guy was better. The Cheick Kongo fight, I don’t have any explanation as to how he, out of nowhere, punched me in the head and I fell out. Struve, even though it was a submission loss, if you actually know me and know what you’re looking at, I gained in a way because I was able to avoid three submissions in a row. It just so happened that the fourth one caught me. (Laughs) So all in all, that was an improvement. And that was a fight that I was winning and just lost. Somewhere on the internet, somebody wrote, and I swear it was the funniest thing ever, ‘if Pat Barry is kicking your ass, you’re definitely gonna win.’ (Laughs) I couldn’t even get mad at that, and I had to show it to my mom. It was the realest thing ever.”Despite his humble stance and self-effacing humor, Barry does know that if he wants to get 2012 off to a good start, he can’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory anymore. That’s why a Louisiana native has been braving a Minnesota winter to work on his wrestling and jiu-jitsu with a group that had no issue with throwing him around in order to get him better. And even though Lesnar’s gone, there were plenty of big bodies left to get him ready for the 6-foot-6, 260 pound Morecraft. “The bulk of the work was already done,” said Barry of the effect Lesnar’s December 30th retirement had on the late stages of his training camp. “We were training for my fight and Brock’s fight for quite some time now. The only problem with his fight being so close to mine is that there’s one less body to train with. But we’ve still got Jon Madsen, Cole Konrad, Chris Tuchscherer, a bunch of giant wrestlers who I’ve been moving around with every day ever since Brock’s fight.”But with all this focus on ground work, is there a tendency to stop working on his bread and butter – striking? “You never stop getting better at striking,” he said. “That’s always something that’s going to have to be practiced and learned and trained. It’s repetition, repetition, repetition. There’s not just one facet to this fight game. There are multiple things. So being a striker and now having to learn jiu-jitsu and learn wrestling to get better at everything else, it’s only natural that one section is gonna have to suffer a little bit in order to gain more experience at the other. I still strike with these guys, and they brought in other guys who are strikers and kickboxers and big tall guys that do a little bit of everything, but it’s only natural that I would have to back off my striking a little bit in order to climb in for the wrestling and the grappling.”Yet at the same time, while showing off his main discipline to wrestlers looking to improve, the K-1 vet also gains a new appreciation for, and sharpens, the fundamentals of the striking game.There are a lot of guys who are coming up in the striking game and guys who have been around for a while, they’ve evolved to a point where they’re doing splitting somersaults, front flips, and handstands and what not, and they tend to neglect a 1-2,” said Barry. “I’ve never had a problem with that. I’ve always been a fan of guys like Ernesto (Hoost) and Peter Aerts. Peter Aerts, who in 25 years in the game, is still beating people with left jab, right low kick. This is basic, Day One striking, and it’s always gonna be a dominant, big factor. You can be flashy, but if you can do all these crazy things and don’t know how to throw just a jab, that can be dangerous and unhealthy.”In other words, it’s like the old Green Bay Packers sweep from the Vince Lombardi years. You know it’s coming, but it’s so well-executed that you still can’t stop it.“It’s like my low kick,” said Barry. “You know I’m gonna kick you in the leg. Everybody knows it’s coming, they know it’s gonna happen, but there’s not much that can be done about it.”And when it hits, he once described it as being like “stepping on a land mine.” But this is Pat Barry, and after he hits you with a few of them, he’s more than willing to show you how he did it.“I’ve had fights where afterward, when the fight’s over with, we’re back in the hotel lobby, practicing this low kick and going about the whole thing,” he laughs.Don’t expect him to ever change a thing either, whether it’s his personality or his fighting style.“Every time I step in there, it doesn’t matter who it is, every fight that I’ve had, I’ve been the one walking forward,” said Barry. “Every time. I don’t retreat. I’m always the one walking forward, going at the guy. It’s not a macho ‘I’m fearless, I’m not scared of nobody’ thing; I know that anybody can win and anybody can lose. I have faith in my preparation, and so when the bell rings, I’m just gonna come at you and hopefully I’m gonna hit you and you’re gonna fall down. But you never know, I could submit you. Anything could happen.”That’s probably why we won’t stop watching.

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It didn’t take long for UFC President Dana White to respond to an ESPN program on Sunday morning directed at criticizing the amount of money UFC fighters make in comparison to the company’s revenue with an emphasis on the public’s fear of speaking out on the issue. Earlier today White addressed the piece in a video where he blasted ESPN’s biased stance being disguised as legitimate journalism and provided uncut footage from Outside the Lines’ interview with Lorenzo Fertitta as well as clips of prominent fighters talking about pay. “I know I get a little fired up about this stuff, I need to calm down, but people don’t realize ESPN doesn’t care about this sport; ESPN hates this sport,” explained White to the camera. “They won’t even cover it. They don’t cover the sport. They don’t do the great stories about this brand and the sport that should be done. They don’t tell stories about the fighters. Do you ever see any in depth, great story about UFC fighters on ESPN? Hell no you don’t.” Check Out ESPN’s Version of Things in the Network’s Outside the Lines Episode “They’re dirty, they lie, and they never really give you all the facts,” he added. In the ESPN feature former fighters Ken Shamrock and Ricco Rodriguez were the only two Mixed Martial Artists to go on record as having a problem with the way UFC handled pay while numerous other anonymous sources were cited as well. Check out the UFC’s version of things below: Tweet

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. Every time UFC heads to Brazil, magic happens. Maybe it’s because the crowd inspires the fighters, maybe it’s because the match ups are perfect, or maybe it’s because Jesus is in Brazil and not with Tim Tebow. Whatever the reason is, magic happens in Brazil and magic happened at UFC 142 with the greatest head kick KO and the most amazing scene following a main event in MMA history. Lets go to the scorecard: *Sympathy points to Felipe Arantes and Antonio Carvalho for being the only fight getting the Facebook treatment for tonight’s event. PLUS TWO *UFC seriously needs to get their own music on FOX. The NFL on FOX music just isn’t working, especially when the NFL is currently on FOX while UFC is on Facebook/FX. MINUS THREE *Points to Carvalho for coming out to “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash. Can never go wrong with “The Man in Black.” PLUS TWO *Nobody should be allowed to wear a cowboy hat to the cage except for Donald Cerrone. Sorry Arantes. MINUS ONE *Much love to the Brazilian crowd, who are by far the loudest crowd in MMA. They’re into it from the first fight to the last. PLUS THREE *Arantes vs. Carvalho was a decent bout to kick off the card, made better by the crowd reacting to every little strike. Neither guy looked overly impressive though. PLUS TWO *Man, with all these fights on TV, FX is really harshing my music mood since they don’t show walk-outs. MINUS TWO *The Marine’s Keys to Victory are 100 times better than Joe’s Keys to Victory, mainly because there are no bullet points. PLUS TWO *Great win for Mike Pyle. He may never get close to a title shot, but he’s a real test for anyone at welterweight. PLUS THREE *”Thanks to my wife for putting up with me during my camp.” More fighters should thank their wives for putting up with them. And more fighters should request to be on Fear Factor with their wives. PLUS TWO *Michihiro Omigawa, you gotta keep our hands up bro. MINUS THREE *I thought Omigawa may have tapped when Yuri Alcantara first locked on the armbar at the end of round one, but the UFC replay team was horrible and Joe Rogan was so insistent that there was no tap that it did the viewers no favors. MINUS ONE *Poor form by someone in the Brazilian crowd using a laser pointer. MINUS ONE *Great performance by Alcantara. The straight left was there for him all fight and his ground game looked outstanding against a tough grappler in Omigawa. He may have gassed in the last round, but he still did well on the feet and had the fight well in hand. PLUS FOUR *Even though it’s funny hearing Bruce Buffer yell, “Marijuana,” you would think he would know that Alcantara’s nickname is “Marajo.” MINUS ONE *According to Rogan, Aldo has the best takedown defense in MMA. Take that Jon Jones. MINUS ONE *I admit that it was nice to see Gabriel Gonzaga back in the UFC. Even though I’m not a fan of his, he’s better than most mid-level heavyweights and he should always have a special place in the hearts of MMA fans for his KO over Mirko Cro Cop. PLUS TWO *Boy, does Edinaldo Oliveira suck on the ground or what? MINUS THREE *Nice job by Gonzaga making short of a clearly overmatched Oliveira. If he starts using his grappling more, he could climb back up the heavyweight ladder. As long as he doesn’t get hit or anything like that. PLUS FOUR *Translator? Gonzaga don’t need no stinkin’ translator. PLUS TWO *Get it together UFC production team. Airing the prelim fight on TV but having the live in arena music playing is a definite production foul. MINUS TWO *The intro video for Sam Stout vs. Thiago Tavares was one of the worst in UFC history. They never explain the “one big loss” Stout suffered (it was the passing of his trainer and brother-in-law Shawn Tompkins for those that don’t know) and said, “the winner will go from prospect to contender” even though both men have had 11 UFC fights. MINUS THREE *A solid scrap between Tavares and Stout, although the crowd seemed pretty dead compared to the noise they were making in the opening fight. PLUS THREE *I really love Stout’s striking. That is all. PLUS FOUR *Bad call by the judges. I had Stout winning 29-28 as Tavares didn’t really do much besides throwing an overhand right in the last two rounds and getting hit in the face a lot. MINUS THREE *WHERE WERE JOE AND DANA TO YELL AT ME?!?!?! MINUS TWO *Remember when Dana said that they would do away with the Gladiator intro once they got on FOX? Dana doesn’t. MINUS ONE *Terrible job by Goldberg and Rogan explaining the Johnson weight situation. MINUS TWO *You can never go wrong with ”In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins as your walk out music. The drum solo never gets old. Nice job Terry Etim. PLUS TWO *I love leg kicks, so I love Edson Barboza. PLUS FOUR *HOLY KNOCKOUT! That wheel kick KO by Barboza is already the KO of the year, I don’t care what happens over the next twelve months. PLUS TEN *Extra points to Barboza and that kick. It was an absolute thing of beauty. PLUS FIVE *That UFC 143 promo angered me. “For the first time in 3 years, the welterweight division, will have a new champion.” Get out of here with that. It’s a meaningless interim title. Everyone knows Georges St. Pierre is still the champion. Garbage promotional move by the UFC. MINUS SIX *I don’t know what Erick Silva’s walk out music was, but man he timed it nicely at the start. PLUS TWO *Great performance by Silva, making short work of a veteran like Carlo Prater. PLUS FOUR *Just a shame it was overshadowed by Mario Yamasaki’s bad ruling. Sure there were some shots to the back of the head, but we’ve seen worse and they obviously weren’t intentional as Prater was trying to move. MINUS FIVE *While I applaud Rogan trying to extract justice from Yamasaki, he had clearly made up his mind that everything was legal, despite there being more than one shot to the back of the head, and never let Yamasaki really explain himself. MINUS FIVE *Mike Massenzio scores point for coming out to “Lose Yourself” by Eminem. PLUS TWO *Was there any other possible outcome to the Rousimar Palhares vs. Massenzio fight? Shame on Joe Silva for even making that fight. MINUS THREE *That said, credit to Palhares for taking care of business like he did. He knew Massenzio shouldn’t have belonged in the cage with him, so he got him out of there quickly. PLUS FOUR *Joe’s Keys to Victory. Nothing else needs to be said. MINUS THREE *You know the rules, negative points for every pound a fighter misses weight by. For Anthony Johnson, he missed the 186 mark by a whopping 11 pounds, so for the first (and hopefully last) time ever, we’re going over the 10-point system. MINUS ELEVEN *I don’t know what Vitor Belfort’s walk out music is, but I love it. PLUS TWO *Holy crap was the crowd going crazy during Johnson vs. Belfort. PLUS FOUR *Those were some awfully quick stand ups and breaks by Dan Miragliotta. I have a feeling that Johnson’s unprofessionalism and crowd influenced him, but he needs to stay professional during the fight. MINUS TWO *Johnson obviously spent more time in the kitchen than the gym for this fight. Not only did he miss weight badly, but he gassed during his walk out, and just ran forward wildly in hopes of getting a takedown. Terrible performance on Friday and a terrible performance on Saturday. MINUS SEVEN *Great job by Belfort. He handled things all weekend like a professional and capped it off with an outstanding performance against, weight issues aside, a pretty dangerous fighter. PLUS FIVE *CREATE YOUR OWN ATMOSPHERE! PLUS TWO *Guns N Roses seem like an underused walk out band. Good on you Chad Mendes. PLUS TWO *I’ve just come to associate “Run This Town” with Jose Aldo whenever I hear it. PLUS TWO *Oh man, the crowd yelling “IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT’S TIME!” along with Buffer was pretty dang awesome. PLUS THREE *Mendes had a pretty good game plan, attacking the legs of Aldo and of course going for the takedown, but Aldo’s timing and instincts are second to none. Great KO finish. PLUS FIVE *Extra points to Aldo because I love takedowns countered by knees ending in a knockout. And for the record, I predicted that Aldo would win this fight via knee countering a takedown. Take that Samer Kadi. PLUS FIVE *And how awesome was Aldo celebrating with the Brazilian crowd? That may have been the most amazing scene in MMA. Just fantastic. PLUS TEN *Overall, despite an underwhelming preliminary card, no one can say that the main card didn’t deliver. Sure there were some low points, most notably Johnson’s weight and Yamasaki’s error, but every fight delivered great action. PLUS EIGHT Official Score: 45 For a more in depth look at UFC 143, along with a preview of this weekends UFC on FX 1 card, make sure to check out tomorrows Five Ounces of Podcast with myself and Mr. Kadi. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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WHERE DOES HE RANK?I wrote in my breakdown of the UFC 142 main event between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes that “Aldo can’t just beat Mendes if he wants to reinsert himself into the pound-for-pound discussions. He needs to destroy him…” Mission accomplished. Aldo made minced meat out of a man who many believed had the perfect set of skills to dethrone the first UFC featherweight champion. And he made it look easy – very easy.People have to start giving Aldo credit as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, if not THE best.  His WEC/UFC resume is ridiculous. The only person to make him seem even remotely human in the last six years was Mark Hominick. Aldo had lots of pre-fight issues that arguably contributed to that performance. But even if we disregard those issues, everyone is entitled to a bad night now and then. Anderson Silva came much closer to losing to Chael Sonnen than Aldo did against Hominick. Georges St-Pierre suffered a knockout loss during Aldo’s undefeated run. So I don’t want to hear any of this Mark Hominick stuff when it comes to Aldo’s pound-for-pound claim.I’ll be the first to say it. Aldo deserves to stand above Jon Jones in the pound-for-pound debate. That isn’t a knock on Jones, who had the most impressive 2011 of anyone in the sport. But he only recently began facing the best of the best. Aldo has been doing that for several years, and pound-for-pound supremacy is about sustained, proven greatness. Jones is on his way. Aldo is already there.Where Jones stands in the mythical pound-for-pound debate is a matter of opinion. I still firmly lean toward Silva at the top, but I’d put Aldo on par with GSP as vying for the second position. Jones and then Frankie Edgar finish off my top five. Agree? Disagree? State your case in the comment section below. I’ll be reading, as always. “THE PHENOM” IS MAKING A COMPELLING CASEVitor Belfort looked incredible in his first-round submission win over Anthony Johnson. The former champion took his share of lumps, including a vicious diving punch on the ground. But his overall skill proved to be too much for the light heavyweight version of Johnson. Ok, he wasn’t actually a light heavy, but he didn’t make the 186-pound limit, as everyone already knows. The win was the second straight annihilation win for Belfort after suffering the dramatic front kick loss to Silva. Belfort will now set his sights on Wanderlei Silva after the pair coach opposite each other on “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” which starts filming shortly. If he obliterates Silva, like he did Johnson and Yoshihiro Akiyama, then there is little doubt that he deserves a rematch with Anderson Silva. Say what you will about the knockout loss to “The Spider”; it was a single strike loss. I’ve written about that type of loss many times before. They do nothing to prove that one man is superior to the other. All they do is prove that one man got caught. Silva did not dominate Belfort when he knocked him out. He landed a single strike. Had Belfort’s flying left hand found its mark when Silva’s back hit the ground, the result could have easily been different. That is why a rematch between the two is, in my opinion, the biggest fight available in the middleweight division.But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Belfort must first get past Wanderlei without getting injured. Anderson must heal and rehabilitate his ailing shoulder. Then, Anderson must get past the winner of Chael Sonnen versus Mark Munoz. I guarantee you that he hopes Munoz wins because Sonnen came within two minutes of dethroning the champion. So, it is far from a lock that Anderson will defeat the winner of Sonnen-Munoz. If he does, I think we may just pay witness to the biggest fight in the history of the middleweight division. “RUMBLE” GETS COSTLY LESSON Let’s quickly deal with business first. According to a post-fight interview with UFC President Dana White on FUEL TV, Johnson was likely going to be released from his UFC contract following the loss to Belfort, with White citing a 'three strikes and you're out' policy. Johnson missed weight at UFC 76, UFC 104 and now UFC 142. At some point, this guy has to get it right on the scales. We don’t see this sort of issue with other top fighters. Johnson was completely unprofessional with the way he handled his move to middleweight. I don’t care what he points to as the reason. He fought at 170 pounds not long ago. Yet, he missed the middleweight limit? Crazy. Unfathomable. Inexcusable.  He needs to take a hard look at himself and everyone around him because these sorts of repeated weight issues are unprecedented in the UFC, particularly when moving UP, not down, in weight. Now, to the good part. I thought Johnson looked tremendous at middleweight (or junior light heavyweight), despite the loss to Belfort. He appeared to increase his speed and explosiveness with the extra weight, just like I predicted.  He also appeared to match Belfort’s strength, which shocked me. If not for a couple of quick stand-ups, Johnson may have sent Belfort to the filming of TUF with a shocking (in my opinion) loss on his record. He was certainly winning the round before getting caught in a well executed rear naked choke. All that suggests to me that middleweight is the perfect division for this guy. I hope Johnson hires a weight cutting guru or dietician and figures out this whole scale thing. It is a tragedy that this guy is wasting his tremendous potential, particularly now that he is entering the prime of his fighting career, by battling the scale, rather than battling for championships. I think the latter is a real possibility if he can figure out the former.PALHARES SHOWS THE BEAUTIFUL VIOLENCE OF BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSURousimar Palhares is one scary ground fighter. The vertically challenged middleweight looks like a cartoon character with his muscular build. But those muscles are far from beach muscles. They are evidence of his ridiculous physical strength. Mix that with his otherworldly BJJ, and you have one of the most intimidating ground fighters in all of mixed martial arts. “Toquinho” may have rudimentary standup, but I can guarantee you that nobody in the middleweight division wants any part of his ground game – nobody. That includes pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva.DON’T EVISCERATE YAMASAKI JUST YETMario Yamasaki got it wrong on Saturday night. We all know that. But before you eviscerate the referee, ask yourself whether you have ever made a mistake at your job. I know I certainly have. You have, too.Yamasaki’s mistake wasn’t borne from incompetence. He thought Erik Silva was illegally striking the back of Carlo Prater’s head, so he disqualified him in the interest of promoting fighter safety. That deserves praise, not condemnation. The danger of repeatedly striking someone in the back of the head is well documented. As a lifelong boxing fan, I will never forget watching Nigel Benn hit Gerald McClellan in the back of the head again and again in their 1995 title fight. We’ll never know for sure, but the illegal blows may have been the catalyst that forever changed McClellan’s life. Kudos to Yamasaki for doing what the referee in London didn’t have the courage to do back in 1995.Of course, the replay showed that Silva landed legal blows, so he was wrongfully disqualified. But there was nothing Yamasaki could do about his decision after watching the replay. The UFC, unlike other professional sports, does not provide for replay to change a referee’s decision. The result highlights the need for instant replay in MMA. Other major sports take advantage of technology within prescribed limited. Our sport should do the same.At the end of the day, though, Yamasaki wrongfully disqualifying Silva doesn’t really matter. The Brazilian bomber has the ability to appeal the loss, which may result in a reversal of the outcome. Dana White stepped up big time and paid Silva his full purse – show money and win bonus – so he wasn’t personally impacted at all by the loss. I’m also certain that he will be treated, when considered for future UFC bookings, as if he won the bout. As far as I’m concerned, this is a no-harm, no-foul situation.ARE YOU KIDDING ME?Edson Barboza’s spinning wheel kick knockout over Terry Etim was the most impressive final round knockout that I may have ever witnessed in the UFC. Maybe I will think of something that compares in the coming days, but for now, I’m left in pure awe of the moment. By the way, it was the first ever spinning wheel kick knockout in UFC history. It won Knockout of the Night. I’m thinking it should win Knockout of the Decade. Not to anoint myself matchmaker, but I would LOVE to see a bout between Barboza and Donald Cerrone. That matchup could easily produce Fight of the Year fireworks.PYLE RIGHTS THE SHIP; IS THERE TIME?Five months after getting blasted by Rory MacDonald in less than four minutes, Mike Pyle returned to form with a dominant performance against Ricardo Funch. Pyle is a grizzled veteran of the sport, having competed all over the world since making his professional debut against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson way back on November 13, 1999. Pyle’s UFC success – five wins in eight bouts – is certainly noteworthy. The problem is he has yet to defeat an actual contender inside the Octagon. It remains to be seen whether he is a division gatekeeper or a legitimate contender. At 36 years old, the time for him to make a run is now.   BRAZIL ALMOST RUNS THE TABLEBrazil is the home of mixed martial arts. It was fitting, therefore, that each of the 10 fights involved at least one Brazilian. Two bouts pitted Brazilian versus Brazilian. Let’s remove those two bouts from the analysis, since it was guaranteed that a Brazilian would win the matchup. That leaves us with eight. UFC 134 also involved eight bouts where Brazilians fought “others.” The locals went 7-1 in both situations. I know this isn’t country versus country, but 14-2 is nothing to sneeze at. Are Brazilians, on average, the best mixed martial artists in the world? They are making one heck of an argument.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, silva, belfort, aldo

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The beef between Dana White and Josh Gross goes back a long time. I truly don’t remember an era in MMA history when they ever got along, but veterans of sports journalism claim it existed. Unfortunately, any amends that were made in the past 3+ years were deposited into a cryogenic freezing locker (where they’ll remain until the sun eats the earth) following this weekend’s episode of ‘Between The Lines’ which criticized every aspect of the UFC’s salary structure and the fighters’ reluctance to speak out for fear of repercussions. While the broadcast made good points comparing the income disparity of the UFC with that of all other sports franchises (NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA), ESPN failed to acknowledge that professional MMA is in its infancy, and the UFC has only been profitable for approximately six years. Each year, salaries escalate, and there is a direct correlation between performance and subsequent discretionary bonuses. In any case, Lorenzo doesn’t appreciate ESPN criticizing the UFC while some of their own contracted boxers don’t earn enough money to buy themselves an iPhone. Here’s the footage that ESPN didn’t air during their Sunday morning special. Keep in mind this was released by UFC.

Posted in: ufc, espn, ’t, year, time i

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As fantastic as the festivities were on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro for UFC 142, one of the few incidents marring the evening’s excellence had to do with referee Mario Yamasaki’s uncharacteristically bad call relating to a bout between Erick Silva and Carlo Prater. Silva dropped Prater early in their main card clash, then pounded him out for what looked to be a clean stoppage until Yamasaki ruled he felt illegal blows to the back of the head had done the damage and disqualified Silva as a result. “Everyone here knows that wasn’t intentional. I don’t know what else to say,” explained Silva after the call, while Prater’s take was fairly neutral, saying, “I’m not a judge. I didn’t stop the fight. All I know is that he hit me and it sent a shock of pain through my body unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know if the shots were legal. I just know it was unlike anything I’ve ever felt.” However, it turns out the story has a happy ending as Silva will be paid a win bonus as a means of making things relatively right. The young Brazilian also has an opportunity to appeal the result internally as the UFC regulated the event based on the region’s lack of athletic commission. The loss snapped a nine-fight winning streak for Silva who impressed fans in August with an equally quick TKO of Luis Ramos at UFC 134. Currently he holds an overall record of 13-2 with ten total stoppages. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, silva, erick silva, prater

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Rio de Janeiro’s favorite fighting son, Vitor Belfort, put all the controversy of the past 24 hours to rest the only way he knew how Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 142, looking past Anthony Johnson’s failure to make weight the day before by submitting the hard-hitting “Rumble” in the first round in front of his hometown fans at HSBC Arena.“I fought big guys,” said Belfort, who weighed in Friday at 186 pounds to Johnson’s 197. “I’m not scared of size. I’m ready to fight whoever. I cut 25 pounds in four days so I gotta be professional. You sacrifice to achieve glory.”Johnson opened up with a front kick that missed, and after a wild ensuing exchange, “Rumble” muscled Belfort to the mat. Belfort kept his wits about him from the bottom, eventually earning himself a restart from referee Dan Miragliotta. Johnson shot in for another takedown, but Belfort made him work for it, landing punches as Johnson bulled him to the fence. Another restart gave Belfort some room, and he scored with some shots before Johnson got him back to the mat. When the action stalled, Miragliotta intervened, and though Belfort’s right eye was swelling, he was starting to take control. A failed takedown attempt by Johnson was disastrous, as Belfort fired off punches and took his back with under a minute left. As the seconds ticked away, Belfort worked and worked, eventually sinking in the rear naked choke that forced Johnson to tap out at 4:49 of the round.With the win, Belfort improves to 21-9; Johnson falls to 10-4. PALHARES vs. MASSENZIOThe middleweight leg lock master, Rousimar Palhares, lived up to his reputation in devastating style, submitting New Jersey’s Mike Massenzio with a heel hook just 63 seconds into their bout.An inadvertent low kick from Palhares brought a quick halt to the action in the opening minute, but once it resumed, “Toquinho” went right to work, and as he shot for a takedown, he pulled guard and caught Massenzio’s right leg. The tap seconds later was inevitable, with the end via heel hook coming at the 1:03 of the round.Palhares improves to 23-3 with the win; Massenzio falls to 13-6.PRATER vs. SILVAIt looked like welterweight up and comer Erick Silva was about to score his second sub 40 second finish in a row when he took on veteran Carlo Prater, but a controversial call by referee Mario Yamasaki instead left him with a disqualification loss.“I have great respect for the referee, and I see that most of them hit the side of the head,” said Silva while watching a post-fight replay. “I don’t see any that hit the back of the head.”Silva missed a right hand to begin the bout, but a left knee to the chest nailed Prater and had him looking for a takedown. Silva responded with a series of hammerfists, bringing in Yamasaki to halt the bout at the 29 second mark. Most believed it was a TKO win for Silva, but it was ruled otherwise by Yamasaki.“I was telling him don’t hit the back of the head,” said the referee. “I have to decide in the moment. He hit some in the back of the head, some he didn’t.”Silva, who had knocked out Luis Ramos in 40 seconds last August, falls to 13-2 with 1 NC; Prater improves to 30-10-1.“I’m not a judge. I didn’t stop the fight,” said Prater. “All I know is that he hit me and it sent a shock of pain through my body unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know if the shots were legal. I just know it was unlike anything I’ve ever felt.”“Everyone here knows that wasn’t intentional,” said Silva. “I don’t know what else to say.”BARBOZA vs. ETIMRising lightweight star Edson Barboza may have already locked up the 2012 Knockout of the Year award with an unforgettable spinning heel kick finish of fellow prospect Terry Etim in the main card opener that not only electrified his hometown fans but the entire MMA world.“When you fight in Brazil, it’s unlike fighting in any other place in the world,” said Barboza. “In a fight, you try things and hope they work. Tonight, it (the kick) worked. It’s something I’ve practiced a lot and I finally was able to land it hard. I’m happy with this outcome and you can expect more of that soon.”Etim ran out fast to open the bout, shooting out jabs before getting rebuffed on his first takedown attempt. Undeterred, Etim kept the pressure on and then secured the takedown on attempt number two, but Barboza swept his foe and got back to his feet immediately. Once standing, Barboza began working on Etim’s legs with kicks, occasionally going upstairs with looping overhand rights. In the process, Barboza slowed Etim’s offense considerably, landing with a spinning back kick just before the bell.Barboza continued to peck away at Etim in round two, keeping the Liverpool native from getting into a rhythm. With a little over 90 seconds left, Etim scored his second takedown of the bout, but again, Barboza got back to his feet and stood in the pocket, looking to counter. Etim stayed busy, but the harder shots were undoubtedly landed by the Rio native.The crowd got restless in the third, even though both fighters were staying busy, Etim stalking and Barboza countering. They erupted soon enough though, as Barboza planted his feet and drilled Etim with a spinning left heel kick, stiffening and knocking Etim out immediately, with referee Dan Miragliotta halting the bout at the 2:02 mark.With the win, Barboza improves to 10-0; Etim, who left the Octagon under his own power, falls to 15-4.

Posted in: ’t, barboza, johnson, belfort, etim

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*Author’s Note: This column was written before Anthony Johnson severely missed weight, thus changing just how much pressure Vitor Belfort faces. While a loss would still be damaging to him, it would be marked with an asterisk.* Pressure in sports is a funny thing. Some athletes rise to the occasion, even if they’re not superstars, while some athletes shy away or crack from the pressure, even if they’re the best player in the sport. The best pressure players are the ones who want the ball when you need the basket or a strike out or a touchdown. Even if they don’t come through 100% of the time, it doesn’t matter to them because you know in the next game, they’re going to want the ball again. They’re going to forget about the shot they missed, demand the ball again, and get a better shot. In MMA, Anderson Silva is the greatest pressure fighter. If he has a bad performance or two, it doesn’t matter because you know, when the lights are the brightest, he’s going to deliver. Fighting a former light heavyweight champion after back-to-back lackluster performances? He turns in the most masterful performance of his career. Down to his final two minutes as a champion? He locks on a triangle choke. Fighting a fellow Brazilian superstar who UFC said was the faster striker? He delivers the best knockout of the year. Fighting in Brazil against the last man to hold a victory over him? He finishes him in the second round. When the pressure is on and he needs to turn in a performance to silence any type of criticism, he delivers. Then there’s Vitor Belfort. Throughout his career he’s constantly cracked under pressure. Built up as an unstoppable phenom, he was slowed down by a controlling wrestler. A chance to beat a legend in his home country, he laid on his back and wanted little to do with the fight. Needing to prove his UFC title victory wasn’t a fluke, he was once again slowed down by a controlling wrestler. Getting a shot to dethrone the pound-for-pound king, he was front kicked in the face. And that doesn’t even count the times he was defeated by a former champion after dominating the first round, fell into a guillotine with 30 seconds left in the round, or lost a fight and was then popped for steroids. When the waters get deep or the lights get brighter, Belfort either drowns or gets burned. The lights will be bright once again on Saturday night in Brazil. Fighting in his home country for the first time since 1998, “The Phenom” faces off against Anthony Johnson, who makes his middleweight debut. Make no mistake about it, Belfort is the biggest MMA star in Brazil. Ever since he appeared on a Brazilian TV show sucking on toes and marrying a model, he’s been the face of Brazilian MMA and despite the number of great and legendary Brazilian MMA fighters out there, Belfort still trumps them all in popularity. Not only is he fighting in his home country, he’s already been tabbed as the first ever coach of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil opposite Wanderlei Silva. It wouldn’t look too good on him, or the show, if he’s coming off a loss as they’re trying to build up a rematch between the two men. Even though he’s never done well in clutch fights, at least he’s been in them. He’s fought for UFC titles, he’s fought in PRIDE, he’s been in main events, he’s battled legends and champions like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Silva, Alistair Overeem, Kazushi Sakuraba, ect…. Johnson has never had that experience. His biggest fight was a co-main event bout against Josh Koscheck on a PPV that less than 400,000 people purchased. Because he’s been in this situation before, we expect him to, at least know how to handle, even if history tells us that he hasn’t handled it well. Add in the fact that Belfort desperately wants another shot at the middleweight strap, and by all means, this might be the most pressure Belfort has ever faced in his career. Believe it or not, Vitor is no longer a young man. He’s 34 now and has been fighting since 1996. If he loses at UFC 142, he may never sniff another title shot. By all accounts, Belfort is in a good place in his life. He’s found a home at Xtreme Couture where he’s working with some of the best trainers and sparring partners, there’s nothing going on in his personal life to distract him from the fight, he got to Brazil last week to get soak everything in and get acclimated to the environment, and he’s creating his own atmosphere. There are no excuses for him on Saturday night. It’s up to him to perform, to silence critics who believe he’s a mental flake, to stand up to the moment and unload a barrage of punches, knocking it, and Johnson, out in the process. No pressure, Vitor.

Posted in: ’t, vitor, belfort, home country, pressure

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Everybody has a weakness. My weakness is ice cream. Bauzen’s weakness is breakfast burritos, Jose Aldo’s weakness is wrestling. We all have to hope there is help out there, and while there is no help for Bauzen or myself, Jose Aldo can call on former NCAA Div. I wrestler and the only man to have ever beaten Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard. If only Gray Maynard would come to my house and punch me in the face every time I tried to eat ice cream. Negative reinforcement like that is hard to come by. Gray had recently gone on record to state that he didn’t think Chad Mendes was ready to face Jose Aldo which was of course taken as a slight by the featherweight contender. Gray isn’t one to mince his words however and he clarified things by making the following statement on MMAJunkie: “I like Chad; I met him a couple of times, but I like Jose, how he trains, where he's from – his whole story. So I thought it was an opportunity I could help... I'm just trying to learn a lot and evolve and create a new me.” I’m sure you will all sleep easier tonight knowing that Gray didn’t intend to disrespect Chad Mendes. The real story here for me is not only that Jose Aldo has brought in Maynard as a sparring partner but also that Gray is training with one of the baddest Muay Thai stylists in MMA just now then heading over to Holland to train with Andy Souwer. This new Gray Maynard is going to be a very scary individual. [Source]

Posted in: ’t, jose, jose aldo, maynard, chad

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Will Jose Aldo still be a featherweight a year from today? How should Strikeforce handle the fallout from Cris Santos‘ positive drug test? Is Anthony Johnson going to be a better middleweight than he was a welterweight? How much life does Strikeforce have left in it? Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay! Welcome to Grappling with Issues, our site’s regular weekly feature highlighting insight and opinion from myself and resident workhorse Jeremy Lambert whose general contributions and “Scorecard” event-breakdowns can be regularly found on Five Ounces. As always, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t hesitate to offer your own take on the topics in the “Comments” section below. Will Strikeforce last past 2012? Conlan: No. More and more I keep hearing Strikeforce may only put on six shows in 2012 rather than eight, a bad sign in itself. With the abysmal ticket sales and general lack of buzz about shows I don’t see Showtime wanting them back or the UFC wanting to continue floating them financially. Hell, every star on the Strikeforce roster wants to go to the UFC, so there’s no reason to keep playing games by pretending the organization isn’t nose-diving towards being dismantled. Lambert: I have to echo Bren on this one. I’m no body language expert, but I got the feeling that Dana White really regretted keeping the company around during his interview at this past weekends Strikeforce event. They actually did a fair amount of promotion for Saturday’s event and it was during a Showtime free preview weekend, and it still only drew 344,000 people. Dana doesn’t appear to be behind the promotion, fighters would rather be in the UFC, and fans would rather watch something else. What should Strikeforce do with the featherweight division now that “Cyborg” Santos has been suspended for a year? Conlan: They actually *have* a featherweight division?!? When did this happen? The truth is there aren’t enough quality 145-pound females in MMA or else we would have heard about more of them by now. I’d wager 90+ percent of the audience had no idea who Hiroko Yamanaka was prior to her being named as a challenger and that in itself is all you need to know when it comes to the 145ers. There was never a real effort to build a division to begin with so why start now? Lambert: Just award Gina Carano the vacant title and hope to God she thinks it’s valuable enough to defend this year. They’ll pop a rating if she decides to fight and if she doesn’t, maybe she’ll be kind enough to show up and drunkenly dance. Scrapping the division is obviously the way to go. The whole appeal of the division was, “Watch Cyborg beat up some poor girl” and now that’s gone. They haven’t built up any other fighters and I guess that’s because they have no fighters to build up. How many rounds will Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes go this weekend? Conlan: Five. I don’t think either man will finish the other barring a perfectly placed “one punch” knockout. Mendes is likely to control a lot of the action while on top of Aldo, scoring points and fending off elbows/submission attempts but not necessarily pounding the Brazilian champ out. Likewise, Aldo will clearly dominate the striking department but was unable to finish a one-legged Urijah Faber or the tag-team of Mark Hominick and his hematoma. Someone’s winning a decision. I’m just not sure who. Lambert: I think Aldo will finish Mendes in the second round. Sure he didn’t finish Faber and Hominick, but that’s only because he was fighting them in their hometown and didn’t want to completely embarrass them. And he didn’t finish Florian because he felt bad that he had to stand in the way of Kenny failing to win another title. Things are different this time though. He’s in the UFC main event and fighting in his home country of Brazil. There will be no sympathy for Mendes this Saturday. Should Zuffa bring in a UFC middleweight for Luke Rockhold’s next fight? Lambert: No. First off, Zuffa doesn’t have many UFC middleweights to spare as it’s not a real deep division. I guess a guy like Brian Stann could move down to Strikeforce, but here’s the problem – no UFC fighter wants to move down to Strikeforce. Really though, Rockhold has two good fights at 185 in Strikeforce those being Tim Kennedy and a rematch with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. I know Rockhold wants better competition, but he should really slow his role a bit. He won a close decision against Souza in the first fight and beat Keith Jardine in 2012. He doesn’t really have the resume to be calling out UFC guys just yet. If he beats Kennedy and Souza, both of whom are UFC caliber middleweights, then move him to the Octagon. Conlan: Agreed for the most part. Kennedy should be definitely be Rockhold’s next opponent and Souza is a legitimate option assuming “Jacare” can pick up a win beforehand, as their first fight wasn’t close enough to dictate an immediate rematch). If those two things play out, that scenario should keep Rockhold busy until the latter part of the year when things can be reassessed based on Strikeforce’s future or lack thereof. However, I do differ with Jeremy in terms of assuming there isn’t a legitimate middleweight on the UFC roster willing to go to Strikeforce for a 6-9 month stint if it meant the same pay day and the possibility of a title-shot if/when the UFC absorbs the company. Why wouldn’t a guy like Yushin Okami prefer a scenario with Rockhold/Kennedy/Souza to the road he’d have to travel in the UFC to earn another crack at the belt? Anthony Johnson will do better/worse at 185 pounds than he did at 170. Lambert: Better, because as I just mentioned, middleweight isn’t deep, especially compared to welterweight. It’s not like Johnson lit up his fellow 170ers. He faltered in his biggest test against Josh Koscheck, missed significant time, and then won back-to-back fights against mid-level opponents but now he’s at 185. If he beats Vitor Belfort, he’s legitimately one fight away from a title fight. Conlan: I’m going to cheat and say “the same”. As Jeremy pointed out, Johnson’s run at 170-pounds wasn’t anything to brag about. He beat some solid opposition but also lost a few fights despite having a huge size advantage. I see the same situation carrying over to middleweight where he’ll be healthier but also face guys of a similar physical stature. Ultimately, “Rumble” will take out some quality opponents but also lose a few times, maybe even against guys he should beat on paper, and remain as much a top contender to the middleweight title as he is to the welterweight one, i.e. a long-shot. Will Jose Aldo still be a featherweight in January 2013? Lambert: This is a tough one, but I think he’ll end up moving to 155 sometime this year. Even though a drawn out Aldo still beats the majority of the division, there’s no point in him continuing to cut the weight when Frankie Edgar has proven that smaller guys can get it done at lightweight. Aldo obviously has the skills to compete in the division and he’ll have a nice speed advantage as well. Plus, assuming the weight cut is the reason for his questionable cardio at 145, those issues should be eliminated at 155. Conlan: The only person who truly knows the answer is Andre Pederneiras, Aldo’s coach at Nova Uniao. The 145-pound champ has never waivered from his stance that he would do what he was told to whether it meant staying at featherweight or moving up. I will say that I’m confident Aldo’s recent training time with Gray Maynard probably gave him a better feel for how he’d fare at 155 and, at least from the footage the UFC released, it would definitely be more than decent. If forced to pick “yes” or “no” on this topic I’ll go with the former since I think his camp will want him to truly cement his legacy at featherweight before moving up. With fights on the horizon against some solid scrappers, as well as a continuous stream of 155ers moving down, as long as he can get his weight-cutting in check he’ll be terrorizing the division for at least another year (which is really only 2-3 more fights max). PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, strikeforce, ’t, aldo

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It’s been said that you need to be careful when you meet your heroes because sometimes they can disappoint you. But how is it supposed to go when you fight one? Debuting UFC featherweight Antonio Carvalho knows the answer to that question, and surprisingly, it’s not as bad as you might think.In fact, the way he puts it, the whole scenario “was really emotional. It was the biggest highlight as far as my competitive life.”I guess at this point it pays to go back a bit for a little history. Canada’s Carvalho, one of the unsung lighter weight heroes in the sport of mixed martial arts back when featherweights weren’t headlining UFC shows like they will this Saturday night in Rio, had gone to Japan in 2005 to face Takeshi Inoue in a Shooto bout.At the time, the odds of making money or gaining any sort of prestige in North America as a 145-pound fighter were slim and none, but that didn’t deter Carvalho, an Ontario native of Portuguese descent who nearly made a career out of soccer when he was living in Portugal and playing for the Sporting Lisbon youth club.“I think even when I started the sport, it was very underground,” said Carvalho, who turned pro in 2002. “Most of it was through the internet and that’s how we stayed alive for so many years. I was always a fan from the beginning, just getting VHS tapes from all sorts of events from around the world, and obviously when there was all the banning going on, I still made sure that I was keeping up to date on all the fighters. I just loved doing it. Back then there was very little money to begin with, and if you fought, you’d better love to fight because you’re not making that much money and you still had to work a regular job, which I did. I just made sure I had jobs where I could take the weekends off so I could go fight and have time when I could train.”Unbeaten in his first seven pro bouts, Carvalho did find that Japan was a promising option though, and it was a place where he had the potential to make fighting a career.“There was a time when the UFC didn’t have the lightweights, and then they didn’t have the featherweights or bantamweights,” he recalled. “That’s why I gravitated towards Japan - they had so many organizations running at the same time over there and so many fighters filtering through from all over the world. At the time, for the featherweights, that was the place to be. So I was happy to be competing and doing what I loved.”He had to win though, and “The Lion” was no joke, as he was unbeaten at the time himself at 6-0. Carvalho wound up taking a three round majority decision win, but more importantly, he got to meet the headliner, his fighting idol and Japanese legend Rumina Sato.“That was kind of surreal for me,” said Carvalho. “Rumina Sato was the headliner, and he was fighting Gilbert Melendez that night. When I saw him, I was like ‘oh man.’ To me, it looked like he was glowing, just this untouchable guy. I thought he was amazing and doing things, especially at that time, which made him like a human highlight reel for MMA. I was a huge fan and he was my hero.”Carvalho picked up one of Sato’s highlight DVDs, and he made sure he didn’t leave Japan without getting it signed and telling Sato just how big of a fan he was.Returning home, Carvalho lost his first pro bout via majority decision to Jeff Curran in November of 2005, but a month later, he got a call from Japan to fight again. The opponent? Rumina Sato. “I was completely shocked,” he said. “But I had to take the opportunity.” On February 17, 2006, Carvalho faced his hero…and he won.“I was so star-struck when I got in there that I almost got KOed right off the bat,” said Carvalho of his bout against Sato. “I spent a lot of time on my back, defending punches and submissions, and eventually I thought to myself, ‘yeah, he’s my hero, but I think I’ve got to do something here.’ And somehow I managed to reverse the position and I ended up putting him away.”It was a moment that Carvalho believes will never be topped.“I never believed I would ever have the chance to face him, much less defeat him in a match,” he said. “It was the ultimate high for me in the sport.”Carvalho would fight four more times in Japan, with the only win being a big one over current UFC featherweight Hatsu Hioki, and after a June 2008 loss to Yuji Hoshino, he had reached the end of his MMA rope.“Injuries piled up,” he said. “It got to the point where I was so injured, and so burnt out, and so tired with everything that was going on in life in general. After I lost my last fight in Japan, I pretty much thought that was it.”His hiatus from the sport would last less than two years, with rest and healing doing wonders for him mentally and physically. He returned to the gym to work with longtime friend and coach Justin Bruckmann, and eventually, he decided to fight again. “The fire sorta came back, and when I started doing well again and my body was getting stronger, things started falling into place and that’s when I decided to come back.”Three wins into the comeback that began in March of 2010, the 32-year old got the call he had waited years for – he was a UFC fighter. And while he was scratched from his expected debut against Yuri Alcantara at UFC 134 last August due to injury, he will finally step into the Octagon on Saturday to face Felipe Arantes at UFC 142. It’s been a long, interesting trip to make it here, and Carvalho is eager to write the next chapter of this story.“I’ve been through just about everything in this sport,” he said. “And I don’t think it’s my time to leave just yet. The UFC gave me this chance, they found space for me on their roster, and this was kind of the last goal. That’s not to say things might not change in the UFC – I’m gonna take everything one fight at a time. But I don’t look that far ahead, I’m not looking past the guy I’m fighting, and the truth is, if I don’t perform now, then it just means that I’m just not as good as the other guy. It’s that simple, and I have no excuses. I had a great camp, great people around me, it’s time for me to perform, and if I don’t, then maybe it’s time for me to leave.”

Posted in: ufc, time, ’t, japan, carvalho

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If the next man challenging for Jose Aldo’s UFC featherweight title - Chad Mendes – looks like he’s having the time of his life, he is. It wasn’t always that way for the California native though.Back when he was dominating the Pac-10 wrestling scene as a member of the Cal-Poly squad, there was little time to smell the proverbial roses or take a breath to enjoy the ride. Sure, Mendes won two Pac-10 titles, was a two-time All-American, and was one victory away from a national title in 2008, but when it was over, it was almost as if he was so obsessed that he couldn’t even remember what had happened, let alone enjoy it.“I remember through high school, and even a lot through college, I had that tunnel vision, and looking back on it, I’m like ‘it went by so fast,’” Mendes recalled. “And all I thought about was that, and I never really took the time to step back and look back at my accomplishments and give myself a pat on the back. It was just go, go, go, go.” So when he decided to take his talents to the world of mixed martial arts, obviously a world title was the goal, but in the process, he was going to savor every moment of his second athletic life.“I kinda took the tunnel vision from going through wrestling, and looking back on it and seeing how it was then, I told myself when I got into this that this is gonna be something that’s fun,” he said. “I can’t do this my entire life. I probably have a good ten year run at this, and I’m gonna do everything I can to get as good as I can and do my best, and soak it in and enjoy every minute of it. And I think that’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s been awesome.”It’s also been a ride few could have predicted. Yes, Mendes was an ultra-talented wrestler, but to go from Square One to a world title shot this Saturday in the main event of UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro in less than four years as a pro is nothing short of astounding. It’s even taken Mendes aback at times when he thinks about it.“A little over three years ago, I was still in college and watching (teammate) Urijah (Faber) do his thing and I just kinda looked at it and said ‘man, this is something I feel like I can be good at and I want to get into it and try,’” he said. “It’s been a fast ride to where I’m at now, and it’s been great and a wonderful experience. I’ve got to travel all over and meet a lot of people and get to fight in front of a bunch of fans and it’s been great. It’s crazy to think that in a little over three years that I’m fighting for the world title in a main event for the UFC. So stepping back and looking at that is definitely a huge accomplishment for me.”Beating the seemingly unstoppable Aldo would be even bigger, and even though the 26-year old Mendes has a year on the 25-year old champion in terms of age, when it comes to experience, the Brazilian has been fighting professionally since “Money” was a freshman in college. If that doesn’t put Mendes’ rapid rise into perspective, nothing will. But he’s here for a reason, with an 11-0 record and the unquestioned number one contender’s spot. That’s not to say there weren’t difficult times when the idea of mixing striking and jiu-jitsu in with his wrestling was just overwhelming.“You have to realize that there are going to be peaks and valleys, so you need to step back, look at what you’ve been doing wrong and just fix it,” said Mendes. “Especially in the beginning, all I had was my wrestling, and I was going in there against guys that in wrestling I would demolish, but they’re submitting me in every single thing possible because I just didn’t know what I was doing. And it was really frustrating, and I started second-guessing a little bit, but then I stepped back, figured out what I was doing wrong, and like any other sport, you just practice it and get good at it.”And in a fight sport, you get better by fighting, and Mendes has yet to disappoint. Turning pro in 2008, Mendes won his first five bouts before getting called to the WEC in 2010. There, he turned back Erik Koch, Anthony Morrison, Cub Swanson, and Javier Vazquez, making it evident that he was one of the top 145-pounders in the world by the time he made his UFC debut in 2011, beating Michihiro Omigawa and Rani Yahya in his two outings last year. So what’s the secret? Perhaps it’s just staying true to his roots and not trying to show off the new wrinkles in his game every time out, while still adding weapons to his arsenal that he will pull out if necessary.“Nowadays, you’ve got to be good at everything,” he said. “I know my wrestling is my strength and it’s what I’ve been doing since I was five, but a lot of the time you’ve got to train other things and you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone. Wrestling for me is my comfort zone, so a lot of times if I’m getting hit in the standup, I automatically take the guy down, where sometimes you’ve got to force yourself not to. But wrestling is my strength and my body has grown and adapted to that because it’s something I’ve done my entire life, so it’s always gonna be my strength and always something I’m gonna go to. But I think in this day and age you’ve got to be well-rounded. Sometimes it’s hard because you get in that mindset where I think wrestling feels so fun right now that it’s all I want to do. But I know that boxing or kickboxing is something I’m not as good at, so I’ve got to train that. Sometimes you’ve got to put the stuff that you’re almost craving to do on the backburner to learn the other stuff.”Against Aldo, he’ll need to adjust at a second’s notice if necessary, but that shouldn’t be an issue for him, especially since the champion has been on his radar for over a year. There’s even been so much talk about the two fighting that it could almost be at the point where Mendes never wants to hear the name Jose Aldo after Saturday night. Mendes laughs.“I honestly don’t think it’s gonna be anything like that anytime soon. If I do go out there and beat him, I think we’re both top level guys, so we’re probably gonna end up fighting each other more than once. It’s something that’s part of the sport and something we’ve got to do, but I’ve definitely been watching intently and I’m super pumped and ready for this fight. Honestly, this is the best cardio and conditioning shape I’ve ever been in, and I can almost even say throughout my wrestling career, so I feel great, I’m very confident coming into this fight and I’m ready to get in there and showcase it.”It almost sounds like he’s got that wrestling tunnel vision back, but even with all his focus solely on Aldo, he has let a little light in when it comes to thinking about getting a championship belt around his waist.“That is something I definitely think about every day, while I’m working out, while I’m watching my weight, and while I’m craving something that I can’t have,” said Mendes. “I just think about that and it makes it all go away. It’s something that’s super motivating for me, and I just can’t wait to hear ‘and NEW.’ I’m pumped.”

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The mystery has been solved. In an interview with Fightlinker’s Matthew Polly, Gina Carano confirmed that her voice was in fact altered in Haywire. Her explanation: GINA: Yeah absolutely and I’m surprised that hasn’t come up sooner. Stephen Soderberg wanted Mallory Kane [the character she plays in the movie] to be a completely different entity than Gina Carano. So he definitely went in and I went in to AVR and he did some tweaking. We all knew that that was going to come up because people know me so well in the MMA world. But he is quite a genius in what he has created and it still was an honor to be a part of it. Even though it might not sound exactly like me, there are still parts of me that are in there. But he just wanted to make sure that that entity was completely different from myself. ME: Gotcha. And I just wanted to be clear, because TMZ was hinting that you had been dubbed over by another actress and I just wanted to clear up that that wasn’t what happened. GINA: Yeah, everyone was a little curious about that. And I don’t blame anyone for being curious about it. But if I was bald and they had given me the voice of Bill Clinton I still would have done the movie. Funny enough, Gina’s publicist immediately jumped in and stopped the interview after she answered the question. Maybe it was just coincidence, but it sure seemed like they don’t want her saying too much about it. I personally think changing her voice is kind of lame, but I haven’t seen the movie yet so maybe it was the right call. Switching topics, Gina also commented on Cris Cyborg’s positive steroid test. Understandably, the news makes Gina wonder if Cyborg had an unfair advantage when they fought. I definitely could have lived without hearing the news that she had tested positive. You know, it kind of hurts. For me that was one of my biggest moments. That was my biggest moment in mixed martial arts… It was huge. And of course people were saying that around me and I didn’t want to take anything away from her so I would steer clear of that question. But now that it’s positive years later, it really kind of hurts. But at the same time it could be some misguided direction. Someone around her was telling her that was a good idea. Obviously it isn’t something an athlete like her needs to do. She’s already a phenomenal athlete without it. I’m not going to sit here and rejoice in the hard time she’s going to have to fight back into the hearts of the fans to, you know, not be considered a cheater. I know she’s a great person and she’s going to get past this hard time and use it to make a better person out of herself. I know that because I’ve been around her, the little I have. It’s unfortunate that someone around her was telling her she needed it. That hurts my heart for her. But at the same time, there is this other part of me that’s like, “Dammit, I don’t want to hear that, because that was the biggest moment in my life.” I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it felt like a stab in the heart. Gina basically went off the grid after that loss, however she said she would have “absolutely” continued fighting and working for a rematch if the movie hadn’t come along. But since it did, she has some major decisions ahead of her. Given the opportunity she says she would do “another film over and over and over” in a “heartbeat,” but she doesn’t want to completely abandon her MMA career. She’s not giving any concrete answers on her future, but it sounds like acting is probably going to take priority in her professional life if those opportunities are there, and similar to Cung Le, we could see her take sporadic one-off fights in between roles. Image via Esther Lin for Strikeforce/Showtime

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The UFC returns to Brazil for the second time since in the last six months including last August’s extravaganza though unfortunately this event has nowhere near the firepower that UFC 134 did. That card featured a middleweight title bout between Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami along with the triumphant return of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to action and Mauricio Rua vs. Forrest Griffin. This time around the main event is for the UFC Featherweight Championship as Jose Aldo will look to defend his title against the undefeated Team Alpha Male member Chad Mendes. Which Aldo will we see this time around -the explosive striker who tore through Mike Brown, Urijah Faber, and Manvel Gamburyan or the one who has seemed hesitant against Mark Hominick and most recently Kenny Florian? Check Out the UFC Countdown Special for UFC 142 Some have said that the weight cut is taking its toll on Aldo; if that’s the case a jump up to lightweight should be in his future. He will have his hands full with Mendes who possesses fantastic wrestling and pushes a frenetic pace. He may not finish many of his fights, but he can certainly punish his opponents which is not a good sign for someone who may have issues with their cardio due to a difficult weight cut. The co-main event is where the real action is at as Anthony Johnson makes his middleweight debut against fellow hard-hitting striker Vitor Belfort. Not many expect this bout to last too long as both men pack absolute dynamite in their hands. Belfort is coming off a first round knockout victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133 and Johnson was last seen putting Charlie Brenneman to sleep at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson. How will Johnson adapt to fighting at a heavier weight? We won’t know until he actually gets into the cage on Saturday night, but he has always been a supersized welterweight who has had trouble making weight at times. This move should enhance his performance. Belfort is slated to coach opposite Wanderlei Silva on the first ever Brazilian version of The Ultimate Fighter. The two men met back in 1998 with Belfort blitzing Silva and knocking him out in just 44 seconds. One of these two men could very easily walk away with the Knockout of the Night bonus. The rest of the card has been besieged by injuries. No less than five fighters have been forced off the card due to injury leaving some competitors without opponents. All told there are only ten bouts and each and every single one has a Brazilian fighter participating in it. Let’s take a look at which of these twenty fighters are in jeopardy of losing their job should they lose on Saturday night. Carlo Prater: Prater was brought in as a replacement for Siyar Bahadurzada and will face the once defeated top Brazilian welterweight prospect Erick Silva in his UFC debut. Prater is a WEC veteran who has competed against such fighters as Spencer Fisher, Melvin Guillard, Drew Fickett, and Carlos Condit who he has defeated once but lost when they fought for Condit’s WEC welterweight title in 2008. Prater is a native of Brazil and it has to be nice to have an opportunity to fight in front of his countrymen, but he is more or less being fed to the wolves here. Should he win he will get another fight, but other than that he is likely one and done. Gabriel Gonzaga: A former UFC heavyweight title contender, Gonzaga retired after suffering his second consecutive loss and third in four tries inside the Octagon to Brendan Schaub at UFC 121 in October of 2010. A perennial underachiever Gonzaga has the size, strength and grappling skills to be a solid heavyweight, but he just never seemed to recover from his loss to Randy Couture when they met for the title 2007. He most recently fought Parker Porter in October and won the Reality Fighting Heavyweight Championship. He will face Ednaldo Oliveira as a replacement for the injured Rob Broughton on Saturday night. At only 32-years-old “Napao” should have some productive years ahead of him should he be able to overcome his mental lapses. Whether or not they are in the UFC remain to be seen. He did sign a four-fight deal, but we all know that doesn’t mean much as nothing is guaranteed with this organization. A poor showing here and Gonzaga could be shown the door. Michihiro Omigawa: Omigawa may have won his last fight against Jason Young he hasn’t been the type of addition the UFC thought he would be when they brought him in early last year. He entered the UFC riding a five-fight winning streak with wins against Hatsu Hioki, Hiroyuki Takaya, Micah Miller, Young Sam Jung, and Cole Escovedo. He was manhandled by Mendes in his UFC debut then lost to Darrell Elkins at UFC 131. With a paltry 1-2 record he may not be able to survive another loss. He is not scheduled for the UFC in Japan card so that won’t protect him. Let’s see how things play out on Saturday night. Ricardo Funch: Funch makes his return to the UFC after a one fight hiatus. His first run was not a successful one as he lost his only two bouts. He was brought in as an injury replacement for Paulo Thiago to face Xtreme Couture veteran Mike Pyle. He’s another Brazilian fighter brought back to fight in front of the Brazilian fans, but it’s pretty apparent that is Thiago wasn’t injured Funch wouldn’t be on this card, therefore nothing is promised other than this one fight. He loses to Pyle and he loses his job for a second time. Felipe Arantes: Arantes made his UFC debut back in August at UFC 134 the last card in Brazil. He lost to Yuri Alcantara via unanimous decision and hasn’t fought since. The UFC isn’t keen on fighters losing their first two fights in the organization. The fact that he hasn’t fought since the last Brazilian card could lead one to believe that they have no intention of him becoming a part of the regular roster. Of course he could silence all of these concerns with a win here, otherwise its back to the Brazilian regional circuit for Arantes. That’s it for this go-round. Make sure to tune in to the televised prelims and PPV action this Saturday night to see which of the above-mentioned men may indeed be looking for a job on Monday morning. Tweet

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Middleweight contender Rousimar Palhares has taken plenty of flak for some bizarre behavior that has ranged from holding on to submissions for too long to jumping to the top of the Octagon and celebrating a victory before the fight was even stopped. But if he thinks Mike Massenzio isn’t willing to go wherever necessary to win their UFC 142 bout this Saturday, he’s sadly mistaken.“If it has to be a war, let’s do it,” said Massenzio, who earned himself a spot on the main card not with the skill that made him a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and national junior college wrestling champion, but with the grit and determination he showed in bouts against Brian Stann, Krzysztof Soszynski, and, most recently, Steve Cantwell. In other words, he can beat you with technique, or he can beat you with relentless pressure and heart. Pick your poison.“I definitely had to dig down deep in the last fight,” said the New Jersey native, who pounded out a three round win over Cantwell at UFC 136 last October. “Cantwell’s really technically sound, and it took one minute to really pull everything together. I aborted the first game plan, and I noticed very briefly that he didn’t like going backward, and that’s what I was capitalizing on more than anything and that’s when everything started connecting. No matter where it is, whether it’s on the ground or on the feet, I believe in myself that I can handle myself there.”It was Massenzio’s boxing, not his wrestling or jiu-jitsu, that paved the way for his first UFC win since 2008. It was a much needed victory for the 29-year old, and one in which he showed just how dangerous he can be wherever the fight goes.“I’ve been boxing since I was a little kid, but I never really let my hands fly,” he said. “Going into that fight, I knew it was gonna be another tough one, and I just told myself that no matter where the fight goes, just let it go. And honestly, it just happened. It came off crisp and I felt real comfortable and I was really happy with myself.”The next test is Palhares, winner of six of his eight UFC bouts, and the premier leg lock master in the sport today. Unfortunately, the Rio de Janeiro resident has gotten more attention lately for his aforementioned antics than for his performances, which is unfortunate, but that unpredictability can also make an opponent tentative, wondering what’s going to happen next. Massenzio’s doing his best not to fall into that trap.“The biggest thing is that I just stick to my gameplan, stick to the way I fight, and try not to fall into what he’s doing and his tendencies,” he said. “Obviously we picked him apart a lot and did a lot of tapework, especially in the beginning, and just tried to pick the things he’s consistent with. Pretty much everyone knows he’s a big leglock guy, but overall I’m just training in every area and not just worrying about one thing. I’m solely focusing on fighting my fight, and not falling into this mode where I’m completely fighting his way and worrying about him.”And who knows, with Palhares seeing a sports psychologist and doing his best not to repeat the errors of the past, he might be the one who is tentative on fight night. But again, Massenzio isn’t basing his odds of winning on Palhares being a pacifist when the bell rings. He’s expecting the “Toquinho” who has sent the likes of Dan Miller, Ivan Salaverry, Jeremy Horn, and Tomasz Drwal down to defeat.“He’s a world-class athlete and one of the best of the best and I don’t really think about what he’s gonna do,” said Massenzio. “I just put it in my head that it’s gonna be the best Palhares. He’s training hard and he wants to come out and win in dominating fashion, and I expect the best Rousimar that there is.”If anything, Massenzio probably has the edge standing, and Palhares has had some struggles with wrestlers like the two Dans on his ledger, Miller and Henderson. “If you think about the Dan Miller fight,” said Massenzio, “he really didn’t do any leglocks – one attempt. So the key is to stay smart wherever the fight goes and the big thing is trying to avoid getting taken down and trying to avoid clinch areas where he’s gonna look to then start attacking. Just have good hands and keep it active with a lot of movement.”He almost makes it sound easy. But it’s not, and he knows it. In fact, if you know Mike Massenzio, you’re aware that if something is easy, he doesn’t want anything to do with it. So put him in with one of the best submission artists in the game, and put the fight smack dab in the middle of his hometown. That’s the kind of fight he wants.“To me, this is what I like,” said Massenzio. “I want the challenge. This is gonna be the hardest test of my life, going to his hometown, his home country, with over 20,000 people against me, but that’s what I live for. In wrestling, I’ve been there. I’ve been the underdog my whole life, I pulled it out before, and the main thing I always told myself is to never quit, never give up, never stop coming, and just keep it going and keep pushing forward.”

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If you’ve been following mixed martial arts long enough to remember the “old” Vitor Belfort, the 19-year old teenager with the blazing hand and foot speed who captivated everyone back in 1997, you could almost feel like a proud parent watching him during the kickoff press conference for this Saturday’s UFC 142 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.There he was, not only the local kid coming back home as a triumphant hero and international star, but a mature 34-year old man whose goals aren’t just to win fights and championships, but to be an ambassador for the sport that has been his life for over 15 years.“People who knew me a long time ago but don’t know me now, they have a disadvantage,” explained Belfort. “Every day I’ve had to increase knowledge, increase wisdom, increase my talent and add new tools to my game and to my life. I take every day as the last day of my life, and some days are hard, some days are easier, but the bottom line is that whoever doesn’t know me now has a disadvantage if they just know me from back then.”Back then, Belfort was as wild as his flurries in the Octagon. In other words, he was like any other 19-year old thrust into the public eye. There would be soaring highs and catastrophic lows, but unlike the man he was most often compared to, former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson, Belfort’s career didn’t flame out after a few dazzling prime years. The fighter dubbed “The Phenom” weathered every blow that came his way, and amazingly, he is still relevant and still a contender with realistic championship potential as he prepares for Saturday’s co-main event with Anthony Johnson.“He’s young and has a big future in front of him,” said Belfort of “Rumble,” who is making his 185-pound debut. “He’s a tough opponent and he has the skills. He’s a great athlete, great wrestler, and it’s going to be pretty interesting to see how he’s gonna act in the ring. Will he try to take me down or will he try to stand?”That decision may dictate whether Belfort goes into his stint as a coach on the first edition of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil with a win or a loss. And while Johnson has proven that he can be a chameleon in the Octagon, opting to use his wrestling to defeat Dan Hardy while returning to his bombs away strategy for his most recent win over Charlie Brenneman, Belfort says that his own strength comes from not straying too far from what he knows.“I always knew what I was and always knew what my skills were and what I was capable of doing,” he said. “You have to know who you are and what you’re capable of. It’s very important.”Fresh from an August knockout of Yoshihiro Akiyama that eased the disappointment of losing his early 2011 title fight against Anderson Silva, Belfort looked to be in prime form against the Japanese star, and the victory propelled him into this bout, which marks his first fight at home in Brazil since he knocked out his TUF Brazil coaching rival Wanderlei Silva in 44 seconds in October of 1998. But even as what promises to be an emotional night draws nearer, he’s doing his best not to get caught up in the distractions that come with fighting in his home city.“I’m kinda thinking about that a little bit, but I’m trying to stay out of it,” he said. “I don’t want anything to take me away from my training. Every time I see myself drifting from my duty today, I try to go back, and me and the coaches are always focusing on what’s next so on the day, things will take care of themselves.”A win over Johnson will be Belfort’s 21st as a professional, and seventh in his last eight fights. Next is the coaching stint on TUF Brazil, and then a rematch with Silva. It’s as close as a fighter will get to having a set schedule for the bulk of the year, and Belfort embraces it.“That’s the advantage,” he said. “It’s a good thing I have another thing lined up, and I just focus on what’s next and what’s positive and what makes you happy and what makes you perform good.”As for the opportunity to coach a group of UFC hopefuls, Belfort is looking forward to teaching the lessons he’s learned over the years and also letting his team know that to build the sport, they must realize that more eyes are on them than ever before, so the true responsibilities of being a professional lie beyond what happens in the Octagon.“I’m going to be myself,” said Belfort of coaching TUF. “People will have a chance to know me more, how I am, what my values are when it comes to the sport, and how I respect my opponents and the fans. Bottom line, it’s a reality show, so it has to be real. I know some people have the tendency when they’re on TV to be one person and they try to get more attention so they get more money. I see a different way. If I can be true to people and be myself to them, I’m gonna get the respect. Either they like it or they don’t, but they’re gonna respect me because I respect them as well. And in this sport, we have a responsibility bigger than any other athlete, any other soccer player, anybody else. If you do something to somebody, you have a bigger price to pay because you’re a mixed martial artist. This is what I’m about to show them, and lead them in a way of being responsible and not letting fame get in the way.”Coming from Belfort, a statement like that will carry more weight with the fighters he coaches simply because they know it’s not talk. He’s been where they are, he’s gone through the good, the bad, and the ugly of the sport, and he’s still standing. And more than that, he’s now able to focus his energies on the fight, and when that final punch is thrown and his hand is raised in victory, there are few people ever happier in that moment.“It’s a payday process,” he said. “It’s like when a farmer sees his seeds turn into something. It’s an awesome feeling and it’s so great to see the reward from the sacrifices we made. So many people are involved, and you think about the process that turned into a win. It’s a great time and you’ve got to enjoy it and live the moment because that moment may never come back. Life is made by moments and sometimes even the bad moments make yourself better and make you stronger. So the focus should be on what’s next. Life is made day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and like the Americans say, ‘time is money’ (Laughs) so I invest my time like my money, in every way possible.”

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Anthony Johnson didn’t need any more motivation than he already had for this Saturday’s UFC 142 bout against Vitor Belfort. “Rumble” was going to be making his middleweight debut after a long run at 170 pounds, he was facing a legit superstar and former champion, and he was doing it in a Pay-Per-View co-main event.But then he watched a clip of Belfort from the Countdown to UFC 142 preview show, and everything clicked even more. “In one of the clips, Vitor said that we’re gonna see a lion January 14th,” recalled Johnson. “Well, that’s the one thing my granddad told me right before he passed. The week he passed, he said to fight like I’m fighting a lion across the cage. When I heard that from Vitor’s mouth, I said thank you. I’ve been waiting on this lion a long time.”It’s almost as if this fight is his destiny, and in a lot of ways it is. Long considered one of the top prospects in the welterweight division, Johnson was also seen as one of the biggest fighters in the weight class, one whose ability to make 170 pounds was almost as spectacular as one of his many highlight reel knockouts. Yet after he seemed to get into a weight cutting rhythm and started to make moves on the top guns in the division, his move to middleweight was announced. “I like to keep people on their toes,” he laughed. “I don’t like to be what people think I am.”In his eyes, it wasn’t a conscious decision to move 15 pounds north; he just received the offer to fight Belfort and ran with it.“To me, any time would have been the right time. The UFC presented me with the chance to fight Vitor, so why not? You don’t really get many opportunities in life, and when you do, you need to take them. I just saw it as a great opportunity for me, and right now, I’m fighting at 185, so my focus is there. 170 hasn’t really popped into my head at all. After the fight I don’t know what I’m gonna think, but right now, I haven’t thought about going back down or doing anything else except fighting.”Does he feel the difference?“Yeah, I’m not hungry,” he deadpans before breaking out into a laugh. But Johnson’s move north is no laughing matter to the middleweight division. Not only will he be coming into fights with a boost of energy from not having a drastic weight cut, but he’s likely to have an edge in speed on his foes while still retaining his power. Add in his underrated wrestling and he’s a tough puzzle for any 185er to figure out. Even Belfort admitted in a pre-fight interview that he doesn’t know which version of Johnson is going to show up – the wrestler or the striker. Johnson likes being this international man of mystery.“I love the fact that I’m in the back of their minds and they don’t know what I’m gonna do, and I’m gonna keep it that way,” said the 27-year old. “I’m gonna keep the fans, my coaches, and my opponents guessing. My coaches don’t even know what guy’s gonna show up at practice (Laughs) – the wrestler or the striker. I just like to mix it up, and in my opinion, that’s how you beat people. I’m gonna use all of my strengths – wrestling, striking, jiu-jitsu, I don’t care; I’m coming hard.”And he’s ready for whatever Belfort shows up as well, whether it’s the explosive and aggressive striker or the more measured counterfighter who waits for his opponents to over commit.“He’s an extremely fast, good fighter,” said Johnson of the former UFC light heavyweight champion. “But this is a fight. I’m gonna go in there and do what I do and stick to my plan and fight the way I’ve always been fighting, and that’s using my speed, using my power, and just getting the job done. Vitor’s a phenomenal fighter, but I can do things just as good as he can. He thinks he has speed, well I have speed too. He thinks he has power, I got that too. So if he wants to go tit for tat, we can do that.”Anyone who has seen Johnson fight over the course of his nearly five year UFC career will attest to his willingness to scrap and his killer instinct. Yet his vicious knockouts of Charlie Brenneman, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Kevin Burns, Luigi Fioravanti, Tommy Speer, and Chad Reiner are in stark contrast to his out of the Octagon demeanor, where he is laid-back and always quick with a joke or one-liner. “When I fight, I don’t care what’s around me,” he said. “I’m there to do my job and I got somebody in there that’s trying to take my life, and that’s what I feel, so I’m gonna try my best to take the other person out. I got that on and off switch. I’m gonna pull that trigger, hit that switch, and make sure I get the job done.”The Jekyll and Hyde switch does come as a surprise to new acquaintances, but to Johnson’s family back in Georgia, they saw the roots of “Rumble” early on.“I used to beat up my cousin’s teddy bear all the time,” he laughed. “And teddy bears don’t punch back, but I was throwing that thing all around the house and doing some WWE-type stuff. I was body slamming it, jumping on top of it, punching it. I guess I was in training at a young age. So it doesn’t surprise them. I’m just that little kid that they saw growing up who’s on TV now and doing it for real.”Years later, Anthony Johnson is on the verge of big things in the UFC, and to move even closer to his goals, he’ll have to pull out the “Rumble” side of his personality not to fight a bear, but a lion.“When you fight a lion,” he said, “you gotta be on point, you gotta be sharp, and you gotta beat the lion to the punch in every single way and outsmart the lion.” 

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This past Monday night Kane’s mysterious assault on all-things John Cena continued with Zack Ryder paying the price. Now, when I say “mysterious”, I’m actually referring to the curious decision to book Kane in such a silly storyline and by “paying the price” I’m referring to a rising star like Ryder having to look like a chump against a regurgitated character. But we’ll get there in a second since the show started out…oh yeah, also with Kane. If you can’t tell I’m obviously taking Kane’s lead and embracing the hate, in particular towards the way his character has been used. The “supernatural” phenom simply doesn’t work anymore. Audiences are more intelligent than they were 7-10 years ago. Even The Undertaker has brought his move-set more in line with reality, i.e. no more lightning bolts. When Kane attempted to drag Ryder to hell through the ring last week I gave up all hope in the storyline, or at least the shreds remaining after his miserable “Cena Sucks” promo a week earlier. The backstage brawl between Kane and Cena on Monday was standard fare, and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t R-Truth also stalking someone backstage? Unless WWE shows he and Kane kicking it in a janitor’s closet, playing cards and laughing it up, consider me unimpressed with the writers. Next up was a forgettable tag match to REALLY get the crowd going before one of the evening’s true highlights took place – EDGE in the Hall of Fame! It seems a little fast to throw him in, especially with some of the greats still waiting for a call from Titan Towers, but I have no problem with him getting the nod. He was part of a historic tag team, had a ton of singles’ success, and was involved in some very memorable moments. I will be disappointed if anyone other than Christian inducts him and a TEN second pose is involved at the end of Edge’s speech. Brodus Clay was fun and I am 100% “behind” his dancers as in I’ve got their “backs” as in…you get the point. The ladies were lovely and he brought some excellent energy with him, as well as some unique moves. I’ll be interested in his progression, and if it continues along the lines of the potential shown a few days ago I may just call my mama and let her know. I’m assuming the flubbed count in CM Punk’s bout with Jack Swagger will allow for a Vicki Guerrero and “The All-American American” to be ringside when Punk defends his title against Dolph Ziggler at The Royal Rumble. David Otunga, anyone? The Four Horseman! It was great to see highlights from wrestling’s first real stable and I look forward to their induction as much as I suspect Ric Flair is looking forward to spending the paycheck coming with the honor. For some reason I can’t get into the feud between R-Truth and The Miz though I will say Truth has impressed me with his charisma. He was obviously set for a “face” turn after the two split and it could be interesting to see how far he takes it once he and Miz settle their score. On the other hand, I’m digging the Chris Jericho stuff. He’s always been one of the more creative talents in wrestling and I like the way he’s been teasing crowds before bailing on them. His emotional breakdown was obviously fake and let’s face it, who isn’t more interested in hearing what he has to say now than they were when he first returned last week? Only “Y2J” would think to make NOT talking more interesting than the alternative. Cena and Ziggler put on a nice show before the inevitable happened and Kane attacked Ryder who was, ridiculously, trying to change a tire while Eve sat in the car urging him on. Let’s see…you’re terrified and trying to escape a monster, yet you don’t think to call a cab? Eve doesn’t have a car of her own she can use? It was a silly and obvious conclusion, as was Ryder being choke-slammed off the loading bay. Why not have Eve try to intervene and end up paying the price for it? Doing so would have gotten Kane over as heel to an equal extent if not more so PLUS planted a seed of contempt between Ryder-Cena to play on at a later date, i.e. Cena got Ryder mixed up with his problems and Eve was hurt as a result. The ensuing brawl between Cena-Kane was nothing special either. I don’t know if the WWE creative team is still experiencing a New Year hangover but it’s been a miserable run thus far in 2012. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, cena, ’m, ryder, kane

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It’s been a short, but extremely difficult ride to the top for Charlie Brenneman. After putting together a successful amateur wrestling career in high school and winning the first season of Pros vs. Joes in 2006, Brenneman entered MMA in 2007. He won eleven of his first twelve bouts before getting the call from the UFC. On June 26, 2011, “The Spaniard” went from relatively unknown welterweight to a star overnight thanks to a hard-working performance in victory against a very tough Rick Story in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In an interview with FiveOuncesOfPain.com, Brenneman said, “(The win over Story) was the epitome of all the hard work that I put into the sport and life in general.” Things didn’t go so well for Brenneman in his next bout in October though, as he was defeated in just two minutes and 49 seconds at the hands and feet of Anthony Johnson. “I was disappointed with the fight,” said Brenneman. “I was disappointed that I wasn’t really able to showcase anything. The way the fight developed, I had nothing to show. I didn’t really do anything. I didn’t do anything good and it was frustrating after all the work I put into it.” Charlie will get a chance at redemption on January 20, when he meets Daniel Roberts in Nashville. Despite the fact that Roberts is coming off two straight losses and Brenneman has fought two highly-ranked welterweights, defeating one of them, he’s not upset with the match up. “I just take it one fight at the time,” said Charlie. “I look more at the individual match up than the name recognition. I’m really excited for it because this match up is really good. I’ve been evolving as a fighter and I really like this fight because I think it’ll make us reach in our back pocket and see what we’ve developed.” Along with working on his technical skills, Charlie has been reading “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle in order to sharpen his mental game and connect his body to his mind. “If you’re ready psychically but if you’re out of it mentally, it doesn’t matter one bit.” One thing that does matter to the Pennsylvania native is his friends and family. No matter where he fights, you can bet that he’ll have a pocket of supporters cheering him on in the crowd, usually making more noise than the rest of the crowd. “I am very fortunate,” said Brenneman. “I have a lot of friends and family who make the trip. This fight in Tennessee will actually be my smallest crowd. I think we only have about 25 or 30 people. I’ve had a lot of people come to a lot of my fights.” At UFC 141, Johny Hendricks KO’d long-time top welterweight Jon Fitch. That win, along with a victory by Jake Ellenberger over Jake Shields earlier in the year, showed the evolution of a new crop of talented welterweights. Charlie weighed in with his thoughts on the state of the 170 pounders saying, “There’s definitely a changing of the guard. I think Ellenberger is right at the top of the heap, even beyond Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit, even though he lost to Condit. I think he’s a front-runner. We just had the Hendricks knockout as well. I wouldn’t doubt that if Ellenberger wins his next fight we could see him vs. Hendricks in a #1 contender fight.” Brenneman holds an overall record of 14-3 with five TKOs and past wins inside the Octagon against Amilcar Alves and Jason High. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, ’t, welterweight, brenneman, charlie

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

When MTV announced their new reality series Caged not too long ago, I was a little bit skeptical at first, which worried me a little bit. I mean, I love any MTV reality show that doesn’t include teens who are pregnant or who have been pregnant and obviously I love MMA, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading these words on your computer screen right now. So how come I didn’t immediately set my DVR to record every episode of this series? Maybe it was because my Monday night TV schedule is already pretty full with Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, Two Broke Girls, The Lying Game, and Hart of Dixie. You don’t have to Google those shows to know that Monday night is Ladies Night in the Lambert Man Cave. Or maybe it was because I knew the show wouldn’t be accepted by most MMA journalists so why should I bother? That’s when I knew I should watch. Because if there’s one thing I love more than MTV and MMA, it’s Taylor Swift. And if there’s one thing I love less than Taylor Swift but more than MMA and MTV, it’s going against the grain from the thinking of most journalist who still think MTV stands for Music Television, when nowadays it stands for Moms, Teens, and VeryLoudGuido’s. So here’s my running journal of the premiere episode of Caged: The first words of the show are, “Here in a small town in Louisiana, once you graduate high school, nothing is given to you.” So I guess they give you a high school diploma. This is followed by some guy saying, “there are three things to do: go out and get laid, get drunk, and beat some guys ass. If you don’t do that, you don’t feel right about yourself.” I feel like that’s all that happens in any small town, not just in Louisiana. Also, wasn’t Britney Spears from a small town in Louisiana? Times have really changed in that state I guess. The cage brings everyone together on Saturday’s in this town. They even shut down stores and stuff. They don’t just fight in the cage though, they fight in life. Even though the show is called Caged and everything revolves around the cage. OH GOD! THIS GIRL HAS A CHILD! WHY MUST EVERYONE ON A MTV SHOW HAVE A CHILD?!?!?! This better not be Teen Mom: MMA Edition. The dad of the child is Wes aka “CAT Smasher.” He’s a fighter. The mom to the child is named Red. I’m assuming that’s not her real name. She’s a nursing student. Her and Wes no longer date, but they’re still friends and stuff because they have a kid together. So it’s not totally like Teen Mom. Red is pretty cute, if you can get past that whole, “she has a kid at like 19” thing. Red says her and Wes broke up 30 minutes ago. WHAT?!?! AND IT WASN’T SHOWN ON TV?!?! They’re pretty civil for a couple that just broke up 30 minutes ago. By the way, their sons name is Jax. Wes has a fight on Saturday. He doesn’t know how to lose. “I tried to lose before, but I just can’t” Why did he try to lose before? Was he paid to take a dive or something? I want to know more about that statement. “You put me in there with a grizzly bear and I’ll fight him.” Move to Japan, they can arrange that. Red tries to study but Jax is all, “feed me.” He can’t actually talk. “I love Jax, but if you’re gonna have a baby, you should get your career all straightened out.” Should have thought of that about a year ago. It’s Monday, which means there are five days until Saturday, which comes after Friday. Wes is training in his friends yard. He doesn’t have time to go to a real gym he says. He’s basically using his friend as a punching bag. His friend has the same pink and brown Tapout shorts that Rich Franklin wears. His friend is not Rich Franklin. Wes says that an armbar is too advanced. HE WANTS TO PUNCH PEOPLE NOT SUBMIT THEM! Last Friday night, he drank $100 worth of beer. I’m not sure if he was signing that Katy Perry song or just making conversation. Then he throws up. Wes has to cut 12 pounds by Friday. His trainer, who is really just his friend but says he’s the trainer, doesn’t think he’ll make it. I notice a pool in their training area, so I hope he’s at least got a copy of “B.J. Penn: Advanced Water Training” DVD lying around. Now they’re in a garage, or as it’s called on the show, THE SHOP. Doesn’t look like you can buy anything though. They’re playing beer pong. So at least I know he’s read the “Chuck Liddell: How to Party before a Fight” book. Daniel aka “Golden Boy” is the owner of THE SHOP. He’s also a fighter. He’s never been knocked out, which means he’s probably been submitted a couple of times. Daniel isn’t drinking. So maybe he hasn’t read the book. Brittini shows up. We’re informed that she’s Daniel’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Or as we realists like to call people like her, “booty calls.” She’s pretty cute, but I like Red more. Brittini has a lip ring and seems like she’d cut me if I crossed her. They talk about love and junk. The next morning, Daniel takes his ADD medicine. Hopefully he didn’t get those from Cristiane Santos. Everyone knows his name in this small town. So it’s like Cheers, I guess. Daniel actually trains at a gym called Karate Mafia. It’s run by Lyoto Machida and Giovanni Gambino. Some guy named Matt aka “Danger” trains there as well. He’s apparently a top prospect. Daniel is fighting Quentin Henry, who is a big dude with a lot of power. At least that’s what we’re told. Daniel’s trainer tells him to, “KEEP YOUR F*CKIN HANDS UP!” Good advice. Matt says he’s an average dude with no talent, but he loves fighting. He also didn’t wish his trainer a Happy Birthday on Facebook, further proving that Facebook ruins relationships. Red picks up Jax from daycare and takes him over to Wes’. Jax got sick at daycare, which upsets Wes because he’s all like, “Daycare is dumb. Your grandparents should watch him” and she’s all “My grandmother is 82.” He talks about the break up and says, “I was working and making money and taking care of her and Jax, but when I get home, the dishes aint done and the food aint cooked.” I feel ya brother. Then he says Red and him might get married, followed by him telling Jax, “Don’t grow up and be like your mom, because she’s crazy.” He adds that he’s kidding though. This was the best segment of reality TV ever. Daniel gets in his last full work-out before the fight. While he’s hitting the heavy bag, he talks to his friend about Brittini and Hannah, who is another ex-girlfriend of Daniel’s, but she died in a car crash. So Brittini is a rebound booty call. That should end well. Bri, who is Matt’s stripper sister, meets him for dinner. Matt doesn’t like the word “nipples.” I have a feeling that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira wouldn’t grapple with Matt. Matt’s parents are divorced and their dad doesn’t come to his fights. Bri pays with a wad of ones. She’s pretty hot, if you can get past that whole “stripper” thing. Red and Brittini are friends. And side by side, it’s pretty obvious that Red is hotter. Red wants to get out of the small town and is all mad that Wes doesn’t support her decision to go to school. They talk about the fights and relationships. This was annoying. IT’S GIRLS NIGHT! Every chick has a drink and a cell phone in their hand. That can only mean trouble. Back at Wes’s apartment, he’s watching tape on his opponent. He’s also jealous of Daniel because he had to work and Daniel didn’t. It’s your typical, “I’ve been fighting my whole life” story. There’s a fundraiser for Hannah. Daniel says, “Me and Hannah were like Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian.” I’m going to avoid making any kind of jokes since Hannah has passed away. Daniel reminisces about Hannah with her brother and tells the story of possibly ejaculating prematurely when Hannah touched his leg while driving. I’m not making that one up. Watch the scene for yourself. A lot of sadness in this scene. This isn’t what I signed up for. Wes tries to cut twelve pounds in three hours to make weight. He decides to get in a sauna suit and sit in a car in the sun. Gabe Reudiger should have tried this. He loses about three pounds in an hour. So he gets back in the car. The math isn’t in his favor here. All the fighters weigh-in. Daniel and Matt make weight. A drawn out Wes comes in at 159, which is 1 pound under the 160 limit. THE FIGHT IS ON! The town shuts down for the fights. There’s a bunch of hotties, but we don’t learn their names. I’m thinking of being a cage fighter in a small town just for the groupies. I can train in backyards like Wes. Wes comes out to “Bonfire” by Childish Gambino. Holy crap. What an awesome choice by Wes. PLUS FIVE. The cage door closes we’re ready to rumble. They throw a bunch of wild punches, end up on the ground, and Wes submits him with an Armbar. HOLY FORESHADOWING BATMAN! Wes gives an amazing post-fight interview. “He was hitting me but it wasn’t hurting. It was like he had pillows in his gloves or something. I wanted to apologize to him before the fight because I knew I was gonna kick his ass.” Then he gives a bow. SIGN THIS MAN UFC! Wes is clearly the star of this show. Matt is up next. He dominates his opponent and submits him with an armbar. His mom is really happy. Daniel is up next. Brittini is not at the fight. Oh uh. Daniel’s corner tells him to “keep your hands up.” Why do I get the feeling that he’s going to drop his hands in this fight? Daniel gets blasted with a counter left hook and is knocked out cold. THEY TOLD YOU TO KEEP YOUR HANDS UP! Thank God Brittini wasn’t there to see that. She’d be the booty call for the winner. Daniel is finally helped up but he’s wobbly and needs to be helped to the back. His corner tells him, “sh*t happens.” Yup. The doctor suggests no head shots for at least 60 days. This is either an extremely long reality show or we won’t see Daniel fighting again. Or Daniel will just ignore the doctor, which is the most likely answer. Someone says, “Superman just fell down.” I didn’t know Cam Newton was on this show. Daniel calls Brittini after the fight. He says, “I’m fine. I guess.” Well, that sounds better than, “Baby, I got knocked the f*ck out.” And so ends the first episode of Caged. Will I continue watching? Does “sh*t happen”?

Posted in: fight, show, ’t, daniel, we

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Liverpool’s Terry Etim may have brought in the New Year in Brazil, but it almost felt like home considering the rain that greeted his arrival two weeks before this Saturday’s UFC 142 bout against Edson Barboza.“I thought I’d come over a few weeks before, obviously to get used to the heat and acclimatize,” said Etim. “I’ve got so many good friends out here, so I came over and stayed with them. To be honest, the first few days it was raining, so it wasn’t too hot. But I had to get used to the humidity and stuff like that, so it’s been good.”Etim’s decision to leave the comforts of the UK shows just how important this fight is to him and his career, so he’s leaving no stone unturned in preparation. In Barboza, he’s facing someone at almost the same stage in his career – hot prospect on the verge of becoming a contender. Yet for Etim, it’s almost as if he’s living this moment again, and ironically against another Brazilian.Back in April of 2010, Etim brought a four fight winning streak into his UFC 112 match against Rafael dos Anjos, and with a win, he was likely to move himself up the 155-pound ladder. A submission loss cut his winning streak and his momentum short, and a subsequent rib injury did even more damage, putting him on the shelf for nearly 19 months. When he returned last November though, it was as if he picked up from where his winning streak left off, as he thrilled his home country fans in Birmingham with a 17 second submission of Edward Faaloloto. Ring rust? It didn’t look like there was any, but could you really tell in less than a minute? Etim believes it was much ado about nothing.“Everyone was talking about that in my last fight, thinking there was gonna be ring rust, and I think I showed that I was as sharp as ever, and going into this fight I’m as confident as ever and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’m not dwelling on the last fight. That’s the past and I can’t keep thinking about it. It was a good performance, even though it was fast, but now it’s done now and I’ve gotta just look forward. The main thing on my mind is January 14th and beating Barboza.”Just turning 26 today (January 11), Etim can almost get away with a long layoff and then come back as if nothing happened. It’s the benefits of youth. Yet what he also brings to Rio is the benefit of experience. Barboza has impressed in his three UFC bouts thus far, but he can’t make up for the fact that Etim will be setting foot in the Octagon for the tenth time this weekend, something that doesn’t necessarily show up on fight night, but in the days leading up to it.“This is gonna be my 10th fight in the UFC, so I know what to expect,” he said. “I know what the buildup’s like to fight, I know what UFC week’s like, so it’s not a big shock to me. I remember the first time, and the week’s buildup was a very big thing, but now it’s just another week and another fight. I’m only 25 (ed note - this interview was conducted before Etim’s birthday on Jan. 11), but it feels like I’ve been in the UFC for a very long time. My debut was when I was 21.”Since that debut, a first round finish of Matt Grice at UFC 70, Etim has gone 6-3 in the UFC, earned four Submission of the Night awards, and he’s also become a bit of a world traveler, fighting not only in England, but in the United States, Germany, and Abu Dhabi. “It’s not the first time fighting abroad, so I’m used to flying away from home and it shouldn’t be too big of a problem,” he said. “I’m excited to be fighting in Brazil.”Even if he gets booed on Saturday?“I don’t think the crowd is going to be too big of a deal,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s gonna be me and him in there, and my cornermen are the only ones I’m going to be listening to, I’m not gonna be listening to the crowd.”He will also have his eyes on Barboza, a fighter he has been paying attention to since the Muay Thai specialist began racking up wins.“Before I found out I was fighting him, I had seen his fights, and I think he’s one of the best guys in the division, and they’re the guys you want to fight,” said Etim. “I said after my last fight that I want to fight the best guys in the division and they came back with Barboza straight away and I was happy with the match, and I can’t wait for the fight. He (Barboza) has come into the UFC and done really well, so I know it’s gonna be a very tough fight and I think it’s gonna be a very exciting fight for the crowd. But I’m very confident going in.”And if Etim has his way, the beginning of 2012 will look a lot different than the injury-riddled start of 2011.“I see it being a very big year,” he said, “racking up a good list of wins, and then making a run for the title.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, ’m, etim

Read the full article at UFC

I attended an advance screening of “Haywire” tonight, which stars Gina Carano.  This is relevant to our collective interests because, hey, it’s Gina Carano.  You remember her, don’t you?  She was labeled “The Face of Female Mixed Martial Arts”, and together with Cris “Cyborg” Santos, was the more hormonally-balanced half of the biggest female MMA bout in history.  So how was Haywire?  Let’s just say that when director Steven Soderbergh is on, he can make a fantastic film.  Also, Carano can’t act. The story concept isn’t a new one – a “secret agent” gets betrayed in the field, goes on the run, and tracks down those who ganked her – but there are flourishes of the modern world in there.  Carano’s character, “Mallory Kane”, isn’t so much a secret agent as she’s a private contractor (and ex-Marine), and the “betrayal” hinges not on shifting international ideologies but on money and government contracts.  Aside from one fisticuff on a beach, the fight scenes are exciting and believable, a mix of Jason Bourne and Anderson Silva that doesn’t stretch reality too much.  Carano’s co-stars, which include Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender and Bill Paxton, all turn in palatable performances.  And Soderbergh infuses the flick with the same stylized storytelling (read: use of score and scene dissection) that made his other films, such as “The Limey”, “Traffic” and “Ocean’s Eleven”, so entertaining.  But whenever Carano speaks… damn.  Just damn. Which isn’t to say she’s like Sophia Coppola in “The Godfather Part 3” – she doesn’t sink Haywire, she’s simply the reason it takes on a bit of water towards the end.  Yes, we get that she’s supposed to be a badass, capable of taking a hard beating before eventually slipping on an armbar or triangle choke (and following that up with a close-range gunshot wound to the face).  Yes, she’s a fast thinker, and calm, cool and collected under fire.  All that was believable.  What was not, however, was her simmering anger and the appurtenant one-liners.  The Carano we know grins sheepishly after winning via TKO in the cage; she does not stare into the camera and convey cold hate.  Sorry, not happening. While Haywire falls short of “Warrior” in terms of where it rests on the MMA-related movie ratings scale (note: Warrior was a solid film), it’s by no means the next “Never Back Down” (note: note a good film) or “The Expendables 2: Electric Bugaloo”.  It’s just that, with Soderbergh behind it, and the stellar list of co-stars it sports, I expected more.  I was hoping for a female Jason Bourne-esque character, kicking ass and conveying emotion in such a way that the audience doesn’t laugh at the attempt at drama.  Instead, I got Carano glaring out at the dusky landscape, muttering “You better run” to a nemesis she can’t see and eliciting a cackle from the dude sitting beside me. Check out Haywire for yourself.  Just don’t expect Carano to blow you away.

Posted in: ’t, haywire, carano, film, arts ”

Read the full article at MMA Convert

Sam Stout knows he won’t be entering Saturday night’s UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes card alone. Rather, in the mind and heart of Stout, former coach and best friend Shawn Tompkins, who passed away last year, will be watching from above. For Stout, this is another chapter in a long road ahead without Tompkins in his corner. The Canadian was with Tompkins for the better part of ten years, and even became a brother-in-law to him when his sister married Tompkins. “He’s the biggest influence I’ve ever had in my life,” said Stout, in a recent interview with UFC’s website. “I spent so much time with him and we were so close that I feel like I can really look inside myself and realize what he would be telling me. I just have to remember all of the lessons he taught me over the years. Just because I don’t hear him in my ear doesn’t mean I can’t look inside of myself to the things he used to inspire me.” Stout takes on Thiago Tavares at the event where Jose Aldo will also defend his UFC featherweight title in the main event against Chad Mendes. While the Canadian knows he won’t be the fan-favorite based on his opponent’s nationality he remains carefree, eagerly anticipating the atmosphere in the arena rather than being concerned about it. “There’s nothing I love more than going into an arena and you can feel that electricity in the air,” Stout said. “I’m sure that’s how it will be in Brazil. The first couple fights in Canada were like that. You can feel that rumbling in the arena and it’s an amazing feeling.” Stout is 17-6-1 in his career, and “Hands of Stone” will be looking to make it three straight wins when he squares off with Tavares. Since 2009, Stout is 4-1, while his overall UFC record stands at 5-3. Catch his bout with Tavares on the PPV portion of the show. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, ’t, year, arena, tompkin

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Fighters get the credit for knockouts, but oftentimes an unsung hero drew up the game-ending play. I have witnessed numerous instances where a cornerman has yelled a striking sequence and then, a second or two later, an unconscious fighter crashes to the canvas. Trainer Duke Roufus is the king of this “I bark instructions, the other guy falls” phenomenon. Another mastermind who blazed one helluva track record in that regard: the late Shawn Tompkins. “I can’t even count how many times he’s done that,” said UFC veteran Sam Stout, who spent 11 and ½ years as a Tompkins protégé. The last time that Tompkins called the perfect play at the perfect time was back in June 2011. Stout had no advance warning that, after 11 UFC bouts with his inseparable mentor by his side and in his ear, UFC 131 would represent finality: The final time Tompkins would walk Stout down the aisle and help him navigate the dangers that lurked inside of the Octagon. On that special night, deep in the first round, Tompkins issued a command: Double up on the right cross. Left hook over the top. Without thought or deliberation, Stout fired off the prescribed punch sequence in the blink of an eye. The first right cross, aimed at Yves Edwards’ head, missed. The second right cross struck Edwards’ body, with minimal damage. But the left hook … well, it was nearly a perfect punch. It whiplashed Edwards’ chin, and the veteran was out before he hit the canvas. The knockout was as frightening as it was spectacular, the kind of knockout people who witnessed it will never forget, the kind of knockout you mention to friends, the kind of knockout that you rewind dozens of times and watch over and over again. It was the signature win of Stout’s eight-year career, a knockout for the ages. For the man nicknamed “Hands of Stone,” it was a relief of sorts. In 10 previous UFC fights, many of them riveting barnburners, Stout had never finished an opponent. So he soaked in the glory of the moment, jumping on the cage to hug an elated Tompkins. “I had a real good ability to hear his voice and take direction from him very well,” Stout said in the days leading up to his UFC 142 clash with Brazilian Thiago Tavares. “Hopefully I can keep that going with (Mark) Hominick in my corner and he’ll be able to see those things and call them out. But that’s one of the things that will be different about this fight.” The 27-year-old Canadian answers that question a lot these days. He’s been answering it since August of last year, when 37-year-old Tompkins perished in his sleep from cardiac arrest. Stout didn’t just lose his trainer since the age of 17. He lost a confidante, a brother-in-law, the man who taught him “90 percent” of what he knew about the mixed martial arts game. “He’s the biggest influence I’ve ever had in my life. It’s an interesting adjustment period that I’m having but I feel like I’m coping with it really well,” said Stout (18-6-1). “I spent so much time with him and we were so close that I feel like I can really look inside myself and realize what he would be telling me. I just have to remember all of the lessons he taught me over the years. Just because I don’t hear him in my ear doesn’t mean I can’t look inside of myself to the things he used to inspire me.” Part of Stout’s change of scenery involves conducting his training sessions in Ontario, as opposed to Las Vegas, Nev., where Tompkins lived. “For the past 11 and ½ years, geez, I had Shawn there to make sure I didn’t get lazy or complacent. Now I have to do that myself,” Stout said. “I have to dig deeper inside myself. The mornings that I don’t feel like waking up and training, I’ve got to go do it, even though Shawn’s not there kicking my ass to get out of bed. So I’ve had to become a lot more self-motivated. “I was really nervous going into this training camp about how it was going to go and how these changes we’ve made would affect me. In Vegas none of my friends were bothering me or asking me to do things so I could focus solely on the fight. So I was worried about distractions at home, people seeing me getting ready for a fight but not realizing I would be a lot less accessible. But people have been really good about it. Sometimes I have to be a little selfish and tell people I can’t do one thing or another. Usually they are understanding about it, and if they aren’t I don’t really care. So it’s been nice to go home and sleep in my own bed during training camp.” Tavares is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, yet Stout’s submission defense has lived up to his last name; he’s only been submitted once in the UFC – five years ago against Kenny Florian. Armed with stingy takedown defense, Stout isn’t shy when conceding he prefers a standup battle.  “His aggressiveness and his top control are the two things I’m most worried about,” Stout said of Tavares (20-4-1). “He’s a powerful, explosive fighter who will come and bring it. He’s not scared; he’s very aggressive. So I have to be ready to work a very fast pace and be ready to work off my back and get back up if I do get taken down.” On Stout’s right shin, there is a tattoo that carries greater meaning today than the permanent ink did nine years ago when it was embedded on his flesh. “Shawn gave me a tattoo on my shin that myself and Mark (Hominick) have – Chris Horodecki doesn’t like tattoos, so he didn’t get one, but we’re working on that,” Stout said. “The tattoo is in Japanese letters and says “Fight, spirit, pride.” It’s a tattoo that Shawn had on his shin that once a guy got to a certain level Shawn would trace it off of his shin onto their shin. I have it, Mark has it, the most elite guys from Team Tompkins all have it. It was a big moment for me. It was early in the spring and I was wearing shorts every day after that. I wanted to show it off. That’s something that I’ll carry with me every day and I will for the rest of my life. That was a gift he gave me.” Some say that while Canadians are MMA-obsessed, and great fans, Brazilians might be even more passionate in the stands. A proud Canadian, Stout welcomes the chance to fight in such a raucous and extraordinary environment, even though almost everyone in the house will be rooting against him. “There’s nothing I love more than going into an arena and you can feel that electricity in the air,” he said. “I’m sure that’s how it will be in Brazil. The first couple fights in Canada were like that. You can feel that rumbling of the arena and it’s an amazing feeling. It sucks that it won’t be for me this time, but it’s still something I’m going to enjoy. Hopefully I win over some of the Brazilian fans by the end of the night. I feel really good about this fight. Shawn gave me all the tools I needed to allow me to win this fight. It’s just a matter now of implementing them myself and not waiting to hear Shawn’s voice telling me what to do.”

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There’s no doubt Anthony Johnson will be entering this weekend’s bout against Vitor Belfort as an underdog. At 10-3, and coming up from welterweight with a lack of experience against world class competition, chances are very few people in general will be giving “Rumble” the benefit of the doubt where pulling out a win is concerned considering Belfort’s past success and championship glory. However, Johnson doesn’t need others’ assurance in terms of his ability to come out with his hand raised. After all, he’s got plenty of it coming from himself and his training partners at the Blackzilian camp in Florida. “I’m gonna break Vitor. I’m gonna break him,” said the 27-year old Johnson in a video from Authentic Sports Management profiling his preparation for Saturday night’s UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes festivities. “I’m not saying this fight is gonna be easy, but you know what? I bet it won’t be harder than what I go through at training,” Johnson explained while referring to teammates like Melvin Guillard and Rashad Evans. Johnson also revealed his intent to keep constant pressure on Belfort throughout while throwing strikes. “Vitor hasn’t seen that in his camp, I guarantee it. He doesn’t have these coaches that I have. He doesn’t have the caliber of training partners that I have. He doesn’t have the talent that I have.” Belfort-Johnson will take place as part of the UFC 142 main card, an event headlined by Jose Aldo defending his featherweight title against unbeaten Californian Chad Mendes. Check out the complete video from Johnson below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. It was a free preview weekend on Showtime, and if you only watched one show on the network to make your decision on whether or not to subscribe, I hope it was Shameless or House of Lies. But if it happened to be Strikeforce, well, then, I’m sorry. You could have been watching Emmy Rossum or Kristen Bell, instead you chose Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock. At least you got to see some violence and blood. Lets go to the scorecard: *Strikeforce and Showtime are finally airing preliminary fights, so I have to give them credit, even though the NFL playoffs are on, my Colorado Avalanche are playing, and there’s a new episode of iCarly. PLUS FOUR *I still hate the opening Strikeforce video that features a bunch of fighters no longer in the promotion. MINUS TWO *Once again, Frank Shamrock’s braces. MINUS TWO *“Dan Henderson made the 205 title, the belt to hold,” says Shamrock. Yup, he cared so much about that belt that he fought Fedor Emelianenko instead of defending it and then bolted for the UFC. MINUS TWO *You can never go wrong with the ”Ruff Ryders Anthem” as your walk out. Good on you Alonzo Martinez. PLUS TWO *Martinez is taking the “human chess” thing a bit too literal with his hair design. MINUS ONE *Estevan Payan chooses wisely as well, going with “Monster” by Kanye West. He’s clearly looking for a job at DONDA. PLUS ONE *That said, points docked for having headphones around your neck during your walk out. MINUS ONE *I laughed at the corner of Payan calling Martinez, “a punching bag” during the third round. It was obviously true, but that has to be a tough thing for Martinez and his corner to hear in the middle of the fight. PLUS THREE *Dominate performance by Payan. It would have been nice if he turned it up seeing as Martinez couldn’t do anything, but he got the victory and looked good in doing so. PLUS FOUR *Why hello there Miesha Tate. PLUS THREE *”We Made It” by Linkin Park and Busta Rhymes is a pretty underrated song and one I haven’t heard as a walk out, so good on you Ricky Legere. PLUS ONE *If your nickname is “The Kiss” as it is for Chris Spang, your walk out song should be “Kiss on my List” by Hall and Oates, not that overplayed LMFAO crap. MINUS TWO *Anytime someone owns Mauro Ranallo on commentary as Shamrock did with the whole “he was going to tap” exchange, I’m giving positive points. PLUS THREE *Spang vs. Legere was decent. Legere did a nice job with his wrestling, even though he didn’t do much on top, and Spang looked impressive with his striking, even though he couldn’t keep it standing long enough. PLUS THREE *I’m still convinced that Pat Miletich doesn’t know how to score fights. MINUS ONE *Guys are on fire with the walk outs tonight as Gian Villante comes out to “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash. PLUS TWO *Great performance by Villante against Trevor Smith. Say what you will about the stoppage, but you can’t blame Villante for that. He did what he needed to do and looked impressive in doing so. PLUS FOUR *The stoppage was early though and not only that, but Kim Winslow allowed Smith to take a bunch of punches to the back of the head. Bad job by her. MINUS THREE *Nah-Shon Burrell earns points for singing his walk out music, even though I don’t know what it was. PLUS TWO *But then loses points for having headphones around his neck. MINUS TWO *Burrell vs. James Terry was a lot like Spang vs. Legere to me. One guy had good wrestling and that was enough to beat the guy who only had good striking. They both looked impressive in their one area of expertise. PLUS THREE *Terrible judging in Burrell vs. Terry. It was competitive, but Terry clearly won rounds one and two. MINUS THREE *And Jimmy Lennon Jr. killing the anticipation of the split decision by announcing it beforehand was lame. MINUS TWO *Of course Mauro has to say, “hurky jerky” when describing Jardine’s style. I was hoping that we could avoid that with no Mike Goldberg, but I should have never doubted Mauro. MINUS TWO *Props to Tyler Stinson for coming out to OutKast. PLUS TWO *If Stinston’s hair was a shout out to Shonuff, the “Shogun of Harlem”, then I approve. PLUS ONE *Great first round between Stinson and Tarec Saffiedine. Back and fourth action with Saffiedine looking strong early but Stinson turning the tide with a nice elbow. PLUS FIVE *Nice of Miesha to say how she really feels about fighting Ronda Rousey. No knock on Rousey, who is obviously talented, but Tate should be fighting Sarah Kaufman. PLUS THREE *Good job by Saffiedine changing up his strategy after a rough first round. It might not have been pretty in rounds two and three compared to round one, but he got the job done, which is all that matters to Saffiedine. PLUS FIVE *The only UFC star (Frank Mir) shown during the little camera run got the biggest reaction. While it’s not shocking, I thought it was funny. PLUS ONE *”Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd is pretty overused as a walk out song, but it’s still a great song. So points to Jordan Mein. PLUS ONE *Another fighter wearing headphones during their walk out? Come on Tyron Woodley. MINUS TWO *The less said about Woodley vs. Mein, the better. The fight was very boring. I give credit to Woodley for his wrestling, but man, try and do a little something on the ground. MINUS SIX *And the judges made it worse by having it a split decision when it was pretty obvious that Woodley won. MINUS FOUR *Wait, didn’t Spang already use “Sexy and I Know It” as his walk out? How could Strikeforce allow Lorenz Larkin to use it as well? Recycling walk out songs is a huge foul. MINUS FOUR *Muhammed Lawal comes out singing his walk out song, which always earns points from me. PLUS TWO *See guys, wrestling doesn’t have to be boring when you throwdown on the ground like King Mo does. Brutally effective performance by King Mo. PLUS SIX *I don’t care what Winslow’s explanation was, that stoppage was late. Give a guy a chance in a title fight or a main event, not if he’s an undefeated prospect who was in over his head in the first place. MINUS FOUR *Robbie Lawler might not have much of a personality, but I approve “No Love” by Lil Wayne and Eminem as his walk out music. PLUS TWO *What was Adlan Amagov thinking with that illegal knee? Lawler was clearly on both knees. MINUS THREE *”Beautiful knee to the head, but illegal.” “Right up your alley.” Great exchange between Frank and Pat. PLUS THREE *Great finish by Lawler. If nothing else, he has some of the best killer instinct in the sport. PLUS FOUR *Dana White looked pretty upset that he had to be interviewed by Mauro. He didn’t yell, barely smiled, and wore a sweater. Strikeforce Dana sucks. MINUS THREE *Sorry Keith Jardine, the Rocky music doesn’t work for you. MINUS TWO *I like Luke Rockhold’s walk out music. I don’t know the name of it, but I like it. PLUS ONE *Shocker, Jardine got KO’d. Great performance by Rockhold, but KO’ing Jardine in 2012 isn’t anything special. PLUS THREE *Jardine should strongly consider retirement. He’s been KO’d clean way too many times in the past few years. Now he’s cutting a bunch of weight as well. MMA just isn’t good for his health anymore. EVEN *I have no problem with Rockhold wanting to be in the UFC, obviously I don’t blame him, but he has two good fights in Strikeforce. First against Tim Kennedy and then a rematch against Ronaldo Souza. Gilbert Melendez has no competition and has a legit claim to wanting better competition, Rockhold doesn’t. MINUS FIVE *Shame on Strikeforce for not mentioning the failed drug test of Cristiane Santos. I didn’t expect it, but it would have been nice. MINUS THREE *Overall, Strikefoce was a decent show, albeit a rather predictable one. No offense to the organization, but things continue to feel secondary. PLUS FOUR Official Score: 19 For a more in-depth look at this Strikeforce event, along with a preview of this weekends UFC 143 card, remember to check out tomorrow’s Five Ounces of Podcast with Samer Kadi and myself. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

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Anthony Johnson is a career welterweight who is tired of the massive self-deprivation required in order to make the division’s 170-pound weight limit. “Rumble” often walks around at over 200 pounds, so in order to compete, that means that more often than not, his camps are focused on shedding weight, rather than properly preparing for a fight from technique and game growth perspectives.The weight cut was such a problem that Johnson twice, in ten UFC bouts, missed weight. He was six and one-half pounds over for his fight against Rich Clementi back in 2007, tipping the scale at 177.5 pounds, rather than the allowed 171 pounds for non-title welterweight affairs. Two years later, he missed by five pounds against Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Despite hitting the mark for the past three fights, Johnson has finally had enough. He believes that, at 27 years old, he has simply outgrown the welterweight division. Thus, he is moving to middleweight for the first time on Saturday night at UFC 142. Johnson will still be cutting weight, but not like when he competes at 170 pounds.There is little doubt that Johnson will be stronger and more explosive at middleweight. He likely will have better cardio and generally feel better from not having to shed an additional 15 pounds. Yet, nobody knows whether all that will result in a better fighter. He might be better in the literal sense, but the question is whether Anthony Johnson 2.0 will perform better against middleweights than Anthony Johnson 1.0 did against welterweights. Rather than dip his toe into the middleweight water in search of an answer to that question, Johnson is diving in head first into a rip tide without any sort of a life vest because first up at middleweight is none other than former heavyweight tournament winner and former light heavy champ Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort.Belfort is one of the most feared strikers in all of mixed martial arts. The Brazilian debuted in the UFC back on February 7, 1997, when he was only 19 years old. He won the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament that night by knocking out Tra Telligman and Scott Ferrozzo in a combined two minutes. Fast-forward 15 years. Belfort is now a 34-year-old former champion who is looking to conquer his third weight class. The difference, of course, is that Belfort has moved down in weight over the years, not up.  He has also been competing in the middleweight division since July 19, 2008, so there are no question marks over how his body will perform at 185 pounds. In fact, Belfort’s volume of work below 205 pounds suggests that this is his best weight class.So suffice to say that Belfort will be the biggest, strongest, most accomplished opponent that Johnson has ever faced. It only adds to the intrigue that Johnson will be fighting one of the most amped up and focused Vitor Belforts that the world has ever seen, since he is fighting in his native Brazil for the first time since annihilating Wanderlei Silva at UFC Brazil way back on October 16, 1998. And it is a prelude fight to Belfort assuming a coaching role opposite Silva on “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” – the first time that the UFC’s hit reality show will film a season outside of the US. Taping starts shortly after UFC 142.Welcome to the middleweight division, Anthony Johnson.On paper, this seems like an insurmountable task for “Rumble” because he doesn’t appear to enjoy an advantage in any area of the fight. Belfort is the better striker. He is the superior grappler. He is more experienced and accomplished. According to individuals who have trained with both, he is also the stronger, faster fighter. The only area where Johnson may enjoy a slight edge is in his cardio. Neither man will be confused with the Energizer Bunny any time soon, but Belfort’s cardio has been notoriously bad over the years. Johnson also appears to tire quickly in fights, but he has enjoyed much more success in fights lasting the distance than Belfort. The American is undefeated in those bouts, whereas Belfort has won less than half of his.None of that really matters, though. Why? Because fights don’t compete on paper. No fighter is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. One mistake can lead to an instant loss thanks to a perfectly placed strike or an inescapable submission hold. That is what makes MMA such a great sport.If Belfort is foolish enough to drop his hands, Johnson has more than enough power in his overhand right and right high kick to abruptly turn out the lights. “Rumble” scored knockouts in six of his last seven victories. None of those knockout victims had Belfort-like resumes. Yet, there is no denying that the reality of competing with four-ounce gloves and uncovered shins is that anyone can get knocked out on any given night in the UFC.If the former champion lets his focus lapse, Johnson has the wrestling chops to take the fight to the ground. Belfort may be a vastly superior grappler, but he has a terrible habit of resting in his guard, rather than working his transition jiu-jitsu or quickly scrambling back to his feet. That opens the door for Johnson to score a fight-altering cut, work some cardio-sapping ground and pound, or just score points on the judges’ cards for spending time on top.One mistake. That is all it takes. Belfort is acutely aware of that fact after his knockout loss to Anderson Silva just about one year ago. He failed to properly identify a front kick to the face, and he found himself waking up moments later with his first taste of middleweight defeat. It can happen again on Saturday night, if he isn’t sharp.But that isn’t the only way for Johnson to win. He can also take advantage of Belfort’s tendency to move backward and pose, rather than circling and striking, in the face of controlled pressure. Johnson can initiate that tendency by slowly approaching with his hands up ready to punch. Belfort will oblige by taking equally slows steps backward, coiled and ready to counter. Johnson should not fire a haphazard strike during his approach, otherwise it is lights out. He should, instead, just come forward with confident, yet measured, steps with his hands held high. Belfort will continue backing up until he nears the cage, at which point, he will either circle out to his right or stand his ground and initiate an exchange. Johnson should anticipate that and either shoot for a takedown when Belfort is within a step of the cage or step to his own left and fire his right hand. The former is the best way to get Belfort to clinch, rather than effectively sprawl. The latter is the best way to avoid a counter left hand, while still creating an opening to step inside and initiate a clinch himself. Belfort is an expert clinch fighter. But his first instinct will be to defend the takedown, rather than turn his opponent. That will create an opening for Johnson to drop his weight and secure a good position smothering Belfort against the cage. He will need to keep working for takedowns and mix in some dirty boxing and knees to avoid a referee restart, but he should focus first and foremost at maintaining the outside position for as long as the referee will allow it. Not only will this score points for Octagon control on the judges’ cards; it will also start to sap Belfort of his explosiveness as he begins to use up his precious cardio defending in the clinch. If there is a restart or the period comes to a close, Johnson should go right back to that game plan when the action gets back underway. Belfort’s counterstriking style is so deeply ingrained into his DNA that I would be absolutely shocked to see him react any differently than walking backward, if Johnson uses cautious aggression, as outlined above.  The sequence should play itself out again and again, just like it did in Belfort’s third fight with Randy Couture and his bout with Tito Ortiz. As Belfort’s cardio begins to betray him, Johnson can mix in aggressive takedown attempts and combination striking, rather than clinching once his foe nears the cage. Belfort’s extremely high percentage of fast twitch muscle fiber means that his explosive speed and power will decrease proportionately with his cardio. That is evidenced by the fact that he has never scored a knockout or a submission win in the third round. Not once in his illustrious career. Thus, Johnson can more freely open up his offensive game once the final round arrives.Belfort, on the other hand, won’t likely enter the cage with much of a game plan. I’m sure his coaches will have him fully prepared with an excellent game plan designed to take advantage of Johnson’s own technical flaws. That plan will undoubtedly include Belfort taking the offensive early in the fight. He is an absolute beast in sparring when he fights aggressively, rather than always countering. Yet, all that will go out the window, once the fight is underway. It always does with Belfort. He will instead stand and wait. He will retreat and wait. He will circle and wait. All the while, he will be waiting for Johnson to attack so that he can counter. Belfort won’t have a counter in mind. He counters by instinct. Years of training have made his response to incoming fire instinctual. It might be a bombing left hand, followed by a series of rights and lefts thrown in machine-gun fashion. It might be a flying knee, followed by that same series of rights and lefts. It might be all sorts of things. But what it won’t be is a single, haphazard strike. That isn’t how Belfort gets down. And that won’t be how he responds when he sees an opening on Saturday night. It will be all-out aggression, which almost always results in an opponent ending up on the canvas. I don’t think Saturday will end any differently.Again, on paper, it seems like this will be an exceedingly difficult challenge for Johnson, one that he likely won’t overcome. Then again, fights only unfold on paper in the minds of writers. I’m quite sure Anthony Johnson couldn’t care less about what I write in this breakdown because he is coming to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to win. Let’s see if he can pull it off. QUICK FACTSVitor Belfort•    20-9 overall•    34 years old•    6’0, 185 lbs•    74-inch reach•    4-1, 4 KOs at 195 lbs or less•    4-1 in last 5 fights•    7-3 in last 10•    All 9 UFC wins inside the distance (8 by KO/TKO and 1 by SUB)•    70% of career wins by KO/TKO•    10% of career wins by SUB•    20% of career wins by decision•    Former UFC light heavyweight champion•    Former UFC heavyweight tournament champion•    Knockout of the Night winner in two of last three fights (Akiyama and Franklin)•    Current layoff is 161 days•    Longest layoff of his career is 504 daysAnthony Johnson•    10-3 overall•    27 years old•    6’2, 185 lbs•    78-inch reach•    4-1 in last 5•    7-3 in last 10 •    70% of career wins by KO/TKO•    30% of career wins by decision•    No wins by SUB•    3-0 in fights that have lasted the distance•    Fight of the Night winner in loss to Josh Koscheck•    Knockout of the night winner twice (Brenneman and Burns)•    Current layoff is 105 days•    Longest layoff of his career is 490 days

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A few observations from Strikeforce: “Rockhold vs. Jardine”: -James Terry was robbed.  That said, Nah-Shon Burrell has got a world of potential – the right kind of potential, the explosive entertaining kind – so a win for him hopefully means we’ll get to see him in the cage with someone who will go toe to toe. -Now that’s the Gian Villante I know. -Tyler Stinson looked like a scary dude, and I could totally see him starching opponents with the way he hits.  His brand of ass-kickery made me appreciate the considerable skill and pluck of Tarec Saffiedine way more. -Does Tyron Woodley know his style of fighting sucks?  Has he not seen where it got Jon Fitch?  If he keeps it up, no one is ever going to want to see him fight. -Now King Mo’s destruction of Lorenz Larkin, that’s how you ground and pound someone.  Is there a way we could arrange for him to give Woodley some lessons? -For a second there, I thought Adlan Amagov wasn’t going to follow the script and let Robbie Lawler strike with him.  But then he did, and now Strikeforce has one more viable middleweight contender. -At UFC 27, Pedro Rizzo was put in the cage to face Dan Severn.  Everyone knew Severn didn’t belong in there, he was past his prime and Rizzo was just reaching his.  But the match went down, and it ended ugly, with Severn TKO’d by Rizzo’s leg-kicks in the first round.  Luke Rockhold’s squash match against Keith Jardine was like watching that old bout all over again.  The accumulation of years of competition have taken their sudden and unyielding toll on “The Dean of Mean”, and watching him struggle to keep up – when it wasn’t too long ago that he could keep up, and even get meaningful wins – isn’t even remotely worth watching.  Please, Strikeforce, put him against a scrub or untested up-and-comer, or don’t put him in at all.

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It’s the first Strikeforce of the year – hooray!  Middleweight champ Luke Rockhold is defending his belt against Keith Jardine, who’s about as worthy a challenger as Urijah Faber or Bob Sapp – boo!  Okay, enough with the griping.  Saturday night’s main event may be a big pile of suck (for reasons such as Jardine’s five-fight losing streak that got him booted from the UFC,  and his last bout ending in a draw), but there’s no cause to lambast the rest of the card, which is actually quite decent.  There’s an ex-champ, a legendary slugger, and a wealth of promising up-and-comers on deck, all of whom deserve love.  So let me give them love – all of them – in the form of a preview. -Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine – Rockhold was a very talented nobody who was wrecking dudes on the lower rungs of the ladder, so in September he was given a crack at the more-experienced Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza’s belt.  And I’ll be damned if Rockhold didn’t outwork him and earn himself the Strikeforce crown.  So here we are then, with the champ set to defend his title for the first time against former light-heavyweight Jardine in what should be a walk in the park for the Dave Camarillo-trained grappler.  Can “The Dean of Mean” stuff a takedown?  Sure.  Can he still wing kicks and punches from odd angles and throw opponents off?  Sure.  But there’s a fire that burns within the hearts of those who can and do compete at the highest levels, and though Rockhold put that flame on display in his five-rounder against Jacare, a peek inside Jardine’s chest is like looking inside the freezer compartment of your refrigerator – there’s a TV dinner, a torn-open bag of peas, some stray cubes that fell from the tray, and that’s pretty much it.  Rockhold is taking this one, maybe by sub, maybe by decision.  -Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov – Lawler has been knocking people into oblivion since  before he starred in the UFC’s first appearance on cable television (fun fact: it was on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period”, and he TKO’d Steve Berger).  Unfortunately, he’s also been falling to expert submission specialists since those early days, too.  But Chechen fighter Amagov isn’t so much a “make you tap out” kind of guy as much as he’s a “brawl ‘til you fall” guy, so this could be one heck of a thrilling bout while it lasts.  Does Lawler still have it in him to send a young buck to Dreamland?  I don’t see why not.  With his last four losses coming at the hands of Tim Kennedy, Jacare, Renato Sobral and Jake Shields – elite fighters all – taking on a prospect who has yet to face top talent should be no problem. -Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin – Former champ King Mo may have bitten off more than he could chew against Rafael Cavalcante, but since losing the belt the trash-talking wrestler bounced back to easily crush Roger Gracie – a win that reestablished him as a prominent (read: badass) member of the organization’s light-heavyweight division.  On the flip side, aside from a performance in September that lacked magic, Larkin has been epitome of “exciting striker and rising star”, and Lawal should be the mother of all tests of his ability to defend takedowns.  In terms of sheer mettle, I see Larkin going the distance.  Sadly, I don’t see the up-and-comer doing more than surviving while the ex-champ dry humps him.  King Mo is taking the decision here. -Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein – As one of the best guys to ever come out of the Strikeforce Challengers “little league”, Woodley has been so effective with his “lay and pray” technique, the Catholic Church has given him the rank of cardinal.  (Get it?  “Pray”?  Heh-heh.)  Mein, though highly-touted as a stud and sporting wins over Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, Marius Zaromskis and Josh Burkman, is going to have a rough night if he can’t keep Woodley off of him.  And frankly, I have Woodley smothering him to death. -Tyler Stinson vs. Tarec Saffiedine – After seeing Stinson get handled by Steve Carl in Bellator, I tend to believe his 15-second knockout of Eduardo Pamplona (a Brazilian who is to striking what the Human Torch is to fire) was a fluke.  Regardless, his bout against Saffiedine should be entertaining as hell given Saffiedine’s propensity for standing and creatively throwing fists and feet.  For handily defeating the likes of Scott Smith and Brock Larson, I give the edge to the man from Belgium.  But when leather is flying, you never know.  Stinson could catch him.

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After the damage MMA legends Mauricio Rua and Dan Henderson sustained in their epic encounter at UFC 139 it would have been understandable for either light heavyweight to take six months off. Though neither sustained a serious injury their five-round rumble left each bruised, bloodied, and completely spent. However, Rua apparently has no vacation plans in mind and wants to get back in the Octagon as soon as possible to erase the taste of defeat. In fact, he could have a contract signed as early as next week. “I’m already training,” said the former champion to TATAME. “I hope I get better soon so I can fight for my fans, family and team.” While Rua isn’t going full speed yet that could change soon, as he explained, “I don’t know when I’m fighting. Next week I might make some deal, but for now I don’t know anything about it, so I’m taking it easy. When I know it for sure, I can set a plan and work on it.” Though “Shogun” doesn’t know who he will fight next, or at least isn’t tipping his hand if he does, the 30-year old Brazilian is certain of one thing. “I’m sure it’ll be a tough guy because there’re only tough guys on the division. I’ll keep training to fight the best.” The 20-6 Rua is 2-2 in his last four fights with wins over Lyoto Machida/Forrest Griffin and losses to Henderson/Jon Jones. No word has surfaced on who he will fight next but logical options could include rising star Alexander Gustafsson, the loser of Rashad Evans-Phil Davis, or the winner of Quinton Jackson-Ryan Bader. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, rua, training, ’m

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Much has been made of Rashad Evans wrestling credentials and how he used them during his mixed martial arts career, but what some fail to realize is that his collegiate record is a mediocre 48-34 during his three years at Michigan State. Davis on the other hand has a superb record of 116-17. Will that translate for Davis when the two meet on January 28? “Mr. Wonderful” certainly thinks so. “I don’t see how I wouldn’t have the advantage in wrestling,” a confident Davis stated in a conversation with Five Ounces of Pain. “When I say it like that it sounds cocky, but Rashad Evans’ wrestling record was barely over .500 while my record was well above that. Numbers can be misleading at times so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m going to go ahead and say that I am probably the favorite as far as wrestling is concerned.” The UFC has been trying to match Evans up with Jones for some time now and because of injuries to both men it just hasn’t come together. Dan Henderson recently staked his claim to the number one contender spot with a thrilling, Fight of the Year candidate with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 139. The assumption here is a win by Evans will finally see him face Jon Jones in a grudge match that could sell a million pay-per-views, but what happens if Davis walks away with his arm raised that night in light of Henderson’s recent success? “I like to think that a win would put me in line for a title shot,” said a confident Davis. “At the end of the day let’s just see what a win over Rashad Evans in impressive fashion will mean for me. It kind of goes like this, if I beat him let’s find out what will happen, but if I don’t beat him I don’t really care either way. I’ve heard that I may or may not get a title shot if I win, but it doesn’t bother me. Winning will only point you in one direction and that’s up.” Speaking of Jones, no one has yet to come close to figuring him out, yet Davis has seen a few things thus far he’s taken away and could utilize in the event that the two meet inside the Octagon in the near futur. “Anyone who is going to beat Jones is going to need a first round that Machida had,” Davis explained. “He’s going to need a lot of things to go his way, but since no one has really done it it’s tough to say what is necessary to beat him. When someone defeats him then I can tell you what is needed to win. He has done very well for himself and will continue to do so.” The UFC’s light heavyweight division has always been considered one of its deepest and until Jones defeated Machida at UFC 140 no one man had been able to defend the title more than once. In fact, before Jones three of the last four champions (Forrest Griffin, Evans, and Rua) were all unsuccessful in defending the title even a single time. So with the top five fighters at 205 constantly changing, who does Davis have on his personal list? “To be 100% honest that’s a question that is tough for me to answer,” said a puzzled Davis. “Sometimes I catch myself following the sport, but not enough to know who’s in the top five. I would say Evans, Rampage, and Machida who are all former champions. Dan Henderson is up there, but after that I start drawing a blank.” Many fighters are very confident and have no problem offering a prediction while other fighters have enough confidence in themselves without having to brag to anyone who will listen. Davis has been competing long enough to know that anything can happen, but he is the one who controls his own destiny. “I do have a prediction, however I am not very descriptive,” offered Davis. “I’ve never been a very descriptive person ever since I was in school and had to write book reports. If I had to point out one of my faults it’s I lack detail. I definitely see this fight ending in a victory for me. “I don’t really know how it will end and I’d rather not say,” Davis continued. “I don’t want to script an ending and say I am going to knock him out. That paints me into a corner. I am going to take what’s there, if a knockout is there I’ll take it, if a submission is available I’ll grab it. More than likely I’m going to take a win anyway that I can get it.” Fans can catch Evans-Davis mix it up on January 28 in headlining action at UFC on FOX 2. Other bouts on the card include Michael Bisping-Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen-Mark Munoz. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, jone, ’t, evan, davi

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From vets making their last stand and young guns showing their stuff to a pitched battle for the top spot, 2011 saw more than its share of memorable submission wins. Here are five of the best of the best, at least unofficially.10 - Chris Lytle over Dan HardyWith three Submission of the Night awards in his UFC career, this spot is almost like a lifetime achievement award for Chris “Lights Out” Lytle, who announced his retirement from the sport after finishing Dan Hardy with a guillotine choke in their August bout. And though the final move won’t compare aesthetically to his triangle kimura of Jason Gilliam in 2007 or his kneebar of Brian Foster in 2010, he showed off in 14:16 what he was all about as a fighter, as he went toe-to-toe with “The Outlaw” and then put the finishing touches on the bout by coming out of nowhere with the guillotine. What a way to go out.9 - Terry Etim over Edward FaalolotoAfter 19 months out of action due to injury, lightweight Terry Etim’s biggest concern might have been ring rust when he entered the Octagon to face Edward Faaloloto at UFC 138 in November. Well, it still may be a concern because it took all of 17 seconds to end the Hawaiian’s night via guillotine choke. It was the Brit’s fourth Submission of the Night award, and if you didn’t know by now, you will be told again – don’t leave your neck exposed anywhere the long-limbed lad from Liverpool, because he will find a way to get it.8 - Tito Ortiz over Ryan BaderIf you had to pick just one memorable moment from 2011, this may very well be it. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, winless in nearly five years, has a win or go home ultimatum staring him in the face heading into his July bout against Ryan Bader. So what did Ortiz do? He won, stunning Bader while standing, and then locking in a guillotine choke that ended the bout moments later. There are no words to describe the scene in Las Vegas that night as Ortiz sunk in the choke, with seconds seeming like hours before the tap came. If you’re looking for drama in sports, this was it.7 - Jon Jones over Lyoto MachidaThough his flashy standup moves get all the attention, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is becoming quite the submission artist, and his 2011 campaign proves it, as his 4-0 record contains one knockout, two tap outs, and this December finish of Lyoto Machida, in which he caught the black belt in a standing guillotine after staggering him with a punch and then put him to sleep against the fence. Four wins, four finishes, three wins over current or former UFC champions. It was a year not likely to be touched by anyone anytime soon.6 - Diego Brandao over Dennis BermudezDiego Brandao has a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, but like Jose Aldo before him, it was almost like an urban myth, because all fans of The Ultimate Fighter’s 14th season saw was Brandao blasting out opponent after opponent with his fists en route to the season finale. But then Brandao got a taste of his own medicine from Dennis Bermudez and found himself on his back with his opponent looking to lower the boom. It could have been the signal for the bully to turtle up and go away, but instead, Brandao turned things around with his ground game, sinking in an armbar that finished the bout with nine seconds remaining in the opening round. Welcome to the UFC, Diego.5 - Nate Diaz over Takanori GomiIn his return to 155 pounds after a 2-2 run at welterweight, Nate Diaz looked like he was on his way to a Knockout of the Year nomination after lighting up former PRIDE champion Takanori Gomi on the feet for much of the first round in their UFC 135 bout. But then, as if bored of getting the best of the standup, Diaz went to the mat with Gomi, transitioned smoothly from a triangle to an armbar, and forced the Japanese star to tap out. If there was a more complete career performance from Diaz, I haven’t seen it.4 - Joe Lauzon over Curt WarburtonA lot of fighters like to brag about their submission skills before a bout, saying “yeah, I’m gonna take his arm home with me.” Well, that doesn’t really happen now, does it? Joe Lauzon didn’t say such things before his June bout with Curt Warburton, but he almost pulled it off (pardon the pun) with a vicious kimura that followed a knockdown that you thought the New Englander was going to use to finish the fight with strikes. Instead, he yanked at Warburton’s arm and got the tap out with one of the most painful looking kimuras we’ve seen in a while. That Lauzon, he isn’t getting paid for overtime; he’s a finisher, and he proved it a second time in October when he ended Melvin Guillard’s winning streak via rear naked choke.3 - Pablo Garza over Yves JabouinNote to anyone wanting to earn a spot on this unofficial list – pulling off anything with the word ‘flying’ in it is pretty much a guaranteed winner. Strangely enough, 2010’s KO of the Year list had Pablo Garza included for his highlight reel knockout of Fredson Paixao. So what were the odds of him topping that victory against Canada’s Yves Jabouin in April? Probably slim and none. That’s how devastating the Paixao finish was. So what did the North Dakota product do for an encore? Only a flying triangle that thrilled the over 55,000 fans in Toronto’s Rogers Centre and those watching at home. And while Garza didn’t initially finish the bout when the two hit the mat, he did so seconds later, garnering him an A for effort and for the eventual tap out by Jabouin at 4:31 of the first round. Remember, flying always wins.2 - Chan Sung Jung over Leonard GarciaBefore Chan Sung Jung’s March rematch with Leonard Garcia, you might have assumed that the fight game of “The Korean Zombie” started and finished with his ability to brawl. Maybe Garcia, who defeated Jung in their classic 2010 bout, figured the same thing. He might have even thought that he was safe as the seconds wound down in round two in Louisville. But that’s when Jung struck with Eddie Bravo’s “Twister,” a painful maneuver that had never finished a fight in the UFC – well, up until Garcia’s tap out at 4:59 of the second round. It was a beautifully executed move, and a historic one that had the Unofficial 2011 UFC Submission of the Year locked up until December 10th…1 - Frank Mir over Minotauro Nogueira There is a small school of believers that think a knockout is more devastating than a submission. Frank Mir does not go to that school, and for years, I’ve thought of the two-time former heavyweight champion as someone who approaches subs the way a prime Mike Tyson approached knockouts. On December 10th, he proved it again, becoming the first man to submit former PRIDE / UFC champ Minotauro Nogueira. To do that while one hundred percent is impressive; to do it after getting buzzed and almost finished by one of the greatest heavyweights of all-time takes it to another level. There was a debate in my head about Mir’s kimura and Jung’s Twister battling it out, but in the end, Mir’s win will forever change the way those ‘KOs over Subs’ folks think about submissions, and that’s more than enough to earn the number one spot.Honorable Mention – Stefan Struve-Pat Barry, TJ Waldburger-Mike Stumpf, Chris Weidman-Jesse Bongfeldt, Nik Lentz-Waylon Lowe, Ed Herman-Kyle Noke, Joe Lauzon-Melvin Guillard, Chris Weidman-Tom Lawlor, Urijah Faber-Brian Bowles, Chael Sonnen-Brian Stann, Paul Sass-Michael Johnson

Posted in: ufc, bout, submission, ’t, year

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On any given night…it’s the mantra of underdogs in all sports, and in the UFC in 2011, these gentlemen proved that when everything is clicking on fight night, anything can happen. Here are the 2011 Unofficial UFC Upsets of the Year.10 - Dustin Poirier over Josh GrispiOn January 1, 2011, Josh Grispi was supposed to be fighting in the first 145-pound title fight in UFC history against champion Jose Aldo. Aldo got injured and was forced to pull out of the bout. Instead, Grispi got to face a Louisiana buzzsaw named Dustin Poirier, and in 15 minutes he was issued his first loss in four years. That’s not to say that Poirier had come out of nowhere, but consider that the previous four names on Grispi’s victims list were Mark Hominick, Micah Miller, Jens Pulver, and LC Davis, and he finished all four in the first round. So for Poirier to come into the Octagon that night and not only win, but steamroll Grispi sent shockwaves through the featherweight division. 9 - Wanderlei Silva over Cung LeIn any other year, Wanderlei Silva defeating Cung Le wouldn’t have raised an upset eyebrow, simply because the two premier strikers would be seen as evenly matched, with Silva probably getting an edge from fans and oddsmakers. But in 2011, despite Le’s year and a half layoff, Silva was coming off a crushing 27 second knockout loss in July to Chris Leben, and many were calling for his retirement. You can’t kill off an “Axe Murderer” that easily though, and Silva turned back the clock for a Fight of the Night performance that ended with a vintage second round TKO of Le and propelled him into the New Year with a new lease on his career.8 - Rick Story over Thiago AlvesRick Story was a promising up and comer when he agreed to put his five fight winning streak on the line against veteran contender Thiago Alves at UFC 130 in May. The key word there was ‘promising,’ as it was expected that while the future would belong to Story, the present was the property of Alves, who was going to use a win to propel himself back into the title picture at 170 pounds. Story didn’t play along with conventional wisdom though, taking Alves down and keeping him on the mat for the bulk of their three rounder to earn a close, but unanimous, decision, announcing his arrival to the ranks of contenders in the process.7 - Demetrious Johnson over Miguel Angel TorresPeople forget that before his loss to Brian Bowles, Miguel Angel Torres was seen as a significant threat to Anderson Silva’s hold on the mythical pound-for-pound title. A WEC bantamweight champion with out of this world submission skills and a willingness (some might say eagerness) to scrap while standing, Torres was riding high until he lost his belt and then dropped a subsequent bout to Joseph Benavidez. But with comeback wins over Charlie Valencia and Antonio Banuelos, he looked to be on his way back. But bantamweight prospect Demetrious Johnson stopped Torres’ winning streak at UFC 130 with a wrestling-based gameplan that put him in the dominant top position for much of the bout. Yes, Torres fought well and attempted submissions from the bottom, but when the close verdict was rendered, it was no surprise that it went in favor of “Mighty Mouse.”6 - Brian Stann over Chris LebenUnder the tutelage of Greg Jackson, Brian Stann had come a long way from his days as WEC champion, but even though he had sewn up most of the holes in his defensive game, the fairly new arrival in the middleweight division still had a tendency to raise his chin when a firefight broke out in the Octagon. It was assumed that a brief moment like that would be all knockout artist Chris Leben needed to end their UFC 125 bout in January. Yet it was Stann who brought out the big guns on fight night, stopping Leben in the first round and letting his 185-pound peers know that sometimes, the best defense is a good offense.5 - Stanislav Nedkov over Luiz CaneNo one in recent memory had more starts and stops to a UFC debut than Bulgaria’s Stanislav Nedkov, but finally, in August, he stepped into the Octagon for the first time. The catch? He was fighting a Brazilian, Luiz Cane, in Brazil, in the UFC’s first visit to the country in 13 years. Those are some daunting odds to face, but Nedkov fought like he was a 10 year UFC vet, keeping his unbeaten record intact by not only beating the favored Cane, but by stopping him in the first round. The looks on both fighters’ faces after the bout spoke a thousand words, with Nedkov ecstatic and Cane simply stunned, a feeling shared by his countrymen at HSBC Arena.4 - Charlie Brenneman over Rick StoryHollidaysburg’s Charlie Brenneman wanted nothing more than to fight in his home state of Pennsylvania on June 26th’s UFC Live card in Pittsburgh, but though there were occasional rays of light, it just didn’t look like it was going to happen. First, he wasn’t even scheduled to fight, but then Matt Riddle was forced out of his bout with TJ Grant and Brenneman was called to fill in. Next, Grant went down with an illness and withdrew, leaving Brenneman without a fight on such short notice. But amazingly, on the day of the weigh-in, Nate Marquardt wasn’t medically cleared to fight and Brenneman was asked to fill in against rising star Rick Story. He made weight, stepped into the Octagon, and fought 15 minutes with his fans cheering him on. When the bout was over, he had snapped Story’s six fight winning streak and created the MMA version of a Rocky story.3 – Dennis Siver and Rafael Dos Anjos over George SotiropoulosEntering their UFC 127 bout in February, Dennis Siver was a legit lightweight contender with a nice two fight winning streak, but Aussie hero George Sotiropoulos had an even nicer eight fight hot streak, he was fighting at home, and he seemingly had the perfect style to defeat the Germany product. But after leaving Sotiropoulos in the dust in the first round, Siver maintained his fast start, didn’t let the bout stray to the mat where he could get submitted, and went on to pull off the three round unanimous decision win. Shockingly, things got even worse for Sotiropoulos in 2011, as he suffered a second consecutive defeat at UFC 132 in July, getting knocked out in 59 seconds by Rafael dos Anjos.2 - Johny Hendricks over Jon FitchWhen you discuss the idea of a ‘live’ underdog, once-beaten welterweight Johny Hendricks defined the term heading into his UFC 141 bout against perennial contender Jon Fitch. But…Fitch, with a 13-1-1 UFC record, was expected to grind out the win and keep his spot in the 170-pound pecking order intact. And if Hendricks did manage to pull off the win, it was probably going to be of the three round decision variety. So when Hendricks knocked Fitch out in 12 seconds, it was one of the most shocking moments of 2011, especially considering that the former Oklahoma State wrestling standout delivered a finish that fighters like Georges St-Pierre, BJ Penn, and Thiago Alves (twice) couldn’t. That’s impressive, and a heck of an upset.1 - Tito Ortiz over Ryan BaderIf you picked 36-year old Tito Ortiz to defeat Ryan Bader at UFC 132 in July, you probably did so just for sentimental reasons. Why? Because the former light heavyweight champion had shown nothing in his previous five fights (a 0-4-1 stretch) that would make you think he could turn the tide against young powerhouse Bader. Yes, Ortiz was dealing with injuries during his losing streak and even then he had brief glimpses of his old form, but in a 15 minute scrap with an opponent who could very well send him to join Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture in retirement, what would he do to win? Well, he did it by shocking Bader with a flush punch to the jaw and then finishing matters with a guillotine choke that ignited the MGM Grand Garden Arena crowd and resurrected Ortiz’ career. At a time when you usually bow your head and dread the day that an aging superstar steps into the Octagon and doesn’t have it anymore, Ortiz came alive and proved that the great ones always have one great fight left in them. Honorable Mention – Dennis Siver-George Sotiropoulos, Costa Philippou-Jorge Rivera, Jared Hamman-CB Dollaway, Minotauro Nogueira-Brendan Schaub, Jake Hecht-Rich Attonito, Igor Pokrajac-Krzysztof Soszynski, Chan Sung Jung-Mark Hominick, Jimy Hettes-Nam Phan, Demetrious Johnson-Kid Yamamoto, Brian Ebersole-Chris Lytle

Posted in: ufc, fight, bout, ’t, year

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. It was the last UFC event of 2011 and the end of a rather short, albeit exciting, era in the organization. Taking place on a Friday and built around the return of the biggest draw in the sport, UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem closed out the year with a bang to the body, fists to the face, and tons of turking. If nothing else, it got everyone excited for the weekend (weekend) where people were partying (partying) YEAH! Lets go to the scorecard: *UFC 141 got off to a bad start with Matt Riddle feeling ill and not being able to fight Luis Ramos. Hopefully Riddle felt well enough to go out and party on New Years Eve. I’m docking points for having me waiting around an extra 45 minutes for the prelims to start. MINUS TWO *Manny Gamburyan comes to a song featuring Gucci Mane. Not a fan. MINUS TWO *I love me some leg kicks, so I love me some Diego Nunes. PLUS TWO *That said, it’d be nice if Nunes could throw some punches every now and then. MINUS ONE *Come on Nunes, you can’t be hugging in the middle of the fight, especially against Gamburyan, who has cheap striked opponents before during glove touches. MINUS THREE *Gamburyan has plenty of power, but when you hit a guy and he seems hurt, you don’t always have to go for takedowns. MINUS THREE *Overall though, Nunes vs. Gamburyan was a good way to kick off the card and was an entertaining scrap. Credit to both men for performing well. PLUS FOUR *Also, I’ll give credit to all three judges for getting it right. It’s honestly a shame that judges are praised for doing their job right, but such is the MMA world we live in. PLUS TWO *Efrain Escudero left his wallet in Phoenix. This is important information. MINUS ONE *When your nickname is “Christmas,” I expect you to walk out to a Christmas song, not “TNT” by AC/DC. Luckily for Jacob Volkmann, I like AC/DC. PLUS ONE *Volkmann’s banner with the santa hat on his nickname was awesome. PLUS TWO *Hey Escudero, that guillotine to fend off the takedown didn’t work the first couple of times, what made you think it would work the last time? MINUS FOUR *What a terrible stand up by Herb Dean in the third round. Volkmann had a dominant position and was working. MINUS FOUR *It would have been a shame if Escudero won thanks to the gift stand up by Dean. I give him credit for taking advantage of the situation and also to Volkmann for surviving the choke. PLUS TWO *Not the most exciting performance ever by Volkmann, but you can’t say it’s not effective. PLUS TWO *When Joe Rogan isn’t selling your jokes, you know they’re not very good. MINUS THREE *And really Volkmann, calling out Frankie Edgar? I’m all for him fighting higher caliber guys, but beat one of those guys before you call out the champ. MINUS THREE *Props to Sean Pierson for walking out to “Headlines” by Drake. PLUS TWO *Great front kick by Dong Hyun Kim. A little more work with Sensei Steven Segal and he’ll be able to KO people with it. PLUS FIVE *It looks as if refereeing, not judging, will be the Achilles heel of the event. Bad stand up by Yves Lavigne. MINUS FOUR *Good all-around performance by Kim. Much improved stand up and he’s still a very solid grappler. I know he lost in spectacular fashion to Carlos Condit, but he’s a handful at welterweight. PLUS FIVE *I hope Kim didn’t confess the helping plot the assassination of JFK in his post-fight interview. Whatever he said got a bigger reaction than Volkmann though, so good for him. PLUS TWO *The 10 year old in me laughed when Rogan said, “He’s really beating up the meat” during Danny Castillo vs. Anthony Njokuani. PLUS TWO *I don’t think I’ve ever heard Mike Goldberg use the term “Turk” but he used it about 500 times during the prelims. Talk about turking off. MINUS THREE *Good fight between Castillo and Njokuani. Castillo put it best in his post-fight interview when he said, “it was close, but not controversial.” PLUS FOUR *Extra points to Castillo for taking the fight on short notice and beating a tough fighter in Njokuani. PLUS THREE *However, I’m pretty disappointed that Njokuani still hasn’t improved his wrestling to where it needs to be. Even though Castillo was a tough match-up, he was taking the fight on short notice, and he still couldn’t stuff the takedown with any consistency. MINUS FOUR *Shame the crowd ruined Castillo’s post-fight interview where he tried thanking his mom because they didn’t agree with the judges, two of which got it right. MINUS TWO *BRITTNEY PALMER IS STUNNING! GOLDBERG LEARNED A NEW ADJECTIVE! PLUS THREE *Good fight between Ross Pearson and Junior Assuncao. Neither guy looked overly impressive but Pearson did what he needed to do to pick up the victory. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to Pearson, who didn’t seem to have any trouble with the weight cut and was able to find his range on the feet along with showing some good defensive grappling. PLUS FIVE *Dana White needs to step his yelling up. Rogan is out-classing him. EVEN *This might be the last time we see the gladiator to open up PPVs since the UFC on FOX deal officially starts in January. PLUS ONE *What a first round by Jimy Hettes. He absolutely dominated Nam Phan and nearly put him away on a couple of occasions. Great takedowns, ground and pound, and submission attempts. PLUS FIVE *An outstanding performance by Hettes. He looked a little tired in the third round, but he still got the takedown at will and simply out-classed Phan on the ground. PLUS FIVE *I was pretty disappointed with Phan. I thought he’d put up more of a fight. MINUS FOUR *Why was there no post-fight interview with Hettes? He had the best performance of the night thus far and yet wasn’t able to get himself over on the mic. It would have been nice to hear from him and for him to get some extra publicity and face time. MINUS SIX *I have to dock points to Alexander Gustafsson for wearing headphones during his walk out. Even though he didn’t have them on, still not a good look. MINUS ONE *Solid performance by Gustafsson. Not a lot happened but he easily shrugged away Vladimir Matyushenko when he clinched, put him down with a jab, and showed great killer instinct. PLUS FIVE *Extra points to Gustafsson for coming up with the first finish of the night. PLUS SIX *Points to the beard of Johny Hendricks. PLUS TWO *Even if you hate Jon Fitch and his fighting style, there’s no way you can hate his walk out song of “Rusty Cage” by Johnny Cash. PLUS THREE *Well, that was pretty unexpected. Hendricks has some serious power in his hands to be able to put Fitch out with pretty much one shot. PLUS SEVEN *Extra points to Hendricks for not only beating, but finishing Fitch. PLUS FIVE *Steve Mazagatti showed some pretty bad takedown defense considering Fitch was half asleep. MINUS ONE *I actually feel bad for Fitch. It was a risky fight for him given where he should be in the division compared to Hendricks and he paid for it. EVEN *That said, these American Kickboxing Academy guys need to do a better job of following the game plan. MINUS ONE *Why hello there awkwardly dancing Gina Carano. PLUS FOUR *I hate Joe’s Keys To Victory. That is all. MINUS FIVE *Even though Kid Rock isn’t really cool in 2011, “Cowboy” is still a great song and it perfectly suits Donald Cerrone. PLUS TWO *I don’t know the name of the song Nate Diaz came out to, but I know it was 2Pac, so I liked it. PLUS THREE *Come on Joe, don’t say Gilbert Melendez, “might be the best 155 lber on the planet” and do a disservice to UFC champ Frankie Edgar like that. Just say Gilbert is “one of the best.” MINUS THREE *Donald Cerrone flipping off Diaz during the staredown was awesome. PLUS ONE *Diaz shooting the double bird at Cerrone before the third was even more awesome. PLUS TWO *As we all expected. Diaz vs. Cerrone was a hell of a scrap. Diaz’s boxing was on point and Cerrone showed once again why he’s as tough as they come. I thought Cerrone fought a stupid fight, but it made for an entertaining bout. PLUS SEVEN *Extra points to both men for throwing down like they did. PLUS FIVE *Even more points to Diaz, whose striking was on point the entire fight. Granted Cerrone made it easy on him, but still, Diaz made him pay for not moving his head and standing in front of him. PLUS FOUR *It was also nice to see both men embrace after the fight. I think it would be pretty hard to still hate a guy after fighting him for 15 minutes and he’s still in front of you. PLUS THREE *While the interview with Goldberg was pretty bad, I can’t dock points when Gina is on the screen. PLUS ONE *Was nice that Alistair Overeem used the K-1 World Grand Prix music as his walk out. I’m not a fan of techno, but it’s the sneaky reference that matters. PLUS TWO *I don’t know what song Brock Lesnar walked out to, but the sight of him jamming out before he entered the cage was awesome. It also scared me a bit. PLUS ONE *Man, that was an extremely underwhelming fight. Lesnar tried way too hard to try and stand with Overeem, when he should have just ripped a power double when he was fresh. Even if it didn’t work, he still should have gone for it. I know he had a single, but there is a difference. MINUS TWO *I give credit to Overeem though. He went to the body with knees every time in the clinch and then more or less finished Brock with a lethal kick to the liver. PLUS FOUR *Nice of Rogan to know who the UFC heavyweight champion is. MINUS TWO *A shame that Brock is going to retire, although he’s had a rough past couple of years with his disease and surgery. He’s made a lot of money in a limited number of fights and can still make a ton of money without taking a legit ass-kicking. EVEN *Overall UFC 141 was a strong way to cap off 2011. Even though the main event was a bit anti-climatic, the main card was very good and there were some solid fights on the preliminary card. PLUS SIX Final Score: 72 For a more in-depth look at UFC 141, along with a preview of this weekends Strikeforce show, make sure to listen to tomorrows Five Ounces of Podcast with Samer Kadi and myself. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, cerrone, point

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It’s officially 2012. You know what that means…..THE WORLD IS ENDING THIS YEAR! GET TO DA CHOPPA! It also means everyone will make new years resolutions that are sure to be broken within the first 24 hours. In fact, my new years resolution was to not mention Taylor Swift once in my columns, and by already telling you all my resolution, thus mentioning the singers name, I’ve already screwed up. Hopefully these fighters can stick to their (fake) resolutions better than I stuck to mine. Dana White: Don’t drop an “F Bomb” the entire year. I’m 100% confident this will be broken in the first interview he does with Ariel Helwani. Cain Velasquez and Jon Fitch: Stick to the game plan. They better start going for the takedown within the first minute of the fight or else risk getting knocked out again. Donald Cerrone: Fight once a month. Cerrone fought five times in 2011. I’m pretty certain that if he stays healthy he can fight once a month with all the injuries that hit UFC cards. Georges St. Pierre: Finish a fight. Come on man, you’ve got 25 minutes to put your opponent away and you’re one of the three best fighters in the world. Don’t let Samer Kadi down! Chael Sonnen: Continue to upset the entire country of Brazil. If he ends up fighting and beating Anderson Silva in Brazil then I think it’s safe to say that this one will end up happening. Dominick Cruz: Fight only on PPV. He better hope Urijah Faber keeps earning title shots. Jon Jones: Get some fans. Beating Rashad Evans, who is just as disliked him, would be a good start. Scott Coker: Not have Keith Jardine headline anymore events. No disrespect to “The Dean of Mean” but when he’s headlining your events in 2012, your organization isn’t in very good shape. Josh Barnett: Win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. Because that might be the only way he ends up in the UFC. B.J. Penn: Be known as the best ever. Is that too much to ask? Dan Hardy: Come to WIN. You know, instead of coming to WAR. Anthony Pettis: Prove to be a top-level lightweight. That way people won’t continue to think of him as only, “that guy who performed that cool kick off the cage.” Vitor Belfort: Stop global warming. That’s the only way he can truly create a better atmosphere. Quinton Jackson: Only fight in Japan. Since apparently he doesn’t like American fans and doesn’t perform as well in front of them. Arianny Celeste: Get title fights to be more rounds. The more rounds a fight goes, the higher her IQ score is according to Chael Sonnen. The Diaz Brothers: Avoid shoving during any pre-fight staredown. Given the intensity of Carlos Condit, I’m fairly certain that this one won’t happen. Tim Kennedy: Secure a cameo on the TV show Homeland. Come on Showtime, you claim you’re behind MMA and Strikeforce, make this happen. Kennedy would be great as one of those marines standing around and rapping to Eminem lyrics. Brock Lesnar: Beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. And avoid body shots in the process. Kazushi Sakuraba: Beat Triple H at Wrestlemania. Alright, so this one obviously isn’t happening, but I’d like to see Sakuraba stick to pro-wrestling like he did at DREAM New Years Eve 2011 and not fight. The Nogueira Brothers: Keep smiling. Keeping shining. Knowing you can always count on me, for sure. That’s what brothers are for. Michael Schiavello: Have Frank Trigg always be his “verbal sparring partner” for every show. If you watched the HDNet broadcast of DREAM, then you saw Schiavello throw out his back carrying his broadcast partners. He and Trigg have great chemistry and should never be broken up. Antonio Silva: Learn how to defend against the overhand right. He better hope he never faces Dan Henderson. Frank Mir: Retire Lesnar. What’s this?!? Damn you Alistair Overeem! Frankie Edgar: Avoid fighting Ben Henderson twice. 2010 was Penn. 2011 was Gray Maynard. Will Edgar finally fight more than one opponent in 2012? Tito Ortiz: Retire with a victory. Not many fighters have done it. Maybe Tito can finally out-do Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. Leonard Garcia: Develop a second punch. His fastball punches haven’t been working well as of late, he needs to get a new strikeout pitch before he ends up like Jonathan Papelbon. Ronda Rousey: Collect more arms. This could be a tough one if she steps up in competition to take on Sarah Kaufman, Miesha Tate, or Cristiane Santos. Jade Bryce: Beat out Brittney Palmer for my affection. Let me tell you, you may not think it’s possible, but I promise you that it is. Happy New Year everyone! What are your MMA-related resolutions? Share in the “Comments” section below!

Posted in: fight, ’t, year, doesn ’t, resolution

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The welterweight division was put on notice last night at UFC 141 when 12-1 Johny Hendricks blasted Jon Fitch with a stiff left and sent the former title-contender spilling backwards to the mat. Hendricks quickly pounced on his fallen prey and pounded out the victory, finishing Fitch for the first time in the UFC despite the American Kickboxing Academy staple having faced some of the top 170ers in MMA. The 28-year old reflected on his remarkable victory at the post-event press conference where he hoped his success might even be enough to sneak into a shot at the winner of Carlos Condit-Nick Diaz. “I just beat the #2 ranked guy. GSP couldn’t do it in five rounds. B.J. Penn couldn’t do it…love the guy the death…he couldn’t do it,” said Hendricks while referring to Fitch’s previous fights with Penn and current champion Georges St. Pierre. “I just knocked the #2 guy out in twelve seconds. Where does that put me? Hopefully for a (title-shot)…but if it doesn’t, I’m gonna just have to go out there and prove it again.” The UFC President shared Hendricks’ enthusiasm and insinuated the former NCAA wrestling king was at least in the mix. “Holy sh*t,” White exclaimed about the win. “It was a quick fight. The thing about Hendricks is he’s got great wrestling…world-class wrestling…and he hits hard. He’s a tough guy to fight. It was a big, big night for Johny Hendricks.” “It puts him right in there,” White concluded. Hendricks has now won his past three fights and is 9-1 under the Zuffa banner. His only defeat came in a decision to Rick Story at the Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale. Check out the entire press conference below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, guy, ’t, couldn, hendrick

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A few observations from UFC 141: “Lesnar vs. Overeem”: -Anthony Njokuani versus Danny Castillo was the kind of fight you’d show someone if they were curious about MMA and you didn’t like them and wanted them to not like the sport. -Ross Pearson didn’t exactly look impressive against Junior Assuncao, but he got the job done.  And by “job done”, I mean that TUF Lucite slab he earned still has a little bit of luster left on it. -The way Jimy Hettes absolutely dominated Nam Phan on the ground, you have to wonder if Phan’s black belt in jiu-jitsu was earned from taking a University of Phoenix online course. -Please.  No more Vladimir Matyushenko.  He’s done a lot in the cage, and was once a challenger for the light-heavyweight belt.  We don’t need to see him die in the Octagon. -This joke was all over Twitter immediately after the Jon Fitch/Johny Hendricks bout, but it was so good I’m going to repost it here: “Wow, that was the most exciting Jon Fitch fight ever!”  Heh. -Never before has Nate Diaz looked so much like his brother.  And folks, that is a very good thing. -I’m not saying the Brock Lesnar of 2009 could have beaten Alistair Overeem last night, but there’s no question the Brock of old would have at least gone for – and gotten – a takedown.

Posted in: overeem, ’t, i ’m, lesnar, ” i

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Rundown of UFC 141 post-fight news and notes… — 12,158 attendees filled the MGM Grand Garden Arena for a $3.1 million live gate. — Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone were awarded $75,000 Fight of the Night honors for their thrilling three-round striking affair. Johny Hendricks earned Knockout of the Night for blasting Jon Fitch back into the losing column with a left hand that left his barely conscious opponent trying to wrestle the referee. There were no submissions on the card. — Alistair Overeem did exactly what he needed to do last night to defeat Brock Lesnar. He stopped an early takedown attempt and pounded Lesnar with his K-1 level striking which culminated in a perfectly placed liver kick to end the fight that surely had Bas Rutten screaming “LIVER SHOT!!!” at the top of his lungs. Speaking to reporters at the post-fight press conference, Overeem revealed that he actually called his shot. “The funny thing was, I predicted it the evening before to my fiancee,” Overeem said after using a huge liver kick not only to send Lesnar in retirement but also to earn a shot at UFC champion Junior dos Santos. “She’s not here right now, or she would confirm it, but I said, ‘First I’m going to do this, then I’m going to do that, and I’m going to finish him with a liver kick.’ And yeah, I don’t know if it’s luck or strategy, but it turned out that way and I’m glad it did.” Much was made about Brock’s perceived inability to take a punch before the fight, however Overeem hardly threw any before he blasted away at him in the final sequence. Instead, Overeem chose to focus on Lesnar’s midsection with knees once he realized Lesnar didn’t like it. “After one of the first knees … he didn’t come for the takedown, as [I knew] he would,” said Overeem. “After that, we would come in the clinch and he would disengage. Usually, Brock is a guy that comes straight forward, but he was not doing that. Then I knew that the knees bothered him.” Besides going for a rather weak single-leg that he only half-heartedly committed to, Lesnar never made any real attempt to shoot in on Alistair as expected. Whether he was afraid of eating a knee or getting caught in a guillotine, we’ll never know, but Dana White thought Lesnar should have at least tried. “I was thinking, ‘Brock ought to try for a double,’ ” an ill UFC president Dana White said of Lesnar at the post-fight news conference. “A double would have been a better idea. You know, Brock’s fast, he’s explosive, he’s powerful and he’s a great wrestler. “I was shocked he didn’t shoot or try to take a double, but he was in Overeem’s range getting picked apart.” “Let me say in front of everyone here that I was wrong,” White said of Overeem. “I said it before Alistair came into the UFC and I said it leading up to this fight to myself because I never give predictions, but I thought Brock Lesnar was going to beat Alistair Overeem tonight. I did, and I was wrong. “He looked damn good tonight. He made quick work of Brock Lesnar.” That he did, and as a result we will find out in 2012 who’s the best heavyweight striker in MMA — Alistair Overeem or Junior dos Santos. — The biggest surprise of the evening came immediately after the conclusion of the main event. Rather than tell the crowd that he was going to focus on improving his game now that he’s healthy again, Lesnar announced that he was retiring and it wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. It’s what he planned all along. “My hat’s off to Alistair Overeem,” Lesnar said in the Octagon after the fight. “I want to take my hat off to all my training partners, to my wife, my family. I’ve had a really difficult couple of years with my disease. I’m going to say officially, tonight was the last time you’ll see me in the Octagon. I want to thank everyrone. I want to thank the Fertittas [co-founders of Zuffa, UFC’s parent company]. Brock Lesnar is officially retired. I promised my wife and kids, if I won I’d get a title shot and it would be my last fight. It’s been a pleasure.” At the post-fight press conference, Dana White claimed he had no idea the announcement was coming, but he wasn’t exactly surprised either. And despite Brock Lesnar being the UFC’s biggest cash cow, Dana has no plans to talk him out of it. “I had no idea he was going to do that,” White said at the post-fight news conference. “Am I surprised? No. He’s made a lot of money in his career. He’s achieved a lot of things. “Brock came to me one night here at the MGM [in 2007]. He said he wanted to fight in the UFC and I laughed. He had only had one fight. What that man accomplished coming in with only one fight is amazing. I get it. I doesn’t shock me. But I didn’t know it was coming. “When a guy wants to retire, it’s his thing,” White said. “This isn’t a game where you hit a ball with a stick. You don’t half-ass this stuff. When you know it’s over, it’s over. The bad part is when I think it’s over and the guy doesn’t.” The situation could get more complicated though if Lesnar decides to go back to the WWE. He still has time left on his UFC contract so it seems likely that he would need the UFC’s permission to do so. Nevertheless, if that’s what it comes to, Dana White doesn’t foresee it being an issue that can’t be worked out. “I mean, when he retires, he retires under contract,” White said. “I’ve had my moments with Brock Lesnar, but I’ve had a great relationship with him. We’ll figure it out, no big deal. Never had a situation with a guy where we haven’t done the right thing.” — It’s unknown when the heavyweight showdown between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem will go down, but Overeem says he is very excited for the opportunity. “Junior dos Santos is a very different fighter [than Lesnar], so the game plan will be very different. But both are very aggressive, and I like to be aggressive. I just like to be dominant. I don’t like to be going backwards, waiting. Sometimes you have to, but I prefer to go in there and beat the opponent up.” “I’m very excited to be fighting for the title. It’s my goal and, at this point, the highest achievement for every martial artist in the world,” said Overeem. “My experience [with] the UFC is huge; I think it’s 100 times bigger than Strikeforce. K-1 is big, but [the UFC] is even a lot bigger than K-1. I was a little bit blown away with all the fans and when you walk in [the Octagon]. It’s crazy. I loved it, every second of it.” Who isn’t pumped for that fight? — Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone turned into bitter enemies before the locked horns in the Octagon last night. Their attitudes quickly changed though after three rounds of punishing each other. Cerrone chalked it up to doing his job — hyping the fight and giving the fans what they came for in the cage. “It’s a show, man,” Cerrone said. “That’s what we do. We talk [expletive], we go in there and back it up, and then afterward, it’s like, ‘Hey, man, you know that was a good fight.’” Meanwhile, Diaz says he doesn’t want to come off as the bad guy, but that’s just how it happens sometimes. “I didn’t want to come off as a bad guy, but that’s just how it might have seemed. I just train hard. I come out to fight,” said Diaz. “The press, everybody was trying to get us real worked up. I try not to say anything. Fight day, you can get out there and get knocked down. I’m not a fortune teller. I can’t tell what’s gonna happen. I just try to say, I’m gonna go out there and work hard. But you’re not gonna catch me talking bad about somebody. I just don’t work that way.” Nevertheless, Diaz turned in one of the best performances of his career last night which showed continued improvement in his boxing. Diaz hopes the win puts him in a position to fight for a title shot. “[I want to fight] the best person in my weight division,” Diaz said at the UFC 141 post-fight press conference. “Whoever they would like to give me, the highest ranked contender, that’s what I’m after. I want to fight for the championship. I just want to show the world I can fight the best fighters and beat the best fighters.” With his teammate Gilbert Melendez stuck in Strikeforce for the time being, it’s hard to argue that Diaz doesn’t at least belong in the discussion. The question is: Who will he fight for the opportunity? My vote goes to the Joe Lauzon vs. Anthony Pettis winner at UFC 144. — Who would have predicted a Jon Fitch fight ending in 12 seconds? The only thing that would have made that more shocking is if Fitch was the one who was doing the finishing. Nevertheless, Johny Hendricks surprised pretty much everyone last night when he knocked Fitch out and hopes it will earn him a title shot. “I want a title shot,” he told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) during a post-UFC 141 special. “If they don’t give it to me, I’m not going to complain or anything. But I sort of see myself right there. I did what GSP couldn’t do.” Hendricks is probably still a win or two away from getting that opportunity, but he definitely made the welterweight title picture a lot more interesting last night. With the Fitch out of the discussion, the division is basically wide-open behind Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. Josh Koscheck is in the best position now to fight the winner of that one, but there’s definitely room for others like Hendricks to emerge as solid contenders. Image via Esther Lin for MMA Fighting

Posted in: ufc, fight, overeem, ’t, lesnar

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Brock Lesnar always knew how to make an entrance. And even after losing to Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141 Friday night, he knew how to make an exit as well, stealing the show in Las Vegas with his announcement that he was retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts at the age of 34.Finishing with a record of 5-3, Lesnar’s slate didn’t truly reveal the impact he had on the sport in a little over four years, or what he had to overcome to get into the Octagon in the tail end of his short career. Needless to say, he will be remembered by fans of the sport, some who booed, some who cheered, but all of whom watched him when he competed.A 2000 NCAA Division I national wrestling champion for the University of Minnesota, South Dakota’s Lesnar went on to international stardom as a WWE wrestler before leaving that world to try out for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, despite a strong showing, Lesnar was cut, but he didn’t stay idle for long, opting to begin a career in mixed martial arts after a short return to pro wrestling.“I originally wanted to fight when I was in junior college,” said Lesnar, who wrestled for Bismarck State College, in 2008.  “I took some summer school out in Lassen, California, where I met up with some guys who trained out of the Lions Den.  They booked me in a show in Reno, Nevada, and then I had to pull out because once you got paid to participate in something, the NCAA wouldn’t accept me, and I wanted to wrestle.  But I had actually started rolling and learning jiu-jitsu back in junior college when I was 19-20 years old.”  After putting in the requisite work in the gym, Lesnar was signed to make his debut against seven-foot-two Hong Man Choi at a K-1 event in Los Angeles in June, but he was instead matched up with late replacement Min Soo Kim, an Olympic silver medalist in judo.The fight was a blowout for Lesnar, who took Kim to the mat and pounded on him, forcing a tap out due to strikes in just one minute and nine seconds.  “I was just so happy to put my fist in some other guy’s face,” said Lesnar of his pro debut.  “I felt like I was in heaven.  It did go fast, 69 seconds, and it felt like it was five seconds.”  Lesnar immediately made it known that he wanted to compete in the UFC, and a meeting with company president Dana White ensued.“From the first conversation I had with Brock Lesnar, I was confident that he was gonna fight in the UFC,” said White.  “He had fought in another show, and after he fought in that show, he realized what it was like to fight in a rinky-dink organization.  Fighters and athletes of that caliber want to come to the UFC because this is the place to be.  It’s the most professional, it’s got the best fighters in the world and if you want to make your name and cement your legacy, the UFC is the only place to do it.”Eventually, Lesnar convinced White that he was ready to take on the best the UFC had to offer and that he didn’t want any gimme fights. And White didn’t give him any, matching him up immediately with former heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 81 in February of 2008.After a strong start, Lesnar was submitted by Mir, but by the time he rebounded with wins over Heath Herring and Randy Couture, he was the heavyweight champion of the world, a feat he accomplished in just four pro fights. At UFC 100 in July of 2009, he avenged the loss to Mir via second round TKO, but was struck a few months later with the first of two bouts of diverticulitis that threatened his career and his life. He refused surgery after the first case of diverticulitis struck and he made a miraculous recovery, capping off his comeback with perhaps the biggest win of his career, a second round submission victory over Shane Carwin.Three months after the Carwin bout, Lesnar would lose his belt to Cain Velasquez, and after a stint as a coach on season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter, he was hit a second time with diverticulitis. This time, he opted for surgery and had 12 inches of his colon removed. But once again, he rose from the proverbial canvas to beat the ailment and step back into the Octagon. And while getting halted in the first round by Overeem wasn’t the way he wanted to leave the sport, a promise to his wife and children to retire should he lose prompted the big man from Alexandria, Minnesota to make his announcement to the world Saturday night and end a career that was like a shooting star – it didn’t last long and it burned out at the end, but when it was at its peak, it was something you wouldn’t miss seeing for the world.

Posted in: ufc, fight, world, ’t, lesnar

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Jon Fitch takes a lot of crap for his boring style, and rightfully so. No one shells out hundreds of bucks on UFC tickets so they can watch a human blanket lay out a 15 minute snoozefest. It's been interesting watching the press slowly go from giving Fitch the respect due the #2 welterweight in the world to spending entire interviews discussing his hated style and whether he's ever gonna finish anyone. Here's his latest response: “A fight is a fight. We fight to find out who’s the best, whose the best style is. The whole point of UFC 1 was to find out what style was the most effective and whose is the best, and I think we’ve gotten away from just styles, you know, jiu-jitsu or boxing or whatever, and we’ve gotten into games, like what kind of game is dominant, who’s going to apply which types of pieces from each style in their game to make it dominant. And I think that’s exciting and fun to watch, and if people don’t think that’s exciting and fun to watch, then I don’t think they’re a fan of MMA. I think they’re a pro wrestling fan and I think they’re a kung fu movie fan, and that’s what they want to see. I think they want to see pro wrestling or kung fu movies, and I don’t think that we should dumb down the sport to make that small percentage of people happy. I don’t think it makes sense. I don’t like soccer, but I don’t go on forums all day and bitch and moan about how they don’t use their hands.” You heard Fitch. The ultimate fighting style is 'Take your opponent down and hold him there for 15 minutes.' And you're an ignorant tool for thinking all those other dudes in MMA using spin kicks, inverse triangles, and gogos etc are better martial artists.Meanwhile, Dana White is serious enough about the UFC being sport and not spectacle that he still has Jon Fitch right up there in contention. But that doesn't mean he's ignorant of what's really up: "The problem with Jon Fitch is, you know, you hear this same thing from everybody about Jon Fitch. ‘If I want to fall asleep and I can’t get to sleep at night, I’ll put in a Jon Fitch fight.’ You know, and… whatever you think, Jon Fitch is one of the best 170 pounders in the world and, yes, he’s in the hunt for the title again. But everybody, I mean, find one person that will tell you that they love a Jon Fitch fight, it’s the most exciting thing they’ve ever seen and they just get so excited for it. So, when you say that you have a fight like (Donald) Cerrone and (Nate) Diaz on the card and a guy with a record like [Fitch's] is on and people aren’t jumping out of their seats for that fight, you know, I think Jon needs to have a little bit of a, you know, he’s got to be a little honest with himself and have a little bit of a reality check when he talks about stuff like that.” Snizzap.

Posted in: fight, jon, ’t, fitch, style

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Christmas was great. I hung out with my family and friends and had dinner at Ray Sefo’s house. I ate more at Thanksgiving but I still ate way too much during Christmas. I’ll be at UFC 141 on Friday. I don’t have any fighter on the card so I’ll be able to enjoy all the fights as a fan. As far as the main event, I’m leaning towards Alistair Overeem. Brock Lesnar is a great wrestler and is a big, strong guy, but Overeem is just as big and strong. He doesn’t have the same wresting background but he has a good submission game and is striking is at another level. I really like the Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz fight. They’re both tough as nails and have no quit in them. It should be a great fight. I don’t know who is going to win. It’s too close to call because they’re so evenly matched. It’s going to be a great fight though. I don’t think their paths have ever crossed but they’re both there to prove something and they’ve built up a genuine dislike. It’s going to be a crazy fight. The plan for New Year’s Eve is up in the air but I will most likely end up at Randy Couture’s house to ring in 2012 with friends and family. We’ve also talked about getting a table at a club. A couple of my friends want to go to the strip, but I’ve done that plenty of times and it gets a little too crazy, even for me. I have a New Year’s resolution to stick to training more jiu-jitsu. I’ve done a few classes with Vinny Magalhaes. He’s an amazing instructor. My schedule has been crazy but in 2012 I plan on working my schedule around his so I can be in his class at least once a day. I also want to improve my knowledge of the game and be one of the best coaches in MMA. Those are my goals for next year. After the tiny bit of time off for NYE it will be back to the grind preparing fighters. I’ve been working with Vitor Belfort and he’s been looking sharp. The training camp started a little slow but things have picked up. I like the momentum we’ve got right now and where things are at. I know Anthony Johnson is a tough opponent and I think he’s going to be even stronger at 185 because he doesn’t have to cut weight, but the stuff we’ve been working on is a good game plan. We’ve been studying Anthony and we have some things we’re going to do to avoid his takedowns. I like where Vitor’s head is right now and he’s really excited. We know Anthony is a dangerous opponent and we’re not taking him lightly. We know to get another title shot we can’t have any backwards steps. The team is working well together and his jiu-jitsu coach, Gilbert Durinho, is one of the best out there. We plan on leaving for Brazil on January 3. It’s summer time over there and our hotel is on the beach, so I’ll definitely have to resist the urge to get into some trouble. That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading my blogs this year. I look forward to bringing you more insight in 2012. Have a great NYE! Until next week make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter) and make sure to have the happiest of holidays! PHOTO CREDIT – GILMARTINEZBOXING.COM Tweet

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Welcome to the inaugural edition of my column, the Downes Side. So what will this column contain? Basically, think of it like that movie the Blind Side, but with fight predictions. There will be an engaging character, a giant football player-type, a feel good story and it will culminate with me getting an award as undeserving as Sandra Bullock’s Oscar (Helen Mirren got robbed!).  Shifting from UFC fighter to UFC writer may seem quite different, but there are a number of similarities. For one, they both disappoint your relatives. As one unnamed family member told me, “Great, you’ve traded one dead end profession for another.” Plus, both are hazardous to your health: Writing has less physical trauma, but supposedly comes with more alcoholism and drug abuse.  December 30's UFC 141 and New Year's Eve have a lot in common, too. Both are highly anticipated events with winners and losers. So come Saturday morning after the Friday night fights, who will be buying champagne by the magnum and who be alone at midnight with no one to kiss,searching for some type of sign to tell them they everything they’ve worked for the last few years hasn’t been in vain, crying into their pillow as they workshop their one-liners for the UFC 142 prediction column.... anyway, on with my picks.Vladimir Matyushenko vs Alexander GustafssonBoth of these guys come into this fight looking to build on the momentum they’ve been gathering. Alexander Gustafsson has rattled off three in a row, the most recent being TKOing Matt Hamill into retirement. Vladimir Matyushenko is coming in after a 20 second finish of Jason Brilz in August and 15 years of experience ("The Mauler" was 10 when Matyushenko made his pro MMA debut.)Gustaffsson has a great future in the UFC, but he won’t have a great Saturday night. The deciding factor here is power and Matyushenko’s will be too much for Gustafsson to handle. Prediction: “The Janitor” cleans up and the Swede goes down in the second round; which is still longer than my last piece of IKEA furniture lasted.  That concludes the first edition of the Downes Side. If you liked it, leave some comments, suggestions and predictions of your own. If you didn’t – keep it to yourself. I can’t afford to get fired from another job.Jon Fitch vs Johny HendricksJon Fitch hasn’t lost a fight since 2008 and his last loss before that was 2002. Despite that impressive record, his fighting style hasn’t endeared himself to fans. The good news for fans is that Johny Hendricks has a wrestling pedigree that could prevent Fitch from executing his game plan. The bad news is that fans don't get to pick fights, otherwise GSP and Anderson Silva would headline every event, which would take place under PRIDE rules.Plus, all the blue-chip rasslin' won’t matter, because Hendricks also has the tendency to want to stand and bang. He’ll catch Fitch with a couple good shots, rush for the kill, overcommit himself to a big shot and that give Fitch an opening to get him down.Prediction: Fitch wins this one after 15 and then takes the title from GSP—the one for most decision victories in UFC history. Nate Diaz vs. Cowboy Cerrone This has fight of the night written all over it. We could talk about who would take the edge with regards to grappling ability, but let’s be honest, the only way one of these guys is going to the ground is if he's unconscious. And with the chins on these two, that’s probably even more unlikely.  Both of these scowling scrappers have slick submission games and good cardio, leaving this bad blood bout to be determined on the feet. Both like to use their long limbs and range to tag opponents (sometimes even at pre-fight press conferences) and don’t focus on big power shots. Diaz may be more of a “quantity over quality” guy when it comes to strikes, but Cerrone isn’t too far behind. Prediction: This one goes to the judges and Cerrone wins by split decision. That’ll make Nate angry, and you wouldn’t like it when a Diaz gets angry. Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair OvereemThe general consensus about this fight is that Overeem wins this easily because Lesnar “can’t take a punch” (one of the few things I excelled at - he should have called me to help him train).  I don’t know if Brock has gotten a better chin since his last fight, but it won't come to that. I see him charging like a mustang to secure the takedown, and this will be one horse that Overeem can’t eat. Prediction: Once he gets top control, Lesnar will use his ground and pound and the ref will stop this one in the first round. 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Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, prediction, fitch

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Nate Diaz talks to UFC.com about his early days of getting into training and eventually ending up on the Ultimate Fighter. Both events seem to have been spurred on by his brother Nick, which is kinda surprising since you'd think all the advice Nick gives out would lead to incarceration or an early grave, not wealth and success. “We were sitting at home when they started The Ultimate Fighter, and we’re like ‘this s**t is ridiculous,’” said Nate. “We were just criticizing it horribly and we’re laughing at it, saying ‘hell no, I would never do that.’ And then they called him for The Ultimate Fighter, but Nick was like ‘I’m not doing that show.’”Nick refused a spot on season four of TUF, but when the call came in for season five, it was for Nate. The younger Diaz refused, even though Cesar Gracie believed he should do it. Then Nick entered the picture.“I think you should do it,” Nick told his brother.So he did, but as soon as taping began, he wanted out.“I said I’m getting out of here,” recalled Nate. “I don’t even know why I’m here.”But then his first fight against Rob Emerson was set.“At that point I couldn’t leave, because if I left, it would be like I didn’t want to fight somebody.”Diaz beat Emerson, and again, he would lie awake at night plotting for a way to leave. He didn’t do it though, and after beating Corey Hill, Gray Maynard, and Manny Gamburyan, he won the season title and a UFC contract.“It was a good thing I stayed because it was like a shortcut and it got me right into the UFC,” he said. “It was the best thing that could have happened. I had no money, I was broke, I was a kid, and I had no direction, and at that point it kinda gave me a direction.” Nate's time on the Ultimate Fighter also solidified his reputation as 'the sane Diaz brother', with the one major spat on the show involving him being mostly Karo Parisyan's fault. Although to be fair to Karo, did Nate know who he was bro?

Posted in: diaz, nick, ’t, i ’m, nate

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Jon Fitch has taken a ton of heat over the years for his fighting style and inability to finish fights. Rather than take it as constructive criticism though, Fitch has always argued that winning, and not how it is accomplished, is what matters most. To him, the sport of MMA is as simple as determining whose style of martial arts is the best. Fitch elaborated on that point and expressed his frustration with fans who don’t always find the purity of the sport entertaining in a recent interview with Sherdog. “A fight is a fight. We fight to find out who’s the best, whose the best style is. The whole point of UFC 1 was to find out what style was the most effective and whose is the best, and I think we’ve gotten away from just styles, you know, jiu-jitsu or boxing or whatever, and we’ve gotten into games, like what kind of game is dominant, who’s going to apply which types of pieces from each style in their game to make it dominant. And I think that’s exciting and fun to watch, and if people don’t think that’s exciting and fun to watch, then I don’t think they’re a fan of MMA. I think they’re a pro wrestling fan and I think they’re a kung fu movie fan, and that’s what they want to see. I think they want to see pro wrestling or kung fu movies, and I don’t think that we should dumb down the sport to make that small percentage of people happy. I don’t think it makes sense. I don’t like soccer, but I don’t go on forums all day and bitch and moan about how they don’t use their hands.” As Dana White explained to Ariel Helwani yesterday though, it’s not that simple when you’re asking people to spend their money on your product. Transcription via Fight Opinion: “People can think pro-wrestling or whatever… The problem with Jon Fitch is, you know, you hear this same thing from everybody about Jon Fitch. ‘If I want to fall asleep and I can’t get to sleep at night, I’ll put in a Jon Fitch fight.’ You know, and… whatever you think, Jon Fitch is one of the best 170 pounders in the world and, yes, he’s in the hunt for the title again. But everybody, I mean, find one person that will tell you that they love a Jon Fitch fight, it’s the most exciting thing they’ve ever seen and they just get so excited for it. So, when you say that you have a fight like (Donald) Cerrone and (Nate) Diaz on the card and a guy with a record like [Fitch's] is on and people aren’t jumping out of their seats for that fight, you know, I think Jon needs to have a little bit of a, you know, he’s got to be a little honest with himself and have a little bit of a reality check when he talks about stuff like that.” Personally, I think Fitch’s view on the sport is a little too idealistic. Sure, mixed martial arts, and more specifically, the UFC was developed with the intention of finding out which fighting style is the best (or from the founder’s POV, proving that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is the best), but at the end of the day, MMA doesn’t exist, at least not on the level it does today, unless people want to see the fights so badly they’re willing to pay for them. Some of the best fights have ended in decisions, but for the most part fans want to see exciting fights culminating in dramatic finishes. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what gets our heart racing and our blood pumping. It’s what we pay for. That doesn’t mean the sport needs to become pro wrestling, a kung-fu movie or “dumbed down.” It just means it needs to be exciting, and sorry, but grinding away at opponents for endless rounds just isn’t. Image via Daniel Herbertson for MMA Fighting

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There are always question marks surrounding a fighter after a prolonged layoff, especially one that involves surgery to treat a serious ailment like diverticulitis, so the first inkling of whether that fighter is back to his former self comes in the lead-up to his return. You want to hear if he’s got his mojo back or whether there’s the slightest hint of doubt in his voice.When that fighter is former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, the answer came as soon as he was asked where his willingness to consistently test himself against the top big men in the game came from.“I was born this way,” said Lesnar. “I was born a bad mother**ker and that’s who I am. It ain’t an act, and it’s not a line. There’s nobody out there like me. I was born to do this, and I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me. I’ve proven myself over and over again that this is my way of life. Where does it come from? I don’t know, it’s just who I am.”Brock is back.Those three words are welcome ones to MMA fans who have come to embrace the giant from Alexandria, Minnesota as not just “that former pro wrestler,” but as a true mixed martial artist whose resume of fights against names like Randy Couture, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, and Heath Herring speaks for itself. Win or lose, Lesnar took that walk to the Octagon, backing up any boasts he made when he first signed with the UFC in 2008 and said he wanted to fight nothing but the best.Unfortunately, his most intimidating opponent has been diverticulitis, the intestinal ailment that has taken him out of commission twice since October of 2009. The first time, he avoided surgery, got well, and pulled off a miraculous comeback win in his return against Shane Carwin at UFC 116 in July of 2010. He would lose his title three months later against Velasquez, but the biggest blow came in 2011, when he was forced to cancel his UFC 131 bout against Junior dos Santos when he revealed that he was stricken a second time by the same illness. “It’s just pain and not feeling good,” said Lesnar. “It’s like flu symptoms, but it just didn’t allow me to recover. When you’ve got an infection in your body and it’s not healing, words can’t even describe how you feel. You feel like s**t all the time. I had it pretty bad.”This time, he decided on the surgery, which required the removal of 12 inches of his colon. It was the right call.“I always had in the back of my mind that I would be back,” he said. “But I just kept dealing with this issue, this diverticulitis, and I kept denying it for the longest time, thinking that I could fight it like I fought everything else and do without the surgery, but the surgery’s the best thing I ever did. I got my life back, I feel like a human being again, and I’m not dealing with the pain and discomfort and not dealing with just feeling downright s**tty every day.”Once his surgery was done, he got back to business. Really. Not after a year, but almost immediately.“I was only in the hospital for a day and a half,” said Lesnar. “The biggest thing that they were worried about was the seven inch incision that they made to remove the part. They went through my abdomen, made sure that was healed up, and I was good to go.”The prognosis? He was good as new and cleared to fight again with only a 10 percent chance of the diverticulitis coming back. “I’m a 34-year old man and it took 33 years for this to happen,” he said. “I changed my diet and hopefully I’ll never see it again. This is a sickness that a lot of people have, but they don’t even know that they have it, and it just wears on them. It wears you down and just drives you right into the dirt. Now I feel like I’ve got a new lease on life.”And on his fighting career, which resumes Friday night against former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem. As is his tradition, there are no tune-ups for Lesnar, only one killer after another. If taking on an athlete the caliber of Overeem in his first fight back after surgery and a 14 month layoff doesn’t convince you that Lesnar’s the real deal, nothing will. But then again, he really doesn’t care.“I’m not here to impress anybody or to make any friends,” said Lesnar. “I’m just here to fight and make a living and I want my UFC title back, and that’s it. I’ve got one speed, and that’s wide open. Everything I do is wide open. I’ll deal with the consequences after the fact.”As for Overeem, Lesnar says that he’s “just another guy, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m here to fight and I’m here to get my title back. Whoever they want to put in front of me, I don’t care.”Suffice to say that Lesnar wasn’t spending too many sleepless nights worrying about the striking of his opponent, a former K-1 Grand Prix champion. Then again, that’s nothing new for Lesnar, a NCAA Division I wrestling champion who left the scouting to his coaches when it came to tournament time.“I didn’t scout, I didn’t do much of anything about it,” said Lesnar. “You just show up, wrestle, kick ass, take names and go home and eat a bowl of cereal. (Laughs) Everyone’s got their own deal, but that’s kinda how I approach it.”And while he has made it clear over the years that he’s no internet junkie when it comes to keeping up on the daily workings of the sport that he makes his living in, he is aware that among the heavyweights, things are getting more interesting and more competitive by the minute.“This is a sport where anything can happen at any time,” said Lesnar. “It’s a tough division and it’s one of the toughest divisions out there now. It’s fully loaded with lots of talent, so for me to sit and analyze who the next champion is gonna be…hopefully soon enough it’s gonna be me, and that’s all I can really focus on.”He pauses for a moment, then continues.“I just believe I’m the champ. Even without the belt I still think that I’m the guy. Not to have the title is disappointing, but I’m a professional and I understand that I gotta win fights and then I’ll become champion again.”Brock Lesnar has wrestled, both in college and in the WWE, he’s tried out for the NFL, and he could probably retire to his farm right now and be settled for the rest of his life. But if he’s figured anything out over the course of his 34 years on this Earth, it’s that his true identity isn’t on the mat, in the ring, or on the gridiron or farm. It’s in the Octagon, and he won’t ever deny it.“I finally feel like I’m at home,” he said. “Certain people are born to do certain things. Every day, there’s somebody who’s born for a specific job. It’s Greek mythology – you handpick this kid and he’s gonna be this. If it was back in the days, I would have been a gladiator. I’m just a modern day gladiator.”

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Like the yin to every yang, the Lone Ranger to every Tonto, and the oozing strawberry jelly to every organic peanut butter slathered on a slice of whole wheat bread, comes the official “worst of” 2011 list, which is meant to offset all the “best of” gospel of Monday’s post.  Just as every year before it, 2011 had its moments of glory, when for the briefest of instances the sport was elevated to something more than just two dudes (or dudettes) bashing each other.  Of course, there were also instances when you just knew you were watching something that people would be talking about years from now, and not in a good way.  So!  The “worst of” 2011!  Enjoy! -Worst Destruction of a Limb by a Male: Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira II, UFC 140 – If the former UFC heavyweight champ keeps broking bones, you have to wonder if future fighter contracts will contain a “Frank Mir Clause”, which promises some sort of additional payout if the submission-savvy lug does what he did to Tim Sylvia and “Big Nog”.  And damn, what he did to Nogueira… that’s the stuff nightmares are made of.  Sure, a ton of responsibility for the arm-breaking finish rests on the shoulders of the Brazilian – homeboy should’ve tapped long before bones began snapping – but the common denominator in two of the worst submission-related injuries in the Octagon have been Mir.  THANK THE LORD THAT FIGHT DIDN’T AIR LIVE ON FOX. -Worst Destruction of a Limb by a Female: Ronda Rousey vs. Julia Budd, Strikeforce Challengers 20 – Rousey proved to be too fast for the referee to react at Strikeforce Challengers 18, and when a crapstorm arose from her releasing her armbar on Sarah D’Alelio before the ref could step in, she vowed to rip the damn thing off next time.  Well, Rousey is a woman of her word.  At Strikeforce Challengers 20, she made Budd’s elbow bend in a direction it was never meant to bend, and she held the suddenly-useless appendage until the referee pried it from her uncaring hands.  Think there will soon be a “Ronda Rousey Clause” in fighter contracts as well?  I certainly do. -Worst Comeback Fight: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jeff Monson, M-1 Global’s “Fedor vs. Monson” – After rattling off three consecutive losses, the once-unbeatable Fedor was in desperate need of a win, so in that regard, you can’t fault the legendary fighter for taking an “easy” fight against perpetual journeyman Monson.  But damn, if you’re going to defeat someone who a mere two years before wouldn’t have been worthy of dry cleaning your sweater, you better not make it lackluster – which is more or less what happened when Fedor earned his unanimous decision win over the American grappler.  Did Monson’s anarchistic tendencies throw the Russian off?  Or was it just an example of how high the mighty have fallen?  I don’t know.  I don’t really care, either.  I just want the man who was for the longest time the greatest heavyweight in the world to fight – or retire – with dignity. -Worst Resolution to a Tournament: Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos, Bellator 59 – Nothing says vale tudo like a soccer kick to the nuts.  Unfortunately, vale tudo isn’t the rule set the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board uses when it sanctions MMA bouts, so when the Brazilian behemoth Santos punted Prindle’s junk, that signaled the anticlimactic end to Bellator’s Season Five heavyweight tournament machinations.  The fight was ruled a “no contest” for reasons that escape logic, so the two hulks will get to resolve things when Season Six rolls around. -Worst Athletic Commission for Brazilians: Arizona – If Marcos Galvao forevermore declines taking fights in Arizona, everyone in the world should respect that.  He did, after all, get royally screwed in what should’ve been two clear-cut decisions against Joe Warren (at Bellator 41) and Alexis Vila (Bellator 55).  Arizona State Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Commission, why do you hate Brazilians? -Worst Performance Before a Hometown Crowd: Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung, UFC 140 – Seven seconds.  That’s how long it took the “Korean Zombie” to counter Hominick’s overly-aggressive one-punch assault with a storm of leather at UFC 140 in Toronto.  As a Canadian hero who went the distance with the champ in his last trip to the cage, Hominick could not have screwed the hometown pooch any worse.

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, vs, fedor

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  When talking about the subculture surrounding mixed martial arts that almost requires a fighter to have some sort of tattoo – or a collection of them - UFC featherweight Jimy Hettes has to chuckle.“The thing with tattoos, by nature I shouldn’t be a fighter at all,” he reveals. “I’m afraid of needles, I’m afraid of blood, and I’m just a skinny little kid.” A statement like that brings to mind another skinny kid who many believed didn’t belong in the fight game – Royce Gracie. But over 18 years since Gracie introduced the world to his family’s brand of jiu-jitsu, there are many disciples like Hettes who continue to break the mold when it comes to what is expected from a professional fighter.“I really like the martial arts side of fighting and I really love learning new techniques and stuff like that, and it almost gives me an advantage because I can keep going forward and learning new techniques in every martial art with no pressure,” said the 24-year old native of Kingston, Pennsylvania, who returns to the Octagon this Friday in a main card bout against veteran Nam Phan. It’s the second UFC visit for Hettes, who made a positive impression the first time around in August when he submitted Alex Caceres in the second round. But even though he made it look effortless, he had those first time UFC jitters.“I tried to tell myself it was another day, another fight, and I really tried to suppress the nerves and tried to trick myself into thinking I wasn’t in the UFC,” he said. “But finally when I got there, that’s when the nerves hit me. I saw the venue and my name on the megatron, and it really hit me then.”Then what?“At that point, it was just dealing with the nerves. The butterflies were in my stomach and I just had to let ‘em fly.”And after getting warmed up and into his rhythm, it was business as usual, as he kept his record perfect at 9-0, with all nine of his wins coming by submission. Yeah, he’s good, real good; so good that it looks like he’s always one step ahead of his opponents when it hits the mat. Years of work in various forms of combat sports will do that for you.“I was a big mat rat as a kid,” said Hettes. “I was doing jiu-jitsu, wrestling or judo and I just immersed myself in it. So as soon as it became time to fight, all the techniques were so ingrained in my brain that they would just flow without me really thinking about them.”It’s kept him unbeaten thus far, and while some consider keeping that “0” an albatross; for Hettes, it’s part of the game. “There’s always pressure in a fight, especially in a great organization in the UFC,” he said. “There’s a certain pressure that comes along with that, but you have to remain calm and just go from there.”If anything, Hettes exudes calm in the Octagon. There is no wasted motion, no nervous energy to be burned off before he can get into his game plan. With only two and a half years as a pro under his belt, he still looks like a fighter who has been doing this forever.“If you stay calm in practice, it translates well into the fight,” he explains. “If you’re always going nuts at practice, you can translate that into the fight as well. At practice we have a bunch of good guys and everyone stays calm, but at the same time we get excellent work.”That work is getting even better, as Hettes has been working in New Jersey with the likes of UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and former UFC standout Ricardo Almeida in preparation for Phan. Edgar is a good choice of training partner for Hettes, and not just for the obvious reasons. Before establishing himself as the best 155-pounder in the game, Edgar was looked at as the quiet underdog, a label he quickly shed when beating the likes of BJ Penn and Gray Maynard. Hettes may have the goods to follow in Edgar’s footsteps one day.“It’s mainly his attitude toward fighting,” said Hettes when asked the biggest influence Edgar has had on his game. “Even in the gym, he never gives an inch and he’s always coming forward. What people don’t see is the mental side of fighting. He really stays on the guys he trains with, making sure everyone’s giving their all and stuff like that.”That kind of work is invaluable, especially against a fighter like Phan, who is easily the best opponent Hettes has faced thus far. And while the Ultimate Fighter season 12 standout has focused on showing off his boxing in his UFC career thus far, Phan also has a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, though Hettes isn’t so sure his foe is going to use it on Friday.“He’s probably gonna want to keep it standing at all costs, and I’m sure he’ll be confident in throwing his hands because he’s got the jiu-jitsu background,” said Hettes of Phan. “And if I do get him to the ground, it’s still not gonna be a cakewalk from there. It’s gonna be hard work the entire fight.”Hettes is fine with whatever happens when the bell rings, and he knows that at this level of the game, it’s not about a purple belt testing his ground game out against a black belt; it’s about winning a fight wherever you can.“You want to exploit your opponent for any weaknesses. If I feel like Nam hasn’t used his jiu-jitsu a lot, I might try to exploit that, or if I see a flaw in his standup, I might try to exploit that too.”As long as he gets the win, Hettes will be happy. Then it’s back to the gym to start all over again. It’s the fighting version of Groundhog Day, but “The Kid” wouldn’t have it any other way.“I just always like the competition,” he said. “Every day you’re training with someone who’s been where you are or is past where you are, so it never gets boring; it’s a different experience every day.” 

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, game, hette

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Donald Cerrone doesn’t care where he sits in the rankings.He doesn’t worry about where critics or fans place him amongst the elite lightweights in the UFC.Even though he steps into the Octagon on Friday night riding a six-fight winning streak that includes four wins in 2011, three Fight Night bonuses, and back-to-back first-round finishes, “Cowboy” is only concerned with getting another opportunity to step into the cage and collect some more money.“I could give a s**t who’s over me,” answered Cerrone, the words snapping out with the speed and ferocity of the leg kicks he used to pummel Vagner Rocha at UFC 131 back in June. “It’s pretty much keep going, man. Just keep ‘em coming.”While 2011 has been a breakout year for Cerrone, he had showed flashes of his potential during his days in the WEC.A perennial title contender, the 28-year-old battled for the organization’s lightweight belt on three occasions over a six-fight stretch, beginning with his controversial first encounter with Jamie Varner. Never able to emerge with the gold wrapped around his waist, Cerrone slipped into the background slightly as the WEC’s lightweight ranks merged into the UFC’s deepest division.Reigning champion Anthony Pettis and former titleholder Benson Henderson garnered the majority of the attention in the wake of their classic battle at WEC 53, though Cerrone had earned a victory on the company’s final card as well, submitting Chris Horodecki in the second round. It was his second victory in three months, a follow-up to the dominant win he collected in his long-awaited rematch with Varner a few months earlier.Like many of his fellow WEC graduates, Cerrone entered the UFC with a chip on his shoulder, ready to show that he was every bit as good as the competitors in the UFC’s 155-pound division.“The proof is in the pudding there, man,” said the callous “Cowboy,” the chip still maintaining its former address. “There’s not much left to say. We all need someone to doubt on us. Just tell them to keep on doubting on me.”There are few doubting Cerrone at this point. He’s won four more times over the last ten months, extending the winning streak he began in the WEC to six, propelling himself further up the lightweight rankings with each subsequent victory.Cerrone stepped in for an injured Sam Stout at UFC 126 in February and submitted Paul Kelly in the second round, earning Submission of the Night honors in the process. Four months later, he thrashed Rocha in Vancouver, but it wasn’t until his last two fights that people really started to sit up and take notice.“I just feel like I’m hot,” admitted Cerone. “I don’t know, that’s just how life goes, in waves like that. You’ll be on top and then you’re at your lowest time. Right now, I feel good; everything seems to be going right.”In August, he blitzed youngster Charles Oliveira, crumpling the talented Brazilian under a torrent of strikes. Two months later, he filled in for Stout again and earned a similar result as he had in February, halting Dennis Siver’s climb up the rankings with a first round submission win at UFC 137.Like many observers, Cerrone believes he’s always had the potential for this kind of success.“I think I’ve always had it there — it’s just been getting my mind to tell my body what to do, getting my mind right. I’ve been figuring out what it takes for me to fight in the cage the way that I do in practice, you know?”Heading into the fight with Siver in October, Cerrone made it known that if everything went as planned, he wanted to fight for a fifth time in 2011. UFC matchmaker Joe Silva granted him his wish.“I’m super-excited. That’s what I asked for so bring it on. Close out the year with another fight — more money, more exposure, more everything.”Just a few days after UFC 137 was officially in the books, Cerrone was paired with Nate Diaz.After a four-fight stint as a welterweight, Diaz returned to the lightweight division at UFC 135 in September and picked apart Takanori Gomi, submitting the Japanese veteran in the first round. It was the best performance of his career, and immediately put the former Ultimate Fighter winner in the mix in the 155-pound ranks.Now the two are matched up in the co-main event slot of the UFC’s year-end event, with the victor likely to earn a place on the short list of title contenders heading into 2012. It’s a pairing that should produce fireworks when the cage door closes on Friday night.Both Cerrone and Diaz are extremely well rounded, capable of dominating an opponent with their striking or submission games, and transitioning between the two seamlessly.That’s one way of putting it. Cerrone sums up his opponent’s approach in a much less analytical way.“He’s game man, for sure. He talks a lot, and he gets in there and fights. I’m excited,” said Cerrone of his opponent, echoing feelings he shared earlier in the month when he praised Diaz and his brother for their approach in the cage.“If I bumped into him in the parking lot and said, `What’s up?’ we’re throwing down, and I like that mentality. You can’t teach that. They come to fight, and me too.”Like his older brother, Nate Diaz also knows how to fire up his opponent before they even step into the cage, and he’s done just that with Cerrone. Not that the fiery “Cowboy” really needed any extra motivation.“Unfortunately, he ran his mouth too much this time, and now he’s going to be in trouble. I’m excited to fight him. Ring the bell. Let’s go!”

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, month, cerrone

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Nate Diaz was a boy among men…literally. In a gym that housed not only Cesar Gracie, but UFC standouts David Terrell and Gil Castillo, Nate’s brother Nick, and up and comers Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez, every day was a fight for survival for the Stockton teenager.“It was really intimidating going down there,” said Diaz during an interview for the recent Countdown to UFC 141 show. “I went down to Cesar’s and it was Dave Terrell, Gil Castillo, Cesar, Nick and Jake, and Nick and Jake were just the young guys there too. Nick would be like ‘don’t get tapped out today.’ So I’d go in there with this competitive attitude and it was really hard to not get tapped out in that gym. Most likely it wasn’t gonna happen.”Yet Diaz kept showing up, which in his neighborhood was more than half the battle. His mother Melissa did her part, working long hours as a waitress while putting her two sons and their sister in various sports to keep them from straying to the streets. But there was always an imminent sense of danger.“Growing up here, there’s a lot of tension, a lot of gang activity, a lot of tough guys,” he said. “There’s just a lot going on. Like any city, it’s got good parts and bad parts, so you gotta watch out where you’re at. I wasn’t trying to be in no trouble, but it was definitely hard to stay out of trouble. But you just keep on the right path and stay going the way you need to go.”For Nate, that path was paved by his older brother, who had already started on his road into professional fighting, and one day Nick decided it was time for Nate to do the same.“As soon as I finished school, I’d be sitting around the house and I wasn’t doing much,” remembered Nate. “Nick said ‘What are you doing? Why don’t you come train with me?’ And he threw a pair of gi pants at me.”Right then and there, the die was cast, though as Nate recalls, “Back then fighting and training in jiu-jitsu wasn’t a trendy thing.”So the early days weren’t filled with interviews, photo shoots, and quick graduations to the UFC. Instead, it was a situation where a bunch of friends put that friendship aside for hours at a time in order to beat each other up and learn how to become fighters. Nate especially found a kindred spirit in future Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez.“I remember having wars with him,” said Diaz, who would shake off any idea of skipping practice when he knew “El Nino” was showing up that day.“That was a rush just going down there. I’d tell Nick I’m gonna hang out a bit, and he’d say ‘Gilbert’s coming.’ All right, let’s go. (Laughs) It was really good because it was a competitive thing, and at the same time they were our friends.”Eventually, Nate would join his brother, Melendez, and Shields on the pro fighting circuit, mixing in MMA bouts with boxing smokers and Toughman contests. By 2006, he was a respected prospect, but after a WEC loss to Hermes Franca, he was at a crossroads at only 21 years old. Enter The Ultimate Fighter, an avenue into the UFC that neither Diaz brother wanted any part of.“We were sitting at home when they started The Ultimate Fighter, and we’re like ‘this s**t is ridiculous,’” said Nate. “We were just criticizing it horribly and we’re laughing at it, saying ‘hell no, I would never do that.’ And then they called him for The Ultimate Fighter, but Nick was like ‘I’m not doing that show.’”Nick refused a spot on season four of TUF, but when the call came in for season five, it was for Nate. The younger Diaz refused, even though Cesar Gracie believed he should do it. Then Nick entered the picture.“I think you should do it,” Nick told his brother. So he did, but as soon as taping began, he wanted out.“I said I’m getting out of here,” recalled Nate. “I don’t even know why I’m here.”But then his first fight against Rob Emerson was set.“At that point I couldn’t leave, because if I left, it would be like I didn’t want to fight somebody.”Diaz beat Emerson, and again, he would lie awake at night plotting for a way to leave. He didn’t do it though, and after beating Corey Hill, Gray Maynard, and Manny Gamburyan, he won the season title and a UFC contract.“It was a good thing I stayed because it was like a shortcut and it got me right into the UFC,” he said. “It was the best thing that could have happened. I had no money, I was broke, I was a kid, and I had no direction, and at that point it kinda gave me a direction.”He’s kept moving since then, racking up an 8-5 record in his post-Gamburyan UFC career, and on Friday, he moves up to a Pay-Per-View co-main event slot against streaking Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. In the lead-up to the bout, the phrase “Fight of the Night” is almost always attached to the matchup, and the way Diaz sees it, that’s with good reason.“He’s actually one of the guys who likes to fight in the UFC, compared to people who like to wrestle and jump around, point scoring and doing all that funny stuff,” said Diaz, 26, whose September submission of former PRIDE champion Takanori Gomi was his most impressive win to date, which is saying something when you’re talking about a fighter with seven post-fight awards in his 14 Octagon bouts.But Diaz isn’t about the awards or the acclaim; he’s all about the fight, an attitude some competitors lose along the way. And no matter how you feel about Diaz, you have to respect that he is always consistent and always looking to put on a show for the fans. More than a decade after he stepped into Cesar Gracie’s gym for the first time, that much will never change.“When I fight, I’m mad,” he said. “I’m starving, I had to make weight, I trained my ass off, and I’m there to entertain. I’m just trying to do what I gotta do. Some people are out there trying to be the nicest guy, but I feel like a lot of that is frontin’. I think the difference between me and other people is that they’re playing the nice guy role and they’re just really well-behaved on camera. I meet a lot of people and they’re like ‘you’re not such a bad guy.’ What does that mean? When you see me on camera I’ve got to fight another person, and I’m not gonna put on a front.”It’s a fight. Nate Diaz won’t let you forget it.  

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Mike Pierce doesn’t typically call out opponents.

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The dragons fall one by one…33…34…and as of last week, 35. The man doing the damage to these virtual creatures is none other than UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch, and if you don’t catch him at the American Kickboxing Academy gym in San Jose, it’s likely that he’ll be at home, Xbox 360 controller in hand, playing the recently released roleplaying game Skyrim.A lot.“It’s complete freedom in a video game,” said Fitch, who has even started a Twitter account @FitchSkyrimTale to chronicle his adventures. “You can dictate what you want to do when you want to do it and it’s okay because it’s a video game. If somebody gives you attitude and talks back to you, you can just cut their head off in the game and be done with it. (Laughs) In life I think everybody needs that a little bit and that’s the best thing about video games. I don’t get into real-life games, playing basketball or football or track and field, because if I can do it in real life, I don’t really get into it that much in video games. But the things that are impossible to do, like the Grand Theft Autos or Skyrim, I can’t go carjack somebody or shoot up a mall or kill a dragon, but in these games you can, so it’s pretty awesome. You can make your own armor or do magic, it’s pretty fun.”Fitch has already logged over a couple hundred hours in the game, which was released in November, and of course the questions that immediately pop to mind are a) is this cutting in on his training time, and b) how does he manage to slip this one past his bride, Michele?“I train hard, and after you finish training, all you want to do is rest and relax,” he said. “And video games are one of the ways you can rest and relax. It’s part of my job, and she understands that, and I make sure I get all my stuff done. I don’t leave messes around, she cooks a lot, so I make sure I wash the dishes and put stuff away and make sure I’m helping out. I make her job easier and she makes my job easy. They (video games) are also therapeutic too because I don’t want to be thinking about fighting all the time. I don’t want to have to worry about my back being sore or what my next workout’s gonna be. I just want to kill this stupid dragon.”Fitch laughs, a welcome sound after a year that has been trying in his professional life. Kicking off 2011 with a draw against BJ Penn in February, the 33-year old was eager to extend his six fight unbeaten streak in a rematch with the former two-division champion at UFC 132 in July when a March shoulder injury took him out of the fight and out of competition, ending his shot at getting a rematch with welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre anytime soon. Fitch calls the time off a blessing and a curse.“When I was injured and out and couldn’t do anything, it was a curse because I was just going crazy,” he said. “If I can’t train or can’t be at the gym, I’m not a happy person. And being one-armed, I couldn’t work or do anything around the house. My wife was always on my tail about it (getting antsy to do something). She would say that my job is to heal while I’m off. So it was frustrating to not be able to do anything for a little while. That was the curse part of it. The blessing part is that it gave me a chance to focus on different things, and as my health started coming back I was able to work on different techniques, and watch MMA and the game from a different perspective.”It was a slow process to get his shoulder back in working order and then to regain his fighting shape, but the worst part may have been watching the welterweight world go round, as Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz jockeyed for the number one position while Fitch sat on the sidelines.“What are you gonna do?” he asks. “When you’re injured you’re on the shelf and you don’t really exist until you’re healthy again. No one really talks about you or puts you in the thought process of that mix because you’re injured and you’re out. So you have to accept that, and the faster you accept that, the easier it is.”Eventually, Fitch got the doctor’s green light to fight, and the former Purdue University wrestler was matched up with former Oklahoma State standout Johny Hendricks. The two meet this Friday in a UFC 141 main card bout, and it has the potential to be a good one.“He’s got a strong left hand, good clinchwork, he’s a good wrestler, good cardio, and he’s a good all-around fighter,” said Fitch of Hendricks. “I think I excel in a lot of those elements and I think that my experience and ability to blend everything together is what’s gonna overwhelm him and win me the fight.”If Fitch nails down the victory, it will be his 13th in 15 tries. That’s a lot of slain dragons. Hendricks would be another nice trophy for his list, but the fire-breathing dragon with the imposing claws is St-Pierre, the only man to pin a loss on Fitch in the UFC. Even a win over Hendricks won’t put Fitch in a title fight though, as a knee injury will keep GSP out of action well into 2012, and the champion’s first fight back will be against the winner of February’s interim title fight between Diaz and Condit. So Fitch knows he has a wait ahead of him.“All I can do is keep winning and keep racking up those Ws and start putting some people away again,” he said. “Eventually I’m not gonna be ignored and my fans aren’t gonna be ignored either.”And a shot against the winner of Condit-Diaz wouldn’t be a bad prize either if St-Pierre isn’t ready until the fall.“The way I look at it, the winner of the interim belt, that’s like the golden ticket for me,” said Fitch. “You get to fight for that, and nobody can jump over the guy with the golden ticket. So if you hold that thing, you’re guaranteed that shot with GSP. That’s the way I’m looking at it, that’s the way I approach it, and that’s where the hunger comes from. You get that golden ticket and you get that ride to the chocolate factory. (Laughs)”Sharpen that sword, young man. You’ve got a busy year ahead.

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There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and Matt Riddle smiling and grinning wherever life takes him. Outside of the cage -- and inside of it. Whether being hugged by a loved one, or punched in the face by a foe. In victory, and in defeat.“If you watch a tape of me wrestling in high school you’ll see me with a big Kool-Aid grin on my face,” the 25-year-old Pennsylvania native recently said before a training session at Throwdown Training Center in Las Vegas. “Whether it was at states or nationals, I had a smile on my face. Even when I competed in Grappler’s Quest, I beat (world-class grappler) Ryan Hall and I’m smiling the entire time, having a good time, and he’s getting frustrated. That’s when I’m most dangerous, when I have a big grin on my face. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to be standing on the other side of that.”As it turns out, Brazil’s Luis Ramos (19-7) will be the one “standing on the other side” of Riddle’s grin this Friday at UFC 141. The undercard bout comes at an interesting time for Riddle: He tied the knot with his fiancée, Lisa, two weeks ago. If you’re thinking the wedding may have distracted Riddle, or disrupted his preparation, think again. Riddle wanted the wedding and an Octagon appearance to be bunched together. “There was already a date for the wedding but I actually asked Joe Silva if I could fight December 30th. I figured that if I get the fight AFTER the wedding, then I wouldn’t have any bruises or cuts for the wedding,” said Riddle. “We wanted to get married before the end of the year so it worked out perfect.”Before giving Riddle too much credit, realize that he didn’t have it so hard other than his three-a-day workouts. A wedding planner he was not.  “All Lisa,” he said. “The only thing I picked was the food and the booze. And I couldn’t drink or eat, so it was kind of torturous.” With a honeymoon on the horizon, Riddle (5-3) is for now completely focused on Ramos, who trains at one of the best camps in the world under trainer Andre Pederneiras. “He’s a really good jiu-jitsu and judo practitioner,” Riddle said. “He likes to take people down and control them. He really doesn’t make too many mistakes. The thing is, I haven’t seen him really trying to finish the fight, and I’m going to be there to finish the fight. I’m going to try to knock him out or submit him. I hit really hard, so I’m pretty sure I can knock him out. That’s how he usually loses. I respect everything about him but I’m pretty sure I’m going to come out there and stuff the takedown. It’s my time now. His time is up.” Clearly back-to-back decision losses have had little effect on Riddle’s confidence. “My last two fights I’ve lost, but I’ve also learned more and become more confident and gained more experience,” he explained. “And I’ve put on great performances and had a blast in my last two fights. I didn’t go out there to win; I went out there to have fun. The last two guys I fought got cut up, went to the hospital and looked way worse than me.”With durability as one of his hallmarks, Riddle is trying to become more of a technician and a strategist. “You can’t fight at that pace all the time and I don’t plan on fighting at that pace all of the time. It’s impossible and it’s not good for you,” Riddle said. “But at the same time I like to pressure my opponents and push the pace to get people tired. Sometimes you have to take a little damage to dish out a little damage. It’s part of the game. That helps me because when somebody hits you as hard as they can, and you get back up and still keep coming at them, they get tired and start to think less of themselves. I know if I hit somebody as hard as I can and they just keep coming forward – it worries me. Because when I hit somebody as hard as I can I think they should drop.” A father of twin girls, Allison and Amy, Riddle said parenting has lit a fire under him. “When I get in there it just makes me a meaner person,” he said. “I need to take care of these kids and my wife. When I first started fighting in the UFC I was a pretty nice guy. Over the years I’ve gotten meaner and I think that’s a good thing. That’s the one thing that has changed about me a lot.”

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“I’m leaving for two weeks.”With those five words, Efrain Escudero probably changed his life forever. It may have only been 14 days out of that life, but the lessons he learned in his native Mexico in September are ones that will always stick with him.“I wasn’t happy where I was at,” said Escudero. “And one day I told everybody I’m leaving. I packed my bags and left my credit cards and debit card in the US and I traveled to Mexico and I lived with a family there. I worked with them and saw what it takes to live down there and to appreciate what I have more.”You don’t see accomplished pro athletes pulling a disappearing act like that. You just don’t. But a year after experiencing the lowest point in his five year MMA career, getting cut from the UFC after a 2010 loss to Charles Oliveira, he knew that the rebuilding process had one more step. He did his part in competition, winning four of his five post-UFC fights. Now came the finisher.“I had to make myself mentally tough.”He did, doing it the way the toughest of the tough do, for long hours and low pay. “I was working construction, breaking walls and the ground and putting everything in wheelbarrows and shoveling dirt,” said Escudero of his time in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora. “And after 16 hours of hard labor, I would get paid 200 pesos, which would translate to around 18 dollars. At that point I was hating it. I was sore, I had blisters, I was hurting, but it was a very good learning experience. I went out there, I worked, I did everything that they did, and I got to value everything that I have now more.”It wasn’t a publicity stunt, wasn’t something someone else told him to do. It was Escudero’s call, he did it, and he came back a different person and fighter. He wasn’t the same as he was in September of 2010, when the Oliveira bout capped off a 1-2 stretch that earned him his release, a move that stunned many, including Escudero, when it happened.“It did come as a shock,” he said, pausing for a couple seconds before continuing. “It was very shocking. In all honesty, I don’t think I was doing that bad. I was 3-2 in the UFC when I got cut, but it happens and I learned a lot from it.”It was more than the record though. Instead, it was a perfect storm of various instances coming together to send the Ultimate Fighter season eight winner out of the organization. After a 2-0 start to his UFC career that included an impressive first round knockout of Cole Miller at UFC 103, Escudero would lose a thriller to Evan Dunham in January of 2010 that didn’t see his stock drop at all. But a lackluster decision win over Dan Lauzon four months later didn’t do him any favors, and when he clocked in at 159 pounds for the Oliveira bout, some believed he was fighting for his job against the Brazilian. So when he lost, out came the axe. Don’t expect him to miss weight again.“Me not making weight was a big issue, but I had to continue moving forward, and making weight should be a priority no matter what and that’s one thing I learned from it,” said Escudero, who, when asked whether all the media he was doing since coming off TUF was distracting him from the gym, didn’t point to that as a reason for him not being on point in his last two Octagon bouts. “The media and the press are really good and I’m all for it and still to this day I’m all for it, but what I do believe happened is that every time I fought, I took a couple weeks off because my camps were really hard – or so I thought,” he said. “And I would go with my mom to visit my family and I would hang out with my friends and I would stay out of the gym, and the next thing you know, I have a fight scheduled already. So I wasn’t progressing and becoming a better MMA fighter; I was still the same fighter I was the previous fight. I wasn’t evolving and I believe that played a part in it.”That doesn’t happen anymore, and with Ben Henderson and the rest of his teammates on The Lab Fight Team in Arizona pushing him daily, his focus is back where it belongs.“I love waking up in the morning and going for a run, I love being in the gym and being surrounded by people that are gonna push me and make me a better person outside and inside the gym,” he said. “I think I got carried away by the whole ‘let’s go hang out, let’s do this’ thing, and now I’ve got my head on straight. I’m a gym junkie again, and I’m back to being the old me. Fight or no fight, I’m still trying to learn.”From some, that would just be a lot of talk. Escudero backed up his talk by fighting as often as he could in order to get another call from the UFC. It wasn’t a situation of him fighting a pushover and then lighting up matchmaker Joe Silva’s cell phone. He decided that if he was going to get back, he was going to fight his way in.“Some people sit and dwell and ask themselves why they got released and say it’s unfair and cry and whine,” said Escudero. “I was like, it already happened. I have to get back in the gym, and then I was fighting. I was trying to push myself forward and trying to make myself a better athlete, and that’s where it started. Then my management group and I sat down and they said you do your job, we’ll do ours, and we should be fine. So I’ll fight and continue to fight.”After his four for five stretch (with the only loss coming via decision to UFC vet Fabricio Camoes in May) and trip to Mexico, the 25-year old Escudero submitted Cesar Avila in less than two minutes in a Bellator show in October. He scheduled a December fight to close out the year, but then he was invited to Vegas for New Year’s weekend, which just happens to kick off on Friday with a UFC bout against Jacob Volkmann. Escudero couldn’t be more excited – or more confident.“I see my next target,” said Escudero of Volkmann. “I see somebody that goes in there and knows how to win fights. Everybody tells me or writes me and says that he’s not very exciting. But he’s a gamer and he wants to go in there and win fights regardless of what he has to do. He makes people look bad? It happens, that’s his style. But come December 30th, I’m ready to scrap. All I have to say is he did not go what I went through this year. This year was hard and I am so ready for this guy.”It’s impossible not to believe him. And when you ask how his second stint in the UFC will go, he makes it clear that he’s not about to take it for granted.“This will be sweeter,” he said. “I learned a lot. Some people learn it the first time around, some people have it in their natural selves to learn it. For me, I had to learn it the hard way, and this time, it’s true, I’m here to stay and I’m physically and mentally ready to go. It’s gonna be a good run and we’re gonna have a lot of fun with it and go out there and fight. Expect a new Efrain. Expect someone who’s mentally and physically better than the old one they saw.”Maybe someone Reinventado en México…Reinvented in Mexico.

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Dana White was right. He made some disparaging comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed the worst of everything that night in the octagon. I was tense in round one and I locked up after that. I didn’t perform to my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn’t a UFC caliber performance, and I’m not happy about it- I won’t, however, write a worthless diatribe on myself, because that is not constructive. I elect instead to take this misstep and make something positive o

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It’s the holiday season and after fighting off crazed moms who just have to get that last bottle of Justin Bieber shampoo, I finally finished my MMA Christmas shopping. I couldn’t find a gift for everyone but I think I did well and hopefully all the fighters and MMA personalities appreciate all the thought and money I put into their gifts. Lets have a look under the tree and see what we have, shall we? To Dana White: A filter. This isn’t a filter that goes in your hot tub or pool though; this filter goes between your brain and your mouth. It catches anything stupid that you might be thinking of saying, like burying your former and current heavyweight champion in front of 8 million viewers or responding to trolls on twitter. To Gilbert Melendez: Two more fences. Right now Melendez competes in a hexagonal cage. Add two more fences and he’ll be in an octagon, which is exactly where he should be. Melendez has proven himself in Strikeforce and he needs to be moved up before people start to sour on him for not finishing opponents or he ends up dropping a fight. To Mike Goldberg: A thesaurus. I’ve harped on this for a very long time, but I’m pretty sure Goldberg only knows two adjectives to describe women; beautiful and lovely. There are three ring girls, can he not come up with another adjective to describe them? Or at least mix it up a bit? Brittney can be lovely, Chandella can be beautiful. To Jon Jones: A replica UFC title. Will you sign this, please? A Samer Kadi Stocking Stuffer – To Jones: Some fans. To Jose Aldo: 5 less feet. For some reason Aldo has lost that killer instinct in the UFC. I’m just going to blame it the fact that the WEC cage was only 25 feet while the UFC cage is 30 feet. So for all Aldo fights, we’re just going to remove five feet of cage so Aldo starts finishing guys in spectacular fashion again. To Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem: A game plan. Make sure you follow it. We can’t have the last PPV of the year and the #1 contender fight for the heavyweight title ending in 64 seconds because one of you guys didn’t follow the game plan. A Samer Kadi Stocking Stuffer – To Lesnar and Overeem: A negative drug test. To Any Average Heavyweight: Two less minutes. I vote that every heavyweight fight that doesn’t involve one of the top ten heavyweights in the world only have three minute rounds. That way guys don’t have to be carried back to their corner at the end of 10 minutes and still have to fight for 5 more minutes. To Chael Sonnen: A free trip to Brazil. Go there to fight Anderson Silva, go there for a nice vacation, or give it to someone you hate. Just make sure you don’t bow upon arrival. To Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre: A clean bill of health. These two men fought a combined three times in 2011. Jon Jones fought four times. They are two of the best fighters of all-time, one is the most exciting champion is the sport, one is the most purchased (PPV buys) champion in the sport, and yet neither of them saw enough cage time in 2011. To Jon Fitch: Some respect. Because of his style, Fitch is often overlooked in the welterweight division. He’s only lost once in the UFC, to GSP, and he seems to be stuck in the same position he’s been at for years now. When a big time 170 fight opens up, Fitch usually isn’t the one getting the call. To B.J. Penn and Forrest Griffin: Some matches. I don’t know what it is with these two but when they’re into the fight and feeling it, you know you’re in for a great fight. But when they’re not feeling it or they’re taken out of the fight by their opponent, it’s just sad to watch these former champions pack it in. Hopefully some matches help them regain that fire. To Michael Bisping: Tuition. Now that I’ve paid for your tuition, you can finally get some class. To Muhammed Lawal and Jason High: Pads and time. We always see those cut ins during broadcasts of fighters hitting pads with their coaches. Well High and Lawal have promised to imitate Kevin Hart imitating Floyd Mayweather Jr. if they’re ever cut to during the broadcast. To Fedor Emelianenko: The chance to fight anyone in the world, no M-1 Global attached. I just want to know whom he’d choose. Not his management, but him. Is he content on fighting guys like Satoshi Ishii or does he want to battle against Junior dos Santos? Honestly, I have no clue how Fedor thinks since he’s so protected by M-1 Global but I’d hope he’d take on top competition. To Junior dos Santos: Some cardio because, according to Dana White, you have none. To Ben Henderson and Frankie Edgar: A spotlight. That’s what should be on these two in February. Unfortunately, due to the lack of lightweight drawing power and UFC 144 being in Japan (overseas shows never draw well), only 300,000 people will see this fight live, which would be a shame since it has the potential to be the best fight of the year. To Gray Maynard: A sticky note that says, “There are four more rounds.” That way he remembers to keep fighting after the first round. To Quinton Jackson: Some leg kicks. So Joe Rogan will shut up about you never throwing leg kicks. In all seriousness, it would be nice to see Jackson add some new wrinkles to his game because, no matter how good of shape he’s in, if he’s still the same counter boxer, it really doesn’t make a difference. To Frank Mir: A Sudoku puzzle. Mir is the most puzzling fighter in the world to figure out in terms of skill because of how he wins and loses. So while I try to figure out just how good he is, he can figure out where all these numbers go. To Mike Chandler: An Amazon.com gift card. This is an inside joke. Spend it wisely Mike. To Wanderlei Silva: Any role that Morgan Freeman passes on. If Morgan Freeman doesn’t want to narrate a documentary about birds flying south for the winter or is over the Batman franchise, I demand that Wanderlei be given his role. Just imagine Wanderlei and his glorious accent talking about birds for an hour and a half or telling Christian Bale about his latest invention. Box office gold. To Arianny Celeste: Super glue. It was just a cut. To Clay Guida: Sympathy. If you don’t understand this gift, watch The Big Lebowski. I also do have some sympathy for Clay because he’s only one win away from a title shot but just can’t pull it off. To Nick Diaz: An alarm clock. Hopefully he won’t miss anymore media appearances. To Rashad Evans: A special night. Now stop ruining Jon Jones’ evenings. To Donald Cerrone: Some. NOW YOU GOT SOME DONALD CER-RO-NE! To Leonard Garcia: A baseball. Maybe you’ll find more success as a pitcher. To Tito Ortiz: Goggles. Since you get poked in the eye in every fight, including fights where you’re on the ground getting hit in the body, these goggles should help you out. Mike Goldberg can call you the Kareem Abdul Jabar of MMA as well. To Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz: Each other. Whether they want to admit it or not, these two bring out the best in each other. Without Faber, Cruz is fighting on free TV instead of headlining PPVs. Without Cruz, Faber isn’t fighting for the title and building up the division. To Brittney Palmer: @jeremylambert88. I don’t need to know you better, you Tweet at me once, we go together. Happy Holidays everyone.

Posted in: fight, time, fighter, ’t, ’re

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When the UFC announced Nick Diaz versus Donald Cerrone (aka "Battle of the Lanky Assholes") at UFC 141, you had to know these two would have some things to say about each other.  Neither one comes across as the friendliest of folks, so it took a surprisingly long time for any gossip to get around about some kind of shit-talking between them. Cowboy finally broke the silence on ESPN Radio yesterday, and CagePotato has the transcript: ”Leonard’s my best friend; he’s my brother and he was over there talkin’ to the dude — if someone doesn’t like you, you’re not gonna talk to their best friend, you know what I’m sayin’... you’re not gonna hang out with them — so Leonard’s over there talking with the dude, and I said, ‘Oh shit, I’ll go over there.’ They were laughing and joking around so when I go over and introduce myself and go, ‘What’s up Nate? I’m ‘Cowboy,’” Cerrone explained. “He fuckin’ slapped my hand away and called me a punk-ass motherfucker and told me to ‘get on.’ I was like, ‘Shit, alright.’ I don’t know what to say to the dude. I don’t know what his point... I guess he doesn’t want to be cordial. He just wanted to be a punk and... go ahead.” “I was getting ready to fight Dennis Siver and then he walked away. He just took off after that. It kind of caught me by surprise. I don’t know anything about the guy. I just know that [he and Nick] just wake up pissed off all the time for no reason. It just seems like they’re always mad. Whatever he does to get his mind ready for the fight, it must be it.” That's pretty much how I read the Brothers Diaz too... you get the impression they're not particularly affable under the best conditions, but it seems like they need to hate their opponent in order to work themselves up for the fight, so they just convince themselves to dislike the guy for no particular reason.  And if even Cowboy Cerrone thinks you're a dick, then yeah, you're very likely a rather large dick... like John Holmes size.

Posted in: diaz, nick diaz, ’t, cerrone, ’re

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When the UFC announced Nate Diaz versus Donald Cerrone (aka "Battle of the Lanky Assholes") at UFC 141, you had to know these two would have some things to say about each other.  Neither one comes across as the friendliest of folks, so it took a surprisingly long time for any gossip to get around about some kind of shit-talking between them. Cowboy finally broke the silence on ESPN Radio yesterday, and CagePotato has the transcript: ”Leonard’s my best friend; he’s my brother and he was over there talkin’ to the dude — if someone doesn’t like you, you’re not gonna talk to their best friend, you know what I’m sayin’... you’re not gonna hang out with them — so Leonard’s over there talking with the dude, and I said, ‘Oh shit, I’ll go over there.’ They were laughing and joking around so when I go over and introduce myself and go, ‘What’s up Nate? I’m ‘Cowboy,’” Cerrone explained. “He fuckin’ slapped my hand away and called me a punk-ass motherfucker and told me to ‘get on.’ I was like, ‘Shit, alright.’ I don’t know what to say to the dude. I don’t know what his point... I guess he doesn’t want to be cordial. He just wanted to be a punk and... go ahead.” “I was getting ready to fight Dennis Siver and then he walked away. He just took off after that. It kind of caught me by surprise. I don’t know anything about the guy. I just know that [he and Nick] just wake up pissed off all the time for no reason. It just seems like they’re always mad. Whatever he does to get his mind ready for the fight, it must be it.” That's pretty much how I read the Brothers Diaz too... you get the impression they're not particularly affable under the best conditions, but it seems like they need to hate their opponent in order to work themselves up for the fight, so they just convince themselves to dislike the guy for no particular reason.  And if even Cowboy Cerrone thinks you're a dick, then yeah, you're very likely a rather large dick... like John Holmes size.

Posted in: diaz, ’t, nate, nate diaz, cerrone

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I caught Saturday night’s Strikeforce event. Strange as this may sound, I’m pretty sure Cristiane Santos could beat some of the male 145-pounders. No, not anybody in the Top 20 or so, but I think she could probably take some a few guys out there. They talked about doing a fight with Ronda Rousey, maybe at a catchweight. I think at 135 it would be a good fight because I don’t think Ronda is big enough to go up to 145. I think Ronda being inexperienced on her feet benefits “Cyborg” because most girls who strike with her don’t do so well. Santos is a finisher as well and when she has someone hurt, she doesn’t mess around. Ronda is super slick and quick on the ground though. I thought Gilbert Melendez deserved the decision and I’d originally picked him to win too. I thought he out-struck Jorge Masvidal who waited too long to really get going. The fifth round was the closest frame by far. I didn’t think Masvidal used his reach the proper way. Melendez was a lot busier and throwing combinations and I definitely think he won the fight. I also saw the “Super Six” boxing bout between Andre Ward and Carl Froch. I knew Ward would be too fast and slick for Froch and he out-boxed him every round. Still, I was a bit shocked Ward got out so easy. I thought Froch would do a better job coming forward and saying, “Screw it, I gotta make this a rough fight” because there was no way he could out-box Ward. Highlights of Ward vs. Forch A few of my amateurs from the gym also had fights this past weekend. I’m very proud of my boxers, who went 3-0 this past Saturday. The last five fights we’re 5-0 and who knows before that since I never really kept track. They have never let me down though. We had some tough fights and I thought the match-ups favored the other person with experience and weight but these guys went out there and looked amazing. I’m very proud of them. These kids are going to be making noise in the future when they turn pro. I couldn’t ask for anything more from them. The other big topic this week is of course Christmas. I’m almost done with my holiday shopping. Just a couple more people that are hard to shop, it’s driving me nuts. Unfortunately I can’t just get them gift cards. I’m looking forward to Christmas and spending time with the family. The gym is going to be closed for most of the week. I’m taking it easy for Christmas. Just hanging out with the family and resting up. We still have to get ready for New Year’s Eve! I’m not very materialistic so some of the best gifts have just been presents from my kids. It didn’t have to be anything major, just more of who it comes from. The worst gift was probably like socks. I got a great gift from Michael Chandler though, who is back in Missouri. He sent me a package and I wasn’t sure I was supposed to open it before Christmas but I went ahead anyway. He sent me this amazing watch that he had engraved and it means a lot to me. He got it engraved based on his title-win against Eddie Alvarez, and I just want to thank him; to let him know that I appreciate it and I wish him the best for this upcoming year. He had a great 2011 and 2012 is going to be even better. He sent me some other stuff as well like a picture of us and the team after the fight and some coasters with the picture on it. Mike is such a super nice kid and I’m truly glad to have met him and be part of his team. That’s it for this week. Until next time, as always, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter) and make sure to have the happiest of holidays! PHOTO CREDIT – GILMARTINEZBOXING.COM Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, ’m, ward, christma

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Like everyone else, my main thought when North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died last Thursday was, “Wow, he made it 69 years without pooping.” But the inventor of the hamburger also had many other achievements which even separately would each make him the greatest person in the history of mankind. This is the type of guy who would return from a record-setting round of golf and then promptly send you and your entire family to a gulag because you used his ashtray. He spent $800,000 a year on Hennessy, but that didn’t stop him from composing six operas in two years. This guy not only made Joe Rogan look dumb for saying “you can’t stop the Internet” by successfully cutting off an entire country from all outside information, he kidnapped a South Korean director and forced him to create a domestic Godzilla ripoff. So the North Koreans really aren’t missing much anyway. Kim Jong Il also took a personal interest in the training of his bodyguards, and any one of them would put our wussy Western-hemisphere-residing MMA fighters to shame. Mike Swick posted on twitter that the footage above is newly released, but it’s been around for a while (even though it is of dubious authenticity), a fact that pays homage to Kim’s time-and-reality-distortion field as much as it does to our prior negligence. According to this indisputable video evidence, the bodyguards hit stuff from the moment they wake up, smash 11 bricks at a time with their fists, drive nails through planks with their heads, shoot eight targets per minute (all through the heart, of course, while simultaneously doing acrobatics), have two-by-fours smashed over every limb, put blocks of concrete over their faces so another guy can hit the blocks of concrete with a sledgehammer, pull a truck full of people with their bare hands, dodge flying knives, smash glass with their bare feet, and of course, do lots of tae kwon do. And they do all of this completely voluntarily, because if they don’t, Kim Jong-Il will starve their children to death. But whatever. If he produces awesome killers like these, the world needs more leaders like Kim Jong Il.

Posted in: guy, ’t, year, kim, bodyguard

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Ronda showed up on the JRE yesterday, and as you'd expect, the conversation veered all over the place.  There's not really much to say... she's a cool chick, and this is just an excuse to talk about her.  Fightlinker Mandate: All Rousey, All the Time. Some takeaways - * She doesn’t cut weight.  Walks around at about 150. * Used to have to tape on her fingernails during Judo so they wouldn’t get ripped off.* Julia Budd was really slippery.  Very “vaseline-y”.* She and 2 other chicks beat the shit out of 4 dudes at a movie theater in 2007, and was later sued by them.* She references Ender’s Game, LOTR, and Harry Potter all in like a 30 minute span.  No Pokemon though.* A bully attacked her in the 6th grade and she threw him on his head, sending him to the ER.  She ended up getting community service.* Eddie Bravo calls Cyborg the Mike Tyson of WMMA, while Ronda recons that she more like Ivan Drago (wink wink)* She’s had three knee surgeries (1 acl, 2 arthroscopies)  and arthritis since she was 19.* Don’t go on the Rogan podcast if you have a drug test coming up because you will get a contact buzz.  A couple of hours in and she’s either high or very sleepy.* She has a boyfriend  :(* 9/11 was an inside job, and aliens are real, but Bigfoot is not.  She was actually asked about UFO’s but I’ll   assume that Bravo meant aliens.* Hoping for a fight this spring at 135.* She couldn’t watch the Mir-Nogueira ar break replay. * She thought Asian women had sideways vaginas until she was 13. Her thoughts on Cyborg: That fight (with Cyborg) definitely needs to happen...  She's gonna want to fight me as soon as possible, and I'm gonna want to fight her as late as possible, and we're just gonna have to find somewhere in the middle.  The more time they wait, the better I'm gonna get because I didn't even have that much experience... I haven't even fought a full round.  I've had seven fights.  I haven't fought one round (5 minutes).  The more time that goes by I feel myself getting way way better, whereas how can you like, become better at being a goon?     Podcast Audio Podcast Video

Posted in: fight, ’t, podcast, cyborg, placenbsp theres

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Last weekend offered up the latest PPV from the creative minds at Titan Towers and the powers that be delivered a solid show supported by excellent performances from the bulk of their talent. In the end three champions with regional ties emerged from the rubble to stand tall with CM Punk telling a story as few others on the roster currently can, making even the smallest move as important as any high spot and escaping his handcuffs like Harry Houdini at the last second while casting magic throughout. Here’s a look back at WWE TLC 2011 including commentary on each match-up: Zack Ryder def. Dolph Ziggler This match went off pretty much as expected with Ryder going over and Ziggler working his tail off. I haven’t seen a heel with as much potential as Ziggler in a long time so hopefully he’ll move up the roster to get a bigger feud while Ryder is a perfect U.S. Champion. It’s impossible to take him seriously as a main eventer but put him in a feud with Jack Swagger and it makes sense. Air Boom def. Primo/Epico I like what WWE has been doing with tag teams lately. This was a solid scrap with all the right spots. Primo/Epico are a little generic for my taste but Rosa Mendes certainly doesn’t hurt and there’s a lot of potential there. It’s just a shame a certain other Colon can’t get his act together and make his way back to the big show. Randy Orton def. Wade Barrett I was pleasantly surprised by Barrett in this bout (as well as on Monday’s RAW). The RKO through the table went off perfectly and was a ballsy thing for Barrett to do. He may have more potential than I had been giving him credit for, especially if he takes the rub Orton is giving him and runs with it. He makes a good heel. Play up him being a Brit a little more, as well as him preferring to brawl rather than grappler, and WWE could have a future headliner on their hands. Beth Phoenix def. Kelly Kelly I have no problem with Divas going at it when they’re on point but this was a slop-fest from start to finish. I’m pretty sure there was even a moment where Phoenix did a phantom head-to-canvas faceplant or two a la Scott Steiner. The Divas division is kind of a mess right now with a limited number of females being promoted. Alicia Fox is not the answer personality-wise or apparently in the skills department as indicated by the huge shiner she gave Phoenix. HHH def. Kevin Nash I was much more entertained by this match than I thought I would be. I expected a slow, plodding brawl without much more but both guys looked sharp. I was shocked by Nash taking a few of the spots he did and, as strange as this feels to say, I’m actually looking forward to him coming back. I just hope they figure out a Triple Threat with HBK involved for Wrestlemania because I can’t see HHH/Nash in any other interesting feuds with only a few months to build up. Why not have Shawn Michaels try to smooth things over with each man now that they’ve “seriously injured” one another only to Superkick some sense into them? I’d certainly tune in for the results. Sheamus def. Jack Swagger A “bathroom break” bout if ever there was one on the card. There was no real reason for them to square off and the bout did little to further any storyline or appeal. Sadly, Sheamus is a ship lost at sea.  Now say that 10X fast! Daniel Bryan def. Big Show def. Mark Henry Show vs. Henry was as expected other than the ending. I’m also as confused as everyone else is regarding the WWE’s rationale for having Kane go after John Cena instead of Henry. The creative team could have easily slow pitched one over the plate by building towards a “Buried Alive” type affair but instead they’re throwing a curveball. Hopefully they don’t strike out with fans rather than hit one out of the park. And kudos to Bryan for his victory. Seeing him as champion alongside CM Punk was definitely something special. Cody Rhodes def. Booker T I’m not really sure why this feud occurred other than to possibly get Rhodes over as a bad guy by taking cheap shots at a moderately popular veteran. Is he going to become the new “legend killer” only to lead up to a bout against his dad? It would make sense. I’m just not sure I want to see it. He’s great on the microphone and solid in the ring. The storyline is my only concern. CM Punk def. The Miz/Albert Del Rio I was shocked to see Punk pull out the win based on how frequently the WWE’s biggest belts get passed around. It was a perfect opportunity to take the title off them and, fortunately, they didn’t. Punk is the best thing going on right now in WWE and I’m glad to see the fans help him achieve the status he deserves. All in all it was a good show and maybe even a little better than it should have been. A few plots were advanced, a few new ones began, but in the end the WWE produced more positives than otherwise. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, punk, wwe, ’m

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It didn’t take long for critics to voice their opinions after Jason “Mayhem” Miller fell miserably short against Michael Bisping earlier this month at the Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale. While many of Miller’s detractors were of the anonymous internet or media variety, the biggest in the bunch was none other than his boss – UFC President Dana White. White’s assessment of the 30-year old’s showing against Bisping was harsh to say the least, labeling Miller with possessing the worst stand-up he’d ever seen and calling it an incredibly “lopsided” bout. While some fighters might get defensive about White’s comments or make excuses for a lackluster display it appears Miller actually agrees with his employer’s take, writing about it recently on his blog. “I am very disappointed about (the loss), but have used the past couple weeks to reflect on everything and have come to some conclusions,” Miller began before frankly stating, “Dana White was right. He made some disparaging comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed the worst of everything that night in the Octagon. I was tense in round one and I locked up after that. I didn’t perform to my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn’t a UFC caliber performance, and I’m not happy about it” Miller continued on to urge his fans to live and learn, talking about his own journey thus far in both MMA and the bigger picture. “I made a lot of mistakes in this story – during the camp, during the fight- but the key to living life is learning from your mistakes and making positive change. I feel very positive right now, and I hope you feel the same way, I would be absolutely nothing without persistence and positive thinking…” The colorful competitor didn’t elaborate on when he expected to fight again, only explaining he was in Holland training with Golden Glory (renowned for their striking as coincidence would have it). Miller’s loss to Bisping dropped his record to 23-8 and 2-2 in his last four fights with an additional defeat to Jake Shields and victories over Tim Stout/Kazushi Sakuraba. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ’t, dana, miller, bisping, media variety

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Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira may have lost to Frank Mir once again at UFC 140, but up until the final moments of the fight when Mir cranked his arm to its breaking point, Big Nog actually looked really good. He took command of the fight early on and even rocked Mir to the point where a few more punches probably would have finished him off. But instead of continuing to hammer Mir as he laid motionless on the canvas after a desperate takedown attempt, Big Nog transitioned to a guillotine which ultimately led to Mir snatching up the fight-ending kimura. It was a critical mistake that left many wondering what a veteran fighter like Big Nog was thinking. Well, if you ask Nogueira, he only stopped because referee Herb Dean mistakenly told him to stop punching Mir in the neck. “Last Saturday I fought and lost via submission for the first time in my career; it was a bad feeling, but it’s part of the sport. Everything that happens in a fight is quick and the fighter acts most based on his instincts and reflexes than [what's] on his mind. I knew I made a mistake as I tried to submit [my opponent] on a fight where I could have won by KO,” Nogueira wrote. “But when Frank Mir was practically knocked out I heard the referee tell me to stop punching him at the neck and that is when I tried to choke him. Mir put himself together and must be congratulated for submitting me. I checked the videos and I wasn’t hitting him on the neck, but on Mir’s side of the head, which is allowed.” For what it’s worth, the replay shows pretty clearly that Big Nog was not punching Mir in the neck. In hindsight, he obviously should have just ignored Dean and kept punching, but he made a split-second judgement call in the heat of battle. I’m sure it seemed like the right one at the time, but Mir was apparently still coherent enough to put some slick grappling moves on the PRIDE legend. Kudos to Mir. Herb Dean hasn’t commented on the story yet, but he did talk to Sherdog about the stoppage. He never wanted to see his arm break, but he felt like he should let it go because of Big Nog’s ability to overcome seemingly impossible situations. “In my mind, I was hoping that he would tap. Like, ‘Please, please make this easy for me. That looks like it’s on.’ I definitely [had a] heightened awareness at that time. I was really focused on that arm. But that’s how Antonio became who he is — he didn’t get there by giving up. That guy’s done things that everyone thought was impossible time and time again because he never gives up.” “I stopped it because I saw the arm break. The tap came after. I don’t stop it when I believe it’s locked on or even if I believe the guy’s in jeopardy because I don’t know what that person can take. I don’t know what their limits are, but if I see an injury that is too dangerous for the fight to continue, that’s when I’m going to stop the fight. Or if I see the fighter tap.” If only he would have kept punching… Image via Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Sports

Posted in: fight, time, mir, ’t, nog

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As someone who goes to my website, you are well aware that I lost my recent fight. I am very disappointed about it, but have used the past couple weeks to reflect on everything and have come to some conclusions. Dana White was right. He made some disparaging comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed the worst of everything that night in the octagon. I was tense in round one and I locked up after that. I didn’t perform to my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn’t a UFC caliber performance, and I’m not happy about it- I won’t, however, write a worthless diatribe on myself, because that is not constructive. I elect instead to take this misstep and make something positive out of it… I made a lot of mistakes in this story- during the camp, during the fight- but the key to living life is learning from your mistakes and making positive change. I feel very positive right now, and I hope you feel the same way, I would be absolutely nothing without persistence and positive thinking, and if there is anything i want you to take from my blog it is that mentality. I will continue on this amazing journey, looking to make the most epic stories that I can. — Jason “Mayhem” Miller on his official website expressing his disappointment in his performance at the TUF 14 Finale Mayhem Miller certainly didn’t have the best showing against Michael Bisping at the TUF 14 Finale, but man, I really didn’t think it was as bad as Dana White have made it out to be. I mean we’ve certainly seen far worse performances in the Octagon before, right? Thales Leites’ non-performance against Anderson Silva comes to mind. Nevertheless, it seems the loss has really woken Mayhem up and motivated him to take a more encompassing approach to his training. Dana was especially critical of Mayhem’s striking in the fight, calling it the “worst stand-up he’s ever seen… you could go to a girls’ Tae Bo class and see better form, better stand-up.” It seems Mayhem took those comments to heart because guess where he is now? In Holland, working on his kickboxing with Siyar Badaharzada and Alistair Overeem’s former trainer Martin de Jong. As far as we know, Mayhem Miller hasn’t been cut, so it’s looking like he’ll get a chance to redeem himself. I don’t think we’ll ever see Mayhem reach a championship level, but I believe he has the potential to be a solid mid-tier performer in the UFC’s middleweight division. He just have to prove it. Image via Scott Peterson via MMA Weekly

Posted in: ’t, dana, miller, mayhem, performance

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. The final Strikeforce event of the year featured the best fighter not in the UFC and the best female fighter on the planet and yet it felt like any random MMA event on HDNet. Maybe it was because the San Diego crowd was too busy getting prepared for the Chargers Sunday showdown with the Baltimore Ravens on NBC or the Showtime crowd was too busy getting prepared for Sunday’s Dexter and Homeland season finales, but things just didn’t feel important on Saturday night. Lets go to the scorecard: *While I didn’t turn it to Showtime at 10:30 because I watched the boxing fight, I’m sure some people did and they didn’t see MMA. I fully blame Showtime for poor time management, knowing that the Andre Ward vs. Carl Froch fight could run into the Strikeforce start time if it went to a decision but they still took 30 minutes to get the guys in the ring. MINUS FOUR *I hate the Strikeforce highlight video that runs prior to all their events. Half the people they show in the video don’t even compete in Strikeforce anymore. Hopefully they update it or get rid of it next year. MINUS TWO *According to Mauro Ranallo, Saturday was the biggest night in combat sports history due to the Super Six Final and Strikeforce. It wasn’t even the biggest night in combat sports in the last 2 months. November 12 (UFC on FOX & Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 3) says hello. MINUS THREE *Frank Shamrock’s braces. Nothing else needs to be said. MINUS TWO *Big fan of the “Encore/Numb” mash-up by Jay-Z and Linkin Park so I salute Billy Evangelista for making it his walk out song. PLUS TWO *K.J. Noons tops Evangelista though by using “All Eyez On Me” by 2Pac. You can never go wrong with 2Pac. PLUS THREE *It’s not obligatory to mention Chuck Liddell on the Strikeforce broadcast but I’ll give them the obligatory points. PLUS THREE *I think Pat Miletich provides great insight, but I’m not fully convinced that he knows how to score fights. MINUS ONE *Fun scrap between Noons and Evangelista. I’m not very high on either guy but I take nothing away from what was a fun fight. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to the fighters for putting on a nice scrap to kick off the main card. PLUS THREE *”I have that fire back,” says Noons. Yes. That’s why you lost to Nick Diaz and Masvidal. It’s due to a lack of fire. MINUS ONE *These backstage interviews always suck. The fighters never say anything important and you know they don’t want to do them. They should be done away with. MINUS TWO *Really Ovince St. Preux, “We Fly High” by Jim Jones? That was cool five years ago. MINUS TWO *Kudos to Mauro for working in a Tim Tebow mention during the broadcast even though Shamrock and Miletich completely no sold it. PLUS TWO *Nice slip of the tongue by Mauro saying, “F*cking bronco” and not “bucking bronco.” PLUS FOUR *I think the announcers only said “St. Pierre” and “GSP” twice during the OSP fight, so I’ll actually give them credit for not slipping more than that. PLUS TWO *Even though I thought Gegard Mousasi vs. St. Preux was kind of lackluster, I give credit to Mousasi for really improving his wrestling. PLUS THREE *That said, St. Preux clearly isn’t as good as people thought he was. His striking looked atrocious and he failed to capitalize on a number of dominant positions. MINUS TWO *Although I appreciate Mousasi knowing that his performance wasn’t good, don’t ever pull out an excuse card. MINUS ONE *What an awkward interview with Josh Barnett. However, it was refreshing change from his “I AM A WARLORD!” promo and I thought his analysis on the two title fights was good. PLUS TWO *If you thought Cristiane Santos vs. Hiroko Yamanaka was going to go any other way, please stop reading. EVEN *Mrs. Cyborg is a bad woman. I realize that her competition isn’t good (although Yamanaka was the #2 ranked woman in the division, if that means anything) but it still speaks volumes about her skill, power, and killer instinct that she dominates like she does. PLUS FIVE *Extra point to Santos for getting that chick out of the cage quickly. PLUS THREE *Also extra points to her for working on and improving her English. PLUS THREE *Why hello there Ronda Rousey. PLUS THREE *All the Social Media segments were utterly pointless and made worse by the fact that Heidi Androl isn’t very good. MINUS TWO *I don’t know what it is, but Strikeforce main events never have that “big fight feel” that UFC bouts have. Gilbert Melendez vs. Jorge Masvidal should have felt like a big fight but it just didn’t. MINUS ONE *Very impressive performance by Melendez. While Masvidal was very underwhelming, I give credit to Melendez for mixing up his attacks and really improving his striking over the years. PLUS FIVE *Extra points to Melendez because he played Masvidal’s game for 25 minutes and cruised. PLUS FOUR *That said, Masvidal brought nothing to the table except a jab until the final minute of the fight. MINUS THREE *My favorite part of the entire fight was Miletich owning Mauro and Shamrock on commentary in the fifth round with the whole “Masvidal is marking up Melendez’s face and landing a better percentage of strikes” argument. PLUS THREE *Not a good post-fight promo by Melendez. Maybe he was told beforehand not to go all Nick Diaz, but there wasn’t much passion in his voice about fighting in the UFC. MINUS FOUR *According to sources, Showtime was going to show some preliminary fights if they had time. Unfortunately they didn’t have time, and you know why? Because they started the show 10 minutes late due to boxing. MINUS THREE *And finally, Mauro and Pat fumble the ending with the stupid Facebook poll question. What a fitting ending. MINUS TWO *Overall, I didn’t think the fights were bad, but everything just felt so underwhelming. It’s pretty clear that, no matter what anyone says, Strikeforce is the secondary promotion and to think otherwise is just stupid. An event should be judged by the fights though and none of the fights were terrible, so I’ll give them some positive points. PLUS FIVE Final Score: 24 For a more in-depth look at this Strikeforce event, make sure to check out tomorrow’s Five Ounces of Podcast with Samer Kadi and myself. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: fight, strikeforce, ’t, event, masvidal

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It's been just over a week since Frank Mir wound Big Nog's arm like a clock and snapped his humerus. Which isn't as humerous as it sounds, at least not compared to that hilarious flesh eating staph Nog had leading up to the first Mir fight. So how's our favorite demolition derby car of a fighter doing now? The very Brazilian Tatame website gives us an update: The last diagnostic given by John Itamura, a doctor pointed out by Ultimate, who evaluated the injury suffered by Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira when fighting Frank Mir, as he was submitted by a kimura and didn’t tapp out – what resulted on a humerus broked -, was that the heavyweight fighter wouldn’t ha veto go thought surgery. But it seems like the plans have changed. Rodrigo was operated last Friday (16th) at Vail, Colorado, and the surgery was a success. The doctors say he might return to the trains in June. Rodrigo went to Vail and went through new tests, which pointed out the need of the surgery. His biceps wasn’t touched during the process. The “entrance” was made on the triceps, what means he won’t lose strenght on this very arm. Big Nog is going for the EGOT of the MMA world: he plans on surgically repairing every bone and muscle in his body before retiring. Or not retiring, since he swears after each of these operations that he's coming back so much stronger and faster.

Posted in: ’t, arm, surgery, rodrigo, nog

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Back again with another blog after an excitement-filled week. As far as UFC 140, Chan Sung Jung’s knockout was very impressive, not only because of the time but who he knocked out. Mark Hominick is known for a great chin. He had a war against Jose Aldo and had a hematoma on his head but didn’t come close to getting knocked out. He was hurt but he was never out of it. In the fight game though, anything can happen and sometimes the shot you least expect knocks you out. I hope he shrugs it off and comes back fully confident because he’s one of the best in the division and that could happen to anyone. If they fought ten more times I don’t think that happens again and I actually favor him to win more often than not. Even though I picked Tito Ortiz to win, I said that I’m not a big fan of his striking defense because he brings his hands close and his elbows tight to his head, which opens the body. If the opponent knows to take advantage of it then body shots and knees like Antonio Rogerio Nogueira landed are going to be there for anybody. I thought Frank Mir was in trouble at first. He looked hurt and I thought “Minotauro was going to finish him but Frank showed tons of heart and why he’s one of the best. He kept his composure and stayed calm. He’s one of the best on the ground and once he had his opportunity, he locked it in and didn’t let go. I would have liked to see Nogueira tap when he was in trouble because now he’s out for a few months. I saw some X-Rays and the bone broke which could have actually relieved the pressure of his shoulder and prevented damage there. I’ve been saying this for a long time but it’s going to be hard for anybody to beat Jon Jones. He’s new at this but it doesn’t seem like anything fazes him. He’s faced top level opponents and even if it takes him a round or two, he figures them out and ends up with the win and impressively. It’s not a boring decision or anything. I’m very impressed with him and it’s not going to be easy to beat him. A Closer Look at UFC 140 I think it was just a matter of time for UFC to open their doors to the flyweight division. With as many shows as they’re having and the way the sport is growing, they’re going to need as many fighters as possible to fill the cards. Even though these guys are smaller, they put on some great fights. You’re going to see a lot of guys fighting at 135 dropping to 125, so they won’t have trouble finding talent for the weight class. It gives the UFC another great division and should make for some great fights. I just started working with welterweight Jorge Lopez and I see a lot of potential in him. It may not all show in his next fight but eventually he’ll work his way up to the top of the division. He’s very talented and hopefully we can develop a good chemistry. If so, he’ll be another guy I’ll be raving about in the near future. As far as what else is going on around Vegas, I have a couple of amateur boxers fighting Saturday night. About three weeks ago I had two guys fight and both of them stopped their opponents. The guys are training hard and we come to win. I feel good and confident about the fights. It’s a little crazy with Vitor Belfort too at the moment. He rented out a section of the TapouT gym in order to train when he wants so I find myself having to go back and forth to help him. I’m trying to figure out his schedule and work things out with him. We talked a bit about me being an assistant with him on TUF Brazil, but I have to see who is fighting first before committing. For example, if Mike Chandler is fighting, I have to be here for him. Like I said, I just started working with Lopez and he’s fighting Amir Sadollah in February so I have to be here for him also. It’s going to be a tough decision. That’s it for this week. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving yourself. Until next time, as always, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, time, guy, ’t

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Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone are two of the most exciting young fighters in the lightweight division.Diaz is the younger brother (and virtual carbon copy) of former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and UFC veteran Nick Diaz and he is looking to build upon the tremendous momentum created with his Submission of the Night win over former PRIDE superstar Takanomi Gomi. This will be Diaz’s second 155-lb bout after spending a little over a year competing at 170. And a win over Cerrone will put Diaz right back into the division’s top 10.Cerrone probably has even more at stake. The New Mexico-based fighter is in the midst of a six-fight winning streak, making him one of the hottest commodities in the division. A win over Diaz will almost certainly earn Cerrone a matchup against one of the 155 lb Preferiti, possibly in a title elimination challenge.Battling to establish intra-division pecking order is great.  But that isn’t why I’m waiting with baited breath for this matchup. Diaz and Cerrone both love nothing more than to throw down, phone-booth style. This isn’t about competition for them. It is about handing out a beat down. Not because there is some long animosity between the two. There isn’t, as far as I’m aware. It is because these guys are fighters deep down in their DNA. That is why 10 of their combined 18 UFC fights have resulted in “of the night” awards, whether fight, submission or knockout.I have a feeling that December 30 will be 11 out of 19.When the referee signals for the action to begin, Diaz will come looking to do what he always does – box from the southpaw stance. He paws at his opponent with his right hand, just like his brother Nick, in order to distract defending eyes. Diaz will pop crisp, straight left hands behind his pawing right. He will quickly snap off a right hook. And generally throw a variety of other shots from unconventional angles. Of course, that is not to suggest that Diaz’s game is devoid of a jab. It is not. He fires the jab in between groping paws. He also drops his hands to his waist and sticks out his chin in order to shoot a jab from his hip. It is a vintage Nick Diaz move, one that his younger brother has adopted as his own.If the entire fight unfolded on the feet, Diaz would be content. That is borne more out of necessity than preference. Despite the fact that Diaz has sick submission skills, he has below average takedowns. Thus, he struggles to get the fight to the floor at will. He must instead fight on the feet until there is a knockdown or his opponent takes him down.Diaz’s standup attack is really of hunt-and-peck nature. He is not a knockout artist. Not by a long shot. He has but a single knockout win over the past five years. It came against a much bigger, stronger fighter, Rory Markham. But that was Diaz showing the world that stinging, pinpoint shots can end fights just like explosive bombs. Maybe not in an instant, but certainly over the course of a few minutes. The younger Diaz won’t change up that approach for Cerrone. I don’t care if most believe that the “Cowboy” is superior on the feet. Diaz will throw hands with anyone, including Cerrone. The question, of course, is whether or not that is a good idea.Cerrone was a professional kickboxer before entering mixed martial arts. He has a couple dozen kickboxing bouts on his professional record without a single loss. Yet, he has only a single knockout win on his MMA resume.Odd, I know. But I think that says something about Cerrone’s kickboxing pedigree. It was not at a world class level. He wasn’t blasting people in K-1. He was dominating his local circuit. I’m fairly certain Diaz would have experienced similar success.Of course, that is not to suggest that Cerrone is a chump on the feet. Quite the opposite is true. He is a very good technical striker. He fights in the traditional Thai style with very square shoulders so that he can strike with all eight points of attack – fists, elbows, knees and shins. Squaring up like that certainly makes him more vulnerable to standup assaults from his opponents, but it also leaves him in perfect position to defend takedowns. It is the same style that UFC legend Chuck Liddell used to earn millions of dollars, in addition to a spot in the Hall of Fame and a stint as 205-lb champion. Cerrone isn’t a slugger like Liddell. He doesn’t detonate on foes. He instead chips away at them, just like Diaz. Not like Diaz stylistically. Like Diaz in terms of crisp, accurate, well executed strikes. He will look to utilize those skills against Diaz, just like he has in basically every other fight. Cerrone will come forward, with his hands held high, and will use his jab to set up two- and three-piece combinations. Unlike Diaz, though, he will also throw very effective kicks to the legs and body. And when faced with a clinch situation, he will fire knees and elbows as he likely dominates the position.Both guys prefer to stand and bang. All that is fine and good. But it isn’t the way that most of their fights ultimately end. Both men have won more than 70% of their career bouts by submission. Think about that for a moment. Neither man is an accomplished wrestler. Yet, each wins by submission far more often than not.Most of that is due to the fact that foes end up taking them down. Why? Simple. Opponents are sick of getting peppered in the face. I don’t see either Diaz or Cerrone spending much time trying to secure a takedown on December 30. If that happens, I like Diaz all day, every day to win by submission. His skills, refined under the ultra critical eye of Cesar Gracie, are among the very best in the division. Cerrone, who is coached by the highly respected Greg Jackson, is a solid submission guy. But there is a stark contrast between a solid Jackson submission guy and a Gracie expert. If Cerrone ends up on the ground, thanks to Diaz pulling guard, he will focus almost exclusively on implementing a ground-and-pound assault, rather than engaging in a transition jiu-jitsu contest. If the strikes sufficiently soften up Diaz, then Cerrone will look for a fight-ending choke. He won’t want to mess with Diaz’s grappling prowess in any other situation.If Cerrone finds himself fighting from his back, he will do whatever, at any cost, to get back to his feet. He wants no part of Diaz’s top game. None whatsoever. He won’t admit it. But I’m certain of it.Diaz, by contrast, will look to mix strikes and submission attempts, whether he is in the top or bottom position. He knows that he is the better submission artist. In fact, he probably hopes that his strikes force Cerrone to shoot for a takedown.  My guess is Diaz won’t really try to defend the takedown attempt, if it comes. And if he finds himself on the short end of the standup exchanges, Diaz may very well pull guard. He won’t want to because he is a gladiator’s gladiator, but that would be a wise decision.So, who is going to win? Honestly, I don’t really know. I think the bout is a tossup on the feet. If they fight 10 times in a standup-only affair, the bout probably ends in 10 different ways. I think Diaz is much better on the ground, as written above. Yet, I’m not sure the fight will spend any significant time there, absent someone getting rocked on the feet first.I may not have a good feeling on who is going to win, but that really doesn’t bother me, either. For me, this fight isn’t about a winner or loser. Sure, he who is victorious will further cement his standing in the division. Nonetheless, I don’t see either man’s career getting derailed by a loss. Why? Because this is going to be a fun-filled, all-action, first-class scrap. It will be the sort of fight that will thrill the fans from beginning to end, no matter how long it lasts. It is a fight that should win an “of the night” award. And it is a fight that should leave fans clamoring for more from both men.That is why this one is must-see TV.QUICK FACTSNate Diaz•    26 years old•    6’0•    155 lbs•    76-inch reach•    14-7 overall•    3-2 in last 5•    5-5 in last 10•    50% of UFC fights resulted in post-fight award (Submission of the Night 3x, Fight of the Night 4x)•    Ultimate Fighter Season 5 winner•    Current layoff is 97 days•    Longest layoff of career is 310 daysDonald Cerrone•    28 years old•    6’0•    155 lbs•    73-inch reach•    17-3, 1 NC overall•    Six-fight winning streak•    8-2 in last 10•    75% of UFC fights resulted in post-fight award (Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night, Knockout of the Night)•    Current layoff is 62 days•    Longest layoff of career is 270 days

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A few observations from Strikeforce: “Melendez vs. Masvidal”: -KJ Noons and Billy Evangelista should thank their lucky stars that the mass exodus to the UFC by Strikeforce fighters is over, because their feelings were going to get seriously hurt when UFC matchmaker Joe Silva told them they’re weren’t quite “Octagon material”.  Which isn’t to say Noons and Evangelista aren’t good, entertaining scrappers capable of putting on a show – they are.  They just would’ve been killed by the UFC’s lightweights. -Ovince St. Preux was overmatched something fierce, but ex-champ Gegard Mousasi looked like doo-doo.  Seriously, what happened to that killer fighter who crushed Renato Sobral? -I would rather see Cris “Cyborg” Santos sit on the sidelines than go out there and destroy an undeserving and unready can. -I would also rather Cris “Cyborg” Santos face Ronda Rousey, like, right now.  Forget building that bout up.  It should’ve happened yesterday. -Gilbert Melendez failed to put away Jorge Masvidal, and even though he won every round on two out of three of the judges’ scorecards, he still got his face dinged up.  Does that mean he sucks?  Hell no.  It just means that Masvidal is that good.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, masvidal, isn ’t, mass exodus

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Normally you’re more likely to see discussion on match-ups involving “real life” rumbles around these parts but that’s not to say professional wrestling doesn’t still deserve its due. The reality is the UFC exists in part due to the environment of “sports entertainment” created by Vince McMahon and company. As such, when it comes to WWE PPV events I’ll be offering a breakdown of each advertised bout with my opinion of the storyline leading up to the clash as well as how I see things unfolding inside the infamous squared circle. Cody Rhodes vs. Booker T I’m glad to see Rhodes getting a push minus his protective mask, a gimmick that had run its course for sure. He’s great on a microphone and an apt competitor in the ring. It will be interesting to see how crisp Booker T looks given that he’s far from a full-time wrestler these days but he’s generally a solid worker and as long as he hits a “Spinaroonie” (guaranteed to happen by the way) the crowd will go home happy. However, it’s highly unlikely he wins since the WWE Intercontinental Championship is on the line. Expect Rhodes to do something illegal to pick up a cheap victory, thus continuing his build as one of the company’s better heels. Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder Ziggler has quickly become one of the guys to watch over the past six months. He needs to shed Vickie Guerrero so he can truly shine but it seems that storyline is likely coming given some of the subtle hints as of late. Ryder, on the other hand, has a catchy catch-phrase and is no slouch himself. These two should put on a very entertaining show with Ryder coming away the winner in order to let Ziggler move up the ladder, perhaps even via some interference from John Cena who isn’t booked for the card, since he’s above the United States Championship at this point while Ryder is a perfect fit to hold it. WOO! WOO! WOO! You know it, bro! Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett I haven’t really bought in to the Barrett/Orton storyline much. Their feud seems beneath “The Apex Predator” and Barrett hasn’t used the opportunity to shine as more legitimate prospects might. With the involvement of tables I’d say a RKO through one of those glorious pieces of furniture is almost a given. Orton may “hear voices” in his head but it will be Barrett seeing little birdies circling his noggin come the close of their clash. Mark Henry vs. Big Show Expect a bunch of high-flying, fast-paced action in this…ah, who am I kidding? I see this fight as little more than a vehicle for Kane to make an appearance, possibly saving Big Show from suffering another ankle injury based on the inclusion of chairs. I see Henry retaining so he and Kane can have the added spotlight of a title in their coming feud. HHH vs. Kevin Nash I cringe whenever Nash is in the ring. He was entertaining in his hey-day, but his promos seem awkward/forced and he seems fragile. If he and HHH can turn in something more than a brawl featuring 90% strikes with the final sledgehammer spot I’ll be shocked. The crowd will want to see HHH go over convincingly but for some reason I can see their rivalry continuing all the way up to Wrestlemania where a Triple Threat fight with Shawn Michaels will take place. As such, tonight would be a great time for HBK to get involved on some level. CM Punk vs. Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio The WWE Championship has been passed around as of late like a joint at a collection plate in church so it’s hard to predict who will win tonight’s biggest bout. My heart tells me CM Punk but my head says Miz who the company seems to absolutely be in love with at the moment (and rightfully so in a sense because he has exceeded my expectations tenfold since originally debuting). Regardless, I expect this offering to feature some incredible spots and am definitely looking forward to it. Things start up tonight on PPV at 8:00 PM EST so make sure to check it out and see how close, or far off, I actually am in my predictions. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: ’t, vs, wwe, ryder, storyline

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It was widely speculated that Strikeforce would fold following the purchasing of the organization by Zuffa and the conclusion of their Showtime deal, but rumors of their demise were greatly exaggerated. Strikeforce will be sticking around on Showtime and things will be “business as usual” moving forward. What does this mean for the world of MMA? Well, I’m glad I asked myself. PRO: More MMA. I’m never going to complain about more MMA on my television. Unless there’s a Taylor Swift concert in town, I’ll cancel my plans to watch any MMA event. And even if there is a Taylor Swift concert in town, I have a DVR to record the event. More MMA can be a bad thing because it makes lesser events feel even less important, but as a hardcore fan and someone who covers the sport, usually from the comfort of my own home, I’m always happy when there is fighting on my TV. CON: Fighters will want to be in the UFC and will be moved to the UFC. No matter what Dana White says about, “Strikeforce fighters will stay in Strikeforce,” we all know he’s lying. Just like when he said, “business as usual,” and then poached champions Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem, and Nick Diaz from the organization. Fighters will be moved and they’ll want to be moved. Everyone sees UFC as the big time and they don’t want to be stuck on that second level. You really think Gilbert Melendez will stay in Strikeforce if he wins this weekend? Even if he does, he won’t be happy, because all the top lightweight talent is in the UFC. Muhammed Lawal has already expressed his interest in the UFC, as has Tim Kennedy. Dana says that Gilbert is, “very excited to stay in Strikeforce” and unless that means UFC will be sending over top talent like Clay Guida or Gray Maynard to fight Melendez, I think Dana and Gilbert might have different definitions of “excited.” PRO: Women’s MMA has a home. Even though the talent pool isn’t all that deep, the women who compete in MMA are very talented and usually deliver exciting fights. Without Strikeforce, they would have been reduced to up-and-coming promotions or Bellator, if they decided to commit to higher women’s weight classes. With Strikeforce sticking around fighters like Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Cris Santos, and others will have a chance to showcase their skills in front of a larger audience. It also gives younger or mid-level female fighters a goal as they’ll see Strikeforce as the top promotion for female MMA. CON: Strikeforce won’t have top fighters and their shows won’t seem all that important. The next major Strikeforce show (not the one this weekend) is headlined by a middleweight title fight between Luke Rockhold and Keith Jardine. You read that right. A relatively unknown Rockhold and UFC wash out Jardine will be headling a major Strikeforce event. Strikeforce shows are going to suffer from what I like to call “WEC Lightweight Syndrome.” Every time there was a big WEC lightweight fight, it never felt important because, since Zuffa owned WEC just like they own Strikeforce, we always figured the top lightweights were in the UFC and if guys like Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson were really that good, they’d be in the UFC. Rockhold might be a good fighter, but until he’s beating the middleweights in the UFC, he’s never going to the respect that he may deserve. PRO: Showtime is behind the promotion. If they weren’t behind them, I’m sure they wouldn’t have re-signed with them. They aired a video package on the last Strikeforce Challengers show that no one watched, highlighting some of the bright spots in the promotion, this weekend the lead-in to the event is a big boxing match between Andre Ward and Carl Froch, and preliminary fights will start airing on ShowtimeExtreme. Obviously they could do a better job promoting the organization, but as a premium network, they don’t really promote any of their shows or events on regular networks. It’s not like I see ads for Dexter or Homeland, two of Showtime’s highest rated shows, when I’m watching ESPN or even ads for Showtime Boxing events. CON: Zuffa is not behind the promotion. We all know that any resources that Zuffa has is going towards the UFC. They’re not going to commit extra funds or man power to the organization. The Zuffa employees are already going to be working hard with the five million shows that UFC is planning on running next year, they’re just not going to be able to give a 100% effort to Strikeforce. Zuffa could do little things to make Strikeforce look important like secure a DVD deal for the organization or even purchasing ad time on networks, but they’re just not going to do that and until they do, no one should be naive enough to believe that Zuffa really committed to Strikeforce. PRO: More opportunities for fighters to fight and get paid. Besides money mark promotions that are willing to pay guys like Ben Rothwell $250,000 to be a punching bag, Strikeforce is the second highest paying promotion out there. So with them around, it gives fighters more income and more chances to fight. UFC already has an over-crowded roster, and while I’d much rather see guys like Jason High, Tarec Saffiedine, and Josh Thomson in the UFC instead of all the TUF wash-outs they keep around, they don’t have room for every fighter in the world. The overall theory here is that Strikeforce sticking around is good for fighters and fans, but doesn’t seem like a very smart business move. There are still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding this deal. Dana sounded very excited about things during yesterday’s media call, but he then proceeded to give a bunch of half, non-committal answers when asked things like, “will we see UFC/Strikeforce cross-over fights?” Stephen Espinoza, Scott Coker, and Dana all said, “Strikeforce will not be a secondary promotion,” but I have my doubts. Does anyone really think that UFC will lend Strikeforce some of their top stars or best fighters, unless those guys are fighting for a title? And lets just say that we get Guida vs. Melendez in 2012 for the Strikeforce lightweight title and Guida wins, doesn’t that pretty much prove that Strikeforce is secondary if a guy who has failed to secure a UFC lightweight title shot can win the Strikeforce belt? Or if Melendez wins and people speculate, “could Gilbert beat the UFC champion?” does anyone really think Melendez vs. the UFC champion will take place on a Strikeforce event? Strikeforce is already eliminating their heavyweight division due to “lack of depth.” Less than a year ago we all argued whether or not Strikeforce had a better heavyweight division than the UFC. Now, by the middle of next year, they won’t even have a heavyweight division. This is definitely a “wait and see” deal for Strikeforce, Showtime, and Zuffa, but as it stands, I’m pretty skeptical.

Posted in: ufc, strikeforce, fighter, ’t, event

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Somehow between his training, caring for his ailing mother, dealing with the NSAC and flying to London just to pee in a cup, Alistair Overeem still managed to find time this week to pen his weekly UFC 141 blog post for Yahoo! Sports. Overeem talked a little bit about Brock Lesnar at the end, but it was mostly about his ordeal with the NSAC earlier this week. It was surely a distraction, but Overeem says he’s managed to see the bright side of it. The issue was over a random drug test requirement – which I didn’t know about until I came to Holland – and I understand it from their side. The fact is, they didn’t get what they needed when they needed it. I am happy to have got my license under the conditions the commissioners set out. I am also happy they accepted and stated on the record that there was no attempt by myself to avoid any test. I always try – and sometimes you can’t – but 99 percent of the time I manage to mentally turn things around to a positive. And on the positive side of all of this, I now know that if I train in Holland for a UFC fight again, I will need to go to England to do a test because the medical rules in Holland are too different to those in Nevada. It also helps me make my mind up to train in the US for my next UFC fight as long as I don’t have the same family issues to consider like I do right now. The NSAC ultimately decided to grant Overeem a conditional license provided he take a test now, another one when he lands in the US for the fight and two more random tests after UFC 141. Overeem hopes the additional testing will silence the “haters” now that he’s “the most tested fighter in the sport.” Another positive is that I’m now the most tested fighter in the sport. I will be tested four times in three weeks, and then at least twice more in the next six months in addition to any testing for my next fight. I have had people – I will politely call them ‘haters’ – accuse me of taking steroids since I was a 185-lb. kickboxer at the age of 17. When I was 20, I’ve fought at a weight of 222 lbs. I am now aged 31, and weigh 35 lbs. more. I don’t think 35 lbs is too much to grow in 11 years from a 20-year-old to 31-year-old. Facts are, I have been tested with the commission numerous times before when I fought in the U.S. and got tested in Japan. I always passed any testing, so hopefully now with these next tests coming and the fact of me being the most tested fighter in the sport, the critics may be satisfied. And if not, well, that’s not my problem, that is their problem. Well, Overeem is probably right about one thing. No matter how many tests he passes, some people are always going to believe he’s on something. And it’s hard to blame them when the “basic steroid panel” mandated by the NSAC doesn’t even test for all the various PED’s out there these days. I will say this about Overeem though. Whether he’s on something or not, he sure does speak with a lot of conviction when he addresses the allegations. If he’s lying about it, he’s been doing a damn good job of it. Image via Esther Lin for Strikeforce/Showtime

Posted in: ufc, overeem, ’t, sport, test

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Throughout his life, Jake Shields heard about everything he couldn’t do as a vegetarian in the sports world. He never wavered though. Instead, he just kept piling up accolades: All-American recognition as a wrestler at Cuesta College, a jiu-jitsu black belt, and MMA titles in a number of organizations, including Strikeforce, EliteXC, and Shooto.Today, he’s a UFC welterweight contender, and those people talking about his diet have gone silent, instead giving way to praise from the organization PETA2 (the young adult branch of the animal rights organization), which honored Shields in 2010 with a Libby Award as the year’s Most Animal-Friendly Athlete, beating out Strikeforce contender KJ Noons, New York Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire, and WNBA standout Candace Parker.“They heard I was a lifelong vegetarian, so they wanted to do some work with me,” said Shields of his initial work with the group. “And I’m a lover of animals, so I agreed and I’ve done some small campaigns and stuff.”Now he’s looking to make it two in a row, as he’s up for the award again, this time squaring off against NFL running back Willis McGahee, Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, and WWE wrestler Daniel Bryan. But beyond awards, this is a cause close to the 32-year old’s heart.“I think it’s important,” he said. “As a kid I was always told that I couldn’t be an athlete and a vegetarian, and I like to show that that’s a myth. I’ve been a lifelong vegetarian and a successful athlete, and it’s good to show people an alternative. I’ve never been a preachy type person and I’m never gonna tell people what they should and shouldn’t do. But I like to be an example for people that are interested in that lifestyle, and let them know that they can, because so many people have the opposite impression.”Classifying himself as a vegetarian even though he tries to eat mostly vegan, Shields has maintained this lifestyle throughout his life, which can’t be easy, especially when you’re growing up and your buddies are all running to the local fast food spot for a bite to eat. “I just wouldn’t eat, or I would find something else to eat,” said Shields, who also admits to never eating an entire steak.“I’ve had a couple bites once or twice in my life, but I’ve never really eaten it,” he said. “Actually I got sick. In my opinion meat’s really hard on the body, so my body didn’t react good to it.”He wouldn’t change a thing though.“You just get used to it and it becomes easy,” he said. “When you first switch it would be hard, but once you get used to it, it becomes easy.”Easy wouldn’t be the way he would describe 2011, a year in which he not only lost back-to-back bouts against Georges St-Pierre and Jake Ellenberger (breaking a 15 fight winning streak), but lost his father Jack, who sadly passed away in August at the age of 67. Despite his dad's passing, Shields courageously went on with the Ellenberger fight just a few weeks later, only to get stopped in the first round. “It’s just one of those things,” he said. “I got a little anxious out there and kinda walked into a knee, and it could have happened at any time. Obviously, things possibly could have been different, you just never know. Jake’s a good power puncher and one of those guys you make one mistake and you can walk into something.” Undeterred, Shields will get his chance to rebound early in the New Year, as he will travel to Japan to take on Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 144 in February. Having fought three times in the Land of the Rising Sun on 2004-04, he’s got an edge on some of his peers who have never competed there, but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier.“It’s tough dealing with a long flight, and being vegetarian, it’s hard finding food to eat over there, but it’s one of those things you just deal with,” said Shields, who will be welcoming Akiyama to the welterweight division for the first time.“He’s a tough guy and I’m not taking him lightly,” said Shields of Akiyama. “He’s coming off a couple losses, but he’s lost to good competition and he’s had some close fights with some top fighters, so I’m taking him really seriously. He’s a phenomenal judo guy, possibly the best judo guy in the sport, and he’s also got heavy hands. I haven’t had a chance to study his tape yet, but I’m gonna start breaking that down and coming up with a game plan.”It’s the kickoff to a year he can’t wait for.“It (2011) has definitely been a tough year, but I’m hoping to bounce back and be a lot stronger in 2012.”To vote for Jake Shields for the 2011 Libby Award as Most Animal Friendly Athlete, click here. Voting closes on December 23

Posted in: shield, ’t, i ’m, year, ’m

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It’s been a long time coming, but on Friday, December 30th, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar makes his long-awaited return to the Octagon to face former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141 in Las Vegas.And since so much has gone on in the 14 months Lesnar has been away, we’ll refresh your memory of one of the sport’s most compelling figures with a collection of some of his most memorable quotes.Life after College (2007)“I was out in 2000, and nothing was really available yet in mixed martial arts. I literally had four cents in my pocket, I was bumming beers off my buddies and bumming steaks off my girlfriends, so for me, it was try out for the NFL, stick around for another year, or here’s a legitimate contract (with the WWE).”Salad Days (2007) “I was a kid out of Webster, South Dakota who grew up on a dairy farm and drove a Mazda RX-7 that was a hundred dollar car missing fourth gear and reverse.”Lesnar’s Philosophy of Life (2007)“I went from Wrestlemania right to the NFL and the Vikings training camp and was like ‘what the hell am I doing here?’ I should have taken a break, but one thing, if anybody really knows me, they know I dive in headfirst and whatever happens happens. I’ll deal with the consequences later. You only live one time, and what I hate are those people that can’t make a decision. I just go for it. Of course, as I get older and a little more experienced, some of these headfirst things I think about a little bit, but I’m still kinda the same way.”Early thoughts of fighting (2007)“I originally wanted to fight when I was in junior college. I took some summer school out in Lassen, California, where I met up with some guys who trained out of the Lions Den. They booked me in a show in Reno, Nevada, and then I had to pull out because once you got paid to participate in something, the NCAA wouldn’t accept me, and I wanted to wrestle. But I had actually started rolling and learning jiu-jitsu back in junior college when I was 19-20 years old.”Entering the world of MMA (2007) “I didn’t think anybody would really even be interested in me. But here I am, caught between a rock and a hard place. Everybody on Earth knows who I am because of pro wrestling and because I went through the NFL, so where do I even start? Who’s gonna take me seriously? Do I start in the bingo halls and start all over? I can’t do that because I’ve already got a name. I’m more well known than the first guy that ever showed up on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. So where do you start? Well, let’s just find a promotion that’s willing to promote you, let’s go from there, and let’s just see what comes out of it.”Transitioning into the sport (2007)“There were some transitions to be made. I was out of the wrestling room for almost six years and some of these old aches and pains started coming out, and it took a while, about a couple of months, and at first I wasn’t sure if this was going to work. I hadn’t been in the wrestling room for almost six years – yeah, I pounded the weights and pounded the road and hotels and was in the wrestling ring every night, but its two different things.”On his debut against Min Soo Kim (2007)“I was just so happy to put my fist in some other guy’s face. I felt like I was in heaven. It did go fast, 69 seconds, and it felt like it was five seconds.”On calling out the UFC (2007)“A lot of people say ‘well, he was just doing that to get attention.’ Well, I got some attention, so I got what I wanted. Now, the bottom line is, I want to fight, and I want some credible people and I want to beat them. What that does for me is, it makes me very credible. That’s why I did it – I want to fight good people. If you want to go with the NFL of the fighting game, it’s the UFC. It was an easy choice for me and I’m glad things worked out.”On fighting anyone and everyone (2007)“I’ve looked up and down the entire roster, and I’m willing and ready to take on anybody. In my mind, I feel like I’m ready. People don’t really understand that I’ve been an amateur wrestler since I was five years old. I’ve been through all kinds of athletics and stuck with them, I’ve got an amateur wrestling background of 18 years almost, and some of these guys that are getting into fighting don’t have these kinds of backgrounds. Obviously I don’t think I’m ready for a title shot right away, but I will be there, and I’m not gonna turn down any opponent because I’m here to prove myself. I’m not here to pick and choose my fights. I’ll fight whomever they want. I don’t make the fights; that’s not my job. I’ve got one job to do and that’s to fight.”On the first Mir fight (2008)“I’m still disgusted with myself. I got so excited, then for Mazzagatti to stop the fight kinda threw a monkey wrench into my rhythm a little bit, and then you can chalk it up to a little bit of inexperience. I had Frank on the mat and then I stood up, which was pretty foolish of me. I think Frank will be the first one to admit that I had him up against the ropes and I think he was scared s**tless. He was reaching at anything out there and he grabbed it and he got me. But that’s the beauty of mixed martial arts.”On silencing the critics (2008)“I’m not here to shut people’s mouths. I’m in a spot where there might be the toughest son of a bitch out there, but nobody knows his name and he’s climbing the ranks, and here you’ve got a guy like myself who is a household name all across the world. From the business side of things, I’ve got to make the right business decisions and at the same time on the fighting side of things, I don’t want any tomato cans either.”On getting respect from his peers (2008)“I’m greatly appreciative of it. I think people get their guard up right away when somebody wants to jump into something when they’re not 100 percent serious about it, and I think people understand that I am. At least the people at my gym and in my training camp do. I think that filters through in the interviews that I do – this is my life and it’s taken a while for me to figure out what I wanted to do with myself. Everybody’s going to have their opinion, but as long as I keep my nose to the grindstone, everything will work out. But more importantly, everybody wants to see a winner, and I want to win this fight - not to prove anything to anybody else, but to prove to myself that I’m capable of being in the Octagon.”On the positive changes MMA has brought to his life (2008)“Lifestyle wise, this has been great for me to be home every night in my own bed and to be near my family as often as I can. That’s been huge for me. Everything in life nowadays is so material, so for me to be able to be home and be happy is the number one key for me. All the other stuff is really meaningless. We enjoy doing what we do and most people who have the right job enjoy going to work, but the car I’m driving, the clothes I’m wearing, that’s all materialistic stuff and it’s all fake. In the end, we’ve got to answer to one person and look ourselves in the mirror every day.”Lesnar’s Philosophy of Life – Part II (2008)“You only live once. In my mind, I think I’m a good enough athlete that I could do just about anything, and I always had a lot of confidence. But young kids today need to remember that, that when you work hard and stay on track, good things usually come. It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you keep your nose to the grindstone, hopefully good things happen.”On getting ready for Randy Couture (2008)“The biggest transition was to learn to be patient – in the gym and in the Octagon, but mostly in the gym. You can’t learn this art overnight, and here it is, going on three years for me, and I still don’t know everything and there’s a lot more to learn. I’m just trying to come in Saturday night and be as prepared as I can possibly be for Randy, and I think we did that this last eight, nine weeks. As of right now I can’t change anything. The hay’s in the barn, and I’m just trying to relax and shed a few pounds this week, and come in Saturday night looking for a fight.”On the Heath Herring fight (2008)“I didn’t set any goals to take Heath three rounds. We tried to end it early and we almost did (Laughs), but Heath was a tough SOB, and in a fight, whatever happens happens.”On finding peace (2008)“I’m just relieved I’m doing something that I find myself very happy doing and I’m relieved that I can be home and spend as much time with my daughter and my wife as I can, and do some of the things that I enjoy doing, like hunting and fishing. There’s more to life than just work, whether it’s wrestling or MMA. I’m not a gym rat. I come in here and put time in and when I leave the gym, I go do something else, whether it’s spending time with my family, or hunting or fishing or whatever. I’m at peace. I’m happy where my career is right now and where my life is right now.”Before the Mir rematch (2009)“Nobody likes to lose, and I’m a sore loser, especially when I feel I gave the (first) fight to him.”On the bitter taste of losing (2009)“I just think its pure competition. Throughout my wrestling career in college, I didn’t lose too often. But the guys I did lose to, I’ve always been able to come back except for one guy I never had the opportunity to get a rematch with – Stephen Neal. But the other guys I’ve had opportunities to come back and beat, so I’ve been in this position and I don’t see it going any other way really.”On maturing as a fighter (2009)“I think I’ve showed some maturity in the Octagon since the first Mir fight. Against Heath and Randy I showed a lot more patience, but it still only takes one punch. I don’t know when it’s gonna happen – we’ve got five rounds to solidify this fight and I might have jumped the gun against Frank the first time – I know I did – but there are times for aggression and times to pull the reins. That comes with experience, and I think I’ve got that now. The first time, Frank was fighting a street brawler / wrestler. The big difference now is that Frank’s fighting a fighter. I’ve had almost two years of experience under my belt and got in the Octagon with a legend like Randy Couture and another guy who’s had over 50 fights and has been very successful, so it hasn’t been a walk in the park.”On life in the UFC (2009)“If I had to put it in a sentence, it’s probably been the best year and a half of my life. Not just because of fighting for a great company and that things are going well, but because I’ve had a lot of good things happen to me personally. My wife, my daughter, my son, my family, business has been good, so it’s been a good year and a half inside and outside the Octagon, and I pray to God every day that good things continue. It’s pretty simple out here for me and I like it that way.”On the illness that has kept him from competing since July of 2009 (2010)“Everybody’s got life-changing experiences and this is one of them for me. I believe things happen for a reason, and this gave me a different perspective on life and on my family. I’m a young guy – these things aren’t supposed to happen. I consider myself a healthy human being. I’m 32 years old, and for something like this to happen, I definitely had to re-evaluate. When you think you’re doing all the right things and all of a sudden something like this happens, obviously you’re not, so I had to make some changes.”On his return to the Octagon (2010)“Let’s make it clear. I still am the UFC heavyweight champion.Pre-Carwin (2010) “At any moment this could be over and I could be Joe Blow serving burgers or doing whatever. Anything can happen at any given moment, and I try to live every day to the fullest, and I really don’t take anything for granted anymore. I never really used to, but this whole setback for me last November was a hurdle in my life that I guess God thought I had to overcome to test me and to make sure this is what I really wanted in my life. There are challenges in your life that are put before you for certain reasons, and this was one of those times.”Not a social media kinda guy (2010) “I don’t pay attention to anything, I really don’t. I don’t buy pay-per-views, I don’t go on the internet. I live, eat, and breathe fighting, but it’s all about me. I don’t care about Who’s Who in Ultimate Fighting, I really don’t. It’s very important to not get too involved. It’s like a job. It’s part of your life, but you’ve got to realize how to separate the two. When you go to work, you go to work, and when you leave the office, you leave the office. I don’t bring the office home with me.”On his second bout with diverticulitis (2011)“I’ll tell you one thing: I’m not retiring. This isn’t the end of my fight career. I have a strong faith that there’s a solution to every problem. I just gotta find the right solution to fix this problem. I love this sport and I love what I do. This isn’t the end of Brock Lesnar.”On Brock Lesnar (2011)“I was born this way. It ain’t an act, and it’s not a line. There’s nobody out there like me. I was born to do this, and I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, ’ve

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The somewhat meteoric rise of Jon Jones from prospect, to contender, to the youngest champion in UFC history, has been well documented. Jones brings to the table a wide range of top level skills. One of the big reasons for his enormous amounts of success is that his skill-set is among the most unorthodox in MMA. He also has an advantage in the fact that he holds the longest reach in promotion at 84.5 inches. This allows him to showcase his wide range of kicks and more-flamboyant strikes. He also holds an excellent Greco-Roman wrestling game along with very high level submission skills. Looking at the numbers, since joining the UFC he has had ten fights, dropping only one to Matt Hamill due to disqualification after using illegal 12-to-6 elbows from the mount in what was an otherwise dominant performance. Since successfully defending his title for the second time on Saturday against Lyoto Machida, speculation has been high about which top contender would get next crack at the champ. Over the past few months several top contenders have tried to lay claim to the coveted #1 contender spot. However, regardless of who emerges, will he fare any better than Machida did? Rashad Evans has been the heir apparent since going on a three-fight run since losing the title back in May of 2009, but “Sugar” ‘Shad has been hampered by a sequence of injuries that have stopped his title fight chances in their tracks. Since the Ultimate Fighter winner has been on the sidelines, veteran and future Hall of Fame fighter Dan Henderson defected from Strikeforce to face former champ Mauricio Rua in a fight that many expected to earn the victor a title shot. Their clash happened last month and is now widely known as one of the best fights in the promotions history, a back and forth fracas earning ‘Hendo’ a Unanimous Decision and a improving his streak to four straight impressive victories. The third big contender is the perpetual underdog Phil Davis. Whilst Davis has flown under the radar for much of his UFC career, not necessarily providing fireworks despite his success, he’s still coming off a series of solid and tough performances. “Mr. Wonderful” has an excellent wrestling pedigree, good submission skills, the ability to box, and knockout power in his hands. Davis is now scheduled to face Evans at UFC on FOX 2 with the man emerging with his hand raised also coming out of things as the top 205-pound contender. The big question is can any of these contenders beat a consistently improving “Bones” Jones? To answer this we need to think about how Jones beats people. The dynamic 24-year old uses his unorthodox striking to disrupt his opponent’s stance so that his adversary is more worried about getting hit with a spinning back elbow or a flying knee than he is about getting taken down. He uses these strikes to set up the takedown, a strategy proving to me successful a lot more often than not. Once on the ground he can use his superior ground-and-pound skills which have been displayed in the fights against Brandon Vera, Vladymir Matyushenko, and most recently Machida who suffered a deep cut on his forehead with virtually the first elbow Jones landed. Adding to the conundrum, even if he is unable to get strikes in from the top, Jones often uses his long, slim arms to secure a choke. Jones had a little trouble figuring out Machida’s striking technique and timing and may well have lost the first round, at least in the eyes of armchair officials. Evans may be able to take advantage of this based on having very good wrestling and solid boxing skills. He is known for being an aggressive striker and we have never really seen Jones under pressure in a striking situation. As for Evans’ grappling, though we have never seen Jones off of his back, or even on the wrong side of a clinch, I don’t anticipate it being a big issue in the fight. In fact it may be in Evans’ interest to keep the fight standing and use his speed and technique to get inside and use his hands. I am also frankly amazed that no one has taken the strategy of consistently kicking Jones insanely thin legs, as it could be a massive problem for the champion if anyone decides to go that route. I give Evans a chance as long as he stays standing but if Jones can take it to the ground and start beating on him then I can’t see him coming out with a ‘W’. Davis is an excellent wrestler with decent stand-up, plus he poses a few problems that Jones hasn’t encountered before. First, Davis is the first fighter Bones would facedthat may well be able to out wrestle him. He has a good reach at 79 inches but doesn’t have the stand-up skills that Jones possesses so that’s a moot point. Jones would need to keep the fight standing or risks losing points from the scorecard. As I said we haven’t seen Jones on his back yet and can’t assume wrestling skills from the bottom, but if Davis can take Jones down and hold him there he would stand a very good chance. That level of ground-control, in my opinion, would be the key to this fight and beating Jones in general. Finally, Henderson has fought a “Who’s Who” of the MMA world over the last 10-15 years. He has been a champion in every promotion he has fought for with one belt eluding him so far – a UFC title. He had an impressive performance against ‘Shogun’ and vaulted himself towards the upper echelons of the division with the gutsy, glorious performance. Henderson’s highlight reel is one of the best in MMA. His skill set includes excellent wrestling, good boxing, and put-you-to-sleep power in both hands. That being said, the question is can Henderson keep up with the speed of the 24 year-old Jones? If ‘Hendo’ can catch Jones with a decent shot there’s no question he could put him on his back in an instant. However, I don’t see him taking Jones down and keeping him there, nor do I think keeping the fight standing would be an effective strategy for Jones. The key to this fight would involve whether or not Jones could close the distance on ‘Hendo’ without taking shots, then take him down and be effective on top. Jones brings a skill set that is completely unique and therefore very difficult to train for. He is the future, and very much the present, of the divisio,  and I don’t see him being beaten any time soon. Expect to see “Bones at the peak of his weight class for many years to come. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: fight, jone, ’t, contender, skill

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If you know anything about grappling, then you know who Marcelo Garcia is. He’s one of the most accomplished submission grapplers in the sports history having won five jiu-jitsu world championships and three ADCC submission wrestling world titles. Now Garcia has released a book that details just about every technique you would ever need to know while grappling. Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques by Garcia, along with Marshal D. Carper and Glen Cordoza, is a must have for anyone wanting to learn the finer arts of submission grappling. First off, this book isn’t your basic submission grappling technique manual. If you’re looking for the basics when rolling, this book probably isn’t for you. This is more for those of you looking to take your game to the next level. The techniques found in this book are unique to Garcia’s game and are the techniques he’s used his entire grappling career. There’s a reason why the term “advanced” is in the title of this book, it’s because you probably shouldn’t try this stuff if you just watched UFC 140 and want to break a guys arm or choke them unconscious because you’ll probably end up failing and hurting yourself. Now, for you expert grapplers out there, this is a book that you’ll want and need if you’re looking to take your game to the next level. There’s not a thing in this book that Garcia doesn’t cover. He has everything from takedowns to passes and submissions to defense. There’s even a chapter on how to finish the omoplata, which I’m sure Joe Rogan really appreciated. Prior to every chapter there’s an introduction to the overall technique and then a brief introduction to all the actual technique that goes with the accompanying pictures. Normally these are skippable portions of any technique book as most of us just want to learn the technique and try it out, but I found these pages and paragraphs to be helpful as Garcia explains how he came up with these techniques, how he’s used them before, and why they work. It’s obvious that Garcia put a lot of work into coming up with these techniques and I think it’s important to go inside his mind a bit as he explains them. As with any technique manual, the manual is only as good as the descriptions and pictures that go along with it. If things aren’t explained well and if you can’t visually see what’s going on, then the book is about as useful as me trying to explain MMA to Bob Arum. Luckily smarter people than Arum will be checking out this guide and they’ll be pleased to know that things are well laid out. Garcia explains every detail about the photos and offers two different angles for each photo as well, making it even easier to see how things are done. The book is well put together. The techniques go in order, so you’re not learning how to take the back and then reading about how to finish a guillotine choke and there are color tabs at the top of the page to you can easily thumb to the section you’re currently trying to master. Once again, this is not your “Beginner’s Manual to Jiu Jitsu” book taught by Kenny Garner and Maxim Grishin. The techniques taught in this book are for grapplers who have probably been training for a couple of years and are looking to add to their arsenal. If you’re adventurous, and you are just starting out, and want to buy this book, then by all means, be my guest. But don’t get frustrated if you’re not exactly pulling off an armbar from the back in your first week. If you’re looking to add to your bag of tricks or up your game then this book is a must buy. You’re getting some of the most advanced grappling techniques in the world from one of the greatest submission grapplers of all-time. You can purchase the book at Amazon and check out MGinAction.com for Marcelo’s interactive academy, which also ties in with the book.

Posted in: technique, ’t, book, garcia, ’re

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Mark Munoz says Chael Sonnen needn't worry about his safety in Brazil, because he's going to beat him at UFC on FOX in Chicago anyway.

Posted in: ’t, brazil, sonnen, mark munoz, munoz

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This year we’ve seen magic performed in the cage – Anderson Silva’s front kick knockout comes to mind, as does Lyoto Machida’s same move against Randy Couture, plus anything Jon Jones has done.  But we’ve also seen things far from magical, things that we’d never see but for the effects of age on an athlete’s body and the inevitable degradation time has on a fighter’s skills.  As such, we’ve witnessed a few fighters, wise to what’s happened to them and their once-great ability, contemplate retirement and hang up the gloves.  Chris Lytle did it (in grand fashion, as he’d just won in the Octagon).  Matt Hamill called it quits, too.  And last year the semi- self-imposed axe fell on Chuck Liddell, who rode off into the sunset astride a steed made of repetitive head trauma and stripper pelts.  Yet… maybe there are a few more who should consider a similar move.  Yes, a select few whose modern day performances pale in comparison to the feats of their past, and whose futures likely hold nothing but concussions, fractures and apologies to their fans.  Thus, a list – the Great “Must Retire” List of 2011. (To allay the inherent douche-ness of this topic, I shall begin each entry with a brief description of what made these fighters so great – and yes, they were great.  The greatest, even.  It’s safe to say that I was, and always will be, their number one fan.) -Tito Ortiz – He was our “Huntington Beach Bad Boy”, for the longest time he was our light-heavyweight champ, and he was the face of Zuffa’s UFC.  Takedowns and ground and pound against the fence?  Ortiz was king, bar none.  But now his speed and knack for snagging single- and double-legs has failed him, and though he’s honed his striking to the best it’s ever been (see: Ryan Bader), lately it hasn’t been enough to compensate.  In his last two outings Ortiz has been left wincing and clutching a ribcage that can no longer withstand the punishment.  And it shouldn’t have to. -Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – One of the greatest heavyweights the world has ever seen, and a true legend in the sport – that’s “Big Nog”, who’s about as beloved as he was once feared.  But alas, his resilience, which set him apart from the rest, has turned into a propensity for taking far too much damage.  You see, knocking out the Brendan Schaubs of the world is one thing, but having your arm snapped like a twig by Frank Mir, or getting smashed by Cain Velasquez, well, that’s another animal entirely.  And it’s an animal that usually means the rest of your days on Earth won’t be as pleasant as they would be if your body hadn’t taken that kind of demolition. -Forrest Griffin – If not for Griffin wailing away at Stephan Bonnar, the sport would likely not be where it is today.  That, coupled with the fact that the seminal TUF winner’s hard work eventually garnered him a UFC championship belt, means the man is destined for legend status as well.  But over the last few years we’ve seen him squeak by Rich Franklin and the aforementioned Ortiz, and get utterly blasted out of the water by Rashad Evans, Anderson Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.  And it didn’t even look like Griffin cared when Shogun blitzed him.  Has he lost his fire?  Does he no longer possess the ability, or will, to put in the hard work he was once known for?  That’s tough to say.  What isn’t tough to say, though, is that unless Griffin really wants to train and fight, he shouldn’t be doing it.  Watching him get manhandled is no fun. -Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto – For years, Kid was the best little guy Japan had to offer, and he was ultra-exciting to watch.  Now, not so much.  In five fights since 2009, the explosive wrestler and power-hitter has only won once, and he’s yet to taste victory in the Octagon.  Is it because he lacks the speed and agility that once made him great?  You betcha, and that sort of thing ain’t coming back.  Kid, please, hang those gloves up. -Matt Hughes – One of the greatest welterweights to ever walk the planet, Hughes was the apex predator in a jungle full of extremely dangerous wild animals.  But his last winning performance was when he put Ricardo Almeida to sleep back in August of 2010, and since then he’s been knocked out by BJ Penn and Josh Koscheck.  Just like with Ortiz, Hughes’ dominant wrestling traits have been replaced by a much-improved ability to strike.  But unlike with Ortiz, Hughes can’t seem to take a punch like he used to – and based on the former 170-pound champ’s sullen words and demeanor after each subsequent loss, he appears to know this as well as we do.  -Joe Stevenson – He was some kind of King of the Cage/West Coast badass, and that plus his grappling saw him through to a winning performance on TUF 2 and an eventual shot at the UFC’s lightweight belt.  Unfortunately, something happened on the road to glory, and Stevenson could no longer do what it took to earn a win.  With his last four performances in the Octagon ending with the other guys’ hands getting raised, Stevenson was rightfully cut from the organization.  What went wrong?  Dunno.  But if it has anything to do with competitive fire, then maybe Stevenson isn’t cut out for getting in the cage anymore.  And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that… as long as he doesn’t fruitlessly try to come back. -Kazushi Sakuraba – PRIDE superstar Sakuraba was the antithesis to everything jiu-jitsu, as evidenced by his time spent defeating nearly every Gracie put in front of him.  But it is definitely time for the Japanese warrior to bid the fight world “sayonara”.  Never mind that he hasn’t won a bout since 2009, or that his reflexes are shot.  No, what cinches his need for retirement is that scary-good kickboxer Marius Zaromskis almost completely tore off the poor man’s ear.  I don’t know about you, but that’s where I draw the line.  

Posted in: time, ortiz, ’t, ’ve, performance

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Xtreme Couture trainer Gil Martinez might be best known for his work with Mixed Martial Artists but there’s no doubting the highly-respected striking coach also has a PhD in the sweet science as a long-time lover of boxing and general guru on the mitts. Fighters.com recently caught up with Martinez to get his thoughts on the recent bout between 37-2 Miguel Cotto and 38-8 Antonio Margarito. The two light middleweights duked it out a little over a week ago in an action-packed affair ultimately seeing Cotto come away with a TKO win due to damage inflicted on Margarito’s troublesome eye. The Magic Mitts of Martinez “I thought Cotto looked really good,” Martinez began when asked about the fight. “The game plan they had was very good and he executed it perfectly. Sometimes he sat back and he got hit those times but you could he didn’t want to stand and trade with Margarito. Cotto was just faster and better technically though and he used that. He showed that he was the better boxer this past weekend.” “Not to take anything away from Cotto but I would have liked to seen the fight pushed back to give Margarito enough time for his eye to heal,” Martinez added while referencing a previous situation that nearly kept him from receiving a license to fight again. “The punches he got hit with messed up his eye from his previous injury. Cotto was smart to attack the eye and it started to close in the fifth or sixth round and it’s hard to fight with one eye. I think it would have been a closer fight though if Margarito didn’t have the lingering injury.” “Margarito has never been the type of person to talk about his opponents but I think he felt embarrassed from the accusations about the illegal wraps,” Martinez explained regarding the pre-fight trash-talk between the two before bringing in some personal insight on the situation in general. “I think he used it as a defense mechanism to throw it back at Cotto. I can’t say if the gloves were loaded in the first fight or not, but I will say that there is a huge possibility that Margarito didn’t know if the gloves were loaded. I’ve been wrapping hands for a long time and I’ve never had a coach ask me to see the pads I use because there’s a trust between us. I don’t think any coach gets asked about the wrap. So if there was something in the wraps, it’s possible that he didn’t know.” “Also, it’s a totally different wrap for training and fighting, so if you feel a difference, it could be just that,” he continued. “You don’t go the extra mile to wrap during sparring because of the bigger gloves and head gear, but in a fight, you make sure you get the best wrap.” “So in fairness to Margarito, I can’t put much blame on him if the gloves were loaded,” Martinez concluded. “Even though he looks like he could play a bad guy in a movie, everyone says that Margarito is a nice guy. 90% of fighters are nice people, although there are exceptions like Michael Bisping (in MMA).” PHOTO CREDIT – GILMARTINEZBOXING.COM Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, martinez, margarito, cotto

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BOTH NOGUEIRAS LOOKED GREAT, DESPITE BIG BROTHER’S LOSSLet’s start with the easy one. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira looked spectacular in his first round knockout win over former champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 140 last Saturday night. It is a rare treat to witness a fighter commit so thoroughly to body shots that he stops the fight with those grossly underutilized techniques. “Lil’ Nog” finally returned to his elite self after a run of three less-than-stellar performances. I have always thought that he had the right blend of skills, heart and experience to challenge for 205-lb supremacy. A win over Ortiz isn’t enough to anoint him a legitimate title contender, but it is a huge step in the right direction.Rogerio’s heavier twin wasn’t so fortunate, but I think he looked tremendous, despite the loss to Frank Mir. Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira was certainly winning the fight on the feet, with what appeared to be relative ease, I might add. He simply got caught in a submission once the action went to the ground. There is no shame in being submitted by Mir. The fact that “Big Nog” suffered a broken arm is almost irrelevant to the question of whether he has reached the end of his illustrious career—a question that UFC President Dana White posed after his knockout loss to Cain Velasquez back in February 2010. The all-time great attempted to tap out a split second before his bone snapped. Had he made that decision a few precious seconds earlier, he probably would not be on the mend right now and would instead be campaigning for a quick return bout, since he didn’t otherwise suffer any damage at all in the fight.For what it is worth, I believe that Rodrigo should be given another opportunity to prove his mettle, once his arm is fully healed. If Mir had brutally knocked him out, I might feel differently. But this guy looked tremendous in his knockout win over tough rising star Brendan Schaub just a few months ago, and he looked great against Mir up until the end. I don’t care whether Nogueira was a shot fighter or if he was put in that position at the height of his PRIDE championship reign, Mir would have finished that fight once he got that kimura locked in just the same. But if he is truly a shot fighter, would he have had Mir’s legs doing funny dances moments before getting submitted? That is the question we should ask ourselves.ORTIZ WANTS ONE MORE, WILL HE RECEIVE THE OPPORTUNITY?Tito Ortiz was once the face of mixed martial arts. The “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was a dominant champion who ruled the light heavyweight division for a record 1,203 days and five successful defenses. Yet, if we are being honest with ourselves, Ortiz hasn’t been a factor in the division since suffering his second knockout loss to Chuck Liddell five years ago. The former champion is now 1-6-1 in his last eight bouts, including back-to-back technical knockout losses. I don’t know if Ortiz’s history of back injuries has sapped him of his explosiveness and once-dominant wrestling, or if the sport has simply evolved beyond him. Either way, it is difficult to imagine Ortiz as anything other than a healthy underdog against the top half of the UFC’s 205-lb roster. That has to be a tough pill to swallow for the proud athlete and an eye-opening reality for those who want to see him continue fighting in the UFC. Few former champions are able to accept when their time has passed. Liddell faced the same issues. Granted, Ortiz isn’t getting knocked unconscious time and time again. But the fact remains that he has only won once over the last five years. No other UFC fighter has been given that sort of win-loss latitude in the Zuffa era. Don’t get me wrong. I believe Ortiz has earned this sort of star treatment for his body of career accomplishments. Nonetheless, all great stories have to end at some point, and UFC President Dana White has not been shy in recent years about telling the world that the end was near for Ortiz, if he didn’t turn around his string of defeats. After his loss to Nogueira, Ortiz mentioned that he wanted one more fight, so that he could end his career with a win. Of course he wants that. All the greats want to go out that way. The problem, of course, is that if Ortiz once again tastes victory, it is even less likely that he will be ready to walk away from a sport that made him both wealthy and famous. But if this was, indeed, the final time that the world will see Ortiz compete inside the Octagon, we should all take a moment to tip our respective hats in respect and appreciation to someone who absolutely deserves to grace the walls of the UFC Hall of Fame once his career comes to an official end.   HALLMAN FIXES WARDROBE MISTAKE, BUT FUMBLES IN HIS WIN NONETHELESSDennis Hallman is a grizzled veteran of the fight game. He is a tremendous ground tactician who can defeat just about anybody if the fight largely unfolds on the canvas. But he certainly showed less than sound judgment in his previous UFC bout, showing up to fight wearing blue speedos. On Saturday night, Hallman scored an impressive first round submission victory over John Makdessi via rear-naked choke. It was a dominant performance by a guy who calls himself “Superman.” And much to my delight, he showed up wearing traditional board-style fight shorts.But, alas, not everything was positive about Hallman’s effort. The man who owns two career victories over Matt Hughes failed to make weight—a major no-no in this sport. In fact, he didn’t even come close. I will admit that I was more than a little surprised when I learned that Hallman was going to compete at lightweight at UFC 140. This is a guy who competed in Strikeforce a couple of years ago at middleweight, and for the past two years, he has competed at welterweight. The drop from middleweight to lightweight is a massive undertaking, one that many athletes simply cannot do, nor should they try. Hallman is the exception to that rule, in my opinion. While I expected him to show up amazingly gaunt at the weigh-ins and completely drained come fight time, he actually looked great in his almost-lightweight bout. If Hallman can find a way to shed those last 3.5 pounds and still maintain his cardio and strength, then I think he can make very real waves in the lightweight division. CANADIAN FIGHTERS STRUGGLE IN FRONT OF HOMETOWN CROWDThe pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 140 aired four Canadian fighters. All of them lost. Three lost in spectacular fashion. Mark Hominick, undoubtedly the most highly touted of the foursome, appeared to be too hyped up fighting in front of his fellow countrymen. He inexplicably threw a wild, leaping left hook an instant after touching gloves. Chan Sung Jung countered with a perfectly placed right hand. Hominick was knocked out in an official record-tying seven seconds. The way I see it, Duane Ludwig is the real knockout king at four seconds, if Nevada would step up and fix the timekeeper snafu. But I digress.While you can’t take anything away from the impressive performance of “The Korean Zombie,” Hominick was fighting with an extremely heavy heart due to the recent passing of close friend and trainer Shawn Tompkins, so something tells me that Hominick wasn’t himself in the cage. Krzysztof Soszynski, the most recognizable of the four thanks to his stint on The Ultimate Fighter, suffered a similar fate, though it took a bit longer. Twenty-seven seconds longer, to be exact. Igor Pokrajac certainly flipped the script of relevance with the win, having now won two in a row and three of his last four in the UFC. Soszynski will now be forced to go back to the drawing board and begin rebuilding his application for 205-lb contender status, just when he was on the cusp of making waves in the sport’s glamour division.Makdessi was similarly obliterated by Hallman, though once again it took a bit longer. Hallman needed just over half of the first round to force him to tap out. Makdessi was in search of his third straight win, though it wasn’t to be. This guy is a monster striker. He obviously needs to work more on his takedown defense so that he can keep the fight where it needs to be in order to maximize his chance at winning. Despite that fact, there is no shame in getting tapped by Hallman, who is one of the very best grapplers in the division. Unlike his three comrades, Claude Patrick did not get blown out on the PPV broadcast. In fact, I thought he deserved the nod over Brian Ebersole. Yet, two of the three judges saw it differently, awarding Ebersole a controversial split decision. I’m not sure what else Patrick needed to do in order to secure a win. He seemed to land the bigger shots on the feet, though neither man did much in the standup arena. He also attempted multiple submissions, with more than one appearing to be fairly close to finding its mark. Ebersole, on the other hand, showed crafty grappling ability by surviving each submission attempt. I’m not sure that should be enough to warrant a victory. Maybe that is why I’m not a judge.Much to the pleasure of the partisan crowd, Mark Bocek and Yves Jabouin each pulled out impressive victories to prevent a clean sweep. The tough results were reminiscent of UFC 58: USA vs. Canada, where the Canadian contingent won a similar percentage of the bouts. Of course, our northern neighbors know that combat competition isn’t about one country versus another. It is about man versus man. The results have nothing to do with the state of Canada’s growing mixed martial arts prowess. After all, one of the greatest fighters on the planet just so happens to be Canada’s first fistic son, Georges St-Pierre.

Posted in: ufc, fight, ortiz, ’t, hallman

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. Fans in Toronto aren’t used to seeing winners. The Maple Leafs haven’t made the playoffs since 2004, the Raptors since 2008, and the Blue Jays since 1993. So it had to be a little shocking to fans in T.O. to witness what they witnessed this past Saturday night. They saw, not only one of the best UFC events of the year, but a couple of moments that won’t be forgotten in the fight world anytime soon. At least for one night, it was good to be a sports fan living in Toronto. Lets go to the UFC 140 Scorecard: *I’m a fan of John Cholish because he’s a fan of Gossip Girl. PLUS ONE *Anyone that comes out to “Highway to the Danger Zone” from Top Gun is pretty cool in my book. Kudos to you Mitch Clarke. PLUS ONE *It didn’t seem like Cholish threw a lot in the fight, but every time he threw he seemed to connect. Good accuracy. PLUS THREE *An excellent scramble by Cholish prior to the finishing sequence. He went for a couple of submissions before taking the back, flattening out Clarke, and getting the stoppage. PLUS FOUR *Props to Jake Hecht for not only coming out to “Won’t Back Down” by Eminem but also mouthing the lyrics on his way to the cage. I bet Tito was pissed someone else used an Eminem song on this card. PLUS TWO *And Rich Attonito decided to mouth his walk out song, “Long Tall Sally” from Predator, as well. Seems to be a great night for walk-out music. PLUS ONE *Some sick and powerful elbows by Hecht. I thought they might have been to the back of the head at first, but they were just extremely well placed. Big win for Hecht over a guy like Attontio, who is a solid hand. PLUS THREE *Mark Bocek looks like Gray Maynard and he fought like him as well. Not an impressive performance from “the best grappler in the lightweight division.” MINUS THREE *Somehow this fight will be changed to a draw so Nik Lentz remains undefeated in the UFC. MINUS ONE *Everyone wrongfully says that Greg Jackson turns fighters boring but I think we should start pointing fingers at Firas Zahabi. MINUS TWO *Three fights in and still no Brittney Palmer walking the cage? Shame on you UFC production staff. MINUS TWO *Ah, maybe they were just saving Brittney for TV. Good job UFC production staff. PLUS TWO *Wait, Mike Goldberg called Brittney “beautiful.” He only knows two adjectives but has to describe three ladies. SOMEONE HELP THIS MAN! MINUS THREE *Very good first round of action between Yves Jabouin and Walel Watson. Pretty much expected considering both men are quick and creative strikers. PLUS THREE *See what I mean? Goldberg called Arianny Celeste “beautiful” as well. Seriously, someone get him a thesaurus for Christmas. MINUS THREE *Although the rest of the fight wasn’t as good as the first round, Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson was fun and competitive. Good job by both guys. PLUS THREE *Of course the judges find a way to screw things up and give it to Jabouin via staying on the outside and nearly getting choked out twice. MINUS FOUR *Nice job by Jabouin trying to throw his hat into the crowd only for it to hit the cage. MINUS TWO *As always with guys who miss weight, I’m docking one point for every pound over the maximum limit. Since Dennis Hallman was 2.5 over, I’m just going to round up. MINUS THREE *Come on John Makdessi, you can’t be grabbing the fence like that. MINUS FOUR *Well now we know why Makdessi was grabbing the cage. He couldn’t do a thing with Dennis Hallman on top of him. MINUS FOUR *Even though he missed weight, that was a dominant performance by Hallman. Credit to him for making short work of Makdessi. PLUS FOUR *I don’t know about Hallman staying at lightweight, but at least he recognized that his victory is a bit hollow because he missed weight. PLUS TWO *Movember might be over but don’t tell that to Jared Hamman. That was a manly mustache he was sporting. PLUS ONE *You know what sucks about so many fights being on ION besides the fact that they’re not in HD? They don’t show the fight walk outs, which really limits my analysis in these columns. MINUS THREE *Hamman might be able to take a punch, but being known for an outstanding chin and heart just means you get hit way too much. MINUS TWO *Excellent performance and finish by Constantinos Philippou. He didn’t blow himself up trying to finish on the ground. He stayed patient, let Hamman up, and kept putting it down. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to Philippou for his power and instincts. PLUS THREE *Joe Rogan said, “Jones is easily the most dominant champion in the UFC next to Anderson Silva.” Jones has defended his title once and did Rogan just forget about Georges St. Pierre? MINUS FOUR *And Goldberg makes me throw up by saying that Jones can become the Michael Jordan of MMA. MINUS SEVEN *Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Igor Pokrajac was fun while it lasted, but it didn’t last long. PLUS FOUR *That was some scary stuff by Pokrajac. He landed one shot that rocked Soszynski and then swarmed on him until he was out. PLUS FIVE *Bad stoppage by Yves Lavigne though, who let it go on a bit too long. MINUS TWO *How could they not interview Pokrajac after that performance? If it was just to get Bocek vs. Lentz on TV then that’s a complete joke. Any fighter who finishes a fight should be interviewed, especially a fighter who finishes a fight in 35 seconds. MINUS FIVE *YELL AT ME JOE AND DANA! PLUS THREE *Dana White says, “Tito wants to go out with a win. If he wins, he’ll probably fight again.” That doesn’t make sense Dana. MINUS TWO *Of course Chan Sung Jung comes out to “Zombie” by Cranberries. PLUS TWO *Even though “Coming Home” by Diddy is over-used, at least it makes sense when Mark Hominick uses it in Toronto. Also, it should prevent Jones from using it in the main event. PLUS THREE *Wow, who the hell saw that coming? A seven second KO by Jung. PLUS SEVEN *Extra points to Jung for that finish. Great job slipping, countering, and swarming on Hominick. Just incredible. PLUS FIVE *Even more points to Jung for tying the official record for fastest UFC KO. PLUS SEVEN *Any man that comes out to Garth Brooks is a great man. You’re a great man Brian Ebersole. PLUS THREE *I have to take away point from Ebersole for shaving “Tapout” into his chest though. That was just wrong. MINUS TWO *That said, props to the man for finding a new way to get paid. PLUS ONE *Ever since Jason High used “All of the Lights” as his walk out song, it became very overused. Still a good song though, so I can’t hate on Claude Patrick. PLUS ONE *Good on Rogan for giving Duane Ludwig his credit for the fastest KO. We all know he’s the true record holder. PLUS TWO *The less said about Ebersole vs. Patrick, the better. It was a slow and lackluster fight. I thought the judges got it right, but I don’t think anyone really won that fight. MINUS FIVE *Deducting more points because that fight put a halt to this card, which was moving along nicely. MINUS FOUR *”The guillotine is a myth,” says Ebersole. Somewhere Chael Sonnen agrees. Somewhere Team Alpha Male disagrees. MINUS FOUR *So UFC showed Dion Phanuef, but didn’t show his girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert? Lame. MINUS THREE *I have a feeling that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira doesn’t listen to Redman and Method Man on the regular, but I enjoy the walk out music. PLUS THREE *Obviously I’m not a fan of Tito Ortiz, but I always give him credit for coming out to an Eminem track. PLUS TWO *I’m taking off points for Bruce Buffer actually calling Tito by his new nickname. MINUS FOUR *Great start to Nogueira vs. Ortiz. Both guys came out swinging. PLUS THREE *Great performance by “Lil Nog” He landed some brutal shots and it looked pretty clear that Tito wanted out of there after taking a barrage of body shots on the ground. PLUS FIVE *Yes Joe, eye pokes are very common on the ground. That’s why Tito was wincing. MINUS THREE *Extra points to Nogueira because he beat Tito, which always puts a smile on my face. PLUS THREE *Not a fan of “Amazing” by Kanye West or Frank Mir still using it as his walk out song. MINUS TWO *What a crazy fight between Antonio Rodrigio Nogueira and Mir. Mir was in trouble but somehow, not only survived, but submitted and broke the arm of Nogueira. Absoutely stunning finish. PLUS EIGHT *Extra points to Mir for submitting Nogueira, which I thought was damn near impossible. PLUS TEN *What a scary arm break for Nogueira. That one might be a career ender. EVEN *Rogan gives Jones the edge in experience even though Machida has spent more time in the octagon and has more title fights. Can they please stop with these dumb segments? MINUS FOUR *I still hate Lyoto Machida’s “Bleed It Out” mix. It’s probably the worst song mix in the UFC. MINUS THREE *I stand corrected; Jon Jones might have the worst song mix in the UFC. MINUS FOUR *Obligatory points for the obligatory Chuck Liddell mention. PLUS THREE *Was Jones doing the moonwalk and dancing before the biggest fight of his life? That’s some confidence right there. PLUS TWO *Great first round for Machida. He stayed patient, countered well, and picked his spots. Even though that I don’t really think he hurt Jones, he at least showed that he was going to make a fight of things. PLUS THREE *Ok, Jones is a scary man. He easily took down Machida, who has above average takedown defense, cut him open, rocked him on the feet, and then choked him out with a standing guillotine. That’s a bad man right there. PLUS SEVEN *Extra points to Jones, because seriously, that’s a bad man right there. PLUS SIX *Goldberg said, “Jones survived the deep waters.” He lost the first round of a five round fight. Maybe Goldberg thought the fight was taking place in a kiddy pool. MINUS THREE *I’m glad Rashad Evans wasn’t there to ruin Jones’ special night on Saturday. PLUS ONE *Overall it’s pretty damn hard to be disappointed by UFC 140. All the big fights delivered, we got some brutal stoppages, and some memorable moments. PLUS TEN Final Score: 49 For a more in-depth look at UFC 140, plus a preview of this weekend’s Strikeforce event, make sure to check out tomorrow’s Five Ounces of Podcast with Samer Kadi and myself. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, jone, ’t, point

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This past weekend the UFC made a stop in Canada with a card full of area-favorites ready to proudly represent their countrymen inside the cage. However, one of MMA’s most popular Canadians – Patrick Cote – found himself watching the action from outside of the Octagon rather than taking part in the festivities therein. The situation is one “The Predator” hopes to fix in the immediate future, especially after winning a trio of bouts since his release from the promotion a year ago with all three coming against UFC veterans. And, with his recent success, public support, and a 2012 event already set for Montreal, his return very well could come sooner than later. A Detailed Look at Cote’s Most Recent Win “My mistake was maybe I felt too comfortable in the UFC, but that’s my mistake,” Cote replied in an interview with MMAWeekly. “I forgot that maybe that’s the biggest thing in the world. Right now, I regret that, but it wasn’t that I didn’t train. I trained very hard, it was just in my mindset.” “I actually only did one bad fight in my career and that was against Tom Lawlor. If you take all of my fights in the UFC, all of the fights are pretty entertaining, or I had bad luck like I broke my knee or I got stomped on my head. I feel great, and I think I did what I had to do, three wins in a row so let’s do this,” the 31-year old continued. In fact, the twice-cut Cote already has an opponent in mind for an attempt at proving his third run in the UFC will be a charm. “In my head I know I can beat more than half of the fighters at 185 pounds, especially a guy like Michael Bisping,” said Cote. “He has too much hype around him. It’s just my opinion…Before I got kicked out of the UFC, I had wanted this fight for five years. The timing wasn’t good, and I didn’t get the chance to punch him in the face. After that we had some words on Twitter and on the internet, and I just said I’m not a big fan of him. He took it personally and started calling me names. Just because I’m not in the UFC anymore doesn’t mean I can’t kick his ass.” Cote holds an overall record of 16-7 including his recent winning streak against Kalib Starnes, Todd Brown, and Crafton Wallace. Other past notches on his career belt include Drew McFedries, Scott Smith, Ricardo Almeida, and Kendall Grove. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, i ’m, cote

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Five years ago Alistair Overeem was a 205er struggling to find consistency in the cage including a seven-fight stretch where he went 2-5. Today he’s one of the top heavyweights in MMA, deciding to move up rather than down as is often seen when a fighter endures a rough stretch in the ring. The powerful Dutchman recently elaborated on his change in divisional home where he said the main factors motivating him to do so related to health as well as the lack of competition there in comparison to light heavyweight. “Everyone around me, including friends of mine I have known since we were kids, knew right away it was the right call when I moved to heavyweight full time in 2007,” wrote Overeem in his Yahoo blog. “Some fans and MMA media didn’t understand it, they thought ‘How is he going to do any better at heavyweight, he will not do as well as at 205 lbs,’ but I make the decision after taking a hard look at myself.” “I took an honest look at myself and made some hard decisions,” the 31-year old continued. “While I had some impressive results like beating Vitor Belfort twice, I was not living up to my potential and I took a good look at the reasons why. I decided that one of the main reasons I wasn’t living up to my talents was I was starving myself to make 205 pounds. I could not eat correctly, could not train weights. I was weak at the weight and wasn’t even healthy, much less fit and healthy.” However, the additional weight suiting his physical frame was far from the only reason Overeem left light heavyweight, adding, “Plus – and this is something fighters never ever usually admit – the fact is 205 lbs is a division stacked with talent and the heavyweight division doesn’t have that many world class fighters. I am happy to admit that. At 205 lbs., you have a great champion in Jon Jones, and very talented guys like Lyoto Machida, (Quinton Jackson), Ryan Bader, Forrest Griffin, Dan Henderson, (Mauricio Rua) – the list goes on and on. Anyone in the Top 15 at light heavyweight is a dangerous fight, while at heavyweight, if I am honest, there’s maybe eight or nine true world class fighters competing at heavyweight.” “There are some fighters who I think are born great, guys like Georges St. Pierre and Jones. I was born a very good fighter, but I have to work very hard to get to ‘great’ and that’s why I have made so many sacrifices already to win the UFC title,” Overeem concluded. Winner of Overeem vs. Lesnar to Receive Title-Shot Overeem will find out if his sacrifices have been worth it when he faces one of the division’s strongest foes in the form of Brock Lesnar before year’s end at UFC 141. PHOTO CREDIT – K-1 Tweet

Posted in: overeem, fighter, heavyweight, ’t, alistair overeem

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A few observations from UFC 140: “Jones vs. Machida”: -You know what the coolest thing about John Cholish is?  His day job is on Wall Street, so the money he got for kicking Mitch Clarke’s ass probably paid for one suit, one pair of shoes and a shoe shine. -Man, Jake Hecht elbowed the “hecht” out of Rich Attonito.  Yuk-yuk-yuk. -John Makdessi may have mounted zero offense and was easily handled by Dennis Hallman, but at the end of the day he was at least thrilled that Hallman did it all while not wearing a thong. -Costa Philippou is to punching to the face what pepper spray is to an Occupy Wall Streeter.  Which is to say, Jared Hamman was doomed from the start. -Yes!  Krzysztof Soszynski lost!  A few more of those and he’ll be booted from the UFC and we’ll never have to spell out his name again! -The Korean Zombie put away Mark Hominick in seven seconds when champ Jose Aldo couldn’t do it in five rounds?  Giddyup!  However, I hope this doesn’t mean Chan Sung Jung is next in line for a title shot.  The dude needs a few more wins. -Brian Ebersole put forth an uninspired performance and got a gift decision.  The man is still an enigma, though.  Where does he fit in in the grand scheme of things?  Is he a future title contender or will he assume the role of Chris Lytle and be there to (hopefully) provide us with entertaining fights? -I would say Tito Ortiz is just a shadow of his former self, but at this point it seems like his shadow has more durability than his fragile body. -Is “Big Nog” a legend?  Yes.  Does Frank Mir have his number?  Clearly.  Now about that horrific arm break… man, if that isn’t a lesson in why you should tap out when a submission is definitely on, I don’t know what is. -For one round it seemed as if Lyoto Machida actually had a chance.  One round.  Then Jon Jones deemed the sparring session was over and really began fighting, at which point Machida was left a bloody and unconscious sack of human flesh and bones quivering on the canvas.  Folks, that’s not just a champ right there, that’s one of the greatest mixed martial artists the sport has ever seen.

Posted in: ufc, round, ’t, man, wall streeter  

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We’ve all overreacted at some point in our lives to something. I do it all the time when watching a hockey or football game, and I’m willing to bet that most of you reading this overreact or react on instinct and emotion to sports as well. So when Dana White overreacts to certain aspects of his company, like fights not delivering or his fighters doing something stupid, it’s to be expected. The difference between you, me, and White is that he’s in charge of a multi-million dollar company. P.S. -  If you’re reading this and you’re in charge of a multi-million dollar company, hook a brother up with a job. Moving forward, on Thursday night Dana fired Miguel Torres for an unfunny tweet about a rape van. Dana didn’t see the comment prior to being interviewed in Canada by Michael Landsberg, but made the decision shortly after the interview to release Torres without talking to the bantamweight star. Earlier in the day, Rashad Evans made a comment about Penn St. and their child molestation scandal directed towards his upcoming opponent and PSU alum Phil Davis. Instead of firing or fining Evans, Dana talked to the former UFC champ, let him explain himself, and decided that Rashad was sorry and that it wouldn’t happen again. We all see the double standard here. Even though Rashad’s comment was far worse than Miguel’s, Miguel was the one released because he’s never headlined a PPV that did a million buys. Lets not look at the double standard though. Instead, lets look at Dana and his overreaction to one situation and his sensible reaction to the other. With Torres, he was essentially blindsided with news of the tweet and reacted immediately without giving the fighter a chance to explain himself. With Rashad, even though his comment was made just a few feet away from White, he claims he didn’t hear the comment but once he got news of it, he let Rashad explain himself. It’s not like this is the first time Dana has overreacted to a situation. The problem with his overreactions though is that he always takes the extreme. It’s either the worst thing in the world to happen or the best. There’s no middle ground with him. And once again, when you’re the head of a multi-million dollar company, it’s probably not the best idea to take the extreme. When Quinton Jackson had his run in with the law or certain female reporters, Dana allowed “Rampage” to explain himself and let him off with nothing more than a warning, much like he did with Evans. When Junior dos Santos defeated Cain Velasquez in 64 seconds, Dana overreacted to the negative extreme. He was obviously upset that his big main event lasted just over a minute, but instead of praising JDS, he instead decided to bury both fighters on national TV. When Jason Miller lost to Michael Bisping last weekend, Dana took to Twitter to call it, “the most one-sided fight in UFC history,” even though there was a fight not three hours before that was more one-sided. Once again, it was an overreaction to the negative extreme. When Frankie Edgar came back to defeat Gray Maynard at UFC 136, Dana took the positive extreme and called Edgar the #2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. There are plenty of other examples of Dana reacting to one extreme or the other to all kinds of situations. Unfortunately it’s usually more negative than positive, but I get it. Dana is a very emotional guy. If you don’t believe me, just watch him and Joe Rogan scream at everyone to order the PPV even though we can hear him just fine. We can all agree that Dana has done great things for the sport of MMA and that the UFC likely wouldn’t be in this position if someone else were in charge. He’s a guy that inspires confidence in his group, thanks in large part to his emotions. But that emotion is going to get him into trouble, especially now that he’s even more in the public eye thanks to the FOX deal. Personally, I think Dana needs to step back a little bit. Right now he’s the face of the UFC. Whether he’ll admit that or not, he is. He’s the most public figure in the company. He has the most twitter followers, he’s in the Bud Light commercials, he does more interviews than any other figurehead in any other major sport, and he does video blogs every week, and he’s always in the public eye. When you’re as emotional as Dana and when you’re in front of the public as much as Dana, you’re going to say stupid things. It’s the environment he’s created. You want to know why guys like Forrest Griffin, Torres, and Evans make rape and molestation jokes or why guys like Frank Mir say they want to kill other fighters? It’s because Dana, the head of the company, reacts on emotion and calls journalists “b*tches” and “c*nts” and throws around “f*ck” like it’s a football and he’s Aaron Rodgers. Dana isn’t going to change his ways, but he can tone down just how much he does. Let Lorenzo Fertitta be in front of the camera a bit more at press conferences and on media calls, definitely don’t allow Dana to be front and center on the FOX shows like he was on November 12, and someone should probably monitor what he puts out on twitter as well. MMA is a sport where guys get paid to punch each other in the face. We shouldn’t expect them to act like Taylor Swift, although they could learn a few things from her about how to become a media darling, but they have to know when they’re crossing line. But before Dana can police his fighters, he needs to do a better job policing himself.

Posted in: fighter, ’t, dana, company, ’re

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There's no possible way tonight's Jones/Machida main event could live up to the greatness of Shogun vs. Henderson, but it doesn't have to.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, event, doesn ’t, there

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People are in town this week for The Ultimate Fighter for the tryouts so people are hanging out at Couture’s and checking out the gym and wanting to hit pads and train with the guys there. They know we have some of the best fighters in the world so they want to spar with them to give themselves an idea of what level they’re out. Ulysses Gomez, one of my star students, definitely had me on the edge of my seat during his fight at Taichi Palace Fights where he tested himself as a bantamweight instead of fighting as a flyweight like he normally does. I could see the size and strength difference since he moved up to 135. He pretty much walks around at that weight so with his opponent coming down and rehydrating, Ulysses was probably giving away 15 pounds on fight night. The first round was pretty bad for us but the second round he started to even things up. We told him in the corner that Cody Gibson isn’t good moving backwards so we needed to push him. Ulysses listened, moved forward, landed some good shots, got the takedown, and caught him in a guillotine during a scramble. It was definitely a big relief and was great to be in the corner for his victory. Even though he won, we’re probably going to bring him back down to 125 because 135 is a little too big for him. UFC doesn’t have a flyweight division right now but hopefully in the future they add it, until then he’ll just compete on other shows. We could put some weight and muscle on him to get him to 135 but that’s going to take like a year or a year and a half if we do it the right way and I don’t want him sitting out that long. I caught the TUF 14 Finale and there were some great fights. Diego Brandao showed a lot of heart in his fight. You could see how bad he wants to win. I remember him talking about that he fights for his family and wanting to get a better life for them. He looked out in the fight and he was in trouble but out of nowhere he locked on the armbar. It was one of the most impressive armbars I’ve seen in a while besides maybe Ronda Rousey, who is amazing. I’d like to see her fight Cris Santos even though she’s smaller. She’s slick enough and good enough to where I think she could beat her. I know that Jason Miller isn’t the best technical striker and early he was doing the right thing by getting in Michael Bisping’s chest and trying to take him down and he got some good positions but after that first round he looked pretty dead and Bisping pretty much had his way with him after that. I know Miller is a showman but you can’t just let a guy hit you in the chin when you’re trapped against the cage like he did. Even if it didn’t hurt, it had to take something out of his gas tank. I wanted Miller to but so it was unfortunate. I heard Bisping will fight Demian Maia next, which should be a good fight. I’m obviously picking Maia and I hope he kicks the hell out of him. I don’t think it’s an act with Bisping. I didn’t see the weigh-ins but I heard what he did and he’s just a disrespectful guy. When people boo him, instead of rolling with it, he lets it get to him and he fights back with words, which just makes people hate him even more. I was really impressed with John Dodson. I saw him at the awards and he has really quick reflexes, good power, and his speed his incredible. He gets away with a lot of stuff with his speed. I think he surprised a lot of people by stopping TJ Dillashaw since he trains with Team Alpha Male since the gym has a lot of good small fighters. Dodson just came out and picked him apart though. I thought TJ would try a takedown and out-wrestle him but I don’t think he had the speed to catch him. As far as this weekend’s show at UFC 140, it depends on which Frank Mir shows up in terms of who I see winning his fight against “Minotauro” Nogueira. I think Mir has all the tools and skills to beat him but sometimes he just tries to beat his opponent at their game or he just has off nights, so it’ll depend on how he shows up. I’m leaning towards Frank though. Likewise, I’m going with Tito Ortiz in his bout against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. I think he’s feeling confident and he’ll be able to take him down and use his ground and pound. The only thing I don’t like about Tito is that when he blocks punches, he brings his elbows too high, which leaves his body open for punches. But I think he’ll take the fight. The Nogueira brothers are tough guys but I think they’re going to be just a little behind on Saturday. In terms of the main event, I think Jon Jones will be too much for Lyoto Machida. Too fast, athletic, and younger. He’s going to have a reach advantage and it’s going to be hard for anyone to deal with that. I’m not sure if anybody can beat him, he’s a monster. When he’s fighting, you can see his brain working and anticipating his opponent’s next move and then he beats you there. He’s not afraid to strike with anybody and if he wants to take down Machida, I think he’ll be able to. I think Jones will have an easy time with Machida. That’s it for this week. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving yourself. Until next time, as always, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, people, ’ll

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Will Michael Bisping get a title-shot in 2012? Is Jon Jones going to finish Lyoto Machida? Which Nogueira brother has a better chance of winning this weekend at UFC 140? How should the UFC handle Dan Henderson? Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay! Welcome to Grappling with Issues, our site’s regular weekly feature highlighting insight and opinion from myself and resident workhorse Jeremy Lambert whose general contributions and “Scorecard” event-breakdowns can be regularly found on Five Ounces. As always, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t hesitate to offer your own take on the topics in the “Comments” section below. True/False – Michael Bisping will fight for a UFC title in 2012. Lambert: False. Not unless Dana White listens to BJ Penn and adopts regional champions. Then I’m sure Bisping will fight for the “UFC England” title since he is the company’s biggest overseas star. First, he has to beat Demian Maia, which I’m not 100% sure he’ll be able to do. If he’s able to do that, he’ll still be behind the winner of Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz, which means he’ll either have to fight again in mid-2012 or sit on the shelf for most of the year. My guess is that he’ll choose to fight again since he didn’t look so good after sitting on the shelf most of 2011. So if he fights again, chances are he’ll fight the winner of Vitor Belfort and Anthony Johnson, and I’d favor both of those guys over Bisping. Fact is, Bisping will have to win two more fights against two top middleweights in 2012 before he thinks about challenging for the title and I’m not sure he can do that. That’s also assuming that he and the champion stay healthy to possibly meet at the end of the year. Conlan: True. All Bisping needs to do is beat Maia who he should have no problem with unless he forgets who he’s fighting and decides to dive into the crafty Brazilian’s guard. Maia is smaller, has vastly inferior stand-up, and isn’t much of a wrestler. He’s just terrific on the ground. He just won’t be able to get/keep things there in the same way Jason Miller wasn’t. If Bisping takes Maia out I absolutely think he’ll sit and wait for a title-bout even if it means twiddling his thumbs for nine months. A victory over Maia would be his fifth straight with all of the wins coming against respectable competition, so he’d definitely have earned one in comparison to his peers, and he’s worked too hard for too long to risk fighting for the belt unless forced to. As I think the UFC recognizes the marketability of matching him up against Anderson Silva, or Sonnen if he beats “The Spider,” they will push to make it happen if possible rather than jeopardize the potential pairing. And no, I didn’t list Munoz in the equation because Dana White recently backed off the notion of him getting a shot at Silva’s strap even with a win over Sonnen (which is unlikely in my opinion but certainly possible). What should the UFC do with Dan Henderson now that Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis has been named as a #1 contender’s fight? Lambert: Give him as much time off as possible. After his war with “Shogun” Rua, Henderson has earned some time off to heal up. That said, I’m not buying that Davis will be the #1 contender if he beats Evans. I know UFC is saying that the winner of the fight will get a title shot, but Dana said the same thing prior to Henderson vs. Rua and now look where we are. If Evans wins, I’m sure he’ll get a title shot, but if Davis wins, do you really think they’ll give him a title shot over Henderson? I’m skeptical. If Evans wins though, Henderson should sit on the sidelines, maybe work on some new things, and most importantly study all the new footage he’ll have of his upcoming opponent. Conlan: Giving him a nice vacation certainly couldn’t hurt. Fighting three times in 2011, Henderson was as busy as any of his peers who have a decade less wear-and-tear to contend with. Letting him rest for six months might not be a bad thing at all, at least if Evans beats Davis since I agree “Mr. Wonderful” isn’t guaranteed a title-shot anymore than Munoz is (and perhaps less so with Henderson waiting in the wings). Not including this weekend, how many more times with Tito Ortiz fight before he retires? Lambert: Once. Since I think he’ll lose this weekend, I think he’ll only have one more fight left in him and that will probably come against Forrest Griffin in the rubber match. I wouldn’t pick him to win that bout either, so with one win in his last nine bouts, I’m not sure why he’d stick around. I think win or lose against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, he’ll fight Griffin next and that bout will really determine his future. While I still think a loss puts an end to his career, if he wins, then everything swings the other way because it would be three wins in four bouts, which, believe it or not, would put him right in the mix for a title shot. Conlan: Also once and he’s said as much himself with there only being a single scrap left on his contract. I’m glad Jeremy pointed out the likelihood that Ortiz might reconsider too if he beats Nogueira this weekend and Griffin (or Rich Franklin) in his next bout. I don’t see him as a “retire on top” guy so much as one who would extend his career by a bout or two if he was really within arms’ reach of the divisional title. However, if he stumbles at UFC 140 he’ll definitely call it quits win/lose in his next appearance. Which Nogueira has a better chance of winning this weekend: Rodrigo or Rogerio? Conlan: I’ll go with the Rogerio Nogueira or as we call him in the South, “Lil Nog”. Tito Ortiz’s only claim to fame over the past few years has to do with catching Ryan Bader, then submitting him. Other than that he’s lost with consistency. If Matt Hamill can beat him soundly so can Nogueira, while “Minotauro” faces Frank Mir who has looked far better than “The People’s Champ” (shudders) as of late. Lambert: MINUS TWO to Bren for actually calling Ortiz by that nickname. I do agree with him that “Lil Nog” has the better chance though. I’m actually picking both Nogueira brothers to win, but I feel far more confident about Rogerio defeating Tito than I do about Rodrigo defeating Mir for various reasons. Tito’s only real shot at winning is to get takedowns with consistency and damage Nogueira on the ground. If he gasses (likely) or fails on those takedowns (also likely) then he’ll be stuck striking with a much better boxer. At least Mir is a competent striker who can hang with “Big Nog” on the feet, has the power to finish him, or can win a decision if he takes the first two rounds and then gasses in the third, which I kind of expect him to do. Will Jon Jones finish Lyoto Machida at UFC 140? Conlan: Yes. Machida works primarily from the outside where Jones thrives. I absolutely see “Bones” catching him with enough shots to drop him to the mat or at least take him down, then pound him out from above. Machida was finished by Mauricio Rua so it’s clearly an achievable feat. Lambert: If it happens, I think it’ll happen late. Machida is a very patient fighter. The one time he did turn up the aggression was against “Shogun” in the second fight and we all saw how that turned out. So I doubt he’ll make that mistake again, even though being aggressive is probably his best option against Jones. Anyway, I don’t think Jones will finish Machida. I see this being a slow, mental fight, where both guys take their time as neither man will want to make a mistake. Jones will stay on the outside, at his range, but he’ll be weary of Machida’s speed and timing on the counters, which will make him pick his shots a bit more than he did against past opponents. I think the fight will be pretty underwhelming if you’re looking for an action packed fight, but a great human chess match if you’re into those things. Are you more likely to watch Bellator or TUF 15 on Friday’s in 2012? Conlan: I’m going to watch both because I’m fairly certain the shows won’t conflict with each other. There’s no reason Bellator can’t run their events from 8:00-10:00 PM EST with TUF 15 showing from 10:00-11:00 PM EST as it normally does. However, if forced to choose I’d probably go with Bellator and tape TUF 15 since you’re talking about a full card with respectable talent facing off in comparison to a single bout with up-and-coming guys surrounded by “reality show” fixings. Lambert: For some reason I had the idea that they’d be running head to head, but Bren is right, Bellator should run 8-10 and TUF 15 should run 10-11. If Bellator is dumb enough to run their events from 9-11 then that’s a terrible mistake on their part. Anyway, I have two different answers so here goes: First, I’ll be watching both since I have two (now three) TVs up in my man cave. This answer was for you Samer Kadi. Second, I’ll be watching whichever one Bren tells me to cover for the site. Mr. Conlan is usually a fair man (except when he forces me to watch Natasha Wicks videos when all I want to do is listen to my Taylor Swift CD) so I’m sure he’ll give me the option of covering one over the other, but like a soldier, if he needs me to cover Bellator instead of TUF one night, I’ll be all over Bellator like I’m Darrelle Revis on Chad Ochocinco. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, nogueira, ’t, henderson

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Before Jon Jones came along, swooped in and became the youngest champion in UFC history, it was supposed to be the Lyoto Machida era. Just two and a half years ago, the unbeaten Brazilian knocked out Rashad Evans, took the championship belt in his hands and said “Karate is back.” It was the sound bite heard throughout the mixed martial arts world, and with a resume that held wins over Evans, Thiago Silva, Tito Ortiz, BJ Penn, Rich Franklin, and Stephan Bonnar, few would have argued with the idea that Machida was going to reign for a long time.Well, you know how that story went. After a disputed decision win over countryman Mauricio “Shogun” Rua five months after winning the title, Machida lost the belt to Rua in May of 2010. A UFC 123 defeat to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was another shocker, and suddenly a 16-0 record turned to 16-2 and many wondered if what they had seen in the Evans, Silva, and Ortiz fights was just a mirage. And no one took the fall from grace harder than the introspective Machida.“I miss realizing my dreams and my goals, my objectives,” he said, through translator Derek Kronig Lee, when asked what he misses the most about being a world champion.So as 2011 dawned, few would have pegged him as a title challenger come December. But Machida believed he had what it took to get back in contention and then regain the crown, and a stunning knockout of Randy Couture in April only heightened his expectations. But when he didn’t step up to face Evans in a short notice rematch at UFC 133 in August, “The Dragon” thought a short-term title opportunity was out of the question.“In all honesty, at the beginning of 2011 I believed I would fight for the title soon, but as the year progressed I felt like that dream got further away, so I didn’t know if I would be fighting for the title this year.”Ironically, it was an injury suffered by Evans in his win over Ortiz at UFC 133 that opened the door for Machida to face Jones in the main event of this Saturday’s UFC 140 card in Toronto, and now he gets the chance to resume a reign interrupted by the loss to Rua. So is it a different Machida than the one that first reigned over the 205-pound weight class?“I became more focused on details,” he said. “I’m smarter in training in order to get more out of each session.”Each trip to the gym is crucial against a fighter as dynamic as Jones, one that has earned the former champ’s respect with his performances thus far. That doesn’t mean he will be in awe of him when the bell sounds on fight night.“I always saw him as a very versatile fighter and he has a lot of different combinations, but I only began to study him recently,” said Machida. “Every fighter poses difficulties, it’s not because it is Jon Jones or anyone else.  He has good reach, a versatile game and he fights well on his feet, on the ground and takedowns. I believe I am well-versed in all three areas as well and I believe this will be a war of strategies, that’s what will count the most in the fight.” It’s what makes Saturday’s clash so intriguing. It wasn’t so long ago that people were saying that Machida’s style wasn’t going to be deciphered anytime soon. Now they’re saying the same thing about Jones. But if anything is a given in the light heavyweight division, it’s that as special as you may be as a fighter, in this shark tank no one lasts on top for long.“This is the best category in the UFC,” said Machida. “We mix speed, strength and technique, and I believe it is the toughest weight class in the UFC.”He’ll get no arguments from the other recent champions pre-Jones, as only Machida and Jackson have managed to successfully defend the title out of the five men to hold the belt in the last four years before “Bones” took the crown. But that doesn’t matter to the 33-year old challenger now. The only history he is concerned about is becoming the second man (along with Couture) to regain the 205-pound title. It would be a feat even sweeter than the first.“Definitely, the ups and downs are important in anyone’s careers,” he said. “You improve a lot after losing, and I believe this victory will have a sweeter taste of accomplishment.”

Posted in: ufc, title, ’t, year, machida

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Renzo Gracie has a gift for putting anything into the proper bit of perspective. So after John Cholish finished up his mixed martial arts debut in 2007 with a first round submission loss to Jason Patino, it wasn’t time for Gracie to coddle his young charge. He simply told it like it was.“I never seen someone smile so much from getting hit in the face,” he said.Over four years and seven fights later, none of which he’s lost, the 27-year old Cholish laughs at the memory, but also adds a disclaimer. “Since that first fight I’ve been very fortunate and I’ve worked on my skills at not getting hit in the face.”But the love of the game is still there, and while you hear that a lot from mixed martial artists, Cholish really means it, and he’s got the proof to back it up. Simply put, if the Hackettstown, New Jersey native walked away from the sport tomorrow, he would probably be miserable, but financially he would be just fine. That’s what happens when you graduate from Cornell University with a degree in Applied Economics and Management and currently work as a Commodities Broker with a primary focus on brokering Natural Gas and Crude Oil options, futures, and swaps.Yeah, he’s not your average pro athlete. But without the need to have fighting put food on his table, Cholish has freed himself to immerse himself in the sport and do it just because it’s a passion of his.“I do it because I love it, and I know I have the income and the security from my primary job that I feel like I’m fighting for the right reason,” said Cholish, noting that whatever reasons his peers fight for aren’t wrong ones, just that what he does works for him. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s pretty good at what he does.7-1 as a pro, with his last two wins coming via submission over WEC vet Jameel Massouh and Ultimate Fighter alum Marc Stevens, Cholish has seen his skill set grow significantly under the tutelage of lead coach John Danaher, as well as Gracie, and he’s emerged as a lot more well-rounded fighter than he was when he first walked into Gracie’s New York City academy with “only” a Division I wrestling background from Cornell. And back then, fighting wasn’t on his immediate radar.“Mainly it was something to keep me busy and keep me in good shape,” Cholish recalled. “I was there for less than a year, and one of the guys casually threw out, ‘hey, would you like to have a fight?’ I said ‘Sure, that would be neat.’ I was initially thinking of it as something to do once to say to my grandkids ‘yeah, that MMA stuff, I did that.’”But after that first bout, which was held outdoors on a baseball diamond in Fort Myers, Florida, there was no turning back for him.“I really fell in love with the whole idea of being able to challenge yourself against another person, and I basically took it from there and decided if I’m gonna do this, I have to do it the proper way and take a step back and start training all the disciplines and blending them together,” he said.Cholish wouldn’t fight again for over a year, but when he returned in 2008 with a decision win over Chris Connor, he said “I felt so much more comfortable once I got there.”That made things uncomfortable for his subsequent opponents, who all fell down to defeat against Cholish. Apparently the only thing keeping the lightweight prospect from greater glory would be fitting training and fights in while he worked a high-pressure day job. But he never saw it that way.“I just relate it to my career in college,” he said. “We had a pretty rigorous schedule, and our coaches and our staff were really big in helping us out with time management. I guess the easiest way to put it is that they always said that the primary objective was to get good grades and focus on your schoolwork. So that came first. We had set practices during the week, but if you needed help with school or classwork, they would help set up things like tutoring or extra office hours. And a big proponent of our training was getting extra workouts in, whether it was with an individual training partner, one of the coaches on the team, or going to the lifting program and doing some strength and conditioning. And if you had a set goal or a set idea of what you wanted to get accomplished, there’s no reason whatsoever to be in the gym for more than an hour, an hour and a half tops. Some guys come to the gym and sit around for two or three hours; what do they really get done? So whether it’s working on a specific technique or working on improving a certain strength area or speed, if you have an idea of why you’re coming in and everyone that’s there is on the same track, you’re gonna be pretty efficient. I think I have to give a lot of credit to being able to utilize my time management skills.”Not to mention his self-admitted habit of having “a tough time sitting still.” Combine everything and here he is in the UFC, making his debut on Saturday against fellow lightweight prospect Mitch Clarke. It’s an unlikely tale, but one in which Cholish still has some chapters left to write. And you know you can’t wait to see how this one ends.“What you realize when you study any martial art or any individual sport is that the only way to test your skill or ability or whether you’re actually improving from your training is in an actual live simulation,” he said. “That progressively led to me fighting, and I took it one win at a time and then said ‘I’m not too terrible at this, maybe I can keep doing it.’”

Posted in: fight, time, ’t, training, cholish

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32 years old. It almost requires a double take when you look at the age of Frank Mir and realize that as long as he’s been in the UFC, he’s still a young man. And as a heavyweight, he may be at a point where he hasn’t even reached his prime yet. So when he talks about fighting in four years, it’s not really something that should baffle you. “So far it’s not too much of an issue being 32,” said the two-time heavyweight champ. “Four years from now I’ll probably have to start increasing the fight sequence, but I’m lucky to be in the heavyweight division. One win puts you in a title shot now; it just depends on it being the right win. Look at Brock (Lesnar). He had the Shane Carwin fight and it was questionable on whether it could have been stopped. His fight with (Cain) Velasquez he completely got destroyed, and now he’s fighting (Alistair) Overeem, and already before the fight even took place, he’s one win away from being right back into a title shot. That’s just the nature of the heavyweight division. If Brock and I were to fight again and I get a good win, boom, title shot.”Mir’s right, and if he’s learned anything in this business over the last decade, it’s that it’s not only what you can do in the Octagon that sells tickets, but what you do outside it as well. And while one chat with him or one read of an interview he does should be enough to convince you that he’s one of the fight game’s most interesting figures, he did choose a different tact when promoting fights a couple years back, one he’s opted not to take since then.“I try to keep it as real as I possibly can about my own true personality,” he said. “So I can be a smart ass and be kinda smirky, but it’s a little bit harder for me to build up a fight because a couple fights in the past, after the Brock fight, I started seeing that with some of the turmoil I caused through interviews would sell more tickets. Of course, that came back to bite me, so I’ve really put that on the backburner. Some of the fights now, I don’t build them up the way I used to because of that. For some reason some guys can do it and get away with it; it didn’t work out for me.”Luckily there is no need to build up his UFC 140 co-main event this Saturday in Toronto because it’s got all the elements needed for a blockbuster. In Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Mir is in with a fighter who he knocked out back in 2008, but one who was also dealing with some pre-fight injuries that he feels kept him from performing at his best. Three years and a couple surgeries later, Nogueira is back, he’s coming off an August knockout of Brendan Schaub, and he’s eager for revenge. No trash talk can do any better than that in getting fans amped up for the matchup. As for Mir, the idea of bettering a stellar knockout win could have left little room for motivation, but that’s not the case.“It helps to know that he (Nogueira) feels the first time was a fluke and there’s people after the fight listening to what he’s saying about the staph infection,” said Mir. “So it isn’t like it was a clean-cut victory the first time around. So I was able to find ways to be motivated and to go out there and put a stamp on it. His excuses actually motivated me very well.”And while the two former champions aren’t trading barbs in the media, there is plenty of heat behind this rematch, even though it’s three years since the first fight and both have had their various ups and downs. Nogueira went through two fights against Randy Couture (win) and Cain Velasquez (loss) and his surgeries before the win over Schaub, and Mir has gone 3-2, losing to Carwin and Lesnar while beating Cheick Kongo, Mirko Cro Cop, and Roy Nelson. So is Nogueira a changed fighter according to Mir?“I still think he’s not as fluid when it comes to ground jiu-jitsu,” he said. “I think his hips and knees are still a little beat up. As far as his standup, I think it’s the same. He just stands in front of you and tries to beat you through attrition. And that’s just very difficult to do right now in the heavyweight division with the size and the power that most of the heavyweights in the UFC possess.”As for Mir, he has not stood still behind a game that was once characterized as being one-dimensional. He is no longer just the “jiu-jitsu guy.” He can stand and bang with opponents and his wrestling is even coming along, something that can be attributed to something not too many elite fighters still have – a willingness to learn.“It’s ambition,” said Mir. “I want to be the best I can possibly be. And anytime I sit there and I ignore an answer from somebody because I don’t feel that they don’t have the right credentials, then I might miss out on something. And I’m very orientated toward being the best I can possibly be, and that means you have to get information from everywhere. I’ve never been one to think that someone has to have a long list of credentials to be someone to listen to. I surround myself with as many people as I can that are very proficient, and I just keep an open mind and I see the benefits of doing things better.”One of those very proficient people Mir has around these days is grappling wizard Ricky Lundell, a young man who is rapidly becoming coach to the stars, with a roster including Mir, Joe Lauzon, Roy Nelson, and Dan Hardy, among others. The way Lundell sees it, the key to Mir’s recent success is his open mind when it comes to learning new things. “It’s flattering for me to able to work with somebody like that, and Frank is a very humble individual,” said Lundell. “Despite some people’s views of him having a cocky attitude, he is extremely humble and he’s one of the easiest guys that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. He really steps up and takes into account his entire game and he wants to get better, so he’s humble enough to step up and do those things necessary.”For Mir, the goal is always the same – to become the perfect fighter. He knows he’ll never reach that point, but it can only make you better to try. “It’s an unattainable goal that you just keep striving for,” he said. “I don’t think that it will ever come. Ricky’s close with Cael Sanderson and I would be curious to hear if he thinks his wrestling could get better. I’m sure he would say yes, that there are things he can do and improve upon. I’ll never be perfect and I’m never gonna completely accomplish all my goals. I’m realistic that I have a short time frame of age and injuries and hopefully I can accomplish as much as I can within that time frame before those things become too insurmountable.”He knows that he can’t fight forever, but at the same time, Mir isn’t in any rush, so having his wins over Cro Cop and Nelson fly somewhat under the radar isn’t a cause for concern. Instead, he’s content with the slow road to glory this time around.“I have no problems with it because the way I look at it, it just gives me more time for opponents like Cain Velasquez, or Carwin or Lesnar that have better wrestling than I do,” he said. “It gives me more time to work with Ricky and (Mike) Whitehead to try to close that gap as much as possible. Every day in the gym is another day to train and I feel like I have the right mindset about that, so if my opponent and I fight tomorrow, I feel like I’ll win; if you tell us we’re gonna fight in a week, I’ll have an even better chance of winning, and if we fight in a year, my chances will increase that much more because I’m in the gym trying to improve all the time.”That’s not the fighter most associate with Frank Mir. He admitted himself to being kind of “smirky” as times, and his blunt “tell it like it is” style has turned off some fans. But he is a dedicated athlete, an intelligent observer of things in the fight game and outside of it, and he’s also a husband and father. He admits that as he grows older, the sacrifices to get to this level of the sport are sometimes harder to make.“There is a battle that goes on inside my heart,” he said. “Obviously I have to be in the gym and training; it’s just part of my nature. So I can usually move practices. Then I really started noticing in this last camp that I’m four weeks out and my daughter has a recital, and you’ve got to miss it because you can’t move your training around. And I’ve never had those moments before where I’m driving to the gym and was actually pissed off about having to go. I guess it can be kind of childish in a way because most people have to work a 9 to 5 job and do things where they have to miss out on their children’s events. But then it starts coming into ‘why am I still doing this, do I need to accomplish something more? Is there something I need to prove, am I being selfish? Have I not provided a good lifestyle for my children? Can I provide a better lifestyle for my children if I continue to do this?’ So I’m weighing things out and those are the issues I’m gonna have to struggle with more in the future than the issue of injuries.”As for now though, the training and the sacrificing for the Nogueira fight is done. Mir is in Toronto and waiting for the opportunity to show off what he’s been working on in his hometown of Las Vegas. It’s showtime, but not just for Mir, but for his camp, all of whom are eager to see their fighter test himself against one of the sport’s greats.“This is much more exciting for me,” said Lundell. “I get to take a lot more time and effort and work on a real gameplan. It’s a lot more of a chess game against somebody like that (Nogueira). I actually get to go to war. Whereas you go up against somebody like a Kongo or a Cro Cop, I don’t have to think so much about what’s gonna happen once we get to the ground; I just have to focus on getting to the ground and keeping their stuff up to par. Now against somebody like Nogueira, I get to actually put a gameplan together and develop off of Nogueira’s ticks, the things that he does without even thinking about it. How can we catch Nogueira in his perfect movement? Not beat him when he makes a mistake; that’s not what happens at the upper level. We beat him when he moves perfectly. We beat him when he scoots the way he always scoots or when he turns on the hip he always turns on or when he tries to lock on the submission that he always tries to lock. Then we counter that appropriately and sub him. At this level, it’s exciting because you get to develop gameplans that are based on perfection, not based on the old Gracie way of ‘as soon as he makes a mistake I’m gonna relax and catch him.’ That works, but the percentages are way lower; people are too skilled now. We need to make it happen for ourselves.”Frank Mir has been making things happen for a decade in the world’s toughest sport. And as crazy as it may sound, the best may be yet to come. 

Posted in: fight, time, mir, ’t, ’m

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A popular topic to bring up whenever Michael Bisping has a fight coming up – or in this case, one just completed – is the notion that the Brit is a pillow-fisted striker who couldn’t stop a taxi with a hundred dollar bill waving in the air. This is one of those half-truths that seem to become accepted as common wisdom in MMA without much real consideration. It’s true that Bisping doesn’t possess the one-punch knockout power of someone like Dan Henderson, there’s no arguing that. At the same time however, Bisping is now 12-3 in his UFC career, with eight of those twelve wins being TKO stoppages. What gives? I thought this guy punched like my Grandmother? The point I’m making here is that having huge power isn’t the only way to stop someone with strikes in MMA, as much as some would have you believe. It is not the only stopping method worthy of praise either. Sure, you have the Dan Hendersons, Melvin Guillards, and Junior dos Santoses (or is it Junior dos Santi?!?) of the sport, who are capable of crumpling a foe with a single shot, but the majority of fighters don’t have that ability. Even looking at just the striking aspect of MMA, as I’ll be doing, there is far more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the different styles in which strikers in MMA finish fights, nor would I be naive enough to think that every fighter could be pigeon-holed into one of the following five categories. Some fighters can be placed in two or three of these categories, while some wouldn’t fit in any of them. Bisping Outclasses Miller En Route to TKO Win at TUF 14 Finale Here then, are some of the most-common types of finishers we see in MMA today, and a couple fighters who fit into each category to use as a frame of reference: The Johnny Flamingo One-Shot Bingo These are the guys mentioned in that previous paragraph, and those like them. If they connect, on your chin, temple, or even body, they can put you down and there’s a good chance you’re staying there. As we’re so often told on MMA broadcasts, this is the great equalizer in a fight. You don’t need to be the most technical guy in the world to make this type of power work (although some fighters show great technique to go along with it), it just works. There’s really not much else to explain here. The Technician These guys are both entertaining and befuddling to watch at times. You may look at their strikes and think that they’re not hitting all that hard, but for some reason they seem to drop their opponents on a regular basis. Anderson Silva is the epitome of this type of finisher (as Rogan and Goldberg remind us no fewer than a dozen times during each of his fights). When he hits somebody, he hits them clean and exactly where they need to be hit. There is something to be said for this type of finisher, because it likely shows the most striking skill out of all those on the list. Sometimes these fighters can end a bout with one blow (Silva vs. Vitor Belfort) and sometimes it takes more (Silva vs. Yushin Okami), but rest assured that however many it takes, they will all be on point. The Swarmer Now we’re getting into the types of fighters who really don’t have the ability to stop an opponent with one strike, and that’s not a bad thing, since many of the best in the world would fall into this category. These are the guys who have the capacity to hurt an opponent with a single shot, but never seem to be able to put them completely out with it. Former UFC champion Mauricio Rua is an example of a quintessential swarmer. When he gets an opponent hurt with a big shot, he jumps all over them. Bringing the strikes in as rapidly as possible these finishers simply never give their wounded prey a chance to breathe and mount any sort of defense. Think of the massive number of KOs and TKOs ‘Shogun’ has amassed over his career (17), now think of how many of those have been from a single punch… not so many. The Nagging Wife Whereas the swarmer has the ability to hurt his opponent with a single shot at any point, this type of finisher simply doesn’t. Still, because of their high-volume of strikes – and the accuracy that accompanies them – they are able to wear opponents down to the point that either they have no cardio left (getting punched in the face or body is tiring business), or simply don’t want to get hit any more. Think of it like a nagging wife (or mother, for those who don’t have wives), they simply take all the energy and will to continue that you possess. These guys are able to force their opponents to quit, even if they couldn’t necessarily stop a fresh version of that opponent. Say hello to Nick Diaz and Bisping (gasp!) in this category of finisher. Obviously this is MMA, and tiny gloves do wacky things, so occasionally you’ll see a guy in this category lace his opponent with a KO (Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler, for instance), but it is far from the norm. The Changeup These types of finishers are much like the swarmer, in that they can hurt with a single shot, but rather than coming down with follow-up strikes, they use the opportunity when their opponent is foggy to switch over into grappling mode. UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones has become quite adept at finishing in this manner, as has Donald Cerrone. I must admit that watching a fighter string together a nasty combination of strikes to daze his rival and then finishing it off with some slick grappling technique is truly sublime, and shows what MMA is all about. Every time we get a nice finish set up by strikes I enjoy watching it, but I must say that these are my personal favorites. So next time you’re breaking down a bout, forget the talk about “Heavy Hands” and “Pillow-Fisted” strikers when thinking about a potential stoppage. Instead, look at whether or not a particular fighter is a finisher or not, because they come in many different forms. Just because someone may not have that one-punch knockout power, doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of stopping the fight before the final bell, and doing so in entertaining fashion. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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Jon Jones has been compared to a lot of people during his rise to the top of the UFC light heavyweight division. The two most comparisons are Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. I must say, the similarities between the two are pretty outstanding. Jones and Jordan are both winners and they’re both black while Jones and Ali are both cocky (although you’re crazy if you think Jones is anywhere near as cocky and brash as Ali), they’re both winners, and they’re both black. Yup, I totally see where people are coming from when they say that Jones is like Jordan and Ali. Fact is, they have very little in common. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted, and still want, Jones to act more like Ali and embrace his cocky side, but I’m not naive enough to believe that they’re on the same level of importance. Ali and Jordan took their sports to new heights. People tuned in every single time they fought or played, everyone in the world knew who they were, and everyone in the world had an opinion about them. Jones hasn’t taken his sport to a new level (in fact, while it’s not the fault of Jones, PPV numbers are down compared to previous years) and he’s not nearly as popular or talked about as Ali and Jordan. Will he get there one day? Maybe. But lets hold off on putting him on the same pedestal of those two until he does. You know who Jones reminds me of? Tim Tebow. Now I know that it’s like an unwritten rule of journalism that you can’t cross races when comparing athletes but hear me out. Young, very open about his religion, unorthodox with his style, is a winner, inspires the people around him, everyone in his sport has an opinion about him, and saves elderly women and little babies, ran the previous alpha dog out of town, hasn’t taken their sport to a new level. That sounds like both Jones and Tebow to me. People either want to put Jones and Tebow on a pedestal or they want to tear them down. The truth is, neither should be compared to the greats of all-time in any sport (yet) but there’s also no reason to tear them down. Tebow isn’t a natural quarterback who can stay in the pocket and read the defense, but he gets the job done by making timely throws and extending the play with his legs. Jones isn’t a technically sound fighter but he gets the job done with his creativity, strength, and athletic ability. Both men are very open about their religion and often times mocked for it by people who believe that God doesn’t play favorites. Both men inspire their teammates and take them to new levels. The Broncos have the same team they had when Kyle Orton was the QB and yet they were 1-4. With Tebow, they’re 6-1. You know who won TUF 14 this year? Two Greg Jackson fighters who happen to train with Jones. Prior to the arrival of Tebow, Orton was the man at the helm in Denver, but due to the fan backlash and Orton’s poor play, Tebow took over and now Orton is no long in the Mile High City. And we all know about the whole saga between Jones and Rashad Evans, who was the top dog at Jackson’s before Jones. Tebow and Jones haven’t taken their sports to new levels, especially to the level that Jordan and Ali did. I don’t think people who link Jones to those two really understand the cultural and worldly impact that Jordan had on basketball and Ali had on boxing. Tebow and Jones, at least for right now, are interesting stories who are captivity today’s fans. They’re not transcending generations because they haven’t been around long enough to do so and they’re definitely not well-known outside of the sports realm. Here is my overall point in case you actually think I’m 100% serious with this comparison: stop comparing Jon Jones and current MMA fighters and fights to some of the all-time greats in the respective sports. Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua was not even close to Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier 3. If you think that, then I advise you to read Ghosts of Manila or watch the HBO documentary on the fight to see what kind of impact the Thrilla in Manila had on boxing, the two fighters, and the world. Just because guys like Jones, Georges St. Pierre, and Anderson Silva are three of the best fighters in the world, doesn’t mean they should be linked to Ali, Wayne Gretzky, and Pele. It’s a lazy comparison done by people who either don’t understand what those players meant to their sport and beyond or it’s a lazy comparison done by people who are just trying to get attention. As dumb as the comparison might be, Jones is a lot more like Tebow than he is Ali or Jordan, but don’t tell that to MMA personalities with an inferiority complex. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/NFL

Posted in: jone, ’t, people, ali, tebow

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Tito Ortiz can see the finish line. After nearly 15 years as a professional, the man once dubbed “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has dropped that moniker, took on a new one, “The People’s Champ,” and he’s preparing for a final run – not for a title, not for accolades, but for himself.“The finish line’s there for me,” said the former UFC light heavyweight champion, who will step into the Octagon for a record 26th time on Saturday night to face Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 140 in Toronto. “I’ve done everything underneath the sun in MMA, and it’s time for me to change this chapter of my life. I’ve got this fight and I got one more after it to finish my contract out. I’ve been competing for 15 years and that’s been my goal – to compete as a UFC fighter for 15 years. I’ve been here when the UFC was not accepted and I worked so hard to help UFC get accepted by the public and I think I did a great job trying to do that. My career is there. I’ve done everything. I’m the longest competing UFC fighter, I have the most (light heavyweight) title defenses, and I’ve done a lot. So I don’t want to overstay my welcome. I haven’t gotten hurt seriously in the Octagon, I’ve never been knocked out unconscious, and I’d like to have my head on my shoulders.”If 2011 has proved anything though, the 36-year old is not attempting to go out quietly with a whimper. He’s going to go out guns blazing in a quest to be one of the few prizefighters to leave on top. And considering that he’s finally been healthy this year after two serious surgeries on his lower back and neck, he’s got the potential to do so. It’s not the happy ending many envisioned for Ortiz entering the year. Winless in five bouts (0-4-1) since 2006, Ortiz was under no illusions when he was matched with Ryan Bader at UFC 132 in July. And if he was, UFC President Dana White crystallized things for him when he said that if Ortiz lost to Bader, his career in the organization was over. But like all great fighters, the Californian showed that he still had one great fight left, and his 1:56 submission of Bader was an emotional victory and perhaps the feel good story of the year. It could have been one that Ortiz would choose to sit on for a bit, to bask in his regained glory. But a month later, he was back at it, coming in on short notice to rescue the UFC 133 main event against Rashad Evans, and almost pulling off the upset when he caught his rival in a guillotine choke before getting stopped in the second round. But Ortiz has no regrets, at least not about taking the rematch with Evans. If anything, his only regrets come from issues long in his past.“I actually had two huge regrets,” he said. “My biggest regret was that I wish my parents were never drug addicts and my other regret was that I wish I never turned my back on Dana (White) and (UFC Chairman and CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta). I feel bad for doing that.”Ortiz’ battles with the UFC brass took on a life of its own a few years back, and now he is eager to put all that in the past. But as far as his parents and his upbringing go, he realizes that if he didn’t go through such experiences, he wouldn’t have become the fighter he is today.“My whole life I was always in survival mode,” he admits. “I was trying to survive and I could never trust anybody. I couldn’t trust my mother or my father, I couldn’t trust any of my family around me. I never had anybody to look up to besides people like Muhammad Ali or Hulk Hogan. I never had a father figure, and I never had any type of family at all. All I knew was how to survive. And throughout my fight career I’ve always been like that.”That fight to survive led him to the top of the UFC’s light heavyweight division, where no one successfully defended the crown as many times as he did. But more than that, Ortiz was the face of the UFC in the early-Zuffa days, the “Bad Boy” who could get attention from fans like no other, whether positive or negative. Now though, the only fights are in the Octagon because he’s made it. No longer a wild kid, Ortiz now has three kids of his own, and he’s grown up.“I’m very satisfied,” he said. “It’s a comfortable and confident place I’m in right now. It’s time to kinda reinvent myself and just take my life in a positive manner. I’m very thankful that my surgeries went as well as they did and God has blessed me, and I want to end my career on a positive note. I want to show people what hard work and dedication can get you. A lot of athletes are not supposed to compete after the surgeries that I had, but I still came back to compete and I’ve showed what heart and dedication are all about.”Notice that he doesn’t talk about the ferocious ground and pound or endless cardio that marked his prime years. For him, those were just byproducts of going to the gym every day and outworking everyone. And when the bell rang, you may get the best of him here or there, but you would never break his spirit. That’s the real legacy he wants to leave.“I have a huge heart,” said Ortiz. “I’m a fighter that has been battling for almost 15 years in the Octagon. I’m a fighter. I became a smart businessman as I grew older and I realized that I can’t fight for the rest of my life, but as a young kid, I fought through life to get to where I am today. There were three places I could be – I could be in prison, I could be dead, or I could be where I am right now. And I think it’s the determination and heart that I have that got me to where I am today.” He pauses.“I listen to a lot of music, I watch a lot of movies, and I look for messages in the premise of the movie and the music and why a person goes through these things,” Ortiz continues. “A lot of music Eminem has, I try to listen to the message he has, and the message that I’m trying to give to people is that with heart and determination and hard work, you can become anything. God has challenged every person one way or another in this lifetime, and there are people who succeed and people who fail. And the ones who succeed are the ones who are able to get through those things, and that’s what I do every time I come into the gym – I try to get through day by day, week by week, month by month, and with the surgeries I’ve gone through and the stuff I’ve gone through in my personal life, I don’t think I was ever supposed to succeed.”He did though, and no matter what happens on Saturday or beyond, nothing can ever change that. But like Ortiz said himself, he is a fighter, and we all know how fighters and retirement work out. So what happens if he blows through Nogueira and wins the final fight on his contract? Will he consider sticking around?“Right now, two and I’m done, but you never know what Lorenzo and Dana come at me with,” he laughs. “But I have to make sure it makes sense for me and my family. I want to see my boys grow up and I want them to have a father. I want to make sure I’m able to throw a football with my kids, go for a run, or just wrestle with them. And I’ve got to look out for my future.”So what will he miss the most?“I think I’ll miss the competition the most and competing against the best guys in the world,” said Ortiz. “I’m still young, I’m just going to be turning 37, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome and I don’t want to torture my body.”And like any fighter, he wants to leave on top. There’s no better final statement.

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Despite his busy schedule, Gil took the time to talk about his personal life and who he is as an individual. He credits his upbringing and his early introduction to fatherhood with making him the man he is today. The strong work ethic that he exhibits and the determination to always give his all started with his childhood experiences, including become a father at the tender age of 14. Five children later, he realizes he had to grow up quickly, starting with the first child. “I knew then that I had to decide what type of person I was going to be,” he said. He reflected on the friends he had who ended up in gangs, in prisons, on drugs, or in the morgue. With another life depending on him, he knew this could not be his path, so he made the decision to plot a different course for his life. He decided to take responsibility for his choices and be a good man. “Learning from everything I’ve been through in my life, little by little, it’s molded me into everything that I am,” said Gil. Right now, that includes being single. When he isn’t at the gym helping fighters realize their potential, Gil likes to let his hair down and relax. He loves to dance and has very eclectic tastes in music. “If it has a good beat, I’m good with it. It just depends on what kind of mood I’m in. Sometimes I like salsa, sometimes hip hop, and sometimes house. I don’t really have a favorite.” Alone but never lonely, Gil said that although there’s no special lady in his life right now, he knows what he likes in a woman. She has to have personality with a Capital P. “I like someone who likes to have fun and can be silly sometimes, and who doesn’t take life too seriously.” Since he does tent to be serious about life, he needs someone to balance him out. She must like dancing and can’t be about the drama. Having raised five children, Gil has had plenty of drama in his life. What other characteristics would Gil’s ideal lady have? She has to like watching movies, and if she shares one of his favorites, Don Juan DeMarco, well that’s a bonus. She also has to be a “girlie girl”, and although he doesn’t mind athletic women, at the end of the day, she has to be very feminine and soft spoken. Gil opened up about more of his personal life, sharing his love of travel and his appreciation for all of the countries he is able to see as part of his coaching and cornering duties. Encounter traditions from different regions and seeing the beautiful sights is like a dream come true for Gil. “I love to experience different cultures and see how the people live in other parts of the world,” said Gil. Being treated like royalty in Romania made the trip particularly special, and is one of his favorite places to visit. Although hesitant to boast about his philanthropic side, Gil revealed the cause that is most near and dear to his heart. For more than 14 years, Gil has been training underprivileged kids for little or no cost to them. His voice was filled with passion for the work as he talked about how hard some of these kids have it. For some of them, boxing may be their only opportunity for a better life. The pride was evident in his voice when he spoke of the 40 or 50 national champions he has trained, and he doesn’t stop there. “When I see these kids and how hard they work, I just try to do everything I can to help them get to where they need to be, whether that is national or international tournaments.” His efforts have not gone unnoticed. Couture expressed appreciation for Gil’s dedication to the disadvantaged. “Gil is a tremendously giving coach and person. I think that’s what makes him truly special. He runs a youth boxing program for economically challenged kids in the area. It numbers between 60 and 90 boys. We are very fortunate to have him on our team at Xtreme Couture,” he said. That sentiment is shared by many. Whether Gil is working with the four of his five children who are fighters, donating his time to the disadvantaged youth of the area, or plying his craft as a premier striking coach, he is an all around amazing person to know. Those who are the recipients of his coaching are privileged indeed. Make sure to follow Martinez on Twitter (@mastermitter) to keep up with one of the true masters of his craft in MMA. PHOTO CREDIT – GILMARTINEZBOXING.COM Tweet

Posted in: ’t, life, doesn ’t, gil, person i

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This year has been full of impressive debuts, entertaining fights, and new contenders announcing their presences, but Brian Ebersole might be the only man on the UFC roster to hit all three marks in the last 11 months.An injury to Carlos Condit opened the Octagon door for the veteran of more than 60 fights. The Indiana native now based out of Melbourne, Australia stepped in to face veteran Chris Lytle at UFC 127 in February, and hasn’t looked back since.After getting the better of Lytle in an entertaining contest that earned Fight of the Night honors in Sydney, Ebersole returned to action against in August, stopping Dennis Hallman in a bout that is more memorable for his opponent’s attire than Ebersole’s first round finish.“I was in the Octagon when he came out,” said Ebersole of his UFC 133 meeting with Hallman and his barely-there trunks. “I didn’t see the shorts until he began stretching; I reckon he was peacocking out in the middle of the cage. I laughed, and thought, `he just made me famous’ because everyone would be talking about this fight.”Hallman’s choice in attire definitely sparked a lot of conversation; it also raised the ire of UFC President Dana White, who awarded Ebersole a $70,000 “Getting those horrifying shorts off TV as soon as possible” bonus after the fight. The 31-year-old welterweight says he put the money to good use.“I thought it fit nicely into my bank account.  My UFC 127 bonus money was getting lonely.”Ebersole took a different path to the UFC, racking up more bouts by the time he was 30 than many fighters could accrue in two careers. This time last year, you’d be hard pressed to find many UFC fans who knew his name, let alone expected to see him on the fringes of contending in the welterweight division. He concedes it has been an unlikely voyage from competing across Australia to contending in the UFC, but Ebersole says he hasn’t done anything that should be considered unexpected yet and is happy to be where he is at this stage of his career.“I'm no Nostradamus and wouldn't have placed a bet on that outcome, but I sure wouldn't have thought it impossible. And really, I haven't done anything `surprising’ yet; I mean, I was the favorite in the bouts at UFC 127 & 133.“I think I could have won some bouts as a 20-something in the UFC, but I'm happy with the timing.  I have a real chance to finish my career on the UFC roster, which is how I'd want it, and anyone would want it — retiring on top.”Retirement, however, is not what he’s been preparing for over the last few months.First it was Rory MacDonald, the impressive young Canadian who has also put himself on the list of potential contenders in the UFC’s 170-pound division in 2011. Early last month, MacDonald was forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injury, forcing Ebersole to shift his focus to another Canadian, Claude Patrick.“After I'd accepted the fact that I was competing [against] Rory, I had my mind focused on the task. Yes, the change came as a disappointment — for one day.  Then I had to realign my thoughts toward Claude Patrick and the new — though much the same — task at hand.”That task is to walk into Toronto and put an end to Patrick’s 13-fight winning streak in his own backyard, a task that Ebersole is quite familiar with.“I've done this many times, hence the nickname `Bad Boy’ I was given by an Australian promotion. I'm the guy that beats people up in front of their home crowd.”He’s also the guy who steps into the cage with patterns and messages shaved into his ample chest hair.After debuting “The Hairrow” to the UFC audience in Australia, Ebersole looked to switch it up heading into UFC 133, taking suggestions from fans through an online contest. As for what’s in store for this weekend, Ebersole won’t offer any hints other than he’ll be the one to determine the design.“You'll have to wait and see; got a bit going on there. I tried to turn over creative control at 133, but the fans sort of let me down a bit. I mean, they tried — they had a play — [but] some weren't too serious with their entries; I could tell.“In the end, there was nothing viable — nothing that would actually stick out enough to be recognized and that had a decent message.  Downward arrows, bow ties, and hearts did not sway me to stray from `The Hairrow!’”Ebersole also isn’t offering any predictions on how things will play out with Patrick Saturday night in Toronto either, explaining he’s not a fan of all the pre-fight analysis and predictions.“This is why we watch sports,” responded when asked how this weekend’s matchup breaks down. “Who cares about pre-fight banter?  Really?  I can't stand watching former NFL players — and AFL in Australia — flop their bollocks all afternoon about how this team matches up with that one, about how this quarterback struggles on Monday Night games, this coach hasn't won a game in ______ Stadium, and so on and so forth.“It's all a waste of effort, because the game has to be played. Right or wrong with your ‘predictions,’ it's still a waste of effort. Go be productive, and just show up on game day with an open mind and an open beer.”That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have thoughts on what comes next and where a victory over Patrick would put him; they’re just not your typical pre-fight platitudes — they’re entertaining and original, just like Ebersole.“It puts me at Niagara Falls with two Australians that I love, and leaves me wanting to enjoy the view, where a loss would see me wanting to take a barrel over the Falls.“The next step? Enjoy Christmas and go home to coach my former high school.  It'll be a good time on the mats at BBCHS this year.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, bout, ’t, ebersole

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April 30, 2011 was a night like no other for Claude Patrick. For 14 years he had trained for this moment; for nine years he fought in everybody else’s backyard but his own. Now he was in his hometown of Toronto, in front of over 55,000 fans, and it’s probably safe to say that 54,995 were cheering for him when he faced Daniel Roberts at UFC 129.“Usually if I hear a single cheer, I’m like ‘wow, what’s going on here?’” said Patrick, whose unique form of dues paying was only shared by other Ontario natives like featherweight contender Mark Hominick.  “If they’re not booing or trying to kill you, it’s a real good thing. (Laughs) So it was a trip to be at home and to have people cheering for me. I’m so used to being that darkhorse, out of town guy. You just pull up, fight and go.”And while many saw Patrick vs. Roberts to be a 50-50 matchup going in, what these people didn’t account for was the fact that being the “B-side” of the fight card for most of your career will make you tougher than most of your peers. Forget all the time spent in the gym; what separates many at the elite level of the game are the intangibles, the things that don’t show up on paper. At 31, Patrick has had a rough MMA upbringing that has given him intangibles for days, and he was ready to show them to Roberts and everyone else in Rogers Centre that night.“A lot of people don’t know what level I’m at because I haven’t done any of these big name grappling tournaments, and I don’t have seminars and things like that set up, so people think I’m just another guy happy to be there,” said Patrick, a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “While I’m super happy to be competing in the UFC, I also put in my dues and trained with a lot of the best guys and just humbly do my thing below the radar. People thought that because he (Roberts) was coming from a certain camp and because of his background that he was gonna be able to dominate me on the ground, and he was training with this Thai guy for standup, but all that doesn’t matter. When it comes down to fight time, it’s a fight, and that’s what I bring to the table.”Three rounds later, Patrick had delivered perhaps his most impressive Octagon performance to date, earning a unanimous decision victory that lifted his UFC record to 3-0 and his overall pro MMA slate to 14-1. More importantly, it extended his unbeaten streak to 13 fights and six years, and if you didn’t know who Patrick was before, you’d better start paying attention, because he’s finally ready to let the world in now.“I’m trying to step out of the shadows a little bit and that fight was a good opportunity to show my skills,” said Patrick, who may not have eight million followers on Twitter or a stack of t-shirts bearing his name, but he can fight, he’s an engaging and thoughtful personality, and he’s earned his share of the spotlight. He also doesn’t worry about what his peers are doing because he’s had his own plan of attack.“I’m not hating on the other guys,” said Patrick. “I would say don’t count my money because I’m not counting yours. Everybody has their different approaches and you can have as many people as you want on Twitter and as many t-shirts as you want, but it all boils down to the fight ultimately, and getting in there to show and prove. That’s what I’ve been really focusing on doing thus far, almost to the detriment of not caring much about the other aspects of things. So now I’m trying to step out a little bit more and get myself a bit more known and a little bit more in the spotlight. This fight should help with that significantly.”“This” fight is one that wasn’t even supposed to happen before fate stepped in last month. Originally scheduled to battle fellow up and comer Rich Attonito on Saturday’s UFC 140 card in Toronto, Patrick saw a new and even better opportunity arise when countryman Rory MacDonald was forced out of his main card bout against Brian Ebersole due to injury. “The Prince” was offered the move to the Pay-Per-View portion of the event, and while he didn’t see that coming, he did have a feeling that he wouldn’t be throwing hands with Attonito on December 10th.“I’m not like a psychic or anything like that, but I knew I wasn’t gonna be fighting Rich Attonito,” said Patrick. “For whatever reason, I just always thought that we wouldn’t be fighting. I didn’t know that Rory would get hurt and that it would be Ebersole I’d be fighting, but it is what it is. I had a gut feeling that something was gonna happen with that fight.”That gut feeling was right on target, and while the storybook tale of the local kid coming in on short notice for the big Pay-Per-View fight in his hometown is perfect for us writing it, for Patrick, it’s not really how he sees the fight. For him, he has to look at it as just another night at the office. It’s how he kept his cool in April in a situation where most would lose it.“I really zoned a lot of those things out pre-fight because you can’t be looking at the crowd or how many people are there and what they’re saying or doing,” he said. “I really focus on the task at hand, which is the opponent in front of me.”Everyone says that though. How was Patrick able to pull it off in the biggest fight of his career? “The most important thing is making sure you’re prepared, and not just in that physical element, but covering all the bases beforehand,” he explains. “When you go to fight, anything could happen. I’ve seen it many times that not always the best fighter wins the fight, and I’ve seen a lot of guys get bogged down with those questions. So I just bring everything I have to the table, and I believe in my skills and I have every reason to. I’ve been training hard and smart with the right people, improving my training camp and always trying to learn, so as long as I do everything on the back end that I should be doing, which I like to think I do, then I’m very confident going into the fight. I just have to execute.”This time around, Patrick has bolstered his camp like never before, something most fighters do after a loss, not after an impressive victory. Then again, he’s always followed his own path, so while he has supplemented his training in the past with trips to Florida, this time he had an extended stay while working with some of the sport’s best.“I hooked up with the guys at Team Jaco and the Blackzilians, among other places too,” said Patrick. “I’m training at Pablo Popovitch’s to upgrade my jiu-jitsu as well. I have a lot of friends in the South Florida area and I’ve done a camp out here in the area twice before, so I’m no stranger to the area, but I haven’t lived here for such an extended period of time, and I haven’t had a set camp with this many quality guys. I’ve worked with Rashad Evans, Tyrone Spong, JZ (Cavalcante), the Villefort brothers, Jorge Santiago, and a bunch of up and coming guys; Melvin Guillard just got here as well. So it’s a Who’s Who of talented guys and just to be in the room and be able to hang and pick these guys’ brains in different perspectives, it’s very useful and it adds to my confidence going into the cage.”Saturday, Patrick will meet one of the few fighters who can relate to his less than glamorous ascent up the ranks in Ebersole. A breakout star in 2011, Ebersole, who is five months younger than Patrick, has put together 64 documented pro fights, and he did so in some less than glamorous settings over the years.“I definitely respect that,” said Patrick. “He’s what I call one of those real old-school type guys and I’d be along the same lines as that if I had the opportunity. But given where I lived in Canada, there wasn’t that opportunity – especially in the province I was in. I was in the first UFC in Ontario, and before that it wasn’t something legal that we could do and partake in. So to be able to get to compete was something you had to leave the province for, and there wasn’t big money, so I couldn’t get all those fights in. But I was steadily training during that whole time.”Now it’s time to pick up some returns on that investment. For Claude Patrick, that means more fights, more wins, and getting a step closer to a world title. So you haven’t heard the last of him, because this ride is just beginning.“2011 was a decent year,” he said. “I’d like to be a bit more busy, and in 2012, if the world doesn’t end (Laughs), that would perfect.”

Posted in: fight, guy, ’t, ’m, patrick

Read the full article at UFC

Not that it matters anymore since the UFC’s relationship with Spike TV is basically over, but many people have wondered over the years why Spike TV always insisted on broadcasting overseas UFC events at night on tape-delay instead of live in the afternoon. Well, in an interview with Sherdog, Spike TV president Kevin Kay explained that the answer is really simple. It’s all a matter of $$$. By the way, people always criticize us and say, like, “Well, why doesn’t Spike do them live, if they be at two o’clock in the afternoon or three o’clock in the morning? The real reason we didn’t do them live is because we couldn’t sell advertising at those times. We pay a lot of money for the product. We need to monetize it and make our money back, and, so, putting a fight on at 10 o’clock in the morning on Spike when we don’t get decent advertising rates … it’s is an advertising issue, just to clear that up, because I‘ve heard that many times. Not surprisingly, their decision to counterprogram UFC on FOX 1 “Velasquez vs. Dos Santos” with “Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Unleashed for the Heavyweight Title” , or as Kay explains it, ride on the coattails of the UFC’s first FOX broadcast, was also about money. The deal [is] there’s a tail-end year of the library, and we pay for it. And we pay a good price for it. So we have to use it, and we’d be foolish not to use it. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t schedule it. And I think, look, as a guy that’s scheduled television shows and has the library to use, we’re going to take advantage of the fact that Fox and FX are going to be out there promoting guys who we have in the library. It’s like free marketing, and we’d be silly not to take advantage of that. That’s our job. Our job is to use this library and monetize it. If the shoe were on the other foot, I can guarantee you Dana White would do what we’re doing. We weren’t hoping to confuse anybody, but we purposely titled it “Unleashed: For the Heavyweight Title,” because “Unleashed” said to our fans who watched us loyally for six years now — they know “Unleashed” means taped. That’s the title of the taped library show, so we weren’t trying to confuse anybody. But what we did do is take advantage of the fact that Fox was promoting the hell out of Junior and Cain for months it seemed like, on the NFL and every place else that they were promoting it, putting a lot of muscle behind it. And we believed that people would watch. And actually, if you look at the ratings, before the fight [on Fox], we were up to 900,000 viewers; during the fight, we went down to 700,000 viewers; and after the fight, we went back up to 900,000 viewers. I think people wanted to see more Junior and Cain. From us, it’s just a programming move; that’s what it is. It’s a programming move, and it paid off. Those were pretty high “Unleashed” ratings these days. And you know, again, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t make those moves. Both the Dana White and Kevin Kay maintain that the UFC and Spike executives still have great relationships despite the split, but at the end of day it really does come down to business and money and both are going to do what’s best for theirs regardless of how mean-spirited it might seem at the time. To be clear though, Kay does genuinely hope that the UFC continues to grow, because if they don’t, then no one else in the industry will including Bellator which they now have a vested interest in making a success.

Posted in: ufc, fox, ’t, spike, library

Read the full article at MMA Convert

The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. The show that put the UFC on the map came to an end on their original network as the SpikeTV era of The Ultimate Fighter officially ended this past Saturday night. It wasn’t a night that fight fans will soon forget though as two more TUF champions were crowned and the bully beatdown his victim in the nights main event. It was a hell of a run for “the little show that could” on the network that has gone through more programming changes than Plankton’s computer wife, but like all good things it came to an end. Lets go to the scorecard: *The UFC seemed to be doing a pre-show on Facebook with Jon Anik and Stephan Bonnar and then immediately cut away after about three minutes. A Facebook pre-show isn’t such a terrible idea, although Bonnar was pretty bad for the handful of moments he was on screen. MINUS ONE *Was great to see Miesha Tate in the corner of Bryan Caraway, mainly because it was great to see Miesha Tate. PLUS TWO *Why do I get the feeling that Miesha picked Caraway’s walk out music of “Push It” by Salt-N-Peppa? We all know who wears the MMA shorts in that relationship. EVEN *I’m pretty sure Miesha could have defeated Dustin Neace on this night. He showed absolutely nothing in his fight. MINUS TWO *I give credit to Caraway though. He used his wrestling well, did good on the scrambles, and showed some great control on top. Everyone says he has the talent, he just needs to get over the mental hurdle. PLUS THREE *Shame Akira Corassani got hurt and was replaced by Josh Clopton, who lost to Neace, who just showed nothing against Caraway. Poor card order by UFC. MINUS ONE *Some excellent work in the plum clinch by Steven Siler throughout the fight. PLUS THREE *Good action between Siler and Clopton. Even though Clopton took a beating in the clinch, he hung tough and tried to make it a fight in the third with his wrestling. PLUS THREE *I love “I Need A Dollar” by Aloe Blacc so I approve of Roland Delorme using it as his walk out song. And since he probably didn’t make much more than a dollar as his salary, it was a pretty fitting song. PLUS TWO *Great ground battle between Delorme and Josh Ferguson in the first round. Both guys stayed active, went for submissions, and fought out of bad positions. PLUS FOUR *That said, I have to take points away from Delorme for trying for an Omoplata when he had a Triangle Choke. When the hell has an Omoplata ever finished a fight? MINUS ONE *Great finishing sequence by Delorme. He capitalized on the knockdown and immediately got the submission. I know my buddy Samer Kadi is a big fan of knockdowns that lead to submissions so I’m sure he approved of this finish. PLUS FOUR *Extra credit to Delorme, who is now 2-0 against the Ferguson brothers. I hope they don’t have a third one. PLUS TWO *I’ve never heard “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean before but I can’t knock any man that comes out to a song that has his name in the title. That’s why my walk out song will always be “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam. PLUS TWO *John Albert proved to be big and bad with his victory over Dustin Pague. He dropped him early with a right hand and then tied his arm behind his head while punching him in the face. That was some MAN work right there. PLUS FIVE *Extra points to Albert for using a move called the “gift wrap” in December. I’m sure that wasn’t the kind of present Pague was hoping for this month. PLUS THREE *I think Albert was trying to Dougie on his way out of the cage but clearly hasn’t watched the Kate Upton video enough. MINUS ONE *UFC needs to figure out a better way to kill time between preliminary fights. How about showing the latest fight from someone on the main card or someone on an upcoming show? Little things like that go a long way. MINUS TWO *Chandella is still lovely, Arianny is still beautiful. Someone buy Mike Goldberg a thesaurus for Christmas. MINUS THREE *Are TUF contestants not allowed to be sponsored? No one of the preliminary card had a banner and they all wore their team colored shorts. That’s kind of like taking money out of their pockets. MINUS FOUR *Marcus Brimage vs. Stephan Bass was a fun scrap. I really liked Brimage’s striking, except in the third round when he wanted to trade a little too much and got away from the leg kicks. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to Brimage for all those inside leg kicks. Those were nasty. PLUS TWO *SOMEONE SPONSOR MARCUS BRIMAGE! The man is a fountain of charisma. EVEN *I enjoyed Brimage’s college football poem, but I think I have a better one. It goes like this: tournaments are the best, screw the BCS. EVEN *I know I say this every TV broadcast but it’s always nice to watch some fights between the 500 commercials. MINUS FOUR *Louis Gaudinot with cornrows, Johnny Bedford with short hair. These guys can’t be changing up their psychical appearance, otherwise it’s like I watched 10 weeks for no reason. MINUS TWO *If Gaudinot’s corner really told him, “you’re going to win and you’re going to take him down” then he needs a new corner. I’m all for trying to inspire your fighter, but did they not see the first two rounds? MINUS THREE *Great performance by Bedford. I loved how he went to the body on the feet and on the ground. He smartly used his size and punished Gaudinot for having the audacity to step into the cage with him. PLUS FOUR *Even though Gaudinot is a natural flyweight, dude needed to show something in this fight. I hope he enjoys fighting at 125 on the local scene until UFC finally adds the division in about five years. MINUS TWO *Poor officiating by Steve Mazagatti, who stopped the fight too late, and poor match-making by Joe Silva, who should have matched a small bantamweight like Gaudinot with another small bantamweight like Josh Ferguson. MINUS FIVE *Great fight between Yves Edwards and Tony Ferguson. Some very good exchanges and a great variety of striking. Both guys showed a lot, especially Yves, who I thought might be done after his KO loss to Sam Stout but hung tough against a good prospect with a lot of power. PLUS FIVE *Extra points to this fight because it was very fun to watch. PLUS THREE *That said, I have to take off points for the judging. I had it 29-28 for Yves and even though I can’t complain too much about Ferguson taking the decision, how did two judges give him the third round? Yves was definitely getting the better of things in the final frame. MINUS THREE *For such a little guy, John Dodson packs a hell of a punch. PLUS FOUR *Extra points to Dodson for his speed and brutal left hook. Even though he’s undersized, he uses his speed well and has the power to compete at 135. Will be interesting to see how he moves forward. PLUS FOUR *I wonder if Dana White was as pissed off at T.J. Dillashaw as he was at Cain Velasquez for not immediately shooting for a takedown. MINUS ONE *The stoppage by Herb Dean was questionable as Dillashaw seemed to be regaining his wits as Dodson swarmed on him. I don’t think it was the worst stoppage ever, but I also don’t think it was a great stoppage either. MINUS ONE *Diego Brandao vs. Dennis Bermudez was 100 kinds of awesome. Bermudez was rocked, then Brandao was rocked, then Bermudez tapped. It told the story of an entire fight in just under five minutes. Quite possibly the round of the year. PLUS EIGHT *Extra points to Brandao vs. Bermudez for its greatness. I thought it would be fireworks early due to Brandao’s style but I never expected it to be the Fourth of July. PLUS SIX *Jason Miller couldn’t really deliver a classic entrance due to the short walk, but he did his best with what he was given. EVEN *You wouldn’t think that having Kevin James in your corner would be useful, but since Miller considers himself a monkey, having The Zookeeper give you advice makes sense. PLUS ONE *Michael Bisping vs. Miller was just sad to watch on a bunch of different levels. The first round was sad because of how Bisping complained about Miller being on top of him and rounds two and three were sad because Miller did almost nothing in those rounds. MINUS THREE *However, I did like Miller’s strategy of staying on one knee and asking Bisping to kick or knee him in the head in order to earn a DQ. PLUS ONE *Miller usually has better cardio, having gone five rounds before, but he was absolutely gone in the second round of this fight. I thought Bisping was a bad style fight for Miller, but I expected Miller to offer up a little bit more than he did. MINUS FIVE *I enjoyed Bisping’s honest assessment of his performance during his post-fight interview. Unlike Rogan and Goldberg, who were gushing over his victory, Bisping knew it wasn’t that great and knew that he’s not ready for Anderson Silva. PLUS FOUR *Overall it’s tough to complain about the event. We got some good fights, some great performances, and one of the best rounds of the year. The main event was underwhelming but it’s not like it was a terrible fight and extremely boring. PLUS SEVEN Final Score: 46 For a more in-depth look at the event listen to tomorrow’s podcast with myself and Samer Kadi as we’ll review The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale and preview this weekend’s UFC 140 PPV.

Posted in: fight, round, ’t, miller, point

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

There truly is no rest for the weary when it comes to Jon Jones.Seventy-seven days after facing Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the first defense of his UFC light heavyweight championship, Jones will return to action to face one of the toughest puzzles in all of mixed martial arts, Lyoto Machida. Eleven weeks is a short turnaround time for any elite fighter facing top competition, not to mention a champion defending his belt.  It is common for prospects building their competitive resumes to fight monthly or even bi-weekly when building their resumes against grossly overmatched foes. But most UFC champions compete two, maybe three times a year, if the fans are lucky. This will be Jones’ fourth fight in just over 10 months. That is a ridiculous pace. Conventional wisdom suggests that he cannot keep it up. Not if he wants to hold onto that shiny gold belt that currently sits around his waist.  The question, of course, is whether it will impact Saturday’s main event. Will Jones be a bit overtrained? Is he getting mentally burned out? Only time will tell. I’m not sure if Team Jones even knows the answer to those questions just yet. The fear over overtraining and burnout isn’t the only things working against Jones. History also favors the challenger.Eleven men have reigned as the UFC’s 205-pound champion.  Only three have successfully defended the title more than once. Chuck Liddell was the last man to accomplish that feat, and his reign ended nearly five years ago. Of the six champions since Liddell, only Rampage, Jones and Machida successfully defended even once. Those are startling statistics. The numbers clearly demonstrate the incredible parity in the UFC’s glamour division. They also suggest that Saturday might be Machida’s night to finally make Jones seem human. The problem with all of that is the fact that numbers are nothing more than numbers. People fight. Numbers don’t. And I’m quite certain that Jones couldn’t care less about the fact that his level of activity is far beyond the norm or that nobody since Liddell has successfully defended the title more than twice.How am I so sure of that? Well, nobody in history had ever won a UFC title at the ripe young age of 23 until Jones did it back in March. No fighter had ever won UFC gold with less than eight weeks to recover and prepare since his previous bout in the Octagon. Jones snatched the title from Shogun a mere six weeks after bludgeoning Ryan Bader.Only one man in the last decade has scored a submission win over Rampage. Yep, you guessed it. Jon Jones.This guy breaks the mold in so many ways it is tough to keep up at times. He is anything but ordinary in terms of his fighting style and career accomplishments, so I’m going to go out on a rather short limb and suggest that neither his competitive frequency nor history will play any role in this fight. Jones will show up at his best—properly trained, physically strong and mentally ready to go.I also fully expect Machida to show up at his absolute best. No other fighter in the sport lives mixed martial arts more than “The Dragon.” This guy personifies bushido in every aspect of his life. He would never disrespect himself, the sport or his opponent by taking a haphazard approach to preparing for a fight. No chance whatsoever.This will be a fight decided by styles and skills, not extraneous factors, which raises the question of how these guys matchup against each other. Readers who regularly peruse my big fight breakdowns probably expect me to write that Jones, who has some of the best takedowns in the division, needs to put Machida on his back. While I’m confident the champion will do just that at some point in the fight, I don’t think he should hesitate to stand with Machida. Jones is an extremely effective standup fighter, despite the fact that he has only been training that part of his game for a couple of years.  One thing that makes him so unique is his record-setting 84.5-inch reach. No other fighter in the UFC, not even guys in the heavyweight division, can match that wingspan. As a result, he can land strikes from distances that are virtually impossible to prepare for. His crazy reach gave Rampage and Shogun, two standup experts, tremendous problems. It will do the same to Machida.Another unique thing about Jones’ standup is that he is almost perfectly ambidextrous with his punches, seamlessly switching between orthodox and southpaw stances at will. When he remains committed to the jab, his standup is masterful from either side. He can do that and score against Machida, dominating the fight from the outside. The problem, and all fighters have problems, is that Jones tends to lunge with a lazy left when he leads with a power shot from a southpaw stance. It is one of the only shots that he throws without excellent snap. As a result, the shot doesn’t have much juice on it, and, worse yet, he tends to pull it back very low. Machida is an expert counterstriker. An expert of the first order. He will absolutely be trying to key off of that shot with a right hook over the top, a left of his own down the middle, or a right high kick. If I were in Jones’ corner for the fight, I would hammer home the need to remain in the orthodox stance because I don’t think he can resist leading with a lazy left. In my opinion, that flaw in his game, particularly when matched with a lightning-quick, expert counterstriker like Machida, overrides the fact that it is easier to shoot for takedowns from a southpaw stance. Remember, Jones’ right is his dominant hand. Unlike kickboxers and boxers, who typically keep their dominant hand back, wrestlers want their dominant hand forward to assist with takedowns. Of course, that isn’t the only way that Jones can get the fight to the ground. He is freakishly good at Greco or Judo throws. Just ask anyone he has faced to date. Machida is excellent in the clinch. But he will get thrown by Jones from that position. Guaranteed.Once he throws him, Jones should use his amazing ground control to keep the Brazilian on his back. Forget submissions because Machida is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Jones wants no part of that game. It should be all ground and pound all day. Jones can win by decision or stoppage that way.Jones’ standup might be tremendous, but Machida is not overmatched on the feet. Not by a mile. As written above, I think he has one of the most awkward, difficult to solve styles in the sport.Machida stands with his shoulders perpendicular to his opponent, which is a traditional Karate stance, with his weight well behind his center point and his upper body noticeably leaning toward his back foot.  That is all designed to make him difficult to hit, not to maximize his ability to strike.  Indeed, Machida isn’t trying to be effective offensively.  Not in the traditional sense, at least.  He instead uses his stance to feint in exaggerated form from a safe distance.  He uses quick jab steps and sudden exaggerated shoulder movements in very herky-jerky movements to set the distance and pace of the fight.  He wants an opponent to react to those movements by covering up or starting a counter. If he gets no reaction, Machida will throw the occasional lead high kick on the end of one of those jab steps or he may sprint in briefly with piston-like punches, never more than two or three at a time.  Neither attack is overly dangerous, nor are they meant to be.  The progression of feints and the occasional strikes are designed to accomplish two goals. First and foremost, he wants to set up his money move, which is leading with a kick to the body followed immediately by a short straight left. Machida caught Rashad Evans with that kick-punch combination late in the first round and dropped him.  It wasn’t the force of the blow that led to the knockdown, rather the fact that Evans’ attention was wholly focused on defending the kick to the body. The other goal is to tempt his foe to throw tentative one-strike counters that he can counter back. The counters are tentative because opponents are so confused by Machida’s movements. Hesitation is disastrous against a laser-sharp counterstriker like Machida. Why? Machida has seriously underrated power. His knockout wins over Thiago Silva, Randy Couture and Evans vividly demonstrate that he is a killer on the feet, when he wants to be.  But again, he is not a slugger. His power comes from perfect technique and timing mixed with insane speed. Suffice to say, this fight will be a chess match, not a slugfest. Saturday’s main event features two amazing, though very different, technicians. One wrong move by either man can bring the fight to a violent end. Then again, neither has shown a great tendency to make mistakes, so this one may go to the judges. In fact, everything points to a bout that lasts the distance, but I don’t think it will unfold that way. I think this fight is going to end by knockout. I just have a feeling. QUICK FACTSJon Jones•    24 years old•    6’4, 205 lbs•    84.5-inch reach•    14-1 overall •    Lone UFC loss was a DQ for illegal elbow strikes to Matt Hamill in a fight Jones was dominating•    Reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion•    266-day reign as champion; 1 successful defense so far•    Last 7 fights ended inside the distance•    57.1% of wins by KO/TKO •    28.6% of wins by submission •    14.3% of wins by decision •    Knockout of the Night, Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night winner•    Current layoff is 77 days •    Longest layoff of career is 188 days Lyoto Machida•    33 years old•    6’1, 205 lbs•    74-inch reach•    17-2 professional record •    3-2 in last 5 fights•    8-2 in last 10 fights•    16 straight wins to start professional career•    6-2 against 7 current or former UFC  champions•    Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion•    350-day reign as champion; 1 successful title defense•    52.9% of wins by decision •    35.3% of wins by KO •    11.8% of wins by submission•    Knockout of the Night three times •    Current layoff is 224 days •    Longest layoff of career is 308 days•    2-2 in career following layoffs over 190 days

Posted in: fight, jone, ’t, machida, •nbspnbsp

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Jon Jones is the most talked about fighter of 2011, and with good reason. 3-0 thus far, with  submissions of Ryan Bader and Rampage Jackson and a knockout of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, the youngest champion in UFC history will defend his light heavyweight crown for the second time on December 10th when he takes on Lyoto Machida in the main event of UFC 140.For a look at his unprecedented rise, why not read the words of the man himself?ON HIS UFC DEBUT AGAINST ANDRE GUSMAO (2009)“I definitely wasn’t nervous. The only time I had the jitters was backstage. I couldn’t really get a warmup like I wanted to. Usually I’m screaming backstage, I’ve got a crazy sweat going, I’m pumped up, I’m amped up, (Laughs) and now I’m sharing a locker room with guys like Matt Serra and the Gracies and so many big stars, guys that I looked up to, and I kinda felt out of my zone and I wasn’t really able to warm up like I was used to. I was trying to stay low-key and composed. But once I hit the arena and they locked that gate, there were no jitters. Gusmao was my first fight that went the distance. He definitely had a chin on him and he wasn’t going down, but I don’t believe in standing around and waiting. I think when you step into the cage, you’ve got to take the cage and make it your zone.”ON FIGHTING STEPHAN BONNAR (2009)“I think fighting Stephan Bonnar is a win-win situation for me. I’m a young fighter and everyone knows that I’ve only been fighting for one year. It was just one year ago that I didn’t know how to throw a proper kick and no clue how to throw a punch, and now I’m fighting one of the bigger names in the sport. I really have nothing to lose in this situation – I feel ultra-confident and I’m really hungry. I’m on fire, and I plan on shocking the UFC organization and letting those guys know that I’m ready to be here for a long time.”ON YOUTUBE (2009)“All the crazy spinning back fists and back kicks, spinning elbows and all that crazy stuff that I do while competing have strictly come from moves that I’ve seen on youtube. It’s been working for me and I guess it’s what’s separated me from the rest of my teammates. Those guys never know what to expect when they see me fighting. The move where you drop down, touch the leg and try to do a spinning back elbow, I actually learned that from a (action movie star) Tony Jaa youtube video. I said ‘That looks like it could work, and I just went for it.’”DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE (2009)“People say I’m the future of the sport and the next champion, and I never asked for any of that stuff. But people are saying it for a reason, I guess, and it motivates me to work harder and live up to those expectations. Those are big expectations. I’m only 22 and I haven’t even been training for three years, and to get that type of recognition definitely adds a lot of pressure. I just try to train hard and do that extra pushup or go train one more time when I have no strength left, and hopefully I can make myself happy and provide for my family. Ultimately that’s the only reason I’m doing this.”ON TRAINING AT JACKSON’S (2009) “I literally get my butt kicked every single day, which is new for me. I come from a school where I wouldn’t even get hit. I would never get a black eye, a bruise, a bump, or a nick, and now, I’m icing every night because these guys are kicking the snot out of me. I’m getting tapped out, taken down, punched in the face, and it’s just a reality check. There’s so much work to be done. In a sport like mixed martial arts, a real black belt doesn’t think he knows everything; he pays attention to how much he doesn’t know. I’m really not anything. I’m a young guy who’s had some impressive fights, and when it comes to proving myself, I really haven’t done anything. There’s a lot more talent out there besides me, a lot of other guys that are looking great, way more well-rounded, and until I get to that level where you can find no holes or weaknesses in my game, I’m gonna continue to be a grinder and continue to work hard, improve, and keep my head on straight. I’m not resting until I’m officially Anderson Silva status.”ON HIS LONE LOSS TO MATT HAMILL (2010)“Outside of the Octagon I’m a pretty relaxed and mellow guy and I’m pretty level-headed. So once the fight was over and the decision was made, I wasn’t gonna cry over spilled milk. There was nothing I could do about it, so I took it in stride. Things happen for a reason and I just continued to move forward and continued to work on my game. I’m not worried about a win or a loss. I think all this stuff is just experience, and ultimately I’m looking at the big picture, so you’re gonna have to take your bumps, keep on moving forward, and worry about that big picture.”ON CLASS IN DEFEAT (2010) “It was just the way I was brought up. My wrestling coach in high school, Mr. Jack Stanbro, he always taught us to act with class no matter what happens. I’ve taken losses before in my wrestling career, and he was the type of coach where every time we showed up at a meet we had to dress up in a suit and a tie and if we lost he would never want to see bad sportsmanship shown. It’s who I am, it’s embedded deep within me, and it’s what I’ve been raised around.”MORE ON THE HAMILL AFTERMATH (2011)“I got a lot of mail from parents, and even today, a lot of people say ‘the reason I became a Jon Jones fan is because I saw the way you handled that fight and the way you conducted yourself after the fight. In every way, shape, and form, it was a blessing in disguise. I don’t want to be that perfect fighter because I’m not perfect at all. It’s good for me to have a blemish in my career because it shows that I can make mistakes. There’s a kid out there who’s looking at us fighters as being perfect people, like their perfect super hero, and it’s good for me to show that I can make mistakes and still bounce back.”STUDY JONES AT YOUR OWN PERIL (2010)“Guys who study my fights, I try to give them an evolution, and they’ll see a totally different style in every fight. So it’s kinda hard right now to predict what I’ll do in my next fight because every fight is very different and I’ll come back a completely different fighter for a completely different opponent.”ON LIFE IN THE SPOTLIGHT (2010)“Everything is exactly the same to be honest with you. I try to keep myself grounded and keep myself around the same friends, and life is the same, it really is. There’s a little bit more publicity, but that’s something I expected when I got into the sport and my goal is to make it towards the top, so I realized that being towards the top more of it’s gonna come, so I try to just appreciate it, realize that it’s God’s blessing, and just keep it moving and keep things the same.”MMA’S ALI? (2011)“Hearing things like that just motivate me to do better in interviews, in training, with the fans, and do everything to make things like that accurate. It’s just motivation and I’m honored that he (Bruce Buffer) gave me that kind of compliment because that’s what I’m looking for – I’m looking to be remembered and I’m looking to be great at something. Compliments like that reassure me that my hard work is paying off and that people are noticing, so I tell myself don’t worry, just keep working.”ON BEING REMEMBERED (2011)“I think being remembered for standing for something is a lot more important than just for a cool move that you did. Right now I’m standing up for Christ, and if I find something that I’m passionate about as I learn more about myself and the world, I definitely want to step up and help. Being great is one thing, but being remembered is another thing. To be great, magnificent and remembered, you have to stand for something and change the world in a way. I want to change the world. Ali stood up for the Muslims and for not going to war and he made an impact. People don’t remember Bruce Lee as “that Asian guy.” No one cares that Bruce Lee was Asian, they love him all over the world, and I want to have that same impact. I don’t want me being African-American to ever play a difference in anyone’s mind. I don’t want anyone saying ‘I like that black fighter.’ I want people to love me because of me. I’d rather be known as that Christian fighter or that peaceful fighter or that fighter that’s spreading positivity and kindness and confidence and way more than tactics. It’s important.”BUT WHAT ABOUT HIS CHIN? (2011)“My answer to that is that I’ve earned the privilege of not showing that to anyone. For everyone who says I’ve never been hit and is wondering how I’ll react to it, the reason why I haven’t been hit is because I’m literally obsessed with what I’m doing and I’m in the gym every day, three times a day, six hours a day. And when you dedicate your life to it, hopefully you guys will never see me do the chicken dance. That’s the way it works. But for people who are wondering how I’ll react, I’ve been hit several times throughout practice and I react just fine. I’ve been dazed in wrestling – I remember a few times in high school I would throw people and land on my own head and almost knock myself out, but I kept wrestling through it. So I’ve seen those white flashes before and I’ve always fought through it. If it happens in this fight, I’m definitely prepared to fight through it and I know I can fight through it.” ON “THE COOL” (2011)“I think it came from my father. I grew up in the church, and my dad would call me up on Sundays to sing in front of complete strangers. And there’s something about singing that leaves you very vulnerable. Singing is such a pure thing – it’s your inner emotion, your feelings, coming out in your voice - and after you’re done, people can judge you in any way possible. I had to sing as a 12 year old boy going through adolescence, my voice was changing, I would squeak a lot, and I’m not the best singer, but the fact that my father forced me to leave myself so vulnerable at such a young age, now that I’m older and I’m just speaking and fighting, I just got used to putting myself out there. Subconsciously it taught me to be myself and speak my mind and not be afraid of a crowd.”JON JONES, CRIMEFIGHTER (2011)“I feel as if I have an obligation to do the right thing. I knew my coaches were with me, and I’m surprised that I got so many accolades for doing it, but when you say that 90 percent of the people wouldn’t do it, I just hope that’s not true. And a big part of me feels that I did what most people would have done. I’m from the ghetto in Rochester, and there were times when I wouldn’t protect myself that I regret because I didn’t know how to protect myself at the time,” he said. “I’ve been jumped before and beat up before and it’s kinda like how Mike Tyson said in his documentary, he never wanted to be taken advantage of again once he learned how to fight. I feel the same way. I got jumped when I was a kid, I got beat up, I got made fun of because I was always kind of a good kid, and now that I can protect myself and I have the wisdom to talk myself out of situations and I have the physical power to get myself out of most situations, I feel like I’m obligated to help other people. I feel crappy when I see people who are vulnerable in danger, so I just took action and I’m glad I did.”ON WINNING THE TITLE (2011)“It hasn’t really sunk in. In a lot of ways I felt as if I was a champion just because of the way I carry myself as a person and the way I look at life. And even before I got the belt I felt like I was an elite fighter in the world. Anyone ranked in the top ten in the world is automatically considered a champion in my opinion and now I feel as if I’m a champion of champions, and life is pretty much the same.”ON BEING A ROLE MODEL (2011)“My outlook is to never do anything that will disappoint kids across the country, never getting caught in a Tiger Woods scandal or anything crazy like that, and just staying where I’m at as an athlete, continuing to win fights decisively. I want to continue to do the things that got me to where I am – I want to continue being a champion in the way I treat people and continue to be a champion with decisive wins, and that’s important to me. (teammate and UFC welterweight champion) Georges (St-Pierre) always says he’s not fighting as a champion; he’s fighting for his legacy. And I’m very young and I guess I don’t have the right to mention a legacy at this point, but in a way I am fighting for my legacy already, and me being aware of that keeps me on the prowl.” 

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Call him a villain, but Michael Bisping isn't losing any sleep over the amount of fans that boo him or call him names. He'd rather be himself and be hated than be fake to be loved.

Posted in: ’t, michael, bisping, michael bisping, names hed

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

Should Chris Leben have been released after failing another drug test? Who do you see coming away with an Ultimate Fighter Season 14 trophy? Does Michael Bisping deserve a title-shot if he beats Jason Miller? What was your favorite moment of Bellator Season 5? Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay! Welcome to Grappling with Issues, our site’s regular weekly feature highlighting insight and opinion from myself and resident workhorse Jeremy Lambert whose general contributions and “Scorecard” event-breakdowns can be regularly found on Five Ounces. As always, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t hesitate to offer your own take on the topics in the “Comments” section below. Would you have cut Chris Leben after his latest run-in with drug/alcohol abuse? Lambert: No, I would get him some help. Leben has never been the most mentally stable person and even though we hear stories about how he’s doing better and how he’s turned his life around. I think being popped for pain killers proves that to be false. Painkiller addiction is a serious problem and one that Leben hopefully beats. To beat that though, he’ll need to go to some sort of counseling, not only for his addiction but for all the other problems that he’s had throughout his life. This isn’t a one off with Leben like it is with other guys. It’s clear that he needs help in his life and I hope UFC officials push him into taking the right steps to truly turn his life around. Conlan:No, though I would have made him fully aware that any other drug-related transgression such would result in his immediate termination (even a DWI or public intoxication). I might even consider implementing internal testing because the UFC is putting itself at risk of being considered an enabler. Like Jeremy said, Leben needs help and the UFC needs to reach out and give it to him if nobody else will because he clearly can’t do it on his own. The reality is the UFC has some culpability in the situation because they’ve created an environment where things that would result in most folks being fired don’t have long-term repercussions. They need to be cognizant of the perception it creates, the responsibility they have as his employer, and understand the company/sport could suffer a major blow to their reputation if Leben slips up again to the point someone’s life is dramatically affected whether his own, a friend/family member, or even an innocent victim. On a scale from 1-10 (ten being the best), how would you rate TUF 14? Lambert: I guess I’ll say a 7 or 8. Honestly though, despite watching every episode and even doing the live blog for the site, I almost immediately forget about the show and what happened on it after it goes off air and never think about it again until the following week. This hasn’t been a bad season though. I can’t really remember a bad fight, there have been some funny pranks and lines, and the coaches have built a nice rivalry. So it’s been a fine season, but the show ran its course for me a long time ago and now it’s something that I watch mainly because I need and have to, not because I really want to. Conlan: I’d go in the 7-8 range as well for the reasons Lambert listed, though I won’t go as far as to say I’m jaded to the point I don’t still enjoy the show. I like learning about what makes fighters tick and can always appreciate a good throwdown. I appreciated the qualifying round being set inside Mandalay Bay and the frenetic pace set by most. The fighters were talented, many of whom I can see sticking around the UFC (especially once flyweight is opened up) for the next few years, and the coaches’ personalities made for an entertaining season. All in all a solid way to close out TUF on Spike TV. TRUE/FALSE – Michael Bisping should get a title-shot if he beats Jason Miller at the Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale? Lambert: FALSE. Unless the winner of Mark Munoz vs. Chael Sonnen goes down with an injury, they’re pretty much guaranteed to get the next crack at Anderson Silva. My guess is that Bisping, should he beat Miller, will face the winner of Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson. UFC usually holds a show in England at the end of the year, so if Bisping keeps winning and the timing works out, we could see “The Count” challenging for the title in his home country at the end of 2012. Conlan: FALSE, but only because Silva is expected to be out until June and Bisping needs to stay active. I definitely think a fourth straight win coupled with the marketability of the match-up is enough to merit a title-shot for Bisping, at least in the context of UFC criteria, and I know a lot of people who would buy the PPV just in hopes of seeing “The Count” get knocked silly. However, Bisping was out for a major chunk of time in 2011 due to TUF 14 and I don’t want the same to be true in 2012. As such, I’d put him up against Sonnen or Munoz (the former has implied he’s already lined up for the winner of Bisping/Miller) and let that fight serve to determine the “lucky” individual who draws Silva in Brazil next summer. Better chance of winning this weekend: TJ Dillashaw or Dennis Bermudez? Conlan: Dillashaw. He has the fundamentals and wrestling to hang with John Dodson, plus a camp full of killers at Team Alpha Male, while Bermudez is facing an absolute beast in the form of Diego Brandao. Bryan Caraway, who is a solid grappler, couldn’t deal with the Brazilian’s fury despite repeated attempts to take him down and I see the same being true with Bermudez (a wrestler by trade). Lambert: I think Dodson is a tougher match up for Dillashaw than Diego is for Dennis. I know Diego is a wild man with plenty of power but I’m still not sold on his cardio or ground game. I mean, the dude has a 13-7 record. It’s not like he’s some undefeated monster who no one has figured out. I think guys got it in their head that Diego couldn’t be beat and so they lost. I’m pretty sure we can all agree that was the case with Caraway. Dennis showed that he has a ton of heart and even if he starts slow, I think he can come back and win. Besides Mike Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez, what was the most memorable moment from Bellator Season 5? Conlan: Other than the ring-girl vs. ring-girl grappling sessions? Alexis Vila knocking out Joe Warren is right up there for sure. In the past Warren had always been able to overcome adversity, even landing a few highlight reel finishes along the way, but such was not to be when he ran into fellow Olympian Vila. Early into the fight Vila landed that beautiful left that sent Warren down to the canvas on his back, arms extended in the air, and that’s all she wrote on one of the greatest knockouts of 2011. Lambert: Alright, I’m cheating here but I’m going to say the entire welterweight tournament. I realize that seven fights that spread across three events isn’t really a “moment” but this is my portion of the column and I’ll play by my own rules. I thought the 170-pound tournament was fantastic from start to finish. We had some close fights in the early rounds and then the final three fights all ended in spectacular fashion, including the finals when Douglas Lima knocked out Ben Saunders. I know it’s tough to get behind these Bellator tournaments because they all scream “second rate” since UFC boasts the best fighters in the world, especially at 170, but this was a great tournament that showcased some lesser known fighters in MMA. What UFC 144 fight featuring a Japanese fighter are you most looking forward to? Conlan: Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski. There are some other good options but for my money Palaszewski’s pairing with Hioki is the cream of the crop. Both fighters are well-rounded, veteran competitors who are coming off big wins. The winner of this bout could be on the cusp of a title-shot, possibly even earning one depending on how things unfold for Hioki. I’d definitely see it as a “Fight of the Night” type match-up on most cards and would here too if the lineup didn’t boast Ben Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar and Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon. Lambert: Obviously I’m looking forward to the “greatest fighter in Japanese history,” Yushin Okami, fighting on the undercard against Tim Boetsch. In all seriousness, I’m pretty excited for Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields because it’s a huge fight for both men. Akiyama, who hasn’t looked good at all in the UFC, is in desperate need of a win and is cutting down to 170 in order to find some success there while Shields, once considered the second best welterweight in the world, is in desperate need of a victory after dropping back to back fights. It’s a must-win fight for both guys and it’s very possible that it’ll be the only fight where the Japanese fans may actually favor the foreigner. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, fighter, ’t, lambert

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Thanksgiving was great. I had Turducken for the first time. I’m not sure how it’s cooked or anything but it was really good. I probably put on between five to ten pounds. One girl cooked the most amazing pumpkin pie I’ve ever had. All the girls were trying to get the recipe. To be honest I probably had more pieces than I should have. It’s gotta be a tough time to train for fighters because you have your family around and everyone is looking forward to eating and you’re the only one who can’t have much. I’m sure Michael Chandler had a great Thanksgiving. I’ve been lucky enough to be around his family and they are all terrific. It’s amazing how much love and support they have for Mike. I’m sure it was great at his house. Ulysses Gomez is fighting tonight in California at Tachi Palace Fights 11 which you can check out for free online. He’s moving up in weight, going to 135. Most guys move down but he wanted to try and move up and see how he does and he was offered the title fight right away. He was the champion at 125 at one point and he’s really up for this fight. He’s been looking good and we’re ready. His opponent, Cody Gibson, is gonna be tough and he has reach on Ulysses but we got that covered. Ulysses is a Denver Broncos fan and since I’m an Oakland Raiders fan, we need to get a bet on who wins the division. He actually owes me from the first week of the season when the Raiders won. He still hasn’t paid up. I have to collect. I’ve been so busy with the holidays and getting Ulysses ready that I still haven’t had a chance to watch UFC 139. It’s definitely on my “to do” list though. I’m hoping to make it to the TUF 14 Finale this weekend and I would like to see Michael Bisping kinda get his ass kicked. I’ve never really been a fan and even during the show I wasn’t impressed with how he handles himself. Everyone knows that Jason Miller is a character but I’ve met him and have held mitts for him and he’s a great guy. If you get to know you’ll understand that he’s just a fun loving guy who loves life and I wish him the best of luck this weekend. The World MMA Awards were on Wednesday and Chandler was one of the presenters, which was awesome because I still don’t think he’s gotten enough credit for his victory over Eddie Alvarez who is one of the Top 3-5 lightweights in the world. I’m very excited for Mike because not only do the Bellator fans know who he is but so will the rest of the MMA world. I think it’s great for him. That’s it for this week. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving yourself. Until next time, as always, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

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At 5-foot-3, and having fought much of his two year pro career as a 125-pound flyweight, The Ultimate Fighter 14’s Louis Gaudinot isn’t used to having too many advantages on his side on fight night. But in a nod to the original UFC fighter who was always the one on the short end when it came to size and strength – Royce Gracie – the New York native almost always finds a way to get things done.“The UFC doesn’t have my division, but to try out for the show at 135 (pounds) was a big opportunity, so I decided to take it,” said Gaudinot, who not only made it into the TUF 14 house, but also earned a spot on Saturday’s finale card against Johnny Bedford. “To me, it’s kinda like what martial arts is all about – the smaller guy being able to beat the bigger guy, not based on power and that sort of stuff, but based on your technique. When I go out there I’m trying to be the better martial artist and have better technique than the other guy, so it doesn’t matter if he’s bigger or stronger. I’m still gonna come out on top.”In six fights thus far, he’s come out on top five times, with his only loss coming via decision to bantamweight Nick Cottone in his second bout in 2009. But given his size, getting into the UFC wasn’t an option since the organization hasn’t introduced the flyweight division yet, and getting meaningful fights at 125 pounds on the east coast has been a no go as well. So he was forced into a holding pattern of sorts, fighting just twice in 2010 and not at all in 2011 before the show. “When I went pro, I started at 125 and there were rumors that the WEC was gonna add it (the flyweight division), and I was looking forward to that, but when the WEC and UFC merged, they kinda put those plans on hold, and it’s still up in the air about next year and when they’re gonna add the flyweights,” said Gaudinot. “I’m ranked number 10 in the world at 125, but it’s hard to get a shot at anybody above me in the rankings because they’re scattered throughout the country, and even the local shows, they don’t want to pay to fly somebody out and give them a good show purse, so you start taking these fights against people that aren’t helping you move up the ladder when I know that if I was a 155er or 170 pounder, I could get better fights with tougher competition and help myself move up the rankings or probably be in the UFC already. So I wouldn’t say it’s discouraging, but it’s definitely a bigger challenge than being in one of the other weight classes.”It’s a challenge Gaudinot has taken on though. Even though he knew he would likely be overpowered by most opponents on TUF14, he toppled respected Paul McVeigh before losing to Dustin Pague in the quarterfinals. He also earned the respect of coach Michael Bisping, who made him his first pick, and of his peers. In addition, he made an impression on viewers with his aggressive fighting style and something a little bit off the beaten path – a bright green mop of hair that has become his calling card.Hey, whatever works.“I started out doing the green hair just as something to do,” said the 27-year old. “It wasn’t really a marketing tool, but it’s definitely turned into that. (Laughs) Whenever somebody watches the show, they’re like ‘man, you always stick out because you see the green hair right away.’ But after that first fight, which was definitely action-packed, they knew I wasn’t just a gimmick fighter with green hair. People saw that I had skills and talent and I beat the number one bantamweight from Europe. But the green hair definitely helps me a lot. I’m in the mall now and people recognize me and come up and want to take pictures, so it’s definitely working in my favor.”Gaudinot got a true dose of his new life in the spotlight a few weeks back at UFC 139 in San Jose, as a simple trip to the bathroom took over an hour as he was greeted by fans wanting autographs and pictures. But it’s no problem for the Yonkers product, who is appreciative of all the attention.“Some people say they don’t like the attention, but when you’re fighting in front of 5,000 or 10,000 people, you’ve got to like the attention a little bit,” he said. “I was in San Jose for UFC 139 because one of my teammates (bantamweight Nick Pace) was fighting, and it took me literally an hour just to go to the bathroom and get back to my seat because everybody recognized me. But to have people appreciate your skills and your work ethic and all that stuff, I’m enjoying it.”But now he needs to earn his place in the Octagon with a win on Saturday night against castmate Bedford, who holds a seven inch height and eight inch reach advantage over him. That’s no joke, but as Gaudinot makes sure to note, this is where his skill level comes in as the equalizer.“My take on this is that he (Bedford) is looking for an easy fight and he thinks I’m gonna be an easy fight,” said Gaudinot. “He’s one of the bigger guys at 135 and I was obviously one of the smaller guys on the show. He fought (Josh) Ferguson, who’s a flyweight, (John) Dodson, who’s a flyweight, and now he’s fighting me, another flyweight. So I kinda think he’s just a big bully. He knows that this is his shot too to get into the UFC, so ‘let me pick on somebody who’s smaller than me.’ But like I said, that’s what martial arts is about – it’s about the smaller guy beating the big guy, and come December 3rd, that’s what’s gonna happen.”Now that’s a flyweight fighting at bantamweight while packing a heavyweight heart.“I’m looking to go out there and make a statement and show what the smaller weight classes are all about and show the UFC and the fans why they should add the flyweight division,” he said. “But I’ll fight bantamweight as long as I can and as long as they’ll allow me, and of course when they open up the flyweights, I’m gonna drop down and take that opportunity.”  

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, gaudinot, flyweight

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He was knocked down, slammed, and nearly submitted, but every time Dennis Bermudez hit the deck in his Ultimate Fighter 14 bout against Jimmie Rivera, he got up. Eventually, the bell sounded to end the first round, and Bermudez had 60 seconds to regroup and get ready for the most important five minutes of his career.“I knew I lost that first round and I kinda got dominated,” said Bermudez. “It wasn’t that I wasn’t mentally focused; there was a little lack of coordination between my brain and my body.” It was the worst time to have such a disconnect. A former Division I wrestler for Bloomsburg University, Bermudez entered the TUF14 competition as one of the better known competitors, one expected at the very least to earn a spot in the house for the meat of the single elimination tournament. But now he was on the verge of defeat.“I was feeling gun-shy,” he admitted. “He (Rivera) was hitting me and I was backing out, but I wasn’t hitting him back. So I said, ‘well, he’s hitting me anyway, I might as well hit him.’ (Laughs) And I stood in the pocket a little bit more.”He sat on his stool after round one, and as his cornermen delivered instructions, he interrupted them with three simple words:“I got this.”He was right.“I don’t know if people saw this, but there’s a whole different aura about me from the first round to the second. I had a little more pep in my step, I was a little more crisp, and I felt great.”At 1:40 of the second round, Bermudez made a complete 180 degree turn, stopping Rivera via strikes. He was in the TUF house, and two wins over Stephen Bass (TKO2) and Akira Corassani (Wsub1) later, he is in Las Vegas, awaiting his featherweight finale bout against Diego Brandao on Saturday night. The Rivera fight was almost a microcosm of the 24-year old’s pro career thus far, as he’s gone from high to low and back to high in the space of two years instead of two rounds. A native of Saugerties, New York, Bermudez built a solid reputation early on, winning his first seven bouts, including a decision victory over UFC vet Shannon Gugerty in September of 2010. But the high of beating Gugerty didn’t last long, as later in the Shine Fights one night tournament, he was submitted by another UFC veteran, Drew Fickett.“My first loss to Drew Fickett was in the Shine Fights Grand Prix, and I already had a grinder with Shannon Gugerty in the first round, and then I came out and fought Drew Fickett in the second round, and I just wasn’t mentally ready,” said Bermudez of the first round submission loss to Fickett. “And it pissed me off that I did that because I’ve never done that in my life. I questioned what I was thinking and why my mind was like that.”Two months later, Bermudez, still fighting at 155 pounds, was submitted in the first round again, this time by Jordan Rinaldi.“My second loss, I wasn’t in any fighting camp,” he said. “I was just working out on the bags and sparring any Joe that I could because I wasn’t training with anybody. I was just running the roads and working at a fitness gym. The first exchange he caught me early and I fought not knowing what the hell was going on for two minutes.”It wasn’t the ideal way to head into The Ultimate Fighter, but between his loss to Rinaldi and his trip to Las Vegas, Bermudez relocated to Long Island and began training with a dedicated team that upped his game and his focus considerably.“I originally started my MMA career in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania region, and last year I moved here to Long Island and I feel like I got in with the right crowd,” he said. “I have great fighters around me. I work out with two different pro boxers, Chris Weidman’s here, Phil Baroni’s old striking coach – Keith Trimble – is here, I’ve got a black belt jiu-jitsu coach in Greg DePasquale, and I’ve been working out with the Hofstra wrestling team, so I just have great athletes around me right now that are giving me a look that I think I need. And I think that had a lot to do with my success of going through the house.”Once the first round with Rivera was over, Bermudez kicked his game into gear and battled to a position where he’s just one win away from a UFC contract. Sure, he hasn’t been as spectacular as knockout artist Brandao has been, but his grit will serve him well should the bout get into the later rounds.“Diego likes to bully his opponents around, and that’s weird because that’s kinda what I do too,” said Bermudez of his opponent. “I like to hold the center and then push them around and get in their face and kinda put like a blanket over them so they can’t breathe. But I think I’ve got better cardio than him and I think I’ll be a little bit more clear-headed as well.”And if Bermudez has shown anything, he’s not about to shy away from a scrap.“Anything I’ve ever done in my life, I’ve always sought out the highest competition,” he said. “When I made the step in wrestling from high school to college, DII and DIII were available, but I wasn’t gonna wrestle unless it was DI. I never dodged anyone, I was always looking to try and wrestle the national champs or the All-Americans, and this is the same scenario. I want to be in the UFC because that’s the best competition, and I really want to test myself and see where I’m at.”  

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In comic books, the origin story is always the most beloved, the one everyone always refers back to. That’s likely to be the case for The Ultimate Fighter bantamweight finalist John Dodson as well, because he’s probably the only mixed martial artist discovered at Chuck E. Cheese.Yes, Chuck E. Cheese. It was at the famous kids’ restaurant where Dodson, just out of high school, was working to pay the bills while studying at the University of New Mexico. A state champion wrestler, he opted against taking a scholarship out of state to stay home, an idea that surprised the father of one of the children having a party at the restaurant, Chris Luttrell. Luttrell, Greg Jackson’s first black belt, knew of Dodson’s prowess on the mat, and he invited him to the gym. Dodson accepted.“I got tore up, to tell you the truth,” he laughs. “I got beat up by everybody there and I was so pissed.” He did impress his new gym mates with his tenacity though, along with a front flip that he used to avoid a double leg takedown.“Why don’t you just stay here?” Dodson did. He kept the Chuck E. Cheese gig for a few more years, but his real focus was elsewhere, as he began his mixed martial arts career in 2004 with a first round submission win over Zac White.The ensuing years have delivered a mix of fortunes for the Albuquerque native, as he developed a frustrating pattern of win two, lose one while almost always being the smaller fighter thanks to a 5-foot-3 frame that optimally packs 125 pounds on weigh-in day. But finding consistent opposition at flyweight can be an issue, so Dodson has had to fight at 135 when necessary, something he doesn’t have a problem with.“That never really bothered me because I’ve always been the smaller guy,” said the 27-year old. “I’ve always been that dude that everybody else came up to and said ‘hey, I want to fight you, let’s see what you’ve got.’ And I’ve always been that little guy who stepped up to the challenge. If they think they can do whatever they want, I want to see if they can do it. Prove me wrong. Hold me down, beat me up, use that size and that strength. That’s what I want to see. If they can’t, then they need to just man up and get out of my face.”It’s probably why he immediately approached his opponent in this Saturday’s bantamweight final, TJ Dillashaw, when they entered the TUF14 house, and made his desire to fight him evident. It wasn’t personal, just business.“I gave him more praise and props the first day I met him than I did throughout the whole rest of the time I was in the house,” said Dodson. “I said ‘Hey man, you have one of the best skill sets, you train with one of the best camps; I want to fight you first because I need to test where I’m at in the house.’ If I don’t fight the best first, then I’ll never know where I stand. He totally agreed with me and I said ‘Don’t back down.’ He backed out, not once, but twice.”In the meantime, Dodson fought his way to the finale with wins over John Albert and Johnny Bedford, earning his meeting with the highly-regarded Dillashaw. But it was Dodson’s antics in the house during taping that garnered even more attention than his fighting, as he was the “mole” that gave his team’s matchups and strategies to the opposing squad. Such a course of action comes in stark contrast to not only Dodson’s gregarious personality, but his professionalism outside the Octagon. He’s fine with whatever perception people may initially have of him though, because the way he sees it, life on reality TV is what it is.“People will come to love me because if they actually meet me and see what I can do when I progress through the UFC, they’ll be on my side,” he said. “I know what TV is and I know what it’s all about, so the best way to be the most talked about person on TV is to be a villain.”So this was the plan all along?“Pretty much. I know everyone loves to have someone to hate, and if I can be that person, then I’ll be more than willing to accept it.”Well, playing the bad guy is one way to pass the time during the six weeks of taping, but Dodson admits that it was his alliance with some of his castmates – the Death Leprechauns – that made life outside the gym a little more palatable.“We were all about having fun,” said Dodson. “We had Akira (Corassani), Louis (Gaudinot), Marcus Brimage, Josh (Ferguson), and we all just sat there and had nothing but stories to tell or just stupid stuff to do.”As for the rest of the time there…“It sucked,” he laughs. “I ain’t gonna lie. No TV, no cell phone, no internet. Not only that, we didn’t see any women. Six weeks without a woman, it’s kinda hard. The highlight for me being in the house was yelling at the ring girls.”Those days are over now, and the sacrifices he’s made have paid off. All he has to do is beat Dillashaw on Saturday night, and a new chapter will begin in a wild story that began in the land of pizza, arcade games, and kiddie rides. And through it all, John Dodson will remember what his mother always told him. “My mom taught me that you always have to be first with everything that you’ve gotta do,” he said. “Be first, be smooth, and be clean.” 

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As TUF finales go, what’s in store for us on Saturday night isn’t half bad.  A TUF winner-turned-reviled coach is taking on a happy-go-lucky former “Bully Beatdown” host, a quartet of promising bantamweights and featherweights are vying for the coveted brass ring of “The Ultimate Fighter” status (which guarantees them a few somewhat easy fights as they’re eased into the Octagon proper), a TUF winner from last season gets to take on someone who was once the uncrowned UFC lightweight champ, and the baddest dude with green hair you’ll ever know gets another crack at glory.  It’s sort of fitting that we have a TUF 14 Finale that promises so much combative fun, as it will mark the end of a reality TV show that gave rise to a sport that – when it first aired in 2005 – was struggling to find itself.  And find itself it did!  Our baby is all grown up and huge!  So on Saturday night, kick back on the couch with a bowl of raw almonds and a freshly-opened can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and take in the last TUF finale on SpikeTV.  It should be a good one, and dammit, we’ve earned it.  Preview time! -Michael Bisping vs. Jason “Mayhem” Miller – If there were lessons about douchey-ness that needed to be learned after his first stint as TUF coach, Bisping absolutely did not heed them.  He’s still one of the most unlikeable persons on the planet when the cameras are rolling.  Which isn’t such a bad thing in this instance, as the heat between him and opposing coach Miller hovered around nil all season yet people will still tune in to watch the cocky, self-centered Brit get his ass kicked by the goofy, always-smiling guy standing on the other side of the cage.  In terms of skills, everyone knows how well-rounded Bisping is when fists and takedowns start flying.  Mayhem is well-rounded too, although his jiu-jitsu is top notch – and that, coupled with his aggressive style, gives him the edge over the Brit.  This one is ending via rear naked choke, and it sure ain’t gonna be Michael Bisping who’ll be cinching in that choke. -Diego Brandao vs. Dennis Bermudez – Supposedly, featherweight Brazilian jungle beast Brandao knows a move or two in jiu-jitsu.  But you’d never know that, because throughout the entire TUF 14 season he was swinging for the rafters and knocking cats out.  Bermudez, on the other hand, proved to have the kind of resilience that makes you wonder if he’s human or really just organic matter covering a robotic endoskeleton.  Either way, this should be a fantastic fight, with Brandao favored early – when the power in his fists is greatest – and Bermudez favored later.  I’m picking the American to get the Brazilian down and grind him into oblivion, but with Brandao’s firepower, you never know. -TJ Dillashaw vs. John Dodson – Dillashaw is going into this bout with a distinct size advantage (Dodson could, and maybe should, compete at flyweight) plus he’ll have that Team Alpha Male propensity for blending wrestling with face-punching with the unpredictability of a methamphetamine addict.  Dodson moves like Speedy Gonzales and usually lands about eight strikes to an opponent’s one.  Where does that leave us?  Probably with one fighter somewhat successful at getting the other down and holding him there, but with interludes on the feet where the smaller guy blasts the bigger guy in the grill.  I see Dillashaw earning the decision, but it won’t be easy for him. -Tony Ferguson vs. Yves Edwards – The TUF Winner World Tour continues for Ferguson, who will follow up his jaw-breaking performance over Aaron Riley with a clash against the once-great Edwards.  How great was Edwards?  In 2004 the UFC didn’t have a lightweight belt, but the general consensus was that if they did, it would’ve belonged to him.  Unfortunately, Father Time has taken his toll on Edward’s speed and ability to absorb punishment, so what we’ll likely get on Saturday night is Ferguson using his pinpoint-accurate boxing to great effect against someone who would’ve killed him seven years ago.  *Sigh*  Ferguson takes this one via TKO. -Louis Gaudinot vs. Johnny Bedford – Like Dodson, Gaudinot is totally going to kill it once the UFC opens up the 125-pound weight class.  Until then, however, he’s going to have to employ his lightning-like striking, capable grappling and unending tenacity against dudes with longer reaches and heads way up in the sky (comparatively).  When it comes to Bedford – who didn’t really show much on TUF 14 other than toughness – Gaudinot shouldn’t have a problem getting around the size difference.  He’s going to be too fast to get a bead on, and too dangerous when Bedford gets his hands on him.  Watch for the Green-Haired One to snag the “W” via TKO.

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It was an angle too tempting to pass up, asking The Ultimate Fighter season 14 bantamweight Johnny Bedford about that time he fought in a barn.“Man, I probably fought in more than one,” laughed Bedford, and it was clearly time to grab the popcorn, because this wasn’t going to be your typical ‘journey to the UFC’ story. And the 28-year old Ohio native didn’t disappoint.“When I started fighting, there weren’t even athletic commissions,” he said of his formative years in MMA. “There was nothing. It was crazy. I was fighting up to three times a month a lot of times, making a couple hundred dollars to fight. There weren’t even win bonuses back then. You’d get like two hundred bucks to fight and you had to pay your gas, so by the time you got there and got back and got dinner, you made $50.”You could almost chalk up this beginning to Bedford being a wild brawler who was simply looking for a legal environment to scrap in. But that’s not the case. Bedford was a seven-time AAU national wrestling champ who even wrestled on the Division I level for a year and a half at Cleveland State University, and while he didn’t get his degree, he did still want to compete, hence his migration to mixed martial arts. But this wasn’t the MMA that you were seeing on the UFC or PRIDE level back then. This was a whole other animal, and Bedford was getting a crash course in the school of hard knocks.“It’s hard to get motivated when you fight three times a month, you don’t even know your opponent, and then they change it the day of weigh-ins,” he said. “I’ve had amateur fights where we showed up and they literally said ‘raise your hand if you want to fight.’ All the guys that wanted to fight got on a scale that looked like they borrowed it from his mother’s bathroom, and they said ‘okay, you two are the closest, you’re gonna fight.’”Bedford persevered though, hopeful that something would eventually break, just not him. His early record is spotty, with a few wins broken up by a loss or two before he began the cycle again, and soon, he wasn’t just in a situation where he was trying to support himself. Eventually, he got married and the couple welcomed a son into the world. Now what was a dream was turning into something where he had to figure out how to make ends meet.“It didn’t make a lot of sense,” he admits. “Luckily, in the real hard days, when I was making no money at all, I was still single at the time. But shortly after, I was married in 2006 and we had a son later on that year, and it was the same story. I was fighting all over the Midwest for a couple hundred dollars a fight, and by then you would get some travel money, but I was working at UPS just for the insurance. My paycheck every week from UPS was about $80. So I was fighting two, three times a month, and a great payday back then would be 2 and 2 or a 3 and 3. And that’s hundred, not thousand.”Being a fighter whose optimum weight is 135 pounds gave him even more of a burden to carry, especially since there were few options for bantamweights or featherweights with less than stellar records.“It was disheartening,” said Bedford. “I went through numerous times where my wife and I would have that conversation – is enough enough? Even making the WEC four years ago, which was the goal at the time, still didn’t pay what the UFC did, and you still didn’t get the notoriety. You tell the average fan that I’m hoping to get into the WEC and they’re like – what’s that? I started my career weighing at 155 pounds and that’s what I fought at because you couldn’t find fights at ‘45 and ‘35.” So when Bedford finally put together a solid run in 2009-10 when he won six of seven fights, including a December 2010 submission of WEC vet Frank Gomez, and got a call to compete for a spot in the Ultimate Fighter 14 house, he may have been an underdog, but he was an underdog that bites. And he certainly locked his jaws on favorite Carson Beebe (the brother of former WEC champ Chase Beebe), submitting him in the first round to earn his place on the TUF 14 cast. That was the easy part.“Some people think that it’s glamorous and it’s so awesome to be there,” he said of the TUF experience. “And my answer is always honest and to the point – it was terrible. (Laughs) It was the worst six weeks of my life. Would I do it again? Absolutely. But while you’re there for six weeks, it’s miserable. You’re literally cut off from the outside world. And me being a husband and a father, for the last four and a half years of my life, I woke up every day and saw the same two people. And they completely cut you off from that, and it was tough. It turned out to be tougher than I thought it would, for sure.”Bedford would go on to win another bout in competition, decisioning Josh Ferguson, before getting knocked out in the bantamweight semifinals by John Dodson. This Saturday he gets another shot at staying in the UFC though, as he’ll battle castmate Louis Gaudinot in the main card opener.“It’s a great fight for me,” said Bedford. “I think he (Gaudinot) is obviously talented. He was the first overall pick for (TUF14 coach Michael) Bisping, which I was kinda blown away by at the beginning. But he’s a small 135 pounder and I’m about as big as they get, and I think my size, my reach, and my height advantage is gonna play a big part in this fight. Another thing is that I have a much better wrestling pedigree and I can put him on his back when needed. I’m blessed to get that matchup and I feel like it’s a good matchup for me to get a win and keep moving forward in my UFC career.”A UFC career. It sounded like merely a dream for Bedford back in his salad days, but now it’s nearly a reality. And if you doubt what such a fistic upbringing can do for a fighter, don’t. Coming up the hard way can do wonders for you when you have to dig deep to win a grueling fight.“It builds toughness,” said Bedford. “It’s gonna be really hard to break me. I fought in the worst settings you could possibly think of. I’ve seen everything you can throw at me. These guys who are just getting into the sport, it’s crazy to think about. My brother in law (Evan Cutts) just fought on national TV two weeks ago. It was his third pro fight and he’s 20 years old. He fought Reagan Penn and beat him, and he made the equivalent of my best payday before the UFC. (Laughs) And he’s grateful for that.”Johnny Bedford is grateful to finally be here. And it will take a helluva fighter to make him leave.

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If you think you were the only one jumping off the couch during UFC 139’s epic battle between Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua earlier this month, think again. Middleweight Jason “Mayhem” Miller was right there with you.“That fired me up,” said Miller. “I feel like that should be required viewing for every mixed martial artist. That Wanderlei (Silva)-Cung Le fight and Henderson-Shogun fight, those guys just put it all out there. It was a battle of willpower and technique, and those guys were just going for it a hundred percent. Every mixed martial artist needs to look into that and see what it really, really takes to do this sport. Henderson and Shogun, those guys had their afterparties at the hospital. You have to be willing to give everything in there, and both of those guys definitely did.”That’s the difference between professional fighters and us civilians. While you could appreciate what Henderson and Rua did over 25 minutes in San Jose, you would probably jump under the covers if asked to do it yourself. But Miller, who will be the next fighter who could go 25 minutes in the Octagon when he faces Michael Bisping in the main event of this Saturday’s Ultimate Fighter 14 finale in Las Vegas, this is exactly what he signed up for.“If you have the right mentality to go into the Octagon, you should have the mentality to never quit and to leave it all in the cage,” he said. “You can’t shy away when the going gets tough.”Miller has gone the championship distance before, losing a Strikeforce middleweight title fight to then-champion Jake Shields in 2009, and despite the fact that cardio is one of Bisping’s strong suits, Miller believes his edge – a mental one – will serve him well this weekend.“I know mentally it’s one of those things that you can just push through and do it, and since I’ve been there before and I have a better feeling of what that’s like, I definitely think it will give me an edge,” he said. “But I really don’t plan on taking advantage of those five rounds. I’m trying to finish him in the first.”So we won’t be seeing Hendo-Shogun II then?“I don’t think Bisping’s good enough to do that,” said Miller of his coaching rival on TUF 14. “I think he’s a good all-around fighter, but he doesn’t stand out in one place in particular and that’s where me and him differ. I have strong punches and I have a very good grappling game, and eventually he’s going to falter and I’ll be there to take advantage of it.”Miller’s confidence is evident leading up to his much-anticipated meeting with “The Count,” but what is also present is a focus that he admitted in a recent blog post on his website, MayhemMiller.com, wasn’t always there.“It has recently occurred to me, that in the entirety of my career, I have never been 100% focused in on a fight,” he wrote. “I mean, at the time I may have believed that I was totally focused, but in retrospect it occurs to me that I had certain extenuating circumstances that were pulling me in one direction or another, and distracting me from the task at hand.”Asked about this post, Miller elaborated.“I always thought I was (focused), but in retrospect I was kinda just goofin’ off a little bit too much and not really focusing. I was like the cool kid at school who would show up with no books and just wing it. And I did that with a lot of my career, but finally I have the right people around me and I’m doing it correctly. It was my own self realizing that I need to seize these opportunities in the best way possible and alleviating those childish things that would distract me when I was younger.”Truth be told, the 30-year old Miller never shied away from the side of him that could best be described as “zany.” But it worked for him. Despite not being in the UFC for the exception of one 2005 decision loss to future welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Miller used his fights and his personality to build himself into a star like few have, and his wild antics even earned him a hosting gig on MTV’s ‘Bully Beatdown.’ So when he was chosen to coach on TUF 14 against Bisping, to many newer fans, Miller wasn’t a top level fighter returning to the UFC; he was the ‘Bully Beatdown’ guy. “If somebody only watches ‘Bully Beatdown’ and sees that aspect of my personality, which is the comedian side of me, they’re not gonna realize that there are a lot of layers there,” he said. “The reason I got the ‘Bully Beatdown’ job is because I’m a funny guy, and part of my humor came from how hard you have to work to do mixed martial arts. I started being the funny guy to keep morale up in a training room that so much pain is associated with. So I keep spirits light by being the funny guy and it worked out that I got a job where I could use that creative side of myself.”And after watching him lead his fighters on the show into battle over the course of the season, it was clear that there was more to him than advertised.“I knew that people were gonna get to see what I really do and what I’ve really done and what I’m good at on The Ultimate Fighter, and that’s training and fighting,” he said. “I’ve been doing this since I was like 17 years old, and it’s the thing that I know the best. So I knew that people were gonna be in for a surprise when I signed up for The Ultimate Fighter. And that was fine with me. I didn’t change anything or have to play anything up for the cameras. I just went in, they gave me the job, and I tried to do my job as best as possible.”As a bonus, the show marked his return to the organization for the first time since the St-Pierre bout more than six years ago, a period that saw him go 12-3 with 1 NC, and that included wins over Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy, Hiromitsu Miura, and Kazushi Sakuraba, with his only losses coming against Shields, “Jacare” Souza, and Frank Trigg.“I knew it was a matter of time,” said Miller of ending up back in the UFC. “I’m one of the rare exceptions of mixed martial arts that have gone outside of UFC and become popular. I did my own thing and kinda built myself, and I knew that I would be back working with the biggest and best promotion in the world eventually; it was a timing thing and suddenly the timing worked out just fine.”If Miller’s focused, confident, and geared up for battle, he couldn’t be more on point when it comes to timing, and having Bisping as a foil for a little bout of trash talking that has been going on since TUF14 was announced can’t hurt. But California’s Miller admits that he really doesn’t need that kind of fuel to get up for the fight.“I didn’t need any extra motivation,” he said. “But this guy’s attitude is so funny, and I can never get away from it. He’s a bully, and if you stand up to the bully, he’s gonna break. And we saw that throughout the entire season. He would pick on other guys, and then when I got in his face, he would kinda shy away. And once we meet in the cage, there’s not gonna be anywhere for him to run. He can’t avoid fighting me.”And beating Bisping is far from the be all, end all for Miller. He’s a well-traveled veteran who has seen it all in the fight game over the years. Now that he’s found a home in the UFC, he has only one final goal in the sport.“My goal is to get a belt,” he said. “That’s why I’m in here. And I know I can beat (UFC middleweight champion) Anderson Silva; I just need to get in front of him. You put me in front of him, I’m the champion, and I say that with one hundred percent conviction. I know that styles make fights and I know I can get him on the floor and submit him. I definitely can do it, so I just need to get that chance, and whoever stands in front of me is gonna fall. That’s all that I’m thinking about at this point in my life. I have a title run in me that needs to come out, and I know I can walk out of the cage with the belt around my waist.”That’s pretty serious talk from the ‘Bully Beatdown guy,’ and maybe, just maybe, it will be all business from here on out for “Mayhem” Miller.“As far as my fighting career is concerned, that (winning a title) is the reason I go to the gym,” he said. “And I think for many years, that wasn’t the reason. Maybe it was because it seemed so far away that I didn’t have the same motivation. My motivation before was to just put on exciting fights. That was all I wanted to do – entertain everybody. Now I have a renewed interest in the fight game because I know that the way the middleweight division shakes out, I can get a belt. So I’m gonna do it.”

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In the space of nine minutes and 14 seconds, Michael Bisping’s life had changed, but the winner of The Ultimate Fighter’s third season wasn’t about to. He had just defeated Josh Haynes in June of 2006, earned a UFC contract, and was soon to begin a journey that would not only make him a household name in his native England, but around the world.Sitting in the locker room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino that night, getting his hand wraps cut off, he took a deep breath as if to almost take everything in. I jokingly asked him if he was going to miss returning to one of his old jobs as an upholsterer or in a slaughterhouse. The laugh that came back was one that didn’t need any words attached to it, but it said a mouthful.“I’m not going back.”He hasn’t, and from then until now, he’s much the same person. He hasn’t learned how to talk in clichés, he doesn’t skate around questions most would be uncomfortable with, and even though the tax bracket has changed, he remains someone he once told me was just “one of the lads.” Needless to say, despite a few costly losses and some ups and downs, he has no regrets.“It’s been the best ride of my life,” said Bisping. “I remember (UFC President) Dana White saying some things when we came off The Ultimate Fighter and it’s fully lived up to everything he’s said and far exceeded it. Being part of the UFC family, I’m so proud and so happy with my life. I’m a lucky man. I get paid well, but I truly love my job. I love being a part of the UFC, I love being a professional fighter, and I love the rewards that it gives to me and my family. So it’s unbelievable.”Now the stakes are even higher though. The first time he showed up at an Ultimate Fighter finale show, he was fighting for a job. On Saturday, he will be fighting to keep a dream of a world middleweight title shot alive. And the only one standing in his way is his opposing coach from season 14 of the reality series, Jason “Mayhem” Miller.“I’m on a quest for the title, I want my title shot, and I’m almost there,” said Bisping. “I beat this guy and it’s not gonna give me a title shot, but I have to beat him, and there’s no way Jason Miller is gonna be the guy to stop me.”It’s as vanilla as the two will get in their descriptions of each other, as a steady stream of trash talk between the middleweights has been building over the course of the season, with the culmination to come this weekend at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas.“I never really had too much of a problem with the guy to start with, but a few of his antics on the show pissed me off,” said Bisping, who just wrapped up his second coaching stint on the show, having also coached season nine. “He (Miller) actually got physical a couple of times and pushed me, and in my book that’s crossing the line. You don’t put your hands on somebody. But whatever, I’m a big boy, I can take it, and I’m just looking forward to fighting the guy.”If this sounds like a recurring theme in Bisping’s career, it is. And it goes back to that no-nonsense, say what’s on his mind, and refusal to hold his tongue attitude. But when there weren’t some verbal fireworks, as in his 2009-10 wins over Denis Kang, Dan Miller, and Yoshihiro Akiyama, Bisping has delivered some of his best victories. He doesn’t agree though.“Those performances you mentioned were good performances, and there was no bad blood, but in my opinion, I think I fight better when I’m - for want of a better word - pissed off,” he said. “So for me, that does help. I’m emotional in and out of the ring, and before and after a fight I’m emotional, but generally when I’m fighting, I’m very, very focused and I’m focusing on what needs to be done as opposed to doing anything silly because of letting my emotions get the better of me.”In other words, if he has to lose, it’s going to be to anyone except “Mayhem” Miller. “Definitely,” he laughs. “I’ve been in the UFC since 2006, I’ve had about 14 fights in the organization, I’ve only got three losses on my entire record at middleweight and light heavy, I’ve only been stopped once, and I believe this is my time. I’m coming into my peak as a fighter, and everything’s there. I truly believe I’m one of the better fighters out there, and obviously I want to prove that. Take Miller out of the way, and probably one more fight, and then I get my title shot. I believe I match up well with (UFC middleweight champion) Anderson (Silva), I’ll certainly give him a helluva lot better fight than what everybody else has done lately. I ain’t gonna stand there and get front kicked in the face, or I’m not gonna get tapped in the face with a jab and fall over, so I want my shot and I feel I deserve it.”Miller has similar feelings about tangling with “The Spider,” but neither fighter will get that coveted shot anytime soon without first delivering the goods on Saturday night. And to show the importance of the battle, it’s scheduled for the championship distance of five rounds. It’s a route Miller – who is returning to the UFC after a six year absence – is familiar with, but it’s new territory for “The Count,” who nonetheless is known for his seemingly endless reserve of cardio. So how is he gearing up for the possibility of an additional two rounds this weekend?“It’s been a pain in the ass to be honest,” he laughs. “I spar three times a week, and that’s full MMA sparring with three or four different guys rotating in on me, and where it’s usually three rounds, now it’s five rounds three times a week, so yeah, I’ve been getting punched and kicked a helluva lot more. But other than that, I always train as hard as I possibly can because I’m hungry, I want to reach the top, and I want to get my respect as a fighter. I’ve never been able to understand why guys go out there and gas and can’t fight three rounds hard. So for a five round fight, I’ve stepped it up a little bit, and cardio ain’t gonna be a problem.”The way he sees it, training for a five rounder against Miller is a perfect primer for a training camp geared for Silva. And though he’s been the target of plenty of abuse over the years on the internet, his eyes have not strayed from his goal, and he’s willing to take any verbal jabs he needs to as long as he knows the truth of his accomplishments thus far, and puts in the work he needs to in order to get his dream fight.“If you go on the internet and believe everything that’s said there, I’m not too popular,” said Bisping. “But in my experience in day to day life, people are very, very kind to me. I live out here in California now, and people always have nice things to say. Obviously when they’ve got a keyboard to hide behind, they say something differently. When it comes to some of the hardcore fans and the guys who do talk about me, I think they see some of my antics and they do look past my skills. If you go on the Underground (forum) and look at the things they say, you’d think I couldn’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag, but I lost a split decision to Rashad Evans, I got robbed of a decision against Wanderlei (Silva), and I got knocked out against Dan Henderson. Against Dan Henderson, that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I learned a lot from that fight and I realized a lot of the mistakes I was making. The other two fights were razor-thin. Other than that, I’ve stopped most of my guys, I have something like a 70% stoppage rate (Ed. Note – Bisping has actually finished nearly 82% of his pro victories by KO or submission), contrary to the idea that everybody has that I can’t punch as well. So I think that (his antics) does overshadow it sometimes, but that is the situation.”And as Mike Tyson’s former trainer Cus D’Amato once said, ‘people who are born round don’t die square.” So don’t expect Bisping to change who he is for the sake of others. It’s worked for him so far, and he’s looking for similar positive results on Saturday.

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, bisping, ’m

Read the full article at UFC

So I got this really nice crystal ball from the thrift store yesterday and I thought I would use it to foretell what Georges St. Pierre would say in his black/white pre-fight interview that airs just before the UFC 143 broadcast. I can guarantee you that GSP will mention something along the lines of 'I will be the best Georges St. Pierre that I've ever been and the worst Georges St. Pierre can beat the best Nick Diaz'. He will also use 'He can't handle my rhythm', then the gladiator will appear on-screen, the hard-metal will blast through your television set, and you will run around your living room like a lunatic. I tried using my thrift-store crystal ball to predict what would be the outcome for the main event of UFC 143, but my neighbor thought it was a giant Gobstopper and tried to eat it whole. He's dead, now. Death by crystal ball. He should have saw it coming. Canada's 'Slam Sports' caught up with GSP to get his take on his upcoming bout with Nick Diaz, which is slated to go down at UFC 143 -- that is if Dana White doesn't pull Diaz from the main event, again. St. Pierre doesn't seem too stressed out by Nick Diaz's smack talk because he can't even understand it. "I’ve seen it all from everyone before, if they’re trying to get into my head and make me fight a bad fight, it’s just mind games and it doesn’t work." "I don’t even understand (or) speak English very well. I don’t understand most of the things that (Diaz) says when he trash talks. I don’t really care." “I’m just going to focus on hurting him.” In the infinite possibilities that can exist in this world, one of these is Georges St. Pierre being stalked by a UFOs and aliens are secretly controlling his actions. It's not my idea, nor could I even invent something so esoteric. It belongs to a guy named Jon Kelly and he so vehemently believes it to be true that he created a twenty-minute documentary where he breaks down phrases from GSP, plays them back, and finds hidden messages of his 'alien abduction'. Among these message is the absurd, 'I'm mad, molest the ass' which is apparently GSP's way of saying that he was violated by extraterrestrials. Too bad these alien intruders still can't convince Georges St. Pierre that he should not 'be scared, homie.'  [Source]

Posted in: diaz, ’t, pierre, st, george

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At 35, UFC lightweight Yves Edwards can’t be considered “old,” but when you’ve been fighting professionally for more than 14 years, you do get subtle reminders here and there about just how long you’ve been around.Recently, the veteran got a jolt when arranging a flight for one of his training partners, Bubba Jenkins, to go out to Austin for some pre-training camp workouts.“I asked him for his birth date, he said 1988, and I was like ‘holy crap, I’m 13 years older than this kid,’” laughed Edwards, who also saw his opponent on this Saturday’s Ultimate Fighter 14 finale card, Tony Ferguson, respectfully note that he was in high school when the creator of “Thug-Jitsu” was making his Octagon debut.“A few years ago, that might have made me feel old, but I’ve heard it so much lately,” Said Edwards. “I work out with so many guys that were in high school when I was fighting, and that’s the way it is now. But I don’t feel old. I still feel like I did in my first UFC fight and I keep plugging away. But when people say ‘man, I used to watch this guy when I was in high school,’ I think at this point, I guess I take it as a compliment that I’m still around.”Edwards is more than just “around” though. Winner of four of his last five (three in the UFC), with the only loss coming by way of a perfect left hook from Sam Stout at UFC 131 in June, the Texas standout is on the right track to introducing himself to new fans and reminding the old ones just why he was considered one of the top 155-pounders in the world back when the UFC had the lightweight division on hiatus. And with a win over TUF13 winner Ferguson on national TV this weekend, he can also erase the last image many had of him, losing to Stout.“There’s an old saying that you’re only as good as your last fight, but I think, with the way the world works, and how visible things are now, you’re only as good as the last fight people have seen you in,” said Edwards, who bounced back from the Stout defeat with an impressive second round TKO of Rafaello Oliveira in October. “So the fact that some people haven’t seen my fight with Oliveira, even though they know the result, the last thing seared into their brain is me and Stout.”That’s the power of TV, and it’s been the curse for Edwards and the many fighters who came up with him in late 90’s and early part of the new Millennium. There weren’t fights on TV nearly every weekend back then, and certainly none on basic cable or now on the FOX network, so reputations were spread by word of mouth, with the most intrepid of fans hunting down VHS tapes or early DVD versions of fights like Edwards’ two classics with Aaron Riley (who ironically was Ferguson’s last Octagon victim). So there’s a whole new education process when it comes to reintroducing the vets, but what they may lack in exposure, they make up for with experience, savvy and talent when the bell rings. And luckily, Edwards is able to mix up old and new at the American Top Team gym in Coconut Creek, Florida.“At ATT, we’ve got a lot of veterans – myself, Thiago Alves, Mike Brown – and you get a lot of young guys like Bubba Jenkins, and Mirsad (Bektic) and Anton Kuivanen, so it’s like a tradeoff,” he explains. “The old guys bring their experience, their tricks of the trade and everything they’ve done for years and the things they’ve had success with to the room, and the young guys bring that energy and that wide-eyed innocence, and it all comes together and meshes and makes this delicious fight ratatouille thing.”Being in an era where top-level athletes can stay on top a lot longer than they used to benefits Edwards as well, and by staying disciplined, eating right, and living a clean lifestyle, he’s been able to beat younger opponents like Oliveira (29), Cody McKenzie (23), and John Gunderson (32).“Things are changing,” he said. “They say 40 is the new 30, or something like that, and I don’t necessarily agree with that – I think 40 is 40 (Laughs). But I think the way the world is now, people are competitive longer, people are healthy longer, and with better food, better medicine, and better things like that, guys are able to compete at a higher level for a longer amount of time. You get guys like Junior Seau, who just recently retired, and they say you can’t play 14-15 years in the NFL, but he did. And it has to do with how well you take care of yourself, the people you surround yourself with, and the way you train. You have to find that middle ground where you’re pushing yourself constantly and constantly improving, but at the same time, you’re not breaking your body down and putting yourself in harm’s way.”In boxing, 40-somethings Bernard Hopkins and Glen Johnson have been fighting at a world-class level far beyond what used to be the standard combat sports retirement age. Dan Henderson is currently doing the same thing in the UFC, and we all know what Hall of Famer Randy Couture was able to pull off in the Octagon. Yet it’s more than just eating and training right. When you’ve been fighting and competing for much of your adult life, you learn subtle things that younger athletes just can’t pick up until they’ve been through the wars. And in a tough fight, sometimes guile makes up for youthful energy and athletic prowess.“That’s where experience comes into play,” said Edwards. “When you do something so many times, over and over again, the little subtleties of it become things that you use to your advantage, but you also take for granted because you don’t think about them. Subconsciously you know those little details and know how to work around them or work with them.”At the same time, Edwards (41-17-1) knows that he can’t rely on experience alone, because with many young fighters coming up learning MMA from Day One and others coming into the sport with years of experience in other disciplines, it’s always going to be a race in which you’re trying to stay one step ahead of the competition.“That experience gap is smaller now because you have these guys that are coming in from college wrestling and that have had 120 matches throughout college,” he said. “Although they haven’t been punched in the face or kicked in the head, they’ve been in combat and competition, and they know the feeling. So I definitely think that those things help, but the gaps are smaller now.”And getting punched in the face always equalizes things.“That changes everything,” laughs Edwards, who has done that whole punching in the face thing better than most in his profession over the last 14-plus years. He’s not finished yet either. In fact, the only goal at this point isn’t to be a gatekeeper for the next generation, but to be the man at the top they’re all gunning for.“I’m trying to get to the top,” he said. “There’s no other reason to do it. It’s like a tournament with a million guys in it, so it’s not likely that everybody’s gonna get a shot to get to the top, but I’m gonna shoot for as high as I can possibly get, and a title shot is the ultimate goal. If I fall short of that, it’s to get as high as I can possibly get before I’m all done.”

Posted in: guy, ’t, thing, ’ve, edward

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The finale for the fourteenth season of the Ultimate Fighter is set to grace our television sets on Saturday night, and with that grand SpikeTV exit (no more TUF on SpikeTV!) comes a marquee matchup between TUF 14 coaches extraordinaire Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.  Now, everyone in the TUF Generation knows “The Count” – he won TUF 3, coached a season of the reality TV show opposite Dan Henderson, and is so beloved outside the cage that fans pelt him with rocks and garbage whenever they see him in public.  But Mayhem… what did he do again?  Ha, fear not, my uninformed friend, because here’s a nice little primer on “Mr. Wacky-Zany Character Guy” (as Bisping called him in this season’s sixth episode).  You might be surprised to learn that before his stint as Chief Riot Starter in Strikeforce and host of MTV’s “Bully Beatdown”, he ruled the Hawaiian circuit with an iron fist, and once fought Georges St. Pierre when the Canadian was still a young doe-eyed kid coming up in the Octagon.  Or maybe you won’t be surprised.  I don’t know.  Just read on. -Mixing aggressive jiu-jitsu (he has a black belt) with Muay Thai, Mayhem is one of those “go for it” kinds of fighters who doesn’t wait for openings as much as he tries to create them.  This, plus the fact that he’s not afraid to pause while in a dominant position and mug for the crowd, has endeared him to fans since about when his career began ten years ago.  (The whole mugging thing has also ended up creating more than a few instances of post-fight turmoil, but hey, that’s Hawaii for you.) -In 2004, Mayhem schooled Hawaiian fighter Ron Jhun so deftly on the ground in a Superbrawl championship bout that Joe Silva invited him to the UFC.  There, Miller took on St. Pierre, who was considered an up-and-comer in the welterweight division at the time.  The fight went the distance and Mayhem got his ass kicked throughout, but even when he was beaten and bloody he was still grinning at the crowd. -After that venture into the Octagon, Miller returned to the minor leagues and pretty much submitted everyone (including Robbie Lawler) for the next year and a half – a feat that earned him an Icon Sport championship title.  Frank Trigg out-struck him when they clashed, though, and when Miller fell stunned to the canvas, Trigg absconded with the middleweight belt and that was that. -Mayhem’s next loss was about a year and a half later, and it came via decision at the hands of Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at a DREAM event in Japan.  They eventually rematched, although that one ended with a “no contest” after Miller inadvertently punted the Brazilian in the dome and Souza couldn’t continue. -For racking up wins over the likes of Denis Kang, Egan Inoue, Falaniko Vitale, Robbie Lawler and Tim Kennedy, the big question mark that’s always hung over Miller’s head was something along of the lines of “Why isn’t this badass fighter in the UFC?” and that talk persisted even after his loss to St. Pierre.  But the always-grinning, always-wise-cracking Georgia native has done well for himself outside of the Octagon, and when Jake Shields needed an opponent for the vacant Strikeforce middleweight strap back in 2009, few objected when Mayhem got the slot.  And sure, Shields pretty much controlled him on the ground, but there was the briefest moments in Round 3 of their five-rounder when Miller very nearly had Shields tapping to a rear naked choke.  Bottom line: the dude’s got skills.

Posted in: fighter, ’t, miller, tuf, mayhem

Read the full article at MMA Convert

Not to beat a dead horse, but this Saturday’s Ultimate Fighter 14 finale main event between coaches Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller, just like many others, is about one man keeping it on the feet and the other taking it to the ground.  Brilliant, I know.  But that is the reality for most fights, particularly when one man has a significant edge on the feet and the other on the ground. That is absolutely the case with Bisping versus Miller.  Bisping is in a different league on the feet. “The Count” is a skilled kickboxer, though certainly not an overly heavy-handed one. He isn’t going to knock out Miller with a single strike thrown early in the bout, principally because he is a stick-and-move combatant, rather than one who sits down and swings for the fences. Miller is a decent striker for mixed martial arts, but the reality is that Bisping defeats him in a kickboxing bout 19 out of 20 times. Miller’s only chance on the feet is pull out a winning lottery ticket with a punch, elbow, kick or knee that opens a fight-ending cut or that is a perfectly executed one that Bisping doesn’t see and lands in just the right spot. I’m not saying that it is impossible for Miller to score a knockout on the feet.  If I’ve learned anything over the last 18 years of watching the UFC, it is that anything can happen in any fight.  It is just highly unlikely, and he would not be well served trying to prove me wrong. “Mayhem” instead wants to get the fight to the ground immediately and keep it there. The submission game and general grappling is where Miller is at his best. The majority of his finishes are by submission, and a good chunk of his technical knockouts came by way of ground and pound. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Talk to anyone who has rolled with Miller at some point in the last decade. Odds are even better that those who have rolled with him will rave about his ground prowess.Of course, Bisping is no slouch on the ground, not by a long shot. In fact, he enjoyed some success in UK grappling tournaments, and I think it is fair to say that he has one of the more underrated guards in division. But he is no “Mayhem” Miller. Again, not by a long shot. All that raises two obvious questions. Let’s deal with the tougher one first. How does Miller get the fight to the ground? Honestly, I’m not sure. Conventional wisdom suggests that he should come out swinging in an attempt to convince Bisping to forget his sprawl and focus on dropping bombs.  At that point, he can change levels and explode for a takedown.I’m not sure that will work for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, Miller doesn’t have great takedowns, and Bisping has excellent takedown defense. That isn’t such a big deal, if he can really get “The Count” to throw his weight down and forward in order to truly load up on his shots. If that happens and Miller dips under a big right hand, then even first-grade wrestling is probably enough to score a takedown. The problem, however, is that Miller will have to stand and trade with Bisping for quite awhile in order to convince him that the game plan is to brawl.  During that time, Bisping will score a lot of points with his excellent jab and crisp one-twos. When Miller leads with shots of his own, Bisping will slice through his standup attack with precise counters.Thus, Miller should really try to avoid exchanges altogether. The better approach is to attack aggressively with his hands up and look to initiate a clinch, rather than punching away.Bisping is excellent at defending takedowns, but I think that he is more exposed to takedowns from the clinch because he tries to pull straight out, which opens the door for trips and Greco-Roman throws.  That isn’t necessarily Miller’s forte for taking the fight to the ground, but he is a strong, athletic middleweight who has always had a knack for getting opponents to the mat, often with unconventional methods. Big shock for a guy called “Mayhem.” If the fight goes to the floor, my guess is that Miller will really focus on softening up Bisping with ground and pound, rather than quickly working for slick submissions.  He will want to sap some of his strength and cardio with heavy hips, forcing Bisping to really carry his weight and defend on the ground, which will start to take away from the Brit’s standup later in the fight. Whatever the case, as soon as Bisping finds himself on the ground, he should quickly get his heels on Miller’s hips and explode to create room to pop back up on his feet.Miller, of course, will want to prevent that from happening by keeping his hips down with a wide base.  That will help him control his opponent on the canvas.  He should slowly work his ground and pound while forcing Bisping to the cage, where he can smother him against the fence, effectively stifling Bisping's jiu-jitsu.  The downside is that Bisping will be able to use the fence to stand up if Miller gives him any room to breathe whatsoever.If Bisping makes any mistakes trying to work to his feet or if he allows Miller to pass into side control and tries to roll out, Miller will not hesitate to snake around to his back and look for a fight-ending rear naked choke.  I think that is a very real possibility.  Another very real possibility is that Bisping leaves an arm unattended while defending Miller’s surprisingly effective ground and pound. That can easily lead to an armbar or arm triangle. I think one of those three submissions—rear naked choke, armbar or arm triangle – are the most likely methods of victory for Miller.Of course, all that assumes that Miller is successful taking down Bisping.  I’m not certain that will happen.  As mentioned, the Brit has excellent takedown defense.  That was obvious in his fights with Rashad Evans and Matt Hamill, both of whom are far better wrestlers than Miller.  Bisping is good at sprawling, and he is excellent at avoiding clinches along the fence.  More importantly, though, he typically employs a stick-and-move strategy against ground fighters, rather than stalking like an apex predator.  Bisping is very skilled at fighting behind an active jab while circling to his left.  In my opinion, that is when he is the most effective, despite the fact that it was his major mistake in his first knockout loss.  In that fight, he was facing Dan Henderson, who happens to have a dynamite-filled right hand, so circling to his left meant that he was walking right into the weapon he so desperately wanted to avoid. Miller doesn’t have a dynamite-filled right hand, so Bisping shouldn’t worry about jabbing and circling to his left.  Circling will make it difficult for Miller to square up to Bisping and either shoot for a takedown or lockup a clinch.Keep in mind that sticking and moving doesn’t mean pity pat strikes.  Bisping throws most of his shots, including his jab, with conviction.  That is obvious by the fact that 14 of his 22 wins came by way of knockout or technical knockout.  Nevertheless, he is not a come-forward-at-all-costs apex predator with a granite chin and bazookas for fists, ala Hendo.  He instead needs to set up his strikes with angles and chip away at his opponent until his foe is dazed, at which point Bisping can throw caution to the wind and open up full throttle.All that is a long way of saying that if the fight remains on the feet, Bisping will be the one leaving with his hand raised.  If Miller is able to score multiple takedowns and keep the fight on the ground for any period of time, he will likely pull off what most will view as a significant upset.  Either way, this should be a very entertaining fight.

Posted in: miller, bisping, ground, fight, ’t

Read the full article at UFC

Moments after Nick Diaz defeated B.J. Penn at UFC 137 he made it a point to call welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre out, questioning whether or not his knee had actually been hurt to the point it prevented him from fighting on the same night. Within an hour of Diaz’s rant the UFC handed him a title-shot while citing St. Pierre’s anger at the comments. However, to hear GSP tell his side of the story, it looks like Diaz’s challenge didn’t get under his skin at all and that he actually preferred to fight the former Strikeforce star all along. “I’m very happy to fight him,” St. Pierre stated in an interview with QMI. “It’s always been the fight I’ve wanted to have. They only thing is he did not show up at the press conference…so the fight got cancelled – not because of me, but because of him and what he had done. But me, I wanted to fight him. He wanted to have a title fight and he got it. (Talking trash) the best way to do it and it’s not personal.” Drawing criticism from his opponents whether directed at him as a person or fighter is nothing new to “Rush” who dealt with similar smack during the build for bouts against Matt Serra, Josh Koscheck, and a handful of other competitors the 22-2 St. Pierre went on to successfully defeat inside the Octagon. “I’ve seen it all from everyone before. If they’re trying to get into my head and make me fight a bad fight, it’s just mind games and it doesn’t work,” St. Pierre explained before adding in that much of what people say to him gets lost in translation. “I don’t even understand (or) speak English very well. I don’t understand most of the things that (Diaz) says when he trash-talks. I don’t really care.” In fact, St. Pierre says he has a far more worthwhile goal to direct his attention to rather than buy into Diaz’s hate. “I’m just going to focus on hurting him,” the 30-year old concluded. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, diaz, ’t, pierre, st

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Some good news came out of Brazil this morning when it was revealed 30-year old middleweight Maiquel Falcao hadn’t suffered a heart attack as had been originally been believed when he was rushed to the hospital earlier this week with severe chest pains. In fact, the original situation was viewed as being so dire Falcao’s camp even came out to say he could have died if he hadn’t received immediate medical attention. Now it looks like Falcao’s ticker is okay after all and that his condition may have been the result of something far less frightening. Falcao in ICU After Possible Heart Attack “The cardiologists are telling that there wasn’t a heart attack, because his tests all coming back normal now… It may be something related to overtraining,” said Falcao’s manager in a statement to Tatame. For now the 28-4 Falcao will continue to rest, recover, and regroup. Though signed to Bellator with an anticipated debut in Season 6, it remains difficult to know when Falcao will fight again as he is still waiting for a physician’s approval. PHOTO CREDIT – BELLATOR Tweet

Posted in: ’t, heart, falcao, attack, heart attack

Read the full article at Fighters.com

Still basking in the glow Bellator 58 as I’m sure you all understand. Michael Chandler showed everything about himself in that fight. He showed guts, his skills, his heart, and how far he’s come. He finished some one who people don’t finish. Mike and Eddie Alvarez ran into each other at the hotel and we didn’t think there was any bad blood or anything. Obviously they’re not friends, but they go about their business. So they weighed in, got interviewed, and faced off. Mike reached to shake Eddie’s hand and Eddie just looked at him, then disrespectfully turned away, which was a move upsetting Mike. It was kind of an embarrassing situation. Eddie said in his interview after the weigh-ins that he planned to knock Mike out and it wouldn’t go past two rounds. I told Mike to not let it bother him. He either wanted to get in his head or Mike was so far in Eddie’s head that it bothered him. So we left it as it was, went to eat, and I don’t think Mike thought about it again. The locker room was perfect. There was a great atmosphere and Mike was, like always, very confident and focused. We had a great warm up and with Mike it’s always a fun time. He’s not a guy who is too serious. That helps him stay relaxed and not get overwhelmed. If you think about a fight too much it could make you nervous, but Mike stays relaxed. We were joking around, having a good time, and I think that helped him not stress out about the fight. As a trainer you can tell when a fighter is nervous or confident or worried but with Mike he’s all about staying focused. We went over the game plan and in Mike’s mind there was no way he wasn’t leaving the ring with that belt. Losing isn’t something he thinks about. In his mind he’s going to win every single fight and if he keeps that mentality I don’t know if he will EVER lose. Eddie is a Top 5 fighter and Mike pretty much dominated a guy that nobody beats. I think Mike can go against any lightweight and I don’t see him losing the fight. The scary part is he’s still green. Give him another year, a little more experience, and he’s going to be a monster. Leading up to the fight I watched a lot of footage on Eddie and tried to break his game down to look for openings/mistakes. We wanted to pressure and make Eddie know that he was in a fight; that it wasn’t going to be easy. After that we wanted to throw combinations. Eddie makes mistakes when he moves to his right so we wanted to make him pay. We knew he likes the lead right and then steps to his left. That’s when worked on timing on the takedowns. What I love about Mike is that he follows the game plan and he listens during the fight. Eventually he’s going to have all that experience and get even better. He’s young, already well-rounded, and has a great head on his shoulders. He’s going to be around for a long time and be dangerous throughout his career. We knew that Mike could knock him down if he connected, but we also knew that Eddie gets up when he gets knocked down. He has a champion’s heart and won’t lay down for anybody. We knew it was gonna be a tough fight. We expected Eddie to get back up if Mike connected. I think people get discouraged when Eddie gets up after being knocked down, but Mike kept his composure and stuck to the game plan. He out-boxed him and knocked him down again at the end of the first round. If there had been another thirty seconds, I think he would have finished Alvarez off. I’m glad it went four rounds though because those extram frames are valuable. He showed he can out-strike the best and take anybody down. Plus he showed that he can go through adversity and he showed his heart. When he came back to the corner after the opening round I just reminded him of the game plan. I didn’t want him to get over confident but I didn’t want him to sit back either. After the second round, I thought we were up 2-0 but I told Mike that it was 1-1. The first round he definitely got, but the second round was close. I wanted to keep Mike aggressive and not comfortable. I wanted him to perform well and not let Eddie have any breaks. I was extremely worried in the third round. Mike came into the fight with a hurt right foot. So he threw a kick and re-injured his foot. He stepped back, did like a squat and reached down to check his foot. We lost some mobility because of that and Eddie picked up on it immediately jumping on him from that point on. Mike was in serious trouble because his foot was hurt so he couldn’t push off for takedowns, he couldn’t plant to punch, and he couldn’t move well. And Eddie was catching him with great shots. Eddie throws some of the best body shots in MMA and he hit Mike with a lot of them. So I was really worried. But I’ve seen Mike get out of so many things and I knew he wasn’t going to quit or stop unless he got knocked out. In the corner, we revived him, took care of some cuts, and reminded him of the game plan. I think the minute in the corner was enough for him to recover and clear his head. Then in the fourth he landed that wonderful overhand right, which we worked a lot on in camp, and Eddie went down. When Mike gets on top of you you’re in trouble because he has top level ground-and-pound. He’s a wrestler but when he gets you down he doesn’t want to hold you. He wants to punish you and that’s what he did. He started throwing elbows and Eddie gave up his back. As soon as he took the back, I had the perfect angle. I saw Mike squeeze with everything he had and I knew it was over. Point blank – When Mike has any submission, you’re done. Eddie had no choice but to tap or he was going to sleep. It was such an amazing feeling. It was incredible to finally get what he worked so hard for. Mike has a wonderful family and they have so much love for him. He had about thirty family members at the fight. It’s amazing the type of support that his family gives him, something I think helps him a lot. We were in the cage and the next thing I know, this old man is coming up the stairs and no one grabbed him. He just snuck in. It happened to be Mike’s grandfather, so I took him towards Mike, they embraced, and it was the best feeling. It’s tough to put into words. His grandfather was in tears and everything. Then the rest of the family was allowed to come in. Afterward we went to the press conferenc, which took about 45 minutes. Up next, we went to dinner and had a ton of people at the table. We ate and had a few drinks. His whole family was there. His dad, mom, grandfather, aunts, uncles, brothers, everyone. I think that was the best way to celebrate for Mike as far as just being around his family. I was happy to be apart of that. Then we hung out at the Hard Rock and a lot of people came up to Mike to shake his hand, ask for an autograph, and take pictures. He got a lot of attention and I’m very happy for him. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer, more deserving guy. He’s a great fighter and an amazing person. Before the tournament, on MMAJunkie, I told everyone I had a new kid with tons of potential. I told folks he was gonna win the tournament and beat whoever the champion was, but I don’t think they took it too serious because they didn’t know him, Now I think the whole world knows who he is. One of the neatest things was that I saw a Tweet for Joe Rogan congratulating Mike. That was amazing and goes to show how many people are hearing about him, respect his abilities. Overall it was an awesome time in Florida. I got to meet some new people and had some friends come to watch Mike to cheer him on. I plan on going back just to hang out and visit the people that I met. It was the first fight ever for a lot of my friends. They were a little iffy on it. One of the girls, who is a dance instructor, wasn’t used to fighting but she was impressed with the whole card including the Jessica Aguilar vs. Lisa Ward-Ellis fight. Now when she comes to Vegas she wants me to hold mitts for her. The ring girls are so busy and everything but they congratulated Mike on his win at dinner. I have to let the world know that Jade Bryce is one of the most amazing young women I’ve ever met. She’s done so many things like traveling and helping homeless kids. She’s put herself in a lot of dangerous positions and I think most guys wouldn’t do the things she does. She has a tremendous heart. I have a lot of respect for her. I think a lot more people should be like her, including myself. After talking to her, I learned a lot of things about myself that I want to change to be more like her. She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. When people are that beautiful and have that much attention, usually they’re not so nice, but that’s not the case with her. I wish her the best of luck in everything she’s involved with. If I can help her with anything, I would love to. Maybe time for a “striking” segment with the ring-girls like they do with grappling? Truly, it was one of the best weekends of my life. Not only did Mike win the title but it was a great weekend for Xtreme Couture as Martin Kampmann picked up a victory at UFC 139 and, of course, the Raiders picked up a “W” as well. Life is extremely good right now and I’m just riding this high. Again, I want congratulate Martin and Ray Sefo, who has been doing an awesome job with him. We’re going to keep the ball rolling and keep working hard. That’s it for this week. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and until next time make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, eddie, lot, mike

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Ultimate Fighter veteran Kyle Watson hasn’t been seen in the cage since April 2011, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a busy man. After splitting with the HIT Squad, Watson opened his own gym, Watson Martial Arts, in St. Louis and has put the majority of his focus training the next generation of mixed martial artists. “The gym opening has been going really well. It’s been stressful in a good way,” Watson told Five Ounces of Pain. “I’ve never been in this position where I’m the one man show doing the administrative stuff, teaching, and training. It’s been open for five months and a lot of people have come in the door. I’ve had some loyal followers. It’s growing and by next year I hope to expand.” So what made Watson want to leave a gym that included veterans like Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler? Watson explains the situation by saying, “It’s always been my goal to have my own gym but basically the new ownership bought the gym and the person who bought it had a bad business reputation. So he came in and changed everything and people didn’t like it. He changed it from a happy go lucky atmosphere to a gloomy atmosphere where he was jacking up rates and making us sign 2 year contracts so everyone left.” He has fond memories about his time at the HIT Squad though, and even draws a comparison between the gym and the Ultimate Fighter house, which he spent time in as part of the TUF 12 cast. “One of the coolest and unique things was that we had dorms on site so we had people from all over the world come in and stay with us,” said Watson. “It was similar to TUF except that the accommodations weren’t quite as nice and alcohol was still allowed but you weren’t cut out from the outside world. It was expected that if you play hard, you work hard. So you could have a good time but you better show up from training on Monday.” The dorm rooms at the HIT Squad seem a lot easier than his time in the house, which he described as, “tough.” Expanding by saying, “. After the first couple of weeks there is still that novelty but after that it starts to wear on you and the house starts to become really small really quick. Training is actually the relief from boredom because guys are just walking around the house with their chest puffed out and acting tough and it got old quick. Having no contact with family and loved ones got pretty tough.” The one thing that Watson enjoyed about being on the reality show was training with UFC champion Georges St. Pierre and the all-star team of coaches that he brought with him. “The training was the best part,” said Watson. “I was really fortunate to have Georges St. Pierre as a coach because he looked at himself as a training partner and not a coach. So he brought all his coaches in and used it as a training camp. He helped us and showed us things and we got to spar and roll with him, so it was a great experience.” Working as a full-time trainer at his gym, Watson’s own personal training has suffered but his level of knowledge has increased. Watson explains, “A lot of people don’t understand how tough it is to wear both hats. Somewhere a long the line you can’t be great at both so something has to give and something gets short changed. If anything suffers it’s usually on my end because I don’t want to fail my students, so my own training takes a backseat. Teaching helps because you’re forced to learn things at a deeper level because people expect you to answer questions and explain things. It helps but it’s a challenging task.” While he’s been working hard to get him gym off the ground, Kyle hopes to get back in the cage in early 2012. “Originally I was hoping to fight at the end of the year but the gym has taken a lot of time out of my schedule to make sure it’s running smoothly so I haven’t been training as much as I’d like. I’ve been training to a certain degree and for a long time my biggest hole as been my wrestling so I’ve been training with a local collegiate team and private sessions with my wrestling coaches so I’m closing that area pretty quickly. I don’t think I’m in fight shape right now but I could be quickly so I need to talk to my manager more and hopefully return early next year.” PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/WATSONMARTIALARTS

Posted in: time, ’t, training, gym, watson

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

After a ten month absence and a coaching stint on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter, Michael "The Count" Bisping returns on December 3rd to headline the TUF14 finale in Las Vegas in a five round bout against his coaching nemesis Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Here are his 12 most memorable moments... Mark Epstein I – July 10, 2004 – Cage Rage 7Result – Bisping TKO2Unbeaten, yet untested, a young Michael Bisping was just 2-0 as a pro when he got the call to take on then 6-3 Mark ‘The Beast’ Epstein, and almost immediately, Bisping got a rude welcome to the next level as he was dropped to a knee by a punch and later sent to the canvas, where he spent the majority of the first round fighting from his back. And though Bisping was obviously still raw as far as technique was concerned, his resilience was already evident, and he came out strong in the second round, eventually stopping Epstein at the 1:27 mark. He would notch a KO win over Epstein in their rematch four months later, and the 24-year old from Manchester was on his way to the top.Josh Haynes – June 24, 2006 – TUF 3 FinaleResult – Bisping TKO2With British fighters Mark Weir, Ian Freeman, Lee Murray and Leigh Remedios only having spotty success in the UFC, you wouldn’t have been criticized too much for suggesting that Bisping, along with Ross Pointon, weren’t going to make much noise on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter. And while Pointon made more fans for his personality than his fighting, Bisping quickly soared to the finals of TUF3, with his two round thrashing of Josh Haynes in the finale a mere formality. The UFC had a new Ultimate Fighter, and England finally had someone in the organization who looked like he would be staying around for a while.Elvis Sinosic – April 21, 2007 – UFC 70Result – Bisping TKO2After getting his first post-TUF win over Eric Schafer at UFC 66, Bisping was the natural choice to lead the UFC back into the UK for UFC 70 in Manchester. It was the type of pressure cooker environment that could very well break a fighter, but Bisping took it all in stride, and from the moment he entered the M.E.N. Arena to Blur’s “Song 2”, he owned the hometown crowd. Sinosic took a little more convincing, but after scoring a knockdown and almost locking in a kimura, the Australian was stopped by Bisping in the second round, and a British star was born.Matt Hamill – September 8, 2007 – UFC 75Result – Bisping W3Having done no wrong thus far in his UFC career, it was inevitable that somewhere along the line, Bisping would hit a bump in the road. That bump was his TUF3 housemate and rival Matt Hamill, a fighter Bisping figured he would have his way with given his superior striking. But it was Hamill who showed up with improved standup that night in London, and after three closely contested rounds, many thought the fighter ending up with a “1” on a previously unbeaten record would be Bisping. But it was Hamill on the short end of the split decision, sending fans into a frenzy on internet message boards for weeks. As for Bisping, he got the win, and wasn’t shy about letting people know about it. “Of course, don’t insult me like that,” said Bisping when asked at the post-fight press conference if he believed he deserved the decision. “I’ll give him the first round, I won the second, and I won the third.”Rashad Evans – November 17, 2007 – UFC 78Result – Evans W3Two months after the Hamill bout, Bisping was back in action, and this time he was being asked to headline a pay-per-view event against fellow unbeaten Rashad Evans. This would be the true barometer of both fighters’ popularity, and after an entertaining war of words leading up to the bout, he and Evans delivered on all fronts, as the match garnered a considerable buzz by the time the opening bell rang. In the Octagon though, it would be Bisping falling short of victory for the first time, as Evans held off a late charge from the Brit to take a three round split decision.Charles McCarthy – April 19, 2008 – UFC 83Result – Bisping TKO1After the loss to Evans, Bisping decided that it was time to test the waters at middleweight, where he wouldn’t be forced into the role of ‘small guy’ every time he fought. Of course, TUF4’s Charles McCarthy took exception to being Bisping’s ‘break-in’ fight at 185 pounds and he let Bisping know it at every opportunity. Such talk between the two made the fight perhaps the second most anticipated to Georges St-Pierre’s triumphant Montreal homecoming against Matt Serra, but Bisping wasn’t about to get into a prolonged war with ‘Chainsaw Charles’. Instead, Bisping stalked his foe, avoided a mid-round submission attempt and then proceeded to unleash a barrage of knees that broke McCarthy’s arm and forced a halt to the fight at the end of the first round. Middleweight? No problem.Chris Leben – October 18, 2008 – UFC 89Result – Bisping W3After the win over McCarthy, Bisping made short work of Jason Day at UFC 85 and was then given another headlining gig against Chris Leben in Birmingham, England. Now matched up with a striker for the first time since his TUF3 win over Haynes, Bisping was expected to engage in a toe-to-toe brawl with Leben. But showing maturity and restraint, Bisping used a disciplined stick and move strategy that kept the wild-swinging Leben at bay and allowed him to sail to a three round unanimous decision victory. It wasn’t going to win any Fight of the Year awards, but in victory, Bisping showed that he wasn’t the same fighter that beat Mark Epstein four years earlier. He was a versatile and dangerous contender now.Dan Henderson – July 11, 2009 – UFC 100Result – Henderson KO2Following the win over Leben, Bisping locked horns with MMA superstar Dan Henderson as a coach on season nine of The Ultimate Fighter and led two members of his team, Ross Pearson and James Wilks, to victory on the show. Bisping wasn’t going to be so fortunate against Hendo when they met in the Octagon at UFC 100, and in a night when nothing went right, ‘The Count’ was knocked out in spectacular fashion by the former two division PRIDE champion. It was a devastating defeat for Bisping, one that would take some time to recover from.Denis Kang – November 14, 2009 – UFC 105Result – Bisping TKO2When Bisping returned to action after the KO loss to Henderson, the entire MMA world was watching to see if the Brit was going to be able to recover – not just physically, but mentally – from the defeat. And he didn’t get any gimmes in his return, as he was pitted against another international star in Denis Kang, a fighter who wasted no time in testing Bisping’s chin in the first round. Yet after some shaky early moments, Bisping – his back pinned to the wall careerwise – roared out of his corner for the second round and halted Kang in the second round. ‘The Count’ was back, proving that fighters aren’t defined by how they get knocked down, but how they get back up.Wanderlei Silva – February 20, 2010 – UFC 110Result – Silva W3After his stirring return against Kang, all Bisping needed to kick off 2010 in fine fashion was to defeat the legendary former PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva. And for much of the fight it looked like Bisping would do just that, but surges from “The Axe Murderer” at the ends of round two and three that saw the Brit caught in a guillotine choke and then dropped by a hard right hand did enough to sway the judges and award Silva the unanimous decision win.Dan Miller – May 29, 2010 – UFC 114Result – Bisping W3Next up for Bisping after the Silva bout was tough New Jersey product Dan Miller, a fighter who didn’t have the name recognition of a Silva, Henderson, or Evans, but who was just as capable of pulling off the win on fight night. Bisping knew it, and he prepared accordingly, delivering a mature and dominant performance en route to a three round unanimous decision victory over his game foe.Jorge Rivera – February 27, 2011 - UFC 127 Result – Bisping TKO2 The lead-up to this bout between the veteran middleweights was beyond heated, yet on fight night, it was Bisping who got his revenge on “El Conquistador,” as he stopped Jorge Rivera in the second round. It wasn’t a win that was going to move “The Count” closer to a title shot, but it was a solid victory, and if he can mimic that performance against Miller on December 3rd, 2012 should promise to be a good one for the pride of Manchester.

Posted in: ufc, fighter, round, ’t, bisping

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If former double-divisional champion BJ Penn has any desire to put on a pair of gloves or rash-guard and hit the gym he sure isn’t showing it. Penn recently updated fans on his post-MMA life after having announced he was leaving the sport on the heels of an entertaining clash with current welterweight #1 contender Nick Diaz at UFC 137 he ultimately lost via decision. And, dashing the dreams of some fans, the popular Hawaiian hasn’t done more on the athletic front than some casual fitness and is contemplating a surfing competition against a friend rather than an in-ring match-up against a Mixed Martial Artist. Penn Feels he Never Fulfilled his Potential “Two weeks ago I started to run again. I just couldn’t take sitting around the house anymore without exercising and my body feels so much better now that I have started working out again,” Penn wrote on his blog for Bleacher Report. “I still haven’t gotten into the gym and done any type of martial arts training yet, but the runs are definitely fun and, like I said, they make my body feel better.” So how has Penn kept busy? According to the 32-year old he’s spent time working in the community and enjoying life with friends/family. I have a foundation here in Hawaii called the ‘Penn Hawaii Youth Foundation,’” Penn said of one of the endeavors receiving his focus. “This foundation helps at-risk children that have been in trouble get back on track through martial arts and several other positive activities. This past Saturday, my latest group of kids graduated from the program and I got to go to the ceremony. It was great to see the progress they have all made.” Though it’s impossible to know if Penn’s fire to compete will flare up again, at least for now he appears content with his decision and the free time he now has. Regardless, as cloudy as his future may seem, one thing is clear – Penn is one of the greatest of all time and a surefire Hall of Fame member. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: time, ’t, penn, foundation, – penn

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Thanksgiving is upon us, and with it comes a time to eat copious amounts of turkey, see way too much of your relatives, and gives thanks for the things that make life worth living – and if you’re like me, much of those particular “things” involve mixed martial arts.  So here we are then, soon to be closing out 2011, and as it has proved to be another banner year for the sport, we’re left with plenty to be thankful for.  Thus, a list of ten things that mean a lot to us MMA fans, but if we were transported via time machine to that very first Thanksgiving table centuries ago, and we tried to describe these things to that pilgrim sitting to our left and that loin-clothed Iroquois to our right, we’d probably end up getting shot with a blunderbuss and wacked with a club.   ·         Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler – A year ago, no athletic commission in the world with even the slightest bit of conscience would’ve approved of an Alvarez/Chandler matchup.  But lo and behold, there’s Bellator, which let Chandler earn his shot against the top-ten lightweight by stuffing him into a 155-pound tournament slot and letting him fight his way out.  He did, of course, and earned himself a crack at the organization’s champ, and BLAMMO!  We had one heck of a kickass fight last Saturday night!  I’m not going to waste time extolling the virtues of their four-round virtuoso – the video’s been available everywhere all week and it’s going to re-air on MTV2 after this week’s Bellator installment.  But I will say this: Alvarez vs. Chandler is probably one of the best fights Bellator has ever put together. ·         Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson – UFC 139 had some awesome moments, but it’s hard to recall them with that much clarity when the last bout of the evening was the five-round master class on heart, skill and warrior-ness.  Shogun and “Hendo” were already legends going into their bout on Saturday night, so really, what we got was just the icing on the cake.  And damn, what a delicious icing to go with that delicious cake. ·         UFC on FOX – In the not too distance past, if you told someone on the street that you watched the Ultimate Fighting Championship, they’d likely say, “Oh yeah, aren’t those fights to the death or something?”  And you couldn’t blame them for their ignorance, because for the longest time, MMA was at best a fringe sport.  Now, if someone shows that kind of unfamiliarity, you can kick them square in the groin.  The UFC is available in 550 million homes!  For free!  “Fringe sport” my ass, this thing is now mainstream, baby, and it’s all thanks to the UFC’s newly-minted marriage to the FOX networks. ·         Jon Jones – Every sporting endeavor needs its Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson (in his prime), and Tiger Woods (uh, when he seemed wholesome).  Guess what?  We’ve got Jones, who rocketed up the ranks of the light-heavyweight division to claim the crown – and defend it – in completely convincing fashion.  That’s right, we’ve got our very own superstar that we can point out to the general public and say, “Yeah, that guy right there, he’s a superhero.” ·         Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard III – If you’ve got two fighters engaged in a trilogy of matchups, it’s either because their prior bouts were so totally awesome or so totally inconclusive.  What Edgar and Maynard did up until UFC 136 was pretty much the latter.  Then came UFC 136, and wow, definitely the former.  With an uppercut off a takedown attempt, then a serious of right hands followed by some lefts, Edgar put the world on notice that he was here to stay as lightweight champ, badass challengers be damned.  Now we have closure, and there’s no question mark over who the best 155-pound fighter in the world is. ·         Nick Diaz – For a while now there’s been no one in the UFC’s welterweight division who could stop champ Georges St. Pierre from laying on top of them like a muscular Canadian duvet.  And maybe ex-Strikeforce champ Diaz doesn’t have the sprawl to prevent that from happening either.  But regardless, after cleaning out Strikeforce and clobbering BJ Penn in the Octagon, the dude is worthy of a crack at St. Pierre, and it’s going to be fun watching him DESTROY the champ whenever their upcoming title bout is on the feet.  That, plus Diaz’s cardio, superior jiu-jitsu, and overall villainous demeanor is going to make for one of the most compelling welterweight fights ever. ·         Ronda Rousey – Let’s face it, without Gina Carano smiling coyly at the camera, women’s MMA barely has a pulse.  Which is sad, because 145-pound champ Cris “Cyborg” Santos is a viable and deadly fighter who’s more than deserving of accolades.  But now we’ve got Rousey to liven things up, and with her Olympic-caliber judo and penchant for amputating arms in under a minute, woo-wee, women’s MMA is going to be fun again.  It’s going to be sweet watching Rousey crush Meisha Tate, and it’s going to be even sweeter watching her dismantle Cyborg bit by Brazilian bit. ·         SpikeTV and Bellator – Nature hates a vacuum, and with the UFC ditching SpikeTV for the greener pastures of FOX, a gargantuan MMA void was created on a channel that had for years given us junkies a nice, hot fix.  So hooray for Viacom (SpikeTV’s momma) buying a majority stake in Bellator.  Bellator is now validated as the sport’s solid number two organization, and in a year we’ll supposedly be getting a bit more of that tournament goodness we’re currently enjoying on MTV2. ·         Brazil – To borrow a term from the world of finance, Brazil is the next “emerging market” in MMA – and the simple fact that there is such a thing bodes well for the sport in general.  Japan has dried up, the UK isn’t catching fire like it should, and there’s only so much love Canada and Australia can give.  But Brazil… over ten percent of that country’s population tuned in to watch Junior dos Santos knock out Cain Velasquez.  That’s enough to warrant more visits by the UFC and a TUF House erected on a beach in Sao Paulo.  Yeah, pay-per-view numbers have been declining here the States.  Don’t fret, though, because MMA isn’t doing anything but growing. ·         Joe Warren vs. Alexis Vila – Thank you, Alexis Vila, for entering into Bellator’s bantamweight tournament and introducing the mouthy featherweight champ Joe Warren’s face to your fist.  Sixty-four seconds was all it took to knock the American out, and now we’ve had a nice stretch of time where we’ve hadn’t had to hear Warren talk about how awesome he is.

Posted in: ufc, bellator, mma, ’t, thing

Read the full article at MMA Convert

Fan-favorite Urijah Faber wasted little time turning his attention to rival Dominick Cruz after picking up a “Submission of the Night” win over fellow former WEC champ Brian Bowles this past Saturday night at UFC 139, opting to question how much of a threat the current bantamweight title-holder poses on a recent episode of Inside MMA. When asked whether or not he felt Cruz had improved any since they fought in July, “The California Kid” replied, “I don’t know (but) he’s not dangerous though.” “He’s a world champion, there’s a reason why he’s there,” Faber continued, adding, “He has my respect, but he doesn’t have my respect when it comes to punching power or danger. I’ll walk right through his punches and march forward. It’s just gonna be tracking him down and scoring more points on the way to finishing him.” Supporting Faber’s claim, Cruz has yet to stop an opponent under the Zuffa banner with the lone exception involving an injury sustained by Bowles in their March 2010 title-fight. Cruz’s last finish came in early 2008 against Kenneth Aimes. As far as he own stand-up, Faber expressed his belief that he’s constantly evolving, citing a few of his recent performances. “I’m a better striker every day. It’s crazy. I mean I do a lot of things to work on it and, I mean, I haven’t been bad. I’ve had a lot of great fights and I’ve been knocking everyone down. The last four fights I’ve knocked guys down or shook em at least, wobbled em, and you’re gonna see my best knockouts coming.” Cruz Feels He’s Already Seen Faber at his Best Faber and Cruz are expected to compete in a rubber-match at some point in 2012 after splitting their first two fights with Faber submitting “The Dominator” at WEC 26 and Cruz earning the nod from the judges earlier this year at UFC 132. Check out the full video below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ’t, i ’ve, cruz, faber, dominick cruz

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Jeff Monson will always be a friend to the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free of the oppressive bonds of government. If Jeff Monson has to spray paint "No poverty" and "No war" on the Washington state capitol building in order to get his point across, then so be it. And if Jeff Monson has to trash his girlfriend's house to stand up against that stupid, pointless hierarchical restriction called monogamy, then that’s what Jeff Monson has to do. It’s all in the name of civil disobedience.This also means that Jeff Monson will beat the shit out of the police for you if they’re trying to arrest you for being a drunken dumbass. Jeff Monson has ideals and Jeff Monson isn’t playing around. It doesn’t matter if it’s zero degrees outside. It doesn’t matter if Monson is wearing flip-flops and a hoodie and has to fight Fedor the next day. Jeff Monson is pissed off and he’s had enough of The Man’s bullshit. RT Network recounts the latest superhero-like behavior of Jeff Monson the Anarchist Crusader: One of the LifeJournal users was shocked when he met Monson in the city’s Metro, which he decided to take in order to make the 40-minute trip to the Moscow outskirts, where he was to hold a master class the day before the fight. He was dressed in hooded top and wearing flip-flops. The temperature on that day was around zero degrees. On one of the stations he noticed two policemen trying to calm down a drunken man. Their methods seemed too aggressive to the American and he rushed to calm down the policemen. Monson’s escort decided not to wait until the American, known for his penchant for anarchism, beat up the surprised law-enforcers and stopped the scuffle. And this all somehow ended with Monson getting away scot free and not being tossed in a gulag. So if you are downtrodden and need help, and Phoenix Jones isn't around, Jeff Monson will fight off the evil KGB agents, even with a broken leg. Jeff Monson will show that we’re all equal by whipping those porkers’ asses back into line. This is not a joke: freedom is not to be taken lightly. Now if only he had been at UC Berkeley this past weekend.

Posted in: day, ’t, jeff monson, jeff, monson

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When studying the history of MMA, it’s pretty hard not to come across the name Jens Pulver. A pioneer of the lightweight division and the first ever UFC lightweight champion, Pulver helped paved the way for the lighter weight classes that now regularly steal the show at UFC events. After falling on hard times and being released by Zuffa following seven losses in eight fights, Pulver took a long look in the mirror to try and re-discover himself. It didn’t come to him right away as he continued to struggle to get over a “mental hurdle” but in his last bout, his bantamweight debut against Coty Wheeler, we saw the return of the Jens that fight fans fell in love with. “I was dialed in as ever in my last fight,” Pulver revealed Pulver in an exclusive interview with Five Ounces of Pain. “I almost got hit with an uppercut because I heard my corner so clearly that I actually turned and looked at them and he fired a shot that nearly caught me. Then I heard the guys say, ‘don’t look at us’ and I remember yelling, ‘MY BAD!’” Before he dropped to 135 in August, Pulver was once again on the losing end of things back in May when he was submitted in just 22 seconds against Armando Amezcua. In his post-fight interview, Jens defended his desire to continue fighting by saying, “I’ll retire on my own terms.” Jens defended his comments saying, “I appreciate people saying they want me to retire, as long as they have a good reason and are looking out for me. But, I’m losing to submissions. I’ll be grappling until I can’t walk. They’re safe. I’m not going out there and watching my chin turn to butter and going out there and getting hit by guys not known for power and going to sleep for 10 minutes.” According to Jens, physically he feels fine, but mentally he hasn’t been at the top of his game in some time. “The mental side of me died a while back and I have to find that guy,” said Pulver. After over 40 career fights, main events, and UFC titles, it’s hard to believe that Pulver could lack mental toughness, but to hear him explain things, they begin to make sense. “With so many years losing, I just had tunnel vision where I just wanted out of there. Either I knock them out quick or I got caught and I wanted out. I didn’t want to be in there. It’s like getting into a bad car wreck and when you get back into that card, you just want out. You’re not hearing anything. You’re not even hearing yourself, that inner fire just died. I’ve never been through something like that but it’s a bad situation. This last fight, I’ve never paid more attention to the mental side of things. I even had key words I kept saying to myself like ‘Bojangles’ which is my daughters nickname. So whenever I felt great in practice, that’s what I would say. It dialed me in.” His victory over Wheeler marked the first time that Pulver had finished an opponent with strikes since 2006. Now training at Team Curran with jiu-jitsu expert Jeff Curran, Pulver has spent a lot of time working on his grappling but says that his striking felt better than ever against Wheeler. “That was the first time in awhile I was like, ‘Wow, there it is.’ I was setting things up, moving to the right, continuing to circle, making him miss. My defense was on and I could see everything he was about to throw. It took a whole year to get there but it felt good. “I kept telling myself that I was going to knock this guy out. He’s known for his chin and I was going out there to show everyone at this weight that, ‘I’m here, lets get it poppin’” Jens is hopeful for a UFC return, but admits that he hasn’t talked to UFC president Dana White in some time. “I haven’t had communications with Dana White in I don’t know how long. That’s a busy guy.” He knows what he has to do in order to make another appearance in the octagon though, saying, “What it boils down to is proof. I can ask for it all day but if I can’t go out there and prove it then wants the point? I just gotta keep knocking people out and see what happens. It’d be a good way to say goodbye.”

Posted in: time, ’t, “ i, jen, pulver

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Anyone who missed UFC 139 needs to grab his or her remote control, flip to the pay-per-view channels and buy the replay. Don’t pass go. Don’t collect $200. Do grab a bowl of popcorn, nachos, a dozen hot wings, or whatever your favorite fight food is and get ready to watch one heck of a fight card. Any time UFC President Dana White awards four Fight of the Night checks, you know it was a great night of mixed martial arts, and that is precisely what happened on Saturday night. Wanderlei Silva’s dramatic knockout victory of Cung Le, after Le easily controlled the first round, was a feel good moment for fans who have followed the career of the “Axe Murderer” over the last 15 years.  And Dan Henderson’s unanimous decision victory was….well…THE BEST FIVE-ROUND FIGHT I’VE EVER SEENI’ve watched hundreds of UFC fights over the years. I can say without any hesitation at all that the epic war between Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was the best five round fight that I’ve ever witnessed—an amazing testament to the human spirit.Henderson easily won the first three rounds, almost stopping Shogun on a couple of occasions. I don’t think anyone would have complained if the referee would have waved off the action. But he didn’t. And Shogun came back strong.The Brazilian won the championship rounds as easily as Hendo won the first three. He dominated Hendo with powerful strikes, takedowns and masterful ground game. I’m sure someone has been mounted more times in a single round in UFC history. But I cannot recall it happening. Shogun mounted Hendo so many times that I lost count at five. For the record, I scored the fight 47-47, giving the first three to Hendo 10-9, the fourth to Shogun 10-9 and the final to Shogun 10-8. It was a shame that either man had to walk away with a loss. But this sort of thrilling back-and-forth affair was worth its weight in gold, so nobody can complain about the judges’ decision, even if they scored it for Shogun.I’m sure both Hendo and Shogun will cringe when they read this, but I think they need to run it back, immediately. They will cringe because Saturday had to be the most physically painful and exhausting fight of their respective careers. Look, Rashad Evans deserves the winner of Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida, assuming he is healthy enough to fight no later than April. He earned the right to fight for the title with his wins over Thiago Silva, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Tito Ortiz. Thus, Hendo needs an opponent, while he waits for Evans and the winner of Jones-Machida to play itself out. What better opponent than the man that just served as his dance partner in the greatest five round fight that I’ve ever witnessed.Let’s run it back. LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT OR MIDDLEWEIGHT?205 or 185. That is the question.Henderson has always been something of an enigma in mixed martial arts. While most fighters travel down in weight in search of career longevity and greater success, Hendo prefers to do the exact opposite. The former two-division PRIDE champion knows that he can make 185 pounds any time that he wants to. He knows that he is fighting against guys closer to his natural size when he competes in the middleweight division. Yet, after a lackluster effort against Jake Shields at 185 pounds back in April of last year, Hendo decided to do away with cutting weight and return to competing at his walking around weight, which meant locking horns with opponents who often outweigh him by 15 or 20 pounds come fight time.As odd as it seems, the numbers suggest that Hendo performs better against bigger guys. Since March 2008, he is 2-2 as middleweight, compared to 5-0 in bouts outside the middleweight division. That is a telling statistic, one that fits comfortably with Hendo’s disdain of cutting weight at this point in his illustrious career.Absent a bout with Anderson Silva, which is something Hendo would never turn down, it seems likely that his short-term future in the UFC will be in the promotion’s glamour division. Hendo didn’t waste any time making his intentions clear, either. He posted on his Twitter account on the way to the hospital that he wanted his next bout to be against the winner of next month’s 205-pound championship bout between Jones and Machida.For what it is worth, I think light heavy is the right way to go for the Team Quest star. He appears more explosive at 205 pounds, and his gas tank certainly appears to be deeper when he doesn’t have to severely restrict his caloric intake and sweat out 10 or 15 pounds of water in the days leading up to a fight. Plus, I just don’t see many middleweight fights piquing Hendo’s interest at this point in his career, aside from a second bout with Silva. DESPITE THE LOSS, SHOGUN IS FAR FROM A LOSERI have watched every single one of Shogun’s fights since he made his PRIDE debut back on October 5, 2003. Many of them twice or more. Suffice to say, I thought I had basically seen everything that Shogun had to offer as a fighter before he stepped into the Octagon to face Hendo. Boy, was I wrong.It is no big secret that Shogun is one of the best in the world at 205 pounds. It is even less of a secret that this guy is one of the most fearsome finishers in the sport. What I didn’t know was that his fighting spirit and courage probably exceed his fighting skill.I didn’t think anyone in the 205-pound division, other than Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, fit that bill. Shogun’s effort in the face of extreme adversity was a career-defining moment for him. I don’t know if he will ever live up to the great hype that surrounded him during his PRIDE days, but I do know that a fighter with his level of skills and heart can never be counted out in any situation. I’m sure Shogun is bitterly disappointed after coming up short on Saturday night. But I firmly believe that there was no real loser in that fight. I don’t think Shogun’s fighting star has ever been any brighter than it is right now due to his epic effort against Hendo. Check back Tuesday for more musings on the rest of last Saturday’s unforgettable UFC 139 card…

Posted in: fight, pound, ’t, shogun, hendo

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Anaheim and UFC on FOX were great! I had a blast and it was great to enjoy the fights and not have to work. I love my job and being with the guys but it was nice to enjoy all the fights. I expected that if Cain Velasquez tried to stand with Junior dos Santos that JDS would win. I thought it was a good back and forth while it lasted, I just expected Cain to take him down and use his ground and pound but I guess they had their own game plan. It’s a fight though and anything can happen in a fight. JDS is very well-rounded. He’s a very good striker. I just thought Cain would out work him and use his cardio to his advantage but JDS is legit. He beat the champ and his record shows that he’s the best. He’s fought tough guys, good guys, and he’s beat them all. He’s big enough to handle the big guys and maybe too big for the smaller guys. Clay Guida/Ben Henderson was a hell of a fight. We had about twenty people in our suite and everyone was on their feet and jumping and it was such an enjoyable fight. Both guys are tough. Guida always comes to fight and he’s like a ball of fire. He comes forward and doesn’t stop. Both guys left it all in the cage. It was great to see. Their striking was good, they hurt each other, they traded submissions, and their transitions were great. That’s what a UFC fight is all about. It might be the fight of the year so far. I wish they would have showed it on FOX because it’s probably one of the best fights I’ve seen in a long time. I hated to see one of those guys lose because it was such a good fight. I wish it would have been a draw because having a loss in that kind of fight is tough. This weekend is definitely a busy one. Mauricio Rua vs. Dan Henderson is gonna be a great fight. I have to give the edge to Henderson because of his right hand. I think he’ll end up stopping Shogun. Shogun is a good counter puncher but I think Henderson’s right hand will land a couple of times and he’ll win. I think Cung Le is going to be too fast for Wanderlei Silva. I think he’ll keep him away with his kicks. He’s so unconventional for a MMA fighter and I don’t know if Wanderlei will be able to get inside. If Cung sits and trades with him then Wand has a good chance of catching him and knocking him out but I think Cung is too smart for that. I think he’ll use his speed and kicks to keep him away and win. I favor Brian Bowles over Urijah Faber. I like Urijah but I think Bowles is tough enough to where he can grind it out. If Urijah tries to trade with him that benefits Bowles. I don’t know if he’s the underdog but I’m going with Bowles. I also want to send out best of luck to Martin Kampmann and Ray Sefo fighting this weekend as well. It’s good to have Xtreme Couture represented at UFC 139. Sefo is a great coach and Martin will do very well. Rick Story is a very good wrestler and it’ll be up to Martin to keep the fight where he wants it and set the pace of the fight. It won’t be a good idea to try and wrestle with Rick. Wednesday was the last taper down training session with Michael Chandler who fights Eddie Alvarez this weekend for the Bellator lightweight belt at Bellator 58. We are very focused and ready. Even though Mike doesn’t have the experience of Eddie, what I love about him is that he fights up to the challenge. He’s been the underdog in all his fights and he not only beat those guys, he beat them at their game. When he fought Marcin Held, his specialty was leg locks and he caught Mike in the first round. I thought it was over but Mike got out. I think most people would have tapped because the knee was in a bad spot and then he got a deep heel hook. Mike gutted it out and submitted him though. Against Patricky Freire, he was supposed to be the better striker but Mike executed the game plan and out-struck the striker while always mixing in his wrestling and ground and pound. Against Eddie, it won’t be an easy fight but we’re not going down there to lose. I’m very confident in Mike and we’re looking forward to a tough and exciting fight. The thing I love about Mike is that he sticks to the game plan and rises to the occasion. I’m excited for this weekend. I want to wish Martin and the boys good luck and I’m looking forward to next week because hopefully I’ll be talking about my first world champion! That’s it for this week. Enjoy the fights and until next time, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

Posted in: fight, guy, ’t, mike, ’ll

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If we’re going by the usual order of the fight universe, at 41 years old, Dan Henderson should probably be either on the tail end of a lengthy losing streak or already retired. Instead, the ageless wonder is still fighting at a high level, is coming off a first round knockout of Fedor Emelianenko, and will be headlining Saturday’s UFC 139 event against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.To borrow a phrase from his former teammate Randy Couture, “Not bad for an ‘old’ man.”Yet while wins in six of his last seven fights against top level foes speak for themselves, Henderson isn’t about to say that he feels 25 on the inside. In fact, when asked if there are things he can’t do now that he used to, he chuckles.“There are a lot of things. Give me a week and I’ll give you a list of what I used to be able to do. But the key is experience, knowing that I can relax in a lot of places where I used to not relax. I could keep going back then, but now I go when I need to go, and I put my energy and strength in the right places.”It’s worked for him, yet Henderson is not a cagey gameplanner like Couture was when he was beating top level foes into his 40’s. “Hendo” is still a free swinger and a deadly finisher if he lands his right hand. That hasn’t changed, and while it proved a detriment to him at times when he didn’t use the wrestling skills that got him to two Olympics, eventually he settled into a style where that right hand finds a home more often than not. It certainly did in the last fight of his previous UFC stint against Michael Bisping in 2009, and it worked wonders for him in Strikeforce, where he followed up a decision loss to Jake Shields in 2010 with KOs of Babalu Sobral, Rafael Cavalcante, and Emelianenko. So is it safe to say that he accomplished all he wanted to in Strikeforce before returning to the Octagon?“With the exception of the one loss,” he said. “I didn’t expect to lose, but that happens. I had a bad fight and I’m the one that has to learn from that and move on. I’m not dwelling on it at all, Jake did a good job and did what he needed to do, but regardless, I didn’t perform the way I knew I could, so the only thing I didn’t accomplish when I was there was a good performance in every fight.”But after the win over Emelianenko, at heavyweight no less, it was almost inevitable that the biggest fights left for the 14-year pro were going to be in the UFC. So Henderson was welcomed back into the fold, even though he didn’t know that was going to be the case when he left the UFC after the Bisping fight.“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Henderson. “When I left the UFC and went to Strikeforce, I didn’t know what was in the future. It was always a possibility; I knew the UFC wasn’t going anywhere and I know I didn’t leave on bad terms at all, so it was a matter of how things worked out at Strikeforce. And (UFC President) Dana (White) missed me so much he had to go buy Strikeforce.”Henderson laughs after deadpanning that last line, but in all seriousness, for the 41-year old, who is the first and only man to hold PRIDE titles in different divisions simultaneously, and who has done so much in the sport, a UFC title is the only thing missing on his resume, and he’s ready to make a final run at getting it.“I do this for the challenge as well, and not saying there’s not tough guys to challenge me in Strikeforce, but the bigger fights and better matchups for me right now are in the UFC, so I think I will be retiring in the UFC, and not somewhere else,” he said. “I’m not retiring soon, but I won’t be going anywhere and I’ll be fighting the remainder of my fights in the UFC I’m sure.”Does he think about a legacy that includes the aforementioned wins and titles, along with victories over Carlos Newton, Minotauro Nogueira, Renzo Gracie, Murilo Bustamante, Kazuo Misaki, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, and Rich Franklin?“I don’t really give too much thought to that,” he said. “I know I’ve accomplished quite a bit in the sport, but in my mind, I’m not gonna be satisfied with what I’ve done when I have bigger goals that I want to accomplish. Once I accomplish those goals, maybe I’ll retire and be satisfied with that.”Probably not, as Henderson seems like the type to instantly formulate new goals as soon as he’s done with the first batch.“I’ve been doing it a long time and it’s tough to stay motivated throughout that many years of fighting, 14 years now, and the challenges with the different opponents is what kept me motivated.”On Saturday, it will be a fight fan’s dream fight when he takes on Rua, like Henderson a former PRIDE star now slugging it out in the Octagon. Henderson admits that he “really didn’t give too much thought” to a matchup with the Brazilian Muay Thai master while the two fought in Japan, but now that the fight is a reality, he’s preparing for the same ferocious force that tore up the ring a few years back.“He (Rua) has still got that youth to him, and obviously the rules are a little bit different now than they were in PRIDE, but he’s dangerous and he’s well-rounded, so I think he’s definitely as dangerous as he used to be,” he said. “He’s got a lot more experience and he’s better than he used to be as well.”As for Henderson?“I’m better.”That’s the answer you have to expect from a man who has been at the top of this game for nearly 15 years now. And when Saturday comes, expect him to be ready for five rounds, just like always.“My gameplan is to win every round, pick my shots, control him the whole fight, and beat him everywhere we’re at.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, henderson, year

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Pray for world peace. Pray for prosperity. Pray for good health. Standard stuff compared to the extraordinary prayer of UFC fighter Michael McDonald. “As a child I said, ‘God, I want a hard life.’”The genesis that spawned that unusual wish? Young Michael, intuitive beyond his years, observed a curious trend in the world. It involved the decimals of human civilization who have etched their names in the history books. “Anyone whose name is still remembered from years past,” McDonald said, “they either did something really bad, or something really good. But they have one thing in common: They all had a hard life. “Most people just want to skate through life and satisfy their needs in the easiest way. I want to do something unique with my life, and the only way I’m going to do something special is if it’s a hard life.”By his own account, McDonald’s quest for a rocky road has been granted. The Modesto, California, native is a professional fighter, and less than one percent of the population can truthfully say that. It is an often unglamorous life filled with grueling training sessions that often push you to the limit physically, mentally and spiritually. Fear is a common companion. Sacrifice and discipline are musts. Frequent partying and living on the wild side are potential career killers. The interesting thing is, though he’s been training since he was a teenager and even turned pro at the exceptionally ripe age of 16, McDonald (13-1) says he didn’t choose the fighting life. It chose him. “Fighting was never in my plan for myself,” said the deeply religious McDonald, who at 20 years old is the youngest fighter among the UFC’s roster of 303 athletes. “I wanted to be a counselor, I wanted to be a cabinet maker, I wanted to be a preacher, I wanted to be a martial arts teacher. Fighting was never something I wanted for my own life. But in time it came to be. This is what God put in my life and this is what I need to do right now. It might not have been the plan I had for myself, but this is a good life. It might be hard – but I asked for a hard life. This is the plan that He has for me. This is my ministry right now.” Regarded by many as a future star-in-the-making, McDonald is 3-0 under the Zuffa banner and chases his fourth straight win on Saturday when he faces unbeaten Alex Soto (6-0-1) at UFC 139. The bantamweight battle harbors a potential redemption of sorts for McDonald, in his own eyes at least. One of the division’s most dangerous finishers, McDonald’s potent right hand has ended seven of his fights. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt has also submitted four foes. But his last two UFC foes (Chris Cariaso and Edwin Figueroa) have been stubborn, taking McDonald the distance and making him settle for judges’ decisions. That doesn’t sit well with McDonald, even though he said a shoulder and knuckle were badly injured before his Cariaso fight. “Everyone has bad and good nights; that fight with Chris Cariaso was not a good night for me,” McDonald said. “I consider it a loss in my book. I think I should have been able to finish Chris Cariaso. I’ve only had two decisions in my life. I do not want to go to another decision. Alex Soto seems very well-rounded. Someone who is so well-rounded and aggressive, with a crazy gas tank, you can’t plan exactly what you’re going to do. So I really don’t have a gameplan. I just want to finish the fight and I’m going to go out there and play it by ear.” Certain fighters, like Clay Guida and Wanderlei Silva, are adrenaline junkies who relish the energy of a frenzied live arena and fight to entertain fans. McDonald is different. A self-professed “perfectionist,” he is well aware that some people have branded him The Next Big Thing at 135 pounds. In fact, McDonald has at times let his mind wander, comparing himself to other phenoms who achieved incredible success in their early twenties such as Rory MacDonald (now 22), Erik Koch (23), light heavyweight champ Jon Jones (24) and featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo (25). McDonald concedes that envy and even jealousy have seeped into his thoughts from time to time, but he’s determined to rise above that kind of competitiveness. “This is a little bit of the psychology behind Michael,” he says with a chuckle. “No one has ever asked me that but actually I do make those comparisons. It’s not something that I’m proud of, but it’s been a defect of mine. Growing up I always thought that when I did something I was special. And what made me special was never the fact that I was good. What made me special was the fact that I was good – AND I WAS YOUNG. Yeah, there are people that can do what I do, but no one can do it as young as I can. “I still struggle with it occasionally. When I see other young people in competition that are good at something – I want to hate them. That’s my automatic reaction, because they are taking away from my specialness, so to speak. But now that I’m getting older and more mature I can stop and see that it means nothing. I have to keep a check on that. I should be learning no matter who the person is. I need to respect all these people and their awesomeness. So I’m learning to have a more appropriate mindset about it. I realize now that I’m not special because of what I do, or because someone tells me. I’m special because of the way God made me.”Along the same lines, McDonald refuses to bear the heavy load of outside expectations. He has succumbed to that burden once before, two and a half years ago, when he lost his only pro fight via TKO to Cole Escovedo. A deep depression followed. “I ran away and pushed everyone away,” he said. “It led me down a miserable road and I don’t ever want to do that again. Now I have a much healthier mindset about it. I’m not doing this for the people. If I can help people along the way then that’s great, but I’m not doing this for other people. I’m doing this because my God, my father, gave me a mission and this is what he put in front of my life.”If you can’t already tell, fighting is not McDonald’s favorite topic. It’s his aforementioned ministry. In his mind, similar to No. 1 lightweight contender Benson Henderson, fighting simply gives him a large public platform to spread God’s message.“A lot of people think that when I speak at church I’m going to talk about being a fighter and my successes, and I don’t. Because I’m not something special. I didn’t do something extraordinary. I ruined my life,” McDonald said. “I was miserable … I looked in the mirror one morning and I didn’t like who I saw. I always thought that I would be a good person when I grew up and I wasn’t. I hated my life. I became a liar. I had everyone fooled. I was a phony. I was a manipulating bastard. That was the main reason I hated myself. No one really knew me -- I didn’t know me. That’s what I’ve been talking about in my testimony. I hated myself and didn’t really want to stay on this planet anymore. God took me at that point and he turned me into a good person. Now I get to talk about my screw-ups and God’s victories in my life. Fighting is not about me being the best, it’s not about me being rich. To me, it is my ministry right now.”Our time is almost up. There is one more question for Young Man McDonald. What is the upside of being only 20 years old and days away from your third UFC fight? “The upside … ummm…I guess the upside is knowing that I have a long ways to go until I’m the best I can be,” he said. “A lot of people in the organization have a very small window of opportunity to generate income from this. That’s not the case for me. I probably have 15 or more years left, give or take a few years. So I feel comfortable and I’m not in any rush to get the title or get to the top right now. Other fighters might be of a certain age so they’re in a rush and they need it soon; I don’t. I can be as patient as I want. I’m putting my money on the fact that Michael McDonald at 25 will be better than Michael McDonald at 20. So that is making my career go a lot smoother.”

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, life, ’m, mcdonald

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Everyone knows that Urijah Faber wants another chance to wrest the UFC bantamweight title away from his nemesis, Dominick Cruz.“The California Kid” thought he had done enough to accomplish the feat at UFC 132 in July.  Over 25 minutes, Faber and Cruz went back and forth, combining to deliver one of the most entertaining fights of 2011 as the first bantamweight duo to headline a UFC Pay-Per-View in the organization’s history.When the scorecards were read, Cruz’s hands were raised as Faber threw his head back in disbelief. Four months later, the charismatic former WEC featherweight champion is one win away from earning a place opposite Cruz inside the Octagon once again.“I think it’s pretty high up there,” said Faber of where a trilogy bout with Cruz rests on his personal “To Do” list. “He has the belt and that’s what I want; that’s the pinnacle of this sport, to be UFC champ, and that’s where I want to be. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get back in with him, but I’ve got to earn it, and that means beating Brian Bowles.”Tucked into the third position on Saturday night’s UFC 139 event, the pairing of Faber and Bowles matches two former WEC champions hungry to once again stand across the cage from the current 135-pound king.Despite his championship pedigree, Bowles isn’t as well known as some of the other fighters in the bantamweight division — a former world champion who currently competes in anonymity in the UFC. While his own star shines brighter than most amongst the lighter weight fighters, Faber knows that fan recognition isn’t going to be a factor in determining Saturday night’s outcome.“The thing that matters most is that I entertain, I dominate, and I show my skills. I wish that it made a difference that nobody knows who Brian Bowles is, but it doesn’t. He doesn’t care about that. He’s going to go in and fight tooth and nail, and that will make for a great fight.“It’s going to be best man wins, and I believe that’s going to be me, and I’m going to do it in a dominating, exciting fashion. That’s what it’s about for me — putting my best foot forward, having fun doing it, and making sure everyone else has fun while I’m doing it also.”As much as he’s itching for a chance to face Cruz for a third time, Faber isn’t overlooking Bowles, not in the least.“I know he’s got a strong skill set. He’s a dangerous guy because he goes for broke, which are the kind of fighters I like. He’s got a heavy overhand right, solid standup all around, and a lot of good chokes. He’s pretty good at everything, but I think I’m going to have an edge in every area.“The one thing that you have to do is be respectful; respecting what he has to offer. He can knock guys out, he can choke guys out, and as soon as you think you’re above that — that it can’t happen to you — that’s when you see black belts like Wagnney Fabiano and Miguel Torres getting submitted by our guy, Joseph Benavidez.“You’ve got to respect the fact that if somebody knows how to do something, you’ve vulnerable to it. That’s why I don’t get caught in anything; I’ve fought a lot of black belts and heavy punchers, and awareness is the key.”In addition to being aware of Bowles’ abilities inside the cage, Faber also knows there are some who question his potential quick return to a championship bout.Just four months after losing to Cruz at UFC 132, the 32-year-old leader of Team Alpha Male will earn another kick at the championship can with a win on Saturday night, a much faster return to title contention than is afforded to most contenders. To Faber, there is a simple explanation.“It’s not really my concern, but what it comes down to is how many guys can beat me? I had a one-sided fight against Mizugaki. I had a one-sided fight against Eddie Wineland. I have the #2 guy in the world, Joseph Benavidez, as one of my training partners.“Who else do you give that to? You give it to somebody that can beat me and you give it to guys that have a chance like Eddie Wineland or Brian Bowles, and the winner gets a title shot, and I’ve been winning those. Any opportunity they give me, I’ll take it, and they’re usually hard earned.”Securing the chance to face Cruz for a third time is about more than hoping to win the rubber match in their personal battle; it’s about filling the one gap that remains on Faber’s resume.“Getting that UFC title is a big goal on my list, and it’s what I’m shooting for, what I’m working for. I see improvements all the time, and especially now at the new weight, I have every advantage to win, so I’ve just got to make it happen.”He was successful the last time he was in this position, earning a victory at UFC 128 and channeling YouTube celebrity Antoine Dodson while offering Cruz a warning in his post-fight interview.Saturday night, Faber hopes history repeats itself, with a win over Bowles bringing him the chance to settle things once and for all with the UFC bantamweight champion. The only difference is that this time, he’s chosen to offer his warning to Cruz in advance.“Dominick, I can hurt you, you can’t hurt me; we both know it. Run tell that, homeboy.”

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It was that right hand again. Somewhere, a witch doctor was having fun with a voodoo doll at Brian Bowles’ expense. A hand fracture prematurely ended Bowles’ run as WEC bantamweight champion and kept him out of action for almost a year. Then between rounds two and three against Takeya Mizugaki, one of Bowles’ primary weapons was again writhing in agony. The last thing Bowles will every cry over or admit to is pain, but his corner knew better. His second-round stoppage loss to Dominick Cruz that cost him the title 16 months earlier remained undigested.A win over the game Mizugaki would get Bowles a step closer to regaining a prize swiped not by an advisory but a broken bone and a tough break. Bowles’ spirit has always been able, but on this night he needed an extra boost of will power to see him through. UFC brass told Bowles going in that he could be in line for a title shot at the Cruz-Urijah Faber winner later that night, and why not? He’s won two straight as a former champion, the first a dismantling of Damacio Page with the same guillotine choke submission at the exact time and place (3:30 of Round 1) of their first meeting. Against Mizugaki, there was too much at stake, so Bowles’ was given no choice.“I still felt it was a fight he could win,” said Rory Singer, Bowles’ trainer. “Having come off that loss to Cruz, I wanted him to know to stop thinking about it and leave it all out there. If it’s broken it’s broken, but at least he would have persevered and worked though the pain. He would have been a better person and a better fighter, and a future and better champion having gotten through.”Bowles wasn’t happy, neither was the crowd, but he took the decision victory and presented his case for a rematch. A couple hours after Bowles’ victory, Cruz and Faber put on a five round classic that saw the Dominator walk away with a narrow decision victory. Cruz-Faber earned Fight of the Night honors. Bowles-Mizugaki wasn’t exciting and Bowles knew it. Three months later, Cruz made another successful title defense by besting Demetrious Johnson, so the match was made once the bantamweight division received a bit more clarity, except it wasn’t the news Bowles expected.“The next thing I hear I’m fighting Faber [Saturday at UFC 139] for the next title shot,” Bowles said. “I took it as that and started training for him.”It was time for Bowles to take and grind through the pain again. Faber was the WEC’s golden child and a pioneer of the rise of the featherweights during his 32-month title reign at 145 pounds, but he faces Bowles with a 4-4 record in his last eight – all four of those losses coming in title matches. Listed on Bowles’ resume are credentials that laud the virtues of a 10-1 contender who is the only fighter to knock out Miguel Angel Torres. All that stood in Bowles’ way was a bad break, that troublesome right hand, Faber’s reputation and the power of peak performance.“A lot of times I think winning and losing isn’t always part of it,” Bowles said. “There’s some politics involved. Faber is a big name. He sells tickets and it’s a business, so I understand that part of it. All I can do is work on my end, go out there and win, and kind of force a title shot on them just by winning.”He’ll have to do it in San Jose, California, 90 miles from Faber’s hometown of Sacramento. Faber is Sac-Town’s beloved son who sold out the Power Balance Pavilion (then known as ARCO Arena) each time he led the WEC into town. Despite his recent .500 run, Faber has earned respect on guts and guile. He lost his rematch to Mike Brown fighting four of five rounds with his own broken right hand and dislocated left thumb. Jose Aldo tenderized his leg to where a lesser man would have disintegrated. His second meeting with Cruz was five furious rounds that left fans clamoring for an immediate rematch.“He doesn’t give up easy,” Bowles said. “He’ll fight you until the last second. It’s going to be a tough fight for me, one of the toughest of my career.”Singer’s advice was to embrace the chance to shine on a prominent spot of a popular card in the shadow of a hot audience and grab the opportunity to regain his title by defeating Faber, one of the best ever at 145 before he dropped to bantamweight. Bowles’ reserved personality is ideal to cope with the expected pro-Faber crowd and keep his emotions in check. After all, he’s been dismissed and overlooked before. Few gave him a chance against Torres and he stopped the champion’s 17-fight winning streak cold to become WEC bantamweight king. In a published interview, Cruz gave the edge to Faber because he believes he can beat Bowles on the ground.“I really don’t get too nervous coming into a higher profile fight,” Bowles said. “I realize the situation I’m in. There’s more on the line here. There’s a lot more people watching and there’s a bigger spotlight on me. “I realize it’s a bigger fight. Do I feel like I’m going to lose by getting more nervous or over-thinking it? No. I’ve been in this situation before. I enjoy coming in as the underdog. Ever since I started fighting in the WEC everybody’s always counting me out as a loss. Every time they do that I come through and win. I kind of gotten used to that.”Bowles does carry a big advantage that could make an immediate impact, his power. Faber’s title reign came to a sudden end when Brown caught him out of position and tagged him with a right to the jaw. Only three of Bowles’ wins have come via knockout or TKO, the last against Torres as a result of strategic calculation that baited Torres into his demise at 3:57 of the first round.“It’s not that you go into it thinking I’m going to hit him with one punch and it’s going to be over, but the fact is if Brian puts his hands on anybody and he connects he’s going to knock him out. Singer said. “His footwork has gotten better with his head movement, and he still hits like a truck.“It’s not like that’s the game plan, because I don’t think it should ever be I’m going to land this one punch and if that one punch doesn’t land then you’re left without a Plan B. The plan is just go out there and be Brian Bowles. He is a well-rounded fighter. He has beaten guys supposedly better than him in their particular forte.”In the heat of the battle facing Mizugaki, Singer demanded five more minutes of resilience. Pain had never stopped Bowles before. His hand’s been shattered three times over his five-year MMA career. Mentally there’s no pain involved, he says. Physically, Bowles was being asked to take Mizugaki down and grapple, to slow down a fight that was his to secure.“People don’t believe me when I say it, but it doesn’t hurt at all,” Bowles said. “I’m not trying to be a tough guy, but it really doesn’t hurt. It’s not as big of a deal for me anymore. I just try and shift gears and do something else so I don’t have to use it as much.”It was later revealed that Bowles’ hand wasn’t broken, but swollen.  That said, with his right hand left unsheathed, it was fight or flight. Bowles tapped into the deepest of reserves to cope with what was still dangerous and unexpected. “Your adrenaline is maxed out,” Bowles said. “As soon as you start walking out, your song comes on and it’s time to roll. When it starts kicking in I don’t think you’re going to have much feeling on a broken hand from that point on.”Despite the rash of injuries, Bowles is wrapping up a productive and healthy training camp, which he didn’t have going into the Cruz fight. Nearly a month prior, he hurt his ribs and in retrospect regretted taking the fight. “There were a lot of things that led up to having to drop out of the fight,” Bowles said. “It wasn’t just the broken hand. It was much more than that. You have a bunch of things bunched together and it’s hard to go through that.” There were no such excuses against Mizugaki, one reason is why Singer implored him to finish the job and go the distance for the first time in his career. He had to fight through more pain and another stroke of bad luck to do it, but in the evaluation of Bowles’ case study, perseverance is his credo. At UFC 139, for the umpteenth time in Bowles’ career, it’s one more round, one more fight. Patience, yet again, must be a virtue.

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Coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his career, Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann looks to rebound at UFC 139 against Rick Story, a rugged wrestler who won’t back down if fisticuffs start flying. “It sucks to have two losses on paper,” said Kampmann (17-5), a native of Denmark who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, and trains at Xtreme Couture. “Especially my last fight, I thought I won. I beat the snot out of Diego (Sanchez). It sucks to get on the wrong side of a decision. In the Jake Shields fight I was disappointed in my own performance, even though you could make an argument that I won. When I fought Shields he kind of hugged me and humped my leg for most of the fight. But I’m looking forward and staying positive. I’m getting the win Saturday and that will put me right back up there.” Story, a former collegiate wrestler, has triumphed in 12 of his past 14 fights. He is 6-2 in the UFC, including noteworthy wins over Thiago Alves and Johny Hendricks. Though he is known to bang when necessary, Story prefers to take opponents down and punish them on top. A key battle in the fight will be Story’s takedowns versus Kampmann’s defense; the Dane has stuffed 81 percent of his foes’ takedown attempts. “He’s a good wrestler who comes in and he’s not scared to exchange punches. He can eat a shot, too,” Kampmann said. “So he’s definitely a game opponent. He’s very strong and fights southpaw, but I feel I can beat him standing and on the ground. Either way, I’m going to knock him out or submit him. I don’t want a judges’ decision. I just want to finish the fight and get a win. He’s tough, but he’s also beatable. Everybody’s beatable.” Saturday night in San Jose, California, will mark Kampmann’s 13th foray inside the Octagon; he made his UFC debut back in 2006 and has notched eight wins since then, most notably defeating Carlos Condit, Thales Leites and Paulo Thiago. It has been eight months since Kampmann last fought. In the interim, his wife gave birth to a son, Xander, now three months old. “I spend my spare time with him,” Kampmann said. “I love it. It’s the greatest experience ever. You can’t describe it. You’ve got to have your own baby to know that feeling. No matter how bad your day goes, when your baby smiles at you it makes you happy.” Becoming a parent tends to change a man’s perspective. But even with an extra mouth to feed, Kampmann doesn’t concern himself with trying to avoid three straight losses. “I try not to focus on that. I don’t want to put more pressure on myself,” he said. “Just going into the Octagon and fighting is plenty of pressure already. So I don’t worry about stuff like that. I’m just focused on coming to win and beating Rick Story.”

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In case you tuned in late on Saturday night and only saw Dana White criticizing the game plan of Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos defeated Velasquez in a few ticks north of a minute to capture the UFC heavyweight title. The victory was Dos Santos’ eighth win in the octagon, with six coming by stoppage due to strikes. JDS is a knockout artist and now the best heavyweight in the world. It’s a shame that the UFC president didn’t hype him up as such after his 64-second knockout in front of the largest UFC audience ever. The Brazilian champion is like the MMA version of Mike Tyson, except that he hasn’t faltered against top competition. See, while Tyson knocked out cans but lost to good fighters like Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, “Cigano” has had nothing but tough fights in the UFC and has passed with flying colors. Fabricio Werdum was one win away from a heavyweight title shot. JDS was a +500 underdog. JDS knocked him out cold with an uppercut. Stefan Struve is the tallest fighter in the UFC and has competed in professional kickboxing. JDS swarmed on him and stopped him with strikes in under a minute. Mirko Filipovic is a MMA legend and one of the most feared strikers in MMA history. JDS beat him up for twelve minutes before “Cro Cop” decided that he wanted no more. Gilbert Yvel, while not a great fighter, is a dangerous striker with a ton of power. JDS put him away with a beautiful left hook. Gabriel Gonzaga was a former title contender who had fought plenty of top guys. JDS starched him in under four minutes. Roy Nelson is a well-rounded veteran and one of the toughest guys in the sport. JDS beat him on him from start to finish. Shane Carwin is a powerful wrestler with crazy power. JDS turned his face into hamburger meat for three rounds. Velasquez was undefeated and considered the best heavyweight in the world. JDS knocked him clean out. Point out the flaws of his competition all you want, but he beat the guys put in front of him and did so in impressive fashion every single time. He hasn’t lost a single round in eight UFC fights. So far, the only knock against him is that his conditioning might be questionable just because he finishes guys so quickly and looked a bit tired from kicking so much ass for the duration of the bout. People question his ground game, but when he’s been put on his back, he’s immediately gotten to his feet. The way people talk about JDS reminds me of the way people talked about Chuck Liddell when he was the top light heavyweight in the UFC. “You have to drag Chuck into deep waters and really test his conditioning.” That’s pretty tough to do when Chuck knocked you out in the first round and beat you up so bad that your conditioning was worse than his by the time the fight got into the championship rounds. “You have to get Chuck on his back and make him uncomfortable.” That’s pretty tough to do when every time you go for a takedown Chuck made you pay with strikes or immediately popped up to his feet if you got him down. Right now the holes in Dos Santos’ game are hypothetical, because no one has proved they exist. And even if they do exist, if you’re unconscious before you get a chance to expose them, then what good does it do you to know them? UFC did Dos Santos a huge disservice on Saturday night. First with Joe Rogan calling him a “throwback to the old UFC days” like JDS is some one-dimensional puncher who can’t do anything else and then Dana immediately talking about Velasquez’s mistakes instead of crediting JDS. In fact, Dana didn’t once credit his new heavyweight champion in the post-fight broadcast instead focusing only on what Cain did wrong and even questioning the cardio of JDS. “Cigano” is without a doubt the best heavyweight on the planet. He’s beaten all challengers put in front of him, he’s fought injured, he’s fought tired, he’s fought when he didn’t need to, and he’s never lost a single round in the organization. He’s the most feared striker in the heavyweight division with his technical ability, his timing, and his knockout power. Everyone who has stood with him has gotten beat up. Dos Santos deserves all the credit in the world for what he did on Saturday night. He fought The Terminator and he reprogrammed him. He fought Machete and he got the job done. Not even Steven Seagal could do that. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, heavyweight, ’t, do, jd

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Popular bantamweight Miguel Torres has been on a roller-coaster ride career-wise over the past few years, peaking in 2007-2008 during a title-winning run in WEC before suffering the only stoppages of his 43-fight career in back-to-back bouts. After the plunge downward, Torres recovered in his UFC debut earlier this year to pick up a decision victory over Antonio Banuelos before being outpointed in his next outing by Demetrious Johnson. Up next for Torres is a bout this weekend at UFC 139 against sacrificial lamb Nick Pace with the added loopty-loop of being on the Facebook portion of the card rather than the televised/PPV broadcast. However, rather than fret about his circumstances, Torres has used the situation as motivation to remind MMA fans of how talented a fighter he actually is. “It should give me a push and it should make me angry, but it doesn’t,” said Torres of his spot on the lineup in an interview with the UFC’s website. “I’ve done a lot for the sport, especially for my weight class — I’ve headlined a lot of cards, and I’ve been at the top of the billboard a lot, and to get pushed all the way down like this is one of those things where people are forgetting who I am and what I’m all about. I’ve got to go out there and make an example of my opponents, and make people realize who I am again.” “When I found out where I was fighting, I wasn’t upset,” Torres continued. “It was one of those things like when you know your girlfriend is cheating on you and you just have to get even, and that’s what I’m planning on doing.” The extra fire in the 30-year old’s belly should spell bad news for Pace who is 1-2 under the Zuffa banner and has a fifth of Torres’ ring-time. In fact, Torres made it clear he’ll be looking for the finish come Saturday night. “I’ve got to go out there and take care of business. I can’t let it go to the judges’ hands, and I don’t want to go out there and just win this fight by decision; I want to show the world who Miguel Torres is again,” the Chicagoan explained. “I’m on a personal quest to be the best fighter I can be, and be the best fighter in the world. I’m not going to quit until I reach my goals. Every goal that I’ve ever set for myself I’ve accomplished; I don’t know what it’s like not to accomplish goals. So for me, I’m going to get to the top of the mountain; it’s just a matter of time.” Torres Splits Time Between TriStar MMA and Blackzilian Camp Interested parties can see Torres attempt to reclaim his mojo when the preliminary pairings start at approximately 5:45 PM EST. Other streaming bouts include Matt Brown vs. Seth Baczynski and Gleison Tibau vs. Rafael dos Anjos. UFC 139 is headlined by Dan Henderson taking on Mauricio Rua for top contendership in the light heavyweight division and also features Wanderlei Silva taking on fellow striker Cung Le. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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Rare is the natural phenomenon who makes everything look easy, not just surpassing his opponents but steamrolling through them. For the rest, the path to success is beset with setbacks, with frustration and failings, disappointments and defeats.Seth Baczynski’s mixed martial arts career has sometimes resembled the movements within a childhood board game — a couple steps forward followed by a few steps back.He’d signed with the International Fight League in 2007, but was cut after two losses. He had a shot at fighting his way onto The Ultimate Fighter in 2010, but lost in a close battle to the season’s eventual winner, Court McGee. He was brought back to the show to replace an injured fighter and won his first bout, but then he got disqualified and eliminated in the next. And he had a fight on the show’s live finale, but he came up short on the scorecards. The UFC then released him.“It was looking grim, to say the least,” Baczynski says now with a laugh.He’s able to laugh because fortune fell his way again, because he didn’t give up after all of these setbacks but rather, well, fought through them. It is the whims of fortune that gave him yet another chance, but it is Baczynski himself who controls his fate.When DaMarques Johnson suffered an injury, Baczynski stepped in, defeating Clay Harvison by submission in September on a UFC Fight Night card in New Orleans. And with John Hathaway hurt, Baczynski has been called upon once again to face Matt Brown at UFC 139. “Every fight is just as important as the next,” says Baczynski, a 30-year-old welterweight with 14 wins and 6 losses and a mission of changing only one of those two numbers. “My last fight was the most important fight of my career. Right now this fight is the most important of my career. I don’t want any losses. The ones I have, I didn’t want. And I don’t want any going forward. “He’s in my way of fulfilling my dream, just like every other guy I’ve fought. I’m fortunate to be in the UFC. I don’t ever want to go back to fighting on a lower circuit again. The only way to guarantee that is not to lose.”Born in Hawaii, Baczynski now lives outside of Phoenix, Ariz., training at Power MMA and Fitness when he’s not working at a water company or spending time with his three young children. He took up mixed martial arts after seeing it on television, a crazy enough reason that sounds even crazier when you learn that Baczynski had no wrestling background.But he learned by training and by doing. After about four years of fighting, he was 11-5 and competing in front of Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Dana White for a spot on the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter. His effort against McGee in defeat left an impression on Ortiz, who brought Baczynski back in place of the injured Chris Camozzi. Several episodes later, Baczynski defeated Joseph Henle by decision, earning a spot in the show’s quarterfinal round.Two steps forward, then a few steps back — brought about, fittingly, by Baczynski’s feet.Brad Tavares had Baczynski on the mat in the final seconds of the first round of their quarterfinal fight. Baczynski rose, and Tavares threw a left high kick, losing his balance in the process and crashing to the canvas. With Tavares on one knee and his head down, Baczynski sent out a soccer kick, his right shin catching Tavares’ chin. Tavares collapsed back down before stumbling back to his corner. Baczynski apologized, but it didn’t matter; he’d be disqualified for the illegal shot.Baczynski and Tavares met again on the show’s finale. Tavares won the decision and got to remain in the UFC. Baczynski did not.“It was tough,” Baczynski said. “It wasn’t like I felt they robbed me of a victory. I felt like Tavares beat me. It was a close fight. But I was devastated. I was just crushed. I was so bummed out. I knew that they were going to cut me.”After being released, Baczynski questioned himself, questioned whether he wanted to keep fighting, whether it was worth it to keep trying.“I felt like I’d put so much into this that it’d be foolish to stop now,” he said. “That loss just made me open my eyes.”Baczynski says he has rededicated himself to his training, putting in extra time at the gym, improving with the help of his coaches and training partners.“No sacrifice, no paradise,” he said. “I’m finally starting to get some of the fruits of my labor, and I’ve been working at it for so long. I feel like I’m in a place mentally and physically in my career where I’ve never been before, like I understand fighting more than I’ve ever understood it. I haven’t hit my wall, and I’m still learning and growing every day.”Though he considered himself competitive with the middleweights on The Ultimate Fighter, he’s dropped down to welterweight, where he says he belongs despite his 6-foot-3 frame. He walks around at 195 pounds; the middleweights, meanwhile, are “huge” and were better able to take him down and hold him down, he said.Controversy hasn’t eluded Baczynski since the decision loss to Tavares. His first fight back, last December against Tim McKenzie, ended on a stoppage, Baczynski pummeling McKenzie with right elbows. Baczynski’s left arm had just been injured in an arm bar. McKenzie’s camp argued that Baczynski had tapped out, that McKenzie had let go, and then the elbows came. Baczynski contends that wasn’t the case. “I’m not a scumbag,” he says. “If I’d have tapped, I would have quit fighting.”Nevertheless, it was a win for Baczynski, the first of three in a row. He’s back to fighting in the UFC again and plans on making it four and impressing against Brown.“I got 14 wins and 14 finishes. I don’t plan on winning any other way but finishing somebody,” he said. “I just gotta find a way to make him give me what I want. I got 15 minutes to do so. I’ve got a great idea what I want to do. I just gotta go out there and execute.”

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There were lots of hijinks to discuss from last week’s episode so we’ll just start at the beginning. T.J. Dillashaw had been telling the group how Brian Caraway was all about his hair. At first I didn’t believe him until one morning before practice I saw Brian gelling up his hair Jersey Shore-style. He was really into it. He probably spent at least twenty minutes doing it. It was funny to everyone. So Akira Corassani was making fun of it and brought up the idea of cutting his hair. At first I didn’t believe him but sure enough he went ahead and did it. What’s really funny is the part they showed on TV was actually the second time Akira went in there. He’d done it before and Caraway stayed asleep but he wasn’t sure if he had gotten him that good so he decided to go back, but Brian was playing possum and jumped up to chase Akira. I never thought it would escalate to the point of getting physical. At the end of the day it was just a joke and just hair. Someone reasonable could easily talk to Brian about that, like tell him, “Don’t be so girly, dude. It’s hair. It’ll grow back.” A couple of weeks prior to the show I had a damn dyslexic barber misspell “darkness” in my hair so I just shaved it all off. No big deal. Again, it’s just big hair. If he was a girl, sure, then that’s not cool but c’mon man… I had no idea Tiki Ghosn’s masterpiece was coming. Originally, Tiki’s plan was to demolish Jason Miller’s Dodge Charger. He’s was going to trap it inside those barricades, like “Mayhem” did, but he knew someone in the construction industry who was going to hook up a crane to drop one of those big cement suckers on top of the car! But “Mayhem” started riding his bike and that went out the window. Back to what everyone saw, when they pulled us over to tell us what was going on I was all for it! Diego Brandao, Josh Ferguson, and myself all grabbed the required materials so when they gave us the signal – BAM – we knocked a hole in the door and I followed up with a nice dose of fire extinguisher. Then one of the guys from the other team busted into our room and Michael Bisping sprayed him so then we couldn’t breathe. It was off the chain! The mariachi band was a needed bit of comic relief too. Some of the coaches were ready to beat each others’ asses. It was getting to that point. But the band put a light spin on it. It made it funny, basically reminding everyone that it was a joke and not personal. Plus they helped because you couldn’t see in all of the fire extinguisher stuff and you’d be coughing but you knew to follow the sound of the mariachi band! I’ve gotta admit the jock strap-prank was all me. I used to pull that off all the time back home in Alabama. You get done practicing, you take a shower, and then you find someone and jump on their back, just rub it in their face and take off. I got it in my head I wanted to jock-strap Bisping, so Akira said he’d stall him, but when the opportunity came up I didn’t get to jump on his back the way I wanted. But it’s all good because my ball juice still got in his eyes, mouth, and nose, so I’d say mission successful. Coach’s sense of humor about it was great. He knew it was all fun and games. I didn’t know he took revenge on Akira until I watched the show because I ran out of there! I had to go back to the training room to get my stuff but instead of taking the hallway I went upstairs then climbed down a cage panel that was holding up some of the promotional posters or whatever. That’s where I got the nickname “Black Peter Parker”. Went down, got my stuff, and climbed back out like Spiderman. Clearly Akira got the worst end of the punishment from Bisping because he got my chocolate, salty ball-juice in his mouth. *laughs* He was a casualty of war. He had told me what had happened but once I actually saw it I was like, “Damn Akira…I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” After Bisping showed up with the Silly String at the house, the reason I was taking my clothes off while running is because I knew I was going for the pool and I didn’t want to get my microphone wet. Akira had destroyed two microphones so the producers said we were going to get fined if we broke another one and they cost like $1,000. Unfortunately I didn’t get to jump into the water as spectacularly as I wanted to since Bisping gave me a little love tap on the way there. The fight between Akira and Dennis Bermudez was incredible! We went crazy when that one shot spun Dennis around. But, Akira started getting tired and instead of sticking/moving he started standing still, so Dennis grabbed his leg, got the takedown he needed, and choked him out. I think it was just a matter of conditioning. Even when Akira dropped him he stayed relatively still instead of springing on top of him. That’s it for this week. Shout outs as always to my family and friends in Birmingham, to the Crimson Tide who may have come up short but we’re still gonna take that championship in the long run, my guard unit the 117th, my MMA home in Alabama at Spartan Fitness, my new home ATT, my strength and conditioning coach Tommy Eliot – T3 Athletics keeping me in shape for all my future fights! Chocolate Adonis is coming back. Thanks again for reading. I’ll be back next week with some more insight on what went down. In the meantime check me out on Twitter (@brim205) or learn more through my video blog. Tweet

Posted in: ’t, bisping, akira, hair, ’d

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. When UFC on FOX was over I felt like Jason Biggs in American Pie. You know the scene where he has Shannon Elizabeth all alone in his room and she’s entertaining herself before he enters the room, performs a striptease, and is ready to lose his virginity to the hottest chick at school? Yeah, we all know what happens next. After all the build up and anticipation, Biggs prematurely celebrates leaving Elizabeth very disappointed. Yup. That about sums up how I felt between the hour of 9PM and 10PM EST on Saturday. Lets got to the scorecard: *The prelims were scheduled to start at 4:45PM. They didn’t start until 4:55PM. As a stickler for time, this was unacceptable. It was even more unacceptable that Matt Lucas vs. Aaron Rosa was the fight I had to wait 10 extra minutes for. MINUS TWO *Lucas has a terrible nickname (“Luke Duke”), wore headphones during his walk out, and trains at Arizona Combat Team. He might be my new least favorite fighter. MINUS THREE *Boy were there a lot of empty seats for the first prelim fight. While I can’t blame people for not caring about Rosa vs. Lucas, the fans should have been showing up very early for such a big event. MINUS ONE *Was good to see “Big” John McCarthy in the cage for the first fight. PLUS TWO *Lucas kept spitting out his mouthpiece. As if I needed another reason to dislike this guy. MINUS TWO *If I never see another fight involving Lucas in my lifetime, it’ll be too soon. He’s officially my most disliked fighter. MINUS FIVE *And who the hell scored that fight 28-28, actually giving it to Lucas if not for the point deduction? I scored the bout 30 to -30 for Rosa and feel that any other score is unacceptable. MINUS THREE *To find at least one positive in the fight, Rosa looked decent at 205. PLUS TWO *I’m pretty indifferent towards Mike Pierce, but the fact that he comes out to “Champion” by Metta World Peace makes him pretty cool. PLUS TWO *Obligatory points for the obligatory Chuck Liddell mention during Pierce vs. Paul Bradley. PLUS THREE *Pierce vs. Bradley was what it was: Two guys known for their wrestling who spent the majority of the fight kind of striking. After the first fight, this looked like Stephan Bonnar vs. Forrest Griffin 1. PLUS TWO *Arianny is still beautiful, Chandella is still lovely, WHERE WAS BRITTNEY?!?! MINUS THREE *Holy crap, Alex Caceres came out and actually looked like a fighter and not an entertainer. PLUS FOUR *I don’t know what happened to Cole Escovedo in this fight. Maybe he took Caceres lightly or maybe Caceres really has improved by leaps and bounds, but that was not a good performance by Escovedo. MINUS TWO *I give a lot of credit to Caceres though. Easily the most impressive performance of his career and it looks like he’s found a home at 135. PLUS FOUR *No walk outs for Mackens Semerzier and Robbie Peralta, which goes to show you how long the first three fights took. MINUS ONE *Semerzier vs. Peralta was a fun, back and forth scrap while it lasted. PLUS FOUR * I give Peralta a lot of credit for coming back after a slow first round against a tough veteran like Semerzier. PLUS TWO *That said, the ending that started with an accidental headbutt was very unfortunate. MINUS ONE *You would think that Joe Rogan would know that Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto has only been a bantamweight for a year now, and climbed the ranks as a featherweight. MINUS TWO *Even though Yamamoto’s judo throw was awesome, he should have known better than to initiate a ground battle with Darren Uyenoyama. MINUS ONE *Some excellent grappling by Uyenoyama to gain dominant positions, take the back, and nearly submit “Kid” before the bell sounded in the first round. PLUS THREE *Once again, some excellent grappling by Uyenoyama in the second round after getting rocked with the left hand early in the round. Just a great job to get the takedown and take the back. PLUS FOUR *Rogan sort of apologized for saying, “crackhead control” during the Uyenoyama vs. Yamamoto fight. Welcome to network television Mr. Rogan. At least Rogan recognized that he might not be able to say those things on these events. PLUS ONE *Another disappointing performance by Yamamoto. I don’t think anyone expected him to light the UFC world on fire, but this was definitely a winnable fight for him. I hope he’s still a big deal in Japan, because that’s where he’s headed. MINUS THREE *Awesome job by Uyenoyama. Even though Yamamoto isn’t what he used to be, that’s still a big win for him and he looked dominant in victory. PLUS FOUR *Clay Harvison’s nickname is “Heavy Metal.” So of course he walks out to a song by Diddy. MINUS TWO *DaMarques Johnson celebrating before the stoppage, earning the stoppage, and then asking for the Knockout of the Night bonus was awesome. PLUS FIVE *Extra points for our first true finish of the night. PLUS THREE *Great fight between Ricardo Lamas and Cub Swanson. Action packed for the seven minutes it lasted. PLUS FIVE *Sweet finish by Lamas, submitting a very good Swanson with an arm triangle. PLUS THREE *Extra points to the last two fights for not sucking and turning this card around. PLUS FOUR *Really Joe, Lamas announces the death of his grandmother and the pregnancy of his sister-in-law and you still want to ask questions about the fight instead of giving your condolences and congratulations? Come on man. MINUS FOUR *Credit to Mike Goldberg for acknowledging what Lamas said. PLUS THREE *Props to Pablo Garza for walking out to “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + The Machine. Love that song. Plus Garza was singing it, which is always a plus to me. PLUS TWO *Dear late arriving crowd, you don’t have permission to boo 30 seconds into the fight. You didn’t sit through Rosa vs. Lucas. MINUS FOUR *Strong performance by Dustin Poirier. He bullied around Garza and locked on a sweet D’Arce Choke for the victory. PLUS FIVE *Shame on the crowd for paying more attention to Michael Bisping than the fight. I seriously hate this crowd. MINUS FOUR *Poirier is right there for a title shot. One more win over a top guy at 145 and I think he’ll earn himself a title shot. It’s been fun to watch his rise up the ranks. PLUS THREE *I’m still extremely upset that Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida was online and not on television. FuelTV couldn’t put this fight on instead of interviews with irrelevant celebs? MINUS FOUR *Both Guida and Henderson came out singing their walk out songs. Thus, both guys are awesome. PLUS THREE *Yes, that first round was awesome. Some great exchanges and wrestling defense by both guys. PLUS FIVE *Henderson has the best submission escapability in the world. PLUS THREE *Guida vs. Henderson kicked all kinds of ass. One of the best fights all year. Great exchanges, great scrambles, great submission attempts, fast-paced. Just awesome. PLUS EIGHT *Extra points because this fight was awesome and lived up to the hype. PLUS SIX *Serious shame on FOX for not putting this fight on TV and shame on UFC for not making this fight the main event of UFC 138. It was an awesome fight that will actually get short changed because it wasn’t on TV or five rounds. MINUS FIVE *Not a fan of the football music opening the UFC event. When I hear that music, I think Cam Newton, not Cain Velasquez. MINUS THREE *I was skeptical about Brock Lesnar doing some pre-fight analysis, but after he cut off Dana White, who said, “He’s fought all the best wrestlers in the division” and corrected him, I was instantly sold on the idea. PLUS TWO *Brock did a great job hyping his rematch with Cain. Just a shame that nothing is guaranteed in MMA and Cain has to get through Junior dos Santos while Lesnar has to get through Alistair Overeem. EVEN *So after all that build….the fight went one minute. I know it’s hard to complain about a KO finish, but considering the circumstances, man, that felt disappointing. MINUS ONE *That said, it was a pretty great one minute. Cain started strong with some good leg kicks and JDS proved why his power is second to none. PLUS FOUR *Wow, Dana’s critiquing of Cain’s game plan of not going for a takedown was absolutely unnecessary and wrong. The fight went one minute. You can’t critique a one minute fight because anyone can get caught in a minute. What if Cain caught JDS? Or what if Cain tried a sloppy shot with no set up and got caught? It’s stupid. I understand that Dana was upset that the fight only went one minute, but praise JDS for his victory, don’t critique Cain. MINUS TEN *Overall, this event under-delivered. It was built around one fight and that one fight only lasted a minute. I don’t know how anyone wasn’t disappointed in the end. MINUS THREE Final Score: 32 PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, ’t, vs, minute, luca

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

After suffering consecutive losses for the first time in his career, Miguel Angel Torres knew he needed to make a change.The first lost cost him the WEC bantamweight title; the second derailed his hopes of regaining the belt quickly. Both defeats put the holes in his ultra-aggressive style under the microscope, prompting Torres to begin working with Firas Zahabi and the team at the TriStar Gym in Montreal, Quebec, home of UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.Six month later, Torres returned and the impact of Zahabi’s guidance was easily recognized. The lanky former champion was using his jab far more than ever before, and reined in his “go forward at all costs” approach, replacing it with a more tactical, structured game plan.Back-to-back wins over Charlie Valencia and Antonio Banuelos had Torres back on the right track, and set up an exciting pairing with Demetrious Johnson at UFC 130. Contested almost exclusively on the ground, Johnson came away with the victory, earning a unanimous decision that remains hotly debated.The loss hit Torres hard, and still stirs frustration in his voice when he talks about the fight six months later.“It was one of those things where I went into the fight with a game plan — I was going to use my jiu-jitsu right away, force him to shoot right away, and use my jiu-jitsu to beat him. I thought I did that. My sweeps and my submission attempts, I thought I had him on defense the whole time; I thought I did the job.“After about five minutes it sunk in, and I felt like I got robbed. I felt very upset. It was an awkward feeling because I’ve never been put in that situation before. I know I was on bottom, but I know I was working.“It was an awkward thing, but I look back, and it was my fault — I shouldn’t have let it go to the judges. I tried fighting a technical fight and a safe fight; I thought I did what I had to do, but I let it go to the judges. When you let that happen, things like this happen — decisions don’t go in your favor — and so I totally take the blame for that.”With his road back to the top of the bantamweight division once again encountering a roadblock, Torres continued to fine-tune his approach in the cage. He spent a month training in South Florida with Tyrone Spong and the rest of the team at Imperial Athletics, then headed back to Montreal to spend the last two weeks of his camp with Zahabi. “I’ve been working with The Blackzilians in Fort Lauderdale, working with Tyrone Spong on my striking, and he’s an ultra-aggressive striker. The only thing that he wants me to do is KO people. In that sense, I’ve been working a lot on that aggressive, old style that I had, but at the same time, I totally appreciate and understand and love the way that Firas wants me to fight.“The big thing is to find a balance in the middle. Firas wants me to be aggressive, but he wants me to be smart and be safe. I can see the points of both styles, but I’ve got to find a balance in the middle.““I went from one extreme of being an ultra-aggressive striker and grappler to being a fighter that’s using strategy and game planning, and it’s a whole other extreme.”Torres will get the opportunity to try and find that balance inside the cage Saturday night at UFC 139 when he meets Nick Pace.After headlining numerous WEC events and splitting his two previous UFC appearances between the pay-per-view main card and Spike TV, Torres is in unfamiliar territory this time, fighting on the untelevised preliminary portion of the card for the first time.Torres is taking the demotion in stride, using it as a reminder of what he needs to do when the cage door closes.“It should give me a push and it should make me angry, but it doesn’t. I’ve done a lot for the sport, especially for my weight class — I’ve headlined a lot of cards, and I’ve been at the top of the billboard a lot, and to get pushed all the way down like this is one of those things where people are forgetting who I am and what I’m all about. I’ve got to go out there and make an example of my opponents, and make people realize who I am again.“When I found out where I was fighting, I wasn’t upset. It was one of those things like when you know your girlfriend is cheating on you and you just have to get even, and that’s what I’m planning on doing.”For Torres, that means putting the things he’s been working on over the last six months into practice; showcasing the skills that made him a world champion in the WEC, and starting another climb towards the top of the bantamweight division.“I’ve got to go out there and take care of business. I can’t let it go to the judges’ hands, and I don’t want to go out there and just win this fight by decision; I want to show the world who Miguel Torres is again.“I’m still young in my career; I still have a long way to go. The world hasn’t seen the best Miguel Torres yet.“I’m on a personal quest to be the best fighter I can be, and be the best fighter in the world. I’m not going to quit until I reach my goals. Every goal that I’ve ever set for myself I’ve accomplished; I don’t know what it’s like not to accomplish goals. So for me, I’m going to get to the top of the mountain; it’s just a matter of time.”

Posted in: ’t, thing, ’ve, i ’ve, torre

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After thousands of letters and tweets, just from me, and thousands of more tweets from the rest of the Brittney Bunch, the lovely and beautiful Brittney Palmer is back with the UFC. It was inevitable really. From the moment she graced the Octagon at UFC 125, she instantly became the most popular female to walk around a cage carrying an oversized card with a number on it. When it was announced that she would be taking time off to go to art school, fans were outraged. I still contend that Brittney doesn’t need the UFC. She still has her art, is working on a clothing line, and is now the new spokesperson for GAMMA. She’s doing just fine on her own. She’s returning because it’s what the fans asked, nay, begged for and, as a woman of the people, Brittney was happy to oblige. That just goes to show what a kind-hearted person she truly is. She’s like Jeff Bridges in True Grit. He didn’t need to track down Josh Brolin, but he saw the look on Haliee Steinfeld’s face and after some words of encouragement, he was on his horse ready to kill a man. We’ll just ignore that whole part about the $50. I don’t want to start any conspiracy theories, but if you look at the landscape of the UFC from UFC 133 (the first non-Palmer event of the year) to now, there have been a lot of unfortunate happenings. Tito Ortiz wins for the first time in forever at UFC 132, in front of Brittney, and then gets destroyed at UFC 133 by Rashad Evans, with no Brittney at cageside. Not only did Ortiz lose at UFC 133, but he was only in that fight because Phil Davis pulled out of the main event. That card also lost their co-main event between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. At the following event, Chris Lytle retired before the fight, despite still be a very competitive welterweight. No American’s won at UFC 134 in Brazil. UFC Fight Night 25 was the lowest rated Spike TV event of the year. Diego Sanchez pulled out of UFC 135. Dominick Cruz got stuck on Versus after headlining a PPV. Jose Aldo had his first non-entertaining fight in the octagon at UFC 136. Georges St. Pierre pulled out of UFC 137 and then Mirko Filipovic and B.J. Penn retired after losses. Finally, UFC 138 was one of the weakest cards ever and UFC failed to do any promotion. I’m not saying guys have pulled out of fights or weren’t fighting as hard or decided to retire because Ms. Palmer isn’t in her usual chair, but just look at the evidence. Now, Brittney is back, and UFC on FOX is going about as well as it can. Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos are healthy and are ready for the biggest UFC fight in history. In fact, FOX only wanted to put one fight on television just so they could show more Brittney. Also, I don’t want to take credit for Brittney’s return, but I received no less than five Tweets and texts from friends congratulating me on her return. That’s right, they congratulated ME, like I’m the one who will be wearing booty shorts and receiving catcalls on Saturday night. So while I don’t want to take credit for her return, I will. I spent many hours writing letters and tweets, talking on podcasts, and praying for the UFC return of Brittney Palmer. It’s true that hard work pays off. I worked hard in my goal to get Brittney back and it finally paid off this past week. I’d like to thank myself, for working so damn hard. My swagga coach, Taavon, for making me as awesome as I am. Five Ounces of Pain for allowing me to write excellence anytime I want. And Brittney Palmer for looking hot and being humble. Oh yeah, and God. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, brittney palmer, brittney

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Training is going well. I’m working hard in the gym to get my shape up. I tweaked my knee a little bit awhile back which worried me initially but it feels a lot better so things are all good. With only a week to go before my fight at UFC 139 with Rick Story, at this point it’s all about refining my skillset. Now is not the time to learn new moves; it’s time to focus on what I’m good at and sharpen my tools. Obviously I’m biased on this topic since he’s my teammate at Xtreme Couture but I truly felt Jay Hieron beat Ben Askren the other weekend at Bellator 56. At the same, I understand when you’re fighting a champion, especially in his home State, it’s gonna be hard to get the decision to go your way after a close contest. I think the outcome came down to the third round – I think Askren won #2 and #4 and Jay won #1 and #5. However, the third round was definitely close even though I think Jay took it. He may have been taken down but reversed him too and he did better standing, but, again, when you’re fighting the champ in his home State it’s tough to win over the judges’ favor in a close fight. I’ve spoken some to Jay and, of course, it sucks to lose let alone like that. I’ve been there; a lot of people have been there. And especially when it’s a close fight like that where he knows he got the better of him. In the fifth round he completely dominated and put a beating on Askren. I just wish he could have performed like that in the four rounds prior. I know he wants a rematch but I’m not sure that will happen since Bellator is usually pretty tough on that front. I know Joe Warren has had some close fights too where people felt he shouldn’t have won but they didn’t give those guys rematches so the precedent is already there. I know I personally think he deserves another shot at Askren who himself even said he thought the decision could have gone either way. I’d love to see them fight again since it wasn’t just close but also an exciting fight as well. Good stuff without question. I didn’t have a chance to see Hieron’s fight live since I was at the Mandalay Bay for UFC 137 but I made sure to stay away from Twitter to avoid results. I went straight home after the show to watch Bellator so it worked out well. BJ Penn’s fight with Nick Diaz was great and it was cool to actually be at the show. There was a lot of energy in the arena. You really can’t beat being in attendance at a UFC event. The actual fight went the way I thought it would. I was rooting for BJ to win but I felt like Diaz’s size and pressure would tire BJ out in the later rounds, and it seems like that’s pretty much what happened. BJ won the first round, then he got tired or hurt and couldn’t handle Diaz’s pace. It was a terrific fight though. I have no idea what Penn will do in the future but I will say I love to watch him fight, and I think he is still competitive at either 170 or 155 pounds. At the end of the day it’s up to him, and if he doesn’t have the fire anymore then he shouldn’t fight anymore, but if he still has it in him there are a lot of people who love seeing him in action and I’m one of them. Finally, in case you’re wondering, my Halloween was actually pretty laid back. I pretty much trained and relaxed at home. I would have normally gone out but I’m 100% focused on my fight and Monday is a training night at Xtreme Couture. I’ll save my celebrating for the night of November 19. That’s it for now. Until the next blog you can keep up with me on Facebook and Twitter (@MartinKampmann). Tweet

Posted in: fight, round, ’t, i ’m, ’m

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Can Cain Velasquez last five rounds with Junior dos Santos? What would it take for Mark Munoz to get a title-shot? How do you see this weekend’s Bellator finals going down? Is Renan Barao a better option for contendership than Urijah Faber? Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay! Welcome to Grappling with Issues, our site’s regular weekly feature highlighting insight and opinion from myself and resident workhorse Jeremy Lambert whose general contributions and “Scorecard” event-breakdowns can be regularly found on Five Ounces. As always, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t hesitate to offer your own take on the topics in the “Comments” section below. After his win over Brad Pickett, should Renan Barao leapfrog Urijah Faber in the contendership picture if “The California Kid” defeats Brian Bowles at UFC 139? Lambert: No, and honestly, I’m getting a little annoyed at the people who are suggesting it. While Barao’s win was very impressive, lets put it in perspective. He beat Brad Pickett, who no one considered a top 10 bantamweight, and people are only bringing this up because it was the co-main event on an extremely weak card. If this was a Facebook prelim, which it would have been on any other major UFC event, no one would be talking about Barao facing Dominick Cruz in his next fight. I take nothing away from Barao, he did what he needed to do, but he needs at least one more win over a top fighter before I’m ready to see him fight Cruz. Furthermore, UFC is a business and Barao vs. Cruz is destined to be a headlining fight on FX while Cruz vs. Faber could headline a PPV. Conlan: Yes, he should. The only truly valid point in Lambert’s response has to do with the marketability of Cruz/Barao in comparison to Cruz/Faber (though I don’t think it could headline a PPV, only co-headline one). Beyond that, a lot people actually did have Pickett among their “Top 10” bantamweights prior to this past weekend as he’d won ten of eleven coming into UFC 138 with a decision loss to Scott Jorgensen being his only stumble. Also take into consideration Barao has won 27 straight fights, has an entertaining style, and tends to finish opponents more often than not. Faber, on the other hand, will have won a single fight since losing to Cruz at UFC 132. There’s no reason the UFC should risk Barao’s streak against a guy like Demetrious Johnson or Miguel Torres when they could slot him into a bout with Cruz if Faber takes Bowles out next Saturday night. On the flipside, if Bowles comes out with the “W” and avoids pulverizing one of his paws, it’s all a moot point since he lost his title to “The Dominator” due to injury rather than actually being beaten and has already triumphed in two fights since. What, if anything, would it take for you to consider Mark Munoz the top challenger to Anderson Silva’s title? Lambert: A better post-fight interview. That was the softest challenge of a champion I think I’ve ever seen. I’m not saying Munoz needed to be Nick Diaz or Chael Sonnen, but at least act like you’re actually interested in beating the guy up. While Munoz’ victory was impressive, I was less interested in a potential fight between him and “The Spider” after he spoke with Joe Rogan. That aside, Munoz needs another win over a top contender. If Michael Bisping beats Jason Miller, Munoz vs. Bisping would be a good #1 contender fight and there’d be a nice little story there since Miller and Munoz train together. Conlan: Tremendous answer! Munoz was absolutely a bit too apologetic in calling Silva out and didn’t do his cause a lot of good because of it. It was actually symptomatic of his lack of microphone skills in general, something I noticed while watching a number of pre-fight interviews with the “Filipino Wrecking Machine”. For me it would take another big win to cap off his current run. Bisping would be a solid option if he beats Miller, while others could include the winner of Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson, Wanderlei Silva if he gets by Cung Le, or even Brian Stann. Plus, with all signs pointing to the middleweight champ facing Sonnen in February it doesn’t seem like Munoz has any other route to take than agreeing to another bout anyways. Other than the obvious, what Facebook fight attached to UFC on FOX 1 should fans make it a point to tune in for? Lambert: I’m assuming the obvious Facebook fight is Alex Caceres vs. Cole Escovedo. Right? I know Bren is going to Pablo Garza vs. Dustin Poirier because I can read his mind, so I’ll leave that one to him and go with Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama. I realize that I’m still living in the past with wanting “Kid” to be a threat in his division, but I don’t care. I always hold out hope for the older/more banged up fighters to return to form because it just makes for a good story. Plus, this is a winnable fight for Yamamoto. It’s not like Uyenoyama is a world beater, he hasn’t been all that active over the years, and he’ll be making his UFC debut. Conlan: I did say, “other than the obvious”, didn’t I? Poirier/Garza should already be locked into the collective conscious of fans and shame on you if you aren’t among that group! I’m actually going to go with DaMarques Johnson vs. Clay Harvison. Both are on the cusp of getting cut, so they have more to fight for than just a paycheck, and some form of stoppage almost seems to be a guarantee when considering nineteen of their twenty-one combined victories have involved a submission/TKO. They’re also well-rounded when it comes to finishing things off meaning the end could come at any time and from any position. Finally, each guy has a colorful personality and an interesting backstory, and the UFC’s elite club could always use more members with those qualities in addition to a genuine love of fighting. Is Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos more likely to last one round or five rounds? Conlan: Five. Both men understand what’s on the line and have an immense amount of respect for each other. I think the probability is high relating to the likelihood of some “feeling out” in the beginning, especially with both being boxers more so than brawlers. I also think Velasquez will be looking to take Dos Santos down rather than stand and bang it out, another factor making me believe this weekend’s historic title-fight will last longer than five minutes. Lambert: If JDS wins, it’s more likely to go one round. If Velasquez wins, it’s more likely to go five. Since I’m picking Velasquez to win, and win by decision, I’m obviously under the belief that it’ll go five rounds. I could definitely see JDS catching Cain early though, especially if Cain shows any kind of rust after his 13 month layoff. If Cain can’t find his rhythm early or takes a sloppy shot, JDS has the power and timing to tag him right on the chin. And while I think Cain has a great chin and ability to recover, if JDS has him rocked, he’s not going to fold like Kongo did. That said, I think Cain is able to shake off the rust almost immediately, use his wrestling and activity to grind out JDS along the cage and on the ground in the first couple of rounds, and then really turn it up in the late rounds with his superior cardio. Who wins the two Bellator tournament finals this weekend? Conlan: On the middleweight side I think Alexander Shlemenko is a lock to earn another showdown with Hector Lombard. No disrespect to Vitor Vianna, but Shlemenko is a cold-blooded killer in the ring. He has a ton of experience and can finish things from any position. With the welterweights it’s a much harder fight to pick, as both Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima have a lot going for them and well-rounded arsenals to work with as well. The coin I just flipped tells me Saunders will take home the six-figure paycheck and title-shot in the end. He’s been in the zone as of late and Lima, while dominant, has been hurt a few times in the tournament and may not get a chance to make another comeback if “Killa B” stings him with a few knees. Lambert: I’ve been riding with Saunders ever since the tournament was announced, so I can’t back away from that now. While Lima has looked impressive in his tournament run, I think Saunders is the more talented fighter and has been on fire since being cut by the UFC. While he’s always had good stand up, I was most impressed with fight against Luis Santos, where he attacked off his back and showed off a rubber guard that even had Eddie Bravo applauding. I always seem to want to pick against Shlemenko and I’m done doing that, which probably means he’ll lose this Saturday. Vianna showed a lot in stopping Bryan Baker, but Shlemenko has a hell of a chin and never stops moving and spinning forward. If Vianna is able to get the fight to the ground, I think he can win this bout, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to handle the pressure of “Storm” and he’ll eventually fold. Closer to a UFC return after Saturday’s performance: Andrei Arlovski or Tim Sylvia? Conlan: Sylvia. While Arlovski’s win came in a more-convincing fashion and Sylvia put the “yack” in “The Maine-iac”, Tim-meh is 6-1 in his last seven fights and hasn’t ended up nose down on the canvas with nearly the frequency Arlovski has. The UFC shies away from glass jaws when possible, seeing them as the end of a fighter’s career, and Arlovski’s chin seems to be made out of Ming Dynasty Porcelain based on his recent history. The 35-year old is also actively lobbying for a return through media and Twitter which can’t hurt his cause either. Lambert: Can I plead the fifth? I think the answer is Sylvia because when he’s in shape, he can be a competitive heavyweight and a guy who draws a reaction, even though that reaction is usually negative. While Arlovski’s chin is obviously a huge question, I’m more concerned with the fact that he’s turned into an extremely boring fighter in his last couple of fights. He might be more boring than Sylvia right now, which is really saying something. I say have Arlovski and Sylvia fight each other and then bring the winner back to fight the loser of Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem. Make it happen Joe Silva! PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, vs, munoz

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Ricardo Lamas doesn’t make a lot of noise. Maybe that’s why when discussion about the next generation of featherweight contenders hits the internet message boards, you don’t hear much talk of the Chicago native. The ice is starting to thaw though, with the former WEC standout getting plenty of positive notices for his UFC and 145-pound debut in June, when he blasted out tough Matt Grice in less than a round. But it’s this Saturday that will tell the tale, as he meets up with longtime contender Cub Swanson on the UFC on FOX card in Anaheim. With a win, he propels himself into that ever-intriguing featherweight contenders’ mix, and with a big win, he won’t be the guy under the radar anymore.“I’m just gonna sit back, keep doing what I’m doing, and keep working hard,” said the soft-spoken 29-year old. “I think that eventually, all my hard work and everything will pay off, and I will begin to get noticed. It’s just taken some time. When I came out on the scene, especially onto the Zuffa scene, I only had six professional fights. I was very young in my career, and I was kinda thrown in with the lions and had to learn how to sink or swim. It’s been a long road, I’m improving and I keep improving every fight, so I think eventually it will pay off.”In that sixth fight, Lamas made the kind of debut on the big stage that most fighters can only dream about, as he decisioned veteran Bart Palaszewski in a WEC show on March 1, 2009. Suddenly, the former Elmhurst College wrestler was a player in the second biggest MMA organization in the world behind the UFC, and the fighters that he was watching on television just a few months earlier were now his peers and opponents. So how was it getting, as he put it, thrown in with the lions?“It’s interesting,” said Lamas. “With Bart, he’s been around for a long time and when I was first starting my career as an amateur and then as a pro, I remember watching him in the IFL and kinda looking up to those guys in a certain way because that’s where I wanted to be and that’s where I wanted to get to. Even in this fight that I have now against Cub Swanson, I remember watching him before I got in the WEC, and he’s a really exciting fighter and I enjoy watching him fight. So I’m still kinda getting used to that awe factor when I go out to my fights and I see all these big name guys and I have to remind myself that I’m on the same level with them. It’s still something I’m getting used to.”Unfortunately, time to get accustomed to new surroundings and a new level of opponent isn’t a luxury afforded to newcomers, and Lamas saw his final five WEC fights filled with three solid wins over James Krause, Bendy Casimir, and Dave Jansen, but also bookended by knockout losses to Danny Castillo and Yuri Alcantara. That’s learning on the job in its most primal form.“There’s definitely that experience factor,” he admits. “They know what to do, they don’t panic when they get in bad situations and they know how to handle themselves in the fight. Stuff like that is definitely something that I’ve noticed.”Lamas also noticed that he was giving away any size advantage to his foes in the lightweight division, and it was something that struck him as early as the Palaszewski fight. But when the WEC merged with the UFC in late 2010 and there was a logjam at 155 in terms of getting everybody fights, Lamas figured that it was as good a time as any to make the plunge into the featherweight division.“In the transition from WEC to UFC, I had such a long layoff because of that logjam you were talking about, so I figured it was probably the best time to take my time and get my weight down the right way and finally make that drop to ’45.”And given his wrestling background, the cut was smoother for Lamas than it is for most.“I think it (his wrestling background) definitely helps out because I’ve had to deal with that for so long. With wrestling, you really have to learn how to manage your weight to a point where you can be really comfortable because you have to weigh in pretty much every single week. You really learn your body and what you need to do to keep your body weight down and still be able to perform at a high level.”He delivered on all his promise against Grice, breaking open what was expected to be a Fight of the Night candidate with the thudding power that finished his opponent off at 4:41 of the opening stanza. Lamas isn’t bold enough to suggest a similar outcome against Swanson; instead, he thinks he may be in for that war everyone was expecting when he fought Grice.“You can’t take him lightly at all and you definitely have to come prepared,” said Lamas of Swanson. “He likes to give the crowd what they want to see, he pulls off some crazy techniques and flashy techniques, and he’s just a really exciting fighter to watch. I’m really excited about this fight, and I believe that we can put on a Fight of the Night performance.”If they do, then maybe Ricardo Lamas will be on his way to becoming a household name. “2011 was the biggest year in MMA for me, and 2012 I think is gonna be even better,” he said. “I’m training even harder, and I get better every day, so I think the fans can expect to see a more well-rounded fighter, and hopefully more people can notice me in 2012 and get to know me as a fighter.”

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“Cardio is something I’ve always used my entire life to push the pace and get the upper hand. Ever since I was back in junior high wrestling I knew I was in better shape than the other kids. You might be better than me, you might be faster, you might be stronger, you might have better technique, but guess what, I’m gonna keep pushing the pace and I’m gonna go until you break.”Sounds like something that would come out of the mouth of Clay Guida. But it’s not. Instead, the man speaking those words is Guida’s opponent this Saturday night in Anaheim, lightweight contender Benson Henderson. And given the dedication both men have shown to being tougher, meaner, more aggressive, and in better shape than their opponents, the anticipation for their bout is pretty high. That’s not even counting for the fact that the two have won a combined 19 of their last 22 fights, making this a pivotal one in terms of finding the next challenger for UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.But a title shot is something that’s on the horizon for these two 155-pound standouts. The only thing that matters right now is Saturday and a fight that is expected to be an old-fashioned 15 minute war with enough sweat, spit, and hair flying around that ringsiders should be given ponchos. And that’s a night out Henderson will never turn down.“I’m gonna continue doing the exact same thing I always do,” he said. “Clay has good cardio, we all know that and we’ve seen him go for a long time, but my goal, as in every fight, is to break him, to make him so tired that he just wants to get out of there.”On the other side of the Octagon, Guida has gone on record in the past saying that his goal isn’t to break his opponents, but to make them miserable. Henderson can appreciate that sentiment, but he’s sticking to his guns.“My goal isn’t to make people miserable, my goal is to mentally and physically break them,” he reiterates. “I want you so tired that there’s no way you can keep going. Let’s see who can go longer. Let’s turn the treadmill all the way up to the highest level and see who steps off first. Let’s put some burning coals in our hands and see who lets go first. It’s not gonna be me.”Those are fighting words, and as laid-back and affable as Henderson and Guida are outside of competition, when the bell rings, they’re as ferocious as fighters come. And while that’s been Guida’s reputation for years, it’s only now that Henderson is getting that same kind of respect from casual fans. Of course the diehards know “Smooth” from his days tearing through the WEC lightweight division, but it’s only been in 2011 that the rest of the world has gotten a dose of the cool contender from Arizona. So how’s it feel to be the “new” guy?“I get that quite a bit and it’s fine by me,” he laughs. “I understand and it’s no big deal.”Maybe it’s because the 27-year old doesn’t get rattled by too much, if anything, or because with a body of work that includes a WEC championship and wins over Donald Cerrone (twice), Anthony Njokuani, Shane Roller, and Jamie Varner, he really doesn’t have anything to prove. Yet even with a stellar reputation in hand as he entered the UFC earlier this year, Henderson fought like he had a point to make in the Octagon, first decisioning Mark Bocek in April, and then snapping Jim Miller’s seven fight win streak in August with an emphatic three round win. And now he’s got Guida and the opportunity to cement his place in line for a shot at Edgar, who successfully defended his crown for the third time in October with a knockout of longtime rival Gray Maynard.“The Frankie-Gray fight was awesome,” said Henderson of the third bout between the two. “It was a quality, entertaining fight fought at a high pace, and man, what a chin by Frankie. He showed the true heart of a champion and he’s definitely one of the most underrated belt holders in the UFC. It was a heckuva fight and what more can you say that hasn’t been said already? Great job by Frankie and Gray, and it was a thoroughly entertaining fight.”Now it’s Henderson’s turn, and to get ready for 15 minutes in hell with Guida, he’s enlisted his usual group at the Lab in Glendale, and just as in the aftermath of his win over Miller, he’s not shy about singing the praises of training partners like UFC vet Efrain Escudero, Chris Gruetzemacher, and Yaotzin Meza, among others, all of whom he would like to see join him in the big show.“These guys are my brothers,” said Henderson, “and we literally beat each other up every day, we make each other bleed, and it’s not easy. Practices are as tough for me as it is for them and I know everything they go through and how much work they’re putting in, and they know how much hard work I’m putting in. They sacrifice a lot for me and I sacrifice a lot for them, and I was there once. I wasn’t making any money, it was hard to find fights when you have a good name and a good record but you’re not quite at the UFC level, and I see my guys struggling and having a hard time, and I know how hard they work, and I want good things for them too. And they’re ready for it. I want them to just get a chance, and I’m pretty darn sure people are gonna get wowed by what my boys can do.”How many athletes, regardless of sport, are going to take their time in the spotlight and shine it on someone else? Not many. But that’s just who Henderson is, and he hasn’t let the bright lights change who he is. And while the free time he used to have isn’t as abundant as it was before as he’s raised his profile in the fight game, he’s not complaining. For him, it’s just part of the job.“Whether you’re fighting in front of a hundred people in your first couple amateur shows or when you’re fighting for UFC titles, how you prepare should be the same always,” he said. “As far as the media and the interviews, and doing this or doing that, that’s the biggest difference. It’s all a juggling act and you have to be able to balance. NBA players do it, NFL players do it, tennis players have to do the same thing, and you have to be able to juggle all those balls at the same time – training, preparing, making sure you’re eating the right foods and getting enough time to sleep, making sure you’re taking enough time for interviews and to knock everything out.”That’s a true professional right there, but the great thing about Henderson is that he hasn’t taken to talking in clichés and he hasn’t lost his passion for the sport. If anything, getting closer to a shot at the UFC title has only amped him up even more. So, is he starting to take a quick glance at what may lie ahead for him in 2012? You’ll like the answer, because it shows a fighter thinking not about autograph sessions or the next car he’s going to buy, but about his legacy.“I do keep an eye on the division and see how guys are going and how they’re progressing, but as far as matchup wise, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I literally want to have the belt and defend it 20 times. I want to fight everybody in the division. If you’re at 155 after I have the belt, trust me, you’re gonna get your shot, because they’re gonna run out of people to throw at me. I want to run through this division, I want to defeat everybody, and I don’t want to look too far ahead, but that’s the goal.”Sounds like some Joe Louis stuff right there.“I want to be the best MMA fighter of all-time, hands down, no ifs, ands, or buts about it,” said Henderson. “That’s my goal, that’s what I want to do.”

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[div class="notice" class2="icon"]The following is from an article on MMA-Japan, part of the MiddleEasy Network.[/div] Growing up I spent a lot of my time is dimly lit room, either playing video games or listening to Iron Maiden. This shaped me in more ways than one. One of those ways it has shaped me is that I don’t like being around other living organism’s besides my cat. Two is that I am not fond of bright things. Which is why speaks volumes as to how astronomically awesome Kid Yamamoto’s shorts are for his upcoming fight this weekend. Don’t quote me on this but I firmly believe that wearing these shorts will make you a more interesting person. If that isn’t the case, it will make you a better liar so you seem like a more interesting person. You can expect me to purchase them and wear them all the time even in situations that do not call for me to wear them, which is about 100% of the time seeing as I don’t plan to start a MMA career anytime soon. Read More...

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This Saturday night on FOX, UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez defends his title for the first time against number one contender Junior dos Santos. Undoubtedly the top big man in the sport today, Velasquez arrived in the Octagon with talent, determination and a host of expectations a little over three years ago. Here’s our first look at Velasquez before his UFC 83 bout with Brad Morris in 2008.***New Blood for the Heavies - Cain Velasquez makes his UFC DebutEver notice that when a stellar collegiate wrestling star makes his transition into mixed martial arts, striking is never an issue in those formative months of development? Learning jiu-jitsu can be a frustrating chore, figuring out that what worked on the wrestling mat may not work in the Octagon can be equally baffling, but when it comes to punching, elbowing, and kicking, that’s like being a kid who wakes up on his birthday and finds out he got a snow day off from school as well.Heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez most certainly agrees.“In the wrestling room we’re all pretty much beating each other up already,” he laughs. “We just don’t have any gloves on and our fists aren’t closed, but we’re smacking each other across the head; that’s what hand fighting is.”And truth be told, if the stars had been aligned differently when the Salinas, California born Velasquez was growing up, he may have wound up not as a promising mixed martial artist, but as the first Mexican-American heavyweight boxing champion.“My dad wanted me to box, and I wanted to box too,” recalls Velasquez, and despite lacing up the gloves and learning a few things from his father while hitting the heavy bag, the time and financial commitment necessary to send him to a boxing gym on a daily basis kept him from pursuing the sweet science. Then junior high school intervened.“I got into wrestling and that was it for me,” he smiles. “It was all wrestling.”Throughout junior high, high school, and college, Velasquez applied the fighting mentality ingrained in modern-day Mexican icons like Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel and Rafael Marquez, and Israel Vazquez to his wrestling, and the results speak for themselves: junior college national championship for Iowa Central Community College in 2002, two-time All-American status for Arizona State, Pac-10 wrestler of the year in 2005, two top five placements in the NCAA Championship tournament.“It’s not something I think about and I think I have that already,” said Velasquez of the warrior spirit epitomized by Mexican fighters. “That’s my fighting style and that’s my wrestling style – to go out there and brawl. I put a lot of pressure on guys, I throw a lot of punches and kicks, and that’s just the way I fight. It’s the Mexican heart.”Given Velasquez’ success on the collegiate level, there was little question that he was going to pursue mixed martial arts as a career when he graduated, despite earning his degree in education, and though he briefly considered sticking around for the 2008 Olympics, fighting was where his heart was.“My junior year, I knew already that I wanted to fight when I was done,” said Velasquez. “I told my coach (Thom Ortiz) and he said ‘worry about wrestling now, and when you’re done wrestling we’ll figure out something for you to do and find a camp for you.’ And when I was done, he hooked me up with AKA and the rest is history.”AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) is home to some of the UFC’s top contenders, such as Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and Mike Swick, as well as world-class battlers from around the MMA world and various visitors who pop in to the San Jose gym for quality work. If you can make it in this gym, you’ve got what it takes to compete in the Octagon. “To see where these guys have been and to see how I train with them shows me where I’m at,” said Velasquez. “Just having top guys from around the world come in and train with me, that kinda lets me know ‘okay, I’m at this level right now.’”Almost immediately upon his arrival in the gym, the buzz started about Velasquez, his work ethic and his potential to shake up the heavyweight division, with all of this coming before his first fight, while he was still learning the fundamentals of the fight game. And though the striking came pretty easy, the jiu-jitsu end of things took a little more time for him to get comfortable with.“Between wrestling and jiu-jitsu you have to have different mentalities,” said Velasquez. “Jiu-jitsu is more flowing, while everything you get in wrestling is from work. If you get a single leg, you’ve got to work to get the guy down, and with jiu-jitsu it’s more flowing, and the action is more controlled. That part of it was the biggest change. The striking and all that, I think I made the adjustment pretty easy for myself; I felt comfortable striking so that wasn’t so bad.”In October of 2006, Velasquez took less than two minutes to pound out Jesse Fujarczyk, and two months later he was in St. Petersburg, Russia, halting Jeremiah Constant in four minutes of the first round. 2-0, two impressive wins, and the 25-year old looks to be the goods. On Saturday, he’ll get to prove it when he makes his UFC debut against Australia’s Brad Morris in Montreal. It’s a long way from St. Petersburg.“This is the biggest show in fighting and this is what I’ve been waiting for,” said Velasquez. “Those other fights were just like wrestling matches during the season. This is like the Nationals. I had to work my way up the ladder to get to the finals; that’s what it feels like.”He’s not getting an easy mark in his Octagon debut either, as Morris comes to the UFC with a 10-2 record and a reputation as one of the top fighters from the ‘Land Down Under’.“He seems solid all around and there doesn’t seem to be a weak spot in his game, standing or on the ground. He seems real strong as well,” said Velasquez, whose only access to Morris’ previous bouts has been through the wonders of YouTube. But that’s okay; he’s been through tournaments in wrestling where he didn’t have all the answers on upcoming opponents and he still prevailed. He feels that his preparation in the gym, coupled with an experienced corner led by ‘Crazy’ Bob Cook, will hold him in good stead come fight night.“We’re just gonna have to play it out, see what happens during the fight, and then adjust,” he said. “I’m gonna go out there, do what I do, play my game and if we do run into any problems, I’ll adjust with my corner.”So, with the heavyweight division currently wide open, will we see a fighter like Velasquez moved up the ranks quicker than usual, and is this virtual rookie prepared for what may come in the next year or so? You know the answer before the question is even finished being asked.“I’m ready for anything,” said Velasquez. “I’m gonna have to fight those guys eventually, so I feel ready, and I’m gonna keep improving no matter what. It’s time to go.”And while Velasquez is a soft-spoken young man who doesn’t need to beat his chest to let the world know who he is, in his own way, he sees his destiny, and he’s not shy about revealing what that just may be.“I’m non-stop, I don’t get tired out there, my game is good all-around, and I want people to see that I’m gonna be the next big thing,” he said. “That’s what I want people to keep thinking about, that they can’t wait to see me fight again.”UFC 83 – April 19, 2008 – Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec, CanadaThe pre-fight talk about Cain Velasquez labeled him as the heavyweight division’s next big thing. The former Arizona State wrestling standout did nothing to dismiss that notion in his UFC debut, as he improved to 3-0 as a pro with a first round TKO win over Brad Morris.Just seconds into the bout, a left hand to the head hurt and dropped Morris (10-3). The 25-year old Velasquez followed his foe to the mat, using strikes from a variety of different angles to keep the Australian from getting his bearings back. Amazingly, with a little over three minutes left, Morris was able to make his way back to his feet, but another combination by Velasquez put him down again. This time there would be no reprieve, with the follow-up barrage forcing a stoppage from referee Steve Mazzagatti at 2:10 of the opening frame.

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It's been a week and a half since BJ Penn got shellacked by Nick Diaz at UFC 137, which means he's had some time to chill out and really think about whether he wants to stick with that whole 'retirement' thing. Michael Schiavello caught up with him at ProElite's second show and here's what he said: You know what, I kinda think this is something I shoulda did after the first Frankie Edgar fight. A bunch of my coaches pleaded with me to step away from the sport, take some time off. I was just kinda in the mix ... I kept going, kept going, trying to push myself. I don’t really like the results I’ve been getting. I just ... take some time off, take some time away from the sport. If I ever feel it again, I’ll come back, if it interests me, it excites me. I don’t wanna be sitting in the locker room saying "I can’t believe I’m still doing this", you know? So if it excites me, we'll see how everything goes but I definitely need some time away. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but BJ Penn just made a totally rational and sane decision. Taking yourself out of the regular rotation is much smarter than quitting full stop. BJ is on the edge of being just another guy on the roster right now. But after a year or two away, people will freak out when he comes back. Especially if there happens to be someone holding the belt at 155 that he can beat.

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This Saturday, the world heavyweight title is on the line when champion Cain Velasquez defends his crown against number one contender Junior dos Santos. Read on for their thoughts on the stellar careers they have put together thus far.CAIN VELASQUEZ – UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONTHE SEEDS ARE SOWN“My dad wanted me to box, and I wanted to box too. (But) I got into wrestling and that was it for me. It was all wrestling.”THE MEXICAN HEART“That’s my fighting style and that’s my wrestling style – to go out there and brawl. I put a lot of pressure on guys, I throw a lot of punches and kicks, and that’s just the way I fight. It’s the Mexican heart.”MMA“My junior year, I knew already that I wanted to fight when I was done. I told my coach (Thom Ortiz) and he said ‘worry about wrestling now, and when you’re done wrestling we’ll figure out something for you to do and find a camp for you.’ And when I was done, he hooked me up with AKA and the rest is history.”MAKING THE TRANSITION“Between wrestling and jiu-jitsu you have to have different mentalities. Jiu-jitsu is more flowing, while everything you get in wrestling is from work. If you get a single leg, you’ve got to work to get the guy down, and with jiu-jitsu it’s more flowing, and the action is more controlled. That part of it was the biggest change. The striking and all that, I think I made the adjustment pretty easy for myself; I felt comfortable striking so that wasn’t so bad.”ENTERING THE UFC“This is the biggest show in fighting and this is what I’ve been waiting for. Those other fights were just like wrestling matches during the season. This is like the Nationals. I had to work my way up the ladder to get to the finals; that’s what it feels like.”THE NEXT BIG THING“I’m non-stop, I don’t get tired out there, my game is good all-around, and I want people to see that I’m gonna be the next big thing. That’s what I want people to keep thinking about, that they can’t wait to see me fight again.”THE PERFECTIONIST“I’m a perfectionist in the gym. I know my skills all aren’t where they’re supposed to be or where I want them to be. I need everything to be perfect.”REFINING HIS STYLE“I’m trying to have more of a controlled style than what my wrestling style was – which was just to go in there and brawl. We’re working on being aggressive, but not getting hit in the process. (In some sessions) the coaches have me just defend while the guys throw everything they want at me 100 percent. Doing that I get to see a lot more punches now than I have before.”A TALE YET TO BE TOLD“People can say what they want to say, but the book’s unwritten yet, and nothing is for sure. Anything can happen and I’ve got to keep putting in the work in the gym, keep getting better, and keep winning fights. They can say all they want to say, but if I don’t win the fights, and do it impressively, then all that talk won’t be heard anymore.”ON THE LESNAR FIGHT“We knew he was gonna come out with a lot of pressure, but we didn’t think he was gonna come out that hard. It definitely did surprise me and I got into that brawl mode after that, but I just had to tell myself to relax and get back into the fight.”LIFE IN THE SPOTLIGHT“At first it was a little difficult. Now, it’s part of the job and it’s gotten a lot easier as time has gone by. It’s no problem; we know what we have to do, and we know why – to get our names out there. It’s normal now and a lot easier.”MAKING MOM AND DAD PROUD“Both my parents were real proud of me that we finally did it (winning the UFC title). It was an amazing feeling that we were all able to experience that together.”***JUNIOR DOS SANTOS – NUMBER ONE UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDERINSPIRATION“The great Brazilian fighters inspire me. I try to do my work as well as possible, because I believe I can follow the same path and one day become a great champion.”BIG NOG“In the ring, Rodrigo inspires me with his determination, his courage and the way he never gives up; he always keeps himself strong. Outside of the ring he is a great influence, a great friend, and he takes care of himself in all aspects; I have always been inspired by him.”AN IMMEDIATE HIT“I think it was because I was able to show my work the way I wanted to, and everything played out as I hoped it would. The fans like watching knockouts, and that is always my objective in a fight.”SECRETS“I don’t have any secrets, I fight where I need to fight, be it standing or on the ground. If the fight goes to the ground, you will all see my jiu-jitsu skills.”CLASS“I was raised to be humble, there is no way to change the way I am.”THE FANS“I love what I do and I give my very best in each fight. When I hear the fans cheering for me I feel even better. I want to show them my potential; that’s where I get my satisfaction.”THE YVEL FIGHT“My fight against Yvel was challenging for me. Nobody wanted to stand and exchange with him, but I did and came out with a TKO victory. He did land some good shots where I could feel his power, but I am used to it, because to be where I am at today I have taken a lot of beatings and had to keep attacking. To have me back up you need to throw a very powerful shot.”MMA“My life has been dedicated to MMA. I am always training and studying my opponents, especially the last few opponents I faced. This last year was great for my career; even though I only fought twice, I was victorious in the fight that I was most worried about in all my career, which was the fight against Cro Cop. I was a big fan of his even before I started training, and I already feared him back then, just watching his fights.”KNOCKOUTS“It’s what I train to do; it’s great when I accomplish my goal in a fight.”MMA PART II“I love training and I love fighting, and the sacrifices pay off. I am very happy with what I am doing and what I have achieved in the sport.”

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Dustin Poirier missed the cut for a spot on The Ultimate Fighter. He also lost his WEC debut in 2010 to Danny Castillo. If he fell short in his second Zuffa bout against Zack Micklewright three months after the Castillo fight, he was likely on his way out of the organization.Where would your head be at if you were Poirier, just 21, a local star on the Louisiana fight scene looking to break into the big time, but finding that the door to the next level was a little sturdier than you expected? Now you just had one more shot to get it right. “I had worked so hard to get here, I sacrificed so much to get my shot in the WEC, I came in and Danny Castillo spoiled it,” recalled Poirier. “He beat me and it was the first loss in my pro career. I knew that if I went in there and lost against Micklewright, it’s gonna be a long road back to Louisiana, a long road back to the big lights.”What followed on fight night at The Palms in Las Vegas on November 11, 2010, was a furious 53 second assault in which Poirier forgot that he was a professional mixed martial artist. In less than a minute, he reminded the world that for all the skill and technique involved in this sport, when necessary you have to be able to call on an inner reserve and make it a fight.That night, Poirier won the biggest fight of his career.“I went back to my roots and what won me all my amateur fights and all the fights in the beginning of my pro career, and that was just tucking my chin and brawling and just going in there and fighting,” he said. “That’s in my heart, and you can’t teach that and I haven’t learned that. I was born with that aggression and that instinct to fight. So that’s all I did, and I knew I was gonna have to do it.” Subsequent wins in the UFC over Josh Grispi and Jason Young have taken Poirier, now 22, off the bubble and into the featherweight contenders mix, and while he still brings out glimpses of the furious brawler that showed up against Micklewright, he’s also well aware that too much of that may be a bad thing for his career longevity.“It can put me in bad places,” he said. “I’m lucky I didn’t wake up looking up at the lights when I did that to Micklewright, because just as quickly as it happened to him, it could have happened to me. So as I grow as a fighter, I’m getting away from that, and I’m learning to balance it with my technique and my aggression, and when I do find that perfect balance, a lot of guys are gonna be in trouble.”The next one in the crosshairs for Poirier is fellow 145-pound prospect Pablo Garza, who has been just as impressive in his short UFC stint, nabbing post-fight bonuses for his knockout of Fredson Paixao and submission of Yves Jabouin. So when the two meet up this Saturday in Anaheim, a three round waltz isn’t on the menu, and considering that both are talented rising stars, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think that this may not be the last time they’ll fight each other. Then again, Poirier doesn’t believe that to be the case.“He’s not gonna want to fight me again after this,” states “The Diamond,” who nonetheless does admit that the lanky Garza does pose some interesting stylistic issues.“He seems like a puzzle,” said Poirier of Garza. “I’ve only seen him fight briefly because the fights that he had were real quick, but he’s real awkward, he’s unpredictable, he’s long, and he has a weird rhythm. He’s just an awkward fighter and he fights with a weird timing, so we’ll see.”Having UFC middleweight Tim Credeur manning his corner and working with him in the gym does make prep for the 6-foot-1 Garza a little easier though.“My head trainer is Tim Credeur down here in Louisiana, and Tim’s 6-3, probably 200 pounds, a black belt in jiu-jitsu and has good striking, so preparing for a guy like Pablo Garza, who’s long, good off his back, and who has unorthodox striking, I have the perfect guy to train with,” said Poirier. “He (Credeur) is stronger and better than Pablo Garza, so I’ve got that, and I also have a group of guys down here who are good wrestlers and good kickboxers, so I got everything I need for this fight.”The only thing the Lafayette native doesn’t have is time, as he’s been on a whirlwind run since signing for the Grispi fight, which took place on New Year’s Day. “It started off full-steam,” he said. “I got the quick call at the end of November to fight Josh Grispi, so it started coming together before January was even here. It started off with that and it just hasn’t slowed down. It’s been crazy.”What’s made his 2011 even more hectic is that between and after the bouts with Grispi and Young, Poirier has been in the public eye as the focal point of the critically-acclaimed documentary “Fightville.” The positive response to the film caught Poirier off guard, but he’s not complaining.“That was another one of those things that kinda snowballed when it happened,” he said. The guy (Michael Tucker) would show up with the camera, we would record, and being in an MMA gym, you see that stuff a lot – guys with cameras trying to record stuff and saying they’re gonna do this or that. But as he kept showing up, day after day, I was like ‘wow, this might be kinda serious.’ And then he started talking and he was like ‘man, this isn’t some backyard-shot film. This is gonna be a big deal.’ Then it went to the film festivals and it just took off. And it was cool because I didn’t have to do anything other than be myself and it was an awesome time in my life. It started at the end of some of my amateur fights, so just to have those moments caught on tape and to be able to share it with the world is great.”“People who know nothing about MMA go into the theater and watch it and come out as fans of the sport, simply because they see that the guys fighting are normal guys,” Poirier continues. “Sometimes MMA gets this bad image, so when they see normal guys with families, jobs, and responsibilities outside the cage fighting, they feel like they’ve connected with them, and I think it helps the sport.”In addition, “Fightville” shows the world just what fighting means to Poirier, and even today, despite being established as one of the top young fighters in the biggest MMA organization in the world, there is no hint of him being jaded by success or him being at the point where this is simply something he does to pick up a paycheck. Fighting is more to him than that – a lot more.“Fighting has brought me an anchor,” said Poirier, whose UFC bio has him claiming a Doctorate from the School of Hard Knocks. “It’s something I fell in love with, something that grounds me. It’s all I want to do, it’s what I want to be the best at, and it’s my passion. I live, breathe and sleep fighting, and being the best fighter that I can be. I know a lot of guys probably say that stuff, but I’m genuine when I say it. I really enjoy getting in there and I enjoy the ups and the downs, everything. I enjoy the journey. I just love this so much and I feel like I’m gonna be the best in the world someday, I really do. I feel like every day I’m growing as a fighter and as a person, and fighting has helped me. It’s improved my life so much, not only as a job, but by teaching me responsibility and respect, and all the stuff that the old school martial arts teach. I’m still new myself, but I hope the new guys coming in don’t ever get away from that. When I first started, I was in a dojo on indoor / outdoor carpet, shadowboxing in a mirror and listening to my sensei, and he had a gi on with cutoff sleeves. I hope it never loses that real martial arts feeling.”You would be excused if you forget that he’s just 22 years old, but it’s funny what coming up the hard way will do for your maturity once you reach a certain level of success. Poirier, despite his youth, has proven himself to be a consummate pro in and out of the Octagon, and he realizes that he has no other choice when it comes to the way he conducts himself if he wants to one day achieve all his goals in the sport.“Nothing was given to me, so you just learn how to make things work more smoothly and how to better yourself,” he said. “I’ve been working since I was 15 years old, I moved out when I was 17, and it’s just been a crazy ride. But the maturity comes because this is my business, I want to be the best at it, and that’s a part of it. It’s an entertainment business, it’s a fighting business, and you have to be professional. This is my job, and I look at it as a job, and I know that being as professional as I can be will open more doors.”Being able to punch them down if he has to doesn’t hurt either. But he’ll save that for the Octagon, a place he truly calls home. “I’m always excited to fight,” he said. He means it too.

Posted in: fight, guy, ’t, ’m, poirier

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. For those that don’t know, there was a UFC show this weekend, i.e. UFC 138. Despite the fact that the event was in England, the biggest UK star on the card was either Brad Pickett or Terry Etim, and the UFC did absolutely nothing to promote the event; it was actually a pretty damn good event. If you missed it, I’d actually recommend that you check it out and then I’d recommend you to tweet the UFC and let them know that it would have been nice of them to tell you that there was an event this past weekend. -Notes- I did not watch the show live or on Spike TV. I caught the event the next day, it was the UK version of the show, and I skipped through a lot of the nonsense. However, I did make sure to briefly listen to the walk out songs because if you expect one thing from this column, you expect the best breakdown of walk out music in MMA. Also, I wasn’t able to watch the preliminary fights. Lets go to the scorecard: *It didn’t take long for our first Eminem walk out song of the night as Eddie Faaloloto entered to “Bagpipes from Baghdad”. I give him credit for going with an original Eminem joint. PLUS TWO *I give the England crowd credit for not only showing up to this event, but for reacting better to Etim vs. Faaloloto than last weeks Vegas crowd did for BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz. PLUS FOUR *Great performance by Etim. Crisp strikes and a nasty guillotine. Granted it was a designed win for him given Faaloloto’s recent performances, but he took care of business. PLUS FIVE *That said, shame on Joe Silva for even making this fight. MINUS THREE *Anthony Perosh has terrible stand up and isn’t a great wrestler, yet he’s a monster on the ground. PLUS TWO *Cyrille Diabate looked really good on the feet, but once again his grappling was his downfall. MINUS ONE *Extra points to Perosh for his control on top. It really was a thing of beauty. PLUS TWO *I love Rashad Evans’ reaction every time he’s shown on screen. While I’m not a huge Rashad fan because of UFC 88, I’d probably like the guy if it wasn’t for that moment. PLUS ONE *Nice to see a prelim fight shown. Great job by Che Mills, who destroyed Chris Cope. Some picture perfect knees that had Cope saying, “owwwwww” instead of “wooooo.” PLUS THREE *While Mills’ victory was impressive, Joe Rogan’s reaction to the win was a little over the top. Mills beat Chris friggin Cope, the absolute lowest level of a UFC fighter. MINUS TWO *Any man who walks out with a cigar in his mouth is awesome. Props to you Papy Abedi. PLUS ONE *The usually bouncy and excited Thiago Alves looked extremely focused during his walk out. He also dropped the T.I. music for John by Lil Wayne, which is the same song Daniel Cormier used when he beat Antonio Silva. PLUS TWO *ALVES CAME OUT THROWING KICKS! PLUS TWO *That was the Thiago I fell in love with. A straight up killer with great finishing instinct. His elbows from the mount were nasty and he had no problem taking the choke. PLUS FOUR *I give credit to Abedi. Alves is a very tough first fight and he looked pretty good until Thiago was able to catch and overwhelm him. PLUS TWO *You shouldn’t be allowed to use All I Do Is Win if you have a loss on your record. Sorry Renan Barao. MINUS TWO *Rogan kept wanting to talk about all the great fighters that have come out of Nova Uniao and could only name Jose Aldo. Come on Joe. MINUS THREE *I assume Pickett’s walk out was some ode to England. I didn’t quite get it, but I give him credit for originality. I wonder if the paper he was reading mentioned anything about Kim Kardashian’s divorce. PLUS ONE *Barao vs. Pickett was pretty awesome while it lasted. Both guys just swung for the fences and finally Barao rocked him with the knee. PLUS FIVE *The finishing sequence by Barao was outstanding as well. Dropped Pickett on the feet, pounced on him with strikes on the ground, quickly took the back, and sunk in the choke. Very well done. PLUS FOUR *The only thing not smooth about Barao’s performance was his post-fight celebration. MINUS TWO *Maybe Pickett should have spent less time reading and more time training. MINUS ONE *It’s still a shame that Chris Leben vs. Mark Munoz was the first ever 5-round non-title UFC fight. MINUS THREE *”Mad World” by Gary Jules is a tough walk out song to pull off and Leben failed to do it. He was a little too excited and jumpy for such a slow and depressing song. MINUS TWO *If Munoz doesn’t have the most vicious ground and pound in MMA, I don’t know who does. PLUS FOUR *The doctor in the Leben vs. Munoz fight looked exactly like Vince Masuka from Dexter. I was just waiting for him to try and feel up Arianny Celeste when he left the cage. PLUS ONE *What an anti-climatic ending to the main event. While I don’t blame Leben or his corner for wanting out if he couldn’t see, I never thought I’d see Leben go out like that. MINUS THREE *Munoz did the worst title shot call-out in history. Did he learn nothing from Diaz last week? I think Munoz is “in the mix” as Dana White likes to say, but he’s not next in line and I want to see him fight for the title less after that call-out. MINUS FOUR *Rogan says Leben is “constantly evolving and improving” despite how bad he looked in this fight. He reverted to his “swing for the fences” style on the feet and defended takedowns with a guillotine instead of a sprawl. MINUS THREE *Despite the fact that no one watched this event, it turned out to be a really great show with a lot of really great performances. No fight was all that spectacular since they all ended in 10 minutes or less, but you can never complain about devastating finishes. PLUS SIX *Again though, it’s a shame no one watched this event and I blame the UFC for putting together a card that no one wanted to see and then failing to promote it. MINUS FOUR Total Score: 18 PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, event, leben

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If you didn’t catch UFC 138, you missed quite a treat. Showdown has the rundown and shares what we learned.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, showdown, share, rundown

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

A few observations of UFC 138: “Leben vs. Munoz”: -Terry Etim looked impressive handily defeating a scrub, but he seems to have a long way to go before overcoming his greatest opponent: the stuff that come out of his mouth.  I absolutely could not understand a single thing he said, and if I hadn’t been able to pick out a couple English words, I would’ve thought he was attempting to speak Klingon. -Cyrille Diabate is the best, most-talented fighter who gives up after minute number two if things don’t go his way. -Thiago Alves: still very capable of winning a shooting match.  Just take takedowns out of the equation and the dude would be king. -Uh, where did John Maguire learn to grapple?  Are we really certain he’s British? -I like to call the crushing knee Che Mills delivered to Chris Cope the “Anti-Woo”.  (Remember, Cope kept saying “Woo!” on TUF?) -I don’t know if Renan Barao is even remotely ready for Dominic Cruz, but he sure is fun to watch. -Chris Leben’s decision to quit in between rounds should not be questioned.  At all.  It’s Chris-freakin’-Leben, people.  The man will keep fighting long after he’s dead.  He deserves to keep his sight while alive.

Posted in: ’t, renan barao, leben, mouth   i, minute number

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Having Tito Ortiz at our practice was off the chain. Honestly, it was a little weird with him there because I was so used to seeing him in classic PPVs or on UFC video games; him being there in person was crazy. It was like he had an aura around him – like, “That’s Tito Ortiz, man!” Other than it just being cool to see him, Tito also had excellent advice for a guy like me considering he’s the “King of Ground and Pound”. I know I’ll personally utilize some of what I learned from him on that day in my own game. People don’t understand that Tito is a big dude physically but he has like a super-dome! It was crazy. I know TUF showed my comment referring to how large his head but one of his friends actually paid me $100 to tell him that in person too. I was like, “Man…I’m just in awe of looking at you…you’ve got a big f*ckin head!” Easiest $100 I’ve ever made. Another theme on last week’s show involved some drama involving TJ Dillashaw. From my perspective, I felt like Dillashaw avoiding John Dodson was a bitch move – something a draft dodger does – but that’s it. On the other hand, Akira Corassani was actually pretty pissed about it. He wouldn’t let it go. So then it came up jokingly that we should teach him a lesson during a training session. My reaction was to explain I don’t get down like that; it’s just not something I’d do. This sport is dangerous enough so there’s no need to be dirty during a training session. I didn’t like TJ but I was going to let him do his own thing and not be bothered with it. But Akira and Diego Brandao came up with a plan where they were going to rough Dillashaw up. Akira did it because he felt like TJ was a punk, a “draft dodger,” but Diego wanted to actually fight Brian Caraway in the semifinal and was hoping to deliver a message through TJ, to his teammate back home Brian, that his BJJ was better than his. That’s why when you saw them rolling all you heard was, “Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!” When I saw that going on I said to myself, “Okay, I guess this must be what Akira was talking about.” So I tried to distance myself from the situation, walking to the back, but then Michael Bisping called me over to help with wrestling, clinches, and takedowns. When I got into the cage Akira and TJ were going at it extremely hard. I knew right then things could turn bad. It was like takedown, takedown, and then Akira slammed him so hard I could feel the rumble underneath my feet. Dillashaw got pissed, pushed him against the fence, and took him down so hard it hurt Akira’s elbow. Then Akira did the same thing back, taking Dillashaw down more aggressively than normal. And then I get called in… So I started out nice and soft since I knew TJ had a fight coming up but all of the sudden he started chunking leather, hitting me hard as f*ck! And I’ve said it before – I’m nobody’s punching bag. My reaction was to throw the plan out the window as far as clinches/takedowns and just start beating his ass. Then all of the sudden he’s like, “What are you doing?!?” I said, “You’re banging,” and he talked about how he had a fight coming up. I told him I didn’t care, that he was throwing too hard and I was going to defend myself. Even Bisping backed me up when I asked him if TJ was hitting harder than normal. Afterward I heard Akira and Diego talking about how they showed TJ what was up and right then I realized for sure I’d gotten caught up in their mess. All I’ll say about Dillashaw fight with Roland Delorme is that TJ won because he took an easier fight. He’s a draft dodger. He wanted the easier fight and it was. And he dodged Dodson in the semifinal match-ups too which actually worked out well for Johnny Bedford since he wanted to fight Dodson anyways. Basically, from what I understand, he’s called the “Jackson Killer” because he’s beaten up two of Dodson’s teammates at Greg Jackson’s camp, but basically I think it’s because Bedford likes beating up on flyweights. He’s basically a “Flyweight Bully” trying to beat up 125ers. By the way, Caraway is draft dodger #2 if I haven’t made that clear. He kept telling Diego how he thought they would make the best fight in the final because of their experience. I remember before Diego’s fight with Steven Siler talking to Siler, who was basically the equivalent of the guy on the couch in Half-Baked because he was always sleeping, and he told me Brian urged him to take the bout with Brandao – that he said, “Brian told me I’m the only one who can beat Diego…that my BJJ is better than Diego’s.” When he told me I had to keep my poker-face on but in the back in my mind I couldn’t help but think Brian was trying to manipulate the situation because he didn’t want to fight Diego. Even after Diego beat Siler, he went on one of his famous rants and he stepped up to Caraway. Brian’s reaction? “Nooo…save it for the Finale!” Man, that was one of the gayest things I’ve ever heard in my life and I even have a gay friend. At least “Top 3” if not #1. The way I translated it was, “Hey, man, if you’re gonna rape me can you just do it Tuesday because Monday I’m busy. Like you probably gathered from the previews, prepare yourselves to see an incredible prank on next week’s episode. Tiki Ghosn is the “God of Mischief,” not Loki. That’s it for this week. Shout outs as always to my guard unit, the 117th in Birmingham, Alabama, my boy to my old team at Spartan Fitness, my family and friends in Alabama, American Top Team, Emmanuel at E Hollywood Promotions for inviting me to an incredible Halloween party, and a very special thanks to Tommy Elliot at TE3 Athletics for helping me drive twelve and a half hours from Alabama to Florida Thanks again for reading. I’ll be back next week with some more insight on what went down. In the meantime check me out on Twitter (@brim205) or learn more through my video blog. Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, diego, akira, tj

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Here’s a little secret, though once you look at Phil De Fries’ unbeaten 7-0 (1 NC) record and see that he ended all of his wins by submission, it won’t be much of a secret anymore.But here goes anyway – De Fries is not your typical British heavyweight. If you’re wondering, the typical British heavyweight is a brawler who either likes to stand and trade or finish matters on the mat with a steady diet of ground strikes. Add in being tough as nails, and you probably have the picture.De Fries has the tough as nails part down, but as for the rest, he would rather choke you than knock you out, and if submissions are his business, well, business is booming these days. So why travel the less weathered path?“I’ve trained BJJ for years and years before MMA,” said De Fries, a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “I saw the UFCs and saw Royce (Gracie) fighting in the gi and I thought I’ll try that because I loved the skill involved. I ended up fighting in a lot of jiu-jitsu competitions and I won a lot of them in England. In my heart, I always loved doing jiu-jitsu, and then I turned my hand to MMA and I love them both equally now.”Turning pro in 2009, the 6-foot-4 Sunderland native has sailed through all his pro fights, with the only blemish a 2010 no contest with Dave Wilson which was ruled as such when Wilson couldn’t continue after a punch to the back of the head. It was a minor hiccup, and when De Fries defeated UFC vet Colin Robinson and fellow prospect Stav Economou in 2011, it was the last push he needed to get the call from the UFC. Yet when he was signed to compete against fellow Brit Oli Thompson at UFC 138, his buddy (and UFC vet) Ross Pearson told him that to compete at the elite level, he needed to supplement his home training with a little traveling – to San Diego’s Alliance Training Center to be exact.“My friend Ross Pearson is over here, and he said it’s hard work and what you need to do if you want to make it in the UFC,” said De Fries. “So I came over, and it is hard work – it was an eye opener – but I’m glad I did it. All the guys are great, I was living in the gym, and Eric (Del Fierro) is a fantastic coach and fantastic gameplan maker.”It was in San Diego that the 25-year old De Fries got word that Thompson had injured himself in training and was withdrawing from the bout. In stepped another Brit, the Wolfslair’s Rob Broughton, a fighter all British heavyweights have had their eye on.“He’s been the number one UK heavyweight for years, and he’s always been the guy to watch,” said De Fries. “He’s tough, he comes forward, and he doesn’t give up. But I think it’s a good fight for us.”Changing opponents on short notice is never easy; doing it as you prepare for your first UFC bout has to be even more nerve-racking, but De Fries seems to be taking it all in stride. “It changed the gameplan a little, but it could have been a lot worse,” he said. “People like Neil Wain got matched up with Shane Carwin, didn’t he? It (De Fries vs. Broughton) is a domestic match that was gonna happen sooner or later anyway, and it’s probably a harder fight than Thompson, but it’s not a really, really hard fight. I’m very confident I’m gonna win it.”If he does, and does it with one of his trademark submissions, he may join unbeaten lightweight groundfighting guru Paul Sass in paving the way for other jiu-jitsu based fighters from the UK, which De Fries admits is “a big boxing nation.” But whether it’s knockouts or tap outs, everybody loves a perfect record and they love a finisher even more. De Fries has both ends covered.“I really, really don’t like losing,” he said. “I always like to win and I don’t like to give an inch. I finished all my fights before the third round, so I’m very confident, I’m a finisher, and I’m just gonna go and do my thing against Broughton. Hopefully, the fans will see some excitement and a good submission, hopefully Submission of the Night.”

Posted in: ufc, ’t, i ’m, ’m, fry

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I was in Kansas City last weekend cornering Jay Hieron against Ben Askren at Bellator 56 and obviously have a thought or two about the scoring to share. Basically, I’d like to know what two of the judges were looking at. I definitely thought Jay won the first, third, and fifth rounds, and I say that not only because Jay is my fighter but because I genuinely believe it. Askren won the second and fourth although I thought the second was actually quite close as well. I honestly think that fighting in his backyard in front of his home crowd might have influenced the judges. You gotta be professional as a judge though and not be swayed by the fans. I simply don’t see how they gave him the fight. I shook his corner’s hands afterward and when I looked at them I could see it in their eyes – in Ben’s eyes – that they didn’t feel like they won. Ben is an extremely confident person and if he felt he won he would have said he did, but he wasn’t happy and he knew he lost. Needless to say it was a disappointing fight. We tried to get a rematch since Askren will probably have to be part of a super-fight before defending his title so it should be a rematch. Unfortunately, I don’t think Ben really wants that fight. If the champion is going to be fighting, he should be defending his belt. What other organization has their champion fighting but not defending the belt? Jay did enough to get a rematch and anyone who saw the fight probably agrees as well. I think officials’ inexperience and lack of MMA knowledge hurts judging. For example, should a takedown win you the round if you just got the sh*t kicked out of you? It should be considered, of course, and if you’re effective with your ground and pound then you should win the round. But if you’re getting beat up, you get a takedown, and you just hold him down, that shouldn’t be enough. You should get a point for getting the takedown but it should be scored like a strike. You can’t take away the takedowns from a wrestler and you can’t take away the strikes from a striker. It’s like saying that you can punch and kick the guy 15-20 times but if he gets the one takedown, he wins the round. I don’t think that’s fair. I think the judges need to be more knowledgeable about the ground game with a guy working for submissions because that’s controlling the fight, being aggressive, and attempting to finish. Just laying on a guy shouldn’t have much impact on the judge. Round by round judging is fine – it just needs to be more decisive. For example, Jay stuffed a lot of Askren’s takedowns. Yes he got taken down too which is bound to happen, but he stuffed more than he failed on. A fighter should be getting points for stuffing those takedowns, but unfortunately the rules aren’t very clear and I don’t think the judges have a full idea of what they’re looking for. Those kinds of decisions affect fighters and their careers because if you give a guy a loss that he doesn’t deserve it affects the amount of money he’s making or takes away from other potential opportunities in the business. Sadly I was a victim to technology over the weekend where UFC 137 was concerned as my DVR didn’t record the event so I’m still waiting to see the show. Rest assured I’ll have some opinions on I get a chance to watch it. Even though we’ve had a bunch of guys fight recently we have more with bouts on the horizon. John Alessio is making his 155 debut this weekend at SCC in Vegas against Luiz Firmino. I think he’s tougher than John’s original opponent, Rob Emerson, so it should be a good scrap. We’re continuing to work with Mike Chandler for Eddie Alvarez on November 19, plus Ulysses Gomez is fighting on December 2 at Tachi Palace. He’s fighting for the bantamweight title though it’s his first fight at bantamweight after moving up from flyweight. Lots of stuff to keep things busy around the gym! Also, relating to some news from this week, Vitor Belfort is very excited about fighting Anthony Johnson. We believe it’s a winnable fight against a top name and someone who will help Vitor climb the ladder. He wants to fight the top guys and Anthony is one of the better guys out there. He’s definitely dangerous. He’s big, his stand up is great, and his wrestling is even better. Without question it is gonna be a fun puzzle to try and solve. Plus, the fight is in Brazil and it’s going to be a huge deal with Vitor heading back to his home country. On a final note, Halloween was great! A really good friend of mine had a birthday so I got to hang out with her and everyone else. Everyone was in the spirit and after some drinks, they were REALLY in the spirit. It was a crazy three days for sure. Saturday was the fight, Sunday was the birthday party, and Monday was Halloween. I dressed up as a Storm Trooper from Star Wars and even found out how to drink through the helmet! That’s it for this week. Until then, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

Posted in: fight, takedown, guy, round, ’t

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When you’re a Mixed Martial Artist with a reputation for slugging it out until you or your opponent falls, you’re bound to run into adversaries interested in testing their own striking and chin against your own. As such, Chris Leben is used to his foes engaging him in such a way only to fall short in the end (and occasionally face-first at that). This weekend “The Crippler” will find himself in a similar situation against decorated collegiate wrestler Mark Munoz who has knockout power of his own and hasn’t shied away from the notion of enlisting it against Leben at UFC 138. Munoz Credits UFC Hall of Famer with Decision to Try MMA Leben spoke some about the bout with Munoz as well as his profession in general in a video from the UFC promoting Saturday’s card and, to hear the 31-year old tell it, he’ll be surprised if Munoz has anything to truly offer him while standing. “I throw devastating punches! Everybody says they want to stand and bang with me, everyone says they will stand and bang with me. But if Wanderlei Silva can’t do it Mark Munoz definitely can’t do it,” Leben exclaimed while referencing his 27-second destruction of Silva in July at UFC 132. An original Ultimate Fighter alumnus, Leben credited the energy he gets from the crowd with his style of scrapping, saying, “When I’m on deck to walk out to the Octagon, that is one of the most extreme moments of my life. Your heart is racing. You can hear 20,000 people just cheering, and yelling, and screaming your name. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.” “I feel like a gladiator walking into the Roman Coliseum,” he continued. “When I go out there I know it’s time…it’s time for me to go to battle. I’m prepared to put it all on the line to bring those fans exactly what they want to see and that’s ‘The Crippler’ smash somebody.” Interested parties can see Leben attempt just that for free on Spike TV starting at 8:00 PM EST with other bouts on the British lineup including Renan “Barao” vs. Brad Pickett and Thiago Alves vs. Papy Abedi. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC   Tweet

Posted in: ufc, ’t, mark munoz, leben, munoz

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If you've never heard of Reggie Warren Jr., then you've clearly never been exposed to the seedy underground of redneck, pajama wearing MMA fans. In the MMA world, Reggie Warren Jr. has maintained his celebrity status by convincing everyone that he's proficient in the lost art of 'badass.' You've seen his videos (and if you haven't, this one is a great primer), now Reggie Warren will be doing monthly interviews with MMA fighters exclusively for MiddleEasy. Hopefully, we'll get more than one interview a month out of him, but it's all dependent on the volume of Busch Light he consumes in any given day. Check out the first installment of '11 Questions with Reggie Warren Jr.' featuring Gray Maynard. Thanks to Esther Lin for the wizard-like photography. Be sure to follow Reggie Warren Jr. on Twitter.   First off, I consider you one of my only UFC fighter friends. I really didn’t like watching you lose that fight against that New York Yankee guy. It hurt my soul. Can you promise me that you won’t let that happen again? And is there a reason you didn’t use more of the Cat Stance technique I taught you?Yes, I promise it won't happen again. I see Maynard vs Edgar 4 in the future. That is where I'll be able to utilize the cat stance.   I wound up fighting almost every guy in the bar who cheered after you lost. I ended up running from the cops the whole weekend and hiding out in the woods. Have you ever run from the cops? (And if you’re scared to be honest in fear of repercussions, just say “That’s against the law Reggie…I would never run from the cops.”) That’s against the law Reggie… I would never run from the cops, but I have heard fear makes you run faster and jump higher. Just putting that out there.   If you weren’t an Ultimate Fighter and you could play any other sport professionally, what sport would you play? And for what team?It would probably be soccer and Brazil or Italy would do just fine. I think a lot of hot models come from those countries, so that works.   Have you ever had an emergency shit attack out in public and weren’t quite able to make it to the bathroom? It’s happened to the best of us, so don’t be shy.To be honest, I'm kind of a germaphobe. So I have an app on my phone called "Sit or Squat" that gives reviews on bathrooms in the surrounding area just in case there is an emergency. But…there's no place like home.   Do you have any friends that make you think, “Man, I’m glad this guy doesn’t wrestle or train as much as me ‘cause he’d probably be able to whoop my ass”?Yes...You!!   You’re stranded on a desert island. You can bring one album, one poster of a celebrity, and one food item for the all-you –can-eat deserted island buffet…what are you bringing? Good question. Album would have to be a greatest hits of either Pearl Jam or Sublime. Poster would be Tom Hanks. When I start going crazy he will give me advice to get off the island. Buffet would be Mexican food.   Some people get offended when you refer to Frankie Edgar as “Kid”. I tried to explain that this is no different than the word “dude” or “little Yankee F*****” or “Mane” or “Guy” or “Chicken parmigiano hero lover”, but everyone tells me that it’s disrespectful. Why are they being so sensitive? Yeah, it's just a term. I think I got the term "kid" from people in Jersey anyway. I mean we all fight for a living, it's not like we're mature bankers or something.   Was there ever a time in your life when you almost quit the wrestling team?Yes. Every time I had to cut weight.   Since you were roommates with Rashad Evans in college, did you ever tell chicks that he was Mike Tyson? That guy has hands-down the best Mike Tyson impression I’ve ever heard!Yeah. We pulled that off a couple times. Them macing us and screaming rape wasn't the reaction we were looking for.   Ok, let’s play a make believe game and pretend you’re a Dad with a 7-year-old son. You’ve just dropped him off at his first wrestling practice and you have visions of him being the greatest fighter on the planet. When you show up an hour later to check up on his progress, you find him eating donuts and playing imaginary games with the headgear in the corner of gym. The coach looks at you and says, “I don’t think this sport is for him”. What do you say to your son?Time to go to baseball practice son. You don't need to be an athlete to make millions.   Please fill in the blank: Without fighting and competition in my life, I would be __________________.Hanging out with Reggie Warren!

Posted in: guy, ’t, warren, jr, reggie

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Every second counts. Not just in the Octagon, where lightweight Edward Faaloloto will be looking for his first UFC win on Saturday against Terry Etim, but in life, where the Hawaiian has earned a black belt in the art of time management.See, while other fighters used the long plane ride to Birmingham, England to catch up on their rest before this weekend’s UFC 138 card, Faaloloto took the opportunity to catch up on his homework, as the full-time mixed martial artist is also a full-time student at Kapi’olani Community College in Honolulu, a juggling act he says he manages “The best I can.” “It’s not easy,” he continues, “but thankfully, I’ve got an awesome gym and awesome professors, so they understand that I’m fighting right now and trying to squeeze everything in between. During this camp, I had to leave to San Diego to train at Alliance Gym for three weeks, so I told the professors and they knew what was going on, so they let me hold all my work until I got back.”And after knocking out what work he can while traveling the friendly skies, the English major will then focus on knocking out returning Terry Etim this weekend in a main card bout that will put the spotlight on Faaloloto like never before. It’s just another moment in a whirlwind year that has taken the 27-year old’s life on a crazy new turn. Finishing up his service with the United States Navy last year, Faaloloto got a late notice call to face Anthony Njokuani in a November 2010 WEC bout, and suddenly everything changed for him.“To be honest, MMA started off as just my hobby,” he said. “I was always a student; I was in the military, and I fought a little bit while I was there, but it could only be my hobby then because my job was full-time. But I decided to get out, and then the opportunity for the WEC popped up and I jumped on it. It’s been a dream.”The hard-hitting Njokuani shook Faaloloto out of that dream for a moment with a second round knockout, but given his lack of experience and the short notice of the fight, it was an explainable loss, not that Faaloloto is looking for excuses. “I don’t want to make excuses or take anything away from Njokuani, he’s an awesome fighter, and the fact is, he won that fight, so I want to make that clear,” he said. “If I were to honestly look at it, I just got out of the military and that (getting the fight) was a surprise. It was kinda short notice, and at the time there were a lot of things that weren’t going right. But ultimately, I just blame my inexperience. As bad as I want it and as hard as I’m working, I’m still behind the bar when it comes down to putting in the hours in the cage, and I think that’s been the biggest factor in my fighting. I can improve my standup, ground, cardio, and mind the best I can, but ultimately, I still have to clock in those hours.”Faaloloto (5-2) suffered a second straight defeat when Ultimate Fighter 12 finalist Michael Johnson stopped him in the first round of their June UFC live bout, but like all Hawaiian fighters, he’s not going away without a fight.“I wouldn’t train as hard as I am, and I wouldn’t put myself through this if I really didn’t want to fight in the UFC,” he said. “I really, really want this, and I do want to pursue MMA, and my hobby is my life now. So I have every intention of getting better and working my way up there. My goal is to go in there, make a statement and move on up.”It’s a tough mountain to climb, especially when he’s giving up a significant amount of experience to the talented Etim, but with one punch stopping power and the grit that comes with a life spent fighting for every inch you got, Faaloloto has the intangibles that make him a live underdog against anyone he faces.“During training, when I have to write that 10 page paper that’s due tomorrow morning and still have to go to the gym and put in three hours of work, that’s what I think about,” said Faaloloto, who was raised by his grandparents and hanging with the wrong crowd before discovering martial arts as a teenager. “I look back at my past and see where I’m at now when I feel like complaining or feel like taking time off. I can’t stay still, I can’t be stagnant, because life will pass me by. And it’s in those moments that I look back.”He also wants to set an example for his daughter.“I want her to know that if you really, really want something, regardless of how hard it may be or all the circumstances that may come your way, you have to go get it, and that’s what it comes down to.”That kind of motivation can make a fighter very dangerous when the bell rings, and Faaloloto expects to bring it to Etim on Saturday.“I have every intention of making this a very exciting fight,” he said. “Terry Etim has been out for over a year, but I don’t expect him to be rusty at all. I do plan on giving him a nice big welcome though. And my gameplan when I come at Terry Etim is to make more of a statement to reestablish myself to everyone else.”And with a resounding win on the UFC 138 main card that will be seen around the world, Faaloloto can erase the memory of his two losses in 15 minutes or less. That’s precisely the idea, he says.“Everything is working out in such a way that this is the culmination of it. I had no idea I was gonna fight in England, and now I’m on the main card. The universe is speaking, and I have something to say.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, etim, faaloloto

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Brad Pickett, professional mixed martial artist, sees the fight game the same way we see him fight. There’s no nonsense, just a desire to get down to business as soon as possible. So the response you get when you ask him about his UFC 138 co-main event against Renan Barao and what a win would do for his career is no shocker.“Winning is always gonna put you in a better position,” he said. “Losing is gonna put you in a worse position. So all I need to do is keep winning, and I’m gonna be there.” Can’t make it any clearer than that, and that ability to whittle away all the extraneous stuff and get right down to the heart of the matter has served the 33-year old well throughout his nearly seven year pro career, one that began in his native London in 2004 and that continues this weekend in Birmingham. And in between his 17 second TKO win over Stuart Grant and his upcoming clash with the 28-1, 1 NC Barao, Pickett hasn’t had anything handed to him; in fact, as a lighter weight fighter, he fought through the same obstacles that United States fighters in those same divisions did in the days before the Zuffa-era WEC brought them onto the world stage.“When I was fighting in the UK, I was only fighting at featherweight,” said the current bantamweight contender. “But it was still the same thing. And people get the small man’s syndrome when you see a lot of heavyweights getting a lot more attention and money and stuff like that, and you’re thinking man, if anything, I’m more skilled than these guys, because we have to rely a lot on technique rather than just strength, so yeah, it does get a bit disheartening and annoying at times, but it’s just how it is, and hopefully that will change. In boxing, it’s starting to change where people are a lot more interested in people like Manny Pacquiao and (Floyd) Mayweather than they are in (Wladimir and Vitali) Klitschko. So hopefully, that will start to change, and with the UFC giving us the platform to show our skills, eventually in time that could be the case as well.”With the merge of the UFC and WEC in late 2010, bantamweights like Pickett, Barao, Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber, Brian Bowles, Scott Jorgensen, Joseph Benavidez, Demetrious Johnson, and Miguel Angel Torres now have that platform. The only problem for Pickett is that the other eight members of the aforementioned group have already displayed their skills on the UFC level. Pickett, 3-1 in the WEC, has yet to make it to the Octagon. Instead, a back injury has kept him on the shelf since his win over Ivan Menjivar last December, forcing him to scrap a UFC 130 bout with Torres. Stepping in for Pickett was Johnson, who went on to win the fight and move on to a title fight against Cruz. Pickett, who scored a WEC win over Johnson, doesn’t play the What If game though.“Any guy you beat, you want them to go on and do well because it makes your win look better,” said Pickett. “If you beat a guy who’s 5-0 and he loses 20 fights in a row, it doesn’t look like a good win. So obviously you want your guys to win and go on a tear, and the guys I’ve been beating have been doing that. And I’m not bitter.  A lot of people say to me, ‘you should be there and not Demetrious Johnson,’ and I say ‘hey, I got injured.’ If I would have fought Miguel Torres and beat him, I could have been in that position, but I’m not, and I’m glad that Demetrious Johnson got the shot. I can’t complain about things that are out of my hands; I can’t control that.”What he can control is his own destiny, which means getting back in action and beating Barao on Saturday. But even with the bout drawing nearer, Pickett (21-5) appears to be the superstitious type, not wishing to speculate about the fight until the fight happens.“I don’t want to tempt fate,” he laughed when interviewed on October 25th. “I still have a week of training left, and you never know what can happen, so I still could be the last (WEC fighter to fight in the UFC) if something stupid happens, but hopefully not.”Well, he’s made it to Birmingham and survived the jokes of friends and family that told him to cover himself in bubble wrap to avoid any late mishaps, but has his recent injury forced him to adjust his all-out style of fighting and training?“You can’t do that,” said Pickett, a member of Coconut Creek, Florida’s American Top Team. “I think the type of fighting style I have will never let that happen. It’s just how I am – I have to go all out. But I’m listening to my body as well. If I was aching a little bit, I had to step back, and it made me a lot more wiser. It’s very cliché to say this, but I do feel like I’m in the best shape of my life, just because I’ve had to start looking after my body a lot more than I had to. I had to realize that I’m 33, not 23, and I had to start looking after my body, eat the right sort of foods, take supplements, and rest, as well as train hard.”All that’s left is the fight, and it’s finally all systems go for Pickett, who could see this whole layoff as a blessing in disguise since he is returning in a co-main event in his home country. Yet “could” is the operative word.“Good things come to those who wait, I guess, and I’m happy to be able to fight in England and being in the co-main event is massive to me,” he said. “But I don’t want to get too carried away because it hasn’t happened yet. Until the cage door shuts and I turn around and look at my gloves and they say “UFC” on them, I haven’t yet made my debut.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, pickett

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To make it to the UFC in just eight pro fights, you’re probably a pretty good fighter. To get a former world title challenger like Thiago Alves in that first Octagon bout, you had better be a pretty good fighter.Papy Abedi is that guy, and not surprisingly, the unbeaten welterweight isn’t shaking in his boots about squaring off against the “Pitbull” in a UFC 138 main card bout on Saturday, though he was surprised when the call first came in.“I was really surprised when my manager called me and said that my first fight would be against ‘Pitbull,’” said Sweden’s Abedi through his manager / translator Manos Terzitane. “At first I thought he meant that I was supposed to fight against my teammate, who is called ‘Pitbull’ as well, but then I realized it was Thiago and I was really happy about it.”You know you’re dealing with a real fighter when he says that he’s happy to be facing one of the best strikers in the 170-pound weight class in his first UFC match and actually means it, but with a perfect 8-0 record that includes seven finishes, the 33-year old isn’t used to backing down to anyone, not even Alves, who though five years his junior, has 30 pro MMA fights under his belt, half of them taking place in the UFC. So if you ask him about dealing with the experience advantage the Brazilian has over him, Abedi scoffs at such a notion.“He (Alves) is a very good fighter but I don’t see him having any advantage on me,” said Abedi. “I am better than him in all areas of the game. I also have everything to lose in this fight so I am the one to have all the pressure. I am undefeated and I don’t want to make any changes to my record. Only the W counts for me. I have trained very, very hard for this fight and I am in the best shape of my life. It is the first time in my career that I have trained like a professional. All my other fights I have worked eight hours a day and trained after work. This time I have trained four times a day, six days a week. I have never felt this strong and in such a great shape ever before.”A former electrician, Abedi was born in Kinshasa, where he says that judo is the discipline of choice when it comes to combat sports. And though he now makes his home in Stockholm, he still talks to family members over there daily, and notes that MMA is even starting to make inroads in the land of his birth.“Judo is very big in Congo and they have started to train MMA now also,” he said. “My dream is to one day open a MMA school in Congo and help all the kids there.”Achieving such a dream will be a lot easier should he be successful in the UFC, and if you go by his own description of his fighting style, fans who don’t know him now may grow to love him if he delivers on Saturday night.“My style is kickboxing with a background in Judo and I like to slam and KO my opponents,” said Abedi, who will find a kindred spirit in Alves, whose Muay Thai background and desire to knock his opponents out meshes nicely with the style of “Makambo,” who, despite his confidence, has plenty of respect for his foe. “Thiago is one of the best fighters in the UFC,” said Abedi. “He has a good ground game, good takedowns, good submission defense, good ground and pound, and good standup. He is basically good at everything and one of the best fighters out there. I respect him a lot as a fighter and I know a lot of fans respect him as well as a fighter. This is really good for me because after I win no one can argue how good I am.”He’s right. Because regardless of how many foes he’s dispatched on the local European circuit, nothing would top upsetting Alves this weekend. It’s an enticing prospect for Abedi, one so appealing that he decided to drop from middleweight to welterweight to take it.“It was a natural move for me to change weight classes because of my height,” said the 5-11 Abedi. “I was always shorter than my opponents and I think that welterweight is better for me because of my height and also because I can train like a professional now and I have the time to drop weight.”Yet what getting Thiago Alves as a first opponent shows is that there are no warm-up fights at 170 pounds in the UFC. Every fight’s a dogfight against a top level opponent, and that’s something Abedi will find out immediately on Saturday. But with his talent and confidence, he’ll have tools to deal with such a rude awakening. And in addition, he also has the mental edge of knowing that no one has forced him to deal with defeat yet, an intangible that can do wonders on fight night.“I have never experienced a loss in my career because a loss is not okay for me,” he said. “The mental advantage for me is that I know that Thiago can lose, as he has done it before, while I have never experienced a loss and don’t plan on doing it. I want to end my career undefeated.”Tough talk from a tough guy who will find out just how tough he is on Saturday night in Birmingham, England. And with Abedi showing such confidence, is there any doubt that fight fans will be tuning in to see if he can back things up? But the fighter isn’t going to be spoiling things with predictions. He’ll keep some things to himself.“I don’t want to tell too much,” he smiled when asked what fans should expect from him against Alves. “It is better for the fans to tune in and watch UFC 138. If I tell them what to expect or how it will end, it will be like spoiling the end of a great movie.” 

Posted in: ufc, fight, fighter, ’t, abedi

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John Dodson has plenty of “TUF” talking points for this week.| Photo: Dave Mandel “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14 bantamweight John Dodson (www.twitter.com/JohnDodsonMMA) will blog for Sherdog.com all season long, giving his thoughts, reactions and behind-the-scenes insights on the show. “The Ultimate Fighter 14” airs Wednesdays on Spike, 9 p.m. ET/PT. Roland’s foot was bad. The staph infection had taken him out for a week; he couldn't train to get ready for T.J. He hadn’t been rolling with any of the guys or even been at the gym. He had to basically just stay home and keep his foot elevated to make sure the swelling would go down. Roland got antibiotics to help clear him up and get him back in training faster, but he only had a few days to train. He didn’t get much work in before his bout with T.J. I know that he said he wasn't feeling the effect of the infection, but we all could see it did. But, we all knew that Roland is one tough dude and wasn’t going to let this get him down. During our training session, Rafael Cordeiro came in and worked out with us. It was cool having a legend of the sport stop in to help out us and show us drills that would help out with our footwork. He was showing me how to be a little more active with my strikes and the more important aspect of making opponents miss and making them pay for it. Rafael was so laid back, and great as a trainer. If you had any little twist to your game, he wouldn’t try to change you, just work with you. Like any real artist, he would show us one thing and would want to see how creative we can get with it and make it our own. People see us as just fighters, but I look at the sport as an art, where we all learn the same brushstrokes but we create different masterpieces, depending on the individual’s style.

Posted in: fighter, ’t, john, roland, hadn ’t

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Krzysztof Soszynski is heading back to Canada on December 10 when he meets Igor Pokrajac at UFC 140. Growing up in Canada, Soszynski is no stranger to our neighbors to the north. In fact, during his UFC career he’s pretty comfortable fighting in Canada as he’s 2-0 in the great white north, picking up a Submission of the Night bonus as well. “I love going back to Canada. I had a chance to fight in Montreal and my last fight was in Vancouver and now I get to go to Toronto,” said Soszynski in an exclusive interview with Five Ounces of Pain, “I was there for the first event in Toronto and that was an amazing experience and I know that even though this is a smaller venue the fans are going to pack the house.” Currently on a two fight win streak, Soszynski is hoping to put on a performance when he steps inside the octagon on December. In his last fight against Mike Massenzio at UFC 113, the Ultimate Fighter alum was very disappointed with how the fight went. He doesn’t blame himself though. “I was mad because I wanted to have a fun fight for the fans and the UFC and one fighter didn’t want to fight and just wanted a spot in the company. I was disappointed that I didn’t get the finish but I got the W, which was great because I was coming off a lot of injuries and it made it two fights in a row for me. “I watched Massenzio in his last fight against Steve Cantwell and he went to war and I wasn’t sure if that was the real Massenzio or what cause when I fought him he didn’t really throw a punch.” Against Pokrajac, Krzysztof is expecting a much more fan-friendly fight saying, “He’s very tough, reminds me a bit of Stephan Bonnar. Good hands but I think his wrestling is his weakness but his ground game is good and getting better. It’s going to be a fun fight.” Of course fans still remember the two wars Soszynski had with Bonnar. Their bout at UFC 116 earned the duo Fight of the Night honors. If you watch “The Polish Expierment” fight, you’ll definitely hear Mike Goldberg mention how much he loves to use the Kimura. Soszynski not only refers to the submission hold as, “his baby” he goes on to say, “That’s the first submission I ever learned and I think I’ve mastered it and I catch a lot of training partners with it on a daily basis during our training sessions. It’s something I look for in every position. Even in mount I look for it or if I can use it to sweep.” Soszynski has a child he spends time with outside of the Octagon, a young son whose dad is cool enough to take him to hockey games when he’s not in the gym. The return of the Winnipeg Jets to the NHL has put hockey back in Soszynski’s life and taken him back to when he was a child as well. “I took my son to a preseason game. I missed the home opener because of training,” said Krzysztof “I was one of the guys who grew up watching the Winnipeg Jets and I actually worked at the Winnipeg arena selling popcorn and Pepsi and I did that for about five years. I was there through the good times and bad times. It is nice to see them back and the crowd is amazing.” PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Always comfortable in Canada, expect Soszynski to walk into the octagon smiling and walk out with that same smile on his face on December 10.

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, soszynski, canada

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

When last we saw BJ Penn, the Hawaiian legend was battered and bloody and seemingly adamant about his UFC 137 appearance – a hard loss to Nick Diaz that left his eye purple and swollen – being his last trip into the Octagon.  Then, days later, came the post on Penn’s website, saying he would take some time off and see where it goes from there.  Which leaves us with what?  A former welterweight and lightweight champ on the cusp of retirement?  A warrior in the waning years of his career?  Or simply a fighter who needs some time to reassess his place in the sport?  I’d say definitely all of the above.  Which isn’t to say Penn is washed up; he is, and will always be, one the best MMA has ever seen.  To examine his triumphs, when fists were flying and chokes were constricting, is to be imparted with a lesson in greatness. I was there when Penn first fought in the UFC, and remember clearly the hype that had surrounded him.  He was some sort of jiu-jitsu prodigy (hence his nickname, “The Prodigy”), attaining a black belt in only a few short years and using those skills to kick ass at the Mundials in Brazil.  So, while it was amazing that Penn’s first MMA fight ever was at UFC 31, most already harbored great expectations of him.  And against an overmatched Joey Gilbert, he did not disappoint.  Two crushing performances later (against Din Thomas and Caol Uno) and Penn was taking on Jens Pulver for the title. Many measure Penn’s performances against those same high expectations, and use that as a gauge of his successes and failures in lieu of the usual “win/loss” method.  That’s unfair.  When Penn didn’t destroy the likes of Paul Creighton, Matt Serra and others, his victories in those bouts somehow meant less.  But the fact is Penn won those fights, and he went on to handily defeat Takanori Gomi (considered Japan’s best at the time) and Matt Hughes (the UFC’s dominant welterweight champ).  And he made it look easy. What made the Prodigy’s victory over Hughes all the more impressive was the step up in weight class, and he continued the trend, taking on everyone from Rodrigo Gracie to Lyoto Machida (!) to George St. Pierre to Hughes again.  However, it was a return to the lightweight division that reasserted Penn’s mastery of the game, and he redefined the word “murder” with the way he put away top competitors Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. If Penn retires, his record will stay at twenty-six fights, and his losses will have come at the hands of only the best – 155-pound champ Pulver, 205-pound champ Machida, 170-pound champs Hughes and St. Pierre, 155-pound champ Frankie Edgar, and Strikeforce champ Diaz.  That’s one heck of a list of fighters to fall to, and there’s zero shame in it.  Can he still compete with the sport’s elite, though?  Only Penn can decide that, but worth noting is how many fighters can still be the best who saw their Octagon debuts in 2001 (answer: none).    But in the end, it shouldn’t matter.  As a fighter, a TUF coach, and the subject of a New York Times Bestselling autobiography, Penn has done and accomplished so much in his years in the mixed martial arts.  If he never comes back, then in a year or two we won’t be talking about how he lost to Edgar and Diaz.  No, we’ll be talking about BJ Penn’s legacy. That right there is greatness.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, year, champ, penn

Read the full article at MMA Convert

When Georges St. Pierre went down with injury a few weeks ago, forcing him out of a main event match-up with Carlos Condit at UFC 137, the UFC had a godsend in the form of another fan-friendly pairing on the card between popular welterweights BJ Penn and Nick Diaz. As expected, Diaz and Penn went to war in the show’s featured tilt and delivered one of 2011’s most memorable in-ring encounters. Now Diaz’s manger, Cesar Gracie, believes his client deserves to be taken care of financially for the impact he had on helping dig UFC 137 out of the hole GSP’s withdrawal created. “You can’t pull a guy off a card and then bring him back on,” Gracie began in an interview with Sherdog Radio before mimicking the UFC’s position, saying, “‘Oh, he’s not good enough to fight. We pulled him out of the card. He can’t be in the main event. Yeah, here you go. Oh, wait a minute, guess what happened? Our little star guy over here, his knee hurts. Oh my God, we need Nick Diaz. Let’s put him back in the main event.’” “Everybody wants to see that fight,” Gracie continued on Diaz’s dance with Penn. “He delivers. Well, little star guy didn’t fight and Nick Diaz did, but they pulled a lot of money from Nick’s purse because it wasn’t structured for him to make as much if it wasn’t GSP, even though he was the main event now and put the people in the seats.” “Nick Diaz saved that card. OK?” Gracie boldly stated. “That’s what people need to remember when they talk about responsibility, is that he showed up, hamstring injury, knee injury, whatever. He had the same thing. He’s the guy that showed up. He’s the guy that fought his heart out, him and BJ Penn. They put on a show. They’re two great warriors. They saved the UFC that night.” Though some might argue Diaz leapfrogging Condit for a title-shot the “Natural Born Killer” had been promised prior to Saturday night’s show could be a reward in itself, it could also be argued that Gracie makes a fair point in terms of Diaz’s role as a headliner and the effect it had on buyrates/tickets. Diaz vs. GSP Targeted for Super Bowl Weekend In the end, the famed teacher and outspoken manager made his confidence clear regarding the parties’ ability to find a satisfactory resolution. “We’re going to put everything on the table, and I’m confident that we’re going to be able to iron all of this out and that Dana (White) will make it right,” Gracie concluded. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE Tweet

Posted in: ufc, diaz, nick, ’t, gracie

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Anderson Silva's manager has been making the rounds, saying a lot of interesting stuff about the Spider's future. That he'd be retiring in three or four fights. That they didn't want to fight Chael Sonnen. Now Anderson has come out and personally addressed the situation: “I’ll fight for another six or seven years and then I’ll stop. I stopped to think about it and I’ll postpone my retirement for a little longer. Then I’ll think about TV. I guess it’s interesting”, said Anderson, who recently had a documentary launched and stared on a soap opera.On the interview, Anderson also commented on a possibility of fighting Chael Sonnen again.“He doesn’t deserve to fight me. The most important thing he didn’t do: defeating me. He was caught on the drug test, which was the worse,” Anderson said, making hard critics towards the American.“I believe he shouldn’t be on the sport, because he has no emotional control. While trying to provoke me, he makes the sport looks bad. He made bad comments, offended me and my wife”, he said. If only someone could teach him a lesson. Maybe punch him in the face or kick his ass or something. That would be awesome.

Posted in: fight, ’t, anderson, i ’ll, ’ll

Read the full article at Fightlinker

It appears Dana White is guaranteed to flash at least one of his trademark grins at some point today when he hears UFC middleweight Anderson Silva’s latest statements. In fact, you might be hard-pressed to find anyone who won’t be smiling given the glorious information, at least outside of every 185 or 205 pound fighter on the UFC’s roster. Believed to be retiring after four more fights it appears “The Spider” has had a change of heart and is now interested in continuing to spin the story of his transcendent career for at least five more years. “I’ll fight for another six or seven years and then I’ll stop. I stopped to think about it and I’ll postpone my retirement for a little longer,” said Silva in an interview on Brazilian talk-show De Frente com Gabi before hinting at what he might do after fighting, revealing, “Then I’ll think about TV.” (props to Tatame for the translation) Silva also reiterated his stance surrounding Chael Sonnen’s status as a top contender, explaining, ““He doesn’t deserve to fight me. The most important thing he didn’t do: defeating me. He was caught on the drug test, which was the worse. I believe he shouldn’t be on the sport, because he has no emotional control. While trying to provoke me, he makes the sport looks bad. He made bad comments, offended me and my wife.” Sonnen Says he is MMA’s Only Respectful Fighter Regardless of whom Silva fights next it appears the bout will no longer represent one of the final few footsteps in an incredible journey but rather the next stop in what seems to be a rejuvenated run at further solidifying his status as the best fighter MMA has seen thus far and may see for the foreseeable future. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, silva, i ’ll, ’ll

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According to Carlos Condit's manager, Carlos 'agreeing to step aside' may be a generous way of describing why GSP is now fighting Nick Diaz: Following the fight, MMAWeekly.com spoke to Condit’s manager Malki Kawa, who simply stated that ‘stepping aside’ isn’t what happened.“We didn’t step aside. That’s not what we do,” Kawa wrote in a text message to MMAWeekly.com. “GSP doesn’t want to fight Carlos.” Jeez, is it 'Shit on Georges St Pierre' week and someone forgot to tell me? Or maybe Kawa is just trying to be more proactive about making sure his client isn't instantly butted aside again if Georges stops being such a giant pussy about fighting Anderson Silva. See, now I'm getting the hang of how this works. Really, it's way too late for Carlos though. Maybe if he had been at UFC 137 to wedgie Georges and tell him "Nique ta salope mere!", all this could have been avoided. (via Five Ounces)

Posted in: ’t, carlo, kawa, fight mmaweeklycom, text message

Read the full article at Fightlinker

The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. UFC returned to Las Vegas this past weekend. Unfortunately, Las Vegas didn’t come to the UFC. After multiple main event changes, I guess the Vegas crowd didn’t feel that the headliner was worthy of their time when there were so many Halloween parties going on. I can’t say I blame them because for most of the event, I wish I was trapped in a room with scantily clad women instead of watching half-naked men grapple and punch each other in the face as well. Lets go to the scorecard: *I missed Clifford Starks walk-out music, but Dustin Jacoby came out to “Go DJ” by Lil Wayne. I give him credit for using an older song by Weezy. PLUS TWO *Joe Rogan’s pyramid of importance when it comes to MMA techniques sounds like a book waiting to happen. Don’t let us down Rogan. PLUS THREE *”His takedown defense sucks.” Nothing warms my heart more than Rogan putting things bluntly. PLUS ONE *New drinking game: take a shot every time Rogan wants someone to throw kicks. MINUS FOUR for Rogan and his love of kicks. PLUS THREE for getting drunk. *Starks vs. Jacoby was very lackluster. There’s nothing more boring than two unknown guys putting on a boring fight. No interest going in and neither guy did anything to get me interested during it. MINUS FOUR *I give some credit to Starks for doing what he needed to do. But I have to knock off more since Jacoby didn’t do a thing all fight. PLUS TWO for Starks. MINUS THREE for Jacoby. *It was nice to see that Georges St. Pierre showed up for UFC 137, even though he wasn’t fighting. PLUS ONE *Rogan called Joe Warren a “former Bellator champion.” Not even Rogan can understand this whole “non-title” and “tournament” thing that Bellator does. MINUS ONE *Some great knees in the clinch by Francis Carmont. He really started to break Chris Camozzi with those. PLUS THREE *Why was Camozzi yelling at Carmont in the third round? Maybe he didn’t realize that Carmont was allowed to punch him in the face. MINUS ONE *Impressive debut by Carmont. There are obvious flaws in his game and he was a little too cocky for a guy who couldn’t finish Camozzi, but he dominated a tough guy and made it look pretty easy. PLUS FOUR *Obligatory points for the obligatory mention of Chuck Liddell during Danny Downes vs. Ramsey Nijem. PLUS TWO *Arianny is still beautiful, Chandella is still lovely, there is still no blonde ring girl. MINUS THREE *I honestly felt bad for Downes. 30 minutes inside the octagon and he’s just been a glorified punching bag and grappling dummy. He has a ton of heart but hasn’t shown much else. I hope he got his “Guide to Unemployment” back. MINUS TWO *Great performance by Ramsey. A little disappointing that he couldn’t finish, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. PLUS FOUR *Eliot Marshall’s walk-out started so good with “Not Afraid” by Eminem and then it turned into “Coming Home” by Diddy. I guess he thought he was Jon Jones or something. MINUS ONE *I always want to believe in Brandon Vera and then he reminds me why he’s Brandon Vera. MINUS FOUR *Great third round between Vera and Marshall. Granted it was mostly Marshall dominating Vera but I give some credit to Vera for not tapping to that armbar and surviving. PLUS FIVE *And the biggest flaw of the judging system was once again revealed in this fight. Vera won the decision, which wasn’t that outrageous because he did well in the first two rounds, but it was clear that Marshall did more damage, broke the dudes arm, and was closer to finishing the fight. Just start judging fights as a whole and I’ll never complain about judging ever again. MINUS SIX *The fact that Vera couldn’t finish and nearly lost to Marshall tells you all you need to know about him. MINUS THREE *Shame on Tyson Griffin for missing weight. And boy did he look flabby in the cage. MINUS THREE *Bart Paleszewski was like, “You miss weight, you get knocked out.” Great performance by Paleszewski. PLUS FIVE *Extra points for Paleszewski for not only finishing the fight but for the way he finished the fight. I definitely had flashbacks to the UFC 47 main event. PLUS THREE *Glad Spike TV actually televised the walk-out for Donald Cerrone since they had extra time. PLUS TWO *Is there anyone more awesome in MMA than Cerrone? Nope, didn’t think so. PLUS FIVE *More points because Cerrone is awesome and laid a beatdown on Dennis Siver, who was in line for a title shot with his recent victories. PLUS FIVE *I’m not sure the relationship between cowboys and pirates, but I have faith that Cerrone could bring them together. When all else fails, a lock in should do the work. I mean, come on. PLUS THREE *YELL AT ME JOE AND DANA! PLUS TWO *Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop wasn’t very good, especially for guys like me who were expecting a lot more from Hioki. MINUS THREE *That said, Roop looked pretty good, even in defeat. He had a very bad second round but I give him credit for not taking much damage in that round despite being mounted for three minutes and then coming back strong in the third. PLUS FOUR *Even though I scored the fight for Roop, I wasn’t all that upset with the decision because the first round could of gone either way depending on what you look for when scoring. EVEN *Great technical fight between Scott Jorgensen and Jeff Curran. PLUS FOUR *Curran doesn’t have the most impressive record in the world but the dude is no-pushover and is a tough out for any opponent. I was most impressed with his striking in this bout. PLUS THREE *Jorgensen did what he needed to do, getting takedowns and controlling the top game, but he didn’t look all that great in victory. PLUS TWO *I don’t like this new “buffer” Roy Nelson. I like my “Big Country” fat and happy. MINUS ONE *That said, what an epic beard Nelson was sporting. PLUS ONE *Also, Nelson appears to bring back the nipple tweaking. PLUS ONE *Nelson was definitely right hand happy on the feet, but he did a nice job mixing in some takedowns and keeping Mirko Filipovic off balance. PLUS TWO *I’m sure Mirko had the fire back, but this fight pretty much proved that he couldn’t do it anymore. He didn’t look terrible on the feet, but he only threw three kicks the entire fight. MINUS TWO *HOW YOU SUPPOSED TO GET THE ¾ MOON OFF YOU?!?! PLUS ONE *Even though Mirko lost, I’m happy that he remained conscious this time. He had a great career and his highlight reel in the heavyweight division is second to none. PLUS TWO *Come on Roy, who gets a title shot after going 1-2 in their last three fights with the only victory coming over an aging legend? Oh, wait. EVEN *Any man that sings their walk out music all the way to the cage, is a great man. I salute you Matt Mitrione. PLUS ONE *Good on Cheick Kongo for coming out to “Livin’ Proof” by Bad Meets Evil. PLUS ONE *The less said about Mitrione vs. Kongo, the better. Very lackluster fight and I don’t know what Mitrione was thinking. He had Kongo backing up but didn’t let his hands go and then got dominated in the third round. MINUS SIX *I’ll give credit to Kongo for not cheating in this fight. PLUS ONE *B.J. Penn crying during his walk out should have been a sign of bad things to come. MINUS ONE *This was another typical Penn performance. He looked great in the first round and did everything he needed to do. He was countering, he got a takedown, and he made Nick Diaz work. Then he got tired and dominated in the second and third rounds. MINUS THREE *I love Diaz’s striking. He still gets hit way too much, but luckily he has the chin to back it up. Offensively he’s an outstanding boxer. The way he uses his reach and puts combinations together to the head and body is a thing of beauty. PLUS FIVE *Penn vs. Diaz was an absolutely outstanding fight. I loved every second of it. PLUS EIGHT *I also loved Diaz’s post-fight promo. He called out St. Pierre in his own little way and he got GSP so upset that he ended up re-jumping Carlos Condit to get the title fight. Good move by the UFC. PLUS FOUR *Sad to see Penn go out the way he did, although he’s an emotional guy and may rethink things when he’s had a chance to calm down. Right now Penn may believe that he’s retired, but we’ll see how he feels in a couple of weeks. EVEN *I’m docking points for the Vegas crowd simply not showing up. The building felt empty all night. Penn vs. Diaz could have been so much better if the actually made some noise. MINUS FOUR *Also, did UFC show a single ad for UFC 138? I know the card sucks, but at least act like you’re trying. MINUS THREE *While the main event was awesome, the rest of the PPV was pretty lackluster and the Facebook prelims weren’t great either. MINUS TWO Final Score: 35 PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, round, ’t, penn

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

LAS VEGAS, October 29 – 15 compelling minutes with BJ Penn made it clear - it’s been too long since we’ve seen Nick Diaz in the Octagon. But in defeating “The Prodigy” via unanimous decision in the UFC 137 main event Saturday night, Diaz’ first UFC bout since 2006 sent shockwaves through not only the Mandalay Bay Events Center, but through the MMA world, as he apparently retired Penn and put himself squarely in line for a shot at Georges St-Pierre’s welterweight title.“I don’t think Georges is hurt, I think he’s scared,” said Diaz, who was originally scheduled to face St-Pierre on this card before he was pulled from the bout after no-showing two press conferences to promote the fight. St-Pierre was then slated to face Carlos Condit before injuring his knee and withdrawing, pushing Diaz-Penn into the main event slot.And while seeing the surging Diaz score the win over Penn wasn’t a shocker, Penn’s sudden retirement in the Octagon after the bout was.“Hats off to Nick Diaz,” said Penn. “This is the last time you’ll see me in here. I want to perform at the top level.  I’ve got a daughter and another one on the way. I don’t want to go home looking like this.”Scores were 29-28 twice and 29-27 for the former Strikeforce welterweight champion, who shook off Penn’s strong first round to dominate the next two framesThe in-arena anticipation for the bout was like that for a world title fight, and Penn came out firing to start the bout, landing a couple good shots before Diaz wrapped him up against the fence. Penn broke loose fairly quickly, again working his striking game and reddening Diaz’ face. After a miss by Diaz, Penn scored a takedown, taking Diaz’ back in an ensuing scramble before settling in the top position. Diaz stayed busy with strikes from his back, and with a little over two minutes left he found his way back to his feet.  Pinning Penn to the fence, Diaz’ tried to get his offense in gear, but Penn got away with a quick elbow and continued to impress with his standup. Diaz fired back with his usual busy attack, as well as some taunts, but Penn kept his cool.A fired up Diaz slapped away Penn’s punches and stuck his chin out as round two began, but again, Penn’s cool served him well as he got in some quick shots before the two tied up. After breaking, the two exchanged at close quarters, but after stuffing a takedown attempt, Diaz was able to mark up Penn’s face with some knees. After that sequence, Diaz began to open up as Penn stood with his back to the fence, and the Stockton native’s body attack appeared to do the most damage.  With 1:40 left, Diaz hurt Penn with a left to the head and he opened up with both hands, putting the former two division UFC champ in serious trouble. With less than 20 seconds remaining, Penn finally got a brief respite as the two locked up, but as the bell sounded, Diaz was clearly in control of the fight.Barely able to contain themselves at the bell to start the final round, Penn tried to lock up with Diaz to get the fight to the ground, but the tireless Diaz wasn’t having it. Penn did use the time to get back to the middle of the Octagon for a moment, a key to him getting back in the fight. Diaz’ relentless attack wasn’t allowing for too many moments of daylight, but Penn did get his shots in, with the evidence showing on Diaz’ face. Diaz was doing the lion’s share of the scoring though, with Penn’s amazing chin on display for all to see. With under two minutes left, Penn surged with a series of hard shots, not ready to give in. A brief tie-up against the fence wasn’t a break, it was just an opportunity for the two to recharge for one last assault, and that’s just what they gave each other, drawing an appreciative roar from the crowd for a final blast of toe-to-toe slugging.With the win, Diaz improves to 27-7 with 1 NC; Penn falls to 16-8-2.

Posted in: diaz, ’t, face, penn, penn ’s

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First, it was supposed to be all about Georges St. Pierre defending his crown against perhaps one of the best Strikeforce champions to ever flee that fading organization.  But then challenger Nick Diaz bailed on a press conference, so it was going to be about St. Pierre taking on Carlos Condit, while BJ Penn faced Diaz.  An injury to the UFC welterweight champ waylaid those plans, which put Condit on ice and turned the spotlight back on Diaz, who will now headline with the legendary Hawaiian.  Afraid that this incarnation of UFC 137 is going to fall apart, or – Heaven forbid – suck?  Don’t be scared, homie.  Given St. Pierre’s penchant for not finishing anymore, and Diaz and Penn’s capacity for delivering excitement, this permutation is the best possible outcome in terms of match-ups.  After all, what would you rather watch: the Canadian lying on top of Diaz or Condit for five rounds, or Diaz and Penn hurting each other with such ferocity their corner men die?  I’ll take some of the latter, thank you very much (sorry Nate Diaz and Reagan Penn).  So let’s break down Saturday night’s UFC installment, and discuss how the main event, as well as the rest of the somewhat interesting bouts on the card, will go. -Nick Diaz vs. BJ Penn – Whatever qualities epitomizes the best spokesperson for the sport, Diaz doesn’t possess them.  Sure, he can fight at an elite level – his boxing (both offensive and defensive) is way beyond anything his peers can muster, his jiu-jitsu is of the black belt variety, and his cardio is endless.  But if you need someone to work a press junket or give decent interviews, forget about it.  Diaz is not your man in that regard.  Conversely, Penn is very capable and willing when it comes to dealing with reporters and having cameras stuck in his face, and we all know his boxing is stellar, his jiu-jitsu is aces, and at times the former UFC lightweight- and welterweight champ can be explosive as hell.  Okay, that’s their stats laid out in Dungeons & Dragons character sheet form; now for the harsh truth of reality.  Penn is going to get killed.  Just as we’ve seen with pretty much everyone he’s faced in the last three years, Diaz is going to taunt him, step in close, and hit Penn with no less than a thousand punches of varying wattage.  And the accumulation is going to make the Hawaiian keel over.  It’s as simple as that. -Matt Mitrione vs. Cheick Kongo – How’s your physics?  Good?  Okay, then write this down: The trajectory of a TUF veteran on his way up, sporting striking skills that improve dramatically every time we see him, divided by the trajectory of a heavyweight who’s won only two of his last fights in the Octagon (and the last one, just barely).  Now calculate how fast Mitrione is going to knock Kongo out.  The correct answer is “Geez, I just got up to get a beer.  Why is that man dead?”  You know, once upon a time Kongo was a monster when it came to kickboxing.  But somewhere along the way he focused too much on wrestling (which was for sure a weak spot), and his dangerousness left him.  Mitrione has been given fights against incrementally tougher competition and he’s dispatched just about all of them.  Kongo is doomed. -Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic vs. Roy Nelson – It’s no fun watching CroCop fight anymore.  You want him to show at least just a little bit of that superstar that ruled the roost in PRIDE, and when he gets clobbered, it’s just all sadness and disappointment and more talk from him about retirement.  TUF 10 winner Nelson doesn’t evoke those same kinds of emotions when he loses, but maybe that’s because we don’t expect as much from him.  Yes, he’s got good hands and a black belt in jiu-jitsu.  However, he’s got a gut that makes it appear as if he spent his training camp on the couch, and how can anyone be anything other than pleasantly surprised when he smokes the likes of Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve?  Anyway, Nelson is coming off convincing losses to Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos, while CroCop fell to Schaub and Mir.  Expect Nelson to bonk the Croatian fighter on the head hard enough to make him sleep, and then there will be sadness mixed with “Oh, hey, look what that chubby guy did.” -Scott Jorgensen vs. Jeff Curran – Jorgensen is one of the best bantamweights in the world.  Too bad champ Dominic Cruz exists in that world, too, as that means Jorgensen – who lost to Cruz in incontrovertible fashion back at WEC 53 – will never get the belt.  But he can still hit hard and wrestle even harder, which will make for a rough night for opponent Curran.  Curran is a complete old schooler who saw action at UFC 46, and his jiu-jitsu is solid.  It won’t save him.  Jorgensen is going to get him down, get on top, and pound away. -George Roop vs. Hatsu Hioki – There was a time when being a champ in Japan meant you’d be a killer when you came to the States.  Now, not so much.  Which isn’t to say that Shooto and Sengoku champ Hioki is going to be a pushover for opponent Roop.  With his skillful grappling and competent stand-up, he could very well trounce the TUF castoff.  But given how bad his Japanese brethren have performed in the Octagon, you just never know how Hioki will do.  Can he dance in and out of Roop’s excessive reach to pick him apart, and tie the American in knots on the ground?  Yes, he can.  He can also totally bomb.  For Japanese MMA’s sake, let’s hope he doesn’t.

Posted in: ufc, diaz, ’t, vs, penn

Read the full article at MMA Convert

It takes more than the stereotypical mean mug and tattoos to separate the fighters from the civilians these days. A lot more. But for starters, a simple conversation about what was probably (or at least should have been) the most physically painful day of a person’s life should give you a good indication of where someone stands on the fighter / civilian line.Take Warsaw-born Illinois resident Bart Palaszewski for example, and ask him about his April 2005 bout with Andrew Chappelle. You can almost hear the joy in his voice when he responds.“Oh man, that was a brawl,” said Palaszewski, who defeated Chappelle via three round unanimous decision. Simple enough. We’re established that he’s a mixed martial artist. But is he a fighter? We’ll let Mr. Palaszewski continue with his recollection of the fight.“It was the one and only SuperBrawl that happened on the mainland, outside Hawaii, and it was just a brawl, I loved it,” he said. “It was one of my favorite fights and it showed me that I have heart because I had the blown out elbow and the broken hand and still came out with the win. I was beat up for a while after that fight.”Case closed. This one’s a fighter. So where does this kind of heart and determination to carry on through serious injuries and not only compete, but win?“Good cornermen,” he laughs, recalling how he returned to his corner after the first round and told his coaches “I’m pretty sure my elbow’s blown out.” “Stop being a girl, get out there,” they responded. He did, but in that second stanza, “I broke my right thumb doing the Fedor (Emelianenko) punch / jump into the guard like an idiot. (Laughs) And I’m pretty sure he broke his hand the same exact way.”At the end of the round he presented his hand to his corner, describing the thumb simply as “Sideways, backwards.” “It’s fine, it’s not broken,” came the retort. “Get out there.” Palaszewski laughs about it now.“As much as it’s not a team sport, your corner’s gotta be there for you to tell you a little white lie.”Now Palaszewski is not recommending this kind of courage for everyone, and he doesn’t expect fighters to always fight on after suffering an injury in the Octagon. In other words, don’t try this at home. But it is his way of doing things, and he’s sticking to it.“You’re in a fight,” he said. “You’re not playing chess. You might get a black eye, you might get cut or get your nose broke or an arm broke. Finish it. Yeah, I understand if your bone’s sticking out or a doctor stops it or you literally can’t continue, but if you’re like ‘okay, it hurts, bad, but I’m still here,’ screw it man, give it your all.”That philosophy has carried the 28 year old through nearly 50 pro fights (34-14) since he started off his career 0-4 in 2002-03. He’s been in with the likes of JZ Cavalcante, Cole Escovedo, Clay Guida, Steve Bruno, Ivan Menjivar, Chris Horodecki, John Gunderson, and Jim Miller, and that was before he ran off seven fights in the WEC, going 4-3 with a win over Anthony Pettis. And now, finally, he will be making his UFC debut this weekend with a UFC 137 bout against Tyson Griffin.“It’s definitely a dream come true,” said Palaszewski. “Everybody wants to be in the UFC. I’ve fought in different organizations all over the world and I seasoned myself, and I wouldn’t take it back. I loved every minute of it. I loved working with the WEC, the IFL, and all the little shows. Obviously without them I wouldn’t be here now. But I’m seasoned now, I’m ready to go and I’m right where I want to be.”And the strangest part of the whole thing is that despite paying his dues for nearly a decade while seeing less experienced fighters get called to the big show, “Bartimus” has no regrets, no sour grapes about things taking so long. “In a way I’m glad I went through the School of Hard Knocks,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything for the world. I’ve got quite a few losses, but I’ve got a crap load of wins as well, and I love it. I think it’s the right timing for me. I took small steps, I didn’t rush into it, and I think this way, the longevity of my stay in the UFC will be much better. I fought my way up, I’ve seen it all pretty much, and I’m here to stay.”One of the last imports from the WEC merge to make the move to the Octagon, Palaszewski saw his debut delayed even further earlier this year when a UFC 130 bout against Cody McKenzie was scrapped, replaced by a bout with Gleison Tibau, and then scrapped again for good when Palaszewski was forced to withdraw. But he hasn’t let his idle time go to waste, as the former lightweight finally found the time to make the cut to the 145-pound weight class.“It (losing the UFC 130 bout) was kind of frustrating, but at the same time, I’m kinda happy it happened and that’s why I’m making the 145 cut,” he said. “I always wanted to do it, but I never really had a chance because they kept us pretty busy (in the WEC). So I’m trying to make a positive out of what happened.”Only a fighter would think cutting to a new weight class 10 pounds south was a positive thing. But then again, this is the same guy who can’t wait to throw hands with longtime UFC standout Tyson Griffin.“He’s a good wrestler who likes to throw, so it kinda works out for me,” said Palaszewski. “But a lot of guys throw down with me until they get hit, so we’ll see how he reacts after the first punch lands. But he is a good wrestler so I’ll have to be aware of that. I’m not really worried about his striking. I know he likes to throw, but there’s a difference between throwing and actually knowing how to punch and kick. So I’m not really worried about that. The only thing I’m cautious about is his wrestling.”And despite his tendency to go hands up, chin down and start brawling once a couple shots start landing, Palaszewski is a jiu-jitsu black belt, he’s done neglecting his ground game, and he’s promising that the fighter who shows up for his UFC debut in Las Vegas is going to be a lot different than people remember him.“I think the last two, three years, I’ve improved the most,” he said. “When I started fighting, I was just a kid, and I was going on pure technique and pure insanity. I was just out there fighting and loving the sport. Now I’ve become a mixed martial artist. I’ve sharpened my boxing, I’m really working on my Thai Boxing, I’ve been wrestling my ass off and I want that to be phenomenal as well. I’m a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and I’ve been spending a lot more time on the mat and I’m finally getting my adult strength. (Laughs) I’m a late bloomer. I know I haven’t reached my peak and reached the level I want to be at, and I think the next couple years are really gonna unfold a lot for me and I’m going straight to the top.”Broken bones and all.

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, ’m, ’ve, palaszewski

Read the full article at UFC

It's been 10 years, 25 fights, and two UFC championships in two weight classes, but BJ Penn has a confession to make. At 32, things don’t get easier for him in the moments before the opening bell.“I think the butterflies are getting worse with the years,” he chuckles. “I’m surprised on that. I thought it would get easier and easier. I guess it was getting easier for a little while, but now I’m up in my thirties, and I don’t know if it’s because I’ve got kids or what, but it seems like the butterflies get worse. I don’t know why. I’m comfortable, I’ve got a lot of experience, but it just seems that way.”So when Saturday rolls around once again for “The Prodigy,” he will expect those nerves to kick in, the adrenalin to start flowing, and for the 11th time, he will make the walk to the Octagon as a main event fighter. And that part of it never gets old.“I remember back when I main evented my first UFC fight against Jens Pulver ten years ago,” said Penn of his UFC 35 title fight with “Lil’ Evil.” “That meant the world to me then. I guess everybody in life, they want to feel self-worth in whatever they decide to do, and it’s the recognition and the excitement. I remember the first time I got that main event, (UFC vet and former Penn coach) Renato Verissimo said ‘whoa BJ, you’re the main event?’ ‘Yeah, can you believe that?’ What a ride. And when I got the news that I’d be main eventing this fight, I thought ‘man, what a great career, what a great life and opportunity I’ve had over the years.’”It’s almost as if Penn’s getting sentimental about his career and what he’s accomplished in the sport over the last decade. But don’t mistake that trip down memory lane for an exit strategy. Penn, who is coming off a February draw with Jon Fitch, isn’t ready to head to the beach in Hilo just yet.“I’m 32 and if I could keep winning fights and all that stuff, I think I’m addicted to being in the UFC and I want to try and make this last as long as I can,” he said. “As long as I’m happy. I know it’s easy to get burned out and I’ve talked about retirement and burning out all the time, but I’m trying to enjoy the ride.”And when you’ve been to the proverbial mountaintop like Penn has, the key to keeping things fresh is to constantly receive the type of matchups that not only make you want to sacrifice and train, but that force you to. Penn’s original foe for this Saturday’s card was former WEC champion Carlos Condit, a fighter on a hot streak who certainly fit the mold of dangerous opponent. But after a crazy series of events that saw Condit elevated to the main event against Georges St-Pierre after Nick Diaz no-showed two press conferences, Penn was without an opponent for the show’s original co-main event.“At first when it all happened, I thought that Nick was gone from the UFC,” said Penn, “so I was talking to them about maybe putting me and Jon Fitch back together. (UFC President) Dana White told me that Jon Fitch was hurt and out until December, and he said if you want to fight, give me a call. If not, just let me know.” Then things got even more interesting.“Then Dana calls back and we end up putting the Nick Diaz fight together,” said Penn, who was now going to face the former Strikeforce welterweight champ who was quickly brought back into the UFC fold. “I know Nick, he’s been a training partner of mine and I get along great with him and his brother. But everybody’s trying to put fights together, and at the end of the day they were looking at their options and we were looking at our options, and the best thing for each guy’s career was to fight each other. This is a job – nothing more, nothing less – and that’s what ended up happening.”But UFC 137’s musical chairs weren’t finished yet, as St-Pierre got injured, forcing his bout with Condit to get scrapped. What happened next? Penn vs. Diaz was the new main event.“I always felt that me and Nick Diaz was the main event fight,” said Penn. “Me and Nick is a great fight, and I knew we were gonna draw some followers.”Oh, they’ve drawn some followers, as the buzz for the main event is getting louder and louder as the countdown to the opening bell continues. Yet oddly enough, it’s not Penn - the usual lightning rod for some prefight drama – who is getting the lion’s share of the attention. It’s Diaz who is the talk of the town, with every utterance from his mouth drawing tweets, message board posts, and fevered analysis. For his part, Penn seems comfortable in this unique role, and as he explains, the fans and media aren’t the only ones with a microscope on the Stockton, California native.“I’ve kept a very close eye on Nick Diaz’ career,” said Penn. “He’s one of my favorite fighters that I love to watch out there and I think right now, he’s probably the best boxer in mixed martial arts today. He certainly has some fights to prove it. He spars with Andre Ward, he was signed to fight Jeff Lacy, he was considered to fight Roy Jones Jr., and with accolades like that and with the performances that he puts on in the ring, with a high volume of punches and all those things, I definitely think that he’s probably the best boxer in the sport today.”But when you’re able to deliver praise like that to a future opponent, it usually means one thing – you’re pretty confident in your own ability to defuse your foe’s attack and score the victory. So where does Penn’s confidence come from? Maybe it’s because he’s looking in the mirror.“We’re similar in a lot of the same ways,” said Penn. “With the boxing, with the jiu-jitsu and with the way are careers have gone. Once in a while we end up clashing with the powers that be, and it just ends up going that way for some reason. There are a lot of similarities between me and that guy.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, event, penn

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It takes more than the stereotypical mean mug and tattoos to separate the fighters from the civilians these days. A lot more. But for starters, a simple conversation about what was probably (or at least should have been) the most physically painful day of a person’s life should give you a good indication of where someone stands on the fighter / civilian line.Take Warsaw-born Illinois resident Bart Palaszewski for example, and ask him about his April 2005 bout with Andrew Chappelle. You can almost hear the joy in his voice when he responds.“Oh man, that was a brawl,” said Palaszewski, who defeated Chappelle via three round unanimous decision. Simple enough. We’re established that he’s a mixed martial artist. But is he a fighter? We’ll let Mr. Palaszewski continue with his recollection of the fight.“It was the one and only SuperBrawl that happened on the mainland, outside Hawaii, and it was just a brawl, I loved it,” he said. “It was one of my favorite fights and it showed me that I have heart because I had the blown out elbow and the broken hand and still came out with the win. I was beat up for a while after that fight.”Case closed. This one’s a fighter. So where does this kind of heart and determination to carry on through serious injuries and not only compete, but win?“Good cornermen,” he laughs, recalling how he returned to his corner after the first round and told his coaches “I’m pretty sure my elbow’s blown out.” “Stop being a girl, get out there,” they responded. He did, but in that second stanza, “I broke my right thumb doing the Fedor (Emelianenko) punch / jump into the guard like an idiot. (Laughs) And I’m pretty sure he broke his hand the same exact way.”At the end of the round he presented his hand to his corner, describing the thumb simply as “Sideways, backwards.” “It’s fine, it’s not broken,” came the retort. “Get out there.” Palaszewski laughs about it now.“As much as it’s not a team sport, your corner’s gotta be there for you to tell you a little white lie.”Now Palaszewski is not recommending this kind of courage for everyone, and he doesn’t expect fighters to always fight on after suffering an injury in the Octagon. In other words, don’t try this at home. But it is his way of doing things, and he’s sticking to it.“You’re in a fight,” he said. “You’re not playing chess. You might get a black eye, you might get cut or get your nose broke or an arm broke. Finish it. Yeah, I understand if your bone’s sticking out or a doctor stops it or you literally can’t continue, but if you’re like ‘okay, it hurts, bad, but I’m still here,’ screw it man, give it your all.”That philosophy has carried the 28 year old through nearly 50 pro fights (34-14) since he started off his career 0-4 in 2002-03. He’s been in with the likes of JZ Cavalcante, Cole Escovedo, Clay Guida, Steve Bruno, Ivan Menjivar, Chris Horodecki, John Gunderson, and Jim Miller, and that was before he ran off seven fights in the WEC, going 4-3 with a win over Anthony Pettis. And now, finally, he will be making his UFC debut this weekend with a UFC 137 bout against Tyson Griffin.“It’s definitely a dream come true,” said Palaszewski. “Everybody wants to be in the UFC. I’ve fought in different organizations all over the world and I seasoned myself, and I wouldn’t take it back. I loved every minute of it. I loved working with the WEC, the IFL, and all the little shows. Obviously without them I wouldn’t be here now. But I’m seasoned now, I’m ready to go and I’m right where I want to be.”And the strangest part of the whole thing is that despite paying his dues for nearly a decade while seeing less experienced fighters get called to the big show, “Bartimus” has no regrets, no sour grapes about things taking so long. “In a way I’m glad I went through the School of Hard Knocks,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything for the world. I’ve got quite a few losses, but I’ve got a crap load of wins as well, and I love it. I think it’s the right timing for me. I took small steps, I didn’t rush into it, and I think this way, the longevity of my stay in the UFC will be much better. I fought my way up, I’ve seen it all pretty much, and I’m here to stay.”One of the last imports from the WEC merge to make the move to the Octagon, Palaszewski saw his debut delayed even further earlier this year when a UFC 130 bout against Cody McKenzie was scrapped, replaced by a bout with Gleison Tibau, and then scrapped again for good when Palaszewski was forced to withdraw. But he hasn’t let his idle time go to waste, as the former lightweight finally found the time to make the cut to the 145-pound weight class.“It (losing the UFC 130 bout) was kind of frustrating, but at the same time, I’m kinda happy it happened and that’s why I’m making the 145 cut,” he said. “I always wanted to do it, but I never really had a chance because they kept us pretty busy (in the WEC). So I’m trying to make a positive out of what happened.”Only a fighter would think cutting to a new weight class 10 pounds south was a positive thing. But then again, this is the same guy who can’t wait to throw hands with longtime UFC standout Tyson Griffin.“He’s a good wrestler who likes to throw, so it kinda works out for me,” said Palaszewski. “But a lot of guys throw down with me until they get hit, so we’ll see how he reacts after the first punch lands. But he is a good wrestler so I’ll have to be aware of that. I’m not really worried about his striking. I know he likes to throw, but there’s a difference between throwing and actually knowing how to punch and kick. So I’m not really worried about that. The only thing I’m cautious about is his wrestling.”And despite his tendency to go hands up, chin down and start brawling once a couple shots start landing, Palaszewski is a jiu-jitsu black belt, he’s done neglecting his ground game, and he’s promising that the fighter who shows up for his UFC debut in Las Vegas is going to be a lot different than people remember him.“I think the last two, three years, I’ve improved the most,” he said. “When I started fighting, I was just a kid, and I was going on pure technique and pure insanity. I was just out there fighting and loving the sport. Now I’ve become a mixed martial artist. I’ve sharpened my boxing, I’m really working on my Thai Boxing, I’ve been wrestling my ass off and I want that to be phenomenal as well. I’m a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and I’ve been spending a lot more time on the mat and I’m finally getting my adult strength. (Laughs) I’m a late bloomer. I know I haven’t reached my peak and reached the level I want to be at, and I think the next couple years are really gonna unfold a lot for me and I’m going straight to the top.”Broken bones and all.

Posted in: ’t, i ’m, ’m, ’ve, palaszewski

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It’s been a crazy ride for Nick Diaz these past couple of months. Originally scheduled to face Georges St. Pierre for the UFC welterweight title in the main event of UFC 137, Diaz was removed from the card entirely after missing a couple of media appearances. After releasing a YouTube video, filmed in his car, that is more famous for his comments towards another drivers mother than it is for his remorse. UFC president Dana White was so upset at Diaz for his actions that he added the former Strikeforce champion back to the UFC 137 card to face B.J. Penn in the co-main event. A few weeks later, St. Pierre had to pull out of his new fight against Carlos Condit, bumping Diaz vs. Penn into the main event slot. The next day, Diaz was late to a media call, which apparently was the fault of the UFC staff and not Nick’s, and when he finally got on the line he was very candid with his responses to questions. In every situation, “Nick Diaz” was a trending topic on twitter, leading certain members of the MMA media to believe that this would be a good sign for UFC 137. I beg to differ. What’s trending on twitter means absolutely nothing. Every time WWE runs a PPV, the wrestlers/matches currently going on end up trending on twitter. These PPVs barely do 150,000 domestic buys. You know what was trending on Twitter the same time as Diaz the other week? “Lindsey Lohan” For those that don’t see why that’s a big deal, the correct spelling of Ms. Lohan’s first name is “Lindsay” not “Lindsey”. I love Twitter, but I also acknowledge that it’s a very flawed media device and shouldn’t be used to gauge interest in a product. Here’s the thing people don’t seem to realize about twitter: it’s used by young, tech savvy people, who are also sheep. You may think everyone on twitter is a moron, and there are a lot of them out there, but there does take a certain level of internet smarts to send out a tweet. The young and tech savvy people that use twitter and help certain topics reach a level to where their trending are the same young people who don’t have enough money to actually buy the products that are trending and are the same tech savy people who can get these products through illegal means. Diaz has always been a polarizing character, sometimes controversial, figure. There’s a saying that “controversy creates cash” but so far in his MMA career, thanks in large part to being part of the Strikeforce organization, Diaz hasn’t drawn a ton of cash. He’s drawn ratings for the organization but when you really look at, he’s been the face of two organizations with the other being EliteXC. One went out of business and the other is on the verge of doing so. Also, just because you’re able to draw TV ratings, doesn’t mean you’ll draw PPV buys. The biggest problem there is that once fans see you on TV, they don’t feel like paying for your fight. The best example of this is Kimbo Slice. He was a huge TV draw. Every time he fought on television, he set a new record. Then, when he was finally put on PPV at UFC 113, he added almost nothing to the buyrate. Don’t get me wrong, if the UFC 137 buyrate does bad, I won’t put the blame on Diaz and I’m not saying that he doesn’t have the potential to draw, but to say that his “controversial” actions, the fact that he trended on twitter, and the fact that he brought viewership to Strikeforce means he’s this superstar in MMA or that the UFC 137 buyrate is going to be huge is just wrong. There are very few superstars in MMA. St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar are about the only superstars in the sport. There are guys who are on the verge of stardom and guys who can draw with the right opponents, but Diaz has never proven that he can sell a PPV. However, Penn, Diaz’ opponent this Saturday, has proven to be a consistent draw in the sport and whatever the UFC 137 buyrate ends up being, the credit (or blame) will likely fall on the shoulders of Penn and not Diaz. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, diaz, ’t, people, twitter

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“Get up!”Brandon Vera heard the pleas from his cornermen over the roar of the Las Vegas crowd at the MGM Grand, but it really didn’t matter. He almost wanted to yell back, “I know I’m supposed to get up, but I can’t. This guy is strong as #$%$.”That guy, Brazilian light heavyweight contender Thiago Silva, had pinned Vera to the canvas, leaving him no space to escape. It got so bad for “The Truth” that Silva began taunting him with slaps, even playing drums on his back for a spell. When it was over, not only had Vera lost the fight, but he was embarrassed, and was about to lose his job.“It was weird, man,” he said. “After that fight I just felt confused. Nobody since the sixth grade had ever big brothered me, and that’s pretty much what Thiago did. Guys asked me what happened and I was like ‘man, I don’t know. He was #$%$ing strong.’ That’s the only thing I could think of.”As it turned out, there was a reason for that, as Silva failed his post-fight drug test, revealing later that he used a urine adulterant to mask injections he took containing substances banned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to reportedly help with a back injury. Silva’s unanimous decision win was changed to a no contest, and Vera was welcomed back into the UFC fold.How’s that for a crazy turn of events? “I don’t even think it set in,” said Vera of getting cut for the organization he had been competing in since 2005. “The only thing I can compare it to is a death in the family. It happened, but did it really? And I still wasn’t over the shock when they hired me back.”Not surprisingly, Vera soured on Silva when the results of the failed test were revealed, but before that, the San Diegan didn’t hold any grudges.“After the fight, I was still confused, and I saw him in the hotel, I gave him a hug and said ‘Good fight man.’ I can’t be mad, he just whupped my ass, so I gave him the respect. But when I found out (about the failed test), I was like, ‘what a piece of s**t.’”You would assume that all’s well that ends well, but even after being reinstated, Vera was left with the memory of a fight in which he got taken down and dominated by a fighter known primarily as a striker, and there were still his previous two losses to Jon Jones and Randy Couture. So there were issues to be dealt with, and the 34-year old addressed them over the course of an 8,500 mile cross country road trip in which he taught seminars and got his mojo back.“I can’t explain it,” he said. “Being fired and hired back and then driving around the US, 8500 miles, I think I got it back. I think everything settled back into place, and I’m where I need to be.”Add in a trip to Lloyd Irvin’s gym back east to prepare for his UFC 137 bout against Eliot Marshall, work with the wrestling team at Old Dominion University, and the arrest of a man believed to be the mastermind of a 2008 home invasion involving Vera and Irvin, and the light heavyweight finally found some semblance of peace. It’s something he hadn’t experienced since before his 2008 loss against Keith Jardine, when the home invasion took place and when he was considered a serious title threat. And no one considered Vera more of a title threat than the man himself.“My ego got in the way,” he explained. “It started getting in the way of me becoming a complete MMA fighter. I stopped going to Master Lloyd’s, and there were a lot of little mental things too. Things started changing from the Jardine fight on and I didn’t go back to train at Master Lloyd’s since the Jardine fight. I had a couple life-changing events happen right before the Jardine fight and during the fight and I honestly believe that MMA fell off the list. It wasn’t number one on my list anymore. It became number three in my life. I’m always down to knock somebody out or go punch somebody, but I wasn’t pushing myself extra. I would go to practice and I’d be looking at the time – oh God, how many more rounds we got? And now, I’m there until coach says ‘time.’ Now, I feel like I did when I first came in the sport, and I realize that I have a lot to learn and I’m open to learning again. I’m back in school and back on the grind.”It’s almost like a husband being with his wife for years and years and starting to forget the little things. So when she walks away one day and the husband wonders why, it’s because this new guy brings flowers and treats her the way the husband once did. Vera started neglecting his sport, and it left him in the dust.“I would agree one hundred percent,” he said. “There’s no other excuse, nothing else I can say that fit besides it fell back to number three, and I just took it for granted. Between the guys getting caught for the home invasion, me driving 8,500 miles across the US, a lot of time to think, and teaching seminars and being fired and rehired back by the UFC, that’s a lot of groundbreaking stuff for one person.”But now he’s back to business, settled in, and ready for what has to be a must win bout against Marshall. In the process of the last few months, he’s also gotten away from the comforts of home and of his home gym, the Alliance Training Center, and revisited his roots, both literally and figuratively, as his trip back east has also prompted him to get back to the ground game he has neglected over the years.“I’ve got my wrestling back in order,” said Vera, 11-5, 1 NC. “When I first started fighting, my wrestling was so good that I could stand up with people because you could never take me down, or if you did, I got right back up. I got to the point in my career where I just wanted to stand up and wanted to force everybody to stand up with me, and for a little while everybody did want to find out if they could stand with me. Now, nobody wants to find out anymore.”So he’s had to adjust his game to adapt to the new MMA landscape. What he hasn’t adjusted are his expectations – he’s still shooting to be the best 205-pound fighter on the planet.“This is what I was doing when I was kicking everybody’s ass and talking s**t, and this is where I’m at now,” said Vera. “My mouth is running again and I’m back out in the world doing my thing and doing what I should have been doing since Day One. I don’t know why MMA took a backseat to whatever else it did in my life, but it’s not anymore. I understand that this is what I’m supposed to be doing with my life, and there’s no way I could be flipping burgers or selling cars or doing anything else. I’m supposed to be fighting; I’m supposed to have that damn title around my waist, and every time I watch (UFC light heavyweight champion Jon) Jones fight, it’s good motivation to watch him kick somebody’s ass or do his thing in the ring. It’s really good motivation. It makes me so hungry.”He’ll need that hunger this Saturday night if he wants to keep his UFC dreams alive, and he has no intention of ever leaving again.“Everybody’s seen me at my highs, they’ve seen me at my lows, and everybody wants to see the story continue, and I’m not ready for it to be done yet,” said Vera. “It’s been a rough ride, peaks and valleys, but I told everybody, don’t blink and don’t stop believing, because I’m here.” 

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, vera

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After an ACL tear that forced her off the Bellator 57 card, things seem to be getting worse for Zolia Gurgel. In a development belying the fact that Bellator FC has new corporate sugar daddies who make Oprah look poor, Bellator’s 115lb female champion is taking to the Interwebs to ask for money with her mounting medical bills: Less than a week after suffering a torn ACL that scratched her upcoming fight with Carina Damm, [Zolia Gurgel] is holding an online fundraiser to help pay for her medical treatment. Gurgel (formerly Zoila Frausto), who is married to UFC and Strikeforce vet Jorge Gurgel, hopes to raise $5,000 for the procedure... A lapse in Gurgel's health-insurance plan coupled by previous medical bills prompted her to seek outside help. "By the time I was able to pay that insurance, they canceled on me," Zoila Gurgel today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I was trying to find more health insurance and applying, but these places were denying me because of my [existing] bills."... "We don't know if [my current insurance] is going to be able to cover it or not," Gurgel said. "[Bellator] is going to pay for the bills, but the thing is, I wasn't able to get medical insurance right then and there when I needed it during my training camp (and) before my training camp because of the outstanding bills that we've had before.” "Paying out of pocket to go to the hospital to get an MRI (or) to have surgery is ridiculous, and right now, we're not at a point where we're actually able to pay for that out of pocket." Gurgel admitted that the amount she's seeking to raise is not likely to cover all of her medical bills but would help pay for the initial phase of treatment. "This surgery can cost anywhere from 35 to 40 grand, so it's very little compared to what we're going to need if this health insurance doesn't go through," she said. It is really quite a downer thinking that one of the best female fighters in the world has to beg for money on social networking apps, which everyone knows are the dirty street corners of cyberspace, like some kind of Internet hobo. We’re talking about a fighter who is 11-1 with a victory over Megumi Fujii. And she was willing to fearlessly fight Carina Damm, who barely even counts as a woman anymore due to her profound case of steroid clitoris. She deserves better than this. It seems odd that Gurgel has Bellator’s back on this, as she says that they will pay the medical bills, but at the same time, she needs to pay for this operation out of pocket up front and has lots of outstanding medical bills that somehow didn’t get paid from her other Bellator-related injuries. Bellator really ought to step up and do something here before our “we aren’t exploiting people” bubble bursts in a seething froth of cadaver ligament tissue. We all like to think that we DON’T simply watch hapless chumps getting taken advantage of by being injured for our amusement in exchange for what often amounts to a bucket of peanut-filled feces in compensation. This is because we aren’t watching XARM. But also, sometimes irrationally, we put the blinders on and figure that the athletes will be taken care of if they get injured. Ever since the Tito Ortiz "pay for my back surgery, biatches" scandal, the UFC has been very good about paying its fighters’ medical bills and getting them health insurance. This is a sad reminder of what can happen when a fighter incurs a training injury in the B leagues, even in a relatively well-to-do promotion.

Posted in: gurgel, bill, insurance, bellator, ’t

Read the full article at Fightlinker

After an ACL tear that forced her off the Bellator 57 card, things seem to be getting worse for Zoila Gurgel. In a development belying the fact that Bellator FC has new corporate sugar daddies who make Oprah look poor, Bellator’s 115lb female champion is taking to the Interwebs to ask for money with her mounting medical bills: Less than a week after suffering a torn ACL that scratched her upcoming fight with Carina Damm, [Zoila Gurgel] is holding an online fundraiser to help pay for her medical treatment. Gurgel (formerly Zoila Frausto), who is married to UFC and Strikeforce vet Jorge Gurgel, hopes to raise $5,000 for the procedure... A lapse in Gurgel's health-insurance plan coupled by previous medical bills prompted her to seek outside help. "By the time I was able to pay that insurance, they canceled on me," Zoila Gurgel today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I was trying to find more health insurance and applying, but these places were denying me because of my [existing] bills."... "We don't know if [my current insurance] is going to be able to cover it or not," Gurgel said. "[Bellator] is going to pay for the bills, but the thing is, I wasn't able to get medical insurance right then and there when I needed it during my training camp (and) before my training camp because of the outstanding bills that we've had before.” "Paying out of pocket to go to the hospital to get an MRI (or) to have surgery is ridiculous, and right now, we're not at a point where we're actually able to pay for that out of pocket." Gurgel admitted that the amount she's seeking to raise is not likely to cover all of her medical bills but would help pay for the initial phase of treatment. "This surgery can cost anywhere from 35 to 40 grand, so it's very little compared to what we're going to need if this health insurance doesn't go through," she said. It is really quite a downer thinking that one of the best female fighters in the world has to beg for money on social networking apps, which everyone knows are the dirty street corners of cyberspace, like some kind of Internet hobo. We’re talking about a fighter who is 11-1 with a victory over Megumi Fujii. And she was willing to fearlessly fight Carina Damm, who barely even counts as a woman anymore due to her profound case of steroid clitoris. She deserves better than this. It seems odd that Gurgel has Bellator’s back on this, as she says that they will pay the medical bills, but at the same time, she needs to pay for this operation out of pocket up front and has lots of outstanding medical bills that somehow didn’t get paid from her other Bellator-related injuries. Bellator really ought to step up and do something here before our “we aren’t exploiting people” bubble bursts in a seething froth of cadaver ligament tissue. We all like to think that we DON’T simply watch hapless chumps getting taken advantage of by being injured for our amusement in exchange for what often amounts to a bucket of peanut-filled feces in compensation. This is because we aren’t watching XARM. But also, sometimes irrationally, we put the blinders on and figure that the athletes will be taken care of if they get injured. Ever since the Tito Ortiz "pay for my back surgery, biatches" scandal, the UFC has been very good about paying its fighters’ medical bills and getting them health insurance. This is a sad reminder of what can happen when a fighter incurs a training injury in the B leagues, even in a relatively well-to-do promotion.

Posted in: bellator, ’t, gurgel, bill, insurance

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Bantamweight Scott Jorgensen is 1-0 since joining the UFC but it’s his final appearance under World Extreme Cagefighting‘s banner still lingering in his mind. A winner of five straight entering the bout, a championship clash with Dominick Cruz, Jorgensen felt supremely confident to the point of complacency in the affair and ultimately paid the price for it with a decision defeat. A wrestler his entire life, the 29-year old had gotten away from his roots and left things on cruise control rather than putting the pedal to the metal. wec-53-henderson-vs-pettis”>A Detailed Look at Jorgensen vs. Cruz The 12-4 Jorgensen learned his lesson and is ready to deploy his recalibrated attack this weekend against returning veteran Jeff Curran (33-13-1), a subject he recently spoke about, saying in a conversation with the UFC’s website, “If you want to be successful, you work for it. You want to win, you work for it. For some reason, through the security of a training camp that went fantastically great, which never happens for me, I honestly felt like nothing could go wrong for me that day. I had the fight, it didn’t matter what I did, I’d catch him. I honestly felt like I was gonna knock him out, and with a guy like Dominick I should have known better. I should have pulled my head out of my butt and thought back to all those days in wrestling when I thought ‘oh, I’ll go out there and walk through this guy,’ and it didn’t happen. I made the mistake of counting on one thing, and Dominick’s a guy you can’t count on luck with. You gotta put the work in, and the hardest part about that was I was embarrassed about my performance because it didn’t look great, it wasn’t a good performance, and it wasn’t a close fight.” Come UFC 137, Jorgensen is ready to lace his boots up and get back to his foundation. “I learned with the coaches and training partners that I’ve had that there was only one way to get better, and that was by outworking your opponent. And whether that comes by way of knockout or submission or a decision, you’ve got to outwork them.” “I’m gonna put my nose to the grindstone and do what I gotta do,” Jorgensen continued. “I did it before in the WEC to get to that shot with Cruz. I’ll do it again, I’m comfortable with it, and I one hundred percent know that I’m one of the best in the world. So it doesn’t matter who you put in front of me, I’m gonna knock ‘em down, beat ‘em up, and keep moving closer to that title, whether it’s three fights or five fights. And the more fights that I get, the better I become. I learn every single fight and I figure out a little bit more between the fights, and that just builds my game and builds my confidence and makes it that much harder to stop me.” The bantamweights’ bout can be seen as part of the UFC 137 main card starting at 9:00 PM EST on PPV. Other match-ups scheduled for the event include Matt Mitrione mixing it up with Cheick Kongo as well as a headlining clash between former champions BJ Penn and Nick Diaz. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, i ’m, jorgensen

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Frank Mir tops all heavyweights with 18 UFC appearances over the past decade. The big man with the second-most Octagon performances? Believe it or not, the distinction belongs to Mr. Cheick Kongo. The striking specialist has been under the Zuffa umbrella longer than world champ Cain Velasquez, longer than No. 1 contender Junior dos Santos, and longer than Shane Carwin, Mirko Cro Cop and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Noguiera, among others. The sculpted Frenchman battles former NFL player Matt Mitrione this Saturday in what will mark Kongo’s 15th foray inside the sport’s most celebrated and symbolic cage. And none of the 36-year-old’s appearances was more exhilarating than his unforgettable 159-second scrap against Pat Barry, who had twice dropped Kongo with punches and immediately charged his equilibrium-challenged prey in search of the finish – only to be flattened unconscious by two thunderous and desperation right hands that he never saw coming. The improbable ending of that June tussle stands as one of the sport’s most dramatic comeback victories ever, forever worthy of a place in any highlight reel, and served notice that Kongo may not be the “gatekeeper” some presume him to be, but may in fact still be marching toward the title shot that has long eluded him. “If I get the chance to fight (for the title), I would be happy,” said Kongo, typically a man of few words during interviews and 9-4-1 overall in UFC bouts. “I know the line is very long, but hopefully, yes, I would like to fight for the belt as soon as possible.”It was Kongo, you might recall, who gave unbeaten heavyweight kingpin Cain Velasquez his toughest challenge to date. Kongo is the only fighter that Cain wasn’t able to stop inside the distance. All the other Velasquez victims succumbed under a relentless hail of punches, and only Kongo somehow weathered the storm in the 2009 showdown – and a hellacious storm at that. Cain, beastly wrestler that he is, ragdolled and pounded the 240-pound Paris native for almost the entire 15 minutes. So overwhelming and one-sided was the abuse, it was dubious whether Kongo would survive the first round. Yet Kongo showed exceptional resilience and became the only opponent to wobble Cain with punches (exposing at the time an apparent chink in the younger Cain’s armor which included a lack of head movement and failure to adequately set up his takedowns with strikes). Mitrione (5-0) certainly doesn’t present the brute force that Cain does (who can?). But the engaging character is a former collegiate and professional football player in possession of a silver tongue, top-flight athleticism and the kind of fighting instincts that can’t be taught. The Purdue graduate is a hard-hitting 260-pounder who seems to grow leaps and bounds with each passing month both in standup and on the ground. But, by his own admission, he has never fought anyone as dangerous or “crème de la crème” as Kongo (26-6-2). Obviously, this is a huge litmus test for Mitrione, and a win for him boosts his stock considerably. “Everyone gets a chance to face someone famous,” Kongo said. “It’s a good thing for him. Matt is a likable guy and has done well so far; I respect him as a fighter and expect for him to give a good fight. Ultimately, he's going to be ready for the bout. I’ve fought for so many years and been so careful.  I learn a lot from my last mistakes and I will do my best. But 40 fights, yes, that's something greater so I am greater here (in experience). He's in great shape. Let's see. So I wish him good luck next Saturday.”Mitrione, who has trained with Neil Melanson, Rashad Evans and Jake O’Brien for this fight, has been equally respectful of Kongo, but finds the matchup favorable. “I expect to win. I’ve got a good punch, very quick hands, aggression and a damn good chin,” Mitrione said. “I can put a lot of pressure on Cheick Kongo. I’m definitely going to stand and bang with him; the question is if he’s going to stand and bang with me?”A reporter asked Kongo if there was anything in particular about Mitrione that concerns him. “Well, I don't have anything to say about that,” Kongo said. “I’ll be aware of his boxing, jiu-jitsu and wrestling. In the last fight (against Barry), I guessed incorrectly and he was on top of me. He surprised me and I didn't expect it. Now I'm getting better. And I'd just like to be better for the next time, everybody improves. I came here to win and I will win. I’m going to knock him out.” Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, longtime teammate and sparring partner of Kongo, predicted a very exciting fight, however long it lasts. “Matt brings it,” Jackson reasoned, “and Kongo ain’t scared to bring it.”

Posted in: fight, kongo, mitrione, ’t, sport ’s

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When you first think of Mirko Cro Cop, the first vision may be of the merciless stare that intimidated so many opponents even before the opening bell rang, or the left kick to the head that has been immortalized as “cemetery,” as in his classic line “right leg hospital, left leg cemetery.” Nostalgic isn’t usually an adjective attached to the former PRIDE superstar, but as he conducted an interview before his UFC 137 bout with Roy Nelson, he made sure to point out a very special anniversary coming along in 2012.“Next year in June, it will be exactly 20 years since the first fight in my career,” said Cro Cop. “It was in the Croatian national junior boxing championship.”Just 17, the native of Vinkovci was on the verge of fulfilling a dream he had harbored since he was a child to compete in the ring, but he had no idea that nearly 20 years later he would still be competing as an icon of the sport he eventually migrated to, mixed martial arts.“It was 1992, the first time I ever entered the ring,” he recalled. “But I started training much longer before that. I was nine or 10. I trained myself in my garage, but I trained every day, sometimes twice a day, without any club behind me. In the part of Croatia I was in, it was a very small village without any clubs, and nothing existed, not even karate. It was just me in my old garage and a crazy, crazy wish and a crazy will.” And he was good. Very good. Cro Cop was a raw talent with power and determination and after a successful run as an amateur boxer, kickboxing beckoned, and soon he realized that fighting was not only a passion, but a way out.“I think it was 1995, I came to Zagreb from my village, which is around 200 miles away, and without a dollar in my pocket, I was more hungry than full,” he said. “I knew the sport was the only way for me to swim out from that misery and in a way to save my family, to save my mother, and to earn some more money. If I decided to work in the police and just that, I would be sentenced to work for five to six hundred dollars per month, so I would be surviving from the first to the first every month to get my money. The sport was the only way for me to run out from the misery. And that was a true motive for me. At that point, I didn’t want to be famous, I just wanted to make some money.”He made his money, became famous, and also built a legacy that won’t be tarnished by anything that happens on Saturday night or beyond. One of the most feared strikers in MMA history, Cro Cop never wrested the PRIDE heavyweight title from champions Fedor Emelianenko or “Minotauro” Nogueira, but he did win the 2006 Openweight Grand Prix tournament, which is likely the crowning achievement of his career. His UFC career has not gone as well, as he’s only managed a 4-5 record in nine Octagon outings, a slate which he finds unacceptable.“To tell you the truth, in my own eyes, I feel ashamed that I’ve collected five losses in the UFC,” he said. “Reasons are not important now. Who cares for the reasons? But I’ve got to be honest to myself. I trained hard, I was always professional, but some circumstances happened and sometimes it gives alibis in my own eyes. I don’t expect alibis in the eyes of the UFC or of my fans. I had six surgeries - four knee surgeries, one foot surgery, and one nose surgery - since I came to the UFC and it was a lot, and it left a mark. So I really believe that I have a lot to show (at UFC 137).” Yet despite falling on hard times in a sporting sense in recent years, two things haven’t wavered – the level of respect Cro Cop receives from his peers (look at any pre-fight interviews with Nelson or recent foes Brendan Schaub and Pat Barry for proof), and the loyalty of his fanbase. And it’s the fans desire to stick by his side that has really touched the former member of the Croatian Parliament and the anti-terrorist police unit ATJ LUCKO. “It’s a nice feeling,” he said. “Sometimes I feel weird when completely unknown people approach me and talk to me just like I’m part of the family, but it makes me happy in a way. Sometimes people cross the line in communication, but 99 percent of them are very nice people and I’m very happy to share the moments with them, especially when I can see and feel that it means a lot to them. I was never the kind of person who refused a photo or refused to sign a piece of paper.”What Cro Cop has been over the years is fairly reclusive when it comes to the media. The tendency is to say that it’s his loss for not getting out in front of the public more often, but as anyone who has spoken to him at length will attest, it’s been our loss, because when you do corner him and catch him when he’s willing to talk on the record, he’s an engaging and fascinating figure. People have seen glimpses of his personality, but despite being more open to one-on-ones in the lead-up to the Nelson fight, he admits to still not being a fan of the whole process.“During my Japan career, I was able to avoid all kinds of press conferences because I just didn’t like it,” he explains. “I never liked to be exposed too much, and why, I don’t know. I’m aware that many people have a dream just to appear on TV and get some interest. And in a way, it’s my duty. I committed myself to the UFC and I need to promote the fight, so I understand. But if you ask me if I’m especially happy, it’s so hard for me. I think the glory brings only trouble in a man’s life. That’s my opinion. The best thing is to be rich, but anonymous, that nobody knows about it. I think all those stars in America, the movie stars and some pop stars, I think they are very unhappy people. People are spying on them and running after them, those paparazzi are following them, they can’t open their mouth or put their finger in their nose, which is something that each of us does from time to time, because they are being spied on. I never liked it and I never wished for it to happen to me. I am very happy with my life, I have a beautiful family, two sons, and who needs anything more than that?”He’s right. Yet that also begs the question, at 37 years old, with enough money in the bank and a legacy secure, why go into the gym every day to spar with the likes of Barry (yes, his former opponent has been his main sparring partner for this fight) and make all the other sacrifices a professional fighter has to make?“It’s hard to say,” Cro Cop admits. “I’m excited because I don’t know how to do anything else but fighting. It doesn’t mean that I’m desperate or that I didn’t make money enough to secure my life and the life of my family; it’s just that I don’t know anything else to do. In a certain way, fighting keeps me alive. And I’m aware that one day when I stop fighting, part of me, a big part of me, will die with that decision. And that’s what still motivates me.”It’s an intriguing look into the psyche of a fighter, one who has been living this life longer than he hasn’t been. As Cro Cop points out, for over two decades, “I’ve been living like a soldier and living by the book. I don’t consume alcohol, I go to sleep on time, I wake up on time. Every fighter had good and bad days, and of course it happened for me to lose some fights which I’m sorry for very much because I’m that kind of person that I hate to lose. But you never saw me fat, saw me unprepared, never saw me with my hair too long, or that I didn’t shave. That’s something that I would never allow, and I think that I am a big, big professional, and that makes me happy and makes me proud.”As he conducts this interview, he is getting his legs worked on by his conditioning coach to prepare for another sparring session with Barry. The years of toil and the numerous surgeries have been a reminder that his 40th birthday is closing in, but when he thinks of the alternative to fighting, there’s nowhere else he would rather be.“I wake up every morning at 6 o’clock,” he said. “Even if I can afford to sleep ‘til 10, even if I can go to my own coffee bar to have coffee and hang around until 2. I can have lunch, take a nap after lunch, and then go back to the coffee bar and play cards with my friends. But that’s not the kind of life that I want. Even if this is much, much more harder. I sparred for the last six weeks and there were a million small injuries. I’ve been punched to the head, kicked to the body, I’ve blocked kicks, so everything hurts.”He stops suddenly, and gathers his thoughts to make a strong a point as he can. “You ask me if I need it,” he continues. “No, I don’t need it to survive. But that’s the only life I know and that’s the life that makes me happy. Nothing less, nothing more.”Those are the words of a fighter, and though Cro Cop may have lost some fights, he has never lost that spirit and desire. It’s why after his last bout, a third round knockout loss to Brendan Schaub at UFC 128 in March, he returned home to Croatia and was back in the gym the very next day. If you think he’s showing up for a paycheck, you would be wrong. If there’s anything left for him to give in the Octagon, he’s going to give it on Saturday night.“The feeling after the fight, when I kick somebody’s ass, at that moment I am the happiest man on the planet,” he said. “I don’t think about anything else. I don’t think that somebody’s watching me or not watching. I don’t think about the fight money I earned. I just enjoy the moment. And of course on the other side, if it happens that I lost the fight, that’s the worst moment for me that can happen. And that motivates me and keeps me being a soldier and training twice a day.”Being in the last fight of his UFC contract, this could very well be the final Octagon march for this soldier. And if he does lose, he doesn’t expect to stick around in the UFC, saying “I don’t expect the UFC to call me or extend the contract. I don’t want to live on an old glory that I made five, six, or ten years ago. It’s not an option for me. I need to be honest.”And he has been – with himself, his opponents, and his fans. And having done so, he feels that all that’s left is a bout of 15 minutes or less with Roy Nelson.“Any fight can be the last one, and not just for me, but for anyone,” he said. “But a loss is not an option that I can see in this fight. It doesn’t mean that I underestimate Roy, no way, he can be a dangerous fighter, and he can be a true danger to anyone in the world. I’m sure that I’m going to win this fight, but this is MMA. When two fighters enter the cage, one of them has to lose, so I don’t want to underestimate or insult my opponent. I really believe that I’m going to win, just like he believes that he’s going to win. The only thing I can see right now and that I’m thinking about is how to beat Roy Nelson. That’s all I’m thinking right now. For any further conversation, I need to kick Roy Nelson’s ass, that’s all.”Then, finally, a chuckle from Mirko Cro Cop.“That’s how it is. I told you everything, just like I’m standing in front of the preacher.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, ’m, cro

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In a way, it was the day Jeff Curran had been waiting for since 2004. He was coming back to the UFC, and his first bout in the Octagon since his UFC 46 match against Matt Serra was going to be against Scott Jorgensen on October 29th. Ironically, it was the same day Bart Palaszewski, his longtime student, was scheduled to face Tyson Griffin.So Curran has a phone call to make.“Bart’s been with me since he was 15 years old, and I’ve been at every fight of his with him,” explained Curran. “This time, he was the first person I had to call when I got the phone call for the fight. I said ‘Bart, if you feel this is gonna take away from you or overshadow your focus or the attention you need to prepare for this fight, I won’t do it.’”That’s selflessness. But Curran shrugs off any praise for the action, simply calling it the right thing to do.“It’s hard to let people know without sounding like I’m tooting my own horn, but I always put my fighters first,” he said. “I’m a coach, they came to me, and trusted in me as a coach. I’m Bart’s coach, his mentor, his leader, his best friend, and I’m a lot of roles with him. Even though this is the biggest opportunity of my career, of course I’m hoping he says ‘yeah man, do it.’ (Laughs) And I know Bart well enough to know that, but I still give that respect to say ‘if this is not gonna fly with you, I won’t do it.’”Palaszewski was all for his coach’s return to the UFC, and together, they’ve been putting in plenty of hours together, not just as fighter and coach, but fighter and fighter. It’s been a good change of pace for Island Lake, Illinois’ Curran.“He definitely knows that together we can accomplish this,” he said. “It’s been nice. I’ve been able to do my own thing, and at the same time, Bart and I are getting a couple workouts in a week together where we’re really pushing it. There’s been a real good energy between the two of us.”Now it’s time to bring that to Las Vegas for this Saturday’s UFC 137 event. Curran is no stranger to fighting in the fight capital of the world, having done it five times over the course of his 13-plus year career for the UFC, WEC, and WFA. “I fought for every major organization that is now owned by Zuffa,” laughs “The Big Frog,” who also competed in PRIDE and Strikeforce. But this time it’s different. At 34, Curran has seen it all, paid his dues, and now he’s looking for nothing but big fights from here on out. So heading into a May bout with Billy Vaughan in Illinois, he made it clear that if he didn’t win and earn a spot in the UFC, retirement may have been the next option.“The retirement question, because of that comment, has come up in every single interview I’ve done, and I guess I need a chance to explain rather than just say I would have retired,” said Curran, who contacted the UFC’s bantamweight and featherweight matchmaker, Sean Shelby, to plead his case for a shot in the Octagon. “I told him that I’ve done my part and I’ve done everything possible to prove that I belong at the best level,” Curran recalls. “I’m gonna fight this last fight, and I’m either coming back or I’m not. He said, well, I can’t guarantee you anything. I said that’s fine, you don’t need to. I’m gonna fight, then I know I did my part, and then I’m gonna sit back and either wait for something to come, and if it went on too long, I would either just retire or reevaluate my life six months later. Ultimately, I just wanted to make a statement that I was done playing around in the mid-tiers. I don’t want to risk the legacy that my career has built or any kind of quality credentials that I’ve gained. I don’t want to risk losing to a lower-level guy. If I have a bad night and he has a great night, and something freakish happens, I can lose a lot of respect that I’ve built over the years for something with a low reward. And I wasn’t about to risk that anymore.” Curran decisioned Vaughan over three rounds, his fourth win in five fights. The phone didn’t immediately ring, yet a month later, the veteran was already chomping at the bit.“A month after the last fight, I called (manager) Monte (Cox),” he chuckles. “I really don’t think I would have stayed retired very long, so it’s a good thing I got the call.”That call came in July, and Curran had his second UFC chance. He couldn’t be happier.“It’s really nice to kinda know where my opportunity lies and not be wondering what’s next and all that kinda stuff, so everything starts to fall in place,” he said. “You start to get on a better schedule, on a better diet, and that’s how I feel. Ever since I got the call about coming back, everything seems to make sense right now.”He doesn’t have an easy fight to welcome him back in former title challenger Jorgensen, but Curran has never been one to dodge opponents, a fact made even clearer by a WEC stint that saw him take on Urijah Faber, Mike Brown, Joseph Benavidez, and Takeya Mizugaki in successive fights. Now he gets to enter a new shark tank in the UFC’s 135-pound division, and he’s happy to be turning the switch back from fan to fighter.“I tried not to get myself excited about something that might not happened, so I would watch the fights and see all the bantamweights and I got into it as a fan, but I kinda took myself out of the equation,” said Curran. “And once I got the call, it was automatically like every show, ‘okay, here’s how this could play out.’ So I got back to that normal ‘I want to fight the best guys in the division and I want to be a contender and be considered and respected as one of the best. So it’s definitely a fuel.”And after Jorgensen, one intriguing matchup could be with an old foe in Kid Yamamoto, who decisioned Curran in 2003.“The Kid Yamamoto fight was a big eye opener for me because I knew what to expect, but I never felt the same power as he had for such a little guy,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘little guy, it’s not a big deal,’ and I ended up losing that decision. I did have a good third round as always, and then I fought Matt Serra after that.”Curran lost to Serra at UFC 46, going 19-6 since then. But the past doesn’t really matter at this point. If he gets by Jorgensen on Saturday night, the fighter who was a step away from retirement will have a brand new career. Funny game, this fight business. But Jeff Curran still loves it.“I’ve got everything to gain and everything to lose from it, so I’m gonna let it all hang out.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, ’m, curran

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Change of opponents? Check. Last-second bump up to the main event? Check. Ten-month layoff entering said bout? Check. An opponent with a history of talking trash and shirking media obligations? Again, check. While there might be a million things B.J. Penn could be concerned with going into this weekend’s headlining fight against Nick Diaz at UFC 137 there is only one thing on his mind – winning. Penn recently elaborated on his new mindset when it comes to competition in his blog for Yahoo Sports where he said all he truly cares about is coming away with his hand raised; not puffing his chest out to prove he’s the baddest kid on the block, not winning a third UFC championship. Regarding a conference call from last week Diaz showed up forty minutes late for, rather than blow his top or feel insulted, Penn wrote, “I didn’t find it disrespectful; I think it is Nick being Nick, and he’s not gonna change. He’s going to do what he’s going to do, and not do what he’s not going to do. That is cool. I know he will show up for the fight and it will be a great fight in the new UFC 137 main event…That’s all that really matters – who wins this fight and who loses.” “At this stage in my life, I feel I am too old to talk smack,” the 32-year old Hawaiian continued, also adding he had no problem with Georges St. Pierre withdrawing because at the end of the day the result of his fight with Carlos Condit is all people will remember. “As I get older, what I realize is that all anyone remembers is who wins fights. I find the smack talking funny when fighters do it, but no one remembers anything except who wins the fights.” “As far as having to hate everyone I fight, or proving I can outbox a boxer, or tap out the best BJJ guy, I don’t need to prove that anymore,” Penn explained. “What I want to do is fight hard, win some big fights and see what happens. I’d like to win the title, but I don’t think about that…The funny thing is that title shots – and who gets title shots – are all about timing. If I had beaten Jon Fitch in Sydney in February and not had a Draw, I would have gotten a title shot. But now, even if I beat Diaz, I may not get a title shot.” Rather than focus on things outside of his control, Penn will instead concentrate on the mountain he has to climb this Saturday night. “Beating Diaz, title fight or no title fight, is a big deal. He’s a great fighter and dangerous anywhere. I won’t disrespect him, the fans or myself by not concentrating 100 percent on this fight at UFC 137.” PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, title, ’t, penn

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

There is a four letter word prevalent in every conversation with Scott Jorgensen, one that has led him through his 29 years on this earth, from his time as a three-time Pac-10 champion wrestler at Boise State to his current status as one of the best bantamweight mixed martial artists in the world.Work.The way life is for “Young Guns,” nothing good happens without that word, and nothing worth having comes without it. So when he went through a flawless training camp for the biggest fight of his career last December against Dominick Cruz, he assumed that all the work was done. All he needed to do was show up on fight night and the first 135-pound championship belt in UFC history was his. He was wrong. The work wasn’t done yet.“If you want to be successful, you work for it,” said Jorgensen, who lost a lackluster five round decision to Cruz on the final WEC card in Arizona. “You want to win, you work for it. For some reason, through the security of a training camp that went fantastically great, which never happens for me, (Laughs) I honestly felt like nothing could go wrong for me that day. I had the fight, it didn’t matter what I did, I’d catch him. I honestly felt like I was gonna knock him out, and with a guy like Dominick I should have known better. I should have pulled my head out of my butt and thought back to all those days in wrestling when I thought ‘oh, I’ll go out there and walk through this guy,’ and it didn’t happen. I made the mistake of counting on one thing, and Dominick’s a guy you can’t count on luck with. You gotta put the work in, and the hardest part about that was I was embarrassed about my performance because it didn’t look great, it wasn’t a good performance, and it wasn’t a close fight.” He pauses, letting his only loss of the last two years sink in once again. Then he reveals his current status update.“It will never happen again.”And when it comes to the hard-nosed Jorgensen, that’s a statement you would feel pretty secure taking to the bank, because if you looked at his five fights before the Cruz bout and his first round knockout of Ken Stone in his lone post-Cruz match, it’s a different fighter than the one fighting for the title against the admittedly tough to decipher champion. But part of this game is making everything come together when it matters, and Jorgensen wasn’t able to do that. It was a lesson learned, and as he prepares for his Saturday bout against returning veteran Jeff Curran, he doesn’t dread taking the long road back to a title shot.“I’m gonna put my nose to the grindstone and do what I gotta do,” said Jorgensen, 12-4. “I did it before in the WEC to get to that shot with Cruz. I’ll do it again, I’m comfortable with it, and I one hundred percent know that I’m one of the best in the world. So it doesn’t matter who you put in front of me, I’m gonna knock ‘em down, beat ‘em up, and keep moving closer to that title, whether it’s three fights or five fights. And the more fights that I get, the better I become. I learn every single fight and I figure out a little bit more between the fights, and that just builds my game and builds my confidence and makes it that much harder to stop me.”“One of the best in the world.” It’s an accurate statement when it comes to Jorgensen’s place in the bantamweight pecking order, and you’ve got to wonder whether he ever sits back and lets that thought soak in, if only for a moment. Want to guess the answer?“I learned in college that if you get caught up in the rankings and all that, it’s a false sense of security because that could get taken away in a moment,” he said. “A ranking’s an opinion. The only spot that’s guaranteed is the guy that’s holding that belt. There’s only one number one, and everything else is arbitrary. So it’s just work. If I want to be recognized as one of the best, yeah, I do what I’ve been doing, but that’s not what I’m settling for, and that’s not why I started competing in sports. I’m definitely not in the UFC to fight for second place. I’m fighting in the UFC to be the world champion. It’s been work, work, work, and not paying attention to the talk and the recognition that I get. I appreciate it, but I’ll appreciate it a lot more if I’ve got a big gold belt.”There’s that “w” word again. Four times in the last paragraph to be exact. When you point it out to him, he laughs, but then explains.“That’s a wrestler’s mentality,” he said. “You look at guys like Clay Guida, Urijah (Faber), Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Phil Davis, every one of us that came up through the Division I ranks in college wrestling, we knew one thing. We didn’t get the recognition, we didn’t get the interviews or the autographs, we just got that self-satisfaction of being the best, winning a tournament, or winning an NCAA title, which some of those guys did. It’s that wrestler’s work ethic, that grind, that mentality that we never started this because of the recognition or because we thought we were gonna get famous; we started wrestling because we loved the sport, the spirit of competition and just being able to go out there and beat another person at something they’ve been training for as hard as you had.”“I learned with the coaches and training partners that I’ve had that there was only one way to get better, and that was by outworking your opponent,” he continues. “And whether that comes by way of knockout or submission or a decision, you’ve got to outwork them. You’ve got to be prepared for anything and that’s a wrestler’s mentality and this is a wrestler’s sport.”With comments like that, it doesn’t sound like Scott Jorgensen is the kind of guy you want to fight, because win or lose, you’ll know you’ve been in a grueling, punishing scrap. But over 13 years into his career, Curran has seen it all in rings and cages around the world, and if the “Big Frog” knows anything, it’s that if you want to make an impression, why not take on the baddest guy you possibly could? And that’s what he’s doing with Jorgensen.“A lot of people said ‘why would he take you as a first fight,’ and there have been interviews where he said he picked me to fight over Mike Easton,” said Jorgensen. “But I’m a bigger name, and if he does get a win, great, it builds his career again. If he loses, he just lost to one of the top guys in the world again, so chalk it up to the game.”“I know after his last fight, he said ‘I’m retiring if I don’t get back in the UFC,’ and I think it was really hard to find a lot of guys that were willing to fight me,” he continues. “I’m in a position where it’s a tough fight for a lot of guys. So with Curran wanting to be back in the UFC, and from what I may have heard through the grapevine and through different avenues, it was hard to find a fight for me and he was willing to step up and take it. This was the risk he was willing to take, and if this was his way back into the UFC and back into that spotlight, he was gonna do whatever it took. But it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve got to go back in there with the same mentality as I had before.”Yeah, you guessed it – work, work, work.  

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UFC President Dana White doesn’t play. Not when it comes to promoting UFC events. Certainly not when it comes to making sure fans receive tremendous value for their pay-per-view dollar.Nick Diaz failed to show up to back-to-back press conferences to hype up his then-scheduled title challenge against welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre. Not sure whether the enigmatic fighter would actually show up for the bout, the boss pulled Diaz from the main event. Believe me. White could have done worse, like terminate Diaz’s fight contract. He didn’t. The question remained, though, when would the Strikeforce champion make his first return to the Octagon since 2006. The solution was brilliant. Diaz would indeed be granted his UFC return at UFC 137. Not against GSP. He would instead face BJ Penn, one of only two men to win championships in two different UFC weight classes and a fighter who will go down in the annals of history as one of the best ever, pound for pound.Yet in a strange twist of events, GSP ended up injuring his knee during training, forcing him out of his title defense against Carlos Condit. This elevated Penn-Diaz to the main event, the spot originally pegged for the maligned Stockton native. And for my money, Penn-Diaz is a more intriguing, more fan friendly matchup than Diaz-GSP.  Probably sounds a bit like blasphemy to some. I don’t care. I’m a firm believer in that statement. Think about it for a moment. Have you ever witnessed Diaz or Penn in a boring fight when it didn’t involve an elite wrestler holding them on the ground for the length of the bout? Enough said.Neither Diaz nor Penn is a dominant wrestler, so a lay-and-pray strategy isn’t in the cards for either man. Instead, we will see two of the best fighters in the world, pound for pound, go head-to-head in what will likely unfold as a back-and-forth barnburner for as long as it lasts. That makes for must-see TV.So, what will happen once the action gets under way?Let’s dismiss with the obvious first. This fight will not be decided on the ground.Diaz and Penn are the two best submission artists in the division, bar none. Penn is the more decorated of the two, holding the amazing distinction of being the first non-Brazilian to win the black belt division of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships. He did that after only three years of BJJ training.Diaz is not a decorated submission grappler, like his opponent. But he doesn’t take a back seat to anyone, including Penn. That is especially true when it comes to his offensive guard. The Cesar Gracie black belt might even hold the edge over Penn, in terms of the lethal nature of his guard.None of that will be overly relevant on October 29. This fight won’t be decided by either man’s BJJ skills. Neither Diaz nor Penn are particularly effective at taking the fight to the ground, and neither of these guys wants to pull guard against the other. It may end in a submission. That is a very real possibility, though a knockdown, not a takedown or someone pulling guard, is the likely prelude to a submission.This bout will be decided in pugilistic fashion. These guys are coming to throw hands, first and foremost. And they will keep throwing hands, mixed with the occasional kick, knee and elbow, until someone falls down or the final bell sounds. That is crux of each of their game plans. Trust me on that one.Diaz will come out looking to slap box. He will paw with his right hand, while he looks for openings for quick right hooks and sharp straight rights down the middle. His mouth will be running the entire time, taunting Penn with venomous comments about any and everything.Back to the slap boxing part. Diaz will be doing anything but slapping his foe. He will appear to be throwing pitter-patter punches. Yet, he throws with such great technique and overwhelming volume that the accumulation of damage from his blows is very real. And it compounds quickly.Diaz will look to overwhelm his foe with activity, just like he did Frank Shamrock, Paul Daley and the eight other opponents he has faced since the calendar flipped to 2008. They say speed kills. Well, so does overwhelming activity and pressure, and that is what Diaz does better than anyone else.Penn does not want a fire fight. The conventional wisdom is that the best way to beat the Hawaiian superstar, other than a lay-and-pray strategy, is to smother him with pressure. That is a risky proposition, though, because the former lightweight and welterweight champion is probably the best pure boxer in the division, and he loves to counter.“The Prodigy” has the second best jab in the division, and that is the key to his standup offense. Much like a traditional boxer, Penn stands with his weight cheating toward the front and heavy hips. That allows him to throw with maximum force at any moment. Diaz has below average takedowns, so Penn won’t alter his normal stance, other than possibly sitting down just a bit more to generate even more power.Penn can counter with the best of them. But he doesn’t stick and move on his counters. He plants and bombs. What that means is Diaz will have ample opportunity to return fire, assuming a Penn counter doesn’t turn the lights out. With Diaz’s sturdy chin, that is a safe bet. Once on the inside, the fight should be all Diaz. Penn needs space to do real damage on the inside, particularly against a taller opponent. Diaz does not. He might be the sport’s single-most prolific puncher in a phone booth.That is what Diaz wants. He wants this to be a fight in the phone booth. He wants to be trapped in the trenches with Penn.  He wants to overwhelm Penn with activity, forcing the former two-division champion to defend, rather than attack.By contrast, Penn wants space to maneuver. He wants time to set up his shots. And he wants the ability to land one or two fight-altering shots.On paper, Penn is the more skilled fighter. He is also the more accomplished champion. But this fight has Nick Diaz written all over it. Diaz is the second hottest welterweight over the last couple of years, second only to GSP. Penn has largely been an average welterweight in the UFC. His record stands at an average 2-3-1. Both wins were against Matt Hughes.Something tells me that win number three won’t be against Diaz. QUICK FACTSBJ Penn•    32 years old•    5’9, 165 lbs•    70-inch reach•    16-7-2 overall (12-6-2 UFC)•    13 of 20 UFC fights have ended inside the distance (11-2 in those fights)•    Two losses to Edgar were his first losses by unanimous decision in his UFC career•    2-3-1 in UFC welterweight division•    2-2-1 in his last 5•    6-3-1 in his last 10•    6-7 overall against current or former UFC/PRIDE champions•    Penn has never been submitted•    Second fighter in history to win championships in two UFC weight classes (lightweight and welterweight)•    Has competed in 4 weight classes (155 lbs, 170 lbs, 185 lbs and HW)•    First non-Brazilian to win gold in the black belt division of the Mundial World Championship (BJJ)•    Three UFC post-fight awards: Submission of the Night (2), Knockout of the Night•    Current layoff is 244 days •    Longest layoff of UFC career is 273 days (excluding the 3-year period when Penn was absent from the UFC and competing actively elsewhere)Nick Diaz•    28 years old•    6’1, 170 lbs•    74-inch reach•    26-7, 1 NC•    Finished 9 out last 10 opponents•    5-0 in last 5•    10-0 in last 10•    Former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion (never lost the title; vacated it to return to the UFC for the first time since November 18, 2006)•    Current layoff is 203 days•    Longest layoff of career is 315 days

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After falling short in his third attempt at winning a UFC championship earlier this month, original Ultimate Fighter alumnus Kenny Florian left fans wondering if they had seen the last of the Massachusetts native in an arena as a competitor rather than a ticket-holder in the crowd or member of the media. The public now has an answer. Florian put rumors of his potential retirement to rest today when the 35-year old revealed his decision to remain an active Mixed Martial Artist, and, not only will Florian fight again but he’ll do so in the division he called home for five years – lightweight. “I didn’t get in this to be second-best, of course. But at the same time, not everybody can be a champion,” the former 155-pound contender stated in a conversation with The Boston Herald. “I’m just going to go back to 155, work my way up, take it one fight at a time and see where it puts me.” In terms of expectations, Florian explained he simply wants to test himself and isn’t necessarily looking to string together one final run at UFC gold. In fact, he’s not 100% positive how long his return to the ring will last. “I don’t like making any limits on how many fights or anything like that,” Florian finished on the subject. “I’m still going to take it one fight at a time. I know I’ve still got several good fights in me. I could fight for the next three years. I could fight maybe another couple of fights. I don’t know. I’m going to take it how I feel in training, how I feel fight after fight and I’m just going to take it like that.” Florian holds an overall record of 14-6 with wins at lightweight over Takanori Gomi, Joe Lauzon, Roger Huerta, and Clay Guida. However, he is 0-3 in title-shots including his last in-ring appearance, a hard-fought decision loss to Jose Aldo at UFC 136. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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After a few weeks of speculation surrounding his future based on having come up short again in another title-fight, this time to featherweight champion Jose Aldo at UFC 136, Kenny Florian has revealed his next move and it won’t be one towards retirement. According to the 35-year old, he intends to fight again at 155 pounds where he’s experienced the bulk of his success and take it one match-up at a time from there. “I didn’t get in this to be second-best, of course. But at the same time, not everybody can be a champion,” Florian explained in an interview with The Boston Herald. “I’m just going to go back to 155, work my way up, take it one fight at a time and see where it puts me.” Florian Undecided About Future in the Ring After Loss to Aldo “I think there (are) exciting fights out there for me, there (are) still challenges out there for me, there (are) still things I’d like to try to improve on, and that’s the main thing. I don’t necessarily have the title in my eyes, but I do have my own personal goals as far as the technical level that I want to get to,” Florian continued. “I don’t like making any limits on how many fights or anything like that,” “Ken-Flo” concluded. “I’m still going to take it one fight at a time. I know I’ve still got several good fights in me. I could fight for the next three years. I could fight maybe another couple of fights. I don’t know. I’m going to take it how I feel in training, how I feel fight after fight and I’m just going to take it like that.” PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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“I still love this sport tremendously and still want to be a part of it. I know myself and it’s not even just being competitive, but it’s just being there learning and competing. There’s still very much a fire burning there so I’m going to do it… I didn’t get in this to be second-best, of course. But at the same time, not everybody can be a champion. I’m just going to go back to 155, work my way up, take it one fight at a time and see where it puts me… I think there’s exciting fights out there for me, there’s still challenges out there for me, there’s still things I’d like to try to improve on and that’s the main thing. I don’t necessarily have the title in my eyes, but I do have my own personal goals as far as the technical level that I want to get to… I don’t like making any limits on how many fights or anything like that. I’m still going to take it one fight at a time. I know I’ve still got several good fights in me. I could fight for the next three years. I could fight maybe another couple of fights. I don’t know. I’m going to take it how I feel in training, how I feel fight after fight and I’m just going to take it like that.” — Kenny Florian telling The Boston Herald that he’s going to continue fighting at lightweight despite three unsuccessful attempts at winning a UFC championship Kenny Florian deserves a lot of respect for all the hard work and sacrifice he went through to chase a title at 145, but it really didn’t seem like it was the right fit for him. It was just too much. Whether he works his way back up the ladder or not, the lightweight division really is where he belongs. It’s good to see him getting back on that horse even if his title dreams are all but over. Not many people could come back from three unsuccessful title bids in a sport as demanding as this. Image via Dave Mandel for Sherdog

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UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone has never shied away from being himself, choosing to opt for his trademark black Stetson rather than the head attire typically worn by his peers and investing his winnings into a ranch where he raises animals (and a bit of hell as well with an assortment of motorcycles and ATVs). However, as colorful as “Cowboy” may appear to be, the 28-year old is rather relatively reserved and prefers to let his in-ring accomplishments do the talking rather than seeking out media to get his points across. In a recent interview Cerrone spoke about the way he may be perceived by others and made it clear he’s not concerned with their opinions because he’s simply being himself. “That’s just how I am. Some people like my boy Leonard Garcia love the interviews and the press. That’s not me, man, so people think it’s being cocky or arrogant, but I don’t think it’s like that,” Cerrone explained to the UFC’s website. The 16-3 Cerrone, currently on a five-fight run, faces a fellow potential top contender in the form of Dennis Siver, himself a winner of four straight, next weekend at UFC 137 after having fought already in mid-August after the German kickboxer’s original opponent Sam Stout withdrew for personal reasons. Cerrone One of MMA’s Most Underrated Fighters The short turnaround time for Cerrone, looking at his third fight in less than five months, hasn’t fazed the Coloradan who has dealt with plenty of adversity before including a broken back and almost life-ending ATV accident as a teenager. “I’m ready to go whenever I get the call,” Cerrone explained about his willingness to take fights without extended notice. “I want to make some good money and put on good fights. If that means being ready at a drop of a hat, then that’s what must be done.” However, just because he’s always ready to fight doesn’t mean he actually leaps into the fire as fast as he’d like to, an aspect of his game he’s hoping improve on. “I warm up a little slow sometimes and it pisses me off,” self-critiqued Cerrone. “My boy Clay Guida goes out there and from second number one he is on fire. I admire that and want to be like that.” Against an opponent like the 19-7 Siver a slow start could spell a fast end to Cerrone’s aspirations of a 2012 title-shot. However, with the tutelage of Greg Jackson and teammates such as Garcia, Guida, and others at the New Mexican Mecca of MMA training, the odds of Cerrone being thrown off his saddle don’t appear to nearly as high as they are in favor of him riding off into the Las Vegas sunset with another victory in hand. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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People sometimes ask if I’ve noticed things on the show that have been edited out. This past week gave an example of that being the case. You may remember the drama surrounding Dustin Neace mistakenly flipping out on Akira Corassani after Josh Ferguson stole his cowboy hat. What I wish they would have showed was Ferguson relieving himself into the hat. I was like, “Why didn’t they show the sh*t?” They should have shown it. THAT was classic! After the fight Ferguson finally admitted to Neace he’d been the one to take his hat. But the damage was already done and we got our first win. On a side note, did everyone notice how Diego Brandao went and verbally attacked Steven Siler? That just goes to show everybody it wasn’t me starting things a few episodes back when we were sparring – Diego is f***ing crazy! Siler is a nice guy and he wasn’t even one of my teammates. Seriously, the only thing Siler will ever go to jail for might be income tax evasion. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, yet Diego was going off talking about, “I’m gonna kill you! I’m gonna eat your kids and make your mom cry,” like a little Brazilian Mike Tyson. Michael Bisping showing up to the weigh-ins was not a huge deal and for those wondering what he had in the bag, every time we fought he went and got us food like organic pasta from Whole Foods. That was actually really cool. The scuffle at the weigh-ins was actually funny. I’m not gonna lie, part of me wanted to pick up a chair and throw it in the crowd so everyone would get to fighting. That’s just a rule of life – if somebody picks up a chair and throws it, you find a person you don’t know and you punch them in the face. That’s just how it goes. We could have turned it into a bar room brawl inside the training facility. As far as Bisping and Jason Miller getting into it, Bisping was trying to break up the fight and you know how it is when something like that happens. “Mayhem” grabbed Akira and Bisping grabbed Neace, and then Ryan Parsons and the rest of the coaches came in and said, “Get your f’ing hands off him!” And Bisping started yelling back about trying to break up the fight, not escalate it, and then Miller came in and got involved. It just kind of snowballed from there. The other bit of controversy from the episode had to do with whether or not Akira tapped. I had a great vantage point, sitting at the perfect angle. What you didn’t see at home is that there was a mosquito in the cage. So when Neace got him in the Heel Hook the mosquito landed on his knee. Akira was simply killing the mosquito as a favor to Neace. That’s what everyone saw, not a tap. (wink) On a final note this week, I apparently have to do something outlandish to get noticed on the street because I’m a 5’4” black guy so I don’t really stand out. Of course, for some reason I get recognized for the time I lost that bet to John Dodson and had to run around in a thong. Apparently making a total assclown out of myself has lead to strangers going, “Oh, you’re THAT guy! You’re the guy that farted!” As always, some final shout outs. I’m back in Sweet Home Alabama making up some drill time because I’ve been in the National Guard for eight years. Much love to Blackwell’s Pub here where I watched the show this week, to my guard unit – the 117th, to my friends and family, to American Top Team, to my old gym Spartan Fitness, and to my strength and conditioning guys at T3EAthletics for helping me maintain my look as a Chocolate Adonis. And, of course, Roll Tide! Thanks for reading again. I’ll be back next week with some more insight on what went down. In the meantime check me out on Twitter (@brim205) or learn more through my video blog. Tweet

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The plan was simple, but it was the simplicity of it that made it brilliant. There wasn’t going to be some intricate series of maneuvers for Joe Lauzon to pull off if he defused Melvin Guillard’s striking in their UFC 136 bout earlier this month and got close enough to implement his grappling attack; just a few key moves that were drilled over and over again by Lauzon with a newcomer to his camp, Ricky Lundell.If the name sounds unfamiliar, that’s okay for now, because the 25-year old Utah native is used to being the secret weapon in fight camps around the mixed martial arts world. Suffice to say for now that Lundell is a two-time grappling world champion, the youngest North American to earn a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt (he was 19 when Pedro Sauer awarded him the honor), as well as a two-year letterman in wrestling for Iowa State, which is even more impressive considering that he never wrestled in high school.As for his MMA credentials, to say that this secret weapon has worked with various big names over the years would be an understatement, considering that he has shared the mat with Frank Mir, Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin, BJ Penn, Sean Sherk, Miguel Angel Torres, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Rogerio Nogueira and Lauzon over the years.With that out of the way, it’s back to Houston and UFC 136, and a confident Guillard came out firing his punches and kicks, looking for a highlight reel finish. But it was Lauzon who caught “The Young Assassin” with a counterpunch and rocked him. It was time for his new coach’s plan to kick into gear.“I had Joe stick to the front headlock,” said Lundell. “Front headlock, guillotine, front headlock, run around, choke. And that’s because Melvin Guillard is so athletic and explosive that had we not gone front headlock, he might have gotten away.” Lauzon worked for the front headlock, but with his arm tied up, he ran around, sunk his hooks in, and finished Guillard off with a rear naked choke. Perfect plan, perfect execution, game over. Lauzon, already sold on his new coach, couldn’t have been happier.“For pretty much all my camps, I’ve always been the main coach,” said the lightweight contender. “I have a boxing coach, I work with jiu-jitsu guys, and I work on other things, but the gameplan is usually my gameplan. I figure out what I want to do and we talk about it and figure it out. This is really the first camp where I kind of took a back seat and listened to Ricky. And we talked all about the front headlock, though we didn’t think the front headlock was gonna come off me dropping him with a punch. We worked a whole bunch of takedowns, a whole lot of keeping him on the ground and really doing our best to keep Melvin on the ground and negating all the stuff he likes to do to get up. But as a Plan B, when Melvin posts up, we’re gonna grab his head and put him in a front headlock, and then we’re gonna work. And that’s where all the stuff from Ricky came in.”Lauzon’s meeting with Lundell was a happy accident, as the most recent UFC fighter summit in May coincided with the New Englander’s training camp for his June bout with Curt Warburton. Wanting to take in the summit while still staying busy in Vegas, Lauzon arranged to hit pads with respected striking coach Jimmy Gifford, and it was Gifford – one of Frank Mir’s coaches – who recommended “J-Lau” work a bit with Lundell, who was in camp with the former heavyweight champ.“I don’t want to work out with some guy that’s here to train Mir,” said Lauzon. “He’s got to be enormous.” “He’s like 155 pounds,” responded Gifford. That response got Lauzon’s gears turning.“Mir can bring out anyone in the world, and he’s bringing out this kid Ricky Lundell,” he said. “So we just grappled and the kid was phenomenal. He made a huge impression on me, but I think I made a little bit of an impression on him too, and I’m thinking, ‘this kid’s perfect.’ He’s a jiu-jitsu guy, he has great wrestling, he’s my size and he’s a great communicator. The communication was a big thing.”That’s not surprising, considering that unlike most wrestlers who add jiu-jitsu on later, Lundell did things in reverse, studying jiu-jitsu from the age of six, getting his black belt, and then getting involved in wrestling at the behest of one of the sport’s greats, Cael Sanderson. So for jiu-jitsu based fighters like Lauzon, Mir, and Penn, Lundell not only had the wrestling tactics to add on, but he came from a jiu-jitsu background, so he spoke their language.“The communication aspect is huge, and we definitely speak the same language,” said Lauzon. “You have very, very few guys that are good at jiu-jitsu and wrestling that started as jiu-jitsu guys. BJ’s really the only guy that started with that too. Most guys are more like Jake Shields, who wrestled first and then did jiu-jitsu. So it definitely helps to have that jiu-jitsu first mindset.”“I think that’s a huge area that’s helped me, and it’s helped me in reverse the other way too,” explains Lundell. “I’ve worked with Sean Sherk and he felt like I could speak his wrestling language and teach him the right jiu-jitsu that he needed. And in reverse, Lauzon and those guys know that if I show them a shot, we both know that he won’t end up in a triangle or an armlock or a guillotine from this shot. Whereas if he went to just a wrestler or a wrestler who had trained up to purple belt or something in jiu-jitsu who wasn’t really well-versed, he may be showing you shots that are really going to get you submitted at a higher level; he just doesn’t know it yet. So it helped me a lot because I already knew the submissions, and then going to wrestling, I was already able to build a base from the ground up, rather than being a wrestler who’s standing above and has to learn the ground.”Yet given his skill and technique on the mat, it begs the question – why isn’t he fighting as well?“I thought about fighting before, but it wasn’t my first interest,” he said. “I enjoy coaching and the sport of wrestling and jiu-jitsu together. So I’ve spent my time trying to perfect those areas of the game, and I think that in order to be the best coach I can possibly be, going out and working on my boxing and striking is good, but it’s not where I should spend the majority of my time if I want to be able to coach the best guys.”And he’s obviously made the right call, as he’s become “the” guy for many of the world’s top mixed martial artists. It’s an amazing feat, considering his age and his journey to this point – come on, he graduated college, yes college, at 18 – and he’s done well for himself with his University of Grappling school in Lindon, Utah. But it’s his ability to break down the ground game in an understandable fashion that has put him where he is today.“It’s not about how many moves you know,” he said. “I think a lot of people have a hard time understanding this, but let’s say you have three five minute rounds. Well, because we have three five minute rounds, that means we only have 300 seconds to scrap per round. Let’s say it takes us 10 seconds per shot that we’re gonna do in this fight, and that’s way overexagerrating, but let’s just pretend that it only took us 10 seconds to set up every shot. That means you only have the opportunity for 30 shots in an entire five minute round. So if you know 500 shots, how is that going to help you? There’s 470 that you didn’t even get to cover yet.”As an example, he points to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who has become one of the premier wrestlers in MMA despite not having a traditional background in the sport. But what he does have is a killer and nearly unstoppable shot that has been built not only from technique but from repetition. “He (St-Pierre) almost shoots the exact same shot every time,” said Lundell. “I know what GSP’s going to do, but the thing is, he’s practiced that shot 25,000 times. And then I’m like ‘hey, we know what he’s gonna do; here, do this defense.’ And you practice it 300 times. So you have the defense practiced 300 times, and GSP’s coming in with a total count of offensive shots at 25,000? You don’t have a prayer to stop that shot yet because you haven’t put in the time to be actually able to stop GSP’s go to. Just like Cael Sanderson, everybody knows he’s going to ankle pick you. He’s going to ankle pick and double leg. There’s no question, everybody knows, but you can’t stop him because he’s done it so many times and he’s so good at it that your defensive level doesn’t match up to his offensive level.”It’s that type of unglamorous, often tedious, work that most don’t want to go through on a daily basis, but that wrestlers have perfected because it’s been ingrained in them since they were competing as kids. So if you wonder why wrestling is the dominant discipline in MMA today, one that five of the seven UFC champions (Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones, GSP, Frankie Edgar, and Dominick Cruz) would probably count as the core of their style, it comes down to the years of work in wrestling rooms around the country. It’s also why you see many wrestlers picking up solid striking and jiu-jitsu games, but few strikers and jiu-jitsu players doing as well on the wrestling side.“This may offend people, but I believe that wrestling requires a lot more work ethic,” said Lundell. “It’s very difficult, it’s grueling, it’s not rewarding, it’s painful, and because of that, I think not as many people like to really work in those areas. The thing is though, a wrestler comes in, they’re already naturally strong, they’ve trained hard, they’ve built explosive power, they’re able to endure constant pressure, and they’re extremely fit, so it’s pretty easy for them to come in and already understand position for jiu-jitsu and stay in good spots and move and learn those areas. They also have super heavy hands, so they have that knockout power and learn how to strike really, really easy. But when you take (boxing champion) Floyd Mayweather, he can get punched, but he’s not structurally built to shoot under another person, lift them up and slam them down on the ground. And that’s something that’s only built through years of time and actually doing it and having it done to you. So it’s gonna take somebody years and years to do that because most guys start wrestling when they’re 15 or younger. And how are you gonna catch up to (middleweight contender) Chael Sonnen, who’s been wrestling since he was a kid? It’s gonna be almost impossible.”So how did he do it as a fresh-faced teenage jiu-jitsu black belt?“I think the transition’s difficult, no matter what you do,” said Lundell. “Wrestling’s a very difficult thing to pick up, but I think it gave me different views than everybody else has because I got to understand jiu-jitsu fully. I got my black belt and then I started wrestling, and I think it gave me different views than other people, especially because I wasn’t just wrestling with the local best junior high and high school coaches. My training partners have been Cael Sanderson and Justin Ruiz. They helped make wrestling easier for me when it came to proper technique and those types of things. I think a lot of people have a hard time learning how to wrestle because they don’t go to the right guys for answers, and they’re not necessarily learning technical wrestling; they’re learning brute force strength, just blow through somebody wrestling.”It’s almost a jiu-jitsu-esque approach to wrestling, where it’s not just about size in a fight, but who has the better technique and who the smarter combatant is. Unfortunately, dealing with high-profile MMA fighters before high-profile UFC fights doesn’t allow him to reinvent the wheel. If you’ve got a bout with a world-class wrestler like Sonnen coming up, you won’t have the time to catch up to his wrestling, so Lundell instead focuses on those few moves that will allow you to nullify his game and implement your own.“The first thing you want to do is look at that person and how they think and how they like to play the game,” he said. “Then you don’t focus on 20 moves from each spot and 30 moves from 30 setups; you focus on the right setups for the right guy. And each guy’s different. When I worked with BJ Penn, his stuff is way different from Sean Sherk’s. With Sean, it was power, explosive shots, and those types of things. When I worked with BJ, it was making sure your elbows were deep so that you could actually lift the guy up. Way different thought process. I know Sherk’s 5-foot-6 and his neck is like three feet in diameter (Laughs), so when he shoots in on somebody, I’m not super worried about things happening to him. BJ, on the other hand, he’s got a skinnier neck and a bigger head, so if he gets his head stuck in a guillotine, he might have a hard time getting out of there. So we tailor your game to you.”“Joe Lauzon, different game than what Frank Mir’s gonna have, especially with the weight and how they like to strike and how they like to move their feet,” Lundell continues. “We focus on certain aspects of their training and bring it down to the core fundamentals of what they need to do, and we give them their ‘go to’ shot and their ‘go to’ areas. This is what you’re good at. You’re not good at the scramble, so we’re gonna stay out of the scramble. You’re not good at 50-50 tying, which would be like Randy Couture’s over-under, so we’re gonna work at staying out of the 50-50 tie completely, and just work outside shots. You’re about to fight Dan Henderson, there’s no way we’re getting to the 50-50 there; it’s circle and push out, circle and push out. That’s all we’re doing. So we focus on the real core of what they need to do for that fight, while working on what they need to do to become a better fighter in the long run, which is develop their ‘go to’ areas.”Hearing Lundell break down the finer points of the ground game, you almost get the impression that he could teach anybody how to grapple. But then you look at how world-class fighters get baffled by a dominant wrestler, and you realize it’s not that easy. It’s the top disciple in the sport for a reason, yet for those who work with Lundell, he lets them in on just what that reason is.“In boxing, if you miss a punch, the guy steps away and you step away, and you both get to restart,” he said. “If you miss a shot in wrestling, you are now stuck underneath me for the next five minutes unless you can get out. So it (wrestling) is something that’s so tough because anytime you make a mistake, you pay for it. And you really find out how good you are really fast. There’s no fake stuff. It’s really self-revealing as to your actual ability. People find out real quick who’s the dominant player and who’s not. The guy on top is dominant, despite what the jiu-jitsu world wants you to believe.”

Posted in: guy, ’t, shot, ’re, jiujitsu

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Everyone groans and exclaims when the big names get injured – there’s still weeping to be heard over Georges St. Pierre’s forced exit from UFC 137, and sobs can be heard all around the world over the news that Shane Carwin and Rich Franklin are both on ice over back- and shoulder injuries.  But the Dreaded Injury Bug has bitten others, too.  And while they may be lesser-known victims, sidelined from their participation in organizations that receive only a modicum of exposure and don’t employ an Octagon as a field of battle, these injured fighters’ absences from promised competition are woes that do still reverberate, albeit on a much smaller scale.  So let us acknowledge them, here and now, and recognize that their loss to their respective organizations’ rosters does have an impact on us.  They are the lost victims of the injury bug. -Zoila Frausto-Gurgel – Bellator’s one and only female champ, Frausto-Gurgel, was supposed to face Brazilian Carina Damm in a non-title affair at Bellator 57 – and with the bout slated for the main card, it was to be a pleasant reminder of the scrappy kickboxer-turned-MMA badgirl’s presence in a world decidedly lacking in female mixed martial arts.  But then BAM!  A torn ACL, and now she’s back on the shelf for an indeterminate amount of time, and with her goes our hopes of movement on the Bellator/lady fighters front. -Blagoi Ivanov – The lone shining star in Bellator’s Season Five heavyweight tournament quarterfinals was a Bulgarian samboist who once defeated Fedor Emelianenko at the Combat Sambo World Championships, a man named Ivanov who outclassed TUF castoff Zak Jensen and showed a wide range of boxing and grappling skills.  Unfortunately, an undisclosed injury has put the kibosh on Ivanov moving any further in the tournament; instead, we get the runner-up of the last tournament, Neil Grove, who actually lost his quarterfinal bout to Mike Hayes (coincidently, Hayes is out with a busted orbital, and has been replaced by Thiago Santos).  Oy to the vey! -Pedro Rizzo – Rizzo’s best days may have long past, and watching him compete now may only be slightly better than watching Ken Shamrock throw down, but he was still an intrinsic part of  the marquee bout for ProElite 2 on November 5.  That’s why his arm injury, and subsequent absence from the whole shindig, hurts.  After all, who do we get in his place against Tim Sylvia?  Some unknown named Andreas Kraniotakes.  I cared just a little bit when it was Rizzo versus Sylvia in the main event; now I don’t care at all. -Guram Gugenishvili – M-1 Global’s undefeated heavyweight champion is supposedly “all that and a bag of chips”, and he was to rematch with Kenny Garner on last week’s edition of M-1 Global: “Kill All Americans” on Showtime.  Too bad the ligaments in his elbow had other plans.  As a result of Gugenishvili’s banishment to the sidelines, we were treated to Garner breathing hard all over stand-in Maxim Grishin for an unsatisfying interim heavyweight championship title.  -John Hathaway – Okay, unlike the others on this list, Hathaway does fight in the UFC.  But few seem to be mourning his absence from UFC 138, and that shouldn’t be the case.  As a Brit fighter with wins over the likes of Rick Story and Diego Sanchez, and with Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy clearly at the apex of their Octagon careers and heading down, UK fans should be turning to Hathaway as the potential “next big thing across the pond” (which, admittedly, is like being the next big thing in the Special Olympics, but that’s beside the point).  Yet no one seems to have noticed him and his hurt shoulder, hobbling to the doctor’s office.  Did his lone career loss to Mike Pyle sour the public’s opinion on him that much?  Or has the UK scene been marginalized to the point where it doesn’t matter who Brits have to root for?  Regardless, UFC 138 is sans someone who could conceivably be a star in the future, and no one cares.

Posted in: ufc, world, ’t, injury, bug

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Six days after the 5th anniversary of Anderson Silva defeating Rich Franklin in magnificent fashion to win the UFC middleweight belt, Silva’s manager, interpreter and all around friend, Ed Soares discussed the current status of Chael Sonnen’s comments at UFC 136 when, during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Sonnen called out Silva who was at the venue. Sonnen then proceeded to request a rematch with Silva on Super Bowl Weekend, adding that if he lost he would leave the UFC forever, but if Silva lost the Brazilian champion would have to leave the middleweight division forever. Soares recently discussed Sonnen’s slim chances of getting his rematch right away, saying in an interview with Sherdog, “Anderson just feels that he doesn’t deserve it yet. He doesn’t deserve it yet. … A lot of people are interested in the fight. It’s a big fight. Anderson’s not ducking him. Anderson, right now, is focused on recouping his shoulder, and basically he’s going through physical therapy on that just to get that back 100 percent.” Soares then discussed his hesitance at wanting to fight Sonnen again, “I think eventually, our opinion is that we don’t think Chael should get a shot yet. There are other guys out there. … I’ve been hearing a bunch of different people. Let someone try that hasn’t fought for the belt yet. Why do we have to keep repeating these fighters? We fought Rich Franklin twice. We’ll probably end up having to fight Chael twice. We’re going to end up fighting probably Dan Henderson twice. It’s just like, it would be nice to see some new faces in there getting a crack at it.” But concerning this form my point of view, there is no-one that fits that bill right now. The only one would have been Brian Stann, but Sonnen has just beaten him and thrown him back a few steps. The only fighters that even come close would be the winner of Michael Bisping and Jason Miller, but they don’t fight each other until at least December and would need at least 2-3 months to prepare for a title shot. Bisping Wants Silva, Also Feels Sonnen Blew It Soares also discussed whether, if it’s made, would the fight take place in February as Sonnen had requested. The popular manager responded, “That’s really hard to say. I think we’re still — I don’t think it’s going to happen. It could happen, but we’ll just have to cross that bridge when it comes. It could happen, though. We haven’t really talked about it yet.” When asked about how much longer we can expect his dynamic client to be fighting for, Soares was non-committal, replying, “I think we’re going to take it one day at a time. It’s really hard to say, but as of right now, he has four fights on his contract and right now he doesn’t have any interest to renew. He just wants to take one fight at a time, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up being only four fights.” It sounds like Sonnen better hope he’s one of the four bouts Silva has left on his deal rather than feel guaranteed another opportunity at winning UFC gold. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, silva, sonnen

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Most fighters aren’t on the rise at age 40, but then, most fighters aren’t former Olympic wrestling medalist Alexis Vila.

Posted in: fighter, ’t, vila, aren, medalist

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If you ever want to watch your sports nutritionist blow a blood vessel, tell them you intend on cutting 40 lbs in one day. Today, that’s exactly what we learned about Semtex and how he drops to 170 on the day of the weigh-in, which is about as irresponsible as betting money on the Philadelphia Eagles to make the playoffs this season. 40 lbs is a lot of weight to cut for any division, but it seems especially much for someone slated to compete at 170 lbs within a 24 hour time-frame. For those that don’t know, missing weight is easily fighting’s worst faux-pas. Not only does it cost you a percentage of your purse, but your opponent technically doesn’t have to accept the fight (as per most contracts). Paul Daley has missed weight several times in his career, and it has grown troublesome for the promoters and their respective opponents. While there was one instance when his flight was delayed and he wasn’t allowed to cut weight at the airport en-route to the UFC, there have been other times where he’s just gotten in over his head with too much weight and too little time to lose it. Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson may cut the most to get down to welterweight, but Paul Daley is nominating himself for honorable mention in this video with how quickly he does it. As fans, we don’t care how far he procrastinates cutting weight, we just want to see him continue competing. [Source]

Posted in: ’t, lb, weight, paul daley, paul

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There's not much more disheartening things to hear or read than to find out a person brimming over with talent is wasting away to the disease of drug addiction. Think of people like Curt Flood, Heath Ledger, Lawrence Taylor and Amy Winehouse. So much talent and potential eaten away by an ugly cancerous addiction to drugs. To watch athletes especially succumb to such a disease, is probably one of the single most dichotomous events to witness on our planet. On the outside these guys like Paulo Filho appear strong, healthy and exhibit an air of confidence and mettle that we the fans admire and aspire to find a way to duplicate within ourselves. But on the inside, some of these people we look at as superhero-esque human beings are battling with their own wars with inner demons like anxiety, depression and self doubt. Over the years, we have been saddened to know that Paulo Filho an amazingly talented fighter, has been dealing with his own personal ongoing struggle with depression and drug addiction. The battle has time and time again thwarted his potential climb to greatness in MMA. Sadly, it is being reported that Filho has been once again dealt a heavy blow in his battle with drug addiction. Earlier this week according to Portal do Vale Tudo, Filho was hospitalized due to an apparent drug overdose on the drug Rohypnol. A close friend of Filho's released a statement to the Brazilian news source stating that Filho was taking close to 60 doses of Rohypnol per day. Here's a rough translation of the letter submitted to Portal do Vale Tudo via a UG member: "I don’t want to debate this situation any longer, but I can’t watch idly as Paulao, or someone representing him, slanders me. Due to everything I’ve been through with Paulao, I can affirm that he is not well and does not go one day without taking Roupinal and Potenei. All one needs to do is go up to him to see the explicit needle marks on both of his arms. Paulao must be hospitalized immediately, or else he will die.I did what was possible and even impossible in order to free him from his addictions, but I was unsuccessful. Even his mother knows I speak the truth, just like all of his closest friends do. I feel sad, because his illness has made him turn against all those who have tried to help him. It is necessary to clarify that I never said that Paulao owed R $20 thousand in Campos, but that his mother told me that he owed certain amounts in Niteroi, and that the group that has helped him until now would unite in order to help him pay.He alleges that he has no received anything from me, but he purchases R$ 10 thousand worth of dogs, and R$ 8 thousand more worth of roosters in Campos. Everything was paid to Paulao, and whatever he decided to buy is his problem. I will not give him one more Real (brazilian currency). I already spent a lot on him. He said he had a monthly allowance/help. Where does you think that came from? All his expenditure came directly or indirectly from me.Paulao arrived in Campos with one change of clothes, and taking 60 doses of Rohypnol and 4 vials of Potenai together per day. I wish I filmed the reaction of the first doctor I took him to when the doctor was told of the daily dosages. It a miracle that nothing has happened to him yet. Paulao has refused to take any alternative medicines instead of Potenai. I did everything, I gave him food, medical assistance, psychiatrist, I allowed him to stay in my family’s house, and he was treated as a son by all. I spent days hiding medications from him so that he would not take them, in an attempt to reduce his dosages.I slept on the floor by his side, with the lights on since he cannot sleep in the dark. Actually I did not sleep, I napped since he does not sleep. I spent night after night in this routine, and I believe no one would have done the same. I consider him my brother, I don’t know why he did this to me. He knows how much I make, and I have ways to prove it. What was discounted from his purse and not passed on, were the plane tickets and his purse bonuses. That was not done by me, but was done by the event itself.I don’t want to be paid, but it is him who owes me, and he owes me more than money, he owes me his life. I can’t charge him for that however, because he cannot repay that, because in my opinion, life is repaid through gratitude and not with money. He is being ungrateful, saying the same things, that he is clean, that no one pays him, that all who help him or who have helped him owe him… it is the same story for more than 10 years. Two weeks ago he gave me the biggest emotional scare, and had to buy 4 cases of Rohypnol. I have witnesses to all of the bills I have paid and money I gave for him, and they are people that helped him together with myself, genuine and sober people like me. I will affirm it again: if he does not accept hospitalization (rehab) his life will have a tragic and sad end." It has not yet been announced if this will keep Filho from fighting in his November 26th KSW 17 scheduled bout with Mamed Khalidov in Poland. [source]

Posted in: ’t, addiction, drug, filho, paulao

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Tyson Griffin isn’t a fully-trained chef, but judging by his culinary portfolio, do not be surprised if one day he’s the first active fighter to compete on MasterChef. Griffin takes to Twitter to present his delicacies. Two weeks before his showdown with Bart Palaszewski at UFC 137 he picked up a steak at Whole Foods. “I earned it tonight,” he wrote. “The question is, how do I cook it and what should the sides be?”Griffin’s post-MMA goal is to become a restaurateur. He’s been cooking for some time and among his other delights are tomato and basil soup with fried eggs, and a fruit and oat shake.“Food is definitely one of the bigger passions in my life,” Griffin said. “I’ve been trying to create healthy stuff that tastes good in camp and keeping the good, fattening stuff out of camp.”Griffin has literally trimmed fat, hoping to take what’s been the elusive next step in his MMA career. His recent run at lightweight was rougher than an amateur chef’s dinner service supervised by Gordon Ramsay. Three consecutive losses to Evan Dunham, Takanori Gomi and Nik Lentz left his UFC status on the brink before Dana White blasted the judges of the Lentz fight and handed Griffin a mulligan. In just his third MMA fight, Griffin debuted as a featherweight for Gladiator Challenge in 2004 and earned a TKO victory over an upstart named Urijah Faber. Two fights into his second UFC featherweight run the stakes are much higher. It’s Griffin (15-5, 8-5 UFC) against Palaszewski (34-14, UFC debut), a 28-year old Polish competitor off a successful WEC stint at lightweight who recently had a four-fight winning streak snapped by a split-decision loss to Kamal Shalorus at WEC 53, on the Spike-televised portion of UFC 137. Griffin’s recipe is straightforward: Be aggressive and push the pace. The prize is a significant bump up the ladder at the Grade-A prime age of 27.“I’m after a dominating win over him and hoping to make a case for fighting for the title,” Griffin said. Not surprisingly, Palaszewski has gone on record predicting a knockout if Griffin dares to live up to his billing as one of the lighter weights’ more exciting fighters. It’s a reputation that took a hit during his return bout at 145 against Manny Gamburyan at UFC on Versus 4. Going in, Griffin owed to himself, his fans and the UFC to push the pace. His previous contest was a controversial split decision loss to Lentz on the untelevised preliminary card of UFC 123 that extended his losing streak to three. A trio of defeats in the nefariously stacked 155-pound weight class normally translates into walking papers. White, however, announced that Griffin wouldn’t be cut and was a victim of yet another raw deal from the ringside decision makers.“Tyson Griffin got [expletive] big time tonight,” White said.Handed a reprieve, Griffin made a lifestyle change and tried his luck at 145. His first test was Gamburyan, a former No. 1 contender eventually smashed by champion Jose Aldo. In the third round, Griffin avoided Gamburyan’s advances, answering with counter punches and takedowns to sneak away with a majority decision victory.The fight was a polar opposite to Griffin’s breathtaking pace. To earn brownie points with the UFC championship committee is to not only win, but to do it with a little sizzle. A win over Palaszewski won’t assure Griffin a shot at Aldo, but it will represent a second coming. “Beating Manny I thought I acquitted myself pretty well,” Griffin said. “I guess it didn’t turn out that way because it wasn’t a very exciting fight, but Manny fought for the title and he was world-ranked. I feel like I’ve already beaten one of the top guys and I have to keep winning to keep myself out there.”As a lightweight, Griffin was on the fast track, posting a 7-2 record in his first nine UFC fights while earning five “Fight of the Night” bonuses and a “Submission of the Night” award. A dynamic second round knockout of Hermes Franca at UFC 103 had Griffin in position to make his move. Then came a split decision loss to Dunham followed by a stunning first round knockout loss to Gomi. On the surface, the Gomi pasting at 1:04 of the first round was rock bottom, the ultimate scenario where a fighter’s mind, heart and desire are put to the greatest of tests. Film is reviewed and the healing process towards becoming a better fighter begins.Not for Griffin, who dismissed it faster than a fed-up Chef Ramsay tosses a poor soul out of his kitchen.“I just got caught with a punch and the fight got stopped quickly,” Griffin said. “I don’t think there was anything to learn from that, to be honest. I just got caught. I’ve had other losses I could learn from; Nik Lentz is a loss I can learn from. Even though I won, I thought it could be a little more convincing. I was getting my game plan going against Gomi. He’s a dangerous striker on the feet and I just ended up getting caught.”The bounce-back win over Gamburyan wasn’t Griffin’s signature recipe, but it was a first step up a new mountain. Aldo has been tested in his last two title defenses, the second against Kenny Florian, who was competing in only his second fight as a featherweight. While the Brazilian Cobra remains indomitable at 145, there have been signs of fissures during a time when Griffin, George Roop and Hatsu Hioki are determined to add more depth to the division and delay any ideas of an Aldo-Frankie Edgar showdown.Roop and Hioki will compete on the main card of UFC 137. The winner could conceivably be matched against the victor from Griffin- Palaszewski. It’s wholly appropriate that Griffin’s road to redemption is ongoing. Growing up with both his parents incarcerated, Griffin went through foster care before living with his grandmother. The ordeal is the impetus behind a charity raffle Griffin is promoting for Boys Town Nevada, a foundation that reaches out to families in need physically, spiritually and emotionally. The goal is to encourage better and closer families working together to put them on the path to brighter futures.“I can imagine how tough it can be for someone that’s, I guess, not as mentally strong in those areas,” said Griffin, who, unlike many kids, used sports as an outlet growing up. “I like these kids and want to do a little more to explain the situation I’ve been blessed to be in. I want to help give back.”Also blessed with a rare second chance, Griffin is determined to cook a masterpiece at UFC 137 and earn himself a thick steak, along with a thicker cut of the featherweight pie.

Posted in: ufc, fight, loss, ’t, griffin

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Since winning the now obsolete WEC lightweight belt back in December of last year and by default earned himself a prospective shot at UFC title-holder Frankie Edgar, Anthony Pettis has not had the best of times since coming to the UFC. After beating Ben Henderson in a hotly contested and adrenaline fueled five rounds, he found himself up against stiff competition in Clay Guida, an experienced and explosive wrestler, whose main offense is purely breaking people, in a Jon Fitch manner of demoralizing his opponent with takedowns and ground ‘n pound. He lost by a Unanimous Decision because he could not stop Guida from taking him down and keeping on the ground for much of the fight. The loss most definitely cost Pettis next dibs on Edgar’s gold and instead pushed him down outside of the Top 5. In order to get back Pettis back in the title hunt, he and his camp came to a decision that he needed to slightly alter his style to accommodate the high level wrestlers which make up most of the division’s elite. Pettis Prepared to Evolve for Title Shot Pettis elaborated about a style-change in a recent interview with Sherdog where he said, “You look at the UFC lightweight division, the top guys are all wrestlers,” Pettis said. “Me being a striker, I don’t fit into that picture. I need to adjust my game to fit in with the top-level guys in the UFC.” The Roufusport product learned a lesson from the loss to Guida and used a total of six completed takedowns to narrowly out-point Jeremy Stephens, a strategy he commented on, stating, “I’m still going for my bread-and-butter, which is knockouts, but fighting a guy like Stephens, you don’t want to stay in the pocket with that guy too long.” Some of his long time fans, may be concerned that we may not see many more of his patented ‘Showtime Kick’, Pettis addressed this in the interview by explaining, “I think I’m going to have to just find out how to make them work at this level,” Pettis said of his crowd-pleasing antics. “It’s easy to do it when you’re fighting guys who aren’t as good at striking as you or don’t pose a threat and you can do whatever you want, but now that these guys (have) good boxing and good kicking and good defense, you’ll still see it, but it’s going to be limited. I have to be careful. I have to win fights. If I want to be a champ, I need to win fights.” With a new mindset and a seemingly unlimited level of potential, it seems evident he will definitely be doing just that for years to come. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, guy, ’t, petti, striker i

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Sorry I’m late getting this blog out. Thanks for being patient! Unfortunately Gray Maynard didn’t win his title fight in Houston. He trained really hard and was really well prepared and the fight could have gone either way. Perhaps this loss will be a blessing in disguise, as getting another crack at the championship is something that Gray won’t let go and we would love another shot at Frankie Edgar. As far as the actual bout, Gray was very focused and pumped up for the fight. The weight cut was extremely easy for him thanks to Mike Dolce (who I’m now calling “The Mad Scientist” because he’s the best). He felt good and when I got to Houston he looked good. He had a good warm up and everything. In the corner I was just playing it by ear and looking for certain things since I wasn’t exactly sure of everything he had been doing since I wasn’t completely involved with his camp this time around, though I wish I had been, but he looked great in the first round. The only thing better would have been a stoppage. He did a great job picking his punches and was more controlled. I don’t think he broke his hand on the uppercut but he messed up his knuckle when he hit Frankie with that first uppercut. I thought after the second round we were up one point since the first round was a 10-8. Third round could have gone either way so at worst it would have been tied. I later found out only one judge had the first round 10-8 which is crazy. I thought Gray was picking it up in the fourth but the next thing you know, Gray got caught and Frankie did a great job finishing. I have to give Frankie a ton of respect. He is a true champion. He took an ass whooping in that first round, then came back and would not be denied. You have to knock him out to beat him and I don’t know many people at 155 pounds who hit harder than Gray. I’ve gotten to know Frankie’s coaches since we’ve fought it three times and, even though its competition, I think they respect our camp and we definitely respect their camp. When we were in Washington D.C. for UFC Live 6 the week before, I was in the van with Frankie’s boxing coach Mark Henry. We talked a bit and it was a very friendly conversation. There had been some rumors after the second fight about trash talking so I called Frankie’s dad and let him know that I respect him and his son; that whatever was being said was nothing personal and that we were just trying to pump up the fight to promote it. Frankie is a nice person, a good guy, and a family man. I have nothing bad to say about him. It was just competition. Frankie did what he had to do. He won, and he and his camp did a great job. As far as the other fights at UFC 136, Jose Aldo is for real and is going to be around for a long time. I don’t think there are many people who can hang with him or take his belt. It would be a great fight to see him and Frankie mix it up at 145 pounds. I didn’t get to see much of the rest of the card though because I was warming up with Gray. I did hear about Chael Sonnen challenging Anderson Silva and I highly doubt Dana White would allow those stipulations would take place. Chael is a very nice guy, a great fight promoter, and I think he genuinely dislikes Anderson Silva. Maybe it is gamesmanship and he’s just trying to get under Anderson’s skin to throw him off his game, but I think there’s more genuine dislike involved than would be the case with any other fighter he might face. With Stann he didn’t really trash talk and definitely not to the extent that he talks about Anderson. Up next is getting Jay Hieron ready for his fight against Ben Askren and he’s looking good. We know what Ben is going to do and we gotta stop him from doing that. We know where we’re better than him and we have to use that to our advantage. Finally, as you know I’m a big Oakland Raiders fan. Regardless of my feelings toward Al Davis, I would obviously never wish death upon anyone. He has a family who loved him and I want to express my condolences to them. Hopefully his son can continue the legacy that his dad left and turn things around so the Raiders can get back on the winning side. Al had a full life and you could tell he loved his team. It was nice to see the team win again on Sunday for Al. Hopefully they keep that up. That’s it for now. I’m looking forward to checking back in with everyone next week. Until then, catch up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter) Tweet

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You’ll never forget your first Nick Diaz interview, or your second, or third, and you get the picture. For pure stream of consciousness insights from a pure fighter, Diaz never disappoints. And as he’s gone from Stockton, California to the UFC, to PRIDE, to Elite XC and Strikeforce and back again to the UFC, he has never wavered in who he is and has never subscribed to the professional athlete’s handbook of clichés.That could get you in trouble at times, but Diaz has never shown any desire to follow a particular path in his professional career. Yeah, he wants to make money just like the next guy, but he’s been willing to shoot himself in the foot, if only to prove that what really matters at the end of the day is your performance. And whether you stand for or against mixed martial arts’ version of antihero, you will agree that he always performs when the lights hit him in the Octagon.“Every time you watch Nick Diaz, you’re about to see a fight and you can’t guarantee that with all these matches,” said Diaz’ friend and longtime training partner Gilbert Melendez, the current Strikeforce lightweight champion. “A lot of people treat this as a sparring session or they could be a little boring, but when you see Nick Diaz, he’s there to fight and you’re gonna see a full-on exciting fight. The guy comes at you to fight; not to win on the scorecards and not to win the points, but to come out and finish the fight. He’ll test your heart, he’ll test your chin, and he’ll test everything about you. If you try to stall him out, he’ll talk you into a fight. He’ll tell you ‘stop being a sissy, fight me.’ I think the other thing about Nick Diaz is that he’s very bold and blunt, and he’s consistent. A lot of people get frustrated with a lot of the things he says, but most people wish they had the guts to be as honest as he is.”Honesty is a dirty word to most professional athletes, and at times you can understand why. You’ve got teammates and coaching staffs to worry about, image issues to protect, and endorsement deals to keep intact. In an individual sport like MMA, there is a bit more in the way of “real talk,” but no one has taken it to the level of Diaz. Yet the best part of this aspect of his personality is that this is who he is. He’s not playing a character for the cameras. The first time I spoke to him was in 2005, shortly before his fight with then-unbeaten Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez at the TUF2 finale in Las Vegas. At the time, Diaz was 4-1 in the UFC, with finishes of Jeremy Jackson, Robbie Lawler, Drew Fickett, and Koji Oishi sandwiching a lone split decision loss to Karo Parisyan. Diaz, looking to close in on a shot at Matt Hughes’ welterweight title, didn’t think a victory over the upstart Sanchez would move him any closer to that goal, but with it being a nationally televised bout on Spike TV, he took the fight. Then again, he took every fight because that’s what he did. And despite the athletic gifts that were made evident over the years, he never saw himself as being like his peers when it came to natural talent. He was a fighter, not an athlete.“My best way to say it is that most good athletes are just that – good athletes,” he explained back in 2005.  “They were brought up being athletes; they had somebody pushing them, encouraging them, taking them to practice – whether they were playing football, doing swimming, boxing or wrestling.  That takes a lot of money and positive encouragement.  That’s stuff people like me don’t get.  It doesn’t work like that.”“All the athleticism that I have, it’s because of me,” Diaz continued.  “I didn’t even have a dad around.  I didn’t have a dad to put me in some wrestling camp, and I didn’t have aunts and uncles coming around to help me out.  My mom, she’s been working at Lyon’s restaurant in Lodi for like 25 years.  She took me to swimming practice when I was younger. For some reason she stuck me in swimming, and I’d be trying to run off and cut practice, and she’d drag me back to practice just so I did something.”  Eventually, Diaz would find jiu-jitsu, and then mixed martial arts. He turned pro in August of 2001 with a first round submission of Mike Wick, and two years later he was in the UFC. By late-2005, Sanchez was the only obstacle standing between him and the next level in the organization, and with so much on the line, Diaz’ usual intensity ramped up ten-fold. Backstage at the Hard Rock that night, with only a black curtain separating the two camps, Diaz and Sanchez began jawing at each other, with the fight almost kicking off before fans even got a glimpse of the two combatants. Consider that in 2005, many veterans of the sport believed that anyone coming off the new Spike TV reality show weren’t “real” fighters, so to Diaz, Sanchez represented everything he was fighting against.“It wasn’t so easy, especially starting out,” Diaz admitted back then.  “I fought all hard guys and I didn’t have ten people coaching, training, and feeding me.  I had to start out learning how to eat right, all by myself with nobody telling me how or by reading any books.  I learned just by training so hard and feeling like garbage when you do the wrong thing.”  “This is me and this is what I do,” he continued.  “I don’t have any fallback plans like the rest of these people.  If Diego Sanchez starts doing real bad at this, and he goes ahead and quits, he’s gonna have something else he’s doing.  He’ll go back to school or do something.  Let me tell you, I ain’t going back to school.”When the dust settled, Sanchez won the fight against Diaz that night via unanimous decision. But in a year of memorable battles (including the first bout between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar and the rematch between Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg), Sanchez-Diaz earned its place among the best of 2005. As I wrote in a year-end piece on the best fights of that 12 month period, “After (Rashad) Evans - (Brad) Imes and (Joe) Stevenson - (Luke) Cummo, Diego Sanchez and Nick Diaz had a pair of tough acts to follow, but they delivered with a connoisseur’s treat – a battle of bad blood and jiu-jitsu that saw Sanchez prove that he belongs among the contenders at 170 pounds, while Diaz showed MMA fans that you don’t need to be on top to have an effective ground attack. And though the judges’ scores of 30-27 would make observers think this match was a blowout, it was anything but that.”Diaz stumbled after the loss, losing consecutive bouts to Joe Riggs and Sean Sherk before a win outside the Octagon against Ray Steinbeiss put him back on track to finish out his UFC stint with wins over Josh Neer and Gleison Tibau. So as 2007 dawned, the scouting report on Diaz was that he was talented, but flawed; good, but not good enough to win at the next level. Yet the world would get to know a new Nick Diaz over the ensuing four years, one who kept true to himself outside of competition, but who went to the woodshed and elevated his game inside of it.The first revelation was his win over Takanori Gomi in a 2007 PRIDE battle in Las Vegas. The result was later overturned to a no contest when Diaz tested positive for marijuana after the fight, but anyone who saw the fight knew who the winner was and whose stock rose significantly, and it wasn’t Gomi.After an EliteXC win over Mike Aina and a cut-induced TKO loss to KJ Noons, Diaz went on a tear that hasn’t subsided yet. He’s won 10 in a row, earned the Strikeforce welterweight title, and has defeated Noons, Paul Daley, Frank Shamrock, Scott Smith, “Mach” Sakurai, and Evangelista Santos along the way. Nine of those 10 wins were finished before the final bell, and with his busy striking attack, Cesar Gracie black belt level submission game, and undeniable toughness, Diaz went from solid B-level fighter to one of the best in the game. As Melendez points out, his friend’s improvement may be pegged to a long adjustment to the intricacies of the professional fight game.“Obviously his boxing game has just become phenomenal,” explains Melendez. “He used to know how to throw a lot of strikes, but now he knows how to slip punches better, and he’s so much better tactically. He knows how to block in the pocket, he can fight outside the pocket, he can make you feel anxiety and he can come at you, and his jiu-jitsu game has just evolved even more. He stays on top of his game the whole time and I think the main thing about him now is that he fights his fight. Before, he would fight to try to play the game with the scorecards or try to figure it out because these fights have time limits. He’s the type of the guy that if it was a fight to the death, Nick or (brother) Nate Diaz would win every time, but it’s not to the death, it’s to the scorecards, so I think he had a lot of time to adjust to winning a fight in 15 minutes, and now he’s adjusted. He’s putting people away in one round because he knows how to take them to that place they don’t want to go. And he’s willing to go there.”What Diaz hasn’t been willing to do is change, and when he lost a lucrative and perhaps life-altering title shot against UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137 later this month after no-showing press conferences in Toronto and Las Vegas, he hurt himself on the business front yet again. By the same token, his stance may have earned him even more fans as the rebel who is willing to take a proverbial bullet to stick to his guns.“Sometimes it can get a negative reaction, but in the long run, just being consistent and real a hundred percent, at the end of the day if you can keep that track record, there’s no better compliment you can get from someone than saying ‘hey man, this guy’s for real.’ And that’s what Nick is,” said Melendez. “At times it might give him a little bump in the road, like this time with the miscommunication and everything, but for me, as a friend, I think that if he continues to keep it real one hundred percent, it will be a positive in the future.”Diaz would lose in a lot of ways, financially and otherwise, when he was dropped from the St-Pierre fight, but he also found a way to land on his feet when he was put into the UFC 137 main event slot against former two division world champion BJ Penn. Why, you may ask, after all the UFC’s plans for a GSP-Diaz bout went up in smoke? Well, it may have to do with the fact that for whatever quirks Diaz has in terms of showing up to media events on time, or at all, or his lack of accessibility at times (well, most of the time), once you do catch him, he’s not at all what you would expect from the reputation he’s had all these years. Is he like most of his peers? No. But he doesn’t hide from who he is either. Nick Diaz is true to himself, and if he simply wants to let his fighting speak for itself, so be it, because you can’t help but appreciate the fact that, for him, this isn’t a sport, and from the first time I spoke to him nearly six years ago, he made that clear. This is war.“I just think in my head that the guy that I’m fighting had it easy,” said Diaz in 2005.  “They haven’t been where I’ve been and they’re not as crazy as I am and that’s the way it is.  You’re just not.  I know you’re not.  I know it.  That’s the way I think.  I know you’re not trying to get up out of this hell hole.  You’re just trying to be the best that you can be.    I’m gonna come out of my hell hole and I’m gonna beat you.”

Posted in: fight, diaz, time, ’t, sanchez

Read the full article at UFC

For those who are wondering, no, we never got an explanation from Michael Bisping for his absence from the weigh-in on this past week’s episode. It was very weird. As a fighter you want to believe in your corner, you need to know your corner will be there for you at all times. It’s a trust issue for fighters. So when the guy who is supposed to be in your corner is not there at the weigh-ins, it’s kind of like, “WTF?” You have to be able to have faith in what your corner tells you. If they say throw “hook-cross-hook” or you need to go for a Triangle Choke, you have to know it’s there. If they say something, you should go for it, because they may see something you don’t, but that all comes with trust. As far as the confrontation between Stephen Bass and Bisping, personally, I thought Bass’ cardio was extremely lacking to begin with. You could even see it in his fight to get into the house where he was tired, then just happened to slap a Triangle on a guy. In my opinion he was a little bit lazy. Bisping was simply trying to make sure he was ready for the fight. Dodson had told us the match-up so we wanted to prepare him, to get him ready for it. The entire time Bisping wanted to make sure he knew that being on the ground with Dennis Bermudez was a bad idea…that he had to be able to get up…and the bottom line is that Bass didn’t follow the gameplan. It’s simple. And if you don’t follow the plan you have nobody to be mad at but yourself. The strategy was to get up and strike with him but instead he chose to lie on his back and get pounded trying to go for a Triangle. You can’t be upset with Bisping for working you too hard if you don’t follow the gameplan. Bass told me he was trying to go for a Flying Triangle when he jumped but he only got like four inches off the ground. I remember thinking, “Oh…wow…really?” And the whole time afterwards he was fishing for compliments. The best thing I could tell him was, “Yeah, man, you landed three jabs that were off the chain.” I didn’t know what else to say. I mean he did hit Dennis flush three times, and it caught me off-guard to where I thought he might be able to pull out the win, but then he didn’t attempt to stand back up and my mind went to, “Why isn’t he trying to get up?” It was weird because not only did Bisping and Tiki Ghosn tell him to get to his feet but the whole Blue Team was saying, “GET…THE…F*CK…UP!” I counted three times in the fight where Bermudez gave him enough space to stand up but he just never did. He was waiting on that Triangle Choke. When Bass told me he wanted to confront Bisping I told him he should wait until afternoon practice because he didn’t want to risk messing up the vibe in the morning and then have it drag on throughout the whole day. Initially he agreed and said he’d wait. However, secretly I knew a few of our coaches weren’t going to be at the afternoon practice so I wanted to get in as much as I could with them early, then not show up to the later session, because I knew when he told Bisping what he told me it was going to be ugly. Basically, I didn’t want to be around when sh*t went down. I know it’s messed up but that was my intention. So, I open the door to the gym in the AM, and I walk in on Bisping cussing out so he didn’t wait anyways. Bass pulled Bisping away from the cameras, and I don’t know exactly what he said but the next thing I heard was Bisping yelling all sorts of profanity. All I know is he told me he was too tired to pull off the Flying Triangle because Bisping wore him out three days prior. Make of that what you will. Obviously the size difference in the other fight was very influential in the outcome, especially in the second round when Dustin Pague found his range with those knees. Louis Gaudinot just couldn’t put it on him. He was scrapping, doing everything he could. And I’ll tell you this – if Louis would have hit him with that spinning heel-kick it would have been game over! Louis has a lot of heart and you better believe when Dana White finally adds the flyweight division he’s going to be a top contender. Being 0-4 as a team was disheartening but let’s just say that after awhile Team Mayhem will run out of options and some of their fighters will be thrown to the wolves. They had their higher picks go against our lower picks for the most part and now it’s time for the reverse to happen. Things are going to get a little uglier for the other team, especially when it comes to some of the matchmaking. That’s it for this week. As always, Roll Tide! Shout outs to Louis a.k.a. “Jersey Green” who did his thing, the best he could, and is a future flyweight champion hands down, as well as to my guard unit, the 117th in Birmingham, Alabama! Thanks for reading again. I’ll be back next week with some more insight on what went down. In the meantime check me out on Twitter (@brim205). Tweet

Posted in: time, ’t, bisping, triangle, bass

Read the full article at Fighters.com

Did you know there's a dude on Dead Island named Marcus Davis? Yep, Irish accent and all. You have to help him fix some generators so the survivors can power up the lighthouse to signal for help. Is this Marcus Davis character a coincidence, or are the developers of the sleeper hit game huge fans of the Irish Hand Grenade? We may never know the truth, but one thing I can take away from my Dead Island experience is a healthy respect for Oleander and a constant need for snacking. Ironically, the real Marcus Davis has been feeling a bit like a zombie lately due to his massive weight cuts. His journey into lightweight almost went deadly the last time he hit the 155 mark. Marcus decided to share his tale on MMAWeekly Radio. “It’s kind of scary to say this but that fight almost killed me, making that weight,” Davis told MMAWeekly Radio recently. “I had a really, really, really bad time and I still made the weight, but I’ll never, ever be able to do that again.” “After that, I think I was all the way down to 154 when I ended up weighing in and that fight was on a Friday. That Monday I was 207, so it had nothing to do with my overeating. It had to do with my body freaked out and thought that I might torture it again like that so it just held onto everything." “Saying it was a hard cut to go to 155 is one thing, but you know I fought Pete Spratt about eight weeks later and I had difficulty making 170. What was weird was I followed the same routine cause I got into panic mode cause I wasn’t losing any weight, so I went to my 155-pound diet and my body still wouldn’t let that weight go. I had a really tough time with those two fights." “I honestly don’t think my body would allow me to do it, and if I did, I wouldn’t want to know what it could do to my health in the long run. I made a promise to my wife that I wasn’t going to do that again.” [source]

Posted in: ’t, weight, davi, marcu, marcus davis

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This past Saturday night, Chael Sonnen took his pro wrestling schtick to a whole other level. He book his own fight and added stipulations to that fight. After defeating Brian Stann at UFC 136, Sonnen delivered the following promo, “Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck. Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business. I’m calling you out Silva, but we’re upping the stakes. I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I will leave the UFC forever.” Now saying that the best fighter in the world “absolutely sucks” and making stipulations that won’t be upheld doesn’t exactly make it the greatest promo of all time, but it did get me thinking: what would be some great fights if you added stipulations to them? Well, I’m glad you asked. *Cody McKenzie vs. Paul Sass – “Guillotine vs. Triangle Fight” / McKenzie is the master of the McKenzitine and Sass is the master of the Sassangle, so who has the better finishing move? The bout will be contested under the unified MMA rules, which means it won’t be a pure grappling match, but the fighter has to finish with their respective choke. If that means McKenzie KO’s Sass with a head kick and then locks on a guillotine or Sass rips off McKenzie’s leg with a leg lock and the slaps on the triangle, then so be it. Prediction: I’d favor Sass because I think he’s the more well-rounded fighter and definitely the better grappler. Sass would likely pull guard, thus avoiding getting stuck in a guillotine, and then catch McKenzie in his famous triangle choke. *Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba – “Both Men Must Retire After the Fight” / Sakuraba obviously wants to keep fighting and it seems to me that Gracie wouldn’t mind fighting one more time. So have them fight each other, thus guaranteeing neither man gets seriously injured, but make them agree to retire after the bout. How do you uphold a retirement stipulation in MMA? Don’t book them. When Sakuraba begs DREAM to give him one more fight, DREAM needs to tell him they’ll think about it and then never call him back. Prediction: Gracie would win because he’s the less broken down fighter. He hasn’t been in as many wars as Sakuraba and his body has been healing and resting up over the years, while Sakuraba has continued to fight and train. It would probably be a boring and sad fight, but at least it would be the last. *Frankie Edgar vs. Joe Lauzon – “One Round Fight” / Edgar is a very slow starter, nearly getting killed by Gray Maynard twice in the first round in his last two bouts. Lauzon is a very fast starter, winning the majority of his fights in the first round and doing so in impressive fashion. It’s obvious that Edgar is the better fighter and that if it were a five round fight, Edgar would win 9 out of 10 times. But how about one round to settle it all? Prediction: I’d still favor Edgar because he’s a smart fighter. He has a great chin and he’s a very good wrestler. I think he’d be too fast for Lauzon and then score a couple of takedowns to really secure the round. If Lauzon catches Edgar though, I guarantee he’d put him away because Lauzon has a great killer instinct. *Demian Maia vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza – “No Stand Ups, but Sit Downs, and No Rounds Fight” / I want these two to fight, but I want to make sure it hits the ground. So even though the fight will start on the feet, if they’re not busy enough standing, the ref will put them on the ground with top position being determined by a pre-fight coin flip and rotating with each sitdown. If they’re stalled in the clinch, they’ll be put on the ground. If they’re stalled on the ground, have them flip positions. I want to guarantee that the fight will hit and be active, that’s why I’m also eliminating rounds. The fight goes until someone finishes (doesn’t have to be a submission) or one man is so exhausted that he can’t continue. Prediction: I actually have no clue who to favor in this fight, so I turned to the best in the business when it comes to previewing fights. Here’s what 5OZ’s own Samer Kadi had to say… Jacare. He’s got better striking (though that wouldn’t be much of a factor according to your Sonnen rules), he’s better in the clinch, and he’s got better takedowns and will likely end up on top. Plus, he’s got the better BJJ on the whole. He’s 2-1 against Maia in grappling matches, with Maia’s one victory being controversial and pretty close (one of Jacare’s wins came via submission). That said, I feel like Maia’s got the better bottom game, and he’s got way better conditioning, which would be a factor considering there are no rounds. So while I think Jacare is more skilled, I can see Maia taking it via conditioning. I’d still pick Souza though. “King Mo” Lawal vs. Quinton Jackson – “Leg Kicks Only Fight” / If you watch any “Rampage” fight in the UFC, you’ll hear Joe Rogan pretty much beg for Jackson to throw leg kicks, even though Jackson has never been a big leg kicker. I have a feeling that if Lawal, who is cut from the same boxing/wrestling cloth as Jackson, fought in the UFC, Rogan would be yelling the same thing. So how about they fight and are only allowed to throw leg kicks, just so Rogan is happy and hopefully they’ll throw enough leg kicks to appease Rogan for the foreseeable future so I don’t have to listen to him wonder why guys who never throw leg kicks, don’t throw leg kicks. Prediction: I’d probably favor Lawal in this fight, just because he’s less set in his way than Jackson. He has had knee surgery though, which makes me wonder what kind of shape his knees are in, but I do think his legs can take more of a beating at this point in their respective careers since he’s been in less wars than Jackson. *Tito Ortiz vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” – “Winner Gets Exclusive Rights to ‘I’m 100% Healthy’ Fight” / For years we’ve heard Ortiz claim to be “100% healthy” only to make excuses after the fight when he lost that his back still hurt or he had sand in his vagina. To Ortiz’ credit, he did make no excuses following his most recent loss to Rashad Evans, so good on him. Mirko seems to be going down that same road. While he’s not making excuses immediately after losses, prior to his upcoming fights, he’s been making excuses as to why he hasn’t been performing all that well. For years now he’s been claiming that his knees have been in bad shape and that they’re finally “100% healthy” and then he goes out there, doesn’t throw any head kicks, and gets knocked out. So have them fight and at least we’ll only have to put up with one man talking about his health after the bout. Prediction: I favor Ortiz just because Mirko’s chin is absolutely shot and Tito proved against Ryan Bader that if you have a questionable chin, he can test it. Plus because of Mirko’s knees, I think Tito could actually take him down and grind him out. *Brandon Vera vs. Pat Barry – “Winner Gets to Admire Their Own Work Fight” / I’ve always said that Vera and Barry are one in the same. They both have a lot of talent, a fair amount of charisma, and yet they don’t win fights because they’re too busy admiring their own work in the middle of the fight. So I’m going to give one of them a victory and after they win, they can celebrate like they just won the Stanley Cup for all I care. Prediction: Since Vera actually has a ground game, I favor him in this fight. Honestly though, I think the fight would end in a draw just because neither guy can ever seem to win an important fight. *Dan Henderson vs. Chris Leben – “Right Hand vs. Left Hand Only Fight” / Both men are known for their power and their chin. So I want to test their power hand and their chin against each other. Henderson is only allowed to throw his right hand and Leben is only allowed to throw his left hand. The fight can only end in a (T)KO as well. Something will have to give. Prediction: This might be the fight I’m most excited for just because a one armed rock em sock em robot fight sounds pretty awesome. I give the edge to Henderson since I have more faith in his power and chin but the fight could just come down to who presses their button faster and more often. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, round, ’t, vs, leg

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Like all of you, I don’t know whether Kenny Florian will retire in the near future. But despite not being able to read his mind, there seems to be little left to prove for the 35-year-old southpaw. To fight fans. Or himself. If Saturday’s night’s setback to Jose Aldo was indeed the curtain call on Florian’s storied 8-year career, some will best remember the lanky Bostonian as the only man in UFC history to thrice compete for a world title belt, only to come away empty-handed each time. Others will appreciate him for being the only UFC fighter to compete in four different weight classes (astonishing, when you think about it). I, on the other hand, will foremost remember Kenny Florian as a fighter who literally squeezed every ounce of potential that he could out of his mind, body and soul toward a goal that most wouldn’t come close to reaching. In my mind, this is one of the highest compliments that I can give a person. And I can make that statement about relatively few professional fighters (though I could provide a lengthy list of more physically gifted fighters who underachieved throughout their careers and never came close to fulfilling their peak potential). When a fighter goes 0-3 in championship contests, as KenFlo did, it’s easy to point the finger at him and yell, “He choked!!” It’s the classic label, the knee-jerk reaction. Let me go on record as saying I don’t believe for a second that Kenny Florian CHOKED in any of his title fights. In fact, I believe Kenny Florian is rock solid mentally. To my point: lightweight kingpin Sean Sherk sported a 33-2-1 record back when he relied upon takedowns and superior wrestling en route to a unanimous decision victory over Florian back in 2006. Florian had entered the bout with an official 7-2 slate and simply lacked the experience and wrestling pedigree back then to pull the upset. In 2009, a motivated BJ Penn was simply the better man when he faced Florian – and the immensely talented Penn doubly benefited because he could hear many of the instructions being yelled from Florian’s cornermen. And the Aldo loss? Well, for starters, Aldo is 10 years younger than Florian and blessed with all the physical advantages that come with youth. So you can’t condemn Kenny Florian’s effort or psyche in big fights. They’re beyond reproach. But his ceiling just isn’t as high as Aldo’s and that, in my mind, was the difference between who had their hand raised Saturday and who hung their head when the decision was announced. Not determination. Not confidence. Not cage smarts. It’s why every one of us could go to a track, sprint as hard as we can for five years, 365 days a year, read as many books as we can on sprinting, and never come close to beating Usain Bolt in a 100 meter race. Not gonna happen folks. In other words, if you are an average athlete fighting a great athlete, you had best hope that the great athlete doesn’t train as hard as you do, or know as much as you do about technique, or have the same will to win or mental toughness that you do. Because if he does possess those ingredients, the less physically gifted fighter is probably in trouble. But Kenny Florian has earned my respect – and probably the respect of most fans. And there is no question that, at age 35, he could definitely keep competing another few years at a high level and perhaps remain a top 10 featherweight in the process. But one of the fundamental questions facing him is, “Do you want to wait around another two years to try and earn a title shot?” And, if you lose one fight along the way, do you want to wait maybe three more years for a potential title shot? As fast as the sport of MMA is evolving, with young fighters growing in leaps and bounds by the month, what is the likelihood that a 37 or 38-year-old Kenny Florian is excellent enough to beat the world champ in 2013 or 2014? Because, in my mind, by 2013 and 2014, we’re going to see champions with even greater skill sets than we’ve seen to date. We’re going to see Jose Aldo 3.0’s, Georges St-Pierre 3.0’s and Jon Jones 3.0’s. There is so much suffering, and borderline torturous work and deprivation required in the quest for a UFC world championship, and I honestly don’t think that any other sport comes close in what they demand of their athletes. Mind, body and soul. An avalanche of sacrifices. In baseball, a bad day is when you strike out three times in a game. In the fight game, a bad day is when you lose, get your butt kicked and make a visit to the hospital and find out you’re medically suspended for the next two months. MMA is the ultimate sport and anyone who thinks otherwise is ignorant and/or delusional. Kenny Florian, son of a thoracic surgeon, is a very intelligent young man. And he can follow in the footsteps of 40-somethings Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and George Foreman if he wants to. But there is a key difference. Florian competes at a lighter weight, and in the lighter weights speed is paramount (135 kingpin: Dominick Cruz. 145-pound champ: Jose Aldo. 155 pounds: Frankie Edgar. All blazing quick). And when a fighter starts to age, speed is the first thing to go. Strength stays, cardio might too, but the middle-aged athlete’s reflexes start to slow down – and that is even more dastardly when you’re sharing cage space with speedsters like Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes or a Dominick Cruz. It’s Kenny’s decision, obviously. He could take another fight or two – one of those “fights that interest me” that vets like Couture, Matt Hughes and Matt Serra look for when retirement dialogue starts creeping more and more into their psyche. But that approach gets risky, because, as we know, most top fighters don’t leave the cage under idyllic, fairy-tale endings (Chris Lytle being the exception). Most of the time top fighters leave on their backs, with the ref waking them up. Most of the time accomplished veterans become gatekeepers or steppingstones who help fans delineate between the pretenders and the contenders. It’s an unfortunate fact. Kenny Florian fought competitively Saturday night against a fighter who has looked invincible and hasn’t lost in nearly six years. I personally believe that, if you throw out what a fighter has accomplished in his career, and just look at their recent body of work and rate their skill sets – if you just judge them based on the skill set that they possess today -- I would peg Aldo as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. So Kenny Florian’s performance was impressive, if not victorious. Now the waiting game has begun. We know that Florian is a talented UFC commentator and ESPN MMA analyst and a great ambassador for the sport. So if we have indeed seen the last of Kenny Florian as pro fighter, I hope fans remember him as a ridiculously good fighter and first-rate finisher who gave everything he had in the gym and in the Octagon. It is a quality that is worth admiring. Because you can’t ask anything more of a fighter, or a person, than that.

Posted in: fighter, ’t, florian, kenny, kenny florian

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From the first time UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon stepped into the Octagon has known what it’s like to be counted out before the bell sounds. A 22-year old serving as a stepping stone for returning champion Jens Pulver, “J-Lau” shocked the MMA community by leaving “Little Evil” in a heap before the first minute of the fight had even expired. Lauzon found himself in a similar position again nearly five years to the day after his upset win over Pulver when facing Melvin Guillard this past Saturday night at UFC 136. Guillard, who had won five straight entering the bout and was seen as a possible contender for the title, was a 3:1 favorite over the Massachusetts native. However, similar to his showing in 2006, Lauzon wasn’t intimidated and came away with an equally fast win. Lauzon Predicts “Great Fight” with Guillard at UFC 136 The Ultimate Fighter 5 alumnus has since opened up about his “Submission of the Night” finish of Guillard and credited his gameplan, as well as mindset in general, for the roles they played in bringing a victory home from Houston. “He is two entirely different fighters when he’s coming forward versus when someone else is coming forward. We said basically no matter what, even if I was getting my butt beat, I was going to come forward. I couldn’t ever, ever, ever start stepping backward and start letting him come forward,” Lauzon explained in a conversation with Sherdog. “I wasn’t going to be intimidated. I wasn’t going to be bullied. Regardless of what he threw at me, I was throwing back the entire time.” As dedicated as Lauzon was to successfully completing the challenge at hand, he also admitted he didn’t feel as though Guillard shared the same level of focus and may have lost as a result of the mental lapse. “I didn’t feel like he was giving me the credit I deserved at all,” revealed Lauzon. “Not that I felt disrespected, but I thought that he took the fight way too lightly. He was at the Fan Expo. He was doing signings the day of the fight. He was running around calling himself the champ already. He was already talking about what he was going to do after he knocks me out. For me, I focus on the fight. I never, ever, ever want to talk about what I’m going to do after a fight because you just never know. For him to already be jumping to so many conclusions, I had a really, really good feeling and it got better and better with every day that passed.” Apparently his confidence was not the only thing improving on a daily basis – Lauzon himself is too. The victory over Guillard improved his overall record to 21-6 with all of his wins involving some form of stoppage. It was his second consecutive instance of in-ring success and his sixth straight event-specific bonus. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: fight, ’t, guillard, lauzon, wasn

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Former UFC light heavyweight title-holder Lyoto Machida is used to being the favorite whenever he steps into the ring. A 17-2 competitor, the Brazilian has beaten a number of apt adversaries and has a unique style often making him nearly impossible to hit cleanly. However, when it comes to his upcoming fight against current champion Jon Jones there’s no doubt the odds will be against “The Dragon” pulling out a win. While the situation may be new to Machida it’s certainly not one affecting him in a negative way. In fact, he actually plans to use it to his advantage. “The fight will be decided in the Octagon,” Machida explained in an interview with Sherdog. “Let him be the favorite. He’ll enter with the label of being a prodigy, but I’ll be stronger because of that. Since I’m the underdog, I will enter the fight even more motivated to show that I deserve to be here and to show why they offered me the chance.” That isn’t to say Machida is looking past the challenges “Bones” is sure to offer. In fact, he’s still unsure of exactly what it will take to beat the dynamic 205-pound champion even though he’s confident in his ability to do so. “It’s hard to say what the perfect style is to stop Jones,” said Machida on the subject. “I have a lot of trust in my skills against any fighter. I won’t change what people have seen, and I’d rather show them in the Octagon instead of talking about it beforehand. Jones wasn’t my problem until the UFC booked the fight. I’ll spend a lot of time studying him and find the best way to stop him. I know he’s versatile, but I have my own talents and know what it takes to win.” Machida may also have a secret weapon in his corner to assist in the task at hand – Anderson Silva. The 33-year old revealed he had already reached out to the pound-for-pound great in hopes “The Spider” might be able to fit it into his schedule though he’s not relying on Silva’s assistance. “I can’t count on that because he has so many obligations, and I respect that. He’s the biggest name in MMA. I would love to have him beside me for this camp and he will be welcomed if he joins us, but I don’t want to count on him and not have it happen.” Jones and Machida will meet on December 10 in Toronto as the main event of UFC 140. Other match-ups on the card include Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Canadians Mark Bocek, Mark Hominick, and Rory MacDonald are also booked for action at the show. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: jone, ’t, “ i, machida, i ’ll

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UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will put his title on the line for the seventh time at UFC 137 when he faces “The Natural Born Killer,” Carlos Condit on October 29th in Las Vegas. If it looks like GSP is on the verge of cleaning out the division, that’s not surprising if you take a glance at the fighters he’s beaten over the years. But what were his greatest hits? Read on to find out.Karo Parisyan – January 31, 2004 – UFC 46Result – St-Pierre W3 (Unanimous)Now this is what you call a debut. Despite going 5-0 on the Canadian scene, defeating Ivan Menjivar, Thomas Denny, and Pete Spratt in the process, St-Pierre wasn’t the fighter with all the hype behind him heading into this UFC 46 bout. It was judo wizard Parisyan, whose own UFC debut a few months earlier saw him dazzle fans with his grappling before submitting Dave Strasser. But this was GSP’s night, and as I wrote that night, he pretty much controlled matters from the start. “Effectively working his striking game while in Parisyan’s guard, St-Pierre pounded his foe throughout, bloodying him in the process.  The courageous Parisyan had his moments in the bout as he attempted to secure a submission lock on the Canadian, but St-Pierre’s strength and ring savvy allowed him to stay out of serious danger and easily take the bout on the scorecards.” This was just the beginning.BJ Penn – March 4, 2006 – UFC 58Result – St-Pierre W 3 (split)It was a purist’s dream match, and it lived up to the hype, but after the first round ended, not too many people would have bet that St-Pierre would emerge victorious. “That first round (against Penn) was the worst round of my life,” admitted GSP after the bout. “Actually, if you look at my career, I had never lost a round against anybody (to that point). Even when I fought Matt Hughes, the judges thought I was ahead – I asked them if they would have given me the round. So this round (against Penn) was the only round I lost.” GSP more than lost it; he was bloodied and battered by the crisp standup of Penn, and many wondered if he would fold. He didn’t, showing the heart of a champion in roaring back and taking the next two rounds and the decision. It was the gut check moment all fighters have to go through, and St-Pierre passed with flying colors. “It just proved to everybody that I’m a lot stronger mentally than when I fought Matt Hughes,” he said. “I’ve been able to come back after a beating and get the victory. I think that’s the difference between a champion and a guy who will always be tough, but will never be a champion. You can be as skillful as you want, but if you don’t have the mental toughness, you’re not going to go anywhere, and in our sport, sooner or later, you’ll need that to win a fight.”Matt Hughes II – November 18, 2006 – UFC 65Result – St-Pierre TKO 2St-Pierre more than earned a second title shot at the first man to beat him, Matt Hughes, after five straight wins against top-notch competition, and he was a different fighter than he was two years earlier. Hughes, one of the strongest fighters ever to step into the Octagon, found that out early on when he tried to lock the challenger up and St-Pierre tossed him away with little if any effort. By round two, the result was academic, and when the Montrealer dropped Hughes with a kick to the head in round two, seconds later a new champ was crowned. It was expected to be a reign that would last for as long as St-Pierre wanted it to. But you know that old adage about the best-laid plans of mice and men, and just five months after this monumental win, GSP was knocked out by Matt Serra in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.Josh Koscheck I – August 25 – UFC 74Result – St-Pierre W 3 (Unanimous)This may have been the most important fight of St-Pierre’s career. After the loss to Serra, the whispers were that GSP was ultra-talented but didn’t have that extra something to be great. It shows you how soon people forget the way he came back against Penn or dominated most of the 170-pound division on the way to the title. St-Pierre kept quiet and went about his business, determined to teach all the skeptics a lesson. The lesson he taught in dominating wrestling ace Josh Koscheck at UFC 74 was that you can’t keep a good man down, that he was back, and that he wasn’t going anywhere.Matt Serra II – April 19, 2008 – UFC 83Result – St-Pierre TKO2If GSP was going to crack under the pressure, this was the night to do it. Not only was he facing the man who knocked him out, but he was doing it in his hometown of Montreal, where fans packed the Bell Centre just to see their hero in action. Well, he didn’t disappoint, stopping Serra in the second round with a disciplined and dominant attack. “The pressure was there,” he said. “But I’m at my best when I perform under pressure – it keeps me sharp and aware of what can happen and what is on the line.”Jon Fitch – August 9, 2008 – UFC 87Result – St-Pierre W5 (Unanimous)To this day, St-Pierre calls this five round scrap with number one contender Jon Fitch the toughest fight of his career. And with good reason. Going the championship distance for the first time, St-Pierre had plenty of success early, but as the bout progressed, it was clear that Fitch wasn’t going anywhere. The judges didn’t see fit to give Fitch any rounds on the scorecards, but anyone who witnessed the fight knew that it was anything but a 50-44, 50-44, 50-43 blowout. Fitch tested St-Pierre’s mettle as a champion, and GSP passed that test with flying colors.BJ Penn II – January 31, 2009 – UFC 94Result – St-Pierre TKO4Nearly three years after their first bout, St-Pierre and Penn locked horns again in THE superfight of 2009. Only this time, it wasn’t a 15 minute back and forth war. The second time around, St-Pierre, bigger and stronger than Penn – who was coming up from 155 pounds for the bout – was in control for four rounds until the Hawaiian’s corner decided that they had seen enough and halted the fight before the final stanza. After all the bad blood and trash talk before the match, it was one of St-Pierre’s most satisfying victories and one that entrenched him in the upper reaches of the mythical pound for pound list. It’s a spot that he hasn’t come close to giving up, four fights and four wins later.

Posted in: ufc, round, ’t, gsp, st-pierre

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Chael Sonnen inspired me to Google Earth West Linn, Oregon today, and I accomplished absolutely nothing by doing so. One day, I intend on driving cross country in a 1983 Cadillac Eldorado and stop in Portland to try a Maple Bacon Bar at VooDoo Doughnut. At no point on that expedition will I find myself curious to see where Chael Sonnen is from. Even if I found myself in a position where I blow a head-gasket, and all the spare parts I need are in West Linn, I would probably just sell the car for scrap metal and finish my trip to the West Coast by scooter. I would, however, be curious to see Chael Sonnen in a rematch with Anderson Silva – just like every other humanoid on this side of the planet. You might even be able to stretch that demographic to multiple time-zones on the opposite end of the planet; places where they’ve never heard of Voodoo Doughnut, voodoo, or even doughnuts. While we eagerly wait for UFC to make it official, Ed Soares doesn’t share the same enthusiasm about Chael’s UFC 136 post-fight speech or any hope of Anderson competing in a “Loser-leave-town” match. Here’s what he had to say about the gangster from Oregon in a recent interview: “First the guy gets in trouble for fraud, then he tests positive for steroids, and now he wants to kick in someone’s door and slap their wife in the ass? This guy should be in jail; he shouldn’t be fighting. Chael is not the person that’s going to determine when [Silva] is going to take the fight. When he’s going to take this fight is when his shoulder is completely healed up, and he’s ready to start his training camp for the fight. It’s not because Chael says he wants to fight in February. Who is Chael to determine that? Chael needs to take a number and wait his turn,” Soares told MMAJunkie today. “He got his opportunity, and he tapped. It’s not the first time he’s tapped, and I guarantee you it won’t be the last.” While Sonnen fans will be quick to accuse Anderson Silva’s manager of being a hater, they can get giddy knowing this will all but guarantee months of verbal warfare from Oregon’s toughest republican until the rematch contract is signed. You can dislike Chael, but you can’t deny his #1 contender status for the middleweight title. You also can’t deny you want a tall glass of milk and a Maple Bacon Bar from VooDoo Doughnut. [Source]

Posted in: ’t, chael sonnen, sonnen, chael, voodoo doughnut

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Bubba Jenkins hasn’t fought in MMA yet, but he already knows what kind of fighter he doesn’t want to be.

Posted in: fighter, ’t, doesn ’t, jenkin, lay-and-pray

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. Sports fans in Houston aren’t used to seeing champions. The Astros have been at the bottom of the league for a number of years now and the Texans are always the sexy pick in the pre-season but yet have never gotten over the hump. This past Saturday night, they witnessed one of the best championship performances in MMA history at UFC 136. Lets go to the scorecard: *It didn’t take long for our first Eminem walk-out song of the night as Mike Massenzio came out to “Lose Yourself.” PLUS TWO *I respect any man who walks out to “Intergalactic” by The Beastie Boys. You’re a good man in my book Steve Cantwell. PLUS ONE *Cantwell was picking apart Massenzio with straight punches and kicks, so what does he try? A flying knee. At least he didn’t end up Arlovski’d. MINUS THREE *”You got dog in you,” said one of Cantwell’s trainers. THAT’S RIGHT! WE DON’T WANT A BUNCH OF CATS! WE NEED DOGS! PLUS TWO *Much credit to Massenzio for coming back after a tough first round and beating Cantwell. PLUS FOUR *That said, you were hurting him with strikes and you kept going for takedowns? Come on man. MINUS TWO *Dropping a F Bomb in your post-fight interview will always earn you points from me. PLUS ONE *I’m disappointed that Joe Rogan didn’t mention to not blow your nose if it’s broken because your eye will swell up. Maybe he’s caught on to the drinking game. MINUS ONE *Shouldn’t Eric Schafer have to change his nickname to “Blonde”? EVEN *Obligatory points for the obligatory Chuck Liddell mention during Schafer vs. Aaron Simpson. PLUS TWO *Rogan wondered what Schafer’s game plan was, I think it was to get punched a lot. So he was following the game plan perfectly. EVEN *”Embrace the grind” is Mike Goldberg’s favorite wrestling cliché. MINUS TWO *While I wouldn’t mind mmm-boping Vanessa Hanson’s ba duba dop, I still want UFC to hire a blonde ring girl. PLUS FOUR for Vanessa, MINUS THREE for her not being blonde. *I never understand why Rogan gets so mad at guys not throwing kicks. It’s probably because they’re not very good at it. MINUS THREE *Dominant performance by Simpson. Good for him. PLUS FOUR *Terrible performance by Schafer. Another UFC run over. MINUS THREE *I’m pretty shocked Rogan didn’t have a wacky name for the weird neck crank position that Darren Elkins had Tiequan Zhang in. Maybe he’ll have one next time. MINUS ONE *You would think that Zhang would have given up on the guillotine to defend the takedown after it failed the first couple of times. MINUS FOUR *Vanessa looked very nervous walking down the steps after handing off her card and then was applauded when she made it down. Why did Brittney Palmer have to go to art school? MINUS THREE *Great grappling performance by Elkins. Dominated Zhang on the ground. PLUS THREE *Someone should tell Stipe Miocic that Mirko Cro Cop has exclusive rights to the checkered shorts. MINUS TWO *Joey Beltran is a tough guy to make your UFC debut against and Miocic did well for himself. Good all-around performance. PLUS FOUR *I have to take away points for four straight decisions though. May have earned UFC some “thumbs down” on Facebook. MINUS FOUR *What happened to Anthony Pettis’ takedown defense? He was superb against Shane Roller and Ben Henderson but he let Jeremy Stephens take him down? MINUS THREE *I give credit to Pettis for turning things around, realizing he was the better grappler, and putting Stephens on his back. PLUS FIVE *That said, what an extremely disappointing fight. Everyone expected fireworks given the striking ability of both men and instead it turned into a wrestling/grappling contest. Not saying it was a bad fight, but it was disappointing. MINUS TWO *Docking more points for another decision. MINUS FOUR *Jorge Santiago’s UFC return hasn’t quite gone as planned. At least he stayed conscious this time. MINUS ONE *Remember when Demian Maia was a killer on the ground? I miss that guy. MINUS TWO *That said, a dominant performance by Maia against a good Santiago. So I have to give him credit. PLUS FOUR *Another decision though, so I have to dock points. MINUS FOUR *YELL AT ME JOE AND DANA! YELL AT ME! PLUS TWO *Jose Aldo said, “if Kenny Florian wants a belt, he needs to drop down to bantamweight.” Don’t give the man any ideas Jose. EVEN *I can never take Joe Lauzon serious with a nickname like “J-Lau” I keep waiting for him to get pulled out of a car and start dancing. MINUS TWO *Melvin Guillard coming out to “H.A.M.” by Kanye West and Jay-Z easily earns him points. PLUS THREE *Lauzon might be the most dangerous first round fighter in the history of MMA. PLUS SIX *So much for Guillard putting it all together and making a run at the title. He still remains the most enigmatic fighter in MMA. MINUS FOUR *Extra points for Lauzon earning the first finish of the night. PLUS FIVE *The crowd booing Rashad Evans and then immediately cheering Forrest Griffin was pretty awesome. Also awesome to see them laughing it up despite having fought in the past. PLUS THREE *I give credit to Nam Phan coming out to “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People. An awkward choice, but I respect it. PLUS THREE *”When Leonard Garcia gets tired, he starts winging punches.” He must get tired during his walk out. EVEN *Garcia dropped an F Bomb prior to the third round. As always, Fighter F Bombs = positive points. PLUS TWO *Great body shots throughout the fight from Phan. I love me some body shots. PLUS FIVE *The Phan vs. Garcia fight was exactly what everyone expected it to be. A hell of a scrap with Garcia winging punches and Phan using more technique. PLUS EIGHT *Phan’s reaction when he was announced the winner was awesome. PLUS THREE *The double post-fight interview was cool, except for the fact that the winner didn’t get to say but three words. MINUS THREE *Why would Brian Stann throw a single leg kick against a wrestler like Chael Sonnen? MINUS FOUR *This just in: Sonnen is still an absolutely dominating wrestler. PLUS FIVE *Great job by Sonnen to finish the fight. He controlled Stann on the ground the entire fight and put him away with the arm triangle. PLUS SIX *Much love to the crowd for chanting “Silva” after Sonnen’s victory. PLUS TWO *We all knew Sonnen would call out Silva, but to add pro-wrestling stipulations was pretty awesome. Granted nothing will come of those stipulations, because no one adheres to stips nowadays, but it was a great job of putting the fight out there and getting people talking. PLUS TWO *I love Aldo’s walk out. Great music combined with the right amount of energy. PLUS THREE *Ok, I love “F Bombs”, but someone needs to wash Keith Florian’s mouth out with soap. Maybe if he spent less time using the f-word and more time giving Kenny some actual advice, the result would have been different. MINUS FOUR *UNDERHOOKS KENNY! UNDERHOOKS! MINUS THREE *I was impressed that Florian took a solid number of punches. I’ve always believed that he’s been a little afraid to get hit but he ate some good punches from Aldo. PLUS THREE *Otherwise Florian used the same strategy he tried against B.J. Penn: put my opponent against the cage and hope the judges give me the rounds based on control. That’s obviously not a winning strategy. MINUS SIX *Not a great performance by Aldo but he got the job done. PLUS TWO *Rogan’s commentary was especially bad in this fight. How he thought the fight was close is beyond me. All he had to do was look at the reactions when the final horn sounded. Florian knew he lost, Aldo knew he won. MINUS FOUR *Gray Maynard running to the octagon was awesome. You could tell he was ready to go out there and put a beat down on Frankie Edgar. PLUS ONE *Edgar never goes wrong with ”Kick In The Door” by Biggie as his walk out song. PLUS TWO *Once again, how in the hell did Edgar survive the first round? It was like watching a replay. Maynard dominated the first round, was more patient this time, but still couldn’t put the champ away. PLUS FIVE *Maybe Edgar was getting a little too happy mounting his comeback and that’s why he had to pour water down his pants? Otherwise I can’t explain that one. EVEN *Edgar showed Maynard how to finish a fight when you rock someone. What an amazing finish. PLUS SEVEN *And seriously, what an amazing fight. Epic first round, a great come back by Edgar just to survive and regain himself, and an epic finish. That fight, not Garcia vs. Phan, is what MMA is all about. PLUS TEN *A bad night for the commentary crew. Maybe four events in four weeks drained them, but they were really off their game. MINUS FIVE *While the preliminaries didn’t do much for me, the main card was very good, so the card as a whole earns extra points. PLUS FIVE Final Score: 44 PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, point, performance

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

EDGAR—ARE YOU KIDDING ME?Frankie Edgar was a beaten man at the end of the first round. Gray Maynard was landing right uppercuts at will, dropping the champion multiple times. Edgar returned to his corner at the end of the round with a broken nose, a severely cut left eye and down two points on the scorecards.I was debating whether to begin writing the coronation piece for the challenger. Luckily, I didn’t waste my time.Round two got underway and Maynard inexplicably stopped punching. He started circling and posing. Edgar started sticking and moving. His foe started pulling straight back with his head up and his left arm extended, leaving himself wide open for more shots. He stopped countering. And that is when Edgar took over.I have no idea how Edgar survived the opening round. It was basically a carbon copy of the heart he showed in his January bout with Maynard. This time, however, he responded to adversity with even better offense than before. He showed killer instinct by knocking out Maynard, something that I thought was next to impossible for the Jersey-based fighter, in the fourth round.Edgar deserves serious respect as the champion. He won the title from one of the greatest fighters of our generation, BJ Penn. Successfully defended it against Penn in an immediate rematch. Survived a devastating first round in his next fight against Maynard, the only man to ever defeat him, and somehow found a way to pull out a draw. And then he settled the score by stopping Maynard in the third installment of their war, after having to again survive a savage beating in the opening round.The champion not only has skills. This guy has crazy heart. I’m talking Forrest Griffin-like heart. If his next defense is going to come against Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez, there will be several fight cognoscenti, me included, who will label him as the underdog. Well, he was the underdog against Maynard and the underdog against Penn. We all know how that worked out.WHY DID MAYNARD SHUT IT DOWN?That is the proverbial $64,000 question after the main event of UFC 136. Was he injured? Did he once again gas out during his first-round onslaught? Only Maynard and those closest to him know the real truth. All I know is that Edgar was a beaten man when he retreated to his corner in between the first and second round. All Maynard needed to do was come out in the second, land a few good shots early, and remind Edgar that the nightmare of the first round wasn’t yet complete.He did none of those things. He instead let Edgar get into a rhythm, and once the champion gets into a rhythm, he is extremely tough to beat. I’m sure Maynard is bitterly disappointed in himself right about now. Understandably so. He lost the fight as much as Edgar won it, if you know what I mean. I’m not trying to be hyper critical. I just don’t understand why he shut it down after the first round. That decision will forever haunt him, particularly if he never wins the UFC 155-pound title. He will always wonder what if. So will I.ALDO CONTINUES TO MAKE HIS POUND-FOR-POUND CASEWhen most people talk about pound-for-pound greatness in mixed martial arts, they typically discuss only two names: Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre. Those in the know also throw around the name Jose Aldo.Aldo handled a much bigger, exceptionally well rounded Kenny Florian with relative ease on Saturday night. It was his 13th consecutive win. GSP has never enjoyed a 13-fight winning streak in his career. His longest is nine—his current winning streak. Silva, on the other hand, is in the midst of 15-fight winning streak. Not to mention the fact that two of those wins came in a division 20 pounds north of his division home. Plus, he has the UFC record for most consecutive title defenses.Silva is, in my opinion, the unquestioned pound-for-pound king. But I think that the number two spot is a toss up between GSP and Aldo. It will be interesting to see if Aldo continues to dominate at 145, or if he will opt to move up to lightweight to continue to build his legacy. He has an extremely difficult time cutting to the division maximum, so a move north may be all but set in stone at some point in the near future.For the time being, he is without a shadow of a doubt the very best featherweight on the planet. And he continues making his case for consideration as the number two guy on the pound-for-pound list.WHAT IS LEFT FOR FLORIAN?Florian is now 0-3 in UFC title fights. It is tough to imagine him receiving another title fight any time soon. Not unless Aldo is dethroned in the short term. That makes for a seriously uncertain future for the affable fighter.Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of interesting fights for Florian at featherweight. But one must wonder if he will have the same motivation to train hard, follow a strict diet, and live the monk-like lifestyle that has helped shape him into arguably the best fighter in the UFC never to win a title. Fighters fight for two reasons: winning championships and paying the bills. That is a gross overgeneralization. I know. Still, the statement has some merit. Remove the first reason from the equation, and that leaves paychecks as the sole motivation for KenFlo. I don’t know him personally, but it seems unlikely to me that money is a sufficient motivation for a true martial artist like Florian. This may very well be the most devastating loss of KenFlo’s career, because this is the one that will weigh on him the most mentally. It is tough to imagine what will motivate him to continue striving for greatness, knowing that he may never receive another shot at a title, in any weight class. Then again, if anyone can find a silver lining in this situation, it is probably Florian.IS THERE ANY DOUBT WITH SONNEN?Chael Sonnen is the most polarizing middleweight in the UFC. He might even be the most polarizing figure in all of mixed martial arts. Love him or hate him, there is no denying that he stands alone as the clear number one challenger for Anderson Silva’s middleweight crown.Sonnen’s utter annihilation of highly regarded Brian Stann after a 14-month layoff was a vivid reminder of that fact. No other man in the UFC has come close to defeating Silva. Sonnen came within 2 minutes of doing just that. He dominated Silva for 23 minutes, just like he dominated Stann on Saturday night.Sonnen’s request to fight Silva on Super Bowl weekend is a great idea, if anyone wants my opinion. I absolutely love his “upping of the stakes,” to use his quote. He wants Silva to retreat to light heavy, if he wins the title. If he fails to win the title, Sonnen claimed he would leave the UFC.I’m sure that was bravado. I don’t see Sonnen retiring if he loses to Silva. But it was an exceptional sound bite. Sonnen is full of those. He is the king of the one-liner. He is the undisputed champion of trash talking. And he may very well be the best middleweight in the world—he certainly thinks so.PHAN EVENS THE SCORE; LET’S DO IT ONE MORE TIMELeonard Garcia received a gift decision over Nam Phan in Las Vegas back in December 2010. There were no gifts at UFC 136. He instead received a beating from Phan in Houston. Garcia and Phan will forever be linked due to their two scintillating fights. Despite the fact that the second bout ended with a clear cut winner, Garcia still thrilled the crowd with a third-round knockdown and 15 full minutes of crazy, all-out attacking, proving that he is one of the most exciting fighters in the promotion, bar none.Phan was all-action in his own right. He isn’t always the most exciting fighter in the world, but when you put him in the cage with Garcia, it brings out the absolute best in him. Phan turns into a whirling dervish. For those who also watch boxing, Phan and Garcia are eerily reminiscent of Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward. Their three fights, which ended with Gatti winning twice, were three of the best fights I’ve ever seen. Another example would be Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, with Barrera winning twice. MMA needs a good trilogy in that same vein. Let’s run it back. What do you say, Dana White?LAUZON BEATS GUILLARD AT HIS OWN GAMEJoe Lauzon knew he could not outstrike Melvin Guillard over the course of three rounds. If the fight devolved into a kickboxing-only bout, he was a dead man walking. Oh, wait a minute. Lauzon didn’t receive a copy of the memo. He stopped Guillard in less than a minute and used a punch to get the win. He didn’t knock out Guillard, but he put him on ice skates with a counter left when Guillard jumped in with a lead left uppercut to the body. The New Orleans native left his jaw wide open when he threw the punch, and Lauzon took full advantage of the situation, re-establishing himself among the always robust group of lightweight contenders. The question for Lauzon is whether he will use this win to put together an impressive streak of performances. To date, he has not been able to win more than three consecutive fights in the UFC, and even that feat (which he accomplished just once) is dubious, since it was interrupted by his stint on “The Ultimate Fighter,” where he came up short. Lauzon has all the tools to be great. Consistency is his enemy. Let’s see if he can fix that in 2012.BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD FOR GUILLARDGuillard was on the cusp of his first UFC title shot. All he had to do was defeat Lauzon. He couldn’t do it, ending his winning streak at five. There is no doubt that UFC President Dana White will make Guillard win at least one more fight, likely more, before he is back in a position to fight for a title. With 155-pound monster Gilbert Melendez expected to head to the UFC sooner rather than later, Clay Guida and Ben Henderson trying to make their claim, and the fact that the lightweight division is the most stacked in the UFC, one must assume that Guillard is now well back in line, which is too bad. He is one fun fighter to watch. Win or lose, his fights are rarely boring.

Posted in: ufc, fight, title, ’t, maynard

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I sincerely hope that Frankie Edgar has done enough to convince that he’s one of the best lightweight fighters in UFC history. One would think that he’s proven this already. If you ask any fan who the best fighter ever to compete at 155 pounds is, they’ll probably tell you B.J. Penn. Of course, Frankie beat him twice. He’s also beaten a number of guys that have been considered amongst the best lightweights in the world, and on Saturday night he avenged the only loss he’s ever had in the sport. On top of his recorded accomplishments he’s also showcased an ever-evolving understanding of the sport, as well as a true warrior spirit. His boxing has become second-to-none, and his wrestling still holds up against the strongest guys in the division. He also happens to have an iron will and an unbreakable spirit, as he once again came back from the brink of defeat to keep victory just out of Gray Maynard’s reach. So why does everyone still insist that he should fight at featherweight? Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Frankie would undoubtedly run game on a whole host of guys at 145 lbs. I wouldn’t want to pick a winner between him and Jose Aldo but I would love to see it someday. If and/or when he does lose the UFC Lightweight Championship he may want to consider dropping down in weight, but that’s his decision to make at the time he feels like making it. Frankie would make a great featherweight, but you know what? Roy Nelson would make a great light heavyweight if he decided to start dieting. Thiago Alves would make a great lightweight if he stopped lifting weights so much. Stefan Struve would make…actually I suppose he’s kind of stuck where he is, so nevermind that one. My point is this: I’m sick of people who aren’t fighters telling fighters what weight class they should be at. As Joe Rogan pointed out during commentary on Saturday, Frankie feels that his smaller size gives him an advantage. He’s quicker than most lightweights, and his conditioning has been simply outstanding in each of his five-round fights. If I was a fighter I would probably hate cutting weight too, so what’s wrong with Frankie being one of the few guys that doesn’t have to do it? The results should speak for themselves. Edgar is making a strong argument for the distinction of being the best lightweight in the sport’s relatively-brief history. Let him make his case and stop trying to tell him he’s too small, because he will just keep proving you wrong. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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The puck dropped on the NHL season this past Thursday and I hear that there is some big MMA event this weekend in Texas called UFC 136. While I usually never miss out of a big UFC event, I have to make a slight exception this weekend when the Colorado Avalanche open their season against the Detroit Red Wings. Luckily I have two TVs in my room, so I’ll be able to catch all the action in the cage and on the ice. With this being a big sports weekend in my house, as my two favorite sports going head to head, it got me thinking about fighters on the UFC 136 main card and who their NHL counterparts would be. *Frankie Edgar – Mike Richards: Both guys have a ton of heart and give it all they have with every fight/shift. I’m a big fan of Richards and he’s a guy that I would want on my hockey team. Conversely, while I’m not a huge fan of Edgar (although I have nothing against him), he’s a guy I would want in my gym because he works hard and makes his training partners better. Also, both guys are very active. We all know about Edgar’s movement and all-around activity in fights, but Richards is a guy who plays all three zones and contributes on special teams. Final Reasoning: Heart, activity. *Gray Maynard – Loui Eriksson: Many hockey fans don’t realize how good Eriksson is because of the team he plays for, just like many MMA fans don’t realize how good Maynard is because of his fighting style. Eriksson is a consistent player in the NHL and a guy you can count on to put up 50-60 points every season. While Maynard isn’t the most exciting fighter in the world, you can’t argue with results. He has wins over good lightweights, is undefeated in the sport, and is a guy you can count on to give you a tough fight. Final Reasoning: Consistent but under the radar. *Jose Aldo – Steven Stamkos: Aldo is one of the top five fighters in the sport, he’s young, and he’s exciting to watch. Stamkos is one of the top five players in the sport, he’s young, and he’s exciting to watch. I love watching both guys when they’re in action, not only because I love watching the best in their sport, but because I know they’re going to do something exciting. They can either get it done quickly or methodically and when they’re in action, they’re an absolute treat to watch. Final Reasoning: Young, talented, exciting. *Kenny Florian – Joe Thornton: After losing to Maynard at UFC 118, Dana White labeled Florian a “choker.” That’s a term that Thornton has dealt with for awhile during his NHL career. One of the best players in the regular season, Thornton rarely shows up come playoff time. Florian has that same kind of history, getting it done in lesser fights, but coming up short when a title is on the line. Sometimes they show flashes of brilliance under the brightest lights, but the end result is always the same: their hand doesn’t get raised. Final Reasoning: Doesn’t perform well under pressure. *Chael Sonnen – Jeremy Roenick: Ok, so Roenick is retired while Sonnen is still fighting, but my initial option for Sonnen, Sean Avery, has actually won a Stanley Cup while Sonnen failed to win the his sports biggest honor. Plus Avery is third line player who is now in the minors. When he played, Roenick was one of the biggest trash talkers he backed it up with his brilliant play on the ice, unless he was facing Patrick Roy. Sonnen is definitely one of the biggest trash talkers in MMA and he usually backs it up in the cage, unless someone wraps their legs around his neck. Final Reasoning: Talks trash, usually backs it up. *Brian Stann – Ryan Miller: In 2010, Miller became a hero to all the US hockey bandwagon fans who jumped on during the Olympics with his performance in Vancouver. Stann is of course a real American hero, having served time in the military. As a player, Miller struggled in his early NHL career, found himself in the minors, and has turned into one of the best netminders in the league. As a fighter, Stann struggled at light heavyweight, found himself at Greg Jacksons, and is now a top contender at middleweight. Final Reasoning: American heroes, found themselves after early struggles. *Melvin Guillard – Martin St. Louis: MMA fans know all about Guillard’s story. Blessed with the world in potential, “The Young Assassin” went through some hard times in his career before finally living up to that potential in recent years. St. Louis might not have been blessed with Guillard’s psychical talents, standing just 5’8’’ but he was a late bloomer in the sport. He was undrafted, didn’t produce in Calgary and then went to Tampa Bay where he’s gone on to win the MVP award. Like St. Louis, Guillard uses to his speed to burn his opponents. Final Reasoning: Late bloomers, speed. *Joe Lauzon – Steve Mason: In his first year in the league, Mason won the rookie of the year award as a goalie and carried the Columbus Blue Jackets to the playoffs for the first time. In his second and third seasons, Mason became a very average goaltender and hasn’t come close to bringing his team back to the playoffs. Sounds a lot like Lauzon, who starts off very fast in the 1st round and then fades in rounds two and three. At least n one calls Mason “Creepy” as a nickname. Final Reasoning: Starts fast, fades faster. *Leonard Garcia – Erik Cole: Garcia’s style isn’t pretty but it involves a lot of power and aggression, which leads him to getting decisions that maybe he doesn’t earn. Cole is the same type of player on the ice. He’s a power player who takes the puck to the net and draws penalties because of it. Granted Cole earns those calls while Garcia benefits from blindness, but the style is essentially the same. Final Reasoning: Powerful, aggressive, earns calls that maybe they shouldn’t. *Nam Phan – Patric Hornqvist: Both guys are just serviceable in their sport with the ability to surprise you. Hornqvist isn’t well known around the league but he’s the type of player who can score a hat trick in any game even if he hasn’t done anything for weeks. Phan is the type of fighter who can give anyone a solid fight, even though his record isn’t all that great. Final Reasoning: Serviceable but effective.

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Middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has never been one to hold back when expressing his feelings. Regardless of whether the words coming out of his mouth are fair assessments or over-the-top ridiculousness, the things he says always come from a place of unfiltered honesty. Sonnen recently addressed his gift of gab during the build up to his fight this evening against Brian Stann at UFC 136 and, true to form, he didn’t hold back in any regard. “The media has found me, I didn’t come find them,” said Sonnen in a conversation with the UFC’s website in terms of the attention his words often draw. “I didn’t create a persona or sit around and come up with things to say. I don’t have any idea what you’re gonna ask me, or the next guy or any of the fans at a Q&A. I’m just up there with a microphone and doing my level best. But I haven’t changed anything; they’ve just come to me. I was the top draw when I was with Bodog, I was the top draw when I was with the IFL, and I was the top draw when I was in the WEC, and for all these same reasons. They just didn’t have the platform that Zuffa has. So I’m not doing anything different.” “People like respect and I’m the only respectful fighter in the whole sport,” he continued. “A lot of other fighters have a real misunderstanding that lying and dishonesty is respectful. They love to bow to your face and stick a knife in your back the first chance they get. I don’t. I’ll tell you like it is to your face and then I’ll stick the knife in your back because I told you that if you turn around I’ll put a knife in your back. And that’s the difference with me. I’m honest and I’m respectful. And these guys love to say ‘Chael doesn’t have any respect.’ Well, check your dictionary at the local junior high that you flunked out of. I’m absolutely respectful and absolutely honest as well. You guys are a bunch of liars.” “People hang on every word I say,” he elaborated. “People are always disappointed when I’m not talking. I do an MMA show on ESPN and they blow a fit when I’m not on there. People are throwing a protest right now online that the UFC put out their commercial for (UFC 136) and they show the two title fights and they didn’t show me and Stann. Of course people would be upset, and I don’t blame them – I’m upset too. I like hearing myself as well.” Sonnen will trade in soundbytes for in-ring skill where talking is concerned with the streaking Stann in his way of earning a rematch against UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. “He’s a tough guy in front of everything else,” Sonnen explained of Stann. “He’s a real brute. He’s big and strong and he’s got a big heart, good cardio, and he can punch hard. I also think he kicks really well. He fought Jorge Santiago, who sucks, but he buckled him with a kick, and I’ve seen him use those big, powerful kicks to soften other guys up too. He used them well in the WEC back when he was kinda green. He was green in the WEC and he still won the title. So he’s absolutely a natural in there, but if I had to describe him in a word, it would probably be ‘brute.’ He’s that big, strong, tough guy that comes to fight.” Stann Says He Can KO Sonnen with Any Punch “It’s almost the opposite of the last guy I fought,” he concluded on the decorated Marine. “The last guy I fought was a little dancing chicken, and this guy’s more of a man that will come out and draw a line in the Octagon and say put your toe on it and let’s go.” Fans can watch them “go” at it during the PPV portion of tonight’s card when things fire up at 9:00 PM EST. UFC 136 is headlined by dual title-fights with Jose Aldo defending his featherweight belt against Kenny Florian and Frank Edgar putting his lightweight strap on the line against Gray Maynard for the second straight time. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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The tension you saw during those sparring sessions was something that happens pretty commonly when you’re working with guys who you aren’t totally familiar with as teammates. People who watched the episode saw how Akira Corassani acts. When we were working together he zapped me so I zapped him back. And then we just started going real hard from that point on. So there was some frustration there but it wasn’t anything like the issue I had with Diego Brandao where we almost got to really fighting. Nothing during that situation was related to having built up any aggression in the session with Akira. Basically he just blasted me out of nowhere. And I tell you this – when you get hit and you feel a jolt of energy go from your jaw that shoots down your body it means you’ve been hit too hard. So I returned the favor and I guess he didn’t like that so he started going harder (which didn’t bother me). Then Michael Bisping broke us up but Diego bumped my chest. At first I thought he was doing that in a show of respect, like, “Great work!” But no, he was mad, even though I didn’t realize it because I thought it was just a really intense sparring session. They didn’t show this in the episode but right before the exchange he pulled me over to the side and said something like, “Marcus, are you in the competition?” I said, “No, I’m not,” and he replied, “Well I am and if you hit me like that I’m going to be out too. I’m going to knock you out if you try to knock me out.” Then Bisping intervened and I had to say, “Excuse me, but you let Diego talk and now I want to talk.” So I looked at Diego and said, “I don’t give a f*** if I’m in this competition or not. I’m nobody’s punching bag. You’re not going to hit me hard and think you aren’t getting hit back. Get the f*** off yourself. So f*** you, you need to think differently.” So he said, “I’m gonna knock you out!” And, of course, I was like, “Then knock me out bitch!” And then Bisping jumped back in to separate us. I really wish he would have refrained from threatening my life because I don’t play that sh*t. You can say whatever you want but as soon as you say you’re going to try and kill me I take a lot of offense to that as you might imagine. And he KEPT saying it to the point I told Bisping I didn’t think we should spar anymore because obviously he couldn’t deal with it on a professional level. So, in order to keep us from getting into a fist fight outside the competition, I felt like we shouldn’t even spar. It was a point I wanted to be made. I know they showed a segment where he and I kind of squashed things but, as you’ll probably see on a future TUF 14 episode, there was still some lingering animosity on his part. I can’t be too specific but I will say we got back into it again that night in the house. But last week’s show was more about showing Akira being an assclown so later on in the series you’re probably going to see us getting into it again. On a lighter subject, the pranks from last week’s episode were all a “1” on a scale from 1-10 (especially the car since that was Bisping’s idea). There will be something that happens later in the season where Tiki Ghosn steps in and let’s just say it will be crazy – instantly passes a “10”. As far as the fight, Josh Ferguson is a flyweight so size definitely came into play during the bout with Johnny Bedford. What was funny though was reach didn’t even matter because Ferguson was landing bombs on his head. When Bedford got him on the ground he was able to use his weight to keep him down but Ferguson was putting in work. It’s just that whenever Ferguson had to reach up for Bedford’s head Bedford would change levels and take him down. The “mole” stuff with John Dodson, look…Dodson’s always cool. We just clicked from the first episode on. Before my name got picked I wasn’t talking to anyone because they were all potential opponents but one night I couldn’t sleep and he was up washing dishes. We started talking and he shared some things about the other team. I thought it was weird at first but obviously the information was accurate. It didn’t bother me at all. If he wanted to do it, more power to him. Anyways, that’s it for this week. As always a shout out to American Top Team, my guard unit the 117th back in Alabama, my strength and conditioning coach, my first home Spartan Fitness, and, of course, Roll Tide, baby! #2 right now but we’re gonna go ahead and get that #1 spot soon! Thanks for reading again. I’ll be back next week with some more insight on what went down. In the meantime check me out on Twitter (@brim205) or see what else I had to say on my video blog. Tweet

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After months of hard work and dedication preparing for an opponent, win or lose a fighter typically comes away with some sense of relief knowing he’s done his best regardless of outcome and can move on to the next opponent. However, when a Draw comes into play a bitter aftertaste is often left without the same sort of closure a definitive outcome brings. Such was the case with UFC lightweight champ Frank Edgar who held on to consciousness against Gray Maynard earlier this year only to overcome the early damage and work his way back into retaining the title by a thread. However, even the gold around his waist didn’t satisfy the hunger in his belly. “I was just super disappointed,” explained Edgar in an interview with the UFC’s website. “It was a draw and I was still the champ, but it felt like a loss to me. I hate losing. And I don’t think I really took into consideration the performance I put on after going through what I did in the first round, so I was proud of what I was able to do and how I was able to bounce back, but I didn’t win a fight. I may not have lost, but I didn’t win, and that’s always my main objective and the most important thing.” He also knows there are other contenders laying in wait for a shot at the title he expects to hold onto this weekend when he and Maynard mix it up at UFC 136 but is only focused on the task at hand rather than what the future might hold. “You can’t help but notice the guys that are creeping on the door, but I try to not get distracted by that. There’s always gonna be the next guy. No matter what I do, whether I win or I don’t, there’s always gonna be the next guy. I’ll worry about Gray and take it from there.” Knowing there will always be someone out there trying to take his top ranking in the division is a significant part of what motivates the New Jersey native who turns 30 a week after his defense this weekend. “It makes me nervous more than anything,” he playfully responded. “It makes me want to get up and train. I don’t get a bigger head from it; if anything, I get more nervous about getting knocked off, I guess. But it’s more motivation for me. Some people, I think once they get there they relax and that’s why they don’t stay there. For me, I’m definitely on my toes at all times.” And that’s where he’ll hope to remain this Saturday night in Houston – on his toes, or feet more exactly – while holding on to his spot and the golden glory coming with it. Fans can catch Edgar’s fight with Maynard as the PPV headliner with the show starting at 9:00 PM EST. Preliminary pairings will air/stream through Spike TV and Facebook in the hours preceding the event. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Anthony Pettis is ‘Showtime.’ So his next opponent, Jeremy Stephens, recently began advertising himself as the ‘Showstopper.’ Days before the two highly-ranked 155-pounders collide, Stephens said that despite a pedigree that includes 12 Octagon appearances – versus just one Octagon test for Pettis – the knockout artist (Stephens) nevertheless perceives himself as the underdog headed into a contest that is virtually a lock to produce some fireworks. And it’s a comfortable spot for the husky roughneck who boasts more than his fair share of victories. “His camp has talked some crap about me but that’s easy for them to do because they get to hide behind their fighter come fight night,” said Stephens (20-6). “He’s going to be the one suffering the blows. That’s not my focus, to talk s---. I know I said some things about ‘Showstopper’ Stephens (publicly) but that’s what I do. I’m very confident. That’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to stop his show.”Winner of four of his past five bouts, Stephens’s lone loss came via split decision to Melvin Guillard – a ferocious and intimidating top contender in the hunt for a title shot. For his most recent training camp, Stephens placed particular emphasis on footwork and has tried to mimic the movements of elite fighters such as Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva. Though he pronounced himself “more light on his feet,” Stephens also intends to pressure Pettis (11-2) for as long as the fight lasts. To prepare for the unpredictable kicks Pettis might try to unleash on Saturday night in Houston, Stephens has sparred regularly with a Hawaiian fighter named Max Halloway, whose unique style also features an array of wild and crazy kicks.“I have a great chin and standup and I’m a striker myself … so Anthony’s not going to do anything that I haven’t seen,” Stephens said. “One thing Anthony doesn’t do -- he doesn’t throw any combinations. He has power in his kicks but he also hasn’t fought a striker like myself, who can bring the kind of pressure like Bart Palaszewski did. I hit a lot harder than Bart and I’ll be in his face a lot more. I’m constantly evolving. Ever since the Melvin Guillard loss I move a lot better, Anderson Silva-style. I’ve become more fluid.”As he discussed the matchup over the course of a 30-minute interview, Stephens mentioned the word “hype” several times in reference to Pettis, a fan favorite since appearing on MTV’s “World of Jenks” and since delivering a Matrix-style kick (in a WEC title bout last year) that remains unlike anything the MMA world has ever seen. The popularity of Pettis far trumps that of Stephens, but the latter insisted it doesn’t bother him in the least. “It all comes with timing. I’m not a jealous or envious guy,” the 25-year-old Stephens said. “He got what he deserves – the fame and the highlights. And he can have all of that. I’m sure he’s trained really hard for this fight and wants to get on track in the UFC (after losing his UFC debut against Clay Guida). He doesn’t want to lose his job or all the sponsorships that he probably got off ‘that kick.’ So that will be beneficial for me. When you beat somebody you steal their energy, you steal their momentum. You take something from them. That’s why no one likes losing; no one likes getting their energy stolen. “I’ve been fighting in the UFC since 2007 and I’m looking to steal some of that energy from Anthony Pettis. He has a long ways to go in his career and I’m going to go in and expose him. And if that means more fan followers and the limelight then I’m ready for it. But I don’t mind being low-key and chill. I’m more that low-key kind of guy. I’d rather ride in the backseat than the front seat.”The turning point in his career, Stephens recalled, was in early 2009, following back-to-back losses to Joe Lauzon and Gleison Tibau. Amid the disappointment, a sobering reality sank in for the fiery Iowan.“I knew that if I buckled down and quit with all the partying,” Stephens said, “that I could be one of the best in the world. I just had to make some changes, get out of Iowa and come here to better training with the best in the world (to San Diego). I took a leap of faith, I took a risk to be a champion. The Justin Buchholz fight was the turning point in my life.” For this training camp, Stephens occasionally sparred with UFC bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz, whom he effusively praised. “He deserves a lot more recognition than what he gets,” Stephens said of the champ. “He’s one of the hardest working, most humble guys I’ve ever met. He’s always at the gym constantly. He’s a great leader and is always positive. He’s got a great team and brings in a lot of guys. Just being around him is great energy. I really look up to him.” Rather interestingly, this marks the second straight fight for Stephens against a Duke Roufus protégé. In October, Stephens tormented and battered Danny Downes over 15 minutes. If they ever invent a “Not An Ounce of Quit In Him” award, an overmatched Downes proved he should be a frontrunner for the honor in 2011. Relatively few fighters would probably march on under such nonstop and prolific abuse (Stephens even cranked on a gnarly kimura that bent Downes’ arm so deeply it was painfully uncomfortable to watch). Yet the epically gutsy Downes fought on, never tapped, never came close to quitting and miraculously survived until the final horn.“I was impressed by his heart. Danny Downes has got my respect,” Stephens said. “He took a lot more punishment than Pettis will; I think Pettis will fold.” Stephens conceded that he was uncommonly nervous before the Downes fight because “I had everything to lose that night and he had everything to gain.” Stephens feels he’ll be in the opposite situation on Saturday against Pettis. “Weakness is not in my heart, it’s my time to rise,” Stephens said. “I’ve got a family to feed, I’ve got a job to do. I really want to finish Anthony Pettis and make a statement on October 8th.  So I’m going to go out there and destroy him, rip him apart.”

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The pain’s gone by now for Frankie Edgar. Not from the bruises in training camp or from the injured back that has kept him on the sidelines since the beginning of the year, though those aches have faded too. No, it’s the pain that the UFC lightweight champion felt after going five grueling rounds with number one contender Gray Maynard at UFC 125 in January, only to get a draw.If the old sports adage is that a draw is like kissing your sister, then the look on Edgar’s face after the verdict was rendered meant that his proverbial sister was 675 pounds with a mustache and a bad case of warts. In other words, he was inconsolable.“I was just super disappointed,” said Edgar. “It was a draw and I was still the champ, but it felt like a loss to me. I hate losing. And I don’t think I really took into consideration the performance I put on after going through what I did in the first round, so I was proud of what I was able to do and how I was able to bounce back, but I didn’t win a fight. I may not have lost, but I didn’t win, and that’s always my main objective and the most important thing.”Edgar had no right surviving that first round, let alone fighting back to get a draw in a bout many believed he deserved to get the nod in. In boxing terms, it was Juan Manuel Marquez bouncing back from three first round knockdowns to earn a draw with Manny Pacquiao in their first fight. But then again, Edgar’s legs were so wobbly after getting dropped by Maynard, that perhaps a boxing referee would have stopped the fight after delivering a count. Yet in mixed martial arts, a fighter can control his fate for the most heart, and with a mix of heart and determination, the scrappy kid from Toms River, New Jersey made it through the opening five minutes, righted his ship, and got back into the fight.And what a fight it was, 25 minutes of high-level MMA from the two best lightweights in the division. It was almost fitting that the fight was a draw, because there were no losers in the Octagon in Las Vegas that night. Saturday in Houston, they do it again, and a fight that had little buzz around it in January is suddenly a hot ticket as Edgar and Maynard meet for the third time. And to think, they did it on the strength of their fists and their previous bouts, not on any trash talk or ill feelings. That’s the way Edgar likes it.“That (trash talk) always gets the people going and it sells fights, but for myself, and being the kind of person I am, I’d rather do my work in the cage,” said the champion. “Gray’s a pretty reserved dude, and so am I, and I think our fight will speak for itself.”It’s a trilogy that fight fans have been waiting to see resolved, one where Maynard holds a 1-0-1 lead after handing Edgar his lone pro loss in 2008, but the ones who want to see the two part ways more than anyone are the lightweight contenders waiting to get their shot at the belt after the title’s been held in limbo pending this weekend’s bout. Edgar knows that there’s a line of hungry fighters waiting to get at him should he successfully defend his crown for the third time, but he can’t worry about that now.“You can’t help but notice the guys that are creeping on the door, but I try to not get distracted by that,” he said. “There’s always gonna be the next guy. No matter what I do, whether I win or I don’t, there’s always gonna be the next guy. I’ll worry about Gray and take it from there.”And hey, if he wins, everything’s even. Do we see fight number four?He laughs.“Let’s just take this one first. We’ll take it from there.”You can’t blame either fighter for wanting to be done with each other. As great as the second bout was, and as intriguing as this rivalry has become, there comes a point when you just want to move on. Edgar has heard nothing but Gray Maynard for over a year, and it’s the same with Maynard hearing about Edgar. Ask the champ if he’s watched film of the rematch, and he says with a chuckle, “if my coaches force me to sit there and watch it, I’ll do so.”So at this point, expect both men to pull out all the stops to make sure the end result is a decisive one. For Edgar, that means building on all his skills and upping the intensity with each training session. In his favor, the 29-year old has gone the five round distance in each of his last three bouts, so he’s comfortable going into the championship rounds. Just don’t say going 25 minutes is easier each time.“I don’t know if it gets easier; the preparation sure as hell doesn’t,” he laughs. “I think every camp’s gonna get harder and harder just because I know what it takes to get through a five round fight and become a winner and make sure that you’re still there and still able to push the pace in the fifth round. So if anything, the preparation gets harder, and I think it all matters on how the fights go whether it’s easier or not.”“But I think I’m on the right track,” Edgar continues. “Nothing changes in between my fights. I just try to become a better fighter than I was the last time. If I know that I’m a better fighter than I was my last time out, I did my job and I improved in all areas. And again, I felt like I accomplished that. I feel like I’m better at jiu-jitsu, better at boxing, better at Muay Thai, and better at wrestling, and I’m better at putting it all together. It’s showing in the room and showing in my confidence.”In fact, the only time the perennial underdog looks over his shoulder is when it’s brought up to him that in the MMA community, he is the top 155-pound fighter in the world. The whole world. How does that feel?“It makes me nervous more than anything,” he said. “It makes me want to get up and train. I don’t get a bigger head from it; if anything, I get more nervous about getting knocked off, I guess. But it’s more motivation for me. Some people, I think once they get there they relax and that’s why they don’t stay there. For me, I’m definitely on my toes at all times.”And ready to put the Gray Maynard chapter of his career to rest.“I feel like I’m closing the gap,” said Edgar. “The first fight, he won a unanimous decision. The second fight he had a big, big first round but I was able to close the gap and make it a draw which could have gone either way. So hopefully I’ll keep closing that gap and I’ll be on top this time around.”

Posted in: fight, time, round, ’t, edgar

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Back again and, as you probably guessed, my focus is 100% on Gray Maynard’s fight against Frankie Edgar this weekend. I’ve never seen Gray this way. There’s a huge difference in everything, even his whole attitude leading up to the fight. He’s not the type of guy to talk sh*t, and he hasn’t, but with this one it’s more personal. He’s upset he’s the underdog even though we feel we’ve beat him twice. Camp went well. He’s fast and explosive. Frankly, there’s no way he’s not leaving Texas without the belt. Just like Gray said in the UFC Countdown show, he doesn’t need people around him to tell him he did well or he won the second fight. We’ve watched and analyzed the fight. There’s no way we lost the first, third, or fifth round. That fight shouldn’t have been a draw. He’s taking this fight personal. It’s not personal against Frankie, we respect him as a person and a fighter, but he’s standing in Gray’s way. Like in the countdown, Frankie’s people were talking and trying to boost Frankie’s confidence but nobody can be that foolish. During the fight, Frankie’s corner told him he needed to win the last three rounds because they knew they were behind. After the fight, Gray was disgusted with the decision while Frankie’s team was relieved because they knew they lost the fight. They were relived it was a draw. He knew he got a gift that night. After the fight, they did not have a confident look like they had won. This fight has been a long time coming. It has been canceled a couple of times due to Frankie being hurt, and to be honest, I’m upset Gray doesn’t get the respect he deserves. He’s the better fighter and he’s beaten better fighters. We don’t know how Frankie got the title shot first because Gray took him out beforehand and had beaten better fighters. It’s frustrating. Gray should have gotten the title-shot first and he should have gotten the decision at UFC 125. This has been brewing for ten months and finally we get our chance and we’re bringing the belt back to Vegas. We are looking to have a fight that goes 3-4 rounds because we don’t expect Frankie to want to engage early. They know Gray can hurt Frankie at any time and we know Frankie can’t hurt Gray. The kicks he throws have nothing on them and the punches don’t hurt him. We expect Frankie to just use a lot of movement. We know Gray is going to hurt Frankie and when he does he’s going to finish him. He knows how important it is to pick your shots and not punch yourself out. Gray can finish the fight with one punch and if there’s a submission, he’ll take that as well. As far as making 155 pounds, Gray is a pro at cutting weight. He knows his body better than anyone I’ve ever worked with. And for this camp, we’ve worked with Mike Dolce who is the absolute best at what he does. Gray has been eating more than ever and he’s still on weight. I have to give a big thanks to Mike. He’s the best. No one comes close to him. I don’t care about papers or where they went to college or degrees, Dolce is the best. Regarding the other title-fight this weekend, skill-wise I think Jose Aldo is a lot better overall. Kenny Florian is tough and has great elbows. The only way I seeing Florian winning is if Aldo gasses, which has happened before. Kenny always comes prepared but I give the advantage to Aldo in the first few rounds and Florian the late rounds unless Aldo can pace himself. I think Aldo will be victorious though. In regards to last weekend’s UFC Live 6, I cornered Mac Danzig this past weekend against Matt Wiman. The fight was really good but I thought Mac did enough to win the decision. I would have been happy with a draw though. I think Mac made a mistake by sitting against the cage and taking too many elbows. They weren’t hurting him but it just looked bad. He was out-striking Matt and he was taken down but he was never in any real trouble. He reversed Matt and took him down as well. It was a tough fight to judge. Mac showed that he can hang with anybody though. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t get together more with me living in Vegas and him in LA. We’re going to hopefully change that for his next fight though. Everything happens for a reason and hopefully this leads Mac to come train with us more often. The Anthony Johnson vs. Charlie Brenneman fight was a little controversial. I don’t think Brenneman would have beaten him regardless of the ref stepping in but you can argue it was stopped soon. But he was hurt from the kick and the punches before the kick. When you have a striker with that much reach, it was hard for Pat Barry against Stefan Struve. It was a little surprising how it ended but Struve showed that he keeps getting better. I think he’s going to have trouble with good wrestlers who can get inside though. Dominick Cruz did what he had to do to retain his belt but Demetrious Johnson came to fight. He pressured him the whole time and some rounds could have gone the other way. It’s hard to mimic and imitate the movement of Cruz, which makes it hard to time him during the fight. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch down the line. That’s it for this week. I’m Looking forward to checking back in with everyone next week to talk about the *NEW* lightweight champ. Until then, catch up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

Posted in: fight, round, way, ’t, frankie

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“Pettis is overrated.” “Pettis is not as good as everybody thought he was.”Those are just the phrases that come to mind immediately for lightweight contender and former WEC champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, who got a crash course in the fickle nature of the fight game after his June loss to Clay Guida.  According to those folks, Pettis was a figment of their imagination, “a one kick wonder,” as he puts it, and you can tell that even as he prepares to get back into the Octagon to face Jeremy Stephens this Saturday night on the UFC 136 card in Houston, the barbs still burn.“Duke (Roufus), my coach, actually prepares me for a lot of the stuff inside and outside the cage, and he always tells me that you’re only as good as your last performance and unfortunately for me I had a bad performance in the Guida fight and a lot of fans aren’t as loyal as you think they are,” he said. “They’ll celebrate with you, but once you lose, they’ll turn on you.”It’s a situation experienced by so many fighters that to count them here would crash the internet itself. Win today and you’re the greatest thing since pizza. Lose tomorrow and you’re yesterday’s news. That’s the nature of the sports business, but one brand new to the affable 24-year old from Milwaukee, whose compelling story, personality, and talent made him a star in the WEC. And when he capped off his WEC title winning effort against Ben Henderson in December of 2010 with a kick off the cage that became a highlight for the ages, there seemed to be no stopping him.But Guida has a way of getting in the way of things, and he stopped Pettis in his tracks with a beautifully executed gameplan of mauling and brawling that kept the dynamic striker from getting any room to breathe. The unanimous decision in Guida’s favor was a no-brainer. Pettis had his second pro loss (the first coming via decision to Bart Palaszewski in 2009), and it was time to regroup.“It’s just a build-up of a number of things that went wrong,” he said. “I don’t want to say I had a bad fight or it was an off-night because that leaves something in my mind that I could have that kind of performance again. There were a number of things that I did wrong – preparation for the fight, gameplanning that should have been changed – but you can’t cry over spilled milk and I’m just ready to get back and get my next win.”And when it comes down to it, that’s all he really can do. He’s got too many gifts to walk away from the game, and why would he? Oh wait, that’s what some “fans” of the sport believe fighters should do when they lose a fight. But Pettis knows better, and he admits that he still has plenty of people who remain in his corner.“I still got some loyal fans,” he said. “I can’t say everybody turned on me. It’s just that the fans that don’t really know who I am, they just saw the kick (against Henderson). ‘Oh man, look at this crazy kick this guy did,’ and they don’t really know my skillset behind that kick. But some of my fans are always loyal to me, they know that I have skills, and that I want this so much. But the general masses and most of the media portrays it that I’m overrated and Guida exposed it.”So where does a fighter begin after such a defeat? Do you erase everything you’ve done and start from scratch, or simply tweak the soft spots in your game and move forward? Pettis, hurt by the criticism, but using it as fuel, has become a gym rat.“I just live in the gym,” he said. “I got back to becoming a student of the game and just learning everything. After the Henderson fight, I got so much media attention, the title shot in the UFC, all these appearances, all this hype, and no matter how many people tell you about it, you kinda gotta experience it for yourself to realize how it affects you and how it is. So I think I’m kinda getting more used to performing on that level where people actually care about my training and care about what I’m doing, so for me it’s just balancing everything out.”A couple key factors help him attain that balance now, and the first one has nothing to do with the fight game, as Pettis and his girlfriend welcomed a daughter into the world in July. “I’m not as important as I used to be,” Pettis laughed when asked how things have changed for him since the arrival of Aria. “She comes first. And it’s motivation. I’ve got a daughter to take care of now. I’m fighting for more than just myself and my own gain so I’ve got to do my job well to take care of her.”The other factor is an old standby in Roufus, Pettis’ longtime trainer and mentor, and someone who isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel after the Guida loss. So don’t expect “Showtime” to play it safe from now on. He will be bringing all the unorthodox moves we’ve come to expect from him.“A big reason why I’m with Duke is because he allows me to be myself,” said Pettis. “He doesn’t want to make me a Muay Thai guy, he doesn’t want to make me a wrestler or a basic jiu-jitsu guy. He allows me to create my own style and make my own Anthony Pettis. So he’s supportive but he’s still smart about it. He’s not like ‘ok, go out there and do a jump spin kick and see what happens.’ Everything’s set up, and he just helps me make it more effective.”So with the motivation of being a father, the stability of having a good trainer and team behind him, and that little something in the back of his head that says ‘I’ll show you,’ Pettis is in fine stead as he prepares to meet Stephens, an unabashed banger who will likely strike with the striker.“I’m getting to fight a striker finally,” said Pettis. “I’ve been fighting all these wrestlers, and people are counting me out big time; so for me it’s a chance to come back and show these guys that I am gonna be the number one contender and the champion one day.”Pettis also has a secret weapon in camp in fellow UFC fighter Danny Downes, who recently extended Stephens the three round distance before losing a decision.“Danny talks to me a lot and we train every day together,” said Pettis. “Danny said he (Stephens) didn’t feel as strong as everybody makes him out to be, and his punching power ain’t the end all. Everybody’s always like ‘oh, Jeremy Stephens has knockout power,’ and he does, but it’s not one of those punches where he touches you and it’s over. I got a good chin, so I’m not gonna go out there and overthink his right hand or left hook; I’m gonna do my gameplan and put my will on him.”And not that Pettis needed any more motivation, but Stephens has not been reticent in declaring just what he’s going to do to the former WEC champ. There will be no retorts though; Pettis is saving his war for the Octagon.“I haven’t really lashed out or talked any crap at all,” he said. “I’m gonna let my fight skill do the talking. I’ve got a lot to prove in this fight, it’s my second one in the UFC and I need to get that ‘W’ and I need to do it the ‘Showtime’ way.” I’m here to stay. I’m not just a one kick wonder and I’m not a guy who just got lucky once. I’m coming for that title shot and I’m gonna earn my title shot.”

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, petti, ’m

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When you hear Chael Sonnen describe life as a middleweight contender in the UFC, it’s almost as if every day is Groundhog Day.“In my life, nothing changes,” said Sonnen, who returns to the Octagon after an absence of more than a year to face Brian Stann at UFC 136 this Saturday night. “Every fight I do the same thing. I do the same thing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all my practices are the same, I work out with the same guys, and I’ve got the same coaches. Take running for example – I run the same distance and I try to beat the same time every single time. Every step I run, I try to get up those steps a little bit faster regardless of who the opponent is. I’ve never looked at opponents. I’ve had people ask me ‘what’s your strategy?’ And I’m not even looking at him. It could be anybody. I’m just looking at myself. How fast are my hands, how many punches did I throw today, did I eat the right things, how many hours of sleep did I get last night? I only look at myself. The Octagon’s the same size, Herb Dean’s hair is just as bad, Bruce Buffer’s in the shark suit either way. Nothing changes for me. The rules are the same, the rounds are the same, and my life is the exact same. My money’s the same, I wear the same t-shirt, I’ve got the same cornermen, and they can call it a title fight, they can call it a main event, they can call it an undercard – my life is no different. When that same music hits those speakers, I’ll make that same walk, put that same mouthpiece in, and do everything I can to win, regardless of what’s riding on it.”Oh yeah, the man is back, and it’s a welcome return, not just because he’s one of the top 185-pound fighters on the planet and the lone man to push champion Anderson Silva to the brink of defeat, but because he’s one of MMA’s most intriguing figures. No one sees the game through the looking glass quite like the self-proclaimed “Gangster from West Linn,” and watching his every move has been compelling viewing for a few years now. But only before his bout with Silva in August of 2010 did the rest of the world catch up.“I’m not doing anything different,” he said. “The media has found me, I didn’t come find them. I didn’t create a persona or sit around and come up with things to say. I don’t have any idea what you’re gonna ask me, or the next guy or any of the fans at a Q&A. I’m just up there with a microphone and doing my level best. But I haven’t changed anything; they’ve just come to me. I was the top draw when I was with Bodog, I was the top draw when I was with the IFL, and I was the top draw when I was in the WEC, and for all these same reasons. They just didn’t have the platform that Zuffa has. So I’m not doing anything different.”In his second stint with the UFC, Sonnen has pulled off the rare trick of being a must-see athlete in and out of the Octagon. From his trio of wins over Dan Miller, Yushin Okami, and Nate Marquardt, to his stellar effort against Silva and his incendiary comments about anyone and everyone in the fight game, if you don’t know who the 34-year old Oregonian is yet, you just haven’t been around the MMA world. Yet after a suspension by the California State Athletic Commission following the Silva fight for having elevated levels of testosterone (a result explained by his being diagnosed with hypogonadism, a condition which requires synthetic testosterone injections), and a plea bargain in a mortgage fraud case, many questioned whether he would ever fight again. Sonnen wasn’t one of that crowd.“No,” he quipped when asked if he ever thought that he had fought his last fight. “They can do all they want, but you can’t keep a good man down.”It was a trying time to say the least though, as he spent more time in a suit defending himself than in his gym clothes preparing for a fight. You could say that he needed the break after a pretty hectic fight schedule over the last couple years. Again, he wouldn’t agree.“I didn’t need any breaks, I never need a break,” said Sonnen. “You only do this three times a year anyway. It’s like you’ve got all these crybabies out there talking about ‘my wife really wants me around more.’ What a ridiculous statement. What do you mean ‘around more?’ It’s three hours a day and three weekends a year. There is no around more. You couldn’t possibly be around more. So no, I definitely don’t need a break from three hours a day and three weekends a year. I was just the opposite. I was like a good cowboy that just wants to jump back on the horse.”So when he was greenlighted to resume his career and given a fight with the streaking Stann, who has finished all three of his fights at 185 pounds, Sonnen was ecstatic to get back to his form of normal.“I like the whole process,” he said. “I don’t have any hobbies and I don’t have any friends, so all I have is practice. All I have is going in and training and looking forward to a date and a new challenge and stuff like that, and it was all gone – I didn’t have any of it. So I missed the whole process more than anything; I missed being one of the guys and having a goal and something to look forward to.”You’d be surprised at how badly you can miss your routine when it’s taken away from you. For Sonnen, every minute away from the gym was another minute the rest of the pack was catching up. So going through the daily grind – even if it is only three hours a day – was like Christmas for him. Well, maybe not, but let’s just say getting the chance to do what he has done for much of his life again was a good thing.“I don’t know if that (the routine) is the appeal, but it’s certainly the reality,” said Sonnen. “And it’s real important to keep that in mind. You’ll see so many fighters come off title fights and great performances, and in their next time out, they just look awful. You can’t get roped into any of that. I know I’m the best fighter in the world, I proved it in my last fight, and there’s nobody even close to me. The current champion isn’t even within a mile of my ability, but if I don’t do everything right, those abilities are gone overnight. The one time I quit caring about my run, the one time I quit hitting the steps, the one time I let the diet go, I’m the best, but I’m only the best by an inch. And I can go from the top of the pack to the back of it overnight. Guys do it all the time. We just saw a Hall of Famer (Matt Hughes) get destroyed in the first round by a guy with bleached hair (Josh Koscheck). Even the best guy – me – is only the best by a little bit, and you’ve got to make sure every single thing is in line every single time. That’s the hardest thing about our sport. There are so many elements and you can’t overlook any of them, and the one time you do, you gotta start all over.”14 months is a long time in this game too, and it could be easy for many to forget August of 2010 and Sonnen’s brilliant performance against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world in Silva. For nearly five rounds, Sonnen put on the best fight of his career and dominated Silva throughout.“I expected more resistance everywhere from him,” said Sonnen of Silva. “From the grappling to his striking, his strategy, I just expected more resistance everywhere. So yeah, I was surprised at his lack of resistance.”Like all great champions though, Silva had something left in his back pocket to pull out when he needed it most, and at 3:10 of the final round, a triangle armbar ended Sonnen’s night and, for the moment, his championship quest. If not for his suspension and legal issues, an immediate rematch might have been in the cards, but for now, it’s Stann.“This is what it is,” said Sonnen. “Brian Stann is next, and that’s fine. Look, if I had won the championship, I’m not sure Brian Stann wasn’t next anyway. He’s certainly arguable. There’s several guys that can fill that spot, but he’s definitely one of them, so no, it doesn’t make a bit of difference to me.”And the goal?“There is no other goal than the championship.”Since the bout, Silva has looked to be in better than ever form in knocking out Vitor Belfort and Okami, but obviously, the marquee bout for “The Spider” is a rematch with Sonnen should the Milwaukie native get by Sonnen. And Sonnen hasn’t let up with his verbal assault on the champion as we wait.“He’s a punk and a bully, he really is, and now he’s out there trying to be me,” said Sonnen. “He’s doing everything he can to copy me. He’s wearing masks to weigh-ins and yelling at guys at press conferences, and doing everything he can do to be me. So good for him. It’s like Marshall Mathers once said: ‘they may walk like me, talk like me, dress, act, not give a dang like me, and they just might be the next best thing, but they’re not quite me.’”Sonnen has even widened his trash talking range to encompass not just one Brazilian (Silva), but a whole bunch of them, including Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, and the Nogueira brothers, among others. He makes no apologies though, and is far from shocked that fight fans have gravitated to him.“People like respect and I’m the only respectful fighter in the whole sport,” he said. “A lot of other fighters have a real misunderstanding that lying and dishonesty is respectful. They love to bow to your face and stick a knife in your back the first chance they get. I don’t. I’ll tell you like it is to your face and then I’ll stick the knife in your back because I told you that if you turn around I’ll put a knife in your back. And that’s the difference with me. I’m honest and I’m respectful. And these guys love to say ‘Chael doesn’t have any respect.’ Well, check your dictionary at the local junior high that you flunked out of. I’m absolutely respectful and absolutely honest as well. You guys are a bunch of liars.”“People hang on every word I say,” Sonnen continues. “People are always disappointed when I’m not talking. I do an MMA show on ESPN and they blow a fit when I’m not on there. People are throwing a protest right now online that the UFC put out their commercial for the next event and they show the two title fights and they didn’t show me and Stann. Of course people would be upset, and I don’t blame them – I’m upset too. I like hearing myself as well.”There has been one fighter who has escaped Sonnen’s verbal wrath though, and it’s the man he’s fighting this Saturday. That’s not surprising considering that it’s almost impossible to dislike Stann. He’s also earned his place in the spotlight with his recent performances, which include knockouts of Chris Leben and Jorge Santiago. And when you hear Sonnen assess his foe, it’s clear that he has a healthy dose of respect for the “All-American.”“He’s a tough guy in front of everything else,” said Sonnen of Stann. “He’s a real brute. He’s big and strong and he’s got a big heart, good cardio, and he can punch hard. I also think he kicks really well. He fought Santiago, who sucks, but he buckled him with a kick, and I’ve seen him use those big, powerful kicks to soften other guys up too. He used them well in the WEC back when he was kinda green. He was green in the WEC and he still won the title. So he’s absolutely a natural in there, but if I had to describe him in a word, it would probably be ‘brute.’ He’s that big, strong, tough guy that comes to fight.”Sounds like the perfect dance partner for Sonnen’s return.“It’s almost the opposite of the last guy I fought,” he said. “The last guy I fought was a little dancing chicken, and this guy’s more of a man that will come out and draw a line in the Octagon and say put your toe on it and let’s go.”Admit it, you’ve missed Chael Sonnen. Well, now he’s back, and he doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. “I don’t ever want to be done,” he said. “I’ll never quit this sport. I’ll never be done with this business, but at some point, this business will be done with me. I’ll be one of those last guys that hangs on past the time that he should. I like it, it’s what I want to do, I do it because I choose to do it, not because I have to do it, and there is no life after this. This is what I want to do with my life.”

Posted in: guy, ’t, i ’m, ’m, sonnen

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Looking over the athletic resume of heavyweight prospect Stipe Miocic, it’s pretty clear that the die was cast when it came to him eventually becoming a professional athlete.Earned eight varsity letters in high school (baseball, football, wrestling).Division I, nationally-ranked wrestler for Cleveland State. Third baseman for the Cleveland State baseball team.2009 Cleveland Golden Gloves boxing champion and National quarterfinalist.Yet when you ask him if this was something set in the stars, he laughs it off.“I didn’t think about being a professional,” he said. “I just loved competing. It’s just something fun to do and I’m a competitive person. You gotta do something. It keeps me out of trouble.”That type of modesty takes self-effacing to a new level, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But behind the humble exterior lurks a fighter, and with a 6-0 pro MMA record that includes five knockouts and one submission (due to a leg kick), the 29-year old has got plenty of buzz behind him in the lead-up to his UFC debut this Saturday against Joey Beltran.“I think I’m ready,” he said. “I’ve trained with some great guys and I hope I can produce like I have been because that’s the name of the game – winning.”One of those guys is UFC vet Forrest Petz, and he’s given Miocic some helpful hints about preparing for the bright lights of the Octagon.“He told me it’s you and another guy in a cage and yeah, there’s people there, but they’re not gonna help you in a fight,” said Miocic. “And that’s how I look at it.”A native of Euclid, Ohio, Miocic has been an athlete practically his entire life, excelling in high school and then college sports. Currently standing at 6-4, 240 pounds, he certainly looks the part of heavyweight prizefighter, but he doesn’t point to his physical gifts as being the reason for his success.“I just worked hard and it went well for me,” he said. “The harder you work the better things come out for you and that’s what happened. I worked hard in everything I did and I got lucky. I also had good coaches along the way that pedigreed me real well and helped me out as well.”Nationally ranked as a collegiate wrestler, Miocic (who roomed with UFC vet Gerald Harris) would move from the mat to the diamond once wrestling season was over, and it’s been reported that major league scouts also had interest in the 6-4 third baseman. “It was wherever I could play, that’s the way I looked at it,” said Miocic of life on the hot corner. “They stuck me there and I was like ‘sure, why not? I could stop a ball.’ (Laughs) If I couldn’t stop it, I’ll use my chest, pick it up and throw it to first.”But once he got a taste of mixed martial arts when he was asked to train with PRIDE and UFC vet Dan Bobish, that was it, and he traded one glove for two.“I love baseball, it’s a great team sport, but in MMA, it’s just you and another guy in a cage and that’s it – that’s awesome and there’s nothing better than that,” he said.In 2006, Miocic won the first of five amateur bouts, each of which ended in the first round (three in less than a minute). Ready to turn pro, Miocic instead got a little more experience in a different realm of combat sports, as he made his amateur boxing debut in the Cleveland Golden Gloves in 2009.“Me and my coach talked, and he was like ‘hey, let’s do some amateur boxing and see how that goes,’” Miocic recalled. “So I started doing a couple fights here and did the Golden Gloves and did well, and it helped me with my striking a lot. And I like boxing, but I missed MMA too much. You get to kick, knee, punch, take it to the ground and all that good stuff. (Laughs) Going to nationals was a good time though. My first two fights went well and the third one didn’t go my way, but that’s life, and I learned from it.”In the National Golden Gloves tournament, Miocic went 2-1, losing to current unbeaten pro prospect Bryant Jennings in the quarterfinals, and less than a year later, he was making his pro MMA debut with a 17 second finish of Corey Mullis.After practically clearing out the local circuit, Miocic became a favorite of fans who liked heavyweights and knockouts. Add in the fact that the Croatian-American sports trunks similar to those worn by his fistic hero Mirko Cro Cop, and it’s no surprise that people started getting antsy to see him on the big stage in the same organization as the former PRIDE star.“He’s a legend and watching him fight is awesome,” said Miocic of Cro Cop. “He’s tough and just devastating. He works hard and he’s a great guy.”But what about the shorts?“I like tights, I’ve always worn them,” he laughs. “They’re just more comfortable for me; I move better, plus I don’t want a guy to grab them if I’m in a fight.”He shouldn’t expect that to be the case this Saturday night against Beltran, a fearless brawler with an iron chin that one of Miocic’s old Louisville Sluggers probably couldn’t dent. Luckily, Miocic knows what he’s in for in Houston.“He’s a hard-nosed dude,” said Miocic of Beltran. “Heavy hands, good chin, he likes to keep coming forward, and he’s as tough as they come.”So how do you prepare for a guy you may own on paper, but in reality will be the toughest test of your young career? For starters, you don’t expect him to go the way of your previous six opponents.“You gotta do what you gotta do,” said Miocic, who still works part-time as a Firefighter / Paramedic. “A W’s a W no matter how I get it. Every fight I go into, I expect it to go three rounds.”This time he might be right. But a competitor like Miocic doesn’t mind such a prospect. When you live to compete, the longer you get to do what you love, the better.“I’m a hard-nosed guy, I’m ready to fight, and I’m ready to have some fun and show some fireworks.”

Posted in: fight, guy, ’t, i ’m, miocic

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Admit it, Brian Stann snuck up on you. That same guy who was as raw as they come at light heavyweight while losing to Krzysztof Soszynski and Phil Davis, isn’t the one stepping into the Octagon on Saturday night to face Chael Sonnen in a pivotal middleweight matchup.Not by a longshot. But the decorated veteran of the United States Marine Corps isn’t going to gloat about his 3-0 record (all finishes) at 185 pounds and say ‘I told you so.’ But ask him if he thinks he surprised some people with his new look at middleweight, and there is no hesitation in his response.“Oh yeah, and I knew I would,” said Stann, who has defeated Mike Massenzio, Chris Leben, and Jorge Santiago in succession since dropping from 205 pounds in August of 2010. In fact, he looks at the lead-up to his UFC 125 win over Leben as the moment when he and his coaches said ‘okay, it’s time to strike.’“We knew that at that point in time, through my training, that I was really turning a corner,” said Stann. “And when you train with guys who are some of the best guys in the world, you can really know what your level is and you know what your strengths are and you know what your weaknesses are. And when I made the drop to ’85, it was at the same time I really started to turn a corner. I really started to train and really focus on wrestling and the technical aspect of it. I really started to develop a sound submission game and become an all-around fighter, and I started to understand the subtleties of the sport in all realms – striking, wrestling, and grappling. So we knew what I was capable of and the thing is that fans, writers, and the media, they can’t see you in the gym. They don’t get to see those things and they have to judge you based on your fights, and you have three, four months in between fights, so you can grow an awful lot when you’re a pretty raw athlete like I was just a few years ago.”Against Leben, Stann blitzed and stopped the steel-chinned contender in a single round, but he was beginning to show signs of his development way before that. Once just a hard-hitting brawler whose tendency to leave his chin up and exposed during serious exchanges, Stann won the WEC title in just his sixth pro fight, but lost it one fight later in 2008 to Steve Cantwell, who he had already beaten in 41 seconds a year earlier. But in their rubber match in the UFC in 2009, Stann – now under the tutelage of Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn – kept his chin tucked and his fists moving en route to an easy three round win. And then when he made it to middleweight in 2010, he showed off his ground game by securing his first submission win over a solid groundfighter in Massenzio. The Leben fight was the exclamation point though, and was followed by a Fight of the Night stoppage of Santiago in May. He’s making it look easy, but it’s been anything but for the 31-year old.“You have to do some things a thousand times before you can actually become proficient at it,” said Stann. “And it just becomes like second nature. Every single day I spend 35 minutes on the pads with coach Winkeljohn. I’m training three to four times a day every single day, drilling techniques over and over again, and it just takes time. This sport takes time and that’s why when you get guys like Jon Jones and Phil Davis, people really make a big deal out of them because this sport is supposed to take a long time to develop, and then you get some athletes that can come in and pick things up rather quickly. More often than not, those athletes are wrestlers that actually come from a background where they’ve already somewhat mastered one third of the game, which is obviously an advantage.” Stann had no such advantages, but in the process of learning on the job (and on the sport’s biggest stage), he’s gained an even greater appreciation for what’s happening to him now and the kind of athletes who surround him every day.“I’ve really developed an appreciation for the guys who make it to this level of the sport,” he said. “It’s not easy, and I think early in my career, while I was still active duty, I thought that while it’s obviously very much a privilege to be a professional athlete, I kinda looked at it as being a pro fighter’s easy. There’s lots of time off, you dictate your own schedule, etc. But as I’ve climbed the ranks and made it to this level, I find that you are working full-time and there is no off-season. At the top level there aren’t guys that take off two months after fights. The guys that make it to the elite level, the guys similar to Chael, the Kenny Florians, the Georges St-Pierres, the Carlos Condits – these guys are always in the gym, and I’m the same way. A week after my fight, I heal up some bruises and I’m right back out there trying to find coaches who can give me one or two moves for my arsenal or one more edge so I can continue to grow as a fighter.” “So I’ve really grown to respect the profession and my peers a lot more in the UFC because it’s a difficult way to make a living, the income is volatile, you can’t plan certain things because you never know when your career can end, and I think we all share that bond,” Stann continues. With comments like that, it’s no surprise that no one has decided to pick a trash talking battle with the Scranton, Pennsylvania native. Add in that he’s a war hero still active in helping out his fellow vets, a family man, and a good teammate, and the odds of him having one of those “bad blood” matchups is even slimmer. And that’s fine with him.“I don’t need to have a grudge match,” he said. “I can have the utmost respect for a guy, and I have no problem stepping into the cage, locking the door, and wanting to knock him out because it’s just what you do at that time.”Even the trash talking king himself, Sonnen, has had nothing but good things to say about the man dubbed “All-American” Stann. It’s a shocking development in some respects, but it’s no surprise to Stann.“When he (Sonnen) fought Dan Miller he didn’t have a whole lot to say; when he fought Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami it was the same thing,” he said. “I just think he was so vocal for certain fights, especially the Anderson (Silva) fight, that people just expected him to be vocal on me. And I think Chael’s honest when he says if he feels a certain way and he doesn’t like somebody, he’s gonna say it. And if that’s not the case, then he’s not gonna say anything, and I think he’s being very honest with that. And we share a very important person in both of our lives in a man named John Bardis, who is one of my head coaches and one of my closest mentors that I’ve ever had in my life. And he also has a relationship with Chael, and I think their relationship has grown in the last couple years as well where Chael sought some advice from him, etc., and so in respect for John, I knew that even for entertainment purposes Chael probably wouldn’t verbally attack me, which I wouldn’t have taken personally anyway.”And there is still the reality that the two middleweights have to fight on Saturday night, so whether there was trash talk and ill feelings or not, that cage door is going to get locked in a few days and there will be bad intentioned blows thrown. Stann and Sonnen are prepared for that, and Stann, while respectful of his foe, is also confident in his chances this weekend.“You can look at his record in the UFC and all that, but if you look at his fights, you see a guy who hasn’t lost a round in the UFC,” said Stann of Sonnen. “Unless he’s been submitted in that round, he hasn’t lost a round, and he has been able to take every guy down and impose his will on him every single time. I’ve looked at earlier fights in his career, and it’s really the same everywhere. So there are a lot of different, unique challenges that I have to face in there. But the biggest thing that I see that’s different is that the fighters that he’s been fighting have really gone into the cage with their skillsets and that’s it, and they did not appear to be prepared for certain positions and certain things that Chael could do to them. Whereas I feel that I’ll be the best prepared fighter he’s fought in quite some time. I have gone into very uncomfortable positions, I’ve brought in the people I needed to bring in to learn how to compete in certain areas that he may try and put me in. And there’s the obvious biggest difference as well, in that I can knock Chael Sonnen out with any punch.”Stann’s power and Sonnen’s underrated speed (just watch him close the distance in his fights against Silva and Nate Marquardt) may be the key factors in this weekend’s fight. And while Sonnen can’t match Stann’s stopping power, Stann believes he can match his opponent’s quickness.“If you watch my last two fights, I feel I have some of the best handspeed in the middleweight division, and I’m a lot stronger than those guys, physically stronger, so he’s gonna have to really work to get me to the mat and he’s gonna have to work the entire time to keep me on the mat,” said Stann. “I’m not gonna lay there, close my guard and just hug him, hoping the ref is gonna stand us up. And I believe I can hit him harder from my back then he can hit me on top. And I’ll put my money where my mouth is on that.”Brian Stann isn’t a big talker, so when he says he’s putting his money where his mouth is, that’s something you could probably take to the bank. And though he doesn’t have the world-class experience of Sonnen or the wrestling of the former collegiate standout, he is getting better with each fight and he’s as confident as you can get without crossing the line into cocky territory. The only problem he appears to have is that he’s lost the element of surprise when it comes to opponents who definitely won’t sleep on someone who may not be the favorite, but who is certainly no underdog.“I didn’t expect to get a fighter the caliber of Chael Sonnen for another year or so, and here I have this great opportunity,” said Stann. “And the best part is, I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m the underdog coming into this fight and there’s zero pressure on me. I can fight a hundred miles an hour; he’s got to be concerned with the amount of pressure he’s put on himself. He’s the older fighter, he’s got to get back to a title fight, and I feel a lot of these things are going to play into my favor and I know I’m gonna go out there and surprise a lot of people.”

Posted in: fight, time, guy, ’t, stann

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The Scorecard hits the highs and lows of the latest big event offering in MMA. Points are assigned completely at random but stay between ten and negative ten because I hate math. Sports fans in Washington D.C. are used to stars, but they’re also used to stars disappointing. Alexander Ovechkin might be the best player in the NHL, but he always finds a way to lose in the playoffs. Gilbert Arenas was a star in the NBA, but he’s now more famous because of what he did off the court. The Washington Redskins are known for paying for stars who don’t work out so well. And Stephen Strasburg is a star who has spent more time on the DL than on the mound. At UFC on Versus 6, fans in the area may not have gotten that major star, but they were finally treated to some great victories and a championship performance. Lets go to the scorecard: *Somebody forgot to tell Joseph Sandoval that Halloween is at the end of the month, not the start. And if you’re going to go as a UFC fighter to get candy from strangers, people won’t recognize you as Dan Hardy unless you’re on your back. MINUS THREE *I love that Mario Yamasaki makes a heart with his hands when he’s introduced. It never fails to remind me of Taylor Swift. PLUS ONE *Walel Watson with an impressive debut. Used his reach well, threw some powerful head kicks, and swarmed on the guy when he hurt him. Tough to ask for a better start to the card. PLUS FIVE *I thought Yamasaki stopped the Watson vs. Sandoval fight a bit early. While I’d always rather see a fight stopped too early than too late, I would have liked to seen Ban(tamweight) Hardy get more of a chance. MINUS FOUR *At least Sandoval completed his Hardy tribute by losing. PLUS ONE *Keith Wisniewski’s walk out made me think he was going to a funeral and not to a fight. MINUS TWO *Joe Rogan thinks every crowd that yells, “KNEE!” when two guys are clinched means they’re educated. Has he ever thought that the fans at this event just heard the fans at the last event do it, so they figured it’s just something you do? I mean, that’s how people got into MMA in the first place, right? MINUS ONE *Josh Neer’s elbows in the clinch were a thing of beauty. PLUS THREE *Neer’s mouthpiece was so tired of getting Wisniewski’s blood on it that it decided to hide under the ring. PLUS TWO *Disappointing end to Neer vs. Wisniewski since the cuts weren’t really in a bad spot and Keith seemed to realize that getting elbowed in the face in the clinch wasn’t a good strategy, so he tried for takedowns. MINUS TWO *Extra points because the fight was really exciting while it lasted. PLUS SIX *Neer saying his ribs were broken between rounds and then saying that they weren’t broken after the fight reminded me of TUF 3 when Kalib Starnes said his ribs were broken and Ken Shamrock called BS. MINUS TWO *Classy move by Neer to dedicate the fight to his grandfather, who is battling cancer. PLUS TWO *Chandella is still lovely, Arianny is still beautiful, UFC still has no blonde ring girl. MINUS THREE *How could Rogan and Mike Goldberg not know whether or not Fernando Yamasaki was Mario’s brother? Seems like something they should have been told beforehand. MINUS FOUR *Some very fun scrambles throughout Shane Roller vs. TJ Grant. PLUS FIVE *The night of questionable endings continued as Fernando stopped the fight before Roller tapped out. If Roller screamed out “Ahhhhh” then shame on him and he should have owned up to it if he did. If he didn’t then shame on Grant for saying it. Either way, it’s a stupid rule. Don’t stop the fight until you see the tap or the fighter says, “TAP!” MINUS SIX *Extra points because this fight was a fun ground battle with some good stand up exchanges. PLUS SEVEN *Grant looked solid at 155. Really strong on the ground, needs to improve his striking though. PLUS TWO *Ever since I heard “Cinderella Man” by Eminem I thought it would make a great walk out song, yet no one used it for a year until Tito Ortiz at UFC 133 and now I feel like I hear it every event. MINUS ONE *Of course Byron Bloodworth would wear red trunks and of course a guy nicknamed “Hulk” would wear purple trunks. I’m docking points for predictability. MINUS TWO *Props to the D.C. crowd for coming out to support their boy Mike Easton. PLUS ONE *Once Easton realized that he wasn’t the UFC bantamweight champion, he did really well. Good adjustment between rounds and some strong knees in the clinch. PLUS THREE *I don’t really know what Easton was doing with his celebration, but it reminded me a lot of Houston Alexander. MIKE EASTON IS FO REAL! PLUS THREE *Finally a finish that didn’t leave me disappointed. PLUS ONE *I hope Michael Johnson didn’t have to pay extra for his white shorts to get soaked in red blood. That’s like those people who pay extra for jeans that come with dirt stains and rips. MINUS THREE *Paul Sass used to be known for his triangle choke, now he’s known for his heel hook. Time to change his nickname to “Sass Hook”. PLUS TWO *Extra points to Sass for hitting a rolling half crab, holding onto the leg, and then finishing the hold. Suck it Lance Storm. PLUS TWO *I still want to see Sass vs. Cody McKenzie in a “finishers only” fight. EVEN *Yves Edwards looked a little gun-shy in the first round, but he let loose in the second against Rafaello Oliveira. Always happy to see the master of Thugjitsu get his hand raised. PLUS FOUR *After stopping the first fight too early, Mario Yamasaki decided to let Edwards vs. Oliveira go on a little too long. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. Sorry Mario. MINUS THREE *”I’m just a guy, fighting in front of a crowd, asking them to love me.” Someone add that quote to the Sports Greatest Quotes twitter feed. PLUS TWO *I love watching UFC on VS. because they always show commercials for hockey. THE NHL SEASON STARTS THURSDAY! PLUS FOUR *Did anyone else catch the UFC Store ad with B.J. Penn in the blue jacket? That was awesome. PLUS TWO *Before the first fight on UFC on VS. even start, the first fight on Bellator was over. Step yo game up UFC. MINUS FIVE *Matt Wiman was on the main card and didn’t have a banner? Come on man. MINUS TWO *When I saw the “MEETyourMEAT.com” ad on the trunks of Wiman, I had to check out the site. Did I think it had something to do with a male pleasuring himself? Yes, I did. The fact that I thought that and still went to the site says something about me. Luckily it was just some website warning me about the dangers of eating meat, which I didn’t listen to. MINUS FIVE for me actually going to the website. PLUS FIVE for the site not actually being about male masturbation. *Major props to both Wiman and Mac Danzig for the fight they had. That was a grueling fight and yet both guys were still battling until the bitter end. And did you notice that neither man put their hands on the knees and collapsed in the middle of the cage after the fight? That’s what happens when you have cardio. PLUS SEVEN *It was great that Danzig went for a guillotine at the very end. If only he had told the ref that, “thumbs up means tap out.” Now that would have been a fitting end. PLUS TWO *Come on Matt, get over the decision against Dennis Siver. Bad decisions happen and that one wasn’t the worst of the year. You came back strong, move on. MINUS THREE *I have to dock points for the fight going the distance though after every prelim fight had a finish. Fortunately it was an entertaining fight, so I won’t be taking away too much. MINUS TWO *That was a horribly bad interview between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Those interview segments are usually pretty bad, but this one did sell a single extra PPV buy and may have had people who pre-ordered the event calling for a refund. MINUS TEN *Anthony Johnson promised to win by head kick, and that’s exactly what he did. Always a fan of a guy calling his own strike. PLUS FIVE *That said, it was another bad stoppage by a Yamasaki brother. Even though Charlie Brenneman looked out when the kick connected, he was clearly still conscious when he hit the mat. I don’t think Brenneman would have survived much longer, but give the guy a chance. MINUS FIVE *Extra points to Johnson though for looking so dominant and really doing a number on Brenneman. PLUS FOUR *”VINTAGE RUMBLE” and “A HUMBLE RUMBLE” did Goldberg and Rogan steal Michael Cole’s notes? MINUS FIVE *Dear MMA media on Twitter, I don’t care that Snooki is at the UFC event, and neither should you. MINUS SIX *According to my sources inside the arena, Stefan Struve did not walk out to “Skyscraper” by Demi Lovato. I am disappoint. MINUS FOUR *Just the visual of Struve vs. Pat Barry was cool to see. PLUS TWO *That said, the fight was pretty boring until things hit the ground. Struve seemed too intent to keep the distance but putting nothing behind his strikes and Barry just seemed like Barry, which isn’t necessarily a good thing when your UFC record was 3-3 coming into the fight. MINUS FIVE *I have to give credit to Barry for actually trying a couple of head kicks on Struve. PLUS THREE *Even though the majority of the fight was dull, the ending sequence was awesome. Barry went for the Quinton Jackson slam but it didn’t work, only tightened the triangle, and Barry was forced to tap out. PLUS SEVEN *Extra points to Struve for using his forearm to take the brunt of the impact from the powerbomb. Very smart move. PLUS THREE *With a 3-4 UFC record, Barry has proven to be a lot of hype and now his UFC career may have died. MINUS TWO *I always enjoy watching Struve fight. He just needs to find some consistency in the cage. PLUS FOUR *”Big things poppin’, little things stoppin’” Demetrious Johnson knows he’s the little guy against Dominick Cruz, right? Poor choice of a walk out song. MINUS THREE “Cruz has a long line of challengers waiting for him at the top.” After Johnson there’s the winner of Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles and then who? MINUS TWO *Really Cruz, you’re wearing headphones during your walk out? Unless you were getting paid by Dr. Dre, there’s no reason to wear headphones during your walk out since you get to pick your own walk out song. MINUS FOUR *SUPLEX! I would have given Cruz more points if he finished the choke off the suplex, but it was still perfect execution. PLUS SIX *Cruz vs. Johnson was awesome, and a lot closer than it appeared on the scorecards. Johnson took it to Cruz on the feet, pressing him like he should have done, he just didn’t have the size to compete with him in the grappling department. PLUS EIGHT *Credit to Cruz for realizing his stand up game wasn’t working all that well and using his wrestling. PLUS FIVE *Credit to Johnson for not giving up and staying in Cruz’ face for 25 minutes even though he was really undersized. PLUS FIVE *Shame on UFC for not doing a better job promoting this event. We all knew Cruz vs. Johnson was going to be a great fight. While a rating hasn’t come out as of this writing, I’d be shocked if it did above a 1.5. MINUS SIX *I’m docking points for all the controversial stoppages on the night. When the judges did better than the referees, that’s a little surprising. MINUS THREE *I also have to dock points for all the damn commercials throughout the event. Even though every UFC on TV event has more commercials than fight time, it always annoys me. MINUS TWO *Overall though, this event was awesome. Some dull moments in a couple of fights but really every fight had plenty of action and I wouldn’t describe any fight as “boring.” PLUS TEN Final Score: 24 PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, vs, point

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Dominick Cruz had a successful title defense Saturday night in the main event of UFC Live 6, defeating Demetrious Johnson by Unanimous Decision to retain his bantamweight championship. Unfortunately, the night didn’t go completely perfect, as Cruz suffered a broken hand. Cruz (19-1) broke his left hand and will have surgery soon. He is expected to be placed in a bout with the winner of the upcoming Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles match which is set for UFC 139. “The Dominator” has faced both fighters before, going 2-1 against them both, including a win over Faber earlier this year in defense of his title. “You know one of the things I respect about the kid? He’s got a broken hand and had one the entire fight,” said UFC President Dana White after the post-fight press conference. “He broke his (left) hand and is going to have surgery. Not only did he not stop fighting and keep coming up 100%, he doesn’t even f*cking say anything about it.” White said he was told by Cruz after the press conference that he didn’t mention it during the event because he didn’t feel like it mattered, telling White, “What’s the difference? Who cares? I’m going to have surgery and come back.” Using his reach advantage and superior wrestling skills, Cruz was able to control “Mighty Mouse” throughout the five-round war, as two judges scored the fight 50-45 for Cruz. The other one had it 49-46 for the champion. As for the Faber-Bowles contest, Cruz himself is very excited to see the fight and believes it will only help push the bantamweights more into the spotlight. “I’m pumped for that fight. I believe the 135-pound division is going to set the bar for everyone else in the UFC. I fought both of those guys,” Cruz said. “I’m extremely excited to watch it. Both those guys are finishers. Both those guys come to compete. That fight is going to be something to watch.” PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, hand, cruz

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

When October 29 rolls around Georges St. Pierre won’t be the only talented welterweight putting his gold up for grabs, as Bellator FC has confirmed undefeated 170-pound champ Ben Askren will defend his title against tournament-winner Jay Hieron. The bout will take place at Kansas City’s Memorial Hall on a card also featuring the semifinals of the organization’s heavyweight tournament, the opening round of which kicks off later tonight at Bellator 52 on MTV2/EPIX (9:00 PM EST). “It’s an unreal feeling knowing I’ll be fighting so close to Mizzou,” said Askren in a press release when asked about the match-up. “Funky” was anything but on the mats in his career as a Missouri Tiger where he won multiple NCAA championships. However, the 8-0 Askren is positive the emotion won’t interfere come showtime, adding,“It won’t affect me during the fight, I could beat Jay in his living room, but to be able to celebrate with all my friends and family after the win is going to awesome.” Of course Hieron has a different plan in mind. “I’ve been getting ready for this fight for months, so location doesn’t matter,” the Xtreme Couture original explained. “I’ve got one goal in mind, and that’s punching this guy in the face and taking his belt. We all know the game he is going to bring to the cage, and everyone knows mine, so it’s going to be a war, simple as that.” Early Thoughts on Askren vs. Hieron Hieron will represent the toughest opponent has faced so far in his career with a 22-4 record and wins in ten straight. He holds past victories over Jesse Taylor, Jason High, Joe Riggs, and Jake Ellenberger, though earned his shot at Askren in semi-controversial fashion after taking home a Split Decision against <a href=http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/05/07/bellator-43-live-results>Rick Hawn in the Season 4</a> tournament final. PHOTO CREDIT – BELLATOR Tweet

Posted in: bellator, ’t, askren, hieron, jay

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Back again with another blog for Fighters.com! When it came to team selection, to be honest, I was just ecstatic winning to get into the house and it didn’t really matter to me as far as who picked me. Although, secretly, I was kind of hoping to be on Michael Bisping’s team because I was hoping he might bring Quinton Jackson in as a surprise coach. I love “Rampage”! But for the most part it didn’t matter to me. I was just happy to be on the show. As far as whether my wish came true, that is a negative. Trust me, if “Rampage” had been on the show I would have ended up breaking the $5 million confidentiality clause because I would have told everybody, probably Tweeted something like, “Oh my god! I just met ‘Rampage’!” But unfortunately he didn’t show up this time. I found out pretty quickly that when you meet a person, like Bisping, it’s completely different than how they might be portrayed on television. He was actually pretty cool. At times, he did some douchebag stuff – I’ll admit that – but overall, as a coach, he was solid. I was very pleased with his ability on that front. When I first walked into the house it was amazing! There are a bunch of big portraits of fighters you grew up watching like Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida…they had a picture of Randy Couture of when he knocked out Tim Sylvia. With Forrest Griffin they had a big ass Jesus-pose shot. It was surreal because it was like, “Wow! This is really happening! I’m in the Ultimate Fighter house!” As fighters, we want to get to the top and when you achieve that level of success it comes with perks like having a big house. It was a little overwhelming once you first get into the house. And of course people opened the fridge and wanted to have a BBQ or whatever, but with it being the first time at 145 I was freaking out about my weight. Plus, I looked at the rest of the guys as potential opponents. I don’t want to get in close, make friends, with anyone I may have to fight. That’s why in the beginning of the episode you didn’t see me until teams were picked and then again until weigh-ins and fight time. I didn’t hang out with anybody. I was in the corner reading the Bible. I was in fight mode and me being in fight mode isn’t good television. I get quiet, reflective. Getting picked to fight first, frankly, sucked ass. I was trying to get acclimated to the house, to the schedule…just trying to figure out what to do and how the whole TUF experience worked. We moved into the house day one, picked teams day two, and then day three all of the sudden I’m already fighting somebody. But then again I’m on the show for a reason and that’s what I came to do. After I got chosen to fight Bryan Caraway, I didn’t feel sorry for myself. I thought, “Okay, time to put on your boots and go to work.” The weight trick they showed Bisping teaching me resulted in literally the easiest cut of my career. It was shocking. I’m good with dieting and I know how to lose weight but when it comes to dropping I’m usually in the sauna, getting delirious, but Bisping’s salt bath was amazing. I lost a bunch of weight without even really trying. I was thinking, “Whoa! This is off the chain! I’m supposed to feel crazy and drained.” So it really helped and it’s definitely going to be something I continue to do to make weight. The weigh-in chant had nothing to do with me. It was all Akira Corrasani and Josh Ferguson. Akira is a crazy character! And like I said before, I’m quiet when I’m getting ready to fight and I was focused purely on the bout. Everybody else, they could still have fun, and when the group saw I was the one who got picked to fight so they all kind of relaxed. I’ll be honest – my performance against Caraway sucked. I had moved from Alabama to Georgia to Florida for American Top Team in the months prior to the show, and then before I know it I made the Ultimate Fighter and head out to Las Vegas. It was just a strange situation because I never had a real chance to settle. It’s hard to explain other than to say I was very disappointed in how I did because my mind wasn’t in the right place. Dana White was there, the cameras are on…all I could hear was my heartbeat. In the second round I just wanted to kill Caraway because I knew the first hadn’t gone my way at all. I kept thinking about White’s infamous words, “You never leave it in the hands of the judges.” And here it is a two-round fight and I’m already down a round. I learned from the experience and trust me, I’ll be back stronger and more-prepared the next time you see me in the cage! It may not have gone my way but I’m still very thankful for the opportunity. And don’t worry, you’ll still be seeing more of me on the show as you probably guessed by the preview for the next episode. Now that I’ve lost, let’s just say my personality will come out a bit more. Before ending this week’s blog, I want to give a shout out to all of my fellow Dragon Ball Z fans for hitting me up on Twitter. I got a lot of positive feedback about giving Dragon Ball some love on the show and I appreciate it. I also want to say Roll Tide! We might be #3 in the nation but we’re going to get that top spot and another national championship. I also want to give a shout out the 117th in Birmingham – my National Guard unit – for being so supportive and to American Top Team too. They’re my home. They’ve taken me in, welcomed me with open arms, and I greatly appreciate that. Thanks to my old gym too, Spartan Fitness, in Hoover, Alabama. I’m nothing without them and wouldn’t be anywhere near the man I am today without their help. To my family and friends back home too. And of course thanks to my strength and conditioning coach too for keeping me looking like a smaller, sexy Bobby Lashley. Thanks for reading again. I’ll be back next week with some more insight on what went down. In the meantime check me out on Twitter (@brim205) or see what else I had to say on my video blog. Tweet

Posted in: fight, show, ’t, i ’m, ’m

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We’ve all messed with a Rubik’s Cube in our lifetime. Some people, like myself, spend days trying to match up all the colors on each side. Some people, like my 1st grade self, take off all the stickers and then arrange them to make it look like we completed the puzzle. And some people can solve the cube in 10 moves. I want to punch those people in the face. In MMA, there’s a human Rubik’s Cube who gets punched in the face by his opponent as they try to solve him. His name is Dominick Cruz, or as I like to call him, “The Cruzik’s Cube”. Ever since Cruz dropped to bantamweight in 2008, he hasn’t lost in eight bantamweight bouts and he’s developed a style that has made him extremely tough to figure out. He’s not the biggest guy in his weight class, he’s not the fastest, and he doesn’t have an abnormally long reach. He just puts everything together so well that even when you have one side figured out, there are still more sides to figure out. The way Cruz bounces around on his feet and moves his shoulders and head is something that can’t be replicated in training camp. No other fighter moves the way Cruz does and puts everything together the way he does. He’s the most active fighter on his feet, even when he’s not throwing strikes because with the way he moves, it always looks like he’s throwing a feint or just setting up an attack and that throws off his opponents. Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez, who are teammates, both had success against Cruz when they pressed the action. Faber, who didn’t land much at UFC 132, made it count when he landed and hurt the champ on more than one occasion. Faber didn’t quite press the action enough though and was on the wrong side of the decision. Benavidez didn’t really hurt Faber, but he was constantly moving forward and we’ve all learned that aggression can steal a decision, and Benavidez ended up doing enough in one judges eyes (or eye) to earn a split decision loss. Unfortunately Benavidez lacked the power and Faber lacked the aggression. Even if you can figure out the striking of Cruz, you still have to deal with his wrestling and grappling. His takedown defense is top-notch and if he does get put on his back, he can pop back up or pull off a sweep to turn things into his favor. He uses his offensive wrestling to steal or solidify rounds. At the end of every frame, he loves to go for the knee tap takedown, and even though fighters know it’s coming, they still have trouble stopping it. Faber had success staying on his feet but “The California Kid” is also a fighter who has always been known for his scramble ability and is one of the few fighters who can match the size of Cruz in the division. Fighters like Benavidez, who is a good scrambler but undersized for the division, and Scott Jorgensen, who is a good wrestler as well and very strong for the division, didn’t quite have the same success. Tonight, Demetrious Johnson tries to solve the Cruzik’s Cube. He’s one of the few fighters who can match the speed of Cruz, but he, like Benavidez, is undersized for 135 and isn’t really a great striker, at least not on the level of Cruz’ past few opponents. Is “Mighty Mouse” the person to solve Cruz? I don’t believe so. The champion has a distinct advantage on the feet, and even thought Johnson is very fast, he’s going to have a tough time getting Cruz down due to his size. To beat Cruz, opponents can’t be mesmerized by the movements. They have to realize that all the movements are just to set up his offense attack, and that defensively, he is hittable and he’s not really a counter striker. Solving a Rubik’s Cube isn’t really that hard, neither is solving the Cruzik’s Cube. People trick themselves into doubt though. With the toy, people get frustrated when they have one side figured out, only to realize that they completely screwed up what they were working on on a different side. With the fighter, opponents get frustrated when they see Cruz moving in odd angles and mixing things up better than many fighters in the sport. Of course all of this is easier said than done. I can figure out the Rubik’s Cube in my mind, but once the thing gets in my hand, I twist it for a few minutes before realizing that it’s better off being used as a chew toy for my dog. People can figure out the Cruzik’s Cube on paper, but unless they have the skillset and mentality to get the job done, they’re just going to become another frustrated victim. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

These are the facts: UFC on Versus is Saturday night for its sixth installment, the promotion is touching down in Washington, DC proper for the first time (that UFC Fight Night in Northern Virginia doesn’t count – it’s freakin’ Virginia, for Christ’s sake), and there’s a bantamweight title on the line.  Oh yeah, and there’s zero buzz going into the event.  Why is there zero buzz?  Is everyone just exhausted from caring so much about UFC 135 last weekend and saving up all the leftover “care” for UFC 136 next week?  Or is it that the lighter weights still aren’t compelling enough to the average fan?  You know what, who cares what the reason is.  Like the WEC and, sadly, Bellator’s 135-pound tournament, Dominick Cruz’s defense of the belt against Demetrious Johnson can be our – you, me and the rest of the hardcores – little secret.  Because in addition to the aforementioned facts, there’s also this: the little guys are never boring.  Preview time! -Dominick Cruz vs. Demetrious Johnson – The beauty of Cruz’s unorthodox striking-heavy style is that he fights like he’s having an epileptic seizure.  And it works!  The last challenger, Urijah Faber, was so disoriented he didn’t know if he was supposed to crap twice or go blind, and the rest of the top dogs, like Scott Jorgensen, Joseph Benavidez and Brian Bowles, still aren’t sure what happened to them when they fought Cruz.  On the other half of the equation is Johnson, a.k.a. “Mighty Mouse”, who trounced Damacio Page, “Kid” Yamamoto and Miguel Torres to earn his shot.  You know, I think Johnson is as worthy a challenger as we’re going to get, but you can’t outrun the Flash in a footrace or bench press more than the Hulk, and Johnson’s got an even harder task in front of him with Cruz.  This one’s going five rounds, with Cruz once against getting the nod. -Stefan Struve vs. Pat Barry – In his last outing the eleven-foot tall Struve got plastered by Travis Browne, while Barry knocked out Cheick Kongo twice yet somehow still wound up unconscious.  You think redemption is on the minds of these guys?  I’d say yes, as well as thoughts of future employment options and the desire to f*** someone up – all of which means we’re most definitely seeing a heavyweight slugfest here.  My crystal ball says it’s going to be Struve who’s carried out on a stretcher, but you never know.  Barry might have a Kongo flashback and pass out. -Charlie Brenneman vs. Anthony Johnson – In his last time at bat, Brenneman shocked the world by out-wrestling Rick Story and derailing the Story Train’s fast climb up the mountain.  In Johnson’s last outing, he shocked no one by playing it safe against Dan Hardy, lying on top of the Brit for three rounds.  You can bet Johnson is going to try his best to avoid getting taken down and beaten on.  He will, however, fail.  Brenneman is a better wrestler, and sports the kind of relentlessness that makes guys like Johnson wish they’d become a lawyer or doctor like their mom had wanted. -Matt Wiman vs. Mac Danzig – Wiman looked only okay on TUF 6, but his career in the Octagon since then has seen him lose to only some of the toughest lightweights out there.  Danzig, on the other hand, won TUF 6, but has looked like crap ever since.  Adding another wrinkle to this match-up is that these guys fought already at UFC 115, and the referee totally flubbed a call that involved a Wiman guillotine attempt and the ref believing that Danzig was dead (or something).  Anyway, rematch!  You know, with Kendall Grove axed, I think Danzig will be the next TUF winner to get his walking papers – he’s that uninspiring – so yeah, Wiman by something.  Maybe KO, maybe submission.

Posted in: ufc, ’t, vs, johnson, cruz

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Even if Pat Barry wasn’t consistently one of the most charming, hilarious individuals in Mixed Martial Arts there’s a good chance he’d still be immensely popular given his fan-friendly approach to competition. However, in a professional endeavor involving high-level athletes trying to knock your block off, Barry is well-aware of the risk involved in his preference to strike first, ask questions later. Of course, that doesn’t mean he’ll be changing things up anytime soon. Barry Opens Up About Latest Loss “That’s the name of the game,” the UFC heavyweight said in an interview on UFC.com, before elaborating, “We’re gonna knock people out and we’re gonna get knocked out, there’s no avoiding that part of it. I was lucky enough to go a really long time without ever having to come across it, but if you can’t accept getting knocked out or losing or getting hit, then this is the wrong sport to be in.” “Sometimes, you’re just gonna get hit,” he continued. “That’s part of the game and part of what happens. In the Cheick Kongo fight, I lost the fight, but I was definitely winning beforehand. I was winning the fight; I think I might have even won the fight twice before he came along with his win. But that’s what happens.” Continuing on the topic of his loss to Kongo this past June, the 32-year old kickboxer playfully reflected, “I thought I had won the fight when I was lying on my back in the center of the Octagon. I said ‘What do you mean I’m out? He’s out, y’all are crazy.’ As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know I was lying on my back. When the doctor said, can you try to sit up for me, I remember saying ‘How am I gonna sit up when I’m already standing? You’re the worst doctor ever. You should be fired.’” Rather than looking at things in a negative light, the ever-optimistic Barry took a silver-lining away from the dark cloud hovering over the fight’s result. “Once I realized what happened, it was almost a bit of a relief. My entire career has gone knowing that eventually I will be knocked out. And every time I step into the ring or the Octagon, there is that little bit of ‘oh sh*t, is this gonna be the time?’ And that’s stressful. And every time I got out of a fight, I go ‘Woo, I escaped it again.’ I had gone ten years escaping it, ten years of training and fighting and sparring at practice. And it finally happened, so it’s kinda like a big relief. Now I don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Barry’s next test will come tomorrow night at UFC Live 6 when he faces Stefan Struve, a towering 21-5 youngster who is a foot taller than Barry and has finished nineteen of the opponents he’s beaten. The UFC Live 6 card is headlined by Dominick Cruz defending his bantamweight title against human Energizer Bunny Demetrious Johnson. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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Hello again everyone! Another awesome Saturday of MMA behind us, another one around the corner. I’m getting ready to head to DC this weekend to corner Mac Danzig at UFC Live 6. I haven’t been working with him long for this fight. He’s training in LA and I’ve been there a couple of times but it’s tough for me to leave Vegas to work with him and equally hard for him to leave LA to train in Vegas. I leave him some stuff to work on while I’m gone but it’s still not ideal. Like most of you, I also watched UFC 135 last weekend. In fact, I had about 60 people over for it! We had a nice BBQ outside and everyone stayed to watch the fights. Even after the fights guys stayed and we just hung out. The last person to leave didn’t leave until about three in the morning. I like to drink Patron and Grey Goose, and though I try not to mix them, that night I think I mixed everything. There were all types of alcohol. It was a lot of fun though. We were just celebrating as a family. It was great to have everyone there, all the fighters with their wives or girlfriends. No fights broke out either. Everyone in our group is kind of a happy drunk. They like to drink, then get a smile on their faces and go around hugging people. As far as the actual event, I thought it was really good overall. I was a little disappointed with the main event because Quinton Jackson wasn’t able to do what I thought he was going to do, but Jon Jones is a tough guy. I think some of the advice from Jackson’s corner was good, but they didn’t explain to him how to find his range. For example, you can tell him to throw punches, but ALSO tell him what punches to throw. You have to give guys specific instruction. I’ve always said that “Rampage” needs more footwork. He’s an aggressive fighter and he needs to learn how to punch while moving forward better. Power punchers have a tough time punching while moving and when someone gives them movement, they have a hard time keeping up. He moved his head well and avoided the punches, but once he did that he didn’t get inside. Josh Koscheck vs. Matt Hughes went the way I expected it. Koscheck was too young, too fast, too strong, and too explosive. Hughes is a good fighter but the age has caught up to him and his chin isn’t what it used to be. Nate Diaz showed why he’s so tough. He’s one of the toughest guys to fight because he can out-box you, get in your head and frustrate you, and then what do you do when you take him down? He’s the type of fighter that, once he gets the upper hand, you’re in trouble because he’s a good finisher. I fully believe Nate could have stopped Takanori Gomi with strikes but he chose to submit him. We’ll have to see wait and see Tony Ferguson can do against tougher competition but based on his performance he showed what he can do right now. He’s clearly a good up-and-comer. Ferguson landed a beautiful up-jab, which broke Aaron Riley’s jaw and pretty much sealed the deal. Riley was tough and took some shots with a broken jaw but Ferguson just kept landing on him including a really nice body shot. If he keeps improving and working on his whole game, he could be one of the guys to beat. One final update on Gray Maynard before wrapping this up. Tuesday was his last hard day of training. Now it’s working on the game plan and keeping him sharp. I think he’s going to be peaking perfectly for the fight against Frank Edgar next weekend. He’s really looking forward to this fight! He’s a great person and you can see that for this fight – he’s so prepared and he can’t wait to get in there. Even the people that are close to him have noticed a difference in his character and the way he’s carrying himself for this fight. I’ve never seen him in this state of mind. I think he wants to prove a point and show the world that he is the best lightweight in the world. No disrespect to Frankie because he’s a great fighter, but he’s going to be in trouble against Gray. Catch up with me one last time before we head to Houston for the title-fight at UFC 136! Thanks, as always, for reading. Make sure to catch up with me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

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If you look at the top bantamweights in the world, Dominick Cruz has beaten practically all of them. Urijah Faber, Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez (twice), and Scott Jorgensen have all fallen at the hands of the UFC champion, but as he prepares for his latest challenge, a Saturday night main event against Demetrious Johnson, there is no more or less pressure on him; it’s just another fight.“I feel like every time I fight I’m not defending anything,” said Cruz. “Nobody owns the belt; you just go out there and win a new one every time you fight. So this is just another fight. Fighting Faber, beating Faber, that was just another step in my career that I needed to make happen for myself. I did it, I accomplished another one of my goals that I set, and that’s how I look at it. I’m going out to fight another fight, win a new belt, and put a beating on DJ.”If that sounds like the confident words of a champion, that would be accurate, and Cruz has earned such a right with his performances. Unbeaten at 135 pounds, a weight class he has graced since 2008, the San Diego native won the WEC and UFC versions of the bantamweight title, but he didn’t truly put his stamp on the division until July, when he defeated the only man to beat him as a pro (at featherweight) in Faber. The five round war won Fight of the Night honors at UFC 132, but it wasn’t until the next morning that everything sunk in for the champion.“It was like a weight off my shoulders,” said Cruz of beating Faber. “There were a lot of emotions tied into that fight, and not just because of the trash talking, but because deep down inside I knew I could beat him, and I knew that I was supposed to beat him. It was something I just had to do and wanted to do. So there was a lot of pressure, and a lot that I put on myself more than anything. I’m my own worst critic, and anything that anybody can say about me, I’ve already said about myself and thought about it, so to lose to Faber the way that I did (in 2007), it wasn’t necessarily that I lost; it was the way that I lost so quickly. I didn’t even get to fight him and he didn’t even get to see who I was. Nobody got to see who I was in that fight. And this last fight, I got to go out there and show it and prove it and get that W. It was an unbelievable feeling, it’s an accomplishment, and I feel really good about it.”So do the fans that got to witness a bout that lived up to every ounce of the pre-fight hype that surrounded it. Cruz wasn’t surprised though, as he knew the first 135-pound main event in UFC history was going to deliver.“I knew that he would (bring it) and I knew that I would,” said Cruz. “So I kinda assumed that was something that was gonna take place. I knew that me and him was either gonna be a five round war that was gonna be an awesome fight at a high pace, or I was gonna go out there and sleep him in the first round. I’m always willing to go to war – I invite the war, I accept the war, and I look forward to the war. That’s what it was and I’m glad we were able to put on a good show for the fans and it was something that I expected.”Saturday’s bout against Johnson, a powerhouse wrestler with lightning-fast takedowns, promises more of the same. The only question is if Cruz, after all the emotions attached to the Faber fight, can go back to the mental well once more just three months later.“We’re fighting for a world title – if that doesn’t get you hyped up, what does?” said Cruz. “This is fighting on the biggest stage on the planet for the highest accolade you could possibly get in fighting. I’m hyped every single time I fight. I’m hyped to fight somebody new, I’m hyped to have a new problem to solve in there with a different opponent. DJ’s not somebody to look past. That guy beat Miguel Torres and Kid Yamamoto back to back. The guy’s an underdog that loves the underdog role, and uses it well to fuel him. And that’s exactly what he plans on using to fuel himself against me. But it’s not gonna work because I don’t look at him that way. I look at him as just as tough, and tougher in some ways, than Faber was.”Guess that answers that question. So what about the idea that Cruz, the presumed fastest gun in the division, may be facing someone even faster in Washington State’s “Mighty Mouse”? That’s going to be an intriguing plotline to see play out at Verizon Center, but one that isn’t fazing Cruz too much.“He’s pretty quick, but everybody’s quick when they’re comfortable or of you fight them a certain way,” counters the champion. “He’s never fought a high-level wrestler except for Kid Yamamoto, and Yamamoto sat down on his punches very hard and was trying to take his head off with every punch, and you can’t fight a guy like Johnson like that because he plans on that and looks forward to you doing that so he can take you down. There’s just a specific way you gotta fight every single person; you can’t fight everyone the same. I don’t think he’s the quickest I’ve fought. How are you gonna say that he’s faster than Faber or Benavidez? He’s just a different kind of fast and he has a different look than anybody else I’ve fought. He’s got a good rhythm, he’s got good timing on his takedowns, and it’s all about fighting him a certain way and making him uncomfortable.”And if you haven’t watched Cruz in action, let’s just say that perhaps no fighter can make you as uncomfortable as he can. With cardio for days (he’s fought three five rounders in a row), constant movement and a striking style that has you guessing where the next punch is coming from, Cruz is one of those rare athletes that you can’t figure out. And just when you think you have got a bead on him, he switches it up all over again.“I’m always training, evolving and trying to get better,” said the 26-year old. “You fight me once, I’m one fighter, you fight me another time, I’m a different fighter. And the other thing is, I don’t fight everybody the same. Even though I’ve got the same sort of style, my gameplan for every person is different. I change up my strikes, I change up the angles to a different side, and I have gameplans according to what my opponents do for every fight.”But the real secret is that he’s not just focusing on himself, but he’s watching everybody else as he rounds out his MMA game. “I’m always watching everybody,” he said. “I’m a fan of the sport, and I’m learning from every newcomer that comes in and I’m learning from every veteran and I’m trying to grow and improve. I watch tons of boxing and I think it’s an art and it’s beautiful. And I mix that in with my kickboxing and my wrestling. But you can’t just use boxing and go out there and win. You can’t just use Muay Thai and go out there and win. You have to be able to take certain things from every art and you add it to your style. The beautiful thing about MMA is that there’s always something to add.”With that attitude, his skillset, and the idea that he’s not the champion, but a hungry challenger, Dominick Cruz may be settling in for a long reign at the top. But maybe settling isn’t the right word, because this is one fighter who can never sit still for very long – in or out of the Octagon. And that’s just the way he likes it. “I live for this,” he said. “I’m having a blast, I’m loving every second of it and I’m taking it all in. You see me after my fights, I put my hands up, close my eyes, and after every win and before every single fight, I’m soaking in the energy and loving every second of this. I’m in the one percentile of the entire planet, I’m doing something that I love to do, and God has blessed me, so it’s unbelievable and I’m loving it.”

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September 17. 6am. It’s an ungodly hour for anyone to be up, but this was a special Saturday for Walel Watson, a fight day unlike any other. Later in the afternoon, his childhood friend Robert Peralta, who he had known since they were in seventh grade, was about to make his UFC debut against Mike Lullo. It was almost like Watson was fighting, and in a way he was, through his buddy.“It was so exciting,” said Watson. “I woke up so early that morning, and I was like ‘I can’t wait, I can’t wait.’” After three rounds in New Orleans, Peralta’s first UFC fight resulted in his first UFC victory as he decisioned Lullo. Back in Southern California, Watson, 8-2 in his own pro mixed martial arts career, waited for his turn to do the same thing, and Saturday in Washington, D.C., he’ll get his chance against Joseph Sandoval. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a better story.“I know he (Peralta) has been doing it a little bit longer than me and I knew what it meant for both of us,” said Watson. “He played football too and he kinda went through the same thing of not being that big and all that. So I know what it meant for both of us to be professional athletes and fight in the best show in the world.”A former wide receiver, cornerback and special teams returner in junior college, Watson always had ambitions of taking to the professional gridiron just like every kid who puts on the helmet and shoulder pads. And he was good. He just wasn’t big.“When I played football, because of the gear and everything and sweating every single day, I never weighed more than 142, 143 pounds, and I played junior college and semi-pro that way, being the smallest guy on the field all the time,” said the 5-foot-11 Watson. And when National Signing Day rolled around and the phone didn’t ring, he knew that his dreams of playing in the NFL were over.That’s when Peralta called his longtime friend.“He knew that I was very interested in fighting and he was just getting started at that time, so he said ‘come check this out, come to the garage. I got a surprise for you,’” recalled Watson. “That was it. He got me into training and we were just hooked after that. We never stopped training after that.”The year was 2008, and Watson and Peralta quickly outgrew the garage, where there weren’t any high-tech workout machines or amenities, but there were plenty of opportunities to prove whether you were cut out for getting punched in the face.“It really did make you tough because it was almost like a fight club,” said Watson. “We didn’t really have any rules and we didn’t have a training regimen. We’d just come in, put on some gloves and we’re all just smashing each other. (Laughs) At that point, me and Robert realized that we really wanted to pursue this and get serious with it, and that’s when we had to break off from the whole garage thing. But it really did make us tough. There were a lot of people getting choked out, knocked out and all kinds of crazy things.”Eventually winding up with different camps, Watson with Manolo Hernandez and Peralta with Xplode MMA, Johnny Hughes, and Jeff Clark, the two never lost touch with each other, texting or talking multiple times over the course of the week and even getting in some sparring time. Later in 2008, with Peralta already getting ready for his eighth pro fight, Watson made his debut with a submission loss to Enrique Cuellar. He wouldn’t return for another year, and when he did, finishing Peter Martinez in the second round, he was ready to make a run up the bantamweight ladder.“I don’t want to sound cocky, but I felt like from the moment I started that I could really be something at this,” said the 27-year old Watson. “I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve been a competitor my entire life and I’m used to trying to be the best at everything I’ve done, but right away, from the day I stepped in there, I felt like I could be the best in the world at what I do, especially in my weight class.”Earlier this year, the 8-2 Watson and the 14-3 Peralta got their calls to the big show. The subsequent phone call between the bantamweight and the featherweight went as you would expect.“The first person I thanked was him because he gave me my start,” said Watson. “He invited me out to the garage three years ago and was the one who put my foot in the door. We’re always giving positive reinforcement to each other or talking about our training and giving tips to each other. We’re really good friends, and we don’t let anything get between that.”Watson also gets some helpful hints from Strikeforce female contender Liz Carmouche, who has seen her share of the spotlight this year as well.“We’re a real tight-knit family and we’re all pretty grounded,” said Watson of his team in San Diego. “None of us ever get too big-headed, and just seeing the way she (Carmouche) handles it, she’s real humble and she’ll be in here helping out anyway she can in the gym at anytime, whether it’s helping me spar or wiping the mats down, and I’m the same exact way. I don’t think any of us will ever change who we are.”This weekend, things will change though, especially if he can turn back Sandoval and earn his first UFC win. And if you haven’t heard of Watson, a purple belt in jiu-jitsu who has finished all eight of his pro victories (seven by submission), he wants to make sure you know who he is on Sunday morning.“I’ve had a lot of guys overlook me,” said Watson. “I’ve rolled with brown and black belts and world champions, and I’ve tapped them out because they’ve overlooked me. They’re like ‘oh, this guy’s brand new, he can’t get me.’ But with my tenacity and my belief that I can get anything and beat anybody that’s in front of me, I’ve been able to tap some of the best out there.”Being a huge bantamweight at 5-11 doesn’t hurt his chances either. And unlike the late boxing star Diego Corrales, who starved his 6-0 frame down to 135 pounds, Watson has no difficulty getting to the bantamweight limit.“It worked against me in football, but it’s helping me for MMA,” said of his size. “I don’t weigh more than 149-150 pounds if I had pizza the night before. So to get down to 135 is very easy for me. I train five hours a day, so my weight’s always really low, I eat very clean, so when it’s time to cut the weight, it drops right off.”And as far as his height goes, “It gives me the advantage of being able to close the distance and it really helps my submissions. I can lock up submissions from some pretty strange angles because of my length and I have really good flexibility. So I pull off some strange things sometimes.”Sounds like a fighter to watch. But is he ready? We asked the same thing of Peralta and he did just fine. So Watson is confident that he will join his buddy in the winner’s circle.“I’m more than ready,” he said. “I feel blessed and I’m excited to show the world what I can do and what I can bring to the table.”

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Pat Barry got the same question everywhere he went. “It’s never been something else, ever,” admits the UFC heavyweight prospect. So once he got through telling strangers what he did for a living, the response would be, “how many times have you been knocked out?”But Barry, who seemingly has an entertaining answer for everything, couldn’t really respond with something people were looking for. He would just say “I haven’t…yet.”If you buy in to all the machismo surrounding combat sports, you could say Barry was bordering on blasphemy, but when you’re a true tough guy, you don’t have to play the role in real life as well. And Barry is as blunt as anyone when it comes to the realities of the fight game. You stick around long enough, and your time will come.“That’s the name of the game,” he said. “We’re gonna knock people out and we’re gonna get knocked out, there’s no avoiding that part of it. I was lucky enough to go a really long time without ever having to come across it, but if you can’t accept getting knocked out or losing or getting hit, then this is the wrong sport to be in.”On June 26th, after eight pro MMA bouts, 25 kickboxing matches, and countless sparring sessions, Barry’s name got called by Cheick Kongo. After dropping Kongo twice and nearly finishing him, Barry was caught by the French contender, who fired off a right uppercut that rescued victory from the jaws of defeat and put the New Orleans native out cold.“I thought I had won the fight when I was lying on my back in the center of the Octagon,” said Barry. “I said ‘What do you mean I’m out? He’s out, y’all are crazy.’ (Laughs) As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know I was lying on my back. When the doctor said, can you try to sit up for me, I remember saying how am I gonna sit up when I’m already standing? You’re the worst doctor ever. You should be fired. (Laughs) But once I realized what happened, it was almost a bit of a relief. My entire career has gone knowing that eventually I will be knocked out. And every time I step into the ring or the Octagon, there is that little bit of ‘oh s**t, is this gonna be the time?’ And that’s stressful. And every time I got out of a fight, I go ‘woo, I escaped it again.’ I had gone ten years escaping it, ten years of training and fighting and sparring at practice. And it finally happened, so it’s kinda like a big relief. Now I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”In over 15 years of covering combat sports, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a knockout loss put into perspective quite like that, but then again, few fighters are like Pat Barry. In fact, when talking about the reality that his loss to Kongo will be immortalized on year-end ‘Best of’ lists and on highlight reels way beyond 2011, he isn’t even bothered by it.“If that was two other people and not me, that would have been one of my favorite comebacks ever,” he said. “That’s a cool fight, a cool comeback, and a cool highlight from the first knockdown to the end. It might be the coolest 20 seconds ever.”He’s right. But what his reaction to a defeat that may have crushed his peers and left them gun-shy and unwilling to discuss the matter did was allow him to escape the usual emptying of the bandwagon that happens these days after a fighter loses. So even at .500 (3-3) in his UFC career thus far, you won’t find anyone that will say that Barry is a fighter they wouldn’t want to see or hear from again.“I think it’s my honesty that’s really grabbing on to people and grasping their attention,” he said. “Sometimes, you’re just gonna get hit. That’s part of the game and part of what happens. In the Kongo fight, I lost the fight, but I was definitely winning beforehand. I was winning the fight; I think I might have even won the fight twice before he came along with his win. (Laughs) But that’s what happens. And I think what it comes down to in the end is that people know that, and they know I’m gonna put on exciting fights and that I’m here to perform all the time. They keep that in mind. I don’t find myself to be a very boring fighter or a slouch fighter. People know that whenever I get in the ring that something exciting is gonna happen.”Odds are that it’s going to happen again this Saturday night in Washington D.C. when he faces fellow heavyweight action hero Stefan Struve, another fighter who is no stranger to the miracle comeback. Adding to the intrigue is the height discrepancy between the 6-11 Struve and the 5-11 Barry, and neither has shied away from poking fun at the physical matchup. But in the gym, it’s all business.“I’ve fought really tall guys in kickboxing and I’ve come across guys like that before,” said Barry. “But I’ve never come across an almost seven foot tall, young, energetic, athletic Dutch kickboxer who is extremely dangerous. And if you know anything about the world of fighting, then you know that Dutch kickboxers are some of the most dangerous kickboxers on Earth.”So how do you replicate that in the gym considering that there aren’t too many guys around who fit that description?“I brought in a guy named Maurice “The Pirate” Greene from Chicago,” said Barry. “He’s a 6-foot-9 kickboxer who formerly wrestled. He’s got two inches under Stefan, but I figure if Stefan gets into his fight stance, he might be 6-9. Other than that, every once in a while I have Marty Morgan standing on a chair and I’ll run past him and see if I can kick him in the head.”Barry’s also made a switch in camps to Minnesota’s Team DeathClutch, the training home of former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, mainly to get work with a steady stream of heavyweights who can help him sew up the holes in his ground game.“I definitely need heavyweights to train with,” he said. “I need wrestling, and I need jiu-jitsu. And out here is a gym that’s completely comprised of heavyweights and superstar wrestlers who all know jits. And I need to be around bigger guys, stronger guys, wrestlers, and guys who grapple. Finally, for the first time, I’m the smallest guy in the room and the weakest guy in the room, so I’ve got no choice but to get stronger.”It’s an aspect of the sport that people forget about or don’t think about at all, as getting a group of strong, athletic heavyweights together in one gym is a rarity. Barry has gotten some comments about leaving his longtime camp with Duke Roufus in Milwaukee, but when it came to adding what he needed to his arsenal, the 32-year old simply needed to make the move.“Ever since I made the transition to DeathClutch from Roufusport, I’ve been getting all these messages – ‘oh, you’re a traitor,’ ‘how could you leave?’ But we need big people to train with,” he said. “If you’re a big guy, you need to train with big guys. If you’re a little guy, you should be training with little guys, someone who can replicate the guys you’re going to be competing with. This is what we do, and you gotta be able to simulate it as much as possible. The only thing better is if you could actually train with the guy you’re gonna fight, but we can’t do that.”No, you can’t, but if someone could pull it off, be friends with a future opponent and still try to rip his head off on fight night, it would be Barry. Friends are friends, and fighting is fighting. As for getting knocked out, that chapter’s done with. It’s time to move on.“As of right now, in my heart and in my head, the way that I feel is that now, I’ll be even more comfortable,” he said. “It’s like worrying the second time you get on that rollercoaster – you know what it’s like already.”

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The way Stefan Struve saw it, things were going just according to plan in his UFC 130 match with Travis Browne in May. He saw everything that the Hawaiian was doing, he was avoiding serious trouble, and all he needed was to hear the bell to end round one. Then, Browne was all his.“The gameplan was to tire him and then push the pace in the second round because his cardio didn’t seem to be the best in the fights we had seen of him,” said Struve. “And the gameplan was working, in my opinion. When we stood up after we went to the ground, he took a couple deep breaths, and I was basically just warming up. I was already thinking ‘I’m gonna kick your ass in the second round, and you’re mine.’” What made what happened next even worse was that Struve assumed he had picked off Browne’s most serious weapon – an overhand right.“He was coming in with that overhand right the entire fight and I was just stepping back, blocking it, and moving away, using footwork to avoid those punches, and it was going easy,” said Struve. “I was fighting at 60-70 percent of what I could normally do. Then he came in for another big punch and I had my hand up because I thought he was coming in with the overhand right, and he came down the middle and it was good night.”Browne’s Superman punch was all it took to finish things at 4:11 of the first round. It was Struve’s first loss since March of 2010, and it broke a two fight winning streak for the Beverwijk native. Yet it’s Struve’s reaction to the defeat that has fans still expecting the 23-year old to one day challenge for world title honors.“There are several things you can do (after you lose), and the thing you can do best, in my opinion, is man up, take it, take your lessons from it, use it as motivation, and start training for your next fight,” he said. “Then you come back harder, and that’s what I did in my fights after my losses.”The loss to Browne was his third in eight UFC outings, with each coming by knockout (the others to Junior dos Santos and Roy Nelson). To some fighters, that could be the kiss of death, but for Struve, it only shows that he is still a raw talent and a work in progress. And frankly, Struve remains a heavyweight draw for the main reason that he is never in a boring fight. It’s feast or famine with the “Skyscraper,” sometimes even both, and if you’re surprised that he is in the UFC Live co-main event this Saturday night against Pat Barry, you must have not seen him fight before. Such lofty placement on the card hasn’t escaped Struve’s notice either.“This is the third time I’ve been a co-main event for the UFC, and I’m really proud of that, and I’m really thankful that the UFC gave me that spot after my last fight,” he said. “That shows a lot of trust in my future.”But knockdown, drag ‘em out brawls and come from behind miracle victories can catch up to you after a while, so Struve has been honing his skills steadily since his arrival in the UFC in 2009. And while he has supplemented his training with PRIDE vet Bob Schrijber with trips to the United States over the last year, for former kickboxer Barry, Struve has stayed in Europe this time around, working in Holland with noted kickboxers Mourad Bouzidi and Daniel Ghita, as well as Strikeforce star Gegard Mousasi, to hone his striking game.“I’m fighting a kickboxer, and training in Holland for a fight against a kickboxer is one of the best places there is,” he said. But even though it’s important to have his striking on point to deal with Barry, Struve insists that his goal this weekend is to make “HD” fight his fight.“You always look at tapes before every single fight, so if I’m fighting a really good wrestler, I’m gonna work on takedown defense and whatever I need to do to counter his wrestling,” he said. “But we always kinda have the same training pattern in training camp for every fight, so we’ve worked on everything, tried to get better at everything, and we want to try to fight him with my own game and make him fight the way I want to fight, and not the way he wants to fight. That’s the way I think you become champion. Look at Anderson Silva; he makes people fight his fight and not their fight.”At a towering 6-foot-11, Struve has the size to dictate the fight, especially with Barry being a full foot shorter. That’s a huge height and reach advantage to have, and when asked if there are any disadvantages facing an opponent that much shorter, Struve can only think of one.“If you want to take a guy like Pat down and he’s a foot taller, then it’s gonna be hard getting a single leg takedown,” he said. “It’s a long way down, you know. (Laughs) He’s really short and stocky and he’s got big legs, so it’s gonna be hard. But other than that, I can’t think of any other big disadvantages for me as long as you know how to work with your body like (Jon) Jones or (Anderson) Silva. Those are tall guys in their weight classes and they don’t have any disadvantages as far as I see.”Struve isn’t approaching Silva or Jones levels yet, but he is building a solid resume and a good reputation in a heavyweight division that he should be making some noise in soon. How soon? Before the Browne fight, he said the goal was to get the belt in no more than six or seven years. He’s accelerated the plan since then.“There’s still no rush for a title shot, but I think I can do it in a couple years,” he said. “I spoke with a lot of people and a lot of them say I’ve got the skills and everything to become a champion in the near future, and you just need to put it in your mind that you can do it right now and tell yourself that you can. Just think and train like you’re gonna be a champ in your next fight. That’s the way you gotta do it.”And don’t expect him to make the same mistakes twice.“There were several things that I could have done better (against Browne),” he said. “I should have fought more aggressive in the first round, but I was following the gameplan too much instead of just fighting. That’s what I do best and that’s what got me my UFC contract – just fighting, giving it all you got, and seeing where it goes.”

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Matt Wiman had left the building. Literally. Moments after his razor-thin decision loss to Dennis Siver in July, the Colorado native decided that he wasn’t going to stick around for any of the usual post-fight pleasantries. So he stormed out of the Octagon and just kept on going until he was outside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.“I went outside to where I almost got lost because I kept running,” he said, chuckling about it now. “It crossed my mind to just leave. I had heard that (former UFC lightweight champion) Sean Sherk had done that one time, and I really respected him for it. (Laughs) They said he ran back to his hotel, and I was gonna just leave and hope that everybody knew that I was fine and meet up with them later. But out of respect for my cornermen and everybody else, I just came back.”He must have gotten some funny looks walking through the casino, right?“I don’t think anyone wanted to make eye contact with me.”That was probably a good thing, considering that Wiman was more than a bit heated following 15 minutes with Germany’s Siver. Thinking back, he says the impulsive run was more of a self-preservation move than anything else.“It’s one of those things where I’m like ‘what was I doing?’” he said. “It’s something you just don’t think about. I think what I wanted to do was get the hell out of there. As soon as I felt like I was screwed, I didn’t want to talk to anybody or lose my temper or embarrass myself. I knew I needed a moment alone. I ran outside and had that moment alone and was able to think about my family and friends, and I wanted to be okay for them. I didn’t want them to worry about me. I said ‘I’m fine, it is what it is, and I’ll survive.’”Wiman even met up with Siver later that night, and he made it clear to his foe that the post-fight outburst and some pre-fight heat was nothing personal. It’s just the way he gets ready for what is, in reality, a fight.“He (Siver) is a really nice guy,” said Wiman. “I could tell he thought that I was mad and he wanted to respect my space, and I didn’t want to be friendly with him before the fight out of respect for the fight. I don’t like those guys that are buddy buddy and then they try to elbow your face in. It’s one of those things where I wanted to respect his distance and I wanted him to respect mine, but after the fight I wanted to let him know that I really respected him as a fighter and liked him as a fighter and that I was a big fan of his.”When the dust settled, regardless of whether you thought Siver deserved the unanimous decision or that Wiman did enough to pull out the win, it was Wiman who left Vegas with a loss on his record, his first in over two years. A three fight winning streak was history, and the 28-year old had to begin his road to a title shot once again. How long does that take to get over?“Maybe no time at all or maybe the rest of your life,” said Wiman. “It kinda comes and goes. Some days I think it doesn’t even matter and then some days I’m thinking that it changes everything. It does weigh on you, but it is what is, and I think what I have to keep my mind around is not playing ‘what ifs,’ and just deal with the cards that I’m dealt and only control what I can control. I think it’s better in the long run to go the hard route. It sucks, but if the chips always fall in your favor, you might have a different perspective on life and you might not appreciate things as much. I think that when things are difficult, it teaches you a lot more. I learn more from hard times and losses than I do from victories.”He may come off as a free spirit who doesn’t let anything faze him, but Wiman is one of the more introspective fighters in the game, and when you take things as seriously as he does, losing a fight by one point on each of the three judges’ scorecards doesn’t just affect your won-loss record, but it touches everything around your career.“I thought about all the momentum I had created, the money and glory I got screwed out of, but I just came to terms with the fact that the judges could have said I lost every round, they could have said that I was an awful fighter or a great fighter, and it doesn’t matter what other people say – it’s what you did and how you feel about yourself, and that’s all that matters. I was proud of my performance and I thought I beat him and did enough to earn the victory, and I guess at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that matters.”Oddly enough, now Wiman knows how his opponent this Saturday in Washington, D.C., Mac Danzig, felt after their first bout in June of 2010. In that UFC 115 match, Wiman sunk in a guillotine choke and after a few seconds told referee Yves Lavigne that Danzig was unconscious. Lavigne believed him and stopped the fight. Danzig never lost consciousness, but the decision stood. Nearly 16 months later, they will meet again, both trying to erase the memory of controversial defeats that have stalled them in one way, shape, or form. “I would say I took him down and submitted him completely, but in his defense, if I was in his shoes, I would have been pissed off too,” admits Wiman. “At the end of the day, I should have just been patient and kept squeezing. But now I have to redo my work.”That could be a difficult thing, and Wiman will admit as much. But that’s just Matt being Matt. He’s honest to a fault, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. That could be seen as a problem by some, but would you rather see an emotionless robot in the Octagon, or a kid who goes in there, is willing to fight his heart out, and even tear out of the arena if things don’t go his way? I think I’d rather watch Matt Wiman. And as far as he’s concerned. Saturday night isn’t a rematch – it’s a whole new ballgame.“I’m kinda treating it like we’ve never fought before,” said Wiman. “If you fight a fighter 10 times, the outcome’s gonna be different every time, but I think that I’ll beat Mac Danzig more times than he’ll beat me.”  

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Will Jon Jones suffer a loss in 2012? What’s next for Bellator featherweight champ Joe Warren? Is it time for Matt Hughes to be put out to pasture? Who do you want to see fight at the UFC‘s upcoming show in Japan? Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay! Welcome to Grappling with Issues, our site’s regular weekly feature highlighting insight and opinion from myself and resident workhorse Jeremy Lambert whose “Walk Out” and “After Party” event-breakdowns can be regularly found on Five Ounces. As always, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t hesitate to offer your own take on the topics in the “Comments” section below. True/False – Jon Jones will go undefeated in 2012. Lambert: True. It kind of depends on how many times he fights in 2012. If he fights twice then he’ll fight Rashad Evans, then the winner of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson, and I think he can beat all three guys. If he takes that third fight though at the end of the year and it’s against Lyoto Machida, that’s the one guy who can give Jones problems that he hasn’t run into in his UFC career. It’s very possible that he fights three times in 2012 given how the schedule looks like it will play out, although no one can foresee injuries. But it’s not a guarantee that the third fight will be against Machida and, even though Machida is a tough fight for him, I’d still favor Jones in that fight. Conlan: Also true, though I see Evans being more of a challenge for Jones than Machida. Evans being a past teammate of Jones’ can’t be dismissed because unique insight he has into the champ’s physical abilities/limitations and mental make-up. He’ll have an idea of what things Jones is good at, where he struggles, and how to best avoid/exploit those areas. Sure, “Bones” is at an age where he’s constantly improving and will be a better fighter than the one Evans trained with in New Mexico, but certain tendencies will undoubtedly remain because, after all, it’s only been about six months since their falling out. Is it time for Matt Hughes to retire or should he keep fighting? Lambert: I say retire, but after talking with Samer Kadi on the podcast, I can get behind the idea of Hughes going the Chuck Liddell route. After losing to Rua, Liddell was “shelved” for over a year before returning for a scheduled fight against Tito Ortiz, which was the most winnable fight in the world for Liddell. Of course he ended up taking a much tougher fight against Rich Franklin, lost, and retired, but I could see UFC and Hughes doing something similar. Hughes takes a year off to farm, spend time with his family, and do whatever else he does in his free time and then return to fight Dennis Hallman. Conlan: I’m behind the notion of him carrying on his career, plus I never feel comfortable demanding a fighter retires because, frankly, their decision has no impact on my personal life. I’d rather let Hughes and his family figure it out in comparison to acting as though I know what’s best for them. Even if I was the kind of media-member who rants against Ken Shamrock and Jens Pulver, it isn’t as though Hughes has lost to chumps or hasn’t been competitive as of late. He was caught early by B.J. Penn and looked good against Josh Koscheck before the final sequence of strikes. He needs to be paired against guys who aren’t “Top 10” but are well-known to fight-fans. Hallman is a solid option because of his upset wins over Hughes a decade ago. Historical significance always creates a level of interest (see: Hughes’ past fights with Renzo Gracie and Royce Gracie) and Hallman would be a winnable fight at least allowing the Illinois native to potentially exit the UFC with some dignity. Another thought could be Dan Hardy for an event in England since it wouldn’t be a bad pairing for Hughes stylistically and would definitely sell some tickets in the UK. Will Dominick Cruz finish Demetrious Johnson? Lambert: I think he will but it wouldn’t shock me if he doesn’t. I don’t want to write-off Johnson, because this MMA and Johnson is a top level fighter, but this is a tough match up for him. He’s giving up a lot of size and Cruz can come close to matching the speed of Johnson. Plus there’s a matter of skill and Johnson’s wrestling game will likely be shut down against Cruz, who is a good offensive and defensive wrestler. Then on the feet, Cruz is leagues above Johnson with his movement and diversity. I think Cruz will be able to use his size to slow down Johnson and finish him on the ground. Again, it won’t shock me if Cruz dances around and picks apart Johnson for 25 minutes, but I feel like this is a fight that he should finish. Conlan: I’ll go the opposite route and say “no”. Johnson reminds me some of Joseph Benavidez and should stay competitive throughout. Yes, I think he’ll ultimately lose the decision because Cruz is THAT good, but I also believe “Mighty Mouse” has the skill to stay in the fight and even put Cruz in a few bad positions along the way. If we’re looking purely at numbers, “The Dominator” hasn’t stopped an opponent in 3 1/2 years while Johnson has only lost a single decision in ten total fights despite facing tough opponents who are typically bigger than him. Play Joe Silva and book one fight for the UFC in Japan event. Conlan: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Diego Sanchez. Akiyama is poised to make his welterweight debut at the February 26 show and Sanchez, who should be healed up from his broken hand, would be a fantastic fight for the Japanese veteran. Neither man knows how to turn in a boring performance when it comes to their chosen profession and it would put a local hero up against an original Ultimate Fighter winner. Lambert: Despite his recent performances, Takanori Gomi has to be on this card. Maybe fighting in Japan again will actually motivate him to show up, but that’s no guarantee. So UFC needs to guarantee that a Japanese fighter wins in Japan, and unless they plan paying tribute to early PRIDE and decide to fix the fight, they only way to guarantee a Japanese victory is to match him up against a fellow country man. That man should be Shinya Aoki. There’s no way Aoki vs. Gomi will suck, because it’s either going to end in a great KO for Gomi or a great submission for Aoki. Plus it’d be a match up for the two best lightweights in Japanese history. Following his KO loss, what should Joe Warren do next? Conlan: Start playing to his strengths instead of weaknesses. It’s clear Warren’s jaw is not made of adamantium, and while it may not be Ming Dynasty Porcelain either, he needs to stop opting to strike so much when he has world-class wrestling at his disposal. I want to see Warren work for takedowns, then smash people from on top. I also think sticking with bantamweight would be a smart move, even looking at a permanent move to flyweight when the UFC eventually adds the division. Size kills in MMA most of the time and, at 5’5”, he needs to utilize that advantage if possible. Lambert: Focus on one thing. Rarely do MMA fighters succeed when they’re juggling different things in this life. Whether it’s a second job, a personal problem, or a separate goal, if your head isn’t 100% into training and into the fight, it’s a recipe for disaster. Warren stretched himself too thin heading into this fight. He wanted to defend his 145 lb title, win the 135 lb tournament, and compete in the Olympics. I don’t care how great you are, that’s a tough task to accomplish all of them around the same time. Warren is a talented fighter, but unless he keeps his mind on one goal, he may not accomplish any of them. Do you expect Bellator to air on Spike TV in 2012? Conlan: No, as I’m under the impression there is a contractual issue preventing Spike from broadcasting live MMA as long as they own the rights to UFC’s video library (which they do until 2013). Dana White isn’t the type of person to back down when challenged and has no problem trying to out-dick a dickish move from an adversary. I also don’t see the UFC wanting to pay for videos that will not only cost them money but give Bellator better exposure. Let Spike TV sit on their fights for a year or milk whatever ratings they can, then try to get back into the “live MMA” game with the UFC regularly broadcasting live events (including TUF) through FOX/FX. Lambert: While the UFC contract may prevent Spike from airing any other MMA, it’s always possible that UFC buys back the tape library, thus more or less voiding the contract. And that’s exactly what Spike is trying to do, by countering the first UFC on FOX event with a block of UFC Unleashed featuring Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos bouts. This move has already upset White and things could get uglier if the two sides can’t hash it all out. While a UFC Unleashed marathon isn’t going to trump the UFC on FOX rating, maybe that’s part of Spike’s plans. They could actually trumpet the fact that the UFC ratings are down, that they’re not as big as they once were, and that they don’t need them anymore. It’d be a pretty dirty move, but if Spike is serious about wanting out of this contract so they can pick up Bellator, they may stoop to such tactics. All that said, I don’t expect Dana to budge. I think he’ll make Spike finish out the contract, but things could get pretty dirty between the two sides in 2012. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/BELLATORSimilar Posts: Grappling with Issues – 9/21/2011 UFC President believes fans have seen the last of Matt Hughes Grappling with Issues – 6/1/11 Grappling with Issues – 8/24/11 Grappling with Issues – 3/23/11 Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

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I wonder if Pat Barry can punch Stefan Struve in the head without leaving his feet. I know it is physically possible, if the two are standing right next to each other. I’m talking about landing a jab, right hand or left hook when the two are fighting from a normal striking distance. Better yet, I wonder if Barry, who is one of the better kickboxers in the UFC, can actually kick Struve in the head—standing still or jumping.Those questions and more will be answered on Saturday night when one of the UFC’s shortest heavyweight competitors faces its tallest in a fight that may seem on the surface to be a bit gimmicky, but could prove to be the most exciting bout on the Versus telecast.Barry, who stands 5’11 when wearing combat boots, is one of the division’s most talented kickboxers. He mixes his punches and kicks as well, if not better, than any heavyweight in the world. He is equally effective striking from an orthodox or southpaw stance. And he can knock out any man with a single shot delivered with either fist or either foot. That is the good. Of course, with just about any fighter not named Anderson Silva or Georges St-Pierre, there is also some bad. Barry’s game is really limited to the standup realm. He has worked hard on his wrestling over the last couple of years, training at the DeathClutch gym with Brock Lesnar, Marty Morgan and crew. But Barry is still pretty far behind his brethren when it comes to takedowns and grappling. He isn’t a fish out of water when the fight hits the ground, but he isn’t comfortable, either. That is normally a major problem when facing a ground specialist like Struve, who just so happens to be every inch of 6’11 tall. Keep in mind that the Dutch fighter has nearly three times as many submissions as knockouts in his professional career. Yet, Struve has shown a recent penchant for slugging it out on the feet, and that should lead to disastrous results against an apex striker like Barry.If Struve can get the fight to the ground, Barry will instantly look to scramble to his feet. He has no choice but to do that. The difference in length of their respective torsos means that Barry’s guard will be basically useless in stopping hard ground-and-pound attacks. Since Barry has no threatening offensive guard skills, particularly against a submission wizard like Struve, any time spent on his back will be time spent losing the fight. Things probably won’t be much safer for Barry if he ends up on the top position. Absent a knockdown, where Struve’s wits will be scrambled, he should be able to control Barry from his guard almost as well as he can control him from the top position. Their respective torso length has the exact opposite effect when Struve is on his back. He can use his legs to control Barry’s hips to the point where the former K-1 kickboxer will basically have to slap with his punches to reach Struve’s head, unless he can stack up his foe. And stacking him in the guard opens the door for armbars and triangle chokes. So, this should be the classic kickboxer versus standup fighter battle, right? I doubt it.As mentioned, Struve has a real thirst for thrilling the crowd with slugfests. The guy seems to engage in an entertaining back-and-forth brawl each time he steps into the cage. My guess is that he will come out looking to use his nearly nine-inch reach advantage to pop Barry with jabs and lead left hooks. I also think he will throw a tremendous volume of leg kicks, front kicks and kicks to the head, since he probably has no fear whatsoever of being taken down.If the two had equal standup skills, then hammering away from the outside would be an excellent tactic for Struve, just like it was for the taller Jon Jones against Quinton Jackson last weekend. The problem, of course, is the two do not have equal standup skills. Barry is on a completely different level when it comes to technique, speed, power and chin. If Struve tries to hunt and peck on the outside, Barry will cut off the cage, use feints to encourage his foe to lead, and then slip and explode off his misses. Once on the inside, Struve’s height will actually work against him. He won’t be able to generate any real torque on his strikes, other than knees, which he really hasn’t shown much of an affinity for up to this point in his career. And he won’t be able to effectively counter with those long limbs. It will be all about clinches and throws, pulling guard, or getting out of Dodge once Barry gets inside. Otherwise, he will get knocked out.Barry’s short, powerful limbs and ability to really throw shots from his core will let him land with uninhibited power on the inside. He should completely forget takedowns. Struve will dominate him on the mat if he is able to quickly work to his guard. His focus should be firing power shots with reckless abandon, if and when he gets to the inside.Barry did just that against fellow former kickboxer Cheick Kongo in his last fight. Of course, he got knocked out, after almost knocking out Kongo with a barrage of punches. Barry should forget about that fight. Struve is not Kongo. Not by a long shot. Kongo is a savage power puncher. Struve is a technician on the feet. Savages can bust Barry’s beard. Technicians cannot.Another key to victory for Barry is unadulterated use of leg kicks. Not the kind that some fighters use to establish distance or score points. Barry wants to use the kind that resembles Albert Pujols swinging a baseball bat. You know, leg kicks dripping with bad intentions.Barry has the best leg kicks in the UFC, bar none. Yeah, I know. Jose Aldo is pretty dangerous with that particular strike in his own right. But he is no Pat Barry.Barry won three of his first four professional fights with leg kicks, including his UFC debut. A beanstalk like Struve is the perfect target for his vicious leg kicks. Granted, many fighters worried about getting taken down shy away from that particular type of strike, but those guys aren’t Barry. They don’t fire leg kicks like he does. And Struve is not a dominant wrestler by any means.As mentioned, Struve’s game plan should be singularly focused on getting the fight to the ground. Sure, he can score on the outside, but he has to be perfect in his execution if he wants to remain conscious after engaging in a standup contest with Barry. He can get the fight to the ground by smothering Barry and tripping him. He should look to smother Barry by trying to bait his opponent into throwing wild, leaping lead hooks. Feints are a good way to get that result. But again, stepping inside comes with a severe potential price. It means risking a right or left hand bomb to the jaw. Yet, I don’t really see any other way for him to safely score a takedown. Shooting from a distance isn’t Struve’s game, and it is also a great way to eat a shin to the jaw.He can try to use the jab to back Barry to the fence, where stepping inside for a clinch is much less dangerous compared to doing that in the center of the cage. If the jab is sharp, quick and accurate, that could be an effective approach. If he misses, however, he has to be prepared to try and catch Barry coming in with a right hand. Otherwise, it could be lights out.All the above may go out the window if either man is still affected by the result of his last fight. Barry and Struve might be physical and stylistic opposites, but they suffered the same fate in their respective previous bout. Both got knocked out.I’ve written it dozens of times. It is impossible to predict how a man will react after being on the wrong end of a jaw-dropping knockout. The Kongo fight was the first Barry has experienced that. He responded by giving an interview backstage while eating a slice of pizza like it was any other normal Saturday night. A slice of pizza! I don’t know if that means it was no big deal to Barry or if he was in shock. Struve hopes it is the latter. Travis Browne’s win over Struve was actually the second time in his UFC career that the Dutchman was folded like a lawn chair. The last time it happened, courtesy of Roy Nelson, he embarked on a two-fight winning streak. Can he do that again? Will those two knockout losses, plus the 54-second knockout he suffered from Junior Dos Santos in his UFC debut, start to permanently soften his chin? Barry certainly hopes to force an answer to that one.Will Struve pull a Jones and control the action from the outside? Will he get his shorter foe to the ground? Will Barry be able to mount an effective offense on the feet against a guy a full foot taller? Can he even reach his opponent’s chin outside of phone-booth range? Will he fully utilize low kicks?Are both men fully recovered (mentally and/or physically) from their previous bout? Will the loss result in hesitation?Can Barry punch Struve in the face without jumping? Can he kick him in the head? How many times will Struve kick over Barry’s head?Like I said, those questions and more will be answered on Saturday night.

Posted in: fight, ’t, leg, barry, struve

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When it comes to sleight of hand and psychological warfare, Anthony Johnson’s defeat of Dan Hardy in March was a masterstroke. With all five of his previous UFC wins coming by knockout – and not just plain ol’ knockouts, but the ‘fall down in funny ways’ knockouts – Johnson’s claim that he was going to go toe-to-toe with “The Outlaw” wasn’t just greeted with cheers from fight fans, but from Hardy as well.Then came the first takedown.  And the second. And the third. And you get the picture. For three rounds, Johnson baffled Hardy with the wrestling skills that had earned “Rumble” an accolade many forgot he had – a junior college national championship for Lassen Community College. The shutout three round decision in Johnson’s favor when it was all over? A mere formality.“I pretty much knew what I was gonna do,” said Johnson. “I just wanted to mess with him a little bit because I knew he was really wanting somebody to stand and bang with him. But why would I take a 50-50 chance? Even though I know I’m a better striker than him – nothing against his striking or anything – why take a chance of getting caught when I know I’m better than him on the ground?”Sure, the win (Johnson’s ninth against three losses) isn’t going to earn him any nominations for Fight of the Year, but in terms of putting together a brilliant gameplan and sticking to it against a tough opponent, you can’t help but give him his respect. And when it comes down to it, he won the fight with his brain and not just his brawn.“The mental game is the most important part of fighting in my opinion,” said Johnson. “If you have that mental edge and mental toughness, you’ll be able to be successful in fighting, no matter what skill level you’re at. It plays a big part, and fighting against Dan Hardy, it definitely worked to my advantage.”As for the critics who were expecting thunder from “Rumble,” he takes such talk with a grain of salt.“The true fans and true MMA analysts that understand fighting and know MMA, it shocked them, but they also respected what I did,” he said. “People who don’t know fighting and that just want to see people go in there and try to knock each other’s head off, they didn’t like it at all. They just want to see a bloodsport, and that’s not what MMA is all about. To me, this is my career, it’s my body, it’s my fight, and I’m gonna do what I’ve got to do to win. And if I have to play that psychological game with somebody, I’ll do that.”To many observers, the Hardy fight showed the evolution of the 27-year old’s fight game. We already saw the fight ending power, speed, and explosiveness. In March we witnessed him taking a bout to the mat and controlling it there from start to finish. That’s something every welterweight in the UFC has to think about from now on, but the way Johnson looks at the whole situation, he’s not even close to where he needs to be. “No, not yet,” said Johnson, who faces Charlie Brenneman this Saturday night in Washington, D.C. “I think this fight right here will show a lot with my takedown defense, takedowns, and striking. Each fight is a step forward and I think I get better and better in every fight. I think my performance against Dan Hardy was one of my worst ones, but after being out for a year, I came in and did what I had to do. But Charlie Brenneman’s really gonna bring out the fighter in me.”That should be something to see, as Brenneman - fresh off his upset win over Rick Story in June - is on a similar mission to get by his opponent on Saturday night and start making some noise among the 170-pound elite. Johnson likes the matchup and his fellow wrestler’s style.“He just goes after it,” said Johnson of former Lock Haven University wrestler Brenneman.  “I like his style of fighting and he’s real smooth. He keeps coming forward, his wrestling is so good, and he puts it together really well. I saw his fight against Rick Story and he had a gameplan that is almost the same one for everyone he fights. He might take a couple punches, but he’ll grab a leg and hold on to it for dear life just to get that takedown. And he’s pretty accurate with his takedowns. He’s one of those guys that if you don’t stay on your toes and move and get the job done, then he’ll beat you with his takedowns.”And though Johnson isn’t predicting that a wrestling match will break out in the Nation’s capital, he does admit that when one wrestler faces another, there’s always a little something extra to prove. “We have to be like that,” said Johnson. “Charlie Brenneman feels his wrestling is better than mine, and I feel mine is better than his, and that’s just where we’re at. We’re two competitive guys who come from the toughest sport in the world besides MMA, and that’s just how we think. But do we take our opponent’s talent for granted? No, not at all, because we know that one takedown could be a win or loss for a round. It’s gonna be fun and I’ve got a lot of respect for Charlie and his camp.”A win on Saturday would be his fifth in his last six bouts, with the only loss coming to Josh Koscheck in 2009. Of course injuries have slowed the Georgia native’s progress, but with the Hardy win and this week’s bout against Brenneman, he will be firmly back in the spotlight. There was also the business of a movie role earlier this year, as Johnson had a nice part in the film ‘Warrior.’“It was cool,” said Johnson of being on the silver screen. “Being on set for the movie was great. (Director) Gavin O’Connor and (Producer) Greg O’Connor were great, and it was fun having the TapouT guys there, even though Mask wasn’t there, and he was the whole reason I was in the movie. Those guys did such a great job, and they let the actors do the acting and the fighters do the fighting. They didn’t try and make a fighter be an actor, but when it came down to the fighting scenes, they actually took our advice whenever it came down to how it would look or how it would be in a certain situation or which move would actually look like a real MMA move. And that was cool because they were willing to listen to us and get our two cents. I think that’s what made it such a good movie. The writers did a really good job, the actors did such a good job, and it was unbelievable.”So are we about to lose Johnson to Hollywood? He laughs.“Acting is not my thing, but if it came down to it and somebody offered me another role, I would do it,” he said. “It’s actually pretty fun when you’re on set and you know people and everybody’s cool like they were on the set of ‘Warrior.’ But that (acting) is a lot of work.”It’s safe to say that he prefers his day job to long hours on the set, and he’s more than ready to hear the referee call “action” this Saturday night. And whatever the future brings, he’ll deal with it then.“I don’t really think about where this fight puts me, I just try and fight and keep it moving until my time comes,” said Johnson. “For the longest, I’ve been looking to see my name up there in the Top Ten, and I can’t complain that I’m not in it because I still haven’t paid my dues and I haven’t done what I need to do to be noticed as a Top Ten fighter. So we’ll see what’s next for me after this fight, but my goal is to win and keep going forward.”

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Clay Guida faces Ben Henderson at UFC on Fox 1 Five under-the-radar bouts to pay attention to We’ve got some big fights coming up during the rest of 2011. No doubt about that. Big-name clashes like Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua, Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos and Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem should have fans of the sport excited and ready to shell out some cash. But underneath those marquee bouts, we’ve got plenty of exciting and important fights. They aren’t the fights that will sell the majority of viewers on the pay per view, but they’re important all the same. Let’s take a look at five UFC bouts that you should be pumped for during the rest of 2011. Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida (UFC on Fox 1) I realize that the heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos is the real main event of UFC on Fox 1, but I think I’m more excited about this fight. It creates a legitimate number one contender out of the convoluted pool of top lightweights residing in the UFC, with the winner going on to face the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard. It’s an interesting stylistic matchup, too. Guida’s bread and butter is his ability to take opponents to the mat and hold them there; Henderson’s takedown defense is the stuff of legend, and his ability to get up off the canvas is without equal in his division. Both guys also have great hair. It’s the perfect recipe for an amazing and meaningful fight. Anthony Pettis vs. Jeremy Stephens (UFC 136) Pettis was on top of the world at the close of 2010, but things haven’t quite gone his way this year. He was scheduled to get a title shot in May, but the rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard took precedent. His decision to take another fight against Clay Guida instead of waiting on the sidelines proved to be a bad decision. Pettis now gets the chance to redeem himself against Jeremy Stephens, who goes into the fight riding a 2-fight win streak. Stephens is a powerful and reckless striker, which should prove to be an interesting matchup with Pettis and his unorthodox skill set. Dennis Siver vs. Donald Cerrone (UFC 137) Donald Cerrone just loves to fight. He’s been the most active and visible of the former WEC lightweights who are now in the UFC; he’s already got three fights (and three wins) in 2011. He’s displayed drastic improvement each time he steps into the cage and is surging towards an unlikely period of title contention. He has to get past Siver first, though, and that’s not going to be an easy task. Both fighters are known for their leg kicks, but the lethal German striker will have the edge in the technique department, at least on paper. That’s the beautiful thing about Cerrone, though. Just when you think he’s overmatched, he proves that he isn’t. Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story (UFC 139) What we have here is a story of two fighters who were once considered to be on the outside edge of title contention. Important losses have dimished the impact that Kampmann and Story currently have on the welterweight division, which makes this an extremely important fight. Kampmann has suffered consecutive losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez; a third loss wouldn’t mean he’s getting fired, but it certainly doesn’t help his cause. Story was on the verge of legitimate title contention when he lost to Charlie Brenneman this summer, and he’ll be looking to get back in the mix with a win here. Mark Hominick vs. Chan Sung Jung (UFC 140) This one is tailor-made for a potential Fight of the Night award. Hominick is a deadly striker with some of the best boxing in the entire sport, while the Korean Zombie – barring a George Roop-style head kick – can take a licking and keep on ticking. This one should be a war.

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, vs, title contention

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It seems the only “super-fight” UFC President Dana White ever talks about is one pitting the middleweight master Anderson Silva against popular 170-pound champion Georges St. Pierre. It’s an intriguing bout on paper given GSP’s wrestling and Silva’s stand-up, but perhaps not a particularly competitive one in the end given the size difference between the two as well as the French-Canadian’s susceptibility to strikes. However, that’s not to say the UFC doesn’t have other options at their disposal when it comes to cementing Silva’s legacy in Mixed Martial Arts as he nears the final few years of his career. In point of opinion, there’s one in particular worth exploring that for some reason has eluded the UFC’s buzz-eliciting marketing machine – Jon Jones. Jones’ performance Saturday night against Quinton Jackson was the latest in a long line of dominant showings from the 24-year old light heavyweight title-holder. “Bones” hasn’t gone to decision since January 2009 with six wins since then and a seventh fight he essentially had won in the first round until an inadvertent illegal elbow cost got him disqualified. “Bones” Submits Jackson in One-Sided Affair “The Spider” has seen the scorecards come into play twice in that same time-span. St. Pierre? Four for four with his last finish ironically occurring at the very event where Jones last went the distance. If Jones can get by Rashad Evans and the winner of Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua over the next 6-9 months with Silva remaining unbeaten a bout between the two seemingly invincible scrappers would result in a contest for the ages. Sure, the “Rush” rumble has its merits, but stylistically, and given their recent results, there’s no question Jones vs. Silva is Christopher Reeve “super” to St. Pierre vs. Silva’s Brandon Routh. It would also put two similarly sculpted opponents in the Octagon with each other rather than marring the match-up with a significant weight/height disadvantage. Jones is 6’4 and his Brazilian counterpart is 6’2, but GSP? 5’10. Silva hasn’t fought anyone that short since Ryo Chonan on New Year’s Eve in 2004 and…okay, maybe the UFC is onto something after all since that was Silva’s last loss. However, assuming St. Pierre didn’t exclusively train on how to implement a Flying Scissor Heel Hook, Jones facing Silva would create a situation where picking a winner would be akin to trying to fully understand why “The Situation” from MTV’s Jersey Shore made $5 million last year, i.e. mind-blowingly impossible. The only question is, are they “DTF” – “Down to Fight”? As friendly as Jones and Silva may be, they are both professionals and have no real personal ties to each other as being in the same camp might create. Both are interested in being seen as the best fighter the sport has ever seen and both appear poised to have a real claim to the distinction the way the last few years have gone. They’re also both competitors who would enjoy the challenge posed by testing themselves against each other. Long story short, the incentive is there for all involved parties to make Jones vs. Silva a reality in late 2012 if they continue to win in dominant fashion. It’s a thought-provoking pairing between two charismatic champions who possess other-worldly skills. It’s also arguably one of the biggest fights possible in MMA and might even be enough to take the UFC to the next level, especially if Jones comes away with a victory. Silva has fought at light heavyweight before. It’s time he does so again. PHOTO CREDIT – JON JONES Tweet

Posted in: ufc, jone, ’t, silva, year

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Lost in the build for UFC 135 has been welterweight contender Josh Koscheck’s recovery from a severely broken orbital bone suffered nine months ago at the hands, literally, of 170-pound champ Georges St. Pierre. The American Kickboxing Academy staple recently spoke about the injury, providing graphic detail on exactly how bad it was, as well as how he spent his time on the sidelines and how he sees his fight tonight at UFC 135 with Matt Hughes will go. “It was definitely a horrible injury,” the polarizing pugilist explained in an interview with the UFC. “I remember being in the hospital begging for morphine. It would wear off and I’d be like ‘hey nurse,’ – I’d track down anybody I could (and ask) ‘Hey guys, can you shoot me up again? The pain’s coming back.’” However, as painful as the damage may have been, Koscheck revealed he never once thought about quitting in his fight against GSP and wouldn’t even do so when looking back on the bout. “Us as fighters, we go and we want to fight no matter what. I felt that if I could just get one good one on his chin, I felt like I could put him to sleep,” the 33-year old explained before playfully adding, “But it was a tough fight. My depth perception was way off. I remember at one point, I took a shot and I wasn’t even close to him. He was like ten feet to the left. But it is what it is, and I just tried to grind out the fight.” As far as why he’s so amped about fighting Hughes, Koscheck again referred to the former champion’s past behavior. “When he was on top, it was said that he wouldn’t give any of the AKA guys a shot at him. He didn’t want to give us an opportunity and he called us all kids and was totally disrespectful. But this isn’t a personal fight, this is just a fight that the fans wanted to see for a long time, and now we’re getting the opportunity to do it.” Koscheck elaborated on putting his emotions aside, saying he still viewed Hughes as a threat even if he’s coming off a first frame knockout loss, saying, “This guy has been training for a long time for Diego Sanchez, and I think everybody can be dangerous.” Regarding the fight’s outcome, “Kos” concluded, “In the sense of getting knocked out by (him), I don’t think that’s gonna happen, but I definitely think he has the potential to get a submission or takedowns, so he’s definitely a dangerous fighter and I’m taking him very seriously. I’m going to have a great gameplan for this fight, I just have to stick to the gameplan, and I should come out a winner.” You can catch Koscheck vs. Hughes, as well as a headlining title-tilt between light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and former belt-wearer Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, when UFC 135 goes live on PPV starting at 9:00 PM EST. PHOTO CREDIT – UFCSimilar Posts: Diego Sanchez comments on UFC 135 withdrawal Josh Koscheck confirms plans to fight at both UFC 90 and UFN 16 Report: Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch could replace Matt Serra at UFC 79 Report: Sanchez vs. Penn at UFC 74 “Rampage” Jackson done with Spygate, focused on winning HIS title Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, i ’m, koscheck

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UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones will enter tonight’s title-defense against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135 with the trappings of tremendous hype brought on by his meteoric rise in Mixed Martial Arts. Only 24-years old, and essentially undefeated fourteen fights into his career including a number of dominant wins against highly-respected opponents, Jones’ status as the top competitor in one of MMA’s deepest divisions has earned him as much anger from fans as adulation. Whether his personality rubs certain people the wrong way or they simply don’t like to see others’ overwhelming success, “Bones” has become anything but a consensus fan-favorite since bursting on the scene nearly three years ago. Jones is aware of the negativity, as he made clear in a recent interview on the UFC website where he spoke about how it has affected him. “I did feel the hate. Me being a young guy and a guy who wanted to be liked, at first it hurt me a lot,” Jones admitted. “But what I learned very fast is that I need to take my emotions out of my work sometimes, especially when it comes to other people’s opinions. I’m a positive being, that’s my nature…I’m not a person who ever Tweets swear words or ever tries to purposely try to put someone down or hurt them. I’m not a person of ill will. I genuinely try to share knowledge on self-confidence and religion and treating your neighbor right and believing in yourself and working hard and loving your family. And I know in my heart that I’m not doing the wrong thing, so if I’m just trying to help, and people are misconstruing it, I’ve learned not to worry about what I can’t control anymore.” “I was talking to Brian Stann,” Jones continued while referencing his teammate at Greg Jackson’s camp in New Mexico. “And he said ‘Hey man, you think you get hate messages? I get called a murderer. People think I’m an advocate of war, and I get a lot of hate. And the thing is, the people who actually love you Jon, they’re probably gonna read your interview or watch your YouTube video, and think ‘Wow, what a great guy.’ Most of the people who write those messages, they’re people with nothing else to do but to bring somebody else down. Only people that are below you can pull you down.’” “That stuck with me,” Jones concluded. “So I learned that as long as I know that I have good intentions, I don’t allow people to misconstrue my words and pull me down.” However, that doesn’t mean the champion is all smiles and butterflies. “I know I’m a good person, but, as an athlete, I do have a chip on my shoulder, I do have a big ego as an athlete, and I do believe that I’m the best…I do want to be the best. That’s something I can’t control, and I really can’t hide my pride in the Octagon because I work my butt off to be the best. I’m not ashamed of it anymore.” Fans can find out whether or not that hard work will pay off when Jones and “Rampage” lock horns later this evening on PPV with the broadcast starting at 9:00 PM EST. UFC 135 preliminary fights will also be available in the hours leading up to the main card with a handful streaming through Facebook (6:00 PM EST) and a pair on Spike TV (8:00 PM EST). PHOTO CREDIT – UFCSimilar Posts: Dana White: ‘[Rampage] giving up literally millions of dollars to play Mr. T’ My Plea To Jon Jones: Be Ali Rashad Evans leaves Jackson’s MMA for good Quinton “Rampage” Jackson speaks Jackson viewed upset UFC 86 loss to Griffin for first time day prior to arrest Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

Posted in: jone, ’t, i ’m, people, ’m

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Hey everyone, this is Marcus Brimage from the Ultimate Fighter 14 and I’ll be here blogging about the show each week, though don’t be too surprised when a couple of my other favorite topics come up like anime/comics and Crimson Tide football! Since they can only show so much information about the fighters, especially in the first episode, let me start out by telling you a bit about myself. I’m originally from Birmingham, Alabama. I used to train at Spartan Fitness back home but am now part of American Top Team. I was in the military for eight years as a Staff Sergeant. Believe it or not, the way I got into Mixed Martial Arts was from skipping school one day and catching a cartoon called Dragon Ball Z. Seriously. When I saw Dragon Ball Z it got my blood warm. I was like, “Man…I want to learn how to fight and fight just like that!” After watching it my brother showed me this highlight reel of a fighter in Japan known as Quinton Jackson. You may have heard of him? When I saw that I knew I had to learn how to do it. After playing football in high school I wanted to find other athletic endeavors I could be involved with. I was still running, getting up in the morning and lifting weights, and I knew there had to be a reason why. I decided I wanted to learn the art of Muay Thai and was about to move to Atlanta when one of my sergeants from my guard unit told me about this place. I checked it out, met my coach Chris Connelly, and together we formed Spartan Fitness. He and Joey Marimberga helped lay the foundation for me and eventually told me I needed to go somewhere else to further my MMA training at a gym with a bunch of top tier guys so that’s how I ended up at ATT. TUF 14 was actually my third time trying out for the show. Third time’s a charm, right? I was supposed to be on the season with Junie Browning and Efrain Escudero, as well as the USA vs. UK season, but because of injuries I wasn’t able to. While I was out with injury I was able to finish my degree in Criminal Justice. Ultimately that took some pressure off me too as far as going to school on top of working and fighting so I was able to focus more on my MMA career. Then my manager, Rory Singer of Hardcore MMA in Athens, Georgia, told me the UFC was looking for featherweights. He’d always told me I was a natural 145er and I should take advantage of the opportunity so I went for it. When I got the call that I’d made it to the final 32 I was, to say the least, VERY ecstatic! Okay, I won’t lie. I was running around screaming like a little girl – “AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” I’m just glad nobody was there to video tape that because it would have been seriously embarrassing. But then again it’s okay, cause I was happy so it’s all good. To be honest with everyone, it was nerve-racking to fight for the first time on a stage like the MGM Grand. I almost can’t even describe it. First off, I’d never fought at featherweight before. Never. I was freaking out about my weight. Then, you’ve got Dana White there and I’m thinking, “Dana White is cool!” He’s a little shorter than you might think in person but still, “Wow!” And then there’s the location where you’re thinking, “Oh my god! This is the MGM Grand! This is the place!” So honestly, I kind of couldn’t breathe. I was excited, and I’m pretty good at hiding emotions I don’t want people to see, but I was happy…nervous…scared. It was a dream fulfilled, and when something like that finally happens you have to take a moment and take a deep breath. In terms of my fight, my whole mentality during it was, “Get into the house! Get into the house!” That’s all I was thinking about. I couldn’t think about how to escape the Rear-Naked Choke. I mean I knew the technique to escape. I’m a BJJ bluebelt so I know how to get out of the position and I’ve won a few submission grappling tournaments in Alabama. But when you’re there, the cameras are in your face – Dana and Michael Bisping, Jason Miller are ringside – you forget everything except instinct. So I went off instinct. I started thinking, “I can’t lose! I can’t lose!” And when he let me go because he got tired of holding me there, we got up, and I felt like I’d lost the round and had to kill him so to speak. My mentality became, “Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!” I wasn’t going to stop punching, stop kicking, or stop kneeing until he hit the ground. I can’t talk too much about what people can expect to see this season on TUF – contractual agreements and all that good stuff – but what I will say that a comic book / anime geek like me will talk a lot about my favorite superheroes. Expect great fights, not just from me but from everyone. Dana already mentioned that this season had the best fights of any so far and I’d agree. We’re little guys. We have little-man syndrome. We’re good fighters who don’t stop. You’re gonna see knockouts, vicious fights, and the rest was crazy too. From drama to fights to some pranks that are off the chain. That’s it for now. Make sure to tune in to the Ultimate Fighter 14 where you can catch me in action every Wednesday on Spike TV at 9:00 PM EST. You can also follow me on Twitter (@brim205). Oh yeah..and Roll Tide all day! Nick Saban for President! Ya’ll better believe it! Tweet

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Bellator 51 will no doubt get short shrift on Saturday night – some cat named Jon Jones is defending his belt against BA Baracus of the A-Team on pay-per-view at the same time – but that doesn’t mean the organization’s bantamweight tournament quarterfinals isn’t worth at least some DVR love (or VCR if you’re old school).  Why?  Well, consider this: the field is stocked with four Brazilians, a Cuban and three Americans, which translates into less-than-favorable odds that someone from the US of A is going to be snagging 135-pound gold when all is said and done.  And boo on that!  USA!  USA!  Anyway, here are the competitors. Joe Warren – The funny thing about Bellator 145-pound champ Warren is that, like clockwork, he gets his butt kicked in the first round and then kicks ass every round after that.  Patricio Freire blitzed him in their match, but the wrestler endured, and Joe Soto clobbered him and Warren came back and smoked him as well.  So yeah, keep an eye on how bad Warren gets mauled in the early going on Saturday night – is opponent Alexis Vila going to rip off his arm?  Detach his head from his body?  Then be amazed when the American takes that severed limb (or head) and beats him with it. Alexis Vila – Cuban Olympic wrestler, veteran of the Florida MMA circuit, green as hell.  That’s Vila.  I personally saw him at the TUF 14 tryouts get stuck in a local fighter’s half-guard and look clueless as to finding a way out (granted, that local fighter was a Ring of Combat champ, but still).  Vila may get one or two decent takedowns on Warren, but that will be it.  Bellator’s reigning 145-pound king is going to smoosh him. Wilson Reis – Jiu-jitsu master Reis has participated in so many Bellator tournaments, I’m starting to wonder if he’s holding Bjorn Rebney’s cat hostage in a cage in his basement.  Anyway, the fifth season’s got a heavyweight tournament on tap and a bantamweight, so this 145-pounder wisely chose to cut ten pounds instead of trying to gain sixty, and here we are.  How good is Reis?  Considering he was an EliteXC champ and he’s had some success in Bellator, he’s definitely at least somewhat good.  But come on, give someone else a chance. Eduardo Dantas – Shooto’s got two strong circuits: the one in Japan, which is huge, and the one in Brazil, which isn’t as big but has a lot of tough and skilled guys.  Dantas is a veteran of both, and after racking up wins in the venerable organization, this Nova Uniao representative is coming to American to kick butt and take names.  By the way, Nova Uniao is THE place for cultivating the best “little” fighters, so everyone – including quarterfinal opponent Reis – needs to watch out.  Dantas is going to be a monster on the ground and a dangerous striker. Marcos Galvao – Galvao is another Nova Uniao fighter (great jiu-jitsu, capable striking, etc.), and he’s got experience in Shooto and the WEC.  The biggest thing to note about him, however, is that he already fought Warren at bantamweight at Bellator 41 and lost an extremely controversial decision.  So if oddsmakers are favoring the Bellator 145-pound champ in this tournament, remember: Galvao pretty much had his number when they fought. Chase Beebe – Oh, Mr. Beebe.  You once wore the WEC crown, but a bad streak saw you rack up losses in that organization and in DREAM, so you had to go back to the minor leagues to recalibrate and get back on track.  Now?  Now is your chance at big(ish) show glory.  Will you be ready?  Too many competitors in this tournament are good where Beebe is weakest (submissions), so he may be trouble. Luiz Nogueira – We saw Nogueira beat on some kid at Bellator 42, so we know he’s capable of bringing the pain.  Unfortunately, the Brazilian isn’t the best in any one department compared to the rest of the competitors in this tournament.  Heck, he might not even get past his quarterfinal opponent, Ed West… Ed West – West is a Bellator repeat customer, and his greatest attributes are his staying power and submission defense.  You pretty much have to shoot him to stop him.  And while he, too, isn’t the best at any one thing – he can be outmaneuvered and out-positioned – he will force opponents to go the distance whether they like it or not.

Posted in: bellator, pound, ’t, tournament, warren

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Three days before his 23rd birthday, Quinton Jackson scored a submission victory over Kenneth Williams in a Gladiator Challenge show in California that lifted his record as a professional mixed martial artist to 10-1.A month later, on July 29, 2001, he made his PRIDE debut in Japan against Kazushi Sakuraba before over 27,000 fans. Life would never be the same for the native of Memphis, Tennessee.A little more than ten years later, Jackson is facing a young man in Jon Jones who knows what it’s like to get his life turned upside down at the age of 23. The New Yorker known as “Bones” became the youngest champion in UFC history earlier this year when he stopped Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to take the light heavyweight title. Now 24, Jones will defend his crown against someone in “Rampage” who has a pretty good idea of what it’s like to be in his shoes.“I was hungry,” recalled Jackson of his first days in Japan, where he went from obscurity to stardom in the matter of that one fight (a loss) with the legendary Sakuraba. “I was just coming into PRIDE and I knew I was being fed to the wolves, but I made due with my situation. I was happy with what was going on, and I was still humble. I didn’t let the stardom that PRIDE brought go to my head because as soon as you fought in PRIDE, the welcome that the Japanese fans gave you couldn’t be compared to what you got in America. It was really big, it was in the newspapers and all over the news the next day and it was mainstream a long time ago. I was just happy to be there and finally making money at the sport I loved. Back then I didn’t hate training as much because I didn’t have so many bumps and bruises. (Laughs) Back then it was all love.”He pauses, almost as if transporting himself back to the Land of the Rising Sun, where he made his name as one of the best light heavyweights in the world.“I miss those Japanese fans,” Jackson continues. “I can honestly say that the Japanese fans were the best fans I ever fought in front of. I like the England crowd as well, but the Japanese fans respect you so much that they’re quiet, so you could hear your cornermen. You don’t get that nowhere else in the world.”Back then, Jackson was as happy go lucky a fighter as you would find. Hilarious in interviews, always joking, it wasn’t until the lights went down and he stepped into the ring that “Rampage” came out. He went 12-5 in PRIDE over his five years there, with Igor Vovchanchyn, Murilo Bustamante, Chuck Liddell, Ricardo Arona, and Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua among his victims.After a WFA win over Matt Lindland in 2006, the next stop was the UFC, and while it wasn’t his first stop in his home country as a professional, he did notice that there was a new acceptance of the sport in the United States, and with such widespread acclaim came casual fans who didn’t exactly know who the wisecracking guy with the chain around his neck was. But regardless of the reintroduction process, he never lost the fans who had been following him through the wonders of Pay-Per-View and the internet.“Those are the hardcore MMA fans that were fans before it got mainstream,” said Jackson. “Those are the fans that know a lot about the sport and they’ve seen our past fights. They’ve been with us for a long time, they know MMA a little bit more and they know that everybody can’t win all the time. The new fans, they’re kinda like fair-weather fans. They’ll be cheering for you in the beginning until you start getting your ass whupped. Then they don’t cheer for you. They’ll start booing you and stuff like that and they don’t have respect for the fighters.”It resembles the backlash a lot of fighters, including Jackson, and now including Jones, go through. And though Jackson may not like being flavor of the week one day and out of favor the next, he’s not about to change who he is. “Nothing’s gonna change my personality – no titles no money, nothing like that,” he said. “I always stayed grounded and stayed humble because I look at this job as a career, just like a doctor or a lawyer or schoolteacher. I don’t think I’m better than anybody else because I’m a professional fighter. A lot of fighters and people, when they have high-profile jobs, they think they’re better than other people, and it can go to your head if you’re not a grounded person. That’s why people don’t understand when I say this is my career and my job. It’s not that I don’t love the sport, it’s that it being a job keeps me grounded. I have a strong father who talks to me all the time, and one of the things he instilled in me as a kid is that ‘don’t let money make you; you make money.’ So people can make fun of me and say I’m just doing this as a job, but that’s just the American Dream. That’s what we were taught our whole lives – go to school, get an education, so you can get a good career so you can make money. That’s me, I’m living the American Dream.”Frankly speaking, he is. A successful fighter who also had a big role in the hit A-Team movie a couple years back, Jackson is doing all right for himself after surviving various ups and downs both in and out of the Octagon. Yet those trials and tribulations make him appreciate what he has now.“I thank God all the time and I’m very blessed,” he said. “I keep it real - I’m not an educated person. I went to college, but I’m not one of those people who thinks they’re smarter than everybody else. I’m intelligent, but I’m not educated, so there’s no way I could be making this type of money in another career. I wasn’t gonna be a doctor or a lawyer, so I’m happy that I can help my parents out and put my little sister through college and buy Lamborghinis and go on vacation and have a nice house to live in and leave stuff for my kids. I’m happy and I’m blessed.”In fact, the only time you’ll see him stray from that frame of mind is a) in the middle of an arduous training camp, or b) when discussing his first loss in the UFC, a controversial five round decision defeat at the hands of Forrest Griffin in July of 2008 that cost him his UFC light heavyweight title. He’s lost before and he’s lost since, but this is the one he can’t let go of.“I just don’t feel like I lost that fight,” said Jackson. “When I fought Ninja (Rua), I thought I lost that fight until I went back and watched it. And when I fought (Lyoto) Machida, he rocked me in the last round, and when I got rocked, I didn’t remember all the good stuff I did until I watched the fight. So when I think I lost a fight, I’m the first one to say it. And I just feel like I didn’t lose that fight with Forrest. I was the champion, and you’ve got to beat the champion to be the champ. He injured me in the fight, he did a great job and had a great gameplan, but I felt like I did just enough to win that fight. I dropped him a couple times and I feel like I won 3-2, but they took my belt away. With Shogun (Rua) and Machida, everyone thought Shogun beat Machida the first time they fought, but Machida kept his belt and they clearly said ‘you’ve got to beat the champ to be the champ.’ So everybody was confused. I felt my fight was more decisive than Machida’s in being clear that I won. It is what it is, but it does bother me.”Since that loss, Jackson has gone 4-1, with the only defeat coming via decision to Rashad Evans in 2010. Sandwiching that defeat are wins over Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine, Machida, and Matt Hamill, earning him a shot at Jones’ belt this Saturday night in Denver. It’s the fight he’s been waiting for in more ways than one, but most importantly to show that he belongs at the top of the 205-pound heap.“I think it’s very important for me to get that belt back so I can show the world that they made a mistake,” said Jackson. “I want to show that I’m still here, and I still train like a champion and I haven’t stopped training like that since that fight.”As for Jones, Jackson admits that the phenom “is a very exciting fighter,” but when asked what he sees when he looks at the champion, he simply says “fresh meat.”Sounds like there's a “Rampage” on the horizon.

Posted in: jackson, ’t, i ’m, fan, ’m

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If the sports world wasn’t so predictable, it would make you shake your head in dismay. 1) A talented athlete comes out of nowhere with a fresh approach, otherworldly talent and athleticism, and a charisma that cuts across all demographics. 2) Next, he reaches the top of his profession in breakneck speed and is celebrated for being his sport’s new phenom. 3) Then, the backlash starts. All of a sudden he’s too good for his own good, and in need of a little drop down the ladder. 4) Once that happens, the smug smirks appear and the wait begins for his climb back after a fall from grace. 5) If he can do that, all is well with the world again, and he is celebrated for his courageous return.Heard that story before? Probably at least a dozen times if you’re over the age of 30. But if you think mixed martial arts was immune from it, think again. You’re watching it right now with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, the 24-year old who has gone through steps one and two already, while currently experiencing step three in the lead-up to his UFC 135 main event bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson this Saturday in Denver. Yet if you ask him how life has changed for him since March, when he became the youngest champion in UFC history when he snagged the belt from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via TKO, he’ll say not much at all.“At first there was a lot more media, a lot more interviews and publicity things, and now that that’s over, training camp’s the same, the team chemistry’s the same, and the only thing that’s changed is my work ethic,” said Jones. “Before, I was training to be a champion, and now that I am a champion, I think I’ve taken my work ethic to a different level. Sometimes I feel as if I’m overtraining. My coaches really have to encourage me to go sit down somewhere. So the only thing that I can honestly see that’s changed is the amount of people who know my name, and sincerely, my work ethic has changed so much.”In other words, Jon Jones is still Jon Jones. Despite what you may read on Twitter or hear from some of his peers, the kid from upstate New York hasn’t all of a sudden become an out of control ogre swallowing up interview after interview in a quest for world domination. He can laugh that description off, but when the backlash to him becoming world champion and the new face of the UFC started to hit, he noticed it, and it hit hard. “I did feel the hate,” he said. “Me being a young guy and a guy who wanted to be liked, at first it hurt me a lot. But what I learned very fast is that I need to take my emotions out of my work sometimes, especially when it comes to other people’s opinions. I’m a positive being, that’s my nature, so I’m not a person who ever tweets swear words or ever tries to purposely try to put someone down or hurt them. I’m not a person of ill will. I genuinely try to share knowledge on self-confidence and religion and treating your neighbor right and believing in yourself and working hard and loving your family. And I know in my heart that I’m not doing the wrong thing, so if I’m just trying to help, and people are misconstruing it, I’ve learned not to worry about what I can’t control anymore. And I think in the long run, the people who get my message and get what I’m trying to share, which is nothing but positivity, those are the people that appreciate it.” Lesson number one – you can be the nicest person in the world, and someone will hate you for it. When you become successful, those numbers multiply. Jones found that out the hard way, but one of his teammates in the Jackson MMA camp, middleweight contender Brian Stann, put his mind at ease with tales of his own dealings with the internet underbelly.“I was talking to Brian Stann and he said ‘hey man, you think you get hate messages, I get called a murderer, people think I’m an advocate of war, and I get a lot of hate. And the thing is, the people who actually love you Jon, they’re probably gonna read your interview or watch your youtube video, and think ‘wow, what a great guy.’ Most of the people who write those messages, they’re people with nothing else to do but to bring somebody else down. Only people that are below you can pull you down.’ That stuck with me. So I learned that as long as I know that I have good intentions, I don’t allow people to misconstrue my words and pull me down.”If it sounds like a classic case of a gifted athlete learning his craft on the job, it is. And remember, in addition to only being 24, Jones only has 14 pro fights. Yes, he’s dazzled in all of them (even in his lone loss, via disqualification to Matt Hamill in 2009), but compared to the experience possessed by his challenger this weekend, “Bones” can still be considered a rookie. Luckily, the engaged father of two is a family man and one focused on the future, so he has sidestepped the pitfalls many in his position have been engulfed by, so while the tendency would be for the Man of the Hour to embrace his new celebrity for months and months, Jones took a brief break (and a well deserved one considering he had back to back camps for Rua and his previous foe, Ryan Bader), and got back to the gym.“It wasn’t tough to get back to work,” said Jones. “I was traveling so much and eating so unhealthy and tired of being on airplanes every Friday night, so I was dying to get back into the gym. I was starting to get a lot of messages from fans saying ‘don’t you think all this PR work and traveling is taking away from your training?’ And they were absolutely right. So I’m making up for all the time I took off after my Shogun fight. This has been the longest training camp of my career as well, so I definitely feel as if I’ve evolved and elevated in my technique and in my spirit and my work ethic.”As for the old adage that it’s harder to defend the title than win it, Jones disagrees.“I don’t think it’s harder to defend a title than win it,” he said. “I think every fight’s just another fight. It’s not necessarily a bigger fight than the last one, or even my very first fight, or my UFC debut. They’re all big fights and I think it’s really important to just focus on loving the journey instead of focusing on the destination. Being a champion, I don’t really feel as if I’ve crossed the finish line. There is no finish line, and I’m really enjoying that journey. Rampage is just a part of that. So I don’t think there’s a difference between winning the belt and keeping it. Each and every fight is a completely different experience than the other one, and I’m just enjoying the journey and working as if it’s just another fight.”That’s a good outlook to have, but fighting “Rampage” Jackson is not just another fight, especially since things have gotten progressively heated between the two since the UFC 135 main event was announced. Jones has done his best to keep his cool while firing off his own verbal volleys to keep up with the king of the one-liners, but make no mistake about it – Jones doesn’t want this part of the journey to end with a loss to Jackson. Anyone but him.“Leading into the Forrest Griffin fight, Rampage made a quote saying ‘Forrest Griffin can’t bust a grape with his hands,’” recalled Jones. “It’s the same exact quote he said about me, that I can’t bust a grape with my hands and that I have no punching power. So I think he’s failing to realize that this is mixed martial arts and not boxing, and the game’s not based around having punching power; it’s based around having finesse and skill, having discipline, and having passion for the game. I think I’m excelling when it comes to each and every one of those categories when it comes to Rampage. He would love to be the world champion again, but I don’t think he really lives the lifestyle to become the world champion again. I think he wants it handed to him, and I’m at a stage in my career where if I get hit in practice, I go home and I’m slightly depressed about it. I don’t like to get hit at all, and now we’re talking about actually losing a whole fight? That’s just not where I’m at right now mentally. I respect Rampage a lot, he’s got awesome knockout power, and I think he’s really banking on a big hit to win this fight. But I’m gonna make sure I break him down very early in the fight to take that punching power away from him right away. And I couldn’t imagine giving my belt away to someone who’s half-passionate about doing what it takes to get the belt.”Fighting words indeed, and that’s the great thing about Jon Jones. As calm, cool, and collected as he is outside the Octagon, when it’s time to fight, he’s something completely different and something completely dangerous to the person standing across from him. That’s a fighter, and whether you’re on board the bandwagon or not, he’s not going anywhere.“I know I’m a good person,” said Jones, “but as an athlete, I do have a chip on my shoulder, I do have a big ego as an athlete, and I do believe that I’m the best and I do want to be the best. That’s something I can’t control, and I really can’t hide my pride in the Octagon because I work my butt off to be the best. I’m not ashamed of it anymore.”

Posted in: fight, jone, ’t, i ’m, ’m

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Just because earlier this week former UFC champion Vitor Belfort had to withdraw from a bout in November due to injury doesn’t mean the heavy-handed Brazilian is content to simply sit on the sidelines and twiddle his thumbs. Rather, Belfort already has a potential opponent in mind for his return to the ring and isn’t afraid to put his name out there either. “The Phenom” recently spoke with Tatame where he expressed an intense desire to get in the Octagon with Chael Sonnen and “pound him out,” also saying he expected to be healthy enough to fight again before the end of the year. “I hope I can fight (Sonnen). Let’s get this trashtalker…I think it’s the perfect timing, he’s a good opponent and it’s a fight that everybody wants to see,” Belfort began. “I really want to fight him.” On the subject of his health, Belfort explained, “I don’t need to fight at 20% or 50%. I can’t take that risk, mainly in this special stage of my career. I have to be 100% there. (It’s) one thing (to) get injured during the camp, but I’d start my camp with an injury. The doctors decide that, and I’ll be ready to fight in December.” If Sonnen is up to the task and the UFC brass decide to make the fight it would likely require the outspoken grappler to lose next month against Brian Stann as a win almost certainly guarantees him a second shot at dethroning pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva. Even GSP Thinks Silva is UFC’s Top fighter Belfort is 20-9 in his career with fourteen strike-based stoppages. He has won six of his last seven fights with the only loss coming to Silva while racking up victories over the likes of Matt Lindland, Rich Franklin, and most recently Yoshihiro Akiyama. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, ’t, belfort, sonnen

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The great country of Canada has played host to the Maximum Fighting Championship for more than a decade and has watched the promotion grow from its humble beginnings to a regular staple on HDNet’s regular cycle of live MMA programming. The company’s next show, MFC 31, comes on October 7 and boasts two particularly interesting pairings at the top of the card with undefeated finisher Dhiego Lima locking horns with hard-hitting UFC veteran Terry Martin and 15-1 light heavyweight Ryan Jimmo seeking his sixteenth straight victory with talented judoka Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou standing in his way. Five Ounces of Pain recently caught up with MFC President Mark Pavelich to talk about the upcoming card and, in standard form, was as animated as ever while discussing what fans can expect at the Edmonton event as well as his key role in MMA’s growth North of the Border and why he doesn’t watch other organization’s offerings. “I match-made the card for me. I’m not joking,” Pavelich began on MFC 31. “This is the first time ever in eleven years I have. I usually do everything for the fans. I am by the far the most fan-friendly owner of any organization in the world including (Dana White). I do anything for them. I respond to everything from them whether it’s Facebook or Twitter. Whatever they want, I do for them, but this show’s for me.” But people need to understand that instead of the peoples’ champion I’m the MMA promotion for the people – the peoples’ promoter,” he continued. When asked to elaborate on the show’s lineup, Pavelich pointed to the probability of finishes in all of the match-ups as the reason for his enthusiasm in terms of providing an entertaining offering for all, himself included. “I’m finishing the main fight card right now and I’m almost positive not one fight will go the distance. If any one would it would maybe be Jimmo vs. Sokoudjou but I don’t see it happening. I don’t want to jinx myself.” When it comes to good fights MFC has certainly delivered in the past, a viewpoint Pavelich feels should have merited him more credit than he currently has for MMA’s evolution in Canada. “People ask me how MMA got big in Canada and I say, ‘Are you kidding?!? You actually think Georges St. Pierre is the one that made it big?’ I made it big! There was no MMA before I was here. I made it. I. Me, me, and me. Me and my family. That’s it. And you know what? Before I’d never talk like this but I swore starting today I’m gonna shove it in everybody’s face. My family pioneered MMA in Canada.” Pavelich also blasted the way fans let other MMA promotions slide on lazy matchmaking, saying, “I think most MMA shows now, and I won’t say their names, you know the outcomes of the fights before they happened.” “When St. Pierre fights Carlos Condit what’s going to happen,” he asked rhetorically before adding he would be willing to bet most people would have the same answer as him (lay on top, grind him out for five rounds and pick up the decision). “Isn’t that amazing,” Pavelich continued. “That’s pro wrestling. That’s WWE wrestling when you know the outcomes of things. Do you really know what’s going to happen between Lima and Martin? Do you know what’s going to happen between Jimmo and Sokoudjou? You don’t, and that’s the beauty of MFC. You’re going to see real fights where you go, ‘Sh*t, I don’t know what’s going to happen here.’” “I can’t stand it. That’s why I don’t watch that stuff,” he concluded on other organizations’ style of putting fights together. “MFC 31: The Rundown” will be shown live on HDNet, part of their recently signed five-year deal. In addition to the previously mentioned bouts MFC 31 will also feature a handful of other match-ups including submission specialist Kajan Johnson looking to snap 11-1 opponent Richie Whitson’s five-fight winning streak. PHOTO CREDIT – HDNETSimilar Posts: MFC’s Mark Pavelich points finger at “celebrity referees” charging additional fees George St. Pierre responds to Pete Sell Dhiego Lima: “I’m there to win a fight; I’m going to be mean. I’m not going to laugh at you; I’m not going to be your little buddy.” Condit talks Prater in anticipation of rematch UFC 137 Press Conference Highlights Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

Posted in: fight, mma, ’t, ’m, mfc

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Mike Goldberg loves to use the terms “classy and humble” when describing fighters. One fighter he believes to be the classiest and humblest of them all is Jon Jones. I guess because Jones is only 24-years old and he thanks God every time he wins, that makes him, “a classy and humble young man.” Maybe Goldberg is just confusing Jones with Tim Tebow, since they’re both a little awkward with their style and they save lives when they’re not doing their day job. I don’t think Jones is as classy and humble as Goldberg wants fans to believe. I think he’s a kid who wants to portray himself that way because that’s how everyone expects him to be, but while doing that, he’s not really being himself. I believe that Jones is a cocky, but very confident, young man. And that’s the image that I hope he starts to portray. I don’t think I’m asking him to be something that he’s not, because it seems to me that right now he’s trying to be something that he’s not. Not too long ago Bruce Buffer said that Jones could be the Muhammad Ali of MMA. So why not do it? People loved Ali because he was a cocky and confident fighter, and he backed it up in the ring. Even if people didn’t like Ali, they still watched in hopes that he would get his ass-kicked. Jones can be the Ali of MMA. He has the charisma, both inside and outside of the cage, to become the most popular fighter in the world. He’s going to gain fans and attention because of the way he fights, but if he wants to be something more, he can’t keep being someone that he’s not. Jones needs to be the Ali of MMA. He needs to embrace his personality. The Jones we saw on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week was the real Jon Jones. He was holding his own in a war of words with Quinton Jackson, but doing it in a funny way. I think that’s who Jones really is, but someone he doesn’t show often enough. Here’s what I want from Jones: I want him to start opening up and get as creative outside of the cage as he is inside. After he won the UFC title, Jones said, “I would get rid of the replica belt. I hate it when people come up to me with a belt that looks exactly like mine and they ask me to sign it. I worked three times a day for three years to get this belt, and now this guy asking me for an autograph has one just like it. Are you serious? I mean it’s not as heavy, but it looks just the same. I never sign those belts” He was criticized for those comments, and even though I think they were a glimpse of his true personality, he can turn those comments around on the fans and Jackson. Jones should show up with a replica belt, sign it, and present it to “Rampage” Jackson, who keeps saying, “I want my belt back” anytime there is a microphone in his face. He should also pop a breath mint or two before his staredown with Jackson, so Quinton, who loves to bring up the bad breath of his opponents, can’t use that as an excuse. I want Jones to start predicting what round he’s going to finish opponents in. Tell me you wouldn’t enjoy Jones saying, “I’m going to finish this clown with elbows in the third round” or “I’ll choke him out in the first and have him dying of thirst.” It takes a certain charisma to pull something like this off, and Jones has that charisma and timing to where he could easily get the job done. You can tell that Jones wants to be a cocky champion, who knows he’s the best, and who will go out there and prove it no matter what anyone says or thinks of him. Maybe it’s just that “Rampage” is bringing this personality out of him, but I think we’ve all seen glimpses of it throughout Jones’ career. He can be cocky but retain his humbleness. Maybe he thinks he has to be one or the other, but it’s possible to be both. All he has to do is praise his opponent, but just continue to say that he’s better, and he’s going to prove it in the octagon. He doesn’t have to be overly-classy, where he’s doing nothing but praising his opponent and thanking God, he doesn’t have to be overly-cocky where he’s only praising himself, and he doesn’t have to be completely reserved where he’d rather not talking about anything. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, “Bones” Jones can be Muhammad Ali. PHOTO CREDIT – UFCSimilar Posts: Rashad Evans Can Silence his Critics at UFC 98 A Sneak Peek at “The Voice vs. Badr Hari” Quinton “Rampage” Jackson Getting Ready for TUF Rampage Being Considered For Another Run As TUF Coach Big Surprise: Rampage announces return to the UFC Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

Posted in: jone, jackson, ’t, belt, ali

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If you walked into the post-fight press conference for UFC 115 in June of 2010 and asked who lost that night, your eyes would have instantly gravitated to heavyweight Ben Rothwell. In fact, the Kenosha, Wisconsin native looked so dejected that guessing that he lost, got knocked out, and got his dog taken away from him at the same time was a pretty accurate description.Funny thing is, Rothwell won that night, scoring a unanimous decision over veteran striker Gilbert Yvel. It wasn’t a Fight of the Year or even Fight of the Night candidate, but after nearly a decade as a mixed martial artist and waiting for this moment, you figured a smile would cross his lips, if only for a second. But it didn’t. Ask him why, and he doesn’t talk about the torn ACL he suffered in the bout. That healed with surgery and time. No, for Rothwell, his reaction to the fight goes deeper than that.“31 wins and 28 of them are finishes,” he said. “I have three decisions and I’m not happy about any of them, especially with one of them being in the UFC. If it (the Yvel fight) was a rock ‘em sock ‘em war where it was just crazy and the crowd was going nuts the whole three rounds and my opponent was just that tough, I could have accepted that a little better. But the fact that in the third round I heard a few boos, that just ends it for me.” A lot of fighters say that they always look for the finish, but how many feel so bad when it doesn’t happen? Not too many. Maybe no one but Rothwell.“My entire goal at all times is that I want to hear the crowd roar,” he said. “That means that they’re excited and that they’re into the fight, and that means everything to me. I’m also a fan, and when I watch boring fights, I get pissed off too, so I can only imagine watching my own fight. It really upsets me. I’m known to be an exciting fighter, I have a lot of knockout wins, I have a lot of submission wins also; I finish fights, and I try to uphold to that. It didn’t happen that night. Obviously we know that I had some issues in that fight, but even with one leg, I still could have got a submission and I still could have ended the fight.” If that attitude doesn’t make you a Ben Rothwell fan, nothing will. But before Rothwell could get back to work in the Octagon to follow up his first UFC win with his first UFC finish, there was the pesky problem of that torn ACL, which has kept him sidelined since the Yvel fight.“I missed not being in there,” said the 31-7 Rothwell. “There are a lot of these guys that already picked up a couple fights and got their names bigger, and I just had to sit on the sidelines, going ‘I know I would smash these guys.’ They’re getting wins, they’re getting exposure, they’re getting fans, getting more Twitter hits, and I’m biding my time. But I used it as fuel and I was definitely in the gym more than I’ve ever been. So it’s a good thing.”Part of that good thing was reuniting with longtime coach Duke Roufus after they spent the Yvel fight apart. For Rothwell, the renowned former kickboxer is more than a trainer, he’s a friend, so getting back on the same page was important.“I’ve been with Duke for eight years, he spoke at my wedding, he’s my friend as well as my coach,” he said. “We got to sit down and talk back at the beginning of the year, we got everything straightened out, and I’m in a good place with him right now, we’ve got a really good thing going and I’m just happy to be his heavyweight. Along with him came Ben Askren, my wrestling coach, and I’ve also acquired an outstanding jiu-jitsu coach in Luiz Claudio. So I’ve got a great, well-rounded camp, and I feel it’s the best scenario for me.”He’s also got some of the best young guns in the game in the gym, including rising UFC stars Anthony Pettis, Erik Koch, and Danny Downes. That kind of youthful energy can definitely keep a 29-year old vet from getting bored.“For their age, they’re maturing very quick,” said Rothwell. “Duke has been involved in the fight game for well over 30 years, traveling all over the world, and that gives him a great deal of experience that he’s pushed to all his guys. And his biggest thing is to say that my goal is to help all of you not make the mistakes I made. Basically the sky’s the limit for our whole gym. Our team is like a family, and that makes a big difference.”And with the exception of talking about the Yvel fight, Rothwell sounds as upbeat and positive as he ever has about his career as he gets ready for a UFC 135 bout with Mark Hunt. But don’t call this a comeback. The way he sees it, this is a debut.“After the surgery, I went through like a resurrection type of period where I’m coming into this fight 0-0 and that’s just how I feel about it,” he said. “I’m coming to get my first real win in the UFC in this next fight, for sure. I feel like I’ve made a lot of major changes, I’ve got a lot of good coaches around me, I made a lot of good changes in my body and my conditioning, and I’m a new man. I’m very confident in putting in a win and letting everybody in the division know that you might have fought me before, but you haven’t fought this Ben Rothwell.”Having Roufus on your side is also a big plus when taking on a striker like Hunt, who first made his name on the K-1 kickboxing circuit. So if anyone can break down a kickboxer, it’s a former kickboxer. That doesn’t mean Rothwell is going to stand there and get into a slugfest with the New Zealander. “I hated that people found out that I have a tough chin,” said Rothwell. “They’re like ‘why?’ That means I got hit, and my whole goal is to use my defense and not get hit at all, and that stands true for every fight. The guy’s got power, and the best thing to do is avoid that power.”“Gilbert Yvel, with little gloves on, is very dangerous on the feet, but Gilbert never won a K-1 Grand Prix (like Hunt did),” he continues. “That’s an outstanding achievement in the striking world and you gotta respect that. But the difference is, he’s a little bit shorter, I don’t think he’s as fast (as Yvel). Positively, he’s got great striking, but he also has big holes in his game, obviously with his wrestling and his ground. But little gloves change everything too. He did K-1 with 10 ounce gloves on, and in MMA, these are four ounce gloves.”That doesn’t bother Rothwell because that always present danger Hunt provides means that there’s going to be a fight on Saturday, one that he can be satisfied with and use to make a statement to a division he says is “the strongest that it’s ever been in my whole career.”And if he needs an extra push, there’s always the Yvel fight to watch. So…has he…watched it?“Yes.”How many times?“A few.”An uncomfortable pause.“I didn’t watch it happily. I just sat there and had to take it.”He finally laughs.“It’s good motivation for this next fight.”

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Matt Hughes wasn’t going out like that. Not after two reigns as the UFC welterweight champion, not after beating a Who’s Who of 170-pound stars over the course of a career that landed him in the Hall of Fame even before he retired. No, the first round knockout loss to BJ Penn in November of 2010 wasn’t going to be his fighting epitaph. So how does a 37-year old prizefighter find the desire to drag himself away from his family again for a grueling training camp to prepare for a younger fighter who would like nothing more than to hang his proverbial scalp on his wall of victims? He doesn’t. At least not for eight weeks or more. Instead, Hughes split up his four weeks working in Salt Lake City, Utah with Jeremy Horn with a stay at home in Hillsboro, Illinois where he not only got his work in, but he got his family time, and some help from friends old, current, and unlikely.Horn, Matt Pena, Robbie Lawler, and DaMarques Johnson have all been mainstays for Team Hughes, and the bond between them is evident. Especially important is Horn, who is not only one of the premier fighters of his era, but also one of the best strategists in the game. If you haven’t heard Horn call a bout for one of his fighters from Octagonside, you’re missing a Master Class in technique and strategy.“He brings a lot of intelligence, but not only is he smart, but he breaks things down in a way that makes it easy to understand, and it’s the way that he passes information along that makes him so important to the team,” said Hughes of Horn. “And I’ve been in the position where he’s been on the outside of the cage and I’ve been on the inside and he’s walked me through steps and I’ve won fights because of his coaching through the fence.”That’s the current friends department. For old friends, Hughes went back to his high school gym in Hillsboro and reunited with the man who set the standard for coaching back in the early Zuffa era – Pat Miletich. What trainers like Greg Jackson and Firas Zahabi are to the modern game, Miletich – a former UFC champion – was for a team that included Hughes, Horn, Lawler, Jens Pulver, Tim Sylvia, Tony Fryklund, and so many more UFC standouts.“It had been years since Pat and I had worked together, probably since I left the gym, which was right after The Ultimate Fighter 6 in 2007,” said Hughes. “After that, me, Matt (Pena), Robbie (Lawler), and Marc Fiore – the coaches for my team – all came up with the gym concept. So it’s been that long. But Pat and I have always stayed in contact and he’s a brother of mine, there’s no doubt about that. So it was great to get my hands on him and wrestle with him, and the thing that wasn’t so great were his quick jabs and his standup. He’s got ferocious standup.” So ol’ Pat’s still got it?“He’s still got it, but he’s got it in certain time slots,” laughed Hughes. “He would not go three five minute rounds, but he can have a decent five minute go, take a few minutes off, then go again later. It was great getting back in there with him. I still knew what his strengths and his weaknesses were and where he didn’t like to be and what made him uncomfortable and I’m sure he knew what made me uncomfortable, but I was the guy who was in shape, so things kinda went my way a bit.”That could have been enough right there in terms of having quality preparation for an important fight, but Hughes upped the ante when a new friend and old rival, Penn, returned the favor for Hughes helping him out for his training camp against Jon Fitch in early 2011. Yes, three fights later, Penn and Hughes had become training partners.“A lot of people really raise an eyebrow when I say that BJ’s been training with me, but they might not know that I went out to Hawaii and helped BJ with his takedowns for Fitch,” said Hughes. “I found out a lot about BJ when I went out to Hawaii and started training with him. We are actually a lot alike personality wise, and sense of humor wise for sure. We have a ball together and I’ve got to watch out for him because he’s quick-witted. My brother (Mark) is very quick-witted as well, so I’ve just gotta stay on my toes. He’ll catch me a couple times, because I’m a little naïve. (Laughs) But we really have a lot of fun together and we’ve found out a lot about each other since the third fight.”With such an all-star lineup, you would think that nothing could go wrong for Hughes as he prepared for his 55th professional fight at UFC 135 on September 24th. And in the gym, nothing did. But on September 5th, UFC President Dana White tweeted “Diego Sanchez broke his hand. Looking for a replacement for Hughes.”As the news broke on Monday night, Hughes was stepping on a plane to go to Utah to continue his camp after his stay in Hillsboro. Told by White that the UFC was looking at replacing Sanchez with either Josh Koscheck or Jon Fitch, Hughes agreed to either foe. By Tuesday afternoon, he had an opponent. It was Koscheck.Not surprisingly, Hughes didn’t blink.“I’ve never picked an opponent and I’ve never turned one down,” he said. “So whoever the UFC wants to put in front of me is what happens and whatever they think is a smart matchup, I trust them. Overall, Josh is a lot different than Diego, but in a few things he’s a lot like him. Of course for two months now, I’ve been training for a southpaw and Josh is a conventional fighter. I’ve also been training for someone who didn’t have the wrestling credentials I did and now I’m facing somebody who’s got better wrestling credentials than I had. But I do have to say I like it that it’s two and a half weeks out and he’s now taking the fight, where I’ve been training for three months when it comes fight time.”That confidence that he will be the better prepared of the two, coupled with his usual belief in himself, makes Hughes a tough man to beat. But in Koscheck, he will not only be facing an opponent with legitimate knockout power in his right hand, but one of the few whose wrestling credentials surpass those of the former Eastern Illinois standout. And those are two attributes Sanchez wasn’t packing with him for Denver.“I don’t know that I’ve ever faced anybody with credentials as good as he’s had,” admitted Hughes. “I’ve faced people who’ve said they were better than me in wrestling, but it didn’t work out that way in the Octagon. So I’m just gonna go in there with the same mindset, that I’m gonna do whatever I want to do, and we’ll see how the gameplan turns out.”And if beating a younger contender who has stellar wrestling and a knockout punch isn’t enough to get Hughes primed and ready for battle, Koscheck has opened up the verbal floodgates with talk that the welterweight great ducked fights in the past with Koscheck and his American Kickboxing Academy teammates Fitch and Mike Swick.“I just think he’s trying to build the fight, to be honest,” said Hughes. “He did the same thing with GSP (Georges St-Pierre) on the reality show, which didn’t turn out too well for him in the actual fight (at UFC 124). I don’t pay attention to what he’s saying, I don’t really know what he’s saying, and I don’t care to know what he’s saying. He is who he is and that’s who I’ve gotta fight.”Are those the words of a 37-year old who has seen it all over the course of a 13-plus year career and has gotten jaded, or is it just Hughes looking at such antics as wasted energy when you need all you can get on fight night?“I can usually turn people off and ignore them, and I would imagine I’ll do the same thing with him,” he said. “I’ve had some real silly guys try to get under my skin in the past, and I’d say he (Koscheck) is not top of the list of being the biggest jackass out there that I’ve faced. (Laughs) I do find some of it amusing though.”And hey, when you take away all the talk, you still have to fight. That’s Matt Hughes’ forte and what he is planning on doing once again this Saturday night.“I’m working hard because I definitely want to own the middle of the second round all the way to the end of the fight,” he said. “I want to make sure that’s my time, no doubt about it. I know Koscheck, as a wrestler, is gonna have some heart and he’s always gonna have that will to finish strong, so it is motivating me to get in shape and be a hundred percent ready. I’m gonna be pushing the pace and definitely putting the striking on, looking for Koscheck’s tendencies, and I think I get my hand raised at the end, I really do.”

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Back again with another round, as it were. As you may have heard by now our camp got some bad news with Eddie Alvarez having to pull out of his title-fight against Michael Chandler at Bellator 54. Mike was completely disappointed, but, as I told him, all it means is it taking a little longer to get the belt. Bellator is talking about late November for the fight so this gives us an extra month to get prepared, work on some stuff, and perfect some other things. Who knows, it might even be a blessing in disguise. The dates being looked at are November 19 or 26. As long as the fight happens this year that’s what matters. We don’t want to sit out until next year. We want to stay active. We were a few weeks out, he was about to peak, and now we have to pull back so he doesn’t over-train. If Eddie is out longer, I’d rather have Mike fight again then have him sit around for 6-7 months as long as we still get the title-shot. The more active you are, the better you get. As far as my thoughts on UFC Fight Night 25, Jason MacDonald has been in the gym a few times and is a very likable person but Alan Belcher was too strong for him. He got on top and punched him out with great ground and pound. Jonathan Brookins is not the best striker so he tried to take the fight to the ground, but Koch showed that he was the better on his feet between the two. He did what he needed to do and kept the fight standing, plus it’s always a plus to have a guy like Duke Roufus in your corner as well. Working with a guy that good is going to get Koch to the next level without a doubt. I thought Court McGee vs. Dongi Yang was a close fight in the first two rounds. Then, in the third, Court got caught and was hurt, but Yang was too tired whereas McGee showed his conditioning. People talk about Court’s fitness because he runs in high altitude based on his camp being in Utah and he showed why last Saturday night. He recovered quickly from being hurt and he finished the fight strong which broke Yang mentally. Jake Ellenberger put together an excellent fight. Is he strong or what? Great job by Mike Dolce too, very possibly the best nutritionist in MMA. Ellenberger came into the fight in great shape and didn’t have to cut much weight either. Dolce has the perfect diet for guys, and to be quite honest I love working with guys who are on the Dolce Diet. Ellenberger’s hands were very fast and in general he looked incredible as evident by the way he took out Jake Shields. Also, one of our guys was in action too – Evan Dunham. First, I want to congratulate Evan on getting married in a few weeks. Second, I want to congratulate him on winning this past weekend. I don’t work with Evan as his striking coach is Ray Sefo who did a great job for this camp. I see Dunham at the gym every day and watch him spar. It’s clear to me he’s getting better. He’s a tough kid and there’s no doubt he’s going to keep climbing the lightweight ladder. Looking ahead to this weekend and UFC 135, I think Josh Koscheck is constantly improving. I think he’ll be faster than Matt Hughes who is a little older. Hughes has power and is a great wrestler, but Koscheck is equally good on the mat and has faster hands. Plus, Hughes has been hurt with punches in the past, and for those reasons I think Koscheck will stop him. In terms of the main event, Quinton Jackson has more experience but Jon Jones is not your typical 24-year old kid. The stuff that he does is not taught – it’s natural talent. I guarantee no trainer tells him to throw those spinning and jumping strikes. He’s so athletic and just fights on instinct. That type of fighter is so hard to beat! You can’t train for something like that, and so I think Jones it going to win this fight. To beat Jones you need someone just as fast as him and someone quick enough to see things coming and counter. However, right now, I don’t see too many out there who can do that. And I would LOVE to help out “Rampage” with his boxing. It’s good and his hands are “Top 10” in MMA where striking is concerned but he could use work on his footwork, as well as punching when moving forward really and getting some speed in his hands. The power is clearly there though. That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for future blogs. Remember, on top of reading about my adventures here, you can also find me on Twitter (@mastermitter). Tweet

Posted in: fight, ellenberger, guy, ’t, hand

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Every week I post the MMA on TV schedule and every Sunday when I’m putting it together, I’m always a little shocked at how many live events are taking place during the week. Most of the time I know when there is a major event taking place, but this was an eye-opening week as I learned that there are five live events taking place this weekend. Two shows on Friday night, one on Saturday morning, and two more on Saturday night. And that’s just MMA. That doesn’t count all the football and baseball you’re likely to watch as well. Gentlemen, from the moment you get off work on Friday to the moment Bob Costas wraps up the Sunday Night Football game on NBC, you have my permission to sit on the couch and not move an inch unless it’s to get a beer, grab a slice of pizza, or go to the bathroom. We all know about the big UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage event on Saturday night, but what about the other four events? Who should we be keeping our eye on starting Friday night at 10PM with Titan FC 20? Well, I’m glad you asked. Brett Rogers: Once considered a top 10 heavyweight in sport after knocking out Andrei Arlovski, Brett Rogers was brought back down to earth when he was matched up against skilled fighters who didn’t end up concussed following a stiff breeze. After an incident with his wife that got him cut from Strikeforce but didn’t put him in jail, Rogers tries to battle his way back to the big show, starting with UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez. Even though Rogers is best known for getting his head knocked off against Fedor Emelianenko, or maybe doing cartwheels across the cage against Alistair Overeem, or possibly having no idea how to get off his back against Josh Barnett, and Sanchez is best known for running backwards against Mirko Cro Cop, this is a pretty decent fight. Both guys like to trade punches and for the two minutes where they’re both at full strength and not dead tired from throwing punches, it’ll probably be a fun little brawl. Jamie Varner: Once on top of the WEC world, Jamie Varner fell on hard times near the end of the promotions run, going winless in four straight fights against Ben Henderson, Kamal Shalorus, Donald Cerrone, and Shane Roller and not being brought over when UFC and WEC merged. With one win already under his post-WEC belt, Varner looks to pick up another victory this weekend against Alonzo Martinez. I’m not really a fan of Varner, because he wears sunglasses inside, but I do think he was given a raw detail when he was released. He should have been given at least one fight in the UFC because he, along with Cerrone and Henderson, really carried that WEC lightweight division and it would have been a nice gesture for UFC to give him another chance in the octagon. Ryan Couture: Coming off a loss and only having a record of 2-1, most fighters wouldn’t be in the position that Ryan Couture is in. But when your last name is Couture and you’re the son of one of the most respected fighters in the sports history, you get chances that other fighters don’t get. At Strikeforce Challengers 19, Couture faces Maka Watson, who, like Couture’s last opponent, Matt Ricehouse, is a pretty unknown guy but is also looking to make a name for himself at the expense of Couture. I like what Strikeforce is doing with Couture, and that’s bringing him up slowly before he eventually ends up on The Ultimate Fighter when Strikeforce becomes extinct next year. Couture has to prove it in the cage though. He’s obviously not going to be his father, and it’s unfair to expect otherwise, but if he’s going to make it in MMA, he has to beat the guys Strikeforce is pairing him up against. Jason High: After being cut from the UFC after one fight, a loss to Charlie Brenneman, the often-overlooked Jason High is currently riding a five fight win streak, and in a very shallow Strikeforce welterweight division, he has the potential to really stand out before he heads back to the UFC early next year. High faces Todd Moore on Friday night, in a pretty tough fight for High, because Moore is an unknown guy, who has fought some good fighters, but is also a guy that “The KC Bandit” should defeat. Really I don’t care about the fight all that much. I care more about High’s walk-out music and possible pre-fight antics. Strikeforce loves to show fighters hitting pads and warming up before their bouts, and High has promised to spoof Floyd Mayweather ala Kevin Hart, should he get the opportunity. Also, Jason is a fighter who puts thought into his walk-out music, which is something I appreciate. Joe Warren: The baddest man on the planet officially makes his bantamweight debut in the Bellator season 5 bantamweight tournament. Undefeated in Bellator and the current featherweight champion of the company, Joe Warren tries to live up to his self-proclaimed titled. Even though he’s been given more gift decisions than Leonard Garcia, Warren is still a highly-talented fighter who can out-wrestle most fighters on any given night. He’s been given a pretty favorable first-round fight against Alexis Vila, who, despite being a Olympic level wrestler himself, is 40-years old. My concern with Warren is that he wants to do about 500 things in his life and I’m not sure he’s fully focused on Vila or the tournament. In fact, with everything he wants to do, I’m pretty sure he’s not fully focused on anything, he’s just split his focus in one hundred different directions and hope that he’s devoted enough attention to each. Kazushi Sakuraba: The last time we saw Kazushi Sakuraba, he was struggling to keep his ear on against Marius Zaromskis. At the age of 42, having lost his last three fights, and having taken a beating throughout his career, this could be the last time we see Sakuraba compete in the ring. In fact, I hope this is the last time we see Sakuraba compete. Everyone wanted him to retire when Ricardo Arona turned his face into hamburger. That was in 2005. He faces Yan Cabral on Saturday morning in America, and seeing as Cabral is mainly a jiu-jitsu fighter, hopefully it’ll mean that Sakuraba won’t take too much punishment. Win or lose though, someone needs to tell “The Gracie Hunter” that he has nothing left to prove and that no one wants to see him go out like he’s been going out. Shinya Aoki: Following his loss to Gilbert Melendez in April 2010, Shinya Aoki has come back strong to win five straight fights, trapping four of those opponents in a submission. One of the best submission grapplers in the world, Aoki faces veteran striker Rob McCullough at DREAM. Love or hate Aoki, he’s one of the more entertaining fighters in MMA, just because you know that if the fight hits the grab, he’s seconds away from ending the contest, “Razor” Rob is a beatable opponent, because he lacks a real ground game, but given Aoki’s chin and McCullough’s striking ability and power, it’s possible that the former WEC champ pulls off the upset. Of course, it’s also possible that Aoki busts out a jumping inverted armbar for the victory. Joachim Hansen vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri: Even though Joachim Hansen is 3-3 in his last six fights and Tatsuya Kawajiri is 2-2 and this fight is taking place in the featherweight division for some strange reason, I can’t help but to get excited for this fight. If Kawajiri doesn’t decide to take the fight to the ground and control Hansen, this has the potential to be an absolute scrap, with both men just trading punches until someone finally falls down. Maybe their chins aren’t what they used to be and maybe they’re kind of irrelevant because they’re fighting in Japan, but damnit I’m pumped for this fight and I hope it goes longer than 30 seconds.Similar Posts: DREAM 17 lineup set for this weekend’s event Kazushi Sakuraba to return at DREAM.17 against Yan Cabral Diaz wants Aoki instead of Sakurai; “Mayhem” wants Sakuraba DREAM 11 Weigh-In Results Aoki vs. Hansen III announced for Dream 10 Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

Posted in: fight, fighter, ’t, i ’m, aoki

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Samoans are a proud people, and if they aren't, they should be. Never mind having amazing hair, I've never met one that wasn't bigger/stronger than me; possessing superhuman power well-suited for pummeling a home intruder or chopping down a tree with a low 'leg-kick'. If that's not a sign of Darwinism at work, then please acknowledge that whatever deity you believe in, he/she favors Samoans over you. If you're Samoan, pat yourself on the back just because you're physically gifted to those around you. If you aren't...I'm sure there's something else you're good at. You'll find it one day and we'll write about it on this colorful website right alongside a picture why Mark Hunt is cooler anyway. After a win over Chris Tuscherer at UFC 137, Mark "The Super Samoan" Hunt is back in his rhythm, despite feeling like he couldn't defeat a wooden chair just a few months ago. Now Hunt feels he's the best in the world, and he needs a few more fights to prove it. "I think the lowest moment was every fight I was just losing and I just didn’t know what the hell was going on. I just couldn’t get it right. I didn’t know what it was. It was just a mental block. It didn’t matter who I fought, I would have just lost anyway. They could have put me in with a wooden chair and I still would have lost. It was just inside my mind and I had to break the cycle. I don’t think I’m sitting anywhere at the moment. I think a few more fights, three or four more fights for me to get into the picture at all. I don’t see myself anywhere in the heavyweight division, yet I still feel I’m the best on the planet of course or else I wouldn’t be doing it." Mark "The Super Samoan" Hunt returns to the UFC this weekend to fight Ben Rothwell in what he hopes to be the start of a glorious winning streak en route to the heavyweight championship belt. Otherwise, it's back to South-East Asia where women will throw themselves at him and cater to his every desire, cause that's how they roll. [Source]

Posted in: fight, hunt, ’t, samoan, i ’m

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It turns out all the discussion on whether or not UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones has a spy in Quinton Jackson’s training camp is unnecessary, as the proud son of Memphis is actually open himself to revealing his strategy for this weekend’s main event match-up against the 24-year old title-holder. “He can have a live feed on me. (Jones) can watch me brush my teeth in the morning and see what toothpaste I used, who I am training with and how hard I am working, and he can see which hand I wipe my ass with for all I care,” wrote “Rampage” in a recent entry on his Yahoo blog. “It don’t matter because there’s no real secret to what I really want to do in this fight: punch him on his big ‘Bones’ head. Knock him out. Jones has never been hit in his career. He could have the best chin in the history of the UFC, or he could have the worst in history. We don’t know because he has not got hit yet. But we will know at UFC 135 because he will get hit by me.” “Rampage” Speaks Out on Alleged Spy in Camp However, just because he plans on landing a few fight-ending strikes doesn’t mean Jackson assumes doing so will be easy. “I know I am going to have to work at hitting him,” the PRIDE icon continued. “He’s got them “Go-go-Gadget” long-ass arms and legs and he’s fast. He’s also going to look to take me down so I have to let my hands go. But I’ve been here in Denver, training at the Muscle Pharm Gym at altitude, living in the gym – for real I live here at the gym until after this fight – for seven damn weeks – to be ready.” Motivating Jackson to forgo his regular day-to-day for the grind of being a gym rat is the thought of winning a championship that means more to him than a regular title might, as “Rampage” explained, “That belt is the unified PRIDE and UFC world title, and that belt exists because of me beating Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson in two straight fights to win the UFC and then PRIDE titles…I think now I didn’t appreciate even myself what I had accomplished, and by the time I did, I’d lost it…That’s why I want my belt back so bad. It’s my belt.” Jackson and Jones will meet Saturday night in Denver on a card co-headlined by Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck. Fans can tune in to the PPV starting at 9:00 PM EST with preliminary pairings showing through Spike TV and Facebook in the hours preceding the event. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, jone, jackson, ’t, belt

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If you spent seventy bucks to see one of the best boxers in the world pick a fight with an 80-year old announcer then I’m sorry. If you spent 70 bucks to see a guy use an illegal headbutt, try and hug it out in the middle off the fight, and get knocked out, then I’m really sorry. But if you watched SpikeTV and saw a quick KO followed by the rocked fighter try and takedown the referee, then good going. You saved money and got to see a more satisfying event with UFN 25. Preliminary Card *It only took 15 minutes for Justin Edwards to cancel the hype of Jorge Lopez. The fight was good, but both guys have a long way to go in the welterweight division. *Mike Lullo needs to switch to boxing or grappling or wrestling or dancing or something where his opponent isn’t allowed to kick him in the leg. Good performance by Robert Peralta in his UFC debut. *T.J. Waldburger has some very legit jiu-jitsu. The transitions he pulled off against Mike Stumpf were great to see. I don’t know how far he can go but he’s a handful for anyone on the ground. *Very good UFC return for Seth Baczynski, who looked sharp on his feet and showed killer instinct in the second round. *Ken Stone was so smooth against Donny Walker, leaving him blue in the face and proving that beer is just as filling as whiskey. *Win or lose, Matt Riddle always seems to bring it, and that’s exactly what he did against Lance Benoist, who looked better than his nose would indicate in his UFC debut. *Great bounce back win for Evan Dunham over a tough Shamar Bailey. Dunham has the talent to be a contender in the lightweight division, he just needs to put it all together like he did on Saturday. *It’s a shame Cody McKenzie isn’t very good because the fans obviously love him. Vagner Rocha doesn’t offer much on the feet but his ground game is sick. Main Card Alan Belcher defeated Jason MacDonald by Verbal Submission (Strikes) at 3:48 in Round One Belcher Is Back: Alan Belcher was on a roll prior to the eye injury and on Saturday he reminded fans that has the talent to be a contender in the middleweight division. He didn’t really get to show off his striking against Jason MacDonald, but he did show his strength in the clinch and on top along with his punching power. I still don’t know how good his takedown defense is, but he’s training with Ben Askren, so I imagine that it’s improving every session. I think Belcher earned himself a top guy with this win and he could definitely make some noise in 2012. MacDonald Overwhelmed Again: It’s like a broken record at this point, but MacDonald once again got overwhelmed on the ground. He’s not a bad fighter and he is good off his back, but if he can’t lock on the submission and takes a couple of good strikes on the ground, he just shuts down and takes a beating. There was a lot of talk prior to this fight that MacDonald may retire, and while he nixed that talk, he may re-evaluate things after this fight. Predicted Next Fights: MacDonald vs. Retirement – Belcher vs. Leben/Munoz winner Erik Koch defeated Jonathan Brookins via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) Koch’s Takedown Defense: Erik Koch’s takedown defense is what won him the fight against Jonathan Brookins. Granted his striking was pinpoint accurate, but that was to be expected. He effectively stuffed almost every takedown Brookins went for, and although he couldn’t get off the cage as often as I’m sure Duke Roufus would have liked him to, he still stayed on his feet for the majority of the fight and didn’t take too much damage in the clinch. At only 22, Koch is a legit contender at 145 and will definitely challenge for the belt in the coming years. Brookins’ Striking Defense: It’s still not very good. He’s rolling with the punches a bit better, but his hands are still way too low and his chin is way too high. He needs to take some time off, spend working almost exclusively on his striking defense, and then come back ready to fight. He can beat a bunch of guys with his strength in the clinch but when he runs into someone like Koch, who can remain upright and not get tired, he’s always going to be in trouble. Predicted Next Fights: Brookins vs. Robert Peralta – Koch vs. Hioki/Roop winner Court McGee defeated Dongi Yang via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-28) Questionable Decision: Full disclosure, I thought Dongi Yang won the fight 29-28. The first two rounds were close but Yang was landing the cleaner strikes, especially the right hand and inside leg kick, while Court McGee was moving forward but not really doing any damage. The third round was definitely McGee’s though, as he bounced back strong after being rocked early to really take over the round and the fight. It wasn’t a robbery by any means, but I still thought Yang won. McGee Has A Long Way To Go: I’m a big fan of Court, mainly because he’s Chuck Liddell’s protégé and even walked out to “Intro” by DMX, which was the walk out song Liddell used from UFC 57 to UFC 88. He gets hit a lot though and doesn’t really throw great punches. His cardio is going to carry him against lesser opponents, but most of the top guys have good cardio, so McGee will need to find other means to pick up a victory. I don’t think he’ll be the next Liddell or anything, but he can be “in the mix” if he just starts to believe in his skills a little bit more. Predicted Next Fights: Yang vs. Simpson/Schafer loser – McGee vs. Tavares/Credeur winner Jake Ellenberger defeated Jake Shields via TKO (Strikes) at 0:53 in Round One Ellenberger’s Biggest Win: This was obviously a huge win for Jake Ellenberger. Granted anyone can get caught within the first minute of any fight, but the way Ellenberger pounced on Jake Shields after rocking him with the knee was something that can’t be taught. The most impressive part of Ellenberger’s game though was his ability to easily shuck away Shields whenever he went for a takedown. I Felt Bad For Shields: I really felt bad for Shields in this fight. I don’t want to make excuses for the guy because it was his choice to take the fight despite his dad passing away, but I think it’s safe to say that he wasn’t 100% mentally prepared. Even if he was thinking about nothing but Ellenberger when he entered the octagon, you know his dad passing weighed on his mind for a few days after it happened and those few days could have made the difference in this fight. Step Up For Ellenberger: With this victory, Ellenberger could easily be one fight away from a title shot. If Georges St. Pierre beats Carlos Condit, he won’t have too many fresh contenders left at 170, especially if BJ Penn beats Nick Diaz. I’d like to see Johny Hendricks get pulled out of his fight against Jon Fitch so Ellenberger can fight Fitch, but I doubt that’s going to happen. So maybe Ellenberger will face Diego Sanchez or the winner of Josh Koscheck vs. Matt Hughes. Predicted Next Fights: Shields vs. Anthony Johnson – Ellenberger vs. Sanchez PHOTO CREDIT – UFCSimilar Posts: Jake Shields falls in first round of action-packed UFN 25 The Walk Out – UFC Fight Night 25 Undercard Shields vs. Ellenberger set for UFC’s “Battle on the Bayou” “Battle on the Bayou” official as all fighters make weight The Walk Out – UFN 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

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Quinton Jackson is tired of talking about Jon Jones’ allegedly having a spy in his camp and ready to focus on the task at hand – getting his belt back. “Rampage” recently offered his thoughts on the situation and made it clear he couldn’t care less what sort of shenanigans Jones may be pulling because it won’t stop his fist from running into the light heavyweight champion’s face. “He can have a live feed on me. “Bones” can watch me brush my teeth in the morning and see what toothpaste I used, who I am training with and how hard I am working, and he can see which hand I wipe my ass with for all I care,” Jackson wrote through his Yahoo blog. “I don’t want to talk about the whole ‘spy’ thing too much more. I am glad I found out, I’m glad I told people about it, and I think it’s not an honorable way to prepare for a fight, but if Jon Jones wants me to, I’ll have a camera installed here at the Muscle Pharm in Denver and he can watch me 24-7.” Jackson also elaborated on why winning Jones’ gold is so important to him. “The belt that I lost to Forrest Griffin, even though I should have got the decision after knocking his ass down in that fight? The belt Forrest lost to Rashad Evans? The one Rashad lost to Lyoto Machida? The one Machida lost when Mauricio “Shogun” Rua beat him? The one Jones took from the injured “Shogun” who couldn’t even train? That one? That belt,” Jackson asked rhetorically. “That belt is the unified PRIDE and UFC world title, and that belt exists because of me beating Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson in two straight fights to win the UFC and then PRIDE titles.” “That’s why I want my belt back so bad. It’s my belt,” the outspoken former champion concluded. He will get his chance in less than a week when the UFC heads to Denver for UFC 135 and the headlining bout between the two talented 205ers.Similar Posts: Rampage: Beating Shogun doesn’t matter Jackson would rather have revenge before the championship Dana White still views Rashad Evans as top contender in 205-pound division Henderson vs. Jackson could be non-title Jon Jones vs. Quinton Jackson confirmed for UFC 135 Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

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Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain