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(All events on Oahu, unless noted)
2012
12/1/12
Maui Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
(BJJ)
(Lahaina Civic Center tentatively)
11/26/12?
Aloha
State BJJ Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Kaiser H.S. Gym)
11/11-12/12
Eternal Submission Tournament
(Sub Grappling)
(Kauai)
10/20-21/12
NAGA
Hawaii
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Radford H. S. Gym)
9/8/12
Destiny: Na Koa
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
9/1/12
Toughman Hawaii
(Boxing)
(Hilo Civic Ctr)
8/18/12
Warpath to Mayhem:
Rumble at the Resort
(MMA)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Lihue, Kauai)
August
King of the Mat
(Submission Grappling)
8/4/12
Maui Open
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Lahaina Civic Center, Lahaina)
7/21/12
Sera's Kajukenbo Martial Arts Tournament
(Continuous Sparring, MMA (Controlled), and Sub. Grappling)
(War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui)
**CANCELLED**
7/14/12
King of the Cage
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Arena)
6/29/12
Vendetta 5
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
6/16-17/12
State
of Hawaii BJJ Championship
(BJJ
& Sub Grappling)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/16/12
Destiny
(MMA)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
6/15/12
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Blaisdell Exhibition Hall)
5/26/12
Toughman Hawaii Presents; King Of The Ring
(Boxing)
(Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium, Hilo)
5/19/12
Scrappler's Fest
(BJJ & Sub Grappling)
(Island School, Lihue, Kauai)
The Quest For Champions
Martial Arts Tournament 2012
(Sport-Pankration, Submission Grappling, Continuous Sparring)
(St. Louis High School Gym)
5/18/12
Vendetta 4
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom Center)
5/4/12
King of the Ring
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom)
Just Scrap XVI
(MMA)
(Maui War Memorial Gym, Wailuku)
4/28/12
Destiny
(Kickboxing & MMA)
(The Waterfront, Aloha Tower)
4/21/12
Amateur Boxing Event
Smoker Fundraiser
(Boxing)
(Palolo District Park Gym)
4/14/12
Man Up & Stand Up
(Kickboxing)
(Waipahu Filcom, Waipahu)
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
Warpath to Mayhem:
Rumble at the Resort
(MMA)
(Kauai Beach Resort, Lihue, Kauai)
Vendetta 3
(Kickboxing, 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)
|
|
September
2012 News Part 2
|
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Kickboxing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with PJ Dean &
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Wrestling program in May taught by Cedric Yogi.
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O2 Martial Arts features Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu taught by Relson
Gracie Black Belts Chris and Mike Onzuka and Kaleo Hosaka 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 competitor PJ Dean
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To top it off, Ian Beltran & Erwin Legaspi heads our Kali-Escrima
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Blaming
the spate of fighter injuries on the UFC's insurance policy is
misguided
There's
probably been twice the number of theories regarding the UFC's
astonishing amount of injuries as there have been actual fighter
injuries in 2012.
Jose
Aldo Jr. was unable to recover from his motorcycle accident injuries.
(AP)
That's a huge number considering the sheer volume of injuries
and card adjustments they've caused this year. On Tuesday, the
UFC announced that featherweight champion Jose Aldo (ankle) and
ex-light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
(elbow) had to pull out of their fights at UFC 153, set for Oct.
13 in Brazil.
On Wednesday, UFC president Dana White announced middleweight
champion Anderson Silva would meet Stephan Bonnar in a three-round
light heavyweight bout as the card's main event, replacing Aldo-Frankie
Edgar. Edgar is now off the card and will await Aldo's return
to health for a shot at the featherweight title.
Jackson's spot against Glover Teixeira has been taken by Fabio
Maldonado. At the pace the injuries are coming, the UFC may wind
up the year with over 100 of them.
White speculated that part of the reason for the uptick is that
because the fighters make so much money, they don't have the
need to fight hurt just to collect a payday. And those sitting
out see little sense in accepting matches on short notice if
they aren't desperate for an extra check.
Another theory that is gaining momentum is that the fighters
are training far too hard for far too long and it's taking a
significant toll on their bodies.
The reason for the spate of injuries is hard to pinpoint. But
the one thing that is unquestionably not a viable explanation
is a point that is becoming increasingly popular among some MMA
media and the UFC's fan base: The accident insurance policy the
UFC extended to the fighters in 2011.
Last year, the UFC announced that it would offer the coverage
to all of the fighters under contract. If a fighter suffers an
accident – whether he is hurt in training or slips and falls
on a banana peel at home – the insurance policy will cover
those costs.
Prior to that being implemented, the cost of the injury would
be covered by the individual.
The fighters are independent contractors who only get paid when
they compete. If an individual got hurt prior to May 2011, he
suffered a double whammy. Not only would he not receive a paycheck,
but he'd have to pay out of pocket to get his injuries treated.
The UFC put the policy in place 16 months ago and pays all of
the $1 million annual premium. What that has done has lifted
a financial burden off injured fighters, not given them an excuse
to pull out.
It's mind-bogglingly naive, yet there are some in the media who
point to that policy as the reason for the increase in injuries.
The reality is that a fighter who gets injured and pulls out
of a card still doesn't get paid. Vladimir Matyushenko pulled
out of his match against Matt Hamill at UFC 152 on Sept. 22 because
he tore an Achilles tendon, and he'll lose a paycheck for that.
He will, though, have all of his medical bills relating to the
Achilles tendon injury paid for by his UFC-provided policy.
By dropping from the card, Matyushenko is not cashing in. His
medical bills to treat his Achilles will be paid, but he isn't
being given money to pay his mortgage, feed his family and save
for his retirement. That's money he's out and won't recover,
unless he can take a couple of fights in quick succession when
he returns.
"They can't use accident injury insurance as a way of making
a living," UFC chief operating officer Kirk Hendrick said.
"It wouldn't create a source of income to be a multiple
claim sort of guy. What it does is, it helps them from having
to reach into their wallets and spend more money to pay their
medical costs."
[Related: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Dave Herman slated to fight
in Rio]
The insurance policy is a critical benefit, which also provides
for coverage in case of long-term disability. For fans and media
to suggest it be taken away so that fighters would be forced
to either fight injured or pay their own bills is nonsensical
and despicable.
I'm not sure I'm buying White's theory about money, though it
could have merit in some isolated cases.
Georges
St-Pierre last competed in the Octagon on April 30, 2011.
He said that because there are more fighters making significant
money now than there were seven years ago, and that those fighters
are more apt to pull out of a show. That same fighter, he said,
would have fought seven years ago because he needed the money.
He said the UFC has paid $50 million in purse money since 2005
to fighters who have come off its reality show, "The Ultimate
Fighter." The numbers paid to non-TUF fighters is far beyond
that. However, White's figures are impossible to check because
the UFC doesn't release all of the compensation its fighters
are paid.
"These guys are rich and there are a lot of multi-millionaires
that we have created," White said. "It used to be,
guys were desperate to fight. When we were struggling and couldn't
pay them like we can now, guys needed to fight to pay the rent
on time. Well, the rent is paid now if you fight in the UFC.
That's not an issue."
The injuries, though, aren't simply occurring to the highest-paid
fighters, so White's premise doesn't fully explain it.
Once studies are conducted, it's likely going to be shown that
the fighters are working way too hard in training. It's significant
to note that the National Football League Players Association
pushed very hard during last year's talks for a collective bargaining
agreement on reductions in practice time and practicing in pads.
Mixed martial arts is a young sport and the training techniques
haven't been refined over years of working out as they have been
in other sports.
That potential answer, though, needs much more examination.
But it's time to stop the nonsense about the insurance plan.
It's a great benefit that helps fighters and has nothing to do
with the spate of injuries the UFC has suffered this year.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Five
years after the fact, Michael Bisping is willing to admit he
may have been wrong about decision
Five
years ago, the mere suggestion that his win over Matt Hamill
in the O2 Arena at UFC 75 on Sept. 8, 2007, in London was unjust
evoked an over-the-top, angry response from Michael Bisping.
That response was one of the primary reasons Bisping quickly
became one of the most hated fighters in the UFC.
He's no less hated today – his taunts directed at UFC 152
opponent Brian Stann in his Yahoo! Sports blogs have outraged
many in the fan base – but he has mellowed just a touch.
Brian
Stann and Michael Bisping have traded plenty of barbs in the
build-up to their UFC 152 fight.
He's finally willing to concede there was room for debate in
the scoring of the fight, which Bisping won by split decision.
Judges Cecil Peoples and Jeff Mullen scored it 29-28 for Bisping,
while Chris Watts had it 30-27 for Hamill.
"Listen, it was a really, really close fight, a lot closer
than maybe I gave credit for after the fight," Bisping told
Yahoo! Sports. "I was a lot younger then. I had a lot of
adrenaline flowing through my body and I felt a lot of personal
animosity. In those kinds of situations, you don't always look
at things with a level head and with a clear perspective."
With the benefit of the time, Bisping admits he can understand
why so many were outraged when the decision went in his favor
instead of for Hamill.
Now, fan outrage over what is perceived to be bad scoring is
commonplace in the UFC. But the Bisping-Hamill fight marked the
first time on a large scale that fans were united that the wrong
guy got the win.
Even the partisan crowd at the O2 lustily booed the call. UFC
president Dana White was pilloried, as if he had anything to
do with the judges' scores (he doesn't).
[Also: UFC 153 takes turn for the worst as Jose Aldo, Quinton
Jackson pull out]
But in a strange way, the weird outcome boosted the fortunes
of both fighters. It cemented Bisping as the UFC's resident heel.
In an individual sport like fighting, where the personalities
of the fighters are a big factor in ticket and pay-per-view sales,
it's far better to be hated than ignored.
Bisping's made a good living off people who bought tickets and
pay-per-views hoping to see him get beaten up.
He struggled with his bad-boy reputation at first, but finally
embraced it after realizing he couldn't convince the audience
otherwise. He meets Stann on Sept. 22 at the Air Canada Centre
in Toronto in an important fight that will push him a step closer
to a title shot with a win.
Conversely, the loss may have actually helped Hamill. He bursted
onto the scene during Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter, which
Bisping won. Hamill was shaping up as Bisping's biggest threat
on the show, but he was injured and had to pull out.
As a result, the fan base somewhat lost touch with him.
After the Bisping fight, which was broadcast live before a large
audience on Spike, he reconnected with the fan base. He was no
longer simply a novelty, the deaf fighter who once appeared on
The Ultimate Fighter. He became a symbolic figure in the rally
against what was perceived to be poor MMA judging.
"In my opinion, even though it didn't seem that way at the
time, I think it's the best thing that ever happened to Matt,"
said Duff Holmes, Hamill's manager/trainer. "People would
approach us and said, 'I can't believe it; you were completely
robbed. You killed Bisping.' It catapulted Matt into the upper
echelon of fighters.
"There are a lot of guys stuck in the middle of the pack
and not many people notice them. But that fight pushed Matt into
the limelight and I think it made him a marketable star."
Hamill would go on to a solid career, though he retired after
losing back-to-back fights, to Bisping’s friend Quinton
"Rampage" Jackson at UFC 130 and then to Alexander
Gustafsson at UFC 133.
Matt
Hamill returns to the Octagon after having lost his last two
fights.
But in August, Hamill got the itch to fight again and announced
he would return against Roger Hollett. That put him on the same
card as Bisping. He'd take a fight with Bisping if it were offered,
but it's not his motivation in the second part of his career,
which he calls Hammer 2.0.
"I don't really think of Bisping too much," Hamill
said. "I just want to do things right [in my comeback].
That was an important fight for me at the time, but that was
five years ago and we're both different now than we were."
Hamill was offered a rematch with Bisping at UFC 78, but he was
injured and couldn't accept it. Bisping then fought Rashad Evans
in the main event of that show, losing a hotly disputed decision.
Bisping has gone on to become one of the UFC's most recognizable
fighters. He has no desire, though, to see Hamill in the ring
again despite the opportunity it would present for him to prove
that his 2007 win was legitimate.
"He's a hell of a fighter and he's had some big fights and
I'm happy for him," Bisping said. "But I'm beyond that
now. In this sport, it's like there are controversial decisions
every card. You can't give rematches every time one happens,
because then the divisions wouldn't move along.
"Matt retired and I moved on. We're at different places
now. It would be nice to see him get a win and I wish him well,
but fighting him again does nothing for my career, so I have
no interest in it."
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Gurgel
comments on ADCC 2013: “It’s 90% likely it’ll
be in São Paulo”
Fabio
Gurgel during training with Marcelo Garcia: “After Marcelinho,
I think Zé Mario has the most ADCC trophies of anybody.”
GRACIEMAG:
How did this offer to face Zé Mario Sperry that’s
been abuzz with the fans since yesterday come about?
FABIO
GURGEL: Right, well they got me off the couch (laugh). I’d
hurd murmurs of it, since there’d been some poll on the
internet about who should face Zé Mario in the next supermatch,
him having won his match in England and all. And the names that
got the most votes were me and Rickson. I don’t feel like
this is a mission for Rickson. Guy Neivens called me yesterday,
and I accepted. It would be an honor. Aside from Marcelo [Garcia],
I think Zé Mario is the guy with the most ADCC titles
of anybody.
He
has a win over Renzo, won the absolute there, has more tournament-format
experience. Have you had any notable No-Gi matches?
I’ve
only ever really been at the 1999 ADCC, where I lost to a Russian.
The guy ran away the whole match. I only got to touch him with
20 seconds left—things that only happened in the Abu Dhabis
of back then. But I don’t feel like I’m at any disadvantage
at all. We’ll be going there to put on a good show for you
guys. The odd part is that half an hour before Guy called me
I was training No-Gi at Alliance. Every Friday is No-Gi day at
the academy, a sort of casual Friday, without the suit jacket
(laughs). So I’m always training, and you can be sure I’ll
be in great physical shape.
You
haven’t faced Zé Mario before. What are your expectations?
That’s
the coolest part. Zé is the only guy from my generation
who I haven’t faced yet. Murilo Bustamante, Amaury Bitetti,
Ricardo Libório—I’ve faced them all. But I never
did cross paths with Zé. Only at the 1997 Worlds were
we supposed to face each other in the semifinals, but he ended
up having to pull out because he wasn’t feeling well. So
we’ve still got that one to account for.
Is
this an unpredictable match or do you have a picture of what
you two will be doing?
The
two of us have similar styles. Like I said when joking with you
yesterday, I could ask him to pull guard on me. I don’t
think that’s going to happen, though (laughs). To me what
I need to do is go in there with it in my head that I’m
not just going to win, but give the crowd their kicks, to not
let anyone down. I think that’s what he has in mind too,
so it’ll be a great party. And the best part is that it
should be in São Paulo. At least that’s what the
forecast is; there’s a 90% likelihood it’ll be in our
backyard. I like traveling with the athletes and all, but here
in Brazil we’ll be able to promote the ADCC a lot better.
Any
idea who’ll be in your corner?
Alliance
has got its fair share of champions, so I’ll certainly have
someone there to give me the right pointers. It could be Marcelo,
Rubens Cobrinha or Romero Jacaré. We’ll see about
that in training, depending on who stands out in tactical training.
Truth is, having a cornerman hardly helps you at all. It’s
not going to win the fight for you. I don’t win matches
for them, and they don’t win matches for me. But it’ll
be cool. Nor do I know who’s going to want to compete at
the 2013 ADCC, but we’ll be looking into that; we have time.
We also have to see who’ll be cornering our athletes, since
I’ll be pretty focused on my match, getting ready to do
my job.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
SOO
CHUL KIM, LEANDRO ISSA REMATCH FOR BANTAMWEIGHT BELT AT ONE FC
6 ‘RISE OF KINGS’
Sherdog.com
confirmed Friday with a source close to the Singapore-based promotion
that Korean talent Soo Chul Kim will rematch Brazilian-born competitor
Leandro Issa at One FC 6 for the promotion's inaugural bantamweight
championship.
Dubbed
“Rise of Kings,” the event takes place Oct. 6 at Singapore
Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. The pay-per-view event
will feature two more to-be-announced title fights, as well as
a lightweight showdown between former Dream champion Shinya Aoki
and Arnaud Lepont.
Issa
and Kim previously met at One FC’s debut event roughly one
year ago, with Issa walking away from “Champion vs. Champion”
with a unanimous decision. Since that time, Issa, 28, has competed
just once, taking a unanimous decision from former Deep and Cage
Rage champion Masakazu Imanari at One FC 4 in June. Now living
in Singapore and training at Evolve MMA, “Brodinho”
rides a seven-fight winning streak heading into his rematch with
Kim.
Just
20 years old, Kim has already competed 10 times as a professional,
racking up a 4-1 record to start his career before running into
Issa in his One FC foray. Two more defeats would then follow
for the Korean, who was quickly submitted by Gustavo Falciroli
and then outpointed by Jae Hoon Moon to begin 2012. The Team
Force representative rebounded with a pair of wins, however,
most recently snatching a unanimous verdict from URCC champion
Kevin Belingon on Aug. 31 at One FC 5.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Dana
White: “What exactly did I say about Jon Jones that was
so horrible?”
ARIEL
HELWANI: “Just a few days removed, of course, the big news
that UFC 151 was canceled. Obviously, you were very fired up
when you made this announcement. Have you calmed down? Has it
subsided? How are you feeling just a few days out?”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah, I have. I, uh… you know, I had my
moment where I was upset. Again, one of the things that I like
to do is I like consistency, I loved that we never canceled an
event, you know, and there were times where people felt, you
know… should you have made that certain event a PPV? But
the show always goes on. People don’t realize, you know,
the collateral damage that goes down, how many people are depending
on these events to happen. Not just the fighters and not just
the UFC but so many other people that are, you know, either work
for or our invested in this and, you know… in some way.
And, uh, it’s the first time that we’ve ever had to
do it. So, yeah, I was a little emotional about it.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Any regrets with the way it was handled
from the UFC’s end?”
DANA WHITE: “Nope. I don’t want to speak for the UFC.
I’ll say no on my end, no. I have no regrets whatsoever.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You were obviously very emotional, you said
a lot of things about Jon Jones, your UFC Light Heavyweight champion,
his trainer Greg Jackson, who doesn’t work for you but obviously
a part of the sport. There’s nothing you would take back?”
DANA WHITE: “Nothing, no. What exactly did I say about Jon
Jones that was so horrible?”
ARIEL HELWANI: “I think if you want to get into that specific
statement, I think Jon Jones… you can criticize from today
until next year for not taking this fight. A lot of other people
have stepped up on shorter notice, right?”
DANA WHITE: “Right.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “But I don’t think it is fair to solely
criticize. SOLELY, one guy only.”
DANA WHITE: “I agree with that. You’re right. This
might be the first time I ever agree with you.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Right.”
DANA WHITE: “And I agree with you, you’re absolutely
right.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “So, when I say solely, obviously I’m
talking about his team.”
DANA WHITE: “Well, not just his team. There is some truth,
too, to … Dan Henderson knew two weeks before the fight.
Two weeks before he told me he was injured… he knew. And
had he given me that two weeks, like he should have, this fight
might have happened.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “And you could make a case that he’s
more at fault in all of this because usually when a guy gets
hurt, they need to call you up, right?”
DANA WHITE: “He’s definitely to blame, too, but there’s
never been a case ever in UFC history where a guy didn’t
step up and take the fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “How would you characterize your relationship
with Jon Jones right now?”
DANA WHITE: “Um… you know, I don’t think that
I… Jon and I haven’t talked since the incident. Do
I hate Jon Jones or have any animosity toward him right now?
I don’t. If I did, I’d tell you, I think you know that.
But it’s just one of these things. We’ll find out,
you know, as uh… as we move along in our relationship, we’ll
find out where we’re at.
“Obviously this thing that just went down is… a little
weird. It’s never happened before but, I mean, Jon Jones
is… all my other interactions with Jon Jones have been good.
He’s a young guy. He’s a young guy… um… has
he made some bad choices and some bad decisions? Yeah. Who doesn’t
when they’re his age? Seriously. Imagine being, if I went
back again in my life and I was 23 years old, a ton of fame,
a ton of money and everything else… That’s when you
make all your mistakes. The great thing about making all of your
mistakes in your 20s is that when you’re really start(ing)
to establish yourself in your late 20s and early 30s, you’ve
already done all the stupid stuff and, you know, you can conduct
yourself in, you know, the way that you should.”
Jonathan Snowden: Jon Jones plays the race card
Other quotes
ARIEL HELWANI: “It seems like finally Georges St. Pierre
and Anderson Silva want to fight each other. How close are we
to actually seeing that fight?”
DANA WHITE: “I think we’re pretty close. I mean, if
Georges St. Pierre beats (Carlos) Condit, that could be the next
fight.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Really?”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Why all of a sudden, though? Because people
were talking about it three years ago when there were no contenders
in those divisions…”
DANA WHITE: “Right.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Now there are tons.”
DANA WHITE: “Right.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “How did this happen?”
DANA WHITE: “No idea. These guys want to fight each other
now. I think that… if you’re a fighter and you’ve
dominated as long as Anderson has and you’ve been great
as long as Georges has, you finally want to say ‘you know,
I want to test myself, I think I can beat this guy.’”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What weight class do you think that will
happen in?”
DANA WHITE: “They’ll probably do the fight at 180.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Really?”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah. At one point, it sounded like Anderson
wanted to go to 170 and take Georges’ Welterweight title.
Yeah. That was what he was talking at one point. Then it was
180 at catch weight because Georges doesn’t want to go to
185, he’s going to stay at 170 and says if I had to make
the move to go to 185, I’d have to stay at 185, you know?
So… we figure that a 180 pound catch weight make sense.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Just curious… Could that be a Texas
Stadium-type of show, like a massive deal? That would be one
of the biggest fights ever, right?”
DANA WHITE: “If that fight happens, it will probably happen
at Dallas –Texas Stadium.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You went on The Underground, the very popular
MMA web site recently and you, I guess, asked the fans. This
came up in a discussion about Brock Lesnar who doesn’t fight
in the UFC versus your good friend Fedor Emelianenko.”
DANA WHITE: “Who doesn’t fight in the UFC.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Exactly.”
DANA WHITE: “What happened was people were asking me, there
was a question could Dana make this fight. And then I asked them,
well how many people really want to see this fight? I was asking
a question.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “But the response has been overwhelmingly
yes.”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “What does that tell you?”
DANA WHITE: “You know…”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You always say you give the people the fights
they want.”
DANA WHITE: “Yeah. I guess a couple of people want to see
that fight. *laughs*”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Are you going to try to make it?”
DANA WHITE: “Uh… I’ll tell you this. I have done…
heh… I’ve done so much to try to get Fedor into the
UFC, I think you guys know at one point and you know how I am,
especially when I say it publicly like this is an obsession,
I got to get this thing done. I tried to get it done and it was
just… you know… and the crazy thing is now everybody’s
asking me, are you going to make this fight, when you know Fedor’s
retired. The guy retired.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “You don’t think you could get him back?”
DANA WHITE: “I don’t know. I mean, I couldn’t
get him when he was fighting. Now we’re on such good terms
that I’m going to pull him out of retirement? Heh.”
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Ranking
the Undefeated UFC Fighters: Fan’s Take
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship is the premiere mixed martial
arts promotion in the world. When talking about the top fight
companies, UFC is the easy No. 1 pick, while promotions like
Strikeforce, Titan Fighting Championship and Bellator Fighting
Championship fight over the second spot. To be the best fighter
in the world, you need to compete in the UFC and succeed. Currently,
just five fighters have gone undefeated in the UFC with at least
five fights (WEC records excluded). Where do these fighters rank?
1. Anderson Silva, UFC Middleweight Champion, 15-0 UFC record
Silva is easily the greatest fighter in the promotion and the
greatest fighter in the history of the sport. He has beaten the
best fighters in the world and for the most part, has done so
with relative ease. He has knocked off Chael Sonnen and Rich
Franklin (2x each), Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Yushin Okami,
Vitor Belfort and several other top fighters.
2. Junior dos Santos, UFC Heavyweight Champion, 9-0 UFC record
If it weren't for Silva, dos Santos would be at the top of the
list. The dangerous heavyweight has great striking and scary
knockout power. The way he demolished Cain Velasquez to win the
heavyweight title can attest to the power behind his hands.
3. Benson Henderson, UFC Lightweight Champion, 5-0 UFC record
Henderson has quietly had five fights in the UFC since WEC fighters
moved to the promotion, and is showing everyone that the WEC
had great fighters. He has defeated Frankie Edgar twice inside
the Octagon, and has also knocked off other top contenders like
Clay Guida and Jim Miller.
4. Chris Weidman, 5-0 UFC record
The middleweight division's biggest prospect has gone 5-0 inside
the Octagon and has already had many people calling for a title
shot with Anderson Silva. Unfortunately for him, Silva is fighting
Stephan Bonnar at UFC 153 in a light heavyweight fight and has
aspirations of fighting Georges St-Pierre after that. Weidman's
time will come as he could be the man to dethrone Silva.
5. Travis Browne, 4-0-1 record
Browne has beaten some tough heavyweights since joining the UFC,
including Stefan Struve, Rob Broughton and Chad Griggs, but hasn't
fought anyone like his next opponent, Antonio "Big Foot"
Silva, yet. Still, he makes the list in the fifth spot since
he has fought five times in the promotion.
Source:
Sherdog
|
The
Villain: Jon Jones and Michael Bisping Talk About Embracing the
Hate in MMA
In
every sport, athletes are often cast as either hero or villain.
There
are those competitors that are routinely cheered and well liked
amongst fans and media. Then there are those that often vilified
whether through actions or words, and deep down none of them
may actually be “bad guys,” but they are treated as
such when they walk into an arena or are shown on a TV screen.
In
2010 when LeBron James made his infamous “decision”
to join the Miami Heat, he was lambasted in the press for his
transgression to not only put on an hour-long special to announce
his move to Miami, but to flaunt it in such an open forum while
abandoning his hometown team in Cleveland where he started his
NBA career.
Over
the next NBA season, James was routinely booed in every arena
he appeared in, and despite his jersey sales still reaching some
of the top numbers in the entire NBA, he was the league’s
biggest villain for an entire year based around one moment on
ESPN when he uttered that famous phrase, “I’m taking
my talents to South Beach.”
The
last few weeks have been eerily similar for UFC light heavyweight
champion Jon Jones, who didn’t make his “decision”
in such a public forum like a live interview on ESPN, but instead
opted to turn down a short-notice fight with Chael Sonnen after
his original opponent Dan Henderson dropped out due to injury
in a conversation with his bosses.
Right
or wrong, whether one fighter should be held responsible for
that action happening, Jones was seen as the catalyst behind
the first major UFC event being cancelled in 11 years.
Now
as he heads into his next scheduled fight at UFC 152 against
Vitor Belfort, the questions continue to come at Jones about
his decision to turn down the fight a few weeks earlier at UFC
151, and some of his reactions have been met with harsh criticism.
He
has stated that he’s not in the sport to be loved, he has
nothing to prove to anyone, and has no regrets about his decision
to not fight at UFC 151. Jones took pot shots at opponent Dan
Henderson for his “old man” status and blamed his knee
injury for him not fighting at UFC 151.
All
of this has led Jones to a precarious situation with fans as
he heads into his next fight because he was already on shaky
ground with many of them for his perceived “cocky”
nature and many have accused him for being “fake” in
the past. This latest scenario has only tossed Jones back into
the fire of public scrutiny, but he says he’s not embracing
the role of villain the way James did after his decision led
to Cleveland fans going as far as burning his jersey in the streets.
“I
am not going to say I embraced the role of being a villain because
I am not,” Jones told MMAWeekly.com recently. “I am
not a villain; I am not a bad person. I pride myself off of inspiring
others. For all the people that think I am cocky, it’s like
if you really listen to what I talk about, if you talk to me
about fighting you may hear something that is a little arrogant
because, right now, I train so hard to not even get hit, let
alone talk about rousing a fight.
“So
it is like I love this sport so much, I own it to myself to think
of myself in the highest regard, so I am not going to apologize
if I am a little full of myself when it comes to MMA.”
The
defensive nature of Jones’ response may just cast him even
deeper into the villain role, but the UFC’s top light heavyweight
insists that he’s not a bad guy. Jones says he’s actually
a very nice guy, who gives back to his sport and his teammates
every day.
“I
am the nicest person ever to everyone who has ever met me,”
Jones said. “I’m the nicest person to people. Every
day I walk into Jackson’s gym and I hand out boxes of equipment.
I order stuff all the time for my teammates and just give it
out. I just give it to people. I am like the nicest person ever.”
Extolling
one’s own virtues may not be the best way to ingratiate
oneself in the public eye, but Jones has been taking a beating
lately and his natural defense is simply to remind people that
he’s not really a bad guy.
If
there’s one fighter who can relate to being the “bad
guy” in MMA, it’s former Ultimate Fighter winner Michael
Bisping.
Over
the last few years, Bisping has become public enemy No. 1 in
most MMA fan circles, and he’s learned to embrace the hate.
Quite often when the boos reach their loudest is when you’ll
see the biggest smile on Bisping’s face, but even he admits
it takes time to reach the point where you can take the disdain
from fans and turn it into a positive.
“See
the thing is that comes with time. Obviously I’ve been around
it for a while now before anyone even knew who Jon Jones was.
At first it gets you a little upset, because you’ve gone
from everyone loving you to thinking you’re a (expletive).
It takes some time coming round,” Bisping told MMAWeekly
Radio recently when asked if Jones should embrace the villain
role.
“Cause
at first you want everyone to like you, and you try to change
them and you try to put out the correct responses, and you’re
thinking about this and the marketing and the PR and all the
rest of it. But then after a certain amount of time you’ve
just got to think ‘awww (expletive) it, if that’s what
they’re going to think, that’s what they’re going
to think,’ and go with it. That’s certainly how it
was for me.”
Early
in his journey in the UFC, Bisping was beloved by fans, but it
quickly turned to venom and it wasn’t an overnight trip
where he learned to embrace it.
“I
got cheered at first. I fought at UFC 66 when Chuck Liddell fought
Tito (Ortiz) for the second time, and that was in Vegas, and
the crowd was fantastic. It wasn’t long before they were
all booing me. It’s hard to transition. We’re all human
beings, we’re sensitive, especially fighters. We’re
emotional, sensitive people,” said Bisping.
“So
at first you can’t understand it and maybe it might upset
you a little bit, but after a while you’ve just got to go
with it.”
Michael Bisping: ‘Just Because We’re Fighting Doesn’t
Mean I Have to Hate the Guy’
Bisping has learned very well to just go with it, and despite
his status as the UFC’s biggest villain, he remains one
of the biggest draws and most requested interviews. Bisping is
just being himself all the time now, and doesn’t fight to
please anyone any more.
“I’m
certainly not one of these fake (expletive). Trust me, there’s
a lot of fake people out there that will be a nice guy to your
face, on camera or whatever they’re super nice, but when
there’s not a camera around, they’re absolutely (expletive).
I’m not naming names, but I’m not one of those guys,”
said Bisping.
“Either
I’m a good guy or I’m consistently an (expletive),
one or the other.”
Is
it time for Jon Jones to learn from Michael Bisping and just
accept the role of villain or can he buck the system and find
love from the fans again?
UFC
152 will be the first test for Jones after the debacle surrounding
the cancellation of UFC 151, and the fans reaction to him in
Toronto will be the real litmus test to his future as hero or
villain in MMA.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Ednaldo
Oliveira vs. Krzysztof Soszynski Reportedly Set For UFC on FX
6
The
venue is yet to be announced, but another fight has been added
to UFC on FX 6, which will take place on Dec. 15 in Australia.
Brazilian Ednaldo Oliveira will debut at light heavyweight against
Krzysztof Soszynski, according to Brazilian reporter Guilherme
Cruz.
The
show will also serve as the TUF: Australia vs UK “The Smashes”
series finale. It’s fitting that TUF alum Soszynski, who
has previously fought for the UFC in Australia, takes his place
on the card.
The
announcement crushes the rumor that Soszynski, who lost to Igor
Pokrajac via knockout in December last year had retired from
the sport. Oliveira steps down to 205 pounds for the fight on
the back of a submission loss to Gabriel Gonzaga.
The
fight is expected to take place on the preliminary card, with
two fights already confirmed for the main card.
Hector
Lombard will look to bounce back from a disappointing UFC debut
loss when he takes on Rousimar Palhares. Also on the card, the
two TUF “Smashes” coaches, George Sotiropoulos and
Ross Pearson, clash and the TUF winners will be crowned.
While
no venue has been formally confirmed, MMAWeekly.com sources indicated
that Queensland is one of the locations in the running to host
the show.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Georges
St-Pierre Excited for New Challenges in Much Different Welterweight
Division
The
last time Georges St-Pierre appeared in the UFC Octagon in April
2011 and defeated Jake Shields, it looked as if he had cleared
out all of the challengers at 170 pounds.
Unfortunately
for St-Pierre, a knee injury forced him into surgery and out
of the cage for the rest of 2011 and what will end up being most
of 2012, as well.
But
as the Canadian champion embarks on his return to action in November,
he comes back to an entirely new list of contenders at welterweight.
Mainstays like Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck are still around,
but after they suffered recent losses, St-Pierre will now be
greeted by new top ten competitors like Martin Kampmann and Johny
Hendricks.
It’s
safe to say Georges St-Pierre returns to a whole different world
than the one he left a year ago.
“It’s
a lot of fun. It’s like there’s a lot of new challenges
and I’m very happy to be back. It’s like a new thing;
it’s actually pretty cool,” St-Pierre told MMAWeekly.com
recently.
“I
feel a lot more motivation right now. It’s exciting. Look
for bigger and better challenges.”
The
first challenge that greets him upon his return is UFC interim
welterweight champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154 in Montreal this
November. Condit earned the shot by defeating UFC bad boy Nick
Diaz earlier this year.
For
most of his career, Condit has been known as a power striker
with slick submissions, who loves the knockout blow. But in his
fight with Diaz, Condit attacked with precision and employed
a strategy that befuddled and confused his opponent for the better
part of 25 minutes.
St-Pierre was watching closely and he knows that Condit is more
than just a striker with heavy punches and vicious knees. He
now knows he’s a complete mixed martial artist with a bag
full of tricks he can surely unload when they meet at UFC 154.
“He
can change, that’s why he’s so good. He can change
the way he fights according to his opponent. That’s why
he’s so good and I know that,” St-Pierre said. “I’m
going to take that fight and fight the best I can, and give it
all I can.”
In
his absence, St-Pierre’s name has come up often with the
other welterweights in the division. Some have talked about him
with respect, others not so much, but it doesn’t matter
much to the long reigning welterweight champion.
Talk
or no talk, St-Pierre is looking forward to gunning for each
contender, one by one, until he beats them all.
“I’m
going to hit as hard as I can,” said St-Pierre. “Regardless
whether they talk bad or not.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Internal
memos from Sacramento CSAC office reveal utter chaos & rules
violations
Since
the events that transpired this past weekend at the Tachi Palace
show (streamed online by Sherdog) in Lemoore, California, we’ve
had a flood of tips from insiders about some of the chaos on
the ground at shows regulated by the California State Athletic
Commission. Referee Marcos Rosales found himself suffering the
brunt of online fury for bad officiating of fights at the Tachi
event, but he has not been the only one under the microscope
this past weekend for being involved in what can only be described
as utter chaos in Sacramento.
Before we tell you about what transpired at the K-1 event this
past Saturday night at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, there is
something you should know that is going down behind the scenes
that provides a perfect illustration of how the Department of
Consumer Affairs is destroying any sense of competency with CSAC.
We have gotten our hands on some internal memos sent out by the
Sacramento office to CSAC workers that reveal just how reckless,
careless, and law-breaking the attitude is right now towards
fighters and promoters. If you think the inspectors have a thankless
job right now regulating shows under the ‘3 inspector policy,’
wait until you read some of the marching orders being dished
out by Consumer Affairs.
Screwballs, screw-ups, & screwjobs
For an operation that screwed up drug testing protocols at the
Strikeforce show last month in San Diego, can’t manage a
box office and is missing up to 7-figures in revenue due to not
auditing ticket manifests, can’t seem to avoid illegal hand-wraps
& skinned gloves at shows where fighters & trainers are
openly cheating, and is openly altering fighter paperwork &
losing medical documentation… everything sure seems to be
really rosy right now as far as getting the job done, isn’t
it?
One of the worst aspects about the California State Athletic
Commission not auditing the event packages after they arrive
in Sacramento (from the lead inspectors) is that they aren’t
auditing the licensing application transactions involving fighters,
seconds, and managers. They aren’t checking the revenue
amounts to see if more licenses are being issued than the amount
of money that has been properly collected. In other words, if
promoters or inspectors are pocketing some of the cash from the
transactions as opposed to sending the revenue back to Sacramento.
It is this kind of disregard of the law that has blasted the
door wide open to all sorts of funny business when it comes to
the licensing process with the commission.
In a startling memo sent last Friday at 5 PM by Department of
Consumer Affairs lifer Kathi Burns to those who work for the
California State Athletic Commission, Burns issued new guidelines
regarding the licensing application transaction process. Standard
protocol has been for those filing out a licensing application
to pay by check, cash, or have their fees deducted from the fight
purse. Simple enough to follow, right? You take care of the transactions
at the weigh-ins the day before an event, the lead inspector
gives the parties involved a receipt, and the transaction is
documented in the event package envelope sent back to Sacramento.
As we’ve demonstrated in previous articles, many lead inspectors
simply are not documenting the licensing application transactions
because they’re not producing the receipts. This results
in fighters being asked at their next event to fill out new application
forms and lead inspectors are being ordered by Sacramento to
back-date the documentation.
So, given that pretext, Kathi Burns sent out a memo giving inspectors
some bizarre orders regarding the licensing process.
3. Do not issue the standard license/receipt for application
payments that come to us in the mail, unless the license is ready
to issue at the time the payment is received – meaning all
licensing requirements have been met. Once the applicant has
met all of the licensing requirements, then the receipt and license
can be completed and mailed out. Inspectors – do not issue
the receipt/license in the field (weigh-in) to a fighter who
is paying the fee out of their purse. Give them the license during
suspension/payoff, after they have fought and there is a purse
to deduct from. We can’t issue the license without obtaining
the fee. This also prevents us from issuing licenses to fighters
who back out at the last minute and therefore have no purse from
which to deduct the fee.
4. Everyone – please try to get fighters to pay the application
fee before they fight. We need to get away from having it deducted
from their purse. I know this seems difficult, but procedurally,
it’s the right thing to do.
(Ed. — Preferably, the fighters should be licensed prior
to the weigh-in. That’s the best-case scenario, but it’s
never followed through. This should be done by the Sacramento
office before the event package is prepared. If it was handled
properly and professionally, that’s the way things should
be done.)
Fighters should (ed — shall) be fully licensed prior to
stepping in the ring/cage and in order to be fully licensed,
the application fee needs to have been paid.
Internal blowback
Before I break down just how nonsensical these remarks are, let’s
take a look at a response sent by the uncle of Chief Athletic
Inspector Che Guevara, Joe Guevara. The remarks were sent to
Kathi Burns on Monday morning.
#3 and 4 Correct me if I’m wrong but, doesn’t a fighter
supposed to be licensed before he/she is to sign a contract to
fight? Why are we continuing to allow the promoter and fighter
to get away with this simple rule?
It turns out Uncle Joe is exactly right. Look at the rules &
regulations:
§ 216. License Required.
Boxer
and managers licensed in other jurisdictions signing a contract
with a promoter to box in this state shall have made application
for a license with this commission and the boxer shall have been
issued a license prior to signing any contract. Failure to comply
with this rule may result in denial of any application received
from such boxer or manager pending a hearing before the commission.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, 18641 and 18642, Business and Professions
Code.
The
reason we highlight the difference between “should”
and “shall” is that the law uses the word shall. Shall
leaves no room for interpretation. You know what it means. “Should”
can be used as a weasel word for flexibility of enforcing the
law, which is entirely possible if you have someone sending a
memo to an inspector who doesn’t know all the rules &
regulations in the first place.
Now, with that squared away, let’s break down Kathi’s
marching orders here.
do not issue the receipt/license in the field (weigh-in) to a
fighter who is paying the fee out of their purse.
This is, without a doubt, total BS.
If the commission is going after promoters for needing at least
$50,000 in liquid assets in order to cover payroll for shows,
then why would the commission be worried about getting their
cash for license fees from the purse if the promoter has to ensure
they have the funds to pay everyone in the first place?
If the front office was doing their job and auditing the event
packages being sent to them by the lead inspectors, then they
could take care of any discrepancies regarding the box office
numbers by contacting the promoter in question and squaring away
any sort of financial differences. Because they don’t do
audit the paperwork they are supposed to audit, you end up with
all kinds of screwed up box office numbers. Again, this falls
entirely on the commission to do their job in the first place
by following their own rules & regulations — something
which they never do. So, instead of worrying about hundreds of
thousands to millions of dollars in missing revenue, they are
worried about nickel-and-dime crap regarding fighters getting
licensed. Perfect. Penny wise and pound foolish thy name is Sacramento.
In the bigger picture, it has always been protocol to allow licensees
to have fees deducted from their purse. Some fighters simply
aren’t going to show up with the cash to be able to cover
the costs of the the licensing transactions. There is nothing
wrong with asking for the fees to be deducted from the fight
purse, especially when you are vigorously enforcing a rule on
the book that says that the promoter must have $50,000 in liquid
assets available to cover a show.
Give them the license during suspension/payoff, after they have
fought and there is a purse to deduct from. We can’t issue
the license without obtaining the fee. This also prevents us
from issuing licenses to fighters who back out at the last minute
and therefore have no purse from which to deduct the fee.
If you give a fighter, trainer, second, or manager their license
after the fight has taken place, how can you suspend any of them
for any adverse actions that took place during a fight (breaking
of the rules such as illegal hand-wraps) when you, as a commission,
allowed a person to fight while legally unlicensed? You can’t.
It’s like a fighter who fails a drug test when they’re
not official licensed. You can stop from licensing them but you
can’t suspend them. Same deal here.
Common sense tells you that if you are instructing inspectors
to finalize the licensing transaction after a fight, then why
are you as a commission allowing said individuals to sign commission-approved
fight contracts at the weigh-ins before the event?
Furthermore, if someone applies for a license and they don’t
pay the fee, common sense would tell you that the lead inspector
would simply notify the Sacramento office about the fee not being
paid and the person in question wouldn’t be allowed to participate
at the show because they aren’t licensed. It’s a no
harm, no foul situation. Why is this an issue for the CSAC front
office now? Maybe because they haven’t been auditing the
licensing fee transactions all along in the event packages being
sent to them by the lead inspectors at shows?
Fighters should be fully licensed prior to stepping in the ring/cage
and in order to be fully licensed, the application fee needs
to have been paid.
One paragraph above in the same memo, she’s instructing
the lead inspectors to not finalize the licensing transaction
until after the fight has taken place. Is your head spinning
like everyone else that has read this memo and tried to decipher
what it means? It should be.
The response
After Uncle Joe Guevara plainly stated the obvious problem with
Kathi Burns’ memo that was sent out last Friday, Burns responded
on Monday morning with this memo to everyone:
It’s not simple and in a perfect world a lot of things would
be different. Let’s just try to make the best of it until
things can change.
Regarding the handing out of the license/receipt – It’s
OK so hand out the license/receipts on the day of the fight,
before the fight, instead of after each bout. Just don’t
hand them out at the weigh-in. If the fighter shows up at the
event, it’s pretty likely that the fight will occur and
the purse will be earned and available to cover the licensing
fees. I understand trying to find and hand out licenses/receipt
to seconds after the bout would be very difficult.
How did the fighter get on the event card and sign a contract
if “fees need to have been paid”? These things can
only be done if the fighter is licensed. This is a prime example
that Kathy and Che have no clue as to what they are doing, unless
they are just trying to confuse the event staff.
Her response to Joe Guevara is to back down from giving out the
receipt for the applications after the fight but to not give
the receipt at the weigh-ins? What is the big deal here about
the lead inspectors giving the receipts at the weigh-ins? The
weigh-ins happen to be where the fight contracts are signed,
so why is she still demanding that fighters sign the bout agreements
while legally being considered unlicensed fighters? Kathi didn’t
alleviate Uncle Joe’s concern here regarding boxers &
managers who are unlicensed from signing bout agreements that
the commission signs off on.
The only change in her language is how fast she backed off from
the “no purse deduction’ policy. Within 72 hours, you
go from telling everyone to no longer let fighters deduct fees
from their purse (“and in order to be fully licensed, the
application fee needs to have been paid”) to saying it’s
OK since the fighter in question is likely to show up at the
event and fight?
What the hell is going on here?
Instructions for drug testing protocols opens up a can of worms
Kathi Burns caused chaos with her drug testing protocols at the
Strikeforce show in San Diego. If you thought the drama ended
there with drug testing and inspectors, think again.
A memo was sent out to inspectors with instructions on how to
implement drug testing protocols that the Sacramento office wants
used. This memo was sent out by Kathi Burns, the same person
who messed up the labeling protocols when she handled the drug
testing at the Strikeforce show last month in San Diego. The
same person who had not handled athletic drug testing before
in her life until she decided to oversee it at the San Diego
event. Yeah, her, she’s the one who is sending out this
drug testing memo to the inspectors at CSAC.
Take a look at these instructions:
DRUG TESTING PROCEDURES
1.
Testing should be done the day of the event, before or after
the fight.
2.
All testing must be directly observed, unless a gender specific
inspector is unavailable. Remember, it is your job to ensure
that the athlete does not cheat.
3.
If testing for Steroids, mark CSAC #1, if testing for Drugs of
Abuse mark CSAC #2. If testing for both, mark both.
4.
Use the last 4 digits of the athlete’s social security number
for the Sample Code number – mark the numbers in the first
four boxes. DO NOT fill-in the left over boxes. If the fighter
does not have SS #, use their visa or other ID card number.
5.
Write last 4 digits of Athletes social on the front of the urine
cup, and on the seal label. The new seal label has a place for
Initials – DO NOT initial, instead write the 4 digit number
there, as well as on the front of the cup.
6.
DO NOT POP CUP. Just throw away the key (if the cup is popped
the test is invalid)
7.
Send in to UCLA as normal – address is on the lab slip.
8.
REMEMBER: the sample cannot leave the custody of the CSAC. It
must be securely maintained at all times.
On
point #1, do you notice the vagueness there regarding which tests
can/should be done – are we talking about the steroid test
or are we talking about the drugs of abuse test, which includes
diuretics? There’s a lot of problems with this guideline.
For example, if you give the test for drugs of abuse to a fighter
before they fight and you allow them some time after the test
to get ready for their fight, what’s to say that they can’t
pop a greenie (amphetamine) and essentially eliminate the importance
of the test?
The second problem is if you administer the test for drugs of
abuse with a fighter before their bout and you decide to do a
preliminary reading out in the field using reagents and your
preliminary test results indicates something may be wrong —
what are you going to do about it? Are you going to stop the
fight from happening? If you stop a fight from happening and
the UCLA lab checks out the sample and says that it was a false
positive, aren’t you opening yourself up to a big lawsuit
there? By the same token, what if the preliminary test reading
comes back positive, you ignore the result, and you let the fight
go on and someone in the fight gets hurt? Imagine that scenario
where someone gets hurt, the sample in the preliminary reading
is positive, and the UCLA lab runs their analysis on the sample
and it turns out positive? You have a huge mess on your hands
then.
On point #2, there shouldn’t be an issue regarding gender-specific
inspectors being available to procure drug testing samples. The
Northern California crew includes Sarah Waklee & Nichole
Bowles. The Southern California crew includes Valerie Douglas,
who works for the state’s Corrections department. There
are female inspectors who can get the samples from female fighters
and we know there are plenty of male inspectors who can get the
urine samples from male fighters. So, why are the female inspectors
procuring urine samples from the men and male inspectors procuring
urine samples from the ladies?
Notice the language used here — if you don’t have the
right gender of inspector, the inspector in question therefore
cannot directly observe the testing? What is this about?
On point #5, what is the point of having a seal label that can
be initialed and then instructing the inspectors to not initial
it? The point of inspectors putting their initials on the label
is to demonstrate the chain of custody process. It ties in with
point #8. Custody is not the issue. Chain of custody is the issue.
There’s a difference. If Inspector A transfers the sample
to Inspector B and Inspector C sends it off to the UCLA lab,
all three inspectors need to be able to testify that they handled
the sample. Chain of custody, not just plain custody of the sample,
is the key.
K-1, CSAC troubles in Los Angeles
While Kathi Burns & Che Guevara were at the Andre Ward/Chad
Dawson fight in Oakland this past Saturday night, a K-1 event
was taking place at the LA Sports Arena. Mohammad Noor, the veteran
#1 Southern California inspector, was reportedly sent by the
athletic commission to oversee the regulatory process.
A couple of days ago, we received a tip from a very trustworthy
insider that K-1 had used a 16 foot x 16 foot ring for the LA
event. That, of course, is a no-no. The rules & regulations
state that you need at least an 18 x 18 ring, with a 20 x 20
ring also an option. Here’s the rule on the books that spells
this out:
§ 310. Ring.
The
ring shall be not less than 17 feet square within the ropes.
The ring floor shall extend beyond the ropes not less than 18
inches. The ring floor shall be padded in a manner as approved
by the commission. Padding must extend beyond the ring ropes
and over the edge of the platform.
NOTE:
Authority cited: Section 18611, Business and Professions Code.
Reference: Sections 18640, 18724 and 18725, Business and Professions
Code.
In
conversations with numerous sources (all on background, none
wanted to go on the record), here is the general picture that
can be painted regarding why a 16 x 16 ring was used at the show.
Allegedly, the crew that was bringing the (wrong) ring tried
to take it to the LA Sports Arena venue last Friday but were
supposedly denied entry. When officials from the athletic commission
showed up at the building on Saturday, the ring wasn’t supposedly
set up. Things dragged on and the show started late. When it
was all said and done, the lead inspector signed off on K-1 using
the 16 x 16 ring and gave the go ahead for the show to proceed.
Whether they called Che Guevara or Kathi Burns on the phone to
get clearance, that I don’t know — although I suspect
someone like Mo made sure to run this by them first for approval
so he wouldn’t take the brunt of the blame.
I can sympathize with a promoter having ring & venue issues,
but fighters train to fight in an 18 x 18 ring (or bigger). A
16 x 16 ring is a small ring for a professional fight. It’s
more of a club-size ring, at best.
There was also another curious happening at the event and it
involved one of the judges, who was supposedly placed next to
the media for seating. This is one of those deals that can raise
a red flag because of the potential for the media to know about
the scoring of a fight before everyone else does in the building.
If the media is breathing down a judge’s neck, it may influence
the way a judge scores the fight.
If you’re going to seat judges alongside media writers,
you may as well have live scoring available for everybody in
the arena. And if you’re going to allow 16 x 16 rings, you
kind of give up the right to castigate other promoters who are
using irregular rings or want to use their own set-up. The commission
may think playing favorites is fine, but I suspect other promoters
will not be so happy about this.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that there are proverbial fires needing to
be extinguished at various shows taking place in California right
now. In responding to these incidents, the leadership in the
Sacramento office (Kathi Burns & Che Guevara) are proving
to be clueless in how to put out the fires in a responsible,
lawful manner.
However, there are individuals in the front office who do understand
how their behavior is wrong and are simply not interested in
making the right calls. They’re more interested in being
involved in activity that I could argue is legitimately criminal
in nature. Thanks to DCA head honchos Denise Brown and Awet Kidane,
CSAC has become the ultimate poster child for a dysfunctional
political operation in Sacramento.
DCA getting rid of George Dodd as Executive Officer really improved
working conditions at CSAC, didn’t it?
A fish rots from the head and it’s easy to see why there
is a lot of chaos happening at many events regulated by the California
State Athletic Commission.
Source:
Fight Opinion
|
Demetrious
Johnson's humble beginning leads to flyweight title shot at UFC
152
Demetrious
Johnson, right, will battle Joseph Benavidez for the flyweight
title. (UFC)
To fully understand why Demetrious Johnson would fight with
a broken leg against a former world champion – and then
return to his full-time job as a forklift operator without complaint
– you first must understand the lengths he went to in high
school to continue to wrestle.
The teen-aged Johnson loved wrestling. He was energized by the
rush of head-to-head competition and motivated by the seemingly
unending drilling in pursuit of perfection.
He was, in many ways, a mama's boy, fiercely devoted to the woman
who had raised him after his father divorced his mother and abandoned
the family.
Johnson is now 26 and hasn't spoken to his father. He hasn't,
he said, sought him out even though, every now and then, thoughts
of his father waft through his head.
Demetrious Johnson started as a wrestler before making the transition
to MMA. (MMA Weekly)
"I don't know what I'd say if I met him," Johnson said.
"I wouldn't want to be rude, so I just don't look for him.
I don't need the grief of asking why he hadn't been around at
all. My mother was my mother and my father at the same time.
Everything I am and everything I might become is because of her."
His mother, Karen Crowe, wasn't aware he was wrestling. She was
highly protective of him and he was fearful she would not approve
of his wrestling. He was always on the go, with a job and plenty
of things to do, so his absence from home was easily explainable.
His resourcefulness was tested, though, after one tournament
when Johnson took a brutal pounding. Both of his eyes were blackened.
His collarbone was broken. Every muscle, it seemed, was bruised
or aching.
Rather than going home, Johnson chose to spend a couple of days
at the home of his long-time best friend in an effort to hide
his condition from his mother.
"My best friend, Jordan, I've been with him since we were
in second grade, and I stayed at his house and his mom took care
of me," Johnson said, chuckling. "I pretty much laid
do
wn a day-and-half straight, just watching my buddy play video
games.
"When I got home, my mother was like, 'Where have you been?'
I go, 'Jordan's house,' and she asked me if I were OK. I didn't
want her to see her little baby all beaten up and tell me I couldn't
wrestle any more. I've got a pretty good poker face and typically
don't show a lot of negative emotion. I just did what I had to
do to be able to keep [wrestling]." He laughed heartily
at the memory, but it's illustrative of the man he would become
as a professional fighter, a blue-collar, never-quit type of
guy.
He's now one of the elite mixed martial arts fighters in the
world. On Sept. 22, he'll meet Joseph Benavidez at the Air Canada
Centre in Toronto in the co-main event of UFC 152 for the inaugural
flyweight title.
He's only been a full-time fighter for about a year. During Johnson's
training camp for a bantamweight title bout against Dominick
Cruz last October, trainer Matt Hume finally convinced Johnson
to give up his $10.76-an-hour job as a forklift operator at a
paper recycling plant.
Johnson took up MMA around 2006 at the suggestion of ex-UFC light
heavyweight Reese Andy. He did so only to stay in shape and for
something to do.
He wasn't planning to become professional. He took a few amateur
fights and ultimately then turned pro when he realized he could
keep his job working 50 hours a week. He wasn't getting rich
working for Caraustar, but that $400 or so weekly paycheck was
far more than he'd be getting to fight in those early days.
Even when he reached the UFC, he hung onto his job, needing the
security of a full-time paycheck.
Hume didn't advise him to quit right away, even though he quickly
saw Johnson's potential. The UFC didn't even have a flyweight
division at the time, and Hume knew as well as anyone the difficulty
of staying in the UFC when fighting up a weight class.
But as Johnson continued to improved and started to look like
championship material, Hume felt it was time. During his camp
for the Cruz fight, Johnson finally quit the forklift job to
concentrate on becoming a full-time fighter.
Clearly, it's been the proper decision. Still, Johnson is only
a fraction of the fighter that Hume believes he can eventually
become.
Hume is one of the sport's most respected trainers and rarely
makes boasts or outrageous statements he can't back up. He's
convinced that when Johnson finally reaches his peak, there will
be no better fighter in the sport.
"It's hard to say [how far Johnson is from his peak now],
because martial arts is a lifetime of learning," Hume said.
"He's got the talent, he's got the athletic ability to go
further than anybody else that's in the sport today."
That is a massive statement by a man not prone to hyperbole.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is generally regarded
as the greatest fighter in the sport's history.
Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is perhaps the most physically
gifted champion. Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has
dominated elite opposition for years.
Hume, though, doesn't back down. Johnson is a magnificent talent
with untold potential, he said. If he reaches his peak, he'll
be better than anyone, Hume said, including Jones, Silva, St-Pierre
and all the rest.
"He's just an incredible athlete," Hume said. "People
say, with good reason, that Demetrious is the fastest fighter
on the planet. His balance, his athleticism, all those things
are amazing. When he adds all the technical things, I'm telling
you, he's going to be an incredible fighter."
Johnson's already proven to be an incredible fighter and an even
better person. Anyone who knows him raves about the kind of person
he has become.
He's not a quitter, as he showed in his win over ex-bantamweight
champion Miguel Torres at UFC 130 last year.
Torres is much bigger than Johnson, who was fighting at 135 at
a time when he could have easily been making 125.
But Johnson was competitive in the bout from the start. Early
in the second round, Torres checked a Johnson kick.
The crunch he heard did not inspire much confidence about the
health of his leg – he figured quickly that it was broken
– but his first thought wasn't about how to get help and
get it treated. It was about how to defeat one of the greatest
fighters in the world on one leg.
Johnson had broken his fibula, but went on to win a unanimous
decision over Torres that propelled him into the title shot against
Cruz. While many felt Torres won, the fact that Johnson was able
to fight two rounds on one leg says much about him as a competitor.
"He goes 100 miles an hour the entire time," UFC president
Dana White said in tribute to Johnson.
This is a guy who in high school worked the graveyard shift at
a Taco Bell. He worked from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., caught a few hours
of sleep and then headed to school. At 2:30 p.m., he went to
wrestling practice until 5. He'd return home by 5:30, eat and
then head to his job.
Johnson did it because he badly wanted to buy a car. He pushed
himself nearly to the brink of exhaustion with his around-the-clock
schedule, but he was finally able to buy that 1995 Honda Civic
hatchback he wanted and make the car and insurance payments himself.
Demetrious Johnson has come a long way in a short period of time.
(Y! Sports)
It's also why he trained for a fight while he was on his honeymoon.
He wants to make the best use of each of the day's 24 hours.
And with a flyweight title fight looming, the best use of that
time was not relaxing on a beach somewhere.
"I'm the kind of guy who likes to be busy," he said.
"I have never liked to have things handed to me. I wanted
to work for them. Getting something means more to me, I guess,
if I bust my butt to get it."
Nothing has been handed to him and he's nearly at the top of
his sport. If he ascends to even greater heights, it's because
he'll never forget his humble roots.
He quit his job at Hume's recommendation because he wanted to
reach for the stars. It wasn't, though, a simple decision.
"I took a leap of faith," he said. "When you want
to get anywhere in life, you have to take risks. There's no way
I'd be able to afford this house if I were just working at Caraustar.
There is no way. There is no way I'd have made the money I've
made as a professional fighter if I wouldn't have taken that
leap of faith. When you want to reach for big things in life,
sometimes you have to take risks. I took a leap of faith because
there was a big pot of gold at the end I was shooting for.
"I trusted that my skills could carry me to the highest
level. There's still a point you're scared, because MMA is a
winning sport. You need to win to keep your job. It's not like
the NFL, where you sign a contract and they pay you every week
whether the team wins or loses. … When I looked at everything,
I knew I had the ability to do some things in this sport, but
there were risks involved. I've overcome whatever roadblocks
I've had in my life by working as hard as I could, and that's
all I'm going to keep doing now."
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
Jorge
Masvidal: Will Fight for Food
Jorge
Masvidal is looking for a fight, but as of right now, Strikeforce
doesn’t have a place to allow him to ply his craft.
The
former Strikeforce lightweight contender last competed in July
when he won a split decision over Justin Wilcox. Since that time,
Strikeforce has scheduled two more shows for 2012, but Masvidal
is not likely to end up on either of them.
It’s
a frustrating feeling according to Masvidal, who makes his living
off of fighting. If he’s not fighting then he’s not
making money. He points to the number of Strikeforce shows airing
on Showtime as the key ingredient that’s kept him from competing
more than once in 2012.
“I’m
healthy and ready to go and they just don’t want to put
me on the card. I don’t think it’s anything personal
against me, I just think Showtime doesn’t have enough shows
to provide for the fighters they have under contract. Sean Shelby’s
been helping me out as much as he can to get me on the cards,
but I just don’t think they have enough shows on Showtime,”
Masvidal told MMAWeekly Radio recently.
Times
are tough for Masvidal, who has been a professional fighter since
2003, but over the span of the last two years, he’s only
fought a total of four times, and it’s starting to wear
on his bank account.
“It’s
pretty tough. There’s a busy intersection in Miami and I’ve
just been hanging out and I’ve got a sign ‘Will Fight
for Food.’ People come by, they pick me up and feed me a
couple of cheeseburgers and I just beat up random people, that’s
how I’m getting by right now,” Masvidal joked.
The
hardest part about this whole situation is the fact that Masvidal
is raising two daughters at home, and without a fight in the
foreseeable future, the belt tightening will have to get a couple
notches tighter.
“It’s
the worst thing in the (expletive) world,” said Masvidal.
“I’m dead serious; I ain’t joking. I’m about
to go fight in the back and make some money. I’ve got two
little beautiful girls I’ve got to look after. I’m
a single parent, and (expletive) needs to get money; I need to
get paid.”
The
anger and frustration in Masvidal’s voice is echoed only
by his desire to actually get the call he’s been waiting
for, to go and fight again. The options right now are limited,
and even with more regional promotions popping up everyday, Masvidal
says the risk isn’t worth the reward.
The
problem with fighting in the regional shows, according to Masvidal,
is being paid a lesser amount of money, but still risking serious
injury that could put him out for an even longer period of time.
All
told, Masvidal is hurting right now and he’s hoping his
employers at Strikeforce can swoop in and save the day and give
him a fight.
“I would even be willing to do 170, if they needed a 170-pounder.
I’d be willing to jump up to 170. For 155, I’d be able
to make it depending on how short of notice,” said Masvidal.
“I’m
going to start training now for November just in case something
happens and they need a 155-pounder or 170-pounder, I might even
make myself available for 185 if they need me, and they take
care of me. I’ll go up to 185 and kick somebody’s ass.”
If
a fight doesn’t happen by the end of the year, Masvidal
is afraid he might have to go back to a past life he thought
he left behind long ago.
The
Strikeforce lightweight was once well known in the YouTube world
as a street fighter who competed in the same type of competitions
as former UFC competitor Kimbo Slice.
“Check
me out on YouTube. Keep your eyes posted, I’m about to do
a street fight,” said Masvidal. “A couple hundred dollars
and I’ll be right back in the street with some Air Force
1's still whooping some ass, I’m telling you. I’m like
three days away from it.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
TUF
16 Coach Blog Week 1 – Leister Bowling Breaks Down Team
Carwin
MMAWeekly.com
would like to welcome Team Carwin wrestling coach Leister Bowling.
Leister will be writing a guest article each week of the TUF
16: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson season, giving us his thoughts
and breakdowns from his unique perspective behind the scenes.
About
Leister Bowling:
I
am one of the head trainers at The Grudge Training Center in
Denver. Wrestling has been a huge part of my life. It has opened
many doors for me and has made me the man I am today.
I
look back at all of the opportunities I have had through MMA
and it is very humbling. None of these experiences would have
been possible without the lifestyle I developed through wrestling.
I
grew up wrestling in Colorado, where I had a successful high
school career as a 3-time State Champion with a record of 154-2.
I went on to wrestle for Steve Costanzo at Dana College in Nebraska,
where I was a 3-time All-American and 2005 National Runner-Up.
After
college I began coaching at the University of Northern Colorado.
While coaching at UNC, I met Shane Carwin, who at the time was
fighting on the local circuit trying to get a shot in a big show.
I invited him to train with our team and work with one of our
heavyweights. He told me he would do that if I would help Nate
Marquardt with his wrestling. The rest is history.
Nate
and Shane opened the doors for me and introduced me to the team
at Grudge. With their connections, I have had the honor to work
with some of the top names in the sport such as Shane Carwin,
Nate Marquardt, Brendan Schaub, Duane Ludwig, Jared Hamman, Georges
St-Pierre, Benson Henderson, Vitor Belfort, and many others.
I was truly honored when Shane asked me to be one of his coaches
on season 16 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Episode
1:
In
the first episode, you see 32 guys fighting for a spot in the
house. This was a challenging situation for everyone. These fighters
show up and they have nobody with them. They have nothing familiar,
no team, no coaches, no family, and no fans. Any fighter will
tell you that the day of a fight is one of the most nerve racking
things a person can go through. Most fighters will experience
severe anxiety that is typically comforted by their team/family.
To
make things even more nerve racking, they have Dana White, Shane
Carwin, and Roy Nelson sitting cageside in an empty Mandalay
Bay Arena. Some people may think that having a bunch of people
in the crowd would make a guy nervous, but I will tell you that
it was a very weird feeling sitting there watching two guys throw
down in an arena that seats around 20,000 people, but only had
what felt like about 20 strangers watching.
We
as coaches had to do what we could to make them comfortable,
but that is hard to do when we knew absolutely nothing about
any of these fighters. We introduced ourselves to them at weigh-ins,
and then again in the locker room the day of the fight.
We
developed a strategy for ourselves as coaches. We figured that
since Trevor Wittman and I had the most experience cornering
fighters, we would corner every fighter that was in our locker
room. We put our strength and conditioning coach Loren Landow
in the back to structure the warm-ups (as the season goes on,
I’m sure you will see how big of a role he played in helping
our guys prepare). We had Pat Barry hold mitts (he prefers his
face to be the target, so no mitts necessary!!!). And we had
Nate Marquardt sit behind us in the corner. Nate took notes on
all of the fighters to help us with the fight picks.
Coaching
these guys in their fights was a difficult thing to do because
we didn’t know what their strengths or weaknesses were.
Before they fought, we asked them what they liked and needed
from their corner and most of them just asked us to be honest
with them whether they had won or lost the round. We didn’t
“over coach” anyone in these fights for two reasons:
we didn’t know much about the fighters, and we didn’t
want the opposing guy to win and then have a grudge against us
for coaching against them.
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Team Cruz’s Jeremy Larsen
TUF Coach Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller Breaks Down UFC 136
(video)
We put a lot of time into developing our list of 1-16 fight picks.
Just because they had a quick knockout didn’t mean we thought
they were better than guys who didn’t finish their fight.
We did what research we could to determine who we felt were the
most experienced/well rounded fighters that were also good people.
Our
goal was to develop a team that would bond while we were there
and we needed guys that we felt would buy into that plan. After
the picks were over, we couldn’t have been more confident
in our team. What a great group of fighters!
Our
team and what stuck out to me after the fights:
Sam
Alvey: Seemed relaxed/confident/good attitude/a lot of experience
Mike Ricci: Very technical, well rounded, came from a great camp
James Chaney: Snake! Just looked like a guy that can finish you
anywhere and intrigued me 510
Matt Secor: Tough, stand-up needed work, but had CONSTANT attacks
on the ground, confident
Igor Araujo: Great BJJ, tough guy, very durable, seemed a little
crazy and I liked it
Eddie Ellis: Very tough, ton of experience, had a big win streak
coming onto the show
Bristol Marunde: Tough, well rounded, experience, composed, relaxed
Neil Magney: Technical, fast, great cardio, tall, composed
Stay tuned, this season is going to get good. I will be here
weekly to recap each episode. To be continued…
Leister
Bowling: Wrestling/MMA Coach at Grudge Training Center and Easton
BJJ.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Bibiano
Fernandes Misses Out on One FC Title Fight… For Good Reason
If
you missed it the first time, here is your second chance. Leandro
Issa, who defeated Soo Chul Kim at the inaugural OneFC in September
of 2011 will rematch the Korean at OneFC 6, only this time for
the bantamweight title.
In
a fight that saw “Brodinho” dominate the Korean, one
of the younger fighters in Asia, Kim kept the fight competitive
the entire time.
Issa
has been nothing but phenomenal with OneFC and prior fights,
building a 10-2 record. Training out of Evolve MMA, Issa most
recently defeated Japanese fighter Masakazu Imanari. In that
fight, Imanari was not even close to landing one of his trademark
leg locks. Issa kept Imanari at bay and took a very unanimous
decision.
Kim, meanwhile, is one of Asia’s future talents. At only
20 years of age, Kim has been touted by many within the Asian
mixed martial arts media as one of the brightest prospects on
the continent. Coming into the fight at 6-4, Kim is now on a
two-fight winning streak. Most recently, Kim defeated Filipino
prospect Kevin Belingon at OneFC 5 in the Philippines. Kim was
successful with the RoadFC promotion when he defeated Shoko Sato,
knocking him out in the fourth round of their fight.
The
rematch will have much more weight this time. It will also be,
unquestionably, a more difficult fight for Issa. At the ripe
age of 20, fighters grow leaps and bounds both training and competing.
Having two additional bouts under his belt is no question a
huge advantage for the Korean.
The
fight will be contested at OneFC 6 in Singapore at the Singapore
Indoor Stadium on Oct. 6, 2012. Tickets are still available
for those planning to make the trip. The fight will also air
live on pay per view and on ESPNStar throughout Asia.
When
OneFC announced the title match between Soo Chul Kim and Leandro
Issa, many began scratching their head and asking the question,
“Why is Bibiano Fernandes not fighting?”
OneFC
president Victor Cui gave AsianMMA.com a reason that we can’t
argue with, Bibiano is having a baby. His main focus for the
coming months, possibly up to six months, according to other
sources, will be that of his family and his new child.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
The
Jiu-Jitsu and MMA world’s most inspired statements of the
week
Fabio
Gurgel
“Guy
(Neivens, ADCC producer) called me Friday night about doingo
a supermatch with Zé Mario. I don’t know how it’s
going to go yet. I think I’ll ask him to pull guard”
Fabio
Gurgel, on his supermatch with Zé Mario at ADCC 2013,
which may take place in Brazil
“In
my opinion, the Metamoris Pro rules [no points or advantages]
are good for whoever wants to fight for a draw; that is, for
someone who intends to play defense for 24 hours”
André
Galvão, on the Oct 24, 20-minute challenge match against
Ryron Gracie in San Diego
“If
it were a points match I have no doubt André would beat
me. But fighting without points is the way to show the Jiu-Jitsu
that I believe in, where the efficiency of the art shows through
more. My grandfather always said, ‘I never defeated my opponents,
they defeated themselves.’ It’s the opponent who makes
the mistake for you to capitalize on and win”
Ryron
Gracie
“I’m
training three times a day here in Mexico. I do feel I’ll
be able to compete in Tijuca soon”
Fernando
Tererê, after submitting three opponents in three matches
at an open tournament in Mexico on his victorious return to gi-clad
competition
“You’ll
be hard pressed to find a Carlson black belt who isn’t tough.
Vitor Belfort’s Jiu-Jitsu was a bit outdate, his timing
was a bit off, and I feel he was unmotivated when it came to
ground training. Now, his Jiu-Jitsu’s up to date, modern
and tight: he’s got what it takes to tap out anybody in
the UFC”
Gilbert
Durinho
“I
hope to hand the match to Mackenzie with some advantage, otherwise
we’ll be having a lovers’ quarrel afterwards”
Augusto
Tanquinho, on the Couples Showdown at the December Copa Pódio.
The couple will be taking on Davi Ramos and Marina Ribeiro
“He
[Lyoto] should have accepted the Jones fight. We’ve seen
similar cases before; now it could take him awhile to fight for
the title. Now he’ll be fighting Dan Henderson. He may not
even get another shot at the title. If he loses to Dan Henderson
he won’t even be close to fighting Jon Jones”
Dana
White, revealing that Lyoto Machida is set to face Dan Henderson
by the end of the year
“I’m
sorry to everyone that I won’t be fighting [at UFC Rio].
I tried all I could to be in the octagon up to the last second,
but there was no way. I hope the UFC keeps the opponent and postpones
the match-up, because I really want to fight him”
José
Aldo, on the postponed fight with Frankie Edgar
“The
Frankie Edgar interview we had scheduled for today fell through.
He canceled. He was pissed when he found out Aldo got hurt, and
he didn’t want to talk, to not cause controversy”
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
The
Villain: Jon Jones and Michael Bisping Talk About Embracing the
Hate in MMA
In
every sport, athletes are often cast as either hero or villain.
There are those competitors that are routinely cheered and well
liked amongst fans and media. Then there are those that often
vilified whether through actions or words, and deep down none
of them may actually be “bad guys,” but they are treated
as such when they walk into an arena or are shown on a TV screen.
In 2010 when LeBron James made his infamous “decision”
to join the Miami Heat, he was lambasted in the press for his
transgression to not only put on an hour-long special to announce
his move to Miami, but to flaunt it in such an open forum while
abandoning his hometown team in Cleveland where he started his
NBA career.
Over the next NBA season, James was routinely booed in every
arena he appeared in, and despite his jersey sales still reaching
some of the top numbers in the entire NBA, he was the league's
biggest villain for an entire year based around one moment on
ESPN when he uttered that famous phrase, “I'm taking my
talents to South Beach.”
The last few weeks have been eerily similar for UFC light heavyweight
champion Jon Jones, who didn't make his “decision”
in such a public forum like a live interview on ESPN, but instead
opted to turn down a short-notice fight with Chael Sonnen after
his original opponent Dan Henderson dropped out due to injury
in a conversation with his bosses.
Right or wrong, whether one fighter should be held responsible
for that action happening, Jones was seen as the catalyst behind
the first major UFC event being cancelled in 11 years.
Now as he heads into his next scheduled fight at UFC 152 against
Vitor Belfort, the questions continue to come at Jones about
his decision to turn down the fight a few weeks earlier at UFC
151, and some of his reactions have been met with harsh criticism.
He has stated that he's not in the sport to be loved, he has
nothing to prove to anyone, and has no regrets about his decision
to not fight at UFC 151. Jones took pot shots at opponent Dan
Henderson for his “old man” status and blamed his knee
injury for him not fighting at UFC 151.
All of this has led Jones to a precarious situation with fans
as he heads into his next fight because he was already on shaky
ground with many of them for his perceived “cocky”
nature and many have accused him for being “fake” in
the past. This latest scenario has only tossed Jones back into
the fire of public scrutiny, but he says he's not embracing the
role of villain the way James did after his decision led to Cleveland
fans going as far as burning his jersey in the streets.
“I am not going to say I embraced the role of being a villain
because I am not,” Jones told MMAWeekly.com recently. “I
am not a villain; I am not a bad person. I pride myself off of
inspiring others. For all the people that think I am cocky, it's
like if you really listen to what I talk about, if you talk to
me about fighting you may hear something that is a little arrogant
because, right now, I train so hard to not even get hit, let
alone talk about rousing a fight.
“So it is like I love this sport so much, I own it to myself
to think of myself in the highest regard, so I am not going to
apologize if I am a little full of myself when it comes to MMA.”
The defensive nature of Jones' response may just cast him even
deeper into the villain role, but the UFC's top light heavyweight
insists that he's not a bad guy. Jones says he's actually a very
nice guy, who gives back to his sport and his teammates every
day.
“I am the nicest person ever to everyone who has ever met
me,” Jones said. “I'm the nicest person to people.
Every day I walk into Jackson's gym and I hand out boxes of equipment.
I order stuff all the time for my teammates and just give it
out. I just give it to people. I am like the nicest person ever.”
Extolling one's own virtues may not be the best way to ingratiate
oneself in the public eye, but Jones has been taking a beating
lately and his natural defense is simply to remind people that
he's not really a bad guy.
If there's one fighter who can relate to being the “bad
guy” in MMA, it's former Ultimate Fighter winner Michael
Bisping.
Over the last few years, Bisping has become public enemy No.
1 in most MMA fan circles, and he's learned to embrace the hate.
Quite often when the boos reach their loudest is when you'll
see the biggest smile on Bisping's face, but even he admits it
takes time to reach the point where you can take the disdain
from fans and turn it into a positive.
“See the thing is that comes with time. Obviously I've been
around it for a while now before anyone even knew who Jon Jones
was. At first it gets you a little upset, because you've gone
from everyone loving you to thinking you're a (expletive). It
takes some time coming round,” Bisping told MMAWeekly Radio
recently when asked if Jones should embrace the villain role.
“Cause at first you want everyone to like you, and you try
to change them and you try to put out the correct responses,
and you're thinking about this and the marketing and the PR and
all the rest of it. But then after a certain amount of time you've
just got to think ‘awww (expletive) it, if that's what they're
going to think, that's what they're going to think,' and go with
it. That's certainly how it was for me.”
Early in his journey in the UFC, Bisping was beloved by fans,
but it quickly turned to venom and it wasn't an overnight trip
where he learned to embrace it.
“I got cheered at first. I fought at UFC 66 when Chuck Liddell
fought Tito (Ortiz) for the second time, and that was in Vegas,
and the crowd was fantastic. It wasn't long before they were
all booing me. It's hard to transition. We're all human beings,
we're sensitive, especially fighters. We're emotional, sensitive
people,” said Bisping.
“So at first you can't understand it and maybe it might
upset you a little bit, but after a while you've just got to
go with it.”
Bisping has learned very well to just go with it, and despite
his status as the UFC's biggest villain, he remains one of the
biggest draws and most requested interviews. Bisping is just
being himself all the time now, and doesn't fight to please anyone
any more.
“I'm certainly not one of these fake (expletive). Trust
me, there's a lot of fake people out there that will be a nice
guy to your face, on camera or whatever they're super nice, but
when there's not a camera around, they're absolutely (expletive).
I'm not naming names, but I'm not one of those guys,” said
Bisping.
“Either I'm a good guy or I'm consistently an (expletive),
one or the other.”
Is it time for Jon Jones to learn from Michael Bisping and just
accept the role of villain or can he buck the system and find
love from the fans again?
UFC 152 will be the first test for Jones after the debacle surrounding
the cancellation of UFC 151, and the fans reaction to him in
Toronto will be the real litmus test to his future as hero or
villain in MMA.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
PUDZIANOWSKI
POUNDS OUT PILIAFAS, BLACHOWICZ RETAINS TITLE OVER ALEXANDER
AT KSW 20
Mariusz
Pudzianowski picked up his fifth career victory as a mixed martial
artist on Saturday night, when the five-time World's Strongest
Man stopped Christos Piliafas in the KSW 20 headliner.
“Pudzian”
appeared in charge from the moment the bell rang at the Ergo
Arena in Gdansk, Poland, as the hulking heavyweight scored with
a double-leg takedown early and pounded away at the American's
ribs from guard. Following a referee standup, the massive Pole
again took the fight to the floor, this time landing in half-guard,
where he would eventually finish the fight by posturing up and
raining down dozens of unanswered punches that resulted in a
technical knockout victory for the former strongman.
In
the night's co-main event, Jan Blachowicz successfully defended
his KSW light heavyweight title against UFC veteran Houston Alexander.
Though both men looked tentative to start, Blachowicz quickly
turned up the heat with a takedown, passing to mount before dropping
bombs on his prone foe. Blachowicz attempted to finish the fight
with an armbar to close out round one, but Alexander would not
relent before the bell.
Round
two produced a drop-off in action, though Blachowicz threatened
with a triangle choke as the round expired following an Alexander
ankle pick. The bout's final frame then saw the KSW champ snatch
a deep kimura after hitting the deck courtesy of a low outside
leg kick from the Nebraskan. Though Alexander managed to power
out of the hold and escape to his feet, Blachowicz would finish
the fight with a takedown, applying a body triangle to seal his
unanimous decision win.
After
nearly three years away from MMA competition, Rodney Glunder
returned to the ring on one day's notice to face Marcin Rozalski,
falling by unanimous decision to the Polish heavyweight. Stepping
in for an injured Jerome Le Banner, Glunder was unable to produce
much offense in the bout, with the exception of a sustained stream
of knees landed against the ropes early in round one.
Rozalski
responded by hitting a trip and landing in mount, a maneuver
he would repeat in the second stanza, though Glunder would this
time would hold him tightly in half-guard. “Rozal”
scored knockdowns to begin and end the second frame, though Glunder
tried valiantly to stay in the fight by scoring a takedown to
close out round three. The move proved too little too late, however,
as Rozalski was awarded the unanimous nod.
Polish
heavyweight Karol Bedorf proved too much for American veteran
Karl Knothe, as the crowd favorite used his size and athleticism
to dominate “The Original Son of Punishment” for much
of their three-round bout. Though undersized and outgunned, Knothe
absorbed everything “Coco” threw his way, including
a brutal barrage of knees to the head and body in the second
round. Knothe even scored a takedown and captured Bedorf's back
early in round three, though the Pole would soon escape the position
and hit a takedown of his own to ride out the remainder of the
contest from top position en route to earning a unanimous verdict
from the judges.
Countrymen
Borys Mankowski and Rafal Moks both put forth excellent efforts
in their welterweight scrap, but it was Mankowski who took home
a split decision from the judges. Just 22, Mankowski managed
to grab an edge in the second frame after escaping a tight guillotine
to end round one, cracking Moks with straight punches before
landing a spinning back fist and then a jumping knee. Round three
would bring more of the same, as Mankowski smartly kept the former
M-1 Global middleweight champion at the end of his punching range,
despite Moks' considerable efforts to close the distance and
launch his own offense. Though game till the end, “Kulturysta”
would be unable to prevent Mankowski from walking away with the
approval of two of the three ringside judges.
A
heavyweight contest between pro debutant Jacek Wisniewski and
Kamil Walus proved a wild affair from the get-go, as both big
men launched haymakers at will, though very few shots actually
landed cleanly until Walus found a home for a looping right hook
above his opponent's ear late in the first round. Wisniewski
stumbled to the canvas, and Walus granted him no quarter, earning
the ground-and-pound stoppage with just under one minute remaining
in the opening frame.
In
the evening's first contest, Polish lightweight prospect Anzor
Azhiev earned a unanimous decision over Scottish veteran Paul
Reed. The 21-year-old consistently scored takedowns against his
more experienced opponent and punished him with ground-and-pound,
taking Reed's back to end round two and then dropping the Scot
with a head kick to start the third. To Reed's credit, he managed
to weather the Pole's relentless offense in the final frame,
surviving to hear the final bell.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Metamoris:
7 questions for Ryron Gracie on André Galvão, no-points
match…
Ryron
Gracie: Rorion’s son is one of the stars of Metamoris Pro,
coming up October 14 in San Diego. He will be taking on André
Galvão.
GRACIEMAG:
This October 14 at the inaugural Metamoris Pro, you will be taking
on André Galvão, one of Jiu-Jitsu’s greats,
in a gi match where you have to tap the opponent out in order
to win. Does representing the Gracie name in such a match come
with a lot of pressure?
RYRON:
I believe that years ago I’d have felt pressure, but things
are different these days. Win or lose, the Gracie name comes
out on top, because Jiu-Jitsu is the biggest winner. And thus
the family legacy continues. So there isn’t much pressure.
And it’s just a match; it’s no big deal. Even so, I’m
training every day to not let such pressure enter my mind.
What
will change in your career after the match, win or lose?
A
win will mostly show that my game isn’t weak. People don’t
know me; have never trained with me, so my game is an unknown
to my opponents. I want to test myself; that’s why I want
to fight. Now if I lose to Galvão, I don’t think
much will change. My students, for example, didn’t learn
Jiu-Jitsu with me because I’m a champion; they’re my
students because I teach Jiu-Jitsu in a pleasant environment,
I teach self-defense, I teach life lessons, about health and
how to eat properly along the lines of what my grandfather Helio
Gracie used to preach as a philosophy and lifestyle. Everything
Helio Gracie taught my father we continue teaching to the world.
Even if I lose, my students will still like training with me.
What’s
your take on André Galvão as an opponent?
If
it were a match where points count, I’d have no doubt that
André would win it. He’s really tough, has good base,
is really strong and technical. If he gets on top of me and controls
the fight, he’ll easily win on points. And it’s not
my style to be on bottom using force to get out. My style’s
different. I need time to work; I like longer matches. And that’s
another reason why I entered this championship. Fighting without
points is a way of showing the Jiu-Jitsu I believe in, where
the art’s effectiveness is more apparent. My grandfather
always said, “I never defeated my opponents; they defeated
themselves.” It’s the opponent that makes the mistake,
and you capitalize on it to win.
Do
you trust he’ll make a mistake? You don’t compete too
often, and he’s always in the big championships…
Even
though I haven’t competed at a World Championship, I train
with a lot of high level black belts. Some of these guys have
already faced André. Some of them have beat him. Others
have lost close matches on points… I train without the gi
a lot with my brothers and MMA fighters too. So the main thing
I want is to use Helio Gracie’s Jiu-Jitsu, which was about
knowing how to defend and survive in any situation. What I know
is this: It’ll won’t be easy to tap me out.
I
want to see what he has up his sleeve and what he’ll do
to surprise me. If I tap, fine… But I plan to have a good
gas tank so he wears out and I can start putting pressure on
him too. I’ve fought for 50 minutes, an hour many times
before. Let’s see how it goes in 20 minutes. All I know
is that I haven’t met a lot of people with gas like I’ve
got.
How
is your training going? Have you watched any of André
Galvão’s matches?
I
train every day and teach Jiu-Jitsu class, which I see as a really
important part of training. I never stop. I never drink. I only
eat according to the Gracie Diet. I live and breathe Jiu-Jitsu
morning, afternoon and night. I’ve only seen two of his
fights. I have to study his game more to drum up a strategy.
I’m just starting to see his Jiu-Jitsu, and I admire it
too, because as you said, he’s one of the best in the world.
What’s
the main lesson you learned from your late grandfather Helio
Gracie (1913-2009)?
To
my grandfather, Jiu-Jitsu is for everyone. It doesn’t matter
if you’re a doctor, teacher, lawyer—Jiu-Jitsu’s
for you. In the end his message was this: give Jiu-Jitsu a chance;
try it out. A lot of people think it’s only for professionals,
for fighters, for healthy athletes; but it’s not. Jiu-Jitsu’s
magic is that it’s there for anyone who wants to learn to
defend themselves, get in shape, make friends and feel a different
kind of energy.
To
wrap up, tell us about the success of your “Gracie Breakdown”
videos, which were such a hit on the internet that they’re
now being broadcast on Fuel TV. Is explaining the moves from
the UFC and Strikeforce an innovative way of popularizing Jiu-Jitsu?
We’ve
even got a new project on the internet, http://www.keepitplayful.com.
I think our plan is to show the world that MMA and Jiu-Jitsu
are there side by side. Sometimes I feel like people think so
much about MMA that they forget about Jiu-Jitsu. There are fighters
starting out in the UFC who don’t know who Helio Gracie
was. There are some who don’t even know who Royce was (laughs).
So my family is here to not let anyone forget about or leave
out Jiu-Jitsu.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
UFC
152’s Evan Dunham Confident He’ll Overcome Lightweight
Sleeper TJ Grant
After
battling injuries for the last two years, lightweight contender
Evan Dunham (13-2) has had enough.
Once
thought of as nearing lightweight title contention, Dunham has
had a bit of a rocky 2011 and 2012, having to pulli out of fights
with injuries. The 30-year-old has been vocal about making his
presence felt in the lightweight division again to get back to
fighting on the main card.
The
Xtreme Couture pupil must first deal with the present though,
as he fights a dark horse in the lightweight division in T.J.
Grant at UFC 152 in Toronto.
“Like
all my fights, I don’t really care what T.J.’s going
to do,” Dunham told MMAWeekly Radio.
“All
I’m going to do is worry about myself. I know a lot of
fighters say that and it’s true. T.J., in my opinion, is
a sleeper in the division. He’s a very powerful fighter
not to be overlooked at all and I have not done that in this
camp, I’ve trained very hard. That being said, I’m
really looking forward to this fight.
Going
forward, Dunham’s focus remains on sharpening his tools
in the sport. It doesn’t matter what Grant brings because
Dunham plans to bring a relentless attack from all angles.
Grant
may be fighting on home turf, but it’s not Dunham’s
first go-around with fighting someone so close to home. At the
end of the day, the small stuff doesn’t faze Dunham. Whether
or not the Canadian fans cheer him or boo him entering the building
doesn’t matter because he knows they will cheer for him
after the bout.
“I
think when I fought Sherk that, that was kind of in his home
area’ish,” recounted Dunham. “I want to say that
Shamar (as well), but I don’t know. I don’t really
read into any of those things. I know the fans in Canada are
great. I’m sure he’ll have quite the following up
there.
“I
know I have quite a few fans up there in Canada, as well. Whether
they boo for me, or whether they cheer for me going in, it makes
no difference as long as by the end of the fight, they’re
cheering for me. That’s all I really care about.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Dana
White Won't Walk Away, Says UFC Will 'Shock the World Again'
Sep
16, 2012 - He's got more money than he can spend, he's already
accomplished most of the goals that he set out to achieve in
the sport, so why is UFC president Dana White still so adamant
about showing up to work every day?
"The
way that I look at this thing is I made a commitment, and I'm
committed to this. I know what we can do and the things that
we're working on – and this might sound (expletive) egotistical
as hell, but it's what I believe – I believe that if I walk
away from this thing, I believe it won't happen. I love this
(expletive)," White told a group of media members this week
in Las Vegas.
Despite
the recent cancellation of UFC 151 (the first event to be scrapped
in 11 years) and a year characterized by injuries suffered by
the company's biggest stars, the UFC boss says critics "gloom
and doom" scenarios are a joke and that the world's leading
MMA promotion is poised for greatness.
"The
past month has been a (expletive). Canceling our first event
and then all the stuff going on in Brazil. But I don't ever think
about walking away," White said.
"We're
going to shock the world again in the next two years. When you
see these other organizations pop up, they basically copy everything
that we do. But they're going to be going in one direction, the
copy-the-UFC direction, and then we're shaking (expletive) up.
We're going to change how everything works again in the next
two years."
While
White wouldn't elaborate on the major moves the promotion has
planned, he said the changes could be as revolutionary as the
steps (signing a long-term TV deal with Fox) that made the UFC
the leader of the world's fastest growing sport over the last
decade.
"The
stuff that's happening right now, I was saying this 10 years
ago," White said. "People thought I was (expletive)
crazy. Everything we're doing now, I said we would do 10 years
ago. I'm telling you right here today, wait until you see what
we do in the next five years."
White
— who earlier this year was forced to miss a few days of
work as an inner-ear condition called Meniere's disease —
said nothing would stop him from making the UFC the world's biggest
and most popular sport.
"That
Meniere's thing put me down for like four days, and that's it.
I've been cranking ever since. I won't let it," White said.
"It ain't going to stop me. Nothing's going to stop me."
"I
think that I would be pussing out and (expletive) everybody.
I think that I would be screwing a lot of people if I walked
away. It would be a really selfish move, and I don't think I
could do it anyway. I don't want to.
"I
like what I do. I like what we do. I like what we're building.
I like what we've created. The day is going to come when it's
time for me to walk away. When that day comes, hopefully somebody
else will jump in here that is willing to do what I've done and
work as hard as I have to keep going and take it to the next
level."
White
stressed that he and UFC co-owner and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta have
too much global work to continue to quit anytime soon.
"Once
we get it to a certain level, anybody can run it then. Then you
get people in and anybody can do it," said White, whose
company has held shows in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan and
Sweden already this year and has upcoming events scheduled for
China and England.
"But
I just fear that without us, people won't push and go to that
next level. People get comfortable. 'We don't need (expletive)
MMA in Turkey. There's places in the world where they'd be like,
'Who cares?' We care. We want it everywhere."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Nick
Ring vs. Constantinos Philippou Added to UFC 154: St-Pierre vs.
Condit
Now
that Georges St-Pierre has been cleared to fight, the UFC 154:
St-Pierre vs. Condit fight card is filling up fast.
The
latest bout added to the Montreal event is a pivotal middleweight
showdown between Canadian Nick Ring and American Constantinos
Philippou.
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Philippou
Ring (13-1) is looking to build his momentum back up after a
loss – the first of his career – to Tim Boetsch at
UFC 135. He started back on the right track with a unanimous
decision over Court McGee at UFC 149 in July.
He’ll
face Philippou (11-2), who is already riding a wave towards title
contention. After stumbling against Nick Catone in his UFC debut,
Philippou has been on a tear, reeling off four consecutive victories.
Georges
St-Pierre returns after a lengthy layoff to defend his UFC welterweight
championship against interim titleholder Carlos Condit in the
UFC 154 main event.
UFC
154 is slated for Nov. 17 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The
Ring vs. Philippou bout was first reported by the Canadian Press.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
George
St-Pierre wants to finish fights, study dinosaurs and eat McDonalds
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has recently been
given the green light to start training for his Nov. 17 fight
with interim champ Carlos Condit. In an interview with the Toronto
Sun, GSP said he wants to finish fights because of the criticism
he takes for going to decision, as he did in his last four fights.
Saying he wants to be more "opportunistic," GSP said
he is fighting the world's best.
"I can make up a bunch of excuses but the truth is I'm fighting
the best guys all the time and it's tough competition. You cannot
always win by beautiful fashion. The guy that is in front of
me is a very good guy. He's the No. 1 contender all the time
and now I'm fighting the (interim) world champ in Carlos Condit.
I'm working a lot more on being more opportunistic and it's going
to pay off I'm sure."
With a record of 22-2 and six title defenses, GSP has proven
himself one of the best fighters to ever grace the Octagon, but
the lack of recent finishes nags at the idea he is the very best.
A finish over Condit could silence those worries.
GSP also talked about a few other, non-fight-related items. He
said if he wasn't a fighter, he would be a paleontologist or
archaeologist. And his favorite splurge food?
I like McDonald's. Three cheeseburgers, French fries, poutine
with chicken McNuggets and a big Coca-Cola.
Whoa. The man with washboard abs loves a meal with enough calories
to last him two days.
Source:
Yahoo Sports
|
RICH
ATTONITO REPLACES INJURED PASCAL KRAUSS, MEETS GUNNAR NELSON
AT UFC ON FUEL TV 5
“The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 cast member Rich Attonito will
replace injured German boxer Pascal Krauss as an opponent for
Gunnar Nelson at UFC on Fuel TV 5. Dean Nelson, Gunnar Nelson’s
father and head of ADCC Iceland, was first to announce the news
on Twitter.
Krauss
received a strong knee strike to the ribcage while sparring on
Saturday morning and had to be rushed to the hospital after complaining
of chest pain. Doctors at Freiburg University Hospital diagnosed
severely bruised ribs, an inflamed chest muscle and a dislocated
vertebra, rendering the 25-year-old “Panzer” unable
to compete on Sept. 29 in Nottingham, England.
“I
can’t laugh, can’t cough, can’t talk loudly or
sleep without waking up at least 10 times at night,” Krauss
told Sherdog.com. “I tried getting over the pain using medication,
but it was just too strong. I am devastated as it’s already
the second time I had to cancel a fight due to injury. I apologize
to Gunnar and his camp, I would have loved nothing more than
being able to compete with him. I was looking forward to this
fight so much.”
A
35-year-old former NCAA Division I wrestler, Attonito [pictured:
right] will take the fight against Nelson on two weeks’
notice. The American Top Team member was last seen in action
in December, where he suffered a second-round stoppage against
fellow wrestler Jake Hecht.
Source:
Sherdog
|
Georges
St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva Nears Reality, but What About Anderson
Silva vs. Jon Jones?
“If
ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry
Christmas.”
– Don Meredith
That’s
about where we were at on the status of superfights in the UFC
a couple of years ago, but now…
Now,
there is hope on the horizon that some of the biggest match-ups
that fans can think of could actually be coming to fruition.
There
are still some of those ifs and buts, BUT that’s not stopping
the momentum from building.
The
fight most immediately in view would pit current UFC welterweight
champion Georges St-Pierre against Anderson Silva, the middleweight
king.
“Anderson
and GSP were talking like they didn’t want to fight,”
said UFC president Dana White on Monday night’s episode
of Inside MMA on AXS TV. “Now, he beats Condit, meaning
Georges St-Pierre, he wins Carlos Condit fight, he’s saying
he wants to fight Anderson Silva and Anderson Silva is saying
he wants to fight him.
“That
fight will probably happen first.”
If
St-Pierre beats Condit. If he decides to forego the other top
welterweight contenders. If they can come to terms.
“I
feel like I have a lot of guys that are there and I don’t
understand why people are going crazy now, but I just came back
from an injury, so maybe some people see me as a weak link,”
St-Pierre told MMAWeekly.com recently. “We’ll see what’s
going to happen in the future.”
A
fight with Silva would be difficult to turn down, though. It
would easily be the biggest fight in the sport’s history,
likely taking place at the 100,000-plus-seat Cowboys Stadium
in Dallas, Texas. With the biggest fight comes the biggest payday.
Good luck turning that down.
Beyond
that, White foresees other superfights that could also see the
light of day… depending on how things play out.
If
the fight between GSP and Silva takes place and Silva wins, the
dominoes start to fall.
“Now,
Anderson and Jones are saying we’re buddies, don’t
wanna fight or whatever the deal is, but (Jones) didn’t
want to fight Rashad (Evans) either, and that happened,”
explained White.
“As
you start to get to a point like where Anderson is now in his
career. He’s beat everybody; he’s broke every record
in UFC history. If he wins against Georges St-Pierre, I guarantee
he’ll be eyeballing Jon Jones next.”
There
are more fights beyond those that could happen, but hey, that’s
probably enough ifs and buts for one day… unless you want
to unleash your favorites.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Bellator
Vet Raphael Davis Pleads Guilty to Filing False Workers’
Comp Claim in Los Angeles
By Mike
Whitman
Veteran
mixed martial artist Raphael Davis pleaded guilty to one felony
count of filing a false workers’ compensation claim on Sept.
6 as part of a plea bargain struck with the Los Angeles District
Attorney’s Office.
Davis,
a 36-year-old former Los Angeles city firefighter, entered his
plea before Superior Court Judge David Horwitz, according to
the D.A.’s official release. The fighter was originally
charged with four felony counts, but three counts will be dropped
as a result of the plea, provided Davis completes 200 hours of
community service before his March 6 sentencing date next year.
Davis also paid the city $30,000 in restitution.
Prosecutors
alleged that Davis filed false workers’ compensation claims
between Dec. 2, 2008, and May 20, 2011, while he continued to
compete in MMA contests. The fighter was arrested without incident
on April 10 and posted bail before being arraigned on May 3,
at which time he pleaded not guilty.
Davis’
management emailed Sherdog.com on Wednesday morning with a statement
regarding the conviction:
“While
[Davis] has now realized that continuing to train for MMA fights
was not in the scope of his doctor’s orders, he did so with
no intent of wrongdoing. It was simply a misunderstanding. He
has now accepted responsibility and remedied the situation in
full.
“Mr.
Davis has served honorably with the Los Angeles Fire Department
for over eight years. During the course of his employment, he
sustained verified and documented injuries while serving the
city of Los Angeles. Due to those on-duty injuries, Mr. Davis
required not only medical attention and doctor’s visits,
but underwent various surgeries, as well. Due to the extent of
these injuries, he was forced to take time off from his employment
with the city.
“It
was during this time off that Mr. Davis attempted to continue
training and competing in the sport that he loves, mixed martial
arts. Due to the status the doctor put him on, he was not to
work or perform any activities that were inconsistent with the
doctor’s restrictions. Mr. Davis believed, at the time,
that as long as he could perform and maintain a certain training
regimen and did not exacerbate his injuries, that that complied
with his doctor’s orders. Mr. Davis now realizes that competing
in MMA events was outside the scope of his doctor’s orders.
He has admitted to that mistake and has accepted responsibility
accordingly. He has agreed to a disposition in court to perform
200 hours of community service and has already paid back, in
full, the amount that was earned from the city during the time
that he was off injured.
“The
terms of his agreement will result in a misdemeanor conviction
upon completion of the community service. Mr. Davis, in accepting
responsibility and acknowledging his error, looks forward to
focusing once again on those that matter most, his loving family,
and continuing in his MMA career.”
Though
the statement asserts that the plea will result in a misdemeanor
conviction, district attorney press secretary Jane Robison told
Sherdog.com that the severity of Davis’ sentence will be
decided by the judge at the March hearing.
“He
[pleaded] guilty to one felony count,” Robison stated. “When
he successfully completes his probation and the terms of his
sentence, he can ask the judge to reduce the felony charge to
a misdemeanor.”
Davis
last competed on March 24, when he stopped Berin Balijagic with
punches under the Strength and Honor Championship banner in Switzerland.
A four-time Bellator Fighting Championships veteran, “Noodle”
has compiled a 12-2 record in his six years as a pro and owns
11 finishes to his credit.
Source:
Sherdog
|
MANAGER:
CHAEL SONNEN NOT FIGHTING WANDERLEI SILVA AT UFC 153
By Ariel
Helwani - Video Reporter and Writer
Chael
Sonnen will not be stepping in on short notice to fight at UFC
153.
Sonnen's
manager Mike Roberts refuted a Fighters Only report on Wednesday
that Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva was a possible main event replacement
for the injury-plagued UFC 153 card.
According
to Roberts, Sonnen has not been offered a fight at UFC 153, and
he is still scheduled to fight Forrest Griffin at UFC 155 on
Dec. 29.
"[Wanderlei]
Silva's not an option," Roberts added.
UFC
153 lost its main event and co-main event on Tuesday after Jose
Aldo pulled out of his featherweight title fight against Frankie
Edgar due to a foot injury and Rampage Jackson withdrew from
his fight against Glover Teixeira due to an elbow injury.
UFC
153 is scheduled to take place on Oct. 13 at HSBC Arena in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Jose
Aldo Suffers Foot Injury, Forced Out of UFC 153 Main Event
And
the hits just keep on coming….
Within
hours of the news that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was
out of UFC 153 due to injury, now UFC featherweight champion
Jose Aldo has fallen by the wayside as well.
According
to UFC president Dana White, Aldo has been forced out of his
main event bout against Frankie Edgar due to a foot injury.
Aldo
was facing Edgar in the main event on the UFC 153 fight card
slated for Oct. 13 in Rio. Edgar was already a replacement for
Erik Koch, who also fell off the show due to injury.
The
main event and co-main event for UFC 153 have now both been scrapped
within a couple of hours, and no answers appear ready for what
the UFC will do to answer to this latest upheaval.
“Main
and co main in the same day!! Another amazing day at the UFC,”
wrote White on Twitter. “We have some work to do.”
UFC
officials have yet to make any other announcements regarding
the UFC 153 card or who will remain to serve as main event or
co-main event for the upcoming October show.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Cat
Zingano signs a 4-fight deal with Strikeforce
Ivan Trindade
Cat
Zingano, a 30-year-old veteran coming out of Ring of Fire and
Fight to Win promotions has just signed a four fight deal with
StrikeForce, with the first match slated to go down at the Power
Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, California, September 29, when
she faces off with Amanda Nunes in a women’s bantamweight
bout.
Zingano,
a Colorado native currently stands unbeaten in her first six
professional matches, with the last one being held on May 2011
in Denver Colorado when she prevailed over Takayo Hashi by way
of a third round knockout.
Zingano
is now seen by many as a new rising star in women’s mixed
martial arts with an aggressive style that was readily apparent
in her first professional debut match in June, 2008 when she
submitted Karina Taylor via Arm-Bar in the first round.
Since
then it’s been full speed ahead with no looking back for
Cat who’s been busy keeping up a relentless training schedule
under GMA member Mauricio Zingano and legendary Thai fighter,
Sakmongkol Sitchuchoke, back home on familiar ground in Denver.
It
hasn’t all been Gym work for Zingano though, because through
it all she’s also managed to ink her first book that’s
in final editing and scheduled to be released sometime over the
course of the next few months.
So
this is for sure more than just another pretty face in the MMA
fighting arena, who judging by the size and enthusiasm of the
hometown fan base is fully capable of drawing a sizable crowd
which he squares off in the ring.
For
more info, go to zinganobjj.com.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
'The
Ultimate Fighter: Australia vs. U.K.' to air on ESPN in United
Kingdom
The
UFC's next international edition of "The Ultimate Fighter"
has a television home in the United Kingdom.
"The
Ultimate Fighter: Australia vs. U.K. – TheSmashes"
will air on ESPN in the U.K. starting Sept. 19, the same night
the season debuts on FX in Australia. UFC officials on Wednesday
announced the news.
All
episodes of the season then will air at midnight on Wednesdays
on ESPN in the U.K., with the regular season wrapping up on Dec.
5. Episodes outside of the U.K. and Australia will air on TUF.tv.
The
Australia vs. U.K. edition of the UFC's popular reality series
is the third to take place outside the United States. This past
spring, "TUF Brazil" debuted and was a big success
in that country, culminating with a pay-per-view featuring the
middleweight and featherweight finals at UFC 147 in Belo Horizonte,
Brazil.
On
Tuesday, the UFC made official its fourth international TUF with
the announcement of "The Ultimate Fighter: India,"
which is expected to take place in 2013.
This
past week, the UFC announced the cast for the Australia vs. U.K.
edition, nicknamed "TheSmashes" – a play on an
old cricket rivalry between the two.
Eight
lightweights and eight welterweights make up the cast and will
be split into teams of eight – four from each division –
coached by UFC fighters George Sotiropoulos, of Australia, and
Ross Pearson, of England. The two coaches then will meet in a
season-ending fight on Dec. 14 at UFC on FX 6 in Australia. (The
card will take place Dec. 15 in Australia, but with the time
difference will air live on Friday, Dec. 14, in the States.)
That
card also will feature the welterweight and lightweight finals
of the reality series, plus a middleweight bout between Australia
resident Hector Lombard and Rousimar Palhares.
When
the cast was announced, UFC President Dana White already was
bullish on what he believes the fan reaction to the series will
be.
"These
guys have definitely made the second international 'TUF' show
can't-miss TV," White stated. "Going into this thing,
I had no idea just how much the Aussies and the Brits can't stand
losing to each other. Now I know."
The
full teams for "The Ultimate Fighter: Australia vs. U.K."
include:
TEAM
UK
Colin
Fletcher (8-1), 29, Sunderland (lightweight)
Norman Parke (16-2), 25, Bushmills, Northern Ireland (lightweight)
Michael Pastou (9-2), 30, Essex (lightweight)
Mike Wilkinson (7-0), 24, Leigh (lightweight)
Luke Newman (5-0), 22, London (welterweight)
Bola Omoyele (6-1), 30, London (welterweight)
Valentino Petrescu (12-2), 30, Essex (welterweight)
Brad Scott (8-1), 23, Melksham (welterweight)
TEAM AUSTRALIA
Grant
Blackler (8-0), 23, Sunshine Coast (lightweight)
Patrick Iodice (5-0), 19, GoldCoast (lightweight)
Richie Vaculik (9-1), 29, Sydney (lightweight)
Ben Wall (6-0-1), 23, Brisbane (lightweight)
Ben Alloway (12-3), 31, GoldCoast (welterweight)
Xavier Lucas (8-3-1), 31, Perth (welterweight)
Manuel Rodriguez (9-3), 27, Sydney (welterweight)
Robert Whitaker (9-2), 21, Sydney (welterweight)
Source: MMA Junkie
|
Renan
Barao not an option for UFC 153
By Guilherme
Cruz
UFC
needs to work hard to find a replacement for the main event of
UFC Rio 3, on October 13, after Jose Aldo was forced off the
event due to an injury. One likely options could be Renan Barao,
interim bantamweight champion, possibly against Michael McDonald,
but it will never happen.
“No,
can’t do. It’s too close. He’s been training hard,
but not for a fight. They haven’t approached us yet”,
Jair Lourenço – Barao’s coach at Kimura Nova
Uniao – said.
Barao
is coming from a good winning sequence, just like McDonald, and
both have only been defeated once in MMA.
But
Jair would not feel comfortable accepting the challenge, but
stresses out that the ultimate decision is up to the athlete
and the organization.
“I
guess he wouldn’t be 100 percent for a fight that close
in order to put on a performance like he should. It wouldn’t
be good for him right now, but it’s one to think about”,
says.
Source:
Tatame
|
ANDERSON
SILVA VS. STEPHAN BONNAR IS NEW UFC 153 MAIN EVENT; GLOVER TEIXEIRA
GETS NEW FOE
By Dave Doyle - Staff Writer
The
world's best fighter returns to action as Anderson Silva will
meet Stephan Bonnar at UFC 153.
One
day after UFC 153's top two fights fell out, two more took their
place.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will step up to 205
pounds and meet veteran Stephan Bonnar in the main event of the
Oct. 13 card at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
The bout replaces the planned featherweight title bout between
champion Jose Aldo Jr. and Frankie Edgar. Aldo had to pull out
of the fight on Tuesday due to complications from injuries suffered
in a recent motorcycle accident.
The new co-main event features a battle of Brazilian light heavyweights
as Glover Teixeira (18-2) faces Fabio Maldonado (18-5). Maldonado
replaces Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who also had to
pull out due to injury.
MMAFighting.com confirmed the bouts after an initial USA Today
report.
Silva
(32-4), who will celebrate his record sixth anniversary as middleweight
champion the day after UFC 153, has twice stepped up and fought
at 205 during his record streak of 15 consecutive UFC wins. Both
were first-round knockouts, as he stopped James Irvin in July
2008, and took out former champ Forrest Griffin at UFC 101.
The world's top pound-for-pound fighter had previously stated
that he was done competing at light heavyweight, but the opportunity
to step up, save a show, and fight in front of his Brazilian
fans was apparently too much to resist.
Bonnar
(14-7), meanwhile, is most famous for his bout against Griffin
in "The Ultimate Fighter 1" finale. While he's had
his career ups and downs, Bonnar has won his past three fights.
Teixeira
made an impressive company debut at UFC 146, when he stopped
Kyle Kingsbury. While there were strong rumors on Wednesday that
Thiago Silva would take Jackson's spot against Teixeira, the
spot instead went to Maldonado, who was slated to meet Cyrille
Diabate at UFC 154. Maldonado is 1-2 in UFC action, most recently
coming out on the wrong end of a highly debatable decision against
Igor Pokrajac on May 15.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Jose
Aldo Regrets UFC 153 Withdrawal, Still Wants to Fight Frankie
Edgar
By Gleidson
Venga
More
light has been shed on the injury that will prevent featherweight
champion Jose Aldo from defending his title against Frankie Edgar
at UFC 153.
On
Tuesday afternoon, during practice at Nova Uniao headquarters
in Rio de Janeiro, the athlete was forced to stop his training
due to intense pain in his right foot, which was injured during
a motorcycle accident just over one week ago. Team leader Andre
Pederneiras immediately vetoed the fight against Edgar and informed
the UFC of the development.
“It’s
been almost 10 days since Aldo’s motorcycle accident and
he had improved greatly. His injuries had already healed almost
completely, but his right foot was very swollen. Today, during
his first sparring workout, he couldn’t plant his right
foot because of the pain,” Pederneiras told Sherdog.com
on Tuesday. “Because of his and our overwhelming desire
that this fight against Edgar would happen, we tried to push
it a bit, but we talked after practice and saw that he wasn’t
able to train for the fight. We would like the fight [to be]
postponed but the opponent kept.”
Aldo,
who would have competed for the second time in Rio de Janeiro
as UFC champion, regretted the incident.
“I
apologize to my fans for not being able to fight at UFC 153,
something I really wanted. It was a huge thrill to defend this
belt at the last event in the city, and it would be even more
wonderful to do it again now, against an opponent like Frank
Edgar,” said Aldo. “I tried everything until the last
second to be inside the Octagon, but it didn’t happen. Hopefully
the UFC keeps the opponent and postpones this meeting, because
I really want to face him.”
Source
Sherdog
|
Bellator
Heavyweight Champ Cole Konrad Retires
Hector
Lombard bolted for the UFC, leaving the Bellator middleweight
championship vacant, and now the promotion’s heavyweight
champ, Cole Konrad, has decided to retire, leaving the 265-pound
division without a titleholder.
Despite
a spotless 9-0 record, MMAWeekly.com has confirmed that Konrad
has opted to forgo his MMA career for a move into the business
world. He has accepted a position with North Central Trading
as a financial trader specializing in milk products, according
to TwinCities.com.
Konrad
last fought in May when he submitted Eric Prindle just 1:00 into
their fight.
Konrad
spent the majority of his career – seven out of nine bouts
– fighting for Bellator. He was the promotion’s first
and only heavyweight champion… until now.
With
his retirement, Konrad leaves the promotion with two vacant championships.
Bellator
officials were unavailable for comment on the heavyweight division’s
situation, but have already announced that Season 6 middleweight
tournament winner Maiquel Falcão will square off with
Season 5 winner Alexander Shlemenko for the 185-pound divisional
belt.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Jon
Jones May Be More Like Tito Ortiz Than He Cares to Admit
by Ken
Pishna
UFC
light heavyweight champion Jon Jones may be a little more like
UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz than he likes to admit.
Jones
has made comments recently about his taking a stand for himself
in turning down a short-notice fight with Chael Sonnen to try
and save the UFC 151 main event, much to the ire of UFC president
Dana White.
Many
have compared Jones’ stance to that often taken by Tito
Ortiz over his lengthy career. Not that Ortiz was know for turning
down fights, but he was known for taking a stand for himself,
not leaving it to someone else to determine the course of his
career.
Ortiz
often times was looked upon as an anti-company man, not just
accepting what was handed him, frequently fighting for not just
added money on his contracts, but also percentages of pay-per-views,
the rights to his image and brand, and the like.
He
has always justified his actions by indicating that yes, he was
standing up for himself, but also for fairness in negotiations
for other fighters, as well.
Jones
has insinuated that for Ortiz it was about the money, whereas
it isn’t for him.
Jones’
end game may or may not be about the money, but his recent words
to The Associated Press seem very similar to those often uttered
by Ortiz.
“I
had to do what’s right for myself by turning down that fight,
Dana had to do what was right for himself by putting the blame
on everyone else except for himself,” Jones told the AP.
“The lesson to be learned is, at the end of the day, you
have to protect yourself and your family.”
For
his part, Ortiz, prior to Jones’ AP interview, had taken
umbrage to Jones’ insinuations that it was mostly about
the money for the former UFC light heavyweight champion.
“I
took a lot of flack for negotiating and battling for what I believed
in,” Ortiz told MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive extended interview.
“It wasn’t a factor of talking about money. It was
a factor of what I thought I was worth. I was trying to raise
the bar for all fighters, and I think I’ve done that. For
(Jones) to say the things he’s saying, don’t disrespect
me like that.”
At
the end of the day, Ortiz is still a fan of Jon Jones, but didn’t
take kindly to the comments Jones has made.
“I
was just disappointed, very, very disappointed with Jon. Maybe
the stardom is getting to his head.”
Jones
and White have yet to speak about the UFC 151 cancellation fallout
and their relationship, but the two will be on a Tuesday media
conference call together, promoting the upcoming UFC 152 fight
card for Toronto.
Ortiz
often bore the burden of a rough relationship with White, whether
or not that burden falls upon Jones as well will only be realized
over time.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
With
Bout Against Takanori Gomi Set, Mac Danzig Focused on Going from
Good to Great
Mac
Danzig will travel across the world this fall to fight Takanori
Gomi, and while he might not be looking forward to the flight,
he loves the matchup.
“I
love traveling the world, but not for fights,” Danzig told
the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Cheap Seats” show.
“But beggars can’t be choosers. On top of that, yeah,
it’s an awesome matchup for me. If you look at the UFC’s
lightweight roster, fights that make sense for specific fighters,
that’s in the top-five priority for me right now. I think
it’s great. I’m really looking forward to it.”
The
bout is scheduled for the Nov. 10 UFC on Fuel TV 6 card. Two
and a half months out, Danzig has already begun his preparation.
“Right
now I’m really concentrating on studying how he fights and
really just using the angles the way I’m supposed to, the
timing the way I’m supposed to, working on my boxing a lot
and working on my wrestling a lot,” he said. “I don’t
mind talking about it. I’m not going to be shooting from
the outside on him. I’m working on specific wrestling stuff
for him and just getting better at my overall game. I’m
at the point now where every fight that I take is just an opportunity.
Yeah, I’ve got to concentrate on this guy who stands flatfooted
and crouches down real low and is a southpaw most of the time
and he throws power punches -- that’s my test at this moment,
but every single time that I take a fight now, it’s an opportunity
to keep refining the skills that I have.”
Danzig
is actually refining those skills with former coach Rico Chiapparelli.
He’d first worked with the well-regarded trainer years ago
but then bounced around to other camps while Chiapparelli took
a step back from instructing a full camp of fighters.
“This
is what he told me,” Danzig said. “Instead of trying
to have a team and have a bunch of fighters running around and
doing all this stuff, he was like, ‘I would rather try to
make one person great. Try to make one fighter great. Take a
fighter that’s willing to try to be great and work with
him and turn him into that.’ I’m all for it. …
Really I’m just like his experiment right now. Not even
experiment. I’m his work. I couldn’t be happier. A
lot of people don’t know who he is, and that’s fine.
I’m so grateful to be in the position I am. The guy’s
a genius.”
Danzig
figures he has at least six years left to become the best fighter
he can be. He’s already a good one, but he believes he hasn’t
yet reached his potential.
“I’m
the first one willing to admit that I accepted mediocrity at
some point,” Danzig said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve
accomplished a lot. It’s really nice up here.’ I climbed
the mountain like three quarters of the way. But it’s really,
really hard. That last quarter of the mountain is really, really
hard to climb. Do you want to stand here and look down and be
like, ‘Wow, I made it really high. This is cool,’ and
just give up there? Or do you want to dare to be great? …
I’m going to become a world champion. That’s the difference.
I’m at the point in my career where it’s all or nothing
now.”
Source:
Sherdog
|
'THE
ULTIMATE FIGHTER: INDIA' TO PREMIERE IN 2013
By Ariel
Helwani - Video Reporter and Writer
"The
Ultimate Fighter" is coming to India next year.
TUF:
India will air in 2013, the UFC announced at a press conference
in Mumbai on Tuesday. This will mark the third international
version of TUF, following TUF: Brazil and TUF: Australia vs.
UK.
In
addition to TUF: India, the UFC announced a television deal with
India's SONY SIX network to air live events, as well as specialty
programming like "Countdown," "Unleashed,"
and "Primetime."
"SIX’s willingness to step up and commit to the Ultimate
Fighter India was very important to us," UFC CEO Lorenzo
Fertitta stated in a press release. "TUF India will help
to introduce the sport in India, to showcase the hard work, dedication,
athleticism and skills needed to compete in the UFC. It will
also cast a spotlight throughout the country, searching for the
most talented local martial artists.
"The
UFC will be successful in India even without local stars, but
what we’ve seen around the world is fans really want to
see one of their own get a chance to compete at the highest level.
Somewhere out there in a country of 1.2 billion there is a Indian
champion, someone who will capture the imagination of the fans
and help take the sport to a whole new level."
According
to the release, casting details for TUF: India will be announced
in the near future. No word just yet on whether the series will
air in North America.
The
sixteenth season of the original TUF premieres Friday on FX at
9 p.m. ET/PT.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Frankie
Edgar Didn’t Hesitate Accepting Short-Notice Jose Aldo Fight:
‘It Was Easy to Say Yes’
by Damon
Martin
It
was common knowledge that once Frankie Edgar dropped down to
the featherweight division, a title shot would likely come peeking
around the corner in pretty short fashion.
It
turned out he got the shot even quicker than anticipated when
Erik Koch suffered a training injury and it forced him out of
his scheduled bout against UFC champion Jose Aldo at UFC 153
in October.
With
five weeks training time to go, Edgar got the call and while
he did talk to his coaches and manager just to make sure everybody
was on board, there was zero chance he was saying no to the opportunity.
“To
be honest, in my head I said yes right away. I just wanted to
call my team and talk to them about it, more of a respect of
my coaches type situation, but I don’t think anybody could
have talked me out of it at any point,” Edgar told MMAWeekly
Radio.
“In
my mind, I had already made up the fact that I wanted to fight
this fight.”
While
the situations are absolutely different, there are still comparisons
being made between Edgar’s decision to say yes and UFC light
heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ recent decision to say no
to a short-notice fight.
In
Jones’ case, he was asked to change opponents on eight days
notice, but right or wrong, he’s been vilified for his decision
to turn down the chance to still compete at UFC 151. In Edgar’s
case, he’s taking a fight on approximately five weeks notice,
but he is just three weeks removed from a five-round title fight.
He’s also competing at a new weight class, but still, there
was no chance he wasn’t stepping up when the UFC came calling.
“I’m
not trying to compare myself to anyone else, I just know my situation.
It was easy to say yes. I fought less than three weeks ago when
I got the call, injury free fight. I was already back in the
gym a little bit, so it was just an opportunity you can’t
let slip,” Edgar stated.
“I
feel I’m a company guy. When they ask me to do stuff, I’m
usually on board with them. So nothing changes this time around.
Let’s not get this twisted, this is definitely a good opportunity
for me. It’s not like I’m doing them such a favor.
Them offering me this is good on my part as well.”
Edgar
now gets the chance to fight for the UFC featherweight title
just over two months after competing for the UFC lightweight
title. He will be the first fight to accomplish that feat, and
he’ll try to also become the first fighter to hand Jose
Aldo a loss inside the Octagon.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
How
to watch Metamoris Pro, an event for Jiu-Jitsu that’s all
the more beautiful
Nalty Junior
Ralek,
one of Rorion Gracie’s ten children, has some solid MMA
performances under his belt from his days fighting in Japan,
where he made his debut at 21 years of age and collected three
triumphs in three fight—including a memorable unanimous
decision over Kazushi Sakuraba.
Now
26, Ralek wants to do even more for Jiu-Jitsu. In spearheading
the campaign to promote Metamoris Pro, a star-studded tournament
coming up October 14 in San Diego, the black belt addressed his
motivation in launching the event, explained how you can watch
it live at the venue or at home, and described the criteria for
picking the competitors. (Check out the matchups on the card
here.)
“I
wanted to create something that I would compete in. Something
where the guy who beats me needs to submit me, not just win with
a sweep,” the Gracie explained.
GRACIEMAG:
According to the event rules, official match duration is 20 minutes,
without points or advantages. The winner is the one who gets
the tapout. Those are surely good rules for the fans. Are they
good rules for Jiu-Jitsu as a whole as well?
The
objective is to show the most pure form of Jiu-Jitsu without
any reservation. Today the top competitors need to adjust their
style to win in the highly competitive points game.
What
was your aim in creating this event?
I
wanted to create something that I would compete in. Something
where the guy who beats me needs to submit me, not just win with
a sweep. This way we can understand who is the best. But that’s
not the end of it, because in the process of finding the best
individual athlete you also find the most beauty in the art.
Jiu-Jitsu is an art, and I want to give them as many colors as
possible on a blank canvas to show their artistic ability. Picasso
would not want it any other way.
What
was the hardest part about putting together an event of this
scale?
The
most difficult thing believe it or not is understanding what
top caliber athletes need and deserve. Since I am a black belt
and professional fighter, I know what it’s like to get the
right treatment and the wrong treatment. Every difficult task
is overcome with the desire to give to those guys what I would
want for myself, then it becomes easy.
What’s
the venue like?
The
first event will be held at the Viejas Arena in San Diego on
the San Diego State University (SDSU) campus. Very nice place
that can seat 12,000 people. We plan to use a giant curtain to
create the stage and seating for 7,500 and if need be open it
up for 12,000.
Will
there be an internet broadcast?
The
event will be live streaming at www.Metamoris.com. We are putting
a lot of resources into making the PPV a black belt production
so that people really feel like they are there live. You can
visit www.Metamoris.com for a Ticket Master link [for tickets],
and the stream will be for sale in the coming weeks.
What
was your criteria in picking the fighters?
Only
the best.
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Bellator's
Rebney: Fighters soon may see extracurricular restrictions like
other pro sports
by Steven
Marrocco
Bellator
CEO Bjorn Rebney sees a day when fighters are contractually restricted
from dangerous activities, as they are in other professional
sports leagues.
It
may be necessary to prevent the recent scenario in which UFC
featherweight champ Jose Aldo (21-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was forced
to withdraw from a headliner against Frankie Edgar (14-3-1 MMA,
9-3-1 UFC) at UFC 153.
"First
of all, big Jose Aldo fan," Rebney on Wednesday told MMAjunkie.com
Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "But second of all …
really? You've got a major fight coming up."
Such
restrictions prevent NBA players from picking up a basketball
and playing a pickup game. But they also apply to activities
such as riding a motorcycle, which statistically is more dangerous
than driving a car.
Of
course, it's a far more common activity in a country such as
Brazil, which Aldo calls home. But with the money at stake in
a pending fight, Rebney said promotions can't afford to gamble.
"Motorcycles
are dangerous – it's as simple as that," he said. "If
your job is competing at the highest levels of 145 pounds on
Earth, man, riding a bike is just a very tough one to make sense
of."
The
UFC is currently searching for a replacement opponent for Aldo.
Edgar's camp has signaled his willingness to fight at UFC 153,
which takes place Oct. 11 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, or
a later event.
Aldo
isn't the only UFC fighter to take a spill on a bike. Extreme
sports enthusiast Donald Cerrone took a bad one while doing motocross
and told Sherdog.com he "kind of spilled his guts out"
and re-aggravated the injury prior to a fight with Jeremy Stephens
at UFC on FUEL TV 3. Amazingly, he turned in a dominating performance
and won via decision.
Cerrone
probably shouldn't have been doing motocross in the first place,
though.
"I
think especially as the numbers get bigger and we make the transition
to Spike and transition into bigger and bigger events, I could
completely conceptualize contract terms that prohibit fighters
from riding a motorcycle on the street," Rebney said. "It
doesn't matter how good of a rider you are. All it takes is one
idiot to change lanes without looking, and you're done.
"It's
a pity because [Aldo] is a heck of a fighter, he's a great talent,
and he's fun to watch fight, but that's just one of those things
you can eliminate.(I think of) Paul 'The Punisher' Williams.
Great, great boxer … rides a motorcycle and breaks his back.
That's one that most guys, from a common sense perspective, could
mark off the list."
Source: MMA Junkie
|
VITOR
BELFORT CALLS JON JONES THE 'NEW PHENOM' WHILE EMBRACING CHALLENGE
OF FACING HIM
By Mike Chiappetta - Senior Writer
Early
on Tuesday, Vitor Belfort was talking to his 7-year-old son Davi,
who was offering tips on how to fight Jon Jones. Davi trains
under his dad, and Vitor noticed that he likes to use some of
Jones' techniques, notably the spinning elbow.
"He
loves Jon Jones' style," Belfort said.
Davi's
appreciation of the UFC light-heavyweight champion is just another
sign that Jones is unquestionably the posterboy for the newest
evolution of MMA. It wasn't so long ago when that position was
held by Davi's father. When Belfort made his UFC debut in February
1997, Jones was just 9 years old. It was a different time for
MMA, which was then mostly known as "No Holds Barred,"
"Ultimate Fighting" or simply, "cagefighting."
The Unified Rules did not yet exist, one-night tournaments were
still in use, and many fight camps were still totally dependent
on one martial art. Belfort, for example, used to ride his bike
one hour in secret to take boxing lessons, afraid to anger his
jiu-jitsu team.
More than 15 years later, Belfort is a rare breed, a pioneer
who has crossed generations and maintained his relevance in a
quickly evolving landscape.
That
fact isn't lost on Belfort, and it's not solely because of his
son's preferences. Over the years, he's seen most of his contemporaries
rise and fall and eventually fade away. And that makes his upcoming
UFC 152 main event with Jones all the more intriguing. Few fighters
were interested in fighting Jones on short-notice, but Belfort,
a middleweight who hasn't fought at 205 for five years, was one
of less than a handful to volunteer. Almost 20 months after losing
to Anderson Silva in a middleweight title bout, this could be
Belfort's last chance to capture UFC gold.
"For
me, fighting Jon Jones, I never in my life had an idea that I’d
fighting at a high level that I'm still fighting it," he
said. "I used to fight on the same cards as Dan Severn,
Mark Coleman. I'm [from] this era, so I’m like a young dinosaur.
I'm an old lion in the midst of this young lion, so I’m
enjoying the jungle.
"For
me, I just want to thank God for still surfing that wave at a
high level," he continued. "It's a pleasure. It's a
challenge. People turn down fights. I cannot understand that.
I cannot see that. I love challenges, and this another challenge
in my life and we go for it. We move forward."
As
Belfort tells it, this is a respectful challenge, even though
he made several allusions to others turning down fights during
the course of answering questions about the matchup.
As
he sees it, the more businesslike approach to fight careers taken
by the current crop of fighters is simply a generational shift
that has happened with the passing of time. It's neither right
nor wrong; it just is.
"As
an old-school guy, I say if you need me to go there, I'm willing
to do it," he said. "I have a different mentality than
anybody else. I’m enjoying this journey. Now I fight not
for the money, not for the fame, not for the position. I fight
for the pleasure. Its' a joy. I’m enjoying the times I had
pressure in the past. The thing like 'You can’t lose, you
have to represent your team.' Now, I’m just there having
fun."
The
reality of fighting Jones hasn't been fun for any of his opponents,
and Belfort understands what he's up against, and only one of
his last seven opponents (Rashad Evans) has made it to the final
bell with him.
Jones
explained that by saying that his killer instinct wasn't there
due to his past friendship with Evans.
"Vitor
is someone I really don't know, and I think I’ll have a
better time going out there and feeling like I’m at war,"
he said.
Current
odds have Jones as around an 8-to-1 favorite.
Belfort
acknowledged all that Jones has done, at one point referring
to him as "the new phenom," in a nod to his own storied
history, while refusing to concede his challenge.
"I’m
going to go there to compete, bro," he said. "I’m
there to win, to compete at my high level of competition. That’s
it. I'm not thinking, 'Oh, my career, I have to do this.' No,
I did everything. I’m very happy for what I did in the sport
and now I’m just enjoying the moment, the process and the
journey. I hope I can be an inspiration for other athletes, for
guys coming up. And that's my legacy, man, just enjoying the
journey."
Not
long ago, Belfort walked the same path Jones is walking today.
Expected to be the face of mixed martial arts, it didn't quite
work out the way most predicted. But at 35 years old, Belfort
seems to be at peace.
"I'll
go there and I don't have any pressure" he said. "Just
joy. Be happy and smiling every moment of the fight. It doesn't
matter what type of position I'm in. It doesn't matter what I
go through. I went though the hardest things in life, in the
professional life and on a personal level, so it's a joy. I've
learned to be happy even if i’m sad, so it's going to be
a great challenge for myself. I love challenges."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Jacare
Souza dreams on fighting Chael Sonnen at UFC Rio
By Luca
Gomes
This
Tuesday (11th) was a busy day for MMA. Jose Aldo and Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson were cut off UFC Rio 3’s card
due to injuries, jeopardizing the next Brazilian edition of the
show.
Dana
White and his crew did not confirmed the new names to be included
on the Wonderful City’s fighting card, but, if it was up
to the fans, one name would be confirmed to fight at HSBC Arena:
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
“The
fans got this campaign started yesterday on Twitter for me to
fight at UFC Rio 3, right after it was announced Aldo and Rampage’s
cut. I was thrilled”, Jacare said on an interview with TATAME.
And
fans did not waste any time, picking a possible opponent for
Jacare Souza: “Most messages I got said it should be a fight
against Chael Sonnen. What about that? It would be sweet (laughs)”.
Despite
the fans’ euphoria the fact is that the odds of the former
Strikeforce middleweight champion being included on UFC Rio’s
card are not really great. By the way, nothing has been offered
him one month before the show, that is scheduled for October
13.
“Nobody
talked to me about fighting in Ultimate. Now I’m in Strikeforce.
Being recognized is amazing, it gives me a lot of motivation,
but I’m focused in Strikeforce. If the phone rings and they
invite me (to go to the UFC), I can change it at the spot”,
concluded.
Source:
Tatame
|
UFC
Vets Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, Jake Rosholt Headline
Xtreme Fight Night 9 in Oklahoma
By Mike
Whitman
The
Oklahoma-based Xtreme Fighting League will feature two UFC veterans
in its next main event, as promotion officials recently announced
that Anthony Johnson will square off with Jake Rosholt at Xtreme
Fight Night 9.
The
event takes place Sept. 21 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Tulsa in Catoosa, Okla., and will also feature onetime Bellator
talent Levi Avera defending his XFL welterweight title against
Dylan Smith in a rematch of their February title encounter.
The
XFL middleweight title will also be up for grabs, as Andrew Todhunter
meets Brandon Gaines for the 185-pound championship. Meanwhile,
Dave McAfee looks for his first pro victory against Oklahoman
Jesse Chaffin, and Kathina Catron locks horns with Amber Powell
in a women’s flyweight scrap.
Johnson,
28, previously competed at welterweight and middleweight during
his time with the UFC, racking up a 7-4 Octagon record before
receiving his promotional release this past January. Known for
his difficulty in cutting weight as well as his explosive knockout
power in the cage, Johnson recently made the move to light heavyweight,
knocking out Esteves Jones on Aug. 24 at Titan Fighting Championship
24.
Rosholt,
30, recently saw a five-fight winning streak snapped when he
was submitted with a kneebar by onetime IFL competitor Matt Thompson
on June 2. A former three-time NCAA Division I national champion
wrestler, Rosholt fought three times for the UFC in 2009, sandwiching
a third-round submission of Chris Leben between losses to Kendall
Grove and Dan Miller.
Source Sherdog
|
‘Sons
of Anarchy’ Star Theo Rossi and His UFC ‘Addiction’
by Damon
Martin
When
the UFC landed on Fox and FX, the goal was for a whole new group
of fans to learn and find out exactly what mixed martial arts
was all about.
While
that goal is still being achieved with every show broadcast on
the network, some of the actors and actresses that are part of
the Fox family are also starting to become UFC fans along the
way.
One
of those actors is ‘Sons of Anarchy’ star Theo Rossi,
who first ran across the sport of MMA years ago when he was still
making his way into the Hollywood scene.
Long
before the days of Dana White and the Fertitta brothers, Rossi
first encountered the UFC while working at a bar in Los Angeles.
Unbeknownst to him at the time, years later the sport would come
back around and become his new obsession.
“I
boxed most of my life so I’ve always been training with
boxing, I just always used it as a way to work out and then it
eventually led to sparring, and I really, really got into it.
I’m super competitive, so then what happened was it was
kind of this natural move where UFC started gaining popularity,
and obviously I have stories that go back to when I first moved
to L.A. in October 99', I worked in this bar/restaurant, I was
bartending, I was waitering,” Rossi told MMAWeekly Radio.
“While
I was working there these guys came in, the guys that came in
were Tank Abbott, Frank Shamrock, Ken Shamrock, and I believe
it was Kimo (Leopoldo), and they all came in they had some kind
of event. They came into this bar and literally I was their waiter
at their table, and they were drinking and eating steaks, and
this was a bar that was super rowdy. Drunk people everywhere,
it was just one of those bars and the bouncers were saying ‘if
these guys get in a fight, I am not jumping in’. Tank was
like looking around for a fight, and I was just hanging around
with them and I really knew nothing about it at the time. I didn’t
know much about it.”
As
time went by and Rossi spent more time in and around the bar
scene in Los Angeles, he noticed a startling trend – the
local pubs and clubs were showing a lot more mixed martial arts
than boxing.
“So
I started watching it, I started taking in little events here
and there. I was still this boxing purist so it was really hard
for me kind of really pay attention to it. Then, I would always
keep my eyes open and my cousins own one of the biggest sports
bars in Los Angeles, so the bars would always be packed for UFC
fights and I found it really odd cause I was always in there,”
explained Rossi.
Then
in late 2011, the deal between the UFC and Fox was announced,
and Rossi soon found himself on the list of actors set to walk
the red carpet during the promotion’s first event on the
network.
Rossi
plays ‘Juice’ on ‘Sons of Anarchy’, the No.
1 rated drama on FX, and along with several of his cast mates
they attended the UFC on Fox 1 card with Cain Velasquez taking
on Junior dos Santos. When the night was over, like so many people
before him, Rossi was hooked.
Rossi
also had the chance to meet and greet UFC President Dana White
and co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, and much like his boss and Sons
of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, their personalities all clicked
right away.
“Then
when FX and Fox kind of made the deal, I really started paying
attention as in becoming more of a student of it. I was lucky
enough to meet Dana (White) and Lorenzo (Fertitta) and it was
like an instant connection, they’re just like the two coolest
people, down to earth, everything I look for in this chaotic
business,” said Rossi.
“The
most real, you would never know what they do, you would never
know anything about them business wise hanging out with them,
they’re just two normal guys. Basically, I started, like
I do with everything, studying up and getting more and more involved.”
After
the initial UFC on Fox event, Rossi was invited out to Las Vegas
to stop by the Ultimate Fighter set as filming on last season
took place. The Sons of Anarchy star met with coaches Urijah
Faber and Dominick Cruz, and he quickly found two new friends.
As
time passed, Rossi became a mainstay at all of the UFC events
and now almost any time you turn on a pay-per-view, you’ll
see the Sons of Anarchy star sitting at or near the front row.
“I
would say I’m kind of addicted,” said Rossi. “We
have the fights on in the craft service trailer, we watch the
fights, I would watch fights between takes, I’m pretty addicted.
Mainly because, I enjoy it so much. I enjoy the fact that people
lose, I enjoy the fact that it changes, I enjoy what Dana and
Lorenzo have done, I enjoy the company.”
Rossi
says the crossover appeal between the popular FX outlaw biker
drama and the UFC is a natural. He’s still blown away every
time he walks into an arena and the UFC fans recognize him from
his work on TV, and there’s no doubt the Sons of Anarchy
crowd is a perfect fit for the fight world.
“It’s
pretty surreal. Like I told Dana, I think UFC and MMA and Sons
of Anarchy, motorcycles, Harley-Davidson, whatever and the military
are like a perfect fit. That’s our wheelhouse. Those four.
It was shocking to me just walking into the TUF house, or MGM
or whatever arena it is to see the reaction for the show, that’s
our people right there,” Rossi stated.
“I
love that. Just like at (San Diego) Comic-Con and I said it there
and I’ll say it again, our fans are the most die hard fans,
UFC fans are the most die hard fans, MMA fans are the most die
hard fans, comic book fans are the most die hard fans. We’re
in our fifth season and I’ve never met a fan who has told
me ‘yeah I’ve seen one or two, and I really didn’t
love it’. I’ve either had people go ‘I love the
show, I’ve seen every single episode, I could sketch your
diaper on a pad, I know every single thing about it, I love it’
or ‘I haven’t seen it yet, but I heard it’s fantastic’.
Those are the two reactions I get. When I walk into that arena,
just the reaction is incredible and it’s just the perfect
fit.”
As
Sons of Anarchy gets ready to kick off its fifth season on Tuesday
night, Rossi will be excited to see how fans greet his latest
work on television, but assuredly on Friday night he’ll
be tuning into the new Ultimate Fighter and then UFC 152 next
weekend.
One
day, Rossi hopes his two passions might even meet.
No,
Rossi isn’t planning a trip to the Octagon any time soon,
but he might invite one of the UFC’s top stars to guest
star alongside him on Sons of Anarchy. He thinks someone like
UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos or Alistair Overeem
would do great on the biker show – maybe even a fight would
break out.
“Maybe
because it’s on TV,” Rossi joked. “I beat them
up.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Pankration
Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2013
Aloha Pankration colleagues and enthusiast;
It
gives me great pleasure to inform you that the USA Federation
of Pankration Athlima will be hosting an elite Pankration Championships
in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2013.
There
are two different events that the USA Federation of Pankration
Athlima is considering to host, they are as follows:
1.)
The president of the USAFPA Dave Sixel informed me that FILA
has been encouraging the US to host a Pan American Pankration
Continental Championships and/or a World Championships for some
time now. In response to this request the USAFPA has considered
hosting this Championship it Honolulu, Hawaii next year 2013.
At the present time, we are in a dialog with FILA and we are
waiting final conformation to proceed with organizing the Championships
in Hawaii. This championship would involve inviting 20 plus different
countries of the Pan American, Pacific and the US mainland.
2.) The president Dave Sixel also informed me that if for some
reason we can not meet all of FILA’s requirements and we
do not host the Pan American Pankration Championships, we will
instead host the 2013 USAFPA Pankration World Championships …still
in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Please allow me to introduce myself; my name is Grandmaster Jody
Perry, USA Federation Pankration Athlima Western Regional Representative
and certified National Referee.
I am honored to inform you that I have been given the responsibility
of Tournament Director for either the: “USA Pankration Pan
American Continental Championships for 2013” or the “Pankration
World Championships 2013”
Source: Joe Perry
|
Georges
St-Pierre Wants to Conquer Welterweight Division Before Fathoming
Anderson Silva Fight
by Damon
Martin
UFC
welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will return to action
after more than a year and a half away from the sport and face
Carlos Condit at UFC 154, but all anyone seems to talk about
these days is GSP facing Anderson Silva.
The
superfight, which would almost be a lock for the biggest fight
in MMA history, has been mentioned by both Silva and UFC president
Dana White as the bout most likely to happen next should St-Pierre
defeat Condit in November.
It
appears, however, the only person who hasn’t signed on for
that deal is St-Pierre himself.
He
believes there’s a lot of disrespect in even talking about
an Anderson Silva fight when he has interim welterweight champion
Carlos Condit standing directly in his path.
“It’s
terrible. I hate that, but I’m not focusing on that. I’m
not speculating,” St-Pierre told MMAWeekly.com. “I’m
thinking about Condit right now; that’s what I should do.”
Since
his injury, St-Pierre has watched a welterweight division he’s
ruled with an iron fist over the last few years flourish in his
absence. Not only has Condit moved into position as the interim
champion, but Martin Kampmann and Johny Hendricks are now poised
as No. 1 contenders who fight on the same UFC 154 card that St-Pierre
fights on in his return to action.
Before
anyone should even fathom a superfight between St-Pierre and
Silva, the Canadian believes he still has a lot of work to do
at welterweight.
“I
feel like I have a lot of guys that are there and I don’t
understand why people are going crazy now, but I just came back
from an injury, so maybe some people see me as a weak link. We’ll
see what’s going to happen in the future,” said St-Pierre.
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Contractual
Consequences
By Jeffrey
B. Aris
The
term “non-compete” took on a new life with the recent
fallout from the cancellation of UFC 151. For the first time
in Zuffa history, the Ultimate Fighting Championship canceled
a show because the main event failed to materialize after injuries
caused new opponents to be both introduced and then rejected.
A
much more salient definition of non-compete occurs before a fighter
even steps into the cage. Often embedded within fighter contracts
is a non-compete agreement which has potential ramifications
that can occur even when the contracted period ends. A non-compete
agreement, also known as a non-competition clause, is an agreement
between the promoter and the fighter that places professional
restrictions on the fighter after the professional relationship
ends.
The
issue of non-compete and restrictive covenants within contracts
came up recently when Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer
stated that fighters within Strikeforce’s ranks could not
crossover into the UFC. The news set the mixed martial arts blogosphere
ablaze with concern that fighters may not be able to realize
their full potential by being prevented to fight for the world’s
premier fight organization. While it is understandable why this
concern became ubiquitous, the reality is that promoters use
non-compete agreements for a variety of legitimate reasons.
In
traditional companies, non-compete agreements allow a company
to safeguard its proprietary information, intellectual property
and trade secrets from competitors. Within the MMA realm, non-compete
agreements enable fight promoters to safeguard their largest
investments -- their fighters -- from jumping to another competitor
immediately after a breach of contract or a huge marketing push.
Building
a fighter into a known quantity can be a very expensive endeavor.
Traditional advertisements cost substantial amounts of money
to produce, direct and air. Enterprising media adverts such as
a “UFC Primetime” can cost $1.7 million just to produce.
Embedding non-compete clauses within fighter contracts helps
assure fight promoters that their asset will not jump ship to
a competitor shortly after a large investment.
Non-compete
agreements are unique in that they can prevent an able-bodied
and willing participant from earning a living. The ramifications
of preventing an individual from practicing his or her trade
is generally viewed as both inefficient and inequitable by courts,
and, thus, strict guidelines for crafting non-compete agreements
must be met if they are to be enforceable.
The
law governing non-compete agreements is heavily dependent on
the jurisdiction under which the contract is governed. A forum
selection clause is incorporated within most fighter contracts
in order for both parties to be aware which forum or jurisdiction
will govern the contract. Most employers choose a governing forum
within the state in which they actively do business. The governing
state law of a contract is imperative in determining the enforceability
of non-competes. For example, many states permit non-compete
agreements; however, in the state of California, non-compete
agreements that restrict post-employment behavior are presumptively
invalid and only permitted under very limited circumstances such
as in the sale of a business.
Beyond
jurisdictional issues, there are four tenets of non-compete construction:
duration, geography, scope and necessity.
Durational
concerns are paramount in reviewing non-compete agreements. Generally
speaking, shorter durations such as less than six months will
be presumptively valid, and longer durations beyond two years
will be presumptively invalid. Within Nevada, non-competes are
difficult to enforce beyond a two-year duration. Tito Ortiz had
a 60 day non-compete clause following his May 24, 2008, loss
to Lyoto Machida at UFC 84. At the time, Ortiz was rumored to
have interest from Affliction Entertainment and was poised to
compete at its upcoming second show. Affliction Vice President
Tom Atencio, however, stated the company could not speak to Ortiz
until his 60-day non-compete clause had passed. Geographical
limitations in non-compete agreements must be reasonable in light
of the business activities of the employer, meaning if a fight
promoter is regional and based primarily in the Southwest, it
would be unreasonable for a non-compete clause to prevent a fighter
from fighting in a regional fight promotion in the Northeast.
Unlike
other contractual provisions, the language governing the scope,
or depth, of the agreement must be limited and specific. Broad
language drafting within non-compete clauses is disfavored by
courts and will often be held unenforceable. Within MMA, it may
be reasonable to place a time limitation on a fighter from participating
in a competitor’s promotion, but it would not be reasonable
to prevent the fighter from training fighters at a gym or working
within an industry that is a non-competitor of the employer.
Necessity
is always considered by courts when evaluating the enforceability
of a non-compete clause. An employer should be able to demonstrate
harm from the prohibited activity in order for a non-compete
to be reasonable. Dovetailing with the previous element of scope,
a non-compete that seeks to be vindictive or punitive to an employee’s
ability to earn an income will likely be held as unenforceable.
One
of the best examples of non-compete agreements affecting the
world of mixed martial arts lies within one of its former top
stars. One of the biggest MMA draws in history, Brock Lesnar,
almost never entered the Octagon due to a non-compete imposed
within his contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. According
to the February 2005 complaint against the WWE, Lesnar’s
original WWE “booking contract” contained a typical
non-compete clause that prohibited him from working for another
non-WWE professional wrestling entity for the period of one year
in the event of a breach.
Lesnar
wanted out of his WWE contract in order to pursue an opportunity
to try out for professional football. In order to be granted
his release, Lesnar and the WWE entered into a settlement agreement
that substantially broadened the scope of his original non-compete
agreement. Under the new settlement agreement, Lesnar was prohibited
from participating either directly or indirectly with professional
wrestling, ultimate fighting or sports entertainment companies
until the term of the original contract expired on June 30, 2010.
These
new post-employment restrictions were substantially broad in
both scope and duration. Since this new non-compete ran the life
of Lesnar’s original contract, his post-employment restriction
was effectively raised from one year to six. Lesnar’s complaint
was cognizant of the short lifespan of a professional athlete
and stated: “On June 30, 2010, when the purported restrictions
on competition expire, Lesnar will be 33 years old, which for
a professional athlete is an age at which many consider retirement
due to the physical demands of their chosen occupation.”
After
nearly a year-and-a-half of legal wrangling, Lesnar and the WWE
settled their case on June 16, 2006. Within a year, the former
NCAA Div. I wrestling champ made his MMA debut in June 2007 and
was able to a have a lucrative career in the UFC before retiring
this past December.
The
essence of Lesnar’s lawsuit against the WWE was the same
as any challenge to a non-compete. It disputed that the employer’s
post-employment restrictions were unreasonable. Reasonableness
is the standard around which most legal decisions revolve. While
many fans may be upset if some Strikeforce fighters do not materialize
in the UFC, it is important to understand that, relatively speaking,
Strikeforce fighters are being compensated well for their efforts
and restrictions.
Gilbert
Melendez earned a disclosed $175,000 base salary for his fight
against Josh Thompson at Strikeforce “Barnett vs. Cormier”
in May. It may surprise many fans that his salary is the highest
disclosed United States base salary of any MMA lightweight, although,
unlike Strikeforce, UFC lightweights have the opportunity to
earn fight night bonuses and pay-per-view cuts which can add
a substantial amount of income.
The
important take away of non-compete clauses is that they provide
some certainty and control in the case of a breach of contract.
At its core, a fight agreement is a personal services contract.
Regardless of the nature of the breach, courts will never order
specific performance -- i.e. ordering the fighters to fight.
Instead, a court will refer to the contract to determine money
damages and may issue an injunction preventing the fighters from
competing elsewhere.
Source:
Sherdog
|
CHRIS
LEBEN TO RETURN FROM YEAR-LONG SUSPENSION AT UFC 155
By Shaun
Al-Shatti - Staff Writer
The
light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible for Chris Leben.
His
year-long suspension nearing its conclusion, "The Crippler"
has agreed to meet Karlos Vemola at UFC 155, promotion officials
announced on Wednesday.
UFC
155 takes place December 29, 2012, one month after the expiration
of Leben's suspension. A heavyweight title rematch pitting Junior
dos Santos against Cain Velasquez is expected to be the night's
main event.
Leben
(22-8) last fought in November of 2011, falling to Mark Munoz
via second-round TKO in the headlining bout of UFC 138. Following
the event, the 32-year-old tested positive for prescription painkillers
oxycodone and oxymorphone -- the second failed drug test of Leben's
career -- leading UFC President Dana White to hand down the one-year
penalty.
"I've
battled with (drugs and alcohol) for my entire life," Leben
admitted in a candid interview on The MMA Hour midway through
his suspension. "I've had an issue with being addicted to
painkillers for years now. I had some issues with my camp and
it was almost a cry for help. I knew I was going to get caught
and I just didn't care at the time. I'm extremely embarrassed.
I feel like I let down the UFC, but at the same time I think
getting caught is probably the best thing to ever happen to me.
The UFC has been unbelievable, they sent me to a rehab facility
and they really took care of me."
Prior
to his relapse, Leben rolled to four victories in five fights,
including impressive finishes of Wanderlei Silva, Yoshihiro Akiyama
and Aaron Simpson.
Now
he'll meet Vemola (9-3), a former light heavyweight sporting
a 1-1 UFC record since dropping down to 185 pounds. The Czech
wrestling champion defeated Mike Massenzio via second-round rear-naked
choke at UFC on FOX 3, before losing to Francis Carmont in the
exact same fashion two months later.
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Tito
Ortiz Isn’t Retired, He’s Just Graduated From Fighting
by Ken
Pishna
A
lot of people were taken aback recently when Cris “Cyborg”
Santos’ manager said that he believed a Cyborg vs. Ronda
Rousey bout would eventually take place, just not at 135 pounds.
It
wasn’t so much the rhetoric about the fight, but more so
who it was saying those words. And that would be Tito Ortiz,
who now claims Cyborg among his charges under his new management
company, Primetime 360.
Ortiz’s
career spans a time when fighters were lucky to be making in
the four-figures for a fight to now, where it isn’t uncommon
for those at the top to actually bump up into seven-digit paydays.
He
believes that he had a lot to do with progressing the sport to
that point, but also has the experience of building up his brand
and other business interests so that fighting wasn’t the
be-all, end-all to his life. Ortiz didn’t necessarily have
to make millions and millions of dollars from his fight career
in order to sustain himself once he stepped out of the Octagon
for the final time.
“During
my whole career, I made mistakes. I made positive and negative
things to get me to where I am today. I want to go out and find
the next generation fighters. I’m really going to take this
managing stuff by storm. I really want to battle for fighters
for what they believe in and what I believe in,” Ortiz told
MMAWeekly.com about why he decided to start Primetime 360.
Ortiz
has had representation over the years. In fact, current UFC president
Dana White was once he and Chuck Liddell’s manager. But
Ortiz wasn’t a fighter that would lay his life in the hands
of his representatives and just accept what was doled out to
him.
The
former UFC light heavyweight champion, as he says, took many
missteps throughout his career, but that’s because he was
always involved, always taking an active hand in the direction
of his career on the business end, not just in the gym and in
the cage.
That’s
why he believes he has something to offer today’s fighters
that sets him apart.
Ortiz
doesn’t intend to promise his fighters that stars and the
moon if they sign on with him. He intends to promise them that
if they are willing to put in the work, they will be successful,
and perhaps more importantly, they will have a future beyond
the short lifespan of a professional combat sports athlete.
“I
want to break the mold on fighters. They’re going to do
all the hard, diligent work to become superstars,” said
Ortiz. “I think that’s what it comes down to, where
I’m showing these guys the right things to do to make themselves
a brand. That’s what it’s really about, a fight for
the fighters, and that’s what I’ve been doing for myself
for so long, making the right decisions and not making ones on
pure emotions.
“I’ve
been in the trenches and I’ve battled for my brand; so not
reinvent the wheel, but make it better.”
Cris
Cyborg and Rob Emerson are the first of Ortiz’s clients
for Primetime 360.
Cyborg
has struggled, getting bad advice and making some wrong turns
in her career, dropping from her perch as the Strikeforce women’s
featherweight champion to sitting on the sidelines for a year
due to a positive drug test for steroids.
Ortiz
believes he can help fighters like Cyborg – that want to
do the right thing and put in the work – to put their careers
on the right track and build a safety net for their futures.
He
doesn’t intend to go out on a signing spree, taking on everyone
that sets themselves at his feet. Ortiz wants the fighters that
he believes see the bigger picture and are willing to put in
the work it takes to realize their dreams, not just those that
want their future handed to them on a silver platter.
“There
has already been guys that have contacted me: female fighters
and other guy fighters. Now I’ve just got to pick them,”
Ortiz told MMAWeekly.com.
“It’s
about guys making the right decisions not only inside the cage,
but outside the cage, too. It’s about building guys that
are going to be the next Tito Ortiz, the next Chuck Liddell,
the next Randy Couture. I’m really looking for the next
generation of fighters.
“Primetime
360 isn’t just about fighting. I’m going to go out
and do my diligent work of looking for spots for them after fighting,
for a career after fighting is over. The lifespan of a fighter
is maybe 10 years. After that 10 years, what are you going to
do? I really want to sit down with my business management and
lay out their next 20 years, so they’re able to retire as
a fighter and go on to something bigger and better.
“You
sign with Tito Ortiz, I’m going to give you the opportunity
to become something that you want to become. You’ve got
to go out and you’ve got to do the work. This isn’t
something where I’m going to sign with Tito and I’m
going to become a superstar. No, that will not happen. They’re
going to have to do the work, too.”
As
he intends to instill in his clients, Ortiz hasn’t just
retired from fight. To him fighting was a part of his life and
this is the next step. That’s the core of the lesson he’s
learned, that if you put in the work, there is always a future,
and Primetime 360 is a part of his.
“I’m
not slowing down. I have so much more stuff to do. I’m not
retiring. I’m just graduating. I’m graduating from
fighting.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
The
most impactful Jiu-Jitsu and MMA statements of the week
John Tabor
“Jiu-Jitsu,
don’t leave home without it…”
Renzo
Gracie, while commentating a would-be mugging on the streets
of New York real time via Twitter
“I
only reacted after one of the guys grabbed my arm and tried sticking
a hand in the pocket where I keep my wallet. When I saw that
they wanted to rob me barehanded, that’s when I knew I was
going to fight. If they had knives or weapons in that situation,
I’d have handed them my wallet and cell phone.”
Renzo
Gracie
“Maybe
that was the right decision for Jon Jones’ career. Would
I have done the same? No.”
Tito
Ortiz, a former fighter turned manager, on the light heavyweight
champion’s choice that spelt the end of UFC 151
“Vitor
has trained a bit of everything here at Blackzilians, and he’s
got his striking, ground and pound, and Jiu-Jitsu flowing. Predicting
the outcome of a fight is always difficult. I feel the first
one to slip up will pay dearly.”
Bráulio
Estima, on Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 on the coming
22nd
“Bochecha’s
a young black belt with a good game. He’s a heavy guy who
moves like a lightweight. I certainly will not underestimate
him.”
Roger
Gracie, on the 20-minute match with no points or advantages at
Metamoris Pro
“In
the process of finding the best individual athlete you also find
the most beauty in the art.”
Ralek
Gracie, co-organizer of Metamoris Pro
Source:
Gracie Magazine
|
Renzo
Gracie tapped to commentate at World Series of Fighting 1
MMA
legend and part-time crime fighter Renzo Gracie will take Kurt
Angle's seat at the World Series of Fighting commentary table.
WSOF
President Ray Sefo confirmed the news following an initial report
from BloodyElbow.com.
Gracie
joins MMA personalities Bas Rutten and Michael Schiavello at
the event, which takes place Nov. 3 at Planet Hollywood Resort
& Casino in Las Vegas. The event's main card airs live on
NBC Sports Network.
Gracie
takes the job after drawing headlines for his recent live tweeting
of an attempted mugging by two alleged assailants.
Angle
on Monday announced his withdrawal from WSOF 1 due to a conflict
of interest. Sefo later told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com)
that the Olympic gold medalist/pro wrestler's contract with Total
Nonstop Action wrestling was the conflict, and later clarified
that it was with Viacom, which owns TNA TV partner Spike.com.
Rutten,
a former UFC champ who hosts AXS TV's "Inside MMA,"
has provided commentary for such promotions as PRIDE and DREAM.
Schiavello
also brings international experience to the table, having called
fights for MFC, DREAM and K-1.
WSOF
1 features ex-champ Miguel Torres against an opponent still to
be named. Other confirmed fights include Brian Cobb vs. Ronys
Torres, Gregor Gracie vs. Tyson Steele, Gesias "JZ"
Cavalcante vs. John Gunderson and Josh Burkman vs. Gerald Harris.
Source: MMA Junkie
|
Rafael
Lovato compliments Kayron Gracie, but wants to submit him
By Guilherme
Cruz
Second
not-Brazilian to become a world champion in black belt Jiu-Jitsu,
following BJ Penn’s steps, the American Rafael Lovato wants
to shine again. The athlete was chosen to be a part of Metamoris
Pro’s fighting card against Kayron Gracie.
Carlos
Gracie Junior’s son, Kayron is pan American champion at
Jiu-Jitsu, but the duel against Lovato would have different rules:
it’s a 20-minute fight and there will only be a winner in
case one of them submits the other.
Lovato
talked to TATAME and revealed he has done it before, in 199,
when still a blue belt. But his opponent was not as good as Kayron,
whom was complimented by Lovato himself: “He is very flexible
with a good spider guard. He is well rounded on top as well”.
“I
expect a tough match. Kayron is a great competitor and I know
he will be ready. I really like these rules and it will allow
me to be much more aggressive, searching for the submission without
worrying about points. I don't expect it to go the full 20 minutes”,
analyzes Lovato.
The
main event is the super fight between Roger Gracie and Marcus
Buchecha and the rules are the same. The co-main event is the
dispute between Andre Galvao VS. Ryron Gracie and there’s
also Kron Gracie battling against Otavio Souza. Excited for the
confrontations, Lovato analyzes the most anticipated fight of
all.
“I
think Buchecha will come very strong and may get some good positions
on Roger, but Roger's defense will keep him in the match and
once he finds a dominate position it will be over. I'm picking
Roger”.
Yes.
I competed in a submission only no time limit event back in 1999
at the Gracie Academy when I was a blue belt. I used to compete
in submission only events a lot when I was younger before all
of the sport BJJ events started.
Source: Tatame
|
NEITHER
JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ NOR DEMETRIOUS JOHNSON FAZED BY CO-MAIN EVENT
BILLING
By Mike
Chiappetta - Senior Writer
A
few weeks ago, Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson were preparing
to prop up an entire card as the UFC 152 main event. After the
chaos of UFC 151 left the UFC schedule in disarray, the two flyweights
were essentially demoted, moved one rung below to the co-main
event of the Sept. 22 card to make room for Jon Jones. As it
stands right now, that position is fairly invisible, as all the
talk about UFC 152 remains centered on light-heavyweight champ
Jones, his unlikely challenger Vitor Belfort and angered boss
Dana White.
On
a Tuesday conference call, Benavidez and Johnson weren't afterthoughts,
but only fielded a handful of questions during the one-hour session.
While
that may seem a bit unfair, neither flyweight tournament finalist
could muster any disappointment for the change, saying the opportunity
to become the division's first champion was more than enough
to focus on.
"The best way to deal with it for me is keeping my eye on
prize and that’s the UFC belt," said Benavidez (16-2),
who knocked out Yasuhiro Urushitani in a March semifinal. "When
I got into the sport and wrote down my goals, it was never to
be a UFC main event or to be a on a UFC main card; it was to
be the UFC champion. I still get to do that, so my eye's on that
prize and that's why I’m 100 percent focused."
It
was the same sentiment for Johnson (15-2-1), who memorably had
to face Ian McCall twice en route to advancing to the title bout
after their first fight ended in a draw due to a scoring error.
"I'm
super excited. I can't wait to get in there and mix it up with
Joseph," he said. "He's a great competitor, and like
he said, to be able to make history and be the first-ever fighter
to be crowned flyweight champion in a new weight class, I’m
speechless. I agree. I believe we’re both going to deliver,
and there's a reason why Dana White opened up the flyweight division
and had the tournament, had the best four guys in the world basically
introducing the weight class, and we’re going to deliver
on Sept 22."
There
is, of course, another consideration for both, the likelihood
that with Jones atop the card, there will be more eyeballs on
them when they square off. With all of the attention on Jones
and Belfort and White, well, there just might be more witnesses
than expected taking it the fights in when Benavidez and Johnson
attempt to steal the show.
"I'm
in this sport for a long time and I'm going to continue to fight
with my whole heart and put on a show," Benavidez said.
"I believe main events will come. But like I said, my eyes
are on the prize, and that's all that matters. I still get to
do that and now, I get to do that with even more fans watching,
so the fact that Jon Jones' fans, Vitor Belfort's fans and even
more fans are going to watch it, that’s going to just help
the process speed along even quicker for me."
Source:
MMA Fighting
|
Quinton
‘Rampage’ Jackson Injured, Out of UFC 153 Co-Main Event
with Glover Teixeira
By Mike
Whitman
Former
UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
has suffered an injury and has been forced to withdraw from his
planned UFC 153 appearance against hard-hitting Brazilian Glover
Teixeira.
UFC
President Dana White revealed the news Tuesday via Twitter. The
nature of Jackson’s injury is unknown at this time, and
no replacement opponent has been announced.
UFC
153 takes place Oct. 13 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro and will
be headlined by a featherweight title confrontation between reigning
145-pound king Jose Aldo and former lightweight champ Frankie
Edgar.
Jackson,
34, was defeated in each of his last two bouts, submitting to
Jon Jones last fall in a failed UFC 135 title bid before dropping
a unanimous decision to Ryan Bader at UFC 144 this past February.
Prior to those setbacks, “Rampage” had won four of
his last five after losing the light heavyweight championship
to Forrest Griffin in 2008. Jackson’s bout with Teixeira
was expected to serve as the American’s final UFC appearance
following a public row with the organization earlier this year.
Just
twice beaten in 10 years as a pro, 32-year-old Teixeira has not
tasted defeat since 2005 and currently rides a 16-fight winning
streak. Like Jackson, Teixeira is known for his punching power
and owns 11 of his 18 career wins via form of knockout. Teixeira
recently made his Octagon debut this past May after resolving
some longstanding visa issues, submitting Kyle Kingsbury at UFC
146 in Las Vegas.
Source
Sherdog
|
In
Jon Jones’ Position, Chuck Liddell Would Have Taken the
Fight with Chael Sonnen
Many
of today’s active fighters have weighed in on the UFC 151
cancellation debacle, most saying that unlike UFC light heavyweight
champion Jon Jones, they would have stepped up and accepted the
short-notice fight with Chael Sonnen.
The
offer to Jones came after original opponent Dan Henderson fell
out of the UFC 151 main event due to injury.
You
can also count retired UFC Hall of Famer Chuck “The Iceman”
Liddell among those that don’t understand why Jones wouldn’t
accept the fight.
“I
would have taken the fight,” Liddell said during a Monday
live chat with fans on MMAWeekly.com content partner Yahoo! Sports’
website. Like most other fighters, however, Liddell didn’t
blindly condemn Jones.
“But
I don’t make his decisions or run his career for him.”
After
a short-notice fight wasn’t going to happen, UFC president
Dana White announced the cancellation of UFC 151 and that Jones
would instead face No. 1 contender Lyoto Machida at UFC 152 in
Toronto just four weeks later.
Those
plans also went awry when Machida declined the fight with Jones,
leaving UFC officials to put together a fight between Jones and
former champ Vitor Belfort, the new UFC 152 main event.
While
Jones received a mountain of criticism for declining the Sonnen
fight, Machida’s decision has been met with a modicum of
understanding… including from the Iceman.
“Well,
that’s a different thing,” Liddell commented. “Machida
would have got a title fight he was in line for, whereas Chael
was taking a title fight he wasn’t in line for. If Lyoto
was not in shape, I guess I understand. He was beat by Jones
last time and he would have wanted time to prepare. It is different
from a peak Jones turning down a fight.”
So
the burden still seems to teeter heavily towards Jones, but Liddell
doesn’t let any opinions about whether Jones should or shouldn’t
have taken the fight sway his opinion about who will win.
Liddell
has been around the fight game his entire life, so isn’t
clouded by the out-of-the-cage smoke swirling around the Jones
vs. Belfort match-up.
“If
you look at it on paper, Jones is the favorite and should win,
but it is a big mistake not to think Vitor is very dangerous.
I was a puncher and I believe in punchers’ chances.”
Source:
MMA Weekly
|
Chris
Weidman Undergoes Successful Elbow Surgery
Sep
7, 2012 - While the MMA world was digesting the Chris Weidman
vs. Tim Boetsch middleweight fight that was announced on Friday,
Weidman was undergoing elbow surgery in South Dakota.
Following
the successful procedure, Weidman told MMAFighting.com he underwent
surgery at the Sanford Surgical Tower on his left elbow to clean
out bone chips that had developed over time. For the record,
Weidman knocked out Mark Munoz with his right elbow in July.
According
to Weidman's doctors, he will be back to full strength in three-to-six
weeks. Weidman expects to return to his home in Long Island,
N.Y., in a two days, and he will be able to resume cardio training
next week.
Weidman
said he had been experiencing discomfort in his left elbow for
the last two and a half years, and considering the fact that
his next fight is over three months away, he felt this was the
best time to go under the knife.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Belfort:
‘Fighting for the title is priceless’
Vitor Belfort had a shot at the middleweight title in 2011. And
this year he will have another chance to win a UFC belt. But
this time he will be challenging Jon Jones on the light heavyweight
division, on a bout scheduled for September 22nd, in Canada.
On the final moments of his preparation for the duel at Blackzilians,
the “Phenom” talked exclusively with TATAME about his
opponents, the trainings with Rashad Evans, explained the reasons
that lead him to accept the fight in such short notice and the
invitation for training at the gym in Florida.
Click here and check a photo gallery of Belfort’s trainings
at Blackzilians.
Belfort would meet Alan Belcher at UFC Rio 3, in October, but
states that changing opponents did not reflect on a change in
his trainings.
“It hasn’t changed. I’m focusing on what I’m
going to do. I don’t believe in all that science, all that
studying. I guess it takes away the chance of you to do your
best”.
Check below the complete interview:
How are your trainings for Jon Jones?
I’m very happy and training hard. There’re few weeks
left. Now I have to focus and do what we trained to do.
How come you are trainings at Blackzilians now?
Glenn (Robinson) is a friend of mine and invited me. I needed
to train and I got this here, it’s very versatile. The Brazilian
community here is large, so I’m close to Brazil that way.
It’s been cool and I’m very happy here.
How did you get the invitation for another title fight?
They invited me and I said yes right on the spot. Fighting for
the title is priceless. I’m very happy to work and being
able to help the organization.
What have changed in your trainings since you heard you are fighting
Jon Jones?
It hasn’t changed. I’m focusing on what I’m going
to do. I don’t believe in all that science, all that studying.
I guess it takes away the chance of you to do your best .
How is it like training with Rashad Evans?
Rashad is a guy who truly knows all about Jon Jones’s game.
So we’re working everyday more and more and focusing on
what we know.
You have been in the UFC for 15 years now. How do you do to stay
on top so long?
It’s God’s will. The time for me to retire is coming
but I want to finish my career with great challenges.
What changed for you after TUF Brazil?
Having the support of Rede Globo (Brazilian TV channel that aired
the show) is good, right? Now I gotta work to grow more and more.
Teach this youth how to behave, how to handle the fans and the
organization. Absolutely I have more media attention, everything
around me has gotten bigger, we got better sponsors and people
know you more. I guess it’s a great platform we got after
the show and I can only thank God and honor it.
Source: Tatame
|
Jose
Aldo: ‘Fighting in Maracana would be a dream come true
In October UFC will bring the fourth edition of the show to Brazil
in a little more than a year. Despite its great success, the
organization could not accomplish its goal of promoting a show
on a soccer stadium. The most famous soccer stadium of the world,
Maracana will be reopened in 2013 and it seems like a way to
go for UFC president Dana White.
Soccer fan, Jose Aldo says he would love to be a part of an edition
of the show on the “biggest stadium in the world”
“Only God knows what the future holds. First of all I’m
focused on defending my title, but in case this possibility is
confirmed, it’s a dream I have to fight here”, the
fighter said, confessing the wish of becoming a soccer coach
after retiring from MMA.
The Brazilian, who last week heard he would confront Frankie
Edgar and not Erik Koch, at UFC Rio 3, seems to be confident
about the fight.
“I’m doing a great preparation. Of course we gotta
change some things in our game plan, but I’m training hard
and feeling great”.
Source: Tatame |
Paulão
Filho takes out Murilo Ninja amid further refereeing controversy
Back
in April of 2006, at Pride Bushido 10 in Tokyo, Paulão
Filho took two rounds in overcoming Murilo Ninja by unanimous
judges’ decision. This Thursday in Belém, Brazil,
the triumph came a lot quicker, and amid more controversy.
The
Carlson Gracie black belt went on the attack with a flurry of
strikes that left his Southern Brazilian counterpart groggy in
the first round. Ninja was then kneeling at Paulo’s knees
when Mario Yamasaki called an end to the rematch. “So long
as God Almighty lets me be here and I still have strength, I’ll
keep fighting,” asserted Paulão just after dedicating
the win to his father, Paulinho, who passed away this August
6. “Ninja was really groggy, and I could have continued
to beat on him there, but if he wants another rematch we’ll
do it no problem. He’s a great fighter. He’s done a
lot for the sport too.”
In
the other fights on the card, Bruno Cro Cop took a page out of
his Croatian namesake’s book and three two knees at Marcio
Parazinho that ended the outing in the second round, and Lincoln
Sá relied on his takedowns to go to town with the ground
and pound and take a unanimous decision over Joriedson Fein.
BEST
OF THE BEST
BELÉM, PARÁ, BRAZIL
SEPTEMBER 6, 2012
Paulão
Filho defeated Murilo Ninja via TKO in R1;
Bruno Cro Cop defeated Marcio Parazinho via TKO in R1;
André Mikito defeated André Lobato via unanimous
decision;
Silmar Sombra tapped out Fabricio Strike via guillotine in R1;
Lincon Sá defeated Joriedson Fein via unanimous decision;
Alberto Pantoja defeated Mauricio Rosário via unanimous
decision;
Samuel Paiva defeated Bruno Miranda via unanimous decision;
Jacob Quintana subbed Alexandre Leão via guillotine in
R2.
Source: Gracie Magazine
|
Bumped
from main event, Joseph Benavidez is out to prove a point at
UFC 152
There's
a certain cachet that comes from holding main event status on
a UFC card, particularly one of the numbered pay-per-view shows.
It's a great marketing opportunity, as one's face is plastered
everywhere, from billboards in Times Square to the Las Vegas
Strip.
When Joseph Benavidez lost that opportunity after UFC 151 was
canceled and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was switched
to the main event of UFC 152 that once had featured Benavidez
against Demetrious Johnson, many among his family and friends
were outraged.
Benavidez, who is one of the fight game's best-kept secrets,
was not among them.
Joseph
Benavidez celebrates after knocking out Yasuhiro Urushitani in
March. (Getty)
Benavidez still hasn't crossed into stardom despite a brilliant
record and a series of high-impact victories. As a result, having
Jones defend his title atop the card will almost certainly guarantee
more ticket sales, more pay-per-view sales and more attention
from the media.
That's nothing but good news for Benavidez, whose primary goal
all along has been to win a UFC belt. He'll get that opportunity
on Sept. 22 at the Air Canada Center in Toronto when he meets
Johnson for the flyweight title.
When he discovered on Aug. 23 that Jones would switch from UFC
151 to UFC 152 and claim the main event status that once belonged
to him, Benavidez's phone blew up with texts, calls and emails
from his supporters.
They were outraged that he'd lost top billing.
"All my fans on Twitter and my family, [they were upset],"
Benavidez said, chuckling. "My Mom called me and said, 'Jon
Jones is a jerk.' All the people on Twitter were like, '[Expletive]
Jon Jones. You're the man. You're the main event.'
"That was great to see, but it's really a positive, when
you look at it. I know [Jones] is more popular than me. I know
[Michael] Bisping and whoever else is on the card is more popular
than me. I feel it helps me. My main goal when I got in this
was to be UFC champion. I wouldn't sit there and go, 'Oh, I need
to be UFC main event.' My goal is to be UFC champion and I still
get to do that. Now, I get to do it with that many more fans
to gain and that many more fans watching."
Those who watch who may otherwise not have tuned in will see
a guy who hasn't gotten nearly enough credit for his sterling
record. He's 16-2 and has only lost to UFC bantamweight champion
Dominick Cruz (both via decision in World Extreme Cagefighting).
He's compiled that brilliant record, which includes victories
over ex-WEC bantamweight champions Miguel Torres and Eddie Wineland,
mostly while fighting up in weight.
When the UFC created the flyweight division earlier this year,
it was like it was made for Benavidez. He conceded that Cruz
was bigger and faster, but to most of his opponents, he surrendered
a fairly significant size advantage.
Now, as a flyweight, Benavidez will hold those edges over most
opponents. Most of the time, he'll be the stronger guy. Most
of the time, he'll be the faster guy (though not against the
quick-as-a-gnat Johnson at UFC 152).
And now that he's on the main card and not the preliminaries,
he won't continue to be Mr. Anonymous.
Prior to knocking out Yasuhiro Urushitani in the opening round
of the flyweight tournament in February, Benavidez had been on
the preliminary card in back-to-back fights.
[Also: Jose Aldo walks away from motorcycle accident with just
a few scratches]
It was hard to comprehend given his record and his high-energy
style, but he isn't the type to complain. He didn't understand
the decision, so he opted to force the UFC's hand by the way
he performed.
"I want to leave a legacy and get the promotion it takes
to make it in this sport," Benavidez said. "I was kind
of annoyed [to be on the preliminary card]. It's not like I was
a guy who was 2-2 in the UFC and I was saying, 'Hey, you put
me on the undercard. What the heck?' I was a guy who was No.
2 in the world in my weight class and had only lost to the champion.
I don't think I've ever been in a boring fight, either.
As good as he's been, he promises he'll be even better. Every
fighter has flaws, but few have less than Benavidez, and the
creation of the flyweight division will likely benefit him more
than anyone else.
"I feel like a straight monster at this weight," he
said. "I feel amazing. I kept all my same strength when
I was bigger. … Now, I'm just faster and in better shape.
I'm fighting guys who are faster, but they won't make me look
slow or have a huge advantage. I think I'll have a big power
advantage. I feel great and this is where I've always meant to
be."
And while Jones, one of the UFC's biggest attractions, usurped
his role on top of the upcoming show, if Benavidez fights the
way he insists he will, he won't be taking a back seat to anyone
much longer.
Pretty soon, it's going to be all Joe B, all the time.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
Liz
Carmouche Welcomes Sara McMann to Strikeforce at Cormier vs.
Mir Event
It’s
no secret that former Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann just
signed on with Strikeforce, but now she has her first fight for
the promotion on tap.
Multiple
MMAWeekly.com sources confirmed that McMann and former Strikeforce
bantamweight top contender Liz Carmouche have agreed to fight.
The two will square off at the promotion’s quickly growing
Cormier vs. Mir event slated for Nov. 3 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
McMann,
currently 6-0 in professional career, has been rocketing up the
ranks, fighting most recently for Invicta FC, who has a strong
working relationship with Strikeforce. She is coming off of a
huge victory over Shayna Baszler, adding her to a list of victims
that includes Hitomi Akano, Raquel Pa’aluhi, and Tonya Evinger.
Carmouche
is no easy welcoming fight to the Strikeforce cage, however.
She’s 7-2 in her career, losing only to former Strikeforce
champions Marloes Coenen and Sarah Kaufman. Carmouche took Coenen
into the fourth round of their bantamweight title fight early
last year, giving Coenen one of the toughest fights of her career.
She
bounced back with a TKO victory over Ashleigh Curry and a submission
of Kaitlin Young, both fights under the Invicta FC banner. The
fight with McMann marks her return to Strikeforce after a year
away.
The
two will be part of the undercard of Strikeforce: Cormier vs.
Mir, which features Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier
squaring off with former UFC champion Frank Mir in the main event.
The
McMann vs. Carmouche fight was first reported by MMAFighting.com.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Renzo
Gracie Live Tweets Alleged Mugging Attempt in New York
Renzo
Gracie may be one of the first people to debunk an alleged mugging…
and live tweet about it as it was happening.
Gracie
was walking to his car in Manhattan late Thursday night/early
Friday morning when he noticed a couple suspicious characters
following him. A confrontation ensued and Gracie took care of
the matter in his own unique style, going home afterwards, his
fist the only thing worse for the wear.
Below
is a collection of Renzo Gracie’s (@RenzoGracieBJJ) tweets
(compiled by GracieMag.com) during the incident:
22nd
street and 10th ave right now two guys following me, can’t
help but have a big smile upon my face Im talking about a happy
one )))
Waiting
for them… Are they really thinking I’m drunk??? They
have to be kidding. Hahahaha
25th
and 10ave they are getting closer lol
I
just stop to take a pic, they pretend they are looking at the
window, can’t lie… My blood runs in a different speed,
man I miss Brazil
JiuJitsu
)) never leave home without it
Please
hold there for just a couple minutes be right back
They
are coming closer, asking for a cigaret lol can’t help but
have a smile in my face. I don’t smoke. Pretend to wobble.
They smile
Back
as he runs, no chance to catch him… Even though I began
to try to run after him, I realize How slow I was. (Expletive)
it :-///
This
one asks me why did I do that, pretending to be stupid, one little
kick to the ribs makes him whine and apologize, as I’m writing
this.
I
ask him if he was planing to rob me, he says no. All he wanted
was a cigarette, lol I can’t help but have a big smile upon
my face, and ..
The
certainty that if it was an ordinary man he would be sad about
his stolen goods. (Expletive) cries like a bitch when the tide
turns…
I
can’t help but take a pic as his nose bleeds and he wines
and asks why did I do that… Like he doesn’t know the
reason…
My
(expletive) hands hurt, hurt like hell…
Drove
around two blocks… The other fellow disappear, I’m
heading home… Angry for not finding the second one. Guess
no sleeping tonight
I
knew it yessss
There
is basic things like you don’t come back to where the problem
was.. You just don’t, I knew he would, just going around
the block would
Be
enough… Dumb (expletive) I just gave him the old style Raccoon,
it has been a while since the last time I did.. Choke him out
3 times…
And
before he woke up I did hit each eye socket at least twice, tomorrow
he will wake up like a raccoon, and every time he woke up I was…
Whispering
at his ears.. That’s what death feels like it.. Don’t
do that again. My (expletive) hand hurts, :-/ a lot
Next time I will use only the elbows, damn I miss that feeling,
sometimes I wonder if the easy life has been making me
Soft..
All those years in Brazil, without knowing if I would make it
home had to count for something, I can’t lie I could have
jump in a cab
But
I could not help, I could spot them from a mile away, walking
was my option, thank you mayor Giuliani, nobody carries a gun
in our…
Beautiful
state, my lucky day, their bad day… My hand hurts and @FrankieEdgar
is here at 9:30am for some training, shoot damn little guy
Could
not take a second pic guys sorry, believe I try, as I reach for
my iPhone he almost took off :-/ fast mofo
Source: MMA Weekly |
Spike
TV’s ‘MMA Uncensored Live’ Hits TV Ratings High
Point in Primetime
Spike
TV in February unveiled an independent MMA magazine show titled
MMA Uncensored Live.
The
show debuted to an average audience of 547,000 viewers and peaked
in early May with an audience of 567,000 viewers.
The
result was a series high average audience of 696,000 total viewers,
according to Spike TV officials. That is a 123 percent improvement
over the show’s previous best night.
The
move to a more prime time slot certainly seemed to help the show’s
ratings. The crossover appeal of former WWE Superstar turned
mixed martial artist Dave Bautista certainly didn’t hurt
either.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Sam
Stout vs. John Makdessi All-Canadian Bout Added to UFC 154 Fight
Card
The
UFC on Friday added another bout, this on an all-Canadian affair,
to its UFC 154 fight card slated to feature Georges St-Pierre
vs. Carlos Condit on Nov. 17 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Home
country fighters Sam Stout and John Makdessi have agreed fight
as part of the UFC 154 supporting cast, according to the UFC’s
Canadian office.
Stout
(17-8-1) is 3-2 over his last five fights, but is looking to
keep the momentum rolling as he’s coming off of a UFC on
FX 4 Fight of the Night victory over Spencer Fisher back in June.
Makdessi
(9-2) is at the opposite end of the spectrum, just trying to
get back on the winning track. After winning his first two UFC
fights, he has since loss back-to-back bouts in the Octagon to
Dennis Hallman and Anthony Njokuani.
UFC
154 features the return of Georges St-Pierre to the Octagon after
more than a year and a half on the sidelines due to injury. He
will attempt to unify his UFC welterweight title with Condit’s
interim belt in the night’s main event.
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
on FX 6 Will Also Feature Sotiropoulos vs. Pearons and ‘The
Smashes’ Finals
UFC
president Dana White on Friday announced the UFC on FX 6 would
take place on Dec. 14 and mark the promotion’s return to
Australia.
He
failed do divulge a location, however. MMAWeekly.com sources
indicated that was because a location hasn’t been nailed
down just yet, although the promotion is known to have been trying
to land an event in Brisbane or Melbourne.
While
White announced Hector Lombard vs. Rousimar Palhares for the
fight card, MMAWeekly.com has also learned that UFC on FX 6 will
also feature a fight between The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes
coaches George Sotiropoulos and Ross Pearson and the finals of
the Team Australia vs. Team U.K. season of TUF.
Aussie
coach George Sotiropoulos (14-4), who hasn’t fought in more
than a year, is using The Smashes to help rejuvenate his career,
coming off of back-to-back losses to Rafael dos Anjos and Dennis
Siver. He made his way to the Octagon via the eight season of
The Ultimate Fighter in the U.S.
Source: MMA Weekly |
Mat
0: The Story of How the Olympics Passed Jiu-Jitsu By
Sep
8, 2012 - From July to August of 2012, one question permeated
the mixed martial arts community nearly above all others: should
and if so, when will MMA become an Olympic sport? The logic goes
something like this. Several sports that are already in the Olympics
- wrestling, judo, boxing, taekwondo - make up a huge portion
of MMA. Besides, UFC President Dana White has openly advocated
the idea of reforming MMA's deeply broken and exploitative amateur
system by turning it into an organized process into the professional
ranks.
The
truth, however, is that MMA isn't ready to be in the Olympics.
It doesn't meet very much of the criteria to be a recognized
as an Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The group the UFC has aligned itself with - the International
Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) - isn't recognized as a
legitimate International Federation by the IOC or SportsAccord.
There's also no real blueprint for what form or adaptation the
sport would take to make it palatable to the IOC. The International
Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) has a growing
amateur MMA division, but their distance from the MMA community
is, to put it mildly, rather significant.
Even
if MMA becomes part of the Olympics it certainly won't be anytime
soon.
That
lead some members of the MMA community to ask a different question.
If MMA is off the table for the foreseeable future, what about
jiu-jitsu? After all, from the outside the sport appears to be
far more ready. It has a significantly higher participatory rate
globally than MMA and can boast strong rosters from white belt
to elite black belt of both genders. The sport also has (seemingly,
anyway) multiple governing bodies, the architecture of regulation,
organizational hierarchy and various other features the IOC requires
for Olympic inclusion.
Yet,
dig just below the surface and you'll discover a significantly
different reality. Whereas the window is still open for MMA in
the Olympics, jiu-jitsu arguably already missed its chance. Many
of the sport's leaders, once interested in working with FILA
to make the Olympic reality happen, walked away years ago before
the effort ever really got started. The community is also generally
opposed to any FILA involvement despite recognizing those who
run and organize the sport's biggest tournaments aren't doing
enough to make competition fair or properly regulated.
Despite
the grand commercial success jiu-jitsu has enjoyed in North America
and worldwide over the last 30 years, the sport will likely never
achieve the recognition and legitimacy Olympic underwriting provides.
The simplest explanation is that despite public statements by
promoters, noteworthy black belts or even new grapplers that
the sport deserves Olympic sanctioning, none of them really want
it.
Here's
why.
A
Brief Moment in Time
Things
weren't always so gloomy. There was a moment when FILA and several
luminaries and leaders of the jiu-jitsu community wanted to work
together to make Olympic inclusion happen.
The
story goes like this. Interested in some form of jiu-jitsu or
no-gi grappling becoming a part of the Olympics, members of FILA
partnered in 2007 with representatives of Abu Dhabi Combat Club
(ADCC) to form an exploratory committee to determine if there
was a way to make the project happen.
According
to Jason Townsend - FILA World Pankration, Grappling and Mixed
Martial Arts Committee member and attendee at those meetings
- things never got going in the right direction. FILA's representatives,
while not issuing ultimatums, articulated their view that Olympic
sanctioning only happened through them. After all, FILA is the
major international governing body regulating nearly all major
forms of wrestling including freestyle and folkstyle and oversees
national governing bodies like USA Wrestling. FILA operates with
authority vested in it from the IOC and SportsAccord.
ADCC's
representatives, while initially interested in working with FILA,
bristled at the idea and ultimately and publicly cut off ties
with FILA. "We had several meetings and discussions but
ideologically we were far apart and could not reach an agreement,
especially when it came to rules and the direction of the sport.
As a result of this Highness Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
Guy Neivens and Renzo Gracie have all resigned from positions
with the FILA World Grappling Committee," said then-ADCC
Spokesman Guy Neivens. "We have a strong organization with
several Federations in Europe and expanding quickly in other
parts of the World as well. We wish FILA the best, but at this
time we are going our own way!"
"You
completely lose control," Renzo Gracie says. "You have
to pass all control to them. You're investing and making a sport
grow and the next thing you see, the guys are the owner of the
sport. Basically we'd be under Olympic tournament. It'd be difficult."
Townsend
admits the strong personalities of both FILA and ADCC was like
"trying to mix oil and water". That ultimately torpedoed
the effort. Still, he maintains, nothing's changed since those
meetings. FILA is the only way through the Olympic door. Organizations
like ADCC "[don't] really have any legitimate amateur protocol
in place, structures and those types of things. I believe they're
trying, but they're still looking at it from a business perspective
and not an amateur sports perspective."
Gracie
isn't just apprehensive about handing over control of the sport,
but also how the sport of jiu-jitsu itself could be changed in
the process. He says the story of judo is a cautionary tale in
how Olympic inclusion can transform the very nature of the sport.
"The
fact is, by judo being an Olympic sport, it stops being a business
and becomes like a school, a training field in order to build
Olympians," he says. "It becomes hard for Olympians
to generate money. Even someone who gets the gold medal, it's
a hard time to generate money out of that."
Rather
than catering to the general population, Gracie says making jiu-jitsu
an Olympic sport would force it to cater almost solely to its
elite athletes.
"We
have a part of the jiu-jitsu community who wants to see [the
sport in the Olympics] and actually the majority don't want it.
Because they believe we'd be treated like judo and in the end,
a lot of people would lose their way of making a living like
wrestling in the United States."
Brazilian
Hegemony
In
1964, judo finally made its way to the Olympics. The games were
held in Tokyo and this was Japan's re-arrival on the world stage
since the ostracism of World War II. They did have athletes who
could compete across a variety of the sports in those days, but
wanted judo included because, so the thinking went, there's no
way they'd get anything but gold medals in a sport that was their
creation and dominated by them. This was their best chance to
shine.
And
they were right except, well, they weren't.
There
were four weight divisions in judo's first Olympic run. Japan
won gold in the first three: 68kg, 80kg, +80kg. The last division,
Open Weight, is where things went wrong. A Dutch giant named
Anton Geesink, standing 6-foot6 and weighing 270 pounds, threw
a wrench into their plans winning gold against Japan's Akio Kamanaga.
The Japanese were stunned.
It's
true Geesink had won the 1961 World Judo Championships where
he also beat a Japanese judoka. It's also believed the reason
the 1964 games included multiple weight-classes is because the
Japanese couldn't bear the idea of losing the gold medal if there
were one weight class because of what Geesink had done in 1961.
But they simply couldn't accept the idea a non-Japanese judoka
could ultimately win the Olympics.
It
was a revelatory moment for the world. Sure, the Japanese had
the best judo, but they weren't the best. They could be beat
and Europe was already trying to change and modernize the sport.
Because of Anton Geesink, the world knew the days of Japanese
hegemony were over.
This,
critics charge, is why some of jiu-jitsu's leaders (many of which
are Brazilian) are reluctant to push the sport towards the Olympics.
"I
think that's a natural response from a Brazilian who owns a Brazilian
jiu-jitsu studio who makes a lot of money off that side of it,"
Townsend says with respect to Gracie's apprehension. But, Townsend
maintains, while Olympic inclusion "might put a little dent
in the Brazilian business plan" ultimately the fear is unfounded.
Schools would still be able to be schools and cater to every
level of development and customer. "When you take a sport
to an amateur level like the Olympics, you're not always gearing
toward the elite athlete," says Townsend.
The
real reason jiu-jitsu's established leaders don't want FILA to
be involved, Townsend claims, is fear of Brazil losing its place
as the dominant force in the sport.
Jimmy
Pedro - judo World Champion, Olympic bronze medalist and coach
of the 2012 U.S. Olympic judo team - agrees there are historical
parallels between judo in 1964 and jiu-jitsu in 2012.
"Yeah,
I do," says Pedro when asked if he believes the Brazilians
in the jiu-jitsu community don't want to risk losing control.
"There are many solid judo players in the world right now
that if they focused on jiu-jitsu would quickly make a transition
into jiu-jitsu and do very well. It would take them a few years
to perfect the techniques and learn the rules of jiu-jitsu, but
they would fare very well at events because we do a lot of the
techniques of jiu-jitsu already."
"Brazil
would not have the stronghold on jiu-jitsu any longer."
"It's
fear," Townsend contends. "It's fear that they're going
to lose control of something the Brazilians have a tight grip
on. And they're going to give up control to Europeans, they're
going to give control to American wrestlers, they're going to
give up control to Russians, the people who are going to get
involved on the international level and they're no longer going
to be able to control all the different schools, all the different
associations in a way that they used to be able to control it.
The governance will go to Switzerland."
FILA
vs. Jiu-Jitsu
Part
of FILA's troubles to move jiu-jitsu onto an Olympic track can
be seen in the clash with ADCC in 2007: they were outsiders looking
in and doing so with a sense of establishment if not entitlement.
If jiu-jitsu was going to be in the Olympics, It was with FILA
or it wasn't happening. Despite having more honest intentions,
that approach - real or perceived - has resulted in a distancing
with the jiu-jitsu community.
In
other words, it isn't just jiu-jitsu leaders who are apprehensive
about FILA, but the rank and file in the grappling community,
too.
In
2007, USA Wrestling (under FILA's authority), began running grappling
tournaments in North America. It was part of a larger effort
to determine an international champion. While world teams were
created and medals awarded out, the jiu-jitsu community viewed
FILA's tournaments with unease or at a distance. There has been
some participation from more elite grapplers within the jiu-jitsu
community, but ultimately ADCC and IBJJF's tournaments never
lost their luster. FILA still holds tournaments and grappling
competitions, but there's an ever-revolving question about what
they really signify or if they're worth a competitor's time.
"The
rules are very different from IBJJF competitions," says
ADCC bronze medalist and jiu-jitsu black belt Ryan Hall, "with
an emphasis on wrestling, disallowed twisting footlocks, and
interesting scoring. When FILA was first attempting to break
into the market so to speak, I was a purple belt and remember
that the general reaction in the BJJ community was not terribly
positive. It may end up being the future of the sport, but it
will take decades of work to make anything real of it. Also,
the people leading the charge are the wrong guys: nobodies in
the BJJ community or people with sketchy reputations who seem
to be mostly in it for the publicity."
"IBJJF
tournaments are significantly more popular, better attended,
and massively deeper in terms of talent pool and competition
level than any FILA grappling tournament I am aware of,"
Hall argues.
Townsend
admits FILA never ingratiated itself with the jiu-jitsu community
to get the participation or recognition he believes they still
merit. "There was a misconception FILA was out to take over
everyone. They're a sanctioning body just like USA Wrestling
is. We're not really an events organization. They're not a promotion.
They're an amateur governing body. In the Brazilian jiu-jitsu
world, I don't think there's any real understanding of what that
is or what that means."
Townsend
also rejects the idea there's anything wrong with FILA's brand
of scoring. "FILA rules are a mix of Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
wrestling and I would say maybe even some judo and sambo. You
have to have a really good points scoring system in any Olympic
sport and the point systems in the American promotions are totally
insufficient. The rules are written totally insufficient. They
would never stand up to an actual Olympic sports rules committee."
And
this is where a noteworthy wrinkle enters the story. In terms
of pure Brazilian jiu-jitsu with the gi, the sport is nowhere
close to Olympic sanctioning. There is not a shred of performance
enhancing drug testing and it's not clear the larger associations
want it. IBJJF didn't return comment about their Olympic efforts,
such that they exist, for this article.
But
where Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the gi falls short, no-gi grappling
is much further along. It has many of the participatory qualifications
necessary for credentialing, almost 70 federations globally governing
the sport and under FILA's watch, WADA-code enforced drug testing.
The issue is what one calls it, which determines what it is:
is it no-gi grappling, no-gi jiu-jitsu or something else altogether?
FILA's
belief is that jiu-jitsu even with the gi is ultimately a traditional
martial art. Submission grappling, however, has roots in multiple
other sports, therefore, if there's going to be a no-gi common
denominator the rule set has to reflect the comprehensive grappling
sport. For FILA, no-gi grappling isn't shorthand for no-gi jiu-jitsu,
but a different sport altogether. Jiu-jitsu competitors are encouraged
to ply their trade, but the rule set reflects the various sports
from which submissions derive.
There's
an open question, however, if FILA's premise is fair. The birth
and growth of no-gi grappling is almost entirely rooted in the
application of jiu-jitsu within MMA contexts. Yes, sambo fighters
and judokas are free to enter no-gi grappling tournaments and
yes, no-gi grappling has almost taken on a life of it's own,
but is ultimately an off-shoot of jiu-jitsu.
To
many members of the jiu-jitsu community, trying to rewrite the
rules of no-gi grappling outside the parameters from which it
grew and arguably originated is to change it to something untenable
and unfair. Some change away from pure jiu-jitsu is fine, but
rewriting it into something familiar to no one is a bridge to
nowhere.
"I
don't get to go to a judo tournament and whine that my armlock
gets stopped when my opponent picks me up," says Hall. "Because
its a different sport. It's my job to adapt to the sport, not
make the sport adapt to me. Do you think they would give a lot
of ear to me saying that I would be an Olympian if only freestyle
wrestling didn't award back exposure points?"
Still,
Townsend believes even if jiu-jitsu competitors have issues with
the rules, they are welcomed to take an active role in changing
them. "The rules are always going to change," he says
frustratedly. "If Robert Drysdale or any of these guys want
to go to the meetings, we'll take them. They can be involved
in the process. People don't realize that. They'd rather just
say 'oh, its the rules' and not get involved. That's the great
thing about amateur sports: it's democratic."
On
the Wings of Judo
Pedro
doesn't believe jiu-jitsu or submission wrestling will ever become
Olympic sports. In his mind, they're too similar to judo and
the Olympic committee won't see the added value in bringing them
into the fold. What Pedro does believe, however, is that judo's
competitive repertoire can be expanded.
"I
think [jiu-jitsu] has its place. Whether it's jiu-jitsu or whether
it's a newaza-only judo event in the Olympic games, I'd love
to see that."
Pedro's
idea is novel, but noteworthy: a newaza (the Japanese word and
formal judo term for 'submissions') event should be added to
the Olympic judo competition. Top-level jiu-jitsu competitors
could make the judo team and only compete in this event. Rather
than try to add a new sport to the Olympics where the regulatory
hurdles are significantly greater, this change would allow combat
athletes to potentially earn multiple medals within the same
sport while adding the wrinkle of submissions.
Currently
the International Judo Federation (IJF), which is a member organization
of FILA, doesn't hold any newaza-only tournaments.
"To
be honest with you," Pedro says, "I don't think jiu-jitsu
will ever be an Olympic sport unless it is done under the umbrella
of wrestling or under the umbrella of judo because it's too similar
of a sport to both of those to become its own entity."
The
Future
Current
ADCC USA chief Carlos Carvalho believes Olympic sanctioning is
stil possible. While he admits the lack of drug testing in ADCC
is problematic (and a function of funds and organizational infrastructure),
he also says ADCC alone has 48 global federations. He states
the organization is even open to working with FILA again.
The
question is FILA ready to work with ADCC, IBJJF or anyone else.
Townsend maintains the door hasn't formally closed on integrating
grappling into the fold in FILA. He also says amateur MMA under
FILA's watchful eye is growing rapidly.
The
truth, though, is that window is likely forever closed. Without
the sport's 'consent', such that it exists, FILA likely won't
have the desire or momentum to make Olympic sanctioning a reality.
And unless something changes before the IOC's 2013 meeting in
Buenos Aries, Argentina, jiu-jitsu or no-gi grappling has positively
no chance of making the 2020 games (karate and wushu, however,
are on the shortlist for inclusion).
FILA
and the jiu-jitsu community, despite some measure of earnest
efforts, never built a relationship. There never was and still
isn't a meaningful bond. Whether that's good or bad for the sport
is a matter of who you ask or personal interpretation. We can
say jiu-jitsu, gi or no-gi, isn't in the Olympics now and likely
never will be. What that means for MMA and any Olympic future
it has is hard to tell. What we can say for certain, though,
is once the door closes and the moment passes, it's hard to realistically
see a way it ever opens again.
Who
will advocate on jiu-jitsu's behalf if the sport itself can't
and won't do it?
Source: MMA Fighting |
Miguel
Torres Happy With New Home at World Series of Fighting
Sep
8, 2012 - LAS VEGAS -- Most MMA fans would consider Miguel Torres’
recent signing with World Series of Fighting a step backward,
but the 31-year-old former bantamweight world champion disagrees
— saying the WSOF is just the jump his career needs right
now.
"Everyone
has only a small window of time in this game before life takes
over," Torres said, flashing a smile during Thursday’s
inaugural WSOF press gathering that quickly retorted a reporter’s
follow-up question about any impending retirement announcement.
"But
I don’t think I have hit my prime yet. This (getting cut
from the UFC) is more motivation to make me train harder and
fight a lot better."
Don’t get Torres, the former World Extreme Cagefighting
champ, wrong. He was plenty peeved after getting his pink slip
from the world’s largest MMA organization after going 2-2
and losing to Michael McDonald via first-round knockout at UFC
145 in April.
"At
first I was really upset. But in life, things happen for a reason
and this is one of those things where I look at it as a new starting
point," said Torres, who sports a career MMA record of 40-5.
"I’m
sure I could find a way back in there (to return to the UFC),
but for me I’m not try to base anything on them anymore.
I’m moving forward with my life and helping this organization
and then take care of what I can control in the future."
Torres
— who will headline the first-ever WSOF card against a yet-to-be-named
opponent, set for Nov. 3 at Planet Hollywood and airing on NBC
Sports Network (formerly Versus) — says he credits WSOF
president Ray Sefo, a decorated kickboxing champion and Las Vegas-based
trainer, as being the main factor in choosing WSOF over other
promotions.
"There
were other organizations that were established already that had
different things going on. But for me to be in a start-up organization
on NBC, to me it made sense," Torres said. "I helped
build the WEC, I was in the UFC and I fought all over the Midwest.
"But
I never fought for a guy who was not just a fighter, but one
of the best fighters in the world. In my deciding factors, that
was one of the big selling points for me. He understands what
I’m going through, where I’m coming from, and who I
am as a person and as a fighter."
Torres
— who said he would return to train in his home gym in Hammond,
Ind., instead of traveling around like he has for the past half
year — said doubters can easily discredit another promotion
entering the MMA world, but he believes there not only is room
for the WSOF, but a need as well.
"The
sport has grown so much and gyms are producing so many fighters.
A lot of guys go unnoticed," he said. "Unless you have
somebody who can back you up or put your name out there, or by
chance you get noticed — it’s hard. A lot of guys don’t
have the money to go to tryout or have the time to sit in line
for five hours and hit pads.
"There’s
a lot of talent, even in the area I’m from, there’s
a ton of studs who train and fight and never get noticed. With
this organization you’re going to see a lot of new names,
a lot of good guys coming out. New fresh faces."
Torres
— who was cut from the UFC this past year after making an
ill-advised joke about rape on Twitter, before quickly apologizing
and eventually being reinstated to the UFC — dismisses rumors
that another off-color Twitter comment was the reason behind
him receiving his walking papers from Zuffa.
"The
official letter I got was for my last loss," Torres said.
"I’ve seen a couple of rumors and reports that it was
another Tweet or rape comment, but that’s just ignorant.
I don’t know where they got that from. I haven’t made
any jokes like that at all.
"People
are going to say what they want to say. I’m not worried
about that. I’m worried about Nov. 3, headlining this card
and coming out there and being the best Miguel Torres I can be."
And
right now Torres says he believes he can be his best in helping
build the WSOF from the ground up.
"I
knew what I was getting into from the beginning. That was one
of the main things they told me. We’re getting picked up
by NBC Sports, it’s gonna be a huge thing," Torres
said.
"It’s
not a league that will be here and gone in a day or two. We’re
gonna do big things and they need guys who can help carry them
on their back. I believe I’m one of those guys."
Source: MMA Fighting |
Jon
Jones Says Chael Sonnen’s Time Will Come to Answer for His
Verbal Attacks
UFC
light heavyweight champion Jon Jones took the brunt of the initial
criticism when UFC president Dana White cancelled UFC 151 just
one week out from its scheduled date.
Jones
remained fairly quiet about the situation at first, even though
White took him and his coach, Greg Jackson, to task for turning
down a last ditch effort to match the champ up with Chael Sonnen
on short notice.
When
Sonnen went into attack mode – almost immediately –
Jones could only sit back and take the unanswered blows for so
long before fighting back.
“There’s
guys on the street right now that would take a fight against
me just to see how they would do, let alone talk about one of
the top fighters in the world, especially one of the top fighters
in the world that has absolutely nothing to lose,” Jones
said in a recent interview on MMAFighting.com’s The MMA
(After) Hour. “Why would I put a world championship on the
line against a very dangerous opponent for a person that hasn’t
even remotely earned the right to consider himself in the position
to fight for a world title? That’s like hitting the jackpot
and I refuse to be anyone’s jackpot.”
Jones
did eventually agree to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion
Vitor Belfort in the UFC 152 main event on Sept. 22 in Toronto,
but that’s not to say that he thinks Belfort really earned
a shot at the belt either. He does, however, have a much different
outlet on Belfort as an opponent.
“I
don’t think he necessarily deserves (a shot at the title),
but I’m honored to fight him. I respect Vitor a lot. He’s
definitely a worthy opponent,” said Jones.
“I
have zero respect for (Sonnen). I’m honored to fight Vitor
Belfort. Vitor is a Christian like I am. He’s an honorable
man. Fighting Chael Sonnen, he’s a punk. He’s a thug.”
Despite
his own feelings for the way the situation went down, public
opinion, right or wrong, has leaned heavily in Sonnen’s
favor on this one. Jones still feels most of the sting for the
collateral damage following the UFC 151 cancellation.
“I
think it’s funny how Chael Sonnen became a hero out of this
thing,” Jones commented. “Chael had nothing to do with
this and he just talked his way into the limelight somehow. I
signed a contract to fight Dan Henderson, not Dan Henderson and
his best friend.
“At
the end of the day, Dan Henderson got hurt. That’s what
happened. I was ready.”
Although
Jones vs. Belfort is now on tap, White has stated that a Jones
vs. Sonnen bout, if fans wanted it bad enough, could still happen
in due time.
Jones
agrees… and welcomes the opportunity answer Sonnen’s
attacks, but with his fists, not his words.
“He’ll
get his time when the time comes. I’ll beat that man silly.”
Source: MMA Weekly |
UFC
on Fuel TV 6 Fight Card Rumors
UFC
on Fuel TV 6: Le vs. Franklin
Date: November 10, 2012
Venue: Cotai Arena
Location: Macau, China
-Cung
Le (8-2) vs. Rich Franklin (29-6)
-Thiago Silva (14-3) vs. Stanislov Nedkov (12-0)
-Dong Hyun Kim (15-2-1) vs. Paulo Thiago (14-4)
-Takanori Gomi (33-8) vs. Mac Danzig (21-9)
-Alex Caceres (7-5) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (11-6)
-Tiequan Zhang (15-3) vs. Jon Tuck (6-0)
-Yasuhiro Urushitani (19-5-6) vs. John Lineker (19-6)
-Riki Fukuda (18-6) vs. Tom DeBlass (7-1)
-Takeya Mizugaki (15-7) vs. Jeff Hougland (10-5)
-Marcelo Guimaraes (8-0-1) vs. Hyun Gyu Lim (10-3-1)
UFC
on Fuel TV 6 Start Times:
Preliminary Bouts on Facebook: 7 a.m. ET / 4 a.m. PT
Main Card on Fuel TV: 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT
Source: MMA Weekly |
Sport
in transition: UFC's roster of bright stars dimmed by injuries,
retirement
One
of Dana White's favorite sayings is, "Every day I wake up,
there is crazy [expletive] I have to deal with."
It's the price one pays for the kind of success the UFC president
has enjoyed in the last decade-plus. In a little more than 11
years, he's turned a company on the verge of bankruptcy into
one estimated to be worth more than $2 billion.
His partner, casino mogul Lorenzo Fertitta, wouldn't assign a
value to the UFC, but put it in stratospheric levels during a
2011 interview with the New York Times.
UFC
star Georges St-Pierre hasn't fought in 16 months because of
a knee injury. (MMA Weekly)
"I feel pretty comfortable saying we're the most valuable
sports franchise on the planet, more than Manchester United,
more than the New York Yankees, more than the Dallas Cowboys,"
Fertitta told the Times.
Even if Fertitta is not right, it's mind-boggling that he can
even mention the UFC in the same sentence with those iconic sports
franchises to a reporter from the New York Times and not be laughed
out of the room.
What White has done in these last 11 years to lead that surge
is as remarkable in its own way as what the late Steve Jobs did
in masterminding Apple's rebound from near-extinction after his
return to the then-troubled computer manufacturer in 1997.
But as White prepares to seriously promote UFC 152 at the Air
Canada Centre in Toronto on Sept. 22, he must deal with a stark
reality: His list of headline-worthy stars is shrinking rapidly.
Despite the UFC's multi-year deal with Fox, it is still a pay-per-view
company first and foremost. It relies on its stars to sell tickets
and pay-per-views and create job opportunities and prosperity
for those down the card.
But as 2012 enters its homestretch, there is plenty for White
to be concerned about.
His biggest draw, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, hasn't
fought in 16 months and won't be in the cage again until November.
Nobody knows if he'll ever be the same as he was before his knee
injury.
White's next biggest attraction, middleweight champion Anderson
Silva, is 37 and has already been making noises about retirement.
And his emerging superstar, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones,
is embroiled in controversy and being blasted from all directions.
It's not easy to determine exactly what makes a fighter a pay-per-view
star, but it is clear that it takes a star to sell a pay-per-view.
That's why you didn't hear flyweight contender Joseph Benavidez
complaining too much when Jones was added to the UFC 152 card,
pushing him out of main-event status. He knew having Jones atop
the bill would create more interest and push more sales.
White has greatly expanded the sport's hard core fan base, and
so the floor for sales is much higher than it was even five years
ago.
But hardcore fans are only a small percentage of the overall
audience. A successful pay-per-view comes as a result of convincing
casual fans to buy.
In that sense, it's no different than the challenge facing President
Obama or Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in winning
the election. They don't have to worry about getting the votes
from their base; they have to convince the undecided and those
in the middle to support them.
White and Fertitta have to find a way to bring along fighters
who will replace Silva and St-Pierre and help with that crossover
appeal.
Part of the reason for the UFC's interest in the Fox deal, besides
the money they received, was the ability to use the shows on
Fox to make its fighters more recognizable to the channel surfers
and casual sports fans.
It's been a mixed bag, though. Fuel TV might as well be renamed
the "UFC Network," for the huge amount of content it
carries, but it doesn't have wide distribution yet. There are
many major cable systems that still don't carry Fuel. No matter
how great the content is, if the customers can't see it, it does
no good.
Fox and FX have no such distribution issues, and both are in
excess of 100 million homes. Despite that, the four shows on
Fox so far haven't been ratings home runs. The Nov. 12 opener
was a solid performance, but the UFC got a bad break when the
heavyweight title match between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos
Santos lasted just a minute.
Knockouts happen, but a long fight would have given the sport
much more exposure and would likely have led to an increase in
the fan base. But someone who tuned in for the first time on
Nov. 12 had to have been turned off when it ended so quickly.
There was 60 minutes of hype and then just 60 seconds of action.
The next three shows, featuring Rashad Evans versus Phil Davis
in January, Nate Diaz against Jim Miller in May and Mauricio
"Shogun" Rua against Brandon Vera in August, did all
right with the UFC's base, the 18-to-34 male demographic, but
didn't expand beyond that.
The May show went up against the Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto
boxing pay-per-view, while the Rua-Vera fight was on opposite
the London Olympics.
The string of bad programming matchups will continue in December
for the next card. UFC on Fox 5, set for Dec. 8 in Seattle, might
on paper be the strongest top-to-bottom card the UFC put on since
UFC 100.
But it appears that is the date that boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao
will next fight. And, to make matters worse, Golden Boy Promotions
CEO Richard Schaefer has suggested that his young star, Canelo
Alvarez, may fight on that night, as well, should Alvarez win
his Sept. 15 bout against Josesito Lopez. That would further
splinter the combat sports audience.
The result from the UFC's point-of-view is that it will hinder
the growth potential for those fighting on its show because there
won't be as many eyeballs on it as there otherwise might have
been.
The UFC doesn't release its pay-per-view sales, though White
did say publicly that UFC 148 did the second-most in company
history, behind only UFC 100.
But there have been a number of bombs on pay-per-view this year,
when fans simply opted to save their money. UFC 147 was a disaster
and UFC 149 wasn't much better.
That has led some to speculate that the MMA boom is on the decline.
That doesn't jibe, though, with the rock-star status that UFC
fighters receive when they're in public.
It's simply a recognition of the fact that the UFC has a finite
number of stars it can bank on to sell. When one of them is injured
and is sidelined a long time, it depresses the entire business.
It hasn't reached a crisis mode by any means, but White knows
as well as anyone the importance of finding that next generation
of pay-per-view stars.
Nothing is more critical to the UFC's future.
Source: Yahoo Sports
|
VIEWPOINT:
UPHILL CLIMB
A
great orator he is not, but Ray Sefo, newly minted president
of the upstart World Series of Fighting promotion, has only the
most noble of intentions.
“We
look to put the fans and fighters first and to promote the best
events,” Sefo said during a press conference last week.
Make
that “event,” in the singular form, at least for now.
Sefo’s first gaffe as head of the fledgling organization
was to announce that the WSOF had signed a one-year contract
with NBC Sports, with plans to hold eight to 10 events over the
duration of that deal. Not so fast, replied the network.
A
day after the press conference, an NBC representative told MMAFighting.com
that its current agreement with the promotion is for one night
only. After the Nov. 3 debut, everything will be evaluated and
examined to determine how to best move forward. In theory, if
NBC Sports is not happy with the product, WSOF could be a one-hit
wonder. As it turns out, Sefo’s declaration was rooted more
in cautious optimism than plain fact. However, the former K-1
standout stands by his announcement that WSOF has a one-year
deal with NBC Sports.
Despite
the mix-up, Sefo has reason to feel good. Even if it is just
on a trial basis, it is a big deal for a brand new MMA promotion
to be linked with such an established network. Although NBC Sports
is not new to the fight game -- it previously broadcast World
Extreme Cagefighting events when it was known as Versus -- the
NBC name tends to resonate more with the masses.
In hopes of making a splash with its initial event, WSOF has
put together a solid lineup of recognizable names: Miguel Torres,
Gerald Harris, Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante, Josh Burkman,
Ronys Torres and Bobby Lashley, to name a few. This by itself
is not unique.
Organizations
such as One Fighting Championship, ProElite, Shark Fights and
Super Fight League have assembled their own collections of notables
for various events. None of the aforementioned promotions had
or have anything resembling a major television contract, however,
which is why the stakes will be so high for WSOF in November.
Rumor
has it that the promotion has been quite generous with its contracts,
and it had to be in order to acquire the type of name value necessary
to please the network suits. Following the Bellator Fighting
Championships model of building relatively unknown prospects
through tournaments would have been ideal -- and probably cheaper
-- but the presence of NBC is a game changer.
“For
me, it’s a new future, it’s a bright future. Being
on NBC Sports is a huge thing for me and a big deal for all of
us,” Torres said. “It was the best decision for me
to come here. I’m happy with the way things worked out.”
It
has to feel like a new lease on life for Torres, who was knocked
out by the fast-rising Michael McDonald in his last UFC appearance.
Torres is a few years removed from a 17-fight winning streak
that brought him the WEC bantamweight title and inserted him
into discussions regarding the world’s best pound-for-pound
talents. He has declined since then, posting a 3-4 record and
attracting more attention for his Twitter feed than his feats
in the cage.
Still,
the WSOF is counting on Torres to carry his weight as a headliner.
It is counting on the likes of Harris, Burkman and Cavalcante
to reach greater heights than they did with their previous, more
well-known employers. It is counting on Lashley to be more than
just an imposing physical specimen with a sports entertainment
background.
To
keep those guys coming back and to attract more talent for future
shows, Sefo hopes to maintain a good relationship with his athletes.
If offers start to pour in from other promotions or other contractual
issues arise, he will allow his fighters to explore their options.
Sefo, a longtime professional kickboxer with some MMA experience,
is well aware of the hardships one must endure to survive in
this profession, so it is not surprising that being fair to the
fighters is among his foremost goals. How realistic that is remains
to be seen.
“I
understand the goal for every fighter out there is to get to
the UFC. And so they should, as it’s the beast of the MMA
world right now,” Sefo said. “But we’re not focusing
on that. We’re focusing on what we bring to the table, which
is creating more opportunities for fighters.”
For
those opportunities to remain plentiful, Sefo and the WSOF must
impress NBC Sports and a legion of fickle MMA fans on Nov. 3.
It will not be easy, especially considering that it will be going
up against a Strikeforce card featuring the likes of Daniel Cormier,
Frank Mir and Luke Rockhold. Sefo is confident that enough fans
will choose his product. It is on free TV, after all. Where the
WSOF goes from there is anybody’s guess.
A
TV deal with a big-time network, a recognizable cast of fighters
and a passionate president is not a bad start. Mistakes are inevitable
in a new organization, as Sefo himself has already demonstrated.
Let us just hope the WSOF does not crash and burn before it truly
gets off the ground. It is only fair to the fighters and fans
that it gets a chance to succeed.
Source: Sherdog
|
Michael
Chandler Reflects On Quick Rise, Aims at Brighter Future
Sep
9, 2012 - When Michael Chandler upset Eddie Alvarez last November,
no one stopped to ask where exactly he'd come from, as if it
was perfectly normal to win four fights in eight months and cap
off the dynamic run by finishing one of the world's best lightweights
on just two years of professional experience.
It
was as if Chandler had been dropped on the scene from the sky
as an elite-level talent, and we'd all accepted it without any
hint of wonder or disbelief.
Such
things are not supposed to happen. When Jon Jones pulled off
a similar trick in the UFC, winning the light-heavyweight title
on three years' experience, he was widely hailed as a one-man
revolution in MMA. If that is true, then Chandler is part of
the uprising, even if his arrival in the sport was, like Jones',
never a sure thing.
Or
was it?
Ben
Askren, who is a fellow Bellator champion and Chandler's wrestling
teammate at the University of Missouri, says Chandler was a lock
to be a great fighter.
"He's
just mean and tough," said Askren, the promotion's welterweight
champion. "He has all the intangibles you want in a top
fighter. I knew he'd be successful. I just didn't know it would
be this fast."
Chandler
had previously shown the ability to take a small opportunity
and run with it. At UM, he had tried out as a walk-on during
his freshman year and eventually captured the starting job. By
the time he was a senior, he had become an All-American at 157
pounds.
But
while teammates like Tyron Woodley and Askren where dabbling
in MMA, Chandler never gave the sport a second thought.
For
a time, he wasn't just oblivious to MMA; he didn't even like
it. At the time, a roommate of his would rent tapes and DVDs,
and Chandler would avoid watching when they were playing on the
television. His dedication to wrestling was so complete that
he couldn't even bring himself to consider spending time with
another sport.
"When
I came to college, I was just in love with the sport of wrestling,"
he told MMA Fighting. "I didn't want to do anything else.
I didn't date girls. I didn't go out. I didn't do anything besides
wrestle. I just completely surrounded myself with nothing but
the wrestling room and guys who loved the wrestling room as much
as I did."
That
approach paid off, as Chandler was a four-time NCAA qualifier
and was one of only 18 athletes to finish a UM career with at
least 100 wins. But by his senior year, he began to realize that
there had to be something past wrestling.
Around
the same time, Woodley had begun competing as an amateur mixed
martial artist, and doing some of his training at UM.
"I
held mitts for him, even though I had no idea how to hold mitts,"
he said. "And we'd roll around and he'd say, 'this is an
armbar,' and 'this is a triangle choke,' etc., and that really
opened my mind. I thought it was kind of cool."
Askren
started his fight career shortly afterward, and Chandler soon
decided that maybe he, too, should give it a go. After his first
pro fight, he was signed to Strikeforce. After two wins there,
he signed with Bellator, where he began to show an advanced game
beyond his experience level.
The
speed of his success came as a surprise even to him, even if
he never lacked for confidence.
By
the time he faced Alvarez, he was 8-0, but there was no hiding
the fact that a jump from Patricky Pitbull to Alvarez was a major
leap. Alvarez was a consensus top five lightweight, and rumors
were beginning to swirl that he would soon be leaving for the
UFC, where he could found out how he would fare against the few
remaining names ranked above him.
"It
was one of those things where it was like 'Fake it 'til you make
it,'" Chandler said. "I wasn't supposed to beat Alvarez
on paper. I wasn't supposed to beat Pitbull either. But you have
to go out and lay it on line. You have to perform like you train
and like you see yourself. I saw myself as a champion. It's not
that I'm cocky or arrogant, but that I believe I was put in this
sport for a reason. This was another stepping stone to get to
where I want to be."
After
a pitched, back-and-forth battle, Chandler drilled Alvarez with
an overhand right in the fourth round, earned full mount and
choked out Alvarez. It was not only one of the most surprising
outcomes of the year, and also earned "Fight of the Year"
contention.
Since
then, Chandler has re-watched the bout a few times, swallowing
up all of the lessons he could glean from overcoming adversity.
For
now, it appears that a rematch between the two seems unlikely.
Alvarez has just one fight remaining on his contract and seems
bound to test free agency soon afterward. But Chandler doesn't
see a second fight between them as a necessity, noting that there
was no controversy in the first. ("It was one man vs. another,
and one gave up and accepted the loss," he said.)
Next,
he has former Olympic judoka Rick Hawn queued up for his first
title defense. Beyond that, the season seven Bellator lightweight
tournament boasts a strong field of eight fighters with a combined
record of 141-30-1, all hoping to challenge for the belt.
In
preparation, Chandler recently moved from Las Vegas to San Diego,
moving his camp to Alliance MMA where he says the main draw was
the atmosphere. Not the mild temperate of the the California
city, but the agreeable conditions of the training camp. With
no hint of irony, he likens it to a wrestling room. In the same
type of place where he fell in love with combat sports, Chandler
is falling in love all over again.
"I
see myself as a champ, a guy who makes the right decisions and
is working his butt off to be No. 1 in the world," he said.
"For, me, the rankings don't matter. It's me vs. another
man in the cage. There are 1,000 ways to win and 1,000 ways to
lose. There are no reasons for me to listen to the naysayers
or even the people who are pumping me up. I'm only three years
into this sport. I just want to get better."
Source: MMA Fighting
|
RUFF
5 Genesis Quick Results
RUFF
5 Genesis Quick Results
September 8, 2012
Inner Mongolia Indoor Stadium
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
-Ayideng
Jumayi def. Lü ZhenHong via split decision (30-27, 29-28,
28-29)
-Shang ZhiFa def. Liu LianJie via unanimous decision (30-27,
30-27, 29-28)
-Wu ChengJie def. Dong YanJun via tapout (strikes) at 1:01, R1
-Liu PingYuan def. Zhang MeiXuan via split decision (29-28, 29-28,
28-29)
-Jumabieke Tuerxun def. Jiang LongYun via KO at 1:40, R1
-Rodrigo Caporal def. Wu HaoTian via KO at 1:47, R2
-Wang Guan def. Yuan ChunBo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27,
30-27)
-Sandro da Silva def. Xue GuoBin via tapout (strikes) at 2:19,
R1
-Arthit Hanchana def. HasiTieer TeerJiang via submission (rear
naked choke) at 3:04, R1
-Amu RiJiRiGaLa def. Yang Liang via unanimous decision (30-27,
29-28, 29-28)
-Zhang LiPeng def. Xuan PengFei via tapout (strikes) at 1:10,
R1
-Li JiXiang def. Zhao ZiLong via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27,
30-27)
-Cui LiuCai def. Wen JunCheng via submission (ankle lock) at
2:58, R1
Source: MMA Weekly |
|