UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro was a memorable night for several reasons, not the least of which was the complete dominance of the Brazilian contingent on the card.
You could look at the match-ups beforehand and tell they were perhaps slightly titled in Brazil’s favor, but who among us really thought Stanislav Nedkov would be the only foreigner to defeat a Brazilian?
But now that the action’s over and the post-fight interviews are done, it’s time to sort through the aftermath to find UFC 134’s biggest winners, losers, and everything in between. Won’t you join me?
Biggest Winner: Anderson Silva
It’s clear to me now that this man has something different in his brain. The same way an owl can triangulate the exact location of a squeaking field mouse in the dark, Silva can perform a minute’s worth of feints and look at where you reflexively move your head and hands and feet, and from there decide exactly how to separate you from your conciousness. To put it another way, he’s on some next level stuff out there. Normal human beings, no matter how much they practice, can’t do that. It seems to come so naturally to Silva that he appears at times incapable of appreciating how rare his violent gifts are. Fortunately, he has the rest of us to tell him, and accomplished, though helpless opponents like Okami to show him.
Biggest Loser: Brendan Schaub
Not only was he the biggest betting favorite who ended up on the losing end in Rio, he was also the USA’s best hope for a win on the night. We expected David Mitchell and even Dan Miller to get beat, but Schaub? He was supposed to be the next big heavyweight prospect, and maybe even the lone American to come back to the Northen Hemisphere with a victory stowed in his carry-on. He couldn’t get his head out of the way of Nogueira’s punches, however, so he ended up face down on the mat instead of hands raised on top of the cage. He’s still young and still growing as a fighter, so it’s not a major catastrophe, career-wise. At the same time, getting knocked out by an aging legend who seemed one or two defeats away from forced retirement is the kind of thing that’ll hit the pause button on your superstar plans with a quickness. The hype train hasn’t derailed, but it is always harder to get it started up again once it’s come to such a sudden stop.
Most Impressive in Defeat: Ross Pearson
That was a painfully close fight, and if it’s anywhere but Brazil, where even a glancing blow by a Brazilian brings the crowd to its feet, maybe he gets the decision. Even without it, he did better than many (myself included) expected him to, and proved his toughness beyond a reasonable doubt. Pearson may not be the best pure athlete in the lightweight class, but the man will keep walking you down and forcing you to fight him. Does that style have its limitations? Sure it does. Is it a whole lot of fun to watch, especially when the practitioner of such a style can take a shot as well as Pearson can? Definitely. I don’t see the hard-headed Brit becoming champion any time soon, but every division needs role-players as well as greats. If Pearson’s role is to put on exciting, gritty fights, at least it’s steady work.
Least Impressive in Victory: Thiago Tavares
His plan seemed to be to control Spencer Fisher on the mat and grind the pace down to such a yawn-worthy crawl that his opponent would eventually do something dumb just to try and force some action. Somewhat disappointingly, it worked. It’s not that Tavares didn’t deserve to win — he effectively dictated where and how the fight was contested, so that’s something — but he has to know that he won’t win many fans with takedowns and short, ineffectual punches on the mat. In a night of memorable Brazilian triumphs, his win was among the most forgettable. At least it’s better than losing.
Most Strangely Sympathetic: Forrest Griffin
Yes, he’s a grumpy young man. And no, he does not travel well. But honestly, once you see that sadsack look on his face and consider the fact that he’ll probably never be able to think about his daughter’s birth without also thinking about the night he got knocked out by “Shogun” Rua in Rio, you have to feel for the guy. What I wonder is whether the pursuit of cold hard cash alone is enough to sustain him in this business. He used to be a workhorse in the gym, the guy who told the new crop of TUF hopefuls that “the juice is worth is the squeeze.” These days he doesn’t act like he really believes it. It’s one thing to hate your job and do it anyway if you work at a kiosk in the mall selling cell phone accessories. When you fight for money, however, there are too many hungry young mercenaries out there for you to be going through the motions just for a paycheck. Griffin needs to decide whether he’s all the way in this sport. If not, he ought to get out.
Most Surprising: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
The walk to the cage was the most many of us had seen Big Nog move all week, so it was hard not to analyze every step for what it might tell us about his post-surgery mobility. He wasn’t exactly fleet of foot once the fight started, but then he was never known for his foot speed even in his prime. It seemed as though Nogueira’s plan A was to take Schaub down, but when that went nowhere he quickly resported to plan B: punch the guy in the face until he falls down. Before the fight, I would have said this was a terrible idea. Then he tried it and found Schaub was not all that difficult to hit. I might tap the brakes on the whole ‘Nogueira is back!’ meme that instantly sprouted up after the win, but at least this proves he’s not done. Not just yet, anyway.
Most Baffling: Rousimar Palhares
That’s two bizarre mental lapses in three tries for “Toquinho.” At least this one didn’t cost him the fight. I loved how Herb Dean reacted to Palhares’ premature celebration by looking at Dan Miller like he was a loose ball in a football game, just waiting to be noticed and scooped up. I admit I was a little curious to see what Miller would have done to Palhares had he been allowed to attack as Palhares straddled the top of the cage, flexing for the crowd, but I guess that was the rational point for Dean to pause the action and sort out the confusion. Palhares is obviously talented and has a lot of physical tools at his disposal, but somebody needs to teach this guy to fight until the referee tells him it’s over. There are too many ways to lose in MMA without creating new ones for yourself.
Most Unhelpfully Brief Cage Appearance: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
I’m sure he doesn’t mind winning inside of two minutes, but I sure would have liked to have seen a little more of him. It’s hard to know where his overall game is at when all his fight lasts about as long as it takes to microwave a Hot Pocket. Rua has always had that explosive power, particularly early in the fight. What people rightfully wonder about is his conditioning over the long haul. Saturday night’s fight didn’t give us a chance to find out anything about that, but hey, you can’t really complain about a first-round knockout. You also can’t say that you learned all that much about a fighter’s overall game that way.
Least Potent Offense: Yushin Okami
Aside from a clinch and a couple pawing right hands, Okami didn’t manage too many attempts at hurting Silva, which I thought was kind of supposed to be the goal. Then again, when you consider what happened on the few occasions when he did try to go on the attack, it’s hard to blame him. It seems like no matter what you do to Silva, whether it’s tossing out a jab or shooting for a takedown, you’re only giving him more information about how best to defeat you. Still, if you’re going to step in the cage and fight him, you have to fight him. The more time you spend standing around and letting him figure you out, the worse it’s going to be. As for Okami, he seemed defeated by the time he got off the stool for the second round. Again, hard to blame him. Just because he failed to figure out a fighting genius in the span of a few minutes, that doesn’t mean he’s not still a gifted fighter in his own right. It’s just that, especially in this business, the space between very good and great is so painfully vast.
UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro was a memorable night for several reasons, not the least of which was the complete dominance of the Brazilian contingent on the card.
You could look at the match-ups beforehand and tell they were perhaps slightly titled in Brazil’s favor, but who among us really thought Stanislav Nedkov would be the only foreigner to defeat a Brazilian?
But now that the action’s over and the post-fight interviews are done, it’s time to sort through the aftermath to find UFC 134’s biggest winners, losers, and everything in between. Won’t you join me?
Biggest Winner: Anderson Silva
It’s clear to me now that this man has something different in his brain. The same way an owl can triangulate the exact location of a squeaking field mouse in the dark, Silva can perform a minute’s worth of feints and look at where you reflexively move your head and hands and feet, and from there decide exactly how to separate you from your conciousness. To put it another way, he’s on some next level stuff out there. Normal human beings, no matter how much they practice, can’t do that. It seems to come so naturally to Silva that he appears at times incapable of appreciating how rare his violent gifts are. Fortunately, he has the rest of us to tell him, and accomplished, though helpless opponents like Okami to show him.
Biggest Loser: Brendan Schaub
Not only was he the biggest betting favorite who ended up on the losing end in Rio, he was also the USA’s best hope for a win on the night. We expected David Mitchell and even Dan Miller to get beat, but Schaub? He was supposed to be the next big heavyweight prospect, and maybe even the lone American to come back to the Northen Hemisphere with a victory stowed in his carry-on. He couldn’t get his head out of the way of Nogueira’s punches, however, so he ended up face down on the mat instead of hands raised on top of the cage. He’s still young and still growing as a fighter, so it’s not a major catastrophe, career-wise. At the same time, getting knocked out by an aging legend who seemed one or two defeats away from forced retirement is the kind of thing that’ll hit the pause button on your superstar plans with a quickness. The hype train hasn’t derailed, but it is always harder to get it started up again once it’s come to such a sudden stop.
Most Impressive in Defeat: Ross Pearson
That was a painfully close fight, and if it’s anywhere but Brazil, where even a glancing blow by a Brazilian brings the crowd to its feet, maybe he gets the decision. Even without it, he did better than many (myself included) expected him to, and proved his toughness beyond a reasonable doubt. Pearson may not be the best pure athlete in the lightweight class, but the man will keep walking you down and forcing you to fight him. Does that style have its limitations? Sure it does. Is it a whole lot of fun to watch, especially when the practitioner of such a style can take a shot as well as Pearson can? Definitely. I don’t see the hard-headed Brit becoming champion any time soon, but every division needs role-players as well as greats. If Pearson’s role is to put on exciting, gritty fights, at least it’s steady work.
Least Impressive in Victory: Thiago Tavares
His plan seemed to be to control Spencer Fisher on the mat and grind the pace down to such a yawn-worthy crawl that his opponent would eventually do something dumb just to try and force some action. Somewhat disappointingly, it worked. It’s not that Tavares didn’t deserve to win — he effectively dictated where and how the fight was contested, so that’s something — but he has to know that he won’t win many fans with takedowns and short, ineffectual punches on the mat. In a night of memorable Brazilian triumphs, his win was among the most forgettable. At least it’s better than losing.
Most Strangely Sympathetic: Forrest Griffin
Yes, he’s a grumpy young man. And no, he does not travel well. But honestly, once you see that sadsack look on his face and consider the fact that he’ll probably never be able to think about his daughter’s birth without also thinking about the night he got knocked out by “Shogun” Rua in Rio, you have to feel for the guy. What I wonder is whether the pursuit of cold hard cash alone is enough to sustain him in this business. He used to be a workhorse in the gym, the guy who told the new crop of TUF hopefuls that “the juice is worth is the squeeze.” These days he doesn’t act like he really believes it. It’s one thing to hate your job and do it anyway if you work at a kiosk in the mall selling cell phone accessories. When you fight for money, however, there are too many hungry young mercenaries out there for you to be going through the motions just for a paycheck. Griffin needs to decide whether he’s all the way in this sport. If not, he ought to get out.
Most Surprising: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
The walk to the cage was the most many of us had seen Big Nog move all week, so it was hard not to analyze every step for what it might tell us about his post-surgery mobility. He wasn’t exactly fleet of foot once the fight started, but then he was never known for his foot speed even in his prime. It seemed as though Nogueira’s plan A was to take Schaub down, but when that went nowhere he quickly resported to plan B: punch the guy in the face until he falls down. Before the fight, I would have said this was a terrible idea. Then he tried it and found Schaub was not all that difficult to hit. I might tap the brakes on the whole ‘Nogueira is back!’ meme that instantly sprouted up after the win, but at least this proves he’s not done. Not just yet, anyway.
Most Baffling: Rousimar Palhares
That’s two bizarre mental lapses in three tries for “Toquinho.” At least this one didn’t cost him the fight. I loved how Herb Dean reacted to Palhares’ premature celebration by looking at Dan Miller like he was a loose ball in a football game, just waiting to be noticed and scooped up. I admit I was a little curious to see what Miller would have done to Palhares had he been allowed to attack as Palhares straddled the top of the cage, flexing for the crowd, but I guess that was the rational point for Dean to pause the action and sort out the confusion. Palhares is obviously talented and has a lot of physical tools at his disposal, but somebody needs to teach this guy to fight until the referee tells him it’s over. There are too many ways to lose in MMA without creating new ones for yourself.
Most Unhelpfully Brief Cage Appearance: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
I’m sure he doesn’t mind winning inside of two minutes, but I sure would have liked to have seen a little more of him. It’s hard to know where his overall game is at when all his fight lasts about as long as it takes to microwave a Hot Pocket. Rua has always had that explosive power, particularly early in the fight. What people rightfully wonder about is his conditioning over the long haul. Saturday night’s fight didn’t give us a chance to find out anything about that, but hey, you can’t really complain about a first-round knockout. You also can’t say that you learned all that much about a fighter’s overall game that way.
Least Potent Offense: Yushin Okami
Aside from a clinch and a couple pawing right hands, Okami didn’t manage too many attempts at hurting Silva, which I thought was kind of supposed to be the goal. Then again, when you consider what happened on the few occasions when he did try to go on the attack, it’s hard to blame him. It seems like no matter what you do to Silva, whether it’s tossing out a jab or shooting for a takedown, you’re only giving him more information about how best to defeat you. Still, if you’re going to step in the cage and fight him, you have to fight him. The more time you spend standing around and letting him figure you out, the worse it’s going to be. As for Okami, he seemed defeated by the time he got off the stool for the second round. Again, hard to blame him. Just because he failed to figure out a fighting genius in the span of a few minutes, that doesn’t mean he’s not still a gifted fighter in his own right. It’s just that, especially in this business, the space between very good and great is so painfully vast.
RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s a little sad to think that Ian Loveland could probably fight his whole career and never again walk out to the kind of ovation that he got from the same Brazilian crowd that would be booing him moments later.
In Las Vegas, the first prelim fighters at a UFC event usually enter to a mostly empty arena and an indifferent crowd. In Rio, the HSBC Arena was packed to the rafters well before the first entrance song blared over the speakers, and fans erupted in cheers as soon as they got a look at the night’s first fighter, which just happened to be Loveland.
Then, during the introductions, it sunk in for them that Loveland was American, and the boos came raining down. Such was the double-edged sword of the passionate Brazilian crowd for UFC 134, which UFC president Dana White dubbed “the loudest crowd ever.”
“The first fight of the night sounded like a title fight,” White said, adding, “We might be here every weekend. It was a successful event before it even happened.”
Of course, when Mitchell’s opponent, Paulo Thiago — a soldier for the BOPE special forces squad in Brazil — entered a few moments later to the theme from Elite Squad, a popular Brazilian film about BOPE, the boos quickly turned into the kind of raucous cheers Thiago never hears for his fights in the U.S.
Did it alter the outcome of the fight at all? Maybe not, but since only one foreign fighter managed to defeat a Brazilian (that would be Stanislav Nedkov, who knocked out Luiz Cane, thus silencing the crowd for a few shocked seconds) on a fight card that was essentially Brazil versus the world, it doesn’t seem like a little hometown love hurt anyone’s chances on Saturday.
They cheered. They chanted. They sang songs that, at least according to my bilingual seatmates, were sometimes profane, sometimes funny, and sometimes just downright weird (naturally, several Americans were also warned that they were about to die, and no one seemed to think this was a strange thing to chant in unison at a professional fight).
But though the crowd was among the most vocal and inspired the UFC has ever had, putting on an event in Rio wasn’t without its challenges. Earlier in the week rumors surfaced that the UFC had run into problems with the venue, that it was understaffed and required the promotion to provide everything from electricity to security, putting the set-up dangerously behind schedule at one point.
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When asked about those difficulties following the post-fight press conference, White flashed a knowing but weary smirk.
“No matter how much support you get from the city, let me tell you what, when you go to another country to put on an event, there are a lot of obstacles and a lot of hoops to jump through,” White said. “We did it. We got through it, man, and here we are.”
By early indications, White and the UFC didn’t just get through the first Brazilian event under Zuffa ownership — they killed it. From the lucky fans who managed to score tickets to the fights before they sold out, to the scores who watched on free TV at home, this soccer-mad city was fully focused on the UFC for at least one night.
According to White, early polling numbers indicated that UFC Rio garnered a whopping 20 percent TV share in Brazil on Saturday, which would put the total estimated viewership here at about 30 million.
“Huge,” White said. “It was a big night.”
Inside the arena, at least, it was also a night for Brazilians by Brazilians. It wasn’t just that they dominated the fight card, winning eight of the nine fights in which a Brazilian took on a foreigner. It was that they expressed such unified disdain for anything non-Brazilian, even booing their own fighters when one of them dared to speak a bit of English in his post-fight remarks, then immediately reverting to cheers when he gave in and switched to Portuguese.
And when it was announced that Raphael Assuncao, who hails from Recife, Brazil, was now fighting out of Jupiter, Florida, well, you can probably guess what the crowd response was.
The Brazilian unity vibe was put into words at the post-fight presser, when Anderson Silva was asked about the mixed crowd reaction to seeing him in a Corinthians jersey — a Sao Paulo soccer team and rival of the local Rio clubs.
“I think what we need to make clear and what we need our fans to understand is that we can and we should improve a lot of things about our country,” Silva said via an interpreter. “We’re not here to defend the jerseys of our team but instead to defend Brazil so that we can have a better future for the sport.”
Try to imagine for a moment a scenario where Brock Lesnar calls for putting personal allegiances aside in favor of national unity and goal-oriented improvement across the country, and you start to get a sense of how the general mood of this night differed from the feel at a fight in the MGM Grand.
Anyone could see that this was a special night for Brazilian MMA, but where does it go from here? It’s one thing to get a huge response when it’s a novel event, as the UFC received on its recent trip to Toronto, but what about the next time?
What are the UFC’s future plans for the country that embraced it with an almost terrifying fervor on Saturday night?
“We’re going to take this thing everywhere,” White said after being asked about rumors that the UFC plans a return to Brazil in a 100,000-seat soccer stadium. “We believe there’s a lot of cities [in Brazil] where we can be successful, and we’re coming back to Rio too.”
When it does, the UFC might want to warn its Brazilian fighters to save the English for the post-fight presser. And maybe don’t advertise the fact that many of them do their training camps in the U.S.
RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s a little sad to think that Ian Loveland could probably fight his whole career and never again walk out to the kind of ovation that he got from the same Brazilian crowd that would be booing him moments later.
In Las Vegas, the first prelim fighters at a UFC event usually enter to a mostly empty arena and an indifferent crowd. In Rio, the HSBC Arena was packed to the rafters well before the first entrance song blared over the speakers, and fans erupted in cheers as soon as they got a look at the night’s first fighter, which just happened to be Loveland.
Then, during the introductions, it sunk in for them that Loveland was American, and the boos came raining down. Such was the double-edged sword of the passionate Brazilian crowd for UFC 134, which UFC president Dana White dubbed “the loudest crowd ever.”
“The first fight of the night sounded like a title fight,” White said, adding, “We might be here every weekend. It was a successful event before it even happened.”
Of course, when Mitchell’s opponent, Paulo Thiago — a soldier for the BOPE special forces squad in Brazil — entered a few moments later to the theme from Elite Squad, a popular Brazilian film about BOPE, the boos quickly turned into the kind of raucous cheers Thiago never hears for his fights in the U.S.
Did it alter the outcome of the fight at all? Maybe not, but since only one foreign fighter managed to defeat a Brazilian (that would be Stanislav Nedkov, who knocked out Luiz Cane, thus silencing the crowd for a few shocked seconds) on a fight card that was essentially Brazil versus the world, it doesn’t seem like a little hometown love hurt anyone’s chances on Saturday.
They cheered. They chanted. They sang songs that, at least according to my bilingual seatmates, were sometimes profane, sometimes funny, and sometimes just downright weird (naturally, several Americans were also warned that they were about to die, and no one seemed to think this was a strange thing to chant in unison at a professional fight).
But though the crowd was among the most vocal and inspired the UFC has ever had, putting on an event in Rio wasn’t without its challenges. Earlier in the week rumors surfaced that the UFC had run into problems with the venue, that it was understaffed and required the promotion to provide everything from electricity to security, putting the set-up dangerously behind schedule at one point.
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When asked about those difficulties following the post-fight press conference, White flashed a knowing but weary smirk.
“No matter how much support you get from the city, let me tell you what, when you go to another country to put on an event, there are a lot of obstacles and a lot of hoops to jump through,” White said. “We did it. We got through it, man, and here we are.”
By early indications, White and the UFC didn’t just get through the first Brazilian event under Zuffa ownership — they killed it. From the lucky fans who managed to score tickets to the fights before they sold out, to the scores who watched on free TV at home, this soccer-mad city was fully focused on the UFC for at least one night.
According to White, early polling numbers indicated that UFC Rio garnered a whopping 20 percent TV share in Brazil on Saturday, which would put the total estimated viewership here at about 30 million.
“Huge,” White said. “It was a big night.”
Inside the arena, at least, it was also a night for Brazilians by Brazilians. It wasn’t just that they dominated the fight card, winning eight of the nine fights in which a Brazilian took on a foreigner. It was that they expressed such unified disdain for anything non-Brazilian, even booing their own fighters when one of them dared to speak a bit of English in his post-fight remarks, then immediately reverting to cheers when he gave in and switched to Portuguese.
And when it was announced that Raphael Assuncao, who hails from Recife, Brazil, was now fighting out of Jupiter, Florida, well, you can probably guess what the crowd response was.
The Brazilian unity vibe was put into words at the post-fight presser, when Anderson Silva was asked about the mixed crowd reaction to seeing him in a Corinthians jersey — a Sao Paulo soccer team and rival of the local Rio clubs.
“I think what we need to make clear and what we need our fans to understand is that we can and we should improve a lot of things about our country,” Silva said via an interpreter. “We’re not here to defend the jerseys of our team but instead to defend Brazil so that we can have a better future for the sport.”
Try to imagine for a moment a scenario where Brock Lesnar calls for putting personal allegiances aside in favor of national unity and goal-oriented improvement across the country, and you start to get a sense of how the general mood of this night differed from the feel at a fight in the MGM Grand.
Anyone could see that this was a special night for Brazilian MMA, but where does it go from here? It’s one thing to get a huge response when it’s a novel event, as the UFC received on its recent trip to Toronto, but what about the next time?
What are the UFC’s future plans for the country that embraced it with an almost terrifying fervor on Saturday night?
“We’re going to take this thing everywhere,” White said after being asked about rumors that the UFC plans a return to Brazil in a 100,000-seat soccer stadium. “We believe there’s a lot of cities [in Brazil] where we can be successful, and we’re coming back to Rio too.”
When it does, the UFC might want to warn its Brazilian fighters to save the English for the post-fight presser. And maybe don’t advertise the fact that many of them do their training camps in the U.S.
Filed under: UFCRIO DE JANEIRO — Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira wanted to fight in front of his countrymen so badly, he admitted to rushing a complex rehab process just to be ready in time for the Rio fight card.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira wanted to fight in front of his countrymen so badly, he admitted to rushing a complex rehab process just to be ready in time for the Rio fight card.
But as he made his way to the cage to take on Brendan Schaub at UFC 134, even the veteran of 40 professional fights was a little overwhelmed by the frenzied reaction from the Brazilian crowd.
“When I was walking to the ring I was super nervous,” he admitted with a sheepish smile at the post-fight press conference. “I couldn’t really look up to the crowd.”
A little over three minutes after the fight had started, when Nogueira’s bigger, younger American opponent was lying face first on the mat, that’s when the MMA legend finally took a moment to let it all sink in.
“It was only after I had finished the fight that I looked up to the crowd and saw how much noise was being made,” he said through an interpreter at the post-fight press conference.
Of course, as he looked up, he might have also seen the celebratory beers flying in from the overjoyed audience members, who apparently loved seeing Nogueira win more than they enjoyed finishing their drinks.
UFC president Dana White said UFC officals “get a little freaked out” when fans start throwing nearly full drinks into the cage, but he also said that the stakes may have been higher on Saturday than even Nogueira fully realized.
“I talked to Nogueira after his last fight and was talking to him about retiring,” White said. “And, you know, he was pretty pissed off about that. That’s why when I came out and I was talking about Tito [Ortiz] and Tito won that fight, Nogueira was one of the guys who jumped on his side saying, listen, you don’t make those [expletive] decisions — we do. That’s not really true, I do make those decisions.”
Nogueira might not have wanted to hear it, but after he get knocked out by Cain Velasquez in the first round at UFC 110, White had started to consider whether it might be time for him to hang up the gloves.
But, to his credit, Nogueira went through three surgeries on his hips and knees, built himself back up through an ardous rehab, and came back in surprisingly good condition to out-strike Schaub in front of his home crowd.
It was a long road to get there, and a rocky one at times, according to his wrestling coach, Eric Albarracin.
“I see him in the gym,” Albarracin said before the fight. “We have to stretch him a lot before and after. He’s got a physical therapist who’s always there. She’s on call 24/7.”
It paid off on Saturday, as Nogueira — one of the few Brazilian underdogs on the card — scored a shocking knockout in the opening frame. When asked how far the win might have put him from being in title contention, and how many fights he’d have to win to get back in that conversation, White said it wasn’t simply how many, “it’s who” Nogueira beats.
Regardless of what he says in his own defense, White insisted, he’s not about to sit around and watch Nogueira, or any other fighter, go on too long and risk his own health.
“I’m not going to let this thing be boxing,” said White. “When a guy is done, we know he’s done. I don’t want to make one dollar of that kind of money. “
Filed under: UFC, NewsRIO DE JANEIRO — The bridge between UFC president Dana White and former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem may have been scorched a bit in recent weeks, but it apparently never caught fire and burned.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The bridge between UFC president Dana White and former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem may have been scorched a bit in recent weeks, but it apparently never caught fire and burned.
“We’re talking,” White said. “You guys know how that whole thing went down. Golden Glory was in this position where we couldn’t do business and they changed their position, which I respect. Now we can do business.”
That position, of course, was an insistence on having all fighter purses funneled through Golden Glory rather than paid directly to the fighters themselves, according to White.
That was an arrangement that Zuffa simply couldn’t work with, the UFC president said, and disagreements over it brought about the release of Overeem, as well as fellow Golden Glory fighters Marloes Coenen and Jon Olav Einemo.
“We’re never going to be in a situation where we pay managers and not fighters,” White said. “We pay fighters, and fighters pay managers. We’re never going to be in that situation. I don’t care who the guy is.”
Then again, it didn’t seem to help matters that Overeem had refused to fight on the September 10 date set for the semifinal round of the Grand Prix, insisting he wouldn’t be ready until October.
But now that Golden Glory has softened their stance on payment issues, according to White, there’s once again dialogue between the two sides regarding the Dutch heavyweight.
The question is, are they talking about bringing him back to Strikeforce, or injecting him into the UFC’s heavyweight division, which could certainly use the infusion of big name talent right about now? After all, Golden Glory has expressed interest in signing a new contract with the UFC, so could that be Overeem’s new home sooner rather than later?
“We’ll see what happens,” White said with a shrug.
In other words, nothing is out of the question at this point.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Forrest Griffin may have lost on Saturday night, but UFC president Dana White had nothing but praise for the former light heavyweight champion, considering the circumstances surrounding the bout.
“His wife is literally getting ready to deliver their baby in Las Vegas right now,” White said after thanking Griffin for taking the fight against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on the UFC 134 card. “We’re going to try and get him home as fast as we can.”
All week long Griffin made no secret of the fact that he would rather have rematched Rua at home in Vegas than in Brazil. It wasn’t just the opposition from the Rio crowd, though that was intense. It was all the little things, he explained. The strange food, the exhausting language barrier, the lack of familiar items.
“If I have to do this again, I know I have to bring everything,” Griffin said at the post-fight press conference. “Because you’re not getting Pepto Bismol here.”
But having his wife at home on the verge of giving birth to their daughter only made the situation tougher for Griffin, who was staggered by a hard right hand from Rua in the first round, then finished moments later by a brutal series of hammer fists on the mat.
“The game plan was to get off after he missed, and he missed a couple times and I let him off the hook,” said Griffin, who added that he had just learned that his wife was likely going into labor nine days early.
“I have so much respect for him for coming in and taking this fight, being in this situation,” White said. “He knew he was going to be in this situation. Like he said, she was supposed to be nine days later. He was just texting with her before we came in here and she thinks she’s ready to go. I’m leaving tonight, he’s flying home with me tonight.”
Coming into the rematch with Rua, who Griffin defeated back in 2007, Griffin was riding a two-fight win streak after victories over Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin. But he never quite got started in this one, and less than two minutes in he found himself on his back, flailing away as Rua pounded him with hammer fists.
“It’s just setting in,” he said of the loss. “I think that’s a fight where I definitely could have done a lot better. It sucks when you do poorly at your job.”
At least he pleased his boss just by stepping up and taking the fight, even if he ended up on the wrong side of it in the end. White insisted Griffin was still a top ten light heavyweight in his opinion, and couldn’t praise him enough after the bout.
Then again, if he’d known he was going to get knocked out the same night that his daughter was likely arriving into the world, Griffin said, he might have made a different choice.
“If I had known it was going to work out like this, I would not have taken the fight,” Griffin joked, adding that he was “supposed to have nine more days” until the baby’s birth.
But then, in birth as in prizefighting, plans can change in a hurry. All anyone can do is try to change with them.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Forrest Griffin may have lost on Saturday night, but UFC president Dana White had nothing but praise for the former light heavyweight champion, considering the circumstances surrounding the bout.
“His wife is literally getting ready to deliver their baby in Las Vegas right now,” White said after thanking Griffin for taking the fight against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on the UFC 134 card. “We’re going to try and get him home as fast as we can.”
All week long Griffin made no secret of the fact that he would rather have rematched Rua at home in Vegas than in Brazil. It wasn’t just the opposition from the Rio crowd, though that was intense. It was all the little things, he explained. The strange food, the exhausting language barrier, the lack of familiar items.
“If I have to do this again, I know I have to bring everything,” Griffin said at the post-fight press conference. “Because you’re not getting Pepto Bismol here.”
But having his wife at home on the verge of giving birth to their daughter only made the situation tougher for Griffin, who was staggered by a hard right hand from Rua in the first round, then finished moments later by a brutal series of hammer fists on the mat.
“The game plan was to get off after he missed, and he missed a couple times and I let him off the hook,” said Griffin, who added that he had just learned that his wife was likely going into labor nine days early.
“I have so much respect for him for coming in and taking this fight, being in this situation,” White said. “He knew he was going to be in this situation. Like he said, she was supposed to be nine days later. He was just texting with her before we came in here and she thinks she’s ready to go. I’m leaving tonight, he’s flying home with me tonight.”
Coming into the rematch with Rua, who Griffin defeated back in 2007, Griffin was riding a two-fight win streak after victories over Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin. But he never quite got started in this one, and less than two minutes in he found himself on his back, flailing away as Rua pounded him with hammer fists.
“It’s just setting in,” he said of the loss. “I think that’s a fight where I definitely could have done a lot better. It sucks when you do poorly at your job.”
At least he pleased his boss just by stepping up and taking the fight, even if he ended up on the wrong side of it in the end. White insisted Griffin was still a top ten light heavyweight in his opinion, and couldn’t praise him enough after the bout.
Then again, if he’d known he was going to get knocked out the same night that his daughter was likely arriving into the world, Griffin said, he might have made a different choice.
“If I had known it was going to work out like this, I would not have taken the fight,” Griffin joked, adding that he was “supposed to have nine more days” until the baby’s birth.
But then, in birth as in prizefighting, plans can change in a hurry. All anyone can do is try to change with them.
RIO DE JANEIRO — As far as UFC president Dana White is concerned, there hasn’t been any doubt about where Anderson Silva stands for some time now. But after Saturday night’s destruction of Yushin Okami at UFC 134, White said, it should no longer even be a question.
“One thing I want to make clear, and I’ve been saying this for a long time, this guy is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world,” White said of Silva. “There’s no debate. You’re out of your mind if you don’t think this guy is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. People will say, ‘Oh, he needs to be challenged.’ The [185-pound] division has a ton of great fighters. The reality is, this guy is so good, he makes it look like it’s not.”
Former foe Forrest Griffin had a more succinct way of putting it when discussing who Silva should face next: “I say he fights two guys.”
Fighting in front of his countrymen for the first time in his UFC career, the middleweight champion easily dispatched Okami in the second round, and seemed as if he might have even been drawing the fight out to get it to last that long. From the opening minutes of the bout, Okami wasn’t much more than target practice for Silva, who eventually dropped him with a punch combo and then finished the woozy challenger with a barrage of strikes on the ground.
For Silva, who had watched the first UFC event in Brazil in 1998, it was a dream come true, he said, and one that would have seemed improbable at best back in the days of the UFC’s first foray into South America.
“At that time I practiced other martial arts,” Silva said via an interpreter. “I didn’t even consider doing mixed martial arts. It was awesome to be able to fight here in Brazil, in front of Brazilian people.”
Of course, at this point every Silva fight concludes the same way, and that’s with questions about when he might face UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre.
As is typical, Silva didn’t do much more than make silly faces as potential opponents were mentioned at the post-fight press conference, saying once again that, ideally, he’d like to face his clone in his next fight.
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Until the scientific community can make that dream a reality, however, it sounds like White has some other ideas.
“I think there’s a couple other fights out there for him at 185 [pounds],” the UFC president said of Silva before admitting that both GSP and the middleweight champ are “getting into a position here where that fight’s going to make sense.”
If it does materialize soon, the biggest problem, according to White, might be finding the right venue to host the dream fight.
“I honestly believe, there’s a couple more fights for Anderson and Georges, and if they both win, I honestly don’t know if there’s a stadium big enough for that fight.”
As for Okami, his future is less certain. The loss against Silva tosses him back into the middle of the UFC’s middleweight pack, but that doesn’t mean White is ready to take back any of the praise he lavished on him in the lead-up to this bout.
“Yushin Okami — I said it before the fight and I’ll say it again after the fight — he’s one of the best 185-pound fighters in the world and he’s the best fighter to come out of Japan,” White said in response to a question about whether the UFC would keep Okami on the roster.
But once again, it was Griffin who put things in terms everyone could understand.
“There’s a long list of guys who get beat up by Anderson,” he said. “If you fire them all, you’re not going to have anybody left.”
RIO DE JANEIRO — As far as UFC president Dana White is concerned, there hasn’t been any doubt about where Anderson Silva stands for some time now. But after Saturday night’s destruction of Yushin Okami at UFC 134, White said, it should no longer even be a question.
“One thing I want to make clear, and I’ve been saying this for a long time, this guy is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world,” White said of Silva. “There’s no debate. You’re out of your mind if you don’t think this guy is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. People will say, ‘Oh, he needs to be challenged.’ The [185-pound] division has a ton of great fighters. The reality is, this guy is so good, he makes it look like it’s not.”
Former foe Forrest Griffin had a more succinct way of putting it when discussing who Silva should face next: “I say he fights two guys.”
Fighting in front of his countrymen for the first time in his UFC career, the middleweight champion easily dispatched Okami in the second round, and seemed as if he might have even been drawing the fight out to get it to last that long. From the opening minutes of the bout, Okami wasn’t much more than target practice for Silva, who eventually dropped him with a punch combo and then finished the woozy challenger with a barrage of strikes on the ground.
For Silva, who had watched the first UFC event in Brazil in 1998, it was a dream come true, he said, and one that would have seemed improbable at best back in the days of the UFC’s first foray into South America.
“At that time I practiced other martial arts,” Silva said via an interpreter. “I didn’t even consider doing mixed martial arts. It was awesome to be able to fight here in Brazil, in front of Brazilian people.”
Of course, at this point every Silva fight concludes the same way, and that’s with questions about when he might face UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre.
As is typical, Silva didn’t do much more than make silly faces as potential opponents were mentioned at the post-fight press conference, saying once again that, ideally, he’d like to face his clone in his next fight.
%VIRTUAL-Gallery-131871%
Until the scientific community can make that dream a reality, however, it sounds like White has some other ideas.
“I think there’s a couple other fights out there for him at 185 [pounds],” the UFC president said of Silva before admitting that both GSP and the middleweight champ are “getting into a position here where that fight’s going to make sense.”
If it does materialize soon, the biggest problem, according to White, might be finding the right venue to host the dream fight.
“I honestly believe, there’s a couple more fights for Anderson and Georges, and if they both win, I honestly don’t know if there’s a stadium big enough for that fight.”
As for Okami, his future is less certain. The loss against Silva tosses him back into the middle of the UFC’s middleweight pack, but that doesn’t mean White is ready to take back any of the praise he lavished on him in the lead-up to this bout.
“Yushin Okami — I said it before the fight and I’ll say it again after the fight — he’s one of the best 185-pound fighters in the world and he’s the best fighter to come out of Japan,” White said in response to a question about whether the UFC would keep Okami on the roster.
But once again, it was Griffin who put things in terms everyone could understand.
“There’s a long list of guys who get beat up by Anderson,” he said. “If you fire them all, you’re not going to have anybody left.”
UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro was a memorable night for several reasons, not the least of which was the complete dominance of the Brazilian contingent on the card. 
RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s a little sad to think that 
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RIO DE JANEIRO — The bridge between UFC president Dana White and former Strikeforce heavyweight champ 
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RIO DE JANEIRO — As far as UFC president Dana White is concerned, there hasn’t been any doubt about where