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2012
October
Aloha
State BJJ Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
6/16-17/12
State
of Hawaii BJJ Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Blaisdell Arena
5/19/12
Scrappler's Fest
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kauai)
4/14/12
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom, Waipahu)
April 7 or 14
Hawaiian
Open Championship of BJJ
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
3/29/12 - 4/1/12
Pan
Jiu-Jitsu Championship
(BJJ)
(Irvine, CA)
3/3/12
Rumble at the Resort-Warpath to Mayhem
(MMA)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Lihue, Kauai)
Mad Skills
(Triple Threat)
(Waipahu Filcom, Waipahu)
Toughman Hawaii: Challengers
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic, Hilo)
2/11/12
Amateur Boxing Event
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
2/4/12
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center, Waipahu)
1/21/12
ProElite
MMA
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
1/15/12
Polynesia
International BJJ Tournament
(BJJ)
(King Intermediate, Kaneohe)
1/7/12
Toughman Hawaii
(Kickboxing)
(Hilo Civic Center, Hilo)
|
|
February
2011 News Part 2
|
Casca Grossa Jiu-Jitsu
is now the O2 Martial Arts Academy with 7 days a week training!
We are also offering Kali-Escrima (stick fighting) on Monday
nights with Ian Beltran & Erwin Legaspi.
Kickboxing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Kaleo Kwan, PJ
Dean, & Chris Slavens!
Kids Classes are also
available!
Click
here for info!
Take classes from
the Onzuka brothers in a family-like environment! |
Onzuka.com
Hawaii Underground Forum is Online!
Chris, Mark,
and I wanted to start an official Onzuka.com forum for a while
now. We were searching for the best forum to go with and hit
a gold mine! We have known Kirik, who heads the largest and most
popular forum on the net, The Underground for years.
He
offered us our own forum within the matrix know as MMA.tv. The
three of us will be the moderators with of course FCTV808 being
the lead since he is on there all day anyway!
We
encourage everyone from Hawaii and our many readers around world
to contribute to the Hawaii Underground.
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Your Complete Martial Arts School!
Click here for pricing and more
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O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson
Gracie Black Belts Chris and Mike Onzuka and Shane Agena as well
as a number of brown and purple belts.
We also offer Boxing and Kickboxing classes with a staff that
is unmatched. Boxing, Kickboxing, and MMA champions Kaleo Kwan
and PJ Dean as well as master boxing instructor Chris Slavens
provide incredibly detailed instruction of the sweet science.
To top it off, Ian Beltran & Erwin Legaspi heads our Kali-Escrima
classes (Filipino Knife & Stickfighting) who were directly
trained under the legendary Snookie Sanchez.
Just a beginner with no background? Perfect! We teach you from
the ground up!
Experienced martial artist that wants to fine tune your skill?
Our school is for you!
If you want to learn martial arts by masters of their trade in
a friendly and family environment, O2 Martial Arts Academy is
the place for you!
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UFC
on Fuel TV 1 Quick Results
Main
Card (on Fuel TV):
-Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez by Unanimous Decision (29-28,
29-28, 29-28), R3
-Stefan Struve def. Dave Herman by TKO (Strikes) at 3:52, R2
-Ronny Markes def. Aaron Simpson by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29,
29-28), R3
-Stipe Miocic def. Phil De Fries by TKO (Strikes) at 0:43, R1
-T.J. Dillashaw def. Walel Watson by Unanimous Decision (30-25,
30-25, 30-26), R3
-Ivan Menjivar def. John Albert by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
3:45, R1
Preliminary
Bouts (on Facebook):
-Jonathan Brookins def. Vagner Rocha by KO (Punches) at 1:32,
R1
-Buddy Roberts vs. Sean Loeffler - CANCELED DUE TO INJURY
-Justin Salas def. Anton Kuivanen by Unanimous Decision (30-27,
30-27, 29-27), R3
-Tim Means def. Bernardo Magalhaes by Unanimous Decision (30-27,
30-26, 30-26), R3
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer’s Playboy Hits Stands Feb 17
For
the third time ever, a UFC Octagon girl will grace the cover
of Playboy.
The
UFC’s own Brittney Palmer posed for an 8-page pictorial
shot by Steve Shaw that hits stands this Friday, Feb 17.
The
pictorial will also be available via Playboy’s website.
Palmer
took some time off from her duties as a UFC Octagon girl to focus
on art school recently, but an out pouring of fan support drew
her back to her old job.
She
also explained her reasons for doing Playboy, where she joins
current Octagon girl Arianny Celeste and former Octagon girl
Rachelle Leah, as a fellow cover girl for the popular magazine.
“I
take figure-drawing classes every day. Ninety-nine percent of
the time there’s a nude model in your class – it’s
beautiful and it’s art,” Palmer explained. “I
really enjoy drawing nudes. I think women’s bodies are fantastic,
and I work my ass off for my body. I have such appreciation for
being in Playboy – it’s like being a model for an elite
figure-drawing class.”
Palmer
is currently on duty in Omaha, Neb for the UFC on Fuel show taking
place Wednesday night, but Friday will be the day she officially
becomes a Playboy covergirl.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Sean
Loeffler vs. Buddy Roberts Scratched from UFC on Fuel
Debuting middleweights Sean Loeffler and Buddy Roberts will have
to wait a little longer to make their first appearances in the
Octagon.
A
late injury to Sean Loeffler forced the cancellation of their
bout at UFC on Fuel 1 on Wednesday night.
Loeffler
apparently injured his ankle during pre-fight warm-ups and was
shown in the back nursing the injury with ice.
A
disappointed Loeffler apologized into the camera when shown in
the back as the announcement was made.
The
fight was scratched from the card entirely, and both fighters
will have to be rescheduled for another date.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Lula won’t drop to 205, wants to show he can be one of the
best at heavyweight
Ednaldo
“Lula” Oliveira revealed to TATAME he intended on dropping
to the light heavyweight division even before his UFC debut,
against Gabriel Gonzaga, and kept the same speech after the loss
via submission. One month after his last fight, he has different
plans.
“This
possibility was discarded. I’ll stay on the heavyweight
class. I felt good here at this division... Heavyweight fighters
usually feel tired and I can keep on going. I can fight three
rounds like easting a piece of cake”, said the fighter to
TATAME.
Lula
does not point out the weight gap as the responsible for the
loss, and guarantees he will show his talent in the division.
“Everybody
could tell it was a mistake, it wasn’t because of the weight
gap. Many talk about my body, saying I’m too skinny, but
I’ve always done well. Here in Brazil I’ve always been
a heavyweight and won”, affirmed, responding to the critics.
“It
was fate. Gonzaga brought a good game plan, but I’m sure
it won’t happen again… I train much ground game. When
Gabriel finished me, many criticized my black belt, but everybody
know Gonzaga is a great fighter”.
Source:
Tatame
|
Jacaré
talks Roger in MMA: “I’d fight him but we’ve already
proven everything in the gi”
One
of the greatest competitors of all times, Ronaldo “Jacaré”
Souza is a hero to nine in ten Jiu-Jitsu fans. And the beast
will be back in the cage this coming March 3 at Strikeforce.
No
longer the Strikeforce middleweight champion, having lost a contested
decision in his last outing, the Brazilian will now be taking
on Derek Brunson, who is undefeated in his nine-fight career.
“He’s really good. But I’m training hard, evolving
a lot with every day, feeling really well, and I’ll be in
tip-top shape come fight time,” Souza told GRACIEMAG.com.
Fighting
in the same division as under-185 lb kingpin Anderson Silva,
Jacaré this week was informed by Brazilian television
network Sportv that an old acquaintance of his will be dropping
to that weight too: Roger Gracie.
Souza
assayed the arrival of Roger, who is in negotiations with the
UFC (a source close to the fighter guarantees a deal has been
reached, but Dana White denies it) and much more.
TRAINING
JIU-JITSU FOR MMA
“I
train in the gi at least twice a week, with the help of Sylvio
Behring. I’m positive my Jiu-Jitsu has evolved a lot. In
fact, it is precisely in the gi that I feel my Jiu-Jitsu has
improved. I just have to prove it, and I will. I really want
to put my Jiu-Jitsu into practice in MMA and prove to myself
that I’m still good at it.”
“I’D
FIGHT ROGER; IT JUST WOULDN’T MAKE SENSE, THOUGH”
I’ll
fight anyone, and I would definitely fight Roger. But the match-up
wouldn’t make sense; we’ve proven everything needing
proving on the mat, doing Jiu-Jitsu. But if I had to, I’d
definitely fight him. Right now, though, it doesn’t seem
like it would have much appeal. I’d fight him, though.”
SLIMMED-DOWN
ROGER GRACIE
“The
way I see it, Roger is really big to drop to 185 lbs; he might
not have such a good cut. He’s 1.9 meters (6’2”);
it would be kind of weird him cutting to 185 lbs. But if he feels
good, power to him. I like Roger; I root for him.”
TO
GET GOOD AT MMA, FIRST DO JIU-JITSU
“Someone
wanting to fight MMA has to do his homework, which is to compete
a lot and train a lot in Jiu-Jitsu. Then you work on getting
good on your feet, at takedowns, takedown defense, and you have
to be good at Jiu-Jitsu both on top and on bottom. Here’s
the tip: strive for constant evolution.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
In
MMA's War on Drugs, Some Experts Say We're Not Fighting the Right
Battles
From
steroids to testosterone to HGH and even marijuana, drugs and
drug testing in MMA is a hot-button issue that won't go away.
But anti-doping experts say that solving a complicated problem
requires not only asking the right questions, but also the courage
to follow wherever the answers may lead.
Follow
@MMAFighting on Twitter, and Like MMA Fighting on Facebook.
Feb
17, 2012 - If you want to give Dr. Don Catlin a laugh, ask him
what he thinks of the use of therapeutic-use exemptions (TUEs)
for testosterone in the sport of mixed martial arts. Ask the
73-year-old anti-doping pioneer and International Olympic Committee
member if he thinks there’s ever a situation where pro fighters
-- even those in their 40s -- should be given permission to use
testosterone, and then sit back and listen to his low chuckling
response.
"That’s
a joke," Catlin laughed. "Forget it. It’s a joke."
Catlin
should know. The founder of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab,
Catlin is responsible for developing such ground-breaking anti-doping
innovations as the carbon isotope ratio test, which has been
used to catch Olympic medalists using testosterone or a precursor.
He also identified and developed a test for "The Clear"
-- the designer steroid at the center of the BALCO investigation
in 2003.
In
addition to that expertise, Catlin also sits on the medical commission
for the IOC that’s responsible for reviewing TUE applications
from Olympic athletes, so he knows exactly what the process should
look like when it’s being overseen by trained professionals
-- which isn’t what’s happening right now in MMA, he
said.
"What
we do in the IOC, is we have specialists all over the world who
all they do for us is conduct examinations for athletes who claim
to be low on testosterone," said Catlin. "The levels
of testosterone in men vary all over the place. Unless this particular
person we send them to, and the people they send the data to
for examination say so, we don’t give them [a TUE]. I think
in all the years I’ve done it, we’ve given two. One
was a kid who didn’t have any testicles because he had a
terrible accident ten years ago or something. It just doesn’t
happen."
And
yet, in MMA it does happen. Fighters like Dan Henderson and Nate
Marquardt, among others, have successfully applied for and received
permission to use testosterone. Plenty more are rumored to be
using it without an exemption, and in Catlin’s experience
it’s the "preferred" performance-enhancing drug
for athletes, in part because of the difficulty of detecting
it.
"They
like testosterone because they can use a form of testosterone
that’s short-acting. It’s on and off in a day or two,"
he said. "Stanozolol is pretty good, but that has complications,
including some liver troubles. Testosterone doesn’t have
those kind of troubles, but you take it for life."
To
even effectively catch testosterone users, you need a carbon
isotope ratio test, which Catlin said most athletic commissions
either don’t do, or don’t follow up on. And to dependably
catch any athlete who’s doping in any way, you need the
element of surprise and enough resources to make the most of
it.
According
to its critics, drug testing in MMA currently has neither, which
is also why the sport has a serious drug problem that it isn’t
even close to solving. Exactly how it should go about addressing
that issue is a complicated answer, and one where a lot depends
on who you’re asking.
It’s
the Testing, Stupid
Last
month Zuffa announced that, as of Jan. 1, 2012, all incoming
fighters would be drug tested prior to completing their contracts
with either the UFC or Strikeforce.
"We
already work closely with athletic commissions to protect our
athletes and now we're taking it one step further," UFC
CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said in the press release announcing the
move. "We're going to test any potential UFC or STRIKEFORCE
fighter before finalizing their contract. This shows that we
don't want performance-enhancing drugs in our sport."
The
timing of the announcement was curious enough. It came about
a week after Strikeforce 145-pound women’s champ Cristiane
"Cyborg" Santos tested positive for the steroid stanozolol
in California, and mere hours after it was announced that former
Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Mo Lawal had tested positive
for drostanolone in Nevada.
Those
results might show that fight night drug testing isn’t wholly
useless, but neither it nor the new-signee tests are sufficient,
according to former NSAC ringside physician and current president
of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), Dr. Margaret
Goodman.
"The
smart fighter, the fighter who plans ahead, can probably pass
the tests that are done by the athletic commissions every time,"
said Goodman, a Las Vegas-based neurologist. "I think it’s
great to do tests on new fighters before they sign with Zuffa,
but again, that’s giving them some notice. ...True unannounced
testing gives the athlete about an hour’s notice. That’s
the way we do it with VADA, that’s how it’s done with
the Olympic program, and that’s the way it should be done.
It’s the only way to really do an unannounced program."
It’s
also costly. When boxers Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz agreed
to be the first two fighters to have their bout subject to VADA
testing, the organization subjected them to an array of tests
that will end up costing "about $6,000 per fighter,"
Goodman said.
"That’s
expensive, I know. But the bottom line is, if you’re going
to do the testing, then do the testing. If you’re not going
to do it and really look for the drugs that fighters are using,
then don’t do it at all."
While
Goodman’s dollar figure sounds high to Catlin, who said
he could fund a testing program "for a year with that kind
of money," he agreed that state commissions don’t have
the resources to effectively run a testing program. Individual
organizations like the UFC, which declined requests for comment
on this story, can’t be left to police themselves, he said.
"When
it comes to control and state athletic commissions, that’s
not the way to go. They don’t have the resources, and more
than that, they don’t have the know-how. They don’t
know what a positive for testosterone is, and they don’t
know what to do about it. That’s why I have zero or little
faith in them. They’d be better off pooling together than
being separate groups. The UFC should put money in, but they
can’t control it. That’s the trouble they have now.
...They have a new UFC testing program that I’ve read about,
and the UFC is very excited about it. That’s good. But what
are they doing? What are they testing for? I can’t tell
you. You cannot have the sport itself tied to the testing. That
doesn’t work. You have to have an independent body that
is not subject to all the in-house pressures."
Nevada
vs. the World
Nevada
State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer is used
to criticisms of everything from his agency’s approach to
drug-testing to its punishment of those athletes who are caught
using. Since Las Vegas is still the fight capital of the world
in the eyes of many boxing and MMA fans, the spotlight falls
on Kizer’s commission more often than most.
Kizer
is willing to accept some of that criticism, but when he hears
the NSAC being judged by the standards of international organizations
like the IOC, he can’t help but feel that it’s "a
bit of an apples to oranges comparison," he said.
"To
me, it’s not the funding so much as the lack of other resources.
We’re just one state. We’re one state, in one country,
so obviously we’re going to have less ability than a national
or international agency."
Not
only is the state of Nevada tasked with keeping tabs on fighters
all over the globe, he said, but they don’t get adequate
notice of which fighters will fall under their jurisdiction.
The IOC knows well in advance who has qualified for Olympic events,
and who should be subject to out-of-competition testing, but
the NSAC doesn’t have that luxury.
"Tell
me who’s going to be fighting on the [UFC] card here [in
Las Vegas] on July 7," Kizer said. "I don’t think
even Dana [White] and [UFC matchmaker] Joe [Silva] can tell me
that right now."
Even
when the organization does attempt to conduct out-of-competition
testing, as it did before the Alistair Overeem-Brock Lesnar bout
in December, it runs up against problems that most state agencies
aren’t equipped to deal with. When it struggled to get Overeem
to submit the appropriate sample in a timely fashion, Kizer said,
"the issue...wasn’t that he was in Utah, it was that
he was in Holland."
In
that case, Overeem’s sample came in weeks after his camp
was informed that he needed to take an out-of-competition test,
but the former Strikeforce heavyweight champ was granted a conditional
license anyway, following a hearing that the NSAC took undue
criticism for, according to Kizer.
"What
could we have done differently there? ...I guess you could just
say that if there’s anything less than absolute, 100 percent
compliance then we’re just going to say no as a matter of
course. I don’t know if that’s fair either, though."
It’s
a similar situation with the therapeutic-use exemptions for testosterone,
Kizer said. The NSAC doesn’t take quite as hardline a stance
on it as Catlin and IOC medical commission, he admitted, but
it’s not as if TUEs are handed out frequently, either.
"I
think there’s an impression among the general public that
everybody’s getting exemptions for [testosterone replacement
therapy]. I can’t speak for other states, but for us it’s
probably about one a year asking and it’s 50/50 whether
they’ll get approved. To even ask you’ve got to be
able to prove that your testosterone is below normal -- not just
low -- but below normal. Then you have to have a note from your
doctor detailing your treatment plan, what the underlying cause
is, showing that it’s not going to put you at undue risk
or give you an unfair advantage, and then our doctor talks to
their doctor."
Applicants
are then asked whether they’ve ever failed a test for performance-enhancing
drugs, whether they’ve ever used them either in this sport
or others, and what other treatments they might have tried. Even
then, applications are ultimately denied as often as they’re
approved, Kizer said.
"I’d
say in the...almost six years that I’ve been [executive
director] we’ve definitely had less than a handful of guys
get approved and less than a handful be denied. It’s probably
been about the same amount, like three [approved] and three [denied].
There’s also been requests for [exemptions for] ADHD drugs.
I know there’s one where the doctor said no and one where
he said yes. And that’s about it. Usually it’s something
like an asthma inhaler or cold medicine."
When
Kizer hears people like Catlin or Goodman criticizing the NSAC’s
testing procedures, he’s wary of people who may be trying
to drum up business for their own drug-testing organizations,
he said -- a problem that a state-run agency doesn’t have.
"All
our information is public. Fight night testing goes through Quest
Labs -- that’s not a secret," Kizer said. "They
do two different tests," including one for "steroids,
diuretics, and masking agents" and one for drugs of abuse
like marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines. The NSAC uses the
same prohibited substances list as the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA), Kizer said, and the list is freely available to athletes
and the public.
"I
had [former UFC heavyweight champion] Josh Barnett ask me once,
‘Where do I get a list?’ Well, here you go. WADA-AMA.org,
the list of prohibited substances. Look it up. We actually have
that codified in our regulations as well as on our website."
The
Cheaters and the Cheated
If
there’s one thing that almost all parties in the debate
agree on, it’s that something has to be done. In a combat
sport like MMA, the risks that come with performance-enhancing
drugs are simply too great to ignore, according to orthopedic
surgeon and MMA Junkie columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin.
"It’s
one thing if a baseball player is taking performance-enhancing
drugs and crushing a baseball out of the park, but it’s
a whole other thing if a fighter’s taking them and crushing
their opponent with super-physiological ability," said Benjamin.
It’s
a sentiment the NSAC’s Kizer has been echoing for years,
and one the executive director is glad to see is gaining some
traction, he said.
"This
isn’t just about cheating. This is about perhaps killing
someone," Kizer said. "..And yet, there are still people
doing steroids in MMA and boxing, people who, if you went to
them and said, ‘Hey, I could put some brass knuckles in
your gloves and guarantee you no one will find out about it,’
they’d tell you to get the eff away from them. And yet they’ll
take steroids."
As
Kizer sees it, PEDs are not just a risk to the fighter who’s
competing against an abuser of them, but also to the fighter
who feels compelled to get on them just to even the odds.
"Steroids
are illegal because of the damage they do to the person taking
it. You don’t want to have another person who doesn’t
want to take it feel like they have to in order to compete. I
think there’s been a lot of athletes over the years who
have taken steroids not because they want an unfair advantage,
but because they want a level playing field."
And
yet, not all banned substances are created equal. Some may pose
serious risks to users and those who compete against them, but
others, like marijuana, seem to present no such danger, at least
according to onlookers like Dr. Benjamin.
"I
think one place where an arbitrary line has been drawn is with
marijuana use," said Benjamin, who noted that fighting under
the influence of the drug would be dangerous for combatants and
make brain injuries harder to diagnose, "but if someone
smokes marijuana several days before competition, obviously it’s
not still active in their system. They’re no longer high
or under the influence, but they still have metabolites, and
are likely to fail a urine test. That’s a very gray area
to me."
Even
Catlin said that while he’s not "a fan of a great deal
of marijuana testing," there is "some rationale to
it" with sports like MMA and boxing.
"Generally
though, it’s a recreational drug, and I don’t think
drug testing in sport should be used to control recreation,"
said Catlin.
Fighters
like Nick Diaz, who has a prescription for medical marijuana
in his home state of California, could make "a very legitimate
argument" for a medical exemption, according to Benjamin,
who said he’s "waiting for the first person to disclose
that on their pre-fight paperwork, and see what the athletic
commission in the responsible jurisdiction does."
According
to Kizer, it hasn’t happened yet, at least not in Nevada.
If it did, he said, the commission would take the same steps
it takes in any other request for an exemption, including examining
the medical issue that the banned substance purports to treat,
and asking if there’s a non-prohibited substance that can
offer the same or similar treatment.
But
when it comes to serious issues affecting the sport, few in MMA
would say that the focus needs to be on stamping out recreational
drug use. It’s the performance-enhancing kind that has fighters
talking among themselves, said Dr. Goodman, and it’s something
of an open secret in fight gyms everywhere.
"After
having spoken to 75 to 100 MMA athletes, I hear the same story.
They’re all aware of other fighters using performance-enhancing
substances, whether it’s steroids or testosterone or Human
Growth Hormone or blood doping, I hear these stories all the
time. In trying to put the [VADA] program together, I had to
talk to as many [MMA] fighters and boxers and trainers, and it’s
something I hear over and over again."
What
few people agree is on what to do about it, and who should foot
the bill. Those with a stake in the game, like Goodman, say the
UFC and other organizations should hire a third party like VADA
to do their testing. Those involved with state commissions, like
Kizer, argue that commissions are doing a lot with the funding
and resources they’ve been given, even if they don’t
always get credit for it.
"There
are going to be athletes in every sport that think they can beat
the test," said Kizer. "Look at the Olympics. That’s
the weird thing I find with some of the public, and not just
in MMA, but people will say that because some guy got caught
it shows that athletes aren’t concerned about the tests,
that the tests must not work because the guy got away with it.
Well, wait a second. He got caught. It doesn’t mean the
test is foolproof, but it shows the test is actually pretty damn
good. Every Olympics they catch somebody."
When
the UFC travels outside of athletic commission jurisdiction,
it acts as its own commission, conducting its own testing, much
as it will for new signees. That’s a laudable effort, according
to Catlin, but it’s not nearly enough.
"When
I read that Dana [White] is running a new testing program, on
one hand I kind of snicker, but then I say, okay, they’re
trying. They’re putting words out there that make sense
to me. Whether those words are backed by policies or not, I wouldn’t
know. But you’ve got to start somewhere. The fact is, though,
you can hire a testing agency that will find exactly what you
want: nothing."
Anti-doping
experts like Catlin and Goodman insist that the only reasonable
solution is to empower some third-party, independent agency to
conduct the testing, and for promoters like Zuffa to fund it,
at least in part, but without having any influence over its findings.
Any sports organization that does its own testing, according
to Catlin, can never be fully trusted to report accurate, unbiased
results, no matter how well-intentioned it might be.
"They
need to clean it up. They know that, and they generally want
to. At the same time, it’s the fox guarding the henhouse.
They need a program. They want one, otherwise society would be
all over them. They have a program, but is it the one they need
to really clean it up? No."
Fans
of the sport who also carry the burden of a certain amount of
medical knowledge, such as Dr. Benjamin, still look to Zuffa
and the UFC to do what’s necessary to help the sport get
clean -- or at least cleaner.
"As
many times as Dana White has said that the UFC is now a first-tier
professional sporting organization, commensurate with NFL, NHL,
Major League Baseball, the NBA -- one thing you notice about
all those organizations is that they do their own testing,"
said Benjamin. "They don’t leave it to anyone else
and say, hey, we’re not responsible. [Zuffa] wouldn’t
really have to do much themselves except pay the bill. As they
move more mainstream with these FOX contracts and things like
that, at some point they’re going to have realize that that’s
part of doing business on the level that they’re on, and
then go ahead and write the check."
Writing
checks is one thing the UFC seems willing to do. It’s giving
up control of the process that might be more difficult. But just
as White and Fertitta brag about running "toward regulation"
after purchasing the UFC, Goodman said, they should also embrace
improved drug testing as part of their quest for mainstream acceptance.
"They’ve
done such a great job at promoting the sport, advancing the sport
-- and I love the sport -- but I think this is something they
could do that would really set them apart, safety-wise. It wouldn’t
be that difficult to do, and it should be done. It has to be
done."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
One
FC 2 Results: Enomoto Submits Laursen, Gracie TKOs Sapp
Feb
11, 2012 - Felipe Enomoto finished Ole Laursen with a rear-naked
choke submission in the main event of Saturday's One FC 2 event
at Sports Mall Kelapa Gading in Jakarta, Indonesia.
As
the fresher fighter in the second round, Enomoto capitalized
on a head kick on Laursen by taking his back and forcing the
tapout at three minutes and 49 seconds.
Felipe
Enomoto, the older brother of M-1 welterweight champ Yasubey,
snapped a two-fight losing streak to improve his overall MMA
record to 6-3. Laursen's pro record fell to 5-3.
In
super heavyweight action, one-time UFC fighter Rolles Gracie
needed only 78 seconds to dispatch PRIDE veteran Bob Sapp. Gracie,
who gave up 67 pounds, scored an early takedown and then ground
and pounded his opponent to submission. Gracie upped his record
to 6-1, while Sapp lost his fourth straight fight within the
first round. Despite losing seven of his last eight, Sapp's record
stands above .500 at 11-10.
UStream
PPV Bouts:
Felipe Enomoto def. Ole Laursen via submission (RNC) - R2, 3:49
Bae Young Kwon def. Honorio Banario via submission (RNC) - R1,
0:56
Rustam Khabilov def. Rodrigo Ribeiro via unanimous decision
Gustavo Falciroli def. Soo Chul Kim via submission (RNC) - R1,
1:12
Rolles Gracie def. Bob Sapp via submission (punches) - R1, 1:18
Preliminary
Bouts:
Victorio Senduk def. Raymond Tiew via TKO (injury) - R1, 4:02
Geje Eustaquio def. Alex Silva via unanimous decision
Irshaad Sayed def. Jessie Rafols via KO - R1, 1:49
Pete Davis def. Ngabdi Mulyadi via submission (triangle choke)
- R3, 3:54
Zuli Silwanto def. Agus Nanang via TKO - R1, 0:47
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Top
FUEL Executive Thrilled With Early UFC Programming Ratings
Feb
10, 2012 - It may be little more than one month into a seven-year
deal, but FUEL TV officials are excited by the early returns
when it comes to ratings generated by UFC programming.
According
to the cable network's executive vice president and general manager
George Greenberg, ratings so far have surpassed expectation,
with an 80 percent increase in the target demographic of men
ages 18-49, and a near 230 percent increase in overall primetime
ratings from past ratings periods.
"To
say I’m jacked would be putting it mildly," he said.
When
it comes to more specific numbers, Greenberg said that recent
UFC on FUEL pre- and post-fight shows have fluctuated between
35,000 and 75,000 viewers. And during live fights on FUEL, as
many as 250,000 have tuned in to witness the action.
According
to Greenberg, those numbers are expected to rise as viewer confusion
over where to find the programming subsides.
Those
may not sound like blockbuster numbers when compared to ratings
generated on past outlets like Spike -- where two million viewers
for Fight Nights was about the norm -- but FUEL TV is currently
available in around 35 million homes, a fraction of the 99 million
Spike boasts.
"If
you want to compare it to a platform like Spike three times our
size, I can’t help that," he said. "But I can
tell you, If you look at the FOX ratings and last FX ratings
for the fight, and you look at what it’s done to this place
percentage-wise, we are absolutely killing it."
Next
Wednesday, FUEL will televise its first full UFC main card with
an event emanating from Omaha, Nebraska, headlined by a welterweight
bout pitting Diego Sanchez against Jake Ellenberger. The event
will be part of a free preview week which will make the channel
available in an additional 8 million households.
While
that will still leave more than half of the cable TV households
unable to tune into the fights, Greenberg said that prolonged
success for the channel -- along with viewer demand -- would
help increase its reach.
For
now, the channel will look to shore up its presentation, as Greenberg
said he's looking to add visual aids that will help analysts
like Kenny Florian explain fight details to viewers. And the
production team will also continue to consider fan feedback.
For example, the first UFC on FUEL weigh-in show was heavy on
analysis but light on the actual weigh-ins. Greenberg admitted
that the offering was "over-produced." Since then,
adjustments have been made and the show mainly consists of a
short introduction before moving the focus to the scale.
Meanwhile,
the channel also looks to expand its UFC-related offerings. Greenberg
confirmed that they are still negotiating a deal that would bring
the upcoming Brazilian edition of The Ultimate Fighter to FUEL,
and other programming is under consideration as well.
In
one final note of interest, Greenberg noted that in 2013, UFC
programming was likely to increase on the channel. While around
2,000 hours are expected for this year, the following year could
see as much as 2,500 hours of UFC-themed broadcasts.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Dana
White Predicts TUF Brazil will be ‘Huge’
The
popular mixed martial arts reality series, The Ultimate Fighter
began filming its first season outside of Las Vegas and outside
of U.S. boarders this week when production got underway in Brazil
on Monday. UFC president Dana White predicts the upcoming season
will be “huge.”
“I
think that this Ultimate Fighter down there is going to be huge.
The Ultimate Fighter is going to be huge,” White commented
to the media following UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit on Feb. 4.
“We
peaked at 6.6 million or something the other night on Fox. We’re
like, that’s awesome. We’re doing 50 million people
watching down there. There are only 200 million people in the
country and absolutely those numbers are going to keep going
up and up and up.”
The
UFC and mixed martial arts roots run deep in Brazil. Current
UFC champions hailing from Brazil include: featherweight titleholder
Jose Aldo, middleweight champion Anderson Silva, and heavyweight
titleholder Junior Dos Santos.
Brazilian
born MMA legends Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva are the opposing
coaches of TUF Brazil.
The
season will consist of 12 episodes.
Fuel
TV is in negotiations to carry the series in the U.S.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Bisping
Confirms Split with Longtime Gym Wolfslair
Michael Bisping is no longer part of the Wolfslair Academy.
UFC
middleweight Michael Bisping announced Saturday that he has split
with longtime gym Wolfslair Academy, confirming the rumored riff
on his official Twitter page.
“Yeah,
it’s true. I left Wolfslair,” Bisping wrote. “I’ve
done martial arts since I was eight years old. It was a phase
of my training there, but I have now moved on.”
Bisping
recently saw a four-fight winning streak snapped when he was
outpointed by Chael Sonnen in a close unanimous decision defeat
at UFC on Fox 2. The loss cost the Brit a shot at reigning middleweight
champion Anderson Silva, who is now expected to square off with
Sonnen for a second time at a to-be-named event in June.
A
former Cage Rage light heavyweight champion, Bisping was introduced
to UFC fans in 2006 as a cast member of “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 3. After winning the show with a victory over Josh Haynes,
“The Count” rattled off three more wins before falling
to Rashad Evans in 2007, prompting the Brit to drop to 185 pounds.
Bisping
has posted an Octagon record of 8-3 as a middleweight, besting
the likes of Chris Leben, Dennis Kang, Yoshihiro Akiyama and
Jason Miller, among others. A three-time “Fight of the Night”
award winner, Bisping owns 14 of his 22 career wins by knockout.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Report:
Roger Gracie Signs with UFC as Light Heavyweight
Roger Gracie has reportedly signed to compete as a light heavyweight
in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
GracieMag
reported the news Friday on Twitter, revealing that the former
Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships
gold medalist would join the UFC’s 205-pound ranks. No debut
date for the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace was mentioned, but the outlet
stated that Gracie could find himself training with longtime
middleweight champion Anderson Silva before he enters the Octagon
for the first time.
Born
in Brazil but now residing in England, Gracie is one of the world’s
best grapplers. In 2005, the 30-year-old won both the heavyweight
and absolute divisions at the ADCC submission grappling championships,
submitting Shinya Aoki, Fabricio Werdum, Alexandre Ribeiro and
Ronaldo Souza en route to the absolute title.
Gracie
racked up a 4-0 record to begin his MMA career, submitting Ron
Waterman with an armbar in his 2006 pro debut. The Brazilian
then took out an undersized Yuki Kondo in 2008 before finishing
former UFC heavyweight king Kevin Randleman in his 2010 Strikeforce
debut. Another submission win -- this time over UFC veteran Trevor
Prangley -- would come before Gracie tasted MMA defeat for the
first time, falling by knockout to onetime Strikeforce light
heavyweight champion Muhammed Lawal on Sept. 10.
Source:
Sherdog |
Stefan
Struve's UFC on FUEL TV 1 plan against Dave Herman: Avoid stupidity
Stefan Struve is fairly confident he'll punch Dave Herman in
the face, and more so what will happen next.
"When
you hit someone a couple of times, everybody falls back into
his own game," Struve told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
In
Herman's case, the game means throwing caution to the wind and
going kamikaze on opponents.
Struve
(22-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and Herman (21-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meet on the
main card of UFC on FUEL TV 1, which takes place Feb. 15 and
airs live on FUEL TV. Preliminary-card fights stream on Facebook.
"If
you look at our records, there's no secret in finishing most
of our opponents," Struve said of Herman. "He can come
in like that, the same way I do. He will try to come in wild
and try to turn it into a brawl. I need to make sure that it
doesn't become a brawl and keep my distance and pick him apart
with my reach."
And
from there, it's just a matter of weathering Herman's storm.
Struve, who's trained with several top kickboxing gyms in his
native Holland, believes he'll win the day with superior striking
skills.
But
he's stepped up his conditioning work in anticipation of the
more grueling fight Herman promises.
"He's
got a pretty unique style," Struve said. "He's got
some solid power in his punches, but his standup is a little
bit sloppy. You saw that in his last fight with (John Olav) Einemo
where he was off-balance a lot and he threw a lot of weird punches.
"He
won on conditioning. That's what happens in a lot of his fights.
He just out-conditions those guys then TKOs them."
Einemo,
of course, was one of those TKOd by Herman when they met at UFC
131. The fight was far from a technical masterpiece; Herman many
times seemed reckless. It was, however, a very exciting fight,
and both were awarded an additional $70,000 each for "Fight
of the Night."
So
Struve has a plan for dealing with the craziness. He hasn't always
been as reasonable in his thinking, nor used his physical gifts
to his best advantage. Although his resume is twice as long as
those 10 years his elder, and he stands at 6-foot-11 with an
84-inch reach, those advantages haven't kept him from taking
the kind of risks that can get him into trouble inside the cage.
There's
no better example of that than his fight at UFC 130 with Travis
Browne, where he got knocked out throwing a flying knee in the
open.
"It's
just a stupid mistake because in my opinion, I had that fight
in my pocket because there was nothing happening," Struve
said of the fight. "He wasn't even touching me. So I just
made a stupid mistake, and I'm learning from it."
Herman
even caught his first UFC opponent with a hard right hand –
the same strike that felled Struve against Browne.
"We
both like to go at it, and we both can get drawn into a brawl,"
Struve said. "But we're working hard on that to not let
it happen again and to use my technical striking, keep him at
a distance, and pick him apart with punches and kicks."
In
his most recent fight, Struve managed to stay away from the heavy
punches of Pat Barry and use his natural gifts to submit the
former kickboxer in the second round of their fight at UFC on
Versus 6.
"The
gameplan was to have him come into me because if you look at
all of his fights, every single one of his UFC fights, except
in the fight with me, he knocked his opponents down," Struve
said.
So
things are getting better each fight. Struve wants a second chance
at Browne sometime in the future, and with the size of the heavyweight
division relative to others, he may get it sooner than later.
But
he'll also settle for good placement in his next fight.
"I
think I'm doing really good in the heavyweight division,"
Struve said. "I've already got six wins, and I'm going to
make it seven next week. And hopefully, I fight on a big pay-per-view
card next time, hopefully in the co-main event."
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
|
Cruz
vs. Faber Trilogy Comes to a Close at UFC 148
Well
when you talk about great trilogies, UFC bantamweight champion
Dominick Cruz and top contender Urijah Faber have had one of
the more memorable run over the last few years.
It
will all come to a close during the UFC card set for July 7 in
Las Vegas, when Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber meet with the
135lb title on the line.
UFC
co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta revealed the date for the fight on
Twitter on Thursday.
Currently
the series is tied at one win a piece for each Faber and Cruz,
the two bantamweights will first spar during the 15th season
of the ‘Ultimate Fighter’, which kicks off on March
9 in Las Vegas.
The
show will run for 12 weeks, leading up to the ‘Ultimate
Finale’ and then just about a month later Faber and Cruz
will square off for one fight go round before closing the book
on their trilogy of fights.
The
two fighters will definitely have a lot more to say during the
upcoming reality show, and it will all build towards a crescendo
when they meet on July 7, almost exactly a year after their last
showdown.
Cruz
defeated Faber in that fight by unanimous decision at UFC 132.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Bob
Sapp Promises The Beast is Back
There
are a lot of things you can say about former K-1 and Pride fighter
Bob Sapp.
At
one time he was a phenom in Japan picking up kickboxing wins
over legends like Ernesto Hoost and Cyril Abidi. Even in defeat,
his fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is the stuff of legends.
Sapp’s
star power in Japan was showcased in movie roles, commercials
and even his own music CD release.
His
drawing power still seems strong, but gone are the days of many
wins for the giant American, who went through all of 2011 without
a victory in either kickboxing or MMA matches.
Sapp
hopes to resurrect things a bit in 2012 however when he faces
Rolles Gracie at One FC in Jakarta this weekend.
“This
is a fight I believe I can win. I can really get back on track
by beating Rolles Gracie and show I have put 2011 behind me,”
Sapp told MMAWeekly.com from Jakarta. “I have been training
in Jakarta every day since I got here, it takes two hours to
get to the gym because of the traffic and due to my commitments
with the media I am busy during the day but I am working out
every night from 11pm to 2am, I’ve done that every day since
I have been here, that’s how much I am putting into training.
I work on my stand up, on BJJ, on takedown defense.
“It
is a legendary match and I’m really looking forward to it.
My strength is his weakness, I am going to be looking to test
his chin and I think I can knock him out. The Beast is rejuvenated,
revitalized and the Beast saga continues. I’m not going
to submit him that’s no secret, so let’s see what happens.”
The
best experience that Sapp can possibly draw from as he gets ready
to face Gracie this weekend was his epic 2002 fight in Pride
against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Sapp
earned his nickname of ‘The Beast’ that night as he
literally tried to throw Nogueira in, around, and threw the ring,
but in the end the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace put him away with
an armbar in the 2nd round.
The
experience still holds in Sapp’s mind however, even though
the fight was nearly a decade ago, and he hopes to show off a
few new tricks when facing an equally dangerous ground fighter
this weekend.
“The
fight with Nogueira was incredible, there were so many people
and I did a great power bomb, it was something I will always
remember,” Sapp stated. “That fight (with Nogeuria)
gives me a lot of confidence because he had a good ground game
but he did not submit me straight away.
“I
learned a lot from fighting Nogueira, there is no substitute
for getting in there and doing that.”
Good
or bad however, Sapp is always up for putting on a show. During
Friday’s weigh ins the former NFL player and his opponent
almost came to blows after hitting the scales, and the crowd
in Jakara seems ready more than ever now for a fight.
Sapp’s
strategy isn’t a big secret either. He wants to go in and
smash Rolles Gracie and walk out of the ring.
“I
believe that I can knock out anyone on any given day and that
gives me all the confidence in the world,” said Sapp.
“I
am not going to be patient I want to knock him out and knock
him out fast.”
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Dominick
Cruz to Drive NASCAR Pace Car
UFC
bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will serve as honorary pace
car driver at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the Subway Fresh
Fit 500, at Phoenix International Raceway on March 4.
“Dominick
is a true Arizona success story and we are proud of the style
and class with which he represents our entire region,” said
track president Bryan R. Sperber in a statement on Thursday.
“We are excited to have him headline the weekend activities
that kickoff the start of the 2012 NASCAR season at PIR.”
Cruz
is excited to drive the pace car before the 43-car field of Sprint
Cup competitors.
“Having
been a long-time fan of PIR and NASCAR, I am honored to be part
of one of the most exciting sporting events in the Phoenix area,”
said Cruz. “Similar to whenever I step into the ring, these
drivers go out there and put it all on the line to win the race
and give the fans a great show.”
Cruz,
born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the coaches of
the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite long-time
rival Urijah Faber. It will be the first season of the popular
reality show on the Fox networks.
The
Subway Fresh Fit 500 airs live on Fox on Sunday, March 4. The
Ultimate Fighter 15, featuring Cruz as a coach debuts on March
9. Cruz and Faber will settle the rivalry in a third match up
following the conclusion of the show’s finale.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
MMA
Top 10 Rankings: Barão & Condit Move Up
The
updated MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings were released on Wednesday,
Feb. 8. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters from across
the world in each of the seven most widely accepted men’s
weight classes and the Top 10 pound-for-pound women fighters.
Taken
into consideration are a fighter’s performance in addition
to win-loss record, head-to-head and common opponents, difficulty
of opponents, and numerous other factors in what is the most
comprehensive rankings system in the sport.
Fighters
who are currently serving drug-related suspensions are not eligible
for Top 10 consideration until they have fought one time after
the completion of their suspension.
Fighters
must also have competed within the past 12 months in order to
be eligible for Top 10 consideration unless they have a bout
scheduled within a reasonable time frame.
Below
are the current MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings:
WOMEN’S
POUND-FOR-POUND (all weight classes)
1. Megumi Fujii (1)
2. Sarah Kaufman (2)
3. Miesha Tate (3)
4. Marloes Coenen (4)
5. Zoila Gurgel (5)
6. Tara LaRosa (6)
7. Rosi Sexton (7)
8. Alexis Davis (8)
9. Ronda Rousey (9)
10. Hiroko Yamanaka (10)
HEAVYWEIGHT
DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
1. Junior Dos Santos (1)
2. Alistair Overeem (2)
3. Cain Velasquez (3)
4. Josh Barnett (4)
5. Frank Mir (5)
6. Fabricio Werdum (6)
7. Shane Carwin (7)
8. Daniel Cormier (8)
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (9)
10. Travis Browne (10)
LIGHT
HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
1. Jon Jones (1)
2. Rashad Evans (2)
3. Dan Henderson (3)
4. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (4)
5. Quinton Jackson (5)
6. Lyoto Machida (6)
7. Phil Davis (7)
8. Gegard Mousasi (8)
9. Alexander Gustafsson (9)
10. Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (10)
MIDDLEWEIGHT
DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Anderson Silva (1)
2. Chael Sonnen (2)
3. Yushin Okami (3)
4. Vitor Belfort (4)
5. Nathan Marquardt (5)
6. Michael Bisping (6)
7. Mark Munoz (7)
8. Brian Stann (8)
9. Rousimar Palhares (9)
10. Chris Weidman (10)
WELTERWEIGHT
DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Georges St-Pierre (1)
2. Carlos Condit (3)
3. Nick Diaz (2)
4. Jake Ellenberger (4)
5. Josh Koscheck (5)
6. Johny Hendricks (6)
7. Jon Fitch (7)
8. Jake Shields (8)
9. Thiago Alves (9)
10. Diego Sanchez (10)
LIGHTWEIGHT
DIVISION (155-pound limit)
1. Frankie Edgar (1)
2. Gilbert Melendez (2)
3. Benson Henderson (3)
4. Gray Maynard (4)
5. Jim Miller (5)
6. Shinya Aoki (6)
7. Clay Guida (7)
8. Anthony Pettis (8)
9. Michael Chandler (9)
10. Nate Diaz (10)
FEATHERWEIGHT
DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Chad Mendes (2)
3. Hatsu Hioki (3)
4. Dustin Poirier (4)
5. Erik Koch (5)
6. Kenny Florian (6)
7. Pat Curran (7)
8. Diego Nunes (8)
9. Marlon Sandro (9)
10. Chan Sung Jung (10)
BANTAMWEIGHT
DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Dominick Cruz (1)
2. Urijah Faber (2)
3. Joseph Benavidez (3)
4. Renan Barao (6)
5. Brian Bowles (4)
6. Michael McDonald (7)
7. Scott Jorgensen (5)
8. Demetrious Johnson (8)
9. Bibiano Fernandes (9)
10. Masakatsu Ueda (10)
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
For
One UFC Newcomer, Patience Is Paying Off
Feb
10, 2012 - Like a lot of would-be UFC fighters, Justin Salas
had started to wonder if the call would ever come. The lightweight
had had nibbles from the big show, vague assurances that ultimately
went nowhere. After he beat former Ultimate Fighter contestant
Rob Emerson on a mat so heated by arena lights that it tore a
chunk of skin off the bottom of his foot, his coaches at Denver’s
Grudge Training Center felt sure that he’d get his shot.
When
he beat Joe Ellenberger -- the undefeated brother of UFC welterweight
Jake Ellenberger -- ten months later, it seemed all but certain.
For the first time, conversations with the UFC brass had begun
to take the form of when rather than if.
"Then
they called us back and said, ‘Have him take another fight.
We don’t know if we’ll be able to take him right now,’"
Salas said. "I just thought, well, guess I’ll have
to find another guy like Joe Ellenberger. ...I don’t expect
anyone to hand me anything. They don’t think I’m ready?
Then I guess I better keep proving it."
Salas
had accepted another fight in another small organization and
had begun training for it when the call came. February 15, they
told him. The UFC on Fuel event in Omaha. That’s when he’d
get his shot. Just like that, Salas was a UFC fighter.
It’s
difficult for some people to understand exactly what that moment
means for a young fighter. They look at a guy like Salas, who’s
making his debut against fellow UFC newcomer Anton Kuivanen on
the prelim portion of a mid-week fight card that’s airing
on a cable channel that many fight fans don’t even get,
and they don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like
he’s headlining a pay-per-view. The UFC doesn’t even
have a photo of him on its website yet, so what’s he so
excited about?
But
then, the people who think that have never been in Salas’
shoes. They’ve never had to try to explain to a stranger
that, yes, they are a professional fighter, even if they’re
not yet in the UFC.
"You
tell them that, and you can see it," Salas said. "They
just think of you like their buddy that they met at the bar who
fought in some small show that they went to once. Maybe he’s
not at your level, but you’re right there in the same category
as him in their eyes, no matter how good you are or who you train
with. I’ve been pursuing this as my job, as a professional,
for a while now. But until you’re in the UFC, people don’t
really picture you that way."
That’s
particularly true back in Salas’ hometown of Green River,
Wyo. There, it’s pretty much a given that you’ll grow
up to work in the region’s famous trona mines, spending
your life underground in the 2,000 miles of tunnels that employ
just about every man of working age in the region. Salas was
headed that way himself after leaving the University of Wyoming
without a degree once his wrestling career there was finished.
Then
one day a friend of his asked if he’d be willing to do him
a small favor. Nothing major. It just involved him driving to
North Platte, Neb. to do a cage fight against some guy. His friend
had committed to doing it himself, but his wife was due to give
birth any day, and missing an event like that just so he could
fight in some small show in a small town was the kind of thing
he might wind up hearing about for the next decade or two.
Salas
didn’t have much going on, and he missed the competition
of his wrestling days, so he took it. He drove to Nebraska with
no real preparation or training and got ambarred by a guy who
clearly knew at least a little something about jiu-jitsu. Then
he got a return bout with the same guy later that year. This
time Salas knocked him out.
By
then he was hooked. Salas eventually found a home in Denver at
the Grudge gym, where coaches like Trevor Wittman and Leister
Bowling transformed him from a haymaker-throwing wrestler to
an actual mixed martial artist. And now, after nearly six years
in the sport, he’s finally getting his chance to test himself
on the sport’s biggest stage. That opportunity alone makes
the struggle seem worth it, said Salas.
"In
Wyoming, we don’t have any professional sports teams. Me
making it to the UFC, it makes the people back in my hometown
look at it and say, ‘Wow, you’re actually doing this.’
Because I could have stayed in the mines and it’s not a
bad life. You can live a very comfortable life, living close
to your family and making a hundred grand a year, living in a
new house. But I chose to come out here and scrape by for years.
It makes people look at you and wonder, how long are you going
to hold out on this? How long can you keep at this?"
The
answer, it seems, is long enough to at least get his shot. Salas
has dealt with his share of disappointment and frustration just
to get the opportunity to fight in the Octagon. Now all that’s
left is for him to make the most of it in Omaha next Wednesday
night. And that, as many UFC rookies have discovered, is often
the hardest part.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
|
The
MMA Show Lands in England May 12 & 13
The
MMA Show is landing in the United Kingdom in May featuring some
of the top fighters for training sessions and meeting fans from
all over the world.
The
show will take place on May 12 and 13 at the NEC in Birmingham,
England.
More
than 20 fighters from the UFC, Strikeforce, BAMMA and other organizations
will take part in the show, which will be similar to the UFC
Fan Expo as far as an experience goes.
One
big difference however is that five different sections of the
convention center will be set up as training areas where the
fighters will teach and hold seminars for attendees.
There
will also be Q&A sessions, autograph sessions and exhibition
areas for different MMA brands will be showcased.
The
training session for the fighters will be available to Platinum
ticket holders, and can be purchased at theticketfactory.com.
The
list of fighters attending includes: Brendan Schaub, Rory MacDonald,
Ross Pearson, Vladdy Matyushenko, Brad Pickett, Jason Young,
Stefan Struve, Paul Daley, Kenny Florian, Che Mills, Tom Watson,
Rameau Thierry Sokodjou, Tim Radcliffe, Jimi Manuwa, Jack Marshman
and more.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Wish
Granted: Ortiz vs. Griffin III in the Works
According
to UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, Ortiz will get Griffin for
his final fight in the UFC, although a date and location have
yet to be determined.
Fertitta
went on a fan answering frenzy via Twitter late Thursday night.
When he was asked who was next for Forrest Griffin, he simply
answered “Tito.”
Ortiz
has said candidly that he would like to fight in the UFC one
more time before he calls it a career, and he wants that fight
to be against Forrest Griffin.
The
two former light heavyweight champions have battled twice in
the past with each of them holding a win over the other. A third
and final fight for Ortiz’s last fight ever seems fitting.
Ortiz
last competed at UFC 140 in Toronto where he lost by TKO to Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira. It was the former champion’s second loss
in a row after dropping to current top contender Rashad Evans
in August 2011.
Forrest
Griffin will also be looking to get back on the winning track
after a loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua last August at
UFC 134 in Brazil.
The
UFC owner didn’t set a date for Ortiz vs. Griffin III, but
it will likely land on a summer show.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Fertitta
Says Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir On Tap
Cain
Velasquez and Frank MirThe UFC heavyweight picture is starting
to unfold. Company CEO Lorenzo Fertitta took to a late-night
Twitter jam session on Thursday night to unveil a slew of marquee
bouts, including the big boys.
Aside
from announcing Junior dos Santos defending his UFC heavyweight
championship against Alistair Overeem at UFC 146 on May 26, Fertitta
also mentioned a heavyweight clash between former champions Cain
Velasquez and Frank Mir.
When
asked what was next for Mir, Fertitta simply responded, “Cain.”
He did not reveal whether or not the bout was verbally agreed
to or signed off, nor did he reveal a date or location, but it
is a bout that most people had already speculated about.
Velasquez
(9-1) captured the UFC title from Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 in
late 2010. He was then sidelined for a year mending from shoulder
surgery.
Velasquez
returned to face Junior dos Santos at the first UFC on Fox event
last November in Anaheim, Calif., where JDS wasted no time ending
Velasquez’s reign, knocking him out in little more than
a minute.
Mir
(16-5) fought a month after Velasquez’s last bout, finishing
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for a second time with an arm-breaking
Kimura.
Though
Mir failed in his last two title bids, he is currently riding
an impressive three-fight streak, which also includes Mirko “Cro
Cop” Filipovic and Roy Nelson. A win against Velasquez would
likely put him right back in the thick of things as far as a
title shot is concerned.
With
Shane Carwin still recovering from back surgery, whoever wins
between Velasquez and Mir will surely join Fabricio Werdum at
the top of the list of fighters knocking on the door to the championship.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Will
Nick Diaz Return to Fighting? UFC Boss Says He Has a Home If
He Wants One
Nick
Diaz‘s day on Thursday didn’t go very well, but at
least he had some back up in the form of UFC co-owner Lorenzo
Fertitta.
Following
a positive drug test for marijuana for his fight with Carlos
Condit at UFC 143, Diaz faces disciplinary action from the Nevada
State Athletic Commission that will end with a suspension and
a fine.
While
no suspension has been handed down yet, past repeat offenders
in Nevada for similar occurrences have landed a one year suspension.
Diaz
has yet to make a statement since the news was released on Thursday
that he tested positive, and he stated during his post fight
interview with Joe Rogan that he may very well just walk away
from the sport all together.
Well,
if he wants a job, the UFC appears more than happy to keep him
on the payroll.
UFC
co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta during a fan Q&A session on Twitter
late Thursday night admitted he liked Diaz because he’s
a ‘real fighter’ and stated he has a home with the
UFC if he wants one.
“(I)
really like the kid,” wrote Fertitta. “Just needs to
get it together. I’m a sap for real fighters.”
When
asked how he felt about Diaz testing positive for marijuana,
Fertitta’s response was quick, but to the point.
“He
will be back,” said Fertitta.
Now
the question remains will Diaz want to return to the UFC or any
form of MMA in the future?
Source:
MMA Weekly |
|
Dustin
Poirier vs. The Korean Zombie Set as Main Event for UFC on Fuel
3
Well,
close enough. Dustin Poirier and ‘The Korean Zombie’
Chan Sung Jung will headline the upcoming UFC on Fuel 3 card
slated for May 15 in Fairfax, VA.
UFC
officials confirmed the bout on Friday.
Dustin
Poirier most recently fought at last weekend’s UFC 143 card
where he defeated newcomer Max Holloway by submission. Following
the win, he mentioned that he would really like the chance to
face the ‘Korean Zombie’ next, and now he gets his
wish.
Known
for his exciting style, ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung
Jung made quite the splash back at UFC 140 in Toronto where he
recorded the second fasted KO in UFC history, putting away former
title contender Mark Hominick in only 7 seconds.
Currently
on a two fight win streak, Jung will look to make it three in
a row when he faces Poirier in the main event of the UFC on Fuel
3 show taking place May 15
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Junior
Assuncao won’t sign with anyone until he knows the truth
about his UFC cut
Junior
Assuncao returned to the UFC after seven consecutive wins, but
it took one loss in two bouts on the most famous octagon in the
world for him to be fired. Still without knowing what really
happened, the fighter talked to TATAME and said he is not upset
with the organization. “Until I really get what happened,
I have no hard feelings towards the UFC”, said the fighter,
who has been talking to many events. “All the big events
have called me, but I’ll wait until I know exactly why UFC
cut me off”. Check below the complete interview with the
athlete:
Do
you know why you’ve been fired from the UFC?
Until
this moment I don’t really know what happened. I guess they
didn’t like my last performance, maybe they expected more
from the… I’m lost. Only my manager talked to them.
And
what did they say to your manager?
According
to my manager, UFC said there’re 15 extra fighters in my
division and that it would take seven months for them to offer
me a fight, and then they cut me off. I haven’t received
a formal letter saying I’m dismissed, it was just my manager
who told me that. I don’t know if there’s something
behind it.
Were
you upset about it?
I’m
still kinda sad, it’s hard to say. It was the first time
I loss in almost four years, and it’s weird they fired me
right after it. Until I really get what happened, I have no hard
feelings towards the UFC.
You
focused on starting it all over in the UFC. So, what comes next?
I’ll
keep on going. Independently of this, I’ll still fight for
five more years. If I return to the UFC, great. If not, I open
the door the other events.
Did
people from other events tried to contact you?
All
the big events have called me, but I’ll wait until I know
exactly why UFC cut me off, I want to know what happened.
Is
Bellator an option?
I
don’t know, even because now there’s a featherweight
GP at BEllator, and I’m not interested in joining it if
I don’t fight the GP.
Source:
Tatame
|
Judging,
Koscheck’s options and more: UFC 143 Octagon Observations
Condit,
the new interim champ (Getty)LAS VEGAS -- Watching the main event
of UFC 143 from my spot on press row, where the fight can often
look quite a bit different than it does on television, I thought
Nick Diaz won his interim welterweight title fight against Carlos
Condit. I had Diaz winning the first three rounds and Condit
taking the last two. The fight was close enough that you can't
call it a robbery, but I did feel Diaz was effective enough over
the first three rounds to earn the decision.
In
the aftermath of the decision, and the heated debate that came
with it, though, I've been left to wonder: On what do MMA judges
base decisions, these days?
Among
the several factors judges are supposed to consider under the
Unified Rules is aggression. Diaz was the clear-cut aggressor
in the first three rounds.
Octagon
control is also supposed to be considered when judging a round.
Condit seemed to spend most of the early rounds backpedaling.
He even ended the third round literally scooting backwards on
his butt to get out of Diaz's way.
And
yet, you never seem to hear anything about aggression and Octagon
control these days when judging is dissected after the fact.
There
was a time when turning an MMA fight into a track meet was not
considered a virtue. John McCarthy docked Jamie Varner a point
in his UFC 62 loss to Hermes Franca for running when he employed
similar tactics. Kalib Starnes was just about mocked out of the
sport entirely for running sprints in his UFC 83 bout with Nate
Quarry.
This
is supposed to be a fight, right? With fighting for points increasingly
becoming en vogue, maybe it's time to take a closer look at the
actual criteria laid out for the judges when scoring a round.
Aggression is supposed to be rewarded and weighted more heavily
than defense. Backpedaling and sprinting is not supposed to be
a point in a fighter's favor. Let's nip this one in the bud before
MMA turns into Olympic tae kwondo.
•
Much is being made of the fact that Condit outstruck Diaz in
the fight. According to CompuStrike, he outlanded Diaz, 146-110.
All this tells me is that MMA statistic keeping is still in its
infancy and has a long way to go before it's a rock-solid method
of measuring a fight. Sure, a 36-strike discrepancy could be
an accurate portrayal of a fight. It could also mean the when
one fighter has another cornered, he connected solidly on a single
straight right, only to have his opponent throw a wild flurry
of four of five punches, none of which did damage, then scamper
to safety. And yet the latter fighter in that example would have
a 5-1 strike advantage. Which leads us to the next stat, "significant"
strikes, which Condit also took Who gets to define "significant?"
That's a subjective decision and thus has minimal value as an
objective fight measure.
•
In hindsight, maybe Herb Dean should have just docked Alex Caceres
after his first kill shot to Edwin Figueroa's groin, then docked
him another after the second one, rather than issue a warning
after the first one and deduct two later. While Dean's two-point
deduction was certainly unusual, I can't get too worked up about
it. The first one was right up there with the nastiest groin
shots I've seen in six years over covering MMA. Dean issued Caceres
a "strong warning," and within a matter of seconds
after the fight resumed, Caceres went right back to throwing
wild kicks, to the point you could tell there was going to be
another foul if the fight went on for any length of time. I wouldn't
want to see referees start handing out two-point deductions left
and right. But Dean, in my opinion, is one of the two best refs
in the business along with Josh Rosenthal, and I'm willing to
give him the benefit of the doubt on the call in this instance.
Hopefully Caceres, an energetic bantamweight with some upside,
will use this experience to become a smarter fighter.
Koscheck's
win (Getty)• Just over a year ago, Josh Koscheck looked
like a fighter without many viable options. He had just lost
his title challenge to Georges St-Pierre in one-sided fashion,
and he suffered a cracked orbital bone in the process. It was
his second loss to GSP, and the No. 2 guy in the division, Jon
Fitch, was his teammate for life at the American Kickboxing Academy.
But now Koscheck has a variety of intriguing options. Should
he be the next opponent for Diaz (c'mon, you and I both know
Nick isn't retiring)? Should he get a hot up-and-comer like Jake
Ellenberger or Rory McDonald? Or is that off-limits fight against
Fitch maybe on the table now that Koscheck is no longer with
AKA? Love him, hate him, or love to hate him, Josh Koscheck remains
one of the UFC's most interesting fighters.
•
Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson apparently never heard
of the famed "Octagon jitters" fighters are supposed
to experience in their UFC debut. The Simpsonville, S.C., native
looked poised and confident from the get-go in his bout with
Dan Stittgen, right up until the highlight-reel head kick that
won him both the fight and a $65,000 knockout of the night bonus.
Sure, one fight is far too soon to label someone a potential
contender, but Thompson impressed inside the cage and was humble
at the post-fight press conference, so you know he has the right
attitude. Way to make a first impression, kid.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
|
dos
Santos vs. Overeem Slated for UFC Memorial Day Weekend Card
A
late night Q&A with UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta revealed a
lot of news late Thursday night, and one major main event for
Memorial Day seems locked in.
UFC
heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will meet Alistair Overeem
on the scheduled May 26 event in Las Vegas on Memorial Day weekend.
UFC
co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta answered specifically when a fan asked
the date for the next heavyweight title fight.
“Memorial
Day weekend Vegas,” Fertitta responded to the question of
when dos Santos vs. Overeem would happen.
The
UFC’s top heavyweight, Junior dos Santos, has been out of
action since last November when he captured the belt by defeating
Cain Velasquez at the inaugural UFC on Fox show.
Following
the fight, dos Santos had to have knee surgery, but he’s
been saying since early January that he was on schedule to come
back soon.
As
for Alistair Overeem, he earned the shot at dos Santos’
title by crushing former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar
at UFC 141 to close out 2011 in Las Vegas. Overeem bombed the
former champ with strikes to end the fight in the first round.
Now
the former Strikeforce, Dream, and K-1 Grand Prix champion will
get his first crack at the UFC heavyweight title in May.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Stephen
'Wonderboy' Thompson to Face Matt Brown at UFC 145
Feb
11, 2012 - Undefeated striking phenom Stephen Thompson won't
have a long wait on the sidelines to follow up his spectacular
debut. The South Carolinian, who has now won 63 straight kickboxing
and MMA fights, will take on Matt Brown at UFC 145.
The
UFC confirmed the welterweight pairing on Saturday, following
a report from Thompson's hometown paper, Greenville Online.
Thompson
showed no first-time octagon jitters at UFC 143, knocking out
Dan Stittgen with a headkick at 4:13 of the first round. That
made him a perfect 6-0 in his pro MMA career since moving over
from the kickboxing world.
Brown
will certainly represent his biggest test thus far.
The
Ultimate Fighter veteran also fought at UFC 143, earning a second-round
TKO of Chris Cope. Brown (13-11) has won two of his last three
overall. Brown brings with him a great deal of experience, having
fought 11 times in the UFC dating back to his debut in 2008.
UFC
145 takes place at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The main event matches
UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones against No. 1 contender
Rashad Evans in a long-awaited grudge match.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Varner
Finishes Fickett in 40 Seconds at XFC 16
Jamie Varner ended Drew Fickett’s night nearly before it
started, clocking the “Night Rider” with an overhand
right and pounding him out in the Xtreme Fighting Championships
16 main event on Saturday at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium-Coliseum
in Knoxville, Tenn.
The
former WEC lightweight champion wasted little time in dispatching
his foe in their 160-pound catchweight affair, forcing a verbal
tapout due to strikes in just 40 seconds in the “High Stakes”
headliner. Though the pre-fight hype between to the two fighters
was considerable, the victory was bittersweet for an emotional
Varner.
“Honestly,
I was scared, even though I thought I was better than him. Drew
Fickett is a guy who got me into this sport,” Varner told
HDNet analyst Pat Miletich in his post-fight interview. “I
was a junior in high school, and I saw him fight. I looked up
to him even before I knew him. I had the opportunity to meet
him, and he took me under his wing and taught me how to train.
I love the guy. I wouldn’t be here without him.”
Varner
(Pictured) cracked his former mentor with a straight right hand
to the temple that sent Fickett reeling to the mat. He then swarmed
on his disoriented adversary, unloading dozens of punches until
the bout was stopped.
“We
knew if we hurt him, we’d be able to finish him,” said
Varner, who has won back-to-back fights. “The right hand
was kind of the game plan, to work it off my jab. [It was] a
combination of timing and luck and opportunity, and I took it.”
Josh
Samman finished a game Mikey Gomez in their co-headlining middleweight
clash, taking Gomez’s back midway through the first frame
and pounding away until the Floridian tapped. While Samman spent
much of the round defending a single-leg takedown and eventually
a kneebar attempt, he was merciless once he acquired his Gomez’s
back, forcing the stoppage by delivering a constant stream of
punches to the head of his defenseless foe.
“We
had anticipated he would go for those leg locks and submissions,
so I just tried to be real top-heavy,” said Samman. “I
know that as soon as I can land a couple [of punches] on somebody’s
chin, it will make them rethink their game plan. I like to finish
by KO, and I want to make it so every other middleweight doesn’t
want to fight me. If you choke someone out, it’s painless.
If you knock someone out, they remember that s---.”
The
cageside physician called a halt to Heather Clark’s 125-pound
confrontation with Marianna Kheyfets after Clark’s right
eye swelled shut at the conclusion of the first round. Both women
connected solidly in the first frame, with Clark landing low
kicks before Kheyfets worked her way inside to score with meaningful
punch combinations. Though Clark finished the round with a bang
by hitting a throw and landing in side control, the maneuver
would prove futile, as she would not see a round two.
“I
wanted to get some more work in, but I’m glad to get the
finish,” said Kheyfets. “I worked my boxing a lot.
I really wanted to come out here and prove that I’m a better
striker than her. I wish it could have gone to the second and
third rounds, but Heather’s a warrior and I commend her
for her performance.”
In
a 130-pound affair, Chris Wright took home a unanimous nod over
the previously unbeaten Len Cook. Holding just two professional
bouts to his credit heading into the fight, Cook seemed to show
his inexperience early, attempting a pair of ill-advised lateral
drops that landed Wright in his guard in rounds one and two.
More of the same would follow in the third stanza, as Cook spent
most of the round with his back either on the canvas or pressed
against the cage.
Chase
Gormley outpointed fellow super heavyweight Brandon Sayles, taking
the Fighters United representative down early in the bout and
spending the majority of round one in top position. Round two
proved to be much more competitive, until Sayles took control
late and delivered a series of clean punches and knees. Sayles
continued to move forward to start the third frame but was once
again taken down. Gormley rode out the last four minutes of the
bout from his foe’s half guard, earning a unanimous decision
for his efforts.
Amaechi
Oselukwue stopped Gerardo Julio Gallegos in just 83 seconds in
their middleweight contest, knocking his opponent limp with a
perfectly timed right straight. Though Gallegos landed a nice
right of his own to start the contest and took down Oselukwue,
the 26-year-old escaped to his feet and locked up a Thai plum,
delivering a cluster of knees to his foe’s body. After breaking
the hold, Oselukwue whiffed on a low kick but used his momentum
to spin all the way around and drop his opponent with a lightning-quick
right hand.
Dustin
West destroyed Stoney Hale in the first main card bout, turning
up the heat after a minute-long feeling-out process. “D-West”
landed a solid body kick and drove his backpedaling foe into
the cage before unleashing a hailstorm of hooks and knees to
the head of his hapless opponent. While Hale attempted to cover
up and even fire back, West’s flurry proved inescapable,
as the Virginian fell to the canvas and was saved from further
punishment by referee Gary Copeland.
Source:
Sherdog |
Lorenzo
Fertitta on Nick Diaz: He will be back
By
now you had to have heard that UFC top welterweight fighter Nick
Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his
decision loss against Carlos Condit. Diaz has since been put
on temporary suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission
and is expected to be handed down a one year suspension from
the sport.
Luckily
for Diaz, he has someone very important on his side, co-owner
of the UFC , Lorenzo Fertitta took to his Twitter earlier today
and made this statement regarding Nick returning to the UFC after
his year suspension.
He
will be back. Really like the kid just needs to get it together.
I’m a sap for real fighters.”
Whether
you like him or not, it looks as if Diaz is not going away any
time soon, unless it is of his accord.
Source:
Caged Insider
|
Benson
Henderson Went From Mopping Gym Floors to Owning the Gym
At
UFC 144 in Japan, Benson Henderson will get the chance to achieve
his ultimate goal of capturing the UFC lightweight title when
he faces Frankie Edgar.
It’s
a far cry from where Henderson started out just a few years ago
when he was cleaning toilets, mopping floors, and teaching classes
at The MMA Lab in Arizona just to be able to train full time.
Well,
from now on, whenever Henderson decides something needs to be
cleaned up at the gym, he’ll be picking up on his own floors
and his own mats.
Just
a few weeks before Henderson makes the long journey to Japan
to face Edgar at UFC 144, the former WEC champion purchased The
MMA Lab to become its full-time owner, as well as one of its
top teachers and fighters.
“It’s
a pretty big difference from five years ago cleaning out the
toilets, taking out the garbage, and going on Starbucks runs
for the owner and his wife. Pretty big difference, and I’m
happy for it,” Henderson joked when speaking with MMAWeekly.com.
When
Henderson first moved to Arizona to work at the gym, he was already
in a fortunate situation in that he was able to train full time,
but not without more than a few sacrifices.
“I
was pretty blessed with my situation when I came out here to
Arizona. The old owner whose name was Jason Beck, he asked John
Crouch, who he was friends with from back in the old school Gracie
Academy days, he knew John had some fighters in Denver and he
asked if he and some of his fighters would like to move to Arizona
and just train and fight full time. So early on in my career
I was able to move out here to Arizona and just train full time,”
Henderson explained.
“I
was sponsored from The Lab. I got like a couple hundred dollars
a month, just barely enough to survive, but I cleaned toilets,
mopped mats, do all the odd ends sort of jobs. So I was able
to train full time, so I’d train in the mornings, train
in the afternoons, but in between I’d clean up, I’d
teach the kids’ classes, clean up at night also.”
Henderson’s
days were pretty routine. It was either about training, teaching
or cleaning up somebody’s mess, and that’s just how
life was for the future UFC lightweight contender. It may sound
mundane to you and me, but to Benson Henderson those were the
building blocks on his road to a championship.
“I’d
get there in the morning; I’d train in the morning. I’d
have to clean up in the afternoon, clean the toilets, clean up
the mats, take out the garbage. Then I’d train in the afternoon
from three to five; afterwards I’d have to help teach some
of the classes. Then I’d have to clean up at night after
all the evening classes. I was there almost two years just training
and working nonstop,” said Henderson.
Ben
Henderson and Anthony Pettis - WEC 53
That’s been Henderson’s life since college. In his
youngest days when he first got to school, he was the youngest
guy on the mats during wrestling practice and sure enough the
more experienced grapplers were more than happy to show him that.
From that experience his work ethic grew and grew, and it continued
to develop alongside his MMA career.
“I
think I’ve done that for most of my life. In college my
freshman year, I got the crap beat out of me every day. I literally
left practice every day sad cause I just got beat up every day.
A 17-year-old kid wrestling grown men, getting the crap kicked
out of me, helped build me to the man that I am now,” Henderson
stated.
“Same
thing when I was starting out as a young fighter. You have to
go through those trials and tribulations, those tough times,
to make you better. But I needed all of that to really appreciate
it all now. To do what it takes to get here.”
The
hard work paid off both in and out of the cage for Henderson.
He now owns The MMA Lab, which has been as much a home to him
as any house he could own.
Henderson
met his girlfriend while training at The Lab, and feels like
all of the fighters and people that train there are family to
him.
“It’s
just a good place, good feel and good people there,” said
Henderson.
Now
that he’s a full gym owner, Henderson is in one of the happiest
places he’s ever been. He’s realized one dream by buying
his own training facility, and he’ll look to add to that
when he fights Frankie Edgar at UFC 144.
“Going
from that to gym owner to fighting for the title, it’s something
I am very excited for.”
Source:
MMA Weekly |
From
Karate Kid to Wonderboy, Stephen Thompson Makes the Most of His
UFC Debut
Things couldn’t have gone much better for Stephen ‘Wonderboy’
Thompson than they did during his debut fight in the UFC.
Thompson
stepped in on short notice to make his UFC debut and then even
got a little extra treat when his opponent changed just a few
days later.
The
57-0 kickboxing prodigy didn’t bat an eye at the changes
however, and instead uncorked a headkick knockout of opponent
Dan Stittgen late in the first round to win his first fight in
the Octagon, and a few hours later took him ‘Knockout of
the Night’ honors.
“Words
can’t describe it, I was definitely on cloud 9,” Thompson
told MMAWeekly Radio after his fight.
It’s
sometimes tough to get attention when you’re on the undercard
for a major UFC pay-per-view, but ‘Wonderboy’ certainly
did his part to get more than a few eyes on him. Even UFC President
Dana White raved about his performance, but he already knew a
lot about the karate kid after hearing so much courtesy of UFC
commentator Joe Rogan.
“Joe
Rogan has been talking about this guy in his sleep. Every time
I talk to Rogan, he was going crazy about this kid and then for
him to come in and pull off a kick like that was awesome,”
White said about Thompson following UFC 143.
“You
keep doing (expletive) like that, you’re going to be very
marketable, and people are going to love to watch you fight.”
It’s
hard to imagine a fighter with a 63-0 professional record between
kickboxing and MMA still having an ounce of humility left, but
that’s pretty much all Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson
is made of. Hearing about Rogan’s compliments only made
him throw some back at the Eddie Bravo trained grappler.
“It’s
a tremendous feeling, especially someone like Joe Rogan, he’s
the man. He’s out there commentating and he knows the game
so well, he’s like a guru of the martial arts,” Thompson
said about Rogan. “It’s really good for somebody like
Joe Rogan or Dana White to talk about you, even though it was
my first UFC fight. It gives me a tremendous amount of confidence
and I’m ready for the next one whenever that is.”
One
aspect that just about everyone was talking about after Thompson’s
debut was his unique stance during his fight with Stittgen. Well,
technically it was only unique to those not from a karate background.
See,
Thompson learned karate almost as early as he learned how to
read, and he’s carried his father’s martial art with
him every step of the way. He now proudly displays it in the
Octagon, and while he may not pull off a crane kick anytime soon,
expect ‘Wonderboy’ to be a proud karate fighter for
years to come.
“Karate’s
what I started with from day one. It is my life,” said Thompson.
“It’s good to see karate come back into the fight game.
I’ve heard so many other MMA guys talk bad about karate,
and how it shouldn’t be used in MMA.
“I
mean look at Lyoto Machida, he’s at the top and he’s
a karate guy. It’s really good to see karate get used in
MMA. There’s a lot of things karate can help out with in
MMA, especially with the movements, the awkward angles karate
gives you, and it definitely helps out with your striking.”
Now
with his initial UFC fight behind him and a ‘Knockout of
the Night’ bonus in his pocket, Thompson isn’t slowing
down. On Monday just after his fight, Thompson was already back
in the gym teaching his students and getting back into his normal
training regimen.
It
might be hard for some fighters to top the kind of debut that
Thompson had, but there’s a reason they call him ‘Wonderboy’.
He’s already looking forward to the opportunity.
“It
was my first fight and really whoever Dana White puts in front
of me, I’m going to be ready for it. My ground game is getting
better everyday, my wrestling is getting better everyday, and
I’m just going to go back,” said Thompson.
“I’m
not going to take a day off, I’ll be ready for whoever he
puts in front of me.”
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Toughman
Hawaii
March 3,
2012
Hilo Civic
Source:
Wally Carvallho |
|
Bas
Rutten Glad to be Back as Pride Commentator
Source:
Wally Carvallho |
|
Bas
Rutten Glad to be Back as Pride Commentator
Nearly
five years after he last commentated a Pride FC event, Bas Rutten’s
voice will once again grace the promotion’s action, this
time as part of a legacy mode included in the upcoming THQ video
game UFC Undisputed 3 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
“I
always enjoy working for video games,” Rutten told MMAWeekly.com.
“When you think about it, with (the UFC) buying Pride, this
was the smartest thing they could do of course. It is great.”
Rutten
will be reteaming with his original Pride commentating partner,
Stephen “The Fight Professor” Quadros for the release.
According to Rutten, it was like no time had passed since the
two had last worked a Pride show together in 2003.
“It
was like we never stopped doing it,” said Rutten. “Right
away we started joking and messing around. It was a lot of fun.
It was a good time.”
The
recording process was anything but tedious, according to Rutten,
thanks to the way the action was presented to he and Quadros.
“What
we did was hours and hours of commentary on what looked like
real fights, and later we did names and all that stuff,”
said Rutten. “That was the coolest part of the game is we
don’t do generic lines. We literally went through every
scenario and did lines for that.”
For
Rutten, getting the opportunity to expose fans to the Pride experience
that may not have been around when it was in its heyday is big
thing.
“It’s
very important,” he said. “That’s where it all
started pretty much. That’s when the fighters started to
get really big. Of course the UFC was there, but this was the
biggest show on the planet. There were 91,000 people at a show
we did commentary for once. It was just crazy at that time.”
Aside
from Undisputed 3, Rutten will also be featured in Kevin James’
Here Comes the Boom movie later in the year, as well continue
his work on Inside MMA for AXS TV (formerly HDNet).
Combine
Rutten’s entertainment prospects with his continued work
in the sports merchandise world with his O2 Trainer, and it looks
to be yet another fast-paced year for Rutten.
“(There’s)
no slowing down,” he said. “It’s one thing after
another. I don’t want to slow down. I want to keep things
going.”
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Former
TUF Finalist Kris McCray Signs with Bellator
Former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ finalist Kris ‘Savage’
McCray has signed a multi-fight deal to compete in Bellator Fighting
Championships.
Sources
close to the fighter confirmed the deal to MMAWeekly.com on Thursday.
Kris
McCray made his way to the season 11 finale of the ‘Ultimate
Fighter’ before being defeated by Court McGee back in June
2010.
McCray
would exit the UFC after two more losses, but his last fight
was an extremely close affair during a three round battle with
British fighter John Hathaway.
Since
his exit from the UFC, McCray has racked up two wins in a row
on the regional fighting circuit and will not hope to continue
that success as he competes for Bellator starting later this
year.
McCray
has now been a mainstay working in New Jersey at Ricardo Almeida’s
gym alongside UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and their
team.
While
nothing has been confirmed at this time, the current timeline
for McCray’s debut is like for one of the upcoming Bellator
shows in April.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
With
Diaz’s Positive Test, Carlos Condit Moving On
Nick Diaz’s positive test for marijuana will affect more
than just his own career.
Prior
to the testing results coming back form the Nevada State Athletic
Commission, Diaz was in negotiations for a potential rematch
with his UFC 143 foe Carlos Condit
Condit
defeated Diaz by unanimous decision to claim the interim UFC
welterweight title, but within days it appeared the UFC was ready
to do part two later this year. Now with Diaz facing a suspension
from the commission from the positive drug test, his involvement
in any fight for the rest of 2012 is very much up in the air.
“It’s
an unfortunate situation for Nick Diaz and his camp. We wish
them the best of luck as he continues to move forward with his
career,” Condit’s manager Malki Kawa from First Round
Management told MMAWeekly.com on Thursday.
There
was never an official confirmation that Condit vs. Diaz 2 was
a done deal, but based on a series of Twitter messages from UFC
president Dana White, everything appeared headed in that direction.
Now
it looks like Condit will move on to face the next challenge.
Kawa and Condit are expected to meet with UFC president Dana
White on Friday to discuss the champion’s next move.
As
of now, Condit’s next fight is undetermined, but Kawa and
his fighter are looking forward to the next step no matter whom
that opponent ends up being.
“As
for Carlos and what’s next for his future, we’ll definitely
discuss that with the UFC and Dana White in the coming days to
figure out what his next steps are,” Kawa said.
Attempts
to reach Diaz’s trainer and manager Cesar Gracie were unsuccessful
as of the time of this printing.
Source:
MMA Weekly |
Junior
dos Santos: “I’m going there to knock Overeem out”
The
first challenger at Junior dos Santos’ UFC title is about
to get into a huge fight outside the octagon: Alistair Overeem
is being charged for assaulting a woman in Las Vegas. Not very
aware of the situation, Cigano remains training hard in Salvador,
Bahia, while Lorenzo Fertitta tweets that the fight is set for
May 26th, on UFC 146. On an exclusive interview, Junior commented
on the style duel against Alistair and said he trusts his hands
to knock anyone out.
What
are your expectations for 2012?
The
expectations are great. Thank God I got there and made my dream
come true, which was to be the holder of that belt. I’m
really glad with everything I’ve been going through, and
I wanna keep this good moment. I got healed from my knee now,
I’m training a lot and getting prepared for my next challenges.
I know it’s not gonna be easy. From now it’s a whole
new work. My dreams are renewed. I want to be the heavyweight
champion for a long time.
People
always say it’s even harder to remain as the champion then
getting there. Are you ready for it?
I
don’t think it’s harder to stay there once you get
there, I guess it’s two completely different phases in a
fighter’s career. Both phases demand a lot from the fighter,
but I believe I’m ready for it. I’m learning more and
more. I have to develop all my skills in the sport. My next bouts
will be like a test for me, because I gotta keep this belt and
I’ll do my best to do it. Now it’s all five-round fights,
so the challenge is on a whole new level, but I guess it’s
just as hard as always been. I gotta be even more dedicated.
Your
next “test” has a name: Overeem. What are your thoughts?
Overeem
is really a tough, dangerous, heavy and really strong guy. I
see him as a good challenge. Probably he’s accepting the
stand-up fight. To me, it can go to the floor or on our feet.
He’s very dangerous, but I gotta use my speed. I really
believe in me, I’m always confident about my attitudes.
I guess one of the secrets is: believing in yourself if half
way. I really believe I can beat him. And as any fight, I’ll
get there to knock him out. It won’t be different this time,
I’m going there to knock him out.
Fans
split opinions: some say you got the best stand-up and others
say Overeem has it. Despite believing on your victory, do you
believe you’re more technical then him on your feet?
I
believe so. I really believe my stand-up. I believe i can knock
anyone out doing the right work. He’s as dangerous as me
on the stand-up, there’s a reason why he became the champion
at K-1. It’ll be a hard fight, it’s gonna come down
to who hits the other first. The impact of a heavyweight punch
can knock one out in a second.
You’ve
shown you got a hard chin when you fought Shane Carwin and Roy
Nelson, who are guys that hit hard. Are you ready to fight Overeem?
I’m
a fighter, I’ve learned how to fight suffering in the gym.
In the gym I live the reality or I push myself even further than
the bout can offer. I’m prepared for the good and bad moments
of the fight. The main thing is for the fighter to know how to
get hit too. If you’re only a fighter in good times, you’re
going down soon I believe I’m prepared for both situations.
There
is a polemic going around Overeem, who’s been charged for
a supposed assault towards a lady in Las Vegas. Did somebody
from UFC come and told you something about the fight?
They
haven’t commented anything with me, I’m just waiting.
I only heard about it. I’m not the one to go and judge people,
but, if it really happened… I guess it’s complicated
for an athlete of a sport as seen as ours to go and do something
like that. I guess justice knows better. But I’m guessing
we’re still fighting (hours later, Fertitta tweeted they’re
fighting at UFC 146). If it doesn’t happen and they replace
him, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m ready to fight anybody.
I’ve never picked opponents and I won’t start doing
it now I’m the champ. I leave it for UFC to decide, because
they know better.
Source:
Tatame
|
Ask
and you shall receive: Lorenzo Fertitta’s late night Twitter
scrum
As
far as breaking news from the press conference dais, Dana White
plays it close to the vest. Immediately after the pressers, it's
a different story. His boss Lorenzo Fertitta prefers Twitter.
He was a news breaker last night in a late night chat with his
followers.
According
to Michael David Smith from MMAFighting, he revealed some important
matchups on the horizon.
Alistair
Overeem will challenge UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santoson
May 26 in Las Vegas. The winner of that is likely to face the
winner of a Frank Mir-Cain Velasquez bout confirmed Fertitta.
Fertitta
also said Tito Ortiz's wish has been granted, he'll be getting
Forrest Griffin for a third time. With Griffin's desire to always
fight in Las Vegas and it being Ortiz's swan song, the fight
is a lock for Sin City. Whether it's on May 26 or July 7 is unknown.
Fertitta said the July 7 card will be headlined by Dominick Cruz-Urijah
Faber III.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Ask
and you shall receive: Lorenzo Fertitta’s late night Twitter
scrum
As
far as breaking news from the press conference dais, Dana White
plays it close to the vest. Immediately after the pressers, it's
a different story. His boss Lorenzo Fertitta prefers Twitter.
He was a news breaker last night in a late night chat with his
followers.
According
to Michael David Smith from MMAFighting, he revealed some important
matchups on the horizon.
Alistair
Overeem will challenge UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santoson
May 26 in Las Vegas. The winner of that is likely to face the
winner of a Frank Mir-Cain Velasquez bout confirmed Fertitta.
Fertitta
also said Tito Ortiz's wish has been granted, he'll be getting
Forrest Griffin for a third time. With Griffin's desire to always
fight in Las Vegas and it being Ortiz's swan song, the fight
is a lock for Sin City. Whether it's on May 26 or July 7 is unknown.
Fertitta said the July 7 card will be headlined by Dominick Cruz-Urijah
Faber III.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
|
2/14/12
Happy Valentine's Day |
Bellator
Champ Michael Chandler's Inspiration
Michael
Chandler left the hospital room not sure what to think. He'd
spent time talking and trading stories with a 7-year-old named
Robbie, who was not unlike most boys his age.
He
liked all the things most 7-year-olds liked, and at one time
was full of energy and vigor.
But
Robbie was dying of cancer.
Michael
was struck by how much Robbie wanted to hear him talk, by how
warm and sincere Robbie's smile was, by how genuine he was and
by how much it meant to Robbie that Michael had taken the time
to visit.
Truth
be told, Robbie made Michael feel good, too. Michael couldn't
forget the smile, despite how weak Robbie was and how poorly
he must have been feeling.
Michael,
though, was also saddened, torn apart by seeing a 7-year-old
in pain and fighting for his life.
"I've
been blessed in my own life," said Michael, now the Bellator
lightweight champion. "My family has been very healthy and
I haven't lost anyone [to cancer]. I know there are people who
fight that every day and I wanted to do something to try to help."
And
so the St. Louis resident and two-time captain of the University
of Missouri wrestling team sought to find a way he could make
an impact.
"That
was a very special day for me and I enjoyed spending time with
him," Michael said.
Two
weeks later, though, Michael received a distressing phone call:
Robbie Chandler (no relation) had died.
Michael
was, at the same time, shaken and filled with a steely resolve.
He was upset that a young boy with so much promise and potential
had died, and had suffered so much in his young life. But Michael
Chandler had a new determination to help.
Out
of that determination -- the same resolve that helped him rally
to defeat Eddie Alvarez and win the Bellator title Nov. 19 in
one of 2011's great fights -- came the birth of the clothing
line, Blessed Threads.
Chandler
has the word "Blessed" tattooed on his upper left chest.
He and a close friend, Mark Ellis, who has the tattoo on his
arm, had T-shirts made with the same design as the tattoo. Quickly,
friends were asking for the shirts.
After
learning of Robbie Chandler's death, Michael Chandler spun into
action. He decided to make a donation to Friends of Kids with
Cancer, a St. Louis-based charity, for every T-shirt he sold.
He
hoped, he said, to inspire those who wore the "Blessed"
T-shirts to realize how good they had it and to spread the joy.
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"I've
been blessed in my own life, and I believe that much is expected
of those to whom much has been given," he said.
His
fighting career has taken off after a stellar career as a wrestler
at Missouri, where he was an All-American and compiled a record
of 100-40. He became just the 16th wrestler in Missouri history
to win 100 matches.
After
deciding to take a shot in mixed martial arts, he moved to Las
Vegas to train at Xtreme Couture. He's 9-0 and has finished seven
of his nine fights.
One
of those finishes came at Bellator 58 against Alvarez, the brilliantly
talented lightweight who was, along with Strikeforce champion
Gilbert Melendez, regarded as one of the two finest 155-pounders
in the world outside of the UFC.
The
win, he said, was a reward for his hard work, but he said it
hasn't changed his life. He hasn't been swarmed for autographs
and said he's still able to go to the grocery store or the gas
station largely unnoticed.
It
certainly didn't change his life the way that meeting Robbie
Chandler did. No matter how successful he becomes, that will
be a day he'll never forget.
Chandler
brought his belt to show Robbie, as well as an iPad so he could
show his bout with Alvarez.
Robbie
Chandler watched intently, Michael said, a smile covering his
small face.
Robbie
Chandler's enthusiasm and fighting spirit lives on in Michael,
the Bellator champion who is determined to be a difference maker.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
|
Nick
Diaz's Love/Hate Relationship Will Be Tested While He's Gone
Nick
Diaz said he would probably retire after losing to Carlos Condit,
but in the wake of his probable drug suspension, it might cause
him to reevaluate how he feels about MMA.
Feb
10, 2012 - At some point, Nick Diaz will run out of chances.
Just not now. Just not yet. Despite Diaz's positive drug test
stemming from his participation at UFC 143, you can expect him
to be welcomed back into the UFC with open arms, if and when
he's ready to return. That's what happens when you're talented
and popular and in your prime.
Now
the question is: will he return?
Like
most questions pertaining to Diaz, we'll just have to wait and
see, with the understanding that anything is possible. This is
a guy who missed out on a UFC championship fight and the chance
to make a seven-figure payday because he couldn't organize himself
enough to make three separate flights to media obligations. You
think he has long-term plans?
There
is some chatter from those around Diaz that he really is planning
to call it quits, that he doesn't want or need MMA anymore. It
wouldn't be surprising if that's truly how he feels now. He's
less than one week removed from a fight in which he believes
he unfairly lost, and less than a few days removed from hearing
that he flunked a drug test and is likely to face a lengthy suspension.
In his mind, he probably feels like the sport doesn't love him
right now, so why would he love it back?
The
funny thing is, his popularity rating seems to be at an all-time
high. After the Nevada state athletic commission disclosed his
positive test, most of the chatter has been in support of him.
Given the sport's young demographic, it's not surprising that
most don't see marijuana use as an offense worthy of losing your
job, or even being suspended from it.
To
them, Diaz is just another one of the wrongly persecuted victims
of a misdirected war on drugs. After all, they reason, how is
marijuana use beneficial for fighting?
So
in that way, Diaz has already won the public relations war without
saying a single word in his own defense. So, too, has the UFC,
which is likely to bring him back into the fold whenever his
suspension is up -- and it will most likely be one year. Company
CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said so much during a recent Twitter conversation
with fans.
From
the UFC's perspective, there is just too much money to be made
with Diaz to wipe your hands of him and walk away. He has become
MMA's counterculture icon, it's anti-hero. On top of that, he's
one hell of a fighter, a forward-moving, punch-throwing machine
who is murder on the ground. The UFC is, after all, in the fight
business, and few represent the rawness of prizefighting the
way Diaz does.
That
gameness makes Diaz a magnet for those of us who prefer our MMA
served up with a side of primal rawness, and that isn't going
to go away just because he disappears off our TV screen for a
little while.
Sports
is one of the few areas in which absence truly does make the
heart grow fonder. That's why the comebacks of stars like Michael
Jordan and Brett Favre and George Foreman were such big stories.
Even if Diaz doesn't belong in that class of superstardom in
the real world, he does have that cachet in ours. So if Diaz
decides to come back after his yearlong ban is over, it will
be a huge story.
But
it will be interesting to see if it works in reverse.
Diaz
memorably once said that "in order to love fighting, I have
to hate it." But at some point, he might just hate it so
much that he really, actually hates it. If that were to happen,
this would be the time. He has other hobbies. He loves sport
jiu-jitsu. He loves triathlons. By all accounts, he's an excellent
coach, so he could make a living that way if he wanted to.
Counting
the Carlos Condit bout, he fought seven times in the last 24
months, and five of those times, he prepared for five-round bouts.
That's a lot of wear and tear on both the body and the mind.
This break will test his love/hate relationship, strain it to
the point that it might become beyond saving. If he finds that
he no longer needs MMA, he gave us plenty of memories for the
road.
It's
obvious there are many parts of this sport that he can live without.
Regulation, judging, point-fighters, etc. The list goes on and
on. But for the next year, it's going to be very different. Those
complaints are easy to make when you're in the moment, but what
happens when all of it is taken away and you're left with nothing?
Then
it becomes very simple. Then it comes down to this one thing:
The sport moves on without you, but can you move on without it?
Source:
MMA Fighting |
|
Georges
St. Pierre to Nick Diaz: Don’t Retire
UFC
welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre doesn’t want Nick
Diaz to walk away from MMA.
Immediately
after his loss to Carlos Condit on Saturday at UFC 143, Diaz
said in the Octagon that he would not fight again. St. Pierre
doesn’t exactly like the outspoken welterweight, but he
doesn’t think he should retire.
“As
far as Diaz, of course I would like to fight him because he thinks
he’s better than me,” St. Pierre told the Sherdog Radio
Network’s “It’s Time” show with Bruce Buffer.
“I think I’m better than him. But I think he should
not retire. He did all of the sacrifice in his life to be where
he’s at right now. He’s at the highest point of his
career, and if he retires now, he’s left a lot of money
on the table that could pay for all of the sacrifices he has
made during all those years. I think the sport of mixed martial
arts needs a guy like him.”
Condit
defeated Diaz via unanimous decision -- a call that Diaz clearly
disagreed with. St. Pierre watched the bout but didn’t score
it. He complimented both fighters, and although he hoped to fight
Diaz, he now wants to take on Condit.
“Of
course because of the emotion I wanted to fight Diaz, but now
I want to fight Condit,” St. Pierre said. “I want to
fight the best man, and the best man is Condit.”
That
doesn’t mean St. Pierre isn’t open to a meeting with
Diaz down the line, though, should Diaz decide to stick around.
“I
wanted to fight him because of what he was, not because of what
he said,” St. Pierre explained. “He was ranked No.
1 before that fight. … As much as we dislike each other,
I like the guy in a way that I need a guy like him to motivate
me and to make me a better martial artist.”
Source:
Sherdog |
Dan
Henderson not waiting for title shot
When
Rashad Evans defeated Phil Davis last month at UFC on FOX 2,
he secured his April fight with Jon Jones for the UFC light-heavyweight
championship. Unfortunately for Dan Henderson, that put Evans
before him in the line-up for Jones. Dana White made the statement
that Henderson would wait to fight the winner of that bout and
not fight in between, however Dan said that is simply not the
case.
“That
was never what I said or anything,” Henderson said to ESPN.com.
“I don’t know who said that, but it wasn’t me.
My thoughts were I was waiting to see what happened with Rashad
[Evans] and Phil Davis. That was the only thing I was going to
wait for.”
“I
don’t know what the plan is, but I’d fight whoever
it is they think would be a good match-up. The problem is there’s
really nobody right now who fits the bill for a title contention
fight, that would make sense to fight me. I don’t know.
Maybe I’d fight at a different weight class. I don’t
know if they see anybody at heavyweight that would make sense?
But I would prefer to fight someone in April or May. … Who
do the fans want me to fight at heavyweight? I’d have to
think about that. I don’t know who at heavyweight would
even make sense. The heavyweights that are in title contention
right now wouldn’t want to fight me. I don’t know who
is out there, but I did let the UFC know I’d be open to
that as well.”
So
who should Hendo fight in between? Or, should he just wait and
rest up for the winner of Jones vs. Evans?
Source:
Caged Insider
|
With
Leonard Garcia hurt, Tiequan Zhang meets newcomer Issei Tamura
at UFC 144
With Leonard Garcia forced to withdraw from this month's UFC
144 event, Japanese newcomer Issei Tamura will now face Tiequan
Zhang.
UFC
officials on Saturday announced the change.
Featuring
a lighteight title fight between current champ Frankie Edgar
and former WEC titleholder Ben Henderson UFC 144 takes place
Feb. 25 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event's
main card airs live stateside on pay-per-view. The preliminary
card is expected to air on FX.
Source:
MMA Junkie
|
Dana
White Says St-Pierre Far From Being Ready
UFC
welterweight titleholder Georges St-Pierre sits on the sidelines
recovering from knee surgery while the 170-pound division moves
on without him. UFC president Dana White recently gave the media
an update on his champion’s recovery progress.
“Georges
has been rehabilitating and he’s been doing great. He is
on track, but he is still far from being ready,” White told
the media following UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit on Feb. 4.
St-Pierre
recently stated he wouldn’t be ready to train until at least
July. The earliest return to action for St-Pierre is late this
year. Even the champ himself said that late October or early
November would be the soonest he could be back.
White
revealed that St-Pierre felt pain in his knee while jumping out
of his seat during the UFC 143 main event between Condit and
Diaz. But the UFC president remains confident that GSP will return
in full form when he does step back in the cage.
“These
surgeries these days aren’t what they used to be. He went
to the absolute best doctor there is. He’s getting the best
physical therapy that you can get and he’s a hard worker,”
said White. “Some of these knee surgeries now are just as
good – I mean, Jerry Rice, 10 years ago, came back from
a knee surgery and was still awesome. It depends on the individual,
but these knee surgeries are way different than they used to
be.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Cesar
Gracie Says Condit vs. Diaz 2 Off Before It’s On: ‘There
is Not Going to be a Rematch’
As the world turns, so does the world of mixed martial arts.
Just
as quickly as the saga twisted from no rematch between Carlos
Condit and Nick Diaz to the rematch being agreed to, the plot
thickens and the rematch is once again off the table.
Condit’s
manager, Malki Kawa of First Round Management, on Tuesday told
MMAWeekly.com that he and Condit’s camp didn’t think
a rematch with Diaz following UFC 143 was the right move for
Condit, who captured the interim UFC welterweight championship
on Saturday night.
A
few hours later, UFC president Dana White was tweeting about
said rematch being offered to Condit and Condit accepting.
The
light of Wednesday dawns an all-new scenario, however, as it
appears that, from Diaz’s side of the story anyway, the
rematch is not going to happen.
Diaz’s
manager and trainer, Cesar Gracie, told MMAWeekly.com point blank
on Wednesday, “There is not going to be a rematch.”
He
would not elaborate on the subject, but flatly denied that the
two are set to fight again any time soon. MMAJunkie.com first
reported word from Gracie that there would not be a rematch.
What
that means is purely speculation at this point, as no one appears
to have a clear answer, other than Gracie saying the rematch
is off, countering what seemed to apparent Tuesday night.
“All
I know for sure is that we’re meeting with Dana on Friday,”
Kawa told MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday when asked about the status
of the fight.
So,
for now at least, it appears the rematch is once again off. Where
that leaves Condit, hopefully we’ll know following his meeting
with White on Friday. There are clearly options on the table.
Aside
from the rematch, he could opt to wait for Georges St-Pierre
to return from injury, which is targeted for October or November.
That appeared to be the initial preference of Condit and his
camp. Or he could opt to take another fight in the meantime,
possibly against a fighter like Josh Koscheck or, should he win
next week, Jake Ellenberger.
But
for now, that is all conjecture until Condit meets “with
the powers that be.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Jorge
Santiago: Waking Up From a Nightmare
There
was a lot of excitement in the MMA world in 2011 when former
Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago signed with the
UFC.
At
the time, Santiago had won 11 out of his last 12 fights, and
just completed a ‘Fight of the Year’ performance to
close out 2010 against Kazuo Misaki.
So
it was with a lot of surprise that Santiago’s second term
in the UFC ended almost as emphatically has his first run did
some five years earlier.
Santiago
was defeated by both Brian Stann and Demian Maia, and just like
that the Brazilian fighter was released from the UFC.
For
the first time since his exit from the promotion, Santiago is
opening up about what exactly went wrong when he returned to
the UFC, and it had nothing to do with not being physically prepared
for the challenges of facing the competition in the top organization
in the world.
“You’re
right, I haven’t fought the same way I fought before,”
Santiago answered when speaking to MMAWeekly Radio. “I was
working trying to get over it the last fight against Demian (Maia)
but I couldn’t. This time I’m more relaxed, I just
need to go in there and swing for the fences and try to finish
fights.”
There’s
a lot more to this story than Santiago just simply not fighting
up to his potential.
It’s
been quiet until now, but Santiago was going through a very rough
2011, which consisted of a painful divorce that haunted him for
much of the year, and obviously affected his mental make up heading
into both of his fights in the UFC. Never one to make excuses,
Santiago kept everything bottled up and tried to push through
as best he could, but it just didn’t work.
“You
can say everything, but nothing’s going to explain. I was
going through personal issues in my life, I had a rough year
last year, it was a nightmare,” said Santiago. “That’s
no excuse, you have to work and you have to have the results
and that’s it. I couldn’t handle it. I was having a
lot of personal issues and I couldn’t perform the way I
expect.
“I
was getting a divorce and just so many things. I’m just
trying to relax now, and not pay attention to things around and
hopefully just perform like I used to do.”
A
fighter can be accused of not being physically prepared for a
fight. Not training hard enough, not working with the right coaches
or sparring partners.
For
Jorge Santiago it came down to his mental preparation, which
for him was the fact that he just couldn’t get focused on
fighting with so much going on in his personal life. Still, a
fighter has to fight to survive and that’s what he did,
but he was a ghost of himself during both trips in the UFC.
“Nobody
knows the kinds of things you’re dealing with. My first
fight I had a fractured rib against Brian Stann plus all the
personal issues, and camps and getting a divorce, and trials,
a lot of (expletive) going on with my life. I was just trying
to get through the work and get it done, and hopefully it works,
but I couldn’t handle it. I can’t lie that was my problem
last year,” Santiago admitted.
The
fog lifted however as 2011 came to a close and now with his team
behind him, Santiago is moving on.
The
former Sengoku champion will return at Titan Fighting 21 where
he will compete in the main event against Leonardo Pecanha on
March 2 in Kansas City.
Santiago
is out to prove that he’s still the same fighter that battled
against Kazuo Misaki in 2010, that captured the Sengoku gold,
and belongs among the elite middleweights in MMA.
“I
want to put up the same performance I used to do in Japan. I’m
going to prove the ‘Sandman’ is back. I can’t
talk too much, now I have to go in there and prove the best performance
ever,” Santiago said.
“I’m
going to go in there and finish fights. No game plan anymore,
my game plan now is finish the fight, that’s it.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Rolles
Gracie Always Knew One Day He’d Fight Bob Sapp
It’s hard to believe but it’s been almost 10 years
since Bob Sapp faced Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride Shockwave
in 2002.
It’s
a fight that Rolles Gracie remembers fondly.
Even
back then before he even remotely considered doing MMA, the Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu ace was a fan of the giant Sapp, and the way he could
just brutalize opponents with his power and raw strength.
Maybe
it was that particular fight that stuck in Gracie’s head,
because ever since then he’s always had an idea that he
would one day face Sapp in the ring.
That
dream is about to become reality at One FC this weekend in Jakarta.
“When
Bob Sapp first came up, I was like I always had a feeling I was
going to fight that guy,” Gracie told MMAWeekly.com. “I
don’t know why. I had never fought MMA back then, I was
still a ways from fighting, but I had a feeling that one day
I was going to fight that guy and that day came.”
Looking
at the fight between Sapp and Nogueira, it was hard for Gracie
not to be impressed by the American’s sheer size and power.
The fight only made it into the second round, but it remains
one of the most memorable fights in Pride history.
“That
was an epic battle,” said Gracie. “Back then he was
by far the biggest guy out there. Brazilians never had to deal
with those big guys, then we come to America we start to see
these big guys. He had to learn how to fight well, because back
then he was only using his brute strength.”
Since
that time however, Sapp’s career has been filled with a
lot of ups and downs, and most recently not so many good memories.
The
former Pride star has lost his last 3 fights in a row and 6 out
of his last 7. Still, Gracie refuses to believe that a man of
Sapp’s stature and power can’t find a way to inflict
some serious damage if he takes him for granted.
“You
cannot take a guy that big lightly. He has 260lbs behind a jab,”
Gracie pointed out. “He’s dangerous, you can never
take a guy like that lightly. If you slack, you get caught and
it might be a done deal. I’m training very serious, I’m
taking him very serious. I don’t want him to get back on
track with this fight.”
As
for Gracie’s career, since his exit from the UFC after his
lone fight in the organization, the Renzo Gracie trained fighter
has gotten back on track with two wins in a row, and he’ll
look to make it three this weekend at One FC.
“I
think Bob Sapp is the biggest name I’ve fought so far, so
this fight has a lot of people talking about it in Brazil so
far,” said Gracie. “It’s a big fight, exactly
what I was looking for. A big fight and fight someone with a
name.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
“Sonnen
will pay a high price”, warns Dorea
Anderson
Silva will defend his UFC belt against Chael Sonnen in June,
in Sao Paulo, and the Brazilian’s Boxing coach, Luiz Carlos
Dorea, is more than confident for the bout, especially after
the American’s performance against Michael Bisping at UFC
on FOX 2.
“It’ll
be totally different from their first fight. Another moment,
another situation. And if he fights the way he fought Bisping
(laughs)”, shoots the coach.
“Sonnen
s a great athlete, knows good Wrestling, but Anderson goes beyond
ordinary. He’s fighting the true Anderson, and he’s
gonna fell the weight of his hands and knees… He’s
gonna pay a high price, he’ll suffer a lot”, completed.
Dorea
believes the fact it is a fight in Brazil will push the middleweight
champion even more, exactly before his last fight happened in
Rio de Janeiro, on August of 2011, when he knocked Yushin Okami
out.
“Especially
since it’s in Brazil, with Sonnen saying all this crap.
A good fighter shows he’s good inside the octagon, fighting”,
concludes.
Source:
Tatame
|
Super
Bowl 46, Jiu-Jitsu, and what it takes to win on any field out
there
What
does Jiu-Jitsu have to do with American football? A lot more
than would seem, as GRACIEMAG.com outlines below.
1.
ELI MANNING’S “JIU-JITSU” COACH
Elisha
Manning, the young quarterback who won his second NFL title late
this Sunday evening, was throwing too many pass interceptions
last season. Then Mike Sullivan—an upstart coach formerly
on the Rangers who holds a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu and is big
on MMA—entered the scene.
Sullivan
didn’t have any experience training quarterbacks; still
he took the problem head on, setting Eli Manning up with a triangle
like the one he’d seen on the Gracie academy emblems. He
assigned a meaning to each vertex on the triangle and encouraged
the NY Giants star to seek equilibrium between the three different
concepts: leadership, decision making, and precision. Manning
embraced Sullivan’s new training philosophy, threw fewer
incomplete passes, and ended the season breaking an historic
Giants yardage record—and he won the Super Bowl, to boot!
2.
HAVE FUN IN JIU-JITSU RESPONSIBLY
In
conversations between Mike Sullivan and the prankster Eli Manning,
coach and athlete always set aside a few minutes to talk about
anything at all, except football. For every five hours talking
about plays, tactics and training, the two would take the edge
off through brief exchanges about Adam Sandler movies, telling
jokes or being silly. To become a great champion, you don’t
need to be serious the whole time—quite the contrary. Comic
relief can prove to be a performance booster.
3.
FALLING AND GETTING BACK UP IS PART OF LIFE
In
football as in the martial arts, knowing how to fall is vital—if
just because there will always be something looking to bowl you
over. A true ace takes those hard knocks, seems to be down for
the count, and leaps back to his feet as though nothing happened.
Or
as UFC fighter Renan Barão, another of the weekend’s
winners, once said: “You have to see the obstacles along
the way as something small, fleeting. There will always be hardships
on everyone’s path. You have to keep calm and get past them
and keep heading towards your dreams.”
4.
JIU-JITSU, WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE, IS A TEAM SPORT
Even
though it’s an individual sport, in Jiu-Jitsu the power
is in the union more than it would seem. If you don’t have
motivated teammates to count on, you likely won’t make it
very far.
As
in a football team, every Jiu-Jitsu school has someone quick,
someone technical, a powerhouse with a hulking frame, and that
guy who crudely uses force at every opportunity. And all of them
will be key in shaping your game, as well as your progress on
the mat.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Nick
Diaz tested positive for marijuana after his UFC 143 loss to
Carlos Condit
UFC
welterweight contender Nick Diaz failed his post-fight urinalysis
Saturday following his loss to Carlos Condit in their bout for
the interim welterweight championship at UFC 143 at the Mandalay
Bay Events Center, Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada
Athletic Commission, announced Thursday.
Diaz,
28, who tested positive for marijuana, is a second-time offender
in Nevada and, thus, faces a one-year suspension. He also tested
positive for marijuana following a Feb. 24, 2007, victory over
Takanori Gomi at a PRIDE Fighting Championship event held at
the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Six
weeks after the first positive test the commission fined Diaz
$3,000 (20 percent of his $15,000 purse), suspended him for six
months and changed his win over Gomi to a no-decision. The commission’s
report in 2007 noted Diaz’s concentration of THC, the active
ingredient in marijuana, was 175, three-and-a-half times the
concentration level of 50 required under Nevada regulations to
produce a positive test result.
“All
results received thus far have been negative, except Mr. Diaz
tested positive for marijuana metabolites,” Kizer said in
a release Thursday. “A complaint for disciplinary action
against Mr. Diaz has been filed.”
Diaz
isn’t the first fighter to test positive for marijuana recently.
Matt Vanda appeared before the Nevada commission Jan. 31 after
a second positive test for marijuana. He had initially been suspended
for 90 days by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board after
marijuana was discovered in his system following a Nov. 12, 2010,
bout against Ossie Duran.
Marijuana
was again found in Vanda’s system following a Dec. 16, 2011,
loss to Marco Antonio Rubio in Las Vegas and on Jan. 31 the Nevada
commission fined Vanda 40 percent of his $11,000 purse and suspended
him for a year.
If
Diaz is fined 40 percent of his purse, it would cost him $80,000
of the $200,000 he earned in the unanimous decision loss to Condit
last Saturday for the UFC interim welterweight title.
Diaz
was on the verge of getting a rematch with Condit for the interim
championship when the test results returned and scuttled the
bout. UFC president Dana White, in Brazil to tape “The Ultimate
Fighter: Brazil,” sent out a message on Twitter late Tuesday
in which he said Condit had agreed to a rematch.
But
all sides denied Wednesday that a rematch had been agreed upon
before news of the positive test result was released Thursday.
UFC
CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said he was “disappointed” to
hear of Diaz’s positive test. He said the UFC would honor
any punishment Diaz was given and would not seek to have him
fight in areas which are not regulated.
When
the UFC holds events out of the U.S., if there is not a local
body that regulates the sport, the UFC self-regulates. Marc Ratner,
the UFC vice president for regulatory affairs and Kizer’s
predecessor as executive director of the Nevada commission, runs
those events under Nevada rules.
“We
would stand behind whatever decision Nevada makes and if Nick
is given a punishment, we would accept it,” he said. “Marijuana
is an illegal substance and if you choose to take that, you have
to pay the price for it.”
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
American
Top Team Sets New Standard for Training and Management Fees
by Damon
Martin
In
almost every promotion you ever watch whether it’s in the
UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator or otherwise, when a fighter is victorious
and given a chance to talk, they thank coaches, trainers and
teammates.
It’s
pretty commonplace to thank those that helped the fighter get
to the win.
With
the thank you also comes payment. Almost every fighter pays a
fee to managers, agents, trainers, coaches, or teams to help
them get ready for a bout, and that’s always money out of
pocket from the athlete.
Well,
one of the top camps in the world is changing the way they do
business to help give some of that money back to the athletes
that perform night in, and night out on the biggest or smallest
stages.
Coconut
Creek, Fla based American Top Team has changed their rates for
fighters training at their gym.
A
previous fee of 20% was required for management and training
services by the gym, or a 10% fee for fighters just training
at the facility.
Well
now American Top Team has slashed that to a flat 5% fee across
the board, whether fighters are just training there or require
the services of their management team headed up by gym owner
Dan Lambert.
“One
of the great privileges that we have here not only do we have
a facility where you can show up, it’s 20,000 square feet,
everything under one roof. You don’t have to go one place
to do your boxing, another place for your jiu-jitsu, now you
get it all under one roof. We also have the advantage of having
Dan Lambert as one of the primary owners and investors in the
team,” American Top Team manager John Hartnett told MMAWeekly.com.
“That’s
a guy that’s never got a lot of credit for the things he’s
done in the sport. This is just another thing he’s doing
to help the sport grow and hopefully bring some new names down
here, and make this room an even better place to train.”
The
idea behind the price changes really does come down to money.
Not so much more money for the gym, but more money going back
to the fighters.
For
every fighter like Thiago Alves training at American Top Team,
there are hundreds of hopeful, up and coming fighters that want
to live the dream and train full time, but with a lack of money
they simply can’t continue to train and live.
This
new cost structure is American Top Team’s way of giving
back.
“Anybody
that has any idea about what the business is and how much hard
work a professional fighter has to do from the ground up to really
build themselves up, and get them deep into the business, there’s
a lot of expenses to be a full time fighter,” Hartnett explained.
“You’ve
got to pay rent, you’ve got your grocery bill, if you’ve
got kids it’s even tougher, all off of fighting 2 or 3 times
a year if you’re lucky. It makes it extremely easier in
that aspect. Cut some costs and get some world class training
at the same time.”
American
Top Team has traditionally been one of the most stable and well
respected camps in MMA. Helping to launch the careers of fighters
like Thiago Alves, Mike Brown, Cole Miller, JZ Cavalcante and
others, the owners and trainers of the Florida based team are
hopeful to set a new trend with their cost structure now represented.
“We
opened a whole can of worms dropping our flag over the banner,
we were the first people to do that in the UFC. That opened up
a whole avenue for sponsorships and things like that,” said
Hartnett.
“Hopefully
this is going to provide opportunity for guys out there who are
maybe already in the UFC, and you don’t have a home, you
need somewhere to train, you can come here, train with world
class guys. If you’ve got a manager, keep your manager,
if you need management we’ll take care of management as
well and that’s all for that 5-percent fee. It’s a
nominal fee for world class training and a top notch facility.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Viewpoint:
Outshined No Longer
By Tristen
Critchfield
A
few weeks before his bout with Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit reflected
on the art of hype in mixed martial arts. For some fighters,
like Chael Sonnen, it comes carefully and cleverly scripted,
a premeditated design on drawing attention. For others, like
Diaz, it comes out as a fascinating stream-of-consciousness barrage,
without much thought given to whom or what his words might influence.
When
Diaz called out Georges St. Pierre for being “scared”
after beating B.J. Penn at UFC 137 in October, it allowed Stockton,
Calif.’s resident bad boy to leapfrog Condit for a title
shot, per St. Pierre’s request. Even after a series of public
relations mishaps, it appeared the squeaky wheel had once again
gotten the grease, although St. Pierre would eventually withdraw
from the bout after suffering another knee injury.
“[Outspoken
fighters] promote fights. They do get fans interested -- a certain
segment of the fan base,” Condit admitted, “but I think
you’ve got to be yourself. If that’s you, be you, but
that’s not me, so I’m gonna be myself.”
Fast
forward to the first week of February -- Super Bowl week -- and
perhaps the ultimate seven days of overblown pomp and circumstance
in American sports culture. Fittingly, Condit was in the background
once again, but the Giants and Patriots had nothing to do with
it. St. Pierre had stolen the show in his appearance on the second
episode of the UFC’s masterful “Primetime” series,
his rehabilitation sessions clearly motivated by a future date
with Diaz.
Many
people followed the welterweight champion’s lead and began
looking ahead to a potential showdown between St. Pierre and
Diaz. Meanwhile, Condit remained poised and claimed the speculation
did not bother him. The task at hand -- beating Diaz -- was more
than enough to occupy his mind. The son of a politician, Condit
has clearly learned the value of choosing his words carefully.
Sometimes knowing what not to say and when not to say it is just
as important as being able to hold court with a microphone.
At
UFC 143 on Saturday in Las Vegas, the “Natural Born Killer”
let his skills inside the Octagon do the talking in capturing
the interim welterweight belt. For the majority of five rounds,
Condit utilized movement, angles and well-timed strikes to keep
Diaz off balance and out of rhythm. The three cageside judges
rewarded Condit for his efforts: Cecil Peoples and Patricia Morse-Jarman
saw it 49-46 in favor of the Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts
product, while Junichiro Kamijo scored it 48-47.
Judging
by the boos coming from the 10,000-plus in attendance at the
Mandalay Bay Events Center, not everyone agreed. On the Internet,
plenty of dissenting views surfaced, as well, deriding Condit
for allegedly running away from combat. And, of course, there
was Diaz himself, who for all intents and purposes announced
he was taking his ball and going home.
“I’m
not going to accept the fact that this was a loss. I’ve
lost fights like this before, and I’m not going to accept
those, either,” Diaz said in a post-fight interview with
UFC commentator Joe Rogan. “Carlos is a great guy. I’m
happy for him and his family, but I think I’m done with
this MMA.
“I
don’t need this s---, you know? I pushed the guy backwards
the whole time. He ran from me the whole fight,” he added.
‘I landed the harder shots. He kicked me in my leg with
little baby leg kicks the whole fight. If that’s the way
[the judges] understand that you win in here, I don’t want
to play this game no more.”
Diaz
made few adjustments.
Even
in defeat, Diaz somehow managed to overshadow Condit with his
mini-tirade; despite the fact that Condit outstruck him in every
round but one; despite the fact that Diaz’s career average
of 6.03 significant strikes landed per minute fell to 4.2 during
the five rounds he was in the cage with Condit.
Diaz
might not want to acknowledge leg kicks as a viable weapon, but
when someone lands 68 of them over the course of a fight, an
adjustment might have been warranted. Coming in to UFC 143, it
was no secret that Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos had
experienced some success by attacking Diaz’s lead leg in
their 2011 encounter.
It
was also understood that sticking to such a game plan with Diaz
continually pressing forward would be easier said than done.
Condit made it work.
The
criticism saying Condit fought scared is unfounded. Many an opponent
has met a brutal demise with his back to the cage as Diaz --
the best body puncher in MMA -- fired off rapid-fire combinations.
Circling and moving back to the center of the Octagon is simply
good strategy.
Those
who expected an all-out brawl have not been following Condit’s
career closely. The New Mexican is a superb tactician who alters
his approach based on the situation: Fight IQ and awareness are
his greatest assets. When he needed a fantastic finish to beat
Rory MacDonald at UFC 115, he went all-in. His knockout of Dan
Hardy was beautifully timed. When many expected him to spend
the majority of his UFC 132 meeting with Dong Hyun Kim on his
back, he proved the doubters wrong by getting to his feet and
dropping the Korean with a flying knee.
Those
were Condit’s most recent victories, but he and his team
knew he would have to evolve to beat Diaz. The chances of knocking
out the former Strikeforce 170-pound champion -- who had only
lost once due to a non-cut-related stoppage in 33 fights -- were
slim and none. Condit also learned from watching Jackson’s
MMA teammate Donald Cerrone’s performance against Nate Diaz
at UFC 141, where Cerrone was overwhelmed by the sheer volume
of his opponent’s punches. Going toe-to-toe with Nick Diaz,
a more refined version of his younger brother, would be a recipe
for disaster.
So,
Condit fought with intelligence, patience and poise. When Diaz
attempted to bait, taunt and intimidate, Condit remained focused.
He might not have fought as expected, but a true mixed martial
artist never does. He flashed a style that invoked comparisons
to the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Dominick Cruz and Lyoto
Machida. All are sound defensive strategists who have been criticized
at various times for their methods, but all have been -- or are
-- champions.
Now,
criticism be damned, so is Condit.
Source: Sherdog
|
UFC
on Fuel 1
(Wednesday, February 15th in Omaha, Nebraska at CenturyLink Center)
TV: Fuel TV
Dark
matches
Lightweights:
Yoislandy Izquierdo vs. Bernardo Magalhaes
Lightweights: Anton Kuivanen vs. Justin Salas
Middleweights: Buddy Roberts vs. Sean Loeffler
Featherweights: Jonathan Brookins vs. Vagner Rocha
Bantamweights: Ivan Menjivar vs. John Albert
Main card
Heavyweights:
Stipe Miocic vs. Phil De Fries
Middleweights: Aaron Simpson vs. Ronny Markes
Heavyweights: Stefan Struve vs. Dave Herman
Welterweights: Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger
UFC Japan
2012
(US air time – Saturday, February 25th, Japan show time
– Sunday, February 26th at 10 AM at Saitama Super Arena)
TV: PPV (sold show, rumored backer Don Quijote via Dentsu)
Dark
matches
Featherweights:
Tiequan Zhang vs. Leonard Garcia
Bantamweights: Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso
Middleweights: Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell
Bantamweights: Kid Yamamoto vs. Vaughan Lee
Featherweights: Hatsu Hioki vs. Bart Palaszewski
Lightweights: Takanori Gomi vs. George Sotiropoulos
Middleweights: Yushin Okami vs. Tim Boetsch
Main card
Lightweights:
Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon
Welterweights: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Jake Shields
Heavyweights: Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo
Light Heavyweights: Rampage Jackson vs. Ryan Bader
UFC Lightweight title match: Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson
Source: Fight Opinion
|
UFC
starts filling calendar for spring, early summer
By Sergio
Non, USA TODAY
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship has lined up several dates from
April through the first week of August.
By Kari Hubert, Zuffa via Getty Images
After
five-week hiatus in March, Zuffa's flagship promotion will have
a busy calendar throughout the spring and first half of summer.
Adding to previously announced shows in April and May, UFC on
Tuesday unveiled plans for events in June and August.
A
list of publicly announced events between the end of March and
August 8:
•
April 14, Stockholm — Officially announced as UFC on Fuel
2, with a main event of Alexander Gustafsson vs. Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira.
•
April 21, Atlanta — Officially announced as UFC 145, with
a main event of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans.
•
May 8, East Rutherford, N.J. — Announced as UFC on Fox 3,
with a main event of Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller.
•
May 15, Fairfax, Va. — Announced as UFC on FX 3.
•
May 26, Las Vegas — Not announced by UFC, but the Nevada
Athletic Commission received a request from the promotion to
hold an event.
•
June 22, Atlantic City — Announced as UFC on FX 4.
•
July 7, Las Vegas — Not announced by UFC, but the Nevada
commission received a request to hold an event. A UFC Fan Expo
has already been announced for July 6-7.
•
August 4, Los Angeles — Announced as UFC on Fox 4.
At
least one other event in June will be announced if UFC's plans
hold up. The promotion hopes to hold a stadium show that month
in Sao Paolo featuring Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, but a
specific date has yet to be announced.
Source:
USA Today
|
UFC
Pres Dana White Says Condit vs. Diaz 2 Set
by Ken
Pishna
Always
expect the unexpected, or so the saying goes.
Just
when it appeared that Carlos Condit was willing to sit out for
several months and wait for Georges St-Pierre to get healthy…
well, that’s not going to happen.
Condit
instead has agreed to an immediate rematch with Nick Diaz, according
to tweets by UFC president Dana White on Tuesday evening.
“That
rematch can happen later on in the future. No one’s afraid
of Nick, but we have to do what’s best for his career and
in my opinion and the people around me and the advice that we’ve
been taking, the best fight and the only fight is Georges St-Pierre,”
Condit’s manager, Malki Kawa told MMAWeekly.com earlier
in the day on Tuesday.
But
a lot changed from the time Kawa spoke with MMAWeekly.com and
Tuesday evening. Not least of which was an apparent sweetening
of the pot for Condit to put his newly earned interim UFC welterweight
title back on the block against Diaz.
No
details of the rematch or the agreement to make it happen have
surfaced, but the promotion on Tuesday did reveal that UFC on
Fox 4 is slated for Aug. 4 in Los Angeles. That event is going
to need some star power, so it isn’t out of the realm that
Condit vs. Diaz II might be tapped for that event. There are
also a number of other pay-per-view events on tap from May to
August that could utilize the bout as a headliner.
But
for now, it’s unclear when and where the fight will land,
although White and Kawa both tweeted that Kawa and Condit will
be in Las Vegas on Friday for an announcement.
“I
didn’t feel like it was all that close. I felt like I dominated
almost every round,” said Condit following Saturday night’s
initial meeting. Now we’ll get to see if he can do it again.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Jiu-Jitsu’s
for ladies too
The
grandmasters Carlos and Helio Gracie
Helio
Gracie always preached about how Jiu-Jitsu did not come to be
as a weapon for the strong, but as a means of empowering the
weak, the women.
Now,
the brothers’ thesis has prevailed, and the fairer sex is
as powerful through Jiu-Jitsu as ever, as the following video
of our GMA in Texas João Crus’s (Carlson Gracie)
lady students reveals.
JIU-JITSU,
SELF-DEFENSE AND CONTROL
In
this training session, women of all ages keep in shape, express
themselves and have fun doing entertaining self-defense techniques.
All to, if need be, be in control of a situation.
If
you like watching from afar but haven’t yet gotten a taste
of the Jiu-Jitsu you read so much about, give yourself a chance.
Find the nearest school, wherever you may be.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
In
Case You Missed It, Josh Koscheck Split With AKA
If
you were wondering why American Kickboxing Academy co-founder
and head coach Javier Mendez wasn’t in Josh Koscheck‘s
corner Saturday night, it wasn’t because he had Super Bowl
tickets.
Kos
dropped a bombshell at the post-fight press conference that he
has split from the San Jose-based camp and that he will now prepare
for his future bouts in his Fresno AKA location – though
he isn’t sure that he’ll keep the affiliation of the
gym the same. He clarified with MMAWeekly that the decision to
leave the gym was a result of a handful of slights Mendez made
towards him and his teammates following losses the fighters incurred.
“This
goes back from quite a bit, and history repeats itself. Whenever
you have a guy for example whenever I had the loss against [Thiago]
Alves and I took the fight on short notice with him, and after
the fight I had a lot of friends come up to me and calling me
saying, ‘Have you read this interview with Javier Mendez?’
and talking about me and my game plan. So I went online and I
read this interview and I started to notice after all my teammates
lost, it was the same thing,” Koscheck recalled. “[He'd
say things like], ‘They didn’t listen to the game plan,’
— that he deferred it away from himself, and he threw us
under the bus basically, saying that we didn’t listen to
him and he tries to make himself look good, so it doesn’t
reflect on him us losing. I’ve lost a lot of respect for
Javier Mendez as a coach, as a person, because if you go back
and listen to the history of the interviews of him after AKA
guys have lost, the interviews he does, go back and look at the
Cain Velasquez [fight], go back and look at the Josh Koscheck
[fight], the other guys on that team, and see if you can find
interviews where he refers to, ‘Oh I did my job,’ to
make himself look good and they didn’t do theirs. That’s
not a coach.”
Kos
says that another issue he had with Mendez is that he put getting
exposure for his brand ahead of taking care of the fighters that
made it a household name. Although he didn’t say it, it
looks like there may have been more than meets the eye to the
recent departure of longtime AKA coach Dave Camarillo, given
the way he describes the atmosphere at the gym.
“There
was a lot of poison going on around there and I’m really
disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good
thing and I think people’s egos got in the way. Well, not
people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras
in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand —
his AKA brand, which is fine. I understand that, but it should
never take precedence over training guys. As a head coach of
a gym and he says he’s the man, he’s the boss over
there, he should have the responsibility to make the fighters
as best as we possibly could be, but he never did that,”
he maintains. “It’s because DeWayne Zinkin and Bob
Cook recruited us to go there. That’s the only reason that
everybody’s there, it’s not because of Javier Mendez,
it’s not because of the gym AKA; it’s because of DeWayne
Zinkin and Bob Cook. They built this thing. They brought the
best guys in the world together. Bob Cook and Dave Camarillo
they’re always responsible and they take their share of
wins and losses and that’s what you’ve got to love
about those guys. Bob Cook and Dave Camarillo, they’re loyal.
You lose, guess what, it was all of our faults. They take the
brunt of that. Javier is more concerned about the camp and looking
good and who’s going to be the next guy to bring him money.
I just can’t be around that anymore.”
As
far as training with his former teammates like Jon Fitch, Cain
Velasquez, Mike Swick, Luke Rockhold and Daniel Cormier goes,
he says that they are still teammates regardless of whether or
not they compete under the AKA banner or not and that they will
continue to train together, just not under Mendez’s roof.
“Those
guys are my brothers. They’ll be in my wedding. I know Fitch
is going to have a baby soon, I’m going to go up there the
day he has his baby. That’s my family. That’s my adopted
family. We’ve bled together for eight years; that ain’t
changing. I’m still going to train with them, but I will
never step foot in AKA in San Jose again. I’m not really
concerned about trying to create a camp; it’s going to happen.
I get paid pretty well so I’ll pay guys to come in and train
with me for a few weeks,” he says. ”If any fighters
want to come train, my doors are open. I’ll give them a
free place to live, and a great training atmosphere,” says
Koscheck. I basically trained myself the whole last training
camp. Actually more than that, it’s been the last three
or four training camps, I trained myself. So it’s like,
why be away from Fresno where I have two gyms I built, I have
an amazing house, I have amazing family here and friends, and
people that support me here. I can’t do that.
“Had
I stayed there my career would only be one or two more fights.
I think it affected me a lot. I knew I was going to make this
announcement after the fight; I obviously wanted to win and have
that opportunity to make that announcement at the press conference,”
Kos explains, pointing out why he didn’t perform as well
as he should have against Mike Pierce Saturday night. “I
was going to do it in the Octagon. There’s a lot of emotion
in this because this has been my life for eight years. Since
I’ve been in the UFC and started my career training, I’ve
been there and I don’t know anything different. It’s
going to be a new change and a new chapter for me. New beginnings.”
Although
some might assume that this development opens up the possibility
of him fighting teammate Jon Fitch, Koscheck says that it still
isn’t happening even if they aren’t fighting under
the same affiliation.
“That
ain’t ever going to happen. I’ll move up a weight class
or I’ll just quit,” he says flatly. “Dana White,
he’s great about it, he was joking with me at the press
conference and I joked with him back and I said, ‘Good luck
with that one, buddy.’ If me and Fitch became the number
one contenders, if we were fighting edge to edge for the title
for the number one contender [slot], then I could see why Dana
would say ‘yeah you guys need to fight’ but I would
probably just end up walking away from the sport. Because it
doesn’t mean that much to me to fight a friend.”
Source:
Cage Potato
|
MMA
Link Club: What to do about UFC’s empty seats problem in
Las Vegas?
By Zach
Arnold
There
are quite a few takeaways from this past weekend’s UFC event
in Las Vegas… and they’ve already been debated ad nauseam
online. One topic that hasn’t been discussed much is the
fact that the Las Vegas shows are becoming more and more deserted
on television for UFC undercard fights.
We
know the prelim fights are a great source of content for UFC
programming on the Fox family of networks. However, the whole
point of having a prelim show is to sell PPVs. It doesn’t
look very good if most of the seats that are on camera are empty
and there isn’t an energetic crowd to cheer fighters. Yes,
it’s every fighter’s dream in the States to fight for
Zuffa but that doesn’t mean that it feels great to have
maybe a couple of thousand people at most watching you in a huge
arena.
Las
Vegas crowds are notorious for not showing up to see all the
fights. The same is often said for Los Angeles sports crowds
showing up ‘fashionably late.’ However, the problem
of having empty seats for a lot of fights is a trend that is
recently growing for Zuffa. Look at the San Jose show last November.
If the purpose of UFC being on Fox is to reach a new audience
of sports fans, guess what — a lot of those fans will look
at the fights with nobody watching and, if they are on the fence
about ordering a show, probably will take a pass. If you’re
a baseball fan, you’re more likely to stick with a game
if there are 40,000 people in the stadium as opposed to a quarter-filled
Dodger Stadium game. If you watch college football bowl games,
you’re more likely to stick with a B-level bowl game if
there’s at least 2/3rds of a crowd as opposed to the ridiculous
amount of games that have maybe 30% capacity. It’s a visual
turnoff. I don’t think having all the empty seats on camera
serves Zuffa well.
Today,
there’s news that UFC is going to have two shows within
45 days of each other in Las Vegas (late May and early July).
Vegas is proving to be a very soft market now for the company.
So, the question I posted online last night was this: how can
they fix the problem of all the empty seats for the undercard
fights? Excluding Fox using some sort of CGI magic to fool your
eyes on screen and put imaginary people in seats, I don’t
know if there is a solid answer.
Someone
proposed to me the idea of treating the undercard and main cards
like a baseball doubleheader. You have undercard tickets, main
card tickets, and then a standard full-event ticket. The idea
would be that you sell full event tickets and on the day of the
show whatever seats you have unsold, you can sell undercard tickets
at a discount. Once the undercard fights are done, those fans
go out and you can open the seating back up for the rest of the
ticketholders. It’s not a likely or workable solution but
I can understand where the person is coming from.
Someone
else suggested that fans who pay for cheaper tickets get moved
down to the floor for the undercard fights in order to create
a better appearance on camera. That, to me, doesn’t sound
workable because high rollers will be coming in right before
the main card starts wondering why the hell someone is in their
floor seat.
All
I know is that the more Vegas shows UFC runs, the more empty
seats they’re going to have to contend with. It doesn’t
make UFC or the casinos paying the site fees look great from
an image perspective.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Shogun
part ways with manager:
“He believed my career should be managed by one guy, I don’t
agree with that”
By Guilherme
Cruz
Shogun
Rua announced last night on his Twitter he had broken up with
the manager Eduardo Alonso, responsible for handling his career
in the last five years. On an exclusive interview with TATAME,
he explained his reasons.
“What
happened what that Eduardo believed in a line of working and
I trust another one. He believed my career should be managed
by one guy, I don’t agree with that”, said, pointing
out the issues they disagree on.
“To
me, some guys has to be leading my training, and it is Andre
Dida, a marketing team to accessorize me and a manager. He didn’t
agree with that and said he already knew it could happen”,
explains.
Eduardo
Alonso started working with Mauricio since his lost to Forrest
Griffin in the UFC, and has been with him all the way to the
belt, and also after that, when he fought Forrest Griffin again
and then Dan Henderson.
Despite
the close of the partnership, Shogun says the friendship continues.
“We broke up in good terms, we are still friends, independently
of not working together anymore”, said the fighter, who
has no manager yet. “I have talked to some people, but I
haven’t closed anything”.
Source:
Tatame
|
Matches
to Make After UFC 143
By Brian
Knapp
In
October, Ultimate Fighting Championship officials told Carlos
Condit to step aside for Nick Diaz. Four months later, he answered
with his feet, fists, elbows, knees and, most importantly, his
mind.
The
“Natural Born Killer” engaged in a fascinating cat-and-mouse
game with one of MMA’s fiercest fighters on Saturday at
the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, as he walked away
from the UFC 143 headliner against Diaz with a unanimous decision
in his back pocket and the interim welterweight championship
around his waist.
Rewarding
the execution of a masterful game plan, all three judges ruled
in Condit’s favor, two of them giving him four of the five
rounds. According to FightMetric.com figures, he outlanded Diaz
159-117 in total strikes and 151-105 in terms of significant
strikes. Though he spent much of the 25-minute battle moving
backwards, Condit was the more active fighter, as well, throwing
74 more strikes than Diaz.
The
win, Condit’s 13th in his past 14 fights, sets up a unification
bout with longtime welterweight king and Jackson’s Mixed
Martial Arts stablemate Georges St. Pierre, once he recovers
from reconstructive knee surgery. The two men figure to lock
horns sometime later this year.
In
wake of UFC 143 “Diaz vs. Condit,” here are six other
matches we want to see made:
Nick
Diaz vs. Jon Fitch: In the immediate aftermath of his first defeat
since November 2007, Diaz sounded like a man fully prepared to
leave the cage for the last time. One has to wonder whether or
not that feeling will remain once frustration wears off. Still
only 28, Diaz has plenty left in the tank physically and would
be entering his prime years with much to prove and sufficient
motivation. Should Diaz reverse course on retirement, a showdown
with Fitch might provide him with the quickest route back to
title contention. If not, MMA has lost one of its preeminent
competitors.
Fabricio
Werdum vs. Frank Mir: Quite simply, Werdum has never looked better.
The two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World
Championships gold medalist throttled the rugged Roy Nelson from
the Thai plum, landing one crushing knee after another to his
opponent’s face. Werdum’s punches and kicks often found
their marks, too, and kept “The Ultimate Fighter” Season
10 winner on the defensive. Werdum has rattled of four wins in
five outings, including victories over Antonio Silva and the
incomparable Fedor Emelianenko. Still widely regarded as one
of the premier heavyweight grapplers on the planet, the 34-year-old
Brazilian has put himself in prime position to secure more meaningful
fights. Mir, anyone?
Roy
Nelson vs. Shane Carwin: No one will ever question Nelson’s
resolve. The slimmed-down 35-year-old absorbed a horrendous beating
from Werdum in the co-main event, losing a one-sided unanimous
decision.
Nelson
had no answer for the Brazilian in the clinch, as Werdum tipped
the spear of his close-quarters onslaught with heavy knees from
the Thai plum. Nelson has more than enough tools to remain relevant
in a division lacking depth, but he has lost three of his last
four fights. Victory now becomes a necessity. Carwin, who finds
himself recovering from a second back surgery, carries with him
arguably the heaviest hands in the sport. A duel with Nelson
might prove pure gold, if for no other reason than to find out
whether or not “Big Country” can withstand that kind
of otherworldly punching power.
Josh
Koscheck vs. Jake Shields-Yoshihiro Akiyama winner: Koscheck
escaped his grueling 15-minute encounter with the criminally
underrated Mike Pierce, taking a split decision from the former
Sportfight champion. Love him or hate him, Koscheck has made
himself into one of the most successful fighters in UFC history.
His 15 victories inside the Octagon tie him with Tito Ortiz for
fifth on the all-time list, behind only Matt Hughes (18), Georges
St. Pierre (16), Chuck Liddell (16) and Randy Couture (16). Koscheck
looked tentative at times against Pierce, but he can always fall
back on his top-shelf wrestling chops when the need arises. UFC
President Dane White has already shown public interest in pairing
him with Diaz. Should that bout fail to materialize, perhaps
the man that emerges from the Shields-Akiyama tussle at UFC 144
later this month could step up and fill the void.
Renan
“Barao” Pegado vs. Dominick Cruz-Urijah Faber winner:
Pegado needs no more fine tuning. On an incredible 18-fight winning
streak, the 24-year-old Nova Uniao export has clearly established
himself as a top contender at 135 pounds. Pegado zipped past
Scott Jorgensen with a diverse striking game, stout chin and
airtight takedown defense. In short, he kept the fight standing,
all but ensuring Jorgensen’s downfall. Coaching opposite
one another on the forthcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter”
reality series, bantamweight champion Cruz and archrival Faber
will tie a bow on their trilogy at some point this summer. The
man they call “Barao” will be waiting on the winner.
Ed
Herman vs. Brian Stann-Alessio Sakara winner: Herman has carved
out a nice niche at 185 pounds. “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 3 finalist dispatched the previously unbeaten Clifford
Starks with a combination of in-cage experience and submission
savvy. Herman has won each of his last three fights, bouncing
back well from multiple knee surgeries. The 31-year-old will
not set the world on fire with any one skill, but he promises
to be a difficult out for anyone inside the middleweight division
with stars in their eyes. Stann and Sakara will collide at UFC
on Fuel 2 on April 14 in Sweden. Pair the victor with Herman.
Source Sherdog
|
UFC
message: Please forget the outcome of Condit/Diaz I
By Zach
Arnold
You
generally book rematches in the fight game based on one of two
reasons: a) the first bout was so good or so close that there’s
a clamor by the fans to see it again or b) you didn’t get
the outcome you wanted as the promoter the first time around.
I call reason b) the “Kiyoshi Tamura/Valentijn Overeem”
scenario, based on a famous RINGS fight where Tamura, who had
been pushed hard as the company’s ace, got destroyed in
a shoot out of nowhere and the promotion went right into damage
control.
With
the news breaking tonight that we’re going to get Carlos
Condit vs. Nick Diaz in a re-match, I think it’s fair to
say that you can squarely classify this rematch as a scenario
where the promotion didn’t get what they wanted for the
initial outcome.
With
Georges St. Pierre on the sidelines for a long time to come due
to a torn ACL, the Welterweight picture is muddled as far as
what to do for bookings on the calendar. If Nick Diaz had won,
he would have sat out and waited for St. Pierre. With Carlos
Condit winning, it seemed that there was plenty of pressure for
him to fight again. Who would it be, though? Jake Ellenberger?
Josh Koscheck? Neither scenario seemed to be all that enthusiastically
pursued, as Condit’s agent Malki Kawa expressed disinterest
in a Condit/Ellenberger fight during an interview with Mauro
Ranallo on The MMA Show. So, we end up with Zuffa pushing the
reset button.
Hey,
maybe they’ll get the outcome they wanted the first time
round. Nick Diaz, The Corporately-backed Bad Boy from the 209.
If
UFC is booking this rematch because they are hopeful that Nick
Diaz will win the rematch, I guess I can understand that logic
(even if I don’t agree with it). However, if they are booking
this rematch based on the loud criticism of the minority of Nick
Diaz boosters & fighters online complaining about the outcome
of the UFC 143 fight, that would be an impulsively reactive decision
by Zuffa management to listen to the online bubble of MMA fans.
The world map that UFC put on their web site claiming global
sentiment for the outcome of Diaz/Condit was 47%/47% is just
bizarre.
Don’t
get me wrong. I understand why Carlos Condit wouldn’t mind
a rematch with Nick Diaz — because he thinks he can beat
him again. I understand why Nick Diaz wants a rematch. What I
don’t see is how the rematch is going to produce a dramatically
different outcome unless Condit gives up the Greg Jackson counter-strategy
that we saw at UFC 143 and decides to go for broke in order for
Nick to have a better chance to knock him out.
So,
if you hated the outcome of the first fight and the way the judges
scored it, what makes you inclined to believe that you want to
see the rematch if the fans were bored with the way the fight
played out the first time?
I
thought Carlos Condit won the fight and that he would stay on
the sidelines waiting for St. Pierre to recover. He fought a
smart fight. If you look at UFC as a real sport, then Carlos
Condit used a real sports strategy to win. It was as ugly as
the New Jersey Devils’ infamous neutral zone trap…
but it was effective. However, it is clear that the criticism
from fighters and fans about the way Condit fought at UFC 143
has annoyed his camp. Just look at the comments Greg Jackson
made during an interview yesterday with USA Today:
“There’s
still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see
these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back,
and sometimes fights are like that,” says Greg Jackson,
one of the best-known trainers of athletes in the Ultimate Fighting
Championship. “But sometimes you get technical masterpieces
too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight — you’re
not really a fight fan. You’re just there to watch the car
wrecks, you know what I mean?”
That’s
not the kind of thing you say if you think the masses are happy
with the way the fight played out at UFC 143. I suppose the UFC
hype machine will make you want to see Diaz/Condit II but it’s
not like the company will be able to change the impression many
had after watching the outcome of the first fight. Maybe Nick
Diaz’s biggest female booster, Ronda Rousey, will fill in
for him on the impending Countdown show and be his spokeswoman
on why Nick was yet again victimized by The Man.
Speaking
of Ronda, here’s Miesha Tate saying the woman is delusional.
“I
don’t really listen to much of anything Ronda says. I don’t
watch her interviews. I get a little bit of that drift that comes
through Twitter, you know, quoting people, ‘oh, she said
this, she said that.’ And half the time I really honestly
think it just makes her sound like an idiot. I mean, that’s
just being brutally honest. I think she’s pretty delusional.
I’ve yet to see Ronda actually fight. I’ve seen her
go out and do her judo and whatnot but she hasn’t ever brought
a fight and that’s what I”m going to do. I’m going
to make this a fight and anything that she says is used as motivation,
definitely.”
You’ll
be happy to know that, on a 1-5 scale, this is how Bas Rutten
sees the two ladies measuring up for their March bout:
Miesha
Tate: Striking (4), Wrestling (5), Grappling (4), Speed (4),
Strength (4), Endurance (5)
Ronda
Rousey: Striking (3), Wrestling (4), Grappling (5), Speed (5),
Strength (4), Endurance (4)
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Exclusive:
Josh Koscheck Reveals The Reason Why He Left AKA
by Damon
Martin
Following
Josh Koscheck‘s win at UFC 143 on Saturday night over Mike
Pierce, the former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ season 1 competitor
revealed at the post fight press conference that he had split
with his longtime team at American Kickboxing Academy and immediately
the MMA world was taken back.
Fighters
switching teams or working with different training camps is nothing
new, but Koscheck had been a mainstay of the San Jose based gym
literally for every fight since season one of the reality show,
which took place nearly 8 years ago.
It
was for that very reason that when he announced the split, everyone
was asking why? What happened that would cause Koscheck the team
he had such deep rooted seeds with?
Well,
truth be told Koscheck didn’t leave his entire team. As
a matter of fact, his training partners are still very much a
part of his family and his team.
“First
and foremost, my teammates over there at AKA in San Jose are
my brothers. I love those guys. 8 years, we’ve basically
trained ourselves and got us to the level that we are and we’ve
all relied on each other and those guys are forever going to
be my teammates, I’m forever going to train with them, but
I’m just not going to train in San Jose with them,”
Koscheck told MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
“I’ll
invite them and I’ll pay them to come to train in Fresno
with me when I have fight camps and that type of thing. Those
guys are my family. Bob Cook, Dave Camarillo, I’m still
going to be managed by Zinkin Entertainment, Bob Cook will still
be in my corner and coaching me, he’ll come here a couple
days a week and train with me, Dave Camarillo will come here
a couple days, and I think I’m going to be better off.”
So
what was the driving force behind Koscheck’s exit from American
Kickboxing Academy if it wasn’t his teammates or two of
his lead coaches?
“There’s
one reason I’m leaving San Jose AKA and that’s because
of Javier Mendez,” Koscheck stated. “He’s the
only reason I’m leaving that gym. It almost hurts me because
I love training with those guys, I love training with (Jon) Fitch,
and (Mike) Swick and Cain (Velasquez) and (Daniel) Cormier, and
(Justin) Wilcox and all those guys, they are my brothers, and
it hurts me to have to make this decision for me because the
fact that it’s like splitting up the family.”
Javier
Mendez is the founder of American Kickboxing Academy and one
of the lead trainers, but according to Koscheck his influence
became more about his own fame than actually helping the fighters
at the gym reach the next level.
Koscheck
says the rift with Mendez started all the way back in 2008 after
he took a fight with Thiago Alves at UFC 90 on short notice.
Koscheck lost the fight by unanimous decision, but it was his
coach’s comments afterwards that made his ears perk up a
little bit.
“This
goes back from quite a bit, and history repeats itself. Whenever
you have a guy for example whenever I had the loss against (Thiago)
Alves and I took the fight on short notice with him, and after
the fight I had a lot of friends come up to me and calling me
saying ‘have you read this interview with Javier Mendez?’
and talking about me and my game plan,” Koscheck said.
“So
I went online and I read this interview and I started to notice
after all my teammates lost, it was the same thing. They didn’t
listen to the game plan, that he deferred it away from himself,
and he threw us under the bus basically saying that we didn’t
listen to him and he tries to make himself look good, so it doesn’t
reflect on him us losing.”
The
philosophy that Koscheck follows, along with most fighters in
MMA, is you win as a team, you lose as a team and no one component
is more important than another.
He
says that stopped being the case at AKA where Mendez put the
focus on himself and not on the fighters any longer, or at least
when dealing with Koscheck. He also points out that the team
at AKA was built by his managers, and had little to do with Mendez’s
influence.
“It’s
because DeWayne Zinkin and Bob Cook recruited us to go there.
That’s the only reason that everybody’s there, it’s
not because of Javier Mendez, it’s not because of the gym
AKA, it’s because of DeWayne Zinkin and Bob Cook, they built
this thing. They brought the best guys in the world together,”
Koscheck revealed.
“I’ve
lost a lot of respect for Javier Mendez as a coach, as a person,
because if you go back and listen to the history of the interviews
of him after AKA guys have lost, the interviews he does, go back
and look at the Cain Velasquez (fight), go back and look at the
Josh Koscheck (fight), the other guys on that team, and see if
you can find interviews where he refers to ‘Oh I did my
job’ to make himself look good and they didn’t do theirs.
That’s not a coach.”
To
emphasize his point, Koscheck points towards the positive relationship
he’s maintained with his coach and manager Bob Cook along
with jiu-jitsu instructor Dave Camarillo. The former NCAA champion
still works with both, and will continue to do so despite his
exit from AKA.
“Bob
Cook and Dave Camarillo they’re always responsible and they
take their share of wins and losses and that’s what you’ve
got to love about those guys,” stated Koscheck. “Bob
Cook and Dave Camarillo, they’re loyal. You lose, guess
what it was all of our faults, they take the brunt of that. Javier
is more concerned about the camp, and looking good, and who’s
going to be the next guy to bring him money. I just can’t
be around that anymore.”
Camarillo
actually also recently parted ways with AKA to focus on his own
gyms, but stated he was still going to be working with some of
the fighters like Koscheck and fellow welterweight Jon Fitch.
For
his fight on Saturday night, Koscheck admits that his training
camp was a rocky place where he felt he had no home. In his bout
with Mike Pierce, the former welterweight title contender looked
flat at certain times and just didn’t seem himself inside
the cage.
The
end result was still a win, but it wasn’t the way that Koscheck
wanted to perform.
“It
was a horrible training camp because of that. I basically trained
myself the whole last training camp. Actually more than that,
it’s been the last 3 or 4 training camps, I trained myself.
So it’s like why be away from Fresno where I have two gyms
I build, I have an amazing house, I have amazing family here
and friends, and people that support me here. I can’t do
that. Had I stayed there my career would only be one or two more
fights,” Koscheck admitted.
“There
was a lot of poison going on around there and I’m really
disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good
thing and I think people’s egos got in the way. Well, not
people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras
in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand,
his AKA brand, which is fine I understand that, but it should
never take precedence over training guys. As a head coach of
a gym and he says he’s the man, he’s the boss over
there, he should have the responsibility to make the fighters
as best as we possibly could be, but he never did that.”
Koscheck
does give Pierce credit for being a great opponent and coming
to fight, but simply said that wasn’t the same fighter that
knocked out Matt Hughes five months earlier.
“Mike
Pierce is a tough fighter, I’m not taking anything away
from him, but I feel like I felt at 20-percent. I cruised, I
was just like out there to fight just to get another win. I wasn’t
myself,” Koscheck stated.
“I
think it affected me a lot. I knew I was going to make this announcement
after the fight, I obviously wanted to win and have that opportunity
to make that announcement at the press conference. I was going
to do it in the Octagon. There’s a lot of emotion in this
because this has been my life for 8 years. Since I’ve been
in the UFC and started my career training, I’ve been there
and I don’t know anything different. It’s going to
be a new change and a new chapter for me. New beginnings.”
With
new beginnings on his mind, Koscheck is looking forward to his
future in Fresno inside of his own gym. Currently, Koscheck owns
and operates AKA Fresno, which obviously is a namesake of the
gym started by Mendez in San Jose.
“I’m
not sure yet. I have to sit down and talk with the attorneys
on that, but that will all play out when the time comes,”
Koscheck said about the name of his gym.
“I’m
not really concerned about trying to create a camp, it’s
going to happen. I get paid pretty well so I’ll pay guys
to come in and train with me for a few weeks. If any fighters
want to come train, my doors are open, I’ll give them a
free place to live, and a great training atmosphere.”
The
great training atmosphere is what Koscheck says he was missing
at AKA literally for the last couple of years. He says it’s
been two years since he actually received coaching from Mendez,
and now with the toxic environment continuing to fester, it was
time to move on.
If
there’s one thing that Koscheck wants to stress about his
exit from AKA is that it does not extend to his teammates and
training partners from the gym.
“Those
guys are my brothers. They’ll be in my wedding, I know Fitch
is going to have a baby soon, I’m going to go up there the
day he has his baby, that’s my family. That’s my adopted
family. We’ve bled together for 8 years, that ain’t
changing,” said Koscheck.
“I’m
still going to train with them, but I will never step foot in
AKA in San Jose again.”
And
as far as the questions about Koscheck now fighting his longtime
teammate and close friend Jon Fitch? Well, don’t get your
hopes up on that one either.
“That
ain’t ever going to happen,” said Koscheck. “I’ll
move up a weight class or I’ll just quit. Dana White, he’s
great about it, he was joking with me at the press conference
and I joked with him back and I said ‘good luck with that
one buddy’.
“If
me and Fitch became the No. 1 contenders, if we were fighting
edge to edge for the title for the No. 1 contender, then I could
see why Dana would say ‘yeah you guys need to fight’
but I would probably just end up walking away from the sport.
Because it doesn’t mean that much to me to fight a friend.”
Koscheck
plans on reaching out to all his friends and teammates from AKA
because they are still his family, and he plans on keeping them
as such. His reason for leaving is singular, and it goes no further
than that.
“Javier
Mendez is the only reason I’m leaving,” Koscheck said
in closing.
The
former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ will take some time to rest
up after his win on Saturday night, and then hit the gym again
at his new home in Fresno to wait for the call from the UFC to
get back in the Octagon again, for the first time ever as Team
Koscheck instead of Team AKA.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
145: Jones vs. Evans Card Full with 11 Bouts
The
UFC’s official confirmation of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans
as the headliner for UFC 145 rounds out a slate of 11 bouts for
the April 21 fight card at Philips Arena in Atlanta.
UFC
officials confirmed the 11-bout UFC 145 fight card to MMAWeekly.com
on Tuesday.
The
Jones vs. Evans bout is the culmination of more than a year of
animosity between the two former teammates, as well as Evans’
three-year trek to get another crack at the UFC light heavyweight
title.
The
UFC 145 main card on pay-per-view is bolstered by a welterweight
bout between two of the divisions fast-rising stars, Rory MacDonald
and Che Mills, as well as a heavyweight showdown between Brendan
Schaub and Ben Rothwell.
Initially
planned for Montreal, the UFC 145 card also features Canadian
Mark Hominick returning to the Octagon to face Eddie Yagin in
a featherweight contest, along with Hominick’s countryman
Mark Bocek in a lightweight battle against Matt Wiman.
Main
Card (on Pay-Per-View):
-Jon Jones (15-1) vs. Rashad Evans (17-1-1)
-Rory MacDonald (12-1) vs. Che Mills (14-4)
-Brendan Schaub (8-2) vs. Ben Rothwell (31-8)
-Mark Hominick (20-10) vs. Eddie Yagin (15-5-1)
-Matt Wiman (14-6) vs. Mark Bocek (10-4)
Preliminary
Bouts:
-Michael McDonald (14-1) vs. Miguel Torres (40-4)
-Chad Griggs (11-1) vs. Travis Browne (12-0-1)
-Anthony Njokuani (14-6) vs. John Makdessi (9-1)
-Efrain Escudero (18-4) vs. Mac Danzig (20-9-1)
-Chris Clements (10-4) vs. Keith Wisniewski (28-13-1)
-Maximo Blanco (8-3-1) vs. Marcus Brimage (4-1)
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
UFC
143 Payroll: Diaz ($200K), Koscheck ($146K) Take Top Purses
Nick
Diaz couldn’t take out Carlos Condit in the main event of
Saturday’s UFC 143, but the Stockton, Calif., native still
took home the show’s biggest disclosed paycheck.
Diaz
banked a flat $200,000 for his five-round decision loss to Condit,
while the new UFC interim welterweight champion pocketed $110,000
in victory, $55,000 of that in the form of a win bonus.
According
to paperwork released Monday by the Nevada State Athletic Commission,
Diaz would have earned $200,000 win or lose, with no possibility
of a win bonus. Diaz earned the same amount for his October win
against B.J. Penn at UFC 137.
The
night’s next-highest earner was perennial welterweight contender
Josh Koscheck, who took a total of $146,000 for his hard-fought,
three-round decision win over Mike Pierce ($20,000). Former Strikeforce
heavyweight Fabricio Werdum ($100,000; no win bonus) outclassed
Roy Nelson ($20,000) across three rounds in the co-main event
of the pay-per-view, which aired live from the Mandalay Bay Events
Center in Las Vegas.
Note:
These figures do not account for taxes, license fees or any other
deductions which may be taken from a fighter’s purse, nor
do they include any sponsorship money or discretionary “locker
room” bonuses which a promoter may issue.
UFC
143 ‘Diaz vs. Condit’ salaries:
Carlos
Condit: $110,000
(Includes $55,000 win bonus)
Nick
Diaz: $200,000
Fabricio
Werdum: $100,000
Roy
Nelson: $20,000
Josh
Koscheck: $146,000
(Includes $73,000 win bonus)
Mike
Pierce: $20,000
Renan
"Barao" Pegado: $22,000
(Includes $11,000 win bonus)
Scott
Jorgensen: $20,500
Ed
Herman: $62,000
(Includes $31,000 win bonus)
Clifford
Starks: $8,000
Dustin
Poirier: $24,000
(Includes $12,000 win bonus)
Max
Holloway: $6,000
Edwin
Figueroa: $16,000
(Includes $8,000 win bonus)
Alex
Caceres: $8,000
Matt
Brown: $30,000
(Includes $15,000 win bonus)
Chris
Cope: $8,000
Matt
Riddle: $30,000
(Includes $15,000 win bonus)
Henry
Martinez: $6,000
Rafael
Natal: $20,000
(Includes $10,000 win bonus)
Michael
Kuiper: $6,000
Stephen
Thompson: $12,000
(Includes $6,000 win bonus)
Daniel
Stittgen: $6,000
Source:
Sherdog
|
Dr.
Margaret Goodman’s challenge to the UFC on drug testing
By Zach
Arnold
Memo
from VADA-testing.org site
Calling
on the UFC to Step Up Drug Testing
I
first met Lorenzo Fertitta in 1996 when he became a commissioner
with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. To date, there has
never been a commissioner more knowledgeable and concerned about
the health and welfare of the fighters, other than Dr. Flip Homansky,
who succeeded Fertitta in 2000. After leaving the commission,
Fertitta studied every aspect of MMA. Before purchasing the organization
in 2001, Homansky and I traveled to a New Orleans UFC card with
Fertitta and Dana White to help them explore needed improvements.
They wanted a safe UFC as much as a successful UFC.
When
the NSAC licensed MMA in 2001, I was a ring physician. I lectured
before the Association of Boxing Commissions, along with the
UFC, to help commissions understand the sport’s new safety
measures. Although different than boxing, fighters in both sports
are subject to serious injury—both chronic and acute.
In
2001, Homansky convinced the NSAC to test for anabolic steroids
and masking agents. The Commission initially doubted the need.
It soon became clear that all weight classes were turning to
PEDs and usage was greater in MMA. Like boxing, the long term
and short term risks to the MMA athletes are too great to allow
cheating.
Fertitta
has been quoted numerous times that MMA has a PED problem. White
has stated he doesn’t want cheaters in their organization.
It’s an admirable first step for the UFC to test prospective
fighters before they are signed. I am in favor of testing in
foreign jurisdictions that have no regulatory body overseeing
UFC bouts, and I am thankful they support commissions that already
test.
Sadly,
these measures remain inadequate. The substance panels are antiquated
to catch cheaters. Employing announced testing times, organization
might as well send up a flare to inform athletes when to stop
their drugs.
The
UFC owners, brilliant and savvy businessmen, understand this.
This awareness must come with fear—the fear that a real
PED testing program, recommended by the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA), the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Drug Free
Sport, the Voluntary Ant-Doping Association (VADA) and others,
would eliminate a portion of their roster.
When
Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal recently tested positive for
anabolic steroids, MMA competitor Shawn McCorkle proposed to
MMAFighting.com writer Mike Chiapetta that PED testing be stopped.
McCorkle noted, “What you end up with is a situation of
where the guys who are beating the test, where the guys who can
afford to get a doctor to prescribe whatever they want, where
the guys who have access to stuff, they have an unfair advantage
already… I think we’d be pretty naïve to think
that every person who’s ever taken anything was caught…”
I
understand McCorkle’s perspective given current athletic
commission and UFC testing procedures. If they are not serious
in diminishing PED usage, stopping cheating, protecting the health
of the competitors and maintaining public confidence that fights
are fair, then yes, stop testing.
The
UFC’s success makes full scale testing feasible. This means
handing it over to an independent party who can provide a WADA-approved
laboratory, certified doping collectors and comprehensive testing
panels. Currently, MMA athletes are never tested for blood doping,
HGH, short-acting testosterone (which most cheats use these days).
The testing has to be unannounced—where the fighters are
given no more than one hour of notice to undergo examination
of blood and urine.
VADA
educates MMA competitors and boxers about PEDs. It enables athletes
to demonstrate their commitment to clean sport by volunteering
for testing. Respected boxers, Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz are
VADA fighters. Boxing promoters Lou DiBella, Richard Schaefer
and Joe DeGuardia are not afraid to see their fighters participate
in a rigorous drug testing program. Floyd Mayweather Jr. remains
an advocate for clean sport.
The
UFC professes that MMA can hold its own against any sport. If
true, then why are boxers the only professional combat sports
athletes in the world willing to undergo stringent PED exams?
Yes, this isn’t free; it isn’t cheap, but it is the
right thing.
Margaret
Goodman MD
Voluntary Anti-Doping Association President
www.VADA-testing.org
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
UFC
TV Partner Comparison (Past and Present)
The
UFC's move to FOX already looks like it's paying off. The promotions
first showing on the network with "UFC Primetime" received
an average of 2 million viewers (1.3 household rating).
I
decided to compare the coverage size of each of the UFC's television
partners, both past and present, based on the total number of
households each network is available in and the percentage of
overall national coverage.
TV
Network
Houesholds
(in million)
Coverage
%
FOX
120.6 96%
SPIKE TV 99.9 86%
FX 99.3 74%
VERSUS 76 65%
FUEL TV 32 27%
It's
no surprise that the major network FOX tops the list, and is
available in just over 120 million homes throughout the U.S.
FOX is in about 10% more homes then SPIKE. The UFC's move to
the FOX family, which includes FX and FUEL, will not only put
the promotion on more channels but they'll also be available
in more homes throughout the United States. This give's the promotion
a larger platform to help promote their Pay-Pay-View events which
remain at the core of their business model. With a decline in
the Pay-Pay-View business throughout 2011, it will be interesting
to see if the new FOX television deal will have a significant
impact in 2012 and aid the UFC's attempt of breaking into the
mainstream.
Source: MMA Metrics
|
Eddie
Alvarez Plans to Prove His Worth Against Shinya Aoki
by Andrew
Gladstone
Eddie
Alvarez, on April 20, will get the chance of a lifetime when
he gets an opportunity to rematch Dream lightweight champion
Shinya Aoki and work his way back among the lightweight elite.
After
a great, eye opening year, Alvarez closed 2008 succumbing to
defeat for a second time in his professional career. It was at
Dynamite 2008, where Aoki submitted the Philadelphian in the
opening round via heel hook.
The
former Bellator champion believes he wasn’t ready for the
likes of Aoki being that he was so young in his career and was
still finding himself as a fighter. Since the loss, Alvarez would
prove to be right as he defeated the likes of Josh Neer, Roger
Huerta, Toby Imada, and Katsunori Kikuno.
“In
a way I was still finding myself as a fighter,” Alvarez
told MMAWeekly Radio Weekend Edition.
“I
didn’t believe in my own abilities. I was shocked that I
beat Joachim (Hansen) and I was shocked that I beat (Tatsuya)
Kawajiri. I never looked back and thought I should’ve beat
that guy, I was still finding myself career-wise and confidence-wise.
Going into the Aoki fight, I mean pretty much if I had beaten
Aoki, I would’ve been No. 1 in the world at the time and
it was a lot to deal with at such a young part of my career.
“The
fight itself, I definitely believed I could win, but I made mistakes
in the fight. I over-engaged a guy who is simply a counter fighter.”
Now
after building his confidence up with much more experience, Alvarez
is ready for the elite opposition in the world. It took a while
for him to get used to the fact that he’s a main event caliber
fighter. With that state of mind, he turned down entering the
Bellator lightweight tournament, so he could avenge his loss
to a big named fighter.
“It
makes no sense for me to rejoin a tournament and fight three
guys that people don’t really care to see me fight rather
than fight someone a Shinya Aoki, who is ranked in my weight
class. I haven’t fought anyone ranked in my weight class
in God knows how long. I’d be stupid not to take this fight.
He’s ranked top five in my weight class, I believe, and
it’ll get me back into the rankings. I’ll be able to
forward positively.”
For
the 28-year-old, he feels now is his time to shine and that he
only wants to climb up the ranks where he can build a future
at the top of the sport instead of only facing up-and-comers.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
6
eating tips to up your energy for Jiu-Jitsu
Ever
present on the recommended list of our columnist Adriana Gracie,
the Mistura Viva web log is constantly serving up posts on the
principles of proper eating as they pertain to keeping your body
ailment free. Recently featured on the blog, six principles for
proper eating, living healthier and having copious amounts of
energy for dealing with your daily routine.
1.
BREATHE BETTER AND FLUSH OUT TOXINS
Not
a lot of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners pay due attention to their breathing.
Make note of how oxygenizing your organism is directly linked
to daily health and vigor.
“Lack
of oxygen is significant in that it can cause cells to become
cancerous. It surely affects the cell’s quality of life,”
reads one snippet from the blog.
The
lymphatic system gets activated by deep breathing. Practicing
deep breathing and exercises like yoga eliminate 15 times more
toxins from the body than does normal, hurried breathing, says
the article.
2.
EAT FOODS RICH IN WATER!
Remember:
your quality of life is dependent on the quality of life of your
cells. So straight to the nitty-gritty: fresh fruit, greens,
legumes, sprouts and plenty of water.
“Your
diet should include foods consisting of 70% water. The lower
the level of water, the greater the likelihood of you contracting
imbalances (illnesses),” says the article.
3.
CHOOSE YOUR FOOD COMBINATIONS WISELY
“Take
care of your stomach for your first 50 years, and it will take
care of you for the next 50,” is Dr. Steven Smith’s
take on how to stay healthy.
Eat
meat and potatoes at the same time? Bread and cheese, milk and
cereal, fish and rice? What if you were told these combinations
are totally destructive to your digestive system and sap your
energy?
Eat
just one condensed food per meal. What’s condensed food?
Any ingestible not rich in water. For example, beef jerky is
condensed, while watermelon is rich in water.
Make
sure not to eat starch, carbohydrates and protein in the same
meal.
4.
EAT LITTLE, AND CAREFUL ABOUT LIQUIDS DURING MEAL TIMES
Are
you dragging your feet when you get out of bed in the morning,
even if you got your full eight hours’ worth of sleep? Know
why? While you’re sleeping, your body is working overtime
to digest the incompatible food combinations you put in your
belly.
Eat
light before going to bed, just enough to keep from feeling hungry.
If you feel like eating a lot of something, eat a lot of salad.
And after 9pm eat just fruit. Remember: after ingesting a properly
combined meal, you should wait for at least three hours before
eating anything else.
It’s
important that you keep in mind that drinking during meal time
dilutes your digestive juices and slows down the digestive process;
so don’t drink much water, especially not cold water.
5.
EAT MORE FRUIT!
Fruit
is the most perfect food on the planet, since it takes the least
energy to digest and gives your body the maximum return. Least
effort for maximum benefit—have you heard that here on GRACIEMAG.com
before?
“The
only food that makes your brain work is glucose. Fruit is packed
with fructose, which is easily converted into glucose. Most of
the time, it is 90-95% water, which means it cleanses you and
feeds you at the same time.
Eat
fruit upon getting up in the morning and on an empty stomach.
Your heart and overall health will thank you for it.
6.
EAT LESS PROTEIN!
The
percentage of protein in a human mother’s milk doesn’t
exceed 2.38. Did you know that? So where did this idea that we
need loads of protein to be strong and healthy come from?
Dr.
Mark Hegstead, a Professor of nutrition at Harvard Medical School,
asserts that most human beings seem to adapt to whatever quantity
of protein is available to them. In other words: if you eat a
well-balanced vegetarian diet, you’ll get all the protein
you need!
To
be sure you have energy for training, all you need is glucose
from fruits, vegetables and sprouts.
But
what about the myth that protein is good for endurance? “Wrong.
Too much protein overloads your system with nitrogen, which causes
fatigue,” says the article. “And as for protein strengthening
our bones? Wrong again. Excess protein has been linked to osteoporosis,
degeneration and weakening of the bones. The strongest bones
in the world belong to vegetarians.”
Milk
and meat just clog up your body. For your supply of calcium,
go with green vegetables, nuts, sesame seed, turnips. And you
can have small quantities of white cheese on salad.
How
about it, gentle reader, learned something new? Now what boosts
your energy levels in training. Share with us, using the comments
field below.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Roger
Gracie close to signing with Black House, could drop to 185lbs
By Guilherme Cruz
Roger
Gracie is already working to sign his next MMA fight, but the
manager who will be dealing it will not be the same one who used
to work these things out for him. TATAME found out that Gracie
is talking about it with the managers Jorge Guimaraes and Ed
Soares, from Black House, and Guiamaes revealed they’re
adjusting the last details.
“It’s
not sure yet, we’re working on the little details”,
explains Jorge, who is friends with Roger’s father, the
coral belt Mauricio Gomes, decades ago. “His father is my
friend from Rolls Gracie time, he’s someone I really like
and I really care for Roger. I guess Roger is an example, not
only as a fighter, but as a person. I’ll do everything I
can do for him, it’ll be a challenge for me”.
Guimaraes
is the responsible for managing names like Anderson Silva, Lyoto
Machida, the Nogueira brothers, and he is excited about the possibility
of managing the greatest BJJ champion of all times.
“To
me, he has all the tools to build up a great MMA career, he just
need some work, focused. I’m sure he’ll be a tough
one to fight in MMA”, compliments the manager, revealing
the possibility of Roger dropping to the middleweight division.
“He’s considering dropping, but it’s not set in
stone yet”.
Roger
has won four MMA fights on the light heavyweight, being defeated
only by the former Strikeforce champion, King Mo Lawal, in September
of 2011. In Jorge’s opinion, accepting this bout was not
the best call. “His fight with King Mo did not come on the
right moment. If I was his manager back then, I would have let
him fight King Mo, but… It’s past now, so let’s
move on”.
Black
House open to work with Aldo in the future
The
manager took some time to comment the end of the partnership
with Andre Pederneiras and the fact the champion Jose Aldo left
Black House.
“We
thought it was best for us to follow our own course. Of course
I was sad because I really like Jose Aldo and I also like Andre,
but there were some incompatibilities and we thought it was best
for everyone so we remained friends”, explains, rooting
for a new partnership in the future.
“The
friendship continues. What I can do to help... Nothing is irreversible.
I hope that suddenly, someday... We did a test. It did not work
the first time? It may work on the second try”, concluded
Joinha, who is still the manager of Johnny Eduardo, Diego Nunes
and Luis Cane, all fighters of Nova União team and managed
by Black House.
Source: Tatame
|
M-1
Moves March 16 ‘Monson vs. Oleinik’ Event from U.S.
to Russia
By Tristen
Critchfield
M-1
Global has changed the venue of its March 16 fight card, moving
it from a yet-to-be determined location in the United States
to St. Petersburg, Russia.
On
Saturday, Showtime Sports officials added M-1 Challenge 31 “Monson
vs. Oleinik” to the premium cable channel’s 2012 television
schedule. A day later, the promotion confirmed the Showtime announcement
on its website, but Monday, the post was removed and replaced
by a flier announcing that the event would take place in Russia.
“M-1
Challenge 31, which takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia, on
March 16 isn’t on Showtime in the U.S.,” Evgeni Kogan,
director of operations for M-1 Global, tweeted Monday. “It
is live on Russia 2 from 8 p.m. [local time].”
M-1
held four U.S.-based events on Showtime in 2011, with its most
recent stateside trip coming on Dec. 9 at The Hanger in Costa
Mesa, Calif., for M-1 Challenge 30 “Zavurov vs. Enomoto.”
It appeared that a similar schedule would be adopted for this
year, but at the moment it is unclear how the sudden change will
affect Showtime. As of Monday, the March 16 event was still present
on its TV listings.
Emanating
from the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, M-1 Challenge 31 is headlined
by a heavyweight tilt between four-time UFC veteran Jeff Monson
(Pictured) and sambo specialist Alexey Oleinik. Monson fought
six times in 2011, losing a unanimous decision to Fedor Emelianenko
in his most recent outing. Before he locks horns with Oleinik,
the American Top Team product will face Alexander Illiasov on
Feb. 11.
A
former Bellator Fighting Championships competitor, Oleinik last
fought in July, falling by technical knockout to Magomed Malikov
in the first round. The 34-year-old Red Devil Sport Club representative
has earned 27 of his 33 career victories by submission.
Source Sherdog
|
East
Coast vs. West Coast Added to UFC on Fox 3
The
UFC’s schedule of events is now laid out well into mid-summer
and fight cards are filling up fast. The latest addition is a
lightweight bout pitting East Coast vs. West Coast.
John
Cholish steps into the Octagon at UFC on Fox 3 in May to face
Danny Castillo. UFC officials on Tuesday announced the bout.
Cholish
(8-1), a wrestler turned Wall Street stockbroker, made his Octagon
debut in front of 55,000 fans at UFC 140 in Toronto last year.
Having only lost in his professional debut, Cholish ran his mark
to eight consecutive victories with his second-round TKO of Mitch
Clarke.
Castillo
(13-4) is a training partner with such standouts as Urijah Faber
and Joseph Benavidez, and has spent the majority of his career
fighting for Zuffa-based promotions. He fought eight times under
the WEC banner. This bout with Cholish will mark his fifth UFC
fight.
Jim
Miller vs. Nate Diaz headlines UFC on Fox 3 on May 5 in East
Rutherford, N.J.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Alarm
bells & panic meters are active for UFC Japan 2012
By
Zach Arnold
Nine
years ago, WWE ran a major event under the Total Sports Asia
banner at Yokohama Arena. It was part of a two-day series at
the 16,000-seat building which had hosted some pretty notable
fight cards over the last generation in the Japanese wrestling
& MMA world. WWE shocked the Japanese industry by drawing
13,000 for the opening show. The initial success of WWE at Yokohama
Arena caused the major fight promotions (New Japan, All Japan,
NOAH, PRIDE, K-1) to panic because a foreign entity was invading
their home turf. Eventually, WWE came back to Japan for several
shows. Each time they arrived, the attendance for said shows
largely decreased. The promotion drew 4,800 at Nippon Budokan,
one of the worst wrestling gates in memory. Last November, WWE
drew 6,200 at Yokohama Arena. WWE’s declining attendance
had little to do with what the strength of the major promoters
was in Japan. The novelty wore off for the fans initially interested
and rival promoters no longer paid much attention.
The
strength of promotions like New Japan a decade ago as compared
to today is night and day. New Japan was recently sold this week
by Yukes to Bushiroad, a card game making company led by a showman
of a president who is a huge old-school wrestling fan. He sponsored
New Japan’s G-1 tournament last year and is a sponsor for
WWE programming in Japan. When the new owner of New Japan addressed
the media this week, he noted that WWE and UFC are his rivals
in the fight game. K-1 was not mentioned. NOAH was not mentioned.
It is important to note that New Japan’s recognition of
UFC as a threat to them is how New Japan viewed WWE a decade
ago.
What
makes the UFC Japan 2012 odyssey so different is that there is
no exceptionally strong player left in the Japanese fight game.
The ownership that just bought New Japan has deep pockets and,
I suppose, could cause trouble in the future for Zuffa. However,
there is no Kazuyoshi Ishii. There is no PRIDE to contend with.
There is no major Japanese player with heavy juice to compete.
The only enemy UFC has in Japan are the gangs (yakuza) and they
are taking a hit from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Outside
of TV networks, the major source of cash in the Japanese fight
game is the gangs. After what happened with the collapse of PRIDE,
TV networks do not want their fingerprints involved in a serious
financial manner with promoters.
MMA
Junkie, citing a source on background, claims that over 15,000
tickets have been sold for UFC Japan 2012 at Saitama Super Arena.
If true, that is a pure success — even if the show proves
to be a one-off. The disadvantage UFC has for future Japanese
shows is a complete and total lack of Japanese star talent. It
is an achilles heel but it is not their fault. That’s the
fault of the crooked promoters and backers who destroyed the
MMA landscape in Japan through bad business practices. Not having
a strong feeder system in Japan is a killer. During the PRIDE
boom, their feeder system was largely professional wrestling.
Once pro-wrestling got damaged, PRIDE started running out of
native stars to build cards around. It was a self-fulfilling
prophecy.
Last
November, I commented that the UFC Japan 2012 card was a Bushido-level
card. I was not talking about fight quality but rather how many
fans the card would attract on the merits. In only a couple of
short months, a lot of our attitudes about how good the card
is have changed given some of the dreadful cards that have been
booked lately by UFC.
On
top of that, that start time. That’s unbelievable. Will
that be a reason if the show happens to bomb? Or will it be because
“the Japanese fans need to get with the program?” Of
all the countries Vince McMahon has conquered with WWE, Japan
is one of the very few big markets he has failed to make it work
in. In a couple of days, he’s got back-to-back shows at
Yokohama Arena that will be extremely telling. Little to no advertising,
no Japanese-tailored matchmaking, and not a lot of promotional
work. Just like UFC will be doing, WWE uses Kyodo for their ticket
sales along with Lawson.
A
lot has happened in the last couple of months. K-1 has effectively
died. The NYE show promoted by DREAM was not a success story.
Satoshi Ishii’s career is likely over due to a cerebral
edema. New Japan got sold by Yukes and in the process was revealed
to be a money-losing proposition for the company. New Japan was
practically sold in a fire-sale fashion. The anti-yakuza measures
by Tokyo Metro PD have further exacerbated social tensions in
the country. NOAH got exposed in a taboo book & Cyzo for
having a Bernie Madoff/New York Mets-type ‘black money’
scandal.
A
lot of bad news for the natives has turned out to be good news
for Zuffa.
I
am not upset at Dana White for having his vanity show and planting
the UFC flag on Japanese soil. I’m amused by it. I’m
even mildly impressed that he was able to get a sold show deal
for it. No risk, all reward for him. A fun joy ride. I believe
Shu Hirata when he said that Dentsu is involved in this as a
sold show. Shu is as plugged in of an insider as you can get.
He’s always been an honest broker.
(More
on this at the end of the article.)
I
am upset, however, at the people on the ground in Japan who created
this environment. This should have never happened. Fighters who
thought they had good-paying jobs are now on the sidelines. Fewer
athletes from other sports want to take a plunge into the Japanese
fight game because the money is vanishing. The crooks who made
their money are standing on the sidelines, impotently trying
to figure out what to do next. The circumstances surrounding
the collapse of the Japanese fight game have been well-documented
by yours truly on this site since Christmas of 2005. There was
a reason why I was so passionate about the scandal that finished
PRIDE off. I saw it coming before most others did. It was preventable.
Of course, as you learn very quickly in this industry, everyone
thinks they are invincible. PRIDE was making $50M USD/year at
its peak with Fuji TV. They were drawing 15-to-20M viewers for
non-NYE events. All it took to destroy PRIDE was a weekly magazine’s
negative campaign about who was running the show.
One
of the great mistakes that Japanese promotions, largely due to
yakuza connections, make is how to export their product. New
Japan, during their peak period in the early 90s, had a chance
through Hiro Matsuda’s Ring Warriors project, to package
TV Asahi-produced NJ shows into an English-language format for
Eurosport. The powers-that-be in Japan in the end pulled the
plug on what could have changed the course of Japanese wrestling
history. It was that kind of short-sightedness that we saw on
display with K-1 & PRIDE. The names may change but the behavior
is always the same.
New
Japan is the only major player left in Japan and they are watching
the UFC Japan 2012 circus come to Saitama Super Arena. UFC will
get all the accolades for the show being successful… but
the real winner here is Dentsu.
(If
you believe that they are the power broker here as the middleman
like Shu says, which I do. It’s hard to see anyone else
with any sort of power to pull off what’s happening here.)
Dentsu
is the ad agency that handled the advertising campaigns for the
big K-1 & PRIDE shows when they were having serious success
on Fuji TV. Don Quijote, whose chairman is a huge fight fan and
has been a sponsor for all promotions big & small in Japan,
is the rumored buyer of the UFC Japan sold show. Dentsu is the
middleman. Drawing 15,000+ without any legitimate television
deal in the current economic climate that Japan is facing is
an enormous accomplishment. I cannot stress to you how much of
an undertaking this is. For all the pain & damage Don Quijote
suffered for the miserable Sengoku promotion, they will likely
get the last laugh here with the UFC Japan show.
To
put this into context, let me quote back to the November article
I wrote about the show:
I
still am sticking with 10,000 as the over/under for attendance
to this show, but I don’t know how much will be papered
and how much will be paid.
To
me, 10,000 was a generous estimate at the time given how I took
historical evidence into calculation. 12,000 would have been
classified as ‘good.’ 15,000? That’s Yokohama
Arena-level. This fight card (for people like us) is a solid
card. However, I cannot state vehemently enough that this is
a card that is over-performing and exceeding rational expectations.
It’s not a fight card that fits the traditional Japanese
booking model. I still stand by my contention that UFC would
have drawn a lot more eyeballs with a PRIDE-flavored theme card.
They would have. Still, everyone involved in the UFC Japan 2012
project has to be popping champagne corks over the fact that
a card headlined by Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson could do
legitimately way more business in Japan than it ever could in
the States.
15,000…
that’s a number that will scare New Japan. There’s
a reason why new ownership of New Japan declared UFC as a main
rival. Nine years ago, New Japan declared war on WWE. NJ didn’t
actually do much to stop WWE but image-wise it looked good. Almost
a decade later, I fully expect to see New Japan publicly declare
war on UFC. New Japan’s new owner is a huge wrestling fan
and talks like someone very smart about the fight business. He
has a lot of cash. However, he is not Dentsu and a declaration
of war against UFC will require a lot of things to fall into
place in order to be successful. If you’re into insider
baseball on the Japanese front… it will be interesting to
see which media outlets go all-in for UFC and which ones treat
them as foreigners invading their turf. We know Nikkan Sports
is backing UFC hard but there are plenty of outlets (like Tokyo
Sports) where there will be a legitimate political battle taking
place.
It
was entertaining to see the DREAM & UFC Japan Twitter accounts
follow each other this week with an exchange of pleasantries
for the upcoming show. DREAM is no longer a player that can stop
UFC from running occasionally in Japan. The UFC’s biggest
impediment into making major in-roads in Japan is the corruption
& climate that has been created by the incompetent idiots
that ran everything into the ground. I still am bearish about
UFC getting a substantial network TV deal in Japan because the
product doesn’t have much in common with the Japanese culture.
At this point, however, I don’t think Zuffa cares one bit.
If they can run cards in Japan every 18-24 months with no risk
(i.e. yakuza stooges crashing the show), then everything is good.
As
for the Japanese bastards that have destroyed what was once a
proud industry, their names will be called out soon enough and
for good reason.
A
different viewpoint
Eddie
Goldman has an incredibly fascinating interview with Tadashi
Tanaka of Miruhon.net. Tadashi says that ticket sales for the
UFC Japan show aren’t super and that it isn’t a sold
show, which contradicts everything we’ve heard from Shu
and other sources on the UFC side.
“Japanese
people mad about Zuffa and the UFC.”
“Yeah, exactly, Saturday morning, 10 o’clock, nobody
come because of the USA time zone.”
“UFC/Zuffa is not really respected in Japan because of the
PRIDE incident. They promised to continue but never figured an
agreement.”
“Japanese taste is not really UFC taste.” He brought
up how big the ring vs. cage issue is in Japan in terms of image
both with the public and the TV executives. Cage fighting is
associated with animal fighting you see in Okinawa (snakes, chicken)…
aka cockfighting.
These different viewpoints on the UFC Japan show are so wildly
different, someone is going to come off looking real bad here.
Tadashi
talked a lot about the demise of PRIDE and said that one big
reason for the organization’s troubles is oversaturation
of TV product. He says that UFC is facing the same problem right
now. “Too much is too much in killing the business.”
As
for why DREAM has been a failure as a major player: “Lack
of TV, lack of money, simple. TBS deal no more. How to survive
without TV? Without TV, you can’t continue as a major company.”
He
noted that if DREAM and Sengoku had an interpromotional series
of matches that the Sengoku fighters would have won because they
were higher quality. Tadashi says that the reason Sengoku died
is because the No. 2 man in the company “made a bad deal
behind the curtain.” The arrest of a former Don Quijiote
executive was mentioned in relation.
As
far as the future of K-1 (according to Tadashi):
He
brought up Kazuyoshi Ishii saying many years in court during
his tax evasion scandal, under oath, that he had nothing to do
with the fight business any more and now here he is wanting to
promote K-1 under a new banner.
Network TV executives don’t want anything to do with Ishii
or Tanigawa.
“So far, they’re done. They’re broke. Everybody
crazy.”
“Promotions come and go. Eventually, who’s going to
survive? I don’t know. Nobody knows.”
“Don’t get me wrong, MMA never dies in Japan.”
The
best quote of the interview was when Eddie asked Tadashi about
who exactly UFC paid to buy the PRIDE assets. (Sakakibara? The
dreaded Mr. I aka Ishizaka aka Kim Dok-Soo?)
“Who
knows? Who knows? On the surface, on the paper, you can say anything
you want.”
That
about sums up the Japanese fight landscape in one quote.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Scrappler's
Fest is Set for May 19!
Kauai's premier BJJ and Submission Grappling tournament has secured
a date for its next event.
Scrappler's Fest
Kauai
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Start preparing your team and start saving up for the trip to
compete against Kauai's best grapplers from Kauai Technical Institute
(KTI), Powerhouse, Longman, New Breed, Kamole, amongst others.
|
Kauai
cage match #12
Rumble at the Resort-Warpath to Mayhem
March 3, 2012
Kauai Beach Resort
Aloha All,
Tickets
are now on sale for Kauai cage match #12, Rumble at the Resort-Warpath
to Mayhem, March 3, 2012, Kauai Beach Resort!
We
are again breaking new ground on Kauai as this is the first ever
MMA event inside a Resort ! We have come a long way since 2005
starting MMA on Kauai and not being welcomed with open arms with
the public to now being able to host an event inside a Resort
shows the tremendous steps we have taken here on Kauai with our
promotion.
Come
and see the new up and coming fighters as they battle their way
to Mayhem at the Mansion at the end of the year!
Tickets
now available at:
Kauai Harley- Puhi
Deli and Bread- Kukui Grove
Pono Market-Kapaa
Wongs-Hanapepe
Baby Blutique- VIP
Doors open at 5:30pm
Weigh
ins will be on March 2, 2012-Kukui Grove Shopping Center- 5:30pm
Official
after Party will be at Tiano's in Lihue
For
reserve VIP seating call 808-245-5888
Mahalo
and see you all on March 3rd!!! |
Amateur
Boxing Event
Wanted to let you know the next Amateur Boxing Event will be
at the Palolo District Park Gym on Saturday, February 11, 2012.
Boxing begins at 6:30 p.m.
Boxers from Oahu, Maui, and Molokai will be Boxing.
106 lbs National Ranked #3 and Ringside World Open Champion Lisa
Ha from the Kawano Boxing Club will box against Tiana Sarme from
Southside Maui Boxing Club in the first bout. Lisa has to go
to work right after or we would have made that the main event.
11- 15 bouts scheduled, admission is $12.
Thank Your For Your Support!!!
Source: Bruce Kawano |
|