In a bit of a contradiction to statements made by UFC president Dana White, CEO Lorenzo Fertitta says professional wrestler CM Punk will make his promotional debut against someone of note.
“I think it has to be somebody with some level of credentials,” Fertitta told Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com. “It’s not just going to be some guy off the street. It’s going to be somebody who is a professional mixed martial artist — certainly somebody who MMA media will recognize and know.”
Ideas on Punk’s debut opponent have ranged from veteran fighters already on the UFC’s roster to up-and-comers without Wikipedia pages, but Fertitta admits that ‘most likely’ we’ll see something closer to the later.
“But I’m going to defer to Joe Silva,” Fertitta said. “We’ll let him bring two to three names to the table and we’ll figure it out from there. But I guarantee you it will be a competitive guy.”
Fertitta certainly hasn’t been caught off guard by criticisms of the promotion signing a 36-year-old man with no competitive background, but considers the move to be ‘fighter development.’
“We knew there was going to be backlash,” Fertitta said. “At the end of the day, we did our research and we talked to the people he’s trained with. We’re going to find out what he can bring to the table. We’re confident he has the skills to fight. We don’t know exactly what level yet. Sometimes, you’ve got to invest in what we call ‘fighter development.’ We’ve done it before and guys have developed into very competitive fighters, and we’ve done it where guys have not.”
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Wait a while longer. According to Conor McGregor’s coach, the title fight with UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo could take place a bit place later in the year and not in May.
Signal to Noise. Luke Thomas gives you the best and worst of UFC on FOX 14.
Oh, Bjorn. Spike TV president Kevin Kay says Bellator CEO Scott Coker is ‘a giant step up’ for the promotion.
Mr. Personality. John Dodson says UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson ‘not being able to pop kind of ruins it’ for the entire division.
Constitutional Cagefight. How the UFC is fighting New York’s MMA ban in court.
MEDIA STEW
UFC 183 embedded episode 1.
UFC rankings report.
Bellator 132 Uncut.
Behind the Scenes at Fight Night: Stockholm.
Anderson Silva’s Spider Life episode 5.
Free Fight: Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin.
Nick Diaz on Deflategate.
Long watches.
Joe Rogan Experience #603 – Justin Wren
…
TWEETS
Back in Vegas.
The Cherry Suite. #Vegas pic.twitter.com/TUCvUbVgzx
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 27, 2015
Could be.
“@criscyborg: Hey @CatZingano I hope you can make it to Cali @InvictaFights @ufc #champions #wmma @theug pic.twitter.com/i2YMbg0WMS” maybeee…
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) January 28, 2015
Excellent.
If you want to get some dust in your eyes, look no further. http://t.co/hGXI5ZHZgy #BabyLauzon
— Joe Lauzon (@JoeLauzon) January 27, 2015
Congrats.
Wierd #funfact. 1 year ago today I suffered a serious knee injury. feb6 2014 I had knee surgery. It hasn’t even been a year! #whoop #wmma
— Julianna Peña (@VenezuelanVixen) January 28, 2015
#returnoftheVix #watchthis http://t.co/qHKEWJT06A
— Julianna Peña (@VenezuelanVixen) January 28, 2015
Get well soon.
Today Im 6 weeks out from surgery & started walking with out my crutches. I am still using them a little while gaining strength. #ComingBack
— heatherjoclark (@heatherjoclark) January 27, 2015
I’m walking!!! Day 1! #RoadToRecovery #ImComingBack #UFC #CaliforniaGirl http://t.co/IvsAWUzRc7
— heatherjoclark (@heatherjoclark) January 27, 2015
Interesting.
#xtremecouture #couturemma #lasvegas #roynelson @roynelsonmma http://t.co/XqqwUWitCy
— Dong Hyun Kim (@fighterdhk) January 28, 2015
Like it.
Blood Fight 1989: Full length English movie http://t.co/7kUgLca74n
— nick diaz (@nickdiaz209) January 27, 2015
The man is a dynamo.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Jan. 27 2015)
Claudio Silva vs. Nordine Taleb at UFC 186
Seth Baczynski vs. Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Night: Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga
Milana Dudieva vs. Julianna Pena at UFC Fight Night: Lamas vs. Mendes
Corey Anderson vs. Gian Villante at UFC on FOX 15
Akbarh Arreola vs. Francisco Trinaldo at UFC Fight Night: Faber vs. Assuncao
Alexa Grasso vs. Mizuki Inoue at Invicta FC 11
Lynn Alvarez vs. DeAnna Bennett at Invicta FC 11
Irene Aldana vs. Melanie LaCroix at Invicta FC 11
JJ Aldrich vs. Jamie Moyle at Invicta FC 11
Amy Montenegro vs. Brianna Van Buren at Invicta FC 11
Emily Corso vs. Christine Stanley at Invicta FC 11
Aspen Ladd vs. Kristi Lopez at Invicta FC 11
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via R.Drew.
Jon Bones Jones and the Light Heavyweights
Jon Jones has recently made it clear at the post fight press conference of UFC 182 that he doesn’t have plans to move up to Heavyweight anytime soon. It seems likely that at the very least he wants to beat Anderson Silva’s record for most title defences first, Anderson has 10 and Jones is currently sitting at 8, so simple math would tell us he needs 2 more to tie it and 3 more to beat it (assuming of course that Silva doesn’t get his title back, and add on to his total again.) Lets take a look at the division behind Jon ‘Bones’ Jones and see who he has to beat to get himself there.
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Check out the rest of the post here.
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