MMA-URLS

The California State Athletic Commission released the list of medical suspensions on the heels of Saturday's Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier card, and a lot of guys got hurt. Some of the injuries were either known already or had been long suspected though. Both Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finalists suffered broken hands in their bout, and Strikeforce lightweight title challenger Josh Thomson had been dealing with rumors of a knee injury going into the bout. Here's the full list of suspensions via MMA Weekly (preliminary card fighters after the jump): Related: Photo: Daniel Cormier And Josh Barnett Both Broke Their Hands During Strikeforce Bout | Strikeforce's Josh Thomson Voices Frustration With MMA Media Daniel Cormier was suspended for 180 days unless cleared by a physician for possible right second finger fracture and 60 days unless cleared by a physician for left eyelid laceration. Josh Barnett was suspended for 180 days unless cleared by a physician for possible left hand fracture and 60 days unless cleared by a physician for multiple facial lacerations. Josh Thomson was suspended for 180 days unless cleared by a physician for possible left knee fracture and possible right hand fracture. SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier Isaac Valle-Flagg was suspended for 60 days unless cleared by a physician for a one-inch laceration for right south orbital area. Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante was suspended for 180 days unless cleared by a physician for possible left shoulder ligament injury. Virgil Zwicker was suspended 30 days for a hard bout and 180 days unless cleared by a physician for possible left middle finger fracture. Yuri Villefort was suspended for 180 days unless cleared by a physician for possible right knee ligament injury. Bobby Green was suspended for 180 days unless cleared by a physician for possible third finger fracture on left hand. James Terry was suspended for 60 days unless cleared by a physician for possible nasal fracture and laceration.

Posted in: strikeforce, day, hand, physician, fracture

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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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Welcome to this week’s edition of MMAterial Facts, where we feature articles from around the MMA community. *** This week’s MMAterial Facts: - Spike TV pulls a page out of the Antonio Inoki playbook with King Mo (Fight Opinion) “What Spike TV is trying to accomplish with King Mo is an interesting experiment, one that they probably decided to emulate less on what happened in Japan and more on what’s happened with Brock Lesnar & Kurt Angle’s goofy deulsions of wanting to cross-over between the two industries. Lesnar being the #1 UFC PPV attraction immediately signaled the huge cross-over between pro-wrestling fans and MMA fans. MMA attracts less ‘real sports’ fans and more wrestling/entertainment fans. So, naturally, Spike TV put two and two together to try to pull off the experiment they are about to attempt here with King Mo.” - Nick Diaz’s wild weekend in review: No shows Brazilian jiu-jitsu superfight against Braulio Estima (MMA Mania) “But perhaps there’s more to the story. In fact, Diaz’s biggest supporter in the media, Middle Easy, has spent the better part of the past two days going to bat for him and proclaiming the promoters of the event were shady. There was also a weigh-in snafu with Estima, who apparently missed weight the day before but was able to make weight the day of the contest. … And somewhere in between someone was trying to switch up the rules. Or something like that. That’s what he said or she said or they said or someone said and somehow speculation became fact and vice versa and the entire ordeal is one big mess.” - Phil Davis Vs. Chad Griggs Placed On UFC On FOX 4 Card (MMA Convert) “Phil Davis will look to rebound from his first career loss in August when he takes on Chad Griggs. … The UFC announced the bout Monday for the August 4 UFC on FOX 4 card. The event will take place in Los Angeles, with Hector Lombard vs. Brian Stann set as the main event.” - Dustin Poirier: ‘Fans Can Expect Everything From Me, Even The Kitchen Sink’ (FightLine) “Right now I feel like I am the best I have ever been technically,” Poirier told FightLine.com. “I know I am still growing as a fighter, but this is the best I have ever felt mentally and physically. I’m ready to do battle, my nutrition, my workouts are at their peak right now. I’m ready for a main event fight and to go five rounds. I feel like I am a faster, more technically sound striker than Jung and I’m sure he believes the same things. I feel like I can out-wrestle him, my BJJ is just as good as his if not better, I feel as though I match up really well against him.” - Gegard Mousasi out until at least November with torn ACL, has 6-7 fights left for Strikeforce (Five Ounces of Pain) “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.” - Busy Week Awaits Zuffa (5thRound) “After enjoying a brief 10-day hiatus, Zuffa, LLC comes storming back with a vengeance this week. The world’s most prestigious mixed martial arts promotion will be hosting a pair of shows on two different coasts within a 96-hour span. … “UFC on FUEL TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier” takes place Tuesday inside Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. The freebie fight card is headlined by a pivotal featherweight affair between Chan Sung “The Korean Zombie” Jung and Dustin Poirier.” - James Wilks announces retirement from MMA: spinal injury  (LowKick) “Wilks told MMAjunkie.com: “It must have been from rugby because I was asked when my neck got broken, and I said I’d never broken it, and then they showed me the X-ray.” … The doctors advised him that he has severe spinal stenosis, which results in an acute narrowing of the spinal canal and that he would have a “significantly high risk of paralysis” if he resumed his professional fighting career.” - Vinny Magalhaes selling M-1 championship (TheFightNerd) “I will stray from chronicling the entire feud between M-1 light heavyweight champion Vinny Magalhaes and M-1 Global, but it seems that Vinny is now auctioning off his championship belt to the highest bidder on eBay. As of 11:30 PM on Sunday night (when I am writing this), the belt is going for $710, with nine days left to bid.” - Georges St-Pierre Says He Is Open to Headlining UFC Event in January 2013 (BleacherReport.com/MMA) “I’m at the last stage (of recovery). I’ll be back pretty soon,” St-Pierre said during an exclusive interview with Showdown Joe Ferraro on UFC Central. … St-Pierre said he hopes to make a full recovery by November, which could see the champion headline UFC 150 in Montreal.” James Wilks announces retirement from MMA: spinal injury

Posted in: ufc, fight, mma, day, fan

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"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." For all you fitness Maniacs out there who struggle to choke down one multivitamin per day, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Dan Hardy (via UFC.com) has no sympathy for you. Probably because "The Outlaw," who will "Bang" it out with Duane Ludwig at the UFC 146: "Dos Santos vs. Mir" pay-per-view (PPV) event on May 26, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was mixed up with a nutrition "expert" who had him sucking down 72 pills a day. You know something is wrong when the food supplements the vitamins -- not the other way around -- but fortunately the British brawler got back on the right nutritional path. Anyone out there a pill junkie? Let's hear what you take on a daily basis and why.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, fight i, pill

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Remember back in 2006 when Rampage was in Pride and everyone was destroying their newly purchased flat-screen TV's because they didn't wear the Wii safety strap? My god the old days. Back when Japanese MMA was still king and bowling in your borderline condemned living room with half naked drug addled roommates was not only cool, it was encouraged. Those are days that will never come back. Now Rampage Jackson has released a phone app that will measure your punching power and curse at you; either in praise or to mock your sissy whiff through the air. Like the wild west that was the early days of the Wii, this app will surely lead to a few broken smartphones and and grandmothers being punched in the temple, which is what any good entertainment product should do. [Source]

Posted in: rampage, day, rampage jackson, entertainment product, phone app

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What will it take for former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion B.J. Penn to return to competitive mixed martial arts? Is it a fight in Hawaii? Would it be a rematch against Nick Diaz? Maybe a big paycheck? It could be all or none of those things. The right offer matters, of course, but most important is timing. Or stated differently, time off. Time for things to change. If there's anything that becomes immediately clear in a conversation with Penn, he just isn't in a part of his life where returning to competitive fighting interests him enough to make the commitment. "I'm not really excited to jump into a training camp right now," Penn told Ariel Helwani yesterday on The MMA Hour. That isn't to say he's totally disinterested. After all, he's at least willing to entertain offers even if they ultimately don't move him into action. "Me and Dana sat down," Penn explained. "Dana said, 'I'm seeing a lot of stuff. You're saying you don't want to fight anymore.' Me and him just kind of talked and did a couple of hypotheticals back and forth and that was it. I know Dana wants me to fight again." "I'm enjoying training right now," Penn said. "You never know what the future holds. If Dana puts something together like 'hey, you want to do this?' You never know. You never know what could happen." It isn't just White that wants Penn to fight again. Legions of MMA fans are hopeful 'The Prodigy' won't retire, especially while many of his supporters believe he's still got the capacity to compete. "I don't know. I do get pumped up about it when I go different places and people are like ‘come on! You gotta fight again! You gotta fight again!" But it's a lot of work." It appears more than anything, 'a lot of work' is what's holding Penn back. After years and years the grind, the routine and uphill climb of training camp, the process is not as easy to be a part of as it once was. The toll on the body, the time away from family. Who wants that when you've accomplished so much, you're wealthy and you've got an infant daughter? Penn readily admits he thinks he still has what it takes to compete against the elite, but getting up for a training camp day after day just isn't appealing right now. "I guess being a competitor, you always have that itch. But what it is is...it's tough," Penn said with a laugh. "The training camps are tough, going through that. I've been with the UFC for ten years going through different things. All the different personalities you gotta deal with. I still look at some of the guys up there and of course being a competitor 'You know, I could beat that guy or I could do well with that guy.' It's just a tough question." Interestingly, though, Penn confirmed reports that Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez was offered to him and that he ultimately turned the fight down. "It was right after the Nick Diaz fight," Penn acknowledged. "[White] offered a fight against Gilbert Melendez in Strikeforce. We sat down and we thought about it for a little while. We talked back and forth. It was kind of one of those things where I guess at the end of the day we thought about it a thousand different ways and we were like 'Is that downgrading yourself fighting in Strikeforce? If you win the Strikeforce title are people going to say you did it because you couldn't win the UFC title?'" "At the end of the day, it just didn't make sense to us," Penn said. Penn noted it wasn't Melendez as an opponent he objected to ("If you decide you're going to be a fighter, you shouldn't have a problem fighting anyone"), but he just couldn't rationalize competing under a banner outside of the UFC. If it doesn't move the needle or add to his legacy, it's hard to move forward. In the wake of a serious thrashing at the hands of Nick Diaz at UFC 137, the two-division champion also confessed he's worried about departing the sport in an unceremonious exit. "That is definitely on my mind," admitted Penn. "I don't want to stick around and whether it's a lack of reflexes or a lack of motivation, whichever it may be. You end up getting laid out a few times that could've been avoided." "I would think that's on a lot of fighters' minds, but some people just do it anyway. They like the money or the attention. It's one or the other or both. We've seen that happen over the years to some of the greatest fighters of all time. That's definitely on my mind. Certain athletes like Randy Couture, they never needed the reflexes. They could've stayed around. I look at a boxer like Floyd Mayweather and think he's all reflexes. Once his reflexes go, it's probably time for him to maybe step out." As for Penn's future, there's no guarantee it could go any direction save for the one it's one now. To return to MMA, he'd need the right monetary offer against the right opponent at a time when he is willing to put himself through the rigors of training. It would all have to mean something and the day where it could may never come. Or maybe it will. For admirers of Penn, it's frustrating to live in limbo, but he simply doesn't know if and when he'll ever change his mind. Until something acts as a catalyst for change, he's content to enjoy his life away from professional competition. Yet, that doesn't mean Penn doesn't miss it or doesn't want more. He still dreams and dreams big when it comes to accomplishing goals in the sport. A fire still burns within the Hawaiian fighter. After all, Penn told Helwani he still has unfinished business in the Octagon. "You have dreams and aspirations to what you can accomplish. You never know what's going to be reality at the end of the day. No, I don't feel like I've done enough. I'd love to become a world champion again. I'm sure every fighter out there, that's all they think about all the time." "I'd love to - without a doubt - be a world champion again," Penn said.

Posted in: fight, time, right, day, penn

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The New Jersey Athletic Control Board today issued its list of medical suspensions for UFC on FOX 3: "Diaz vs. Miller," which took place just last night (Sat., May 5, 2012) from the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. With several violent bouts on the card, there were quite a few fighters who were flagged for follow up visits to their doctors. In fact, 10 of the nights 24 competitors were suspended indefinitely. Lavar Johnson was put on the shelf pending an X-ray of his left hand. You know, the one he used to club Pat Barry with until "HD" went crashing to the mat with the referee the only thing saving him from more damage. Despite his defeat, Barry was only given a 30 days suspension. Also getting slapped with a significant vacations were co-main event fighters Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck, who battered and beat each other around the cage for three whole rounds spanning 15 minutes of back-and-forth action. Ultimately, "Big Rig" earned a split decision but both men will ride the pine pending eye exams. But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC on FOX 3 injuries and their medical instructions: Johny Hendricks: Suspended indefinitely pending an ophthalmological exam for his right eye Josh Koscheck: Suspended indefinitely pending a CT scan of his facial bones Alan Belcher: Suspended indefinitely pending an X-ray of his right hand Rousimar Palhares: Suspended 30 days for a TKO loss Lavar Johnson: Suspended indefinitely pending an X-ray of his left hand Pat Barry: Suspended 30 days for a TKO loss Anthony Ferguson: Suspended indefinitely pending an X-ray of his left forearm John Dodson: Suspended indefinitely pending an X-ray of his left hand Pascal Krauss: Suspended indefinitely pending an X-ray of his right foot Louis Gaudinot: Suspended indefinitely pending X-rays of both his left and right hands, suspended 30 days for tough fight John Lineker: Suspended 30 days for a submission loss Danny Castillo: Suspended indefinitely pending an X-ray of his right hand Dennis Bermudez: Suspended 60 days for a facial laceration Nick Denis: Suspended indefinitely pending a facial CT scan and a CT scan of his head, suspended 30 days for tough fight Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For complete UFC on FOX 3 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here and here.

Posted in: right, day, hand, xray, ct scan

Read the full article at MMA Mania

The New Jersey Athletic Control board has already released the medical suspension information from last night’s UFC on Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller fight card. Co-main event fighters Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck were both hit with indefinite suspensions for injuries they suffered in their three-round welterweight battle, which Hendricks took via split decision. Those two joined eight other fighters from the card who were given indefinite suspensions pending some kind of doctor/test clearance. In addition to their indefinite suspensions, Louis Gaudinot and Nick Denis were hit with thirty-day suspensions for hard battles. Rousimar Palhares, Pat Barry and John Lineker were also suspended for thirty days for being finished in their respective bouts. Dennis Bermudez was suspended for sixty days due to facial lacerations. Props to MMAJunkie for the list of suspensions, which you can view in full below. Johny Hendricks: suspended indefinitely pending opthalmological exam (right eye) Josh Koscheck: suspended indefinitely pending CT of facial bones Alan Belcher: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of right hand Lavar Johnson: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of left hand Tony Ferguson: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of left forearm John Dodson: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of left hand Pascal Krauss: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of right foot Louis Gaudinot: suspended indefinitely pending X-rays of both left and right hands and 30 days for tough fight Danny Castillo: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of right hand Nick Denis: suspended indefinitely pending CT facial (orbits) and CT of head and suspended 30 days for tough fight Rousimar Palhares: suspended 30 days for TKO loss Pat Barry: suspended 30 days for TKO loss John Lineker: suspended 30 days for submission loss Dennis Bermudez: suspended 60 days for facial laceration healing MMAFrenzy.com

Posted in: right, day, suspension, hand, xray

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It wasn't an easy night for the warriors of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Following the UFC on Fox 3 bouts at the IZOD Center of East Rutherford, New Jersey, 14 fighters including both Welterweights from the Johny Hendricks vs. Josh Koscheck co-main event have been suspended by the New Jersey State Athletic Review Board pending further medical review. Both Hendricks and Koscheck came away with smarting eyes. Hendricks' right eye will require a visit to a medical specialist following being poked in the eye by Koscheck. Koscheck will need a CT scan of his right eye, no small matter following his shattered right orbital bone against champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 124 in December, 2010. Other main card winners Alan Belcher and Lavar Johnson both will require x-rays of their hands following the beatings they dished out to Rousimar Palhares and Pat Barry respectively. SBN coverage of UFC on Fox 3 Johny Hendricks: suspended indefinitely pending opthalmological exam (right eye) Josh Koscheck: suspended indefinitely pending CT of facial bones Alan Belcher: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of right hand Lavar Johnson: suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of left hand Rousimar Palhares - 30 days following KO loss Pat Barry - 30 days for KO following KO loss Tony Ferguson - indefinite pending X-ray of left forearm John Dodson - indefinite pending X-ray of left hand Pascal Kruass - indefinite pending X-ray of right foot Louis Gaudinot - 30 days John Lineker - 30 days Danny Castillo - indefinite pending X-ray of right hand Dennis Bermudez - 60 days for facial lacerations Nick Denis - Indefinite pending CT scans on face and head

Posted in: right, day, koscheck, hand, xray

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

A very special episode of Fight Day Live will be coming at you this Saturday, May 5, at 4pm ET from the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ.  The UFC invades the Fox network with an action packed card highlighted by two contender fights of Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks and Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller.  Fight Day Live will break down the full fight card as well as discuss the hot button topics in the world of mixed martial arts.  Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will be

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, fox network, contender fights

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We're almost there, folks. The formal, on-site coverage for UFC on Fox 3 kicks off today. I know yesterday I wondered aloud why there were no Dana White video blogs and it turns out I just wasn't paying close enough attention. There's not only one, but two and we've got them both included in today's round-up. One of the more interesting storylines as we approach the UFC's third show on Fox is just how much Josh Koscheck believes he's going through of a technical renaissance now that he's left American Kickboxing Academy. Koscheck has a new boxing coach who is suggesting that the former welterweight top contender will be able to easily exploit the technical deficiencies in Johny Hendricks' game. It's a gutsy statement, but it's one only made possible by Koscheck admitting that up until getting this coach, he never knew basic mechanics: how to throw a jab, slip a jab and more. I don't know if that's true, but I also don't know why he'd say it if it weren't. For a fighter to admit that publicly is a rare moment of candor, folks. 5 MUST-READ STORIES The Case for Public Fighter Pay. Our own Mike Chiappetta tries to lay out the case for why the pay fighters make should be a matter of public record. Shannon Knapp Says UFC Very Supportive. The brains behind Invicta FC told Bloody Elbow that the brass at UFC have been complete supportive of her promotional efforts. Ross Pearson Arrested on Suspicion of DUI. The British striker allegedly had a bit too much to drink and then decided to get behind the wheel of a car. Clay Guida Calls Maynard Bout 'High Risk, High Reward'. MMA Fighting spoke to the Greg Jackson-trained lightweight about the stakes in his upcoming fight with Gray Maynard. Josh Barnett, Daniel Cormier Hold Media Scrum. Just one day before UFC 145 in Atlanta, the two Strikeforce grand prix finalists spoke to the media on a huge range of issues. MEDIA STEW I said there was no UFC on Fox 3 Dana White video blog yesterday. I was wrong. Here's episode 1: And here's episode 2: Remember the story of Chael Sonnen getting tricked with the shock pen while he was in Brazil? There's video of it: Apparently, a 53-year old man was able to get into a MMA cage and fight someone 21-years old on less than an hour's notice. This according to Stephan Bonnar. So, I guess that's that when it comes to regulation: BIG SEXY GOT JOKES Sometimes I like to go to the grocery, and do all my shopping out of other people's carts when they're not looking — Sean McCorkle (@BigSexyMcCorkle) May 1, 2012 HOW RANDOM IS RANDOM? If u ask for a random drug test, isn't really random then? — Duane Ludwig (@DUANEBANGCOM) April 30, 2012 ARMBAR THEM Guess what? I still haven't got my bag from #delta @deltaassist.Almost 2 weeks now since they lost my bag. any ideas as to what should I do? — ROBERT DRYSDALE (@robertdrysdale) May 1, 2012 DEEP THOUGHTS, Y'ALL In order to create, you must destroy. — Joe Lauzon (@JoeLauzon) May 1, 2012 NOVER MAKES PREDICTIONS Im going with Miller 4 this weekends @ufc. I'm calling it a three round decision -Miller. I think he is a bit more talented then Diaz. — Phillipe Nover (@PhillipeNover) May 1, 2012 Look who is ringing the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock market opening bell. Oh, no big deal. Just a few UFC fighters and a Strikeforce champion. That's all. FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS - UFC 150: Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman - UFC 150: Jamie Varner vs. Edson Barboza - UFC 147: Yuri Alcantara vs. Hacran Dias FANPOST OF THE DAY Today's Fanpost of the Day comes courtesy krste and they want to know if UFC bantamweight Dominick Cruz's footwork and striking is so bad, how come no one is able to really hit him? Many detractors of Dominick's style are coming from a Boxing background and claim that his technique is flawed and ineffective. Since my striking knowledge is limited at best my counter to that is that Dominic is not a Boxer, he is an MMA fighter, so what works in boxing might not work in MMA if translated directly. To me, his head and feet movement are a thing of beauty, the way he attacks from angles and evades incoming attacks with his hands down, swaying and slipping like some sort of a zombie cobra reminds me of my younger days when me and my dad used to watch our favorite boxer, Naseem Hamed, although the zombie quality is uniquely attached to Dominick's movement. To get back to my original point, if the striking of the current bantamweight champion is so flawed why hasn't anyone exploited those flaws yet, why does he still have the belt? My question is not intended to sound sarcastic, i am merely curious since i lack the knowledge of the striking game to conclude for myself whether Dominick is Mayhem-esque in his striking game or Spider like.

Posted in: ufc, fighter, fox, day, mdash

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UFC light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar was a guest on HDNet's Inside MMA last night, and had an amusing story to tell about an overseas trip to visit U.S. troops. Bonnar, Rich Franklin, and Keith Jardine went to Bahrain, and it took "The American Psycho" a while to get out. And he didn't get out unscathed. Here's the story (transcription via MMA Mania): "We're getting ready to leave Bahrain, and I get detained at the airport. Jardine and Franklin get on the flight, and they take me in the room. They're asking me all these questions, and they're furious. One guy's coming in the room and pointing at me, all furious, like that. And, what I think is that, I had on the 'Young Assassin' shirt, with Melvin Guillard, and there's a guy with a turban with his brains spillin' out. I don't think they liked that too much." Catch the rest of the story, including what caused the nasty wound the in picture, after the jump. "There was only one flight out for the day at 9:30 p.m. The United flight that I was on. They kept me at the airport so long, I missed my flight. I had to wait till the next day to get on the flight. So, I'm tired. I'm sleeping at the airport, and all of a sudden, I wake up to a burning sensation on my leg. It scared me. I went and brushed down on my leg and, sure enough, a spider about the size of my hand comes crawling out of my pant leg and takes off running! I couldn't believe my eyes! This big camel spider goes under the door. I try to chase it. I lose it, and then, my God, my leg swells up, I get a fever, it's getting infected...but, hey, I'm getting the heck out of there. The next night, I'm on that 9:30 flight, I'm ready to board that flight when, lo and behold...THAT flight gets canceled! So I'm stuck there another day! So, I had the option of going in for an antibiotic IV or stay in the hospital a few days, but instead, I opted to go the oral route, three different kinds of antibiotics, and I got on that flight that next day and got the hell out of there! God bless America!" Bonnar last stepped into the cage at UFC 139 where he defeated Kyle Kingsbury by unanimous decision.

Posted in: day, leg, bonnar, im, flight

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Remember that time you were inconvenienced because the airport staff were doing their due diligence? Yeah, that sucked. It totally put a damper on your whole journey. If you’ve travelled on a plane more than once there’s a good chance you have a bad story to tell. If you were in the company of fighters, you’d have to compete with a whole other level of travel nightmare stories. If missing your flight and having to wait 6 hours for the next one is your idea of a terrible experience, how about being detained in Bahrain, missing two flights and being bitten by a freaking enormous camel spider? Stephan Bonnar can one-up the travel nightmare stories of most and he’s uploaded some videos to tell everyone about it.  MMAMania.com transcribed Bonnar’s appearance on Inside MMA from last night where he told the full story: “There was only one flight out for the day at 9:30 p.m, the United flight that I was on. They kept me at the airport so long, I missed my flight. I had to wait till the next day to get on the flight. So, I'm tired. I'm sleeping at the airport, and all of a sudden, I wake up to a burning sensation on my leg. It scared me. I went and brushed down on my leg and, sure enough, a spider about the size of my hand comes crawling out of my pant leg and takes off runnin'! I couldn't believe my eyes! This big camel spider goes under the door. I try to chase it. I lose it, and then, my God, my leg swells up, I get a fever, its gettin' infected...but, hey, I'm gettin' the heck out of there. The next night, I'm on that 9:30 flight, I'm ready to board that flight when, lo and behold...THAT flight gets cancelled! So I'm stuck there another day! So, I had the option of going in for an antibiotic IV or stay in the hospital a few days, but instead, I opted to go the oral route, three different kinds of antibiotics, and I got on that flight that next day and got the hell out of there! God bless America!” Check out an up close picture of the wicked camel spider bite: I guess travelling through the Middle East with a T-shirt depicting Melvin Guillard stomping on Osama Bin Laden isn’t a good idea. [source]

Posted in: day, story, im, flight, camel spider

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Stephan Bonnar has a big personality, which can sometimes rub people the wrong way. One such instance occurred last year, when "The American Psycho" got into it publicly with UFC Welterweight Josh Koscheck, regarding Bonnar using Koscheck's likeness on one of his "Trash Talking Kids" t-shirts. Bonnar appeared on HDNet's "Inside MMA" earlier tonight (Apr. 23, 2012), discussing his recent trip to Bahrain where he, Rich Franklin and Keith Jardine visited with some U.S. troops who were serving overseas. Apparently, Bonnar and his shirts are back in the news, and you'll never guess what kind of trouble his clothing line got him into this time: "We're getting ready to leave Bahrain, and I get detained at the airport. Jardine and Franklin get on the flight, and they take me in the room. They're asking me all these questions, and they're furious. One guy's comin' in the room and pointin' at me, all furious, like that. And, what I think is that, I had on the 'Young Assassin' shirt, with Melvin Guillard, and there's a guy with a turban with his brains spillin' out. I don't think they liked that too much." Read the rest of Bonnar's debacle of a story, after the break: "There was only one flight out for the day at 9:30 p.m. The United flight that I was on. They kept me at the airport so long, I missed my flight. I had to wait till the next day to get on the flight. So, I'm tired. I'm sleeping at the airport, and all of a sudden, I wake up to a burning sensation on my leg. It scared me. I went and brushed down on my leg and, sure enough, a spider about the size of my hand comes crawling out of my pant leg and takes off runnin'! I couldn't believe my eyes! This big camel spider goes under the door. I try to chase it. I lose it, and then, my God, my leg swells up, I get a fever, it's gettin' infected...but, hey, I'm gettin' the heck out of there. The next night, I'm on that 9:30 flight, I'm ready to board that flight when, lo and behold...THAT flight gets canceled! So I'm stuck there another day! So, I had the option of going in for an antibiotic IV or stay in the hospital a few days, but instead, I opted to go the oral route, three different kinds of antibiotics, and I got on that flight that next day and got the hell out of there! God bless America!" In addition to telling wacky stories about his foreign traveling misadventures, Bonnar also wanted to give his fans an update on his health status, as well as how training is going. Spoiler: It involved a hammer and stem cells. Would you expect anything less at this point? "You know, it's hard to get stuff done when you're training for a fight. I'm trying to get the 'punch buddies' going. We've been through some roadblocks, but we've overcome 'em. I spent a couple months really pouring into that. Then, training again, and, being honest with you, I'm getting old. The knees are feeling bad. So, I went down to Florida, to a doctor who specializes in stem cell procedures. They pounded a nail into my pelvis, drew some of that pelvis blood out of the original stem cells, poppin' my fat out, harvest up some stem cells and pump 'em up into my knees. Just had that done before I went overseas to visit our troops. Next week I'll be doing a seminar and a fight show in Illinois. After that, I'm gonna start training again." If you missed Bonnar and his outlandish tales, here is a video he shot himself recently, where he details the story of his Bahrainian wild ride:

Posted in: day, cell, bonnar, im, flight

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The Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission today issued its list of medical suspensions for UFC 145: "Jones vs. Evans," which took place on Sat., April 21, 2012, from the Philips Arena in Atlanta. With several violent bouts on the card, including Michael McDonald turning out the lights of Miguel Torres with a devastating first round knockout on the pay-per-view (PPV) main card, there were quite a few fighters who were flagged for follow up visits to their doctors. Chief among them, however, is Mac Danzig, who is out indefinitely unless cleared by a physician after Efrain Escudero nearly snapped off his ankle with a heel hook on the "Prelims" portion of the mixed martial arts (MMA) event. And he's the guy who won. Also getting slapped with a significant suspension was Che Mills, who was completely outclassed and thrashed for 1.5 rounds courtesy of Rory MacDonald, who went on to earn a lopsided technical knockout in the co main event of the evening. But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC 145 injuries and their medical instructions: Jon Jones -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Rashad Evans -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Rory MacDonald -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Che Mills -- Suspended 45 days for precautionary reasons.Mac Danzig -- Suspended indefinitely because of a right-ankle (x-ray and doctor's clearance required to return to action).Ben Rothwell -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Brendan Schaub -- Suspended 45 days for precautionary reasons.Michael McDonald -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Miguel Torres -- Suspended 60 days (CT scan and doctor's clearance required to return to action).Eddie Yagin -- Suspended 30 days and no contact for 21 days.Mark Hominick -- Suspended 30 days and no contact for 21 days.Mark Bocek -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsJohn Alessio -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Travis Browne -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Chad Griggs -- Suspended 30 days and no contact for 21 days.Matt Brown -- Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons.Stephen Thompson -- Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons.Keith Wisniewski -- Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasons.Anthony Njokuani -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.John Makdessi -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Efrain Escudero -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Chris Clements -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Marcus Brimage -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons.Maximo Blanco -- Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons. Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For a complete wrap up of all the UFC 145 fight weekend festivities click here, here and here.

Posted in: ufc, day, suspension, doctor, doctors clearance

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The Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission released the medical suspension for last weekend's UFC event, and pretty much everyone got off light. The only major suspension was to lightweight fighter Mac Danzig, who injured his ankle when stuck in an Efrain Escudero heel hook. He is suspended indefinitely, and requires an x-ray of his right ankle. Bantamweight Miguel Torres, who was knocked out in the first round of his bout with Michael McDonald, is suspended for 60 days and needs a CT scan. You can catch the full list of suspensions after the jump, including two 45-day suspensions for fighters that lost via TKO. Mac Danzig - Suspended indefinitely pending results of right-ankle X-rayMiguel Torres - Suspended 60 days; needs CT scanChe Mills - Suspended 45 days for precautionary reasonsBrendan Schaub - Suspended 45 days for precautionary reasonsEddie Yagin - Suspended 30 days, including 21 days with no contactMark Hominick - Suspended 30 days, including 21 days with no contactChad Griggs - Suspended 30 days, including 21 days with no contactMatt Brown - Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasonsStephen Thompson - Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasonsKeith Wisniewski - Suspended 14 days for precautionary reasonsJon Jones - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsRashad Evans - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsRory MacDonald - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsBen Rothwell - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsMichael McDonald - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsMark Bocek - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsJohn Alessio - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsTravis Browne - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsAnthony Njokuani - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsJohn Makdessi - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsEfrain Escudero - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsChris Clements - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsMarcus Brimage - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasonsMaximo Blanco - Suspended seven days for precautionary reasons

Posted in: day, suspension, torre, danzig, reasonsjohn makdessi

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UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans is now in the books, with Jonny “Bones” Jones having retained his title with a unanimous decision win over Rashad Evans. The title fight may not have lived up to the hype, but there were plenty of other fights on the card that delivered and, now, there are medical suspensions to prove it. MMAJunkie has released the full list of medical suspensions that were handed down by the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission. Miguel Torres is out for 60 days to recover from the first-round starching he suffered at the hands of Michael McDonald. The 31-year-old former champ, who needed help making it back to the locker room following the loss, must also undergo a CT scan to be cleared. Mac Danzig was suspended indefinitely following his unanimous decision win over Efrain Escudero. He can be cleared after having his right ankle – which Escudero badly torqued – X-rayed. Che Mills and Brendan Schaub are suspended for 45 days. Mills was TKOed by rising welterweight prospect Rory MacDonald in the second round of their tilt, while Schaub was knocked out cold by Ben Rothwell in their heavyweight scrap’s opening moments. Chad Griggs, Eddie Yagin and Mark Hominick are next in line with 30-day suspensions, couple with 21 days without contact. Yagin surprisingly defeated Hominick in a three-round battle, taking home a split decision win over The Machine. Griggs was tapped out by Travis Browne in one round. Matt Brown, Stephen Thompson and Keith Wisniewski were all three hit with 14-day suspensions. Brown slowed Thompson’s momentum by defeating the karateka via unanimous decision over a grueling three-rounder. Wisniewski was defeated by Chris Clements via split decision. All of the remaining fighters who competed on the card were suspended for 7 days. UFC 145 went down at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

Posted in: ufc, day, decision, suspension, split decision

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More FIGHT DAY Video clips! UFC pre-show Fight Day Live is back on Saturday, April 21 at 6pm ET/3pm PT.  Fight Day Live hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will get you prepared for one of the most anticipated match ups of the year, when bitter rivals Jon Jones and Rashad Evans meet for the [...]

Posted in: fight, day, rashad evans, megan olivi, preshow streams

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UFC pre-show Fight Day Live is back on Saturday, April 21 at 6pm ET/3pm PT. Fight Day Live hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will get you prepared for one of the most anticipated match ups of the year, when bitter rivals Jon Jones and Rashad Evans meet for the light heavyweight championship. Chael Sonnen will be live on the Fight Day set to talk his new book and his big fight with Anderson Silva. Strikeforce heavyweight title contender Daniel Cormier will also stop by to chat about his fight with Josh

Posted in: fight, day, rashad evans, fight day, megan olivi

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Check out UFC president Dana White's UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans video blog, day one.

Posted in: ufc, day, video, dana, blog

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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!

Posted in: time, day, ’t, griffin, diet

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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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Up until this point, fighters haven't had the best record when going up against athletic commissions. A lot of dudes have appeared with sob stories or reasonable explanations and been sent home with the same suspension they'd have landed if they hadn't shown up at all. But Nick Diaz's gameplan seems a little different. He's going to lawyer his way through this thing, and now his lawyer has gone on the offensive: The law does not permit the NSAC to suspend our client indefinitely pending a hearing and determination of the complaint, but imposes a reasonable and definite time limit when which the complaint must be heard and determined. By enactment effected May 22, 2009, Nevada’s legislator amended NRS 233B.127(3) to provide that “[p]roceedings relating to the order of summary suspension must be instituted and determined within 45 days after the date of the order unless the agency and the licensee mutually agree in writing to a longer period.” [emphasis added] (Prior to this amendment, the time limitation was that the proceedings be instituted and determined “promptly”.) Requests for documents, including documents which are not relevant to the matters in dispute and which are protected by statutory and common law privilege, do not operate to extend the time limit within which a hearing must be held pursuant to the statutory limitation.The final day for the hearing and determination of the NSAC’s complaint against Mr. Diaz was therefore April 6th, 2012 — 45 days after the date of the Summary Suspension Order. In discussions with Mr. Kizer, following the Summary Suspension Order, Mr. Kizer informed me and others that this matter would be placed on the NSAC’s April agenda. Our client was and is confident that there is no basis for disciplinary action against him and therefore did not object to a delay beyond the required 45 day time limit as long as the matter was heard and determined in April.However, our client objects to any further delay.We presume that the NSAC will comply with its statutory obligation to have this matter heard on April 24th, 2012. If not, my client takes the position that the NSAC has by virtue of its delay irrevocably elected to discontinue or abandon its complaint against Mr. Diaz. The NSAC has no authority to hear or determine the complaint at a later date, and any such purported hearing or determination of the complaint would be ultra vires the NSAC’s statutory powers. It will still be interesting to see how all this plays out when Diaz gets his day in front of the NSAC. They're sticklers for rules, but is that only when the rules swing their way? Or do they just cherry pick what they want and ignore what's inconvenient?

Posted in: diaz, day, complaint, nsac, client

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After what seemed like a freaking decade of brace-face, Frank Shamrock finally has his braces off. I hope Frank feels as happy as I was when I had mine removed. The next day was the best day of grade 7 ever.

Posted in: day, shamrock, mine, freaking decade, offnbspi

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Military man Brian Stann says he's done going into detail about his days as a combat marine: "I don't have to go through those memories of my life with other people," Stann told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Those are my private memories. I did it once. It's out there. I hope that it was for the better of the sport. I hope it was for the better of the men and women who served, and let it be that."..."I never really wanted to talk about it," Stann said. "Back in my WEC days, I was forced to do it. But I was always able to tap-dance around the answers, be very vague, bestow credit upon my Marines and not really get into specifics."That level of detail wasn't going to fly for "UFC Ultimate Insider." Members of Stann's platoon were contacted, including one who had been severely wounded during the ambush. Videos were unearthed, and a blow-by-blow account of the battle was the focus of the piece. "The director really pushed it to a whole new level," Stann said. "And digging through what they dug through ... it was tough. I thought I was just going to be vague and tap-dance around it. I wasn't prepared for those two days mentally. It was difficult." I can see how that stuff can be a bit much. "So Brian, can you take a few seconds and really think about how close you all came to dying? Try to focus on your family crying over a flag draped coffin and tell me how you feel." Of course, just because Stann would rather not talk about all that death and carnage he went through doesn't mean the press will stop constantly asking him about it. Brian, if your statement doesn't do the trick of stymieing the tide of military questions, may I recommend clutching your head and screaming "THE MEMORIES! THEY BURN!!!"

Posted in: day, stann, brian, mmajunkiecom wwwmmajunkiecom, memory

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If you've felt that the UFC's recent break was longer than usual, you're onto something. In fact, the UFC's version of spring break has been somewhat historic. The good news is that the promotion's longest vacation, if you will, between fights in almost five years comes to an end Saturday afternoon. That's when the Octagon returns to FUEL TV for UFC Sweden: Gustafsson vs. Silva. After the jump, we provide some perspective on the uniqueness of the UFC's hiatus:* By the time UFC Sweden happens on April 14, it will be 43 days since the last UFC event was held (UFC on FX 2 on March 2). * That will mark the longest stretch of time without a UFC event since the 49-day break between UFC 73 on July 7, 2007, and UFC 74 on August 25, 2007. * The last UFC pay-per-view was UFC 144 on Feb. 25, with UFC 145 scheduled for April 21. That 56-day stretch will be the longest between PPVs since the 77-day break between UFC 56 on Nov. 19, 2005, and UFC 57 on Feb. 4, 2006. * The UFC has been active since their last long vacation. The promotion has held 104 events between UFC 74 and UFC Sweden, which is more than half the total number of events put on by the promotion in its almost 19-year history (200 in total since UFC 1 in 1993). * During that stretch, the light heavyweight title has changed hands five times, while the heavyweight and lightweight titles have been passed around three times, respectively. * Nine full seasons of The Ultimate Fighter have aired, with two more currently running (TUF LIVE and TUF: Brazil) * Since UFC 74, the UFC has debuted in Canada, Ireland, Germany, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. Saturday's event will mark its debut in Sweden. * The IFL, EliteXC, Affliction, and BodogFight, to name a few, all came and went during this period. * Speaking of the competition, Zuffa purchased rival Strikeforce in March 2011, right after merging the UFC and WEC in January. I could also tell you about all the fighters that have come and gone, the fight cancellations, Barack Obama becoming the 44th president of the United States, the price of gas and milk ... but I think you get the point. It's been a while. Welcome back, UFC.

Posted in: ufc, day, event, ufc event, sweden

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Former Strikeforce women's champion Cristiane Santos had her long-awaited day in "court" this afternoon (April 9, 2012), pleading her case before the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC). Her story, which hinged on unknowingly ingesting a "dietary supplement" that contained steroids (Stanzolol metabolites) on the advice of a "trusted individual," simply didn't hold up, which essentially means that the 145-pound female mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter will have to sit on the sidelines until Dec. 2012. That's a year-long suspension that dates back to her 16-second knockout win over Hiroko Yamanaka back on Dec. 17, 2011, in San Diego, Calif., which was later ruled a "No Contest" because of the banned substance detected in her post-fight urinalysis. "Cyborg," unsuccessfully, requested to have the suspension, which also included a $2,500 fine, trimmed to just six months. The result was a bitter pill to swallow, but one that the Brazilian already seems to trying to put in the rear-view mirror. She posted this forward-thinking message on her Facebook page (via Yahoo!Sports) shortly after the ruling: "I want to thank all my fans, friends, coaches, legal counsel, and sponsors who are with me. Unfortunately, we could not reduce my penalty. I'm sad. But, after a storm in the morning, see the sun shine. Nothing like a day after another day. Soon I will come back better than ever, I promise. Thank my God, always keep praising You." Prior to the setback, Santos steamrolled through her competition under the Strikeforce banner since making her way over in 2009, with wins over notable female fighters like Gina Carano and Marloes Coenen. Those victories, even if she was clean at the time, will now likely be forever tainted in the eyes of the public. There's a lot of that going around lately. Regardless, Strikeforce has a new Queen Bee to keep the Strikeforce female hive, as well as its fans, buzzing until Santos' return ... if the promotion is even interested in retaining her services after this fiasco, of course. Her name is Ronda Rousey. And the 135-pound champion -- who just scored an arm-popping submission (see the pic here) over Miesha Tate earlier this year to earn the crown -- has "no respect" for a "cheater" like Santos. Nonetheless, "Rowdy" and "Cyborg," who are 10 pounds apart, were apparently penciled in to collide this summer had the suspension been reduced. At least that was the plan, according to an affidavit that Santos' legal team submitted to CSAC prior to the hearing. Looks like it's Sarah Kaufman's lucky day.

Posted in: strikeforce, day, suspension, cyborg, ronda rousey

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So Alistair Overeem ruined a perfect UFC 146 main event with his failed drug test, it really pissed off Dana White. The UFC President had a very stressful day, but it looks like he still managed to have a blast that night. Here's Dana tweeting about getting drunk with Olivia Munn: "Me and my buddy @Oliviamunn are having a blast 2 nite no matter how shitty my day was!!!!!!!" "Forgot the pic with my girl @oliviamunn !!! Might be dr#*¥ and don’t give a Fu@#" I'm not sure why his less sober self wanted to censor the word "drunk", but it's interesting to point out that for some reason, (I'm assuming) sober-Dana had to delete those tweets. Of course, you can never really delete stuff that's floating all over the internet, so it's still here for your viewing pleasure. And again, since we're dealing with the internet, Dana White had to field a few very interesting questions such as "you hitting that Dana? Nice" and "Your wife is gonna punch you in the dick bro!". Olivia Munn of course, cleared everything up. More after the jump. The popular actress and host replied: "Good news! Tests results came back POSITIVE on our best friendship!!!" "dude, this pic makes it look like I'm breast-feeding you. Its misleading, I admit... Ur my big brother & I love you." There you have it. It's apparently not as bad as it looks, but don't you wish you had someone like Olivia Munn to cheer you up after a stressful day at work?

Posted in: day, dana, olivia munn, munn, olivia

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"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." Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight veteran Mac Danzig is trying to change his win/loss record, not the world, as he heads into his UFC 145: "Jones vs. Evans" fight opposite Efrain Escudero on April 21, 2012 from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Danzig, one of the first mixed martial artists to convert to a 100-percent vegan diet, pokes holes in the age old theory about meat and protein as it pertains to the success of modern day athletes in his recent interview with UFC.com. Jon Fitch and Jake Shields also pledged the vegan lifestyle in 2011, and have since suffered devastating knockouts in recent fights -- while Danzig hasn't won consecutive contests in almost four years. Coincidence? Any Maniacs out there in MMA land part of the vegan movement? Speak up!

Posted in: day, animal, danzig, meat, vegan

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Four hours of sleep is enough. Even if it's not, it will have to do. That's all he can spare now with another long day ahead, which will stretch to almost 18 hours by the time it’s done. That's all he needs. Anyway, sleep isn't necessary when you run on coffee and adrenaline.It's 7 am in Uncasville, Connecticut, and Bjorn Rebney is ready to start his day, just four hours after the last one ended. So if you want to be technical about it, he truly started his day in a town car, on a long ride which started in Manhattan's urban sprawl and ended up in… Where exactly is this, anyway? If you were simply looking at a map, it seems an unlikely place for a sporting event. As one of Rebney's crew members will later point out, they're 40 miles from anywhere. As you near Mohegan Sun, the destination rises up to meet you. The three-winged main structure is 34 stories high and from a distance, looks as though it was carved out of quartz crystal. It is the second largest casino in the world, just behind its Foxwoods neighbor, 10 miles east. The state of Connecticut doesn't regulate mixed martial arts or allow gambling, but on sovereign Native American land within a tiny village in this tiny state, both are thriving. The simple rural setting is deceptive. It fits as a perfect metaphor for the promotion, which like the tucked-away casino, is bigger than almost anyone realizes. Bellator recently sold a majority stake to media giant Viacom, but for now, it remains hidden away on MTV2 before its move to Spike in 2013. That's a game-changer that will provide the promotion its densest exposure. But that's all in the future. *******Rebney has never been afraid of a little competition, a little contact. He was a good enough football player in his youth to attend Ohio University on an athletic scholarship. There, he won two varsity letters while playing fullback. In a team that was heavy on I-formation offense, that meant Rebney -- who is 6-foot-3 and then weighed 240 pounds -- spent a lot of time smashing into other people."I liked the fact that I was right in the middle of all of the impact of the game," he said. "It was fun."Aside from the sport he's involved with, it's not much different today. Nearly every decision to do with television or arena production runs through him. From the time he walks into the Mohegan Sun Arena at 11 am until the time he leaves the front door almost 14 hours later, that's a handful. By 1 pm, he's moving through various seating sections, listening to the sound on the fighter promos as though he was a paying fan. Is the music drowning out the voices? Is Karl Amoussou understandable through his French accent? Suddenly, something catches his eye. "Why does Zoila have a line across her face?" he suddenly asks, confounding the audio engineer standing in front of him. Everyone glances up to where Rebney's looking. Every Bellator champion is represented with a banner hanging from a truss, and sure enough, there is a crease crossing the banner of women's champion Zoila Gurgel, moving diagonally across her face. It's something you would probably look right at without seeing, but to Rebney, it's plain as day.One of his crew members volunteers to address it, saying that he eventually needs to buy a steam iron to tote from town to town.By now, the arena crew has been hard at work for hours, since just before Rebney was waking up. The cage is set, the lighting is being tested, and a DJ is setting up equipment. Bellator's grinding weekly schedule has made it all fairly routine.For Rebney, event week starts on Monday, when he flies out from Chicago. Unlike UFC boss Dana White, Rebney flies commercial, making his schedule susceptible to the same random delays faced by any traveler. Each week during the season, he spends roughly 48-hour stretches at home before taking off for Bellator's next destination. Back Saturday afternoon, gone on Monday, like clockwork.That means a lot of time away from his wife, Huma Gruaz, a high-powered executive in the marketing and public relations world, as well as their two children Jonathan, 17, and Celine, 15. Some weekends when his wife is traveling, they won't see each other at all. If they're both in town, Saturday night is date night, with the two sparring over genre. While Huma prefers art house fare, Bjorn likes comedies and action-thrillers. On a good night, their interests intersect, like the time they both laughed all night watching "Superbad."******On fight day, Rebney wears a path between the arena's floor and its bowels, which house a series of semi-trucks, five of which are decorated with Bellator imagery. Part of the traveling road show of 65-70 production and operations employees along with the many other local workers enlisted as support staff are milling around or inside the trucks in a kind of organized chaos that ensues before every event. [Bjorn Rebney makes one of his frequent visits to the production truck. Photo by Mike Chiappetta, MMA Fighting]This is all a recent upgrade for Bellator, which three years ago, basically just carted around its cage and one production truck, or as Rebney refers to it, "silly putty, paper-mache, and some balsa wood."The improvements are part of the Viacom deal, a move that vindicated Rebney's long-held vision for Bellator. He had in the past worked in the boxing industry and had watched the first stages of the UFC's growth with interest. Pouring most of his own money into the startup and going in without a safety net, Rebney moved forward with creating a business plan.By then, organizations like the IFL and EliteXC had already sprung up, and because they were public companies, Rebney was able to look over their numbers and see the mistakes they had made. That was good and bad. On one hand, he could learn from their errors; on the other, their failures were spectacular enough to make investors gun-shy.Over a 16-month span, Rebney flew all over the U.S., pitching 61 investment groups in an effort to raise capital. It was no small commitment, as he was looking for an eight-figure number. Time after time, the answer he heard was not the one he was looking for. The 62nd try came in a phone meeting. The firm, Plainfield Asset Management, had previously been approached by both the IFL and EliteXC to save their sinking ships, and partly because of their familiarity with MMA, they connected with Rebney's plan. He was cut him off midway through his pitch and asked how quickly he could get to New York. He was on a red-eye that night, and a deal soon followed."One of the coolest things about my job now is I would say something like 15 percent of those people who rejected my pitch have gotten back in touch with me and said, 'I blew it,'" he said.******Just after 3 pm, announcers Jimmy Smith and Sean Wheelock rehearse the show's opening while Rebney watches from the production truck. After so many shows, you might guess everything would flow perfectly, but Smith begins breaking down the wrong fighter, thrown off by the placement on a graphic. "We always highlight the guy on the left first," he says. Then, when he's told it will be fixed, he pretends he's a diva, adding, "I'll be in the trailer with my bowl of green M&M's."The line draws a laugh from the crew. Generally, the mood is energetic, like they realize they are still building towards something bigger. It's not exactly a dress rehearsal for the move to Spike, but it's something like it. Neither is there any real rivalry with the UFC, but you can't deny a bit of tension boiling under the surface, like when Spike executive producer Scott Fishman reminds a graphics designer that "MMA Uncensored Live" co-host Nate Quarry, who will help with color commentary during the broadcast, should be referred to as "former MMA fighter," not "former UFC fighter." [Rebney takes a breather from pre-production to conduct a phone interview. Photo by Mike Chiappetta, MMA Fighting] By the time 4:30 rolls around, rehearsal has been completed, the arena audio sound has been approved, and Zoila Frausto's banner has been lowered, ironed and re-lifted to hang over the cage alongside her male counterparts. For the next hour, Rebney takes his only break before showtime to take care of other matters. He returns to his hotel room to call his wife and say hello, he makes a few business calls, and he changes into his trademark black suit and black dress shirt, a look he says that is borne out of simplifying the packing process."I go on the road for six days, I got six black suits, six black shirts. It's so simple." Then, as if he just thought of it, he mentions that "there's some blood in our game, so light colors don't work so well."Rebney watches the first two undercard fights cageside, then goes to the production truck, electing to keep an eye on the time. The next undercard bout get finished in a blink, as top welterweight prospect Andrey Koreshkov needs just 86 seconds to KO Tiawan Howard. That ensures another swing bout will air before the main card begins, much to the delight of those in the truck worried about the show’s timing."It’s not good for the guy fighting Koreshkov, but it’s good for us," Rebney says.Later, the unbeaten 21-year-old Russian visits the production truck to take a photo with Rebney, looking awed by the expensive equipment. Rebney explains that he is from a small, poor city. Someone else suggests he was suffering a case of nerves prior to the fight. He shows Koreshkov and his interpreter some of the setup, but five minutes later, he's on the move again, back at cageside. But that only lasts for minutes. He wants to watch the TV opening, so two minutes before Bellator 63 goes on the MTV2 airwaves, he's back in the truck, wishing his crew a good show.This time, the photo on the graphic is correct, Smith nails the opening, and a satisfied Rebney returns to his seat in front of the cage to watch the main card opener with Ben Saunders against Raul Amaya. Saunders is a huge favorite, but try as he might, he can't put Amaya away. By the time it's over, Amaya's left eye is almost completely swollen shut, and he's escaped from countless submissions. Despite losing, the effort is courageous.In the next fight, David Rickels makes his promotional debut with a 22-second knockout of Jordan Smith. Afterward, Rebney is told that Koreshkov's taped fight will air, so he takes advantage of a nine-minute break to visit Amaya. He wants to pat him on the back and commend him on the gutsy performance, but when he enters the locker room, Amaya's corner tells Rebney he's in the shower. Rebney shrugs. Instead, he finds Rickels, who happens to be sharing the same locker room with Amaya. Rebney congratulates him and shakes his hand."Do more of that," he says. Rickels smiles and nods, as if 22-second knockouts are just that simple.Rebney will have the exact opposite reaction at the next match between Bryan Baker and Carlos Alexandre Pereira, which is marked by periods of inactivity and smatters of boos from the 4,000 in attendance. Between the second and third rounds, Rebney, sitting next to Bellator president Tim Danaher at cageside, shakes his head."Somebody needs to do something," he says to no one in particular. But the third begins the same way as the previous two, and with less than two minutes left, Rebney gets up from his seat to attend to other business.Rebney wants a big finish from the main event, and he gets it. Amoussou, who has recently given up his full-time police work to concentrate on fighting, slices Chris Lozano open with a head kick and then submits him with a rear naked choke in just 2:05. Still noticing the small details, Rebney sees Amoussou limping on his way out of the cage.On a yellow legal pad, he writes in the welterweight semifinal matchups: "Amoussou-Rickels, Saunders-Baker." Then he gets up to head to the back, where Amoussou is getting a quick look-over from a commission physician."I feel great," Amoussou says to both the doctor and Rebney, before anyone can even ask."Thank you for closing out the show," Rebney says back. He asks about the limp, and Amoussou laughs it off, saying he twisted his leg celebrating, but is fine.Standing nearby, matchmaker Sam Caplan breathes a sigh of relief. On the way out of the locker room, Caplan and Rebney shake their heads at Amoussou's domination."That's what he did to me in sparring, but I didn't think he'd do it to another pro fighter," Caplan says. Bellator produces two more matches after the televised main event, but at this point, the real pressure is off. At 10:27 pm, Rebney yawns for the first time all day. The press conference is still to come, and a series of one-on-one interviews are to follow. By the time he leaves the arena, it's 12:45 am.Just a few steps out the door, he runs into color commentator Smith and undercard fighter Dan Cramer, who is still hanging around despite fighting and winning five hours ago. They briefly chat before parting ways. Before he heads back to his hotel room, he'll meet up with his TV partners to talk about the night. Then, he'll go to his room, put on CNN and see what the rest of the world has been doing for the last 17 hours."You do get closed in," he says. "I can tell you anything you want to know about arena lighting and fighters and licensing music, but I don't know what's going on in Syria."Fight day is over, and he'll be home soon enough. If he's lucky, he'll see his wife, spend some time with his kids, and begin the cycle all over again. If it's a kind of Groundhog Day, it's the best kind."I'm living the dream," he says. "To live in this world that once only existed as a concept in your head… How many people get to do that?"Everyone else around the casino is thinking about winning big, but the man in black doesn't gamble. He doesn't need to. Instead, he walks off, swallowed up by the lights and noise and dreamers. The adrenaline may have worn off, but sleep isn't yet in his near future. Who needs sleep anyway? Not him. Not with so much to do. Not with so much ahead. Forty miles from anywhere, Bjorn Rebney has Bellator right where it's supposed to be.

Posted in: bellator, time, day, rebney, he

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Meet Wagner Prado. A 7-0 prospect who works with the likes of Anderson Silva, Junior Dos Santos, and the Nogueira brothers and hopes to one day be just like them.

Posted in: day, anderson silva, nogueira brothers, wagner, wagner prado

Read the full article at MMA Weekly

When Kimbo Slice decided to go the pro boxing route, I figured he would be entering the realm of Don King style heads-I-win-tails-you-lose contracts and babying via cupcake opponents. But certainly it would be below boxing to organize something that wasn’t totally legitimate, savory, and above-board. In short, I figured that the days of James Thompson stoppages and standgate were behind us. But when I saw last weekend’s video of his knockout win over Brian Green with three seconds left in the fight, I had my suspicions that Gary Shaw was dicking us over from beyond the grave once again. Even steroid expert Sean McCorkle thinks that something fishy was going on. However, Kimbo’s opponent Brian Green (who is 27-17 in MMA and weighs all of 180 lbs) says he would never take a dive for anyone. NEVER! He made his impassioned plea on the world’s official PR platform, facebook: Finally the cloudiness of a KO Saturday night is wearing off mostly.... Still got a BROKEN ORBITAL BONE (even though I was supposedly taking a dive the whole fight and Kimbo wasn't REALLY fighting me apparently until the very last combination which he lands 3 consecutive punches ON THE BUTTON which turned out my lights) Well, I took this biggest opportunity I ever have been given, and gave it my all. In the end, Kimbo Slice Placed 3 consecutive punches together and all three connected clean. AFTER I was winning on all 3 judges score cards.. I put everything on the line with this fight, to have thousands of people hating on me claiming I took a dive. smh. I can not believe this, and it really makes me sick. 700,000 Youtube views of people watching ONLY THE LAST ROUND (after I was gassed in the second round) where I got KO'd and 80% of them claiming I took a dive with ONLY THREE SECONDS LEFT!!!! .... THREE SECONDS LEFT.... Who does that? seriously. . . Now I have a 60 day medical suspension and can not fight the last person who beat me in an MMA Fight 8 fights ago which leaves that promoter in a bad position :( Which I am sorry for. (A re match I have also been BEGGING for, for an entire year now) And I will be missing out on an opportunity to make the most money I EVER have in my hometown with all of my recent success of 7 consecutive Wins. (Sponsors backing me up, Selling more tickets than I EVER HAVE at home, my biggest purse yet to date with the organization, and lastly, the REVENGE of beating the guy who beat me at home.. I KNEW I HAD TO make it to a decision, so I only got a 7 day suspension, and i could fight my upcoming fight April 13, (20 days after Kimbo) I took the fight against Kimbo, because I truly don't feel he is a legit pro fighter.... He is a savage brawler, and also BACK IN HIS DAY, was very very dangerous.... Now he is old, and I knew I could last a decision... No way did I think I could actually WIN IT. Then at the end of the first round, I felt myself avoiding his bombs, and finding a home for my punches. THEN I also thought that he would REALLY be out of shape, because his original opponent had backed out and they hadn't found a replacement yet, so I figured he hadn't been training THAT hard. Avoid the BIG punches, and last a DECISION= Make a HUGE name for yourself, especially for me being a submission guy! You can see how hard he was throwing in the first round when he was fresh, and that he was trying to take my head off.... I think I got in his head at the weigh ins getting in his face, and telling him "I aint scared" and repeating that in the ring at fight TIME! I ate a couple good punches early, and felt him getting tired. after landing good shots on him, I eventually started telling him "You wasn't expecting THIS was you?!?!" Trying even more to get in his head, and make him doubt himself, and feel threatened. I WISH i would have got paid extra for all this CRAP I am receiving... And thanks to those of you who take the time to congratulate me. Those who KNOW I would NEVER take a dive in ANY fight. I ALMOST beat that Monster. Think I BS'd? BOOK THE FIGHT AGAIN. with an actual CAMP to prepare for him.... Even on only 2 weeks notice. I will SMOKE that fool. PEACE Well, that seals the deal: with all those caps, this guy has to be telling the truth. The world will keep on turning, Cris Cyborg's monthly steroid tests will completely clear her name, and we can all keep telling ourselves that it’s not a form of exploitation to be fans of Kimbo. However, now that Kimbo has the highest rate of suspicious occurrences in fights this side of Nobuhiko Takada, I invite all interested parties to post their photoshops of Kimbo hitting a gong in a diaper in the comments section. Videos of the other three rounds of the match can be seen here.

Posted in: fight, round, day, kimbo, dive

Read the full article at Fightlinker

It's 830 am and your boss is officially out of the office all day at some 'how to be a better boss' conference and he has left you in charge. He doesn't even know it, but he is already on his way to better bossdom just by leaving the office today. You've been anticipating this day for weeks now. You even circled it on your deskpad calendar and drew little smiley faces all over the day. You love this day so much you want to marry it and make sweet love to it. If you could you would procreate with this day just to populate your world with more 'boss is out of the office' days. This is your day and you will not waste it doing silly things like answering your boss' emails or helping him with the stack of paperwork in his desktray inbox. You will spin around in your chair and take your shoes off. You will walk around the office in your socks and before you get up to walk to the lunchroom or copier you will play Meek Mill's "I'm a boss" like your own personal pre-fight walkout music. You will relish in the glory of this boss-free day at the office. You will spend all day watching whatever videos you want on Youtube with zero interruptions. No worries today. No looking over your shoulder to see if the boss is coming down the hallway. No my boss-less friend, not a soul will stop you today-because you have been awarded the coveted 'interim boss' title. You can start enjoying this 8 hours of freedom by feeding your daily MMA craving right now with over an hour of Genghis Con cinematic mastery.This is the first edition of Genghis' new 'Fists of Fortune' video magazine. The magazine features behind the scenes footage with fighters, training tips and techniques, backyard fights, Muay Thai, introductions to up and coming fighters and all kinds of typically amazing Genghis Con music and film work. It is eleven chapters of MMA video magazine greatness: 1: The Daily Grind with Douglas Lima2: Fluid Motion3: Training Diaries -- Alexis Vila4: Muay Thai Lessons -- The Ram Muay5: The Wrestlers Ambition -- Who Is Bubba Jenkins6: Rio Diaries7: Backyard Fights with the Miami Hustle crew.8: Muay Thai Lessons -- Way of Life9. A Day In The Life -- Kendrick Miree10. Tips N Techniques -- Juan Carlos Faraldo11: Vicious Streak -- Jorge Masvidal This is your day 'interim boss' guy/girl, embrace it. Don't waste the opportunity. Forward all calls to voicemail, grab a plastic spork, pop open a can of vienna sausages and put your feet up on your desk, get comfortable and enjoy. 

Posted in: day, video, magazine, office, boss

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Well folks, we're halfway there. 21 days up, 21 days down, and now just 21 days left until the UFC hits with a blistering summer lineup. If you missed it, The Ultimate Fighter: Live and Bellator found a new weekend friend -- TUF: Brazil (which can be seen in its entirety here). Given that Brazilians make up 43-percent of the current UFC champions, expectations for the first international TUF season were understandably high, but if your violence quota was in any way lacking, it admirably filled the void. Plus, where else could we hear Wanderlei Silva bragging about his junk? (More on that later.) 5 MUST-READ STORIES Weekend MMA & boxing results. Catch up on another busy combat sports weekend with MMA results for The Ultimate Fighter: Live, The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, Bellator 62, United Glory 15 and BAMMA 9, boxing results for Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia, and fight videos of Patricky Freire vs. Lloyd Woodard, Rick Hawn vs. Ricardo Tirloni, and Kimbo Slice's absurd match against Brian Green. (And again, if you haven't seen the debut episode of TUF: Brazil yet, you can check it out here.) The Ultimate Fighter 15 post-fight power rankings. Cristiano Marcello fell in the weekly TUF 15 power rankings after Justin Lawrence's crushing knockout. M-1 Global sues Vyacheslav Vasilvsky. Bellator middleweight semifinalist Vyacheslav is being sued by M-1 Global over an alleged breach of contract, and could be forced to pay €1,000 for each day in violation (over 365 days, according to M-1), €5,000 for each fight in different promotion (five since 2010), and court fees. Miguel Torres UFC 145 fight blog. Torres talks about his love of Montreal, training for his upcoming bout against Michael McDonald, and the difficulty of locating tacos in Canada in his debut UFC 145 fight blog. Yasubey Enomoto defended M-1 Global title with open wound infection. Former M-1 Global welterweight champ Yasubey Enomoto fought at M-1 Challenge 31 with a large open infection on his shin, which has now spread to his knee as a result of the weight cutting process. Enomoto is currently hospitalized and receiving treatment. MEDIA STEW Where else but a Japanese game show could you see Cyborg Santos duke it out with a shockingly capable male comedian? This battle of the sexes actually gets pretty heated. (HT: Bloody Elbow) Another under the radar nugget from the weekend: Sergei Kharitonov returned to action for the first time since his Strikeforce loss to Josh Barnett. Now watch this ridiculousness and tell me you wouldn't love to see him on the UFC's all-heavyweight card. Three weeks into TUF 15 and not only is Team Cruz dominating the Octagon, they're crushing the YouTube battle as well. Check out The Dominator clowning on Faber in this reenactment. Nice extra touch: the sharpie'd Faber chin. Today's episode of This Week in Questionable Reffing comes from CFC 12, featuring Mark "The Great White Shark" Potter knocking out Larry Watts, a guy wearing a t-shirt waving off the bout, but not actually waving off the bout, and the bout continuing for another one-sided 30 seconds. (HT: Cagepotato) Easily the best part of last night's TUF: Brazil debut: THE CARNY DROPS DOWN I dont have a fight scheduled yet, but my next fight will be at 145 lbs! #UFC #MMA — Nik Lentz Ufc mma (@NikLentz) March 23, 2012 YOU WIN THIS ROUND, ROCKHOLD I have broken through the lines and infiltrated your base camp. @rockholdMMA #CreepingOnAKA twitter.com/TimKennedyMMA/… — Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) March 25, 2012 @rockholdMMA BLASTED!!!! CIA failed again. — Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) March 26, 2012 FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS Announced over the weekend (Friday, March 23, 2012 - Sunday, March 25, 2012): - UFC 148: Jeff Hougland (10-4) out, Ivan Menjivar (24-8) in against Renan Barao (28-1) - UFC on FX 3: Scott Jorgensen (13-5) vs. Eddie Wineland (18-8-1) - UFC on FX 3: Josh Neer (33-10-1) vs. Mike Pyle (22-8-1) - UFC on FX 4: Jim Hettes (10-0) vs. Steven Siler (20-9) - UFC on FUEL 3: Mike Easton (12-1) out, Jeff Hougland (10-4) in against Yves Jabouin (17-7) - Titan Fighting Championship 22: Anthony Johnson (10-4) vs. Dave Branch (10-2) - Super Fight League 2: Gabe Ruediger (17-8) out, Ryan Healy (19-10) in against Paul Kelly (12-4) FANPOST OF THE DAY Today's Fanpost of the Day is a fantastic rundown on the future of the 145-pound division by Bloody Elbow's fightinghistorian: Can Jose Aldo be Beaten? A Meditation on Perfection in MMA Today Jose Aldo is currently riding a fourteen-fight winning streak, with eight of those wins coming by absolutely vicious knockout. He has not been seriously tested during that time: in fact, he has only lost three or at most four rounds out of twenty-eight since making his debut in the WEC, and has never found himself anywhere close to being finished or losing a decision. I say this not to rehearse the obvious point - that Aldo is really, really good - but to emphasize the sheer enormity of his dominance since reaching the biggest stage in MMA. It's possible that we've never seen a fighter as well-rounded as Jose Aldo, GSP included, and I would argue that we've never seen anyone with his combination of well-roundedness, explosive athleticism, and absolutely vicious finishing ability. At this point, then, one question stands out: who is capable of beating Jose Aldo? My intention here is to briefly discuss all possible challengers, with the goal of discerning who precisely has the best chance of beating him at featherweight; there are potential matchups at 155 as well, but I'd like to focus on the here and now. Let's start with the obvious contenders first. For each, I'll give a brief rundown of when they might expect to receive a title shot, the most likely fashion in which such a fight would play out, and finally my guess at what the betting line would be, purely as a means of quantifying the likelihood of a win by the contender. (Note: -400 means that Aldo would be a 4-to-1 favorite, for example). After running through the list, I'll conclude with a discussion of what Aldo's dominance means for the sport of MMA as a whole. Found something perfect for the Morning Report? Just hit me on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we'll include it in tomorrow's post.

Posted in: ufc, fight, mma, day, aldo

Read the full article at AOL Fanhouse

More legal wranglin' afoot, this time in Europe. If you thought America was the only place where a young naive mixed martial artist could get trapped in a predatory contract and legally screwed, you were wrong! M-1 Global has staked claim to Bellator middleweight Vyacheslav Vasilevsky in a Dutch court and plans to pursue the fighter in the U.S.A judgment won this past Thursday awards damages to the Russia-based promotion that amount to several hundred thousand euros and bars him from fighting in Bellator or any other organization. Neither Vasilevsky or his representatives were present in court....The judgement orders Vasilevsky to pay €1,000 for each day he's been in breach of contract as well as €5,000 for every day he fights in another promotion, plus court fees, Kogan said. He added that the fighter was served notice of the pending legal action by process server. I know what you're thinking. €1,000 a day is a pittance. Vyacheslav should be paying at least €3000 - €5000 a day. That's more in line with the big bucks guys like him, Bellator and M-1 are dealing with. It was a bad day for this kid to mistake euros for rubles. Depending on how long VV's been considered in breach of contract, this is going to add up to nearly a million euros. And I bet you thought M-1 could only scam the big bucks out of people using Fedor Emelianenko.This might be P4P the new #1 worst legal beatdown performed on an MMA fighter. Wow. Again. Never thought M-1 would have the P4P #1 anything moving forward.

Posted in: fighter, day, vasilevsky, fedor emelianenkothis, pittance vyacheslav

Read the full article at Fightlinker

TUF BusinessWill Justin @AmericanKiddMMA Lawrence make #TeamCruz 2-for-2 or will @CristianoBJJ Marcello win one for #TeamFaber? #TUFLive 10p on FX!  -Inside TUF ‏ It's only week 3, and Anderson Silva's teammate is fighting Wanderlei's jiu-jitsu coach tonight http://on.ufc.com/GWZIk2 Not bad, eh? #TUFLive  -UFC ‏ Ready for weigh ins on thursday, ready and prepared to shock the world. 2nd Corinthians 2:14  -Justin Lawrence ‏ Got a day off from training yesterday, @UrijahFaber came to the TUF house and kicked it. Livin' the dream!! #TUFlive @InsideTUF  -Michael Chiesa ‏chilled with sum animals at the TUF house yesterday!! Enjoyed the day off @InsideTUF  @danawhite @ufc   -Myles Jury ‏ Training is going awesome on #TeamFaber I'm getting the itch 2 fight soon so lets hope I can get in there soon Love & miss u Chelsea Ruxton  -Joe Proctorfriday is the big day. red team gets another win. I'm ready to get in the cage to prove myself again, hopefully soon.  -Jeremy Larsen ‏ Chompin at the bit to get in the damn cage! Be patient with me it'll be worth it >:)  -Samuel Sicilia ‏ here to hand out kit kats and ass whoopings and I'm all out of kit kats. love u babe miss you a lot. check out my fb fan page. peace  -Chris Tickle ‏ Did u guys hear the crickets when Faber's team could pick any1 they wanted 2 fight Justin? Maybe fighting isn't 4 them. What do u think?  -Vinc Pichel ‏ ok that was the best knockout I've ever had in my career! Thanks to everyone who has helped me get to this point, I love you all so much!  -James Vick ‏ Champ ChatChamp @RondaRousey sits down w/ Fox Sports to talk about growing up shy, throwing Ugg boots, and hitting on @ginacarano  http://msn.foxsports.com/video/....   -Strikeforce ‏ MMA MomsThis is why my tweets are *usually* pg 13... Love you mom... pic.twitter.com/MBx5iNn5  -Amir Sadollah ‏ My mom duct taped me to chairs as a kid (meals and homework mostly)... I had issues. #TrueStory  -Tim Kennedy ‏ It’s the Little Things…Just washed my head phones and they still worked #blessed  -Joseph Benavidez ‏ I just got added to a list called Ninja Assassins. That might be the best thing that has ever happened to me on twitter.  -Stipe Miocic ‏ Fighter Cuisine .@lastcall155 pissed cuz his peanut butter n blueberry sandwich wasn't very good http://lockerz.com/s/194788331   -Chad Mendes ‏ @chadmendes it was delicious, you a^^hole!!!  -Danny Castillo ‏ Jorgensen vs Barry: The Saga Continues“@UFC_writer: @Scottjorgensen @ufc What happened to you fighting @HypeOrDie I was down for that one lol #daivd&Goliath” he backed out  -Scott Jorgensen@Scottjorgensen NAH AHHHHH!!! SCOTTY GOT DEPORTED BACK TO EASTER ISLAND  -Pat Barry ‏ @Scottjorgensen better see your ass in havasu! Ya all talk Lil boy -Cowboy Cerrone ‏ If You Do, Tweet Pics!Dr. that wear their scrubs for traveling look idiotic. I wonder if I should walk around in my fight shorts, MMA gloves and no shirt. -Tim Kennedy ‏ Your Next Nap: Outlaw Approved!Nothing like a good nap to punctuate your day. #EatSleepTrain  -Dan Hardy ‏

Posted in: day, tuf, justin, love, tweet

Read the full article at UFC

Money is in this season. It's the new black. Money goes with every outfit this summer. If cash is trendy in 2012, then Vyacheslav Vasilevsky will be rocking the equivalent of orange nylon pants and Yaga shirts this year. That's because M-1 Global is suing Vasilevsky exactly 1,000 euros which is retroactive from March 25th 2011, the date M-1 Global believes the Bellator fighter started breaching his M-1 contract. According to MixFight.ru, M-1 Global is also taking 5,000 euros for every fight he took since the day of the contractual breach in 2011. Now I'm by far a successful mathematician. In fact, if Drug Wars wasn't installed on my TI-83 calculator, I would have never passed a single high school math class. I'm not even sure if that previous statement makes any sense. However, based on my primitive estimates, Vyacheslav Vasilevsky owes M-1 Global 388,000 euros as of today, March 22nd 2012. Here's a translated excerpt from MixFight.ru of the ordeal: After winning the tournament Challenge XX December 10, 2010 knockout victory over Tomas Narkunom , Wasilewski refused to continue playing for the M-1. Numerous attempts to negotiations between management and the M-1 fighter and search for a solution have failed. Soon, the media was the news that the soldier signed a new contract and will play for one of the major American promotions of MMA-organizations. M-1 Global has decided to resort to legal means to protect their rights in accordance with the signed agreement. The court will pay Vasilevsky M-1 Global, the following penalties: from March 25, 2011, € 1,000 for each day of breach of contract, € 5,000 for each day performance of any promotional organization, in addition to the M-1 Global, as well as full reimburse the costs of the claimant. court's decision will set a precedent in the resolution of disputes between athletes and the organization. Google Translate isn't 100% accurate (yet), but if your Russian is on point, feel free to read the untranslated story on MixFight.ru. Let's hope Vasilevsky wins the Bellator middleweight tournament this season so he can put a dent in the six figures M-1 Global is claiming from him.

Posted in: day, march, vasilevsky, year thats, day performance

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Fans have long heard about the accomplishments of UFC middleweight Brian Stann outside of Mixed Martial Arts, specifically regarding his service in the United States military and the heroic efforts in the Middle East netting him a Silver Star. Now, thanks to Stann and the UFC, the public has an opportunity to take a much more revealing look at exactly what he endured in 2005 and how that time has affected him in the years since. On this week’s episode of Ultimate Insider, the 31-year old spoke in detail about what unfolded in Iraq during Operation Matador while actual video from the scene played. Stann was also joined by fellow Marine Robert Gass who was injured in the attack and directly impacted by Stann’s actions. “After war, after seeing the things I’ve seen and going through the things I go through, you just realize there’s so much in life you don’t understand,” explained Stann before delving into the footage/story. “There’s so many thing you don’t have control over and there’s nothing you can take for granted – not a single day, not a single minute, not one relationship.” Even though all 42 of the soldiers under his control came out alive, to this day Stann still thinks about what he could have done differently to avoid the situation as well as the suffering his fellow soldiers have endured as a result of his command. “People always want to ask me about it, they want me to talk about, and beat my chest like I was Superman out there, like I saved the day and that’s why I got a medal on my chest,” said Stann of the situation. “It’s interesting because I don’t hang any of those medals in my house. I don’t even know where they are. I lose sleep at night, every day of my life, thinking about those men who were wounded that time. If I’d have gone right instead of going left, if I’d have gone this direction, if I’d have come at this time, if I’d have used this air support…what could I have done…because ultimately it was my responsibility. It was my decisions that put those men in the places where they got hurt.” Stann’s next appearance inside the Octagon is set for April 14 at UFC on Fuel 2 where he’ll face Alessio Sakara. Watch the incredible interview below, arguably one of the best pieces of production the UFC has created to date: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, day, i ’d, stann, ’d

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

God Chael helps those who help themselves. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight number one contender Chael Sonnen, who is expected to challenge Anderson Silva for the division crown at UFC 147 later this year in Brazil, has decided to impart his wisdom upon the mixed martial arts (MMA) fan base with a self-help book titled "The Voice of Reason: A V.I.P. Pass to Enlightenment." Sonnen describes his literary offering (via Amazon.com): Presence. Tenacity. Insight. Omniscience. No need to look these words up. They are defined by yours truly. Who am I? I'm the one who needs no introduction, the walking thesaurus, the UFC's most infamous and feared destroyer of men. I am Chael P. Sonnen, and you want to be just like me. It's your lucky day. What you are holding in your hands is nothing short of a V.I.P pass to enlightenment. In the coming pages my humor and tales of heroic adventure will baptize you in superhuman greatness. Allow me to carry you like a frail damsel as I make a nightmarish decent into the bowels of Sao Paulo. Sit before me as a student as I teach you about my plans of creating a Chaelocracy, which translates to "A Better Earth." Shower me with praise as I take you into my manly mitts like a lump of seemingly worthless clay and craft you into something far better than yourself-me. Like all great men of myth and legend, I strive for the betterment of the human race. Prometheus brought us fire; Dana White brought us the modern day gladiator; and I bring you a step-by-step guide to being just like me. Do you have what it takes? Is there truly a chance that one day you will be able to walk in my shoes? Purchase this book and find out. There is no better day to stop being you and start trying to be me. You're welcome civilization. You too, can be like Chael for a mere $24.95 (list price) by heading over to Amazon and pre-ordering your copy today. "The Voice of Reason: A V.I.P. Pass to Enlightenment" hits bookshelves on May 15, 2012. See what else Sonnen has in store for readers after the jump. Why Dance Dance Revolution is the national fighting style of Brazil. How vegans are ruining themselves and the world. Why you should never feed carrots to a school bus. Why you don?t need an athlete to be your hero. How fighters and fashion models have the exact same job. Why republicans are more compassionate, pioneering, rebellious, and generally cooler than any liberal. Alright Maniacs, it's confession time. Who's going to pick this book up and change their lives for the better? If not, it should at least be good for a few laughs, but I don't expect it to be a huge hit in Brazil. Who's buying? More on "Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II" right here.

Posted in: day, book, sonnen, chael, voice

Read the full article at MMA Mania

The number one contender and next to challenge UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, former politician and Realtor, occasional television MMA analyst, and a one man army waging war on Blackhouse, Chael Sonnen now has another role to add to his resumé: author. Sonnen's schtick is perhaps the most divisive in mixed martial arts; fans and fighters alike either love or hate it, and are usually quite vocal about it. We've seen the interviews and read the tweets, and now we get to delve deeper into the world according to Chael P. Sonnen while consuming our caffeinated beverage of choice. Entitled 'The Voice of Reason: A V.I.P. Pass to Enlightenment' , here's part of Sonnen's description of his fledgling tome: Presence. Tenacity. Insight. Omniscience. No need to look these words up. They are defined by yours truly. Who am I? I'm the one who needs no introduction, the walking thesaurus, the UFC's most infamous and feared destroyer of men. I am Chael P. Sonnen, and you want to be just like me. It's your lucky day. What you are holding in your hands is nothing short of a V.I.P pass to enlightenment. In the coming pages my humor and tales of heroic adventure will baptize you in superhuman greatness. Allow me to carry you like a frail damsel as I make a nightmarish decent into the bowels of Sao Paulo. Sit before me as a student as I teach you about my plans of creating a Chaelocracy, which translates to "A Better Earth." Shower me with praise as I take you into my manly mitts like a lump of seemingly worthless clay and craft you into something far better than yourself-me. Like all great men of myth and legend, I strive for the betterment of the human race. Prometheus brought us fire; Dana White brought us the modern day gladiator; and I bring you a step-by-step guide to being just like me. Do you have what it takes? Is there truly a chance that one day you will be able to walk in my shoes? Purchase this book and find out. There is no better day to stop being you and start trying to be me. You're welcome civilization. Sonenn's book is due for release on May 15, and can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.

Posted in: day, book, sonnen, chael, stepbystep guide

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Just when you are having the best day ever, life will find a way to knock you down off that big shiny unicorn of happiness you've been riding in your mind all day. This morning I woke up smiley and prepared for a beautiful first day of Spring. I was humming the lyrics to 'It was a good day' by Ice Cube. All the lyrics that is, except the 'Momma cooked a breakfast with no hog' part because I simply can't support the notion that breakfast without bacon equals a good day. That's utterly impossible. Everything was going fantastically, until I clicked on an MMAWeekly article informing me that Anthony Pettis has to have surgery and will be out for at least 8 more weeks. At least eight more weeks until I get my fix of Showtime kicks in the octagon is just plain the opposite of bueno. According to MMAWeekly.com Pettis' manager has stated that the surgery is minor and is 'required is to clean out some existing problems.' Although Pettis' camp did not choose to reveal the full nature of the surgery, in the fighting world you quickly learn the words 'clean out' usually indicate something associated with joints like the knees or elbows. As much as I want to go out and punch a random crabby old guy over this news, it's really not as bad as it seems. I was already gypped out of my Showtime kick fix due to Frankie Edgar getting granted an immediate rematch with Bendo instead of the title shot Pettis was originally supposed to get. With no fights lined up for Anthony at the moment, now is the best time to go in for surgery and be ready to fight sometime later this summer. Until then I guess you can all get your Pettis fix by watching highlight reel footage.  I'll find my Anthony Pettis induced happiness by reminding myself that his phone number is in my cell phone contact list. He probably doesn't know that though, so let's keep that a secret just between us. [source] Props to James Law of HeavyMMA for the beautiful header photo.

Posted in: day, anthony pettis, petti, anthony, surgery

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Documentary film-maker Morgan Spurlock follows Jason “Mayhem” Miller in this episode of “A Day in the Life.”

Posted in: day, jason, miller, life, mayhem

Read the full article at MMA Convert

A friend gave Robert Emerson some advice: get yourself clean, and all of your problems will go away.

Posted in: day, advice, robert, robert emerson, emerson

Read the full article at Sherdog

Having previously appeared in the Octagon at UFC 52 back in 2005 in a losing effort to a pre-welterweight-champion Georges St-Pierre, Jason “Mayhem” Miller (23-8, 1 NC) was hoping to put on a better performance when he graced the eight-sided cage again late last year. Spending his time in between UFC appearances competing for promotions like DREAM, WEC and Strikeforce, Miller rode the wave of popularity he generated by hosting MTV’s Bully Beatdown into a coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter 14 against highly-regarded middleweight Michael Bisping. When it came time for the two to make good on their TV rivalry by stepping into the cage, Miller was unable to collect the win he so desperately wanted. After giving Bisping trouble throughout the first round, Miller gassed out as Bisping turned up the heat en route to a third-round TKO. Hulu’s “A Day In the Life” series, headed up by Jeremy Chilnick and Morgan Spurlock, spent a day profiling Miller shortly before he took on Bisping, producing the following video that you should most definitely watch: <object width=”512″ height=”288″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.hulu.com/embed/-ar596AFOLtQF1wWasHYUg”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><embed src=”http://www.hulu.com/embed/-ar596AFOLtQF1wWasHYUg” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash”  width=”512″ height=”288″ allowFullScreen=”true”></embed></object>    

Posted in: day, miller, bisping, ufc appearances, eightsided cage

Read the full article at MMA Frenzy

Number one UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen is on a crusade to reshape the world in his image, a goal he hopes to bring closer to reality with his impending self-help book, The Voice of Reason: A VIP Pass to Enlightenment. With the help of Victory Belt publishing, Sonnen’s book is to hit the stands on May 15. Perhaps it’s best to let the former real estate agent explain things in his own terms: Presence. Tenacity. Insight. Omniscience. No need to look these words up. They are defined by yours truly. Who am I? I’m the one who needs no introduction, the walking thesaurus, the UFC’s most infamous and feared destroyer of men. I am Chael P. Sonnen, and you want to be just like me.1 It’s your lucky day. What you are holding in your hands is nothing short of a V.I.P pass to enlightenment. In the coming pages my humor and tales of heroic adventure will baptize you in superhuman greatness. Allow me to carry you like a frail damsel as I make a nightmarish decent into the bowels of Sao Paulo. Sit before me as a student as I teach you about my plans of creating a Chaelocracy, which translates to “A Better Earth.” Shower me with praise as I take you into my manly mitts like a lump of seemingly worthless clay and craft you into something far better than yourself—me. Like all great men of myth and legend, I strive for the betterment of the human race. Prometheus brought us fire; Dana White brought us the modern day gladiator; and I bring you a step-by-step guide to being just like me. Do you have what it takes? Is there truly a chance that one day you will be able to walk in my shoes? Purchase this book and find out. There is no better day to stop being you and start trying to be me. You’re welcome civilization. Oh, but there’s more, you say? Not convinced? Here is some addition information you will glean from The Voice of Reason: Why Dance Dance Revolution is the national fighting style of Brazil. How vegans are ruining themselves and the world. Why you should never feed carrots to a school bus. Why you don?t need an athlete to be your hero. How fighters and fashion models have the exact same job. Why republicans are more compassionate, pioneering, rebellious, and generally cooler than any liberal. 1—Inside this book I offer you my knowledge of physics, politics, linguistics, history, and physiology. Unless you are currently standing in the checkout line or speeding home, wanting to save my brilliance for when you are curled up in a recliner sipping on some tea, you have already failed at becoming something similar to me. Chael P. Sonnen knows what he wants and buys it. He doesn’t need a dust jacket to tell him a book is good. He can feel it. So, make sure you get out to book stores on May 15 or reserve your own copy of Sonnen’s book in advance. Rumor has it there’s a section on how to cut sweet real estate deals.

Posted in: day, book, sonnen, chael, checkout line

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight Jason Miller will try to rebound from his poor showing against Michael Bisping in last year's Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 14 Finale by taking on C.B. Dollaway at the upcoming UFC 146 event on May 26 in Las Vegas. "Mayhem" gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at his training through this Hulu-exclusive web series titled "A Day in the Life" which features, not surprisingly, a day in the life of the longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran. Check it out and let us know what you think int he comments section below. More on his pending scrap against "The Doberman" here.

Posted in: day, life, michael bisping, comments section, cb dollaway

Read the full article at MMA Mania

One of the more interesting divisions under the World Wrestling Entertainment umbrella is WWE Books, the creators of such fine tomes as "The Hardy Boyz: Exist 2 Inspire" and "Mick Foley's Blood and Sweatsocks." The UFC hasn't gotten in on this racket - they prefer to just blackball the writers of UFC books they don't like - but that hasn't stopped a few of their own superstars from putting together writing projects. Most successful has been Forrest Griffin, who's general humor books on fightin' and the apocalypse have made him a legit bestselling author. Next up to see if he too can reach that brass ring: Chael Sonnen. Here's the description of his book, The Voice of Reason, out May 15th. Presence. Tenacity. Insight. Omniscience. No need to look these words up. They are defined by yours truly. Who am I? I'm the one who needs no introduction, the walking thesaurus, the UFC's most infamous and feared destroyer of men. I am Chael P. Sonnen, and you want to be just like me.It's your lucky day. What you are holding in your hands is nothing short of a V.I.P pass to enlightenment. In the coming pages my humor and tales of heroic adventure will baptize you in superhuman greatness. Allow me to carry you like a frail damsel as I make a nightmarish decent into the bowels of Sao Paulo. Sit before me as a student as I teach you about my plans of creating a Chaelocracy, which translates to "A Better Earth." Shower me with praise as I take you into my manly mitts like a lump of seemingly worthless clay and craft you into something far better than yourself—me.Like all great men of myth and legend, I strive for the betterment of the human race. Prometheus brought us fire; Dana White brought us the modern day gladiator; and I bring you a step-by-step guide to being just like me. Do you have what it takes? Is there truly a chance that one day you will be able to walk in my shoes? Purchase this book and find out. There is no better day to stop being you and start trying to be me.You're welcome civilization.

Posted in: ufc, day, book, sonnen, chael

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I'm sure you've probably stayed up late at night in order to figure out what type of name 'Chael Sonnen' is. His mother chose his first name because it was the last five letters of the name 'Michael'. As far his last name, Sonnen's are heavily distributed throughout Texas and Pennsylvania. The last name originated from Germany and is applied as a term of endearment for a loved one, or a habitational name for someone living at a house distinguished by the sign of a sun. In 1984, a 'Sonnen' lived to be 95. Now in 2012, another Sonnen has released a guide to self enlightenment -- and it will only cost $16.47 on Amazon. The Voice of Reason: A V.I.P. Pass to Enlightenment will be published May 15th 2012; check out the description written by none other than the UFC pseudo-middleweight champion himself. Presence. Tenacity. Insight. Omniscience. No need to look these words up. They are defined by yours truly. Who am I? I'm the one who needs no introduction, the walking thesaurus, the UFC's most infamous and feared destroyer of men. I am Chael P. Sonnen, and you want to be just like me. It's your lucky day. What you are holding in your hands is nothing short of a V.I.P pass to enlightenment. In the coming pages my humor and tales of heroic adventure will baptize you in superhuman greatness. Allow me to carry you like a frail damsel as I make a nightmarish decent into the bowels of Sao Paulo. Sit before me as a student as I teach you about my plans of creating a Chaelocracy, which translates to "A Better Earth." Shower me with praise as I take you into my manly mitts like a lump of seemingly worthless clay and craft you into something far better than yourself—me. Like all great men of myth and legend, I strive for the betterment of the human race. Prometheus brought us fire; Dana White brought us the modern day gladiator; and I bring you a step-by-step guide to being just like me. Do you have what it takes? Is there truly a chance that one day you will be able to walk in my shoes? Purchase this book and find out. There is no better day to stop being you and start trying to be me. You're welcome civilization. Check out the cover for the soon-to-be legendary book below. Feel free to get your preorders in for 320 pages of epicness.

Posted in: day, name, sonnen, enlightenment, name sonnens

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event drought continued this weekend with another three weeks to go before the Octagon plays host to some fisticuffs streamed live into out living rooms. But, that doesn't mean there wasn't plenty of combat sports action to take in. For starters, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) is now back in full swing with season 15 bringing a new format featuring live fights every Friday night for the next 12 or so weeks. Bellator is also back with another season of action, also on Friday nights. In addition, boxing great Sergio Martinez returned to the ring this past Saturday night while the NCAA wrestling championships went down over the course of a thrilling few days. In case you missed any or all of it, here are links to all the major stories from this past weekend in combat sports. NCAA Wrestling Championships: Day 1, Session 1 Day 1, Session 2 Day 2, Session 1 Day 2, Session 2 Finals results recap The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 15 episode two: Results and live blog Recap and post-show discussion Episode two power rankings Bellator 61: Results and live fight coverage Recap and morning after discussion Bellator moment: Brian Rogers flying knee knockout of Vitor Vianna Boxing: Sergio Martinez vs. Matthew Macklin results and live coverage Sergio Martinez retains middleweight title with stoppage win over Matthew Macklin M-1 Challenge 31: Results and recap: Alexander Emelianenko and Jeff Monson pick up wins Alexander Emelianenko fight video against Tadas Rimkevicius Score Fighting 4: Results and recap: John Alessio gets closer to UFC return with win over Pat Healy BAMMA USA BadBeat 5: Results and recap: Mike Guymon wins first fight out of retirement, Gabe Ruediger loses again

Posted in: result, day, session, recap, sergio

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Good morning, Maniacs. This past weekend the annual NCAA wrestling championship tournament was held in St. Louis, Missouri. Like any other NCAA championship tournament, it is the crown jewel of the collegiate wrestling season and is one of very few chances that wrestling has to shine on a national stage. With wrestling being one of the most common points of entry into mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, the exposure is a great chance for die hard MMA enthusiasts to get a look at the potential future of their sport. The tournament has been dominated by a handful of schools, with Iowa, Penn State, Minnesota and Oklahoma State having won the past 25 tournaments between them. Penn State is fairly new on the scene, having risen to prominence quickly since Cael Sanderson took over the program in 2009. Sanderson, of course, is one of the most decorated collegiate wrestlers in American history and the only man to have gone undefeated in a collegiate career of over 100 matches (159-0). Leading Penn State this year were a trio of undefeated wrestlers in the middleweight divisions: Frank Molinaro at 149 pounds, David Taylor at 165 pounds and Ed Ruth at 174 pounds. All three were top seeds in their division and so the big story leading into the tournament was could anyone stop these three powerhouses, and if they couldn't, was Penn State on its way to a clear second championship in as many seasons? The first day of action was fairly by the book. There were a couple of upsets, most notably 157 lbs contender Walter Peppleman of Harvard getting pinned by David Bonin of Northern Iowa in the first period. Top seeded heavyweight Ryan Flores had the most impressive day, as he had the misfortune of being selected to wrestle in the play-in match, meaning he would have to win an extra match at the beginning of the day just to ensure his position in the 32-man tournament. It was no problem for Flores, as he won his play-in match by pin and then won his first and second round matches by pin. As for the team standings, it was a fairly close battle for position. As expected, Penn State got out to the lead, but Minnesota was within striking distance at the close of the day. For results of the first day, check out Mania's coverage:Day 1, Session 1 resultsDay 1, Session 2 resultsJason Bryant of USA Wrestling and Shane Sparks of BadgerStateWrestling.com wrapped up the action after the first day in a far more informed fashion than I could, so if you want to get the scoop from a couple of guys who have had their fingers on the pulse of collegiate wrestling for years, I urge you to check out the way they saw things: The tournament really heated up on the second day with the quarter- and semi-final rounds taking place. Penn state would start to pull away from the pack, and the top seeds began to flex their muscle. Kyle Dake of Cornell was wrestling with the intention of becoming the first man ever to win a national championship in three different weight classes. Having already won at 141 and 149 pounds, Dake was looking like a strong bet to win at 157 pounds after the second day. Here he is getting a pin over Frank Hickman of Bloomburg in his quarterfinal match: Another story that began to develop on the second day was that of Nico Megaludis, the 10th seeded 125 pounder, somewhat of a forgotten man on the Penn State team. With Penn State holding a slim lead over Minnesota, Megaludis would go up against Zachary Sanders in the quarterfinals in one of the first matches of the second day. After a scoreless first period, we pick up the action with Megaludis having just scored a point for an escape at the start of the second round: Megaludis would go on to defeat Frank Perrelli of Cornell in the semi-final, making him the first Penn State wrestler to book his place in the finals and also one of the major reasons that State was able to extend it's lead in the team standings to a comfortable 22.5 points after the second day. Again, Mania has the complete breakdown from the second day. Session 1, Quarterfinal resultsSession 2, Semifinal results Bryant and Sparks were back as well: By the time the finals rolled around, it had become quite clear that it was going to be a second straight championship for the Nittany Lions. Molinaro, Taylor and Ruth had joined Megaludis in the finals and they were joined by the only Lion to have won an individual championship last year, 185 pounder Quinton Wright. With a stunning five finalists, by the time the final matches began, State had already wrapped up the title. With the team title out of the way, the final bit of intrigue centered around Kyle Dake and whether or not he could become the first man to win three titles in three different weight classes. Before we could get to Dake though, controversy struck during the 133 pound final. Defending champion Jordan Oliver, from Oklahoma State (Johny Hendricks' alma mater) was taking on freshman talent Logan Stieber of Ohio State. The controversy would stem from an Oliver takedown attempt that was clearly successful to everyone, it seemed, but the referee. The two points would have given Oliver the match, but instead he would be denied his second title. Here is the controversial final match in full: What do you guys think? Was that a legal takedown? Considering Oliver and Stieber both have multiple years of eligibilty left, I suspect we'll be could easily be seeing these guys square off again next year. As for Kyle Dake, here is his final match, against Derek St. John of Iowa: Quite impressive. As for the rest of the finals, if you didn't get a chance to catch them on ESPN 3 over the weekend or read about them on Mania, IronForgesIron.com was kind enough to compile the video of the third place matches to go along with the championship matches. It's over three hours of some of the finest wrestling you're likely to see this year and it certainly puts some of the wrestling we see in mixed martial arts to shame. Yes, I know that striking and submission grappling drastically changes things, but sometimes I think we forget just how young of a sport MMA is, and how much room for improvement there is in the various disciplines. I can't wait for the day when every UFC fighter, not just the elite ones, have had a decorated amateur wrestling career to go along with a jiu jitsu black belt and extensive striking training. What a treat it will be to watch guys at that level go at it. And that wraps up our coverage of the event. I hope you enjoyed the tournament as much as I did.

Posted in: day, championship, tournament, penn, state

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Posted in: ufc, day, journal, tokyo, travel

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No holiday lends itself to more Lessons in Street MMA than St. Patrick's Day. The alcohol is flowing, people are roaming the streets, and that 'Fightin Irish' spirit is injected into everyone like some fine, green, testosterone. We here at MiddleEasy don't condone Street MMA, but we will watch it and share it with you guys. In honor of the holiday that will no doubt be bringing us many lessons as soon as people upload them in a haze tomorrow morning, we present to you a few St. Patrick's Day Lessons in Street MMA. In this first lesson in St. Patrick's day MMA we have an altercation that spills out into the road with high level karate kicking action (notice how well the hips are turned into those kicks) and shattered green tiara's abound. The next Lesson in St. Patrick Day Street MMA is a simple one: don't start a riot. Watch as Buffalo, NY is awash in a sea of purposefully tiny plastic green hats as the fine city does it's best Strikeforce: Nashville impression. The final Lesson in St. Patrick's Day Street MMA is one we've learned before: don't drink and fight. If you do, you may be thinking in your green beer fueled mind that you are throwing the H-Bomb of all H-Bombs and then you just end up flat on your face. If you are out tonight having a good time, give hugs, don't be thugs. Be safe and wear your green MiddleEasy tee.

Posted in: mma, day, lesson, patrick, street

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This FanPost has been promoted to the front page by Ben Thapa - because it is truly awesome. April 19, 2008 We’re standing in the back of an impossibly long line stretching around the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec when I first hear it. It begins as murmurs, excited whispers, moving through the crowd like brushfire. The same three words on everybody’s lips: G. S. P. I strain to peer beyond the crowd when I finally see it. Across the street, getting out of a black SUV with his entourage, is the man himself. And of course, the crowd goes wild. And strangely (or not) I’m caught up in it as well, cheering for the Great Canadian Hope alongside all the other diehards who’ve lined up for hours just to see him stand on a scale. That’s because today is the weigh-in for UFC 83, the first ever UFC event on Canadian soil. It takes a diehard MMA fan to line up for a simple weigh-in. Montreal apparently has thousands of them. I realize now, looking back, that I was flanked in the moment by two of my heroes. The one across the street was larger than life, my hero only because every so often I watched him beat legitimate tough guys to a pulp on Pay-Per-View (this was back in 2008 when that still happened). Then there was the one standing next to me. Over a year previous, my best friend Mark Trost had been diagnosed with a rare form on cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma, and had been in a battle for his life ever since. He had lost most of his hair, along with a shocking amount of weight; his skin had turned pale and sickly. Yet he never lost that inner energy, the vitality of spirit and vivaciousness of soul that had made him one of the most popular guys at my school. Mark was the star athlete, the gym rat and the ladies’ man, yet lacked any sort of outrageous braggadocio. He was polite, laid back, and the most quietly confident person I’ve ever met. Our circle of friends were already big UFC fans (05-07 was a great time to get back into the sport), so when we heard the promotion was headed for Canada we decided to do something special for Mark. We all pitched in and bought him a ticket, but then my wonderful girlfriend (now fiancé) Michelle took it a step further. Somehow, she got in touch with an executive at the UFC, told them Mark’s story, and arranged for a special backstage tour/meet and greet for our friend. That’s what brought us to that line up around the Bell Centre that warm April day. Eventually, we met up with said UFC exec (name withheld) and it was then we got the bad news: there were only two backstage passes, meaning either me or Michelle would not be able to come backstage. In another incredible act of generosity, my wife to be (to be) offered to stay behind so I could go with my friend. To this day, I am in her debt for that (and so many other things). So there we were, two teenagers behind the scenes at a UFC event. We chit-chatted with the crew assembling the famous “Octagon”, got the tour of the whole facility, and even met UFC President Dana White. White is one of the most controversial figures in all of sports (and with good reason) but whenever I think of him, the first thing I think of is how he took almost an hour of his day on the busiest day of his professional life (UFC 83 was, at the time, the biggest UFC event ever in terms of live gate) to talk to a quiet kid with cancer and his star-struck buddy. I’ll never forget it. But undoubtedly, the highlight of the whole trip was meeting GSP. It was right after he weighed in, to the enthusiastic response of the packed house (even more enthusiastic when you remember that all he was doing was standing on a scale in his underwear). He was backstage chugging a Gatorade and eating a banana when his manager ushered us his way with a casual “fellas…this is Georges.” And my first reaction was…”Huh, he’s really not that tall.” I know, that’s what every kid says when he meets his hero, but after watching him hand big tough dudes their butts for the last two years I almost expected him to be 7 feet tall and 300 pounds. Instead, he stands just a hair shorter than me, and roughly the same frame and body shape as me as well – plus about 30 pounds of pure muscle, that is. He’s a quiet, polite Quebecois fellow who speaks very good English and laughs nervously a lot. I’m impressed that he seems to know Mark’s story and even name without prompting – the dude has a lot on his mind, what with the “cage fight in my hometown in front of 15,000 people tomorrow” thing he’s got going on. As I watch them talk, I realize for a moment the small miracle taking place in front of me. My friend, who carried the stress of cancer with him every moment of every day, was for the first time in months actually relaxing. He was smiling, making jokes, and enjoying himself – not just pretending to enjoy himself for the benefit of those around him. And the man to whom he spoke, famous fighter in an organization derided for its inhumanity, taking time out of his day to be with my friend, in the truest sense. It was a wonderful moment. A moment I almost ruined when he asked me if I wanted an autograph, and I replied with “Well yeah, but I don’t want to be an a**hole and just ask for one.” Something about the clean-cut, polite and professional image the champ puts forth made me think for a moment that he was going to pummel me right then and there for swearing in his presence. Instead, he simply laughed and signed his autograph anyways. I’ll always treasure that special “For Trenton. GSP” autograph I received that day – yes, the name reads “Trenton”, which is inconvenient only because that’s not really my name. He must have misheard me, and after the a**hole incident I didn’t have the stones to tell the (soon to be) UFC welterweight champion that he’d made a typo. By the next night, Georges the quiet, polite 20-something had transformed into GSP, the conquering hero, the invincible giant. In front of a sell-out crowd at Montreal’s Bell Centre, he won his title back in impressive fashion in what is still the most intense crowd atmosphere I have ever been a part of, anywhere, ever. That night was the last time I really “marked out” (wrestling-speak for really buying into) for a UFC fight – after that, I became a more educated fan, watched all the MMA I could get my (digital) paws on, and started writing about the sport and getting involved on the local level. But if I’m being honest, that enthusiasm was less because of GSP, and more because of my friend. Mark Trost passed away on February 28, 2009, finally losing his battle with cancer after more than two years of brutal, agonizing struggle. I owe my friend so much – my confidence, my turning to a healthy lifestyle, whatever meagre amounts of lovin’ with the ladies I managed to scrounge in high school – but I also owe him the words you’re reading right now. Mark Trost is the reason I write about MMA; the experience we had that day opening a curiosity that has never since abated. That’s what the sport of MMA means to me. And to anyone who might dismiss the power of combat sports to move us emotionally, I tell them this story. I tell them of how a sport so derided for its violence and inhumanity provided one of the most meaningful and poignant moments of my life, and opened the door to my future. And finally, I thank my friend. Wherever you are. Thank you for everything. By Elton Hobson

Posted in: ufc, day, ndash, friend, moment

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Join us at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT / 3 p.m. GMT for day 2 of the 2012 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship, live from the Scottrade Center in St Louis, Missouri. Those in the USA can watch via ESPN 3 and ESPN U, also available as a live stream via ESPN.com. For those in the UK, a day or month pass subscription option is available at ESPN.com for the College Sports option: £8.99 for the day, or £17.99 for the month, which is the option I've gone with to watch live. For those outside the USA and unable to get a College Pass subscription from ESPN, reduced coverage is available at Flowrestling.org and TheMat.com in the form of live audio play-by-play. For results and a recap of yesterdays action, be sure to check out my coverage on Session 1 and Session 2. You can also still check out the brackets and my preview from earlier in the week, as well as a look at past NCAA champions that have found success in the UFC. Can Penn State maintain their team points lead? Will the University of Minnesota mount a come back? Be sure to check in with us in the comments, and see who everyone is talking about and thinks has what it takes to be future UFC champions and contenders.

Posted in: day, ncaa, penn state, option, option ive

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This afternoon at the world famous Madison Square Garden, two combat sports held court in advance of their upcoming events. The first article I'll be writing this evening is actually about a sport that probably most of us know less about than we do our own precious MMA (and to some extents other stand-up fighting sports such as kickboxing or Muay Thai), boxing. The world's most popular combat sport (still), is the sweet science, and this was evidenced by the mostly-filled room for what was basically promoters and trainers and fighters all reading their own prepared statements. Don't get me wrong, most of the people involved stayed around, but their time was immediately snapped up by people with microphones, lights and cameras much larger than mine. Despite the mostly rehearsed nature of the event, it isn't like there was nothing to report on. In news that should strike no one as a surprise, ______ gonna ______, and in this case promoters gonna promote: in the timespan of a minute, Lou DiBella used the phrases World War Three twice, Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots and two variations of "bomb" all within the timespan of a minute. Magomed Abdusalamov, the heavyweight prospect fighting on the untelevised undercard, would be holding court later that night at a lovely restaurant out in Brooklyn and there was also a pub crawl immediately following the press conference (which ended like six hours ago). Gotta love an Irish guy fighting on St. Patrick's Day with Corona as the chief sponsor. Side note, the corned beef, cabbage and boiled potato that was free at the event was quite good, as were the free Coronas (a winning combination if there ever was one). They always say that the best meal is a free meal, so my thanks to everyone at MSG for the best meal I had all day. Mediocre humor aside, it was good for a relative neophyte like myself to learn more about the individuals involved and to find some interesting tidbits about those that I did know some about (Martinez). Here are some interesting bits of mostly Jeopardy trivia gleaned from this afternoon's proceedings. Macklin had his first fight on St. Patrick's Day in Birmingham in 1994, and gets his shot at the #1 middleweight 18 years later to the day. Sergio Martinez has spent a lot of time and effort to combat bullying and women's abuse over the past few years. He's spent a fair amount of time visiting safe houses and shelters without the media for obvious reasons (privacy of the abused), but again, as one of the promoters promoted, this isn't like some fighters handing out turkeys on Thankgiving (a thinly veiled shot at Mayweather). Undercard fighter Don George is one of the only Greek-Cypriot fighters in the world. A point which I brought up to Lou DiBella afterwards, and asked if he had no love for Mike Zambidis. Lou did acknowledge the great Iron Mike, so score one small victory for proponents of fighting with kicks as well as punches. Sergio Martinez fought Antonio Margarito (notorious for getting caught with loaded gloves) back in 2000 and his pay for that fight was $900. So much for that notion that all boxers make a mint. The super middleweight bout between Edwin "La Bomba" Rodriguez and Don "da Bomb" George might be the first in history between two fighters with identical "bomb" nicknames. On an interesting side note, DiBella, upon talking with a pair of Irish reporters gave the following lovely bit of promoter hype: "Freddie [Roach] is full of sh*t, Macklin would f*cking knock [Julio] Chavez out. Knock him the f*ck out. And Chavez could take his magic juice and he'd still knock him the f*ck out. I didn't say that." Those of you who are bigger boxing fans than I can get more mileage out of that, but really there's not much else to be gleaned here but cool sound bytes like that and sponsor shoutouts such as La cerveza mas fina, and Goodfellas pizza. A thoroughly enjoyable time, and I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I managed to get. Don George with eye candy Retired boxer, now Macklin's trainer, James "Buddy" McGirt All four fighters (plus candy) from Saturday's televised card,in order from left to right: Edwin Rodriguez, Sergio Martinez, Matthew Macklin, Don George Photos by Cory Braiterman

Posted in: world, fighter, day, martinez, macklin

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This was before. This was back when the old team was still together. Back before the night Trevor Wittman stayed up till dawn in a Canadian hospital with a friend who’d been beaten beyond all recognition, his face swelling up like a beach ball as they documented its changing colors with their cell phones. This was before he had any reason to know or care what the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of a healthy adult male was. Before the time he had to round up spare change just to pay his energy bill. Before he bounced a rent check to his parents. Before his gym became, in the words of one of his top fighters, "a ghost town."This was January of 2011, and none of that had happened yet. The future was still a never-ending promise. The best of life was still to come. His friends would always be his friends and his fighters would always be his fighters. So he thought. Maybe because he had no idea what was coming, or maybe because it was his natural state, Wittman had every reason to smile as he wheeled his desk chair around the cramped little office inside the Grudge Training Center in Wheat Ridge, Colo., using the pictures that covered all four walls as starting points for one story after another about his strange life in the fight game. Each photo -- some framed, some just ripped from magazines and tacked to the wall -- was a story in itself. Each story led to another, which then led to another and another. Each story began with the same bursting enthusiasm from Wittman, who always seemed so full of energy he could hardly keep himself in his chair. Each story usually ended badly for someone, if you stayed with it long enough.Here was the boxer who, after a fight, complained that his neck felt strange. When Wittman ran his hand over the guy’s throat it felt like someone had crushed a bunch of potato chips and stuffed them inside his skin. Air bubbles, Wittman explained. Only later did they find out that the guy had suffered a punctured lung in the fight. He’d gone the distance, too. Never even mentioned it to Wittman until the fight was over.Or here was Verno Phillips, probably the most famous boxer Wittman worked with. Verno, who gave him his start. Verno, who won the WBO title with Wittman in his corner. Verno, who haunts these stories like a ghost with nothing better to do. Verno used to piss blood after just about every fight. It became as normal as the repetitive locker room conversations Wittman never fully got used to having with him. Every time, it was some slight variation on the same theme.Did I get knocked out?No, Verno. You won a decision. Remember?That’s right. I did win. I remember. Hey, why is the floor so cold out there?It’s a hockey arena, Verno. They had a game here last night.That’s right. I remember. Hey, did I get knocked out?Tomorrow Verno would be better. His brain would return to whatever its new normal was. Everyone could go back to ignoring the slightly terrifying reality staring them in the face. But that was life in the sweet science. You either made your peace with it, or else you moved on to something else. For Wittman, the something else was MMA, and it had been good to him so far. The Grudge gym was proof of that. More than 6,000 square feet and home to some of the best fighters in Colorado, from Shane Carwin to Brendan Schaub to Nate Marquardt.I had come here because of a brief conversation I had with Wittman three months earlier in Anaheim, Calif. Sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency, just down the street from Disneyland, I’d mentioned to Wittman and his manager, Lex McMahon, my idea for a book. One year in the life of an MMA gym, following the ups and downs of the fight team and documenting what happened and how things changed."A lot," Wittman said. "That’s what changes in a year."He couldn’t have known then how right he would be before it was all over.My initial motivation was purely selfish. I wanted to write a book. Maybe I just wanted to have written a book. I knew I didn’t want to throw together a hasty survey of the sport or ghostwrite some fighter’s autobiography, which seemed to be the only book ideas publishers were interested in hearing about from me. I was sure there had to be some place for a story that took the time to get up close and examine the hidden parts of a fighter’s life, the parts you’ll never know about if you only talk to him right before and after a fight. I knew how fighters were in interviews and promo pieces. But who were they when they were alone with trainers and teammates? What were their lives like when they weren’t polished and presented for mass consumption? What were we missing by going only the places that the publicists wanted us to go, and seeing only what they wanted us to see?My goal was to become a part of the furniture in the gym, to watch and learn and compile it all into a book at the end. The fact that you’re reading this on a website means that I failed. Or at least, I failed to accomplish my original goal. What I ended up with was a year’s worth of stories, interviews, research, and observations that didn’t quite form the cohesive narrative I’d naively hoped they would. Instead, it was more like a series of snapshots documenting lives and careers in progress. It wasn’t quite a book, in other words, but it was still a story worth telling, and one that taught me a great deal about the sport I thought I knew pretty well. Over the next several weeks, I hope to tell that story to you. I hope that reading it will be as enlightening and entertaining for you as writing it has been for me.*****When they rattle off the relevant info about a guy like Brendan Schaub on a UFC broadcast, they say Denver. They say Denver because no one who isn’t local knows where the hell Wheat Ridge is, nor do they have much reason to. But it’s there, just off I-70, about a twenty minute drive west of downtown Denver and into the wide open spaces that make Colorado feel expansive in that hopelessly optimistic pioneer sense. Like a new start is still possible, maybe, if you don't get lost and die along the way.If you didn’t know where the Grudge Training Center was you’d drive right by it. Of course you would. Who’d even think to look for it there, nestled next to Walker’s Quality Cage and Feed in a little business park on Kipling Street? Up the street there’s a Winchell’s Donuts where old men gather in the morning to complain about the temperature of the coffee. Keep going and you’ll hit perhaps the most depressing Ramada Inn you’ve ever seen, right next to a bar with a handwritten sign on the door forbidding "biker colors." Inside that bar, another sign next to the cash register reminds bartenders that all fights "must be reported to the Wheat Ridge Police Department." It’s the kind of sign that, simply by existing, suggests the likelihood of it going ignored.January in Wheat Ridge, which sits nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, is an exercise in endurance. The snow falls in stinging pelts one minute and in thick sheets the next. A favorite pastime among Grudge fighters in winter is standing around the mats before morning training begins and trading harrowing tales from the drive over.On this particular winter morning, however, the 35-year-old Wittman has concerns that go beyond the inability of his Hummer to brake properly on an icy downhill. He’s getting sick. Maybe the flu. Maybe strep throat. Maybe nothing at all, but he can’t risk it. He also can’t stay home from the gym -- not with so many of his guys getting added to the UFC 128 fight card in March -- so he shows up to work this morning wearing a long-sleeve shirt, winter gloves, and a face and neck gator to cover his mouth and keep his possibly imaginary germs from spreading. It’s the kind of get-up that understandably gets second looks from guys like UFC heavyweight Schaub, who pokes his head into Wittman’s office on his way to the main training room later that morning. "What are you, a ninja now?" Schaub says.It gets a laugh from Wittman, who grew up in strip mall karate dojos and, as a kid, would have probably put down ‘ninja’ as his ideal profession. But one good crack deserves another, and these days the easiest way to rib Schaub is to crack on his rapidly swelling cauliflower ear, which bulges like an angry fist from the side of his head."Look at that thing," Wittman says. "Seriously, bro. It looks like a butt cheek."Schaub smiles and reaches up to touch the mass of skin and fluid. It’s gotten so sensitive, he says, that it wakes him up in the middle of the night if he happens to roll over it. It’s just the latest casualty on a face that was once so handsome, Wittman says."Every girl who came in here would always say to me, ‘That Brendan is fine,’" Wittman says, shaking his head. "Not going to happen anymore."According to Schaub’s best friend, fellow UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin, it’s the natural progression of a fighter’s face: "It just gets wider and flatter."Schaub is only eight fights into his pro career, and has only gone out of the first round twice. It’s not the fights that are transforming his body so much as the training, which he engages in obsessively. Even now, when he’s supposed to be just beginning his training camp for his fight with Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in March, he admits he’s "pretty wore out already."And why shouldn’t he be? On a typical day he might wake up early and drive the 40 minutes from his loft apartment in the Denver Tech Center up to Boulder to work with some wrestlers, then grab a quick bite to eat at Whole Foods before heading back down to Wheat Ridge to hit mitts with Wittman. After that’s over, maybe he’ll head to the gym with a friend of his who now plays in the NFL and jack some weights in an attempt to, as he puts it, "get those meathead days back."All this is why, a few weeks from now, his coaches will sit him down and give him an ultimatum: either take a few days off, or else find someone else to train you. Because the way he’s working himself into the ground, they’re tired of watching him take steps backwards. And he’ll agree, even though it brings him almost to tears. Then he’ll go home and do absolutely nothing, which both he and his girlfriend agree he is uncommonly good at."I shut it down like you wouldn’t believe," he says. Wittman concurs, calling Schaub one of the laziest people he’s ever seen..."when he’s not training."With a guy like Schaub, who asked the UFC for DVDs of all Cro Cop’s fights just so he could scare himself into the gym each day, overtraining is the biggest concern. There’s no question that he has the work ethic, Wittman says, but he’s killing himself in an attempt to become a champion overnight. The way Schaub sees it, he doesn’t have much choice."Some days it’s hard," he says. "Especially a sparring day where I’ve got Shane? I mean, Shane? Oh, man. It’s hard to get out of bed after that, but then I get up and drive an hour. Other guys miss it. Those are the guys working at Kinko’s and trying to be fighters, you know what I’m saying?" But Schaub, despite his obsessive tendencies, isn’t one of the guys Wittman really worries about. Neither is Carwin, who is so coachable that Wittman loves to tell the story of the day he brought a pink hula hoop into the gym and insisted that Carwin use it to improve his hip movement. The former NCAA wrestling champ put it around his waist and went to work without ever questioning it, Wittman says. Only when he looked up and saw that trademark grin on his trainer’s face did he begin to suspect that there might be a joke he was missing.These days, it’s Marquardt he’s most worried about. It’s Marquardt who, just last year, lost two number one contender bouts in two tries. And it’s not just that he lost -- face it, that’s bound to happen from time to time. It’s how he lost, and it’s his reaction, particularly to the decision loss against Yushin Okami in Germany, that worries Wittman the most."He just wouldn’t pull the trigger," Wittman says. "I was yelling at him to throw that kick. My voice was hoarse by the end of the night, and he just wouldn’t throw it. I was so upset."When Wittman walked into the cage at the end of the fight, the first thing Marquardt asked him was whether he thought the decision would go his way. No, Wittman told him. You didn’t win that fight. The look Marquardt gave him stopped him cold. A barely restrained frustration. A teenage boy’s smirking anger. Moments later the judges, much to Marquardt’s dismay, sided with Wittman."He told me after the fight, ‘T, I won that fight,’" Wittman says. "I told him, no you didn’t. ‘Yeah, but I got more takedowns.’ Yes, you did. ‘I landed the better counter-punches.’ Yes, but Okami looked like he wanted to fight more. He was pressing forward more. I told him, you can’t win a championship going backwards."In the locker room after the fight, Marquardt hung his head as the doctor peppered him with questions about how he felt, about what injuries he may have sustained in the fight. Marquardt didn’t say a word."Nate, he needs to know how you feel," Wittman recalls telling him."I feel fine," Marquardt shot back."Nate, you still think you won that fight?" Wittman asked him."Yes," Marquardt snapped. The Marquardt who Wittman sees in the gym come January is, in many ways, a man on a short fuse. Criticized by fans and media for a disappointing 1-2 showing in 2010, and called "a choker" by UFC president Dana White, he’s beginning to get fed up with it all. Wittman sees it. Marquardt’s always been quiet, a little aloof, like he’s drifting on the fringes of every conversation. He’s the one who, when Wittman tries his impossibly corny attempts at humor (like the day he wrote the word ‘video’ on a piece of duct tape and walked around with it on his chest during sparring, saying, "Get it? Video tape!" in an attempt to lighten the mood) just looks at his long-time trainer and gives him a smile that seems stuck somewhere between confusion and pity.Marquardt’s the one who, when stopping by the gym after returning from a trip to New York to train for a few days, leaves his wife and baby out front while he goes in the back to say hello to the guys. One thing leads to another and he ends up keeping time for guys who are sparring, giving advice between rounds, trading MMA war stories, generally enjoying being at the gym without suffering there for a change. The next thing he knows he’s been here for 40 minutes and his wife comes in, holding the baby in her arms, saying, "Did you forget we were out there?"Marquardt’s sheepish grin confirms that, yes, he did. Everyone but him breaks up laughing.But lately he’s seemed always right on the verge of frustration, like he's carrying the weight of all these missed opportunities and looking for a place where he can put them down and walk away. During training one day, Wittman shows him minor details to improve his work off the jab, and Marquardt returns moments later questioning it. There’s that look again. As if maybe they don’t quite trust each other the way they did six or seven years ago.Later, as Marquardt sits on the battered old sofa in the Grudge gym’s reception area (a sofa, by the way, that no one at Grudge seems to know the origin of, as if it was simply dropped off here one day by the sofa fairy) putting his socks and shoes back on, I make the mistake of asking whether it’s difficult for him not to become discouraged after such a rough year and so much public criticism from his boss and the media."Yeah, especially when people like you are asking me those questions, yeah, it makes it hard," he says. In fact, he explains, he’s recently begun to think that it’s all these interviews that are messing with his mental game. Not only does it take away valuable recovery time to do phoners with every MMA media dot-com in existence before each fight, it also requires exposing himself to the potentially harmful opinions of others."When you get asked the same question, it ingrains in you what everyone else thinks you should do. I don’t care what people think. I can’t worry about that," he says. "That’s one of the things I’m going change from the last fight. I did so many damn interviews and I got reporters asking me the same stupid questions over and over. Honestly, I don’t need that. I can do a few interviews and have the same impact as far as my media presence. They ask the same questions. Seriously. Every single one of my interviews I could have overlapped it with every other one."Not that Wittman would ever argue with a fighter who feels like he could use a little less media exposure. But remarks like these only increase his concern that Marquardt’s real problem might be his tendency to look for outside explanations for his troubles rather than looking within himself. There’s perhaps no better example of this than "the TRT stuff."As in, testosterone replacement therapy. As in, the TRT stuff that will eventually tear their working relationship and their friendship apart. The TRT stuff that will set off a chain of events that threatens both men’s livelihoods. The TRT stuff that will make sure neither end this year in even remotely the same place as they started it.But all that is still in the future, and they have no idea it’s coming. For now, the goal is only to win, to find out whatever caused last year’s decline -- a year in which the gym lost two number one contender fights and one UFC heavyweight title fight -- and turn it around quick. Because the fights in March will be here before they know it. And in this sport, the only thing that seems to matter more than the last fight is the next one.

Posted in: fight, day, hersquo, itrsquo, wittman

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The first time I went to Ireland, it was St. Patrick's Day and I almost drowned in a cliche. I was the only person raging in the middle of Cork, Ireland that day back in 2006. I must have looked like that typical American idiot that would go to another country with the expectation that everyone is thrilled to have me there. In reality, the first beer I ordered, the bartender 'accidentally' spilled it all over my lap. This was like at 9:00 am -- people were still going to work. That night, I ended up sleeping off my hangover in the corner of the Cork airport until my plane arrived the next day. Surprisingly, Ireland is inundated with fried chicken fast food restaurants. That was unexpected. I'm not sure if Michael Morgan from WHOA! TV has the same experience I had when he visited Ireland for Cage Contenders, but he did manage to manifest this slick video for your eyes to feast on. My suggestion would be to finish shoveling your breakfast in your mouth and then spend a few minutes watching this video. Your day will be enriched because of it.

Posted in: day, video, night i, ireland, cliche i

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December 21st 2012 is fast approaching, bringing a possible end of days with it. Some say the Mayans didn't account for leap year, thus by their calender it's sometime in 2014 right now and we should technically be safe from any impending doom. Learning that information calmed my nerves for about six hours, then someone told me that they read in National Geographic about how the Mayans actually have two calenders, one on a 365 day cycle calender for crops, and a 260 day calender used for ceremonial dates. Both of those calenders sync up every 52 years, and the just so happen to sync up at the end of the Mayan calender: December 21st, 2012. I think we might still be screwed. That said, we need to create a bunker made of whatever is inside Anderson Silva's chin. It may be our only chance at survival. [Source]

Posted in: day, calender, mayan, leap year, calenders sync

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submitted by MattyBlayze [link] [2 comments]

Posted in: fx, day, dana, vlog, mattyblayze

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Do you long for the day that you don’t have to shell out $50 a month or even double that to watch every single UFC pay-per-view? Well, according to Dana White, that day could actually come. At the UFC on FOX 3 press conference last week, Dana explained that he believes there will come a day where they’ll no longer be on pay-per-view. Transcription via 5thRound.com: “Yeah, with this FOX exposure, we’re only a few months into this deal, but yeah, as we continue to put on shows and showcase talent over the next several years, the fan base is going to grow bigger and bigger and bigger,” White expressed during last week’s press conference. “That’s why this thing has gotten as big as fast as it has, not just [in America] but all over the world. Yeah, [UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta] and I talk about this all the time. I do believe there will be a day where there probably isn’t pay-per-view.” “As the landscape in television continues to change – a lot of people believe everything is gonna go to the Internet – like, now, when you buy your cable and there’s basic cable and you can add other stations. We’re probably gonna get to a point where you can just pick exactly [which channels] you want,” White added. “It’s very interesting to see where all this goes over the next several years, but I think the UFC is definitely gonna be a power player in the sports world.” It’s long been reported that pay-per-view accounts for roughly 75% of the UFC’s annual revenue. That number is likely smaller now with their new FOX deal, but Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta made it clear when the FOX deal was announced that pay-per-view still butters their bread. I would say that day is probably a long ways off, likely years and years, but if it ever comes, they would certainly be hard-pressed to find a single fan who would complain about not spending $50 to watch a UFC event.

Posted in: ufc, day, year, fox deal, payperview

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Sports fans love sports rivalries. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees go to war a couple of times a year, as do the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys? There's a pretty good chance someone in the stands will lose their life on that day. Now imagine you had to buy a pay-per-view (PPV) to see any of those games happen. That's pretty much how it goes down in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). You can get your fair share of free fights on a number of network television stations, like FOX, FX and FUEL TV, but for the big-time match-ups, like Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans at UFC 145 on April 21 in Atlanta, Georgia, you have to shell out an average of fifty bucks. But for how much longer? UFC President Dana White, along with the Fertitta brothers, was instrumental in bringing the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) to network television and even envisions a day in the not-to-distant future where there are no more monthly PPV events. Those comments (via MMA Weekly) after the jump. "Yeah, I do believe there will be a day when there probably isn't pay-per-view. With this Fox exposure, we're only a few months into this deal, but yeah, as we continue to put on shows and showcase talent over the next several years, the fan base is going to grow bigger and bigger and bigger. As the landscape in television continues to change - a lot of people believe everything is gonna go to the internet. Like, now, when you buy your cable, and there's basic cable and you can add other stations. We're probably gonna get to a point where you can just pick exactly what you want. I want this channel, I want that channel, and I want that one, and that's it. It's very interesting to see where all this goes over the next several years, but I think the UFC is definitely gonna be a power player in the sports world." UFC channel? As cable and satellite providers continue to embrace the power of the internet, as well as incorporate its capabilities into their programming options, the UFC could become just another channel. Or it could become something else entirely. It's still too early to tell when and if the world's largest fight promotion puts the PPV model out to pasture, or even how, but it's got several years under the FOX umbrella to figure it all out. Anyone want to play Nostradumbass and predict the future of televised fighting?

Posted in: ufc, day, sport, year, channel

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"Sugar" Ray Sefo and "Cro Cop" Mirko Filopovic weigh in one day prior to their kickboxing match from Croaitia. HeadKickLegend will have coverage of this event as well as the undercard, which features Daniel Ghita amongst many others.

Posted in: day, kickboxing, ray, sugar, croaitia headkicklegend

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This was before. This was back when the old team was still together. Back before the night Trevor Wittman stayed up till dawn in a Canadian hospital with a friend who’d been beaten beyond all recognition, his face swelling up like a beach ball as they documented its changing colors with their cell phones. This was before he had any reason to know or care what the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of a healthy adult male was. Before the time he had to round up spare change just to pay his energy bill. Before he bounced a rent check to his parents. Before his gym became, in the words of one of his top fighters, "a ghost town."This was January of 2011, and none of that had happened yet. The future was still a never-ending promise. The best of life was still to come. His friends would always be his friends and his fighters would always be his fighters. So he thought. Maybe because he had no idea what was coming, or maybe because it was his natural state, Wittman had every reason to smile as he wheeled his desk chair around the cramped little office inside the Grudge Training Center in Wheat Ridge, Colo., using the pictures that covered all four walls as starting points for one story after another about his strange life in the fight game. Each photo -- some framed, some just ripped from magazines and tacked to the wall -- was a story in itself. Each story led to another, which then led to another and another. Each story began with the same bursting enthusiasm from Wittman, who always seemed so full of energy he could hardly keep himself in his chair. Each story usually ended badly for someone, if you stayed with it long enough.Here was the boxer who, after a fight, complained that his neck felt strange. When Wittman ran his hand over the guy’s throat it felt like someone had crushed a bunch of potato chips and stuffed them inside his skin. Air bubbles, Wittman explained. Only later did they find out that the guy had suffered a punctured lung in the fight. He’d gone the distance, too. Never even mentioned it to Wittman until the fight was over.Or here was Verno Phillips, probably the most famous boxer Wittman worked with. Verno, who gave him his start. Verno, who won the WBO title with Wittman in his corner. Verno, who haunts these stories like a ghost with nothing better to do. Verno used to piss blood after just about every fight. It became as normal as the repetitive locker room conversations Wittman never fully got used to having with him. Every time, it was some slight variation on the same theme.Did I get knocked out?No, Verno. You won a decision. Remember?That’s right. I did win. I remember. Hey, why is the floor so cold out there?It’s a hockey arena, Verno. They had a game here last night.That’s right. I remember. Hey, did I get knocked out?Tomorrow Verno would be better. His brain would return to whatever its new normal was. Everyone could go back to ignoring the slightly terrifying reality staring them in the face. But that was life in the sweet science. You either made your peace with it, or else you moved on to something else. For Wittman, the something else was MMA, and it had been good to him so far. The Grudge gym was proof of that. More than 6,000 square feet and home to some of the best fighters in Colorado, from Shane Carwin to Brendan Schaub to Nate Marquardt.I had come here because of a brief conversation I had with Wittman three months earlier in Anaheim, Calif. Sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency, just down the street from Disneyland, I’d mentioned to Wittman and his manager, Lex McMahon, my idea for a book. One year in the life of an MMA gym, following the ups and downs of the fight team and documenting what happened and how things changed in a single year."A lot," Wittman said. "That’s what changes in a year."He couldn’t have known then how right he would be before it was all over.My initial motivation was purely selfish. I wanted to write a book. Maybe I just wanted to have written a book. I knew I didn’t want to throw together a hasty survey of the sport or ghostwrite some fighter’s autobiography, which seemed to be the only book ideas publishers were interested in hearing about from me. I was sure there had to be some place for a story that took the time to get up close and examine the hidden parts of a fighter’s life, the parts you’ll never know about if you only talk to him right before and after a fight. I knew how fighters were in interviews and promo pieces. But who they were when they were alone with trainers and teammates? What were their lives like when they weren’t polished and presented for mass consumption? What were we missing by going only the places the publicists wanted us to go, and seeing only what they wanted us to see?My goal was to become a part of the furniture in the gym, to watch and learn and compile it all into a book at the end. The fact that you’re reading this on a website means that I failed. Or at least, I failed to accomplish my original goal. What I ended up with was a year’s worth of stories, interviews, research, and observations that didn’t quite form the cohesive narrative I’d naively hoped they would. Instead, it was more like a series of snapshots documenting lives and careers in progress. It wasn’t quite a book, in other words, but it was still a story worth telling, and one that taught me a great deal about the sport I thought I knew pretty well. Over the next several weeks, I hope to tell that story to you. I hope that reading it will be as enlightening and entertaining for you as writing it has been for me.*****When they rattle off the relevant info about a guy like Brendan Schaub on a UFC broadcast, they say Denver. They say Denver because no one who isn’t local knows where the hell Wheat Ridge is, nor do they have much reason to. But it’s there, just off I-70, about a twenty minute drive west of downtown Denver and into the wide open spaces that make Colorado feel expansive in that hopelessly optimistic pioneer sense. Like a new start is still possible, maybe, if you don't get lost and die along the way.If you didn’t know where the Grudge Training Center was you’d drive right by it. Of course you would. Who’d even think to look for it there, nestled next to Walker’s Quality Cage and Feed in a little business park on Kipling Street? Up the street there’s a Winchell’s Donuts where old men gather in the morning to complain about the temperature of the coffee. Keep going and you’ll hit perhaps the most depressing Ramada Inn you’ve ever seen, right next to a bar with a handwritten sign on the door forbidding "biker colors." Inside that bar, another sign next to the cash register reminds bartenders that all fights "must be reported to the Wheat Ridge Police Department." It’s the kind of sign that, simply by existing, suggests the likelihood of it going ignored.January in Wheat Ridge, which sits nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, is an exercise in endurance. The snow falls in stinging pelts one minute and in thick sheets the next. A favorite pastime among Grudge fighters in winter is standing around the mats before morning training begins and trading harrowing tales from the drive over.On this particular winter morning, however, the 35-year-old Wittman has concerns that go beyond the inability of his Hummer to brake properly on an icy downhill. He’s getting sick. Maybe the flu. Maybe strep throat. Maybe nothing at all, but he can’t risk it. He also can’t stay home from the gym -- not with so many of his guys getting added to the UFC 128 fight card in March -- so he shows up to work this morning wearing a long-sleeve shirt, winter gloves, and a face and neck gator to cover his mouth and keep his possibly imaginary germs from spreading. It’s the kind of get-up that understandably gets second looks from guys like UFC heavyweight Schaub, who pokes his head into Wittman’s office on his way to the main training room later that morning. "What are you, a ninja now?" Schaub says.It gets a laugh from Wittman, who grew up in strip mall karate dojos and, as a kid, would have probably put down ‘ninja’ as his ideal profession. But one good crack deserves another, and these days the easiest way to rib Schaub is to crack on his rapidly swelling cauliflower ear, which bulges like an angry fist from the side of his head."Look at that thing," Wittman says. "Seriously, bro. It looks like a butt cheek."Schaub smiles and reaches up to touch the mass of skin and fluid. It’s gotten so sensitive, he says, that it wakes him up in the middle of the night if he happens to roll over it. It’s just the latest casualty on a face that was once so handsome, Wittman says."Every girl who came in here would always say to me, ‘That Brendan is fine,’" Wittman says, shaking his head. "Not going to happen anymore."According to Schaub’s best friend, fellow UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin, it’s the natural progression of a fighter’s face: "It just gets wider and flatter."Schaub is only eight fights into his pro career, and has only gone out of the first round twice. It’s not the fights that are transforming his body so much as the training, which he engages in obsessively. Even now, when he’s supposed to be just beginning his training camp for his fight with Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in March, he admits he’s "pretty wore out already."And why shouldn’t he be? On a typical day he might wake up early and drive the 40 minutes from his loft apartment in the Denver Tech Center up to Boulder to work with some wrestlers, then grab a quick bite to eat at Whole Foods before heading back down to Wheat Ridge to hit mitts with Wittman. After that’s over, maybe he’ll head to the gym with a friend of his who now plays in the NFL and jack some weights in an attempt to, as he puts it, "get those meathead days back."All this is why, a few weeks from now, his coaches will sit him down and give him an ultimatum: either take a few days off, or else find someone else to train you. Because the way he’s working himself into the ground, they’re tired of watching him take steps backwards. And he’ll agree, even though it brings him almost to tears. Then he’ll go home and do absolutely nothing, which both he and his girlfriend agree he is uncommonly good at."I shut it down like you wouldn’t believe," he says. Wittman concurs, calling Schaub one of the laziest people he’s ever seen..."when he’s not training."With a guy like Schaub, who asked the UFC for DVDs of all Cro Cop’s fights just so he could scare himself into the gym each day, overtraining is the biggest concern. There’s no question that he has the work ethic, Wittman says, but he’s killing himself in an attempt to become a champion overnight. The way Schaub sees it, he doesn’t have much choice."Some days it’s hard," he says. "Especially a sparring day where I’ve got Shane? I mean, Shane? Oh, man. It’s hard to get out of bed after that, but then I get up and drive an hour. Other guys miss it. Those are the guys working at Kinko’s and trying to be fighters, you know what I’m saying?" But Schaub, despite his obsessive tendencies, isn’t one of the guys Wittman really worries about. Neither is Carwin, who is so coachable that Wittman loves to tell the story of the day he brought a pink hula hoop into the gym and insisted that Carwin use it to improve his hip movement. The former NCAA wrestling champ put it around his waist and went to work without ever questioning it, Wittman says. Only when he looked up and saw that trademark grin on his trainer’s face did he begin to suspect that there might be a joke he was missing.These days, it’s Marquardt he’s most worried about. It’s Marquardt who, just last year, lost two number one contender bouts in two tries. And it’s not just that he lost -- face it, that’s bound to happen from time to time. It’s how he lost, and it’s his reaction, particularly to the decision loss against Yushin Okami in Germany, that worries Wittman the most."He just wouldn’t pull the trigger," Wittman says. "I was yelling at him to throw that kick. My voice was hoarse by the end of the night, and he just wouldn’t throw it. I was so upset."When Wittman walked into the cage at the end of the fight, the first thing Marquardt asked him was whether he thought the decision would go his way. No, Wittman told him. You didn’t win that fight. The look Marquardt gave him stopped him cold. A barely restrained frustration. A teenage boy’s smirking anger. Moments later the judges, much to Marquardt’s dismay, sided with Wittman."He told me after the fight, ‘T, I won that fight,’" Wittman says. "I told him, no you didn’t. ‘Yeah, but I got more takedowns.’ Yes, you did. ‘I landed the better counter-punches.’ Yes, but Okami looked like he wanted to fight more. He was pressing forward more. I told him, you can’t win a championship going backwards."In the locker room after the fight, Marquardt hung his head as the doctor peppered him with questions about how he felt, about what injuries he may have sustained in the fight. Marquardt didn’t say a word."Nate, he needs to know how you feel," Wittman recalls telling him."I feel fine," Marquardt shot back."Nate, you still think you won that fight?" Wittman asked him."Yes," Marquardt snapped. The Marquardt who Wittman sees in the gym come January is, in many ways, a man on a short fuse. Criticized by fans and media for a disappointing 1-2 showing in 2010, and called "a choker" by UFC president Dana White, he’s beginning to get fed up with it all. Wittman sees it. Marquardt’s always been quiet, a little aloof, like he’s drifting on the fringes of every conversation. He’s the one who, when Wittman tries his impossibly corny attempts at humor (like the day he wrote the word ‘video’ on a piece of duct tape and walked around with it on his chest during sparring, saying, "Get it? Video tape!" in an attempt to lighten the mood) just looks at his long-time trainer and gives him a smile that seems stuck somewhere between confusion and pity.Marquardt’s the one who, when stopping by the gym after returning from a trip to New York to train for a few days, leaves his wife and baby out front while he goes in the back to say hello to the guys. One thing leads to another and he ends up keeping time for guys who are sparring, giving advice between rounds, trading MMA war stories, generally enjoying being at the gym without suffering there for a change. The next thing he knows he’s been here for 40 minutes and his wife comes in, holding the baby in her arms, saying, "Did you forget we were out there?"Marquardt’s sheepish grin confirms that, yes, he did. Everyone but him breaks up laughing.But lately he’s seemed always right on the verge of frustration, like he's carrying the weight of all these missed opportunities and looking for a place where he can put them down and walk away. During training one day, Wittman shows him minor details to improve his work off the jab, and Marquardt returns moments later questioning it. There’s that look again. As if maybe they don’t quite trust each other the way they did six or seven years ago.Later, as Marquardt sits on the battered old sofa in the Grudge gym’s reception area (a sofa, by the way, that no one at Grudge seems to know the origin of, as if it was simply dropped off here one day by the sofa fairy) putting his socks and shoes back on, I make the mistake of asking whether it’s difficult for him not to become discouraged after such a rough year and so much public criticism from his boss and the media."Yeah, especially when people like you are asking me those questions, yeah, it makes it hard," he says. In fact, he explains, he’s recently begun to think that it’s all these interviews that are messing with his mental game. Not only does it take away valuable recovery time to do phoners with every MMA media dot-com in existence before each fight, it also requires exposing himself to the potentially harmful opinions of others."When you get asked the same question, it ingrains in you what everyone else thinks you should do. I don’t care what people think. I can’t worry about that," he says. "That’s one of the things I’m going change from the last fight. I did so many damn interviews and I got reporters asking me the same stupid questions over and over. Honestly, I don’t need that. I can do a few interviews and have the same impact as far as my media presence. They ask the same questions. Seriously. Every single one of my interviews I could have overlapped it with every other one."Not that Wittman would ever argue with a fighter who feels like he could use a little less media exposure. But remarks like these only increase his concern that Marquardt’s real problem might be his tendency to look for outside explanations for his troubles rather than looking within himself. There’s perhaps no better example of this than "the TRT stuff."As in, testosterone replacement therapy. As in, the TRT stuff that will eventually tear their working relationship and their friendship apart. The TRT stuff that will set off a chain of events that threatens both men’s livelihoods. The TRT stuff that will make sure neither end this year in even remotely the same place as they started it.But all that is still in the future, and they have no idea it’s coming. For now, the goal is only to win, to find out whatever caused last year’s decline -- a year in which the gym lost two number one contender fights and one UFC heavyweight title fight -- and turn it around quick. Because the fights in March will be here before they know it. And in this sport, the only thing that seems to matter more than the last fight is the next one.

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Wednesday was looking like a pretty slow news day right up until the moment it wasn't. Two announcements later and the MMA community had experienced a minor explosion. Within a span of a few hours, UFC 146 transformed from a solid card to one of the year's best lineups (and perhaps one of the best in recent memory). What we now had was a heavyweight extravaganza, sporting a mammoth title fight (dos Santos vs. Overeem), a solid number-one contenders bout (Velasquez vs. Mir), and a slobber-knocker duel between lower contenders (Silva vs. Nelson). Score one for the big guys. Around this time, various commentators on this site starting referring to the Memorial Day weekend event as a theme card, the likes of which we haven't seen in quite a while. But why? While booking all heavies surely doesn't do much in the way of diversity, it certainly seems like a cool way to keep a division running smoothly. No more waiting around for everyone's timetable to match up. Instead just have the top six or eight guys slug it out on the same night. Winners fight winners as soon as possible. Everything keeps flowing, unlike some divisions (I'm looking at you, lightweight). Of course, overuse of this would probably get a little boring. But every once in a while, why not just throw a theme card out there to get people's blood pumping? Besides, multiple hours of heavyweight violence is an idea I think most of us can get behind. 5 MUST-READ STORIES Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir set for UFC 146. Velasquez and Mir have agreed to meet in a Memorial Day weekend match-up to determine the UFC heavyweight division's next number-one contender. Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva vs. Roy Nelson slated for UFC 146. Roy Nelson's drop to 205 pounds may seem inevitable at this point, but right now he's still a heavyweight. So what better way for him to go out than by taking on a giant of a man on the year's premier heavyweight card? Josh Koscheck: If AKA had real coaches, it would have produced more champions. Koscheck blasts his former coaches at American Kickboxing Academy, before discussing his new gym and his upcoming fight against Johny Hendricks. Michael Chandler vs. Akihiro Gono booked for Bellator 67. Bellator's latest "superfight" sees lightweight champion Michael Chandler take on PRIDE/UFC veteran Akihiro Gono on May 4 in Ontario, Canada. Pat Barry planning on letting hair grow until he submits someone in UFC. Ariel Helwani caught up with the always-entertaining Pat Barry and somehow the conversation turned to pizza and haircuts. COUNTDOWN TO A SLIMMER ROY NELSON Started (on March 4th): 32,000 likes.Yesterday's mark: 92,183 likes.As of this writing: 97,282 likes.Goal (by March 18th): 132,000 likes. MEDIA STEW Watch as The Ultimate Fighter 15 coaches Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber go to war at UFC 132's contentious championship match that, even to this day, each man still believes he won. (via UFC.tv) Click the image to watch. Our own Ariel Helwani found himself embroiled in the latest MMA judging controversy on UFC Tonight's "Fighter vs. Writer." Take a look at Myles Jury, one of TUF 15's early favorites, as he takes on Tyronne Holmes at KOTC: Encore. (Check out the bonus cameo by referee Cecil Peoples.) Joe Lauzon provides some refreshing perspective on this final UFC 144 vlog, which documents the before and after of his fight with Anthony Pettis. Click the image to watch. AND IT BEGINS Now May 5 is coming! Mr lucky punch Jonny was a fat lil boy yesterday in NYC. Better get training kid! Bc I am in shape& it's not round! — Josh Koscheck (@JoshKoscheck) March 8, 2012 STEALING A PAGE FROM SONNEN WANTED: no work ethic, no cardio, terrible striking and limited ground game. Brazilians, please send fight applications to Joe Silva. — Mike Pierce (@MikePierce170) March 8, 2012 FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS Announced yesterday (Wednesday, March 7, 2012): - UFC 146: Cain Velasquez (9-1) vs. Frank Mir (16-5) for number-one contender spot - UFC 146: Roy Nelson (16-7) vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (16-3) - Bellator 67: Michael Chandler vs. Akihiro Gono (32-17-7), non-title "super-fight" - Bellator 67: Ryan Ford (17-4) vs. Luis Santos (50-7) FANPOST OF THE DAY Today's Fanpost of the Day goes to BE's Tim Bernier: Spring Break - Analysis of UFC's First Quarter of 2012 Looking Ahead The UFC doesn't hold another event until April 14th. Until then, TUF has to hold us over, but once we get there, it should be great. The UFC has 8 scheduled events for April, May, and June. Five of those are free, and three are Pay Per Views. In the three Pay Per Views, we get to see three Title Fights as Jon Jones finally fights Rashad Evans (one of them will probably get injured and have to pull out though), then the epic Heavyweight fight between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, and finally the long awaited rematch between Chael P. Sonnen and Anderson Silva-in Brazil, no less. The UFC better hire extra security. If you thought the "You're gonna die" chants directed at Chad Mendes were crazy, just wait til they see Sonnen. UFC 145 and 147 are both going to do more than 500,000 buys, which the UFC is starving for. 146 is a total wildcard since we have no idea how well JDS or AO will draw. In terms of free events, the UFC will continue to kill it. We're getting 50 to 60 free fights in the next three months. Just think about that for a second. Has this ever happened in UFC or MMA history? Found something entertaining, brutal, or bizarre you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just send it to @shaunalshatti and we'll include it in tomorrow's post.

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As the first 135-pound champion in UFC history, Dominick Cruz is an established star in the sport, far removed from those days when he wondered where the next paycheck was coming from or whether this dream of making prizefighting his career was going to pan out. That doesn’t mean he’s forgotten what it means to struggle though, and it’s that ability to put himself back in that mindset that made him the perfect choice to coach alongside his longtime rival Urijah Faber on the new season of The Ultimate Fighter, which premieres this Friday night on FX.“Fortunately, you never forget how that feels,” said the bantamweight boss. “When you forget how that feels, you kinda lose yourself and you change into somebody else. So I make it a point to never forget to be that person, and I definitely know how it feels, and that’s why I make it a big focus that these guys are gonna get a hundred percent of me. A lot of these guys put it all on the line and they’ve all sacrificed something big to be in this position. So I definitely know how they feel, and it’s gonna be a good time being able to help these guys out.”It’s been a long road for Cruz to get here, despite him being just 26 years old, but he’s paid his dues, fighting it out on the local circuit until getting called to challenge Faber for the WEC 145-pound crown in March 2007. Cruz would get submitted in 98 seconds by “The California Kid” that night, kicking off the rivalry that continues to this day. It had subsided a little, at least on Cruz’ side, considering that he evened the score with a five round win over Faber in their UFC 132 rematch last July, but tensions have started to rise again with the show and their rubber match just around the corner. And to add to matters, Cruz and Faber are likely to see each other almost every day as they prepare for battle, a different scenario to say the least.“I don’t really know how you necessarily prepare for it and I don’t really know if it’s gonna be weird or not,” said Cruz. “This is one of those things that nobody’s ever been through, so you can’t really get advice on the live portion of this thing. But at the same time, other coaches have seen the guy that they’re fighting on the show the whole time and it hasn’t been an issue. So I know that I’ll be just fine. Me and Faber are professionals, we’ll go in there and do our jobs as coaches and at the end of the day we’ll go home and get our training done on our own. The only downside to it is looking at his goofy mug all day long and hearing him talk. Other than that, it’s just another day.”To get him through those days in the gym and to aid him with the eight hopefuls that will be on his team on TUF, Cruz has brought in his coaches and teammates from San Diego’s Team Alliance: Eric Del Fierro, Phil Davis, Shannon Slack, Doug Balzarini, and Ross Pearson, and he expects to have some guest coaches in as well. As for who those eight team members might be, he has to wait with everyone else until the 32 finalists fight each other on Friday night and trim the roster down to 16. Then it’s up to him and Faber to choose their squads. Cruz has started looking at the first 32 though.“I’ve looked at some guys for sure, and I know a couple of the guys on the show, so I know what some of these guys are capable of, and some I know nothing about,” he said. “But that’s kind of the fun of this whole situation is that not only do you not know what they’re going to throw at you on that first preliminary day in terms of what the format’s going to be like, but you’re kinda taking the entire situation as it comes. I’m just gonna watch these guys throw down and see the attributes that they show in that tough situation, no pun intended, and I’m just gonna make my decisions there.”Yet whoever ends up on Team Cruz, expect the coach to do the same things he’s been doing in the Alliance Gym: not just working to make himself better, but to set a good example for his teammates, just like a true champion should. It’s a responsibility he’s taken seriously ever since putting the belt around his waist, and many of his high-profile teammates, including Davis, Brandon Vera, and Mike Easton have noted Cruz’ qualities as a leader.“The idea behind that is that most people don’t even choose to be a leader,” Cruz explains. “You become a leader by example. How do you become a leader to a guy like Brandon Vera, who has had the career he’s had in the UFC, and done the things that he’s done? Look at Phil Davis, he’s a four-time All-American at one of the most elite wrestling schools in the country, and to become a leader to somebody like that, you don’t go out and choose to be their leader; they choose you, and that happens by leading by example. And that’s what I do and that’s what I plan on doing on this TUF show. Anything I ask these guys to do, they’re gonna know I’ve done it either twice as much, twice as hard, or exactly as many times as them. And that’s exactly how you lead a group of guys like this. You show them how it’s done, and then they follow.”You also check your ego at the door. And as much as Cruz wants to get the mental jump on Faber, and Faber wants to do the same on Cruz, when it’s time to practice, you can’t be the champion in the ivory tower; you’ve got to put your gloves on, your mouthpiece in, and work just like everyone else in that gym. “The Dominator” embraces that idea, believing that it’s a return to the days before he even thought of stepping in the cage.“It might be weird for people to think about, but this is a huge learning experience for me,” said Cruz. “As you said, I am established, but I’m still young and I still have tons that I can learn. A lot of these guys that are gonna be on the show, I guarantee you that I can learn something from every single one of them. What I can show them is how to deal with the nerves, deal with the spotlight, deal with being on the UFC stage, and I can also teach them some of the greater attributes of being a full MMA fighter from head to toe in the sense of style and how to mix combinations together and punches and kicks and everything like that. But I’m looking forward to learning how to deal with people that I’ve never met in my life and coaching them from the beginning. That’s like going back to my old coaching days when I first started, so it brings me back to the beginning of my career really, and it’s almost like full circle. When I started fighting I was coaching a high school wrestling team. One of my wrestlers said ‘you’ve got to get in the gym and try this out,’ and I went with him and the next thing you know, I’m fighting. Now I’m right back at the beginning where I started, I’m coaching, I’m helping guys out, and I’ve got no problem with that. I’m looking forward to it.”

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Four fighters were handed indefinite medical suspensions by the Ohio Athletic Commission following Saturday's Strikeforce Tate vs. Rousey card. Former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Miesha Tate obviously leads the list after her left elbow was mangled by new champ Ronda Rousey. In addition to that, three fighters have suspected broken hands - Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (Kid Nate posted about that earlier), Conor Heun, and Roger Bowling. All four can have their suspensions lifted in cleared by doctors. Here are the other fighters that received longer suspensions from the commission: Kazuo Misaki: Suspended 45 days to due a facial lacerationAlexis Davis: Suspended 30 days to due a facial lacerationPat Healy: Suspended 30 days to due a head lacerationBrandon Saling: Suspended 30 days for precautionary reasons Every other fighter on the card was given a seven day suspension, which is standard practice by the Ohio Athletic Commission. SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey

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Strikeforce medical suspensions and injuries for the "Tate vs. Rousey" event on March 3 in Columbus were released earlier today by the Ohio Athletic Commission (CSAC) for the Showtime telecast held last Saturday night at the Nationwide Arena. Former women's 135-pound champion Miesha Tate, as expected, will be out of action indefinitely after suffering a severe elbow injury during her armbar submission loss to new division champion, Ronda Rousey. Joining her on the injured reserves is former middleweight champion Ronaldo Souza. "Jacare" busted his mitt by repeatedly smashing it against Bristol Marunde's face. Welterweight Roger Bowling and lightweight Conor Heun also hurt their hands this weekend and have no current timetable for return. But that's not all. Here are the complete Strikeforce: "Tate vs. Rousey" medical suspensions and injuries (via MMA Fighting): Miesha Tate: Indefinite suspension (elbow injury)Ronaldo Souza: Indefinite suspension (hand injury)Roger Bowling: Indefinite suspension (hand injury)Conor Heun: Indefinite suspension (hand injury)Kazuo Misaki: 45 days (facial laceration)Pat Healy: 30 days (head laceration)Alexis Davis: 30 days (facial laceration)Brandon Saling: 30 days (precautionary reasons) Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For a more detailed recap on the fight between Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey click here and for complete Strikeforce: "Tate vs. Rousey" results and detailed blow-by-blow commentary of the televised main card fights click here.

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The Ohio Athletic Commission has released the medical suspensions and drug test findings from Saturday night’s Strikeforce: “Tate vs. Rousey.” Leading the medical suspensions were Miesha Tate (elbow), Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (broken hand), Roger Bowling (possible broken hand), and Conor Heun (possible broken hand), all of which were suspended indefinitely until cleared by a doctor. Four fighters were randomly tested for performance enhancing drugs and drugs of abuse from Saturday’s card as well. The OAC reported that all of the participants passed. However, late-replacement Bristol Marunde’s tests are pending due to being granted a therapeutic use exemption(TUE) for testosterone. Marunde was not a part of the random screening but must submit to increased testing due to his TUE. Full Medical Suspensions (all fighters suspended seven days): Miesha Tate – suspended indefinitely (elbow) Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza – suspended indefinitely (broken hand) Roger Bowling – suspended indefinitely (possible broken hand) Conor Heun – suspended indefinitely (possible broken hand) Kazuo Misaki – suspended 45 days (facial laceration) Alexis Davis – suspended 30 days (facial laceration) Pat Healy – suspended 30 days (head laceration) Brandon Saling – suspended 30 days (precautionary reasons)

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Miesha Tate and three others received indefinite medical suspensions in the aftermath of Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey, the Ohio Athletic Commission confirmed to MMAFighting.com on Monday. Tate, the former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion, appeared to injure her left arm while defending two grisly armbar attempts during her headlining loss to Ronda Rousey. "Takedown" later revealed to MMAFighting.com that her arm was not broken, miraculously, and she was awaiting further MRI results to discover the extent of the damage. Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, and undercard participants Roger Bowling and Conor Heun also received indefinite suspensions for various hand injuries. Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey took place Saturday, March 3, 2012 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio and aired live on Showtime and Showtime Extreme. Additionally, PRIDE veteran Kazuo Misaki received a 45-day suspension due to minor facial damage, and Pat Healy, Alexis Davis, and Brandon Saling each received 30-day suspensions for assorted injuries. The official Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey medical suspension report can be read below: Miesha Tate: Indefinite suspension - elbow injuryRonaldo Souza: Indefinite suspension - hand injuryRoger Bowling: Indefinite suspension - hand injuryConor Heun: Indefinite suspension - hand injuryKazuo Misaki: 45 days - facial lacerationPat Healy: 30 days - head lacerationAlexis Davis: 30 days - facial lacerationBrandon Saling: 30 days - precautionary reasons

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Newly crowned Strikeforce bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey may appear to have ice water running through her veins but beneath her hardened demeanor she is a human being like the rest of us. Such a notion came to light last weekend in a pre-fight interview package where Rousey spoke about her roots, specifically in regards to the impact her father had on her life despite his untimely passing when she was still in elementary school. “I was first a swimmer. I was swimming when I was six. That was the thing me and my Dad did together. I remember my dad scooping me out of bad at 4:00 AM, just throwing me in the car and driving to swim meets. He always told me, ‘You’re going to win the Olympics one day,’” Rousey explained before adding that she lost passion for it when he died a few years later. However, while Rousey gave up swimming based it wasn’t long until she was doing proverbial laps around competition on the mat after deciding to tag along with her mother, accomplished judoka Ann Maria Damars, on a visit to the gym of a friend. “When I was ten or so my mom went to go visit her old teammates who opened up schools of their own. I went and tried it one day. I still had that mindset my dad gave me that if I was going to do something I’m going to be the best in the world,” revealed Rousey, saying she immediately put it in her mind that she would one day be an Olympian herself. As time would tell she not only made it to the games but won a medal as well becoming the first American woman to do so in the sport. “I feel like everything happens for a reason because I never would have started judo if my dad hadn’t died…And this is where life has been steering me since the very beginning and this is why all these things have happened. I promised him one day I’d be the best in the world at something and I just really wish that he was here to see it.” After her success on Saturday night against Miesha Tate there’s no doubt her father would have been a proud papa, as Rousey solidified her position as one of the top 135ers in the world and possibly #1 depending on how the remainder of her 2012 unfolds. Watch the full, emotional interview below: PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

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UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson went down last Saturday night in Japan and, today, the promotion released the full medical suspensions list from the event. Since the fight card was held overseas in the absence of an athletic commission, the UFC employed its own pseudo-athletic commission working within the guidelines set forth thereof by the state of Nevada. Main card battlers Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson were given 180-day suspensions for their efforts; Henderson for possible fractures of both hands and his left foot and Jackson for a possible nasal fracture. Both men can be cleared after turning in a negative x-ray. Preliminary card fighter Eiji Mitsuoka also got hit with a 180-day suspension pending a negative x-ray for for a possible nasal fracture. All three fighters were given minimum suspensions of 45 days with 30 days of no contact. Losing fighters Tiequan Zhang, Joe Lauzon, Yushin Okami, Cheick Kongo and Frankie Edgar were all given 45-day suspensions with 30 days of no contact. Tim Boetsch took home the lightest suspension at 30 days with 21 days of no contact. UFC 144 went down on February 26 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

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Every dog has his day and in the case of UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit that was Wed., Feb. 29, 2012, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "The Natural Born Killer" spent his day doing media, participating in a ceremony with Mayor Richard Berry, and hitting up a basketball game, all while lugging around his belt. Not much in the way of actual MMA content, save for the fact that Condit believes Jake Ellenberger is next in line if Georges St. Pierre doesn't recover from his injury before the year is out. Music to "The Juggernaut's" ears, I'm sure. In the meantime, enjoy a shaky camera following Condit along on a tour of the city he's now champion of. Kind of.

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has issued its list of medical suspensions for UFC 144: "Edgar vs. Henderson," which took place on Sat., Feb. 25, 2012, from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. With no athletic commission to oversee the event, the UFC handles the medical suspensions and models its regulation practices in accordance with the standards set by Nevada and New Jersey. With several violent bouts on the card, including Ben Henderson and Frankie Edgar kicking the crap out of each other for 25 minutes on the pay-per-view (PPV) portion of the mixed martial arts (MMA) event, there were quite a few fighters who were flagged for follow up visits to their doctors. Cheif among them is Henderson, who is out for 180 days unless cleared by a physician for potential injuries to both his hands and his left foot after sending all of the above crashing into Edgar's skull during their lightweight championship main event. And he's the guy who won. Also getting slapped with a six-month suspension was Quinton Jackson, who once again needs to have his knee cleared by a doctor before he can return to action. Just forget about that whole testosterone thing. But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC 144 injuries and their medical instructions (via MMA.tv): Zhang Tiequan: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact Eiji Mitsuoka: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact. 180 days or negative nasal x-ray for possible fracture Joe Lauzon: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact Tim Boetsch: 30 days no contest; 21 days no contact Yushin Okami: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact Cheick Kongo: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact Quinton Jackson: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact. 180 days or right knee cleared by orthopedic doctor Ben Henderson: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact. 180 days or negative x-ray of both hands and left foot for possible fracture Frankie Edgar: 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For a complete wrap up of all the UFC 144 fight weekend festivities click here.

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It seems there is some crazy old school tradition in quite a few countries that today is the day your girlfriend is allowed to propose to you guys. I'm sorry to scare you all like this-but it's better to know the danger you might be in for today then not. So, consider this a friendly public service announcement from MiddleEasy.com: Please if you live with your girlfriend get out of the house now. Go into work early. If you don't work- just make up some story about having to go help your grandmother move furniture all day or make an appointment for an all day sleep apnea study. Whatever you do, just don't go back to the house or have any contact with your girlfriend until after this day is over. If you absolutely can not leave the house and are forced to be with your grilfriend today, just play her this video of an always smiling Bendo hanging out and practicing Tae Kwon Do with some kids in Korea. Upon seeing this video she will probably fall in love with Bendo and forget all about her plans to try and trap you into a life of diaper changing, mini van driving hell afterall. As a matter of fact, in order to ensure complete success in avoiding an imasculating proposal of marriage from your girlfriend-just hit play on this video and run out of the house now. 

Posted in: day, video, girlfriend, house, bendo

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A lot of fighters fluctuate in weight and like to let themselves go a bit in between fights and almost all of them take a bit off time off between training camps to recuperate, recover and generally take it easy. Not Yodsanan Sityodtong. He has been competing at the same weight for at least 15 years, from the day he won the PABA Super Featherweight Title in 1997, to the day he took home the WBA Super Featherweight Title in 2002, to the day he made his MMA debut in 2011 he has remained at 135-pounds. It is an achievement made even more remarkable because Yodsanan's knock out power has remained with him throughout his career. He has an incredible boxing record of 57-3-1 and has won 50 of his last 51 fights with two of those three losses coming in his first year as a pro. He did briefly move up to 140 lbs in 2009 to claim the Australasian Light Welterweight title but had no problem getting back down to 135 lbs last September to destroy Daniel Mashamaite at ONE FC 1. He celebrated his 37th birthday last year but believes he has more longevity than most because of the care he has taken of his body. "I have never smoked or drank alcohol in my entire life. I have also never had a break from training in my whole life. I still run every day as I did when I was a child at Sityodtong Camp, I have never stopped. So even though I am 37 years old my body is still young and strong." There is often cynicism when a world class boxer announces they are transitioning to MMA. Fans are inclined to suspect them of simply jumping on the bandwagon with a view to picking up a James Toney style pay day. However Yodsanan finished his boxing career in a high, stopping all of his last nine opponents and is far from being past his prime. Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai - Boxing Highlight (via champchannel) He is now totally committed to his MMA career and is training every day with the team of world champion trainers at Evolve MMA in Singapore. As well as being a renowned boxer Yodsanan also has plenty of Muay Thai experience and is being nurtured as a mixed martial artist by the likes of renowned wrestling coach Heath Sims and BJJ Mundials winner Rafael "Gordinho" Correa de Lima. It is the perfect university for him to graduate from being an accomplished stand up fighter to a well rounded mixed martial artist and he has also been training alongside the likes of Shinya Aoki, Eddie Ng and Zorobabel Moreira. However Yodsanan was not rushed into his MMA debut at ONE FC 1 last September, in fact he had been preparing for well over a year. "I have been training MMA for about two years. I have over 60 professional boxing fights and over 60 professional Muay Thai fights so I have been focusing a lot on my wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Heath Sims, our new wrestling coach, has been a big help to me and everyone on the Evolve Fight Team. I train six days a week so I am fit all year round even if I have no fight coming up." ONE Fighting Championship's rise has been meteoric with shows booked in major cities all over Asia and a broadcast deal which puts it in at least 24 countries and Yodsanan looks set to be one of the organization's stars. Only a knee injury sustained during wrestling practise kept him from competing at the Jakarta show earlier this month and now that he is fully fit again matchmakers have slotted him straight into the second Singapore card. Yodsanan is currently halfway through an intensive eight week training camp in preparation for his next MMA fight at ONE FC 2 on March 31st. He will once again be fighting at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and is confident he will make an even better impression than he did on his debut, "My opponent is confirmed but I cannot discuss anything until ONE FC releases the fight card. I was nervous before my MMA debut and I hope to perform better on March 31. I want to fight as many times as possible in 2012, I want to be very active as a fighter. MMA is my career now." Mashamaite came into the fight with Yodsanan with more MMA experience and a strong background in Muay Thai but he wanted no part of the stand up exchanges and shot for the takedown at the earliest opportunity. This will probably be the blueprint for future opponents because no-one in the bantamweight division is going to want to trade punches with a world champion boxer. "I have adapted my style for MMA, but my KO power is still there. I love to knock people out, it is my specialty." Yodsanan Sityodtong vs. Daniel Mashamaite (via officialsherdog) A lot of MMA fighters talk the talk when it comes to having knockout punching power but with 47 KOs to his name at an elite level of professional boxing Yodsanan well and truly walks the walk. He is probably pound for pound the best boxer in MMA today and age doesn't appear to be in any danger of catching up with him anytime soon. He is also surrounded by some of the top trainers and fighters in the world at Evolve MMA and it is an environment in which he should flourish because he will continue to improve regardless of whether he has a fight booked. Yodsanan has won more than his fair share of silverware but is far from content to sit back and reflect on his illustrious career to date, his focus is firmly on the future, "I love it here. Evolve MMA is my family and I have known Chatri (the owner) for over 20 years from our days together at Sityodtong Camp in Pattaya. Here in Singapore I am getting the best training in the world and 7,000 people buy tickets to come and watch me fight, that makes me so happy and excited about MMA, I love this new sport." www.twitter.com/jamesgoyder

Posted in: fight, mma, day, year, yodsanan

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More FIGHT DAY Video clips! Fight Day Live is back today (5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT). The UFC's official pre-show, hosted by Dave Farra and Megan Olivi, will prepare you for all the fighting action at UFC 144 including the … Continue reading →

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Day five in Tokyo was a long day including a Q&A with Georges St-Pierre and a Japanese Shooto show ahead of UFC 144 on Sportsnet at 8pm ET / 5pm PT.

Posted in: day, pm, shooto, georges stpierre, japan day

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Don't miss UFC 144 Fight Day Live at a special start time of 5:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday night leading into the promotion's big return to Japan.

Posted in: ufc, saturday night, day, saturday, saturday dont

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UFC President Dana White presents the 2nd day of his UFC 144 blog as he gets ready for the UFC's return to Japan.

Posted in: ufc, day, dana, blog, ufcs return

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UFC 144: Edgar vs. HendersonSetting up the Saitama Super Arena for the Rampage vs Bader, Edgar vs Henderson fight saturday night. Arena is Bad Ass pic.twitter.com/6iGicYKs  -Dana White ‏ Getting mad love and support on twitter. Thank you all so much!  -Frankie Edgar ‏ I LOVE ALL MY FAM, FRIENDS, & FANS!!! Lets go!!! Thanks 4 the LOVE & SUPPORT...the goal is the BELT but I've loved every step of the journey  -Benson Henderson ‏ I'm the 1 fighting n front of millions,I have the right 2 get mad if someone is dogging my style,non fighters won't understand. 2da lamefans  -Quinton Jackson ‏Here at harajuku with the boys @ufc 144 @RayRgs79 @cbdollaway @Kingsbu #UFC144 pic.twitter.com/f4g7e2GO  -Ryan Bader ‏@wolfslairgym is our T E A M . @rampage4real is my B R O TH E R . We are F A M I L Y UFC 144 - Japan . twitpic.com/8mlvxo  -Cheick Kongo ‏Japan here we come!! instagr.am/p/HQ-o1SooM7/  -Jake Shields ‏Great training session this morning, weight is Great and my mind is right where it needs to be!!! Gonna have the performance of my life!!!  -Anthony Pettis ‏Finished media for the day and witnessed an amazing conversation between Mark Hunt and @iamCheickKongo. Their #accents are amazing.  -Joe Lauzon ‏Thank you everyone, gonna be like 99.9% out of touch till after the fight. Thanks for all support and we'll talk soon. #bartimuslegion  -Bart Palaszewski ‏ Good morning! Have nice day Everybody  -Yoshihiro AkiyamaYves Hates Redundancy & Loathes Extraneous RepetitivenessMy new most hated redundant term is "interconnected". If you use this word I want to interconnect my left shin to your head. >:(   -Yves Edwards ‏ Pat Barry’s Personal Fear FactorJUST GOT HERE, ABOUT TO EAT CEVAPI!!! moby.to/2pifc6  -Pat Barry ‏wtf is cevapi?  -Stefan Struve ‏ NO CLUE! IT MIGHT BE BAKED FISH SCALES OR FOOT SOUP!!! DON'T KNOW BUT EVERYBODY KEEPS TELLING ME TO HAVE IT!!!   -Pat Barry ‏lol @ foot soup Well I just hope you live another day brotha  -Stefan Struve ‏ Why Forrest Never Became a Contractor Yogurt can be a very effective flame retardant. I'm currently lining my attic with it  -Forrest Griffin ‏ Tim Kennedy’s Not Like the Rest of UsHome invasion by terrorists, surviving the zombie apocalypse, tracking serial killers, being mugged by a biker gang. #WhatHelpsMeSleep  -Tim Kennedy ‏Miesha and Ronda: No Love LostI'm about to go for a run, 3rd workout if the day, I'll sleep like a baby knowing I'm ensuring the #RouseyStomp  -Miesha Tate ‏@MieshaTate look up "lame" and "cliché" too when you get your new dictionary -Ronda Rousey ‏Social Networking Mind ControlFacebook is forcing me to do things I don't want to do.  -Quinn Mulhern ‏UFC Beauty Pageant?Ok I kno I'm In Utah wearing a @UFC shirt but @RamseyNijem ??? Really??? C'mon!! Hes a cool dude but I'm 10x better looking. -Danny Castillo ‏ Someone thought @lastcall155 was me. I'm insulted but he thinks he's better lookin than me. What do you guys think? -Ramsey Nijem ‏ @RamseyNijem so far the count is 2-0-1! #SorryHomie  -Danny Castillo ‏

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Former light heavyweight champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson talks to HeavyMMA's Megan Olivi in Tokyo about his return to Japan for the first time since his Pride days.

Posted in: rampage, jackson, day, quinton, heavymma

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To say Josh Thomson had a rough go of late would be putting things mildly. For too long the former king of Strikeforce's lightweight division could do nothing but watch as his stock plummeted under a cascade of injuries and fatigue, relegating him to the sidelines and slashing years out of the small window of his career. Now, just ten days out from Thomson's first appearance in fourteen months, a co-headlining bout against K.J. Noons at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey, he revealed that the ingredients for his physical breakdown started simmering far earlier than anyone could have imagined. "In my (Pat) Healy fight, in my JZ (Cavalcante) fight, and obviously with the (Tatsuya) Kawajiri fight, I just felt flat," he confessed on Tuesday conference call. "Sure, I had the conditioning, the muscle endurance, all that stuff to go, but I didn't feel strong. I didn't feel at my top game like I did when I was on my eight fight win streak." So when yet another injury forced Thomson out of a match-up with Maximo Blanco in September, the 33-year-old knew it was time to reexamine his process. There had to be a reason behind this. Something a drastic as four fights since September 2008 doesn't just happen. As it turned out, Thomson had been his own worst enemy. "I was doing ... four workouts a day, three days a week, and I just noticed I was getting hurt and injured a lot, and my body was just breaking down," he explained. "I just kind of weaned back on a couple of the things I felt weren't as important in this camp." If Thomson's presence in Tuesday's conference was any indication, the revamped training program has thus far proven to be successful. By his own admission, the Californian looks and feels better than he has in years. Still, the athletic world is bathed in superstition, and even the smallest change in regimen can raise doubt. In Thomson's case, however, the prospect of a revitalized career left him with little choice. "I'm a little nervous in doing something this different against somebody like K.J., given all his experience -- you know he's been in the cage with some top guys -- but we felt like it was something that had to be done," he finished. "Obviously I've spent half my career on the shelf because of injuries, so we really cut back on the workload ... and hopefully that pays off."

Posted in: fight, day, i didnt, thomson, josh thomson

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Day 1 in Japan for UFC 144: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Japan, …

Posted in: ufc, day, showdown, japan, tokyo

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Day 1 in Japan for UFC 144: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Japan, ...

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Everyone goes through tough times in their lives and careers. For King Mo Lawal, that time seems to be now. He recently tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, underwent ACL surgery and even worse, battled a potentially life-threatening staph infection that put him in the hospital for 12 days. Here’s King Mo telling that scary story to Cage Potato: “I was in the hospital for 12 days and I had five procedures to remove the staph infection from my knee. I didn’t even know there was anything wrong until I came back from Brazil, and my knee was swollen. I couldn’t flex my leg or bend it. That’s when I started doing this rehab stuff after taking the S-Mass Lean Gainer, because that was like my rehab supplement. It’s supposed to be like NO-explode. So I was taking that for a week, and I was like ‘Man, it’s not working.’ My knee was still swollen, and I couldn’t flex my leg. I went to the [orthopedic surgeon] and got my knee drained and got the ‘rooster cartilage’ [orthovisc] injected in. I went for an MRI and [the doctor] told me that my cartilage looked very unstable and that I had torn my ACL. The funny thing is, he said I could have torn it a long time ago, because when he drained my knee, there was no blood there. He told me my ACL was torn and I was gonna need a new one. After the fight, I had the surgery. A week passed, I was doing rehab a little ahead of schedule, and all the sudden my leg started feeling hot and I had these two golf ball-sized welts on my knee.” “It was the day of the Evans/Davis fight. I called the doctor and told him my leg was hot and I had these golf ball lumps on my knee, so he says ‘Come to the office and we’ll check it out.’ He drained my knee, and the blood was like Ghostbusters ectoplasm. It was thick and gooey. He took the blood to the lab, and I went home to watch the fights. Right after Sonnen-Bisping, I got a phone call. ‘Mo, meet me at the hospital now.’ He said ‘We have to take you under right now to clean out the infection in your knee.’ So they took me to surgery and cleaned it out. I wake up, and I have a PICC line in my arm that’s attached to my heart. I didn’t think it was that bad and that I was gonna leave Sunday. The doctor said he was keeping me until Monday. Monday comes, and my temperature shot up to 103 or 104, and my knee was still swollen. They took me back into surgery and cleaned it out again. He did the same procedures every other day, depending on how it looked and how my temperature was.” Rumors have persisted that the ordeal ravaged King Mo financially since it fell outside Zuffa’s accidental insurance coverage, but he insists those rumors aren’t true. He says “it’s taken care of,” implying that Zuffa stepped up and paid for it even though the injury and subsequent staph infection didn’t directly originate from an official fight. Lawal is still dealing with a steroid suspension, but at least his health is on the right track again. A 12-month suspension is just a minor roadblock compared to not having his health or worse. Image via Dave Mandel for Sherdog

Posted in: day, knee, surgery, mo, infection

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How do you describe UFC welterweight fighter Nick Diaz? Crazy is the first word that pops into my head. I realize that's an unfair characterization, mostly because it's far too dismissive, but that's the result I get from a word association game. UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre once called him "fake crazy," essentially acknowledging the fact that Diaz's behavior, while erratic, is mostly artificial, or at least it's played up to a degree not seen in most. There's no real way to prove this but it's difficult to argue. For his part, Diaz maintains that he's not crazy, it's everyone else who is out of their minds. All we can go on is what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears. To that end, Diaz's track record speaks for itself. Since making his way back to the UFC from Strikeforce, where he reigned as the welterweight champion, his career has been an up and down roller coaster ride. We here at MMAmania.com were there every step of the way to document the insanity. From the moment he was booked to fight Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137 to the day we learned he failed his UFC 143 drug test, we've had it covered. There was so much that happened in such a short time span, I thought it would be interesting to go back and document the timeline of events that took Diaz from the peak of the sport, ready to challenge one of the pound-for-pound greatest fighters of all time, to the depths of despair, about to be suspended for one year for getting busted smoking pot. Strap in, folks, this is going to be quite a ride. May 1, 2011: We'll start this tale on the first day of May of last year. It was the day after UFC 129: "St. Pierre vs. Shields" where "GSP" had just put Jake Shields in his place with only one operating eyeball. The significance of the victory was masked by poor performances from both men but it opened the door for Diaz to slide his way over from Strikeforce for a superfight against St. Pierre, something Dana White openly acknowledged was possible for the first time on this day. Even Shields said he was hoping that was the course of action UFC would take. May 6, 2011: While Diaz was openly calling for a fight against St. Pierre, he was still under contract with Strikeforce. The terms of his deal dictated that he could pursue opportunities in boxing if he so pleased, which was something he had been pining for long before he was ever calling out any French-Canadians. Diaz was flirting with multiple potential opponents for his first foray into the squared circle and on this day it was revealed that he found a taker to sign on the dotted line in the form of former IBF super-middleweight champion Jeff Lacy. It appeared as though a superfight -- and maybe Diaz's MMA career -- were going to be put on hold indefinitely. June 1, 2011: Various reports of different potential boxing opponents for Diaz hit the web in the month proceeding this day, many of them simply posturing on the part of the Diaz camp to get a sweet deal to come over to the UFC and it was finally announced that he had signed an exclusive contract with the world's largest fight promotion and all the boxing talk went bye-bye. Not only that but he was given the fight against Georges St. Pierre for UFC 137, which was scheduled to take place on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas. June 9, 2011: When it was announced that Diaz had signed a new UFC contract, it was said that he would be able to fight inside both the Octagon and the Hexagon, if he so chose. But that logic fell away quickly because what's the point in having him come to UFC to fight the champion in his division only to tuck tail back to San Jose if he were to lose? So on this particular day it was revealed that Diaz had officially vacated the Strikeforce welterweight title and, for all intents and purposes, became the exclusive property of the UFC. Sept. 6, 2011: All was quiet on both fronts for a months, as St. Pierre and Diaz retreated off to Canada and California, respectively, to prepare for what promised to be the biggest fight of the year. Plenty of words were exchanged in the meantime but never in a press conference style setting, which was supposed to happen on this day in Toronto. It didn't, though, because Diaz no-showed the proceedings. This was the first sign of the pending shit storm. St. Pierre wasn't happy about interrupting his training to do all the promotion by himself but, more importantly, Dana White's unease with working with Diaz was growing worse every day. Sept. 7, 2011: The very next day, the UFC held another press conference, this one in Las Vegas, and, once again, Diaz failed to show up. It was revealed by White that his people spent hours upon hours trying to hunt him down to get him on a plane. Hell, even his own team -- including his coach Cesar Gracie and brother Nate Diaz -- said they couldn't find him and reports were even circulated that Nick escaped out the back door of Cesar's house. Tall tale? Who knows. The result of this blatant insubordination was a very pissed off Dana White announcing that Diaz was removed from the main event of UFC 137 and would no longer be fighting St. Pierre. Instead, Carlos Condit, who was booked on the same card to take on B.J. Penn in the co-main event of the evening, would step up to the plate. He flew out just hours later to start doing media, making Diaz look even worse. Later that same day, White initially appeared to flirt with the idea of outright cutting Diaz, expressing a strong discontentment with the entire situation. This, of course, was not the first time Diaz and the UFC had been at odds, as he had been released from the promotion years before for his inability to "play the game" as White called it. Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed and he was not released. Even later this very same day, Diaz filmed a bizarre video from the front seat of his car -- while he was driving, no less, and screaming at other drivers on the road -- expressing his discontent with the situation and mock apologizing for "missing the beauty pageant." He maintained throughout the video that the whole thing kind of sort of felt like a conspiracy, with UFC expertly maneuvering him out of his boxing contract and into an exclusive deal with them with the promise to fight St. Pierre before ripping him from the fight. This ignores, of course, the fact that he put himself in this situation, but I digress. Sept. 8, 2011: Even after everything had gone down and White had expressed as clearly as possible that he was disgusted with Diaz's actions, he hinted at "something big" being in the works for him. Indeed, word quickly got out on this day that Diaz would still fight on the UFC 137 card but he would do so against B.J. Penn in the co-main event, occupying the slot Carlos Condit had vacated when he stepped up to fight St. Pierre. An already hectic and bizarre situation became even more so with fans totally unsure of how to digest all this. Sept. 14, 2011: While Diaz had found a new opponent in Penn, he had yet to fully move on from the ordeal with St. Pierre and on this day started unloading his entire payload at the welterweight champion, calling him a "little bitch" for not trying to salvage their fight. His line of thinking was that "GSP" didn't stop White from taking Diaz out of their scheduled contest more or less because he was scared and didn't want the fight to begin with. Oct. 12, 2011: Due largely to fan outcry supporting Diaz and the Stockton slugger's continued refusal to let the issue die, White announced on this day that if Diaz could defeat Penn at UFC 137, he would once again be thrust back into a title shot. It would come against St. Pierre only if the champion successfully defended his belt against Condit. Even after all the nonsense and headaches caused, the goal was still attainable. Oct. 18, 2011: On this day it's announced that Georges St. Pierre suffered a knee injury and he would not be able to compete in the main event of UFC 137 against Carlos Condit. "The Natural Born Killer" is ripped off the card because no fight made sense for him at that time and St. Pierre's recovery timeline was just a few months. Diaz vs. Penn was then promptly promoted to the main event, putting Diaz right back where he started at with much less at stake and a much smaller payday awaiting him. Oct. 19, 2011: Just one week after finding out he could fight for the title again if he could win his next bout, Diaz once again found himself in hot water. This time, he showed up 45 minutes late to the UFC 137 conference call. This is perhaps even worse than a press conference no show because this requires no travel. In fact, all it requires is an functional telephone. He eventually made it but a growing tension was rising once again. Oct. 27, 2011: On this day, Diaz openly admits for the first time that if he could take it all back, he would have ran with the boxing contract instead of hooking back up with UFC. His interests were rooted in money, mostly, namely the fact that he could make more of it inside the squared circle (or so he thought) but it seemed clear the demands of the job he was being asked to perform were too much for him. The cracks in the armor were visible for all to see at this point. Oct. 29, 2011: After all the insanity, the day to stop all the talking was here. Diaz managed to make it through all the pre-fight festivities like open workouts and the press conference and weigh-ins and all that for the chance to climb inside the cage and do what he does best -- kick ass. And that's exactly what he did, besting B.J. Penn in a three round unanimous decision win. "The Prodigy" started strong but faded fast under the relentless pressure Diaz put him under. It was yet another career defining performance from the California native and he used the momentum to quickly call out Georges St. Pierre, who was in attendance. "I don't think he's hurt, I think he's scared, " remarked Diaz, much to the delight of all the fans in attendance. As it turns out, that call out was enough to piss St. Pierre off on a level not seen before, at least according to Dana White, who told everyone later that night at the post-fight press conference that "Rush" sought him out and told him he wanted to fight Diaz, no matter what he had to do to make it happen. So White found Carlos Condit, told him he was taking a backseat and the rematch was booked for UFC 143, the promotion's Super Bowl weekend event. Once again, it was on like Donkey Kong. Dec. 7, 2011: Unfortunately, bad luck struck again, as this day brought word that St. Pierre had once again injured his knee and this time it was serious. He would be on the shelf for at least 10 months time with a torn ACL. Diaz was booked to fight Carlos Condit, who was also scheduled for the card in a co-main event fight against Josh Koscheck. The two would battle over an interim welterweight title due to St. Pierre needing such a long recovery period. Jan. 21, 2012: Dana White perhaps tips his hand a bit on this day, revealing that St. Pierre had reportedly told him he still badly wanted to fight Diaz and was pulling for him to defeat Condit at UFC 143 so they could set up the fight everyone wanted to see. White even said if all went according to plan and St. Pierre's rehab was moving along at the pace it was during this time, the bout could be put together over the summer. Feb. 4, 2012: In what can best be described as disappointing and somewhat controversial, Diaz ended up losing a unanimous decision to Condit in the main event of UFC 143 on this day. The bout went all five rounds and for the 25 minutes the two were in the cage, it was as close as a fight can be. By the time it was over, the cageside judges felt Condit had done enough to win, leaving the Diaz vs. St. Pierre fight dead in the water. Immediately after the conclusion of the fight, Diaz told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview that he was done with MMA because he "doesn't need this shit." He complained about the scoring system, his pay and the fact that the judges were too incompetent to see that he was the aggressor in the fight and he should have been the rightful winner. He was so disgusted with the whole thing he said he was taking his ball and going home. Feb. 7, 2012: Despite Diaz abrupt retirement, his coach, Cesar Gracie, went on a social media campaign to get an immediate rematch with Condit. The first fight was controversial enough to warrant one, after all, and this would give St. Pierre more time to heal his knee. UFC brass were sold on the idea and apparently Condit was, too, as word got out on this day that the rematch was agreed to and they were to sign contracts for it in the coming days. Feb. 8, 2012: The very next day, Cesar Gracie came out and said the rematch would not actually be taking place, scrapped due to some unforeseen circumstances. He would not, however, elaborate on exactly what they were. Rumors started swirling and the worst was assumed. As it turns out, it was true. Feb. 9, 2012: Where there was smoke, there was fire, and word got out on this day via an e-mail from Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Keith Kizer that Diaz had failed his drug test at UFC 143 for marijuana metabolites. Word of this circulated far and wide, even reaching the Times Square Ticker in New York (with no context, no less). The rematch with Condit was off and Diaz, who had popped positive in the same manner in Nevada back in 2007, was now facing a year long suspension. He said he was surprised by the positive result, thinking he had flushed his system properly before the test to pass like he's done so many times in the past. Alas, this time it was not to be. And that brings us to today (Feb. 18, 2012). Diaz is currently awaiting his day in court, which looks like it will be April 9. Even if he gets a reduced suspension, he's likely going to be out for no less than six months. If applied retroactively from the date of the test failure -- which is usually the case -- he'll be back no sooner than August. What a wacky and wild ride, huh? As for the rest of the players in this story: Georges St. Pierre is still rehabbing his knee injury and making more and more progress every day. His target return date is no sooner than November but depending on how things go, he could be out even longer. He's stated during his rehab that he still badly wants to fight Diaz and even pleaded with him not to retire. Kenny Florian was even quoted as saying St. Pierre told him he "would give up his welterweight title to fight Diaz." Carlos Condit is in the midst of recovering from a public relations nightmare, as he's taken hits from all sides in this entire ordeal. That stems mostly from the strategy he used in his fight against Diaz but also in the manner of which the rematch plans and method of information release was handled. He's since stated that he'll wait for St. Pierre to recover and will not take a fight in the meantime, something Dana White agrees with. B.J. Penn, who himself retired after his loss to Diaz, has talked some trash to the man who battered him at UFC 137, even challenging Cesar Gracie to a street fight. Nothing has come to fruition, of course, and he hasn't even fully made the decision on whether or not he's done fighting. As for Dana White, he's still got bad shit happening to him every day. Well, Maniacs (those of you who made it this far), it's been quite the journey. We here at MMAmania.com have enjoyed covering it every step of the way. And we'll continue to do so. Sound off in the comments with whatever thoughts or memories you may have from all this madness.

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It may have been Valentine’s Day yesterday but that doesn’t mean the dynamic athletes of the NHL decided to trade in their fists and dish out flowers instead. Case in point, this little dandy between the Anaheim Ducks’ George Parros and Minnesota Wild’s Matt Kassian. Tweet

Posted in: day, matt, george, hockey fight, parro

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A few updates on what's been going on in the MMA & UFC Twitterverse UFC 144, ANIME STYLE "Pretty Sick! RT @ElmerAugusto: @FrankieEdgar @RenzoGracieBJJ News from Japan!!" -Frankie Edgar MIESHA TATE HAS A MESSAGE FOR RONDA ROUSEY "Happy Valentines Day @RondaRousey!!! :)" -Miesha Tate There's a ton of tweets after the jump, but first, don't forget to follow me on twitter: @antontabuena Oh, and these guys are probably worth following as well: The Official BloodyElbow Twitter Account, Luke Thomas, Kid Nate, Brent Brookhouse, Leland Roling, Richard Wade, Chris Barton, Damon O, Scott Broussard, Tim Burke, Matt Bishop, Fraser Coffeen, Dallas Winston, KJ Gould, Matt Roth, Ben Thapa, Josh Nason. PROMO VIDEO FOR TATE VS. ROUSEY BJ PENN AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH "my friend Greggie texted me this pic. me at 17, first cauliflower ear :) #oldschool" -B.J. Penn TWIDBITS "I appreciate all the support and some of the criticism, looking forward to the next match up" -Carlos Condit "I don't do drugs.... I suck naturally." -Forrest Griffin "Yep that's why I fight!! Sure the f*ck can't spell! Dew-due all the same sh*t to me???" -Donald Cerrone "Actually, the cut was 53 pounds in 2 months @ufc. Already feeling great after all this, eating and getting the weight back" -Ronny Markes, I don't think that's a good thing. TWIDEOS "My first #UFC144 video blog!" -Joe Lauzon "Guys check out my behind the scenes blog from #UFC143 - Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson - History in the Making Pt 3" -Stephen Thompson UFC 1-5 MEMORABILIA "Who was at #UFC 1,2,3,4,5 ? #backstage" -Gracie Brothers "I remember u guys so young cleaning all the blood like is nothing." -Xande Ribeiro DOMINICK CRUZ VS. URIJAH FABER 3 "Lmao RT @fightcorner: Faber says of Cruz: "I can beat him in a coaching gig. I can beat him in a fight." -Dominick Cruz "@TheDomin8r Haha, let em' talk homie." -Travis Barker "u think thats funny boys?" -Urijah Faber ".@UrijahFaber let's keep it real...im 4-1 against any1 you've coached 2 try n beat me including yourself...so YES its funny!" -Dominick Cruz "In ur own world again? @TheDomin8r The stinky kid on the playground. 4-1? U can run homey, but u can't hide. What u gonna do Decision me up?" -Urijah Faber"@UrijahFaber wat u call a Decision I call a win!...u can keep the prom queen tiara mr popular, I'll keep the @ufcbelt! #stinkykidsrule!" -Dominick Cruz ANDERSON SILVA VS. CHAEL SONNEN 2 "From #ufctonight on @fueltv - Anderson Silva: "Chael Talks Too Much. It's Not Working." -UFC "When I want your advice I'll beat it out of you, Stupid. Now go back to singing to hamburgers and telling Segal he's legit." -Chael Sonnen HAPPY VALENTINES! "Happy valentines day from me to U!!!" -Arianny Celeste "Happy <3 Day from Phoenix!! Just wrapped a 2 day shoot and happy to be heading home for date with my valentine :)" -Logan Stanton "Got my Valentines Pants all done..birthday Pants that is! Or maybe I'll just wear my birthday suit all day tom! ;)" -Natasha Wicks "Blonde Fridays?!?" -Arianny Celeste AMIR SADOLLAH... AND HIS SWORD!!! "Back home visiting, always nice to see familiar faces AND THEN I FOUND MY SWORD!!!!!!" -Amir Sadollah "Got to work some new combos tonight WITH MY SWOOOOOOOOOORD!!!!!!" -Amir Sadollah "Time for a healthy post-gym snack WITH MY SWORD!!!!!!!!" -Amir Sadollah

Posted in: ufc, day, cruz, amir, valentine

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I truly apologize for not getting this to you before Valentine's Day because this would be the best gift ever for your valentine. Still, bookmark this and remember it for any occasion: Mother's Day, birthdays, graduation, new baby, Sweet 16 … Continue reading →

Posted in: day, sport, valentines day, valentine, marketplace

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For the sake of this article and in honor of Valentine's Day, you can replace Cody McKenzie with yourself in the banner picture. That's you with your arms wrapped around Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey. I understand why you're giving us two thumbs up. I'm sure Siskel and Ebert would approve of this picture also (RIP Gene Siskel). I wish it was me in that banner, but fortunately for today it's you. Congratulations. You're looking at your reward. Evidence that you were in the vicinity of two of the greatest female fighters in MMA. Backstage at UFC 143 I finally saw Ronda Rousey, but when LayzieTheSavage offered to introduce me to her, I geeked out like a 6th grader at a middle-school dance and declined. I'm not sure what happened that weekend, I had my cootie-shot and everything. I was enchanted with the aura of 'Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot.' Check out this official promo for next month's Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey released on the day when all single people will focus on how irresponsible they are to maintain a relationship. Props to Pegson for the tip.

Posted in: day, tate, rousey, ronda, valentines day

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A bout that I've been hoping to see for quite some time will finally come to fruition, as top middleweights Alan Belcher and Rousimar Palhares will face each other at the third UFC on FOX card, scheduled for May 5th in New Jersey. Belcher is 6-4 in the UFC middleweight division, although he does have two other victories in the organization, one at 195 pounds and one at 205 pounds. He has put together a three fight winning streak stretching back to 2009 despite spending considerable time on the shelf due to a serious eye injury. He returned from that injury to stop Jason Macdonald in the first round at UFC Fight Night 25 this past September. Palhares is also riding a three fight winning streak, his most recent triumph over Mike Massenzio at UFC 142. Considered one of the most dangerous submission fighters in the world, Palhares is 7-2 in his UFC career, having lost only to Dan Henderson by decision and to Nate Marquardt by TKO, although the Marquardt fight has to be considered a bit of an anomaly, as Palhares was finished after pausing to complain to the referee about potential grease on Marquardt's leg. The winner of this fight could easily find themselves as the number one contender to the middleweight title. Alan Belcher is the 14th ranked middleweight in the world. He fights out of Roufusport.Rousimar Palhares is the 15th ranked middleweight in the world. He fights out of Brazilian Top Team. UFC on FOX 3 102 Days Out: Nathan Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.93 Days Out: Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola, Middleweight Division.92 Days Out: Louis Gaudinot vs John Lineker, Flyweight Division.88 Days Out: John Cholish vs Danny Castillo, Lightweight Division.88 Days Out: Pascal Krauss vs John Hathaway, Welterweight Division.84 Days Out: Josh Koscheck vs Johny Hendricks, Welterweight Division.83 Days Out: Alan Belcher vs Rousimar Palhares, Middleweight Division.

Posted in: ufc, day, vs, division, middleweight

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Last week while covering the bouts being added to the third UFC on FOX card, booked for May 5th in New Jersey, I mentioned that the only big time bout that had been booked for the event was Jim Miller vs Nathan Diaz. This is no longer the case as Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks have agreed to square off in what could easily be a welterweight title eliminator. Koscheck has recorded two straight wins since Georges St. Pierre busted up both his face and his title dreams, his most recent victory coming over Mike Pierce at UFC 143. The fight was his 20th inside the UFC Octagon and only five men have more UFC bouts. He is a very impressive 15-5 in those fights and is still fighting at a very high level. Hendricks will be the biggest challenge of his career not named Georges St. Pierre. Coming off a 12 second knockout victory over Koscheck's good friend and former training partner Jon Fitch, Hendricks is one of the top young wrestlers in the welterweight division and he is looking to cement his place as the next title contender. He is 7-1 in the UFC. Johny Hendricks is the 5th ranked welterweight in the world. He fights out of Team Takedown.Josh Koscheck is the 6th ranked welterweight in the world. He is currently unaffiliated, after recently cutting ties with American Kickboxing Academy. UFC on FOX 3 102 Days Out: Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.93 Days Out: Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola, Middleweight Division.92 Days Out: Louis Gaudinot vs John Lineker, Flyweight Division.88 Days Out: John Cholish vs Danny Castillo, Lightweight Division.88 Days Out: Pascal Krauss vs John Hathaway, Welterweight Division.84 Days Out: Josh Koscheck vs Johny Hendricks, Welterweight Division.

Posted in: ufc, day, vs, division, hendrick

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Valentines day 2012 is roughly 48 hours away, do you have your roses and chocolates set for a significant other? Do you plan on finally letting that person you care about so much know how you feel? Will you be waiting for Wednesday, so you can buy all of the Valentines candy at a discounted rate, possibly throwing your stock into the freezer in your garage so you can dip into it this summer? One thing about Valentines Day, everyone has an opinion on it. Personally when anyone brings up Valentines to me, I think about the 1929 murders in a Chicago garage that were orchestrated by Al Capone against the Irish north side gang led by Bugs Moran. This is what a bunch of MMA related people think about the holiday. Brought to you by MMA30. Thanks to Tracy Lee for the banner pic. [Source]

Posted in: mma, day, mma fighters, valentine, valentines candy

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On a day that saw the top executive at FUEL TV gush to Mike Chiapetta of MMAFighting over the early returns from their UFC related programming, the UFC annouced that featherweights Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung would be the combatants in the main event of the third UFC on FUEL offering, currently scheduled for May 15th in Fairfax, Virginia. Poirier is one of the organizations rising stars in the 145 pound division, sporting a perfect 4-0 record since he joined the UFC. He had fought exclusively as a 155 pounder prior to the move, making him an undefeated featherweight. His last fight out saw him submit newcomer Max Holloway in the first round with a beautiful triangle-armbar. As for Jung, he has been a massive fan favorite since his fight of the year war with Leonard Garcia back at WEC 48. He is 2-0 in the UFC, with a recent 7 second knockout of Mark Hominick at UFC 140. Poirier is the 7th ranked featherweight in the world. He fights out of Gladiator LA.Jung is the 9th ranked featherweight in the world. He fights out of Korean Top Team. UFC on FUEL 3: 104 Days Out: Thiago Silva vs Igor Pokrajac. Light Heavyweight division.104 Days Out: Jason MacDonald vs Tom Lawlor. Middleweight division.98 Days Out: Donald Cerrone vs Yves Edwards. Lightweight division.96 Days Out: Dustin Poirier vs Chan Sung Jung. Featherweight division.

Posted in: ufc, day, division, featherweight, poirier

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submitted by ahubbs [link] [6 comments]

Posted in: pound, nick diaz, day, water, drug test

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The third UFC on FOX offering, scheduled to take place in New Jersey on May 5th, had another bout added to it last night, between welterweights Pascal Krauss and John Hathaway. The fight was originally booked for last November's UFC 138, but injuries to both fighters forced them off the card. Hathaway is coming off a victory over Kris McCray at UFC Fight Night 24: Nogueira vs Davis, in what was a controversial split judges decision. For someone with a 5-1 record in the UFC, he has been somewhat of an afterthought since being dominated by Mike Pyle back at UFC 120. Krauss has only competed in the UFC once, winning a decision over Mark Scanlon at UFC 122. He is undefeated, posting a 9-0 record before signing with the UFC. Hathaway is the 24th ranked welterweight in the world. He fights out of London Shootfighters.Krauss is unranked. He fights out of Victory MMA. The fight card is almost complete, with seven matches now booked. It should be noted that the only bout currently scheduled for the televised portion of the card is Jim Miller vs Nathan Diaz, so the final few bouts added to this event should be big ones. UFC on FOX 3102 Days Out: Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.93 Days Out: Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola, Middleweight Division.88 Days Out: John Cholish vs Danny Castillo, Lightweight Division.88 Days Out: Pascal Krauss vs John Hathaway, Welterweight Division.

Posted in: ufc, day, vs, division, hathaway

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Joe Silva had a very busy day making matches yesterday, so there is a lot to get to. Starting with the third UFC on FOX, a fight between two lightweights on the way up, John Cholish and Danny Castillo have been added to the card. Cholish recently made his octagon debut, an impressive TKO victory over Mitch Clarke at UFC 140. After losing his very first professional fight, he has put together eight straight wins, so he will bring a nice streak into the fight with Castillo. For his part Castillo is coming off of two straight decision victories, over Shamar Bailey and most recently Anthony Njokuani. He is a veteran of the WEC, fighting 8 times for the organization before coming over to the UFC after the merger. He is 3-1 in the UFC. Cholish is unranked. He fights for Renzo Gracie Academy.Castillo is unranked. He fights for Team Alpha Male. The fight card now has six matches scheduled: UFC on FOX 3102 Days Out: Nate Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.93 Days Out: Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola, Middleweight Division.88 Days Out: John Cholish vs Danny Castillo, Lightweight Division.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, vs, division

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A few updates on what's been going on in the MMA & UFC Twitterverse NICK DIAZ VS. CARLOS CONDIT 2... YUS! "the rumor is true. Carlos did accept the fight today and Carlos is coming on Friday not thur." -Dana White, confirms rumors of a second meeting between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. Good thing they're doing that again, cause there's too many reasons why it should happen. There's a ton of tweets after the jump, but first, don't forget to follow me on twitter: @antontabuena Oh, and these guys are probably worth following as well: The Official BloodyElbow Twitter Account, Luke Thomas, Kid Nate, Brent Brookhouse, Leland Roling, Richard Wade, Chris Barton, Damon O, Scott Broussard, Tim Burke, Matt Bishop, Fraser Coffeen, Dallas Winston, KJ Gould, Matt Roth, Ben Thapa, Josh Nason. $5000 TWITTER BONUSES! "Twitter quarterly bonus award time! Fighters placed in 4 categories based on # of followers at beginning of the quarter. Prizes 5k each." -UFC "Most followers in each of 4 categories: @SpiderAnderson @Junior_Cigano @BrendanSchaub and @CungLe185 - congrats!" -UFC "Biggest % growth in followers/category: @MinotauroMMA, @RoyNelsonMMA, @EllenbergerMMA, @CungLe185" -UFC "I'd have a lot more followers but most my folks from GA still on prepaid phones that ain't got that twitter shit" -Forrest Griffin TUF BRAZIL AND 1ST WORLD PROBLEMS "In rio for first day of #TUFBRAZIL there is so much talent here it's loco!" -Lorenzo Fertitta "I just watched one of the best fights I've ever seen. #TUFBRAZIL it's gonna be a sick season." -Lorenzo Fertitta "I hate helicopters but I'm getting on one anyway. Rio traffic! ...Helicopter again. Not fun! #riotraffic" -Lorenzo Fertitta, should have used the hash tag #FirstWorldProblems instead. ;) TWICTURES "Check out @DanaWhite commission work it progress" -Brittney Palmer "Check out my first self portrait! I painted it for my amazing fan @pinksindy3 :-)" -Brittney Palmer "BTS: shoot for @jacoclothing went great today!" -Arianny Celeste "Beach! Girl time! " -Arianny Celeste "Looks like I'm still hangin at the flamingo hotel in vegas.. Oh X Burlesque days." -Brittney Palmer "#Superbowl !! #giants vs #patriots :D @kingsbu my lover says Giants, @rachelle_leah my lova says Pats.. ;)" -Natasha Wicks "Anybody in the UK see @AriannyCeleste in @nuts_official? One word: wow!" -UFC VALENTINES DAY TIPS FROM MMA FIGHTERS AND PERSONALITIES "Looking for V-Day ideas? @MieshaTate , @RondaRousey , Chuck, Forrest, Brittney Palmer and more give you some tips..." -Strikeforce TWIDEOS "Diego Sanchez (in a garage) talks about why next week's war is like going to Russia." -UFC, I seriously hope he keeps the stache. RANDOM TWIDBITS "Congratulations to Carlos Condit and my friends Wonderboy and Rafael Natal for their wins this weekend... ...I still hope to meet Nick Diaz in the Octagon one day." -Georges St. Pierre "Hay guys its a fight it happens but to think I hit him intentionaly is just not cool" -Alex Caceres "SURPRISE! the opening gladiator wasn't fired, he got a sweet new job with Madonna! Congrats, guy!" -UFC "I wouldn't pack for June in Brazil just yet, Eagles. Grab a coat, though, because if this happens Hell is frozen." -Chael Sonnen "I once had an old guy tell me "well I didnt smoke crack today so I guess it was a good day" he then proceeded to ask me if I had any crack?" -Forrest Griffin

Posted in: ufc, day, palmer, twitter, carlo

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Love is in the air with Valentines Day little more than one week away (Feb. 14, 2012). Even tough mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters have tender sides, especially the females, taking time away from their fisticuffs to celebrate the Hallmark holiday. MMA:30 recently caught up with several fighters from Ultimate Fighting Championship and Strikeforce, as well as a few ring girls (past and present) to find out their Valentines Day plans. Several of them even dished on their personal best and worst gifts and memories. Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Natasha Wicks, Brittney Palmer, Kyle Kingsbury, Tracy Lee, Urijah Faber, Jay Hieron, Martin Kampmann and Josh Koscheck, among others, are featured in the video above. Even Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate an Ronda Rousey -- who will collide in the main event of the upcoming MMA event at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 3, 2012 -- got in on the action. And there will certainly be no love lost in that delicious cat fight.

Posted in: mma, day, ring girls, columbus ohio, valentine

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The UFC has requested Memorial Day and Independence Day-weekend dates for events in Las Vegas. Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer today confirmed via email with MMAjunkie.com that UFC officials have served May 26 and July 7 for major events. Both shows are planned for the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Posted in: ufc, day, event, ufc officials, memorial day

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Fight Day Live is coming back at you February 4th for another star studded show from the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas for UFC 143: Condit vs. Diaz.  Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will prepare you for all the fighting action on Saturday and the expert panel of Matt Brown, John Morgan and Larry Pepe will break down the pay per view card and give their opinion on who will take home the win.  Also slated for Fight Day Live are two, live on set, interviews.  The first is with the number

Posted in: fight, day, las vegas, fight day, john morgan

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The fight announcements have been coming fast and furious over the past 24 hours and you can add another fight to the UFC on FOX 3 card, as New Jersey native Mike Massenzio will play host to Karlos Vemola in a middleweight tilt. Massenzio went 1-2 in his first go-round with the UFC and was released but he earned himself a second chance when he accepted a fight with Krzysztof Soszynski on just three days notice and at 205 pounds. He followed that up with a victory over Steve Cantwell before losing via submission to Rousimar Palhares at UFC 142. He is 2-3 in the UFC middleweight division. Vemola himself is 1-2 in the Octagon, although he has never fought at middleweight (he debuted as a heavyweight before two fights in the light heavyweight division). In his most recent, at bout he lost a decision to Ronny Markes. Mike Massenzio is unranked. He fights out of Team Ironhorse MMA.Karlos Vemola is unranked. He fights out of London Shootfighters. The fight card now has five matches scheduled: UFC on FOX 3102 Days Out: Nathan Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.93 Days Out: Mike Massenzio vs Karlos Vemola, Middleweight Division.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, vs, division

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The UFC on FOX 3 card is starting to take shape, with a heavyweight fight between Pat Barry and Lavar Johnson officially announced for the New Jersey show. Johnson made his UFC debut on the last FOX card, becoming the first man to stop Joey Beltran, in the first round no less. He previously had been competing for Strikeforce, where he put together a 3-2 record. He is, of course, 1-0 in the UFC. Barry has had an up and down career in the organization, notably struggling with the ground game while at the same time earning two knock out of the night bonuses. He showed some promise with his ground work in his last fight, avoiding a couple of submission attempts from Christian Morecraft before scoring a first round knockout victory. He is 4-4 in the UFC. Pat Barry is the 26th ranked fighter in the division. He fights out of DeathClutch.Lavar Johnson is unranked. He fights out of American Kickboxing Academy. The fight card now has four matches scheduled: UFC on FOX 3102 Days Out: Nathan Diaz vs Jim Miller, Lightweight Division.102 Days Out: John Dodson vs Darren Uyenoyama, Flyweight Division.96 Days Out: Tony Ferguson vs Dennis Hallman, Lightweight Division.94 Days Out: Lavar Johnson vs Pat Barry, Heavyweight Division.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, division, barry

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UFC on Fox 2 headliner Phil Davis and main card winner Chris Weidman were among eight fighters issued medical suspensions from this past Saturday’s UFC on Fox 2 event in Chicago. Davis was suspended 45 days after dropping a unanimous decision to Rashad Evans in the main event, which included a deep cut on his leg that was stitched up in Dana White’s first UFC 143 video blog, while Weidman was suspended 30 days after earning a decision win over Demian Maia on just 11 days notice. Joey Beltran was the only fighter to be suspended 60 days, while the rest of the suspensions are 45 days or less, but the reasons for the suspensions were not announced. The UFC on Fox 2 medical suspensions were: 60 days: Joey Beltran 45 days: Phil Davis, Nik Lentz, George Roop, Dustin Jacoby 30 days: Chris Weidman, John-Olav Einemo, Chris Camozzi Click here to check out MMAFrenzy.com’s complete coverage of UFC on Fox 2.

Posted in: ufc, fox, day, suspension, chri

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The medical suspensions have been released from last Saturday's UFC card on Fox and they are minimal. This is good news for everyone involved, especially Nik Lentz. "The Carnie" was on the receiving end of a bad beating at the hands of Evan Dunham that ended in a doctor's stoppage after the second round. Joey Beltran is serving the longest sentence after getting put to bed by Lavar "Subtle Sexual Innuendo" Johnson. The suspensions are as follows: Phil Davis: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days Chris Weidman: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days John Olav-Einemo: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days Nik Lentz: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days George Roop: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days Joey Beltran: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days Dustin Jacoby: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days Chris Camozzi: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days

Posted in: day, suspension, phil davis, contact, evan dunham

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The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation today (Feb. 1, 2012) issued its list of medical suspensions for those fighters competing at the UFC on Fox 2 event last Saturday night (Jan. 28, 2012) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Chief among them is UFC light heavyweight Phil Davis, who has 45 days to think about what went wrong in his main event fight against Rashad Evans. Joining him on the injured reserves is fellow main card fighter Chris Weidman, who huffed and puffed his way to a split decision win over Demian Maia. The "All American" received a mandatory vacation of 30 days for his efforts. Also riding the pine for the next few weeks is heavyweight brawler Joey Beltran, who was put down by hard-hitting Strikeforce import Lavar Johnson. But that's not all. The complete list of medical suspensions for UFC on Fox 2: "Evans vs. Davis" after the jump (via MMAWeekly.com). Phil Davis: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact)Chris Weidman: Suspended 30 days (21 days no contact)Jon Olav Einemo: Suspended 30 days (21 days no contact)Nik Lentz: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact)George Roop: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact)Joey Beltran: Suspended 60 days (45 days no contact)Dustin Jacoby: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact)Chris Camozzi: Suspended 30 days (21days no contact) Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For complete UFC on Fox 2 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here.

Posted in: ufc, fox, day, suspension, davi

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submitted by Avertr [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: ufc, day, dana, vlog, avertr

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Ryan Loco takes you behind the scenes with Rashad Evans in Chicago before his fight with Phil Davis at UFC on Fox 2. Day 2 pics here.

Posted in: ufc, fox, day, rashad evans, phil davis

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It took five days but the UFC released a new Dana White video blog Friday, documenting the behind-the-scenes of Thursday's pre-fight press conference as we lead up to UFC On Fox 2 Saturday. Some highlights of the nearly eight minute long clip: Behind the scenes with White going on Fox's Good Day Chicago with associate Marty Cordova struggling to take a video of him. White runs down how people can watch the prelims on Fuel TV and the main card on Fox. He explains how he's flying to Brazil for several days to film TUF Brazil and that they're working out how people in the U.S. get to see it. We get a look at a frantic few minutes before the press conference with White saying how he hates starting pressers late, some interaction with Chael Sonnen about shoes and opponents awkwardly standing next to each other as they're about to go out on the dais. There's plenty of presser footage including Evans and Davis verbally jousting about wrestling, Sonnen doing wacky promos with the fake belt and the usual square offs. There is no mention or reference to any of the recent issues White has had with "the Internet." Watch the whole clip after the jump. SBN coverage of UFC on Fox 2

Posted in: ufc, fox, day, video, square offs

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I've been fasting all day because my car is out of gas. It's not religious, it's economical. It's not a good way to start off National Opposite Day. Judging by the people who live next to me, National Opposite Day started at 3:00 am and involves playing old 'Hootie and the Blowfish' albums. I'm sure there's a Brazilian equivalent to this holiday, only there would be much more gratuitous butt showing. The only way to start off National Opposite Day is to show a video of Brazilian fans going absolutely nuts at UFC 142. Correction, the only way not to start off National Opposite Day is to not show a video of Brazilian fans absolutely not going nuts at UFC 142. That would be in the vein of National Opposite Day -- or would it? It's 9:25 am and this holiday is already confusing me, so just watch this video of the crowd reaction from UFC 143 -- or don't watch a video of a crowd not reacting at UFC 143 -- or not. Today sucks. [Source]

Posted in: ufc, day, video, brazilian, brazilian fans

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Filed under: UFCI remember a moment from the IFL's short-lived glory days when a new hire was being introduced to all the fighters and coaches as they floated in and out of a hotel conference room for pre-fight interviews. This new employee wasn't much of an MMA fan (par for the course at the IFL, I'm afraid), so she needed to be told basic info, like that Pat Miletich was something of a living legend or that Chris Horodecki was, in fact, a pro fighter and not just some kid who'd wandered in off the street. When Matt Lindland's Portland Wolfpack crew came through she shook all their hands and tried, with visible effort, to commit their names and stations to memory. Then she came to Chael Sonnen, who wasn't on the team but was still hanging around his Team Quest buddies in the most unofficial of capacities, occasionally excusing himself to the hallway to conduct what sounded like vague real estate transactions on his cell phone. "And how about you?" she said to Sonnen at one point. "Are you somebody?" You could tell what she's going for, but you could also tell how it must have sounded to Sonnen, who had recently been bounced out of the UFC after losing two out of three and was then fighting in BodogFight's even more short-lived series of off-shore events. How was he supposed to answer that question? How was anyone? As I recall, he smiled sheepishly and deflected it as best he could. No, he was nobody, he told her. But maybe some day he would be. It was a good answer to an awkward question. And besides, if he'd told us all that he would eventually become the nemesis of UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, who was then just settling in to his own dominant reign, no one would have believed him. That was a different Chael Sonnen. This was before he talked his way into the headlines, before he turned himself into a larger-than-life, pro wrestling-style character known for saying things he couldn't possibly believe. Now, that's what people expect from him. They practically demand it in every interview and public appearance. It makes you wonder if some part of Sonnen is sorry he ever put that hat on to begin with, since it would seem that he can't easily take it off these days. "Not too much, no," Sonnen told me when I spoke to him on the phone last week, one day before Mark Munoz dropped out of their UFC on FX 2 bout and was replaced with Michael Bisping. "It's par for the course and it needs to be done. There's only one me. I see a lot of people try to come out and copy me, duplicate me, and give it the old college try, but at the end of the day, there's only one Chael Sonnen." And maybe he's right, but that one Chael Sonnen has the power to be several different Chael Sonnens when it suits him. There's the muted, somewhat straight-talking Sonnen -- the one who, when I asked for his thoughts on the GOP primary, went on at length about how disappointed he was to see Herman Cain drop out of the race -- and then there's the brash, loud-mouthed one with a seemingly limitless supply of clever prepared material. For example, take his answer to a question about whether he'd be disappointed if people remembered him for his interviews and WWE-style promos rather than his fights. "That would be a compliment," he said. "I wouldn't feel bad about that. ..You know, these guys want to talk about God. 'Oh, I want to thank God. I want to thank God.' Listen, I'm a God-fearing man, go to church every Sunday and have since I was a boy. But if I ever found out that God cared one way or another about a borderline illegal fist-fight on Saturday night, I would be so greatly disappointed that it would make rethink my entire belief system." See what I mean? It's funny, entertaining, and clearly a bit that he thought of independently of any specific question, and now applies it wherever he sees an opening. But it doesn't tell us much. It doesn't tell us how the real Sonnen might really feel about the way his career is shaping up, the way the character he created is threatening to overshadow the person that he is. Not that we know much about that person, of course. That's either because Sonnen keeps him hidden, or because his public persona is so dependent on a kind of aggressive insincerity that it's almost impossible to tell when he's playing it straight. In Bisping, Sonnen said, he sees a fighter who's "not very good," but who he respects nonetheless for his ability to win the fights the UFC gives him. "He certainly hasn't beaten anybody that's any good, rankings-wise," said Sonnen. "But Bisping, you can't take from him, because he wins. Regardless of the opponent, which he doesn't have a lot of say in, he gets his hand raised. That's undeniable. ...I'm not a naysayer on Bisping. I'm a supporter, and if he got a shot [at the title], I'd tune in to watch." Of course, if Sonnen beats him on Saturday night in Chicago, that title shot will be his. So the UFC says, anyway, although Sonnen claims not to believe it. No matter what UFC president Dana White says about the stakes for this fight, Sonnen insists that Silva won't take a rematch with him, that their paths "will never cross again, professionally." "I've got nothing against competing with Anderson, but he does. He's been offered the fight four times and he's turned it down four times. So I'm not under any illusions that Anderson and I are going to fight again. He's not a guy I talk about anymore. He's a guy I've moved past." Does he mean it? Probably not. Does he expect you to believe it? Unclear. Four days later on the media conference call he cranked it up for the larger audience. "I called him out publicly," he said of Silva. "If you call a Brazilian out publicly, you're going to be fighting that Brazilian. That's in their culture. And he sat there and covered his mouth and hid behind Charles Barkley, which was a smart move on his part and saved him a trip to the hospital, but Anderson Silva's not going to fight me. I don't believe he's going to fight Bisping; I don't believe he's going to fight again. That's my personal opinion. What I know as a fact is he's turned me down four out of four times. He even said no to Lorenzo Fertitta's face. Face-to-face, not over the phone, Lorenzo brought him out, said, 'This is the fight we want,' and Anderson said no." And why, in Sonnen's opinion, does Silva not want to fight him? "Because he sucks," said Sonnen. Again, is that a real opinion? Does he truly believe that the most dominant middleweight champ in UFC history just isn't any good? Probably not, but what does it matter as long as it makes for a good sound byte? That's the trouble with making yourself into a character for public consumption, though. Everyone keeps trying to peek behind the mask, but they can never know if they've done it. They can never be sure if they're seeing the man himself or just another part of the disguise. These days, Sonnen is definitely somebody. What's less clear is who that somebody is. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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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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It's hard to imagine a more emotional day than the one new UFC lightweight C.J. Keith had just over a week ago.

Posted in: week, day, keith, cj, cj keith

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I've eaten more food while writing this article than Kamal Shalorus consumes in an entire day. If this were a Man Vs. Food type game show, I would school both Kamal Shalorus and Herschal Walker in the art of over eating. Of course between workouts they are chugging protein shakes so thick you could hold the glass upside down and nothing would fall out, but I won't let that fact get in the way of a good story. Kamal Shalorus is now officially on the Herschel Walker diet of one meal per day, and when he does eat, it's veggies, a little bit of lean protein and an ice cold glass of delicious and satisfying coconut water. This is actually called the 'Warrior Diet' and not the Herschel Walker diet, either way, reportedly he feels better than ever. "To be honest, I have more energy and feel much better," "I used to eat five times a day on a different diet and was always tired." Pretty interesting stuff. Seems to me we are moving ever closer to the full meal in a pill that we see in futuristic societies. Twenty years from now solid food might be downright passe'. How are we going to get cancer then? [Source]

Posted in: day, diet, shaloru, kamal shalorus, kamal

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I have a coupon for Taco Bueno. It says 'limit one coupon per customer per day', but I don't think it's fair. It should say 'limit one customer per coupon per day'. If I can't get a beef taco, no one should -- except for that one lucky person per day. One day I may be that lucky person, but more often than not, I will have to shell out the $0.89 for a beef taco. It's a small investment for such a receptive award. I know that beef taco wants to get consumed as much as I want to consume it. There are mutual benefits in this short, fast-food relationship. That taco was made for one thing, to fit in my mouth at 3am on a Saturday morning. It knows its purpose, much like the Strikeforce middleweight division exists to be protected by Ruthless Robbie Lawler. I've ever prepared a verse for tonight's first-round TKO victory of Amagov. 'Lawler laces left lunges loosely like lucky lickable leftovers' Pentatonic scale be damned, that lyric can easily be placed within a Blackalicious song without much concern. Perhaps you lost your parlay tonight with Lawler's well executed flying knee against Amagov. Well shame on you. That's what you get for betting against a guy that has knocked out an innumerable amount of opponents within his career. Congratulations goes to Robbie Lawler, and his epic beard.

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For most regular folks, the day they can retire and cash in on those 401K benefits can't come soon enough. Normally, retirement comes when one is in their 60's, some sooner, some later. For a professional fighter, though, it usually comes sooner rather than later. Whether it's an injury or age that forces a fighter to hang up their gloves for good, the decision to walk away from the sport they have dedicated blood, sweat and tears to is, undoubtedly, a very hard one to make. Often times, a pro fighter tries to hang on to the glory days of yesteryear and takes one too many fights, such as the case of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Famer Dan Severn, who, at the age of 53, is still competing, losing back-to-back fights in 2011. Via a post on "The Underground", UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, who has been around MMA for over 14 years and has developed relationships with a lot of yesterdays and today's top stars, gives his insight on just how hard it can be for a professional fighter to reach the decision to step away from the sport: "One of the things I think about sometimes with all the great fighters that I've seen come and go is just how difficult it must be for some of them to leave behind the incredible excitement and intensity of the world of being a professional fighter and then reset your life and find yourself something else to dedicate your time and interest to. Fighting is such an all-encompassing job. It really has to be, especially at the highest levels for you to be successful. The competition is so steep that to compete at the top of the sport of MMA you really need to be completely dedicated to training and improving all day every day. When it's time to move past that and into a new phase of life I would think that for some it must be incredibly difficult. And that's not even taking into consideration how difficult it is for some of these ultra competitive guys to know when it's time to step away. What got many of them to be successful at fighting is an incredible belief in themselves that defied the odds and the doubters. In their mind often only they know what they're capable of, and in the long run they've often proven people wrong many times on the way to being a professional. It must be very difficult to judge exactly when you want to end your career. One of the many things I love that the UFC does is they use a lot of fighters as commentators, they've got Chuck Liddell an awesome position in the company - they help these guys have options. I really enjoy watching guys step away from competing and become great coaches as well. All in all, a fighter stepping away from the sport must be a tough decision for some. " 2011 was a year that saw several tops stars walk away from competing in MMA, namely B.J. Penn after his loss at UFC 137 to Nick Diaz and Matt Hughes after his first round loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage, though he says he is simply "on the shelf" for the time being. Most recently, Brock Lesnar, who battled diverticulitis on two separate occasions, walked away from MMA at the age of 34 after his first round loss to Alistair Overeem last weekend (Dec., 30. 2011) at UFC 141: "Lesnar vs. Overeem." After 14 years in the game, Tito Ortiz came to the decision that he will retire this year once he competes one more time this summer. Another star who may be in the twilight of his career is Wanderlei Silva. Though he has no plans of calling it a day anytime soon, UFC President Dana White has stated he wouldn't mind seeing "The Axe Murderer" hang up his gloves. Regardless of what leads to the tough decision, the day will come when a professional fighter has to cross that bridge and realize it is simply time to walk way. It won't always be easy, but it will always be necessary.

Posted in: ufc, time, fighter, day, decision

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Filed under: StrikeforceMo Lawal can admit it now: things didn't go the way he thought they would when he first walked though the doors of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif. What happened was simple, really. He came in with all the swagger you'd expect from "King" Mo, and then he found out the hard way that he wasn't the only MMA royalty on those particular mats. Or as he put it: "I got beat up." And we're not talking just normal bumps and bruises, either. We're talking good old-fashioned butt-whoopings. One right after another, after another, after another. For the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, a man who had racked up seven straight wins in just a year and a half of professional competition, this wasn't just a surprise -- it was a travesty. It was a challenge to everything he thought he knew about himself and his abilities. It was unacceptable. And he had his best friend and former Oklahoma State wrestling teammate, Daniel Cormier, to thank for it. Cormier convinced Lawal to come up to the Bay Area gym after he heard that his old friend wasn't totally satisfied with the training he was getting down in Orange County. Lawal had recently suffered the first loss of his career in a Strikeforce 205-pound title defense against Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante in August of 2010, and now he was looking for a new home after rehabbing a knee injury. "I was asking him to come up here," said Cormier. "I heard he was looking to move and we talked a lot. I told him it was the best place for him." After weeks of going back and forth, Lawal finally made the move. But when set foot on the mats after being out of action for a while, he was in for a rough welcome. "I remember him struggling early on," Cormier said. "His timing was off. He hadn't fought in almost a year. He just wasn't himself." His first day of sparring, as Lawal remembered it, he went up against his buddy Cormier. He started off getting the worst of it, and things only deteriorated from there as his cardio showed the effects of his injury layoff. "I was kind of getting beat down," Lawal said. "I'm not going to lie." The next day of sparring, Lawal got matched up with a tall, lanky surfer kid by the name of Luke Rockhold -- a middleweight who Lawal took one look at before deciding that his fortunes in the gym were about to change. "I was like, yes! I'm going to smash him!" Lawal said. The way he saw it, Rockhold was a pretty boy who wasn't going to like getting hit in the face. He was, in Lawal's eyes, "a fake Ken doll." But before they strapped on the gloves, Cormier tried to warn his friend that it might not be as easy a sparring session as he thought. "I told him, Luke is a guy you have to watch out for. He goes a thousand percent all the time." Lawal wasn't convinced. This guy? The one who looks like he stepped out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog? He was the one who was going to give a former Strikeforce champ and NCAA All-American a hard time? Please. "I was like, I can't wait till I spar with Luke," Lawal said. "I'm going to put them thangs on him." A few rounds later, Lawal found out what Cormier was talking about. Rockhold popped right back up after Lawal took him down. He fired off kicks that seemed to come from odd angles and yet always found an open target. Lawal found himself getting punched, kneed, and kicked in places he thought he'd been defending well. "I got beat up," Lawal said. "...I got exposed. Because I came from training in Orange County, which was a good camp, some good guys out there, but the whole level of intensity, I felt like I was in Holland or something. I was like, these guys are trying to knock me out." Cormier had tried to tell him what he was in for, but maybe it was something he had to experience for himself to understand. That's how it was for Cormier when he first joined the team, he said. "Other guys may train hard and spar hard, but it's different here, where you have so many top guys and they're all there every single day. I think that's probably the biggest thing. There's a core group of guys who are here every day, and they're all mostly top ten in the world. It's a daily grind. You don't go to the gym and not have to deal with Luke Rockhold, [Josh] Koscheck, [Jon] Fitch, Cain [Velasquez] -- they're all there every time you step on the mat. There's no easy days." Cormier knew his old friend would benefit from those daily battles, but he also had selfish reasons for enlisting him, he admitted. "I just know that my best years, whether it was wrestling or whatever, Mo was right there close to me. The comfort that I have training with that dude, his ability to talk you up when you're having bad days, just having a friend around helps so much." Still, it wasn't just himself he was trying to help by bringing Lawal onto the team, Cormier said. "I knew it would be good for him, but I also knew it would be good for Luke. We didn't have that many smaller guys for him, so Luke had been sparring me and Cain. That's not a good day for any [middleweight]." With Lawal now on the AKA roster, Rockhold had a sparring partner closer to his size who could help him improve his wrestling, and Lawal had one who would force him to work on his stand-up skills. It was a symbiotic relationship that benefited them both, even if it resulted in the two of them showing up places with matching cuts and bruises when they traveled together to promote their respective fights on Saturday night's Showtime card in Las Vegas. "I'm going to be real with y'all," Lawal said while sitting next to Rockhold at a recent media Q&A at the MGM Grand. "This man right here is a top three middleweight in the world. You see my eye? I've got a little black eye, that's because of him. He kneed me in the face and punched me." Rockhold just shrugged and smiled before showing off his own battle wounds courtesy of Lawal and explaining that "iron sharpens iron." Which is kind of the whole point, as you can tell when you glance around the room at a place like AKA. The mats are crowded with UFC and Strikeforce fighters, former and current champions who make sure that there are no days off inside those walls. And that, Lawal said, is exactly what he needed. That's why unbeaten prospect Lorenz Larkin is in trouble once the cage door closes on Saturday night, he explained. "He's undefeated. He's a tough, young kid, hungry like me, but I'm starving," Lawal said. "I'm an Ethiopian right now." That's the good part about taking your beatings in the gym. There, no one's watching. No one's keeping score. There, the pounding is intended to make you better, or at the very least tougher. It's on Saturday night, when the cameras are rolling and the crowd is cheering, that you find out if it worked. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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Fuel TV officially kicked off the new year by airing a 24-hour UFC marathon on New Years Day, followed by airing the debut of “UFC Tonight” on January 3rd.  The UFC programming greatly improved Fuel TV’s usual poor ratings for comparable time-slots. From Multichannel: Fuel TV’s New Year’s Day 24-hour marathon of UFC programming helped the network generate its highest watched primetime block ever, said network officials. The UFC programming — part of a seven-year deal between the mixed martial arts outfit and Fuel TV owner Fox Sports– also generated the second most watched day in network history, with the network’s total day average up +378% vs. the January 2011 Sunday average, according to Fuel Tv officials. Fuel TV had its highest-watched Primetime night ever, up +493% vs. the 2011 Sunday average. The top show of the day was UFC Bad Blood at 7:00 p.m. ET. It was the fourth most-watched show on Fuel TV among Households since the network became nationally rated. MMAJunkie has the ratings for the “UFC Tonight” debut on Fuel TV: This week’s series debut of “UFC Tonight” earned 39,000 viewers on FUEL TV, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed with industry sources. That’s nearly three times FUEL TV’s usual audience size, which averaged approximately 15,000 viewers in 2011. … Still, FUEL TV remains a premium-subscription option on many cable platforms, and officials face an uphill battle in expanding the channel’s reach. A well-produced “Countdown to UFC 141″ special, for example, garnered just 15,000 viewers for its debut and 1,000 viewers for a subsequent replay – despite the Dec. 30 event being one of the UFC’s biggest shows of 2011.   Payout Perspective: It’s a step in the right direction for both the UFC and Fuel TV, but it’s apparent that this partnership will need to blossom within the next few years in order to benefit the UFC. The end game for Fuel TV is to get the UFC and MMA fanbase to pressure cable/satellite providers to carry Fuel TV in order to continue increasing the reach of the lowest rated cable network in 2011. The next key date for Fuel TV will be February 15, when UFC on Fuel TV makes it’s debut from the 10,000-seat capacity Omaha Civic Auditorium in Nebraska. Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger are set as the main event while Dave Herman and Stefan Struve will meet in the night’s co-main event . … Notes from the press releases: - NYE UFC Marathon: Generated the second most watched day in network history, with the network’s total day average up +378% vs. the January 2011 Sunday average. - NYE UFC Marathon: Fuel TV had its highest-watched Primetime night ever, up +493% vs. the 2011 Sunday average. - NYE UFC Marathon: The top show of the day was UFC Bad Blood at 7:00 p.m. ET. It was the fourth most-watched show on Fuel TV among Households since the network became nationally rated. - “UFC Tonight” Debut: The debut of “UFC Tonight” garnered 39,000 viewers on FUEL TV, nearly three times FUEL TV’s usual audience size, which averaged approximately 15,000 viewers in 2011. - “Countdown to UFC 141″ special: Garnered just 15,000 viewers for its debut and 1,000 viewers for a subsequent replay – despite UFC 141 being one of the UFC’s biggest shows of 2011.

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You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Luckily, for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the first impression of its new television partnership with FUEL TV (via FOX) was a good one. And then some. In August 2011, the UFC signed a seven-year deal with FOX, making it the flagship network of the mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, which went into full effect on Jan. 1, 2012. The very first "unofficial" sampling of what this marriage would look like came on Nov. 12, 2011, when Junior dos Santos defeated then-heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC on FOX 1 in Anaheim, California. Though FUEL TV played a minor role in the UFC on FOX 1 build-up, the network featured 24 hours of action-packed UFC programming to kick off the New Year. So, just how well did the UFC on FUEL TV marathon do from a numbers perspective? Check out the ratings after the jump: Here are some key points (from an official press release distributed earlier today): Sunday, January, 2012 was the second most-watched day in network history with Total Day average up +378% vs. the January 2011 Sunday average. FUEL TV had its highest-watched Primetime night ever, up +493% vs. the 2011 Sunday average. The top show of the day was "UFC Bad Blood" at 7:00 PM ET. It was the fourth most-watched show on FUEL TV among Households since the network became nationally rated. George Greenberg, FUEL TV's Executive Vice President and General Manager, felt that the New Year's marathon was the first step of many exciting steps to come for the partnership: "FUEL TV's New Year's Day Marathon of UFC programming was essentially Day 1 of FOX's seven-year relationship with the UFC. We are confident that this exceptional and powerful programming, our cross-network promotional strategy, along with a great working relationship with UFC management, will continue to drive growth for UFC and FUEL TV over the long term." FUEL TV is certain to play a pivotal role in the future, regarding how MMA fans see the UFC on television. On Feb. 15, the first-ever UFC on FUEL TV fight card will showcase a "dream" headline fight between Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger, LIVE from CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2012, FUEL TV will telecast more than 2,000 hours of UFC programming, with more than 100 hours of live fights, weigh-ins, preliminary bouts, and pre and post-fight shows. In fact, in 2012, FUEL TV will offer more UFC programming than any network has ever offered. No hard feelings, Spike TV.

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Normally I associate Jack Daniels with the liquor, but the other day I met a mechanic also named Jack Daniels. So now when people say 'Hey Zeus, do want some Jack Daniels and Coke?' I have to think, 'Well maybe they are referring to that mechanic that I met the other day'. In that case, 'No, I don't need my car fixed, but I will take a soda. No need to wake up Jack tonight'. I've never shared a drink with Dana White, but I have done a variety of adult activities with Joe Rogan. Apparently Dana White was kicking it in my territory a few days ago and he didn't tell me. Bummer. He just missed out on his opportunity to talk to a guy that will undoubtedly convince him that Josh Barnett should so obviously be in the UFC that it's hilarious. Check out this clip of a very joyous Dana White answering questions from a guy that has no idea what to say other than to flub up his words. [Source]

Posted in: day, dana, day i, daniel, coke i

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The rules of love, relationships and marriages usually follow the order of love, infatuation and admiration first-and then later on down the road deteriorate into a sort of resentful burning hatred. When you have spent day after day with this person washing their dirty socks and underwear, listening to them complain to waiters about cucumbers on their salad and too much ice in their tea, nag you about laying on a couch instead of sitting because couches are only made for sitting afterall, and enduring hour long instructional lectures from them on the order in which the kitchen should be cleaned for maximum time saving efficiency--that's just the way your feelings will naturally progress. Dana White's love doesn't work that way though. He's an anomaly of sorts when it comes to how he falls in love with you. Take for example, his short lived love affair with Kimbo Slice. Dana hated Kimbo for a very long time but one day his eyes fell upon Kimbo filled with a new admiration and affection. Suddenly Dana was in love with Kimbo like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle loves pizza. This Dana love for Kimbo lasted for an entire season of TUF 10 from episode one all the way to the finale. Dana was sprung on Kimbo like a real life version of Usher's song 'you got it bad'. He couldn't miss a day without his friend or his whole life would be off track and now thanks to the genius of notlookoutwhale we can go back and relive the progression of this tumultuous sorrid love hate relationship Dana had with Kimbo on one heartwarming youtube video. Grab some popcorn, candy and a can of your favorited carbonated drink and enjoy the show.

Posted in: day, dana, kimbo, love, life version

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It's the third day of 2012 and I'm already breaking my New Year's Resolution to learn to exercise more patience. It's not my fault though, I have to blame TerezOwens.com for this one. They could have been patient and waited one more day until 'hump day' to release this gif of Rampage humping a tiger, but I guess they too, are impatient people. Oh well, nothing wrong with a little pre-hump day humping now is there? I don't know who made the silly decision to limit humping to Wednesday anyway. Rampage doesn't place limits on his humping. From female interviewers to tigers, Rampage believes in the freedom to hump as he sees fit. So what if it's only Tuesday-everybody get your hump on. [source]  

Posted in: rampage, day, hump, humping, limit humping

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One of the many interested onlookers in the crowd this past Friday night at UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem was none other than bantamweight star Urijah Faber, in town to enjoy the event and celebrate his New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas. And, like scores of those who watched Brock Lesnar retire after his loss to Alistair Overeem, “The California Kid” was disappointed by the former champion’s decision. However, Faber’s opinion on the matter wasn’t influenced by admiration for Lesnar but rather a desire to see the hulking heavyweight become an actual Mixed Martial Artist. “Lesnar had a long way to go,” Faber explained in an interview with the UFC shortly after UFC 141 had concluded. “It’s unfortunate that he’s stopping already and not gonna put in some more time because a great athlete, he has a strong mind, but he just needed to do more training in MMA. This isn’t the old days of MMA where you can be one dimensional.” Though Faber did credit Lesnar for having an improved jab he appeared far from impressed by the showing as a whole. Talk also turned to another fighter in the Faber family, albeit one whose battle was legitimately life threatening in comparison to the 32-year old’s chose profession. Faber offered an update on his sister, Michaella Faber, who was seriously injured in a November accident and whose recent brain surgery prompted him to shave his standard shaggy do. “She had two brain surgeries, a collapsed lung, a fractured spine, was in a coma for six days and she’s already doing phenomenal…walking and talking. She just has to put her skull back in and she’ll be ready to go.” Watch below as Faber discusses Lesnar, being a TUF coach, his love of Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz, and more…

Posted in: day, lesnar, faber, isn ’t, brain surgeries

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Hey! You! Bored today? Waiting for UFC 141 to start tonight? Spike's got us covered. They're showing the prelims tonight, this we know - BUT, they've decided to give us a day of classic Pride fights (and some UFC Unleashed toward the end of the day). If nothing else, remember - Pride had BAS RUTTEN on commentary. Plant yourself in front of the TV if, for no other reason, than to hear the dulcet tones of El Guapo. submitted by JavexV [link] [comment]

Posted in: day, pride, bas rutten, el guapo, javexv link

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submitted by red1392 [link] [3 comments]

Posted in: ufc, overeem, day, glory

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The UFC’s only official pre-fight show returns when Fight Day comes to you live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the host of Saturday’s UFC 141 event. Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will guide you through the latest news of the week. Top MMA journalists will help Farra break down all of the action from UFC 141, including the huge main event between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem. UFC stars will also stop by the Fight Day set for exclusive interviews. Tune in at 5 p.m. ET!More FIGHT

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, brock lesnar, fight day

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Miguel Torres just had a better day than probably 83% of the entire world. Looks like Miguel getting kicked out of the UFC can now be looked at as more of a temporary out of school suspension because the man is back. That's right-for all of you tweeters (twatters?) this is already 28 minute old news but that doesn't stop us from celebrating. We aren't that jaded over here at MiddleEasy just yet. At the UFC 141 press conference today Dana white announced Miguel would be returning to the UFC. Apparently the big boss made Torres visit some rape shelter's and make a donation and go to some sensitivity classes as punishment for his unruly tweethavior during his time away from the UFC. Sensitivity classes are the new black when it comes to potentially politically incorrect and offensive behavior it seems. Whether they work or not is questionable but we don't even want to get into all of that. We are just glad Miguel is back. That's not the only thing that made Miguel's day great though. No sirs and ma'ams. Today Miguel made history. He will now go down in MMA history as the first ever recipient of the coveted MiddleEasy Tweeter of the Year award. What could be better than that? I mean he can get back into the UFC any day he wants, right? Congrats and welcome back Miguel. We kept the tacos warm for you.

Posted in: ufc, day, torre, miguel, year award

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submitted by killzy707 [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: ufc, day, dana, killzy, vlog

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After months of experimenting with an earlier start time, UFC 141 returns to the old start time of 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT, although it is on a different day than normal for PPVs.

Posted in: ufc, time, day, pm, return

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Popular UFC middleweight Vitor Belfort recently vowed to give fans a “behind the scenes” look at his camp as he prepares to face Anthony Johnson in a few weeks at UFC 142. “The Phenom” has since produced his first entry in the series, introducing viewers to a few of his coaches/training partners and then closing with a message affirming his mindset is wholly on getting ready for the fight rather than a future date with Wanderlei Silva or second shot at the divisional title. Belfort Discusses Upcoming UFC 142 Vlog Series “My head is on today,” Belfort explains in the clip. “Tomorrow will take care of (itself). Today is the day. Today is the day that counts. I’m gonna make every day count so on (January 14) will be the day I’m gonna perform my athleticism, techniques…but if I don’t take care of today tomorrow may not come. So we take care of today.” Belfort-Johnson will take place as part of a PPV card featuring featherweight champion Jose Aldo defending his belt against undefeated grappler Chad Mendes. The 34-year old veteran will be looking for a second straight win since falling to Anderson Silva while Johnson will be making his middleweight debut after a successful run as an oversized 170-pounder. Check out the full “Road to UFC 142” video below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, day, johnson, today, belfort

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One day you will flick a booger inside of a room, and then days later your hand will accidentally rub upon that same booger and you will retract in absolute horror. For some, that day has already come, and you never want to revisit it. It's called cosmic karma, and if you wear a tie-dye shirt when you say it, then it increases its significance. Jerome Le Banner has been on the unfortunate end of a series of really bad decisions in MMA and K-1. One could even argue that Le Banner edged out Satoshi Ishii in his Dynamite!! 2010 bout, but at 3:15am in the morning, everyone's perception level seems to drop off significantly. However, when Jerome Le Banner vs. Kyotaro went into an extra round at the K-1 GP in Seoul in 2010, it was clear that Le Banner was somewhat shafted. Now it looks like Le Banner's universal luck has finally shifted over to the side that doesn't involve him getting screwed out of possible MMA/K-1 wins. According to Heavy MMA, Jerome Le Banner is slated to face former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in a wrestling bout on DREAM's NYE card. I bet you didn't see that coming. If you did, you have the gift of clairvoyance so you probably don't even need to read the rest of this paragraph because you already know what it's going to say. Ah, got you. Imposter. [Source]

Posted in: day, satoshi ishii, jerome, banner, mma jerome

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WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has pled guilty on a domestic violence charge and has been sentenced to serve 90 days in jail according to Yahoo boxing writer Kevin Iole on Twitter: @KevinIKevin Iole Judge sentences Floyd Mayweather Jr. to 90 days in jail after guilty plea to domestic violence charge. #boxingDec 21 via webFavoriteRetweetReply @KevinIKevin Iole In addition to 90 days in jail, Mayweather must pay $2500 fine, 100 hours of community service and enroll in domestic violence counselingDec 21 via webFavoriteRetweetReply @KevinIKevin Iole Should be noted that Mayweather will get credit for three days served, so he serves 87 days beginning on Jan. 6, 2012Dec 21 via webFavoriteRetweetReply For those hoping for a May boxing mega-fight between Mayweather and his fellow superstar Manny Pacquiao, this is very bad news. There's little to no chance that Mayweather will be able to make that fight happen now.

Posted in: mayweather, day, jail, iole, webfavoriteretweetreply

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Boxing great Floyd Mayweather has plead guilty to domestic violence charges stemming from a 2010 incident involving the mother of three of his kids and his sentence has officially been handed down. Kevin Iole with the word: Judge sentences Floyd Mayweather Jr. to 90 days in jail after guilty plea to domestic violence charge. In addition to 90 days in jail, Mayweather must pay $2500 fine, 100 hours of community service and enroll in domestic violence counseling. Should be noted that Mayweather will get credit for three days served, so he serves 87 days beginning on Jan. 6, 2012. More on this in just a bit.

Posted in: mayweather, day, floyd mayweather, violence, violence charge

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Before his Thailand incident, the last time we mentioned Junie Browning on MiddleEasy, the guy was attacking nurses in a hospital and threatening to kill their families. On that same day, NASA blew up the moon so it's safe to say that there was something obviously wrong in the universe on October 7th 2009. After his hospital incident, Dana White cut Junie Browning from the UFC and then the moon waved its hands and screamed 'What about me?' Apparently the moon has never seen Alien because if it did, it would know that 'in space, no one can hear you scream', regardless of if you're a celestial entity. A few days later, Junie Browning issued an apology via YouTube but the UFC still denied Junie and his (at the time) 4-1 record back into the organization. Since then, Junie Browning has gone 0-4 in his MMA career -- and is now being hunted by police in Phuket, Thailand. Here's a pic from Mike Swick's Twitter of the news stands in Thailand.   Here's a picture of the top of Junie Browning's head after his alleged 'bar brawl' that he's been sending to a few media outlets today. Keep in mind that he's actively interviewing and publishing photos of himself throughout the internet, so I really don't want to hear how MiddleEasy is 'exploiting' Junie Browning. The guy is exploiting himself, and we're just republishing it. Keep your high and unrealistic morals to yourself.

Posted in: day, thailand, here, junie, moon

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With all of the riveting, hard-hitting news surfacing in the last day or so, such as Alistair Overeem having an awesome excuse to not be tested for steroids and Chael Sonnen NOT acting like a penisface to Arianny Celeste, it was hard to select a topic to write about for the day. I was going to produce lots of funnies about violence against women after reading that Junie Browning started ANOTHER fight in a hospital (Junie chose the right place to do this, as I heard that the ladyboys in Thai prison are fabulous), but that was before I read that Phillipe Nover decided to film himself draining his elbow following his fight with Marcin Held at Bellator 59. Let me just say that I am quite the enthusiast regarding anything, be it liquid, solid, gas, or searing hot plasma, flying out of the human body. I measure my masturbation not in times per week, but times per hour. I spend days on end watching milk enema porn (delightfully NSFW... also check out my favorite film of all time, Blow it Out Your Ass 2). I watch videos of topless girls farting while I eat breakfast, pausing them only when the little play arrow will point directly at the girl’s asshole. And I am one of the few people I know who touches himself while watching PopThatZit.com. So when I saw Phillipe Nover muse that he had “a titty on [his] elbow”, I was psyched for what would come next. The result, ten full CC’s of a transparent, red liquid (will people get mad at me for posting spoilers?), is a bit underwhelming in terms of texture. The hedonist in me (okay, the gay hedonist in me) would rather watch him poop. But seeing his elbow swelling go down does provide a sort of satisfaction. And his nursey monologue about the lymphatic system is quite informative. Overall, I’d give this video a solid B, just above "Exploding Chin" but significantly below tubgirl. Another video, this time of Nover draining his own cauliflower ear, after the jump! read more

Posted in: time, day, video, elbow, nover

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This past weekend may have featured some incredible action inside the Octagon but the evening’s participants apparently paid the price for their entertaining performances. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tito Ortiz, and Mark Hominick all received 60-day medical suspensions following this past Saturday’s UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida event. All fighters from the card were placed on at least a fourteen-day suspension, most receiving the minimal sentence for precautionary reasons including UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones who submitted Lyoto Machida in the main event. Nogueira’s suspension stems from a broken arm suffered against Frank Mir, while Ortiz needs a chest X-ray after his beating suffered by Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Hominick suffered a knockout at the hands of Chan Sung Jung. Here is the complete list of UFC 140 medical suspensions exceeded the standard two-week period: Lyoto Machida: Suspended 30 days for cut over right eye Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Suspended 60 days due to submission loss, needs clearance from orthopedic surgeon Tito Ortiz: Suspended 60 days due to TKO loss, needs chest X-ray and abdominal ultrasound Mark Hominick: Suspended 60 days due to TKO loss, needs MRI or CT scan Krzysztof Soszynski: Suspended 60 days due to knockout loss, needs MRI or CT scan Jared Hamman: Suspended 60 days due to knockout loss, needs MRI or CT scan Rich Attonito: Suspended 60 days due to TKO loss, needs MRI or CT scan Mitch Clarke: Suspended 60 days due to TKO loss, needs MRI or CT scan PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, loss, day, ct, tko loss

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

The Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services today issued its list of medical suspensions for UFC 140: "Jones vs. Machida," which took place on Sat., Dec. 10, 2011, from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. And when you fight in Ontario, an automatic medical suspension is "Yours to Discover." All 24 fighters competing on the Toronto pay-per-view were benched for precautionary reasons; however, a handful of combatants will be riding the pine for an extended period of time thanks to a couple of violent finishes. Chief among them is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who was sent back to Brazil with his arm in a sling thanks to a bone-crunching submission at the hands of Frank Mir. "Minotauro" was awarded a 60-day suspension, which won't be nearly enough, but he still needs a doctor's signature prior to stepping back into the cage. Also getting a two month vacation is Tito Ortiz, who needs an ultrasound (he's not pregnant) and a chest X-Ray after getting his ribs barbecued by Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC 140 injuries and their medical instructions (via MMA Weekly): Lyoto Machida suspended 30 days for cut over his right eye.Jon Jones suspended 14 days (automatic)Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira suspended 60 days. Needs clearance from orthopedic surgeon for dislocated shoulderFrank Mir suspended 14 days (automatic)Antonio Rogerio Nogueira suspended 14 days (automatic)Tito Ortiz suspended 60 days. Needs chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound.Brian Ebersole suspended 14 days (automatic)Claude Patrick suspended 14 days (automatic)Chan Sung Jung suspended 14 days (automatic)Mark Hominick suspended 60 days. Needs MRI or CT scanIgor Pokrajac suspended 14 days (automatic)Krzysztof Soszynski suspended 60 days. Needs MRI or CT scanConstantinos Philippou suspended 14 days (automatic)Jared Hamman suspended 60 days. Needs MRI or CT scanDennis Hallman suspended 14 days (automatic)John Makdessi suspended 14 days (automatic)Yves Jabouin suspended 14 days (automatic)Walel Watson suspended 14 days (automatic)Nik Lentz suspended 14 days (automatic)Mark Bocek suspended 14 days (automatic)Jake Hecht suspended 14 days (automatic)Rich Attonito suspended 60 days. Needs MRI or CT scanJohn Cholish suspended 14 days (automatic)Mitch Clarke suspended 60 days. Needs MRI or CT scan. Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For complete UFC 140 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here.

Posted in: day, nogueira, suspension, ct, mri

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tito Ortiz, and Mark Hominick each received 60 day medical suspensions following their losses this past Saturday at UFC 140. The Ontario athletic commission confirmed the UFC 140 medical suspensions with MMAjunkie.Nogueira won’t require surgery for a broken arm suffered in a first-round submission to Frank Mir and should be able to return to the Octagon in “no more than 9 months,” the UFC announced today.60 day suspensions also went to Krzysztof Soszynski, Jared Hamman, Rich Attonito, and Mitch Clarke for knockout losses, while headliner Lyoto Machida was suspended 30 days for a cut on his forehead that preceded a second-round submission loss to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.The rest of the card received mandatory 14 day suspensions for precautionary reasons.More UFC 140 coverage: UFC 140 results, UFC 140 bonuses, UFC 140 highlightsPictured: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Posted in: ufc, loss, day, mark hominick, suspension

Read the full article at MMA Frenzy

Seven fighters - including main-card competitors Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tito Ortiz and Mark Hominick - received 60-day medical suspensions following Saturday's UFC 140 event. MMAjunkie.com today obtained the list of suspensions from the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services. All fighters from the Dec. 10 card received suspensions of at least 14 days.

Posted in: day, mark hominick, suspension, consumer services, ontario ministry

Read the full article at MMA Junkie

Looks like Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White is going to bury the "Business as usual" punchline the mixed martial arts community has so lovingly embraced over the past 10 months. That's because White has declared that the Strikeforce promotion, gobbled up by the ZUFFA zealots back in March of this year, is "here to stay" as the UFC finalizes a television deal "any day now." From MMA Fighting: "It's staying. Just sit and wait and watch what I do. Trust me, it's going to be just fine. Like I said last time I talked to you guys about this, I'm getting into this and I'm going to handle it. Watch and see. We'll see what happens. I know I keep saying this every week, but that deal should be wrapped up any day now, and then I'll make the decisions on who goes where and what's going to happen. So we should know hopefully by Monday." Most fans expected ZUFFA to fold Strikeforce into the UFC, much like it did with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) earlier this year, and it's hard to envision a scenario where it remains a separate promotion after its contract with Showtime expires. But then again, stranger things have happened, especially in this sport. Strikeforce will bring its "Melendez vs. Masvidal" event to the Showtime airwaves a week from Saturday (Dec. 17, 2011) and has already booked its next show, titled "Rockhold vs. Jardine," for the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 7, 2012. There's also some unfinished business in the heavyweight division, as Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett are still expected to slug it out for the right to be called Grand Prix Champion early next year. Will it be on Showtime? Or does White have another trick up his sleeve? Alright Maniacs, let's hear some predictions. Is Strikeforce going to hang around and if it does, what's the best way to utilize it? Thoughts?

Posted in: ufc, strikeforce, day, deal, year

Read the full article at MMA Mania

The UFC’s only official pre-fight show returns when Fight Day comes to you live from the Air Canada Centre, the host of Saturday’s UFC 140 event. Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will guide you through the latest news of the week. Top UFC lightweight contender Ben Henderson joins the show to discuss his February title fight against Frankie Edgar, and top MMA journalists from around the world join the show to help break down the entire event. Tune in to Fight Day at 5 p.m. ET!More FIGHT DAY

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, fight day, megan olivi

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Like the fighter that you think has the edge in each discipline and see how the votes stack up in the UFC 140 Fight Day "Who's Got The Edge?" poll!

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, edge, votes stack

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

With UFC 140 just around the corner, it's time to cast your votes for who will end up on top. Let your voice be heard with the UFC 140 Fight Day Fight Card.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, card, voice

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

submitted by killzy707 [link] [comment]

Posted in: ufc, day, dana, killzy, vlog

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Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting ExclusiveNEW YORK -- John Cholish only has to turn his head to see the top. It is less than one week until Cholish makes his UFC debut. On a royal blue, sweat-soaked mat at Renzo Gracie Academy on Manhattan's west side, Cholish is one of 40 men studiously drilling escapes from the bottom, paired with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Brian Glick. Seated against the back wall of blue, keeping an eye on his progress is John Danaher, the BJJ wiz who has helped guide the career of welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre. The two are constant presences in his career, helping to fine-tune his fight game as he reaches new levels of competition. But it is the fighter alongside of him that represents where Cholish and every other UFC lightweight wants to eventually go. Less than 15 feet away is current UFC lightweight kingpin Frankie Edgar. It is impossible to look at one and then the other, and miss the contrast in their situations. One is about to make his entrance on to the sport's biggest stage, the other is the very best in the division he is about to enter. But on this mat, they are teammates and friends. Edgar is an example from which to learn, a representation of the drive and commitment it takes to reach the top. Cholish has always sought out the best teachers, and on this day, there is no one better to have around than the standard-bearer of your division. This day is Monday, the last official day of Cholish's camp before the UFC rookie flies to Toronto to begin UFC 140 fight week. The move to the UFC came as something of a surprise to Cholish, who learned of it from a friend who had read the news online. Like many, his was a journey many years in the making. Yet his was also quite unique. When he walks into the cage against Mitch Clarke on Saturday, the Cornell University graduate will be the first Ivy Leaguer ever to fight in the octagon. With that pedigree, it would be easy to discount him as a public relations tool for the promotion as it prepares for its mainstream push on FOX, but that would be a severe underestimation of his skills. A lifelong wrestler, Cholish competed collegiately at Cornell, where he was a second-team All-Ivy Leaguer and helped the Big Red to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA championships in 2005. After graduating, Cholish sort of wandered into his current gym in 2006, and basically never left, starting with jiu-jitsu training and eventually adding muay thai into the mix. Within a year, Cholish's interest in MMA had grown so intense that he and his then-roommate, fellow fighter Erik Owings, converted the top level of their duplex into mat space. Even on Sunday mornings after long weeks in the office, there were times when Cholish would find himself up at 7:30 am working on moves. Cholish lost his first pro fight in 2007, less than a year into his training. Instead of jumping right back in, or quitting as some expected he might, he took time off to advance his skills. Since returning 15 months later, he hasn't lost, and is riding a seven-fight win streak into the octagon, with six straight stoppages along the way. "John's way ahead of where I was when I first got in," Frankie Edgar told MMA Fighting. "He's had some of the best guys around him to take examples from. He's obviously a very smart guy, he's training hard and prepared 100 percent. He pays attention to detail. He knows what it's all about. He's going to be ready for this one." The company he keeps may not say it all, but it says a lot. Cholish not only trains with Edgar and Danaher, but has traveled to Montreal to learn from Georges St-Pierre and Firas Zahabi. On many days at the Gracie Academy, fellow pros and UFC vets like Charlie Brenneman, David Branch and Rafael Natal are all present. Kenny Florian is also known to stop in. At times, it's a who's who of MMA talent. "The one thing my parents said when I was little is that if you want good things to happen, surround yourself with good people, and if you want bad things to happen, surround yourself with bad people," he says over a lunch of seared tuna and arugula salad at an Asian restaurant called Mooncake just across the street from the gym. That extends to his other career as well. He works as a commodities broker for a company named Beacon Energy, brokering deals for natural gas and crude oil. The guys yelling "buy" and "sell" while most of us look on cluelessly? Yeah, it's something like that. He brokers deals between major corporations, banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and companies like Exxon and Hess. It is a career that is as mentally challenging as MMA is physically challenging. Unlike many fighters who make the jump to the UFC and leave their jobs behind in fear of not being able to devote enough time to improving, Cholish prefers it this way, with his time blocked out for specific tasks. It's not very different from his time in college, when he managed a heavy course load (he majored in applied economics) and a Division I wrestling schedule. These days, Cholish is usually in the office by 7 or 7:30 am, out at 4 pm, and trains at night. He likes his job so much that it actually upset him to have to miss a few days this week to leave for Toronto on a Tuesday. "I see it as fun for me," he says of the challenge of demanding dual careers. "I love my life and what I do. I couldn't see it any other way." His boss and colleagues are big supporters, and he's expecting them as well as other industry friends to fly to Toronto to cheer him on. A "client event," he calls it. His mom, though, would probably prefer it if he stuck to his desk job. While his dad usually travels to events, his mom can't even bring herself to watch on TV, and usually sits home awaiting a phone call for the result. It will be no different this weekend. In Mitch Clarke, Cholish will be facing an opponent that like him has a wrestling background and the majority of his wins by submission. Clarke is 9-0 and will also be making his UFC debut. If Cholish has one appreciable advantage, it's big show experience, as he fought and won on the undercard of February's Strikeforce event in New Jersey, a show that drew over 11,000 fans. Despite having several months to prepare, Cholish decided not to bog himself down in film study of his opponent, choosing to work on his overall skills in lieu of fight-specific planning. Finally, just a few weeks ago, he looked at tape, but only for general preparation. If anyone should know how to prepare for this moment, it's an Ivy League grad with a day job that relies on reading real-time movements with split-second timing. Even with the big moment looming, you can't tell if he has any nerves about it all. He says he doesn't. At least not yet. But they will come. "People ask me if I'm super nervous," he says. "I've been to a couple of UFC events. I'm the first fight of the evening, so it's going to be like a high school gymnasium in there." If it is, Cholish might be right at home. Just a wrestler with an insane work ethic trying to prove something to himself, the rest of the world be damned. The last time he was at a fight, he watched his teammate Frank Edgar knock out Gray Maynard in a stirring championship comeback for the ages. For him, scenes like that are a long way off. But they are also so close. As he leaves Gracie Academy for the last time, Edgar shakes Cholish's hand and wishes him luck. Tells him that he'll be there on Thursday, and to call him if he needs anything. Cholish thanks him and walks out into the New York afternoon headed for his future, a somehow anonymous professional athlete and hotshot executive with two more demanding careers than most anybody walking around him. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: ufc, time, day, career, cholish

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In order for a fighter to be able to respond to Martinez’ mid-fight instructions like that, he has to have put many hours into his training. According to Martinez, his fighters typically put in three to four hours each day during training camp, and that includes everything from working on technique to drills to sparring. Many fighters would call him a taskmaster, though it is said with the utmost respect and affection. According to Hall of Famer Randy Couture, a five-time UFC champion, “Gil Martinez is a master at what he does! I remember the first time I worked with him. I thought I was going to trip on a lung. There is nothing static about how he holds. You better be ready to move your feet and keep your hands up and eyes open, because those mitts come back at you almost as much as you throw at them.” Martinez has a seemingly endless supply of energy. At 42 years of age, he moves with the speed of a much younger fighter. He is light on his feet and seems to glide across the cage floor, constantly moving forward as he works with his fighters. His brow glistens with sweat, his hands are a blur as they let loose a flurry of punches to demonstrate technique to his fighter. Never one to sit on his laurels, Martinez makes it a point to seek whatever further learning he needs to in order to be the best coach possible for his fighters. Couture observed that, “Gil has a very open mind. It’s not unusual to see him at grappling practice or working with a kickboxing coach, trying to understand the whole MMA game, not just boxing.” Martinez was asked about working with elite level fighters like Couture, Vitor Belfort, and others, and he was similarly complimentary of Couture and Belfort. “Those are probably two of the best known and most popular fighters in MMA. It’s really a pleasure working with those guys.” His approach when working with fighters of Couture’s and Belfort’s caliber and experience is just to enhance what is already there and change it up a bit. “As a coach, I just try to help them to learn new ways of doing what they’ve been doing for years, because they already know how to fight.” Martinez was impressed with Belfort’s and Couture’s ability to remain humble and down to earth despite their personal and professional achievements. He indicated that this mentality and attitude of equality and being “just one of the guys” carried through to all of the fighters and staff at Xtreme Couture. Working with elite-level fighters has its ups and downs, including occasionally losing those fighters to retirement or to another gym. Martinez takes it all in stride and said that it was part of the business. “You do grow to have a good relationship with them and it’s hard to see them go, but at the end of the day, they have to do what’s best for them. That’s how it goes.” Martinez always wishes his fighters well in their careers when a change occurs. As a coach, Martinez has had the opportunity to train female fighters, and finds that there are some significant differences between men and women who fight. In his experience, he has found it easier to train the women because they come in with a clean slate. Martinez said, “They are so willing to learn, and they don’t come in with the mentality that they know how to throw a punch.” The Xtreme Couture motto is to check your ego at the door, and the female fighters take this seriously. “I think they don’t have an ego about learning from somebody else, so it makes it a lot easier to teach them,” said Martinez. He continues to work with females to prepare them to be their competitive best. In light of MMA garnering more mainstream acceptance, Martinez advised young up and coming fighters to take their careers seriously. “The fighters who are successful are the ones who stay focused and are disciplined enough to do their jobs.” Although he admitted that there is some glamor that is associated with being a professional fighter, there is much more to it than that. There is a great deal of work to be done before the broadcast starts and still more to be done once the cameras shut off. Martinez emphasized how unique fighters are, “It takes a special kind of person to be a fighter. It takes a special kind of person to have somebody punch you in the face and then want to come back the next day and have it done again.” He didn’t want to discourage anyone from pursuing their dreams of success as a professional fighter. Rather, he wanted them to have a realistic concept of what it actually takes. He said, “I think as long as they’re doing it for the right reasons and understand what kind of work they have to put forward to be successful, I think they go for it, but they gotta jump in with both feet.” Martinez compared a career in fighting to a marriage where the priorities are no longer about hanging out with friends and partying all the time. The priority becomes being disciplined and taking care of business. He indicated that at the end of the day, after all the punches, kicks, takedowns, submissions, and all of the pain, it’s still the best profession in the world. Page 3 of 3 Tweet

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This morning around 430am I obliterated the surface image Zeus had in his brain of cauliflower. For his entire life Zeus was seeing cauliflower as an unassuming vegetable in the cabbage family. It stinks when you cook it and is often times found mixed up with broccoli and carrots in the frozen section. Cauliflower is not just broccoli's sidekick though. It's so much more. Cauliflower is the shape shifter of the vegetables. If you cut it into tiny little pieces it tastes just like rice, and if you boil it and smash it-it becomes like mashed potatoes. Insane. We just rewrote the doctrine of vegetable philosophy in your brain. Things like this can only happen around 430am so you might not be able to fully appreciate the depth of that revelation while reading this between 9am and 5pm. In that case here's something better suited for the daytime brain-the Genghis Con (creator of Miami Hustle) is back with a whole new amazing production to feast your eyes upon. This one will be a virtual video magazine full of MMA footage, following the day to day lives of fighters, and of course loaded with music created by Genghis con himself. The first edition of this virtual video magazine called Fists of Fortune will feature The Daily Grind-a 25 minute show following the training of Bellator's Douglas Lima, a short film called Who is Bubba Jenkins?, backyard fights with Miami Hustle, a day in the life of upcoming fighter Kendrick Miree aka 'the Big Problem' and so much more. Check out the trailer for the first edition of the magazine set to be released on Dec 12th.  

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Read the full article at Middle Easy

The following fighters have had their profiles removed from UFC.com in recent days, likely indicating that they've been released by the promotion: -Eliot Marshall -Jason Brilz -Danny Downes -Shamar Bailey -Clay Harvison -Edward Faaloloto -Matt Lucas -Paul Bradley Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Brett Rogers has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for that little incident back in June where he ran his wife down outside the house and pounded her face in. In June, Rogers, of Apple Valley, Minn., south of Minneapolis, was seen by a neighbor punching his wife outside their home, according to a criminal complaint filed against him. Police later found her walking near their home with a bloody face, missing tooth and a broken jaw. The complaint also said the Rogers' children were scared to return home – and said Rogers had choked them in the past.Rogers pleaded guilty to third-degree assault with substantial bodily harm, a felony, and had two other felony charges dropped, as well as a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment. After Wednesday's sentencing, Rogers received credit for 26 days he has already served. The Pioneer-Press reported that Rogers will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence, meaning he will have 14 days left to serve, per the judge's orders.Rogers' defense attorney asked for the heavyweight's jail sentence to be postponed until after a planned Dec. 31 fight, allowing him to propertly train for the event. That request was denied, but the judge did say Rogers can travel for his job. According to records from the Dakota County Sheriff's Department, Rogers' anticipated release date is Dec. 13. Ah man, what is going on with the prison system nowadays. Not enough room to hang Lindsay Lohan on a wall in shackles and now Brett Rogers is doing 14 days for whupping his wife. It's almost enough to make you lose faith in the system. Fortunately, we are a vengeful and judgemental people and while the public court system has let him off fairly easy the court of public opinion will probably never forgive him. Brett has gone from being the Sam's Club tire changing feel good story of 2009 to an MMA pariah in 2011.

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Mixed martial arts fighter Brett (The Grim) Rogers has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for assaulting his wife in their Minnesota home.

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Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

Brett Rogers has finally received his punishment for the third-degree felony assault charge he plead guilty to following the domestic abuse incident with his wife earlier this year. According to TwinCities.com, Dakota County District Judge Karen Asphaug sentenced Rogers to 60 days in jail and three years probation. Brett “Da Grim” Rogers, 30, of Apple Valley, pleaded guilty to felony third-degree assault in Dakota County District Court. Two felonies of domestic assault by strangulation and stalking were dismissed, as well as a gross misdemeanor charge of endangering a child. This morning, District Judge Karen Asphaug also ordered Rogers to three years probation with several conditions, including having no contact with his wife until he completes a domestic abuse program and his probation officer approves the contact. Rogers also cannot use alcohol and drugs. Here’s the kicker. The judge said he’ll likely only have to serve two-thirds of jail sentence and the 26 days he already spent will count towards the 60 days, so he’ll only have to spend a grand total of 14 more days in jail. That’s the US legal system for ya. Rogers’ defense team requested to postpone his sentence until after a fight Rogers has scheduled on Dec. 31, but they were denied. I don’t feel bad for him.

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Read the full article at MMA Convert

Back in June, former Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers was arrested for assaulting his wife, who reportedly suffered injuries to her face, ear, neck and bac. And now the hammer has come down. Rogers was sentenced today to 60 days in jail, along with three years of probation that carries a few conditions. TwinCities.com has it: A heavyweight mixed martial artist was sentenced today to 60 days in jail for beating his wife in June at their Apple Valley home in front of their children and a neighbor. Brett "Da Grim" Rogers, 30, of Apple Valley, pleaded guilty to felony third-degree assault in Dakota County District Court. Two felonies of domestic assault by strangulation and stalking were dismissed, as well as a gross misdemeanor charge of endangering a child. This morning, District Judge Karen Asphaug also ordered Rogers to three years probation with several conditions, including having no contact with his wife until he completes a domestic abuse program and his probation officer approves the contact. Rogers also cannot use alcohol and drugs. The report goes on to note that Rogers already has credit for 26 days served and after serving over half his sentence, he has about 14 days remaining. After the incident, both Rogers and his wife, Tiuana, proclaimed the whole thing was simply a misunderstanding and he was innocent of all charges. Still, he pleaded guilty and now he'll go through a domestic abuse program to prevent any further "misunderstandings." Rogers was once viewed as the epitome of a "feel good story" in the mixed martial arts (MMA) world. The one-time Sam's Club tire flipper seemed to come out of nowhere when he debuted with Strikeforce in April 2009. But then after losing three fights in a row under the Strikeforce banner earlier this year, Rogers was cut by the organization and transitioned to Titan Fighting Championships, a regional promotion based out of Kansas City, Kansas. In his first fight with the promotion, Rogers lost what looked to be a very uninspired split decision to former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight Eddie Sanchez at Titan Fighting Championships 20. Rogers plans on fighting this upcoming Dec. 31. As a condition of the order, he can travel for work but will not be able to postpone his jail sentence until after the fight, as he originally wanted to.

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Read the full article at MMA Mania

Former Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers has been sentenced to 60-days in jail following his arrest for domestic violence earlier this year.

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Read the full article at MMA Weekly

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UFC 139 main event fighters Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson face extended suspensions after their epic five-round war in San Jose, California this past weekend. Henderson won the bout via unanimous decision but, like Rua, went straight to the hospital after the event’s conclusion. Both Rua and Henderson received 180 days without contact suspensions unless a doctor clears them. Rua’s is due to possible facial and skull fractures, while “Hendo” needs to be cleared due to a possible right thumb fracture. Wanderlei Silva received a 60-day suspension, while his opponent Cung Le received the same despite being stopped with strikes. Le is also out with no contact for 30 days. Here is a full list of UFC 139 medical suspensions: Shamar Bailey – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO Gleison Tibau – Suspended for 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance via x-ray for possible right thumb fracture Tom Lawlor – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to submission Alex Soto – Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to knockout Michael McDonald – Suspended for 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance via x-ray for a possible third finger fracture on his right hand Jason Brilz – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO Rick Story – Suspended for 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving a clearance from a physician for a chin laceration Martin Kampmann – Suspended for 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving clearance from a physician due to forehead and right eyebrow lacerations Brian Bowles – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days Cung Le – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO; suspended 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving clearance from a physician due to a possible nasal fracture Wanderlei Silva – Suspended for 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving clearance from a physician for a right eyebrow laceration Mauricio Rua – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days; suspended 60 days with no contest for 60 days for an eyebrow laceration; suspended 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance from a physician for possible facial and skull fracture Dan Henderson – Suspended 60 days with no contact for 60 days; suspended 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance from a physician for a possible right thumb fracture. An MRI/CT scan is needed to be cleared PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The first kid begins to cry less than an hour into practice. Everyone can see it coming. That trembling lower lip, that frustrated stomp of the feet. When the tears finally start, twisting his face into a little ball of anguish, no one seems particularly surprised. "No crying today," says his coach, Daniel Cormier. Is there even a hint of sympathy in his voice? There is not. Neither is there anger nor impatience. There is only a sense that this what we are doing because this is what must be done, and crying never won a single wrestling match. The kid, who is maybe ten or eleven years old, does his best to stay strong. He sniffs hard, trying to suck all the tears and snot and shame back into his face, but there's little time to compose himself. Already Cormier is signaling for his next tormentor to step to the center of the mat and resume the storm of takedowns that has brought him to this point. The kid can't take much more of this. The kid is losing it. "No crying," Cormier reminds him before turning his attention to the new opponent who's just joined the fray, fresh and eager. "Now," he says to the new boy, motioning him toward his blubbering, red-faced teammate, "Break him!" And where are the parents? The parents are there. They're leaning over the back wall of what was once a racquetball court, watching their boys learn to play rough. They knew what they were signing their kids up for. This isn't Little League. It's not one of those youth soccer leagues, all orange wedges at halftime and equal playing time for everyone. This is Tuesday night youth wrestling practice at the American Kickboxing Academy's sprawling two-story gym in the South Bay, and it's serious business. This particular drill -- one kid in the middle, with fresh opponents cycling in every minute until he can barely stand -- is not so much about improving technique as it is about learning how to take your ass-whipping like a man. And who better to teach it than Cormier, a former U.S. Olympic wrestling team captain and current top-ten ranked, undefeated professional MMA fighter, who sees no apparent contradiction between imploring one kid to keep it together and, in the very next breath, instructing the other to take him apart? "Okay, okay," he says once the exhausted crying kid has been planted on his back yet again. "Let him up. Let him up, but stay on him." This is one part of the drill all the boys have down by now. As they climb off their foe and watch him stagger to his feet, they shove him away with all the gusto of kids being finally encouraged to do something that's forbidden everywhere else in their lives. No pushing? In the lunch line at school, maybe. Not here. Here they shove. Here they grab him by the head and fling him around. His fatigue has rendered him almost completely helpless, and they're loving it. Until it's their turn, anyway. And everybody's turn is coming, as Cormier reminds them when they're fighting back tears of frustration and exhaustion near the end of the round. Revenge is just around the corner. All you have to do is hold on and wait. All you have to do is not break, even as your 250-pound wrestling coach is standing there, shouting at the other kid to break you. "That was a huge step forward," Cormier tells me later, once the exhausted, sweat-soaked ten-year-olds have limped out of the room and into their parents' waiting minivans outside. "Just getting them not to cry, that's a huge step." The way Cormier sees it, that's as much a part of what he's doing with the kids' wrestling practices as anything else. The techniques they can learn anywhere. But learning that peculiar joy that wrestlers take in breaking an opponent and refusing to be broken themselves? That's something that the 32-year-old Cormier may be uniquely qualified to teach them. ***** The temptation in stories like these is to look for the 'Rosebud' moment, some defining experience that will explain everything that comes after. More often than not, there isn't one. For most people, there are several. One piles up on top of another and another and another. Take Thanksgiving Day, 1986. Cormier is a seven year-old kid growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana, when his father, long since split from Cormier's mother, is shot and killed by the father of his second wife. You can almost imagine the way this story goes. Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws, an argument ensues, things get out of hand. Then bang. You've got a tragedy in your living room. "And the guy walked free," Cormier says now, relating the story now like it happened to somebody else. "I'm sure she was thinking, well, I've already lost my husband. I don't want to lose my father too. Plus, it was his house. You know, self-defense." On paper, that seems like the kind of event that would immediately change everything about your life. But really, Cormier says, it was his older brother, who was 19 at the time, who took the brunt of that one, at least for the time being. "I think I was young enough that I didn't really know enough to really understand what happened. Then I got older and realized, hey, my dad got murdered. But I was lucky. My parents were divorced, and my stepdad had been there for me since I was about three. He was my father, really. My dad was my dad, but he was my father. He raised me to be the man that I am today." As a kid, Cormier was a gifted athlete. Football, basketball -- he even won the regional version of the pass, dribble, and shoot competition when he was nine. It was shortly after that when he first discovered wrestling, the sport that would change his life. Back then, however, it was just one of several sports that he excelled at. Not only was Cormier a three-time state champion wrestler in high school, but he was also a standout linebacker on his high school football team. And in Louisiana, football was a religion. "Our team was terrible, though," Cormier says. "We'd fight all the time. We were like the Bad News Bears." The problem wasn't so much a lack of talent as a lack of discipline, according to Cormier. Their coach would call one defense and the guys on the defensive line would decide to play another. Everyone led and no one followed. "I think that left a sour taste in my mouth about football. It was like, man, I have to depend on all these other dudes? Forget this. I've never done another team sport after that." In wrestling, he didn't have that problem. He might have been dependent on his teammates in training, but when he walked out on the mats to compete, he was the only one he had to trust. That suited him, and he would end up turning down scholarship offers for football in order to pursue wrestling at Colby Junior College in Kansas. Soon the awards and the medals began to pile up. He went from a high school state champion to a junior college national champion to an All-American at Oklahoma State. It was more or less a given that he'd wrestle for the U.S. on the international stage, and everything seemed to be going according to plan. But just as he was gearing up to make the Olympic freestyle squad for the 2004 Athens games, tragedy found its way into his life again. On June 14, 2003, Cormier's three-month old daughter, Kaedyn, was killed in a car accident after an 18-wheeler slammed into the back of a friend's car. Kaedyn was strapped into a car seat inside, but it couldn't save her life during the violent collision that left two others injured. Cormier was 23 years old at the time. He'd only just gotten a taste of fatherhood, but he loved it. He thought about all the times he'd tried to soothe his crying infant daughter by driving her around the neighborhood, trying to locate a song on the radio that would act as a fitting lullaby. He finally settled on Heather Hedley's R&B balled "I Wish I Wasn't." "I don't know why, maybe the lady's voice was soothing, but she loved it," he says. "I'd put it on, drive her around Stillwater, [Oklahoma,] and she'd stop crying, go to sleep." After the accident that killed his daughter, Cormier had no choice put to pull it together and get back on the mat. USA Wrestling arranged a special wrestle-off for its world team trials in order to let Cormier grieve. He won it and earned his first spot on the big stage, and again his wrestling career seemed to be the one dependable constant in his life, even as he continued to struggle with the loss of his daughter. "When she died, I thought, this is the worst thing that can possibly happen," he says. "Then, the Olympics." ***** The people who know Cormier, they know exactly what he means when he refers to 'The Olympics.' Even though he was on two U.S. Olympic wrestling teams, and even though his fourth-place finish in the 2004 games seemed like a heartbreaker at the time, it was nothing compared to 2008 in Beijing. The important thing to know about what happened in Beijing, Cormier will tell you even now, is that he made the weight. Somehow this gets lost in the telling and re-telling of it, so much so that it still gets brought up by teammates who want to needle him over his diet or physique. But the fact is that when it came time to step on the scales in Beijing, Cormier made the 211-pound limit. It was what came after that derailed his Olympic dreams. "I made the weight, and afterwards my body just went insane," he says. "I was vomiting, cramping. I couldn't walk. I didn't know what the hell was going on." Cormier collapsed and was taken to the makeshift hospital inside the Olympic village, where doctors put him on IVs all night to treat him for what appeared to be kidney failure. As they explained, it was likely the result of cutting weight the wrong way for so many years, and he was simply unlucky enough to have it catch up with him at the worst possible time. Of course, that explanation didn't sit well with Cormier. "I took [the IVs] out and said, 'I'm going to wrestle.' It was about eight o'clock. The competition started at nine or ten. The lady from the [United States Olympic Committee] said, 'Listen, they are not going to let you wrestle. You've been on IVs all night. What do you think you're doing?' I was all broken up. I was crying. I was a mess. My mom was sitting there crying. My ex[-wife] was crying. Everybody was crying. Everybody was freaking out, because I was just going insane." AS U.S. wrestling coach Kevin Jackson remembers it, the devastation struck them all at once as they watched Cormier come to grips with the situation. "I was in the room when they told him he would not be able to wrestle, and the emotions that hit him were overwhelming," Jackson says. "You know, I teared up. It's the Olympic Games. Those opportunities don't come along very often, and he'd had two." As Jackson saw it, Cormier had had "a very good chance to wrestle for a gold medal" that year, and now he wouldn't even make it onto the mat. It was a disappointment not just for Cormier, but for the entire U.S. wrestling community, which wasn't entirely sympathetic when he returned home. "It didn't seem like I got the most support from everybody," says Cormier. "The USA wrestling people were really mad at me. Kevin Jackson stood by me. He was kind of the only one. He actually lost his job behind all that." Jackson resigned his position as head coach after the 2008 games, he says, and the Cormier situation was only part of the reason for it. "The people he was closest to, who he thought loved and supported him the most, they turned their back on him a little bit," Jackson says. "They didn't look at how it affected him; they looked at how it affected them and their program." The way they saw it, Cormier had torpedoed their medal hopes with an irresponsible weight-cut. As Jackson puts it: "The doctor said that eventually it would have happened, and unfortunately it happened at the worst time. It was a consequence of not only losing weight the wrong way, but doing so when he was aware of the right way to do it. That's the only place I really fault Daniel in this whole situation. He was a professional athlete, an Olympic athlete being paid to wrestle, and he was responsible for being at his best, and this was a part of that. I had been communicating with him about that since 2006, talking about...different things we needed to do, weight-wise. Unfortunately, it came back to haunt us." Once he got home, Cormier fell into a deep depression. A few weeks earlier he'd been an Olympic hopeful -- one his country's best wrestlers. Now the nation's wrestling apparatus wanted nothing to do with him, and his life suddenly seemed empty and devoid of purpose. "I felt so alone. It was just me and my family. I had so many breakdowns. My ex would be at work and she'd call me and I'd be crying, so she'd rush home to make sure I didn't do anything to myself. It was that bad. I just walked around like a zombie. I was taking sleeping pills, pain pills. I just wanted anything to take the pain away. I felt like I'd let everybody down." Even now, all you have to do is mention the Olympics to Cormier and you can watch his face fall. At dinner in a hotel a couple nights before his Strikeforce bout against Antonio Silva, AKA teammate Luke Rockhold brought it up to make a point about the futility of Cormier even considering a potential bout at light heavyweight, and that was all it took to get Cormier practically jumping out of his chair. "It sticks with me to this day," he says. "I think about it all the time. I mean, the Olympics? I can't not think about it. And the guys, we can make fun of each other all the time, but when they bring that up, it just kills me. It drains me." Cormier tried to lead a regular life after that. He had a job selling advertising space at a TV station in Oklahoma. He hated it, because "I felt like a telemarketer," but it was something. He coached on the side. He thought he would do what every wrestler did, which was hang around and wait his turn to get a head coaching spot for some college team. He even tried playing in an adult softball league, just to satisfy the competitive urges. It was no good. Again he was dependent on other people. "I was dying," he says. "I was drinking every night after work. I didn't even leave for lunch anymore. I just stayed in my office and slept." Meanwhile, his old wrestling buddy Mo Lawal was in his ear about this MMA stuff, all the money that an elite wrestler could make at it once he learned the basics of the other arts. "It was crazy. Mo had so much money. He was sending me money. He's like my little brother, and he's sending me money. He was fighting every month, and they paid him $48,000 a fight in Japan when he was first starting out." Better still, Lawal was getting to compete. He wasn't dying slowly in an office somewhere. He wasn't depressed every day, dreading the alarm clock going off the next morning. Dreading tomorrow, next week, next year. Whatever was doing that for him, Cormier had to get a piece. Something had to change. "You go through so many things, and it's like one cloudy day after another," he says. "You think, eventually the sun's got to shine. A better day has to come. Who deserves to just get beat down into the ground, one bad thing after another?" ***** You see Cormier these days, and it's hard to imagine a happier, more well-adjusted person. Not only is he an undefeated heavyweight on the verge of what should be the biggest fight of his career against Josh Barnett in the Strikeforce Grand Prix finals, he's also AKA's go-to man when it comes to MMA-specific wrestling -- a role he relishes. Ask AKA head coach Javier Mendez what Cormier changed about the team's wrestling program, and he'll tell you: "Everything." And though on any given day the training room at AKA includes famous pro fighters who were themselves standout college wrestlers, they all answer to coach Cormier during wrestling practice. As he takes them through warm-ups just a few days after teammate Cain Velasquez lost his UFC heavyweight title, he's quick to let everyone know that he's watching them. "Why are you walking?" he demands of one teammate who's strolling from one drill to the next. He might as well be talking to one of his ten-year-olds, but the man isn't about to argue with Cormier. It goes on like this all afternoon. Why is Josh Koscheck not doing push-ups with the rest of the team? Why is Todd Duffee taking his time about starting the next round? And Gray Maynard, you can't really be tired already, can you? If you're on the mats at AKA, you're subject to Cormier's critical eye. And if you have the misfortune to be even close to his weight class, as one unfortunate sparring partner is, you're about to find out how much he enjoys breaking people even in training. At first, the guy's a game opponent. They vie for takedowns and control in the clinch, and he holds his own against Cormier. He even comes close to getting a takedown of his own, which is a sight so rare everyone looks up in brief confusion, as if the symphony just hit a bad note. Then the grind starts to get to him. One round after another, this unceasing assault, and you can see it in the way he slowly shuffles over to Cormier to start a new round. "Stop wasting time," Cormier shouts before slamming him to the mat. There's still several minutes on the clock, but this guy is done. He can barely get on his feet long enough to get taken down again, and by the end of practice he's flat on his back, looking up at Cormier, who's barely breathing hard. "I love that," he says later. "That's something your wrestling coaches put in you, and you learn that there's nothing more satisfying than a guy laying on the mat, just done. I'm tired, but when I see him like that, I get a second wind." Second winds are coming in many forms for Cormier these days. His MMA career couldn't be going better, even as he rehabs a broken hand and spends a lot of days sparring with one good hand, "getting blasted" as he learns to make do with a jab and some kicks. He and his girlfriend had a son in February, and he's now old enough to walk to the door to meet his father when he returns home from practice. They've even got another on the way -- "Irish twins," he says with a grin -- and even the pain and fear that lingered after his daughter's death has begun to dissipate, though it hasn't been easy. When he first drove his son home from the hospital, it hit him harder than he expected. "I was [expletive] terrified," he says. "I didn't want to go anywhere with him in the car. My girl was in the backseat with him, but I was just so scared. I was driving slow in the rain, people passing me. But guess what song comes on the radio?" Heather Hedley's "I Wish I Wasn't," of course. The same one that used to put his daughter to sleep. The one you almost never hear on the radio in 2011. "It seemed like it was my daughter saying, 'It's going to be okay. I'm going to watch over my little brother.' That's when I was like, I think I'm going to do alright by this one. I think it's going to be okay this time. I'm catching my break." And maybe that's what you learn after all those years in suffocating wrestling rooms, one long grind after another. Besides the double-legs and the duck unders, maybe you really learn the value of simply refusing to be broken. You find out that even when you're in a terrible position with no clear way out, all you have to do is not give up. You take it. You try and give some back. You keep pushing and you don't quit, and before you know it you're on top. You're winning. The clouds are gone and the sun is shining and the dead are alive again, waving you on and telling you to keep going, keep going. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: time, day, kid, cormier, olympic

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Your lol of the day.

Posted in: day, lol

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Fighters Only, the world’s leading mixed martial arts magazine, today reminds sports fans around the world that they have just a couple more days...

Posted in: world, day, sport, art, sports fans

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It appears participating in a five-round war considered by many to be one of the best fights in the history of MMA comes with a steep price-tag as Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua learned this week on the heels of their epic encounter at UFC 139. According to the California State Athletic Commission, both light heavyweights could be out of action for six months unless receiving a physician’s clearance relating to damage each man sustained during the headlining bout. At minimum it appears each will be sidelined for sixty days, an understandable sentence considering each went all-out for 25 minutes this past Saturday night with near finishes on both sides. A Look Back at the UFC 139 Co-headliners Specifically, the CSAC listed Henderson as having a “possible right thumb fracture”, while “Shogun” may have suffered a “possible facial and skull fracture”. Both iconic 205ers were noticeably absent from the UFC 139 post-event press conference after being taken to the hospital after the show’s conclusion. Here is a full list of UFC 139 medical suspensions: Shamar Bailey – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO Gleison Tibau – Suspended for 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance via x-ray for possible right thumb fracture Tom Lawlor – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to submission Alex Soto – Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to knockout Michael McDonald – Suspended for 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance via x-ray for a possible third finger fracture on his right hand Jason Brilz – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO Rick Story – Suspended for 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving a clearance from a physician for a chin laceration Martin Kampmann – Suspended for 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving clearance from a physician due to forehead and right eyebrow lacerations Brian Bowles – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days Cung Le – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to TKO; suspended 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving clearance from a physician due to a possible nasal fracture Wanderlei Silva – Suspended for 60 days with no contact for 60 days unless receiving clearance from a physician for a right eyebrow laceration Mauricio Rua – Suspended for 45 days with no contact for 30 days; suspended 60 days with no contest for 60 days for an eyebrow laceration; suspended 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance from a physician for possible facial and skull fracture Dan Henderson – Suspended 60 days with no contact for 60 days; suspended 180 days with no contact for 180 days unless receiving clearance from a physician for a possible right thumb fracture. An MRI/CT scan is needed to be cleared PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: day, contact, clearance, physician, fracture

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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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A few weeks ago Five Ounces of Pain put together a contest for readers providing an opportunity to win a Matt Hamill Prize Pack by sharing an inspirational story (or through a few other means). All of the entries have been compiled and winners randomly drawn meaning a quintet of lucky entrants will be receiving an early gift this holiday in the form of a TapouT T-Shirt and some other swag related to The Hammer, a film documenting the struggles and success of the former UFC light heavyweight. On a personal note, I want to thank everyone who entered as many of your stories were moving and sincerely made me wish we had enough prizes to send to the entire lot. Never before have I been so proud to be a part of the 5 OZ community! And now for the winners (followed by some of the excellent entries we received)… Will Vogenitz Stephen Floyd Jones Ray Mercado Shane Reilly Christopher Bolinski If your name is on that list you will receive an email confirming the distinction. If not, again, thank you for taking the time to be part of this contest and rest assured we will have future giveaways coming down the road. And now for a few of your inspirational stories: “Five days after my fifteenth birthday my father passed away. He was only 41 years old and a diabetic. I found myself turning away from my family and mostly my mother and turning to my friends for guidance and support. At the ripe age of 17 I dropped out of high school and entered into the United States Army. Ft. Knox Kentucky is where at 17 I found myself amongst a group of much older and wiser men. Scared shitless would be to say the least. I was a kid trying to play an adults game. Two days after arriving I sprained my ankle on a march. I was placed in a cast and separated from all of the others. Two months and one day after I arrived I found myself with a medical discharge for my ankle injury. I was still 17 without the support and guidance of the US Army or the education from high school. I attempted to re-enter high school. The school district did not want to allow me to enter back as they stated that no one has ever dropped out and attempted to come back and be successful. I explained that they did not know me. Two years later I graduated with the largest scholarship awarded in my county, attended Utica College of Syracuse University and became Recreational Therapist. Currently I work with court adjudicated juvenile delinquents after they were placed in residential placements and have a wonderful family with a wife and 2 children, oh yeah and my 2 German Shepherds. Thanks for taking the time to read this even if I do not win, getting my story heard means a lot.” – Chris “My cousin Geoff was born with downs syndrome 25 years ago. I’ve seen this courageous young man grow into an amazing guy. He’s gone through alot in his life. He went to regular school and was picked on and such from a young age and still does today. Despite being picked on he overcame his “Disability” and has become a hard working, Dedicated young man. He’s been a true inspiration to me as watching him grow up showed me to never doubt yourself, Always believe that you can become anything and accomplish your goals. Geoff is my inspiration to become the best that I can be!” – Andrew “I was never comfortable with confrontation because I was beat up a lot back in high school. One day during driving class I was bullied to a fight which I promptly backed down for fear of becoming humiliated, walking away pretending I was “bigger than that”, honestly he would have had it coming. As I did I was attacked from behind and sent to the hospital for two days. I decided while in there that I needed to do something to end my shameful unwillingness to defend myself. I sought out several programs and decided to take a chance with something called “Krav Maga”. The first class I ever participated in I was throwing up flem (I don’t smoke). It was addictive for sure, then eventually they introduced different stress drills designed to get students used to our own nervous emotions and adrenaline rushes. I’ve been with it ever since then, however a year into it a random drunk tried shoving me to the side yelling at me for no apparent reason. Without thinking I swung…and knocked him out cold. I went to make sure his friends weren’t going to jump in and as I did I got punched in the back of my head sending my hand through a mirror above an ATM. They ran, I laughed, then I fished the piece of mirror lodged in my wrist out myself where the gashly scar remains. I literally look at it some days reflecting on my transition and my journey in doing so. I hold myself now at a higher standard without letting anyone take that right from me.” – Charles “My son was born a cardiac child. Three holes in his heart, parachuted mitral valve, enlarged pulmonary artery, cystic hygroma, and club feet. It’s a lot to work with for your first child, but we had been informed there were likely going to be these issues, ultra sounds are a wonderful early detection machine. The six open heart surgeries were tough to get through, as was the fact that he was blue for almost his entire first year. But the hardest part, at least for me, was the day we took him home. He was half the size of a normal baby so they couldn’t perform all the surgeries immediately. We had been living at the Ronald McDonald house near the hospital for 3 months while he was still in the NICU. We lived 100 miles away in a small town and wanted badly to take him home by Christmas. The doctors and installed and central iv line into his heart to deliver medicine every three hours 24/7. We assured them that, if they gave us the medicine, we would give it to him on time. The doctors agreed and let us take our child home for three months until his next scheduled surgery. My wife was still recovering from the pregnancy (whole ‘nother story) so the job of administering his medicine fell to me. For three months every day at Midnight, 3am, 6am, noon, 3pm, and 6pm; I woke, measured the medicine, attached the machine to my baby sons chest, delivered the medicine and observed him for any complications. Each delivery took around 30 minutes. For three months I didn’t sleep for longer than 2 hrs at a time. The doctors were impressed. Today my son is in the Second grade. He’s smart, funny, and a hell of a good dancer.” – Shane “My boyfriend Robert Flores has wanted to be an MMA fighter since he was a young child. He grew up watching wrestling and watching Tito Ortiz grow in the octagon and also knew he wanted to get into something fighting related. When he was 13 years old, his jiu jitsu instructor entered him in the local NAGA tornament where he competed against adults in the expert division. He won 1st place beating grown men. He was ecstatic and what made the day even better was that an idol of his, Matt Serra was there. He approaced Matt Serra after to get a picture with him and he told Matt that he has just won 1st place and Matt Serra responded “Thats good but this sport isn’t for everyone kid”, and walked away. Robbie was heartbroken and quit training for a while. He started fighting again a few years later and switched fight camps.He earned his black belt in MMA in 6 months, became a level 3 instructor and took a few kickboxing and MMA fights in 2008 and 2009. Robbie was doing really well until he got into a bad car accident and the contracted tuberculosis in the same year. He was quarantined in a hospital in Westchester, NY and was forced to put mma on the backburner. He has since recovered fully and changed camps again and is still struggling to take it to the next level. He has had such a hard road to his dream, and there is much more that I haven’t even mentioned.” – Dorothea “My side job is doing Quality Assurance Inspections for a local non profit which serves the Developmentally Disabled community. Day in & out I see folks whose afflictions interfere with and effect their avid pursuit of a fulfilling life… the clients I work with are involved in vocational programs and educational programs that help them become part of the community through work and social inclusions. There is a group of younger clients whom attend a vocational program in which they learn automotive maintance. At first you would say to your self sounds like a bit of a challenge for this particular sect of society BUT this group of guys ( most of whom have been part of the program 10 plus years) perform oil changes, rotate tires, change washer blades and a slew of other minor maintence issues. When this program started nobody believed this group could be successfully trained to perform these tasks but they have been so successful 2 of them have actually landed jobs in repair shops in the area. The mission statement of the org. is “What really matters is what you do with what you have…” I used to think blah blah another cheesy sentiment but then I realized as I worked with this community more and more they really truely make the most of their lives. Things we take for granted are major accomplishments for these folks and if the rest of the population put as much effort into bettering themselves as I have seen these folks put forth, then the world would probably be rolling a bit smoother.” – Ray “I have a friend that passed away on October 19, 2010. My friend Dane Strassman was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma back in 1996. Dane with his wife and 2 children battled his cancer through chemo for over a year and a half and in 1998 Dane was found to have beaten Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Surviving and beating cancer is an amazing miracle and Dane changed his life completely by eating healthly and being active. But sad to say that on October 19, 2011 my friend Dane was found passed out behind the wheel of his car at a traffic light in Philadelphia, Pa. A short while later he was pronounced dead due to a massive heart attack. Since Dane’s passing his life has been an inspiration to me. I have changed my life by living healthy and living it to the fullest. It just proves that we are here today but are not promised tomorrow.” – Will PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: day, year, month, school, program

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The California State Athletic Commission has released UFC 139′s fighter salaries and medical suspensions, with Cung Le, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua topping the $1.5 million payroll, while Henderson and Rua landed the longest suspensions following their five-round war. The UFC 139 fighter salaries were: Dan Henderson: $250,000 (no win bonus) def. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: $165,000 Wanderlei Silva: $200,000 (no win bonus) def. Cung Le: $350,000 Urijah Faber: $64,000 (incl.$32,000 win bonus) def. Brian Bowles: $19,000 Martin Kampmann: $58,000 ($29,000 win bonus) def. Rick Story: $19,000 Stephan Bonnar: $68,000 ($34,000 win bonus) def. Kyle Kingsbury: $10,000 Ryan Bader: $48,000 ($24,000 win bonus) def. Jason Brilz: $13,000 Michael McDonald: $14,000 ($7,000 win bonus) def. Alex Soto: $6,000 Chris Weidman: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Tom Lawlor: $12,000 Gleison Tibau: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus) def. Rafael dos Anjos: $16,000 Miguel Torres: $60,000 ($30,000 win bonus) def. Nick Pace: $4,000 Seth Baczynski: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Matt Brown: $12,000 Danny Castillo: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus) def. Shamar Bailey: $8,000 The UFC 139 medical suspensions included: Dan Henderson: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by doctor and MRI/CT scan for possible right thumb fracture. Suspended 60 days for “hard bout” Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by doctor for possible facial and skull fracture. Suspended 60 days for eyebrow laceration. Suspended 45 days for “hard bout” Wanderlei Silva: Suspended 60 days or until cleared by doctor for right eyebrow laceration Cung Le: Suspended 60 days or until cleared by doctor for possible nasal fracture. Suspended 45 days for TKO loss Brian Bowles: Suspended 45 days for submission loss Martin Kampmann: Suspended 60 days or until cleared by doctor for forehead and right eyebrow lacerations Rick Story: Suspended 60 days or until cleared by doctor for chin laceration Jason Brilz: Suspended 45 days for TKO loss Michael McDonald: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by X-ray for possible finger fracture Tom Lawlor: Suspended 45 days for submission loss Gleison Tibau: Suspended 180 days or until cleared by X-ray for possible finger fracture Shamar Bailey: Suspended 45 days for TKO loss In addition to the salaries listed above, which are simply what the UFC is required to disclose to the athletic commission and not representative of a fighter’s total earnings, Henderson, Rua, Silva, Le, McDonald, and Faber each took home $70,000 bonuses. UFC 139 drew 13,832 fans to the HP Pavilion in San Jose on Saturday for a live gate of $1.27 million, as Henderson edged Rua in a “Fight of the Year” contender, Silva stopped Le in the co-main event, and Faber submitted Bowles. To check out MMAFrenzy.com’s complete coverage of UFC 139, click here.

Posted in: ufc, day, henderson, rua, bonus

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The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) today issued its list of medical suspensions for UFC 139: "Shogun vs. Hendo," which took place on Sat., Nov. 19, 2011, from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. With several violent bouts on the card, including a brutal, five-round main event between Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua that wasn't fit for FOX, there were quite a few fighters who were flagged follow up visits with their doctors. Unsurprisingly, "Hendo" and "Shogun," who were both shortly hospitalized after the pay-per-view (PPV) event for their "hard bout," topped the list of walking wounded. In fact, both 205-pound warriors could be sidelined for up to 180 days each with possible broken bones. Also getting a mandatory timeout was Cung Le, whose nose was remodeled by Wanderlei Silva, who declared that the black market plastic surgery would serve him well in his movie career moving forward. But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC 139 injuries and their medical instructions: Dan Henderson -- Suspended 60 days (60 days no contact) because of "hard bout" and suspended 180 days (180 days no contact) for possible right thumb fracture. 
Mauricio Rua -- Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) because of "hard bout," suspended 60 days (60 days no contact) because of right eyebrow laceration and suspended 180 days (180 days no contact) for possible facial/skull fracture. Wanderlei Silva -- Suspended 60 days (60 days no contact) because of right eyebrow laceration. 
Cung Le -- Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for technical knockout loss and suspended 60 days (60 days no contact) because of a possible nasal fracture. Brian Bowles -- Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for submission loss. Martin Kampmann -- Suspended 60 days (60 days no contact) because of forehead and right eyebrow lacerations.Rick Story -- Suspended 60 days (60 days no contact) because of chin laceration. Jason Brilz -- Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for technical knockout loss. Michael McDonald -- Suspended 180 days (180 days no contact) for possible right finger fracture. Tom Lawlor -- Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for submission loss. Rafael dos Anjos -- Suspended 180 days (180 days no contact) for possible right thumb fracture. 
Shamar Bailey -- Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for technical knockout loss. Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For complete UFC 139 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here and here.

Posted in: right, bout, day, knockout loss, contact

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(To celebrate the release of our good buddy Matthew Polly's new book Tapped Out, we'll be sharing some choice excerpts from one of my favorite books - American Shaolin. Polly trained in China with the Shaolin monks back in 1993 - before it was cool, as the hipsters would say - and this book chronicles all the ridiculous situations he got himself into.) (excerpt from Part 2, Chapter 2)I had defied my father to come to Shaolin, because I wanted to go to the most isolated, cutoff, far-flung, off-the-map place in the Mandarin-speaking world. And like most people who are not careful of what they wish for, my dream was granted. And, after the initial thrill of success passed, I was completely miserable.No friends, no family, not even any English-speaking strangers—Shaolin was total immersion. At some point within the first month I started talking to myself, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the fact that I was also answering myself. I’d never imagined how crucial English was to my sense of a unified self—part good and part bad, but all of a whole. I started to experience two versions of me: one English-speaking and one Chinese-speaking.Matt was a clever, thoughtful boy. Bao Mosi was a verbally impaired dunce, always nodding his head and smiling and saying “right, right, right” when he had no idea what had just been said to him and was desperately hoping his brain would be able to translate that last comment before the speaker veered off onto another track. Bao Mosi was constantly working under a ten-second delay.“Are you [something]?” one of the monks would ask. “All of us are going to [something] [something]. Interested?”“Right, right, right . . . okay,” I would respond.The Wushu Center had the only phone in the entire village capable of making international calls. It worked in about one out of every ten tries. The price was $8 per minute. The Wushu Center also had the village’s only international fax machine. The price was $20 per page. After failing several times to reach home by phone, I sent a short fax message per my mother’s demand that I reassure her of my continued survival. Mother, your son lives still. But the natives grow restless. Please send more wampum. And some Peter Pan peanut butter. Food here is terrible. Will call when possible. Love, Little Lord Fauntleroy Any letter or package from home took about thirty days to arrive: five days from America to Beijing, seven days from Beijing to Zheng Zhou, fourteen days from Zheng Zhou to Shaolin, then about a week for the Faulknerian drunks in the Shaolin post office to get around to telling me, the only American in the village, that a package had arrived from the United States. That is, if they hadn’t developed a hankering for Peter Pan peanut butter. All my packages and letters were opened, some never made it, and if they did, the stamps were gone, because foreign stamps were collectibles.I was so lonely that for the first and last time in my life, when not under threat of being grounded, I wrote letters. And not little notes, I wrote twenty-, twenty-five-, thirty-page, single-spaced trea-tises. I sent them to everyone—my parents, my friends, my ex-girlfriend—mostly, it pains me to say, my ex. Inspired by the example of all those married convicted felons, I had hopes of rekindling her affections with the power of my words. Fortunately, I have managed to repress all of those words, because they were most likely of the desperate, heartbroken variety, which are never particularly attractive. Nor, in general, is a college dropout who joins a Buddhist monastery. She sent a single Dear John letter back. Unfortunately, I remember every single one of its I-love-you-but-I’m-not-in-love-with-you words. (the rest after the jump) read more

Posted in: right, day, letter, shaolin, zheng zhou

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UFC ring girl favorite, Brittney Palmer makes her return to the Octagon this Saturday and we're paying our respects with 10 more of her hottest photos. Presented by Fight Day Nov 19th at 9pm EST /...

Posted in: fight, day, brittney palmer, brittney, photo

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Filed under: UFCSAN JOSE, Calif. -- Alex Soto still isn't completely sure what went wrong in his Ultimate Fighter audition. At the time it seemed like he'd done everything right. "I went there, tried out, did everything good," he said. "I grappled in front of Dana White, Joe Silva, and made it to the next phase, hitting the mitts. I made it all the way to the interview process, but I never heard anything back." Maybe it was the interview, he thought later. He was in the middle of a weight cut for a fight he had later that same week, so maybe his personality didn't shine the way it could have. Then again, Soto's coach, Manny Hernandez, has his own theory. "It was the beard," said Hernandez. To hear Hernandez tell it, this wasn't just some scruff from a few days of not shaving. It started just below Soto's eyes and only got worse from there. "Me, his manager, his coaches, we all said, 'What's with the beard Teen Wolf?'" Okay, Soto can admit now, the beard didn't help. That's part of why he shaved it. But even though he didn't make it on TUF, things worked out when the UFC needed a late replacement to take on Michael McDonald at UFC 139 and Soto just happened to be in top shape since he was already preparing for a local fight on that same night. Even on 12 days' notice, he couldn't turn down the chance to get in the UFC. Now Soto finds himself facing one of the organization's top young bantamweight talents on the Spike TV prelim portion of the card, and the UFC officially has its first professional dolphin trainer under contract. No, that's not a typo. In addition to his MMA career, Soto currently works for the U.S. Navy training dolphins. It's a career path he got into after working as a diver at Sea World, where he initially cleaned tanks. When the park was looking for an employee adventurous enough to get in the water and work with the animals, it found one in Soto, who's always up for a thrill. For instance, consider his early experiences with MMA. After taking what he thought would be a pretty standard bout in Tijuana, with gloves and shinpads for extra protection, he got word that, actually, not everybody had shinpads. Or gloves, for that matter. And oh yeah, this bare-knuckle fight was in a nightclub. "So turns out it was just a straight-up brawl," said Soto. "It was a great experience. I don't think I'd do it again, but it was a great way to start my career." For the 27-year-old Soto, that trip to Tijuana was actually something of a homecoming. He was born in the border town, and lived there until he was 12, when his family immigrated to the U.S. Soto was in high school during the terrorist attack on 9/11, and that event made him feel like he had to do something to defend his adopted homeland, he said. So right out of high school he joined the Army. Before he knew it, he was shipping off to Afghanistan. "I remember how I felt on 9/11," said Soto. "It was a scary feeling. It was, you know, terrorizing. And that's what I thought about when I went to Afghanistan was, the way that I felt that day, I want to do something about it." Soto was deployed with the 25th Infantry's Long-Range Surveillance Detachment -- a special unit that he was motivated to join largely because it was supposed to be difficult to get into. "I'm always looking for adventure," he explained. "It was a tryout where they put us through hell for about three months, and I made the team." When Soto came back home, he began to turn his focus toward an MMA career with the help of Hernandez and the rest of San Diego's Team Hurricane Awesome. That puts him in regular sparring sessions with Strikeforce 135-pounder Liz Carmouche, who Soto jokes is just one of the bigger fighters he has to face on a regular basis, now that she's "put on a few pounds" between fights. "We go hard," Soto said. "We don't take it easy on each other." He'll need the benefit of those training sessions against McDonald, who at just 20 years old is considered to be one of the UFC's future stars at bantamweight. Maybe it's his status as a rising contender, or maybe it's the fact that Soto took the fight on less than two weeks' notice, but oddsmakers seem to like McDonald's chances, tabbing him a 5-1 favorite on Saturday night. That's alright with Soto, and with Hernandez, who said he was "ecstatic" when his fighter got the call for what many expect to be a rough entrance into the UFC. "Whatever's meant to happen will happen," said Hernandez, who recounted telling Soto when he first joined the gym that he could go as far with MMA as he wanted to. Soto still remembers that day well, he said. At least so far, Hernandez's words have proved true. After all, he did start out in a bare-knuckle fight in a Tijuana nightclub. "Now I'm here in the UFC," Soto said. "The biggest stage in the world." From Afghanistan to the dolphin tank, Soto's already led an uncommonly interestingly life. Now the next chapter is set to begin on live TV. Whatever happens, at least this time an ill-advised beard won't be to blame. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, soto, hernandez

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The California State Athletic Commission has released its list of medical suspensions from UFC on Fox 1. The longest suspensions were given to Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Paul Bradley, and Aaron Rosa for suspected broken bones sustained in their respective fights. Conspicuously absent was new UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos, who reportedly fought with a torn meniscus. While this may seem odd, post-fight physicals are usually based on injuries sustained during the fight rather than pre-existing injuries for insurance purposes. Depending on the procedure done to either remove or trim the meniscus, the recovery time can typically range from a month to three months. CSAC Medical Suspensions: Cain Velasquez: Suspended 45 days with 30 days no contact for TKO loss Clay Harvison: Suspended 45 days with 30 days no contact for TKO loss Norifumi Yamamoto: Suspended 180 days with 180 days no contact due to possible left-finger fracture; can be cleared early by a physician Darren Uyenoyama: Suspended 60 days with 60 days no contact due to left-eye laceration Mackens Semerzier: Suspended 60 days with 60 days no contact due to scalp lacerations; suspended 45 days with 30 days no contact for precautionary reasons Paul Bradley: Suspended 180 days with 180 days no contact due to possible left-elbow fracture; can be cleared early by a physician Aaron Rosa: Suspended 180 days with 180 days no contact due to a possible left-wrist fracture; can be cleared early by a physician

Posted in: ufc, day, suspension, contact, leftwrist fracture

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The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) today issued its list of medical suspensions for UFC on FOX: "Velasquez vs. Dos Santos," which took place on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. With several of the bouts ending early (and violently), there were quite a few fighters who were flagged follow up visits with their doctors, including "Kid" Yamamoto, who could be riding the pine for up to six months for a fractured finger. His opponent, Darren Uyenoyama, will take a two-month vacation to heal a lacerated eyebrow. Also getting a mandatory timeout was Clay Harvison, who was stiffened by DaMarques Johnson via bone-crunching knockout on the night's preliminary card. But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC on FOX injuries and their medical instructions: Aaron Rosa: Suspended 180 days (180 days no contact) for possible left wrist fracture. Paul Bradley: Suspended 180 days (180 days no contact) for possible left elbow fracture. Mackens Semerzier: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for TKO and 60 days (60 days no contact) for cut to scalp. Darren Uyenoyama: Suspended 60 days (60 days no contact) cut to left eyebrow. Norifumi Yamamoto: Suspended 180 days (180 days no contact) for possible fracture to left hand finger. Clay Harvison: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for TKO. Cain Velasquez: Suspended 45 days (30 days no contact) for KO. Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For complete UFC on FOX results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here and here.

Posted in: ufc, fox, day, contact, bonecrunching knockout

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Despite a self-reported meniscus injury suffered 10 days prior to his title-winning fight over Cain Velasquez, heavyweight Junior Dos Santos is OK to fight, according to medical suspensions issued for this past Saturday's UFC on FOX event. Dethroned champ Velasquez was suspended 45 days with no contact during training for 30 days as the result of his knockout loss.   MMAjunkie.com recently requested and today received the suspensions from the California State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the event.

Posted in: day, suspension, fox event, saturdays ufc, champ velasquez

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Megan Olivi catches up with Dan Henderson just days before he returns to the UFC to face Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the main event of UFC 139.

Posted in: ufc, day, henderson, dan henderson, dan

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New UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos snagged the belt and the biggest disclosed payday at UFC on FOX, collecting $220,000 in salary and win bonus. The California State Athletic Commission released the information to MMA Fighting on Thursday. dos Santos beat champ Cain Velasquez in a 64-second knockout in the night's main event. dos Santos also earned the night's Knockout of the Night bonus, pocketing another $65,000 and bringing his total disclosed payday to $285,000. Velasquez earned a disclosed amount of $100,000, but likely earned far more as the UFC renegotiated his deal after moving his fight from pay-per-view to network television. Velasquez usually receives a cut of the pay-per-view proceeds. Velasquez also received a mandatory 45-day suspension following his knockout loss. Co-main event winner Ben Henderson earned $60,000 for his three-round unanimous decision over Clay Guida. The victory also earned Henderson the No. 1 contender spot in the lightweight division, and a February date with champ Frank Edgar. Full salary and suspension information is as follows: Junior dos Santos - $220,000 ($100,00 salary/$110,000 win bonus) Cain Velasquez - $100,000 Velasquez - 45 day suspension, 30 days no contact Ben Henderson - $60,000 ($30,000/$30,000) Clay Guida - $40,000 No suspensions Dustin Poirier - $20,000 ($10,000/$10,000) Pablo Garza - $8,000 No suspensions Ricardo Lamas - $20,000 ($10,000/$10,000) Cub Swanson - $15,000 No suspensions Demarques Johnson - $28,000 ($14,000/$14,000) Clay Harvison - $8,000 Harvison suspended for 45 days, 30 days no contact Darren Uyenoyama - $12,000 ($6,000/$6,000) Kid Yamamoto - $15,000 Uyenoyams suspended 60/60 cut to left eyebrow Yamamoto 180/180 possible fracture to left hand finger Robert Peralta - $16,000 ($8,000/$8,000) Mackens Semerzier $8,000 Semerzier suspended 45/30 for TKO and 60/60 for cut to scalp Alex Caceres - $16,000 ($8,000/$8,000) Cole Escovedo $6,000 No suspensions Mike Pierce- $36,000 ($18,000/$18,000) Bradley $8,000 Bradley suspended 180/180 for possible left elbow fracture Mike Lucas - $6,000 Aaron Rosa - $12,000 ($6,000/$6,000) Rosa suspended 180/180 for possible left wrist fracture. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: ufc, day, suspension, do, velasquez

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submitted by killzy707 [link] [4 comments]

Posted in: ufc, day, dana, killzy, vlog

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Like the fighter that you think has the edge in each discipline and see how the votes stack up in the UFC 139 Fight Day "Who's Got The Edge?" poll!

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, edge, votes stack

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With UFC 139 just around the corner, it's time to cast your votes for who will end up on top. Let your voice be heard with the UFC 139 Fight Day Fight Card.

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For some old school fans of mixed martial arts, Saturday night (Nov. 12) was a "sad day" and the "end of an era." But for who? And why? MMA Nation's Nate Wilcox explains right here.

Posted in: day, fan, school, art, school fans

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Junior dos Santos became the new heavyweight champion of the world last night (Sat., Nov. 12, 2011) at UFC on FOX 1 in Anaheim, California, by knocking out Cain Velasquez in just 64 seconds. As if that wasn't already impressive enough, it turns out "Cigano" did this just 10 days removed from a torn meniscus in his knee that had him on crutches and barely able to walk. Here's how he explained it at the post-fight press conference last night (via MMAFighting.com): "I got a very serious injury in my knee, my meniscus. You know, 10 days ago I couldn't walk very well. I stayed two days with [crutches], but I asked my doctor to help me because it's the fight of my life and I can't miss that fight." Because of his injury, Dos Santos had no plans on going the full five rounds, even if that's what UFC and FOX executives wanted for their big debut on network television. The longer the fight went on, the worse off the Brazilian would be. So why not land a huge punch, finish the job and take home 12-pounds of gold in just over one minute? It's much easier and more efficient that way. And that's exactly what he did. Hear more from the new champion after the jump, as he talks about the biggest win of his career and the resolve it took to push through such a serious injury. For a complete recap of the bout click here. For video highlights click here and for complete UFC on FOX 1 results and recap of all the night's action click here and here.

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Junior dos Santos' longtime coach and friend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira says that his student's performance was even more amazing considering he was on crutches just 11 days ago.

Posted in: day, do, coach, students performance, crutch

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Filed under: UFC, News, VideosANAHEIM, Calif. -- Following the UFC on FOX event, Junior dos Santos discussed the meniscus tear that he suffered just 11 days before Saturday night's fight. Watch below to hear his comments on how severe the injury was.  Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has issued its list of medical suspensions for UFC 138: "Leben vs. Munoz," which took place on Sat., Nov. 5, 2011, from the LG Arena in Birmingham, England. With no athletic commission to oversee the event, the UFC handles the medical suspensions and models its regulation practices in accordance with the standards set by Nevada and New Jersey. With several bouts ending early (and violently), there were numerous fighters who were flagged follow up visits with their doctors, including Rob Broughton, who could be riding the pine for three months with a busted finger (or two). Also getting a mandatory vacation was Brad Pickett, who had a falling out with his back in a first round submission loss to Renan Barao But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC 138 injuries and their medical instructions (via MixedMartialArts.com): Chris Cariaso; 7 days mandatory restVaughan Lee; 7 days mandatory rest Chris Cope; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contactChe Mills; 30 days no contest; 21 days no contact Michihiro Omigawa; 7 days mandatory restJason Young; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact Rob Broughton; 30 days no contest; 21 days no contact. 180 days no contest or negative x-ray of right index & middle finger; of positive cleared by docPhilip De Fries; 7 days mandatory rest John Maguire; 7 days mandatory restJustin Edwards; 7 days mandatory rest Terry Etim; 7 days mandatory restEdward Faaloloto; 7 days no contest; 21 days no contact Cyrille Diabate; 30 days no contest; 21 days no contactAnthony Perosh; 7 days mandatory rest Thiago Alves; 7 days mandatory restPapy Abedi; 45 days no contest; 30 days no contact Brad Pickett; 45 days no contest, 30 days no contact. 180 days no contest for lower back injury or cleared by physicianRenan Barao; 7 days mandatory rest Chris Leben; 45 days no contest, 30 days no contactMark Munoz; 7 days mandatory rest Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For complete UFC 138 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here.

Posted in: ufc, day, contest, contact, rest

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UFC on FOX 1: Velasquez vs Dos Santos - Kind of a Big DealCheck out this video youtu.be/XhF1WVRDcxM thanks again DCDG. Getting ready for today's @UFCONFOX Open Workouts. Ready for Saturday!  -Cain Velasquez Don’t miss the UFC Heavyweight Championship Saturday, live and free on FOX at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT #UFConFOX  -Junior Dos SantosVELASQUEZ vs. DOS SANTOS!!! twitpic.com/7ck3k6  -Dana White   Only a few days now until the biggest fight of my life.  -Clay Guida if you're a fan of @ufc you gotta love #UFConFOX showing a FREE heavyweight title fight this Sat. at 9pm EST/6pm PST & FREE undercard online  -Benson HendersonWhat does everyone think I should wear at the Weigh Ins @ufc Friday Anaheim? -Clay Harvison "@MissSinfield: @ClayHeavyMetal i would just go with anyones advice apart from @RamseyNijem ? ;)" what? RUDE  -Ramsey NijemDont worry I'm not Stripper @RamseyNijem Lol -Clay Harvison Weigh ins day, time to shed some pounds! Thanks for everybody's support I have the best fans in the world! #winning  -Pablo GarzaI make sure my corner men get the royal treatment @ufc #UFCONFOX yfrog.com/kl8d3gdj  -Cub Swanson The Diamond is in LA!!  -Dustin PoirierMy 3rd and final video blog for UFC on Fox. bit.ly/sTbvje  -Darren Uyenoyama My custom @ufc shorts in the color my lil buddy Nathan requested over at Angels Hands Foundation:) yfrog.com/kkdy3lguj   -DaMarques Johnson After a very difficult day, I am in route to LA for my fight this saturday, time to focus, very driven, ready, ready for anything.... -Ricardo Lamas If u don't know that Cain is fighting JDS for UFC HW title this Sat, live & free on FOX at 9 pm ET then we are NOT friends #UFConFOX  -Kenny Florian  THIS IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL..the #UFC is broadcasting the #heavywieghtchampionship fight on FOX this Saturday. 9 pm ET, 6pm PT #UFConFOX @ufc  -Nick Ring  What if the Outlaw Army and Mayhem Monkeys Joined Forces?!I can't believe the #OutlawArmy is almost at 100k!  -Dan Hardy Ok, it is Wednesday. Who wants a team Mayhem Jersey? www.mayhemmonkeys.com  -Jason Mayhem Miller AwwwLove when my daughter wakes up and smiles.... Feeling like no other !!!  -Anthony Pettis Shout Out to Our Vets! I want to thank all the men and women that protect our country and keep us safe. Thank you Veterans!! 11/11/11  -Roy NelsonHappy Veterans Day Thank you to all the men and women out there serving for our country :-)  -Demetrious Johnson  If you don't donate to this mustache the terrorists will win. stachebash.org pic.twitter.com/qXt5DSMk  -Tim Kennedy  Happy Veterans Day all, special thanks to all the Marines I was lucky to serve & lead. I learned more than u can imagine from you.  -Brian Stann Uhhuhuhuh. You said LongerWho has had braces longer Frank Shamrock or Butt-Head?  -Danny Castillo Chael: Hall of Fame Tweeter?As Champion, I need nothing except my list of demands. Fighting on the date I'VE selected is my right for being better than you, Yes YOU.  -Chael Sonnen Dude, I just read @sonnench 's history of tweets and if it's not considered eligible for the hall of fame on its own...  -Matt Mitrione Kick it 'til it tells you the AnswerI FORGOT HOW TO DO THIS!!! twitpic.com/7csh4l  -Pat Barry  Stephan Bonnar Can Sell your CoffeeAhhhh....nothing gets your ready to dish out some morning ass whoopings like a fresh cup of folgers.  -Stephan Bonnar  Fish Don't Have FingersSuperman and fish fingers with ketchup... Just like when I was a kid! -Dan Hardy Fighters Being PettyAnd yessss, that was @GatorHotdogDog making his appearances on #TUF14 -Jason Mayhem Miller At PetsMart trying to find things that'll help my cat lose weight. Sure she's overweight, but at least she has a pretty face.  -Daniel Downes  @dannyboydownes Heard that b4. Every1 knows I have the best looking pet in the @UFC "Stew Dizzle" AKA Pug-Nasty pic.twitter.com/CzE17ODN  -Danny Castillo  @lastcall155 don't hurt her feelings! twitpic.com/7ckxew -Daniel Downes    

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With the passing of boxer Joe Frazier this week, there has been much talk of the golden days of boxing. Can Velasquez vs. dos Santos usher in the golden days of MMA?

Posted in: day, vs, do, velasquez, frazier

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submitted by MattyBlayze [link] [5 comments]

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Chris Leben gave it his best shot when he faced Mark Munoz at UFC 138. Leben scored with some punches, came close with a few submissions and even got a pair of takedowns over the much better wrester. In the end Munoz's skills were just too much though and Leben was forced to retire from the bout when he said he couldn't see due to vision problems stemming from a cut over his eye. Now, Fighters Only Magazine is reporting that Leben had a terrible weight cut: Chris Leben cut nearly 21 pounds in 24 hours to make weight for his fight with Mark Munoz, Fighters Only was told ahead of last night's bout. The 31-year old middleweight had "a terrible weight cut" and was in such bad shape before the weigh ins that medical staff were keeping a very close eye on him. A source close to Leben told Fighters Only on Friday that Leben had been left "shattered" by the amount of weight he had to cut on weigh-in day. It didn't appear that Leben appeared weak or overly tired as the fight wore on. No more than one would expect from the way Munoz was grinding on him anyway. This isn't coming from Leben's camp so it doesn't seem like excuse making but it is unfortunate that in Leben's last too losses we've heard that he was sick (against Brian Stann) and now that he cut over twenty pounds in a day. I think the idea of trying to eliminate weight cutting is not a good one and the idea of same-day weigh-ins is dangerous. But I wouldn't be opposed to monitoring of the fighters all day the day of the weigh-ins. If a guy is 20 pounds over weight less than a day before he needs to step on the scales? He probably is not going to have a "safe" weight cut.

Posted in: pound, day, weight, leben, munoz

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Gitty up. Donald Cerrone is riding one of the hottest streaks in mixed martial arts (MMA) today,  winning four straight in the UFC's stacked lightweight division. Perhaps even more impressive is that "Cowboy" has done it all in a span of only eight months. And there's no rest for the wicked. Cerrone already has another fight lined up against Nate Diaz at UFC 141 on Dec. 30, 2011, which will bring his total to five fights inside the Octagon in 2011. His former stablemate at Jackson Winkeljohn MMA, one-time UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, has taken notice, gushing about his rapid rise in the sport. As "Suga" tells ESPN.co.uk, the former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) standout has a history of putting in hard work with few breaks between. He also happens to possess all the tools to become UFC champion: "I definitely think Cerrone can win the title. I love to watch the way he's grown in the sport. I remember when he first came to Jackson's gym; he had absolutely no wrestling at all, like zero wrestling. And his ground was just kind of so-so. He was just all stand-up; he was one of Duane Ludwig's protégés. To watch his growth is ridiculous and every single time I and watch how good he's got and I get chills. He used to come to the gym and he'd live in that gym and those guys would practice all day long, literally. He'd practice with the team, get something to eat, take a nap, and then practice all day for the rest of the day. Donald's a leader too, he had all these guys and he was the leader of the crew and everyone wanted to be like Donald. The work he put in paid off." "Cowboy" is coming off an impressive first round submission victory over German kickboxer Dennis Siver at UFC 137. With the upcoming fight between Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida at UFC on FOX 1 likely to determine the division's next number one contender to challenge lightweight champion Frankie Edgar next, Cerrone can move into the next position with another convincing performance over Diaz on New Year's Eve weekend.  Indeed, the title aspirations of Jim Miller and Melvin Guillard recently took major blows after their most recent losses to Ben Henderson and Joe Lauzon, respectively. Cerrone is in a great position to stake his own contender claim ... all he has to do is keep winning. However, title fights have not been kind to Cerrone in the past. He previoulsy failed to capture lightweight gold in his three attempts in the now defunct WEC, losing once to Jamie Varner and twice to the aforementioned Henderson. Does "Cowboy" now have the goods to defeat the upper echelon of the UFC lightweight roster and hold the UFC title one day or will he continue to struggle when it matters most?

Posted in: ufc, title, day, cerrone, donald

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UFC President Dana White goes behind the scenes of the UFC 137 pre fight press conference and more on day 2 of his video blog.

Posted in: ufc, day, video, dana, blog

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Filed under: News, ProEliteProElite's second fight card since returning to the major mixed martial arts landscape has hit another snag. Just 10 days after main event heavyweight Pedro Rizzo had to pull out of his fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia with an injury, Rizzo's replacement, Andreas Kraniotakes, now also is off the card. Sources close to ProElite on Wednesday told MMA Fighting that Kraniotakes' fighter license was not approved by the Illinois State Professional Boxing Board, which oversees MMA in the state. That leaves ProElite scrambling for a replacement to fight Sylvia on what will be less than 10 days notice for ProElite 2 at the iWireless Center in Moline, Ill., on Nov. 5. According to sources close to the event, the reason behind the state commission's refusal to approve Kraniotakes stems from a lack of sanctioned fights on his record. Though the German heavyweight is 12-4, the bulk of his 16 career fights have come in Europe. ProElite is said to have a replacement fighter lined up to face Sylvia, and attempted to present that fighter to the Illinois commission on Wednesday - only to find the board had closed up shop for the business day. A decision on Sylvia's new opponent is expected Thursday, which will give him nine days to prepare for the fight - and Slyvia nine days to prepare for what will be his third opponent since signing on for the event. Last month, MMA Fighting was first to report Sylvia in the main event of ProElite 2 against Rizzo on a card that was moved to the Quad Cities area of western Illinois from its original planned home in Atlantic City. Sylvia, a Maine native, has lived in the Quad Cities for years, training with the Pat Miletich team during his UFC run as heavyweight champion. But just 10 days ago, Rizzo had to pull out of the fight with an injury and Kraniotakes was tapped as his replacement. Though Kraniotakes is largely unknown outside of Europe, he is ranked in the Top 100 of some MMA heavyweight lists. Slyvia (29-7) has won five of his last six. In August, he beat Patrick Barrentine (9-6) on a show in Rockford, Ill., a fight which was approved by the Illinois commission. ProElite 2 features a co-main event between former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski and Travis Fulton, a veteran of more than 300 career fights. BJ Penn's brother Reagan meets Evan Cutts, and former UFC fighter Waylon Lowe fights Floyd Hodges. In addition, a ProElite heavyweight tournament gets underway with four quarterfinal bouts, including one featuring NCAA wrestling standout Mark Ellis (1-0). Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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It was early 2009 and a former NFL lineman Matt Mitrione found himself hooked on MMA while looking for a new path to travel down in hopes of maintaining his status as a professional athlete. In his quest to find the right training he came across the services of UFC Hall of Fame fighter Randy Couture and the rest, as they say, was history. Mitrione transitioned the lessons he learned at Xtreme Couture into a relatively successful run on TUF 10 despite only having six months of experience and zero professional fights. “Meathead” has since gone on to win his first five fights in the Octagon and now faces the biggest test of his career Saturday night at UFC 137 against French kickboxer Cheick Kongo. When Mitrione locks horns with Kongo he will be a far more evolved fighter than was the case two years ago, yet were it not for the pummeling he suffered at the hands of Couture it’s likely he would be standing in a different pair of shoes than those he’s currently wearing as UFC heavyweight. “I remember one day Randy beating the living sh*t out of me on the ground and yelling at me in the process. He was saying, ‘Look, kid, you’re supposed to have a lot of potential, and one day you might be something, but right now you’re on your back getting your ass kicked. Unless you figure out a way of changing that, you’re going nowhere,”” Mitrione recalled in a blog for SportsNet. “That whole experience really opened my eyes. From that day onwards I made it my mission to follow Randy’s advice and work on my catch-wrestling, which is something that puts the emphasis on staying off your back and actively working more advantageous positions. I have Randy to thank for that.” Elaborting some more, Mitrione continued, “That beat-down he served up to me was one of the best things to happen to me in my career. I never really would have noticed the flaws and weaknesses in my ground game if it hadn’t been for Randy pointing them out to me that day. I would have continued along the same path I was heading down and probably been exposed at some point in the Octagon. Randy flagged the problems and coach Neil Melanson set about putting them right.” “I’m now connecting the dots much better, thanks to the work of coach Neil and my catch-wrestling has opened my eyes to the potential of jiu-jitsu and submissions. It’s all the same end result, but you just use a totally different setup to get there,” the 33-year concluded before finishing with a message directed at Kongo. “If I happen to take you down and have my way with you on the ground on Saturday, don’t blame me, blame Randy. Also, if I happen to shout sweet nothings in your ear in the process, again, blame ‘Captain America,’ not me. It’s all his doing…” Mitrione Predicts “Wonderful Performance” against Kongo Kongo and Mitrione will face off as part of the main PPV card at UFC 137 starting at 9:00 PM EST with preliminary pairings being show through Spike/Facebook in the hours preceding the event. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, day, kongo, mitrione, randy

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Gone are the days Dana White's Vlog would be filled with the UFC President eating fritters at a fair or moshing to Rage Against the Machine. The last few episodes have shown an absolutely different side of the UFC, intimate moments that many don't have the privilege to witness in person-the moments after the fight. The latest episode focuses on the the aftermath of UFC 136. We get to see Brian Stann's reaction to Chael's domination, Nam Phan and Leonard Garcia getting along (his opponents must love him with all the FOTN bonuses he gets) and an extremely upset Melvin Guillard. You have to watch this one. Maybe one day I will make a Vlog about life at MiddleEasy and the intimate moments after finishing an article, but I will admit nothing much happens. I just swivel my chair and do a few 360's in celebration then I get really emotional and lay down. Rinse and repeat for seven days a week. [source]

Posted in: ufc, day, vlog, melvin guillard, moment

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Joe Rice over at MMATraining says so: Condit is a fantastic talent; a tiger shark swimming in the deep in of the UFC’s 170-pound pool. However, if we’re facing facts it implies the understanding Condit’s title-shot is the result of Nick Diaz’s disinterest in public appearance outside of the arena on fight night, not an opportunity he directly earned through his own accomplishments. Furthermore, if Diaz defeats B.J. Penn next weekend at UFC 137, why wouldn’t he leapfrog a thumb-twiddling Condit and get the go at GSP he was originally scheduled for with a new appreciation for certain media obligations?The bottom line is Condit is taking a huge gamble by following the lead of his former teammate at Jackson’s MMA, Rashad Evans, and waiting out a championship fight that may never actually come. If you believe Condit’s clash with St. Pierre is actually guaranteed just because Dana White said so, I have some stock in YAMMA Pit Fighting I’d like to sell you that’s bound to go up. In reality there have been countless competitors in the UFC who were promised one thing only to watch it evaporate faster than the sticky stuff in Joe Rogan’s dresser drawer. This is all very true, but if Condit takes another fight, he goes from only possibly losing the GSP fight (right now he's still earmarked for GSP's return) to nearly guaranteeing his title shot goes up in smoke. He'd have to fight and win, for one. Not a guarantee at all especially with sharks like Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck looking to make their mark atop the divisions. And he'd have to win well to keep the inevitable fan comparison between him and Nick Diaz from siding with Diaz.He'd also have to win clean - no hand injuries, no tweaked muscles, no nasty punch ups - to keep a commission from suspending him 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, or more. Any one of these issues could cost Condit his shot. The UFC is getting Georges St Pierre back into the cage as soon as possible and whoever's ready is going to get that shot. This isn't a situation where Condit is waiting on a guy who's going to be out for several months. Georges will be back to training in a month, and Condit has probably never stopped. While it's certainly less entertaining for us fans not having Condit at UFC 137, he'd have to be crazy to take another fight given these circumstances.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, condit, st pierre

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Many fighters have remarked that when the UFC was in its early days, or at least the early days of the Zuffa period after the UFC was bought from previous...

Posted in: ufc, day, ufc workings, zuffa period, penn franklin

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Remember when you guys were complaining that our video player didn't support iPads and iPhones? Yeah, those were the days. Back when everyone thought Mark Kerr was the greatest heavyweight to ever grace Pride FC and UFC. Well, maybe not that far back. Regardless, those days are over and you can stop complaining. You guys are demanding, so we're forced to deliver here at the MiddleEasy Network. Case in point, WHOA! TV has released an exclusive director's cut of The Finest Hour: UFC 138 for MiddleEasy.com. It's slick, sexy and inspirational -- basically every word my ex-girlfriend didn't say about me towards the end of our relationship. Enjoy.

Posted in: ufc, day, middleeasy, mark kerr, exgirlfriend didnt

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Phoenix, AZ -Champions led the pack of reported salaries from M-1 Global's Arizona debut over the weekend. Vinny Magalhaes ($5,500) successfully defended his light heavyweight belt versus Mikhail Zayats ($3,000) and the former Ultimate Fighter finalist was also the highest paid combatant on the card. ULTMMA.com (www.ultmma.com) recently requested and today received the list of officially disclosed payouts as well as medical suspensions from the Arizona Boxing & MMA CommissionM-1 Challenge 27 took place at the Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix, AZ and aired on the premium cable channel Showtime. His fourth fight under the M-1 Global banner, Magalhaes finished Zayats with one shot head kick followed by punches in the third round of their title bout. American heavyweight Kenny Garner( $5,000), who captured the M-1 interim heavyweight title, was the second highest paid fighter on the card. Total payout for the event included:Daniel Madrid - $2,500Tom Gallicchio - $3,000Joshua Thorpe - $2,000Yasubey Enomoto - $4,500Eddie Arizmendi - $2,500Artur Guseinov - $2,250Kenny Garner - $5,000Maxim Grishin - $2,000Vinny Magalhaes - $5,500Mikhail Zayats - $3,000Medical suspensions:Frederick Lumpkin (Amateur) - 30 Day SuspensionMaxim Grishin (Pro) - 60 Day Suspension due to Head Blows (Fatigue) Went to HospitalKenneth Garner (Pro) - 45 Day Suspension (Fatigue) and Indefinite Suspension (Needs Opthalmology Clearance) Cut on RetinaMikhail Zayats (Pro) - 30 Day Suspension (TKO) Ref stops contest

Posted in: day, suspension, magalhae, zayat, banner magalhaes

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Just when you thought your day was going to waste away without Anderson Silva performing on a Brazilian TV show with back-up dancers, MiddleEasy comes through and saves the day. Specifically, we saved your day, and we need a cake to mark this special occasion. Any cake will do, but if it's a carrot cake, then you will personally make my day. Both of our days could be made and our days can hold hands and prance off into the sunset while a long list of television credits roll through. Our days could even have a theme song, and I'm nominating this little audio wonder to be it. Now watch this iPhone/iPad compatible video of Anderson Silva running the dance floor like he's fighting Demian Maia.

Posted in: day, silva, anderson silva, anderson, cake

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Iconic Brazilian brawler Wanderlei Silva has competed against some of the biggest stars in MMA with the added pressure of a championship belt or headlining spotlight being involved. However, none of his past match-ups carried the same weight has his upcoming clash with Cung Le at UFC 139 where the only title on the line is that of “UFC Fighter”. A loser in six of his last eight bouts including four knockouts, Silva finds himself in a “do or die” situation against Le where a victory would prolong his storied career while defeat might end it altogether. Silva Says Fight with Le Cheered Him Up After Last Loss With “The Axe Murderer” immersed in preparation for his for his November 19 showdown in San Jose he has pulled back the curtain and is giving fans an opportunity to check his training out through a series of video blogs. In his first offering, Silva reflects on a session at King’s MMA with former Chute Boxe coach Rafael Cordeiro where he says the atmosphere reminds him of his younger days as part of the famed South American gym. “This grey and rainy climate is a flash back from the old days in Curitiba,” says Silva. “With all the guys here it was like when we trained there. Curitaba has many grey rainy days. Maybe that’s why we couldn’t stop training. There wasn’t much else to do in the rain.” You can watch the entire video below: PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, day, silva, training, rain .”

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Might as well put it in MMA for a laugh. Hulk Hogan appeared on WFAN's Boomer and Carton radio show this morning to promote a TNA Wrestling pay-per-view. During the interview, hosts Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton asked Hogan whether he would have been drawn to mixed martial arts if he were starting out today. (7:30 in) "I had a little run with those guys, because when I first started going to Japan in 1977-78, I spent 22 to 24 weeks a year in Japan. I was broken in by a Japanese wrestler who taught amateur wrestling and the hooks and some of the submission holds. I was sent over to Shin Nippon pro wrestling in Japan and at the end of the day there was a company called Pride in Japan. That company was part of New Japan Pro Wrestling so when you walk into the locker room every night, there would be a piece of paper with names in Japanese and I would have to get one of the referees to tell me who I was wrestling. There was a lot of Pride guys - I think the UFC just bought Pride - back in the day you never knew when you were getting in the ring whether they were a real wrestler or a shooter every night you had no idea what you were in for so there were a lot of MMA guys who were both pro wrestling and with Pride that were on the card. I had a lot of surprises back in the early days." submitted by brettawesome [link] [comment]

Posted in: day, pride, lot, japan, hogan

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I've been meaning to start this series for a while, but certain people (I'm looking at you Mike Fagan) have held me back from getting my game on. Well, today's the day. You see, Mr. Fagan is what guys with girlfriends like to call an MMA historian. He has this huge calendar thinger in his house that chronicles everything that has ever happened in MMA, day by day. Instead of just entering the info into some internet database like a regular guy, he has it all on his wall like a serial killer. Occasionally he takes pictures of it and sends them to me (thank god that's all he sending), and I get a glimpse into the past. And today was one of those days. I'd like to take you back, back through time. We've got two stops. One is important, the other not so much. First up, October 14th, 2004, and a Pride event that approximately three people remember. Then two years later, some UFC event where A Spider Was Born. Seven years ago to the day, Pride Bushido 5 took place in the Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka, Japan. Every fight had a name you likely remember, but this was pretty much a forgotten card due to the lopsided matchups. Names such as Mauricio Rua, Minowaman, and Igor Vovchanchyn picked up wins. Takanori Gomi defeated Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett in the main event, but likely the biggest story that came out of the card was superstar Hayato Sakurai losing to a man 30 pounds bigger than him, Crosley Gracie, by submission in the second round. Sakurai went on the next year to make the Pride Lightweight Grand Prix finals, before losing to the aforementioned Gomi via TKO. Five years ago to the day, UFC 64 took place in Las Vegas. The card featured eight fights, and you might recognize the undercard winners - Kurt Pellegrino, Clay Guida, and Yushin Okami. Guida was making his debut in the UFC, while the other two were in their sophomore fights. On the main card, Spencer Fisher stopped Dan Lauzon in the opening bout. It still amazes me that Lauzon got a bout in the UFC when he was only 13 years old. (Fine, he was 18). Cheick Kongo lost to Carmelo Marrero, which should give you a clue as to why the Frenchman is still not main eventing today. Jon Fitch got a judge to give him a 30-25 decision over Kuniyoshi Hironaka, who is actually a solid fighter despite your yawns. And there just happened to be two title fights on top of the card. Remember last weekend when Kenny Florian got blown out in a title fight? Yeah, that was happening five years ago too. Florian faced off with Sean Sherk for the re-imagined UFC lightweight title, and well...he lost. Bad. Two 49-46's and a 50-45. He just couldn't stop the takedown, and despite busting Sherk open with one of his vaunted elbows from the bottom in the second, he couldn't get anything else going. The main event did introduce a new face to UFC nobility though, and he's done nothing but impress since - Anderson Silva. Redman brought Silva to the cage, and a broken nose brought Silva to the title belt. Rich Franklin never stood a chance after he got caught up in the Thai clinch. Muay Thai took the middleweight strap home to Brazil, and no one has been able to wrest it away since. It appears that Chael Sonnen will get the next chance. We'll see about that. I'm on vacation and just happen to be writing this from a hotel business center in Tallinn, Estonia right now, so the next episode of This Day in MMA might not be tomorrow. But it will be back as soon as I get home, or when Fagan drinks enough to take more pictures of his bedroom wall. Freak.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, year, card

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Sure David 'Joey' Pedersen is suspected of mass-murdering people across the West Coast and could potentially face a death penalty within a month, but you can't have a professional MMA fight with only one day of training! I mean, what was this guy thinking getting in the cage without even learning a few basic principles of takedown defense and sprawl? Apparently Pedersen's trainer also had a troubled past, so he took the suspected criminal under his wing for 24-hours and just tossed him in a mixed martial arts event -- like all loving MMA trainers do. A somber note to all mass-murders out there: However badass you may perceive yourself to be, it's simply impossible to compete in professional mixed martial arts with just one day's notice. Check out this KVAL news clip of the bizarre incident. [Source] {iframe}http://www.kval.com/news/local/131573423.html?embed{/iframe}

Posted in: mma, day, mma fight, mass-murdering people, death  penalty

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With UFC 137 just around the corner, it's time to cast your votes for who will end up on top. Let your voice be heard with the UFC 137 Fight Day Fight Card.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, vote, card

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

Before Brock Lesnar was a UFC heavyweight champion, he was "The Next Big Thing" in WWE, a project of Paul Heyman and one of the youngest, most successful pro wrestlers in the history of the business.  As soon as he broke on the scene, he was given a push as a monster that  simply could not be stopped. Sound familiar? He won every major title and spent his entire career at the top of the industry. But after about two years of abusing his body, resorting to chemically based illegal treatment for his extensive list of injuries, and being on the road 300 days of the year, Lesnar up and called it quits. After failing out of pro football, he found his way into the loving arms of the greatest promoter of our time, UFC President Dana White. Now, though, Brock's career is at an odd sort of impasse. He's lost his heavyweight title, gone through two separate bouts of diverticulitis, one that included surgery to remove an entire foot of his intestines, and is 34-years-old. A loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 on Dec. 30 and his future is very much in doubt. ESPN recently caught up with the former pro wrassler and asked if he thinks he would ever go back to WWE, even for just one more match. His answer, quite frankly, surprised me: "I think I will. I think under the right circumstances I will. I think if Vince McMahon and I were able to sit down at the same dinner table and break some bread that we could come up with some kind of gameplan. At the end of the day, I'm an ultimate fighter. That's who I am and that's who I'll always be. I was an entertainer but at the end of the day, I'm still as real as it gets. I think a lot of things have to fall in the right places for something like that to happen." Somewhere in Stamford Vince McMahon's eyes are lighting up with dollar signs. Rumors persisted for months that "Vinny Mac" was trying to get Lesnar to appear at next year's WrestleMania 28 event but Dana White squashed those at every turn. However, with the recent announcement that White allowed his prized pay-per-view possession to go into business with WWE again by appearing in the WWE '12 video game, anything is possible. Sure, Lesnar is maintaining he's an "ultimate fighter" but he's also no different than you or I when it comes down to cold, hard cash. Money talks. Any pro wrestling fans in the house hoping this means Lesnar is bailing on UFC in favor of WWE? Or would you rather he make another big run in MMA? Opinions, please.

Posted in: ufc, day, brock lesnar, wwe, lesnar

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Stacked September-October rankings window is finally behind us, and it's a great time to sum up your thoughts (or perhaps, feelings) in LowKick.com Community Rankings. Feel free to submit your new Top 10 lists via the Rankings section. Current edition of LowKick.com Community rankings will be closed on November 9th, three days before the long anticipated UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, and re-opened again on November 24th, four days after Fedor Emelianenko's fight with Jeff Monson and five days

Posted in: day, ranking, jeff monson, lowkick.com, community

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Following this past Saturday’s UFC 136 event in Houston, the Texas athletic commission has issued medical suspensions to five fighters, including UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and fellow headliner Gray Maynard, according to MMAjunkie. Maynard received the longest suspension at 60 days after his fourth-round TKO at the hands of Edgar, who was suspended 45 days after nearly being knocked out himself in the opening round of the rematch. Also suspended were Leonard Garcia (45 days), Eric Schafer (30 days), and Mike Massenzio (45 days). UFC 136 fight salaries will not be released, but the event drew a sellout crowd of 16,164 to the Toyota Center in Houston for a live gate of $2.3 million, while Edgar, Joe Lauzon, Leonard Garcia, and Nam Phan earned $75,000 bonuses. Check out the links below for MMAFrenzy.com’s complete UFC 136 coverage: Kenny Florian Plans to Take Time Off Following UFC 136 Loss to Jose Aldo UFC 136 Videos: Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard, Aldo vs. Florian Highlights UFC 136 Bonuses: Edgar, Lauzon, Phan, and Garcia Earn $75K Awards UFC 136 Results: Frankie Edgar Comes Back to KO Gray Maynard, Retain Lightweight Title UFC 136 Results: Jose Aldo Retains Featherweight Title Over Kenny Florian UFC 136 Results: Sonnen Submits Stann, Lauzon Stuns Guillard, Phan Outpoints Garcia UFC 136 Preliminary Card Results: Demian Maia, Anthony Pettis Among Decision Winners UFC 136 Results, Recaps, and Play-by-Play for “Edgar vs. Maynard” Pictured: Edgar and Maynard

Posted in: ufc, result, day, edgar, maynard

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The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation issued medical suspensions of more than 10 days to just five UFC 136 fighters, and defeated main-event fighter Gray Maynard got the longest one with 60 days. MMAjunkie.com today confirmed the list with commission officials. A representative told MMAjunkie.com that official disclosed paydays for the Oct. 8 event won't be released, per state protocol.

Posted in: fighter, day, mmajunkie.com today, state protocol, commission officials

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Another great and memorable weekend, thanks to the UFC. My first event, as a fan. was Ultimate Fight Night 22 last September in Austin, Texas, and it was a blast. If you want to check out that FanPost click here. Well, needless to say, UFC 136 delivered one of the best pay-per-view cards this year as it was stacked with talent from top to bottom. We arrived in Houston on Friday morning to attend the first day of the UFC Fan Expo. It's a little overwhelming, as I had no idea where to start. We first went to the Q&A with "veteran voice of the Octagon" Bruce Buffer to get the day started. He's an interesting guy, who has had many businesses and manages his brother Michael Buffer. He doesn't plan on retiring from announcing anytime soon, but wont be doing the "Buffer 360" anytime soon either due to a bad knee. Next up, we went to visit Miesha Tate. She had a booth over at Gaspari nutrition and was signing with Sam Stout. Their lines were pretty short, so we took advantage of it. I asked "Hands of Stone" if he had any opponents scheduled and he had nothing in the works as of now. (I never know what to do with my hands in these pics.) Our next stop was Jason "Mayhem" Miller's Q&A session, which of course was entertaining. All the fans were begging him to beat the shit out of Bisping. He was asked if he'd like to face Nick Diaz or a rematch with Shields and he wasn't interested in those fights. He explained that at the time in Strikeforce those were like his only quality fights, whereas now in the UFC he has a whole new talent pool.  And here's the beautiful Arianny signing autographs for her fans, one of the longest lines in the building. And this was the end of day one for us. We were going to go to TapouT party but my idiot friend forgot dress shoes and the bouncer was a tool.  Alright, here is day two at the UFC Fan Expo and it began with a Q&A session featuring TUF fighters Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck, Matt Mitrione, Brendan Schaub, Stephan Bonnar, Cole Miller, Amir Sadollah and Rashad Evans. Bonnar was asked what was the biggest surprise on season one and his answer was how much Leben could drink. "The Crippler" went through so many bottles and would put peppermint extract on the grocery list for "baking purposes." Things then got a little heated when a fan asked who Koscheck wanted to fight next. Koscheck answered with Leben before Dave Farra stirred up the pot and asked what about Bonnar. (Koscheck was suing Bonnar for not getting permission to print his likeness on Bonnar's clothing brand). "Kos" said he would fight Bonnar at 185-pounds but "The American Psycho" offered 195, because he was afraid he'd die if he cut to 185. For the rest of the day I just walked around the expo getting in short lines or taking pictures of fighters from behind their lines. Here are some of them. "Meathead" signing autographs. Taking a pic with Kenda Perez. And of course the number one UFC ring girl. Had to wait in line for this one, but fortunately I was the last one she took. There were still a good hundred+ people behind me. But I did get the name of the bar she was partying at that night. Jon Jones getting bumrushed by fans at the Xyience booth. Pat Barry and Punk Ass signing at the Tap out booth. Pat was nice enough to pose. Daniel Cormier and I. Luke Rockhold in the background. They also sat right in front of us at UFC 136. Bad Boy Girls. Kenny Rice and I. Bas Rutten had already left for fights. And finally I went to the fights around 5pm for the prelims and the first one was a hell of a fight between Mike Massenzio and Stave Cantwell. Also, I bought one of those event radios, so you can listen to commentary during fights -- well worth the $20. At first they weren't working, but I tweeted @DanaWhite and @UFC about it and they tweeted back five minutes later that it was fixed. I've never done the twitter thing before but man is it handy when you go to UFC events. I would recommend it so you know where you can see you favorite fighters and even solve problems like the one above.  So most of the prelims were pretty exciting, a lot of us fans would take pictures with fighters between fights and they were more than happy to oblige.  Of course, I had to take one with the wife. Here's Urijah and I. Here's Rashad Evans, the true number one contender. He thinks the Machida vs Jones fight will be interesting. The guest ring girl. meh Demian Maia after his win over Santiago. A disappointed Greg Jackson after Leonard Garcia lost. Leonard after his fight of the night with Nam Pham. A disappointed Kenny Florian after his decision loss to the flying spider monkey Jose Aldo. Jose Aldo after his championship win. On to the afterparties. VIP with Arianny Celeste at Link Lounge, after the fights. Damn drunkard didn't know how to let the camera focus. Here's another at Link Lounge. About an hour before closing, I decided to to leave the wife and go to Chael Sonnen and Anthony Pettis's party at 5th Amendment. I walked in the door and this crazy hooker comes flying at me on some sort of flying sex swing. So I couldn't find Pettis or Chael, so I was gonna call it a night before I ran into Jake Ellenberger. On the way out, I ran into Tracy Lee from Combat Lifestyle, who we had drinks with in Austin at UFN 22. She spotted Sonnen walking up to bar so I followed, pretending to be part of her crew and got a pic with Chael. He actually seems like a really nice guy. Can't wait for the "Spider" rematch. So that was my weekend, it was a blast and I would do it again any day. I would definitely recommend floor seats just for the environment alone. I did have a good view as well. You'll be surrounded by celebs and fighters and it's quite the experience. Thanks for reading Maniacs. Also, getting pics at the event and afterparties is way easier than at the fan expo. Just ask fighters where they are partying that night, or check twitter. Combatlifestyle.com also had a list of afterparties under the event tab.

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, fan, bonnar

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For most fighters, the path from the cage to the dressing room to the press conference to the hotel to the airport, and finally, the deafening quiet of home is like a space shuttle in reentry - one-thousand miles per hour to 25 in a school zone. Then it's back to the day job of the gym, the occasional interview, the signings, the seminar. The next fight comes around, and blastoff. After 14 months away from fighting, it's been a bumpy ride back for Chael Sonnen. The world he's created and the world in which he finds himself day to day, well, they disagree.

Posted in: day, dressing room, day job, space shuttle, one-thousand miles

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The UFC’s only official pre-fight show returns when Fight Day comes to you live from the George R. Brown Convention Center, the host of Saturday’s UFC Fan Expo. Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will guide you through the latest news of the week. UFC lightweight star Donald Cerrone will join the show to discuss his skyrocketing UFC career and his upcoming bout with Dennis Siver, and MMA journalists John Morgan and Matt Brown join Farra to break down a stacked UFC 136 card. Fight Day airs live

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, fight day, convention center

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Rashad Evans and Jon Jones really don't like each other. Evans was supposed challenge the UFC light heavyweight champion back on August 6 at UFC 133 in Philadelphia; however, a pesky thumb injury forced Jones to pull out of the fight -- one that was booked just a few weeks after his UFC 128 title win over Mauricio Rua. "Bones" was set to have surgery to repair a reoccurring injury he said was bothering him since his college days, sit out a couple months to recover, then defend his newly-won title. Much to the chagrin of Evans, who had already been out of the cage for over a year, he accepted a replacement fight against rising 205-pound powerhouse, Phil Davis.  Fast forward a few days after the "Evans vs. Davis" fight announcement and news broke that Jones had elected to not have surgery and was ready to take a fight. Here is Jones manager, Malki Kawa, explaining the situation via Twitter back on May 13th: "We went to meet with the surgeon on wed and after he looked at @Jonnybones he thought that surgery was a bit invasive and bones didn't have ... to have if he didn't want to. @Jonnybones decided against surgery and we immediately met with dana and lorenzo the next day to get his next fight scheduled ... No @Jonnybones is not fighting rashad. Rashad is fighting phil davis. Of Course, Evans was quick to hit Twitter with his thoughts: "Question: if u r or were so confident then y fake a thumb injury? Cuz just between me & y'all he don't need surgery! ... but I ain't one 2 gossip so u didn’t hear it from me! (ala Living Color) 4 u young folk! Lol ... If I'm lying, I'm dying! Ask @jonnybones when is his surgery & who was his dr! He so fake he fake surgeries!! Now that's fake!" Twitter me this, twitter me that. Moving past the tweet war, both Jones and Evans received new match-ups in Quinton Jackson and Tito Ortiz, respectively. They both defeated their opponents, rather easily, to finally set up the much-anticipated fight between the former training partners. The anticipation is unbearable and the tension is at an all-time high, but will the fight ever happen? If you ask Evans, he thinks we may have a case of Deja-Vu. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 2 champ, doing his best Ms. Cleo impression on Pro MMA Radio, has a feeling that Jones might come down with another injury to buy more time and avoid the fight: "I just want to fight this dude bad. Jon knows what I can do to him. Do you think that Jon pulled out of the first fight because he was confident? No!  He was afraid, and watch him try to pull out of this fight too.  Watch him be like 'Oh my foot is hurt' or something like that to try and get out of this fight to try and make me fight somebody else. When it comes down to it, the kid, he doesn’t want it." Oh the drama. Evans claims he would repeatedly get the best of Jones during their days of training together and truly feels he has Jones number. Jones, on the other hand, feels Evans is merely reliving over and over one successful training day the two shared where Rashad did indeed keep Jones on his back for the majority of the session. "Suga" will have the chance to prove once and for all that he is the one to dethrone the young champion and have the final laugh against his former team and training partners. In the process, he can reclaim the title that was once his, the one he longs to have around his waist. For the sake of avoiding the "I told you so" speech from Evans and fans alike, Jones can truly not afford to get injured from here until the date is set for their pending match-up. If Jones does indeed get injured again, Rashad states he has no problems waiting for him. He has benched himself before in order to preserve his title shot, and seemingly has no problems doing it again; especially if it means he can finally teach "Bones" a lesson. This has truly become a great rivalry and one of the most anticipated match-ups in recent memory. Not since the trash-talking days of "Liddell vs. Ortiz" or "Ortiz vs. Shamrock" has there been genuine dislike for each other from opponents. This fight promises to deliver on all levels and one can’t help but to eagerly await the day when we get to see these two bitter rivals step into the Octagon and have the cage door shut and locked behind them. Of course, barring any injuries occur. Anyone think Evans has predicted the future? Or is he just stuck in the past? Sound off!

Posted in: fight, jone, day, evan, surgery

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submitted by ronnieklx110 [link] [comment]

Posted in: day, bisping, ronnieklx

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UFC star Michael Johnson takes in the sights and sounds of D.C. just days before fighting. Check out our exclusive gallery inside.

Posted in: star, day, gallery, d.c, sight

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

UFC Live Cruz Vs. JohnsonJust got to dc!...man its humid! Some Gr8 weight cut weather though on the bright side! Ha  -Dominick Cruz  In d.c. ready to get to work :-)  -Demetrious JohnsonSooo glad to be fighting on the East Coast again! Thk u @ufc!  -Charlie Brenneman Headed to the Press Conference for the fights. Been a great day so far!! #IronHeart #Blackzilians  -Anthony Johnson IM SHORT ENOUGH TO SNEAK UP BEHIND @StefanStruve AND CRAWL IN HIS BACK POCKET!!! BEEN RIDING AROUND IN HERE ALL DAY! moby.to/nhizps  -Pat Barry@HypeOrDie that was you?!  -Stefan StruveSitting at the weigh-ins waiting to get this over with so I can celebrate my "Birfday!!!!!!"  -Yves Edwards Alright tweeters... I'm gonna call it a night.. No food or water for me for the next 16 hours... I'll see you guys at weigh-ins :)  -Mac Danzig Hour and a half til weigh-ins, just chillin bout to get all the commission stuff done. Down to weight, feeling good.  -Shane RollerWeight is on. Cant wait to make it official and then eat some CARBS!  -TJ GrantBarnett Bar HoppingTo hang with with me you need a valid passport and a drinking problem.  -Josh Barnett Bang the InventorFound a way to hold my smoothie while I went potty. Yep, pretty proud of this artwork. yfrog.com/klkozzsj  -Duane Ludwig   Reality TV @MackDaMenaceMMA @EddieWineland jersey shore! C'mon SON! Y'all watching Toddlers n tiaras later too!?  -Scott jorgensenThats tonight!?!?  -Mackens Semerzier @Scottjorgensen Beverly hills housewives bro!  -Eddie Wineland FrenemiesFound a scorpion in my house. Drove him to the open desert and set him free.  -Aaron Simpson I've massacred hundreds  -Ryan BaderYou also drive a big truck, have big scary dogs and lots of tattoos. #insecure? -Aaron Simpson I've saved birds, mice, lizards, bees, cats, rabbits and spiders.Never saved a human though. But, almost killed @ryanbader several times. -Aaron Simpson    Hahaha! -Chad Mendes What'r you laughin at, shorty? -Aaron Simpson Clay Guida has that Problem TooUgh, I woke up have a GREAT hair day, then had to work out right away and RUINED it! #whatawaste !  -Ronda Rousey #DearHair Could you please be more @clayguida-ish!  -Cub Swanson  TweetStacheOk so I didn't invent this, and I hate emoticons... but mustache emoticons? That may be acceptable :-{)  -Quinn MulhernUnlikely Training PartnersGuess who landed in town yesterday night to come train with me?for sure he'll bring the much needed intensity to get prepared...Dan Hardy!!!Me and Dan Hardy at Tristar! say.ly/UTOM6p  -Georges St-Pierre Half way through another great day in Montreal. The champ is looking sharp! -Dan Hardy  It's Just a Garden Zombie one reason why I'm never going to @mikebrownmma house ever again. this is outside his front door. :0 #TwitPict twitpic.com/6s5lhz  -Yves Edwards Dannyboy Fashion FailGreat training today. I even got to spar Mr. International himself Shonie Carter. I forgot to ask him where he buys his suits though....  -Daniel Downes Fair EnoughCable guy couldn't fix our tv so I D'arced him, sorry Cox  -Jake Ellenberger  And STILLLLLL UFC Light Heavyweight Champion... 14-1  -Jon Bones Jones 

Posted in: day, nbsp, &nbsp, aaron, !&nbsp

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Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was expected to make his second title defense in mid October against the season four 155-pound tournament champion Michael Chandler. Instead, the bout has been delayed due to a nagging injury in his training camp at the Philadelphia Fight Factory. The top-ranked lightweight explains his current predicament to HDNet: "Without giving anything away, I just want to let fans know and let people know I tried to work through the injury. It seemed like every time, it was basically the last 10 days, every time I would get a little bit of momentum, I would setback, get a little momentum, setback. In all honesty, for me, it wouldn't be right. I'd be selling myself short to go out there on the 15th and I'd be selling the fans short to go out there on the 15th. They would be expecting to see somebody and with the consistent injury bug, there's just no way I could get the momentum to be 100 percent prepared for the 15th. It's very important to rest my body properly. The fight is not cancelled. it's just postponed I think 30 days or so. I apologize to you guys. It's not in my nature to make my injuries a part of a promotion's problem, a part of the fans' problem but again it wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't be fair to the people wasting their night tuning in and seeing me at 60-70 percent." We wish "The Silent Assassin" a speedy recovery. Do you expect to see him back on time, Maniacs?

Posted in: time, day, fan, title defense, injury

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With UFC 136 just around the corner, it's time to cast your votes for who will end up on top. Let your voice be heard with the UFC 136 Fight Day Fight Card.

Posted in: ufc, fight, time, day, card

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A lot has changed since June 22nd for Charlie Brenneman. That was the day that TJ Grant withdrew from their matchup at UFC on Versus 4 card. That meant no fight, a fight in which Brenneman would be fighting in front of his hometown crowd. But it did not take long for the tides to turn for Brenneman. As he puts it, “I felt fate was on my side.” Fate must also be from Pittsburgh, or at least a fan of the Spaniard’s hair. Just two days after his bout with Grant was called off of the Sunday card, Brenneman started to notice that fate was trying to show herself. “I was in the sauna on Friday*, actually sitting next to Nate Marquardt,” explained Brenneman. “My manager calls me and tells me that there is a slight chance I could be fighting Rick Story.  But I didn’t even know anything until the next day. About 45 minutes before weigh-ins, that’s when I get told I am in against Story.” *Brenneman had to still make weight in order to collect his purse, since Grant’s withdrawal was so close to the event. The next chapter is well known, as Brenneman went on to defeat Rick Story, in one of the biggest upsets in MMA this year. But to Brenneman, the win over Story is not that big of an upset. “As soon as I was put back on the card, it’s as almost as if I knew this was all going to happen,” explained Brenneman. “I knew all of this happened so I could go out there and put on a show in front of my hometown.” Now Brenneman hopes fate remains on his side, as he sets his sights on his next opponent, Anthony Johnson, whom he faces this Saturday at UFC on Versus 6. Johnson brings with him a reputation as a powerful hitter, but also one who struggles to make weight prior to fight day. Brenneman feels that is what he will be able to take advantage of. “Anthony Johnson is a giant welterweight,” said Brenneman. “He’s been suspect with his conditioning, and it remains to be seen whether he can last a full fifteen minutes.” If Brenneman is able to defeat Johnson, he is fully aware of the repercussions it will have on his career. Since his victory over Story, Brenneman has moved into the top 10 of many pundits’ rankings. But Brenneman does not put too much emphasis on those rankings, stating “Those rankings don’t really mean anything to me. The matchups are what are important. Johnson is a big name, someone who has been in the spotlight for quite a while. I know that a win over him would propel me in the right direction.” Brenneman is hoping that direction is adding another date, October 1st, to his already remarkable year. For complete coverage of UFC on Versus 6, stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.

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Word came yesterday that the UFC 136 heavyweight fight between Dave Herman and Mike Russow had been pulled from the card. Now, Dave is saying that there is more to the story than a simple injury. Yesterday, Herman was on Clinch Gear Radio where he explained that he was removed from the card for a failed drug test. Here's a transcription of the relevant parts of the interview: I went in to give my drug test, right? And a week later they called me and said they lost my urine speciman and I had to come in and re-do it. That was last week. Like, I went back in that day and today they said I failed. And I said 'uh, that's impossible.' It was September 15, I went in and took the first test. And then a week later they e-mailed me and called me and said they lost the sample and I had to come in and do it again. So I went in to do it again that day and then today they just got the results I guess. But then I called because I've been trying to figure this out. I was like how did they lose it? What happened? I don't know. But then Texas said that they never lost it and said that they never lost it and the first test was for drugs and the second was steroids. ... They didn't say I had performance enhancing drugs, they said I had marijuana. And I don't even smoke, so yeah. Although I think the Diaz brothers do claim it is performance enhancing somehow. What is actually said here has been misreported several places. Many people have said that Herman tested positive for steroids, but he makes it clear that it was for marijuana, not any sort of PED. The confusion seems to stem from the line where Herman says that Texas told him test one was for drugs and test two for steroids, but listening to the interview makes it very clear that he is saying they were testing for different things with each test but that it was marijuana that he was popped for. I'm sure there will be more on this story over the coming days.

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Though UFC light heavyweight title-holder Jon Jones may appear superhuman at times it appears he in fact a mere mortal, as the 24-year old champion was apparently injured during his bout with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135 and could miss up to six months as a result. The  name was listed in an official report from Colorado’s regulatory commission along with eleven other competitors who took to the Octagon this past Saturday night. Joining him with a potential six-month stint on the sidelines were Aaron Riley and James Te Huna. No specifics were listed in terms of the actual affliction Jones, or any fighter, suffered though it was stated “Bones” could be cleared by a doctor to return in as little as 45 days. Jones’ opponent at last weekend’s event, Jackson, was suspended for sixty days meaning “Rampage” should be ready for a bout in February when the UFC heads to Japan as he’d hoped for. Here is a full list of UFC 135 medical suspensions: James Te Huna – Suspended 180 days for injuries, reduced to 30 days with physician’s clearance Ricardo Romero – Suspended 60 days with 45 days no contact Cole Escovedo – Suspended 45 days with 30 days no contact Eddie Yagin – Suspended 30 days Nick Ring – Suspended 30 days Aaron Riley – Suspended 180 days, reduced to 90 days with physician’s clearance Takanori Gomi – Suspended 30 days Ben Rothwell – Suspended 60 days with no contact 45 days Mark Hunt – Suspended 45 days with no contact 30 days Matt Hughes – Suspended 45 days with no contact 30 days Quinton Jackson – Suspended 60 days with no contact 45 days Jon Jones – Suspended 180 days, reduced to 45 days with physician’s clearance PHOTO CREDIT – UFCSimilar Posts: Jones and Jackson have words during the staredown, all UFC 135 fighters make weight All UFC 120 fighters receive medical suspensions Matt Hughes tops list of UFC 123 medical suspensions 18 issued medical suspensions following UFC:107 Three Strikeforce fighters sidelined until mid-2011 due to medical suspensions Tweetgovernment,politics news,politics news,politics

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It appears top 205-pound contender Rashad Evans may have to wait a big longer than anticipated in terms of finally getting his crack at UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones after the list of UFC 135 medical suspensions surfaced earlier today. According to Colorado’s regulatory board, Jones could be sidelined for six months as the result of suffering some sort of undisclosed injury during his title-defense Saturday night against Quinton Jackson. However, the commission did leave the door open for Jones to return in 45 days if he receives clearance from a licensed physician. Full UFC 135 Results Other similar sentences were handed down to Aaron Riley, whose jaw was broken by Ultimate Fighter 13 winner Tony Ferguson, and James Te Huna who was actually one of the evening’s winners but clearly didn’t escape unscathed. No specifics were listed for any fighter as is typically the case. Here is a complete rundown of UFC 135 medical suspensions: James Te Huna: Suspended 180 days for injuries, reduced to 30 days with physician’s clearance Ricardo Romero: Suspended 60 days with 45 days no contact Cole Escovedo: Suspended 45 days with 30 days no contact Eddie Yagin: Suspended 30 days Nick Ring: Suspended 30 days Aaron Riley: Suspended 180 days, reduced to 90 days with physician’s clearance Takanori Gomi: Suspended 30 days Ben Rothwell: Suspended 60 days with no contact 45 days Mark Hunt: Suspended 45 days with no contact 30 days Matt Hughes: Suspended 45 days with no contact 30 days Quinton Jackson: Suspended 60 days with no contact 45 days Jon Jones: Suspended 180 days, reduced to 45 days with physician’s clearance PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

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Despite a dominant win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the UFC 135 main event this past Saturday, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been sidelined up to 180 days, according to the UFC 135 medical suspensions issued Tuesday by the Colorado athletic commission. Jones can return as soon as 45-days with clearance from a physician. The suspension is unlikely to affect the date of his showdown with former teammate-turned-rival Rashad Evans. UFC 135′s Aaron Riley and James Te-Huna were also suspended for 180 days, while Jackson was sidelined for 60 days. UFC 135 drew a crowd of 16,344 to Denver’s Pepsi Center for a live gate of $2,089,575. The complete UFC 135 medical suspensions included: Jon Jones: Suspended 180 days or 45 days with physician’s clearance Quinton Jackson: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days Matt Hughes: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days Mark Hunt: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days Ben Rothwell: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days Takanori Gomi: Suspended 30 days Aaron Riley: Suspended 180 days or 90 days with physician’s clearance Nick Ring: Suspended 30 days Eddie Yagin: Suspended 30 days Cole Escovedo: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days Ricardo Romero: Suspended 60 days with no contact for 45 days James Te-Huna: Suspended 180 days or 30 days with physician’s clearance Check out MMAFrenzy’s complete coverage of UFC 135 by clicking here.

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Medical suspensions have been released for the fighters competing at UFC 135: "Jones vs. Rampage," which took place on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011, from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. With several of the bouts ending early (and violently), there were a handful of fighters who were flagged follow up visits with their doctors. Chief among them is the second coming himself, Jon Jones, who was given 180 days on the sidelines unless he gets clearance from a doctor for his bum feet, in which case he'll only be laid up for 45 days. The price one pays to be the best and all that.  Joining him on injured reserve is Aaron Riley, who had his jaw shattered by "The Boogeyman," Anthony Ferguson, in their preliminary card lightweight brouhaha. Riley will be riding the pine for 180 days unless he gets physician's clearance with 90 days mandatory vacation. But that's not all. Here is the complete list of UFC 135 injuries and their medical instructions (via MMAWeekly.com): Jon Jones -- Suspended 180 days or 45 days with physician's clearance Quinton Jackson -- Suspended 60 days, no contact 45 days Matt Hughes -- Suspended 45 days, no contact 30 days Mark Hunt -- Suspended 45 days, no contact 30 days Ben Rothwell -- Suspended 60 days, no contact 45 days Takanori Gomi -- Suspended 30 days Aaron Riley -- Suspended 180 days, 90 days with physician's clearance Nick Ring -- Suspended 30 days Eddie Yagin -- Suspended 30 days Cole Escovedo -- Suspended 45 days, 30 days no contact Ricardo Romero -- Suspended 60 days, 45 days no contact James Te Huna -- Suspended 180 days for injuries or 30 day suspension with physician's clearance. Just a quick reminder: Fighters often return to action much quicker once doctors give them the green light. The lengthy suspensions are just a precaution in most cases. For complete UFC 135 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here and here.

Posted in: ufc, day, suspension, contact, clearance

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The official medical suspensions are out for UFC 135 and in a bit of a surprising moment, Jon Jones has picked up one of the longest medical suspensions of any fighter on the card. Jones has been suspended for six months unless cleared by a doctor, in which case the suspension can be reduced to 45 days. There were no details on the exact injuries tied to the suspensions, but one would have to assume this is related to Jones' limp after his fight with Quinton Jackson and then basically being carried to the press conference. Full suspension list via MMA Weekly: Jon Jones - suspended 180 days or 45 days with physician's clearanceQuinton Jackson - suspended 60 days, no contact 45 daysMatt Hughes - suspended 45 days, no contact 30 daysMark Hunt - suspended 45 days, no contact 30 daysBen Rothwell - suspended 60 days, no contact 45 daysTakanori Gomi - suspended 30 daysAaron Riley - suspended 180 days, 90 days with physician's clearanceNick Ring - suspended 30 daysEddie Yagin - suspended 30 daysCole Escovedo - suspended 45 days, 30 days no contactRicardo Romero - suspended 60 days, 45 days no contactJames Te Huna - suspended 180 days for injuries or 30 day suspension with physician's clearance. Riley was forced to quit after one round of his fight with Tony Ferguson, believing to have re-broken his jaw. SBN coverage of UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage

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Filed under: UFC, NewsThis past Saturday's UFC 135 event from the Pepsi Center in Denver drew a total crowd of 16,344 for a final gate of $2,089,575, the Colorado athletic commission revealed Tuesday. Of the 16,344 in attendance, 14,247 paid for tickets and 2,097 were comped. More UFC 135 notes from the commission are below. -- When it comes to fighter salaries, the commission says it only verifies that fighters are paid by promoters and fighter salaries are not disclosed. -- Tony Ferguson was awarded the victory over Aaron Riley after it became apparent Riley had suffered an injury to his jaw. Riley has since been issued a 180-day suspension which can be reduced to 90 days with medical clearance. --Despite a dominant win in the main event, Jon Jones was handed a 180-day suspension or 45 days with medical clearance. Meanwhile, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was suspended for 60 days with no contact for 45 days. -- The only other fighter recommended for a further check-up was Jame Te Huna, whom the commission suspended 180 days or minimum 30 days with medical clearance. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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Loading Player...MMAScroll LeftScroll RightExclusive Video: One Week In OctoberFight Day: Travis Browne Post-Fight InterviewFight Day: Nate Diaz Post-Fight InterviewFight Day: Tony Ferguson Talks Win Over Aaron RileyFight Day: Chuck Liddell InterviewFight Day: Tim Boetsch Talks Win Over Nick RingRashad Evans Takes You Inside Rampage's Training Camp (Cartoon)Fight Day: UFC 135 Open Workout HighlightsFight Day: Rampage Jackson On Spygate, Jones, UFC 135Fight Day: Rob Broughton UFC 135 Pre-Fight InterviewFight Day: Travis Browne Discusses Rob Broughton BoutFight Day: Josh Koscheck UFC 135 Pre-Fight InterviewFight Day: Matt Hughes UFC 135 Pre-Fight InterviewFight Day: Mayhem Miller Talks Ultimate Fighter 14Fight Day: Michael Bisping TUF 14 InterviewFight Day: UFC 135 Press Conference HighlightsFight Day: Dana White UFC 135 Pre-Fight Interview

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Filed under: UFCIn a 2007 Pride fight, Nick Diaz established himself as one of the rising stars in mixed martial arts by beating the great lightweight champion Takanori Gomi. On Saturday night in Denver, it was Nick's little brother Nate Diaz who put on a great performance against Gomi, winning a first-round submission at UFC 135. The Gomi of today isn't the same fighter as the Gomi of 2007, and so Nate Diaz's victory on Saturday isn't as significant as Nick Diaz's victory of the Pride days. But Nate Diaz looked as good as he's ever looked on Saturday night. "I'm happy to get the win," Diaz said afterward. "He's dangerous. Takanori Gomi was a Pride champion for years and years -- he was one of my favorite fighters forever, and still is." The victory improved Diaz's record to 14-7, and he showed after struggling in his last couple of fights at welterweight that he's a real force at lightweight. As for Gomi, he was a legend of the Pride days, but he doesn't have a whole lot left. Gomi is 32-8 in his MMA career, but he's just 1-3 since signing with the UFC. His best days are behind him, while Diaz's best days are ahead of him. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: saturday night, diaz, day, takanori gomi, gomi

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More FIGHT DAY Video clips! UFC 135′s Fight Day will come to you live today from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado at 5pm ET/2pm PT. Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi will get fight night started and Fight Day will break down all of the main card action with expert panelists Matt Brown of HeavyMMA, John Morgan of MMAJunkie and “Showdown” Joe Ferraro of Rogers Sportsnet. UFC middleweight and coach on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter, Michael Bisping, will join Fight Day live on set. Also on set will be #1 Light Heavyweight contender in the world, Rashad Evans. Evans will have much to say as he will face the winner of the night’s main event at future date for the Light Heavyweight Championship. Fight Day will also feature a sit down interview with longtime UFC play-by-play commentator, Mike Goldberg to talk about his favorite fights, favorite fighters and life on the road.

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Watch the only official UFC pre-show, Fight Day, beginning at 5 p.m ET/2 p.m. PT right here on HeavyMMA.com

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submitted by killzy707 [link] [comment]

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Want to watch the 2011 ADCC World Submisison Fighting Championship? The two day event this weekend is taking place at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England and is available exclusively on Pay Per View at Budovideos.com with commentary by 2x IBJJF Pan Ams Bronze Medalist and ADCC Trials Bronze Medalist Shawn Williams along with Caleb and Budo Jake from BudoVideos. The two day event featuring hours of coverage and over a hundred matches costs $30 but order before tomorrow and you can watch at the discounted price of $24.95. Those who order the Pay Per View will be able to watch in High Definition, as well as be able to rewatch the ADCC on demand from Budo Videos when the two day event is over. Just head on over to Budovideos.com to order now. Find out who is competing, and who missed weight and are out of the tournament after the jump. SBNation Coverage of ADCC 2011 Ranyi Yahya missed weight by 9lbs and is out of the competition. He has been replaced by Rafael Dos Santos in the -65.9kg category. Earlier today and according to Braulio Estima's Twitter, UFC veteran Rousimar Palhares had missed weight but has another chance to weigh in to compete in the -87.9kg category. I asked ADCC within the last hour since this post published about Palhares and they have said he is not out. ADCC for the first time has had weigh ins the day before competition, and the day of each competition round (Saturday and Sunday). A schedule for the competition times has yet to be announced. The countdown for Budo Videos coverage suggests a start of 12 p.m. GT / 7 a.m. ET / 4 a.m. PT Superfights: Mario Sperry vs Renzo Gracie Jacare Ronaldo Souza vs Braulio Estima   Tournament competitors: -65.9kg Rafael Mendes Greger Forsel Marko Ramos David Marinakis Tetsu Hadairo Jeff Glover Bruno Frazzato Timo-juhani Hirvikangas Ryan Hall Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles Rani Yahya Baret Yoshida Robson Moura Tom Barlow Justin Rader Jeremy Umphries -76.9kg Jorge Britto Vagner Rocha Davis Hart Sanshiro Nakakura Enricco Coco Murilo Santana Daniel Strauss Marcelo Garcia Leo Vieira JT Torres Kron Gracie Augusto Mendes "Tanquinho" Claudio Calasans Jason Manly Kyle Griffon Vitor Estima Clark Gracie   -87.9kg André Galvão Marko Helen Cameron Rowe Jeon Doo Kwang JJ Holmes Zbigniew Tyszka Pablo Popovitch Rafael Lovato jr Romulo barral Rousimar Palhares Sergio Moraes Paulo Filho Dan Schon David Avellon Gunnar Nelson -98.9kg Xande Ribeiro Kari Peltola Joseph Lee Baize Igor Praporshchikov Animal Anzai James Poupolo Augusto Ferrari Kamil Uminski Rodolfo Viera Joao Assis Dean Lister Radek Turek Antonio Peinado +99kg Fabricio Werdum Janne-Pekka Pietiläinen Mario Rinaldi Mick Wilson Sekine Hideki Gabriel Vella Mateusz Juskowiak Jeff Monson Bruno Bastos Roberto "cyborg" abreu Vinny Magalhaes Geraldi Rinaldi Fereira Jose Junior Alexander Trans Lucio "Lagarto" Rodrigues James Brasco Rodrigo Artilheiro Jarrod Bunch Rodrigo Artilheiro   -60kg Women Luanna Alzuguir Lara Jayne Ng Hashi Takayo Cathilee Albert Michelle Nicolini Sara Svensson Krya Gracie Rosi Sexton +60kg Women Hannette Staack Fiona Muxlow Penny Thomas Talita Nogueira Devi Ahuja Gabi Garcia Cris Cyborg

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UFC 135's Fight Day will come to you live from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on September 24 at 5pm ET/2pm PT.  Hosts Dave Farra and Megan Olivi  will get fight night started and Fight Day will break down all of the main card action with expert panelists Matt Brown of HeavyMMA, John Morgan of MMAJunkie and "Showdown" Joe Ferraro of Rogers Sportsnet.  UFC middleweight and coach on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter, Michael Bisping, will join Fight Day live on set.  Also

Posted in: ufc, fight, day, michael bisping, fight day

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Filed under: UFCDENVER -- Michael Bisping and Jason "Mayhem" Miller make for an unlikely movie date, but in some bizarre way the pairing works. The two showed up at the Paramount Theater on Wednesday night for a private screening of The Ultimate Fighter season 14 premiere looking less like rivals and more like...well, not friends exactly, but also not quite enemies. "He's not a bad guy. He's alright," Bisping admitted, nodding over at Miller who was, at the very moment, practically shouting into a video camera a few feet away. "But trust me, that in your face for six weeks? You're going to kill the guy." Now that filming is over and Bisping can get back to dealing with Miller "in small doses," the two seem to get along just fine. Or at least, that's how it seemed as they sat down together with a handful of media members to watch the first episode of the Spike TV reality show inside the 80-year-old art deco theater. The show's first episode didn't give the coaches all that much to do, however. After a brief introduction, complete with highlight reels, they spent the bulk of the episode separated by UFC president Dana White, watching TUF hopefuls scrap for a spot on the show inside the empty Mandalay Bay Events Center. Not that there weren't a few barbs here and there, of course. When Bisping appeared on screen, describing Miller's current bleached blonde look as a cross between "Josh Koscheck and a toilet brush," even Miller reared his head back and laughed along with the rest of us. And all night long, both on screen and in person, the one thing they agreed on was a mutual respect for the talent level of the fighters in this season of the show. Miller estimated that at least eight of the competitors were worthy of UFC contracts, regardless of how they fared during the reality show tournament. But while seeking refuge in the lobby during the final half-hour of the show, Miller hinted that some days had been tougher than others when working alongside his British counterpart. "I wanted to hit him," he said. "I'd be like, today I'm going to hit him." What stopped him, he explained, was that he worried it would make him look like a jerk once the show aired. "And then my mom would get mad," he added. The six weeks of filming in Las Vegas and the ensuing media tour to hype the show have ensured that Miller and Bisping hardly go a day without talking about one another. For a fight that's still more than two months away, that's an uncommon amount of preamble, even in the UFC. In fact, Miller said, it's taken almost every bit of patience he has to keep from freaking out with so much time to think about the fight. In his younger days, he said, this is exactly the kind of thing that might have sent him looking for trouble at a local bar. "Or I'd start an argument with my girlfriend, just for the drama," he said. These days, as he jets from southern California to New York for talk shows, then to a private screening in Denver, more often than not it's Bisping who is his date. And as they bickered about practical jokes and busted one another's chops on stage following the show's premiere, they seemed not unlike an old married couple -- though maybe one that's headed for divorce. "During the show, I wanted to kill him," Bisping said. "I'm going to kill him." Miller just rolled his eyes, flashing the same unimpressed expression we'd seen just moments before on the giant screen behind him. "Save your breath for cooling your pies," he said. "Whatever that means," Bisping shot back. As with any couple, few battles are as fierce as the fight for the last word. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: show, day, miller, bisping, michael bisping

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MMAjunkie.com readers can now enter to win a pair of TITLE BLACKT Bag Gloves (valued at $200) given away every day in September. All you have to do to enter is "Like" Title Boxing on Facebook and complete the short entry form. Act now because we will select a random Facebook fan every day. The sooner you enter, the more chances you have to win!

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submitted by xKrazExMNUx [link] [1 comment]

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The Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission released the medical suspensions for UFC Fight Night 25. All fighters were given mandatory seven day suspensions, with only four fighters receiving longer suspensions. Among those four fighters was main event combatant Jake Shields, who received a standard 30 day suspension for his TKO loss. Alvin Topham, chairman of the LBWC, told MMAJunkie Shields verbally submitted shortly before the referee was about to step in. The outcome of the bout will not be changed however, as the commission has ruled the referee was already in the process of stopping the fight. The longest suspensions were handed out to preliminary card fighters Shamar Bailey and Lance Benoist. Bailey was suspended sixty days due to “facial trauma” in his loss to Evan Dunham, while Benoist also received the same suspension for a severe cut that require 12 stitches. UFC UFN 25 Suspensions Shamar Bailey- Suspended for 60 days due to facial trauma, tough fight Lance Benoist- Suspended for 60 days due to severe cut that required 12 stitches Jake Shields- Suspended for 30 days due to TKO Jason MacDonald- Suspended for 30 days due to TKO MORE: UFC Fight Night 25 Recap, UFC Fight Night 25 Results

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All fighters who competed at "UFC Fight Night 25: Battle on the Bayou" received mandatory 7-day suspensions. Those who lost by TKO got a bump to 30 days, as did Jake Shields, who was stopped by Jake Ellenberger in the event's headliner. Alvin Topham, Chairman of the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission, today told MMAjunkie.com that a verbal submission occurred as the referee stepped in to stop Shields' bout.

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submitted by tekprodfx16 [link] [20 comments]

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Tired of hitting the gym day after day and working your tail off to see little gains and lil improvement. Well take a minute to check out Doug Balzarini’s new 2 disc set. Wait you might be saying why should you let Doug help you workout, well maybe you shouldn’t but if you are looking [...]

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