MMA-URLS

Back in 2010, Cowboy Cerrone publicly stated he wanted Jamie Varner to be the first death in MMA. Wishing death on someone is never a good thing when you get paid to place that person under the same conditions that resemble death. That's like a chef holding up a baby and saying the words 'I just want to eat you up.' Technically, the chef has all the available skills to cook the baby up in a nice marinade and serve it in reasonable portions. Therefore, Cowboy Cerrone hoping that Jame Varner will be the first death in MMA on TapouT radio was not necessarily a positive thing. Actually, it was as far from a positive thing as possible. Since WEC 53, we've seen Jamie Varner compete in three separate organizations, amassing a 3-1 record with his only loss coming via Dakota Cochrane at Titan Fighting Championship 20 (yes, that Dakota Cochrane). Now that the former WEC lightweight champion is back under the ZUFFA banner, Varner has dipped his body in some futuristic cryogenic chamber in preparation for his bout with Edson Barboza at UFC 146, Demolition Man style.

Posted in: dakota cochrane, jamie varner, thing, varner, death

Read the full article at Middle Easy

After a weekend full of tweet jokes, photoshopped gifs and caustic hate filled messages there's nothing I can say about this Jon Jones DUI incident that hasn't already been said 1437 times over via twitter, facebook, or any of the multitude of MMA forums on the Interwebz. Until this morning there had been no official word released by the champ regarding his weekend brush with the law and brush with a very dangerous situation. Today at around 9am Jones issued an apology to his friends and fans via his facebook page. Here's the text: "Man I haven't added anyone new to my Facebook page in like three years and right now I'm so glad that I haven't. It has literally been sickening to have so many people try to kick me while I'm down. At the same time, I totally understand, I gave them the leeway to. I screwed up, big time. Just needed to say thank you to all you guys for being amazing friends/supporters. Always having to deal with so many critics, haters and fickle mma fans, I almost forgot how strong of a home base I had (607 and people that knew me before I was a champion fighter). Although the hell that will come with this hasn't even started yet, I want you guys to know how much better you've all made me feel, not only about this situation but about life, everything. It's good to feel that people are there and care. With that being said, I felt I should apologize to you first.I'm truly sorry to those of you that I may have embarrassed in any way, to those of you with kids that I may have let down. I will prove to them as well as to myself, that no matter what is happening in life, we can always work our way back and make things even better than before. Reading you guys uplifting comments was a great reminder for me to not give up on who I am or all the hateful people. I'm not gonna allow this situation to outweigh the positive. I love you guys right back and I promise to make things right. PS sorry about the terrible grammar :)" Whether you love him or hate him-or whether you call it a mistake, a lack of good judgement, or an absolute **** up-this is definitely going to be a huge life lesson for the very young champ and the most important thing to note is thankfully no one was hurt in this accident. Things could have turned out much worse than they did.

Posted in: guy, facebook, people, thing, facebook page

Read the full article at Middle Easy

After a weekend full of tweet jokes, photoshopped gifs and caustic hate filled messages there's nothing I can say about this Jon Jones DUI incident that hasn't already been said 1437 times over via twitter, Facebook, or any of the multitude of MMA forums on the Interwebz. Until this morning there had been no official word released by the champ regarding his weekend brush with the law and brush with a very dangerous situation. Today at around 9am Jones issued an apology to his friends and fans via his Facebook page. Here's the text: "Man I haven't added anyone new to my Facebook page in like three years and right now I'm so glad that I haven't. It has literally been sickening to have so many people try to kick me while I'm down. At the same time, I totally understand, I gave them the leeway to. I screwed up, big time. Just needed to say thank you to all you guys for being amazing friends/supporters. Always having to deal with so many critics, haters and fickle mma fans, I almost forgot how strong of a home base I had (607 and people that knew me before I was a champion fighter). Although the hell that will come with this hasn't even started yet, I want you guys to know how much better you've all made me feel, not only about this situation but about life, everything. It's good to feel that people are there and care. With that being said, I felt I should apologize to you first.I'm truly sorry to those of you that I may have embarrassed in any way, to those of you with kids that I may have let down. I will prove to them as well as to myself, that no matter what is happening in life, we can always work our way back and make things even better than before. Reading you guys uplifting comments was a great reminder for me to not give up on who I am or all the hateful people. I'm not gonna allow this situation to outweigh the positive. I love you guys right back and I promise to make things right. PS sorry about the terrible grammar :)" Whether you love him or hate him-or whether you call it a mistake, a lack of good judgement, or an absolute **** up-this is definitely going to be a huge life lesson for the very young champ and the most important thing to note is thankfully no one was hurt in this accident. Things could have turned out much worse than they did.

Posted in: guy, facebook, people, thing, facebook page

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Triple H’s music brrwwaannggged to start the show like so much 2002 and he had many mean things to say about Brock Lesnar including “corn-fed simpleton” and “farthead” and “nerf herder” and other things I am making up because I wasn’t paying that much attention. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, but his promo on Lesnar lacked in historical accuracy and it downplayed Lesnar’s genuinely memorable MMA career which is what usually ends up the problem when Triple H takes it upon himself to speak up in defense of his entire profession. John Cena is good for a gung ho rally-the-troops speech. Hulk Hogan and Sting have been coasting on the same speech for the last decade over in TNA. On the other hand, Triple H, who enjoys doing things like  publicly berating wrestlers he thinks are shrimpy (CM Punk, Edge, Chris Jericho), is a less credible defender of the hard-working boys in the back. But hey, whatever, Paul Heyman got to come out to serve H with a subpoena and say Brrrrrrrock Lesssnarrrr a couple times and get shoved around. For a major executive at a multimillion dollar corporation, I think Triple H does not understand the law that well. As if to punish me for being generally annoyed by most of Big Show has done for the last year or so, his athletic spectacle against Kane and subsequent firing byJohn Laurinaitis felt longer than Titanic but lacked the satisfaction of watching everyone involved freeze to death. WWE’s got some legitimately good actors hanging around—William Regal and Cody Rhodes come to mind and Beth Phoenix fooled the heck out of plenty with her storyline ankle injury a few weeks ago—but wrestlers don’t necessarily have to be master thespians. Eve Torres, for instance, doesn’t exactly have the emotional range of Meryl Streep, but as Laurinaitis’s perky assistant she only really needs the one mood and pulls it off well. I enjoyed the hell out of watching her berate him last week in the same way I was thrilled to see Rhodes smack him around with comedy boxing gloves before Wrestlemania. I am not a hard man to please, just send that ginormous goofball out there to get abused for no more than a few minutes and I’m happy. But man, Big Show is brutal to watch whenever he tries to emote, especially when they have him do it for ten minutes straight. His crying face is the same as his pooping face, and we know this because of how often we have seen him pooping. It’s also his About to Punch You face, as well as his Oh Crap Ricardo Rodriguez Just Ran Me Over face. He has strengths that can be played to such as being twenty feet tall and eight hundred pounds but if you make him kneel and beg he is not coming back up with the same knees. This part was all the way at the end but I want to just get it out of the way now: RAW‘s other big headline was the final segment, a deeply uncomfortable scene in which Cena, a mainstay in WWE’s regular anti-bullying ads as part of the highly touted Be A Star campaign, literally spent fifteen minutes threatening to beat Laurinaitis up for being a loser. Excited for those three-hour RAWs yet? The big reveal after way, way too long: Laurinaitis gets fired if he loses to Cena this Sunday. No, Cena, go puck yourself for making me sit through that crap for that long. Puck yourself forever! PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: way, cena, face, laurinaiti, thing

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Jon Fitch is doing work. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight number one contender, who meets Aaron Simpson at the upcoming UFC on FUEL TV 4 event on July 11, 2012 in San Jose, California, doesn't expect to have anything handed to him "the easy way" in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career. That's how it's always been. It should come as no surprise then, to learn that a knockout loss to Johnny Hendricks back at UFC 141, just his second in 16 fights under the world's largest fight promotion, sent him tumbling down the 170-pound rankings, a place he had called home over the past couple of years. No matter. As he explains to Heavy MMA, as long as he's got the "respect of his colleagues" and the motivation to "keep pushing forward," then he will continue to keep "grinding." Those comments, after the jump. "It seems as if I can’t have anything come to me easily. It always takes a lot of extra hard work. Throughout my entire life, things have always been that way. I’ve always had to work two or three times harder than everybody else just to be half as good. It’s just one of those things that have shaped the attitude I have. I just keep pushing forward. I think I coined that term 'grinding.' I started using it to describe my style, and it’s something I know is mine. If people think that I’m not beating people up in there, all they have to do is look at my opponent’s face after the fight. If I’m not doing work in there, then how did their face get so f***ed up? Overall, respect means a lot. For what all the fans think they know, the fighters themselves actually know it. When you get respect from your colleagues, it means a lot because those are the guys who are going through the same things you are, making the same sacrifices you make and have dealt with some of the same circumstances and they can empathize with what you are going through. To have respect from those guys is a big deal. I always tell people one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me came years back when I got into a van with Minotauro (Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira). He came up to me and said, ‘Hey I know you – you are that tough guy.’ For him to call me a tough guy was a highlight of my career." Fitch (23-4) is coming off a crushing knockout loss to "Bigg Rigg" last December, significant because it was the second straight performance that failed to net him a win, as the former Purdue University wrestler went to a draw opposite B.J. Penn at UFC 127 last year in Australia. It was, as previously stated, just his second loss inside the Octagon, the first coming at the hands of reigning welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre way back in August of 2008. Would a win over Simpson put him back "in the mix?" Time will tell.

Posted in: ufc, people, thing, jon fitch, respect

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Promoters will always be promoters. Just look at Don King, a man who keeps smiling, spiking his crazy hair and waving mini-American flags regardless of what he's pushing. No matter what, he always focuses on the positive, regardless of what the naysayers are trying to counter with. And with boxing these days, that can be a lot. UFC president Dana White is a different breed of promoter. He isn't afraid to taunt or fire back at anyone on any subject, something that endeared himself to many as the UFC rose through the sports muck to prominence over the past seven years. Sometimes he has been right on the money and other times, he has been horrendously off base. When forced to, he's apologized for the really bad stuff, but has never apologized for being open and honest. To say the least, he is the 'anti Roger Goodell' -- a sentiment against a perceived PR-friendly figurehead as opposed to someone shooting from the hip. But White's video tirade this week against Wrestling Observer founder/MMA journalist Dave Meltzer crossed the line -- not just because it came across as childish and petulant but because it was simply mean spirited in a direction that it never should have gone in. In the interest of full disclosure, I do some work with the Observer, both writing, editing and appearing on podcasts. I consider Meltzer a colleague and someone that I respect immensely in the business. He is one of the most relentless workers in all of sports journalism and while it's easy to dismiss pro wrestling coverage, Dave has also covered UFC from its inception and is well-versed in everything combat sports. I'm certainly not alone in my feelings and I'm sure White would say the same. If you're late to the party, Meltzer did some writing on the recent UFC on Fox 3 ratings, numbers that were the lowest of what they've done so far on the big network. He outlined some of the the potential issues that could have affected the rating but also didn't pull any punches in saying what many thought: it wasn't a great number and that the August show is a very important one for the future of the relationship. White was furious with the analysis, unleashing with a diatribe like we haven't seen in a while. He said the UFC was No. 1 in the key male demos and the last quarter hour of the show was No. 1 among all adult and male demos. He laid out some of the same arguments for the low rating that Meltzer did (without acknowledging that) and tried to make an NBA playoffs analogy that didn't make any sense. I have no issue with White defending his company amidst the perceived negatives from their latest network TV outing. Whether or not the Fox brass agrees is another story, but as long as they are giving the UFC primetime slots on Saturday nights four times a year, that's a positive thing. I'm somewhat glad White did go behind the curtain a bit because it slightly drives me nuts when he says, "What people don't understand..." Helping people understand his point of view is important, even if it's not impartial. My issue is the vitriol in which White decided to attack Meltzer. He doesn't have a history on unfounded attack pieces on the UFC, so why would this suddenly elicit this type of reaction? White did tell Meltzer about what was coming and Meltzer didn't do what many weaker than him would have done: issue some sort of apology or do a make-good column to ease any conflict. He has a job to do and I would trust his accuracy over that of a promoter, regardless of who it is. If I had a gun to my head and had to answer anything about TV ratings or the pay-per-view industry to save my life, Dave Meltzer would be my first call. He's got too much cache, industry relationships and history not to trust him. The worst and most inaccurate part of White's comments were about Meltzer "being fired" from Yahoo and that he shouldn't be giving business advice. Anyone that has a clue about what is going on at Yahoo knows they released nearly their entire MMA staff amid company-wide cuts and that the company has been in trouble for a long time. White made it sound like Meltzer was released due to bad work which is about as unprofessional as it gets. I know it's fun for people to compare and contrast White to other major sports heads in that he is completely anti-establishment. However, that isn't always a good thing and this is one of those cases. Had he simply made his case with the numbers and moved on, that's one thing. To portray Meltzer as some sort of dimestore writer that got fired for incompetency is another. NFL commissioner Goodell may never swear in front of cameras, but he also wouldn't release a video blog ripping apart Sports Illustrated's Peter King. The MMA media is in complete disarray these days and the last thing it needs is the sport's most important figure doing video blogs attacking one of its most well known and respected figures for doing their job. There are way more important things to do to ensure the sport's future than to rip on someone analyzing its present.

Posted in: ufc, sport, rating, thing, meltzer

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

https://twitter.com/#!/danrafaelespn/status/202595020006625280 Dan Rafael is one of boxing's most high profile journalists, he attended his first UFC event tonight, and I had his twitter feed up the whole night. He was thoroughly enjoying himself throughout the card. He said '1st thing I saw when I was walking into arena was a guy with a "Korean Zombie" shirt on. Now I will see just what a "Korean Zombie" is' and really walked away a convert, especially after that last fight. It was great and even Dana was thanking him for having an open mind and attending. Another great thing about it was boxing fans give him so much heat for not only attending but tweeting about how much he was enjoying himself. Like this guy. All around, this was spectacular card, one that converts people into MMA fans. submitted by tekprodfx16 [link] [3 comments]

Posted in: thing, mma fans, twitter feed, quotkorean zombiequot, profile journalists

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We posted video yesterday of UFC president Dana White's odd video blog for UFC on Fuel TV 3 which instead devoted itself entirely to Dana White responding to Wrestling Observer (and former Yahoo!) writer Dave Meltzer's analysis of the UFC on Fox 3 numbers (subscription required). Meltzer responded in the WO Forum: "Here's all I want to say. Dana called me and told me what he was going to do ahead of time saying he didn't want to blindside me. He was pissed at the article in last week's Observer and if he's pissed he doesn't hold it in. And I've got no issue with that or with him. I wish he hadn't brought up the Yahoo thing just because it brings sympathy to me that I don't want and that it probably does him no benefit to the outside world to be doing. It appears he's kicking a guy when he's down and I'm not down, so it didn't bother me, but to the outside world, I don't know how it comes across. th someone Rather than rallying around me or saying Dana's hurting into Eric or Vince, just read the article. If you think I wasn't fair and presenting both sides of the story, then he's right to be mad. If you think I was fair, then that's cool. Any discussions should be about the points in the article because if anyone thinks I'm mad at him, well, that's the furthest thing from the case. As far as I'm concerned, I thought the article was fair. He didn't. We've disagreed before and agree far more than we disagree when it comes to the product." Meltzer also commented on White's comments on the Figure 4 podcast with Bryan Alvarez. Here's a YouTube embed of the audio: The complete transcript of Dana's statement is after the jump along with Jamie Penick's analysis of Dana's comments. Dana White on Dave Meltzer (transcription via Fight Opinion): "First of all, Dave Meltzer wrote this huge story, doom and gloom story on how the UFC and Fox is blowing this things because of the numbers that came out. First and foremost, DAVE, you know I like you, I respect you, but you just lost your job at Yahoo... and you want to give us business advice? I'm actually writing a story next week that I'm going to put out of all the ways I think you could have, all the things that I think you could have done to keep your job at Yahoo. That's story is coming out next week, Dave, you might want to read it, OK? And... what I want to explain to all the fans out there and people who aren't fans about what went on, uh, on Fox 3 Cinco de Mayo. "First of all, we were the number one program of the night with all key male demos. Now, I know a lot of don't understand all of this but I'm going to break this thing down for you and explain it to you. During the last Quarter Hour, we ere the number one program of the night with all adult and male demos. We peaked at 3 million viewers during the main event, which is the way a show is supposed to build throughout the night! Now, Kevin Iole wrote in his story that we got beat by Shark Tank and NCIS with total viewers. OK? Let me explain to you how that works. Shark Tank, first of all, is a one hour show. 1.9 million of those viewers were 50 years old and older! They were 50-plus, 60% of the people that night were 50-plus years old! The median age on that show was 55 years old. "And it gets better! "NCIS, again a one-hour show, 3.3 million of their viewers were 55 years old and older. OK? That's 75% of the audience, 75% of the people that were watching that show were over 55 years old. The median age on that show was 63 years old. UFC on Fox median age was 39 years old. So, what does this all mean? Oh, and one more thing. The HUT levels that night. HUT levels that night and HUT levels mean total viewers watching television that night were down almost 10 million from the first Fox show that we did, down almost 10 million viewers. 10 million people weren't home watching TV that night. Well, it was Cinco de Mayo. The Avengers came out, which was you know the biggest opening in movie history. And one other thing - the NBA Playoffs that night that went off right around the same time we did, it was the San Antonio/Utah game, we beat them across the board in every way, shape, and form you can beat them. Right? Do you see the writers, uh, that cover the NBA going out there and going, ‘Oh my God, it's doom and gloom, what's going to happen to the NBA?' Because if we beat them and our situation is so bad, what does that say for the NBA? "So, my point of this whole thing is: 1) guys, do your homework. Seriously, do your homework before you go out and start shooting your mouth off in stories about things being a fad and doom and gloom and all this stuff. You don't know enough about it to t-t-talk about it, right? And 2) Dave Meltzer, you just lost your job at Yahoo, buddy, OK? The last thing anybody needs from you is business advice." One has to wonder what White is thinking with this broadside against Meltzer. The original piece was posted for paying subscribers to the Wrestling Observer only. That's an audience of a few thousand at most. White originally intended to take to the airwaves and respond on Fuel TV. That strikes me as a counter-productive step as it simply increases awareness of Meltzer's piece. We'll post a summary of Meltzer's arguments tomorrow. Here's what Jamie Penick of MMA Torch had to say about White vs. Meltzer: Yes, ten million less people were at home that night watching TV, but guess what? The UFC didn't put forth the type of main event to make any of those ten million stay home. That's a very real part of the issue. Yes, Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller was a great fight, and hardcore fans absolutely expected it to be, but the UFC was going to get them to watch regardless. They didn't have a fight that drew in the casual fan in droves; they didn't have the type of fight that made people say, "oh, I know The Avengers is out, I know it's Cinco de Mayo, I know there's other stuff on TV, but I HAVE to see that fight!" Simply put, the UFC wasn't "must see TV" on May 5 with the card they provided, not for the masses. While that doesn't mean the end of the world for the UFC on Fox, it should be at least somewhat concerning to see such a steep decline. Instead, White went on the attack. And to address his attack on Meltzer regarding Yahoo!, it's not as if Meltzer was "fired" from Yahoo! because of a lack of quality or for his abilities in the realm of business advice. His Wrestling Observer newsletter has been a highly successful venture for decades. Yahoo! decided not put as much of their resources into covering MMA as they had been doing, and decided not to pay Meltzer what he would have rightfully felt he was owed. And in the time since Meltzer has left, the CEO that made those decisions at Yahoo! has lost his job as well. It's not something that has any bearing on the situation, but White uses it here as an attack. This was another in a long line of reactionary responses from White that distorts things on this front, while ignoring some of the reason why criticism is being levied in the first place.

Posted in: night, dana, yahoo, thing, meltzer

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

A focused Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier is ready to prove a few things Tuesday night in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 3 against Chan Sung Jung.

Posted in: ufc, tv, fuel tv, thing, diamond poirier

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

Chad Griggs' UFC debut didn't exactly go as planned for the Strikeforce vet as he was choked out by heavily hyped Travis Browne. With Chad clearly being on the smaller side of things at heavyweight, it looks like he'll be dropping to 205 pounds for his next bout. But things won't be getting any easier as he'll face a top ten opponent in his first light heavyweight bout. Via the UFC's official website: After losing to Travis Browne at UFC 145, heavyweight Strikeforce veteran Chad "Grave Digger" Griggs has verbally agreed to drop to the light heavyweight division. Welcoming him at 205 pounds will be Browne's teammate, pedigreed wrestler Phil "Mr. Wonderful" Davis. The two have verbally agreed to meet at the UFC on FOX event in August. While Griggs' toughness and willingness to mix it up are commendable, this feels like a desperation move. He looked flat out overmatched by Browne and now he'll be looking to gain a size advantage with the weight drop. For Davis, it's an opportunity to get things moving back in the right direction. He had gotten to the point of being considered "in the mix" for a title shot before running into Rashad Evans at the UFC's second Fox TV effort. Davis was unable to do much against Evans, getting beaten in pretty much every dimension of the fight. At 27, it is far too young to write off Davis because of his performance against Evans, but that performance certainly put things back in perspective. Davis was on the short list of guys people thought might be able to challenge Jon Jones, but we're clearly a few years away from that.

Posted in: ufc, heavyweight, thing, davi, chad

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

There are a growing number of fighters in the UFC that can be classified as ‘must see’ performers. Then there’s Chan Sung Jung, a fighter with a category all of his own.That’s not hype for his UFC on FUEL TV main event against Dustin Poirier on Tuesday either, though by the time you hear his qualifications you will most certainly tune in for this highly-anticipated featherweight bout.Exhibit A) April 24, 2010 – Jung showed why he is nicknamed “The Korean Zombie” in a 2010 bout with Leonard Garcia that was dubbed by commentator Joe Rogan as “The Fight of the Decade.” Exhibit B) March 26, 2011 – Jung meets up with Garcia again, but instead of tucking his chin in and going to war again, he takes the “Bad Boy” down and submits him with the first Twister ever pulled off in the UFC.Exhibit C) Seven seconds. It’s all Jung needed to knock out longtime contender Mark Hominick in one of the more surprising results in recent history.Need I say more? So, Chan Sung Jung, what do you do for an encore tomorrow night?“I don't really plan to do something or another,” he said through manager / translator Brian Rhee. “If it happens, it happens. But in MMA, you can't plan things out like that, or else you'll get it stuck in your head that you have to do it. I just like to go with the flow and let things unfold naturally.”That strategy seems to be working. Sure, he lost the decision to Garcia in their first fight, and he got knocked out by a head kick from George Roop five months later, but in the ‘what have you done for me lately’ world of mixed martial arts, all that matters are his last two fights, bouts that have cemented his place as a legit 145-pound contender on the verge of a title shot if he beats Poirier. That’s a big if though, considering the fact that the Louisianan is on an even more impressive run than Jung, having won five straight. “The Diamond” even called Jung out after his February win over Max Holloway, something that didn’t surprise the Seoul, South Korea resident.“Not really. In the featherweight division, there are a few top guys and they're all shooting for each other. I think a lot of people underestimate me as a fighter, so that leads to people wanting to challenge me, because maybe they think it will be an easy win. I'm out to prove them wrong.”It’s hard to fathom anyone looking at Jung as an easy out. But what they may be seeing is a fighter who has taken some significant risks in the past in order to deliver the fights fans crave. And while the rewards are great if he’s successful, if not, he can be leaving himself open for the kind of countermoves that can lead to defeat. He says this type of attitude in the Octagon isn’t by design though.“I don't have that sort of thing in mind. Like I said, it just sort of "happens". More than anything, I think I've been lucky in my fights to have things go the way that they have. “Everyone has a different style of fighting, so I guess most guys just stick to what works, or what's most comfortable for them,” Jung continues. “For me, I have more of an aggressive style, and generally speaking, it's worked out for me.”That’s an understatement. Despite not speaking English, Jung has a dedicated following in the United States, most sporting “Korean Zombie” t-shirts. But it’s back home in South Korea where things have really taken off for him.“Chan Sung's popularity in Korea has increased a lot over the past year,” said Rhee. “The UFC's growing popularity, combined with prominent wins over Leonard Garcia and Mark Hominick have done a lot for his public profile in Korea. For a while, he had a good sized fanbase in the US, but was relatively unknown in Korea. But now, he's been on the cover of Maxim magazine and has been featured in GQ, as well. It's been good for us as well as the UFC, and Korean MMA, in general.”As Rhee explains, the mixed martial arts explosion isn’t just limited to the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Europe. Korea is rapidly getting up to speed, and with fighters like Jung, Dongi Yang, and Dong Hyun Kim leading the way, the sky’s the limit.“MMA in Korea is at an all-time high right now,” he said. “There was a time when it became popular with PRIDE and some of the other Japanese promotions. Guys like Fedor and Rampage were pretty well known, but things died down for a while when PRIDE was bought by the UFC and other promotions folded. This new wave of popularity is directly connected to the rise of the UFC around the world. Korean MMA - both the fans and the fighters - have developed a lot since those early years. The younger fighters are getting better and better, and there's more of a foundation now then there was before.”Jung, as is his personality, won’t take any credit for this. He doesn’t even see himself as one of the country’s top fighting stars.“I don't really think of myself as being famous,” said the 25-year old. “So, in that regard, I haven't really had much to adjust to. I have a long way to go as a fighter and a person. The UFC is becoming more and more popular in Korea, so I've got more exposure along with that. I think it's mutually beneficial... The more Korean fighters do well in the UFC, the more the Korean fans will get interested in it.”So if you’re thinking Jung will start rolling into town with a 20-deep entourage and referring to himself in the third person, that’s not happening.“He's taking it in stride,” said Rhee. “He's always been a good kid. He's well grounded and doesn't get too caught up in it. I can honestly say that it hasn't gone to his head at all.”What is keeping Jung occupied is this upcoming fight, his first five rounder. For most, that’s stressful enough. For a hard-charging battler like “The Korean Zombie,” it has to be even more of a concern that come round four and five, the tank may be empty if he fights at his usual pace.“The biggest thing is working on conditioning and stamina,” he said. “You've got to make sure you have enough energy left to keep fighting and be aggressive all the way through the last seconds of the final round. I'm really just waiting to see how things unfold once the fight starts. If there are openings, I'll take advantage of them as they come. I'm not going to push the pace too early, but likewise, if an opportunity presents itself, I won't hold back because I'm worried about the later rounds.”Sounds like another Chan Sung Jung fight. Only this time, the stakes are a lot higher. Just don’t tell him that, because as far as he’s concerned, Dustin Poirier is his first, last, and only fight. “There's no point in thinking about the next match before I win this one,” he said. “I have to take things one step at a time.”

Posted in: fight, fighter, jung, thing, korea

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By now, you've probably heard that former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Muhammed Lawal has signed not one, but two deals, inking contracts with TNA IMPACT! wrestling, as well as with Bellator Fighting Championships, yesterday (May 10, 2012). Alongside TNA IMPACT! President Dixie Carter and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, "King Mo" sat down with Spike TV's "MMA Uncensored Live" to discuss the deals, as well as the events of his much publicized last year. "You know, it's been a dream. That's why. It's a great opportunity and, you know what? I'm doin' it. The thing is, one door closed, and two doors opened. So I just jumped in the two doors, you know what I'm sayin'?" Lawal went on to make the comparison between his former employers, Zuffa, and his new relationship with Bellator. His analysis wasn't particularly complimentary: "Zuffa's okay. They're alright if you like working long days ... in a hot field, asking, begging for water. But with Bellator, I'm in the A.C., sippin' cold lemonade, gettin' massages. It's a big difference. You know, I think Zuffa has a lot of people, and they just look at fighters as numbers. It's a business. They're trying to make money. But I feel like Bellator, we're a lot closer family, and the people are more personable." Lawal's new bosses went on record with their take on how the deals went down. According to Carter, she's been trying to make something like this happen for a long time, she's just never had a willing partner: "Well, I've been fairly vocal about this for the last couple of years, wanting to do something like this. I ran into resistance finding a company that saw the potential in it, quite honestly. So, when Bjorn joined the Spike team, Kevin Kay, the head of Spike, set us up in a meeting, and we clicked right away. I brought the idea to him. He loved it. So, hopefully the rest will be history." Here, Rebney was asked if he believes mixed martial arts (MMA) fans will be receptive to the dual deal, and if he feels there will be any backlash over the professional wrestling connection. He's optimistic that the two things can work hand-in-hand: "I don't think so. You know, I've been an MMA fan for years. MMA fans are very bright. They're very smart people. They hit a demo. They understand there's two different sports -- two different things going on here. There's mixed martial arts, there's Impact wrestling. They're two completely different things, and I think they can appreciate the fact that they're two different things, and I think they can appreciate the fact that Mo's a world class martial artist and will transition into becoming a world class wrestler. You look at 'em both. They're two great followings." One of the biggest obstacles Lawal has had to overcome in the past year was a positive drug test for steroids, after his win versus Lorenz Larkin at Strikeforce: "Rockhold vs. Jardine" in "Sin City" on Jan. 7, 2012 (which was later overturned and changed to a "No Contest"). The positive test resulted in a suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission and some pretty negative public relations for "King Mo." Carter is aware of Lawal's past troubles, but believes the future will be bright: "I heard the story, and I completely support where he's at. We drug test as well. I'm the only head of a professional wrestling organization whose gone and testified in front of congress about illegal steroid use. I feel completely confident with our testing that he'll be the most tested person in both of our sports, and he's a hundred percent fine with that." Lawal concurs: "I'm very fine with that. I've been through the strictest testing you can go through. Actually, they used to test me from 2005 up to 2009. There's random urine tests. They'd show up at my house, seven in the morning, show up at my training spot, you know, I'm an open book." Regarding his now infamous NSAC hearing and his contentious run-in with Commissioner Pat Lundvall, Lawal reiterated that he feels his comments on Twitter were a mistake, and that he feels he's closed the book on that painful chapter of his life: "Here's the thing. I said I felt like she treated me like a racist b----. The b---- part was out of line, but I just felt like, as a black male, throughout history, it's been documented that it's a touchy subject. We get questioned. Our intelligence always gets questioned, like, we couldn't coach, we're not smart enough to fly planes, we can't play quarterback. We're not intelligent enough to control stuff or teach anything. So when she asked me that question, I was kind of offended, and an hour later, I went on twitter and said what I said about it. You know, I made mistake calling her a b----. I talked with her, and I apologized to her, and she accepted it. She told me that the questioning kinda got jumbled, and it was a misunderstanding. We're cool. She's a cool woman. She's just real intense about her work." Fans may be curious as to the timeframe and schedule, regarding Lawal's two deals and the priority each will have. Carter answered those concerns, stating that "Mo" will see action with TNA IMPACT! first: "It'll be TNA first. He won't join Bellator until they go on Spike in 2013. But the most important thing is his health. Once he's healthy, then we'll make a decision on when he debuts with us. Hopefully, it'll be sooner than later, but the key thing is to get him healthy. It's all about his health though. We want to introduce him the right way, and I think today's been a great start, tonight and everything else, we're really excited." Rebney commented on what Lawal's place on the totem pole will be. According to the Bellator CEO, nothing will change and Lawal will get no preferential treatment: "Of course. He's gotta go through three fights, he's gotta win the tournament and then he's gotta face our champion, Christian M'Pumbu. So, he'll have to go there like anyone else would have to go there." Rebney went on to address the issue of Bellator signing a former Zuffa fighter, a move that could be viewed as a response to the recent Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) signing of former Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard, as well as its current courting of former Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez, who is currently still with the promotion. According to Bjorn, the two things have nothing to do with each other. He just believes Lawal was a good fit: "Not so much. You know, Mo was just the perfect fit for this alliance. You look at a guy that is a world class MMA fighter, and a guy who's got the personality, the love of wrestling, to be able to transition to the wrestling realm, this is the perfect guy. We never plant the flag in the ground and say, 'We're going to this. We're going to do that.' We develop some amazingly talented fighters under our banner. Mo's the perfect fit. When a guy like this at this level, with this kind of personality, with this kind of ability inside the cage becomes available, of course we're gonna make the move.' As the interview winded down, Lawal prognosticated on what he thinks the future will hold for him at Bellator. First and foremost, he knows he needs to adapt to what Bellator is doing with their tournament format. He's good with that and looks forward to the challenge: "I gotta work my way up. I'm new to this organization. You know, to prove that I'm the best man that's suited for the title shot, I gotta beat everybody else in the tournament, and that's what I'm gonna do." Finally, "King Mo" was asked about the possibility of becoming a champion, both as a professional wrestler for TNA IMPACT! and an MMA fighter for Bellator. He believes both are within the realm of possibility, and he issued a special message for the Bellator Light Heavyweights: "Whichever one I earn first is the most important one. I still have to pay my dues. I have to go out to Ohio Valley and work on my in-ring skills and the chain wrestling. You can't just throw somebody out there and say, 'Okay, perform. You get the belt.' You have to put in hours and days and years to perfect your craft. We'll see. I think it'll take a good year, year and a half before I get the title at Impact, but Bellator? The guys at 205? Those guys are in trouble." Only time will tell how things will ultimately play out for Lawal, but for now, it's good to be "King."

Posted in: bellator, thing, lawal, he, im

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Posted in: thing, smashe, deanacu

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The pattern is clear by now as the roles into which each of WWE‘s main shows have settled. There are a few last desperate grasps at keeping up a brand separation, but the roster has mostly dispersed throughout the two shows by now, and the differences are more a matter of style and logistics. RAW, the live show, gets surprise visits from Brock Lesnar and The Rock as well as CM Punk‘s pipe bombs. Meanwhile, Smackdown is for longer matches and a wider variety of talent – the stuff you want to watch even if you saw the spoilers – and also a lot of plodding stories and video recaps of things that happened on RAW. WWE has been leaning on fake injury storylines to help provide a little vulnerability to some of their most imposing stars and they’ve indicated that that they’ll continue to use them in the future. Right now, Sheamus, John Cena, and Beth Phoenix are all casualties of battles with such unstoppable submission specialists as Lesnar, Daniel Bryan, and Nikki Bella respectively. If it means they could get precious and frequently life-saving time off from the grind of traveling and working constantly with cuts and bruises and worse, I’d be thrilled with each wrestler getting one mandated fake injury leave of 3-4 weeks per year at least. A Look at Other Highlights (and Lowlights) from Smackdown Of those three, Cena hasn’t had to do much in the way of ring work after getting his arm wrenched by a Kimura, higlighting the viciousness of the attack without it having to affect Cena’s offense. Phoenix is actually good enough at selling for the likes of Kelly Kelly or Eve Torres that, when done properly, they almost seem like an even athletic pairing if you squint and her current storyline injury was acted well enough that I was legit worried for a while. But Sheamus has trouble with this, which is fair for someone who’s generally been booked as a wrecking ball. During his matches with Bryan on Smackdown he displayed periods of about ten seconds at a time where he seemed to remember he was hurt, followed by going back to punching and suplexing with the same arm as if nothing. No one’s asking him to pinball across the ring like Dolph Ziggler every time he aggravates his hurt shoulder, but the least he could do is remember it’s supposed to be not that fun if you, say, launch yourself off the top rope, bad shoulder first. If Sheamus can’t reliably display any vulnerability he should just say “f*ck it” to trying to turn such an unlikely underdog into one and let himself be as indestructible as he wants. That, or the commentators need to back him up a bit with some crappy line about an adrenaline rush or working through the pain or give him some blatant ripoff Sheamusmania Running Wild gimmick where his HP and MP are fully restored mid-match via a series of head shakes and hand gestures. Bryan-Sheamus matches sandwiched the show, and while I can nitpick and criticize the ending which featured a fairly straightforward and clean pin of Bryan, that can’t bode well for his rivalry with Punk given the chemistry the two of them have when allowed more than eighteen frigging seconds makes for energetic back-and-forth matches with each coming off as dangerous offensive masterminds. They bring out the best in each other, in particular a neat Texas Cloverleaf-styled thing Sheamus has pulled out to match up with Bryan’s submission skills. They’re getting away from each other and steering Sheamus toward Alberto Del Rio for a while, which is for the best though I’m worried about how many times Ricardo Rodriguez will get kicked in the face during that feud. Still, Bryan returning for a rematch down the road will make for compelling TV. Speaking of Ricardo I couldn’t move on without highlighting  his latest moment of greatness: in full ring announcer formal wear,  Rodriguez interfered in the first Bryan-Sheamus match with a textbook perfect top rope flying crossbody to the plain piece of drywall that is Sheamus’s torso. It is by far the most athletic non-James Bond thing I’ve ever seen anybody do in formal wear. Other stuff: Brodus Clay beat Jack Swagger again. The Funkazoic Era continues. Divas’ Champion Layla used her Layout Neckbreaker to beat Natalya in a short but quick-paced match. Natalya’s offense may be the hardest-hitting among WWE women (one very large and hopefully returning exception), with an array of submissions and a sweet Discus Clothesline. While not yet as skilled as Phoenix or Natalya, Layla is athletically a huge step up from Kelly or Eve or the Bellas in that she doesn’t look terrified of the ropes. (Full disclosure: I would run through interstate traffic for even just a cup of coffee for both Layla and Nattie) The tag team division showed some signs of life when new champs Kofi Kingston and R-Truth defeated embarrassing stereotypes Hunico and Camacho in what had to be the busiest night of Camacho’s career so far. The whole thing had a classy touch with former champs Primo and Epico watching from the stage alongside managers Rosa “Dad, why aren’t you letting me see the pretty lady dance?” Mendes and the considerably less sexy AW. It’s almost like people… want the tag team titles? Huh? You live and learn. That’s it for my take on the latest episode of Smackdown. Check back here on Friday when I preview this week’s program. PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: bryan, wwe, thing, smackdown, sheamu

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The BJ Penn Vs. Gilbert Melendez fight that never came to be is the hot hypothetical topic to everyone in the MMA world right now, but the MiddleEasy staff was discussing this (at one point very real) matchup in our super secret MiddleEasy email client half a year ago. Yeah, that's right: we have a super secret MiddleEasy email client in which we discuss super secret things. Things like Gilbert Melendez and BJ Penn scrapping for the Strikeforce lightweight title, space plans and why synthetic vitamins aren't good for you (don't eat synthetic vitamins). You can ask Cat Von C: our super secret MiddleEasy email conversations would probably do triple the traffic of MiddleEasy.com, but a lot of that is due to the discussion of things that shall not be discussed publicly. To put it in wizard terms: MiddleEasy email = The Order of the Phoenix. Things talked about in said emails = Voldemort. Many may think the two preceding paragraphs are meant to puff our feathers and display how cool we are. Not true. I guess what I'm trying to get to is this: we were bummed about this fight not happening months ago, and we wanted to share the pain with you - but we couldn't - so now we're kind of over it just as the general public is hearing about it...So yeah. BJ Penn showed his apathy over the Gilbert Melendez situation in an appearance on The MMA Hour. "I guess being a competitor, you always have that itch. But what it is is...it's tough," "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." "[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," Hopefully at the end of the day, BJ will decide to come back and make us happy while licking his opponent's blood of his gloves. [Source]

Posted in: strikeforce, thing, middleeasy, gilbert melendez, gilbert

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One of the more interesting things to emerge from today’s UFC on Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller pre-fight presser was UFC president Dana White’s revelation that his promotion has been working toward scheduling a blockbuster fight at a large arena to take place in January. His answer was in response to a fan’s question of when the UFC would be bringing its traveling roadshow back to the land of the longhorns (you know, Texas). “If things work out the way, you know, that they could, we’d end up doing a big fight probably in January,” White stated. “And if that fight happens, we’re looking at three venues: obviously always Las Vegas is a venue, Dallas, Texas stadium and Toronto again. You know, where we can hold huge events. So, if things go the way that they could go, by January we’re already talking about Dallas, Texas stadium — Cowboys Stadium, whatever they call it.” Of course, the UFC boss didn’t say who would be facing off to make this such a huge event, but the rampant speculation on that topic has already begun. The early rumor is that the UFC is hoping to set up a superfight between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, provided the two champions make it past their respective next challenges (Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson). This is all just speculation for now, though. And, if you remember how things have gone with the Silva-Georges St-Pierre superfight (namely that it never happened and likely never will), you won’t be getting your hopes up about Silva-Jones. … What a fight that would be though. MMAFrenzy.com

Posted in: ufc, fight, january, thing, blockbuster fight

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If the UFC ever hosted a Best Physique competition, Kyle Kingsbury would probably be AT LEAST a semi-finalist. 220 pounds on a 6’4” frame, and just ridiculously ripped and shredded. Turns out, the former The Ultimate Fighter cast member (2008) sounds like a scientist when discussing his super-strict diet. On the menu: lots of freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, plenty of grass-fed red meat and whole eggs, and exclusively gluten-free grains. The 30-year-old light heavyweight became conscientious about his diet after graduating from Arizona State University, where he was a 253-pound defensive lineman on the football team. Today the 11-3 (1 NC) fighter trains out of the vaunted American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., and admits to having engaged in a few friendly dietary debates with vegetarian training partners such as Jon Fitch (vegan) and Aaron Simpson (whenever Kingsbury trains in the Phoenix, Ariz., metropolitan area). Talking to Kingsbury, his passion for food constantly shines through. This is a man with an encyclopedic and thorough analysis of everything he eats. Even if you are a seasoned and educated eater, chances are high you will learn something from Kyle Kingsbury. “I eat pizza and that sort of thing when I’m not in camp,” Kingsbury said, “and when I train the next day, let me tell you, I can feel the difference in a heartbeat. It really comes down to what octane of fuel you’re going to put into your body. That’s why I eat the way I do.”  Here is the diet fit for a Kingsbury: Curreri: Give us a crash course on a day in the life of Kyle Kingsbury’s grubbing habits.Kingsbury: Right when I wake up I drink 20 ounces of water at room temperature, a gram vitamin C and 100 milligrams of iron. About 30 minutes later I’ll have my first meal, which is usually a hot, gluten-free cereal that is whole grain (steel cut oats or quinoa). I’ll add honey and raisins in it. I’ll also make scrambled eggs with spinach, tomatoes or onions. I’m also big into juicing (in a blender); I juice three times a day. I’ll mix up green apples, ginger, carrots, grapefruit or beets or celery. Then I’ll go off to train from 12 to 2 at AKA. During training I’ll have 10 grams of glutamine, and a scoop of some kind of electrolyte replacement. When I finish my workout I’ll drink a whey protein isolate with dextrose and a form of creatine that doesn’t really add water weight. About half an hour to an hour later I’ll have some form of lunch, which will be some grain – brown rice or quinoa – and lean meats.  A lot of times I go to a market that sells lots of ground game – grass fed bison, venison, wild boar. I’ll put that beef into a skillet with diced onions, mushrooms and my quinoa or brown rice. I also like wild caught salmon.Then I’ll go back for my workout at 6 p.m. During my workout I’ll have 10 grams of glutamine and an electrolyte replacement. Post workout I’ll eat dinner, which is always some form of lean meat, from chicken thighs. Here’s the thing: I always eat red meat all camp long and I eat whole eggs all camp long. I have bloodwork done all the time and my cholesterol looks perfect. There is this misperception that if you eat those things then you’re going to have a cholesterol problem. If you’re out of shape and you eat that then, yeah, you’re probably going to have a cholesterol problem. But if you’re in shape, cholesterol does a number of good things for your body. During my 10 weeks of camp I only eat gluten free grains and organic, free-range, grass-fed meat. All the poultry I have is cage-free. I eat super-clean in camp, not a drop of alcohol and everything organic. I don’t eat any wheat at all. Super-strict. I cook all three meals a day myself. I enjoy cooking and I’ve been doing it for a long time. Curreri: You were a 253- pounder in college when you played for ASU …Kingsbury: I had to gain as much weight as I could because I was a defensive lineman. But when I was done playing I wanted to learn how to get shredded. So I studied more and more dieting. I had a strength and conditioning coach who taught me a lot about diet. I’ve also read books on diet and nutrition such as “The Paleo Diet For Athletes.” The number one thing I have learned is that no diet is the right diet; everybody is different. One man’s medicine is another man’s poison. So it’s a matter of finding what’s right for you. I’m still fine-tuning my diet and it’s constantly evolving. Every camp I learn more about myself. It’s a work in progress. In camp I eat Paleolithic but I still have gluten-free grains. So it’s really not the Paleo diet but my diet is heavy in fruits and vegetables and meat, which is very Paleolithic. Curreri: You don’t consume dairy in camp. What turns you off about dairy from a performance perspective? Kingsbury: Number one, there’s an inflammatory response that you get from dairy. When you’re working out and grinding that hard you want to stay away from foods that are going to increase rate of inflammation. I take Omega 3 fish oils and they’re really good to control inflammation. Also, a lot of dairy products like cheese are calorie dense so I stay away from that. Curreri: Why eat grass-fed meat but avoid grain-fed? Talk about the significance. Kingsbury: Grains aren’t natural to a cow’s diet. That’s why a lot of those cows have to take antibiotics and things like that to fight off infections, things like that.Curreri: Why the emphasis on red meat? Is that inspired by taste, or do you feel it makes you stronger, or both? Kingsbury: Protein-wise, as far as biological value goes, vegetable protein is pretty low. Whey Protein, egg protein, beef … have higher biological value. A lot of vegetable protein powders are good but I mean, if you have to get 1,000 peas just to get a gram of protein into your body, then how is that natural for your body? A lot of people that go that route end up with a lot of gas. And if it’s giving you gas, then that’s giving your body inflammation. So I steer clear of that.Curreri: Talk about blending fruits and veggies three times a day. What got you into that?Kingsbury: Probably since around 2006. You have pasteurized vegetable juices that sit on the shelves and it’s A) not that good for you and B) it taste like crap. But if you make something fresh it’s incredible how delicious fruits and vegetables are when they’re made fresh. Straight carrot juice tastes amazing, and if you add fruit to it it’s even better. Once you start juicing it’s something you want to keep doing. It makes you feel so good, gives you tons of energy, keeps you hydrated and delivers the highest value of nutrients to your body. Curreri: You, Aaron Simpson and Jon Fitch talking diet. Ever playfully debate amongst yourselves? Kingsbury: I’ve debated with Aaron and Fitch about it. I’m big on the proper farming of animals. I think they should be cage-free and able to roam before they’re slaughtered. I’m all for getting rid of chickens that can’t move and die on top of each other and have to be thrown away. That sort of thing is ridiculous. If you have a chance to watch the documentary, “Food Inc.”, if you haven’t already, that’ll change your mind on food. I always tell people, ‘If there’s one documentary to watch, that’s the one to watch.’ So I agree with (Fitch and Simpson) on a lot things. But we are predators like any other animal on this planet, so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with killing an animal as long as it’s for food.Curreri: Give us an estimate on the number of calories you consume per day.Kingsbury: It varies. Maybe between 4,000 and 5,000 per day. Curreri: You sound like a fighter who is so well-versed that you don’t need a nutritionist or dietician, unlike some top fighters. Kingsbury: Well, I’ve worked with smart people in the past and that’s what got me to where I am. I’ve read a lot of books too, because it’s just something that really interests me.

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Here’s what’s on tap for tonight’s Extreme Rules PPV and a bunch of predictions mostly pulled from my backside. In order to stay with the show’s theme I have hit myself in the head with a barbwire-wrapped bat prior to pumping this out and have lit my keyboard on fire to add to the drama of typing it! Pre-Show U.S. Championship Match: Santino Marella (c) vs. The Miz WWE tossed together a couple guys with nothing else to do for a YouTube match tonight at 7:30 PM EST. I could be wrong but I think they haven’t tried doing any special pre-show stuff for most PPVs since the days of the late, lamented Sunday Night Heat. Despite his haplessness of late, Miz may actually win if the YouTube pre-shows are going to become a monthly thing they want you to tune in for. Divas Championship Match: Nikki Bella (c) vs. Beth Phoenix If all the gossip rags are right and the twins are leaving at the end of the month, then this should write itself. Nikki should win with her sister’s help, Phoenix takes a couple weeks off to deal with her “injury,” and the Bellas sh*t identical bricks when Kharma’s music plays after the match. Intercontinental Championship Match (stipulation TBD): Big Show (c) vs. Cody Rhodes The stipulation will be picked during the pre-show. I’m guessing Big Show retains somehow in a strap match. Time for Cody to move on to smaller and better things. Falls Count Anywhere match: Randy Orton vs. Kane This is likely to be the match I reserve for a beer run. I figure Orton will win in a match in which both guys get their heads bounced off lots of things backstage and I have trouble giving a crap. World Heavyweight Championship Two Out of Three Falls Match: Sheamus (c) vs. Daniel Bryan So this is really going to happen now? With three falls to work with all signs suggest they’ll have a real match this time, to the delight of what I’m betting is going to be a heavily pro-Bryan crowd though I bet Sheamus will still win two falls to one. This gets a good twenty minutes at least if we’re lucky. WWE Championship Chicago Street Fight: CM Punk (c) vs. Chris Jericho Punk should win a match that his hometown crowd will be crazy for. Things this match could involve: deep dish pizza, run-ins by Oprah Winfrey and William “The Refrigerator” Perry, a snow shove, and one or maybe even both wrestlers will doused in Jack Daniels. Extreme Rules Match: John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar After a night of extreeeeeeme type matches these two will have to try pretty hard to stand out. I’m betting they will anyway. This one should be fun. I doubt Lesnar’s going to lose his first match since his return to WWE, and Cena needs a reason to continue spiraling into depression, so let’s say that after a lot of blood Lesnar gets the pin with a low blow and an F-5. Fighters.com will be providing live results of the show tonight so make sure to check back in here in a few hours to see how things unfold from the Windy City! PHOTO CREDIT – WWE Tweet

Posted in: i ’m, vs, championship, wwe, thing

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Wanderlei Silva would like nothing more than to face Chael Sonnen inside the Octagon. However, Sonnen is currently the middleweight division’s #1 contender and is set to face Anderson Silva for the title meaning Silva-Sonnen aren’t likely to mix it up anytime soon. Though there’s no doubt of Sonnen’s skill, much of his ability to do work inside the Octagon has been overshadowed by his talking skills outside of it. Of course, not everyone is impressed by Sonnen’s verbal skills including “The Axe Murderer”. “I have nothing to say to him. I won’t give him that kinda audience,” said Silva, in a recent interview with TATAME. “I don’t care about what he says, I’m not interested. If he wants to say those things looking me in the eye, come here. But that way, saying things when we’re distant, he’s an ass face. Only pussies say things at your back.” Silva also had a stern warning for Sonnen, saying that insulting him to his face instead of through media could be hazardous to his health. “He’ll leave with a red burning ear,” stated Silva of the potential situation. Sonnen was recently in Brazil for a special press conference to announce the fight with “The Spider” was going to be moved from Rio de Janeiro to Las Vegas. He made several snide remarks about Brazil, as well as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, during the festivities and has made fun of Silva plenty of times in the past as well. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: silva, face, thing, sonnen, skill

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Posted in: thing, wand, mattyblayze, chael, pussie

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Hard-hitting legend Wanderlei Silva is tired of hearing fellow UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen spout venom in his direction from afar. Sonnen, who is as known for his trash-talking and self-promotion as he is for his accomplishments inside the ring, has thrown a number of insults in Silva’s direction associated with his nationality (Brazilian) and knockout losses. However, from the sound of it, Sonnen better start looking over his shoulder at UFC gatherings if he plans to keep Silva in his smack-spouting sights. “If he wants to say those things looking me in the eye, come here. But that way, saying things when we’re distant, he’s an ass face. Only pussies say things at your back,” said Silva in an interview with TATAME where he also warned Sonnen that saying things to his face could prove costly. “If he does that he’ll leave with a red burning ear.” Silva Talks Upcoming Fight at UFC 147 Before the possibility of laying hands on Sonnen, “The Axe Murderer” will face Vitor Belfort in June at UFC 147 to settle their own personal rivalry as well as a recent stint as coaches on TUF Brasil. Meanwhile, Sonnen himself is busy, fighting Anderson Silva for the middleweight title at UFC 148. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, silva, face, thing, sonnen

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In the season's second big upset, gritty Chris Saunders outworked knockout artist Sam Sicilia to earn a split decision victory for Team Faber. Though the two were evenly matched on paper, the undefeated Sicilia's last four fights lasted one minute and 27 seconds total, and most thought his right hand would end things early for last-pick Saunders. But Saunders planned to counter with "footwork and badass muay thai" and used the clinch in particular to control the bout throughout much of both rounds.Sicilia opened by throwing his huge right hand followed by an uppercut. Saunders immediately tied up Sicilia's arms and kept him against the cage, forcing Sicilia to drag things to the ground to escape. A high kick from Saunders connected in the subsequent exchange, and Sicilia crashed face-first to the mat. Sicilia somehow recovered before the fight was waved off, but ate a few knees as he worked his way back to steady feet.Though his hands were low and he seemed worn out, Sicilia winged punches, then caught one of Saunders' legs, knocking Saunders to the ground with his counter punch. He worked for guillotines on Saunders throughout the fight, but none of them seemed to have the California kickboxer in danger. With less than ten seconds left in the round, Sicilia wobbled Saunders, but Saunders recovered, and his control and knockdown earned him the first on two of the judges' scorecards.Round two was more of the same -- Sicilia swinging for the fences, Saunders tying things up and issuing knees and elbows when he could. Saunders got one significant slam; Sicilia got a single-leg but was quickly reversed and Saunders briefly looked for a rear-naked choke. Sicilia connected with more accuracy, earning a knockdown with one left hook, and he had particular luck when Saunders was stuck against the cage as they stood up. But his technique became more and more wild as the rounds progressed, and Saunders' chin never quit. It was likely Saunders' clinch and his level of activity on the ground that convinced two of the three judges that he won that round, too, netting him the split decision win (20-18, 20-18 and 18-20)."It went exactly as I thought," said an elated Saunders after the fight. "I've got a great team behind me, they helped me out. I have confidence and that's all you need."

Posted in: fight, thing, saunder, right hand, sicilia

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You've probably noticed by now that Bud Light is a major sponsor of the UFC. Their parent company, Anheuser-Busch, has been under some pressure from advocacy groups regarding their sponsorship deal with the the UFC, and decided to publicly rebuke the company for some of the things that UFC fighters have said in the recent past. Advertising Age relays the Anheuser-Busch statement: "We've communicated to the UFC our displeasure with certain remarks made by some of its fighters, and they have promised to address this. If the incidents continue, we will act," the brewer said in a statement. A-B, which did not elaborate on potential actions, also stated that it "embraces diversity and does not condone insensitive and derogatory comments rooted in ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, etc." Organizations such as the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence have criticized the UFC repeatedly for the actions of their fighters, and even sent a letter to state assembly members in New York, trying to keep MMA banned in the state. Many incidents are noted in the article, including comments by Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, and Joe Rogan. You can check out the UFC's response after the jump. The UFC spoke to Advertising Age about the A-B statement, and about the idea that social media sites have been the platform for some of the incidents in question: "With over 425 athletes on our roster, there have unfortunately been instances where a couple athletes have made insensitive or inappropriate comments. We don't condone this behavior, and in no way is it reflective of the company or its values." ... "Unlike most other sports leagues, we encourage our athletes to engage online. It is part of our company culture, and whenever you are at the forefront of a trend or initiative, it comes with its own pitfalls. We will continue to embrace social media while looking for better ways to stay in front of the issues. This includes a mandate for our athletes to attend sensitivity training and a seminar on proper use of social media." There's a lot more in the article, which is definitely worth checking out for a clearer picture of what is really going on. The article also mentions the backlash the Anheuser-Busch received for their commercial featuring a nude Arianny Celeste and a bunch of strategically-placed limes, amongst other things. While it is true that there have been many, many incidents that involved UFC fighters or employees saying things that could be perceived as homophobic, sexist, or just downright offensive, it seems to me like A-B was forced into responding because of all the outside pressure on them. I guess we'll have to see if the UFC chooses to address things more directly or if A-B will actually act on their threat.

Posted in: ufc, fighter, thing, ufc fighters, incident

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UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell did an interview for the Fuel TV show UFC Tonight that aired last night, and he discussed a few different things including fatherhood, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, and why he retired. One of the most interesting quotes was in reference to what it would take for him to come out of retirement - a title shot (transcribed by MMA Mania): "The only thing that would even make me think about it is if they gave me a shot at the title. So, we'll see. For now? Yeah. Jon Jones. I don't wanna come back as a sideshow. It's just one of those things. It's not something I wanna do." He then went on to talk about the current king of the hill at 205, Jon Jones, who is coming off a win over Rashad Evans at UFC 145: "I'll never say never. Not in this sport. Anybody can lose at any time. If he keeps doing what he does, he's gonna be hard to beat if he keeps doing what he's doing. He follows his game plan. He trains hard. He keeps learning. He's young and he's athletic and a great athlete. He's a great guy. He's gonna be hard to beat, but I'm never gonna say no one's gonna beat him." You can catch a quote about retirement from the Iceman after the jump, as well as the full video of his interview. "You know, it was a hard decision to make, to retire, but it wasn't like I couldn't compete with guys. I can't quite take a punch like I used to and I didn't wanna change my style. I could start wrestling and try to control guys, but then I still got the chance of getting hit hard. It just wasn't the way I wanted to fight. I fought so many years, and I wanted to go out fighting the way I like to fight: exciting and fun."

Posted in: ufc, guy, way i, thing, he

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I used to say 'light saver' before I found out that it was actually a 'light saber.' I'm honest with my emotions, so I can fully admit that to all of you. You probably thought it was 'life saver' too, yet you will vehemently deny it. Stop lying to yourself. We're all friends here. When I go to public bathrooms, I don't always wash my hands when I'm finished. That's real life, folks. Here's another thing: I stay up past my bedtime. These things are all part of our reality, just like the fact that Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen has been moved from the eloquent jungles of Brazil to the smelly, alcohol-filled urban jungle of Las Vegas. On July 7th it all goes down in the MGM Grand and to commemorate this special occasion, UFC even threw in a complementary light saber thing in the middle of the poster to remind us that future technology will indeed be bad ass. [Source]

Posted in: light, las vegas, thing, saber, light saber

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CLEVELAND - Andreas Spang's comeback win over hometown hero Brian Rogers was a thing of beauty. And then things got real ugly. After upcoming opponent Maiquel Falcao entered the cage for the customary face-off between the two tournament finalists, Spang gave him a shove, and all hell broke loose.

Posted in: thing, andrea, spang, comeback, postfight scuffle

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

Posted in: fight, ’t, i ’m, thing, ’m

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Life is a mystery, but sports are not. Whether it’s a team or a single person, the side that finishes first or with the most points is usually the winner. In the UFC, both of those outcomes are true. The first fighter to finish the other by KO/TKO or submission wins, or if it goes to the judges’ score cards the one with the higher round totals wins. Between all the training camps, gameplans, different martial art styles, diets, nutritionists, strength & conditioning regimens, studying video tape, contract negotiations, sponsorships, press conferences, questionable judging, and, now, Twitter, sometimes the original idea to win in combat sports gets lost in the shuffle: hit your opponent more times and harder than they hit you. For welterweight Matt “The Immortal” Brown, this abridged attacking attitude is what fueled his latest UFC victory and will continue to push him literally forward against his next opponent, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, at UFC 145.“A fight is not that complicated of a thing,” states Brown. “I think there are times when I've overcomplicated it. I think I've learned from my mistakes. Now, it is simple. I have to find a way to punch you, kick you, and knee you. That's what it comes down to. It's not a whole lot more to it.”The 31-year old father of twin boys with a professional record of 15-11 believes he has come to an understanding with his in-cage identity. After four years in the UFC, including 11 Octagon appearances and time as a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter season 7, Brown has broken down his game into two easy categories: what works and what doesn’t. To be able to reach this point of clarity, he has had his ups and downs in the crucible of competition, and Brown has learned from them all to be the better fighter that he is today. “I just kind of simplified everything and went back to the basics of who I am as a fighter,” tells Brown. “I learn so much all the time in the gym training and I'm always trying to add tons of new things for every fight. For this fight, I felt it necessary to be who I am and not really try to add anything new and special. Going forward, I’m going to do what I'm good at and not try to be something I'm not. I think I have made that mistake in some fights. There's a point where you need to learn new things to evolve, but you have to be very good at the new thing you learn before you use it in competition. I think I was trying some things that I hadn't necessarily proved I was good at; I hadn't practiced it enough or implemented it in the gym enough. I was trying it in the middle of the fight and that can be a problem.”It’s not about just taking the center of the Octagon, Brown’s “bread and butter” is getting right into his opponent’s face and hitting them with all eight points of contact until the ref stops it. “My style is I'm aggressive,” says Brown, who is a versatile fighter and fight finisher with all of his wins except one coming by submission or KO/TKO. “That's my style to push a high pace and grind out the fight and make it a dirty fight. I have the technical abilities to have a technical fight, but I think it's best to stick with what you are. I perform at my best when I'm pushing the action and I'm creating a tough, dirty fight.”Fight fans witnessed the latest exciting stoppage by Brown at UFC 143 with a TKO over TUF 13 alum Chris Cope. “He was a good standup fighter, so that played into my game,” remembers Brown, who quickly dispatched Cope in the second round with a right hook that dazed his foe and a left hook that ended it. “I knew he would try to be in and out a lot and try to stand with me. I knew it was a matter of the opening coming at the right time. I was kind of trying to set him up with some different things in the first and one of the setups opened up in the second.”Next up for is undefeated kickboxing ace Thompson, who bested Brown for “Knockout of the Night” honors at the February event. At UFC 145 in Atlanta, Georgia, the plan is for a welterweight showdown inside the Octagon between Thompson’s Kempo Karate and Brown’s Muay Thai. A native of Simpsonville, South Carolina, Thompson has maintained an unfettered winning streak through amateur and professional kickboxing as well as MMA, with the majority of his wins coming by knockout. Thompson made his organizational debut at UFC 143 with the first round head kick finish of fellow debutant Dan Stittgen.“He brings a lot of techniques that are not seen every day and he does them very well,” admits Brown. “It's like I've said from the beginning, I don't think he's faced the best guys in his kickboxing career or in MMA. He hasn't faced nobody really tough. I think his kickboxing is overrated - all the hype - and he's overrated altogether. This I think will be the first time he's facing a true fighter and a true professional. I'm coming in and looking to put it on him and looking to break him and see if he can handle a real fight.”To put it mildly, Brown believes there are mitigating factors that favored “Wonderboy,” like Thompson’s wealth of experience coupled with Stittgen taking the fight on short notice. “Even if he had a full training camp, your first UFC is scary s**t and Thompson is not the kind of guy you prepare for in a week or two,” explains Brown, who is an Octagon veteran that has never been knocked out and won’t be fazed by fancy records or famous training partners. “The guy came in on short notice, it was his first UFC fight, he probably had never seen Stephen Thompson fight before, he probably had Googled his name and seen 60-0 kickboxing, trained with GSP, blah blah blah, and all the hype. He was probably scared out of his mind. Believe me, the UFC is an intense experience.”In preparation for Thompson, Brown has stuck to training all over his home state of Ohio once again. He criss-crosses the city of Columbus, from Westside Barbell to Scott Sheeley’s Iron Tiger, even to the Ohio State University campus for wrestling. Also, there are the occasional trips to Jorge Gurgel’s gym in Cincinnati and up to Akron to Ryan Madigan’s Evolve MMA. For Brown, it’s all in an effort to hone his ‘come forward and often’ attack for fight night. “We're in there to find out who is better, so why not punch each other to find out who is better.”This Saturday, nothing will be left to the imagination, as fists and feet will fly between Brown and Thompson. “I'm looking forward to the future and there's one thing on my mind and that's beating this guy,” affirms Brown, believing that his aggressive attack will be the first on the record books to overwhelm and defeat the technically sound Thompson. “I want to show the world that his kickboxing ain't what everybody makes it out to be. I think my Muay Thai is better than his kickboxing. I've said it before, I think Muay Thai beats Karate nine out of 10 times and I'm set out to prove that when we get into the cage.”If Brown and Thompson have the striker’s duel that everyone is praying for, the only mystery will be how much their “Fight of the Night” bonus is.

Posted in: ufc, fight, thing, im, thompson

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submitted by nooger [link] [7 comments]

Posted in: thing, nooger, battle, bang, battle bang

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STOCKHOLM -- A thesis, if you will, about Brian Stann: the man is too remarkable for his own good. I realize how that sounds. Here we go, the lazy intro to another fawning sports writer piece, but I actually mean it. After sitting down to a weight-cutting dinner (water with lemon) with the Marine war hero and UFC middleweight at the Clarion Hotel on Thursday night, I think his own extraordinariness might be an actual, genuine problem. It’s not a problem for him so much as for us, who in turn make it a problem for him because we can’t understand how any human being could really be like this. Again, I realize how that sounds, but just stay with me for a second. To understand the phenomenon that I’m referring to, first you have to understand how Stann unintentionally people feel bad about themselves. Example: before our gourmet weight-cutting meal, I get a chance to listen on Stann doing a typical pre-fight phone interview. If you’re a sportswriter, I don’t recommend this experience, if only because it reminds you how many times you’ve been on the other end of the line, asking the same inane questions that the interviewer before you just asked. But Stann is a good sport, and at one point he goes off about all the praise he received for his turn as a commentator at the last UFC on FOX event, calling his turn as a talking head one of the easiest jobs he’s ever had, "if you can even call it a job."Does he realize how this sounds, I ask him later. Does he realize what someone who’s currently in broadcasting school or pursuing a career doing just that sort of non-job might feel if they heard him -- a guy who stepped up, grabbed a headset, and nailed out so effortlessly on network television -- talking about it that way?"Well, now I feel bad," he says with a sheepish grin, which in turn only makes me feel bad for having made him feel bad. Later on, in an attempt to explain what it’s like to walk out in front of thousands of screaming fans, he’ll tell me that he sometimes gets moments of "weird perspective, where I think, man, what am I doing with my life? I’m fist-fighting for a living."Which, of course, makes me wonder what I’m doing with my life. I’m writing about guys who fist-fight for a living. I could mention to him here that now he’s made me feel bad, but then he’d just flash that sheepish grin again, at which point I’d feel even worse. You can’t win with this guy.That’s the whole problem. Unless you’re a good-looking heart surgeon reading this article on your way to deliver free toys to orphans before tomorrow’s triathlon, there’s a very good chance that Brian Stann is better than you. He’s a successful UFC fighter and commentator, a Marine officer and Silver Star recipient, a former linebacker for the Naval Academy, and on top of all that he’s not even a jerk. He’s actually a really articulate, warm, nice dude, which paradoxically makes it easier to hate him.I think this has something to do with our concepts of greatness and celebrity. We expect famous people who are really, really good at something to be really, really bad at something else. Whether that something is marriage or sobriety or money management, we like our heroes flawed, perhaps because it makes us feel like the playing field is still somehow even. If you’re good at too many things, we suspect that you must be hiding some terrible secret. And if you aren’t hiding a terrible secret, well, then we just hate you.Stann is used to this, as it turns out. As a captain of his high school football team, he admits, he wasn’t the most popular guy on the team. He took things too seriously. He yelled at guys on the sidelines when he heard them talking about where they wanted to drink beer after the game. It was like having another coach around, but one who could legally hit you if you made him angry.After high school, Stann decided to seek out others who were as serious as he was. He attended the Naval Academy, where he thought everyone would be strictly business, but even there his peers thought he was a little too intense."So I went to the place where intense people who take things very seriously are welcome: the Marine Corps," he says. "I mean, the Army calls us extremists."Being an officer in the Marines, first with seventy people and later with 140 people under his command, was, Stann says, "the coolest job in the world." Now that he’s a full-time fighter, though, people seem to only want to hear about the terrible parts, the bloody parts. They want to hear about the firefight on the bridge in Iraq. They want the same story he’s told to others, but they want him to tell it again, just like he told it before, this time for their website, their newspaper. For a guy who lived it, you can see how this would get old."I don’t know if it cheapens it, but it makes it difficult to talk about," he says. "I’ve told [manager] Robert [Roveta], I’m done going into specifics about it. When people ask me, ‘Hey, tell me about the time on the bridge...’, you know, no. I don’t want to talk about it. Those are painful memories, stuff I lose sleep over. It’s not something I thump my chest about. War sucks. Nobody likes it. No warrior who’s been in real combat wishes that the country would go to war. They don’t. They want to see things end."Still, it was his time in the military and the things he saw while at war that, at least in part, made him who he is today. When he tells a story about when he considered retiring from fighting in order to get started on "whatever’s going to be my long-term career," I mention that he seems to have a level of self-awareness that’s uncommon among fighters, or even people in general."When you’ve been around a lot of death, it gives you that perspective, unfortunately," he says.And here we are again. Me feeling bad. Him seeming like some sort of superior being, sent to earth to teach us all a lesson.He’s not, of course. I know that. The people who hate on him in internet comments sections probably know it too. At least I hope they do. I hope they know that, just because Stann’s remarkable life makes them feel bad about their own, it’s not his fault. He’s just a guy who takes things too seriously sometimes. He’s a guy who, from the outside, seems too perfect. And isn’t that a flaw, if you really need him to have one? Isn’t that enough of a problem to allow you to root for him?

Posted in: guy, people, thing, stann, hersquo

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It's all well and good to be considered the "next big thing," but Alexander Gustafsson is ready to back it up against Thiago Silva at UFC on Fuel TV 2 in Sweden on Saturday.

Posted in: alexander gustafsson, thing, ’s fun, thiago silva, thing ’

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It didn’t have to be like this. The more Rashad Evans thinks about the way the rivalry unfolded between himself and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, the more he thinks that the whole thing could have been avoided. Maybe not the fight, which is now just over a week away at UFC 145 in Atlanta on April 21. Maybe one way or another, that was eventually going to happen. But all the other stuff -- the public rivalry, the whole friends-becoming-enemies narrative that the UFC sold and the media so eagerly bought -- maybe all that didn’t have to happen, at least not in this way. Then again, once the ball got rolling, it’s not as if Evans or Jones did much to try and stop it."I think it was a bit the media, but we definitely built it up as well," Evans told MMA Fighting in a recent phone interview. "It’s something that was brewing for a while before the media even caught it on camera." For Evans, there are two separate, distinct rivalries at work here. One is with Jones, who Evans believes violated their agreement when he said in a Versus pre-fight interview that he’d fight his teammate if his job were on the line. The other is with Greg Jackson’s gym, and includes both Jackson himself and striking coach Mike Winkeljohn. That’s the one that’s been building for years, according to Evans. That’s the one that puts the hard edge in his voice when he talks about it."Greg kind of lost his way a bit," Evans said of his former coach and mentor. For years, it was a great team environment. But these days, according to Evans, "it’s just not the same as it used to be. It’s more transient, more commercial now."When you see Jackson in some fighter’s corner on nearly every big fight night, Evans pointed out, that means his fighters aren’t seeing him in the gym."Greg used to be the nucleus that held everything together. We used to spend a lot of time with Greg at his house, and he would bring everybody together. We learned that that was how it was supposed to be, so that’s what we started to expect. Once he got busier and started taking on these different fighters, the team suffered. ...We were about training. We were about hard work. Greg was a different person back then, and I guess we all were different people back then."It begs the question: when did then become now? When did everything change? To Evans, it was right around the time of his first (and so far only) UFC light heavyweight title defense. As he prepared to take on Lyoto Machida at UFC 98, he felt like the team wasn’t exactly rallying to his aid. Jackson was busy, Evans said, and Winkeljohn was going through some medical issues. By the time he stepped in the cage that night in May of 2009, he didn’t feel quite ready. What happened next would become a fixture in UFC highlight reels. It would produce the memorable photo that still dogs him to this day. But more than anything, Evans said, it was his team’s response to his first (and, again, so far only) loss that bothered him the most."Mike Winkeljohn did not pick up the phone one time to give me a call, to check on me after the fight was over with. I was hurt by that. I was upset about it. Like he couldn’t even pick up the phone and say, ‘How are you feeling? You didn’t get it this time, but you’ll be back.’ Nothing. Not one time. People say that’s just how he is, but if you have a fighter who goes out there and fights for you, the least you can do is console him if he loses. That’s the least you can do. At least make a phone call."In a 2011 interview with MMA Fighting, Winkeljohn accepted some of the blame for that, and admitted that perhaps he let his own tendencies as a fighter get in the way of what Evans needed from a coach."He had a bad night, the night was over, and maybe I made a mistake by not consoling him enough," Winkeljohn said. "I know that I was the type who, when I lost a fight, I just wanted to be left alone. I kind of misread that a little bit, but he just didn't do any of our game plan at all. Then he left. He went on the Ultimate Fighter show, he didn't call, and that was it. Then Jon Jones comes in."Evans will tell you now that while he was wary of Jones joining the team at first, the two of them "got along great." They served as each other’s main sparring partners when they were together in the gym, and Evans can admit now that he almost wishes things hadn’t turned out the way they did, because "I kind of felt it with him for a while."But once Jones’ star started to rise, Evans knew from experience that both of them needed to be very careful about how they dealt with what would surely be a tricky situation."The thing about it was, we couldn’t let people get into our ear and tell us we should do this," said Evans. "That’s what happened with Jon. Jon let people get into his ear, and then he started to say things and act a certain way. That seeped into the relationship. You hear [UFC president] Dana White talking about, ‘Well, they’re not really that close anyway,’ and all this stuff about our relationship, planting those seeds. He’s not getting that out of nowhere. He heard that somewhere, so who’s telling him this? I’m thinking it was either Jon or his instigating manager, Malki Kawa."Evans felt like he knew how to handle the situation. After all, he’d done the same thing with Keith Jardine back when the two were both top light heavyweights in the UFC. Maybe he just needed to impart some of those lessons to the younger Jones, he decided. So he pulled him aside for a little heart-to-heart, he said."Before all this happened, I had to sit down with Jones and talk to him because I heard he’d been talking trash, saying he would whoop me. I told him, ‘Dude, people are running around saying this stuff, and I’m sure they’re not just pulling it out of nowhere.’"Some of that, Evans figured, was bound to happen. Two top guys sparring together? It was only normal for people to ask them afterward who would win in an actual fight. It was how you chose to answer that really mattered."I just told him to be careful what he said. If you don’t want to fight me, then don’t even entertain the idea," Evans said. "Don’t even let it go there. Sometimes people would ask me, when I would train with Keith, who would win if we fought. I’d say, ‘Keith will.’ And then people would ask Keith the same thing and he’d say, ‘Rashad will win.’ That defused the whole situation, because then there was no going back and telling the hot secret about what you guys said. That’s a humbling thing you have to do."The way Evans saw it, Jones did the opposite when he went on Versus and said that though he "would hate to have to fight my own teammate," he’d rather do that then get fired from the UFC. It provided just the slightest tear in the already strained team relations, Evans said, and that tear was enough to rip the whole thing apart. Pretty soon, Evans was on TV declaring that since he was "no punk," he’d have to accept Jones’ challenge. Then he was in the cage after Jones’ win over "Shogun" Rua to claim the title, accepting the fight with his former teammate. Then he was on the arena floor, declaring himself "done" with Jackson’s gym. One thing led to another and another.But that’s all ancient history now, as far as Evans is concerned. These days he’s relocated to Florida, and he has the "Blackzilians" team at his side. This team is "what Greg Jackson’s used to be," he said. Now that he knows he’ll have to look across the cage on fight night and see Jackson’s face in his opponent’s corner rather than his own?"It doesn’t bother me," Evans said. "It just speaks volumes about his character."If this storyline of broken friendships and shattered trust all seems just a little too perfect and too sound byte-friendly to possibly be real -- and, let’s be honest, at times it does -- you need only ask Evans, who will tell you in a heartbeat that while the narrative has been packaged and distributed by both the media and the UFC, as far as he’s concerned it’s "definitely genuine.""When you train with somebody and you trust them, you accept that you’re not going to be fighting each other and you get to know them," Evans said. "There’s going to be hurt there when they violate the code that the two of you set."And hurt, in one form or another, is what this one is all about.

Posted in: ufc, fight, way, thing, evan

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Change isn't always a bad thing. In the case of rising UFC star Dennis Siver (19-8), it could be a great thing. "This will be my first fight as a featherweight," Siver told Bleacher Report. "I have to get used to my new weight and I'm excited to see how I perform at 145."

Posted in: thing, siver, dennis siver, featherweight siver, change isnt

Read the full article at Low Kick

In the giant steel filing cabinet of life, this story needs to be filed away in the 'things that gotta suck' folder. Nate Patterson is a pro fighter out of Las Cruces New Mexico with a 2-1 record who has even fought at a couple of the Greg Jackson Jackson's MMA series fight nights. Unfortunately, Nate did not earn himself a victory in a little alcohol induced spontaneous fight last weekend. According to this KRQE news story, Nate got a little froggy at an apartment complex pool party last weekend and things didn't exactly go his way. A confrontation ensued with a man who was allegedly urging Patterson to calm down and leave the pool area. Patterson refused to leave and according to witness reports was finally KTFO in one punch by this guy after he realized he couldn't back away from Patterson's advances anymore. Patterson was out cold thanks to this mystery one punch (and possible UFC traner) KO artist. He even had to be life flighted to an El Paso hospital because he was unresponsive when police arrived. The only thing I can imagine Nate Patterson thinking when he finally came to in the ER at an El Paso Hospital is, 'oops, it wasn't supposed to happen that way'. Check it out: [source] MMA fighter knocked out at pool bash: krqe.com

Posted in: mma, nate, punch, thing, patterson

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There are certain things you can get away with if you’re as big as Alistair Overeem. Simple things, really. Things like taking up two seats in a crowded movie theater or talking way too loud on your cell phone in public. People might be annoyed with you, but they’re probably not going to say anything about it when you look like a body double for the Incredible Hulk. Such are the perks of being an enormous dude with a talent for unarmed combat. People tend to give you a little extra space.But there are other things that you absolutely don’t get to do, and for the exact same reasons. Unfortunately for Overeem, he did one of those things when he failed a surprise drug test, which immediately lent credibility to the accusations that have dogged him for years. When reports of his extraordinarily high testosterone levels went public, it was as if he’d just told all his detractors that they were right not to trust him. Maybe he also told his fans that they were fools to ever believe him.Now the past few years of his career -- his most successful years in the fight game by far -- will probably get a great big asterisk next to them in the minds of fight fans. And his future? That becomes one giant question mark. Overeem has put tremendous strain on our collective understanding of reasonable doubt lately. When he claimed that it was horse meat and heavy lifting that transformed him from a beanpole in Pride to a mountain of muscle in Strikeforce and the UFC, we couldn’t say for sure that this was an impossible feat. People bulk up, right? It happens.Same thing when he seemed to prefer fighting in places like Japan, where there is apparently no word for ‘drug test.’ Maybe he just liked it better over there, we told ourselves. Maybe it was the pachinko and the pork cutlets.Even when he was conveniently unavailable back when the Nevada State Athletic Commission asked him to take an out-of-competition drug test in November, before his fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 141, he seemed to have a good excuse. The man’s mother was sick, after all. And his assistant! His assistant didn’t tell him about it. See? There’s a reasonable explanation for everything.And then this. Even with the NSAC’s somewhat lax standards for allowable testosterone levels (as BALCO founder and doping, uh, expert Victor Conte pointed out, most other agencies cap the permissible ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone at 4-1, rather than the 6-1 that the NSAC uses) he still missed by a mile. Overeem came in somewhere north of 10-1. How far north? Still no word on that. Just know that it wasn’t even close.The worst part is, nobody can honestly claim to be shocked by this news. Disappointed? Sure. Enraged? If you’re UFC president Dana White, absolutely. But surprised? Not really. That’s because Overeem’s drug test failure confirmed what we already suspected, which is that the world is not, in fact, some magical place where hard work and an equine diet can give anyone the physique of a cartoon character. Sadly, the world is far less mysterious than that. As professional sports keep on teaching us, the world is a place where, if it looks like a cheat and has the bulging traps of a cheat, it’s probably a cheat. And, in Overeem’s case, if a man has looked that way for years, one has to assume that this probably isn’t a new development. This probably isn’t one of those ‘I got desperate trying to rehab an injury’ situations, or even one of those ‘there was something weird in my creatine’ situations. No, the details of Overeem’s physical transformation make it seem more like a premeditated, habitual abuse, and one that was most likely taking place in plain sight for the last half a decade or so.We suspected it. Maybe we assumed it. At times we even joked openly about it, as if it were somehow a joking matter that a man was artificially and illegally improving his ability to hurt other people for money. But with an actual test result to back up the rumors, what happens now? Will Overeem get to do the same choreographed little dance that other fighters have done, begging forgiveness one minute and then declaring the whole thing ancient history that he won't deign to speak of six weeks later? Will he get the same chance to take his lumps and come back clean, even if we have ample reason to believe that this merely the first time he’s been caught, and far from the first time he’s cheated? Or will he just disappear in a giant puff of muscle-bound smoke, opting to spend the rest of his career fighting in the unregulated fringes of MMA and kickboxing? What are we supposed to do with a guy like Overeem, if he turns out to be exactly who we were afraid he was? I really don’t know, but it does seem like there was a time when being an MMA fan didn’t mean you accidentally learned so much about things like the normal testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of a healthy adult male. It’s just a part of our vocabulary now, and the bizarre thing is how easily we accept that. The most disconcerting part about the developing Overeem story is how normal it seems, how completely unsurprising. We’re all cynics when it comes to pro fighters and PEDs, and having a bunch of cynics for fans makes it easier for them to get caught, feign remorse, and start all over again. They don’t have to be better, because it’s not like we expect it from them. Not really.Maybe we’re getting what we deserve. Let’s be honest: most of us are upset about this development for the same reasons the UFC president is. We’re not outraged over ethical concerns. We're not mad that he might have been trying to cheat, and in a way that could seriously injure someone. We’re bummed because Overeem’s superhuman testosterone levels will likely torpedo the bout with Junior dos Santos at UFC 146, and dammit, we really wanted to see that one. Why didn't he know this test was probably coming? Why couldn't Overeem have gotten his act together and saved that main event?I completely understand that reaction, that disappointment in both the loss of an interesting fight and in the dumb predictability of it all. Who can even spare any outrage, when high testosterone levels have become so common in this sport that simply being a fan makes you feel like a part-time endocrinologist? Overeem failed his test, but we knew he would, didn’t we? We knew it was just a matter of catching him at the right time, with the right element of surprise. We were prepared for that. We had the jokes and the clever one-liners all queued up for this very situation. What we’re less prepared for is what happens next. That’s when we tend to lose interest in the story, move on to other things. It’s almost as if we’d rather speculate than actually know. Because when it’s all just whispers and rumors, at least then we get to see the fights we want. At least then we can still claim that we had no idea.

Posted in: ufc, overeem, test, thing, testosterone levels

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

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

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

Chael Sonnen was on Fuel TV's UFC Tonight yet again for his weekly segment addressing all things MMA. In this week's edition, Chael took on fighters who lie to the media about every little thing. Chael used the "shock" expressed by some media and fans that he would admit that he was hurt by Bisping's punches as proof that fighters continually lie to the press about every aspect of their fights. Here's the video: Read what Chael had to say after the jump... The transcript: "Fighters have recently seen it as their quasi-job to continually put out misinformation. They just refuse to answer a question head-on. You know there's a tremendous difference with what fighters say versus what they mean. For example 'I don't want to leave it in the hands of the judges' means 'I didn't train to go three rounds.' Uh, 'I'm surrounded with a new team in camp' means 'all my old friends abandoned me.' Uh, 'I need to go to training camp to be in seclusion' means 'My wife and kids are driving me nuts.' I don't understand why fighters don't just talk plainly. In my last fight, I took on a gentleman named Michael Bisping. He hit me very hard and it hurt...a lot. People are shocked that I would admit that. Because they're all so used to lying. Well, guess what? If a guy hits you hard and it hurts, is your ego so small that you can't pay him a compliment? Is your ego so fragile that you can't say 'Look, I had my bell rung in the middle of a fistfight?' It kind of seems like a normal thing to happen, to me. I expect to be hit hard, I expect to be kick hard. I don't need to hide from those things. Let's be objective, let's look at things head on and try to figure out what happened. If he threw a great punch, maybe I can break down the video and learn how to throw it myself. If he threw a bad punch and it hurt, maybe I need to learn how to get out of the way. But I don't need to come to the media and lie"

Posted in: fighter, i need, thing, chael, dont

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Brock Lesnar's return to the WWE doesn't diminish what he did in the UFC. In fact it's a good thing.

Posted in: ufc, lesnar, thing, ufc lesnar, wwe doesnt

Read the full article at sportsnet.ca

By the time you get round to reading this, I will have arrived in Montreal, Canada ahead of the final portion of my training camp. The travelling, from Indiana to Florida and then to Montreal, is all geared towards one thing – defeating my next opponent, Michael McDonald, on April 21st at UFC 145.Thankfully, despite many flights, I never, ever suffer from jet lag, because the first thing I do when I land is hit the gym and break a sweat, so my body quickly acclimatises. I'll spend an hour or two in the gym, work up a nice sweat, get a good meal in just before bed and then sleep just as I would when at home. I'll then sleep right through the night and wake up as if I'm still back in Indiana. No jet lag whatsoever, I promise you. I should write a book on this stuff.I love Montreal. It's an awesome place. The only thing that gets me down from time to time is the cold. That's one thing I could do without while staying here. Still, I've traveled to a lot of countries during my 14-year mixed martial arts career, and I can safely say Montreal boasts some of the best women and the best food. The only thing it seems to lack is Mexican food – which is a great benefit to my diet, truth be told – and a bit more heat. If they could sort those two things out, it would be as close to a perfect city as you can get. I've been training for the past six weeks now. The first two weeks were spent at my gym in Indiana - working on pre-conditioning and just getting in shape – and after that I went across to Florida to train with the Blackzilians Team and work with Mike Van Arsdale and the rest of the guys. I've been training out of there for the past three weeks and I'm now ready to begin the final chunk of camp in Montreal at the TriStar gym. It's exciting to start this final stage, as I really get a kick out of working with Firas Zahabi and the TriStar crew. Firas took me in at a low point during my career and I owe him a lot for doing that. While others might have turned a blind eye, he revamped me and helped bring me back to where I was supposed to be. Not only that, he allowed me to stay at his house when I first hooked up with the TriStar gym.There are also a ton of training partners waiting for me in Montreal. We've got Ivan Menjivar, John Makdessi and Yves Jabouin, as well as a ton of other guys, amateur and pro, that will help push me to the limit in the next few weeks.Interestingly, although I tend to split training between separate camps, my two coaches both have the same ideas and attitude towards my career. They know the emphasis is placed on dominating my opponent, never letting up and doing all I can to get that win. We all share this same mentality going into a fight, and that makes for a really good synergy. It's quite funny actually, because I'll often go from camp to camp and find myself being critiqued on exactly the same thing by two different coaches. We're talking real subtle stuff here, as well. Maybe I should have got the hint first time around and made the alteration before coach number two spotted it. Regardless, it's great to be working with coaches that are both on the same page and both completely dedicated to bringing me back to where I want to be – on top of the bantamweight division. The reason for ending my camp in Montreal is simple really – it's far easier to make weight out here. I don't have the comfort of home foods in Montreal. It's tough to find tacos out here. The good thing about Florida, on the other hand, is that there is a heavy focus on wrestling, which used to be one of my main weaknesses a couple of years ago. Van Arsdale has me working on wrestling every day in Florida, and that kind of repetition and attention to detail has been a Godsend for me.My striking has also come on leaps and bounds due to working with Henry Hooft. He trains some of the best strikers in the world and is an awesome striker in his own right. Henry also has a philosophy on striking and a pressure style that falls right in line with what I've been trying to do in the fourteen years I've been involved with this sport. I couldn't be happier with where I'm at now, both in terms of wrestling and striking.In all honesty, the only problem I have with training is the fact it takes me away from my daughter. It kills me to have to leave her and know I won't be seeing her face for weeks on end. I miss taking her to school and picking her up afterwards, then asking her how her day went. When I'm home, she's with me all day, every day, and that simply isn't the case when I'm away training. You go from one extreme to the other, and it takes some adjusting to.It's a sacrifice I have to make, though. The money I get from fighting goes towards her future, and the belts I win in this sport act as mementos I can proudly show her when she gets older. I can tell her, 'This is why daddy had to spend so long away from home – this is what he won'...I love reading your tweets, hit me up @MiguelTorresMMA. Bantamweight star Miguel Torres fights Michael McDonald on Sat., April 21st at UFC 145. UFC 145 is live on Pay-Per-View.

Posted in: ndash, training, thing, camp, montreal

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That seems to be the general concern of the MMA fanbase. From a letter to the Sunday Junkie:  This is one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history but could come at a terrible cost. With all the trash Sonnen has said about Brazil, the Brazilians hate him so much that one of Yushin Okami's Brazilian sponsors threatened to take away its sponsorship if Sonnen went Brazil to support Okami. Sonnen has gotten numerous threats due to what he has said. So just think what will happen if Brazil's No. 1 enemy walked into their house and took down their hero. What if he gets mobbed on his way to or from the cage? How does that make the UFC look? Is the reward of breaking attendance records worth risking fighter safety/life? It's a general misconception that all lands south of the US / Mexico border are Mad Max style battlegrounds where one wrong step will result in getting stabbed in the eye. We joke about it all the time because what can we say, we're scared of Others and making vaguely racist jokes about societies we don't understand makes us feel better about ourselves. Plus the Mad Max thing is at least 30% truthish. Does the UFC share the same fear of Brazilians? Well, maybe a fear of soccer hooligans, but overall Dana White says everyone needs to chillax a little: "I think Brazil is getting a bad rap. To be honest with you, the first few times that I went to Brazil I was very nervous and thought, 'oh my God,' this and that. I've been to Brazil many times and Brazil as a country and Brazilians as a people are getting a bad rap. Brazil isn't as dangerous and as scary and as crazy as everybody thinks it is. I mean sure, there has been some bad things that have happened down there in the past. Bad things happen everywhere, you know? We can say the same thing in Detroit, we can say the same thing in New York, we can say the same thing in a lot of cities across the United States. Yes, he (Sonnen) has said a lot of stuff about Brazilians and that country and lots of people are going to tune in and show up to see Anderson Silva kick his ass because that is what the Brazilians want. I don't think that it's at a point where, you now, people down there want to hurt Chael Sonnen, you know what I mean? They are going to show up, watch a sporting event and they are going to look for their countrymen and their hero and the best fighter ever to come out of Brazil or any other country around the world to win that night against Chael."

Posted in: brazil, chael sonnen, thing, sonnen, brazilian

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One of the most common "concerns" that seems to come up with regard to the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen is the idea that the Brazilian fans will attempt to attack Sonnen. While Chael has certainly been condescending toward Brazilian fighters, the idea that the fanbase is a group of wild, violent savages is a bit unfair. That's something UFC president Dana White backed up while talking to Heavy MMA: Quote after the jump. Here's what Dana had to say (transcribed by MMA Mania): I think Brazil is getting a bad rap. To be honest with you, the first few times that I went to Brazil I was very nervous and thought, 'oh my God,' this and that. I've been to Brazil many times and Brazil as a country and Brazilians as a people are getting a bad rap. Brazil isn't as dangerous and as scary and as crazy as everybody thinks it is. I mean sure, there has been some bad things that have happened down there in the past. Bad things happen everywhere, you know? We can say the same thing in Detroit, we can say the same thing in New York, we can say the same thing in a lot of cities across the United States. Yes, he (Sonnen) has said a lot of stuff about Brazilians and that country and lots of people are going to tune in and show up to see Anderson Silva kick his ass because that is what the Brazilians want. I don't think that it's at a point where, you now, people down there want to hurt Chael Sonnen, you know what I mean? They are going to show up, watch a sporting event and they are going to look for their countrymen and their hero and the best fighter ever to come out of Brazil or any other country around the world to win that night against Chael.

Posted in: brazil, chael sonnen, thing, sonnen, brazilian

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

"I think Brazil is getting a bad rap. To be honest with you, the first few times that I went to Brazil I was very nervous and thought, 'oh my God,' this and that. I've been to Brazil many times and Brazil as a country and Brazilians as a people are getting a bad rap. Brazil isn't as dangerous and as scary and as crazy as everybody thinks it is. I mean sure, there has been some bad things that have happened down there in the past. Bad things happen everywhere, you know? We can say the same thing in Detroit, we can say the same thing in New York, we can say the same thing in a lot of cities across the United States. Yes, he (Sonnen) has said a lot of stuff about Brazilians and that country and lots of people are going to tune in and show up to see Anderson Silva kick his ass because that is what the Brazilians want. I don't think that it's at a point where, you now, people down there want to hurt Chael Sonnen, you know what I mean? They are going to show up, watch a sporting event and they are going to look for their countrymen and their hero and the best fighter ever to come out of Brazil or any other country around the world to win that night against Chael." Ever since the long awaited rematch between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen was rumored to go down in "The Spider's" home country of Brazil, fans and media alike immediately started to worry for Sonnen's safety. After all, the country has been Sonnen's favorite target when it comes to his ever-so entertaining verbal jabs. Even UFC Heavyweight contender Frank Mir has expressed his concerns should he ever have to fight a Brazilian in his own home country. Now that the bout has been confirmed for June 23, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, UFC President Dana White assures everyone (via Fight Day) that Chael will be fine once he touches down for his fight against one of Brazil's most beloved sons, Anderson Silva. Known for its sandy beaches and beautiful women, Brazil is also known for its dangerous crime ridden "favelas." But, as White states, danger can be present in any country in the United States, if not the world. Anyone think Chael should beef up his security while in Rio, just in case? Or is all this worrying for Sonnen's safety all for naught?

Posted in: brazil, thing, sonnen, chael, country

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This is a guest post by Stephie "Crooklyn" Daniels. Follow Stephie on Twitter @CrooklynMMA Bellator 63 is just a day away, and as the clock winds down to fight time, Chris Lozano is preparing to meet another ferocious striker in the cage. Chris' last fight, against Brazilian phenom, Douglas Lima, ended in disappointing fashion, via KO. Since then, Chris has relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is training out of Jackson's MMA. With the turmoil and pressure of past team differences all but gone, he has focused attention on weaknesses and reinforced his strong suits. The evolution of the Cleveland Assassin is about to unfold. SD: You've recently gone to Jackson's MMA. Does Greg have you focused in on your wrestling? CL: Yeah, he's definitely drilled into my mind that I need to start using my wrestling. I've learned a lot of ways to bring my wrestling in with my striking. I love striking, and there's no better feeling then knocking some dude out cold, but I have this other skill, and he's basically taught me how to incorporate it in with my striking, as well. SD: How do you like Jackson's gym overall? CL: I love it. Strongstyle Martial Arts was my original camp, and I was training with Stipe Miocic, Brian Rogers, Jessica Eye, and a ton of other great fighters. I'd like to one day be able to cross train between the two, but because of personal reasons and other things, I went out there to Jackson's, basically to clear my head, get away from personal issues, and just kind of like grow. Not only grow physically, but mentally, as well. Being around those guys is amazing. Just hearing their theories and philosophies, and just hearing how the best in the world think...you just pick up and learn so much. It's been a blessing. SD: What were the issues with your previous camp? CL: We had some issues within the camp. My two losses came because my opponents were better than I was, but, both times, I was unprepared. It wasn't necessarily the coaches fault. There was some confusion and miscommunication between the coaches. If you don't have complete confidence in your training or the way that things are going, mentally, it's going to bother you the night of your fight. I had some issues with the way that I was handled for those two fights. I mean, I was sent to prepare for a striker with a jiu jitsu coach. Looking back, in hindsight, it was all petty, but at the time, it was a bunch of little things that added in to one big thing, so the best thing to do was to step away, clear my mind, make sure that we didn't burn any bridges, and tried to keep the relationship solid. I'd already been out here to Albuquerque before, so I said, 'I'm going to take a step back from the situation for a little bit, and let time heal the wound, and then we'll get back to business.' SD: Have you completely relocated to NM? CL: Yeah. I had to get a vehicle and a place. I don't want to say I've completely relocated, because I have a home in Cleveland, but I've basically started a life here in Albuquerque, too. I have a home here now, as well. SD: In the future, will you be dividing your time between Albuquerque and Cleveland? CL: I would like to, but the coach at Strongstyle has got his own feelings as far as guys cross-training . He really didn't like when I was trying to cross-train, so I'm not really sure if he's changed his views. I've been hearing about Brian Rogers traveling and training and Jessica Eye and Stipe Miocic. I'm thinking maybe he's more open to it. I know before, one of the things he was worried about was us going to another place and not being looked after, or maybe being talked into switching camps, but it sounds like he's a little bit more secure in that situation now. Maybe we'll be able to revisit there. I'd like to split the time for sure. SD: Where do you see weaknesses with Amoussou? CL: He's a really good striker, but I do see weaknesses. I feel like he's not as technical as me. I made some mistakes in my last fight, but I changed those, and the changes that I made are going to be Kark's downfall. With his cardio, I think if you get him into the second or third round, he's only 50% the fighter he was in the first. The key to beating Karl, is making it through the first round. He can definitely be finished in the first round. He's a man, just like I am. SD: Break down what went wrong in your fight with Lima. CL: That was partly because of that mental block that I had going into that fight because of my camp, and some things that went wrong there. I had some discussions with my coach about going to cross-train. He never really wanted me to cross-train. I guess his thing was, 'I want to keep an eye on you.' I can appreciate that, but at the same time, I convinced him. The best thing I could do, was to come out here, use the altitude to get me in crazy shape, and take that into the fight and push the pace. He was like, 'Ok, go out there', but I guess while I was out there, somebody got in his ear and told him, 'Hey, what were you thinking, letting him go out there?' So, he started calling me and saying, 'Yeah, I want you to come back. I think that was a bad idea.' There was some miscommunication, and I think he thought I was only going to be out for a few days, but I ended up being out here for about two weeks. When I came back, I had the vibe, and it was almost like, I wanna say they thought, 'Well you said F us, so F you.' It was hard for me to get work. I felt like nobody was really concerned about my fight. I had different coaches being like, 'Yeah, you shouldn't have left.' That's cool if you feel like that, but you shouldn't say it until after my fight. I just felt like going into that fight, I didn't have my team's confidence, and I felt like my confidence was a little shaken. There was also no game plan. My coaches, we didn't really work together. We didn't talk much. That's when I learned that it's not only important for a fighter to be physically fit, but you have to be mentally fit, as well. You have to be confident in your training and confident in who's coaching you. There was just too much going on, and I just went in there unfocused, and Doug got the best of me that night. SD: Let's talk about exciting fights and Ben Askren. CL: [laughs] Wow! That's like talking about water and dirt. Seriously though, I feel like he's one of the best wrestlers in the world. Definitely the top one or two in MMA. If I face him, the game plan would obviously be to avoid wrestling.I don't care what level wrestling you're at, unless you're Olympic level, he's going to be better than you. If I fought him, it would be the same game plan everybody has. Try not to get caught in a wrestling match with him. If it does happen, I believe in my wrestling skills, especially now, enough that I believe that I could force a scramble and get away to keep it standing. Just like it took him a long time to become a world class wrestler, it's going to take a lot longer to become a world class striker. There's some world class strikers that are coming at him, and I believe myself to be one of them. If I'm not world class now, I don't know when I'm going to be, because I've been up at Greg Jackson's with all those world class guys, holding my own. It's going to be hard for him to strike with me. I see the fight going two ways. Either he gets KO'd or he drowns me for five rounds. SD: How has your experience been at Jackson's, and have you had the chance to train with Jon Jones? CL: I've done a lot of sparring with Jon Jones. Obviously, he's walking around a lot bigger than me right now, but he's not the type of guy that's going to try and kill you in there. We've sparred, and he's put it on me a couple times, and I've got my shots in too, but Bones is one of the greatest for a reason. It's definitely a confidence builder when you go in there, and he puts the pressure on, and you're still able to land strikes and still do your thing or get a takedown. Cub Swanson is, by far, one of the coolest dudes I've ever met. He's a funny dude and easy going, but when he's training, and getting ready for a fight, he's got skills nobody has even seen before. Being there, and seeing his skillset...he's about to really blow up. I think he's really put it all together now, and he's heading for the peak of his career. Cowboy Cerrone, I'm just going to say...Cowboy Cerrone is a great fighter. Clay Guida is an awesome dude, and an awesome wrestler. Some dudes are better than others, as far as personality goes. Obviously, you're not going to click with everybody, but one thing I can say, is that a lot of people bash Jon Jones, and say that he's stuck up and whatnot, but that dude is one of the coolest people. I got a chance to train with his brother, Art, who's the defensive tackle for the Ravens. Art Jones is the coolest professional ball player I've ever met. He's in there banging with UFC fighters. Obviously fighting isn't his thing, but he still hangs and has some awesome wrestling. He's got a great personality. The Jones' are a good family. I've really grown to like those dudes. SD: What's on the menu for "the last supper" after weigh-ins? CL: It's always different. I always have between 10 and 20 family members at my fights, so I let them decide. I always find something healthy on the menu, but I just take it easy. I'm not the type that's like Mariah Carey when she shows up to do a show. She's got to have 100 green M&Ms or 200 red ones, I'm not like that. I just go with the flow. I'll find something that will refuel me. I understand nutrition enough that I can walk in any restaurant, and get some good food. You've just got to know what to eat. Usually, I'll get some pasta, some chicken and some vegetables to get all those nutrients back in. To me, the last supper is more about relaxing and laughing and having a good time. Having those good, positive vibes that you get from family and friends. Going into that next day, that's a huge part of every fight for me. Follow Chris via his Twitter @cle_assassin

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Doing a UFC show in a venue the size of Rio's Engenhão stadium is going to present some interesting logistical problems for the UFC. Problems they're trying to solve in some creative ways: "To do the lighting rig inside one of those places? Did you see the last U2 concert? We tried to rent that claw – whatever that thing is, that claw thing. We tried to rent that thing from them and couldn't get it because we couldn't get it down there, so we're building our own version of that thing. There's a lot of work that's going to go into that show." "Steven Seagal, he's related to Bono via sunglasses and suggested we check it out." Too bad they couldn't get the thing, it's a pretty cool chunk of hardware. I'm sure whatever they build instead will be pretty cool. Who knows, maybe they'll actually be able to capture the crazy live vibe during the PPV too. Past events such as outdoors in Dubai and the Skydome in Toronto were almost disappointing in their sameness.A bunch more pictures of 'the Claw' after the jump. read more

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Lately there has been an upswing in former UFC fighters taking to Twitter to lobby for another shot inside the Octagon. One Mixed Martial Artist you won’t see taking that route is middleweight Patrick Cote even though he’s won all three of his bouts since being released by the UFC in late 2010. Cote explained his rationale, as well as his disdain for peers who take to less-noble means to get a sniff from the Zuffa matchmaking team, in a recent interview with MMAWeekly Radio where he elaborated on a Tweet telling Tim Sylvia to “shut the hell up, win fights, and stop begging.” “You’ve been a champion in this organization; you know how things work,” said the French-Canadian of Sylvia, currently on a long-running campaign to finish some business inside the Octagon. “You’re not going to go anywhere by begging like that. I was just annoyed about begging, a lot of the begging, and I said loud what a lot of people was thinking. I have nothing against Sylvia. He’s been a great champion. He did a lot in the sport. He did a lot in the UFC. I hope he’s going to be back in the UFC. That’s not the point. The point was just about the begging thing.” “The only thing you have to do is shut your mouth, win fights, and prove you deserve to be back in the big show by winning fights and by your performance,” Cote concluded. The 32-year old striker plans on doing just that this weekend when he faces Gustavo Machado in Brazil to make it four straight outside of the UFC. Machado, a grappler by trade, holds an overall record of 22-8-1 and will enter their match-up having won a quartet of consecutive clashes (ten of his last eleven). “I don’t have a lot of control about the decision who is going to put me back in the UFC,” Cote admitted. “My only power I have is be in shape and win fights and that’s what I’m doing. Three wins in a row, and I’m going for a fourth one. The UFC asked us to go to somebody better than my last two opponents, and with a winning record, so that’s exactly what we’re doing.” “The Predator” is 16-7 in his career and even earned a shot at Anderson Silva’s UFC title based on a five-fight run. Unfortunately he severely injured his knee in the bout and was sidelined for more than a year, promptly losing a pair of subsequent outings against Alan Belcher and Tom Lawlor before receiving his release. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: ufc, fight, thing, lot, cote

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Famed football coach Vince Lombardi once had a saying along the lines of, “Relentlessly pursue perfection and in the chase you may catch excellence.” The implication is that flawlessness is an ever-elusive creature but striving for the impossible while constantly attempting to improve can produce incredible results. UFC light heavyweight Phil Davis recently watched his undefeated record disappear in January after falling on the scorecards to top 205-pound contender Rashad Evans in a fairly one-sided affair. However, echoing Lombardi’s philosophy, Davis has not given up chasing the mantle of MMA’s greatest and plans to use the loss to Evans as a springboard for growth. “I’m glad he poked holes in my game. Because now I can fix some of those holes and know where the No. 2 guy in the world is going to beat me. Now I have a benchmark,” explained Davis in an interview with The MMA Hour. “Losing is not the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world is not getting better. I’m glad I got that fight…I’m just real excited about where I’m at in my career.” The 27-year old Davis didn’t reveal what was on his agenda specifically but did make it clear fans should expect to see a much improved fighter in his next outing, whenever it may come. “I’m taking it day by day. The last thing I want is to give an incomplete performance. My next performance I want everyone to go, ‘Wow, yes, this guy is for real.’” With only ten total fights under his belt and an eagerness to learn there’s no question Davis will meet his own expectations no matter how high he sets the bar, further solidifying his place as one of the sport’s true future stars along the way. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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Two months after losing the most important matchup of his young career, Phil Davis is picking up the pieces and focusing on the future. Davis, who is currently in Las Vegas as one of Dominick Cruz's assistant coaches on the current edition of TUF: Live, hasn't yet thought about when he'll find his way back into the octagon, only about bringing a newer, better version of himself to his next performance.On a Monday interview on The MMA Hour, the light-heavyweight admitted that the tension involved with the huge spotlight may have gotten to him and affected his performance. While that led to a loss, Davis is choosing to look at the bright side, which is the opportunity to look back at his performance and address his shortcomings. "I’m glad he poked holes in my game," he said. "Because now I can fix some of those holes and know where the No. 2 guy in the world is going to beat me. Now I have a benchmark. Losing is not the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world is not getting better. I’m glad I got that fight. I’m glad I got it twice, and I’m just real excited about where I’m at in my career."Asked what some of those holes are, the first thing Davis pointed out was a desire to improve his striking. But he also acknowledged that experience was a big factor in the fight. While he was tense and anxious, he could sense that Evans was calm and relaxed.He also pointed to his first-round trouble costing him later in the fight. He was caught in a crucifix late in the opening round and expended a lot of energy trying to escape and ensure the fight was not stopped. That only made things worse."I got myself into one of the situations where you've got to go all out to get out of that, and put out a lot of energy," he said. "That kind of put me behind on momentum, and from there, Rashad was just the calmer guy. He eased into the fight better. More and more, I was trying to do more to gain momentum and he was just calm and collected. He was an opportunist. He just took advantage of everything that came his way."Davis described his performance as "all gas and no brakes," saying he never let the fight slow down to a pace where he settled in.Despite the defeat, his excitement to return to the gym came quickly afterward. While he wouldn't offer a timeframe or potential opponent for his return date, he did offer a prediction for the upcoming title match pitting Evans against Jon Jones.His pick? He likes the underdog Evans to snatch the belt away."They've trained together and Rashad knows Jon Jones' game like a teammate would," he said. "That's something only a teammate would know, so I’m going to go with Rashad. A lot of people don't give him a fair shake in this fight but it’s a pretty tough fight for both guys."While he waits for his next fight booking, he'll be seen alongside Cruz on TUF, helping to school the team's young fighters during the 13-week run. He'll also hope to learn a few things himself. As he made clear, he hopes to leave observers with an indelible impression his next time in the octagon."I'm taking it day by day," he said. "The last thing I want is to give an incomplete performance. My next performance I want everyone to go, 'Wow, yes, this guy is for real.'"

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UFC president Dana White likes to jump the gun and proclaim this-or-that as the next big thing in MMA. When White declared that The Ultimate Fighter: Live would do some incredible numbers in terms of ratings when it was announced the show was headed to FX, many questioned White. Now, as the first few episodes roll off the film, the ratings are not quite where White had predicted. However, that does not mean the UFC is disappointed, as White told John Morgan of MMA Junkie recently. Far from it. Spirits are high around here. Everything is good. There’s so many things that are involved in those numbers. I didn’t expect to jump on FX and do 3.5 million viewers out of the gate. But here’s the thing: the format is awesome. It’s perfect. We’ve got a great season, and we’re going to build this thing. Numbers like 1.3 million from the debut episode were actually lower than the last season did on Spike. This format, which consists of a live fight each week, is led by UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber as coaches. While being on Friday night could be hurting the UFC a little bit, eventually, people will likely stick with the show. The live format seems to be a favorite among most MMA fans, so I am sure that will stick for years to come.

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Miguel Torres is a braver man than me.  Any exercise I do is driven by a promise of delicious food to follow.  If there wasn’t an amazing taqueria near my gym, I’d probably find another gym or perhaps even another sport so long as I’m training near a kitchen full of carne asada.  I’ve actually been told that Montreal has a decent Mexican food scene, but some French-Canadian girl told me that and she was wrong. The reality of the situation is a lot like Miguel Torres discusses in his fightblog on MMAFighting.com “I love Montreal. It's an awesome place. The only thing that gets me down from time to time is the cold. That's one thing I could do without while staying here. Still, I've traveled to a lot of countries during my 14-year mixed martial arts career, and I can safely say Montreal boasts some of the best women and the best food. The only thing it seems to lack is Mexican food – which is a great benefit to my diet, truth be told – and a bit more heat. If they could sort those two things out, it would be as close to a perfect city as you can get.” “The reason for ending my camp in Montreal is simple really – it's far easier to make weight out here. I don't have the comfort of home foods in Montreal. It's tough to find tacos out here. The good thing about Florida, on the other hand, is that there is a heavy focus on wrestling, which used to be one of my main weaknesses a couple of years ago. Van Arsdale has me working on wrestling every day in Florida, and that kind of repetition and attention to detail has been a Godsend for me.” We’re about three weeks out from the fight, and that’s a longer span of being taco-free than any man should ever have to endure, but we’re confident Miguel will sacrifice anything it takes to get his position atop the bantamweight division back. Torres faces the always-dangerous Michael McDonald (14-1) at UFC 145 in Atlanta.  Luckily for him, there is no shortage of comfort food down South following his weigh in. [source]

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UFC Bantamweight contender and former WEC champ Miguel Torres is training in Montreal with Firas Zahabi (George St. Pierre's head coach). He's blogging at MMA Fighting as he prepares for his UFC 145 bout with Michael McDonald. Here's the part I found the most amusing: I love Montreal. It's an awesome place. The only thing that gets me down from time to time is the cold. That's one thing I could do without while staying here. Still, I've traveled to a lot of countries during my 14-year mixed martial arts career, and I can safely say Montreal boasts some of the best women and the best food. The only thing it seems to lack is Mexican food - which is a great benefit to my diet, truth be told - and a bit more heat. If they could sort those two things out, it would be as close to a perfect city as you can get....The reason for ending my camp in Montreal is simple really - it's far easier to make weight out here. I don't have the comfort of home foods in Montreal. It's tough to find tacos out here. The good thing about Florida, on the other hand, is that there is a heavy focus on wrestling, which used to be one of my main weaknesses a couple of years ago. Van Arsdale has me working on wrestling every day in Florida, and that kind of repetition and attention to detail has been a Godsend for me. Torres is training with Ivan Menjivar, John Makdessi and Yves Jabouin as he prepares for McDonald. More SBN coverage of UFC 145

Posted in: ufc, thing, yves jabouin, montreal, food

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High-level fighters are generally prepared for any challenge they face whether in the ring or outside of it, as a certain level of mental toughness created by years upon years of grinding in the gym and absorbing damage in a sport predicated on physical contact. However, when it comes to the battle Strikeforce light heavyweight Muhammed Lawal is currently embroiled in pertaining to his health, the former champion nearly called it quits to what would have been life-altering or even life-ending results. Lawal recently peeled back a layer to reveal how low he’d sunk during his painful, extended treatment for a staph infection inside his knee occurring after he’d had surgery to repair ligament damage inside it. The situation got so serious he nearly had his leg amputated, had a catheter inserted into his heart, and has lost more than 30 pounds since first going under the knife. “I got to the point where I was like, f*ck it. I just felt like, hey, I’m going to quit taking this medicine, and if I die then I die. I’m tired of this stuff,” said Lawal of the circumstances in an interview with CNNSI, adding it really hit him how bad were things when it looked in the mirror and could see his hip-bone. Fortunately, as individuals like Lawal often do, the 31-year old fought through the adversity and came out on top. While he’s still not completely out of the woods yet health-wise, things appear to be progressing in a positive direction including Lawal’s state of mind. “I feel like I looked death in the face, and I survived. I’m talking death of my career, and death in life. I faced that. It was tough. It really did make me appreciate my life, just my everyday life,” Lawal explained. “I used to think, not that I hated working out, but that I hated feeling tired. Now, I miss feeling tired. I miss getting punched, kicked, kneed, elbowed. I miss all that.” It is still unknown when Lawal will be fit enough to get back to training at 100%, but, it appears he’ll do so as a new man who takes nothing for granted, and one thing that can be said with certainty is a motivated “King Mo” should make for an especially dangerous individual. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

Posted in: muhammed lawal, year, life, thing, lawal

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By the time you get round to reading this, I will have arrived in Montreal, Canada ahead of the final portion of my training camp. The travelling, from Indiana to Florida and then to Montreal, is all geared towards one thing – defeating my next opponent, Michael McDonald, on April 21st at UFC 145.Thankfully, despite many flights, I never, ever suffer from jet lag, because the first thing I do when I land is hit the gym and break a sweat, so my body quickly acclimatises. I'll spend an hour or two in the gym, work up a nice sweat, get a good meal in just before bed and then sleep just as I would when at home. I'll then sleep right through the night and wake up as if I'm still back in Indiana. No jet lag whatsoever, I promise you. I should write a book on this stuff.I love Montreal. It's an awesome place. The only thing that gets me down from time to time is the cold. That's one thing I could do without while staying here. Still, I've traveled to a lot of countries during my 14-year mixed martial arts career, and I can safely say Montreal boasts some of the best women and the best food. The only thing it seems to lack is Mexican food – which is a great benefit to my diet, truth be told – and a bit more heat. If they could sort those two things out, it would be as close to a perfect city as you can get. I've been training for the past six weeks now. The first two weeks were spent at my gym in Indiana - working on pre-conditioning and just getting in shape – and after that I went across to Florida to train with the Blackzilians Team and work with Mike Van Arsdale and the rest of the guys. I've been training out of there for the past three weeks and I'm now ready to begin the final chunk of camp in Montreal at the TriStar gym. It's exciting to start this final stage, as I really get a kick out of working with Firas Zahabi and the TriStar crew. Firas took me in at a low point during my career and I owe him a lot for doing that. While others might have turned a blind eye, he revamped me and helped bring me back to where I was supposed to be. Not only that, he allowed me to stay at his house when I first hooked up with the TriStar gym.There are also a ton of training partners waiting for me in Montreal. We've got Ivan Menjivar, John Makdessi and Yves Jabouin, as well as a ton of other guys, amateur and pro, that will help push me to the limit in the next few weeks.Interestingly, although I tend to split training between separate camps, my two coaches both have the same ideas and attitude towards my career. They know the emphasis is placed on dominating my opponent, never letting up and doing all I can to get that win. We all share this same mentality going into a fight, and that makes for a really good synergy. It's quite funny actually, because I'll often go from camp to camp and find myself being critiqued on exactly the same thing by two different coaches. We're talking real subtle stuff here, as well. Maybe I should have got the hint first time around and made the alteration before coach number two spotted it. Regardless, it's great to be working with coaches that are both on the same page and both completely dedicated to bringing me back to where I want to be – on top of the bantamweight division. The reason for ending my camp in Montreal is simple really – it's far easier to make weight out here. I don't have the comfort of home foods in Montreal. It's tough to find tacos out here. The good thing about Florida, on the other hand, is that there is a heavy focus on wrestling, which used to be one of my main weaknesses a couple of years ago. Van Arsdale has me working on wrestling every day in Florida, and that kind of repetition and attention to detail has been a Godsend for me.My striking has also come on leaps and bounds due to working with Henry Hooft. He trains some of the best strikers in the world and is an awesome striker in his own right. Henry also has a philosophy on striking and a pressure style that falls right in line with what I've been trying to do in the fourteen years I've been involved with this sport. I couldn't be happier with where I'm at now, both in terms of wrestling and striking.In all honesty, the only problem I have with training is the fact it takes me away from my daughter. It kills me to have to leave her and know I won't be seeing her face for weeks on end. I miss taking her to school and picking her up afterwards, then asking her how her day went. When I'm home, she's with me all day, every day, and that simply isn't the case when I'm away training. You go from one extreme to the other, and it takes some adjusting to.It's a sacrifice I have to make, though. The money I get from fighting goes towards her future, and the belts I win in this sport act as mementos I can proudly show her when she gets older. I can tell her, 'This is why daddy had to spend so long away from home – this is what he won'...I love reading your tweets, hit me up @MiguelTorresMMA. Bantamweight star Miguel Torres fights Michael McDonald on Sat., April 21st at UFC 145. UFC 145 is live on Pay-Per-View.

Posted in: ndash, training, thing, camp, montreal

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Most fight fans know that former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Mo Lawal has been battling a serious staph infection since undergoing knee surgery in January. What they probably don’t know -- and what Lawal kept from many his closest friends in the fight game -- was just how close he came to giving up entirely.As Lawal told me when I spoke to him for a Sports Illustrated story this week, at one point it all got to be too much even for him. The endless nights of high fevers and no sleep, the battery of antibiotics and knee flushes -- finally he’d had enough, he said."I got to the point where I was like, [expletive] it. I just felt like, hey, I'm going to quit taking this medicine, and if I die then I die. I'm tired of this stuff." He didn’t give up, in part because, just as he was at his breaking point, his doctor called to say that the course of treatment they were on seemed as if it was finally working. But even now, according to his manager, Mike Kogan, he’s still not completely in the clear just yet."The concern was, and still is, that the infection keeps coming back," Kogan said. "It happened at least four times. We were starting to see some improvement, things were getting better, then bam, it starts going the other way again. The latest one was just last week. His temperature went up again and his knee started filling up with fluid."The bright spot, as much as there is one in a situation like this, has been the response from his teammates at AKA. The outpouring of support has been overwhelming, Lawal said, with everyone from close friends to coaches to occasional training partners coming to visit him in the hospital in an effort to lift his spirits."It was tough, man. I broke down when my people came and saw me," Lawal said. "I’m emotional, but I try to hold it back. You know, I’m still kind of a newbie to AKA. But they took the time to come and see me and comfort me."Head coach Javier Mendez even brought him a book on boxing, Lawal said. It drove him slightly crazy, since it was all about an activity that he desperately wanted to get out of bed and do himself, but he appreciated the gesture even though he said he "hate[s] reading."As Lawal’s long-time friend and former Oklahoma State wrestling teammate Daniel Cormier explained: "You cannot believe how strong the support system is in our gym. We’re not just sitting there training together. We really care about one another, and it was good to see everybody on the team basically going to see him. People he said he’s barely spoken to went and sat with him a little while. Muhammad Lawal, I know him. The people at AKA have a lifelong friend in him now. He won’t forget something like that."But even though Lawal was touched by the efforts of his teammates, he kept the extent of his suffering and his depression hidden from them. Even Cormier couldn’t get him to talk much about it, though he said he knew it was bad when all his efforts to get a laugh out of his old friend didn’t even elicit a smile."He wouldn't tell me how bad it was. You know how it is. Your buddy isn't going to tell you all that, that he's thinking about just saying forget it and giving up, because then you become just another person telling him to do the right thing for himself. He tried to keep it positive in front of me and the other guys, because that's Mo. He's actually worried that it will distract guys from fights they have coming up. Like that's his big concern."Lawal’s troubles aren’t over yet, however. His battle with the infection is still ongoing, and he’s lost about 30 pounds in the last two months, he said. On top of that, he has his hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission next Tuesday, where Kogan has said they will offer an "answer" to the positive steroid test stemming from his last fight against Lorenz Larkin. Lawal still maintains that the Drostanolone in his urine sample came from an over-the-counter supplement, and he’s had no difficulty being open and upfront about that, he pointed out, even if he’s been less eager to talk about his health struggles."I tried not to get depressed about [the positive drug test], because I know I'm not a cheater," he said. "I tried not to get too upset about the drug-testing thing, because there's nothing I can do until the hearing with the commission. I've been transparent, and I've been open with everybody. Everybody knows what happened. I put it all out there. You know, some people test positive, and they just go quiet. They don't say anything. I've been out there, vocal, telling people what happened."After the battle with staph that, at one point, seemed like it could claim his career or even his leg, the NSAC has been the least of his concerns lately. But now that his health is finally starting to improve, Lawal looks forward to a time when he can finally return to the gym and put the hard lessons he learned in a hospital bed to use in the rest of his life."I know what it’s like to be bed-ridden now, and that’s a tough thing to swallow," he said. "Seeing my friends, my family, it makes me appreciate them all so much more. I appreciate my fans more. I used to be focused on my haters too much, but now I feel like, [expletive] them. Why am I giving them all this attention, talking back to them, smashing them, when I could be focusing on the people who are giving me positive energy to do good things? It opened my eyes to a lot of things."

Posted in: people, thing, friend, lawal, hersquo

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The personal animosity between UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and former training partner, current top contender Rashad Evans has been well-documented over the past year. However, with only a month remaining before the two finally fight in the main event at UFC 145, Evans appears ready to tone down the trash-talk and focus on the task at hand – winning his championship back while smashing the mystique surrounding the seemingly unbeatable “Bones”. Evans recently spoke about his annoyance at the ongoing drama with Jones, also adding he’d reunited with Keith Jardine in the past few weeks and was extremely happy with how his career was currently going. “Things are going so good for me right now,” said Evans in a conversation with Five Ounces of Pain. “I feel good since my last fight and it’s just continued on with this training camp. I’d really like to fight three or four times a year. I like to have that feeling where I want to fight. As long as I have that feeling I’ll fight as much as possible.” On the topic of tussling, Evans’ focus quickly turned to his upcoming outing against Jones where he explained, “I’m just looking forward to fighting him to be honest. A lot of the back and forth and a lot of the drama is so old. I’m tired of hearing people say Jon is going to do this to you and he said this about you. It seems everyone has their own opinion. For me, I am just looking forward to getting it on. I had a good experience in Atlanta when I fought Chuck Liddell and hopefully it’ll turn out the same.” Evans Thinks Experience Will Be Key to Beating Jones “Sugar” ‘Shad knocked Liddell out cold at UFC 88 in 2008 to earn a shot at Forrest Griffin who he later beat to become 205-pound champion. “It’s crazy the way things are now and how they were when I first started. I thought things would always be the same, but now things have changed so much,” reflected Rashad before brightening up at the thought of another familiar name from his past. “Keith Jardine just came down to train with us for awhile and seeing him was nice. Keith and I said we would never fight and that’s the way things were supposed to be with John, but I guess he didn’t feel the same way.” The UFC long lobbied to have Jardine and Evans face off inside the Octagon while both were considered contenders but their friendship prevailed, fending off any matchmaking attempts despite the pressure. Now Evans will deal with the pressure of a different teammate from yesteryear in Jones. However, as Evans has shown in the past, when he’s an underdog he’s especially dangerous and clearly he’ll be foaming at the mouth come April 21 in Atlanta. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, fight, jone, thing, evan

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While casually reiterating her opinion that she could take Mr Miesha Tate - Bryan Caraway - in a fight, Ronda Rousey went into detail about the time she took on four dudes and their girlfriends at a theatre: "It's happened to me a couple times. Not in, like, a sanctioned, legal way. But, it was entertaining to everybody that saw it. I got applause afterwards. I got jumped by a bunch of guys in a movie theatre and I beat 'em up and then everyone clapped. and then I was like, 'Maybe I should fight in front of people, 'cuz people tend to like it.' That was one of my first MMA experiences. It was like four couples, four guys and four girls. A couple of them headed me off in the aisle. It was like a thing. Their girlfriend was rude and I told her that she was rude and they tried to act tough in front of their girlfriend. She was like knocking me in the head with her boot and was being -- they were that group of people who were just rude and loud throughout the whole movie. And so, I took her boot off and threw it and told her to go get some manners. and then, her boyfriend didn't like that. And her boyfriend's friends didn't like that. So, they headed me off in the aisle and told me to go get the boot. They wouldn't let me leave and they pushed me. So, I was technically in the 'kidnap situation,' I learned this from my lawyer, and was fearing for my life, so I had to defend myself. So I did defend myself very well...and so they sued me. Whatever. the good thing was, it was an aisle, so I had them between the seats and the wall, so they couldn't get around me, so I had them one at a time. So, it was actually a good situation for a multi-person fighting situation."..."Well, I tried to get through, and I told them that if they didn't let me through, I'd have to do something about it. So, I tried to get through, and the guy pushed me back, and while he was pushing me, I grabbed him by his shirt and I started punching him with one hand. And, his other friend came behind me and got me by the neck and was pulling me backwards. But, I had his friend by the shirt, so I was still punching him. Then, I dropped the one guy, and the other guy had me by the neck, so I threw him over my shoulder. And my cousin and my friend Marina, they went and grabbed the other guys to keep them out of it, and the one girl was trying to get in and rash me in the face. My friend Marina pushed her out of the way. She went face first into the seats. and then they went and told the police that I punched the girl, which I never did. i just beat up the two guys. and then, um, yeah, it just turned into this big thing. And, uh, the funny thing is, my shoe came off, 'cuz I was fighting in flip flops, like ya do, so everyone was just losing shoes. I threw her shoe, I lost my shoe, everyone's looking for shoes. But, um, it was one of those things that most girls go through." As Gus Johnson would say, 'Sometimes these things happen in a girl's life.' Maybe the life of a no-nonsense-taking ass kicker like Ronda Rousey. I like how she considered being told to pick up the boot she threw a 'kidnap situation' ... there's a bunch of people down in Florida who agree completely with that assessment. Remind me never to stare at her in real life lest she shatter my pelvis over an 'eye sexing situation.'

Posted in: guy, thing, friend, girl, shoe

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Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey recently skyrocketed to the heights of fame after defeating Miesha Tate on March 3, 2012, at Strikeforce: "Tate vs. Rousey" in Columbus, Ohio. The first round armbar submission marked the fifth time in a row that "Rowdy" has finished the fight in such a violent fashion (see grisly .gif here). But, it isn't just Rousey's fight game that has been garnering her attention. After her win over Tate, Rousey went so far as to say she could also beat up "'Takedown's" boyfriend, Bryan Caraway. Today (March 19, 2012), Rousey appeared on ESPN's "Dan Le Batard Highly Questionable" to defend her statements: "I just said that I could beat up her and boyfriend in the same day, which, he's just some average, to below average MMA guy and I'm, like, the women's world champion. It would be expected that I'd be able to beat the average MMA guy in my weight class, right? Is that such an unbelievable thing to say? No." Rousey was just getting started. Check out what else she had to say after the jump: Le Batard went on to question Rousey about how well she realistically thinks she'd do in a fight with a man. According to her, it wouldn't be the first time she'd found herself in such an encounter: "It's happened to me a couple times. Not in, like, a sanctioned, legal way. But, it was entertaining to everybody that saw it. I got applause afterwards. I got jumped by a bunch of guys in a movie theatre and I beat 'em up and then everyone clapped. and then I was like, 'Maybe I should fight in front of people, 'cuz people tend to like it.' That was one of my first MMA experiences. It was like four couples, four guys and four girls. A couple of them headed me off in the aisle. It was like a thing. Their girlfriend was rude and I told her that she was rude and they tried to act tough in front of their girlfriend. She was like knocking me in the head with her boot and was being -- they were that group of people who were just rude and loud throughout the whole movie. And so, I took her boot off and threw it and told her to go get some manners. and then, her boyfriend didn't like that. And her boyfriend's friends didn't like that. So, they headed me off in the aisle and told me to go get the boot. They wouldn't let me leave and they pushed me. So, I was technically in the 'kidnap situation,' I learned this from my lawyer, and was fearing for my life, so I had to defend myself. So I did defend myself very well...and so they sued me. Whatever. the good thing was, it was an aisle, so I had them between the seats and the wall, so they couldn't get around me, so I had them one at a time. So, it was actually a good situation for a multi-person fighting situation." Rousey continued, discussing the specific strategies she employed to take on the group of disorderlys: "Well, I tried to get through, and I told them that if they didn't let me through, I'd have to do something about it. So, I tried to get through, and the guy pushed me back, and while he was pushing me, I grabbed him by his shirt and I started punching him with one hand. And, his other friend came behind me and got me by the neck and was pulling me backwards. But, I had his friend by the shirt, so I was still punching him. Then, I dropped the one guy, and the other guy had me by the neck, so I threw him over my shoulder. And my cousin and my friend Marina, they went and grabbed the other guys to keep them out of it, and the one girl was trying to get in and rash me in the face. My friend Marina pushed her out of the way. She went face first into the seats. and then they went and told the police that I punched the girl, which I never did. i just beat up the two guys. and then, um, yeah, it just turned into this big thing. And, uh, the funny thing is, my shoe came off, 'cuz I was fighting in flip flops, like ya do, so everyone was just losing shoes. I threw her shoe, I lost my shoe, everyone's looking for shoes. But, um, it was one of those things that most girls go through." Talk about one tough chick. Check out the rest of Rousey's interview with ESPN's Dan Le Batard below:

Posted in: guy, thing, friend, rousey, espns dan

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After taking a relatively quick break from MMA, Dan Hardy is set to make his return against a fellow striker in Duane Ludwig on UFC 146. He will be trying to get back on track this May, but the Brit still has an eye on a different fight. One against a certain UFC Hall-of-Famer that he truly dislikes. He spoke to MMA Weekly about it: "I would love to figure that out, that blood thirsty kill freak. I can’t stand the dude. I’d love to get a shot at him, but the thing with Matt Hughes is I don’t like him as a person, but I can’t help but respect him as a fighter. He achieved a lot and I enjoyed watching him fight when he was at his peak. As a person, I can’t stand him; I wouldn’t speak to him if I had the option. But I watch his fights and I learn from them." "The thing is, at this stage in his career, I know he’s past his peak. I know he’s not looked great in his last few fights, and maybe he’s kind of winding down. I would love to fight him and, if he was willing to take the fight, I would by all means love to get in there and put it on him, but I’m not going to chase after the guy cause he has passed his peak and he may not want to a fight against someone who doesn’t like him as much as me." Hardy has called out Hughes in the past, and says his dislike stems from the former champion proudly tweeting about killing bobcats, with the Brit replying: "Look at what I killed. Aren’t I the man? This is the only thing I have found that cures my impotence. There is no justification for what he does. Shooting a wild cat for fun is a joke. I don’t have a problem for hunting if there is a purpose for it. I have never read anywhere being overran by bobcats though."

Posted in: fight, matt hughes, thing, thing i, peak

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Even though UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones has looked unbeatable since coming onto the scene a few years ago there’s one man who knows otherwise – Rashad Evans. A former training partner of Jones and next challenger to the 24-year old’s title, Evans will enter their headlining tilt at UFC 145 with supreme confidence based in large part on his familiarity with Jones as both a fighter and regular person. Evans elaborated on his mindset in a recent interview with the UFC where he listed off the countless things he “knows” about the divisional king and how they’ll carry him to victory come showtime on April 21. “I know I will beat Jon Jones,” began Evans. “He can talk about improvements he’s made, but there are still some things in his game he can never change. He’s a long, rangy fighter and I’m going to get inside, unleash my stuff, take him down and ground and pound him. I’m at a level in my career where I can take down and ground and pound anyone.” “I know all about him, all about his coaches and all about his camp,” the animated former champion continued. “I could probably tell you what he’s doing in the gym right now. He’s in the exact same environment doing the exact same things with the exact same people. But I’m in a different environment, I knew I had to learn, had to mix things up and I had to change. Jon has no idea what I will do on the night.” Jones Says He’s Evolved Since Last Training with Evans Were that not enough, Evans also pointed to his maturity and experience as being crucial aspects of why he’ll be successful in Atlanta. “I’ve got the advantage mentally, too. He’s not ‘Jon Jones unbeatable champion’ to me. I know the real Jon, the nervous kid who would ask me to tell him how to dress, how to talk and how to fight. I know how he reacts when things don’t go his way, how he can’t handle it mentally,” said Evans before adding, “And I’ve been through these types of pressure fights. I’ve been in these situations where emotions are involved with my fights with guys like Michael Bisping and ‘Rampage’ (Quinton Jackson). Jon has never been in this type of situation and he’s never faced a fighter like me. I know I will get my title back at UFC 145.” “Sugar” ‘Shad holds an overall record of 17-1-1 and has won his last four fights including those against Jackson, Thiago Silva, Tito Ortiz, and most recently Phil Davis. Likewise, Jones is 15-1 with the lone defeat involving an unnecessary disqualification and six straight instances of success since. If he defeats Evans it will mark his fourth consecutive victories over former title-holder. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, jon, jone, thing, evan

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Chael Sonnen co-hosted Spike TV's MMA Uncensored last night and, as Chael is wont to do, he did a lot of talking. The focus of much of his talk this time around was Quinton Jackson. Jackson has recently been in the news for taking testosterone replacement before his last fight and wild Twitter rants about wanting to be out of the UFC. When Rampage's recent behavior came up, Sonnen had this to say (transcribed by MMAMania): I like him. Look, he's a crybaby, but I find it entertaining. I like it when he goes on his campaigns about entitlement and how he should be given easy fights. I don't agree with any of it, but, you gotta understand, everybody's gonna stumble, at times, but to miss weight at a fight poorly, when you're paid what he's paid -- he's the second highest paid fighter in the industry now that Brock Lesnar is retired -- it kind of puts him in a different ballpark. A lot of things are expected of him and he's not quite delivering. But as far as retirement talk, the guy ought to be able to have a bad performance here and there. Randy Couture, the greatest of all time, had bad performances, but he always came back. That wasn't all Sonnen had to say about the subject though. Chael also wanted to make it clear that Rampage's use of TRT shouldn't be viewed negatively: There's two things there. Hold on. If you're gonna associate the guy with TRT, make sure you also associate the fact that it's legal and it's not banned. Second thing with TRT is people are really getting confused. They look at TRT and they're missing the stuff that really is good. TRT is eight, nine or ten on the list of things they could take to help their careers. Secondly, any time a person says 'performance enhancer,' stop talking to them, because they don't have the intellect to debate with you. ... "I wanna make this point. I would never take anything if I didn't think it would help my performance. That's what medicine is in 21st Century America. Imagine if you go to the doctor and say, 'Doc, I'm feeling great. You got anything that can bring me down a notch?' That's malpractice. It's all meant to help your performance." Of course, I'd argue that there is a big difference between medicine keeping people healthy and "feeling good" and making an athlete unnaturally virile for his age.

Posted in: thing, sonnen, performance, chael, trt

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There are guys who flip the switch when they get in front of a microphone and a camera, and then there's Ultimate Fighting Championship Middleweight loud-mouth Chael Sonnen, who will get a title rematch when he faces Anderson Silva at UFC 147 in Brazil on June 2, 2012. Sonnen is on a whole other level. He plays the heel like a virtuoso on a violin. You can love him or hate him, but there's something about the way he fires off soundbytes that, deep down, you have to respect. Last night (March 15, 2012), Sonnen appeared on Spike TV's "MMA Uncensored" with hosts Craig Carton, Mike Straka and Nate Quarry, and aimed a few more candid shots at a few folks who have caught his ire of late. That includes Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who has recently been bickering back and forth with the UFC. And what are Sonnen's thoughts on this? Buckle your seatbelts. We're about to hit turbulence: "I like him. Look, he's a crybaby, but I find it entertaining. I like it when he goes on his campaigns about entitlement and how he should be given easy fights. I don't agree with any of it, but, you gotta understand, everybody's gonna stumble, at times, but to miss weight at a fight poorly, when you're paid what he's paid -- he's the second highest paid fighter in the industry now that Brock Lesnar is retired -- it kind of puts him in a different ballpark. A lot of things are expected of him and he's not quite delivering. But as far as retirement talk, the guy ought to be able to have a bad performance here and there. Randy Couture, the greatest of all time, had bad performances, but he always came back." Though Sonnen may have been backhandedly critical of "Rampage," he has at least one thing in common with him in that they have both admitted to using testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) with both taking heat for doing so. Things started to heat up as Sonnen spoke his mind on the subject: "There's two things there. Hold on. If you're gonna associate the guy with TRT, make sure you also associate the fact that it's legal and it's not banned. Second thing with TRT is people are really getting confused. They look at TRT and they're missing the stuff that really is good. TRT is eight, nine or ten on the list of things they could take to help their careers. Secondly, any time a person says 'performance enhancer,' stop talking to them, because they don't have the intellect to debate with you." It was at the point that Carton interjected and challenged Sonnen to say he was not using performance enhancing drugs (PED). Here's what he had to say: "I wanna make this point. I would never take anything if I didn't think it would help my performance. That's what medicine is in 21st Century America. Imagine if you go to the doctor and say, 'Doc, I'm feeling great. You got anything that can bring me down a notch?' That's malpractice. It's all meant to help your performance." The tension reached a climax as Carton proceeded to argue with Sonnen, accusing him of taking testosterone directly before his fight against Silva at UFC 117 on Aug. 7, 2010 in Oakland, as well as testing for "obscenely high levels." Chael was not pleased: "No, no, no. Absolutely not. Not only did I not take more of it, I was never even accused of that. Josh Gross, who's incompetent beyond measure, went on ESPN and said that I did, so it became my reality and I went with it. I was never even accused of that. Is it legal or is it not legal? If a person's taking a legal substance, that's the end of the conversation. You're sounding a lot like Josh Gross." Incredibly, Sonnen was able to compose himself and did not storm off the set, as we've seen in the past when he has been confronted with a line of questioning he was unprepared for. He was asked how his training is going for his upcoming rematch against Silva. According to Sonnen, he's ready to start training, but the fight deal has still not yet been inked: "Couple of things: First off, I don't even know if I have that fight. I'm telling people I do. I'm reading about it in the media. I don't have an agreement for that bout. And, second off, I'm gonna start in April. So, we haven't even begun yet." The question was posed to Sonnen on the actual root of his hatred for "The Spider." He said his real problem isn't even with Silva but rather the people who put up with him: "Listen, here's the deal with Anderson. My beef isn't so much with him, it's with everybody else. I get real sick and tired of seeing guys in the back asking him for his autograph with him, and then when they get on camera themselves, they portray themselves like they're tough guys. If you put a microphone in somebody's face, and he calls out anybody other than the champion, he might as well just turn in his pink slip. If you're not here to be the best, get to the end of the line. You don't belong. I'm not sidestepping this guy or anybody else. You know, any time someone publicly slaps Dana White in the face, publicly spits on Lorenzo Ferttita, I don't understand that. When Anderson comes out and he publicly says, 'I disagree with you' to the decision makers, the guys who put the process in place, who say, 'Here's how we're gonna determine a number one contender,' tells these guys he's got a better idea of their business than they do, I don't really understand that. So, that's not really a slight at me when Anderson says that, but he is telling his bosses that he disagrees with them." Finally, Sonnen answered the question no one really cares about everyone wants to know: If Steven Seagal is in Silva's corner again for their next fight at UFC 147, will Sonnen make use of Chuck Norris? "No, I will not have Chuck Norris. That is not true. I'm more of a Steve Austin guy." Good to know. Be honest, Maniacs. How ready are you for this fight to finally go down? And what of the rest of this madness? Comments, please.

Posted in: fight, guy, thing, sonnen, dont

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One thing is clear: Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight jawbreaker Tim Boetsch has an ambitious fight campaign mapped out for 2012. Just days after putting Michael Bisping "on his agenda," Boetsch is already calling for a championship fight against reigning division kingpin Anderson Silva, who is expected to put his strap on the line (again) against Chael Sonnen this June in Brazil. So what qualifies "The Barbarian" for this level of title talk? Probably last month's improbable comeback against Yushin Okami at UFC 144 in Japan. It was a fight that saw the former light heavyweight absorb two rounds of brutal punishment before uncorking a trio of violent uppercuts to finish the Japanese juggernaut. Boetsch makes his case for a "Spider" fight (via Sherdog.com) after the jump. "Chael showed a strong wrestler does well against him. The only thing that Chael failed to do was damage Anderson throughout the fight, and that’s kind of my specialty. I will deliver a high amount of damage from start to finish, and that would make a huge difference in the outcome of the fight. A lot of fighters out there are (scared). They think of him as an invincible superhero. If you’re thinking that way about your opponent, you’ve already lost. I think that’s what happens to a lot of guys. They lose that fight before they even get in the cage with him. I want Anderson to hold onto that belt until I get there. He is obviously a legend in the sport already. That being said, everybody has to lose eventually and I want to be the guy to take that belt from him. That’s been a dream of mine for a long time." Boetsch has now won three straight as a 185-pounder, and his finish over Okami, a former division number one contender, surely puts him in line for bigger and better things. But big enough for a shot at the title? What's the consensus here Maniacs, how many wins does "The Barbarian" need before he can start asking for a crack at the crown? And how impressive does he need to look in the process? Opinions, please.

Posted in: fight, boetsch, thing, anderson, thatrsquo

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UFC 146, over 2,500 lbs of certified man meat to fulfill the $59.95 that you will ultimately dish out to watch the PPV. On May 26th 2012, the world will witness a five-fight main card, completely filled with a total of ten heavyweights. The event will go down in the MGM Grand Garden Arena and we're assuming an influx of Japanese MMA fans will fly half-way across the world for the soon-to-be legendary card. Our buds at MMA Ironman run the only Japanese MMA website that I visit on a regular basis -- despite not being able to fully understand most of what's published on the site. When we heard the news that UFC 146 will feature an all-heavyweight main event, we felt the need to check out the comment section on MMA Ironman and then Google translate the comments from Japanese to English. Here's what we found: 1 What a monster movie...I'm worried I will not break with wire mesh. Dude, you're not the only one. I'm always worried that I won't break a wire mesh. In fact, I've been obsessed over it recently. It's turning into one of those OCD things. Sure, we understand the monster movie thing. At least, we'll give the impression that we do. However, when it comes down to the wire mesh -- we really hope you break through that thing.   2Expected to flow and that the defense of Mr. Velasquez becomes the champion Alistair Alright, let's analyze this one as closely as possible. We're assuming this commentator means this card will definitely flow, which is undoubtedly a good thing. We all want cards to flow. Any stagnation to UFC 146 would be utterly depressing. Now, this commentator also believes that the defense of Cain Velasquez will force Alistair Overeem to become champion. We're all about The Reem being champion, but we have no idea how Velasquez's defense will aid Alistair Overeem against Junior dos Santos. This must be some next-level stuff that we're not sophisticated enough to understand.   3I'm...luxury. Well damn you, so am I. There's no need to brag here.   4Premonition of the biggest and best tournament ever become MMA .... Now this is what we like to hear; an obvious psychic having a premonition that UFC 146 will be the biggest and best tournament in MMA history. Granted, UFC 146 is not necessarily a tournament -- but it will be one of the greatest things we will witness in MMA this year. Kudos to this guy, he gets our unofficial thumbs-up approval.   5Which also want to win support your favorite player is troubled because both. Don't even try to pass this statement through your cognition. Nothing good can come from trying to understand this thing. Sure, you can attempt to break down the syntax of this sentence, but you're definitely getting a brain tumor from it. Instead of reading the above mentioned comment, we suggest you do something productive with your time on earth -- like watch this video of a cat playing the piano since both make about the same amount of sense.

Posted in: ufc, mma, card, thing, mma ironman

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Posted in: thing, thetanky

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We live in an age where everything is criticized. Everyone has a voice. Everyone has an opinion. That's what makes this year's NCAA tournament field of 68 so tough. There's not all that much to criticize. The selection committee pretty much nailed it in terms of who should be included, where everyone was placed and who they were matched up against. But, again, everything must be criticized to some extent. Therefore, allow us some time to simply nit-pick here. These aren't things that are necessarily wrong with this year's bracket, but instead five things that, when forced to criticize, are the easiest targets. 1) Shouldn't the No. 1 overall seed not have the toughest journey to the Final Four? Kentucky certainly wasn't done any favors. The Wildcats have easily the most talented squad in the nation, and will be a trendy pick to win the national title in bracket pools everywhere. But the potential pitfalls are more numerous for them than any of the other 1-seeds. By far. The 8-9 game alone features the underachieving-yet-still-loaded defending national champs in UConn against Iowa State — the fourth-place team from the Big 12 who has one of the few big men in the country, Royce White, who could physically match freakish freshman star Anthony Davis. Below that, there's mid-major powerhouse Wichita State, run-and-gun threats Indiana and UNLV, then blue-chippers Baylor and Duke. Oh, and in the lower portions of the bracket, you get some pretty intense double-digit seeds in the form of VCU, über-athletic New Mexico State and a one-time top-10 Xavier squad. In terms of talent, this team might be John Calipari's best bet to deliver him his first national title. But, man, that's quite a road to traverse. Good luck, fellas. 2) The 8-seeds that shouldn't be 8-seeds Memphis and Creighton fit that bill. Yes, Memphis struggled to win big games in non-conference play, but it tore through its league schedule, losing only three games by a combined total of six points, and just won three games in its conference tournament by an average of margin of 25 points. The Tigers had a top-20 RPI and schedule strength and only two losses outside of the RP top 50. Creighton's schedule wasn't as strong, but its RPI (25) is up there, too. Outside of a three-game skid in Missouri Valley play in early February, blemishes are hard to find. They were as consistently strong as a rising mid-major program could be. Simply put: Both deserved better. Not much better, but better.

Posted in: game, thing, seed, state, selection committee

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GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The great thing about abbreviated spring training starts is that they offer the opportunity for a wide range of interpretation and perspective. Take Mat Latos' outing on Sunday, for example. The biggest acquisition of Cincinnati's offseason surrendered two earned runs over three innings in a 5-4 split-squad win against the Angels and most everyone was willing to label his outing as "just one bad pitch." For the most part, it was a description that fit. Latos did give up a two-run homer to second baseman Alexi Amarista in the second inning and it did overshadow the good things he did. He retired Peter Bourjos, Alberto Callaspo and Bobby Abreu in order to start the game — Albert Pujols spent the day back in Tempe — and he also struck out a total of three batters. If this were later in the spring and his innings limit were higher, he could have turned it into a nice outing. So it wouldn't have a been a bad thing to presume good things for the future. "He threw some outstanding curveballs, which is tough to do here in Arizona," Reds manager Dusty Baker said after the game. "That's almost impossible and he did a great job of that." But if Latos was also seeing the glass as half-full, his immediate attitude didn't show it. He argued with Rob Butcher, the Reds' PR pro, about having to talk with us writers after his appearance. Then, when Latos shuffled to where we standing about three feet away, his body language and responses suggested he'd rather being doing the cha-cha with a cactus.

Posted in: thing, lato, cincinnatis offseason, tempe —, outing

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It's already been confirmed that the UFC and FX knew about former gay pornstar Dakota Cochrane's hardcore past before they added him to the show, and Dana White has said he has no problem with it. Now here's video from the TUF media day where Dana White lays out how few f*cks he gives. He does sound like he's mentally steeling himself for the possibility of a homophobic witch hunt in the house though: "It's not like racism or things like that you have to deal with, but it's sort of a form of that, and it is what it is. The guy did it. Now he's got to live with it. He's got to handle himself in the real world. Dude is pretty tough. He made it on to the show, so any guy who has anything to say to him, he gets to kick his [expletive] ass two days later. That's the great thing about being on this reality show."..."I don't know if I have 15 homophobes here or 15 guys who could care less about it. I have no idea. No one has been talked to on the show. 'We have a very sensitive issue.' None of that has happened. We don't do that [expletive]. Whatever happens in that house happens, and then I'm going to have to deal with it. If there's some crazy [expletive] going on, you know how it works with me. I'm going to be fair and do the right thing. But if stuff crosses the line and bad things happen, I guess I'm going to be going over there a lot." All this wondering about what's gonna happen when Cochrane hits the TUF house could be moot after tonight when the elimination round goes down. It seems like half the interesting candidates for the show get axed before they even get in ... my biggest nightmare is if Saturday comes and both Epic Mustache Dude and Gay Porno Guy are gone. Oh well. No matter what, Master Thong will still be helping Urijah Faber coach, and he's more fun than a whole barrel full of gay porno guys. THONG STYLE! BOOM!

Posted in: guy, show, thing, he, heres video

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Roger Bowling wasn't all that pleased with his performance at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey, but he's already got plans to shake things up in 2012 and gun for the title.

Posted in: roger, thing, performance, rousey, bowling

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Strikeforce promised us big things for its main event on Saturday night – things like thrills and action and the kind of unbridled intensity that melts flat-screen TVs right off of walls – and what we got when Ronda Rousey clashed with Miesha Tate was all that and more.  Beforehand, we wondered if Rousey could work her seemingly-unstoppable mojo on the champ, her wicked ultra-violence, and we debated if Tate could be the one to derail the barreling freight train.  Then there was a mad four-and-a-half minute scramble, an arm so mangled it redefined the word “yikes!” and we had our answers.  Not since Gina Carano versus Cris “Cyborg” Santos did we give as much of a crap about female MMA, and now we have both a budding superstar and life breathed into a flagging area of the sport.  We have Ronda to thank for that. If God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, it was a humerus that went into making Ronda, and the judoka isn’t done paying Him back in the arm-bone currency she feels she owes.  Which is just fine.  Because if you’re a scrub and not worthy of being in the same cage as her, she’ll rip your arm off in under a minute, just as she did to all before her championship turn, and if you’re good – elite even, perhaps one of the best 135-pound femme fatales the sport has to offer – then it’s more about how long you can last before the inevitable, painful dislocation.  It’s that payoff that matters, and thus far we’ve gotten it every cringe-inducing time.  So much so, in fact, that it’s now what makes female MMA so morbidly compelling.  Do you think Deadspin would be devoting digital ink to members of the fairer sex fighting in a cage if it weren’t for those endings, those horrific yet amazingly technical things Ronda does to opponents’ limbs?  No freakin’ way.  But she does so they do, and the sport is better for it. And what of the future of woman’s MMA?  If Rousey is indeed the new standard bearer, who out there is left to legitimately challenge her?  When Cyborg beat Carano from the cage, and ultimately from the sport, there was no one else for the Brazilian, no one else to threaten her or unseat her or even force her to break a sweat (which ushered in the “Great Female MMA Dry Spell”, when a women’s bout on a card moved the needle not at all).  Will the same thing happen again now that Queen Ronda has ascended the throne?  It’s possible.  It’s possible that top contender Sarah Kaufman stands not even a snowball’s chance in Hell against the unstoppable grappling and undeniable armbar that surely awaits.  But the beauty of it all is that with Rousey and her Olympic-level combative skills comes something priceless to the sport in general, something so momentous and historic that, years from now, when we look back upon this time, we’ll be calling this the “Ronda Era” – this being the exact point in time when the bar for a female fighter’s necessary skill level was raised to where it was suddenly became conceivable that, yes, that lady could mess other ladies up, and maybe even mess up a lot of guys too (Bryan Caraway, I’m looking at you).  Just as an athlete from UFC 3 couldn’t hang with those in the mix today, Rousey’s skill, and appurtenant success, means that at a minimum, a fighter will have to a be at least fantastic at fighting now, whether it’s for challenging the champ or even just entertaining us. With that said, maybe the next true challenge to Rousey’s reign will take the form of another Olympian, like Sara McMann, who earned a silver medal in freestyle wrestling and has amassed a spotless 5-0 MMA record.  Or maybe the Strikeforce champ’s nemesis is still competing at the highest levels in judo, or jiu-jitsu, or whatever, and has yet to cross over to mixed martial arts.  Regardless, because of one of the best main events on a Showtime card in a long time, the bar is now higher than it’s ever been.  For that – and the attention and rejuvenation she’s brought – we owe Ronda thanks.  And if you want to keep your arm, I suggest you give it to her.

Posted in: mma, sport, thing, rousey, ronda

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Uh oh. Something’s wrong with Rampage Jackson again. Rampage Jackson has had a fairly turbulent relationship with the UFC filled with plenty of peaks and valleys since he joined the organization back in 2007. And unfortunately, it seems the relationship has hit another one of it’s rough spots. Out of the blue last night, Rampage declared on Twitter that his next UFC fight will be his last, though he wouldn’t say why other than insinuating that he’s underpaid. The only thing Rampage did clarify was that he will continue to fight, just not for the UFC. I will fight who ever they put n front of me,I always have,but it will b my last fight n the ufc,I have other things on my mind I didn’t say I would b done fighting,I just said I’m not fighting 4 the UFC,(u fight cheap)I said I have other things on my mind (big head) “@VWAssassin: @Rampage4real your leaving the UFC?” Y should I stay? I don’t need them or anybody else negative dealing with my carrie “@DrjftGaming: @Rampage4real Will you still do MMA, or is this your last MMA fight period?” Guys learn how 2 read! MMA ok UFC no ok after Sorry guys just been going threw a lot n I was trying 2 stay positive last night,n it worked,so I’m just gonna start over! U helped me! I know 1 place I’m not going back 2! I’m going 2 b with my wife n kids n sin no more! Just ask 4 forgiveness! #new I’d win this 1! I need help with positive energy once again,u can tell things aint right,u helped me last night! I love u all,wish I could say what’s up Sigh… This declaration obviously brings up a lot of questions that we unfortunately just don’t have the answers to. Rampage briefly mentioned money, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the only issue here. Could it have something to do with that controversial interview he did with Fighters Only last week? Or perhaps a contract negotiation that’s already soured? Who knows, but clearly something is going on. I wouldn’t worry about it too much though. His emotions may be running high now, but once he eventually calms down the reality of the situation will remain the same. There just aren’t any viable options for top name fighters outside of the UFC anymore. Just ask Tim Sylvia. Image via CombatLifestyle.com

Posted in: ufc, fight, rampage, rampage jackson, thing

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Quinton Jackson, who is coming off a loss to Ryan Bader in Japan, is currently vacationing in Pampanga, which is one of the provinces in the Philippines. During his stay in the country, Rampage has sent out a few interesting tweets. The former UFC champion, who has been known to get emotional about things, said that after his next fight, he plans on leaving the UFC, and fighting for other promotions: @Rampage4realQuinton Jackson I will fight who ever they put n front of me,I always have,but it will b my last fight n the ufc,I have other things on my mind Mar 06 via Twitter for BlackBerry® Favorite Retweet Reply @Rampage4realQuinton Jackson I didn't say I would b done fighting,I just said I'm not fighting 4 the UFC,(u fight cheap)I said I have other things on my mind (big head) Mar 06 via Twitter for BlackBerry® Favorite Retweet Reply Jackson went on to explain why he isn't happy with the UFC, tweeting "Why should I stay? I don't need them or anybody else negative dealing with my (career)... MMA, okay. UFC, not okay after". Related: Rampage Jackson Says He Used Prescribed Testosterone Replacement Before UFC 144 | Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua Wants Rematch With Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson Knowing how emotional Rampage can get at times, I expect that this will all just boil over once he speaks with the UFC brass and patches things up. Either way, even if he wants to push through with this a few months after, it won't be easy as there will be very limited options available for him outside of the UFC.

Posted in: ufc, rampage, jackson, rampage jackson, thing

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Once again, the female fighters stole the show on a Strikeforce Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio. Now we sort through the aftermath for the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.Biggest Winner: Ronda RouseyTurns out she was ready for this level of competition after all. The outspoken Olympic medalist showed Tate that there’s more to this judo stuff than you can learn in just a couple months. Once the fight hit the floor, Rousey overpowered and outmaneuvered Tate with shocking ease. Even when Tate knew to look out for the armbar, she couldn’t stay out of it. That’s not to say there aren’t still some holes in Rousey’s game -- the way she seems to lead with her chin on the feet, for instance -- but anyone who can submit Tate that easily and that brutally is someone who’s going to give future challengers a lot of sleepless nights. She may have talked her way into this fight, but her performance proved she belongs. Now women’s MMA has the kind of brash champion it needs to shake things up. Up to this point, female fighters have tended to play it a little too nice outside the cage, possibly because they all felt themselves to be a part of the same struggle. Rousey just skipped to the front of the line by stepping on her predecessors’ backs, and now she might be hard to dislodge from that top spot. Things are getting interesting, in other words. Just in time, too. Biggest Loser: Miesha TateFirst of all, how is her arm not broken? How is that even possible? Rousey had her arm looking like Olive Oyl in the old Popeye cartoons by the time she tapped, and you’re telling me that the bones in a human arm can withstand that? This changes everything I thought I knew about the human body, and I'm not sure I like that. It’s got to be a bummer for Tate to go down to the same submission that Rousey used on every other opponent, so I can understand her reluctance to tap to it. Still, it’s one thing to hold on if you’re working for an escape or trying to ride out the round. Tate was doing neither during that final armbar. She refused to tap out of pure stubbornness, which is kind of cool, I guess, but also very risky when you need a working arm just to stay employed. You can’t question Tate’s toughness after that fight, but maybe you can question whether she was adequately prepared for Rousey’s judo throws. Even if her arm isn’t actually broken, my guess is she might still get some doctor-mandated time off to think about where things went wrong.Least Impressive in Victory: Josh ThomsonAt least he gave us an honest appraisal of his own lackluster performance. "It was s--t," he said in his post-fight interview. Yeah, that pretty much nails it. He did what he had to do to get the decision over KJ Noons, but that’s all. He made things slightly better for himself by owning up to the boring monotony of the whole thing, kind of like how obese comedians have learned to make fun of their own girth just to beat other people to the punch. Trouble is, you can only take that out that so many times before people start to wonder why you don’t do something about it. Thomson blamed his training, which he said he’d altered just so he could finally get through a camp without getting injured. Apparently it didn’t leave him with enough gas in the tank to do much more than hold Noons down. There has to be a happy medium between not training hard enough and training so hard you can’t get out of bed in the morning. Plenty of other fighters seem to find it. Why can’t Thomson?Most Surprising: Kazuo MisakiComing into this fight, I thought all Misaki had to offer was a head hard enough to take Paul Daley’s brain-scrambling punches. Turned out he had a lot more than that, and Daley had a lot less. Misaki earned that decision, and I think everyone but Daley (and one of the three judges) knew it. It just goes to show that sometimes you don’t need one spectacular attribute to win a fight. Sometimes toughness and technique is enough. Of course, it helps if your opponent tries to rely too much of a grappling game that just isn’t there.Best Argument in Favor of a ‘Showtime Extreme’ Subscription: Sarah Kaufman vs. Alexis DavisYou could point out that it doesn’t make a ton of sense for what was essentially the number one contender bout to be relegated to the prelims when the title fight itself was slotted for the main event. And you’d be right. Maybe Strikeforce thought fans would rebel at the thought of two women’s fights on the main card, but the truth is Kaufman and Davis put on a much better show than any of the men’s fights on Saturday night. You’re telling me viewers wouldn’t have preferred to see Kaufman and Davis slugging it out rather than Thomson and Noons hugging it out? The bright side is, at least Strikeforce has found a way to televise its prelims so fans didn’t have to miss that scrap entirely. Good thing, too. Otherwise it might have been really baffling to keep showing a lumped up Kaufman smiling from cageside before the Rousey-Tate fight.Most Depressing: Scott SmithMaybe it’s the years and the beatings catching up with him, but Smith looked like a man who was just showing up to get a paycheck. He appeared neither physically prepared nor psychologically motivated, and he tapped quickly to a guillotine choke that he didn’t even try to escape. Maybe that’s a little too harsh. Maybe he had, as fighters so often do, a litany of reasons/excuses for not being in top form on Saturday night. But if you’re not going to try any harder than that once you’re in the cage, does it even matter? Smith got by on his punching power and his ability to take a beating for years. Maybe he did it for too long, or learned too many of the wrong lessons in the process. All I know for sure is that this is the wrong line of work for someone who’s just going through the motions.Most Deserving of a Closer Look: Pat HealyHe’s been a background player for Strikeforce these last couple of years, but his win over Caros Fodor shows that he’s earned a bigger role. It’s his fourth consecutive victory in the promotion, and his second straight submission over a legitimate talent. Could it be that Healy has finally found his groove? It might be too early to tell, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him face tougher competition in some main card bouts in order to help us find out.Most Bizarrely Enjoyable: Strikeforce’s Broadcast TrioIt used to be cloying. Then it got kind of fun. Then it got almost too fun to be professional, but now Mauro Ranallo, Pat Miletich, and Frank Shamrock have found their sweet spot. They know each other well enough to make the broadcasts seem effortless at times, and they might have finally gotten comfortable enough with another to make it seem like we’re just eavesdropping on three knowledgeable analysts, each of whom brings something different to the table. For instance, when Ranallo went to great pains to pin down the Japanese name for a particular throw, Miletich chimed in right on cue with exactly what many viewers were likely thinking: In America, we call that a hip toss, Mauro. Ranallo has wisely toned down the puns and the scripted schtick, so when he does pull out terms like "pulverized proboscis" it’s like we’re all in on the joke. When it’s time for serious analysis, there’s still nobody better than Miletich at capturing the complex with simple descriptions that even the novice can understand. It took a while, and no shortage of missteps, but this team is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.

Posted in: fight, time, tate, thing, itrsquo

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Dana White has been talking about 'fixing Strikeforce' since that terrible Rockhold vs Jardine event and recently it sounded like Showtime had finally given him the mysterious control he was demanding. But when it was finally time for the things White asked for to be incorporated into last Saturday's Tate vs Rousey event, Showtime suddenly decided they'd rather keep things the way they've always been. Now Dana's pissed: "I almost missed the first UFC fight in 11 years, and then I get the phone call from Pete Dropick when I'm in Japan," White said. "'Yeah, listen, they're not going to change pretty much any of the stuff you wanted.' So I said, '[Expletive] them.'"You flew out to Las Vegas and wasted my time. Go talk your boxing [expletive] to somebody else."White declined to specifically address what changes were proposed and/or nixed beyond "a few minor tweaks that we thought would make the live show better."However, he did make it clear he thinks Showtime is making a very poor decision."These guys are letting a D-level producer run their organization, and that's exactly what I told Espinoza," White said. "You want to let a D-level producer run your organization? Go for it brother. Knock yourself out. I've got [expletive] to do. I've got another job." While Strikeforce is usually pretty solid in the fights department, the production side of things is consistently terrible. Cringe-worthy interviews and detracting commentary are two big problems that stand out the most. Add in the dozen or so other problems with the broadcast and you have a product that ends up being unpleasant to watch in spite of the enjoyable matches it's providing. Considering this nearly universal opinion, it seems pretty silly that Showtime would reject suggestions from the slightly more experienced and successful UFC on how to run events properly.This situation goes much further than a couple of tweaks that may or may not have helped Strikeforce do something something. MMA Caesar has decided he's not going to bother with the promotion any more. Remember how long PRIDE lasted after that happened? While Zuffa will still provide the services they're contractually obligated to provide, there's a world of difference between trying to make sh*t work and doing the bare minimum. If this is more than a tiff between partners and more like the beginning of a serious rift, it could easily turn the future of Strikeforce on it's head ... and the women's divisions it contains. Which would suck.

Posted in: strikeforce, showtime, thing, expletive, dlevel producer

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Even though two of the four fighters competing this Friday night at UFC on FX 2 in the opening round of the UFC’s title-centric flyweight tournament will be making their promotional debuts there’s no question each is supremely skilled. In fact, even former bantamweight contender Demetrious Johnson, also part of the 125-pound field, has labeled the quartet as being comprised of the division’s top talent. Johnson recently offered up his opinion on the group where he not only showed a great deal of respect for his peers but also the weight-class in general. “Joseph Benavidez, we fought on the same card together and we’re pretty good buddies. We had a great time in Australia (on a recent press tour). As for Yasuhiro Urushitani, I watched a couple of his fights just to see who he was and to get a little feel for him. He seems like a pretty tough guy,” explained Johnson on the UFC’s website. “If you look at me and Joseph, we’ve been known to the world, and Ian McCall and Yasuhiro Urushitani are both champions in their own organizations. So we’ve got the best fighters in there.” McCall: “We’re going in there and we are going to try to take each others’ heads off!” As far as his familiarity with McCall, who he faces in semifinal action, and Shooto champ Urushitani, “Mighty Mouse” apparently makes sure he’s well-informed on any opponent he could potentially face inside the Octagon. “Honestly, I (even) keep my eye on guys that are amateur right now,” the 25-year old laughed. “I watch everybody because you never know who’s gonna be the biggest next thing. Ian McCall has done a great thing for himself going down to 125. He was doing good at 135 from what I remember and now he’s ranked number one in the world, and I can’t wait to get in there and mix it up with him.” However, while the FX-bound foursome is only the tip of the iceberg as far as Johnson is concerned. When asked about flyweights in general, the Pacific-Northwestern responded that the group is full of, “Great guys who have great fighting skills and are non-stop action. Great cardio, great technique, and there are gonna be some finishes there as well. You can expect a lot of great things.” Fans can watch Johnson, McCall, Benavidez, and Urushitani usher in the UFC’s eighth weight-class when things start up at 8:00 PM EST. UFC on FX 2 is headlined by a bout between welterweight contenders Martin Kampmann-Thiago Alves. Preliminary pairings will air on Facebook/Fuel TV in the preceding hours. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: ufc, johnson, thing, mccall, urushitani

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Court McGee is not the best athlete in the UFC middleweight division.He’s not the best striker either. There are others in the 185-pound weight class who are better grapplers than he is as well. The same goes for wrestling. The 27-year-old Ultimate Fighter winner is brutally honest when assessing how he matches up with his fellow middleweight competitors, and the fact that he’s not at the top of the list in any of the aforementioned fundamentals is fine with him.After all, those things are out of his control.“I can’t control being the best striker or the best grappler,” said the man whose menacing stare and angry beard stand in stark contrast to the soft-spoken, intellectual man behind them. “I can improve on (those things) and just constantly get better at jiu-jitsu and wrestling and my striking.“One thing I can control though is my conditioning — getting stronger, and faster, and better, and always changing it. I’ve got a good group of guys — I’ve got Jason Mertlich, I’ve got John Hackleman, I’ve got The Pit behind me — and I’m always able to push the limit on conditioning. It’s a comfortable feeling going into a fight knowing that I can really put it on somebody and recover in a minute, and I can do that for 15 minutes.”McGee doesn’t tailor each training camp to prepare for the opponent he’s set to face. He hasn’t spent the last two months working on a game plan specific to Costa Philippou, the man he faces Friday night (technically Saturday morning) at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia in the first fight of the UFC on FX 2 broadcast.He’s studied his opponent enough to know what he brings to the table, but for McGee, the fight is about finding a way to win once the cage door closes, and training camp is about giving yourself the best opportunity to do that come fight night.“He may be a better striker than me, but I’ll put together my tools, see what I have, and do the best that I can do to figure out how to beat him. I kind of know what he likes to do. He got a pretty good KO in his last fight, and I saw that, so I know he likes to strike, but you never know — he could come out and try to shoot. When the cage door closes and it’s just him and me in there, then it’s up to me to figure out how to beat him.”Instead of preparing for the opponent he’s about to face, McGee spends his time in the gym training to compete against the toughest opponent he could envision; the person whose abilities and attributes would cause him the most trouble inside the cage. In the process of working to defeat his fictitious foe inside the gym, McGee is also pushing himself to become that man for each of his real life opponents.“I think about what would be the hardest and toughest opponent for me to fight, and what comes to mind is he’s going to be difficult to submit, he’s difficult to knock out, and he’s got conditioning for days, and he pushes the pace. For me, that would be the hardest opponent, so that’s who I try to be — I try to be that person.”So far, it seems to be working.In each of his two post-TUF appearances to date, McGee turned the fights into a test of wills and a battle of attrition, and was the one who had his hand raised in the end. He submitted veteran Ryan Jensen in the third round of their UFC 121 encounter after looking lethargic in the first, and followed it up 11-months later with another performance that highlighted his unmatched ability to continue pushing forward against Dongi Yang.For McGee, it comes down to two things: what you’ve done in the gym leading up to the fight, and why you’re stepping into the cage in the first place.“I know what it takes to compete against that high level; now it’s just whether or not you’re willing to get in shape, and that to me is the hardest thing to do. Besides cutting weight, the conditioning is the hardest thing, man.“It’s hard to show up and condition three, four, five times a week, and throw a 130-pound ball around, and run sprints on an incline on a treadmill, and do this, do that, and Tabata this, and throw weight around, and kettlebell this, and sprint this, and push a thousand-pound wheelbarrow up a hill. That’s the hard stuff.“If it was up to me, going in and sparring five times a week? Shoot, man — that’d be awesome. I love the sparring. I love the fighting part of it. It’s the hard conditioning where you just borderline want to give up on life and you’ve still got another 20 or 30 second sprint to go — that’s the hard stuff.“Were you willing to take the steps necessary to get the best results? Showing up every day through the little injuries, big injuries, or the time off, having a lot of fights or not having a lot of fights, or the press or the lack thereof, or the money or not much money.“That’s another thing too as to why I think I’ve been successful,” continued the Ogden, Utah native. “The money is the payoff that I can better take care of my family with, and that’s important, but it’s not the most important. (First and foremost), I can carry the message to other people who struggle with drug addiction and things like that; to know that if I can make it out, they can make it out.”McGee, like fellow UFC on FX 2 competitor Ian McCall, battled addictions earlier in his life, and was once clinically dead as a result of a heroin overdose. He’s been clean since April 2006.“Secondly, if you get rid of all the crowd — you get rid of all the friends that are watching you— and it’s just me and Costa Philippou in there, I still have the same desire to win whether or not there is money on the line. If we’re fighting, do I have that desire to win? Do I still want to fight and will I go after it? And I do, and that’s what I love. Two, three minutes into that fight and we’re trading punches — we’re tired, you’ve been hit, and you’re hurt — that’s what I like: I like that spot. I like to be in there, and that’s a big difference.”Having come through his battles with drug addiction and endured the early lean years as a professional to be where he is today has had a significant impact on McGee, as you would expect. It’s shaped his approach to both his life and his craft, giving him a clearer picture of what’s important, and it goes way beyond wins and losses.“Growing up, I thought money was a big priority in life, and now that I’ve made a little bit, I’ve come to realize that it’s not all that important. Just as long as you can get by, pay the bills, be happy, and support (yourself and your family), you’ve got to find what you love to do.“Money comes and goes, friends come and go, but the connection with a higher power is something that I have, and the ability to do something that I love — martial arts — for a living, and the pay out that I can take better care of my family has given me the ability to appreciate the little things in my life.“I bought a home, so I’m a home owner now, and that’s really a cool thing, but I still drive the same car that I got my wife in high school — ’99 Saturn; just the base model Saturn. I’m a real simple guy. Being able to talk to other martial artists, and being able to carry a message to other people who are struggling through my martial arts, and through my fighting, I feel privileged. I really feel privileged.“I just celebrated five years of doing MMA,” continued McGee. “October 26, 2007 I quit my job as a plumber to pursue a career as a professional MMA fighter, and I struggled for a long time. It’s still a struggle, but I do it because I love it; I love to be in the fight. God’s given me the ability to compete, and train, and fight, and I’m going to keep doing it until I lose that desire - that desire to win while I’m in there.”Don’t expect that desire or McGee go away any time soon.  

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship is preparing for its return to New Jersey, and to kick things off, they’re once again thumbing their collective noses at New York politicians.

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After a break including a huge trip to China I’m glad to be back at Five Ounces of Pain blogging, this time leading into my fight against Caros Fodor at this weekend’s Strikeforce event. Knowing Strikeforce is back for 2012 is a big weight off my shoulders due to the job security. By having Zuffa come in and take Strikeforce over, and seeing how they run an organization, it’s obvious they’re good at what they do and it’s such a well oiled machine. The difference in communication before/after is night and day. You wouldn’t hear anything from them for six months,and then they’d call you and say “You’re fighting in a month.” It was four of five different guys trying to run the show, whereas now, with Sean Shelby and Scott Coker, it’s pretty cut and dry. It’s hard to see Strikeforce going anywhere but up right now the way things are. Coming into the fight, I’m the lowest weight I’ve ever been at this point this close. I’m less than ten pounds over, maybe nine and some change. That’s really good for me and I’m thinking I’m only going to have to “cut” maybe 5-6 pounds before weigh-ins. That right there is a pretty exciting prospect. I’ve got things down pretty well now. This is my seventh fight at 155 so it just gets easier and easier. Last week, I really picked up my water intake, trying to drink two gallons of water a day. It really fills you up and keeps things moving through your body. Over the next week, I’m going to keep it similar to what I’ve been doing by eating clean. I eat six times a day with three bigger meals and three smaller meals. It keeps my body burning stuff. I’ve been using a nutritionist named Troy Sudar from LastRoundNutrition.com and he’s been great. I’ve also added some stuff from the Dolce Diet too because Mike has got some meal options that are really good. As this week progresses, I’ll just make my portions smaller and smaller. With the weigh-ins on Friday I’ll try and do a flush where I’ll try to drink five gallons of water. It just flushes you completely out and you’ll lose 4 -5 pounds. From there, you really cut back that last day and don’t eat a lot before weigh-ins..eat clean, like a lot of spinach and some really small meals. I try to make it so that I only do one weight cut overall. My fight camp has been great as well. My last fight against Maximo Blanco was on short notice and I had a full camp this time. I’m always in the gym and never stop training really, but with a full camp you really get good time to focus fully on your opponent (as opposed to focusing on just your skills.) With Fodor, I got to watch a lot of tapes to see what he does and try to put some good training or thoughts in my head every time I go to train and really tailor my style to do what I want to do. It’s just so nice to be able to focus on a guy for a full camp. After my fight with  Blanco, I went to China for six weeks to train some up and comers. Although I went out there to train those guys, I picked up a lot of stuff from them. San Shou is really not a style that many people are familiar with outside of Cung Le. It uses some really interesting kicks and is just a really slick style. I learned a lot from them and a lot of how they were training, so I was able to implement that into my training. I have a little bit of limitation because of my flexibility (or lack thereof lol) but it’s something I’ve been working on since China and I think I’m going to be able to mix it up quite well and keep Fodor guessing. My brother Ryan is preparing for a fight too. It really helps that we’re both training at the same time. We spar really well together and we’ve been doing a lot of stuff that I brought back from China. He was working a lot off the speed mitt style that Floyd Mayweather does and we’ve been able to mix that all together. We just always seem to be on the same page. We’re able to build with each other, and I think it’s extremely handly. When I head to Columbus he’s staying behind to train. It’s alright though. I’ve got Matt Lindland with me, and he’s my right hand man and someone I prefer having in my corner. I know Ryan would love to be there, but he doesn’t need the added stress of being at the show having to corner me not to mention it’s an awkward feeling to have to do that for your brother. Before I go, I’ve got to say a bit about my Portland Trail Blazers as we come out of the All-Star Break. They’re going to turn it up in the second half. Their problem is their inconsistency. Some nights they look great and the next night, they just don’t seem to put it together. I see them coming together this second half though. Nate MacMillan is a great coach, and he’s really trying to get that chemistry back going. Joel Przybilla is coming back and truly, I love the Vanilla Gorilla and the way he plays. He’s actually a big MMA guy too. He’s trained with Lindland a little bit, and trained with Duke Roufus too. I think they can finally make it out of the first round of the playoffs this year. Their guards are stepping up, and I see them putting things together now. We can’t keep doing this thing where we ride in the back and barely make it in and get put up against the #1 seed. I think a lot of that depends on how consistent they get their play going. But I’ve got faith. It’s Rip City all the way here! Let’s do this again soon, maybe from Columbus next week. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter at @BamBamHealy. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE/5 OZ

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That slow but steady whistling sound you hear is probably the wind getting sucked from the sails of the Georges St. Pierre fan club, who's been lobbying for his speedy return following knee surgery. The longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight kingpin recently teased that he was ahead of schedule, giving newly-minted Interim Champion Carlos Condit reason to sit on the sidelines and wait for his return. A recent report from Japan suggests he's not in any "Rush" after all. That means Condit could be looking at a title unification bout in November, at the earliest, unless he opts to defend the temporary strap while waiting for the champ to get his ligaments in order. St. Pierre talks about his long road to recovery with The Star Phoenix, after the jump. "You cannot predict the future. So I take only one step at a time. I don't know if it's going to be Carlos or what's going to happen. In mixed martial arts, there's so many things that happen. You never know. I don't even focus on fighting right now. I don't even focus on that. I don't even think about it. I just focus on my knee. That's the most important thing. I don't want to do the same thing again. I pushed too much the first time and it will not happen again. It was the biggest injury of my career. But I did the right thing, surrounded myself with the right people, and I will come back stronger from it." Nick Diaz, who was a 170-pound monkey wrench in the St. Pierre vs. Condit title fight, is now riding the pine following a suspension for marijuana. That means Jake Ellenberger, who established himself as the next in line with a convincing win over Diego Sanchez earlier this month, could help rally the fans to get Condit back into the cage for a rematch of their 2009 tilt. Lots of puzzle pieces here Maniacs ... who's ready to try and put them together? Sort this thing out in the comments section below.

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Here are several things you can bet on during UFC 144's main event on Saturday in Japan.

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

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Warming up in a locker room at Nebraska's Omaha Civic Auditorium, Sean Loeffler had never felt better. A 12-year fight veteran, Loeffler was about to reach his career climax on the sport's biggest stage when UFC event coordinator Burt Watson entered the room to give Loeffler his five-minute warning. Only a few hallways and a few ticks of the clock separated him from his UFC debut. Loeffler was all set to finish his pre-fight ritual with five tuck jumps, a dynamic yet simple exercise that forces the athlete to pull his knees up to his chest in mid-air before landing. On the landing of his first jump, something went terribly wrong, his right foot twisting between a seam on the mat and the sound of two distinct cracks piercing the air. It was clear to the others in the room that he'd damaged his leg, just not how badly. But Loeffler, anxious to make his first start in the UFC refused to acknowledge the obvious."I looked down and my ankle was the size of a softball already, and this was 20 seconds after it happened," Loeffler said on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour. Despite his gameness, the freak occurrence did eventually force him out of the UFC on FUEL bout, a rare fight night injury that cost a fighter a chance to compete while already in the arena. As Loeffler tells it, it's just another in a series of tough breaks he has endured throughout his colorful life story. Among them? He's been shot, stabbed, been in jail, was misled into signing away rights to his daughter, and had one of his coaches killed. Yet through it all, he remains optimistic. First things first, when it comes to his MMA career. An MRI revealed a complete tear of the anterior talofibular ligament in his ankle as well as partial tears of two other ligaments. Still, he expects to be back in the cage within six months. That quick recovery time should come as no surprise given the fact that Loeffler wanted to go through with his scheduled bout even after suffering the injuries.At the outset, backstage doctors believed he had broken his tibia and fibula bones, but Loeffler lied and told them he was in no pain. When he got back to his feet, his coaches realized he couldn't plant his foot, a significant problem in generating power or even establishing a stable base."I said, 'Carry me out there, I'm going to fight,'" he said.But moments later, he stepped forward to reach for his water bottle and fell back down. Doctors, coaches and UFC officials quickly ruled him out of the fight. The decision was devastating, according to Loeffler, who instead of walking to the octagon, was instead soon riding in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.Remarkably, it wasn't the first injury he suffered during a big moment in his career. During his first live televised fight in 2008, he suffered a compound fracture 35 seconds into the bout while in the midst of attempting a takedown, an injury that resulted in a TKO loss on his record.But this being the UFC, this sudden setback was a much bigger letdown. According to Loeffler, he wept in the locker room and later in his hotel room as well. Even in the midst of the moment, it was so surreal that it seemed entirely unreal."Two things were going on," he said. "The first thing going on was the adrenaline was starting to drop, and I never realized how much it masked pain until this moment. Because I started realizing, this really hurts. And the second thing was I kept thinking, 'I’m going to wake up.' And this sounds so cheesy. 'I’m going to wake up, it’s going to be Wednesday, it's going to be cold as hell in Omaha, Nebraska, and I’m going to wake up thinking, Wow, what a scary dream that was.'"That cold reality though, is a situation that can be fixed with time. That's something he's not so sure about when it comes to his daughter, Amber, who he hasn't seen in over five years. It was at that time when Loeffler signed over full custody to Amber's birth mother, mistakenly believing that he would still have visitation rights. Since then, the two haven't had "one bit of contact," he said. He publicizes the problem in hopes of one day reconnecting with his daughter, saying "I’d sell my house and my business if it meant seeing my kid for one day."Grouped together with some of his life experiences, Loeffler has experienced many of life's lows, something that he hopes will be at least partially balanced out one day with a professional achievement years in the making."I’m still just accepting things, and pray to God and hope that the roller coaster than I’m on is going to end one day with that belt wrapped around my waist," he said.

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Former light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson has made no secret of his overwhelming urge to hold the title one final time before retiring in the next year or two. While Jackson understands doing so is easier said than done, the 33-year old is confident he can achieve his goal even if it means facing current divisional king Jon Jones a second time. Jackson, who hopes to make Ryan Bader the next victim of his obsession when the two lock horns later this month at UFC 144, spoke some on the subject of the strap in his latest blog for Yahoo Sports where, among other things, “Rampage” mentioned why winning gold again is personal to him. “I still think I can win my title back, and I still think I can even win it back from Jon Jones, but I would have to execute the game plan. Jones was very good on the night; he did what he had to with style and stopped me doing what I needed to do. Respect to him,” Jackson wrote. “But I still want my belt back before I retire. I will always think of that belt as mine, even when I’m an old, bald wrinkled ass man. I’m very, very proud of unifying that UFC belt with the PRIDE belt and for that reason a little bit of me will always think of that belt as belonging to me.” “I was a little pissed off and disappointed that I didn’t get my belt back and I was upset with my performance. I’m going to take that out on Ryan Bader and – in front of the Japanese fight fans – put on a great fight,” said Jackson, putting a stamp on things. While Jackson has never been known as a gym rat, the motivation created by his quest for championship redemption has him staying in top shape. “I’m not going to lie, I still don’t like training too much. Getting sweaty with other dudes? Not really my thing. There’s other things I can think of which are a lot more fun to do,” Jackson joked before adding, “But I train a lot harder than I used to, and a lot smarter. Jackson-Bader serves as the co-headliner on the February 25 card. UFC 144 is headlined by lightweight title-holder Frankie Edgar taking on former WEC champ Benson Henderson with a stack PPV card featuring seven total fights. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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In just a few weeks I'm going to be fighting Miesha Tate for the Strikeforce women's 135lbs world championship title. It’s a match that she's resisted since the very beginning, but has snowballed into women’s MMA's most anticipated fight since Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg set ratings records for Showtime a few years ago. It began with me defeating Julia Budd this past November in an admittedly brutal fashion, followed by me asking for the first shot at Miesha since she won her belt from Marloes Coenen. Miesha immediately protested, and as a result we had a now infamous debate on Ariel Helwani's show. She was obviously less prepared for the debate than I was, as I treated the debate like a fight in itself. I saw the potential and importance of this opportunity, and looked up every article I could find arguing her point of view. I then wrote a counter argument to every single point they made and took turns with my friends playing both myself and her in "practice arguments." By the time we were on the show she sounded uneducated and unprepared in comparison, conflicting herself and falling speechless on several occasions. Several months later while doing a round table press conference with her, Scott Coker, and myself, I swear I could hear an echo in the room as she completely abandoned most of her original stances o the subject and adopted mine. The only thing she hasn't conceded on was the fact that she doesn't think I'm a "worthy" opponent and don't deserve to fight her. If that is the case, I encourage her and her fans to put their money where their mouths are. Because at the moment I'm favored almost 4-1 in the Vegas odds, and I would like for my friends to actually make a decent profit for once off of one of my wins. Funny isn't it? That a challenger who isn't deserving of a title shot is so heavily favored over the champion….Though she's argued that I'm less experienced than her, not able to deal with pressure, and likely to mentally break after the first minute… there's no way she can conceive the amount of pain, sacrifice, bravery, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles I've had to overcome to make it to this point.I was literally born fighting. The umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and my face was blue, everyone was scared that I died. Obviously I didn't, but there was some damage done. I was far behind my sisters and other children my age in speech, and could not speak coherently till I was around 6. No one ever told me there was anything wrong with me, my Mom and Dad refused to let me feel abnormal. I just remember being frustrated all the time, because I knew in my head what I wanted to say, but for some reason no one could ever understand me; my words came out as gibberish. My father most of all told everyone: "Ronnie is a sleeper. Just you watch, she's gonna show everyone and be the best of them one day." He would always tell me that I was destined for greatness. At the time I was swimming competitively and he would constantly tell me I was going to win the Olympics and be the best in the world someday. Unfortunately my Dad died when I was 8 years old, and it was the most painful thing my family has ever been through…Swimming was something me and my dad would do together, and after his death I quickly lost my motivation to swim. Though I never lost the need to honor him and fulfill every expectation he had of me.Several years later we moved to Los Angeles, my mother remarried, and things got better. My mother was the first American to ever win the world championships in judo, something she never talked about much when I was a kid. But she used to train at Tenri Judo in East LA during her prime in the 80's, so when we moved back to LA she went to visit her old teammates who had then opened up clubs of their own. I took to judo right away and it soon replaced swimming as my number one passion. Swimming was very one-dimensional in comparison. You could do the breaststroke one way and the butterfly one way, but, once you'd mastered those skills, there was little room for creativity. Judo, on the other hand, really encouraged creativity and individual flair. It allowed me to create my own style and personality and play around with the textbook. You could try things out, improvise a little and think outside the box. There were just so many different things to learn and pick up on, and that really excited me. I didn't feel I could necessarily learn how to become a better swimmer – you simply practice and practice until you hopefully one day became one. Judo was very much a learning process for me, though. It was something I could play with and make my own. Mom was against me doing judo at first, she felt people would expect too much from me given who she was and what she had achieved in the same sport. It was actually her team-mates, who were my coaches at the time, who persuaded her to let me do it. In all honesty, I didn't feel any additional pressure because of the fact my mother was previously involved in the sport. If anything, I'm the one that puts pressure on myself when it comes to goal-setting. I don't feel right unless there is some element of pressure. Some people crack under it, but I've always thrived. Six years after starting out, I made my first Olympic team. Maybe it was genetics, destiny, or both, but I really had a knack for it. The whole reason I focused on judo to begin with was so that I could one day reach the Olympic Games and win a gold medal. That was literally my sole aim from day one, and nothing else crossed my mind from that point. I wasn't interested in being involved in judo to become a mere also-ran. Even after my very first practice, I remember thinking to myself, 'Yep, this is definitely going to work out – I'm going to win the Olympics'. It was all or nothing for me, and that same attitude carried over after transitioning to MMA. Some people like to call me cocky or arrogant, but I just think "How dare you assume I should think less of myself? The problem isn't me thinking I can achieve any goal I set for myself, the problem is you projecting your own self doubt onto me." My current goals are to revive women's MMA and solidify its place in the sport. The first step to achieving that goal is to beat Miesha Tate in impressive fashion on March 3rd. And there isn't a goddamn thing that can stop me. Follow Ronda on twitter @RondaRousey

Posted in: thing, judo, im, isnt, pressure

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Join MMA Fighting's UFC on FUEL Live Chat tonight beginning when as the FUEL main card broadcast begins at 8 pm ET. We'll be discussing and covering all of the tonight's results from the first televised fight through the main event between Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger. Got a comment? Question? Share something interesting you've found? This is your chance. You may login with Twitter or Facebook (encouraged) or by registering with ScribbleLive. Be sure to share things with me (the moderator) interesting things you find such as notable Tweets, photos, videos or information. Your contributions are encouraged and appreciated. Tonight's fight card is as follows: Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego SanchezHeavyweight: Stefan Struve vs. Dave HermanMiddleweight: Aaron Simpson vs. Ronny MarkesHeavyweight: Stipe Miocic vs. Philip De FriesBantamweight: T.J. Dillashaw vs. Walel WatsonBantamweight: Ivan Menjivar vs. John Albert Again, we'll kick things off when the FUEL broadcast starts at 8 pm ET. Talk with you then.

Posted in: vs, diego sanchez, thing, kick things, fuel

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Before I started writing and interviewing people in the MMA world, I assumed that the best interviews were going to come from the fighters. They are the ones getting into the ring or cage and putting their training and skills to work for the entertainment, pride and financial rewards that the sport provides. However, after more than a year, that notion rests on the scrap heap and I now believe that trainers and coaches make for the best interviews. These trainers and coaches may or may not have fought before, but the demands of their job - instilling better technique in their students, figuring out how to push a wide variety of individuals to improve, using their analytic skills to build solid gameplans and communicating effectively with other coaches, the media, family members and fighters while walking the balance between total honesty and what's best for their students - make for wonderful interviews. On the evening before he would appear at UFC 143 as a cornerman for Josh Koscheck, Dave Camarillo appeared on the radio show I host alongside MMA Mania's Brian Hemminger and Gerry Rodriguez. We were expecting a quick promo appearance for his new Victory Belt book, Submit Everyone: The Classified Field Manual For Becoming A Submission-focused Fighter, but Dave spent a full hour with us answering questions with aplomb about his approach to grappling and teaching. Dave was amazingly generous with his time and expertise with us and now I bring that interview to you in readable form. For those of you who are a bit hazy on who Dave Camarillo is, he was the head grappling instructor at American Kickboxing Academy (better known as AKA) for years. His students include most of the AKA mixed martial arts athletes like Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez and his calm, cogent corner advice can be seen on quite a few UFCs. Dave recently left AKA to focus on his schools and the incredibly aggressive style of grappling he employs is a legacy of his many years in elite level judo and starting his Brazilian jiu jitsu training at the same time as some of the very best black belts to come out of the West Coast. The following video highlight reel - especially the match with his brother Dan - shows how swift, attacking and fluid his grappling can be when done right. Dave and Dan Camarillo may be two of the most exciting grapplers that I have ever seen on video and their perspective on the sports of competitive grappling and MMA is unique. Also on Bloody Elbow: Kid Nate and Luke Thomas talked for nearly a half hour with Dave last month. Nate also reviewed Dave's first Victory Belt book, Guerilla Jiu Jitsu, way back in April of 2009. It would be remiss of me to not link to my favorite coaching picture in recent MMA history: Dave in tears after Cain Velasquez beat Brock Lesnar to win the heavyweight title. The audio of the interview can be found at roughly the one hour mark of the Verbal Submission's 72nd episode, which features interviews with Diego Sanchez and Sheldon Westcott as well. Hit the jump for the first third of the Hour with Dave Camarillo. Brief intro as we call Dave and Brian introduces himself as the Verbal Submission radio show guy. Hemminger completely name-drops that we had Diego Sanchez and Sheldon Westcott interviews just prior and goes on to say that I "want to dig into [Dave's] skull" about the philosophy of jiu jitsu and grappling in general. BH: Let's start off with your book, Submit Everyone from Victory Road. I've read it and I like it. The first thing that stood out to me right away is the style of the book, as it reads like a top secret classified document that draws in you in because you are now in on the "secret". Did you have a say in the style? DC: I definite had a say, but I did not create the specific set-up or the outlay of the book. We got together and did a bunch of interviews over time. I'm talking years, a bunch of years. I call them up We met on photoshoots, I called them up with this stuff or that stuff, do it this way and so on. I established a direction, or what you could call an outline and then we thought about what this book is going to look like and how to make this thing pop? As of course, we want the book to sell and when you make something important like this book, you have to make some kind of buzz about it and make the book look like something you need to get. At that point, we had an outline and I sent them some chapters. Now in college, I'd always been interested and reading about the military and tactics and so on. They [Victory Belt] came back and suggested a military, kind of guerilla look and suggested a manifesto for sports look that really interested me. I said "Yeah, show me what you got," and they took it and ran with it. It worked out well and I was blown away that we could make this. BH: You had a different author for your first book, Guerilla Jiu Jitsu. You were so impressed with your co-author Kevin Howell that you would not want to do a third book unless it is with Howell, right? DC: Yeah, Victory Belt is run by Erich Krauss. He wrote the first book, which was actually the first Victory Belt book. My brother and I were throwing each other and doing crazy stuff and we sent them a basic outline. To me, it's a good book for us not really knowing what we were doing. It's kind of a textbook. This book is totally different, it's a monster. It's very conceptual and it's tactical. It looks like my mind. When I roll, yeah, I play around with positions, but I always look for submissions, like when I was doing judo and Brazilian jiu jitsu tournaments, this is what it was like. BH: One of the concepts I really enjoyed was that a great offense is better than a great defense because if you keep them on the defensive, you don't have to worry about their attacks and you are a step ahead. DC: Yeah, the thing about BJJ and judo is that it's a mind game. People think that it's a physical game and that it's 80% that. It's 100% the mind. The mind controls and moves the body. It sets the tactics. The ability to execute is not the body, it's the mind. I remember something my mother told me long ago. You know, my mother is a martial artist by osmosis - she was taking classes at the time my father was an instructor - and she would tell me that there is a linkage here and that your best defense is offense. Today I analyze things and realize it's true. If I get too focused on defending, I'm going to keep my attack going and my arms high and I'm going to get you eventually. And that's what this book explains and that's what it gives you. BH: The thing I like about this book is that you have a background in judo and jiu jitsu, but this book isn't just a jiu jitsu book that's magically applicable to MMA. It's a grappling book. This book has stand-up techniques, it has judo techniques, jiu jitsu techniques. This book incorporates everything and it makes readers extremely dangerous on the ground. DC: I'm a perfectionist and I like to supervise things and I want to answer questions in full. When I did this book, I didn't want to make it pure Brazilian jiu jitsu, I wanted to make it about grappling. As an MMA coach, I train judokas, wrestlers and strikers and I wanted to take all of that information and put it into the book and make it useful to others. BH: I noticed that the further you get into the book, the more you discuss the mental aspects of this book. It's almost as if you're envisioning a chess game. Can you discuss the setting up of traps for opponents when you know what they are going to do and how to react accordingly? DC: Let me give a situation where this situational awareness is key - and that comes with experience and training. There is a part of the book where I talk about drilling over and over things that start with the question "How are you getting into armbars? How can I be in this move over and over again with you?" Let's look at getting armlocks from the guard. If I see that armbar coming earlier, I'm more aware of what is coming, therefore I can start beating people to the spot. If I beat you to the spot, I can counter you. I'm out of it before you know it and I'm on the attack. That's the kind of mindset you're getting from the chapters. Another thing is that one of my favorite things in the book is called "Creating the Firebase". It's a position where you have the greatest control and options. You're very comfortable and confident there. In MMA, that's what you want to do - put the opponent in a position where they are weak and you are strong. It is also an aggressive position. It is a place where you can finish people and it has to be. BH: Looking at your more famous students, we see Jon Fitch, one of the best welterweights in the world and known for his wrestling. Fitch is terrific at not being submitted and launching some attacks of his own where he seems a step ahead of most. He seems to exhaust his opponents with your teachings. Dave ties a Guerilla jiu jitsu black belt around Jon Fitch's waist. DC: A lot of people talk about "Finish this" or "Finish that". Jon Fitch may not be the most athletic guy in the world, but he is very smart. He wins by these concepts. In fights, he will go into triangles and so on to attack. He has so much confidence in his defense that he gets in close without fear and deals some damage. With that guillotine, he's so familiar with it and the right defenses that he can exhaust his opponent and then go on the attack. After that first round guillotine, the opponent is exhausted from trying to finish the fight and Jon is even stronger and ready to attack. A lot of this is tactics, this isn't guys going around to punch each other. It's all tactics and that determines who comes out on top. BH: Now this book has some rather complicated techniques inside. Who would you say is the target audience for this book? DC: Everyone. This is Submit Everyone. You know, we didn't want to do a book where it was just jiu jitsu guys and that other people who don't train jiu jitsu couldn't do this or would get hurt doing this. Yeah, there are some advanced systems in there, but they are used as examples. However, we wanted this to be applicable across a wide range of skill levels, and thus there are beginner-level techniques in there as well. So a beginner can pick up this book and do some stuff - of course, if that's all you do you're not going to get it [referring to grappling in real life in classes and so on]. You can pick up this book and move from one chapter to the next and really make this work for you. For example, I'm an armlock guy, I build armlocks into every position and submission. However, if you're a leglock guy or a guillotine guy, you can modify the principles of these chapters to work for you. BH: One of my last questions before I send this to Ben was that one of the things that struck me about the book was the variations on the kimura grip. You could just tell reading the book that this grip was special to you and the possible adjustments were extensive. I felt that this grip was important to the system; am I correct in saying that? DC: The kimura grip is my #1 grip. I believe the kimura grip is the best offensive/control grip possible in jiu jitsu and if it's not your grip, pick up the book and I'll make it your grip. End of Part One Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for Part Two and Three, which dig into Dave's philosophy of teaching, discussions of speed versus tactics, the key to Anderson Silva's success and the mentality he brings as a cornerman to the fighters he trains. As a special bonus, here is Aesopian's review of Submit Everyone.

Posted in: dave, thing, book, jitsu, jiu

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“Here we go again.”That was the first thought running through Stefan Struve’s mind when he was lifted high into the air by Pat Barry in their heavyweight bout last October. It was a déjà vu of sorts, since the Beverwijk native was often on the wrong end of slams to the mat in the days before he started to fill out his six-foot-11 frame.“When I came into the gym at 14 years old at 180 pounds, I got used to getting slammed there and in my fights too. I was fighting bigger guys all the time. I was fighting at 185 pounds in the heavyweight division, so guys were picking me up and throwing me around.”Apparently business as usual for Struve, Barry got the aptly-nicknamed “Skyscraper” as high in the air as he could, and then prepared to give him a rude introduction to the canvas in an attempt to break his opponent’s triangle choke. The next thought from Struve was the one that won him the fight. “I was thinking ‘don’t let go,’ because I know that when somebody slams me, most of the time the triangle will get tighter if you break the fall the right way. So for me, it wasn’t that scary at all. People loved it, and it made the submission even better, in my opinion, because it was one helluva moment if you look back at it.”Following the thudding slam, Struve’s calculation was correct, and the triangle did get tighter, forcing Barry to tap out at 3:22 of the second round. The victory, Struve’s 26th as a pro and sixth in the UFC, earned him Submission of the Night honors and continued to add to his reputation as a rising star and one of the most exciting heavyweights in the game. It also justified the UFC’s decision to put him in a co-main event slot just five months after a knockout loss to Travis Browne, the idea being that win or lose, Struve is going to fight.“It’s awesome, and it’s a recognition that I’m doing the right things,” he said. “Even after my loss to Travis Browne - which was a fight that didn’t go my way, but I still think I should have won that fight - they still gave me the co-main event spot with Pat (Barry) the last fight. So that’s awesome to have a promotion that has got so much trust in you. And it’s no secret that if I show up for a fight in the UFC that I’m there to fight. I’ll show up and I’ll give my all to win my fight. You won’t see me losing a boring decision ever.”Back in his familiar co-main event position for the fourth time this Wednesday against Dave Herman, Struve has settled into his role as a heavyweight action hero, and he’s even more comfortable than ever in the spotlight.“It’s kinda normal for me now,” he said. “I’m feeling really relaxed, training camp has been perfect and I feel that I did everything I could do to have the best training camp possible. And all the media stuff, I actually like it, so for me that’s no problem. There’s no pressure added because of that.”He’s even starting to see the benefits of being a UFC fighter back in his native Netherlands.“In the States I’m getting recognized more, but it’s starting to get big here,” he said. “I’m starting to notice that people notice me when I walk around and it’s not a hard thing to notice me because I’m a very recognizable person. (Laughs)”Yeah, he’s a little taller than most.“Just a little tall,” he laughs. “But it’s getting bigger here. (Middleweight) Michael Kuiper was fighting for the first time at UFC 143, and MMA is growing. And though the government isn’t really fond of combat sports in Holland, it’s getting bigger. You can’t stop the growth of MMA with all the attention it’s getting and all the positive things the UFC’s bringing to MMA. Some MMA classes at our school have got 40 students, and a lot of the young guys come in because they’re playing the video game, and it’s awesome.”Struve is on the roster for the latest incarnation of the UFC video game, UFC Undisputed 3, and it’s a tangible reminder for fighters of how far things have come since the dark ages of the sport. And though only 23 (he turns 24 three days after the Herman bout), if he needs any reminder of how things once were, it can certainly come from head trainer Bob Schrijber (a PRIDE vet) and UFC vet Remco Pardoel. But then again, Struve has been fighting as an amateur since he was 16, so he’s seen his own share of changes over the years.“When I started to fight, I was 16 years old and they still had those old rules and it was still kinda like the old days in Holland,” he said. “They had the old rules with the rope escapes and everything. But I’ve seen the development and it’s gone so, so fast for me. When I was 18 years old, I was fighting in the US for the first time, and I made my debut as a professional fighter when I was 17 years old, and I’m already fighting in the UFC for three years now. It’s incredible.”It’s an accomplishment made even sweeter by the fact that his family has been behind him every step of the way, even from the beginning.“My brother was already doing it and he brought me to the gym, so they (his parents) were already a little bit into it,” said Struve. “I had the best childhood you could imagine, me and my brother, and they always supported us from the beginning. Of course they were a little worried when I had a fight coming up and I was 16 years old and fighting heavyweights, big, ugly guys that stepped into the ring with me. (Laughs) But I basically won all the fights, and now, they couldn’t be more proud with the things I’m achieving. They love watching me fight, and they’re so happy when I’m back home with another win. It’s awesome.”So would Struve change anything if he could do it again? I bet you know the answer to this one already.“If I could change something, it would be to start with training way earlier than I did when I was 14,” he said. “I would have started when I was nine or 10 years old. But for all the rest, all the things I picked up and all the countries I’ve visited because I had a fight coming up, and all the things I encountered with my coaches who I’m still with now, all the good things that it gave me, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Posted in: ufc, fight, thing, ’m, struve

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After reading a Forbes.com profile of Tucker Max, a controversial Internet star who'd turned into an absurdly successful book author, I noticed that a very brief quote about the good qualities of MMA was almost buried into the piece. I reached out to Tucker in hopes of getting a few quick blurbs about the positive mention of MMA in a mainstream media publication and then mashing the whole thing together as a short post here on Bloody Elbow. Tucker ruined those hopes by bouncing back and forth with me in a nearly 4500 word Q&A session, which is now the five part interview being featured here on Bloody Elbow. The back and forths that we went through showed that Max views MMA as a source of physical betterment, complex and useful techniques, great friends and astonishing personal growth - which should be surprisingly universal to combat sports followers and participants reading this. The first part of this interview dealt with Tucker Max's discovery of Brazilian jiu jitsu, subsequent humbling and the transition into training MMA. The second gave us the surprisingly good methodology of his training with MMA hillbilly Reggie Warren and moved us to Max's present day training in Austin, Texas. The third part essentially asked Tucker why he does all of this and why he is willing to stand up on this platform and talk about MMA. In the fourth, I'm tossing him as many questions as I possibly can and he's fielding them with ease. In this last part, I surprise him a bit with a question about Jeremie "Kamikaze" Myers and he launches into a great story before we close things out with a few last questions. This interview is done partly in support of his latest books, Hilarity Ensues and Sloppy Seconds, yet the interview is 100% Tucker, 100% relevant to MMA and there is no advertising or review thing going on here. Max was genuinely surprised by me reaching out and by my questions and welcomed the chance to talk about something other than his debauchery. I present his answers exactly as written (minus the bleeping out of a few cuss words). The books hit stores earlier this week and can be ordered online as well. Hit the jump for Part Five. Part One: Discovery of BJJ, The Jump to MMA, Training at Legend's in Hollywood, CA. Part Two: How Reggie Warren Built a Passable Sparring Dummy and Present Day Training in Austin, TX Part Three: Swimming in Deep Waters and Coming Out Alive Part Four: The Exact Space MMA Occupies in his Life Ben Thapa: You're 35 years old. What do you want from your endeavors within MMA at this point? Tucker Max: I never had an "end" goal with MMA; I want the same things in the future that its given me in the past, which I kinda talked about above. MMA is not a thing I'm doing for a period of my life. To me, it's now a part of who I am. At this point, I couldn't imagine not training anymore. The only other thing I want from MMA is actually not something I want, but something I want to give back: I'd love to expose more people to the sport, men and women. MMA has given so much to me, I'd love to figure out a way to share it. Plus, I think fighting is something very deep in the human psyche, and MMA is a way to safely, productively express that urge. Beyond that, I think MMA teaches so many positive things to so many people that could benefit, but don't realize it. I don't see myself as being any strong voice for it or anything, just another person who does it and loves it and helps others start. BT: Have you been successful at converting friends and family to active participants or casual fans? TM: Oh yes. So many of my friend have seen the amazing changes in both my body and my life as a result of MMA, and they took it up. I've gotten two girls seriously into muay thai, and both are now really good at it, like competition level good. And I would say at least three of my male friends are serious enough at now that they're maybe better than me at gi jiu-jitsu. One competes a lot and wins grappling tournaments and s**t, I think he's a f***ing purple belt with some major tournament wins. BT: What was the story with the sparring match with Jeremie Myers in Ohio? TM: How did you know about that? I don't think I've ever written about that. That's a funny story: So right before the book tour, this random guy from Ohio emails me, explains that he's like 10-1 as an amateur at MMA, is about to turn pro, and was wondering if I would sponsor him. I normally ignore email where people ask me for things, but since I love MMA, I made this guy a deal: I would sponsor him for $200, but he had to beat me in an MMA fight. Not a full fight, but sparring. He immediately took the deal. Here's the funny thing: I didn't tell him that I had ever trained any sort of martial art, in fact, I think I lied and told him I didn't. I actually did this because I wanted to see what kind of guy he was; I knew he was a more skilled fighter than me of course, but I figured if I went in there, and he thought I had no idea what I was doing, I'd have about a 30 second window to throw a submission on him before he was expecting it. I wanted to see how he handled this, how mentally tough he was--if I was going to let him put my name on his ass, he'd better not just be a good fighter, but I wanted to make sure he wasn't a quitter or anything like that. During the book tour for Assholes Finish First, I met him at a gym in Ohio, and I let him take me down, and then I threw probably the greatest omoplata of my life on him. I could tell he was in shock, but the dude kept his head, patiently worked his escape, and I blew my one shot at subbing him. I was able to stay with him for about 5 or 10 minutes, but the only advantage I had was surprise and once that was gone, it was only a matter of time, and he got me. Jeremie actually lives in Austin now, and trains out of the Relson Gracie affiliate. He just won his last pro fight in Dallas, I think he's 4-3 overall. He has all the tools to become a really good fighter, he just has to dedicate himself to putting in the work. To ruin the mystery of how I knew, the answer to Max's question is that Jeremie appeared on The Verbal Submission, a radio show that I co-host with Brian Hemminger of MMA Mania and Gerry Rodriguez. He was on our 23rd episode last year and we are now coming up on our 72nd next Sunday at 6:30 pm ET. Our 71st episode featured interviews with Diego Sanchez, Sheldon Westcott and Dave Camarillo. BT: Did you tour facilities around the country during the previous book tours or have plans for doing that? TM: No, I'm too busy on book tours to train, but I travel a lot and train at different places sometimes. For example, this past week in NYC, I rolled at Marcelo Garcia's place for the first time. It was incredible. I've never rolled with a group of guys who - top to bottom - had more amazing open guards. I rolled for an hour with like nine different guys, and I don't think I f***ing passed one person. Cool guys though; they put an a**-whipping on me, but they did it in the nicest, most instructive way possible. If I lived in NYC, I would definitely train there full time. Note: This is not the first time Tucker has spoken about MMA the positive effects he perceives as being associated with or derived from the sport. At the 2011 Ancestral Health Symposium, he spoke for about twenty minutes, using a Powerpoint slideshow to illustrate his ideas of fighting occupying a necessary societal function. The video is embedded below - although be warned that it was recorded with something like a webcam and frameskips a bunch. The audio is clear and you can sort of riffle through to see the slides and the general points. "From cave to cage: Mixed martial arts in ancestral health" by Tucker Max from Ancestry. BT: How would you characterize the immediate response and the eventual after effects at the Ancestral Health Symposium to your presentation on the positive effects of controlled violence through MMA and MMA-like activities? TM: The response was overwhelmingly positive. The people at that thing are mostly academics and people who, let's say aren't super athletic or anything like that. But I think they understood exactly what I was saying, because my message is one that is very primal and resonates at a deep level with people: Fighting is part of our ancestry. Better to recognize that, understand it, and then express that part of ourselves in a safe, productive way, than suppress it and have it come out in other destructive ways. Since that speech, I've had a ton of people say they've started training some for of martial arts. If the type of people who were at the conference start training and understanding MMA/BJJ, the world is going to be a better place, and more people will understand how amazing martial arts are for humans. End of Part Five Thanks for sticking with us the whole time. It was a novel experience and I hope it was worth the read. Part One: Discovery of BJJ, The Jump to MMA, Training at Legend's in Hollywood, CA. Part Two: How Reggie Warren Built a Passable Sparring Dummy and Present Day Training in Austin, TX Part Three: Swimming in Deep Waters and Coming Out Alive Part Four: The Exact Space MMA Occupies in his Life

Posted in: mma, part, training, thing, tucker

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After reading a Forbes.com profile of Tucker Max, a controversial Internet star who'd turned into an absurdly successful physical book author, I noticed that a very brief quote about the good qualities of MMA was almost buried into the piece. I reached out to Tucker in hopes of getting a few quick blurbs about the positive mention of MMA in a mainstream media publication and then mashing the whole thing together as a short post here on Bloody Elbow. Tucker ruined those hopes by bouncing back and forth with me in a Q&A session that ranges from describing his discovery of the sport, the move to direct participation and the many connections he made with professionals and friends. The five-part interview is nearly 4500 words long and is interspersed with many highly passionate and profound thoughts at the positive experiences and values combat sports have for him and their applicability to others. The first part of the interview dealt with his discovery of Brazilian jiu jitsu, subsequent humbling and the transition into training MMA at the original incarnation of Legend's in Hollywood, California. This second part looks a bit deeper into his actual training and moves us to Tucker's present, while I start to ask questions about what he gets from the sport. This interview is done partly in support of his latest books, Hilarity Ensues and Sloppy Seconds, yet the interview is 100% Tucker, 100% relevant to MMA and there is no advertising or review thing going on here. Max was genuinely surprised by me reaching out and by my questions and welcomed the chance to talk about something other than his debauchery. I present his answers exactly as written (minus the bleeping out of a few cuss words). The books hit stores today and can be ordered online as well. Hit the jump for the second of five parts encompassing Tucker's experiences and views on mixed martial arts, as told in his unique voice and featuring brief glimpses of some very prominent MMA fighters and figures. Ben Thapa: How is it that Reggie Warren was able to get you to a competence point inside a year in which you could spar relatively well and we see MMA fighters who never pick up striking well? Tucker Max: First off, he didn't make me a great boxer or anything, that obviously takes years, he basically just made into a mediocre MMA striking partner. That's not remotely the same thing. But that being said, I did learn very fast, much faster than most I think, and it was for two reasons: 1. Reggie has a very good understanding of technique, and from the beginning I specifically asked Reggie to focus on this with me and correct EVERY mistake I made, even if that meant he corrected me every five seconds. This is for a reason; the way the human brain learns, if you really take the time at the beginning and focus on perfecting your technique, it takes longer, but you form the correct neural pathways first. This provides two benefits: You don't have to unlearn wrong habits, and your technique holds up under high stress situations because you imprinted the right habits. And yes, I read way too much neuroscience, but its cool when you apply it in real life. I think that's a big problem with fighters--they learned wrong striking techniques early or somehow developed bad habits, and either can't or won't unlearn them and relearn the correct way, because that's very difficult, and they don't have anyone in their camp that forces them to do that. It's not that they can't be good strikers; it's that they won't put in the right type of work. 2. Reggie would constantly keep my training at the edge of my competency, which accelerated my learning. In the literature, this is called "deliberate practice" and what it means in practice is that as I got better, Reggie increased his technique load or work load or his responses in sparring with me, so I was never just doing what I was good at; instead he was constantly pushing me just a little further to the edge of what I was able to do. It's the same concept behind progressive load weight training--you get better by adding weight. It takes a good teacher to do this right, and he is really f***ing good. I guess there was one other thing that helped: I was only doing striking at the time, because I had a partially torn ACL from MMA and couldn't roll (which I later fully tore while having sex, that story is actually in Hilarity Ensues), so I was able to focus just on striking and train with him 3-4 times a week. That helps, of course. BT: Where do you train now? TM: I live in Austin, Texas now, and I split my time training between two places: a Relson Gracie affiliate run by Christy Thomas (and Phil Cardella, though he just left to open a place in Florida), and a new place that just started, a Gracie Humiata affiliate run by Donald Park. Both Christy and Donald are friends of mine and both their academies are great places to train, and I would recommend either to anyone interested. The only thing that sucks now is that its tough to get true MMA specific instruction here, the way that I had it in LA. There just aren't many people who have enough experience in MMA to be effective teachers of it at this point, so in Austin, I kinda have to do everything separate; gi, no-gi, boxing, muay thai, and wrestling are pretty much all from different instructors or even different gyms. There are good teachers here for each specific thing, but I didn't realize how lucky I was in LA to have the MMA teachers who were full time MMA fighters and could put it all together the way that Mac did. Austin has some amazing MMA fighters that train out of here. I've either seen at the gym or trained with Tim Kennedy, Kamal Shalorus, Yves Edwards and Roger Huerta in Austin. But none of them teach; MMA has gotten to the point where the big guys like this are getting paid enough they don't have to teach people like me anymore. That's cool for them, but kinda sucks for me. But whatever, its not like I'm training for a fight, it's not a big deal, there are still world class teachers here, I can't complain. Even though I guess I just did. BT: Have you competed as an amateur or professional in any MMA? If so, did you do well or draw a positive experience from that? TM: No man, no Mickey Rourke/Jose Canseco s**t for me. Tons of sparring of course, but never a real MMA fight. You know whats funny is, even when I was training 4-5 days a week at Legends, it never really occurred to me to actually take a full-on fight. I guess because I was training with so many guys who were all so good, and I was clearly not at their level, it never occurred to me to do it as well. I just had fun training with them, and that was enough for me. I love MMA as a hobby, but thats very different than doing it seriously enough to take sanctioned fights. I'm not foolish enough to think I can train casually and then be ready to do a serious fight. That's ridiculous. Serious MMA competition--even at low levels--is a full time job, and a very hard one. One of the things I love about the way I train MMA is that I don't have to be totally serious about it, that I can take a day or even a week off, and it doesn't matter. It's my hobby, I love it as a hobby; I don't want to make it my job. You know the saying, "Marry your mistress, and you create a vacancy." I never wanted to do that. End of Part Two Part 1 - Discovery of MMA - can be read by clicking on this link. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow as Parts Three to Five will appear daily until the end of the week (2/10/12).

Posted in: mma, part, training, thing, tucker

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MMA bloggers love Dana White because every time he opens his mouth several posts worth of news items fall out. Lost in the shuffle of all the Diaz vs Condit craziness was Dana's spontaneous declaration at a press conference that he wants to fix Strikeforce. This isn't the first time he's brought it up, and you gotta wonder what Dana's angle is sitting down with a scrum of reporters and saying he's not impressed with Showtime's performance. "I'm working on Melendez. Melendez is all over my ass." He added, "I think he's a great fighter and I've said this a million times and I want to say it again. I want to get my hands on Strikeforce. I want to dive into this thing and I want to do it the way that it should be done. And the way that I think it should be done. We'll see what happens."He later addressed his goals to improve the Strikeforce brand saying, "why not the UFC's level? If you talk to anybody they will tell you that Gilbert Melendez is one of the best fighters in the world. There's a ton of guys. Now you got Rockhold over there. Yes, these guys are great. I just want to do things that I want to do things over there. We'll see what happens. You guys know how I am. If I take this Strikeforce thing then I will dive into this thing 100% because I have so much free time. [laughter] I'm looking for a side project. Honestly, I will dive into this thing and I will make it right and I will make it good. I will make the fighters who fight over there not worry about what's going on in the UFC." OMG HE WANTS TO LOBOTOMIZE STRIKEFORCE FIGHTERS! What else is going to make them magically forget about that much more prestigious and financially lucrative promotion under Zuffa's ownership? Tickle me intrigued as to how Dana would turn Strikeforce around. Considering it's worrisome ratings / tickets / existential crisis, it might not even be possible. Which is why I wonder if this kinda talk is a prelude to the UFC pulling the plug on Strikeforce all together. If only they had been able to get the control they needed!

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Following the UFC 143 pre-fight press conference on Thursday, February 2nd, Dana White held a scrum for the attending MMA media. In what can only be described as a mosh pit styled interview. During this time Dana will answer any questions that he is asked. One of the big topics of conversation was the UFC's return to Japan and the status of Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez. On February 24th, Fankie Edgar will defend his lightweight title against Ben Henderson in Tokyo, Japan. While fans and media have been outspoke that this is merely a vanity project for the UFC, White was adamant that this was important for Zuffa's Asian expansion. He stated, "As far as I know everything is going well over there. You don't know how successful it's going to be until you go. When we pull that event off and we do it and we see how it goes. It's very important. It's a very important show for our intro into Asia. Not just Japan but China and all the other markets we want to go to over there." The UFC President was also asked about the rumors that B.J. Penn would be making his way over to Strikeforce to challenge Gilbert Melendez. It turns out that there was no truth to the rumor. In his own words. "That's not true. That's absolutely not true. But I have been talking to B.J. Penn. I talked to B.J. Penn last week and it was the first time that B.J. and I talked since his fight. He's just chilling right now. He wants to relax and figure out what he wants to do with his career. I'm working on Melendez. Melendez is all over my ass." He added, "I think he's a great fighter and I've said this a million times and I want to say it again. I want to get my hands on Strikeforce. I want to dive into this thing and I want to do it the way that it should be done. And the way that I think it should be done. We'll see what happens." He later addressed his goals to improve the Strikeforce brand saying "why not the UFC's level? If you talk to anybody they will tell you that Gilbert Melendez is one of the best fighters in the world. There's a ton of guys. Now you got Rockhold over there. Yes, these guys are great. I just want to do things that I want to do things over there. We'll see what happens. You guys know how I am. If I take this Strikeforce thing then I will dive into this thing 100% because I have so much free time. I'm looking for a side project. Honestly, I will dive into this thing and I will make it right and I will make it good. I will make the fighters who fight over there not worry about what's going on in the UFC." Two more videos after the jump... SBN coverage of UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit

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Following the UFC 143 pre-fight press conference, Dana White held a scrum with the media in attendance. Bloody Elbow's Matthew Roth was in attendance and shot video of the entire scrum. Dana White was hit with a ton of topics from all angles from the surrounding media. In part one of a four part series, Dana White talks the UFC on Fox 2 event in Chicago and if he thought it was a good event. The UFC president had words for the naysayers, saying "ratings were awesome. I'm happy with the ratings. It was good." He added, "the funny thing about that is. The chatter that you get about fights. First of all there was so much hype about that fight. Sonnen vs Bisping. The Maia fight. Even after the change people were like it's even more exciting now. And then after, everyone was like 'they set themselves up for these boring fights'. Shut up. People who come out after, you're a liar. You're a liar. You're an idiot. You sound like an idiot when you say that. These fights all looked exciting. You just never know what's gonna happen. Anything can happen on any given night. You can have three fights go to decision or you can put on a fight that you think's gonna go longer and it lasts 60 seconds. It's fighting. The hardest part of this whole thing is figuring out production. How many fights can you schedule? The commercial load that we've got and all the other things that you have to do. We did a pretty good job at getting this thing dialed in after the first fight going 60 seconds. As this thing evolves it's gonna be more about fighting. Fox has a system that they use for sports and you come into a big desk. What people are used to with the UFC are Goldie and Rogan on camera for two seconds and we get right into fights." He also addressed the current slide the pay per view business without Georges St. Pierre, stating "GSP is a monster. I say it all the time that he's the pay per view king of this sport. It hurts without him but this is what we do. We put on guys like Condit and Diaz. No one knew GSP at one time either. You have to build guys." SBN coverage of UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit

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The importance of selling oneself in MMA has become increasingly important as the sport has grown over the past several years. As a result, there are now numerous competitors who either so mindful of the public’s perception they opt to present a whitewashed version of their actual personality or amp things up in an over-the-top manner (see: Chael Sonnen). UFC welterweight Nick Diaz has been accused of the latter by some, acting out in a controversial manner to foster attention. However, Diaz says the opposite is true, as his behavior reflects his genuine feelings and that more of his peers would probably be viewed in a similar light if they weren’t afraid of being themselves. “What you see is what you get. You get real martial arts, you get real fighting, (and) you get a real warrior mentality,” explained Diaz in a conversation with MMAFighting while at the open workouts for his upcoming bout with Carlos Condit. “Some people aren’t mature enough to handle it. This isn’t soccer. I have no problem being sportsmanlike about this whole thing. I understand it’s a sporting event. But to me this is a fight. I’m not going to let things change that to help this sport become what it is. I think this sport IS what it is. I don’t worry about looking good. I do what I’ve got to do to survive, to keep my teeth in my head, and my head on my shoulders. I apologize to whoever can’t put that together and understand that.” “People try to say, ‘Nick Diaz, he’s crazy or not crazy or fake crazy’. I’m like, ‘Hey, bro, what you see is what you get.’ I’m not out here trying putting on an act like I’m crazy. In my opinion, everyone else is crazy,” he continued. “They’re the ones who put on an act for you, doing what they’re told in front of the camera…They turn these guys into robots. I’m just not going to be that guy. Don’t tell me I’m crazy. I’m out here acting natural. I’m the only one here being realistic out here about this sort of thing.” Diaz Thinks He’s MMA’s Most-Rounded Fighter Fans can catch Diaz-Condit at UFC 143 when things begin on PPV at 10:00 PM EST. The main card will be preceded by undercard pairings on Facebook/FX starting three hours earlier. PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE Tweet

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A little over a year ago top featherweight Dustin Poirier was a WEC transplant taking on top contender Josh Grispi who appeared destined for a date with divisional champion Jose Aldo. Poirier promptly put a Bayou beatdown on Grispi, outpointing him in a one-sided affair most never saw coming. The moment obviously stands out in Poirier’s mind but not simply because it established him as a force in the UFC or was an impressive victory on a major show. If anything the win seems to have humbled him. The 23-year old Poirier recently spoke about the impact his success against Grispi has had on his approach to competition, specifically in the case of newcomer Max Holloway who he faces this Saturday night at UFC 143. “I don’t care if he has one fight or 100 fights, I’m in this fight 100%. He’s a dangerous guy. He’s 4-0. I’m not underestimating this guy. I’m training like I’m fighting Anderson Silva. I’m over here and I’m not taking him lightly. I know how that happens to people.” explained Poirier in an interview with the UFC’s website. “Just a year ago, I was in his shoes. I was getting into the cage fighting Josh Grispi, no one knew who I was and I was supposed to get destroyed by a top ten guy. I went in there and I destroyed him. Nobody knew that was going to happen. He’s over there training and he’s thinking he is going to do the same thing to me.” Holloway is serving as a replacement for Ricardo Lamas who pulled out of the fight with an injury after original opponent Erik Koch had also done so in late December. While some fighters might say the switch has had little impact on their preparation process, Poirier actually sees things differently based on his complete dedication to his professional endeavor. “In my mind, it’s real huge to me when things like that change because I am thinking about it so much,” said Poirier on the subject of rotating opponents. “I play the fights out in my head so many times. I think about this 24 hours a day from the time I wake up until the time I wake up again. I even dream about it. This is my life. This isn’t a hobby or just a career I’m trying to be good at – this is everything.” However, the 11-1 Poirier also acknowledged there is a constant silver lining when it comes to the situation, continuing, “With all the changes that are happening, the one thing that keeps my confidence up is the one thing that is consistent the whole time and that is me busting my ass and getting ready to fight. That hasn’t changed. No matter who I fight, I’m out here every day grinding, getting ready to fight. At the end of the day, I’m a fighter and we’re going to get into that cage, close the door and we’re going to fight. That’s something that hasn’t changed.” Fans can catch Poirier-Holloway at the conclusion of the UFC 143 prelims, a set of bouts scheduled to start on Facebook at 7:00 PM EST before heading over to FX an hour later. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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http://www.cracked.com/article_19654_6-painful-things-nobody-tells-you-about-fighting.html I'm gonna call bullshit submitted by DayGreedy [link] [30 comments]

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Six things we learned from Saturday night’s UFC on FOX: Evans vs. Davis show in Chicago.

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If we were in possession of a flux capacitor-equipped Delorean, we would travel to February 11th 2012 and have the time of our friggin' lives at ONE FC: Battle of Heroes in Jakarta, Indonesia. You can enjoy too, but you would also need to have a time traveling Delorean. You can use a Honda Civic. That's a little known tip amongst us time travelers. The catch is, you still need an operational flux capacitor. Good luck finding one of those things in this current economy. The alternative is you can wait a few days until February 11th and watch ONE FC: Battle of Heroes live on -- some undisclosed technology we can't tell you yet. If you're unfamiliar with ONE FC, it's the only major MMA promotion in the world that allows classic Pride FC rules in bouts. Yes, soccer kicks to a grounded opponent are legal. It's the closest thing we have to pure, unfiltered combat -- so that should undoubtedly give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. MiddleEasy partnered with the promotion earlier this month, and now we've created a highlight reel of the organization that is downright filthy -- in an unbelievably amazing way.

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Undefeated light heavyweight prospect Phil Davis could vault himself into title contention this Saturday night when he meets Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC on FOX 2. While some may feel like all of this is too much for “Mr. Wonderful” to fully grasp, the former Penn State University wrestling standout believes he will be able to handle the pressure quite well. Davis, who is 9-0 in his MMA career, will face his stiffest challenge in Evans, a former UFC light heavyweight champ that has held the title of #1 contender for well over a year. “Yes, I have only nine proper MMA fights, but the inexperience thing isn’t an issue,” said Davis, during a recent press conference promoting UFC on FOX 2. “I am less experienced than every single guy I’ve faced, and I am unbeaten.” As far as Davis is concerned, he is as experienced as any other fighter in one key area: winning. “I am experienced at winning, and that’s what really matters, and I ‘m going to experience winning again on FOX.” The war of words between Davis and “Suga” has been interesting to say the least, as Evans is also a former college wrestling standout at Michigan State University – a Big Ten rival of Penn State’s. When the final bell sounds Saturday night in Chicago, the two may have respect for each other, but until that time, it is all hatred. “He’s delusional. If he things he’s going to out-wrestle or intimidate me, he’s in for a shock Saturday night,” Davis said. “He’s not as good as he things he is, and I am better than he thinks I am. He thinks he’s a better wrestler than me, crazy. I would beat him 100 times out of 100. He was something like .500 in won/losses in wrestling. I was a champion; he just competed.” See how things play out Saturday night when the show starts at 8:00 PM EST on FOX. Other bouts on the main card include Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman and Michael Bisping vs. Chael Sonnen. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

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

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

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

Posted in: fight, ’t, thing, palhare, massenzio

Read the full article at UFC

Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold successfully defended his title for the first time this past weekend against UFC veteran Keith Jardine. Now, Rockhold has plans to climb his way up the MMA ladder in his division. Rockhold scored with several quick and effective strikes before dropping “The Dean of Mean” for good early in the fight during the main event of the Showtime-televised Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine card from Las Vegas. “This thing is here to stay. I’m not letting it go,” said Rockhold of his title in an interview with Strikeforce’s Heidi Androl following the event. As for his next competitor, Rockhold reiterated what he said inside the cage following the win, saying, “The best is the best. The UFC owns both organizations, and they say they want to do huge things for Strikeforce. So, load up this year, bring over a top contender (from the UFC).” Check out the entire interview in the video below:

Posted in: strikeforce, i ’m, rockhold, thing, competitor rockhold

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

You could call John Cusack's 2012 a lot of things. Exciting. Tightly-scripted. Superbly Performed. An edge-of-your-seat thrill-ride...with heart. But prophetic? Only those eggheads over at NASA know for sure. Until such time as we all sink into the ocean, then, here are a few things to look forward to this year... A Revived UFC Welterweight Division The title reign of Georges St. Pierre has been alternately fabulous and maddening. Consisting of victories over nearly every top-ten welterweight, certainly it's been absolute. This year, however, St. Pierre is tasked with nursing his knee injury and will be, for better or worse, removed from the 170-pound equation. His stifling rule has given way to a more open field of contention, an effect compounded by the recent knockout of perennial number-two man Jon Fitch. It seems that the division, once ruled by a caste of elites, is in the hands of a new crop of welterweight roughnecks, headed by interim title contenders Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. A Smaller, Stronger Strikeforce With the dissolution of Strikeforce's heavyweight division, the organization has more capital and card space to devote to its other weight classes. Dana White's emerging involvement with the promotion further suggests that we'll see a more focused, relevant Strikeforce this year. A Bigger, Stronger UFC Heavyweight Division The UFC heavyweight division will enjoy an appreciable influx of talent in 2012, courtesy of Zuffa's purchase of Strikeforce. It's hard to tell for sure how much of a lasting impact these new fighters will have (remember that neither Heath Herring, Antonio Nogueira, nor Mirko Cro Cop quite fulfilled their promise after making the jump from PRIDE), but at least one of them has already made a big splash. Flyweights in the UFC Consider the upcoming tournament between Ian McCall, Demetrious Johnson, Yasuhiro Urushitani, and Joseph Benavidez. With an astounding cumulative record of 59-10-6, and an impressive thirty-two of those victories coming by way of (T)KO or submission, the tournament promises balls-to-the-wall action, and the winner will certainly have the claim to number one flyweight in the world. Not a bad way to kick off the 125-pound proceedings. New Blood Climbing the Top 10 With his knockout of Vladimir Matyushenko, Alexander Gustaffson made it clear that he's ready for a shot at the upper echelon. Phil Davis will get one himself in his upcoming fight against Rashad Evans. Meanwhile, both Nate Diaz and featherweight Jimy Hettes saw a jump in rankings and visibility, respectively, with their recent victories at UFC 141. And there are, of course, the burgeoning new class of welterweights, including Rory Macdonald and Jake Ellenberger. Outside the UFC, Michael Chandler heads into this new year with quite a bit of buzz following his recent submission of Eddie Alvarez, and his fellow Bellator fighters Eduardo Dantas and Pat Curran are likewise poised for a break-out year, with Dantas slated to fight Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky and Curran riding high off a knockout of Marlon Sandro this past August. I'll be looking forward to these five things the most this year. What'd I miss?

Posted in: ufc, welterweight, division, year, thing

Read the full article at Head Kick Legend

The final week of 2011 has arrived, and though the year may not have delivered on the public’s long-standing dream of flying cars and laser-blasters it was certainly a period filled with memorable months from a Mixed Martial Arts viewpoint. We witnessed champions fall in dramatic fashion, prospects rise from the ranks to become divisional kings, and numerous fighters emerge victorious by the skin of their teeth. We saw shocking signings and ridiculous releases; countless classics and numerous nod-offers; moves in the ring unlike any other before and some hopefully never seen again. With the close of the year, Five Ounces of Pain is bringing you our annual awards as we wind things down and get ready for the adventures 2012 will undoubtedly bring. Over the next few days we will announce our winners in somewhat unique categories with a final batch of standard distinctions handed out on Monday, January 2, once all the year’s performances have been turned in. As always, 5 Oz. invites our readers to offer their own opinions in the “Comments” section on who should have taken home the hardware (or in this case digital love). We would not be here without you, and rest assured the Staff not only appreciates your contributions from a “page view” standpoint, but genuinely enjoys reading our community’s take on topics. Have an incredibly fun, albeit safe, NYE weekend! – Who Saw That Coming – Zuffa buys Strikeforce: It seemed like a typical non-event Saturday. There was no anticipation of a big fight later that night, no last minute bets to be placed, and no all-day discussions of who we thought would win later that evening. Then, in the early afternoon, Dana White dropped the bombshell: Zuffa has purchased their biggest competitor Strikeforce. While Dana claimed that things would be “business as usual” for Strikeforce, that quickly changed when UFC took Strikeforce champions Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson, and Alistair Overeem along with top local draw Cung Le to compete in the octagon. Strikeforce events almost immediately became even more secondary with most wondering when Zuffa would just fold the organization and bring the talent over the UFC. It was a move that changed the landscape of the MMA world as Bellator became the defacto #2 promotion while Zuffa tightened its guillotine on the entire sport. – Old Timer of the Year – Dan Henderson: A couple of years ago, many would have argued that Dan Henderson’s resume was somewhat overrated. And they would have had a point. It’s not that the man hadn’t accomplished much – he had – but between gift decisions, hold the PRIDE welterweight (183 lbs) title in a non-existent division, and then briefly holding the middleweight title (205 lbs) only to lose it in a unification bout against Quinton Jackson, Henderson’s achievements were slightly overstated. However, at 41 years of age, “Hendo” just had the best year of his career. He started things off with a knockout of Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante to add yet another title to his resume, before securing two of the biggest wins of his career back-to-back. His knockout of Fedor Emelianenko is even more impressive when factoring in the fact that for much of his career, Henderson competed two weight classes below the great Russian. He finally capped things off with one of the greatest in MMA history when he bested Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in an epic twenty-five minute war. – Most Meteoric Rise – (Tie) Ben Henderson/Ronda Rousey: Both Rousey and Henderson went unbeaten in 2011, rising up from relative obscurity to receive consideration as being among the top fighters in their respective weight-classes. Henderson rise to the next level seemed in doubt after coming up short against Anthony Pettis to close out 2010, yet “Bendo” picked up wins on all three of his UFC fights including those against top contenders Jim Miller and Clay Guida and now has a future date with 155-pound champion Frankie Edgar. While Rousey’s in-ring accomplishments are in no way as impressive as Henderson’s, her outspoken nature, aggressive style, and girl-next-door good looks have thrust her into the spotlight and made her one of the most popular competitors in MMA. Snapping another girl’s arm in two during a fight didn’t hurt her profile either, just Julia Budd’s limb. Make sure to check back in on Monday when we reveal our selections for “Knockout of the Year”, “Submission of the Year’, “Fighter of the Year”, and “Fight of the Year”. You can also check out our previous 2011 Year-End Awards by clicking this link.

Posted in: strikeforce, henderson, year, thing, zuffa

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

To the hoopla of MMA blogs desperate for news in this holiday season, Alistair Overeem has passed the first of several drug tests surrounding his fight with Brock Lesnar. All this because he mucked up a random testing requested by the NSAC. Here he was before the results: I have had people – I will politely call them ‘haters’ – accuse me of taking steroids since I was a 185-lb. kickboxer at the age of 17. When I was 20, I’ve fought at a weight of 222 lbs. I am now aged 31, and weigh 35 lbs. more. I don’t think 35 lbs is too much to grow in 11 years from a 20-year-old to 31-year-old.Facts are, I have been tested with the commission numerous times before when I fought in the U.S. and got tested in Japan. I always passed any testing, so hopefully now with these next tests coming and the fact of me being the most tested fighter in the sport, the critics may be satisfied. And if not, well, that’s not my problem, that is their problem. What's a problem is urine testing doesn't really proove much, doubly so considering commissions aren't even running all the tests they could be. FightOpinion transcribed a Sherdog radio interview with Dr. Margaret Goodman on the subject: “The way commissions order tests now, the prices might have changed, but for example to do the regular drug screens that a commission would order, let’s say that they do the complete panel that goes through Quest labs. It could be somewhere in the neighborhood of 125 items, most of which are either drugs of abuse and a lot of other things that maybe aren’t even applicable to combat sports that’s included in the panel and then you’ve got the large amount of numbers of things that are done in the anabolic screening panel and diuretics and masking agents. That may only cost $300 but unfortunately the problem becomes is that you’re missing all these other items. You’re missing EPO, you’re missing checking the blood count which can only maybe cost you $8. But you’re missing all those other things and that’s why the process needs to be advanced and done the right way or not done at all....“I do agree that urine is better for certain things but, once again, you want to test for everything that’s important and by not testing with blood in addition you’re missing a lot of things. You’re missing every possible instance of blood doping and that can really be lethal to an individual even more so in a lot of respects than someone taking anabolic steroids. The other thing that we’re missing here is, yes, something will stay in someone’s system longer but unfortunately if you don’t do certain kinds of testing, there’s a test (Carbon Isotope Ratio) called CIR. Bottom line is if you don’t do the right test to look for synthetic testosterone, you may miss it any way!" The fun thing about doping is it's always advancing forward and cheaters are always finding new ways to cheat. If you're gonna catch anyone who's doing steroids 'right', you better be randomly testing, testing the right stuff (aka blood), and testing across the board. You don't do one of these things and you might as well not do it at all. Are the kind of steroids being done by top athletes capable of leaving the system without a trace within a few days? It's possible. So right there, that has pretty much invalidated the way the NSAC is running random testing thus far.

Posted in: testing, thing, test, ’re, right

Read the full article at Fightlinker

Last year Dan Hardy told us he had an Xbox problem. So do we. That's probably the only thing we have in common with the guy. He has a hot girlfriend, I don't. He was a welterweight contender in the UFC -- and I have a buy one get one free coupon at Chipotle which makes me a serious contender for two burritos at lunch tomorrow. I can gorge myself on a superfluous diet of Mexican food for the rest of the week because I don't have to worry about having every bone on the right side of my face smashed by Dan Hardy. In life, that's not my primary concern. However for Dan Hardy, he seems worried about the small stuff. You know, like everything suddenly pissing him off. Check out what Dan Hardy told Ben Fowlkes of MMAFighting about how life sucks when you've been handed four losses in a row. "With a career like this, you're so invested in it that it affects everything," he says. "It causes issues with your personal relationships. I get down on myself and then I'm short-tempered, I'm angry most of the time. That's the hardest thing, is how it affects the people close to me. It affects everything. Like, my car breaks down, and it's just another thing on top of the pile of [expletive], another thing that's gone wrong. If my car had broken down after I fought Mike Swick, I could have laughed about it. But now, it's just another thing, like it's all just piling up." In 2010, Dan Hardy also told me about his hyperbaric treatment in which he gets in a pressurized iron tank in order to force his body to recover. My mind was blown at first, but Hardy reassured me that it's a common practice amongst high-level athletes -- which made me realize that my mind is blown way too often. I should go to a doctor for that. [Source]

Posted in: life, dan, thing, everything, that

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Dennis Hallman easily beat John Makdessi on Saturday at UFC 140, and it’s a good thing for him that his win was impressive.

Posted in: ufc, thing, denni, hallman, john makdessi

Read the full article at Sherdog

Just yesterday (Thurs., Dec. 15, 2011), UFC President Dana White, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Showtime Executive Vice President and General Manager Stephen Espinoza held a conference call to announce that a new deal has been reached between Strikeforce and Showtime to continue their relationship for at least another two years. The deal in place calls for Showtime to produce eight events during the 2012 calendar year. Coker will be running the show with input from White, who will attend live events and act as an overlord. It starts on Jan. 7 with the Strikeforce: "Rockhold vs. Jardine" event in Las Vegas, Nevada. There's a lot to like about the deal. More MMA, more places to get it and a different view on how it's presented to us. That's a good thing. There's a lot to dislike about it, as well. The market is already oversaturated, and while I love MMA just as much as the next guy, I'm not entirely enamored with the idea of being handcuffed to my computer every Saturday for the entirety of 2012. Ribs taste pretty damn good but that doesn't mean I want them on my plate once a week. Nonetheless, the deal is done. The dates have yet to be worked out but we know exactly what we're getting. But there's a lot more to the deal than just eight more events next year. Plenty of hard decisions were made, some of which were good and some of which were very clearly not. Let's break 'em down. The Good : Dissolving the heavyweight division: I wrote not long ago that the UFC needed Alistair Overeem because its heavyweight division is seriously lacking contenders. That was the case in September and it's still the case today. Even when they bring the Strikeforce big men over, they're not exactly getting a plethora of top talent. Daniel Cormier has a ton of potential but he's a blown up light heavyweight. Is Josh Barnett even welcome back in the UFC? Antonio Silva had hype after beating Fedor Emelianenko but the previously mentioned blown up light heavyweight stuck him like a pig. Despite their collective potential inside the Octagon, they were a rag tag bunch in Strikeforce and pulling the plug on the division was the right thing to do. Taping and airing preliminary card fights: This has needed to happen for a long, long time, for obvious reasons. No, they certainly won't get the exposure that main card bouts on Showtime will but they will be a part of the very same card and that makes them incredibly cost effective. It's the equivalent of airing a Challengers card without having to go through all the hoopla. Keeping women's MMA and putting more of a focus on it: Marloes Coenen has to be kicking herself a bit for signing with Black Eye Promotions and not waiting out the storm. She could have been building towards a big money rematch against Miesha Tate and instead she's off fighting god knows where against lord knows who. Speaking of Tate, if you didn't know her before, you're going to get to know her now. That's not even mentioning Ronda Rousey, whose had three professional fights and spent about a minute and a half inside the cage in those fights ... combined. Oh and she was ripping arms out of sockets before Frank Mir made it cool again. She's also a master marketer. Big things are ahead for these lethal ladies and the spotlight is even bigger now that they don't have heavyweights to contend with and the future is no longer uncertain. Dumping the Challengers Series: Every professional sports league needs an amateur league below it to groom talent and get them ready for the big stage. Baseball has AA, pro football has college football, even WWE has developmental territories in place solely to give guys somewhere to ply their craft until they're ready for bigger and better things. That's what Challengers was supposed to be. But the set up was a big fat failure from the get go and it was a money loser that couldn't get ratings and drew zero interest, which, ultimately, was counterproductive to the end game. The greatest performance of Ronda Rousey's career came on a Challengers show and about 150,000 tuned in to see it. That's unacceptable. A feeder league is good but if costs are high and revenue is low it will never make sense. Fight night bonuses and awards: Not exactly a game changer and Strikeforce was never a promotion lacking excitement but any incentive for fighters to go a little harder for that knockout or submission is good with me. The Bad: Lack of foresight: If we're to assume the plan all along was to keep Strikeforce around, why was there zero emphasis placed on crowning new champions in the light heavyweight and welterweight divisions? And why was there a need to binge and purge talent at the top of the card to leave the mice fighting for the leftover scraps while the rats get fat in the greener pastures on the other side of the fence? Nearly every decision made from the time Zuffa purchased the promotion until yesterday lead every fan with a brain that works properly to believe it was only a matter of time until all that was left was a pile of ashes and broken dreams. All those various decisions did was undermine the perception of a promotion that was going to be kept alive in the end and that's bad business. I trust that the powers that be have a solid plan in place to rectify this but instead of planning big things for the future, they're left kicking off the new deal in damage control mode. Which brings me to my next point. Fighting the notion that Strikeforce is anything but a feeder league and its champions are secondary titleholders: I understand that pumping up your product is necessary for any promoter and, in fact, the logical way to go about marketing. But outright lying to your audience is never a good idea. During the conference call to announce the deal, Dana White was adamant that Strikeforce is not a feeder league and its champions are not secondary titleholders, which is to say, there is nothing second rate about the organization. That's all well and good but if you want to call the UFC the pinnacle of the sport than Strikeforce, by definition, is not. That makes it secondary. Embracing that fact is far more productive in the long run. This is the equivalent of the Pittsburgh Steelers, for example, winning the AFC Championship game and getting a nice trophy. They hold the AFC title, sure, but it's the secondary title because the real goal is to win the Super Bowl and get its prize, the legendary Lombardi Trophy, or the NFL title. Pretending the AFC championship isn't secondary would be nothing short of an insult to the consumer. Same applies to Strikeforce. Making Gilbert Melendez the face of the promotion: I went back and forth on this one. At first, I thought it was a good thing because having a fighter as charismatic as he is deadly inside the cage can't be a bad thing. But the reality is that he's a human being who isn't invincible. What happens when he loses? Not only does that mean the face of your promotion is a hurt commodity, it also kills whatever value he had as a potential draw in the UFC. On that note, the fact that he wasn't part of the talent mining hurts perception of him. Being the face of a second tier promotion is roughly equal to being the number one contender to any given title in the UFC. If you ain't first, you're last, folks. Too much MMA: This is barely a complaint and in many ways it's not actually a bad thing but it doesn't help Strikeforce, who, as noted previously, will already be fighting the perception that its a second tier promotion, that it will inevitably be sandwiched between major UFC events on the 2012 fight calendar. The UFC will hold its most ambitious schedule ever this coming year and now that Strikeforce is adding a few more events to the fray, there is simply going to be far too much MMA for even the most passionate fan to digest. Professional sports like baseball and basketball, long as their seasons may be, have the benefit of an offseason. Fans have the chance to recharge their batteries and build excitement for the following season. In MMA, it's year round and we're constantly being beaten over the head with more. Pay-per-view buyrates are dwindling and part of the reason for that is oversaturation. It's just too much. I'm biased here, though, as stated earlier. I run weekends here on Mania and this change alters my lifestyle. I'll never complain at having a job like this but I'm not exactly jumping for joy at this news. This deal has certainly split the line for fans and pundits alike. Plenty to like and plenty to take issue with, Maniacs. You've heard my take. What's yours?

Posted in: ufc, promotion, strikeforce, deal, thing

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Well, MMA-ish techniques. Here's an interesting sparring video between former Super-Bantamweight Champion, Daniel Ponce De Leon (41-4) and undefeated young prospect, Kevin Hoskins (4-0), as pointed to us by our friends at Bad Left Hook. Things start out as a simple sparring session, until things go bad at around the 30-second mark of the clip. It could just be the 30-second warning, but De Leon appears to have thrown a punch after the bell, and then things started to escalate from there. Tempers flared, and the boxing session suddenly became more like an ugly brawl from amateur MMA match. Watch the video below where both fighters employ techniques such as an impressive looking Judo trip takedown, a couple of Badr Hari-esque stomp attempts, and also a few sucker punches and kicks as the coaches were trying to restrain the fighters. As always, for the best coverage in all things boxing, head over to Bad Left Hook.

Posted in: technique, thing, amateur mma, hook things, sucker punches

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

"There are many things they do on the American show that I particularly don’t think is nice. I believe we gotta sell the sport as it is. Martial arts are about respect, discipline, posture. And that’s what they’ll see happening here, but it’s not going to be messy. Not in my side, at least. But people will have to sign a deal on which they say that if they mess up with me, it’ll get ugly. I wanna show the good side of the martial arts, show the positive aspects of practicing martial arts and make it popular to people who has never watched MMA in their lives, and maybe help people who do many things wrong, like doing crack and other drugs. Sometimes it happens because the guy doesn’t have anything to do, his friend starts doing it and he goes and does it. I guess we gotta bring these guys from the bad side and show them some things that are good, that’s my mission." Put the pipe down and get your ass in the gym. That's the message from mixed martial arts megastar Wanderlei Silva (via Tatame.com), who travels back to his native homeland to coach an upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Brazil opposite fellow countryman and longtime rival Vitor Belfort. "The Axe Murderer," who rose to prominence in PRIDE and then again in the UFC, is ready to give back to the sport that made him financially secure by taking on a team of up-and-coming fighters from the mean streets of Brazil. Anyone think Wandy is being melodramatic? Or can he go all "Band of the Hand" and shape career criminals into championship fighters?

Posted in: show, people, brazil, thing, art

Read the full article at MMA Mania

If I was a commentator on MiddleEasy, I would rip into all of you that claimed Greg Jackson said 'Against the fence' instead of the so obvious 'Go get some fans' after Jones' demolition of Lyoto Machida at UFC 140. However, I'm not. I'm just a guy that has rewatched the entire series of 'The Wire' to make the accurate statement that while it was a great show, 'Breaking Bad' is still better. We all have to admit that if Greg Jackson yelled 'Go get some fans, Donald Cerrooonee!' then we wouldn't even be having this controversy. Instead, we would proclaim it was the coolest thing ever to be said inside the octagon since Nick Diaz's 'Train all day, Joe Rogan podcast by night -- all day!' Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and on today's MMA Hour, Greg Jackson admitted that it was indeed a 'dumb thing to say.' "Fighters get into this place when they're fighting -- Jon choked him out but he was in this zone," Jackson said. "So I said to Jon, 'Go check on Machida and get yourself some fans,' which was a dumb thing to say. What I was trying to convey to him was, You're a professional athlete and there's ring decorum, and I should have said 'Remember the fans' because everyone is watching what you do. I misspoke." I woke up this morning with the undying urge to eat a soft cookie with frosting on top, but I knew that if I were to consume this edible paradise -- I would not be getting fans. I ate it anyway. Take that 'Article Conclusion Nazi.' [Source]

Posted in: jackson, fan, thing, greg jackson, greg

Read the full article at Middle Easy

After a long negotiation, it appears that Strikeforce and its stable of fighters will not  be going anywhere in the near future.  UFC President Dana White revealed the news following Saturday’s UFC 140 press conference. “Gilbert Melendez and all the guys that are in the Strikeforce show and with Showtime, I will make fights [for them.] They will be happy to be there. Believe me, I got this thing worked out. It’s going to be good for everybody. It’s going to be good for the

Posted in: ufc, strikeforce, thing, strikeforce show, showtime i

Read the full article at Low Kick

Oh, that Brian Ebersole and his shenanigans. For those paying close enough attention during the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 140: "Jones vs. Machida" last night (Sat., Dec. 10, 2011) in Toronto, you might have noticed Ebersole had "Tapout" shaved into his chest hair for his bout against Claude Patrick. Here's the explanation why, straight from the horses mouth: "They sponsored me for two fights. I won't disclose the figure. Pretty sure it's a standard figure for all the other guys. That was just something a little bit fun. It sticks with the humor of the whole shaving anyway. The arrow was basically meant for people that needed to knock me out to beat me because they weren't going to outwrestle me. So with the tapout thing, I didn't think he was going to be able to knock me out but he had that nine fights (won) by guillotine kind of thing going, so I think the cheekiness with the Tapout symbol (was), well, 'come get your tapout.' It was a bit of a laugh and obviously with the sponsorship, it made sense to do it." Tapout, of course, is the popular mixed martial arts clothing brand that has, at one time or another, sponsored damn near every fighter under the sun. And not one of them has ever been as creative in their method of exposure. At the end of the day, though, the important thing is that he picked up yet another victory, his tenth in a row and third in three tries inside the Octagon. Hear him talk about it after the jump.

Posted in: thing, ebersole, tapout, tapout symbol, horses mouth

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz wants to retire from mixed martial arts "on his own terms." However, if "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" "The People's Champion" loses to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 140 tomorrow night (Dec. 10, 2011) in Toronto, he may not be afforded that option. That's because Ortiz (16-9-1) is 1-5-1 since beating the relevancy out of Ken Shamrock way back in 2006. His most recent defeat, a lopsided technical knockout loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 133, was a clear indication that at 36, he is no longer competitive in the promotion's crowded light heavyweight division. Whether or not that has to do with his deteriorating physical abilities, or just an influx of well-rounded second-generation fighters, is not clear. What is clear is that Ortiz recognizes he's in the final stages of a popular combat sports career, and that a win (or loss) in "The Great White North" will go a long way in determing if -- or when -- we see him step inside the Octagon again. MMA Nation has more: "Well, you know I have two more fights in my contract and I've gone through a lot of things in my history of fighting, surgeries and so forth. I've got three boys. I've got a family to take care of ... I've made my money. I've done my thing in the UFC and there's nothing else I can do in the UFC that I haven't already done. I don't want to have any more injuries ... Let's turn a chapter in my life and get into something a little less physical ... This is the most loneliest sport in the world. Fighting is nothing like no other. The mind games we play with ourselves, the physical games we play with ourselves, it's just like no other. We have our families that support us, our fans that support us, but at the end of the night, we go to bed and we think of the things on our own and it's tough, it's difficult to get through the things we do. Physically, mentally, emotionally, to get into the cage as I do and compete, it takes a strong will to do it and after the surgeries that I've had, it takes a strong will to do it year after year after year. I'm going on 15 years of doing it. I'm the longest competing competitive fighter in UFC history. I've got a couple more fights ahead of me and I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking about retiring and I think it makes sense to retire on my own terms." Owning a litany of industry "firsts," Ortiz is likely to be remembered as a legendary fighter despite never being able to win "The Big One," having been handily defeated by both Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture in the prime of his career. He was, however, able to sell the UFC at a time when it couldn't sell itself. Simply put, he put asses in the seats. Win or lose on Saturday night, his place in the history books is undoubtedly secure. Anyone out there disagree? For more on Tito's possible retirement click here. For a closer look at his UFC 140 fight against "Little Nog" click here. Lastly, a career retrospective can be found here.

Posted in: ufc, ortiz, year, thing, ive

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is now on the FOX network with increased exposure and the chance to blow up the mainstream sports world. There has never been a more sensitive time in the promotion's history. Hey, I know, let's tell rape jokes! Most of the mixed martial arts community has their panties up in a bunch over the comments Rashad Evans made at the UFC on FOX 2 pre-fight press conference back on Dec. 7 in Chicago, Illinois. "Suga" told his main event opponent and former Nittany Lion, Phil Davis, that he was going to treat him worse than Jerry Sandusky treated the children he allegedly (cough) molested at Penn State. Doh! While Evans was getting into a verbal back-and-forth with "Mr. Wonderful," much to the approval of the giggling sheeple in attendance, he tried to hit a home run -- but instead struck out swinging. Premeditated? No. Malicious? Hardly. Tasteless? Absolutely. Or, as UFC President Dana White told media members at the UFC 140 presser earlier today (via MMA Fighting), it was simply a "stupid" thing to say. "We talked. It's not like I'm dealing with stupid people here. It's one thing when you're dealing with dummies. When you're dealing with people who are really stupid, it's tough to talk to them. But when you call a guy who's an intelligent guy, he gets it. He knows. The whole thing with me is people are looking to me, and I saw a couple of stupid stories that were written, people who want attention -- you know who those people are. What do you want me to do? You want me to have our lawyers draw something up and I'll come out and read it to you guys? You know, he said something stupid. It's probably one of the dumbest things you could say. He gets it, and he knows it was a stupid thing to say, and we'll see what happens." Like the man said, we'll see. "Evans vs. Davis," emanating from Chicago's United Center, will headline the Jan. 28, 2012, broadcast, which kicks off the promotion's seven year, $100 million agreement with the network television powerhouse. Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz and Michael Bisping vs. Demian Maia are also featured on the "Windy City" fight card. To hear how it all went down at the UFC on FOX 2 press conference click here.

Posted in: ufc, people, thing, evan, jerry sandusky

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Filed under: UFCTORONTO -- UFC president Dana White is well aware that Rashad Evans stepped over the line with his pre-fight trash-talk when he referenced the Penn State sex abuse scandal while taking a verbal jab at former Nittany Lions wrestler Phil Davis on Wednesday. As White told reporters following Thursday's UFC 140 press conference, he made sure Evans knew it too. "We talked." said White, who called Evans' remark "one of the dumbest things you could say," in light of the child abuse allegations against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. According to White, he didn't have to convince Evans that he'd made a mistake in using the story as a topical reference point at the UFC on FOX presser in Chicago yesterday. "It's not like I'm dealing with stupid people here," White said. "It's one thing when you're dealing with dummies. When you're dealing with people who are really stupid, it's tough to talk to them. But when you call a guy who's an intelligent guy, he gets it. He knows." Evans brought the heat on himself when exchanging words with Davis at the press conference, telling the former NCAA Division I wrestling champ: "I guarantee you'll be the first one to take a shot cause I'm going to put my hands on you worse than that dude did them other kids at Penn State." Evans, who wrestled at Michigan State, later told MMA Fighting that he has nothing against Davis, but was merely trying to play up a rivalry for entertainment value. "I have plenty of respect for him as a fighter and as a person," said Evans. "But when it comes to competing with me, I gotta let my mouth go a little bit." He let it go too far this time, White said, but the UFC president sounded hesitant to take any official punitive action over the remark. "The whole thing with me is people are looking to me, and I saw a couple of stupid stories that were written, people who want attention -- you know who those people are," White said. "What do you want me to do? You want me to have our lawyers draw something up and I'll come out and read it to you guys? You know, he said something stupid. It's probably one of the dumbest things you could say. He gets it, and he knows it was a stupid thing to say, and we'll see what happens." Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: people, penn, thing, evan, state

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The first time Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira stepped into the Octagon with Frank Mir, things didn't turn out so well.

Posted in: mir, thing, camp, minotauro, mir rematch

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From the greatest artists to the youngest children to complete retards, it’s always a sure thing that in some way, shape, or form, what comes out when people put pen to paper reflects what is going on in their heads. In my case, that would indicate that I love the color orange and have a borderline psychotic obsession with human feces. Now let us consider the writings of a judge from the James Thompson-Mariusz Pudzianowski fight from last weekend, whose scorecard was emailed to various MMA websites. His cogent, lucid writings reflect such intense focus on the solemn duties of an MMA judge that my head exploded at the very thought of his concentration. I am now typing this while looking out of my bloody neck stump after retrieving my eyeballs by searching with my hands. When we heard that Pudzianowski's win was changed to a no contest after a judge admitted he accidentally gave the ref a different winner than he had on his scorecard, we simply figured that a little too much vodka and beer must have been passed around. Because, you know, that mistake is totally understandable and impossible to prevent. Just a little slip of the tongue. But when we see the above picture, it is clear that the judges at this event were less “knowledgeable professionals” than “juvenile graffiti taggers”. The judge evidently gives a shout-out to a bunch of people from Copacabana Fight Club and draws an incomprehensible figure with geometrically arranged letters calling someone named Coco the king. All we can conclude for sure from seeing him write these things in this forum is that he would really like to be a rapper but has no talent. But it is deeply disturbing that a judge could spend half the fight card drawing little stick figures and either not pay attention to the fights or (even more depressingly) somehow think that judging decisions can be made based on whatever the stick figures tally. If he wants to make meaningful decisions based on infantile drawings, shouldn’t he be drawing fists to represent punches or cocks and balls for grit and determination? But the most interesting thing about the scorecard above is that this idiot is the judge who (one could argue) scored the bout CORRECTLY- just think of what the judges who scored it wrong must have been writing. After the jump, a freshly 'fooked en my arse' James Thompson talks about how he seems to keep getting screwed over. Worth watching if you can't wait till the next Guy Ritchie movie for your fix of funny British accents. read more

Posted in: fight, figure, judge, thing, mma websites

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

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

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For former finalist of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8, Phillipe Nover, Saturday night (Nov. 26, 2011) will be the culmination of a near unparalleled amount of hard work and adjustment. Once compared to the likes of Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva by UFC President Dana White in a fit of regrettable hyperbole, Nover suffered a multitude of physical issues and then found himself on the outside looking in after suffering his third straight loss inside the Octagon. After taking 19 months off to make drastic changes and allow his body to heal, Nover returned to mixed martial arts (MMA) competition this past August, scoring his first victory in over four years at Hoosier Fight Club in Indiana.  Nover quickly signed with Bellator Fighting Championships after his win and has been slated to square off against dangerous European submission whiz Marcin Held for the past 2.5 months. He'll finally make his return to televised MMA this Saturday night at Bellator 59 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Nover spoke with MMAmania.com during a recent guest appearance on The Verbal Submission, discussing getting rid of distractions, why he took so long to return and what he expects against Marcin Held in part one of this two-part interview. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You took a little over a year off and you mentioned that there's no distractions this time around now that you're back. What was your biggest distraction before? Phillipe Nover: Wow, I definitely had some distractions before in my life. I would say definitely not having the right frame of mind. One thing, I was in a really bad relationship. I thought it was a good relationship but the person I was with, a woman can drain you, man and if you're making her a priority in your life and it's ok to make a woman a priority in life as long as there's some reciprocation going on, but not to get into so many details but there was no reciprocation going on and it wasn't a good relationship. It was actually a drain and there was a lot of negativity that surrounded me when I thought it was all positive things going on, so that was definitely the major issue. I was focusing on that instead of focusing on my training and that was definitely one thing that changed and is completely changed now. The second thing is I changed my team up and my training partners. Because I'm such a loyal person and I just come from that type of background especially with the traditional arts, it's difficult cutting ties between your original trainers and stuff, who I still respect to this day but just getting to the new level, getting to a professional level, you need to train with professional people. All my training partners and sparring partners who are professionals, I train at Edge Wrestling with Dave Branch, John Cholish, my trainers Dave Esposito, Brandon Kinney and Jeff Marsh, all these guys do this stuff pretty much for a living. My training partners and sparring partners range now from Frankie Edgar all the way to Charlie Brenneman. Guys just come into Renzo's, I train at Renzo's now. I'm now including John Danaher in my corner. Just changing up completely with my training strategy-wise for my fighting. I think before, I had an approach which was definitely lacking in my fight career and now it's a lot better. I look at fighting now completely different from how I ever looked at it. The third thing that happened is I had to take some time off because I had neck surgery. I didn't really publicize this. I don't know for sure when the injury came first but I know I had a herniated disk and it was really bad. I definitely fought with the herniated disk a few times, that was during the UFC and it just kept getting worse and worse. Finally, I ended up getting an MRI after fighting Rob Emerson and I saw, the doctor told me that my neck is really bad. I waited about six months or more, maybe eight months before I got the surgery because I was debating. I wanted to do all kinds of things like traction therapy, acupuncture, acupressure, all kinds of stuff I tried. I really had a fear of going under the knife. Finally, I met a doctor, his name was Dr. Shapiro over in Long Island and he put an artificial disk in my neck and it's unbelievable. It's actually healed up. You can YouTube this, I have a video diary of my recovery and it's crazy. Just to get neck surgery and to come back stronger than ever, it's like I have a brand new neck. Those are the three major things that I had changed in my life which is helping me focus again and I just feel like my MMA career can take off even further than it's ever bene. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): I appreciate the candor there. When you decided that you were returning to fighting, what you first did was you took your first professional kickboxing fight, a Muay Thai bout. Can you tell me the thought process that went into the decision to try kickboxing before coming back into MMA? Phillipe Nover: The first thought in my mind, I got the neck surgery on February 8th of this year so it took a few months to heal and I really wasn't training as much wrestling and jiu-jitsu and getting my neck tugged on but I was still training my Muay Thai so by the time I fought, it was June 10th. I decided my first fight back should be, I wanted to fight in New York, that was another thing too, just to wipe the rust off and have my friends and my family easily travel to New York City, this is my place. I train at Church Street Boxing which is under my coach Jason Strout and this is also a partnership of a show that he runs. It was a real comfortable atmosphere. It was real homely and I fought another MMA fighter actually in a Muay Thai fight. (laughs) He had a few Muay Thai fights and it was my first one. It was really just a way to wipe the rust off. Win or lose, I thought it wouldn't affect my MMA career and you're still putting gloves on and punching people in the head so it definitely worked out. I wound up winning via TKO in the first round so it was a good way to get me back in the picture and then build up back into an MMA fight. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): I'm very interested in what led up to your signing with Bellator. I know you took a fight at Hoosier Fight Club and you got a win. Did Bellator approach you around the same time they talked to Kurt Pellegrino because you guys train around the same area? What went into that? Phillipe Nover: Well, after the fight with Jake Murphy in the Hoosier Fight Club, I was talking to my manager and we somehow got a contract with Bellator. I don't know how it worked out but we got in contract with each other and we started working some numbers around and they made some offers and we just managed it right. I think this is huge for me. I'm really looking forward to my first fight in Bellator. This is pretty much, I think talent pool-wise, I think we have some huge studs at the 155 division. That fight this past Saturday was crazy. I spar with Eddie Alvarez too and these guys are amazing. It's a stacked division, I think even comparable to the UFC so if I ever want to get back to the UFC, I have to have hopes of making it pretty far in Bellator. This is a great opportunity for me to get back into the scene and I'm hoping to do well. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You're taking on Marcin Held, a really dangerous submission fighter from Europe. Have you been preparing your leg lock defense because that guy has some vicious heel hooks. Phillipe Nover: (laughs) I definitely have. I've been preparing with an emphasis on my lower extremity defense. He does go for kneebars, ankles, he loves getting locked up in there and he will definitely pop ankles and knees. He's done it before and I've watched tape on him. He's a young kid, but man, he beats the crap out of adults so I'm preparing myself completely for this fight as much as I can. I'm reviewing all my good defenses and I know he'll probably try to lock up one of my ankles so we'll see what happens. What do you think, Maniacs? Do you agree that Nover's made the necessary adjustments to finally be able to live up to the prospect status that was given to him? Or has that time come and gone already? Sound off! Stay tuned for part two of our interview with Phillipe Nover as he prepares for his major promotional return this Saturday night. We discuss the Bellator contract, his nursing career and unrealistic expectations. To listen to the complete audio of the interview, click here.

Posted in: fight, bellator, mma, thing, nover

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

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

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Gray Maynard came up short in his second shot at the UFC lightweight title At UFC 136 when Frankie Edgar once again rose from the ashed and scored a comeback victory. But it had been decided long before the bout that he would be leaving Xtreme Couture no matter the outcome. His (former) boxing coach Gil Martinez expressed his disappointment with Maynard supposedly leaving for good, and today Maynard confirmed it himself in an interview with Heavy. He also discussed the possibility of joining another major gym, American Kickboxing Academy. On getting out of Las Vegas: "Leaving Xtreme Couture is something that has been going through my head for awhile," Maynard said. "I know people want to assume the worst, but that isn’t the case. During my camp for Kenny Florian, I started to think about everything that is out there in this sport. A month before my fight with Edgar in Houston, I made my decision. "I informed the gym (Xtreme Couture) that I would not be coming back. I felt it was important because win or lose, I wasn’t going to return for my training. I did things this way because I didn’t want to win the title and have people thinking I won the belt and left for something else. I made sure to tell them long before my fight on October 8th, so there wasn’t any confusion." He discussed the troubles he had with his last camp at XT, and that it had nothing to do with the guys that were there. He just wants to try something new. And that something new could be AKA: "Right now I’m up in Santa Cruz and things are great. There are a few gyms I have been training at. I’ve also spent some time at AKA. They have a great gym, an awesome team and I’m enjoying my time here. At this point my focus is on broadening my horizons and wherever I feel that can be accomplished is where I will go. There is a huge world out there and so many great camps where I can learn so many things. "I just want to get out and train with whoever I can. There are so many other camps and so much I can learn, it became something I needed to do. If that means going down to Brazil and training with Jose Aldo, I’d be excited to go. There are a ton of gyms in Holland and to train with Andy Souwer would be something that interests me. There is so much to learn out there and I want to grow." While Maynard isn't saying it directly, other sources have indicated that there's a strong chance that Maynard will be joining AKA in the near future. Even if that doesn't turn out to be the case, it's obvious that Maynard is looking to improve and that can only be a good thing for him. And a bad thing for the rest of the UFC lightweight division.

Posted in: thing, gym, maynard, something, xtreme

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submitted by col0rado [link] [comment]

Posted in: ufc, thing, york, didnt, york lawsuit

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

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

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Everyone was pretty curious about how the UFC's first event on FOX was gonna look. Questions were asked, nervous answers from UFC brass were delivered, and many a run through was done by production staff leading up to the show. In the end, I'd say things went pretty well. You'd need to get down to nitpicking to find fault with the presentation, so I'd label that part of things a success.'FOX Sports' was the vibe for the show, with their football fanfare music playing throughout the broadcast. We went from our standard Goldberg / Rogan setup to a dual setup where we got passed back and forth between Ye Olde Sportsdesk and the commentary team. Generic FOX Sportsdude Curt Menefee's souless blah blah blah drove things along well enough, and Dana White and Brock Lesnar added some stiff but passable analysis to get us through things.Once things switched over to fight time, it was more or less a return to the standard way the UFC runs things. Even though the fight went just over a minute, there were no hiccups in how the show felt ... some commercial breaks and a return back to the sportsdesk killed the last 15 minutes and with that the first UFC on FOX was in the bag.The major complaint coming out of the event was how the fight went. After 30 minutes of hype and build-up, Cain Velasquez went down in the first exchange to a glancing blow off his temple. It wasn't one of those famous knockdowns that look like a guy just ate a shotgun blast to the head. Cain just lost his balance, rolled, then ate a few more shots before Big John stepped in to stop things. Several of the casual people around me checking out the fight looked around in confusion. "So ... was that it?"In the end, the fight went down like many of my sexual encounters. Lots of hype and build-up ... then 65 seconds of action culminating in a not so orgasmic finish. After all the sizzle, there was barely a bite of steak for potential MMA fans to enjoy.Let this be a lesson to FOX: more MMA is always better than less. The UFC had set things up so that Ben Henderson vs Clay Guida was ready on the sidelines in case what happened on Saturday night happened. Unfortunately, the decision was made to focus on the heavyweight championship fight and only the heavyweight championship fight. It was a decision that probably made sense at the time ... not so much in retrospect. Big fights might get people to tune in, but it's often the guys on the undercard making sure fans leave an event feeling like they got enough fights to fix them until next time.

Posted in: ufc, fight, show, fox, thing

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Typically, when a Mixed Martial Artist discusses the probability of dipping down divisionally the decision stems from having struggled to succeed at the higher weight. However, American Top Team’s Cole Miller plans on competing at 145 pounds in his next Octagon outing despite being 3-1 in his last four including a trio of submission stoppages. The Ultimate Fighter 5 alumnus recently spoke about fighting as a featherweight as he plans to do as soon as he heals up from a broken hand he sustained in a bout with TJ O’Brien this past August at UFC Live 5, acknowledging the potential risks involved by making the move while maintaining confidence in his ability to live up to his own high expectations once things are said and done. A Closer Look at Miller vs. O’Brien “I think the challenges that I’ll have won’t be the challenges that I’ll have the entire time at featherweight, it will just be that initial thing,” Miller explained to MMAWeekly. “Obviously, the weight cut, but I don’t think it will be a tough cut. The other thing is the speed at 145 pounds. That first fight when I get in there, no matter how many sparring partners I’ll be sparring with that are 145ers, when you go in there for that fight everything is much faster.” Miller hopes to find out exactly how much either will affect him as soon as Spring 2012, updating his injury-status by saying, “I got cleared to train finally, the bone is completely healed. It took ten weeks, but I’m back in the gym now…I think I’ll be ready to be able to spar in about a month, (and) then I’ll need ten to twelve weeks to prepare for an opponent.” As far as who the 27-year old wants to fight, “Magrinho” avoided calling out any of his peers specifically, only saying he hoped for a stiff test rather than a warm-up bout. “I’m prepared to jump in the deep end, but I don’t always get what I want.” The 18-5 Miller has finished sixteen of the opponents he’s beaten including thirteen by way of submission. He holds past victories over Leonard Garcia, Jorge Gurgel, and Ross Pearson. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC Tweet

Posted in: fight, miller, thing, i ’ll, ’ll

Read the full article at Fighters.com

Things might be a lot easier for Stephan Bonnar (13-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC) if he didn't learn things the hard way.

Posted in: ufc, thing, stephan bonnar, bonnar, mmajunkiecom things

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Things might be a lot easier for Stephan Bonnar if he didn't learn things the hard way. "If I only had fighting, and my body never got hurt, then every three or four months I would fight," Bonnar told MMAjunkie.com Radio. But Bonnar seems to get hurt a lot, and if there's one thing he's trying to learn, it's when to stop and when to go.

Posted in: thing, stephan bonnar, bonnar, mmajunkiecom radio, months i

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Now that the anticipation for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 has been sated and the lines have disappeared from the front of cold, wet videogame retailers, we can now move on to the next big thing: UFC on Fox featuring Cain Vs. JDS. Technically, the event this Saturday has one of the greatest preliminary cards in the history of the sport: Guida vs Bendo, the MiddleEasy adorned Damarques Johnson, Chicago's own Ricardo Lamas Vs. Cub Swanson...Dustin Poirier, Pablo Garza, Kid Yamamoto and on and on. Yeah, there is no main card, just the prelims and the main event, 'You are a silly fool, Jason' is what you are probably thinking, but I love deeming things 'the greatest'- so let me have this one thing OK? The UFC has an amazing undercard this Saturday and the main event is incredible...but aside from that there is nothing much to speak of. I ran into Pat Miletich at the Pro Elite event last Saturday, so I shoved a camera into his face and asked him the burning question: Cain or JDS?

Posted in: vs, event, saturday, thing, jd

Read the full article at Middle Easy

Jeremy Botter checks in with the five things we learned from Saturday's UFC 138 card in England.

Posted in: ufc, jeremy, saturday, card, thing

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

Is it more of a 'stand here right now and let's do this thing', or a 'present your soul to me right here right now, or I will take it by force' kind of thing? Either way this was always one of the things I liked the most about JDS..it's going to give me chills when I see him do it to Cain Velasquez.. submitted by tekprodfx16 [link] [1 comment]

Posted in: right, thing, things i, prefight introduction, force kind

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Walking away from the sport - even if only for a moment - was the smartest thing B.J. Penn could have done after UFC 137.

Posted in: ufc, decision, penn, thing, bj

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It's time for our customary look at the hottest story lines coming out of UFC 137. Jeremy Botter takes a look inside.

Posted in: ufc, jeremy, thing, story, story lines

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

Recently, Culinary Union Local 226 accused the UFC of being anti-gay in an attempt to get the UFC's sponsors to renounce the sport like Elton John renounced pussy. Most people expected Dana White to reply with yet another "This is the fight business, you dumb fucking bitch!" comment. But on Thursday, he took the opposite tack, going out of his way to welcome gay fighters into the UFC’s soft, supple folds with a “UFC <3 teh homosquelchuals” rant: "I'll tell you right now, if there's a gay fighter in the UFC, I wish he would come out. I could care less if there's a gay fighter in the UFC. There probably is, and there's probably more than one. It's 2012. Give me a break." About the idea that the UFC should be stopping people from saying that they don't want to train with gays, calling people gay for putting their sisters in headlocks, and teaching Japanese people to say "I am a faggot" on video, White had this to say: "You're dealing with human beings. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody does things that are wrong sometimes. ... We do the best we can do. How do you really think that we could possibly police 375 fighters and try to control everything they say?" "I do what I can do for these guys. You're dealing with human beings. I love when you get these organizations that try to ... I guess I call it the holier-than-thou approach. Really? So when these guys make mistakes and things happen, bad things happen, you want to point the finger and say the whole organization is bad and these are bad people because these are things they've done? F--- you. Guess what? Everybody makes mistakes and everybody does things that are wrong sometimes. Everybody. I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do for a living and what you've done. I don't deal with the holier-than-thou b-------. We do the best we can do." This statement was pretty mindblowing, if only for its relative abandonment of his previous “bristly old bear” attitude. In order to soften the blow and avoid making our heads literally explode because of the apparent contradiction with how he normally acts, Dana evidently deputized Anderson Silva to prance around with Justin Bieber to set the stage for this announcement. 100 points to the first fighter who makes Dana reverse his new liberal attitude by dancing around in a speedo to entertain the UFC’s “new target audience”, which rumor has it is even more awash in disposable income than the regular 18-49 breeder demographic. If Dana White believes that “there’s probably more than one” gay fighter in the UFC already, this begs the question, to whom is he referring? Donald Cerrone and Leonard Garcia have been cohabiting like Ernie and Bert for quite some time, and Cerrone recently made the Achilles-vs.-Hector-like move of challenging the man who defeated his “best friend”. It’s common knowledge at this point that Achilles was gay, and so 2+2 being 4, these two are definitely under investigation. Okay, maybe we just like imagining Cowboy saying "I wish I could quit you!" Other than that ... uuuuuh. Hmmm. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Anderson Silva were caught in a bit of a "compromising position", on camera no less. And Nick Ring... well, let's actually not discuss Nick Ring.

Posted in: ufc, fighter, people, thing, everybody

Read the full article at Fightlinker

Filed under: UFC, NewsLAS VEGAS -- With increased exposure comes increased scrutiny, as the UFC has learned through its fast rise to becoming a sports powerhouse. As the promotion continues preparation for its network television premiere on FOX on November 12, they have faced a recent, ongoing campaign led by the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, charging that the UFC is unfit for children due to abusive and bigoted language by UFC president Dana White and his fighters, a charge White denies. As part of that campaign, the union, which represents more than 50,000 workers on the Las Vegas Strip but is embroiled in bitter litigation with Fertitta-owned Station Casinos -- recently launched the website UnfitForChildren.org that details some of White's more controversial quotes. More recently, they have pressured some of the UFC's sponsors to pull advertising dollars from the promotion because of their " history of tolerating homophobic conduct that is hostile to millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people all over the world who struggle every day against bigotry and discrimination." Asked about the recent developments, White argued that they were based in politics more than substance, and said the UFC would gladly welcome a gay fighter. "Seriously, if you guys look at some of the stuff I said in the last 10 years, some of it stupid, some of it whatever, that's the one that bothers me. It's the only one that bothers me," White said. "The fact that these losers from the culinary union can go out and say I'm a homophobe and things like that, because It's the furthest thing from the truth. I think enough of you here know me that if I was, I'd tell you I was, and I'd tell you why I was. It's not true and it's just something these guys can throw up on a cute little website." Asked whether he should be better policing anyone in his organization, White said, "I definitely should be policing myself," but noted that he has 375 fighters on his roster and said he could not possibly police every word out of their mouths. A letter to UFC sponsor Anheuser-Busch specifically targeted several recent incidences they termed "anti-gay," that involved Joe Rogan, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Antonio Roridgo Nogueira, Michael Bisping and White himself. "I do what I can do for these guys," White said. "You're dealing with human beings. I love when you get these organizations that try to ... I guess I call it the holier-than-thou approach. Really? So when these guys make mistakes and things happen, bad things happen, you want to point the finger and say the whole organization is bad and these are bad people because these are things they've done? F--- you. Guess what? Everybody makes mistakes and everybody does things that are wrong sometimes. Everybody. I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do for a living and what you've done. I don't deal with the holier-than-thou b-------. We do the best we can do." White said that while a few fighters occasionally step out of line, the vast majority -- "300-something," in his view are inspirational, role- model types to kids and adults. Though there has never been an openly gay fighter in the UFC, White said there would be no problems for that individual under his watch. "I'll tell you right now, if there's a gay fighter in the UFC, I wish he would come out," he said. "I could care less if there's a gay fighter in the UFC. There probably is, and there's probably more than one. It's 2012. Give me a break." Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: ufc, guy, fighter, thing, dont

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The Sixth Ounce Podcast is back and this is quite possibly our most unusual episode ever. Things start off on the right foot between Jeremy Lambert, Brendhan Conlan, and Samer Kadi as they discuss whether or not Nick Diaz should jump Carlos Condit for a title shot if he defeats B.J.Penn and talk of Mirko Filipovic‘s potential retirement. Then things take a turn for the weird as we talk about topics that are trending on twitter and play another fun game of “Pop Culture Trivia Challenge” with Samer. It goes even further downhill from there as we go into a discussion of prior Halloween costumes and then things get heated between Samer and Jeremy when the topic of Brittney Palmer is brought up. About an hour into the show, things get back on track as guest writer Jon Butterfield joins Samer and Jeremy to breakdown Penn vs. Diaz with Jon taking the side of Diaz and Samer taking the side of Penn. Download (Right Click -> Save Link As) – iTunes

Posted in: nick diaz, brittney palmer, carlos condit, thing, samer

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If you’re not a fan of lightweight prospect Dan Downes, you’re not a fan of fighting. There, I said it, and if you’re wondering why, all you need to do is look at his June match with Jeremy Stephens. 8-1 entering the bout, Downes was dwarfed in experience by the veteran from Iowa, yet he took the fight, on short notice no less, and stood in there with the “Lil’ Heathen” for three rounds.Yes, he lost a unanimous decision. But there are losses and there is losing the way Downes did, with a defiance that said you can cut me, you can hurt me, you can hit me, but I’m going to keep moving forward. If you filmed the bout in black and white, buried it in a time capsule and said it was from 1956, no one who found it in the future would have blinked an eye. And that’s not even mentioning the kimura attempt that caused everyone except Downes to cringe.“Part of it is that basic thing where you always think that no matter position you get in, you still think ‘I can win. I’ll get out of this, get up, and I’ll win,’” he recalls. “You never just want to quit. I don’t know if I have a high pain tolerance, but I just keep going. Do you ever see Chris Rock talking about how people who want congratulations or respect for things they’re supposed to do? (Laughs) That’s how I feel. When I step into that cage, I have a duty to myself, my coaches, my teammates, the fans and the UFC. I have an obligation to go out there and give everything I’ve got. I’m not going out there to half-ass it – ‘well, it’s close enough, I’ll just stop now and live to fight another day.’ I still knew I had more to give and I wasn’t willing to quit. He was gonna have to actually rip it off and take it with him, and even then I’d still probably try to do something, but I’d assume the ref would stop it by then.”He chuckles.“The whole time, I was going ‘I can do this, I can do this. There’s no problem.’ You’ve just got to focus on the task at hand and still try to win that fight.”Downes didn’t win that night, and his record dropped to 8-2, with losses coming to Stephens and via submission to Chris Horodecki. But in the process, he gained a respect that sometimes goes even further than just another notch in the win column. He was a UFC fighter. “The biggest thing I got from that fight is confidence,” said Downes. “I’m in the UFC, this is the pinnacle of mixed martial arts, and I’m thinking, seriously, have I just been fooling these people the last couple years? How did I get here? So there’s still that ‘do I belong? This is the UFC, and I’m still Dan Downes.’ (Laughs) But in that fight, I went toe-to-toe with Stephens and I never felt outclassed. Yeah he beat me and caught me in different things, and I made errors, but I was never in a position where I’m like, ‘I’m in totally over my head, this is scary.’ So realizing that I can do this and that I belong here, that’s done a lot for me.”And about that no tapping to the kimura thing, “I don’t know what it is – it’s either being stubborn, or stupid, or being a sore loser, but I know that about myself. When I get in that position, I’m not gonna quit. They say stuff like ‘you just live so you could look yourself in the mirror the next morning,’ and I’d much rather wake up with a broken nose or something else than look there and be like ‘I quit.’ And it’s not some BS masculinity thing. I’m not doing it to say I’m a big tough guy; if you want to tap, then tapping is essentially quitting. It’s crying uncle, and maybe my threshold before saying uncle is a lot higher than a lot of other people’s.”What’s crazy about that whole sequence is that it’s just one of a million different scenarios that can happen in any mixed martial arts bout, and fighters have to be prepared for the consequences of each. That takes endless training and drilling, but also the presence of mind to stay calm in the midst of a situation that would cause us civilians outside the cage to panic. The 25-year old Downes, who has been training in one way, shape, or form since 2004, is – like all MMA fighters - still learning, but with the help of renowned coach Duke Roufus and the Roufusport team, he’s also starting to get things down to the point where they’re becoming automatic.“It’s almost like you’re in a time vortex,” he explains. “Everything takes forever, but it’s also going by really fast. So you let instinct take over – you get there, I know I gotta do this, that, move, and you just try to do it. I remember when he (Stephens) got me in that (kimura) lock, and I heard a couple pops, and once that happens, I’m like ‘screw it, that already happened, I might as well see how far I can ride this thing.’ It’s that muscle memory. I just read this book (Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain) by this neuroscientist (David Eagleman), talking about how our brain has these ‘zombie processes,’ basically stuff we do without really thinking about it. It’s kind of like you train yourself to react that way. That’s the ideal. You want to react in such a way that you don’t even have to think about it, it just becomes automatic, and that’s part of it.”Around this time in the article, it’s almost customary to recount that Milwaukee’s Downes is a Marquette University grad with a double major in International Affairs and German who interned for the United States Secret Service and also worked for the Department of Commerce. It’s done to remind everyone that Downes is not your typical fighter, but in reality, he’s not your typical fighter because he could probably go on to do anything he chooses for a profession, but because he’s made it here on pure grit and determination.“I’m not a natural athlete,” he said. “And a lot of times I see that the guys that are the best athletes - the strongest, the fastest, the best - they quit easier because most guys like that, everything came easy to them. This has never come easy to me. I’ve won fights and I’ve won some easier than others, but my whole MMA career has never been easy. I’ve kinda had to work twice as hard for half the results that some guys get. I’ve been tested ever since I started, and sometimes I might feel like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the mountain, but that’s why I do it. It’s being defiant. Why does man want to fly? Because we’re not supposed to.”In the great scheme of things, Dan Downes was not the guy who was supposed to be a professional fighter. But when everything else came easy, fighting was that boulder he couldn’t resist trying to push up the mountain.“School always came easy to me,” he admits. “It just did. I worked hard in school, but I kinda coasted through a lot of things and still did pretty well. That’s not to say I don’t value my education, but you don’t appreciate the things that come easy. I worked so hard and fought tooth and nail, literally and figuratively, to get here, so it feels like an accomplishment. Even when I played rugby in high school and in everything I did, I just wanted to go to that next level. It (fighting) is a sport and it takes skill and it’s not just about fighting in the sense that two cavemen are fighting, but it’s definitely a more personal sport. If you beat me in Horse or I lose a basketball game, yeah, it’s embarrassing, but it’s because he dribbled a rubber ball and got it in a basket better than you. This is fighting. This is someone beat you up and punched you in the face in front of your family. And that’s the part of it that makes it so much more of an accomplishment. It’s not that I take pride in beating someone up or hurting them; it’s this primal kind of gut instinct and you’re leaving everything out there. We’re not fighting for our lives, but we’re still fighting someone and putting our body on the line.”And he’ll do it again this Saturday night in Las Vegas against The Ultimate Fighter season 13 finalist Ramsey Nijem. It’s a nice clash of styles, with Downes pitting his standup game against Nijem’s wrestling-based attack, but when you take away all the strategies and techniques, it’s a fight, and that’s all that really matters to the Wisconsin product these days and every day. “I’m not the flashiest,” he said. “No one’s ever gonna look at me and be like ‘I bet he was prom king.’ (Laughs) But what I may lack in bodybuilder potential or the male model aspect, if someone called me and said ‘we need you to fight next week, but it’s gonna be a boxing fight,’ I’ll do it. I’m gonna go there and I might get beat up, but I’m gonna keep coming.”

Posted in: i ’m, thing, ’m, ’re, downe

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The Next Big Thing podcast returns with UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione, who discusses his UFC 137 bout with Cheick Kongo and much more.

Posted in: ufc, mitrione, cheick kongo, matt, thing

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Carlos Condit may have gotten a UFC welterweight title shot against Georges St. Pierre more through Nick Diaz's shortcomings than any specific thing Condit did himself, but Carlos and his team say they were ready to make the most of their opportunity. Unfortunately, after an almost full training camp, the fight won't happen after a knee injury put GSP on the sidelines. Condit's trainer, Mike Winkeljohn, says that the injury to GSP may have actually been a good thing for Carlos in the long-term (via Sherdog): "Maybe it's a blessing in disguise," Winkeljohn told the Sherdog Radio Network's "Beatdown" show. "We had a game plan. We felt real good with it, but Chris Luttrell and I were talking about some things we'd like to see Carlos do, but we figured it was too late to even try to implement those things because the fight's coming up and you can only fill your fighter's head with so much information. In a way, now we can come up with a couple of more things to put us in a couple of better positions for this fight." Despite some feeling that the UFC will skip Carlos' title shot should Nick Diaz beat B.J. Penn in the now main event UFC 137, UFC president Dana White says that won't be the case and that Carlos still will get his shot. It will be interesting to see if Condit's camp can keep him from overtraining while continuing to get him ready in small doses for the shot at GSP. The one area where the challenger may have an advantage when the fight eventually does go down is that he'll fully trust his body (GSP may still be hesitant to trust his knee) and will have only been working toward the fight, not getting himself healthy. Time will tell if Winkeljohn is correct that the fight is truly a blessing in disguise.

Posted in: ufc, fight, condit, thing, carlo

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MMAFighting.com's Ben Fowlkes caught up with UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson as he prepares for his bout with Croatian striker Mirko Filipovic on Saturday at UFC 137 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The rotund, mullet-sporting 35-year-old talked in detail about the difficulties he had against Frank Mir at UFC 130, including a bout with pneumonia: "In that fight, I just hit a wall. And I hit a wall fast. I hit the wall, like, the first minute. I think it kind of showed on my face in the fight. But I pushed through it, gave a hundred percent of what I had, and just came out on the losing end." The Tuesday after the fight, Nelson would stagger into the emergency room and find out that he had walking pneumonia. Even with a course of antibiotics, he'd spend the next month or so trying to kick the illness. He'd also end up questioning whether taking a fight against a former UFC heavyweight champion in this state was really the best career move. "The one thing that I definitely learned from this one is, I'm always a fighter first and a businessman second, and that one taught me to be a businessman before a fighter. When you're injured or sick, the thing is, you've still got to provide for your family. I hadn't fought for ten months before that, and I'm just trying to put food on the table and take care of my bills. It was one of those things, plus it was an awesome opportunity. You beat Frank and you're right back in the mix." Nelson spotlights one of the dilemmas that most fighters have dealt with at one time in their careers. Fighting through injury or illness in order to get paid. Most of us have done that on some level, but could you physically push yourself to win a fight while suffering from something that's sapping your energy?  Nelson also talks about training with Mir in preparation for Mirko, beating a legend to become a legend, and the possibility that he gets the axe if he loses to 'Cro Cop' on Saturday night. 

Posted in: ufc, fight, thing, nelson, mirko

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Strikeforce light heavyweight prospect Lorenz Larkin has had a very fruitful 2011. After initially bursting onto the scene after stepping in as a late injury replacement and smashing K-1 veteran Scott Lighty this past April, Larkin has progressed up the ticket in two subsequent appearances in the Strikeforce Challengers series culminating in a headlining appearance this past September against Rick Rossborough at Strikeforce Challengers 19 in Las Vegas. "The Monsoon" continued his solid run in Strikeforce with yet another victory, this one a hard-fought decision against the bigger, stronger Rossborough. With the victory, the Riverside native may have set himself up for a shot at the big boys in either the Strikeforce or potentially the UFC light heavyweight division. Larkin spoke with MMAmania.com about what he learned about himself, his future and a hypothetical future move to the UFC in this exclusive interview. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): First thing's first, you've really been moving up. You've got from an injury replacement on a Strikeforce Challengers card earlier in the year to headlining and being on a huge billboard in Vegas. What was it like seeing that billboard for the first time? Did it hit you that you've taken it to the next level? Lorenz Larkin: I don't know. I would say that you hear about these things that kinda hit you but to me, it's just really crazy. It's just like your thing. The last time I remember I was just driving in the car and I was getting an offer to be a last minute replacement and I was just happy that I was in good shape and able to take the fight, being able to be on a big show whether alone all this hype now and headlining events on my third fight. Yeah, the whole thing is just something I never ever thought of or dreampt of. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Let's talk about that last fight with Nick Rossborough. This was the second time they've pitted you against huge dudes, like the biggest light heavyweights possible. They're guys that have fought at heavyweights and are coming down and barely making it. Has it been difficult, getting pushed around a bit by these bigger guys? Lorenz Larkin: Yeah, it's funny because after I did my post-fight for the Gian Villante fight, I was like, "I'm not even worrying about it because Gian is probably the biggest light heavyweight I'll ever fight," and lo and behold, I didn't think this new guy would be that big. He was huge. It plays a factor, a big factor in the fight, just them putting their hands on you and pushing you around. The size makes a big difference. The cutoff is 206 and by the time the fight came I was probably about 215 and I asked him after the fight and he was 232.  Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You always say that you want to wait until after a fight so you can evaluate your performance with your team and see what they think. Once you guys got back and looked at the tape and saw how you did, what were your thoughts on how you performed? You won a unanimous decision, you continued to move forward so what did you and your team think? Lorenz Larkin: I think that my team felt I took a little bit too much punishment against the cage. Yeah, I did get hit but that's part of the game. I felt comfortable with my back against the cage and a lot of the cage work and ground that we worked on in camp played out beautifully as far as me and my camp goes because the things that we're working on, I applied them in the fight and they worked. I'm happy with the things we worked on to go into the fight with but being it was a last minute change and how things came up, he was a physical fighter. He's really talented and tough and he came to bring it that night. I did take a bit more punishment than I would want to but that's like any fighter. We all wish that we didn't have to get punched. (laughs) Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Yeah, you mentioned the opponent change and it happened with a little over a week notice. Rossborough was a completely different fighter than Virgil Zwicker in my opinion. He's not as much a striker, more of an "up close and personal" type of fighter. Was that difficult having to deal with a completely different fighter on such short notice? Lorenz Larkin: Yeah, because coming in we knew he was a big submission guy and he does like to strike but in my opinion, submission guys that like to strike, they only like to strike until they get hit and then they go to their ground game. I don't think it was so much that, it was just the physique difference as far as Virgil being 6'2 and this guy being 6'5 with his reach and everything. That was a big factor in the fight as far as being a last minute replacement. I think that was the toughest thing to deal with? Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Did you learn anything about yourself from your performance? I know he really pushed you in this fight and you responded well. Lorenz Larkin: Yeah, I was happy with that. As far as everybody's outlook on the fight, I was thinking, "Oh gosh, that was a tough scrap. I really had to grind it out and I got the win," but when I look back at the fight and listen to what people were saying, a lot of people were telling me I showed a lot of heart and I think I displayed some of my ground that people say I don't have and being able to control a jiu-jitsu guy. It was things like that, proving I'm a guy that doesn't just stand up and work to not get taken down and if I get taken down I'd be a fish out of the water. I think I displayed a lot as far as showcasing different things in my skills. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Virgil Zwicker backed out of the fight with an injury. Is that a fight that still interests you, or do you feel that you're past that now? Lorenz Larkin: You know? I think I'm really past that now. If he wants to fight me, he should have to fight somebody else first now. I think that the original fight was good for our points in our careers but with me taking that fight and winning, he should at least fight again before we would even do the fight because at this point I think that's kind of backtracking for me now. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): There's been a ton of rumors going out lately about Strikeforce, what's going to happen with them. Does that get in your head a bit, people talking about Strikeforce potentially closing its doors after their Showtime deal runs out in February? Lorenz Larkin: You know what? I stay focused on me and I just try to keep winning fights and putting on good shows. I feel like if I just keep on doing what I've been doing, there will be a spot for me somewhere and there's just so much wrapped around the whole Strikeforce thing and there's so many different rumors, it's like, if I try to get caught up in all that stuff, I'd be lost.  Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Have you heard anything about when you're next fight will be? Lorenz Larkin: Ummm, no, not yet. Hopefully, I don't know what else they're doing for this year but hopefully for the beginning of next year they can get me in somewhere. I haven't got any calls. If they wanted me on their December show, they'd have called me by now. I'm shooting for the beginning of 2012. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): This is a completely hypothetical question, but a lot of guys from Strikeforce have been going over to the UFC. If they came calling and asked you to come over to the big show and fight, is that something you think you'd be ready for? Lorenz Larkin: Yeah, I think as long as they have the same views for my career as I do, you know? I think it would be a good match for me as long as I'm matched up evenly to the point where I can put on a good show and it would be a good fight, not just a landslide, that's not what I would want. I always want tough fights and if I feel like I could get matched up like that, it would be a great move for me.  Lorenz would like to thank all his trainers, Sam Mason, Arnold DeWitt, Tony Gianopolis, Romi Guram, his home gym Icon MMA, his sponsors Splat Hair Color, Ion Me, Python Mouth Guards, Hostility Clothing, Extreme Auto Works, Cali Life and everybody who supports him.  So what do you think Maniacs? Has Larkin earned himself a shot at the big leagues? Or does the top prospect still need a bit of seasoning before he's ready? Sound off!

Posted in: fight, strikeforce, guy, lorenz, thing

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Filed under: UFCAsk Roy Nelson how he's been preparing for his fight against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 137, and you'll find that "Big Country's" sense of humor is still very much intact after two straight losses. "I've just been working out in the cemetery a lot," he told MMA Fighting recently. "I've got to get ready for the left kick. I want to see what it's like." It's a typical Roy Nelson answer, which is to say slightly absurd and said with a straight face, as if to daring you to say, 'No, seriously.' But these aren't joking times for Nelson. After coming up short against Junior dos Santos and then Frank Mir, Nelson is facing a potentially dire situation. Don't tell him that, of course. "All fights are dire," Nelson said. "I've seen guys get cut after one. I've seen guys lose three or four and still have a job. In this business, there's no rhyme or reason. It's MMA. It's like when you go into the Octagon: anything can happen." If Nelson didn't already know that, he got a quick education in his fight against Mir. He knew he was getting sick before the bout, he said. He'd been shaking hands at a recent UFC Fan Expo and "I must have touched some dirty people and didn't wash my hands enough." Even when he realized he was coming down with something, he refused to take antibiotics because he worried about the effect they might have on his cardio, Nelson said. Then again, not taking them didn't do much to help him either. "In that fight, I just hit a wall. And I hit a wall fast. I hit the wall, like, the first minute. I think it kind of showed on my face in the fight. But I pushed through it, gave a hundred percent of what I had, and just came out on the losing end." The Tuesday after the fight, Nelson would stagger into the emergency room and find out that he had walking pneumonia. Even with a course of antibiotics, he'd spend the next month or so trying to kick the illness. He'd also end up questioning whether taking a fight against a former UFC heavyweight champion in this state was really the best career move. "The one thing that I definitely learned from this one is, I'm always a fighter first and a businessman second, and that one taught me to be a businessman before a fighter. When you're injured or sick, the thing is, you've still got to provide for your family. I hadn't fought for ten months before that, and I'm just trying to put food on the table and take care of my bills. It was one of those things, plus it was an awesome opportunity. You beat Frank and you're right back in the mix." Since Nelson couldn't beat 'em, however, he decided to join 'em. He's been working out with his old foe Mir in preparation for the bout with Filipovic. He and Mir don't talk about their fight, Nelson said, because "it's in the past." Nelson's future lies in the cage with Cro Cop. If he doesn't come out on the winning end of that one, it will bring his losing streak to three, which is often the magic number that brings the ax down on a fighter's UFC contract. Since Cro Cop has also lost two straight -- and since he's in the last fight of his current deal -- the loser in this fight could very well end up out of a job. "It's so cliche, you know. You have to beat a legend to be a legend. But I think just to fight Cro Cop, period, is something that, as a fighter, you just want to do," Nelson said. "You want to be able to say, hey, I competed with some of the best of the world." You want to be able to say it eventually, when you're looking back at a long successful career. But if Nelson doesn't find a way to beat Filipovic, he's in danger of reaching that point sooner than he wants to. Maybe "anything can happen" in the Octagon, but one thing that can't happen is coming out on the losing end and remaining employed indefinitely. You can bet that a businessman-fighter like Nelson knows that as well as anyone. Now he just has to fight accordingly. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: ufc, fight, thing, nelson, cop

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Best thing Cro Cop has done in 5 years.

Posted in: thing, barry, cop, california dreamin, dreamin

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submitted by HonorableJudgeIto [link] [2 comments]

Posted in: fighter, cage, thing, honorablejudgeito

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Outspoken Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren joins the Next Big Thing podcast.

Posted in: ben, champion, podcast, thing, askren

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Filed under: Fighting, MMA Fighting ExclusiveLas Vegas can be the saddest place in the world. Some say it's a city based on hope, but the flipside is that it's a city built on losing. Lost slot machine pulls and broken dreams erected those castles we call hotels. Every time I fly into McCarran Airport, I look at the faces arriving with me, smiling and happy. And then I look at those waiting to leave, exhausted and beaten. It's all so efficiently run, old losers out, new money in. It's a city of luck, and few have it. I think about that when I cover sports. Luck is the intangible that athletes alternately crave and fear, because they never know if it's going to work for or against them. For IndyCar racer Dan Wheldon on Sunday, luck was not on his side. I don't know nearly enough about auto racing to say whether Wheldon could have done anything to prevent his involvement in the crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but I doubt it. And certainly there was nothing he could have done to prevent his car crashing the way it did, cockpit first into the wall. Wheldon's death predictably led to a flurry of questions asking what could have been done differently. That's understandable in the sense that no one wants this sort of thing to happen again, so it's worth a closer examination of safeguards. But it also undercuts the absolute and tragic truth that sports are risky, and people die participating in them all too often. I also think about that when I cover MMA. Our sport is undeniably violent. It's not violent in any different way than football or ice hockey, but because it doesn't try to hide what it is, because it is directly violent, as opposed to creating man-made objectives like touchdowns and goals to disguise the danger, it is slightly less palatable to those who prefer their hard truths hidden. We put safety measures in place for sports like auto racing, football, hockey and MMA in an attempt to limit injury and ward off death, but the fact of the matter is, we can never guarantee it. As long as humans have walked the earth, we've attempted to go higher, longer, faster. We've pushed limits. We've walked the edge of what's possible, knowing that only the result will determine when we've gone too far. Sports is at its best, a celebration of surpassing previously assumed limitations, and at worst, a cautionary tale about dreaming bigger than possibilities. Not just team sports, but things like mountain climbing, skiing and horse racing are all guilty of the same. UFC president Dana White likes to say that fighting is in our DNA, and he's partly right, because survival is the basest human instinct, and what is survival if not a fight? But beyond that, our DNA is programmed to test borders. It's why we've shot manned rockets off to the moon and explored the depths of the sea. Fighting is simply a personal test of limits with the hope of learning some greater truth about life and ourselves. Even when you fail, there is nobility in the effort. On November 12, the UFC will introduce their brand of the sport to a network television audience for the first time. Understandably, there is a lot of excitement about the possibilities of expanding the fan base and growing MMA. We tend to only see the positives that such a move holds. But as always, we must know that danger lurks around every corner. As much as we like to tout the UFC's safety record -- and it is a strong one -- there's been plenty of times we've had to hold our breath until a fighter got up from a bad knockout and walked off on his own power. There is always a price to be paid for participation in physical sports. Maybe it is something simple, like a broken bone or muscle tear, but unfortunately, there are always worse possible outcomes. Recently, the hot-button issue has been concussions, a problem which has already quietly reared its head in a sport like ours. Former UFC fighter Jeff Joslin retired in his early 30s after experiencing a series of concussions. Chuck Liddell was essentially forced into retirement after being knocked unconscious in three straight fights. But we tend to sweep that kind of thing under the rug in favor of more glamorous subjects. Next week I will head back to Las Vegas again for UFC 137. Two of the featured fighters on the card are Georges St-Pierre, who is often criticized for a style that is said to be risk-averse, and Nick Diaz, a fighter who is aggressive while sometimes bordering on reckless. The interesting thing is that with either their actions or thoughts, they say the same thing. St-Pierre's style makes it clear he understands the danger inherent in a fight and chooses a tactical route. And despite Diaz's action-oriented style, he has repeatedly said he does not enjoy fighting. Fans and media often ask our favorite athletes to throw caution to the wind. But when you live in the world that they do, it is hard to lose sight of what we often forget: that there is danger in every moment. There have already been two deaths -- Sam Vazquez and Michael Kirkham -- in the sport stemming from sanctioned competition. Think about that next time you're quick to criticize a fighter for employing an actual strategy. These men accept ultimate risk every time they step into the athletic arena. Wheldon knew it when he strapped into his seatbelt, and GSP knows it when the cage door is locked behind him. The athletes participate in search of the perfect performance, and we watch because it is riveting to see men test the limits of what's possible. At least our sport is generally honest in its possibilities. There are real people with real lives behind the pretty punches and powerful kicks. When they land, lives can be changed forever. Fortunately that is rare, but the stark truth is this: even with all the safety measures in place, sometimes the only thing that saves us from the worst possible outcome is a little bit of luck. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: ufc, time, sport, thing, weve

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For over a decade, few have captured the imagination of fight fans quite like the pride of Hilo, Hawaii, BJ Penn. One of only two fighters in UFC history to win titles in two weight classes, he has built a loyal fanbase due not only to his fighting skill and willingness to take on anyone in a fight, but also his no holds barred approach to life, where he will always say what’s on his mind and then worry about the consequences later. Subsequently, he’s the most quotable MMA fighter this side of Chael Sonnen, and here’s just a taste of some of the things Penn has revealed over the years as we get ready for another round of “The Prodigy” in the lead up to his UFC 137 bout against Nick Diaz on October 29th.On fighting in different weight classes“It’s been talked to death, me fighting at different weights and doing other things, but right now, I guess I’m just going to be the best I can be right now. Who knows how many fights I’ve got left in me, so right now I’m just gonna do my thing and be happy with who I am.”On living up to expectations“At first it was real tough, but now I just want to prove all those people right. If they’re gonna go out on a limb and say I can do all these things, then I’m happy they say that stuff and I want to go out and do it for them. If they went out and told their friends I’m the best, then I want to make sure they can go back and say ‘I told you so.’”Fighter vs Athlete“I gotta not like the person that’s standing on the other side of the ring and that’s why I consider myself in different aspects as not just an athlete, but a fighter. When people fight in the normal, everyday world, it’s not because of being an athlete, it’s because something pissed them off. When man raises his fists, he has run out of ideas, and that’s what ends up happening. Those are the natural instincts I have, and if I want someone to fight with me, I better piss them off. So he gets pissed off, and then he pisses me off, and then we can fight. I kinda look for that sometimes.”On his fighting styleMaybe because I’m not on the mainland and not cross training with everybody all the time, my style is kinda different. It’s not like I’m going to a gym with 50 other mixed martial arts fighters who are all trading techniques and sharing stuff. I have a few people come down here and there and I work with people, but in a gym you kinda all become the same in certain ways because you’re training with each other every day. I’m out in Hawaii, and even better than that, I’m not even on the main island, where there are a bunch of other fighters, so I’m not mixing with anybody. So maybe when I do something it comes out looking a bit different.On training“I’m training a lot harder. Back in the day I used to pride myself on how little I could do and get away with it; now I try to pride myself on how much I do. I try to work real hard, train as much as I can, eat healthy food, and I want to see how far I can take it.”The wakeup call“I guess the wakeup call was December 13, 2006, when I turned 28. I said ‘what am I doing, why am I messing around? This is the biggest sport in the world, it’s gonna overtake everything, I’m at the forefront. Why am I playing games?’”In a league of his own“You want to be categorized in a league of your own, like Randy (Couture) is,” he said. “You don’t want to be in the mix with everybody else. When they talk about you, you want them to say something special, like a Joe Frazier or (Muhammad) Ali, those kinds of people. You want to be extraordinary. You want to shoot for greatness and I think every fighter should.”On pressure“When it comes to the pressure, I used to hate it and that’s what used to burn me out. I used to hate fighting for everybody else, answering to everybody else. I just wanted to do it for myself. Now, I think that’s another thing that changed in me. Now I love doing it for everybody. I love when the people come up to me around town and say something to me. I love it – come, come support me, come believe I can do all these things, and I will do all these things. I think that was the biggest thing that changed. I never used to be happy with the idea of all these people putting all this pressure on me, but now I know why they do it, and I love it.”A new start“Something just awoke inside of me where I said ‘what are you doing? You can beat every one of these people. You’ve been doing it half-assed all this time and it’s time to finally step up and let’s see it.’ If you can’t, you can’t, but at least you know you tried. Words can’t explain how pumped I am about fighting right now. It’s what I am, it’s who I am, and it’s what I want to be.”Early days“The Din Thomas fight and the Caol Uno fight, those were probably two of the best things for my career, to blow me up and to get me a bigger fanbase, but they were also the worst things for my career as far as getting me experience to get ready for that title fight. And I was scared going out there and being the main event. I think I was more afraid of everything else – I was afraid to have that lightweight title, I was afraid to be the main event – but don’t do something great if you can’t take the congratulations, and I wasn’t ready to get congratulated. I was just a kid.”Money Player“I never took it serious. But I started taking it serious right before the finals of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championships. I was in the finals, and I remember me and Charuto (Verissimo) were going to eat lunch, and I just sat there and thought to myself ‘I’ll never be in this position ever again. Go out there and do whatever it takes.  Whether your arm gets broken, you get choked unconscious, anything that happens, win this match, do it now, no matter what.’ And that’s why I think I’m good when the pressure’s on. I’m a clutch player when the pressure’s on and that’s when I perform at my best. That’s who I am.”On his cardio“I think people will always bring up my cardio. Everybody wants an idea of ‘how can we beat him?’ And they’re not thinking, ‘oh, I‘m gonna submit him’ or ‘I’m gonna knock him out.’ They’re looking for anything they can, so they bring up the cardio issue. These guys got to remember that I fought Sean Sherk and he’s supposed to be a cardio machine. I fought Kenny Florian and he doesn’t get tired. I fought Caol Uno and he doesn’t get tired. I fought so many people over the years, but they just pick that one thing. Nobody wants anybody to be perfect and they want to look for something to talk about. I’m in great shape, but even after this fight, I’m sure the next guy who fights me, that will be his way to beat me too.”On the mental game“You see these great guys come out and then they try something for one or two minutes, they find out their technique’s not working and then they give up. The mental side is everything. The techniques have to be flawless, but the mind has to be tough. It has to be more flawless and you can never give up. I would even sit here and say that I’m in the entertainment business and the fight game business, but I’m also in the making you quit business. That’s what it’s all about.”Lightweight champion of the world“Just talking to you right now, thinking about how it was a 21-year old kid’s dream to be the lightweight champion of the world, that just got me pumped up. I just remembered how I used to sit and think about how I wanted to be the lightweight champ. But then sometimes you get there and you take it for granted.”All about the fight“When I first got into the game of fighting, it was all about the fight. Then came promoting the fight and trying to get the fight bigger, but I’m back to the mindset that it’s just about fighting again.”On success“Over time you realize that you can’t judge success by championships. One day you’re at the top of the world and the next day you’re at the bottom, and you’ve got to keep pushing through and keep moving forward no matter happens. And I’m kinda in that mindset. I’ve got a lot of wins and I’ve got a few losses, and I realize that anything can happen when you step in the ring and give it your all against someone else who’s giving their all. So I’m in the mindset that I’m just trying to go out and do my best and let the cards fall where they may, and we’ll see what happens at the end of the night. It definitely took a long time to get that point though. Before I was always about ‘I gotta win, I gotta win, I gotta win,’ and a lot of times when you have that attitude, you end up doing less than your best. Now all I gotta do is go out there and do my best and everything will happen the way it should.”On legacy“Before I used to sit there and think about all these things all the time, but now I’m just trying to stay around. It’s amazing and it’s the kinda thing where I don’t want to talk too soon. I’d rather talk about all this when I’m fat, I’m hanging out, and not fighting anymore, and then I’ll tell everybody how great I was.”Legacy vs. Burnout“I’m constantly stuck between the two. I’ve seen a lot of Rampage’s interviews lately, and that’s exactly where he is. I guess people do get burned out over time. When you first start this whole journey of being a mixed martial artist, you’re here to beat everybody up, and I guess after a while it does turn into a job. Some people get burned out, some people don’t, and it’s a strange thing. I come out here and destroy Matt Hughes on the 20th and maybe you’ll hear the same things coming out of my mouth again – that I’m going back for my legacy and all that stuff.” Life after retirement?“I’ve asked myself that question a thousand times, and I look at everything else there is in the world to do, besides retirement, and I looked at all my other options, and I like this one a lot more.”On leaving the Octagon immediately after the third Hughes bout“I’ve been trying to do a fight like the (first) Uno fight for the last nine years and it just never came out that way. So when this fight (with Hughes) ended up ending very quick with a knockout, I was pumped up, I started screaming in the ring for a little bit and I was like ‘here it is, here’s my chance. I’m gonna get out there and I’m gonna do it – Elvis is gonna leave the building.’”On the loyalty of his fans“I think they buy the Pay-Per-View when I fight and I think they’re constantly looking for that same kid that got them excited about the sport, who came out and said all these things, and maybe it didn’t go his way every time, but he tried as hard as he could to back up what he said. They see they guy who knocked out Din Thomas and knocked out Caol Uno and that’s their guy, that’s their favorite fighter, and maybe they see some of him in their lives or maybe he’s someone that inspires them. I’ve just been so blessed with these fans that always have my back. When I’ve lost and I’ve come back, I think they know my story so well and they relate to it in their lives. Nobody’s on top always. We’re up one day, we’re down one day, and that’s just the nature of life. And when they see me, they can really relate. People like to follow that storyline and sometimes they like to see people fall but climb back up again.”On his relationships with past opponents“I could see it surprising a lot of people, but honestly, I consider myself a people person. (Laughs) One minute I could be pissing you off, the next minute you could be hugging me, and that’s me and part of why people love me or hate me. I’m just blessed to get to run into these people later on and really get to apologize for some of the things that I’ve done. And I’m lucky that these people have welcomed me with open arms.”On being “The Target”“If I’m not in that position, I’ll be bummed out. If someone says ‘you know what, I don’t care about fighting BJ Penn,’ that would hurt my feelings.”On BJ Penn“There’s just something about BJ Penn that gets people amped up. You don’t know what’s gonna happen, but something’s gonna happen though. He might disappoint you, he might make you happy, he might make you cry, he might make you jump out of your chair, but he’ll do something to you.”

Posted in: fight, i ’m, people, thing, ’m

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Matt Roth had the chance to catch up with UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz for MMA Nation. In this video, Cruz talks about his hand injury, Dana White and who he is picking in the bout between Urijah Faber and Brian Bowles. The video: Some quotes from the MMA Nation write-up of the article: After the UFC 136 pre-fight presser, Dana White was asked about Dominick Cruz and why he didn't bring up his broken hand even after the fight. Dana commended the champion saying he's one of the toughest fighters he knows. When Cruz was made aware of White's comments, he was elated saying, "I appreciate it. I appreciate the fact that he sees things the way we do. It means he things the way a fighter sees things. It's good that somebody like Dana who has all these things to worry about, I can't even image where his head's at, and to take the time and think about the fact that I had to go into this fight with my hand hurt from round one to round five, and fight through it." "I appreciate the fact that he recognizes it is really all I can say. i didn't want to say anything about my hand because I don't want to sound like I'm trying to make excuses or say look I did that with this problem. Who cares, it's why I didn't say anything. It didn't really matter. Demetrious fought an awesome fight. WE had an awesome fight. It didn't really play a difference in the fight and do what I needed to do. It hurt but if you're fighting for a title, you have to be willing to die out there."

Posted in: fight, hand, thing, cruz, dominick cruz

Read the full article at Bloody Elbow

Now that Gilbert Melendez will defend his Strikeforce lightweight title against Jorge Masvidal on Dec. 17 in San Diego, California, he can fully focus on other things, like claiming his "pound-for-pound" status and his future goals in mixed martial arts. Speaking to MMA Weekly, Gilbert says he should be talked about in the top pound-for-pound rankings, which would put him in a class with Frankie Edgar, Jon Jones, Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva. Among other things, "El Nino" also discussed his career up to this point and a possible move to welterweight in the future. "If things go well here then I might go to 170 you know. Why not? I can fight at 170 pounds and I know I can beat some guys out there, but there are definitely plenty of challenges at 155 right now, but you know why not have goals in the long term to be one of the best in the world and go to three weight classes. Why not, I'm not trying to be arrogant; it's just that it's a dream. I'm allowed to dream a little bit and I'm allowed to work for it. So, that's what I mean by that." Hear more from Melendez after the jump. Here is run down of the interview for those of you who are computer monitored by "the man" at your place of employment. When asked about what he feels his status in the rankings is, Gilbert had this to say: "Hey man it’s debatable.  It’s definitely debatable, but I was the number one 145 pounder in the world a long time ago before a lot of people even knew about it and then I went up to 155 and I’ve become top three in the world there, debatable number one. You know I’m up there pound for pound as well.  Frankie is very well deserving of being a pound for pound guy, but until he goes to 145 pounds and takes care of business there, then I don’t know how he is going to be a pound for pound.  I have done in two weight classes. I have been in this sport for a long time and I truly feel I am number one but I am sick of saying it I just want to prove it." Before Gilbert has a chance to fight for one more title, he has to get past a very tough opponent in "Gamebred," Jorge Masvidal. A loss for "El Nino" could send him tumbling all the way down to the bottom of the barrel in a very stacked UFC lightweight division. What do you say Maniacs,, will Gilbert Melendez prevail in his tough match-up against "Gamebred" and does he deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world?

Posted in: pound, &rsquo, thing, gilbert melendez, gilbert

Read the full article at MMA Mania

Dana White is a ruthless competitor and that's certainly not a bad thing. The world of combat sports promotion has always been cutthroat and always will be. Dana and the rest of the management at the UFC are competitive and they've used that drive to become the big winners in the MMA field. Dana talks about his feelings on competitors and why he has no beef with Bellator in this MMA Weekly video: From the video: "I've went after the promotions that come after me. When you come out and you talk a bunch of (expletive), talk about our company and how we're doing business, and how you're gonna take us down and you're gonna beat us; now you've picked a fight. And now we're gonna fight until somebody wins and somebody loses." ... "The people from Bellator have never said anything about us. I have nothing to say about them either. They're out there. They're doing their thing. Good for them." Some of us have long enough memories to remember when Dana said those same exact things about Strikeforce and how quickly that changed. Sleep with one eye open, Bellator.

Posted in: bellator, dana, thing, dana talks, expletive ),

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Only five days until the final EA MMA Live Broadcast which is ironically celebrating the one year anniversary of the launch of the game. It's like dying on your birthday. It's very depressing. No. Let's look past the sadness and remember all of the good times EA MMA has brought to us. Sunday night Fights, The MiddleEasy sponsored Heavyweight Grand Prix of awesomeness which will surely go down in gaming history as one of the craziest tournaments ever. The rise and fall of Tha Premiere, the RushStPierre era (dark times) and the literally hundreds of digital fighters that have spent late Sunday night with us. I love you all. During the RushStPierre era, before he was stripped of his MiddleEasy title, one of the consistently top ranked players in the EA MMA community reached out to me via email. His name was Mr NRG. NRG, as someone who could be argued as the best in the game at any given week, was kind enough to offer to get the MiddleEasy title out from around Rush's waist and onto a more worthy champion. The fight never came to be, The Rise to Greatness tournament would give them a platform to meet if fate so decided. Rush however, was eliminated along with Tha Premiere in the early goings, but Mr NRG finds himself in a familiar position as one of the final four in the tournament. We met up with Mr NRG in a posh downtown Singapore cafe to reflect on the past year. I have done everything possible in EA MMA...In fact...I have done things that are literally impossible in this game! Things that werent even programmed into the game, Things that dont even exist on the disc, I have done! Thats how good I am. I dont even play this game anymore and STILL kick ass all the way to finals, with no practice, no warm up fights, no nothing...just pure 100% unsaturated beast mode. I would talk trash on my opponent Smoke Em but he is not that important. Infact...He's not even an opponent...He is just my stepping stone...A rabbit in the headlights....A fish out of water...and alot of other cliche things. I heard a rumour he actually wants to get down on all fours and let me, the great one, use him as a step to get up on the podium to claim my tournament title. Unfortunately for him, I would compare that to stepping in dog crap! My shoes dont come cheap ya know? So why would I waste my time dirtying them up on his back??  He will just have to settle for being that kid that got humilated in the final LB. I dont want to put a downer on this whole thing for him though - I know he looks up to me and I can tell he is excited,  like a kid that gets to meet Santa on Christmas, ya know? Only problem for him is that this Santa will be smacking him around the head with a sled and burning down his christmas tree. I'm riding a 6 win streak in the LB's. He brings nothing that can end my LB streak. If he genuinly believes he can beat me then I would strongly recomend getting him CT scanned and checking for signs of brain damage. No doubt him and his circle jerk camp will be coming up with ways to try and beat me, So come October 19th It will be like killing 10 birds with one stone! Do none of them realize that you cant take on a God and win??? Ye I have lost a few times - Being honest i cant remember who I lost to though as it has been a while. A notable loss i took in Stikforce was against Brotha Lynch, which resulted in us fighting again on an LB and me avenging the loss. Preston will be able to look it up though. I don't think I have lost to anyone and not avenged it at some point. I only really come out and play this game for the major competitions, tournaments and fights that interest me. As for Preston and the team, those guys are top notch. The whole EA MMA experience has been a memorable one. It is sad to see it all come to an end but that's life. As a gamer, I can safely say this has been one of the funnest over all gaming experiences. Not just because of the Disc in the box. Mainly because Preston, his team and the EA MMA community came together and made stuff happen - I cant fault them in anyway. I'm not just saying this to kiss ass and gain points with Preston and The Team, I am saying it because its the truth. The LB experience has truly been memorable and I can only hope that the same guys get the chance to create a 2nd MMA experience for us all. Tune in right here Wednesday, October 19th to see the ultimate and final EA MMA champion crowned!

Posted in: mma, game, thing, ea, mr nrg

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Our friends at Bleacher Report detail five things Georges St-Pierre absolutely must do if he wants to beat Carlos Condit.

Posted in: condit, carlos condit, thing, carlo, things gsp

Read the full article at Heavy MMA

The Next Big Thing podcast returns with host Spencer Kyte and Bellator bantamweight champ Zach "Fun Size" Makovsky.

Posted in: thing, makovsky, zach makovsky, fun size, zach

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For Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky, the pressure is being ratcheted up a notch. The aptly nicknamed "Fun Size" has a strong history of grappling, having competed at Drexel University. He's fully embraced the submission arts, winning the gold medal at both gi and no-gi in the United States men's grappling world championships in 2009 and 2010. After winning Bellator's inaugural bantamweight title in late 2010, he's now gearing up for his second consecutive "superfight" showcase while he waits for the next title challenger to emerge from the season five bantamweight tournament. He'll be squaring off against UFC veteran Ryan Roberts this Saturday night (October 16, 2011) in the main event of Bellator 54 just a hop and skip away from his Philadelphia home in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Makovsky is a very cerebral fighter. He broke down his potential challengers in part one of our interview posted yesterday. Today, he tells MMAmania.com about the mental aspect of fighting, how letting MMA become an obsession impacted him negatively and how he plans to take out Ryan Roberts on Saturday night.   Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): I know you've mentioned in the past that at times, you were almost obsessed with MMA and you let other things slide. Can you tell me about finding that perfect balance between focusing on fighting and training and your personal life? Zach Makovsky: It's not easy. I still get caught up in it and I'm sure my girlfriend could tell you I get a little obsessive with my training. It's definitely not an easy thing. It's my job but it's also my passion so it's always on my mind. Even when I'm doing other things it's in the back of my mind and you really have to take a step back and it's really in your advantage to kind of get away from it a little bit. It wears you down mentally a lot if you never let it off your mind. The more you kind of think about it, overall the more pressure you have on yourself to really do well and perform and do specific things, I think when you take that pressure away, you get to have a lot more fun with it. Really, you're probably a little more successful because you don't have that extra pressure on you and I think overall you're a happier person and a happier athlete. I've found that, even from my days of wrestling in college, I was very one-track minded and wrestling, I was pretty much in school just passing my classes but I was there to wrestle and train. I had a very specific goal. I wanted to qualify for Division I nationals. I put all my focus into that and I put so much pressure on myself that really wore me down and what came down to it, I didn't get to perform the way I thought I could, the way I know I could and I didn't have fun with it. In the end, you have to be content with whatever happens. Losing is a part of sports. It happens all the time. Everybody loses. I think the overall goal is to focus on doing the best you can, becoming the best you can be and if you're really on that focus, everything else kind of falls into places including your personal life. You have to have a balance where you're not constantly worrying about all this stuff. Trust in the things you're doing and be happy. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): So is that one of the reasons you listen to relaxing music and you're just trying to clear your head before a fight instead of getting amped up like other fighters? Zach Makovsky: I just don't like to bring emotion into it. I think it's more kind of like a tactical, not an emotional thing. I almost view it as a workout. I'm going in there to do what I can and I don't view it so much that there's someone in there that's going to try to hurt me and I've got to fight. It's just kind of a different way of competing and I'm trying to separate the fight piece of it away from it. That works for me. People have a lot of success fighting off of emotions too. It kind of depends on the person. I always try to go in there understanding that I don't have to be nervous or worried. This is what I love to do. I say to myself, "There's no place I'd rather be right now." I like to always kind of keep that. Even the songs I come out to are songs that evoke positive emotions, upbeat tempo, nothing that's going to evoke anger or aggression or anything like that. When I fought Ed West for the title, I came out to 'It's a Beautiful Day' by U2 and I think that's kind of the typical kind of thing that I'd like to come out to. That's just the mentality of how I approach it and I've found more success when I relax and take some pressure off and enjoy what I'm doing. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com):  Let's talk about that upcoming fight you've got. You have a Bellator bantamweight superfight and you're facing Ryan Roberts, a guy who fought in the UFC at lightweight. He's a huge fighter. He went down to featherweight recently and has had success. I believe he's 6-1-1 in his last eight fights and now he's dropping down to bantamweight for the first time. Can you tell me about stepping in there against a guy that's probably going to be significantly bigger than you. Zach Makovsky: Yeah, he's got a lot of experience at heavier weights against really good guys. I think this is his first fight 135. I expect him to be strong and physically powerful and from a technical standpoint I think he's good at everything but not great at anything. I think technically I have an advantage in every area, at least in my mind. I think I'll have a speed advantage and I think I'm better at putting everything together. When I watch his fights, he kind of focuses on one thing at a time like he's trying to strike or trying to takedown, one thing at a time whereas I think to really have success you have to constantly bring everything together. I think that's an advantage that I have. I'm expecting a tough fight. I know he's going to be strong and he's going to come in there and he's been on a pretty good winning streak so he's confident. I'll be ready for it. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com):  Most of his losses have come by way of submission and that has really become a strength of yours, at least the wrestling and turn it into a top-control submission game. Does that give you confidence coming into this fight? Zach Makovsky: I think I have a good chance to submit him. I think I'll be able to get him down when I go for takedowns but I think he's gonna be hard to control once I get there. It's kinda like when you fight someone, you have to let them play the game. If I take someone down and they're like, "Okay, I'm on my back, we're gonna play a jiu-jitsu grappling kind of game now," then I've kinda sucked them into that game where I think he isn't going to be willing to play that game. If I get him down, he's gonna be looking to not grapple with me but to push me off and get back to his feet immediately. It definitely is a little bit of a different challenge. Again, when you do that, you leave openings especially in submissions and strikes too so I think it might be tough to catch him in a submission if he has that mentality of just trying to get up right away. Like I said, I'm pretty confident I can beat him wherever the fight goes. I'm gonna let him pick his poison and whatever opportunities he presents me, that's what I'm gonna take advantage of.  Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): This fight is going to be taking place in Atlantic City which is pretty close to your hometown of Philadelphia. I think this will be the first time you've fought in Bellator even close to that area. Does that get you a little extra excited to get out there in front of your hometown fans? Zach Makovsky: Yeah it's nice. I fought a lot in New Jersey and Atlantic City as I was coming up and now that I have a little bit more recognition and a bigger name and have done bigger things, I'm excited to come back and fight around here again. It should be enjoyable. I guess I'm the main event now because Eddie [Alvarez] got hurt so it's just another thing that makes me feel good that I get to headline a Bellator card in Atlantic City close to my hometown. I'm very excited for that opportunity.  Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): I know you're probably not a prediction guy, but in a perfect world, how would you like this fight with Roberts to play out? Zach Makovsky: With my hand raised at the end. I really don't care if I win by knockout or submission. I would like to finish the fight. The less time I'm in there the better, but realistically it's hard to finish people. It's not easy and the more you try to build towards that kind of stuff, the more you force it and the less likely I think it is to happen. I would just like to go in there and just control every aspect of the fight. If he presents the opportunity to knock him out, I'd like to do that. If he presents the opportunity for submission, I'd like to do that. I'd like to control the striking with my movement, with my feints, with my strikes. I'd like to control when he attacks me so I can counter with strikes or takedowns. I just want to control every aspect of the fight and make him not sure of where to go or what to do because I'm in charge of everything. That's what I'd like to do.  Zach would like to thank Philadelphia Fight Factory, his trainers Steve Hague, Ricky Lee, his sponsors Yoked Up and Gamma Labs  So what do you think Maniacs? Will Makovsky take care of business this Saturday night against the UFC veteran Roberts? What are your thoughts on his mental approach to the fight game? Sound off!

Posted in: fight, kind, &nbsp, thing, makovsky

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In a sport like Mixed Martial Arts, competitive desire and confidence often collide with the need to market match-ups and as a result the combination creates some level of trash-talking between opponents while building up to an eventual bout. While taking verbal jabs at an adversary may be a common occurrence, UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen has taken the art form to another level with his WWE-style promos and plain-as-day insults directed towards 185-pound champion Anderson Silva. However, things have apparently escalated to an uncomfortable point beyond the simple selling of a scrap. Earlier today Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, spoke to MMAJunkie where he referred to recent comments made by Sonnen taking aim at the Brazilian’s family and made it clear things have now become personal. “(Anderson) definitely doesn’t respect him for the things that he’s saying,” Soares explained. “Hyping up the fight is one thing, but I think you cross the line when you start talking about people’s family.” The statement in question came last week on The MMA Show where he joked about kicking Silva’s door down, “patting his little lady on the ass”, and telling her to make him a steak. “First the guy gets in trouble for fraud, then he tests positive for steroids, and now he wants to kick in someone’s door and slap their wife in the ass,” Soares asked about Sonnen’s behavior before firing back, “This guy should be in jail; he shouldn’t be fighting.” Soares also explained he was unsure if Silva would be ready by Super Bowl Weekend – a date requested by Sonnen – and was still in the process of recovering from a shoulder injury. “Chael is not the person that’s going to determine when (Anderson) is going to take the fight. When he’s going to take this fight is when his shoulder is completely healed up, and he’s ready to start his training camp for the fight. It’s not because Chael says he wants to fight in February. Who is Chael to determine that? Chael needs to take a number and wait his turn. He got his opportunity, and he tapped. It’s not the first time he’s tapped, and I guarantee you it won’t be the last.” With tension this high four months out from February and the rumored rumble clearly Sonnen vs. Silva II will one of the biggest bouts of 2012 if not the last few years as a whole. PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Posted in: fight, silva, thing, sonnen, chael

Read the full article at Five Ounces of Pain

A few months ago when we interviewed Jeff Monson, his publicist gave me a call while I sat a Starbucks in Dallas, Texas -- waiting for the the press conference for Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum. She really liked the interview, except for one seemingly major thing: she wanted us to remove the mention of Jeff Monson taking psilocybin mushrooms. Her reasoning was simple. She believed kids would read that statement and not consider Jeff Monson their 'role model.' I'm not even making this up. She apparently didn't care about Jeff Monson advocating the need for everyone to be an anarchist, his controversial views about the Middle East, his anti-corporate stance, the need to not vote in elections, Monson's belief that communism is not that bad of a thing -- or even the time when he defecated in his pants during a match. In short, you guys should really read the interview. The only thing Jeff Monson's publicist wanted us to remove was a story of him taking shrooms, because she didn't want 'kids to be influenced.' She wanted me to censor a guy that has gone through his entire life banging against the need for any censorship in society. You could literally cut the irony with the tip of an iron. Somehow, I weaved a story of how Terence McKenna believed that mushrooms were the main factor for the growth of the human brain in early humans and therefore, Jeff Monson talking about taking mushrooms is some sort of metaphor for school children to explore cultural anthopology majors when they eventually reach college. She bought it, and we kept the mushroom story in our now infamous interview. Aside from this small obstacle, Jeff Monson's publicist has been nothing but helpful. She checks on the crew at MiddleEasy and even offers us interviews with other fighters she represents. She's also attractive, which is something that needs to be noted. I searched for her on Facebook, because I do things like that when I'm in my apartment at night. Since Jeff Monson's publicist is probably reading this article, I do want to apologize for not meeting up with you for lunch in Dallas this past summer. It wasn't intentional. If you ever find yourself in the Hollywood area, I'll take you to 'Jumbo's Clown Room,' a place where over 70% of every MiddleEasy business meeting has occurred. Now check out this video of the Jeff Monson vs. Fedor Emelinaneko press conference held yesterday in Russia (this morning in the US). Props to BloodandSweat.ru for the banner picture. [Source]

Posted in: thing, jeff monson, jeff, monson, mushroom

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Filed under: UFC If you have a computer and a Facebook account -- and the mere fact that you are reading this suggests that you have at least one of those things -- you might want to be sure and tune in to Saturday's UFC 136 prelims. If several trainers and MMA insiders are to be believed, that's where you might catch a glimpse of a very bright prospect in the UFC's heavyweight division. Stipe Miocic (pronounced: steep-eh) is only 6-0 as a professional, but the former Golden Gloves boxer and college wrestling standout already has much of the fight world buzzing. "I believe that guy could take it all the way. I really do," said trainer Trevor Wittman, who worked with Miocic during the fighter's visit to the Grudge Training Center in Denver recently. "He's the next great heavyweight coming into the UFC. His composure, his attitude, his willingness to learn and be open to things, his toughness -- it's just all there." Marcus Marinelli, who is Miocic's coach at the Strong Style Fight Team in Independence, Ohio, said that even the videos of his MMA fights that have made the rounds on the internet recently don't necessarily do him justice. "I think at times he's fought down to the level of his opponent, so you don't always see what I see in the gym," Marinelli said. "But that's going to change on Saturday night." Miocic, a native Ohioan, first walked through the doors of the Strong Style gym after he'd been recruited to help former Pride and UFC fighter Dan Bobish prepare for a bout. He'd been a two-sport athlete at Cleveland State University, wrestling in the 197-pound class and drawing the attention of Major League scouts as a third baseman, but it was mainly his ability to help Bobish improve his wrestling and takedown defense that caught Marinelli's eye at first, he said. "He really helped Dan out a lot, but right away I saw his potential with his wrestling and athleticism. So little by little, he started training with us." As Miocic remembered with a laugh, he walked in as a training partner, "and then I never left the gym." Marinelli began slowly adding weapons to Miocic's arsenal, he said, but soon the 6'3", 240-pound fighter fell in love with boxing. The next thing Marinelli knew, Miocic was headed for the national Golden Gloves tournament in Salt Lake City. "He made it as far as the quarterfinals, and I think he could have won the whole thing, but he just didn't have as much boxing experience as some of those guys," said Marinelli. Miocic had only been boxing for a little over a year at that point, but "still people were looking at him going, where did this kid come from?" Now the 29-year-old is on the verge of his UFC debut against Joey Beltran at UFC 136 after less than two years as a professional. It was a bit of a surprise to him to get the call from the big show so soon in his career he said, but his coach wasn't. "Most people, you'd want them to have more fights, but he's the exception to the rule," Marinelli said. "He's still got to come in and perform, but he's got all the tools." Of course, it's one thing to look good when you're fighting bar bouncers and training room heroes in front of a couple thousand people in Cleveland. Taking on an experienced heavyweight on a UFC pay-per-view event isn't even in the same zip code as far as nerves go, and the dreaded "Octagon jitters" have, more than once, turned prospects into flops before our very eyes. It's something Miocic has considered, he said, but has tried not to dwell on. "I talked to Forrest Petz, who fought in the UFC, and he told me, 'Man, it's still just you and another guy,'" Miocic said. "That part doesn't change." As Marinelli put it, "Nobody can say [jitters are] never a concern. Sure it's a concern. But that's what I'm here for and that's what the other coaches are here for, to ensure that he walks in there he shows the true Stipe Miocic that we know." The Stipe they know just happens to be an undefeated wrecking machine who's put away all six of his opponents, with known lasting beyond the second round. If they can get that same guy to show up in the UFC -- and against UFC-caliber opponents -- there's no telling how far he could go. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Posted in: ufc, thing, miocic, stipe miocic, marinelli

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You won't find many fighters more patriotic or inspirational than UFC middleweight Brian Stann. In fact, if he were ever cut in a fight, we might find that he actually bleeds red, white and blue. The US marine corps veteran was awarded the Silver Star for his service in Iraq and then swiftly made the transition from fighting for our country to battling fellow mixed martial artists inside the cage. In just his sixth professional fight, he was already the WEC light heavyweight champion and was brought over to the UFC when Zuffa merged the heavier weight classes. After a rough 2-2 stretch at 205 pounds, "The All-American" made the cut to middleweight and hasn't looked back since. With the elite team at Greg Jacksons Submission Fighting behind him, Stann has finished all three of his opponents at 185 (Mike Massenzio, Chris Leben and Jorge Santiago), winning two "Fight of the Night" awards in the process and has quickly become a contender in the division. Stann will battle former title challenger Chael Sonnen in a number one contender match at UFC 136 this Saturday night (October 8, 2011) and he spoke with MMAmania.com about Sonnen's mind games, preparing for Chael's wrestling and his own evolution as a mixed martial artist in part one of this exclusive interview. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Chael Sonnen has had a lot to say about you in recent interviews and I've got ask you to respond to one thing in particular. Is Brian Stann running for President in 2016? Brian Stann: (laughs) No, I'm not running for President in 2016. I am far from qualified for that position. Other than Chael, there have been a lot of people that have teased and brought it up before about me running for office. All I can say is that I wouldn't consider running for office until my daughters are grown and possibly in college or even after. The amount of time it takes to serve, it takes time away from family. You need to be wise when you go into office. You need to be experienced and knowledgeable in a great many things and although we have elected public leaders in their 30s, that doesn't mean that those men and women are actually qualified for the job and understand the different issues we're gonna deal with. Many times they just adopt the policies of whatever party they ran with and that kind of negates the whole system and the reason why we elect leaders. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Going back to Chael a bit, I know you and him are on pretty good terms but are you worried at all that he's got some kind of deeper mind game at play here? I know he's been respectful to opponents in the past but he's almost taking it to extremes with you this time. Is he trying to kill you with kindness or something? Brian Stann: Nobody can mess with my mind. I'm stronger than any fighter in the UFC mentally. I think that having spoken with Chael, literally two weeks before we were matched up to face each other, I think his feelings are genuine and I think when he does dislike a guy, he's genuine about it. He's simply the kind of guy who says things that are on his mind. he doesn't hold back. I don't think there's anything deeper to these words than exactly what he's saying and I don't think that's gonna stop him from trying to take me down and pound me out for three straight rounds come October 8th. I don't think any of that will and I don't think it's any kind of mind game. He knows what he has to go do and I know what I have to go do. We're professional fighters, it's what we do for a living. You don't have to hate the guy to go out there and do these things. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): Speaking of him trying to take you down, obviously Chael is regarded as having some of the best MMA wrestling in the UFC. How much does it help you in preparing for a strong wrestler like that knowing that you've faced elite wrestlers in consecutive fights in Phil Davis and Mike Massenzio just last year? Brian Stann: Well, I also faced Chael Sonnen's teammate Aaron Stark as well in my first ever pro fight and Chael Sonnen was the ringside announcer for it. Having to work wrestling has been the key theme in my training camp for really the last two years. I haven't fought many strikers. I've really mainly fought guys that are looking to take me down so it's constantly a theme and I've been working a lot with my wrestling coach John Bardis and I'm also working a lot with Israel Martinez from Chicago. I've been bringing Izzy in for my last three training camps now. He's been here for the last two weeks specifically helping me with this fight. My wrestling has grown by leaps and bounds and this fight is gonna be an opportunity for me to showcase some of those things. I feel that I am the best prepared opponent Chael will have had in years. I think a lot of the guys watching his fights, they went in there and they really focused on what they were doing and they didn't focus on things he was really good at and they weren't prepared for some of the positions he put them in. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): In your middleweight debut against Massenzio, you really showcased Brian Stann 2.0 by adding kicks, takedown defense and submissions to your arsenal. Does it give you confidence that you have that triangle choke in your back pocket just in case you're put in a bad position on the ground? Brian Stann: Man if you think that fight was Brian Stann 2.0, I am leaps and bounds better than that fighter. That was over a year ago and I am 10 times better than that fighter now and I have a very well-rounded submission game from working with my jiu-jitsu coach Roberto Traven who's one of the best in the world. I've been training with him for years and in between fights I put a gi on and I train gi jiu-jitsu. I did several gi jiu-jitsu training camps with his team for the world Pan Am games so I feel very well prepared to fight off my back and do the things I'm gonna have to do for this fight.  Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): In a similar vein to your training, can you talk about how adding the TRX suspension to your workouts has helped you improve? Brian Stann: The biggest thing that I love about TRX is I get stronger and I get in better condition with zero risk of injury and I think that's really the genius behind the system. You know, when you're training this hard and you're trying to improve your wrestling and jiu-jitsu and striking, when you're training strength and conditioning, a lot of different systems a coach will normally have you do is a lot of things that would normally put significant stress on your joints, potentially even taking fights off your career. Those workouts will then limit the workouts which are most important which is your sparring, grappling and wrestling because you did too much of the weightlifting in strength and conditioning. I never have those issues with TRX. I can do single leg squats and lunges and all kinds of crazy leg lifts and I won't have any knee pain so it won't limit the next workout I have to go do and that's the biggest thing that I love about it so much and we incorporate it in our regular strength and conditioning days, we incorporate it in our circuits and I actually incorporate it for my stretches and cooldown after I practice.  Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): You started out your MMA career as this crazy power puncher before training at Jackson's and now after moving there and improving the rest of your game, you've kind of come full circle to where you're comfortable throwing the big powerful strikes again. Can you talk about how working on every other part of your game has raised your confidence in your stand-up? Brian Stann: Oh yeah, absolutely. A lot of it was, even when I was just the power-puncher, I had very limited assets. I had a couple punch and kick combinations that I threw well and that was all I had. Working with Mike Winkeljohn, who, in my opinion, is the best MMA striking coach in the world, he completely transformed me. It was a process, it took time. First was working on my footwork and making me hard to hit because I would just let people hit me. The second was being able to be hard to hit and being able to cut angles and attack and we really came into our own in the last year to where I can attack guys and attack guys and attack guys and obviously working with great wrestlers and working with great ground technicians allows me to feel comfortable throwing my full arsenal of kickboxing because I'm not as worried about defending the takedown, I'm not as worried about fighting off my back. Brian Hemminger (MMAmania.com): In reading your book, Heart for the Fight, you were in some very dark places at times with your legal issues in the marines but you found that outlet through the marine corps Martial Arts Center for Excellence, the M.A.C.E program. Would it be a stretch to say that getting involved in that and fighting might have saved your life? Brian Stann: Yeah, that would be a stretch. I wouldn't say it saved my life, but it absolutely changed my life and it provided me the balance necessary that's needed in life to be successful in all the different areas that human beings are required to be successful both in your personal relationships with family, your professional career and your spirtual well-bring. Martial arts was really the place that I could go, it was kind of my sanctuary that I could go to and I could clear everything out and come right down to it and remind myself that, "No matter what's going on in my life, no matter what lies are being said and no matter what happens, I know who I am and I'm gonna be who I am and I'm gonna move forward no matter what happens." That is what martial arts provided for me and still does to this day and why I encourage more warriors who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan to get into martial arts.  Stann will need to bring everything he's got if he wants to be victorious this Saturday night against Sonnen. Stay tuned tomorrow for part two of our interview where Stann discusses why Sonnen has been able to outstrike his opponents, how he thinks he can win as well as giving his thoughts on the champion Anderson Silva.

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Back again with another blog, this time coming from across the big pond. I have been in China now for a little over two weeks and I can’t tell you how good of a time I’m having. I started my trip in Hong Kong which, as it turns out, isn’t that different from New York. It’s really Westernized so it didn’t feel like I was half way around the world. You can get most types of Western food and many people speak English. The real trip began when I left Hong Kong with a chaperone, Aaron, from Legend Fighting Championships who spoke both English and Chinese. We took a short bus ride to an airport and got ready to get on a flight to Xian where the Sports University I am currently teaching at is located. Things got a little hairy at the airport. Our flight was delayed, which is common in the US, and an angry mob formed around a small innocent flight attendant. They angrily talked and yelled at her for the next three hours until a fist fight broke out and the police had to come in and break the mob up. It was strange to say the least. Shortly after the plane arrived and the rest of the trip was quite uneventful. I am now staying at a hotel on campus. Some things have taken some serious getting used to. They don’t give new towels and don’t change the bedsheets. They expect you to hand-wash everything, even when it comes to your clothes. At first it was very upsetting but I have slipped into a different mindset and am now just going with the flow. I am here to train athletes and get better myself so I have left all the other distractions fall out of my mind. The training here is amazing. It is somewhat misleading to say that it is a university because many of the athletes range from 22-29 years old and have lived here for upwards of ten years. Their only duty is to train in Sanda which is what many people in the US know as San Shou – basically Muay Thai with takedowns. I have been extremely impressed with the skill level and dedication of the athletes. They all have great kicks and overall striking which I have been very lucky to learn and continue learning from them. I am here to help them with more of a wrestling style and their grappling. Many of the athletes have MMA experience or are looking to transition into MMA. All the athletes are so eager to learn and give me a ton of respect which is quite an honor. I will get more into the training and what live is like in future blogs now that I have my internet set up. I just wanted to give a brief overview and fill you all in on what my trip has been like so far. You can also keep up with things on a more-regular basis by following me on Twitter (@bambamhealy). PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE/FIVE OUNCES OF PAIN

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

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

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With a new team and a new approach, Anthony Johnson is ready to give fans and critics new things to talk about when it comes to his fighting career.

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We take our customary Monday morning look back at the action for Saturday's event in the latest installment of 10 Things We Learned.

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On the eve of his biggest fight to date, heavyweight Travis Browne joins the Next Big Thing podcast to talk UFC 135.

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Filed under: Strikeforce, MMA Fighting Exclusive These days, Lorenz Larkin goes by the nickname "The Monsoon," a tribute to his chaotic fight style as much as it is an homage to his brother, whose given first name actually is Monsoon. That wasn't always the case. When Larkin was in the first days of his MMA career, he had a different nickname, one that was decidedly less intimidating. It was "the Chihuahua." Amazingly, he gave the first moniker to himself, but for a purpose. "I was thinking about what would be the funniest thing to throw somebody off guard," he told MMA Fighting. "I could imagine the promoter telling my opponent, 'We got this guy who's called 'The Chihuahua,' and then they see me." The name was short-lived. Around his third amateur fight, Larkin had the foresight to realize "that name probably wouldn't go too good if I went anywhere." He's somewhere now, a still unbeaten, rising light-heavyweight talent who will be featured in the main event of Friday night's Strikeforce Challengers 19 card against Nick Rossborough. Larkin recently turned 25 years old and is now considered one of Strikeforce's best prospects, but his background would have hardly suggested such a path. He grew up in Riverside, California as the youngest of nine children. As a kid, he wanted to participate in contact sports, but was not allowed to by his father, who was worried Lorenz could get hurt. Larkin characterizes those early days as "sheltered" as a result. When he was 12 years old, he took up boxing. Still, that came with a caveat. He was to work technique only, never spar and certainly not compete. Because of that, he says he became a gym rat. "I wasn't allowed to fight so all I could do is go to the gym and train," he said. "When it came time for fight time, I couldn't fight. That made me a gym rat because i wanted to learn and I wanted to fight even though I couldn't." As adolescents do, Larkin had to test his boundaries. He began sparring, but it still could go no further as he had no prayer of his father signing off an an amateur card which would have allowed him to compete. Still, Larkin's love affair with the sport was a rocky affair at first, sometimes quitting and returning after some struggles. "At the time, I was going against Golden Gloves champs and good guys, and I was getting worked," he says now with a laugh. "So I'd be training and then on sparring day, I'd get my butt whooped and I'd say, 'that's enough of that.'" He kept finding himself drawn back for more. Part of it was that he just liked fighting. Another part was that despite his difficulty with the best guys in the gym, when he'd face someone with a similar experience level to his own, he would routinely pound them. In 2008, Larkin participated in his first boxing tournament, The Desert Showdown in Indio, California, and won all four of his bouts to win his weight class. At the time, the 5-foot-11 Larkin weighed about 225 pounds. Thinking about his future, he realized going pro would put him in the heavyweight class, leaving him at a severe size disadvantage at times. His mind started racing. "I already watched MMA, but that's when I started venturing off to try it," he said. "My buddy trained, so I figured I'd go with him to a couple classes to try it, and I finally made the switch over." Soon after making that decision, Larkin moved to Kentucky to begin his amateur career. He racked up fights and wins in a hurry, going 10-0 before returning home to California to turn pro. SInce then, he's gone 11-0, but he's only recently made a dent in the major MMA landscape with impressive Strikeforce wins over Scott Lighty and Gian Villante. It also changed things at home. "My dad didn't fully understand it until I made my debut in Strikeforce," he said. "That's when he started coming around and saying, 'OK, this might go somewhere.' He's so into it now and so proud. He's 100 percent behind me now." Larkin's style fits perfectly with his "Monsoon" nickname. He is a whirlwind of activity, you never quite know where's coming from, and he leaves damage in his wake. He says that his flashy style was influenced by many fighters, including boxers Jorge Paez, David Tua and Mike Tyson, and mixed martial artists Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Andrei Arlvoski, among others. It's also part of his experimental training, in which he enjoys trying "new and awkward things," and tries to adapt them to MMA. Despite his quick success and a headlining spot, Larkin concedes he's still finding his comfort level in the cage. It's been a fast rise, and as the wins pile up, the stakes get bigger. Though he's never lost, he says the unbeaten stretch means little and that he's not scared to blemish his record. He's still green and he's still learning, so much so that he concedes he wouldn't take a title shot if it was offered to him. From "the Chihuahua" to "the Monsoon," Larkin has already matured his MMA game, and even if there is still a long way to travel, he's in no rush. "i just look at it like I'm a freshman in high school," he said. "I'm still trying to get a hang of things and find out how things work. I'm still getting settled in. I want to be a well-tuned fighter. I just want to get through this year and then I'll start making moves." Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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As usual, Dana White chatted with the press about all the hot topics in MMA following today’s UFC 135 pre-fight press conference. MMA Nation has video of the chat above. Below, rundown of all the news and notes along with Dana’s interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. — Now that Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem and Dan Henderson have all officially left Strikeforce, pretty much no one expects the organization to stick around in its current form when the Showtime deal ends in Feb. 2012. Dana White says however that Strikeforce’s future is completely in Showtime’s hands. “Who knows what’s going to happen? The way this thing works is, it depends on Showtime. The ball’s in their court. They need to decide whether they want to keep Strikeforce around or not.” “It depends on whether they seriously want to stay in the business, the mixed martial arts business,” White said, before hinting that he thought Strikeforce had signed a bad deal when it aligned itself with Showtime. “Everybody that comes into this business thinks that pay-per-view or free TV is the holy grail, the answer to everybody’s problems. Bulls–t. Either of those two things will put you out of business. You get into a bad deal with one of these companies, and the next thing you know you’re $30 million in the hole.” “I would classify everybody who’s done a television deal out there besides us has done a bad deal. Everyone.” Dana added that Showtime only has about a month left to decide whether or not they want to extend the contract with Showtime, but reading between the lines it doesn’t sound like Zuffa is just going to agree to the same terms that Scott Coker and Co. did even if Showtime is interested. If you ask me, the writing’s on the wall. — Nick Diaz is officially off Dana White’s shit list. Dana says he’s spent some quality time on the phone with Diaz since the press conference incident and has come to the realization that he’s just going to have deal with him differently than the other fighters. “Here’s the thing with Nick Diaz, which I’m not used to, but I’m going to get used to it: He’s just a different guy,” White today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I’m going to have to handle him and deal with him differently than I do every other guy in the UFC.” “It’s not that he has to,” he said. “But you have to play by some of the rules. I’m not asking you to not be yourself … or come up to me and say ‘hi’ to me when you see me. It doesn’t matter. But I think I can work with it, and I think we can figure this thing out. I respect him as a fighter, people like to see him fight, there’s no doubt he’s got a little nutty side to him, but we’ll figure this thing out. “What I’m more worried about are the things that he has to do, like follow the rules that the athletic commission of whatever state we’re in lays down. You’ve got to follow those rules. There’s no bending or curving on that. All the other stuff is all, who cares. The kid’s a fighter.” Dana hasn’t confirmed that Diaz will get another title shot if he beats BJ Penn, but he hasn’t ruled it out either. — Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le are the official main and co-main events for UFC 139. As expected, Dana White hinted that Hendo and Shogun could very well determine who fights for the UFC light heavyweight title after Rashad Evans. “It would be tough not to give the winner of that fight the next shot after Rashad (Evans),” White said. “Rashad’s next.” Dana confirmed that the potential number one contender’s bout will be a five-rounder. — Wanderlei Silva’s future in the UFC could be on the line when he faces Cung Le at UFC 139. Dana stopped short of saying that he would definitely force Wand to retire if he loses to Le, but he definitely hinted that it’s a real possibility. “It’s one of those things,” White said. “There’s this fine line between telling a guy you’ve got to hang it up and him actually wanting to hang it up. We’ll give him this fight with Cung Le, and we’ll go from there.” “He knew going into that last fight how I felt about it,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “The thing with me is, I love Wanderlei. Wanderlei has been awesome ever since he’s come to the UFC. You couldn’t ask for a nicer guy and a guy who goes in and gives it all. But listen, I don’t want to see a guy go in and get hurt. You guys have heard me say it a million times: I don’t want to make one dollar of that kind of money. I don’t. Otherwise, if that was the case, Chuck Liddell would still be fighting. “People get pissed off every time I say this – people are like, ‘Who are you?’ Unfortunately for people who don’t like it, I am the one who makes those decisions. Whether you like it or not, too [expletive] bad.” — Neither Dana White nor Matt Hughes knows what’s next for him after the Koscheck fight, but neither are talking like this is the end if Hughes loses. All Hughes would say is he doesn’t want to fight in his 40′s. He’s 37 now. You do the math. — Don’t tell Clay Guida and Ben Henderson, but Dana White seems to be favoring Melvin Guillard for the next lightweight title shot if he beats Joe Lauzon at UFC 136.

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