Felice Herrig is just happy her entire Ultimate Fighter 20 experience is in the rear-view mirror.
Herrig didn’t even want to participate in the reality show, because she knew exactly what would happen — and she was right. Haters came out of…
Felice Herrig is just happy her entire Ultimate Fighter 20 experience is in the rear-view mirror.
Herrig didn’t even want to participate in the reality show, because she knew exactly what would happen — and she was right. Haters came out of the woodwork, and she hasn’t heard the end of it on social media. The popular women’s strawweight fighter was hoping being on the series would change people’s minds about her. It didn’t quite work.
“It caused a lot of stress for me,” Herrig told MMA Fighting. “I’ve been kind of depressed.”
Herrig didn’t even watch the last five or six episodes. The focus on all the drama between her and Heather Jo Clark and the cattiness displayed among the other women turned her off.
“People don’t get to see the whole, everything that goes on,” Herrig said. “They see little bits and pieces. When all is said and done and everything is airing, they choose what to put on and everything is going to be amplified on the show. Everything is to the extreme. It’s so far from reality. People aren’t very forgiving.”
Herrig (10-5) spent seven weeks in a house with women she had to compete against. Then she toured with those same individuals to promote the show. After that, she had to live through the entire experience again as the show aired from September up until Dec. 10. Herrig joked that it seemed like her entire year was dedicated to TUF.
The good news is that it’s all over now. And Herrig did come away from it with a few positives. “Lil’ Bulldog” defeated show rival Lisa Ellis by second-round submission (armbar) at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. She also reached the quarterfinals of the TUF tournament, beating Clark before falling to Randa Markos.
When the first UFC women’s strawweight rankings were released this week, Herrig was No. 8.
“Being in the UFC is so big and just getting my first official win in the UFC made it all go away,” Herrig said. “I felt like it was a good way to end the year. As much as it’s been a stressful year, that win in the UFC kind of made it all worth it.”
Herrig, 30, has already gotten back into the gym and she wants to fight again as soon as possible, perhaps even as early as February. She already has an idea of who the UFC wants to give her next, but she can’t divulge it. In 2015, she sees herself climbing the 115-pound ladder and competing in exciting fights.
Despite all the drama in the house, Herrig proved herself as a legitimate top-10 fighter in the division with finishes of Clark and Ellis. Herrig is outgoing, admittedly silly and never one to shy away from taking a provocative selfie and posting it on social media. But she said people forget sometimes that she is an accomplished fighter who is only getting better.
“I do think people underestimate me, but that’s because they only see one side of me,” Herrig said. “It’s a very small piece of who I am. That’s all people see, because that’s all they choose to see. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten credit for being the fighter I am. Just because I know how to market myself, get attention so to speak, that doesn’t mean that’s what I’m all about.”
Herrig said she doesn’t seek out the attention and that’s where people misunderstand her. She said she tried to be nice to all the women in the house, but they already prejudged her and there was nothing she could do about it.
“Everybody thinks I’m an attention whore, but I’m really not,” Herrig said. “I’m just myself. Things go viral and I’m like I didn’t plan that.
“That’s not my motive to do what I’m doing. I’m just being myself. I’m realizing more and more how different I am from the average person or the average fighter. To me, it’s all I know. But because it’s unique in a sense, there’s not really that many people like me. I’m not saying this to brag.”
Her ability to market herself is what makes the UFC like her so much. But some of what she does and how she acts has a tendency to rub people the wrong way. Herrig admits sometimes she lets people get under her skin a little too much.
“They’re the reasons I want to quit fighting,” Herrig said. “Sometimes you just want to have a normal life where you don’t feel everything you say is going to be put out there and put on blast. There’s a lot of times you feel like you can’t defend yourself or you don’t feel like you should have to, but people are constantly attacking me. I just want to get away.”
Herrig isn’t going anywhere, though. Despite mixed emotions about the TUF experience, she still has big plans for herself in the UFC next year and beyond. Perhaps that will also come with a new mindset.
“I think maybe I focus on all the people who hate me and talk s— about me,” Herrig said. “There are so many people that love me. I need to focus on that more.”
President Barack Obama announced recently that the United States would restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba. The U.S. will open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than 50 years and negotiations are ongoing about lifting t…
President Barack Obama announced recently that the United States would restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba. The U.S. will open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than 50 years and negotiations are ongoing about lifting the 54-year-old trade embargo.
The news came as a surprise to many, including UFC fighters and Cuba natives Hector Lombard and Yoel Romero. Both men defected from Cuba to further their MMA careers and are excited about the possibility of U.S. relations with their home country being mended.
“It’s great news for all the Cuban families and everybody that is Cuban,” Romero told MMA Fighting through a translator. “People from Cuba have a lot of hurt in their heart. Many of their family members have died crossing the Caribbean. It’s very dangerous. I wouldn’t want to wish it on anybody. Little kids crossing the Caribbean in canoes, they make up floats out of air mattresses. It’s incredible. The people in Cuba are really hurt. This is really great news and could bring a lot of happiness to families living in Cuba. They could come here like regular people and not have to worry.”
Romero, a former Olympic silver medalist for the Cuban wrestling team, defected to Germany in 2007. Lombard was an Olympic judoka for Cuba and defected to Australia in 2004. Both men still have family members in the country and hope for a better life for them.
“One of the reasons I didn’t want to go back is it’s painful,” Lombard told MMA Fighting. “It’s painful to see so much poverty. And me being OK, I wouldn’t forgive myself. A lot of people are OK with it. They go over there and show up, show off and drive a nice car, have a lot of stuff, jewelry. I wouldn’t feel happy with myself to go over there and show off in front of people and be OK with it. One of the reasons why I never went, there’s so much poverty I wouldn’t feel happy with myself. You feel guilty. I went through it and it’s no fun.”
Trade opening up between the U.S. and Cuba would certainly help the Cuban economy. And the ability for Cubans to emigrate freely would also be beneficial — especially for athletes. Romero and Lombard both believe there could be an influx of Cuban fighters in the UFC if that happens. There is a surplus of excellent athletes in the country, they said.
“If they are allowed to leave Cuba and come to the U.S., I think it’ll be a great opportunity for a lot of athletes,” Romero said. “It’ll have to be their choice, but if they do make the choice, it would be a great opportunity for them. I don’t know much about baseball, but in MMA there are better gyms here and better coaching. There’s more room to grow in the sport. In Cuba, they are more limited and it is more difficult and different.”
Both Romero and Lombard said they would look into the possibility of bringing family members over to the U.S., if those relatives so choose. Both of them enjoy their lives in Miami, a Cuban hotbed. Lombard does not paint a nice portrait of what life is like in Cuba.
“Imagine waking up in the morning and not having anything to eat, nothing to wear,” Lombard said. “That’s tough.
“I hope it helps the Cuban people. They’ve had a tough time for so many years. Trust me, it’s no fun to live there, honestly.”
James Jefferson was tentative the first time he saw Team Fighting Championship. It was kind of like MMA, except there were 10 men in a ring and they were all fighting each other at once.
“I cringed,” Jefferson told MMAFighting.com. “Until I …
James Jefferson was tentative the first time he saw Team Fighting Championship. It was kind of like MMA, except there were 10 men in a ring and they were all fighting each other at once.
“I cringed,” Jefferson told MMAFighting.com. “Until I really experienced it, watched all the film, watched how they ran it, I was hesitant.”
The thing Jefferson, the president of New Jersey-based MMA promotion Global Proving Ground, had to do was separate Team Fighting Championship and mixed martial arts completely. Sure, there are elements of MMA in TFC. But, in his mind, the violent, 5-on-5 spectacle is not really MMA. It’s something different altogether.
“It’s a group fight,” Jefferson said. “It’s a gang fight. It’s more or less a barroom brawl without the bottles.”
And it’s coming to pay-per-view soon. Beginning Jan. 23, Team Fighting Championship 2, taped last month, will be available via In Demand and TFC 3, which was held Friday in Latvia, will be distributed on PPV via In Demand in February. The teams are divvied up by country, with the U.S., Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Poland and Latvia all represented.
TFC is owned by a corporation in Hong Kong and Jefferson’s organization, GPG, is the broadcast rights holder and in charge of recruiting fighters. The promotion adheres to the unified rules of mixed martial arts for the most part. But it is done elimination style. When a fighter taps or gets knocked out, he is out and his team is down a man. That can lead to 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 — or worse — situations. There are instances where an athlete can get caught in a chokehold and kicked in the face at the same time.
A five-man team cannot exceed a combined weight of 500 kilograms (or just over 1,102 pounds). That’s an average of about 220 pounds per fighter. The format is round-robin tournament-based, so teams will be competing multiple times in one day. The winning team gets 5,000 euro and the runner-up 2,500.
There is no headbutting, biting, spitting or kicks to the groin or Adam’s apple. Everything else is allowed. TFC is illegal in the United States and most other countries with sanctioning bodies.
Is this too violent? Jefferson acknowledges “there is a greater danger level” than typical MMA. But he also doesn’t think something like this should be banned.
“You could get injured in a car accident,” he said. “These are professional athletes. They’re trained, they’re skilled.”
Similar competitions to TFC are popular in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe. Hip Show, which has aired on AXS TV in the U.S., is team MMA with an obstacle course — kind of like fighting meets American Gladiators. At least those athletes wear headgear. They don’t in TFC.
Jefferson said the level of fighters in Team Fighting Championship is comparable to a Bellator undercard. The U.S. group trains at Peak Submission in St. Mary’s, Ohio with coach Jody Poff. TFC tries to stay true to the team aspect of things by keeping its participants together under one coach.
“It’s kind of like going into war,” Jefferson said. “You need to have a fighter looking up to somebody.”
Team Fighting Championship is held in a 30,000 square-foot arena that is completely empty. The display is meant for television viewers only. The fight takes place in a 40 by 40 ring with five referees. Each event costs $200,000 to put on.
Jefferson believes TFC could find some footing in the United States, provided its promoters don’t try to sell it as MMA. Pay-per-view is the first step.
“If the promotion keeps listening to the good advice it’s getting and grows, it could get pretty popular,” he said. “This is a new, different sport that gives combat athletes another way to make money.”
It’s difficult to choose Submission of the Year. Do you go with the submission finish in a high-stakes matchup? Or, for Brazilian jiu-jitsu purists, do you reward the best technique?
In this particular fight, there was very little on the line. Ben Saunders was making his UFC return. It was Chris Heatherly‘s debut in the organization. The fight occurred on the prelims of UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Dos Anjos, a FOX Sports 1 card that didn’t exactly move the needle when it came to ratings.
But how do you not properly recognize history? Until Saunders did it at 2:18 of the first round against Heatherly, no one had ever pulled off an omoplata submission in the UFC.
That’s almost hard to believe since omoplata positions are regularly achieved in MMA fights. Usually, though, they are used to sweep, because, frankly, omoplatas are damn difficult to finish. Saunders, not known for his grappling prowess during his first run with the UFC, accomplished that. And it will be appreciated in this space.
How did he do it? With some techniques that surely made his coach and 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu founder Eddie Bravo smile.
Heatherly, a wrestler, quickly got Saunders to the canvas with a takedown, which Saunders didn’t seem to mind one bit. “Killer B” recovered full guard and then got to work. Saunders used rubber guard and then transitioned to what those in the 10th Planet system call Crackhead Control, which kept Heatherly’s posture down while trapping both arms with his legs. Saunders, in complete control, used some elbows to soften Heatherly up.
Heatherly, wary of an armbar, popped his head and right arm out, sliding to the right. There was just one problem: Saunders still had his left shoulder trapped and the wherewithal to transition. While Heatherly rotated on his knees clockwise, Saunders grabbed Heatherly’s hip and went the other way, all while keeping control of Heatherly’s left shoulder between his legs.
Saunders kept the right side of his body against Heatherly’s hip and his arm around his body to prevent a front roll escape. Listening to Bravo in his corner the entire time, Saunders leaned forward and to the right, cranking forward on Heatherly’s arm with his left hand. That puts tremendous pressure on the shoulder, arm and elbow. Heatherly could do nothing but tap.
Saunders had the dexterity, preparation and technique to complete a submission that had never been finished before in the biggest MMA organization in the world. Not bad for a guy who was known for his Muay Thai striking when he was with the UFC from 2007 to 2010.
The official result of this fight was Rockhold winning by inverted triangle kimura. All that means is Rockhold really could have beaten Boetsch on the ground any which way he desired. Boetsch shot for a double leg in the first round, which Rockhold rather efficiently turned into a rare inverted triangle, locking up Boetsch’s left arm. Rockhold probably could have finished Boetsch with a choke from that position, but instead, as Boetsch attempted to get to his feet, Rockhold caught his right arm and torqued a nifty kimura.
Boetsch had nowhere to go — he had no choice but to tap. It was a clever bit of technical mastery for Rockhold against a hard-nosed, strong wrestler. And perhaps it was even foreshadowing, too, for his slick, one-arm guillotine finish of rival Michael Bisping in November.
In basketball, a team can’t win if it’s down 15 points with a few seconds to go. In baseball, there’s no such thing as a seven-run homer to win a game. But in MMA, even if you’ve gotten beaten up for the better part of five rounds, you can still somehow steal victory from the jaws of defeat. And, in this case, win a championship, too.
Curran submitted Straus with a rear-naked choke at 4:46 of the fifth round on March 14 in Hammond, Ind., to win back the Bellator lightweight title he had lost to Straus last year. Straus had won at least three of the four rounds heading into the fifth and busted up Curran’s right eye pretty badly. But “Paddy Mike” found Straus’ back in a scramble, got his hooks in and cinched in the choke. Straus couldn’t hang on for the final 14 seconds, having to tap instead. It was quite the “Hail Mary” in a situation where the stakes were extremely high.
What makes Oliveira’s submission so impressive is who he did it against. Hioki is an extremely accomplished grappler and the two put on quite the skillful performance on the ground until Oliveira caught him with a modified anaconda choke in the second round. There was nothing overly moving about the stakes of this fight, but in terms of sheer technical precision against a fellow master, this might have been the best submission all year.
Oliveira attempted umpteen submissions leading up to the choke — from leglocks to guillotines. It actually took Hioki gaining Oliveira’s back for him to seize the opportunity heading into the finish. Oliveira escaped an armbar attempt and then defended a takedown by locking in a figure-four anaconda grip, which resembles a d’arce. However, instead of rolling and finishing the submission on his side. Oliveira pulled Hioki into his guard and brought his legs up over Hioki’s arms. Hioki was completely trapped and was forced to tap. Beautifully done.
To the naked eye, it appears that Dantas just fell into this rear-naked choke submission, like it happened by accident. Not quite. Dantas isn’t lucky; he’s an opportunist. With Leone looking for a takedown in the second round, Dantas defended by pushing down on Leone’s head with his left hand while he tried to spin away. Dantas ended up facing away from Leone with Leone still holding on to the single leg. Leone continued the takedown, trying to get more leverage by standing up while shooting between Dantas’ legs.
Instead of getting tripped up, Dantas fell straight back with his leg trapping Leone’s left arm. As the Brazilian crashed to the canvas, he grabbed onto Leone’s neck with his arms, brought Leone down with him and cinched in a choke. Leone could not defend, not only because it happened so quickly, but because he couldn’t get his arm free. Dantas won by submission to retain his Bellator bantamweight title. That’s as slick as you’re going to get. And to make it more impressive, it came after Leone won the first round and was en route to winning the second with his wrestling.
It’s difficult to choose Submission of the Year. Do you go with the submission finish in a high-stakes matchup? Or, for Brazilian jiu-jitsu purists, do you reward the best technique?
In this particular fight, there was very little on the line. Ben Saunders was making his UFC return. It was Chris Heatherly‘s debut in the organization. The fight occurred on the prelims of UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Dos Anjos, a FOX Sports 1 card that didn’t exactly move the needle when it came to ratings.
But how do you not properly recognize history? Until Saunders did it at 2:18 of the first round against Heatherly, no one had ever pulled off an omoplata submission in the UFC.
That’s almost hard to believe since omoplata positions are regularly achieved in MMA fights. Usually, though, they are used to sweep, because, frankly, omoplatas are damn difficult to finish. Saunders, not known for his grappling prowess during his first run with the UFC, accomplished that. And it will be appreciated in this space.
How did he do it? With some techniques that surely made his coach and 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu founder Eddie Bravo smile.
Heatherly, a wrestler, quickly got Saunders to the canvas with a takedown, which Saunders didn’t seem to mind one bit. “Killer B” recovered full guard and then got to work. Saunders used rubber guard and then transitioned to what those in the 10th Planet system call Crackhead Control, which kept Heatherly’s posture down while trapping both arms with his legs. Saunders, in complete control, used some elbows to soften Heatherly up.
Heatherly, wary of an armbar, popped his head and right arm out, sliding to the right. There was just one problem: Saunders still had his left shoulder trapped and the wherewithal to transition. While Heatherly rotated on his knees clockwise, Saunders grabbed Heatherly’s hip and went the other way, all while keeping control of Heatherly’s left shoulder between his legs.
Saunders kept the right side of his body against Heatherly’s hip and his arm around his body to prevent a front roll escape. Listening to Bravo in his corner the entire time, Saunders leaned forward and to the right, cranking forward on Heatherly’s arm with his left hand. That puts tremendous pressure on the shoulder, arm and elbow. Heatherly could do nothing but tap.
Saunders had the dexterity, preparation and technique to complete a submission that had never been finished before in the biggest MMA organization in the world. Not bad for a guy who was known for his Muay Thai striking when he was with the UFC from 2007 to 2010.
The official result of this fight was Rockhold winning by inverted triangle kimura. All that means is Rockhold really could have beaten Boetsch on the ground any which way he desired. Boetsch shot for a double leg in the first round, which Rockhold rather efficiently turned into a rare inverted triangle, locking up Boetsch’s left arm. Rockhold probably could have finished Boetsch with a choke from that position, but instead, as Boetsch attempted to get to his feet, Rockhold caught his right arm and torqued a nifty kimura.
Boetsch had nowhere to go — he had no choice but to tap. It was a clever bit of technical mastery for Rockhold against a hard-nosed, strong wrestler. And perhaps it was even foreshadowing, too, for his slick, one-arm guillotine finish of rival Michael Bisping in November.
In basketball, a team can’t win if it’s down 15 points with a few seconds to go. In baseball, there’s no such thing as a seven-run homer to win a game. But in MMA, even if you’ve gotten beaten up for the better part of five rounds, you can still somehow steal victory from the jaws of defeat. And, in this case, win a championship, too.
Curran submitted Straus with a rear-naked choke at 4:46 of the fifth round on March 14 in Hammond, Ind., to win back the Bellator lightweight title he had lost to Straus last year. Straus had won at least three of the four rounds heading into the fifth and busted up Curran’s right eye pretty badly. But “Paddy Mike” found Straus’ back in a scramble, got his hooks in and cinched in the choke. Straus couldn’t hang on for the final 14 seconds, having to tap instead. It was quite the “Hail Mary” in a situation where the stakes were extremely high.
What makes Oliveira’s submission so impressive is who he did it against. Hioki is an extremely accomplished grappler and the two put on quite the skillful performance on the ground until Oliveira caught him with a modified anaconda choke in the second round. There was nothing overly moving about the stakes of this fight, but in terms of sheer technical precision against a fellow master, this might have been the best submission all year.
Oliveira attempted umpteen submissions leading up to the choke — from leglocks to guillotines. It actually took Hioki gaining Oliveira’s back for him to seize the opportunity heading into the finish. Oliveira escaped an armbar attempt and then defended a takedown by locking in a figure-four anaconda grip, which resembles a d’arce. However, instead of rolling and finishing the submission on his side. Oliveira pulled Hioki into his guard and brought his legs up over Hioki’s arms. Hioki was completely trapped and was forced to tap. Beautifully done.
To the naked eye, it appears that Dantas just fell into this rear-naked choke submission, like it happened by accident. Not quite. Dantas isn’t lucky; he’s an opportunist. With Leone looking for a takedown in the second round, Dantas defended by pushing down on Leone’s head with his left hand while he tried to spin away. Dantas ended up facing away from Leone with Leone still holding on to the single leg. Leone continued the takedown, trying to get more leverage by standing up while shooting between Dantas’ legs.
Instead of getting tripped up, Dantas fell straight back with his leg trapping Leone’s left arm. As the Brazilian crashed to the canvas, he grabbed onto Leone’s neck with his arms, brought Leone down with him and cinched in a choke. Leone could not defend, not only because it happened so quickly, but because he couldn’t get his arm free. Dantas won by submission to retain his Bellator bantamweight title. That’s as slick as you’re going to get. And to make it more impressive, it came after Leone won the first round and was en route to winning the second with his wrestling.
Bellator plans to be involved with every single major MMA free agent in 2015. And that apparently starts with Brock Lesnar.
Scott Coker, Bellator’s president, told MMA Fighting this week that the promotion has reached out to the former UFC heavyweight champion. Coker said there have been no actual negotiations, it was just Bellator’s way of “saying hello” and that the company is interested in his services.
Lesnar is still under contract with WWE, where he is the reigning champion, and will be reportedly until after Wrestlemania 31 on March 29.
“There hasn’t been any serious dialogue,” Coker said. “But when the time comes to have serious dialogue, we’ll be right there.”
It’s unclear whether Lesnar will even return to MMA. He has a pretty good, high-paying gig with WWE in what amounts to a part-time role. However, multiple people, including Lesnar’s good friend and on-air manager Paul Heyman, have said Lesnar is still insanely competitive and believes he could beat all of the UFC’s current heavyweights.
Lesnar, now 37, retired from the UFC in December 2011 after being knocked out by Alistair Overeem at UFC 141. But truly, Lesnar was never completely healthy during his run in MMA. He suffered multiple bouts of diverticulitis and needed invasive surgery several times.
“Brock wasn’t healthy,” Heyman told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour in August. “I don’t think Brock has truly understood nor accepted the severity of the illness that took him down. They did blood work on Brock and they found out he wasn’t healthy for many, many years. His body was fighting this affliction off and using so much of his energy.”
It’s no surprise MMA organizations would be clamoring for him, either. Lesnar is the biggest draw in the sport’s history — almost a lock to exceed one million buys on pay-per-view in his heyday. Coker knows this and said as much on The MMA Hour earlier this month.
“I think that he’s a big needle mover,” Coker said. “There have been several years that have passed and I think that he still has the WWE limelight.”
During that interview, Coker said Bellator had not spoken to Lesnar. Since then, officials have attempted to start a dialogue. If anything, it’s proof that Bellator and parent company Viacom are extremely serious about challenging the UFC for viable free agents.
“There’s not going to be a fighter on the planet we can’t afford and have access to,” Coker said.
That also goes for Gina Carano, someone Coker knows very well from his days running Strikeforce. The feature-film actress said in interviews over the summer that she was interested in returning to MMA after a five-year absence. The UFC and Carano were in negotiations for months about a potential title fight with Ronda Rousey, but it fell through.
Coker does not know if Carano will ever compete again — he knows she’s very busy with movies. But if she does step into a cage, he’s going to try hard to make sure it’s in Bellator.
“Her schedule is getting booked up, but if she was in the market to fight again we would definitely be interested, for sure,” Coker said.
Bringing in big names is all part of Bellator’s plan next year and beyond to reach out to the viewers that the UFC might have lost recently. Coker believes that started with earning more than two million viewers for the Bellator 131 bout between UFC Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar on Nov. 15.
“I think one of the things we were really able to do bring is back the casual fan,” Coker said. “Those casual fans seemed to have jumped away from MMA for a little bit. Names like Ortiz and Bonnar brought them back.”
Lesnar and Carano would likely bring even more eyes.
“If fighters like that are available, you can be sure we’ll make a run at them,” Coker said.
Bellator plans to be involved with every single major MMA free agent in 2015. And that apparently starts with Brock Lesnar.
Scott Coker, Bellator’s president, told MMA Fighting this week that the promotion has reached out to the former UFC heavyweight champion. Coker said there have been no actual negotiations, it was just Bellator’s way of “saying hello” and that the company is interested in his services.
Lesnar is still under contract with WWE, where he is the reigning champion, and will be reportedly until after Wrestlemania 31 on March 29.
“There hasn’t been any serious dialogue,” Coker said. “But when the time comes to have serious dialogue, we’ll be right there.”
It’s unclear whether Lesnar will even return to MMA. He has a pretty good, high-paying gig with WWE in what amounts to a part-time role. However, multiple people, including Lesnar’s good friend and on-air manager Paul Heyman, have said Lesnar is still insanely competitive and believes he could beat all of the UFC’s current heavyweights.
Lesnar, now 37, retired from the UFC in December 2011 after being knocked out by Alistair Overeem at UFC 141. But truly, Lesnar was never completely healthy during his run in MMA. He suffered multiple bouts of diverticulitis and needed invasive surgery several times.
“Brock wasn’t healthy,” Heyman told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour in August. “I don’t think Brock has truly understood nor accepted the severity of the illness that took him down. They did blood work on Brock and they found out he wasn’t healthy for many, many years. His body was fighting this affliction off and using so much of his energy.”
It’s no surprise MMA organizations would be clamoring for him, either. Lesnar is the biggest draw in the sport’s history — almost a lock to exceed one million buys on pay-per-view in his heyday. Coker knows this and said as much on The MMA Hour earlier this month.
“I think that he’s a big needle mover,” Coker said. “There have been several years that have passed and I think that he still has the WWE limelight.”
During that interview, Coker said Bellator had not spoken to Lesnar. Since then, officials have attempted to start a dialogue. If anything, it’s proof that Bellator and parent company Viacom are extremely serious about challenging the UFC for viable free agents.
“There’s not going to be a fighter on the planet we can’t afford and have access to,” Coker said.
That also goes for Gina Carano, someone Coker knows very well from his days running Strikeforce. The feature-film actress said in interviews over the summer that she was interested in returning to MMA after a five-year absence. The UFC and Carano were in negotiations for months about a potential title fight with Ronda Rousey, but it fell through.
Coker does not know if Carano will ever compete again — he knows she’s very busy with movies. But if she does step into a cage, he’s going to try hard to make sure it’s in Bellator.
“Her schedule is getting booked up, but if she was in the market to fight again we would definitely be interested, for sure,” Coker said.
Bringing in big names is all part of Bellator’s plan next year and beyond to reach out to the viewers that the UFC might have lost recently. Coker believes that started with earning more than two million viewers for the Bellator 131 bout between UFC Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar on Nov. 15.
“I think one of the things we were really able to do bring is back the casual fan,” Coker said. “Those casual fans seemed to have jumped away from MMA for a little bit. Names like Ortiz and Bonnar brought them back.”
Lesnar and Carano would likely bring even more eyes.
“If fighters like that are available, you can be sure we’ll make a run at them,” Coker said.
Daron Cruickshank didn’t want the fight to end — he was winning, after all. But there was that fear of the unknown. And an eye injury isn’t anything to mess with.
“It would be terrible to lose an eye for some reason, because I don’t exactly…
Daron Cruickshank didn’t want the fight to end — he was winning, after all. But there was that fear of the unknown. And an eye injury isn’t anything to mess with.
“It would be terrible to lose an eye for some reason, because I don’t exactly know what’s wrong,” Cruickshank told MMA Fighting.
K.J. Noons poked Cruickshank in the left eye in the first round of their The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale fight Friday night in Las Vegas and then landed another eye-poke to the exact same spot in the second. At that point, Cruickshank’s vision blurred and he couldn’t see. Referee John McCarthy wanted to give Cruickshank the full five minutes he was owed, but Cruickshank told the doctor he was done. The bout was ruled a no contest.
“There was no recovering,” he said. “I didn’t want to fight with one eye.”
Cruickshank made the right call. When he got out of the Octagon, he was further examined by a UFC doctor who told him he had not seen an injury like Cruickshank’s in 10 years in the fight game. Cruickshank had a torn tear duct in his left eye — the kind of issue the doctor had only experienced previously in “car accidents and dog attacks.”
After the event, Cruickshank went to the doctor’s office where he was further examined. The UFC doctor on call coincidentally happened to be an eye specialist. The next day, he had surgery to repair the torn duct. He won’t be able to tear up from his left eye anymore, but other than that he is OK.
Cruickshank (16-5) wishes things would have been different. He had won the first round against Noons and seemed to be heading toward his second straight victory before the poke.
“I still kind of feel like I didn’t get the finish,” Cruickshank said. “All that work to get there and no finale. I want to beat him up bad.”
Cruickshank said he will be cleared to spar in three weeks and then he can start preparing for his next fight, maybe sometime in February or March. He’s hoping it’ll be a rematch against Noons, but he doesn’t think Noons will accept, “because I was beating his ass. I don’t think he has a chance again.”
“The Detroit Superstar” feels like he should have won anyway. He doesn’t think it’s fair the fight was ruled a no contest when he was clearly winning. Cruickshank believes athletic commissions need to tweak the rules when it comes to eye-pokes. Francisco Rivera lost at UFC 181 on Dec. 6 when he was poked in the eye by Urijah Faber and Faber swooped in for a submission finish.
“So many guys get poked and there are no points given up,” Cruickshank said. “Everybody gets warnings. They need to enforce what they have. There needs to be different rules. From my instance, I won the first round and I was winning the second round. It could have went to the judges scorecards then.”
Cruickshank said he would have taken home $32,000 had he won, rather than just $17,000. And hey, maybe he and Noons would have won a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus on top of that.
“They were both illegal blows,” Cruickshank said. “What if he would have kicked me in the groin twice? Is it still a no contest or is it a win? It should have been a win on my side.”
Maybe he’ll get a chance to avenge it in early 2015.
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