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Alistair Overeem: Roy Nelson, His Turnaround and What’s Next

Coming off of his victory over Roy Nelson at UFC 185 last month, Alistair Overeem took some time off to relax and recuperate from the slight damage he sustained in the fight. Overeem spoke with Bleacher Report after his vacation in Puerto Rico:
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Bleacher Report: You knew that Roy Nelson had a tough chin going into the fight. What did you do to prepare for that?

Alistair Overeem: To be honest, I was certain I was going to knock him out in the first two rounds. Training was excellent. I finished everyone in sparring. I felt really sharp and fast.

B/R: What was going through your mind when you saw him eat your toughest shots?

AO: I thought he was tough. But I had a little voice that was talking to me before I was walking out to the Octagon. It told me that this is the UFC, everyone in the organization is tough, and that you shouldn’t be surprised if the guy survives your barrage.

Everybody comes with a game plan, everybody wants to win. He might not go down. It’s the mindset that kept me going through the fight.

B/R: During the fight, did you realize that you broke his ribs or that he broke his hand?

AO: I believe he broke it in the second or third round. There was a moment where he was rushing me and then he stopped punching me after awhile. I got banged up from banging him up.

I noticed that I hurt him a couple of times. He is a guy that just wants to come forward and establish his dominance. When he was stumbling back a little bit, that’s when I knew I had him.

Props to Roy Nelson, because he remained dangerous ’til the very end. He caught me at the end of the third round. Throughout the fight, I felt that he was dangerous. He was waiting to capitalize on a mistake and hit me with those heavy hands.

B/R: Are you happy with your performance?

AO: Yes. Very happy. I won the fight. People can’t say I didn’t try to knock him out. I destroyed his legs, threw knees to his solar plexus. I’m surprised he survived all of that.

B/R: What do you think you have to improve on before you go after the belt?

AO: I don’t want to walk ahead. I still need to get one or two more wins before I can talk about getting a title shot. It’s closer than it was six months ago.

B/R: You have bounced back after your loss to Ben Rothwell by finally stringing together two wins in a row. Explain the turnaround.

AO: I felt good leading up to the [Rothwell] fight. I broke his arm with a kick and then I got caught. Bad luck? I would say so. I still see myself beating him nine out of 10 times.

But if you go back to the Frank Mir fight, it was a flawless victory. I had 139 hits to his five hits.

I’ve bounced back before, and the Rothwell fight was just a slip-up.

B/R: Who do you have in the Cain Velasquez-Fabricio Werdum matchup?

AO: It’s hard to say. I think that fight would be 50/50. Before I would root for Cain, but I think Werdum is a tricky fighter. He’s good on his feet, on the ground. He hasn’t lost a fight since I beat him in 2011. Werdum has made amazing progress.

Cain is an amazing fighter. However, he has not been active for a while, so it’s hard to say how he’ll come back after everything he’s been through. It’s going to be an exciting fight for sure.

B/R: How would you prepare yourself for a matchup against either fighter? Do you have a preference on who you’d rather fight?

AO: No preference. I focus more on just getting my next camp in order. Just to keep all the pieces of the puzzle together.

B/R: Junior Dos Santos’ name has been thrown out as someone who could be your next opponent. What are your thoughts on that?

AO: I could see that fight happening at this point. We’re both not scheduled to fight anyone. I’ve been cautious in calling out anyone because I want to recover my injuries from the Roy Nelson fight first.

B/R: What injuries do you have to take care of?

AO: The Roy Nelson fight was a tough fight. My ankles are a little bruised. My right foot was damaged, but fortunately, there’s nothing broken.

However, I’m in Holland taking care of some dental work, but I feel almost to the point where we can start thinking and talking about the next fight.

I’m aiming to fight again in July or August, but I will wait to talk to the UFC until after my dental work is finished.

B/R: I know you had some animosity toward Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the past. Do you still have some beef toward him?

AO: I wish him all the luck. He’s got a very big fight coming up. His development has been very spectacular.

B/R: Who do you have in the fight between him and Jon Jones?

AO: It can go either way. It’s hard to say. I would say if it ends early, it’ll go to Rumble. However, if it goes past the second round, I’ll go for Jones.

All quotes were obtained firsthand, via interview, unless otherwise noted.

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Ryan Ford out of WSOF 21 headliner vs. Yushin Okami, new main event sought

More bad news for Canada.
Ryan Ford reinjured his arm and had to pull out of the World Series of Fighting 21 main event against Yushin Okami, which was set for June 5 in Edmonton, WSOF executive vice president Ali Abdel Aziz confirmed with M…

More bad news for Canada.

Ryan Ford reinjured his arm and had to pull out of the World Series of Fighting 21 main event against Yushin Okami, which was set for June 5 in Edmonton, WSOF executive vice president Ali Abdel Aziz confirmed with MMAFighting.com on Tuesday.

Abdel Aziz said WSOF is seeking a new main event and possibly also a new location. Ford is an Edmonton native and one of the main reasons the promotion was holding the card there.

Ford (22-5), the WSOF Canadian welterweight champion, is coming off a loss to Jake Shields in a welterweight title fight last October. Ford lost via first-round submission, but competed with a broken right arm. He injured the same arm again in training for this fight against Okami.

Okami (30-9), a former perennial UFC middleweight contender, was dropping down to welterweight for the Ford bout. In his last fight, the Japanese star fell to David Branch in a middleweight title contest back in November. Okami has won four of his last six fights, dating back to his time with the UFC. It’s unclear if he will remain on the WSOF 21 card.

WSOF 21 remains pretty deep. Smealinho Rama defends his heavyweight title against Blagoi Ivanov in the co-main event and Lance Palmer puts his featherweight belt on the line against Chris Horodecki as well.

Dustin Poirier makes quick turnaround, meets Yancy Medeiros in New Orleans

Dustin Poirier wasn’t joking about coming right back to fight in June.
Just three days after making his return to lightweight, Poirier has been booked to fight Yancy Medeiros at UFC Fight Night: Cormier vs. Bader on June 6 in New Orleans, th…

Dustin Poirier wasn’t joking about coming right back to fight in June.

Just three days after making his return to lightweight, Poirier has been booked to fight Yancy Medeiros at UFC Fight Night: Cormier vs. Bader on June 6 in New Orleans, the UFC announced Tuesday. Poirier is a native of nearby Lafayette, La.

Poirier (17-4) looked great at 155 pounds on Saturday, beating Diego Ferreira by first-round knockout at UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas in Fairfax, Va. “The Diamond” previously had plenty of success in the UFC’s featherweight division before deciding to move back up, because the weight cut was too difficult. The 26-year-old has compiled a very good 9-3 record in the UFC. He fell to Conor McGregor by first-round knockout at UFC 178 last September.

Medeiros (11-2, 1 NC) was supposed to meet Tony Ferguson at UFC 184 in February before getting injured and having to withdraw. The Hawaiian has won two straight, including a first-round guillotine finish of Joe Proctor back in December. Medeiros, 27, trains with the Diaz brothers and has a knack for highlight-reel submissions.

UFC Fight Night 68 is headlined by a light heavyweight contender bout between Daniel Cormier and Ryan Bader. Dan Henderson will also meet Tim Boetsch on the card, which will be held at Smoothie King Center.

Stephan Bonnar retired unless something comes along ‘that sparks my interest’

Stephan Bonnar’s Bellator fight with Tito Ortiz was probably his last.
The UFC Hall of Famer told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he doesn’t plan on coming out of retirement again unless there is a fight that really in…

Stephan Bonnar’s Bellator fight with Tito Ortiz was probably his last.

The UFC Hall of Famer told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he doesn’t plan on coming out of retirement again unless there is a fight that really intrigues him. Bonnar fell by unanimous decision to Ortiz in the main event of Bellator 131 last November.

“Unless something really comes along that sparks my interest,” Bonnar said. “I was pretty content being retired before and then Bellator offered me Tito like right away. I was like ‘Oh god, you know what? That sounds like fun.’ It was fun. It was fun in there.”

Bonnar, 38, originally retired after a 2012 TKO loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 153. “The American Psycho” tested positive for steroids after that bout and it seemed like his career was over.

But Bellator dragged him back into the game with a fight against Ortiz, someone he has disliked for a long time. And that was too good to pass up. Bonnar and Ortiz actually promoted the fight extremely well for Bellator. There were serious pro-wrestling overtones — including the use of in-cage promos and the unveiling of a masked man. But it worked. The fight ended up being the most watched on cable in all of 2014.

“He gave me a good fight as much as I hate him,” Bonnar said. “He pushed me and I had to dig deep.”

Bonnar (15-9) did not seem to treat his body well before the fight, though. He told Helwani that he had to cut 19 pounds in four hours the day of weigh-ins.

“Sure it’s a new [personal record] for me, but I don’t think you should be doing that at the end of your career,” Bonnar said.

The Ultimate Fighter 1 standout appeared on The MMA Hour with Forrest Griffin. April 9 marks the 10-year anniversary of the classic Griffin vs. Bonnar encounter from the TUF 1 Finale. Not only will it go down as one of the greatest MMA fights ever, but far and away it was the most influential. UFC president Dana White has said many times that without those two fighting their hearts out that night in Las Vegas there might not be a UFC today.

That’s why both Bonnar and Griffin are in the Hall of Fame. Griffin is a former UFC light heavyweight champion, while Bonnar was little more than a journeyman with a big personality. His best career win is over Keith Jardine, but without him MMA might not even be a thing right now.

Bonnar will be able to take that with him as he rides into the sunset. Most likely for good.

“All the other stuff like training and preparing and cutting weight, that isn’t fun anymore,” Bonnar said. “I used to really enjoy that. It just wasn’t as fun.”

But hey, maybe it could be again some day with the right opponent.

WSOF 20’s Nick Newell: I Lost, but I’m Not Done

This Friday night at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, CT, Nick Newell will look to rebound from his first professional loss and work his way back up the lightweight ladder when he takes on Joe Condon in the co-main event of World Series of Fighting 20. Newell hasn’t fought since his third-round TKO loss to Justin Gaethje last July in the promotions network television debut on NBC.

Newell recently spoke with Bleacher Report Columnist Mike Wellman on his podcast, The MMA Word. Newell opened up about coming back from defeat, the opportunity to fight in Connecticut and signing a new contract with WSOF.

Even though he’s been out of the cage since last July, Newell says he’s been getting better. His time away from the cage has allowed injuries to heal and his body to recover from his last few fights.

Newell recently re-signed with World Series of Fighting, after a lengthy negotiation with the promotion. Newell wanted to immediately get back into fights with the promotion’s top lightweights, while matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz told MMAFighting.com at the time he wanted to bring Newell back up the ranks more slowly.

It kind of sucks, because I want to go in there and fight the best but they’re in control of my contract, really. I do make decent money, but I’m also a pretty big draw, so I think that’s fair. I want to fight the best guys, but this is the guy they want me to fight. I’m not in a position to call anyone out because I lost my last fight. I say I do this fight, and we see how it goes, and just go from there.

Newell would have liked to get back in the cage much sooner. He was ready to fight in December, but his contract negotiations kept him out of the mix until he re-signed in February. Though his layoff was contract-related, Newell isn’t the first WSOF fighter to complain about not getting a fight. He said with his new contract, inactivity won’t be an issue.

They signed a big roster, and they didn’t have enough events, and I think that was the problem. They’re tuning down with the number of signings now and making an attempt to keep the guys more active. I’ve worked something into my contract that will keep me more active. I can’t complain about that now. Obviously this long layoff was not ideal, I was ready to go in December. But it is what it is. I get a hometown fight. I probably could have used a paycheck around Christmas time, but it is what it is, I don’t waste my money, I’m pretty good with it.

Newell’s home base is Fighting Arts Academy in Springfield, MA. He travels there from Connecticut to train during the week, and heads home on the weekends. His 13th professional fight will be his first in his home state. Newell noted the crowd will be filled with friends, family and fans, saying:

This is my first fight ever in Connecticut, not as an amateur, not as a pro, I’ve never fought in Connecticut. Everyone I train with has fought in Connecticut…The closest I’ve fought to Connecticut as a pro is Boston, which is about three hours away from where I live. So I guess that is a local high, but not really, you know. This is in my home state. It’s about an hour from where I grew up, but it’s at the casino and everybody loves going to the casino. I’ve already sold a bunch of tickets, and my teammate Leon Davis is also on the card, and he sold a bunch of tickets, so combined the place is going to go insane.

Newell’s climb back up the lightweight ladder starts with Joe Condon. Condon made his WSOF debut at WSOF 17 in January, stepping up on weigh-in day from a prelim fight to the co-main event. He made the most of the opportunity and defeated Jonathan Nunez with a third-round guillotine choke.

Newell knows he’s going in there against a veteran and fellow submission artist, but feels his mat skills are superior. He also feels he’ll be the better athlete in the cage, saying:

My coaches watched a lot of footage on him, and came up with some stuff I need to work on. I know he’s very relaxed, this will be his 20th pro fight, so he’s definitely a veteran. He’s fought a lot of good guys, and he’s fought a lot of fights at 170, so he’s big for the weight class. But I feel like I’m really strong for the weight class. I don’t think many people are much stronger than me. My explosion and my athleticism are through the roof now. I’ve been working at Ramos Athletic Conditioning Center on my strength and conditioning.

You know, [Condon is] good wherever the fight goes, he has good Jiu-Jitsu. He’s got a lot of submission wins. But I’m a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, and if he wants to go to the ground with me, that’s his mistake.

Even though Newell still feels an illegal knee from Gaethje impacted the fight, he isn’t holding hard feelings towards the champion. Newell is over the loss and focused on getting back on the track to the title, whether it’s held by Gaethje.

I don’t really care [about avenging the Gaethje loss]…I’d obviously like to win the belt a little more than I would like to avenge that loss. I just don’t dwell on the past. If they offered me another fight with Justin I would take it, no problem. But it’s not like I’m sitting in my room with a candle lit, staring at a picture of Justin, hating my life. He beat me. Sometimes you lose.

Newell isn’t a stranger to losing. Even though his MMA career got off to a stellar start, he came up short in his first 17 high school wrestling matches. He used the feeling of defeat as fuel to continue winning, and even though he may no longer be undefeated in mixed martial arts, he says he isn’t letting the loss ruin all the hard work he has put in to get here, saying:

You only really lose when you give up. I never had any concrete goals in this sport, to be honest with you. I really just made a promise to myself to give it my all, train as hard as I could, and always fight to the best of my ability or give it everything I have, and then whatever happen, happens. And it’s taken me pretty far in this sport. I lost. It sucks. Did I want to lose? No. Do I feel a sense of relief? Hell no. I’d rather be undefeated, but it happens.

If I let something like one loss ruin me, then all my hard work that I’ve put in since I started wrestling when I was 14 years old, it means nothing if I just give up after getting sidetracked one time. That’s why I am where I am, because I didn’t give up. I lost my first 17 wrestling matches. I was getting killed and everyone in my high school was watching it. It was embarrassing. So I know what it’s like to be a loser, it sucks. And I think that’s why I win so much, because it keeps me humble, and keeps me hungry. I never want to go back to that, and no one is perfect.

So I lost, but I’m not done. Hell no. I’m better than what I showed. I had a bad night, and I know that isn’t the real me. I’m going to pick up the pieces and put them back together and come back stronger.

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WSOF pulls Melvin Guillard from event, citing no receipt of medicals

Melvin Guillard’s tenuous history relationship with World Series of Fighting continues.
The UFC veteran was pulled from the WSOF 20 card Monday, because he was not able to present his medicals to the organization in a timely fashion, WSOF pr…

Melvin Guillard’s tenuous history relationship with World Series of Fighting continues.

The UFC veteran was pulled from the WSOF 20 card Monday, because he was not able to present his medicals to the organization in a timely fashion, WSOF president Ray Sefo confirmed with MMAFighting.com. Guillard was scheduled to meet Ozzy Dugulubgov in the co-main event of WSOF 20, which is scheduled for Friday night at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.

MMAjunkie was the first to report the story.

Sefo said that communication between Guillard and WSOF has been extremely limited and Guillard did not provide the adequate documentation to give to the commission in time for the fight. Guillard also refused to do any media through WSOF public relations, but slammed the promotion in other interviews.

“His management can advise him, can tell him what needs to happen,” Sefo said. “At the end of the day, he’s the professional fighter. He has to go get his medical, he has to do the PR. That’s what it says in his contract. These are the obligations to the organization he’s with. The unprofessionalism just continues. He’s left me no choice but to pull him from the card.”

Guillard missed weight before what was supposed to be a lightweight title shot against Justin Gaethje last November. He also missed weight in his WSOF debut against Gesias Cavalcante last July. Guillard is still angry with WSOF that he had to forfeit 50 percent of his purse from the Gaethje fight, because he wasn’t able to hit 155 pounds. Guillard came in at 159.

“It’s funny, they never answer their phone when I need to talk to them, but yet when they want me to do interviews and they want something from me, they want to try and force me to do it,” Guillard said on Submission Radio last week. “So there’s a lot of things in the company that I’m not happy about and I’m the type of person [that] I’m always going to speak my mind and there’s already other places that want to sign me. So I’m gonna go in this fight next week, I’m going to fight my ass off. I’m going to win this fight impressively so that way I have options, I have choices. You know because ultimately I’m going back to the UFC anyway.

“I’m going to let them know how I feel, for when you fuck over Melvin Guillard and not give him what he asked for after he swallows his pride, and takes a fight, and lets them take 50 percent; and I still fight for them, I still give them a good show [in] that last fight, even though I didn’t make weight and fight for the title; but yet the fact that [WSOF executive vice president] Ali [Abdel Aziz] didn’t man up and follow his promise, you know right now it’s a little bit personal to me.”

On the other hand, WSOF still believes it did Guillard a favor by keeping him in a catchweight fight against Gaethje since Gaethje, the champion, losing in such a bout would be a disaster for the promotion.

“That was even risky for us to let him fight Justin Gaethje as a non-title fight, but we allowed it to happen,” Sefo said.

Sefo said a decision has not been made yet on Guillard’s future with WSOF. Abdel Aziz told MMAFighting.com that he still has two more fights left on his contract.

Guillard did not respond to a request for comment from MMAFighting.com on Monday afternoon. An email sent to Guillard’s manager, Abe Kawa of First Round Management, was not immediately returned.

Guillard, 32, fought in the UFC from 2005 to 2014, earning notable wins over the likes of Jeremy Stephens, Gleison Tibau and Dennis Siver. For a time, Guillard (32-14-2, 2 NC) was considered one of the best lightweights in the world. He was cut by the UFC after a loss to Michael Johnson last March.

Before the Gaethje fight, Guillard also aired dirty laundry between him and WSOF. This is just the latest in the saga.

Luis Montoya will step in and face Dugulubgov. A fight between Nick Newell and Joe Condon will be the new co-main event. WSOF 20 is headlined by a light heavyweight tournament semifinal between middleweight champion David Branch and Ronny Markes and will air live on NBC Sports Network.

“We’re four days away from the fight,” Sefo said. “He’s got to weigh in three days from now and he doesn’t have a medical. It’s completely ridiculous.”