Max Holloway passed a big test and the next one is coming up pretty quickly.
After a unanimous decision victory over Cole Miller on Saturday night, Holloway was told in the Octagon that the UFC is saving a spot for him at UFC on FOX 15 on April 18 in Newark — against Cub Swanson. That is the fight the organization is targeting for the event, according to UFC spokesman Dave Sholler.
That’s the plan. “@marc_raimondi: Cub Swanson vs. Max Holloway in Newark?”
Holloway (12-3) got the better of Miller standing at UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Thatch in Broomfield, Colo. A cut was opened up on Miller’s left eyebrow by a pair of Holloway incidental headbutts, but Holloway was clearly the more well-rounded fighter. He has now won four straight in the UFC and, at age 23, is one of the brightest young prospects in the featherweight division.
Swanson (21-6) has been one of the best fighters at 145 for years. Before his fifth-round submission loss to Frankie Edgar in November, he had won six in a row and was on the verge of a title shot. Swanson, 31, owns wins over the likes of Dennis Siver, Jeremy Stephens and Dustin Poirier.
UFC on FOX 15 will be headlined by a middleweight contender bout between Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold. The main event is also an important middleweight encounter: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Yoel Romero. Paige VanZant will also meet Felice Herrig on the main card from Prudential Center.
Max Holloway passed a big test and the next one is coming up pretty quickly.
After a unanimous decision victory over Cole Miller on Saturday night, Holloway was told in the Octagon that the UFC is saving a spot for him at UFC on FOX 15 on April 18 in Newark — against Cub Swanson. That is the fight the organization is targeting for the event, according to UFC spokesman Dave Sholler.
That’s the plan. “@marc_raimondi: Cub Swanson vs. Max Holloway in Newark?”
Holloway (12-3) got the better of Miller standing at UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Thatch in Broomfield, Colo. A cut was opened up on Miller’s left eyebrow by a pair of Holloway incidental headbutts, but Holloway was clearly the more well-rounded fighter. He has now won four straight in the UFC and, at age 23, is one of the brightest young prospects in the featherweight division.
Swanson (21-6) has been one of the best fighters at 145 for years. Before his fifth-round submission loss to Frankie Edgar in November, he had won six in a row and was on the verge of a title shot. Swanson, 31, owns wins over the likes of Dennis Siver, Jeremy Stephens and Dustin Poirier.
UFC on FOX 15 will be headlined by a middleweight contender bout between Lyoto Machida and Luke Rockhold. The main event is also an important middleweight encounter: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Yoel Romero. Paige VanZant will also meet Felice Herrig on the main card from Prudential Center.
A former highly regarded prospect. Let go by the UFC after a disappointing run. Didn’t really find great success in other promotions.
That, in a nutshell, is the story of Robbie Lawler, the current UFC welterweight champion. He was given a s…
A former highly regarded prospect. Let go by the UFC after a disappointing run. Didn’t really find great success in other promotions.
That, in a nutshell, is the story of Robbie Lawler, the current UFC welterweight champion. He was given a second chance by the UFC and made the most of it. Just three years ago, the thought of Lawler holding UFC gold seemed ridiculous.
“It’s a pretty good story,” Efrain Escudero told MMAFighting.com.
Indeed. And Escudero has been watching it closely.
Like Lawler, Escudero came onto the UFC scene with some hype. He won The Ultimate Fighter 8 in 2008 by knocking off top prospect Phillipe Nover, who UFC president Dana White famously called the next Anderson Silva. After that, he knocked out veteran lightweight Cole Miller in the first round to move to 12-0.
Escudero went 1-2 in his next three fights, missing weight before a loss to Charles Oliveira in 2010. The UFC released him and The MMA Lab product bounced around for the next year-plus before getting a second opportunity after beating Cesar Avila in Bellator. In his second run with the UFC, Escudero lost two in a row and was cut once again.
The Mexico native then lost two straight before rebounding to win four of his next five, including another victory in Bellator. In September, Escudero got another UFC shot and fell to Leonardo Santos by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Bigfoot vs. Arlovski in Brazil.
It has been quite the wild ride. Escudero could be fighting for his job again versus Rodrigo de Lima at UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Thatch on Saturday night in Broomfield, Colo. But the former TUF winner doesn’t see it that way.
“I’ve been in the game, in the sport for a while now,” Escudero said. “I’ve been in the UFC off and on for about seven years. I see myself restarting. You always have to see yourself in a new beginning. This is where it starts. This is where I start my winning streak.”
Could Escudero (22-9) be the next Lawler? Written off on multiple occasions only to rise again? Escudero has paid close attention to the career paths of guys like Lawler and his MMA Lab teammate Joe Riggs, who has also recently gotten another chance in the UFC.
“They just had a dream,” Escudero said. “They have a dream and they never gave up on it no matter what anybody said. That’s exactly how I feel. Look at Robbie, he’s the UFC champ. He had a dream. He got cut from the UFC before. He fought in Strikeforce and such and then he made his comeback.”
Escudero, 29, doesn’t want to make excuses. But maybe he wasn’t ready at age 22 when he won the Ultimate Fighter. And his second stint in the UFC was when his first child was born.
“I feel that being a new dad took my mind off it, not being able to sleep at night,” Escudero said. “But I had to stick with it. I had the chance to be in the UFC. For whatever reason, I got cut after my second fight. That’s the game. It happens.”
He’s not bitter. Far from it. Escudero doesn’t agree with being cut twice, but admits that he was not at his best then.
“I’ve had my ups, I’ve had my downs,” he said. “I’ve had my doubts. I had to overcome some things. I think my mindset probably would have been different, my perception about fighting.”
Now? Escudero said he’s in “a way better place.” The loss to Santos was close. De Lima is someone he knows he can exploit in the cardio department. And then he can go on from there. Because if there’s one thing Escudero has learned is that he really can only take it one bout at a time.
“So do I see myself with a bright future?” Escudero said. “Yeah, I see myself being successful. All I have to do is win my next fight. That’s all that matters.”
Ben Askren criticized the UFC when the promotion signed CM Punk in December. He has a different view of the former WWE star now.
Askren told MMAFighting.com at the Fighters Only MMA Awards in Las Vegas that he is impressed by CM Punk’s attitude in training. Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, began training at Roufusport in Milwaukee with the likes of Askren and UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in January.
“I was just talking sh*t on Twitter,” Askren said. “It’s what I do. He’s been outstanding in the gym. He’s been in there every day. It’s not like he came in here and said, ‘I’m a superstar, I’m going to get preferential treatment.’ He just acts like one of the guys, just working out. It’s outstanding.”
CM Punk, who has never fought in MMA but has experience in jiu-jitsu and kempo, came to Askren right away when he arrived at Roufusport in an attempt to squash a potential beef.
“He came in the gym and said, ‘There’s no issue here, is there?'” Askren said. “I said, ‘Of course, there’s not.'”
Askren, the ONE Championship welterweight champion, has an ongoing issue with UFC president Dana White. When Askren was a free agent, White said the UFC didn’t want to sign him because he didn’t have enough experience — even though he was the reigning Bellator welterweight titleholder. Askren signed with ONE FC instead and there has been sniping back and forth ever since. Askren used the CM Punk signing as another way to tweak White, tweeting that it was an “amateur move.”
@ufc sign a fake wrestler, but not an Olympian who is the best WW in the world. Amateur move.
CM Punk, 36, still does not know for sure when he will fight, but will need at least six months training at Roufusport before figuring out a timetable. He also has not decided on a weight class, but Askren speculates he could get down to welterweight because of all the pounds he has shed with vigorous training already.
Askren has developed a newfound respect for Punk over the last few weeks.
“Some people who come from high levels in other backgrounds where they’re used to being the best or used to being on a kind of pedestal, it’s hard to kind of lower yourself again and just be one of the grunts,” Askren said. “I kind of enjoyed that challenge in MMA. When I walked into any wrestling room, I was like the guy and then when I switched to MMA, then I’m just another guy and I don’t have a lot of skills. He’s probably even more so than me, because he was huge in WWE.”
Tyron Woodleytold MMAFighting.com last month that Punk has been working as hard as anyone at Roufusport, doing private lessons almost every day along with classes. Askren reiterated those facts.
“This is a physical sport where you fight people every day in the gym,” Askren said. “It’s been awesome to see how he’s just come in and worked hard and isn’t really worried about anything else.”
Ben Askren criticized the UFC when the promotion signed CM Punk in December. He has a different view of the former WWE star now.
Askren told MMAFighting.com at the Fighters Only MMA Awards in Las Vegas that he is impressed by CM Punk’s attitude in training. Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, began training at Roufusport in Milwaukee with the likes of Askren and UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in January.
“I was just talking sh*t on Twitter,” Askren said. “It’s what I do. He’s been outstanding in the gym. He’s been in there every day. It’s not like he came in here and said, ‘I’m a superstar, I’m going to get preferential treatment.’ He just acts like one of the guys, just working out. It’s outstanding.”
CM Punk, who has never fought in MMA but has experience in jiu-jitsu and kempo, came to Askren right away when he arrived at Roufusport in an attempt to squash a potential beef.
“He came in the gym and said, ‘There’s no issue here, is there?'” Askren said. “I said, ‘Of course, there’s not.'”
Askren, the ONE Championship welterweight champion, has an ongoing issue with UFC president Dana White. When Askren was a free agent, White said the UFC didn’t want to sign him because he didn’t have enough experience — even though he was the reigning Bellator welterweight titleholder. Askren signed with ONE FC instead and there has been sniping back and forth ever since. Askren used the CM Punk signing as another way to tweak White, tweeting that it was an “amateur move.”
@ufc sign a fake wrestler, but not an Olympian who is the best WW in the world. Amateur move.
CM Punk, 36, still does not know for sure when he will fight, but will need at least six months training at Roufusport before figuring out a timetable. He also has not decided on a weight class, but Askren speculates he could get down to welterweight because of all the pounds he has shed with vigorous training already.
Askren has developed a newfound respect for Punk over the last few weeks.
“Some people who come from high levels in other backgrounds where they’re used to being the best or used to being on a kind of pedestal, it’s hard to kind of lower yourself again and just be one of the grunts,” Askren said. “I kind of enjoyed that challenge in MMA. When I walked into any wrestling room, I was like the guy and then when I switched to MMA, then I’m just another guy and I don’t have a lot of skills. He’s probably even more so than me, because he was huge in WWE.”
Tyron Woodleytold MMAFighting.com last month that Punk has been working as hard as anyone at Roufusport, doing private lessons almost every day along with classes. Askren reiterated those facts.
“This is a physical sport where you fight people every day in the gym,” Askren said. “It’s been awesome to see how he’s just come in and worked hard and isn’t really worried about anything else.”
Don’t expect Gina Carano to be back in the cage any time soon.
The former women’s MMA star said last year that she was considering a return. But that might be a hard thing to pull off now given her jam-packed movie schedule.
Carano landed a role opposite Ryan Reynolds in “Deadpool,” The Hollywood Reporter reported Friday. The movie is based on the Marvel comic book and is being distributed by 20th Century Fox. Before she begins filming that, Carano will appear opposite Bruce Willis in another action flick called “Extraction.”
There were photos circulated on social media recently of Carano training at Combat Sports Academy in the Bay Area with Invicta FC star Zoila Frausto. Bellator MMA president Scott Coker, Carano’s former boss with Strikeforce, doesn’t seem to think the Hollywood starlet will be coming back to MMA in the near future. Coker spoke with Carano in recent months about fighting for Bellator, but her schedule right now is rather unwieldy.
A photo posted by Jennifer Guerrero (@jenniferg217) on Jan 23, 2015 at 5:05pm PST
“Movies on top of movies on top of movies,” Coker said. “I’m so proud of her. I’m so happy for her. She’s come such a long way. I’m excited to see her grow as an actress.”
Carano, 32, last fought in 2009, a loss to Cris Cyborg in Strikeforce. She was in negotiations last year with the UFC about a potential title bout against women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, but those fell through when the promotion could not come to a deal with her management.
It appears that the only fighting Carano will be doing coming up is on the big screen. In “Deadpool,” she’ll play a character called Angel Dust. It’s not quite clear what her relationship will be to Reynolds’ title character, but in the comics Angel Dust was part of an underground mutant group called The Morlocks and has the ability to gain superhuman strength for a short period of time.
Don’t expect Gina Carano to be back in the cage any time soon.
The former women’s MMA star said last year that she was considering a return. But that might be a hard thing to pull off now given her jam-packed movie schedule.
Carano landed a role opposite Ryan Reynolds in “Deadpool,” The Hollywood Reporter reported Friday. The movie is based on the Marvel comic book and is being distributed by 20th Century Fox. Before she begins filming that, Carano will appear opposite Bruce Willis in another action flick called “Extraction.”
There were photos circulated on social media recently of Carano training at Combat Sports Academy in the Bay Area with Invicta FC star Zoila Frausto. Bellator MMA president Scott Coker, Carano’s former boss with Strikeforce, doesn’t seem to think the Hollywood starlet will be coming back to MMA in the near future. Coker spoke with Carano in recent months about fighting for Bellator, but her schedule right now is rather unwieldy.
A photo posted by Jennifer Guerrero (@jenniferg217) on
“Movies on top of movies on top of movies,” Coker said. “I’m so proud of her. I’m so happy for her. She’s come such a long way. I’m excited to see her grow as an actress.”
Carano, 32, last fought in 2009, a loss to Cris Cyborg in Strikeforce. She was in negotiations last year with the UFC about a potential title bout against women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, but those fell through when the promotion could not come to a deal with her management.
It appears that the only fighting Carano will be doing coming up is on the big screen. In “Deadpool,” she’ll play a character called Angel Dust. It’s not quite clear what her relationship will be to Reynolds’ title character, but in the comics Angel Dust was part of an underground mutant group called The Morlocks and has the ability to gain superhuman strength for a short period of time.
In a span of four months, Brandon Thatch became one of the hottest up-and-coming fighters to watch in the UFC.
Thatch went through Justin Edwards like a shredder and then destroyed popular veteran Paulo Thiago, making it look easy. Both fini…
In a span of four months, Brandon Thatch became one of the hottest up-and-coming fighters to watch in the UFC.
Thatch went through Justin Edwards like a shredder and then destroyed popular veteran Paulo Thiago, making it look easy. Both finishes came within the first round and everyone wanted to know what was next for the electric, exciting striker.
We haven’t seen Thatch since.
That was back in 2013. The only opponent Thatch has taken on in 15 months has been his own rehab processes. When Thatch takes on Benson Henderson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 60 on Feb. 14 in Broomfield, Colo., he’ll do so in a cage. But he’ll feel like he’s being let out of one.
“Any time you get hurt, it’s bad,” Thatch told MMAFighting.com. “It’s more mental than anything. The pain sucks. Everything about being hurt sucks, but it’s more or less just being bored. I felt like a border collie that was stuck in a cage all day.”
Thatch could have been one of the breakout performers in MMA last year. But he needed to take care of some lingering injuries in his shoulder and ankle. Thatch needed surgery on both. Then, just as he was set to come back as a late fill-in against Jordan Mein in August, Thatch broke his toe.
It was a compound fracture — and a serious setback. Thatch could not go back to training for 10 weeks after surgery. The rehabilitation process was not fun.
“I was in tears,” Thatch said. “It was terrible. It was a lot of build-up to be let down and let down in a serious way. It wasn’t just a sickness or staph infection or something like that. It put me out for awhile. It just meant starting over from scratch, everything started back over.”
It’s obvious the UFC hasn’t forgotten about him, because he is getting to main event a card about a half hour away from his native Denver. Thatch has had some fortune there. The initial headliner for UFC Fight Night 60 was supposed to be Matt Brown vs. Tarec Saffiedine. But Saffiedine got hurt and eventually the UFC pulled Brown from the card altogether. Brown now takes on Johny Hendricks at UFC 185 on March 13 in Dallas.
When Brown was removed, a bout between Thatch and Stephen Thompson slid into the main event spot. Until Thompson also got injured. On Jan. 31, it was announced Henderson, the former UFC lightweight champion, would move up to welterweight and meet Thatch in the headlining bout.
It was a massive opportunity for Thatch before; now it’s a potentially star-making one against a fighter who has held a belt and been in the main event of pay-per-views. But the 29-year-old is not putting any more pressure on himself.
“I know no matter where I fight on a card that people are going to enjoy watching me and I’m gonna be an exciting,” Thatch said. “This could be an undercard and I guarantee people will still take notice of me.”
Thatch (11-1) does have that kind of fighting style, the one in which you wonder if he’s going into the Octagon with his car double-parked outside the arena. Then again, in Broomfield it would just be a quick drive in an Uber.
“Being in my backyard, I feel unstoppable,” Thatch said. “The energy I get from the crowd is electrifying. If you or somebody is there, you’ll feel it.”
Thatch, who trains at Team Elevation in Denver, might have lost more than a year of his prime. But all the emotion of being unable to compete is gone. Thatch is back to being focused on the task at hand. And beating Henderson would allow him to make a leap that most people wouldn’t be able to. Thatch knows where he’ll be eventually.
“I will be in the top 10 absolutely,” Thatch said. “I don’t see any way around that. I’m going to keep winning in impressive manner and I’ll climb the ranks.”
FRESNO, Calif. — Scott Coker isn’t sure if mixed martial arts has a drug problem, but he calls the amount of big-name fighters testing positive “concerning.”
The Bellator MMA president said he had a discussion with California State Athletic…
FRESNO, Calif. — Scott Coker isn’t sure if mixed martial arts has a drug problem, but he calls the amount of big-name fighters testing positive “concerning.”
The Bellator MMA president said he had a discussion with California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster on Friday before Bellator 133 here at SaveMart Center on the campus of Fresno State University. And afterward, he was left unsure if there was truly an epidemic in the sport as many have speculated.
“There’s hundreds of athletes that have been licensed and sanctioned in this state,” Coker said. “So you can’t just put them all together and say this is an issue. I think it should be monitored. When an athlete does pop, it’s a lose, lose, lose for everybody. Nobody wins. The athlete doesn’t win, for sure. He can’t make a living, he can’t make any money, he can’t provide for his family. The network loses, the promoter, the fans. Everybody. It’s not a win and really it needs to be stopped.”
Performance-enhancing drugs are without a doubt the hottest topic in MMA right now. UFC legend Anderson Silva tested positive for anabolic steroid metabolites in an out-of-competition, random test Jan. 9 ahead of his Jan. 31 bout with Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in Las Vegas. However, Silva’s test results didn’t come back until three days after the bout and he was allowed to compete. Siva beat Diaz by unanimous decision.
This week, news broke that Hector Lombard had popped for performance-enhancing drugs after UFC 182 on Jan. 3 and was pulled from his bout with Rory MacDonald at UFC 186 on April 25 in Montreal. And World Series of Fighting star Jon Fitch, a UFC veteran, tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone after his bout at WSOF 16 on Dec. 13.
“I think if you look at the amount of people that are clean compared to on performance-enhancing drugs, I think it’s really a much cleaner sport than it is a dirty sport,” Coker said. “But I will say this: There have been some pretty high-profile guys that have popped and that’s concerning.”
What Coker, the former president of Strikeforce, will concede is that the recent spat of positive tests casts a dark shade on MMA when it comes to casual fans. Coker used Jon Jones‘ positive test for cocaine metabolites as an example. Jones popped nearly a month before his UFC 182 fight against Daniel Cormier, but cocaine is not prohibited by the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) out of competition. In competition is considered within a 12-hour window before and after the fight.
“The fans that don’t know the sport are like, ‘Oh, you can fight on cocaine?'” Coker said. “Seriously. You can try to explain it to them. There’s this whole process to explain it to them.”
Coker also added that regardless of whether this is a widespread problem, it’s enough of one to warrant some kind of reform.
“It’s something that needs to be dealt with,” he said. “It can’t just sit the way it is. The average fan on the outside looking in doesn’t know the details. And they’re just saying, ‘You guys are all on steroids, you’re all doing drugs.’ It can turn off a lot of people. Something needs to be done.”
