Fabrcio Werdum waited seven years to finally get a second shot at Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but he certainly made the most of it during the main event of UFC on Fuel 10 Saturday night in Brazil. When the pair of heavyweights first met in Pride Fighting…
Fabrcio Werdum waited seven years to finally get a second shot at Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but he certainly made the most of it during the main event of UFC on Fuel 10 Saturday night in Brazil.
When the pair of heavyweights first met in Pride Fighting Championships back in 2006, Nogueira was the veteran facing a much younger and inexperienced version of Werdum.
This time around, Werdum was the rising star planted in the top five of the division hoping to secure his spot in the title contender’s race with a win over the legendary former UFC and Pride champion.
While both fighters come from a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background, Werdum felt going into the fight that his ground game was superior, and that’s where he’d have the biggest advantage over Nogueira.
It worked out well because Werdum locked up a fight-ending armbar that brought a stop to the fight after Nogueira struggled to get loose of the hold, but alas could not and gave up via verbal submission.
“I feel great. Nogueira is a legend in the sport,” Werdum said about his opponent during the UFC on Fuel 10 post-fight show. “He’s my good friend. I’m very happy with the win but he punches very hard. When I saw the opportunity to go on the ground, I got the armbar.
My strategy was to fight with force. I got him on the ground because I had more possibilities on the ground. When I punched him, he went on his back and I got the armbar.”
With the win, Werdum secures his spot as the top contender in the heavyweight division behind champion Cain Velasquez and current challenger Junior Dos Santos.Those two fighters are expected to square off later this year in their third bout to close out their trilogy for the heavyweight title.
Currently, Velasquez and Dos Santos have each won one time, so this will be a pivotal third and final rubber match.
That unfortunately leaves Werdum as the odd man out either waiting for several months to possibly get the winner of that fight, or taking the risk of fighting again in the interim and risking a title shot.
Werdum already sat out a full year while taking the opportunity to coach on The Ultimate Fighter: Brasil 2 alongside Nogueira.If he sits and waits for the winner of Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, which still hasn’t been scheduled, Werdum could end up being out again for several months.
“I think if the UFC gave me the opportunity, for sure I’d bring a lot now,” Werdum said about a potential title shot. “I think I’d wait and see who won the fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos.”
It appears for now that Werdum will play the waiting game until the heavyweight title picture is settled. While no date has been set for the third fight between Velasquez and Dos Santos, the earliest the bout could take place would likely be September, with all other fight cards already having established main events between now and then.
Even if the heavyweight title fight takes place in September, it’s not likely the winner would return until the end of 2013, so Werdum could face another lengthy time off if that’s the case.
Now it’s up to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and UFC President Dana White to determine if Werdum should sit and get the winner, or if they will keep him busy later this year.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.
They say time heals all wounds, and that seems to be the case between new Bellator stable mates Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. In 2009, Rampage and Lawal infamously argued while they were riding in a van together, yelling and c…
They say time heals all wounds, and that seems to be the case between new Bellator stable mates Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
In 2009, Rampage and Lawalinfamously argued while they were riding in a van together, yelling and cursing at one another for the better part of five minutes.
From then on out, the two fighters exchanged a war of words through the media, until they finally sat down again a few years later to put the ill will behind him.
Jackson recently signed a new deal, similar to the same one that Lawal signed last year, that allows for him to compete in Bellator for mixed martial arts while also pursuing a career in professional wrestling under the TNA brand.
So now that both fighters are competing under the same company, will the old rivalry come back to life for what could be one of the biggest fights in Bellator history?
“I talked to Mo and it only makes sense that Mo’s an MMA fighter, he’s a wrestler. I’m a MMA fighter, I’m a wrestler, we both going into pro wrestling. Me and Mo are actually thinking about teaming up and being tag team partners over there in TNA. I think we could change the game up,” Rampage said about Lawal during a media conference call on Wednesday. “We didn’t see eye to eye in the past, I thought I was going to have to put a whopping up on Mo, I ain’t going to lie.
“Mo is actually a cool guy. I can only take him for small periods of time, but we tag team partners. Maybe that will bring two different types of guys together, who knows might end up being best friends one day.”
Lawal, who recently had his first pro wrestling match after training at Ohio Valley Wrestling in Kentucky, said that he was happy to hear Rampage was coming to Bellator and the plans of them teaming up in the squared circle are in the works.
“I’m with it, we’ve just got to find a tag team name. I’ve got finishers and everything lined up.I’m excited,” Lawal told Bleacher Report.“I’m thinking we’re going to be a combination of Powers of Pain, mixed with Demolition, mixed with Harlem Heat, and part Steiner Brothers.”
Lawal went on to say that in his opinion, landmark deals like the ones that he and Rampage scored that allow them to fight while pursuing other interests are good for mixed martial arts as a whole.Lawal is well aware that he can’t fight forever, and the opportunities provided for him in his recent deal will give him something to build a career on after the cage door closes for the last time.
“Here’s the thing, I’m excited because I feel if Rampage can get a deal like that, and I’ve got a good deal, I feel like more and more MMA fighters can get a deal like that to become fighters as well as entertainers on the other end,” Lawal stated.
“Some guys think ‘oh I want to be a fighter’, but once you’re done fighting what are you going to do next?What are you going to do?Open a gym?Start a clothing line?That’s all been done and some people do good and some people don’t.”
As of now, it seems that Rampage and Lawal have not only put their previous beef to bed, they’ve actually become friends who will look to pursue a future in pro wrestling together as teammates.
That won’t interfere with a potential fight, however, according to Lawal.Fighting is a business just like any other sport, and if he has to face Rampage in the Bellator cage, then that’s what will happen.
“It’s part of the business.Al Snow (trainer at Ohio Valley Wrestling) told me this, he said Mo in the combat game or in pro wrestling, it takes two to make money,” Lawal said.“I don’t dislike nobody in the fight game. I don’t have no enemies in the fight game. I’m happy for everybody.Jon Jones got a Nike deal, congratulations.Johny Hendricks and Rampage are with Reebok, hell yeah get that money. I want everybody to get that money, because eventually when you stop fighting you’ve got to find other ways.You can’t fight forever.
“I want everybody to do good. So if me and Rampage have to fight to make money, it’s part of the business.At that same time we’ve got the pro wrestling to fall back on.Anything’s possible, it’s all business.I’m open to it. I’m just happy he’s with Viacom, Spike TV, Bellator and TNA, I’m happy about all of that.”
Rampage echoed the same when speaking about a fight with Lawal. If it’s what the fans want to see, then they’ll step in the cage and trade leather like any other fight.There’s no need for it to be personal anymore.
“We may be tag team in pro wrestling, but if it works out and we can give the fans what they want, maybe we’ll fight each other and then we’ll fight each other,” Rampage said.
Right now a fight between Rampage and Lawal isn’t on the map because both are doing different things in their careers.Lawal is preparing for a showdown with Seth Petruzelli on June 19 as the kickoff to the new Bellator summer series and a light heavyweight tournament.Meanwhile, Rampage will make his TNA wrestling debut on Spike TV on Thursday night.
It’s good to know, however, that two of Bellator‘s biggest stars are both on board for being great friends outside the cage and temporary enemies inside the cage.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
World Series of Fighting will produce its third show next weekend with a main event featuring former UFC welterweight title contender Jon Fitch against Josh Burkman. But as great as the matchup seems to be on paper, the two fighters will not be c…
World Series of Fighting will produce its third show next weekend with a main event featuring former UFC welterweight title contender Jon Fitch against Josh Burkman. But as great as the matchup seems to be on paper, the two fighters will not be competing for a title.
Many wondered if the marquee fight would introduce the first-ever World Series of Fighting title, but the promotion opted to go in another direction instead.
Fitch and Burkman will still battle, and it could possibly be looked at as a defacto No. 1 contender’s fight, but to hear World Series of Fighting president Ray Sefo tell the story, it was just too early to introduce a belt into the mix.
“At one point it was in discussion, we talked about it.But when we really sat back and this is only our third event, it feels like we’ve been out here for 10 years, because of the love and support we’ve gotten from the fans and the media, but realistically this is only our third event,” Sefo told Bleacher Report on Wednesday.“So we wanted to have a little more depth in terms of the overall organization.Trust me, this would have been a perfect fight to have our first title fight, but we didn’t want to look like this league that just came out, had two events and then had a title fight.”
The company will start introducing titles before the end of 2013, starting with the upcoming middleweight tournament kicking off on August 10 in Ontario, Calif.The four-man tournament was the brain child of World Series of Fighting matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz, with Sefo and an unnamed third partner only referred to as Mr. X playing a role in making the tournament happen.
“It’s very exciting for our guys but also exciting for World Series of Fighting,” Sefo said.“The tournament format scenario, that was something our matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz came up with that idea, we sat down and talked about and thought it was a great idea.”
The four fighters involved will be David Branch, Elvis Mutapcic, DanilloVillefort and Jesse Taylor.
While that tournament kicks off in August, the next belt that could be introduced is in the bantamweight division. World Series of Fighting houses one of the top 135-pound fighters in the world in Brazilian Marlon Moraes.
After he picked up wins over former WEC champion Miguel Torres and highly touted bantamweight Tyson Nam, it would have been easy to place Moraes into a title fight for his next bout, which is tentatively scheduled for August, but Sefo says the plan is have at least one more fight and then introduce a 135-pound title.
“We have Marlon Moraes who has come in his last two outings with World Series of Fighting and just looked amazing.First taking on Miguel Torres, who is a former champion, and then taking on Tyson Nam after he knocked out the Bellator champion.Marlon Moraes made it look so easy.We really feel that he’s definitely in that line deserving of a title shot,” Sefo stated.“I think he might be fighting again in August and then we’ll look to put a title fight on maybe in October.We may end up crowning two or three champions that night.”
The August card will also feature the return of multi-time kickboxing champion Tyrone Spong and a host of other World Series of Fighting veterans.
Beyond that show, which will showcase the opening rounds of the middleweight title tournament, Sefo doesn’t want to commit to the titles that will see the light of day by the end of 2013.
The key, according to Sefo, is to make sure when World Series of Fighting introduces a title that it means something in the bigger landscape of MMA. He doesn’t want it to be just another gold belt that some promotion is handing out.
“We’ll be looking before the end of the year to crown a couple of guys,” Sefo stated.“We want guys to feel like they’re worthy of fighting for that belt.Not only that but to feel like it means something to them.”
There are no hard and fast rules, however, for how World Series of Fighting will govern its first title fights. If Moraes wins his next bout, he will likely move on to fight for the first bantamweight belt, but beyond that, nothing is set in stone.
“We’re an organization that just flows,” Sefo said.“If it makes sense for us, we’ll make it happen.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
MMA’s Great Debate Radio returns with a stacked show including guests Tyron Woodley, Jon Fitch and Steve Carl as well as a full breakdown and preview of UFC on Fuel 10: Nogueira vs. Werdum. Fighting at UFC 161, Tyron Woodley joins the show today to dis…
MMA‘s Great Debate Radio returns with a stacked show including guests TyronWoodley, Jon Fitch and Steve Carl as well as a full breakdown and preview of UFC on Fuel 10: Nogueira vs. Werdum.
Fighting at UFC 161, TyronWoodley joins the show today to discuss his upcoming bout against Jake Shields.Woodley will rate Shields as an opponent, and the impact he hopes to make with his fight against the former title contender next weekend.
Also on the show, former UFC welterweight Jon Fitch talks about his return to action next weekend, his rematch with Josh Burkman, and how he’s moved on from talking about his former employers at the UFC.
World Series of Fighting co-main event competitor Steve Carl also stops by to talk about stepping up on the card after the original co-main event had to be cancelled, and his expectations to make a big splash in a featured fight on this card.
Finally, debate is what we do best and on today’s show, all-new topics are on tap as well as a full preview of UFC on Fuel 10 with picks and predictions being made for the main card.
Today’s debate topics include:
—BJ Penn is testing the waters for a possible return to fighting at 155 pounds. Should BJ come back or should he retire?
—Rampage’s new deal will have him fight in Bellator, wrestle in TNA, do a reality series and work on movies through Paramount.He says this is a game changer—is he right?
—With a win on Saturday, should Fabricio Werdum be the No. 1 contender at heavyweight behind Junior Dos Santos?
—UFC on Fuel 10 Fight Picks for the Main Card
This is MMA’s Great Debate Radio for Thursday, June 6, 2013
(If the embeddable player does not work click HERE to listen to the show. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show via iTunes and listen on Stitcher Radio)
When Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira won his first major title in PRIDE Fighting Championships while competing in Japan back in 2001, the roster of heavyweights over in America fighting in the UFC was a much different list than it is today. At that time, fut…
When Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira won his first major title in PRIDE Fighting Championships while competing in Japan back in 2001, the roster of heavyweights over in America fighting in the UFC was a much different list than it is today.
At that time, future UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture was champion, and the list of contenders included Pedro Rizzo, Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett.A young future champion named Frank Mir was actually the opening fight on the card where Couture defeated Rizzo for a second straight time to retain his title back in 2001.
During that same period, Nogueira was ruling the heavyweight world in Japan as the new PRIDE champion after defeating Heath Herring.
Now more than 11 years later, Nogueira is still in the top 10 of the division and fighting in main events like the one coming up this weekend at UFC on Fuel 10, while most of the heavyweights that were relevant back in 2001 are long gone.
“A lot of guys came in after me and they quit before me,” Nogueira told Bleacher Report.“I’ve seen that a lot.That’s motivation.That’s teamwork, I don’t do that myself.I’m hungry, but I have a good team around me. Good coaches and good sparring partners.When you wake up in the morning and have good training and learn something, have good adrenaline and you’re going to face some good guys in the gym, that keeps you warm.I keep good people around me to keep that motivation.”
Nogueira works on a daily basis with a murderer’s row of MMA talent, including former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and a host of other top fighters from Brazil.
The talent in the room helps to keep Nogueira feeling young, although he admits his body sometimes feels a little older, especially after a rough couple of years that saw him on the doctor’s table as much as he was on the mats.
A lifetime of fighting can catch up to a person’s body, and Nogueira found that out all too well with knee injuries, hip injuries and a broken arm suffered in his bout against Frank Mir in 2011.
Now as he enters his next fight this weekend against Fabricio Werdum, Nogueira says he’s let his body heal up instead of pushing through injuries for once.It’s resulted in the best condition his body has felt in years.
“Coming off of the last two or three years, I was coming off a lot of injuries.My ACL, my hips and now I feel I’m in the best shape,” Nogueira stated.“I couldn’t do my best performance in the last few years.I’ve improved a lot of things. I’ve improved a lot of my hands.It’s given me motivation to fight the best.”
Nogueira will get a chance to prove he’s back to full health when he faces a top-three heavyweight this weekend in his native Brazil.The former UFC and PRIDE champion is very familiar with Werdum because he actually fought him once before in 2007 when both were competing in Japan.
“I was a more experienced fighter than he was, I strike much better than him, and I used more of my experience.But the biggest thing in the fight was I put him to fight my fight, that’s how the fight worked,” Nogueira said when remembering their first fight.“He was dangerous a couple of times. He was a new jiu-jitsu guy coming up in PRIDE with a lot of good submissions.We worked a lot on how to avoid the submissions, the triangles and the armbars.But my boxing was better, my timing was better, and I made him fight my game.He was a tough opponent.”
Nogueira knows that a lot can change over the course of six years, but fundamentally, he believes there are still advantages he has over Werdum now the same as he did before.
The plan is to make Werdum fall into those same tendencies, and Nogueira believes he can walk away victorious.
“I know that’s going to give me an idea of what’s going to be in the next fight,” Nogueira said.“My hands are better. I’m going to try to make him fight my fight like we had before.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
For the past couple of years, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was the definition of a disgruntled employee while he was still fighting in the UFC. He routinely spoke out about how he planned to leave the promotion after what he perceived to be poor treatmen…
For the past couple of years, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was the definition of a disgruntled employee while he was still fighting in the UFC.
He routinely spoke out about how he planned to leave the promotion after what he perceived to be poor treatment. He also felt unappreciated by the organization after all the hard work he put into performing for them over the years.
Rampage finished out his last fight with the UFC in January in a losing effort to Glover Teixeira, and just like that, his days of fighting in the Octagon came to an end.
Now for the first time in more than six years, Jackson is signed to a new promotion and deal after completing a contract with Bellator Fighting Championships, along with TNA Wrestling and Spike TV.The plan is for Jackson to compete in MMA in Bellator, start his pro wrestling career in TNA, and also take part in a four-part reality show for Spike.
Rampage will also have the opportunity to develop his movie career with Paramount Pictures, which is under the same Viacom umbrella as Spike TV and Bellator.
All told, Rampage thinks his new deal is a dream come true. According to him, he finally has a promoter in Bellator that stands by him and believes in him in ways that the UFC never did over the last six years.
“This is something that I’ve been dreaming about, and waiting for, for years.I’ve put a lot of work in MMA. I’ve been fighting for like 12 years.I finally have a promoter that gets it,” Rampage stated during a media conference call on Wednesday.
“(Bjorn Rebney) he’s like one of us—one of the fighters. We’re the ones that put our lives on the line, and we’re the ones that go out there and put our health on the line at the end of the day. Sometimes in past with the relationships that I had with promoters, I just felt like sometimes I wasn’t appreciated.But you guys (Bellator) get it.”
Backtracking to his time with the UFC, Jackson said his relationship with the promotion started out great but deteriorated over time.He said the downfall began after his fight and knockout over Wanderlei Silva in 2008. He was supposed to be granted a title shot following the win.Instead, the UFC asked him to step in and face Keith Jardine in the main event of UFC 96 a few months later, and his title shot didn’t actually happen until 2011.
By then, Jon Jones was the UFC light heavyweight champion, and, according to Jackson, his chances of reclaiming the belt were cut dramatically.
“If you guys notice, it took me years to even get a title shot back when they got this monster called Jon Jones with this grapevine-looking tall dude, that ain’t nobody beat,” Jackson stated.“I was like damn, there goes my chance to be champion again and they put me in with this unbeatable guy.”
Jackson claimed that the real breaking point with the UFC came in 2009 when he was offered a role in The A-Team remake being produced by 20th Century Fox.At the time, Jackson was part of The Ultimate Fighter Season 10, and at the end of the show’s airing he was supposed to face fellow coach Rashad Evans.
The filming for the movie interfered with the date of their fight, and Jackson was pulled to go shoot The A-Team. When he returned to the UFC, he said that things were never the same again.
“The only thing I can really go into is, and it’s no big secret, but when I did the movie The A-Team, that’s how Dana and I kind of fell out,” Jackson said.“It caused a whole bunch of problems. I’m under contract where I can’t really go into details. I signed a disclosure where I can’t really talk about it.It goes back to my fight with Rashad Evans since I lost my love for MMA. I tried to retire a couple of times.”
Rampage spoke candidly about his last few years in competition. He wanted to find a way out of the UFC so desperately that he took fights he shouldn’t have just to get through with his contract.
“I lost a lot of love for MMA…I’m not going to lie.I lost a lot of love for MMA back when I was in the UFC,” Jackson said.“Honestly, they just killed it. They drained it.This new deal got me excited and instantly brought the love back.
“I never turned down any fight before in the past.It’s no secret I lost three fights in a row.Fans only see that. They don’t see that OK, I lost to Jon Jones. Who fought that guy that hasn’t?Then I lost to Ryan Bader ’cause I got injured like a month before the fight.That’s the type of person I am; I didn’t want to pull out of the Japan card because I love my Japanese fans. Everybody knows that, so I still fought injured.My next fight I shouldn’t even have been fighting, but I wanted to get out of that contract so bad.”
Following the loss to Teixeira, Rampage was finally a free agent and then began the process of finding a new home for fighting. That’s when he met Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney.
Unlike his rocky relationship with UFC president Dana White, Jackson said he immediately connected with Rebney and knew he wanted to be in business with him.
“I met Bjorn, and I instantly liked the guy,” Jackson said.“You can look in his eyes and you can tell the guy don’t have any ego…he gets it.The fighters are what make the show. When fighters understand this, they’re going to take to him the same way I took to him.In Bellator, they don’t tax you for your sponsors—they help you get sponsors.They don’t get mad at you for doing movies—they get you movies.”
Jackson’s message about Rebney and Bellator was clear—they are in this game to promote the fighters.While he wouldn’t say them by name, Jackson was pointing to the UFC and how its brand is bigger than any one fighter. But he believes it’s the other way around with Bellator.
“I’ve been looking for a promoter like this guy for a long time. He gets it,” Jackson said again about Rebney.“He knows that he couldn’t put the two Bellator logos in the cage and have a bunch of people show up and watch them two Bellator logos go at it. I’m not going to say no names, but some people out there think that their logo is the s—t. They think they going to tune in just for their logo.That’s not true.I see me being happy with these guys for the rest of my career.I can just feel it.”
Rebney backed up Rampage’s statements about the long-term goals of Bellator in terms of how the fighters are promoted ahead of the company name.
“Our dynamic is one that is focused on building up Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, ‘King’ Mo Lawal, Michael Chandler, Pat Curran—it’s not about building up the Bellator brand,” Rebney said on Wednesday.“Those guys are going to pull along the Bellator brand. The Bellator brand is not going to pull them along.It’s a totally different way of looking at it than a competition. And not to say that there’s anything wrong with the way that they do it, we just do it a different way.”
As far as Jackson’s multi-faceted deal, it starts on Thursday night when he will appear on TNA Impact Wrestling on Spike.From there, Jackson will continue to rehab his ailing knees, which gave him problems for his last couple of UFC fights.
There is no timetable for when Jackson will compete in Bellator, but the Memphis-born fighter knows that he won’t be pushed back earlier than necessary.
“Bjorn knows that I’m rehabbing my knee…he don’t care,” Jackson said.“In the UFC, they don’t care. You go out there and fight.When you have surgery, you should come back and have a warm-up fight.The UFC don’t care about you like that.Bjorn cares more about my long term.
“Before, I was talking about retiring at like 35, which is in a couple of days.Now with what we’re talking about, I’ve got at least four or five more years in me.Because if I’m injured and stuff like that, it’s OK. Heal up, take your time; he’s not rushing me to fight at all. He wants me to rehab my knees.”
Jackson is strongly contemplating a move to heavyweight, depending on the timing of his return. Although competing at 205 pounds isn’t out of the question, either.
“I’m thinking about going to heavyweight ’cause I’m older now and I want to start smashing some big guys,” Jackson stated.“What I want to do is come, now with all the negativity gone. I can be myself and go out there and just entertain the fans.
“Honestly, if a good fight comes up at 205 and I’ve got enough time to get in shape and lose weight to do it with Bjorn, they’ll let me know.I don’t have to take a fight with eight weeks notice, or 13 weeks notice. They’ll give me a couple of months so I’ll fight a guy at 205.I’m a big guy anyways, and I don’t have to cut weight.A lot of small heavyweights do good. I’ll fight whoever. I’ve never been a guy to turn down fights.”
Beyond his fighting career, which will hopefully pick up later this year, and his budding wrestling career that starts on Thursday, Jackson also said he’s already in talks with Paramount about two different film scripts he’s written.The first that could go into development is an MMA-based movie, and from there the sky’s the limits.
To hear Jackson tell it, his deal with Bellator, TNA and Spike TV is one-of-a-kind for this industry and has never been done before.
“We fitting to change the game up,” Jackson said.“You guys have no idea.”
Only time will tell if Jackson’s proclamations about his future with Bellator are as bright as they seem right now. But he definitely seems like a happy man—especially compared to the disgruntled individual who fought in the UFC less than six months ago.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
They say time heals all wounds, and that seems to be the case between new