In the final two weeks leading up to his UFC Fight Night 30 headlining bout with Lyoto Machida, Mark Munoz never quite sounded thrilled to be facing his training parter, especially on short notice. If the pair was supposed to look tentative, it seemed only Munoz got the memo. Finished by Machida just three minutes into the bout, Munoz now says he didn’t do enough to mentally prepare to fight his friend.
“Now that I did it, been there, done that, now I know what I need to work on,” Munoz tells FIGHT! Magazine. “It’s not so much physical, it’s all mental. It was very difficult for me to fight somebody that I was training with just two weeks before. It was very difficult for me to just envision somebody else’s face on him. I’m not a guy that will choke somebody out or just submit them. I inflict a lot of damage on people. That’s what I do. I wouldn’t be called the wrecking machine for nothing.”
“It was pretty difficult. I learned a lot through the process. I’ve just got to be able to flip the switch. I’ve told a lot of our fighters ‘when you get in there, you’ve got to flip the switch. Whether they’re a friend or not, you’ve got to flip it.’ What was kind of different was seeing my coaches in his corner, too. It’s neither here nor there, he won. He landed the kick. My three losses have been me getting kicked. I’ve got to learn from that. I’ve got to be able to take that and move forward.”
Originally slated to face Michael Bisping in Manchester, Munoz says he’ll be waiting for him when ‘The Count’ returns to action early next year.
“I fought Lyoto and that was obviously very hard for me. Now I want to get back on track fighting a top 10 opponent. Everyone was booked or injured. Bisping says he’ll be back in March and that’s the closest date I can look forward to unless somebody gets hurt and I jump in. I was able to talk to [Bisping] on Twitter, if you call that calling out.”
5 MUST-READ STORIES
RIP Shane. Sad news was confirmed yesterday that UFC heavyweight Shane del Rosario has died after suffering cardiac arrest on Nov. 26. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
The Decision part deux. According to a report, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will hold a press conference in Montreal on Friday to announce his plans for the future.
A league of his own. Former Bellator champion Ben Askren sheds light on the negotiations with UFC president Dana White that led him to sign with ONE FC.
Fortunes changed for five. Dave Meltzer examines what’s next for Mark Hunt, Antonio Silva, Ryan Bader, Mauricio Rua and Pat Barry following UFC Fight Night 33.
Notorious. In case you haven’t been following along on twitter, Conor McGregor doesn’t think much of Diego Sanchez. “The guy is a has-been. He should be in Bellator with the rest of the has-beens. There’s no doubt about it.”
It’s Tuesday, so make sure to check out the MMA Hour with Daniel Cormier, Josh Thomson, UFC’s chief content officer Marshall Zelaznik, Duane Ludwig, Ben Askren, Mark Hunt, Conor McGregor and Soa Palelei.
MEDIA STEW
UFC on Fox 9 Free Fight: Johnson vs. Benavidez.
Recaps of Cage Warriors 62 and ONE FC 13.
BAMMA 14: | Bad Men Walking.
Complete Invicta FC 7 card.
GLORY 13 Tokyo promo – Zimmerman vs. Ghita.
Knuckle Up with Eugene S. Robinson.
Random MMA:
Thomas Almeida vs. George Pacurariu at LFC 26.
Alexandre Capitão vs. Rafael Gogó at Jungle Fight 62 for the featherweight title.
and a wacky technical stoppage between Rafael Nunes and Paulo Panthro.
Sascha Sharma vs. Fabio Ambrosini at SMMAC.
David Zawada vs. Luca Vitali at SMMAC.
TWEETS
RIP Shane del Rosario.
RIP to one of the best people I’ve ever had the honor to have in my life and call my best friend…. http://t.co/P1uFUomU91
— Ian McCall (@Unclecreepymma) December 9, 2013
Truly saddened to hear about the passing of Shane Delrosario. R.I.P. My thought are with his family.
— michael (@bisping) December 10, 2013
Sad to hear about my fellow warrior Shane del Rosario passing away. My thoughts are with his family R.I.P
— jimi manuwa (@POSTERBOYJM) December 10, 2013
Horrible news about fellow UFC heavyweight Shane Del Rosairo. Thoughts and prayers with his family and friends. RIP Shane
— Brendan Schaub (@BrendanSchaub) December 10, 2013
R.I.P Brother Shane Del Rosario
— Chris Leben (@cripplerufc) December 10, 2013
Gonna be a long couple months.
A Monday morning message to @bisping pic.twitter.com/f7AadBRVy1
— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) December 9, 2013
@TimKennedyMMA @austinkungfu you do know England and Australia aren’t the same country don’t you? Your ignorance never fails to amaze me.
— michael (@bisping) December 9, 2013
Mean Girls.
@feliceherrig @CarlaEsparza1 I am sick, shut up loser! Go back to the drawing board!!
— Claudia Gadelha (@ClaudiaGadelha_) December 9, 2013
@ClaudiaGadelha_ @CarlaEsparza1 so sick that you can still talk shit? Carla was really concerned for you and you come back at her like this?
— Felice Herrig (@feliceherrig) December 9, 2013
@ClaudiaGadelha_ @CarlaEsparza1 heres some advice for you. Maybe you wouldn’t get “sick” if you cycled off sooner.
— Felice Herrig (@feliceherrig) December 9, 2013
@feliceherrig the only reason you have fans is because you show your ass in the weight ins and they like your ass better than your skillsLol
— Claudia Gadelha (@ClaudiaGadelha_) December 9, 2013
“@ClaudiaGadelha_: @CarlaEsparza1 @feliceherrig what butt??? Hahahahaha” this one lol😝😝😝 pic.twitter.com/WRVqMaa3k0
— Carla Esparza (@CarlaEsparza1) December 9, 2013
(Herrig deleted this one)
@shanknapp @anamasry19 @TeciaTorres @InvictaFights pic.twitter.com/HPxGel64zS
— Claudia Gadelha (@ClaudiaGadelha_) December 10, 2013
There’s a lot more but this is all I could handle.
Guess he caught the MMA Hour.
The 2most irreverent mother fuckers I can think of. @heathlsims (Hendo’s former water boy) @Benaskren ( wrestler nobody wants 2watch fight)
— phil baroni (@philbaroni) December 10, 2013
Hat is off to you, sir.
Had a fight on weekend and back to teaching Monday. Congrats to adults and kids #BJJ classes at my Liverpool school that graded last night.
— Anthony Perosh (@AnthonyPerosh) December 10, 2013
Sounds good.
RT @HypeOrDie @ReidM1 CHANGE COMING!!! THATS WHAT IT TOOK!!!! HAD IT THERE INSTANTLY WITH THE REFF ON ME!!!
— Pat Barry (@HypeOrDie) December 10, 2013
Not a fan.
Buzz. Rothfeild = idiot http://t.co/LoKjgj166i
— mark richard hunt (@markhunt1974) December 10, 2013
Not with Cinnabon in every airport.
May still be undefeated coming back from America….but every bloody time jet lag and the food kills me!…..But roll on next time ha! 😉
— Joanne Calderwood (@badmofo_jojo) December 10, 2013
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Dec. 9 2013)
NA
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via EvenSteven24.
“Effective striking, grappling, and octagon control.” It sounds so authoritative when Mike Goldberg says this during each broadcast. But when you peruse the actual source material you realize it’s not that simple. For example, did you know that effective striking is quantified by counting the total strikes? That means a jab from Jake Shields is as valuable as a left hook from Mark Hunt. Did you know that effective defense is supposed to be scored?
I think the 10-point-must system is salvageable, but it desperately needs clarity. I think that there are principles upon which we can nearly all agree when we examine the ideal scoring criteria. I’ll try to present them in a clear way while arguing both their merits, and countering the more obvious objections that are inevitable with any such amendments.
Check out the rest of the post here.
Found something you’d like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s column.