Two days before their headlining bout at
On Gomi’s motivation behind finally signing with the UFC:
“From what I hear, it seems like it’s his last run. When you get a guy like that who says things like that, he’s a dangerous guy. He wants to make one last run at getting a belt in a major organization. He feels this is the toughest organization in the world, which it is, and he’s going out there for blood.”
On what he expects from Gomi:
“I’m sure he’s going to be coming out hard, and try to make a name for himself right off the bat in this organization. I can’t have that.”
While many people in the MMA community believe that Gomi’s best days are behind him, Florian refuses to let himself drift into that mindset. In fact, Florian believes that Gomi should show him respect or it’s going to be a quick finish.
“You’ve got to respect your opponent’s skills, but I think the key is respecting their skills, but disrespecting their strategy. That’s the main thing. I’m not going to go out there and let him beat me. I’m not going to go out there and let him punch me in the face. I’m going out there to beat him and whatever it takes to beat him, I’m going to go out there and do.”
“I don’t mean this in a cocky way, but he’s going to have to respect me a lot more. I’m not sure he really knows what he’s dealing with. I’m not sure if he’s been following the UFC, or following my career or whatever, and he definitely doesn’t know what I’ve been up to in the last few months, but I feel like if he doesn’t come with his ‘A’ game, and if he feels like he’s the senior guy, or that he’s the legend, and he doesn’t respect me, I think he’ll be out of there pretty quick.”
(source: MMA Weekly)
A day before the biggest fight of his career, Dan Hardy showed no signs of apprehension about facing Georges St. Pierre for the
While many in the
“Everyone’s dangerous, but in the same sense, everyone’s beatable. I’ve brought a few different things into this camp, but no more than I would for anybody else. At the end of the day he’s human, he’s got weaknesses. I’m confident I can exploit the weaknesses, like I’ve done in my last few fights.”
Hardy’s game plan is fairly simple considering the multi-faceted skills St. Pierre brings to the table.
“I’m going to be throwing as hard as I can, and I’m going to knock him out as soon as I can. I’m not going to let that concern of a takedown slow me down.”
“If I hit him he’s going to know about it; it might be the next day anyways.”
Will Hardy be able to land that knockout blow before St. Pierre can take him to the ground? The world will find out tomorrow night.
(source: MMA Weekly)
According to MMAWeekly.com, Alves had a pre-fight CAT scan that revealed a potentially dangerous issue with the fighter’s brain, and while doctors were reviewing the issue, he could not be cleared in time to fight at UFC 111.
With 24 hours to go until weigh-ins, it was speculated that there wouldn’t be enough time to find a replacement, but Saunders was ready to go for the preliminary card and agreed to step in against Fitch on last-minute notice, according to sources close to the fight.
UFC president Dana White later tweeted
“People are asking why Saunders? He called me and said he really wants the Fitch fight and I respect that and Fitch wants to fight too!!!!”
“The Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1) are now expected to battle on July 3rd, he’ll face Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1) at
Fighters Only Magazine reported the news on Wednesday noting that “One of the fighters has signed and returned his bout agreements and the other is expected to be returned this week, making the clash official for UFC 116.”
It had been rumored that both men would meet at UFC 110 but that was changed to a match between Silva and Michael Bisping.
Silva defeated Bisping by unanimous decision in that bout last month. The victory erased a two fight slide for Silva who dropped matches to Rich Franklin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Since returning to the UFC after the fall of Pride FC, the Brazilian fighter has gone 2-3.
Akiyama, a highly decorated judoka fighter, has won 12 straight bouts with 2 ‘No Contests’. The match against Silva will be his second in the UFC and on US soil since making his debut against Alan Belcher at UFC 100. In that bout, Akiyama earned a split decision victory that earned both men the “Fight of the Night” honors.
Also scheduled for UFC 116 will be the return of heavyweight champ Brock
UFC’s Thiago “Pitbull” Alves will not fight at Saturday’s UFC 111, because a CAT Scan shows an irregularity in his brain
… TMZ has learned.
Thiago was scheduled to rumble with Jon Fitch on Saturday — but a pre-fight CAT Scan revealed an irregularity — a source close to 26-year-old Pitbull tells TMZ the irregularity involves an artery in the brain.
UFC honcho Dana White tells TMZ he will fly Pitbull to a specialist for further evaluation. White says, “If it’s true, it can be career-ending.”
No one will replace Pitbull on Saturday. The headliner is Georges St- Pierre — ironically, the fighter who solidly beat Thiago in his last fight last July.
solidly beat Thiago in his last fight last July.
Coker, speaking via MMAWeekly, said:
“M-1 Global and Strikeforce entered into a three fight contract exclusive for Fedor to fight in a co-promotion between Strikeforce and M-1 Global, and as you know we did the first fight on Nov 7 in Chicago. Fedor is now scheduled to fight in June towards the end of the month in America against Fabricio Werdum.”
Dana said he was shocked by Irvin’s frame and face after his first cut to middleweight and that he can’t see booking the veteran fighter for another bout at 185 pounds.
“No more 185(-pound fights) for him,” White told MMAjunkie.com. “He didn’t look good. I think he’s got a lot of scar tissue in his face under his eyes. That was sticking out more than his eyeballs were. He didn’t look good [at weigh-ins].”
Irvin’s Skeletor look was popular message-board fodder following Saturday’s weigh-ins at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo. Irvin weighed in for the first time since his July 2008 loss to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a non-title light-heavyweight fight. Irvin tested positive for painkillers (and later admitted that his many injuries has caused an addiction) at the fight, and he continued to combat injuries – including a torn meniscus and other leg ailments – in the year and a half afterward.
Finally booked for his return, Irvin struggled to make weight.
His bad luck continued in UFC on Versus 1’s first televised bout when Sakara threw a left hook that caught Irvin right in the eye socket. Replays ruled out a finger poke and confirmed Sakara threw a perfectly legal closed-fist punch. The TKO stoppage came at the 3:01 mark of the first round.
After the fight, referee Josh Rosenthal told MMAjunkie.com that he knew from the moment the strike landed that it was a legal blow. Additionally, a Zuffa LLC official said that Irvin also mentioned that the punch may have knocked a chunk of Vaseline into his eye, which may have prompted the temporary blindness.
Despite Irvin’s bad luck, White said he remains a fan.
“I’m a huge James Irvin fan,” he said after the fight. “I’m a fan of the guy; I really am. He’s had some of the best knockouts in the UFC, and he always comes to fight. Tonight, it looked like the cut killed him. He couldn’t get off. He couldn’t throw any punches tonight. He was basically getting lit up by Sakara, and that’s not James Irvin. That’s not who he is as a fighter. The 185 cut is too hard for him.”
But does that mean Irvin, who’s now suffered back-to-back losses and three defeats in his past five fights, will remain employed by the UFC?
“I don’t know yet,” White said. “Those are decisions we make when we get back to the office, but I’m a fan. I’m literally a fan of him. I really like him a lot.”
(www.mmajunkie.com)
Those wacky Germans are at it again, Potato Nation. It wasn’t enough that the UFC had to put up with all manor of ill-informed, reactionary nonsensewhen they held their first event in Germany last summer. Oh, no. Now they’ve been banned from German TV for the “unacceptable” level of violence in their broadcasts. Since the UFC has been broadcasting on German sports television channel DSF for roughly a year, it seems odd that they’d be banned only now, especially when their programming is completely unchanged. That’s pretty much the exact position of UFC UK president Marshall Zelaznik, who toldSherdog.com:
“The Bavarian state office for new media has approved UFC programming on DSF twice on separate occasions in the past,” said Zelaznik. “That is why we deem the sudden ban unusual as the content of our programming has not changed. We have also had a commission for youth protection in the media review the situation and they deemed the broadcast legal if televised after 11 p.m.”
So what’s Germany’s problem with MMA, you ask? Well, aside from a vague belief that it will somehow damage the minds of their youth, they also seem really hung up on the whole ‘hitting a man when he’s down’ thing. In its statement explaining the UFC ban, the BLM (which, in German, apparently stands for Bavarian state office for new media) cited certain “breach of taboos” such as “punching a downed opponent.” Also, remember that article from Der Spiegel describing the Brock Lesnar-Randy Couture bout:
Going into their Light Heavyweight fight this Sunday, Brandon Vera has been very vocal on his intent to return to his killer instinct, a strategy he says he previously lost in lieu of trying to play it safe and get the win. While he respects Jon Jones, Vera stresses that his experience will be the difference maker.
Jones believes otherwise:
“I think Brandon Vera, with all his trash talking, I think he’s really trying to convince himself that he still has it.”
“The Randy Couture fight, he’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going out there to hurt people now; I’m ready to knock people out, and I’m going to be the old Brandon Vera. I really think it’s something mental that’s going on with him and he’s trying to convince himself that he can win this fight. He’s really talking to himself.”
“His trash talk has no effect on me. But as far as him saying he’s so much more experienced than me, I have a much different style than anything he’s ever experienced, so I don’t really think his experience is going to be too big of a factor in there.”
Contrary to what Vera thinks, Jones finds himself fully prepared for their upcoming fight. He attributes his recent development to aligning himself with the Greg Jackson camp in New Mexico.
“My overall knowledge of the sport has increased leaps and bounds. Greg Jackson, he really forces me to work my jiu-jitsu, and that’s something that I was neglecting early in my career. My ground game is feeling more well-rounded. My wrestling, I’m really focusing on my takedown defense, my takedowns, my judo throws. I’m just realizing what it takes to be on top.”
“You’ve really got to close up all the gaps, and that’s what I’m starting to do. Going against high-level athletes is showing me where my gaps are, and they’re slowly closing. Even form, with my combination, my kicks, my punches, I’m turning the hip over more. I have more punching power. I’m just doing things more correctly, much tighter. My hands are up, and things are proper.”
Both parties have now signed and agreed on this bout. Hector Lombard has been a force too reckon with since Pride FC’s reign. Many fans don’t even know who Lombard is or his close decision loss, too Gerard Mousasi (ex MW dream champ, current Strikeforce LHW champ) that was on his upward climb too MW Gold for Dream. Lombard has an awesome track record of 24 wins, 2 losses and one no contest. He’s currently on a 18 fight win streak, defending the Bellator MW belt and calling out the best in his weight class, like the infamous Dan henderson.
Lombard has a lot of hype but on the other hand we have another fighter who was ranked #2 in most mma World rankings for about 3 years and that is Paulo Filho. He had a viscious reputation for submitting people and was ranked behind only the best pound for pound fighter Anderson Silva. Anderson and Paulo were such good of friends, that they both agreed to not fight each other ever out of respect.
Filho did have some personal issues and ended up loosing for the first time in a bizzare fight against Chael Sonnen, whom is now ranked 4th in the world. Filho shouldn’t have dropped out of the MW scene so quick due too one loss, but kept on struggling with his personal issues. This fight for Filho is as important as it is to Lombard. Both have a lot to gain from this encounter and both would also backtrack with the defeat. Lombard would solidify himself as a top 10 fighter and comparatively, Filho would be a force too reckon in any organization’s MW class. I conclude this post with Viva Shango, and this will be a war, mark my words…
Miguel Torres Surgery from Harris Masood on Vimeo.
We have three words to say about this video of Miguel Torres getting his head repaired: Ho. Lee. Shit. The boys at MMA Mania shot this video of a New Jersey cosmetic surgeon trying to make Torres look like a regular human being again following the nasty cut he suffered in his loss to Joseph Benavidez atWEC 47.
Now that we've seen the footage, we sort of wished they'd just stayed out of the operating room and let us continue believing that these things are healed by the delicate licks of newborn kittens. Something about seeing a living person's skull, as well as watching their skin get tugged around like a pair of unloved pleather pants feels...wrong. I'm going to go throw up now, and then immediately cancel my trip to audition for the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter."
It’s official. The UFC announced today that the much anticipated showdown between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “Sugar” Rashad Evans will headline UFC 114 on May 29th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The bout was originally scheduled to take place after the filming of The Ultimate Fighter 10; however, Jackson opted to take time off from MMA and focus on an acting career. During that hiatus, Jackson landed the role of B.A. Baracus in the film version of the 1980’s television show, A-Team.
At one point, Jackson had decided to retire indefinitely from MMA. Luckily for fight fans, he changed his mind.
It’s no secret that the two Light Heavyweight contenders do not think highly of each other:
“I really want to knock this guy out. I’ve never, ever wanted to knock someone as cold as I want to knock Rashad Evans out. He’s disrespected me so much, for so long,” said Jackson.
“I don’t like all the pre-fight talking, so I can’t wait until I finally get my chance to shut him up. There were a lot of times on the show when I wanted to hit him right there,” said Evans.
(source: MMA Weekly)
For the past six weeks Jon Jones has been at Greg Jackson’s gym in New Mexico, getting ready for a main event showdown with Brandon Vera on theUFC’s first Versus event this weekend. Despite Vera’s edge in Octagon experience, Jones is better than a 2-1 favorite in this fight, but he says he knows that the fans are a fickle lot, and he needs to show what he can do against the elder opponent who swears he’s on the verge of getting back to his old destructive self again. We sat down with Jones recently to get his thoughts on Vera’s renewed sense of purpose, the lingering effects of his disqualification loss to Matt Hamill, and more.
Clay Guida told us in a recent interview that he’s not using his plane ticket to get to Denver for the fight on Sunday and is going to drive his RV instead, and stay in it instead of his free hotel room. You guys are both at Greg Jackson’s in Albuquerque right now. Are you going to ride up in that beast with him?
Yeah, I’m going to go with him. I haven’t been inside [the RV] yet, but I hear it’s like the ultimate bachelor pad, like there’s video games and everything. It’s supposed to be pretty sweet. I’m going to use my hotel when I get there, don’t get me wrong, but I’m looking forward to driving up with Clay. We’ve been doing everything together. We’ve been eating together, training together – not directly with each other, since we’re in different weight classes – but we do our conditioning together. It’s been great.
Do you know what today is? Well, yeah, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, which means that for at least one evening you can puke on the sidewalk outside of your favorite bar without people judging you, but aside from that. Today is a brand new day from yesterday. That means it only makes sense that we get a newTito Ortiz rumor to force us back to that inevitable question: why do we have to keep talking about this guy?
The newest report comes from Five Ounces of Pain, and it claims that “multiple herniations in the neck” forced Ortiz off “The Ultimate Fighter” and out of his fight with opposing TUF 11 coach Chuck Liddell. Sound familiar?
Almost immediately after Herschel Walker’s MMA debut for Strikeforce in January, former professional baseball player, Jose Canseco, began campaigning for his chance to fight on North American soil. The response from the MMA community was less than supportive. At one point, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, said that signing Canseco would be highly unlikely.
Perhaps the tides have turned.
YouTube videos of Canseco working out with the Cesar Gracie team have popped up in recent weeks. Gracie himself has expressed initial interest in training Canseco for a future MMA fight, but he makes it clear that he has no delusions of grandeur.
“It’s the challenge, to have to OK (a fight) against another guy his age, with Herschel. I would never train him to be a serious contender. That’s ridiculous. Why would I waste my time?”
With the potential support of a respected fight team in his corner, Canseco might just find his way to Strikeforce.
Coker on possibly working with Canseco:
“I can tell you this: If Cesar Gracie says to me, ‘Jose’s training with me, I’m going to get him ready, and I’m going to do it in four or five months,’ and Cesar’s telling me this? That will have a lot of weight on what we decide.”
If Canseco plays his cards correctly, fight fans just might see him on a future Strikeforce card. Canseco has not officially said if he plans to employ the same strategy of running around the cage and then tapping out after one punch like in his debut bout against Hong Man Choi at Dream 9.
(source: MMA Junkie)
Despite seeming more focused on a future rematch with ufc Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir concedes that, Shane Carwin, his upcoming opponent at UFC 111, is a formidable challenge.
“I think he’s very similar to Brock Lesnar. He’s somebody that’s strong, and he’s a good
“Brock and Carwin are both better wrestler
“In a fight with Lesnar, the goal is to keep it on the feet, and I’ll win the fight. With Carwin, if I say just keep it on my feet and I fall asleep on him while looking for the shot, I can easily go to sleep if I get caught. He’s shown the ability to knock people out. To me, he’s a dual threat.”
(source: MMA Junkie)
Jake Shields is coming off thirteen victories in a row and now has the hardest match of his career versus Dan Henderson on April 17. He has this to say if/when he beats Dan Hederson
Quoteworthy:
“I’m a fighter who takes it one opponent at a time and my next fight is in Strikeforce against (Dan) Henderson. When you talk about guys like Anderson Silva and St.-Pierre, the best in the world, obviously I fight want to fight them. I want to be the best in the world and to be the best you have to beat the best. GSP’s a complete fighter standing and on the ground. But that’s why I want to fight him, that’s the challenge. I want to test my skills and see what happens. Now I’m focused on Dan Henderson for this fight and after that my contract with Strikeforce ends. I’ll talk with Strikeforce and the UFC to find out which one I will work for.”
Props: Graciemag
For now, the proposed third fight between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz is off. Rumors have spread that Ortiz was unable to finish filming the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter 11. Details have yet to be released. Sources suggest that Rich Frankin has stepped in as coach for the remaining episodes. As a result, Franklin will be facing Liddell at
“If things couldn’t get worse, they just did!” ”I guess business is business.”
A few days later, Ortiz continued posting messages alluding to some sort of set back.
“Thanks for all the support.” “Thinking that life couldn’t get any harder? It just did! Another challenge that god has given me! Wow.”
“Many things that challenge us in lives will make us stronger. One thing I can say is don’t ever quit. I’m strong because of my family and fans!”
Two weeks before the highest profile fight in his MMA career, Dan Hardy spoke to MMA Weekly Radio about his opponent, Georges St. Pierre, and his mindset going into their Welterweight title fight at
On being perceived as a huge underdog:
“I’m being counted out by about 98 percent of people in the world. I’m going into this fight with nothing to lose at all. That’s the difference, I can go in there and take risks, and I will take risks cause that’s the way I fight. I’m not there to eek out a decision, I want to knock him out, and that’s what I’m planning on doing. I’ve got four fights in the UFC now, and every time I was supposed to get my ass kicked. It hasn’t happened yet, so the underdog situation works pretty well for me because I’m coming out on top every time.”
On St. Pierre:
“He’s a great athlete
“He’s under a lot of pressure in this fight, way more than I am. Cause he’s fighting a British guy, who’s had four fights in the UFC, come from nowhere, and I’m stepping in there with a damn good chance of putting him to sleep, and he knows that. All the pressure is on him.”
(source: MMA Weekly)
Renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach may not understand what this MMA jazz is all about, nor does he have much of an appreciation for the ground game (with the possible exception of Fedor Emelianenko’s armbars, I think they’re called), but he sees what’s going on with the UFC’s James Toney signing, and he doesn’t care for it. As he told Crave Online recently:
“I think they're using James as a way to say MMA fighters are better than boxers. If he fights a quality ground guy, once he goes to the ground he's gonna get killed. But If a guy chooses to stand up with James, James is gonna destroy him. That’s why they call him “Lights Out”. I really don’t think there’s one fighter in MMA that could stand with James.”
And thus, Roach exposes the great dark secret about the UFC’s latest maneuver. Signing Toney is just a ruse to make all boxers look inferior to MMA fighters. It is, at the very least, an interesting theory. It’s not without its problems, however.
Though all of the big-money fights scheduled for the spring/summer promise to turn their fortunes around, Zuffa has taken some serious hits lately. First we heard that WEC 47 pulled in a dismal 373,000 viewers, which was their second-smallest audience in two years — not exactly the level of heat you want going into your first pay-per-view card. Now, we hear that UFC 110 istrending at an estimated 215,000-240,000 pay-per-view buys, which follows very disappointing performances by UFC 108 and UFC 109. Sure, we all knew the UFC's fall/winter injury curse would have fans playing pick-and-choose, but the numbers are straight-up grim. Via BloodyElbow, here's how the UFC's pay-per-view cards have performed starting with the high-water mark of UFC 100 last July:
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Venue: Concert Arena (at the Ferrari World theme park on Yas Island)
Broadcast: Pay-per-view
MAIN CARD
* Champ Anderson
* Champ B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar (for lightweight title)
* Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie
* Rafael dos Anjos vs. Terry Etim
* Kendall Grove vs. Mark Munoz
PRELIMINARY CARD
* Phil Davis vs. Alexander Gustafsson
* John Gunderson vs. Paul Taylor
* Nick Osipczak vs. Rick Story
* Brad Blackburn vs. DaMarques Johnson
* Paul Kelly vs. Matt Veach
* Mostapha Al Turk vs. Jon Madsen*
* – Not officially announced
