Author: Ben Fowlkes

Mark Hominick Says It’s Bittersweet to Get Congratulated After a Loss

Filed under: UFCOn Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Mark Hominick had a message for fans who were concerned about the softball-sized lump growing out of his forehead by the end of his featherweight title bout against Jose Aldo at UFC 129: it looked wo…

Filed under:

On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Mark Hominick had a message for fans who were concerned about the softball-sized lump growing out of his forehead by the end of his featherweight title bout against Jose Aldo at UFC 129: it looked worse than it felt.

And yeah, he knows it looked pretty bad.

“I remember watching fights, like the [Hasim] Rahman [vs. Evander Holyfield] fight, and it was like, oh my God. I could just imagine what the crowd and everybody else was feeling when they saw that, because it’s definitely disturbing to see that,” Hominick told Ariel Helwani. “But again, it’s a superficial injury. It’s not affecting my vision; it’s not affecting my performance. After I had an icepack on it after the fight, it went right down.”

The Truth About Knowing When to Walk Away

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, NewsIn the weeks leading up to the night he was supposed to formally announce his retirement from professional fighting, Frank Shamrock kept telling himself that he wasn’t going to go through with it. Not really. Not now….

Filed under: , ,

In the weeks leading up to the night he was supposed to formally announce his retirement from professional fighting, Frank Shamrock kept telling himself that he wasn’t going to go through with it. Not really. Not now.

It was classic Kübler-Ross Model stuff, he realized afterward, and not without reason.

“For me, it really was like a death,” Shamrock said. “I went through the various phases. At first it was disbelief. I’d think, I’m not really going to do it. But then, I am feeling like I should do it. Second was, once I started moving in that direction, I didn’t really want to do it. I thought maybe I could change it and do something different. Then after a couple weeks, I finally accepted it. I knew I had already made that decision and started it, so I had to accept it. That was the crying phase.”

My First Fight: Jens Pulver

Looking back now, Jens Pulver can’t say exactly what he was expecting that day. A test, maybe. A way to find out something about himself that he’d only guessed at before.

The name of the event – The Bas Rutten Invitational 2 – sounded official enough….

Jens PulverLooking back now, Jens Pulver can’t say exactly what he was expecting that day. A test, maybe. A way to find out something about himself that he’d only guessed at before.

The name of the event – The Bas Rutten Invitational 2 – sounded official enough. If the Dutch Pancrase fighter was affiliated with it, and if they’d already done it once without anything terrible happening, how bad could it be?

But since this is small-time MMA in 1999, we’re not talking about a fancy event at a civic center. We’re talking a couple hundred people packed into a Muay Thai gym in Littleton, Colorado, a town where just four days earlier two heavily armed teenagers had walked into Columbine High School and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.

Twitter Mailbag: GSP’s Next Opponent, Steven Seagal’s Influence, and More

Filed under: UFCA few of the many MMA fans on Twitter took precious time away from ‘Star Wars’ discussions and complaining about co-workers in order to ask yours truly a few questions this week, so let’s not keep them waiting.

Everything from cross-pr…

Filed under:

A few of the many MMA fans on Twitter took precious time away from ‘Star Wars’ discussions and complaining about co-workers in order to ask yours truly a few questions this week, so let’s not keep them waiting.

Everything from cross-promotional title fights to Steven Seagal’s baffling influence on Brazilian fighters is on the docket today. If you’ve got a question of your own, hit me up on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Now then, who’s up first?

@steampunk22 Will Nick Diaz’s next fight be in SF or UFC? If UFC, will they have him sign a new UFC deal and walk from SF? #businessasusual

Unless Bout with St. Pierre Materializes Soon, Diaz Will Box Lacy in the Fall

Filed under: UFC, StrikeforceBoxer Jeff Lacy has signed a contract to square off against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz in the boxing ring this fall, but Diaz’s participation could be dependent on what Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC,…

Filed under: ,

Boxer Jeff Lacy has signed a contract to square off against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz in the boxing ring this fall, but Diaz’s participation could be dependent on what Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, decides to do about his immediate future in MMA.

While boxing promoter Don Chargin told MMA Fighting on Friday that both Diaz and Lacy have signed bout agreements to face one another in a boxing match later this year, Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, said Diaz has a contract with Chargin, but has yet to sign a specific bout agreement for this fight.

“Nick has a signed contract but is waiting to sign an actual bout agreement,” Gracie wrote in a text message on Friday afternoon. “We are only waiting to see if Zuffa is serious about a Diaz-GSP fight.”

Boxing promoter Chargin, however, sees it slightly differently.

MMA Roundtable: GSP’s Legacy of Decisions, Lesnar’s Coaching, & More

As the MMA community tries to regain its bearings after a momentous event in Toronto last weekend, I could think of no better way to process the glut of information than a nice little roundtable discussion with MMA Fighting’s Michael David Smith.

Now …

As the MMA community tries to regain its bearings after a momentous event in Toronto last weekend, I could think of no better way to process the glut of information than a nice little roundtable discussion with MMA Fighting’s Michael David Smith.

Now that UFC 129 is in the books, we go back and forth on Georges St. Pierre‘s ability to entertain, the future of Bellator, and whether anybody is having any fun on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. Let’s do this thing:

1. Many people keep pointing to GSP’s streak of decisions as proof that he’s a boring fighter. How justified a metric is that of a fighter’s skill, worth and entertainment value?