Author: Damon Martin

Carlos Condit Sees Johny Hendricks as “More Dangerous” Version of Dan Henderson

It was so close Carlos Condit could almost taste it. After two hard-grinding rounds facing UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Condit finally saw an opening and launched a head kick that landed flush sending the Canadian legend flailing backwa…

It was so close Carlos Condit could almost taste it.

After two hard-grinding rounds facing UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Condit finally saw an opening and launched a head kick that landed flush sending the Canadian legend flailing backwards towards the mat. Condit pounced like a leopard on its prey and he immediately began to rain down shots on St-Pierre looking for the finish.

Punch after punch came flying, but Condit couldn’t quite find the right combination of strikes to put an end to the fight, and a few moments later St-Pierre regained composure and two rounds later the bout was over. 

Condit lost to St-Pierre by unanimous decision, but he came as close as any fighter has in the last few years to wrestling the title away from the UFC’s most dominant welterweight. 

Now just a few months later, Condit finds himself right back in the title picture with a chance to gain another shot at St-Pierre if he can get past top contender Johny Hendricks at UFC 158 in Montreal.

“The reward could be pretty sweet,” Condit told Bleacher Report about what happens should he beat Hendricks on Saturday night. “He’s real high profile, he’s pretty much cleared out the division, and he’s definitely the No. 1 contender. A win over him would put me right back in the No. 1 contender’s spot.”

Condit has no plans of only reaching the top of the UFC once in his career, and this fight against Hendricks is a chance to launch right back to the No. 1 position he held for virtually all of 2012. 

It was actually a strange turn of events that took place to put Condit in the fight with Hendricks to begin with after he was originally scheduled to face Rory MacDonald on the card instead. Unfortunately, MacDonald suffered a neck injury that forced him out of the fight and as soon as that news broke, Hendricks called the UFC to ask and face Condit on the card.

Hendricks was already scheduled to face Jake Ellenberger at UFC 158, but when the chance came to face Condit, he couldn’t refuse that kind of opportunity. Hendricks knows the fastest path to the title is to beat the guy who was just there in front of him, and Condit was that very person.

Condit understands why Hendricks asked to fight him because it’s no different than when he requested a bout against Dan Hardy when he was fresh off of his loss to Georges St-Pierre in 2010. Things went well for Condit because he ended up knocking out Hardy in the first round, but he doesn’t expect Hendricks to find the same kind of fortune.

“Good move on their part (asking to fight me),” said Condit. “But I have plans on spoiling their party.”

During his quick rise to the top of the welterweight rankings, Hendricks has managed to flatten two former contenders with first-round knockouts (Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann) despite the fact that he’s supposed to be a wrestler with NCAA championship credentials. 

Hendricks’ left hand has made both Fitch and Kampmann wake up wondering what just happened, and it’s easy to find a comparison between the UFC’s top welterweight contender and former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson.

Just like Hendricks, Henderson came from a decorated wrestling past, but in the last few years he’s become most known for the knockout power in his right hand aptly nicknamed “The H-Bomb”. Condit can see the similarities as well, but thinks it is Hendricks who is actually the far more dangerous opponent on paper.

“There are some similarities there but I think the difference is Hendo is towards the end of his career, he’s not as versatile as he used to be. Ultimately he kind of is a one-trick pony,” Condit said about Henderson. “Hendricks, he does have that in his arsenal, but he has a lot of other things. He’s still athletic, he still moves really well. He’s a more dangerous version of the one-punch, KO wrestler that Hendo is.”

Condit is clearly aware of the ability that Hendricks has to put anybody’s lights out with one, lone punch, but he doesn’t plan on being another highlight on his opponent’s growing resume.

Instead, Condit plans on beating Hendricks soundly, stealing his thunder and riding it all the way back to a rematch against St-Pierre.

“It’s a huge fight for me, it keeps me right there in the title picture,” said Condit. “Johny is the man to beat right now in the division other than GSP.  I’m looking to go in there, fight a great fight, come away with the win and get another title shot.”

Beating Hendricks at UFC 158 would certainly go a long way to proving Condit has earned that opportunity.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Mark Hunt vs. Junior Dos Santos Official for UFC 160 in May

The legion of Mark Hunt supporters will be happy to hear their hero will face Junior dos Santos at UFC 160 after all. It only took a day-and-a-half for UFC president Dana White to turn around from saying Santos would sit out and wait for a summer showd…

The legion of Mark Hunt supporters will be happy to hear their hero will face Junior dos Santos at UFC 160 after all.

It only took a day-and-a-half for UFC president Dana White to turn around from saying Santos would sit out and wait for a summer showdown with Alistair Overeem to eventually offering the shot to Hunt instead.

Hunt has accepted and now gets his shot at facing the former UFC heavyweight champion in May.  The news was first confirmed by MMAFighting.com, and UFC officials then announced the bout on Saturday.

Earlier this week, former K-1 Grand Prix champion Overeem suffered a partial tear in his quadriceps muscle that forced him out of his long awaited bout against Santos at UFC 160.

Immediately, Hunt and a growing support system on Twitter rallied for the “Super Samoan” to get the crack at Santos instead.

At the time, White said that after an initial conversation with Hunt he actually opted to turn down the fight.  In reality it appears negotiations took a dramatic turn after a brief phone conversation between Hunt and White late Thursday evening, and now the fight is official.

Following an initial loss to Sean McCorkle in his UFC debut, Hunt comes into the UFC 160 fight against Santos on a four-fight winning streak, currently the longest in the heavyweight division.

A former K-1 Grand Prix champion as well, Hunt brings an iron jaw and concrete fists into the bout against Santos.  On his four fight win streak, Hunt has knocked out or TKO’d three of those opponents including his jaw shattering victory over Stefan Struve earlier this month at UFC on Fuel 8 in Japan.

Now Hunt gets the biggest opportunity of his career when he faces Santos at UFC 160 in a bout that could very well determine the next contender to fight for the UFC heavyweight title.

 

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report

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Johny Hendricks Unphased by Nick Diaz’s Taunts; Remains Steadfast in His Mission

Just a few short months ago on the heels of a blistering knockout of Martin Kampmann at UFC 154, Johny Hendricks sat poised on the cusp of receiving a welterweight title shot against Georges St-Pierre. Instead, the UFC opted to give perpetual bad boy N…

Just a few short months ago on the heels of a blistering knockout of Martin Kampmann at UFC 154, Johny Hendricks sat poised on the cusp of receiving a welterweight title shot against Georges St-Pierre.

Instead, the UFC opted to give perpetual bad boy Nick Diaz the shot instead when St-Pierre asked to face him as opposed to taking on Hendricks.

Fast forward to Thursday when Hendricks had to sit on a media conference call for the better part of 45 minutes listening to St-Pierre and Diaz go back and forth at each other without his name coming up for almost the entire duration of the conversation.

Finally, Hendricks’ ears perked up when it was Diaz who finally mentioned his name, but it wasn’t a compliment—only a disparaging remark stating why he’s not fighting for the UFC welterweight title and Diaz was the man for the job.

“You gonna go out there and work out with Johny (Hendricks) and you guys are going to have a wrestling match? No, that’s not what nobody wants to see that,” Diaz shouted when speaking to St-Pierre.

Instead of erupting like St-Pierre and Diaz did for most of the call, Hendricks sounded like he just woke up from a deep meditation when he was finally asked a question. On paper, Hendricks was clear and away the No. 1 contender for the welterweight title, yet still he ends up in the co-main event while watching Diaz battle St-Pierre on the same card.

Did Diaz‘s comments rattle Hendricks to the point of an angry, four-letter response? No, far from it actually.

“If he’s watching my fights when have I ever took anybody down? I have wrestling, yeah I do, my background is wrestling. I have knockout power. Just because I don’t go out there and use it all, you don’t have to use it all to win fights,” Hendricks said referencing Diaz‘s comments about him earlier in the call.

“The most important thing is to win fights. Doesn’t matter how you do it. If that means you’ve got to take the guy down to get a win like Georges does, then do it. It’s about getting your hand raised and the fans like that.”

Quite possibly the strangest turn happened when Hendricks then ended up agreeing with St-Pierre’s “win at any cost” strategy, even if it means a five-round decision. In a matter of only a few minutes, Diaz managed to turn Hendricks from a staunch St-Pierre adversary into an advocate for what he was preaching.

“(Diaz) has his opinion, I’ve got mine. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is like Georges said, everybody’s got to be on top, but there can only be one and we’re all fighting to get there,” Hendricks added.

While Hendricks would like nothing more than to fight St-Pierre at UFC 158, it’s not happening, and instead he draws former interim champion Carlos Condit.

There will undoubtedly be a great amount of focus during fight week with questions being thrown at Hendricks about St-Pierre and a title shot looming overhead. Hendricks is careful, however, not to let the angst of not fighting for the belt now cloud his performance next Saturday night. A loss to Condit would dash his title hopes before they ever become reality.

“Nothing else matters but Carlos Condit at this point,” said Hendricks. “If I even think about overlooking him, he’ll definitely beat me. I’ve got to go out there and nothing else matters but Carlos Condit.”

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Chris Weidman Doesn’t Just Want to Beat Anderson Silva, He Wants to Finish Him

Earlier this week, Chris Weidman finally received the call to face Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title in July—and it’s a fight that’s more than four years in the making. To explain that lengthy timeline, you have to go back to 2009 whe…

Earlier this week, Chris Weidman finally received the call to face Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title in July—and it’s a fight that’s more than four years in the making.

To explain that lengthy timeline, you have to go back to 2009 when Weidman first strapped on the gloves and stepped into a mixed martial arts ring, because even back then he knew one day he would be the man to eventually challenge Anderson Silva in the UFC.

Silva has been the king of the middleweights for longer than Weidman has even been fighting, but the New York native had a goal back then, and now he finally gets the chance to bring that dream to reality in July.

“It’s not a fight I’ve been waiting for, for a year, it’s a fight I’ve been waiting for since I started MMA,” Weidman explained when speaking to Bleacher Report. “He was the champion when I started MMA and I’ve been envisioning fighting him since day one. I believed I could beat him since day one because my goal is to be champion and I didn’t get into this sport for any other reason.”

When Weidman defeated Mark Munoz last year to move his MMA record to a perfect 9-0, he immediately entered the discussion as the No. 1 contender at 185 pounds.  He began a series of interviews and social networking campaigns with one goal in mind—to land the fight with Anderson Silva.

It wasn’t easy, however, because for most of the last six months, Silva has downplayed fighting Weidman. It seemed for a while that the fight may not happen.

“I had no idea what was going on,” Weidman said. “Like Dana said, we’re going to make this fight happen, but at the same time, Anderson Silva is the greatest of all time, the negotiation process is probably a little different than anybody else. I wasn’t really getting my hopes up at all to be honest with you.”

Now that he’s landed the fight, part one of his mission is complete. But none of the hard work, sacrifice and dedication will matter if he doesn’t beat Anderson Silva. 

Weidman knows deep down inside that it’s no different than an NFL team making it to the Super Bowl, then losing. He’s honored to fight Anderson Silva, but Weidman reaches immortality by finishing the champion and ending his unreal consecutive title defense streak, which currently stands at 10 victories.

“I’m not getting too excited to be honest with you until I get the victory because that’s what I’m here to do,” Weidman stated.

“That’s all that matters. I didn’t put myself in this position to get this fight just to lose, that’s for sure. I’d be sick with myself, and that would be an understatement, if I were to get this shot and lose the fight. I’m in here to win it, and I’m in here to go for the finish like every other fight I’ve had.

Finishing the fight is a key element for Weidman because he’s not a fan of decisions. The top middleweight contender has only gone to decision twice in his UFC career with both occasions being a result of taking a fight on short notice.

Whenever Weidman has had a full training camp the results have been much different. He’s finished all three of those fights inside of 10 minutes, winning two by submission and the third by knockout. He will happily add Anderson Silva’s name to that list come July.

“Any time I’ve ever had a full training camp, I’ve had a finish in either the first or second round, and I plan on keeping that going. I have a lot of respect for Anderson but that’s how I’m going to take the fight. I think that gives you the best chance of getting the ‘W’ is to be aggressive and have confidence in myself,” said Weidman.

“I definitely feel like I have a lot of strengths where he lacks a little bit. The guy is good everywhere, it’s not like he’s a bad wrestler or has bad jiu-jitsu or anything like that, but I do feel like I have an advantage in both those areas. I’m going to try my best to expose it.”

As the fight approaches, Weidman knows he’s going to be the underdog against Silva, and there’s going to be plenty of talk about the next fight for the champion once he finishes the 11th challenger to his title. People are already assuming Silva will win yet again and that could potentially set up a superfight with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones later this year.

Weidman invites the doubters to keep doubting because he will gladly spoil all of those plans by beating Anderson Silva and capturing the UFC middleweight crown.

“There’s going to be a lot of people that are thinking I’m going to get killed,” Weidman said. “That just fires me up because I can’t wait to prove those people wrong, too. It’s just a great opportunity to do that.”

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Like the Terminator, Ronda Rousey Feels No Emotion When Destroying a Foe

There’s a famous line in the 1984 science-fiction classic The Terminator when Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) says, “Listen and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, …

There’s a famous line in the 1984 science-fiction classic The Terminator when Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) says, “Listen and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop.”

The terminator in the film played by Arnold Schwarzenegger is an unstoppable killing machine, hell bent on eliminating whatever target its been programmed to destroy.

In mixed martial arts, the role of The Terminator could easily be played by a few fighters, maybe none more fitting that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, whose path of destruction rivals that of the fictional cyborg in the movies.

A new contender to that crown has risen lately, however, and that’s UFC bantamweight women’s champion Ronda Rousey. 

The biggest difference with Rousey is outside the cage—she is as engaging as any fighter in the UFC. Brutally honest and refreshingly unfiltered, as she puts it, Rousey is a rare combination of charisma outside the cage and unbelievably talented when she straps on the gloves.

Through seven professional fights, Rousey still has no clue what the second round even looks like, and she’s only technically been in bad positions a couple of times in her whole career thus far. 

When she’s inside the cage, Rousey possesses a steely grin like a lot of fighters, but much like the terminator in the films, don’t expect her to crack a smile or even show emotion of any kind until after she’s torn her opponent’s arm away from their body and feels the quick tap on her leg to signify the fight is over.

“I fight emotionless. I have no emotion when I fight,” Rousey said recently when speaking to the Dan Patrick Show. “Like I’m entirely in the present moment, and I just observe everything and make quick, snap decisions off of all those observations. It’s really hard to describe.”

Trying to give a little more detail in her detached nature when she steps into the cage, Rousey says when a fight is over she barely remembers anything. Almost like a blackout where instinct takes over, Rousey is a force of nature, and then it takes some time and a little bit of playback to remember exactly what just happened.

“Sometimes when I walk out of the ring like I’m spending so much time on play that it’s not recording,” said Rousey.  “I’ll walk out and be like “what?”, like I’ll remember little snippets of what just happened and then I’ll go back and I’ll watch the replay and then I’ll remember oh I was thinking this here and thinking of that here, so it’s very hard to say. I think I’m just focused in on the moment when I fight.”

Though she’s only had one fight in the UFC so far, Rousey is already one of the most popular fighters in the sport and already on another whirlwind media tour that never seemed to slow down for the former Olympian over the last several months.

If Rousey can continue her current workload promoting her fights and then turn into that blank, emotionless, wrecking machine inside the Octagon, there’s no telling just how far she can go.

She won’t feel pity or remorse for any of the women she has to beat to maintain her spot at the top of the division, and it’s not likely Rousey will ever stop until she’s reached her goal of being considered one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report

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Nick Diaz Says He Can Beat 185-Pound and 155-Pound Champions After Beating GSP

It was only a week ago when the UFC released an interview with welterweight contender Nick Diaz where he said Georges St-Pierre was “crazy” for not asking for a fight against middleweight king Anderson Silva. The proposed superfight has been theoretica…

It was only a week ago when the UFC released an interview with welterweight contender Nick Diaz where he said Georges St-Pierre was “crazy” for not asking for a fight against middleweight king Anderson Silva.

The proposed superfight has been theoretically on the table for a number of years, but the UFC has never quite put the pair together on a bout agreement.  Following a long absence from fighting due to a knee injury, St-Pierre turned his focus back to the welterweight division and didn’t seem all that interested in fighting Silva when the fight was brought up to him last November following his return win over Carlos Condit at UFC 154.

Diaz criticized St-Pierre because the champion hasn’t asked to fight the absolute best in the world, but if he captures the 170-pound title next weekend, that’s exactly what he plans to do.

Throughout his career, Diaz has fluctuated his weight to face many opponents in different divisions including a brief run as a lightweight once upon a time, as well as some higher catchweight fights like his victory over MMA legend Frank Shamrock in Strikeforce.

“I’ll have to take a long hard look, but if I had that option available to me, I would be honored to be in that position.  I would be gratefully accepting of that position, or fight if you will with the 85 pound champion or the 155 pound champion,” Diaz said during a media conference call on Thursday.

Diaz has actually tried to get a spot previously to face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, and it doesn’t sound like his confidence is waning at all just a week away from battling for the UFC welterweight title in Montreal.

The same can be said for his desire to fight for the UFC lightweight title currently held by Benson Henderson. An interesting side note to that discussion is the fact that Henderson just recently defeated Nick’s younger brother, Nate Diaz, for the second defense of his 155-pound belt.

“I would take either fight and I think I could beat either guy,” Diaz stated.  “I’d like to be the guy to win a title at both weights.  I’d like to be a runner up in the pound for pound rankings, that’s the No. 1 goal asides from the No. 1 ranking in the welterweight division.  That’s what I’ve been working towards here.”

While it’s not likely even with a win that Diaz would get to immediately jump to fight either Silva or Henderson, Diaz‘s willingness to do so shows his fighting spirit is truly at work.

Before he can challenge either other champion, however, Diaz first has to get by Georges St-Pierre at UFC 154 in Montreal.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report

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