(Plan your work, work your plan. PicProps: ESPN)
You didn’t think Kenny Florian would just drop to 145-pounds without a plan in mind, did you? If you did, you don’t know KenFlo. Nope, the now former perennial lightweight contender&rsqu…
You didn’t think Kenny Florian would just drop to 145-pounds without a plan in mind, did you? If you did, you don’t know KenFlo. Nope, the now former perennial lightweight contender’s camp has a pretty detailed blueprint of what they’d like to see Florian do at featherweight. As manager Malki Kawa tells MMA Weekly on Wednesday, they think their guy will be on the fast-track to the top once he returns from a knee injury and gets his weight headed in the right direction. Check it out:
“A top contender,” Kawa says about Florian’s first 145-pound opponent. “Whoever the No. 1 contender is at that point is the guy I’d like to get. What would be my ideal situation is for him to get a fight in June, whoever the No. 1 contender is, win that fight and then hopefully set something up for Brazil with (Jose) Aldo, if the UFC’s up for it.”
(Goodnight, sweet prince.)
The last time Fedor Emelianenko was scheduled to appear on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani he went abruptly missing on the streets of New York, leaving Helwani to make a couple hours of awkward small talk with M-1 Global sp…
(Goodnight, sweet prince.)
The last time Fedor Emelianenko was scheduled to appear on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani he went abruptly missing on the streets of New York, leaving Helwani to make a couple hours of awkward small talk with M-1 Global spokeshipster Evegni Kogan. On Monday the second time was the charm, as Fedor finally found his way to the studio to provide docile, down-to-earth answers to all Helwani’s questions. Yeah, it went exactly as expected, except for one piece of stunning Breaking News: Fedor says his widely celebrated Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory is now retired. Oh also, he still wants Alistair Overeem drug tested if they are to fight in the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix.
True to form, Emelianenko expressed childlike bewilderment at the attention the Glorious Sweater garnered on the American MMA scene – mostly in chat rooms and on this website — during its storied career. In fact, he said he doesn’t even know where the magnificent garment is anymore, though we assume it’s living quietly on a pension somewhere on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
("I’ve killed more than 350 people in five different states. I’ve got to warn you though, some of the details are a little bit hazy." PicProps: MMA Mania)
As several astute MMA writers reminded us last week, UFC 126 was initially supposed to …
("I’ve killed more than 350 people in five different states. I’ve got to warn you though, some of the details are a little bit hazy." PicProps: MMA Mania)
"Thank you, Anderson, for revealing yet another weakness for me to exploit in our rematch,” Sonnen said, or emailed as it seems. “Beating that poor punching bag doesn’t impress Uncle Chael, guy. You tipped your hand like a chump poker player at a $5 table in Atlantic City. You may have beaten Vitor, but in the process, you LOST your edge. By beating that husk, you gave me the last page of your playbook. Revel in your time, (because) it ENDS the night you face me. I will mow you down like autumn wheat, AGAIN."
Yeah, at this point, Sonnen’s patter is starting to feel pretty desperate. He’s like a serial killer who just keeps confessing to made-up crimes because the thing that scares him most is that people will lose interest in him. Also, we already know that his opinions are as malleable as a Roman gladiator’s sexuality, but referring to Belfort as “that poor punching bag” and “that husk” constitutes a 180-degree turnabout from what he said about “The Phenom” almost a year ago to the day.
(Don’t just stand there, do something, Herb. PicProps: UFC.com )
Forget the Anderson Silva kick for a minute. Forget Paul Taylor punting Gabe Ruediger’s head into Brittney Palmer’s lap at ringside. Forget Forrest Griffin and Rich Fr…
(Don’t just stand there, do something, Herb. PicProps: UFC.com )
Forget the Anderson Silva kick for a minute. Forget Paul Taylor punting Gabe Ruediger’s head into Brittney Palmer’s lap at ringside. Forget Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin slogging through a stinker of a “co-main event” that the UFC really, desperately wanted us to believe was a great fight. Forget all that, the most impressive thing that happened at UFC 126 on Saturday night was that somehow – in the age of Twitter and all these muckraking bloggers – the company managed to keep Rashad Evans’ injury and Jon Jones’ impending title shot a secret until Joe Rogan dropped the bomb on us during their postfight interview. Well played, UFC.
Frankly, this is a brilliant tactical move. Think about it: 23-year-old Jon Jones now has six weeks to prepare for the fight of his life against the No. 1-ranked 205-pound fighter in the world. If he wins, it puts him on a bullet train into the history books, hands the UFC an unfuckwitable promotional storyline and makes every nerdy MMA writer on the planet (this one included) practically swoon from the size of our enormous, swelling boners for Jones. If he loses, no harm done. None at all. Just explain it away: The kid is still a baby in the sport and got rushed into a title shot against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on relatively short notice. It’s pretty much a can’t-lose situation for the UFC.
Now, how bad does all this suck for Rashad? Dude. It sucks baaaad.
(“No, I am not kidding you.” PicProps: YahooSports)
Well, the last few seconds were outstanding. Most of the rest of the televised portion of UFC 126 was extremely middle-of-the-road, but in the end no hyperbole was needed: Anderson Silva &…
(“No, I am not kidding you.” PicProps: YahooSports)
Well, the last few seconds were outstanding. Most of the rest of the televised portion of UFC 126 was extremely middle-of-the-road, but in the end no hyperbole was needed: Anderson Silva – that magnificent bastard — front kicked Vitor Belfort in the face and knocked him out. No, we’ve never, ever seen anything like it before and probably never, ever will again. It was, in a word, awesome and underscored why (no matter how lackluster the rest of a UFC PPV seems) you absolutely must watch until the bitter end. Just in case something amazing happens. Because sometimes it does. So amazing in fact that all across the country on Saturday night, aging karate masters and mail-order blackbelts jumped out of their seats and shouted, “See? I told you that shit worked!”
As for the rest of us, our abusive relationship with the UFC middleweight champion goes on. Let’s be honest here, through the first three minutes, 20 seconds, it appeared as if Silva and Belfort were conspiring to make Dana White’s nightmare of “the worst staring contest in the history of mankind” come true. Silva came out and circled, and shucked, and even did some stupid dancing just like he did against Demian Maia last April. The initial physical contact of the fight didn’t come until 1:40 into the first, when Belfort nicked Silva with a leg kick. Then, just as the grim reality of his suckiness started to set in all over again – just as we started to think of all the other things we could’ve spent that $50 on – boom, front kick to the face. Game over. And we love him again.
(VidProps: ESPN)
If you’re not already pumped for UFC 126, there isn’t much we (or modern medicine) can do for you at this point. The card is stacked, the matchups are stellar and the UFC middleweight champion showed up at the weigh-in looki…
If you’re not already pumped for UFC 126, there isn’t much we (or modern medicine) can do for you at this point. The card is stacked, the matchups are stellar and the UFC middleweight champion showed up at the weigh-in looking like he just stepped out of the orgy scene in “Eyes Wide Shut” and damn near started a brawl. What more do you want? Fine, we’ve got a couple more tidbits for you, but after this we’re done until tonight’s live blog and tomorrow’s aftermath retrospectives.
First, some interesting stuff came out of ESPN’s MMA Live weigh-in special (video at top) on Friday. Most notably, Franklin McNeil makes the wild, barely attributable claim that estranged trainer Shawn Tompkins has been leaking secrets to Anderson Silva’s camp since splitting with Vitor Belfort a couple weeks ago. Basically McNeil quotes “several” anonymous sources telling him hazy things about Tompkins “being in contact with Team Silva” and he “assumes” that it means Tompkins is stabbing Vitor in the back. Dude, and people call us rumor mongers? He also refers to Shawn Tompkins as “Thompson” at least once here, but that’s really beside the point.
Also, we’ve got quotes from Jon Jones that make him sound either totally prepared for Ryan Bader, or not prepared at all. It’s all after the jump …
(Plan your work, work your plan. PicProps: ESPN) 
