Back in May of 2012, on the same night Chan Sung Jung and Dustin Poirier put on a ‘Fight of the Year’ performance, something was amiss. For the first time in over a decade, UFC President Dana White was nowhere to be found cageside.
Instead, White was merely a fan that night, stuck tweeting on the couch due to a crippling bout with the rare ear disorder Ménière’s disease. White has battled back and forth with the disease ever since, and now he’s finally set to take the next step.
“Taking off to LA for the surgery right now,” White announced on Monday night. “I have it at 8:30 a.m., PUMPED!!! Thank [you] all so much for the well wishes. Much appreciated.”
Earlier in the day White explained the specifics of the surgery, and to be frank, they were not pleasant.
“They’re going to cut my ear off,” White told USA Today Sports. “My left ear, they’re going to cut it off so they can get inside. They’re going to insert a tube, and this surgery is pretty new — within the last year, I think, this surgery has come out. They have to get inside there to insert a tube, so they have to go in there and go through the hole. They insert a tube, and then they reattach the ear.”
Like I said, not exactly pleasant.
Somewhat amazingly, White is still on the fence about whether or not he’s going to travel to Saturday’s UFC on FX 7 event in Sao Paulo, Brazil. If he is unable to make it, which I’d imagine will happen — you know, since he’s having his ear cut off four days prior — it will mark only the third UFC event in 12 years White has missed, joining the aforementioned UFC on FUEL 3 and UFC on FUEL 6, Zuffa’s debut journey into China.
It goes without saying, but good luck to the UFC president. Going under the knife is never an enjoyable experience.
6 MUST-READ STORIES
White to have surgery. UFC President Dana White is set to undergo surgery for his Meniere’s disease at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning in Las Angeles, CA.
Henderson vs. Melendez targeted. A title unification bout pitting Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez against UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is being targeted for April 20, 2013 at UFC on FOX 7.
The MMA hour. Ariel Helwani and The MMA Hour return with another star-studded episode, featuring Michael Bisping, Hector Lombard, Nick Newell, UFC Vice President of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner and Spike TV president Kevin Kay.
Rousey: GSP lucky to be attractive. Speaking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey said of Georges St-Pierre: “If GSP wasn’t really good-looking, and really Canadian, he would be really unknown.”
Strikeforce salaries, medical suspensions. Heavyweight veteran Josh Barnett topped the disclosed payroll for last weekend’s Strikeforce finale, pocketing $250,000 for his first-round submission victory over Nandor Guelmino. Meanwhile, UFC import Ed Herman and preliminary card fighter Kurt Holobaugh received indefinite medical suspensions due to various injuries suffered in losses during the event.
Vasquez retires. After more than a year on the sideline, 35-year-old featherweight veteran Javier Vasquez has elected to retire from mixed martial arts. Said Vasquez to Sherdog: “I just don’t want to fight anymore. … I just didn’t know how to say it and when to say it. I had nothing left to give anymore. I had nothing physically left to give.”
MEDIA STEW
Michael Chandler submitted Eddie Alvarez back 2011. It was easily one of the year’s greatest fights, but yet he fought just once in 2012. That’s inexcusable for Bellator. If I don’t get to see this guy fight at least three times this year, something is wrong.
Takeaway from this video: If you’re sparring with King Mo, you should probably keep your hands up. (For the lazy, jump to 1:12 for the money shot.)
Now this is cool. Check out this 1999 documentary which follows the legendary Rickson Gracie as he prepares to fight in 1995’s Tokyo Vale Tudo one-night tournament.
Props to Nick Koz for the find.
Apparently “The Doctors” is a daytime show on CBS, and apparently Urijah Faber recently decided to drop by the set. So there you go, I learned new two things today.
(HT: MiddleEasy)
This clip of Fedor Emelianenko messing around with Gegard Mousasi will only make you wish Fedor had made that drop to light heavyweight.
(HT: Reddit)
Seriously guys, Georges St-Pierre’s imitation of Burt Watson is gold.
GOOD LUCK BIG GUY
Taking off to LA for the surgery right now. I have it at 830am, PUMPED!!! Thank u all so much for the well wishes. Much appreciated
— Dana White (@danawhite) January 15, 2013
HEAL UP BAS
OK, Im awake, will let you all know more when I know more. Thanks for all the “Best wishes”, much appreciated! fb.me/1u1iSOyKy
— Bas Rutten (@BasRuttenMMA) January 14, 2013
STILL CAMPAIGNING
He says he trains w other black belts and wouldn’t mind taking me down. Yet he comes to Vegas and gets tapped out by blue belts… Go figure
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) January 14, 2013
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Monday, January 14, 2013):
- UFC on FOX 7: Benson Henderson (18-2) vs. Gilbert Melendez (21-2) targeted for April 20, 2013
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes courtesy of Ashley Doherty, who writes: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs Glover Teixeira – “Exhanging Of Power”
On the 9th of July 2012, UFC officials confirmed a strong rumour regarding a matchup between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Glover Teixeira. After an injury pull-out from Jackson, we are finally here, just weeks away from a rescheduled clash between the two.
I don’t want to talk too much about the dramatics of Quinton Jackson making headline after headline blasting mixed martial artists who try to wrestle him, the UFC and stating he is leaving the UFC after his next fight and focus more on this great match up that the UFC have formulated instead.
Quinton Jackson and Glover Teixeira on the feet, strangely fight almost identically. Neither fighter really uses a jab to control the pace of the fight and their combinations and prefer to throw power hooks instead until their opponents fall, however they approach the situational encounters slightly differently.
Both fighters score knockout wins in wild exchanges.
Glover Teixeira in his fights seems a lot more dynamic with his punching, his hooks coming left and right at great force and speed, a lot of the time uppercuts following these hooks and it’s really quite ridiculous because most of his opponents so far haven’t quite come up with an answer for the barrages, especially early in the fight. Teixeira has created a habit of becoming quite successful in those 50/50 situations when he closes the distance, scoring numerous knockdowns and knockouts. Jackson, who frequently likes to use his “cover and roll” move, it’s going to be interesting to see his retaliation if Glover decides to throw some hooks at him.
Speaking of Jackson’s “cover and roll” move, let’s get onto the stand-up guard of Jackson. Jackson possesses a tight guard which almost looks like he’s answering the phone (which Rashad Evans has talked about in the past). I have never seen Jackson NOT resort to this type of blocking when his opponents pour on the pressure. If you look at Jacksons recent fights, there have been 3 people that have rocked him in the cage. Jon Jones rocked Jackson with a counter punch and Rashad Evans rocked Jackson whilst he was anticipating the takedown. The third person was Keith Jardine and the reason I’m using Jardine as my resort here is because he rocked Jackson with an uppercut which is one of Teixeiras best punches.
More analysis and predictions after the jump…
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